[RAMIREZ _is led off by_ SANCHO _and_ CARLOS, _and followed by the Guards_; ALPHONSO _looking frowningly. The rest stay._ _Alph._ [_Aside._] How I abhor this base inhuman act! But patience! he's my father. _Vera._ Thus all his praises are thy accusations; And even that very sword,-- Punish me, heaven, if I believe not so!-- Is far less dangerous in his hand than thine. _Xim._ Forgive the hasty sallies of his youth. _Vera._ He never loved me. _Alph._ You never gave me cause. _Xim._ [_To_ ALPH.] Come, you both loved, But both were jealous of each other's kindness. His silence shows, he longs to pardon you.-- And did not you, my lord, observe Alphonso, [_Turning to_ VERAM. How, though at first he could not rule his passion,-- Not at the very first, for that's impossible To hasty blood, like his, and yours, my lord,-- Yet in the second moment, he repented, As soon as thought had leisure to be born? _Vera._ For aught I see, you do him better office Than he desires, Ximena. _Alph._ [_Kneeling._] Sir, your pardon; And, if you please, your love. _Vera._ Receive the first; The last, as you deserve. _Re-enter Don_ GARCIA, _with_ VICTORIA, CELIDEA, _and the Ladies_. VERAMOND _sees them at a distance_. _Vera._ This had not been thus easily o'erpast, But that I see Don Garcia with your sisters. A fair occasion offers you this hour To cancel your offences; mark, and take it. [_The King_, _Queen_, _and_ ALPHONSO _entertain_ GARCIA _in dumb show, while_ VICTORIA _and_ CELIDEA _speak at a distance_. _Cel._ What think you, sister, of this youthful hero? _Vict._ Our dear Alphonso? _Cel._ No, I mean Navarre. _Vict._ As of a valiant prince; what would you more? _Cel._ Methinks you give him a short commendation; Yet all his applications were to you. _Vict._ I minded not his words. _Cel._ He made a warm beginning of a love. _Vict._ It seems my thoughts were otherwise employed. _Cel._ Neither your thoughts nor eyes could be employed Upon a nobler object. _Vict._ That's your judgment. _Cel._ His every action, nay, his every motion. Were graceful, and becoming his high birth. _Vict._ All of a piece, and all like other men. He seems to me a common kind of creature, One that may pass among a crowd of courtiers, And not be known for king. _Cel._ Sure you forget the troops he brought our father, Besides his personal valour in the fight. _Vict._ You more forget Alphonso's greater actions, When the young hero, yet unfledged in arms, Made the tough age of bold Ramirez bend: He fought, like Mars descending from the skies, And looked, like Venus rising from the waves. _Cel._ Navarre had done the same; 'twas fortune's fault, That showed him not Ramirez.