Hath sent me unto thee. Till this day's task Make thy soul's peace with God. ELMINA. Till this day's task Be closed!—there is strange triumph in thine eyesIs it that I have fallen from that high place Whereon I stood in fame?—But I can feel A wild and bitter pride in thus being past The power of thy dark glance !-My spirit now Thy scorn hath lost its sting.-Thou mayst reproach— HERNANDEZ. I come not to reproach thee. Heaven doth work By many agencies; and in its hour There is no insect which the summer breeze From the green leaf shakes trembling, but may serve Its deep unsearchable purposes, as well As the great ocean, or th' eternal fires, Pent in earth's caves !-Thou hast but speeded that, Which, in th' infatuate blindness of thy heart, ELMINA. My senses fail Thou saidst-speak yet again!-I could not catch The meaning of thy words. HERNANDEZ. E'en now thy lord Hath sent our foes defiance. On the walls He stands in conference with the boastful Moor, And awful strength is with him. Through the blood Which this day must be pour'd in sacrifice Shall men set up the battle-sign of fire, And round its blaze, at midnight, keep the sense E'en with thy children's tale! XIMENA. Peace, father! peace! Behold she sinks!-the storm hath done its work Upon the broken reed. Oh! lend thine aid To bear her hence. [They lead her away. Scene-A street in Valencia. Several Groups of Citizens and Soldiers, many of them lying on the Steps of a Church. Arms scattered on the Ground around them. AN OLD CITIZEN. The air is sultry, as with thunder-clouds. I left my desolate home, that I might breathe SECOND CITIZEN. [A citizen goes out. This wasting siege, Good Father Lopez, hath gone hard with you! "Tis sad to hear no voices through the house, Once peopled with fair sons! THIRD CITIZEN. Why, better thus, Than to be haunted with their famish'd cries, E'en in your very dreams! OLD CITIZEN. Heaven's will be done! These are dark times! I have not been alone In my affliction. THIRD CITIZEN (with bitterness). Why, we have but this thought Left for our gloomy comfort!-And 'tis well! No scornful guests, with their long purple robes, FOURTH CITIZEN. Heard you last night the sound Of Saint Jago's bell?-How sullenly From the great tower it peal'd! FIFTH CITIZEN. Aye, and 'tis said No mortal hand was near when so it seem'd To shake the midnight streets. OLD CITIZEN. Too well I know The sound of coming fate!-'Tis ever thus FOURTH CITIZEN. And will our chief Buy with the price of his fair children's blood For this forsaken city? OLD CITIZEN. Doubt it not ! -But with that ransom he may purchase still Deliverance for the land!—And yet 'tis sad To think that such a race, with all its fame, |