Egilona

Egil. Remain, I order thee. Attend, and do thy duty; I am queen, Unbent to degradation.

Cov. I attend Ever most humbly and most gratefully My too kind sovran, cousin now no more; p. 39Could I perform but half the services I owe her, I were happy, for a time, Or dared I show her half my love, ’twere bliss.

p. 39

Egil. Oh! I sink under gentleness like thine Thy sight is death to me; and yet ’tis dear. The gaudy trappings of assumptive state Drop, at the voice of nature, to the earth, Before thy feet—I cannot force myself To hate thee, to renounce thee; yet—Covilla! Yet—O distracting thought! ’tis hard to see, Hard to converse, with, to admire, to love, As from my soul I do, and must do, thee— One who hath robbed me of all pride and joy, All dignity, all fondness.—I adored

[After a pause.

Roderigo—he was brave, and in discourse Most voluble; the masses of his mind

[She walks about, and speaks by fits and abstractedly.

Were vast, but varied; now absorbed in gloom, Majestic, not austere; now their extent Opening, and waving in bright levity—

p. 40Jul. Depart, my daughter—’twere as well to bear His presence as his praise [40]—go; she will dream This phantasm out, nor notice thee depart.

p. 40

[She departs.

Egil. What pliancy! what tenderness! what life! O for the smiles of those who smile so seldom, The love of those who know no other love! Such he was, Egilona, who was thine.

Jul. While he was worthy of the realm and thee.

Egil. Can it be true, then, Julian, that thy aim Is sovranty? not virtue, nor revenge?

Jul. I swear to heaven, nor I, nor child of mine, Ever shall mount to this polluted throne.

Egil. Then am I still a queen. The savage Moor Who could not conquer Ceuta from thy sword, In his own country, not with every wile Of his whole race, not with his myriad crests Of cavalry, seen from the Calpian heights Like locusts on the parched and gleamy coast, Will never conquer Spain.

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