The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 140

The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 140

[225] _Ordonio (fiercely recollecting himself)._ Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

[After 229] (_Alvar presses on as if to defend Ordonio._) Edition 1.

[243] one] one's 1829.

[After 244] [_Struggling to suppress her feelings._ Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

[246] _his_ Editions 2, 3, 1829.

[252] _Alhadra (sternly)._ Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

[254] _my_ Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

[254-9]

The deed be mine! (_Suddenly stabs ORDONIO._) Now take _my_ life!

_Alv. (while with TERESA supporting ORDONIO)._ Arm of avenging Heaven!

Thou hast s.n.a.t.c.h'd from me my most cherish'd hope But go! my word was pledged to thee. Away!

Brave not my Father's vengeance! [_The Moors hurry off ALHADRA._

_Ord._ She hath aveng'd the blood of Isidore.

Edition 1.

[255] _Ordonio (with great majesty)._ 'Tis well thou hast avenged thyself, O Woman! Edition 1 (b).

[_Note._--In his collation of _Remorse_ with _Osorio_, the Editor of _P.

W._ 1877-1880, iv. 154 affixes to lines 289-303 of the Fifth Act of _Osorio_ the following variant, said to be derived from the First Edition of _Remorse_:--After the cry of 'No mercy' (_Osorio_, Act V, l.

300), '_NAOMI advances with the sword and ALHADRA s.n.a.t.c.hes it from him and suddenly stabs ORDONIO. ALVAR rushes through the Moors and catches him in his arms._' After Ordonio's dying speech [ll. 304-307], there are '_shouts of Alvar! Alvar! behind the scenes. A Moor rushes in_'--

_Moor._ We are surprised! away! away! this instant!

The country is in arms! Lord Valdez heads them, And still cries out, 'My son! my Alvar lives!'

Haste to the sh.o.r.e! they come the opposite road.

Your wives and children are already safe.

The boat is on the sh.o.r.e--the vessel waits.

_Alhadra._ Thou then art Alvar! to my aid and safety Thy word stands pledged.

_Alvar._ Arm of avenging Heaven!

I had two cherish'd hopes--the one remains, The other thou hast s.n.a.t.c.h'd from me: but my word Is pledged to thee; nor shall it be retracted--

Edition 1 (c) (?).

[For MS. version of this variant see note on p. 597.]]

[257] But go!] Yet, yet MS. H.

[After 259] (_ORDONIO follows ALHADRA with his eye which then raising languidly to ALVAR he compleats his meaning_, but subst.i.tuting '_the_' for '_Thee_'). Marginal stage-direction inserted in MS. R.]

Stage-direction preceding 265 and 265-79: om. Edition 1.

[Before 280] [_The stage fills with armed peasants . . . ALVAR'S arms._ Edition 1.

APPENDIX

The following Scene, as unfit for the stage, was taken from the tragedy, in the year 1797, and published in the Lyrical Ballads. [1798, pp.

28-31: _vide ante_, pp. 182-4.]

_Enter Teresa and Selma._

_Teresa._ 'Tis said, he spake of you familiarly, As mine and Alvar's common foster-mother.

_Selma._ Now blessings on the man, whoe'er he be That joined your names with mine! O my sweet Lady, As often as I think of those dear times, 5 When you two little ones would stand, at eve, On each side of my chair, and make me learn All you had learnt in the day; and how to talk In gentle phrase; then bid me sing to you---- 'Tis more like heaven to come, than what has been! 10

_Teresa._ But that entrance, Selma?

_Selma._ Can no one hear? It is a perilous tale!

_Teresa._ No one.

_Selma._ My husband's father told it me, Poor old Sesina--angels rest his soul; He was a woodman, and could fell and saw With l.u.s.ty arm. You know that huge round beam 15 Which props the hanging wall of the old chapel?

Beneath that tree, while yet it was a tree, He found a baby wrapt in mosses, lined With thistle-beards, and such small locks of wool As hang on brambles. Well, he brought him home, 20 And reared him at the then Lord Valdez' cost.

And so the babe grew up a pretty boy, A pretty boy, but most unteachable---- And never learn'd a prayer, nor told a bead, But knew the names of birds, and mocked their notes, 25 And whistled, as he were a bird himself.

And all the autumn 'twas his only play To gather seeds of wild flowers, and to plant them With earth and water on the stumps of trees.

A Friar, who gathered simples in the wood, 30 A grey-haired man, he loved this little boy: The boy loved him, and, when the friar taught him, He soon could write with the pen; and from that time Lived chiefly at the convent or the castle.

So he became a rare and learned youth: 35 But O! poor wretch! he read, and read, and read, Till his brain turned; and ere his twentieth year He had unlawful thoughts of many things: And though he prayed, he never loved to pray With holy men, nor in a holy place. 40 But yet his speech, it was so soft and sweet, The late Lord Valdez ne'er was wearied with him.

And once, as by the north side of the chapel They stood together chained in deep discourse, The earth heaved under them with such a groan, 45 That the wall tottered, and had well nigh fallen Right on their heads. My Lord was sorely frightened; A fever seized him, and he made confession Of all the heretical and lawless talk Which brought this judgment: so the youth was seized, 50 And cast into that hole. My husband's father Sobbed like a child--it almost broke his heart: And once he was working near this dungeon, He heard a voice distinctly; 'twas the youth's, Who sung a doleful song about green fields, 55 How sweet it were on lake or wide savanna To hunt for food, and be a naked man, And wander up and down at liberty.

He always doted on the youth, and now His love grew desperate; and defying death, 60 He made that cunning entrance I described, And the young man escaped.

_Teresa._ 'Tis a sweet tale: Such as would lull a listening child to sleep, His rosy face besoiled with unwiped tears.

And what became of him?

_Selma._ He went on shipboard 65 With those bold voyagers who made discovery Of golden lands. Sesina's younger brother Went likewise, and when he returned to Spain, He told Sesina, that the poor mad youth, Soon after they arrived in that new world, 70 In spite of his dissuasion, seized a boat, And all alone set sail by silent moonlight Up a great river, great as any sea, And ne'er was heard of more: but 'tis supposed, He lived and died among the savage men. 75

ZAPOLYA[883:1]

A CHRISTMAS TALE IN TWO PARTS[883:2]

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APUD ATHENAEUM.