Alv. What ice hath cool'd that fire,
Which sometimes made thy thoughts to heaven aspire?
This patience had not wont to dwell with thee.
Enter Fernando and Maria.
Ele. 'Tis right, but now the world is chang'd, you see;
Though I seem dead to you, here lives a fire——
No more, here comes the king and my Maria:
The Spaniard loves my wife; she swears to me
She's chaste as the white moon; well, if she be;
Well, too, if she be not, I care not, I;
I'll climb up by that love to dignity.
Fer. Thou woo'st me to revenge thy husband's wrong,
I woo thy fair self not to wrong thyself;
Swear but to love me, and to thee I'll swear
To crown thy husband with a diadem.
Maria. Such love as I dare yield, I'll not deny.
Fer. When in the golden arms of majesty—
I am broke off—yonder thy husband stands;
I'll set him free, if thou unite my bands;
So much for that. Durst then the cardinal
Put on such insolence? tell me, fair madam,
Where's your most valiant husband?
Ele. He sees me, and yet inquires for me.
Maria. Yonder, my lord.
Fer. Eleazar, I have in my breast writ down
From her report your late receiv'd disgrace;
My father lov'd you dearly, so will I.
Ele. True, for my wife's sake.