DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
Alfonso XI.
Orsino.
Cæsario.
Father Bazil.
Henriquez.
Melchior.
Ricardo.
Gomez.
Marcos.
Lucio.
First Citizen.
Second Citizen.
Friars, Soldiers, Citizens, Conspirators, &c.
Amelrosa.
Ottilia.
Estella.
Inis.
Nuns, and Female attendants on Amelrosa.
The scene lies in Burgos (the capital of Old Castile) and in the adjoining Forest.
The Action is supposed to pass in the year 1345.
ACT I.
SCENE I.—The palace-garden.—Daybreak.
Ottilia enters in a night dress: her hair flows dishevelled.
Otti. Dews of the morn, descend! Breathe, summer gales,
My flushed cheeks woo ye! Play, sweet wantons, play
'Mid my loose tresses, fan my panting breast,
Quench my blood's burning fever!—Vain, vain prayer!
Not Winter, throned 'midst Alpine snows, whose will
Can with one breath, one touch, congeal whole realms,
And blanch whole seas; not that fiend's self could ease
This heart, this gulph of flames, this purple kingdom,
Where passion rules and rages!—Oh! my soul!
Cæsario, my Cæsario!—[A pause, during which
she seems buried in thought—the clock strikes four.]
Hark!—Ah me!
Is't still so early? Will't be still so long,
Ere my love comes? Oh! speed, ye pitying hours,
Your flight, till mid-day brings Cæsario back;
Then, if ye list, rest your kind wings for ever!
Enter Lucio.