And, quite to quench all future hope, Alvarez
Urges Alonzo to espouse his daughter
This very day; for he has learn'd their loves.

_Zan._ Ha! was not that receiv'd with ecstasy
By don Alonzo?

_Man._ Yes, at first; but soon
A damp came o'er him, it would kill his friend.

_Zan._ Not if his friend consented: and since now
He can't himself espouse her--

_Man._ Yet, to ask it
Has something shocking to a gen'rous mind;
At least, Alonzo's spirit startles at it.
Wide is the distance between our despair,
And giving up a mistress to another.
But I must leave you. Carlos wants support
In his severe affliction. [_exit._

_Zan._ Ha, it dawns!--
It rises to me, like a new-found world
To mariners long time distress'd at sea,
Sore from a storm, and all their viands spent;
Or like the sun just rising out of chaos,
Some dregs of ancient night not quite purg'd off.
But shall I finish it?--Hoa, Isabella!

_Enter Isabella._

I thought of dying; better things come forward;
Vengeance is still alive! from her dark covert,
With all her snakes erect upon her crest,
She stalks in view, and fires me with her charms.
When, Isabella, arriv'd don Carlos here?

_Isa._ Two nights ago.

_Zan._ That was the very night
Before the battle--Mem'ry, set down that;
It has the essence of a crocodile,
Though yet but in the shell--I'll give it birth--
What time did he return?

_Isa._ At midnight.

_Zan._ So--
Say, did he see that night his Leonora?

_Isa._ No, my good lord.

_Zan._ No matter--tell me, woman,
Is not Alonzo rather brave than cautious,
Honest than subtle, above fraud himself,
Slow, therefore, to suspect it in another?

_Isa._ You best can judge; but so the world thinks of him.

_Zan._ Why, that was well--go, fetch my tablets hither.
[_exit Isabella._
Two nights ago my father's sacred shade
Thrice stalk'd around my bed, and smil'd upon me:
He smil'd, a joy then little understood--
It must be so--and if so, it is vengeance
Worth waking of the dead for.

_Re-enter Isabella, with the tablets; Zanga writes,
then reads as to himself._

Thus it stands--
The father's fix'd--Don Carlos cannot wed--
Alonzo may--but that will hurt his friend--
Nor can he ask his leave--or, if he did,
He might not gain it--It is hard to give
Our own consent to ills, though we must bear them.
Were it not then a master-piece worth all
The wisdom I can boast, first to persuade
Al