SCENE V.

MAHOMET, MUSTAPHA, CALI, ABDALLA.

MAHOMET. 
Henceforth, for ever happy be this day,
Sacred to love, to pleasure, and Irene! 
The matchless fair has bless’d me with compliance;
Let every tongue resound Irene’s praise,
And spread the gen’ral transport through mankind.

CALI. 
Blest prince, for whom indulgent heav’n ordains,
At once, the joys of paradise and empire,
Now join thy people’s and thy Cali’s prayers;
Suspend thy passage to the seats of bliss,
Nor wish for houries in Irene’s arms.

MAHOMET. 
Forbear—­I know the long-try’d faith of Cali.

CALI. 
Oh! could the eyes of kings, like those of heav’n,
Search to the dark recesses of the soul,
Oft would they find ingratitude and treason,
By smiles, and oaths, and praises, ill disguis’d. 
How rarely would they meet, in crowded courts,
Fidelity so firm, so pure, as mine.

MUSTAPHA. 
Yet, ere we give our loosen’d thoughts to rapture,
Let prudence obviate an impending danger: 
Tainted by sloth, the parent of sedition,
The hungry janizary burns for plunder,
And growls, in private, o’er his idle sabre.

MAHOMET. 
To still their murmurs, ere the twentieth sun
Shall shed his beams upon the bridal bed,
I rouse to war, and conquer for Irene. 
Then shall the Rhodian mourn his sinking tow’rs,
And Buda fall, and proud Vienna tremble;
Then shall Venetia feel the Turkish pow’r,
And subject seas roar round their queen in vain.

ABDALLA. 
Then seize fair Italy’s delightful coast,
To fix your standard in imperial Rome.

MAHOMET. 
Her sons malicious clemency shall spare,
To form new legends, sanctify new crimes;
To canonize the slaves of superstition,
And fill the world with follies and impostures,
Till angry heav’n shall mark them out for ruin,
And war o’erwhelm them in their dream of vice. 
O! could her fabled saints and boasted prayers
Call forth her ancient heroes to the field,
How should I joy, midst the fierce shock of nations,
To cross the tow’rings of an equal soul,
And bid the master-genius rule the world! 
Abdalla, Cali, go—­proclaim my purpose.
                               [Exeunt Cali and Abdalla.

SCENE VI.

MAHOMET, MUSTAPHA.

MAHOMET. 
Still Cali lives:  and must he live to-morrow? 
That fawning villain’s forc’d congratulations
Will cloud my triumphs, and pollute the day.

MUSTAPHA. 
With cautious vigilance, at my command,
Two faithful captains, Hasan and Caraza,
Pursue him through his labyrinths of treason,
And wait your summons to report his conduct.

  MAHOMET. 

Call them—­but let them not prolong their tale,
Nor press, too much, upon a lover’s patience.
                                          [Exit Mustapha.