_Almah._ Then briefly will I speak, since you must know
What to the world my future acts will show:
But hear me first, and then my reasons weigh.
'Tis known, how duty led me to obey
My father's choice; and how I since did live,
You, sir, can best your testimony give.
How to your aid I have Almanzor brought,
When by rebellious crowds your life was sought;
Then, how I bore your causeless jealousy,
(For I must speak) and after set you free,
When you were prisoner in the chance of war:
These, sure, are proofs of love.

_Boab._ I grant they are.

_Almah._ And could you then, O cruelly unkind!
So ill reward such tenderness of mind?
Could you, denying what our laws afford
The meanest subject, on a traitor's word,
Unheard, condemn, and suffer me to go
To death, and yet no common pity show!

_Boab._ Love filled my heart even to the brim before;
And then, with too much jealousy, boiled o'er.

_Almah._ Be't love or jealousy, 'tis such a crime,
That I'm forewarned to trust a second time.
Know, then, my prayers to heaven shall never cease,
To crown your arms in war, your wars with peace;
But from this day I will not know your bed:
Though Almahide still lives, your wife is dead;
And with her dies a love so pure and true,
It could be killed by nothing but by you. [_Exit_ ALMAH.

_Boab._ Yes; you will spend your life in prayers for me,
And yet this hour my hated rival see.
She might a husband's jealousy forgive;
But she will only for Almanzor live.
It is resolved; I will myself provide
That vengeance, which my useless laws denied;
And, by Almanzor's death, at once remove
The rival of my empire, and my love. [_Exit_ BOAB.

_Enter_ ALMAHIDE, _led by_ ALMANZOR, _and followed by_ ESPERANZA;
_she speaks, entering._

_Almah._ How much, Almanzor, to your aid I owe,
Unable to repay, I blush to know;
Yet, forced by need, ere I can clear that score,
I, like ill debtors, come to borrow more.

_Almanz._ Your new commands I on my knees attend:
I was created for no other end.
Born to be yours, I do by nature serve,
And, like the labouring beast, no thanks deserve.

_Almah._ Yet first your virtue to your succour call,
For in this hard command you'll need it all.

_Almanz._ I stand prepared; and whatsoe'er it be,
Nothing is hard to him, who loves like me.

_Almah._ Then know, I from your love must yet implore
One proof:--that you would never see me more.

_Almanz._ I must confess,