Poetical Works
of
ROBERT BRIDGES

Volume V

London
Smith, Elder & Co.
15 Waterloo Place
1902

OXFORD: HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

POETICAL WORKS OF
ROBERT BRIDGES

VOLUME THE FIFTH
CONTAINING

LIST OF PREVIOUS EDITIONS

CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES.

1. THE CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES. A Tragedy in Five Acts in a mixed manner. Published by Ewd. Bumpus. Holborn Bars. London, 1890. 4to. pp. 101-116.

HUMOURS OF THE COURT

1. THE HUMOURS OF THE COURT. A Comedy in Three Acts. Published by Geo. Bell & Sons and J. and E. Bumpus, Lim. London. 4to. pp. 147-181 [1893].

THE CHRISTIAN
CAPTIVES

A TRAGEDY
IN A MIXED MANNER

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

CHORUS OF CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES.

Soldiers, Guards, and Messengers.

The scene is in the garden of a castle of the King of Fez, by the sea.

CHRISTIAN
CAPTIVES

ACT · I

ALMEH and ZAPEL.

ALMEH.

Why never came we here before? To think

I have lived for eighteen years shut up in Fez,

Hemmed by the sandy desert, and all the while

There was the sea! To have never seen the sea!

ZAPEL.

If thou hadst ever seen it, where were now

Thy joy? ’tis novelty makes the delight.

To them that in this castle dwell, the sea

Is as the desert was to us at Fez.

Al. Custom will dull the sense of any pleasure.

But set them down at Fez, would they not pine?

There’s life in the air. ’Twixt yon blue roomy dome

And watery pavement the young winds charge forth

Stored with refreshment: now we taste the springs

Man’s spirit should drink, the very mountain torrent

Of heaven, that were content to slake our throats’

Immortal thirst at stagnant pools. What, Zapel,

Is the limit of our stay? now I am here,

I would abide for ever.

Za.I know as little

As thou. The king, thy sire, came here to fight

The unbelievers: when they are beaten back

We shall go home. But why he sent for thee

I cannot guess.

Al.Last night I know not, Zapel,

Whether I slept or waked,—

Za.Nor could I sleep.

Al. But as I lay and listened to the sea,

I plainly heard a waft of singing voices,

That rose and fell and died anon away,

Whiling the dark with some sweet lullaby.

Za. Why, ’twas the Christian captives that thou heardst.

Al. Ah! prisoners in the castle: I had forgot:

’Twas told me. And they are Christians! Can it be

They sing so sweetly?

31

Za.Nay, I call it not sweet.

’Tis sadder than the moaning of the wind

To hear them praise their god.

Al.True, it was sad:

Unearthly it seemed. Now more than ever, Zapel,

I am glad I came; if there be Christians here,

And I may come to see them. All my life

I have heard strange things of them, and wondered much

What they were like. I’ll speak with them.

Za.Ha! ha!

Al. Why not?

Za.They lie chained in a noisome pit,

Where ’tis impossible to come.

40

Al.Who be they?

What is their fault?

Za.They are captives in the war.

Al. My father doth not use his captives so.

Za. They are unbelievers.

Al.True: yet that’s no crime

But what they might impute to us. Were we

In their hands fallen, thus cut off from our homes,

’Twere cruel to be tortured for the faith.

Za. They are worthless dogs.

Al.Alas! is all my teaching

So cast away upon thy boorish soul?

Pity makes brethren of our enemies.

Za. Forgive me, lady; I spoke in haste; and yet—

I would that thou couldst think as I.

51

Al.Indeed,

That were attainment. Vex me not, I bid thee;

But plan with me how I may see these captives:

Were’t but to have them sing to me I’d do it:

But curiosity and pity alike

Move me. If man is cruel, ’tis woman’s part

To ease the suffering which she cannot hinder.

Za. How wouldst thou see them?

Al.I shall ask my father

To grant them, if it be but once a day,

To walk at liberty within the walls.

Za. ’Tis pity Sala is not here.

Al.Thy meaning?

Za. The general hath the keeping of the castle,

And he would work thy way in any wish,

Howe’er preposterous.

Al.And thou sayst not ill.

Sala is approachable and kind at heart:

’Tis pity he is away. [Trumpets heard without.

Za.Here comes the king;

He bade me shew thee hither in the garden,

And here will look to find thee.

Al.Go, I bid thee,

And tell him that I am here. [Exit Zapel.

Now shall I know why I was sent for hither.

Would ’twere to take this castle for my own,

With no more retinue than might suffice

To till this garden, and to cook my food.

I’d win these Christian captives to my service

For ministers and minstrels; ay, and they

Should row me on the water. I’d have my books

In the northern tower, where set on high my lamp,

Forestalling darkness with its seaward ray,

Sailors should look for, and on tranquil nights

Hear solemn music faintly, and believe

There was enchantment. Could I have my will,

So would I live. And where’s the gain to be

The daughter of a king, if every wish

Nearest one’s heart is of like course denied,

As to the meanest peasant ... when one word,

One nod could grant it?

Enter King.

KING.

Almeh! my rose of June!

Queen of my gardens, flower of all my kingdom!

Al. Honour be thine, my sire.

K.I bring thee joy.

Hast thou not wondered why I sent for thee?

Al. Why was it? I long to know.

90

K. (giving).See for thyself.

Al. A picture!

K.’Tis a portrait.

Al.And of whom?

K. Dost thou not guess who this young Kaled is:

This high and dauntless brow, this stalwart arm,

Keen eye and martial poise?

Al.If this be he,

Who made of late entreaty for my hand,

Prince Tarudante ...

K.A happy omen. Ay,

Look, girl, and love him, for he wooes thee well

With all Morocco.

Al.Yet I cannot love

Thy wish to banish me so far.

K.Thy marriage

Will bring Morocco nearer, and renew

Our old alliance: for thy valiant lover

Comes not with gold to woo thee, but sharp steel.

His flag is black, his ceremonious train

Are twenty thousand horsemen sworn to avenge

The Prophet.... Ceuta will be mine.

Al.Ah, sire!

I like not love that comes with war to woo.

K. But war that shall bring peace, whose lasting olive

May not be sceptred in my hand, until

This fallen jewel be set back in my crown.

Thy marriage with Morocco shall wipe out

The old dishonour that hath vexed my reign.

Al. And yet doth Ceuta, sire, in all thy kingdom

Rank as a little town.

K.Thou art a woman;

How can I show thee? This anemone,

’Tis beautiful, nor canst thou say its grace

Resides in this part nor in that: but look;

I pluck a petal from it.—Thou beholdest

My kingdom without Ceuta. Wouldst thou wish

To set this back unto the perfect flower?

Al. How could I do it?

120

K.I must tell thee all.

Our ancestors, thou knowest, blest be their names,

Long ruled in Spain, and made that coign of the earth

The glory of all; but to the peaceful arts

Turning their genius when they sat to rule,

Their prudence slept: for that half-barbarous race,

Whom conquering they had spared, grew up more apt

In arms, and rising ’gainst our easy folk

O’erthrew and dispossest them;—and, not content

To have driven us out of Spain, pursued us hither,

Where in our southern bounds we lived retired

Behind the ocean as an ample shield.

’Twas in thy grandsire’s time, ere thou wert born,

They did this wrong; the boastful Portuguese

Swoln with malevolence,—why should I say it?—

King Joam and his sons, all unprovoked,

For we had oaths of peace, attacked us here

With sudden treacherous assault, and seized

Ceuta, our strongest barrier thitherward.

Impregnable we deemed it, and indeed

Impregnable have found it ’gainst ourselves

For twenty years besieging it in vain.

Then should this shame, unbearable to us,

Prove but incitement to our foes, a foothold

For further wresting. Two months have not passed

Since that a new Armada sailed from Tagus

Against Tangiers, and both by land and sea

Beleaguering would have reft that city too,

And added my dishonour to my father’s,

Had not Ben Sala’s generalship o’ermatched

Their most infernal malice. Praised be Allah!

They fell, they fled; and such as fled not lie

Dead on our sands, or in our dungeons chained.

Al. Are those the captives in the castle pit?

K. Ay, but thou breakst my tale;—mark what I tell.—

The victory mine, I looked to make fair peace,

And would have given my prisoners in exchange

For Ceuta; but the prince of Portugal,

Behind those walls retired, refused the ransom;

And gathering reinforcement hath come forth

To devastate the country. ’Tis ’gainst him

That Sala marched five days ago. Meanwhile

Morocco, who was treating for thy hand,

Heard tidings of our war, and having now

An armament collected ’gainst the tribes,

Has turned it to my rescue. ’Twas for this

I sent for thee; in furtherance of thy marriage;

Hoping thereby to bind him in the terms

I have to tell thee. However Sala fare,

And hitherto no news comes from his camp,

’Twere no achievement worthy of Tarudante

To make dispersal of a broken foe:

I shall propose a greater enterprise;

I’ll say ’Thou wilt not grudge to sweep the bounds

Of the fair realm, whose heiress thou wouldst wed.

Make we this compact—Win me Ceuta back

And drive the idolaters across the sea,

Ere thou take home my daughter for thy queen.’

Al. But doth Morocco, sire, know I am here?

K. Nay, nor myself knew, when I sent for thee,

How ’twould fall out: ’twas timed most happily.

Al. But coming not to woo, may he not find

Offence in the constraint; as I confess

I feel to lay it on him, tho’my lover?

K. Nay, nay, girl; he is in earnest; meet him frankly;

’Tis by his love thou shalt restore my town.

Enter Messenger.

MESSENGER.

News from the army, Sire.

K.Thou lookest black:

What is it? speak.

Mess.O mighty king, ’tis ill.

Sala ben Sala’s forces were attacked

At nightfall by the Christians. In the dark

Was battle waged. By morn what men remained

And all the camp were captive.

K.God forbid!

Five thousand men were there: be none escaped?

Mess. Such as in darkness fled.

K.And fledst thou thence?

Mess. The general sent me on.

K.And what of him?

Mess. The dawn discovered him, when all was lost,

Fighting on foot upon a little hill,

Surrounded by the foe; when seeing no hope,

He made surrender to the Christian leader,

Who gave him liberty. Thus far to tell

He bade, and that he followed speedily.

K. When will he come?

Mess.Sire, tho’I used all duty,

He hath overtaken me and dismounts without.

K. Go, wait upon him. [Exit Messenger.

Accursed be the seed

Of these idolaters. Five thousand men,

The best in Fez: the right arm of my power

Lost in one night. Five thousand men were there.

Ah! by God’s holiest names!

Al.Thank heaven, dear father,

The best is saved, if Sala be escaped.

K. True, girl: and from the ill there’s good to come:

Their victory will lead these devils on.