The Bride of Messina, and On the Use of the Chorus in Tragedy

   What means this pause? Thou lingerest – thou art dumb —   Thy looks are terror-fraught – a shudder creeps   Through all my frame – declare thy tidings! – speak!   Where is she? Where is Beatrice?

[She is about to rush from the chamber.

DON MANUEL (to himself abstractedly)                     Beatrice!DIEGO (holding back the PRINCESS)                          Be still!ISABELLA   Where is she? Anguish tears my breast!DIEGO                        She comes not.   I bring no daughter to thy arms.ISABELLA                    Declare   Thy message! Speak! by all the saints!   What has befallen?DON MANUEL             Where is my sister? Tell us,   Thou harbinger of ill!DIEGO               The maid is stolen   By corsairs! lost! Oh! that I ne'er had seen   This day of woe!DON MANUEL            Compose thyself, my mother!DON CAESAR   Be calm; list all this tale.DIEGO                  At thy command   I sought in haste the well-known path that leads   To the old sanctuary: – joy winged my footsteps;   The journey was my last!DON CAESAR                Be brief!DON MANUEL                      Proceed!DIEGO   Soon as I trod the convent's court – impatient —   I ask – "Where is thy daughter?" Terror sate   In every eye; and straight, with horror mute,   I heard the worst.

[ISABELLA sinks, pale and trembling, upon a chair;

DON MANUEL is busied about her.

DON CAESAR             Say'st thou by pirates stolen?   Who saw the band? – what tongue relates the spoil?DIEGO   Not far a Moorish galley was descried,   At anchor in the bay —DON CAESAR                The refuge oft   From tempests' rage; where is the bark?DIEGO                        At down,   With favoring breeze she stood to sea.DON CAESAR                       But never   One prey contents the Moor; say, have they told   Of other spoil?DIEGO            A herd that pastured near   Was dragged away.DON CAESAR             Yet from the convent's bound   How tear the maid unseen?DIEGO                 'Tis thought with ladders   They scaled the wall.DON CAESAR               Thou knowest what jealous care   Enshrines the bride of Heaven; scarce could their steps   Invade the secret cells.DIEGO                Bound by no vows   The maiden roved at will; oft would she seek   Alone the garden's shade. Alas! this day,   Ne'er to return!DON CAESAR            Saidst thou – the prize of corsairs?   Perchance, at other bidding, she forsook   The sheltering dome —ISABELLA (rising suddenly)               'Twas force! 'twas savage spoil!   Ne'er has my child, reckless of honor's ties   With vile seducer fled! My sons! Awake!   I thought to give a sister to your arms;   I ask a daughter from your swords! Arise!   Avenge this wrong! To arms! Launch every ship!   Scour all our coasts! From sea to sea pursue them!   Oh, bring my daughter! haste!DON CAESAR                   Farewell – I fly   To vengeance!

[He goes away.

[DON MANUEL arouses himself from a state of abstraction, and turns, with an air of agitation, to DIEGO.

DON MANUEL           Speak! within the convent's walls   When first unseen —DIEGO              This day at dawn.DON MANUEL (to ISABELLA)                       Her name   Thou say'st is Beatrice?ISABELLA                No question! Fly!DON MANUEL   Yet tell me —ISABELLA           Haste! Begone! Why this delay?   Follow thy brother.DON MANUEL              I conjure thee – speak —ISABELLA (dragging him away)   Behold my tears!DON MANUEL            Where was she hid? What region   Concealed my sister?ISABELLA              Scarce from curious eyes   In the deep bosom of the earth more safe   My child had been!DIEGO             Oh! now a sudden horror   Starts in my breast.DON MANUEL              What gives thee fear?DIEGO                          'Twas I   That guiltless caused this woe!ISABELLA                    Unhappy man!   What hast thou done?DIEGO              To spare thy mother's heart   One anxious pang, my mistress, I concealed   What now my lips shall tell: 'twas on the day   When thy dead husband in the silent tomb   Was laid; from every side the unnumbered throng   Pressed eager to the solemn rites; thy daughter —   For e'en amid the cloistered shade was noised   The funeral pomp, urged me, with ceaseless prayers,   To lead her to the festival of Death.   In evil hour I gave consent; and, shrouded   In sable weeds of mourning, she surveyed   Her father's obsequies. With keen reproach   My bosom tells (for through the veil her charms   Resistless shone), 'twas there, perchance, the spoiler   Lurked to betray.DON MANUEL (to himself)             Thrice happy words! I live!   It was another!ISABELLA (to DIEGO)            Faithless! Ill betide   Thy treacherous age!DIEGO              Oh, never have I strayed   From duty's path! My mistress, in her prayers   I heard the voice of Nature; thus from Heaven   Ordained, – methought, the secret impulse moves   Of kindred blood, to hallow with her tears   A father's grave: the tender office owned   Thy servant's care, and thus with good intent   I wrought but ill.DON MANUEL (to himself)             Why stand I thus a prey   To torturing fears! No longer will I bear   The dread suspense – I will know all!DON CAESAR (who returns)                       Forgive me,   I follow thee.DON MANUEL           Away! Let no man follow.

[Exit.

DON CAESAR (looking after him in surprise)   What means my brother? Speak —ISABELLA                    In wonder lost   I gaze; some mystery lurks —DON CAESAR                  Thou mark'st, my mother,   My quick return; with eager zeal I flew   At thy command, nor asked one trace to guide   My footsteps to thy daughter. Whence was torn   Thy treasure? Say, what cloistered solitude   Enshrined the beauteous maid?ISABELLA                   'Tis consecrate   To St. Cecilia; deep in forest shades,   Beyond the woody ridge that slowly climbs   Toward's Etna's towering throne, it seems a refuge   Of parted souls!DON CAESAR            Have courage, trust thy sons;   She shall be thine, though with unwearied quest   O'er every land and sea I track her presence   To earth's extremest bounds: one thought alone   Disturbs, – in stranger hands my timorous bride   Waits my return; to thy protecting arms   I give the pledge of all my joy! She comes;   Soon on her faithful bosom thou shalt rest   In sweet oblivion of thy cares.

[Exit.

ISABELLA   When will the ancient curse be stilled that weighs   Upon our house? Some mocking demon sports   With every new-formed hope, nor envious leaves   One hour of joy. So near the haven smiled —   So smooth the treacherous main – secure I deemed   My happiness: the storm was lulled; and bright   In evening's lustre gleamed the sunny shore!   Then through the placid air the tempest sweeps,   And bears me to the roaring surge again!

[She goes into the interior of the palace, followed by DIEGO.

The Scene changes to the Garden.

Both Choruses, afterwards BEATRICE.

The Chorus of DON MANUEL enters in solemn procession, adorned with garlands, and bearing the bridal ornaments above mentioned. The Chorus of DON CAESAR opposes their entrance.

First Chorus (CAJETAN)   Begone!Second Chorus (BOHEMUND)       Not at thy bidding!CAJETAN                  Seest thou not   Thy presence irks?BOHEMUND             Thou hast it, then, the longer!CAJETAN   My place is here! What arm repels me?BOHEMUND,                       Mine!CAJETAN   Don Manuel sent me hither.BOHEMUND                 I obey   My Lord Don Caesar.CAJETAN              To the eldest born   Thy master reverence owes.BOHEMUND                 The world belongs   To him that wins!CAJETAN             Unmannered knave, give place!BOHEMUND   Our swords be measured first!CAJETAN                   I find thee ever   A serpent in my path.BOHEMUND               Where'er I list   Thus will I meet thee!CAJETAN               Say, why cam'st thou hither   To spy? —BOHEMUND         And thou to question and command?CAJETAN   To parley I disdain!BOHEMUND              Too much I grace thee   By words!CAJETAN         Thy hot, impetuous youth should bow   To reverend age.BOHEMUND            Older thou art – not braver.BEATRICE (rushing from her place of concealment)   Alas! What mean these warlike men?CAJETAN (to BOHEMUND)                      I heed not   Thy threats and lofty mien.BOHEMUND                  I serve a master   Better than thine.BEATRICE             Alas! Should he appear!CAJETAN   Thou liest! Don Manuel thousandfold excels.BOHEMUND   In every strife the wreath of victory decks   Don Caesar's brows!BEATRICE              Now he will come! Already   The hour is past!CAJETAN             'Tis peace, or thou shouldst know   My vengeance!BOHEMUND           Fear, not peace, thy arm refrains.BEATRICE   Oh! Were he thousand miles remote!CAJETAN                      Thy looks   But move my scorn; the compact I obey.BOHEMUND   The coward's ready shield!CAJETAN                 Come on! I follow.BOHEMUND   To arms!BEATRICE (in the greatest agitation)        Their falchions gleam – the strife begins!   Ye heavenly powers, his steps refrain! Some snare   Throw round his feet, that in this hour of dread   He come not: all ye angels, late implored   To give him to my arms, reverse my prayers;   Far, far from hence convey the loved one!

[She runs into the alcove. At the moment when the two Choruses are about to engage, DON MANUEL appears.

DON MANUEL, the Chorus.

DON MANUEL   What do I see!First Chorus to the Second (CAJETAN, BERENGAR, MANFRED)           Come on! Come on!Second Chorus (BOHEMUND, ROGER, HIPPOLYTE)                     Down with them!DON MANUEL (stepping between them with drawn sword)   Hold!CAJETAN       'Tis the prince!BOHEMUND                Be still!DON MANUEL                     I stretch him dead   Upon this verdant turf that with one glance   Of scorn prolongs the strife, or threats his foe!   Why rage ye thus? What maddening fiend impels   To blow the flames of ancient hate anew,   Forever reconciled? Say, who began   The conflict? Speak —First Chorus (CAJETAN, BERENGAR)               My prince, we stood —Second Chorus (ROGER, BOHEMUND) interrupting them                           They cameDON MANUEL (to the First Chorus)   Speak thou!First Chorus (CAJETAN)          With wreaths adorned, in festal train,   We bore the bridal gifts; no thought of ill   Disturbed our peaceful way; composed forever   With holy pledge of love we deemed your strife,   And trusting came; when here in rude array   Of arms encamped they stood, and loud defied us!DON MANUEL   Slave! Is no refuge safe? Shall discord thus   Profane the bower of virgin innocence,   The home of sanctity and peace?

[To the Second Chorus.

                    Retire —   Your warlike presence ill beseems; away!   I would be private.

[They hesitate.

              In your master's name   I give command; our souls are one, our lips   Declare each other's thoughts; begone!

[To the First Chorus.

                       Remain!   And guard the entrance.BOHEMUND                So! What next? Our masters   Are reconciled; that's plain; and less he wins   Of thanks than peril, that with busy zeal   In princely quarrel stirs; for when of strife   His mightiness aweary feels, of guilt   He throws the red-dyed mantle unconcerned   On his poor follower's luckless head, and stands   Arrayed in virtue's robes! So let them end   E'en as they will their brawls, I hold it best   That we obey.

[Exit Second Chorus. The first withdraws to the back of the stage; at the same moment BEATRICE rushes forward, and throws herself into DON MANUEL'S arms.

BEATRICE           'Tis thou! Ah! cruel one,   Again I see thee – clasp thee – long appalled,   To thousand ills a prey, trembling I languish   For thy return: no more – in thy loved arms   I am at peace, nor think of dangers past,   Thy breast my shield from every threatening harm.   Quick! Let us fly! they see us not! – away!   Nor lose the moment.              Ha! Thy looks affright me!   Thy sullen, cold reserve! Thou tear'st thyself   Impatient from my circling arms, I know thee   No more! Is this Don Manuel? My beloved?   My husband?DON MANUEL          Beatrice!BEATRICE               No words! The moment   Is precious! Haste.DON MANUEL              Yet tell me —BEATRICE                      Quick! Away!   Ere those fierce men return.DON MANUEL                  Be calm, for naught   Shall trouble thee of ill.BEATRICE                 Oh, fly! alas,   Thou know'st them not!DON MANUEL               Protected by this arm   Canst thou fear aught?BEATRICE               Oh, trust me; mighty men   Are here!DON MANUEL         Beloved! mightier none than I!BEATRICE   And wouldst thou brave this warlike host alone?DON MANUEL   Alone! the men thou fear'st —BEATRICE                   Thou know'st them not,   Nor whom they serve.DON MANUEL              Myself! I am their lord!BEATRICE   Thou art – a shudder creeps through all my frame!DON MANUEL   Far other than I seemed; learn at last   To know me, Beatrice. Not the poor knight   Am I, the stranger and unknown, that loving   Taught thee to love; but what I am – my race —   My power —BEATRICE         And art thou not Don Manuel? Speak —   Who art thou?DON MANUEL           Chief of all that bear the name,   I am Don Manuel, Prince of Messina!BEATRICE   Art thou Don Manuel, Don Caesar's brother?DON MANUEL   Don Caesar is my brother.BEATRICE                 Is thy brother!DON MANUEL   What means this terror? Know'st thou, then, Don Caesar?   None other of my race?BEATRICE               Art thou Don Manuel,   That with thy brother liv'st in bitter strife   Of long inveterate hate?DON MANUEL                This very sun   Smiled on our glad accord! Yes, we are brothers!   Brothers in heart!BEATRICE             And reconciled? This day?DON MANUEL   What stirs this wild disorder? Hast thou known   Aught but our name? Say, hast thou told me all?   Is there no secret? Hast thou naught concealed?   Nothing disguised?BEATRICE             Thy words are dark; explain,   What shall I tell thee?DON MANUEL                Of thy mother naught   Hast thou e'er told; who is she? If in words   I paint her, bring her to thy sight —BEATRICE                       Thou know'st her!   And thou wert silent!DON MANUEL               If I know thy mother,   Horrors betide us both!BEATRICE                Oh, she is gracious   As the sun's orient beam! Yes! I behold her;   Fond memory wakes; – and from my bosom's depths   Her godlike presence rises to my view!   I see around her snowy neck descend   The tresses of her raven hair, that shade   The form of sculptured loveliness; I see   The pale, high-thoughted brow; the darkening glance   Of her large lustrous orbs; I hear the tones   Of soul-fraught sweetness!DON MANUEL                 'Tis herself!BEATRICE                         This day,   Perchance had give me to her arms, and knit   Our souls in everlasting love; – such bliss   I have renounced, yes! I have lost a mother   For thee!DON MANUEL         Console thyself, Messina's princess   Henceforth shall call thee daughter; to her feet   I lead thee; come – she waits. What hast thou said?BEATRICE   Thy mother and Don Caesar's? Never! never!DON MANUEL   Thou shudderest! Whence this horror? Hast thou known   My mother? Speak —BEATRICE              O grief! O dire misfortune!   Alas! that e'er I live to see this day!DON MANUEL   What troubles thee? Thou know'st me, thou hast found,   In the poor stranger knight, Messina's prince!BEATRICE   Give me the dear unknown again! With him   On earth's remotest wilds I could be blest!DON CAESAR (behind the scene)   Away! What rabble throng is here?BEATRICE                     That voice!   Oh heavens! Where shall I fly!DON MANUEL                    Know'st thou that voice?   No! thou hast never heard it; to thine ear   'Tis strange —BEATRICE           Oh, come – delay not —DON MANUEL                       Wherefore I fly?   It is my brother's voice! He seeks me – how   He tracked my steps —BEATRICE               By all the holy saints!   Brave not his wrath! oh quit this place – avoid him —   Meet not thy brother here!DON MANUEL                 My soul! thy fears   Confound; thou hear'st me not; our strife is o'er.   Yes! we are reconciled.BEATRICE                Protect me, heaven,   In this dread hour!DON MANUEL              A sudden dire presage   Starts in my breast – I shudder at the thought:   If it be true! Oh, horror! Could she know   That voice! Wert thou – my tongue denies to utter   The words of fearful import – Beatrice!   Say, wert thou present at the funeral rites   Of my dead sire?BEATRICE            Alas!DON MANUEL                Thou wert!BEATRICE                      Forgive me!DON MANUEL   Unhappy woman!BEATRICE           I was present!DON MANUEL                   Horror!BEATRICE   Some mighty impulse urged me to the scene —   Oh, be not angry – to thyself I owned   The ardent fond desire; with darkening brow   Thou listened'st to my prayer, and I was silent,   But what misguiding inauspicious star   Allured, I know not; from my inmost soul   The wish, the dear emotion spoke; and vain   Aught else: – Diego gave consent – oh, pardon me!   I disobeyed thee.

[She advances towards him imploringly; at the same moment

DON CAESAR enters, accompanied by the whole Chorus.

BOTH BROTHERS, BOTH CHORUSES, BEATRICE.

Second Chorus (BOHEMUND) to DON CAESAR             Thou heliev'st us not —   Believe thine eyes!DON CAESAR (rushes forward furiously, and at the sight of his brother starts back with horror)              Some hell-born magic cheats   My senses; in her arms! Envenomed snake!   Is this thy love? For this thy treacherous heart   Could lure with guise of friendship! Oh, from heaven   Breathed my immortal hate! Down, down to hell,   Thou soul of falsehood!

[He stabs him, DON MANUEL falls.

DON MANUEL                Beatrice! – my brother!   I die!

[Dies. BEATRICE sinks lifeless at his side.

First Chorus (CAJETAN)   Help! Help! To arms! Avenge with blood   The bloody deed!Second Chorus (BOHEMUND)            The fortune of the day   Is ours! The strife forever stilled: – Messina   Obeys one lord.First Chorus (CAJETAN, BERENGAR, MANFRED)            Revenge! The murderer   Shall die! Quick, offer to your master's shade   Appeasing sacrifice!Second Chorus (BOHEMUND, ROGER, HIPPOLYTE)              My prince! fear nothing,   Thy friends are true.DON CAESAR (steps between them, looking around)               Be still! The foe is slain   That practised on my trusting, honest heart   With snares of brother's love. Oh, direful shows   The deed of death! But righteous heaven hath judged.First Chorus (CAJETAN)   Alas to thee, Messina! Woe forever!   Sad city! From thy blood-stained walls this deed   Of nameless horror taints the skies; ill fare   Thy mothers and thy children, youth and age,   And offspring yet, unborn!DON CAESAR                 Too late your grief —   Here give your help.

[Pointing to BEATRICE.

              Call her to life, and quick   Depart this scene of terror and of death.   I must away and seek my sister: – Hence!   Conduct her to my mother —   And tell her that her son, Don Caesar, sends her!

[Exit.

[The senseless BEATRICE is placed on a litter and carried away by the Second Chorus. The First Chorus remains with the body, round which the boys who bear the bridal presents range themselves in a semicircle.

Chorus (CAJETAN)      List, how with dreaded mystery       Was signed to my prophetic soul,      Of kindred blood the dire decree: —      Hither with noiseless, giant stride      I saw the hideous fiend of terror glide!       'Tis past! I strive not to control      My shuddering awe – so swift of ill      The Fates the warning sign fulfil.      Lo! to my sense dismayed,       Sudden the deed of death has shown      Whate'er my boding fears portrayed.      The visioned thought was pain;      The present horror curdles every veinOne of the Chorus (MANFRED)       Sound, sound the plaint of woe!        Beautiful youth!       Outstretched and pale he lies,      Untimely cropped in early bloom;       The heavy night of death has sealed his eyes; —       In this glad hour of nuptial joy,      Snatched by relentless doom,      He sleeps – while echoing to the sky,      Of sorrow bursts the loud, despairing cry!A second (CAJETAN)      We come, we come, in festal pride,      To greet the beauteous bride;        Behold! the nuptial gifts, the rich attire       The banquet waits, the guests are there;      They bid thee to the solemn rite       Of hymen quick repair.        Thou hear'st them not – the sportive lyre,      The frolic dance, shall ne'er invite;      Nor wake thee from thy lowly bed,      For deep the slumber of the dead!The whole Chorus      No more the echoing horn shall cheer      Nor bride with tones of sweetness charm his ear.      On the cold earth he lies,      In death's eternal slumber closed his eyes.A third (CAJETAN)      What are the hopes, and fond desires       Of mortals' transitory race?        This day, with harmony of voice and soul,      Ye woke the long-extinguished fires      Of brothers' love – yon flaming orb       Lit with his earliest beams your dear embrace       At eve, upon the gory sand      Thou liest – a reeking corpse!       Stretched by a brother's murderous hand.        Vain projects, treacherous hopes,      Child of the fleeting hour are thine;      Fond man! thou rear'st on dust each bold design,Chorus (BERENGAR)       To thy mother I will bear      The burden of unutterable woe!       Quick shall yon cypress, blooming fair,      Bend to the axe's murderous blow       Then twine the mournful bier!      For ne'er with verdant life the tree shall smile      That grew on death's devoted soil;      Ne'er in the breeze the branches play,      Nor shade the wanderer in the noontide ray;      'Twas marked to bear the fruits of doom,      Cursed to the service of the tomb.First (CAJETAN)       Woe to the murderer! Woe      That sped exulting in his pride,      Behold! the parched earth drinks the crimson tide.      Down, down it flows, unceasingly,       To the dim caverned halls below,      Where throned in kindred gloom the sister train,       Of Themis progeny severe,      Brood in their songless, silent reign!       Stern minister of wrath's decree,      They catch in swarthy cups thy streaming gore,      And pledge with horrid rites for vengeance evermore.Second (BERENGAR)      Though swift of deed the traces fade       From earth, before the enlivening ray;      As o'er the brow the transient shade       Of thought, the hues of fancy flit away: —      Yet in the mystic womb unseen,       Of the dark ruling hours that sway      Our mortal lot, whate'er has been,       With new creative germ defies decay.      The blooming field is time      For nature's ever-teeming shoot,      And all is seed, and all is fruit.

[The Chorus goes away, bearing the corpse of DON MANUEL on a bier.

SCENE II

The hall of pillars. It is night.

The stage is lighted from above by a single large lamp.

DONNA ISABELLA and DIEGO advance to the front.

ISABELLA   As yet no joyful tidings, not a trace   Found of the lost one!DIEGO               Nothing have we heard,   My mistress; yet o'er every track, unwearied,   Thy sons pursue. Ere long the rescued maid   Shall smile at dangers past.ISABELLA                  Alas! Diego,   My heart is sad; 'twas I that caused this woe!DIEGO   Vex not thy anxious bosom; naught escaped   Thy thoughtful care.ISABELLA              Oh! had I earlier shown   The hidden treasure!DIEGO              Prudent were thy counsels,   Wisely thou left'st her in retirement's shade;   So, trust in heaven.ISABELLA              Alas! no joy is perfect   Without this chance of ill my bliss were pure.DIEGO   Thy happiness is but delayed; enjoy   The concord of thy sons.ISABELLA                The sight was rapture   Supreme, when, locked in one another's arms,   They glowed with brothers' love.DIEGO                    And in the heart   It burns; for ne'er their princely souls have stooped   To mean disguise.ISABELLA             Now, too, their bosoms wake   To gentler thoughts, and own their softening sway   Of love. No more their hot, impetuous youth   Revels in liberty untamed, and spurns   Restraint of law, attempered passion's self,   With modest, chaste reserve.                  To thee, Diego,   I will unfold my secret heart; this hour   Of feeling's opening bloom, expected long,   Wakes boding fears: thou know'st to sudden rage   Love stirs tumultuous breasts; and if this flame   With jealousy should rouse the slumbering fires   Of ancient hate – I shudder at the thought!   If these discordant souls perchance have thrilled   In fatal unison! Enough; the clouds   That black with thundering menace o'er me hung   Are past; some angel sped them tranquil by,   And my enfranchised spirit breathes again.DIEGO   Rejoice, my mistress; for thy gentle sense   And soft, prevailing art more weal have wrought   Than all thy husband's power. Be praise to thee   And thy auspicious star!ISABELLA                Yes, fortune smiled;   Nor light the task, so long with apt disguise   To veil the cherished secret of my heart,   And cheat my ever-jealous lord: more hard   To stifle mighty nature's pleading voice,   That, like a prisoned fire, forever strove   To rend its confines.DIEGO               All shall yet be well;   Fortune, propitious to our hopes, gave pledge   Of bliss that time will show.ISABELLA                   I praise not yet   My natal star, while darkening o'er my fate   This mystery hangs: too well the dire mischance   Tells of the fiend whose never-slumbering rage   Pursues our house. Now list what I have done,   And praise or blame me as thou wilt; from thee   My bosom guards no secret: ill I brook   This dull repose, while swift o'er land and sea   My sons unwearied, track their sister's flight,   Yes, I have sought; heaven counsels oft, when vain   All mortal aid.DIEGO            What I may know, my mistress,   Declare.ISABELLA        On Etna's solitary height   A reverend hermit dwells, – benamed of old   The mountain seer, – who to the realms of light   More near abiding than the toilsome race   Of mortals here below, with purer air   Has cleansed each earthly, grosser sense away;   And from the lofty peak of gathered years,   As from his mountain home, with downward glance   Surveys the crooked paths of worldly strife.   To him are known the fortunes of our house;   Oft has the holy sage besought response   From heaven, and many a curse with earnest prayer   Averted: thither at my bidding flew,   On wings of youthful haste, a messenger,   To ask some tidings of my child: each hour   I wait his homeward footsteps.DIEGO                   If mine eyes   Deceive me not, he comes; and well his speed   Has earned thy praise.

MESSENGER, ISABELLA, DIEGO.