VITTORIA. Love!-make love's name thy spell, And I am strong!-the very word calls up From the dark past, thoughts, feelings, powers, array'd As bow'd all hearts before him!-Was he not Yet in the mien of thine affianced bride, Oh, my lost Conradin! there should be still ERIBERT. Haughty dame ! If thy proud heart to tenderness be closed, Know, danger is around thee: thou hast foes That seek thy ruin, and my power alone Can shield thee from their arts. VITTORIA. Provençal, tell Thy tale of danger to some happy heart, Which hath its little world of loved ones round, ERIBERT. Is there not one Who ne'er commands in vain ?-proud lady, bend Thy spirit to thy fate; for know that he, O'er the bow'd neck of prostrate Sicily, Hath borne him to dominion; he, my king, Charles of Anjou, decrees thy hand the boon My deeds have well deserved; and who hath power Against his mandates? VITTORIA. Viceroy, tell thy lord, That e'en where chains lie heaviest on the land, Conquerors have rock'd the earth, yet fail'd to tame Inhabiting man's breast.-A spark bursts forth, And so they perish!-'tis the fate of those ERIBERT. 'Tis well. Then nerve that lofty heart to bear Still finds what most it seeks for. Fare thee well. -Look to it yet!-To-morrow I return. VITTORIA. [Exit ERIBERT. To-morrow!-Some ere now have slept, and dreamt Of morrows which ne'er dawn'd-or ne'er for them; Hath melted into death !—Are there not balms Free and avenged.-Thou should'st be now at work, Thy spiry pillar of dark smoke so high, Through the red heaven of sunset !-sleep'st thou still, With all thy founts of fire, while spoilers tread The glowing vales beneath? (PROCIDA enters disguised.) Ha! who art thou, Unbidden guest, that with so mute a step Dost steal upon me? PROCIDA. One, o'er whom hath pass'd All that can change man's aspect!-Yet not long -I am he, to breathe whose name is perilous, Unless thy wealth could bribe the winds to silence. VITTORIA. [He shows a ring. Righteous Heaven! the pledge Amidst his people from the scaffold thrown PROCIDA. Call me so When my great task is done. Yet who can tell If the return'd be welcome ?-Many a heart VITTORIA. Why dost thou gaze, With such a still and solemn earnestness, Upon my alter'd mien? PROCIDA. That I may read If to the widow'd love of Conradin, Or the proud Eribert's triumphant bride, I now entrust my fate. VITTORIA. Thou, Procida! That thou shouldst wrong me thus!—Prolong thy gaze Till it hath found an answer. PROCIDA. 'Tis enough. I find it in thy cheek, whose rapid change |