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ANGELICA.-O, my dear lady! how shall I be

grateful

For so much kindness?

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Remember that you come again to-morrow. ANGELICA. I will. And may the blessed Virgin guard you,

And all good angels.

PRECIOSA.

[Exit.

May they guard thee too, And all the poor; for they have need of angels. Now bring me, dear Dolores, my basquina, My richest maja dress,-my dancing dress, And my most precious jewels! Make me look Fairer than night e'er saw me! I've a prize To win this day, worthy of Preciosa!

(Enter BELTRAN CRUZADO.)

CRUZADO.-Ave Maria!

PRECIOSA.

O God! my evil genius!

What seekst thou here to-day?

CRUZADO.

-

Thyself, my child!

PRECIOSA. What is thy will with me?
CRUZADO.-

Gold! gold! PRECIOSA.-I gave thee yesterday; I have no

more.
-

CRUZADO. The gold of the Busné 20-give me his

gold!

PRECIOSA.-I gave the last in charity to-day.
CRUZADO.-That is a foolish lie.

PRECIOSA.

CRUZADO.-Curses upon thee!

child!

It is the truth.

Thou art not my

Hast thou given gold away, and not to me?
Not to thy father? To whom, then?

PRECIOSA.

Who needs it more.

CRUZADO.

To one

No one can need it more.

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PRECIOSA.-Thou art not poor.

CRUZADO.

What, I, who lurk about In dismal suburbs and unwholesome lanes; I, who am housed worse than the galley slave, I, who am fed worse than the kenneled hound; I, who am clothed in rags,-Beltran Cruzado, Not poor! PRECIOSA.

hands.

Thou hast a stout heart and strong

Thou canst supply thy wants; what wouldst thou more?

CRUZADO.- The gold of the Busné! give me his

gold!

PRECIOSA.-Beltran Cruzado! hear me once for all.

I speak the truth. So long as I had gold,
I gave it to thee freely, at all times;
Never denied thee; never had a wish
But to fulfil thine own. Now go in peace!
Be merciful, be patient, and, ere long,
Thou shalt have more.

CRUZADO.

Thou shalt no longer
chambers,

And if I have it not, dwell here in rich

Wear silken dresses, feed on dainty food,
And live in idleness; but go with me,
Dance the Romalis in the public streets,
And wander wild again o'er field and fell;
For here we stay not long.
PRECIOSA.-

What! march again? CRUZADO.-Ay, with all speed. I hate the crowded town!

I cannot breathe shut up within its gates!
Air, I want air, and sunshine, and blue sky,
The feeling of the breeze upon my face,
The feeling of the turf beneath my feet,
And no walls but the far-off mountain-tops.
Then I am free and strong,-once more my-
self,

Beltran Cruzado, Count of the Calés ! 21

PRECIOSA.-God speed thee on thy march!-]

cannot go.

CRUZADO.-Remember who I am, and who thou art!

Be silent and obey! Yet one thing more.
Bartolomé Román

PRECIOSA (with emotion).-O, I beseech thee!
If my obedience and blameless life,
If my humility and meek submission
In all things hitherto, can move in thee
One feeling of compassion; if thou art
Indeed my father, and canst trace in me
One look of her who bore me, or one tone
That doth remind thee of her, let it plead
In my behalf, who am a feeble girl,

Too feeble to resist, and do not force me
To wed that man! I am afraid of him!
I do not love him! On my knees I beg thee
To use no violence, nor do in haste
What cannot be undone!

CRUZADO.

O child, child, child
Thou hast betrayed thy secret, as a bird
Betrays her nest, by striving to conceal it.
I will not leave thee here in the great city
To be a grandee's mistress. Make thee ready
To go with us; and until then remember
A watchful eye is on thee.
PRECIOSA.-

Woe is me!
I have a strange misgiving in my heart!
But that one deed of charity I'll do,

[Erit.

Befall what may; they cannot take that from

me

[Exu.

SCENE 11.

A room in the ARCHBISHOP's Palace. The ARCHBISHOP and ú CARDINAL seated.

ARCHBISHOP.-Knowing how near it touched the public morals,

And that our age is grown corrupt and rotten
By such excesses, we have sent to Rome,
Beseeching that his Holiness would aid
In curing the gross surfeit of the time,
By seasonable stop put here in Spain
To bull-fights, and lewd dances on the stage.
All this you know.

CARDINAL.

ARCHBISHOP.

Know and approve.

That, by a mandate from his Holiness,
The first have been suppressed.

CARDINAL.

It was a cruel sport.

ARCHBISHOP.

And farther,

1 trust for ever.

A barbarous pastime,

Disgraceful to the land that calls itself
Most Catholic and Christian.

CARDINAL.

Yet the people
Murmur at this; and, if the public dances
Should be condemned upon too slight occasion,
Worse ills might follow than the ills we cure.
As Panem et Circenses was the cry

Among the Roman populace of old,
So Pan y Toros is the cry in Spain.
Hence I would act advisedly herein;

And therefore have induced your grace to see
These national dances, ere we interdict them.

(Enter a servant.)

SERVANT. The dancing-girl, and with her the musicians

Your grace was pleased to order, wait without. ARCHBISHOP.-Bid them come in. Now shall your eyes behold

In what angelic yet voluptuous shape
The Devil came to tempt Saint Anthony.

(Enter PRECIOSA, with a mantle thrown over her head. She advances slowly, in a modest, half-timid attitude.)

CARDINAL (side).-O what a fair and ministering angel

-

Was lost to heaven when this sweet woman fell! PRECIOSA (kneeling before the Archbishop).I have obeyed the order of your grace. If I intrude upon your better hours, I proffer this excuse, and here beseech Your holy benediction.

ARCHBISHOP.

May God bless thee,

And lead thee to a better life.

Arise.

CARDINAL (aside).-Her acts are modest, and her

words discreet!

I did not look for this! Come hither, child.
Is thy name Preciosa ?

PRECIOSA.

Thus I am called. CARDINAL. That is a Gipsy name.

father?

Who is thy

PRECIOSA.-Beltran Cruzado, Count of the Calés. ARCHBISHOP.-I have a dim remembrance of that

man;

He was a bold and reckless character,

A sunburnt Ishmael!

CARDINAL.

Thy earlier days?

PRECIOSA.

Dost thou remember

Yes; by the Darro's side

My childhood passed. I can remember still The river, and the mountains capped with snow;

The villages, where, yet a little child,

I told the traveller's fortune in the street;
The smuggler's horse, the brigand, and the
shepherd;

The march across the moor; the halt at noon;
The red fire of the evening camp, that lighted
The forest where we slept; and farther back,
As in a dream, or in some former life,

Gardens and palace walls.

ARCHBISHOP.

'Tis the Alhambra, Under whose towers the Gipsy camp was pitched.

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