A thrilling pleasantness, which send a glow My throne again. Reign! Reign! I have forgot In some small woodland cottage, where green leaves My brow. Keep me not in a dungeon, uncle, In some wild forest. I'll not breathe a word That might be dangerous. No! not to the birds, Alb. Boy! boy! Cling not about me thus. Theo. Thou wilt have mercy; Thy heart is softening. All. Tis too late. To reign, And he at liberty! I am a child Myself, that, won by this child's gentleness, For I would root out hope and fear, and plant Rest thee content. No harm shall happen thee. (Exit Alberto.) Theo. Content! Oh mockery of grief! content! To mew me up here in a living tomb, Must bid me be content! Would I were dead! As hermits use through the long silent hours. Merrily! Happy fool, it had forgot Blithe liberty! But man, though he should drag To hear his own sad voice, cannot forget He wants that blessed gift. SELECTION VIII. ATHELWOLD-EDWIN-PILGRIM.-Mason. Athelwold. Banish me! No. I'll die. For why should life Remain a lonely lodger in that breast Which honor leaves deserted? This sword shall free Idle breath! Pilgrim. Oh shame to fortitude! Begone. Shame to that manly passion, which inspires Athel. And but o'er noble breasts; Pil. Forbear, forbear; Think what a sea of deep perdition whelms And let the thought restrain thine impious hand. Athel. I was once Yes, I was once, I have his royal word for it, A man of such tried faith, such steady honor, Sating the lust of slander; and my wife, Edwin. Stay, my dearest master; Athel. I mean it, slave, And wouldst thou hinder me? Ed. Yes, sir, I hold "Tis duty to my king, and love to you, Thus to oppose your entrance. Athel. What! thou traitor! Thy pardon, Edwin, I forgot myself; Upon whose breast I cast this load of misery, Ye venerable fathers of this wood, Who oft have cooled beneath your arching shades Ed. See, thou Pilgrim, How horror shades his brow; how fixed his eye; Pil. Edwin, 'tis ever thus With noble minds, if chance they slide to folly; Of their severe repentance. SELECTION IX. CASWALLON-FITZ-EDWARD.—Walker. Caswallon. Off.—I have strength in this unwearied arm (Recognizing his son.) Ha! is it thou? Fitz-Edward. Turn not away.—One word Upon my knees I beg it. Cas. Let it be A brief one, then.-What wouldst thou? Fitz-Ed. Oh, my father! The tempest that my slighted speech foretold, Cas. And 'tis this To tell me this, that thou art here-to vaunt Fitz-Ed. No.-I come To break thy commerce with the midnight wolf— That flow from man's communion with his kind Cas. Beware-beware. 1 If I thought that-thou knowest my temper-hence, it farther. Nor urge Fitz-Ed. Oh, I must, and thou Must hear me, too.-Enough of constancy- The kingly sway— Cas. Patience-oh, patience, heart! Fitz-Ed. Nay, hear me on.-Is not all lost?—and thou— Dost thou still singly labor to oppose The common doom ?-oh, idle all.-There now Thy bosom-I must speak it 'tis submission. Cas. Heaven!-are thy thunders idle?—and thou, earth 'That yet endurest his tread!-thou wilt not part Beneath him, and deep hide his infamy! No-thou disdainest that such a rank pollution Should rest within thy bosom !-This to me!— Submission!-Breathes the recreant to confront Caswallon with such counsel ?-Yes-behold him!— There with the uttered wish-the hateful hope Fresh reeking from his lips, he stands before me— Endless disgrace!-a Cambrian, and-my son! Fitz-Ed. Yet-yet I will be patient. Cas. No-thou blot On the pure 'scutcheon of thy noble fathers— Thor shalt not plume thee in my fall, nor show me With "Lo! my work, and there the untamable !”— Fitz-Ed. Dreadful thought!— "Tis not within thy hate's extremest bound Away, weak heart In upright conscious honesty, I stand— And shake thy loose aspersions from my soul, As lightly as the falcon from her wing The dews of evening. Cas. I will not hear thee.-Hence. Fitz-Ed. Obdurate man, bow thy proud spirit down, If ta'en thou diest.-Submit, and thou shalt live :(Imploringly upon his knees.) Beloved father! By heaven's whole host, I will not see thee lost!— (Starting up resolvedly.) No-if thou scorn to yield, I'll instant hence, And to the troops that now beset thee round, Reveal the secret of thy lurking place. Cas. Reveal!-betray me to? But no-thou art Caswallon's son, and thus far he will trust thee. Cas. (Going.) Nay, follow not. Attempt to stay me, and a father's curse Cling to thy soul, and hold thee lost for ever! (Exit.) Fitz-Ed. Hark!—are there thunders crashing in the air? Or what is't stirs my brain ?-a father's curse! It fell not 'tis not that that rages here. That misery still is spared me. He is gone! SELECTION X. VERNER-TELL-PIERRE-THEODORE-SARNEM-MICHAEL SOLDIERS AND PEOPLE.-Knowles. (The people have gathered to one side, and look in the opposite direction with apprehension and trouble.) Verner. Now Tell observe the people. Tell. Ha! they please me now-I like them now-their looks Are just in season. |