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? Idle breath! Pilgrim. Oh shame to fortitude! 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, Sating the lust of slander; and my wife, Edwin. Stay, my dearest master; Athel. I mean it, slave, And wouldst thou hinder me? 'Tis duty to my king, and love to you, Athel. What! thou traitor!— Upon whose breast I cast this load of misery, Ye venerable fathers of this wood, Who oft have cooled beneath your arching shades I will not long pollute ye; for I mean 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. 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.— If I thought that-thou knowest my temper-hence, Fitz-Ed. Oh, I must, and thou Must hear me, too.-Enough of constancy- Cas. Patience-oh, patience, heart!- -Is not all lost?—and thou Dost thou still singly labor to oppose The common doom?—oh, idle all.—There now Is left thee but one way to save thyself :— It grates against thine ear-it jars within 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-vet 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. Fitz-Ed. Oh, agony of heart! 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.) 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. Pierre. 'Tis Sarnem. Theodore. What is that he brings with him? Pierre. A pole; and on the top of it a cap That looks like Gesler's-I could pick it from A thousand! Theo. So could I!-My heart hath oft Leaped at the sight of it. What comes he now (Sarnem enters with soldiers bearing Gesler's cap upon a pole, which he fixes into the ground; the people looking on in silence and amazement.) Sarnem. Ye men of Altorf! Behold the emblem of your master's power Tell. Have I my hearing? Ver. Away! away! Tell. Or sight? They do it, Verner! Look!-Look! Have 1 the outline of that caitiff His god did rear for him to heaven? Ver. Away, Before they mark us. Tell. No! no!—since I've tasted, I'll e'n feed on. A spirit's in me likes it. Sar. (Striking a person.) Bow lower, slave! Tell. Do you feel that blow-my flesh doth tingle with it. I would it had been I! Ver. You tremble, William; come-you must not stay. (Enter Michael through the crowd.) Sar. Bow, slave. |