Page images
PDF
EPUB

Integrity that constitutes a man,

He hath not left behind him! There's that smile,
That like perpetual daylight shone about him,
The clear and bright magnificence of soul!

[blocks in formation]

[With a proud and conscious interrogatory.

King. One, whom I confess

Of high and many virtues.

Eva. Is that all?

I will help your memory, and tell you, first,
That the King of Naples looked among
The noblest in his realm for that good man,
To whom he might intrust your opening youth,
And found him worthiest. In the eagle's nest,
Early he placed you, and beside his wing
You learned to mount to glory! Underneath
His precious care you grew, and you were once
Thought grateful for his service. His whole life
Was given to your uses, and his death-

[King starts. Ha! do you start, my lord? On Milan's plain He fought beside you, and when he beheld

A sword thrust at your bosom, rushed-it pierced him.
He fell down at your feet, he did, my lord!

He perished to preserve you !—[Rushes to the Statue.]—
Breathless image,

Although no heart doth beat within that breast,

No blood is in his veins, let me enclasp thee,

And feel thee at my bosom.-Now, Sir, I am ready-
Come and unloose these feeble arms, and take me !-

Ay, take me from this neck of senseless stone,

And to reward the father with the meet

And wonted recompense that princes give

Make me as foul as bloated pestilence,

As black as the darkest midnight, and as vile
As guilt and shame can make me.
King. She has smitten
Compunction through my soul!

Eva. Approach, my lord!

Come, in the midst of all mine ancestry,

Come, and unloose me from my father's arms-
Come, if you dare, and in his daughter's shame,
Reward him for the last drops of the blood
Shed for his prince's life!

King. Thou hast wrought

A miracle upon thy prince's heart,

And lifted up a vestal lamp, to show

My soul its own deformity-my guilt!

Eva. [Disengaging herself from the Statue.] Ha! have you got a soul?—have you yet left,

Prince as you are, one relic of a man?

Have you a soul?-He trembles-he relents-
I read it in the glimmering of his face;
And there's a tear, the bursting evidence
Of Nature's holy working in the heart!

O Heaven, he weeps! my sovereign, my liege!
Heart do not burst in ecstasy too soon!
My brother! my Colonna !-hear me—hear!
In all the wildering triumph of my soul,

I call upon thee! [Turning, she perceives Colonna advancing from among the Statues.

There he is my brother!

Col. Let me behold thee,

Let me compress thee here!-O my dear sister!

A thousand times mine own!-I glory in thee,

More than in all the heroes of my name

!

I overheard your converse, and methought

It was a blessed spirit that had ta'en

Thy heavenly form, to show the wondering world
How beautiful was virtue !-[To the King.] Sir,--

Eva. Colonna,

There is your king!

Col. Thou hast made him so again!

Thy virtue hath recrowned him—and I kneel

His faithful subject here!

King. Arise, Colonna !

You take the attitude that more befits

The man who would have wronged you, but whose heart Was by a seraph called again to Heaven!

Forgive me!

Col. Yes, with all my soul I do!

James Haynes.

CONSCIENCE; OR, THE BRIDAL NIGHT.

LORENZO, a ruined Venetian, marries ELMIRA, Daughter of his deadliest Enemy, and the Niece of one to whose Death he, in secret, had been a Party. LORENZO describes to his Friend JULIO the stings of Conscience, and the fears accompanying the Bridal Night.

[blocks in formation]

Of dying; but pity bids me live!

Julio. Yes, live, and still be happy,

Lor. Never, Julio;

Never again

even at my bridal hour

Thou sawest Detection, like a witch, look on
And smile, and mock at the solemnity,

Conjuring the stars.

Hark! was not that a noise?

Jul. No; all is still.

Lor. Have none approached us?

Jul. None.

Lor. Then 'twas my fancy. Every passing hour

Is crowded with a thousand whisperers;

The night has lost its silence, and the stars
Shoot fire upon my soul. Darkness itself
Has objects for mine eyes to gaze upon,
And sends me terror when I pray for sleep
In vain upon my knees. Nor ends it here;
My greatest dread of all-Detection-casts
Her shadow on my walk, and startles me
At every turn sometime will reason drag
Her frightful chain of probable alarms
Across my mind; or if, fatigued, she droops,
Her pangs survive the while; as you have seen
The ocean tossing when the wind is down,
And the huge storm is dying on the waters.
Once, too, I had a dream-

Jul. The shadows of our sleep should fly with sleep; Nor hang their sickness on the memory.

Lor. Methought the dead man, rising from his tomb, Frowned over me. Elmira, at my side,

Stretched her fond arms to shield me from his wrath,
At which he frowned the more.
I turned away,
Disgusted, from the spectre, and essayed

To clasp my wife; but she was pale, and cold,
And in her breast the heart was motionless,

And on her limbs the clothing of the grave,

With here and there a worm, hung heavily.
Then did the spectre laugh, till from its mouth
Blood dropped upon us while it cried—“ Behold!
Such is the bridal bed that waits thy love!"
I would have struck it (for my rage was up);

I tried the blow; but, all my senses shaken
By the convulsion, broke the tranced spell,
And darkness told me-sleep was my tormentor.

Bryan Waller Proctor (Barry Cornwall).

MIRANDOLA.

A doting Husband's Love.

DUKE MIRANDOLA, DUCHESS ISIDORA.

dear peerless wife!

Duke. My own sweet love! Oh! my
By the blue sky and all its crowding stars,
I love you better-oh! far better than
Woman was ever loved. There's not an hour
Of day or dreaming night but I am with thee:
There's not a wind but whispers of thy name,
And not a flower that sleeps beneath the moon
But in its hues or fragrance tells a tale
Of thee, my love, to thy Mirandola.
Speak, dearest Isidora, can you love

As I do? Can-but no, no;
I shall grow
Foolish if thus I talk. You must be gone;
You must be gone, fair Isidora, else

The business of the dukedom soon will cease.

I speak the truth, by Dian.

Even now

« PreviousContinue »