Count D'Alba! Save him! Save him! D'Alba's gone, me: What if I hang my rosary from the casement? [Exit. ACT V. SCENE The same as the last; the arched Door nearly closed. Annabel. Jul. Ann. Jul. Ask not. Whither? To my father. Ann. Then he's alive-Oh happiness! They told me That he was dead. Why do we loiter here? Let's join him now. Jul. Ann. Not yet. Now! now! Thou know'st not How horribly these walls do picture to me The several agonies whereof my soul Hath drunk to-day. I have been tempted, Julian, By one-a fiend! tempted till I almost thought God had forsaken me. But thou art here To save me, and my pulse beats high again With love and hope. I am light-hearted now, And could laugh like a child-only these walls Do crowd around me with a visible weight, A palpable pressure; giving back the forms Of wildest thoughts that wandered through my brain, Bright chattering Madness, and sedate Despair, And Fear the Great Unreal!-Take me hence! Take me away with thee! Jul. Not yet, not yet. Thon sweetest wretch! I cannot-Dotard! Fool! I must. Not yet! not yet!-Talk to me, Annabel; This is the hour when thou wast wont to make Earth Heaven with lovely words; the sun-set hour, That woke thy spirit into joy. Once more Talk to me, Annabel. Ay, all day long, Ann. When we are free. Thy voice is choked; thy looks Are not on me; thy hand doth catch and twitch And grasp mine painfully,—that gentle hand! Jul. O God! O God! that right hand!-kiss it not! Take thy lips from it! Ann. Can'st thou save me, Julian? Thou always dost speak truth. Can'st save thyself? Shall we go hence together? Jul. One home. Ay, one fate Ann. Why that is bliss. We shall be poor Whose level beams do cast a golden shine So sadly on me? Jul. Why dost thou gaze The bright stars, how oft Intense and ardent flame, the doubtful line Wrought between earth and heaven, of life and death, Straight to the Eternal Gates, didst pray to pass Look out upon the burning sky, the sea Now! Ann. (before she is wounded.) For thee! "Tis sweet! For thee (dies. Jul. Fiend, hast thou slain her? Die! die! die! Come on. (fights and kills him. Bert. Call instant help! Hasten the Count! [Exit the other murderer. (Julian and Bertone fight, and Julian kills him. Jul. My wife! My murdered wife! Doth she not breathe? I thought My sight is dim-Oh no! she's pale! she's cold! To comfort me. She's mute! she's stiff! she 's-dead! Death's factor, peopler of unhallowed graves, (covering her with it. The rude earth Will veil thy beauty next. One kiss!-She died Till I've avenged thee; I could slay an army Enter D'Alba. D'Alba (entering, to an Attendant). All's tranquil. Where's the traitor? Ann. Jul. I cannot draw it. Ann. Yes. Jul. D'Alba. My sword! Jul. I. Now!-I'm ready. Enter Bertone, and two Murderers. Bert. Bert. Dead. Who slew him? Of rude uncostly linen serves to wrap In regal purple; lived so; and so died. So be he buried. Let not mine enemy For him and the proud Regent. Quick! I'd have Look on the corse? D'Alba. Alf. Here! Jul. Poor child, he weeps! Send for the honoured dead Beside the city gate,-he pardoned me! Bury us in one grave,—all in one grave! I did not kill her. Strew her with white flowers, Cheer thee! Take hope! Val. Raise up his head. Wilt thou not Alf. Jul. I cannot wait her waking: I must go feast my eyes on her fair looksDivinest Annabel! My widowed bride!— Where is she? Jul. (uncovering the body.) There. Now gaze thyself to Hell! Gloat with hot love upon that beauteous dust! My Julian! He forgave me, D'Alba. Oh perfectest and loveliest thing! Eternal curses rest upon his head Who murdered thee! Jul. Off! off! Pollute her not! EPILOGUE. WRITTEN BY T. A. TALFOURD, ESQ. Is not her lot intolerably hard To watch supreme o'er calumny and tea; Julian! I have been thanking heaven His wits are gone. She was my Comforter! And now-But I do know thee; thou'rt the King; To draw down sacred tears o'er beauty's cheeks, RIENZI, A TRAGEDY. DRAMATIS PERSONEÆ. COLA DI RIENZI, afterwards Tribune of the People. URSINI, a great Nobleman, rival to Colonna. CAFARELLO, Lords of the Colonna faction. FRANGIPANI, a partisan of Ursini, also a Nobleman. Nuncio, Ambassador, Nobles, Citizens, Guards, &c. LADY COLONNA, Stephen Colonna's Wife. BERTA, TERESA, Claudia's attendants. ROSA, Ladies, Attendants, &c. Scene-ROME, in the Fourteenth Century. RIENZI. ACT I. SCENE I. Rome in the fourteenth century.—A Street in Rome.— A Temple in Ruins, in the back-ground a Portico, with columns in front of it, so managed that a person may appear and disappear amongst the pillars and recesses. Enter Paolo, and three Citizens, meeting. First Cit. Ah, Messer Paolo, a good morrow to thee! The streets are full to-day. have not seen Since the last jubilee. Whence comes the swarm? First Cit. He, Our senator! a proper ruler! sick, too, And like to die. Second Cit. Nay, he were harmless, then. But 't is his brother, John, of Ursini, The subtle John, that drives this business onward. That seized the Widow Landi's house to make Pao. What should we do? Rie. Why, Cola, Weeps as it were his child-or how, on Tuesday, Rie. I can go through the week. Pao. But, for the pilgrims Art sure of that foul sacrilege? Urs. (To the mob.) Thanks, gentle friends. (To A packet from Avignon; even Colonna If he do not Fra. I hurry ye, my lords, but we are waited [Exeunt Ursini, &c.-Paolo and the three Citi- Att. Why, what a sort of sullen citizens Parade the city. (Distant shouts.) Hark! do ye not The type of that to come. Yon creeping slave, hear The shouting mob approach?-Sure as that ye The tyrant of to-day. Go, swell his train. Second Cit. Third Cit. A dangerous. Struck with the strong brute force of power, fell Second Cit. One is gone. Well, well, A milder breeze had severed such light chaff And I, to-morrow, [Paolo and Citizens retire to the back-ground | An Apartment in Rienzi's House; a Roman chair, in front of the Temple. Enter Officers, six Halberdiers, and Ursini, Frangi. pani, and two Lords, in conversation, followed by armed Attendants, and accompanied by a Crowd, who shout, "Live the Ursini," &c. with a skein of red worsted; a Lattice down to the floor, opening into the Garden. Enter Angelo and Claudia, through the Lattice. Cla. Beseech thee, now, away, Lord AngeloThou hast been here o'erlong. |