Act III.
Flourish of Trumpets. Enter Elvine, his Squire bearing his armour. Attendants.
Elvine. Hail, native land! O scenes of early days!
Ye haunts of friendship, and retreats of love,
Receive a stranger to your shades again!
You I revisit with a throbbing heart.
In youthful days, in your inspiring bowers,
Rapt to the world of fancy, I have wish'd
For such occasion high; my country's cause,
The cause of liberty, the cause of love,
And of Elvina! -- Providence divine,
Be thine the praise! who hast before me set
The deeds that never die; unsheathed my sword
For ages yet to come, and sent the voice
Which calls the brave to freedom and to fame.
Enter Edgar.
Come, Edgar! hast thou found my ancient friends?
Hast thou beheld? -
Edgar. Alas! unhappy youth!
These hostile towers contain no friends of thine.
Elvine. What! has three seasons changed them?
Am I then
So soon forgotten?
Edgar. Thou art not forgotten!
Elvine. My God! What dost thou mean? Thy faltering tongue
Forgets its office: My old friend, thou weep'st.
Edgar. And I have cause to weep. These threescore years,
The humble native of your father's house,
Or follower of your fortune, have I lived.
Full many changes in the tract of time
Sad have I seen; but ah! I little thought
That I should live to see my noble master
Denied the honours which his birth demands,
Excluded from th' assembly of the Barons -
Another lead the army.
Elvine. Heavens! Another?
Who is appointed to that high command?
Edgar. Think of the man who least you could expect,
Think of the enemy of all your race;
The Saxon Arden -
Elvine. Arden! Gracious powers!
Ah! where was Albemarle, my ancient friend?
Edgar. His favour raised him to that high command.
Elvine. My father's friend, the father of Elvina,
My mortal foe! The stroke of fate is come,
And now the measure of my woes is full.
Edgar. O thou hast heard as yet but half thy sorrows
I have a tale to tell, which I could wish
To hide forever from thine ear - Elvina -
Elvine. What of Elvina?
Edgar. Arden's named her husband.
Elvine. Elvina false! Elvina Arden's wife!
Then there is nothing in the world for me;
I've no connection with the human kind;
No friend upon the earth. Let us depart.
I spread my banners for the Holy Land.
Let us be gone.
Edgar. Elvina is not false.
Ah! she alone was faithful to her friend.
This day declares her honour and her love.
Her father doom'd her to the arms of Arden,
Whom she abhorr'd, and she refused to wed -
Elvine. Then she's not wedded?
Edgar. No.
Elvine. All-gracious powers!
She's constant, and she's mine! O God of heaven,
What thanks are equal to a gift so great:
The fair, the faithful, and the fond Elvina!
Edgar. In her distress she wrote to thee to save her;
The messenger was stopp'd; the letter found.
She is condemn'd to chains! Yon prison holds her!
I saw her looking from the iron grate,
Her hands in fetters, and her eyes in tears:
I could not bear the sight; I went apart,
And wept alone.
Elvine. My love, my love, for me
Thy hands in fetters, and thine eyes in tears!
No chains, no prison, shall confine thee long -
[Sounds of lamentation heard behind the Stage.
What venerable father stands aghast
In yonder porch? Beneath the weight of years,
And crush of sorrow to the earth he bends.
He wrings his hands; casts a wild look to heaven,
And rends his hoary locks. He comes this way.
Heavens, it is Albemarle!-
Enter. Albemarle.
Albem. 'Tis over now.
Cursed be the hour that ever I was born!
Eternal Justice! hast thou spared my youth,
Yet doom'd thy servant in the dregs of life
To drain the bitter cup? Hast thou reserved
The vials of thy wrath to pour them down
Upon this blasted head?-
Elvine. My heart bleeds for him.
He was my ancient friend.
Albem. Almighty Power!
Who on the feelings of a parent's heart
Hast founded human life! and strongly bound
By love's embrace the families of men:
If thou art worshipp'd by a Father's name!
Regard my anguish, and support my soul,
For I am in despair!
Elvine. Unhappy father!
Whose woes bring tears into a stranger's eyes,
May I inquire the cause? Can this right arm
Redress the wrongs of age?
Albem. Alas! Alas!
No human hand can save me from the gulph,
Which deep and dark discloses to my view.
- Before you stands the father most forlorn
That ever bore the name. I had a daughter,
The joy, the blessing, and the pride of age:
I gave her hand to an illustrious Lord;
But she betray'd us; she is doom'd to death -
Elvine. Elvina doom'd to death? -
Albem. A shameful death.
But Oh! what deeply wounds a Baron's honour?
Heavens! am I fallen so low? No English youth,
Or noble of the land, asserts her cause,
And comes a champion of the lists of war.
I rose in arms, and claim'd the cause myself:
I am forbid the field. -
Elvine Elvina's cause
Will bring a champion from the gate of heaven.
Albem. Thou art the only comforter I've found;
Thy voice alone relieves a father's heart.
Let me embrace thee in my aged arms:
I'll call thee son! - But, oh! a dreadful scene
Begins to draw; the scaffold is prepared
Soon to be dyed with blood; the axe is laid:
The prison opens: The grim soldiers seize her;
They drag my daughter forth - to execution.
And I - must I behold it? - Let me die!
O death! thou angel of the wretched, come
To my relief, and lay me with my fathers!
Thou'rt thunderstruck, my son!
Elvine. No power on earth -
A scaffold! by th' Almighty! ere that day
England shall stream, the scaffold of her sons.
Albem. Yonder they come, the harbingers of death,
In sad-procession, and with engines drear,
The red-robed judges, and the mitred priests,
The grim, the ghastly ministers of fate.
Support me, O my son!-
Enter Barons, Judges, &c. with Attendants.
Arden. (to Albem.) Depart, my friend,
O, if your daughter, or yourself you love,
Let me intreat your absence in this hour!
Elvine. Do not depart.
Albem. I will not leave this youth;
He is my friend - alas! my only friend
In this dire day.
Arden. My duty binds me here.
A sad spectator I must now remain,
To give due rites and dignity to law.
But how wilt thou support a scene so dire?
'Twould make thy mortal enemy relent;
Alas! it is not for a father's eye.
Albem. After what I have seen and felt this day,
The flash that melts the globe, the voice that sounds
The knell of nature and the close of time,
Would not amaze me - Heavens! Is that the sound!
[Dead march is heard. Back scene opening slowly, discovers a scaffold, engines of torture, executioners, &c. Enter at the side-scene Elvina dressed in white, surrounded with guards.
Elvina. Barons of England, hear my dying words,
A virgin, bold in conscious innocence,
Will never stand a suppliant in your sight,
To move your pity by her prayers or tears;
Who, gently confident in him who made
Her spotless heart, will on the moment's wing
Ascend a spirit at the throne of heaven.
- Barons, you gave a husband to my hand;
My heart was wedded to another lord.
From all unnatural rule the soul revolts:
The law of nature is the law of love.
- The noble mind determines its own deeds;
Appeals to no tribunal upon earth,
But answers to itself: There sits the judge,
And the high counsellor who cannot err.
-Vile fetters you may throw on noble hands,
And as a prison'd criminal confine
The daughter of illustrious Albemarle.
But the high mind, free and invincible,
Spurns at the chain, the prison, and the axe.
- Here I avow it, dying I avow
My love unalter'd to that noble youth,
And glory in the flame which makes me fall
A virgin martyr to the man I loved.
And, Barons, be assured, when you behold
On yonder block the bloody axe descend,
The death-felt blow will be the awful pang
Which rends a father's and a lover's heart.
Albem. Tremendous destiny! Alas! my son,
Thy spirit groans. Big drops rush from thine eye.
I am a parent, yet no tear shall I shed.
Elvina. [kneeling.] Eternal Father, now I come to thee!
Receive me to thyself; into thy hands
I give my parting spirit; I resign
Myself a victim to my native land;
Accept the sacrifice! Avert my doom
Far from the heads of those who shed my blood;
Support my father's age when I am gone,
And he is desolate: Whatever years,
Repay to him with manifold increase.
O may he never, never, never feel,
In lonely sadness, that he wants a daughter,
And is a father now, alas! no more!
[Rising, she looks towards the scaffold. The signal for execution is heart.
Elvine. (Drawing his sword.) This is my time. Unhand me!
Albem. Do not leave
The helpless. I am dying. Oh! support me!
[Falling into the arms of Elvine, is carried off.
Elvina. (The executioners approaching.) I come.
Indulge me with a parting moment.
My father, I have on request to make -
Has he, too, left me? Now I am alone.
Almighty Father! thou art with me still.
My eye, that closes in the sleep of death,
Looks up to thee to guide me through the gloom
That frowns before my face; the dreary vale
That darkly opens in the path to thee.
Yet it is awful. - O sustain my soul!
Stretch from the sky thine everlasting arms,
Receive a martyr to the land of peace.
[The executioners throwing a veil over her, Elvine advances suddenly and removes them.
Elvine. Avaunt! ye ministers of death! avaunt! She shall not die.
Elvina. O heavens! Whom do I see?
'Tis he! Almighty God! 'tis he.--
[Falls down in a swoon. Elvine bears her off.
Arden. What youth is this? A noble of the land
His garb denotes. The lady seem'd to know him.
Methinks he's too familiar for a stranger.
Barons. We know him not.
Elvine. (returning with his sword drawn) Nobles, where is the man
Who can accuse this Lady?
Arden. I accuse her.
And who dare say my accusation's false?
Elvine. 'Tis one who dares whatever valour dared,
'Tis one who does whatever honour did-
'Tis I. I throw my gauntlet on the ground
To prove thine accusation false as hell
False as thyself.
Arden. Young man, I know thee not.
Elvine. My friends have known me, and my foes have known me.
Thou, too, shalt know me soon.
Arden. Hast thou a name?
It ill becomes the chieftain of an host
With a raw wandering knight to break a spear.
Elvine. Hear, then, and tremble. You behold in me
The man whom you have wong'd, have deeply wrong'd.
Arden. Young man, I never saw thee till this hour.
No human form can say that I have wrong'd him.
Elvine. So bold? Ha! didst thou not traduce this Lady?
Defame her basely? wantonly? maliciously?
And, with a villain's dagger, stab her fame?
- Eternal God! because a lovely maid
Shrunk all-abhorrent from thy loathed arms,
Thou, like a traitor, like a coward too;
A cool, a cruel, cowardly assassin,
Wouldst murder beauty, and, by form of law,
Shed the pure blood of virgin innocence,
Even like a criminal's upon the scaffold!-
Arden. I did what justice, did what honour bade,
I did my duty. What is that to thee?
Elvine. To me? - I meant not to declare my birth
Till I had proved it. I have ever been
Discover'd by my deeds. Like him in heaven,
Who in the majesty of darkness dwells,
But sends the thunder to reveal the God,
- Behold the man whom all of you have wrong'd,
The sole remains of an illustrious house.
The last descendant of a noble line,
Who merits by his birth, and by his sword,
To lead the banners of the British host-
Elvine.
Arden. (taking up the gauge) 'Tis well. Thou'rt worthy of my sword.
Elvine. There is a time, and this is sure the time,
When noble virtue may assert itself,
And conscious honour glow with its own fires.
- Barons of England, you have wrong'd me deeply
Who, crediting the lie of rumour false,
Deprived a Briton of a Briton's right,
Expell'd a baron from a baron's rank.
He is a traitor to his native land,
A traitor to mankind, who in a cause
That down the course of time will fire the world,
Rides not upon the lightning of the sky,
To save his country. What, what had I done
To merit such a name?
Archb. Misled by fame,
The injury you have done. If, in the strife,
Which must be mortal, Arden falls by me,
I claim the honour which my birth demands,
To lead the army.
Barons. 'Tis indeed your due.
Arden. Then speak'st it vauntingly. The strife of tongues,
The war of women, I did ever scorn,
Now let the sword decide.
Elvine. 'Tis dran.
Arden. Lead on.
Elvine. I follow thee. Elvina comes this way.
Edgar, Elvina, Emma.
Edgar. Unhappy maid! She comes from death. She looks
As she indeed were risen from the grave
A saint in glory! Let me kneel before her.
Most noble Lady, graciously permit
An old domestic of your father's house
To kiss your garment, at your feet to fall
With flowing tears. I hope your goodness still
Remembers me.
Elvina. I have not forgot you, Edgar,
Nor will I e'er forget you. Rise, my friend.
Edgar. Lovely and gentle! You was ever thus
Your face still shone upon your father's house,
The face of a good angel. O what men,
What murderers, could doom that beauteous form
To such a death?
Elvina. I have forgotten them, Edgar.
Edgar. But Heaven will not forgive them -
Elvina. Where is Elvine?
Where has my father with the Barons gone?
Thy colour changes. Ah! my heart forebodes
The fear'd event. Is this the appointed hour
For mortal combat? -
Edgar 'Tis indeed the time.
[Trumpets heard.
Elvina. The trumpets sound. The dreadful signal's given.
Now life or death. Help, help me, powers of heaven!
Support me, Emma!-
Emma. Angels hover o'er him,
And guard the hero with the shield of Heaven!
Elvina. Run, Edgar, to the lists, and bring us tidings.
Fain would I look - I dare not look that way.
Hush! Hark! O Emma! didst thou hear a groan?
Emma. 'Tis midnight silence!
Elvina. Let me look again.
Yonder they meet. Behold the flash of arms.
And lo the sword that shall be dyed in blood!
Whose blood, O heavens! Turn, Emma, to the field:
I'll look no more.
Emma. Heavens! How I tremble! Ha!
A mortal stroke! There rose the shriek of death!-
Elvina. Now all is over, and my fate is fix'd.
I'm destined now to rapture or despair,
For ever and for ever!
[A loud shout heard.
O my heart!
The army triumphs in their General's joy.
My hero's fallen. I am gone again.
My God! twice in one day!-
Emma. I hear the sound
Of feet approaching fast.
Elvina. Let us be gone.
As they go out - Enter Elvine.
Elvine. Where is my love? my life? Where dost thou fly,
Thou first of women? Fairer in my sight
Than e'er thou wast, and dearer to my soul!
Return and bless my arms that stretch to strain thee.
Elvina. Alive? O God -
Elvine. Thou hast no foe. Thy cause,
The cause of beauty, innocence, and love,
Has made thy knight victorious in the field.
Elvina. How shall I thank the saviour of my life?
'Tis thus! 'tis thus! my Elvine!
[Running from the side-screen into his arms.
Elvine. My Elvina!
At last we meet in joy.
Elvina. To part no more.
Oh! Elvine, but for thee, my love, for thee,
Alas! this day - O how shall I repay
Thy matchless truth, thy tenderness, thy love?
Elvine. In this embrace 'tis more than all repaid.
Enter Archbishop and Barons.
Archb. Much injured youth, the victory is thine
We judged before we knew. Let loose from hell
A lying spirit had deceived the land.
We know thee now, the hero of the host.
Exulting England owns her darling son.
This day confirms what we have often heard,
Thy deeds of prowess in the Holy Land;
For thy renown flew grateful from the East,
Like incense wafted on the wings of morn.-
We meant to serve our country, when, misled
By rumours false, we blotted out thy name
From the confederate Barons. Now in truth
We serve our country, when, with one accord,
We hail thee leader of the British host.
Elvine. Your bounty, Barons, with a beating heart,
I now accept: It was my early wish
To lead an army in my country's cause;
But hardly hoped for such a glorious day,
To lift the banners of the free, and mark
The patriot spirit spread from man to man. -
Alike the danger, and the honour's dear,
I march the foremost in the ranks of war,
To live with freedom, or to die with fame.
Archb. King John's ambassador has reach'd the camp.
Now let us claim the hour of conference
To have the charter of our freedom seal'd.
Act IV.
Scene - Runnamede.
John. Shall I resign the sceptre of my sires,
And give the haughty Barons leave to reign?
No! Perish all before that fatal hour.
The majesty of Kings I will sustain,
And be a monarch, while I am a man.
[His Ambassador returns.
What from the Barons?
Amb. I have search'd their soul,
And to their passions spoke; but spoke in vain.
Haughty and high, like victors from the field,
They speak in thunder, raise the eye to heaven,
And tread with giant steps.
John So bold and fierce?
Are not my veteran and victorious troops
Superior to a military mob
That never saw a camp?
Amb. Superior far.
But yet their spirit's high. No terms of truce,
No composition will they now accept.
John Is not the lader of their army slain?
Amb. Yes: But a braver general succeeds,
The noblest name that Britain now can boast,
The gallant Elvine.
John. Thou hast named a hero.
Amb. Loudly they talk'd of grievances and wrongs,
And pray'd to pour them in your royal ear.
I named this hour for friendly conference.
Forgive me, gracious King, the time requires
A union with your Barons. Loud and bold
The Dauphin sends defiance to your host,
And gives you battle at the evening hour.
While France prefers a title to your crown,
And comes to claim it with the pointed sword,
My liege, your subjects must not be your foes.
[Trumpets
John. The time will teach us: Hark! the Barons come.
Enter Messenger
Mess. My liege, the trumpets of the host of England.
John. (to his Minister.) Receive the Barons.
[He retires into the Royal tent.
Enter Elvine, Albemarle, Archbishop, and Barons.
Baron. Darker than the storm
The monarch frown'd, as he could shake the earth,
And move the kingdoms with his scepter'd hand,
He does not deign to hear us.
Elvine He shall hear us.
Loud as the trumpet that awakes the dead,
His people's voice shall thunder in his ears.
King John's Minister, Barons, the sacred Majesty of England,
Still watching for the people's weal, demands
Why you have brought your forces in the field;
Why you've unsheath'd the sword of civil rage?
Against the brother raised the brother's hand,
And arm'd the son against the father's life?
Elvine Compell'd by dire necessity, at last,
We draw the sword - we draw it for ourselves,
We draw in for our country, for our children;
For every Briton down through every age.
Amb. And do you rise with rash rebellious zeal
To wrest the sceptre from your rightful prince,
The delegate of Heaven?
Elvine Long live the King,
Our rightful prince! But let the monarch know,
That for his subjects, not himself, he reigns.
Let monarchs ne'er forget, that first the throne
Rose in the camp;- the Captain was King;
He wore the laurel as his only crown,
And sway'd the sceptre when he drew his sword.
Amb. And has a monarch not his rights?
Baron He has -
Amb. Do subjects thus address their sovereign Lord?
Baron. 'Tis not to thee, but to the King, we come.
Nor come we suppliants at the throne to kneel.
We beg not favours; we demand our rights;
Rights ancient, indefeasible, divine:
We come to treat, the Barons with the Prince,
The host of England with the royal host.
Amb. Averse to draw the sword, averse to shed
His people's blood, our gracious Sovereign designs
An hour of audience to his Barons bold.
Whatever suits the dignity of Kings,
The King will grant; your real grievances
The royal hand is stretched to redress.
[The Royal Tent opens
King John (descending from his throne.)
What do my poeple from their King require?
Elvine My sovereign liege, the nobles of the land,
And all your faithful subjects, humbly greet
Your gracious Majesty, who has vouchsafed
To hear their grievances: If we at last
Find grace and favour in our Sovereign's sight,
Our joy will be complete; the civil sword
Will then be sheath'd; Britannia rest in peace;
The King be glorious, and the people free.
John. What are the grievances that need redress?
Have I e'er wrong'd you? What are your petitions?
Archb. The ancient peers and barons of the realm,
The reverend fathers of the Holy Church,
The hoary-headed counsellors of state,
And ministers of law, in council met,
With one consent adopt the plan of rights
Which our forefathers have deliver'd down,
A sacred charge, and ratified with blood;
A plan which guards the freedom of the isle,
Which shields the subject, and enthrones the King.
John. My Lord, it suits not with your holy function,
To rise in arms against your lawful prince,
Who might remove the mitre from your head.
Archb. Then he should mark the helmet in its place.
John. Is not the priest the minister of peace?
Archb. The priest of Jesus is the friend of man.
John. And does the friend of man in horrid arms
Let loose the wrath of war, and shake the land
With dire commotion?
Archb. If I judge aright,
From such commotion revolutions rise,
And still will rise, congenial to the isle.
Though Britain's genius slumber in the calm,
He rears his front to the congenial storm,
The voice of freedom's not a still small voice.
'Tis in the fire, the thunder, and the storm,
The goddess of liberty delights to dwell.
If righty I foresee Britannia's fate,
The hour of peril is the Halcyon hour;
The shock parties brings her best repose;
Like her wild waves, when working in a storm,
That foam and roar, and mingle earth and heaven,
Yet guard the island which they seem to shake.
Elvine Most gracious Sovereign, let me interpose.
Look to the host in yonder camp array'd
In such a cause the sword was never drawn:
And never did the cavalry of England
Arm in such majesty; or pitch their tents
In such a field; No faction for themselves,
But England arming in the cause of freedom.
No vassal train attending on their lord,
But yeoman, knights, and all the noble youth.
Lo! thousands press on thousands to the field!
From every cloud of dust an army comes;
The nation's on its march -
John Unfold your claims.
What does this charter to my subjects grant?
Elvine. (presenting it to him.) Our ancient rights and liberties derived,
Down from Great Alfred through the Saxon line,
Confirm'd and seal'd by Edward the Confessor.
John. (perusing it in silence.) Your rights! Your liberties! This is rebellion.
Presumptuous men? Why do you not demand
My kingdom too?
Elvine We are not foes to Kings,
O King of England! have not stretched forth
A rebel hand to overset the throne,
Or of one jewel rob the British crown.
Thine is the kingdom; may it long be thine!
'Tis liberty we ask; 'tis liberty,
The kingdom of the people. Lo! the rights
Our fathers have bequeath'd us. Lo! the rights
Which we bequeath to ages yet unborn.
John. What rights do you, or did your fathers claim,
But what a King can give and take away?
Elvine The rights of Britons, and the rights of men,
Which never King did give, and never King
Can take away. What, if a tyrant Prince
May rule at will, and lord it o'er the land,
Where's the grand charter of the human kind?
Where the high birthrights of the brave? and where
The majesty of man?
John. My ancestor,
William the Norman, won the British crown
By dint of conquest. How did you obtain
These rights of yours?
Barons. (drawing their swords.) By these we gain'd our rights,
With these we will defend them.
John. Come you thus
To dash rebellion in the sacred face
Of sovereignty, and kneeling at the throne
Conspire against the King?
Elvine. May not the King
Conspire against the people?
John. Kings may err;
But where's the power superior to the Prince?
Elvine. The King of England is the first of men:
Yet there's a power above the King, the laws,
Which, to the Monarch, as their subject, say,
'Thus far, no farther, does thy power extend.'
John. At whose tribunal can a King appear?
Elvine. At the tribunal of the kingdom.
John. Ha!
Before whose majesty can he be brought?
Elvine. Before the majesty of all the people.
John. The voice of Kings alone should speak to contend.
Our cause is brief. The nation's up in arms,
The sword is drawn. This day decides our fate,
'Tis liberty, or death!
John. Have you resolved
To shed the blood of England, or to save?
Elvine. Prepared for peace, prepared for war, we stand.
Yon camp obeys the signal for their chief,
And, at the motion of my lifted hand,
Ten thousand swords will lighten in the field.
My arm is stretched forth, and, if I draw
The sword, I draw it to be sheath'd no more.
John. (after a pause.) Reluctant still to risk my people's life,
Or shed their blood, I stand. Read your petitions.
Whate'er the laws require, the King will give.
Archb. (holding Magna Charta.) O King! O Chiefs! O Barons bold! O Britons!
This Code of Freedom is that glorious prize
For which the nations, from the first of time,
Have toil'd, have fought, have conquer'd, and have bled -
The Sages, Lawgivers, and Kings of old,
Minos, Lycurgus, Solon, Numa, Alfred,
Dion, Epaminondas, Cato, Brutus,
Founders of nations, fathers of the laws,
Patriots devoted to the public good,
Heroes, who for their country fought or bled,
Martyrs of liberty who died for man,
The glorious guardians of the human race,
Look down divine, and bending from the sky,
Their hoary figures consecrate the scene,
And bless the passion hour.
John. 'Tis well, 'tis well.
What does your purpose aim at?
Archb. To revive
Our ancient liberties; to found anew
An empire of the laws; restore the rights
Our ancestors from age to age enjoy'd;
To settle England on a solid base,
The land of freedom: firm upon his throne
To make the Sovereign of the British isle,
The greatest Monarch of the greatest people.
John. Deliver the particulars of your charter.
Archb. Let every Briton, as his mind, be free,
His person safe, his property secure;
His house as sacred as the fane of heaven;
Watching, unseen, his ever open door,
Watching the realm, the spirit of the laws;
His fate determined by the rules of right,
His voice enacted in the common voice
And general suffrage of th' assembled realm.
No hand invisible to write his doom;
No demon starting at the midnight hour,
To draw his curtain, or to drag him down
To mansions of despair. Wide to the world
Disclose the secrets of the prison-walls,
And bid the groanings of the dungeon strike
The public ear. Inviolable preserve
The sacred shield that covers all the land,
The heaven-conferr'd palladium of the isle,
To Briton's sons, the judgement of their peers.
On these great pillars, freedom of the mind,
Freedom of speech, and freedom of the pen,
For ever changing, yet for ever sure,
The base of Britain rests.
John. These are the laws
Of the Confessor, and to these I give
A free, a full, and Sovereign consent.
But, while the foe approaches nigh,
Such a consent would seem th' effect of fear,
Or trick of policy. Let us unite,
And join our forces for the hour of war;
The common foe dispersed, your charter shall be seal'd.
Elvine. Prompted by duty, we have drawn the sword
To save our country; the same sword we draw
To guard our King: In every common cause
Britains will join against their native foes,
And still the people in the King confide.
John. United now, both armies bend their march
To meet the Dauphin. Now so fit I know
[To Elvine.
To lead the war as you, illustrious youth.
The hour of evening bids the trumpets sound.
Albemarle and Elvine.
Albem. My noble kinsman, hail! I knew thee not
Beneath my roof, and with my daughter bred,
Thou wast a son! Alas! at thought of thee
Reproach knocks at my heart. Canst thou forgive?
I need not ask, for thou art brave, my son.
When we had wrong'd you deeply, sent of Heaven,
You came, the better genius of the land,
To save your country.
Elvine. Clad in arms, I came
To do my duty.
Albem. You have saved the land.
Your country, grateful to the sons of fame,
Will charge herself with your illustrious meed.
But, Elvine, how shall ever I repay
The love and friendship you have shown me?
Elvine. There's one reward - but, 'tis too much for man,
My highest hope, the treasure of my life -
All that my heart beats for beneath the sun
'Tis yours to give, my Lord.
Albem. Name it, my son.
Elvine. The race of honour I have early run;
I've lived to glory, I would live to love.
Your daughter, fair Elvina, - in the days
Of youth I loved her. - Were that matchless maid -
Albem. Think of another choice. - Alas! my son!
This is the pang that parents only feel! [Aside
Elvine. To me there is no other choice. Ah! where,
Where shall I find the rose of innocence,
Youth in the flower, or beauty in the bloom,
As in that peerless maid? Is she not fair?
Is she not perfect in the prime of years,
The spring of beauty, and the morn of youth?
Albem. My son! the secret cannot be conceal'd.
I have no daughter - worthy of thy arms.
Elvine. What? God of heaven! Elvina? is she not
The grace and glory of the female kind,
As angels radiant and as angels pure?
Albem. I thought so once.
Elvine. Defend me, powers of heaven!
What has she done?
Albem. Done? she has done a deed
That never can be named - has rent my heart -
Elvine. O! she has been belied. I know her well
She is not to be judged by common rules;
She left the crowd of womankind below;
She walk'd aloft in a peculiar path,
And sprung to excellence-
Albem. Alas! my son,
It cannot be conceal'd. The burst of fate
Will come upon thee like the bolt of Heaven.
I cannot utter -
[Delivering a letter
These - these will convey
A horrid tale - but words cannot express
A father's anguish for a child that's lost-
[He goes out.
Elvine. (alone, reads the letter.) Tremendous this! incredible! impossible!
These to the Dauphin - after these pretend
To love me! God of nature! what is woman?
At once to sink the vilest of her sex!
To plunge precipitant down to the deep
Of hideous hell, the dungeon of the damn'd!-
[Tearing the letter
Thus do I tear her from my soul for ever.
Where am I now? There's not one beam of hope
To light me through the infinite abyss! -
One path there is, which all the brave must tread.
It smiles upon my sight - down, down, my heart,
A little while, thou shalt repose in peace,
Nor feel the blow that false Elvina gave.
Act V.
Scene, - A solitary Heath, marked with the ruins of an old Castle, here and there a blasted tree.
Elvine, Edgar.
Edgar. Forgive me, noble youth! If I presume
To rush unbidden on your secret hour.
Alas! my Lord, you come not near the camp.
From lovers and from friends you stand afar.
Even from their tents you turn away your eye.
Alone you stalk, with a disorder'd step,
And a wild eye, as if indeed you stood
A friendless man, and outcast from the world.
Elvine. 'Tis past. What have I more to do with man?
I am no member of the living world.
No friend have I among the human kind.
Edgar. My gracious master! Heaven prevent my hears!
Alas! my aged heart will burst in twain
To see this day! -
[Bursting into tears.
Elvine. Come near me, O my friend,
Say, dost thou know me?
Edgar. Know you? good my Lord!
Descend, ye blessed angels to his aid.
Elvine. Edgar, the time has been when I was blest!
That time can come no more. In yonder camp
They think me happy, and they call me great,
- There is not such a wretch in the wide world! -
Edgar. O might I know what wounds your peace.
Elvine. 'Tis here,
The unseen dart that gives the mortal wound-
The malady of mind - You've known Elvina -
She is a friend of hell -
Edgar. My gracious master,
If right you study your repose or peace,
O judge not rashly of the maid you love!
Elvine. I judged not rashly. Gods! what would I give
To think her innocent! But, I've such proof:
Such shining, flaming, damning proof; her hand,
Her own hand-writing - Ah! departed hours
That saw us happy, ye can ne'er return!
The circle of my friends was all my world;
That world has vanish'd - Oh! the dreadful fall
Of those we love from honour and from fame,
Comes like the general wreck - No future time,
Not all the vast variety of thought
Can bring one smiling image to my mind;
Can raise one ray of hope to break the gloom
That closes o'er my head. - From thought thought
Restless plunge; 'tis darkness; 'tis despair.
Would I could think no more! -
Edgar. Forget the false one.
A worthless woman merits not a thought;
Your country calls you. Rise to higher thoughts.
The Dauphin comes.
Elvine. Perdition on his name!
By heaven! he shall not find me unprepared!
O for the trumpet's sound! that I might rush
To victory, to vengeance, and the grave!
-False as she is, yet I would wish to meet her;
To see Elvina e'er we part for ever!
To pierce her with her perfidy, her baseness;
To utter all the fulness of my heart,
To vent the secret fondness of my soul!
To let her know how blest she might have been!
Heaven bless her still! -
Behold she comes! Depart -
Enter Elvina.
Elvina. And have I lived to hear the public voice
Proclaim thy praise, and join a people's joy,
To hail thee hero of this happy day!
The camp re-echoes, and the nation rings;
Say, Elvine, will the gentle voice of love
Be grateful to thine ear? From tent to tent,
And spring into his arms!
[He turns aside from her.
Defend me, Heaven!
What secret stroke has blasted all the joy
Amid thy fame? Why dost thou turn thine eyes
From thy Elvina? Dost thou hide a grief
Which I cannot partake, cannot console,
O my heart beats for thee; Look on my face,
O Elvine; O my love; -
Elvine. I've known the time
When Elvine's name, from Elvina's voice,
Which knows its tender way yet to my heart,
Would have seduced me from my post in war.
Now thou art changed! -
Elvina. Changed! I can never change,
O Elvine, let me know -
Elvine. Yes. Thou shalt know;
And thou shalt hear me - for the last time hear me;
For to the field of battle straight I go,
From which, if steel can pierce an open breast,
I never shall return. For Oh! Elvina,
I cannot with thee, nor without thee, live!
Elvina. My lord, thy words I cannot comprehend;
But, Oh! I tremble at thy look so wild.
Elvine. Oh! once I loved thee! Gods! Gods, how I loved thee!
Each night, retiring from the ranks of war,
You came an angel to my constant dream.
I ne'er put on my armour but I thought
On her whose knight I was, whose scarf I wore.
I never wandered from Elvina's charms.
While she - O heavens!
Elvina. Guard me, ye gracious powers!
Dark are your words, but they are daggers, Elvine!
Have I deserved reproach from him I loved?
O it was all my pleasure, all my pride;
My joy in secret, and my public vaunt:
It soothed me in the hour of my despair,
That when your friends forsook you, I alone
Was just and grateful to an injured youth;
More just, more grateful, than he proves to me;
Elvine. The child of fancy, and the fool of love,
What golden scenes I figured to myself!
In the day-dreams of my romantic mind,
You rose in beauty, smiling by my side,
My sweet companion in the path of life,
The wife of youth, the mistress of my mind,
The friend that never failed. O God! O God!
The thought was heaven, when wearied of the world,
Upon that bosom to recline my head,
To hear the music of that tender tongue,
To drink enchantment from those radiant eyes,
To feel the pressure of those circling arms!
- My God! from what a dream do I awake!
The spell is broken, and the vision's fled.
Witness these tears wrung from a tortured heart,
The first that Elvine for himself has shed!
What hast thou done, Elvina?
Elvina. Done, my Lord;
I am afraid you are disturbed in mind.
Elvine. Disturbed in mind! Yes, I am disturbed in mind.
I've that within which none of all the damn'd
Can bear in burning hell - for I have lost ---
O, I have lost the treasure of my soul!
My heart is torn from all that it held dear ---
Elvina. I fear some traitor has abused thine ear.
Come to particulars, I charge thee. - Speak.
Elvine. O woman! woman! woman! ask thy heart.
Elvina. O Elvine, 'tis a kind one! how it beats.
Elvine. Yes it can beat - can beat for all mankind.
I am your fool no more. ---
Elvina. Suspicion, Heavens!
Dost thou not know me? What is there on earth
Whereon to rest, but that eternal rock,
The heart of those we love? And can that fail!--
Alas! why didst thou save me from the sword,
To kill me thus? Would I had died this day;
For then I suffered, then I would have died
For thee! ---
Elvine. For me! This is th' extreme of guilt:
Th' unpardonable crime: Serene to give
The front of virtue to the soul of vice.
For me!
Elvina. Perhaps we ne'er shall meet again;
In this last moment, Elvine; I conjure thee
By the bless'd memory of what we were;
By all the tender hours that we have pass'd:
The days of dearness, and the loves of youth;
Our fond romantic hopes of future bliss;
The sighs we breathed in sympathy of soul,
The tears we mingled in that tender hour.
You laid your cheek to mine, and fervent seal'd
The sacred vow of everlasting love,
By all that's past, I charge too, tell me, tell
What is that crime, so flagrant and so foul,
To cast me from thy bosom?
Elvine. (in tender emotion.) Oh! Elvina!
Elvina. Oh! by the present sorrows of my soul,
Plaints which have sometimes touch'd a lover's heart,
Tears, which a tender hand has wiped away --
And am I now an alient to thy love?
Unfelt, unpitied, canst thou hear my voice
Of lamentation, and unmoved behold
The tears of her thou lovedst! --
Elvine. Oh! Elvina,
Though lost, I cannot see thee thus.
Elvina. Then thus,
Elvine, I claim my empire in thy arms.
[Rushing to his arms.
Elvine. (repulsing her.) Off, off, false woman.
Ah! there was a time ------
Elvina. (with a broken voice.) Heavens!
Elvine. Hell! that is thy element.
Elvina. What crime?
Elvine. Oh! infedelity.
Elvina. What villain hath belied me?
Elvine. No villain.
Elvina. Who then?
Elvine. Thy father.
Elvina. What evidence?
Elvine. Thy letter.
Elvina. Where?
Elvine. I tore it in my wrath,
As I will rend that ruffian of a lover,
And give his spirit to the shades of hell.
[The trumpet sounds for battle.
Lady we part for ever and for ever!
I go without a tear; for thou art fallen
Below the most abandon'd of thy kind.
God! has that sex thy sanction to deceive?
To show a daemon in the shape of heaven,
And look like angels, while they're devils damn'd!
[Elvina standing fixed in astonishment and despair, Albemarle and Emma comes up to her; she faints in their arms.
Emma. She's gone! my noble Lady, gone; -
Albem. Help, Heaven!
Ye saints and angels, help.
[Bending over her in silence.
Ha! she revives!
Elvina. Where am I now? Ah! it avails me not,
For I can never be what once I was.
Elvine is parted, never to return.
Albem. The battle is begun. The sword is drawn.
Convicted of thy falsehood, Elvine goes,
Wild in the field to throw his life away,
And bare his bosom to the certain sword
Held out. ---
Elvina. He might have known, he should have known,
That his Elvina never would prove false.
Albem. How could he doubt it when I told him so?
Elvina. My father my accuser!
Albem. O, my child?
Thy letter to the Dauphin ---
Elvina. To the Dauphin!
No letter to the Dauphin I e'er sent.
Albem. This morn the French Ambassador produced it
Before the Barons: We had read it all.
Elvina. O Heaven! that letter was address'd to him,
To Elvine. ---
Albem. Elvine? Have a care my child! ---
Elvina. To Elvine it was written - Emma knows it.
Ha! when I ponder; -- My disorder'd mind
Forgot th' address. - The cursed Ambassador
Supplied the blank, and mark'd it for the Dauphin.
Albem. O, this unfolds the mystery;
My child is innocent.
[Taking her in his arms.
Elvina. But I am undone.
Eternal destiny! this is thy work.
Ready to rush upon the certain sword,
He goes devoted - Oh! he never knew
How much I loved him - to distraction loved him;
Knew not the throbs, the palpitations wild,
Th' unutterable heavings of a heart
Where reign'd his image. -Now to death he goes,
And thinks me false - O Heaven, amid my woes,
My flowing miseries, for him I weep;
For Elvine is as wretched - as Elvina!
Albem. (Sounds heard.) 'Tis o'er. The signal of pursuit is given.
Emma. Crowds chasing crowds, and flashing arms I see,
And garments stain'd with blood. 'Tis like the storm,
When heaven, and earth, and ocean mingle war.
Enter suddenly Edgar.
Edgar. The battle's over, and the foe is fled.
Her sudden effort made, vain-glorious France
Forsook the field.
Elvina. Ha! Elvine? Where?
Edgar. Aghast,
Long did he look this way, with aspect wild:
His hands in agony extreme he wrung;
With faltering voice, in broken sounds, he cried,
'I've conquer'd - now I perish - Oh! Elvina!'
Then, with determined hand, his sword he drew,
And instant plunged amid the hostile ranks,
Which closed behind him.
Albem. Ah! illustrious youth,
Cut off untimely in thy bright career,
And all thy honours withered in the dust;
Cold in the silent tomb, thou shalt not hear
The song of triumph which thy country sings
In honour of thy deeds; shalt not behold
The tears of England which embalm thy name.
Almighty! where was thine outstretched arm,
When virtue struggled in the toils of fate,
When honour perish'd in the villain's snare?
- Elvina, mute and motionless you stand,
No tender drops bedew thy fixed eye.
A sullen sorrow darkens all thy features.
Ah! save me Heaven, from that foreboding look -
My daughter, shun the hour of desperation,
Let us withdraw our steps.
Elvina. Ay - to the grave.
Albem. O look not on me with that eye forlorn!
Elvina. Never, ah! never shall I see him more.
Albem. No friend, no comforter have I on earth
But thee, my child; My daughter, live for me. --
Elvina. It glooms! shall I not find thee in the tomb.
Oh! Elvine, Elvine!
Enter suddenly Elvine.
Elvine. Here I am, Elvina-
Forgive me, O my love; I knew thee not.
I sought the Dauphin through the ranks of war;
We fought; he fell the victim of my sword:
It was th' Ambassador, like him array'd,
Who told his guilt; thy innocence; and died.
Angelic goodness! What can e'er atone
For foul suspicion of thy spotless fame;
Thou fairest, and thou best of womankind?
Elvina. Words cannot speak the language of my heart.
'Twas fatal destiny. Yet Elvine, know,
The pang which pierced me most, was what thou felt.
Elvine. Look on the past as but a dreary dream,
Oh! let me find forgiveness in thy arms!
[Embracing.
Albem. Heaven bless you both, my children!
Now, in peace
My hoary head shall to the grave descend.
Enter in procession, Archbishop, Barons, Knights.
Archbishop (with Magna Charta in his hand, to Elvine.)
By thee, great chief, the victory is won.
And lo; the charter of our freedom seal'd;
To Heaven, to Heaven ascend eternal praise:
Barons, the tears which trickle from those eyes,
Are patriot drops; for Britain now is free.
Albem. Let unborn ages echo to the sound!
Now England rising from the dust resumes
Her name among the nations, and unfolds
The page of glory to remotest time.
The memory of this day will raise a race
Of darling spirits in the dregs of time.
A nation of the brave, a kingly people,
Bold in the cause of freedom and their fathers,
And for their country prodigal of blood.
Archb. (in emotion.) From future time the veil is drawn aside.
The hidden volume opens to mine eye,
And lo! they rise!
Albem. He trembles, and he glows,
Like ancient prophets when they felt the God.
Archb. Barons, this glorious day, this hallowed ground
Shall never be forgot; - to Runnamede,
The field of freedom, Britain's sons shall come,
Shall tread where heroes and where patriots trod,
To worship as they walk!
Albem. Rapt into heaven,
High visions pass before the holy man;
His tranced accent is the voice divine.
Archb. The day of Britain now begins to dawn,
Red in its rise. Heaven opens: and behold
The hours of glory and the morn of men
Ascending o'er the globe. An era new,
The last of ages now begins to roll,
The reign of liberty. The goddess comes
Down from high heaven; her garment dyed in blood;
The sword refulgent in her lifted hand:
She looks; and fixes, never to remove,
Her throne and sceptre in Britannia's isle.
Elvine. O bless'd of heaven, who shall behold the day
Of Britain shine!
Archb. The Queen of isles behold,
Sitting sublime upon her rocky throne,
The region of the storms! She stretches forth
In her right hand the sceptre of the seas,
And in her left the balance of the earth.
The guardian of the globe, she gives the law:
She calls the winds, the winds obey her call,
And bear the thunder of her power, to burst
O'er the devoted lands, and carry fate
To Kings, to nations, and the subject world.
Above the Grecian or the Roman name
Unlike the great destroyers of the globe,
She fights and conquers in fair freedom's cause.
Her song of victory the nations sing:
Her triumphs are triumphs of mankind.
