Shall stain my countenance. Smooth thou thy brow, Norval. Think not so lightly, Sir, of my resentment : HOME 2. LOCHIEL'S WARNING. Wizard. Lochiel! Lochiel! beware of the day Oh weep! but thy tears cannot number the dead : Lochiel. Go, preach to the coward, thou death-telling seer! Or, if gory Culloden so dreadful appear, Draw, dotard, around thy old wavering sight, This mantle, to cover the phantoms of fright. Wizard. Ha! laugh'st thou, Lochiel, my vision to scorn? Proud bird of the mountain, thy plume shall be torn ! Say, rushed the bold eagle exultingly forth, From his home, in the dark-rolling clouds of the north? O, crested Lochiel! the peerless in might, For the blackness of ashes shall mark where it stood, Lochiel. False wizard, avaunt! I have marshalled my clan, Wizard. Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day! Now, in darkness and billows, he sweeps from my sight: But where is the iron-bound prisoner ?-Where ?— Lochiel. Down, soothless insulter! I trust not the tale For never shall Albin a destiny meet So black with dishonor, so foul with retreat. Though my perishing ranks should be strewed in their gore, Like ocean-weeds heaped on the surf-beaten shore, Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains, While the kindling of life in his bosom remains, Shall victor exult, or in death be laid low, With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe! Look proudly to Heaven from the death-bed of fame. CAMPBELL 3. A SCENE FROM WILLIAM TELL. Gesler, Tell, and Albert, Verner, Sarnem, and Soldiers. Sarnem. Down, slave! Behold the governor. Down! down! and beg For mercy! Gesler. Does he hear?-Thy name? Tell. My name? It matters not to keep it from thee now: Ges. Tell!-William Tell? Tell. The same. Ges. What! he so famed 'bove all his countrymen For guiding o'er the stormy lake the boat! And such a master of his bow, 'tis said His arrows never miss !—(Aside.) Indeed! I'll take Tell. Name it. Ges. I would see you make A trial of your skill with that same bow You shoot so well with. Tell. Name the trial you Would have me make. (Tell looks on Albert.) As though instinctively you guessed it. Tell. Look Upon my boy!-What mean you ? Look upon Instinctively! You do not mean— Ges. I would see Tell. No!—I'll send the arrow through the core! Tell. Great Heaven, Thou hear'st him! Ges. Thou dost hear the choice I give- Tell. O, monster! Ges. Wilt thou do it? Alb. He will! he will! Tell. Ferocious monster! Make A father murder his own child! Ges. Take off His chains, if he consents. Tell. With his own hand! Ges. Does he consent? Alb. He does. (Gesler signs to his Officers, who proceed to take off Tell's chains, Tell all the while unconscious of what they do.) Tell. With his own hand! Murder his child with his own hand! The hand I've led him, when an infant, by! (His chains fall off.) What's that you Have done to me? (To the Guard.) Villains! put on my chains again. My hands Are free from blood, and have no gust for it, I'll not Murder my boy for Gesler. Alb. Father-father! You will not hit me, father! Ges. Dost thou consent? Tell. Give me my bow and quiver. Tell. To shoot my boy! Alb. No, father, no! To save me !-You'll be sure to hit the apple. Tell. Lead me forth,— I'll make the trial! Alb. Thank you! Tell. Thank me!-Do You know for what ?-I will not make the trial, To take him to his mother in my arms, And lay him down a corse before her! Ges. Then He dies this moment; and you certainly Do murder him, whose life you have a chance Tell. Well-I'll do it! I'll make the trial. Alb. Father! Tell. Speak not to me: Let me not hear thy voice-thou must be dumb; And so should all things be:-earth should be dumb And heaven,-unless its thunders muttered at The deed, and sent a bolt to stop it! Give me My bow and quiver! Ges. That is your ground.-Now shall they measure thence A hundred paces. Take the distance. Tell. Is The line a true one? Ges. True or not, what is't To thee? A Tell. What is't to me? A little thing, Is nothing here or there, were it a wolf Ges. Be thankful, slave, Our grace accords thee life on any terms. Tell. I will be thankful, Gesler !-Villain, stop |