 | Francis the First |  |
SCENE III.
—THE PRINCESS MARGARET'S CHAMBER.(Enter Margaret and Triboulet.)
MARGARET.
It is the hour of tournay. Triboulet,
Go thou unto the Queen, and tell her grace,
That, if it please her, I'll attend her thither.
[Exit Triboulet.
He is returned! he will be there! and yet
Though meeting, after long eventful absence,—
We shall not in our meeting be half blest:
A dizzy, whirling throng will be around us,
'Mid whose loud jar the still small voice of love,
Whose accents breathe their soft enchantment best
In whisper'd sighs, or but half-whisper'd words,
Will die unheard. Oh that we thus should meet!
But, then, there is love's eye to flash his thought
Into a language, whose rich eloquence
Beggars all voice; our eyes at least may meet,
And change, like messengers, the loving freight
That either heart sends forth.
18
CLEMENT.
So please you, madam,
The Queen hath bid me say that she will not
Grace with her sight the tournament to-day;
And as I came from her apartment hither,
I met the King, who bade me bear you word
He cannot yet unto the lists, but you,
And your fair train, had best ride quickly there,
And let the tilt commence; he will not tarry,
But join ye ere the first three blows be struck.
[Exit Clement.
MARGARET.
'Tis well, I will obey—'Tis very strange
How much I fear my mother should perceive
De Bourbon's love for me—I know not why—
I dare not tell it her;—she is a fearful spirit,
And stands so proudly over all her sex,
She surely ne'er hath known what 'tis to love.
[Exit.
| Francis the First | |