University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

UNDER CASTEL-NUOVO. Durazzo and Rupert.
Rupert.
Remarkt you not how pale she turn'd?

Durazzo.
At what?

Rupert.
I said kings were unsafe. She knew my meaning.

Durazzo.
No man alive believes it: none believed it,
Beside the vulgar, when Andrea died.

Rupert.
Murdered he was.

Durazzo.
Mysteriously. Some say . .

Rupert.
What do some say?

Durazzo.
I never heeded them.
I know thee faithful: in this whole affair
I've proved it. He who goes on looking back
Is apt to trip and tumble.

[Goes.
Rupert
(alone).
Why this hatred?
Are there no memories of her far more pleasant?
I saw her in her childish days: I saw her
When she had cast away her toys, and sate
Sighing in idleness, and wishing more
To fall into her lap; but what? and how?
I saw her in the gardens, still a child,
So young, she mockt the ladies of the court,
And threw the gravel at them from her slipper,
And ran without if they pursued, but stopt
And leapt to kiss the face of an old statue
Because it smiled upon her: then would she
Shudder at two wrens fighting, shout, and part them.
Next came that age (the lovely seldom pass it)
When books lie open, or, in spite of pressing,
Will open of themselves at some one place.
Lastly, I saw her when the bridal crown
Entwined the regal. Oh! that ne'er these eyes
Had seen it! then, Andrea! thou had'st lived,
My comfort, my support. Divided power
Ill could I brook; how then, how tolerate
Its rude uprooting from the breast that rear'd it!
And must I now sweep from me the last blossoms
That lie and wither in the walk of life?
Fancies! . . mere fancies! . . let me cease to waver.
Who would not do as I did? I am more
A man than others, therefore I dare more,
And suffer more. Such is humanity:
I can not halve it. Superficial men
Have no absorbing passions: shallow seas
Are void of whirlpools. I must on, tho' loath.