University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

AT THE RAMPARTS. Angelica, Stamura, and Soldiers.
Angelica.
See ye those towers that stride against the walls?

Soldier.
See you this arrow? Few were not more fatal
That flew from them: but this arrests my arm
Perhaps beyond to-morrow.

Angelica
(to others).
Fight amain.

Soldier.
The widow of Stamura is below,
And, slender tho' her figure, fair her face,
Brave as her husband. Few her words: beware
Of falling back, lest they increase and shame us.

Another Soldier.
Long live Stamura! She hath crost already
The sallyport.

Another Soldier.
What held she in her hand?

Another Soldier.
A distaff.

Soldier.
Hush! what cries are those?

Another Soldier.
All German.

Soldier.
What dust is overhead?

Another Soldier.
Is not it smoke?
Hurrah! flames mount above the battlements.

Soldier.
It was her deed.

Another Soldier.
But whose those cries behind us,
Along the harbour?

Soldier.
Those all are Italian.

Another Soldier.
Look! How yon tower curls outward, red and reeling!

Soldier.
Ay; it leans forward as in mortal pain.

Another Soldier.
What are those things that drop?

Soldier.
Men, while we speak,
Another moment, nothing.

Another Soldier.
Some leap down;
Others would keep their desperate grasp: the fire
Loosens it; and they fall like shrivell'd grapes
Which none will gather. See it, while you can;
It totters, parts, sinks. What a crash! The sparks
Will blind our archers.

Another Soldier.
What a storm of fire!