University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

LLANDORVIN, GWENDYLEN, CLYFFORD.
GWENDYLEN.
He lives! he lives to bless me for his life!

LLANDORVIN.
The exulting angel, who shall call to glory
The spirits of the just, can never prove
A visitant more dear to raptured saints,
Awakened from the slumber of the grave,
Than thou art to thy father.

CLYFFORD.
Thou blest sire,
Allow a stranger, whose unhardened heart
Bled for thy wrongs, to share at this dear moment
Thy tears of hallowed extacy!

LLANDORVIN.
Thy accent,
Ingenuous youth, informs me thou art English:
A name to wake hostility, and hate
In every Cambrian heart! but gracious nature
On thy fair brow has written characters,
That lead to confidence, if not to friendship.
If, as my mind conjectures, generous pity
Has prompted thee to guard this damsel, passing
Thro' nightly perils to relieve her father,
Thou wilt not deem that father's benediction,
(All his base foes have left him to bestow)
A worthless recompense of care so noble.

CLYFFORD.
My heart will prize it as a richer treasure,
Than royalty can give. But, my kind father,
O let me ever hail by that dear name,
The man I venerate with filial ardour!
Tho' I confess I covet thy esteem
Beyond the praise of princes, let me not
Meanly attempt to win it by a semblance
Of merit, not my own! I came not hither
Guarding your lovely daughter: to herself,
To the firm virtues of her tender heart
Solely you owe this interview of transport.

LLANDORVIN.
Tell me, my child!—

GWENDYLEN.
O graceful modesty!
How sweet thou shewest in a princely patron,
Who, giving all, believes he nothing gives!
But for the caution of this noble youth,
Thy Gwendylen, my father, might again
Have put thy rescued life within the power
Of the remorseless Edward.

CLYFFORD.
Hate me not,
Thou injured veteran of purest glory!
In hearing, I am bound by strongest ties
To thy detested foe, the mighty Edward!
Trained by his bounty, partial to his virtues,
Yet by the radiance of his power unblinded,
I wish that high imperial spirit tempered
With all the mildness of my gentle sire,
His more pacific brother.

LLANDORVIN.
Gracious Heaven!
Art thou, engaging youth, art thou the son
Of that loved prince, that real king uncrowned,
Who, scorning the vile vassalage of fear,
Reigns by beneficence o'er grateful hearts.

CLYFFORD.
Had not the proffer of Sicilia's sceptre
Detained him far from this devoted land,
In his humanity we should have found
The strongest earthly advocate against
The hasty rigor of th'offended King.
But the invisible angelic host
Are surely your protectors; could I else
Behold this fair one, whom I left a captive
In hopeless bondage, freely here fulfilling
This arduous duty of undaunted love?

GWENDYLEN.
A simple incident I have to tell
Will clear that mystery: it was my chance,
(So Heaven ordained to bless an anxious daughter)
To see the humble guard, who watched my prison,
Nursing his sickly infant: by the pity
I shewed his child, I led the honest soldier
To sympathize in all my filial sufferings,
Till, at the peril of his life, he gave me
The power to pay my nightly visit here:
But on my plighted word, that by the dawn
I will return his voluntary prisoner.

CLYFFORD.
Blest be his generous pity! if I live,
Such brave compassion shall be well rewarded.

LLANDORVIN.
Excellent youth! thou almost mak'st my heart
Enamoured of adversity: for that,
That only gives, what I this moment feel,
Exquisite joy in such consummate friendship,
As wanting not progressive aid from time,
Springs, like creation, perfect from the breath
Of pure beneficence.—

CLYFFORD.
To prove thy friend,
And change the colour of thy destiny,
Shall be the darling study of my soul.

LLANDORVIN.
I know it will: but O beware, dear youth,
Lest on thyself thou draw the perilous wrath
Of thy inexorable sovereign! fate
Could curse me with no misery more bitter,
Than to behold thy blooming life become
The victim of thy zeal to snatch from death
An old man weary of embittered age.

GWENDYLEN.
My honored father! Nature has exempted
Thy generous bosom from all selfish terror;
But thy kind heart is quick, as woman's fancy,
To catch an anxious fond inquietude
For every object of thy just affection.
Be not alarmed for this our noble friend!
Should he incense the King, by now promoting
Thy absolute escape, he will not suffer:
A lovely pow'rful angel of protection,
The gentle Eleanor! will be his guard,
And save the princely youth, whom she has fostered,
From her offended lord.

CLYFFORD.
O! she has virtues,
More than the warm impassioned eloquence
Of gratitude could speak: and she, I doubt not,
She will, in time, win, from the softened Edward,
All the atonement to your injured age,
That power can make for past indignities:
But, in this season of his recent anger,
You must not trust his mercy.

GWENDYLEN.
Haste, my father!
O haste to profit of the friendly night!
And speed in darkness to some distant refuge,
Less desolate than this!

CLYFFORD.
Dear Gwendylen!
Forgive me, that I thwart your eager prayer!
But at this time of peril, when our soldiers,
Lured by that watchful demon, avarice,
Are prowling for their prey, I wish your father
To rest, some days, in this dark sanctuary,
That death appears to consecrate, forbidding
The superstitious vulgar to approach.
Myself, as constant as the night returns,
Will visit him with sustenance and comfort.

LLANDORVIN.
Brave youth! I like thy counsel: this calm mansion
Tempers my troubled spirit: here my mind
Catches an hallowed energy, superior
To what the glittering scenes of life can give
To proud prosperity. Friend of distress!
My confidence in thee is my support;
For I confide to thee a charge, dear Clyfford!
More precious to my heart, than life or freedom,
The honor of my child! whate'er my fate,
Be thou her guardian! yes! I know thou wilt;
For in thy features I distinctly read
Truth incorruptible, and virtuous friendship.
But come, my children, honor bids us part:
The night's half wasted: come! Ill lead you forth
By paths more intricate: I have discovered
A winding cavity, that leads to light:
Take each of you my arm!—This way affords
A better chance of passing unobserved.

GWENDYLEN.
Dear father, ever vigilant for others!
Be careful of thy safety! and remember,
The life of Gwendylen depends on thine!

(Exeunt.