University of Virginia Library

Scene 7.

Frontenac, Ulamar, Miramont, Sakia, Officer and Guards.
Sak.
Ha! Gods! He comes, with the same frown he comes;
Do you call this fancy! O I shall be mad,
I shall be mad with Joy, with Fear, with Wonder!
O thou who hast the Charms to make Death lovely:
What would'st thou with that pale astonish'd look?
Such as the Dying wear, or Dead who arise:
Com'st thou to call thy miserable Wife?
She comes, in life and death thy own Nikaia.

[Draws a Dagger.
Front.
Nikaia!

Sak.
Ha! more Astonishment! He speaks, he calls;
Do you hear? Do you see? Or is this Madness all?

Front.
Oh my Astonish'd Soul! It is Nikaia:

Sak.
Again in an afflicted Tone he calls,
I come.

Front.
O hold!

[Lays hold on the Dagger.
Sak.
Ah Gods! He lives, I die; Ah Miramont!

Front.
Thou shalt die here then in these longing Arms;
Dear to my Heart, as the Life-Blood that warms it:
Feel how with Sprightly heats it calls thee back
To Life and Love again.

Sak.
It is, it is my Miramont!
Oh 'tis too much ye Pow'rs, I connot bear it,
I Die, the mighty Joy devours my Life;
My Love, my Life, my Miramont.

Front.
And doest thou Live? and art thou in my Arms?
Where hast thou past so many Cruel years?
O let these Tears of flowing Joy acquaint thee,
How bitterly I've mourn'd thy fatal Loss!
What hast thou Suffer'd in this rude Captivity?
O thou hast suffer'd what no Tongue can tell?
How hast thou mourn'd for thy afflicted Mate!
For sure thy Grief was equal to thy Love,
And never any Flame could equal thine.

Sak.
No we will never, never part again!
Alas I had forgot our Miramont—

Front.
Ha! What of that dear Creature! how I tremble!
Thy looks inform me, that my dearest Hope
The Joy, and Comfort of my Life is lost.

Sak.
He Lives, but on the very Brink of Fate:
Alas! They Murder him!

Front.
They? who!

Sak.
The Barbarous Governour.

Front.
The Governour! my Life! what Governour?

Sak.
The Governour of this new France.

Front.
Who has deluded thee?
The Governour of France is in thy Arms.

Sak.
The Governour of France is Frontenac;
And art not thou my Miramont?

Front.
I always was, I always will be thine,
And formerly I was thy Miramont,
But by my Brothers death am Frontenac,
Thus are our names by custom chang'd in France.

Sak.
O Horrour! horrour!
O wretch, what dreadful Guilt hast thou escap'd?
Behold thy Son, whom thou art about to Murder?

Frone.
Ha! Where?

Srk.
There, there behold him.

Front.
Ha, thy wonder and thy Joy distract thee!
He who stands there, is General of the Angians.

Sak.
As sure as he is General of the Angians,
He is thy Son and mine, 'tis thy own Miramont.

Front.
O I am lost and swallow'd up in wonder!
Ye Gods, ye Gods!
These are events surpassing, all example;
These are th' amazing Miracles of Fate!
Ha!
Perish all Tyrants, and their black Commands!

[Embraces Ul.
Ul.
Ay, in that Godlike Voice, I hear my Father.

Front.
Oh Miramont! my Son, my Son, forgive me!

Ul.
You gave me Life, and you may take it back.

Front.
That Life I gave thee, to defend I'll die;
Dear to my Heart, and lovely to my Eyes!
Come to my Arms once more, Indulge thy Father's fondness,
My Wife, and Son recover'd in an Hour;
And such a Son! O I am Blest
Above my fondest Hope.
I am a God, if nothing intervenes,
To interrupt this more than Mortal Joy;
And thou brave Miramont, my generous Friend,
Thou to whose rare and unexampled Virtue,
I owe the Joy and darling of my Life.
Embrace the worth thou hast sav'd, 'twas thy own Blood,
[Mira. Embra. Ula.
Which to preserve, thou nobly did'st contend.

Sak.
Why woul'st thou drive me to dispair by, saying
Front. talks apart with his Son.
My Miramont was in another World.

Mir.
You would not hear me out.
We esteem this a World distinct from ours.
[Apart.]
I must be gone, th' appointed minutes come.