University of Virginia Library

ACT II.

SCENE continues.
Erin and Virgin.
ERIN.
Malvina not returned! Oh, that these lips
In silence had been sealed, when I first mentioned
The shipwrecked stranger!

VIRGIN.
The most prudent cannot
Guard against all mischance.

ERIN.
The clifted cave
Scarce had I reach'd, when she, with breathless haste
Before me rushed. At once she saw, she seized
The helmet and the sword: the sight whereof
Struck like a basilisk her starting eye.
But when she heard the stranger was born off
To suffer with the victims; oh, what words
Have power to paint the agony, the frenzy,
With which she bounded after him!

VIRGIN.
On the instant,
You should have followed, should have forced her back
From that inhuman scene—but Minla comes.
We must not now be questioned of Malvina.

[Exeunt.
Enter Minla.
MINLA.
The prince approaches; and my fluttering heart
Bounds, but not with delight! Oh, jealousy!
That with one glance turn'st friendship to a thread
Touched by a flaming brand; hence from my breast.
It will not hence; and all Malvina's charms
Dart their envenomed stings into my soul.
She's the bright star that darkens my dim light.
Yet, yet, she cannot Everallin wed,
Her Erragon alive—should he be dead?
I'll enter, to avoid the horrid thought;
And be the harbinger of my own fate.

[Exit.
Enter Everallin.
EVERALLIN.
Whence this tumultuous glow as I advance?
A sepulchre should gloomier thoughts inspire;
Thoughts cold and comfortless. Divine Malvina!
Thy summons, thy dear summons, is the charm
That fires th'exulting soul of Everallin.
Who would not woo such gentle vassalage?
Lighter than liberty are love's soft links,
That fasten soul to soul. And then so pure,
So perfect is her life, that every mortal
Goes mended from her presence.

Minla enters.
EVERALLIN.
Wherefore trembles
Minla with such emotion? where's Malvina?

MINLA.
Ah, where indeed! The mountain-cave I've search'd
And where the sea-fowl make their lonely haunt,
Close by the lake. Malvina is not there.
No one is there to say which way she went,
Or who hath forced her hence.

EVERALLIN.
Thou torturest me!

MINLA.
My lord?

EVERALLIN.
Thy every word is here a sword
Whither could she betake her, hapless woman!
Unfriended and unguarded, her own fears
Would at the tomb confine her. Should the king
With desperate hand have hurried her away?
But no; each guardian spirit would interpose.
Minla, no earthly thing was half so good,
Was half so lovely. Sensible, like thee,
To every charm; my heart, like thine, was lodged
Within her beauteous bosom. Something here
Impels me onward.—Gentle maid, once more
Wilt thou with me renew thy sorrowing search?

[Exeunt.
Enter Connal, followed by Bards and Officers.
CONNAL.
Attend the reverend train at our command?

OFFICER.
A band, selected by their white-haired chief,
In slow solemnity, with lute and lyre,
Obey your royal bidding. Lo, they come.

CONNAL.
Oh, shameful weakness! oh, indignity!
But 'tis a curse that baffles all my powers.
Spite of myself, this effort. I must make;
The only one untried.—Approach the tomb,
Sons of the song. Carril, and thou sweet bard,
Melodious Ullin, strike, symphonious strike
The lyre of love; and sad Malvina's spirit
Sooth, as ye may, with music's melting notes.
ODE.

CONNAL.
Enough, you may retire.
[Exeunt Bards.
I'll enter now.
And try th'effect that harmony has wrought
On her fantastic mind.

Enter Everallin and Minla.
EVERALLIN.
Too true indeed,
Minla, thy tidings prove. All search is vain.
She's gone, and with her Everallin's peace.

CONNAL.
What means he here?

EVERALLIN.
Connal! if thou hast dared
To violate our father's sepulchre,
And force Malvina from it; thy own life
Cannot atone the crime.

CONNAL.
What frenzy's this?
Hither I came to meet her.

MINLA.
Oh, she's gone!

CONNAL.
Gone whither? is it thy conspiracy?
Or thine, presumptuous youth? who lov'st to cross
Thy sovereign; and shalt feel the vengeance due
To such rash insolence.

MINLA.
Blameless, alas!
And ignorant of this unhappy chance,
Stand both of us.—Here, at her own request,
I left her, with dread doubts accompanied.
Fears and alarms, that with tumultuous rage
Shook her distracted mind.

EVERALLIN.
And who shall say,
Whither they might transport her? o'er the wild
And desart heath; or down yon desperate rock,
Into the roaring waves?

CONNAL.
Thy boding spirit
Imaginary terrors conjures up:
Far off she cannot be. Round let them search,
Caverns and mountain-streams.

MINLA.
Where-ever found,
I fear some dire disaster. Her high mind
Into th'extreme was hurried.

Enter Hidallan.
MINLA.
Ah, that look
Of consternation, what may it portend?

HIDALLAN.
A tale of horror! Miserable Malvina,
So late the general wonder, is become
The melancholy ruin of herself;
Her reasoning powers quite lost.

EVERALLIN.
Distracting sounds!

CONNAL.
Unfold at once, old man.

HIDALLAN.
Still doth she stand
Before my frighted fancy. I still see her,
As the last victim bled beneath the sword,
Rush on the altar. Starting from her head,
Streamed her loose hair; and round she cast her eyes
With frantic glare—Where is he? Lead, she cried,
Lead me to Erragon! my life, my lord,
My murder'd Erragon! then struck her breast,
And down with anguish dropt. To her apartment
They raised, and bore her off.

EVERALLIN.
Again, behold her,
Pale, and in wild disorder.

Enter Malvina, with Virgins.
MALVINA.
Whither, whither
Drive these conflicting transports?—
—Hence! avaunt!
(Seeing Connal.
Hills, hide me from the sight! Io, where he stands,
Monster of human kind! how base, how bloody!
No feature of a king is in that face!
Murder usurps the place of majesty!

CONNAL.
Words such as these, what mortal but Malvina
Dares speak!

MALVINA.
Bid night in tenfold darkness shroud thee,
Thou'st done a deed to make the fiends rejoice;
Killed every virtue that mankind reveres.
Meet me no more! or, if we needs must meet,
Come with that sword which murdered Erragon,
And with it murder me.

[Exit.
HIDALLAN.
Haste, follow, Minla;
And try with every lenient art to calm
Her troubled spirit.

MINLA.
Some good power assist me.

[Exit, with Virgins.
CONNAL.
What thus could shatter her disorder'd mind?

EVERALLIN.
The horror of her nuptials.

CONNAL.
Horror!

EVERRALLIN.
Horror.
Her soul, too sensible to bear the shock,
Took refuge in distraction.

CONNAL.
Strange conjectures
Wake here, at every word. Thy secret motives
I know not; would not guess. But such alarms—
Say, wherefore do thy conscious eyes meet mine,
As guilt lurked in them? guilt doth in them lurk—
Thou art confederate with her—the vile mask,
Of counterfeited madness is thy plot;
And each suspicious symptom—

EVERALLIN.
If a life
Of friendly freedom, and fraternal love
Unsullied, thy suspicion will not check,
My soul scorns further proof.

HIDALLAN.
Forbear, forbear.

EVERALLIN.
Forbearance urge to him, who would provoke
Patience itself past sufferance.

HIDALLAN.
Such contention
'Tween brothers, who by Nature's tend'rest ties,
Of love should be united, oh, it pulls
Here at my very heart-strings.—Be yourselves.
Be brothers.—Far, far off let royal Connal
Banish suspicion of a virtuous prince,
Whose friendship ne'er can fail him.

CONNAL.
The guilt's her's then,
Her's the vile artifice?

EVRALLIN.
Vile artifice!
Recall the inhuman taunt. Oh, never, never
Could art so nearly nature counterfeit;
Never in such an agony of passion
Call forth th'affrighted souls and so unfold
The shatter'd powers of reason.

CONNAL.
The last hour,
Her husband lived a bar to other nuptials.
That husband now is dead, by my command—
Oh, I were mad as she affects to be,
Not to discern it.

EVRALLIN.
That her fears are false
As an unreal vision, I not doubt.
Your hands are guiltless of her husband's blood.
Yet what she wildly raves, her heart believes.
Your pity then she merits, not your wrath.
Her nuptials caused the frenzy.

CONNAL.
Still presumes.
Thy arrogance? be gone.

EVRALLIN.
Yet shalt thou hear.
Honor, though banished from the world beside,
Still in the hearts of princes should have place.
And this unkingly, this unfilial breach
Of a dead father's promise makes me shrink,
In presence of that tomb.—The majesty
Of buried Morven frowns before my view.
His hollow voice groans forth Malvina's name.
I feel the awful sound. Here, like a spirit,
It swells within my breast; like Oscar's Spirit;
Which, while the memory of his promise lives,
Spite of a brother's, or a tyrant's threat,
Shall prove me Oscar's son.

[Exit.
CONNAL.
Upon thy life,
No more behold Malvina.—Curse upon
This womanish folly! What! the more her pride
Should damp love's flame, the fiercer shall it blaze?
Where are thy arts to exorcise this fiend?
[to Hidallan.
To dim those eyes, whose quick'ning fires might strike
A genial spring through winter's frozen breast;
Hidallan, every word from those dear lips
Raps me above myself; and one kind smile
Would make my life immortal.

HIDALLAN.
Ah, beware
These sudden transports of intemperate passion!
They're flashes from black clouds; and the more fierce
Th'effulgence that bursts from them, the more fearful
The dismal gloom that follows. Would you hope
To bring back peace of mind? release Malvina.
She never will be yours.

CONNAL.
She shall be mine.
Therefore devise some instant means—about it,
—There's not a look or voice, but thwarts my will.
Better rule o'er the eagles of the cliff;
Or wolves that ravage 'mong the forest-oaks,
Wild nature's commoners, than be such a king.—
Well; hast thou yet bethought thee?

HIDALLAN.
Every thought
Confirms my former counsel. Human laws,
And laws within the soul, with one dread voice,
Bid you release Malvina.

CONNAL.
O'er my youth
A careless temper gives thee an ascendant,
And thou presum'st upon it. Hence to this woman,
Who listens to thy voice; and back return
With welcome tidings.—Go, without reply.
[Ex. Hidal.
This sage preceptor henceforth shall become
A stranger here. He is too cold and cautious.
I will proceed alone.—But how proceed,
In this dark labyrinth!

Enter an Officer.
OFFICER.
The man, dread sir,
Wrecked in the last night's storm, who scaped our search,
We have surprized within the clifted cave;
Their chief from Lochlin. Must he share the fate
His followers have endured?

CONNAL.
A moment's pause.
—Most opportunely comes he, and full oft
Thus doth it chance; that Fortune, in her mood,
Strikes out, what labouring Art in vain essays.
Bring him; and bid Hidallan here attend,
Before he sees Malvina.—It must prove
[Exit Officer.
Effectual, and it shall. In her delirium,
She raves on her lord's death; and I stand forth,
Marked for the man of murder. On the instant,
I will th'advantage seize. This prisoner here,
Their chief, at once shall humour and remove
The fond illusion. He on oath shall vouch,
That 'mid the shock of their intestine broils,
The prince expired beneath a ruffian's sword.
To save his forfeit life, this shall he vouch;
Say, he beheld him fall. It may restore
Her wandering powers; evince my innocence;
Aye, and (so mutable is woman's will)
Convert her wayward passions to my purpose.

Enter Erragon and Officer.
CONNAL.
Thou comest from Lochlin?

ERRAGON.
Yes.

CONNAL.
And know'st the fate,
Thy followers here have found, prepared for thee?

ERRAGON.
Thy savage thirst for human blood I know.

CONNAL.
Art thou so bold! thy blood indeed is forfeit;
But yet the power of life, as well as death,
Rests in our hands. It may be, there are means,
By which thou may'st escape an imminent death.
Mark then my words. The prince of Sora—

ERRAGON.
Hah!

CONNAL.
Know'st thou the prince of Sora?

ERROGAN.
Know him?

CONNAL.
Know'st thou
Prince Erragon?

ERRAGON.
If I should say I did,
Were it a crime?

CONNAL.
Perhaps it were a crime.
He's hateful to my heart; and were he placed
Within my compass, he should feel my hate.
But to my purpose. 'Tis our royal will,
The stripling's death in Selma be believed.
Wilt thou, young stranger, to preserve thy life,
Confirm the death of Erragon on oath?

ERRAGON.
I scorn it.

CONNAL.
Say'st thou!

ERRAGON.
Upon such base terms,
My soul disdains it. The atrocious wretch,
Who, to preserve a poor precarious life,
Dares violate an oath's dread sanctity,
Should die for ever.

CONNAL.
Thou hast lived too long.
Hence with him.
[Exit Erragon, guarded.
'Tis the malice of my fate.
All, all conspires against me. Else this prisoner,
Whom my least breath could quell, would he thus dare
Death staring in his face?

Enter Hidallan.
CONNAL.
At what a moment
Comest thou to pry upon me? while my cheek
Glows with indignant blushes. Oh Hidallan,
This spirit, this proud spirit of a king,
Is weaker than a woman's. Every hour
Sees me still more a slave; fresh trials brings,
To aggravate my sufferings.

HIDALLAN.
Rouze, dread sir.
At one bold effort gain the noblest conquest,
A triumph o'er yourself. And oh believe,
The sacred sorrow of repentant sighs
Its own relief bears with it.

CONNAL.
Yon vile captive
From Lochlin, with the offer of his life
I would have bribed him to avouch the death
Of Erragon, on oath, in Sora's broils,
The desperate wretch disdain'd it. Go thou to him;
To yon dark tower, above Carthmona's bay,
My best Hidallan, go. His stubborn spirit
With every plausive artifice essay.
Should he refuse: one only course remains.
Should he assent; thy daughter may prepare
Malvina for the tidings. Speed away.
If not by fraud, by force she shall be mine.

[Exit.
HIDALLAN.
I must obey. Oh miserable fate
Of favorites! dependence absolute,
In its best form, is splendid slavery,
Cramped with the galling weight of gilded chains.
I must obey. For sooner to heaven's thunder,
Than to this king's wild rage, could I bid peace.
Spirits of goodness, then, with pity judge,
If sinning, the least sinful means I chuse
Malvina to relieve!—

Enter Minla.
MINLA.
With heart o'erflowing,
Thy daughter comes t'implore thy guardian aid,
For her unhappy friend. But my fears tell me,
Something too strongly shakes Hidallan's breast
For counsel now, or comfortable words.

HIDALLAN.
Minla, thy more than friendly warmth of soul,
Thy passion for Malvina I well know.

MINLA.
What means my father? let me share the grief,
That struggles thus for vent. What cruel dart
Has fortune now to throw at poor Malvina?
Connal has murdered her dear Erragon.
The tyrant cannot bid him bleed again,
A second sacrifice.

HIDALLAN.
The prince of Sora,
Whose fate, my child, at Selma, thou deplorest,
I must unfold myself. There is a man,
From Lochlin newly come. With all thy powers
Prepare Malvina to receive that man.
The harbinger he is of her lord's death,
By a slave's hand, in Sora's civil broils.
Thou tremblest; and thy eager spirits start
Into thine eyes, as they would search my soul.
Minla, 'tis filled with anguish and despair.
A chaos of distraction! to appal
Minds cast within a rougher mould than thine.
Yet must thou take one fearful glance.—This way
Leads to his prison. As we pass along,
By the blue waves of Lotha's sounding stream,
Thy father's trembling tongue, fast as it may,
Shall tell thee—Oh, unfortunate old man!

[Exeunt.