University of Virginia Library

Scene III

(The same apartment in Charles Stuart's apartment. He is seated in a sofa reading a letter. Enter Francisca and a Monk).
Francisca
I wait your orders, good my lord.

Charles Stuart
Wait till
You shall receive them an hour from then.

Francisca
I will attend to you, my lord. (Starting away.)


Charles Stuart
Nay stay,
You know my daughter is in the convent now.
Watch over her as if she were your own.

Francisca
It shall be done my lord. When go you hence?

Charles Stuart
Tomorrow I must be in Rome.

Francisca
May heaven
Protect you on your route.

Charles Stuart
The same to you. (Knocking is heard.)

But stay, Francisca. See whose knock that is.

(Exit Francisca, who returns again.)
Francisca
A page is now in waiting at the door,
And craves admittance.

Charles Stuart
He must wait awhile,
I have some business to attend to now.

Francisca
Straight from the Princess, so he says, my lord.

Charles Stuart
What! from my daughter? Show him in

(Francisca shows him in. Enter Madalena, his daughter disguised as a Page.)
Page
(bowing)
My lord. (Handing him a letter.)


Charles Stuart
Whence comes this pacquet, boy? How fares my child?

(Opening the letter.)
Page
So please your royal highness, she is well.

Charles Stuart
What! is it possible that she has sent
The young Di Ossima to be my page.

Page
It is as you have said, my lord.

Charles Stuart
Why so?

Page
I sang for her the song of other days,
And while my spirit panted for the war,
Watching the enthusiastic tears steal down
My cheek from joy which overflowed my heart,
She loved the soul that gave such music birth,
And chose me from that moment as thy Page,
Saying that while you listened to my songs,
You might remember her when far away.

Charles Stuart
But tell me, gentle Page, what is thy name?

Page
Fernando, may it please my lord.

Francisca
(aside)
What! young
Fernando? By my troth, it is her boy!

Charles Stuart
Thy gentle form but ill befits the war,
Thou art not more than sixteen years of age?

Page
I am, your highness, seventeen or more.

Charles Stuart
Our voyage is too great for one like thee.
Thou art as gentle as the summer breeze
Laden with perfumes from the odorous flowers.

Page
And yet my nature, like that summer breeze,
When roused to valor by the breath of Fame,
Can rise as far above its gentler self,
As Ocean, troubled by the angry winds,
Is more tempestuous than the placid lake.
Oh! how my ardent spirit pants to see
The doubtful conflict on the battle-field,
Between two kingdoms, where the bristling spears
To the lightning-music such brisk contention keep,
As stars commingling on the raging sea!

Charles Stuart
But when the martialed multitudes are spread
In countless thousands on the battle-field,
And when their armour glittering in the sun,
Shall strike thine eyes with one effulgent blaze;
And when the clashing spears, the glittering helms,
And splintered javelins, with one obstreperous clang,
In terrible array of close-wedged troops,
Shall mingle with the charge of neighing steeds;
Methinks the harp would better suit thy strength,
Than such calamities of war.

Page
My lord!
Peril is joy to him whose heart is brave.

Charles Stuart
My noble boy! indeed, where got you this?
The Convent is no place for such as thou.
The glossy ringlets of thy raven hair—
The upturned flashings of thy darker eyes,
The olive colour of thy roseate cheeks,
Those frolic-smiles, alternate to the scorn
Which sits enthroned upon thy roseate lips,
All speak the language of thy noble birth
And more, the freedom of an honest heart.
From this day forth it shall be known to all,
That young Di Ossima shall be my Page,
And bear me company to Scotland's shore.

(Exit Francisca.)
Page
(Kneeling)
Most royal master! let me thank thee on
My knee, for filling thus Fernando's heart
With more than mortal joy! this hand shall be
The Guardian Angel of my king's life;
These lips shall soothe him in the hour of grief;
And when some ruthless hand shall aim the blow
At his proud heart, it first shall pass through mine!

Charles Stuart
Most noble boy! look up, my generous youth!
I love thee almost as my own dear child!

Fernando
(Kneeling)
I thank thee on my knees, my noble lord!

Charles Stuart
Rise up, my noble boy! you should not kneel.
But said you not that you could sing, my boy!

Fernando
I did, my lord. What will you have? One grave
Or gay?

Charles
I do not care, choose for yourself.
Invoke you Thalia, or the Muse of Pan?

Fernando
Fernando's Song

Charles Stuart
The music of thy liquid voice is like
The eloquence of an embodied song;
Which feeds upon its own sweet melody.
But, come-tomorrow we must be in Rome.

(Exeunt.)
(Enter Francisca leading in Madalena.)
Madalena
Stay, my father! answer me this once—
Is Angela the sister of the Nuns?

Monk
Why ask me that which you already know?
You saw her there last night.

Madalena
I saw her not—
I have not seen her for these many months.

Monk
You are mistaken—you beheld her there
Last night.

Madalena
What! art thou blind?

Monk
You are, or would
Play false, if you pretend you saw her not.

Madalena
Indeed I saw her not.
Has he not heard of this before? Oh, speak!

Monk
I tell thee Angela is with the Nuns
And wrote to soothe thee in thy sorrow.

Madalena
She has no medicine can cure this grief!

Monk
Nay, cheer thee up—thy sire will come again.

Madalena
Why speak of him? I have no sire!

Monk
No sire?
Nay, you are crazed, my child. You should go home.

Madalena
I shall go soon enough.

Monk
Come, you must go with me.

Madalena
No, father! broken-hearted as I am,
I would not follow thee from this to Heaven,
Until I hear the truth of what I seek;
Then if it be as thou hast said it is,
I care not if you take me to the grave!

Monk
What blasphemy is this to shirk my care?

Madalena
I sought thee knowing thou wouldst speak the truth.

Monk
Who doubts my word? Come, you must go with me.

Madalena
Not yet until the thunderclap is heard
And the fierce lightning blast me!

Monk
Not till then?
Then all the convents in the world were naught!

Madalena
Now comes the thunderstroke! It blasts me now!

Monk
Why talk you thus?

Madalena
Fernando, then, is gone?

Monk
He went with Stuart to the war.

Madalena
Then I am lost! (She faints in his arms.)

Monk
Oh, royal mistress! do not faint!
She must not die so soon! Oh! do not die!
Thou, Father! hear thy servant's prayer! restore
This child again! She breathes! my prayer was heard!
Look up again! look up, my child! She lives!
Oh! speak to me!

Madalena
Then bear me to his arms!

Monk
Be calm! thy father will return again!
No mischief shall befall the royal Charles!
Was ever daughter's love so great as this!

(Exit, bearing her out.)