University of Virginia Library

SCENE XV.

A thick Wood. Night.
The Convent's painted windows seen at a distance.
Enter Alferenzi, meeting an old Peasant.
Alferenzi.
Well! hast thou found her? Ev'ry tangled dell,
Each thorny labyrinth, and lonely glade,
In vain I've search'd and travers'd o'er and o'er!
I will not lose her so! What, like a coward,
Yield up my hopes, and be the passive fool
That fortune makes her plaything? All is still!
The moping bat has wheel'd his circling flight,
And hies him weary to his haunted home!
No wand'ring insect winds his little horn
To bid the drowsy traveller beware,
While perilous oblivion grasps the scene!
Oh! if I find her not, the gath'ring mists,
That hasten round us on unwholesome wings,
Will chill her gentle bosom—

Peasant.
Heav'n forefend! Lightning.

'Twill be a stormy hour. Oh! gracious Sir!
In truth my heart is sorely wrung with pity;
For countless are the dangers that beset
The midnight wand'rer in these lonely haunts;
Nor are the famish'd wolves that roam for prey
More to be dreaded than the lawless swords
Of merciless banditti!

Alferenzi.
I fear them not. [Thunder and lightning.

Horrors on horrors crowd so thick upon me,
That pall'd imagination, sick'ning, spurns
The sanity of reason! man can but bear
A certain portion of calamity;
For when the pressure heap'd upon the brain
O'erwhelms the active faculties of thought,
The pang acute subsides, and leaves the mind
A chaos wild of gorgeous desolation!

Peasant.
I hear the feet of passengers; their steps
Give hollow signal on the sun-burnt ground.

Alferenzi.
Here, take this good stiletto, honest carle,
And guard thy breast, if any ill should threaten.

Enter two Robbers.
First Robber.
My poniard is prepared with mortal poison,
And he that feels it dies. Lightning.
[Alferenzi, perceiving the Robbers by the lightning.

Cowards! assassins!

[The Robbers assail Alferenzi and the Peasant. One is disarm'd by Alferenzi; the other, after piercing his side, escapes.
Alferenzi.
Ruffian! thou know'st thy life is in my pow'r;
Now tell me, if in this sequestered gloom
A beauteous lady met thee? quickly speak,
Or thou shalt perish!

Second Robber.
Such a one I met,
And saw her towards the convent bend her way;
Yon light will guide you thither; she is safe.
I could not harm the maid, she look'd so lovely!

Alferenzi.
Oh! Caitiff! if thou hadst, thy barb'rous soul
Should in the lowest hell have howl'd for mercy!
One act of virtue cancels all thy crimes;
So take thy life; repent, for I forgive thee. [Exit Robber.

How much more merciful this villain seems,
Who on the instant gives the mortal wound,
Than he who by oppression wrings the heart,
And makes the wretch spin a long thread of life,
Steep'd in perpetual tears! The storm is past;
Thou know'st this convent! let us hasten thither.

Peasant.
Good noble youth, you faint; your voice doth faulter.

Alferenzi.
'Tis but a trifle; 'twas the coward's sword
That slightly pierc'd my side. Now lead the way;
If I behold her angel face once more,
Not all the demons of Despair shall part us.

[Exeunt.