University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

A field of battle strewed with slain, and some people seen upon the background searching amongst the dead bodies. Enter Hereulf and Ethelbert.
Her.
(stopping short, and holding up his hands).
Good mercy! see at what a bloody price
Ethwald this doubtful victory has purchased,
That, in the lofty height to which he climbs,
Will be a little step of small advantage.

Eth.
(not attending to him, and after gazing for some time on the field).
So thus ye lie, who, with the morning sun,
Rose cheerily, and girt your armour on
With all the vigour, and capacity,
And comeliness of strong and youthful men.
Ye also, taken in your manhood's wane,
With grizzled pates, from mates, whose wither'd hands
For some good thirty years had smooth'd your couch:
Alas! and ye whose fair and early growth
Did give you the similitude of men
Ere your fond mothers ceas'd to tend you still,
As nurslings of their care, ye lie together!
Alas! alas! and many now there be,
Smiling and crowing on their mother's breast,
Twining, with all their little infant ways,
Around her hopeful heart, who shall like these,
Be laid i' the dust.

Her.
Ay, so it needs must be, since Mollo's son
Thinks Mercia all too strait for his proud sway.
But here come those who search among the dead
For their lost friends; retire, and let us mark them.

[They withdraw to one side.
Enter two Ceorls, meeting a third, who enters by the opposite side.
1st Ceorl.
(to 3d).
Thou hast been o'er the field?

3d Ceorl.
I have, good friend.

2d Ceorl.
Thou hast seen a rueful sight.

3d Ceorl.
Yes, I have seen that which no other sight
Can from my fancy wear. Oh! there be some
Whose writhed features, fix'd in all the strength
Of grappling agony, do stare upon you,
With their dead eyes half open'd.—
And there be some, struck through with bristling darts,
Whose clenched hands have torn the pebbles up;
Whose gnashing teeth have ground the very sand.
Nay; some I've seen among those bloody heaps,
Defaced and 'reft e'en of the form of men,
Who in convulsive motion yet retain
Some shreds of life more horrible than death;
I've heard their groans, oh, oh!

(A voice from the ground.)
Baldwick!

3d Ceorl.
What voice is that? it comes from some one near.

1st Ceorl.
See, yon stretch'd body moves its bloody hand:
It must be he.

(Voice again.)
Baldwick!

3d Ceorl
(going up to the body from whence the voice came).
Who art thou, wretched man? I know thee not.

Voice.
Ah, but thou dost! I have sat by thy fire,
And heard thy merry tales. and shared thy meal.

3d Ceorl.
Good holy saints! and art thou Athelbald?
Woe! woe is me to see thee in such case!
What shall I do for thee?

Voice.
If thou hast any love or mercy in thee,
Turn me on my face that I may die;
For lying thus, seest thou this flooded gash?
The glutting blood so bolsters up my life
I cannot die.

3d Ceorl.
I will, good Athelbald. Alack the day!
That I should do for thee so sad a service!

[Turns the soldier on his face.
Voice.
I thank thee, friend, farewell!

[Dies.
3d Ceorl.
Farewell! farewell! a merry soul thou wert,
And sweet thy ploughman's whistle in our fields.

2d Ceorl
(starting with horror).
Good heaven forefend! it moves!

1st Ceorl.
What dost thou see?

2d Ceorl.
Look on that bloody corse, so smear'd and mangled,
That it has lost all form of what it was;
It moves! it moves! there is life in it still.

1st Ceorl.
Methought it spoke, but faint and low the sound.

3d Ceorl.
Ha! didst thou hear a voice? we'll go to it.
Who art thou? Oh! who art thou?
[To a fallen warrior, who makes signs to him to pull something from his breast.
Yes, from thy breast; I understand the sign.
[Pulling out a band or 'kerchief from his breast.
It is some maiden's pledge.

Fallen warrior
(making signs).
Upon mine arm,
I pray thee, on mine arm.

3d Ceorl.
I'll do it, but thy wounds are past all binding.

Warrior.
She who will search for me doth know this sign.

3d Ceorl.
Alack, alack: he thinks of some sad maid!
A rueful sight she'll see! He moves again:
Heaven grant him peace! I'd give a goodly sum
To see thee dead, poor wretch!

Enter a woman, wailing and wringing her hands.
2d Ceorl.
Ha! who comes wailing here?

3d Ceorl.
Some wretched mother who has lost her son:
I met her searching midst the farther dead,
And heard her piteous moan.

Mother.
I rear'd him like a little playful kid,
And ever by my side, where'er I went,
He blithely trotted. And full soon, I ween,
His little arms did strain their growing strength
To bear my burden. Ay, and long before
He had unto a stripling's height attain'd,
He ever would my widow's cause maintain
With all the steady boldness of a man.
I was no widow then.

2d Ceorl.
Be comforted, good mother.

Mother.
What sayst thou to me? Knowst thou where he lies?
If thou hast kindness in thee, tell me truly;
For dead or living still he is mine all,
And let me have him.

3d Ceorl
(aside to 2d).
Lead her away, good friend; I know her now.
Her boy is lying with the farther dead,
Like a fell'd sapling: lead her from the field.

[Exeunt mother and 2d Ceorl.
1st Ceorl.
But who comes now, with such distracted gait,
Tossing her snowy arms unto the wind,
And gazing wildly o'er each mangled corse?

Enter a young woman, searching distractedly amongst the dead.
Young wom.
No, no! thou art not here! thou art not here!
Yet, if thou be like these, I shall not know thee.
Oh! if they have so gash'd thee o'er with wounds,
And marr'd thy comely form! I'll not believe it.
Until these very eyes have seen thee dead,
These very hands have press'd on thy cold heart,
I'll not believe it.

3d Ceorl.
Ah, gentle maiden! many a maiden's love,
And many a goodly man lies on this field.

Young wom.
I know, too true it is, but none like him.
Liest thou, indeed, amongst those grisly heaps?
O thou! who ever wert of all most fair!
If heav'n hath suffer'd this, amen, amen!
Whilst I have strength to crawl upon the earth,
I'll search thee out, and be where'er thou art,
Thy mated love, e'en with the grisly dead.

[Searching again amongst the dead, she perceives the band round the arm of the fallen warrior, and uttering a loud shriek, falls senseless upon the ground. The Ceorls run to her assistance, with Eth. and Her. who come forward from the place they had withdrawn to: Her. clenches his hand, and mutters curses upon Mollo 's son, as he crosses the stage. The scene closes.