 | Alfred |  |
SCENE VII.
Alfred, Hermit.Alfred.
Thrice happy Hermit!
Whom thus the heavenly habitants attend,
Blessing thy calm retreat; while ruthless war
Fills the polluted land with blood and crimes.
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Led by thy sacred character, I come
For comfort and advice. Say what remains,
What yet remains to save our prostrate country?
Nor scorn this anxious question even from me,
A nameless stranger.
Hermit.
Alfred, England's king,
All hail, and welcome to this humble cell.
Alfred.
Amazement!—by these humble weeds obscur'd,
I deem'd my state beyond discovery's reach:
How is it then to thee alone reveal'd?
Hermit.
Last night, when with a draught from that cool fountain
I had my wholesome sober supper crown'd;
As is my stated custom, forth I walk'd
Beneath the solemn gloom and glittering sky,
To feed my soul with prayer and meditation.
And thus to inward harmony compos'd,
That sweetest music of the grateful heart,
Whose each emotion is a silent hymn,
I to my couch retir'd. Strait on mine eyes
A pleasing slumber fell, whose mystic power
Seal'd up my senses, but enlarg'd my soul.
Led by those spirits, who disclose futurity,
I liv'd thro distant ages; felt the virtue,
The great, the glorious passions that will fire
Remote posterity; when guardian laws
Are by the patriot, in the glowing senate,
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Of liberty, invincible, shall scourge
The tyrants of mankind—and when the deep,
Thro all her swelling waves, from pole to pole
Shall spread the boundless empire of thy sons.
I saw thee, Alfred, too—But o'er thy fortunes
Lay clouds impenetrable.
Alfred.
To heaven's will,
In either fortune, mine shall ever bend
With humblest resignation—Yet, O say,
Does that unerring Providence, whose justice
Has bow'd me to the dust; whose ministers,
Sword, fire and famine, scourge this sinful land,
This tomb of it's inhabitants—does he
Reserve me in his hand, the glorious instrument
From fierce oppression to redeem my country?
Hermit.
What mortal eye, by his immediate beam
Not yet enlighten'd, dare presume to look
Thro time's abyss? But should the flatterer, hope,
Anticipating see that happy time,
Those whiter moments—Prince, remember, then,
The noble lessons by affliction taught:
Preserve the quick humanity it gives,
The pitying social sense of human weakness;
Yet keep thy generous fortitude entire,
The manly heart, that to another's woe
Is tender, as superiour to it's own.
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Attach thee firmly to the virtuous deeds
And offices of life: to life itself,
With all it's vain and transient joys, sit loose.
Chief, let devotion to the sovereign Mind,
A steady, chearful, absolute dependance
On his best wisest government, possess thee.
Alfred.
I thank thee, father: and O witness, heaven,
Whose eye the heart's profoundest depth explores!
That if not to perform my regal task;
To be the common father of my people,
Patron of honor, virtue and religion;
If not to shelter useful worth, to guard
His well-earn'd portion from the sons of rapine,
And deal out justice with impartial hand;
If not to spread, on all good men, thy bounty,
The treasures trusted to me, not my own;
If not to raise anew our English name,
By peaceful arts that grace the land they bless,
And generous war to humble proud oppressors:
Yet more; if not to build the public weal,
On that firm base which can alone resist
Both time and chance, on liberty and law;
If I for these great ends am not ordain'd—
May I ne'er poorly fill the throne of England!
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Still may thy breast these sentiments retain,
In prosperous life.
Alfred.
Could it destroy or change
Such thoughts as these, prosperity were ruin.
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First.
O joy of joys, to lighten woe!
Best pleasure, pleasure to bestow!
What raptures then his heart expand,
Who lives to bless a grateful land.
Second Spirit.
For him, ten thousand bosoms beat;
His name consenting crouds repeat:
From soul to soul the passion runs,
And subjects kindle into sons.
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Alfred, once more—since favour'd thus of heaven,
Since thus to cheer thee and confirm thy virtue
He sends his angels forth—remember well,
Should better days restore thy prosperous fortunes,
The vows these awful beings hear thee make:
Remember and fulfil them.
Alfred.
O no more—
When those whom heaven distinguishes o'er millions,
And showers profusely power and splendor on them,
Whate'er th'expanded heart can wish; when they,
Accepting the reward, neglect the duty,
Or worse, pervert those gifts to deeds of ruin,
Is there a wretch they rule so base as they?
Guilty, at once, of sacrilege to heaven!
And of perfidious robbery to man!
Hermit.
Such thoughts become a monarch—but behold,
The glimmering dusk, involving air and sky,
Creeps slow and solemn on. Devotion now,
With eye enraptur'd, as the kindling stars
Light, one by one, all heaven into a glow
Of living fire, adores the Hand divine,
Who form'd their orbs and pour'd forth glory on them.
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Then, this good moment, snatch'd from earth's affairs,
Let us employ aright: and, in yon cell,
To Him, with heart sincere, our homage pay,
Who glorious spreads and gracious shuts the day.
| Alfred | |