University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

a wood, with the sun.
Enter Philidel.
Phil.
I left all safe behind;
For in the hindmost quarter of the wood,
My former lord, grim Osmond, walks the round:
Calls o'er the names, and schools the tardy sprites.
His absence gives me more security.
At every walk I pass'd, I drew a spell:
So that if any fiend, abhorring Heav'n,
There sets his foot, it roots him to the ground.
Now cou'd I but discover Emmeline,
My task was fairly done.

Grimbald rushes out: he seizes Philidel, and binds him in a chain.
Grim.
O rebel, have I caught thee!

Phil.
Ah me! what hard mishap!

Grim.
What just revenge!
Thou miscreant elf, thou renegado scout,
So clean, so furbish'd, so renew'd in white,
The livery of our foes; I see thee thro':
What mak'st thou here? Thou trim apostate, speak.
Thou shak'st for fear, I feel thy false heart pant.

Phil.
Ah mighty Grimbald,
Who would not fear, when seiz'd in thy strong gripe!
But hear me,—oh renown'd, oh worthy fiend,
The favourite of our chief.

Grim.
Away with fulsome flattery,
The food of fools; thou know'st where last we met;
When, but for thee, the Christians had been swallow'd
In quaking bogs, and living sent to hell.

Phil.
Ay, then I was seduc'd by Merlin's art,
And half persuaded by his soothing tales,
To hope for heav'n; as if eternal doom
Cou'd be revers'd, and undecreed for me;
But I am now set right.

Grim.
Oh still thou think'st to fly a fool to mark.

Phil.
I fled from Merlin, free as air that bore me,
T'unfold to Osmyn all his deep designs.

Grim.
I believe nothing: oh, thou fond impostor,
When wert thou last in hell? Is not thy name
Forgot, and blotted from th'infernal roll?
But since thou say'st thy errand was to Osmond,
To Osmond shalt thou go: March, know thy driver.

Phil.
[kneeling]
Oh spare me, Grimbald, and I'll be thy slave:
Tempt hermits for thee in their holy cells,
And virgins in their dreams.

Grim.
Canst thou, a devil, hope to cheat a devil?
A spy! why that's a name abhorr'd in hell.
Haste, forward, forward, or I'll goad thee on
With iron spurs.

Phil.
But use me kindly then:
Pull not so hard, to hurt my airy limbs;
I'll follow thee unforc'd: Look, there's thy way.

Grim.
Ay, there's thy way indeed; but for more surety
I'll keep an eye behind: Not one word more,
But follow decently.

[Grim. goes out, dragging Phil.
Phil.
So catch him, spell.

[Aside.
Grim.
[within.]
O help me, help me, Philidel.

Phil.
Why, what's the matter?

Grim.
Oh, I am ensnar'd;
Heav'n's birdlime wraps me round, and glues my wings.
Loose me, and I will free thee:
Do, and I'll be thy slave.

Phil.
What, to a spy, a name abhorr'd in hell?

Grim.
Do not insult. Oh! oh! I grow to ground;
The fiery net draws closer on my limbs. Oh! oh! oh!

Phil.
Thou shalt not have the ease to curse in torments:
Be dumb for one half hour: so long my charm
Can keep thee silent, and there lie
Till Osmond breaks thy chain.

[Philidel unbinds his own fetters.
Enter to him Merlin, with a vial in his hand; and Arthur.
Mer.
Well hast thou wrought thy safety with thy wit,
My Philidel; go meritorious on:
Me other work requires, to view the wood,
And learn to make the dire inchantments void;
Mean time attend king Arthur in my room;
Shew him his love, and with these sovereign drops
Restore her sight.

[Exit Merlin, giving a vial to Philidel.
Arth.
O yonder, yonder she's already found:
My soul directs my sight, and flies before it.
See where she sits beneath the poplar shade;
Now, gentle spirit, use thy utmost art,
Unseal her eyes, and this way lead her steps,
While I conceal myself, and feast my eyes
By viewing hers, new opening to the day.

[Arthur withdraws.
Recitative.
Phil.
We must work, we must haste;
Noon-tide hour is almost past.
Sprites that glimmer in the sun,
Into shades already run;
Osmond will be here anon.’

SONG.
Enter Emmeline and Matilda at the upper end of the wood.
Emmeline and Matilda come forward.
Philidel approaches Emmeline, sprinkling some of the water over her eyes out of the vial.
Phil.
Thus, thus I infuse
These sovereign dews.
Fly back, ye films, that cloud her sight:
And you, ye crystal humours bright,
Your noxious vapours purg'd away,
Recover and admit the day.
Now cast your eyes abroad, and see
All but me.

Em.
Ha! what was that? Who spoke?

Mat.
I heard the voice; 'tis one of Osmond's fiends.

Em.
Some blessed angel sure; I feel my eyes
Unseal'd, they walk abroad, and a new world
Comes rushing on, and stands all gay before me.

Mat.
Oh Heav'ns! Oh joy of joys! she has her sight.

Em.
I am new-born; I shall run mad for pleasure.
[Staring on Mat.
Are women such as thou? Such glorious creatures?

Arth.
[aside.]
Oh how I envy her, to be first seen!

Em.
Stand farther; let me take my fill of sight.
[Looking up.
What's that above that weakens my new eyes,
Makes me not see, by seeing?

Mat.
'Tis the sun.

Em.
The sun! 'tis sure a God, if that be heav'n:
Oh! if thou art a creature, best and fairest,
How well art thou, from mortals so remote,
To shine and not to burn, by near approach!
How hast thou lighten'd even my very soul,
And let in knowledge by another sense!
I gaze about, new-born to day and thee;
A stranger yet, an infant to the world!
Art thou not pleas'd, Matilda? Why, like me,
Dost thou not look and wonder?

Mat.
For these sights
Are to my eyes familiar.

Em.
That's my joy,
Not to have seen before: for nature now
Comes all at once, confounding my delight.
But ah! what thing am I? Fain would I know;
Or am I blind, or do I see but half?
With all my care, and looking round about,
I cannot view my face.

Mat.
None see themselves
But by reflection; in this glass you may.

[Gives her a glass.
Em.
[looking in the glass]
What's this?
It holds a face within it: O sweet face!
It draws the mouth, and smiles, and looks upon me;
And talks, but yet I cannot hear it speak;
The pretty thing is dumb.

Mat.
The pretty thing
You see within the glass, is You.

Em.
What, am I two? Is this another me?
Indeed it wears my clothes, has hands like mine;
And mocks whate'er I do; but that I'm sure
It cannot be, I'd swear it were my child.
[Matilda looks.
Look, my Matilda; we both are in the glass.
Oh, now I know it plain; they are our names,
That peep upon us there.

Mat.
Our shadows, Madam.

Em.
Mine is the prettier shadow far, than thine.
I love it; let me kiss my t'other self.
[Kissing the glass.
Alas, I've kiss'd it dead; the fine thing's gone;
Indeed it kiss'd so cold as if 'twere dying.
[Arthur comes forward softly; shewing himself behind her.
'Tis here again.
Oh, no, this face is neither mine nor thine:
I think the glass hath borne another child.
[She turns and sees Arthur.
Ha! What art thou, with a new kind of face,
And other clothes, a noble creature too;
But taller, bigger, fiercer in thy look;
Of a controuling eye, majestic make?

Mat.
Do you not know him, Madam?

Em.
Is't a man?

Arth.
Yes, and the most unhappy of my kind,
If you have chang'd your love.

Em.
My dearest Lord!
Was my soul blind; and cou'd not that look out,
To know you, ere you spoke? Oh counterpart
Of our soft sex; Well are you made our lords:
So bold, so great, so godlike are you form'd
How can you love such silly things as women?

Arth.
Beauty like your's commands; and man was made
But a more boisterous, and a stronger slave,
To you, the best delights of human kind.

Em.
But are ye mine? Is there an end of war?
Are all those trumpets dead themselves, at last,
That us'd to kill men with their thund'ring sounds?

Arth.
The sum of war is undecided yet;
And many a breathing body must be cold,
Ere you are free.

Em.
How came you hither then?

Arth.
By Merlin's art, to snatch a short liv'd bliss;
To feed my famish'd love upon your eyes,
One moment, and depart.

Em.
O moment! worth
Whole ages past, and all that are to come!
Let love sick Oswald, now unpitied mourn;
Let Osmond mutter charms to sprites in vain,
To make me love him; all shall not change my soul.

Arth.
Ha! Does th'enchanter practise hell upon you?
Is he my rival too?

Em.
Yes, but I hate him;
For when he spoke, thro' my shut eyes I saw him;
His voice look'd ugly, and breath'd brimstone on me:
And then I first was glad that I was blind,
Not to behold perdition.

Phil.
This time is left me to congratulate
Your new-born eyes; and tell you what you gain
By sight restor'd, and viewing him you love.
Appear you airy forms.

Enter Merlin.
Merl.
My sovereign, we have hazarded too far;
But love excuses you, and prescience me.
Make haste; for Osmond is even now alarm'd,
And greedy of revenge is hasting home.

Arth.
Oh take my love with us, or leave me here.

Merl.
I cannot, for she's held by charms too strong;
Which, with th'enchanted grove, must be destroy'd:
Till when, my art is vain: but fear not, Emmeline;
Th'enchanter has no power on innocence.

Em.
[to Arth.]
Farewell, since we must part: When you are gone,
I'll look into my glass, just where you look'd,
To find your face again;
If 'tis not there, I'll think on you so long,
My heart shall make your picture for my eyes.

Arth.
Where e'er I go, my soul shall stay with thee:
'Tis but my shadow that I take away:
True love is never happy but by halves;
An April sunshine, that by fits appears,
It smiles by moments, but it mourns by years.

Em.
May all good angels spread their wings,
And shield my love from harm.

[Ex. Arth. Em. and Matil.