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ACT III.
Flourish of Trumpets. Enter Elvine, his Squire, bearing his Armour. Attendants.Elvine.
Hail native land! O scenes of early days!
Ye haunts of friendship, and retreats of love,
Receive a stranger to your shades again!
You I revisit with a throbbing heart.
In youthful days, in your inspiring bowers,
Rapt to the world of fancy, I have wish'd
For such occasion high; my country's cause,
The cause of liberty, the cause of love,
And of Elvina! Providence divine
Be thine the praise! who hast before me set
The deeds that never die; unsheath'd my sword
For ages yet to come, and sent the voice
Which calls the brave to freedom and to fame.
Enter Edgar.
Come, Edgar! hast thou found my antient friends?
Hast thou beheld?—
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Alas! unhappy youth!
These hostile towers contain no friend of thine.
Elvine.
What? has three seasons chang'd them? Am I then
So soon forgotten?
Edgar.
Thou art not forgotten!
Elvine.
My God! What dost thou mean? Thy faultering tongue
Forgets its office: My old friend thou weepest.
Edgar.
And I have cause to weep. These three score years,
The humble native of your father's house,
Or follower of your fortune, I have lived.
Full many changes in the tract of time
Sad have I seen! But ah! I little thought
That I should live to see my noble master
Denied the honours which his birth demands,
Excluded from th'assembly of the Barons—
Another lead the army.
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Heavens! Another?
Who is appointed to that high command?
Edgar.
Think of the man whom least you could expect;
Think of the enemy of all your race;
The Saxon Arden—
Elvine.
Arden! Gracious powers!
Ah! where was Albemarle, my antient friend?
Edgar.
His favour raised him to that high command.
Elvine.
My father's friend, the father of Elvina,
My mortal foe! The stroke of fate is come,
And now the measure of my woes is full.
Edgar.
O thou hast heard as yet but half thy sorrows!
I have a tale to tell, which I could wish
To hide for ever from thine ear—Elvina—
Elvine.
What of Elvina?—
Edgar.
Arden's named her husband.
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[Fixed in astonishment.
Elvina false! Elvina Arden's wife!
Then there is nothing in the world for me:
I've no connection with the human kind;
No friend upon the earth. Let us depart.
I spread my banners for the holy land.
Let us be gone.
Edgar.
Elvina is not false.
Ah! she alone was faithful to her friend.
This day declares her honour and her love.
Her father doom'd her to the arms of Arden,
Whom she abhorr'd, and she refus'd to wed—
Elvine.
Then she's not wedded?
Edgar.
No.
Elvine.
All-gracious powers!
She's constant, and she's mine? O God of heaven!
What thanks are equal to a gift so great:
The fair, the faithful, and the fond Elvina!
Edgar.
In her distress she wrote to thee to save her;
The messenger was stopt; the letter found.
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I saw her looking from the iron grate,
Her hands in fetters, and her eyes in tears:
I could not bear the sight; I went a-part,
And wept alone.
Elvine.
My love, my love, for me
Thy hands in fetters, and thine eyes in tears!
No chains, no prison, shall confine thee long—
[Sounds of lamentation heard behind the scenes.
What venerable Father stands aghast
In yonder porch? Beneath the weight of years,
And crush of sorrow, to the earth he bends.
He wrings his hands; casts a wild look to heaven;
And rends his hoary locks. He comes this way,
Heavens! it is Albemarle!—
Enter Albemarle.
'Tis over now!
Curs'd be the hour that ever I was born!
Eternal Justice! hast thou spar'd my youth,
Yet doom'd thy servant in the dregs of life
To drain the bitter cup? Hast thou reserv'd
The vials of thy wrath to pour them down
Upon this blasted head?—
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aside.
My heart bleeds for him.
He was my ancient friend.
Albemarle.
Almighty Power!
Who on the feelings of a parent's heart
Hast founded human life! and strongly bound
By love's embrace the families of men:
If thou art worshipp'd by a Father's name!
Regard my anguish, and support my soul,
For I am in despair!
Elvine.
Unhappy father!
Whose woes bring tears into a stranger's eyes,
May I inquire the cause? Can this right arm
Redress the wrongs of age?
Albemarle.
Alas! alas!
No human hand can save me from the gulph
Which deep and dark discloses to my view.
No human hand can save me from the gulph
Which deep and dark discloses to my view.
Before you stands the father most forlorn
That ever bore the name. I had a daughter,
The joy, the blessing, and the pride of age:
I gave her hand to an illustrious Lord;
But she betray'd us; she is doom'd to death—
That ever bore the name. I had a daughter,
The joy, the blessing, and the pride of age:
I gave her hand to an illustrious Lord;
But she betray'd us; she is doom'd to death—
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Elvina doom'd to death!—
Albemarle.
A shameful death.
But oh! what deeply wounds a Baron's honour!
Heavens! am I fallen so low? No English youth
Or noble of the land asserts her cause,
And comes a champion to the lists of war.
I rose in arms, and claim'd the cause myself:
I am forbid the field.—
Elvine.
Elvina's cause
Will bring a champion from the gate of heaven.
Albemarle.
Thou art the only comforter I've found;
Thy voice alone relieves a father's heart.
Let me embrace thee in my aged arms:
I'll call thee son!—But Oh! a dreadful scene
Begins to draw; the scaffold is prepared
Soon to be dyed with blood; the ax is laid:
The prison opens: The grim soldiers seize her;
They drag my daughter forth . . . . to execution.
And I—must I behold it?—Let me die!
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To my relief, and lay me with my fathers!
Thou'rt thunderstruck, my son!
Elvine.
No power on earth—
A scaffold! By th'Almighty! ere that day
England shall stream, the scaffold of her sons.
Albemarle.
Yonder they come, the harbingers of death,
In sad procession and with engines drear,
The red-robed judges and the mitred priests,
The grim, the ghastly ministers of fate:
Support me, O my son!—
[Enters Barons, Judges, &c. with attendants.
Arden
to Albemarle.
Depart, my friend.
O if your daughter or yourself you love,
Let me intreat your absence in this hour!
Elvine.
Do not depart.
Albemarle.
I will not leave this youth,
He is my friend—alas, my only friend
In this dire day.
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My duty binds me here.
A sad spectator I must now remain
To give due rites and dignity to law.
But how wilt thou support a scene so dire?
'Twould make thy mortal enemy relent.
Alas! it is not for a Father's eye.
Albemarle.
After what I have seen and felt this day,
The flash that melts the globe, the voice that sounds
The knell of nature, and the close of time,
Would not amaze me—Heavens! is that the sound?
[Dead march is heard. Back scene opening slowly discovers a scaffold, engines of torture, Executioners, &c. Enter at the side-scene Elvina dressed in white, surrounded with Guards.
Elvina.
Barons of England, hear my dying words.
A virgin, bold in conscious innocence,
Will never stand a suppliant in your sight
To move your pity by her prayers or tears.
Nor will she tremble at a human bar,
Who, greatly confident in him who made
Her spotless heart, will on the moment's wing
Ascend a spirit at the throne of heaven.
Will never stand a suppliant in your sight
To move your pity by her prayers or tears.
Nor will she tremble at a human bar,
Who, greatly confident in him who made
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Ascend a spirit at the throne of heaven.
—Barons, you gave a husband to my hand;
My heart was wedded to another Lord.
From all unnatural rule the soul revolts:
The law of nature is the law of love.
My heart was wedded to another Lord.
From all unnatural rule the soul revolts:
The law of nature is the law of love.
The noble mind determines its own deeds;
Appeals to no tribunal upon earth,
But answers to itself: There sits the judge,
And the high counsellor who cannot err.
Appeals to no tribunal upon earth,
But answers to itself: There sits the judge,
And the high counsellor who cannot err.
Vile fetters you may throw on noble hands,
And as a prisoned criminal confine
The daughter of illustrious Albemarle.
But the high mind, free and invincible,
Spurns at the chain, the prison, and the ax.
And as a prisoned criminal confine
The daughter of illustrious Albemarle.
But the high mind, free and invincible,
Spurns at the chain, the prison, and the ax.
Here I avow it, dying I avow
My love unaltered to that noble youth,
And glory in the flame which makes me fall
A virgin martyr to the man I loved.
My love unaltered to that noble youth,
And glory in the flame which makes me fall
A virgin martyr to the man I loved.
And, Barons, be assured, when you behold
On yonder block the bloody ax descend,
The death-felt blow will be the awful pang
Which rends a father's and a lover's heart.
On yonder block the bloody ax descend,
The death-felt blow will be the awful pang
Which rends a father's and a lover's heart.
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Tremendous destiny! Alas! my son,
Thy spirit groans. Big drops rush from thine eye.
I am a parent, yet no tear I shed.
Elvina
kneeling.
Eternal Father, now I come to thee!
Receive me to thyself; into thy hands
I give my parting spirit; I resign
Myself a victim to my native land;
Accept the sacrifice! Avert my doom
Far from the heads of those who shed my blood;
Support my father's age when I am gone,
And he is desolate: Whatever years,
Whatever joys, thou takest from my life,
Repay to him with manifold increase.
O may he never, never, never feel,
In lonely sadness that he wants a daughter,
And is a father now, alas! no more!
[Rising she looks towards the scaffold. The signal for execution is heard.
Elvine
drawing his sword.
This is my time: Unhand me!—
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Do not leave
The helpless. I am dying. Oh! support me!
[Falling into the arms of Elvine, is carried off.
Elvina.
[The executioners approaching.
I come. Indulge me with a parting moment.
My father, I have one request to make—
Has he, too, left me? Now I am alone.
Almighty Father! thou art with me still.
My eye, that closes in the sleep of death,
Looks up to thee to guide me thro' the gloom
That frowns before my face; the dreary vale
That darkly opens is the path to thee.
Yet it is awful.—O sustain my soul!
Stretch from the sky thine everlasting arms,
Receive a martyr to the land of peace!
[The Executioners throwing a veil over her. Elvine advances suddenly and removes them.
Elvine.
Avaunt! ye ministers of death! Avaunt!
She shall not die.
Elvina.
O heavens! Whom do I see?
'Tis he! Almighty God! 'tis he!—
[Falls down in a swoon. Elvine bears her off.
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What youth is this? A noble of the land
His garb denotes. The Lady seem'd to know him.
Methinks he's too familiar for a stranger.
Barons.
We know him not.
Elvine returning with his sword drawn.
Nobles, where is the man
Who can accuse this Lady?
Arden.
I accuse her.
And who dare say my accusation's false?
Elvine.
'Tis one who dares whatever valour dared.
'Tis one who does whatever honour did.
'Tis I. I throw my gauntlet on the ground
To prove thine accusation false as hell;
False as thyself.
Arden.
Young man, I know thee not.
Elvine.
My friends have known me, and my foes have known me,
Thou, too, shalt know me soon.
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Hast thou a name?
It ill becomes the chieftain of an host
With a raw wandering knight to break a spear.
Elvine.
Hear then, and tremble. You behold in me
The man whom you have wrong'd, have deeply wrong'd.
Arden.
Young man, I never saw thee till this hour.
No human form can say that I have wrong'd him.
Elvine.
So bold? Ha! didst thou not traduce this Lady?
Defame her basely? wantonly? maliciously?
And, with a villain's dagger, stab her fame?
Defame her basely? wantonly? maliciously?
And, with a villain's dagger, stab her fame?
Eternal God! because a lovely maid
Shrunk all-abhorrent from thy loathed arms,
Thou, like a traitor, like a coward too;
A cool, a cruel, cowardly assassin,
Wouldst murder beauty, and, by form of law,
Shed the pure blood of virgin innocence,
Even like a criminal's upon the scaffold?—
Shrunk all-abhorrent from thy loathed arms,
Thou, like a traitor, like a coward too;
A cool, a cruel, cowardly assassin,
Wouldst murder beauty, and, by form of law,
Shed the pure blood of virgin innocence,
Even like a criminal's upon the scaffold?—
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I did what justice, did what honour bade,
I did my duty. What is that to thee?
Elvine.
To me! I meant not to declare my birth
Till I had proved it. I have ever been
Discovered by my deeds. Like Him in heaven
Who in the majesty of darkness dwells,
But sends the thunder to reveal the God.
Till I had proved it. I have ever been
Discovered by my deeds. Like Him in heaven
Who in the majesty of darkness dwells,
But sends the thunder to reveal the God.
Behold the man whom all of you have wronged,
The sole remains of an illustrious house,
The last descendant of a noble line,
Who merits by his birth, and by his sword,
To lead the banners of the British host:
Elvine.
The sole remains of an illustrious house,
The last descendant of a noble line,
Who merits by his birth, and by his sword,
To lead the banners of the British host:
Elvine.
Arden
, taking up the Gauge.
'Tis well. Thou'rt worthy of my sword.
Elvine.
There is a time, and this is sure the time,
When noble virtue may assert itself,
And conscious honour glow with its own fires.
When noble virtue may assert itself,
And conscious honour glow with its own fires.
Barons of England, you have wrong'd me deeply!
Who, crediting the lie of rumour false,
Deprived a Briton of a Briton's right,
Expell'd a Baron from a Baron's rank.
He is a traitor to his native land,
A traitor to mankind, who in a cause
That down the course of time will fire the world,
Rides not upon the lightning of the sky,
To save his country. What, what had I done
To merit such a name?
Who, crediting the lie of rumour false,
Deprived a Briton of a Briton's right,
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He is a traitor to his native land,
A traitor to mankind, who in a cause
That down the course of time will fire the world,
Rides not upon the lightning of the sky,
To save his country. What, what had I done
To merit such a name?
Archbishop.
Misled by fame,
Indeed we injured you.
Elvine.
Why, then, redress
The injury you've done. If, in the strife,
Which must be mortal—Arden falls by me,
I claim the honour which my birth demands,
To lead the army.
Barons.
'Tis indeed your due.
Arden.
Thou speak'st it vauntingly. The strife of tongues,
The war of women, I did ever scorn.
Now let the sword decide.
Elvine.
'Tis drawn.
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Lead on.
Elvine.
I follow thee. Elvina comes this way.
I would not meet her now. Edgar remain.
Edgar, Elvina, Emma.
Edgar.
Unhappy maid! She comes from death. She looks
As she indeed were risen from the grave
A saint in glory! Let me kneel before her.
As she indeed were risen from the grave
A saint in glory! Let me kneel before her.
Most noble Lady, graciously permit
An old domestic of your father's house
To kiss your garment, at your feet to fall
With flowing tears. I hope your goodness still
Remembers me.
An old domestic of your father's house
To kiss your garment, at your feet to fall
With flowing tears. I hope your goodness still
Remembers me.
Elvina.
I've not forgot you, Edgar;
Nor will I e'er forget you. Rise, my friend.
Edgar.
Lovely and gentle! you was ever thus.
Your face still shone upon your father's house,
The face of a good angel. O what men,
What murderers, could doom that beauteous form
To such a death?
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I have forgiven them, Edgar.
Edgar.
But Heaven will not forgive them—
Elvina.
Where is Elvine?
Where has my father with the Barons gone?
Thy colour changes. Ah! my heart forbodes
The fear'd event. Is this the appointed hour
For mortal combat?—
Edgar.
'Tis indeed the time.
Elvina.
[Trumpets heard.
The trumpets sound. The dreadful signal's given.
Now life or death. Help, help me, Powers of Heaven!
Support me, Emma!—
Emma.
Angels hover o'er him,
And guard the hero with the shield of Heaven!
Elvina.
Run Edgar to the lists, and bring us tidings.
Fain would I look—I dare not look that way.
Hush! Hark! O Emma! Didst thou hear a groan?
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'Tis midnight silence!
Elvina.
Let me look again.
Yonder they meet. Behold the flash of arms!
And lo the sword that shall be died in blood!
Whose blood, O heavens! Turn Emma to the field:
I'll look no more.
Emma.
Heavens! How I tremble! Ha!
A mortal stroke! There rose the shriek of death!—
Elvina.
Now all is over, and my fate is fix'd.
I'm destined now to rapture or despair,
For ever and for ever!
[A loud shout heard.
O my heart!
The army triumphs in their General's joy.
My hero's fallen. I am gone again.
My God! twice in one day!—
Emma.
I hear the sound
Of feet approaching fast.
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Let us be gone.
[As they go out
Enter Elvine.
Where is my love? my life? Where dost thou fly,
Thou first of women? Fairer to my sight
Than e'er thou wast, and dearer to my soul!
Return and bless my arms that stretch to strain thee—
Elvina.
Alive? O God—
Elvine.
Thou hast no foe. Thy cause,
The cause of beauty, innocence, and love,
Has made thy knight victorious in the field.
Elvina.
How shall I thank the saviour of my life?
'Tis thus! 'Tis thus! my Elvine!—
[Running from the side scene into his arms.
Elvine.
My Elvina!
At last we meet in joy.
Elvina.
To part no more.
Oh! Elvine, but for thee my love, for thee,
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Thy matchless truth, thy tenderness, thy love?
Elvine.
In this embrace 'tis more than all repay'd.
Enter Archbishop and Barons.
Archbishop.
Much injur'd youth, the victory is thine!
We judg'd before we knew. Let loose from hell
A lying spirit had deceived the land.
We know thee now, the hero of the host.
Exulting England owns her darling son.
This day confirms what we have often heard,
Thy deeds of prowess in the holy land;
For thy renown flew grateful from the East,
Like incense wafted on the wings of morn.
We judg'd before we knew. Let loose from hell
A lying spirit had deceived the land.
We know thee now, the hero of the host.
Exulting England owns her darling son.
This day confirms what we have often heard,
Thy deeds of prowess in the holy land;
For thy renown flew grateful from the East,
Like incense wafted on the wings of morn.
We meant to serve our country, when, misled
By rumours false, we blotted out thy name
From the confederate Barons. Now in truth
We serve our country, when with one accord
We hail thee leader of the British host.
By rumours false, we blotted out thy name
From the confederate Barons. Now in truth
We serve our country, when with one accord
We hail thee leader of the British host.
Elvine.
Your bounty, Barons, with a beating heart,
I now accept: It was my early wish
To lead an army in my country's cause;
But hardly hop'd for such a glorious day,
To lift the banners of the free, and mark
The patriot spirit spread from man to man.
I now accept: It was my early wish
To lead an army in my country's cause;
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To lift the banners of the free, and mark
The patriot spirit spread from man to man.
Alike the danger, and the honour's dear.
I march the foremost in the ranks of war,
To live with freedom, or to die with fame.
I march the foremost in the ranks of war,
To live with freedom, or to die with fame.
Archbishop.
King John's ambassador has reach'd the camp.
Now let us claim the hour of conference
To have the charter of our freedom sealed.
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