University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

Gordale—a tremendous mountain chasm. Enter Roddam and Cathleen.
CATHLEEN.
O Roddam! why so rash? Yet, yet return!
Some dread thing is about to happen! Stay—
Turn not that rock, but listen! Told I not
Of dell that narrowed, and at last closed in?
And told I not of thunder? Are you mad!
The dell is narrowed to a point; o'erhead,
The clouds have veiled the sun; and if these clouds
Bear not a storm within their lurid halls,
No sky will henceforth thunder! Let us back!

RODDAM.
And we were fools, my love, to turn us back
Upon such ground as the coincidence
Of a dark dingle with a maiden's dream.
On, my Cathleen; nor fear that harm can come
To Roddam or to thee. For thy sweet sake
Yon clouds shall pass away, and heaven be blue
As that fair eye of thine, where love—insphered—
Shines through its tear as shines, the western star
Through the fine dews of Eve!
[They enter the chasm.
Heavens! what a sight.

CATHLEEN.
O God! the very scenery of my dream!

RODDAM.
Why then thy dream was highly honoured, love;
For England hath no nobler scene than this.

[Enter Ladies Margaret and Emma, with Norton and part of the Procession, on foot. All gaze in silence.
NORTON.
Your silence moves no wonder. Gordale hath,
In its first burst of unexpected grandeur,
A spell to awe the soul, and chain the tongue.
How great its Maker then!

LADY MARGARET.
Now this repays
The toil of our long journey!—Emma, look!
Look, Cathleen, Roddam!—It might seem a tower
Whose architects were giants, did yon stream
Mar not the fancy.

RODDAM.
Or a cavern hewn
From out the solid rock by hand of genii!

LADY EMMA.
Or fairy palace, by enchantment raised,
To hold the elfin court in!

LADY MARGARET.
'Tis a scene
Too stern and gloomy for those gentle beings,
That love the green dell and the moonlight ring.
I like my first impression.—Whence the stones
That cumber the wide floor?

NORTON.
These scattered fragments
Have fallen, Lady, from the toppling cliffs,
Detached by slow decay—perchance by lightning—
And piled through silent ages. Fear not, gentles;
Beneath the bend of this far-slanting rock,
We stand exempt from peril—nothing less
Than some discourteous earthquake being able
To make the massive Giant fall and crush us.

LADY EMMA.
There is a peril, Friar, which, I fear,
Neither this Giant nor his friends can save from—
The peril of a thunder-storm.

CATHLEEN.
(to RODDAM).
O, hear!

LADY MARGARET.
It were a deadly sin 'gainst taste, so soon
To quit this scene of wild sublimity,
In dread of an imaginary danger.
My spirit rises while I gaze, to see
The shadows deepen, as the clouds o'ersweep
The almost-meeting crags above our head,
Until the cataract, that whitely falls
As if from heaven, becomes its only light,—
Seeming, indeed, a gush of moonshine poured
Through a rent cloud, when all beside is gloom!—
[Lightning,
That flash came not from water—Ha! again—

[A storm of thunder and lightning, during which

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the heads and weapons of the Outlaws are partly seen among the clefts.
NORTON
(aside to the Outlaws).
Await my signal.
[They retire.
(Aloud)
'Tis a fearful hour!
God! what a crash was that! Flash crowds on flash!
It lightens as if Satan sat i'th'clouds,
And fed their fires; while the redoubling crags,
With most terrific mimicry, send back
The rattle to the sky!—
(Aside)
By heaven! they quail.
These northern warriors, who would fearless charge
Thrice their own number in a Border feud,
Are worms before a danger which doth mock
The spear and mail of armèd bravery!
Now is my time—

[Whistles, and enter Outlaws.
NORTON
(with affected alarm).
The Outlaws!—All ye saints
Protect and save us!—Holy Mother, save
Thy servant!

AN OUTLAW.
Yield! Your purses or your lives!

NORTON.
Good friends, submit; else we shall never see
Another morning dawn!

RODDAM.
Monk, hold thy peace,
Else I will cleave thy head!
[To the Outlaws.
A bold demand,
And one that, numerous as ye are, will task
Your prowess to enforce it. (to Norton)
Old man, bid
The ladies keep the shadow of the rock
As they regard their safety. We will throw
A rampart of good steel before them. Form—
Quick—right and left behind me. Yarely!—Ten
Good men and true are match for fifty villains!
[A Battle.
Strike fast—and home! Each thrust, so sent, rids earth
Of so much crime!
[Fights. Thunder continues.
High omens are about us—
Heaven sends its lightnings to direct our blows,
It thunders for our triumph!

[Fights.
AN OUTLAW
(rushing upon RODDAM from behind).
Hell receive
Thy fiery soul!

[Stabs him.
RODDAM
(turning fiercely round).
O Villain! dastard! die!
[Stabs him.
That was a coward's trick. Fight, gallants, fight!
They waver.—On!—Cath—use her name I dare not,
Else should that name, heard o'er the tumult, make
The brave be braver!

[Fights.
[The Battle continues. The Borderers give way.
RODDAM.
Cowards! dastards! stand!
Rally again, or be disgraced for ever!
What will they say by Cheviot?
[Fights.
Vain! they leap
O'er crag and cataract like startled deer;
And I am left.—Curse on the coward blow
Of that expiring caitiff!
[Staggers.
[The Outlaws seize and bear off Ladies Margaret and Emma. Cathleen flies towards Roddam.
Villains! no—
Ye shall not do that outrage! (falls)
O Cathleen!

CATHLEEN.
'Tis done! 'tis done!—He would not hear me!—Roddam!
O speak to me!—He never will speak more!
Dead! dead!—O misery!
[To the Outlaws.
Here—complete your work
Of butchery! Stretch me in blood beside him,
And I will die with thanks upon my tongue!
[She raises him in part, places his head upon her knee, gazes upon him, and exclaims—
He breathes, he lives! Thank Heaven!

[The Scene shuts.