University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

A dark Glen.
Enter Crawford, leading Merlin.
Mer.
Where are we now?

Cra.
We are past the linns of Tallo, and descend
Into the vale. Some habitation's nigh.

Mer.
See'st thou, (for my old eyes are dim,) where yon
Dark cloud impends, and all these thunders jar?

Cra.
'Tis not far hence.

Mer.
There let us bend our course:
My book is there.—The sprites have done their work,
Spite of the fiends and enemies of man.
I'll tell thee, knight,—The great eternal Power
That holds the balance of the universe,
Is this dire night incensed; and sprites, that lie
Chain'd in the burning stars, have dash'd abroad,
And with their bolts, blue-burning from the forge,
Whiz, boom, and rattle through the foldy night.

Cra.
Will they not in that pitchy cloud descend,
And hurl destruction o'er a palsied world?

Mer.
Nay, fear not thou,—
Nature is roused, and musters proud obstruction;
There's opposition in the very winds,
And war along the burning firmament.
I see the angels of the west approach
In shining ranks, on golden chariots borne,
So swift, that scarce the liquid element
Bends 'neath th'array.—O, couldst thou see that sight!
These are their arrows that you see so bright
Gleam through the cloud, and pierce the eastern heaven.
O, for the book!—God! what a coil is here!

(Lightning and thunder.)
(Exeunt.)