The freedom of our country; and the sword
Alike is honored in the patriot's hand,

Searching, 'midst warrior-hosts, the heart which gave
Oppression birth; or flashing through the gloom
Of the still chamber, o'er its troubled couch,

At dead of night.

Rai. [Turning away.] There is no path but one For noble natures.

Pro.

Wouldst thou ask the man

Who to the earth hath dashed a nation's chains,
Rent as with Heaven's own lightning, by what means
The glorious end was won ?-Go, swell the acclaim!
Bid the deliverer, hail! and if his path

To that most bright and sovereign distiny

Had led o'er trampled thousands, be it called

A stern necessity, and not a crime!

Rai. My soul yet kindles at the thought

Of nobler lessons, in my boyhood learned

Even from thy voice. The high remembrances

Of other days are stirring in the heart

Where thou didst plant them; and they speak of men

Who needed no vain sophistry to gild

Acts, that would bear heaven's light. And such be mine! Procida! is it yet too late to draw

The praise and blessing of all valiant hearts

On our most righteous cause?

What wouldst thou do?

Pro.
Rai. I would go forth, and rouse the indignant land
To generous combat. Why should Freedom strike
Mantled with darkness ?-Is there not more strength
Even in the waving of her single arm

Than hosts can wield against her?—I would rouse
That spirit, whose fire doth press resistless on
To its proud sphere, the stormy field of fight!

Pro. Ay! and give time and warning to the foe

To gather all his might!-It is too late.

There is a work to be this eve begun,

When rings the Vesper-bell; and, long before
To-morrow's sun hath reached in the noonday heaven
His throne of burning glory, every sound

Of the Provençal tongue within our walls,

As by one thunder-stroke, be silenced.

Rai.

What! such sounds

As falter on the lip of infancy

In its imperfect utterance?

Pro.

Since thou dost feel

Such horror of our purpose, in thy power

Are means that might avert it.

How would those rescued thousands bless thy name,
Shouldst thou betray us!

Rai.
Procida! I can bear-
Ay, proudly woo-the keenest questioning
Of thy soul-gifted eye; which almost seems
To claim a part of Heaven's dread royalty,
The power that searches thought!

Pro. [After a pause.]

Thou hast a brow

Clear as the day-and yet I doubt thee, Raimond!
Whether it be that I have learned distrust

From a long look through man's deep-folded heart;
Whether my paths have been so seldom crossed
By honor and fair mercy, that they seem
But beautiful deceptions, meeting thus
My unaccustomed gaze;-howe'er it be

I doubt thee!-See thou waver not-take heed!
Time lifts the vail from all things!

Ex. CCLII.-THIRD SCENE FROM THE VESPERS OF

Raimond.

PALERMO.

PROCIDA and RAIMOND.

My father!-wherefore here?

I am prepared to die, yet would I not

Fall by thy hand.

Procida.

'Twas not for this I came.

Rai. Then wherefore?-and upon thy lofty brow Why burns the troubled flush?

Pro.

Perchance 'tis shame.

Yes! it may well be shame!-for I have striven
With nature's feebleness, and been o'erpowered.
--Howe'er it be, 'tis not for thee to gaze,

Noting it thus. I have prepared

The means for thy escape.

Rai.

What! thou! the austere,

The inflexible Procida! hast thou done this,

Deeming me guilty still?

Pro.

It is even so.

Upbraid me not.

There have been bolder deeds

By Roman fathers done;--but I am weak.
Therefore, again I say, arise! and haste,

For the night wanes. Thy fugitive course must be
To realms beyond the deep; so let us part

In silence, and for ever.

Rai.

Let him fly

Who holds no deep asylum in his breast,
Wherein to shelter from the scoffs of men!
-I can sleep calmly here.

With death and infamy, that so thy choice
Is made, lost boy! when freedom courts thy grasp?
Rai. Father! to set the irrevocable seal

Upon that shame wherewith ye have branded me,
There needs but flight. What should I bear from this,
My native land?—A blighted name, to rise

And part me, with its dark remembrances,
For ever from the sunshine!-O'er my soul
Bright shadowings of a nobler destiny

Float in dim beauty through the gloom; but here,
On earth, my hopes are closed.

Pro.
Thy hopes are closed!
And what were they to mine?-Thou wilt not fly!
Why, let all traitors flock to thee, and learn
How proudly guilt can talk!-Let fathers rear
Their offspring henceforth, as the free wild birds
Foster their young; when these can mount alone,
Dissolving nature's bonds-why should it not
Be so with us?

What high prerogatives belong to death.
He hath a deep, though voiceless eloquence,
To which I leave my cause.

When I am gone,

The mists of passion which have dimmed my name,
Will melt like day-dreams; and my memory then
Will be-not what it should have been-for I

Must pass without my fame-but yet, unstained
As a clear morning dew-drop.

Pro:

Now, by just Heaven,
I will not thus be tortured!-Were my heart
But of thy guilt or innocence assured,

I could be calm again.

Look on me, boy!

Guilt never dared to meet these eyes, and keep
Its heart's dark secret close. O, pitying Heaven!
Speak to my soul with some dread oracle,

And tell me which is truth.

Rai.

I will not plead.

I will not call the Omnipotent to attest
My innocence. No, father, in thy heart
I know my birthright shall be soon restored;
Therefore I look to death, and bid thee speed
The great absolver.

Pro. We will not part in wrath!—the sternest hearts, Within their proud and guarded fastnesses,

Hide something still, round which their tendrils cling
With a close grasp, unknown to those who dress
Their love in smiles. And such wert thou to me!
The all which taught me that my soul was cast
In nature's mold. And I must now hold on
My desolate course alone!-Why, be it thus!
He that doth guide a nation's star, should dwell
High o'er the clouds in regal solitude,

When with her bright wings glory shadows thee,
Forget not him who coldly sleeps beneath,

Yet might have soared as high!

Pro.

No, fear thou not!

Thou 'lt be remembered long. The canker-worm
Of the heart is ne'er forgotten.——

Let me deem

Again that thou art base!—for thy bright looks,
Thy glorious mein of fearlessness and truth,
Then would not haunt me as the avenging powers
Followed the parricide. Farewell, farewell!
I have no tears. O! thus thy mother looked,
When, with a sad, yet half-triumphant smile,
All radiant with deep meaning, from her death-bed
She gave thee to my arms.

Rai.
Now death has lost
His sting, since thou believest me innocent.

Pro. Thou innocent!-Am I thy murderer then?
Away! I tell thee thou hast made my name
A scorn to men!--No! I will not forgive thee;

A traitor!-What! the blood of Procida
Filling a traitor's veins!-Let the earth drink it;
Thou wouldst receive our foes!—but they shall meet
From thy perfidious lips a welcome, cold

As death can make it.

Rai. Yet hear me !

Pro.

No! thou'rt skilled to make

F'en shame look fair. Why should I linger thus?

[Going-he turns back for a moment.] If there be aught!-if aught-for which thou needest Forgiveness-not of me, but that dread Power From whom no heart is vailed-delay thou not Thy prayer:-Time hurries on.

Rai.

I am prepared.

[Exit Procida.]

Pro. 'Tis well.
Rai. Men talk of torture!-Can they wreak
Upon the sensitive and shrinking frame,

Half the mind bears, and lives?-My spirit feels
Bewildered; on its powers this twilight gloom

Hangs like a weight of earth. It should be morn;
Why, then, perchance, a beam of Heaven's bright sun
Hath pierced, ere now, the grating of my dungeon,
Telling of hope and mercy!

Ex. CCLIII.-SCENE FROM COMUS.

[Place A Wood. Time-Night.]

MILTON,

ELDER and YOUNGER BROTHERS-the attendant Spirit, as THYRSIS.

Elder Brother. Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair moon,

That wont'st to love the traveler's benison,

Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,

And disinherit chaos, that reigns here

In double night of darkness and of shades:
Or, if your influence be quite dammed up
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,
Though a rush-candle from the wicker-hole
Of some clay habitation, visit us

With thy long-leveled rule of streaming light;
And thou shalt be our Star of Arcady,
Or Tyrian cynosure.