The law of love sole mandate-but your gall,
Ye Swedish prelacy! Your gall hath turned
The words of sweet, but indigested peace,
To wrath and bitterness-Ye unhallowed men!
In whom vice sanctifies, whose precepts teach
Zeal without truth, religion without virtue,
Who ne'er preach Heaven but with a downward
That turns your souls to dross; who, shouting, loose
The dogs of hell upon us-thefts, and rapes, Sacked towns, and midnight howlings through the realm
Receive your sanction-O 'tis glorious mischief,
When vice turns holy, puts religion on,
Assumes the robe pontifical, the eye
Of saintly elevation, blesseth sin,
And makes the seal of sweet offended heaven
A sign of blood, a label for decrees,
That hell would shrink to own!-
Crist. No more of this.
Gustavus, wouldst thou yet return to grace,
And hold thy motions in the sphere of duty,
Acceptance might be found.
Gust. Imperial spoiler !
Give me my father, give me back my kindred, Give me the fathers of ten thousand orphans, Give me the sons in whom thy ruthless sword Has left our widows childless! Mine they were, Both mine, and every Swede's, whose patriot breast
Bleeds in his country's wounds! O thou can'st not!
Thou hast out-sinned all reckoning! Give me
Where thine's in question.
Aug. See, my son relents; Behold, O king! yet spare us but a moment; His little sister shall embrace his knees, And these fond arms, around his duteous neck, Shall join to bend him to us. Crist. Could I trust yeAro. I'll be your hostage. Crist. Granted.
Gust. Hold, my friend.
[Here Arvida breaks from Gustavus, and passes to Cristiern's Party, while Augusta and Gustava go over to Gustavus.
Aug. Is it then given, yet given me 'ere I die
To see thy face, Gustavus? thus to gaze,
To touch, to fold thee thus !-My son, my son!
And have I lived to this? It is enough.
All armed, and in thy country's precious cause
Terribly beauteous, to behold thee thus!
Why, 'twas my only, hourly suit to heaven,
And now 'tis granted. O my glorious child!
Blessed were the throes I felt for thee, Gustavus!
For from the breast, from out your swathing
bands,
You stepped the child of honour.
Gust. O my mother!
Aug. Why stands that water trembling in thy eye?
Why heaves thy bosom? Turn not thus away! 'Tis the last time that we must meet, my child, And I will have thee whole. Why, why, Gus
Who in thy virtue yet may learn to bear
Millions of free-born sons to bless thy name,
And pray for their deliverer-O farewell!
This, and but this, the very last adieu!
Heaven sit victorious on thy arm, my son !
And give thee to thy merits!
Crist. Ah, thou traitress!
Gustava. O brother, a'n't you stronger than that man?
Don't let him take my mother.
Aug. See, Gustavus,
My little captive waits for one embrace.
Gust. Come to my arms, thou lamb-like sacri
O that they were of force to hold thee ever,
To let thee to my heart! there lock thee close,
And circle thee with life! But 'twill not be !.
Gustava. I'll stay with you, my brother.
Gust. Killing innocence !
That I was born to see this hour!
The pains of hell are on me!-Take her, mo-
ther!
Gustava. I will not part with you, indeed, I will not !
Gust. Take her-Distraction! Haste, my
Oh-else I shall run mad-quite mad and save
Aro. Hold, madam; hear me, thou most dear
Gustavus!
Thus low I bend my prayer, reject me not:
If once, if ever, thou didst love Arvida,
O leave me here to answer to the wrath
Of this fell tyrant. Save thy honoured mother,
And that sweet lamb, from slaughter!
Gust. Cruel friendship!
Crist. And, by my life I'd take thee at thy word,
Thou doubly damned! but that I know 'twould please thec.
Aug. No, generous prince, thy blood shall never be
The price of our dishonour. Come, my child; Weep not, sweet babe! there shall no harm come nigh thee.
Crist. 'Tis well, proud dame; you are returned
Each to his charge--Here break we off, Gusta
For to the very teeth of thy rebellion
We dash defiance back.
Gust. Alas, my mother!
Grief choaks up utterance, else I have to say What never tongue unfolded-Yet return! Come back, and I will give up all to save thee ! For, on the covering of thy sacred head,
My heart drops blood. Thou fountain of my life!
Dearer than mercy is to kneeling penitence,
My earliest blessing, first and latest joy;
Return, return, and save thy lost Gustavus!
Crist. No more, thou trifler!
Aug. O farewell for ever!
[Exeunt Cristiern aud his party. Gustavus
and his party remain.
Gust. Then she is gone-Arvida! Anderson! For ever gone-Arnoldus, friends, where are ye? Help here, heave, heave this mountain from me -O
Heaven keep my senses!
Enter CRISTINA and MARIANA. Cristina. HARK! Mariana, list!-No-All is silent
It was not fancy sure-didst thou hear aught?
Mar. Too plain, the voice of terror seized my
And my heart sinks within me.
Cristina. O, I fear
The war is now at work-As winds, methought,
Long borne through hollow vaults, the sound ap-
proached;
One sound, yet laden with a thousand notes
Of fearful variation; then it swelled
To distant shouts, now coming on the gale;
Again, borne backward with a parting groan,
All sunk to horrid stillness.
Mar. Look, my princess!
Ah, no! withhold thy eyes! the place grows
dark,
A sudden cloud of sorrow stains the day,
And throws its gloom around.
Enter four Slaves, as bearing the bodies of
AUGUSTA and GUSTAVA on a bier covered.-
Four women, in chains, follow weeping.
Cristina. Whence are ye, say, you daughters of
Their speech is in their tears-Avert, ye saints!
Avert that thought! soft! hold ye! I've a tear
For every mourner-Ah!
[Looks under the covering.
Mar. What mean you, madam?
Cristina. Reflection, come not there! See it
not, eyes!
How art thou spilt, thou blood of royalty!
Close at the paleness of its parent breast
The babe lies slaughtered. Tell me, who did this?
No, hold ye! Say not that my father did it;
For duty then turns rebel-Cruel father!
O, that some villager, whose early toil
Lifts the penurious morsel to his mouth,
Had claimed my birth! Ambition had not then
Thus stepped 'twixt me and Heaven.
Mar. Go, bear it hence-
Turn, turn, my royal mistress!
Among thy foes thou'rt fallen, thou'rt fallen in
virtue!
Exalt thyself, O Guilt! for here the good
Have none who may lament them. Sit we down;
For I grow weary of the world; let death
Within his vaulted durance, dark and still,
Receive me too; and where the afflicted rest,
There fold me in for ever.
This morn beheld thee mistress of the north,
Bright heir of Scandinavia; and this hour
Has left thee not, throughout thy wide dominions,
Whereon to rest thy foot.
Cristina. Now, praise to Heaven!
Say but my father lives!
Laer. At your command
I went; and, from a neighbouring summit, view-
ed
Where either host stood adverse, sternly wedged;
Reflecting on each other's gloomy front,
Fell hate and fixed defiance-When, at once,
The foe moved on, attendant on the steps
Of their Gustavus-He, with mournful pace
Came slow and silent; till two hapless Danes
Pricked forth, and on his helm discharged their
fury:
Then rouzed the lion! To my wondering sight
His stature grew twofold; before his eye
All force seemed withered, and his horrid plume
Shook wild dismay around; as Heaven's dread
bolt,
He shot, he pierced our legions; in his strength
His shouting squadron gloried, rushing on
Where'er he led the battle-full five times,
Hemmed by our mightier host, the foe seemed
lost,
And swallowed from my sight; five times again,
Like flame, they issued to the light—and thrice,
These eyes beheld him, they beheld Gustavus
Unhorsed, and by a host girt singly in;
And thrice he broke through all.
Cristina. My blood runs chill.
Laer. With such a strenuous, such a laboured
conflict,
Sure never field was fought! until Gustavus
Aloud cried, Victory! and on his spear
High reared the imperial diadem of Denmark.
Then slacked the battle; then recoiled our host;
His echoed, Victory! and now would know
No bounds; rout followed, and the face of fight—
-She heeds me not.
Cristina. O, ill-starred royalty!
My father! Cruel, dear, unhappy father!
Summoned so sudden! fearful thought!
Step in, sweet mercy! For thy time was-Ha!
Enter CRISTIERN, flying, without his helmet, in
disorder, his sword broke, and his garments
bloody; he throws away his sword, and speaks.
Crist. Give us new arms of proof-fresh horses
-quick!
A watch without there-set a standard up
To guide our scattered powers! Haste, my
friends, haste!
We must be gone-O for some cooling stream
To slake a monarch's thirst!
Laer. A post, my liege,
Laer. Arise, Cristina; fly! thou royal virgin! A second post from Denmark says—————
Is it not so? Begone! Perdition choak thee-
Give me a moment's solitude-Thought, thought,
Where wouldst thou lead?
Cristina. He sees me not-Alas, alas, my
father!
O, what a war there lives within his
eye!
Where greatness struggles to survive itself.
I tremble to approach him; yet I fain
Would bring peace to him-Don't you know me,
sir?
My father, look upon me! look, my father!
Why strains your lip, and why that doubtful eye
Through fury melting o'er me? Turn, ah, turn!
I cannot bear its softness-How? nay, then,
There is a falling dagger in that tear,
To kill thy child, to murder thy Cristina.
Crist. Then thou'rt Cristina?
Cristina. Yes.
Crist. My child!
Cristina. I am.
The reverend monitor of vice—the soil,
Baneful and rank with every principle,
Whence grow the crimes of kings. First perish
[Stabs him.
Who taught the throne of power to fix on fear,
And raise its safety from the public ruin;
Fall thou into the gulph thyself hast fixed
Between the prince and people; cutting off
Communion from the ear of royalty,
And mercy from complaint-away, away!
Crist. Curse me! then curse me! Join with Thy death, old man, be on thy monarch's head;
heaven and earth
And hell, to curse!
Cristina. Alas! on me, my father,
Thy curses be on me; but on thy head
Fall blessings from that heaven, which has this day
Preserved thy life in battle.
On thine, the blood of all thy countrymen,
Who fell beneath thy counsels.
TROLLIO attempts to rise, and then speaks.
Troll. Thou bloody tyrant! late, too late I
find,
Nor faith, nor gratitude, nor friendly trust,
No force of obligations can subsist
Between the guilty-O, let none aspire
To be a king's convenience! Has he virtues,
Those are his own; his vices are his minister's.
Who dares to step 'twixt envy and the throne,
To do with heaven? Damnation! What am I?
All frail and transient as my lapsed dominions!
E'en now the solid earth prepares to slide
From underneath me. Nature's power cries out,
Leave him, thou universe! No-hold me, heaven!
Hold me, thou heaven! whom I've forsaken-Alike to feel the caprice of his prince,
Thy creature, though accursed!
Cristina. Patience and peace
Possess thy mind! Not all thy pride of empire
E'er gave such blessed sensation, as one hour
Of penitence, though painful-Let us hence-
Far from the blood and bustle of ambition.
Be it my task to watch thy rising wish,
To smooth thy brow, find comfort for thy cares,
And for thy will, obedience; still to cheer
The day with smiles, and lay the nightly down
Beneath thy slumbers.
Crist. O thou all that's left me!
Even in the riot, in the rage of fight,
Thy guardian virtues watched around my head,
When else no arm could aid-for through my
ranks,
My circling troops, the fell Gustavus rushed;
Vengeance!' he cried, and with one eager hand
Gripped fast my diadem-his other arm
High reared the deathful steel-suspended yet;
For in his eye, and through his varying face,
Conflicting passions fought he looked-
stood
In wrath reluctant-Then, with gentler voice; Cristina, thou hast conquered! Go,' he cried, 'I yield thee to her virtues.'
Enter GUSTAVUS, ANDERSON, ARNOLDUS, SIVARD, &c. in triumph. GUSTAVUS advances, and the rest range themselves on each side of the stage.
Gust. That we have conquered, first we bend to heaven!
And. And next to thee!
All. To thee, to thee, Gustavus!
Gust. No, matchless men! my brothers of the war!
Be it my greatest glory to have mixed
My arms with yours, and to have fought for once
Like to a Dalecarlian; like to you,
The sires of honour, of a new-born fame,
To be transmitted, from your great memorial,
To climes unknown, to age succeeding age,
Till time shall verge upon eternity,
And patriots be no more―――
ST
The Danish prisoners, and the traitor Peterson, Attend their fate.
Gust. Send home the Danes with honour,
And let them better learn, from our example,
O rise-surprised, my eye perceived it not.
Cristina! thou all formed for excellence!
I've much to say, but that my tongue, my thoughts,
Are troubled; warred on by unusual passions.
To treat whom next they conquer with huma-Twas hence thou hadst it in thy power to ask,
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Ere I could offer.-Come, my friend, assist,
Instruct me to be grateful. O Cristina!
I fought for freedom, not for crowns, thou fair one!
They shall sit brighter on that beauteous head,
Whose eye might awe the monarchs of the earth,
And light the world to virtue !My Arvida!
Arv. O great and good, and glorious to the
last!
I read thy soul, I see the generous conflict,
And come to fix, not trouble, thy repose.
Could you but know with what an eager haste
I sprung to execute thy late commands;
To shield this lovely object of thy cares,
And give her thus, all beauteous, to thy eyes!
For I've no bliss but thine, have lost the form
Of every wish that's foreign to thy happiness.
But, O, my king! my conqueror ! my Gustavus!
It grieves me much, that thou must shortly mourn,
Even on the day in which thy country's freed,
That crowns thy arms with conquest and Cristina.
Gust. Alas! your cheek is pale-you bleed,
my brother!
Arv. I do, indeed-to death!
Gust. You have undone me:
Blessed people! Heaven! wherein have we de- Rash, headstrong man! O, was this well, Ar
[Turns from him. Arv. Pardon, Gustavus! mine's the common
Enter ARVIDA leading in CRISTINA. He runs The fate of thousands fallen this day in battle.
Aro. My king! O hail! Thus let me pay my homage.
Gust. Rise, rise, nor shame our friendship. Aro. See, Gustavus! Behold, nor longer wonder at my frailty.
Gust. Be faithful, eyes! Ha! Yes! it must be so.
'Tis she; for Heaven would choose no other form Wherein to treasure every mental virtue! Cristina. Renowned Gustavus! mightiest among men!
If such a wretch, the captive of thy arms,
Trembling and awed in thy superior presence,
May find the grace that every other finds,
For thou art said to be of wondrous goodness!
Then hear, and O excuse a foe's presumption,
While low, thus low, you see a suppliant child,
Now pleading for a father, for a dear,
Much loved-if cruel, yet unhappy-father!
O, let, let him escape, who ne'er can wrong thee
more!
If he, with circling nations, could not stand
Against thee single; singly, what can he,
When thou art fenced with nations?
I had resolved on life, to see you blessed,
To see my king and his Cristina happy.
Turn, thou beloved, thou honoured next to Hea-
And to try arms receive a penitent,
Who never more shall wrong thee.
Gust. O, Arvida!
Friend! friend!
[Turns and embraces him. Aro. Thy heart beats comfort to me! in this breast,
Let thy Arvida, let thy friend survive.
O! strip his once loved image of its frailties,
And strip it, too, of every fonder thought,
That may give thee affliction-Do, Gustavus;
It is my last request; for Heaven and thou
Are all the care, and business-of Arvida.
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