Ray. To sue, Enter RAYMOND. But ever without grace to sue-Oh Grey! Grey. It is, in truth, my lord, an irksome labour. Ray. But now I cast me at the fair one's feet; Hear all with equal temper? Waked he not Ray. Thou know'st not what it is vere se Ray. Silence at first, Grey. Say to what purpose, then, was seized her castle? When she your suit rejected, then, perforce, Ray. Ungracious is the love reluctance yields; And cold, cold even as marble, is the maid, Who comes unwilling to another's arms. Grey. In brief, would you partake thelady's bed? Ray. How came this to your hand? Of thee demand no trivial recompence. Ray. My better angel interposed. Grey. Had this its purposed scope attained- Were this but whispered in our Henry's ear— Ray. What's to be done? Grey. 'Tis critical, and must be managed nicely But see, with Eleanor the countess comes; SCENE II. Then tears; bright drops, like May-morn dews, Enter LADY SALISBURY, LORD William, and that fall ELEANOR. No generous hand to vindicate my wrongs? Oh Salisbury! Salisbury! Why, if yet thou liv'st Fond hope! he lives not, else with speed of thought Would he repair to his afflicted Ela. Ele. Why, dearest lady, will you yield you up A prey to purposed sorrow? Time is fruitful; And the next hour, perhaps, may bring thee comfort. Lady Sal. Day after day I have watched the joyless hours: Night after night, when some fleet courier, sent Before perchance, or letter, fraught with sweet Assurance of his safety, might appear; Five tedious moons have passed since first were told The dismal tidings; no fleet courier, sent Before, alas! nor letter, with such sweet Assurance, yet appears-he's gone! he's lost! And I shall never, never see him more. Ele. Ah! suffer not the leaden hand of cold Despair thus weigh thee down; I yet have hope. Lady Sal. Away with hope, away! No, no; full loud, As I remember, and outrageous blew Ele. Heaven visit her affliction, and bestow That patience which she needs! Lady Sal. No, Eleanor; no more shall he To these deserted walls return. No more Shall trophies, won by many a gallant deed, Through the long hall in proud procession move; No more fair Salisbury's battlements and towers Re-echo to the approaching trumpet's voice. Never, Oh! never more shall Ela run, With throbbing bosom at the well-known sound, To unlock his helmet, conquest-plumed, to strip The cuishes from his manly thigh, or snatch Quick from his breast the plated armour, wont To oppose my fond embrace-Sweet times, farewell! Lord Wil. Mother, why do you speak so? you make me sad. Lady Sal. It is too soon, my child, for thee to know What sadness is. Lord Wil. Will not my father come home soon? Eleanor told me he would: she would not tell a lie. Lady Sal. No, love. Lord Wil. Then he will come. Lady Sal. Go, lovely prattler, seek thy toys; go, go. Lord Wil. I will, good mother; but dont be sad, or I shall be so too. [Exit. Lady Sul. Sweet state of childhood! unallayed with cares; Serene as spring-tide morn, new-welcomed up Comes a fell hand, dashes thee rudely down, Ele. Cease, Cease, lady, to afflict thee: Raymond may, Grey. As you are fair above all other women, Lady Sal. Without more preface, briefly speak thy suit. Grey. To love, but ne'er to reap of love the Of words: In brief, I love him not, nor pity: I dare not, must not bear my lord. Grey. 'Tis cruel towards the man who loves so fondly. Lady Sal. Doth he assume the specious name of love? Love is a bright, a generous quality, Heaven gave to noble minds; pure and unmixed With every grosser stuff; a goodly flower, Shoots up and blossoms in great souls alone. Grey. The mind, the exalted soul thou nam'st, is his. Lives there a youth more gentle of condition, Lady Sal. Sweet innocence! I fear he will In fair accomplishments more graced, admi not. Lord Wil. I hope he is not sick. red? If beauty sway thy fond regards, if wealth, I know not in fair England one with him Lady Sal. Is then the star, the peerless star, That late was gazed on, quite obscured? What though He may have set, hath he not left a train me; Were he of all the wealth possessed from where The East Indian bids the sun good-morrow, to where The Atlantic, in her wide-extended lap, And swallow me within her lowest prison! Grey. For pity's sake yet soften; for, Oh! sure No former love could ever equal his; No bosom boast the generous flame wherewith Lord Raymond glows for thee, admired fair! Lady Sal. Hear this, ye Heavens! and grant me patience Where's My people? where the freedom that I late Was blest with? Wherefore is my palace thronged With strangers? Why, why are my gates shut up And fortified against their rightful mistress? Grey. Madam Lady Sal. Is this the love he boasts? Is this the fair accomplished, this the gentle youth? Must I recal to mind-Came he not, then, And broke in on my sorrows? Like a spoiler He need not now thus humbly sue for that His power, long since, unasked, might have extorted. Lady Sal. Ha! what art thou, that thus pre sum'st to threaten? Extorted!-Hence, thou rude one, bolder even Lady Sal. I know thee well To what concerns lord Raymond I have spoke, My final purpose fixed: For thee, I charge thee shun my presence; hence! And learn the distance that befits thy calling. Grey. Not ere I speak more fully to the cause Nay, lady, look not on me with so stern [Erit. Lady Sal. What meant he, Eleanor ?—I will be heard! Ele. Alas! I know not: but a soul he hath, Thou, spotless as the snowy-vested hill! Oh, Salisbury! Salisbury! thou lamented shade; sit'st Exalted: hover o'er me: and, as thou Wert wont, support me in this hour of trial! [Exeunt. Prompt credence. Hear what I have devised, if | Lord Salisbury then, perchance, of thee was Re-enter Knight, with Strangers. Whence, and what are you? 1st Stran. What we are, known? [Erit Have proved his latter fortunes I should wish Alw. What cause there was Of such report, alas! these eyes have seen; These weeds, though we were silent, might un-To Alwin I am called, my fellow-traveller Of food, we journeyed hitherward, in hope Alw. From France, not many days, Ray. Say, what occasion may have called you hither? Alw. To aid (Heaven prosper long) my country's weal. Ray. You are a soldier then? Alw. I have been such; And to be such was my most dear inclining; Ray. Cease not so. Though in the school of war untutored, much To claim of Lewis certain lands usurped, Ray. Were you therein employed? Ray. I pray you, let us hear. Alw. O'ercharged with human prey, fell war had ceased walk his wasteful round; well pleased we turn Us from the blood-stained field; exulting each And now the chalky cliffs on Albion's coast crew With peals redoubled greet the well known shore- Haply if her wished-for lord may come; in vain Ray. Proceed, Alw. Anon -what was the event? The winds began to shift; up rose a storm, Embarked, not one that fatal hour survived- Ray. Speak now, secure, for nearly it con cerns My quiet-speak-was Salisbury of your crew? Alw. Alas! too sure. Ray. Enough-Thy courtesy Of us may well, and shall be well requited. Of this our friend accept mean time his prompt Lady Sal. Sweet, sweet, my Eleanor; so sweet, oh! would I never had waked. I dreamt, as wont on him Knt. Thy favour, lady; I am charged with news, That much imports thy hearing: summon up [Exit Alw. Ler. and Knt. Thy powers; two strangers late have come, Grey. Of this stranger What thinks my lord? Ray. As of an angel, sent To waft me on his wings strait to the summit whom One brings assured tidings of thy lord. Lady Sal- -My lord—what—speak— Knt. He saith he knew my lord Of Salisbury well; that he was of his crew; And with that peer embarked from France. Lady Sal.-But-well-from France.Knt. Lady, all must have of Grey. That we shall learn hereafter: but 'tis Their sorrows. Strait uprose a mighty tempest, meet That he to lady Salisbury first unfold I now behold her, like some full-blown flower, Without a sigh. But she must weep; she must; Dispersed the fleet o'er all the seas- Ele. Alas the tidings!-Dearest lady, give Thy sorrows vent; thy bosom's overfraught, And will find ease by letting loose its woes. Lady Sal.- -Well, well Then he is lost, and all, all is despair. that I May hear him fully speak of all. Methinks [Exit Kat. "Twill be a desperate sort of soothing; to hang Upon each sound, catch every circumstance Of the sad story; and wring my aching heart, Till I am even surfeited with sorrow. Ele. Behold! the stranger comes Enter ALWIN. Lady Sal. Bear, bear me up, good Heaven! That I may give full measure to my sorrow. Alw. Thy angel hover o'er thee, and support thee. [In an under voice. Lady Sal. The dead ere now Have burst the prisons of the close-pent grave, And apparitions, strange of faith, appeared; Perhaps thou too art but a shadow; let Me grasp thee, for, as I have life, I thinkIt is, it is my Salisbury! O my lord! Lord Sal. My bosom's joy! Lady Sal. And dost thou live indeed? Lord Sal.-And art thou, art thou then- |