May this unhappy face disarm, QUEEN. Moving language, shining tears, At once provoke me, and assuage. Your kindled vengeance! Ros. Give me but one short moment's stay. O Henry, why so far away? QUEEN. Prepare to welter in a flood Of streaming gore. Aside. [Offering the dagger. [Aside. [Offering the dagger. [Takes the bowl in her hand. [Aside. [Falling on her knees. And let me grasp the deadly bowl. QUEEN. Ye powers, how pity rends my soul! Ros. Thus prostrate at your feet I fall. O let me still for mercy call! Accept, great queen, like injur'd heaven, The soul that begs to be forgiven : QUEEN. Mercy to lighter crimes is due, [Offering the dagger. Ros. Thus I prevent the fatal blow, [Drinks. QUEEN. Where thy past life thou shalt lament, And wish thou hadst been innocent. Ros. Tyrant! to aggravate the stroke, A glaring sprite, I'll haunt thy dreams; And when the painful night withdraws, O whither does my frenzy drive! My veins are froze; my blood grows chill; The sleep of death benumbs all o'er My fainting limbs, and I'm no more. [Falls on the couch. QUEEN. Hear and observe your queen's commands. Beneath those hills a convent stands, [To her attendants. [Exeunt with the body. [Exit. SCENE VII. SIR TRUSTY in a fright. A breathless corse! what have I seen! "Great sir, "Your Rosamond is dead "As I am at this present writing." The bower turns round, my brain's abus'd, The thickets dance-I stretch, I yawn. [Drinks. [Writes. Death has tripp'd up my heels-I'm gone. [Staggers and falls. SCENE VIII. QUEEN sola. The conflict of my mind is o'er, Hence ye secret damps of care, Hence ye fears and doubts remove; On jealousy, the rage of love. ACT THE THIRD. SCENE I. A grotto, HENRY asleep, a cloud descends, in it two angels, supposed to be the guardian spirits of the British kings in war and in peace. FIRST ANGEL. Behold the unhappy monarch there, That claims our tutelary care! SECOND ANGEL. In fields of death around his head A shield of adamant I spread. FIRST ANGEL. In hours of peace, unseen, unknown, I hover o'er the British throne. SECOND ANGEL. When hosts of foes with foes engage, And round th' anointed hero rage, The cleaving fauchion I misguide, FIRST ANGEL. When dark fermenting factions swell, th' ambitious to rebel, And prompt A thousand terrors I impart, And damp the furious traitor's heart. BOTH. But oh! what influence can remove The pangs of grief and rage of love! SECOND ANGEL. I'll fire his soul with mighty themes, FIRST ANGEL. I'll sooth his cares in pleasing dreams, And Agincourt and Blenheim rise. FIRST ANGEL. See, see, he smiles amidst his trance, And shakes a visionary lance. His brain is fill'd with loud alarms; Shouting armies, clashing arms, The softer prints of love deface: And trumpets sound in ev'ry trace. The field is won! Fame revives And love is gone. FIRST ANGEL. To calm thy grief, and lull thy cares, Look up and see What, after long revolving years, Thy bow'r shall be! |