And not the deed itself, I speak with shame— I with this caitiff truly did conspire,
For good and ample reasons, to remove
Sir Walter D'Arlon from this troublesome world. Such chances as no prudence could forefend Have baulk'd my purpose, and I go myself. Wherefore, sirs, God be with you! To the block! What are ye dreaming of, ye sluggish hinds?
ARTEVELDE (signing to the men-at-arms, who lead out GILBERT MATTHEW).
Aye, Gilbert, God forgive thee for thy sins! Thou steppest statelily the only walk Thou hast to take upon this solid earth. Full many a better man less bravely dieth. Take forth the other too.
If through pretext of justice I am doom'd, What justice is it that believes not me, And yet believes such villains as Romero And Gilbert Matthew! Find a credible tongue
To testify against me ere you strike.
Enter VAN RYK, conducting ADRIANA, who throws herself into the arms of VAN ARTEVELDE.
addresses himself to Occo.
Lo! here a witness! look upon this face,
And bid death welcome.
Oh, spare him; speak not now of shedding blood,
Now, in this hour of happiness! Oh, spare him! Vengeance is God's, whose function take not thou! Relent, Van Artevelde, and spare his life.
Not though an angel plead. Vengeance is God's; But God doth oftentimes dispense it here By human ministration. To my hands He render'd victory this eventful day For uses higher than my happiness.
Let Flanders judge me from my deeds to-night, That I from this time forth will thus proceed, Justice with mercy tempering where I may: But executing always. Lead him out.
Now, Adriana, I am wholly thine.
The curtain falls upon the fancied stage, The tale half told: here rest thee, reader sage;
Pause here and trim thine intellectual light,
Which, more than mine, shall make my meanings bright. That ancient writer whose romantic heart
Loved war in every shape,-its pride, its art, Its shows, appurtenance,-whose page is still The theatre of war, turn where we will,— That old historian, of whose truthful text I dog the heels,— -me whither leads he next? To dark descents he guides me; sad and stern, Him following forth, the lesson that I learn,
That in the shocks of powers so wild and rude, Success but signifies vicissitude;
That of that man who seeks a sovran sphere, The triumph is the trial most severe.
And yet in times so stormy, in a land
Where Virtue's self held forth a bloody hand To greet arm'd Justice,-in such times as these Still woman's love could find the way to please. Thus in the tissue of my tale, herein By records not unvouch'd, again I spin, As heretofore, an interwoven thread Of feminine affection fancy-fed.
-Rest thee a space or if thou lov'st to hear A soft pulsation in thine easy ear,
Turn thou the page, and let thy senses drink A lay that shall not trouble thee to think. Quitting the heroine of the past, thou❜lt see In this prefigured her that is to be,
And find what life was hers before the date That with the Fleming's fortunes link'd her fate. This sang she to herself one summer's eve, A recreant from festivities that grieve The heart not festive; stealing to her bower, With this she wiled away the lonely evening hour.
He asked me had I yet forgot The mountains of my native land? I sought an answer, but had not
The words at my command.
They would not come, and it was better so, For had I utter'd aught, my tears I know Had started at the word as free to flow.
But I can answer when there's none that hears; And now if I should weep, none sees my tears; And in my soul the voice is rising strong, That speaks in solitude,-the voice of song.
Yes, I remember well
The land of many hues,
Whose charms what praise can tell, Whose praise what heart refuse? Sublime, but neither bleak nor bare, Nor misty, are the mountains there,- Softly sublime, profusely fair!
Up to their summits clothed in green, And fruitful as the vales between,
They lightly rise,
And scale the skies,
And groves and gardens still abound,
For where no shoot
Could else take root,
The peaks are shelved and terraced round; Earthward appear, in mingled growth,
The mulberry and maize,-above
The trellised vine extends to both The leafy shade they love.
Looks out the white-walled cottage here, The lowly chapel rises near;
Far down the foot must roam to reach The lovely lake and bending beach; Whilst chestnut green and olive grey Chequer the steep and winding way.
A bark is launch'd on Como's lake, A maiden sits abaft;
A little sail is loosed to take
The night wind's breath, and waft The maiden and her bark away, Across the lake and up the bay. And what doth there that lady fair, Upon the wavelet toss'd?
Before her shines the evening star, Behind her in the woods afar
The castle lights are lost.
What doth she there? The evening air Lifts her locks, and her neck is bare; And the dews, that now are falling fast,
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