Mantred

Farewell ye opening heavens'

Look not upon me thus reproachfully.
Ye were not meant for me. Earth take these atoms'
Ch Hunt. Hold, madman though aweary of thy life.
Stain not our pure vales with thy guilty blood

P 309

I will approach him nearer.

Man. (not perceiving the other). To be thus-
Gray-hair'd with anguish, like these blasted pines,
Wrecks of a single winter, barkless, branchless,
A blighted trunk upon a cursed root,
Which but supplies a feeling to decay-
And to be thus, eternally but thus,

Having been otherwise! Now furrow'd o'er

With wrinkles, plough'd by moments, not by years
And hours-all tortured into ages-hours
Which I outlive!-Ye toppling crags of ice!
Ye avalanches, whom a breath draws down

In mountainous o'erwhelming, come and crush me!
I hear ye momently above, beneath,

Crash with a frequent corflict; but ye pass,
And only fall on things that still would live;
On the young flourishing forest, or the hut
And hamlet of the harmless villager.

C. Hun. The mists begin to rise from up the valley;
I'll warn him to descend, or he may chance

To lose at once his way and life together.

Man. The mists boil up around the glaciers; clouds
Rise curling fast beneath me, white and sulphury,
Like foam from the roused ocean of deep Hell,

Whose every wave breaks on a living shore,

Heap'd with the damn'd like pebbles.-I am giddy.
C. Hun. I must approach him cautiously; if near,
A sudden step will startle him, and he

Seems tottering already.

Man.

Mountains have fallen,
Leaving a gap in the clouds, and with the shock
Rocking their Alpine brethren; filling up

The ripe green valleys with destruction's splinters
Damming the rivers with a sudden dash,

Which crush'd the waters into mist, and made
Their fountains find another channel-thus,
Thus, in its old age, did Mount Rosenberg-
Why stood I not beneath it?

C. Hun.

Friend! have a care,

Your next step may be fatal!--for the love

Of him who made you, stand not on that brink!

309

Man. (not hearing him). Such would have been for me a fitting tomb;

My bones had then been quiet in their depth;

They had not then been strewn upon the rocks

For the wind's pastime-as thus-thus they shall be

In this one plunge.-Farewell, ye opening heavens!

Look not upon me thus reproachfully

You were not meant for me-Earth! take these atoms!

(As MANFRED is in act to spring from the cliff, the CHAMOIS HUNTER seizes and retains him with a sudden grasp.) C. Hun. Hold, madman!-though aweary of thy life,

Stain not our pure vales with thy guilty blood

Away with me-I will not quit my hold.

Man. I am most sick at heart-nay, grasp me not-

I am all feebleness-the mountains whirl
Spinning around me I grow blind-What art thou?
C. Hun. I'll answer that anon.-Away with me---
The clouds grow thicker-there-now lean on me--
Place your foot here-here, take this staff, and cling
A moment to that shrub-now give me your hand,
And hold fast by my girdle-softly-well-
The Chalet will be gain'd within an hour-
Come on, we'll quickly find a surer footing,
And something like a pathway, which the torrent
Hath wash'd since winter.--Come, 'tis bravely done-
You should have been a hunter.-Follow me.

(As they descend the rocks with difficulty the scene closes.)

ACT II.

SCENE I.

A Cottage amongst the Bernese Alps.
MANFRED and the CHAMOIS HUNTER.

C. Hun. No, no-yet pause-thou must not yet go forth.
Thy mind and body are alike unfit

To trust each other, for some hours, at least;

When thou art better, I will be thy guide-
But whither?

Man.

It imports not: I do know

My route full well, and need no further guidance.

C. Hun. Thy garb and gait bespeak thee of high lineageOne of the many chiefs, whose castled crags

Look o'er the lower valleys-which of these

May call thee lord? I only know their portals;

My way of life leads me but rarely down

To bask by the huge hearths of those old halls,
Carousing with the vassals; but the paths,

Which step from out our mountains to their doors,
I know from childhood-which of these is thine?
Mun. No matter.

C. Hun. Well, sir, pardon me the question,
And be of better cheer. Come, taste my wine;
"Tis of an ancient vintage; many a day

"T has thaw'd my veins among our glaciers, now Let it do thus for thine-Come, pledge me fairly.

Man. Away, away! there's blood upon the brim!

Will it then never-never sink in the earth?

C. Hun. What dost thou mean? thy senses wander from thee
Man. say 'tis blood-my blood! the pure warm stream

Which ran in the veins of my fathers, and in ours

When we were in our youth, and had one heart,

And loved each other as we should not love,

And this was shed: but still it rises up,

Colouring the clouds, that shut me out from heaven,
Where thou art not-and I shall never be.