Why I describe him thus I'll tell hereafter : [Exit Lady RANDOLPH. Annu. O happiness! where art thou to be found? I see thou dwellest not with birth and beauty, Though graced with grandeur, and in wealth array'd: Nor dost thou, it would seem, with virtue dwell; Else had this gentle lady miss'd thee not. Enter GLENALVON. Glen. What dost thou muse on, meditating maid? Like some entranced and visionary seer, On earth thou stand'st, thy thoughts ascend to heaven. Anna. Would that I were, e'en as thou say'st, a seer, To have my doubts by heavenly vision clear'd! Glen. What dost thou doubt of? what hast thou to do With subjects intricate? thy youth, thy beauty, Cannot be question'd: think of these good gifts; And then thy contemplations will be pleasing. Anna. Let women view yon monument of woe, Then boast of beauty: who so fair as she? But I must follow: this revolving day Awakes the memory of her ancient woes. [Exit ANNA. Glen. [Solus.] So! Lady Randolph shuns me : by and by I'll woo her as the lion wooes his bride. The deed's adoing now, that makes me lord Who stands betwixt me and my chief desire. And for the righteous cause, a stranger's cause, I know no chief that will defy Glenalvon. [Exit. ACT II. SCENE,-A Court, &c. as before. Enter Servants and a Stranger at one door, and Lady RANDOLPH and ANNA at another. Lady Rand. What means this clamour? Stranger, speak secure ; Hast thou been wrong'd? have these rude men presumed To vex the weary traveller on his way? 1 Serv. By us no stranger ever suffer'd wrong: This man with outcry wild has call'd us forth; So sore afraid he cannot speak his fears. Enter Lord RANDOLPH and a Young Man, with their swords drawn and bloody. Lady Rand. Not vain the stranger's fears!- Lord Rand. That it fares well, thanks to this gallant youth, 1 Whose valour saved me from a wretched death! As down the winding dale I walk'd alone, And, mocking danger, made my foes his own. more, The fiercest two; the others fled amain, My heart o'erflows with gratitude to heav'n; To you and yours, deliberated not, Nor paused at peril, but humanely brave Fought on your side, against such fearful odds. Have you yet learn'd of him whom we should thank? Whom call the saviour of Lord Randolph's life? |