Oh! my beloved child! O Douglas, Douglas! [DOUGLAS growing more and more faint. Doug. Too soon we part: I have not long been Douglas; O destiny! hardly thou deal'st with me; Lady R. Has Heav'n preserv'd thee for an end like this? Doug. Oh! had I fall'n as my brave fathers fell, Turning with fatal arm the tide of battle! 860 Like them I should have smil'd and welcom'd death: Cut off from nature's and from glory's course, Lady R. Hear justice; hear! stretch thy avenging arm. [DOUGLAS falls. Doug. Unknown I die; no tongue shall speak of me. Some noble spirits, judging by themselves May yet conjecture what I might have prov'd, Lady R. Despair, despair! Doug. Oh, had it pleas'd high Heav'n to let me live A little while!—my eyes that gaze on thee Grow dim apace! my mother-O! my mother! [Dies. Enter Lord RANDOLPH and ANNA. Lord R. Thy words, thy words of truth, have pierc'd my heart; I am the stain of knighthood and of arms. Oh! if my brave deliverer survives The traitor's sword Anna. Alas! look there, my lord. 700 Lord R. The mother and her son! How curst I am! Was I the cause? No: I was not the cause. Yon matchless villain did seduce my soul To frantic jealousy. Anna. My lady lives: The agony of grief hath but suppress'd Lord R. But my deliverer's dead; "The world did once esteem lord Randolph well, "Beneath the holy banner of the cross. "Now past the noon of life, shame comes upon me; Reproach, and infamy, and public hate, "Are near at hand: for all mankind will think "That Randolph basely stabb'd Sir Malcolm's heir.” Lady R. [Recovering.] Where am I now? Still in this wretched world! Grief cannot break a heart so hard as mine. "My youth was worn in anguish : but youth's strength, "With hope's assistance, bore the brunt of sorrow; "And train'd me on to be the object now, "On which Omnipotence displays itself, "Making a spectacle, a tale of me, "To awe it's vassal, man."" Lord R. Oh, misery! Amidst thy raging grief I must proclaim My innocence.' Lady R. Thy innocence ! Lord R. My guilt 730 Is innocence compar'd with what thou think'st it. Who might make up to me their father's childhood, What am I now ?-I know.-But I shall be And such a husband drive me to my fate. [Runs out. Enter Old NORVAL. [Exit ANNA. Old Nor. I heard the voice of woe: Heaven guard my child! Lord R. Already is the idle gaping crowd, The spiteful vulgar, come to gaze on Randolph. Begone. Old Nor. I fear thee not. I will not go. Here I'll remain. I'm an accomplice, lord, 750 With thee in murder. Yes, my sins did help These are the hairs that should have strew'd the ground, And not the locks of Douglas. [Tears his hair, and throws himself upon the body of Douglas. Lord R. I know thee now: thy boldness I forgive: " My crest is fallen." For thee I will appoint Enter ANNA. Anna. My lord! My lord! Lord R. Speak: I can hear of horror. Lord R. Matilda? 770 Anna. Is no more: She ran, she flew like lightning up the hill, Beneath whose low'ring top the river falls Lord R. 'Twas I alas! 'twas I That fill'd her breast with fury; drove her down 780 Anna. Oh, had you seen her last despairing look! Upon the brink she stood, and cast her eyes Down on the deep: then lifting up her head And her white hands to Heaven, seeming to say, Why am I forc'd to this? she plung'd herself Into the empty air. Lord R. I will not vent, In vain complaints, the passion of my soul. These wounds the gratitude of Randolph gave ; go Straight to the battle, where the man that makes 800 For Randolph hopes he never shall return. [Exeunt. |