By its abruptness-all it hath of ill
Recoils on me; its good in the effect

May light upon your head-could I say heart—
Could I touch that, with words or prayers, I should
Recall a noble spirit which hath wander'd

But is not yet all lost.

MAN.

Thou know'st me not;

My days are number'd, and my deeds recorded:
Retire, or 't will be dangerous-Away!

ABBOT. Thou dost not mean to menace me?
MAN.

I simply tell thee peril is at hand,

And would preserve thee.

Аввот.

MAN.

What dost thou see?

Not I;

What dost thou mean?

Look there!

Аввот.

MAN.

Nothing.

Look there, I say,

And steadfastly;-now tell me what thou seest.

ABBOT. That which should shake me-but I fear it

not:

I see a dusk and awful figure rise,

Like an infernal god, from out the earth;

His face wrapt in a mantle, and his form

Robed as with angry clouds: he stands between

Thyself and me-but I do fear him not.

MAN. Thou hast no cause; he shall not harm thee, but His sight may shock thine old limbs into palsy.

I say to thee-Retire!

Never-till I have battled with this fiend:-
What doth he here?

MAN. Why-ay-what doth he here?

I did not send for him, he is unbidden.

ABBOT. Alas! lost mortal! what with guests like

these

Hast thou to do? I tremble for thy sake:

Why doth he gaze on thee, and thou on him?

Ah! he unveils his aspect: on his brow

The thunder-scars are graven; from his eye

ABBOT. What art thou, unknown being? answer!— speak!

SPIRIT. The genius of this mortal.-Come! 't is time. MAN. I am prepared for all things, but deny The power which summons me. Who sent thee here? SPIRIT. Thou 'lt know anon-Come! Come! ΜΑΝ.

I have commanded

Things of an essence greater far than thine,
And striven with thy masters. Get thee hence!
SPIRIT. Mortal! thine hour is come-Away! I say.
MAN. I knew, and know my hour is come, but not
To render up my soul to such as thee:

Away! I'll die as I have lived—alone.

SPIRIT. Then I must summon up my brethren.—Rise! [Other Spirits rise up. ABBOT. Avaunt! ye evil ones!-Avaunt! I say,— Ye have no power where piety hath power, And I do charge ye in the name—

SPIRIT.

Old man!

We know ourselves, our mission, and thine order;
Waste not thy holy words on idle uses,

It were in vain: this man is forfeited.
Once more I summon him-Away! away!
MAN. I do defy ye,-though I feel my soul.
Is ebbing from me, yet I do defy ye;
Nor will I hence, while I have earthly breath
To breathe my scorn upon ye-earthly strength
To wrestle, though with spirits; what ye take
Shall be ta'en limb by limb.

SPIRIT.

Reluctant mortal!

Is this the Magian who would so pervade
The world invisible, and make himself
Almost our equal? Can it be that thou
Art thus in love with life? the very life
Which made thee wretched!

MAN.

Thou false fiend, thou liest!

My life is in its last hour,—that I know,
Nor would redeem a moment of that hour.
I do not combat against death, but thee
And thy surrounding angels; my past power
Was purchased by no compact with thy crew,
But by superior science, penance, daring,

And length of watching, strength of mind, and skill
In knowledge of our fathers when the earth
Saw men and spirits walking side by side

And gave ye no supremacy: I stand

Upon my strength-I do defy-deny-
Spurn back, and scorn ye!-

SPIRIT.

Have made thee

But thy many crimes

MAN. What are they to such as thee?
Must crimes be punish'd but by other crimes,
And greater criminals?—Back to thy hell!
Thou hast no power upon me, that I feel;
Thou never shalt possess me, that I know:
What I have done is done; I bear within
A torture which could nothing gain from thine.
The mind which is immortal makes itself
Requital for its good or evil thoughts,

Is its own origin of ill and end,

And its own place and time; its innate sense,
When stripp'd of this mortality, derives
No colour from the fleeting things without,
But is absorb'd in sufferance or in joy,

Born from the knowledge of its own desert.

Thou didst not tempt me, and thou couldst not tempt me;
I have not been thy dupe nor am thy prey,

But was my own destroyer, and will be
My own hereafter.-Back, ye baffled fiends!
The hand of death is on me-but not yours!

[The Demons disappear.

ABBOT. Alas! how pale thou art-thy lips are whiteAnd thy breast heaves-and in thy gasping throat The accents rattle. Give thy prayers to Heaven— Pray-albeit but in thought, but die not thus.

MAN. 'Tis over-my dull eyes can fix thee not;

But all things swim around me, and the earth
Heaves as it were beneath me. Fare thee well-
Give me thy hand.

Аввот.

Cold-cold-even to the heart— But yet one prayer-Alas! how fares it with thee? MAN. Old man! 't is not so difficult to die.

[MANFRED expires. ABBOT. He's gone, his soul hath ta'en its earthless

flight;

Whither? I dread to think; but he is gone.