Lady Rand. Despair! despair! Doug. O, had it pleased high Heaven 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 Rand. Thy words, the words of truth, have pierced 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. Lord Rand. 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 supprest Lord Rand. But my deliverer's dead! The world did once esteem Lord Randolph well; Sincere of heart, for spotless honour famed : And in my early days, glory I gain'd Now past the noon of life, shame comes upon me; Are near at hand; for all mankind will think That Randolph basely stabb'd Sir Malcolm's heir. [Lady RANDOLPH recovering.· Lady Rand. 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 its vassal, man. Lord Rand. O misery! Amidst thy raging grief I must proclaim My innocence. Lady Rand, Thy innocence! Lord Rand. My guilt Is innocence, compared with what thou think'st it. Lady Rand. Of thee I think not: what have I to do With thee, or any thing? My son ! my son ! Who might make up to me their father's childhood, And bear my brother's and my husband's name : Now all my hopes are dead! A little while Was I a wife! a mother not so long! What am I now ?-I know-But I shall be That only whilst I please; for such a son And such a husband drive me to my fate. [Runs out. Lord Rand. Follow her, Anna: I myself would follow, But in this rage she must abhor my presence. [Exit ANNA. Enter Old NORVAL. Old Norv. I hear the voice of woe; heaven guard my child! Lord Rand. Already is the idle gaping crowd, The spiteful vulgar, come to gaze on Randolph ? Begone! Old Norv. I fear thee not. I will not go. Here I'll remain. I'm an accomplice, lord, With thee in murder. Yes, my sins did help To crush down to the ground this lovely plant. O noblest youth that ever yet was born! Sweetest and best, gentlest and bravest spirit, That ever bless'd the world! Wretch that I am, Who saw that noble spirit swell and rise Above the narrow limits that confined it, Yet never was by all thy virtues won To do thee justice, and reveal the secret, Which, timely known, had raised thee far above The villain's snare! Oh! I am punish'd now! 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 Rand. I know thee now: thy boldness I forgive; My crest is fall'n. For thee I will appoint A place of rest, if grief will let thee rest. I will reward, although I cannot punish. Foaming with rage and fury to the last, Cursing his conqueror the felon died. Enter ANNA. Anna. My lord! my lord! Lord Rand. Speak: I can hear of horror. Anna. Horror indeed! Lord Rand. Matilda ? Anna. Is no more. She ran, she flew like lightning up the hill, Beneath whose low'ring top the river falls, Ingulph'd in rifted rocks: thither she came, Lord Rand. 'Twas I! alas! 'twas I That fill'd her breast with fury; drove her down The precipice of death! Wretch that I am! Anna. O 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 forced to this? she plunged herself Into the empty air. |