Enter SEBASTIAN. Now, Sebastian, thy tidings? Seb. Dirk Hatteraick has sent his orders by me, for our crew to meet him instantly at the Old Tower of Derncleugh. Meg. Hatteraick! Why, was he not secured, and taken by Dinmont and the youth to Glossin's? Is he not in the hands of justice? Seb. Yes; but he has slipped through its fingers, and without much difficulty, for they were opened to him on purpose. Meg. What mean'st thou? Seb. Why, that his old friend, Justice Glossin, contrived that he should effect his escape from the Castle-Keep, where he was confined; and the friendly smuggler and lawyer meet to-night in the cavern by Derncleugh Tower, where we are to assist in making sure (as they call it) of that younker of Ellangowan, whom Glossin is to separate from his sturdy companion, and send over the heath alone. Meg. Ha! his death is purposed, then, and they have chosen the scene of one murder to commit another. Right! The blood spilt on that spot has long cried for vengeance, and it shall fall upon them! Sebastian, speed to Dinmont and the youth, tell them not to separate for their lives; guide them to the Glen near the Tower; there let them wait till Glossin and Hatteraick meet in the cavern-away! and do my bidding. (Exit Sebastian.) Now to send to Mannering. I must remain on the watch myself; Gabriel I dare not trust. (Looking off) Ha! who comes now?-the girl herself and Abel Sampson, Henry Bertram's ancient tutor. shall be so-Hush! away! away! It [Retires behind the rock. Enter JULIA MANNERING and LUCY BERTRAM. My faltering tongue, my downcast eyes, Ah! tell me, could it plead in vain? Julia. Thanks, dearest Lucy! I've a story to tell you in return about myself; but not just now, for here comes Mr. Sampson. Lucy. Pray endeavour to divert the poor man's attention, for his change of dress quite confuses him. How could you play such a roguish trick upon the good, absent soul, as to make the servant put new clothes in his room, in the place of old ones? Enter DOMINIE SAMPSON, looking at his clothes. Dom. Truly, my outward man doth somewhat embarrass my sensations of identity. My vestments are renovated miraculously. Julia. Mr. Sampson, will you favour us with your arm? Dom. (Looking at her a moment, then at his clothes.) Of a verity, these sleeves are regenerated-so are the knees of my breeches, or subligaculi, as the ancients denominated them. Lucy. Come, Mr. Sampson, we wait for you. Dom. Honoured young lady! I- --Where can the patch and darning be removed unto? [Meg Merrilies glides unperceived from the rocks, and crosses at the back. Lucy. What's the matter, sir? Dom. I know not-I am nubilous. Doubtless the air of Woodburne is favourable unto wearing apparel; for the surface of my garments is as fresh as when I first put them on, ten years ago! Miraculous! Idem et alter!! Prodigious!!! But I crave forgiveness, young ladies,-we will proceed. (He takes the ladies' arm and is going.) Meg. (Moving forward suddenly and calling.) Stop: Julia. Upon my word, my dear Lucy, this Scotland of yours is the most gallant country in the world. There's even Mr. Sampson yonder turned-I command you! as arrant a coxcomb as my brother, in our service. How delightful the old gentleman does look in his new suit! What wonders will you work next? an old, abstracted philosopher, dangling after us, a bean-companion, and a proud, stern, stoical soldier, melted down into your forlorn true lover, Lucy! Lucy. Why will you thus continue to persecute me with speeches, which gratitude and delicacy, and above all, the remembrance of my deep and recent afflictions should forbid me listening to. Julia. By no means, my dear; gratitude and delicacy, and everything in the world should bid you listen to a man, who-I can tell you from good authority-is over head and ears in love with you. What say you, dearest Lucy, will you be my sister? Lucy. Oh, Julia! what can, what ought I to say? Spare me, I entreat you! my heart is too full-let yours speak for me. AIR.-LUCY BERTRAM. Oh! blame me not, that such high worth The timid, trembling pulse of shame. Lore, unperceived, will venture in; Is sure that wounded heart to win. Dom. (Turning, and starting back.) Avoid thee! Julia, What a frightful creature! (To Dominie, holding out her purse.) Here-here, sir! Give her something, and bid her go. Meg. I want not your trash! Meg. No, I am not mad!-I've been imprisoned for mad-scourged for mad-banished for mad,but mad I am not. Lucy. For mercy's sake, good woman, what is it you want? Meg. Go hence, Lucy Bertram, and Julia Mannering! There's no harm meant you, and may be, much good at hand. Hence! 'tis Abel Sampson I want. Dom. (Aside.) 'Tis Meg Merrilies, renowned for her sorceries! I haven't seen her for many a year. My blood curdles to hear her! (Aloud.) Young ladies, depart and fear not: I am somewhat tremulous, but I am vigorous-Lo! I will resist. (He edges round between the ladies and Meg, to cover their retreat.-Exeunt Julia and Lucy. As they go off, he points his long cane at Meg.) I am perturbed at thy words-Woman, I conjure thee! (Meg advances.) Nay then, will I flee incontinently! Meg. Halt! stand fast, or ye shall rue the day, while a limb of you hangs together! Dom. Conjuro te, nequissima, et scelestissima! Meg. What gibberish is that? Go from me to Colonel Mannering. Dom. I am fugacious; (Attempts to escape.) | away-it was Mr. Sampson she said she wanted to speak with. Meg. (Darting at him.) Stay!-Thou tremblest! (Offering a flask.) Drink of this! Dom. I am not a thirst, most execrable-I mean, excellent- Meg. Drink! Dom. Lo; I obey! (Drinis.) Meg. Can your learning tell what this is? Dom. Praised be thy bounty,-brandy. Meg. Will you remember my errand now? Dom. I will, most pernicious-that is, pertinaciously. Meg. Then tell Colonel Mannering, if ever he owed a debt to the House of Ellangowan, and hopes to see it prosper, he must come instantly, armed, and well attended, to the Glen, below the Tower of Derncleugh, and fail not on his life! you know the spot. Dom. I do-where you once dwelt, most accursed -that is, most accurate. Meg. Aye, Abel Sampson, there blazed my hearth for many a day! and there, beneath the willow, that hung its garlands over the brook, I've sat, and sung to Harry Bertram, songs of the old time. Dom. (Aside.) Witch rhymes, and incantations. I would I could abscond. Meg. That tree is withered now, never to be green again; and old Meg Merrilies will never sing blythe songs more. But I charge you, Abel Sampson, when the heir shall have his own-as soon as he shall Dom. Woman!-What say'st thou? Meg. That you tell him not to forget Meg Merrilies, but to build up the old walls in the glen, for her sake, and let those that live there be too good to fear the beings of another world; for, if ever the dead come back among the living, I'll be seen in that glen many a night after these crazed bones are whitened in the mould. Dom. (Aside.) Fear and perturbations creep upon me! but I will speak soothingly unto her. (Aloud.) Assuredly, Mrs. Margaret Merrilies, I will go whither thou biddest me, and remember your behest. But, touching the return of little Harry Bertram, I opine- Meg. I have said it, old man! you shall see him again, and the best lord he shall be that Ellangowan has seen this hundred years. But ye're o'er long here. To Mannering! away! and bid him come to that spot instantly, or the heir of Ellangowan may perish for ever. Dom. (Going.) I will hie me nimbly, most facinorous-I would say, fascirating-(Meg motions him off-she stands looking after him, her arm pointing in the direction he is going) Prodigious!-Prodigious!Prodigious! Meg. Now, then, to complete the work of fate, though every step I take be on a corpse. I was born to raise the old house of Ellangowan from its ruins, and the moment is at hand, when you shall behold Bertram's right, and Bertram's might, Dom. I crave pardon, honourable sir; but my wits Col. Seem rather disordered, I think;-but I beg you will arrange them, and explain your business. Dom. I will; sed conjuro te!-I mean, I will deliver my message. Col. Your message! from whom? Col. This is an ill-timed jest, Mr. Sampson. Dom. Prodigious! I am oblivious! Col. Mr. Sampson, how can you trifle thus ? ment. The witch hath terrified me! It was touching little Harry Bertram. Lucy. How! my lost brother? Dom. Yea! who, though of a tender age, was, by a blessing upon my poor endeavours, a prodigy of learning. Col. Well, sir, but what of him? Dom. Of a verity, she prophesied his return. Dom. And has commanded you, worthy Colonel, to attend her summons with armed men, at her ancient domicile, in the glen, by Derncleugh Tower. Col. With armed men? Dom. Yea, and speedily, lest, as she said, the heir of Ellangowan perisheth for ever. Lucy. Oh, sir, slight her not! vagrant and gipsy as she is, she nursed my little brother, and was said to doat on him. 'Tis a wild hope; but, for my sake, listen to it! should I find a brother to protect me, to thank you, too, for all your goodness! Col. It shall be attended to this moment. [Rings. Enter a Servant. Barnes, order the servants to provide themselves with weapons instantly. [Erit Servant.] Mr. Samp heaven, and never so loudly as at this moment! And, yet, you proceed, at if your hands were whiter than the lily. son, protect the ladies. Arm yourself, and follow me; your presence may be important. [Exit. Dom. (Taking down a gun and sword from the wall.) Young ladies, follow me and fear not. Lo! I have armed myself, and will smite lustily in the cause of little Harry. (The gun goes off.) Pro-o-o-digious! [Exeunt Lucy and Julia, running, Dominie after them, dragging the gun, and awkwardly shouldering the sword. Glo. Hist! hist! Hat. Is it you? Glo. Are you in the dark, my dear Dirk? Hat. Dark? Dark as the devil's mouth, and my fire is out. Glo. We'll repair it in a trice. (Gathering up some dry sticks, and repairing the fire, which burns up briskly.) It is a cold place, to be sure. Hat. (Eagerly warming himself.) Cold! snowwater, and hail! It is perdition! And I could only keep myself alive, by walking up and down this infernal hole, and thinking on the merry rouses we have had in it. Glo. And shall again, boy. (Producing a flask.) See, here's something to warm your heart as well as your limbs. Hat. Give it to me, give it to me! (Drinks.) Ah! this lights the fire within. I have dreamt of nothing but that damned dead fellow, Kennedy, ever since I've been here. Glo. Come, come, the cold's at your heart still! take another pull. I left that bull-headed brute of a farmer, refreshing, as he calls it, with the soldiers, and the youngster crosses the heath alone; so, there's an easy trick to be won. Hat. No, I'd rather fight for it; a few good blows puts a colour upon such a business,-besides, I should like my revenge on that Liddesdale bully for the hard knocks he gave me. MEG MERRILIES appears through the dark_narrow passage, attended by HENRY BERTRAM and DANDIE DINMONT. Meg. (In a deep whisper to Bertram.) Will you believe me now? You shall hear them attest all I have said-but do not stir till I give the sign. [They retire back.. Hat. (Who has been warming himself.) Is Sebastian true, think you? Glo. True as steel! I fear none of them but old Meg. Meg. (Stepping forward.) And what d'ye fear from her? Glo. (Aside.) What fury has brought this hag hither? (To Meg.) Nay, nothing, nothing, my good mother; I was only fearing you might not come here to see our friend, Dirk Hatteraick, before he left us. Meg. What brings him back with the blood of the Kennedy upon his hands? Hat. It has dried up, you hag! It has dried up twenty years ago. Meg. It has not! It cries, night and day, from the bottom of this dungeon to the blue arch of Hat. Peace, you foul witch! or I'll make you quiet. Glo. No violence, no violence against honest Meg! I will show her such good reasons for what we have further to do -you know our purpose, I suppose? Meg. Yes!-To murder an unoffending youth, the heir of Ellangowan. And you, you treacherous cur! that bit the charitable hand that fed you! Will you again be helping to kidnap your master's son? Beware! I always told ye, evil would come on ye, and in this very cave. Glo. Hark ye, Meg! we must speak plain to you! My friend, Dick Hatteraick, and I, have made up our minds about this youngster, and it signifles nothing talking, unless you have a mind to share his fate. You were as deep as we in the whole business. Meg. 'Tis false; You forced me to consent that you should hurry him away, kidnap him, plunder him; but to murder him was your own device!yours! And it has thriven with you well. Hat. The old hag has croaked nothing but evil bodings these twenty years. She has been a rocka-head to me all my life. Meg. I, a rock-a-head! The gallows is your rocka-head. Hat. Gallows! Ye hag of Satan! the hemp is not sown that shall hang me. Meg. It is sown, and it is grown, and hackled and twisted. Did I not tell you, that the boy would return in spite of you? Did I not say, the old fire would burn down to a spark, and then blaze up again? [The party appear on the watch in the narrow passage. Hat. You did; but all is lost, unless he's now made sure. Ask Glossin else. Meg. I do; and in the name of heaven, demand, if he will yet forego his foul design against his master's son ? Glo. What! and give up all to this Brown, or Bertram-this infernal heir-male, that's come back? Never! Meg. Bear witness, heaven and earth! They have confessed the past deed, and proclaimed their present purpose. [She throws a little flax, dipped in spirits of wine, on the fire, which blazes up-at this signal Henry Bertram rushes upon Glossin-Dandie Dinmont upon Dirk Hatternick, and mast-rs his swordHatteraick suddenly fires a pistol at Meg, who falls, with a loud scream, into the arms of Dinmont-he then rushes up to the entrance of the cavern, he is met by COLONEL MANNERING and Soldiers, who instantly secure him and Glossin-Servants follow with lights. Col. (To the Soldiers.) Carry off these villains! we have heard their own tongues seal their guilt. Justice shall do the rest. (Exeunt Soldiers with Glos sin and Hatteraick, through the passage.) And look to this unfortunate woman. Hasten, some one, for proper assistance. Meg. Heed me not-I knew it would be this way, and it hath ended as it ought-Bear me up-let me but see my master's son, let me but behold Henry Bertram, and bear witness to him, and the gipsy vagrant has nothing more to do with life. Dominie, (Without.) This way, Miss Lucy-this way! Where-where is little Harry Bertram? I must behold the infant, the dear child! Enter DOMINIE SAMPSON at the passage, followed by LUCY, JULIA, aud Country People, who range at the back-Dominie rushes forward impatiently. Dom. (Gazing on Bertram.) Beatissime! It is his father alive! It is, indeed, Harry, little Harry Bertram-look at me, my child! do you not remember me, Abel Sampson? Ber. A light breaks in upon me-Yes, that was, indeed, my name, and that-that is the voice and figure of my kind old master. Dom. Miss Lucy Bertram, look!-lo! behold!is he not your father's image? Embrace him, and let fall your tears upon a brother's cheek. Lucy. My brother! my long lost brother restored to his rights! Welcome !-oh! welcome to a sister's love! Meg. (Suddenly raising herself.) Hear ye that! He's owned! he's owned!-There's a living witness, and here here is one, who will soon speak no more. Hear her last words! There stands Harry Ber. tram-Shout! shout! and acknowledge him Lord of Ellangowan! (The people shout.) My ears grow dull-stand from the light, and let me gaze upon him-no, the darkness is my own eyes. (Sinks into the arms of Dinmont. Col. Come hither, some of you-bear her to Woodburne House-let all care be taken of hersupport and bear her gently away, she may yet recover. [Exit Dinmont and Attendants, bearing off Meg.] And now, Mr. Bertram, I hope no misunderstanding will prevent your accepting what I most sincerely offer, my friendship and congratulations, upon your restoration to birth and fortune. Ber. Colonel Mannering, I accept them most gladly; and if I am not deceived, the wishes of both our hearts may make us not only friends, but brothers. What say you, sister, am I right? Julia. Oh, she can't speak, so I will. Give Miss Bertram your arm, brother, and here, Henry, is mine; and now, let us go in before we talk more upon the subject. Re-enter DANLIE DINMONT. Ber. My hearty friend and brave defender, come! we cannot part with you yet. Din. I beg pardon of your honour, and these young ladies; but I haven't got my Sunday's suit on, and this coat is rather the worse for the two or three tussles we have had to-day. Ber. And can that be an objection to him, in whose cause it suffered? You may thank Mr. Dinmont's courage, ladies, for my life and safety. Lucy. Thank him! aye, that we do, and bless him for it. Din. Eh! and heaven bless you, my bonnie lass, wi' all my heart. (He kisses Lucy, who, alarmed at his boldness, runs back confused. Dom. Prodigious! Din. Lord's sake forgive me! I ask your pardon, I am sure; I forgot but ye'd been a bairn of my own. The captain here's so homely like! he just makes one forget one's self-and I'm so overjoyed like, at his good fortune Dom. So are we all; (Advancing to the Audience.) and if the heir of Ellangowan be welcomed here too, our joy will be-Prodigious!!! FINALE AND CHORUS. Julia. Oh! let your hands assure the youth, Unless he's welcomed here. For there's nae luck about the house, There's little pleasure in this house, Chorus. For there's nae luck, &c. If you deny him your support, |