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This hand—dare I take hold of it ? This hand

Tell (firmly) : Has shielded you and set my country free. Freely I raise it in the face of Heaven!— Who is this friar here?

Hedwig: Ah, I forgot him;

Speak thou with him; I shudder at his presence.

Tell (examining him closely): You are no monk.

Who are you ? Monk: You have slain

The governor who did you wrong. I, too, Have slain a foe who robbed me of my rights. He was no less your enemy than mine.

Tell (drawing back) : You are—oh, horror! Go, go, my dear wife!

In, children, in! Unhappy man, you are

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Fricdrich von Schiller

Hedwig : Alas! what is it ? Come!

[Exit with the children.

Tell : You are the Duke

Of Austria—I know it. You have slain The emperor, your uncle and liege lord; Slain him—your king, your uncle! And the earth Still bears you! And the sun still shines on you!

Johannes : I hoped to find compassion at your hands. You took, like me, revenge upon your foe!

Tell : Unhappy man ! Dare you confound the crime Of blood-imbued ambition with the act Forced on a father in mere self-defence? I have no part with you. You murdered, I Have shielded all that was most dear to me. Hence, on the dread career you have begun! Cease to pollute the home of innocence!

[Johannes turns to depart. And yet my soul bleeds for you. Gracious Heaven, So young, of such a noble line—an outcast!

[Covers his face.

Johannes : If you have pity or a human heart

[Falls dozen before him.

Tell : Stand up, stand up, I say!

Johannes : Not till you give

Your hand in promise of assistance to me.

Tell : Can I assist you ? Can a sinful man ? Yet get you up—how black soe'er your crime— You are a man. I, too, am one. From Tell Shall no one part uncomforted. I will Do all that lies within my power. Hear, then! You must to Italy—to Saint Peter's city— There cast yourself at the pope's feet—confess Your juilt to him, and ease your laden soul!

Johannes : Will he not to th' avengers yield me up ?

Telclass="underline" Whate'er he does, accept it as from God. [Alp horns and many voices are heard in the distance. But I hear voices! Hence!

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Hedwig {hurrying in) : Where art thou, Tell? My father comes, and in exulting bands All the confederates approach.

Johannes {covering himself) : Woe's me!

I dare not tarry 'mong these happy men!

Tell : Go, dearest wife, and give this man to eat; And when he quits you turn your eyes away, .So that you do not see which way he goes. [Exeunt Johannes and Hedwig. The whole stage fills rapidly with peasants led by Stauffacher.

All : Long live brave Tell, our shield, our saviour!

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SIR WALTER SCOTT

Marmion

Canto I

In the reign of King Henry VIII, Lord Marmion of Fontenaye and Lutterward, an English knight of noble blood and of great prowess and possessions, carried off from her convent Constance de Beverley, a professed Benedictine nun of good family, and afterwards kept her about his person in the character and disguise of a page. But at the end of three years he fell in love with a beautiful heiress, Clara de Clare, who had given her heart to Ralph de Wilton, a valiant young knight living near her. Refused by Clara, Marmion set to work to rid himself of his rival; and, having persuaded Constance to put a packet of forged letters importing treasonable practices into a collection of documents preserved by de Wilton, accused him of these crimes before the king, alleging that he was in league with Marten Swart, who had come over to England to assist the cause of the pretender, Lambert Simnel.

Put on his trial, de Wilton freely admitted that he had known Swart in Guelders, and had corresponded with him, and, to prove the innocent nature of this correspondence, he sent to his castle for it. Greatly to his surprise and horror, it was found

" Marmion, a Tale of Flodden Field," is something more than a romantic story; it is an accurate and solid picture of a historical period. It was begun in November, 1806, and, according to Scott himself, was composed as a relief to " graver cares." Its popularity was amazing, exceeding even that of the " Lay of the Last Minstrel." " ' Marmion,' " says one biographer, " took possession of the public like a kind of madness; the verses not only clung to the memory, but they would not keep off the tongue; people could not help shouting them in solitary places and muttering them as they walked about the streets." In common with most of his works, Scott bestowed extraordinary care upon the composition of the poem. Some of it, especially the battle, was actually composed while he was galloping on his charger over Portobello sands during his volunteer exercises. " Marmion" was published in February, 1808, Scott (see Vol. VII, p. 241) accepting the sum of one thousand guineas for his rights. The numbering of the cantos in this and in the following poem are not the same as in the originals.

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to contain the incriminating letters which Constance had forged and foisted into it. In these circumstances, it was settled that the guilt or innocence of de Wilton should be referred to the judgment of God, and decided by single combat between the two parties at Cottiswold. In this contest the treacherous Marmion was successful, and the innocent de Wilton was supposed to die of his wounds. Clara, in the meantime, full of grief for her lover's fate and of horror at Marmion's continued overtures, took refuge in the Benedictine Abbey of St. Hilda at Whitby, with the ultimate intention of taking the veil. But she failed to reckon with the jealousy of Constance, who, having assisted the perfidious scheme for promoting Marmion's marriage with her rival merely for the sake of possessing herself of a secret which gave her power over his life, now resolved, with the assistance of a wicked monk, to destroy Clara by poison.