No More Learning

HERBERT I am weak! --
My Daughter does not know how weak I am;
And, as thou see'st, under the arch of heaven
Here do I stand, alone, to helplessness,
By the good God, our common Father, doomed! --
But I had once a spirit and an arm--


MARMADUKE Now, for a word about your Barony:
I fancy when you left the Holy Land,
And came to--what's your title--eh? your claims
Were undisputed!

HERBERT Like a mendicant,
Whom no one comes to meet, I stood alone;--
I murmured--but, remembering Him who feeds
The pelican and ostrich of the desert,
From my own threshold I looked up to Heaven
And did not want glimmerings of quiet hope.
So, from the court I passed, and down the brook,
Led by its murmur, to the ancient oak
I came; and when I felt its cooling shade,
I sate me down, and cannot but believe--
While in my lap I held my little Babe
And clasped her to my heart, my heart that ached
More with delight than grief--I heard a voice
Such as by Cherith on Elijah called;
It said, "I will be with thee. " A little boy,
A shepherd-lad, ere yet my trance was gone,
Hailed us as if he had been sent from heaven,
And said, with tears, that he would be our guide:
I had a better guide--that innocent Babe--
Her, who hath saved me, to this hour, from harm,
From cold, from hunger, penury, and death;
To whom I owe the best of all the good
I have, or wish for, upon earth--and more
And higher far than lies within earth's bounds:
Therefore I bless her: when I think of Man,
I bless her with sad spirit,--when of God,
I bless her in the fulness of my joy!


MARMADUKE The name of daughter in his mouth, he prays!
With nerves so steady, that the very flies
Sit unmolested on his staff. --Innocent! --
If he were innocent--then he would tremble
And be disturbed, as I am.
(Turning aside. ) I have read
In Story, what men now alive have witnessed,
How, when the People's mind was racked with doubt,
Appeal was made to the great Judge: the Accused
With naked feet walked over burning ploughshares.
Here is a Man by Nature's hand prepared
For a like trial, but more merciful.
Why else have I been led to this bleak Waste?
Bare is it, without house or track, and destitute
Of obvious shelter, as a shipless sea.
Here will I leave him--here--All-seeing God!
Such as _he_ is, and sore perplexed as I am,
I will commit him to this final _Ordeal! _--
He heard a voice--a shepherd-lad came to him
And was his guide; if once, why not again,
And in this desert? If never--then the whole
Of what he says, and looks, and does, and is,
Makes up one damning falsehood. Leave him here
To cold and hunger! --Pain is of the heart,
And what are a few throes of bodily suffering
If they can waken one pang of remorse?
[Goes up to HERBERT. ]
Old Man! my wrath is as a flame burnt out,
It cannot be rekindled. Thou art here
Led by my hand to save thee from perdition:
Thou wilt have time to breathe and think--


HERBERT Oh, Mercy!


MARMADUKE I know the need that all men have of mercy,
And therefore leave thee to a righteous judgment.


HERBERT My Child, my blessed Child!

MARMADUKE No more of that;
Thou wilt have many guides if thou art innocent;
Yea, from the utmost corners of the earth,
That Woman will come o'er this Waste to save thee.
[He pauses and looks at HERBERT'S staff. ]
Ha!