SEVERAL OF THE BAND (confusedly) But
patience!
William Wordsworth
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! what is here? and carved by her own hand!
[Reads upon the staff. ]
"I am eyes to the blind, saith the Lord.
He that puts his trust in me shall not fail! "
Yes, be it so;--repent and be forgiven--
God and that staff are now thy only guides.
[He leaves HERBERT on the Moor. ]
SCENE--An eminence, a Beacon on the summit
LACY, WALLACE, LENNOX, etc. etc.
SEVERAL OF THE BAND (confusedly) But patience!
ONE OF THE BAND Curses on that Traitor, Oswald! --
Our Captain made a prey to foul device! --
LENNOX (to WALLACE)
His tool, the wandering Beggar, made last night
A plain confession, such as leaves no doubt,
Knowing what otherwise we know too well,
That she revealed the truth. Stand by me now;
For rather would I have a nest of vipers
Between my breast-plate and my skin, than make
Oswald my special enemy, if you
Deny me your support.
LACY We have been fooled--
But for the motive?
WALLACE Natures such as his
Spin motives out of their own bowels, Lacy!
I learn'd this when I was a Confessor.
I know him well; there needs no other motive
Than that most strange incontinence in crime
Which haunts this Oswald. Power is life to him
And breath and being; where he cannot govern,
He will destroy.
LACY To have been trapped like moles! --
Yes, you are right, we need not hunt for motives:
There is no crime from which this man would shrink;
He recks not human law; and I have noticed
That often when the name of God is uttered,
A sudden blankness overspreads his face.
LENNOX Yet, reasoner as he is, his pride has built
Some uncouth superstition of its own.
WALLACE I have seen traces of it.
LENNOX Once he headed
A band of Pirates in the Norway seas;
And when the King of Denmark summoned him
To the oath of fealty, I well remember,
'Twas a strange answer that he made; he said,
"I hold of Spirits, and the Sun in heaven. "
LACY
He is no madman.
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! what is here? and carved by her own hand!
[Reads upon the staff. ]
"I am eyes to the blind, saith the Lord.
He that puts his trust in me shall not fail! "
Yes, be it so;--repent and be forgiven--
God and that staff are now thy only guides.
[He leaves HERBERT on the Moor. ]
SCENE--An eminence, a Beacon on the summit
LACY, WALLACE, LENNOX, etc. etc.
SEVERAL OF THE BAND (confusedly) But patience!
ONE OF THE BAND Curses on that Traitor, Oswald! --
Our Captain made a prey to foul device! --
LENNOX (to WALLACE)
His tool, the wandering Beggar, made last night
A plain confession, such as leaves no doubt,
Knowing what otherwise we know too well,
That she revealed the truth. Stand by me now;
For rather would I have a nest of vipers
Between my breast-plate and my skin, than make
Oswald my special enemy, if you
Deny me your support.
LACY We have been fooled--
But for the motive?
WALLACE Natures such as his
Spin motives out of their own bowels, Lacy!
I learn'd this when I was a Confessor.
I know him well; there needs no other motive
Than that most strange incontinence in crime
Which haunts this Oswald. Power is life to him
And breath and being; where he cannot govern,
He will destroy.
LACY To have been trapped like moles! --
Yes, you are right, we need not hunt for motives:
There is no crime from which this man would shrink;
He recks not human law; and I have noticed
That often when the name of God is uttered,
A sudden blankness overspreads his face.
LENNOX Yet, reasoner as he is, his pride has built
Some uncouth superstition of its own.
WALLACE I have seen traces of it.
LENNOX Once he headed
A band of Pirates in the Norway seas;
And when the King of Denmark summoned him
To the oath of fealty, I well remember,
'Twas a strange answer that he made; he said,
"I hold of Spirits, and the Sun in heaven. "
LACY
He is no madman.
