OSWALD I
interrupt
you?
Wordsworth - 1
--
I have no cases by me ready made
To fit all deeds. Carry him to the Camp! --
A shallow project;--you of late have seen
More deeply, taught us that the institutes
Of Nature, by a cunning usurpation
Banished from human intercourse, exist
Only in our relations to the brutes
That make the fields their dwelling. If a snake
Crawl from beneath our feet we do not ask
A license to destroy him: our good governors
Hedge in the life of every pest and plague
That bears the shape of man; and for what purpose,
But to protect themselves from extirpation? --
This flimsy barrier you have overleaped.
MARMADUKE My Office is fulfilled--the Man is now
Delivered to the Judge of all things.
OSWALD
Dead!
MARMADUKE I have borne my burthen to its destined end.
OSWALD This instant we'll return to our Companions--
Oh how I long to see their faces again!
[Enter IDONEA with Pilgrims who continue their journey. ]
IDONEA (after some time)
What, Marmaduke! now thou art mine for ever.
And Oswald, too!
(To MARMADUKE. ) On will we to my Father
With the glad tidings which this day hath brought;
We'll go together, and, such proof received
Of his own rights restored, his gratitude
To God above will make him feel for ours.
OSWALD I interrupt you?
IDONEA Think not so.
MARMADUKE Idonea,
That I should ever live to see this moment!
IDONEA Forgive me. --Oswald knows it all--he knows,
Each word of that unhappy letter fell
As a blood drop from my heart.
OSWALD 'Twas even so.
MARMADUKE I have much to say, but for whose ear? --not thine.
IDONEA Ill can I bear that look--Plead for me, Oswald!
You are my Father's Friend.
(To MARMADUKE. ) Alas, you know not,
And never _can_ you know, how much he loved me.
Twice had he been to me a father, twice
Had given me breath, and was I not to be
His daughter, once his daughter? could I withstand
His pleading face, and feel his clasping arms,
And hear his prayer that I would not forsake him
In his old age--
[Hides her face. ]
MARMADUKE Patience--Heaven grant me patience! --
She weeps, she weeps--_my_ brain shall burn for hours
Ere _I_ can shed a tear.
I have no cases by me ready made
To fit all deeds. Carry him to the Camp! --
A shallow project;--you of late have seen
More deeply, taught us that the institutes
Of Nature, by a cunning usurpation
Banished from human intercourse, exist
Only in our relations to the brutes
That make the fields their dwelling. If a snake
Crawl from beneath our feet we do not ask
A license to destroy him: our good governors
Hedge in the life of every pest and plague
That bears the shape of man; and for what purpose,
But to protect themselves from extirpation? --
This flimsy barrier you have overleaped.
MARMADUKE My Office is fulfilled--the Man is now
Delivered to the Judge of all things.
OSWALD
Dead!
MARMADUKE I have borne my burthen to its destined end.
OSWALD This instant we'll return to our Companions--
Oh how I long to see their faces again!
[Enter IDONEA with Pilgrims who continue their journey. ]
IDONEA (after some time)
What, Marmaduke! now thou art mine for ever.
And Oswald, too!
(To MARMADUKE. ) On will we to my Father
With the glad tidings which this day hath brought;
We'll go together, and, such proof received
Of his own rights restored, his gratitude
To God above will make him feel for ours.
OSWALD I interrupt you?
IDONEA Think not so.
MARMADUKE Idonea,
That I should ever live to see this moment!
IDONEA Forgive me. --Oswald knows it all--he knows,
Each word of that unhappy letter fell
As a blood drop from my heart.
OSWALD 'Twas even so.
MARMADUKE I have much to say, but for whose ear? --not thine.
IDONEA Ill can I bear that look--Plead for me, Oswald!
You are my Father's Friend.
(To MARMADUKE. ) Alas, you know not,
And never _can_ you know, how much he loved me.
Twice had he been to me a father, twice
Had given me breath, and was I not to be
His daughter, once his daughter? could I withstand
His pleading face, and feel his clasping arms,
And hear his prayer that I would not forsake him
In his old age--
[Hides her face. ]
MARMADUKE Patience--Heaven grant me patience! --
She weeps, she weeps--_my_ brain shall burn for hours
Ere _I_ can shed a tear.
