No More Learning

OSWALD Troth, I begin to think so.


MARMADUKE Now for the corner-stone of my philosophy:
I would not give a denier for the man
Who, on such provocation as this earth
Yields, could not chuck his babe beneath the chin,
And send it with a fillip to its grave.


OSWALD Nay, you leave me behind.


MARMADUKE That such a One,
So pious in demeanour! in his look
So saintly and so pure! --Hark'ee, my Friend,
I'll plant myself before Lord Clifford's Castle,
A surly mastiff kennels at the gate,
And he shall howl and I will laugh, a medley
Most tunable.

OSWALD In faith, a pleasant scheme;
But take your sword along with you, for that
Might in such neighbourhood find seemly use. --
But first, how wash our hands of this old Man?


MARMADUKE Oh yes, that mole, that viper in the path;
Plague on my memory, him I had forgotten.


OSWALD You know we left him sitting--see him yonder.


MARMADUKE Ha! ha! --


OSWALD As 'twill be but a moment's work,
I will stroll on; you follow when 'tis done.


[Exeunt. ]


SCENE changes to another part of the Moor at a short distance--HERBERT
is discovered seated on a stone


HERBERT A sound of laughter, too!
--'tis well--I feared,
The Stranger had some pitiable sorrow
Pressing upon his solitary heart.
Hush! --'tis the feeble and earth-loving wind
That creeps along the bells of the crisp heather.
Alas! 'tis cold--I shiver in the sunshine--
What can this mean? There is a psalm that speaks
Of God's parental mercies--with Idonea
I used to sing it. --Listen! --what foot is there?


[Enter MARMADUKE]


MARMADUKE (aside--looking at HERBERT)
And I have loved this Man! and _she_ hath loved him!
And I loved her, and she loves the Lord Clifford!
And there it ends;--if this be not enough
To make mankind merry for evermore,
Then plain it is as day, that eyes were made
For a wise purpose--verily to weep with!
[Looking round. ]
A pretty prospect this, a masterpiece
Of Nature, finished with most curious skill!
(To HERBERT. ) Good Baron, have you ever practised tillage?