(To OSWALD.) Or has sheer terror made him such a figure? Osw. There is a sort of wavering tradition Of a malicious imp who teazed all strangers; My father wont to call him Owlspiegle. GUL. Who talks of Owlspiegle? He is an honest fellow for a devil, So is his son, the hopeful Cockle'moy. (Sings.) My hope, my joy, My Cockledemoy! Keeps sword and musket by him, so I had My little Hebrew manual prompt for service. FLO. Sausagian sous'd-face-that much of your Hebrew Even I can bear in memory. GUL. We 'counter'd, The goblin and myself, even in midchamber, And each stepp'd back a pace, as 'twere to study The foe he had to deal with! I bethought me, Ghosts ne'er have the first word, and so I took it, LEON. The fool's bewitch'd; the And fired a volley of round Greek at goblin hath furnish'd him A cap which well befits his reverend wisdom. him. He stood his ground, and answer'd in the Syriac ; FLO. If I could think he had lost I flank'd my Greek with Hebrew, and his slender wits, I should be sorry for the trick they compell'd him- [A noise heard. Osw. Peace, idle prater! Harkwhat sounds are these? play'd him. LEON. O fear him not; it were a foul Amid the growling of the storm withreflection On any fiend of sense and repu- I hear strange notes of music, and tation the clash out To filch such petty wares as his poor Of coursers' trampling feet. DUR. What saw'st thou, sir? VOICES (without). We come, dark riders of the night, GUL. What was 't I saw and heard? And flit before the dawning light; That which old greybeards, Hill and valley, far aloof, Who conjure Hebrew into Anglo- Shake to hear our chargers' hoof; Saxon To cheat starved barons with, can little guess at. FLO. If he begin so roundly with my father His madness is not like to save his bones. GUL. Sirs, midnight came, and with it came the goblin. I had reposed me after some brief study; But as the soldier sleeping in the trench But not a foot-stamp on the green At morn shall show where we have been. Osw. These must be revellers belated. Let them pass on; the ruin'd halls of Devorgoil Open to no such guests. [Flourish of trumpets at a distance, then nearer. They sound a summons; [He advances, and places himself where the Armour hung, so as to be nearly in the centre of the scene. DUR. Whoe'er thou art, if thou dost know so much, Needs must thou know Osw. Peace! I will answer here; to me he spoke. Mysterious stranger, briefly I reply: A peasant's dress befits a peasant's fortune; And 'twere vain mockery to array these walls In trophies, of whose memory nought remains, Save that the cruelty outvied the valour Of those who wore them. PAL. Degenerate as thou art, Know'st thou to whom thou say'st this? [He drops his mantle, and is discovered armed as nearly as may be to the suit which hung on the wall; all express terror. Osw. It is himself-the spirit of mine Ancestor! ERI. Tremble not, son. but hear me! [He strikes the wall; it opens, and discovers the Treasure-Chamber. There lies piled The wealth I brought from wasted Cumberland, Enough to reinstate thy ruin'd for tunes. Cast from thine high-born brows that peasant bonnet, Throw from thy noble grasp the peasant's staff'; O'er all, withdraw thine hand from that mean mate Whom in an hour of reckless des peration Thy fortunes cast thee on. This do, And be as great as ere was Devorgoil When Devorgoil was richest! DUR. Lord Oswald, thou art tempted by a fiend, Who doth assail thee on thy weakest side, Thy pride of lineage, and thy love of grandeur. Stand fast, resist, contemn his fatal offers! ELE. Urge him not, father; if the sacrifice Of such a wasted woe-worn wretch as I am Can save him from the abyss of misery, Upon whose verge he 's tottering, let me wander An unacknowledged outcast from his castle, Even to the humble cottage I was born in. Osw. No, Ellen, no! It is not thus they part Whose hearts and souls, disasters borne in common Have knit together, close as summer saplings Are twined in union by the eddying tempest. Spirit of Erick, while thou bear'st his shape I'll answer with no ruder conjuration Thy impious counsel other than with these words Depart, and tempt me not! ERI. Then fate will have her course. Yield them the tempting view of these rich treasures, But bar them from possession! [A portcullis falls before the door of the Treasure-Chamber. Mortals, hear! No hand may ope that grate except the Heir Of plunder'd Aglionby, whose mighty wealth, Ravish'd in evil hour, lies yonder piled; And not his hand prevails without the key Of Black Lord Erick ; brief space is given To save proud Devorgoil. So wills high Heaven. [Thunder; he disappears. DUR. Gaze not so wildly; you have stood the trial That his commission bore, and Heaven designs, If I may spell his will, to rescue Devorgoil Even by the Heir of Aglionby. Behold Depends the fearful spell that now entraps us. The key of Black Lord Erick-cre we find it The castle will be whelm'd beneath the waves, And we shall perish in it! KAT. giving the key). Here, prove this; A chance most strange and fearful gave it me. [OSWALD puts it into the lock, and FLO. The lake still rises faster. Canst thou not save us? [LEONARD tries the lock; it opens with a violent noise, and the JOHN MURE OF AUCHINDRANE, an Ayrshire Baron. He has been a follower of the Regent, Earl of Morton, during the Civil Wars, and hides an oppressive, ferocious, and unscrupulous disposi tion under some pretences to strictness of life and doctrine, which, however, never influence his conduct. He is in danger from the law, owing to his having been formerly active in the assassination of the Earl of Cassilis. PHILIP MURE, his son, a wild, debauched profligate, professing and practising a contempt for his father's hypocrisy, while he is as fierce and licentious as Auchindrane himself. GIFFORD, their relation, a Courtier. QUENTIN BLANE, a youth, educated for a Clergyman, but sent by AUCHINDRANE to serve in a Band of Auxiliaries in the Wars of the Netherlands, and lately employed as Clerk or Comptroller to the Regiment-disbanded, however, and on his return to his native country. He is of a mild, gentle, and rather feeble character, liable to be influenced by any person of stronger mind who will take the trouble to direct him. He is somewhat of a nervous temperament, varying from sadness to gaiety, accord |