That they have strewn along thy humble path,
Delights unblamed; and in this hour I seem
Even as I had lived so; and I feel

That I shall live in thee, unless that curse-
Oh, if it should survive me!

The gods have shed such sweetness in this moment,
That, howsoe'er they deal with me hereafter,

I shall not deem them angry.

Let me call

For help to staunch thy wound; thou art strong yet,
And yet may live to bless me.

Adras.

Do not stir;

My strength is ebbing fast; yet, as it leaves me,
The spirit of thy stainless days of love
Awakens; and their images of joy,

Which at thy voice, started from blank oblivion,
When thou wert strange to me, and then half shown,
Looked sadly through the mist of guilty years,

Now glimmer on me in the lovely light,

Which at thy age they wore. Thou art all thy mother's, Her elements of gentlest virtue cast

In mould heroical.

Ion.

Thy speech grows fainter;

Yes:-my son,

Can I do nothing for thee?

Adras.

Thou art the best, the bravest, of a race

Of rightful monarchs; thou must mount the throne
Thy ancestors have filled, and by great deeds,

Efface the memory of thy fated sire,

And win the blessings of the gods for men

Stricken for him. Swear to me thou wilt do this,
And I shall die forgiven.

Ion. I will.

Adras.

Rejoice,

Sufferers of Argos! I am growing weak,
And my eyes dazzle: let me rest my hands,
Ere they have lost their feeling, on thy head.-
So! so!-thy hair is glossy to the touch,
As when I last enwreathed its tiny curl
About my finger; I did imagine then,
Thy reign excelling mine; it is fulfilled,

And I die happy. Bless thee, King of Argos! (Dies.)
Ion. He's dead! and I am fatherless again.-

King, did he hail me? Shall I make that word
A spell to bid old happiness awake

Throughout the lovely land that father'd me
In my forsaken childhood?

(He sees the knife on the ground, and picks it up.)

The voice of joy!

Is this thy funeral wailing? Oh, my father!

Mournful and brief will be the heritage

Thou leavest me; yet I promised thee in death,

To grasp it ;-and I will embrace it now.

(Enter Agenor, and others.)

Agenor. Does the king live?

Ion. Alas! in me.

The son

Of him whose princely spirit is at rest,

Claims his ancestral honors.

Age. That high thought

That anticipates the prayer of Argos, roused
To sudden joy. The sages wait without,
To greet thee: wilt confer with them to-night,
Or wait the morning?

Ion.

Now-the city's state

Allows the past no sorrow.

XXXVI.-FROM WILLIAM TELL.-Knowles.

GESLER-SARNEM-RODOLPH-GERARD-LUTOLD-SENTINELTELL-VERNER-ERNI-MELCTAL-FURST-MICHAEL-THEODORE-PIERRE-ALBERT-SAVOYARDS-EMMA-SOLDIERS-

PEOPLE.

Scene 1.-The outside of the Castle of Altorf. Gesler's Archers, escorting some peasants, prisoners.

(Enter Tell and Michael, at a distance.)

Tell. Do you know them?

Michael. No.

Tell. Nor I, thank heaven? How like you that?

Mic. It might.

Tell. Do you live in Altorf?

Mic. Yes.

Tell. How go they on

In Altorf?

Mic. As you see.

What was a sight

A month ago, hath not the wonder now

To draw them 'cross the threshold !

Tell. Would you like

Mic. What wouldst thou say to me?

Tell. No matter, friend.

Something so slight, that in the thinking on't
'Twas gone. The field of Grutli, Tell!-the hour's
At hand. The spirits are expecting thee
Shall bring thy country back the times again
She'd wonder this to see! (Going.)

Mic. Stay, friend, a word.

If of my mind thou haply art, and thinkest

When fortune will not make us theme of mirth,
Ourselves may take the task in hand-

Tell. For what?

Good day!

Mic. Acquaintance briefly broke as made!

Scene 2.-The Field of Grutli.

(Enter Tell, with a long bow.)

Tell. Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again! I hold to you the hands you-first beheld,

To show they still are free.

O sacred forms, how proud you look!

How high you lift your heads into the sky!

How huge you are! how mighty and how free!

Ye guards of liberty,

I'm with you once again!-I call to you

With all my voice! I rush to you,

As though I could embrace you!

Erni. (Without.) William! William!
Tell. (Looks out.) Here, Erni, here!

(Enter Erni.)

Erni. Thou'rt sure to keep the time,

That comest before the hour.

Tell. The hour, my friend,

Will soon be here. O, when will liberty
Be here? My Erni, that's my thought.
Scaling yonder peak,

I saw an eagle wheeling near its brow:
O'er the abyss, his broad expanded wings
Lay calm and motionless upon the air.
Instinctively I bent my bow; he heeded not

The death that threatened him. I could not shoot-
'Twas liberty. I turned my bow aside,

And let him soar away.

Verner. (Without.) Tell! Tell!

(Enter Verner.)

Tell. (Crosses to him.) Here, Verner!
Furst. (Without.) Tell!

(Enter Furst.)

Tell. Here, friends!Well met.-Do we go on?

Ver. We do.

Tell. Then you can count upon the friends you named? Ver. On every man of them.

Furst. And I on mine.

Erni. Not one I sounded, but doth rate his blood

As water, in the cause! Then fix the day

Before we part.

Ver. No, Erni; rather wait

For some new outrage to amaze and rouse

The common mind, which does not brood so much
On wrongs gone by, as it doth quiver with

The sense of present ones.

Tell. (To Verner.) I wish with Erni,

But I think with thee. Yet, when I ask myself,

On whom the wrong shall light, for which we wait

Whose vineyard they'll uproot-whose flocks they'll ravaogWhose threshold they'll profane-whose earth pollute

Whose roof they'll fire?-When this I ask myself,

And think upon the blood of pious sons,

The tears of venerable fathers, and

The shrieks of mothers, fluttering round their spoiled
And nestless young-I almost take the part

Of generous indignation, that doth blush

At such expense to wait on sober prudence.
Furst. Yet it is best.

Tell. On that, we're all agreed!

Who fears the issue, when the day shall come?

To mar this harmony.-You commit to me
The warning of the rest. Remember, then,
My dagger sent to any one of you--

As time may press-is word enough.-Dear Erni,
Remember me to Melctal. (Crosses.) Furst, provide
What store you can of arms. Do you the same.

(To Erni and Verner.)

The next aggression of the tyrant is
The downfall of his power!-Remember me
To Melctal, Erni-to my father. Tell him
He has a son was never born to him!

Farewell!-When next we meet upon this theme,
All Switzerland shall witness what we do.

(Exeunt.)

Scene 3.-Tell's Cottage, with mountain and lake scenery.

Emma.

(Enter Emma.)

O, the fresh morning! Heaven's kind messenger, That never empty-handed comes to those

Who know to use its gifts.-Praise be to Him

Who loads it still, and bids it constant run

The errand of his bounty.-Praise be to Him! (Enter Albert.)

Albert. My mother!

Emma. Albert! Bless thee !

How early were you up?

Alb. Before the sun.

Emma. Ay, strive with him. He never lies abed

When it is time to rise. Be like the sun.

Alb. What you would have me like, I'll be like,

As far as will, to labor joined, can make me.

Emma. Well said, my boy! Knelt you, when you got up

To-day?

Alb. I did; and do so every day.

Emma. I know you

do!

And think you, when you kneel,

To whom you kneel?

Alb. To Him who made me, mother.
Emma. And in whose name?