HAMPDEN, PYM, CROMWELL, his Daughter, and young SIR HARRY VANE. HAMPDEN England, farewell! Thou, who hast been my cradle, Shalt never be my dungeon or my grave! I held what I inherited in thee As pawn for that inheritance of freedom Which thou hast sold for thy despoiler's smile. How can I call thee England, or my country? Does the wind hold? VANE The vanes sit steady Upon the Abbey towers. The silver lightnings Of the evening star, spite of the city's smoke, Tell that the north wind reigns in the upper air. Mark too that fleet of fleecy-winged clouds Sailing athwart St. Margaret's. HAMPDEN Hail, fleet herald Of tempest! that rude pilot who shall guide Beyond the webs of that swoln spider Beyond the curses, calumnies, and [lies ?] Of atheist priests! And thou Fair star, whose beam lies on the wide Atlantic, Athwart its zones of tempest and of calm, 11 fleet, Rossetti || flock, Mrs. Shelley, 1824. Oh, light us to the isles of the evening land! Where power's poor dupes and victims yet have never Propitiated the savage fear of kings With purest blood of noblest hearts; whose dew Receive, thou young of Paradise, These exiles from the old and sinful world! This glorious clime, this firmament, whose lights Becomes a cell too narrow for the soul 25 Tinged, Mrs. Shelley, 1824. 34 Towards the worm, Mrs. Shelley, 1824. 46 boundless, Rossetti || mighty, Mrs. Shelley, 1824. That owns no master; while the loathliest ward Of cradling peace built on the mountain tops, Which range through heaven and earth, and scorn the storm Of time, and gaze upon the light of truth, Like eaglets floating in the heaven of time, SCENE V ARCHY I'll go live under the ivy that overgrows the terrace, and count the tears shed on its old [roots?] as the [wind?] plays the song of “A widow bird sate mourning (Sings) Heigho! the lark and the owl! One flies the morning, and one lulls the night; Only the nightingale, poor fond soul, Sings like the fool through darkness and light. 48 no, Mrs. Shelley, 1824 || a, Rossetti. ward, Rossetti || spot, Mrs. Shelley, 1824. 50 cradled, Mrs. Shelley, 1824. 54, 55: Return to brood over the [ ] thoughts 7 lulls flies, Forman conj. Mrs. Shelley, 1824. "A widow bird sate mourning for her love Upon a wintry bough ; The frozen wind crept on above, The freezing stream below. There was no leaf upon the forest bare, No flower upon the ground, And little motion in the air Except the mill-wheel's sound." FRAGMENTS OF AN UNFINISHED DRAMA [An Enchantress, living in one of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, saves the life of a Pirate, a man of savage but noble nature. She becomes enamoured of him; and he, inconstant to his mortal love, for a while returns her passion: but at length, recalling the memory of her whom he left, and who laments his loss, he escapes from the enchanted island, and returns to his lady. His mode of life makes him again go to sea, and the Enchantress seizes the opportunity to bring him, by a spirit-brewed tempest, back to her island.] Scene-Before the Cavern of the Indian Enchantress. The ENCHANTRESS comes forth. ENCHANTRESS He came like a dream in the dawn of life, And for my sake Make answer the while my heart shall break! But my heart has a music which Echo's lips, Though tender and true, yet can answer not, And the shadow that moves in the soul's eclipse Can return not the kiss by his now forgot; Fragments of an Unfinished Drama. Published, 1-69, 100-120, by Mrs. Shelley, 1824, 127-238, by Garnett (The Magic Plant), 1862, and the whole, revised and augmented, by Rossetti, 1870. Dated, 1821-22. |