Delphi Complete Works of William Wordsworth

by William Wordsworth

  In his grey hairs!—

  MAR. (to LACY). I love the Father in thee.

  You know me, Friends; I have a heart to feel,

  And I have felt, more than perhaps becomes me

  Or duty sanctions.

  LACY. We will have ample justice.

  Who are we, Friends? Do we not live on ground

  Where Souls are self-defended, free to grow

  Like mountain oaks rocked by the stormy wind.

  Mark the Almighty Wisdom, which decreed

  This monstrous crime to be laid open—’here’,

  Where Reason has an eye that she can use,

  And Men alone are Umpires. To the Camp

  He shall be led, and there, the Country round

  All gathered to the spot, in open day

  Shall Nature be avenged.

  OSW. ‘Tis nobly thought;

  His death will be a monument for ages.

  MAR. (to LACY). I thank you for that hint. He shall be brought

  Before the Camp, and would that best and wisest

  Of every country might be present. There,

  His crime shall be proclaimed; and for the rest

  It shall be done as Wisdom shall decide:

  Meanwhile, do you two hasten back and see

  That all is well prepared.

  WAL. We will obey you.

  (Aside.) But softly! we must look a little nearer.

  MAR. Tell where you found us. At some future time

  I will explain the cause. [Exeunt.

  ACT III.

  SCENE—The door of the Hostel, a group of Pilgrims as before;

  IDONEA and the Host among them.

  HOST. Lady, you’ll find your Father at the Convent

  As I have told you: He left us yesterday

  With two Companions; one of them, as seemed,

  His most familiar Friend. (Going.) There was a letter

  Of which I heard them speak, but that I fancy

  Has been forgotten.

  IDON. (to Host). Farewell!

  HOST. Gentle pilgrims,

  St. Cuthbert speed you on your holy errand.

  [Exeunt IDONEA and Pilgrims.

  SCENE—A desolate Moor.

  OSWALD (alone).

  OSW. Carry him to the Camp! Yes, to the Camp.

  Oh, Wisdom! a most wise resolve! and then,

  That half a word should blow it to the winds!

  This last device must end my work.—Methinks

  It were a pleasant pastime to construct

  A scale and table of belief—as thus—

  Two columns, one for passion, one for proof;

  Each rises as the other falls: and first,

  Passion a unit and ‘against’ us—proof—

  Nay, we must travel in another path,

  Or we’re stuck fast for ever;—passion, then,

  Shall be a unit ‘for’ us; proof—no, passion!

  We’ll not insult thy majesty by time,

  Person, and place—the where, the when, the how,

  And all particulars that dull brains require

  To constitute the spiritless shape of Fact,

  They bow to, calling the idol, Demonstration.

  A whipping to the Moralists who preach

  That misery is a sacred thing: for me,

  I know no cheaper engine to degrade a man,

  Nor any half so sure. This Stripling’s mind

  Is shaken till the dregs float on the surface;

  And, in the storm and anguish of the heart,

  He talks of a transition in his Soul,

  And dreams that he is happy. We dissect

  The senseless body, and why not the mind?—

  These are strange sights—the mind of man, upturned,

  Is in all natures a strange spectacle;

  In some a hideous one—hem! shall I stop?

  No.—Thoughts and feelings will sink deep, but then

  They have no substance. Pass but a few minutes,

  And something shall be done which Memory

  May touch, whene’er her Vassals are at work.

  Enter MARMADUKE, from behind.

  OSW. (turning to meet him). But listen, for my peace—

  MAR. Why, I ‘believe’ you.

  OSW. But hear the proofs—

  MAR. Ay, prove that when two peas

  Lie snugly in a pod, the pod must then

  Be larger than the peas—prove this—’twere matter

  Worthy the hearing. Fool was I to dream

  It ever could be otherwise!

  OSW. Last night

  When I returned with water from the brook,

  I overheard the Villains—every word

  Like red-hot iron burnt into my heart.

  Said one, “It is agreed on. The blind Man

  Shall feign a sudden illness, and the Girl,

  Who on her journey must proceed alone,

  Under pretence of violence, be seized.

  She is,” continued the detested Slave,

  “She is right willing—strange if she were not!—

  They say, Lord Clifford is a savage man;

  But, faith, to see him in his silken tunic,

  Fitting his low voice to the minstrel’s harp,

  There’s witchery in’t. I never knew a maid

  That could withstand it. True,” continued he,

  “When we arranged the affair, she wept a little

  (Not the less welcome to my Lord for that)

  And said, ‘My Father he will have it so.’“

  MAR. I am your hearer.

  OSW. This I caught, and more

  That may not be retold to any ear,

  The obstinate bolt of a small iron door

  Detained them near the gateway of the Castle.

  By a dim lantern’s light I saw that wreaths

  Of flowers were in their hands, as if designed

  For festive decoration; and they said,

  With brutal laughter and most foul allusion,

  That they should share the banquet with their Lord

  And his new Favourite.

  MAR. Misery!—

  OSW. I knew

  How you would be disturbed by this dire news,

  And therefore chose this solitary Moor,

  Here to impart the tale, of which, last night,

  I strove to ease my mind, when our two Comrades,

  Commissioned by the Band, burst in upon us.

  MAR. Last night, when moved to lift the avenging steel,

  I did believe all things were shadows—yea,

  Living or dead all things were bodiless,

  Or but the mutual mockeries of body,

  Till that same star summoned me back again.

  Now I could laugh till my ribs ached. Oh Fool!

  To let a creed, built in the heart of things,

  Dissolve before a twinkling atom!—Oswald,

  I could fetch lessons out of wiser schools

  Than you have entered, were it worth the pains.

  Young as I am, I might go forth a teacher,

  And you should see how deeply I could reason

  Of love in all its shapes, beginnings, ends;

  Of moral qualities in their diverse aspects;

  Of actions, and their laws and tendencies.

  OSW. You take it as it merits—

  MAR. One a King,

  General or Cham, Sultan or Emperor,

  Strews twenty acres of good meadow-ground

  With carcases, in lineament and shape

  And substance, nothing differing from his own,

  But that they cannot stand up of themselves

  Another sits i’ th’ sun, and by the hour

  Floats kingcups in the brook—a Hero one

  We call, and scorn the other as Time’s spendthrift;

  But have they not a world of common ground

  To occupy—both fools, or wise alike,

  Each in his way?

  OSW. Troth, I begin t
o think so.

  MAR. 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.

  OSW. Nay, you leave me behind.

  MAR. That such a One,

  So pious in demeanour! in his look

  So saintly and so pure!—Hark’e, 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.

  OSW. 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?

  MAR. Oh yes, that mole, that viper in the path;

  Plague on my memory, him I had forgotten.

  OSW. You know we left him sitting—see him yonder.

  MAR. Ha! ha!—

  OSW. 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.

  HER. 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.

  MAR. (aside—looking a 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?

  Pray tell me what this land is worth by the acre?

  HER. How glad I am to hear your voice! I know not

  Wherein I have offended you;—last night

  I found in you the kindest of Protectors;

  This morning, when I spoke of weariness,

  You from my shoulder took my scrip and threw it

  About your own; but for these two hours past

  Once only have you spoken, when the lark

  Whirred from among the fern beneath our feet,

  And I, no coward in my better days,

  Was almost terrified.

  MAR. That’s excellent!—

  So, you bethought you of the many ways

  In which a man may come to his end, whose crimes

  Have roused all Nature up against him—pshaw!—

  HER. For mercy’s sake, is nobody in sight?

  No traveller, peasant, herdsman?

  MAR. Not a soul:

  Here is a tree, ragged, and bent, and bare,

  That turns its goat’s-beard flakes of peagreen moss

  From the stern breathing of the rough seawind;

  This have we, but no other company:

  Commend me to the place. If a man should die

  And leave his body here, it were all one

  As he were twenty fathoms underground.

  HER. Where is our common Friend?

  MAR. A ghost, methinks—

  The Spirit of a murdered man, for instance—

  Might have fine room to ramble about here,

  A grand domain to squeak and gibber in.

  HER. Lost Man! if thou have any close-pent guilt

  Pressing upon thy heart, and this the hour

  Of visitation—

  MAR. A bold word from ‘you’!

  HER. Restore him, Heaven!

  MAR. The desperate Wretch!—A Flower,

  Fairest of all flowers, was she once, but now

  They have snapped her from the stem—Poh! let her lie

  Besoiled with mire, and let the houseless snail

  Feed on her leaves. You knew her well—ay, there,

  Old Man! you were a very Lynx, you knew

  The worm was in her—

  HER. Mercy! Sir, what mean you?

  MAR. You have a Daughter!

  HER. Oh that she were here!—

  She hath an eye that sinks into all hearts,

  And if I have in aught offended you,

  Soon would her gentle voice make peace between us.

  MAR. (aside). I do believe he weeps—I could weep too—

  There is a vein of her voice that runs through his:

  Even such a Man my fancy bodied forth

  From the first moment that I loved the Maid;

  And for his sake I loved her more: these tears—

  I did not think that aught was left in me

  Of what I have been—yes, I thank thee, Heaven!

  One happy thought has passed across my mind.

  —It may not be—I am cut off from man;

  No more shall I be man—no more shall!

  Have human feelings!—(To HERBERT)—Now, for a little more

  About your Daughter!

  HER. Troops of armed men,

  Met in the roads, would bless us; little children,

  Rushing along in the full tide of play,

  Stood silent as we passed them! I have heard

  The boisterous carman, in the miry road,

  Check his loud whip and hail us with mild voice,

  And speak with milder voice to his poor beasts.

  MAR. And whither were you going?

  HER. Learn, young Man,

  To fear the virtuous, and reverence misery,

  Whether too much for patience, or, like mine,

  Softened till it becomes a gift of mercy.

  MAR. Now, this is as it should be!

  HER. I am weak!—

  My Daughter does not know how weak I am;

  And, as thou see’st, under the arch of heaven

  Here do I stand, alone, to helplessness,

  By the good God, our common Father, doomed!—

  But I had once a spirit and an arm—

  MAR. Now, for a word about your Barony:

  I fancy when you left the Holy Land,

  And came to—what’s your title—eh? your claims

  Were undisputed!

  HER. Like a mendicant,

  Whom no one comes to meet, I stood alone;—

  I murmured—but, remembering Him who feeds

  The pelican and ostrich of the desert,

  From my own threshold I looked up to Heaven

  And did not want glimmerings of quiet hope.

  So, from the court I passed, and down the brook,

  Led by its murmur, to the ancient oak

  I came; and when I felt its cooling shade,

  I sate me down, and cannot but believe—

  While in my lap I held my little Babe

  And clasped her to my heart, my heart that ached

  More with delight than grief—I heard a voice

  Such as by Cherith on Elijah called;

  It said, “I will be with thee.” A little boy,

  A shepherd-lad, ere yet my trance was gone,

  Hailed us as if he had been sent from heaven,

  And said, with tears, that he would be our guide:

  I had a better guide—that innocent Babe—

  Her, who hath saved me, to this hour
, from harm,

  From cold, from hunger, penury, and death;

  To whom I owe the best of all the good

  I have, or wish for, upon earth—and more

  And higher far than lies within earth’s bounds:

  Therefore I bless her: when I think of Man,

  I bless her with sad spirit,—when of God,

  I bless her in the fulness of my joy!

  MAR. The name of daughter in his month, he prays!

  With nerves so steady, that the very flies

  Sit unmolested on his staff.—Innocent!—

  If he were innocent—then he would tremble

  And be disturbed, as I am. (Turning aside.) I have read

  In Story, what men now alive have witnessed,

  How, when the People’s mind was racked with doubt,

  Appeal was made to the great Judge: the Accused

  With naked feet walked over burning ploughshares.

  Here is a Man by Nature’s hand prepared

  For a like trial, but more merciful.

  Why else have I been led to this bleak Waste?

  Bare is it, without house or track, and destitute

  Of obvious shelter, as a shipless sea.

  Here will I leave him—here—All-seeing God!

  Such as ‘he’ is, and sore perplexed as I am,

  I will commit him to this final ‘Ordeal’!—

  He heard a voice—a shepherd-lad came to him

  And was his guide; if once, why not again,

  And in this desert? If never—then the whole

  Of what he says, and looks, and does, and is,

  Makes up one damning falsehood. Leave him here

  To cold and hunger!—Pain is of the heart,

  And what are a few throes of bodily suffering

  If they can waken one pang of remorse?

  [Goes up to HERBERT.

  Old Man! my wrath is as a flame burnt out,

  It cannot be rekindled. Thou art here

  Led by my hand to save thee from perdition;

  Thou wilt have time to breathe and think—

  HER. Oh, Mercy!

  MAR. I know the need that all men have of mercy,

  And therefore leave thee to a righteous judgment.

  HER. My Child, my blessed Child!

  MAR. No more of that;

  Thou wilt have many guides if thou art innocent;

  Yea, from the utmost corners of the earth,

  That Woman will come o’er this Waste to save thee.

  [He pauses and looks at HERBERT’S staff.

  Ha! what is here? and carved by her own hand!

  [Reads upon the staff.

  “I am eyes to the blind, saith the Lord.

  He that puts his trust in me shall not fail!”

  Yes, be it so;—repent and be forgiven—

  God and that staff are now thy only guides.

  [He leaves HERBERT on the Moor.

  SCENE—An eminence, a Beacon on the summit.

  LACY, WALLACE, LENNOX, etc. etc.