GES. Stay! show me the basket! There
TELL. You've picked the smallest one.
GES. I know I have.

TELL. Oh! do you? But you see

The color on 't is dark, I'd have it light,
To see it better.

GES. Take it as it is:

Thy skill will be the greater if thou hit'st it.

TELL. True, true!

I did not think of that.

To save my boy!

I did not think of that; I wonder

Give me some chance

(Throws away the apple with all his force.)

I will not murder him,

If I can help it—for the honor of

The form thou wearest, if all the heart is gone.
GES. Well: choose thyself.

TELL. Have I a friend among the lookers-on ?
VERNER. (Rushing forward.) Here, Tell.
TELL. I thank thee, Verner!

He is a friend runs out into a storm

To shake a hand with us. I must be brief:
When once the bow is bent, we cannot take
The shot too soon. Verner, whatever be
The issue of this hour, the common cause
Must not stand still. Let not to-morrow's sun
Set on the tyrant's banner! Verner! Verner!
The boy!

To stand it?

-the boy! Thinkest thou he hath the courage

VER. Yes.

TELL. Does he tremble?

VER. NO.

TELL. Art sure?

VER. I am.

TELL. How looks he?

VER. Clear and smilingly :

If you doubt it, look yourself.

VER. He bears himself so much above his years ·

VER. With constancy so modest

TELL. I was sure he would!

VER. And looks with such relying love

And reverence upon you

TELL. Man! Man! Man!

No more! Already I'm too much the father

Verner, no more, my friend!

flint, flint. Don't make me feel

I'm not, - do not mind me! Take the boy
And set him, Verner, with his back to me.
Set him upon his knees, and place this apple
Upon his head, so that the stem may front me,
Thus, Verner; charge him to keep steady, tell him
I'll hit the apple! Verner, do all this

More briefly than I tell it thee.

VER. Come, Albert! (Leading him out.)

ALB. May I not speak with him before I go?
VER. NO.

ALB. I would only kiss his hand.

VER. You must not.

ALB. I must! I cannot go from him without.

VER. It is his will you should.

ALB. His will, is it?

I am content then ; come.

TELL. My boy!

(Holding out his arms to him.)

ALB. My father!

(Rushing into TELL's arms.)

TELL. If thou canst bear it, should not I? - Go, now,

My son, and keep in mind that I can shoot

Go, boy,

The apple.

be thou but steady, I will hit

Go! God bless thee, go. My bow!

(The bow is handed to him.)

Thou wilt not fail thy master, wilt thou? Thou

TELL. Is it so you pick an arrow, friend?

The point, you see, is bent; the feather jagged: (Breaks it.)

That's all the use 't is fit for.

GES. Let him have another.

TELL. Why, 't is better than the first, But yet not good enough for such an aim

As I'm to take, — 't is heavy in the shaft :

I'll not shoot with it! (Throws it away.) Let me see my quiver.

Bring it! 'Tis not one arrow in a dozen

I'd take to shoot with at a dove, much less

A dove like that.

GES. It matters not.

Show him the quiver.

TELL. See if the boy is ready.

VER. He is.

(TELL here hides an arrow under his vest.)

TELL. I'm ready, too! Keep silent for

Heaven's sake, and do not stir; and let me have

Your prayers,

your prayers; and be my witnesses,

That if his life's in peril from my hand,

'Tis only for the chance of saving it. (To the people.)

GES. Go on.

TELL. I will.

O friends, for mercy's sake, keep motionless

And silent!

(TELL shoots; a shout of exultation bursts from the crowd. TELL'S head drops on his bosom; he with difficulty supports himself upon his brow.)

VER. (Rushing in with ALBERT.) The boy is safe! no hair of him is touched!

ALB. Father, I'm safe !—your Albert's safe, dear father. Speak to me! Speak to me!

VER. He cannot, boy!

ALB. You grant him life?

GES. I do.

ALB. And we are free?

GES. You are. (Crossing angrily behind.)

ALB. Thank Heaven! - thank Heaven!

VER. Open his vest,

And give him air.

(ALBERT opens his father's vest, and the arrow drops. TELL starts,

fixes his eye on ALBERT, and clasps him to his breast.)

TELL. My boy! - My boy!

GES. For what

Hid

you that arrow in your breast? Speak, slave! TELL. To kill thee, tyrant, had I slain my boy!

NASEBY is a small parish near Northampton, England, where the troops of Charles I. were totally defeated by the Parliamentary army under Fairfax in 1645.

ΟΙ

H, wherefore come ye forth, in triumph from the North, With your hands, and your feet, and your raiment all red? And wherefore doth your rout send forth a joyous shout? And whence be the grapes of the wine-press which ye tread ?

O, evil was the root, and bitter was the fruit,

And crimson was the juice, of the vintage that we trod! For we trampled on the throng of the haughty and the strong, Who sat in the high places, and slew the saints of God.

It was about the noon of a glorious day of June,

That we saw their banners dance, and their cuirasses shine; And the Man of Blood was there, with his long essenced hair, And Astley, and Sir Marmaduke, and Rupert of the Rhine.

Like a servant of the Lord, with his Bible and his sword,
The general rode along us, to form us to the fight,
When a murmuring sound broke out, and swelled into a shout,
Among the godless horsemen, upon the tyrant's right.

And hårk! like the roar of the billows on the shore,
The cry of battle rises along their charging line!
For God! for the Cause! for the Church! for the Laws!
For Charles, King of England, and Rupert of the Rhine!

The furious German comes, with his clarions and his drums,
His bravoes of Alsatia, and pages of Whitehall;
They are bursting on our flanks. Grasp your pikes, close your
ranks,

For Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall.

They are here! They rush on! We are broken! We are gone! Our left is borne before them like stubble on the blast.

O Lord, put forth thy might! O Lord, defend the right! Stand back to back, in God's name, and fight it to the last.

Stout Skippon hath a wound; the centre hath given ground; Hark! hark! what means this trampling of horsemen in our rear?

Whose banner do I see, boys? 'Tis he, thank God! 't is he,

boys!

Bear up another minute; brave Oliver is here.

Their heads all stooping low, their points all in a row,

Like a whirlwind on the trees, like a deluge on the dikes;