DIALOGUES. 1.-LOCHIEL'S WARNING. Wizard. LOCHIEL, Lochiel! beware of the day And the clans of Culloden are scattered in fight. Draw, dotard, around thy old wavering sight, This mantle, to cover the phantoms of fright. Wizard. Ha! laugh'st thou, Lochiel, my vision to scorn? Proud bird of the mountain, thy plume shall be torn! Say, rushed the bold eagle exultingly forth, From his home, in the dark-rolling clouds of the north? But down let him stoop from his havoc on high! Ah! home let him speed,―for the spoiler is nigh. Why flames the far summit? Why shoot to the blast Heaven's fire is around thee, to blast and to burn: For the blackness of ashes shall mark where it stood, Lochiel. False Wizard, avaunt! I have marshalled my clan, Wizard. -Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day! Now in darkness and billows, he sweeps from my sight: But where is the iron-bound prisoner? Where? Say, mounts he the ocean-wave, banished, forlorn, Like a limb from his country cast bleeding and torn? The war-drum is muffled, and black is the bier; Yon sight, that it freezes my spirit to tell! And his blood-streaming nostril in agony swims! Accursed be the fagots that blaze at his feet, Where his heart shall be thrown, ere it ceases to beat, With the smoke of its ashes to poison the gale Lochiel. -Down, soothless insulter! I trust not the tale: 1 For never shall Albin a destiny meet, So black with dishonour, so foul with retreat. Though my perishing ranks should be strewed in their gore, Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains, While the kindling of life in his bosom remains, Shall victor exult, or in death be laid low, With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe! And leaving in battle no blot on his name, Look proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame. CAMPBELL. 2.-HOTSPUR AND SIR RICHARD VERNON, FROM THE FIRST PART OF HENRY THE FOURTH. Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul. Ver. Pray Heaven, my news be worth a welcome, Lord. The earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, Is marching hitherwards; with him, prince John. Hot. No harm: what more? Ver. And further, I have learned, The king himself in person hath set forth, Or hitherwards intended speedily, With strong and mighty preparation. Hot. He shall be welcome too. Where is his son, The nimble-footed madcap prince of Wales, And his comrades, that daffed the world aside, Ver. All furnished, all in arms, All plumed, like estridges that with the wind And witch the world with noble horsemanship. Hot. No more, no more; worse than the sun in March, And to the fire-eyed maid of smoky war, And yet not ours :-Come, let me take my horse, Meet, and ne'er part, till one drop down a corse.— Ver. There is more news: I learned in Worcester, as I rode along, He cannot draw his power these fourteen days. Hot. What may the king's whole battle reach unto? My father and Glendower being both away, The powers of us may serve so great a day. Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily. SHAKSPEARE. 3.-FROM THE PLAY OF AS YOU LIKE IT. Duke S. Why, how now, monsieur! what a life is this, That your poor friends must woo your company? What! you look merrily. Jaq. A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' the forest, A motley fool; a miserable world! As I do live by food, I met a fool, Who laid him down and basked him in the sun, In good set terms, and yet a motley fool. "Good morrow, fool," quoth I: "No, sir," quoth he, "Call me not fool, till Heaven hath sent me fortune:" And then he drew a dial from his poke: And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye, "Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world wags: ""Tis but an hour ago, since it was nine; "And after one hour more, 't will be eleven; Duke S. What fool is this? Jaq. O worthy fool!—One that hath been a courtier; And says, if ladies be but young, and fair, They have the gift to know it: and in his brain,— Which is as dry as the remainder biscuit After a voyage, he hath strange places crammed In mangled forms :-0, that I were a fool! I am ambitious for a motley coat. Duke S. Thou shalt have one. Jaq. To blow on whom I please; for so fools have: The wise man's folly is anatomized Even by the squandering glances of the fool. Invest me in my motley; give me leave To speak my mind, and I will through and through If they will patiently receive my medicine. P |