Having given thee no offence. Ha! - am I right? 'T was a mistake?· - undoubtedly. Do err at times. we all Pol. Draw, villain, and prate no more! Cas. Ha! at once, Proud Earl ! draw! and villain! have at thee then (Draws.) Pol. (drawing). Thus to the expiatory tomb, Untimely sepulchre, I do devote thee In the name of Lalage! Cas. (letting fall his sword and recoiling to the extremity Pol. Thou wilt not fight with me didst say, Sir Count? Shall I be baffled thus? Didst say thou darest not? now this is well; Ha! with that beloved name Cas. I dare not dare not Hold off thy hand So fresh upon thy lips I will not fight thee Pol. Now by my halidom I do believe thee ! — coward, I do believe thee! Cas. Ha! - coward! this may not be ! (Clutches his sword, and staggers towards Politian, but his purpose is changed before reaching him, and he falls upon his knee at the feet of the Earl.) 8 Alas! my lord, It is - it is most true. In such a cause I am the veriest coward. O pity me! Pol. (greatly softened). Alas! - I do Cas. And Lalage Scoundrel! - arise and die! Pol. Thus on my bended knee. It were most fitting That in this deep humiliation I perish. For in the fight I will not raise a hand (baring his bosom). Strike thou home Here is no let or hinderance to thy weapon Pol. Now s'Death and Hell! Am I not - am I not sorely-grievously tempted. Like an avenging spirit I'll follow thee Even unto death. Before those whom thou lovest Before all Rome I'll taunt thee, villain— I'll taunt thee, Dost hear? with cowardice. Thou liest! thou shalt ! thou wilt not fight me ? Cas. Now this indeed is just! Most righteous, and most just, avenging Heaven. (Exit.) POEMS WRITTEN IN YOUTH.* SONNET — TO SCIENCE. CIENCE! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart, Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise, Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies, Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing? Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car? And driven the Hamadryad from the wood To seek a shelter in some happier star? Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood, The Elfin from the green grass, and from me The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree? * Private reasons some of which have reference to the sin of plagiarism, and others to the date of Tennyson's first poems have induced me, after some hesitation, to republish these, the crude compositions of my earliest boyhood. They are printed verbatim, without alteration from the original edition, the date of which is too remote to be judiciously acknowledged. E. A. P. AL AARAAF.* PART I. ! NOTHING earthly save the ray Springs from the gems of Circassy- That list our Love, and deck our bowers The wandering star. 'Twas a sweet time for Nesace for there Her world lay lolling on the golden air, * A star was discovered by Tycho Brahe, which appeared suddenly in the heavens; attained, in a few days, a brilliancy surpassing that of Jupiter; then as súddenly disappeared, and has never been seen since. Away—away —'mid seas of rays that roll Now happiest, loveliest in yon lovely Earth, All hurriedly she knelt upon a bed *On Santa Maura- ·olim Deucadia. |