ACT V.

SCENE I.-A Heath in Hampshire.

DUNSTAN and GURMO in flight.

Dunstan. The night shall shield us like a raven's

wing.

What hear'st thou in the wind?

Gurmo.

A moaning cry.

Can I fast so long

Dunstan. Thou faint'st with hunger.
Gurmo.

And not be hungry?

Dunstan.

And he is hungry too.
Gurmo. I see a light.
Dunstan.

"Tis the cry of a wolf,

Make forward still.

Hist in the lull of the wind

I hear the stroke of hammers. On apace!

It is a blacksmith's forge. I'll harbour there.

SCENE II-A Blacksmith's Forge.

The Blacksmith at work. Serfs and Boors dropping in, with a Monk and others.

Blacksmith (blowing the bellows, and singing).

But now I wax old,

Sick, sorry, and cold,

Like muck upon mould

I widder away.

First Boor. Look, thou horse-cobbler; call'st thou

this a shoe?

I know thee: since the slaughter at the ford,
Thou 'rt warming old ones up.

Blacksmith.

Oh me, St. Giles !

Second Boor. And mark this coulter; look you at this mattock.

Monk. Repent, and do thy work more workmanlike, Or in a twinkling thou shalt him behold That came to holy Dunstan's forge unbid, And staid unwilling. Marry, Sir, thy tongs Would touch him not, and he is roaming now Through all the land.

Third Boor.

'Tis true; I saw myself

The print of his hoof. 'Twas in Dame Umfrieg's

garth;

And Father Ægelpig discovered it.

"Twas like a goat's.

Monk.

My son, he's there and here

And everywhere, since that most holy man,
The Abbot Dunstan, by the godless King

Was driven away.

Fourth Boor.

I've sent for Father Cridda,

To bless and exorcise my cattle and swine.

Monk. Thou hast done well; but thy best safety lies

In holy Dunstan's prayers. At Winchester
Ye heard how in the west end of the church,
The night that Dunstan fled, the Devil skipped,
And with great laughter, in his roaring fashion,
Took up his 'O be joyful!' Who are these?
A brother of mine order is the one,

If I mistake not. Benedicite!

Enter DUNSTAN and GURMO.

Dunstan. God save you! holy Brother: Sons, and

you!

We seek for shelter from the coming storm.

Blacksmith. Father, you 're welcome.

Monk.

Come ye from the South?

Dunstan. From London last.
Monk.
What tidings bring ye then?

From London ? yea, indeed!

Dunstan.

What would ye know?

Monk. Canst thou be so insensible to ask? The holy Abbot Dunstan--where is he?

What fate attends him?

Dunstan.

That we know not yet.

Blacksmith. A price is on his head-ten thousand

marks.

Lilla, the King's Gerefa of the shire,

Proclaimed it far and wide.

Dunstan.

Give me thy hammer;

Thou canst not make a coulter so; look here;

Strike endways-thus-and thus. What said the shire To Lilla's proclamation? Was it welcomed?

Monk. Torn down, and trampled in the mud. This

shire

Will yield them many a Peter with his sword,
But ne'er a Judas.

Dunstan.

In Dunstan's cause?

Is the shire so hot

Monk.
It kindles hourly. Nay,
'Tis said that Lilla and his men were met
On Chilton-down by fifteen hundred boors,
And scantly saved themselves by flight.
First Boor.

'Tis true;

'Twas Titchburne township that turned out the first; But we of Droxford will be up betimes;

See if we be not.

Dunstan.

If ye be, my friends,

The Abbot will be presently amongst you;
For this way comes he, having in his mind
To cross the sea to Flanders. But, my friends,
If ye be hearty in the cause of God,

Ye will not let him go. Shame to this shire,
Shame be to England and to Christendom,
If he that fasted and that watched for you,
And day by day, to save your perishing souls,
Flayed his poor body streaming down with blood,-
Shame to your country and yourselves, if he
Should flee before the wicked!

Boors.

We'll rise! we 'll rise!

It never shall be said. He shall not flee.

Dunstan. He will not, if ye stead him in his peril. But ye must be alert. Go forth this night, This very night go forth, and call your fellows In all the hamlets round, to meet at Stoke By dawn to-morrow. Thither Dunstan comes, And ye shall bid him go no farther forth.

Monk. What! Dunstan's very self! will he be

there?

Dunstan. I say he will.

Second Boor.

I'll run to meet him.

Third Boor.

We all have souls!

Monk.

Then, mattock, go thy ways;

All-we all must run.

Come to the Abbey first,

And ye shall have your doublets lined with mead,
Wherewith defended ye may face the storm,
Flying from house to house, and send the news
From village on to village.

Blacksmith.

And, Father, you,

And this your friend, shall rest the while with me.

I have been patient in a prison, Athulf;

Patient of wrongs, and cruelties, and threats,
Sickness and imminent death; but this is worse,-
To be at large, and yet be checked and curbed,
When now my wife's deliverance only waits

On my advance.

Athulf.

With measured speed we pass

To an assured result. With hurried steps
We should but bring the shadow of an army
To issues that would then be full of doubt.
Our marches are too hasty, and the force
Begins to break. Pause, I beseech you.
Edwin.

Well ;

You are a soldier tried in many a field;
And I am but a King. Have, then, your way.

SCENE IV.-Audley in Staffordshire.

LEOLF and EMMA.

Emma. Could not the Queen await the coming up Of the King's army? Must she hazard yours? Leolf. My army moves not. A few mounted Thanes Alone go with me. No, she hazards nothing,Nothing that's worth a care, except herself. Emma. She hazards all. Leolf.

True, for her safety's sake I could have wished her to let Time declare What shall ensue at Malpas. But the signs Bid fair for peace, and barring misadventure Emma. 'Tis a rash reckoning in such times as these That bars a misadventure. Leolf.

Nay, not so.

With Dunstan fled the spirit of the storm,
And Indiscretion, that was fain to hide
Its battered plumage, now may gambol forth
On bolder wing.-Earl Sidroc, by my life.
Welcome to Audley !

Sidroc.

...

Enter SIDROC.

Nay, my Lord Heretoch, nay;

If your news be bad,

Before you make me welcome, hear my news.

Leolf. No, you are welcome.

Welcome the more, for then the more's the need

Of your good counsel.

Sidroc.

Dunstan is at large