Restore thyself to God in his true Church, ELGIVA. My Royal Cousin, 'Tis thou that strayest in that wilderness. Ask Athulf-ask my brother. Have you seen him? ETHILDA. I saw him not. ELGIVA. Oh, he is bright and jocund as the morn, ETHILDA. When last I saw him-ere he went to the West, How wild he was with pleasantness and mirth. I was gay then, although I seemed not so Beside his bounding spirit. Is he now Of the same temper ? ELGIVA. Not so thoughtless now, And more in broken lights; but Nature still Hardly can care suspend. Enter EDWIN. EDWIN. Oh, this is kind! You know not, my fair cousin, what a cloud Now we shall smile again. ELGIVA. Adieu, good night, sweet kind Ethilda! EDWIN. Kind is she always; she is kind to stay ELGIVA. Your Majesty ... EDWIN. We are alone, Elgiva; Yes; Oh, how I hate my title in your mouth. Rather than speak as in the audience-chamber, O'er hill, through vale, with interlacing arms, And thrid the thickets where wild roses grow Can you, and will you, those sweet days remember, And strive to bring them back? Can I remember? ELGIVA. Those days-Oh, Edwin !. . . When can I forget them? When flowers forget to blow and birds to sing, D And clouds to kindle in the May-day dawn, And every spring-tide sight and sound shall cease, EDWIN. And can they not repeat themselves? Again Let recollections of the past, if sweet, Plead sweetly for the present. You are a King. ELGIVA. Edwin, Edwin ! EDWIN. Now, see! I've summoned up, Like a magician whose strong spell evokes He brake his wand of office. I am a King, But may not Kings be happy? ELGIVA. May Kings not love? They must be more than resolute to be safe EDWIN. Nay, talk not of them; I loathe this monkery, and if I live Will root it from my realm. ELGIVA. Oh that you may! And Earls not few, and many a gallant Thane, Pour out like water. Athulf is but one, Yet if you knew him is he many's worth. If EDWIN. more of him I know not, yet that much I amply know. Then surely with his aid We may defy the monks, or, better still, We may forget them, ay, forget the world, |