Shrouded safe from mortal view, Where, by Avon's haunted stream, See! I wave my roseate wings! Now my spirit soaring sings, 'Merrily, merrily, shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.'” J. KEATS. DRAMATIS PERSONE. OTHO THE GREAT, Emperor of Germany. CONRAD, Duke of Franconia. ALBERT, a Knight, favoured by Otho. THEODORE, GONFRID, Officers. ETHELBERT, an Abbot. GERSA, Prince of Hungary. An Hungarian Captain. Physician. Page. Nobles, Knights, Attendants, and Soldiers. ERMINIA, Niece of Otho. AURANTHE, Conrad's Sister. Ladies and Attendants. The Castle of Friedburg, its vicinity, and the TIME. One Day. SCENE. OTHO THE GREAT.1 ACT I. SCENE I.-An Apartment in the Castle. Enter CONRAD. O, I am safe emerged from these broils! whole; For every crime I have a laurel-wreath, For every lie a lordship. Nor yet has My ship of fortune furl'd her silken sails,Let her glide on! This danger'd neck is saved, By dexterous policy, from the rebel's axe; And of my ducal palace not one stone Is bruised by the Hungarian petards. Toil hard, ye slaves, and from the miser-earth "At Shanklin he undertook a difficult task; I engaged to furnish him with the title, characters, and dramatic conduct of a tragedy. and he was to enwrap it in poetry. The progress of this work was curious, for while I sat opposite to him, he caught my description of each scene entire, with the characters to be brought forward, the events, and everything connected with it. Thus he went on, scene after scene, never knowing nor inquiring into the scene which was to follow, until four acts were completed. It was then he required to know at once all the events that were to occupy the fifth act; I explained them to him, but, after a patient hearing and some thought, he insisted that many incidents in it were too humorous, or, as he termed them, too melodramatic. He wrote the fifth act in accordance with his own views, and so contented was I with his poetry that at the time, and for a long time after, I thought he was in the right."-CHARLES BROWN MS. |