Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

his life preserved.

So there eke the sage
came by flight

to his country north,
Constantine,
hoary warrior.

He had no cause to exult

in the communion of swords. Here was his kindred band

of friends o'erthrown

on the folk-stead,

in battle slain ;

and his son he left
on the slaughter-place,
mangled with wounds,
young in the fight:

he had no cause to boast,

beorn grizzly-haired,

of the vile clashing,

the old deceiver;

nor Aulaf the more,

with the remnant of their armies;

they had no cause to laugh

that they in war's works

the better men were

in the battle stead,

at the conflict of banners,

meeting of spears,

concourse of men,

traffic of weapons;

that they on the slaughter field

with Eadward's

offspring played.

The north-men departed

in their nailed barks;
bloody relic of darts,
on 'dinges' ocean
o'er the deep water
Dublin to seek,
again Ireland,
shamed in mind.

So to the brothers,

both together,
king and etheling,
their country sought,
West-Saxons' land,
in the war exulting.
They left behind them,
the corse to devour,
the sallowy 'pada'
and the swart raven
with horned neb,

and the dusky 'pada,'
erne white-tailed,

the corse to enjoy,
greedy war-hawk,

and the grey beast,

wolf of the wood.

Carnage greater has not been

in this island

ever yet

of people slain,
before this,

by edges of swords,

as books us say,

old writers,

since from the east hither

Angles and Saxons

came to land,

o'er the broad seas
Britain sought,
mighty war-smiths,
the Welsh o'ercame,
corls most bold,

this earth obtained.

22.-EDWIN THE FAIR.

HENRY TAYLOR.

[Mr. Taylor's Drama of Edwin the Fair' is full of grace and power, seizing, we have no doubt, upon the great historical truths of that age. We give a scene, with an extract from the Preface.]

Mr. Turner's learned and elaborate work has done much to make the AngloSaxon times better known than they were formerly, and we have ceased to regard them as antecedent to the dawn of civilization amongst us, or as destitute of the spiritual and chivalric features by which in reality some of the subsequent centuries (though not those immediately subsequent) were less distinguished than they. Of the dark ages, in this country, the tenth century was hardly so dark as the fifteenth ; and if the aspects of each could be distinctly traced, the civil wars of the Anglo-Saxons would probably excite a deeper interest than struggles such as those of the Houses of York and Lancaster, in which there was no religious and hardly any political principle at stake. Indeed though the three centuries which preceded the Conquest were on the whole less enlightened than the three which followed it, yet the Anglo-Saxon times furnish examples of both the Hero and the Scholar, which the Norman can hardly match; and perhaps the real distinction between the periods is, that amongst the Anglo-Saxons, learning and ignorance, and rudeness and refinement, co-existed in stronger contrast.

But even when Anglo-Saxon history was less read and otherwise understood than it is now, some interest was always felt in the reign of Edwin the Fair. There was left to us little more than the outline of a tragic story; in some parts, indeed, even less-for here and there the outline itself is broken and wavering; but the little that was known was romantic enough to have impressed itself upon the popular mind, and the tale of Edwy and Elgiva' had been current in the nursery long before it came to be studied as an historical question.

[ocr errors]

9

Edwin's contemporaneous annalists, being Monks, were his natural enemies; and their enmity is sufficiently apparent in their writings. But notwithstanding all their efforts, and all the influence which the monastic orders undoubtedly possessed over the English populace of the tenth century, there is reason to think that the interest taken in Edwin's story may have dated from his own times. His name having been supplanted by its diminutive 'Edwy,' seems to indicate a sentiment of tenderness and pity as popularly connected with him from the first; and his surname of 'The All-Fair' (given him, says the Monk Ingulphus, "pro nimiâ pulchritudine"), may be construed as a farther indication that the success of the monastic faction in decrying him with the people, was not so complete as the merely political events of his reign might lead us to suppose.

Whilst the details of his story are left, with one or two exceptions, to our imagination, the main course of the struggle in which he was engaged, represents in strong and vivid colours the spirit of the times. It was a spirit which exercises human nature in its highest faculties and deepest feelings-the spirit of religious enthusiasm; a spirit which never fails to produce great men and to give an impulse to the mind of a nation; but one which commonly passes into a spirit of ecclesiastic discord, and which cannot then be cast out without tearing the body. In the tenth century it vented itself in a war of religious opinion.

An apartment leading to an Oratory in the Royal residence at Sheen.

As the Scene opens, EDWIN and ELGIVA are discovered before the altar in the Oratory, and RICOLA, the King's Chaplain, is joining their hands. They all three then advance out of the Oratory to the front.

Ricola. So be ye one from this time forth for ever,
And God for ever be your gracious guide

In love and peace to live!

A hasty rite

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

RICOLA goes to the door, and returns with GRIMBALD.

Edwin. Well, my good fool, and what hast thou to tell?
Grimbald.

There was grace after meat with a fist on the board,

And down went the morat, and out flew the sword.

Elgiva. Truce to thy calling for a while, good fool,

And tell us plainly what befell.

[blocks in formation]

The nobles went together; in the fray

The Horse-Thane and the Dish-Thane were o'erborne

And sent to prison. Then I took to my heels

To bring you word.

Elgiva. Earl Athulf? Where is he?

Grimbald. He stood against Harcather hand to hand
When I departed; but I know no more.

Enter the QUEEN MOTHER.

Queen Mother. So you are here, my son, and madam, you?
And is it for this you scurry from your place
Is it for this you quit your noble guests?
Is it for this you vex the kingdom? Yea,

To shedding of blood-for there has blood been shed-
For nought but this? Oh, fie! for dalliance-oh!

And whilst you waste the hours in wantonness * * *

Edwin. Good mother, speak of what you know. Not here
Was either wantonness or waste of time.

You little think how little idly spent

Has been the hour that's gone.

Queen Mother.

How spent? oh, son!

But here come those can speak. So! here they come !

Enter DUNSTAN and ODO, with two or three Thanes following, who are gradually augmented as the scene proceeds till the stage is filled with DUNSTAN's adherents.

Ricola. Wilt please you to withdraw ?

Elgiva.
Edwin.

I thank you, no.

Wherefore is this, my lord Archbishop? Why

Dost thou pursue me to my privacy?

When I did leave you 'twas my will to leave you.
Am I your king, or am I not?

Odo.

Sir, sir,

'Tis true, with suffrage of the Witena,

You were anointed with the holy oil

And crowned this day by me. But deem not thence

That you are free to spurn us. Rather deem
That calls more urgent, bonds of stricter claim
Enjoin the duties of your sovereignty;
Amongst which duties eminently first

Is this, that when your lords and councillors,
The pillars of the realm, in conference meet,
You should be with them, wisely there to learn
From the assembled wisdom of the state.

Edwin. "Twas for carousal, not for conference,
They met to-day.

Dunstan. Sirs, stand ye all apart,

And suffer that I reason with the king,
Whose youth betrays him. Oh unruly flesh !
Oh wanton blood of youth! the primal sin !
The first offender still! The original snare!
Perdition came of woman, and alway since,
When time was big with mischief and mischance,

He felt his forelock in a soft white hand.

Elgiva. Of woman say'st thou that perdition came ? "Twas of the serpent, priest.

Queen Mother.

What, break'st thou in?

Thou bold and naughty jade! Thou pit! Thou snare!

Edwin. Oh, mother, hold! Know you at whom you rail?

Deem her your daughter, or me not your son.

Queen Mother. Thou art not and thou shalt not be my son, If thou demean'st thyself to her--a witch !

A practiser of sorceries!

Edwin [kneeling]. Oh God!

I pray thee that thou shorten not my days,
Ceasing to honour this disnatured flesh
That was my mother.

Elgiva.

Never was she that:

[blocks in formation]

And see'st thou in what presence? Be thou warned!

Thy witcheries that inflame this carnal king

Far other fires shall kindle in the church

The channel as of mercies, so of wrath.
Thou stand'st before its excellent Archbishop,
And me, its humblest minister: men both
Dead to the flesh and loathing from their souls

« ÎnapoiContinuă »