embrace of angels, with a sex More beautiful than they, which did draw down The erring spirits7 who can ne'er return.? Most glorious orb! that wert a worship, ere The mystery of thy making was reveal'd! Thou earliest minister of the Almighty, Which gladden'd, on their mountain tops, the hearts Of the Chaldean0 shepherds, till they pour d Bab)ionian Themselves in orisons!0 Thou material God! prayers And representative of the Unknown? Who chose thee for his shadow! Thou chief star! Centre of many stars! which mak'st our earth Endurable, and temperest the hues And hearts of all who walk within thy rays! Sire of the seasons! Monarch of the climes, And those who dwell in them! for near or far, Our inborn spirits have a tint of thee, Even as our outward aspects;?thou dost rise, And shine, and set in glory. Fare thee well! I ne'er shall see thee more. As my first glance Of love and wonder was for thee, then take My latest look: thou wilt not beam on one To whom the gifts of life and warmth have been Of a more fatal nature. He is gone: I follow. [Exit MANFRED.]
SCENE 3. The Mountains.?The Castle of MANFRED at some distance.?A Terrace before a Tower.?Time, Twilight. HERMAN, MANUEL, and other Dependants of MANFRED.
HERMAN 'Tis strange enough; night after night, for years, He hath pursued long vigils in this tower, Without a witness. I have been within it,? So have we all been oft-times; but from it, Or its contents, it were impossible To draw conclusions absolute, of aught His studies tend to. To be sure, there is One chamber where none enter; I would give The fee? of what I have to come these three years, ownership To pore upon its mysteries.
MANUEL 'Twere dangerous; Content thyself with what thou knowest already.
7. Genesis 6.4: 'There were giants in the earth in men which were of old, men of renown.' Byron those days; and also after that, when the sons of interprets 'the sons of God' as denoting disobedi- God came in unto the daughters of men, and they ent angels. bare children to them, the same became mighty
.
66 4 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
HERMAN Ah! Manuel! thou art elderly and wise, And could'st say much; thou hast dwelt within the castle? How many years is't?
MANUEL Ere Count Manfred's birth, 15 I served his father, whom he nought resembles. HERMAN There be more sons in like predicament. But wherein do they differ?
MANUEL I speak not Of features or of form, but mind and habits: Count Sigismund was proud,?but gay and free,?
20 A warrior and a reveller; he dwelt not With books and solitude, nor made the night A gloomy vigil, but a festal time, Merrier than day; he did not walk the rocks And forests like a wolf, nor turn aside From men and their delights.
25 HERMAN Beshrew8 the hour, But those were jocund times! I would that such Would visit the old walls again; they look As if they had forgotten them.
MANUEL These walls Must change their chieftain first. Oh! I have seen Some strange things in them, Herman.
30 HERMAN Come, be friendly; Relate me some to while away our watch: Fve heard thee darkly speak of an event Which happened hereabouts, by this same tower.
MANUEL That was a night indeed; I do remember
35 'Twas twilight, as it may be now, and such Another evening?yon red cloud, which rests On Eigher's9 pinnacle, so rested then,? So like that it might be the same; the wind Was faint and gusty, and the mountain snows
40 Began to glitter with the climbing moon; Count Manfred was, as now, within his tower,? How occupied, we knew not, but with him The sole companion of his wanderings And watchings?her, whom of all earthly things
45 That lived, the only thing he seem'd to love,? As he, indeed, by blood was bound to do, The Lady Astarte, his?
Hush! who comes here?
Enter the ABBOT, ABBOT Where is your master? HERMAN Yonder in the tower. ABBOT I must speak with him. MANUEL 'Tis impossible;
so He is most private, and must not be thus Intruded on.
8. Curse (used jocularly). 9. A peak a few miles north of the Jungfrau.
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IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 66 5
ABBOT Upon myself I take The forfeit of my fault, if fault there be? But I must see him.
HERMAN Thou hast seen him once This eve already. ABBOT Sirrah! I command thee,
55 Knock, and apprize the Count of my approach. HERMAN We dare not. ABBOT Then it seems I must be herald
Of my own purpose. MANUEL Reverend father, stop? I pray you pause.
ABBOT Why so? MANUEL But step this way, And I will tell you further. [Exeunt.]
SCENE 4. Interior of the Tower.
MANFRED alone
The stars are forth, the moon above the tops Of the snow-shining mountains.?Beautiful! I linger yet with Nature, for the night Hath been to me a more familiar face
5 Than that of man; and in her starry shade Of dim and solitary loveliness, I learn'd the language of another world. I do remember me, that in my youth, When I was wandering,?upon such a night
io I stood within the Coloseum's wall, 'Midst the chief relics of almighty Rome; The trees which grew along
