And harrow it! I'd like to clip the broad

And full-grown wing that taught his tender pinion
So bold a flight!

GESLER AND ATTENDANTS.

Gesler. Double the guards. Stay! Place your trustiest men

At the postern. Stop!

You'd go with half your errand :

Let every soul

I'll tell you when to go.

Within the walls be under arms: the sick

That do not keep their beds, or can rise from them,

Must take a weapon; if they can but raise

A hand, we've use for them. Away, now. Tumult (Exit Rodolph.)
Under our very brows! The slaves will come,
In torrents from the hills, and, like a flood,
O'erwhelm us! Lutold, say our orders are,
On pain of death, no quarter shall be given.
Another word: let them be men this once,
I promise them the sacking of the town!
Without reserve, I give it them of property
Or soul! I've nothing further, sir. I'll raze
Their habitations, hunt them from their hills,
Exterminate them, ere I'll live in fear!
What word now? (To Rodolph, who re-enters.)
Rodolph. 'Twas a false alarm. The people
Paid prompt submission to your order: one
Alone resisted, whom they have secured,

Again! 'Twas false, then, that our soldiers fled ?
Rod. 'Twas but a party of them fled, my lord;
Which, reinforc'd, return'd, and soon o'erpower'd
The rash offender.

Ges. What! fled they from one?

A single man! How many were there?

Rod. Four,

With Sarnem.

Ges. Sarnem! Did he fly?

Rod. He did;

But 'twas for succour.

Ges. Succour ! One to four,

And four need succour? I begin to think
We're sentinel'd by effigies of men,

Not men themselves. And Sarnem, too! What kind
Of man is he can make a tiger cower?

Yea, and with backers! I should like to see

That man.

Rod. He's here.

Ges. I'm on the hills again!

I see their bleak tops looking down upon me,
And think I hear them ask me with a scowl

If I would be their master. Do not sheathe

Your swords! Stand near me ! - Beckon some of those About me. I would be attended. If

[Enter Sarnem and Soldiers, with Tell in chains.]

Sarnem. Down, slave!

Behold the governor. Down! down! and beg

For mercy!

Ges. Does he hear?

Sar. Debate it not.

Be prompt. Submission, slave! Thy knee-thy knee !

Or with thy life thou playest.

Rod. Let's force him to

The ground.

Ges. Can I believe my eyes? He smiles!

Gerard. Why don't you smite him for that look?

Ges. He grasps

His chains as he would make a weapon of them
To lay the smiter dead. What kind of man
Is this, that looks in thraldom more at large
Than they who lay it on him?

Upon the other to accomplish that

Himself hath not the manhood to begin.

Why don't they take him from my sight? Behold
He has brought them to a pause; and there they stand
Like things entranced by some magician's spell,
Wondering that they are masters of their organs,
And not their faculties. They gaze on me
As one expected to perform a part

-

- thou'rt Gesler

He doth forget to fill. They must not see
Me thus. Come, draw thy breath with ease
Their lord; and he's a slave thou look'st upon!
Canst thou not mulct the villain in his life?
Hast thou not tortures to requite him with?
'Tis only in the absence of thy wrath

He braves it. Let it show itself at once

He's passive as the dust thou tread'st upon!
Why speak'st thou not?

Tell. For wonder.

Ges. Wonder?

Tell. Yes,

That thou shouldst seem a man.

Ges. What should I seem?

Tell. A monster!

Ges. Ha! Beware - think on thy chains.

Tell. Though they were doubled, and did weigh me down, Prostrate to the earth, methinks I could rise up

Erect with nothing but the honest pride

Of telling thee, usurper, to the teeth,

Thou art a monster! Think upon my chains!
Show me the link of them, which, could it speak,

Would give its evidence against my word.

Think on my chains!

How came they on me!

Ges. Darest thou question me?

Tell. Darest thou not answer?

Ges. Do I hear?

Tell. Thou dost.

Ges. Beware my vengeance!
Tell. Can it more than kill?
Ges. Enough-it can do that.
Tell. No; not enough:

It cannot take away the grace of life
Its comeliness of look that virtue gives —

Its port erect with consciousness of truth -
Its rich attire of honorable deeds -

Its fair report that's rife on good men's tongues :
It cannot lay its hands on these, no more
Than it can pluck his brightness from the sun,

Or with polluted finger tarnish it.

Ges. But it can make thee writhe.

Tell. It may.

Ges. And groan.

Tell. It may; and I may cry.

Go on, though it should make me groan again.

Ges. Whence com'st thou ?

Tell. From the mountains. Wouldst thou learn

What news from them?

Ges. Canst tell me any?

Tell. Ay;

They watch no more the avalanche.

Ges. Why so?

Tell. Because they look for thee! The hurricane Comes unawares upon them; from its bed The torrent breaks, and finds them in its trackGes. What do they, then?

Tell. Thank heaven, it is not thou!

Thou hast perverted nature in them. The earth.
Presents her fruits to them, and is not thank'd;
The harvest sun is constant, and they scarce
Return his smile; their flocks and herds increase,
And they look on as men who count a loss:
They hear of thriving children born to them
And never shake the teller by the hand;

While those they have, they see grow up and flourish,
And think as little of caressing them,

As they were things a deadly plague had smit.-
There's not a blessing heaven vouchsafes them, but
The thought of thee doth wither to a curse,

As something they must lose and richer were
To lack!

Ges. That's right! I'd have them like their hills That never smile, though wanton summer tempt Them e'er so much.

Tell. But they do sometimes smile.

Ges. Ay!-when is that?

Tell. When they do talk of vengeance.

Ges. Vengeance! Dare

They talk of that?

Tell. Ay, and expect it, too.

Ges. From whence?

Tell. From heaven.

Ges. From heaven?

Tell. And the true hands

Are lifted up to it on every hill

For justice on thee.

Ges. Where's thy abode ?