Locrine

“ But rather joy that Locrine favours thee.
ESTRILD.
How can he favor me that slew my spouse?
LOCRINE.
The chance of war, my love, took him from thee.
ESTRILD.
But Locrine was the causer of his death.
LOCRINE.
He was an enemy to Locrine’s state,
And slew my noble brother Albanact.
ESTRILD.
But he was linked to me in marriage bond,
And would you have me love his slaughterer?
LOCRINE.
Better to live, than not to live at all.
ESTRILD.
Better to die renowned for chastity,
Than live with shame and endless infamy. ”

“ This war must finish with Locrine’s death;
His death will soon extinguish our complaints.
GWENDOLINE.
O no, his death will more augment my woes.
He was my husband, brave Thrasimachus,
More dear to me than the apple of mine eye,
Nor can I find in heart to work his scathe.
THRASIMACHUS.
Madame, if not your proper injuries,
Nor my exile, can move you to revenge,
Think on our father Corineus’ words;
His words to us stands always for a law.
Should Locrine live that caused my father’s death?
Should Locrine live that now divorceth you? ”

“ LOCRINE.
Thy sire, mine uncle, stood the sole man, then,
That held thy life up happy? Guendolen,
Hast thou nor child nor husband—or are we
Worth no remembrance more at all of thee?
GUENDOLEN.
Thy speech is sweet; thine eyes are flowers that shine:
If ever siren bare a son, Locrine,
To reign in some green island and bear sway
On shores more shining than the front of day
And cliffs whose brightness dulls the morning’s brow,
That son of sorceries and of seas art thou.
LOCRINE.
Nay, now thy tongue it is that plays on men ”

“ HUBBA.
If she that rules fair Rhamnis’ golden gate
Grant us the honour of the victory,
As hitherto she always favoured us,
Right noble father, we will rule the land,
Enthronized in seats of Topaz stones,
That Locrine and his brethren all may know,
None must be king but Humber and his son.
HUMBER.
Courage, my son, fortune shall favour us,
And yield to us the coronet of bay,
That decked none but noble conquerours.
But what saith Estrild to these regions?
How liketh she the temperature thereof?
Are they not pleasant in her gracious eyes? ”

“ Now, Corineus, stay and see revenge,
And feed thy soul with Locrine’s overthrow.
Behold, they come; the trumpets call them forth;
The roaring drums summon the soldiers.
Lo, where their army glistereth on the plains!
Throw forth thy lightning, mighty Jupiter,
And power thy plagues on cursed Locrine’s head.
[Stand aside]
Enter Locrine, Estrild, Assarachus, Sabren and their soldiers at one door: Thrasimachus, Gwendoline, Madan and their followers at an other. ”

“ Wherein, as in a glass, we plainly see,
That all our life is but a Tragedy?
Since mighty kings are subject to mishap—
Aye, mighty kings are subject to mishap!—
Since martial Locrine is bereft of life,
Shall Estrild live, then, after Locrine’s death?
Shall love of life bar her from Locrine’s sword?
O no, this sword, that hath bereft his life,
Shall now deprive me of my fleeting soul;
Strengthen these hands, O mighty Jupiter,
That I may end my woeful misery.
Locrine, I come; Locrine, I follow thee.
[Kill herself.]
Sound the alarm. Enter Sabren. ”

“ Unto the arch where lovely Estrild lies.
Bring her and Sabren straight unto the court;
She shall be queen in Gwendoline’s room.
Let others wail for Corineus’ death;
I mean not so to macerate my mind
For him that barred me from my heart’s desire.
THRASIMACHUS.
Hath Locrine, then, forsook his Gwendoline?
Is Corineus’ death so soon forgot?
If there be gods in heaven, as sure there be,
If there be fiends in hell, as needs there must,
They will revenge this thy notorious wrong,
And power their plagues upon thy cursed head.
LOCRINE.
What! prat’st thou, peasant, to thy sovereign? ”

“ Hewn off ere hanging. Wolves or men are we,
That thou shouldst question this?
GUENDOLEN.
Not wolves, but men,
Surely: for beasts are loyal.
LOCRINE.
Guendolen,
What irks thee?
GUENDOLEN.
Nought save grief and love; Locrine,
A grievous love, a loving grief is mine.
Here stands my husband: there my father lies:
I know not if there live in either’s eyes
More love, more life of comfort. This our son
Loves me: but is there else left living one
That loves me back as I love?
LOCRINE.
Nay, but how
Has this wild question fired thine heart? ”

“ LOCRINE.
[Taking her up.]
Doth Estrild fall with such submission
Before her servant, king of Albion?
Arise, fair Lady; leave this lowly cheer.
Life up those looks that cherish Locrine’s heart,
That I may freely view that roseall face,
Which so intangled hath my lovesick breast.
Now to the court, where we will court it out,
And pass the night and day in Venus’ sports.
Frolic, brave peers; be joyful with your king.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE II. The camp of Gwendoline Enter Gwendoline, Thrasimachus, Madan and the soldiers. ”

“ Sits armed at all points on our dismal blades;
And cursed Estrild, that inflamed his heart,
Shall, if I live, die a reproachful death.
MADAN.
Mother, though nature makes me to lament
My luckless father’s froward lechery,
Yet, for he wrongs my Lady mother thus,
I, if I could, myself would work his death.
THRASIMACHUS.
See, madame, see, the desire of revenge
Is in the children of a tender age!
Forward, brave soldiers, into Mertia,
Where we shall brave the coward to his face.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE III. The camp of Locrine Enter Locrine, Estrild, Sabren, Assarachus and the soldiers. ”

“ That children ought to bear unto the sire,
To love and favour Lady Gwendoline.
Consider this, that if the injury
Do move her mind, as certainly it will,
War and dissention follows speedily.
What though her power be not so great as yours?
Have you not seen a mighty elephant
Slain by the biting of a silly mouse?
Even so the chance of war inconstant is.
LOCRINE.
Peace, uncle, peace, and cease to talk hereof;
For he that seeks, by whispering this or that,
To trouble Locrine in his sweetest life,
Let him persuade himself to die the death.
Enter the Page, with Estrild and Sabren. ”

“ And with my sword, the messenger of death,
Seal thee an acquitance for thy bold attempts.
[Exeunt.]
Sound the alarm. Enter Locrine, Assarachus and a soldier at one door; Gwendoline, Thrasimachus, at an other; Locrine and his followers driven back. Then let Locrine & Estrild enter again in a maze.
LOCRINE.
O fair Estrild, we have lost the field;
Thrasimachus hath won the victory,
And we are left to be a laughing stock,
Scoft at by those that are our enemies.
Ten thousand soldiers, armed with sword & shield,
prevail against an hundreth thousand men ”

“ So Humber, having conquered Albanact,
Doth yield his glory unto Locrine’s sword.
Mark what ensues and you may easily see,
That all our life is but a Tragedy.
SCENE I. Troynouant. An apartment in the Royal Palace Enter Locrine, Gwendoline, Corineus, Assaracus, Thrasimachus, Camber. ”

“ Come wail with me the martial Locrine’s death;
Come mourn with me for beauteous Estrild’s death.
Ah! loving parents, little do you know
What sorrow Sabren suffers for your thrall.
GWENDOLINE.
But may this be, and is it possible?
Lives Sabren yet to expiate my wrath?
Fortune, I thank thee for this courtesy;
And let me never see one prosperous hour,
If Sabren die not a reproachful death.
SABREN.
Hard hearted death, that, when the wretched call,
Art furthest off, and seldom hearest at all ”

“ Should dare to enter this our little world,
Soon should they rue their overbold attempts,
That after us our progeny may say,
There lie the beasts that sought to usurp our land.
LOCRINE.
Aye, they are beasts that seek to usurp our land,
And like to brutish beasts they shall be served.
For mighty Jove, the supreme king of heaven,
That guides the concourse of the Meteors,
And rules the motion of the azure sky,
Fights always for the Brittains’ safety.—
But stay! me thinks I hear some shriking noise,
That draweth near to our pavilion.
Enter the soldiers leading in Estrild. ”

“ Of Locrine the eldest sonne of Brute, of Albanact his yoongest sonne, and his death: of Madan, Mempricius, Ebranke, Brute Greenesheeld, Leill, Ludhurdibras, Baldud, and Leir, the nine rulers of Britaine successiuelie after Brute.
THE FIFT CHAPTER.
LOCRINE THE SECOND RULER OF BRITAIN. Gal. Mon. Mat. West. Fa. out of G. de Co. Gal Mon. Mat. West. Locrinus or Locrine the first begotten sonne of Brute began to reigne ouer the countrie called Logiers, in the yeare of the world 1874, and held to his part the countrie that reached from the south sea vnto the riuer of Humber. ”

“ Poor Estrild lives despairing of relief,
For friends in trouble are but few and rare.
What, said I few? Aye! few or none at all,
For cruel death made havoc of them all.
Thrice happy they whose fortune was so good,
To end their lives, and with their lives their woes!
Thrice hapless I, whom fortune so withstood,
That cruelly she gave me to my foes!
Oh, soldiers, is there any misery,
To be compared to fortune’s treachery.
LOCRINE.
Camber, this same should be the Scithian queen.
CAMBER.
So may we judge by her lamenting words.
LOCRINE.
So fair a dame mine eyes did never see ”

“ No ivory or new-fallen snow, no lily could exceed the whiteness of her skin. Locrin, smitten with love, would have gladly married her, at which Corineus was extremely incensed, on account of the engagement which Locrin had entered into with him to marry his daughter. ”

“ O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;
And save his good broadsword, he weapons had none,
He rode all unarm'd, and he rode all alone.
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.
He staid not for brake, and he stopp'd not for stone,
He swam the Eske river where ford there was none;
But ere he alighted at Netherby gate,
The bride had consented, the gallant came late:
For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war,
Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar. ”

“ That mill of Father Merlier's was truly a very pleasant spot. It was situated right in the heart of Rocreuse, at the place where the main road makes a sharp bend. The village has but a single street, bordered on either side by a row of low, whitened cottages, but just there, where the road curves, there are broad stretches of meadow-land, and huge trees, which follow the course of the Morelle, cover the low grounds of the valley with a most delicious shade. All Lorraine has no more charming bit of nature to show. ”

“ He thought that perhaps she did not realize what it meant, this swarm of Prussians pouring into France between the Moselle and the Rhine. He, American that he was, felt heartsick, humiliated, at the sight of the spiked casques and armoured horsemen, trampling the meadows of the province that he loved—the province of Lorraine. For those strangers to France who know France know two mothers; and though the native land is first and dearest, the new mother, France, generous, tender, lies next in the hearts of those whom she has sheltered. ”

“ If my commander were one of these savage chiefs, whom we treat as barbarians, and I had said to him: 'Spare this house, for it belongs to my friends. I was a wanderer and a fugitive, and they took me in and gave me a father and a brother,' the Indian chief would have answered: 'It is well; spare your friends; it is only the viper that stings the bosom that has warmed it.'
"I have always lived in the hope," went on Lochiel, "of one day rejoining my Canadian friends, whom I love to-day more than ever, if that were possible. ”

“ From the residence of these outlaws, the green islet which is in the middle of the lower part of Lochearn is still named the Isle of the Neishes.
The future fate of the few stout men who adhered to him, their chief, cost him but little thought. He knew that they would, too probably, all die in detail, falling, as their forefathers fell, by the edge of the sword; but the future of his little daughter, the last of all his race, pressed heavy on the old man's soul, for he would rather have seen her in her grave than the prisoner, it might be the bondswoman, of the abhorred MacNabs. ”

“ The departure of the English left Richelieu face to face with La Rochelle, “like a lion with his prey.” But the Cardinal was well aware that it was a prey which could not be secured without a long and terrible struggle. With its strong walls, covered on two sides by marshes and on a third by the harbour, and its brave and hardy population, largely composed of seafaring men inured to perils and hardships, La Rochelle was one of the most difficult places to subdue which it was possible to imagine. ”

“ Such a man, he thought, deserves to be happy and successful. What joy it must have been to a person of his temperament—the chance discovery of the Locri Faun!
A great stillness brooded upon the enclosure beyond. The shadows had shifted. Sunny patches lay, distributed in fresh patterns, upon the old brickwork flooring. An oval shaft of light, glinting through the foliage, had struck the pedestal of the Faun and was stealthily crawling up its polished surface. ”

“ Loches is certainly one of the greatest impressions of the traveller in central France, - the largest cluster of curious things that presents itself to his sight. It rises above the valley of the Indre, the charming stream set in meadows and sedges, which wanders through the province of Berry and through many of the novels of Madame George Sand; lifting from the summit of a hill, which it covers to the base, a confusion of terraces, ramparts, towers, and spires. ”