Perishing

“ Presgrave. "There are many who act upon prompt and noble impulse, who trample, as it were, on the sin that besets them, but fail when their trial is lengthened and tedious, when their courage has time to cool and their hope to flag. And we all need the apostle's exhortation—'Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not.'"
"Ours must be a lifelong keeping down of the serpent," said Percy, rather as if thinking aloud than as if addressing himself to his companions. ”

“ And have I 'scap'd the Saracen's fell sword Only to perish by Elwina's guilt? I would have bared my bosom to the foe, I would have died, had I but known you wish'd it. Elw. Percy, I lov'd thee most when most I wrong'd thee; Yes, by these tears I did. Per. Married! just Heaven! Married! to whom? Yet wherefore should I know? It cannot add fresh horrors to thy crime, Or my destruction. Elw. Oh! 'twill add to both. How shall I tell? Prepare for something dreadful. Hast thou not heard of—Douglas? Per. Why 'tis well! Thou awful Power, why waste thy wrath on me? Why arm omnipotence to crush a worm? ”

“ In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen, Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen, Virtue preserved from fell destruction's blast, Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at last: In Helicanus may you well descry A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty: In reverend Cerimon there well appears The worth that learned charity aye wears: For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame Had spread their cursed deed, and honour'd name Of Pericles, to rage the city turn, That him and his they in his palace burn; The gods for murder seemed so content To punish them although not done but meant. ”

“ Imperious honour;—surely I may pity him. Yet, wherefore pity? no, I envy thee: For thou hast still the liberty to weep, In thee 'twill be no crime: thy tears are guiltless, For they infringe no duty, stain no honour, And blot no vow; but mine are criminal, Are drops of shame which wash the cheek of guilt, And every tear I shed dishonours Douglas. Per. I swear my jealous love e'en grudges thee Thy sad pre-eminence in wretchedness. Elw. Rouse, rouse, my slumb'ring virtue! Percy, hear me. Heaven, when it gives such high-wrought souls as thine, Still gives as great occasions to exert them. ”

“ Percy.—Peace, thou barbarian! keep thy frog's throat closed. I say, old greybeard, hast thou found an answer?
Sir Alex.—Had my Lord Percy found more fitting
phrase
To couch his haughty mandate, I perhaps
Had found some meet reply. But as it is,
Thou hast thine answer in this people's eyes.
Hugh Elliot.—Since we with life and honour may depart, Send not an answer that must seal our ruin, Though it be hero-like to talk of death. ”

“ No tongue can tell the dreadful sufferings of Pericles when he heard his wife was dead. As soon as he could speak he said:
“O you gods, why do you make us love your goodly gifts and then snatch those gifts away?”
“Patience, good sir,” said Lychorida, “here is all that is left alive of our dead queen, a little daughter, and for your child’s sake be more manly. Patience, good sir, even for the sake of this precious charge.”
Pericles took the newborn infant in his arms, and he said to the little babe: “Now may your life be mild, for a more blusterous birth had never babe! ”

“ Percy—I cannot speak. Per. Those tears how eloquent! I would not change this motionless, mute, joy For the sweet strains of angels: I look down With pity on the rest of human kind, However great may be their fame of happiness, And think their niggard fate has given them nothing, Not giving thee; or, granting some small blessing, Denies them my capacity to feel it. Elw. Alas! what mean you? Per. Can I speak my meaning? 'Tis of such magnitude that words would wrong it; But surely my Elwina's faithful bosom Should beat in kind responses of delight, And feel, but never question, what I mean. ”

“ She's pure as spotless saints. Elw. I will not be excus'd by Percy's crime; So white my innocence, it does not ask The shade of others' faults to set it off; Nor shall he need to sully his fair fame To throw a brighter lustre round my virtue. Dou. Yet he can only die—but death for honour! Ye powers of hell, who take malignant joy In human bloodshed, give me some dire means, Wild as my hate, and desperate as my wrongs! Per. Enough of words. Thou know'st I hate thee, Douglas; 'Tis stedfast, fix'd, hereditary hate, As thine for me ”

“ For this, I will offer oblations nightly to thee.' And then and there did Pericles, with the consent of Thaisa, solemnly affiance their daughter, the virtuous Marina, to the well-deserving Lysimachus in marriage.
Thus have we seen in Pericles, his queen, and daughter, a famous example of virtue assailed by calamity (through the sufferance of Heaven, to teach patience and constancy to men) , under the same guidance becoming finally successful, and triumphing over chance and change. ”

“ The gods requite his charity.
If thou livest, Pericles, thou hast a heart
That even cracks for woe! This chanced tonight.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
Most likely, sir.
CERIMON.
Nay, certainly tonight;
For look how fresh she looks! They were too rough
That threw her in the sea. Make a fire within
Fetch hither all my boxes in my closet.
[Exit a Servant.]
Death may usurp on nature many hours,
And yet the fire of life kindle again
The o’erpress’d spirits. ”

“ You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings;
Who, finger’d to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down, and all the gods to hearken;
But being play’d upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.
ANTIOCHUS.
Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life,
For that’s an article within our law,
As dangerous as the rest. Your time’s expired:
Either expound now, or receive your sentence.
PERICLES.
Great king,
Few love to hear the sins they love to act ”

“ I'll tell you what it is, Percy, it is time you left off making such scarecrows for yourself out of nothing at all. You keep yourself in a perpetual worry about things more than half of which never come to pass after all. ”

“ Consciousness becoming more acute, I perceived, standing barely within the shadows of the interior, the dusky figure of a warrior, unarmed, and motionless except for a gesture of the hand which seemed to command my following him. Retaining concealed within my doublet the sharp knife intrusted to me by Madame, I felt little trepidation at the fellow's presence, nor was there anything about his countenance to foster alarm, he appearing the least ferocious of aspect of all I had observed among the tribe. ”

“ Dou. Where, where, is she? My fond impatience brooks not her delay; Quick, let me find her, hush her anxious soul, And sooth her troubled spirit into peace. Enter Birtha. Bir. O horror, horror, horror! Dou. Ah! what mean'st thou? Bir. Elwina— Dou. Speak— Bir. Her grief wrought up to frenzy, She has, in her delirium, swallow'd poison! Raby. Frenzy and poison! Dou. Both a husband's gift; But thus I do her justice. As Douglas goes to stab himself, enter Elwina distracted,
her hair dishevelled, Percy's scarf in her hand. Elw. [goes up to Douglas.] What, blood again? We cannot kill him twice! ”

“ He swallowed a mass of incoherent words in an effort to master himself; then his hand pressed over mine.
“You are right; I must get control of myself,” he said. “I have done some horrible things which can never be forgiven, but I swear to you that I have not done them intentionally. ”

“ All inquiries about the name of the suf. ferer had already ceased, when a decrepid old woman, supported on crutches, slowly advanced towards the corpse, and knew it to be that of a young man to whom she had been promised in marriage more than half a century ago. She threw herself on the corpse, which had all the appearance of a bronze statue, bathed it with her tears, and fainted with joy at once more beholding the object of her affections. ”

“ There are six human heads buried in your cellar. There must be no more.”
“No more?” he laughed shrilly and threw up both his hands to indicate the count of ten. “No more, you say? There will be ten more before it stops. Ten more! That’s what the book says!”
“You want ten?” I demanded incredulously, struck numb by his callousness. “You want ten more to add to those six? Carse, Carse! They are not cabbages you are counting; they are human heads. Do you think I am a fiend to let this continue? No; it must end—it must end on the gallows.”
“He died on the gallows!” ”

“ And Percival said to himself: "Ha! how great is the world; I knew not that there were so many people in the world."
How Percival rode in the world.
But when the folk of that place beheld what sort of a saddle was upon the back of the pack-horse; and when they beheld what sort of armor it was that Percival wore--all woven of osier twigs; and when they beheld how he was armed with a javelin and with no other weapon, they mocked and laughed at him and jeered him. But Percival understood not their mockery, whereupon he said: "Lo! how pleasant and how cheerful is the world. ”

“ And did my sighs, and did my sorrows, reach thee? And art thou come at last to dry my tears? How did'st thou 'scape the fury of the foe? Per. Thy guardian genius hover'd o'er the field, And turn'd the hostile spear from Percy's breast, Lest thy fair image should be wounded there. But Harcourt should have told thee all my fate, How I surviv'd—— Elw. Alas! I have not seen him. Oh! I have suffer'd much. Per. Of that no more; For every minute of our future lives Shall be so bless'd, that we will learn to wonder How we could ever think we were unhappy. ”

“ Six crimes in six weeks! And I can only thank merciful God that it will end with only one more. Perhaps it is ended now. That German servant who loaned me the diary said it would be only six or seven."
"Do you think the police will believe all of this?" I demanded. "What you have told me has no sane explanation. It—it's demonism!"
Carse smiled pitiably. "There are more things in heaven and earth," he began; then he heaved his shoulders as if flinging off an attempt at levity. "The human mind is a strange organ, and no man can explain its mysteries. ”

“ At any rate, I’ll marry that girl, if perdition comes after it—were it only to spite Percy. How he will gnash his teeth when he hears of it, hey? The old man is dead, and the old woman is left almost penniless. ”

“ And aye the blood ran down between.
'Now yield thee, yield thee, Percy,' he said,
'Or else I vow I'll lay thee low!'
'To whom must I yield,' quoth Earl Percy,
'Now that I see that it must be so?'
'Thou shalt not yield to lord nor loun,
Nor yet shalt thou yield to me ”

“ The flesh is a strong giant, very full of pride and lust of living, and the spirit must needs keep watch and ward, seizing every opportunity to mortify and deject its adversary. Goodwife Allen is still gaping with the crowd at the fort, and your man and maid have not yet come, but I shall be overhead if you need aught. Mistress Percy must want rest after her ride. ”

“ They Perish, if they do not now Sincerely Turn from Sin to God, and give themselves up to the Lord Jesus Christ; They Righteously and Horribly Perish! And yet, without influences from above, they can do none of those things which must be done if they do not perish. ”

“ Perceval had been chosen to do his Lord’s service; he is to slay no knight nor to lie with any woman, that being luxurious sin. His sins have prevented his reaching Brons. He is to be careful to keep himself from sin and felony, being of a race our Lord so loved that He committed His blood to their keeping. Much else he says, and on the morrow Perceval and his sister ride forth. ”

“ Raby. Did he? Did Percy? O gallant boy, then I'm thy foe no more; Who conquers for my country is my friend! His fame shall add new glories to a house, Where never maid was false, nor knight disloyal. Sir H. You do embalm him, lady, with your tears: They grace the grave of glory where he lies— He died the death of honour. ”

“ Sir H. She may be chang'd, Spite of her tears, her fainting, and alarms. I know the sex, know them as nature made 'em, Not such as lovers wish and poets feign. Per. To doubt her virtue were suspecting Heaven, 'Twere little less than infidelity! And yet I tremble. Why does terror shake These firm-strung nerves? But 'twill be ever thus, When fate prepares us more than mortal bliss, And gives us only human strength to bear it. Sir H. What beam of brightness breaks through yonder gloom? Per. Hubert—she comes! by all my hopes, she comes! 'Tis she—the blissful vision is Elwina! ”

“ Twice did they meet to-day—my wife and Percy. Raby. I know it. Dou. Ha! thou knew'st of my dishonour? Thou wast a witness, an approving witness, At least a tame one! Raby. Percy came, 'tis true, A constant, tender, but a guiltless lover! Dou. I shall grow mad indeed; a guiltless lover! Percy, the guiltless lover of my wife! Raby. He knew not she was married. Dou. How? is't possible? Raby. Douglas, 'tis true; both, both were innocent; He of her marriage, she of his return. Bir. But now, when we believ'd thee dead, she vow'd Never to see thy rival. ”

“ Nay," says he, " you must not kill a man that has done no harm, only for being white. This man is my friend; ray house is his jjost; I am his soldier, and must fight for him; you must kill me before you can kill him. What good man will ever come again under my roof, if I let my floor be stained with a good man's blood?" ”

“ A few minutes, more or less, can make no odds, and ’tis but too true that Her Ladyship stood there in ambush of the branches in the vain hope that Percy might lift his mask, if but for an instant, and thus allow her parting gaze to rest upon his features.
It is quite true that mortals, although in never such haste to reach a desired crisis, still ofttimes halt at the threshhold of its attainment ”