Would the dogs were in it!

Ulr. My father, Siegendorf!

Hush! boy

What then?

Why, then Remember,

The knaves! the slaves!-but they shall smart for this. [Exit STRALENHEIM. Gab. (solus). There goes my noble, feudal, selfwill'd baron !

Epitome of what brave chivalry,

The preux chevaliers of the good old times,
Have left us. Yesterday he would have given
His lands (if he hath any), and, still dearer,
His sixteen quarterings, for as much fresh air
As would have fill'd a bladder, while he lay
Gurgling and foaming half way through the window
Of his o'erset and water-logg'd conveyance;
And now he storms at half a dozen wretches,
Because they love their lives too! Yet, he's right:
'Tis strange they should, when such as he may put them
To hazard at his pleasure. Oh! thou world!
Thou art indeed a melancholy jest!

SCENE II.

[Exit GABOR.

My dream is realised-how beautiful!—
How more than all I sigh'd for! Heaven receive
A mother's thanks!-a mother's tears of joy!
This is indeed thy work! At such an hour, too,
He comes not only as a son, but saviour.

Ulr. If such a joy await me, it must double
What I now feel, and lighten from my heart
A part of the long debt of duty, not

Of love (for that was ne'er withheld)-forgive me!
This long delay was not my fault. 1
Jos.

I know it,

Wer. (starting).

The walls may hear that name!
Ulr.
Wer.

But we will talk of that anon.

I must be known here but as Werner. Come !
Come to my arms again! Why, thou look'st all
I should have been, and was not. Josephine!
Sure 'tis no father's fondness dazzles me;
But, had I seen that form amid ten thousand
Youth of the choicest, my heart would have chosen
This for my son !

Ulr.
And yet you knew me not!
Wer. Alas! I have had that upon my soul,
Which makes me look on all men with an eye
That only knows the evil at first glance.

Ulr. My memory served me far more fondly: I
Have not forgotten aught; and oft-times in
The proud and princely halls of -(I'll not name them,
As you say that 't is perilous)—but i' the pomp
Of your sire's feudal mansion, I look'd back
To the Bohemian mountains many a sunset,
And wept to see another day go down

O'er thee and me, with those huge hills between us.
They shall not part us more.
Wer.

I know not that.
Are you aware my father is no more?

Ulr. Oh, heavens! I left him in a green old age, And looking like the oak, worn, but still steady Amidst the elements, whilst younger trees

Fell fast around him. 'T was scarce three months since. Wer. Why did you leave him?

Jos. (embracing ULRIC). Can you ask that question? Is he not here? Wer.

True: he hath sought his parents,
And found them; but, oh! how, and in what state!
Ulr. All shall be better'd. What we have to do
Is to proceed, and to assert our rights,

Or rather yours; for I waive all, unless
Your father has disposed in such a sort

Of his broad lands as to make mine the foremost,
So that I must prefer my claim for form:
But I trust better, and that all is yours.
Wer. Have you not heard of Stralenheim ?
Ulr.

His life but yesterday: he's here.
Wer.

I saved

You saved

You speak

[lands;

The count,

The serpent who will sting us all!
Ulr.
Riddles: what is this Stralenheim to us?
Wer. Every thing. One who claims our father's
Our distant kinsman, and our nearest foe.
Ulr. I never heard his name till now.
Indeed, spoke sometimes of a kinsman, who,
If his own line should fail, might be remotely
Involved in the succession; but his titles
Were never named before me- and what then?
His right must yield to ours.

Wer.
Ay, if at Prague :
But here he is all-powerful; and has spread
A a

Snares for thy father, which, if hitherto
He hath escaped them, is by fortune, not
By favour.
Ulr.

Doth he personally know you?

Wer. No; but he guesses shrewdly at my person, As he betray'd last night; and I, perhaps,

But owe my temporary liberty

To his uncertainty.

Ulr.

I think you wrong him (Excuse me for the phrase); but Stralenheim Is not what you prejudge him, or, if so, He owes me something both for past and present. I saved his life, he therefore trusts in me.

He hath been plunder'd too, since he came hither:
Is sick; a stranger; and as such not now

Able to trace the villain who hath robb'd him :
I have pledged myself to do so; and the business
Which brought me here was chiefly that : but I
Have found, in searching for another's dross,
My own whole treasure-you, my parents!
Wer. (agitatedly).

Taught you to mouth that name of "villain ?"
Ulr.

Who

What

Believe him not-and yet!
Ulr. (starts, looks earnestly at WERNER, and then
says slowly,)
And you avow it?

Wer. Ulric! before you dare despise your father, Learn to divine and judge his actions. Young, Rash, new to life, and rear'd in luxury's lap, Is it for you to measure passion's force, Or misery's temptation? Wait (not long, It cometh like the night, and quickly)— Wait ! —— Wait till, like me, your hopes are blighted till Sorrow and shame are handmaids of your cabin; Famine and poverty your guests at table; Despair your bed-fellow-then rise, but not From sleep, and judge! Should that day e'er arrive —

[The following is the original passage in the novel:"Stralenheim,' said Conrad, does not appear to be altogether the man you take him for: but were it even otherwise, he owes me gratitude not only for the past, but for what he supposes to be my present employment. I saved his life, and he therefore places confidence in me. He hath been robbed last night is sick a stranger-and in no condition to discover the villain who has plundered him; and the business on which I sought the intendant was chiefly that,'" &c. - LEE.]

["And who,' said he, has entitled you to brand thus with ignominious epithets a being you do not know? Who has taught you that it would be even safe for my son to insult me? It is not necessary to know the person of a ruffian,' replied Conrad indignantly, to give him the appellation he merits: and what is there in common between my father and such a character?'-'Every thing,' said Siegendorf, bitterly, -'for that ruffian was your father!'"- Ibid.]

3" Conrad, before you thus presume to chastise me with your eye, learn to understand my actions. Young, and inexperienced in the world-reposing hitherto in the bosom of indulgence and luxury, is it for you to judge of the force of

Should you see then the serpent, who hath coil'd
Himself around all that is dear and noble

Of you and yours, lie slumbering in your path,
With but his folds between your steps and happiness,
When he, who lives but to tear from you name,
Lands, life itself, lies at your mercy, with
Chance your conductor; midnight for your mantle :
The bare knife in your hand, and earth asleep,
Even to your deadliest foe; and he, as 't were
Inviting death, by looking like it, while

His death alone can save you :- -Thank your God!
If then, like me, content with petty plunder,
You turn aside I did so.

Ulr.

Wer. (abruptly).

But

Hear me !

I will not brook a human voice. -scarce dare
Listen to my own (if that be human still) —
Hear me ! you do not know this man—
I do. +
He's mean, deceitful, avaricious. You
Deem yourself safe, as young and brave; but learn
None are secure from desperation, few
From subtilty. My worst foe, Stralenheim,
Housed in a prince's palace, couch'd within
A prince's chamber, lay below my knife!
An instant—a mere motion-the least impulse
Had swept him and all fears of mine from earth.
He was within my power-my knife was raised
Withdrawn- and I'm in his : are you not so?
Who tells you that he knows you not? Who says
He hath not lured you here to end you? or
To plunge you, with your parents, in a dungeon?
[He pauses.

Ulr. Proceed proceed! Wer.

Me he hath ever known, And hunted through each change of time-namefortune

And why not you? Are you more versed in men?
He wound snares round me; flung along my path
Reptiles, whom, in my youth, I would have spurn'd
Even from my presence; but, in spurning now,
Fill only with fresh venom. Will you be
More patient? Ulric! - Ulric!- there are crimes
Made venial by the occasion, and temptations

Which nature cannot master or forbear. 5

Ulr. (looks first at him, and then at JOSEPHINE). My mother!

Wer.

Ay! I thought so you have now Only one parent. I have lost alike Father and son, and stand alone. Ulr.

But stay!

[WERNER rushes out of the chamber.

the passions, or the temptations of misery? Wait till, like me, you have blighted your fairest hopes-have endured humiliation and sorrow-poverty and famine- before you pretend to judge of their effects on you! Should that miserable day ever arrive," &c. - Ibid.]

[ You do not know this man,' continued he: 'I do! I believe him to be mean, sordid, deceitful! You will conceive yourself safe, because you are young and brave! Learn, however, none are so secure but desperation or subtilty may reach them! Stralenheim, in the palace of a prince, was in my power! My knife was held over him- I forbore- and I am now in his,' &c. &c. Ibid.]

["Me he has known invariably through every change of fortune or of name- and why not you? Me he has entrapped are you more discreet? He has wound the snares of Idenstein around me;- of a reptile whom, a few years ago, I would have spurned from my presence, and whom, in spurning now. I have furnished with fresh venom. Will you be more patient? Conrad, Conrad, there are crimes rendered venial by the occasion, and temptations too exquisite for human fortitude to master or forbear," &c. — Ibid.]

Gab.

1

Help!

Do not think

I'll honour you so much as save your throat
From the Ravenstone by choking you myself.
Iden. I thank you for the respite: but there are
Those who have greater need of it than me.
Ulr. Unriddle this vile wrangling, or -
Gab.

At once, then,

Have you aught with me? What should I

Gab.
You know best, if yesterday's
Flood has not wash'd away your memory;
But that's a trifle. I stand here accused,
In phrases not equivocal, by yon
Intendant, of the pillage of your person

Or chamber:-is the charge your own or his?
Stral. I accuse no man.

Gab.
Then you acquit nie, baron?
Strul. I know not whom to accuse, or to acquit,
Or scarcely to suspect.

Gab.

But you at least

Should know whom not to suspect. I am insulted.
Oppress'd here by these menials, and I look
To you for remedy-teach them their duty!
To look for thieves at home were part of it,
If duly taught; but, in one word, if I
Have an accuser, let it be a man
Worthy to be so of a man like me.
I am your equal.

Stral. Gab.

You !

Ay, sir; and, for Aught that you know, superior; but proceed –

I do not ask for hints, and surmises,

And circumstance, and proofs; I know enough
Of what I have done for you, and what you owe me,
To have at least waited your payment rather
Than paid myself, had I been eager of
Your gold. I also know, that were I even
The villain I am deem'd, the service render'd
So recently would not permit you to
Pursue me to the death, except through shame,
Such as would leave your scutcheon but a blank.
But this is nothing: I demand of you
Justice upon your unjust servants, and
From your own lips a disavowal of

All sanction of their insolence: thus much
You owe to the unknown, who asks no more,
And never thought to have ask'd so much.
Stral.
May be of innocence.

This tone

[GABOR seizes on him.

Ulr. (interfering).

Nay, no violence :

He's old, unarm'd-be temperate, Gabor!

Gab.

'Sdeath who dare doubt it, Except such villains as ne'er had it? Stral. Are hot, sir.

You

Ulr.

The Ravenstone, "Rabenstein," is the stone gibbet of Germany, and so called from the ravens perching on it. [See anté, p. 187.]

And long-engender'd circumstances (not
To be now fully enter'd on) have made
This man obnoxious- perhaps fatal to me.
Ulr. Who? Gabor, the Hungarian ?
Stral.

No-this "Werner"

Made deserts.

Ulr.

You describe it faithfully.

[but,

Stral. Ay-could you see it, you would say soAs I have said, you shall. Ulr. I accept the omen. Stral. Then claim a recompense from it and me, Such as both may make worthy your acceptance, And services to me and mine for ever.

Ulr. And this sole, sick, and miserable wretchThis way-worn stranger- stands between you and This Paradise?- · (As Adam did between The devil and his)-[Aside.]

Stral.

He doth.

Hath he no right?

Ulr. Stral. Right! none. A disinherited prodigal, Who for these twenty years disgraced his lineage In all his acts- but chiefly by his marriage, And living amidst commerce-fetching burghers, And dabbling merchants, in a mart of Jews. Ulr. He has a wife, then? Stral.

Call such your mother. He calls his wife.

Ulr. Stral.

You'd be sorry to You have seen the woman

Is she not so ?

No more

Than he's your father: -an Italian girl,
The daughter of a banish'd man, who lives
On love and poverty with this same Werner.
Ulr. They are childless, then?

Stral.
There is or was a bastard,
Whom the old man- the grandsire (as old age
Is ever doting) took to warm his bosom,
As it went chilly downward to the grave:
But the imp stands not in my path. he has fled,
No one knows whither; and if he had not,
His claims alone were too contemptible
To stand.

Ulr,

At your vain fears: A poor man almost in his grasp a child Of doubtful birth-can startle a grandee!

Strul. All's to be fear'd, where all is to be gain'd.
Ulr. True; and aught done to save or to obtain it.
Stral. You have harp'd the very string next to
my heart.

I may depend upon you?
Ulr.

To doubt it.

Stral.

'T were too late

Let no foolish pity shake

To have robb'd me as the fellow more suspected,
Except that circumstance is less against him;
He being lodged far off, and in a chamber
Without approach to mine: and, to say truth,
I think too well of blood allied to mine,
To deem he would descend to such an act :
Besides, he was a soldier, and a brave one
Once though too rash.

Ulr.
And they, my lord, we know
By our experience, never plunder till
[heirs,
They knock the brains out first-which makes them
Not thieves. The dead, who feel nought, can lose