Egmont.
Listen, sweet!
The Egmont of yon city—he is proud,
And cold, and stern, and sorrowful. He keeps
His counsel to himself. He wears a brow
That is a smiling shadow to his heart:
Perplexed with seeming mirth, that shroudeth care.
Exalted by a giddy populace,
That know not what they laud, or what they seek.
Moving 'mid those who understand him not;
Whom he has naught in common with: and worn
By furious guarding 'gainst familiar friends
Who seem, yet are not. Watched, suspected, feared;
Wearied with labour, which hath neither end
Nor yet reward; but only distant hope.
Such is the Egmont of the field and state.
But thine beloved: he is happy, frank,
Open, and known to that most dear of hearts—
Which he knows, too, and trusts it as his own.
Calm, deeply joyful; such is Egmont now.
Clara.
Ah! let me die upon those blessed words—
The world has now no joy beyond.
L. E. L.
[The above scene certainly suggested to Sir Walter Scott the exquisite one in "Kenilworth," where Leicester comes to visit Amy, garbed as befits his rank. A brief portion will shew the general resemblance. "Meanwhile, the earl affected to resist, when she strove to take his cloak from him. ‘Nay.' she said, ‘but I will unmantle you. I must see if you have kept your word to me, and come as the great earl that men call thee; and not heretofore as a private cavalier.' And, with a childish wonder, which her youth and rustic education rendered not only excusable but becoming, she examined and admired from head to foot, the noble form and princely attire of him who formed the proudest ornament of the court. 'But this other fair collar, so richly wrought, with some jewel, like a sheep hung by the middle, attached to it, what,' said the young countess, 'does it signify?' This collar,' said the earl, 'is the badge of the noble order of the Golden Fleece, once appertaining to the House of Burgundy. It hath high privileges, my Amy, belonging to it—this most noble order—for even the King of Spain himself, who hath now succeeded to the honours and demesnes of Burgundy, may not sit in judgment upon a knight of the Golden Fleece, unless by assistance and consent of the great chapter of the order. It belongs properly to Flanders; and Egmont and Orange have pride in seeing it displayed on an English bosom.'"— Kenilworth.]
(To be continued.)
