Plays Being: An unhistorical pastoral: A romantic farce: Bruce, a chronicle play: Smith, a tragic farce: and Scaramouch in Naxos, a pantomime.

Felice. Do you remember what you must say? Torello. I think so. From Thessaly, that land of incantation, Tetragrammaton, Come Hecate and hear my supplication---- Felice. Shemham...

Edward I. Proceed with the impeachment, Mallorie. Mallorie. Sir William Wallace, knight of Elderslie, Some time usurping Guardian of Scotland, You are a traitor to the English c...

Beneath a hawthorn, Eulalie, garlanded; near her, Rupert, Felice, Bruno, Torello, and Scipio, standing together. Ivy and Green. Alardo and Conrad, dressed like soothsayers, amon...

Bruno. Think you the Prince's present humour lasting? Felice. Ay, while the relish smacks. This rustication Is pleasant to him now, a dainty tasting Of heather honey; lacking do...

Silenus. Taste this, good Scarab. My little godling, drink. [All drink. Scaramouch. Body and bouquet! what is this? Silenus. Wine, sir, crushed from grapes the sun never ripened...

Hallowes. O noblest hour in my ignoble life! Hunger and squalor, and delirious rhymes; No past, no future; one unending now Of meanest misery, most miserable When fairest dreams...

Ione. O wind, and do you wander all the night, Moving the broad, black clouds, heavy and high, And lifting, there and yonder, with a kiss, The wet plumes of the sea? O sweet wes...

Brown. Truth is an airy point between two cliffs Of adamant opinion: safest he Who foots it far from either beetling brink. Hallowes, now: he goes hanging on the verge His marty...

Dance, the skies are violet; Dance, our lips with wine are wet; Sing, heigh-ho, the shade is mellow! Twist and twine from dusk till dawn; Feet and hoofs beat bare the lawn. Bacc...

Ringan. What is the meaning of your face to-day? Will you not speak? Then sit down here awhile. [They sit. She gives him a daisy. But Annie, speak. This flower is very well: Now...

Alardo. Safe, sound, on land, and our own land at last. How long, Conrad, have we been seafarers? Conrad. On our disastrous and untimely cruise, In early spring we merrily embar...

Clown. Fair warrior, how speed you in a fight, If all fordone after the second waltz? Amazon. My soul is tired of folly, not my limbs. Good clown, of your light wit enlighten me...

Lamberton. My lords and gentlemen, this is no time For ceremony, which, when lazy peace Has rusted o'er the world's slack businesses, Oils easily the motion of affairs; For now...

1st Soldier. What clouted loons we are! Royal beadsmen! Eh? 2nd Soldier. The king's as ragged as the rest. 1st Soldier. That's true. to-day I hunted with him, and I thought, See...

Comyn. I thought you were in London, cousin mine. Bruce. And still would have me there, or anywhere, But by your side. Comyn. Why is your tongue so harsh, Your eye so big, your...

Clown. O Amazon, victorious and proud, More dread than is your bow your eyebrows are, Upbending to discharge darts keener far Than fill your quiver or the thunder-cloud. You jes...

Song. Here are brackens, green and gold, Fit for plumes of Titans old; And we see them by the light That immortals shed at night: Bosky rooms where to and fro Shadowy dryads com...

May. Where is your bubbling mirth that overflowed In fresh, fantastic volume yester-eve? If doleful thoughts should shadow any face, My past might countenance such mirroring, An...

Graham. Now, rest you here; I've business in the house: And when I come I'll bring my daughter. Ha! [To Hallowes.] She lives on poetry; you'll soon be friends; [To Smith.] While...

Countess of Buchan. Once more, I beg you, brother, on my knees, To undertake the duty of your race. Now, while I plead, they may be crowning him, And no Macduff to gird his curl...

Mercer. I'm glad we've met. How long ago was that? Lady M. Since she was stolen it is fourteen years; Yet in that time no tears have wet my eyes: For when we knew the darling ch...

Bruce. Who would build palaces when homes like these Our kingdom yields us bosomed in her hills! What tapestry, where the gloss and colour fade From some love-story, overtold an...

King Edward I., Earl of Pembroke, Lord Henry Percy, and Lord Robert Clifford. Edward I. Once more, my lords, the rude north claims our care. A faction there is still opposed to...

Countess of Buchan [aside]. O me! Another! I can court no more. This one I'll take by storm.--Fellow, good friend, I think you are my thousandth jailor. Soon I'll have a fresh o...

A Young Friar. "St. Andrew and St. George! Fight on! fight on!" A whole year's storms let loose on one small lake Prisoned among the mountains, rioting Between the heathery slop...

Alardo. Thus thrice am I the father of one son: By ordinary geniture and birth; And by my son's deliverance from death-- Yea, resurrection, for I held him dead; And now experien...

Eulalie. My tongue must heave my bosom's suffering forth, Or else into my mouth my prisoned heart Will leap, and pant its desperate passion there. Wild love has burst upon me li...

Bruce. This drowned and abject mood; this sodden brain; This broken back; this dull insanity, That mopes and broods and has no thought at all; This dross, that, in exchange for...

Torello. May this sorceress be approached safely? Felice. O, she'll not bite. Bruno. She'll only give you a bit of her mind. Torello. I may chance to give her a bit of mine if s...

Bruce. Look to our horses while we rest. [Squire goes out. Isabella. How far Are we before our friends? Bruce. See, they appear. Isabella. That little puff of dust? Bruce. Our c...

Scipio. Yonder he is, puzzling over a paper. Neither of your lordships knows him? Felice. No. Scipio. It is no wonder. Since he fell in love he affects a kind of bearish melanch...

Buchan. You holy men, give place a little while. A Monk. To whom? Buchan. The wife and friends of slaughtered Comyn. [The monks retire. Countess of Badenoch. Would any mortal th...

Edward II. Will yon men fight? Umfraville. Ay, siccarly. My liege, If you will hear an old man's humble word Who knows the Scotchmen well, feign a retreat: Then will these fiery...

Buchan. God help me and all jealous fools, I pray! The plagues of Hades leagued in one raw scourge Might minister diversion to my soul, Assailing through my flesh. No thought at...

Bruce. I think we all know well what courage is: Not thews, not blood, not bulk, not bravery: Its highest title, patience. Fiery haste Has lost most battles. Till the word be gi...

Martha. Why, child, why! What a state is this! Come! and you to be Queen of the May! They say Prince Rupert will himself be king. Eulalie. And that it is that troubles me. Marth...

Ivy. What singers be these? Green. A shepherd and his lass. Ivy. I know a better song than that. It goes this way: [Sings.] Night and day let us be merry, And set not by the wor...

Martha. Gone with the Prince! I knew 'twould come at last. Well, I shall be a lonely woman soon. To think how many a mother envies me My lovely daughter for her loveliness, And...

Buchan. This is not jealousy. I only ache With sorrow that my trust has been reposed In falseness; and I feel--I fear I feel The whole world's finger, quivering with scorn, Stre...

Bruce. Most noble souls who wait so patiently! Your splendid faith is in the air about you; Your steady eyes shine like a galaxy; Your presence comforts me: pressed in the fight...

Song. Through the air, through the air, We are borne; from our hair A spicy odour is shaken: We sing as we sail; The strong trees quail, And the dreaming doves awaken. The pale...