Chapter 121

_Thekla._ His spirit 'tis that calls me: 'tis the troop Of his true followers, who offered up Themselves to avenge his death: and they accuse me Of an ignoble loitering--they would not Forsake their leader even in his death--they died for him! 5 And shall I live?---- For me too was that laurel-garland twined That decks his bier. Life is an empty casket: I throw it from me. O! my only hope;-- To die beneath the hoofs of trampling steeds-- 10 That is the lot of heroes upon earth! [_Exit THEKLA._[793:1]

(_The curtain drops._)

FOOTNOTES:

[793:1] The soliloquy of Thekla consists in the original of six-and-twenty lines, twenty of which are in rhymes of irregular recurrence. I thought it prudent to abridge it. Indeed the whole scene between Thekla and Lady Neubrunn might, perhaps, have been omitted without injury to the play. _1800_, _1828_, _1829_.

LINENOTES:

[4] _they_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[5] _they_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[6] _I_ 1800, 1828, 1829.