COUNTESS.

Who next is to be murder'd? Who is next
To be maltreated? Lo! the Duke is dead,
The Emperor's vengeance may be pacified!
Spare the old servants; let not their fidelity
Be imputed to the faithful as a crime-
The evil destiny surprised my brother
Too suddenly: he could not think on them.

OCTAVIO.

Speak not of vengeance! Speak not of maltreatment!
The Emperor is appeased; the heavy fault
Hath heavily been expiated-nothing

Descended from the father to the daughter,
Except his glory and his services.

The Empress honours your adversity,
Takes part in your afflictions, opens to you
Her motherly arms! Therefore no farther fears;
Yield yourself up in hope and confidence
To the Imperial Grace!

COUNTESS (with her eye raised to heaven).
To the grace and mercy of a greater Master
Do I yield up myself. Where shall the body
Of the Duke have its place of final rest?
In the Chartreuse, which he himself did found
At Gitschin, rests the Countess Wallenstein;
And by her side, to whom he was indebted
For his first fortunes, gratefully he wish'd
He might sometime repose in death!

O let him

Be buried there. And likewise, for my husband's
Remains, I ask the like grace. The Emperor

Is now the proprietor of all our castles.

This sure may well be granted us—one sepulchre
Beside the sepulchres of our forefathers!

OCTAVIO.

Countess, you tremble, you turn pale!

COUNTESS (reassembles all her powers, and speaks with energy and dignity).

More worthily of me, than to believe

I would survive the downfall of my house.

You think

We did not hold ourselves too mean to grasp
After a monarch's crown-the crown did fate
Deny, but not the feeling and the spirit
That to the crown belong! We deem a
Courageous death more worthy of our free station
Than a dishonour'd life:-I have taken poison.

O house of death and horrors !

[An OFFICER enters, and brings a letter with the great seal. GORDON steps forward and meets him. What is this?

It is the Imperial Seal.

[He reads the address, and delivers the letter to OCTAVIO with a look of reproach, and with an emphasis on the word.

To the Prince Piccolomini.

[OCTAVIO, with his whole frame expressive of sudden anguish, raises his eyes to heaven.

The Curtain drops.

END OF THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

A high rocky shore of the lake of Lucerne opposite Schwytz. The lake makes a bend into the land; a hut stands at a short distance from the shore; the fisher boy is rowing about in his boat. Beyond the lake are seen the green meadows, the hamlets and farms of Schwytz, lying in the clear sunshine. On the left are observed the peaks of the Hacken, surrounded with clouds; to the right, and in the remote distance, appear the Glaciers. The Ranz des Vaches, and the tinkling of cattle bells, continue for some time after the rising of the curtain.

FISHER BOY (sings in his boat).

Melody of the Ranz des Vaches.

The clear smiling lake woo'd to bathe in its deep,
A boy on its green shore had laid him to sleep;
Then heard he a melody
Flowing and soft,

And sweet, as when angels
Are singing aloft.

And as thrilling with pleasure he wakes from his rest,
The waters are murmuring over his breast;
And a voice from the deep cries,

"With me thou must go,

I charm the young shepherd,

I lure him below."

HERDSMAN (on the mountains).

Air.-Variation of the Ranz des Vaches.
Farewell, ye green meadows,
Farewell, sunny shore,

The herdsman must leave you,

The summer is o'er.

We go to the hills, but you'll see us again,

When the cuckoo is calling, and woodnotes are gay,
When flow'rets are blooming in dingle and plain,
And the brooks sparkle up in the sunshine of May.
Farewell, ye green meadows,
Farewell, sunny shore,

The herdsman must leave you,
The summer is o'er.

CHAMOIS HUNTER (appearing on the top of a cliff)
Second Variation of the Ranz des Vaches.

On the heights peals the thunder, and trembles the bridge,
The huntsman bounds on by the dizzying ridge.
Undaunted he hies him

O'er ice-covered wild,
Where leaf never budded,
Nor Spring ever smiled;

And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye
No longer the dwellings of man can espy;
Through the parting clouds only

The earth can be seen,
Far down 'neath the vapour

The meadows of green.

[A change comes over the landscape. A rumbling, cracking noise is heard among the mountains. Shadows of clouds sweep across the scene.

[RUODI, the fisherman, comes out of his cottage. WERNI, the huntsman, descends from the rocks. KUONI, the shepherd, enters, with a milkpail on his shoulders, followed by SEPPI, his assistant.

RUODI. Bestir thee, Jenni, haul the boat on shore.

The grizzly Vale-King comes, the Glaciers moan,
The lofty Mytenstein + draws on his hood,

And from the Stormcleft chilly blows the wind;
The storm will burst, before we are prepared.
KUONI. "Twill rain ere long; my sheep browse eagerly,
And Watcher there is scraping up the earth.
WERNI. The fish are leaping, and the water-hen

Dives up and down. A storm is coming on KUONI (to his boy).

Look, Seppi, if the cattle are not straying. SEPPI. There goes brown Liesel, I can hear her bells. KUONI. Then all are safe; she ever ranges farthest. RUODI. You've a fine yoke of bells there, master herdsman. WERNI. And likely cattle, too. Are they your own?

* The German is, Thalvogt, Ruler of the Valley-the name given figuratively to a dense grey mist which the south wind sweeps into the valleys from the mountain tops. It is well known as the precursor of stormy weather. A steep rock, standing on the north of Rütli, and nearly opposite to Brumen,