COUNTESS. Who next is to be murder'd? Who is next OCTAVIO. Speak not of vengeance! Speak not of maltreatment! Descended from the father to the daughter, The Empress honours your adversity, COUNTESS (with her eye raised to heaven). O let him Be buried there. And likewise, for my husband's Is now the proprietor of all our castles. This sure may well be granted us—one sepulchre 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 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, And sweet, as when angels And as thrilling with pleasure he wakes from his rest, "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. 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, The herdsman must leave you, CHAMOIS HUNTER (appearing on the top of a cliff) On the heights peals the thunder, and trembles the bridge, O'er ice-covered wild, And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye The earth can be seen, 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, And from the Stormcleft chilly blows the wind; 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, |