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Which I outlive!-Ye toppling crags of ice!
Ye avalanches, whom a breath draws down
In mountainous o'erwhelming, come and crush me!
I hear ye momently above, beneath,

Crash with a frequent conflict; but ye pass,

And only fall on things which still would live;
On the young flourishing forest, or the hut

And hamlet of the harmless villager.

C. HUN. The mists begin to rise from up the valley; I'll warn him to descend, or he may chance

To lose at once his way and life together.

MAN. The mists boil up around the glaciers ;

clouds

Rise curling fast beneath me, white and sulphury, Like foam from the roused ocean of deep Hell, Whose every wave breaks on a living shore,

Heaped with the damn'd like pebbles.-I am giddy.

C. HUN. I must approach him cautiously; if

near,

A sudden step will startle him, and he

Seems tottering already.

ΜΑΝ.

Mountains have fallen,

Leaving a gap in the clouds, and with the shock
Rocking their Alpine brethren; filling up

The ripe green valleys with destruction's splinters;
Damming the rivers with a sudden dash,

Which crush'd the waters into mist, and made

Their fountains find another channel-thus,

Thus, in its old age, did Mount Rosenberg-
Why stood I not beneath it?

C. HUN.

Friend! have a care,

Your next step may be fatal !-for the love

Of him who made you, stand not on that brink!

MAN. (not hearing him.) Such would have been for me a fitting tomb;

My bones had then been quiet in their depth;
They had not then been strewn upon the rocks

For the wind's pastime-as thus-thus they shall be

In this one plunge.-Farewell, ye opening heavens ! Look not upon me thus reproachfully—

Ye were not meant for me-Earth! take these atoms! (AS MANFRED is in act to spring from the cliff,

the CHAMOIS HUNTER seizes and retains him

with a sudden grasp.)

C. HUN. Hold, madman!-though aweary of

thy life,

Stain not our pure vales with thy guilty blood.-
Away with me- -I will not quit my hold.

MAN. I am most sick at heart-nay, grasp me

not

I am all feebleness-the mountains whirl

Spinning around me-I grow blind-What art thou?

C. HUN. I'll answer that anon.-Away with me-
The clouds
grow thicker-there-now lean on me-
Place your foot here—here, take this staff, and cling
A moment to that shrub-now give me your hand,
And hold fast by my girdle-softly-well-

The Chalet will be gained within an hour—
Come on, we'll quickly find a surer footing,
And something like a pathway, which the torrent
Hath wash'd since winter.-Come, 'tis bravely done-
You should have been a hunter.-Follow me.

(As they descend the rocks with difficulty,

the scene closes.)

VOL. VI.

END OF ACT THE FIRST.

H

98

ACT II.

SCENE I.

A Cottage amongst the Bernese Alps.

MANFRED and the CHAMOIS HUNTER.

C. HUN. No, no-yet pause-thou must not yet go

forth:

Thy mind and body are alike unfit

To trust each other, for some hours, at least;

When thou art better, I will be thy guide-
But whither?

ΜΑΝ.

It imports not: I do know

My route full well, and need no further guidance.

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