That which I love would still be beautiful

Happy and giving happiness. What is she?
What is she now ?-a sufferer for my sins-
A thing I dare not think upon-or nothing.
Within few hours I shall not call in vain-
Yet in this hour I dread the thing I dare:
Until this hour I never shrunk to gaze

On spirit, good or evil-now I tremble,

And feel a strange cold thaw upon my heart,

But I can act even what I most abhor,

And champion human fears.-The night approaches.

SCENE III.

The Summit of the Jungfrau Mountain.

Enter FIRST DESTINY.

The moon is rising broad, and round, and bright;

And here on snows, where never human foot

Of common mortal trod, we nightly tread,
And leave no traces; o'er the savage sea,
The glassy ocean of the mountain ice,

[Exit.

We skim its rugged breakers, which put on
The aspect of a tumbling tempest's foam,
Frozen in a moment-a dead whirlpool's image;

And this most steep fantastic pinnacle,

The fretwork of some earthquake-where the clouds
Pause to repose themselves in passing by-
Is sacred to our revels, or our vigils;

Here do I wait my sisters, on our way
To the Hall of Arimanes, for to-night

Is our great festival-'tis strange they come not.

A Voice without, singing.

The Captive Usurper,

Hurl'd down from the throne,

Lay buried in torpor,

Forgotten and lone;

I broke through his slumbers,

I shivered his chain,

I leagued him with numbers

He's Tyrant again!

With the blood of a million he'll answer my care,

With a nation's destruction-his flight and despair.

Second Voice, without.

The ship sail'd on, the ship sail'd fast,

But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast;
There is not a plank of the hull or the deck,
And there is not a wretch to lament o'er his wreck;
Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair,
And he was a subject well worthy my care;
A traitor on land, and a pirate at sea-

But I saved him to wreak further havoc for me!

FIRST DESTINY, answering.

The city lies sleeping;

The morn, to deplore it,

May dawn on it weeping:

Sullenly, slowly,

The black plague flew o'er it—

Thousands lie lowly;

Tens of thousands shall perish-
The living shall fly from
The sick they should cherish;
But nothing can vanquish

The touch that they die from.

Sorrow and anguish,

And evil and dread,

Envelope a nation

The blest are the dead,
Who see not the sight

Of their own desolation.

This work of a night—

This wreck of a realm-this deed of my doing-
For ages I've done, and shall still be renewing!

Enter the SECOND and THIRD DESTINIES.

The Three.

Our hands contain the hearts of men,

Our footsteps are their graves;

We only give to take again

The spirits of our slaves!

FIRST DES. Welcome!-Where's Nemesis?

SECOND DES.

At some great work;

But what I know not, for my hands were full.

THIRD DES. Behold she cometh.

FIRST DES.

Enter NEMESIS.

Say, where hast thou been?

My sisters and thyself are slow to-night.

NEM. I was detain'd repairing shattered thrones,

Marrying fools, restoring dynasties,

Avenging men upon their enemies,

And making them repent their own revenge;
Goading the wise to madness; from the dull
Shaping out oracles to rule the world
Afresh, for they were waxing out of date,
And mortals dared to ponder for themselves,

To weigh kings in the balance, and to speak
Of freedom, the forbidden fruit.-Away!

We have outstaid the hour-mount we our clouds!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

The Hall of Arimanes—Arimanes on his Throne, a Globe of Fire, surrounded by the Spirits.

Hymn of the SPIRITS.

Hail to our Master!-Prince of Earth and Air !—

Who walks the clouds and waters-in his hand

The sceptre of the elements, which tear

Themselves to chaos at his high command!