h greater
clearness, in this its fiery contest. The name of murder strikes a
damp across his frank and fearless spirit; while the recollection of
his children and their mother proclaims emphatically that there is no
remedy. Gessler must perish: Tell swore it darkly in his secret soul,
when the monster forced him to aim at the head of his boy; and he will
keep his oath. His thoughts wander to and fro, but his volition is
unalterable; the free and peaceful mountaineer is to become a shedder
of blood: woe to them that have made him so!

Travellers come along the pass; the unconcern of their every-day
existence is strikingly contrasted with the dark and fateful purposes
of Tell. The shallow innocent garrulity of Stuessi the Forester, the
maternal vehemence of Armgart's Wife, the hard-hearted haughtiness of
Gessler, successively presented to us, give an air of truth to the
delineation, and deepen the impressiveness of the result.

ACT IV. SCENE III.

_The hollow way at Kuessnacht. You descend from behind amid rocks; and
travellers, before appearing on the scene, are seen from the height
above. Rocks encircle the whole space; on one of the foremost is a
projecting crag overgrown with brushwood._

TELL [_enters with his bow_].

Here through the hollow way he'll pass; there is
No other road to Kuessnacht: here I'll do it!
The opportunity is good; the bushes
Of alder there will hide me; from that point
My arrow hits him; the strait pass prevents
Pursuit. Now, Gessler, balance thy account
With Heaven! Thou must be gone: thy sand is run.

Remote and harmless I have liv'd; my bow
Ne'er bent save on the wild beast of the forest;
My thoughts were free of murder. Thou hast scar'd me
From my peace; to fell asp-poison hast thou
Changed the milk of kindly temper in me;
Thou hast accustom'd me to horrors. Gessler!
The archer who could aim at his boy's head
Can send an arrow to his enemy's heart.

Poor little boys! My kind true wife! I will
Protect them from thee, Landvogt! When I drew
That bowstring, and my hand was quiv'ring,
And with devilish joy thou mad'st me point it
At the child, and I in fainting anguish
Entreated thee in vain; then with a grim
Irrevocable oath, deep in my soul,
I vow'd to God in Heav'n, that the _next_ aim
I took should be thy heart. The vow I made
In that despairing moment's agony
Became a holy debt; and I will pay it.

Thou art my master, and my Kaiser's Vogt;
Yet would the Kaiser not