tower, and thence bring out Segismund asleep on a
pallet, and set him in the middle of the stage.)

CAPT.
Still, still so dead asleep, the very noise
And motion that we make in carrying him
Stirs not a leaf in all the living tree.

SOLDIERS.
If living--But if by some inward blow
For ever and irrevocably fell'd
By what strikes deeper to the root than sleep?
--He's dead! He's dead! They've kill'd him--
--No--he breathes--
And the heart beats--and now he breathes again
Deeply, as one about to shake away
The load of sleep.

CAPT.
Come, let us all kneel round,
And with a blast of warlike instruments,
And acclamation of all loyal hearts,
Rouse and restore him to his royal right,
From which no royal wrong shall drive him more.

(They all kneel round his bed: trumpets, drums, etc.)

SOLDIERS.
--Segismund! Segismund! Prince Segismund!
--King Segismund! Down with Basilio!
--Down with Astolfo! Segismund our King! etc.
--He stares upon us wildly. He cannot speak.
--I said so--driv'n him mad.
--Speak to him, Captain.

CAPTAIN.
Oh Royal Segismund, our Prince and King,
Look on us--listen to us--answer us,
Your faithful soldiery and subjects, now
About you kneeling, but on fire to rise
And cleave a passage through your enemies,
Until we seat you on your lawful throne.
For though your father, King Basilio,
Now King of Poland, jealous of the stars
That prophesy his setting with your rise,
Here holds you ignominiously eclipsed,
And would Astolfo, Duke of Muscovy,
Mount to the throne of Poland after him;
So will not we, your loyal soldiery
And subjects; neither those of us now first
Apprised of your existence and your right:
Nor those that hitherto deluded by
Allegiance false, their vizors now fling down,
And craving pardon on their knees with us
For that unconscious disloyalty,
Offer with us the service of their blood;
Not only we and they; but at our heels
The heart, if not the bulk, of Poland follows
To join their voices and their arms with ours,
In vindicating with our lives our own
Prince Segismund to Poland and her throne.

SOLDIERS.
--Segismund, Segismund, Prince Segismund!
--Our own King Segismund, etc.
(They all rise.)