Britain ... - Blue-Lite

198 THE DEVOTED ONE. [Act IV.
On which the sea-boy through the tempest surge
Hath safely reached the shore.
CANUTE.
No ;
like a cloud
That long hath hung betwixt me and my people,
Hiding the sunlight from them of my love,
And with its shadow darkening all the land.
EDRIC.
Hell-plagues fall on thee ! I was but thy tool,
The bloody instrument which thou didst use
To hew down all that
CANUTE.
Drag
the traitor hence !
See instant execution on him done,
And cast his headless carcass in the river. 2
( ^)
[The Guards sei%e Edric, and Canute retires.
GODWIN.
Thy race of treason, rapine, fraud, and blood
At length is ended : and cut off art thou
From honours, wealth, and life, to be no more
Bowed to and worshipped. O, there never came
Requital more deservedly, than now
On thee hath fallen.
EDRIC.
Well, be it so ; at least
IVe had my day, and those I leave behind
Can have but theirs ;
Like mine it will be nothing.
which when, like mine, it ends,
Though brief my day and stormy, it hath been,
Like the loud thunder, full of power and glory.
My path with victims hath been thickly strown,
And 'tis my sole regret that thou, proud kinsman,
SurviVst my hate. On thee light my last curse !