Britain ... - Blue-Lite

Scene III.] THE DEVOTED ONE. 233
What dost thou own, proud
CANUTE.
slave ? That thou hast dared
To seek this lady's love, to plight thy troth,
And win her fond affection ? Then, when raised
From abject drudgery by our smiles, to cast
In scorn her beauty from thee? We have flung
Nobility on a desertless clod,
Like sunbeams on a dunghill.
GODWIN.
Good my lord,
I scorned her not
CANUTE.
Base, lying
earthworm ! thou
Hast on her virtue cast disgracious insult ;
Refused that maid of beauty, whom even kings
Might fondly sigh for, and be proud to win :
Ay, peasant-groom, refused the hand of Edith,
Our well-beloved cousin.
GODWIN (aside.)
Witchcraft and fiends,
It cannot be ! and yet the rosy light
Shines not more clearly from the morning's eyelids.
O, what an irreple viable dull ass,
A brainless, moonstruck idiot have I been !
ULFMANDO.
The saints forbid thou, faithless man, shouldst be
My sister's bridegroom. Let my lord the King
Forefend the marriage rites.
EVORA.
O,
I shall die
If I speak not. Now, save thy worship's reverence,
My lord of Selwood hogs, said I aright,
When I foretold thee what a glorious fool