Britain ... - Blue-Lite

Scene II.] THE VARANGIAN. 311
Of Saxon worship.
Like a fell serpent's fang!
O, that wounds my heart
Then let him die !
The far-adventuring merchant trusts his all
To seas, and winds, and storms : should rise
tempests
And loud the billows roar, his trembling heart
A thousand fears assail but when he views
;
His wealthy ship, through ocean's trackless depths
With her brave freight safe to the haven returned,
His terrors are forgotten.
So will I
On murder's red and dangerous sea launch forth,
Fame, life, and honour venturing for my love :
If I outride the tempest and the surge,
Rich shall I be in all that time can yield
Worth our acceptance : should my frail barque founder
Well, be it so ; I too shall with it sink,
And then comes dark oblivion ! better far
To perish from remembrance, than to live
Disclaimed by hope and honour.
Enter Matilda and Hereward.
MATILDA (aside to the Countess.)
The slave hath dared
To strike your merchant, for some fancied wrong
Done to a bondmaid, whom, it seems, he loves.
I've led him from his dungeon, where he lay
Waiting the hangman's halter. Promise freedom
And her he doats on, there's no peril which,
In his sad need, he will not risk to win
Such gracious favours, madam.
JUDITH.
This is no common slave. I see the pride
Of nobleness imprinted on his brow,
That suits not his low state ; and in that eye