Ay, madam,
Full oft; and in each calm or frightful guise
Death comes in,--on the bloody battle-field;
When with each gush of black and curdling life
A curse was uttered,--when the pray'rs I've pour'd,
Have been all drown'd with din of clashing arms--
And shrieks and shouts, and loud artillery,
That shook the slipp'ry earth, all drunk with gore--
I've seen it, swoll'n with subtle poison, black
And staring with concentrate agony--
When ev'ry vein hath started from its bed,
And wreath'd like knotted snakes, around the brows
That, frantic, dash'd themselves in tortures down
Upon the earth. I've seen life float away
On the faint sound of a far tolling bell--
Leaving its late warm tenement as fair,
As though 'twere th' incorruptible that lay
Before me--and all earthly taint had vanish'd
With the departed spirit.
Laval returns from Italy to claim his bride. In the earlier part of the
play, a hint is given of Gonzales' rancorous hate of Laval, the
undercurrent of which is now revealed. Gonzales, beneath the seal of
confession, obtains the secret of the crime of Françoise. In her presence,
as the betrothed Laval rushes to embrace his bride, he taunts him with her
guilt. The wretched Françoise, in vain conjured to assert her innocence,
stabs herself. The King had been followed thither by the Queen; both now
appear. Gonzales riots revenge in one of the most vigorous portions of the
drama: