When once "tis done "twill be in every mouth.

[Exit.

FISHERMAN.

Show him the way, boy. Heaven be his support!

Whate"er he has resolved, he"ll execute.

[Exit.

SCENE II.

Baronial mansion of Attinghausen. The BARON upon a couch dying.

WALTER FURST, STAUFFACHER, MELCHTHAL, and BAUMGARTEN attending round him. WALTER TELL kneeling before the dying man.

FURST.

All now is over with him. He is gone.

STAUFFACHER.

He lies not like one dead. The feather, see, Moves on his lips! His sleep is very calm, And on his features plays a placid smile.

[BAUMGARTEN goes to the door and speaks with some one.

FURST.

Who"s there?

BAUGMARTEN (returning).

Tell"s wife, your daughter; she insists That she must speak with you, and see her boy.

[WALTER TELL rises.

FURST.

I who need comfort--can I comfort her?

Does every sorrow centre on my head?

HEDWIG (forcing her way in).

Where is my child? Unhand me! I must see him.

STAUFFACHER.

Be calm! Reflect you"re in the house of death!

HEDWIG (falling upon her boy"s neck).

My Walter! Oh, he yet is mine!

WALTER.

Dear mother!

HEDWIG.

And is it surely so? Art thou unhurt?

[Gazing at him with anxious tenderness.

And is it possible he aimed at thee?

How could he do it? Oh, he has no heart-- And he could wing an arrow at his child!

FURST.

His soul was racked with anguish when he did it.

No choice was left him, but to shoot or die!

HEDWIG.

Oh, if he had a father"s heart, he would Have sooner perished by a thousand deaths!

STAUFFACHER.

You should be grateful for G.o.d"s gracious care, That ordered things so well.

HEDWIG.

Can I forget What might have been the issue. G.o.d of heaven!

Were I to live for centuries, I still Should see my boy tied up,--his father"s mark, And still the shaft would quiver in my heart!

MELCHTHAL.

You know not how the viceroy taunted him!

HEDWIG.

Oh, ruthless heart of man! Offend his pride, And reason in his breast forsakes her seat; In his blind wrath he"ll stake upon a cast A child"s existence, and a mother"s heart!

BAUMGARTEN.

Is then your husband"s fate not hard enough, That you embitter it by such reproaches?

Have you no feeling for his sufferings?

HEDWIG (turning to him and gazing full upon him).

Hast thou tears only for thy friend"s distress?

Say, where were you when he--my n.o.ble Tell, Was bound in chains? Where was your friendship, then?

The shameful wrong was done before your eyes; Patient you stood, and let your friend be dragged, Ay, from your very hands. Did ever Tell Act thus to you? Did he stand whining by When on your heels the viceroy"s hors.e.m.e.n pressed, And full before you roared the storm-tossed lake?

Oh, not with idle tears he showed his pity; Into the boat he sprung, forgot his home, His wife, his children, and delivered thee!

FURST.

It had been madness to attempt his rescue, Unarmed, and few in numbers as we were.

HEDWIG (casting herself upon his bosom).

Oh, father, and thou, too, hast lost my Tell!

The country--all have lost him! All lament His loss; and, oh, how he must pine for us!

Heaven keep his soul from sinking to despair!

No friend"s consoling voice can penetrate His dreary dungeon walls. Should befall sick!

Ah! In the vapors of the murky vault He must fall sick. Even as the Alpine rose Grows pale and withers in the swampy air, There is no life for him, but in the sun, And in the balm of heaven"s refreshing breeze.

Imprisoned? Liberty to him is breath; He cannot live in the rank dungeon air!

STAUFFACHER.

Pray you be calm! And, hand in hand, we"ll all Combine to burst his prison doors.