Page:A Series of Plays on the Passions Volume 3.pdf/96

Rh

Cath. (after a pause in which Orra walks once or twice across the stage, thoughtfully.)

GO in, I pray; thou wand'rest here too long. (A pause again.) The air is cold; behind those further mountains The sun is set. I pray thee now go in.

Or. Ha! sets the sun already? Is the day Indeed drawn to its close?

Cath.Yes, night approaches. See, many a gather'd flock of cawing rooks Are to their nests returning.

Or. (solemnly.)Night approaches!— This awful night which living beings shrink from; All now of every kind scour to their haunts, While darkness, peopled with its hosts unknown, Awful dominion holds. Mysterious night! What things unutterable thy dark hours May lap!—What from thy teeming darkness burst Of horrid visitations, ere that sun Again shall rise on the enlighten'd earth! (A pause.)

Cath. Why dost thou gaze intently on the sky? See'st thou aught wonderful?