_Ad._ Friendly My speech shall be, then, very meek and free Of every bitter memory to both. For this I pray thee, and my dying hand I lay in thine! I do not ask that thou Should'st let go free so great a captive--no, For I well see that my prayer were in vain And vain the prayer of any mortal. Firm Thy heart is--must be--nor so far extends Thy pity. That which thou can'st not deny Without being cruel, that I ask thee! Mild As it can be, and free of insult, be This old man's bondage, even such as thou Would'st have implored for thy father, if the heavens Had destined thee the sorrow of leaving him In others' power. His venerable head Keep thou from every outrage; for against The fallen many are brave; and let him not Endure the cruel sight of any of those His vassals that betrayed him. _Carlo._ Take in death This glad assurance, Adelchi! and be Heaven My testimony, that thy prayer is as The word of Carlo! _Ad._ And thy enemy, In dying, prays for thee! _Enter_ ARVINO. _Armno._ (_Impatiently_) O mighty king, thy warriors and chiefs Ask entrance. _Ad._ (_Appealingly_.) Carlo! _Carlo._ Let not any dare To draw anigh this tent; for here Adelchi Is sovereign; and no one but Adelchi's father And the meek minister of divine forgiveness Have access here. _Des._ O my beloved son! _Ad._ O my father, The light forsakes these eyes. _Des._ Adelchi,--No! Thou shalt not leave me! _Ad._ O King of kings! betrayed By one of Thine, by all the rest abandoned: I come to seek Thy peace, and do Thou take My weary soul! _Des._ He heareth thee, my son, And thou art gone, and I in servitude Remain to weep. I wish to give another passage from this tragedy: the speech which the emissary of the Church makes to Carlo when he reaches his presence after his arduous passage of the Alps. I suppose that all will note the beauty and reality of the description in the story this messenger tells of his adventures; and I feel, for my part, a profound effect of wildness and loneliness in the verse, which has almost the solemn light and balsamy perfume of those mountain solitudes: