_Osw._ Nor more than thou hast offered would I take; I would refuse all Britain, held in homage; And own no other masters but the gods. _Enter, on one side_, MERLIN, EMMELINE, _and_ MATILDA. CONON, AURELIUS, ALBANACT, _with British Soldiers, bearing King_ ARTHUR'S _Standard displayed. On the other side_, GUILLAMAR, _and_ OSMOND, _with Saxon Soldiers, dragging their Colours on the Ground_. [ARTH. _going to_ EMM. _and embracing her_. _Arth._ At length, at length, I have thee in my arms; Though our malevolent stars have struggled hard, And held us long asunder. _Em._ We are so fitted for each other's hearts, That heaven had erred, in making of a third, To get betwixt, and intercept our loves. _Osw._ Were there but this, this only sight to see, The price of Britain should not buy my stay. _Mer._ Take hence that monster of ingratitude: Him, who betrayed his master, bear him hence; And in that loathsome dungeon plunge him deep, Where he plunged noble Oswald. _Osm._ That indeed is fittest for me; For there I shall be near my kindred friends, And spare my Grimbald's pains to bear me to them. [_Is carried off._ _Mer._ [_To_ ARTH.] For this day's palm, and for thy former acts, Thy Britain freed, and foreign force expelled, Thou, Arthur, hast acquired a future fame, And, of three Christian worthies, art the first:[23] And now, at once to treat thy sight and soul, Behold what rolling ages shall produce: The wealth, the loves, the glories of our isle, Which yet, like golden ore, unripe in beds, Expect the warm indulgency of heaven To call them forth to light.-- [_To_ OSM.] Nor thou, brave Saxon prince, disdain our triumphs; Britons and Saxons shall be once one people; One common tongue, one common faith shall bind Our jarring bands, in a perpetual peace. [MERLIN _waves his Wand: the_ SCENE _changes, and discovers the British Ocean in a Storm_. ÆOLUS _in a Cloud above: Four Winds hanging, &c._ ÆOLUS singing. _Ye blustering brethren of the skies, Whose breath has ruffled all the watry plain, Retire, and let Britannia rise, In triumph o'er the main. Serene and calm, and void of fear, The Queen of Islands must appear: Serene and calm, as when the spring The new-created world began, And birds on boughs did softly sing Their peaceful homage paid to man; While Eurus did his blasts forbear, In favour of the tender year._ _Retreat, rude winds, retreat To hollow rocks, your stormy seat; There swell your lungs, and vainly, vainly threat._