34 
ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
“ Peace,” says the king. 
Jonathan retorts: 
There is no peace when the black storm is muttering. 
You would o’erwhelm our house by this foul deed ; 
Would so affront the cloud and wind of heaven, 
That its already lowering indignation 
Should burst and deluge you, your wife, and children, 
And in its whirlwind overturn your throne. 
At length Saul gives way to the eloquent pleading of his son, and 
promises to spare David’s life,— 
We are weakest (he says) 
When we are caught contending with our children ! 
Not tongue of wisest minister, nor his own 
Persuasive lips, that emulate the strings 
Of his own harp, himself in agony, 
With wet and upturned eyes, upon his knees, 
Pleading for life, could ever thus have turned me. 
Let him bring David to me; I'll receive him. 
But when alone, his fury breaks out once more against David, and 
he cries: 
Why have I sworn his life should be held sacred 
To please that fool, his fond dupe, Jonathan ? 
T’ll break all wordy barriers, all oaths, 
If they shall stand between me and my will. 
David returns from the wars, and is tenderly greeted by his wife, 
Michal, in a passage that furnishes an agreeable contrast to the gloomy 
rage of Saul:— 
Michal : 
Oh, season of disquiet turned to joy! 
This hour for days requites me. Sit, love, sit. 
They tell me that I am too fond of thee. 
Perhaps I am ;—and yet not fond enough. 
Oh, thou art dear unto me ;—yet wert not 
Dear, wert thou purchased with tenfold such fondness ! 
But let them talk, who know not what they Say ; 
For what care I for prudes who never knew 
Illapse into the lunacy of love. 
Saul is plotting to destroy David, and he must fly if he would save 
his life. 
Michal lowers him in the night from a balcony of the house, 
and turns bitterly to the thought of her new loneliness. Meantime the 
