ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 185 



" M. My innocence — give me back my innocence. Look 



how every thing in nature is cheered by the fmile of fpring. 



Why in this air, fo pure to them, mould I breathe the 

 " blafting fmoke of hell ? When all around us are happy — 



when gentle peace has united them — the world one blefTed 

 " family, and its Father there above — who is not my Father ! 

 " I alone fhut out — the prodigal fon — excluded from the por- 

 " tion of his children — (Jlmnking back with horror) furrounded 

 " with crimes — with murder — bound to them with chains of 



u 



a 



" iron. 



«( 



G. {to the reft of the band) I never faw him thus before. 



" M. (with a voice of tendernefs) Ah ! if it were poffible for 



me to be born again — to be born a beggar, the meanefl: 

 " thing that were not a guilty one ! With the labour of thefe 

 " hands I would purchafe the wearinefs of peace. Oh ! that 

 " with the fweat of my brow, though that fweat were blood, 

 " I could buy one guiltlefs hour — the luxury of one tear ! 



" G. Patience, friends ; his fit is almoft over. 



" M. There was a time when my tears flowed freely. Oil 

 *' peaceful days ! — that faw me in my father's houfe, in my 

 " native fields ! — Ye fmiling fields ! — ye valleys made for en- 

 " thufiafm to wander in ! Scenes of my happy infancy — will 

 " ye never return ? Will ye never breathe on this burning bo- 

 " fom your gales of peace and joy ? — Nature, why art thou 

 " dark around me ? — They will never, never return ; never on 

 " this bofom will they breathe — they are gone — gone for 

 " ever !" 



Subdued by the tendernefs of the recollection which this 

 fcene expreffes, Charles vifits his native caftle in difguife ; 

 he finds his father dead, his brother Francis in pofTefhon of his 

 inheritance, and his miftrefs ready to take the veil. After 

 yielding for a while to thofe fofter feelings which the fcenes of 

 his infancy recal, he recollects the outcaft abandonment of his 

 ' Vol. II. A a own 



