ital condemnation.[2] He enjoins his
sister to intercede in his behalf with Francis; she complies, but it is at
the expense of her honour; broken-hearted, she sinks beneath her shame at
the crime into which she has been betrayed, and returns home. Francis
pursues her, and the Queen, now aware of his passion for her, dispatches
the monk Gonzales on a secret mission to poison Francoise, who, she fears,
may supplant her in her ascendancy over the King. A fine passage occurs in
the scene wherein the Queen proposes her scheme to Gonzales.

QUEEN.

Didst ever look upon the dead?

GONZALES.

Ay, madam,
Full oft; and in each calm or frightful guise
Death comes in,--on the bloody battle-field;
When with each gush of black and curdling life
A curse was uttered,--when the pray'rs I've pour'd,
Have been all drown'd with din of clashing arms--
And shrieks and shouts, and loud artillery,
That shook the slipp'ry earth, all drunk with gore--
I've seen it, swoll'n with subtle poison, black
And staring with concentrate agony--
When ev'ry vein hath started from its bed,
And wreath'd like knotted snakes, around the brows
That, frantic, dash'd themselves in tortures down
Upon the earth. I've seen life float away
On the faint sound of a far tolling bell--
Leaving its late warm tenement as fair,
As though 'twere th' incorruptible that lay
Before me--and all earthly taint had vanish'd
With the departed spirit.

Laval returns from Italy to claim his bride. In the earlier part of the
play, a hint is given of Gonzales' rancorous hate of Laval, the
undercurrent of which is now revealed. Gonzales, beneath the seal of
confession, obtains the secret of the crime of Francoise. In her presence,
as the betrothed Laval rushes to embrace his bride, he taunts him with her
guilt. The wretched Francoise, in vain conjured to assert her innocence,
stabs herself. The King had been followed thither by the Queen; both now
appear. Gonzales riots revenge in one of the most vigorous portions of the
drama:

GONZALES.

Look on thy bride! look on that faded thing,
That e'en the tears thy manhood showers go fast,
And bravely, cannot wake to life again!
I call all nature to bear witness here--
As fair a flower once grew within my home,
As young, as lovely, and as dearly lov'd--
I had a sister once, a gentle maid--
The only daughter of my father's house,
Round whom our ruder loves did all entwine,