H._ My embassy dispatch'd, I left the castle,
Nor spoke to any of Lord Raby's household,
For fear the king should chide the tardiness
Of my return. My joy to find you living
You have already heard.

_Per._ But where is Harcourt?
Ere this he should have seen her, told her all,
How I surviv'd, return'd--and how I love!
I tremble at the near approach of bliss,
And scarcely can sustain the joy which waits me.

_Sir H._ Grant, Heaven, the fair one prove but half so true!

_Per._ O she is truth itself!

_Sir H._ She may be chang'd,
Spite of her tears, her fainting, and alarms.
I know the sex, know them as nature made 'em,
Not such as lovers wish and poets feign.

_Per._ To doubt her virtue were suspecting Heaven,
'Twere little less than infidelity!
And yet I tremble. Why does terror shake
These firm-strung nerves? But 'twill be ever thus,
When fate prepares us more than mortal bliss,
And gives us only human strength to bear it.

_Sir H._ What beam of brightness breaks through yonder gloom?

_Per._ Hubert--she comes! by all my hopes, she comes!
'Tis she--the blissful vision is Elwina!
But ah! what mean those tears?--She weeps for me!
O transport!--go.--I'll listen unobserv'd,
And for a moment taste the precious joy,
The banquet of a tear which falls for love.
[_exit Sir Hubert. Percy goes into the bower._

_Enter Elwina._

Shall I not weep? and have I then no cause?
If I could break the eternal bands of death,
And wrench the sceptre from his iron grasp;
If I could bid the yawning sepulchre
Restore to life its long committed dust;
If I could teach the slaughtering hand of war
To give me back my dear, my murder'd Percy,
Then I indeed might once more cease to weep.
[_Percy comes out of the bower._

_Per._ Then cease, for Percy lives.

_Elw._ Protect me, Heaven!

_Per._ O joy unspeakable! My life, my love!
End of my toils, and crown of all my cares!
Kind as consenting peace, as conquest bright,
Dearer than arms, and lovelier than renown!

_Elw._ It is his voice--it is, it is, my Percy!
And dost thou live?

_Per._ I never liv'd till now.

_Elw._ And did my sighs, and did my sorrows, reach thee?
And art thou come at last to dry my tears?
How did'st thou 'scape the fury of the foe?

_Per._ Thy guardian genius hover'd o'er the field,
And turn'd the hostile spear from Percy's breast,
Lest thy fair image should be wounded there.
But Harcourt should have told thee all