_Elw._ Oh! 'twill add to both.
How shall I tell? Prepare for something dreadful.
Hast thou not heard of--Douglas?

_Per._ Why 'tis well!
Thou awful Power, why waste thy wrath on me?
Why arm omnipotence to crush a worm?
I could have fallen without this waste of ruin.
Married to Douglas! By my wrongs, I like it;
'Tis perfidy complete, 'tis finish'd falsehood,
'Tis adding fresh perdition to the sin,
And filling up the measure of offence!

_Elw._ Oh! 'twas my father's deed! he made his child
An instrument of vengeance on thy head.
He wept and threaten'd, sooth'd me, and commanded.

_Per._ And you complied, most duteously complied!

_Elw._ I could withstand his fury; but his tears,
Ah, they undid me! Percy, dost thou know
The cruel tyranny of tenderness?
Hast thou e'er felt a father's warm embrace?
Hast thou e'er seen a father's flowing tears,
And known that thou could'st wipe those tears away?
If thou hast felt, and hast resisted these,
Then thou may'st curse my weakness; but if not,
Thou canst not pity, for thou canst not judge.

_Per._ Let me not hear the music of thy voice,
Or I shall love thee still; I shall forget
Thy fatal marriage and my savage wrongs.

_Elw._ Dost thou not hate me, Percy?

_Per._ Hate thee? Yes,
As dying martyrs hate the righteous cause
Of that bless'd power for whom they bleed--I hate thee.
[_they look at each other with silent agony._]

_Enter Harcourt._

_Har._ Forgive, my lord, your faithful knight----

_Per._ Come, Harcourt,
Come, and behold the wretch who once was Percy.

_Har._ With grief I've learn'd the whole unhappy tale.
Earl Douglas, whose suspicion never sleeps--

_Per._ What, is the tyrant jealous?

_Elw._ Hear him, Percy.

_Per._ I will command my rage--Go on.

_Har._ Earl Douglas
Knew, by my arms and my accoutrements,
That I belong'd to you; he question'd much,
And much he menac'd me, but both alike
In vain; he then arrested and confin'd me.

_Per._ Arrest my knight! The Scot shall answer it.

_Elw._ How came you now releas'd?

_Har._ Your noble father
Obtain'd my freedom, having learn'd from Hubert
The news of Percy's death. The good old lord,
Hearing the king's return, has left the castle
To do him homage.
[_To Percy_] Sir, you had best retire;
Your safety is endanger'd by your stay.
I fear, should Douglas know----

_Per._ Should Douglas know!
Why what new magic's in the name of Douglas,
That it should strike Northumberlan