prietor of all our castles.
This sure may well be granted us--one sepulchre
Beside the sepulchres of our forefathers!

OCTAVIO.

Countess, you tremble, you turn pale!

COUNTESS _(re-assembles all her powers, and speaks with
energy and dignity)_.

You think
More worthily of me than to believe
I would survive the downfall of my house.
We did not hold ourselves too mean to grasp
After a monarch's crown--the crown did fate
Deny, but not the feeling and the spirit
That to the crown belong! We deem a
Courageous death more worthy of our free station
Than a dishonor'd life.--I have taken poison.

OCTAVIO.

Help! Help! Support her!

COUNTESS.

Nay, it is too late,
In a few moments is my fate accomplish'd.

[_Exit_ COUNTESS.]

GORDON.

O house of death and horrors!

[_An_ OFFICER _enters, and brings a letter with the great
seal_. GORDON _steps forward and meets him._]

What is this?
It is the Imperial Seal.

[_He reads the address, and delivers the letter to_ OCTAVIO
_with a look of reproach, and with an emphasis on the
word._]

To the _Prince_ Piccolomini.

[OCTAVIO, _with his whole frame expressive of sudden
anguish, raises his eyes to heaven_.]

[_The Curtain drops._]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 22: Thomas: The Life and Works of Schiller, p. 330.]

[Footnote 23: Permission The Macmillan Co., New York, and G. Bell &
Sons, London.]

[Footnote 24: A great stone near Luetzen, since called the Swede's
Stone, the body of their great king having been found at the foot of
it, after the battle in which he lost his life.]

[Footnote 25: Could I have hazarded such a Germanism as the use of the
word after-world, for posterity--"Es spreche Welt und _Nachwelt_
meinen Namen" might have been rendered with more literal
fidelity:--Let world and after-world speak out my name, etc.]

[Footnote 26: I have not ventured to affront the fastidious delicacy
of our age with a literal translation of this line,

werth
Die Eingeweide schaudernd aufzureger.]

[Footnote 27: Anspessade, in German Gefreiter, a soldier inferior to a
corporal, but above the sentinels. The German name implies that he is
exempt from mounting guard.]

[Footnote 28: I have here ventured to omit a considerable number of
lines. I fear that I should