Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity
Is held from falling with so weak a wind
That it will quickly drop: my day is dim.
Thou hast stolen that which, after some few hours,
Were thine without offence.”
The prince, stricken to the heart by his father’s reproaches, flings himself upon his knees to ask pardon for his presumption, and to assure the king of the innocence of his deed. He swears that no rebel or vain spirit has prompted him to seize the crown.
“Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,——
And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,——
I spake unto this crown as having sense....
Accusing it, I put it on my head,