STAUFF.
Nay, talk not thus, dear sir! This last short sleep
Has much refresh'd you, and your eye is bright.
ATTING.
Life is but pain, and that has left me now;
My sufferings, like my hopes, have pass'd away.
[Observing the boy.]
What boy is that?
FURST.
Bless him. Oh, good my lord!
He is my grandson, and is fatherless.
[Hedwig kneels with the boy before the dying man.]
ATTING.
And fatherless—I leave you all, ay, all!
Oh wretched fate, that these old eyes should see
My country's ruin, as they close in death!
Must I attain the utmost verge of life,
To feel my hopes go with me to the grave?
STAUFF. (to Furst).
Shall he depart 'mid grief and gloom like this?
Shall not his parting moments be illumed
By hope's inspiring beams? My noble lord,
Raise up your drooping spirit! We are not
Forsaken quite—past all deliverance.
ATTING.
Who shall deliver you?
FURST.
Ourselves. For know,
The Cantons three are to each other pledged,
To hunt the tyrants from the land. The league
Has been concluded, and a sacred oath
Confirms our union. Ere another year
Begins its circling course—the blow shall fall.
In a free land your ashes shall repose.