Ethw. (aside to Alwy, displeased.) How came he here?
Alwy. I cannot tell.
Ethw. (to Sol.) We are confined within this narrow space:
Go range yourselves at large on yon green sward,
And there well spread the lots.
(Exeunt the Soldiers, arranging themselves as they go.)
SCENE V. An apartment in a royal castle. Enter Ethelbert, and leans his back upon a pillar near the front of the stage, as if deeply engaged in gloomy thoughts: afterwards enters Ethwald by the opposite side at the bottom of the stage, and approaches Eth. slowly, observing him attentively as he advances.
Ethw. Thou art disturbed, Ethelbert.
Eth. I am.
Ethw. Thine eyes roll strangely, as tho' thou beheld'st
Some dreadful thing:
On what look'st thou?
Eth.Upon my country's ruin.
The land is full of blood: her savage birds
O'er human carcases do scream and batten:
The silent hamlet smokes not, in the field
The aged grandsire turns the joyless soil:
Dark spirits are abroad, and gentle worth
Within the narrow house of death is laid,
An early tenant.
