128
THE DEATH OF
The wind doth chace the flag upon the tower,
Fast fly the clouds, the [1]sickle of the moon,
Struggling, darts snatches of uncertain light.
No form of star is visible! That one
White stain of light, that single glimm'ring yonder,
Is from Cassiopeia, and therein
Is Jupiter. (a pause.) But now
The blackness of the troubled element hides him!
(he sinks into profound melancholy, and looks vacantly into the distance.)
Fast fly the clouds, the [1]sickle of the moon,
Struggling, darts snatches of uncertain light.
No form of star is visible! That one
White stain of light, that single glimm'ring yonder,
Is from Cassiopeia, and therein
Is Jupiter. (a pause.) But now
The blackness of the troubled element hides him!
(he sinks into profound melancholy, and looks vacantly into the distance.)
COUNTESS.
(looks on him mournfully, then grasps his hand.)
What art thou brooding on?
(looks on him mournfully, then grasps his hand.)
What art thou brooding on?
WALLENSTEIN.
Methinks,
If I but saw him, 'twould be well with me.
Methinks,
If I but saw him, 'twould be well with me.
- ↑ These four lines are expressed in the orginal with exquisite felicity.The word "moon-sickle," reminds me of a passage in Harris, as quoted by Johnson, under the word "falcated." "The enlightened part of the moon appears in the form of a sickle or reaping-hook, which is while she is moving from the conjunction to the opposition, or from the new moon to the full; but from full to a new again, the enlightened part appears gibbous, and the dark falcated."Am Himmel ist geschäftige Bewegung,
Des Thurmes Fahne jagt der Wind, schnell geht
Der Wolken Zug, die Mondes-sichel wankt,
Und durch die Nacht zuckt ungewisse Helle.
The words "wanken" and "schweben" are not easily translated. The English words, by which we attempt to render them, are either vulgar or pedantic, or not of sufficiently general application.
He
