OSWALD Yes, my Friends,
              His countenance is meek and venerable;
              And, by the Mass, to see him at his prayers!—­
              I am of flesh and blood, and may I perish
              When my heart does not ache to think of it!—­
              Poor Victim! not a virtue under heaven
              But what was made an engine to ensnare thee;
              But yet I trust, Idonea, thou art safe.

LACY Idonea!

WALLACE How!  What? your Idonea?
          [To MARMADUKE.]

MARMADUKE Mine;
              But now no longer mine.  You know Lord Clifford;
              He is the Man to whom the Maiden—­pure
              As beautiful, and gentle and benign,
              And in her ample heart loving even me—­
              Was to be yielded up.

LACY Now, by the head
              Of my own child, this Man must die; my hand,
              A worthier wanting, shall itself entwine
              In his grey hairs!—­

MARMADUKE (to LACY)
                                   I love the Father in thee. 
              You know me, Friends; I have a heart to feel,
              And I have felt, more than perhaps becomes me
              Or duty sanctions.

LACY We will have ample justice. 
              Who are we, Friends?  Do we not live on ground
              Where Souls are self-defended, free to grow
              Like mountain oaks rocked by the stormy wind? 
              Mark the Almighty Wisdom, which decreed
              This monstrous crime to be laid open—­here,
              Where Reason has an eye that she can use,
              And Men alone are Umpires.  To the Camp
              He shall be led, and there, the Country round
              All gathered to the spot, in open day
              Shall Nature be avenged.

OSWALD ’Tis nobly thought;
              His death will be a monument for ages.

MARMADUKE (to LACY)
              I thank you for that hint.  He shall be brought
              Before the Camp, and would that best and wisest
              Of every country might be present.  There,
              His crime shall be proclaimed; and for the rest
              It shall be done as Wisdom shall decide: 
              Meanwhile, do you two hasten back and see
              That all is well prepared.

WALLACE We will obey you. 
     (Aside.) But softly! we must look a little nearer.

MARMADUKE Tell where you found us.  At some future time
              I will explain the cause.

[Exeunt.]

ACT III