LEADER OF THE PROCESSION.
The Lord Kiuprili!-Welcome from the camp.
Grave magistrates and chieftains of Illyria!
In good time come ye hither, if ye come
As loyal men with honorable purpose
To mourn what can alone be mourn'd; but chiefly
To enforce the last commands of royal Andreas,
And shield the queen, Zapolya: haply making
The mother's joy light up the widow's tears.
Our purpose demands speed. Grace our procession; A warrior best will greet a warlike king.
This patent, written by your lawful king
(Lo! his own seal and signature attesting)
Appoints as guardians of his realm and offspring,
The Queen, and the Prince Emerick, and myself.
[Voices of Live King Emerick! an Emerick! an
Emerick!
What means this clamor? Are these madmen's voices?
Or is some knot of riotous slanderers leagued
To infamize the name of the king's brother
With a lie black as Hell? unmanly cruelty,
Ingratitude, and most unnatural treason! [Murmurs.
What mean these murmurs? Dare then any here
Proclaim Prince Emerick a spotted traitor?
One that has taken from you your sworn faith,
And given you in return a Judas' bribe,
Infamy now, oppression in reversion,
And Heaven's inevitable curse hereafter?
[Loud murmurs, followed by cries-Emerick! No
Baby Prince! No Changelings!
Yet bear with me awhile! Have I for this
Bled for your safety, conquer'd for your honor!
Was it for this, Illyrians! that I forded
Your thaw-swoln torrents, when the shouldering ice
Fought with the foe, and stain'd its jagged points
With gore from wounds, I felt not? Did the blast
Beat on this body, frost-and-famine-numb'd,
Till my hard flesh distinguish'd not itself
From the insensate mail, its fellow-warrior?
And have I brought home with me Victory,
And with her, hand in hand, firm-footed Peace,
Her countenance twice lighted up with glory,
As if I had charm'd a goddess down from Heaven?
But these will flee abhorrent from the throne
of usurpation!
[Murmurs increase-and cries of Onward! onward!
Have you then thrown off shame,
And shall not a dear friend, a loyal subject,
Throw off all fear? I tell ye, the fair trophies
Valiantly wrested from a valiant foe,
Love's natural offerings to a rightful king,
Will hang as ill on this usurping traitor,
This brother-blight, this Emerick, as robes
Of gold pluck'd from the images of gods
Upon a sacrilegious robber's back.
[During the last four lines, enter LORD CASIMIR,
with expressions of anger and alarm.
Who is this factious insolent, that dares brand The elected King, our chosen Emerick?
RAAB KIUPRILI (turning away).
Casimir! He, he a traitor!
Too soon indeed, Ragozzi! have I learnt it. "Aside. CASIMIR (with reverence).
RAAB KIUPRILI.
I know thee not!
LEADER
Yet the remembrancing did sound right filial.
A holy name and words of natural duty
Are blasted by a thankless traitor's utterance.
O hear me, Sire! not lightly have I sworn
Homage to Emerick. Jilyria's sceptre
Demands a manly hand, a warrior's grasp.
The queen Zapolya's self-expected offspring
At least is doubtful: and of all our nobles,
The king inheriting his brother's heart,
Hath honor'd us the most. Your rank, my Lord!
Already eminent, is-all it can be—
Confirmed and me the king's grace hath appointed
Chief of his council and the lord high-steward.
(Bought by a bribe!) I know thee now still less.
CASIMIR (struggling with his passion).
So much of Raab Kiuprili's blood flows here,
That no power, save that holy name of father,
Could shield the man who so dishonor'd me.
The son of Raab Kiuprili! a bought bond-slave, Guilt's pander, treason's mouth-piece, a gay parrot, School'd to shrill forth his feeder's usurp'd titles, And scream, Long live king Emerick!
Ay, King Emerick! Stand back, my Lord! Lead us, or let us pass.
Nay, let the general speak!
Assembled lords and warriors of Illyria,
Hear, and avenge me! Twice ten years have I
Stood in your presence, honor'd by the king,
Beloved and trusted. Is there one among you,
Accuses Raab Kiuprili of a bribe?
Or one false whisper in his sovereign's ear?
Who here dare charge me with an orphan's rights
Outfaced, or widow's plea left undefended?
And shall I now be branded by a traitor,
A bought bribed wretch, who, being called my son
Doth libel a chaste matron's name, and plant
Hensbane and aconite on a mother's grave?
The underling accomplice of a robber,
That from a widow and a widow's offspring
Would steal their heritage? To God a rebel,
And to the common father of his country
A recreant ingrate!
Sire! your words grow dangerous. High-flown romantic fancies ill-beseem
[Starts-then approaching with timid respect. Your age and wisdom. "Tis a statesman's virtue, To guard his country's safety by what means
Call out the guard! Ragozzi! seize the assassin.-
Kiuprili? Ha!-
time with one hand making signs to the guard
to retire.-
With lowered voice, at the same Sire! speak the whole truth! Say, her frauds detected!
Pass on, friends! to the palace. [Music recommences.—' -The Procession passes into the Palace.-During which time EMERICK and KIUPRILI regard each other stedfastly.
This is my thanks, then, that I have commenced
A reign to which the free voice of the nobles
Hath call'd me, and the people, by regards
Of love and grace to Raab Kiuprili's house?
Of her physician
According to the sworn attests in council
RAAB KIUPRILI (aside).
Yes! the Jew, Barzoni EMERICK.
Under the imminent risk of death she lies,
Or irrecoverable loss of reason,
If known friend's face or voice renew the frenzy.
CASIMIR (to KIUPRILI).
Trust me, my Lord! a woman's trick has duped you—
Us too-but most of all, the sainted Andreas.
Even for his own fair fame, his grace prays hourly
For her recovery that (the States convened)
She may take counsel of her friends.
Right, Casimir! Receive my pledge, Lord General. It shall stand What right hadst thou, Prince Emerick, to bestow In her own will to appear and voice her claims;
By what right dares Kiuprili question me?
By a right common to all loyal subjects—
To me a duty! As the realm's co-regent,
Appointed by our sovereign's last free act,
Writ by himself.—
[Grasping the Patent.
EMERICK (with a contemptuous sneer).
Ay!-Writ in a delirium!
I likewise ask, by whose authority
The access to the sovereign was refused me?
By whose authority dared the general leave
His camp and army, like a fugitive?
A fugitive, who, with victory for his comrade,
Ran, open-eyed, upon the face of death!
A fugitive, with no other fear, than bodements
To be belated in a loyal purpose-
At the command, Prince! of my king and thine,
Hither I came; and now again require
Audience of Queen Zapolya; and (the States
Forth with convened) that thou dost show at large,
On what ground of defect thou'st dared annul
This thy King's last and solemn act-hast dared
Ascend the throne, of which the law had named,
And conscience should have made thee, a protector.
Or (which in truth I hold the wiser course)
With all the past pass'd by, as family quarrels,
Let the Queen-Dowager, with unblench'd honors,
Resume her state, our first Illyrian matron.
Prince Emerick! you speak fairly, and your pledge too
Is such, as well would suit an honest meaning.
My Lord! you scarce know half his grace's goodness.
The wealthy heiress, high-born fair Sarolta,
Bred in the convent of our noble ladies,
Her relative, the venerable abbess,
Hath, at his grace's urgence, woo'd and won for me.
Long may the race, and long may that name flourish,
Which your heroic deeds, brave chief, have render'd
Dear and illustrious to all true Illyrians!
RAAB KIUPRILI (sternly).
The longest line, that ever tracing herald
Or found or feign'd, placed by a beggar's soul,
Hath but a mushroom's date in the comparison:
And with the soul, the conscience is coeval,
Yea, the soul's essence.
Conscience, good my Lord,'
Is but the pulse of reason. Is it conscience,
That a free nation should be handed down,
Like the dull clods beneath our feet, by chance
And the blind law of lineage? That whether infant,
Or man matured, a wise man or an idiot,
Hero or natural coward, shall have guidance
Of a free people's destiny; should fall out
In the mere lottery of a reckless nature,
Where few the prizes and the blanks are countless?
Or haply that a nation's fate should hang
On the bald accident of a midwife's handling
The unclosed sutures of an infant's skull?
What better claim can sovereign wish or need,
Than the free voice of men who love their country?
Those chiefly who have fought for't? Who, by right,
Claim for their monarch one, who having obey'd
So hath best learnt to govern; who, having suffer'd,
Can feel for each brave sufferer and reward him?
Whence sprang the name of Emperor? Was it not
By Nature's fiat? In the storm of triumph,
'Mid warriors' shouts, did her oracular voice
Make itself heard: Let the commanding spirit
Possess the station of command!
Your cause will prosper best in your own pleading.
EMERICK (aside to CASIMIR).
Ragozzi was thy school-mate-a bold spirit!
Bind him to us!-Thy father thaws apace!
[Then aloud.
Leave us awhile, my Lord!-Your friend, Ragozzi,
Whom you have not yet seen since his return,
Commands the guard to-day.
CASIMIR retires to the Guard-House; and after a time appears before it with CHEF RAGOZZI.
What further pledge or proof desires Kiuprili?
Then, with your assent-
Mistake not for assent
The unquiet silence of a stern Resolve,
Throttling the impatient voice. I have heard thee,
And I have watch'd thee, too; but have small faith in
A plausible tale told with a flitting eye.
Wouldst thou have pilfer'd from our school-boys
These shallow sophisms of a popular choice?
What people? How convened? or, if convened,
Must not the magic power that charms together
Millions of men in council, needs have power
To win or wield them? Better, O far better
Shout forth thy titles to yon circling mountains,
And with a thousand-fold reverberation
Make the rocks flatter thee, and the volleying air,
Unbribed, shout back to thee, King Emerick!
By wholesome laws to embank the sovereign power
To deepen by restraint, and by prevention
Of lawless will to amass and guide the flood
In its majestic channel, is man's task
And the true patriot's glory! In all else
Men safelier trust to Heaven, than to themselves
When least themselves in the mad whirl of crowds
Where folly is contagious, and too oft
Even wise men leave their better sense at home,
To chide and wonder at them when return'd.
EMERICK (aloud).
Is't thus, thou scoff'st the people! most of all,
The soldiers, the defenders of the people?
RAAB KIUPRILI (aloud).
O most of all, most miserable nation,
For whom th' Imperial power, enormous bubble!
Is blown and kept aloft, or burst and shatter'd
By the bribed breath of a lewd soldiery!
Chiefly of such, as from the frontiers far
(Which is the noblest station of true warriors),
In rank licentious idleness beleaguer
City and court, a venom'd thorn i' the side
Of virtuous kings, the tyrant's slave and tyrant,
Still ravening for fresh largess! but with such
What title claim'st thou, save thy birth? What merits
Which many a liegeman may not plead as well,
Brave though I grant thee? If a life outlabor'd
Head, heart, and fortunate arm, in watch and war,
For the land's fame and weal; if large acquests,
Made honest by th' aggression of the foe
And whose best praise is, that they bring us safety;
[EMERICK turns as about to call for the Guard. If victory, doubly-wreathed, whose under-garland
In the next moment I am in thy power,
In this thou art in mine. Stir but a step,
Or make one sign-I swear by this good sword,
Thou diest that instant.
Of laurel-leaves looks greener and more sparkling Through the gray olive-branch; these, Prince Emerick!
Give the true title to the throne, not thou
No! (let Illyria, let the infidel enemy
Be judge and arbiter between us!) I,
I were the rightful sovereign!
That thou both think'st and hopest it. Fair Zapolya,
A provident lady-
RAAB KIUPRILI.
Wretch, beneath all answer'
Offers at once the royal bed and throne!
To be a kingdom's bulwark, a king's glory,
Yet loved by both, and trusted, and trust-worthy,
Is more than to be king; but see! thy rage
Fights with thy fear. I will relieve thee! Ho!
[To the Guard
Not for thy sword, but to entrap thee, ruffian!
Thus long I have listen'd-Guard-ho! from the Palace.
The Guard post from the Guard-House with CHEF RAGOZZI at their head, and then a number from the Palace-CHEF RAGOZZI demands KIUPRILI's sword, and apprehends him.
O agony! (To EMERICK). Sire, hear me !
[To KIUPRILI, who turns from him. Hear me, Father!
Take in arrest that traitor and assassin!
Who pleads for his life, strikes at mine, his sovereign's.
As the co-regent of the realm, I stand
Amenable to none save to the States,
Met in due course of law. But ye are bond-slaves,
Yet witness ye that before God and man
I here impeach Lord Emerick of foul treason,
And on strong grounds attaint him with suspicion
Of murder-
Your Queen's murder, The royal orphan's murder: and to the death Defy him, as a tyrant and usurper.
[Hurried off by RAGOZZI and the Guard.
Ere twice the sun hath risen, by my sceptre This insolence shall be avenged.
This infamy will crush me. O for my sake, Banish him, my liege lord!
Be calm, young friend! Nought shall be done in anger.
The child o'erpowers the man.
In this emergence
I must take counsel for us both. Retire.
[Exit CASIMIR in agitation.
EMERICK (alone, looks at a Calendar).
The changeful planet, now in her decay,
Dips down at midnight, to be seen no more.
With her shall sink the enemies of Emerick,
Cursed by the last look of the waning moon;
And my bright destiny, with sharpen'd horns,
Shall greet me fearless in the new-born crescent.
[Exit. Scene changes to another view, namely, the back of the Palace a Wooded Park, and Mountains.
Enter ZAPOLYA, with an Infant in her arms.
Be as the shadow of thy outspread wings
To hide and shield us! Start'st thou in thy slumbers?
Thou canst not dream of savage Emerick. Hush!
Betray not thy poor mother! For if they seize thee,
I shall grow mad indeed, and they'll believe
Thy wicked uncle's lie. Ha! what? A soldier?
[She starts back-and enter CHef Ragozzi.
Sure Heaven befriends us. Well! he hath escaped!
O rare tune of a tyrant's promises
That can enchant the serpent treachery
From forth its lurking-hole in the heart. "Ragozzi!
"O brave Ragozzi! Count! Commander! What not?"
And all this too for nothing! a poor nothing!
Merely to play the underling in the murder
Of my best friend Kiuprili! His own son-monstrous!
Tyrant! I owe thee thanks, and in good hour
Will I repay thee, for that thou thought'st me too
A serviceable villain. Could I now
But gain some sure intelligence of the queen:
Heaven bless and guard her!
ZAPOLYA (coming fearfully forward).
Art thou not Ragozzi?
Yes! my noble general! Hush, dear one! hush! My trembling arm disturbs I sent him off, with Emerick's own packet,
Thou, the Protector of the helpless! thou,
The widow's Husband and the orphan's Father, Direct my steps! Ah whither? O send down Thy angel to a houseless babe and mother, Driven forth into the cruel widerness!
Haste, and post haste--Prepared to follow him
Ah, how? Is it joy or fear? My limbs seem sinking!-
CHEF RAGOZZI (supporting her).
Heaven still befriends us. I have left my charger,
Hush, sweet one! Thou art no Hagar's offspring: A gentle beast and fleet, and my boy's mule,
The rightful heir of an anointed king!
What sounds are those? It is the vesper chant Of laboring men returning to their home!
One that can shoot a precipice like a bird,
Just where the wood begins to climb the mountains.
The course we'll thread will mock the tyrant's guesses,
Or scare the followers. Ere we reach the main road,
Their queen has no home! Hear me, heavenly Father! The Lord Kiuprili will have sent a troop
Which, through a long descent where all sound which immediately followed, and in which Emerick
Let out beyond the palace. Well I knew itBut Andreas framed it not! He was no tyrant!
Haste, madam! Let me take this precious burden! [He kneels as he takes the child.
Take him! And if we be pursued, I charge thee, Flee thou and leave me! Flee and save thy king!
[Then as going off, she looks back on the palace. Thou tyrant's den, be call'd no more a palace! The orphan's angel at the throne of Heaven Stands up against thee, and there hover o'er thee A Queen's, a Mother's, and a Widow's curse. Henceforth a dragon's haunt, fear and suspicion Stand sentry at thy portals! Faith and honor, Driven from the throne, shall leave the attainted na
And, for the iniquity that houses in thec,
False glory, thirst of blood, and lust of rapine
(Fateful conjunction of malignant planets),
Shall shoot their blastments on the land. The fathers
Henceforth shall have no joy in their young men,
And when they cry: Lo! a male child is born!
The mother shall make answer with a groan.
For bloody usurpation, like a vulture,
Shall clog its beak within Illyria's heart.
Remorseless slaves of a remorseless tyrant!
They shall be mock'd with sounds of liberty,
And liberty shall be proclaim'd alone
To thee, O Fire! O Pestilence! O Sword!
Till Vengeance hath her fill. And thou, snatch'd
hence,
Again to the infant.) poor friendless fugitive! with
Offspring of Royal Andreas, shalt return
With trump and timbrel clang, and popular shout
In triumph to the palace of thy fathers!
remained the victor, a space of twenty years is sup. posed to have elapsed.
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