The Duke will soon assemble
A mighty army: all comes crowding, streaming
To banners, dedicate by destiny,
To fame, and prosperous fortune. I behold
Old times come back again! he will become
Once more the mighty Lord which he has been.
How will the fools, who've now deserted him,
Look then? I can't but laugh to think of them,
For lands will he present to all his friends,
And like a King and Emperor reward
True services; but we've the nearest claims.
[To GORDON.
You will not be forgotten, Governor!
He'll take you from this nest, and bid you shine
In higher station: your fidelity
Well merits it.
And wish to climb no higher; where great height is, The fall must needs be great. “Great height, great
Here you have no more business, for to-morrow
The Swedes will take possession of the citadel.
Come, Tertsky, it is supper-time. What think you?
Nay, shall we have the State illuminated
In honor of the Swede? And who refuses
To do it is a Spaniard and a traitor.
The sun has set;
A fateful evening doth descend upon us,
And brings on their long night! Their evil stars
Deliver them unarm'd into our hands,
And from their drunken dream of golden fortunes
The dagger at their heart shall rouse them. Well,
The Duke was ever a great calculator,
His fellow-men were figures on his chess-board,
To move and station, as his game required.
Other men's honor, dignity, good name,
Did he shift like pawns, and made no conscience of it
Still calculating, calculating still;
And yet at last his calculation proves
Erroneous; the whole game is lost; and lo!
His own life will be found among the forfeits.
O think not of his errors now; remember
His greatness, his munificence, think on all
The lovely features of his character,
On all the noble exploits of his life,
Nay! Nay! not that, it will not please the Duke-And let them, like an angel's arm, unseen
What! we are masters here; no soul shall dare
Avow himself imperial where we've the rule.
Gordon! good night, and for the last time, take
A fair leave of the place. Send out patrols
To make secure, the watch-word may be alter'd
At the stroke of ten; deliver in the keys
To the Duke himself, and then you've quit for ever
Your wardship of the gates, for on to-morrow
The Swedes will take possession of the citadel.
TERTSKY (as he is going, to BUTLER).
You come, though, to the castle?
At the right time. [Exeunt TERTSKY and ILLO.
GORDON and BUTLER.
GORDON (looking after them).
Unhappy men! How free from all foreboding!
They rush into the outspread net of murder,
In the blind drunkenness of victory;
I have no pity for their fate. This Illo,
This overflowing and foolhardy villain,
That would fain bathe himself in his Emperor's
I suffer not myself to feel compassion,
Dark thoughts and bloody are my duty now:
[Grasping GORDON'S hand.
Gordon! 'tis not my hatred (I pretend not
To love the Duke, and have no cause to love him),
Yet 'tis not now my hatred that impels me
To be his murderer. "Tis his evil fate.
Hostile concurrences of many events
Control and subjugate me to the office.
In vain the human being meditates
Free action. He is but the wire-work'd* puppet
Of the blind Power, which out of his own choice
Creates for him a dread necessity.
What too would it avail him, if there were
A something pleading for him in my heart-
Still I must kill him.
You know not. Ask not! Wherefore should it happen,
That the Swedes gain'd the victory, and hasten
With such forced marches hitherward? Fain would I
Have given him to the Emperor's mercy.-Gordon!
I do not wish his blood-But I must ransom
The honor of my word,-it lies in pledge-
And he must die, or-
[Passionately grasping GORDON'S hand.
Listen then, and know!
I am dishonor'd if the Duke escape us.
A sacrifice.-Come, friend! Be noble-minded!
Our own heart, and not other men's opinions,
Forms our true honor.
BUTLER (with a cold and haughty air).
He is a great Lord,
This Duke-and I am but of mean importance.
This is what you would say? Wherein concerns it
The world at large, you mean to hint to me,
Whether the man of low extraction keeps
Or blemishes his honor-
So that the man of princely rank be saved?
We all do stamp our value on ourselves.
The price we challenge for ourselves is given us.
There does not live on earth the man so station'd,
That I despise myself compared with him.
Man is made great or little by his own will;
Because I am true to mine, therefore he dies.
I am endeavoring to move a rock.
Thou hadst a mother, yet no human feelings.
I cannot hinder you, but may some God
Rescue him from you!
BUTLER, MAJOR, and GERALDIN.
Find me twelve strong Dragoons, arm them with pikes,
For there must be no firing
Conceal them somewhere near the banquet-rocm, And soon as the dessert is served up, rush all in
And cry-Who is loyal to the Emperor?
I will overturn the table-while you attack
Illo and Tertsky, and dispatch them both.
The castle-palace is well barr'd and guarded,
That no intelligence of this proceeding
May make its way to the Duke.-Go instantly;
Have you yet sent for Captain Devereux
And the Macdonald ?-
They'll be here anon. [Exit GERALDIN.
Declare for him, a dizzy drunken spirit
Here's no room for delay. The citizens
Possesses the whole town. They see in the Duke
A Prince of peace, a founder of new ages
And golden times. Arms too have been given out
By the town-council, and a hundred citizens
Have volunteer'd themselves to stand on guard
Dispatch then be the word. For enemies
Threaten us from without and from within.
BUTLER, CAPTAIN DEVEREUX, and MACDONALD. MACDONALD.
What's to be the watch-word? BUTLER.
Live the House of Austria! DEVEREUX.
Have we not sworn fidelity to Friedland?
Have we not march'd to this place to protect him?
Protect a traitor, and his country's enemy!
The worse man of the two. What, though the world Why, yes! in his name you administer'd
What may you want with him?
If you reject it, we can find enough
Nay, if he must fall, we may earn the bounty
And what's that, Macdonald MACDONALD.
What avails sword or dagger against him?
Well, dead then! dead! But how can we come at him? He is not to be wounded—he is—
The town is fill'd with Tertsky's soldiery.
There's a Dominican, my countryman.
I'll make him dip my sword and pike for me
In holy water, and say over them
One of his strongest blessings. That's probatum.
Nothing can stand 'gainst that.
So do, Macdonald But now go and select from out the regiment Twenty or thirty able-bodied fellows, And let them take the oaths to the Emperor. Then when it strikes eleven, when the first rounds Are pass'd, conduct them silently as may be To the house-I will myself be not far off.
But how do we get through Hartschier and Gordon That stand on guard there in the inner chamber?
I have made myself acquainted with the place.
I lead you through a back-door that's defended
By one man only. Me my rank and office
Give access to the Duke at every hour,
I'll go before you-with one poniard-stroke
Cut Hartschier's wind pipe, and make way for you
And when we are there, by what means shall we gain
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