Reading and Elocution

Enter DE MAuprat and JULIE.

De Maup. Oh, speak, my Lord! I dare not think you mock me.

Rich. (reading.) Hush, hush this line must be considered!

How now! Oh, Sir-you live!

De Maup. Why, no, methinks, Elysium is not life.

Julie. He smiles! you smile,

My father! From my heart for ever, now,

I'll blot the name of orphan!

Rich. Rise, my children,

For ye are mine-mine both; and in your sweet
And young delight, your love-life's first-born glory,
My own lost youth breathes musical!

De Maup. I'll seek

Temple and priest henceforward:

To learn heaven's choicest blessings.
Rich. Thou shalt seek

were it but

Temple and priest right soon; the morrow's sun
Shall see across these barren thresholds pass
The fairest bride in Paris. Go, my children;
Even I loved once! - Be

How is it with you, sir?

lovers while ye may.
You bear it bravely:

You know it asks the courage of a lion.

[Exeunt Dr MAUPRAT and JULIR

Oh, godlike power! Wo, Rapture, Penury, Wealth-
Marriage and Death, for one infirm old man
Through a great empire to dispense-withhold -
As the will whispers! And shall things, like motes
That live in my daylight; lackeys of court wages,
Dwarf'd starvelings; manikins upon whose shoulders
The burthen of a province were a load

- cast

More heavy than the globe on Atlas
Lots for my robes and scepter? France, I love thee!
All earth shall never pluck thee from my heart!
My mistress, France; my wedded wife, sweet France;
Who shall proclaim divorce for thee and me!

Enter FRANCOIS hastily, and in part disguised.

Rich. Quick-the despatch!-Power - Empire! Boy -- the

packet!

Francois. Kill me, my lord!

Rich. They knew thee—they suspected · They gave it not

Francois. He gave it-he- the Count De Baradas- with his own hand gave it. Rich. Baradas! Joy! out with it! Francois. Listen,

And then dismiss me to the headsman.

Rich. Ha!

Go on!

Francois. They led me to a chamber. There Orleans and Baradas- and some half-score, Whom I knew not were met

Rich. Not more!

Francois. But from

Th' adjoining chamber broke the din of voices,
The clattering tread of armed men; at times
A shriller cry, that yelled out, "Death to Richelieu !”
Rich. Speak not of me! thy country is in danger!
Th' adjoining room - So, so - a separate treason!
The one thy ruin, France! - the meaner crime,
Left to their tools -
my murder!

Francois. Baradas

Questioned me close demurr'd-until, at last,
O'erruled by Orleans - gave the packet — told me
That life and death were in the scroll:- This gold —
Rich. Gold is no proof-

Francois

And Orleans promised thousands,

When Bouillon's trumpets in the streets of Paris

Rang out the shrill answer: hastening from the house
My footstep in the stirrup, Marion stole

Across the threshold, whispering, "Lose no moment
Ere Richelieu have the packet: tell him, too
Murder is in the winds of Night, and Orleans
Swears, ere the dawn the Cardinal shall be clay."

She said, and trembling fled within: when lo!
A hand of iron griped me! Thro' the dark,
Gleam'd the dim shadow of an armed man:

Ere I could draw, the prize was wrested from me,
And a hoarse voice gasp'd—"Spy, I spare thee, for
This steel is virgin to thy lord "— with that

He vanish'd. Scared and trembling for thy safety,
I mounted, fled, and, kneeling at thy feet,
Implore thee to acquit my faith -
Like him, to spare my life.

Rich. Who spake of life?

-but not,

I bade thee grasp that treasure as thine honor-
A jewel worth whole hecatombs of lives!

Begone! redeem thine honor! Back to Marion
or Orleans track the robber -

Or Baradas

Regain the packet — or crawl on to Age –

Age and gray hairs like mine- and know thou hast lost
That which had made thee great and saved thy country.
See me not till thou'st bought the right to seek me.

Away! Nay, cheer thee! thou hast not fail'd yet —
There's no such word as “fail!”

Francois. Bless you, my Lord,

For that one smile! I'll wear it in my
To light me back to triumph. (Exit.)

Rich. The poor youth!

heart

An elder had ask'd life! I love the young!
For as great men live not in their own time
But the next race,

so in the young my soul

Makes many Richelieus. He will win it yet.

Francois? He's gone. My murder! Marion's warning! This bravo's threat! O for the morrow's dawn!

I'll set my spies to work I'll make all space

(As does the sun) an Universal Eye

Huguet shall track-Joseph confess - ha! ha:
Strange, while I laugh'd I shudder'd, and ev'n now
Thro' the chill air the beating of my heart
Sounds like a death-watch by a sick man's pillow;
If Huguet could deceive me hoofs without -
The gates unclose — steps, near and nearer!

Some knave play'd spy without, and rest it from me,

Ere I could draw my sword.

Bar. Play'd spy without!

Did he wear armor?

Fran. Aye, from head to heel.

Orleans. One of our band. Oh, heavens!

Bar. Could it be Mauprat?

Kept guard at the door- knew naught of the despatch —
How HE? — and yet, who other?

Fran. Ha, De Mauprat!

The night was dark his valour closed.

Bar. 'Twas he!

How could he guess?-'sdeath if he should betray us.
His hate to Richelieu dies with Richelieu — and

He was not great enough for treason. Hence!
Find Mauprat- beg, steal, filch, or force it back,
Or, as I live, the halter

Fran. By the morrow

I will regain it, (aside,) and redeem my honor!

Orleans. Oh! we are lost

Bar. Not so! But cause on cause

[Exit FRANCOIS.

For Mauprat's seizure silence death! Take courage.

Orleans. Should it once reach the King, the Cardinal's arm Could smite us from the grave.

Bar. Sir, think it not!

I hold De Mauprat in my grasp. To-morrow,

And France is ours! Thou dark and fallen Angel,

Whose name on earth's AMBITION - thou that mak'st

Thy throne on treasons, stratagems, and murder –
And with thy fierce and blood-red smile canst quench
The guiding stars of solemn empire-hear us
(For we are thine) — and light us to the goal!

Fran. All search, as yet, in vain for Mauprat! Not

At home since yesternoon a soldier told me

He saw him pass this way with hasty strides;
Should he meet Baradas they'd rend it from him-
And then benignant Fortune smiles upon me-
I am thy son. If thou desert'st me now,

Come Death and snatch me from disgrace. But no!
There's a great Spirit ever in the air

That from prolific and far-spreading wings

Scatters the seeds of honor

yea, the walls And moats of castled forts, the barren seas, The cell wherein the pale-eyed student holds Talk with melodious science - all are sown

With everlasting honors if our souls

Will toil for fame as boors for bread

Enter DE MAUPRAT.

Maup. Oh, let me

Let me but meet him foot to foot — I'll dig

The Judas from his heart; - albiet the King
Should o'er him cast the purple!

Fran. Mauprat! hold:

Where is the