This life of mine, O take it, Lord Kiuprili!
I give it as a weapon to thy hands,
Mine own no longer. Guardian of Illyria,
Useless to thee 't is worthless to myself.
Thou art the framer of my nobler being:
Nor does there live one virtue in my soul,
One honourable hope, but calls thee father.
Yet ere thou dost resolve, know that yon palace
Is guarded from within, that each access
Is throng'd by arm'd conspirators, watch'd by ruffians
Pamper'd with gifts, and hot upon the spoil
Which that false promiser still trails before them.
I ask but this one boon-reserve my life
Till I can lose it for the realm and thee!

RAAB KIUPRILI.

My heart is rent asunder. O my country, O fallen Illyria! stand I here spell-bound?

LEADER OF THE PROCESSION.

The Lord Kiuprili!-Welcome from the camp.

RAAB KIUPRILI.

Grave magistrates and chieftains of Illyria!

In good time come ye hither, if ye come

As loyal men with honourable 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.

LEADER.

Our purpose demands speed. Grace our procession; A warrior best will greet a warlike king.

RAAB KIUPRILI.

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 clamour? 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?

Yet bear with me awhile! Have I for this

Bled for your safety, conquer'd for your honour!

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.

CASIMIR.

And scream, Long live king Emerick!

LEADERS.

Aye, King Emerick!

Stand back, my lord! Lead us, or let us pass.

SOLDIER.

Nay, let the general speak!

SOLDIERS.

Hear him! Hear him!

RAAB KIUPRILI.

Hear me,

Assembled lords and warriors of Illyria,

Hear, and avenge me! Twice ten years have I
Stood in your presence, honour'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 dares 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!

CASIMIR.

My father!

To guard his country's safety by what means

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).

EMERICK.

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?

RAAB KIUPRILI.

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 council of her friends.

EMERICK.

Right, Casimir!

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
Forthwith 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 passed by, as family quarrels,
Let the Queen Dowager, with unblench'd honours,
Resume her state, our first Illyrian matron.

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?

CASIMIR.

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!

EMERICK.

Aye! to the mark!

Wouldst thou have pilfer'd from our school-boys' themes
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 outlabour'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;
If victory, doubly-wreathed, whose under-garland
Of laurel-leaves looks greener and more sparkling
Through the grey olive-branch; if 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!

EMERICK.

I have faith

That thou both think'st and hopest it. Fair Zapolya, A provident lady

RAAB KIUPRILI.

Wretch, beneath all answer!

EMERICK.

Offers at once the royal bed and throne!

RAAB KIUPRILI.

ing at equi-distance from the Palace and the

Guard-House.

Hadst thou believed thine own tale, hadst thou fancied Thyself the rightful successor of Andreas,

EMERICK.

Not for thy sword, but to entrap thee, ruffian!