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It is! it is!

OTHER CONFEDERATES.

ZAPOLYA.

Heaven's work of grace is full!

Kuprili, thou art safe!

RAAB KIUPRILI.

Royal Zapolya!

To the heavenly powers, pay we our duty first;
Who not alone preserved thee, but for thee
And for our country, the one precious branch

Of Andreas' royal house. O countrymen,

Behold your King! And thank our country's genius,

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Chef Ragozzi!

That the same means which have preserved our O shame upon my head! I would have given her

sovereign,

Have likewise rear'd him worthier of the throne
By virtue than by birth. The undoubted proofs
Pledged by his royal mother, and this old man
(Whose name henceforth be dear to all Illyrians),
We haste to lay before the assembled council.

ALL.

Hail, Andreas! Hail, Illyria's rightful king!

ANDREAS.

Supported thus, O friends! 't were cowardice
Unworthy of a royal birth, to shrink

From the appointed charge. Yet, while we wait
The awful sanction of convened Illyria,

In this brief while, O let me feel myself

The child, the friend, the debtor!-Heroic mother!-
But what can breath add to that sacred name?
Kiuprili! gift of Providence, to teach us
That loyalty is but the public form
Of the sublimest friendship, let my youth
Climb round thee, as the vine around its elm :
Thou my support, and I thy faithful fruitage.
My heart is full, and these poor words express not
They are but an art to check its over-swelling.
Bathory! shrink not from my filial arms!

Now, and from henceforth, thou shalt not forbid me
To call thee father! And dare I forget

To a base slave!

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A banquet waits
On this auspicious day, for some few hours
I claim to be your hostess. Scenes so awful
With flashing light, force wisdom on us all!
E'en women at the distaff hence may see,
That bad men may rebel, but ne'er be free;
May whisper, when the waves of faction foam,
None love their country, but who love their home;
For freedom can with those alone abide,
Who wear the golden chain, with honest pride,
Of love and duty, at their own fire-side:
While mad ambition ever doth caress
Its own sure fate, in its own restlessness!

The Piccolomini; or, the First Part of Wallenstein.

A DRAMA.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF SCHILLER.

PREFACE.

In the translation I endeavored to render my Author literally wherever I was not prevented by absolute differences of idiom; but I am conscious, that in two or three short passages I have been guilty of dilating the original; and, from anxiety to give the fuil It was my intention to have prefixed a Life of Wal-meaning, have weakened the force. In the metre I lenstein to this translation; but I found that it must have availed myself of no other liberties than those either have occupied a space wholly disproportionate which Schiller had permitted to himself, except the to the nature of the publication, or have been merely occasional breaking-up of the line by the substitua meagre catalogue of events narrated not more tion of a trochee for an iambic; of which liberty, so fully than they already are in the Play itself. The frequent in our tragedies, I find no instance in these recent translation, likewise, of Schiller's History of dramas

the Thirty Years' War diminished the motives hereto.

S. T. COLERIDGE

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ISOLANI (interrupting him).

Max. Piccolomini here ?-O bring me to him.
I see him yet ('tis now ten years ago,

We were engaged with Mansfeld hard by Dessau),
I see the youth, in my mind's eye I see him,
Leap his black war-horse from the bridge adown,
And t'ward his father, then in extreme peril,
Beat up against the strong tide of the Elbe.
The down was scarce upon his chin! I hear
He has made good the promise of his youth,
And the full hero now is finish'd in him.

ILLO.

You'll see him yet ere evening. He conducts
The Duchess Friedland hither, and the Princesst
From Carnthen. We expect them here at noon.

* A town about 12 German miles N. E. of Ulm.

A pleasant duty-Major-General,
I wish you joy!

ISOLANI.

What, you mean, of his regiment?
I hear, too, that to make the gift still sweeter,
The Duke has given him the very same
In which he first saw service, and since then,
Work'd himself, step by step, through each preferment
From the ranks upwards. And verily, it gives

A precedent of hope, a spur of action
To the whole corps, if once in their remembrance
An old deserving soldier makes his way.

BUTLER.

I am perplex'd and doubtful, whether or no

I dare accept this your congratulation.

The Emperor has not yet confirm'd the appointment.

ISOLANI.

Seize it, friend! Seize it! The hand which in the

post

Placed you, is strong enough to keep you there,
Spite of the Emperor and his Ministers?

ILLO.

Ay, if we would but so consider it!-
The Emperor gives us nothing; from the Duke
If we would all of us consider it so!
Comes all-whate'er we hope, whate'er we have
ISOLANI (to ILLO).

My noble brother! did I tell you how
The Duke will satisfy my creditors?
Will be himself my banker for the future,
Make me once more a creditable man!-
And this is now the third time, think of that!
This kingly-minded man has rescued me
From absolute ruin, and restored my honor.

ILLO.

O that his power but kept pace with his wishes! Why, friend! he'd give the whole world to his soldiers.

↑ The dukes in Germany being always reigning powers, their What politic schemes do they not lay to shorten

But at Vienna, brother!-here's the grievance !—

sons and daughters are entitled Princes and Princesses.

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ISOLANI.

My noble brother,

You did present yourself upon the part

Of the Emperor, to supplicate our Duke
That he would straight assume the chief command.
QUESTENBERG.

To supplicate? Nay, noble General!

So far extended neither my commission
(At least to my own knowledge) nor my zeal.

ILLO.

Well, well, then-to compel him, if you choose.
I can remember me right well, Count Tilly
Had suffer'd total rout upon the Lech.
Bavaria lay all open to the enemy,
Whom there was nothing to delay from pressing
Onwards into the very heart of Austria.
At that time you and Werdenberg appear'd
Before our General, storming him with prayers,
And menacing the Emperor's displeasure,
Unless he took compassion on this wretchedness.
ISOLANI (steps up to them).
Yes, yes, 'tis comprehensible enough,
Wherefore with your commission of to-day
You were not all too willing to remember
Your former one.

QUESTENBERG.

Why not, Count Isolan? No contradiction sure exists between them. It was the urgent business of that time To snatch Bavaria from her enemy's hand; And my commission of to-day instructs me To free her from her good friends and protectors.

ILLO.

A worthy office! After with our blood
We have wrested this Bohemia from the Saxon,

Ever. now am I arrived; it had been else my duty-To be swept out of it is all our thanks,

OCTAVIO.

And Colonel Butler-trust me, I rejoice
Thus to renew acquaintance with a man
Whose worth and services I know and honor.
See, see, my friend!

There might we place at once before our eyes
The sum of war's whole trade and mystery-
[TO QUESTENBERG, presenting BUTLER and ISOLANI
at the same time to him.

These two the total sum-Strength and Dispatch. QUESTENBERG (to OCTAVIO).

And lo! betwixt them both, experienced Prudence! OCTAVIO (presenting QUESTENBERG to BUTLER and ISOLANI).

The Chamberlain and War-commissioner Questenberg,

The bearer of the Emperor's behests,
The long-tried friend and patron of all soldiers,
We honor in this noble visitor.

The sole reward of all our hard-won victories.
QUESTENBERG.

Unless that wretched land be doomed to suffer
Only a change of evils, it must be
Freed from the scourge alike of friend and foe.

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[Universal silence. Poh! We are all his subjects.

ILLO (moving towards QUESTENBERG). "Tis not the first time, noble Minister, You have shown our camp this honor.

QUESTENBERG.

I stood before these colors.

ILLO.

QUESTENBERG.

Yet with a difference, General! The one fills
With profitable industry the purse,

The others are well skill'd to empty it.

Once before, The sword has made the Emperor poor; the plow
Must reinvigorate his resources.

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QUESTENBERG.

QUESTENBERG.

Thank Heaven! that means have been found out to His cares and feelings all ranks share alike,
hide
Nor will he offer one up to another.

Some little from the fingers of the Croats.

ILLO.

There! The Stawata and the Martinitz,

On whom the Emperor heaps his gifts and graces, To the heart-burning of all good BohemiansThose minions of court favor, those court harpies, Who fatten on the wrecks of citizens

ISOLANI.

And therefore thrusts he us into the deserts As beasts of prey, that so he may preserve His dear sheep fattening in his fields at home QUESTENBERG (with a sneer). Count! this comparison you make, not I.

BUTLER.

Driven from their house and home-who reap no Why, were we all the court supposes us,

harvests

Save in the general calamity

Who now, with kingly pomp, insult and mock The desolation of their country-these,

Let these, and such as these, support the war, The fatal war, which they alone enkindled!

BUTLER.

And those state-parasites, who have their feet
So constantly beneath the Emperor's table,
Who cannot let a benefice fall, but they
Snap at it with dog's hunger-they, forsooth,
Would pare the soldier's bread, and cross his reckon-
ing!

ISOLANI.

My life long will it anger me to think,

How when I went to court seven years ago,
To see about new horses for our regiment,
How from one antechamber to another
They dragg'd me on, and left me by the hour
To kick my heels among a crowd of simpering
Feast-fatten'd slaves, as if I had come thither
A mendicant suitor for the crumbs of favor
That fall beneath their tables. And, at last,
Whom should they send me but a Capuchin!
Straight I began to muster up my sins
For absolution-but no such luck for me!
This was the man, this capuchin, with whom
I was to treat concerning the army horses:
And I was forced at last to quit the field,
The business unaccomplish'd. Afterwards
The Duke procured me, in three days, what I
Could not obtain in thirty at Vienna.

QUESTENBERG.

"T were dangerous, sure, to give us liberty

QUESTENBERG.

You have taken liberty-it was not given you.
And therefore it becomes an urgent duty
To rein it in with curbs.
OCTAVIO (interposing and addressing QUESTENBERG)
My noble friend,

This is no more than a remembrancing
That you are now in camp, and among warriors.
The soldier's boldness constitutes his freedom.
Talk even so? One runs into the other.
Could he act daringly, unless he dared
The boldness of this worthy officer,

[Pointing to BUTLER. Which now has but mistaken in its mark, Preserved, when naught but boldness could preserve

it,

To the Emperor his capital city, Prague,

In a most formidable mutiny

Of the whole garrison. [Military music at a distance Hah! here they come

ILLO.

The sentries are saluting them: this signal
Announces the arrival of the Duchess.

OCTAVIO (to QUESTENBERG).
Then my son Max. too has returned. "T was he
Fetch'd and attended them from Carnthen hither
ISOLANI (to ILLO).

Shall we not go in company to greet them?

ILLO.

Well, let us go.-Ho! Colonel Butler, come.
[TO OCTAVIO
You'll not forget, that yet ere noon we meet

Yes, yes! your travelling bills soon found their way The noble Envoy at the General's palace.

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Then after come what may come. "Tis man's nature You are now acquainted with three-fourths of the

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I know a spell that will soon dispossess The evil spirit in him.

QUESTENBERG (walking up and down in evident disquiet.)
Friend, friend!

O! this is worse, far worse, than we had suffer'd
Ourselves to dream of at Vienna. There
We saw it only with a courtier's eyes,
Eyes dazzled by the splendor of the throne.
We had not seen the War-chief, the Commander,
The man all-powerful in his camp. Here, here,
Tis quite another thing.

Here is no Emperor more-the Duke is Emperor.
Alas, my friend! alas, my noble friend!

This walk which you have ta'en me through the camp
Strikes my hopes prostrate.

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How shall we hold footing
Beneath this tempest, which collects itself
And threats us from all quarters? The enemy
Of the empire on our borders, now already
The master of the Danube, and still farther,
And farther still, extending every hour!
In our interior the alarum-bells

Of insurrection-peasantry in arms—
All orders discontented-and the army,
Just in the moment of our expectation
Of aidance from it-lo! this very army
Seduced, run wild, lost to all discipline,
Loosen'd, and rent asunder from the state
And from their sovereign, the blind instrument
Of the most daring of mankind, a weapon
of fearful power, which at his will he wields!

OCTAVIO.

Nay, nay, friend! let us not despair too soon.
Men's words are ever bolder than their deeds:
And many a resolute, who now appears
Made up to all extremes, will, on a sudden
Find in his breast a heart he wot not of,
Let but a single honest man speak out
The true name of his crime! Remember too,
We stand not yet so wholly unprotected.
Counts Altringer and Galas have maintain'd

Their little army faithful to its duty,
And daily it becomes more numerous.
Nor can he take us by surprise: you know
I hold him all encompass'd by my listeners.
Whate'er he does, is mine, even while 't is doing-
No step so small, but instantly I hear it;
Yea, his own mouth discloses it.

QUESTENBERG.

"Tis quite

Incomprehensible, that he detects not The foe so near!

OCTAVIO.

Beware, you do not think, That I, by lying arts, and complaisant Hypocrisy, have skulked into his graces: Or with the substance of smooth professions Nourish his all-confiding friendship! NoCompell'd alike by prudence, and that duty Which we all owe our country, and our sovereign, To hide my genuine feelings from him, yet Ne'er have I duped him with base counterfeits!

QUESTENBERG.

It is the visible ordinance of Heaven.

OCTAVIO.

I know not what it is that so attracts
And links him both to me and to my son.
Comrades and friends we always were-long hab
Adventurous deeds perform'd in company,
And all those many and various incidents
Which store a soldier's memory with affections,
Had bound us long and early to each other-

Yet I can name the day, when all at once

His heart rose on me, and his confidence
Shot out in sudden growth. It was the morning
Before the memorable fight at Lutzner.
Urged by an ugly dream, I sought him out,
To press him to accept another charger.

At distance from the tents, beneath a tree,

I found him in a sleep. When I had waked him
And had related all my bodings to him,
Long time he stared upon me, like a man
Astounded; thereon fell upon my neck,

And manifested to me an emotion

That far outstripp'd the worth of that small service.
Since then his confidence has follow'd me
With the same pace that mine has fled from him.

QUESTENBERG.

You lead your son into the secret?

OCTAVIO.

No!

QUESTENBERG.

What! and not warn him either what bad hands His lot has placed him in?

OCTAVIO.

I must perforce

Leave him in wardship to his innocence.
His young and open soul-dissimulation
Is foreign to its habits! Ignorance
Alone can keep alive the cheerful air,
The unembarrass'd sense and light free spirit
That make the Duke secure.

QUESTENBERG (anxiously).

My honor'd friend! most highly do I deem
Of Colonel Piccolomini-yet-if-
Reflect a little-

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