Plague take it! he'll be here, and I not there!
[Evil IDENSTEIN hastily.
Re-enter WERNER.
Wer. (to himself.) I heard a noise of wheels and voices. How
All sounds now jar me
Still here! Is he not
'Tis twenty years since I beheld him with
These eyes: and, though my agents still have
Theirs on him, policy has held aloof
My own from his, not to alarm him into
Suspicion of my plan. Why did I leave
At Hamburgh those who would have made assurance
[Perceiving GABOR. If this be he or no? I thought, ere now,
To have been lord of Sigendorf, and parted
In haste, though even the elements appear
To fight against me, and this sudden dood
May keep me prisoner here till-
So suddenly, and to a stranger, wore
The aspect of a secret enemy;
For friends are slow at such.
Gab.
Sir, you seem rapt;
And yet the time is not akin to thought.
These old walls will be noisy soon. The baron,
Or count, (or whatsoe'er this half-drown'd noble
May be,) for whom this desolate village and
Its lone inhabitants show more respect
Than did the elements, is come.
This way, your excellency :-have a care,
The staircase is a little gloomy, and
Somewhat decay'd; but if we had expected
So high a guest-Pray take my arm, my lord.
Enter STRALENHEIM, IDENSTEIN, and Attendants
partly his own, and partly retainers of the domain of
which IDENSTEIN is Intendant.
Ho! a chair! [STRALENHEIM sits down.
Stral. I'll rest me here a moment.
Iden. (to the servants.)
Instantly, knaves!
Wer. (aside.)
Who are these strangers?
Iden.
An outward show of thought. I will to rest.
Iden. The prince's chamber is prepared, with all
The very furniture the prince used when
Last here, in its full splendour.
(Aside.) Somewhat tatter'd
And devilish damp, but fine enough by torchlight;
And that's enough for your right noble blood
Of twenty quarterings upon a hatchinent;
So let their bearer sleep 'neath something like one
Now, as he one day will for ever lie.
Stral. (rising and turning to GABOR.) Good nigh
good people! Sir, I trust to-morrow
Will find me apter to requite your service.
Please you, my good lord, In the meantime I crave your company
A moment in my chamber.
Gab.
I attend you.
One says he is no stranger.
Wer. (aloud and hastily.) Who says that?
[They look at him with surprise.
Iden. Why, no one spoke of you, or to you!-but
Here's one his excellency may be pleased
[Pointing to GABOR. I seek not to disturb
You might reply with courtesy to what
Is ask'd in kindness.
I will requite-that is reply-in unison.
Stral. The intendant said, you had been detain'd by
sickness-
If I could aid you-journeying the same way?
Wer. (quickly.) I am not journeying the same way
Stral.
How know ye
An Atten. My lord, he tarried in the cottage where That, ere you know my route?
Your excellency rested for an hour,
And said he would be here to-morrow.
Wer.
Because there is
But one way that the rich and poor must tread
Together. You diverged from that dread path
Some hours ago, and I some days: henceforth
Our roads must lie asunder, though they tend
All to one home.
Think all things made for them. Now here must i
Rouse up some half a dozen shivering vassals
From their scant pallets, and, at peril of
Their lives, despatch them o'er the river towards
Frankfort. Methinks the baron's own experience
Some hours ago might teach him fellow-feeling:
Wer. Yes-you! You know me not, and question me, But no, "it must," and there's an end. How now!
And wonder that I answer not-not knowing
My inquisitor. Explain what you would have,
And then I'll satisfy yourself, or me.
Stral. I knew not that you had reasons for reserve.
Wer. Many have such:-Have you none?
Stat.
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I will not balk your humour, though untoward:
I only meant you service-but good night!
Intendant, show the way! (to GABOR.) Sir, you will
with me?
[Exeunt STRALENHEIM and Attendants; IDENSTEIN
and GABOR.
Wer. (solus.) "T is he! I am taken in the toils. Before
I quitted Hamburgh, Giulio, his late steward,
Inform'd me that he had obtain'd an order
From Brandenburgh's elector, for the arrest
Of Kruitzner (such the name I then bore) when
I came upon the frontier; the free city
Alone preserved my freedom-till I left
Its walls-fool that I was to quit them! But
I deem'd this humble garb, and route obscure,
Had baffled the slow hounds in their pursuit.
What's to be done? He knows me not by person;
Nor could aught, save the eye of apprehension,
Have recognised him, after twenty years,
We met so rarely and so coldly in
Our youth. But those about him! Now I can
Divine the frankness of the Hungarian, who
No doubt is a mere tool and spy of Stralenheim's,
To sound and to secure me. Without means!
Sick, poor-begirt too with the flooding rivers,
Impassable even to the wealthy, with
All the appliances which purchase modes
Of overpowering peril with men's lives,-
How can I hope? An hour ago methought
My state beyond despair; and now, 't is such,
The past seems paradise. Another day,
And I'm detected,-on the very eve
Of honours, rights, and my inheritance,
When a few drops of gold might save me still
In favouring an escape.
Enter IDENSTEIN and FRITZ, in conversation.
Fritz.
Immediately.
Iden. I tell you 't is impossible.
Fritz.
It must
Be tried, however; and if one express
Fail, you must send on others, till the answer
Arrives from Frankfort, from the commandant.
Iden. I will do what I can.
Fritz.
To spare no trouble; you will be repaid
Tenfold.
Iden. The baron is retired to rest?
Fritz. He hath thrown himself into an easy chair Beside the fire, and slumbers; and has order'd He may not be disturb'd until eleven,
When he will take himself to bed.
Iden. An hour is past I'll do my best to serve him. Fritz. Remember! [Exit FRITZ Iden. The devil take these great men! they
Are you there, Mynheer Werner?
Wer.
Your noble guest right quickly.
Iden.
And seems to like that none should sleep besides.
Here is a packet for the commandant
Of Frankfort, at all risks and all expenses;
But I must not lose time: Good night! [Exit IDEN
"To Frankfort!" So, so, it thickens! Ay, "the commandant." This tallies well with all the prior steps
Of this cool, calculating fiend, who walks
Between me and my father's house. No doubt
He writes for a detachment to convey ine
Into some secret fortress.-Sooner than
This-
[WERNER looks around, and snatches up a knife
lying on a table in a recess.
Now I am master of myself at least.
Hark,-footsteps! How do I know that Stralenheim
Will wait for even the show of that authority
Which is to overshadow usurpation?
That he suspects me's certain. I'm alone;
He with a numerous train. I weak; he strong
In gold, in numbers, rank, authority.
I nameless, or involving in my name
Destruction, till I reach my own domain,
He full-blown with his titles, which impose
Still further on these obscure petty burghers
Than they could do elsewhere. Hark! nearer still!
I'll to the secret passage, which communicates
With the No! all is silent-'t was my fancy!-
Still as the breathless interval between
The flash and thunder:-I must hush my soul
Amidst its perils. Yet I will retire,
To see if still be unexplored the passage
I wot of: it will serve me as a den
Of secrecy for some hours, at the worst. [WERNER draws a pannel, and exit, closing it after him.
Enter GABOR and JOSEPHINE.
Gab. Where is your husband?
Jos.
Here, I thought: I left him
Not long since in his chamber. But these rooms
Have many outlets, and he may be gone
To accompany the intendant.
Baron Stralenheim
Put many questions to the intendant on
The subject of your lord, and, to be plain,
I have my doubts if he means well.
Jos.
What can there be in common with the proud
And wealthy baron and the unknown Werner?
Gab. That you know best.
Jos.
Or, if it were so, how
Come you to stir yourself in his behalf,
Rather than that of him whose life you saved?
Gab. I help'd to save him, as in peril; but
I did not pledge myself to serve him in
Oppression. I know weil these nobles, and
Their thousand modes of trampling on the poor.
I have proved them; and my spirit boils up when
I find them practising against the weak:-
This is my only motive.
Jos. Not easy to persuade my consort of Your good intentions.
Is he so suspicious? Jos. He was not once; but time and troubles have Made him what you beheld. Gab. I'm sorry for it. Suspicion is a heavy armour, and With its own weight impedes more than protects. Good night! I trust to meet with him at daybreak. [Exit GABOR.
Re-enter IDENSTEIN and some Peasants. JOSEPHINE retires up the Hall.
First Peasant. But if I'm drown'd?
Iden. Why, you will be well paid for 't,
And have risk'd more than drowning for as much,
I doubt not.
Second Peasant. But our wives and families?
Iden. Cannot be worse off than they are, and may
Be better.
Third Peasant. I have neither, and will venture.
Iden. That's right. A gallant carle, and fit to be
A soldier. I'll promote you to the ranks
In the prince's body-guard-if you succeed;
And you shall have besides in sparkling coin
Two thalers.
Thurd Peasant. No more!
Iden.
Can that low vice alloy so much ambition?
I tell thee, fellow, that two thalers in
Small change will subdivide into a treasure.
Do not five hundred thousand heroes daily
Risk lives and souls for the tithe of one thaler?
When had you half the sum?
To imitate the ice-wind of their clime,
Searching the shivering vassal througn his rags,
To wring his soul-as the bleak elements
His form. And 't is to be among these sovereigns
My husband pants! and such his pride of birth-
That twenty years of usage, such as no
Father born in a humble state could nerve
His soul to persecute a son withal,
Hath changed no atom of his early nature;
But I, born nobly also, from my father's
Kindness was taught a different lesson. Father!
May thy long-tried and now rewarded spirit
Look down on us and our so long desired
Ulric! I love my son, as thou didst me!
What's that? Thou, Werner! can it be? and thus?
Enter WERNER hastily, with the knife in his hand, by the
secret pannel, which he closes hurriedly after him.
Wer. (not at first recognising her.) Discover'd! them
I'll stab(recognising her.)
Ah! Josephine,
Why art thou not at rest?
Whose vassal you were born, knave?
Third Peasant.
And not the stranger's.
Absence, I'm sovereign; and the baron is
My intimate connexion :-" Cousin Idenstein
(Quoth he) you'll order out a dozen villains."
And so, you villains! troop-march-march, I say:
And if a single dog's-ear of this packe.
Be sprinkled by the Oder-look to it!
For every page of paper, shall a hide
Of yours be stretch'd as parchment on a drum,
Like Ziska's skin, to beat alarm to all
Refractory vassals, who can not effect
Impossibilities-away, ye earth-worms!
[Exit, driving them out. Jos. (coming forward.) I fain would shun these scenes, too oft repeated,
Of feudal tyranny o'er petty victims;
I cannot aid, and will not witness such.
Even here, in this remote, unnamed, dull spot,
The dimmest in the district's map, exist
The insolence of wealth in poverty
O'er something poorer still-the pride of rank
In servitude, o'er something still more servile;
And vice in misery affecting still
A tatter'd splendour. What a state of being!
In Tuscany, my own dear sunny land,
Our nobles were but citizens and merchants,
Like Cosmo. We had evils, but not such
As these; and our all-ripe and gushing valleys
Made poverty more cheerful, where each herb
Was in itself a meal, and every vine
Rain'd, as it were, the beverage which makes glad
The heart of man; and the ne'er unfelt sun
(But rarely clouded, and when clouded, leaving
His warmth behind in memory of his beams)
Makes the worn mantle, and the thin robe, less
Oppressive than an emperor's jewell'd purple.
But, here! the despots of the north appear
Let us hencu; T is the last night, I trust, that we need pass here. Jos. And not the worst, I hope. Wer.
But let us to our chamber.
What hast thou done?
Wer. (fiercely.)
Left one thing undone, which
Had made all well: let me not think of it!
Jos. Alas, that I should doubt of thee! [Exeunt.
SCENE I.-4 Hall in the same Palace.
Enter IDENSTEIN and Others.
Iden. Fine doings! goodly doings! honest doings!
A baron pillaged in a prince's palace!
Where, till this hour, such a sin ne'er was heard of.
Fritz. It hardly could, unless the rats despoil'd
The mice of a few shreds of tapestry.
Iden. Oh! that I c'er should live to see this day!
The honour of our city 's gone for ever.
Fritz. Well, but now to discover the delinquent
The baron is determined not to lose
This sum without a search.
Iden.
And so am I.
Fritz. But whom do you suspect?
Iden.
Suspect all people Without-within-above-below-Heaven help me! Fritz. Is there no other entrance to the chamber? Iden. None whatsoever.
Be not so quick; the honour of the corps
Which forms the baron's household's unimpeach'd
From steward to scullion, save in the fair way
Of peculation; such as in accompts,
Weights, measures, larder, cellar, buttery,
Where all men take their prey; as also in
Postage of letters, gathering of rents,
Purveying feasts, and understanding with
The honest trades who furnish noble masters:
But for your petty, picking, downright thievery,
We scorn it as we do board-wages. Then
Had one of our folks done it, he would not
Have been so poor a spirit as to hazard
His neck for one rouleau, but have swoop'd all;
Also the cabinet, if portable.
Iden. There is some sense in that
Fritz.
T was none of our corps; but some petty, trivial
Picker and stealer, without art or genius.
The only question is-Who else could have
Access, save the Hungarian and yourself?
Iden. You don't mean me?
Fritz.
Fritz. Oh, yes; but he has disappear'd
Long from the world's eye, and perhaps the world.
A prodigal son, beneath his father's ban
For the last twenty years; for whom his sire
Refused to kill the fatted calf; and, therefore,
If living, he must chew the husks still. But
The baron would find means to silence him,
Were he to reappear: he 's politic,
And has much influence with a certain court.
Iden. He's fortunate.
Fritz.
"T is true, there is a grandson,
Whom the late count reclaim'd from his son's hands
And educated as his heir; but then
His birth is doubtful.
His sire made
A left-hand, love, imprudent sort of marriage,
With an Italian exile's dark-eyed daughter:
Noble, they say, too; but no match for such
A house as Siegendorf's. The grandsire ill
Could brook the alliance; and could ne'er be brought
To see the parents, though he took the son.
Iden. If he's a lad of mettle, he may yet
Dispute your claim, and weave a web that may
Puzzle your baron to unravel.
It must have been at his suggestion, at
An hour so critical as was the eve
Of the old man's death, whose heart was broken by it
Iden. Was there no cause assign'd?
Plenty, no doubt
And none perhaps the true one. Some averr'd
It was to seek his parents; some because
The old man held his spirit in so strictly,
(But that could scarce be, for he doted on him;)
A third believed he wish'd to serve in war,
But peace being made soon after his departure,
He might have since return'd, were that the motive,
A fourth set charitably have surmised,
No, sir; I honour more As there was something strange and mystic in him,
That in the wild exuberance of his nature
And my principles, I hope.
He had join'd the black bands, who lay waste Lusaha,
Fritz. Of course. But to the point: What s to be The mountains of Bohemia and Silesia,
Iden. Nothing-but there's a good deal to be said.
We'll offer a reward; move heaven and earth,
And the police, (though there's none nearer than
Frankfort;) post notices in manuscript,
(For we 've no printer;) and set by my clerk
To read them, (for few can, save he and I.)
We'll send out villains to strip beggars, and
Search empty pockets; also, to arrest
All gipsies, and ill-clothed and sallow people.
Prisoners we 'll have at least, if not the culprit,
And for the baron's gold-if 't is not found,
At least he shall have the full satisfaction
Of melting twice its substance in the raising
The ghost of this rouleau. Here's alchymy
Since the last years of war had dwindled into
A kind of general condottiero system
Of bandit warfare; each troop with its chief,
And all against mankind.
Your Wallenstein, your Tilly and Gustavus,
Your Bannier, and your Torstenson and Weimar,
Were but the same thing upon a grand scale;
And now that they are gone, and peace proclaim'd,
They who would follow the same pastime must
Pursue it on their own account. Here comes
The baron, and the Saxon stranger, who
Was his chief aid in yesterday's escape,
But did not leave the cottage by the Oder
Until this morning.
Enter STRALENHEIM and ULRIC.
Stral.
Since you have refused
All compensation, gentle stranger, save
Inadequate thanks, you almost check even them,
Making me feel the worthlessness of words,
And blush at my own barren gratitude,
They seem so niggardly compared with what
Your courteous courage did in my behalf—
Ulr. I pray you press the theme no further.
Stral.
Can I not serve you? You are young, and of
That mould which throws out heroes; fair in favour;
Brave, I know, by my living now to say so;
And doubtlessly, with such a form and heart,
Would look into the fiery eyes of war,
As ardently for glory as you dared
An obscure death to save an unknown stranger
In an as perilous, but opposite element.
You are made for the service: I have served;
Have rank by birth and soldiership, and friends,
Who shall be yours. "T is true this pause of peace
Favours such views at present scantily;
But 't will not last, men's spirits are too stirring;
And, after thirty years of conflict, peace
Is but a petty war, as the times show us
In every forest, or a mere arm'd truce.
War will reclaim his own; and, in the meantime,
You might obtain a post, which would ensure
A higher soon, and, by my influence, fail not
To rise. I speak of Brandenburg, wherein
I stand well with the elector; in Bohemia,
Like you, I am a stranger, and we are now
Upon its frontier.
Ulr.
You perceive my garb
Is Saxon, and of course my service due
To my own sovereign. If I must decline
Your offer, 't is with the same feeling which
Induced it.
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Can only be approved by proofs. You see-
Stral. (again interrupting him, and addressing ULRIC.)
In short, I was asleep upon a chair,
My cabinet before me, with some gold
Upon it, (more than I much like to lose,
Though in part only:) some ingenious person
Contrived to glide through all my own attendants,
Besides those of the place, and bore away
A hundred golden ducats, which to find
I would be fain, and there's an end. Perhaps
You (as I still am rather faint) would add
To yesterday's great obligation, this,
Though slighter, not yet slights to aid these men
(Who seem but lukewarm) in recovering it?
Ulr. Most willingly, and without loss of time-
(To IDENSTEIN.) Come hither, mynheer!
Iden.
Right little speed, and-
Standing motionless None; so let 's march: we 'll talk as we go on. Iden. But Ulr. Show the spot, and then I'll answer you. Fritz. I will, sir, with his excellency's leave. Stral. Do so, and take yon old ass with you. Fritz. Utr. Come on, old oracle, expound thy riddle! [Exit with IDENSTEIN and FRITZ Stral. (solus.) A stalwart, active, soldier-looking stripling,
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