University of Virginia Library

Scene the Fourth.

Naritzin's Castle.
Naritzin.
Narit.
Wrong'd by Elizabeth! thy offspring! thine,
Thou father of thy country!
Her, on whose brow this hand the diadem fix'd
Reft from the hapless Ivan! Judge of earth!
And must Naritzin's conscious lip confess
'Tis righteous retribution? Must I own
In bitterness of self-accusing misery
Th'eternal truth, “One deed unhallow'd teems
With woe engend'ring woe?” What now awaits me?
Death, or drear exile, where Siberia's snows
Shall sepulchre my bones. Oh! were it mine
Alone to suffer! But, thou ill-starr'd Ivan!
To leave thee thus expos'd! And thou, most lov'd
Petrowna, whose pure spirit did prefer
To pomp and courts, this residence of horror,
To share my doom; ah! 'tis thy secret grief
That festers in this bosom. Righteous heav'n
Heap on this head thy fury! Spare Petrowna!
Oh shield the innnocent Ivan!
Galvez enters.
Galvez here!
Why thus uncall'd?

[A shout heard.
Gal.
My lord, and honour'd master,
Hark to the voice that loudly calls on you,
None, none shall injure you.
Voices without.
No pow'r on earth
Shall wrong the good Naritzin.

Petrowna enters.
Narit.
Ha! Petrowna!
I pray thee, love, retire.
[to Galvez.]
Say, whence this tumult?

Gal.
All whom this isle contains, th'indignant soldiers
Are risen to rescue you.

Pet.
'Tis known to all,
That here, the woman thy pow'r exalted,
She who has basely wrong'd thee, and her minion,
The insolent Rimuni, meet this day
To seal thy condemnation.
[Voices without.]
Comrades! on—
Our swords shall guard Naritzin.

Narit.
[to Galvez.]
Go, control
Their fury.

Gal.
'Tis in vain. Their rage enflam'd,
If you deny them audience, will burst forth
In maddening insurrection.

Pet.
Good, my lord,
Admit them to thy presence. Thou hast ever
Heard, and redrest their grievance. I beseech thee,
Vouchsafe them gracious hearing.

Narit.
[to Galvez.]
Give them entrance.
[Galvez goes.
Yes, I will curb this tumult. Aid me, heav'n!
Make firm my mind, that I may yet withstand
This dread temptation!
Mirovitz and Soldiers enter.
Wherefore here? Why, soldiers,
This tumult? Who has injur'd you?

Miro.
My lord,
You they have injur'd, basely wrong'd you.—Hear us:
Your rule has ever been most merciful:
Your kindness and humanity have sooth'd
Th'abode of horror: and while yet our hands
Hold strength to wield a soldier's weapon, none
Shall force you from this isle.

Narit.
Say, what thy purpose?

Miro.
To rescue you from violence and wrong.

Narit.
Thou, rescue me! Whence thy authority?

Miro.
High heav'n, who wills not that the guiltless suffer:
The soul's resistless impulse to abase
Tyrannic pow'r.

Narit.
Proud words but ill conceal
Disloyal deeds. Soldiers, obey: depart
Ere death repress your daring. Hence—

Sol.
Speak, Mirovitz:
This is a righteous cause.

Miro.
You see these veterans,
Men like myself, grey-headed, worn with service.
You know their gallant deeds.

Narit.
Yes, oft have witness'd.
There's not a breast of those who now surround me
Undinted by brave wounds.

Miro.
Shall then the chief
Who marshall'd us to conquest, fall a victim
To base suspicion? No: their brave right hands
Each on his sword, are pledg'd. Speak but the word,
The cannon levell'd to announce the arrival
Of those weak tyrants, 'neath Ladoga's water
Shall plunge in all its bravery their galley
Ere it insult the fort.

Narit.
I'll hear no more.
I am unarm'd, or I had plung'd my sword,
Bold rebel! in thy heart. Hence—

Pet.
Thy disgrace,
Thy wrongs inflame their souls.

Miro.
At will command us:
Naritzin's word needs not a sovereign's sanction.

Narit.
If then Naritzin's word has pow'r, obey it.
Soldiers, your zeal betrays you. What your purpose?
To shield Naritzin from the iron grasp
Of merciless oppression? How? By deeds
Whose guilt and dire enormities outswell
The vile traducer's malice: deeds that cast
Round spotless loyalty the blood-stain'd garb
Of treason and rebellion. Here, first plunge
Your weapons, ere a mutinous arm be rais'd
To strike th'anointed brow. Revere your sov'reign!
Each to his home, in peace, and from Naritzin
Learn to submit.

[Soldiers depart.
Miro.
[in going.]
My lord, in time of peril
Here claim redress. [Laying his hand on his sword.


[Exit.
Pet.
[advancing solemnly.]
And did I rightly hear thee?
Submit! And didst thou speak it? Thine, that word!

Narit.
None but myself shall vindicate my honour.

Pet.
What thy resolve?

Narit.
I will confront the accuser,
And shame the slanderous tongue.

Pet.
Why rush on death?
Hear me pour forth my inmost soul, and plead
For one in hopeless anguish, one by all
Abandon'd: one, on whom no sun by day,
Nor moon nor star by night, has sent its beam:
Who for the freshness of the vital air,
Drinks foul contagion, and for human utterance,
Hears but the echo rendering back his groan,
Or pestential damps, that drop by drop
Burst on his flinty bed. I plead for Ivan.
Thou did'st permit it, in the cell unseen
Of human eye, I still'd his frantic shriek,
The while he knew not whose the voice that sooth'd him.
I taught him to adore the awful pow'r
Whose chastisement is love: and, year by year
Matur'd his virtues, and beheld the flow'r
That cruel hands once crush'd, expanding fair
Beneath my tendance. Who shall tend him now?
The ruthless torturers?

Narit.
You wound my soul.

Pet.
Is mine at peace? Oh grant my pray'r. Free Ivan:
And fix him—for thou can'st—thy word has pow'r,
King on his father's throne.

Narit.
I crown'd Elizabeth,
The offspring of my lord and much-lov'd master,
The father of his country. I enthron'd her,
Urge me no more.

Pet.
Be witness, earth and heav'n!
Witness thyself! while on thy sacred word
Her throne in proud security repos'd,
Tho' my heart inly glow'd, my lip was silent.
Forbearance now is base servility,
Dishonouring our nature. Thou did'st crown her:
What thy reward? Rimuni's word shall answer.
Hear, and avenge! To thee, an injur'd nation
Lifts up her voice: not this abode of horror
That calls down light'ning from indignant heav'n,
But, at thy word, a realm would rise in arms,
And crush the usurper.

Narit.
Oh that heav'n's wing'd fires
Had pierc'd my brow, or ere I had dethron'd
The unoffending child!

Pet.
Restore him. Free
From anguish and remorse thy troubled spirit.

Narit.
Hence—lest I do a deed whose mere suggestion
Rives me with horror.
[Cannon and shouts heard.]
Heard you not that sound,
Those shouts—that roar of cannon? 'Tis—

Pet.
[interrupting him.]
Th'usurper.

Narit.
[shouts and cannon repeated.]
Again—

Pet.
That sound announces her arrival
This side the Neva.

Narit.
Now awhile, Petrowna,
Farewell. I must prepare and arm my spirit,

Pet.
[interrupting him.]
For insult, for oppression, for dire injuries
That mock the utterance. Hear my farewell word:
We may not meet again. Thou art the temple
Where honour dwelt enshrin'd, and shall thy knee
Bend at Rimuni's beck? and must Petrowna,
(Spare, spare me that disgrace!) look tamely on
And see her lord lift vainly up the hand
That crown'd and uncrown'd kings, to that base minion
A suppliant for pity?

Narit.
Never—never.
Bend to Rimuni? Lift to him this hand!
Rather its strength shall o'er yon rampart wave
War's crimson standard and array the realm
In Ivan's cause. My pow'r shall yet prevail:
Thro' me the voice of truth shall reach the throne,
And silence the oppressor. I this day
Will lighten Ivan's doom: yon sun, this day
Shall see Naritzin or Rimuni perish.
Awhile farewell.

Pet.
Whate'er thy doom, is mine:
Bonds, exile, death. Go thou where honour calls:
Th'oppressor shall not triumph. Ivan! reign!