University of Virginia Library

Scene the Last.

—Bertram's Palace.
Grand Ballet.
(Principal Danseuse—Mdlle Emma Carle.
In this scene the usual business between Robert and the Lady Abbess (now in fairy dress) is gone through. He snatches the branch, amid demonstrations of delight on the part of the supernatural people by whom he is surrounded. The ballet is then resumed. At the end, enter Robert, followed by Bertram.
Rob.
The staff is mine! Now then, to test its power—
I'll summon Isabel in half an hour
And marry her this very morning!

Bert.
(in great fright.)
No!
Now do you want to see me collard?

Rob.
Go—
She'll soon be mine for good!

Bert.
She won't, my lad!
Be yours for good? You'll find it is for bad!
You must not marry—listen ere you slay me—
I am you father, and you must obey me!

Rob.
My father? Then of course I must submit!
But are you sure?

Bert.
Of course—no doubt of it.
(pointing to letter in Robert's girdle.)
Your mother's note will show it in a trice.

Rob.
My mother's note? Of course! The good advice!
(Reads letter.)
“Dear Robert—though unkind it may appear,
Beware of Bertram—he's your father, dear?
He left me—yet he forces me to pension him—
And that's why men shun him, and do not mention him.
But, dear, I could forgive his conduct shady,
(For, oh, I'm not at all a nice old lady!)
I could forgive the brute's deserting me,
(I should have done the same, if I'd been he,)
But this I can't forgive, and can't forget—
He took the keys, dear, of the cellaret!”
(to Bert.)
Oh, monster, this decides me—

Bert.
Robert—no!

Rob.
Away! I marry and you go below!

Song.—Robert and Bertram.
Air.—“My Father's Farm.” “Miller's Legacy.”
Bert.
Pity me, Robert, now you know
That I your father be!
For if I'm taken down below,
What will become of me?
With my vices here—with my vices there—
Here a vice—there a vice—everywhere a vice!
Pity me, Robert, now you known
That I'm indeed your father.

Rob.
A wink's as good as any nod,
So don't you baulk my ends.
Behold, I summon with this rod
Both enemies and friends.
Gobetto here—Gobetto there—
Here a-to—there a-to—everywhere a to—
(Enter Gobetto.)
With a Raimbault here and a Raimbault there—
Here a-bault, there a-bault, everywhere a-bault.
(Enter Raimbault.)
With an Alice here and an Alice there—
Here an -ice, there an -ice, everywhere an -ice.
(Enter Alice.)
Ferdinando here—Ferdinando there—
Here a -do—there a -do—everywhere a -do.
(Enter Ferdinando.)
Bertuccio here—Bertuccio there—
Here a-cio—there a-cio—everywhere a-cio.
(Enter Bertuccio.)
With an Isabella here—an Isabella there—
Here a -bella—there a -bella—everywhere a-bella.
(Enter Isabella.)
Come Isabella, come to me,
Our troubles now are ended.

Chorus.
Come, Isabella, &c.

Is.
My Robert!

Rob.
Isabella! Rapture; Joy!

Bert.
(aside)
Oh, Bertram, you unlucky little boy!

Rob.
But where's my rival Albert?

Is.
I can't say.
After you left the palace, dear, that day,
He seemed to fade like folks in foggy weather,
And finely he vanished altogether!

Bert.
I may as well confess, and fill the void;
He was a fiendish imp, by me employed
To stop, by rivalry and other harrying,
My dear young son, Roberto, there, from marrying
Prepare for an unusual surprise—
Behold your Albert in his proper guise!

(The Prince of Granada rise through trap dressed as a demon with Old Bailey standing over him.)
Bert.
Ha! ha! My friend, Old Bailey? Say is that you?

Old B.
Well, not precisely, I'm Old Bailey's statue.
Madame Tussaud, a name I think you knew,
Wants a new horror—and she thinks you'll do.
(aside to Bert.)
You've lost your prey! (aloud)
Advance—your comrade greet:

Enter all the principal wax figures from Scene III.
Old Bailey.
A deputation, sir, from Baker-street.

Bert.
(aside to Old Bailey.)
You've lots of used up statues here, I see,
Can't you dress one of them, and say it's me?
Cardinal Pole—the Wizard of the North.
(bright idea)
Here—can't you fake me up with George the Fourth?

(Old Bailey expresses dissent.
Finale.
Bertram, Robert, Alice, Isabella, Gobetto, Raimbault and Chorus.
Air—“Logeons le donc, et dès ce soir” (Grande Duchesse.)
Rob.
Among the dead men down you go—
Down to the wax-work of Tussaud—
You can't do much more harm, you know,
Safe in the walls of a waxwork show!

(Chorus.
—Among the dead, &c. (dancing.)


Raim.
Dressed up in a pretty little wig,
With eyes and eyeballs widely staring,
Like a stuck piggy wiggy-pig,
Clad in the very clothes you're wearing!

Bert.
(in great fright and blubbering.)
Oh, no! oh, no! in pity, pity, no!
Oh, no! oh, no! in pity, pity, no!
In pity, pity, pity, pity, no!

(“Ce petit petit pas,” &c.)
Chorus.
—Among the dead men, &c.

Bert.
(appealing in great terror.)
Let me go; let me go—if you please it wasn't me!
If you please—if you please—it was that big boy!)
(indicating Robert.
(“Voici venir, Paul, Boum et Puck”)
Oh let me go! oh let me go!
I'll never do no more
What I've been and done before!
If you'll let me go.

Chorus.
—Among the dead men, &c.

(General Dance of exultation. Bertram, with Old Bailey and Gobetto standing over him, sink through grave trap as curtain falls.)