Poems, Dialogues in Verse and Epigrams By Walter Savage Landor: Edited with notes by Charles G. Crump |
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 | Poems, Dialogues in Verse and Epigrams |  |
SCENE I.
RUPERT'S CELL. Rupert and Maximin.Rupert
(alone).
I've dogged him to the palace: there's some treachery.
Giovanna . . and that witch, too, Agatha . .
Why not all three together? Sixty miles
From Naples there is Muro. Now, a word
Was dropt upon it. We must be humane.
But, one more trial first to make him serve
In 'stablishing the realm. I fain must laugh
To think what creatures 'stablish realms, and how.
(Maximin enters.)
Giovanna . . and that witch, too, Agatha . .
236
From Naples there is Muro. Now, a word
Was dropt upon it. We must be humane.
But, one more trial first to make him serve
In 'stablishing the realm. I fain must laugh
To think what creatures 'stablish realms, and how.
Well, Maximin! We live for better days
And happier purports. Couldst thou not devise
Something that might restore the sickened state,
And leave our gracious king the exercise
Of his good will, to give them companies
Who now are ensigns? Ah brave Maximin!
I do remember when thou wert but private.
Psein, Klapwrath, Zinga, marcht, and made thee way.
Nothing in this our world would fain stand still.
The earth we tread on labours to set free
Its fires within, and shakes the mountain-heads;
The animals, the elements, all move,
The sea before us, and the sky above,
And angels on their missions between both.
Fortune will on. There are whom happiness
Makes restless with close constancy; there are
Who tire of the pure air and sunny sky,
And droop for clouds as if each hair were grass.
No wonder then should more aspiring souls
Be weary of one posture, one dull gloom
All the day through, all the long day of life.
And happier purports. Couldst thou not devise
Something that might restore the sickened state,
And leave our gracious king the exercise
Of his good will, to give them companies
Who now are ensigns? Ah brave Maximin!
I do remember when thou wert but private.
Psein, Klapwrath, Zinga, marcht, and made thee way.
Nothing in this our world would fain stand still.
The earth we tread on labours to set free
Its fires within, and shakes the mountain-heads;
The animals, the elements, all move,
The sea before us, and the sky above,
And angels on their missions between both.
Fortune will on. There are whom happiness
Makes restless with close constancy; there are
Who tire of the pure air and sunny sky,
And droop for clouds as if each hair were grass.
No wonder then should more aspiring souls
Be weary of one posture, one dull gloom
All the day through, all the long day of life.
Maximin
(gapes).
Weary! ay am I. Can I soon be captain?
Rupert.
Why not?
Maximin.
And then what service?
Rupert.
Queen Giovanna
Is blockt up in the castle, as thou knowest;
Was not my counsel wise, to keep thee out?
Famine had else consumed thee; she spares none.
Charles of Durazzo, our beloved king,
Presses the siege; and, when the queen gives up,
237
There are some jewels: lightly carried in,
A thousand oxen cannot haul them forth;
But they may drop at Muro, one by one,
And who should husband them save Maximin?
Maximin
(pretending alarm).
I will not leave my sister out of sight:
She ne'er must fall again.
Rupert.
Forefend it, heaven!
I might be weak! She would indeed be safe
Where the queen is! But who shall have the heart
To shut her up? What has she done? Her brother
Might be a comfort to her; and the queen
And some few ladies trust her and caress her.
But, though the parks and groves and tofts around,
And meadows, from their first anemones
To their last saffron-crocuses, though all
Open would be, to her, if not to them,
And villagers and dances, and carousals
At vintage-time, and panes that tremble, partly
By moon-ray, partly by guitar beneath,
Yet might the hours, without street-views, be dull.
Maximin.
Don't tell her so. Get her once there. But how?
Beside, the queen will never trust Hungarians.
There would be mortal hatred. Is there fire
Upon the hearth?
Rupert.
None.
Maximin.
Why then rub your hands?
| Poems, Dialogues in Verse and Epigrams | |