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| 2. | Scene II |
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 | The unpublished plays of Thomas Holley Chivers |  |
Scene II
(A splendid apartment in Macdonald's palace at Kinnclade. Enter Charles Stuart to Lochiel.)Charles Stuart
Welcome, my noble Chieftain! What's the news?
67
No news, my noble lord, from France as yet.
Charles Stuart
I recently dispatched new messengers
To those from whom one might expect some aid;
But they have not returned.
Lochiel
They have, my lord.
I read the message of your strange desire
To lead the Highland troops directly on
The field.
Charles Stuart
And doubt you the propriety
Of such a measure now?
Lochiel
I do, my lord,
The enterprise is pregnant with much danger.
Charles Stuart
Why say you so? This is the common right.
No, as the hound will eager cry, pursue,
Through woody vistas all unknown, the hart,
And thus more ardently in the chase,
So does my soul pant for the war!
68
But as that hound, still crying in the chase,
Pursues with eager hopelessness the hart
Till, by the swifter game left farther in
The war, his cries are lost among the woods;
So will the eager heart of godlike Charles
Pursue the unreached boon of his desire,
Through fame's dark vistas till forever lost!
Charles Stuart
No; with the Blast-hound-Furies of the hills,
A few brave Highlanders, we will put
The Royal Standard in the front of war,
And show usurping Brunswick to his face,
That Stuart comes to claim his father's crown!
Though we are few, yet we shall win the field,
Or perish in the attempt! So, curb me not!
Auld Lochiel, whom my father ever thought brave,
Nay, from the papers learn, while housed at home,
The fate of Stuart's House.
Lochiel
No, though the attempt.
To vanquish England's host be more than vain,
Yet every rebel over whom my sword
Can have control, shall take up arms for thee,
69
Await his royal Charles.
Charles Stuart
Then seek at once
The Highland chiefs—tell them their king is here—
And longs to lead them to the battle field.
Lochiel
I go.
To do your bidding, but before we part,
Should they accompany the regular troops?
Without assistance from some other source,
It will be most disastrous to our cause.
Charles Stuart
No; Justice, Honor, Dignity, are on our side,
And where such triune glories wait our steps,
And beckon us to fame—why talk of doubt?
Lochiel
Whatever be Charles Stuart's fate, the same
Be Lochiel's destiny.
Charles Stuart
There seek the Chiefs,
And learn when we shall meet them on the field
(Exit Lochiel.)
70
Come hither, Page. Come near to me. Can you
Not see in my sad countenance the stars
Of joys that have been written there of late?
Page
I think there is not aught of what you speak;
But rather marks of recent grief.
Charles Stuart
'Tis strange!
And know you not that there are things which seem
To be, but yet are not?
Page
It may be so,
But yet Fernando never saw such things.
Charles Stuart
And think you not that one, by gazing on
Some face resembling that she loves, might see
The image of that loved one in that face?
Page
A smile might linger on the face of one,
In faint resemblance of the one away,
For there are faces so resembling each
That persons have mistaken them for such,
And would not be convinced they were not so.
71
Thus, in the outlines of thy beauteous face,
I now behold the countenance of one—
Page
Nay, nay, my lord! There is no truth in this,
(A knock is heard)
Charles Stuart
Whose knock is that? Go see.
Page
I will, my lord.
(Exit Page.)
Charles Stuart
A nobler being never lived! (Reenter Page.)
Page
My lord!
Charles Stuart
Why turn so pale?
Page
(Much agitated)
Our holy father craves
Admittance. (Aside)
Gods! what shall be done?
Charles Stuart
How now!
What means this strange reaction? Speak! thy face
Is pale as death! What means it, boy? thou'st ill?
72
I am not ill, my lord.
Charles Stuart
Why turn so pale?
Page
(Aside)
Gods! is it possible the Monk is here?
(Enter Francisco, the Monk)
Charles Stuart
What means this sudden entrance? speak, my friend!
How is my child? my Madalena? well?
Monk
I trust she is, my lord.
Charles Stuart
Speak out—the truth?
If she be dead or dying, tell me so!
Monk
She is not dead, my lord.
Charles Stuart
I thank high Heavens
That she is well!
Page
She is, my lord, she is
Most well.
73
Then what mishap has brought thee here?
Monk
I dare not tell it to Fernando's ears.
I fear the sudden news would drive him mad!
Charles Stuart
(Aside)
It cannot be that Angela is dead!
Page
Nay, if my mother Angela were dead,
I yet could bear that too—for all must die!
Charles Stuart
Great Heavens! if she is dead, what will become
Of Madalena? Speak, old Monk!
Monk
I trust
She is not dead.
Charles Stuart
Then why to Scotland come?
Monk
I came to soothe the grief of Angela,
And seek Fernando.
Page
Seek Fernando? why?
74
For Madalena's sake.
Charles Stuart
What! say you so?
Are you not tampering with the lion, Monk,
To baffle me this way? Speak what you know,
Or, by yon Heavens!
Monk
Nay, hold, my lord! you should
Not strike your friend!
Charles Stuart
Then tell me why you came?
Monk
For that lost boy, for whom his mother mourns.
Page
And is that all?
Monk
(Aside)
Not moved? no tears are shed?
Ungrateful boy! you little know the pangs
That rend thy mother's heart!
Page
Why should she grieve?
Charles Stuart
Upbraid him not, he is of noble stuff,
75
Monk
Nay, he
Is fitter for an outcast than the throne.
I fear that Angela has spoken truth!
Page
What should she speak but truth?
Monk
What! still unmoved!
Thou dost develope none of her good traits,
Though it was said thou didst inherit all.
I blush to see the golden ore of love
Transmuted by the Alchemy of Fame
To such base stuff! you little know the pangs
That Madalena feels for thee!
Charles Stuart
For thee!
It cannot be! it is impossible!
Page
It is
Impossible, so get you gone, old Monk!
Monk
Ah! had you seen the agonies which rent
Her royal heart!
76
The agonies? It must
Be so, Fernando! Speak, old Monk!
Monk
And speaking, shall command Fernando's tears
With words more powerful than kingly speech.
Charles Stuart
Then you have spoken falsehood all this while?
Monk
Naught but the living truth, my lord.
Page
'Tis true.
My royal lord—she is not dead.
Charles Stuart
Away,
Fernando, I must have the truth!
Page
My lord,
Did ever thy Fernando play thee false?
Charles Stuart
No, never in thy life.
Page
Then, doubt him not—
For may this right arm wither to its joints,
77
I tell thee, Madalena is not dead,
But all that she has ever been, shall be
To thee again.
Charles Stuart
How know you this, my boy?
Page
It shall all be explained, but after this.
Charles Stuart
Most noble boy! I could not blame her if
She loved, for no one ever saw thy face
Who did not love, except this heartless Monk.
Monk
I love him and for his mother's sake,
Who bade me watch above him as my own.
Page
Nay, watch above yourself, you need it more.
I am Fernando, royal Charles' Page,
And will be watched by no one but himself.
Monk
I though you were of tender mould,
And would be melted by the simplest grief,
But now you are more tearless at the heart
Than is the sightless stoic of the woods.
78
As Angela di Pianneza's son,
I weep, but as the royal Charles' Page,
I deem it meet to smile. Goodbye, old Monk.
(turning indignantly away.)
Charles Stuart
Most noble boy! Where are thy tears, old Monk?
Monk
Ah! had thine eyes beheld what mine have seen,
Thy heart, like mine, had been dissolved to tears!
Page
(Returning)
Thy Madalena lives.
Charles Stuart
I know she does.
Farewell, old Monk!
Page
(Tauntingly)
Goodbye, old Monk! goodbye!
(Exeunt Charles Stuart and Page.)
Monk
Good heavens! was ever mortal so beguiled!
I will pursue him to the very last.
(Exit.)
| The unpublished plays of Thomas Holley Chivers | |