 | 1. |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. | SCENE II. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 2. |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 4. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 5. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
 | Plays and Poems |  |
SCENE II.
The Same. A Prison-Room in the same. Leonor de Guzman alone.Leonor.
A change from my gay court, a sorry change!
Yet what is life but changes? And would not
Life's sweetness cloy, without its bitterness?
The ebbs and flows of being keep its tides
290
Like some volcano of the under sea,
Boils on forever—on, though storm or calm
Rule o'er the outer and apparent flood—
Setting its streams of thought, now here, now there,
In purifying motion. I oft think
That they whose lives seem calmest to the view,
And most unmarked by fortune's varying stamp,
Have most turmoil within. For, were it not,
Mere want of action would unstring the mind,
And settle idleness in idiocy.
So let me think, though every thought of mine
Move with a shadow of remembered grief;
And in my prison, like the close-pent brain,
Be still the power that gives free sinews work.
I have an influence on the world beyond;
And I, who nothing hope from earth's desires—
I, whose sole hope beacons across the grave—
I, who stand calmly, waiting for God's breath
To waft me towards him and his royal guest,
The great Alfonso—I indeed should be
A mighty instrument for others' good.
Therefore, while life is mine, my sons shall have
The best of me.
(Enter Juana de Villena.)
Good-morrow, gentle daughter!
May I address thee thus? This pretty hand
Was pledged to my Enrique.
Juana.
And there rests,
In maiden widowhood.
Leo.
One faithful heart,
One miracle of nature, in our midst!
291
Madam, the heart is sorrowing that the hand
Cannot keep faith.
Leo.
Thou 'rt melancholy then?
Thou lov'st the Condé?—thou would'st marry him?
Jua.
I said so once, with all my strength of soul,—
I have not altered since.
Leo.
Then get thee ready;
Thou shalt be married ere the sun go down.
Jua.
I doubt.—How can I doubt? Your uttered word
Has ever carried the command of fate.
Leo.
I am quite serious. See, Enrique comes!
In faith, I feel a mother's jealousy;
I never know to which of us he comes.
(Enter Enrique.)
Enrique.
Mother!
[Embraces her.]
Leo.
Here 's one who has a sweeter claim.
En.
Forgive me, dear Juana! I have much
That will concern you both. Your brother vows
To tear you from us, dearest.
Leo.
And the king?—
En.
Will not consent.
Leo.
Then she shall not go hence.
En.
The king is ill. A sudden malady,
Of swift and dangerous seeming, struck him down
As he gave audience. All is in confusion,
And each man speculates upon his death.
The rival claimants for the doubtful crown—
Parties of Lara and of Aragon—
With factious haste, are almost up in arms.
Let them get up, and we'll begin to stir.
292
Heaven spare Don Pedro!
En.
Frankly, so say I.
Just now, our friends are scantily prepared
To push our fortunes. Fight or fall we must,
Should Pedro leave us.
Leo.
True. He stood our friend—
Who had most cause to fear us—with a strength
That made his boyish port heroical,
When the whole court was thirsting for our blood.
Heaven save Don Pedro, therefore! Now, my son,
Should the king die, before thy marriage-rites
With fair Juana have been solemnized,
Thou 'dst miss thy bride.
Jua.
Let me retire.
[Going.]
Leo.
Come back,
Thou arrant runaway!
Jua.
Indeed—indeed—
Leo.
Indeed, indeed, thou art a very woman!
[Laughing.]
En.
Gentle Juana, do I frighten thee?
Jua.
O! no, my Lord.
En.
Why dost thou fly me, then?
Jua.
I do not know.
Leo.
I do. Nay, tremble not;
Our sex's secrets are quite safe with me.
But, to be plain, your nuptials are in peril,
And, with all secrecy, must be performed
Before the day be older. Fashion it
To suit yourselves.
[Exit.]
Jua.
Nay, now, do you come back.
En.
She 's gone, and left thee to thy direful fate,—
Alone with one who loves thee! Sweet Juana,
How does my mother's purpose seem to thee?
293
To me? How seems it to your lordship?
En.
Nay,
How seems it to your ladyship? A sigh!
It seems to me the summit of my fate,
The spot from whence I look on happiness,
As on a pleasant land, from some great hill;
Just when the Spring is freshest, ere a leaf
Curls with the yellowing Summer; while the fruit
Is folded in the blossom, and a sun,
Rich with the humid promise of the year,
Looks through the hazy air, and wraps the whole
In dreamy quiet. Dearest, if our lives
Assume no brightness from this point of view,
Let us turn atheists; for love was given
As a foretaste of what the saints enjoy.
Jua.
More than my ear finds rapture in your words.
Ah! sir, this eloquence may tire some day,
Or the sweet lips that utter it for me
May keep it for another.
En.
Dost thou croak?
Has the mild dove changed voices with the raven?
Here 's that at which my lips will never tire.
[Kisses her.]
(Enter Alburquerque and Villena, with Attendants.)
Alburquerque.
Caught in the act!
En.
Ha! sir, do even you
Break on my mother's privacy without
A customary warning?
Alb.
I'm short-sighted,
But, pray, is that your mother? What a blush!
[Laughing.]
294
Is it a privilege of prime ministers,
To offer insult wheresoe'er they please?
Alb.
Forgive me, Condé, I am somewhat gay;
'T would be self-cruelty to stop my humor.
Doña Juana, you must come with us.
Jua.
Why should I come?
Alb.
(Shaking a paper.)
I 've warrant why you should.
En.
Don Pedro's order?
Alb.
Ay, sir.
Villena.
Sister, come:
You should not harbor with this base-born tribe.
En.
You are her brother, and may wag your tongue
Without my notice.
Jua.
Dear Enrique, no!
I will not leave for all the kings on earth.
As my betrothed, and a Castilian knight,
I charge you to protect me from these men!
En.
While I have life. Without there!
[Draws.]
(Enter armed Attendants.)
Gentlemen,
The odds are not so great.
Alb.
Arrest them both!
In the king's name, I order it!
[His party advance.]
En.
Stand back!
You that come on so lightly, beat retreat,
Or we will drive you!
Alb.
Forward, for the king!
[Draws.]
(As the two parties engage, enter between them Leonor de Guzman.)
Lenor.
What means this clamor? In my lodgings too!
295
Or are ye but a pack of wolves? Put up!
Think ye I ne'er saw weapons bare before,
That you would daunt me? What, Lord Chancellor,
Are you the foremost in your own disgrace?
For honor's sake, explain!
Alb.
I have a warrant—
Leo.
First let me read it; then I'll understand
Your motive in this most disgraceful brawl.
Alb.
I have a warrant from Don Pedro, madam,
To claim the person of your ward, Juana.
Leo.
And I would read it.
Alb.
An hidalgo's word
Is proof enough.
Leo.
That very much depends
On the hidalgo.
Alb.
(Aside to Villena.)
Damn her cunning! 'Sdeath!
We 're trapped already. Understand, I said
I'll have a warrant—
Leo.
Get your warrant first,
And take the lady after. Sir, I know
Each turning in that crooked brain of yours;
There 's not a labyrinth so full of guile,
In all your mind, but I have tracked it out,
From its least issue to its turbid source.
Give up your treachery, at least with me,
And take to downright violence at once.
Here I, a guardian by Castilian law,
Stand on my rights as a Castilian dame:
Now let the proudest lord within the land,
Unbacked by orders from the throne itself,
Abide the conflict! On this outraged spot,
296
Ere I will yield a tittle of my rights!
Alb.
We are dismissed. 'T were best to go at once.
[Aside to Villena.]
[Going, he turns back.]
I'll have the warrant, though, or lose my head,—
Ay, and die talking!
Leo.
Of all things but heaven.
Ah! you shrewd schemer of iniquity,
Look that the prodigal plots you send abroad
Do not return from feeding with the swine,
On husks and offal, to offend their father,
While he is sitting in prosperity
Among his kindred!
Alb.
Look you, I will have
The warrant!
Leo.
You shall have the lady, then.
Alb.
Heaven speed you! We are entered in a race;
One or the other shall trip up ere long.
[Exit, with Villena and Attendants.]
Leo.
Now for your marriage! There is not a moment
So small, within our reckoning of time,
That is not crowded with a thousand checks
To us and our design. Some one of you,
Seek out my chaplain, with your greatest speed
[Exit an Attendant.]
Enrique and Juana, deck yourselves
For the blessed rites. I will forgive the haste
Your toilets may betray. Speed, speed, my loves,
And not fine raiment, is our great need now!
[Exeunt.]
| Plays and Poems | |