University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

—AN APARTMENT IN DON PEDRO'S HOUSE.
Flourish of drums and trumpets without. Enter from Balcony, Estrella and Don Carlos.
ESTRELLA.
I shall be jealous of your loyalty,
If it come so near the boundary of love,
Carlos.

CARLOS.
Thou can'st not; for although the King
From me receives the utmost of affection
That man can give to man; the love I bear thee
And him, are in their natures so distinct,
So separate, and several in their essence,
That thou might'st all as soon say that a rose
And any other flower were of a kind,
Because they both spring from the earth, have roots,
Leaves, sap, and blossoms, bud and fade alike:
And bear, indeed, some common properties,
Though not the same.

ESTRELLA.
A pretty sweet defence!
As good as a nosegay; I shall wrangle with thee
By the hour, if thou'rt so apt at argument;
But for the King—

CARLOS.
Is he not a fair gentleman?

ESTRELLA.
Oh, for his outward man, thou did'st in nought
O'er-praise him; certes, he's a goodly gentleman!
Of the height I love; the complexion that most pleases me;
The very air and carriage I am fond of;
His eyes, and hair too, the colour I most fancy.

CARLOS.
Here's a panegyric!

ESTRELLA.
You're merry, sir! I thought you'd have me praise him;
Is't not to the height, or shall I straightforth deify him
Into a very galloping Apollo?

CARLOS.
Nay, love, leave jesting, and speak earnestly.

ESTRELLA.
Earnestly, then; I ne'er saw goodlier gentleman,
Or one whose outward givings better spake
The worth you oft have told me lies within:
He's very young to be a King.

CARLOS.
Two years,
Aye, just two years, poorer in life than I;
We were as like two brothers, my Estrella,
More like than many that do call one woman mam.
My father was the old King's oldest friend;
Counsel in peace, and service hard in war,
Earned him the name, and from the earliest time
Alphonso spelt the rudiments of life,
We grew together; riding, hawking, tilting;
And in the graver lessons of our youth,
With friendly strife, and kindly emulation,
We studied side by side. The heathen twins,
Whose starry image nightly to our eyes
Is hung in Heaven, were not more true a pair
Of loving friends, than he and I were then.

ESTRELLA.
How fell this loving friendship to its end?
Wert thou the apter scholar of the twain?
Or—for that's worse, and less to be endured—
Could'st thou ride better in a crowded ring?
Sing better 'neath a silent balcony?
Did you both love one lady? Or, perhaps,—

CARLOS.
I'll spare thy fancy other random shots:
Thus fell the chance; the old King's bastard brother,
Don Alvar,—you have heard of him?

ESTRELLA.
O yes;
The man our nurses made us good withal—
The Iron Bastard he was called.

CARLOS.
He was.
Mispractices of his, affecting the state's health,
And very life, came to my father's knowledge,
Who straight before the whole assembled council
Charged him withal; he stood upon his trial,
But ere the proof was found, death pass'd his sentence
On judge and criminal alike; the King,
And this same villain Duke, died suddenly;
Alphonso vaulted in his father's seat,
And moved, I think, by th' entreaties of his cousin,
Don Arias, Alvar's son, broke off the suit,—
Forbade all further search or speech upon it,
And had the matter quash'd; though on my father
Not only fell the blame of the defaulter,
But the ill-savour of false accusation,
Having sworn that whose proof did ne'er appear.

ESTRELLA.
That was but ill, and would go hard to prove
Your idol King nor just, nor very grateful.

CARLOS.
Ah, my Estrella! 'tis not fit we judge
Too hardly of our fellows, whose own souls
Bear witness hourly to ten thousand frailties
Which stand unanswered in the sight of Heaven;
And least of all, should we be prompt to doom
Those who upon the precipice of power,
Swath'd in state trappings, over which they trip,—
Run in a path all briery with temptations
Still plucking at their skirt as they pass by:
Something of coldness fell upon the spring
And sunshine of our love, from this event;
But as it sank into Time's shadowy lap,
The warm affection of our schoolboy days
Revived: and since, against that injury
I weigh my life, which, but for the King's arm,
At Talavera I had paid the Moor:
He came between me and mine enemy,
When not so much of daylight shone betwixt us
As would have served to read an ave by;
The steel that should have dived into my breast
Grazed his,—his blood, th' anointed blood of Spain,
Flow'd o'er me, and in that royal stream
I was baptized to as firm a faith,
As dear a love, and true allegiance to him,
As e'er the waters of the holy fount
Can buy from new-made Christian soul to Heaven.

ESTRELLA.
Oh! I will love him better yet than thou!
I do no longer blame thy loyalty,
But rather think it plays the failing debtor,
Paying but half its owings. But, I pray you,
How came it that you left the court?

CARLOS.
My father,
Who now had reached the furthest shore of life,
Was weary of it; and, for mine own part,
This same King's cousin, this gallant Don Arias,
Having become Alphonso's second soul,
Though I in nothing bated of my love
Or dear devotion to his majesty,
Was the less loath t' obey my father's wish,
And, casting off my courtier's plume and rapier,
Came to our ancient home, near Seville here,
Where I did lay my father with his fathers,—
Repaired my estate, which absence and neglect
Had something damaged,—looked to my possessions,
Became acquainted with thy brother here,
And since spent all my time in loving thee.

ESTRELLA.
A worthy ending to so fair a story!
Heaven send thou change not occupation!

CARLOS.
It is not like; for, in the whole wide world,
There's no created thing but still of thee
Discourses to my senses, and my soul;
The universe and all its holds of best,
Is but a comment to thy virtue's volume.

ESTRELLA.
'Tis in the approved fashion, then, my dear lord,
Three pages of a wondrous muddy argument,
To show one word clear that was clear before,
And little worth the pains to be made darker;
A note most disproportionate to the text.

CARLOS.
There's nothing half so fair, or half so holy;
There's nothing half so wise, or half so lovely;
Nothing so wholly good and excellent,
As thou, my dear one! Thou art the very breath
That in me breathes; the blood within my veins,—
Heart of my heart, and spirit of my spirit;
My nearest and dearest of life, my essential self!

ESTRELLA.
Pray leave protesting, sir, unless you wish
To burn my blushes out; I sha'n't have one
To help me look becomingly to-morrow,
An' you waste them all to-day.

CARLOS.
To-morrow! Estrella,
Tell me, tell me, dost thou love me
As I love thee?

ESTRELLA.
No, by this living light!
Not as thou lov'st me; not in the self-same way,
For that's a question I could ne'er have asked thee.

CARLOS.
Why not?

ESTRELLA.
Why not? Because—here comes my brother.

Enter Don Pedro.
PEDRO.
Good morrow, Carlos: Heaven bless thee, dearest!

ESTRELLA.
Oh, you're well come! his lordship's but dull company
Of a forenoon, when the weather's warm and drowsy.

PEDRO.
Was't thou i' the balcony when the King passed?

ESTRELLA.
Who, I?—I look from an open balcony
To see gay cavaliers go prancing by?
Fie! I was in my oratory at prayers.

PEDRO.
Ah! 'tis as easy keep a woman's eyes
From gazing—

ESTRELLA.
As a man's mouth from foul speaking.
Say I was in the balcony,—what then?

PEDRO.
Wert thou along with her?

CARLOS.
No, I had joined
The train at the city-gate, and rode along
Thus far, but left the royal pageant here.

PEDRO.
Ah! that's well thought on; there's a say abroad,
That riding up to the landing-place, some words
Passed 'twixt you and the Bastard's boy, Don Arias.

CARLOS.
Oh these long ears o' the many! No such matter;
The path at the landing being narrow, the King,
Out of his grace, and loving welcome to me,
Drew my bridle towards him,—in the doing which,
Don Arias, who was riding at his side,
Was fain to back from the straightness of the road,
And that's the words we had.

PEDRO.
It may make some.
And when thou wert at prayers in th' oratory,
Wert thou attired thus?

ESTRELLA.
Beshrew my heart!
But thou'rt in the very mood of curious questions.
No, I had on a yellow farthingale,
And a green jacket, and a scarlet mantle,
Pick'd out with blue and pink;—what then?

PEDRO.
Why then—
Umph! then there were some danger in those eyes.
Carlos, there is a banquet held at the palace
At set of sun, in honour of the King;
Thou'rt bid.

CARLOS.
I cannot answer that same bidding;
For ere sunset I must be many miles
Towards Valentar. All is not yet prepared,
Nor in the fitting order I would have it,
To welcome well the lady of its lord.
I love that dear old home! My mother lived there
Her first sweet marriage years, and last sad widow'd ones;
Something of old ancestral pride it keeps,
Though fallen from its earlier power and vastness:
Marry! we're not so wealthy as we were,
Nor yet so warlike; still it holds enough
Of ancient strength and state to prompt the memory
To many a “wherefore,” and for every answer
You shall have stories long and wonderful,
Enough to make a balladmonger's fortune.
Old trees do grow around its old grey walls,
The fellows of my mouldering grandfathers:
Faith! they do mock us with their young old age,
These giant wearers of a thousand summers!
Strange, that the seed we sow should bloom and flourish
When we are faded, flower, fruit, and all;
Or, for all things do tend to reproduction,
Serving th' eternal purposes of life,
Drawing a vigorous sap into their veins
From the soil our very bodies fertilise.

ESTRELLA.
You have left your home that is, for that which will be;
Pray you, some more of that same ancient dwelling.

CARLOS.
Nay, I have said too much on't; but that there
The sunlight seems to my eyes brighter far
Than wheresoever else. I know the forms
Of every tree and mountain, hill and dell;
The waters gurgle forth a tongue I know,—
It is my home, it will be thine, Estrella;
And every leafy glade, and shadowy path,
Sweet sunny slope, and echo-haunted hollow,
Hath heard thy name a thousand, thousand times.

ESTRELLA.
They're all the likelier to be weary of it,
Unless they hold a longer constancy,
As well as life, than men.

PEDRO.
Then thou will not
To-night to the palace.

CARLOS.
No; but thou wilt, Pedro.

PEDRO.
Indeed, his Highness pressed me so severely,
'Tis the best word for such strained courtesy,
He left me scarce the choice to stay away.

ESTRELLA.
And wherefore should'st thou? 'twill be such a sight
As Seville hath not seen this many a year:
I would the King had bid me to his banquet.

PEDRO.
So would not I:—indeed I cannot tell;
I am not apt to fall in sudden love,
Or sudden loathing, without further reason
Than fancy's humorous promptings, or exceptions,
But there is that about this beardless king;—
Faith, he'd have made a better page to a lady,
And, if all tales be true, have liked the service.

CARLOS.
That he is young, argues him not unfit
For his high office; for the healthful vigour
Of a young spirit should give the life of action
To those good counsels of his wise advisers
Which are cold breath upon the lips of age.

PEDRO.
His counsellors, I take it—those he hearkens to—
Wear brains as sudden and as hot as his,
Green and sour wisdom, such as oftenest drops
From sapling bearers, most unlike the ripe
And mellow fruit of time. The King, besides,
Hath but an evil name among grave men,
For the unbounded licence of his pleasures;
And Fame doth paint her cheeks with modest blushes,
Telling how freely riot and excess
Hold fellowship with stately royalty,
And shake the prostituted hand of power.

CARLOS.
'Tis a sore trial to be young, well-favoured,
And therewithal a King: believe me, Pedro,
Men thus endowed with fortune's lavish favours
Need sue but little to win easy loves:
Nay, 'tis impossible they should escape
The wooing of the wanton willingness
That beckons wealth and power. Fie! 'tis a shame
To think how women, this good world calls honest,
Will play the wanton in spirit, if not in deed.
Flinging aside all modest nice respect
Of maiden pride, and matron state, to win
The sway and masterdom of such a one,
Buying such hollow trash with their best jewels;
Nor is't in nature that a man, whose blood
Runs warmly through the lusty veins of youth,
And lifts his spirit, like a bounding vessel,
Upon the swelling flood of this spring-tide,
Should, spite of the quick promptings of life's May,
And all soliciting and yielding circumstance,
Hold continent sway o'er his unruly passions.

ESTRELLA.
Oh! I commend your charity, my lord!
And think it second only to your moral.
We'll have you fee'd the prodigal's prime advocate—
King's counsel in the high court of misrule:
'Tis a foul cause to be so fairly pleaded!

CARLOS.
Let not my words meet ill interpretation;
And least from thee, whose image still hath been
The very shrine enfolding purity
Whereto my thoughts bore chaste and constant worship.
It is because myself have still been kept
From stain or touch of such licentiousness
As youth still squanders his best havings in,
By the all-guarding talisman of love,
That I am slower to fall out with those
Who, having no such charm against the devil,
Are caught i' th' net. Had'st thou the same respect,
Pedro, thou'dst not have censured so severely
Alphonso's frailty.

PEDRO.
And how dost thou know
I'm not for all the world as much in love
As thou, for all the justice of my censure?

ESTRELLA.
Art thou in love?—with whom art thou in love?
What is her name? Is she as tall as I am?
Hath she—

PEDRO.
What say you to my question, Carlos?

CARLOS.
Thou canst not, in the first place, love as I do;
For, by this living light, I do love more!

PEDRO.
Than ever lover loved his love before!
So runs the tale of every Celadon,
Who ever yet in court, or camp, or city,
In lighted hall, or sylvan solitude,
Pour'd forth his soul in the self-same comparison,
That served our grandsire in his garden bower
E're murder came in fashion.

CARLOS.
Oh! Pedro, pardon me; thou ne'er didst love!
'Tis writ in the smooth margin of thy brow,
And in the steady lustre of thine eye.
Thy blood did never riot through thy veins
With the distemper'd hurried course of love;
Thy heart did never shake thy shuddering frame
With the thick startled throbbing pulse of love:
Thou hast ne'er wept love's bitter burning tears;
Hoped with love's wild unutterable hope,
Nor drown'd in love's dark, fathomless despair.
Thine is a stedfast and a fixed nature,
'Gainst which the tide of passion and desire
Breaks harmless as the water o'er the rock,
And the rich light of beauty shines alone
On thy soul's surface, leaving all beneath it
Unmoved and cold as subterranean springs.
Love hath no power o'er spirits such as thine,
Nor comes not nigh to them.

ESTRELLA.
Oh! tell me, Pedro,
Whom hast thou loved?

PEDRO.
Thee, from thy cradle upwards!

ESTRELLA.
Nay; but whom dost thus love?

PEDRO.
Thee, more than life!

ESTRELLA.
Flouter, wilt thou not answer me in seriousness?

PEDRO.
Some other time, sweet; but for that, no matter
Whether my heart hath bled beneath the dart,
Or whether there hath stuck no arrow there:
I know the very difference that lies
'Twixt hallow'd love and base unholy lust;
I know the one is as a golden spur,
Urging the spirit to all noblest aims;
The other but a foul and miry pit
O'erthrowing it in midst of its career;
I know the one is as a living spring
Of virtuous thoughts, true dealings, and brave deeds—
Nobler than glory, and more sweet than pleasure,—
Richer than wealth, begetter of more excellence
Than aught that from this earth corrupt takes birth,
Second alone in the fair fruit it bears
To the unmixed ore of true devotion:
I know that lust is all of this, spelt backwards;
Fouler than shame, and bitterer than sorrow,
More loathly than most abject penury—
Nor hath it fruit or bearing to requite it,
Save sick satiety and good men's scorn.
He that doth serve true love I love and honour;
And he that is lust's slave, I do despise,
Though he were twenty times the King of Spain;
Wherewith I do commend me to your favours,
And leave ye to your parting undisturbed.
Carlos, at what o'clock wilt thou return to-morrow?

CARLOS.
Two hours ere noon my horse shall get him wings.

PEDRO.
An hour ere noon we fix the wedding then;
'Twill give thee time to rest, and make thee brave.
Farewell, my brother!

ESTRELLA.
Oh! wilt thou not tell us
Something of thy fair lady love, dear Pedro?

PEDRO.
Some day when I shall sit between you two
At Valentar, with a young round-eyed nephew
Upon my knee, I'll tell ye all the story,
And how it fell that I at length resolved
To have no wife nor mistress, child nor heir,
Save this fair baggage, Heaven save the mark!
Who hath cost me as much trouble as them all.

[Exit.
ESTRELLA.
And loved thee for them all, my kindest brother!
Oh! Carlos, thou must love me well, indeed,
For in myself I give to thy possession
The child of such a rare and deep affection—
Oh, thou must love me passing well, dear Carlos!

CARLOS.
Dost thou not think that I shall love thee well?
Dost thou not know that in this air-clipped earth
There's no created thing I love like thee?
Tell me—oh! tell me, sweetest, dearest, best!
Dost thou not feel how utterly I love thee?
Speak to me, dear Estrella; do not turn
Thy fair eyes from me—there are tears in them!
What have I done? Have I offended thee?
Upon my knees, here at thy feet I'll lie,
Doing too blest a penance for my sin,
Till thou forgive me: wherefore dost thou weep?

ESTRELLA.
Oh, nature knows no other coin for joy
Or grief, but melts them both alike in tears:
I have a thousand stifling feelings press
My heart to bursting; joy to the height of pain
Comes like a flood upon my every sense;
Thy voice runs through my frame like the soft touch
Of summer, winds o'er trembling harp-strings playing,
Thy gentle words and looks that, though I love,
I dare not meet, make my soul faint within me.
Oh! Carlos, there is pain in this deep pleasure,
And e'en our joys taste of earth's bitter root;
Besides, there is a thought that, hand in hand
With the sweet promise of our marriage, comes
Like shadow upon sunlight—I must go
From my dear home—the home of all my life,
Where I have lived, oh! such a happy time!
Aurora's tears are not more like each other
Than the bright ever-blessed maiden hours
That the sun of time has, one by one, dried up.

CARLOS.
Sweet, let not that darken thy fancy's glass:
'Tis well when what's to come looks dark and dull;
To turn to the past, if haply joy dwelt there
But by so much as the sweet summer's noon,
When the earth wears its July pride of blossom,
O'ertops the fresh and pearl-bedimmed hour
Of earlier morning in th' unripe year's spring,
By so much shall thy blessedness to come
Out-noon thy gentle morn of virgin life.

ESTRELLA.
Shall it, indeed! but then, my brother, Carlos,
I fear he'll miss me sadly when I'm gone;
He says not much, but for the last three days
I've marked him wander up and down the house,
Noting my favourite chambers, sitting down
Where I love best to sit at work or play:
And then he sighs, good faith! for all the world,
As I were gone already. Yesterday,
As I was singing to my lute to him,
When I had done he took it from my hand,
And passing o'er the last few broken chords,
Said, “Leave thy lute with me, sweet sister.” Trust me,
I think he'll be as lonely as a bird
Without its mate, sad as a silent feast,
Single as a stray glove, and all as purposeless;
And this it is that makes me sorrowful.

CARLOS.
Oh! gentle soul!—but, hear me, my Estrella:
When thou art gone from hence, these empty walls
Will hold but little of his heart; I'll tell thee—
We'll make him leave this lonely home of his,
And come and dwell with us at Valentar;
Shall we do this?

ESTRELLA.
Oh yes! oh yes, we will!
Oh! we shall be the happiest three alive!
He, thou, and I, in your old castle hall,
And such a merry life as we will lead,
Shall be a very fairy tale of happiness.
Oh! 'twill be Paradise!

CARLOS.
It will, indeed!
But now I must begone, with all best speed,
To ope its gates unto its ruling angel.
Farewell! mine own.

ESTRELLA.
Not so, until to-morrow.
I am yet mine to-day.

CARLOS.
True, my fair queen;
Then being thine, wilt thou not kindly grant,
What given, is so much sweeter far than claimed—
One kiss.

ESTRELLA.
No, by my faith! 'twas urged amiss;
Since I may not to-morrow say thee nay,
At least I'll keep my privilege to-day.

CARLOS.
But why to grant thy privilege not use,
Since, come to-morrow, thou mayst not refuse?

ESTRELLA.
Because—no, I'll give no reason for the nonce,
I will not.

CARLOS.
Fare thee well.

ESTRELLA.
Farewell, my lord.
Is not your lordship gone?

CARLOS.
Not yet—farewell!

ESTRELLA.
Farewell! I wish you a fair ride, swift horse,
Smooth road, safe journey—and what more?

CARLOS.
That kiss—

ESTRELLA.
Beshrew thee for a spendthrift that dost make me
Lose my good time in silly bargaining.

CARLOS.
That kiss—

ESTRELLA.
If I should live an hundred years,
I'll ne'er give thee another.

CARLOS.
Granted so—
Give thou but this, I will take all the rest.
Upon thy soft lips lay I this fond seal
Unto our plighted faith; and all blest saints,
That register the sacred vows of souls
Moved by chaste love, bear witness to the pledge!

ESTRELLA.
By this first kiss that e'er upon my lips
Was laid by man, I do as truly give
My duty, love, and life, to thee for ever;
And heaven forsake me when I break this troth!

CARLOS.
Oh! help me, with thy gentle prayers, to lead
The crippled hours away that halt between
Us and our happiness: all angels guard thee!

[Exit.
ESTRELLA.
Now Heaven bless me for a silly wench!
Why he is gone far out o' sight or hearing;
'Tis only air I gaze upon so wide:
By my good faith! 'tis true I cannot see him.
To-morrow! oh! to-morrow!—oh, that love
Held old Time's hour-glass; for he would shake
The pouring sand so swiftly through, that day
Should sink this moment in night's swarthy arms,
And straight come blushing back to light the world!
Come night, quench thou this bright mote-peopled ray;
Oh! that to-morrow were but called to-day!

[Exit.