 | Inez de Castro |  |
107
ACT V.
SCENE I.
A Hall of Audience. The Throne in the Middle of the Stage; Alphonso writing at a Table; Don Manuel standing near him; Lords and Attendants in the Background; Antonio, Garcia, and other Nobles in front.Ant.
Hear ye aught farther, Lords, of these fierce tumults
That all night long have raged throughout the city?
Gar.
Nought, save low-whispered rumour. Since the Princess
Fled here for refuge none hath passed the barred
And guarded gates.
Enter Alvarez.
Ant.
Here comes one full of news,
To judge by his speed.
Gar.
Ay, and of evil matter.
What tidings, Don Alvarez? Is the Prince
Advancing on the Palace?
Alv.
With a course
108
Sweeping from far Vesuvius; turbulent
As our own Lisbon seas; angry and fierce
As winds in the Equinox. The King should hear—
Ant.
He hath heard.
Alv.
And still unmoved!
Gar.
Do many follow
The fiery champion?
Alu.
A fast-growing host,
Soldiers and citizens commingling, crowd
The narrow streets; even the slight beardless boys
And fearful women follow his thick ranks,
Mixing their shriller cries with the deep threats
Of armed warriors. The whole city rings
With “Inez! Lady Inez!”
Man.
(Apart.)
A brave war-word!
Alv.
All the night long hath he with that name stirred
The slumbering people; and as the dread hour
When she must die draws near, with wildest threats
Invests our walls.
Man.
Hold the guard firm?
Alv.
As yet.
Alph.
(To an Attendant.)
Despatch the messenger to Rome, good Carlos,
Without delay: there be his missives.—Manuel,
Haste to the citadel. Thou know'st thine errand.
[Exit Manuel.
Gar.
(To Antonio.)
Is Inez prisoner there?
Ant.
If still she live,
She is.
Alph.
(Advancing.)
Now, gentles, know ye if the rebels
Be near the Palace?
Alv.
Good my liege, they close
Around the walls.
109
Dismiss the guards. Fling wide
The iron gates. I'll front them singly here
Before the insulted throne.
Alv.
Nay, nay, beseech thee
Deprive not of their proudest privilege
Your faithful soldiers, Sire.
Ant.
Nor trust too far
The fierce tumultuous crowd, who passion-driven
Rush maddening through the streets, like furious bulls,
Blinded and stumbling with their own brute rage.
Such herds are dangerous.
Alph.
Dismiss the soldiers;
Fling wide the palace-gates. The herd ye speak of
Will own their master. Wouldst thou have a King—
I'll proudly say a just one—quail before
His subjects? Fling the barriers wide!
Enter Constance and Ladies.
Con.
They come!
They crowd the courts! The vestibule, the hall,
Are filled with the fierce people.
Alph.
Tremble not:
Degenerate though he be, thou art as safe
As in thine own Castillian home. Be sure
That ye are safe.
Enter Pedro, followed by Soldiers and Citizens. The King stands before the Throne; Constance and her Ladies beside and behind him, whilst the Nobles and Courtiers, close before him in front.
Ped.
Inez! Disperse yourselves
Throughout the Palace. Line the courts. Let none
Escape unquestioned. Inez! Here we parted.
This was her prison. Waste no moment, friends!
110
Release her, or she dies.
[Perceiving Alvarez, and seizing him.
Ha! Art thou there?
My wife! my wife! I trusted her to thee
As to a noble soldier in all honour.
Alv.
And in all honour was she dealt withal;
But yesternight an order from the Council
Removed the lady from my ward.
Ped.
To death?
If thou be slain, streets, churches, palaces
Shall light thy funeral, Inez! Fire the city!
Make Lisbon one black ruin! Portugal
One mighty grave!
Alv.
Be calmer, Prince. They bore
The lady to the Citadel, a prisoner,
But not to death.
Ped.
On to the castle! on!
He who first scales the walls, with this good sword,
I'll dub him knight. On! on!
Alph.
(Advancing.)
A brave emprise!
A tempting guerdon! Yet if still she live,
And but one man-at-arms approach the fortress,
The headsman knows his signal.
First Cit.
'Tis the King.
Seize him!
Alph.
(To the Nobles.)
Stir not a step; draw not a sword.
I'll waste no life in my defence, nor spill
One drop of blood, save that the rebels seek,
Save mine.
Sec. Cit.
Surround him! Fell him to the earth!
Ped.
(Striking him down.)
Down to the dust thyself, vile caitiff! What,
Afore my very eyes lay thy foul hands
111
I have but stunned the reptile! Drag him hence!
Look ye keep reverent distance, Sirs! Stand back!
By Heaven! he dies upon my sword who dares
Advance a step unordered. Back, I say!
Stand from about us!—Father!
Alph.
I abjure
For ever that fond title. Sir, my son
Was the main pillar of the throne, the stay
Of state and people, a thrice loyal knight,
Who led his country's armies, conqueror,
In twenty battles. Even Kings have vailed
Their crowns to my brave son. Thou art a rebel—
Doth the word stir thee?—chief of rebels, leader
Of the foul city's foulest crew, the spawn
Of crowded suburbs and rank lazar-houses.
Them hast thou led—chivalrous deed!—to storm
The King's defenceless palace, to make prisoner
The undefended King, that thou might'st climb
The vacant throne, and seat thee there, usurping
The crown thou shouldst inherit. Sir, my son
Was a frank, loyal knight, who would have spurned
Treason and traitor. Wherefore pause? Come on,
And drink thy monarch's blood. Dost fear to meet
My single arm? There lies my sword. My breast
Is open to thy weapon. Strike, I say!
Why dost thou falter? Strike! Strike! Strike! Thou hast given
A sharper pang already.
Ped.
Take thy sword;
Take mine. Heaven shield thine honoured life! Live! Reign!
But spare my Inez!
Alph.
Sir, I hold no parley
112
Ped.
Only tell me that she lives,
That Inez lives. There is a burning fire
Here in my brain. If thou wouldst rescue me
From crime and frenzy, say she lives.
Alph.
Dismiss
Thy followers! Clear the Palace! Cast thyself
On the King's mercy!
Ped.
(To the People.)
Quick, disband the troops;
Disperse the citizens! Away! Away!
[Exeunt Citizens, Soldiers, &c.
Now, father! Now!
Alph.
Don Pedro—
Ped.
Call me son!
Call me thy son!
Alph.
My son!
Ped.
And oh, forgive
My sinful rashness, father! I ne'er dreamt
Of thrones, or crowns, or sceptres, gilded toys
That mad ambition plays withal. My thought
Was but of Inez. Doth she live?
Alph.
She lives.
Ped.
Joy! joy! Thou hast ta'en a weight as of the world
From off my heart. Now I can breathe. The fear
The stifling, deadening, suffocating fear
That held my sense in thrall is gone. She lives!
And thou hast given thy son a second life
And dearer. Inez lives! The hour is past,
And Inez lives! And she shall live! Say that!
Say thou hast pardoned her!
Alph.
I pardon thee.
Ped.
And her!
Alph.
I pardon thee.
Ped.
Oh, father! father!
113
Have I no friend amidst the courtly train
To aid by one poor prayer? Rude as I seem,
Rough and unnurtured, not a man of ye
Ever craved grace or guerdon, but I straight
Became his bondsman, braving for his sake
Angry rebuke and cold rebuff, nor slackening
My honest service till his suit were won.
And now I sue for life, for more than life,
And ye stand mute!
Con.
Alphonso, pardon her!
Ped.
The Lady Constance!
Con.
Pardon her, Alphonso,
Even for my sake.
Alph.
Dost thou plead for them, Princess?
Ped.
Ay, blessings on her gentle heart! If Pity
Were lost on earth, she would be found enshrined
In woman's generous breast.
Alph.
Thou, too, sweet lady!
Con.
A kindly pardon glistens in thine eye
And trembles in thy voicc. Thou hast heard my prayer:
Hear now my thanks; and speed me quickly home,
That I the first may pour in Philip's ear
This story of true love. If still his Constance
Be dear to her dear brother, trust me, Princes,
Castille shall take on ye a royal vengeance
In firmer peace and closer amity.
Farewell to all!
Ped.
Oh, noblest maid!
Con.
Farewell!
[Exit Constance with her Ladies.
Ped.
Oh, sweet and noble maid! But Inez! Inez!
Alph.
Afore thy mad revolt, we had sent to stay
The execution, and dispatched Don Manuel
114
Ped.
Is she not pardoned?
Manuel, I have small faith in that smooth courtier.
Alph.
Listen, Don Pedro. Yonder royal maid
Hath read us a brave lesson. We have both
Done grievous wrong to thy fair wife. Thyself
By thy rash bridals, I—But we will make
A glorious reparation. Good Antonio,
Haste to the jewel-room. The very crown
Thy mother wore shall deck her brow! Convey
The rich regalia of the Queen, Antonio,
Straight to the Citadel, with fitting pomp
Of officer and prelate. She who entered
A captive and condemned, she shall come forth
A crowned Princess.
Ped.
Father! Canst thou ever
Forgive me, father?
Alph.
Can I!—Meet us quickly
At the Citadel, Antonio. My dear son!
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.
A Prison.Inez, alone.
Inez.
Surely the hour is past! How wearily
Lags this long, lonely pause! No friend to cheer,
No priest to pray for me, and he my husband—
I have dearly purchased the blest right to call thee
By that fond name, my Pedro!—he—I dare not
Think of his fierce, unmitigated woe.
Alas! they might have granted one farewell—
The last! Well! well! once in her quiet grave,
And they'll forgive poor Inez! Now—Don Manuel!
115
So! Art thou come to lead me to the death?
Say Yes, and for the first time win of me
A free and joyous welcome.
Man.
Lovely lady,
I come to bring thee life.
Inez.
Life!—to live on
With him and for him! Life and life's best joy—
Pure wedded love! Oh, Heaven is merciful,
Refusing our fond, peevish prayers! I asked
For death—but life with him! Oh, we shall be
Too happy! Wherefore flew he not to share
Mine ecstasy? How bent he to his will,
His kingly father? What detains my Prince?
Why comes he not himself? Alas! forgive me
These my ungrateful questionings. Thanks! thanks!
Thou art a wise man, Manuel, and the wise
Are ever good. Thanks, generous friend, high thanks
For thy blest tidings! Wherefore start'st thou?
Man.
Inez,
I come to proffer life; but not—nay listen—
Hear out mine errand, lady, and then speak.
I bring thee life. Alphonso hath dispatched
A messenger to sue the Holy Pontiff
That he dissolve these rash, unlawful bridals;
And thou consenting, as thy stiffest denial
Were vain, to this divorce—I pr'ythee, hearken!—
And wedding with another—
Inez.
Man, begone!
I am Don Pedro's wife. Go read my title
In the stern scroll that doomed me to the block
For that inexpiable crime, the sentence
That shall descend, enrolled amongst thy archives,
116
My honour's bloody guardian. Wherefore loiters
The headsman? Wherefore art thou here to vex
My parting spirit?
Man.
Sweet, I come to save thee.
Inez.
Thou cam'st to proffer choice of life or death,
And I have chosen. Lead to the block.
Man.
I'll shake
This stubborn calmness yet.
Inez.
Thou canst not, Sir;
It is the calm of virtue.
Man.
A fair word
That virtue! Yet in this bad world of ours,
How many passions, sins, and miseries,
Lurk underneath its honest seeming. Virtue!
Why 'tis the very cloak Ambition wears—
The mask Rebellion dons. What if more lives
Than thine hang on thy choice?
Inez.
Whose life? his? his?
My Pedro's? No! no! no! Thou art a cunning
And merciless fiend, sent here afore my death
To tempt and torture my frail, sinful soul
With thoughts that burn like purgatorial fires.
Heaven pardon my impatience! There's none other
In peril, none in jeopardy of death,
Save her who prays for death to end her woes.
Man.
Didst sleep last night?
Inez.
No; for I thought of him,
And of his bitter grief. Lead to the block
For his dear sake. When Hope is dead, pale Fear
Fills the same monument.
Man.
Didst thou not hear
Noises around thy prison?
Inez.
Ha!
117
Strange noises:
Knolling of bells, and clattering of arms,
And trampling of mailed steeds, and shouts of men?
Inez.
Say that I did, and what of that? He's safe!
Man.
As safe as one who leads a rebel force
Against a monarch's power.
Inez.
In rebellion
For me! for me!—Oh! no, no, no! 'Tis false!
A traitor to his King!—Why rend my heart
With these wild thoughts? Confess thy falsehood, Manuel!
In arms against his father!
Man.
Ay, to arm
Father 'gainst son, son against father, subjects
'Gainst their anointed King; to raise a war—
A desperate civil war; to fire a nation,
This is rare virtue! Why that fairest piece
Of heathen wantonness, the beauteous Helen,
In that old ten years' siege, hatched not the mischief
Virtue and thou have wrought in one short hour.
Inez.
Oh, woe is me that ever I was born!
He in rebellion, slain in arms, a rebel
Against his father-King, fallen, vanquished, laid
In an unhonoured grave,—or conqueror,
Murderer, parricide, cursing her name
Who plunged him in that gulph of sin! Alas,
That ever I was born!
Man.
Take comfort, sweet one;
It stands within thy power to end this strife,
And with a word.
Inez.
How? where? Show me but how,
And I will worship thee.
Man.
Be mine.
Inez.
No, no;
118
Man.
Thou dost refuse?
[Going.
Inez.
Man, man,
What ill hath the poor Inez done to thee,
That thou shouldst wring her very soul? In mercy
Say can I end these wars? Can I save him?
Man.
Only as I have said. These fatal nuptials
Be the thrice fatal cause, and that removed—
Inez.
Ay, ay, I am the cause. Remove that cause,
And then there will be peace.
Man.
And bliss.
Inez.
Ay, bliss
In heaven.
Man.
After long bliss on earth.
Inez.
In heaven—
That is the blessedest place. The peace-maker
Will go there. That way's sure. Remove the cause—
The fatal cause!—On, on, Don Manuel. Show me
To stay the strife.
Man.
Do but consent, sweet lady,
To this divorce; and when for ever parted—
Inez.
For ever!
Man.
Then in a fresh bridal seek
A lowlier bliss.
Inez.
A lowlier bridal bed!
It must be, and it shall be. Manuel, hasten
To end these woes. Pray them forgive me, Manuel,
Me, the unhappy cause of this great woe.
Pray them forgive poor Inez! Tell Don Pedro
That in my love I never was ambitious;
I thought not of the crown; 'twas he, 'twas he
That was mine idol! Bear him back his gifts;
These pearls of Ind; he tied them round my neck
119
Where he first spake of love. Oh, wretched love!
Oh, miserable hour! This ruby ring
At midnight, in St. Vincent's lonely church,
He on my trembling finger fondly prest,
Sole token of that fatal union! Take it,
And pray that it be buried in my grave.
And this small Moorish attaghan, his first
And dearest gift, the jewelled attaghan,
Which, half in sport, and half in manly scorn
Of the effeminate gaud, he bade me wear
A woman's fitting weapon, say I bore it
Next to my heart, so that the faithful steel
Glowed with each hope and trembled with each fear,
Like a true friend. Oh, precious gift of love!
Say it shall wed me to my second bridegroom—
Death! death!
[Stabs herself.
Man.
Hold thy rash hand! Live, Inez, live!
She's dead! And I—oh, blindest wretch, that read not
Her desperate purpose—
Ped.
(Behind.)
Inez!
Man.
'Tis Don Pedro.
My bitter cup hath yet one sweetening drop—
Revenge.
Ped.
Mine Inez! Give her to my arms!
That yearn for their sweet burthen. Touch her not,
She is my wife.
Man.
Take her.
Ped.
She falls! she bleeds!
Inez! She hears me not. Her pulse is still.
She's dead! She's slain! Cowardly murderer!
Man.
Prince! was that dagger mine?
Ped.
Oh, torturing fiend!
Thou shalt abide this deed.
120
Father, look on her!
Look where she lies, love's martyr. She is slain,
And we are murderers, father! Mine own Inez!
My love! my wife! my Queen! The crown! the crown!
The glittering diadem! O blessed Shade,
Look down! Lo, where I crown thee, Death's pale bride
And mine. Lo, where I place the cold stiff sceptre
In thy cold stiffening hand. Lo, where I drop
The holy oil on the wan brow that bears
A majesty above this earth. My Queen!
Mine only Queen! Oh, never living love
Shall part our union, Inez! With this kiss
Do I re-wed thee! With this kiss devote
My life to thy dear memory. Do homage!
Viper, do homage! Father, bless thy daughter!
And pray for thy poor son! Pray for thy son!
| Inez de Castro | |