 | The Purgatory of Saint Patrick |  |
SCENE I.
—A STREET.Enter JUAN PAUL, fantastically dressed as a soldier, and LUDOVICO very pensive.
PAUL.
Some day I knew 'twould happen so,
And that the day has come is plain,
When I should ask you to explain
What I so much desire to know:
You will remember, in the dark,
How, from my cabin I did start,
To point you out the nearest part
Where you, with safety, might embark.
Another time, pray recollect,
You said, Or come with me, or die—
Of two such evils how that I
The greater evil did select,
Which was to follow in your train—
How, as a shadow, at thy side,
With thee I've wander'd far and wide,
Throughout fair Italy, and Spain,
France, Scotland, England, all have been
Explored by us, and we, in fact,
Have left no strange and distant tract
Unvisited. At length we're seen,
Thus having pass'd o'er land and sea,
Upon the Irish coast again:
I, Juan Paul, with 'wilder'd brain,
Confused, amazed at what I see—
Your hair, and beard of monstrous size—
Your counterfeited voice—your dress
So changed—implore you to confess
Why thou dost wear such strange disguise?—
By day you never leave the inn,
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A thousand wild exploits you dare,
Without remembering we are in
A land where everything has changed—
Where nothing can be heard or seen
As we remember they had been,
When formerly this land we ranged:
Egerio the King is dead,
Killed by despair's unceasing pains,
And Lesbia, his daughter, reigns,
Queen of this kingdom in his stead,
Because Polonia—
LUDOVICO.
Oh! proceed,
But name me not Polonia's name;
Do not destroy my trembling frame,
Nor terrify me with a deed
For which so many tears I shed!—
I know at length Polonia died.
PAUL.
Our host, with whom we here abide,
Told me, as how they found her dead,
And—
LUDOVICO.
Cease, I do not wish that thou
The manner of her death should state—
Enough for me to mourn her fate.
PAUL.
He also said, the people now
Are all good Christians here; they know
The sinful state from which they fled,
Because, one Patrick, who is dead—
LUDOVICO.
Is Patrick dead?
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Our host says so.
LUDOVICO.
Badly have I fulfill'd my vow—
[Aside.
Proceed:
PAUL.
The faith of Christ did preach,
And, as a proof that he did teach
The truth about the soul, and how
It seeks in death some other clime,
A wondrous cave discover'd here,
And what a cave! He shakes with fear
Who hears it named!
LUDOVICO.
Another time
I heard the same miraculous tale,
Which made my hair in terror stand.
They say the dwellers in this land
See sights that make the boldest quail.
PAUL.
Since thou, in melancholy mood,
In mingled terror and affright,
Nor use thy tongue, nor use thy sight,
But hide as if by foes pursued:
Since this is so, Señor, 'tis clear
You have not come to hear or see
These things, how wondrous they may be.
Say then, at once, what brings us here?—
Nor think my doubts impertinent.
LUDOVICO.
I'll answer all—from out your cot
I took you—in some lonely spot
To slay you was my first intent—
But then it better did appear
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As my companion and my friend—
Throwing aside the dreadful fear
That made me shun the sight of man,
In fine, that you being with me, Paul,
I might find solace, after all;
Through many various lands we ran,
Nor didst thou, as we roam'd along,
Feel need of aught. But now I'll say
Why we are here—it is to slay
A man who did me grievous wrong:
It is on this account I go,
Concealing country, dress, and name,
It is at this I ever aim
Throughout the night, because my foe
Is the most powerful person here!
And that I may to you confide
Why you to-day are at my side:
Listen, the cause shall soon appear—
Three days have pass'd away since I
Came to this city in disguise,
And twice beneath the midnight skies,
Here have I sought my enemy,
In his own street, at his own door,
Each time a figure pass'd me by,
Disguised, and so contrived that I
Had to postpone the death I swore.
He call'd me in the lonely street,
And when I sought to reach him near,
To me he seem'd to disappear,
As if the wind were in his feet—
To-night I thought it best that you
Should come along with me, that so
The figure we might surely know—
Caught as it were between us two.
PAUL.
Who are the two?
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Why, you and I.
PAUL.
I am not one.
LUDOVICO.
Not one?
PAUL.
Oh! no,
Señor, whenever you will go
On such exploits as now you try,
I am not one, nor half a one—
With my Lord Shadow's fearful stories,
Or with my Lady Purgatory's,
I am determined to have done:
In all my life, by day or night,
The other world's strange affairs
Were never known among my cares;
Methinks in this I acted right—
But place me 'gainst a thousand men,
And if I quickly do not run
From the whole thousand—nay, from one,
Call me the maddest mortal then.
For who would rather choose to die,
Who for a little race at most—
A thing of such a trifling cost—
Could his own life and safety buy?
My life I value very high—
Here leave me till you've done, and then,
Señor, come back for me again.
LUDOVICO.
This is the house: Philip must die
To-night beneath my vengeful hand—
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His life, or only but pretends—
Here in this place you best can stand.
Enter a FIGURE MUFFLED in a cloak.
PAUL.
That I doubt;—but some one cometh.
LUDOVICO.
Fortune doth this night befriend me,
Since it gives me the occasion
Now to take a double vengeance:
Nothing shall disturb my fury,
Nothing shall prevent my slaying,
First, this strange, mysterious figure;
Philip's death shall follow after.
'Tis the person that I spoke of,
By his gait and dress I know him:
But what terror makes me tremble
To behold him?
FIGURE.
Ludovico!
LUDOVICO.
Cavalier, two nights already
Have I met you here: inform me,
If you call me, why thus fly me;
If you seek me, why depart thus?
FIGURE.
Follow me, you then shall know me!
LUDOVICO.
Pardon me, I have some business
In this street that makes it needful
Here to be without a witness;
And in killing you, I'll fancy
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Draw or not your sword, this moment
I shall take a double vengeance:
[Draws his sword and strikes at the Figure, but only cuts the air.]
Heavens! 'tis but the air I strike at!
Intercept him, Paul, beside thee.
PAUL.
I don't practise intercepting.
LUDOVICO.
Through the city I shall track thee,
Up and down, till I discover
Who and what you are. Ah! vainly
[Aside.
Does my sword flash out its lightnings
To destroy him—they are powerless,
Either to offend or touch him.
[They go out, Enio striking at the Figure without touching it.]
Enter PHILIP.
PAUL.
God be with them! One has vanished
[Aside.
From the street, and now another
Comes to me. I am bewilder'd—
Like St. Antony, I'm tempted,
Both by figures and by phantoms:
I must hide me in this doorway,
Till the other passes by me.
PHILIP.
Love—aspiring, wild, and daring—
With the favours of a kingdom—
Makes me now a happy lover,
For Polonia, in the desert
Living among trees and brambles,
Citizen of lonely mountains—
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Has resigned unto her sister
Lesbia, the throne and kingdom.
I, through interest more than love,
Pay unceasing court to Lesbia,
Worshipping her rank and station:
Now I come from hopeful converse
With her at her grated window:
But what's this?—each night a stranger
Here I meet upon my threshold!
PAUL.
Ah! this way it is approaching—
Why to me comes every phantom?
PHILIP.
Cavalier!
PAUL.
I do not answer
To that name: he is addressing
Some one else.
PHILIP.
This is my dwelling.
PAUL.
Well, thank God! I'm not your tenant:
For a thousand years enjoy it,
Without courtiers for your lodgers.
PHILIP.
If you here are forced to tarry,
It concerns me not. Allow me
Room to pass you in the entrance.
PAUL.
What a civil-spoken phantom!
[Aside.
Ah! these ghosts are arrant cowards!
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Or have not, it makes no matter;
Here to enter you are welcome—
I would be the last to hinder
Any gentleman from going
Home to bed.
PHILIP.
You much oblige me!
Truly very valiant shadows
[Aside.
Haunt this street; 'tis somewhat curious
That for several nights a stranger
Here I've met, who, when I seek him,
Fades among the darksome doorways:
But this matter naught concerns me.
[Exit.
[PAUL draws his sword and affects to follow PHILIP.
PAUL.
Now he's gone, I may be valiant.
Good Mr. Shadow, stop, I pray thee,
Or, if not Mr.—Miss, or Madam:
Ah! I cannot overtake him—
Heavens! 'tis but the air I strike at!—
Well if this the cavalier is
Whom we have so long expected,
He is a most lucky fellow
To have got to bed so safely:
But another sound approaches—
Sword-strokes mix'd with angry voices;
Here they come—but thus I leave them.
[Exit.
Enter the CLOAKED FIGURE and LUDOVICO.
LUDOVICO.
Cavalier! we have departed
From the street: if there was in it
Aught to interrupt our combat:
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Face to face, to end the quarrel—
Since my sword cannot offend you,
I must learn, upon you rushing,
Who and what you are. Acknowledge
Are you phantom, man, or demon?
Are you silent? then 'tis needful
That your dark disguise I open,
And discover—
[He tears open the cloak and discovers a skeleton.
Heaven defend me!
What is this? Oh! Lord Almighty!
What a spectacle of terror!—
Horrid vision! Grisly phantom!
Stiff and fleshless corse, who are you—
Ashes feigning life and motion?
FIGURE.
Mortal, know you not yourself?
Here you see your truest picture—
I am Ludovico Enio!
[Disappears.
LUDOVICO.
Aid me, Heaven! what dismal tidings!
Aid me, Heaven! what fearful vision!
Shadows, sorrows crowd around me,
And my wretched life is over!
[He falls on the ground.
Enter PAUL.
PAUL.
'Tis my master's voice that calleth—
See, my lord, that succour cometh
Now in me:
LUDOVICO.
Oh! horrid monster!
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Overwhelm my soul!
PAUL.
He's frantic—
I am not a horrid monster,
But poor Juan Paul—that ninny—
Who too faithfully attends thee,
Without knowing why or wherefore.
LUDOVICO.
Paul, excuse me, that my terror
Made me first not recognise thee,
That indeed is little wonder
When my very self I know not.
Did you see, as here you enter'd,
A dread shape—a grisly spectre?—
One by fleshless bones supported—
One with fingers cold and rigid—
One with eyeless sockets staring—
Where is he?
PAUL.
Indeed, I know not:
Had I seen him, on the instant,
I, more dead than he, had fallen.
LUDOVICO.
And so would every human being:
Thus I fell, with stifled accents,
All my senses scared or frozen—
All my limbs with cold lead fetter'd—
While, above me, seem'd descending
Of two poles, the wondrous structure,
By my strength alone supported;
And from everything around me
There did start some hidden terror:
Mighty rocks from gentle flowers—
Giants from the midst of roses:
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Flung its grisly host of shadows,
And I saw myself among them!
From that sight, in pity, hide me,
Gracious Heaven! O Earth, conceal me
In your darkest, central caverns,
That I ne'er again may see me!
Or, if that sad sight be needful,
Let me see myself the monster
That I was—the daring rebel,
Proud, insane, and disobedient,
Who God's law so violated—
He, for whom, if God would punish
Crimes as they deserve, the torments
Even of Hell were insufficient—
Which he must endure for ever,
While God reigns or hell existeth;—
But this truth I treasure also,
That these crimes have been committed
'Gainst a God so full of mercy,
That I yet can gain their pardon,
If, with bitter tears, I weep them:
Such repentance now doth seize me;
And that I, even from this moment,
May become a new-born creature,
In His saving hands I place me:
Not according to thy justice,
Judge me, O eternal Father!
But according to thy mercy;
For thy attributes are blended
Both of mercy and of justice:
Deign to let me know some method
Of repentance, of atonement:
What will be a satisfaction
For my life?—
[Music within.
VOICES.
The Purgatory!
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Heavens! what sonorous accents
Breathe around! A revelation
Do they seem, for Heaven assisteth
The repentant, humbled sinner,
In its own mysterious manner:
And since comes the inspiration
From on high, I wish to enter
Into Patrick's Purgatory:
Humbly and devoutly keeping
Thus the promise that I gave him,
If indeed it be my fortune—
There to meet with holy Patrick:
If the trial have its dangers,—
Since all human strength is powerless
Either to resist its terrors,
Or to bear the awful torments
Which the vengeful demons fashion—
Still I should remember likewise
That my crimes were just as dreadful,
And that in the same proportion
I must suffer—as physicians,
Curing desperate diseases,
Act on desperate prescriptions.—
Paul, come with me, you shall see me
At the bishop's feet laid prostrate
With repentance and with terror;
All my dreadful sins confessing.
PAUL.
No, Sir—you must take this journey
By yourself—a man so valiant
Surely needeth no companion—
And it seems an innovation
That a gentleman should go to
Hell attended by his valet:
To my village I shall saunter,
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If I need must have hobgoblins,
Lucy will be quite sufficient.
[Exit.
LUDOVICO.
As my many crimes were public,
So shall be my deep repentance—
Like a man possess'd I'll wander
Through the world, my sins proclaiming:
Men, wild beasts, deserted mountains,
Starry globes, dim wildernesses,
Tender plants, dry sapless elm-trees,
I am Ludovico Enio!
At my name with horror tremble!
I, who lately was the proudest,
Now confess myself the humblest;
I have faith and firm reliance
That you yet shall see me happy,
If in God's name blessed Patrick
Aid me in the Purgatory.
[Exit.
The interview between Ludovico, Enio, and the Skeleton, at p.229, says a recent writer, “is a scene truly Calderonic —the hour, the place, the intended assassin, and the sudden reflection of himself, with his guilty conscience impersonate before him; it reminds us of that wild fable of Jeremy Taylor or Fuller, about the bird with a human face, that feeds on human flesh until it chances to see its own reflection in a stream, and then it pines away for grief that it has killed its fellow.”
—Westminster Review, vol. liv. p. 306. | The Purgatory of Saint Patrick | |