The bad man's cunning still prepares the way
For its own outwitting. I applaud, Ragozzi!
[Musing to himself—then-
Ragozzi! I applaud,
In thee, the virtuous hope that dares look onward
And keeps the life-spark warm of future action
Beneath the cloak of patient sufferance.
Act and appear as time and prudence prompt thee:
I shall not misconceive the part thou playest.
Mine is an easier part-to brave the Usurper.
[Enter a procession of EMERICK's Adherents, Nobles, Chieftains, and Soldiers, with Music. They advance toward the front of the Stage, KIUPRILI makes the signal for them to stop.-The Music ceases.
LEADER OF THE PROCESSION.
The Lord Kiuprili!-Welcome from the camp.
Grave magistrates and chieftains of Illyria !
In good time come ye hither, if
ye come
As loyal men with honourable purpose
To mourn what can alone be mourn'd; but chiefly
To enforce the last commands of royal Andreas,
And shield the Queen, Zapolya: haply making
The mother's joy light up the widow's tears.
Our purpose demands speed. Grace our procession; A warrior best will greet a warlike king.
This patent, written by your lawful king (Lo! his own seal and signature attesting) Appoints as guardians of his realm and offspring, The Queen, and the Prince Emerick, and myself. [Voices of Live King Emerick! an Emerick! an
O hear me, Sire! not lightly have I sworn
Homage to Emerick. Illyria's sceptre
Demands a manly hand, a warrior's grasp.
The queen Zapolya's self-expected offspring
At least is doubtful and of all our nobles,
The king inheriting his brother's heart,
Hath honour'd us the most. Your rank, my lord!
Already eminent, is-all it can be-
Chief of his council and the lord high steward.
What means this clamour? Are these madmen's voices? Confirmed: and me the king's grace hath appointed
Or is some knot of riotous slanderers leagued
To infamize the name of the king's brother
With a lie black as Hell? unmanly cruelty,
Ingratitude, and most unnatural treason!
What mean these murmurs? Dare then any here
Proclaim Prince Emerick a spotted traitor?
One that has taken from you your sworn faith,
And given you in return a Judas' bribe,
Infamy now, oppression in reversion, And Heaven's inevitable curse hereafter?
(Bought by a bribe!) I know thee now still less.
CASIMIR (struggling with his passion).
So much of Raab Kiuprili's blood flows here,
That no power, save that holy name of father,
Could shield the man who so dishonour'd me.
RAAB KIUPRILI.
The son of Raab Kiuprili! a bought bond-slave,
Guilt's pander, treason's mouth-piece, a gay parrot,
[Loud murmurs, followed by cries-Emerick! No School'd to shrill forth his feeder's usurp'd titles,
Baby Prince! No Changelings!
Yet bear with me awhile! Have I for this
Bled for your safety, conquer'd for your honour!
Was it for this, Illyrians! that I forded
Your thaw-swoln torrents, when the shouldering ice
Fought with the foe, and stain'd its jagged points
With gore from wounds, I felt not?
Beat on this body, frost-and-famine-numb'd,
Till my hard flesh distinguish'd not itself
From the insensate mail, its fellow-warrior?
And have I brought home with me Victory,
And with her, hand in hand, firm-footed Peace,
Her countenance twice lighted up with glory.
As if I had charm'd a goddess down from Heaven?
But these will flee abhorrent from the throne
Of usurpation!
[Murmurs increase-and cries of Onward! onward!
Have you
then thrown off shame,
And shall not a dear friend, a loyal subject,
Throw off all fear? I tell ye, the fair trophies
Valiantly wrested from a valiant foe,
Love's natural offerings to a rightful king,
Will hang as ill on this usurping traitor,
This brother-blight, this Emerick, as robes
Of gold pluck'd from the images of gods
Upon a sacrilegious robber's back.
[During the last four lines, enter LORD CASIMIR,
with expressions of anger and alarm.
Who is this factious insolent, that dares brand The elected King, our chosen Emerick?
And scream, Long live king Emerick!
Aye, King Emerick! Stand back, my lord! Lead us, or let us pass.
Nay, let the general speak!
Hear him! Hear him!
RAAB KIUPRILI.
Hear me,
Assembled lords and warriors of Illyria,
Hear, and avenge me! Twice ten years have I
Stood in your presence, honour'd by the king,
Beloved and trusted. Is there one among you,
Accuses Raab Kiuprili of a bribe?
Or one false whisper in his sovereign's ear?
Who here dares charge me with an orphan's rights
Outfaced, or widow's plea left undefended?
And shall I now be branded by a traitor,
A bought bribed wretch, who, being called my son,
Doth libel a chaste matron's name, and plant
Hensbane and aconite on a mother's grave?
The underling accomplice of a robber,
That from a widow and a widow's offspring
Would steal their heritage? To God a rebel,
And to the common father of his country
A recreant ingrate!
Sire! your words grow dangerous. High-flown romantic fancies ill-beseem
[Starts-then approaching with timid respect. Your age and wisdom. "T is a statesman's virtue, To guard his country's safety by what means
Call out the guard! Ragozzi! seize the assassin.
A sovereign's ear ill brooks a subject's questioning!
Yet for thy past well-doing-and because
'T is hard to erase at once the fond belief
Long cherish'd, that Illyria had in thee
No dreaming priest's slave, but a Roman lover
Of her true weal and freedom-and for this, too,
That, hoping to call forth to the broad day-light
And fostering breeze of glory all deservings,
I still had placed thee foremost.
Unwillingly I tell thee, that Zapolya,
Madden'd with grief, her erring hopes proved idle-
Kiuprili? Ha!--[With lowered voice, at the same time Sire! speak the whole truth! Say, her frauds detected! with one hand making signs to the guard to retire.-
Pass on, friends! to the palace.
[Music recommences.-The Procession passes into the Palace. During which time EMERICK and KIUPRILI regard each other stedfastly.
What! Raab Kiuprili? What! a father's sword Against his own son's breast?
'T would best excuse him, Were he thy son, Prince Emerick. I abjure him.
This is my thanks, then, that I have commenced
A reign to which the free voice of the nobles
Hath call'd me, and the people, by regards
Of love and grace to Raab Kiuprili's house?
Receive my pledge, lord general. It shall stand
What right hadst thou, Prince Emerick, to bestow In her own will to appear and voice her claims;
By what right dares Kiuprili question me?
By a right common to all loyal subjects-
To me a duty! As the realm's co-regent,
Appointed by our sovereign's last free act,
Writ by himself.-
[Grasping the Patent.
EMERICK (With a contemptuous sneer).
Aye!-Writ in a delirium!
I likewise ask, by whose authority
The access to the sovereign was refused me?
By whose authority dared the general leave His camp and army, like a fugitive?
A fugitive, who, with victory for his comrade,
Ran, open-eyed, upon the face of death!
A fugitive, with no other fear, than bodements
To be belated in a loyal purpose-
At the command, Prince! of my king and thine,
Hither I came; and now again require
Audience of Queen Zapolya; and (the States
Forthwith convened) that thou dost show at large,
On what ground of defect thou'st dared annul
This thy King's last and solemn act-hast dared
Ascend the throne, of which the law had named,
And conscience should have made thee, a protector.
Hero or natural coward, shall have guidance
Of a free people's destiny; should fall out
In the mere lottery of a reckless nature,
Where few the prizes and the blanks are countless?
Or haply that a nation's fate should hang
On the bald accident of a midwife's handling
The unclosed sutures of an infant's skull?
What better claim can sovereign wish or need,
Than the free voice of men who love their country?
Those chiefly who have fought for 't? Who by right,
Claim for their monarch one, who having obey'd,
So hath best learnt to govern: who, having suffer'd,
Can feel for each brave sufferer and reward him
Whence sprang the name of Emperor? Was it not
By nature's fiat? In the storm of triumph,
'Mid warriors' shouts, did her oracular voice
Make itself heard: Let the commanding spirit
Possess the station of command!
The unquiet silence of a stern Resolve,
Wouldst thou have pilfer'd from our school-boys' themes
These shallow sophisms of a popular choice?
What people? How convened? or, if convened,
Must not the magic power that charms together
Millions of men in council, needs have power
To win or wield them? Better, O far better
Shout forth thy titles to yon circling mountains,
And with a thousand-fold reverberation
Make the rocks flatter, thee, and the volleying air,
Unbribed, shout back to thee, King Emerick!
By wholesome laws to embank the sovereign power,
To deepen by restraint, and by prevention
Of lawless will to amass and guide the flood
In its majestic channel, is man's task
And the true patriot's glory! In all else
Men safelier trust to Heaven, than to themselves
When least themselves in the mad whirl of crowds
Where folly is contagious, and too oft
Even wise men leave their better sense at home,
To chide and wonder at them when return'd.
EMERICK (aloud).
Is 't thus, thou scoff'st the people! most of all,
The soldiers, the defenders of the people?
RAAB KIUPRILI (aloud).
O most of all, most miserable nation,
For whom th' Imperial power, enormous bubble!
Is blown and kept aloft, or burst and shatter'd
By the bribed breath of a lewd soldiery!
Chiefly of such, as from the frontiers far
(Which is the noblest station of true warriors),
In rank licentious idleness beleaguer
City and court, a venom'd thorn i' the side
Of virtuous kings, the tyrant's slave and tyrant,
Still ravening for fresh largess! But with such
What title claim'st thou, save thy birth? What merits
Which many a liegeman may not plead as well,
Brave though I grant thee? If a life outlabour'd
Throttling the impatient voice. I have heard thee, Head, heart, and fortunate arm, in watch and war,
For the land's fame and weal; if large acquests,
Made honest by th' aggression of the foe
And whose best praise is, that they bring us safety;
If victory, doubly-wreathed, whose under-garland
Of laurel-leaves looks greener and more sparkling
Through the grey olive-branch; if these, Prince Emerick!
Give the true title to the throne, not thou-
No! (let Illyria, let the infidel enemy
Be judge and arbiter between us!) I,
I were the rightful sovereign!
Thus long I have listen'd-Guard-ho! from the Pa-, And let this darkness——
[The Guard post from the Guard-House with CHEF RAGOZZI at their head, and then a number from the Palace-CHEF RAGOZZI demands KIUPRILI'S sword, and apprehends him.
O agony! (To EMERICK.) Sire, hear me!
[To KIUPRILI, who turns from him. Hear me, Father!
Take in arrest that traitor and assassin!
Be as the shadow of thy outspread wings
To hide and shield us! Start'st thou in thy slumbers?
Thou canst not dream of savage Emerick. Hush!
Betray not thy poor mother! For if they seize thee
I shall grow mad indeed, and they'll believe
Thy wicked uncle's lie. Ha! what? A soldier?
[She starts back-and enter CHEF RAGOZZI.
Sure heaven befriends us. Well! he hath escaped!
O rare tune of a tyrant's promises
That can enchant the serpent treachery
Who pleads for his life, strikes at mine, his sovereign's. From forth its lurking-hole in the heart.
As the co-regent of the realm, I stand
Amenable to none save to the States,
Met in due course of law. But ye are bond-slaves, Yet witness ye that before God and man
I here impeach Lord Emerick of foul treason,
And on strong grounds attaint him with suspicion Of murder
Hence with the madman!
RAAB KIUPRILI.
The royal orphan's murder: and to the death Defy him, as a tyrant and usurper.
«O brave Ragozzi! Count! Commander! What not?»
And all this too for nothing! a poor nothing!
Merely to play the underling in the murder
Of my best friend Kiuprili! His own son-monstrous!
Tyrant! I owe thee thanks, and in good hour
Will I repay thee, for that thou thought'st me too
A serviceable villain. Could I now
But gain some sure intelligence of the queen :
Heaven bless and guard her!
ZAPOLYA (coming fearfully forward).
Art thou not Ragozzi?
The Queen! Now then the miracle is full! I see heaven's wisdom is an over-match
[Hurried off by RAGOZZI and the Guard. For the devil's cunning. This way, madam, haste!
Hush, dear one! hush! My trembling arm disturbs thee! I sent him off, with Emerick's own pacquet,
Direct my steps! Ah whither? O send down
Thy angel to a houseless babe and mother,
Driven forth into the cruel widerness!
Haste, and post haste-Prepared to follow him
Ah, how? Is it joy or fear! My limbs seem sinking!—
CHEF RAGOZZI (supporting her).
Heaven still befriends us. I have left my charger,
Hush, sweet one! Thou art no Hagar's offspring: Thou A gentle beast and fleet, and my boy's mule,
The rightful heir of an anointed king!
What sounds are those? It is the vesper chaunt
Of labouring men returning to their home!
Their queen has no home! Hear me, heavenly Father!
One that can shoot a precipice like a bird,
Just where the wood begins to climb the mountains.
The course we'll thread will mock the tyrant's guesses,
Or scare the followers. Ere we reach the main road,
The Lord Kiuprili will have sent a troop
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