by Thomas Hardy
My duty's done as mother, wife, and queen.—
I'll say no more—but that my heart is broken!
[Exeunt NAPOLEON, QUEEN, and LADY-IN-WAITING.]
SPIRIT OF THE YEARS
He spoke thus at the Bridge of Lodi. Strange,
He's of the few in Europe who discern
The working of the Will.
SPIRIT OF THE PITIES
If that be so,
Better for Europe lacked he such discerning!
[NAPOLEON returns to the room and joins TALLEYRAND.]
NAPOLEON [aside to his minister]
My God, it was touch-and-go that time, Talleyrand! She was within
an ace of getting over me. As she stepped into the carriage she
said in her pretty way, "O I have been cruelly deceived by you!"
And when she sank down inside, not knowing I heard, she burst into
sobs fit to move a statue. The Devil take me if I hadn't a good
mind to stop the horses, jump in, give her a good kissing, and
agree to all she wanted. Ha-ha, well; a miss is as good as a mile.
Had she come sooner with those sweet, beseeching blue eyes of hers,
who knows what might not have happened! But she didn't come sooner,
and I have kept in my right mind.
[The RUSSIAN EMPEROR, the KING OF PRUSSIA, and other guests advance
to bid adieu. They depart severally. When they are gone NAPOLEON
turns to TALLEYRAND.]
Adhere, then, to the treaty as it stands:
Change not therein a single article,
But write it fair forthwith.
[Exeunt NAPOLEON, TALLEYRAND, and other ministers and officers in
waiting.[
SHADE OF THE EARTH
Some surly voice afar I heard now
Of an enisled Britannic quality;
Wots any of the cause?
SPIRIT IRONIC
Perchance I do!
Britain is roused, in her slow, stolid style,
By Bonaparte's pronouncement at Berlin
Against her cargoes, commerce, life itself;
And now from out her water citadel
Blows counterblasting "Orders." Rumours tell.
RUMOUR I
"From havens of fierce France and her allies,
With poor or precious freight of merchandize
Whoso adventures, England pounds as prize!"
RUMOUR II
Thereat Napoleon names her, furiously,
Curst Oligarch, Arch-pirate of the sea,
Who shall lack room to live while liveth he!
CHORUS OF THE PITIES [aerial music]
And peoples are enmeshed in new calamity!
[Curtain of Evening Shades.]
ACT SECOND
SCENE I
THE PYRENEES AND VALLEYS ADJOINING
[The view is from upper air, immediately over the region that
lies between Bayonne on the north, Pampeluna on the south, and
San Sebastian on the west, including a portion of the Cantabrian
mountains. The month is February, and snow covers not only the
peaks but the lower slopes. The roads over the passes are well
beaten.]
DUMB SHOW
At various elevations multitudes of NAPOLEON'S soldiery, to the
number of about thirty thousand, are discerned in a creeping
progress across the frontier from the French to the Spanish side.
The thin long columns serpentine along the roads, but are sometimes
broken, while at others they disappear altogether behind vertical
rocks and overhanging woods. The heavy guns and the whitey-brown
tilts of the baggage-waggons seem the largest objects in the
procession, which are dragged laboriously up the incline to the
watershed, their lumbering being audible as high as the clouds.
Simultaneously the river Bidassoa, in a valley to the west, is
being crossed by a train of artillery and another thirty thousand
men, all forming part of the same systematic advance.
Along the great highway through Biscay the wondering native
carters draw their sheep-skinned ox-teams aside, to let the
regiments pass, and stray groups of peaceable field-workers
in Navarre look inquiringly at the marching and prancing
progress.
Time passes, and the various northern strongholds are approached
by these legions. Their governors emerge at a summons, and when
seeming explanations have been given the unwelcome comers are
doubtfully admitted.
The chief places to which entrance is thus obtained are Pampeluna
and San Sebastian at the front of the scene, and far away towards
the shining horizon of the Mediterranean, Figueras, and Barcelona.
Dumb Show concludes as the mountain mists close over.
SCENE II
ARANJUEZ, NEAR MADRID. A ROOM IN THE PALACE OF GODOY, THE "PRINCE
OF PEACE"
[A private chamber is disclosed, richly furnished with paintings,
vases, mirrors, silk hangings, gilded lounges, and several lutes
of rare workmanship. The hour is midnight, the room being lit
by screened candelabra. In the centre at the back of the scene
is a large window heavily curtained.
GODOY and the QUEEN MARIA LUISA are dallying on a sofa. THE
PRINCE OF PEACE is a fine handsome man in middle life, with
curled hair and a mien of easy good-nature. The QUEEN is older,
but looks younger in the dim light, from the lavish use of
beautifying arts. She has pronounced features, dark eyes, low
brows, black hair bound by a jewelled bandeau, and brought forward
in curls over her forehead and temples, long heavy ear-rings, an
open bodice, and sleeves puffed at the shoulders. A cloak and
other mufflers lie on a chair beside her.]
GODOY
The life-guards still insist, Love, that the King
Shall not leave Aranjuez.
QUEEN
Let them insist.
Whether we stay, or whether we depart,
Napoleon soon draws hither with his host!
GODOY
He says he comes pacifically.... But no!
QUEEN
Dearest, we must away to Andalusia,
Thence to America when time shall serve.
GODOY
I hold seven thousand men to cover us,
And ships in Cadiz port. But then—the Prince
Flatly declines to go. He lauds the French
As true deliverers.
QUEEN
Go Fernando MUST!...
O my sweet friend, that we—our sole two selves—
Could but escape and leave the rest to fate,
And in a western bower dream out our days!—
For the King's glass can run but briefly now,
Shattered and shaken as his vigour is.—
But ah—your love burns not in singleness!
Why, dear, caress Josefa Tudo still?
She does not solve her soul in yours as I.
And why those others even more than her?...
How little own I in thee!
GODOY
Such must be.
I cannot quite forsake them. Don't forget
The same scope has been yours in former years.
QUEEN
Yes, Love; I know. I yield! You cannot leave them;
But if you ever would bethink yourself
How long I have been yours, how truly all
Those other pleasures were my desperate shifts
To soften sorrow at your absences,
You would be faithful to me!
GODOY
True, my dear.—
Ye
t I do passably keep troth with you,
And fond you with fair regularity;—
A week beside you, and a week away.
Such is not schemed without some risk and strain.—
And you agreed Josefa should be mine,
And, too, Thereza without jealousy! [A noise is heard without.]
Ah, what means that?
[He jumps up from her side and crosses the room to a window,
where he lifts the curtain cautiously. The Queen follows him
with a scared look.
QUEEN
A riot can it be?
GODOY
Let me put these out ere they notice them;
They think me at the Royal Palace yonder.
[He hastily extinguishes the candles except one taper, which
he places in a recess, so that the room is in shade. He then
draws back the curtains, and she joins him at the window, where,
enclosing her with his arm, he and she look out together.
In front of the house a guard of hussars is stationed, beyond
them spreading the Plaza or Square. On the other side rises in
the lamplight the white front of the Royal Palace. On the flank
of the Palace is a wall enclosing gardens, bowered alleys, and
orange groves, and in the wall a small door.
A mixed multitude of soldiery and populace fills the space in
front of the King's Palace, and they shout and address each other
vehemently. During a lull in their vociferations is heard the
peaceful purl of the Tagus over a cascade in the Palace grounds.]
QUEEN
Lingering, we've risked too long our chance of flight!
The Paris Terror will repeat it here.
Not for myself I fear. No, no; for thee! [She clings to him.]
If they should hurt you, it would murder me
By heart-bleedings and stabs intolerable!
GODOY [kissing her]
The first thought now is how to get you back
Within the Palace walls. Why would you risk
To come here on a night so critical?
QUEEN [passionately]
I could not help it—nay, I WOULD not help!
Rather than starve my soul I venture all.—
Our last love-night—last, maybe, of long years,
Why do you chide me now?
GODOY
Dear Queen, I do not:
I shape these sharp regrets but for your sake.
Hence you must go, somehow, and quickly too.
They think not yet of you in threatening thus,
But of me solely.... Where does your lady wait?
QUEEN
Below. One servant with her. They are true,
And can be let know all. But you—but you! [Uproar continues.]
GODOY
I can escape. Now call them. All three cloak
And veil as when you came.
[They retreat into the room. QUEEN MARIA LUISA'S lady-in-waiting
and servant are summoned. Enter both. All three then muffle
themselves up, and GODOY prepares to conduct the QUEEN downstairs.]
QUEEN
Nay, now! I will not have it. We are safe;
Think of yourself. Can you get out behind?
GODOY
I judge so—when I have done what's needful here.—
The mob knows not the bye-door—slip across;
Thence around sideways.—All's clear there as yet.
[The QUEEN, her lady-in-waiting, and the servant go out
hurriedly.
GODOY looks again from the window. The mob is some way off, the
immediate front being for the moment nearly free of loiterers; and
the three muffled figures are visible, crossing without hindrance
towards the door in the wall of the Palace Gardens. The instant
they reach it a sentinel springs up, challenging them.]
GODOY
Ah—now they are doomed! My God, why did she come!
[A parley takes place. Something, apparently a bribe, is handed
to the sentinel, and the three are allowed to slip in, the QUEEN
having obviously been unrecognized. He breathes his relief.]
Now for the others. Then—ah, then Heaven knows!
[He sounds a bell and a servant enters.
Where is the Countess of Castillofiel?
SERVANT
She's looking for you, Prince.
GODOY
Find her at once.
Ah—here she is.—That's well.—Go watch the Plaza [to servant].
[GODOY'S mistress, the DONA JOSEFA TUDO, enters. She is a young
and beautiful woman, the vivacity of whose large dark eyes is
now clouded. She is wrapped up for flight. The servant goes out.]
JOSEFA [breathlessly]
I should have joined you sooner, but I knew
The Queen was fondling with you. She must needs
Come hampering you this night of all the rest,
As if not gorged with you at other times!
GODOY
Don't, pretty one! needless it is in you,
Being so well aware who holds my love.—
I could not check her coming, since she would.
You well know how the old thing is, and how
I am compelled to let her have her mind!
[He kisses her repeatedly.]
JOSEFA
But look, the mob is swelling! Pouring in
By thousands from Madrid—and all afoot.
Will they not come on hither from the King's?
GODOY
Not just yet, maybe. You should have sooner fled!
The coach is waiting and the baggage packed. [He again peers out.]
Yes, there the coach is; and the clamourers near,
Led by Montijo, if I see aright.
Yes, they cry "Uncle Peter!"—that means him.
There will be time yet. Now I'll take you down
So far as I may venture.
[They leave the room. In a few minutes GODOY, having taken her
down, re-enters and again looks out. JOSEFA'S coach is moving
off with a small escort of GODOY'S guards of honour. A sudden
yelling begins, and the crowd rushes up and stops the vehicle.
An altercation ensues.]
CROWD
Uncle Peter, it is the Favourite carrying off Prince Fernando.
Stop him!
JOSEFA [putting her head out of the coach]
Silence their uproar, please, Senor Count of Montijo! It is a lady
only, the Countess of Castillofiel.
MONTIJO
Let her pass, let her pass, friends! It is only that pretty wench
of his, Pepa Tudo, who calls herself a Countess. Our titles are
put to comical uses these days. We shall catch the cock-bird
presently!
[The DONA JOSEFA'S carriage is allowed to pass on, as a shout
from some who have remained before the Royal Palace attracts the
attention of the multitude, which surges back thither.]
CROWD [nearing the Palace]
Call out the King and the Prince. Long live the King! He shall not
go. Hola! He is gone! Let us see him! He shall abandon Godoy!
[The clamour before the Royal Palace still increasing, a figure
emerges upon a balcony, whom GODOY recognizes by the lamplight
to be FERNANDO, Prince of Asturias. He can be seen waving his
hand. The mob grows suddenly silent.]
FERNANDO [in a shaken voice]
Citizens! the King my father is in the palace with the Queen. He
has been much tried to-day.
CROWD
Promise, Prince, that he shall not leave us. Promise!
FERNANDO
I do. I promise in his name.
He has mistaken you, thinking you
wanted his head. He knows better now.
CROWD
The villain Godoy misrepresented us to him! Throw out the Prince
of Peace!
FERNANDO
He is not here, my friends.
CROWD
Then the King shall announce to us that he has dismissed him! Let
us see him. The King; the King!
[FERNANDO goes in. KING CARLOS comes out reluctantly, and bows
to their cheering. He produces a paper with a trembling hand.
KING [reading]
"As it is the wish of the people—-"
CROWD
Speak up, your Majesty!
KING [more loudly]
"As it is the wish of the people, I release Don Manuel Godoy, Prince
of Peace, from the posts of Generalissimo of the Army and Grand
Admiral of the Fleet, and give him leave to withdraw whither he
pleases."
CROWD
Huzza!
KING
Citizens, to-morrow the decree is to be posted in Madrid.
CROWD
Huzza! Long life to the King, and death to Godoy!
[KING CARLOS disappears from the balcony, and the populace,
still increasing in numbers, look towards GODOY'S mansion, as
if deliberating how to attack it. GODOY retreats from the
window into the room, and gazing round him starts. A pale,
worn, but placid lady, in a sombre though elegant robe, stands
here in the gloom. She is THEREZA OF BOURBON, the Princess of
Peace.]
PRINCESS
It is only your unhappy wife, Manuel. She will not hurt you!
GODOY [shrugging his shoulders]
Nor with THEY hurt YOU! Why did you not stay in the Royal Palace?
You would have been more comfortable there.
PRINCESS
I don't recognize why you should specially value my comfort. You
have saved you real wives. How can it matter what happens to
your titular one?
GODOY
Much, dear. I always play fair. But it being your blest privilege
not to need my saving I was left free to practise it on those who
did. [Mob heard approaching.] Would that I were in no more danger
than you!
PRINCESS
Puf!
[He again peers out. His guard of hussars stands firmly in front
of the mansion; but the life-guards from the adjoining barracks,
who have joined the people, endeavour to break the hussars of
GODOY. A shot is fired, GODOY'S guard yields, and the gate and
door are battered in.
CROWD [without]
Murder him! murder him! Death to Manuel Godoy!
[They are heard rushing onto the court and house.]