amends] amend 1800, 1828, 1829.
were] was 1800, 1828, 1829.
Scene IV
Gordon, Butler (at first behind the scenes).
Shall I call up the house? Alarm the guards? 5
It leads directly to the Duke's bedchamber.
If he escape and strengthen the enemy,
Do I not hereby call down on my head 10
All the dread consequences?
Of providence. For what am I, that I
Should take upon myself so great a deed?
I have not murdered him, if he be murdered: 15
But all his rescue were my act and deed;
Mine—and whatever be the consequences,
I must sustain them.
Was it so late then, when the Duke dismissed you? 20
That Illo fought as he was frantic, till
At last we threw him on the ground.
Refuses your arm. See—'tis wounded!—
Have perished, and enough is given to justice.
[The Groom of the Chamber advances from the gallery with his finger on his mouth, commanding silence.
To earthly things: he's not prepared to step
Into the presence of his God!
Can that short respite profit him?
Works miracles. In one hour many thousands
Of grains of sand run out; and quick as they,
Thought follows thought within the human soul.
Only one hour! Your heart may change its purpose,
His heart may change its purpose—some new tidings 40
May come; some fortunate event, decisive,
May fall from Heaven and rescue him. O what
May not one hour achieve!
How precious every minute is!
(He stamps on the floor.)
LINENOTES:
that I 1800, 1828, 1829.
I 1800, 1828, 1829.
my 1800, 1828, 1829.
Mine 1800, 1828, 1829.
you 1800, 1828, 1829.
Gordon (shuddering). Both dead? 1800, 1828, 1829.
not 1800, 1828, 1829.
your 1800, 1828.
my 1800, 1828, 1829.
Your 1800, 1828, 1829.
His 1800, 1828, 1829.
Scene V
To these enter Macdonald and Devereux, with the Halberdiers.
First over my dead body thou shalt tread.
I will not live to see the accursed deed!
[Trumpets are heard in the distance.
The Swedes before the ramparts! Let us hasten! 5
Murder!
[They rush over the body into the gallery—two doors are heard to crash one after the other—Voices deadened by the distance—Clash of arms—then all at once a profound silence.
Scene VI
Is no where to be found! The Neubrunn too,
Who watched by her, is missing. If she should
Be flown—But whither flown? We must call up
Every soul in the house. How will the Duke 5
Bear up against these worst bad tidings? O
If that my husband now were but returned
Home from the banquet: Hark! I wonder whether
The Duke is still awake! I thought I heard
Voices and tread of feet here! I will go 10
And listen at the door. Hark! What is that?
'Tis hastening up the steps!
Scene VII
Countess, Gordon.
'Tis not the Swedes—Ye must proceed no further—
Butler! O God! Where is he? [Then observing the Countess.
Countess! Say——
You have discovered to me——
Does the world hang. For God's sake! to the Duke.
While we are speaking—— [Calling loudly.
Butler! Butler! God!
[Butler comes from the gallery.
The Imperialist's Lieutenant-General
Has sent me hither, will be here himself
Instantly.—You must not proceed.
Who will be here himself? Octavio 15
In Egra? Treason! Treason! Where's the Duke? [She rushes to the gallery.
LINENOTES:
Before 5 Gordon (in an agony of affright). 1800, 1828, 1829.
Scene VIII
Servants run across the stage full of terror. The whole Scene must be spoken entirely without pauses.
[Other Servants hasten in with torches.
Within the Duke lies murder'd—and your husband
Assassinated at the Castle. [The Countess stands motionless.
Loud cries, that wake the sleepers of this house?
In your house doth the Duke lie murdered!
Passages are blocked up.
[At these words the Countess starts from her stupor, collects herself, and retires suddenly.
LINENOTES:
you 1800, 1828, 1829.
Scene IX
To these enters Octavio Piccolomini with all his train. At the same time Devereux and Macdonald enter from out the Corridor with the Halberdiers. Wallenstein's dead body is carried over the back part of the stage, wrapped in a piece of crimson tapestry.
Butler! Gordon!
I'll not believe it. Say no!
[Gordon without answering points with his hand to the body of Wallenstein as it is carried over the back of the stage. Octavio looks that way, and stands overpowered with horror.
Hath the sole power to issue orders.
[Devereux and Macdonald retire with marks of obeisance. One drops away after the other, till only Butler, Octavio, and Gordon remain on the stage.
O God of Justice!
To thee I lift my hand! I am not guilty
Of this foul deed.
Availed yourself of mine.
Thus to abuse the orders of thy Lord—
And stain thy Emperor's holy name with murder,
With bloody, most accursed assassination!
Infusing a dread life into their words,
And linking to the sudden transient thought
The unchangeable irrevocable deed.
Was there necessity for such an eager 20
Despatch? Could'st thou not grant the merciful
[809] A time for mercy? Time is man's good Angel.
To leave no interval between the sentence,
And the fulfilment of it, doth beseem
God only, the immutable!
Rail you against me? What is my offence?
The Empire from a fearful enemy
Have I delivered, and expect reward.
The single difference betwixt you and me
Is this: you placed the arrow in the bow; 30
I pulled the string. You sowed blood, and yet stand
Astonished that blood is come up. I always
Knew what I did, and therefore no result
Hath power to frighten or surprise my spirit.
Have you aught else to order?—for this instant 35
I make my best speed to Vienna; place
My bleeding sword before my Emperor's throne,
And hope to gain the applause which undelaying
And punctual obedience may demand
From a just judge. [Exit Butler. 40
LINENOTES:
hand 1800, 1828, 1829.
Before 15: Butler (calmly). 1800, 1828, 1829.
Scene X
To these enter the Countess Tertsky, pale and disordered. Her utterance is slow and feeble, and unimpassioned.
Of luckless unblest deeds.
Of your contrivances. The Duke is dead,
My husband too is dead, the Duchess struggles
In the pangs of death, my niece has disappeared. 5
This house of splendour, and of princely glory,
Doth now stand desolated: the affrighted servants
Rush forth through all its doors. I am the last
Therein; I shut it up, and here deliver
The keys.
To be maltreated? Lo! The Duke is dead.
The Emperor's vengeance may be pacified!
Spare the old servants; let not their fidelity
[810] Be imputed to the faithful as a crime— 15
The evil destiny surprised my brother
Too suddenly; he could not think on them.
The Emperor is appeased; the heavy fault
Hath heavily been expiated—nothing 20
Descended from the father to the daughter,
Except his glory and his services.
The Empress honours your adversity,
Takes part in your afflictions, opens to you
Her motherly arms! Therefore no farther fears! 25
Yield yourself up in hope and confidence
To the Imperial Grace!
Do I yield up myself. Where shall the body
Of the Duke have its place of final rest? 30
In the Chartreuse, which he himself did found,
At Gitschin rests the Countess Wallenstein;
And by her side, to whom he was indebted
For his first fortunes, gratefully he wished
He might sometime repose in death! O let him 35
Be buried there. And likewise, for my husband's
Remains, I ask the like grace. The Emperor
Is now proprietor of all our castles.
This sure may well be granted us—one sepulchre
Beside the sepulchres of our forefathers! 40
More worthily of me, than to believe
I would survive the downfall of my house.
We did not hold ourselves too mean to grasp
After a monarch's crown—the crown did fate 45
Deny, but not the feeling and the spirit
That to the crown belong! We deem a
Courageous death more worthy of our free station
Than a dishonoured life.—I have taken poison.
[An officer enters, and brings a letter with the great seal.
It is the Imperial Seal.
[He reads the Address, and delivers the letter to Octavio with a look of reproach, and with an emphasis on the word.
[Octavio, with his whole frame expressive of sudden anguish, raises his eyes to heaven.
(The curtain drops.)
LINENOTES:
Octavio (with a deep anguish). O Countess! 1800, 1828, 1829.
Countess (with her eye raised to heaven). 1800, 1828, 1829.
Countess (reassembles all her powers, and speaks with energy and dignity). You think 1800, 1828, 1829.
Prince 1800, 1828, 1829.
The following mistranslations, which were noted in the Westminster Review, Art. 3, July 1850, are recorded in the Notes affixed to The Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1852, pp. 426-7.
THE PICCOLOMINI.
Act I, Scene 2, line 106. 'Der Posten' is rendered 'travelling-bills' instead of an 'item' or 'article in an account'.
Act I, Scene 4, line 27. 'Geschmeidig' is rendered 'hammered out' instead of 'pliant'.
Act I, Scene 8, line 28. 'Das holde Kind' is rendered 'The voice of my child' instead of 'The charming child'.
Act I, Scene 9, line 13. 'Jagdzug' is rendered 'hunting dress' instead of 'hunting stud'.
Act II, Scene 7, line 9. 'Was denn?' is rendered 'What then?' instead of 'What?'
Act II, Scene 12, lines 94, 95. 'Ist unser Glaub' eine Kanzel und Altar' is rendered 'Our faith hangs upon the pulpit and altar' instead of 'is without pulpit and altar'.
Act II, Scene 12, line 104. 'Taboriten' is rendered 'minstrels' instead of 'a branch of the Hussites'. [Pointed out by Ferd. Freiligrath, Athenaeum, Aug. 31, 1861.]
Act IV, Scene 7, line 103. 'Losung' is rendered 'redemption' instead of 'watchword'.
THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN.
Act II, Scene 6, Note. 'Verstecktesten' is rendered 'most spotted' instead of 'most secret'.
REMORSE[812:1]
PREFACE
This Tragedy was written in the summer and autumn of the year 1797; at Nether Stowey, in the county of Somerset. By whose recommendation, and of the manner in which both the Play and the Author were treated by the Recommender, let me be permitted to relate: that I knew of its having been received only by a third person; that I could procure neither answer nor the manuscript; and that but for an accident I should have had no copy of the Work itself. That such treatment would damp a young man's exertions may be easily conceived: there was no need of after-misrepresentation and calumny, as an additional sedative.
[812:2][As an amusing anecdote, and in the wish to prepare future Authors, as young as I then was and as ignorant of the world, of[812:3] the treatment they may meet with, I will add, that the Person[812:4] who by a twice conveyed recommendation (in the year 1797) had urged me to write a Tragedy[812:5]: who on my own objection that I was utterly ignorant of all Stage-tactics had promised that he would himself make the necessary alterations, if the Piece should be at all representable; who together with the copy of the Play (hastened by his means so as to prevent the full developement[812:6] of the characters) received a letter from the Author to this purport, 'that conscious of his inexperience, he had cherished no expectations, and should therefore feel no disappointment from the rejection of the Play; but that if beyond his hopes Mr. —— found in it any capability of being adapted to the Stage, it was delivered to him as if it had been his own Manuscript, to add, omit, or alter, as he saw occasion; and that (if it were rejected) the Author would deem himself amply remunerated by the addition to his Experience, which he should receive, if Mr. —— would point out[812:7] to him the nature of its unfitness for public Representation';—that this very Person returned[813:1] me no answer, and[813:2], spite of repeated applications, retained my Manuscript when I was not conscious of any other Copy being in existence (my duplicate having been destroyed by an accident); that he[813:3] suffered this Manuscript to wander about the Town from his house, so that but ten days ago I saw[813:4] the song in the third Act printed and set to music, without my name, by Mr. Carnaby, in the year 1802; likewise that the same person asserted[813:5] (as I have been assured) that the Play was rejected, because I would not submit to the alteration of one ludicrous line; and finally[813:6] in the year 1806 amused and delighted (as who was ever in his company, if I may trust the universal report, without being amused and delighted?) a large company at the house of a highly respectable Member of Parliament, with the ridicule of the[813:7] Tragedy, as 'a fair specimen', of the whole of which he adduced a line:
In the original copy of the Play, in the first Scene of the fourth Act, Isidore had commenced his Soliloquy in the Cavern with the words:
as far as I can at present recollect: for on the possible ludicrous association being pointed out to me, I instantly and thankfully struck out the line. And as to my obstinate tenacity, not only my old acquaintance, but (I dare boldly aver) both the Managers of Drury Lane Theatre, and every Actor and Actress, whom I have recently met in the Green Room, will repel the accusation: perhaps not without surprise.]
I thought it right to record these circumstances;[814:1] but I turn gladly and with sincere gratitude to the converse. In the close of last year I was advised to present the Tragedy once more to the Theatre. Accordingly having altered the names, I ventured to address a letter to Mr. Whitbread, requesting information as to whom I was to present my Tragedy. My Letter was instantly and most kindly answered, and I have now nothing to tell but a Tale of Thanks. I should scarce know where to begin, if the goodness of the Manager, Mr. Arnold, had not called for my first acknowledgements. Not merely as an acting Play, but as a dramatic Poem, the 'Remorse' has been importantly and manifoldly benefited by his suggestions. I can with severest truth say, that every hint he gave me was the ground of some improvement. In the next place it is my duty to mention Mr. Raymond, the Stage Manager. Had the 'Remorse' been his own Play—nay, that is saying too little—had I been his brother, or his dearest friend, he could not have felt or exerted himself more zealously.
As the Piece is now acting, it may be thought presumptuous in me to speak of the Actors; yet how can I abstain, feeling, as I do, Mrs. Glover's[814:2] powerful assistance, and knowing the circumstances[814:3] under which she consented to act Alhadra? A time will come, when without painfully oppressing her feelings, I may speak of this more fully. To Miss Smith I have an equal, though different acknowledgement to make, namely, for her acceptance of a character not fully developed, and quite inadequate to her extraordinary powers. She enlivened and supported many passages, which (though not perhaps wholly uninteresting in the closet) would but for her have hung heavy on the ears of a Theatrical Audience. And in speaking the Epilogue, a composition which (I fear) my hurry will hardly excuse, and which, as unworthy of her name, is here [1828, 1829, 1834] omitted, she made a sacrifice, which only her established character with all judges of Tragic action, could have rendered compatible with her duty to herself. To Mr. De Camp's judgement and full conception of Isidore; to Mr. Pope's accurate representation of the partial, yet honourable Father; to Mr. Elliston's energy in the character of Alvar, and who in more than one instance gave it beauties and striking points, which not only delighted but surprised me; and to Mr. Rae[815:1], to whose zeal, and unwearied study of his part, I am not less indebted as a Man, than to his impassioned realization of Ordonio, as an Author;——to these, and to all concerned with the bringing out of the Play, I can address but one word—Thanks!—but that word is uttered sincerely! and to persons constantly before the eye of the Public, a public acknowledgement becomes appropriate, and a duty.
I defer all answers to the different criticisms on the Piece to an Essay, which I am about to publish immediately, on Dramatic Poetry, relatively to the present State of the Metropolitan Theatres.
From the necessity of hastening the Publication I was obliged to send the Manuscript intended for the Stage: which is the sole cause of the number of directions printed in italics.