Complete Poems Read Online

A she-devil! A dragon! I her imp!

Fire of Hell! Auranthe – lewd demon!

Where got you this? Where? When?

ERMINIA I found it in the tent, among some spoils

Which, being noble, fell to Gersa’s lot.

Come in, and see. [They go in and return]

ALBERT Villainy! Villainy!

Conrad’s sword, his corselet, and his helm,

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And his letter. Caitiff, he shall feel –

ERMINIA I see you are thunderstruck. Haste, haste away!

ALBERT O I am tortured by this villainy.

ERMINIA You needs must be. Carry it swift to Otho;

Tell him, moreover, I am prisoner

Here in this camp, where all the sisterhood,

Forced from their quiet cells, are parcelled out

For slaves among these Huns. Away! Away!

ALBERT I am gone.

ERMINIA Swift be your steed! Within this hour

The Emperor will see it.

ALBERT Ere I sleep:

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That I can swear. [Hurries out]

GERSA [without] Brave captains! thanks. Enough

Of loyal homage now!

[Enter GERSA]

ERMINIA Hail, royal Hun!

GERSA What means this, fair one? Why in such alarm?

Who was it hurried by me so distract?

It seemed you were in deep discourse together;

Your doctrine has not been so harsh to him

As to my poor deserts. Come, come, be plain.

I am no jealous fool to kill you both,

Or, for such trifles, rob the adorned world

Of such a beauteous vestal.

ERMINIA I grieve, my Lord,

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To hear you condescend to ribald phrase.

GERSA This is too much! Hearken, my lady pure!

ERMINIA Silence! and hear the magic of a name –

Erminia! I am she – the Emperor’s niece!

Praised be the Heavens, I now dare own myself!

GERSA Erminia! Indeed! I’ve heard of her.

Prithee, fair lady, what chance brought you here?

ERMINIA Ask your own soldiers.

GERSA And you dare own your name.

For loveliness you may – and for the rest

My vein is not censorious.

ERMINIA Alas! poor me!

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’Tis false indeed.

GERSA Indeed you are too fair:

The swan, soft leaning on her fledgy breast,

When to the stream she launches, looks not back

With such a tender grace; nor are her wings

So white as your soul is, if that but be

Twin-picture to your face. Erminia!

Today, for the first day, I am a king,

Yet would I give my unworn crown away

To know you spotless.

ERMINIA Trust me one day more,

Generously, without more certain guarantee,

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Than this poor face you deign to praise so much;

After that, say and do whate’er you please.

If I have any knowledge of you, sir,

I think, nay I am sure, you will grieve much

To hear my story. O be gentle to me,

For I am sick and faint with many wrongs,

Tired out, and weary-worn with contumelies.

GERSA Poor lady!

[Enter ETHELBERT]

ERMINIA Gentle Prince, ’tis false indeed.

Good morrow, holy father! I have had

Your prayers, though I looked for you in vain.

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ETHELBERT Blessings upon you, daughter! Sure you look

Too cheerful for these foul pernicious days.

Young man, you heard this virgin say ’twas false –

’Tis false, I say. What! can you not employ

Your temper elsewhere, ’mong these burly tents,

But you must taunt this dove, for she hath lost

The Eagle Otho to beat off assault?

Fie! fie! But I will be her guard myself;

In the Emperor’s name, I here demand of you

Herself, and all her sisterhood. She false!

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GERSA Peace! peace, old man! I cannot think she is.

ETHELBERT Whom I have known from her first infancy,

Baptized her in the bosom of the Church,

Watched her, as anxious husbandmen the grain,

From the first shoot till the unripe mid-May,

Then to the tender ear of her June days,

Which, lifting sweet abroad its timid green,

Is blighted by the touch of calumny;

You cannot credit such a monstrous tale.

GERSA I cannot. Take her. Fair Erminia,

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I follow you to Friedburg – is’t not so?

ERMINIA Ay, so we purpose.

ETHELBERT Daughter, do you so?

How’s this? I marvel! Yet you look not mad.

ERMINIA I have good news to tell you, Ethelbert.

GERSA Ho! ho, there! Guards!

Your blessing, father! Sweet Erminia,

Believe me, I am well nigh sure –

ERMINIA Farewell!

Short time will show.

[Enter Chiefs]

Yes, father Ethelbert,

I have news precious as we pass along.

ETHELBERT Dear daughter, you shall guide me.

ERMINIA To no ill.

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GERSA Command an escort to the Friedburg lines.

[Exeunt Chiefs]

Pray let me lead. Fair lady, forget not

Gersa, how he believed you innocent.

I follow you to Friedburg with all speed. [Exeunt]

ALBERT O that the earth were empty, as when Cain

Had no perplexity to hide his head!

Or that the sword of some brave enemy

Had put a sudden stop to my hot breath,

And hurled me down the illimitable gulf

Of times past, unremembered! Better so

Than thus fast-limèd in a cursèd snare,

The limbo of a wanton. This the end

Of an aspiring life! My boyhood passed

In feud with wolves and bears, when no eye saw

The solitary warfare, fought for love

Of honour ’mid the growling wilderness.

My sturdier youth, maturing to the sword,

Won by the siren-trumpets, and the ring

Of shields upon the pavement, when bright-mailed

Henry the Fowler passed the streets of Prague.

Was’t to this end I louted and became

The menial of Mars, and held a spear

Swayed by command, as corn is by the wind?

Is it for this, I now am lifted up

By Europe’s thronèd Emperor, to see

My honour be my executioner –

My love of fame, my prided honesty

Put to the torture for confessional?

Then the damned crime of blurting to the world

A woman’s secret! – though a fiend she be,

Too tender of my ignominious life –

But then to wrong the generous Emperor

In such a searching point, were to give up

My soul for football at Hell’s holiday!

I must confess – and cut my throat – today?

Tomorrow? Ho! some wine!

[Enter SIGIFRED]

SIGIFRED A fine humour –

ALBERT Who goes there? Count Sigifred? Ha! Ha! Ha!

SIGIFRED What, man, do you mistake the hollow sky

For a thronged tavern – and these stubbed trees

For old serge hangings – me, your humble friend,

For a poor waiter? Why, man, how you stare!

What gipsies have you been carousing with?

No, no more wine; methinks you’ve had enough.

ALBERT You well may laugh and banter. What a fool

An injury may make of a staid man!

You shall know all anon.

SIGIFRED Some tavern brawl?

ALBERT ’Twas with some people out of common reach;

Revenge is difficult.

SIGIFRED I am your friend;

We meet again today, and can confer

Upon it. For the present I’m in haste.

ALBERT Whither?

SIGIFRED To fetch King Gersa to the feast.

The Emperor on this marriage is so hot,

Pray Heaven it end not in apoplexy!

The very porters, as I passed the doors,

Heard his loud laugh, and answered in full choir.

I marvel, Albert, you delay so long

From these bright revelries; go, show yourself,

You may be made a duke.

ALBERT Ay, very like:

Pray, what day has his Highness fixed upon?

SIGIFRED For what?

ALBERT The marriage. What else can I mean?

SIGIFRED Today! O, I forgot, you could not know;

The news is scarce a minute old with me.

ALBERT Married today! Today! You did not say so?

SIGIFRED Now, while I speak to you, their comely heads

Are bowed before the mitre.

ALBERT O! monstrous!

SIGIFRED What is this?

ALBERT Nothing, Sigifred. Farewell!

We’ll meet upon our subject. Farewell, count! [Exit]

SIGIFRED Is this clear-headed Albert? He brain-turned!

’Tis as portentous as a meteor. [Exit]

OTHO Now, Ludolph! Now, Auranthe! Daughter fair!

What can I find to grace your nuptial day

More than my love, and these wide realms in fee?

LUDOLPH I have too much.

AURANTHE And I, my liege, by far.

LUDOLPH Auranthe! I have! O, my bride, my love!

Not all the gaze upon us can restrain

My eyes, too long poor exiles from thy face,

From adoration, and my foolish tongue

From uttering soft responses to the love

I see in thy mute beauty beaming forth!

Fair creature, bless me with a single word!

All mine!

AURANTHE Spare, spare me, my Lord; I swoon else.

LUDOLPH Soft beauty! by tomorrow I should die,

Wert thou not mine. [They talk apart]

FIRST LADY How deep she has bewitched him!

FIRST KNIGHT Ask you for her receipt for love philtres.

SECOND LADY They hold the Emperor in admiration.

OTHO If ever king was happy, that am I!

What are the cities ’yond the Alps to me,

The provinces about the Danube’s mouth

The promise of fair sail beyond the Rhone;

Or routing out of Hyperborean hordes,

To these fair children, stars of a new age?

Unless perchance I might rejoice to win

This little ball of earth, and chuck it them

To play with!

AURANTHE Nay, my Lord, I do not know.

LUDOLPH Let me not famish.

OTHO [to Conrad] Good Franconia,

You heard what oath I sware, as the sun rose,

That unless Heaven would send me back my son,

My Arab, no soft music should enrich

The cool wine, kissed off with a soldier’s smack;

Now all my empire, bartered for one feast,

Seems poverty.

CONRAD Upon the neighbour-plain

The heralds have prepared a royal lists;

Your knights, found war-proof in the bloody field,

Speed to the game.

OTHO Well, Ludolph, what say you?

LUDOLPH My lord!

OTHO A tourney?

CONRAD Or, if’t please you best –

LUDOLPH I want no more!

FIRST LADY He soars!

SECOND LADY Past all reason.

LUDOLPH Though heaven’s choir

Should in a vast circumference descend

And sing for my delight, I’d stop my ears!

Though bright Apollo’s car stood burning here,

And he put out an arm to bid me mount,

His touch an immortality, not I!

This earth, this palace, this room, Auranthe!

OTHO This is a little painful; just too much.

Conrad, if he flames longer in this wise,

I shall believe in wizard-woven loves

And old romances; but I’ll break the spell.

Ludolph!

CONRAD He’ll be calm, anon.

[A sennet heard faintly]

LUDOLPHYou called?

Yes, yes, yes, I offend. You must forgive me;

Not being quite recovered from the stun

Of your large bounties. A tourney, is it not?

CONRAD The trumpets reach us.

ETHELBERT [without] On your peril, sirs,

Detain us!

FIRST VOICE [without] Let not the Abbot pass.

SECOND VOICE [without]No,

On your lives!

FIRST VOICE [without] Holy father, you must not.

ETHELBERT [without] Otho!

OTHO Who calls on Otho?

ETHELBERT [without] Ethelbert!

OTHO Let him come in.

[Enter ETHELBERT leading in ERMINIA]

Thou cursèd Abbot, why

Hast brought pollution to our holy rites?

Hast thou no fear of hangmen, or the faggot?

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LUDOLPH What portent – what strange prodigy is this?

CONRAD Away!

ETHELBERT You, Duke?

ERMINIA Albert has surely failed me!

Looked at the Emperor’s brow upon me bent!

ETHELBERT A sad delay!

CONRAD Away, thou guilty thing!

ETHELBERT You again, Duke? Justice, most noble Otho!

You – go to your sister there and plot again,

A quick plot, swift as thought to save your heads;

For lo! the toils are spread around your den,

The world is all agape to see dragged forth

Two ugly monsters.

LUDOLPHWhat means he, my lord?

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CONRAD I cannot guess.

ETHELBERT Best ask your lady sister,

Whether the riddle puzzles her beyond

The power of utterance.

CONRAD Foul barbarian, cease:

The Princess faints!

LUDOLPHStab him! O, sweetest wife!

[Attendants bear off AURANTHE]

ERMINIA Alas!

ETHELBERT Your wife?

LUDOLPH Ay, Satan! does that yerk ye?

ETHELBERT Wife! so soon!

LUDOLPHAy, wife! O, impudence!

Thou bitter mischief! Venomous bad priest!

How darest thou lift those beetle brows at me?

Me – the prince Ludolph, in this presence here,

Upon my marriage-day, and scandalize

My joys with such opprobrious surprise?

Wife! Why dost linger on that syllable,

As if it were some demon’s name pronounced

To summon harmful lightning, and make yawn

The sleepy thunder? Hast no sense of fear?

No ounce of man in thy mortality?

Tremble! for, at my nod, the sharpened axe

Will make thy bold tongue quiver to the roots,

Those grey lids wink, and thou not know it, monk!

ETHELBERT O, poor deceivèd Prince! I pity thee!

Great Otho! I claim justice –

LUDOLPH Thou shalt have ’t!

Thine arms from forth a pulpit of hot fire

Shall sprawl distracted! O that that dull cowl

Were some most sensitive portion of thy life,

That I might give it to my hounds to tear!

Thy girdle some fine zealous-painèd nerve

To girth my saddle! And those devil’s beads

Each one a life, that I might, every day,

Crush one with Vulcan’s hammer!

OTHO Peace, my son;

You far outstrip my spleen in this affair.

Let us be calm, and hear the abbot’s plea

For this intrusion.

LUDOLPH I am silent, sire.

OTHO Conrad, see all depart not wanted here.

[Exeunt Knights, Ladies, etc.]

Ludolph, be calm.