Complete Poems Read Online

This mystery demands an audience

Of a just judge, and that will Otho be.

LUDOLPH Why has he time to breathe another word?

OTHO Ludolph, old Ethelbert, be sure, comes not

To beard us for no cause; he’s not the man

To cry himself up an ambassador

Without credentials.

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LUDOLPH I’ll chain up myself.

OTHO Old Abbot, stand here forth. Lady Erminia,

Sit. And now, Abbot! what have you to say?

Our ear is open. First we here denounce

Hard penalties against thee, if ’t be found

The cause for which you have disturbed us here,

Making our bright hours muddy, be a thing

Of little moment.

ETHELBERT See this innocent!

Otho! thou father of the people called,

Is her life nothing? Her fair honour nothing?

Her tears from matins until even-song

Nothing? Her burst heart nothing? Emperor!

Is this your gentle niece – the simplest flower

Of the world’s herbal – this fair lily blanched

Still with the dews of piety, this meek lady

Here sitting like an angel newly-shent,

Who veils its snowy wings and grows all pale –

Is she nothing?

OTHO What more to the purpose, Abbot?

LUDOLPH Whither is he winding?

CONRAD No clue yet!

ETHELBERT You have heard, my liege, and so, no doubt, all here,

Foul, poisonous, malignant whisperings;

Nay open speech, rude mockery grown common,

Against the spotless nature and clear fame

Of the Princess Erminia, your niece.

I have intruded here thus suddenly,

Because I hold those base weeds, with tight hand,

Which now disfigure her fair growing stem,

Waiting but for your sign to pull them up

By the dark roots, and leave her palpable,

To all men’s sight, a lady, innocent.

The ignominy of that whispered tale

About a midnight gallant, seen to climb

A window to her chamber neighboured near,

I will from her turn off, and put the load

On the right shoulders; on that wretch’s head,

Who, by close stratagems, did save herself,

Chiefly by shifting to this lady’s room

A rope-ladder for false witness.

LUDOLPH Most atrocious!

OTHO Ethelbert, proceed.

ETHELBERT With sad lips I shall:

For, in the healing of one wound, I fear

To make a greater. His young highness here

Today was married.

LUDOLPHGood.

ETHELBERT Would it were good!

Yet why do I delay to spread abroad

The names of those two vipers, from whose jaws

A deadly breath went forth to taint and blast

This guileless lady?

OTHO Abbot, speak their names.

ETHELBERT A minute first. It cannot be – but may

I ask, great judge, if you today have put

A letter by unread?

OTHO Does ’t end in this?

CONRAD Out with their names!

ETHELBERT Bold sinner, say you so?

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LUDOLPH Out, tedious monk!

OTHO Confess, or by the wheel –

ETHELBERT My evidence cannot be far away;

And, though it never come, be on my head

The crime of passing an attaint upon

The slanderers of this virgin.

LUDOLPHSpeak aloud!

ETHELBERT Auranthe, and her brother there.

CONRAD Amaze!

LUDOLPH Throw them from the windows!

OTHO Do what you will!

LUDOLPHWhat shall I do with them?

Something of quick dispatch, for should she hear,

My soft Auranthe, her sweet mercy would

Prevail against my fury. Damnèd priest!

What swift death wilt thou die? As to the lady

I touch her not.

ETHELBERT Illustrious Otho, stay!

An ample store of misery thou hast,

Choke not the granary of thy noble mind

With more bad bitter grain, too difficult

A cud for the repentance of a man

Grey-growing. To thee only I appeal,

Not to thy noble son, whose yeasting youth

Will clear itself, and crystal turn again.

A young man’s heart, by Heaven’s blessing, is

A wide world, where a thousand new-born hopes

Empurple fresh the melancholy blood:

But an old man’s is narrow, tenantless

Of hopes, and stuffed with many memories,

Which, being pleasant, ease the heavy pulse –

Painful, clog up and stagnate. Weight this matter

Even as a miser balances his coin;

And, in the name of mercy, give command

That your knight Albert be brought here before you.

He will expound this riddle; he will show

A noon-day proof of bad Auranthe’s guilt.

OTHO Let Albert straight be summoned.

[Exit one of the Nobles]

LUDOLPHImpossible!

I cannot doubt – I will not – no – to doubt

Is to be ashes! – withered up to death!

OTHO My gentle Ludolph, harbour not a fear;

You do yourself much wrong.

LUDOLPHO, wretched dolt!

Now, when my foot is almost on thy neck,

Wilt thou infuriate me? Proof! Thou fool!

Why wilt thou tease impossibility

With such a thick-skulled persevering suit?

Fanatic obstinacy! Prodigy!

Monster of folly! Ghost of a turned brain!

You puzzle me – you haunt me – when I dream

Of you my brain will split! Bald sorcerer!

Juggler! May I come near you? On my soul

I know not whether to pity, curse, or laugh.

[Enter ALBERT, and the Nobleman]

Here, Albert, this old phantom wants a proof!

Give him his proof! A camel’s load of proofs!

OTHO Albert, I speak to you as to a man

Whose words once uttered pass like current gold;

And therefore fit to calmly put a close

To this brief tempest. Do you stand possessed

Of any proof against the honourableness

Of Lady Auranthe, our new-spoused daughter?

ALBERT You chill me with astonishment. How’s this?

My Liege, what proof should I have ’gainst a fame

Impossible of slur? [OTHO rises]

ERMINIA O wickedness!

ETHELBERT Deluded monarch, ’tis a cruel lie.

OTHO Peace, rebel-priest!

CONRAD Insult beyond credence!

220

ERMINIA Almost a dream!

LUDOLPHWe have awaked from

A foolish dream that from my brow hath wrung

A wrathful dew. O folly! why did I

So act the lion with this silly gnat?

Let them depart. Lady Erminia!

I ever grieved for you, as who did not?

But now you have, with such a brazen front,

So most maliciously, so madly striven

To dazzle the soft moon, when tenderest clouds

Should be unlooped around to curtain her;

I leave you to the desert of the world

Almost with pleasure. Let them be set free

For me! I take no personal revenge

More than against a nightmare, which a man

Forgets in the new dawn. [Exit Ludolph]

OTHO Still in extremes! No, they must not be loose.

ETHELBERT Albert, I must suspect thee of a crime

So fiendish –

OTHO Fear’st thou not my fury, monk?

Conrad, be they in your safe custody

Till we determine some fit punishment.

It is so mad a deed, I must reflect

And question them in private; for perhaps,

By patient scrutiny, we may discover

Whether they merit death, or should be placed

In care of the physicians.

[Exeunt OTHO and Nobles, ALBERT following]

CONRAD My guards, ho!

ERMINIA Albert, wilt thou follow there?

Wilt thou creep dastardly behind his back,

And shrink away from a weak woman’s eye?

Turn, thou court-Janus! thou forget’st thyself;

Here is the Duke, waiting with open arms,

[Enter Guards]

To thank thee; here congratulate each other;

Wring hands; embrace; and swear how lucky ’twas

That I, by happy chance, hit the right man

Of all the world to trust in.

ALBERT Trust! to me!

CONRAD [aside] He is the sole one in this mystery.

ERMINIA Well, I give up, and save my prayers for Heaven!

You, who could do this deed, would ne’er relent,

Though, at my words, the hollow prison-vaults

Would groan for pity.

CONRAD Manacle them both!

ETHELBERT I know it – it must be – I see it all!

Albert, thou art the minion!

ERMINIA Ah! too plain –

CONRAD Silence! Gag up their mouths! I cannot bear

More of this brawling. That the Emperor

Had placed you in some other custody!

Bring them away. [Exeunt all but ALBERT]

ALBERT Though my name perish from the book of honour,

Almost before the recent ink is dry,

And be no more remembered after death,

Than any drummer’s in the muster-roll;

Yet shall I season high my sudden fall

With triumph o’er that evil-witted duke!

He shall feel what it is to have the hand

Of a man drowning, on his hateful throat.

[Enter GERSA and SIGIFRED]

GERSA What discord is at ferment in this house?

SIGIFRED We are without conjecture; not a soul

We met could answer any certainty.

GERSA Young Ludolph, like a fiery arrow, shot

By us.

SIGIFRED The Emperor, with crossed arms, in thought.

GERSA In one room music, in another sadness,

Perplexity everywhere!

ALBERT A trifle mere!

Follow; your presences will much avail

To tune our jarrèd spirits. I’ll explain. [Exeunt]

CONRAD Well, well, I know what ugly jeopardy

We are caged in; you need not pester that

Into my ears. Prithee, let me be spared

A foolish tongue, that I may bethink me

Of remedies with some deliberation.

You cannot doubt but ’tis in Albert’s power

To crush or save us?

AURANTHE No, I cannot doubt.

He has, assure yourself, by some strange means,

My secret; which I ever hid from him,

Knowing his mawkish honesty.

10

CONRAD Cursed slave!

AURANTHE Ay, I could almost curse him now myself.

Wretched impediment! Evil genius!

A glue upon my wings, that cannot spread,

When they should span the provinces! A snake,

A scorpion, sprawling on the first gold step,

Conducting to the throne, high canopied.

CONRAD You would not hear my counsel, when his life

Might have been trodden out, all sure and hushed;

Now the dull animal forsooth must be

Entreated, managed! When can you contrive

The interview he demands?

AURANTHE As speedily

It must be done as my bribed woman can

Unseen conduct him to me; but I fear

‘Twill be impossible, while the broad day

Comes through the panes with persecuting glare.

Methinks, if ’t now were night I could intrigue

With darkness, bring the stars to second me,

And settle all this trouble.

CONRAD Nonsense! Child!

See him immediately; why not now?

AURANTHE Do you forget that even the senseless doorposts

Are on the watch and gape through all the house?

How many whisperers there are about,

Hungry for evidence to ruin me;

Men I have spurned, and women I have taunted?

Besides, the foolish prince sends, minute whiles,

His pages – so they tell me – to inquire

After my health, entreating, if I please,

To see me.

CONRAD Well, suppose this Albert here;

What is your power with him?

AURANTHE He should be

My echo, my taught parrot! but I fear

He will be cur enough to bark at me;

Have his own say; read me some silly creed

’Bout shame and pity.

CONRAD What will you do then?

AURANTHE What I shall do, I know not: what I would

Cannot be done; for see, this chamber-floor

Will not yield to the pick-axe and the spade –

Here is no quiet depth of hollow ground.

CONRAD Sister, you have grown sensible and wise,

Seconding, ere I speak it, what is now,

I hope, resolved between us.

AURANTHE Say, what is ’t?

CONRAD You need not be his sexton too: a man

May carry that with him shall make him die

Elsewhere – give that to him; pretend the while

You will tomorrow succumb to his wishes,

Be what they may, and send him from the Castle

On some fool’s errand; let his latest groan

Frighten the wolves!

AURANTHE Alas! he must not die!

CONRAD Would you were both hearsed up in stifling lead!

Detested –

AURANTHE Conrad, hold! I would not bear

The little thunder of your fretful tongue,

Though I alone were taken in these toils,

And you could free me; but remember, sir,

You live alone in my security:

So keep your wits at work, for your own sake,

Not mine, and be more mannerly.

CONRAD Thou wasp!

If my domains were emptied of these folk,

And I had thee to starve –

AURANTHE O, marvellous!

But Conrad, now be gone; the host is looked for;

Cringe to the Emperor, entertain the lords.

And, do ye mind, above all things, proclaim

My sickness, with a brother’s saddened eye,

Condoling with Prince Ludolph. In fit time

Return to me.

CONRAD I leave you to your thoughts. [Exit]

Auranthe’s pride!

AURANTHE [sola] Down, down, proud temper! down,

Why do I anger him when I should kneel?

Conrad! Albert! help! help! What can I do?

O wretched woman! Lost, wrecked, swallowed up,

Accursèd, blasted! O, thou golden crown,

Orbing along the serene firmament

Of a wide empire, like a glowing moon;

And thou, bright sceptre! lustrous in my eyes –

There – as the fabled fair Hesperian tree,

Bearing a fruit more precious! Graceful thing,

Delicate, godlike, magic! must I leave

Thee to melt in the visionary air,

Ere, by one grasp this common hand is made

Imperial? I do not know the time

When I have wept for sorrow; but methinks

I could now sit upon the ground, and shed

Tears, tears of misery. O, the heavy day!

How shall I bear my life till Albert comes?

Ludolph! Erminia! Proofs! O heavy day!

Bring me some mourning weeds, that I may ’tire

Myself, as fits one wailing her own death:

Cut off these curls, and brand this lily hand,

And throw these jewels from my loathing sight –

Fetch me a missal, and a string of beads –

A cup of bittered water, and a crust –

I will confess, O holy Abbot! – How!

What is this? Auranthe! thou fool, dolt,

Whimpering idiot! Up! Up! and quell!

I am safe! Coward! why am I in fear?

Albert! he cannot stickle, chew the cud

In such a fine extreme – impossible!

Who knocks?

[Goes to the door, listens, and opens it]

[Enter ALBERT]

Albert, I have been waiting for you here

With such an aching heart, such swooning throbs

On my poor brain, such cruel – cruel sorrow,

That I should claim your pity! Art not well?

110

ALBERT Yes, lady, well.

AURANTHE You look not so, alas!

But pale, as if you brought some heavy news.

ALBERT You know full well what makes me look so pale.

AURANTHE No! Do I? Surely I am still to learn

Some horror; all I know, this present, is

I am near hustled to a dangerous gulf,

Which you can save me from – and therefore safe,

So trusting in thy love; that should not make

Thee pale, my Albert.

ALBERT It doth make me freeze.

AURANTHE Why should it, love?

ALBERT You should not ask me that,

But make your own heart monitor, and save

Me the great pain of telling. You must know.

AURANTHE Something has vexed you, Albert. There are times

When simplest things put on a sombre cast;

A melancholy mood will haunt a man,

Until most easy matters take the shape

Of unachievable tasks; small rivulets

Then seem impassable.

ALBERT Do not cheat yourself

With hope that gloss of words, or suppliant action,

Or tears, or ravings, or self-threatened death,

Can alter my resolve.

AURANTHE You make me tremble;

Not so much at your threats, as at your voice,

Untuned, and harsh, and barren of all love.

ALBERT You suffocate me! Stop this devil’s parley,

And listen to me; know me once for all.

AURANTHE I thought I did. Alas! I am deceived.

ALBERT No, you are not deceived. You took me for

A man detesting all inhuman crime;

And therefore kept from me your demon’s plot

Against Erminia. Silence? Be so still –

For ever! Speak no more; but hear my words,

Thy fate. Your safety I have bought today

By blazoning a lie, which in the dawn

I’ll expiate with truth.

AURANTHE O cruel traitor!

ALBERT For I would not set eyes upon thy shame;

I would not see thee dragged to death by the hair,

Penanced, and taunted on a scaffolding!

Tonight, upon the skirts of the blind wood

That blackens northward of these horrid towers,

I wait for you with horses. Choose your fate.

Farewell.

AURANTHE Albert, you jest; I’m sure you must.

You, an ambitious soldier! I, a Queen,

One who could say, – Here, rule these provinces!

Take tribute from those cities for thyself!

Empty these armouries, these treasuries,

Muster thy warlike thousands at a nod!

Go! conquer Italy!

ALBERT Auranthe, you have made

The whole world chaff to me.