Produced by Dianne Bean, and David Ceponis
THE LADY OF LYONS
or, LOVE AND PRIDE
By Edward Bulwer Lytton
To the author of "Ion."
Whose genius and example have alike contributed
towards the regeneration of The National Drama,
This play is inscribed.
PREFACE.
An indistinct recollection of the very pretty little tale, called "The
Bellows-Mender," suggested the plot of this Drama. The incidents are,
however, greatly altered from those in the tale, and the characters
entirely re-cast.
Having long had a wish to illustrate certain periods of the French
history, so, in the selection of the date in which the scenes of this
play are laid, I saw that the era of the Republic was that in which the
incidents were rendered most probable, in which the probationary career
of the hero could well be made sufficiently rapid for dramatic effect,
and in which the character of the time itself was depicted by the
agencies necessary to the conduct of the narrative. For during the early
years of the first and most brilliant successes of the French Republic,
in the general ferment of society, and the brief equalization of ranks,
Claude's high-placed love; his ardent feelings, his unsettled principles
(the struggle between which makes the passion of this drama), his
ambition, and his career, were phenomena that characterized the age, and
in which the spirit of the nation went along with the extravagance of
the individual.
The play itself was composed with a twofold object. In the first place,
sympathizing with the enterprise of Mr. Macready, as Manager of Covent
Garden, and believing that many of the higher interests of the Drama
were involved in the success or failure of an enterprise equally
hazardous and disinterested, I felt, if I may so presume to express
myself, something of the Brotherhood of Art; and it was only for Mr.
Macready to think it possible that I might serve him in order to induce
me to make the attempt.
Secondly, in that attempt I was mainly anxious to see whether or
not, after the comparative failure on the stage of "The Duchess de la
Valliere," certain critics had truly declared that it was not in my
power to attain the art of dramatic construction and theatrical effect.
I felt, indeed, that it was in this that a writer, accustomed to the
narrative class of composition, would have the most both to learn and
unlearn. Accordingly, it was to the development of the plot and the
arrangement of the incidents that I directed my chief attention;--and I
sought to throw whatever belongs to poetry less into the diction and
the "felicity of words" than into the construction of the story, the
creation of the characters, and the spirit of the pervading sentiment.
The authorship of the play was neither avowed nor suspected until the
play had established itself in public favor. The announcement of my
name was the signal for attacks, chiefly political, to which it is now
needless to refer. When a work has outlived for some time the earlier
hostilities of criticism, there comes a new race of critics to which a
writer may, for the most part, calmly trust for a fair consideration,
whether of the faults or the merits of his performance.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
BEAUSEANT, a rich gentleman of Lyons, in love with,
and refused by, Pauline Deschappelles MR. ELTON.
GLAVIS, his friend, also a rejected suitor to Pauline MR. MEADOWS.
COLONEL (afterwards General) DAMAS, cousin to Mme. Deschappelles,
and an officer in the French army MR. BARTLEY.
MONSIEUR DESCHAPPELLES, a Lyonnese merchant father to Pauline
MR. STRICKLAND.
GASPAR MR. DIDDEAR.
CLAUDE MELNOTTE MR. MACREADY.
FIRST OFFICER MR. HOWE.
SECOND OFFICER MR. PRITCHARD.
THIRD OFFICER MR. ROBERTS.
Servants, Notary, etc.
MADAME DESCHAPPELLES MRS. W. CLIFFORD.
PAULINE, her daughter MISS HELEN FAUCIT.
THE WIDOW MELNOTTE, mother to Claude MRS. GRIFFITH.
JANET, the innkeeper's daughter MRS. EAST.
MARIAN, maid to Pauline MISS GARRICK.
Scene--Lyons and the neighborhood.
Time--1795-1798
First performed on Thursday, the 15th of February, 1838, at Covent
Garden Theatre.
THE LADY OF LYONS;
or,
LOVE AND PRIDE.
ACT I.--SCENE I.
A room in the house of M. DESCHAPPELLES, at Lyons. PAULINE reclining
on a sofa; MARIAN, her maid, fanning her--Flowers and notes on a table
beside the sofa--MADAME DESCHAPPELLES seated--The gardens are seen from
the open window.
Mme. Deschap. Marian, put that rose a little more to the left.--[MARIAN
alters the position of a rose in PAULINE's hair.]--Ah, so!--that
improves the hair,--the tournure, the j'e ne sais quoi!--You are
certainly very handsome, child!--quite my style;--I don't wonder that
you make such a sensation!--Old, young, rich, and poor, do homage to the
Beauty of Lyons!--Ah, we live again in our children,--especially when
they have our eyes and complexion!
Pauline [languidly]. Dear mother, you spoil your Pauline!--[Aside.] I
wish I knew who sent me these flowers!
Mme. Deschap. No, child!--If I praise you, it is only to inspire you
with a proper ambition.--You are born to make a great marriage.--Beauty
is valuable or worthless according as you invest the property to the
best advantage. Marian, go and order the carriage! [Exit MARIAN.
Pauline. Who can it be that sends me, every day, these beautiful
flowers?--how sweet they are!
Enter Servant.
Servant. Monsieur Beauseant, Madam.
Mme. Deschap. Let him enter. Pauline, this is another offer!--I know
it is!--Your father should engage an additional clerk to keep the
account-book of your conquests.
Enter BEAUSEANT.
Beau. Ah, ladies how fortunate I am to find you at home!--[Aside.] How
lovely she looks!--It is a great sacrifice I make in marrying into a
family in trade!--they will be eternally grateful!--[Aloud.] Madam, you
will permit me a word with your charming daughter.--[Approaches PAULINE,
who rises disdainfully.]--Mademoiselle, I have ventured to wait upon
you, in a hope that you must long since have divined. Last night, when
you outshone all the beauty of Lyons, you completed your conquest
over me! You know that my fortune is not exceeded by any estate in the
province,--you know that, but for the Revolution, which has defrauded
me of my titles, I should be noble. May I, then, trust that you will not
reject my alliance? I offer you my hand and heart.
Pauline [aside.] He has the air of a man who confers a favor!--[Aloud.]
Sir, you are very condescending--I thank you humbly; but, being duly
sensible of my own demerits, you must allow me to decline the honor you
propose. [Curtsies, and turns away.
Beau. Decline! Impossible!--you are not serious!--Madam, suffer me to
appeal to you. I am a suitor for your daughter's hand--the settlements
shall be worthy of her beauty and my station. May I wait on M.
Deschappelles?
Mme. Deschap. M. Deschappelles never interferes in the domestic
arrangements,--you are very obliging. If you were still a marquis, or if
my daughter were intended to marry a commoner,--why, perhaps, we might
give you the preference.
Beau. A commoner!--we are all commoners in France now.
Mme. Deschap. In France, yes; but there is a nobility still left in the
other countries in Europe. We are quite aware of your good qualities,
and don't doubt that you will find some lady more suitable to your
pretensions. We shall be always happy to see you as an acquaintance, M.
Beauseant!--My dear child, the carriage will be here presently.
Beau. Say no more, madam!--say no more!--[Aside.] Refused! and by
a merchant's daughter!--refused! It will be all over Lyons before
sunset!--I will go and bury myself in my chateau, study philosophy,
and turn woman-hater. Refused! they ought to be sent to a madhouse!--
Ladies, I have the honor to wish you a very good morning. [Exit.
Mme. Deschap. How forward these men are!--I think, child, we kept up our
dignity. Any girl, however inexperienced, knows how to accept an
offer, but it requires a vast deal of address to refuse one with proper
condescension and disdain. I used to practise it at school with the
dancing-master.
Enter DAMAS.
Damas. Good morning, cousin Deschappelles.--Well, Pauline, are you
recovered from last night's ball?--So many triumphs must be very
fatiguing. Even M. Glavis sighed most piteously when you departed; but
that might be the effect of the supper.
Pauline. M. Glavis, indeed!
Mme. Deschap. M. Glavis?--as if my daughter would think of M. Glavis!
Damas. Hey-day!--why not?--His father left him a very pretty fortune,
and his birth is higher than yours, cousin Deschappelles. But perhaps
you are looking to M. Beauseant,--his father was a marquis before the
Revolution.
Pauline. M. Beauseant!--Cousin, you delight in tormenting me!
Mme. Deschap. Don't mind him, Pauline!--Cousin Damas, you have no
susceptibility of feeling,--there is a certain indelicacy in all your
ideas.--M. Beauseant knows already that he is no match for my daughter!
Damas. Pooh! pooh! one would think you intended your daughter to marry a
prince!
Mme. Deschap. Well, and if I did?--what then?--Many a foreign prince--
Damas [interrupting her]. Foreign prince!--foreign fiddlestick!--you
ought to be ashamed of such nonsense at your time of life.
Mme. Deschap. My time of life!--That is an expression never applied to
any lady till she is sixty-nine and three-quarters;--and only then by
the clergyman of the parish.
Enter Servant.
Servant. Madame, the carriage is at the door. [Exit.
Mme. Deschap. Come, child, put on your bonnet--you really have a very
thorough-bred air--not at all like your poor father.--[Fondly]. Ah, you
little coquette! when a young lady is always making mischief, it is a
sure sign that she takes after her mother!
Pauline. Good day, cousin Damas--and a better humor to you.--[Going
back to the table and taking the flowers]. Who could have sent me these
flowers? [Exeunt PAULINE and MADAME DESCHAPPELLES.
Damas. That would be an excellent girl if her head had not been turned.
I fear she is now become incorrigible! Zounds, what a lucky fellow I am
to be still a bachelor! They may talk of the devotion of the sex--but
the most faithful attachment in life is that of a woman in love--with
herself. [Exit.
SCENE II.
The exterior of a small Village Inn--sign, the Golden Lion--A few
leagues from Lyons, which is seen at a distance.
Beau. [behind the scenes.] Yes, you may bait the horses; we shall rest
here an hour.
Enter BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Gla. Really, my dear Beauseant, consider that I have promised to spend
a day or two with you at your chateau, that I am quite at your mercy for
my entertainment,--and yet you are as silent and as gloomy as a mute at
a funeral, or an Englishman at a party of pleasure.
Beau. Bear with me!--the fact is that I am miserable.
Gla. You--the richest and gayest bachelor in Lyons?
Beau. It is because I am a bachelor that I am miserable.--Thou knowest
Pauline--the only daughter of the rich merchant, Mons. Deschappelles?
Gla. Know her?--who does not?--as pretty as Venus, and as proud as Juno.
Beau. Her taste is worse than her pride.--[Drawing himself up.] Know,
Glavis, she has actually refused me!
Gla. [aside]. So she has me!--very consoling! In all cases of
heart-ache, the application of another man's disappointment draws
out the pain and allays the irritation.--[Aloud.] Refused you! and
wherefore?
Beau. I know not, unless it be because the Revolution swept away my
father's title of Marquis,--and she will not marry a commoner. Now, as
we have no noblemen left in France,--as we are all citizens and equals,
she can only hope that, in spite of the war, some English Milord or
German Count will risk his life, by coming to Lyons, that this fille du
Roturier may condescend to accept him. Refused me, and with scorn!--By
Heaven, I'll not submit to it tamely:--I'm in a perfect fever of
mortification and rage.--Refuse me, indeed!
Gla. Be comforted, my dear fellow,--I will tell you a secret. For the
same reason she refused ME!
Beau. You!--that's a very different matter! But give me your hand,
Glavis,--we'll think of some plan to humble her. Mille diables! I should
like to see her married to a strolling player!
Enter Landlord and his Daughter from the Inn.
Land. Your servant, citizen Beauseant,--servant, Sir. Perhaps you will
take dinner before you proceed to your chateau; our larder is most
plentifully supplied.
Beau. I have no appetite.
Gla. Nor I. Still it is bad travelling on an empty stomach. What have
you got? [Takes and looks over the bill of fare.]
[Shout without.] "Long live the Prince!--Long live the Prince!"
Beau. The Prince!--what Prince is that? I thought we had no princes left
in France.
Land. Ha, ha! the lads always call him Prince. He has just won the prize
in the shooting-match, and they are taking him home in triumph.
Beau. Him! and who's Mr. Him?
Land. Who should he be but the pride of the village, Claude
Melnotte?--Of course you have heard of Claude Melnotte?
Gla. [giving back the bill of fare.] Never had that honor. Soup--ragout
of hare--roast chicken, and, in short, all you have!
Beau. The son of old Alelnotte, the gardener?
Land. Exactly so--a wonderful young man.
Beau. How, wonderful?--Are his cabbages better than other people's
Land. Nay, he don't garden any more; his father left him well off. He's
only a genus.
Gla. A what?
Land. A genus!--a man who can do everything in life except anything
that's useful--that's a genus.
Beau. You raise my curiosity;--proceed.
Land. Well, then, about four years ago, old Melnotte died, and left his
son well to do in the world. We then all observed that a great change
came over young Claude: he took to reading and Latin, and hired a
professor from Lyons, who had so much in his head that he was forced to
wear a great full-bottom wig to cover it. Then he took a fencing-master,
and a dancing-master, and a music-master; and then he learned to paint;
and at last it was said that young Claude was to go to Paris, and set
up for a painter. The lads laughed at him at first; but he is a stout
fellow, is Claude, and as brave as a lion, and soon taught them to laugh
the wrong side of their mouths; and now all the boys swear by him, and
all the girls pray for him.
Beau. A promising youth, certainly! And why do they call him Prince?
Land. Partly because he is at the head of them all, and partly because
he has such a proud way with him, and wears such fine clothes--and, in
short, looks like a prince.
Beau. And what could have turned the foolish fellow's brain? The
Revolution, I suppose?
Land. Yes--the revolution that turns us all topsy-turvy--the revolution
of Love.
Beau. Romantic young Corydon! And with whom is he in love?
Land. Why--but it is a secret, gentlemen.
Beau. Oh! certainly.
Land. Why, then, I hear from his mother, good soul! that it is no less a
person than the Beauty of Lyons, Pauline Deschappelles.
Beau. and Glavis. Ha, ha!--Capital!
Land. You may laugh, but it is as true as I stand here.
Beau. And what does the Beauty of Lyons say to his suit?
Land. Lord, sir, she never even condescended to look at him, though when
he was a boy he worked in her father's garden.
Beau. Are you sure of that?
Land. His mother says that Mademoiselle does not know him by sight.
Beau. [taking Glavis aside]. I have hit it,--I have it; here is our
revenge! Here is a prince for our haughty damsel. Do you take me?
Gla. Deuce take me if I do!
Beau. Blockhead!--it's as clear as a map. What if we could make this
elegant clown pass himself off as a foreign prince?--lend him money,
clothes, equipage for the purpose?--make him propose to Pauline?--marry
Pauline? Would it not be delicious?
Gla. Ha, ha!--Excellent! But how shall we support the necessary expenses
of his highness?
Beau. Pshaw! Revenge is worth a much larger sacrifice than a few hundred
louis;--as for details, my valet is the trustiest fellow, in the world,
and shall have the appointment of his highness's establishment. Let's go
to him at once, and see if he be really this Admirable Crichton.
Gla. With all my heart;--but the dinner?
Beau. Always thinking of dinner! Hark ye, landlord; how far is it to
young Melnotte's cottage? I should like to see such a prodigy.
Land. Turn down the lane,--then strike across the common,--and you will
see his mother's cottage.
Beau. True, he lives with his mother.--[Aside.] We will not trust to an
old woman's discretion; better send for him hither. I'll just step in
and write a note. Come, Glavis.
Gla. Yes,--Beauseant, Glavis, and Co., manufacturers of princes,
wholesale and retail,--an uncommonly genteel line of business. But why
so grave?
Beau. You think only of the sport,--I of the revenge. [Exeunt within the
Inn.
SCENE III.
The interior of MELNOTTE'S cottage; flowers placed here and there; a
guitar on an oaken table, with a portfolio, etc.; a picture on an easel,
covered by a curtain; fencing foils crossed over the mantelpiece; an
attempt at refinement in site of the homeliness of the furniture, etc.;
a staircase to the right conducts to the upper story.
[Shout without]. "Long live Claude Melnotte!" "Long live the Prince!"
The Widow Mel. Hark!--there's my dear son;--carried off the prize, I'm
sure; and now he'll want to treat them all.
Claude Mel. [opening the door]. What! you will not come in, my friends!
Well, well, there's a trifle to make merry elsewhere. Good day to you
all,--good day!
[Shout]. "Hurrah! Long live Prince Claude!"
Enter CLAUDE MELNOTTE, with a rifle in his hand.
Mel. Give me joy, dear mother!--I've won the prize!--never missed one
shot! Is it not handsome, this gun?
Widow. Humph!--Well, what is it worth, Claude?
Mel. Worth! What is a riband worth to a soldier? Worth! everything!
Glory is priceless!
Widow. Leave glory to great folks. Ah! Claude, Claude, castles in the
air cost a vast deal to keep up! How is all this to end? What good does
it do thee to learn Latin, and sing songs, and play on the guitar, and
fence, and dance, and paint pictures? All very fine; but what does it
bring in?
Mel. Wealth! wealth, my mother! Wealth to the mind--wealth to the
heart--high thoughts--bright dreams--the hope of fame--the ambition to
be worthier to love Pauline.
Widow. My poor son!--The young lady will never think of thee.
Mel. Do the stars think of us? Yet if the prisoner see them shine into
his dungeon, wouldst thou bid him turn away from their lustre? Even so
from this low cell, poverty, I lift my eyes to Pauline and forget my
chains.--[Goes to the picture and draws aside the curtain.]
See, this is her image--painted from memory. Oh, how the canvas wrongs
her!--[Takes up the brush and throws it aside.] I shall never be a
painter! I can paint no likeness but one, and that is above all art.
I would turn soldier--France needs soldiers! But to leave the air
that Pauline breathes! What is the hour?--so late? I will tell thee
a secret, mother. Thou knowest that for the last six weeks I have sent
every day the rarest flowers to Pauline?--she wears them. I have seen
them on her breast. Ah, and then the whole universe seemed filled
with odors! I have now grown more bold--I have poured my worship into
poetry--I have sent the verses to Pauline--I have signed them with my
own name. My messenger ought to--be back by this time. I bade him wait
for the answer.
Widow. And what answer do you expect, Claude?
Mel. That which the Queen of Navarre sent to the poor troubadour:--"Let
me see the Oracle that can tell nations I am beautiful!" She will admit
me. I shall hear her speak--I shall meet her eyes--I shall read upon
her cheek the sweet thoughts that translate themselves into blushes.
Then--then, oh, then--she may forget that I am the peasant's son!.
Widow. Nay, if she will but hear thee talk, Claude?
Mel. I foresee it all. She will tell me that desert is the true rank.
She will give me a badge--a flower--a glove! Oh rapture! I shall join
the armies of the republic--I shall rise--I shall win a name that
beauty will not blush to hear. I shall return with the right to say to
her--"See, how love does not level the proud, but raise the--humble!"
Oh, how my heart swells within me!--Oh, what glorious prophets of the
future are youth and hope!
[Knock at the door.]
Widow. Come in.
Enter GASPAR.
Mel. Welcome, Gaspar, welcome. Where is the letter? Why do you turn
away, man? where is the letter? [GASPAR gives him one.] This! This is
mine, the one I intrusted to thee. Didst thou not leave it?
Gaspar. Yes, I left it.
Mel. My own verses returned to me. Nothing else!
Gaspar. Thou wilt be proud to hear how thy messenger was honored.
For thy sake, Melnotte, I have borne that which no Frenchman can bear
without disgrace.
Mel. Disgrace, Gaspar! Disgrace?
Gaspar. I gave thy letter to the porter, who passed it from lackey to
lackey till it reached the lady it was meant for.
Mel. It reached her, then; you are sure of that! It reached her,--well,
well!
Gaspar. It reached her, and was returned to me with blows. Dost hear,
Melnotte? with blows! Death! are we slaves still, that we are to be thus
dealt with, we peasants?
Mel. With blows? No, Gaspar, no; not blows!
Gaspar. I could show thee the marks if it were not so deep a shame to
bear them. The lackey who tossed thy letter into the mire swore that
his lady and her mother never were so insulted. What could thy letter
contain, Claude?
Mel. [looking over the letter]. Not a line that a serf might not have
written to an empress. No, not one.
Gaspar. They promise thee the same greeting they gave me, if thou wilt
pass that way. Shall we endure this, Claude?
Mel. [wringing GASPAR's hand]. Forgive me, the fault was mine, I have
brought this on thee; I will not forget it; thou shalt be avenged! The
heartless insolence!
Gaspar. Thou art moved, Melnotte; think not of me; I would go through
fire and water to serve thee; but,--a blow! It is not the bruise that
galls,--it is the blush, Melnotte.
Mel. Say, what message?--How insulted!--Wherefore?--What the offence?
Gaspar. Did you not write to Pauline Deschappelles, the daughter of the
rich merchant?
Mel. Well?
Gaspar. And are you not a peasant--a gardener's son?--that was the
offence. Sleep on it, Melnotte. Blows to a French citizen, blows! [Exit.
Widow. Now you are cured, Claude!
Mel. tearing the letter. So do I scatter her image to the winds--I will
stop her in the open streets--I will insult her--I will beat her
menial ruffians--I will--[Turns suddenly to Widow.] Mother, am I
humpbacked--deformed--hideous? Widow. You!
Mel. A coward--a thief--a liar?
Widow. You!
Mel. Or a dull fool--a vain, drivelling, brainless idiot? Widow. No, no.
Mel. What am I then--worse than all these? Why, I am a peasant! What has
a peasant to do with love? Vain revolutions, why lavish your cruelty on
the great? Oh that we--we, the hewers of wood and drawers of water--had
been swept away, so that the proud might learn what the world would be
without us! [Knock at the door.
Enter Servant from the Inn.
Servant. A letter for Citizen Melnotte.
Mel. A letter! from her perhaps--who sent thee?
Servant. Why, Monsieur--I mean Citizen--Beauseant, who stops to dine at
the Golden Lion, on his way to his chateau.
Mel. Beauseant!--[Reads].
"Young man, I know thy secret--thou lovest above thy station: if thou
hast wit, courage, and discretion, I can secure to thee the realization
of thy most sanguine hopes; and the sole condition I ask in return is,
that thou shalt be steadfast to thine own ends. I shall demand from thee
a solemn oath to marry her whom thou lovest; to bear her to thine home
on thy wedding night. I am serious--if thou wouldst learn more, lose
not a moment, but follow the bearer of this letter to thy friend and
patron,--CHARLES BEAUSEANT."
Mel. Can I believe my eyes? Are our own passions the sorcerers that
raise up for us spirits of good or evil? I will go instantly.
Widow. What is this, Claude?
Mel. "Marry her whom thou lovest,"--"bear her to thine own home."--
Oh, revenge and love; which of you is the stronger?--[Gazing on the
picture.] Sweet face, thou smilest on me from the canvas: weak fool that
I am, do I then love her still? No, it is the vision of my own romance
that I have worshipped: it is the reality to which I bring scorn for
scorn. Adieu, mother: I will return anon. My brain reels--the earth
swims before me.--[Looks again at the letter.] No, it is not a mockery;
I do not dream! [Exit.
ACT II.--SCENE I.
The Gardens of M. DESCHAPPELLEs' house at Lyons--the house seen at the
back of the stage.
Enter BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Beau. Well, what think you of my plot? Has it not succeeded to a
miracle? The instant that I introduced his Highness the Prince of Como
to the pompous mother and the scornful daughter, it was all over with
them: he came--he saw--he conquered: and, though it is not many days
since he arrived, they have already promised him the hand of Pauline.
Gla. It is lucky, though, that you told them his highness travelled
incognito, for fear the Directory (who are not very fond of princes)
should lay him by the heels; for he has a wonderful wish to keep up his
rank, and scatters our gold about with as much coolness as if he were
watering his own flower-pots.
Beau. True, he is damnably extravagant; I think the sly dog does it out
of malice. How ever, it must be owned that he reflects credit on his
loyal subjects, and makes a very pretty figure in his fine clothes, with
my diamond snuff-box.
Gla. And my diamond ring! But do you think he will be firm to the last?
I fancy I see symptoms of relenting: he will never keep up his rank, if
he once let out his conscience.
Beau. His oath binds him! he cannot retract without being foresworn,
and those low fellows are always superstitious! But, as it is, I tremble
lest he be discovered: that bluff Colonel Damas (Madame Deschappelles'
cousin) evidently suspects him: we must make haste and conclude the
farce: I have thought of a plan to end it this very day.
Gla. This very day! Poor Pauline: her dream will be soon over.
Beau. Yes, this day they shall be married; this evening, according to
his oath, he shall carry his bride to the Golden Lion, and then pomp,
equipage, retinue, and title, all shall vanish at once; and her Highness
the Princess shall find that she has refused the son of a Marquis, to
marry the son of a gardener.--Oh, Pauline! once loved, now hated, yet
still not relinquished, thou shalt drain the cup to the dregs,--thou
shalt know what it is to be humbled!
Enter from the house, MELNOTTE, as the Prince of Como, leading in
PAULINE; MADAME
DESCHAPPELLES, fanning herself; and COLONEL DAMAS.
[BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS bow respectfully, fully. PAULINE and MELNOTTE walk
apart.
Mme. Deschap. Good morning, gentlemen; really I am so fatigued with
laughter; the dear Prince is so entertaining. What wit he has! Any one
may see that he has spent his whole life in courts.
Damas. And what the deuce do you know about courts, cousin
Deschappelles? You women regard men just as you buy books--you never
care about what is in them, but how they are bound and lettered.
'Sdeath, I don't think you would even look at your Bible if it had not a
title to it.
Mme. Deschap. How coarse you are, cousin Damas!--quite the manners of a
barrack--you don't deserve to be one of our family; really we must drop
your acquaintance when Pauline marries. I cannot patronize any relations
that would discredit my future son-in-law, the Prince of Como.
Mel. [advancing]. These are beautiful gardens, madame, [BEAUSEANT and
GLAVIS retire]--who planned them?
Mme. Deschap. A gardener named Melnotte, your highness--an honest man
who knew his station. I can't say as much for his son--a presuming
fellow, who,--ha! ha! actually wrote verses--such doggerel!--to my
daughter.
Pauline. Yes, how you would have laughed at them, Prince! you, who write
such beautiful verses!
Mel. This Melnotte must be a monstrous impudent person!
Damas. Is he good-looking?
Mme. Deschap. I never notice such canaille--an ugly, mean-looking clown,
if I remember right.
Damas. Yet I heard your porter say he was wonderfully like his highness.
Mel. [taking snuff]. You are complimentary.
Mme. Deschap. For shame, cousin Damas!--like the Prince, indeed!
Pauline. Like you! Ah, mother, like our beautiful prince! I'll never
speak to you again, cousin Damas.
Mel. [aside]. Humph!--rank is a great beautifier! I never passed for
an Apollo while I was a peasant; if I am so handsome as a prince, what
should I be as an emperor! [Aloud.] Monsieur Beauseant, will you honor
me? [Offers snuff.
Beau. No, your highness; I have no small vices.
Mel. Nay, if it were a vice, you'd be sure to have it, Monsieur
Beauseant.
Mme. Deschap. Ha! ha!--how very severe!--what wit!
Beau. [in a rage and aside]. Curse his impertinence!
Mme. Deschap. What a superb snuff-box! Pauline. And what a beautiful
ring!
Mel. You like the box--a trifle--interesting perhaps from associations--
a present from Louis XIV. to my great-great grandmother. Honor me
by--accepting it.
Beau. plucking him by the sleeve. How!--what the devil! My box--are you
mad? It is worth five hundred louis.
Mel. [unheeding him, and turning to PAULINE]. And you like this ring?
Ah, it has, indeed a lustre since your eyes have shone on it placing it
on her finger. Henceforth hold me, sweet enchantress, the Slave of the
Ring.
Gla. [pulling him]. Stay, stay--what are you about? My maiden aunt's
legacy--a diamond of the first water. You shall be hanged for swindling,
sir.
Mel. [pretending not to hear]. It is curious, this ring; it is the one
with which my grandfather, the Doge of Venice, married the Adriatic!
(Madame and PAULINE examine the ring.) Mel. [to BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS].
Fie, gentlemen! princes must be generous?--[Turns to DAMAS, who watches
them closely.] These kind friends have my interest so much at heart,
that they are as careful of my property as if it were their own!
Beau and Gla. [confusedly]. Ha! ha!--very good joke that!
[Appears to remonstrate with MELNOTTE in dumb show.
Damas. What's all that whispering? I am sure there is some juggle here:
hang me, if I think he is an Italian after all. Gad, I'll try him.
Servitore umillissimo, Eccellenza.* (* Your Excellency's most humble
servant.)
Mel. Hum--what does he mean, I wonder?
Damas. Godo di vedervi in buona salute.* (* I am glad to see you in good
health.)
Mel. Hem--hem!
Damas. Fa bel tempo--the si dice di nuovo? * (* Fine weather. What news
is there?)
Mel. Well, sir, what's all that gibberish?
Damas. Oh, oh!--only Italian, your highness!--The Prince of Como does
not understand his own language!
Mel. Not as you pronounce it; who the deuce could?
Mme. Deschap. Ha! ha! cousin Damas, never pretend to what you don't
know.
Pauline. Ha! ha! cousin Damas; you speak Italian, indeed!
[Makes a mocking gesture at him.
Beau. [to GLAVIS]. Clever dog!--how ready!
Gla. Ready, yes; with my diamond ring!--Damn his readiness!
Damas. Laugh at me!--laugh at a Colonel in the French army!--the
fellow's an impostor; I know he is. I'll see if he understands fighting
as well as he does Italian.--[Goes up to him, and aside.] Sir, you are a
jackanapes.--Can you construe that?
Mel. No, sir; I never construe affronts in the presence of ladies;
by-and-by I shall be happy to take a lesson--or give one.
Damas. I'll find the occasion, never fear!
Mme. Deschap. Where are you going, cousin?
Damas. To correct my Italian. [Exit.
Beau. [to GLAVIS]. Let us after, and pacify him; he evidently suspects
something.
Gla. Yes!--but my diamond ring!
Beau. And my box!--We are over-taxed fellow-subjects!--we must stop the
supplies, and dethrone the prince.
Gla. Prince!--he ought to be heir-apparent to King Stork.
[Exeunt BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Mme. Deschap. Dare I ask your highness to forgive my cousin's
insufferable vulgarity?
Pauline. Oh yes!--you will forgive his manner for the sake of his heart.
Mel. And the sake of his cousin.--Ah, madam, there is one comfort in
rank,--we are so sure of our position that we are not easily affronted.
Besides, M. Damas has bought the right of indulgence from his friends,
by never showing it to his enemies.
Pauline. Ah! he is, indeed, as brave in action as he is rude in speech.
He rose from the ranks to his present grade, and in two years!
Mel. In two years!--two years, did you say?
Mme. Deschap. [aside]. I don't like leaving girls alone with their
lovers; but, with a prince, it would be so ill-bred to be prudish.
[Exit.
Mel. You can be proud of your connection with one who owes his position
to merit--not birth.
Pauline. Why, yes; but still
Mel. Still what, Pauline!
Pauline. There is something glorious in the heritage of command. A man
who has ancestors is like a representative of the past.
Mel. True; but, like other representatives, nine times out of ten he is
a silent member. Ah, Pauline! not to the past, but to the future, looks
true nobility, and finds its blazon in posterity.
Pauline. You say this to please me, who have no ancestors; but you,
prince, must be proud of so illustrious a race!
Mel. No, no! I would not, were I fifty times a prince, be a pensioner
on the dead! I honor birth and ancestry when they are regarded as the
incentives to exertion, not the titledeeds to sloth! I honor the laurels
that overshadow the graves of our fathers; it is our fathers I emulate,
when I desire that beneath the evergreen I myself have planted, my own
ashes may repose! Dearest! couldst thou but see with my eyes!
Pauline. I cannot forego pride when I look on thee, and think that thou
lovest me. Sweet Prince, tell me again of thy palace by the Lake of
Como; it is so pleasant to hear of thy splendors since thou didst
swear to me that they would be desolate without Pauline; and when thou
describest them, it is with a mocking lip and a noble scorn, as if
custom had made thee disdain greatness.
Mel. Nay, dearest, nay, if thou wouldst have me paint The home to which,
could love fulfil its prayers, This hand would lead thee, listen!*--
(* The reader will observe that Melnotte evades the request
of Pauline. He proceeds to describe a home, which he does
not say he possesses, but to which he would lead her, "could
Love fulfil its prayers." This caution is intended as a
reply to a sagacious critic who censures the description,
because it is not an exact and prosaic inventory of the
characteristics of the Lake of Como!--When Melnotte, for
instance, talks of birds "that syllable the name of Pauline"
(by the way, a literal translation from an Italian poet), he
is not thinking of ornithology, but probably of the Arabian
Nights. He is venting the extravagant, but natural,
enthusiasm of the poet and the lover.)
A deep vale
Shut out by Alphine hills from the rude world;
Near a clear lake, margin'd by fruits of gold
And whispering myrtles; glassing softest skies,
As cloudless, save with rare and roseate shadows,
As I would have thy fate!
Pauline. My own dear love!
Mel. A palace lifting to eternal summer
Its marble walls, from out a glossy bower
Of coolest foliage musical with birds,
Whose songs should syllable thy name! At noon
We'd sit beneath the arching vines, and wonder
Why Earth could be unhappy, while the Heavens
Still left us youth and love! We'd have no friends
That were not lovers; no ambition, save
To excel them all in love; we'd read no books
That were not tales of love--that we might smile
To think how poorly eloquence of words
Translates the poetry of hearts like ours!
And when night came, amidst the breathless Heavens
We'd guess what star should be our home when love
Becomes immortal; while the perfumed light
Stole through the mists of alabaster lamps,
And every air was heavy with the sighs
Of orange-groves and music from sweet lutes,
And murmurs of low fountains that gush forth
I' the midst of roses!--Dost thou like the picture?
Pauline. Oh, as the bee upon the flower, I hang
Upon the honey of thy eloquent tongue!
Am I not blest? And if I love too wildly,
Who would not love thee like Pauline?
Mel. [bitterly.] Oh, false one!
It is the prince thou lovest, not the man
If in the stead of luxury, pomp, and power,
I had painted poverty, and toil, and care,
Thou hadst found no honey on my tongue;--Pauline,
That is not love!
Pauline. Thou wrong'st me, cruel Prince!
At first, in truth, I might not have been won,
Save through the weakness of a flatter'd pride;
But now,--oh! trust me,--couldst thou fall from power
And sink--
Mel. As low as that poor gardener's son
Who dared to lift his eyes to thee?--
Pauline. Even then,
Methinks thou wouldst be only made more dear
By the sweet thought that I could prove how deep
Is woman's love! We are like the insects, caught
By the poor glittering of a garish flame;
But, oh, the wings once scorch'd, the brightest star
Lures us no more; and by the fatal light
We cling till death!
Mel. Angel! [Aside.] O conscience! conscience!
It must not be; her love hath grown a torture
Worse than her hate. I will at once to Beauseant,
And--ha! he comes. Sweet love, one moment leave me.
I have business with these gentlemen--I--I
Will forwith join you.
Pauline. Do not tarry long! [Exit.
Enter BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Mel. Release me from my oath,--I will not marry her!
Beau Then thou art perjured.
Mel. No, I was not in my senses when I swore to thee to marry her! I
was blind to all but her scorn!--deaf to all but my passion and my rage!
Give me back my poverty and my honor!
Beau. It is too late,--you must marry her! and this day. I have a story
already coined, and sure to pass current. This Damas suspects thee,--he
will set the police to work!--thou wilt be detected--Pauline will
despise and execrate thee. Thou wilt be sent to the common gaol as a
swindler.
Mel. Fiend!
Beau. And in the heat of the girl's resentment (you know of what
resentment is capable) and the parents' shame, she will be induced to
marry the first that offers--even perhaps your humble servant.
Mel. You! No; that were worse--for thou hast no mercy! I will marry
her.--I will keep my oath. Quick, then, with the damnable invention
thou art hatching;--quick, if thou wouldst not have me strangle thee or
myself.
Gla. What a tiger! Too fierce for a prince; he ought to have been the
Grand Turk.
Beau. Enough--I will dispatch; be prepared.
[Exeunt BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Enter DAMAS with two swords.
Damas. Now, then, sir, the ladies are no longer your excuse. I have
brought you a couple of dictionaries; let us see if your highness can
find out the Latin for bilbo.
Mel. Away, sir! I am in no humor for jesting. Damas. I see you
understand something of the grammar; you decline the non-substantive
"small-swords" with great ease; but that won't do--you must take a
lesson in parsing.
Mel. Fool! Damas. Sir, as sons take after their mother, so the man who
calls me a fool insults the lady who bore me; there's no escape for
you--fight you shall, or--
Mel. Oh, enough! enough!--take your ground.
They fight; DAMAS is disarmed. MELNOTTE takes up the sword and returns
it to DAMAS respectfully. A just punishment to the brave soldier who
robs the state of its best property--the sole right to his valor and his
life.
Damas. Sir, you fence exceedingly well; you must be a man of honor--I
don't care a jot whether you are a prince; but a man who has carte and
tierce at his fingers' ends must be a gentleman.
Mel. [aside.] Gentleman! Ay, I was a gentleman before I turned
conspirator; for honest men are the gentlemen of Nature! Colonel, they
tell me you rose from the ranks.
Damas. I did.
Mel. And in two years!
Damas. It is true; that's no wonder in our army at present. Why the
oldest general in the service is scarcely thirty, and we have some of
two-and-twenty.
Mel. Two-and-twenty!
Damas. Yes; in the French army, now a days, promotion is not a matter of
purchase. We are all heroes, because we may be all generals. We have no
fear of the cypress, because we may all hope for the laurel.
Mel. A general at two-and-twenty! [turning away]--Sir, I may ask you a
favor one of these days.
Damas. Sir, I shall be proud to grant it. It is astonishing how much I
like a man after I've fought with him. [Hides the swords.
Enter MADAME DESCHAPPELLES and BEAUSEANT.
Mme. Deschap. Oh, prince,--prince!--What do I hear? You must fly--you
must quit us!
Mel. I!
Beau. Yes, prince: read this letter, just received from my friend at
Paris, one of the Directory; they suspect you of designs against the
Republic: they are very suspicious of princes, and your family take part
with the Austrians. Knowing that I introduced your highness at Lyons, my
friend writes to me to say that you must quit the town immediately, or
you will be arrested,--thrown into prison, perhaps guillotined! Fly!--I
will order horses to your carriage instantly. Fly to Marsailles; there
you can take ship to Leghorn.
Mme. Deschap. And what's to become of Pauline? Am I not to be mother to
a princess, after all?
Enter PAULINE and MONSIEUR DESCHAPPELLES.
Pauline [throwing herself into MELNOTTE's arms.] You must leave
us!--Leave Pauline!
Beau. Not a moment is to be wasted.
M. Deschap. I will go to the magistrates and inquire--
Beau. Then he is lost; the magistrates, hearing he is suspected, will
order his arrest.
Mme. Deschap. And I shall not be a princess-dowager!
Beau. Why not? There is only one thing to be done:--send for the
priest--let the marriage take place at once, and the prince carry home
a bride?
Mel. Impossible!--[Aside.] Villain.
Mme. Deschap. What, lose my child?
Beau. And gain a princess!
Mme Deschap. Oh, Monsieur Beauseant, you are so very kind, it must be
so,--we ought not to be selfish, my daughter's happiness at stake. She
will go away, too, in a carriage and six!
Pauline. Thou art here still,--I cannot part from my heart will break.
Mel. But thou wilt not consent to this hasty union?--thou wilt not wed
an outcast--a fugitive?
Pauline. Ah! if thou art in danger, who should share it but Pauline?
Mel. [aside]. Distraction!--If the earth could swallow me!
M. Deschap. Gently! gently! The settlements--the contracts--my
daughter's dowry!
Mel. The dowry!--I am not base enough for that; no, not one farthing!
Beau. [to MADAM]. Noble fellow!--Really your good husband is too
mercantile in these matters. Monsieur Deschappelles, you hear his
highness: we can arrange the settlements by proxy; 'tis the way with
people of quality.
M. Deschap. But--
Mme. Deschap. Hold your tongue!--Don't expose yourself!
Beau. I will bring the priest in a trice. Go in all of you and prepare;
the carriage shall be at the door before the ceremony is over.
Mme. Deschap. Be sure there are six horses, Beauseant! You are very good
to have forgiven us for refusing you; but you see--a prince!
Beau. And such a prince! Madam, I cannot blush at the success of so
illustrious a rival.--[Aside.] Now will I follow them to the village,
enjoy my triumph, and to-morrow, in the hour of thy shame and grief,
I think, proud girl, thou wilt prefer even these arms to those of the
gardener's son. [Exit.
Mme. Deschap. Come, Monsieur Deschappelles, give your arm to her
highness that is to be.
M. Deschap. I don't like doing business in such a hurry; 'tis not the
way with the house of Deschappelles & Co.
Mme. Deschap. There, now, you fancy you are in the counting-house, don't
you?
[Pushes him to PAULINE.
Mel. Stay, stay, Pauline--one word. Have you no scruple, no fear?
Speak--it is not yet too late.
Pauline. When I loved thee, thy fate became mine. Triumph or danger--
joy or sorrow--I am by thy side.
Damas. Well, well, prince, thou art a lucky man to be so loved. She is
a good little girl in spite of her foibles make her as happy as if she
were not to be a princess [slapping him on the shoulder]. Come, sir, I
wish you joy--young tender--lovely;--zounds, I envy you!
Mel. [who has stood apart in gloomy abstraction]. Do you?*
(* On the stage the following lines are added:--)
"Do you? Wise judges are we of each other.
'Woo, wed, and bear her home! So runs the bond
To which I sold myself,--and then--what then?
Away?--I will not look beyond the hour.
Like children in the dark, I dare not face
The shades that gather sound me in the distance.
You envy me--I thank you--you may read
My joy upon my brow--I thank you, sir!
If hearts had audible language, you would hear
What mine would answer when you talk of ENVY!"
ACT III.--SCENE I.
The exterior of the Golden Leon--time, twilight. The moon rises during
the scene.
Enter Landlord and his Daughter from the Inn.
Land. Ha--ha--ha! Well, I never shall get over it. Our Claude is a
prince with a vengeance now. His carriage breaks down at my inn--ha--ha!
Janet. And what airs the young lady gives herself! "Is this the best
room you have, young woman?" with such a toss of the head.
Land. Well, get in, Janet: get in and see to the supper: the servants
must sup before they go back. [Exeunt.
Enter BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Beau. You see our princess is lodged at last--one stage more, and
she'll be at her journey's end--the beautiful palace at the foot of the
Alps!--ha--ha!
Gla. Faith, I pity the poor Pauline--especially if she's going to sup
at the Golden Lion [makes a wry face]. I shall never forget that cursed
ragout.
Enter MELNOTTE from the Inn.
Beau. Your servant, my prince; you reigned most worthily, I condole with
you on your abdication. I am afraid that your highness's retinue are not
very faithful servants. I think they will quit you in the moment of
your fall 'tis the fate of greatness. But you are welcome to your fine
clothes--also the diamond snuff-box, which Louis XIV. gave to your
great-great-grandmother.
Gla. And the ring, with which your grandfather the Dodge of Venice
married the Adriatic.
Mel. I have kept my oath, gentlemen--say, have I kept my oath?
Beau. Most religiously.
Mel. Then you have done with me and mine--away with you!
Beau. How, knave?
Mel. Look you, our bond is over. Proud conquerors that we are, we have
won the victory over a simple girl compromised her honor--embittered
her life--blasted, in their very blossoms, all the flowers of her youth.
This is your triumph,--it is my shame! [Turns to BEAUSEANT.] Enjoy thy
triumph, but not in my sight. I was her betrayer--I am her protector!
Cross but her path--one word of scorn, one look of insult--nay, but one
quiver of that mocking lip, and I will teach thee that bitter word thou
hast graven eternally in this heart--Repentance.
Beau. His highness is most grandiloquent.
Mel. Highness me no more! Beware! Remorse has made me a new being. Away
with you! There is danger in me. Away!
Gla. [aside]. He's an awkward fellow to deal with: come away, Beauseant.
Beau. I know the respect clue to rank. Adieu, my prince. Any commands at
Lyons? Yet hold--I promised you 200 Louis on your wedding-day; here they
are.
Mel. [dashing the purse to the ground]. I gave you revenge, I did not
sell it. Take up your silver, Judas; take it. Ay, it is fit you should
learn to stoop.
Beau. You will beg my pardon for this some clay. [Aside to GLAVIS.] Come
to my chateau--I shall return hither to morrow, to learn how Pauline
likes her new dignity.
Mel. Are you not gone yet?
Beau. Your highness's most obedient, most faithful
Gla. And most humble servants. Ha! ha! [Exeunt BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Mel. Thank heaven I had no weapon, or I should have slain them. Wretch!
what can I say? Where turn? On all sides mockery--the very boors
within--[Laughter from the Inn].--'Sdeath, if even in this short absence
the exposure should have chanced. I will call her. We will go hence. I
have already sent one I can trust to my mother's house. There, at least,
none can insult her agony--gloat upon her shame! There alone must she
learn what a villain she has sworn to love. [As he turns to the door
enter PAULINE from the Inn.
Pauline. Ah! my lord, what a place! I never saw such rude people. They
stare and wink so. I think the very sight of a prince, though he travels
incognito, turns their honest heads. What a pity the carriage should
break down in such a spot! You are not well--the drops stand on your
brow--your hand is feverish.
Mel. Nay, it is but a passing spasm;--the air
Pauline. Is not the soft air of your native south--How pale he
is!--indeed thou art not well. Where are our people? I will call them.
Mel. Hold! I--I am well.
Pauline. Thou art!--Ah! now I know it.
Thou fanciest, my kind lord--I know thou dost--
Thou fanciest these rude walls, these rustic gossips,
Brick'd floors, sour wine, coarse viands, vex Pauline;
And so they might, but thou art by my side,
And I forget all else.
Enter Landlord, the Servants peeping and laughing over his shoulder.
Land. My lord--your highness--Will your most noble excellency choose--
Mel. Begone, sir! [Exit Landlord laughing.
Pauline. How could they have learn'd thy rank?
One's servants are so vain!--nay, let it not
Chafe thee, sweet prince!--a few short days and we
Shall see thy palace by its lake of silver,
And--nay, nay, spendthrift, is thy wealth of smiles,
Already drain'd, or dost thou play the miser?
Mel. Thine eyes would call up smiles in deserts, fair one.
Let us escape these rustics: close at hand
There is a cot, where I have bid prepare
Our evening lodgment--a rude, homely roof,
But honest, where our welcome will not be
Made torture by the vulgar eyes and tongues
That are as death to Love! A heavenly night!
The wooing air and the soft moon invite us.
Wilt walk? I pray thee, now,--I know the path,
Ay, every inch of it!
Pauline. What, thou! Methought
Thou wert a stranger in these parts? Ah, truant,
Some village beauty lured thee;--thou art now
Grown constant?
Mel. Trust me.
Pauline. Princes are so changeful!
Mel. Come, dearest, come.
Pauline. Shall I not call our people To light us?
Mel. Heaven will lend its stars for torches! It is not far.
Pauline. The night breeze chills me.
Mel. Nay, Let me thus mantle thee;--it is not cold.
Pauline. Never beneath thy smile!
Mel. [aside.] O Heaven! forgive me! [Exeunt
SCENE II.
MELNOTTE'S cottage--Widow bustling about--a table spread for supper.
Widow. So, I think that looks very neat. He sent me a line, so blotted
that I can scarcely read it, to say he would be here almost immediately.
She must have loved him well indeed to have forgotten his birth; for
though he was introduced to her in disguise, he is too honorable not to
have revealed to her the artifice, which her love only could forgive.
Well, I do not wonder at it; for though my son is not a prince, he ought
to be one, and that's almost as good, [Knock at the door.] Ah! here they
are.
Enter MELNOTTE and PAULINE.
Widow. Oh, my boy--the pride of my heart!--welcome, welcome! I beg
pardon, ma'am, but I do love him so!
Pauline. Good woman, I really--why prince, what is this?--does the old
lady know you? Oh, I guess, you have done her some service. Another
proof of your kind heart? is it not?
Mel. Of my kind heart, ay!
Pauline. So you know the prince?
Widow. Know him, madam?--Ah, I begin to fear it is you who know him not!
Pauline. Do you think she is mad? Can we stay here, my lord? I think
there's something very wild about her.
Mel. Madam, I--no, I cannot tell her; my knees knock together: what a
coward is a man who has lost his honor! Speak to her--speak to her [to
his mother]--tell her that--O Heaven, that I were dead!
Pauline. How confused he looks!--this strange place?--this woman--what
can it mean?--I half suspect--Who are you, madam!--who are you! can't
you speak? are you struck dumb?
Widow. Claude, you have not deceived her?--Ah, shame upon you! I
thought that, before you went to the altar, she was to have known all.
Pauline. All! what!--My blood freezes in my veins!
Widow. Poor lady!--dare I tell her, Claude? [MELNOTTE makes a sign of
assent.] Know you not then, madam, that this young man is of poor though
honest parents? Know you not that you are wedded to my son, Claude
Melnotte?
Pauline. Your son! hold--hold! do not speak to me.--[Approaches
MELNOTTE, and lays her hand on his arm.]--Is this a jest? is it? I know
it is, only speak--one word--one look one smile. I cannot believe--I
who loved thee so--I cannot believe that thou art such a--No, I will not
wrong thee by a harsh word--Speak!
Mel. Leave us--have pity on her, on me: leave us.
Widow. Oh, Claude, that I should live to see thee bowed by shame! thee
of whom I was so proud! [Exit by the staircase.
Pauline. Her son--her son!
Mel. Now, lady, hear me.
Pauline. Hear thee! Ay, speak--her son! have fiends a parent? speak,
That thou mayst silence curses--speak!
Mel. No, curse me: Thy curse would blast me less than thy forgiveness.
Pauline [laughing wildly].
"This is thy palace, where the perfumed light
Steals through the mist of alabaster lamps,
And every air is heavy with the sighs
Of orange-groves, and music from the sweet lutes,
And murmurs of low fountains, that gush forth
I' the midst of roses!" Dost thou like the picture?
This is my bridal home, and thou my bridegroom.
O fool--O dupe--O wretch!--I see it all
Thy by-word and the jeer of every tongue
In Lyons. Hast thou in thy heart one touch
Of human kindness? if thou hast, why, kill me,
And save thy wife from madness. No, it cannot
It cannot be: this is some horrid dream:
I shall wake soon.--[Touching him.] Art flesh art man? or but
The shadows seen in sleep? It is too real.
What have I done to thee? how sinn'd against thee,
That thou shouldst crush me thus?
Mel. Pauline, by pride
Angels have fallen ere thy time: by pride
That sole alloy of thy most lovely mould
The evil spirit of a bitter love,
And a revengeful heart, had power upon thee.
From my first years my soul was fill'd with thee:
I saw thee midst the flow'rs the lowly boy
Tended, unmark'd by thee--a spirit of bloom,
And joy, and freshness, as if Spring itself
Were made a living thing, and wore thy shape!
I saw thee, and the passionate heart of man
Enter'd the breast of the wild-dreaming boy.
And from that hour I grew--what to the last
I shall be--thine adorer! Well, this love
Vain, frantic, guilty, if thou wilt, became
A fountain of ambition and bright hope;
I thought of tales that by the winter hearth
Old gossips tell--how maidens sprung from kings
Have stoop'd from their high sphere; how love, like death
Levels all ranks, and lays the shepherd's crook
Beside the sceptre. Thus I made my home
In the soft palace of a fairy Future!
My father died; and I, the peasant-born,
Was my own lord. Then did I seek to rise
Out of the prison of my mean estate;
And, with such jewels as the exploring mind
Brings from the caves of knowledge, buy my ransom
From those twin gaolers of the daring heart
Low birth and iron fortune. Thy bright image
Glass'd in my soul, took all the hues of glory,
And lured me on to those inspiring toils
By which man masters men! For thee I grew
A midnight student o'er the dreams of sages.
For thee I sought to borrow from each grace,
And every muse, such attributes as lend
Ideal charms to love. I thought of thee,
And passion taught me poesy--of thee,
And on the painter's canvas grew the life
Of beauty! Art became the shadow
Of the dear starlight of thy haunting eyes
Men call'd me vain--some mad--I heeded not;
But still toil'd on--hoped on--for it was sweet,
If not to win, to feel more worthy thee?
Pauline. Has he a magic to exorcise hate!
Mel. At last, in one mad hour, I dared to pour
The thoughts that burst their channels into song,
And sent them to thee--such a tribute, lady,
As beauty rarely scorns, even from the meanest.
The name--appended by the burning heart
That long'd to show its idol what bright things
It had created--yea, the enthusiast's name,
That should have been thy triumph, was thy scorn!
That very hour--when passion, turn'd to wrath,
Resembled hatred most--when thy disdain
Made my whole soul a chaos--in that hour
The tempters found me a revengeful tool
For their revenge! Thou hadst trampled on the worm
It turn'd and stung thee!
Pauline. Love, sir, hath no sting.
What was the slight of a poor powerless girl
To the deep wrong of this most vile revenge?
Oh, how I loved this man!--a serf!--a slave!
Mel. Hold, lady! No, not slave! Despair is free!
I will not tell thee of the throes--the struggles
The anguish--the remorse: No, let it pass!
And let me come to such most poor atonement
Yet in my power. Pauline!
[Approaching her with great emotion, and about to take her hand.
Pauline. No, touch me not!
I know my fate. You are, by law, my tyrant;
And I--O Heaven!--a peasant's wife! I'll work
Toil--drudge--do what thou wilt--but touch me not;
Let my wrongs make me sacred!
Mel. Do not fear me.
Thou dost not know me, madam: at the altar
My vengeance ceased--my guilty oath expired!
Henceforth, no image of some marble saint,
Niched in cathedral aisles, is hallow'd more
From the rude hand of sacrilegious wrong.
I am thy husband--nay, thou need'st not shudder;
Here, at thy feet, I lay a husband's rights.
A marriage thus unholy--unfulfill'd--
A bond of fraud--is, by the laws of France,
Made void and null. To-night sleep--sleep in peace.
To-morrow, pure and virgin as this morn
I bore thee, bathed in blushes, from the shrine,
Thy father's arms shall take thee to thy home.
The law shall do thee justice, and restore
Thy right to bless another with thy love.
And when thou art happy, and hast half forgot
Him who so loved--so wrong'd thee, think at least
Heaven left some remnant of the angel still
In that poor peasant's nature!
Ho! my mother! [Enter Widow.
Conduct this lady--(she is not my wife;
She is our guest,--our honor'd guest, my mother)--
To the poor chamber, where the sleep of virtue,
Never, beneath my father's honest roof,
Ev'n villains dared to mar! Now, lady, now,
I think thou wilt believe me. Go, my mother!
Widow. She is not thy wife!
Mel. Hush, hush! for mercy's sake! Speak not, but go.
[Widow ascends the stairs; PAULINE follows weeping--turns to look back.
Mel. [sinking down]. All angels bless and guard her!