The Father's Tragedy. William Rufus. Loyalty or Love

Front matter

THE FATHER'S TRAGEDY. WILLIAM RUFUS. LOYALTY OR LOVE? [All Rigltls Risemia.] THE FATHER'S TRAGEDY. WILLIAM RUFUS. LOYALTY OR LOVE? BY MICHAEL FIELD, Author of " Callirrho'e and Fair Rosamund." 3L 0 tition : Clifton : GEORGE BELL & SONS, J. BAKER & SON. York Street, Covent Garden. Second Edition. CALLIRRHOE FAIR ROSAMUND. By MICHAEL FIELD. EnnSDit : Clifton : GEORGE BELL & SONS, J. BAKER & SON. York Street, Covent Garden. -Me 0PI]M0]5jS * ©E + TflE * PI_|E$J3 *♦ ON THE FIRST EDITION. From the "SA TURD A Y RE VIE W." "It is many years since we have read a new poem so instinct with the immutable attributes of poetry, so free from current cant and trick, and animated by an inspiration so warm and native and unfailing. The drama, though classic in subject, is modern in form, and almost de nuded of lyrical ornament.

There is no chorus and there are no experiments in Greek metres. Still more characteristic is the interpola tion of certain humorous scenes conceived in the wanton spirit of the Elizabethan drama ; and, underlying all, runs an eccentric vein of fate ful irony, which affords the most individual expression of the author's genius. . . . This bald outline of the action of course only indicates the leading motif of the drama, the virtue and power of love's sacrifice ; it must be left to the reader to enjoy the skill with which the dramatic conduct is evolved, the beauty of the conception of the drama, the strength and purity of the language, and the brilliant distinction and consistent development of the chief characters. In 'Fair Rosamund' are several scenes worthy of comparison with the most striking in ' Callirrhoe, ' though the drama is less comprehensive in projection ; not less certainly than the latter does it prove Mr. Field to be a poet of notable endowments and distinguished powers." ' A From the "SPECTATOR.

"These poems are poems of great promise ; ... we have found a wealth of surprises in the strength, the simplicity, and the terseness of the imaginative feeling they display, that convinces us of his power to do much more than he has here done,— though even that is no trivial beginning. ... If that has not the true poetic fire in it,— dramatic fire, too, as well as poetic — the present writer must be destitute of all discernment. To him it sounds like the ring of a new voice, which is likely to be heard far and wide among the English-speaking peoples." From the "ATHENÆUM." ' ' The writer undoubtedly possesses the two qualities absolutely es sential to all dramatic writing — those of being able to create and to make the creations express themselves with the terse and vivid expression which, by a happy epithet, at times lays bare an entire condition of mind. . . .

Preface

. WHEN a child, the author read the history of Robert III. in Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather. Even in those early days he felt an intimation that he was consecrated and condemned to hold up the mirror of ideal presentation to the actual pity and terror of that history. The time came for the fulfilment of his task, and he spared no trouble to gain from chronicler and historian the veritable facts he would reflect in his tragedy. Wyntoun (from whose rhymed vernacular chronicle the character of Rothsay is drawn), William Bower, the con tinuator of Fordun's Scotichronicon (on whose narrative the drama is mainly founded), Boece (who supplies an incident of Act IV.), Lord Hailes (who first printed the Remission given to the Duke of Albany and the Earl of Douglas), Tytler, Pinkerton, Burton, all lend authority to his work.

Those who have studied the obscure reign of Robert III. will observe, without anger, certain deviations from authority, where the freedom of imagination claimed its rights. Sir Walter Scott himself, in his romance, The Fair Maid of Perth, has treated many of the incidents of this reign with a boldness that well-nigh obliterates historic outline. If it be thought that the author is stern in showing Misery

PREFACE.

. her own feature, Weakness her own image, and Hunger his form and pressure in the glass of this drama, his best de fence is the self-suggested epitaph of the man who is its protagonist : — "Hie jacet Pessimus Rex et Miserrimus Hominum in Universo Regno. " November 24th, 1884.