The practical works of S. T. Coleridge

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.5 -^^ aV .n

THE

P

Act I

Scene I. — An old Gothic Chamber in the Council-house at Pilsen, decorated with colours and other war insignia.

Illo with Butler and Isolani.

Jllo. Ye have come late — but ye are come! The distance, Count Isolan, excuses your delay.

Iso. Add this too, that we come not empty handed.

At Donauwert * it was reported to us, A Swedish caravan was on its way Transporting a rich cargo of provision, Almost six hundred waggons. This my Croats Plunged down upon and seized, this weighty prize !-

We bring it hither

lUo. Just in time to banquet

The illustrious company assembled here.

But. 'Tis all alive ! a stirring scene here !

Iso. Ay !

The very churches are all full of soldiers.

♦ A town about twelve German miles northeast of Ulm.

And in tlie Council-house, too, I observe,

[Cas^s his eyp. round.

You're settled, quite at home ! Well, well ! we

soldiers Must shift and suit us in what way we can.

lllo. We have the Colonels here of thirty regiments.

You'll find Count Tertsky here, and Tiefenbach, Kolalto, Goetz, Maradas, Hinnersam,

The Piceolomini, both son and father

You'll meet with many an unexpected greeting From many an old friend and acquaintance. Only Gallas is wanting still, and Altringer.

But. Expect not Gallas.

lUo. [hesitating.'] How so? Do yon know ■

Iso. [interrupting him.'] Max Piceolomini here ? — O bring me to him.

I see him yet, ('tis now ten years ago, We were engaged with Mansfeld hard by Dessau,) I see the youth, in my mind's eye I see him. Leap his black war-horse from the bridge adown, And toward Ids father, then in extreme })eril, Beat up against tlie strong tide of the Elbe. The down was scarce upon his chin ! I hear He has made good the promise of his youth, And the full hero now is finished in him.

lllo. You'll see him yet ere evening. He conducts The Duchess Friedland hither, and the Princess From Kiirnthen. We expect them here at noon.

But. Botli w-ife and daughter does the Duke call hither ?

He crowds in visitants from all sides.

Iso. Hm !

So much the better ! I bad framed ray mind To hear of nought but warlike circumstance, Of marches, and attacks, and batteries: And lo ! the Duke provides, that something too Of gentler sort, and lovely, should be present To feast our ej'es.

Illo. [loho has been standing in the attitude of meditation, to Butler, whom he leads a little on one side.'] And how came you to know

That the Count Gallas joins us not?

But. Because

He importuned me to remain behind.

Illo. [ivith warfnth.] And you ? — You hold out firmly ? [ Grasping his handivith affection.'] Noble Butler !

But. After the obligation which the Duke Had laid so newly on me

Illo. I had forgotten

A pleasant duty — Major General, I wish you joy !

Iso. What, you mean, of his regiment ?

I hear, too, that to make the gift still sweeter, The Duke has given him the very same In which he first saw service, and since then. Worked himself, step by step, through each preferment,

14 THE nCCOLOMINl;

From the ranks upwards. And verily, it gives A precedent of hope, a spur of action To the whole corps, if once in their remembrance An old deserving soldier makes his way.

But, I am perplexed and doubtful, whether or no I dare accept this your congratulation. The Emperor has not yet confirmed the appointment.

Iso. Seize it, friend ! Seize it ! The hand which in that post Placed you, is strong enough to keep you there, Spite of the Emperor and his Ministers.

Illo. Ay, if we would but so consider it! — If we would all of us consider it so ! The Emperor gives us nothing ; from the Duke Comes all — whate'er we hope, whate'er we have.

Iso, [^oIllo.] My noble brother ! did I tell you how The Duke will satisfy my creditors ? Will be himself my banker for the future, Make me once more a creditable man ! — And this is now the third time, think of that I This kingly-minded man has rescued me From absolute ruin, and restored my honour.

Illo, O that his power but kept pace with his wishes !

Why, friend ! he'd give the whole world to his

soldiers.

But at Vienna, brother ! — ^here's the grievance ! —

What politic schemes do they not lay to shorten His arm, and, where they can, to clip his pinions. Then these new 4ainty requisitions ! these, Which this same Questenberg brings hither ! —

But. Ay,

These requisitions of the Emperor, — I too have heard about them ; but I hope The Duke will not draw back a single inch !

Illo. Not from his right most surely, unless first — From office !

But, [shocked and confused.'] Know you aught then ? You alarm me.

Iso. [at the same time with Bctler, and in a hurried voiced] We should be ruined, every one of us !

Illo. No more !

Yonder I see our worthy friend * approachmg With the Lieutenant-General, Piccolomini.

But. [shaking his head signifcantly.'] I fear we shall not go hence as we came.

Scene II. — Enter Oct avio Piccolomini and Questenberg

Oct. [still in the distance.] Ay, ay ! more still ! Still more new visitors !

Acknowledge, friend ! that never was a camp. Which held at once so many heads of heroes.

[Approaching nearer Welcome, Count Isolani !

* Spoken with a sneer.

Iso. My noble brother,

Even now am I arrived ; it had been else my duty— Oct. And Colonel Butler — trust me I rejoice Tims to renew acquaintance with a man AV^hose worth and services I know and honour. Bee, see, my friend !

Thei-e might we place at once before our eyes The sum of war's whole trade and mystery — [7b QuESTENBERG, presenting Butler and Isolani at the same time to him.

These two the total sum — Strength and Dispatch.

Ques. [to OcTAvio.] And lo! betwixt them

both experienced Prudence !

Oct. [presenting Questenberg to Butler cmd IsoLANi.j The Chamberlain and War-commissioner Questenberg, The bearer of the Emperor's behests, The long-tried friend and patron of all soldiers, We honour in this noble visitor.

[ Universal silence.

Illo. [moving towards Questenberg.] 'Tis not the first time, noble Minister, You have shown our camp this honour.

Ques. Once before

I stood before these colours.

Illo. Perchance, too, you remember where that was.

OR, THE FIRST TART OF T7ALLENSTEIN. 17

It was at Znaim * in Moravia, wliere You did present yourself on the part Of the Emperor, to supplicate our Duke That he would straight assume the chief command.

Qucs. To supplicate ? Nay, noble General ! So far extended neither my commission (At least to my own knowledge) nor my zeal.

Illo. Well, well, then — to compel him, if you choose.

I can remember me right well. Count Tilly Had suffered total rout opon the Lech. Bavaria lay all open to the enemy, AVhom there was nothing to delay from pressing Onwards into the very heart of Austria. At that time you and Werdenberg appeared Before our General, storming him with prayers, And menacing the Emperor's displeasure. Unless he took compassion on this wretchedness.

Iso. [^steps up to them.'] Yes, yes, '"tis comprehensible enough, Wherefore, with your commission of to-day, You were not all too willing to remember Your former one.

Ques. Why not. Count Isolan ?

No contradiction sure exists between them. It was the urgent business of that time To snatch Bavaria from her enemy's hand ;

* A town not far from the Mine-mountains, on the high road from Vienna to Prague.

VOL. III. 2

And my commission of to-day instructs me

To free her from her good friends and protectors.

Illo. A worthy office ! After with our blood We have wrested this Bohemia from the Saxon, To be swept out of it is all our thanks, The sole reward of all our hard-won victories.

Ques. Unless that wretched land be doomed to suffer Only a change of evils, it must be Freed from the scourge alike of friend and foe.

Illo. AVhat ? 'twas a favourable year ; the boors Can answer fresh demands already.

Ques. Nay,

Iso. The war maintains the war. Are the boors ruined, The Emperor gains so many more new soldiers.

Ques. And is the poorer by even so many sub jects.

Iso. Poh ! we are all his subjects. [one fill

Ques. Yet with a difference. General ! The With profitable industry the purse. The others are well skilled to empty it. The sword has made the Emperor poor : the plow Must re-invigorate his resources.

iso. Sure !

Times are not yet so bad. Methinks I see

[Examining with his eye the dress and ornaments of

QUESTENBERG.

Good store of gold that still remains uncoined.

Qucs. Thank Heaven ! that means have been

found out to hide Some little from the fingers of the Croats.

Illo. There ! the Slawata and the Martinitz, On whom the Emperor heaps his gifts and graces, 'J'o the heart-burning of all good Bohemians — Those minions of court favour, those court harpies, Who fatten on the wrecks of citizens Driven from their house and home — who reap no

harvests Save in the general calamity — Who now, with kingly pomp, insult and mock The desolation of their country — these, Let these, and such as these, support the war. The fatal war, which they alone enkindled ! But. And those state-parasites, who have their

feet So constantly beneath the Emperor's table, W^ho cannot let a benefice fall, but they Snap at it with dog's hunger — they, forsooth. Would pare the soldier's bread, and cross his

reckoning !

Iso. My life long will it anger me to think, How when I went to court seven years ago. To see about new horses for our regiment. How from one antechamber to another Tiiey dragged me on, and left me by the hour To kick my heels among a crowd of simpering Feast-fattened slaves, as if I had come thither A mendicant suitor for the crumbs of favour

That fall beneath their tables. And, at last, Whom should they send me but a Capuchin ! Straight I began to muster up my sins For absolution — but no such luck for me ! This was the man, this Capuchin, with whom I was to treat concerning the army horses : And I was forced at last to quit the field, The business unaccomplished. Afterwards The Duke procured me in three days, what I Could not obtaiu in thirty at Vienna.

Ques. Yes, yes ! your travelling bills soon

found their way to us : Too well I know we have still accounts to settle. Illo. War is a violent trade : one cannot always Finish one's work by soft means : every trifle Must not be blackened into sacrilege. If we should wait till you, in solemn council, With due deliberation had selected The smallest out of four-and twenty evils, I'faith Ave should wait long. — " Dash ! and through with it ! " — That's the better

watch-word. [nature

Then after, come what may come. 'Tis man's To make the best of a bad thing once past. A bitter and perplexed " what shall I do ? " Is worse to man than worst necessity.

Ques. Ay, doubtless, it is true ; the Duke does

spare us The troublesome task of choosing.

But Yes, the Duke

OR, THE FIRST PART OF WALLENSTElN. 21

Cares with a father's feelings for his troops ; But how the Emperor feels for us, we see.

Ques. His cares and feelings all ranks share alike, Nor will he offer one up to another.

Iso. And therefore thrusts he us into the deserts As beasts of prey, that so he may preserve His dear sheep fattening in his fields at home. Ques. [_'wtth a sneer.~\ Count, this comparison

you make, not I.

But. Why, were we all the Court supposes us, 'Twere dangerous, sure, to give us liberty.

Ques. You have taken liberty — it was not given you.

And therefore it becomes an urgent duty To rein it in with curbs.

Oct. [interposing and addressing Questen- BERG.] My noble friend.

This is no more than a remembrancing That you are now in camp, and among warriors. The soldier's boldness constitutes his freedom. Could he act daringly, unless he dared Talk even so ? One runs into the other. The boldness of this worthy officer,

[Pointing to Butleb.

^yhich now has but mistaken in its mark. Preserved, when nought but boldness could preserve it, To the Emperor his capital city, Prague,

In a most formidable mutiny

Of tlie whole garrison. [Military vmsic at a distance.

Hall ! here they come !

lllo. The sentries are saluting them : this signal Announces the arrival of the Duchess.

Oct. [to QuESTENBERG.] Then my son Mux too has returned. 'Twas he Fetched and attended them from Kiirnthen hither. Iso. [to Illo.] Shall we not go in company to

greet them ? lllo. Well, let us go. — Ho! Colonel Butler, come. [To Octavio.

You will not forget, that yet ere noon we meet The noble Envoy at the General's palace.

[Exeunt all but Questenberg and Octavio.

Scene III. — Questenberg and Octavio. Ques. [toitli signs of aversion and astonishment. ~\ What have I not been forced to hear, Octavio ! What sentiments ! what fierce, uncurbed defiance ! And were this spirit universal —

Oct. Ilm !

You are now acquainted with three fourths of the army.

Ques. Where must we seek then for a second host Tc have the custody of this ? That lllo Thinks worse, I fear me, than he speaks. And then This Butler, too, — he cannot even conceal The passionate workings of his ill intentions.

Oct. Quickness of temper — irritated pride ; 'Twas nothing more. I cannot give up Butler. I know a spell that will soon dispossess The evil spirit in Jiim.

Ques.' [ivalhing up and down in evident disquiet.'] Friend, friend !

O ! this is worse, far worse, than we had suffered Ourselves to dream of at Vienna. There We saw it only with a courtier's eyes, Eyes dazzled by the splendour of the throne. We had not seen the war-chief, the commander. The man all-powerful in his camp. Here, here, 'Tis quite another thing.

Here is no Emperor more — the Duke is Emperor. Alas, my friend ! alas, my noble friend ! This walk which you have ta'en me through the

camp Strikes my hopes prostrate.

Oct. Now you see yourself

Of what a perilous kind the office is, Which you deliver to me from the Court. The least suspicion of the General Costs me my freedom and my life, and would But hasten his most desperate enterprise.

Ques. Where was our reason sleeping when we trusted This madman with the sword, and placed such

power In such a hand ? I tell you he'll refuse, Flatly refuse, to obey tlie Imperial orders.

Friend, he can do't, and what he can, he will. And then the impunity of his defiance — O ! what a proclamation of our weakness !

Oct. D'ye think, too, he has brought his wife and daughter Without a purpose hither ? Here in camp ! And at the very point of time, in which We're arming for the war ? That he has taken These, the last pledges of his loyalty, Away from out the Emperor's domains — This is no doubtful token of the nearness Of some eruption !

Ques. How shall we hold footing

Beneath this tempest, which collects itself And threats us from all quarters ? The enemy Of the empire on our borders, now already The master of the Danube, and still farther, And farther still, extending eveiy hour ! In our interior tlie alarum-bells

Of insurrection — peasantry in arms •

All orders discontented — and tlie army, Just in the moment of our expectation Of aidance from it — lo ! this very array Seduced, run wild, lost to all discipline. Loosened, and rent asunder from the state And from their sov'reign, the blind instrument Of the most daring of mankind, a Aveapon Of fearful power, which at his will he wields !

Oct. Nay, nay, friend ! let us not despair too soon,

Men's words are ever bolder than their deeds : And many a resolute, who now appears Made up to all extremes, will, on a sudden, Find in his breast a heart he knew not of. Let but a single honest man speak out The true name of his crime ! Remember, too, We stand not yet so wholly unprotected. Counts Altringer and Gallas have maintained Their little army faithful to its duty. And daily it becomes more numerous. Nor can he take us by surprise : you know, I hold him all encompassed by my listeners. Whate'er he does, is mine, even while 'tis doing — ■ No step so small, but instantly I hear it. Yea, his own mouth discloses it.

Ques. 'Tis quite

Incomprehensible, that he detects not The foe so near !

Oct. Beware, you do not think,

That I by lying arts, and complaisant Hypocrisy, have skulk'd into his graces ; Or with the sustenance of smooth professions Nourish his all-confiding friendship ! No — Compelled alike by prudence, and that duty Which we all owe our country, and our sovereign. To hide my genuine feelings from him. yet Ne'er have I duped him with base counterfeits!

Ques. It is the visible ordinance of heaven.

Oct. I know not what it is that so attracts And links him both to me and to my son.

Comrades and friends we always were — long habit,

Adventurous deeds performed in company,

And all tliose many and various incidents

Which store a soldier's memory with affections,

Had bound us long and early to each other —

Yet I can name the day, when all at once

His heart rose on me, and his confidence

Shot out in sudden growth. It was the morning

Before the memorable fight at Liitzen.

Urged by an ugly dream, I sought him out,

To press him to accept another charger.

At distance from the tents, beneath a tree,

I found him in a sleep. When I had waked him,

And had related all my bodings to him,

Long time he stared upon me, like a man

Astounded ; thereon fell upon my neck.

And manifested to me an emotion

That far outstripped the worth of that small service.

Since then his confidence has followed me

Witli the same pace that mine has fled from him.

Ques. You lead your son into the secret ?

Oct. No !

Ques. What? and not warn him either what bad hands His lot has j^laced him in ?

Oct. I must perforce

Leave him in wardship to his innocence. His young and open soul — dissimulation Is foreign to its habits ! Ignorance Alone can keep alive the cheerful air.

OR, THE FIRST PART OF WALLENSTEIX. 27

The unembarrassed sense and light free spirit, That make the Duke secure.

Ques. [anxiously.~\ My honoured friend ! most highly do I deem

Of Colonel Piccolomini — yet — if

Reflect a little

Oct. I must venture it.

Hush ! — There he comes 1

Scene IV. — Max Piccolomini, Octavio Piccolomini, QUESTENBERO

Max. Ha ! there he is himself. Welcome, my fiither ! [iJe embraces hisfatha'. As he turns round he observes QuESTENBERG, and draws hack with a cold and reserved air.

You are engaged, I see. I'll not disturb you.

Oct. How Max ? Look closer at this visitor ; Attention, Max, an old friend merits — Reverence Belongs of right to the envoy of your sov'reign.

3Iax. [f/nV?/.] Von Questenberg! — Welcome — ■ if you bring with you Aught good to our head-quarters.

Ques. [^seizing Ms hand.'] Nay, di-aw not Your hand away. Count Piccolomini ! Not on mine own account alone I seized it. And nothing common will I say therewith.

[ Takin<j the hands of botk.

Octavio — Max Piccolomini ! saviour names, and full of happy omen !

Ne'er will her prosperous genius turn from Austria, While two such stars, with blessed influences Beaming protection, shine above her hosts.

Max. Hey ! — Noble minister ! You miss your part.

You came not here to act a panegyric. You're sent, I know, to find fault and to scold us — I must not be beforehand with my comrades. Oct. \to Max.] He comes from court, where people are not quite So well contented with the Duke, as here.

3fax. What now have they contrived to find out in him ?

That he alone determines for himself What he himself alone doth understand ? Well, therein he does right, and will persist in't. Heaven never meant him for that passive thing That can be struck and hammered out to suit Another's taste and fancy. He'll not dance To every tune of every minister. It goes against his nature — he can't do it. He is possessed by a commanding spirit, And his too is the station of command. And well for us it is so ! There exist Few fit to rule themselves, but few that use Their intellects intelligently. — Then Well for the whole, if there be found a man. Who makes himself what nature destined him, The pause, the central point to thousand thousands —

Stands fixed and stately, like a firm-built column, Where all may press with joy and confidence. Now such a man is Wallenstein ; and if Another better suits the Court — no other But such a one as he can serve the army.

Ques. The army ? Doubtless !

OcL \_aside to Questenberg.] Hush ! suppress it, friend !

Unless some end were answered by the utterance. — Of Jiim there you'll make nothing.

3Iax. In their distress

They call a spirit up, and when he comes, Straight their flesh creeps and quivers, and they

dread him More than the ills for which they called him up. The uncommon, the sublime, must seem and be Like things of every day. — But in the field, Ay, there the Present Being makes itself felt. The personal must command, the actual eye Examine. If to be the chieftain asks All that is great in nature, let it be Likewise his privilege to move and act In all the correspondences of greatness. The oracle within him, that which lives, He must invoke and question — not dead books. Not ordinances, not mould-rotted papers.

Oct. My son ! of those old narrow ordinances Let us not hold too lightly. They are weights Of priceless value, which oppressed mankind Tied to the volatile will of their oppressors.

For always formidable was the league And partnership of free power with free will. The way of ancient ordinance, though it winds, Is yet no devious way. Straight forward goes The lightning's path, and straight the fearful path Of the cannon-ball. Direct it flies and rapid, Shattering that it may reach, and shattering what

it r(!aches.

My son ! the road, the human being travels, That, on which blessing comes and goes, doth

follow The river's course, the valley's playful windings. Curves round the corn-field and the hill of vines, Honouring the holy bounds of property ! And thus secure, though late, leads to its end. Ques. hear your father, noble youth ! hear

him Who is at once the hero and the man.

Oct. My son, the nursling of the camp spoke in

thee !

A war of fifteen years Hath been thy education and thy school. Peace hast thou never witnessed ! There exists A higher than the warrior's excellence. In war itself war is no ultimate purpose. The vast and sudden deeds of violence, Adventures wild, and wonders of the moment, These are not they, ray son, that generate The Calm, the Blissful, and the enduring Mighty! Lo there ! the soldier, rapid architect !

Builds his light town of canvas, and at once The whole scene moves and bustles momently, With arms and neighing steeds, and mirth and

quarrel.

The motley market fills ; the roads, the streams Are crowded with new freights, trade stirs and

hurries !

But on some morrow morn, all suddenly, The tents drop down, the horde renews its march. Dreary, and solitary as a church-yard The meadow and down-trodden seed-plot lie, And the year's harvest is gone utterly.

3fax. O let the Emperor make peace, my father ! Most gladly would I give the blood-stained laurel For the first violet of the leafless spring. Plucked in those quiet fields where I have journeyed 1 Oct. What ails thee ? What so moves thee all

at once ?

Max. Peace have I ne'er beheld ? I have beheld it.

From thence am I come hither : ! that sight, It glimmers still before me, like some landscape Left in the distance, — some delicious landscape ! My road conducted me through countries where The war has not yet reached. Life, life, my

father — My venerable father, life has charms Which we have ne'er experienced. We have been '

But vojaging along its barren coasts, Like some poor ever-roaming horde of pirates, That, crowded in the rank and narrow ship. House on the wild sea with wild usages, Nor know aught of the main land but the bays "Where safeliest thej may venture a thieves' landing.

Whate'er in the inland dales the land conceals Of fair and exquisite, O ! nothing, nothing, Do we behold of that in our rude voyage.

Oct. [^attentive with an appearance of imeasiness.~\ And so your journey has revealed this to you ?

Max. 'Twas the first leisure of my life. O tell me, What is the meed and purpose of the toil. The painful toil, which robbed me of my youth. Left me a heart luisouled and solitary, A spirit uninformed, unornamented. For the camp's stir and crowd and ceaseless larum. The neighing war-horse, the air-shattering trumpet, The unvaried, still returning hour of duty. Word of command, and exercise of arms — There's nothing here, there's nothing in all this To satisfy the heart, the gasping heart ! Mere bustling nothingness, where the soul is not — This cannot be the sole felicity. These cannot be man's best and only pleasures. Oct. Much hast thou learnt, my son, in this short journey.

3fax, I day thrice lovely ! wlieu at length the soldier

Returns home into life ; when he becomes

A fellow-man among his fellow-men.

The colours are unfurled, the cavalcade

Marshals, and now the buzz is hushed, and hark !

Now the soft peace-march beats, home, brothers, home !

The caps and helmets are all garlanded

With green boughs, the last plundering of the fields.

The city gates fly open of themselves.

They need no longer the petard to tear them.

The ramparts are all filled with men and women,

With peaceful men and women, that send onwards

Kisses and welcomings upon the air,

Which they make breezy with affectionate gestures.

From all the towers rings out the merry peal,

The joyous vespers of a bloody day.

O happy man, O fortunate ! for whom

The well-known door, the faithful arms are open,

The faithful tender arms with mute embracing. Ques. [apparently much affected.'] O ! that you should speak

Of such a distant, distant time, and not

Of the to-morrow, not of this to-day.

34 THE nCCOLOMINI;

Max. \turmng round to Mm quick and vehement. Where lies the fault but on you in Vienna ?

I will deal openly with you, Questenberg. Just now, as first I saw you standing here, (I'll own it to you freely,) indignation Crowded and pressed my inmost soul together. 'Tis ye that hinder peace, ye I — and the warrior, It is the warrior that must force it from you. Ye fret the General's life out, blacken him. Hold him up as a rebel, and Heaven knows What else still worse, because he spares the

Saxons, And tries to awaken confidence in the enemy ; Which yet's the only way to peace : for if War intermit not during war, how then

And whence can peace come ? ^Your own

plagues fall on you !

Even as I love what's virtuous, hate I you. And here make I this vow, here pledge myself; My blood shall spurt out for this Wallenstein, And my heart drain off, drop by drop, ere ye Shall revel and dance jubilee o'er his ruin. \Exit