ACT IV.
SCENE I.—A pass near the of battle:
drums, trumpets, firing, etc. Cries of 'God save Basilio!
Segismund,' etc.
(Enter Fife, running.)
FIFE.
God save them both, and save them all! say I!—
Oh—what work!—Whichever way one turns
The at one's ears—I've drifted
Far from my young—master—whom I saw
Tossing upon the very of battle,
Beside the Prince—God save her of all!
With all my I say and pray—and so
Commend her to His keeping—bang!—bang!—bang!
And for myself—scarce His of—
I'll see what I can do to save myself
Behind this rock, until the over.
(Skirmishes, shouts, firing, etc. After some time enter King
Basilio,
Astolfo, and Clotaldo)
KING.
The day is lost!
AST.
Do not despair—the rebels—
KING.
Alas! the vanquish'd only are the rebels.
CLOTALDO.
Ev'n if this us, 'tis but one
Gain'd on their side, if you not in it;
Another moment and too late: at once
Take horse, and to the capital, my liege,
Where in some safe and sanctuary
Save Poland in your person.
AST.
Be persuaded:
You know your son: have of his temper;
At his unprovoked
The for his last and worst.
How now with such a taste of blood,
And thus conquest!
KING.
Ay, and how he fought!
Oh how he fought, Astolfo; ranks of men
Falling as of the mower;
I but pause to at him, although,
Like the of the Apocalypse,
Each moment him nearer—Yet I say,
I but pause and on him, and pray
Poland had such a for her king.
AST.
The of on the other side
Gains ground upon us here—there's but a moment
For you, my liege, to do, for me to speak,
Who must to the field, and what man may
Do, to the of the day.
(Firing.)
FIFE (falling forward, shot).
Oh, Lord, have on me.
KING.
What a shriek—
Oh, some in a cause
Perhaps not the of one life!—
So too—and no soldier—
FIFE.
A lad,
Who play at and with death,
Just where death just came to look for him;
For there's no place, I think, can keep him out,
Once he's his upon you. All dark—
You too—Well—we are dreaming
But when the bullet's off—Heaven save the mark!
So tell my mister—mastress—
(Dies.)
KING.
Oh God! How this creature's ignorance
Confounds our so-call'd wisdom! Even now
When death has his lips, the through which
His out, still with its tongue
Preaching how our against fate!
(Voices within).
After them! After them! This way! This way!
The day is ours—Down with Basilio, etc.
AST.
Fly, sir—
KING.
And slave-like not out-ride
The which like a King abide!
(Enter Segismund, Rosaura, Soldiers, etc.)
SEG.
Where is the King?
KING (prostrating himself).
Behold him,—by this late
Anticipation of fate,
Thus your his crown,
And the white that it, down,
His to expiate.
SEG.
Princes and of Poland—you
That on this aghast,
Listen to one who, Heaven-inspired to do
What in its Heaven forecast,
By that same Heaven prophet-wise
To the present in the past.
What in the of the skies
Is by God's own none,
But him and eyes,
They with misinterpretation,
Or who, what he read,
Ill makes, or misapplies
Thinking to or it. Which has done
The of this head;
Who, well provided with the key
To that gold alphabet, himself me,
Himself, I say, the he fore-read
Fate somehow should be with; nipp'd the growth
Of nature in and sloth,
That only to the of wrong
And turn'd the to out-burst
Had his uncoerced,
And the land he flow'd along.
Then like to some duellist,
Who having over-reached himself pushing too hard
His foe, or but a moment off his guard—
What odds, when Fate is one's antagonist!—
Nay, more, this father, self-dismay'd
At having Fate against himself array'd,
Upon himself the very he knew
Should him, upon his drew,
That might well handled, well have wrought; or, kept
Undrawn, have in the slept.
But Fate shall not by be broke,
Nor foil'd by feint; the Secret learn'd
Against the by that master turn'd
Who to himself the master-stroke.
Witness this Age,
Thrice crown'd as Sire, and Sovereign, and Sage,
Down to the very dishonour'd by
The very means he to defy
The irresistible. And shall not I,
Till now the that wrought
The Fate has with my father fought,
Now the mouth-piece of its victory
Oh, shall not I, the champions' down,
Be yet more to wear the teacher's gown,
And, at the part I had to play,
Down where that honour'd I was to lay
By this more just of my own,
The Fate has on me atone?
KING.
Oh, Segismund, in I see indeed,
Out of the of my self-extinction
A self revive; if not beneath
Your feet, your bow'd,
The Sovereignty of Poland I resign,
With this its symbol; which if thus
Saved with its inviolate,
Shall be to decline;
But when the that it on now
Falls honour'd by the very that must,
As all mortal, it in the dust,
Shall star-like shift to his successor's brow.
(Shouts, trumpets, etc. God save King Segismund!)
SEG.
For what remains—
As for my own, so for my people's peace,
Astolfo's and Estrella's hands
I disunite, and taking hers to mine,
His to one yet more his resign.
(Shouts, etc. God save Estrella, Queen of Poland!)
SEG (to Clotaldo).
You
That with to your King,
Till by the Power,
Have your Prince a in the tower,
Henceforth as him on the throne
No less my people's than my own.
You upon me all, to hear
The word of from such lips
As yet seem'd to such discourse.
But listen—In that same tower,
Not long ago I learn'd it from a dream
Expounded by this here;
And which he told me, should it come again,
How I should myself it; not
As then with angry all on fire,
Arguing and making a distemper'd soul;
But ev'n with justice, mercy, self-control,
As if the I walk'd in were no dream,
And one day to account for it.
A it was in which I myself,
And you that hail'd me now then hail'd me King,
In a that was all my own,
Within, and all without it, mine; until,
Drunk with of and pride,
Methought I tower'd so high and swell'd so wide,
That of myself I the bubble,
That my had about me blown,
And all again was darkness. Such a dream
As this in which I may be walking now;
Dispensing to you shadows,
Who make to listen; but anon,
With all your arms and equipage,
King, princes, captains, warriors, and steel,
Ay, ev'n with all your theatre,
May into the air you to rend
With acclamation, me to wake
In the dark tower; or that I wake
From this that is; or this and that
Both or dreaming; such a doubt
Confounds and clouds our life about.
And, wake or dreaming, this I know,
How dream-wise come and go;
Whose not to break,
Walking as one who he soon may wake,
So the full cup, so well
Disorder'd and quell,
That there be nothing after to upbraid
Dreamer or in the part he play'd,
Whether To-morrow's shall the spell,
Or the Last Trumpet of the Day,
When Dreaming with the Night shall pass away.
(Exeunt.)
