Samuel Coleridge - The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Stand back, my lord! Lead us, or let us pass.

Soldier. Nay, let the general speak!

Soldiers. Hear him! hear him!

Raab Kiuprili. Hear

me, 200

Assembled lords and warriors of Illyria,

Hear, and avenge me! Twice ten years have I

Stood in your presence, honoured by the king:

Beloved and trusted. Is there one among you

Accuses Raab Kiuprili of a bribe? 205

Or one false whisper in his sovereign’s ear?

Who here dares charge me with an orphan’s rights

Outfaced, or widow’s plea left undefended?

And shall I now be branded by a traitor,

A bought, bribed wretch, who, being called my son, 210

Doth libel a chaste matron’s name, and plant

Hensbane and aconite on a mother’s grave?

The underling accomplice of a robber,

That from a widow and a widow’s offspring

Would steal their heritage? To God a rebel, 215

And to the common father of his country

A recreant ingrate!

Casimir. Sire! your words grow dangerous.

High-flown romantic fancies ill-beseem

Your age and wisdom. ‘Tis a statesman’s virtue,

To guard his country’s safety by what means 220

It best may be protected — come what will

Of these monk’s morals!

Raab Kiuprili (aside). Ha! the elder Brutus

Made his soul iron, though his sons repented.

They boasted not their baseness. [Draws his sword.

Infamous changeling!

Recant this instant, and swear loyalty, 225

And strict obedience to thy sovereign’s will;

Or, by the spirit of departed Andreas,

Thou diest ——

[Chiefs, &c., rush to interpose; during the tumult

enter EMERICK, alarmed.

Emerick. Call out the guard! Ragozzi! seize the assassin. ——

Kiuprili? Ha! —— [Making signs to the guard to retire.

Pass on, friends! to the palace. 230

[Music recommences. — The Procession passes into the

Palace.

Emerick. What? Raab Kiuprili? What? a father’s sword

Against his own son’s breast?

Raab Kiuprili. ‘Twould best excuse him,

Were he thy son, Prince Emerick. I abjure him.

Emerick. This is my thanks, then, that I have commenced

A reign to which the free voice of the nobles 235

Hath called me, and the people, by regards

Of love and grace to Raab Kiuprili’s house?

Raab Kiuprili. What right hadst thou, Prince Emerick, to bestow

them?

Emerick. By what right dares Kiuprili question me?

Raab Kiuprili. By a right common to all loyal subjects — 240

To me a duty! As the realm’s co-regent,

Appointed by our sovereign’s last free act,

Writ by himself. — [Grasping the Patent.

Emerick. Aye! — Writ in a delirium!

Raab Kiuprili. I likewise ask, by whose authority

The access to the sovereign was refused me? 245

Emerick. By whose authority dared the general leave

His camp and army, like a fugitive?

Raab Kiuprili. A fugitive, who, with victory for his comrade,

Ran, open-eyed, upon the face of death!

A fugitive, with no other fear, than bodements 250

To be belated in a loyal purpose —

At the command, Prince! of my king and thine,

Hither I came; and now again require

Audience of Queen Zapolya; and (the States

Forthwith convened) that thou dost shew at large, 255

On what ground of defect thou’st dared annul

This thy King’s last and solemn act — hast dared

Ascend the throne, of which the law had named,

And conscience should have made thee, a protector.

Emerick. A sovereign’s ear ill brooks a subject’s questioning! 260

Yet for thy past well-doing — and because

‘Tis hard to erase at once the fond belief

Long cherished, that Illyria had in thee

No dreaming priest’s slave, but a Roman lover

Of her true weal and freedom — and for this, too, 265

That, hoping to call forth to the broad daylight

And fostering breeze of glory all deservings,

I still had placed thee foremost.

Raab Kiuprili. Prince! I listen.

Emerick. Unwillingly I tell thee, that Zapolya,

Maddened with grief, her erring hopes proved idle — 270

Casimir. Sire! speak the whole truth! Say, her fraud detected!

Emerick. According to the sworn attests in council

Of her physician ——

Raab Kiuprili (aside). Yes! the Jew, Barzoni!

Emerick. Under the imminent risk of death she lies,

Or irrecoverable loss of reason, 275

If known friend’s face or voice renew the frenzy.

Casimir (to Kiuprili). Trust me, my lord! a woman’s trick has

duped you —

Us too — but most of all, the sainted Andreas.

Even for his own fair fame, his grace prays hourly

For her recovery, that (the States convened) 280

She may take counsel of her friends.

Emerick. Right, Casimir!

Receive my pledge, lord general. It shall stand

In her own will to appear and voice her claims;

Or (which in truth I hold the wiser course)

With all the past passed by, as family quarrels, 285

Let the Queen Dowager, with unblenched honours,

Resume her state, our first Illyrian matron.

Raab Kiuprili. Prince Emerick! you speak fairly, and your pledge

too

Is such, as well would suit an honest meaning.

Casimir. My lord! you scarce know half his grace’s goodness. 290

The wealthy heiress, high-born fair Sarolta,

Bred in the convent of our noble ladies,

Her relative, the venerable abbess,

Hath, at his grace’s urgence, wooed and won for me.

Emerick. Long may the race, and long may that name flourish, 295

Which your heroic deeds, brave chief, have rendered

Dear and illustrious to all true Illyrians.

Raab Kiuprili. The longest line that ever tracing herald

Or found or feigned, placed by a beggar’s soul

Hath but a mushroom’s date in the comparison: 300

And with the soul, the conscience is coeval,

Yea, the soul’s essence.

Emerick. Conscience, good my lord,

Is but the pulse of reason. Is it conscience,

That a free nation should be handed down,

Like the dull clods beneath our feet, by chance 305

And the blind law of lineage? That whether infant,

Or man matured, a wise man or an idiot,

Hero or natural coward, shall have guidance

Of a free people’s destiny, should fall out

In the mere lottery of a reckless nature, 310

Where few the prizes and the blanks are countless?

Or haply that a nation’s fate should hang

On the bald accident of a midwife’s handling

The unclosed sutures of an infant’s skull?

Casimir. What better claim can sovereign wish or need 315

Than the free voice of men who love their country?

Those chiefly who have fought for’t? Who by right,

Claim for their monarch one, who having obeyed,

So hath best learnt to govern; who, having suffered,

Can feel for each brave sufferer and reward him? 320

Whence sprang the name of Emperor? Was it not

By Nature’s fiat? In the storm of triumph,

‘Mid warriors’ shouts, did her oracular voice

Make itself heard: Let the commanding spirit

Possess the station of command!

Raab Kiuprili. Prince Emerick, 325

Your cause will prosper best in your own pleading.

Emerick (aside to Casimir). Ragozzi was thy school-mate — a bold

spirit!

Bind him to us! — Thy father thaws apace! [Then aloud.

Leave us awhile, my lord! — Your friend, Ragozzi,

Whom you have not yet seen since his return, 330

Commands the guard to-day.

[CASIMIR retires to the Guard-house; and after a time

appears before it with CHEF RAGOZZI.

We are alone.

What further pledge or proof desires Kiuprili?