Samuel Coleridge - The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

How when I went to court seven years ago,

To see about new horses for our regiment, 90

How from one antechamber to another

They 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 95

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 100

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 obtain in thirty at Vienna. 105

Questenberg. 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. 110

If we should wait till you, in solemn council,

With due deliberation had selected

The smallest out of four-and-twenty evils,

I’faith, we should wait long. —

‘Dash! and through with it!’ — That’s the better watchword. 115

Then after come what may come. ‘Tis man’s nature

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.

Questenberg. Ay, doubtless, it is true: the Duke does spare us 120

The troublesome task of choosing.

Butler. Yes, the Duke

Cares with a father’s feelings for his troops;

But how the Emperor feels for us, we see.

Questenberg. His cares and feelings all ranks share alike,

Nor will he offer one up to another. 125

Isolani. 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.

Questenberg. Count, this comparison you make, not I.

Butler. Why, were we all the Court supposes us, 130

‘Twere dangerous, sure, to give us liberty.

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

And therefore it becomes an urgent duty

To rein it in with curbs.

Octavio. My noble friend,

This is no more than a remembrancing 135

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 BUTLER. 140

Which 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 the whole garrison. [Military music at a distance. 145

Hah! here they come!

Illo. The sentries are saluting them: this signal

Announces the arrival of the Duchess.

Octavio. Then my son Max too has returned. ‘Twas he

Fetched and attended them from Carnthen hither. 150

Isolani (to Illo). Shall we not go in company to greet them?

Illo. Well, let us go. — Ho! Colonel Butler, come.

[To OCTAVIO.

You’ll not forget, that yet ere noon we meet

The noble Envoy at the General’s palace.

[Exeunt all but QUESTENBERG and OCTAVIO.

Table of Contents

QUESTENBERG and OCTAVIO.

Questenberg. What have I not been forced to hear, Octavio!

What sentiments! what fierce, uncurbed defiance!

And were this spirit universal —

Octavio. Hm!

You are now acquainted with three-fourths of the army.

Questenberg. Where must we seek then for a second host 5

To have the custody of this? That Illo

Thinks worse, I fear me, than he speaks. And then

This Butler too — he cannot even conceal

The passionate workings of his ill intentions.

Octavio. Quickness of temper — irritated pride; 10

‘Twas nothing more. I cannot give up Butler.

I know a spell that will soon dispossess

The evil spirit in him.

Questenberg. Friend, friend!

O! this is worse, far worse, than we had suffered

Ourselves to dream of at Vienna. There 15

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. 20

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.

Octavio. Now you see yourself

Of what a perilous kind the office is, 25

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.

Questenberg. Where was our reason sleeping when we trusted 30

This madman with the sword, and placed such power

In such a hand? I tell you, he’ll refuse,

Flatly refuse, to obey the Imperial orders.

Friend, he can do ‘t, and what he can, he will.

And then the impunity of his defiance — 35

O! what a proclamation of our weakness!

Octavio. 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 40

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!

Questenberg. How shall we hold footing

Beneath this tempest, which collects itself 45

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 every hour!

In our interior the alarum-bells 50

Of insurrection — peasantry in arms ——

All orders discontented — and the army,

Just in the moment of our expectation

Of aidance from it — lo! this very army

Seduced, run wild, lost to all discipline, 55

Loosened, and rent asunder from the state

And from their sovereign, the blind instrument

Of the most daring of mankind, a weapon

Of fearful power, which at his will he wields!

Octavio. Nay, nay, friend! let us not despair too soon, 60

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 65

The true name of his crime! Remember, too,

We stand not yet so wholly unprotected.

Counts Altringer and Galas have maintained

Their little army faithful to its duty,

And daily it becomes more numerous. 70

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.

Questenberg. ‘Tis quite 75

Incomprehensible, that he detects not

The foe so near!

Octavio. Beware, you do not think,

That I by lying arts, and complaisant

Hypocrisy, have skulked into his graces:

Or with the sustenance of smooth professions 80

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