The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Illustrated Edition). Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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More disgraceful
—— Dismission.
Wallenstein. Talk they?
O! they force, they thrust me
With violence, against my own will, onward! 75
Duchess. O! if there yet be time, my husband! if
By giving way and by submission, this
Can be averted — my dear lord, give way!
Win down your proud heart to it! Tell that heart
It is your sovereign lord, your Emperor 80
Before whom you retreat. O let no longer
Low tricking malice blacken your good meaning
With abhorred venomous glosses. Stand you up
Shielded and helm’d and weapon’d with the truth,
And drive before you into uttermost shame 85
These slanderous liars! Few firm friends have we —
You know it! — The swift growth of our good fortune
It hath but set us up, a mark for hatred.
What are we, if the sovereign’s grace and favour
Stand not before us? 90
[After 17] [The DUCHESS casts her eyes on the ground and remains
silent. 1800, 1828, 1829.
pause). 1800, 1828, 1829. did 1800, 1828, 1829.
1800, 1828, 1829.
And people … Ah! — [Stifling extreme emotion.
1800, 1828, 1829.
1800, 1828, 1829.
Wallenstein. Talk they? [Strides across the chamber in vehement
agitation.
1800, 1828, 1829.
[Before 76] Duchess (presses near to him, in entreaty). 1800, 1828,
1829.
SCENE VIII
Enter the COUNTESS TERTSKY, leading in her hand the PRINCESS THEKLA,
richly adorned with brilliants.
COUNTESS, THEKLA, WALLENSTEIN, DUCHESS.
Countess. How, sister? What already upon business,
And business of no pleasing kind I see,
Ere he has gladdened at his child. The first
Moment belongs to joy. Here, Friedland! father!
This is thy daughter. 5
(THEKLA approaches with a shy and timid air, and bends
herself as about to kiss his hand. He receives her
in his arms, and remains standing for some time
lost in the feeling of her presence.)
Wallenstein. Yes! pure and lovely hath hope risen on me:
I take her as the pledge of greater fortune.
Duchess. ‘Twas but a little child when you departed
To raise up that great army for the Emperor:
And after, at the close of the campaign, 10
When you returned home out of Pomerania,
Your daughter was already in the convent,
Wherein she has remain’d till now.
Wallenstein. The while
We in the field here gave our cares and toils
To make her great, and fight her a free way 15
To the loftiest earthly good, lo! mother Nature
Within the peaceful silent convent walls
Has done her part, and out of her free grace
Hath she bestowed on the beloved child
The godlike; and now leads her thus adorned 20
To meet her splendid fortune, and my hope.
Duchess (to Thekla). Thou wouldst not have recognized thy father,
Wouldst thou, my child? She counted scarce eight years,
When last she saw your face.
Thekla. O yes, yes, mother!
At the first glance! — My father is not altered. 25
The form, that stands before me, falsifies
No feature of the image that hath lived
So long within me!
Wallenstein. The voice of my child!
[Then after a pause.
I was indignant at my destiny
That it denied me a man-child to be 30
Heir of my name and of my prosperous fortune,
And re-illume my soon extinguished being
In a proud line of princes.
I wronged my destiny. Here upon this head
So lovely in its maiden bloom will I 35
Let fall the garland of a life of war,
Nor deem it lost, if only I can wreath it
Transmitted to a regal ornament,
Around these beauteous brows.
[He clasps her in his arms as PICCOLOMINI enters.
[After 1] [Observing the countenance of the Duchess. 1800, 1828, 1829.
SCENE IX
Enter MAX PICCOLOMINI, and some time after COUNT TERTSKY, the others
remaining as before.
Countess. There comes the Paladin who protected us.
Wallenstein. Max! Welcome, ever welcome! Always wert thou
The morning star of my best joys!
Max. My General ——
Wallenstein. ‘Till now it was the Emperor who rewarded thee,
I but the instrument. This day thou hast bound 5
The father to thee, Max! the fortunate father,
And this debt Friedland’s self must pay.
Max. My prince!
You made no common hurry to transfer it.
I come with shame: yea, not without a pang!
For scarce have I arrived here, scarce delivered 10
The mother and the daughter to your arms,
But there is brought to me from your equerry
A splendid richly-plated hunting dress
So to remunerate me for my troubles ——
Yes, yes, remunerate me! Since a trouble 15
It must be, a mere office, not a favour
Which I leapt forward to receive, and which
I came already with full heart to thank you for.
No! ‘twas not so intended, that my business
Should be my highest best good fortune! 20
[TERTSKY enters, and delivers letters to the DUKE, which