Complete Works of Thomas Hardy (Illustrated) (1047 page)

MARIA LOUISA

Whether the rain comes in or not I must open the window.  Please

allow me. 
[She straightway opens it.]

EMPRESS
[groaning]

Yes—open or shut it—I don't care.  I am too ill to care for

anything! 
[The carriage jolts into a hole.]
  O woe!  To think that

I am driven away from my husband's home in such a miserable

conveyance, along such a road, and in such weather as this. 
[Peal

of thunder.]
  There are his guns!

MARIA LOUISA

No, my dear one.  It cannot be his guns.  They told us when we

started that he was only half-way from Ratisbon hither, so that he

must be nearly a hundred miles off as yet; and a large army cannot

move fast.

EMPRESS

He should never have been let come nearer than Ratisbon!  The victory

at Echmuhl was fatal for us.  O Echmuhl, Echmuhl!  I believe he will

overtake us before we get to Buda.

FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING

If so, your Majesty, shall we be claimed as prisoners and marched

to Paris?

EMPRESS

Undoubtedly.  But I shouldn't much care.  It would not be worse than

this.... I feel sodden all through me, and frowzy, and broken!

[She closes her eyes as if to doze.]

MARIA LOUISA

It is dreadful to see her suffer so! 
[Shutting the window.]
  If

the roads were not so bad I should not mind.  I almost wish we had

stayed; though when he arrives the cannonade will be terrible.

FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING

I wonder if he will get into Vienna.  Will his men knock down all

the houses, madam?

MARIA LOUISA

If he do get in, I am sure his triumph will not be for long.  My

uncle the Archduke Charles is at his heels!  I have been told many

important prophecies about Bonaparte's end, which is fast nearing,

it is asserted.  It is he, they say, who is referred to in the

Apocalypse.  He is doomed to die this year at Cologne, in an inn

called "The Red Crab."  I don't attach too much importance to all

these predictions, but O, how glad I should be to see them come true!

SECOND LADY-IN-WAITING

So should we all, madam.  What would become of his divorce-scheme

then?

MARIA LOUISA

Perhaps there is nothing in that report.  One can hardly believe

such gossip.

SECOND LADY-IN-WAITING

But they say, your Imperial Highness, that he certainly has decided

to sacrifice the Empress Josephine, and that at the meeting last

October with the Emperor Alexander at Erfurt, it was even settled

that he should marry as his second wife the Grand-Duchess Anne.

MARIA LOUISA

I am sure that the Empress her mother will never allow one of the

house of Romanoff to marry with a bourgeois Corsican.  I wouldn't

if I were she!

FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING

Perhaps, your Highness, they are not so particular in Russia, where

they are rather new themselves, as we in Austria, with your ancient

dynasty, are in such matters.

MARIA LOUISA

Perhaps not.  Though the Empress-mother is a pompous old thing, as

I have been told by Prince Schwarzenberg, who was negotiating there

last winter.  My father says it would be a dreadful misfortune for

our country if they were to marry.  Though if we are to be exiled

I don't see how anything of that sort can matter much.... I hope

my father is safe!

[An officer of the escort rides up to the carriage window, which

is opened.]

EMPRESS
[unclosing her eyes]

Any more misfortunes?

OFFICER

A rumour is a-wind, your Majesty,

That the French host, the Emperor in its midst,

Lannes, Massena, and Bessieres in its van,

Advancing hither along the Ratisbon road,

Has seized the castle and town of Ebersberg,

And burnt all down, with frightful massacre,

Vast heaps of dead and wounded being consumed,

So that the streets stink strong with frizzled flesh.—

The enemy, ere this, has crossed the Traun,

Hurling brave Hiller's army back on us,

And marches on Amstetten—thirty miles

Less distant from Vienna from before!

EMPRESS

The Lord show mercy to us!  But O why

Did not the Archdukes intercept the foe?

OFFICER

His Highness Archduke Charles, your Majesty,

After his sore repulse Bohemia-wards,

Could not proceed with strength and speed enough

To close in junction with the Archduke John

And Archduke Louis, as was their intent.

So Marshall Lannes swings swiftly on Vienna,

With Oudinot's and Demont's might of foot;

Then Massena and all his mounted men,

And then Napoleon, Guards, Cuirassiers,

And the main body of the Imperial Force.

EMPRESS

Alas for poor Vienna!

OFFICER

     Even so!

Your Majesty has fled it none too soon.

[The window is shut, and the procession disappears behind the

sheets of rain.]

SCENE II

THE ISLAND OF LOBAU, WITH WAGRAM BEYOND

[The northern horizon at the back of the bird's-eye prospect is

the high ground stretching from the Bisamberg on the left to the

plateau of Wagram on the right.  In front of these elevations

spreads the wide plain of the Marchfeld, open, treeless, and with

scarcely a house upon it.

In the foreground the Danube crosses the scene with a graceful

slowness, looping itself round the numerous wooded islands therein.

The largest of these, immediately under the eye, is the Lobau,

which stands like a knot in the gnarled grain represented by the

running river.

On this island can be discerned, closely packed, an enormous dark

multitude of foot, horse, and artillery in French uniforms, the

numbers reaching to a hundred and seventy thousand.

Lifting our eyes to discover what may be opposed to them we

perceive on the Wagram plateau aforesaid, and right and left in

front of it, extended lines of Austrians, whitish and glittering,

to the number of a hundred and forty thousand.

The July afternoon turns to evening, the evening to twilight.

A species of simmer which pervades the living spectacle raises

expectation till the very air itself seems strained with suspense.

A huge event of some kind is awaiting birth.]

DUMB SHOW

The first change under the cloak of night is that the tightly packed

regiments on the island are got under arms.  The soldiery are like

a thicket of reeds in which every reed should be a man.

A large bridge connects the island with the further shore, as well

as some smaller bridges.  Opposite are high redoubts and ravelins

that the Austrians have constructed for opposing the passage across,

which the French ostentatiously set themselves to attempt by the

large bridge, amid heavy cannonading.

But the movement is a feint, though this is not perceived by the

Austrians as yet.  The real movement is on the right hand of the

foreground, behind a spur of the isle, and out of sight of the

enemy; where several large rafts and flat boats, each capable of

carrying three hundred men, are floated out from a screened creek.

Chosen battalions enter upon these, which immediately begin to cross

with their burden.  Simultaneously from other screened nooks

secretly prepared floating bridges, in sections, are moved forth,

joined together, and defended by those who crossed on the rafts.

At two o'clock in the morning the thousands of cooped soldiers begin

to cross the bridges, producing a scene which, on such a scale, was

never before witnessed in the history of war.  A great discharge

from the batteries accompanies this manoeuvre, arousing the Austrians

to a like cannonade.

The night has been obscure for summer-time, and there is no moon.

The storm now breaks in a tempestuous downpour, with lightning and

thunder.  The tumult of nature mingles so fantastically with the

tumult of projectiles that flaming bombs and forked flashes cut the

air in company, and the noise from the mortars alternates with the

noise from the clouds.

From bridge to bridge and back again a gloomy-eyed figure stalks, as

it has stalked the whole night long, with the restlessness of a wild

animal.  Plastered with mud, and dribbling with rain-water, it bears

no resemblance to anything dignified or official.  The figure is that

of NAPOLEON, urging his multitudes over.

By daylight the great mass of the men is across the water.  At

six the rain ceases, the mist uncovers the face of the sun, which

bristles on the helmets and bayonets of the French.  A hum of

amazement rises from the Austrian hosts, who turn staring faces

southward and perceive what has happened, and the columns of

their enemies standing to arms on the same side of the stream

with themselves, and preparing to turn their left wing.

NAPOLEON rides along the front of his forces, which now spread out

upon the plain, and are ranged in order of battle.

Dumb Show ends, and the point of view changes.

SCENE III

THE FIELD OF WAGRAM

[The battlefield is now viewed reversely, from the windows of a

mansion at Wolkersdorf, to the rear of the Austrian position.

The aspect of the windows is nearly south, and the prospect includes

the plain of the Marchfeld, with the isled Danube and Lobau in the

extreme distance.  Ten miles to the south-west, rightwards, the

faint summit of the tower of St. Stephen's, Vienna, appears.  On

the middle-left stands the compact plateau of Wagram, so regularly

shaped as to seem as if constructed by art.  On the extreme left

the July sun has lately risen.

Inside the room are discovered the EMPEROR FRANCIS and some house-

hold officers in attendance; with the War-Minister and Secretaries

at a table at the back.  Through open doors can be seen in an outer

apartment adjutants, equerries, aides, and other military men.  An

officer in waiting enters.]

OFFICER

During the night the French have shifted, sire,

And much revised their stations of the eve

By thwart and wheeling moves upon our left,

And on our centre—projects unforeseen

Till near accomplished.

FRANCIS

     But I am advised

By oral message that the Archduke Charles,

Since the sharp strife last night, has mended, too,

His earlier dispositions, and has sped

Strong orders to the Archduke John, to bring

In swiftest marches all the force he holds,

And fall with heavy impact on the French

From nigh their rear?

OFFICER

     'Tis good, sire; such a swoop

Will raise an obstacle to their retreat

And refuge in the fastness of the isle;

And show this victory-gorged adventurer

That striking with a river in his rear

Is not the safest tactic to be played

Against an Austrian front equipt like ours!

[The EMPEROR FRANCIS and others scrutinize through their glasses

the positions and movements of the Austrian divisions, which appear

on the plain as pale masses, emitting flashes from arms and helmets

under the July rays, and reaching from the Tower of Neusiedel on

the left, past Wagram, into the village of Stammersdorf on the

right.  Beyond their lines are spread out the darker-hued French,

almost parallel to the Austrians.]

FRANCIS

Those moving masses toward the right I deem

The forces of Klenau and Kollowrath,

Sent to support Prince John of Lichtenstein

I his attack that way?

[An interval.]

     Now that they've gained

The right there, why is not the attack begun?

OFFICER

They are beginning on the left wing, sire.

[The EMPEROR resumes his glass and beholds bodies of men descending

from the hills by Neusiedel, and crossing the Russbach river towards

the French—a movement which has been going on for some time.]

FRANCIS
[turning thither]

Where we are weakest!  It surpasses me

To understand why was our centre thinned

To pillar up our right already strong,

Where nought is doing, while our left assault

Stands ill-supported?

[Time passes in silence.]

     Yes, it is so.  See,

The enemy strikes Rossenberg in flank,

Compelling him to fall behind the Russbach!

[The EMPEROR gets excited, and his face perspires.  At length he