Complete Works of Thomas Hardy (Illustrated) (1059 page)

The next is to be one of those foreign things in three-eight time

they call Waltzes.  I question if anybody is up to dancing 'em here

yet.

["Speed the Plough" is danced to its conclusion, and the band

strikes up "The Copenhagen Waltz."]

SPIRIT IRONIC

Now for the wives.  They both were tearing hither,

Unless reflection sped them back again;

But dignity that nothing else may bend

Succumbs to woman's curiosity,

So deem them here.  Messengers, call them nigh!

[The PRINCE REGENT, having gone the round of the other rooms, now

appears at the ball-room door, and stands looking at the dancers.

Suddenly he turns, and gazes about with a ruffled face.  He sees

a tall, red-faced man near him—LORD MOIRA, one of his friends.]

PRINCE REGENT

Damned hot here, Moira.  Hottest of all for me!

MOIRA

Yes, it is warm, sir.  Hence I do not dance.

PRINCE REGENT

H'm.  What I meant was of another order;

I spoke figuratively.

MOIRA

O indeed, sir?

PRINCE REGENT

She's here.  I heard her voice.  I'll swear I did!

MOIRA

Who, sir?

PRINCE REGENT

Why, the Princess of Wales.  Do you think I could mistake those

beastly German Ps and Bs of hers?—She asked to come, and was

denied; but she's got here, I'll wager ye, through the chair-door

in Warwick Street, which I arranged for a few ladies whom I wished

to come privately. 
[He looks about again, and moves till he is by

a door which affords a peep up the grand staircase.]
  By God, Moira,

I see TWO figures up there who shouldn't be here—leaning over the

balustrade of the gallery!

MOIRA

Two figures, sir.  Whose are they?

PRINCE REGENT

She is one.  The Fitzherbert in t'other!  O I am almost sure it is!

I would have welcomed her, but she bridled and said she wouldn't sit

down at my table as a plain "Mrs." to please anybody.  As I had sworn

that on this occasion people should sit strictly according to their

rank, I wouldn't give way.  Why the devil did she come like this?

'Pon my soul, these women will be the death o' me!

MOIRA
[looking cautiously up the stairs]

I can see nothing of her, sir, nor of the Princess either.  There is

a crowd of idlers up there leaning over the bannisters, and you may

have mistaken some others for them.

PRINCE REGENT

O no.  They have drawn back their heads.  There have been such damned

mistakes made in sending out the cards that the biggest w—- in London

might be here.  She's watching Lady Hertford, that's what she's doing.

For all their indifference, both of them are as jealous as two cats

over the tom.

[Somebody whispers that a lady has fainted up-stairs.]

That's Maria, I'll swear!  She's always doing it. Whenever I hear

of some lady fainting about upon the furniture at my presence, and

sending for a glass of water, I say to myself, There's Maria at it

again, by God!

SPIRIT IRONIC

Now let him hear their voices once again.

[The REGENT starts as he seems to hear from the stairs the tongues

of the two ladies growing louder and nearer, the PRINCESS pouring

reproaches into one ear, and MRS. FITZHERBERT into the other.]

PRINCE REGENT

'Od seize 'em, Moira; this will drive me mad!

If men of blood must mate with only one

Of those dear damned deluders called the Sex,

Why has Heaven teased us with the taste for change?—

God, I begin to loathe the whole curst show!

How hot it is!  Get me a glass of brandy,

Or I shall swoon off too.  Now let's go out,

And find some fresher air upon the lawn.

[Exit the PRINCE REGENT, with LORDS MOIRA and YARMOUTH.  The band

strikes up "La Belle Catarina" and a new figure is formed.]

SPIRIT OF THE YEARS

Phantoms, ye strain your powers unduly here,

Making faint fancies as they were indeed

The Mighty Will's firm work.

SPIRIT IRONIC

          Nay, Father, nay;

The wives prepared to hasten hitherward

Under the names of some gone down to death,

Who yet were bidden.  Must they not by here?

SPIRIT OF THE YEARS

There lie long leagues between a woman's word—

"She will, indeed she will!"—and acting on't.

Whether those came or no, thy antics cease,

And let the revel wear it out in peace.

[Enter SPENCER PERCEVAL the Prime Minister, a small, pale, grave-

looking man, and an Under-Secretary of State, meeting.]

UNDER-SECRETARY

Is the King of Rome really dead, and the gorgeous gold cradle wasted?

PERCEVAL

O no, he is alive and waxing strong:

That tale has been set travelling more than once.

But touching it, booms echo to our ear

Of graver import, unimpeachable.

UNDER-SECRETARY

Your speech is dark.

PERCEVAL

     Well, a new war in Europe.

Before the year is out there may arise

A red campaign outscaling any seen.

Russia and France the parties to the strife—

Ay, to the death!

UNDER-SECRETARY

By Heaven, sir, do you say so?

[Enter CASTLEREAGH, a tall, handsome man with a Roman nose, who,

seeing them, approaches.]

PERCEVAL

Ha, Castlereagh.  Till now I have missed you here.

This news is startling for us all, I say!

CASTLEREAGH

My mind is blank on it!  Since I left office

I know no more what villainy's afoot,

Or virtue either, than an anchoret

Who mortifies the flesh in some lone cave.

PERCEVAL

Well, happily that may not last for long.

But this grave pother that's just now agog

May reach such radius in its consequence

As to outspan our lives!  Yes, Bonaparte

And Alexander—late such bosom-friends—

Are closing to a mutual murder-bout

At which the lips of Europe will wax wan.

Bonaparte says the fault is not with him,

And so says Alexander.  But we know

The Austrian knot began their severance,

And that the Polish question largens it.

Nothing but time is needed for the clash.

And if so be that Wellington but keep

His foot in the Peninsula awhile,

Between the pestle and the mortar-stone

Of Russia and of Spain, Napoleon's brayed.

SPIRIT OF RUMOUR
[to the Spirit of the Years]

Permit me now to join them and confirm,

By what I bring from far, their forecasting?

SPIRIT OF THE YEARS

I'll go.  Thou knowest not greatly more than they.

[The SPIRIT OF THE YEARS enters the apartment in the shape of a

pale, hollow-eye gentleman wearing an embroidered suit. At the

same time re-enter the REGENT, LORDS MOIRA, YARMOUTH, KEITH, LADY

HERTFORD, SHERIDAN, the DUKE OF BEDFORD, with many more notables.

The band changes into the popular dance, "Down with the French,"

and the characters aforesaid look on at the dancers.]

SPIRIT OF THE YEARS
[to Perceval]

Yes, sir; your text is true.  In closest touch

With European courts and cabinets,

The imminence of dire and deadly war

Betwixt these east and western emperies

Is lipped by special pathways to mine ear.

You may not see the impact: ere it come

The tomb-worm may caress thee
[Perceval shrinks]
; but believe

Before five more have joined the shotten years

Whose useless films infest the foggy Past,

Traced thick with teachings glimpsed unheedingly,

The rawest Dynast of the group concerned

Will, for the good or ill of mute mankind,

Down-topple to the dust like soldier Saul,

And Europe's mouldy-minded oligarchs

Be propped anew; while garments roll in blood

To confused noise, with burning, and fuel of fire.

Nations shall lose their noblest in the strife,

And tremble at the tidings of an hour!

[He passes into the crowd and vanishes.]

PRINCE REGENT
[who has heard with parted lips]

Who the devil is he?

PERCEVAL

One in the suite of the French princes, perhaps, sir?—though his

tone was not monarchical.  He seems to be a foreigner.

CASTLEREAGH

His manner was that of an old prophet, and his features had a Jewish

cast, which accounted for his Hebraic style.

PRINCE REGENT

He could not have known me, to speak so freely in my presence!

SHERIDAN

I expected to see him write on the wall, like the gentleman with the

Hand at Belshazzar's Feast.

PRINCE REGENT
[recovering]

He seemed to know a damn sight more about what's going on in Europe,

sir
[to Perceval]
, than your Government does, with all its secret

information.

PERCEVAL

He is recently over, I conjecture, your royal Highness, and brings

the latest impressions.

PRINCE REGENT

By Gad, sir, I shall have a comfortable time of it in my regency, or

reign, if what he foresees be true!  But I was born for war; it is

my destiny!

[He draws himself up inside his uniform and stalks away.  The group

dissolves, the band continuing stridently, "Down with the French,"

as dawn glimmers in. Soon the REGENT'S guests begin severally and

in groups to take leave.]

SPIRIT OF THE PITIES

Behold To-morrow riddles the curtains through,

And labouring life without shoulders its cross anew!

CHORUS OF THE YEARS
[aerial music]

Why watch we here?  Look all around

Where Europe spreads her crinkled ground,

From Osmanlee to Hekla's mound,

          Look all around!

Hark at the cloud-combed Ural pines;

See how each, wailful-wise, inclines;

Mark the mist's labyrinthine lines;

Behold the tumbling Biscay Bay;

The Midland main in silent sway;

As urged to move them, so move they.

No less through regal puppet-shows

The rapt Determinator throes,

That neither good nor evil knows!

SPIRIT OF THE PITIES

Yet I may wake and understand

Ere Earth unshape, know all things, and

With knowledge use a painless hand,

             A painless hand!

[Solitude reigns in the chambers, and the scene shuts up.]

PART THIRD

CHARACTERS

I. PHANTOM INTELLIGENCES

THE ANCIENT SPIRIT OF THE YEARS/CHORUS OF THE YEARS.

THE SPIRIT OF THE PITIES/CHORUS OF THE PITIES.

SPIRITS SINISTER AND IRONIC/CHORUSES OF SINISTER AND IRONIC SPIRITS.

THE SPIRIT OF RUMOUR/CHORUS OF RUMOURS.

THE SHADE OF THE EARTH.

SPIRIT MESSENGERS.

RECORDING ANGELS.

II. PERSONS

MEN
[The names in lower case are mute figures.]

THE PRINCE REGENT.

The Royal Dukes.

THE DUKE OF RICHMOND.

The Duke of Beaufort.

CASTLEREAGH, Prime Minister.

Palmerston, War Secretary.

PONSONBY, of the Opposition.

BURDETT, of the Opposition.

WHITBREAD, of the Opposition.

Tierney, Romilly, of the Opposition

Other Members of Parliament.

TWO ATTACHES.

A DIPLOMATIST.

Ambassadors, Ministers, Peers, and other persons of Quality

and Office.

..........

WELLINGTON.

UXBRIDGE.

PICTON.

HILL.

CLINTON.

Colville.

COLE.

BERESFORD.

Pack and Kempt.

Byng.

Vivian.

W. Ponsonby, Vandeleur, Colquhoun-Grant, Maitland, Adam, and

 C. Halkett.

Graham, Le Marchant, Pakenham, and Sir Stapleton Cotton.

SIR W. DE LANCEY.

FITZROY SOMERSET.

COLONELS FRASER, H. HALKETT, COLBORNE, Cameron, Hepburn, LORD

 SALTOUN, C. Campbell.

SIR NEIL CAMPBELL.

Sir Alexander Gordon, BRIGDEMAN, TYLER, and other AIDES.

CAPTAIN MERCER.

Other Generals, Colonels, and Military Officers.

Couriers.

A SERGEANT OF DRAGOONS.

Another SERGEANT.

A SERGEANT of the 15th HUSSARS.

A SENTINEL.  Batmen.

AN OFFICER'S SERVANT.

Other non-Commissioned Officers and Privates of the British Army.

English Forces.

..........

SIR W. GELL, Chamberlain to the Princess of Wales.

MR. LEGH, a Wessex Gentleman.

Another GENTLEMAN.

THE VICAR OF DURNOVER.

Signor Tramezzini and other members of the Opera Company.

M. Rozier, a dancer.

LONDON CITIZENS.

A RUSTIC and a YEOMAN.

A MAIL-GUARD.

TOWNSPEOPLE, Musicians, Villagers, etc.

..........

THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK.

THE PRINCE OF ORANGE.

Count Alten.

Von Ompteda, Baring, Duplat, and other Officers of the King's-

 German Legion.

Perponcher, Best, Kielmansegge, Wincke, and other Hanoverian