Complete Works of Thomas Hardy (Illustrated) (1067 page)

SEMICHORUS II

     Men, women, and their children fly,

     And when the English over-high

Direct their death-bolts, on this billowy throng

     Alight the too far-ranging balls,

     Wringing out piteous shrieks and calls

From the pale mob, in monotones loud and long.

SEMICHORUS I

     To leftward of the distant din

     Reille meantime has been driven in

By Graham's measure overmastering might.—

     Henceforward, masses of the foe

     Withdraw, and, firing as they go,

Pass rightwise from the cockpit out of sight.

CHORUS

     The sunset slants an ochreous shine

     Upon the English knapsacked line,

     Whose glistering bayonets incline

As bends the hot pursuit across the plain;

     And tardily behind them goes

     Too many a mournful load of those

     Found wound-weak; while with stealthy crawl,

     As silence wraps the rear of all,

Cloaked creatures of the starlight strip the slain.

SCENE III

THE SAME.  THE ROAD FROM THE TOWN

[With the going down of the sun the English army finds itself in

complete possession of the mass of waggons and carriages distantly

beheld from the rear—laden with pictures, treasure, flour,

vegetables, furniture, finery, parrots, monkeys, and women—most

of the male sojourners in the town having taken to their heels

and disappeared across the fields.

The road is choked with these vehicles, the women they carry

including wives, mistresses, actresses, dancers, nuns, and

prostitutes, which struggle through droves of oxen, sheep, goats,

horses, asses, and mules— a Noah's-ark of living creatures in

one vast procession.

There enters rapidly in front of this throng a carriage containing

KING JOSEPH BONAPARTE and an attendant, followed by another vehicle

with luggage.]

JOSEPH
[inside carriage]

The bare unblinking truth hereon is this:

The Englishry are a pursuing army,

And we a flying brothel!  See our men—

They leave their guns to save their mistresses!

[The carriage is fired upon from outside the scene.  The KING leaps

from the vehicle and mounts a horse.

Enter at full gallop from the left CAPTAIN WYNDHAM and a detachment

of the Tenth Hussars in chase of the King's carriage; and from the

right a troop of French dragoons, who engage with the hussars and

hinder pursuit.  Exit KING JOSEPH on horseback; afterwards the

hussars and dragoons go out fighting.

The British infantry enter irregularly, led by a sergeant of the

Eighty-seventh, mockingly carrying MARSHAL JOURDAN'S baton.  The

crowd recedes.  The soldiers ransack the King's carriages, cut

from their frames canvases by Murillo, Velasquez, and Zurbaran,

and use them as package-wrappers, throwing the papers and archives

into the road.

They next go to a waggon in the background, which contains a large

chest.  Some of the soldiers burst it with a crash.  It is full of

money, which rolls into the road.  The soldiers begin scrambling,

but are restored to order; and they march on.

Enter more companies of infantry, out of control of their officers,

who are running behind.  They see the dollars, and take up the

scramble for them; next ransacking other waggons and abstracting

therefrom uniforms, ladies raiment, jewels, plate, wines, and

spirits.

Some array them in the finery, and one soldier puts on a diamond

necklace; others load themselves with the money still lying about

the road.  It begins to rain, and a private who has lost his kit

cuts a hole in the middle of a deframed old master, and, putting

it over his head, wears it as a poncho.

Enter WELLINGTON and others, grimy and perspiring.]

FIRST OFFICER

The men are plundering in all directions!

WELLINGTON

Let 'em.  They've striven long and gallantly.

—What documents do I see lying there?

SECOND OFFICER
[examining]

The archives of King Joseph's court, my lord;

His correspondence, too, with Bonaparte.

WELLINGTON

We must examine it.  It may have use.

[Another company of soldiers enters, dragging some equipages that

have lost their horses by the traces being cut.  The carriages

contain ladies, who shriek and weep at finding themselves captives.]

What women bring they there?

THIRD OFFICER

     Mixed sorts, my lord.

The wives of many young French officers,

The mistresses of more—in male attire.

Yon elegant hussar is one, to wit;

She so disguised is of a Spanish house,—

One of the general's loves.

WELLINGTON

     Well, pack them off

To-morrow to Pamplona, as you can;

We've neither list nor leisure for their charms.

By God, I never saw so many wh—-s

In all my life before!

[Exeunt WELLINGTON, officers, and infantry.  A soldier enters with

his arm round a lady in rich costume.]

SOLDIER

We must be married, my dear.

LADY
[not knowing his language]

Anything, sir, if you'll spare my life!

SOLDIER

There's neither parson nor clerk here.  But that don't matter—hey?

LADY

Anything, sir, if you'll spare my life!

SOLDIER

And if we've got to unmarry at cockcrow, why, so be it—hey?

LADY

Anything, sir, if you'll spare my life!

SOLDIER

A sensible 'ooman, whatever it is she says; that I can see by her

pretty face.  Come along then, my dear.  There'll be no bones broke,

and we'll take our lot with Christian resignation.

[Exeunt soldier and lady.  The crowd thins away as darkness closes

in, and the growling of artillery ceases, though the wheels of the

flying enemy are still heard in the distance.  The fires kindled

by the soldiers as they make their bivouacs blaze up in the gloom,

and throw their glares a long way, revealing on the slopes of the

hills many suffering ones who have not yet been carried in.

The last victorious regiment comes up from the rear, fifing and

drumming ere it reaches its resting-place the last bars of "The

Downfall of Paris":—

Transcriber's Note:  There follows in musical notation four bars

from that song in 2/4 time, key of C—

          \\E EF G F\E EF G F\E EC D DB\C \\

SCENE IV

A FETE AT VAUXHALL

[It is the Vitoria festival at Vauxhall.  The orchestra of the

renowned gardens exhibits a blaze of lamps and candles arranged

in the shape of a temple, a great artificial sun glowing at the

top, and under it in illuminated characters the words "Vitoria"

and "Wellington."  The band is playing the new air "The Plains

of Vitoria."

All round the colonnade of the rotunda are to be read in the

illumination the names of Peninsular victories, underneath them

figuring the names of British and Spanish generals who led at

those battles, surmounted by wreaths of laurel  The avenues

stretching away from the rotunda into the gardens charm the eyes

with their mild multitudinous lights, while festoons of lamps

hang from the trees elsewhere, and transparencies representing

scenes from the war.

The gardens and saloons are crowded, among those present being the

KING'S sons—the DUKES OF YORK, CLARENCE, KENT, and CAMBRIDGE—

Ambassadors, peers, and peeresses, and other persons of quality,

English and foreign.

In the immediate foreground on the left hand is an alcove, the

interior of which is in comparative obscurity.  Two foreign

attaches enter it and sit down.]

FIRST ATTACHE

Ah—now for the fireworks.  They are under the direction of Colonel

Congreve.

[At the end of an alley, purposely kept dark, fireworks are

discharged.]

SECOND ATTACHE

Very good: very good.—This looks like the Duke of Sussex coming in,

I think.  Who the lady is with him I don't know.

[Enter the DUKE OF SUSSEX in a Highland dress, attended by several

officers in like attire.  He walks about the gardens with LADY

CHARLOTTE CAMPBELL.]

FIRST ATTACHE

People have been paying a mighty price for tickets—as much as

fifteen guineas has been offered, I hear.  I had to walk up to the

gates; the number of coaches struggling outside prevented my driving

near.  It was as bad as the battle of Vitoria itself.

SECOND ATTACHE

So Wellington is made Field-Marshal for his achievement.

FIRST ATTACHE

Yes.  By the by, you have heard of the effect of the battle upon

the Conference at Reichenbach?—that Austria is to join Russia and

Prussia against France?  So much for Napoleon's marriage!  I wonder

what he thinks of his respected father-in-law now.

SECOND ATTACHE

Of course, an enormous subsidy is paid to Francis by Great Britain

for this face-about?

FIRST ATTACHE

Yes.  As Bonaparte says, English guineas are at the bottom of

everything!—Ah, here comes Caroline.

[The PRINCESS OF WALES arrives, attended by LADY ANNE HAMILTON

and LADY GLENBERVIE.  She is conducted forward by the DUKE OF

GLOUCESTER and COLONEL ST. LEDGER, and wears a white satin train

with a dark embroidered bodice, and a green wreath with diamonds.

Repeated hurrahs greet her from the crowd.  She bows courteously.]

SECOND ATTACHE

The people are staunch for her still!... You heard, sir, what

Austrian Francis said when he learnt of Vitoria?—"A warm climate

seems to agree with my son-in-law no better than a cold one."

FIRST ATTACHE

     Ha-ha-ha!

Marvellous it is how this loud victory

Has couched the late blind Europe's Cabinets.

Would I could spell precisely what was phrased

'Twixt Bonaparte and Metternich at Dresden—

Their final word, I ween, till God knows when!—

SECOND ATTACHE

I own to feeling it a sorry thing

That Francis should take English money down

To throw off Bonaparte.  'Tis sordid, mean!

He is his daughter's husband after all.

FIRST ATTACHE

Ay; yes!... They say she knows not of it yet.

SECOND ATTACHE

Poor thing, I daresay it will harry her

When all's revealed.  But the inside o't is,

Since Castlereagh's return to power last year

Vienna, like Berlin and Petersburg,

Has harboured England's secret emissaries,

Primed, purse in hand, with the most lavish sums

To knit the league to drag Napoleon down....

[More fireworks.]
  That's grand.—Here comes one Royal item more.

[The DUCHESS OF YORK enters, attended by her ladies and by the

HON. B. CRAVEN and COLONEL BARCLAY.  She is received with signals

of respect.]

FIRST ATTACHE

She calls not favour forth as Caroline can!

SECOND ATTACHE

To end my words:—Though happy for this realm,

Austria's desertion frankly is, by God,

Rank treachery!

FIRST ATTACHE

     Whatever it is, it means

Two hundred thousand swords for the Allies,

And enemies in batches for Napoleon

Leaping from unknown lairs.—Yes, something tells me

That this is the beginning of the end

For Emperor Bonaparte!

[The PRINCESS OF WALES prepares to leave.  An English diplomatist

joins the attaches in the alcove.  The PRINCESS and her ladies go

out.]

DIPLOMATIST

I saw you over here, and I came round.  Cursed hot and crowded, isn't

it?

SECOND ATTACHE

What is the Princess leaving so soon for?

DIPLOMATIST

Oh, she has not been received in the Royal box by the other members

of the Royal Family, and it has offended her, though she was told

beforehand that she could not be.  Poor devil!  Nobody invited her

here.  She came unasked, and she has gone unserved.

FIRST ATTACHE

We shall have to go unserved likewise, I fancy.  The scramble at the