_Sieg._ (_starts_). Ah!-- Where? on _what_ frontier?
_Rod._ The Silesian, on My way--(_Aside to_ ULRIC.)--_Where_ shall I say?
_Ulr._ (_aside to_ RODOLPH). To Hamburgh.
(_Aside to himself_). That Word will, I think, put a firm padlock on His further inquisition.
_Rod._ Count, to Hamburgh.
_Sieg._ (_agitated_). Hamburgh! No, I have nought to do there, nor Am aught connected with that city. Then G.o.d speed you!
_Rod._ Fare ye well, Count Siegendorf!
[_Exit_ RODOLPH.
_Sieg._ Ulric, this man, who has just departed, is 290 One of those strange companions whom I fain Would reason with you on.
_Ulr._ My Lord, he is n.o.ble by birth, of one of the first houses In Saxony.
_Sieg._ I talk not of his birth, But of his bearing. Men speak lightly of him.
_Ulr._ So they will do of most men. Even the monarch Is not fenced from his chamberlain"s slander, or The sneer of the last courtier whom he has made Great and ungrateful.
_Sieg._ If I must be plain, The world speaks more than lightly of this Rodolph: 300 They say he is leagued with the "black bands" who still Ravage the frontier.
_Ulr._ And will you believe The world?
_Sieg._ In this case--yes.
_Ulr._ In _any_ case, I thought you knew it better than to take An accusation for a sentence.
_Sieg._ Son!
I understand you: you refer to----but My destiny has so involved about me Her spider web, that I can only flutter Like the poor fly, but break it not. Take heed, Ulric; you have seen to what the pa.s.sions led me: 310 Twenty long years of misery and famine Quenched them not--twenty thousand more, perchance, Hereafter (or even here in _moments_ which Might date for years, did Anguish make the dial), May not obliterate or expiate The madness and dishonour of an instant.
Ulric, be warned by a father!--I was not By mine, and you behold me!
_Ulr._ I behold The prosperous and beloved Siegendorf, Lord of a Prince"s appanage, and honoured 320 By those he rules and those he ranks with.
_Sieg._ Ah!
Why wilt thou call me prosperous, while I fear For thee? Beloved, when thou lovest me not!
All hearts but one may beat in kindness for me-- But if my son"s is cold!----
_Ulr._ Who _dare_ say that?
_Sieg._ None else but I, who see it--_feel_ it--keener Than would your adversary, who dared say so, Your sabre in his heart! But mine survives The wound.
_Ulr._ You err. My nature is not given To outward fondling: how should it be so, 330 After twelve years" divorcement from my parents?
_Sieg._ And did not _I_ too pa.s.s those twelve torn years In a like absence? But "tis vain to urge you-- Nature was never called back by remonstrance.
Let"s change the theme. I wish you to consider That these young violent n.o.bles of high name, But dark deeds (aye, the darkest, if all Rumour Reports be true), with whom thou consortest, Will lead thee----
_Ulr._ (_impatiently_). I"ll be _led_ by no man.
_Sieg._ Nor Be leader of such, I would hope: at once 340 To wean thee from the perils of thy youth And haughty spirit, I have thought it well That thou shouldst wed the lady Ida--more As thou appear"st to love her.
_Ulr._ I have said I will obey your orders, were they to Unite with Hecate--can a son say more?
_Sieg._ He says too much in saying this. It is not The nature of thine age, nor of thy blood, Nor of thy temperament, to talk so coolly, Or act so carelessly, in that which is 350 The bloom or blight of all men"s happiness, (For Glory"s pillow is but restless, if Love lay not down his cheek there): some strong bias, Some master fiend is in thy service, to Misrule the mortal who believes him slave, And makes his every thought subservient; else Thou"dst say at once--"I love young Ida, and Will wed her;" or, "I love her not, and all The powers on earth shall never make me."--So Would _I_ have answered.
_Ulr._ Sir, _you_ wed for love. 360
_Sieg._ I did, and it has been my only refuge In many miseries.
_Ulr._ Which miseries Had never been but for this love-match.
_Sieg._ Still Against your age and nature! Who at twenty E"er answered thus till now?
_Ulr._ Did you not warn me Against your own example?
_Sieg._ Boyish sophist!
In a word, do you love, or love not, Ida?
_Ulr._ What matters it, if I am ready to Obey you in espousing her?
_Sieg._ As far As you feel, nothing--but all life for her. 370 She"s young--all-beautiful--adores you--is Endowed with qualities to give happiness, Such as rounds common life into a dream Of something which your poets cannot paint, And (if it were not wisdom to love virtue), For which Philosophy might barter Wisdom; And giving so much happiness, deserves A little in return. I would not have her Break her heart with a man who has none to break!
Or wither on her stalk like some pale rose 380 Deserted by the bird she thought a nightingale, According to the Orient tale.[199] She is----
_Ulr._ The daughter of dead Stralenheim, your foe: I"ll wed her, ne"ertheless; though, to say truth, Just now I am not violently transported In favour of such unions.
_Sieg._ But she loves you.
_Ulr._ And I love her, and therefore would think _twice_.
_Sieg._ Alas! Love never did so.
_Ulr._ Then "tis time He should begin, and take the bandage from His eyes, and look before he leaps; till now 390 He hath ta"en a jump i" the dark.
_Sieg._ But you consent?
_Ulr._ I did, and do.
_Sieg._ Then fix the day.
_Ulr._ Tis usual, And, certes, courteous, to leave that to the lady.
_Sieg._ _I_ will engage for _her_.
_Ulr._ So will not _I_ For any woman: and as what I fix, I fain would see unshaken, when she gives Her answer, I"ll give mine.
_Sieg._ But "tis your office To woo.
_Ulr._ Count, "tis a marriage of your making, So be it of your wooing; but to please you, I will now pay my duty to my mother, 400 With whom, you know, the lady Ida is.-- What would you have? You have forbid my stirring For manly sports beyond the castle walls, And I obey; you bid me turn a chamberer, To pick up gloves, and fans, and knitting-needles, And list to songs and tunes, and watch for smiles, And smile at pretty prattle, and look into The eyes of feminine, as though they were The stars receding early to our wish Upon the dawn of a world-winning battle-- 410 What can a son or man do more? [_Exit_ ULRIC.