The desolation of their country—these,

Let these, and such as these, support the war,

The fatal war, which they alone enkindled!

But. And those state-parasites, who have their feet
So constantly beneath the Emperor's table,
Who cannot let a benefice fall, but they

Snap at it with dog's hunger-they, forsooth,

Would pare the soldier's bread, and cross his reckoning!
Iso. My life long will it anger me to think,
How when I went to court seven years ago,
To see about new horses for our regiments,
How from one antechamber to another
They dragg'd me on, and left me by the hour
To kick my heals among a croud of simpering,
Feast-fatten'd slaves, as if I had come thither
A mendicant suitor for the crumbs of favour
That fall beneath their tables. And, at last,
Whom should they send me but a Capuchin!
Straight I began to muster up my sins
For absolution-but no such luck for me!
This was the man, this Capuchin, with whom
I was to treat concerning th' army horses.
And I was forc'd at last to quit the field,
The business unaccomplish'd. Afterwards
The Duke procur'd me in three days, what I

Could not obtain in thirty at Vienna.

Ques. Yes, yes! your travelling bills soon found their

way to us:

Too well I know we have still accounts to settle.

Illo. War is a violent trade; one cannot always
Finish one's work by soft means; every trifle
Must not be blacken'd into sacrilege.

If we should wait till you, in solemn council,
With due deliberation had selected

The smallest out of four-and-twenty evils,

I' faith we should wait long.

"Dash! and through with it!"-That's the better watch

word.

Then after come what may come.

'Tis man's nature

To make the best of a bad thing once past.

A bitter and perplexed "What shall I do?"

Is worse to man than worst necessity.

Ques. Ay, doubtless, it is true; the Duke does spare us The troublesome task of choosing.

But.

Yes, the Duke

Cares with a father's feelings for his troops;

But how the Emperor feels for us, we see.

Ques. His cares and feelings all ranks share alike, Nor will he offer one up to another.

Iso. And therefore thrusts he us into the deserts,

As beasts of prey, that so he may preserve

His dear sheep fattening in his fields at home.

Ques. (with a sneer) Count, this comparison you make, not I.

But. Why, were we all the Court supposes us,

'Twere dangerous, sure, to give us liberty.

Ques. You have taken liberty-it was not given you. And therefore it becomes an urgent duty

To rein it in with curbs.

Oct.

(interposing and addressing Questenberg.) My noble friend,

This is no more than a remembrancing

That you are now in camp, and among warriors.

The soldier's boldness constitutes his freedom.

Could he act daringly, unless he dar'd

Talk even so? One runs into the other.

The boldness of this worthy officer, (pointing to Butler.) Which now has but mistaken in its mark,

N

Preserv'd, when nought but boldness could preserve it,

To the Emperor his capital city, Prague,

In a most formidable mutiny

Of the whole garrison.

Hah! here they come!

(Military music at a distance.)

Illo. The sentries are saluting them: this signal Announces the arrival of the Duchess.

Oct. (to Questenberg.) Then my son Max. too has return'd. 'Twas he

Fetch'd and attended them from Carnthen hither.

Iso. (to Illo). Shall we not go in company to greet them ?

Illo. Well, let us go.-Ho! Colonel Butler, come. (To Octavio.) You'll not forget, that yet ere noon we meet

The noble Envoy at the General's palace.

[Exeunt all but Questenberg and Octavio.

SCENE III.

Questenberg and Octavio.

Ques. (with signs of aversion and astonishment). What have I not been forc'd to hear, Octavio !

What sentiments! what fierce, uncurb'd defiance!
And were this spirit universal-

Oct.

Hm !

You are now acquainted with three fourths of the army. Ques. Where must we seek then for a second host

To have the custody of this? That Illo

Thinks worse, I fear me, than he speaks. And then

This Butler too-he cannot even conceal

The passionate workings of his ill intentions.
Oct. Quickness of temper-irritated pride;
'Twas nothing more. I cannot give up Butler.
I know a spell that will soon dispossess

The evil spirit in him.

Que.

(walking up and down in evident disquiet.)
Friend, friend!

O! this is worse, far worse, than we had suffer'd
Ourselves to dream of at Vienna. There

We saw it only with the courtier's eyes,
Eyes dazzled by the splendor of the throne.
We had not seen the War-chief, the Commander,
The man all-powerful in his camp. Here, here,
'Tis quite another thing.

Here is no Emperor more-the Duke is Emperor.
Alas, my friend! alas, my noble friend!

This walk which you have ta'en me through the camp
Strikes my hopes prostrate.

Oct.

Now you see yourself

Of what a perilous kind the office is,

Which you deliver to me from the Court.

The least suspicion of the General

Costs me my freedom and my life, and would

But hasten his most desperate enterprise.

Ques. Where was our reason sleeping when we trusted This madman with the sword, and plac'd such power

In such a hand? I tell you, he'll refuse,

Flatly refuse, t'obey the Imperial orders.

Friend, he can do't, and what he can, he will.

And then th' impunity of his defiance

O! what a proclamation of our weakness!

Oct. D'ye think, too, he has brought his wife and

daughter

Without a purpose hither?

Here in camp!

And at the very point of time, in which

We're arming for the war? That he has taken
These, the last pledges of his loyalty,
Away from out the Emperor's domains-
This is no doubtful token of the nearness
Of some eruption !

Ques.

How shall we hold footing
Beneath this tempest, which collects itself
And threats us from all quarters? Th' enemy
Of th' empire on our borders, now already
The master of the Danube, and still farther,
And farther still, extending every hour!
In our interior, the alarum-bells
Of insurrection-peasantry in arms-
All orders discontented-and the army,
Just in the moment of our expectation
Of aidance from it-lo! this very army
Seduc'd, run wild, lost to all discipline,
Loosen'd, and rent asunder from the state
And from their sov'reign, the blind instrument
Of the most daring of mankind, a weapon
Of fearful power, which at his will he wields!

Oct. Nay, nay, friend! let us not despair too soon. Men's words are ever bolder than their deeds:

And many a resolute, who now appears
Made up to all extremes, will, on a sudden,
Find in his breast a heart he wot not of,
Let but a single honest man speak out
The true name of his crime! Remember too,
We stand not yet so wholly unprotected.
Counts Altringer and Galas have maintain'd
Their little army faithful to it's duty,
And daily it becomes more numerous.
Nor can he take us by surprise: you know,