We in the field here gave our cares and toils To make her great, and fight her a free way To the loftiest earthly good; lo! mother Nature within the peaceful silent convent walls ilas done her part, and out of her free grace Hath she bestow'd on the beloved child The godlike; and now leads her thus adorn'd To meet her splendid fortune, and my hope. Duchess (to Therla). Thou wouldst not have recognized thy father, wouldst thou, my child She counted scarce eight years, When last she saw your face. ther L.A. O yes, yes, mother! At the first glance!—My father is not alter'd. The form that stands before me falsifies No feature of the image that hath lived So long within me! wallenstein. The voice of my child! [Then after a pause. I was indignant at my destiny, That it denied me a man-child to be Heir of my name and of my prosperous fortune, And re-illume my soon extinguish'd being In a proud line of princes. I wrong'd my destiny. Here upon this head, So lovely in its maiden bloom, will I Let fall the garland of a life of war, Nor deem it lost, if only I can wreath it, Transmitted to a regal ornament, Around these beauteous brows, [he clasps her in his arms as Piccolomini enters.

SCENE i x. Enter Max. Piccolomini, and some time after count Teatsky, the others remaining as before. countess. There comes the Paladin who protected us. wal, Lenstein. Max.' Welcome, ever welcome! Always wert thou The morning star of my best joys! MAX. My General— wallenstein. Till now it was the Emperor who rewarded ther, I but the instrument. This day thou hast bound The father to thee, Max! the fortunate father, And this debt Friedland's self must pay. MAx. My prince! You made no common hurry to transfer it. I come with shame: yea, not without a pang! For scarce have I arrived here, scarce deliver'd The mother and the daughter to your arms, But there is brought to me from your equerry A splendid richly-plated hunting dress So to remunerate me for my troubles—— Yes, yes, remunerate one! Since a trouble It must be, a mere office, not a favour Which I leapt forward to receive, and which I came already with full heart to thank you for.

-

No! 't was not so intended, that my business
Should be my highest best good-fortune!
[Tehrsky enters, and deliners letters to the Duke,
which he breaks open hurryingly.
countess (to Max.).
Remunerate your trouble! For his joy
He makes you recompense. 'T is not unfitting
For you, Count Piccolomini, to feel
So tenderly—my brother it beseems
To show himself for ever great and princely.
Theki.A.
Then I too must have scruples of his love:
For his munificent hands did ornament me
Ere yet the father's heart had spoken to me.
MAx.
Yes; "t is his nature ever to be giving
And making happy.
[He grasps the hand of the Duchess with still in-
creasing warmth.
How my heart pours out
Its all of thanks to him " O' how I seen
To utter all things in the dear name Friedland.
While I shall live, so long will I remain
The captive of this name: in it shall bloom
My every fortune, every lovely hope.
Inextricably as in some magic ring
In this name hath my destiny charm-bound me!
countess (who during this time has been anxiously
watching the Duke, and remarks that he is lost in
thought over the letters).
My brother wishes us to leave him. Come.
wallenstein (turns himself round quick, collects him-
self, and speaks with cheerfulness to the Duchess).
Once more I bid thee welcome to the camp,
Thou art the hostess of this court. You, Max.
Will now again administer your old office,
While we perform the sovereign's business here.
[Max. Piccolomini offers the Duchess his arm; the
Countess accompanies the Princess.
tentsky (calling after him).
Max., we depend on seeing you at the meeting.

wallenstein (in deep thought to himself). She hath seen all things as they are—It is so, And squares completely with my other notices, They have determined finally in Vienna, Have given me my successor already; It is the king of Hungary, Ferdinand, The Emperor's delicate son he's now their saviour, He's the new star that's rising now! of us They think themselves already fairly rid, And as we were deceased, the heir already Is entering on possession—Therefore—dispatch! [As he turns round he observes Teatsky, and 9 fors him a letter. Count Altringer will have himself excused, And Galas too—I like not this! tentsky.

And if
Thou loiterest longer, all will fall away,
One following the other.

wal, Lansrri N.
Altringer

--

Is master of the Tyrol passes. I must forthwith Send some one to him, that he let not in The Spaniards on me from the Milanese. ——Well, and the old Sesin, that ancient trader In contraband negociations, he Has shown himself again of late. What brings he From the Count Thur ! teatsky. The Count communicates, He has found out the Swedish chancellor At Halberstadt, where the convention 's held, Who says, you've tired him out, and that he'll have No further dealings with you. wallenstein. And why so? tentsky. He says, you are never in earnest in your speeches; That you decoy the Swedes—to make fools of them; Will league yourself with Saxony against them, And at last make yourself a riddance of them With a paltry sum of money. wat, lenstein. So then, doubtless, Yes, doubtless, this same modest Swede expects That I shall yield him some fair German tract For his prey and booty, that ourselves at last On our own soil and native territory, May be no longer our own lords and masters! An excellent scheme ! No, no! They must be off, Off, off! away! we want no such neighbours. Tearsky. Nay, yield them up that dot, that speck of land— It goes not from your portion. If you win The game, what matters it to you who pays it? walleNstein, Off with them, off! Thou understand'st not this. Never shall it be said of me, I parcell'd My native land away, dismember'd Germany, Betray'd it to a foreigner, in order To come with stealthy tread, and filch away My own share of the plunder—Never! never!— No foreign power shall strike root in the empire, And least of all, these Goths! these hunger-wolves! Who send such envious, hot and greedy glances Towards the rich blessings of our German lands! I'll have their aid to cast and draw my nets, But not a single fish of all the draught Sball they come-in for. Teatsky. You will deal, however, More fairly with the Saxons? They lose patience While you shift ground and make so many curves. Say, to what purpose all these masks? Your friends Are plunged in doubts, baffled, and led astray in you. There's Oxenstein, there's Arnheim—neither knows what he should think of your procrastinations. And in the end I prove the liar; all

wai, i.e.Nst El N.

I never give my hand-writing; thou knowest it.
tre fatsky.

But how can it be known that you're in earnest,
if the act follows not upon the word
You must yourself acknowledge, that in all
Your intercourses hitherto with the enemy,
You might have done with safety all you have done,

Passes through me. I have not even your hand-writing.

Had you meant nothing further than to gull him
For the Emperor's service.
wallenstein (after a pause, during which he
looks narrowly on Terrsky).
And from whence dost thou know
That I'm not gulling him for the Emperor's service?
Whence knowest thou that I'm not gulling all of you?
Dost thou know me so well! When made I thee
The intendant of my secret purposes?
I am not conscious that I ever open'd
Myinmost thoughts to thee. The Emperor, it is true,
IIath dealt with me amiss; and if I would,
I could repay him with usurious interest
For the evil he hath done me. It delights me
To know my power; but whether I shall use it,
Of that, I should have thought that thou couldst speak
No wiselier than thy fellows.

Tertsky. So hast thou always played thy game with us. [Enter Illo. SCEN E Xi.

Illo, WAllenstein, Teatsky.

wall ENSTein. How stand affairs without? Are they prepared? * LL0. You'll find them in the very mood you wish. They know about the Emperor's requisitions, And are tumultuous. wallenster N. How hath Isolan Declared himself? It, Lo. He's your's, both soul and body, Since you built up again his Faro-bank. wAllenstein. And which way doth Kolatio bend? Hast thou Made sure of Tiefenbach and Deodate? I LLO. What Piccolomini does, that they do too. wAllenstein. You mean, then, I may venture somewhat with them? illo. —If you are assured of the Piccolomini. wal, LENstein. Not more assured of mine own self. TERTsky. And yet I would you trusted not so much to Octavio,

The fox!
wallenst Ein.
Thou teachest me to know my man?
sixteen campaigns I have made with that old warrior.
Besides, I have his horoscope:
We both are born beneath like stars—in short
[Irith an air of mystery.
To this belongs its own particular aspect,
If therefore thou canst warrant me the rest—-
I LL0.
There is among them all but this one voice,
You must not lay down the command. I hear
They mean to send a deputation to you.
walleNSTEIN.
If I'm in aught to bind myself to them,
They too must bind themselves to me.

Their words of honour they must give, their oaths,
Give them in writing to me, promising
Devotion to my service unconditional.
ILLO.
why not?
Tentsky.
Devotion unconditional 2
The exception of their duties towards Austria
They'll always place among the premises.
With this reserve——
wallenstein (shaking his head).
All unconditional'
No premises, no reserves.
ILLo.
A thought has struck me.
Does not Count Tertsky give us a set banquet
This evening?
TERTSRY.
Yes; and all the Generals
Isave been invited.
illo (to WAllenstein.)
Say, will you here fully
Commission me to use my own discretion?
I'll gain for you the Generals' words of honour,
Even as you wish.
wall existein.
Gain me their signatures!
How you come by them, that is your concern.
II.Lo.
And if I bring it to you, black on white,
That all the leaders who are present here
Give themselves up to you, without condition;
Say, will you then—then will you show yourself
In earnest, and with some decisive action
Make trial of your luck?
WALLENSTEIN.
The signatures'
Gain me the signatures.
I Li.o.
Seize, seize the hour,
Ere it slips from you. Seldom comes the moment
In life, which is indeed sublime and weighty.
To make a great decision possible,
O! many things, all transient and all repaid,
Must meet at once: and, haply, they thus met
May by that confluence be enforced to pause
Time long enough for wisdom, though too short,
Far, far too short a time for doubt and scruple!
This is that moment. See, our army chieftains,
Our best, our noblest, are assembled around you,
Their king-like leader! On your nod they wait.
The single threads, which here your prosperous fortune
Hath woven together in one potent web
Instinct with destiny, O let then not
Unravel of themselves. If you permit
These chiefs to separate, so unanimous
Bring you them not a second time together.
'T is the high tide that heaves the stranded ship,
And every individual's spirit waxes
In the great stream of multitudes. Behold
They are still here, here still ! But soon the war
Bursts them once more asunder, and in small
Particular anxieties and interests
Scatters their spirit, and the sympathy

Of each man with the whole. He, who to-day
Forgets himself, forced onward with the stream,
Will become sober, seeing but himself,
Feel only his own weakness, and with speed
Will face about, and march on in the old
High road of duty, the old broad-trodden road,
And seek but to make shelter in good plight.
wal, Lenstein.
The time is not yet come.
Teatsky.
So you say always.
But when will it be time?
WALLENSTEIN.
When I shall say it.
ILLo.
You'll wait upon the stars, and on their hours,
Till the earthly hour escapes you. O, believe me,
In your own bosom are your destiny's stars.
Confidence in yourself, prompt resolution,
This is your Venus! and the sole malignant,
The only one that harmeth you, is Doubt.
WALLENSrei N.
Thou speakest as thou understand'st. How oft
And many a time I've told thee, Jupiter,
That lustrous god, was setting at thy birth.
Thy visual power subdues no mysteries;
Mole-eyed, thou mayest but burrow in the earth,
Blind as that subterrestrial, who with wan,
Lead-colour'd shine lighted thee into life.
The common, the terrestrial, thou mayest see,
With serviceable cunning knit together
The nearest with the nearest; and therein
I trust thee and believe thee! but whate'er
Full of mysterious import Nature weaves,
And fashions in the depths—the spirit's ladder,
That from this gross and visible world of dust
Even to the starry world, with thousand rounds,
Builds itself up; on which the unseen powers
Move up and down on heavenly ministeries—
The circles in the circles, that approach
The central sun with ever-narrowing orbit—
These see the glance alone, the unsealed eye,
Of Jupiter's glad children born in lustre.
[He walks across the Chamber, then returns, and
standing still, proceeds.
The heavenly constellations make not merely
The day and nights, summer and spring, not merely
Signify to the husbandman the seasons
Of sowing and of harvest. Human action,
That is the seed too of contingencies,
Strew'd on the dark land of futurity
In hopes to reconcile the powers of fate.
Whence it behoves us to seek out the seed-time,
To watch the stars, select their proper hours,
And trace with searching eye the heavenly houses,
Whether the enemy of growth and thriving
Hide himself not, malignant, in his corner.
Therefore permit me my own time. Meanwhile
Do you your part. As yet I cannot say
What I shall do—only, give way I will not.
Depose me too they shall not. On these points
You may rely.
pace (entering).
My Lords, the Generals.
wat. Lenstki N.
Let them come in.

SCENE xii.

wallenstein. I have understood, "t is true, the sum and import Of your instructions, Questenberg; have weighed them, And formed my final, absolute resolve: Yet it seems fitting, that the Generals Should hear the will of the Emperor from your mouth. May't please you then to open your commission Before these noble Chieftains? Quest ENBERG. I am ready To obey you; but will first entreat your Highness, And all these noble Chieftains, to consider, The Imperial dignity and sovereign right Speaks from my mouth, and not my own presumption. wallenstein. We excuse all preface. QUEST EN Beag. When his Majesty The Emperor to his courageous armies Presented in the person of Duke Friedland A most experienced and renown'd commander, He did it in glad hope and confidence To give thereby to the fortune of the war A rapid and auspicious change. The onset Was favourable to his royal wishes. Bohemia was delivered from the Saxons, The Swede's career of conquest check'd''. These lands Began to draw breath freely, as Duke Friedland From all the streams of Germany forced hither The scatter'd armies of the enemy; Hither invoked as round one magic circle The Rhinegrave, Bernhard, Banner, Oxenstein, Yea, and that never-conquer'd King himself; Here finally, before the eye of Nurnberg, The fearful game of battle to decide. wallenstein. May't please you, to the point. Qurstenberg. In Nurnberg's camp the Swedish monarch left His fame—in Lützen's plains his life. But who Stood not astounded, when victorious Friedland After this day of triumph, this proud day, March'd toward Bohemia with the speed of flight, And vanish'd from the theatre of war; while the young Weimar hero forced his way Into Franconia, to the Danube, like Some delving winter-stream, which, where it rushes, Makes its own channel; with such sudden speed He marched, and now at once 'fore Regenspurt; stood to the affright of all good Catholic Christians. Then did Bavaria's well-deserving Prince Entreat swift aidance in his extreme need; The Emperor sends seven horsemen to Duke Friedland, seven horsemen couriers sends he with the entreaty: He superadds his own, and supplicates

s where as the sovereign lord he can command.

In vain his supplication At this moment The Duke hears only his old hate and grudge, Barters the general good to gratify Private revenge—and so falls Regenspurg. walleNstein. Max., to what period of the war alludes he? My recollection fails me here? MAx. He means When we were in Silesia. wallenstein. Ay! is it so : But what had we to do there? MAx. To beat out The Swedes and Saxons from the province. wallenstein. True; In that description which the Minister gave I seemed to have forgotten the whole war. (To Quest ENBERG.) Well, but proceed a little. QUEST ENBERG. Yes; at length Beside the river Oder did the Duke Assert his ancient fame. Upon the fields Of Steinau did the Swedes lay down their arms, Subdued without a blow. And here, with others, The righteousness of Heaven to his avenger Deliver'd that long-practised stirrer-up Of insurrection, that curse-laden torch And kindler of this war, Matthias Thur. But he had fallen into magnanimous hands; Instead of punishment he found reward, And with rich presents did the Duke dismiss The arch-foe of his Emperor. wallenstein (laughs). I know, I know you had already in Vienna Your windows and balconies all forestall'd To see him on the executioner's cart. I might have lost the battle, lost it too With infamy, and still retain'd your graces— But, to have cheated them of a spectacle, Oh! that the good folks of Vienna never, No, never can forgive me! Queste NBERG. So Silesia Was freed, and all things loudly called the Duke Into Bavaria, now press'd hard on all sides. And he did put his troops in motion: slowly, Quite at his ease, and by the longest road He traverses Bohemia; but ere ever He hath once seen the enemy, faces round, Breaks up the march, and takes to winter-quarters. walt. enstein. The troops were pitiably destitute Of every necessary, every comfort. The winter came. What thinks his Majesty His troops are made of An't we men? subjected Like other men to wet, and cold, and all The circumstances of necessity ? O miserable lot of the poor soldier! Wherever he comes in, all flee before him, And when he goes away, the general curse Follows him on his route. All must be seized,

Nothing is given him. And compell'd to seize
From every man, he's every man's abhorrence.
Behold, here stand my Generals. Karaffa'
Count Deodate! Butler! Tell this man
How long the soldiers' pay is in arrears.
Butlert.

Already a full year.

WALL rinstein.

And "t is the hire That constitutes the hireling's name and duties, The soldier's pay is the soldier's covenant."

Questenberg. Ah! this is a far other tone from that, In which the Duke spoke eight, nine years ago.

wal. Lenstein. Yes!'t is my fault, I know it: I myself Have spoilt the Emperor by indulging him. Nine years ago, during the Danish war, I raised him up a force, a mighty force, Forty or fifty thousand men, that cost him Of his own purse no doit. Through Saxony The fury goddess of the war march'd on, Een to the surf-rocks of the Baltic, bearing The terrors of his name. That was a time ! In the whole Imperial realm no name like mine Honour'd with festival and celebration— And Albrecht Wallenstein, it was the title Of the third jewel in his crown But at the Diet, when the Princes met At Regensburg, there, there the whole broke out, There 't was laid open, there it was made known, Out of what money-bag I had paid the host. And what was now my thank, what had I now, That I, a faithful servant of the Sovereign, Had loaded on myself the people's curses, And let the Princes of the empire pay The expenses of this war, that aggrandizes The Emperor alone—What thanks had 11 What? I was offer'd up to their complaints, Dismiss'd, degraded !

Quest ENBERG.

But your Highness knows What little freedom he possess'd of action In that disastrous diet.

wallenstein.

Death and hell!

I had that which could have procured him freedom.

No! Since 't was proved so inauspicious to me
To serve the Emperor at the empire's cost,
I have been taught far other trains of thinking
Of the empire, and the diet of the empire.
From the Emperor, doubtless, I received this staff,
But now I hold it as the empire's general–
For the common weal, the universal interest,
And no more for that one man's aggrandizement!
But to the point. What is it that's desired of me?
QUEST ENBERG.
First, his imperial Majesty hath will'd

* The original is not translatable into English;

—-Und sein Sold Muss dem Soldaten werden, darnach heisster.

It might perhaps bave been thus rendered:

And that for which he sold his services, The soldier must receive,

But a false or doubtful etymology is no more than a dull pun.

That without pretexts of delay the army
Evacuate Bohemia.
- wallenstein.
In this season 7
And to what quarter wills the Emperor
That we direct our course?
QUESTENBERG.
To the enemy.
His Majesty resolves, that Regensburg
Be purified from the enemy ere Easter,
That Lutheranism may be no longer preach'd
In that cathedral, nor heretical
Defilement desecrate the celebration
Of that pure festival.
wallenstein.
My generals,
Can this be realized?
ILLO.
'T is not possible.
Butler.
It can't be realized.
QUESTENurho.
The Emperor
Already hath commanded colonel Suys
To advance toward Bavaria.
wallenstein.
What did Suys?
QUESTENber G.
That which his duty prompted. He advanced!
wa LLENstri N.
What! he advanced And I, his general,
Had given him orders, peremptory orders,
Not to desert his station' Stands it thus
With my authority? Is this the obedience
Due to my office, which being thrown aside,
No war can be conducted? Chieftains, speak!
You be the judges, generals! What deserves
That officer, who of his oath neglectful
Is guilty of contempt of orders?
it. Lo.
Death.

wallenstein (raising his voice, as all, but Illo, had

remained silent, and seemingly scrupulous). Count Piccolomini! what has he deserved? Max. Piccolomini (after a long pause). According to the letter of the law, Death. Isolani. Death. but lea. Death, by the laws of war.

[Questenbeng rises from his seat, Wallexsreis

follows; all the rest rise. wallenstein. To this the law condemns him, and not I. And if I show him favour, "t will arise From the reverence that I owe my Emperor. QUEST ENBERG. If so, I can say nothing further—here! wallenstein. I accepted the command but on conditions : And this the first, that to the diminution Of my authority no human being, Not even the Emperor's self, should be entitled To do aught, or to say aught, with the army. If I stand warranter of the event,