Placing my honor and my head in pledge,
Needs must I have full mastery in all
The means thereto. What render'd this Gustavus
Resistless, and unconquer'd upon earth?

This that he was the monarch in his army!
A monarch, one who is indeed a monarch,
Was never yet subdued but by his equal.
But to the point! The best is yet to come.
Attend now, generals!

QUESTENBERG.

The Prince Cardinal

Begins his route at the approach of spring
From the Milanese; and leads a Spanish army
Through Germany into the Netherlands.
That he may march secure and unimpeded,
'Tis the Emperor's will you grant him a detachment
Of eight horse regiments from the army here.

WALLENSTEIN.

Yes, yes! I understand!-Eight regiments! Well,
Right well concerted, father Lamormain!
Eight thousand horse! Yes, yes! "Tis as it should be!
I see it coming.

QUESTENBERG.

There is nothing coming.

All stands in front: the counsel of state-prudence, The dictate of necessity!

WALLENSTEIN.

What then?

What, my Lord Envoy? May I not be suffer'd
To understand, that folks are tired of seeing
The sword's hilt in my grasp: and that your court
Snatch eagerly at this pretence, and use
The Spanish title, to drain off my forces,
To lead into the empire a new army
Unsubjected to my control? To throw me
Plumply aside, I am still too powerful for you
To venture that. My stipulation runs,
That all the Imperial forces shall obey me
Where'er the German is the native language.
Of Spanish troops and of Prince Cardinals

That take their route, as visitors, through the empire,
There stands no syllable in my stipulation.
No syllable! And so the politic court
Steals in a tiptoe, and creeps round behind it;
First makes me weaker, then to be dispensed with,
Till it dares strike at length a bolder blow
And make short work with me.

What need of all these crooked ways, Lord Envoy?
Straight forward, man! His compact with me pinches
The Emperor. He would that I moved off!-
Well!-I will gratify him!

MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

Forbid it Heaven, that it should come to this! Our troops will swell in dreadful fermentationThe Emperor is abused-it cannot be.

ISOLANI.

It cannot be; all goes to instant wreck.

WALLENSTEIN.

Thou hast said truly, faithful Isolani!
What we with toil and foresight have built up
Will go to wreck-all go to instant wreck.
What then? another chieftain is soon found,
Another army likewise (who dares doubt it?)
Will flock from all sides to the Emperor,

At the first beat of his recruiting drum.
[During this speech, ISOLANI, TEATSKY, ILLO,
and MARADAS talk confusedly with great
agitation.

MAX. PICCOLOMINI (busily and passionately going from one to another, and soothing them. Hear, my commander! Hear me, generals! Let me conjure you, Duke! Determine nothing, Till we have met and represented to you Our joint remonstrances.-Nay, calmer! Friends! I hope all may be yet set right again.

Generals, which increases continually.

It grieves me for my noble officers' sakes!

I see not yet, by what means they will come at
The moneys they have advanced, or how obtain
The recompense their services demand.

Still a new leader brings new claimants forward,

And prior merit superannuates quickly.
There serve here many foreigners in the army,
And were the man in all else brave and gallant,
I was not went to make nice scrutiny

After his pedigree or catechism.

This will be otherwise, i' the time to come.
Well-me no longer it concerns. [He seats himself.

[While all are going off the Stage, the curtain drops.

ACT II.

SCENE I

SCENE-A Small Chamber.

ILLO and TERTSKY.

TERTSKY.

Now for this evening's business! How intend you To manage with the generals at the banquet?

ILLO.

Attend! We frame a formal declaration,
Wherein we to the Duke consign ourselves
Collectively, to be and to remain

His both with life and limb, and not to spare
The last drop of our blood for him, provided
So doing we infringe no oath or duty,
We may be under to the Emperor.-Mark!
This reservation we expressly make

In a particular clause, and save the conscience.
Now hear! This formula so framed and worded
Will be presented to them for perusal
Before the banquet. No one will find in it
Cause of offence or scruple. Hear now further!
After the feast, when now the vap'ring wine
Opens the heart, and shuts the eyes, we let
A counterfeited paper, in the which
This one particular clause has been left out,
Go round for signatures.

TERTSKY.

How! think you then

That they'll believe themselves bound by an oath, Which we had trick'd them into by a juggle?

ILLO.

We shall have caught and caged them! Let them then
Beat their wings bare against the wires, and rave
Loud as they may against our treachery;
At court their signatures will be believed
Far more than their most holy affirmations.
Traitors they are, and must be; therefore wisely
Will make a virtue of necessity.

TERTSKY.

Well, well, it shall content me; let but something Be done, let only some decisive blow

Set us in motion.

ILLO.

Besides, 'tis of subordinate importance
How, or how far, we may thereby propel
The Generals. "Tis enough that we persuade
The Duke that they are his-Let him but act
In his determined mood, as if he had them,
And he will have them. Where he plunges in,
He makes a whirlpool, and all stream down to it.

TERTSKY.

His policy is such a labyrinth,

That many a time when I have thought myself
Close at his side, he's gone at once, and left me
Ignorant of the ground where I was standing.
He lends the enemy his ear, permits me
To write to them, to Arnheim; to Sesina
Himself comes forward blank and undisguised;
Talks with us by the hour about his plans,
And when I think I have him-off at once-
He has slipp'd from me, and appears as if
He had no scheme, but to retain his place.

ILLO.

He give up his old plans! I'll tell you, friend!
His soul is occupied with nothing else,
Even in his sleep-They are his thoughts, his dreams,
That day by day he questions for this purpose
The motions of the planets

TERTSKY.

Ay! you know This night, that is now coming, he with SENI Shuts himself up in the astrological tower To make joint observations-for I hear,

[Talking to herself, while she is advancing Here's no need of full powers and commissionsMy cloudy Duke! we understand each other— And without words. What, could I not unriddle, Wherefore the daughter should be sent for hither, Why first he, and no other, should be chosen To fetch her hither? This sham of betrothing her To a bridegroom,* when no one knows-No! no!This may blind others! I see through thee, Brother! But it beseems thee not, to draw a card At such a game. Not yet! It all remains Mutely deliver'd up to my finessing

Well-thou shalt not have been deceived, Duke Friedland!

In her who is thy sister.

SERVANT (enters).

The commanders!
TERTSKY (to the COUNTESS).

Take care you heat his fancy and affections—

* In Germany, after honorable addresses have been paid and formally accepted, the lovers are called Bride and Bridegroom, even though the marriage should not take place till years afterwards.

In a balcony we were standing mute,

And gazing out upon the dreary field:
Before us the dragoons were riding onward,
The safeguard which the Duke had sent us-heavy
The inquietude of parting lay upon me,
And trembling ventured I at length these words:
This all reminds me, noble maiden, that
To-day I must take leave of my good fortune.
A few hours more, and you will find a father,
Will see yourself surrounded by new friends,
And I henceforth shall be but as a stranger,
Lost in the many-" Speak with my aunt Tertsky!"
With hurrying voice she interrupted me.
She falter'd. I beheld a glowing red
Possess her beautiful cheeks, and from the ground
Raised slowly up, her eye met mine-no longer
Did I control myself.

[The Princess THEKLA appears at the door, and
remains standing, observed by the COUNTESS,
but not by PICCOLOMINI.

MAX.

This morning, when I found you in the circle
Of all your kindred, in your father's arms,
Beheld myself an alien in this circle,
O! what an impulse felt I in that moment
To fall upon his neck, to call him father!
But his stern eye o'erpower'd the swelling passion-
It dared not but be silent. And those brilliants,
That like a crown of stars enwreathed your brows,
They scared me too! O wherefore, wherefore should he
At the first meeting spread as 't were the ban
Of excommunication round you,-wherefore
Dress up the angel as for sacrifice,

And cast upon the light and joyous heart
The mournful burthen of his station? Fitly
May love dare woo for love; but such a splendor
Might none but monarchs venture to approach.

Yes; and soon must go. Where have you stay'd so long?

THEKLA.

Alas! my mother Wept so again! and I-I see her suffer, Yet cannot keep myself from being happy.

MAX.

Now once again I have courage to look on you. To-day at noon I could not.

The dazzle of the jewels that play'd round you Hid the beloved from me.

THEKLA.

The game of life Looks cheerful, when one carries in one's heart The unalienable treasure. "Tis a game, Which having once review'd, I turn more joyous Back to my deeper and appropriate bliss.

[Breaking off, and in a sportive tone In this short time that I've been present here, What new unheard-of things have I not seen! And yet they all must give place to the wonder Which this mysterious castle guards.

COUNTESS (recollecting).

Then you saw me With your eye only-and not with your heart?

And what Can this be then? Methought I was acquainted With all the dusky corners of this house.

It was a strange
Sensation that came o'er me, when at first
From the broad sunshine I stepp'd in; and now
The narrowing line of day-light, that ran after
The closing door, was gone; and all about me
Twas pale and dusky night, with many shadows
Fantastically cast. Here six or seven
Colossal statues, and all kings, stood round me
In a half-circle. Each one in his hand
A sceptre bore, and on his head a star;
And in the tower no other light was there

But from these stars: all seem'd to come from them.
"These are the planets," said that low old man,
"They govern worldly fates, and for that cause
Are imaged here as kings. He farthest from you,
Spiteful, and cold, an old man melancholy,
With bent and yellow forehead, he is Saturn.
He opposite, the king with the red light,
An arm'd man for the battle, that is Mars:
And both these bring but little luck to man."
But at his side a lovely lady stood,
The star upon her head was soft and bright,
And that was Venus, the bright star of joy.
On the left hand, lo! Mercury, with wings.
Quite in the middle glitter'd silver bright
A cheerful man, and with a monarch's mien;
And this was Jupiter, my father's star;
And at his side I saw the Sun and Moon.

MAX.

O never rudely will I blame his faith

In the might of stars and angels! "Tis not merely
The human being's Pride that peoples space
With life and mystical predominance :
Since likewise for the stricken heart of Love
This visible nature, and this common world,
is all too narrow: yea, a deeper import

Lurks in the legend told my infant years

Than lies upon that truth, we live to learn.
For fable is Love's world, his home, his birth-place
Delightedly dwells he 'mong fays and talismans,
And spirits; and delightedly believes
Divinities, being himself divine.

The intelligible forms of ancient poets,
The fair humanities of old religion,

The Power, the Beauty, and the Majesty,
That had her haunts in dale, or piny mountain,
Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring,
Or chasms and wat'ry depths; all these have vanish'd.
They live no longer in the faith of reason!
But still the heart doth need a language, still
Doth the old instinct bring back the old names,
And to yon starry world they now are gone,
Spirits or gods, that used to share this earth
With man as with their friend; and to the lover
Yonder they move, from yonder visible sky
Shoot influence down: and even at this day
"Tis Jupiter who brings whate'er is great,
And Venus who brings every thing that's fair!

THEKLA.

And if this be the science of the stars,

Will learn acquaintance with this cheerful faith.
I too, with glad and zealous industry,
It is a gentle and affectionate thought,
That in immeasurable heights above us,

At our first birth, the wreath of love was woven,
With sparkling stars for flowers.

COUNTESS.

Not only roses, But thorns too hath the heaven; and well for you Leave they your wreath of love inviolate: What Venus twined, the bearer of glad fortune, The sullen orb of Mars soon tears to pieces.

MAX.

:

Soon will his gloomy empire reach its close.
Blest be the General's zeal into the laurel
Will he inweave the olive-branch, presenting
Peace to the shouting nations. Then no wish
Will have remain'd for his great heart! Enough
Live for himself and his. To his domains
Has he perform'd for glory, and can now
Will he retire; he has a stately seat
Of fairest view at Gitschin; Reichenberg,
And Friedland Castle, both lie pleasantly-
Even to the foot of the huge mountains here
Stretches the chase and covers of his forests:
His ruling passion, to create the splendid,
He can indulge without restraint; can give
A princely patronage to every art,

And to all worth a sovereign's protection.
Can build, can plant, can watch the starry courses-