The Duke's bed-chamber, without his alarming BUTLER. THEKLA (looking around her). WALLENSTEIN (steps to her, raising her up in his arms). The attendants fill the right wing; he hates bustle, See, there's thy loving mother. Thou art in And lodges in the left wing quite alone. Thy father's arms. SCENE III. WALLENSTEIN. Dearest daughter! THEKLA. The horror overpower'd me by surprise. Where art thou going? I heard Tertsky say WALLENSTEIN. Yes, ye stay here, placed under the protection COUNTESS. O take us with you, brother! Leave us not in this gloomy solitude CAPTAIN. We, lay, expecting no attack, at Neustadt, Scarce had we mounted, ere the Pappenheimers, To brood o'er anxious thoughts. The mists of doubt Had borne them onward far before the others— The infantry were still at distance only. Both in van and flanks With our whole cavalry we now received them; These walls breathe on me, like a church-yard vault. Back to the trenches drove them, where the foot Stretch'd out a solid ridge of pikes to meet them. [THELLA, as giddy, grasps a chair. [THEKLA who has accompanied the last speech with [Exeunt DUCHESS and COUNTESS. My dearest lady▬▬▬▬ NEUBRUNN. And whereWhere is You have not told me all. CAPTAIN (after a pause). This morning We buried him. Twelve youths of noblest birth Did bear him to interment; the whole army Follow'd the bier. A laurel deck'd his coffin ; The sword of the deceased was placed upon it, In mark of honor, by the Rhinegrave's self. Nor tears were wanting; for there are among us Many, who had themselves experienced The greatness of his mind, and gentle manners; All were affected at his fate. The Rhinegrave Would willingly have saved him; but himself Made vain the attempt-'tis said he wish'd to die. NEUBRUNN (10 THEKLA, who has hidden her counLook up, my dearest lady tenance). THEKLA Where is his grave? CAPTAIN. SCENE V. THEKLA, LADY NEUBRUNN. THEKLA (falls on LADY NEUBRUNN's neck). Now, gentle Neubrunn, show me the affection Which thou hast ever promised-prove thyself My own true friend and faithful fellow-pilgrim. This night we must away! Who That time is past NEUBRUNN. Your father's rage THEKLA. And now I fear no human being's rage. Is their commander? Had he a soft bed [THEKLA steps to the table, and takes a ring from Under the hoofs of his war-horses? SCENE VI. THEKLA. His spirit 'tis that calls me: 'tis the troop Of his true followers, who offer'd up Themselves to avenge his death: and they accuse me Forsake their leader even in his death-they died for And shall I live? That decks his bier. For me too was that laurel-garland twined I throw it from me. ACT V. SCENE I. SCENE-A Saloon, terminated by a Gallery which extends far into the back-ground. WALLENSTEIN (sitting at a table). THE SWEDISH CAPTAIN (standing before him). WALLENSTEIN. Commend me to your lord. I sympathize For henceforth are our fortunes one. Farewell, And for your trouble take my thanks. To-morrow [The SWEDISH CAPTAIN retires. WALLENSTEIN sits WALLENSTEIN. Comest thou from her? Is she restored? How is she? My sister tells me, she was more collected She will shed tears. WALLENSTEIN. The pang will soften. COUNTESS. I find thee alter'd too, My brother! After such a victory To a deep quiet, such as he has found, The soliloquy of Thekla consists in the original of six-andtwenty lines, twenty of which are in rhymes of irregular recurrence. I thought it prudent to abridge it. Indeed the whole scone between Thekla and Lady Neubrunn might, perhaps, have been omitted without injury to the play. H COUNTESS. At a banquet-he and Illo. WALLENSTEIN (rises and strides across the saloon). The night's far spent. Betake thee to thy chamber. COUNTESS. Bid me not go, O let me stay with thee! WALLENSTEIN (moves to the window). There is a busy motion in the Heaven, COUNTESS. Thou speakest Of Piccolomini. What was his death? The courier had just left thee as I came. Turn not thine eyes upon the backward view, WALLENSTEIN. White stain of light, that single glimmering yonder, This anguish will be wearied down,* I know; Is from Cassiopeia, and therein Is Jupiter. (A pause). But now The blackness of the troubled element hides him! [He sinks into profound melancholy, and looks vacantly into the distance. COUNTESS (looks on him mournfully, then grasps his hand). What art thou brooding on? WALLENSTEIN. Whom meanest thou then? He, the more fortunate! yea, he hath finish'd! No more submitted to the change and chance With him! but who knows what the coming hour These four lines are expressed in the original with exquisite Am Himmel ist geschaftige Bewegung, Des Thurmes Fahne jagt der Wind, schnell geht What pang is permanent with man? From the highest, COUNTESS. O be not treacherous to thy own power. Who interrupts us now at this late hour? It is the Governor. He brings the keys Of the Citadel. "Tis midnight. Leave me, sister! COUNTESS. O'tis so hard to me this night to leave theeA boding fear possesses me! WALLENSTEIN. Fear? Wherefore?' COUNTESS. Shouldst thou depart this night, and we at waking Never more find thee! WALLENSTEIN. Fancies! COUNTESS. O my soul Has long been weigh'd down by these dark forebodings. WALLENSTEIN. This was a dream of favorable omen, COUNTESS. To-day I dreamt that I was seeking thee The word "moon-sickle," reminds me of a passage in Har-In thy own chamber. As I enter'd, lo! quoted by Johnson, under the word "falcated." "The It was no more a chamber: the Chartreuse ened part of the moon appears in the form of a sickle or At Gitschin 'twas, which thou thyself hast founded, ng book, which is while she is moving from the conjunc to the opposition, or from the new-moon to the full: but fa full to a new again, the enlightened part appears gibbous, *he dark falcated." The word "wanken" and "schweben" are not easily transThe English words, by which we attempt to render *, either vulgar or pedantic, or not of sufficiently gene*pplication. So "der Wolken Zug"-The Draft, the Proof clouds-The Masses of the Clouds sweep onward amut stream. * A very inadequate translation of the original. Verschmerzen werd' ich diesen Schlag, das weiss ich, Denn was verschmerzte nicht der Mensch! LITERALLY. I shall grieve down this blow, of that I'm conscious: What does not man grieve down? |