Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

Am what I am, but that I ever was,
Or having been, that I am still on earth.
Abbot. Yet, hear me still—
Manf. Old man! I do respect
Thine order, and revere thine years; I deem
Thy purpose pious, but it is in vain:
Think me not churlish; I would spare
thyself,

Far more than me, in shunning at this time
All further colloquy-and so-
-farewell.
[Exit Manfred.
Abbot. This should have been a noble
creature: he

Hath all the energy which would have made
A goodly frame of glorious elements,
Had they been wisely mingled; as it is,
It is an awful chaos-light and darkness-
And mind and dust-and passions and pure
thoughts,

Mix'd and contending without end or order,
All dormant or destructive: he will perish,
And yet he must not; I will try once more,
For such are worth redemption; and my duty
Is to dare all things for a righteous end.
I'll follow him but cautiously, though
surely.
[Exit Abbot.

SCENE II-Another chamber.

MANFRED and HERMAN.

Herman. My Lord, you bade me wait

on you at sunset;

He sinks behind the mountain. Manf. Doth he so?

I will look on him.

[Manfred advances to the Window of the Hall. Glorious Orb! the idol

Of early nature, and the vigorous race
Of undiseased mankind, the giant-sons
Of the embrace of angels, with a sex
More beautiful than they, which did draw
down

The erring spirits who can ne'er return-
Most glorious Orb! that wert a worship, ere
The mystery of thy making was reveal'd!
Thou earliest minister of the Almighty,
Which gladden'd, on their mountain-tops,
the hearts

Of the Chaldean shepherds, till they pour'd
Themselves in orisons! Thou material God!
And representative of the Unknown—
Who chose thee for his shadow! Thou
chief star!

Centre of many stars! which mak'st our earth
Endurable, and temperest the hues
And hearts of all who walk within thy rays!
Sire of the seasons! Monarch of the climes,
And those who dwell in them! for near or far,
Our inborn spirits have a tint of thee,
Even as our outward aspects; thou dost rise,
And shine, and set in glory. Fare thee well!
I ne'er shall see thee more. As my first glance
Of love and wonder was for thee, then take
My latest look: thou wilt not beam on one

[ocr errors]

To whom the gifts of life and warmth have

been

Of a more fatal nature. He is gone: I follow. [Exit Manfred.

[ocr errors]

SCENE III.-The Mountains The Castle of Manfred at some distance-A Terrace before a Tower.-Time, Twilight.

HERMAN, MANUEL, and other Dependants of MANFRED.

Herm. Tis strange enough; night after night, for years,

He hath pursued long vigils in this tower,
Without a witness. I have been within it,
So have we all been oft-times; but from it,
Or its contents, it were impossible
To draw conclusions absolute, of aught
His studies tend to. To be sure, there is
One chamber where none enter; I would
give

The fee of what I have to come these three years,

To pore upon its mysteries.

Manuel. "Twere dangerous; Content thyself with what thou knowest already.

Herm. Ah! Manuel! thou art elderly and

[blocks in formation]

A warrior and a reveller; he dwelt not
With books and solitude, nor made the night
A gloomy vigil, but a festal time,
Merrier than day; he did not walk the rocks
And forests like a wolf, nor turn aside
From men and their delights.

Herm. Beshrew the hour,

But those were jocund times! I would that such

Would visit the old walls again; they look
As if they had forgotten them.
Manuel. These walls

Must change their chieftain first. Oh! I have seen

Some strange things in them, Herman.
Herm. Come, be friendly;

Relate me some to while away our watch:
I've heard thee darkly speak of an event
Which happened hereabouts, by this same
tower.

Manuel. That was a night indeed; I do

remember

'Twas twilight as it may be now, and such

Another evening;—yon red cloud,which rests | Appear❜d to skirt the horizon, yet they stood
On Eigher's pinnacle, so rested then,- Within a bowshot-where the Cæsars dwelt,
So like that it might be the same; the wind And dwell the tuneless birds of night amidst
Was faint and gusty,and the mountain-snows A grove which springs through levell'd
Began to glitter with the climbing moon;
battlements,
Count Manfred was, as now, within his
tower,-

[blocks in formation]

And twines its roots with the imperial
hearths,

Ivy usurps the laurel's place of growth;-
But the gladiator's bloody Circus stands,
A noble wreck in ruinous perfection!
While Caesar's chambers, and the Augustan
halls,

Grovel on earth in indistinct decay.—
And thou didst shine, thou rolling Moon, upon
All this, and cast a wide and tender light,
Which soften'd down the hoar austerity
Of rugged desolation, and fill'd up,
As 'twere anew, the gaps of centuries;
Leaving that beautiful which still was so,
And making that which was not, till the place
Became religion, and the heart ran o'er

He is most private, and must not be thus With silent worship of the great of old!—
Intruded on.
The dead, but sceptred sovereigns, who
still rule

Abbot. Upon myself I take

The forfeit of my fault, if fault there be-Our spirits from their urns. — Twas such

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Recal a noble spirit which hath wander'd;
But is not yet all lost.

Manf. Thou know'st me not;
My days are number'd,
recorded:

and my deeds

Retire, or 'twill be dangerous-Away!
Abbot. Thou dost not mean to menace me?
Manf. Not I;

I simply tell thee peril is at hand,
And would preserve thee.

Abbot. What dost mean?
Manf. Look there!
What dost thou see?

Abbot. Nothing.

Manf. Look there, I say,

And steadfastly;-now tell me what thou seest?

Abbot. That which should shake me,-
but I fear it not-

I see a dusk and awful figure rise
Like an infernal god from out the earth;
His face wrapt in a mantle, and his form
Robed as with angry clouds; he stands
between

Thyself and me-but I do fear him not. Manf. Thou hast no cause—he shall not harm thee- but

His sight may shock thine old limbs into palsy.

I say to thee-Retire!
Abbot. And I reply-

Never-till I have battled with this fiend-
What doth he here?

Manf. Why-ay-what doth he here? I did not send for him,—he is unbidden. Abbot. Alas! lost mortal! what with guests like these

Hast thou to do? I tremble for thy sake. Why doth he gaze on thee, and thou on him? Ah! he unveils his aspect; on his brow The thunder-scars are graven; from his eye Glares forth the immortality of hell— Avaunt!

Manf. Pronounce-what is thy mission? Spirit. Come!

Abbot. What art thou, unknown being? answer!-speak!

Spirit. The genius of this mortal. - Come!

'tis time.

Manf. I am prepared for all things, but deny

The power which summons me. Who sent thee here?

Spirit. Thou'lt know anon— Come! come! Manf. I have commanded Things of an essence greater far than thine, And striven with thy masters. Get thee hence!

Spirit. Mortal! thine hour is comeAway! I say.

Manf. I knew, and know my hour is come, but not

To render up my soul to such as thee: Away! I'll die as I have lived-alone. Spirit. Then I must summon up my brethren.-Rise

[Other Spirits rise up. Abbot. Avaunt! ye evil ones!—Avaunt! I say,

Ye have no power where piety hath power,
And I do charge ye in the name—
Spirit. Old man!

[ocr errors]

Almost our equal? – Can It be that thou Art thus in love with life? the very life Which made thee wretched!

Manf. Thou false fiend, thou liest!
My life is in its last hour,-that I know,
Nor would redeem a moment of that hour;
I do not combat against death, but thee
And thy surrounding angels; my past power
Was purchased by no compact with thy crew,
But by superior science-penance-daring-
And length of watching-strength of mind
--and skill

In knowledge of our fathers-when the earth
Saw men and spirits walking side by side,
And gave ye no supremacy: I stand
Upon my strength—I do defy~ deny—
Spurn back, and scorn ye!—

Spirit. But thy many crimes
Have made thee-

Manf. What are they to such as thee? Must crimes be punish'd but by other crimes, And greater criminals?—Back to thy hell! Thou hast no power upon me, that I feel; Thou never shalt possess me, that I know: What I have done is done; I bear within A torture which could nothing gain from thine:

The mind which is immortal makes itself
Requital for its good or evil thoughts-
Is its own origin of ill and end—
And its own place and time-its innate sense,
When stripp'd of this mortality, derives
No colour from the fleeting things without;
But is absorb'd in sufferance or in joy,
Born from the knowledge of its own desert.
Thou didst not tempt me, and thou couldst

[blocks in formation]

We know ourselves, our mission, and thine | Pray- albeit but in thought, — but die not

order;

Waste not thy holy words on idle uses,
It were in vain; this man is forfeited.
Once more I summon him-Away! away!
Manf. I do defy ye, though I feel my soul
Is ebbing from me, yet I do defy ye;
Nor will I hence, while I have earthly breath
To breathe my scorn upon ye earthly
strength

To wrestle, though with spirits; what ye take
Shall be ta'en limb by limb.

Spirit. Reluctant mortal!

Is this the Magian who would so pervade The world invisible, and make himself

[ocr errors][merged small]

Manf. 'Tis over-my dull eyes can fix

thee not;

But all things swim around me,and the earth Heaves as it were beneath me.Fare thee wellGive me thy hand.

Abbot. Cold-cold-even to the heartBut yet one prayer alas! how fares it with thee?

[ocr errors]

Manf. Old man! 'tis not so difficult to die. [Manfred expires. Abbot. He's gone-his soul hath ta'en its earthless flightWhither? I dread to think-but he is gone.

MARINO FALIERO.

"Duz inquieti turbidus Adriæ. “

PREFACE.

lished by the indefatigable Abbate Morelli, in his "Monumenti Veneziani di varia letTHE Conspiracy of the Doge Marino Faliero teratura," printed in 1796, all of which I is one of the most remarkable events in the have looked over in the original language. annals of the most singular government, The moderns, Daru, Sismondi, and Laugier, city, and people of modern history. It nearly agree with the ancient chroniclers. occurred in the year 1355. Every thing Sismondi attributes the conspiracy to his about Venice is, or was, extraordinary-jealousy; but I find this nowhere asserted her aspect is like a dream, and her history by the national historians. Vettor Sandi, is like a romance. The story of this Doge | indeed, says, that "Altri scrissero che..... is to be found in all her Chronicles, and dalla gelosa suspizion di esso Doge siasi particularly detailed in the "Lives of the fatto (Michel Steno) staccar con vioDoges," by Marin Sanuto, which is given in the Appendix. It is simply and clearly related, and is, perhaps, more dramatic in itself than any scenes which can be founded upon the subject.

lenza," etc. etc.; but this appears to have
been by no means the general opinion, nor
is it alluded to by Sanuto or by Navagero;
and Sandi himself adds a moment after,
that "per altre Veneziane memorie traspiri,
che non il solo desiderio di vendetta lo dis-
pose alla congiura, ma anche la innata
abituale ambizion sua, per cui anelava a
farsi principe indipendente.'
19 The first
motive appears to have been excited by the
gross affront of the words written by Michel
Steno on the ducal chair, and by the light
and inadequate sentence of the Forty on
the offender, who was one of their "tre
Capi." The attentions of Steno himself
appear to have been directed towards one
of her damsels, and not to the "Dogaressa”
herself, against whose fame not the slightest
insinuation appears, while she is praised
for her beauty, and remarked for her youth.
Neither do I find it asserted (unless the
hint of Sandi be an assertion) that the Doge
was actuated by jealousy of his wife; but
rather by respect for her, and for his own
honour, warranted by his past services and
present dignity.

́Marino Faliero appears to have been a man of talents and of courage. I find him commander in chief of the land-forces at the siege of Zara, where he beat the King of Hungary and his army of 80,000 men, killing 8000 men and keeping the besieged at the same time in check, an exploit to which I know none similar in history, except that of Cæsar at Alesia, and of Prince Eugene at Belgrade. He was afterwards commander of the fleet in the same war. He took Capo d'Istria. He was ambassador at Genoa and Rome, at which last he received the news of his election to the Dukedom; his absence being a proof that he sought it by no intrigue, since he was apprized of his predecessor's death and his own succession at the same moment. But he appears to have been of an ungovernable temper. A story is told by Sanuto, of his having, many years before, when podesta and captain at Treviso, boxed I know not that the historical facts are the ears of the bishop, who was somewhat alluded to in English, unless by Dr. Moore tardy in bringing the Host. For this honest in his View of Italy. His account is false Sanuto "saddles him with a judgment," as and flippant, full of stale jests about old Thwackum did Square; but he does not men and young wives, and wondering at tell us whether he was punished or rebuked so great an effect from so slight a cause. by the Senate for this outrage at the time How so acute and severe an observer of of its commission. He seems, indeed, to mankind as the author of Zeluco could have been afterwards at peace with the wonder at this is inconceivable. He knew church, for we find him ambassador at Rome, that a basin of water spilt on Mrs. Masham's and invested with the fief of Val di Marino, gown deprived the Duke of Marlborough in the March of Treviso, and with the title of his command, and led to the inglorious of Count, by Lorenzo, Count - Bishop of peace of Utrecht - that Louis XIV. was Ceneda. For facts my authorities are, Sa- plunged into the most desolating wars benuto, Vettor Sandi, Andrea Navagero, and cause his minister was nettled at his finding the account of the siege of Zara, first pub-fault with a window, and wished to give

him another occupation—that Helen lost Troy-that Lucretia expelled the Tarquins from Rome – and that Cava brought the Moors to Spain – that an insulted husband led the Gauls to Clusium, and thence to Rome - that a single verse of Frederic II. of Prussia on the Abbé de Bernis, and a jest on Madame de Pompadour, led to the battle of Rosbach-that the elopement of Dearbhorgil with Mac Murchad conducted the English to the slavery of Ireland—that a personal pique between Maria Antoinette and the Duke of Orleans precipitated the first expulsion of the Bourbons--and, not to multiply instances, that Commodus, Domitian, and Caligula fell victims, not to their public tyranny, but to private vengeance and that an order to make Cromwell disembark from the ship in which he would have sailed to America, destroyed both King and Commonwealth. After these instances, on the least reflection, it is indeed extraordinary in Dr. Moore to seem surprised that a man, used to command, who had served and swayed in the most important offices, should fiercely resent, in a fierce age, an unpunished affront, the grossest that can be offered to a man, be he prince or peasant. The age of Faliero is little to the purpose, unless to favour it.

"The young man's wrath is like straw on fire, "But like red-hot steel is the old man's ire,

rack seems to argue any thing but his having shown a want of firmness, which would doubtless have been also mentioned by those minute historians who by no means favour him: such, indeed, would be contrary to his character as a soldier, to the age in which he lived, and at which he died, as it is to the truth of history. I know no justification at any distance of time for calumniating an historical character; surely truth belongs to the dead and to the unfortunate, and they who have died upon a scaffold have generally had faults enough of their own, without attributing to them that which the very incurring of the perils which conducted them to their violent death renders, of all others, the most improbable. The black veil which is painted over the place of Marino Faliero amongst the doges, and the Giant's Staircase, where he was crowned, and discrowned, and decapitated, struck forcibly upon my imagination, as did his fiery character and strange story. I went in 1819, in search of his tomb, more than once, to the church San Giovanni e San Paolo; and as I was standing before the monument of another family, a priest came up to me and said, "I can show you finer monuments than that." I told him that I was in search of that of the Faliero family, and particularly of the Doge Marino's. "Oh," said he, "I will show it you;" and conducting me to the outside. pointed out a Sarcophagus in the wall, with an illegible inscription. He said that it had been in a convent adLaugier's reflections are more philoso- joining, but was removed after the French phical:-"Tale fù il fine ignominioso di came, and placed in its present situation; un' uomo, che la sua nascita, la sua età, that he had seen the tomb opened at its il suo carattere dovevano tener lontano dalle removal; there were still some bones repassioni produttrici di grandi delitti. I suoi maining, but no positive vestige of the detalenti per lungo tempo esercitati ne' mag-capitation. The equestrian statue of which giori impieghi, la sua capacità sperimentata I have made mention in the third act as ne' governi e nelle ambasciate, gli avevano before that church, is not, however, of a acquistato la stima e la fiducia de' cittadini, ed avevano uniti i suffragj per collocarlo alla testa della republica. Innalzato ad un grado che terminava gloriosamenta la sua vita, il risentimento di un' ingiuria leggiera | insinuò nel suo cuore tal veleno che bastò a corrompere le antiche sue qualita, e a Faliero, who reigned in 1082. The family, condurlo al termine dei scellerati; serio originally from Fano, was of the most ilesempio, che prova non esservi età, in cui lustrious in blood and wealth in the city la prudenza umana sia sicura, e che nell' of once the most wealthy and still the most uomo restano sempre passioni capaci a dis- ancient families in Europe. The length I onorarlo, quando non invigili sopra se stesso." have gone into on this subject will show Laugier, Italian translation, vol. iv. p. 30. the interest I have taken in it. Whether Where did Dr. Moore find that Marino I have succeeded or not in the tragedy, I Faliero begged his life? I have searched have at least transferred into our language the chroniclers, and find nothing of the an historical fact worthy of commemoration. kind; it is true that he avowed all. He It is now four years that I have moditated was conducted to the place of torture, but this work, and before I had sufficiently there is no mention made of any application examined the records, I was rather dispofor mercy on his part; and the very cir-sed to have made it turn on a jealousy in cumstance of their having taken him to the Faliero. But perceiving no foundation for

"Young men soon give and soon forget affronts, "Old age is slow at both."

[ocr errors]

Faliero, but of some other now obsolete warrior, although of a later date. There were two other Doges of this family prior to Marino: Ordelafo, who fell in battle at Zara, in 1117, (where his descendant afterwards conquered the Huns)_and_Vital

« НазадПродовжити »