Don Carlos | Page 9

prompt?
[He turns towards the GEANDEES.
Here stand the assembled vassals
of my throne.
Did ever sleep descend upon these eyes,
Till at the
close of the returning day
I've pondered, how the hearts of all my

subjects
Were beating 'neath the furthest cope of heaven?
And
should I feel more anxious for my throne
Than for the partner of my
bosom? No!
My sword and Alva can protect my people,
My eye
alone assures thy love.
QUEEN.
My liege,
If that I have offended----
KING.
I am called
The richest monarch in the Christian world;
The sun in
my dominions never sets.
All this another hath possessed before,

And many another will possess hereafter.
That is mine own. All that
the monarch hath
Belongs to chance--Elizabeth to Philip.
This is
the point in which I feel I'm mortal.
QUEEN.
What fear you, sire?
KING.
Should these gray hairs not fear?
But the same instant that my fear
begins
It dies away forever.
[To the grandees.
I run over
The nobles of my court and miss the foremost.
Where is my son, Don
Carlos?
[No one answers.
He begins
To give me cause of fear. He shuns my presence
Since he came back
from school at Alcala.
His blood is hot. Why is his look so cold?

His bearing all so stately and reserved?
Be watchful, duke, I charge
you.
ALVA.

So I am:
Long as a heart against this corslet beats,
So long may
Philip slumber undisturbed;
And as God's cherub guards the gates of
heaven
So doth Duke Alva guard your royal throne.
LERMA.
Dare I, in all humility, presume
To oppose the judgment
of earth's wisest king?
Too deeply I revere his gracious sire
To
judge the son so harshly. I fear much
From his hot blood, but nothing
from his heart.
KING.
Lerma, your speech is fair to soothe the father,
But Alva
here will be the monarch's shield--
No more of this.
[Turning to his suite.
Now speed we to Madrid,
Our royal duties
summon us. The plague
Of heresy is rife among my people;

Rebellion stalks within my Netherlands--
The times are imminent.
We must arrest
These erring spirits by some dread example.
The
solemn oath which every Christian king
Hath sworn to keep I will
redeem to-morrow.
'Twill be a day of doom unparalleled.
Our court
is bidden to the festival.
[He leads off the QUEEN, the rest follow.
SCENE VII.
DON CARLOS (with letters in his hand), and MARQUIS POSA

enter from opposite sides.
CARLOS.
I am resolved--Flanders shall yet be saved:
So runs her
suit, and that's enough for me!
MARQUIS.
There's not another moment to be lost:
'Tis said Duke
Alva in the cabinet
Is named already as the governor.
CARLOS.
Betimes to-morrow will I see the king
And ask this
office for myself. It is
The first request I ever made to him,
And he
can scarce refuse. My presence here
Has long been irksome to him.

He will grasp
This fair pretence my absence to secure.
And shall I
confess to thee, Roderigo?
My hopes go further. Face to face with
him,
'Tis possible the pleading of a son
May reinstate him in his
father's favor.
He ne'er hath heard the voice of nature speak;
Then
let me try for once, my Roderigo,
What power she hath when
breathing from my lips.
MARQUIS.
Now do I hear my Carlos' voice once more;
Now are
you all yourself again!
SCENE VIII.
The preceding. COUNT LERMA.
COUNT.
Your grace,
His majesty has left Aranjuez;
And I am bidden----
CARLOS.
Very well, my lord--
I shall overtake the king----
MARQUIS (affecting to take leave with ceremony).
Your highness, then,
Has nothing further to intrust to me?
CARLOS.
Nothing. A pleasant journey to Madrid!
You may,
hereafter, tell me more of Flanders.
[To LERMA, who is waiting for him.
Proceed, my lord! I'll follow thee anon.
SCENE IX.
DON CARLOS, MARQUIS POSA.
CARLOS.
I understood thy hint, and thank thee for it.
A stranger's

presence can alone excuse
This forced and measured tone. Are we not
brothers?
In future, let this puppet-play of rank
Be banished from
our friendship. Think that we
Had met at some gay masking festival,

Thou in the habit of a slave, and I
Robed, for a jest, in the imperial
purple.
Throughout the revel we respect the cheat,
And play our
parts with sportive earnestness,
Tripping it gayly with the merry
throng;
But should thy Carlos beckon through his mask,
Thou'dst
press his hand in silence as he passed,
And we should be as one.
MARQUIS.
The dream's divine!
But are you sure that it will last forever?
Is
Carlos, then, so certain of himself
As to despise the charms of
boundless sway?
A day will come--an all-important day--
When
this heroic mind--I warn you now--
Will sink o'erwhelmed by too
severe a test.
Don Philip dies; and Carlos mounts the throne,
The
mightiest throne in Christendom. How vast
The gulf that yawns
betwixt mankind and him--
A god