Читать книгу Count Alarcos; a Tragedy - Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli - Страница 3

As there is no historical authority for the events of the celebrated Ballad on which this Tragedy is founded, I have fixed upon the thirteenth century for the period of their occurrence. At that time the kingdom of Castille had recently obtained that supremacy in Spain which led, in a subsequent age, to the political integrity of the country. Burgos, its capital, was a magnificent city; and then also arose that masterpiece of Christian architecture, its famous Cathedral.

This state of comparative refinement and civilisation permitted the introduction of more complicated motives than the rude manners of the Ballad would have authorised; while the picturesque features of the Castillian middle ages still flourished in full force; the factions of a powerful nobility, renowned for their turbulence, strong passions, enormous crimes, profound superstition.

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London: May, 1839

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ACT I ACT II ACT III ACT IV ACT V

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Table of Contents

THE KING OF CASTILLE.

COUNT ALARCOS, a Prince of the Blood.

COUNT OF SIDONIA.

COUNT OF LEON.

PRIOR OF BURGOS.

ORAN, a Moor.

FERDINAND, a PAGE.

GUZMAN JACA, a BRAVO.

GRAUS, the Keeper of a Posada.

SOLISA, Infanta of Castille, only child of the King.

FLORIMONDE, Countess Alarcos.

FLIX, a Hostess.

Courtiers, Pages, Chamberlains, Bravos, and Priests.

Time—the 13th Century. Scene—Burgos, the capital of Castille, and its vicinity.

ACT I

Table of Contents

SCENE 1

A Street in Burgos; the Cathedral in the distance.

[Enter Two Courtiers.]

I:1:1 1ST COURT.

The Prince of Hungary dismissed?

I:1:2 2ND COURT.

Indeed

So runs the rumour.

I:1:3 1ST COURT.

Why the spousal note

Still floats upon the air!

I:1:4 2ND COURT.

Myself this morn

Beheld the Infanta’s entrance, as she threw,

Proud as some hitless barb, her haughty glance

On our assembled chiefs.

I:1:5 1ST COURT.

The Prince was there?

I:1:6 2ND COURT.

Most royally; nor seemed a man more fit

To claim a kingdom for a dower. He looked

Our Gadian Hercules, as the advancing peers

Their homage paid. I followed in the train

Of Count Alarcos, with whose ancient house

My fortunes long have mingled.

I:1:7 1ST COURT.

’Tis the same,

But just returned?

I:1:8 2ND COURT.

Long banished from the Court;

And only favoured since the Queen’s decease,

His ancient foe.

I:1:9 1ST COURT.

A very potent Lord?

I:1:10 2ND COURT.

Near to the throne; too near perchance for peace.

You’re young at Burgos, or indeed ’twere vain

To sing Alarcos’ praise, the brightest knight

That ever waved a lance in Old Castille.

I:1:11 1ST COURT.

You followed in his train?

I:1:12 2ND COURT.

And as we passed,

Alarcos bowing to the lowest earth,

The Infanta swooned; and pale as yon niched saint,

From off the throned step, her seat of place,

Fell in a wild and senseless agony.

I:1:13 1ST COURT.

Sancta Maria! and the King—

I:1:14 2ND COURT.

Uprose

And bore her from her maidens, then broke up

The hurried Court; indeed I know no more,

For like a turning tide the crowd pressed on,

And scarcely could I gain the grateful air.

Yet on the Prado’s walk came smiling by

The Bishop of Ossuna; as he passed

He clutched my cloak, and whispered in my ear,

‘The match is off.’

[Enter PAGE.]

I:1:15 1ST COURT.

Hush! hush! a passenger.

I:1:16 PAGE.

Most noble Cavaliers, I pray, inform me

Where the great Count Alarcos holds his quarter.

I:1:17 2ND COURT.

In the chief square. His banner tells the roof;

Your pleasure with the Count, my gentle youth?

I:1:18 PAGE.

I were a sorry messenger to tell

My mission to the first who asks its aim.

I:1:19 2ND COURT.

The Count Alarcos is my friend and chief.

I:1:20 PAGE.

Then better reason I should trusty be,

For you can be a witness to my trust.

I:1:21 1ST COURT.

A forward youth!

I:1:22 2ND COURT.

A page is ever pert

I:1:23 PAGE.

Ay! ever pert is youth that baffles age.

[Exit PAGE.]

I:1:24 1ST COURT.

The Count is married?

I:1:25 2ND COURT.

To a beauteous lady;

And blessed with a fair race. A happy man

Indeed is Count Alarcos.

[A trumpet sounds.]

I:1:26 1ST COURT.

Prithee, see;

Passes he now?

I:1:27 2ND COURT.

Long since. Yon banner tells

The Count Sidonia. Let us on, and view

The passage of his pomp. His Moorish steeds,

They say, are very choice.

[Exeunt Two Courtiers.]

SCENE 2.

A Chamber in the Palace of Alarcos. The COUNTESS seated and

working at her tapestry; the COUNT pacing the Chamber.

I:2:1 COUN.

You are disturbed, Alarcos?

I:2:2 ALAR.

’Tis the stir

And tumult of this morn. I am not used

To Courts.

I:2:3 COUN.

I know not why, it is a name

That makes me tremble.

I:2:4 ALAR.

Tremble, Florimonde,

Why should you tremble?

I:2:5 COUN.

Sooth I cannot say.

Methinks the Court but little suits my kind;

I love our quiet home.

I:2:6 ALAR.

This is our home,

I:2:7 COUN.

When you are here.

I:2:8 ALAR.

I will be always here.

I:2:9 COUN.

Thou canst not, sweet Alarcos. Happy hours,

When we were parted but to hear thy horn

Sound in our native woods!

I:2:10 ALAR.

Why, this is humour!

We’re courtiers now; and we must smile and smirk.

I:2:11 COUN.

Methinks your tongue is gayer than your glance.

The King, I hope, was gracious?

I:2:12 ALAR.

Were he not,

My frown’s as prompt as his. He was most gracious.

I:2:13 COUN.

Something has chafed thee?

I:2:14 ALAR.

What should chafe me, child,

And when should hearts be light, if mine be dull?

Is not mine exile over? Is it nought

To breathe in the same house where we were born,

And sleep where slept our fathers? Should that chafe?

I:2:15 COUN.

Yet didst then leave my side this very morn,

And with a vow this day should ever count

Amid thy life most happy; when we meet

Thy brow is clouded.

I:2:16 ALAR.

Joy is sometimes grave,

And deepest when ’tis calm. And I am joyful

If it be joy, this long forbidden hall

Once more to pace, and feel each fearless step

Tread on a baffled foe.

I:2:17 COUN.

Hast thou still foes

I:2:18 ALAR.

I trust so; I should not be what I am,

Still less what I will be, if hate did not

Pursue me as my shadow. Ah! fair wife,

Thou knowest not Burgos. Thou hast yet to fathom

The depths of thy new world.

I:2:19 COUN.

I do recoil

As from some unknown woo, from this same world.

I thought we came for peace.

I:2:20 ALAR.

Peace dwells within

No lordly roof in Burgos. We have come

For triumph.

I:2:21 COUN.

So I share thy lot, Alarcos,

All feelings are the same.

I:2:22 ALAR.

My Florimonde,

I took thee from a fair and pleasant home

In a soft land, where, like the air they live in,

Men’s hearts are mild. This proud and fierce Castille

Resembles not thy gentle Aquitaine,

More than the eagle may a dove, and yet

It is my country. Danger in its bounds

Weighs more than foreign safety. But why speak

Of what exists not?

I:2:23 COUN.

And I hope may never!

I:2:24 ALAR.

And if it come, what then? This chance shall find me

Not unprepared.

I:2:25 COUN.

But why should there be danger?

And why should’st thou, the foremost prince of Spain,

Fear or make foes? Thou standest in no light

Would fall on other shoulders; thou hast no height

To climb, and nought to gain. Thou art complete;

The King alone above thee, and thy friend.

I:2:26 ALAR.

So I would deem. I did not speak of fear.

I:2:27 COUN.

Of danger?

I:2:28 ALAR.

That’s delight, when it may lead

To mighty ends. Ah, Florimonde! thou art too pure;

Unsoiled in the rough and miry paths

Of ibis same trampling world; unskilled in heats

Of fierce and emulous spirits. There’s a rapture

In the strife of factions, that a woman’s soul

Can never reach. Men smiled on me to-day

Would gladly dig my grave; and yet I smiled,

And gave them coin as ready as their own,

And not less base.

I:2:29 COUN.

And can there be such men,

And canst thou live with them?

I:2:30 ALAR.

Ay! and they saw

Me ride this morning in my state again;

The people cried ‘Alarcos and Castille!’

The shout will dull their feasts.

I:2:31 COUN.

There was a time

Thou didst look back as on a turbulent dream

On this same life.

I:2:32 ALAR.

I was an exile then.

This stirring Burgos has revived my vein.

Yea, as I glanced from off the Citadel

This very morn, and at my feet outspread

Its amphitheatre of solemn towers

And groves of golden pinnacles, and marked

Turrets of friends and foes; or traced the range,

Spread since my exile, of our city’s walls

Washed by the swift Arlanzon: all around

The flash of lances, blaze of banners, rush

Of hurrying horsemen, and the haughty blast

Of the soul-stirring trumpet, I renounced

My old philosophy, and gazed as gazes

The falcon on his quarry!

I:2:33 COUN.

Jesu grant

The lure will bear no harm!

[A trumpet sounds.]

I:2:34 ALAR.

Whose note is that?

I hear the tramp of horsemen in the court;

We have some guests.

I:2:35 COUN.

Indeed!

[Enter the COUNT OF SIDONIA and the COUNT OF LEON.]

I:2:36 ALAR.

My noble friends,

My Countess greets ye!

I:2:37 SIDO.

And indeed we pay

To her our homage.

I:2:38 LEON.

Proud our city boasts

So fair a presence.

I:2:39 COUN.

Count Alarcos’ friends

Are ever welcome here.

I:2:40 ALAR.

No common wife.

Who welcomes with a smile her husband’s friends.

I:2:41 SIDO.

Indeed a treasure! When I marry, Count,

I’ll claim your counsel.

I:2:42 COUN.

’Tis not then your lot?

I:2:43 SIDO.

Not yet, sweet dame; tho’ sooth to say, full often

I dream such things may be.

I:2:44 COUN.

Your friend is free?

I:2:45 LEON.

And values freedom: with a rosy chain

I still should feel a captive.

I:2:46 SIDO.

Noble Leon

Is proof against the gentle passion, lady,

And will ere long, my rapier for a gage,

Marry a scold.

I:2:47 LEON.

In Burgos now, methinks,

Marriage is scarce the mode. Our princess frowns,

It seems, upon her suitors.

I:2:48 SIDO.

Is it true

The match is off?

I:2:49 LEON.

’Tis said.

I:2:50 COUN.

The match is off

You did not tell me this strange news, Alarcos.

I:2:51 SIDO.

Did he not tell you how—

I:2:52 ALAR.

In truth, good sirs,

My wife and I are somewhat strangers here,

And things that are of moment to the minds

That long have dwelt on them, to us are nought.

[To the Countess.]

There was a sort of scene to-day at Court;

The Princess fainted: we were all dismissed,

Somewhat abruptly; but, in truth, I deem

These rumours have no source but in the tongues

Of curious idlers.

I:2:53 SIDO.

Faith, I hold them true.

Indeed they’re very rife.

I:2:54 LEON.

Poor man, methinks

His is a lot forlorn, at once to lose

A mistress and a crown!

I:2:55 COUN.

Yet both may bring

Sorrow and cares. But little joy, I ween,

Dwells with a royal bride, too apt to claim

The homage she should yield.

I:2:56 SIDO.

I would all wives

Hold with your Countess in this pleasing creed.

I:2:57 ALAR.

She has her way: it is a cunning wench

That knows to wheedle. Burgos still maintains

Its fame for noble fabrics. Since my time

The city’s spread.

I:2:58 SIDO.

Ah! you’re a traveller, Count.

And yet we have not lagged.

I:2:59 COUN.

The Infanta, sirs,

Was it a kind of swoon?

I:2:60 ALAR.

Old Lara lives

Still in his ancient quarter?

I:2:61 LEON.

With the rats

That share his palace. You spoke, Madam?

I:2:62 COUN.

She

Has dainty health, perhaps?

I:2:63 LEON.

All ladies have.

And yet as little of the fainting mood

As one could fix on—

I:2:64 ALAR.

Mendola left treasure?

I:2:65 SIDO.

Wedges of gold, a chamber of sequins

Sealed up for ages, flocks of Barbary sheep

Might ransom princes, tapestry so rare

The King straight purchased, covering for the price

Each piece with pistoles.

I:2:66 COUN.

Is she very fair

I:2:67 LEON.

As future queens must ever be, and yet

Her face might charm uncrowned.

I:2:68 COUN.

It grieves me much

To hear the Prince departs. ’Tis not the first

Among her suitors

I:2:69 ALAR.

Your good uncle lives—

Nunez de Leon?

I:2:70 LEON.

To my cost, Alarcos;

He owes me much.

I:2:71 SIDO.

Some promises his heir

Would wish fulfilled.

I:2:72 COUN.

In Gascony, they said,

Navarre had sought her hand.

I:2:73 LEON.

He loitered here

But could not pluck the fruit: it was too high.

Sidonia threw him in a tilt one day.

The Infanta has her fancies; unhorsed knights

Count not among them.

[Enter a CHAMBERLAIN who whispers COUNT ALARCOS.]

I:2:74 ALAR.

Urgent, and me alone

Will commune with! A Page! Kind guests, your pardon,

I’ll find you here anon. My Florimonde,

Our friends will not desert you, like your spouse.

[Exit ALARCOS.]

I:2:75 COUN.

My Lords, will see our gardens?

I:2:76 SIDO.

We are favoured.

We wait upon your steps.

I:2:77 LEON.

And feel that roses

Will spring beneath them.

I:2:78 COUN.

You are an adept, sir,

In our gay science.

I:2:79 LEON.

Faith, I stole it, lady,

From a loose Troubadour Sidonia keeps

To write his sonnets.

[Exeunt omnes.]