The Lady of Lyons | Page 8

peasant to do with love? Vain revolutions, why lavish your cruelty on the great? Oh that we-- we, the hewers of wood and drawers of water--had been swept away, so that the proud might learn what the world would be without us! [Knock at the door.
Enter Servant from the Inn.
Servant. A letter for Citizen Melnotte.
Mel. A letter! from her perhaps--who sent thee?
Servant. Why, Monsieur--I mean Citizen--Beauseant, who stops to dine at the Golden Lion, on his way to his chateau.
Mel. Beauseant!--[Reads].
"Young man, I know thy secret--thou lovest above thy station: if thou hast wit, courage, and discretion, I can secure to thee the realization of thy most sanguine hopes; and the sole condition I ask in return is, that thou shalt be steadfast to thine own ends. I shall demand from thee a solemn oath to marry. her whom thou lovest; to bear her to thine home on thy wedding night. I am serious-- if thou wouldst learn more, lose not a moment, but follow the bearer of this letter to thy friend and patron,--CHARLES BEAUSEANT."
Mel. Can I believe my eyes? Are our own passions the sorcerers that raise up for us spirits of good or evil? I will go instantly.
Widow. What is this, Claude?
Mel. "Marry her whom thou lovest"--"bear her to thine own home."-- Oh, revenge and love; which of you is the stronger?--[Gazing on the picture.] Sweet face, thou smilest on me from the canvas: weak fool that I am, do I then love her still? No, it is the vision of my own romance that I have worshipped: it is the reality to which I bring scorn for scorn. Adieu, mother: I will return anon. My brain reels--the earth swims before me.--[Looks again at the letter.] No, it is not a mockery; I do not dream! [Exit.
ACT II.--SCENE I.
The Gardens of M. DESCHAPPELLEs' house at Lyons--the house seen at the back of the stage.
Enter BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Beau. Well, what think you of my plot? Has it not succeeded to a miracle? The instant that I introduced his Highness the Prince of Como to the pompous mother and the scornful daughter, it was all over with them: he came--he saw--he conquered: and, though it is not many days since he arrived, they have already promised him the hand of Pauline.
Gla. It is lucky, though, that you told them his highness travelled incognito, for fear the Directory (who are not very fond of princes) should lay him by the heels; for he has a wonderful wish to keep up his rank, and scatters our gold about with as much coolness as if he were watering his own flower-pots.
Beau. True, he is damnably extravagant; I think the sly dog does it out of malice. How ever, it must be owned that he reflects credit on his loyal subjects, and makes a very pretty figure in his fine clothes, with my diamond snuff-box.
Gla. And my diamond ring! But do you think he will be firm to the last? I fancy I see symptoms of relenting: he will never keep up his rank, if he once let out his conscience.
Beau. His oath binds him! he cannot retract without being foresworn, and those low fellows are always superstitious! But, as it is, I tremble lest he be discovered: that bluff Colonel Damas (Madame Deschappelles' cousin) evidently suspects him: we must make haste and conclude the farce: I have thought of a plan to end it this very day.
Gla. This very day! Poor Pauline: her dream will be soon over.
Beau. Yes, this day they shall be married; this evening, according to his oath, he shall carry his bride to the Golden Lion, and then pomp, equipage, retinue, and title, all shall vanish at once; and her Highness the Princess shall find that she has refused the son of a Marquis, to marry the son of a gardener.--Oh, Pauline! once loved, now hated, yet still not relinquished, thou shalt drain the cup to the dregs,--thou shalt know what it is to be humbled!
Enter from the house, MELNOTTE, as the Prince of Como, Ieading in PAULINE; MADAME
DESCHAPPELLES, fanning herself; and COLONEL DAMAS.
[BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS bow respectfully. fully. PAULINE and MELNOTTE walk apart.
Mme. Deschap. Good morning, gentlemen; really I am so fatigued with laughter; the dear Prince is so entertaining. What wit he has! Any one may see that he has spent his whole life in courts.
Damas. And what the deuce do you know about courts, cousin Deschappelles? You women regard men just as you buy books-- you never care about what is in them, but how they are bound and lettered. 'Sdeath, I don't think you would even look at your Bible if it had not a title to it.
Mme. Deschap. How coarse you are, cousin Damas!--quite the manners of a barrack--you don't deserve to be