And the fulfilment of it, doth beseem God only, the immutable! offence? Rail you against me? What is my I pull❜d the string. You sow'd blood, and yet stand [Exit Butler. SCENE X. To these enter the COUNTESS TERSTKY, pale and disordered. Her utterance is slow and feeble, and unimpassion❜d. Oct. (meeting her). O Countess Tertsky! These are results Of luckless unblest deeds. Coun. Rush forth thro' all its doors. I am the last Therein; I shut it up, and here deliver The keys. Oct. (with deep anguish). my house too is desolate. O Countess ! Coun. Who next is to be murder'd? Who is next To be maltreated? Lo! the Duke is dead. The Emperor's vengeance may be pacified! The Emp'ror is appeas'd; the heavy fault The Empress honours your adversity, Her motherly arms! Therefore no farther fears! Yield yourself up in hope and confidence To the Imperial grace! Coun. (with her eye rais'd to heaven). To the grace and mercy of a greater Master Do I yield up myself.-Where shall the body This sure may well be granted us—one sepulchre Oct. Countess, you tremble, you turn pale! Coun. (reassembles all her powers, and speaks with energy and dignity). You think More worthily of me, than to believe I would survive the downfall of my house. Coun. In a few moments is my fate accomplish'd. Nay, it is too late, [Exit Countess. Gor. O house of death and horrors ! [An officer enters, and brings a letter with the great seal. Gor. (steps forward and meets him). What is this? It is the Imperial seal. [He reads the address and delivers the letter to Octavio with a look of reproach, and with an emphasis on the word. To the Prince Piccolomini. Oct. (with his whole frame expressive of sudden anguish, raises his eyes to heaven. The Curtain drops. ACCEPT, as a small testimony of my grateful attachment, the following Dramatic Poem, in which I have endeavoured to detail, in an interesting form, the fall of a man, whose great bad actions have cast a disastrous lustre on his name. In the execution of the work, as intricacy of plot could not have been attempted without a gross violation of recent facts, it has been my sole aim to imitate the impassioned and highly figurative language of the French Orators, and to develop the characters of the chief actors on a vast stage of horrors. Yours fraternally, JESUS COLLEGE, September 22, 1794, S. T. COLERIDGE. THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE. ACT I. SCENE, The Tuilleries. Barrere. The tempest gathers-be it mine to seek A friendly shelter, ere it bursts upon him. But where? and how? I fear the Tyrant's soul— Sudden in action, fertile in resource, And rising awful 'mid impending ruins; In splendour gloomy, as the midnight meteor, Enter TALLIEN and LEGENDRE. [Exit. Tal. It was Barrere, Legendre! didst thou mark him? Abrupt he turn'd, yet linger'd as he went, And towards us cast a look of doubtful meaning. Leg. I mark'd him well. I met his eye's last glance, It menaced not so proudly as of yore. Methought he would have spoke-but that he dared not Such agitation darken'd on his brow. |