THE

DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN.

ACT I.

Scene-A Chamber in the House of the DUCHESS of FRIEDLAND.

SCENE I.

COUNTESS TERTSKY, THEKLA, Lady Newbrunn. [The two latter sit at the same table at work.

So

Coun. (watching them from the opposite side) you have nothing, niece, to ask me? Nothing?

I have been waiting for a word from you.

And could you then endure in all this time
Not once to speak his name?

[Thekla remaining silent, the Countess rises
and advances to her.

Why, how comes this?

Perhaps I am already grown superfluous,
And other ways exist, besides through me?
Confess it to me, Thekla! have you seen him?
Thek. To-day and yesterday I have not seen him.
Coun. And not heard from him either? Come, be

open!

Thek. No syllable.

Coun.

Thek. I am.

And still you are so calm?

Coun. May't please you, leave us, Lady Neubruun!

[Exit Lady Neubrunn.

SCENE II.

The COUNTESS, THEKLA.

Coun. It does not please me, Princess! that he holds Himself so still, exactly at this time.

Thek. Exactly at this time?

Coun.

He now knows all

"Twere now the moment to declare himself.

Thek. If I'm to understand you, speak less darkly. Coun. 'Twas for that purpose that I bade her leave us. Thekla, you are no more a child. Your heart

Is now no more in nonage; for you love

And boldness dwells with love-that you have prov❜d.
Your nature moulds itself upon your father's
More than your mother's spirit. Therefore may you
Hear, what were too much for her fortitude.

Thek. Enough! no further preface, I intreat you,
At once, out with it! Be it what it may,
It is not possible that it should torture me
More than this introduction. What have you
To say to me? Tell me the whole, and briefly!
Coun. You'll not be frighten'd-..
Thek.
Name it, I intreat you.
Coun. It lies within your power to do

A weighty service

Thek.

your father

Lies within my power!

Coun. Max. Piccolomini loves you. You can link

Should he not be so now--not be so always?

Proofs of his love, and not proofs of his honour.
Duty and honour!

Those are ambiguous words with many meanings.
You should interpret them for him: his love
Should be the sole definer of his honour.

Thek. How?

Coun. Th' Emperor or you must he renounce. Thek. He will accompany my father gladly In his retirement. From himself you heard, How much he wish'd to lay aside the sword.

Coun. He must not lay the sword aside, we mean ; He must unsheath it in your father's cause. Thek. He'll spend with gladness and alacrity His life, his heart's blood in my father's cause, If shame or injury be intended him.

Coun. You will not understand me. Well, hea

then!

Your father has fallen off from the Emperor,

And is about to join the enemy

With the whole soldiery—

Thek.

Alas, my mother!

Coun. There needs a great example to draw on

The army after him. The Piccolomini

Possess the love and reverence of the troops;

They govern all opinions, and wherever

They lead the way, none hesitate to follow;
The son secures the father to our interests-

You've much in your hands at this moment.
Thek.

Ah

My miserable mother! what a death-stroke
Awaits thee !-No? She never will survive it.

Coun. She will accommodate her soul to that
Which is and must be. I do know your mother.
The far-off future weighs upon ner neart
With torture of anxiety; but is it
Unalterably, actually present,

She soons resigns herself, and bears it calmly.
Thek. O my foreboding bosom ! Even now,
E'en now 'tis here, that icy hand of horror!
And my young hope lies shuddering in its grasp.
I knew it well-no sooner had I enter'd

A heavy, ominous presentiment

Reveal'd to me, that spirits of death were hov'ring
Over my happy fortune. But why think I

First of myself? My mother! O my mother!
Coun. Calm yourself! Break not out in vain la-
menting!

Preserve you for your father the firm friend,

And for yourself the lover; all will yet

Prove good and fortunate.

Thek.

Prove good? What good?

Must we not part? Part ne'er to meet again?

Coun. He parts not from you! He cannot part

from you.

Thek. Alas for his sore anguish! It will rend His heart asunder.

Coun.

If indeed he love you,

His resolution will be speedily taken.

Thek. His resolution will be speedily taken

O do not doubt of that! A resolution!

Does there remain one to be taken?

Coun.

Hush!

Collect yourself! I hear your mother coming.
Thek. How shall I bear to see her?

Coun.

Collect yourself.

SCENE III.

To them enter the DUCHESS.

Duch (to the Countess). Who was here, sister? I heard some one talking,

And passionately too.

Coun.

Nay! There was no one.

Duch. I am grown so timorous, every trifling noise Scatters my spirits, and announces to me

The footstep of some messenger of evil.

And can you tell me, sister, what the event is?
Will he agree to do the Emperor's pleasure,
And send th' horse-regiments to the Cardinal?
Tell me, has he dismiss'd Von Questenberg
With a favourable answer.

Coun.

No, he has not.

Duch. Alas! then all is lost! I see it coming. The worst that can come! Yes, they will depose him; The accursed business of the Regensburg diet

Will all be acted o'er again!

Coun.

No! never!

Make your heart easy, sister, as to that.

[Thekla, in extreme agitation, throws herself upon her mother, and infolds her in her arms, weeping.

Duch. Yes, my poor child!

Thou too hast lost a most affectionate godmother
In th' empress. O that stern unbending man!
In this unhappy marriage what have I
Not suffer'd, not endur'd. For ev'n as if

I had been link'd on to some wheel of fire,
That restless, ceaseless, whirls impetuous onward,
I bave past a life of frights and horrors with him,
And ever to the brink of some abyss