Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Note to the words "You are a painter," p. 350, Scene ii., Act ii.

The following lines I have preserved in this place, not so much as explanatory of the picture of the assassination, as to gratify my own feelings, the passage being no mere fancy portrait; but a slight, yet not unfaithful, profile of the late Sir George Beaumont.

Zul. (speaking of Alvar in the third person.) Such was the noble Spaniard's own relation.

He told me, too, how in his early youth,

And his first travels, 'twas his choice or chance
To make long sojourn in sea-wedded Venice;
There won the love of that divine old man,
Courted by mightiest kings, the famous Titian!
Who, like a second and more lovely Nature,
By the sweet mystery of lines and colors
Changed the blank canvass to a magic mirror,

That made the absent present; and to shadows

Gave light, depth, substance, bloom, yea, thought and motion.

He loved the old man, and revered his art:

And though of neblest birth and ample fortune,

The young enthusiast thought it no scorn
But an inalienable ornament,

To be his pupil, and with filial zeal

By practice to appropriate the sage lessons
Which the gay, smiling old man gladly gave.
The art, he honored thus, requited him :
And in the following and calamitous years
Beguiled the hours of his captivity.

Alh. And then he framed this picture and unaided

By arts unlawful, spell, or tallsman!

Alv. A potent spell, a mighty talisman!

The imperishable memory of the dead,

Sustained by love, and grief, and indignation!

So vivid were the forms within his brain,

His very eyes, when shut, made pictures of them!

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

ZAPOLY A.

A CHRISTMAS TALE. IN TWO PARTS.

Πὰρ πυρὶ χρὴ τοιαῦτα λέγειν χειμῶνος ἐν ὥρᾳ.

APUD ATHEN ÆUM

PART I.

THE PRELUDE, ENTITLED THE "USURPER'S FORTUNE.”

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE form of the following dramatic poem is in humble imitation of the Winter's Tale of Shakspeare, except that I have called the first part a Prelude instead of a first Act, as a somewhat nearer resemblance to the plan of the ancients, of which one specimen is left us in the Eschylean Trilogy of the Agamemnon, the Orestes, and the Eumenides. Though a matter of form merely, yet two plays, on different periods of the same tale, might seem less bold, than an interval of twenty years between a first and second act. This is, however, in mere obedience to custom. The effect does not, in reality, at all depend on the time of the interval; but on a very different principle. There are cases in which an interval of twenty hours between the acts would have a worse effect (i. e. render the imagination less disposed to take the position required) than twenty years in other cases. For the rest, I shall be well content if my readers will take it up, read and judge it as a Christmas tale.

CHARACTERS.

EMERICK, Usurping King of Illyria.
RAAB KIUPRILI, an Illyrian Chieftain.
CASIMIR, Son of KIUPRILI.

CHEF RAGOZZI, a Military Commander.
ZAPOLYA, Queen of Illyria.

ZAPOLYA.

SCENE I.-Front of the Palace with a magnificent Colonnaae On one side a military Guard-house. Sentries pacing back ward and forward before the Palace.

Chef Ragozzi, at the door of the Guard-house, as looking forwards at some object in the distance.

C. Rag. My eyes deceive me not, it must be he,
Who but our chief, my more than father, who
But Raab Kiuprili moves with such a gait?
Lo! e'en this eager and unwonted haste
But agitates, not quells, its majesty.

My patron! my commander! yes, 'tis he!

Call out the guards. The Lord Kiuprili comes.
[Drums beat, &c. the Guard turns out.
Kiuprili.

Enter Raab

R. Kiu. (making a signal to stop the drums, &c.) Silence! enough! This is no time, young friend!

For ceremonious dues. The summoning drum,

Th' air shattering trumpet, and the horseman's clatter,

Are insults to a dying sovereign's ear.

Soldiers, 'tis well! Retire! your General greets you,

His loyal fellow-warriors.

C. Rag.

[Guards retire.

Thus sudden from the camp, and unattended!

Pardon my surprise.

Tell me first,

What may these wonders prophesy?

R. Kiu.

How fares the king? His majesty still lives?

C. Rag. We know no otherwise; but Emerick's friends (And none but they approach him) scoff at hope.

R. Kiu. Ragozzi! I have reared thee from a child, And as a child I have reared thee. Whence this air Of mystery? That face was wont to open

[blocks in formation]
« ZurückWeiter »