folds, can I 90Strike but for mockery, and with restless beak
Gore my own breast? — Ragozzi, thou art faithful?
Chef Ragozzi. Here before Heaven I dedicate my faith
To the royal line of Andreas.
Raab Kiuprili. Hark, Ragozzi!
Guilt is a timorous thing ere perpetration: 95
Despair alone makes wicked men be bold.
Come thou with me! They have heard my voice in flight,
Have faced round, terror-struck, and feared no longer
The whistling javelins of their fell pursuers.
Ha! what is this?
[Black flag displayed from the Tower of the Palace: a
death-bell tolls, &c.
Vengeance of Heaven! He is dead. 100
Chef Ragozzi. At length then ‘tis announced. Alas! I fear,
That these black death-flags are but treason’s signals.
Raab Kiuprili. A prophecy too soon fulfilled! See yonder!
O rank and ravenous wolves! the death-bell echoes
Still in the doleful air — and see! they come. 105
Chef Ragozzi. Precise and faithful in their villainy
Even to the moment, that the master traitor
Had pre-ordained them.
Raab Kiuprili. Was it overhaste,
Or is it scorn, that in this race of treason
Their guilt thus drops its mask, and blazons forth 110
Their infamous plot even to an idiot’s sense?
Chef Ragozzi. Doubtless they deem Heaven too usurp’d! Heaven’s
justice
Bought like themselves!
Being equal all in crime,
Do you press on, ye spotted parricides!
For the one sole preeminence yet doubtful, 115
The prize of foremost impudence in guilt?
Raab Kiuprili. The bad man’s cunning still prepares the way
For its own outwitting. I applaud, Ragozzi!
Ragozzi! I applaud,
In thee, the virtuous hope that dares look onward
And keeps the life-spark warm of future action 120
Beneath the cloak of patient sufferance.
Act and appear, as time and prudence prompt thee:
I shall not misconceive the part thou playest.
Mine is an easier part — to brave the usurper.
[Enter a procession of EMERICK’S Adherents, Nobles,
Chieftains, and Soldiers, with Music. They
advance toward the front of the stage. KIUPRILI
makes the signal for them to stop. — The Music
ceases.
Leader of the Procession. The Lord Kiuprili! — Welcome from the
camp. 125
Raab Kiuprili. Grave magistrates and chieftains of Illyria,
In good time come ye hither, if ye come
As loyal men with honourable purpose
To mourn what can alone be mourned; but chiefly
To enforce the last commands of royal Andreas 130
And shield the Queen, Zapolya: haply making
The mother’s joy light up the widow’s tears.
Leader. Our purpose demands speed. Grace our procession;
A warrior best will greet a warlike king.
Raab Kiuprili. This patent written by your lawful king, 135
(Lo! his own seal and signature attesting)
Appoints as guardians of his realm and offspring,
The Queen, and the Prince Emerick, and myself.
[Voices of Live KING EMERICK! an EMERICK! an EMERICK!
What means this clamour? Are these madmen’s voices?
Or is some knot of riotous slanderers leagued 140
To infamize the name of the king’s brother
With a lie black as Hell? unmanly cruelty,
Ingratitude, and most unnatural treason? [Murmurs.
What mean these murmurs? Dare then any here
Proclaim Prince Emerick a spotted traitor? 145
One that has taken from you your sworn faith,
And given you in return a Judas’ bribe,
Infamy now, oppression in reversion,
And Heaven’s inevitable curse hereafter?
[Loud murmurs, followed by cries — EMERICK! No Baby
Prince! No Changelings!
Yet bear with me awhile! Have I for this 150
Bled for your safety, conquered for your honour?
Was it for this, Illyrians! that I forded
Your thaw-swoln torrents, when the shouldering ice
Fought with the foe, and stained its jagged points
With gore from wounds I felt not? Did the blast 155
Beat on this body, frost-and-famine-numbed,
Till my hard flesh distinguished not itself
From the insensate mail, its fellow warrior?
And have I brought home with me Victory,
And with her, hand in hand, firm-footed Peace, 160
Her countenance twice lighted
