Or count (or whatsoe'er this half-drown'd noble
May be), for whom this desolate village and
Its lone inhabitants show more respect
Than did the elements, is come.
Iden. [without].
This way-
This way, your excellency :-have a care,
The staircase is a little gloomy, and
Somewhat decay'd; but if we had expected
So high a guest-pray take my arm, my lord!

Enter STRALENHEIM, IDENSTEIN, and Attendants-
partly his own, and partly Retainers of the Do-
main of which IDENSTEIN is Intendant.
Stral. I'll rest me here a moment.
Iden. [to the servants].
Instantly, knaves!

Ho! a chair! [STRALENHEIM sits down.

'Tis he!

Wer. [aside].

Stral.

Who are these strangers?

Iden.

I'm better now.

Please you, my good lord,

One says he is no stranger.
Wer. [aloud and hastily]. Who says that?
[They look at him with surprise.
Iden. Why, no one spoke of you or to you!-but
Here's one his excellency may be pleased
To recognise.
Gab.

[Pointing to GABOR. I seek not to disturb

His noble memory.

Stral.

I apprehend.

This is one of the strangers to whose aid
I owe my rescue. Is not that the other?
[Pointing to WERNER.
My state when I was succour'd must excuse
My uncertainty to whom I owe so much.
Iden. He!-no, my lord! he rather wants for

At Hamburgh those who would have made assur

ance

If this be he or no? I thought, ere now,
To have been lord of Siegendorf, and parted
In haste, though even the elements appear
To fight against me, and this sudden flood
May keep me prisoner here till-
[He pauses and looks at WERNER; then resumes.

This man must
Be watch'd. If it is he, he is so changed,
His father, rising from his grave again,
Would pass him by unknown. I must be wary:
An error would spoil all.
Iden.
Your lordship seems
Pensive. Will it not please you to pass on?
Stral. 'Tis past fatigue, which gives my weigh'd-
down spirit

An outward show of thought. I will to rest.
Iden. The prince's chamber is prepared, with
all

The very furniture the prince used when
Last here, in its full splendour.

[Aside.] Somewhat tatter'd, And devilish damp, but fine enough by torchlight;

And that's enough for your right noble blood
Of twenty quarterings upon a hatchment;
So let their bearer sleep 'neath something like

You may seek

where

Your excellency rested for an hour, And said he would be here to-morrow.

Till

Stral.
That hour arrives, I can but offer thanks,
And then-

Gab.
I seek no more, and scarce deserve
So much. My comrade may speak for himself.
Stral. [fixing his eyes upon WERNER: then aside].
It cannot be! and yet he must be look'd to.
'Tis twenty years since I beheld him with

These eyes; and, though my agents still have kept
Theirs on him policy has held aloof
My own from his, not to alarm him into
Suspicion of my plan. Why did I leave

Then forgive

The same unknown and humble stranger, if
He wishes to remain so to the man
Who can have nought in common with him.
Stral.

Sir,
I will not balk your humour, though untoward:
I only meant you service-but good night!
Intendant, show the way! [To GABOR.] Sir, you
will with me?

[Exeunt STRALENHEIM and Attendants, IDEN-
STEIN, and GABOR.

Wer. [solus]. 'Tis he! I am taken in the toils.
Before

I quitted Hamburgh, Giulio, his late steward,
Inform'd me that he had obtain❜d an order
From Brandenburg's elector, for the arrest
Of Kruitzner (such the name I then bore) when
I came upon the frontier; the free city
Alone preserved my freedom-till I left
Its walls-fool that I was to quit them! But
I deem'd this humble garb, and route obscure,
Had baffled the slow hounds in their pursuit.
What's to be done? He knows me not by person;
Nor could aught, save the eye of apprehension,
Have recognised him, after twenty years,
We met so rarely and so coldly in

Our youth. But those about him! Now I can
Divine the frankness of the Hungarian, who
No doubt is a mere tool and spy of Stralenheim's,
To sound and to secure me. Without means!
Sick, poor-begirt, too, with the flooding rivers,
Impassable even to the wealthy, with
All the appliances which purchase modes
Of overpowering peril, with men's lives,-
How can I hope? An hour ago, methought
My state beyond despair; and now, 'tis such
The past seems paradise. Another day
And I'm detected,-on the very eve
Of honours, rights, and my inheritance,
When a few drops of gold might save me still
In favouring an escape.

Enter IDENSTEIN and FRITZ in conversation. Fritz. Immediately. Iden. I tell you, 'tis impossible.

Before

An hour is past, I'll do my best to serve him.
Fritz. Remember!
[Exit FRITZ.
Iden. The devil take these great men! they
Think all things made for them. Now here
must I

Rouse up some half a dozen shivering vassals
From their scant pallets, and, at peril of
Their lives, despatch them o'er the river towards
Frankfort. Methinks the baron's own experience
Some hours ago might teach him fellow-feeling:
But no, “it must," and there's an end. How now?
Are you there, Mynheer Werner?
Wer.

Your noble guest right quickly.
Iden.

You have left

Yes-he's dozing,

And seems to like that none should sleep besides.
Here is a packet for the commandant
Of Frankfort, at all risks and all expenses;
But I must not lose time: Good night!
Wer.

[Exit. To Frankfort!"

So, so, it thickens! Ay, "the commandant."
This tallies well with all the prior steps
Of this cool, calculating fiend, who walks
Between me and my father's house. No doubt
He writes for a detachment to convey me
Into some secret fortress.--Sooner than
This-

[WERNER looks around, and snatches up a knife lying on a table in a recess. Now I am master of myself at least. Hark,-footsteps! How do I know that Stralenheim

Will wait for even the show of that authority
Which is to overshadow usurpation?
That he suspects me's certain. I'm alone;
He with a numerous train. I weak; he strong
In gold, in numbers, rank, authority.

I nameless, or involving in my name
Destruction, till I reach my own domain;
He full-blown with his titles, which impose
Still further on these obscure petty burghers
Than they could do elsewhere.

still!

Hark! nearer

I'll to the secret passage which communicates
With the No! all is silent-'twas my fancy!—
Still as the breathless interval between

The flash and thunder :-I must hush my soul
Amidst its perils. Yet I will retire,

To see if still be unexplored the passage

I wot of it will serve me as a den

Of secrecy for some hours, at the worst.

[WERNER draws a panel, and exit, closing it after him.

What can there be in common with the proud
And wealthy baron, and the unknown Werner?
Gab. That you know best.
Jos.

Or, if it were so, how
Come you to stir yourself in his behalf,
Rather than that of him whose life you saved?

Gab. I help'd to save him, as in peril; but I did not pledge myself to serve him in Oppression. I know well these nobles, and Their thousand modes of trampling on the poor. I have proved them; and my spirit boils up when I find them practising against the weak :This is my only motive.

Jos.

It would be Not easy to persuade my consort of Your good intentions.

Gab.

Is he so suspicious?

Jos. He was not once; but time and troubles have

Made him what you beheld.
Gab.
I'm sorry for it.
Suspicion is a heavy armour, and
With its own weight impedes more than protects.
Good night! I trust to meet with him at daybreak.
[Erit.
Re-enter IDENSTEIN and some Peasants. JOSEPHINE
retires up the Hall.

First Peasant. But if I'm drown'd?
Iden.
Why, you will be well paid for't,
And have risk'd more than drowning for as much,
I doubt not.

Second Peasant. But our wives and families? Iden. Cannot be worse off than they are, and

A soldier. I'll promote you to the ranks
In the prince's body-guard-if you succeed:
And you shall have besides, in sparkling coin,
Two thalers.

Third Peasant. No more!
Iden.
Out upon your avarice!
Can that low vice alloy so much ambition?
I tell thee, fellow, that two thalers in
Small change will subdivide into a treasure.
Do not five hundred thousand heroes daily
Risk lives and souls for the tithe of one thaler?

When had you half the sum ?

Third Peasant.

The less I must have three.

Iden.

Never-but ne'er

Have you forgot

Whose vassal you were born, knave?

Third Peasant. And not the stranger's.

No-the prince's,

Iden. Sirrah! in the prince's Absence, I am sovereign, and the baron is My intimate connection;-" Cousin Idenstein! (Quoth he) you'll order out a dozen villains." And so, you villains! troop-march-march, I say; And if a single dog's ear of this packet Be sprinkled by the Oder-look to it! For every page of paper, shall a hide

Of yours be stretch'd as parchment on a drum, Like Ziska's skin, to beat alarm to all Refractory vassals, who cannot effect Impossibilities.-Away, ye earth-worms! [Exit, driving them out. Jos. [coming forward]. I fain would shun these scenes, too oft repeated,

Of feudal tyranny o'er petty victims ;

I cannot aid, and will not witness such.
Even here, in this remote, unnamed, dull spot,
The dimmest in the district's map, exist
The insolence of wealth in poverty

O'er something poorer still-the pride of rank
In servitude, o'er something still more servile;
And vice in misery affecting still

A tatter'd splendour. What a state of being!
In Tuscany, my own dear sunny land,
Our nobles were but citizens and merchants,
Like Cosmo. We had evils, but not such
As these; and our all-ripe and gushing valleys
Made poverty more cheerful, where each herb
Was in itself a meal, and every vine
Rain'd, as it were, the beverage which makes glad
The heart of man; and the neʼer unfelt sun
(But rarely clouded, and when clouded, leaving
His warmth behind in memory of his beams)
Makes the worn mantle, and the thin robe, less
Oppressive than an emperor's jewell'd purple.
But here! the despots of the north appear
To imitate the ice wind of their clime,
Searching the shivering vassal through his rags,
To wring his soul-as the bleak elements
His form. And 'tis to be amongst those sovereigns
My husband pants! and such his pride of birth—
That twenty years of usage, such as no
Father born in a humble state could nerve
His soul to persecute his son withal,
Hath changed no atom of his early nature;
But I, born nobly also, from my father's
Kindness was taught a different lesson. Father!
May thy long-tried and now rewarded spirit
Look down on us, and our so long desired
Ulric! I love my son, as thou didst me!
What's that? Thou, Werner! can it be? and thus?