DON CARLOS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 PERSECUTION. 
 
 A TRAGEDY, IN FIVE ACTS. 
 
 LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 
 
 SIXTH EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1822. 
 
London : 
 
 Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, 
 
 New- Street- Square. 
 
HENRY RICHARD, 
 
 LORD HOLLAND, 
 
 THIS PLAY IS DEDICATED, 
 
 BY AN AUTHOR WHO WOULD FEAR TO ENCOUNTER 
 
 THE CORRECTNESS OF HIS JUDGMENT, 
 
 THE PURITY OF HIS TASTE, 
 
 AND HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE CUSTOMS OF SPAIN, 
 
 DID HE NOT, 
 
 AT THE SAME TIME, 
 
 HOPE FOR INDULGENCE FROM THE PARTIALITY 
 
 OF HIS FRIENDSHIP. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/doncarlosorperseOOruss 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I must confess that the two main props upon 
 which the following attempt at a play is built, 
 have no solid foundation in history. With re- 
 spect to the passion of the Prince for the Queen, 
 we have only the testimony of De Thou, who 
 informs us, upon the authority of Louis de Foix, 
 a Parisian architect employed by Philip to build 
 the Escurial, and trusted by Don Carlos with 
 many of his secrets, " that frequent exclamations 
 were uttered by the Prince when he came out 
 of the apartment of the Queen, with whom 
 he had familiar intercourse, expressing indig- 
 nation, as if the King had deprived him of his 
 wife*," — alluding to the fact that the Princess 
 had at first been betrothed to him. If this 
 evidence be slight, there is none whatever for 
 supposing the Inquisition interfered at all in the 
 
 * Thuanus, lib. xliii. c. 8. 
 A 3 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 trial and condemnation of Don Carlos : That 
 tribunal, however, has so many sins upon its head, 
 that I can scarcely do it any injury by adding 
 an imaginary one to the catalogue. And if I have 
 not followed historical testimony with respect 
 to this individual case, I have faithfully pre- 
 served many of the rules of proceeding observed 
 in the Inquisition. Some deviations, indeed, 
 will be remarked, — for instance, the confronting 
 of the witnesses with the accused, the appear- 
 ance of the Bishop of Osma, and the visit of 
 Osorio to the Prince in prison ; but I imagine 
 that, according to the strictest probability, ex- 
 traordinary circumstances may occur on extra- 
 ordinary occasions. I have likewise flattered 
 the character of Don Carlos, as others have 
 done before me, in the portrait I have drawn of 
 him. 
 
 I trust, however, I shall not be severely cen- 
 sured for these large deviations from true 
 story. It is surely somewhat unreasonable, on 
 the part of the reader, to require from the 
 author of a professed work of fiction, a strict 
 adherence to fact ; and to confine the writer of a 
 novel or a play to the same rules which are 
 rightly imposed upon an historian. We may 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 find fault with Voltaire for having displayed 
 to us, in too favourable a light, the court of 
 Lewis XIV. ; but it would not be equally just 
 to blame Madame de Genlis for having em- 
 bellished, in her romance, the character of 
 Madame de la Valliere. It is proper to blame 
 Hume for suppressing facts discreditable to his 
 heroes, the Stuarts ; but it is going somewhat 
 too far to call the author of " Old Mortality" 
 to account for the partial colouring he has given 
 to his historical characters. Leaving these 
 points, however, to the judgment of the reader, 
 the main facts, which I have borrowed from 
 history, are the following : — 
 
 About the year 1555, several Spanish Luther- 
 ans printed, out of Spain, copies of the Bible in 
 the Spanish language, which were soon after- 
 wards introduced into that country by the care of 
 Hernandez, one of their number. The Inquisi- 
 tion, alarmed at the progress made in reading the 
 Scriptures, arrested many Lutherans, and, in 1559, 
 celebrated two " Acts of Faith," or autos-da-fe, at 
 Valladolid. At the former of these, Don Carlos, 
 then a boy, presided : he was obliged to take 
 the oath mentioned in the play, and it is affirmed 
 a 4 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 by Llorente that he conceived a violent hatred 
 against the Inquisition from that time. 
 
 Don Carlos is said to have been passionate in 
 his youth, and one day struck Don Garcia de 
 Toledo, when on a hunting party with him. 
 About 1565, Don Carlos entertained a project 
 of going to Flanders, which he renewed in 1567. 
 The steps he took on this subject are thus re- 
 lated by Llorente in his history of the Spanish 
 Inquisition : — 
 
 " Le marquis de Berg et le baron de Montigny 
 se rendirent a Madrid en qualite de deputes des 
 provinces de la Flandre ; ils etaient envoy es pour 
 regler les points relatifs a l'etablissement de 
 PInquisition dans ce pays, et a d'autres objets 
 qui avait cause des troubles parmi les habitans. 
 Marguerite d'Autriche, princesse de Parma, 
 sceur naturelle du roi, etait alors gouvernante 
 des Pays-Bas, et avait consent! a ce voyage. 
 Ces deputes s'aperc^urent que Don Carlos etait 
 tout occupe du projet dont je viens de parler, et 
 ils travaillerent a fortifier dans son esprit la reso- 
 lution de le faire reussir. lis ltd offrirent de 
 P aider dans le plan qu'il meditait de se rendre 
 en Allemagne. Pour faire toutes ses offres, on 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 eut besoin d'un intermediate ; ce fut a M. de 
 Vendome, chambellan du roi, qu'ils s'adres- 
 serent pour cela. II promit au prince de le de- 
 clarer chef souverain des Pays-Bas, apres avoir 
 depouille du gouvernement civil la princesse 
 Marguerite, et le due d'Albe du gouvernement 
 militaire, s'il promettait la liberte des opinions 
 religieuses. Gregorio Leti parle d'une lettre 
 de D. Carlos au comte d'Egmont, qui fut trouvee 
 dans les papiers du due d'Albe, et qui fut cause 
 que ce governeur fit decapiter le comte, ainsi 
 que celui de Horn : il ne put faire subir le meme 
 sort au prince d' Orange, parce qu'il avait deja 
 pris la fuite. Sur ces entrefaites on travaillait a 
 punir en Espagne (quoique par des moyens in- 
 directs) le marquis de Berg, et le baron de 
 Montigny, qu'on avait enfermes dans deux cha- 
 teaux separes. 
 
 " Quoique ces deux derniers seigneurs eussent 
 offert au prince des secours en argent pour son 
 voyage, il ne les accepta pas, tant il croyait 
 pouvoir se les procurer par lui-meme, et les de- 
 marches qu'il fit pour cela firent decouvrir la 
 conspiration. II ecrivit a presque tous les grands 
 d* Espagne pour demander leur appui dans une 
 entreprise qu'il avait projetee : il re9ut des re- 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 ponses favorables ; le plus grand nombre renfer- 
 mait cependant pour condition que cette entre- 
 prise ne serait pas dirigee contre le rot son pere. 
 L'amiral de Castille (descendant de la famille 
 royale en ligne directe masculine) ne se contenta 
 pas de cette precaution. Le silence mysterieux 
 dont cette pretendue enterprise etait enveloppee, 
 et la connaissance qu'il avait du peu de bon sens 
 du prince, lui firent soup9onner qu'elle pourrait 
 etre criminelle. Pour ecarter le danger, il re- 
 mit au monarque la lettre de son fils, lorsque 
 deja Don Carlos avait tout revele a D. Jean 
 d'Autriche, son oncle, qui le communiqua aus- 
 sitot a Philippe II. Quelques personnes soup- 
 9onnerent qu'il entrait dans le plan de la con- 
 spiration de faire perdre la vie au roi. Mais les 
 lettres ne prouvent d'autre objet, que des de- 
 marches faites pour avoir des secours en argent. 
 Don Carlos avait accorde toute sa confiance pour 
 cette affaire a Garcie Alvarez Osorio, son valet 
 de chambre, qui etait complice de son crime 5 il 
 l'avait charge de suppleer de vive voix a toutes 
 les explications qui n'etaient pas contenues dans 
 les lettres dont il etait porteur. Ce confident fit 
 plusieurs voyages pour remplir les vues de son 
 maitre a Valladolid, a Burgos, et dans d'autres 
 villes de la Castille. Le prince, n'ayant pas ob- 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 tenu tout Pargent qu'il desirait, ecrivit de Ma- 
 drid, le 1 st Decembre, 1567, unelettre a Osorio, 
 qui fut contresignee par Martin de Gaztelu, son 
 secretaire ; il y disait qu'il n'avait re9U que six 
 mille ducats sur toutes les promesses et les 
 lettres-de-change qu'on avait negociees en Cas- 
 tille, et qu'il en avait besoin de six cent mille 
 pour T enterprise en question ; qu'afin de se les 
 procurer, il lui envoya douze lettres en blanc 
 signees de lui, et sous la meme date, pour qu'il 
 les remplit des noms et surnoms des personnes 
 a qui elles seraient remises ; il lui ordonnait en 
 meme temps de se rendre a Seville, ou il pour- 
 rait continuer les demarches commencees, et 
 faire usage de ces lettres." 
 
 Don Carlos was afterwards tried for this 
 offence by a special commission named by the 
 King. The following is the account given by 
 Llbrente of the result of the trial. It is to be 
 observed, however, that the historian Cabrera 
 avers the confidential friends of the prince never 
 gave credit to the report that he had any in- 
 tention of conspiring against the life of his 
 father; Philip, however, wished to have it so 
 believed. 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 " L/enquete que D. Diegue Bribiesca de Mug- 
 natones avait faite etait deja assez avancee au 
 mois de Juillet pour motiver un jugement som- 
 maire, sans entendre le coupable, ou pour 
 nommer un procureur du roi, qui, en qualite 
 de fiscal, accusat le prince des crimes constates 
 par V instruction preparatoire. On ne fit au 
 prince aucune signification judiciaire ; on n' avait 
 que des declarations de temoins, des lettres et 
 d'autres papiers. II resultait des pieces qu'on 
 ne pouvait, d'apres les lois du royaume, se dis- 
 penser de condamner D. Carlos a la peine de 
 mort : il etait convaincu du crime de leze-ma- 
 jeste au premier et au second chef; d'abord, 
 pour avoir forme le projet et tente de commettre 
 un parricide, et ensuite pour avoir voulu usurper 
 la souverainete de la Flandre par le moyen d'une 
 guerre civile. Mugnatones en fit un rapport au 
 roi, et sur les peines que les lois etablissaient 
 contre les autres sujets qui se rendaient cou- 
 pables de pareils crimes ; il ajoutait cependant 
 que des circonstances particulieres, ainsi que la 
 qualite du criminel, pouvaient engager sa ma- 
 jeste a faire usage de son autorite souveraine 
 pour declarer que les lois generales ne parlaient 
 pas des fils aines des rois, parcequ'ils etaient 
 soumis a d'autres lois d'une nature plus elevee, 
 
PREFACE. Xiii 
 
 qui touchaient a la politique, aux raisons d'etat, 
 au bien public ; enfin, que le monarque pouvait 
 encore, pour le bien de ses sujets, commuer les 
 peines que ces lois imposaient. ,, 
 
 " Le cardinal Espinosa et le prince d'Evoli 
 declarerent qu'ils partageaient 1'avis du conseiller 
 Mugnatones : Philippe II. dit alors que son cceur 
 lui dictait de suivre l'avis de ses conseillers, mais 
 que sa conscience ne le lui permettait point ; 
 qu'il ne pensait pas qu'il en resultat aucun bien 
 pour l'Espagne, qu'il croyait, au contraire, que 
 le plus grand malheur qui put arriver a son 
 royaume serait d'etre gouverne par un monarque 
 prive d'instruction, de talent, de jugement, de 
 vertus, et rempli de vices, de passions, surtout 
 colere, feroce et sanguinaire ; que toutes ces 
 considerations le fo^aient, malgre 1' amour qui 
 Pattachaient a son fils, et le dechirement que 
 lui causait un sacrifice aussi terrible, de laisser 
 continuer la procedure d'apres les formes pres- 
 erves par les lois ; neanmoins, considerant que 
 la sante de son fils etait, par une suite des ecarts 
 de son regime, dans un £tat si deplorable qu'il 
 n'y avait aucun espoir de la sauver, il croyait 
 que ce serait adoucir ses dernieres peines, de 
 negliger un peu les soins qu'on lui donnait, pour 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 satisfaire toutes ses envies dans le boire et le 
 manger ; car, d'apres le desordre de ses idees, il 
 ne pouvait manquer de commettre des exces qui 
 le conduiraient bientot au tombeau : que la seule 
 chose qui Poccupait etait le besoin de persuader 
 a son fils que sa mort etait inevitable, et qu'en 
 consequence il etait absolument necessaire qu'il 
 se confessat pour assurer son salut eternel ; que 
 c' etait la plus grande preuve d' amour qu'il put 
 donner a son fils et a la nation Espagnole," 
 
 Horrible as this declaration on the part of a 
 father appears, it seems that Don Carlos was not 
 left to die by his own imprudence and natural 
 disease, He received from a physician, by 
 the command of the prince of Evoli, and ap- 
 parently with the connivance of the King, a 
 medicine the effects of which he survived only 
 four days. 
 
 During his last moments, Philip came into the 
 room and gave him his blessing. This last 
 scene is thus given by Llorente. 
 
 " Don Carlos, instruit par Olivares que sa ma- 
 ladie etait sans remede, et sa mort prochaine, 
 engage en meme temps par ce medecin a s'y 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 preparer, voulut qu'on appelat F. Diegue de 
 Chaves, son confesseur ordinaire : ses ordres 
 firrent executes le 21 Juillet. Le prince chargea 
 ce religieux de demander en son nom pardon au 
 roi son pere : celui-ci lui fit repondre qu'il le 
 lui accordait de tout son cceur, ainsi que sa bene- 
 diction, et qu'il esperait que son repentir le lui 
 fesait obtenir de Dieu. Le meme jour, il rec^ut 
 avec la plus grande devotion les sacremens de 
 1'Eucharistie et de l'Extreme-Onction: il fit aussi, 
 avec l'agrement du Roi, un testament qui fut 
 ecrit par Martin de Gaztelu, son secretaire. 
 II fut en agonie le 22 et le 23 ; dans cet etat, 
 il ecouta avec tranquillite les exhortations de 
 F. Diegue de Chaves ; et du docteur Suarez de 
 Toledo, son premier aumonier. Les ministres 
 proposerent au roi de voir son flls, et de lui 
 donner une autre fois en personne sa benediction, 
 cette grace devant etre un surcroit de consolation 
 pour lui en mourant. Philippe II. prit Pavis 
 des deux eccl^siastiques que j'ai nommes ci- 
 dessus ; ils repondirent que Don Carlos etant 
 bien dispose^ il etait a craindre que la vue de 
 son pere ne fit naitre quelque trouble dans ses 
 idees. Ce motif le retint pour le moment : ce- 
 pendant, ayant appris dans la nuit du 23 au 24 
 que son fils etait a la derniere extremite, il se 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 rendit dans son appartement ; et etendant le 
 bras entre les epaules du prince d'Evoli et du 
 grand prieur, il lui donna une seconde fois sa 
 benediction, sans en etre aperc^u. Cela etant 
 fait, il se retira tout en pleurs : son depart fut 
 bientot suivi de la mort de D. Carlos, qui expira 
 a quatre heures du matin le 24 Juillet, veille de 
 la fete de St. Jacques, patron de PEspagne." * 
 
 Those who wish to know more of Don Carlos, 
 will do well to consult the New Monthly Maga- 
 zine for Sept. and Oct. 1822, where they will 
 find two articles evidently written by one per- 
 fectly master of the subject. 
 
 * Llorente. Histoire Critique de 1' Inquisition d'Espagne, torn. iii. 
 chap. 31, 
 
DON CARLOS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 PERSECUTION. 
 
 A TRAGEDY. 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 MEN. 
 
 Philip, King of Spain. 
 
 Don Carlos. 
 
 Don Luis Cordoba. 
 
 Valdez, Great Inquisitor. 
 
 Lucero, an Inquisitor. 
 
 TJie Bishop of Osma. 
 
 Osorio, follower o/Don Carlos. 
 
 Three Inquisitors — Officers and Soldiers. 
 
 WOMEN. 
 
 The Queen. 
 
 Donna Leonora Cordoba. 
 
 Lady attending on the Queen. 
 
 Scene — Madrid. 
 
DON CARLOS. 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 SCENE I. — A Room in the Inquisition. 
 Valdez. Lucero. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 W ell met Lucero ! we expected you 
 
 With anxious thoughts ; how prospers our new church 
 
 In proud Granada ? 
 
 lucero. 
 Well as could be hoped. 
 It is a youthful plant, and has not yet 
 Into the earth struck root that can withstand 
 A sudden tempest; the accursed race 
 Of Mahomet still cling with barbarous love 
 To their old idol ; some eight hundred years 
 Of unbelief have choked the soil with weeds. 
 Their spirit still is proud ; each minor bond 
 Of dress, of language, of familiar custom, 
 Links them with force to their unhallowed faith. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 We shall amend these things ; in a few years 
 Their Moorish garb shall yield to Christian cloaks, 
 Their tongue shall slip into the pure Castilian, 
 b 2 
 
4 DON CARLOS, ac 
 
 Their household customs, all that constitutes 
 A separate race shall be purged out by fire, 
 And penalty of death ; enough of this : 
 We have more pressing matter in debate, 
 That needs your counsel. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Let me hear the subject. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 'Tis of the highest ; our young prince, Don Carlos, 
 The heir of Spain ; you know his forward humour, 
 His disrespectful tones and harsh constructions 
 On our proceedings ; we, who should obtain 
 His reverence and his awe, are viewed with mute 
 And sullen disregard. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 I know it well. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Had he locked up the malice in his breast, 
 
 And done no overt act of enmity 
 
 To the most Holy Inquisition, time 
 
 Must in the end have crowned his purposes ; 
 
 And we should have beheld the mighty bulwark 
 
 On which we stand, the soldiers of the faith, 
 
 Shaken, perhaps destroyed. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Indeed, this fear 
 Hath often weighed upon my mind. 
 
 VALDKZ. 
 
 In mine 
 It fretted into action ; thus I reasoned : 
 
sc. l. A TRAGEDY. 5 
 
 If I can spur the irritable stuff 
 
 Of which the prince is made, to act against us ; 
 
 If I can make a cautious enemy 
 
 Spring from his ambuscade, and show himself 
 
 An open foe, then may we close in fight 
 
 And gain the field, while Philip lives and reigns. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 The path is perilous ; what are your means ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 You may remember Leonora, now 
 
 The wife of Cordoba, the prince's friend. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 I do. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 This lady early loved the prince : 
 She was brought up at court, and sighed for him, 
 Her first young girlish passion ; it was met 
 With carelessness and scorn ; she felt the slight. 
 Now for a stranger tale, King Philip's son 
 Almost unconscious to himself, loves her 
 He should not, the fair Queen of Spain. — 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Elizabeth ! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Even so — and Donna Leonora is 
 The lady of the court, who waits upon her ; 
 She hates the queen for being loved of Carlos, 
 She hates Don Carlos that he loves the queen : 
 She is of our observers ; now you hold 
 The clue ; this lady and her husband urge 
 b 3 
 
6 DON CARLOS, A c r . 
 
 The prince to show his secret sentiments 
 Of mercy to the Lutheran; and save 
 The victims of our cruelty ; some few 
 Of these I suffered to escape from Spain, 
 To fasten on Don Carlos the foul stain 
 Of favouring heresy. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 It was well done. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Nay more ; 
 By the excitements of Don Luis Cordoba, 
 The prince has seen the Flemish deputies, 
 Who now are at the court to plead the cause 
 Of rebels, but from all men's sight debarred : 
 Don Carlos spoke with them, his tender soul 
 Melted to learn what hardships were endured 
 By these vile heretics ; and better still, 
 He meditates a journey into Flanders, 
 With the kino! hope, good youth, to reconcile 
 His father's rebels to his father's crown : 
 This journey is a secret ; when 'tis known, 
 'Twill work the king most strangely. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Was seemingly the prince's friend. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 He seemingly is still. 
 
 Yet Don Luis 
 
 And so 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 What drove him then 
 To aid your projects ? 
 
sc. I. A TRAGEDY. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Is he not our servant ? 
 But to unveil the truth, this Cordoba 
 Was placed about the prince when young, — all know 
 Don Carlos then was choleric ; he struck 
 In some short fit of passion his attendant ; 
 Forgot it, and believed it was forgiven : 
 But this same Cordoba, ignobly framed, 
 Of base low hatreds, and mean coward fears, 
 Has panted ever since for treble vengeance, 
 Yet dares not ask his own right arm to do it, 
 And darkly borrows our assistance. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Deep 
 The soundings of the sea on which you sail ! 
 And Donna Leonora aids in this ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Aye, and with zeal ; ever upon the watch 
 To mark the gestures of the queen, and strike 
 Into Don Philip's breast the poisoned dart 
 Of jealousy, she burns to do us service ; 
 'Tis thus that from the dross of human nature 
 Our alchymy extracts the golden ore, 
 And makes our riches from vile dirt. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 'Tis well 
 If these your covered mines are safely laid : 
 I fear some counterplot may make them burst 
 On our own heads ; the king is prudent, knowing, 
 And scarcely will be brought to see the guilt 
 b 4 
 
8 DON CARLOS, act i. 
 
 Of his own son ; or if he fire an instant, 
 Returning tenderness may make their peace 
 And leave us stranded on the shore. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Fear not ; 
 The king has got a demon : 'tis suspicion ; 
 Whose senses are refined to pain, whose ears 
 Are stung to madness by a cricket's chirp ; 
 Whose jaundiced eyes in every sheep perceive 
 A covert wolf; and, mark you well, Lucero, 
 He who reposes not in confidence 
 That men are somewhat better than they are, 
 Conceives them worse. Philip beside is crazed 
 With love of fame ; he does not love his queen, 
 He does not love his country : but he loves 
 To swell his name with their bright attributes : 
 And when he sees his consort and his throne 
 Both menaced, will he not resist ? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 In truth, 
 You have profoundly weighed these things ; I come 
 A stranger to this counsel, and as yet 
 Know little of its bearings ; be it yours 
 To guide, and I will follow. But say, father, 
 Think you the prince is deeply struck with passion 
 For his fair step-mother ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 In good truth, no. 
 The prince is in that melancholy mood, 
 The offspring of a young and teeming fancy, 
 That boys call love ; but no more like to love, 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 
 
 Than the weak lightning of a summer night, 
 That plays upon the horizon's edge, is like 
 To that which issues from the loaded cloud 
 And rives the oak asunder. — 'Twas his nurse, 
 Or his old tutor, grey-beard Osma, told him 
 That he should marry the princess of France, 
 As once our treaties ran ; his childish brain 
 Has ever since been dreaming of her. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Much 
 Know you of human passions, reverend father. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Man is the only book I read : but why 
 Waste time on speculation ? let's begone, 
 And soon the sceptre of imperial Spain 
 Shall be our mortgage : we the real kings, 
 And Philip but our deputy. — Away. 
 
 SCENE II. 
 
 An Apartment in the King's Palace, 
 
 Enter King Philip with a letter in his hand, followed hy 
 an Officer. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Bid Donna Leonora Cordoba 
 
 Attend us presently : [Exit Officer. 
 
 Strange words are these ! {reading.) 
 " The queen who seems so sad, can smile sometimes, 
 
10 DON CARLOS, AC 
 
 When the king is not in her company, 
 
 On one who touches the king nearly :" So — 
 
 This were no other than Don Carlos : he 
 
 Always had favour in her eyes, but still 
 
 It was an innocent regard — yet innocent 
 
 She cannot be who wears the crown of Spain, 
 
 And is observed of levity — the boy ! 
 
 How have I tended him from infancy 
 
 To be my age's staff; thinking to rest 
 
 On him my heavier cares, and curtained schemes 
 
 Big with the glories of a future age ; 
 
 And now he is a vulture, hovering o'er me, 
 
 Watching my death to feed on my remains. 
 
 The people cry : " There is the prince shall reign 
 
 When Philip is no more :" old nurses bless 
 
 His beardless face, and silly children toss 
 
 Their tiny caps into the air ; while I 
 
 Am met by frigid reverence, passive awe, 
 
 That fears, yet dares not own itself for fear ; 
 
 As though the public hangman stalked behind me. 
 
 And this it is to reign — to gain men's hate. 
 
 Thus for the future monarch, Fancy weaves 
 
 A spotless robe, entwines his sceptre round 
 
 With flow'ry garlands, places on his head 
 
 A crown of laurels, while the weary present, 
 
 Like a stale riddle or a last-year's fashion, 
 
 Carries no grace with it. Base, vulgar world ! 
 
 'Tis thus that men for ever live in hope, 
 
 And he that has done nothing is held forth 
 
 As capable of all things ; poor weak herd ! 
 
 Heaven save me from the breath of their applause ! 
 
sen. A TRAGEDY. 11 
 
 Enter Donna Leonora. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Madam, good day. I have desired your presence 
 On urgent matters : answer me, and quick, 
 What is the general temper of the queen 
 When with her women ? gay, or sad, or staid ? 
 What her diversion ? does the prince's presence 
 Make any change in her deportment ? 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Sire! 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 I ask you how the queen receives our son. 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 I know not well to answer. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Yet my words 
 Are plain and simple. 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Sire ! indeed — 
 
 I must have truth. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Reply a 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Then, sire, behold, the truth/ 
 Her usual air appears as if she mocked 
 The state she wears ; the jewels of the crown 
 But shade her lustre ; all the royal pomp 
 Makes her not proud, but sad : the dignity 
 That doth befit Castile, she casts aside, 
 As if it soiled her purity of heart : 
 
12 DON CARLOS, Ac 
 
 But if Don Carlos in her presence stands, 
 
 Then like a statue starting into life, 
 
 Her cheeks blush deep with rosy streams ; her eyes 
 
 Glow with unusual fires ; her arm, her hand, 
 
 No longer move with languor : all her frame 
 
 In animated gesture speaks the soul ; 
 
 Though still her timid modesty of mind 
 
 Tempers with grace the beauty of her mien. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 She welcomes him ? 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Yes, sire, such welcome gives 
 As when upon the dark blank world the sun 
 Pours forth his beams; when undistinguished space 
 Grows rich with meaning ; hill, and lake, and plain 
 Glitter in new-born light, and hail the day : — 
 Stych is the queen, when to our quiet hours 
 Don Carlos gives his leisure. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 It is well ; 
 She should rejoice to see our royal son : 
 Say, does he ever speak to her alone ? 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Nay, gracious sire, that were to my reproach. 
 My office here is to attend the queen ; 
 Never^ to leave her presence ; and to break 
 That rnle, so long as I can hold my station, 
 Were to betray my duty, soil my race. 
 None ev\er yet, of countrymen, or friends, 
 Or childish playmates of her infancy, 
 
sen. A TRAGEDY. 13 
 
 Or near relations of your royal blood, 
 Have ever spoken to the queen alone ; 
 Nor have I missed a gesture or a word, 
 Or failed, when reason was, to bear the tale 
 Unto your majesty. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 'Tis well ; 'tis well : 
 Say now — I would know more — I fain would know; — 
 Not that these things which you have told to me, 
 Excite a thought unworthy of the queen, 
 Or can the least unhinge my steadfast love 
 And anchored trust in her fidelity. — 
 Far from us all suspicion ! but 'tis well 
 That I, the king, should know the slightest sign, 
 The breath of air, or creaking of a door, 
 That passes in my court : — inform me then, 
 Has it been known to you, the prince, our son, 
 Used more familiar gesture to the queen 
 Than does befit his duty — touched her hand ? 
 Or — 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Never, gracious sire, have I beheld 
 Aught but of reverence from our royal prince : 
 With due and subject duty — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Tell me, then, 
 Have you observed the queen at any time 
 Bestow a trinket on the prince ? or seen 
 The prince make homage of a gift to her ? 
 A chain — a riband — any bauble ? 
 
14 DON CARLOS, ACT I. 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Sire, 
 Last month upon her birth-day, I remarked 
 Don Carlos gave a necklace to the queen 
 In worship of the day : 'twas rich, well wrought : 
 But never have I seen the queen attired 
 In that fair ornament : the prince received — 
 'Twas likewise on his birth-day — from the queen 
 A golden clasp to bind his cloak withal : 
 It is the one he wears in daily use, 
 And seems to cherish. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Madam, it is well : 
 Such gifts are but the bonds of courtesy, 
 That add civility to kindred ties : 
 (Aside) Yet like I not such tokens always worn. 
 Love oftentimes that dares not lead his march 
 Direct from heart to heart, by such bye-paths 
 Conducts his enterprize ; and warm desires 
 That would shrink back from looking on the life, 
 Are yet excited by the fond caress 
 Bestowed on senseless matter. — 
 ( To Leonora.) Leonore — 
 
 Attend the queen with care, allow no hand, 
 Of baser service, to usurp the place 
 You hold in her near confidence : none else 
 To furnish converse for her evening hours, 
 Or gain her friendship by officious zeal 
 Of waiting at her toilet — look to this. — 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 My gracious sire, your will shall be my law. 
 
sc. II. A TRAGEDY. 15 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 And mind your own communications : keep 
 Within the limits of discretion : speak 
 To none, your relative or dearest friend, 
 Of that which passes in our palace : stay 
 Your tongue upon the threshold of your speech : 
 Weigh all your words : our palace is the state, 
 Our home the Spanish empire : vulgar breath 
 Must not pollute our councils ; least of all 
 Should the base multitude presume to know 
 Of our domestic ; be in all reserved, 
 In this most secret. 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Sire, from infancy 
 I learnt to reverence our royal house, 
 And now by long experience I have known 
 With how much awe the king should be obeyed. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 'Tis well — you may depart — yet stay a moment : 
 If without forwardness you can lead on 
 The queen to speak of Carlos, in those hours 
 When the locked bosom opens, and the heart, 
 Surcharged with feeling, overflows in speech, 
 Which women and weak men cannot restrain, — 
 You have my leave to speak and listen, but 
 Tell what you learn to us alone : depart. 
 
 {Exit Leonora. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Uneasy, galling, painful, racking doubt ! 
 I think I can perceive a something vague 
 
16 DON CARLOS, ACT I# 
 
 And unsubstantial fasten on my fame, 
 
 That like a damp and pestilential mist 
 
 Dims the bright surface of my stainless honour — 
 
 This Leonora too — that she should see, 
 
 That she should know the king is jealous — no, 
 
 Not jealous but disturbed for Spain. — Who's there ? 
 
 Enter Officer. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 My liege, the Great Inquisitor, Valdez, 
 Prays for^an audience. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Admit him straight. 
 Enter Valdez. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Most holy father, let me pray your blessing. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 The church prays heaven to bless her faithful son. 
 
 [Gives him his benediction. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 And now, what business leads you to our presence ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Alas, my king, unwelcome, heavy news 
 I bring your majesty. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 I pray you speak. 
 Our best attention shall be given you. 
 
SC. ii. A TRAGEDY. 17 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Sire, 
 The tale is of that kind the bearer fears 
 To let escape too rudely, lest the blow 
 May strike the hearer down : I do beseech 
 Your majesty to arm yourself in steel, 
 To brace your soul in mail of fortitude 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Good father, speak ; I am not weak of mind : 
 Say, have I ruled in the two hemispheres 
 For twenty years, and never met reverse ? 
 Great as our victories, high as our name, 
 Proud as our empire stands above the rest, 
 Heaven has not yet forgotten to chastise, 
 To save our soul from overweening pride ; 
 But never were we so puft up with fame, 
 As not to bear the rod with humbleness. — 
 Remember you when our great armament 
 Sailed from our shore to conquer and convert 
 England, rebellious to its God ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 I do. 
 A time of cruel memory; our ships 
 Collected in our ports by years of toil, 
 The mighty preparations of the realm, 
 Our implements of battle, all the pomp 
 Of naval war which vainly had been deemed 
 Invincible, were scattered to the winds ; 
 Our lofty expectations sunk for ever , 
 And, worst of all, our bravest chivalry, 
 
18 DON CARLOS, aci 
 
 The hopes of Christendom, the strength of Spain, 
 Shrouded in waves or chained in English dungeons. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Yet when this bitter draught, this killing potion 
 Was all distilled into one dreadful word 
 And poured at once into my ear — that word 
 No less than Ruin, — showed I then, Valdez, 
 A weakness unbecoming of a man, 
 A christian, and a king ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 No — sovereign lord, 
 I do remember well on that sad day 
 When all Madrid was tears, and your whole people 
 Seemed like a widowed queen : the messenger 
 Came to your majesty when in the church, 
 You still prayed heaven for good success : the tale 
 Was dreadful, but your royal countenance 
 Took not the print of woe ; your voice august 
 Nor fell nor falter'd when, in brief reply, 
 Calmly you said : "I did not send my troops 
 To combat with the elements." Such proof 
 Of pious resignation swift was known, 
 And half the anguish of the wound was saved 
 By iron constancy : for fortitude 
 Rewards itself, and dries the stream of grief 
 In its own source, the mind. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 In fortitude 
 Our nation ever was pre-eminent : 
 But most of all it doth become a king, 
 To stand aloof from common sympathies ; 
 
SC. II. A TRAGEDY. 19 
 
 We have a separate life ; the place we hold, 
 
 We hold from heaven ; we should free ourselves 
 
 From cumbrous trammels of humanity 
 
 That bind men down to earth : we stand on high, 
 
 As Muley Hassan *, that o'erlooks the plain 
 
 Of fair Granada, or those mightier hills 
 
 Our soldiers speak of, hiding half the sky 
 
 Of Indian Peru, which view unchanged 
 
 The change of seasons, while the vale below 
 
 Shows all vicissitude : speak on. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 My king 
 I will proceed, though harsh and crude the tale. 
 We are informed Don Carlos — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 What of him ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 I grieve to speak of aught that may affect 
 The prince's honour ; but my duty bids 
 To represent — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Go on — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Men of proved worth, 
 Whose lives give weight and value to their words, 
 Have sworn to our tribunal that the prince, 
 Don Carlos, gives an ear to heretics ; 
 Pities their fate ; assists them when they fly 
 
 * One of the peaks of the Sierra Nevada is so called. 
 c 2 
 
20 DON CARLOS, A ( 
 
 From lawful punishment ; holds conference 
 With Berg and Montigny, the deputies, 
 Who here within Madrid provoke the wrath 
 Of heaven upon all Spain by laying wide 
 Their nets for falling spirits ; all of this 
 Your majesty's own son, the heir of Spain, 
 Promotes and fosters ; yet on all of this 
 Our sage tribunal would have cast a veil, 
 And hiding from your eyes a son's defect 
 By gentle remedies restored his mind 
 To its right functions ; but of late — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Well, well ! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 It is affirmed the prince, with headlong haste, 
 Prepares a journey to your Flemish states ; 
 And there intends to comfort and assist 
 The rebels to their king and to their God. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 What proof of this ? what witnesses ? what plan 
 Of enterprize ? 'tis madness this — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Indeed 
 It seems so; and I hope it may appear 
 Our caution is deceived — although 'tis rare 
 For us to harbour error ; — witnesses, 
 Weighty and strong, attest the facts I tell : 
 I come not with the tale of some base wretch, 
 Pitching his quoit for vengeance or for gain, 
 With eye close drawn upon his mark : these facts 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 21 
 
 Have flowed from many sources ; pure clear springs 
 Where nothing turbid dwells ; their names my oath 
 Forbids me to reveal : the prince's plan 
 We know not fully : that we hear at least, 
 We fain would think a child of fantasy. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Speak all you know ; I long to hear the worst. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Such airy stories of projected deeds 
 Cannot affect my royal sovereign's peace : 
 That which is grounded I have told — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Speak on, — ■ 
 Hold me not in suspense, — speak on, I say. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Then since your majesty can calmly bear 
 
 To listen to these black unnatural rumours 
 
 That shake the ground, and seem beneath our feet 
 
 To herald earthquakes ; it is said and sworn 
 
 By friends deep in his plans that Spain's young prince 
 
 Means to leave here his devilish instruments 
 
 To cut the remnant of his father's life ; 
 
 And then, they say, Don Carlos will return 
 
 To wed the queen — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 To wed the queen, thou sayst ! 
 (Legions of curses light upon his head !) [Aside. 
 
 To wed the queen ! a false informer's tale, 
 Coined to mislead your exemplary zeal : 
 c 3 
 
22 DON CARLOS, act 
 
 For which we give you thanks : you have our thanks 
 
 For all the love and wakeful vigilance 
 
 You show in our behalf: but if 'tis false, 
 
 As by my royal crown I deem it is, 
 
 You go not free from blame ; and mark my words : 
 
 There are some busy spirits in the world, 
 
 Whose tempers in the natural food of life 
 
 Lack aliment, as ships whose sails in calm 
 
 Flap to and fro, and waste their action ; souls 
 
 Whose order is disturbance ; they must find 
 
 Or make a plot, and should they fail to raise 
 
 The subject 'gainst the prince, they move the prince 
 
 To vex the subject : black unnatural treasons 
 
 Rise at their bidding : spirits, dark as hell, 
 
 Foul murders, sacrilege, conspiracy 
 
 Wait at their beck, and instant on their call 
 
 People the earth with horrors : there are others, 
 
 Chapmen of human life, whose trade is blood, 
 
 Who like the vampire live and suck their breath 
 
 From the stern scaffold, where their comrades' heads 
 
 Lie bathed in gore — oh, think on this and doubt ! — 
 
 But say the queen — what said you of the queen ? 
 
 VALDKZ. 
 
 Nothing my liege ; nothing has been deposed 
 That may affect the queen. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 'Tis well, Valdez : 
 For if there had, the villain should have died 
 Who dared to aim his arrows at a star 
 Pure as the heaven she's made for ; it is well. 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 23 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 But for the prince, sire. — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 For the prince, Valdez, 
 I will myself take instant cognizance 
 Whence the report has risen ; if there be 
 In this grave charge ever so little truth, 
 We need your counsel : but if some vile slave 
 Has coined the calumny to gain our ear, 
 The utmost rigour of the extremest rack 
 Shall tear his limbs ; his joints shall agonize 
 Quite to the verge of life ; he shall repay 
 The torture that his barbarous treachery 
 Already has inflicted upon me. {Exit. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Farewell 
 Thou great example of serenity ! 
 The hill whose top beholds without a change 
 The change of season : thou, whose mind is free 
 From cumbrous trammels of humanity ! 
 These great men of the earth affect a wisdom 
 Their closer life belies, sit wrapt in clouds 
 Of mystery that cheat the distant eye, 
 But cannot blunt the near observer's glance. 
 
 Destroy their people ; steadfast as the oak, 
 
 They bear the tempest : but if touched themselves, 
 In their least joint, by a slight breath of air, 
 They tremble like the reed — oh, magnanimity ! 
 But stay ! here comes the queen ! in haste, — alarmed ! 
 c 4 
 
24 DON CARLOS, A ( 
 
 Enter- Queen and Donna Leonora Cordoba. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Most holy father, tell me quick, I pray, 
 Why is the king in anger with his son ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Nay, madam, why imagine you — 
 
 gUEEN. 
 
 Just now 
 He passed me with contracted, angry brow, 
 And eye that rolled and threatened : never yet 
 Saw I the king so moved : he passed me by, 
 And calling loud a captain of his guard 
 Bade him confine Don Carlos to his chamber. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Madam, this is indeed unwelcome news : 
 To me as strange as to your majesty. 
 I dare not guess the cause, but know full well 
 The king acts not without — 
 
 OUEEN. 
 
 Father, alas ! 
 You will not tell me, nor can I reproach 
 The silence of a faithful counsellor. 
 But I beseech you, since you have a voice 
 In all deliberations of the state, 
 That you will now attune and temper it, 
 To soothe the rugged humour of the king. 
 His anger rises, and 'tis perilous 
 When wrath and power combine in one. 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 25 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Indeed 
 I would — 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Say not indeed, say not you would ; 
 But be and act the minister of peace. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Madam, I know not how the prince provokes 
 The king's displeasure. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Nay, he is not guilty, 
 Cannot be guilty of a grave offence 
 Against his honoured father and his king. 
 He is too kind, too warm of heart, too just 
 For crime ; nor can his clear transparent breast 
 E'er harbour treachery : but attributes 
 That most ennoble men to kindred hearts, 
 Open an easy passage to the base 
 To work their devilish ends. Carlos is hot, 
 Sudden in anger, eager in discourse ; 
 His feelings come all struggling to his lips 
 Unmarshalled by the wand of Prudence ; hence 
 His enemies catch up a wayward phrase 
 Or thoughtless word, and dress it in a shape 
 That makes it monstrous : such an enemy, 
 I doubt it not, has now informed the king 
 Against his loyalty. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 I trust 'tis so — 
 To undeceive the king were then a task 
 Easy as 'twere delightful : but the affair 
 
26 DON CARLOS, act 1. sen. 
 
 Is delicate ; you know our sovereign's will 
 Bears not with busy meddlers : king and prince 
 Stand in such close relation, 'twere not safe 
 To thrust a stranger's hand between the joints : 
 These obvious arguments arrest my steps, 
 Lest in my eager zeal to serve the prince, 
 I but obstruct his cause ; you, madam, stand 
 In other circumstance ; a prayer from you 
 Were graceful, not obtrusive ; yours the right 
 To show a mother's interest for the prince 
 Without the weakness that to sterner breasts 
 Lessens the value of a mother's plea. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Since you advise me thus, I fly to use 
 Such poor persuasion as my baffled thoughts 
 Can well collect. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 May Heaven bless your zeal ! 
 [Exeunt Queen and Donna Leonora. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Such intercession opportunely comes, 
 
 Minist'ring fuel to the fire of rage 
 
 Which else might soon burn out : the prince's tongue, 
 
 With frankness oft more strong than eloquence, 
 
 Reaches the listener's heart, and sways the mind 
 
 By throwing down its guards : suspicion's self 
 
 Dares to suspect no more : 'twere dangerous 
 
 For Philip and his son to meet : I go 
 
 To lay new mines that underneath their feet 
 
 Shall spread unseen, and unexpected burst. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
act ii. sc. I. A TRAGEDY. 27 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE I. — Apartment of Don Carlos. 
 
 DON CARLOS. 
 
 1 oo cruel fortune ! was it then in sport 
 
 You smiled upon my dawn of enterprise, 
 
 To drive me back when with my swelling sails 
 
 I touched the port ? Unhappy prince of Spain ! 
 
 I must not rule — to rule means to destroy — 
 
 To persecute — away such rule from me ! 
 
 I must not love — that soft and gentle mood 
 
 To me implies things horrible of thought. 
 
 And now I must not fly : condemned to live, 
 
 And stand a mark for fortune's archery. 
 
 Yet come what will, my breast shall be prepared 
 
 To suffer all things ; let me banish hope 
 
 And think the worst. A mortal frame can bear 
 
 But some few hours of anguish, and the life 
 
 Escapes to freedom ; 'tis comparison 
 
 With thoughts of past, or dreams of future bliss, 
 
 That gives to misery its point and venom — 
 
 My Cordoba ! 
 
 Enter Cordoba. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 My prince I what mean these sentinels 
 That guard your door ? 
 
28 DON CARLOS, ACT 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I know no more than this, 
 The king has so commanded ; 'tis not long — 
 But a few minutes, since the officer 
 Who keeps the guard here in the palace came 
 In haste to make me prisoner ; he said 
 The king with his own voice gave out the order. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 'Tis strange ! no cause assigned ; so suddenly ; 
 What are your plans ? how think you to defeat 
 This unforeseen arrest? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I have no plan. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Such a reply but ill becomes a prince. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 My faculties but ill become a prince. 
 
 Our mother Nature with a strange caprice 
 
 Fits us for other parts than those we play : 
 
 A priestly robe covers the brawny limbs 
 
 And lion-heart that should have been a soldier's ; 
 
 While many a delicate fibre that seems formed 
 
 To be for ever wrapt in silken bonds 
 
 Is torn by peasant toil, or wastes itself 
 
 Beneath the scorching Phoebus, or night-storm, 
 
 In guarding camps : I, even I, was framed 
 
 To wander idly all the day in woods, 
 
 To gather flowers, to feed on the wild grape, 
 
 To drink the natural spring, to list to birds, 
 
sc. I. A TRAGEDY. 29 
 
 And find my joy in breathing balmy air — 
 I was not made for sovereignty. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Yet still 
 You think of public weal, and even now 
 You were embarking in a public cause : 
 Had you preferred an idle shepherd's life, 
 Methinks Don Philip would have spared his guards. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 See you, Don Luis, no distinction then 
 Between a choice of lot, and bearing ill 
 What is already chosen ? I stand here, 
 Prince of Asturias, the heir of Spain : 
 To leave the mighty interests of mankind 
 To follow nightingales, would be in me 
 Consummate baseness, treason to my state, 
 Cruel injustice to collected millions, 
 The people of two hemispheres, who own 
 The Spanish rule, and on some future day, 
 Which Heaven long avert ! will take their hue 
 Of joy or sorrow from my smile or frown. 
 O'erwhelming thought ! would it were otherwise. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Nay, say not so. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I mean it, Cordoba ; 
 The impending weight oppresses me ; I fain 
 Would throw it off, but Heaven stands betwixt, 
 And with unchanging voice bids me assume 
 The appointed burden. Thus I stand prepared : 
 
30 DON CARLOS, ACT 
 
 But when without control of mine, a light 
 Points out a way by which I may escape, 
 Although the door be death, I feel the joy 
 Of a freed galley-slave, who bursts his chains, 
 And kisses his dear native land once more. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Yet there is more in this — Don Carlos — Prince — 
 Your grief, 'tis clear, has deeper causes. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Hold! 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Nay, let me speak, a follower and a friend, 
 Most loving, ready to lay down my life 
 In your behalf; I do adjure you, say, 
 Is there not some disease upon your heart, 
 That grows and festers there ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Alas, my friend ! 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 If I have any skill in marks of passion, 
 You have a secret love. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Ah ! speak it not. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Yet why diis shudder ? Love is a bright flame 
 That consecrates the altar where it falls, 
 And vivifies our clay. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Alas, not mine ! 
 
SCI. A TRAGEDY. 31 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 'Tis strange this passion — who then can — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Oh, spare ! 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Nay, give your feelings vent. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Oh agony ! 
 If thou couldst feel the pangs that rack my heart, 
 The inward struggles and the vain resolves, 
 The contests oft renewed, that seem to give 
 A victory to virtue, but exhaust 
 My feeble being ; then the demon comes, 
 And seizes on my weakness unopposed. — 
 Again a wild and horrible remorse 
 Provokes me to fresh effort, and again 
 I combat, conquer, tremble, suffer, sink. 
 Oh ! had the idol of my heart been scornful, 
 Rejected all my prayers, spurned at my love, 
 And met my adoration with contempt, 
 I could have borne it ; then indeed, methinks, 
 The simple recollection of her form, 
 The faintest image of a smile gone by, 
 The feeling of a moment, fled away, 
 And fled for ever, were to me a feast 
 That India could not buy — my life — my all. — 
 But viewing her perfections with my eyes, 
 
 To be obliged to chase her from my thought 
 
 To view myself with loathing — the rank soil 
 
32 DON CARLOS, ACT ii. 
 
 In which a poison grows ! — no — I'll no more — 
 
 The very speaking it is horrible. 
 
 These dreadful images I hoped to quell 
 
 By flying far from Spain ; — in other lands 
 
 I might have rested in calm misery, 
 
 My farthest hope, what other mortals fear, 
 
 A disappointed, withered love. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 But say 
 What object thus has — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Villain — speak it not — 
 I have betrayed myself; my present trouble 
 Has made a fracture in my mind ; its thoughts 
 Flow out unchecked ; but heed them not, Don Luis : 
 I did but rave — and yet, my friend, believe 
 My heart is innocent : my pliant youth 
 Was taught as duty what is now my crime : 
 I saw her, was betrothed to her, and — 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Hush ! 
 
 Enter King Philip. 
 
 philip. (waving his hand to Cordoba.) 
 Retire. [Exit Cordoba. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Don Carlos, 'tis with heavy grief 
 
 The safety of the state has forced me thus 
 
sc. i. A TRAGEDY. 33 
 
 To place a guard upon your sacred person : 
 Your highness has been charged with crimes — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Who dares 
 Impeach my honour ? who — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Softly, my son — 
 I came not to accuse ; yet were I not 
 Your father, did I not behold in you 
 Myself renewed, I might have stood aloof, 
 And bid blind Justice do her office : now 
 I come with friendly and paternal care 
 To heal, not punish : listen to my words. 
 It may be that my royal power and state 
 Have waked aspiring thoughts within your breast, 
 And like a gallant courser seeing the speed 
 At which his fellow flies, you chafe and fret, 
 In dull inaction curbed. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 By Heaven, not so. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Nay, interrupt me not. If it be thus, 
 111 do you know the spectral forms that wait 
 Upon a king ; Care with his furrowed brow, 
 Unsleeping Watchfulness, lone Secrecy, 
 Attend his throne by day, his couch by night : 
 He stands the guardian of a beacon tower ; 
 If storms arise, they rage around his head ; 
 If lightnings fall, they strike upon his roof; 
 
34 DON CARLOS, AC 
 
 And in the gladness of a summer day, 
 As in the tempest of a winter night, 
 He walks apart, companionless, to watch 
 If 'gainst the common-weal a foe appear, 
 And call the world to arms. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Oh ! far from me 
 Is lust of that sad power : I hate it all. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 If truly, 'tis with reason ; our vain pomp 
 Gives but a hollow joy and lasting grief; 
 'Tis for our subjects' honour not for ours. 
 The garlands and the gold that deck the bull, 
 Denote the sacrificing people's pride, 
 And not the victim's fortune. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I know not 
 What means your majesty. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Listen, Don Carlos ! 
 Your honoured grandsire, when a manly beard 
 Scarce plumed his cheek, rose to a height of power 
 Such as the world for ages had not seen ; 
 Castile and Arragon, long separate, 
 Became compact beneath his happy sway ; 
 Granada, late a strength of infidels, 
 Lay bowed beneath his yoke ; in Germany 
 The imperial crown was placed upon his head, 
 While to his empty treasury a new world 
 
sc. f. A TRAGEDY. 35 
 
 Across the ocean wafted tides of gold, 
 Won by the valour of his officers, 
 Who in their conquests were as mighty kings, 
 And in fidelity obedient subjects. 
 America for him unlocked her mines ; 
 Asia for him produced her balmy spice ; 
 Africa saw, and trembled at his arms ; 
 Europe was one vast echo to his fame : — 
 Yet he, thus glorious, when his term of years 
 Betokened wisdom, (far from doting age, 
 When sense grows torpid,) saturate of power, 
 Aspired to private life, and humble rest. 
 So now do I : fatigued with slavery, 
 Miscalled command, I purpose to resign 
 My kingdom to your hands, reserving only 
 The isle of Sicily, where with my queen 
 I may conclude in peace a stormy life. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Nay, king, my father, speak not so, I pray. 
 
 I feel my heart so full, 1 cannot utter 
 
 The thoughts which crowd my mind — I have not been, 
 
 Nor ever will, a traitor — am not fit 
 
 To fill the throne though it were vacant : now, 
 
 'Tis filled most worthily — none ever grasped 
 
 The sceptre with such majesty, or made 
 
 Obedience seem so due, so natural, 
 
 As my most honoured king and dearest father. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 You do not wish to take it from me then ? 
 d 2 
 
36 DON CARLOS, ACT ir. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Not I, by Heaven ; here upon my knees 
 I pray for your long reign. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 He is sincere : 
 This stratagem does well. [Aside. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I cannot speak 
 All that I should ; how little I deserve 
 So kind, so good a father ! thanks ! and thanks ! 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 He is too warm for guilt, and yet, methinks, 
 
 Too grateful for a perfect innocence. [Aside. 
 
 Thou art deserving of my love, my wish 
 
 Is to meet yours, speak then if there is aught 
 
 Thou hast desired and feared to ask. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 My heart 
 Will break with so much kindness : father, king, 
 Here I confess my fault — nay, do not start 
 As if I were a villain ; never thought 
 Of harm to thee or to thy crown has found 
 Admission in my breast. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 How then ? what fault ? 
 What strange offence? -— 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 The tale is long to tell, 
 But, with your pleasure, my whole mind and soul, 
 As it affects your state, shall be unrolled. 
 
sc. I. A TRAGEDY. 37 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Give me your utmost confidence — proceed ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I do remember well — too well, alas, 
 
 My age but scarce fourteen, your royal self 
 
 Absent in Flanders, I was bid preside 
 
 At the great Act of Faith to be performed 
 
 In fair Valladolid : at that green age, 
 
 Quite new to life, nor yet aware of death, 
 
 The solemn pomp amused my careless mind. 
 
 But when the dismal tragedy began, 
 
 How were my feelings changed and clouded ! first 
 
 Came there a skeleton, upon its head 
 
 A cap with painted flames ; this thing had been 
 
 A lady who throughout her life had borne 
 
 A name unsullied ; twenty years had past 
 
 Since her remains had rested in the ground, 
 
 And now by sentence of the Holy Office, 
 
 The dull disgusting mass of whitened bone 
 
 That once had been her garment, was dug up 
 
 To clear some flaw in her theology. 
 
 Then came a learned priest, his name Cazalla ; 
 
 With countenance serene, and calm devotion, 
 
 He walked to death, and as he passed me by, 
 
 With earnest manner he entreated me 
 
 For his poor sister's offspring ; she condemned 
 
 To prison for her life, and loss of goods, 
 
 While twelve unhappy children were bereft 
 
 Of parents and of food ; I wept, and thought 
 
 Of the poor orphans. 
 
 d 3 
 
38 DON CARLOS, act i 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 You should have rejoiced 
 To think so many infant souls were saved 
 Perversion. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 How ! rejoice ! not to have wept 
 Were then impossible ; I sobbed for pity. 
 But soon a sterner sight braced up my nerves, 
 Rigid with horror, for the murderous pile 
 Was lighted for the sacrifice : unmoved, 
 The Great Inquisitor beheld his victims. 
 Cazalla too was undisturbed : the mind 
 Might fairly doubt which of the two were judge, 
 And which the culprit, save that gleams of joy 
 Like one who sees his haven, spread their light 
 Upon Cazalla's face. The flames burst forth, 
 And with slow torture singed the limbs of him, 
 Who seemed alone amid the multitude 
 To be unconscious of this earthly hell. 
 But as we looked amazed, sudden he rushed 
 From forth the flames, and while by-standers fled 
 In sudden panic, bore from off a heap 
 Fresh store of wood, upbraiding the weak wretch 
 Who stood beside it ; this he flung amain 
 Upon the pile, and raising high his voice 
 Exclaimed " Farewell ! thou sinful world, farewell ! 
 Ye — earth, and sun, and moon, and stars, farewell ! 
 Welcome my God ! welcome eternal life !" 
 
A TRAGEDY. 39 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Blasphemous error ! — could this heretic 
 Have hope of heaven ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Perhaps mistaken. 
 Perhaps mistaken ? 
 
 Such was his belief; 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Prince, did I hear you right ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Patience a little while ; 
 You shall know all my thoughts. Cazalla, he 
 That stood so tall before me in the strength 
 Of a high soul, was now a cinder, tost 
 And scattered by the air : but there was more 
 Of this too dreadful pageant ; I beheld 
 Fourteen of our poor brethren suffer death 
 From Cain's descendants. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Peace, prince ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I have done 
 My narrative, but that I should have told 
 That ere the hecatomb began, Valdez, 
 As Great Inquisitor, tendered an oath 
 Which I unwilling took : I thereby swore 
 If ever I should see, or hear, or know 
 By any means, of aught concerned the faith, 
 Of friend or stranger, parent, brother, son, 
 d 4 
 
40 DON CARLOS, 
 
 I should reveal the same without delay 
 Unto the holy office ; that dark oath 
 I took, but thanks to heaven, I broke. 
 
 You broke ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 More than a thousand times : the horrid glare 
 Of that dread sacrifice fell on my mind 
 And drove the senses from my brain ; my thought 
 Hung on the place where virtue had been slain, 
 Where I had been a chief of murderers. 
 Long while I suffered ; still by day and night 
 The features of Cazalla, old and grey, 
 With mildness mingling somewhat of reproach, 
 Haunted my couch, nor could I gain relief 
 Till I sought out the wretched seats of those 
 Who err in faith and feel themselves impelled 
 To seek for heaven by martyrdom on earth. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 You sought them out ! you should have hated them. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Many of these I have assisted, bade 
 Them fly this perilous air of Spain, conversed 
 With several of their leaders, viewed their lives, 
 Pure as the light ; their faith still steadfast worshipped 
 Christ and the book of life. Forgive me, father, 
 I could not, can not, will not hate these men. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 You hate them not — you, prince of Spain ! 
 
sc. I. A TRAGEDY. 41 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Alas! 
 I know how scruples of this hue offend 
 The eyes of Spanish rulers ; I have weighed 
 Each separate argument, conned one by one 
 The reasons that our church puts forth to spur 
 Her sons to persecution. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Call it not 
 By that unworthy name, nor is it fit 
 A child like you should mount the judgment-seat 
 To censure policy which Spain has deemed 
 The way of health, by sages pointed out 
 To Ferdinand the Catholic — approved 
 By counsellors grown grey in the state's service, 
 By saints and martyrs of our holy church, 
 By the pope's wise decree infallible, 
 In fine by God himself. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 That I deny. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Don Carlos, hold your peace. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 King, 1 have drunk 
 The stream of revelation at its source : 
 That book, to common eyes denied, to me, 
 By Osma's reverend bishop, my preceptor, 
 Was early given ; best and dearest gift 
 That man can give to man, becoming thus 
 
42 DON CARLOS, ACT n . 
 
 The minister of God, and angel-like 
 
 Carrying glad tidings to the immortal soul : 
 
 There have I read, assisted by the lore 
 
 Of my dear master; there too have I read 
 
 Alone and unassisted, late at night, 
 
 And early in the morning, words of peace, 
 
 Forgiveness ev'n for sin; brotherly love, 
 
 And charity that beareth, hopeth all. 
 
 I found and wept with joy ; but to this hour 
 
 Find I no precept that commissions man 
 
 To slay his erring brother. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Prince, beware 
 Dread my displeasure. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I dread heaven's much more ; 
 And strongly armed with truth, I dare proclaim 
 The inquisition murderous tyrant. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Peace, 
 Thou bold blasphemer ! most unworthy thou 
 To fill the throne, or even to tread the soil 
 Of christian Spain. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Of persecuting priests ! 
 I know my own unfitness, every act 
 Of rigour draws fresh tears into my eyes, 
 And therefore purposed I to fly from Spain 
 To seek in Flanders a secure retreat, 
 
sc. i. A TRAGEDY. 43 
 
 And there lie hidden ; willing to forego 
 
 The mighty sceptre of imperial Spain, 
 
 My bright inheritance, unless repentant 
 
 The Spanish people should one day admit 
 
 Their king might reign unstained with righteous blood. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 What rebel purpose is it you disclose ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 No rebel purpose, sire ; for whilst you live 
 No son to father, subject to his king, 
 Should pass me in obedience. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Tell me then 
 What think you of our war in Flanders ? say, 
 Shall not the traitor suffer for his treason ? 
 Is't not legitimate to take up arms 
 That rebel heretics may be subdued ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Yet kindness were more politic than force : 
 Grant them their privilege, your royal grace 
 To worship God in their own simple form, 
 Rebellion's hydra head will straight be crushed, 
 Or of itself fall off. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 I'll hear no more : 
 Prince, look not for indulgence : duty, nay, 
 Affection bids that I should be severe ; 
 And I will be so. [Exit. 
 
44 DON CARLOS, ACT K< 
 
 CARLOS. (SOIUS.) 
 
 Welcome then severe 
 But unjust fate ! — How now ! Osorio here ! 
 My good, my faithful friend ! 
 
 Enter Osorio. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Your faithful servant 
 I have obeyed your highness's commands, 
 And at this instant reach Madrid. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 All thanks ! 
 Yet in your absence Envy's cruel blight 
 Has spoilt our harvest. But speak on. What news ? 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Following your orders, when I parted hence, 
 I straight repaired to Burgos ; there I saw 
 The count of Salvatierra. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 What said he? 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 He thanked your highness for your kind remembrance ; 
 Felt for your trouble, but the present time 
 Found him quite unprovided with the sums 
 You wanted for your expedition. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 So — 
 
SC. I. A TRAGEDY. 45 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 I next sought Infantado ; he too joined 
 In many loving speeches ; but he feared 
 He was too closely watched to dare give proof 
 Of his unbated friendship. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Friends of sunshine ! 
 And Fuentes, and Toledo, and the count 
 Of Benevente. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 All, not excepting one 
 Have sent excuses : here, in a little book 
 I have their several reasons in set terms. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Spare me the mockery. And so from all 
 My train of friends, all full of homage too, 
 All wishing to be served, but loath to serve, 
 You have not drawn one small maravedi ? 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 'Tis so, indeed ; yet think not, gracious prince, 
 I come back empty. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 What, Saavedra, then ! 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Nor Saavedra, no, nor any other 
 Of your proud lofty friends, the dons of Spain, 
 Have rilled my purse ; but a conforming Jew 
 With whom I lodged at Seville, knowing me 
 Your servant, offered, nay entreated, prayed, 
 That I would borrow twenty thousand dollars, 
 
46 DON CARLOS, ACT n . 
 
 To buy you laces ; begging me withal 
 
 That when your highness should put on your crown, 
 
 He might have some indulgence granted him, 
 
 And leave to say his prayers on Saturdays. 
 
 At first I played the prude, and feigned some rage 
 
 He should so hurt your dignity ; but soon 
 
 The coin with amorous chinking won my ear, 
 
 And I was fain to be persuaded. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Well: 1 
 You make me smile in spite of fate. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 There's more — 
 Ounces, gold ounces, that with hook and line 
 I fished from merchants' pockets ; but of this 
 Hereafter : the time presses, and I haste 
 To tell what I have heard a moment gone, 
 From a familiar of the holy office, 
 Busied in preparations, that he deems 
 Threaten a lofty head. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 How ? is it so ? 
 Enter with me, Osorio ; we will speak 
 Of these same tidings in my inner chamber. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
SC. II. A TRAGEDY. 47 
 
 SCENE II. 
 
 Another Room, Enter Queen and Leonora. 
 
 queen. 
 Come, Leonora. 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Madam, I am here, 
 But know not where you go, or what you seek : 
 The king will pass this way. 
 
 queen. 
 
 'Tis well ; he comes. 
 
 Entei- Philip. 
 
 PHILIP* 
 
 Madam, I marvel what kind star has led 
 
 Your steps this way, to brighten with your presence 
 
 Our dull abode. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Sire, I have ventured here, 
 To move your majesty on an affair 
 Of urgent moment. 
 
 philip. (to Leonora.) 
 
 Leave us, then, madam. 
 
 {Exit Leonora. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 I am your listener. 
 
 queen. 
 Sire, alas ! my tongue 
 Is but a feeble organ to express 
 
48 DON CARLOS, act II. 
 
 That which a heart less simple would array 
 In robes of eloquence. I am no orator ; 
 But if I were, with what persuasive tones, 
 With what resistless reason would I seek 
 Your mercy, if your mercy he requires, 
 In favour of Don Carlos. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Is it so ? [Aside. 
 
 Madam, you show your charity in this ; 
 A female heart we know is soft and kind : 
 And yet, methinks, a step-mother might leave 
 The prince's pardon to his father's love ! 
 
 gUEEN. 
 
 Nay, look not sternly on my prayer; I speak 
 Because I am a step-mother, and thus 
 No soil of interest or partial hue 
 Can colour my abatement of his fault. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Madam, you speak it well : but this affair 
 Concerns the state, whose fabric I must guard 
 As sentinel ; no bribe, no weak affection, 
 No woman's tear must draw me from the post 
 Where God has placed me for my people's good. 
 Speak then, if you have aught on his behalf, 
 In the calm key of reason ; though indeed 
 I cannot well perceive whence you should draw 
 Your knowledge, or your argument. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 I own 
 If it be requisite to sound the depths 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 49 
 
 Of law, or policy, none more unfit 
 Than she who stands before you to devise 
 Strains of state reasoning ; and yet I feel, 
 I think Don Carlos innocent. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Indeed ! 
 You think him innocent ; nay then, I wait 
 To hear your argument. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Alas, my lord ! 
 You strike me cold with apprehension, yet — 
 {Aside.) Courage my- heart ! {aloud) Sire, of the prince 
 
 I speak, 
 As I have seen him, easily inflamed, 
 And catching fire in every generous cause ; 
 Suffering with every sufferer ; sharing loss 
 With every loser in the game of life ; 
 A soul ennobled by companionship 
 With lofty thoughts, and mighty purposes ; 
 Hating all wrong, and scourging with a rod 
 Of scorn contemptuous the sloth of vice; 
 Yet with proud bearing throwing back the praise, 
 Our courtiers trade in for their private gain. 
 This sternness makes him enemies, but still 
 His heart is to his duty rivetted ; 
 Nor lives there of your subject millions, one 
 Whom malice with more rancour would accuse, 
 Or virtue with more confidence defend. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Madam, the arguments you urge, shall pass 
 
 E 
 
50 DON CARLOS, act it. 
 
 Into the balance of impartial justice, 
 And tell for what they weigh : but hear my words, 
 Elizabeth of France ; the poorest, worst, 
 Most wretched hovel in the realm of Spain, 
 Hides not a crime that trenches on our state ; 
 For we have eyes that search the land, and mark 
 The guilty spot ; then cherish not the thought 
 That our own palace can in secret corners 
 Engender plots we see not ; all, yes all, 
 We know them all. 
 
 gUEEN. 
 
 Unquestioned, sire, by me 
 Your wisdom or your power. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Not one whit less 
 Our justice, queen — 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 I doubt it not, and pray 
 To heaven to bless your councils. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Learn ye then 
 In silence to respect them ; one word more ; 
 Remember, lady, you are Caesar's wife — 
 
 [She beckons to speak. 
 We fain would be alone — farewell — farewell. 
 
 {Exit Queen. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 How do a thousand furies tear my breast, 
 And strive for mastery ! — am I Philip still ? 
 I that have stood so eminent, the king, 
 
sen. A TRAGEDY. 51 
 
 The only king of Europe who enjoyed 
 That which a king should have — unfettered power, 
 Unlimited discretion : — have I toiled 
 For fame of subtle wisdom, blanched the cheeks 
 Of infidels and heretics, the enemy 
 Of all God's enemies, now to become 
 The sport of my own child, seeing my work 
 Destroyed by baby hands ; my very queen 
 Transfer her pledged affections to my boy, 
 And come herself unconsciously to tell 
 The maddening tale to me ! how sharp a jest 
 For Turkish slaves and English mobs were I 
 If they could say : " He vexed the world with arms 
 To put down heresy ; guarded his states 
 With triple barriers to preserve them pure 
 From all contagion, but he warmed the while 
 A viper in his bosom, his own son, 
 Who wrenched the royal sceptre from his hand 
 And bore away his consort from his side ! 
 Thus has he lost the gorgeous heritage 
 Wise Ferdinand, and mighty Charles acquired !" 
 Now could I plunge my dagger in thy breast -*- 
 And have revenge — my own — my sole — last hope — 
 'Twere just — 'twere memorable vengeance — yet 
 Such deeds become not Philip — Spain, the world 
 Would stamp the deed with execration — still 
 Revenge I must and will obtain : Valdez, 
 And his dark troop shall be my instruments ; 
 They shall pursue my purpose as their own ; 
 Thus wise men plan what busy men perform ! \JExit. 
 e 2 
 
52 DON CARLOS, ACT IIT 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE I. — An Apartment in the Palace. 
 Enter Queen, Leonora, and another Lady. i 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Say, Leonora, have you made inquiry, 
 As I desired, touching the prince ? 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 I have : 
 A veil of secrecy conceals Don Carlos 
 From common eyes ; but by a faithful friend, 
 I learn that even now the prince has pass'd 
 By subterranean paths into the palace 
 Of the inquisition. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 The inquisition ! ah — 
 What dangers menace him ? what cruel fate 
 Hangs over him ? what may betide the prince ? 
 What augurest thou ? think'st thou he shall escape ? 
 How calm thou art ! how tranquilly thou look'st ! 
 Art thou not moved ? 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Madam, it is my duty 
 To give my pity to the prince, but keep 
 My reverence for his father. 
 
sc r. A TRAGEDY. 53 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Duty say'st thou ? 
 And when a gallant life, by envious fate, 
 May in a moment have its thread divided, 
 Is duty quite sufficient ? 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Gracious queen, 
 Is it quite safe to feel more than our duty ? 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Well — any way you please — yet even duty 
 Bids us feel sympathy for Carlos. 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Aye, 
 
 But with propriety. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Thou mak'st me wild 
 With these strange speeches : my good Leonora, 
 My mind is troubled with this news, do thou 
 Who art so calm, suggest some means, some hopes 
 Of safety for the prince. 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 With your leave, madam, 
 I'll hasten to the inquisition ; some 
 Of those who serve the court are of my friends, 
 And if good fortune should throw one of these 
 Across my path, I then may learn some tidings 
 To bear your majesty ; although indeed 
 'Tis death to tell or to convey a tale 
 Touching the prisoners of the holy office : 
 e 3 
 
54- DON CARLOS, act hi. 
 
 These dangers I will brave ; I may seem cold, 
 But I am faithful. — 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Nay, I doubt it not ; 
 Thanks, kindest Leonora ; haste, away, 
 And execute thy honest purposes. [Exit Leonora. 
 
 Poor Carlos ! brave and gentle-hearted prince, 
 How little equal is thy generous mind 
 To strive with subtle malice — ha ! 'tis well — 
 (To the Lady.) Go, Donna Beatrix, to the lower court, 
 Where Osma's holy bishop dwells, desire 
 That he attend me straight, without delay, 
 In my own cabinet — haste, Beatrix. 
 
 [Exeunt different ways. 
 
 SCENE II. 
 
 Valdez, Lucero, and three other Inquisitors discovered 
 sitting in the Hall of the Inquisition. Officers at- 
 tending. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Is all prepared ? (the rest bow) bring in the prince, Don 
 Carlos. [Exeunt Officers* 
 
 Lucero, sit near me f I need your counsel. 
 Most holy fathers, pray for our good issue ; 
 The fate of Spain hangs upon our resolve ; 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 55 
 
 Her palace and her altars that seem fixed 
 
 So deeply and so cunningly ; her peace, 
 
 Her glory, nay the holy church herself, 
 
 Shaken in Germany, assailed in France, 
 
 In England rent and ruined, this day stands 
 
 In peril of a total overthrow 
 
 In this her chosen land of refuge : — Nay, 
 
 Start not alarmed, but nerve your hearts, good fathers, 
 
 For if they sink this day, religion sinks ; 
 
 If they are firm, hell shall not ope its gates 
 
 To unborn millions that were else its prey. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Proceed, most holy father, at your voice 
 We are ourselves, and follow to the fight. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Will you cast off all shrinking compromise 
 
 Of worldly hopes, with heavenly ordinance ? 
 
 All mean respects, all ancient prejudice, 
 
 All timid sensibility, and serve 
 
 The great, eternal, universal cause 
 
 To which your souls are pledged ? are ye resolved ? 
 
 ALL. 
 
 We are. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Then I accept the glorious mission, 
 And here, on this exposed pre-eminence, 
 I brave all chances, risk my certain fortune, 
 Station, regard of safety, freedom, life, 
 All that I am and may be, to devote 
 Body and mind to peril, pain, and duty. 
 e 4 
 
56 DON CARLOS, 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Such likewise our resolve. 
 
 SECOND INQUISITOR. 
 
 Doubt not our zeal. 
 Enter Don Carlos guarded. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 You are the prince. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 You know me. 
 
 Speak, Lucero. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Don Carlos, prince of the Asturias, 
 Knight of the orders of Alcantara 
 And Calatrava, you are summoned here 
 By the great council and supreme tribunal 
 Of inquisition into faith : through me 
 They solemnly adjure you to declare 
 If you have seen, or heard, any act or speech 
 That was, or seemed injurious to the faith, 
 Or privileges of this holy office ? 
 
 (No answer.) 
 Don Carlos, prince of the Asturias, 
 The inquisition bids you to declare, 
 If you have seen, or heard, any act or speech 
 That was, or seemed injurious to the faith, 
 Or privileges of this holy office ? 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 57 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 The prince replies not. Let your highness pause 
 
 And give a moment's thought before you thus 
 
 Contemn the sacred council, when again 
 
 I shall interrogate : know then that thus 
 
 Commences every process in our court, 
 
 Which in its mercy swerves from rules of law 
 
 And does not hold its prisoners accused 
 
 Till they themselves are heard : if they relate 
 
 All that they know with candour, it may be 
 
 That farther process stops ; but if elate 
 
 In carnal pride they scorn our graciousness, 
 
 We have the means that can extort the truth 
 
 From rebel lips : excuse me, mighty prince, 
 
 If in the terms I use I more respect 
 
 Your interests than your titles : once again 
 
 We solemnly adjure you to disclose 
 
 If you have seen, or heard, any act or speech 
 
 That was or seemed injurious to the faith, 
 
 Or to this Holy Inquisition's rights ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I do not thank you for your courtesy, 
 
 I do not fear you for your threats, Valdez ; 
 
 And for the matter of your question, I 
 
 Will question you again — is it from mercy 
 
 You seek to worm from those your power confines 
 
 Secrets by which their thread of life depends ? 
 
 Do you entrap your fellow-men like foxes 
 
58 DON CARLOS, ACT m . 
 
 And kill them unawares ? why question else 
 Him you accuse ? I will not answer you. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Be it so — if in our ministerial acts 
 We meet reproach, my brethren, we must bear 
 All for the sake of heaven. — On, on ! Lucero ! 
 Against our will we must become accusers ; 
 Read our proceedings. 
 
 lucero. (reading.) 
 
 " The supreme tribunal 
 Having received from various sources, hints 
 That implicate^," — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 " From various sources — hints" — 
 Whence came these hints ? who was the man that dared 
 Assail my good name thus ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 We sit not, prince, 
 To answer questions ; but to seek the truth, 
 For purposes of fair and equal justice. 
 Yet, if the court permit, I will apprise you 
 These informations were anonymous. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Just, true, and equal judges ! it is thus 
 
 You have depressed all worth and honesty 
 
 To crown mean hatreds, coward calumny, 
 
 And base revenge ; these raise their serpent heads, 
 
 And make a Lybian desert of the land. 
 
sc. it. A TRAGEDY. 59 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Your wit somewhat outstrips your judgment, prince. 
 One instant more of patience, (though indeed 
 Your rank contemns that virtue of the poor,) 
 You would have heard that these suggestions led 
 To other perquisitions. Had this court 
 On better inquest found your highness clear, 
 Your fame had never been impeached : these walls 
 Transmit no sound to the external world. — 
 Unhappily — but you shall hear. — Read on. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I am your victim — I care not to hear 
 
 How you may gloss your purpose. — Read the sentence. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Again I must entreat your patience : — prince, 
 
 You wrong our court : you have too well imbibed 
 
 The falsehoods that the infidel contrives 
 
 To blast our fame : but since you wish us brief; — 
 
 You have to learn then that by good report 
 
 Of faithful christian persons, certain acts 
 
 And words were testified against you ; these 
 
 Referred to the high court of qualifiers, 
 
 Have been pronounced by them heretical, 
 
 Depraved, and dangerous : now, if you will, 
 
 Lucero shall declare to you the terms 
 
 In which these several witnesses have spoken. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I am content. 
 
 lucero. {reads.) 
 " The final depositions : — 
 Witness the first declares the prince Don Carlos 
 
60 DON CARLOS, ACT III# 
 
 Hath several times avowed to the deponent 
 He scrupled at the death of heretics : 
 That when he heard of forty Lutherans burnt 
 At the late Act of Faith he wept and spoke 
 In bitter phrase of this most holy office:" 
 So says this witness — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Prince, what say you ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 On! 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 The second witness speaks at greater length 
 Of several discourses, when the prince 
 Excused the blasphemy of Luther. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Said 
 The witness not I held his doctrine false ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 That is not now the matter in debate. 
 All that a witness states that does not bear 
 A hue of criminality is struck 
 From out our minutes. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 That, I must presume, 
 Is part of your pure justice. — On Lucero. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 " Spoke 
 At sundry times of plans for the relief 
 And ease of the self-styled reformed ; conferred 
 
sc. II. A TRAGEDY. 6 1 
 
 With Berg and Montigny, the deputies, 
 
 Respecting terms on which the Flemish soil 
 
 Should be delivered, as he termed it, from 
 
 The inquisition,: various interviews 
 
 Were held between the prince and Montigny, 
 
 Whereby that obstinate rebellious lord 
 
 Gained strength and vigour in his impious treason 
 
 Against his God and king : nay more, of late 
 
 His highness had so fallen from his duty, 
 
 As to resolve a secret enterprise 
 
 To Flanders ; many preparations spoke 
 
 His purpose settled, and a trusty servant 
 
 Went to Madrid to gather from all hands, 
 
 Pure and impure, the means by which the prince 
 
 Was to make good his flight : the time was fixed 
 
 Two days from hence." 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 What says your highness now ? 
 There is much more of this. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Go on, Lucero. 
 Waste not the time, but let me hear the pith — 
 'Tis a well-fancied labyrinth. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 " The third 
 Deposes that the prince impenitent, 
 Avowed his conscience stained with perjury ; 
 Acknowledged he had broken the great oath 
 Sworn before thousands at Valladolid; 
 That he had comforted the church's rebels ; 
 
62 DON CARLOS, ACT ill. 
 
 That he had studied deep the holy bible, 
 And found no precept that commissions man 
 To slay his erring brother : he confessed 
 At full the project of a flight to Flanders." 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 What says your highness ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Nothing. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Is this charge 
 A true one ? must this court indeed believe 
 Your highness guilty ? I hope not — but then 
 You must disprove the accusation. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 First 
 Let your staunch blood-hounds prove it — I'll not answer 
 Till I perceive the hand that strikes. Your witnesses 
 May be the foul creations of your brain. 
 Are they of flesh ? Who is the man, I ask, 
 Assails my good name thus ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Think not, my prince, 
 Our usages compel us to betray, 
 Those who have served us, to the vengeful sw r ord 
 Of criminals. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Of criminals ? not thus 
 Should I be honoured by my father's subjects. 
 You goad me like a bull upon the stage, 
 
sc. II. A TRAGEDY. 63 
 
 Provoking me to combat for a life 
 
 I cannot save ; ye would inflame my rage 
 
 Till I rush on, and seek myself the death 
 
 To which I am foredoomed : it is your sport — 
 
 Oh ! for an hour of patience. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Prince of Spain, 
 You have tried ours. Not thus have we been wont 
 To hear ourselves accused from our own bar. 
 Had any other said what you have said, 
 Had any other thus refused to give 
 Answers to our tribunal, he would prove 
 How sharply pain may check philosophy, 
 And humble stoic pride : the rack ere now 
 Had wrung his limbs. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Alas! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Fear not, Don Carlos. 
 Such torments touch you not. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Nor for myself 
 Breathed I that sigh, but for the hapless victims 
 Of your fell tyranny. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 For you at least 
 Our tyranny relaxes : solemn rules 
 Of judgment shall give way : the court allows 
 That which no prisoner ever yet enjoyed, 
 That you should see the witnesses ; refute 
 
64 DON CARLOS, act hi. 
 
 From their own mouths, if that be possible, 
 The weighty charges you have heard. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Appear, 
 Wolves ! 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Donna Leonora Cordoba, 
 Come into court. [She appears from the side. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Poor fallen instrument 
 Of bad designs ; oh, could thy husband see thee, 
 How would he feel ! 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Don Luis Cordoba, 
 Come into court. [He enters from the side. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Luis ! drop out my eyes ! 
 Sink from my eye-balls ; ye have seen a sight 
 That makes all future vision horrible ! 
 This man I deemed a friend : oh, hollow world ! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 There is another witness still, my prince : 
 Lucero, speak. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Don Philip, king of Spain, 
 Come into court. \_King Philip enters from the side. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 My father ! [Sinks into a chair. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 These, my prince, 
 These are the witnesses, no airy phantoms, 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 65 
 
 Created by our malice ; no base tools 
 
 Of priestly persecution : witness heaven, 
 
 If we had found that it were possible 
 
 To shut our ears, that any way were left 
 
 To disbelieve or slight the testimony 
 
 That weighs upon your head ; with eager joy 
 
 We had embraced such hope, and closed the abyss 
 
 That yawns so fearfully : 'tis otherwise : 
 
 Not ours the blame : yet may our charity, 
 Presuming still the best, cherish the hope 
 You can explain these things : the hours you ask 
 Shall be allowed for preparation ; then 
 Our court shall be assembled, hear at full 
 Your highness's prepared defence, and judge 
 As truth, and the great cause of christian Spain, 
 Shall best direct us. Guards, attend the prince 
 To his appointed cell. 
 
 don carlos. (rising.) 
 
 Stand off, ye slaves 
 Of wicked masters ! I ask no delay : 
 I'll go to trial now ; for my defence 
 Is brief and hopeless : I avow it all ! 
 All that your witnesses have sworn, I swear, 
 And pledge my honour for its truth : think not 
 That I will stoop or crouch beneath your feet, 
 Unsay my words, and creep away dishonoured. 
 What I have done I own ; that I have spoken 
 
 F 
 
66 DON CARLOS, ACT 
 
 I speak again ; yet I deny my guilt. 
 All that I did was innocent. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Beware 
 How you proceed ; the ground on which you tread 
 Covers the embers of eternal fire. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I reck not what ye say : I tell you plainly 
 I pity heretics, and deem your acts 
 Cruel and impious. By what right, I ask, 
 Stand ye 'twixt God and man, restricting thus 
 The uncontrollable and sacred conscience, 
 By your Procrustian bed ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 I grieve to find 
 The heir of Spain so ignorant : know then, 
 We hold the scales for the eternal church, 
 Whose faith is truth ; whose empire is the soul 
 Of lost mankind. It is our sacred duty 
 To save our brethren from the treacherous lights 
 That lead to hell who follows. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Every church 
 Throughout the world may claim like obligation : 
 Each is for truth ; the Turk, the Lutheran, 
 The Calvinist, the Greek, the Indian Brahmin, 
 Proclaims his dogma true : can all be so ? 
 If each may persecute, shall not the world 
 Be speckled with one truth, and many errors ? 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 67 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 This smells of heresy: Don Carlos then 
 Doubts our religion true ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I doubt it not : 
 'Tis ye who, by the bloody means ye use, 
 Betray your want of faith : Shall not the God, 
 Who sent his word with miracles and signs 
 To the benighted world, make it prevail 
 Without these chains, this rack, these gloomy dungeons ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Yet by such means the holy soil of Spain 
 Is from the common stain of Europe free ; 
 And erring minds are from their wandering path 
 Reclaimed by our laborious ministry. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 'Tis false : the victims that ye sacrifice 
 Are but incensed by your inhuman tortures : 
 Souls of immortal men acquire new strength, 
 New temper, from the fire of persecution ; 
 And future ages shall avow the truth, 
 That, in the warfare of contending creeds, 
 The martyr's blood waters the victor's palm. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Yet many have renounced their new-sprung faith. — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Believe them not : their faith is nothing worth : 
 A forced conversion is a forced deceit : 
 We may grow rich by arts that we detest ; 
 f 2 
 
68 DON CARLOS, A 
 
 We may be cured by medicines that we loathe ; 
 But by a worship that the soul abhors 
 We never can be saved : 'tis mockery all. 
 Of timid men ye may make hypocrites, 
 Of zealous men ye may make martyrs ; but 
 Of none shall ye make Catholics : the faith 
 Of an all-powerful Benevolence 
 Thrives not by blood, nor is it given to spread 
 The charity of Christ by homicide. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Prince, you speak boldly : — it befits your rank ; 
 
 Yet know that we have full authority 
 
 To punish unbelievers, and pluck out 
 
 The tares that grow among the wheat. Beware ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Authority? from whom ? — is it from Heaven ? 
 Has God then put his balance in your hands, 
 Trusted his sword of justice to your arm, 
 That thus ye would usurp his office ? Christ 
 Told him alone to judge who had not sinned. 
 Have ye not sinned? — but be it ye have not, 
 Say, will you stake your souls you cannot err ? 
 Or left He upon all the common sin 
 That stains the heart, and yet for some annulled 
 The common error that infirms the head ? 
 I am myself a member of your church ; 
 I hold her doctrines, follow her commands ; 
 Yet dare I not condemn my fellow man, 
 Who sees salvation on the same hill top, 
 But treads another path to reach it. 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 69 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Prince, 
 We listen with amaze ; with grief much more, 
 To hear from royal lips, from lips that once 
 Swore to maintain the faith, such guileful words, 
 Prompted by Satan to mislead proud youth, 
 And goad the gallant spirit to rush on 
 To death eternal. We are judges here, 
 By warrant from the church ; — the church heaven-born 
 Still draws its inspiration from above. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Is it the will of Heaven you speak ? speak mercy. 
 
 Is it Christ's will you do ? be charitable. 
 
 And are ye so ? No ! shame upon you all, 
 
 Your hands are bloody ; to the God of peace 
 
 You offer carnage : this is not divine ; 
 
 It cannot be : your title-deeds are forged ; 
 
 A mortal usurpation. Thus weak man 
 
 Scans the horizon bounded by his sight, 
 
 And thinks he sees the world : but the large eye 
 
 Of heavenly mercy compasses the globe, 
 
 And kens the savage Indian, distinct 
 
 As the great King of Spain. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Prince, I have stood 
 In silence, but no less in pain, to hear 
 The impious words that one whom yesterday 
 I cherished as a son, has uttered forth : 
 And much have I admired the patient mercy 
 f 3 
 
70 DON CARLOS, ACl 
 
 Of this tribunal : — but 'tis time to check 
 Your reckless turbulence ; the plea you make, 
 More strongly clenches and confirms your guilt — 
 'Twere well that you retire. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Your majesty 
 Shall be obeyed ; yet may I dare to hope 
 I have not lost a father ; on your mercy, 
 Parent and king, I trust ! 
 
 {Turning to Don Luis and Leonora.) 
 For you, mean souls, 
 Who have profaned with your vile sacrilege, 
 The holy fane of friendship, watched my lips 
 To make their utterance destroy their master, 
 Heated my embryo notions into life, 
 To bid them kill their author, — still provoked 
 My heedless confidence, and formed me thus 
 To what I have been, that ye then might sell 
 My body to a band of bloodsuckers, 
 Shall ye escape ? no : for all time to come 
 Shall herd ye with the accursed Judas crew, 
 And blast your names for ever f'your reward 
 Shall turn to poison in your hands, your days 
 Of heartless luxury, shall seem a chain 
 Of heavy links, binding you to a toil 
 That galley-slaves might pity ; the vain search 
 To mingle guilt, repose, and happiness. 
 Then pillowed restless on your conch of down, 
 Ye shall behold a vision menacing, 
 
sc. ji. A TRAGEDY. 71 
 
 Exclaiming vengeance ! and your stricken hearts 
 
 Shall tell you 'tis Don Carlos. — 
 
 {To the Guards.) On! 
 
 [Exit Don Carlos guarded. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 The prince 
 Impels us forward ; still at every step 
 I hoped we might be able to return, 
 And open wide the gates of mercy : now 
 My mind is toss'd in sad perplexity ; 
 Here stands my duty to the prince, and here 
 My oath to holy church ; both I revere, 
 Both I would fain preserve ; my heart will bleed else. 
 Through this dark wilderness one path appears : 
 It is the glory of this sacred office 
 To be protected by the wisest king 
 The world has ever seen ; let us do homage 
 To his unbated piety, and yield 
 Our jurisdiction in this solemn matter 
 To his discretion ; reverend fathers, speak, 
 Are ye content it should be thus, or stand ye 
 In dread of censure, as unworthy servants 
 Bending your spiritual oaths to temporal lords ? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 We are content. 
 
 SECOND INQUISITOR. 
 
 We leave it to the king. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Most holy fathers, dear would be to me 
 This token of your confidence, could T 
 f 4 
 
72 DON CARLOS, ACT 
 
 Feel or think any thing, but of the fate 
 Of my unhappy son : sad stroke for me 
 That cuts my fair young sapling to the ground 
 And leaves my old age withered, shelterless. 
 Yet still retaining the same mind and heart 
 Which sought for Spain the panoply of God, 
 More than the arm of man, I must decline 
 To be the arbiter ; Don Carlos stands 
 The son of Philip, but the heir of Spain : 
 Judge ye, and I the king will pay obedience. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Consider further, sire ; if this offence 
 
 Is to be measured by the unchanging rules 
 
 That govern our decrees, we cannot bend 
 
 To charitable thoughts, or mitigate 
 
 The rigour of the law : 'twere perjury 
 
 In us to judge the crime that has been done 
 
 Less than it is. 
 
 LEONORA. 
 
 Methinks such perjury 
 Would ne'er be registered in heaven's book 
 For future punishment. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Lady, I pray attend 
 To your own soul ; our path is fenced and straight ; 
 We cannot step aside : bethink you, sire, 
 If you can bear to hear a son condemned, 
 To save the public welfare ; 'tis a virtue 
 So harsh and rugged that in many ages 
 But one or two appear who have sustained 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 73 
 
 Such iron trial : sire, attempt it not : 
 We pray you to assume the easier part, 
 To use your mercy, not invoke our justice. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Not so — it seems — and yet — how said you, father ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 We prayed your majesty to stop this cause 
 Ere it grow perilous : your reign deserves 
 A sunset of repose ; leave us to combat 
 The future tempests that your heir may raise : 
 Thus shall the people think you merciful, 
 Your family, the queen herself rejoice 
 To know Don Carlos safe. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Proceed, Valdez ; 
 The cup is bitter, but my duty bids, 
 And I must quaff it : judges all, I pray, 
 Speak what your duty bids you. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Hard indeed 
 Is this command ; would we might still be spared ! 
 Here in the name of this most holy office 
 I solemnly pronounce — what noise is that ? 
 
 Enter Familiar. 
 
 FAMILIAR. 
 
 The holy bishop of Osma, reverend fathers, 
 Has gained admittance, and insists to see 
 The king. 
 
74 DON CARLOS, ACT 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Unheard of insult ! have we lost 
 
 All dignity ? None enter here ! conduct 
 
 The old man forth. 
 
 Enter Bishop of Osma. 
 
 osma. 
 My king ! my gracious king ! 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Most reverend father, why are we disturbed, 
 When in this temple no one of our court 
 Has right of ingress ? 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Sire, I pray you grant 
 Some moments' private audience. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Fathers, I pray 
 An instant's patience. — Osma, we stand here 
 Apart. Speak quickly. 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Sire, most gracious king, 
 My constant benefactor, sovereign master, 
 It is Don Carlos brings me here ; I come 
 To plead for my dear pupil ! 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Why suppose 
 That any danger threatens him ? 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Alas! 
 I know it well, these gloomy judges meet 
 
sc. II. A TRAGEDY. 75 
 
 To make the prince a criminal : alas ! 
 The heavy day for me, whose waning lamp 
 Borrows its sinking light from his bright radiance. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Well, be it that the prince is on his trial ; 
 
 Sits there not here a council capable 
 
 To sift the truth, that thou should'st thus intrude 
 
 A new uncalled assessor ? 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Gracious sire, 
 Here Justice sits alone — a frowning power, 
 Whose presence is too terrible for man, 
 Unless her sister, Mercy, standing by, 
 Temper the ruthless rigour of her brow. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Am I not here ? 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 You should be merciful. 
 You would be merciful, were not your mind 
 So fixed upon your duty to the State, 
 That much I fear your heart would sooner break 
 Than your firm will relax. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 If it be so, 
 'Tis well for Spain, though I should act the part 
 Of Brutus with my son. 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Oh dreadful thought ! 
 Tigers are cruel, and yet tigers spare 
 
76 DON CARLOS, act hi. 
 
 Their offspring ; vultures, eagles, leopards, wolves, 
 
 All savage beasts, all bloody slaughtering birds, 
 
 At the loved aspect of their own dear young 
 
 Sheath their fierce claws, and tame their murderous 
 
 beaks : 
 Man, man alone is taught by vicious arts, 
 He calls civility, to lay his hand 
 On his own progeny. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 'Tis vapour this : 
 Was it to rant and rail at us you broke 
 Our solemn councils ? 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Nay, turn not away : 
 If you will try your son, let me be witness. 
 I know the current of his thoughts ; the stream 
 Of his whole life, from his first boyish days ; 
 I know his virtues, deep and rich as gems 
 That lie in ocean's beds ; I know his faults, 
 Swelling but transient as the drops of air 
 That bubble on the surface and are gone. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 We ask not of his temper : facts, grave facts, 
 Are here in question. 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Let me know them, sire ; 
 They must be twisted from their natural bent, 
 To hurt the prince. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 He has avowed them all. 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 77 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Alas ! he is too confident, too strong 
 In consciousness of proud integrity, 
 To fear the glosses that designing men 
 May put upon his actions ; from his speech 
 An artful judge may spin a deadly sentence ; 
 But a great king, with better augury, 
 Will grant his pardon to the generous soul 
 Guilt cannot stain, and mercy must reclaim. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 We have well weighed these things : retire, old man, 
 We have no need of further counsel. 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 One, 
 One parting word ; your prudence is of fame, 
 Throughout the world : I marvel, therefore, prince, 
 You should dissolve the firm cement that binds 
 Yourself to Spain ; Philip and Philip's son 
 Are of one blood, one rank, one interest : 
 While they remain united, all men's eyes 
 Look upwards to the throne ; but make the king 
 An isolated point, and selfish hearts 
 Will ponder who shall to his power succeed ; 
 Your ministers, your council, most of all 
 This proud, encroaching, monkish oligarchy, 
 Will have their share of reverence ; growing fast 
 In strength and in support, they will presume 
 On your declining years, and your last days 
 Will find you helpless, uttering the will 
 Of proud presumptuous servants. 
 
78 DON CARLOS, ACT m. sc. n. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Think you so ? 
 
 OSMA. 
 
 Aye, that I do, and so the world will think : 
 
 The ungrateful world which stamps with its base heel 
 
 The dying lion, when they mark your sceptre 
 
 About to pass into the feeble hands 
 
 Of a child king, will leave your will undone ; 
 
 Your palace void, your court a solitude ; 
 
 In eager homage to these busy monks, 
 
 Who now with pious zeal protect your crown 
 
 From filial enmity ; oh ! did they feel 
 
 Their bosoms clear of sinister designs, 
 
 They would have left the judgment of a son 
 
 Where nature leaves it, where ne'er yet has failed 
 
 Mind to perceive, or heart to do the right ; 
 
 To their undoubted lord, Philip, the king. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 This requires counsel. My most holy fathers, 
 
 We have proceeded far to probe this wound. 
 
 Your skill and care are grateful ; yet with pain 
 
 We bear the knife so near a vital part. 
 
 Let us remit the rest until to-morrow : 
 
 To-morrow we meet here again. [Exeunt. 
 
act iv. sc. I. A TRAGEDY. 79 
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 SCENE I. — Room in the Inquisition. 
 Enter Valdez and Cordoba. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 I cannot do this thing. — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 You must and will. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 What, stain my hands with blood ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Don Luis, hear; 
 Is't that you love Don Carlos ? 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Love the prince ! 
 No — bear me witness heaven that I hate 
 His life, his words, each atom of him. — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Right ! 
 I hate him not, though for the public weal 
 I must pursue him ; were he Catholic 
 Pure and unshaken, I would worship him, 
 Obey him, love him ; could you do the same ? 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 No — that I never could — while he has life 
 Shall I have hate. — 
 
80 DON CARLOS, ACT 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 You shallow hypocrite, 
 To speak to me of scruples ! we but toil 
 To glut your rage, to please your private hate, 
 To satisfy your ravenous revenge ; 
 Yet you can use the venerated words 
 Of conscience, honour and humanity, 
 To check my cruelty ! you craven heart ! 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 If any way but this of blood might serve. — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Don Luis, there lived lately in Madrid 
 One called Velasco, did you know him ? 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Well: 
 He was familiar of the holy office, 
 And oft with him have I perform'd the duty 
 Of seeking and denouncing heretics. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Of late 
 Have you observ'd him ? 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 No — he is not dead — 
 At least they say so — but I know not of him. — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Deep in our dungeons is his bed ; his grave 
 In the same place, for never will he more 
 From his low cell : ask you his crime, he saved 
 Those whom our justice had condemned ; forewarn'd 
 His friends of their approaching danger, dared 
 
sc . ,. A TRAGEDY. 81 
 
 To interpose his thoughts 'twixt our decrees 
 And their completion : would you follow him ? 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 I know the holy office is severe. 
 
 valdez. 
 But most to those who serve her weakly. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Yet 
 My future peace of mind — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 We warrant it : 
 St. Peter held the keys of heaven : the pope 
 Holds them from him : we from the pope : go now, 
 Glut your own love of vengeance, do our will, 
 And for the rest trust our authority. — 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 I go with heavy heart : may heaven forgive me ! [Exit, 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Go, thou great criminal of little soul ! 
 Enter Lucero. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 What think you now Lucero of our hopes ? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 The king has asked delay ; but simply thus, 
 That we should judge the cause to-morrow. 
 
82 DON CARLOS, act 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Well? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 To-morrow we shall be firm as to-day. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 But will king Philip be as firm ? or think ye 
 It strains no heartstrings to condemn a son ? 
 To do what Philip did, required a soul 
 Wound to the highest ; he must instantly 
 Act all he thinks, or sink to nothingness ; 
 For at that pitch no mortal mind can stay. 
 Our greatest actions, or of good or evil, 
 The hero's and the murderer's, spring at once 
 From their conception : oh, how many deeds 
 Of deathless virtue and immortal crime 
 The world had wanted, had the actor said, 
 I will do this to-morrow ! 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Deem ye then 
 That Philip will relent ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Aye, that I do — 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Then are our lives in danger. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 When the prince 
 Ascends the throne we step into our graves ; 
 Unless indeed — 
 
sc. r. A TRAGEDY. 83 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 What then do you propose ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Hearken to me, — 
 Some timid compromise is even now 
 Upon the stroke of time ; the king prepares 
 To send the queen into the prince's cell 
 With offers of a pardon on conditions ; 
 If all goes well, as much I fear it will, 
 Our empire's at an end, and Carlos reigns. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 How know you this ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 No matter how I know it ; 
 Ask how I countermine the wavering king : 
 How I forestall his weak designs : for this 
 Don Luis Cordoba shall be my tool. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 What, he ! already known unto the prince ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 That is indeed a bar : had it not been 
 For the old foolish bishop, we had struck 
 Our weapons home, and Cordoba been useless. 
 Now all is doubtful; yet you know the prince 
 Of a soft, credulous, forgiving temper 
 That Cordoba is practised in ; he goes 
 At this same hour I speak, into the prison, 
 g 2 
 
84 DON CARLOS, 
 
 And there by my direction lays a trap, 
 That ends Don Carlos' life. 
 
 You mean to act on ? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Is this the plan 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Yes ! why look you pale ? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 While justice armed your hand, and forms of law 
 Covered your enterprize, I never shrunk — 
 But this mysterious scheme. I shudder — say, 
 Have you no feeling for a father's pangs ? 
 A son so young ! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Feelings ! No, none ! — why should I? 
 Is not each warmer motion of the blood, 
 Nay, all the innocent and pure affections, 
 Conjugal tenderness, parental love, 
 The great command of nature that encircles, 
 In one dear nest a brood of infant loves, 
 Beneath a mother's wing ; the cherished bonds 
 That turn mere habitation into home, 
 To us prohibited ? Is it not thus, 
 And can you hesitate ? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 'Tis so, indeed; 
 Yet we are human. 
 
sc. I. A TRAGEDY. 85 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 List awhile, Lucero : — 
 I once was human ; had a heart as soft 
 To sensible impressions, tears as quick 
 To flow for misery, and a spirit as high 
 To right the injured as a man can have : 
 My parents chained me to the church ; but yet 
 No oath within my power could bar the way 
 To natural affections ; and I loved — 
 Spare me the rest. I triumphed o'er a passion, 
 As pure, as fervent, and as well returned, 
 As e'er bound heart to heart : I triumphed — yes, 
 I triumphed ; but the fire burnt inwards, till 
 My soul grew hard with suffering : I became 
 A being but half human ; sense and reason, 
 Ambition too remained, but kindlier feelings, 
 Filial, fraternal, friendly, all were dead : 
 I woke from agony, and found my breast 
 Of marble. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 Your young feelings raged too wildly : 
 We have our precept, but we have our practice ; 
 And few indeed of our most saintly men 
 Renounce all worldly pleasures ; it is well 
 If we preserve the outward show of strictness. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 And think ye then that I could bear to be 
 A slave dependant on the idle tongue 
 g 3 
 
86 DON CARLOS 
 
 Of bawds and chamberwomen ? Could I creep 
 
 Like a low felon at the dead of night, 
 
 Belying by my steps the garb I wore ? 
 
 Did I not see that our least frailties 
 
 Were by the world permitted but to bring 
 
 Ourselves in disrepute, and weak subjection 
 
 To those who hold the rod in terror over us ? 
 
 If in our body some frail vessel err, 
 
 The world declares it suits not with our cloth, 
 
 Does not become our holy garb and office : 
 
 While this same generous world absolves itself, 
 
 As if a sword and cloak might plead in bar 
 
 To all impeachment of morality ; 
 
 And 'twere a strange unnatural circumstance 
 
 For priest to sin, or layman to be pure. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 It is indeed their custom, yet our brethren 
 Suffer the raillery, and seek the sin. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 That would not I ! mine was a soul sent forth 
 To soar or burst : I could not trail along 
 A thing for Scorn to buffet with his foot, 
 Or Pride to glance at with his withering eye : 
 But since I wore the cowl it was my care 
 To make it honoured : every exercise 
 Of harsh injunction, fasts beyond the rule 
 Of the fantastic saint who built his school 
 Of stoic wisdom 'mid the rocks and wilds, 
 Perpetual meditation, fervent prayer, 
 
sc. I. A TRAGEDY. 87 
 
 Self-chastisement, all that a man can do 
 To make himself a spirit, I have done. 
 
 lucero. 
 I know it well : your fame of holiness 
 Was bruited through all Spain. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 It was my aim, 
 And I obtained it : not for empty glory ; 
 For as I rooted but the weeds of passion, 
 One still remained, and grew till its tall plant 
 Struck root in every fibre of my heart. 
 It was ambition ; not the mean desire 
 Of rank or title, but great glorious sway 
 O'er multitudes of minds. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 That you have gained. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 I have indeed, and why ? I'll tell thee why. 
 The feebleness of common man proceeds 
 From hosts of appetites that tear the soul 
 With mingled purpose : his resolves are weak, 
 His vision clouded ; but my appetites 
 Were in one potent essence concentrate ; 
 I neither loved, nor feasted, nor played dice ; 
 Power was my feast, my mistress, and my game. 
 Thus have I acted with a will entire, 
 And wreathed the passions that distracted others 
 Into a sceptre for myself. 
 
 g 4 
 
88 DON CARLOS, act iv. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 All Spain 
 Desires you long may keep it, to preserve 
 Our faith entire. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Aye ; and I will long keep it ; 
 But if Don Carlos reigns, who shall preserve 
 The faith of Spain ? and shall we stand to weigh 
 Each grain and scruple of morality, 
 When our great temple shakes I Shall we not rush 
 And slay the sacrilegious enemy 
 With his own firebrand ? Trust the charge to me ; 
 Be mine the guilt ; I feel not for the pangs 
 Of those who made me wretched. I can bear 
 To see the affections blasted ; so were mine ; 
 Men bid us be of stone ; now let them find 
 We are so. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 I must yield ; your soaring mind 
 Ever discovers with an eagle eye 
 The better way of safety. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Let's begone, 
 And hasten on the enterprise. — \_Exeunt. 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 89 
 
 SCENE II. 
 A Prison. 
 
 DON CARLOS. (solus.) 
 
 Abode of misery ! to what a line 
 
 Of wretched men am I the heir — the walls 
 
 Themselves speak dreadful language, here are names 
 
 And here a thousand marks engraved to tell 
 
 As many days of suffering : pshaw ! away 
 
 Such gloomy thoughts ! they make me sick at heart. 
 
 The light is disappearing through the dim 
 
 And narrow window of my cell — 'tis evening ! 
 
 At this same hour of evening, I have stood 
 
 Upon the borders of the mountain ridge 
 
 That skirts the plain of Seville : the broad sun 
 
 In full effulgence o'er a cloudless sky 
 
 Poured his last flood of brightness : the brown hills, 
 
 The aloe hedge, the rhododendron wild, 
 
 The golden orange and the purple grape 
 
 All seemed as clothed in light ; and now 'tis gone ! 
 
 The god of day has vanished : a low bell 
 
 The general stillness breaks, but not offends ; 
 
 All tongues are whispering prayer and thanks to heaven ; 
 
 And soon again the light guitar is heard, 
 
 And aged grandsires with young hearts behold 
 
 The tender maidens that, with graceful step, 
 
 Lead on the village dance — and yet how many 
 
 Of those who thus rejoice, and sleep at night, 
 
 And wake at sunrise with a heart at ease 
 
90 DON CARLOS, act iv. 
 
 Would fain be Philip's heir ; and dream that then 
 They should indeed be happy — poor vain worm. — 
 Osorio — welcome ! 
 
 Enter Osorio. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 How fares my gracious master ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 How should I fare but well ? no accident 
 Can here affect me ; our good lords, the friars, 
 Guard me from harm. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 May heaven defend you better 
 Than those proud tyrants ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Hush ! speak not so loud ; 
 Their ears are quick, and you, Osorio, 
 Who by their clemency have been allowed 
 To tend me in my prison, must beware 
 Lest you offend. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Oh ! for myself I fear not. 
 But for my prince's sake I will be prudent. 
 Know then I fear some new and perilous storm 
 Is gathering in the sky. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Why think you so ? 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 I have been keeping watch upon Don Luis : 
 He has been busy in his practices 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY.' 91 
 
 With some that are his servants ; it would seem 
 If I am not deceived, they are preparing 
 Their arms for enterprize this very night : — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 'Tis well — I'm satisfied it should be so. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 I fear his treacherous and dark designs. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I fear them not. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 You speak with confidence. 
 Does his ingratitude not move your highness ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Look you, Osorio — Luis has been here. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Has he ? the villain ! had I met the wretch, 
 Body to body, one of us had fallen. — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I too indignant at his treachery 
 
 Refused at first to hear him, but he came 
 
 So penitent, so humble for his fault, 
 
 I could not shut my ears — he knelt and wept, 
 
 And I remembered of the by-gone days 
 
 I loved him as a brother. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Ah ! my prince, 
 You are too qilick in your forgiveness ; hasty 
 Alike in anger and in mercy. 
 
92 DON CARLOS, aci 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Had you seen 
 The poor wretch weep, you had forgiven him too. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Never ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Nay, but his reasons had prevailed. 
 Valdez already had the evidence 
 To slay both me and him ; he had his choice 
 To perish with me or denounce me. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Well — 
 And could a brave man hesitate ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Besides, 
 He made conditions with the holy office 
 My life should be preserved ; which otherwise — 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Vain falsehoods all ! had they the means to act 
 Their bloody purposes, think you that Cordoba 
 Could stay their arm ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Yet Luis was sincere : 
 With such an air of artlessness he spoke, 
 And with such grief withal, no man could hear, 
 And not believe him. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 May he have spoken truth ! 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 93 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Think not I yielded to mere honied speech : 
 He gave an earnest of his faith ; for know — 
 There is a plot on foot by which the king 
 With show of lenity shall hold out pardon, 
 Draw out my secrets, offer a retreat, 
 For some few months, and under this pretence 
 Convey me to a dungeon, where my life 
 Shall fall a prey to fell disease, more sure 
 Than the assassin's knife. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 'Tis strange ! — Don Luis ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Don Luis was invited to assist 
 In this unnatural treachery, where the father 
 Plotted his son's destruction, but he shrunk 
 From horrors so satanic. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Did he indeed ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 He did indeed : what means that doubting tone ? 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Nay, prince, I know not. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 He does more — he risks 
 His liberty and life to wipe away 
 The stain he has contracted, and to-night 
 He comes with friends in arms to save my life. 
 
94 DON CARLOS, ACT IV 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Indeed — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Indeed ! indeed ! had you been here, 
 Osorio, all your hatred would have melted 
 Into compassion for the high-born soul 
 Which, formed for virtue, views with loathing dread 
 Its one weak lapse : I would that you had seen 
 The anxious gleaming of his generous spirit 
 That caught at dangers with an eager longing, 
 As if the hour that set my body free, 
 Should liberate his mind, that now oppressed 
 Lies in a dungeon sadder far than this, 
 The gloom of its own thought. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Your noble mind 
 Is still magnanimous : I pray to heaven 
 The former traitor may be now your friend, 
 A real friend : but tell me more, my prince, 
 Of his designs. — 
 
 Enter Servant of the Inquisition. 
 
 SERVANT. 
 
 The queen approaches. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 So — farewell my friend. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Farewell, dear master. [Exit Osorio. 
 
sc. ir. A TRAGEDY. 95 
 
 Enter Queen. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Madam, at your feet 
 I place my grateful homage ; you confer 
 Much honour on a person so unworthy 
 Of your regard or thought. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Alas, Don Carlos ! 
 I would you were unworthy our regard, 
 'Twould spare the bitterness of this affliction 
 Unto your father. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 So — my father feels 
 Afflicted for my sufferings ; 'tis too much ; 
 I cannot play the hypocrite ; the king 
 Has placed me here, it was his choice, his act ; 
 Let him avow it, glory in it, but not hope 
 To soothe and tame by courteous blandishment 
 The victim that his toils have caught ; to keep 
 The prince of Spain a lion in a cage 
 The gaze of babes and cowards. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Hold, Don Carlos 
 Speak not I pray you in this angry tone, 
 Look not, I pray you, with so fierce a glance. 
 My will at least is not in fault, and I 
 Deserve not your reproaches. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Gracious queen, 
 
96 DON CARLOS, ACT 
 
 May heaven forbid that I should utter aught 
 May wound the smallest nerve of yours. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Indeed 
 I have not earned your enmity ; a word 
 Of coldness or mistrust from you would grieve me 
 Worse than the hate of others. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Pray believe 
 My heart is grateful, though it seem unkind. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Nor thus, I pray you, Carlos, but just now 
 You were too stern ; speak not of gratitude ; 
 I claimed your friendship, but it was in preface 
 To that I shall deliver from the king : 
 He offers pardon, full and gracious pardon, 
 Utter oblivion of all past offence, 
 Conditioned only that you shall retire 
 For one year's space into Galicia. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Madam, this offer, though from honied lips, 
 
 Strikes not upon my dull and torpid ear 
 
 With such a winning sound as chance it should : 
 
 I cannot fall upon my knees and thank 
 
 The king for this : how know I that my life 
 
 Shall be uninjured in a distant spot, 
 
 Where none shall know my fate ? my friends away ! 
 
 And say besides how shall those friends who stand 
 
 On the same brink of guilt as I, be satisfied 
 
 The king intends no punishment for them ? 
 
SC. II. 
 
 A TRAGEDY, 97 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 To them my powers extend not : nay, the king 
 Commands before you go, you give a list 
 Of all who practised with you, to abet 
 The Flemish heretics. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 To give a list ! 
 He bids me give a list ! a list of blood ! 
 That I should lead my friends into the toils, 
 And see them singled out for massacre 
 By my appointment ! Is it thus he asks 
 That I should buy my life, surrendering all 
 That makes life precious, conscience, honesty, 
 Friendship and faith ? that I should sink unpitied 
 To a worse grave of infamy than that 
 The sexton digs ? Could I indeed act so, 
 I were a victim worthy of the pangs 
 The inquisition wreaks her vengeance with ! 
 And oh, that you, Elizabeth of France, 
 Should hold the poisoned chalice to my lips, 
 Mingling your sweetness with its horror. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Prince 
 You frighten me with these dark phrases, — why 
 So quick in your suspicions ? why so fierce 
 In your demeanour ? you were wont to be 
 More gentle when you spoke to me. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I was: 
 But other times require another tone. 
 
98 DON CARLOS, AC 
 
 You too were wont to be a friend to me, 
 To friendless Carlos, who found every heart 
 Barred to his ingress ; one alone he thought 
 Gave him compassion in return for — feelings, 
 That made him pay implicit service to her : 
 That one sole heart is now a garrison 
 Of treacherous enemies, and shall I wear 
 As smooth a brow, and speak in gentle tone 
 Like these disguising monks — I cannot do it. 
 
 gUEEN. 
 
 Stay, stay your anger : calm this causeless rage. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 This causeless rage ! oh, my full brain will burst ! 
 The objects swim before me : kind Valdez, 
 Thy racks have not an agony like this ! 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 What I have done, I did with friendly purport ; 
 May Heaven forgive me if I wounded thee ; 
 The surgeon's knife will sometimes cause a pain 
 The foeman's sword inflicted not. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 And is it thus 
 A healing hand would touch ? was it a friend 
 That sought to bury me in distant regions 
 Where none could know my fate ? was it a friend 
 Covered the pit dug by my enemy 
 To seem the steadfast ground ? was it a friend 
 Who asked me to betray my sworn allies ; 
 And thus to cast my honour and my fame 
 
SC. II. A TRAGEDY. 99 
 
 In the same grave with this poor corse ? [She weeps. 
 
 You weep ? 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Alas ! I have offended my best friend — 
 Shall I not weep ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Nay, I am wrong in this. 
 It is not you that I accuse : weep not ; 
 I am too fretful. 
 
 OUEEN. 
 
 Indeed you wrong me, Carlos. 
 I wished to save you ; could you see my heart 
 You would not thus upbraid me ; of the plot 
 You hint at I know nothing ; I am weak, 
 Incurious, ignorant ; oh ! shame on those 
 Who practise on my simple intellect ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 It is enough. Come sorrow when it will, 
 So it come not from you, I will receive it, 
 As the chastising hand of heaven, with gratitude. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 But this sad dungeon, Carlos — by what means 
 Shall your deliverance hence be wrought ? 
 
 To me 
 
 It matters little. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 But to me — how much ! 
 If these conditions, as you think, convey 
 Destruction on their wings, accept them not. 
 h 2 
 
100 DON CARLOS, act iv 
 
 Hold — yes — 'twill do — another way just now 
 Appears to me : put on this cloak, this hat ; 
 You shall pass by the guard as queen : start not, 
 But straight do as I bid you ; in an hour 
 You may evade pursuit. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 And you ? 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 I stay 
 To fill your place ; no dangers cower o'er me : 
 My faith is not suspected ; I am safe 
 After a moment's rage ; and e'en the king 
 In a few days will thank me for your safety. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 And could you stand this hazard for my sake ? 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 I can, and will — nay now, pause not, but haste 
 To quit this loathsome place. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Too generous woman ! 
 Sooner than you should for a single instant 
 Risk your fair fame in my behalf, I would 
 Give up my body to the fiery pincers, 
 Let the hot lead be poured into my wounds, 
 My limbs torn one by one from out their sockets, 
 And suffer all that cruelty hath yet 
 Invented to subdue the heavenly soul, 
 Through its unworthy brother, the frail body. 
 
SC. ii. A TRAGEDY. 101 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Fear not for me ; yours is the peril, Carlos, 
 Yours is the only hazard ; even now, 
 Your danger to my mind grows more and more ; 
 A woman may exceed the bounds of rule, 
 Where pity prompts ; the general voice allows 
 Indulgence to our sex when life depends 
 Upon our fiat — go, pray, Carlos, go ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 It may not be ! yet let me thank thee thus — (kisses her 
 hand.) 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Nay, Carlos, if you wish that I be happy, 
 Let me assure your safety ; while your life 
 Stands thus in peril I shall know no rest. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Indeed ? 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 'Tis true indeed. What other motive 
 Impelled me to despatch the virtuous Osma 
 To plead in your behalf? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 You sent him ? 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Are you surprised ? 
 
 ^CARLOS. 
 
 Oh destiny ! 
 H 3 
 
102 DON CARLOS, act iv. sc. ii. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Dear Carlos, 
 Accept my offer. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Kind, yet cruel being — 
 Would I might owe my life to you ! but fate 
 Has no such bright leaf in her book for me. 
 
 \A whistle is heard. 
 Hark ! I have friends at hand, who have secured 
 Means of escape : their signal even now 
 Warns me that soon that iron grating yields 
 To cunning enginry : I go, dear lady. 
 You see I trust you with my life, and yet 
 I beg you will away; lest you be found 
 Within my empty prison, and the king 
 Suspect you of confederacy : farewell ! 
 And be my life a century or an hour, 
 The dearest relic on my heart will be, 
 That once the bright Elizabeth of France, 
 Moved by her gentle nature, offered me 
 To risk her safety as the price of mine. 
 On this fair jewel of my memory 
 My soul will ever dwell, and fate in vain, 
 Possessing that, essay to make me wretched — 
 Away, fair queen, away. — 
 
 \He climbs to the grated "window at the top of his 
 cell ; the bars give way, and he escapes. 
 
 {Exit Queen. 
 
actv. sc. i. A TRAGEDY. 103 
 
 ACT V. 
 
 SCENE I. — An Apartment in the Kings Palace. 
 Enter the King. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 And is it so? and must the die be cast ? 
 Must I appear before the Almighty Judge 
 The slayer of my son ? no other way 
 To save my honour and my crown ? Dread hour 
 Of irremediable resolve ! If now 
 My will should err, I stain my soul with blood, 
 With my son's blood, or else admit a plague 
 That shall play havoc in my house, and make 
 My name the jest of scoffing Europe ; hell, 
 Like a great gulf yawns wide before my eyes. 
 Yet could I fix my mind, and close my fate 
 In the same instant, 'twere already done, 
 And Philip were a Curtius : but not so 
 My easy task ; I must perform a deed, 
 That gives a hue to all my future years, 
 And makes my old age lonely, — shunned, — abhorred. 
 Oh Heaven ! thy ways indeed are mystery ! 
 Is it because I have obeyed so well, 
 h 4 
 
104 DON CARLOS, act v. 
 
 My trial is so high ? Are thy inflictions 
 The more severe the less they are deserved ? 
 Or has thy Paradise an endless rapture 
 That shall repay this agony ? — Valdez ! 
 
 Enter Valdez. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Sire, by your majesty's commands I come 
 To learn what light has beamed on this sad trial. 
 You have observed, from where I placed you, all 
 That passed betwixt the queen and prince : how stands 
 Your royal mind affected ? 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Hark, Valdez ! 
 I stood where you desired ; I watched the queen ; 
 I saw she made my offer to my son ; 
 I saw that he rejected it ; I saw 
 He pleaded for her mercy ; and I saw 
 He kissed her hand. Incensed I left the place; — 
 Would I had never been ! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 And, sire, the queen — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 The queen — the queen — why ask you of the queen ? 
 Is't not our wife ? can she betray her duty ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Far be from me suspicion so disloyal ! 
 And therefore of a blacker tinge the crime 
 Of the base commonalty, who even now 
 
sc. i. A TRAGEDY. 105 
 
 Loose their unlicensed tongues in calumny 
 Upon the queen. 
 
 PHILIP, 
 
 Ha ! do they so, indeed ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 They do : 'tis scarce a quarter of an hour 
 Since a low fellow in the market-place, 
 Struck by the court-purveyor, cried aloud, 
 " There's no indulgence now in Spain for sin, 
 Excepting for our gracious queen !" I straight 
 Ordered the villain into prison. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Rack the slave ! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 It shall be done ; yet I beseech you, sire, 
 To set no count on this licentiousness : 
 The common sort for ever turn their jests 
 On things forbidden, and their ribaldry 
 To-day attacks the queen : to-morrow — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Nay, 
 I am not moved by the base populace. 
 And yet, methinks, their jests, their ribaldry 
 Might spare their sovereign's honour : the low vapour, 
 That scarcely lifts itself above the marsh 
 In which it is engendered, can yet dim 
 The glorious sun ; how may the vilest wretch 
 Perplex Heaven's chosen king ! 
 
106 DON CARLOS, Aca 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Yet, sire, I trust 
 What I have said has not disturbed — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Disturbed ? 
 Am I so fallen ? is the catholic king 
 To be diverted from his firm-set purpose 
 By market-quarrels ? No ! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 My king, 
 Perhaps I am the first who bears the news 
 Of the Valencian plot? 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Aye ! what of that ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 It doth appear by true intelligence 
 
 Troops have been levied in Valencia, 
 
 To guard Don Carlos in his Flemish journey, 
 
 And he consenting — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 He consenting — so — 
 I'm glad of this — say is it proved — is't sure ? 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Beyond all doubt : one villain has confessed : 
 The rest had arms upon them. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Thanks, Valdez, 
 You have relieved my breast of the dull load 
 
sci. A TRAGEDY. J 07 
 
 That weighed it to the earth : now shall you see 
 What Philip, when resolved, can do ! 
 
 Enter Lucero. 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 I come 
 In haste to give your majesty advice — 
 The prince has just escaped. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Escaped, thou sayest? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 'Tis so indeed ; but we have raised the guards, 
 And hope to reach him. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Has he friends ? 
 
 LUCERO. 
 
 But one 
 Seems to have joined him near the prison gate. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 He soon shall be a prisoner : follow me. 
 
 {Exit. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Poor jealous king ! how eagerly he seeks 
 
 A robe of justice to conceal the shame 
 
 Of naked passion : on Lucero, on, 
 
 The deer is roused, and soon shall break his heart 
 
 Within our toils. 
 
108 DON CARLOS, 
 
 SCENE II. 
 
 A Street. — Stage dark. 
 
 Enter Don Carlos and Cordoba. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 This way, this way, my prince. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I come. 
 How sad a brow wears this unusual night ; 
 Methinks there is some tempest in the air 
 That dyes with deeper dark the midnight hour. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Indeed the sky is strangely murky. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Aye: 
 It seems as though the sun at his bright setting 
 Had bid a last farewell to this poor world, 
 Disdaining to bestow his glorious light 
 Upon the foul or foolish deeds of men 
 For one day longer : nay, I wonder not 
 His patience is worn out. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 On, on my prince ! 
 We linger here : this way — it is more private — 
 By this small alley — ha ! 
 
 {Officers of the night guard and of the inquisition meet 
 them. 
 
sc. ii. A TRAGEDY. 109 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 Who's there? — who's there? — Answer the word, and 
 stand. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 These are the royal guard. — We're friends. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 If so, 
 Go with us to the guard-house : none pass here, 
 Without examination : 'tis our order. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Nay then, but I will pass. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 Ho ! guard ! 
 
 \_Don Carlos Jights with an officer — The guard come 
 on the stage — Don Luis draws his sword and wounds 
 Don Carlos as he is fighting, — Don Carlos turns 
 round and attacks him. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Ha ! traitor ! perjured wretch ! die then a victim 
 To thine own villany. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Oh ! heaven ! my life 
 Ebbs out: forgive me, Carlos — nay refrain — 
 Forgive me not — I am too vile a wretch 
 To hope for man's forgiveness — heaven perhaps 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Poor Luis ! yes — I here forgive your crimes 
 And injuries, how should I dare refuse, 
 That do myself need mercy ! 
 
110 DON CARLOS, act v. 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Noble mind! [Falls. 
 
 Enter Osorio: with lights and people. 
 
 osorio. 
 My prince ; my prince ; where is the prince my master ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Here, good Osorio. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 How, my lord, you speak 
 With feeble utterance, how is't with you ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Hurt 
 By a friend's treachery — but he is dead. 
 My side is slightly wounded. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Slightly, prince? 
 Let us examine, for I have some skill 
 In surgery. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 'Twere thrown away on me. 
 Go, tend on those whose appetite for life 
 Is fresh and vigorous — I have tasted it 
 So bitter that I ask no more. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 This wound 
 Is of some danger, yet with instant care — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I tell you that I ask no care — 
 
sc. ir. A TRAGEDY. Ill 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Speak not. 
 One moment to a faithful friend, good master ; 
 You would not die thus unprepared, nor seek 
 The Almighty Judge, till you have bared your heart 
 Before him in repentance ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Faithful friend, 
 Do as thou wilt : I am not fit to die, 
 Though loth to live. 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 A bandage here, my friends, 
 Staunch this quick flow of blood ; bind up the wound — 
 Or else — 
 
 Enter Philip, Valdez, Officers, fyc. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Where is Don Carlos ? lead me to the prince. 
 Osorio here ! whence art thou villain ? 
 
 OSORIO. 
 
 Sire — 
 I came by accident to where the prince 
 Lay sorely wounded, and am busy now 
 To bind his wounds, which in few moments else 
 Will cause his death — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Hold, traitor ! Take him off 
 
1 1 2 DON CARLOS, act v. 
 
 And cast him into prison. 
 
 [Osorio is taken off by the Guards. 
 Leave the prince. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 My father — is't my father's voice I hear ? 
 Speak to me, gracious lord ! 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 My son I come : 
 Valdez — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Shall I, sire, seek a skilful leech 
 To probe his wounds ? 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 No, father ! Leave the prince. 
 [To his Guards. 
 Did you not hear that meddling servant say 
 That he should die from loss of blood ? Valdez, 
 I feel for Carlos as a father should, 
 But as the king of Spain, father of all 
 Who own her sway, Heaven bids me not bequeath 
 Their lives and fortunes to a heretic — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 'Tis spoken like a king — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Don Carlos lies 
 Upon the threshold of unbidden Death ; 
 Shall I arrest his arm ? shall I preserve 
 A serpent in my bosom, to come forth 
 And sting my people when I'm in my grave ? 
 No, reverend father, conscience and stern duty 
 
A TRAGEDY. 113 
 
 Compel me to this painful consummation. 
 'Twill soon be over. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Gracious king, permit 
 A subject to adore the sovereign wisdom 
 Of all your deep decrees. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Give me to drink — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Give him to drink, Valdez. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 I will : 'twere well 
 To make all safe : here, soldier, bring us drink. 
 
 [Soldier brings a cup ; Valdez puts poison in it, and 
 sends it to Don Carlos — Don Carlos drinks, 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Father, was it indeed — 
 Or did I dream, my father, that I heard ? 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Prince, I am here. — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Approach me, oh, my father ! 
 The chill of death encompasses me round ; 
 Yet some few awful moments still remain, 
 Between this passing life and life eternal. 
 Oh, let me supplicate my honoured father, 
 That I may die in peace ; load not my soul 
 Upon its passage with a parent's curse : 
 Forgive me, pray forgive me. 
 
1 1 4- DON CARLOS, ACT v . 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Thy offence 
 Must be repented — my full pardon else 
 Will nought avail. — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 On this tremendous brink 
 Of immortality, I dare not speak 
 That which my heart avows not ; my intent 
 Was pure, my ends were just and merciful. 
 But that the things I worthily conceived 
 I acted sinfully ; that my whole life 
 Was mixed with dross of human frailty, 
 This I confess ; I have been hasty, rash, 
 Irreverent — for this I pray forgiveness. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 My guards retire. 
 
 [All retire but Valdez and LuCERO. 
 In all my conduct, Carlos, 
 I never swerved from duty sweet or harsh, 
 Nor will I now : before I give my pardon. 
 Answer the truth to what I ask — 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I will — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Say then if ever you conspired to snatch 
 
 The crown from off my head, by rebel hands ? 
 
 And leave me to expire a king deposed ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 False, by the heaven above ; I never meant, 
 I never wished, I never dreamt such crimes, — 
 
sc . „. A TRAGEDY. 115 
 
 May hell now open, and its horrid jaws 
 Swallow me straight if such unnatural treason 
 E'er found its dwelling in my breast ! 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 'Tis strange ! 
 
 VALDEZ. (to LUCERO.) 
 
 The king is shaken, — mark, his brow relaxes ! 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 My heart would fain believe you — but say, further, 
 Have you in any hour of wicked dreams, 
 When the fell spirit gains possession, sketched 
 A kingdom of your fancy, where the queen, 
 Our queen, the queen of Spain, being of your age, 
 Became your consort ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Never, never, king. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Have you not thought of her, adored her, loved her ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 What I have thought, in what place I have loved, 
 Might haply better sink with me, and melt 
 With millions of deceitful images, 
 And frail desires of mind into oblivion ; 
 Henceforth, God is my judge ; the world is none 
 To me, nor I unto the world ; yet still 
 Since 'tis a father's voice invokes me — I will speak. 
 I know not how our hearts are made, but mine 
 Responded only to the voice of her 
 Whom once I viewed as my betrothed : your wife 
 I have revered her : yet my days and nights 
 i 2 
 
116 DON CARLOS, ACT v. 
 
 Were past in combat with my soul's destroyer, 
 This monstrous passion ; as my last defence 
 I meditated flight, hence rose my crime — 
 The intended journey into Flanders, there 
 I hoped to vanquish, and be once more pure. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 But of the queen, Don Carlos ? 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 Heaven preserve her ! 
 Never did perishable casket hold 
 So bright a jewel, never did a soul 
 Ethereal descend to earth and catch 
 So little of its dross ; it was her praise, 
 Not to shun evil, but to think no evil. 
 Here, as a dying man, I swear by all 
 My hopes of life eternal that the queen 
 Heard not a whisper of my fatal passion : 
 She's innocent to God, — to you — 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 My son ! [Embraces him, 
 
 VALDEZ. [to LUCERO.) 
 
 See how his lip untwists itself, and now 
 He throws his arms about his son. 
 
 LUCERO. (tO VALDEZ.) 
 
 Hark, father ! 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 Believe the prince. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 What voice is that ? 
 
sen. A TRAGEDY. 117 
 
 CORDOBA. 
 
 A villain's: 
 But there behold a greater : on my knees 
 I pray for punishment upon Valdez : 
 He told me that the king abhorr'd his son — 
 But had not courage to — command his death — 
 The prince is innocent — Valdez and I [Dies. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 My son is innocent ! alas ! the hour 
 When I believed your enemies — ev'n now 
 You die a victim of my murderous hands, 
 Perhaps there still, however — help, there — ho ! 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 It is too late — I feel death strangle me — 
 
 But a few moments more and all is over ; 
 
 Thanks be to heav'n — my life has not been happy, 
 
 But short and void of crime : had I been doomed 
 
 To stay a longer space upon the earth, 
 
 What strife, what struggles were prepared for me ! 
 
 Had I been fortunate, 'twere scarce with innocence, 
 
 Had I been innocent, why then not happy ! 
 
 I was a summer plant that prematurely 
 
 Bloomed in the early spring. Perhaps a day 
 
 May come when Spain will ask to know my fate, 
 
 And, knowing it, not censure my intent. 
 
 To make men love each other was my wish. — 
 
 I die the victim of their hate — I feel — 
 
118 DON CARLOS, act v. 
 
 Enter Queen and Donna Leonora. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Where is the prince ? conduct me to him — stay — 
 Is this Don Carlos ? wounded ? Carlos — speak — 
 Let me bind up your wounds. 
 
 CARLOS. 
 
 I die — but happy — 
 Farewell, Elizabeth. [Dies. 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Oh ! horrid deed ! 
 He's dead — yes quite, quite, quite dead. 
 Alas ! he never shall unclose those eyes ; 
 Never again — oh ! where is now that smile 
 StoPn from heaven ? — from heaven ? — he is gone there. 
 Thou pure and perfect being ! — is he dead ? 
 Aye dead and cold. 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Be calm, Elizabeth. 
 'Tis unbefitting you be here — retire — 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 And who art thou ? art not his murderer ? 
 Philip, the man whom thou hast slain was one 
 Your kingdoms cannot match, a soul of fire, 
 The skies but seldom grant to our base earth — 
 What hast thou done ? what cunning perfidy 
 Has led thee to this crime ? what art thou now ? 
 A king? oh no ! — a trembling murderer ! 
 Assassin of thy son ! a midnight murderer ! 
 
sen. A TRAGEDY. 119 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 You rave — away — 
 
 QUEEN. 
 
 Away from me, I say : 
 I will no more e'en look upon thee. Prince. k 
 Unhappy Carlos ! may thy spirit ascend 
 Swift to the realms of rest ! thy angel soul 
 Troubled no more with our gross manacles, 
 Harassed no more by mortal enemy, 
 Glide through the regions of unbounded space, 
 And in the chambers where the just repose, 
 Find thy delicious dwelling ! hold — I see — 
 Where am I now ? is it not all a dream ? 
 Take — take me away — 
 
 [She faints in Leonora's arms, who carries her off. 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Lucero — hush — 
 If we retain our station, and our power, 
 The queen shall die — 'twere easy — very easy — 
 
 philip. (to Valdez.) 
 Thou precious villain ! thou hast done all this — 
 'Tis thou hast led me on — my guards there, ho! 
 Thou hast destroyed my honour — 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 Sire 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 Speak not — 
 ( To the Guards who come forward.) 
 Seize that arch traitor ! Yes — Valdez I mean — 
 The Great Inquisitor. 
 
 (To Valdez.) 
 Thou savage monster ! 
 
120 DON CARLOS. ACT v . sc . n. 
 
 I will not take thy life, but a lone cell, 
 Henceforth, be thy abode. Away with him ! 
 
 VALDEZ. 
 
 One mc uvmt's pause I pray ye. — Think not, king, 
 
 That yon perpetual prison, though it blast 
 
 My det est hopes, and leave me to reflect 
 
 On things that should not have been done, shall make 
 
 Of me the only wretched victim here — 
 
 There is another. Yes. — In my dark hours 
 
 I will but call to mind your jealousies 
 
 And thus be comforted : you had a son ; 
 
 And there he lies, the victim of your fears. 
 
 You have a beauteous queen, but can you love her ? 
 
 Can she love you ? no : your brave son is dead, 
 
 Your wife will quickly follow ; you will find 
 
 Or dream a plot till you have slain her ; then, 
 
 What shall your dreary palace hold more sweet 
 
 Than my low dungeon ? nay, inflict the rack : — 
 
 Its tortures cannot furnish half the pangs 
 
 Suspicion shall inflict upon the king ! 
 
 [Exit Valdez, guarded, 
 philip. (solus.) 
 May this sad story rest for ever secret ! 
 Vain hope ! in one short day I have destroyed 
 My peace of conscience and my hopes of fame ! 
 
 
 London : 
 
 Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, 
 
 Ne w- Street- Square .