Poems [68]
(to ALBERT.) As for you, sir, the sword, is not your weapon. (HAROLD advances with a golden pen upon a velvet cushion. ALBERT kneels.) Receive this emblem of far greater power than all the implements of war, and wield it for the benefit of mankind. Rise, Baron--
ALBERT. Mansfield, Your Majesty--
KING (with surprise.) Mansfield?
SOPHIA. My heart was not deceived! My long-lost brother!
ALBERT (ALBERT and SOPHIA rush into each other's arms.) My dear, dear sister!
KING (looking at them.) So, so, so! Oh, what an old fool I have been! (Looking around.) Come hither, Sophia. (She advances; the KING takes her hand.) I owe you some amends for your long and patient suffering on my account (taking the COUNT's hand)--and thus I make them. (SOPHIA and LANISKA join hands joyfully.) How well the criminals understand each other! (Rubbing his hands, and walking joyfully about the stage.) Ah, Mr. Wedgewood, I don't care if I take a pinch of snuff out of that same box I gave you the other day.
WEDGEWOOD (presenting box.) Your Majesty has added to its value a diamond worth all the rest, in finding it is large enough for two of us.
KING. Good! (Notices FREDERICA.) What! Frederica, my fair namesake and little god-daughter--in the dumps? (Looking at ALBERT.) Oh, I understand. (To COUNTESS.) By your leave madam. (Hands FREDERICA to ALBERT.) You perceive, Mr. Wedgewood, that I have a large family to look after and provide for; but I am a happy father, sir--mine are good children, very good children! I wish I had more like these.
WEDGEWOOD (significantly.) If Your Majesty goes on in this way, there'll be plenty more--IN TIME.
KING. All are now satisfied--at least I hope all are so here. (To the audience.) If, as a king, I may, on another occasion, command an audience--
WEDGEWOOD (forgetting himself, lifting his mallet and flourishing it like an auctioneer.) Going! (Recollecting himself.)--I mean--(slowly and with gravity)--s-i-l-e-n-c-e i-n t-h-e c-o-u-r-t! (meaning the audience.)
KING. These witnesses will, I am sure, attend the next trial of The Maid of Saxony--
WEDGEWOOD. If it is convenient.
FINALE. Our hearts are bounding with delight! 'Tis Freedom's jubilee! For right has triumphed over might-- The bond again are free! Hurrah!--hurrah! Let the welkin ring To Justice and Liberty Paeans we sing!
(Tableau--Curtain falls.)
End of the Maid of Saxony.
Notes.
The Deserted Bride (page 51.)
This poem was written after seeing Miss Fanny Kemble, for the first time, in one scene of "The Hunchback."
The Croton Ode (page 57.)
Written at the request of the Corporation of the city of New York, and sung near the Park Fountain by the members of the New York Sacred Music Society, on the completion of the Croton Aqueduct, October, 14, 1842.
Woodman, Spare That Tree! (page 64.)
Riding out of town a few days since, in company with a friend, who was once the expectant heir of the largest estate in America, but over whose worldly prospects a blight has recently come, he invited me to turn down a little romantic woodland pass not far from Bloomingdale. "Your object?" inquired I. "Merely to look once more at an old tree planted by my grandfather, near a cottage that was once my father's."--"The place is yours, then?" said I. "No, my poor mother sold it;" and I observed a slight quiver of the lip, at the recollection of that circumstance. "Dear mother!" resumed my companion, "we passed many happy, HAPPY days, in that old cottage; but it is nothing to me now--father, mother, sisters, cottage--all are gone!"--and a paleness over-spread his fine countenance, and a moisture came to his eyes, as he spoke. After a moment's pause, he added: "Don't think me foolish. I don't know how it is, I never ride out but I turn down this lane to look at that old tree. I have a thousand recollections about it, and I always greet it as a familiar and well-remembered friend. In the by-gone summer-time it was a friend indeed. Under its branches
ALBERT. Mansfield, Your Majesty--
KING (with surprise.) Mansfield?
SOPHIA. My heart was not deceived! My long-lost brother!
ALBERT (ALBERT and SOPHIA rush into each other's arms.) My dear, dear sister!
KING (looking at them.) So, so, so! Oh, what an old fool I have been! (Looking around.) Come hither, Sophia. (She advances; the KING takes her hand.) I owe you some amends for your long and patient suffering on my account (taking the COUNT's hand)--and thus I make them. (SOPHIA and LANISKA join hands joyfully.) How well the criminals understand each other! (Rubbing his hands, and walking joyfully about the stage.) Ah, Mr. Wedgewood, I don't care if I take a pinch of snuff out of that same box I gave you the other day.
WEDGEWOOD (presenting box.) Your Majesty has added to its value a diamond worth all the rest, in finding it is large enough for two of us.
KING. Good! (Notices FREDERICA.) What! Frederica, my fair namesake and little god-daughter--in the dumps? (Looking at ALBERT.) Oh, I understand. (To COUNTESS.) By your leave madam. (Hands FREDERICA to ALBERT.) You perceive, Mr. Wedgewood, that I have a large family to look after and provide for; but I am a happy father, sir--mine are good children, very good children! I wish I had more like these.
WEDGEWOOD (significantly.) If Your Majesty goes on in this way, there'll be plenty more--IN TIME.
KING. All are now satisfied--at least I hope all are so here. (To the audience.) If, as a king, I may, on another occasion, command an audience--
WEDGEWOOD (forgetting himself, lifting his mallet and flourishing it like an auctioneer.) Going! (Recollecting himself.)--I mean--(slowly and with gravity)--s-i-l-e-n-c-e i-n t-h-e c-o-u-r-t! (meaning the audience.)
KING. These witnesses will, I am sure, attend the next trial of The Maid of Saxony--
WEDGEWOOD. If it is convenient.
FINALE. Our hearts are bounding with delight! 'Tis Freedom's jubilee! For right has triumphed over might-- The bond again are free! Hurrah!--hurrah! Let the welkin ring To Justice and Liberty Paeans we sing!
(Tableau--Curtain falls.)
End of the Maid of Saxony.
Notes.
The Deserted Bride (page 51.)
This poem was written after seeing Miss Fanny Kemble, for the first time, in one scene of "The Hunchback."
The Croton Ode (page 57.)
Written at the request of the Corporation of the city of New York, and sung near the Park Fountain by the members of the New York Sacred Music Society, on the completion of the Croton Aqueduct, October, 14, 1842.
Woodman, Spare That Tree! (page 64.)
Riding out of town a few days since, in company with a friend, who was once the expectant heir of the largest estate in America, but over whose worldly prospects a blight has recently come, he invited me to turn down a little romantic woodland pass not far from Bloomingdale. "Your object?" inquired I. "Merely to look once more at an old tree planted by my grandfather, near a cottage that was once my father's."--"The place is yours, then?" said I. "No, my poor mother sold it;" and I observed a slight quiver of the lip, at the recollection of that circumstance. "Dear mother!" resumed my companion, "we passed many happy, HAPPY days, in that old cottage; but it is nothing to me now--father, mother, sisters, cottage--all are gone!"--and a paleness over-spread his fine countenance, and a moisture came to his eyes, as he spoke. After a moment's pause, he added: "Don't think me foolish. I don't know how it is, I never ride out but I turn down this lane to look at that old tree. I have a thousand recollections about it, and I always greet it as a familiar and well-remembered friend. In the by-gone summer-time it was a friend indeed. Under its branches