LITMIR.BIZ

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far background of the picture, the Inn discharging its waters

       into the larger river.]

      DUMB SHOW

       A vast Austrian army creeps dully along the mid-distance, in

       the detached masses and columns of a whitish cast. The columns

       insensibly draw nearer to each other, and are seen to be converging

       from the east upon the banks of the Inn aforesaid.

      A RECORDING ANGEL [in recitative]

       This movement as of molluscs on a leaf,

       Which from our vantage here we scan afar,

       Is one manoeuvred by the famous Mack

       To countercheck Napoleon, still believed

       To be intent on England from Boulogne,

       And heedless of such rallies in his rear.

       Mack's enterprise is now to cross Bavaria—

       Beneath us stretched in ripening summer peace

       As field unwonted for these ugly jars—

       Outraged Bavaria, simmering in disquiet

       At Munich down behind us, Isar-fringed,

       And torn between his fair wife's hate of France

       And his own itch to gird at Austrian bluff

       For riding roughshod through his territory,

       Wavers from this to that. The while Time hastes

       The eastward streaming of Napoleon's host,

       As soon we see.

       The silent insect-creep of the Austrian columns towards the banks of

       the Inn continues to be seen till the view fades to nebulousness and

       dissolves.

      SCENE III

       BOULOGNE. THE ST. OMER ROAD

       [It is morning at the end of August, and the road stretches out

       of the town eastward.

       The divisions of the “Army-for-England” are making preparations

       to march. Some portions are in marching order. Bands strike

       up, and the regiments start on their journey towards the Rhine

       and Danube. Bonaparte and his officers watch the movements from

       an eminence. The soldiers, as they pace along under their eagles

       with beaming eyes, sing “Le Chant du Depart,” and other martial

       songs, shout “Vive l'Empereur!” and babble of repeating the days

       of Italy, Egypt, Marengo, and Hohenlinden.]

      NAPOLEON

       Anon to England!

      CHORUS OF INTELLIGENCES [aerial music]

       If Time's weird threads so weave!

       [The scene as it lingers exhibits the gradual diminishing of

       the troops along the roads through the undulating August

       landscape, till each column is seen but as a train of dust;

       and the disappearance of each marching mass over the eastern

       horizon.]

ACT FOURTH

       Table of Contents

      SCENE I

       KING GEORGE'S WATERING-PLACE, SOUTH WESSEX

       [A sunny day in autumn. A room in the red-brick royal residence

       know as Gloucester Lodge.8 At a front triple-lighted window stands a telescope on a tripod. Through the open middle sash is visible the crescent-curved expanse of the Bay as a sheet of brilliant translucent green, on which ride vessels of war at anchor. On the left hand white cliffs stretch away till they terminate in St. Aldhelm's Head, and form a background to the level water-line on that side. In the centre are the open sea and blue sky. A near headland rises on the right, surmounted by a battery, over which appears the remoter bald grey brow of the Isle of Slingers. In the foreground yellow sands spread smoothly, whereon there are sundry temporary erections for athletic sports; and closer at hand runs an esplanade on which a fashionable crowd is promenading. Immediately outside the Lodge are companies of soldiers, groups of officers, and sentries. Within the room the KING and PITT are discovered. The KING'S eyes show traces of recent inflammation, and the Minister has a wasted look.]

      KING

       Yes, yes; I grasp your reasons, Mr. Pitt,

       And grant you audience gladly. More than that,

       Your visit to this shore is apt and timely,

       And if it do but yield you needful rest

       From fierce debate, and other strains of office

       Which you and I in common have to bear,

       'Twill be well earned. The bathing is unmatched

       Elsewhere in Europe,—see its mark on me!—

       The air like liquid life.—But of this matter:

       What argue these late movements seen abroad?

       What of the country now the session's past;

       What of the country, eh? and of the war?

      PITT

       The thoughts I have laid before your Majesty

       Would make for this, in sum:—

       That Mr. Fox, Lord Grenville, and their friends,

       Be straightway asked to join. With Melville gone,

       With Sidmouth, and with Buckinghamshire too,

       The steerage of affairs has stood of late

       Somewhat provisional, as you, sir, know,

       With stop-gap functions thrust on offices

       Which common weal can tolerate but awhile.

       So, for the weighty reasons I have urged,

       I do repeat my most respectful hope

       To win your Majesty's ungrudged assent

       To what I have proposed.

      KING

       But nothing, sure,

       Has been more plain to all, dear Mr. Pitt,

       Than that your own proved energy and scope

       Is ample, without aid, to carry on

       Our just crusade against the Corsican.

       Why, then, go calling Fox and Grenville in?

       Such helps we need not. Pray you think upon't,

       And speak to me again.—We've had alarms

       Making us skip like crackers at our heels,

       That Bonaparte had landed close hereby.

      PITT

       Such rumours come as regularly as harvest.

      KING

       And now he has left Boulogne with all his host?

       Was it his object to invade at all,

       Or was his vast assemblage there a blind?

      PITT

       Undoubtedly he meant invasion, sir,

       Had fortune favoured. He may try it yet.

       And, as I said, could we but close with Fox—-

      KING

      

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