LITMIR.BIZ

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FIRST

       Table of Contents

      SCENE I

       ENGLAND. A RIDGE IN WESSEX

       [The time is a fine day in March 1805. A highway crosses the

       ridge, which is near the sea, and the south coast is seen

       bounding the landscape below, the open Channel extending beyond.]

      SPIRITS OF THE YEARS

       Hark now, and gather how the martial mood

       Stirs England's humblest hearts. Anon we'll trace

       Its heavings in the upper coteries there.

      SPIRIT SINISTER

       Ay; begin small, and so lead up to the greater. It is a sound

       dramatic principle. I always aim to follow it in my pestilences,

       fires, famines, and other comedies. And though, to be sure, I did

       not in my Lisbon earthquake, I did in my French Terror, and my St.

       Domingo burlesque.

      SPIRIT OF THE YEARS

       THY Lisbon earthquake, THY French Terror. Wait.

       Thinking thou will'st, thou dost but indicate.

       [A stage-coach enters, with passengers outside. Their voices

       after the foregoing sound small and commonplace, as from another

       medium.]

      FIRST PASSENGER

       There seems to be a deal of traffic over Ridgeway, even at this time

       o' year.

      SECOND PASSENGER

       Yes. It is because the King and Court are coming down here later

       on. They wake up this part rarely!... See, now, how the Channel

       and coast open out like a chart. That patch of mist below us is the

       town we are bound for. There's the Isle of Slingers beyond, like a

       floating snail. That wide bay on the right is where the “Abergavenny,”

       Captain John Wordsworth, was wrecked last month. One can see half

       across to France up here.

      FIRST PASSENGER

       Half across. And then another little half, and then all that's

       behind—the Corsican mischief!

      SECOND PASSENGER

       Yes. People who live hereabout—I am a native of these parts—feel

       the nearness of France more than they do inland.

      FIRST PASSENGER

       That's why we have seen so many of these marching regiments on the

       road. This year his grandest attempt upon us is to be made, I reckon.

      SECOND PASSENGER

       May we be ready!

      FIRST PASSENGER

       Well, we ought to be. We've had alarms enough, God knows.

       [Some companies of infantry are seen ahead, and the coach presently

       overtakes them.]

      SOLDIERS [singing as they walk]

       We be the King's men, hale and hearty,

       Marching to meet one Buonaparty;

       If he won't sail, lest the wind should blow,

       We shall have marched for nothing, O!

       Right fol-lol!

       We be the King's men, hale and hearty,

       Marching to meet one Buonaparty;

       If he be sea-sick, says “No, no!”

       We shall have marched for nothing, O!

       Right fol-lol!

       [The soldiers draw aside, and the coach passes on.]

      SECOND PASSENGER

       Is there truth in it that Bonaparte wrote a letter to the King last

       month?

      FIRST PASSENGER

       Yes, sir. A letter in his own hand, in which he expected the King

       to reply to him in the same manner.

      SOLDIERS [continuing, as they are left behind]

       We be the King's men, hale and hearty,

       Marching to meet one Buonaparty;

       Never mind, mates; we'll be merry, though

       We may have marched for nothing, O!

       Right fol-lol!

      THIRD PASSENGER

       And was Boney's letter friendly?

      FIRST PASSENGER

       Certainly, sir. He requested peace with the King.

      THIRD PASSENGER

       And why shouldn't the King reply in the same manner?

      FIRST PASSENGER

       What! Encourage this man in an act of shameless presumption, and

       give him the pleasure of considering himself the equal of the King

       of England—whom he actually calls his brother!

      THIRD PASSENGER

       He must be taken for what he is, not for what he was; and if he calls

       King George his brother it doesn't speak badly for his friendliness.

      FIRST PASSENGER

       Whether or no, the King, rightly enough, did not reply in person,

       but through Lord Mulgrave our Foreign Minister, to the effect that

       his Britannic Majesty cannot give a specific answer till he has

       communicated with the Continental powers.

      THIRD PASSENGER

       Both the manner and the matter of the reply are British; but a huge

       mistake.

      FIRST PASSENGER

       Sir, am I to deem you a friend of Bonaparte, a traitor to your

       country—-

      THIRD PASSENGER

       Damn my wig, sir, if I'll be called a traitor by you or any Court

       sycophant at all at all!

       [He unpacks a case of pistols.]

      SECOND PASSENGER

       Gentlemen forbear, forbear! Should such differences be suffered to

       arise on a spot where we may, in less than three months, be fighting

       for our very existence? This is foolish, I say. Heaven alone, who

       reads the secrets of this man's heart, can tell what his meaning and

       intent may be, and if his letter has been answered wisely or no.

       [The coach is stopped to skid the wheel for the descent of the

       hill, and before it starts again a dusty horseman overtakes it.]

      SEVERAL PASSENGERS

       A London messenger! [To horseman] Any news, sir? We are from

       Bristol only.

      HORSEMAN

       Yes; much. We have declared war against Spain, an error giving

      

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