Chapter VIII: Act III: Scene Continues

_Collot d'Herbois._ Caesar is fall'n! The baneful tree of Java,
Whose death-distilling boughs dropt poisonous dew,
Is rooted from its base. This worse than Cromwell,
The austere, the self-denying Robespierre,
Even in this hall, where once with terror mute 5
We listen'd to the hypocrite's harangues,
Has heard his doom.

_Billaud Varennes._ Yet must we not suppose
The tyrant will fall tamely. His sworn hireling
Henriot, the daring desperate Henriot,
Commands the force of Paris. I denounce him. 10

_Freron._ I denounce Fleuriot too, the mayor of Paris.

_Enter DUBOIS CRANCÉ._

_Dubois Crancé._ Robespierre is rescued. Henriot at the head
Of the arm'd force has rescued the fierce tyrant.

_Collot d'Herbois._ Ring the tocsin--call all the citizens
To save their country--never yet has Paris 15
Forsook the representatives of France.

_Tallien._ It is the hour of danger. I propose
This sitting be made permanent. [_Loud applauses._

_Collot d'Herbois._ The National Convention shall remain
Firm at its post. 20

_Enter a_ Messenger.

_Messenger._ Robespierre has reach'd the Commune. They espouse
The tyrant's cause. St. Just is up in arms!
St. Just--the young ambitious bold St. Just
Harangues the mob. The sanguinary Couthon
Thirsts for your blood. [_Tocsin rings._ 25

_Tallien._ These tyrants are in arms against the law:
Outlaw the rebels.

_Enter MERLIN OF DOUAY._

_Merlin._ Health to the representatives of France!
I past this moment through the arméd force--
They ask'd my name--and when they heard a delegate, 30
Swore I was not the friend of France.

_Collot d'Herbois._ The tyrants threaten us as when they turn'd
The cannon's mouth on Brissot.

_Enter another_ Messenger.

_Second Messenger._ Vivier harangues the Jacobins--the Club
Espouse the cause of Robespierre. 35

_Enter another_ Messenger.

_Third Messenger._ All's lost--the tyrant triumphs. Henriot leads
The soldiers to his aid.--Already I hear
The rattling cannon destined to surround
This sacred hall.

_Tallien._ Why, we will die like men then.
The representatives of France dare death, 40
When duty steels their bosoms. [_Loud applauses._

_Tallien (addressing the galleries)._ Citizens!
France is insulted in her delegates--
The majesty of the Republic is insulted--
Tyrants are up in arms. An arméd force
Threats the Convention. The Convention swears 45
To die, or save the country!

[_Violent applauses from the galleries._

_Citizen (from above)._ We too swear
To die, or save the country. Follow me.

[_All the men quit the galleries._

_Enter another_ Messenger.

_Fourth Messenger._ Henriot is taken! [_Loud applauses._
Three of your brave soldiers
Swore they would seize the rebel slave of tyrants,
Or perish in the attempt. As he patroll'd 50
The streets of Paris, stirring up the mob,
They seiz'd him. [_Applauses._

_Billaud Varennes._ Let the names of these brave men
Live to the future day.

_Enter BOURDON L'OISE, sword in hand._

_Bourdon l'Oise._ I have clear'd the Commune.

[_Applauses._

Through the throng I rush'd,
Brandishing my good sword to drench its blade 55
Deep in the tyrant's heart. The timid rebels
Gave way. I met the soldiery--I spake
Of the dictator's crimes--of patriots chain'd
In dark deep dungeons by his lawless rage--
Of knaves secure beneath his fostering power. 60
I spake of Liberty. Their honest hearts
Caught the warm flame. The general shout burst forth,
'Live the Convention--Down with Robespierre!' [_Applauses._

(_Shouts from without--Down with the Tyrant!_)

_Tallien._ I hear, I hear the soul-inspiring sounds,
France shall be saved! her generous sons attached 65
To principles, not persons, spurn the idol
They worshipp'd once. Yes, Robespierre shall fall
As Capet fell! Oh! never let us deem
That France shall crouch beneath a tyrant's throne,
That the almighty people who have broke 70
On their oppressors' heads the oppressive chain,
Will court again their fetters! easier were it
To hurl the cloud-capt mountain from its base,
Than force the bonds of slavery upon men
Determined to be free! [_Applauses._ 75

_Enter LEGENDRE--a pistol in one hand, keys in the other._

_Legendre (flinging down the keys)._ So--let the mutinous Jacobins
meet now
In the open air. [_Loud applauses._
A factious turbulent party
Lording it o'er the state since Danton died,
And with him the Cordeliers.--A hireling band
Of loud-tongued orators controull'd the Club, 80
And bade them bow the knee to Robespierre.
Vivier has 'scaped me. Curse his coward heart--
This fate-fraught tube of Justice in my hand,
I rush'd into the hall. He mark'd mine eye
That beam'd its patriot anger, and flash'd full 85
With death-denouncing meaning. 'Mid the throng
He mingled. I pursued--but stay'd my hand,
Lest haply I might shed the innocent blood. [_Applauses._

_Freron._ They took from me my ticket of admission--
Expell'd me from their sittings.--Now, forsooth, 90
Humbled and trembling re-insert my name.
But Freron enters not the Club again
'Till it be purged of guilt:--'till, purified
Of tyrants and of traitors, honest men
May breathe the air in safety. [_Shouts from without._ 95

_Barrere._ What means this uproar! if the tyrant band
Should gain the people once again to rise--
We are as dead!

_Tallien._ And wherefore fear we death?
Did Brutus fear it? or the Grecian friends
Who buried in Hipparchus' breast the sword, 100
And died triumphant? Caesar should fear death,
Brutus must scorn the bugbear.

(_Shouts from without--Live the Convention!--Down with the Tyrants!_)

_Tallien._ Hark! again
The sounds of honest Freedom!

_Enter_ Deputies _from the_ Sections.

_Citizen._ Citizens! representatives of France!
Hold on your steady course. The men of Paris 105
Espouse your cause. The men of Paris swear
They will defend the delegates of Freedom.

_Tallien._ Hear ye this, Colleagues? hear ye this, my brethren?
And does no thrill of joy pervade your breasts?
My bosom bounds to rapture. I have seen 110
The sons of France shake off the tyrant yoke;
I have, as much as lies in mine own arm,
Hurl'd down the usurper.--Come death when it will,
I have lived long enough. [_Shouts without._

_Barrere._ Hark! how the noise increases! through the gloom 115
Of the still evening--harbinger of death,
Rings the tocsin! the dreadful generale
Thunders through Paris--

[_Cry without--Down with the Tyrant!_

_Enter LECOINTRE._

_Lecointre._ So may eternal justice blast the foes
Of France! so perish all the tyrant brood, 120
As Robespierre has perish'd! Citizens,
Caesar is taken. [_Loud and repeated applauses._
I marvel not that with such fearless front
He braved our vengeance, and with angry eye
Scowled round the hall defiance. He relied 125
On Henriot's aid--the Commune's villain friendship,
And Henriot's _boughten_ succours. Ye have heard
How Henriot rescued him--how with open arms
The Commune welcom'd in the rebel tyrant--
How Fleuriot aided, and seditious Vivier 130
Stirr'd up the Jacobins. All had been lost--
The representatives of France had perish'd--
Freedom had sunk beneath the tyrant arm
Of this foul parricide, but that her spirit
Inspir'd the men of Paris. Henriot call'd 135
'To arms' in vain, whilst Bourdon's patriot voice
Breathed eloquence, and o'er the Jacobins
Legendre frown'd dismay. The tyrants fled--
They reach'd the Hôtel. We gather'd round--we call'd
For vengeance! Long time, obstinate in despair, 140
With knives they hack'd around them. 'Till foreboding
The sentence of the law, the clamorous cry
Of joyful thousands hailing their destruction,
Each sought by suicide to escape the dread
Of death. Lebas succeeded. From the window 145
Leapt the younger Robespierre, but his fractur'd limb
Forbade to escape. The self-will'd dictator
Plunged often the keen knife in his dark breast,
Yet impotent to die. He lives all mangled
By his own tremulous hand! All gash'd and gored 150
He lives to taste the bitterness of death.
Even now they meet their doom. The bloody Couthon,
The fierce St. Just, even now attend their tyrant
To fall beneath the axe. I saw the torches
Flash on their visages a dreadful light-- 155
I saw them whilst the black blood roll'd adown
Each stern face, even then with dauntless eye
Scowl round contemptuous, dying as they lived,
Fearless of fate! [_Loud and repeated applauses._

_Barrere mounts the Tribune._ For ever hallowed be this glorious
day, 160
When Freedom, bursting her oppressive chain,
Tramples on the oppressor. When the tyrant
Hurl'd from his blood-cemented throne, by the arm
Of the almighty people, meets the death
He plann'd for thousands. Oh! my sickening heart 165
Has sunk within me, when the various woes
Of my brave country crowded o'er my brain
In ghastly numbers--when assembled hordes,
Dragg'd from their hovels by despotic power,
Rush'd o'er her frontiers, plunder'd her fair hamlets, 170
And sack'd her populous towns, and drench'd with blood
The reeking fields of Flanders.--When within,
Upon her vitals prey'd the rankling tooth
Of treason; and oppression, giant form,
Trampling on freedom, left the alternative 175
Of slavery, or of death. Even from that day,
When, on the guilty Capet, I pronounced
The doom of injured France, has faction reared
Her hated head amongst us. Roland preach'd
Of mercy--the uxorious dotard Roland, 180
The woman-govern'd Roland durst aspire
To govern France; and Petion talk'd of virtue,
And Vergniaud's eloquence, like the honeyed tongue
Of some soft Syren wooed us to destruction.
We triumphed over these. On the same scaffold 185
Where the last Louis pour'd his guilty blood,
Fell Brissot's head, the womb of darksome treasons,
And Orleans, villain kinsman of the Capet,
And Hébert's atheist crew, whose maddening hand
Hurl'd down the altars of the living God, 190
With all the infidel's intolerance.
The last worst traitor triumphed--triumph'd long,
Secur'd by matchless villainy--by turns
Defending and deserting each accomplice
As interest prompted. In the goodly soil 195
Of Freedom, the foul tree of treason struck
Its deep-fix'd roots, and dropt the dews of death
On all who slumber'd in its specious shade.
He wove the web of treachery. He caught
The listening crowd by his wild eloquence, 200
His cool ferocity that persuaded murder,
Even whilst it spake of mercy!--never, never
Shall this regenerated country wear
The despot yoke. Though myriads round assail,
And with worse fury urge this new crusade 205
Than savages have known; though the leagued despots
Depopulate all Europe, so to pour
The accumulated mass upon our coasts,
Sublime amid the storm shall France arise,
And like the rock amid surrounding waves 210
Repel the rushing ocean.--She shall wield
The thunder-bolt of vengeance--she shall blast
The despot's pride, and liberate the world!

FINIS

OSORIO

A TRAGEDY[518:1]

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

[_Not in MSS._]

_Osorio_, 1797. _Remorse._
_VELEZ_ = _MARQUIS VALDEZ, Father to the two brothers, and
Doña Teresa's Guardian._
_ALBERT_ = _DON ALVAR, the eldest son._
_OSORIO_ = _DON ORDONIO, the youngest son._
_FRANCESCO_ = _MONVIEDRO, a Dominican and Inquisitor._
_MAURICE_ = _ZULIMEZ, the faithful attendant on Alvar._
_FERDINAND_ = _ISIDORE, a Moresco Chieftain, ostensibly a
Christian._
_NAOMI_ = _NAOMI._
_MARIA_ = _DOÑA TERESA, an Orphan Heiress._
_ALHADRA, wife
of FERDINAND_ = _ALHADRA, Wife of Isidore._
_FAMILIARS OF THE INQUISITION._
_MOORS, SERVANTS, &C._

_Time. The reign of Philip II., just at the close of the civil wars against the Moors, and during the heat of the persecution which raged against them, shortly after the edict which forbad the wearing of Moresco apparel under pain of death._

FOOTNOTES:

[518:1] First published in 1873 by Mr. John Pearson (under the editorship of R. H. Shepherd): included in _P. and D. W._ 1877-80, and in _P. W._ 1893.

Four MSS. are (or were) extant, (1) the transcript of the play as sent to Sheridan in 1797 (_MS. I_); (2) a contemporary transcript sent by Coleridge to a friend (_MS. II_); (3) a third transcript (the handwriting of a 'legal character') sold at Christie's, March 8, 1895 (_MS. III_); (4) a copy of Act I in Coleridge's handwriting, which formerly belonged to Thomas Poole, and is now in the British Museum (_MS. P._). The text of the present issue follows MS. I. The variants are derived from MSS. I, II as noted by J. Dykes Campbell in _P. W._ 1893, from a MS. collation (by J. D. Campbell) of MS. III, now published for the first time, and from a fresh collation of MS. P.

_Osorio_ was begun at Stowey in March, 1797. Two and a half Acts were written before June, four and a half Acts before September 13, 1797. A transcript of the play (_MS. I_) was sent to Drury Lane in October, and rejected, on the score of the 'obscurity of the last three acts', on or about December 1, 1797. See 'Art.' Coleridge, _Osorio_ and _Remorse_, by J. D. Campbell, _Athenaeum_, April 8, 1890.

In the reign of Philip II shortly after the civil war against the Moors, and during the heat of the Persecution which raged against them. Maria an orphan of fortune had been espoused to Albert the eldest son of Lord Velez, but he having been supposed dead, is now addressed by Osorio the brother of Albert.

In the character of Osorio I wished to represent a man, who, from his childhood had mistaken constitutional abstinence from vices, for strength of character--thro' his pride duped into guilt, and then endeavouring to shield himself from the reproaches of his own mind by misanthropy.

Don Garcia (supposed dead) and Valdez father of Don Ordoño, and Guardian of Teresa di Monviedro. Don Garcia eldest son of the Marquis di Valdez, supposed dead, having been six years absent, and for the last three without any tidings of him.

Teresa Senñora [_sic_] di Monviedro, an orphan lady, bequeathed by both Parents on their death-bed to the wardship of the Marquis, and betrothed to Don Garcia--Gulinaez a Moorish Chieftain and ostensibly a new Christian--Alhadra his wife. _MS. III._

For the Preface of _MS. I_, vide Appendices of this edition.

LINENOTES:

_Osorio A Tragedy_--Title] Osorio, a Dramatic Poem MS. II: Osorio, The Sketch of a Tragedy MS. III.