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_ ACT I SCENE I
Scene I: Reception hall, castle of Miramar,
near Trieste. Enter Count Charles, book in hand.
Char.
Ah, books must be put by for swords, I wot,
When this wild journey to the West begins.
'Tis change enough! O shifting, shuffling life!
Come, Shakespeare, magic mason, build me worlds
That never shake however winds may blow,
Founded on dream imperishable!
(Sits and reads. Enter Lady Maria.)
Mar.
Charles!
Not reading! Dost know what day it is?
Char.
Ay, sister!
A day to make a scholar tremble, and hug
His books in fever of farewell.
Mar.
Didst see
The splendid carriages glittering up the drive?
And O, so many!
Char.
They have arrived?
Mar.
Arrived!
Why, all the Mexican deputies, arrayed
Like their own sunsets,--the ambassadors
From Austria, Belgium, France,--the princesses,
And countesses, now in the guest-room wait
The stroke of twelve to enter! 'Tis nearly time,
And you sit here! Put by your Englishman!
Come, put him by, I say! He's dead; we live.
He's had his due and passed.
Char.
Nay, his account
Is writ forever current. His book of praise
Time closes not, but waits some language new
To enter it, and at his monument
Fame yet stands carving.
Mar.
(Taking book and closing it)
So! She's time enough!
We've other work.
(Gently)
Is not the princess sad?
Char.
I pray her heavy tears, weighing like stones,
Will hold her back from sea!
Mar.
Hush, Charles! She comes!
(Enter Carlotta, richly dressed)
Car.
Ah, cousins, trimming now your smiles to greet
The deputies?
Char.
Nay, calling up our tears
To grace farewell to Miramar!
Car.
No tears!
We'll think but of an empire and a crown,
Not Miramar!
(Enter Maximilian, dressed in the uniform of Vice-Admiral
of the Austrian navy)
Max.
An empire and a crown?
At last I am out-rivalled in your heart!
Car.
Nay, nay, thou know'st, my lord, thou art my empire!
Grant me so much as now I look upon
And I'm as rich as Jove with Saturn's sceptre
New-swinging o'er the world!
Char.
Then you risk much
For an unstable throne.
Car.
Not risk!
Char.
The men
Who've governed Mexico, for the most part,
Have paid their heads for it.
Mar.
O, Charles!
Char.
'Tis true.
Car.
Our safety is in the Emperor of France.
He's the strong angel in this noble scheme!
Char.
Safety in him? Nay, madam, by my soul,
The lightest smile that breaks upon his lips,
As though a breeze but touched there, hides a plot
May hang our hearts with lead!
Car.
How you misjudge him!
In Paris when he pledged his faith to us
His eyes more than his words assured his heart
Unto our cause. I trust him, yea, I trust him!
Char.
There is a woman on the throne of France!
She is the Eve to this slow-blooded Adam,
Dutch-born Napoleon, and holdeth up
The globe as 't were an apple for his hand.
She builds mock images of dreams that died
On Helena's lone rock, and teaches him
They are not ghosts of dream but dream indeed!
Mexico, burning with gold and sunset's fire,
Pouring the crimson of internal strife,
To her is but a jewel in crude bed
She'd have you pick and polish for her crown!
Car.
Had you but heard her sweet devoted voice
Pleading with us for sake of the true Church
To finish now this great emprise begun,
You would believe her holy.
Char.
If she is holy,
And if Napoleon be true in this,
Then is he God's perfection of a man,
And she earth's sole and sainted paragon!
But wait--O wait and see ere you risk life
And honor!
Car.
You're wrong--so wrong--but this is strange.
O why are we not happy?
(Turning to window and gazing out)
Char.
(Following her)
Because, my cousin,
This is not Miramar as we have known it.
The scholar's home, the soldier's fair retreat,
The noble heart's sweet fane and altar spot,
But Miramar with great ambition's storm
Rolling its thunders 'gainst her peaceful walls!
Max.
But to live idly is never to be born.
Shall we sit here at ease when God has found
The work for us? He with his pontiff finger
Points to the sea--
Car.
(Turning)
Sweet Miramar!
If God points to the sea, why gave he this?
This heaven-spot, this nesting place of love,
Hung like a garland 'tween the sea and rocks!
Ah, dear my lord, some curse will follow us
Who can desert this peace-embalmed place
To seek a glory fairer but in name!
I dare not do it!
Max.
(Taking her hands)
'Tis you shall say, my wife.
If to stay here's your wish, that wish is mine,
Maybe I've dreamed too much of deeds of good,
And visionary feats in that far land;
Then let it be your yea or nay, my love.
Car.
O leave it not to me, for in a yea
My vanity will speak, and in a nay
My fear!
Max.
A slander on these lips? A kiss
Were better!
(Kisses her. Enter Marquis Corio)
Cor.
The noble guests approach. Will 't please
Your Highnesses assume your places?
Max.
Yea,
Or nay, Carlotta?
Mar.
O, they come! they come!
Char.
(Hastily and earnestly)
Nay, if you love your lord! That is a land
Of murder, treason, carnage and revolt!
The very air cries out 'go not! go not!'
E'en yon cloud-turbanned peak, that never moves
Whate'er the circling stars propound to vex
His silent wisdom, warns with forbidding nod!
O noblest cousin--
Car.
(In agitation)
An empire! Miramar!
(Maximilian takes place centre. A table in front of him
covered with maps and papers. Carlotta by him, Count
Charles and Lady Maria in their rear. Enter Archduke of
Austria, and nobles, who take position at some distance
from Maximilian on his right. Enter Belgian Minister,
Abbot of Lacroma, Princess of Metternich, Princess Zichy,
Countess Kollonitz, and others. They stand at distance to
left of Maximilian. Enter the Imperial delegate, Senor
Hurbet, and General Frassart, Napoleon's Adjutant of the
Field. The former takes place immediately at Maximilian's
right, the latter at left of Carlotta. Marquis Corio at
door. Enter the Mexican deputies, Estrada, Berzabal,
Negrete, Ruiz, and a dozen others. Estrada, as president
of the deputation, makes low salute)
Max.
Welcome, my lords, to Miramar!
Est.
Hail, Prince,
And fairest princess! The grace and hope of morning
Be ever on your lives!
Car.
Must noble senors,
We give you thanks and greeting.
Max.
Your presence here,
My lords, would move our hearts although you brought
No crown to guerdon welcome.
Est.
O, gracious prince,
Our tongues but feebly bear the mighty love
The land of Montezuma bade us lay
Low at your feet. Your starry virtues draw
Her prayers and hopes and holiest desires
Across the sea in humblest supplication.
We make no weary tale of our misfortunes;
They are so great the world is heavy with them,
And Mexico means but calamity
To every ear.
Max.
My dear and honored lords,
The heart is granite and the veins are ice
That will not stir at your deep miseries.
Est.
Ah, sir, this crown is heavy, but you will bear
The golden weight as 't were the aureole
That seals the saint to God!
Max.
But not without
Consent of every subject should I wear it.
Does Mexico send all her hearts with you?
Ruiz.
(Spreading paper on table)
Read here the proclamation now in force
In all our provinces.
Max.
And this has been
By each assembly ratified?
Berzabal.
Ay, prince!
It is a nation, not these dozen men,
That with a million voices prays to you!
Max.
From childhood up I've sought to obey my God,
But never dreamed that he would bless my life
With such high sanction as I read herein.
(Lifting paper)
Forgive a tear, my lords.... But we must ask
That crowned Europe give a sacred oath
To guarantee our empire's permanence.
Archduke.
Brother, I bring the word of Austria,
Whose prayers, whose arms, whose subjects' blood are yours,
While she has blood or arms to give!
Belgian Minister.
For Belgium
I speak--the princess' true and royal father,
Whose little kingdom measures not his heart!
Senor Hurbet.
And I, my lord, have here the signed oath
Of Mightiest France, whose fifty-thousand men
Now guard the cradle of the new born peace
In Mexico! Read here what he will do.
Max.
(Reads)
Enough.... My lords, should I accept this crown,
'T would be with holiest expectation
To reign in love and peace, but your past struggles
Point to a term of danger and much risk
Ere our star shines above all factious spite.
Stood I alone I should not hesitate,
But here is one more dear than my own life,
Whom I must cherish more than my own life,
Within whose heart I must find out my answer;
And God be thanked her wisdom beams so true
Above the hesitations of my mind
That I can love her yea or nay as 't were
By Heaven spoke!
Est.
Then to your mercy, princess,
We now commit our hope.
Car.
Most worthy lords,
I am so proud that I would wear a crown,
So pitying I would weep my heart away
For your sad country, and so vain I think
The lord that married me might lead you from
Rebellion's night to civil-kissing hours;
But yet a woman bonded unto love,
Not my own mistress. The life bound up with mine
Is dearer than the peace of any state,
And looking deep into your country's heart
I read some cruel marks of history
That teach me fear for any precious thing
Consigned unto its love.
Est.
If ever souls
Lay bare to human eyes, read now in ours
The loyalty which you will find in every subject!
Ruiz.
Be merciful! Earth aches through her rock-ribs
With our old woes, and it is you may heal them!
Ber.
Pity will teach thee soon to love our land!
Car.
My lords, already I love Mexico,
And would forego the peace of Miramar,--
All happy days that from the future lean
To meet my smiles, as trifles whose light thought
Shames this great hour; but when in dream I see
My lord beset by foes in foreign land,
The help he needs beyond a three-months' sea,
My princess pride flags to a peasant fear
For one dear life!
Est.
Wrong not yourself, your lord,
And Mexico, O gentlest lady--
Car.
Nay--
Est.
Say yea, and our expectant land will feel
The thrill of that affirmative across
The glad Atlantic! Yea--and France, whose name
Is in our hearts as God's, will bless thy tongue!
Say yea, and noble England, watchful Spain,
Who with great France began the holy work
Of blessed liberation will applaud
With happy echoes to the guardian skies!
Say yea, and the white spirit of the Church
Will take 'neath her soft wings our blood-drenched land,
That waits but for that word to hail thy lord
Regenerator, king!
Car.
My lords, my lords,
We are but human! Mayhap we will not keep
The love that we have won!
Senor Hur.
Fear not, O princess!
Behind your throne, with unretreating sword,
Will stand the first great power of all the world!
Thus speak I for the emperor of France!
Princess Metternich.
(Advancing)
I for the empress! Eugenie bade me speak
Her heart out here, and hail thee sister empress!
To ask when your young empire blooms above
The lily of old France, and lures the East
To pour her golden heart into your port,
And ocean blossoms with your argosies,
You'll still remember that she loved you when
You were but princess and no farther ruled
Then stretch the gardens of small Miramar!
Car.
O generous Eugenie! But the fear--
Abbot of Lacroma.
To speak of fear in this is to doubt God!
He does not bless in vain a noble prince
With such rare qualities as crown the mind
Of Maximilian! 'Tis for some purpose rare
He rounds such excellence with highest birth
And puts a sword of power in his hand!
From over seas unto your very feet
A nation comes to choose from all the world
One made by Heaven to be its sovereign lord,
Cool hearts of passion in his amity,
Make bitter eyes forget their ancient hate,
And proudest knees bow with old enemies
In worship of his star beneficent!
There pale and crushed Peace
Shall take the color of the living rose,
Hearing the voice of his protecting love
That comes to lift her beauty from the dust
And on that ground volcanic nobly build
Her temple indestructible!
There shall his kingly mind find outward means
To write sublimity upon the world,
And like old Egypt speak in pyramids
To nations unbegot in dream of Time!
And can you shock the hour with hesitation?
Ask all the waiting world,--ay, even God,
To pause and count the heart-beats of a woman?
Car.
(Devoutly, with uplifted hands and eyes)
Forgive me, Heaven, that I doubted thee!
(Takes Maximilian's hands, turns with great
dignity to the deputies, and speaks solemnly)
Senors, we'll wear the crown of Mexico.
(Silence. The abbot of Lacroma advances; Carlotta and
Maximilian drop to their knees as he extends his arms
above them in blessing) _
Read next: Act 1 - Scene 2
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