The Goddess of Reason 44

The Goddess of Reason 44

SÉRAPHINE

 

What harm?

 

ANGÉLIQUE

 

Why, none!

 

CÉLESTE (_her eyes upon the prisoners below_)

 

Ha, ha! it is the old man’s turn!

 

A GAOLER

 

Château-Gui!

 

THE WOMAN

 

Ah, Château-Gui!

 

FIRST JUDGE

 

Château-Gui!

 

MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI

 

O my father!

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

Unclasp thy hands, my child!

What is it, Lambertye?

 

FIRST JUDGE

 

Thou ci-devant,

Thou art accused, imprimatur, of this:

Once thou didst serve Capet!

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

The King?

 

FIRST JUDGE

 

Capet.

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

I served the King of France.

 

FIRST JUDGE

 

Twice over, death! For thou didst serve Capet;

For thou dost dare say the King of France!

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

The King of France!

 

THE CROWD

 

Ah!—

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

Son of Saint Louis!

 

THE CROWD

 

Ah!—

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

Royal Martyr!

 

THE CROWD

 

Ah—h—h.

 

MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI

 

O my father!

 

THIRD JUDGE

 

All titles, terms of honour and of state,

Majesty and reverence are forbid,

Not to be spoken! They are ci-devants,

They are condemned.

 

THE CROWD

 

Condemned!

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

Ha, ci-devants,

Titles and symbols, names and attributes,

Condemned for splendour and for high estate!

Ha, Croix de Saint Louis! Ha, Château-Gui!

Thou goest to heaven in famous company:

King, Saint, Martyr, Reverence, Majesty.—

Best make the company a regiment—

Regiment du Roi, in vestments gorgeous!

Forbidden words! Who says to me “forbid”?

Ye sans-culottes, ye bourgeois, creeping things,

Adders and asps that slew a king and queen!

I am a courtier of the olden time

Who served le Grand Monarque, knew Mazarin,

And in a Court shall still be courtier,

Croix de Saint Louis, with the _grande entrée_,

While ye do prowl in filthy ways of hell,

Nor hardly see its red-lit Œil-de-bœuf

Where everlasting Terror, groaning, reigns,—

But, being lackeys, keep the lackeys’ place!

 

FIRST JUDGE

 

Enough!

 

SECOND JUDGE

 

Death!

 

THE CROWD

 

Death! The Loire!

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

O Kings of France!

O sons of Clovis and of Charlemagne!

Louis the Pious and the Debonair!

Philippe August and Fair, and Charles the Wise!

And thou the sainted King, the Blessed Louis!

And Charles Bien-Aimé, Victorieux,

Crowned by the maiden of Domrémy!

And the good King Henri, Henri the Great!

Louis the Just, Louis le Grand Monarque!

Louis the Loved, and Louis lately dead,

The Martyr King, the Martyr, Martyr King!—

O Kings of France in that fair land ye be,

To your châteaux and to your palaces

Prepare to welcome dying loyalty!

For knightly faith is marching forth from France.

Throne, sceptre, orb, and majesty have passed,

Ermine and coronet and spur of gold,

Renown and splendid honour, valiant sway,

Ancien Régime, noblesse of old France!

The oriflamme upon its golden stem,

The banner of the lilies waving high!—

 

THE CROWD

 

Ah—

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

The lily banner and the oriflamme!

Forgotten yonder stripes of shame and woe!

 

THE CROWD

 

The tricolour! Death! The Loire!

 

FIRST JUDGE

 

Death to-night!

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

Nightshade, mandrake, and hemlock o’er ye wave!—

But I am going where, I make no doubt,

The favourite flower is still the fleur-de-lis!

 

THE CROWD

 

Ah!

 

COUNT LOUIS

 

And the word forbid is _république_!