No rest, no pause of conflict. Swede and German! Papist and Lutheran! neither will give way

To the other, every hand 's against the other.

Each one is party and no one a judge.

Where shall this end? Where 's he that will unravel

This tangle, ever tangling more and more.

It must be cut asunder.

I feel that I am the man of destiny,

And trust, with your assistance, to accomplish it.

SCENE IV.

To these enter BUTLER.

But. (passionately). General! This is not right!

Wal.

What is not right?

But. It must needs injure us with all honest men. Wal. But what?

From off the banners, and instead of it,

Have rear'd aloft thy arms.

Ans. (abruptly to the Cuirassiers). Right about! March!

Wal. Curs'd be this counsel, and accurs'd who gave it! [To the Cuirassiers, who are retiring. Halt, children, halt. There's some mistake in this! Hark! I will punish it severely. Stop!

They do not hear. (To Illo.) Go after them, assure

them,

And bring them back to me, cost what it

may. [Illo hurries cut.

This hurls us headlong. Butler! Butler!

You are my evil genius, wherefore must you
Announce it in their presence? It was all

In a fair way. They were half won, those madmen
With their improvident over-readiness—

A cruel game is fortune playing with me.
The zeal of friends it is that razes me,
And not the hate of enemies.

SCENE V.

To these enter the DUCHESS, who rushes into the Chamber, THEKLA and the COUNTESS follow her.

Duch.

What hast thou done?

Wal.

O Albrecht!

And now comes this beside.

Coun. Forgive me, brother! It was not in my power. They know all.

Duch.

What hast thou done?

Coun. (to Tertsky). Is there no hope? Is all lost

utterly?

Ter. All lost. No hope. Prague in the Emperor's

hands,

The soldiery have ta'en their oaths anew.

Coun. That lurking hypocrite, Octavio! Count Max. is off too?

Ter.

Where can he be? He's

Gone over to the Emperor with his father.

[Thekla rushes out into the arms of her mother, hiding her face in her bosom.

Duch. (infolding her in her arms). Unhappy child and more unhappy mother!

Wal. (aside to Tertsky). Quick! Let a carriage

stand in readiness

In the court behind the palace. Scherfenberg

Be their attendant; he is faithful to us;

To Egra he'll conduct them, and we follow.

[To Illo, who returns.

Thou hast not brought them back?

Illo.
The whole corps of the Pappenheimers is
Drawn out: the younger Piccolomini,
Their Colonel, they require; for they affirm,
That he is in the palace here, a prisoner;
And if thou dost not instantly deliver him,
They will find means to free him with the sword.

Hear'st thou the uproar?

[All stand amazed.

Ter. What shall we make of this?
Wal.

O my prophetic heart! he is still here.

Said I not so?

He has not betray'd me—he could not betray me.
I never doubted of it.

Still here, then all goes well; for I know what

Will keep him here for ever.

Ter.

[Embracing Thekla.

It can't be.

His father has betray'd us, is gone over

To the Emperor-the son could not have ventur'd

To stay behind.

Thek. (her eye fixed on the door). There he is!

SCENE VII.

To these enter MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

Max. Yes! here he is! I can endure no longer To creep on tip-toe round this house, and lurk

In ambush for a favourable moment.

This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers.

[Advancing to Thekla, who has thrown herself into her mother's arms.

Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me!

Confess it freely before all. Fear no one.
Let who will hear that we both love each other.
Wherefore continue to conceal it? Secrecy
Is for the happy-misery, hopeless misery,
Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns
It dares act openly.

[He observes the Countess looking on Thekla with
expressions of triumph.

No, Lady! No.

Expect not, hope it not. I am not come
To stay: to bid farewell, farewell for ever,
For this I come! "Tis over! I must leave thee!
Thekla, I must-must leave thee! Yet thy hatred
Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me
One look of sympathy, only one look.
Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla!
[Grasps her hand.

O God! I cannot leave this spot-I cannot,

Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla!
That thou dost suffer with me, art convinc'd
That I cannot act otherwise.

[Thekla, avoiding his look, points with her hand
to her father. Max. turns round to the Wuke,
whom he had not till then perceived.

Thou here? It was not thou, whom here I sought.
I trusted never more to have beheld thee.

My business is with her alone. Here will I
Receive a full acquittal from this heart—
For any other I am no more concern'd.

Wal. Think'st thou, that fool-like, I shall let thee go,
And act the mock magnanimous with thee?
Thy father is become a villain to me;
I hold thee for his son, and nothing more;
Nor to no purpose shalt thou have been given
▲nto my power. Think not, that I will honour

That ancient love, which so remorselessly

He mangled. They are now past by, those hours
Of friendship and forgiveness. Hate and vengeance
Succeed--'tis now their turn-I, too, can throw
All feelings of the man aside—can prove
Myself as much a monster as thy father!

Max. (calmly). Thou wilt proceed with me as thou hast power.

Thou know'st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage. What hast detain'd me here, that, too, thou know'st. [Taking Thekla by the hand

See, Duke! All-all would I have owed to thee,
Would have receiv'd from thy paternal hand
The lot of blessed spirits. This hast thou
Laid waste for ever-that concerns not thee.
Indifferent thou tramplest in the dust

Their happiness, who most are thine. The god
Whom thou dost serve, is no benignant deity.
Like as the blind, irreconcileable,

Fierce element, incapable of compact,

Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow.*

I have here ventured to omit a considerable number of lines. I fear that I should not have done amiss, had I taken this liberty more frequently. It is, however, incumbent on me to give the original, with a literal translation:

Weh denen die auf Dich vertraun, an Dich

Die sichre Hütte ihres Glückes lehnen.

Gelockt von Deiner geistlichen Gestalt.

chnell, unverhofft, bei nächtlich stiller Weile
Gährts in dem tück'schen Feuerschlunde, ladet
Sich aus mit tobender Gewalt, und weg
Treibt über alle Pflanzungen der Menschen
Der wilde Strom in grausender Zerstöhrung.

Wallenstein.

Du schilderst Deines Vaters Herz. Wie Du's
Beschreibst, so ist's in seinem Eingeweide,
In dieser schwarzen Heuchlers Brust gestaltet.
O mich hat Höllenkunst getäuscht! Mir sandte

CC