Goetz. After dinner.

Char. And I know something else.
Goetz. What may that be?

Char. "Jaxthausen is a village and castle upon the Jaxt, which has appertained in property and heritage for two hundred years to the Lords of Berlichingen"

Goetz. Do you know the Lord of Berlichingen? (Charles stares at him.) With all his extensive learning he does not know his own father.--Whom does Jaxthausen belong to?

Char. "Jaxthausen is a village and castle upon the Jaxt"

Goetz. I did not ask about that-I knew every path, pass, and ford about the place, before ever I knew the name of the village, castle, or river.-Is your mother in the kitchen?

Char. Yes, papa!-They are dressing a lamb, with nice white turnips.

Goetz. Do you know that too, Jack Turnspit? Char. And my aunt is roasting an apple for me to eat after dinner

Goetz. Can't you eat it raw?

Char. It tastes better roasted.

Goetz. You must have a tid-bit, must you?-Weislingen, I will be with you immediately-I go to see my wife.-Come, Charles!

Char. Who is that man?

Goetz. Bid him welcome.-Tell him to be cheerful.

Char. There's my hand, man!-Be cheerful-for the dinner will be ready soon.

Weis. (takes up the child and kisses him.) Happy boy! that knowest no worse evil than the delay of dinner. May you live to have much joy in your son, Berlichingen!

Goetz. Where there is most light, the shades are deepest.-Yet I thank God for him.-We'll see what they are about. [Exit with Charles and Servants. Weis. O that I could but wake and find this all a dream!-In the power of Berlichingen!-of him from whom I had so far detached myself-whose remembrance I shunned like fire-whom I hoped to overpower!-and he still the old true-hearted Goetz! -O Adelbert! couldst thou recall the days when we played as children, and drove the mimic chase round this hall; then thou lovedst him, prizedst him as thy soul! Who can be near him and hate him? Alas! I am not here such as I was-Happy days, ye are gone-There in his chair by the chimney sat old Berlichingen, while we played around him, and loved each other like cherubs!- -How anxious will be the Bishop and all my friends!-Well; I wot the whole country will sympathize with my misfortune. But what does it avail? Can that reflection give me the peace after which I struggle?

Re-enter GOETZ with wine and beakers. Goetz. We'll take a glass till dinner is ready. Come, sit down-think yourself at home! Consider you are once more the guest of Goetz. It is long since we have sat side by side, and emptied a flagon together-(Fills.) Come: a light heart!

Weis. Those times are over.

Goetz. God forbid! We shall hardly find more pleasant days than those which we spent together at the Margrave's court-when we were inseparable night and day. I think with pleasure on the days of my youth.-Do you remember the battle I had with the Polander, and how I broke his frizzled pate for him?

Weis. It was at table; and he struck at you with a knife.

Goetz. However, I came off conqueror-And you had a quarrel upon the account with his comrade. We always stuck together like brave boys-(Fills and hands to WEISLINGEN.) I shall never forget how the Margrave used to call us Castor and Pollux: it does me good to think of it.

Weis. The Bishop of Wurtzburg called us so first. Goetz. That Bishop was a learned clerk, and withal so gentle-I shall remember as long as I live how he used to caress us, praise our union, and de

scribe the good fortune of the man who has an adopted brother in a friend.

Weis. No more of that!

Goetz. Does it displease you? I know nothing more delightful after a fatigue than to talk over old stories. Indeed, when I recall to mind how we were almost the same being, body and soul, and how I thought we were to continue so all our lives -Was not that my sole comfort when this hand was shot away at Landshut, and when you nursed and tended me like a brother? I hoped Adelbert would in future be my right hand.-And nowWeis. Alas!

Goetz. Hadst thou followed me when I wished thee to go to Brabant with me, all would have remained well. But then that unhappy turn for Court-dangling seized thee, and thy coquetting and flirting with idle women.-I always told thee, when thou wouldst mix with these lounging, begging Court-sycophants, and entertain them with gossiping about unluckly matches and seduced girls, and such trash as they are interested about-I always told thee, Adelbert, thou wilt become a rogue. Weis. Why all this?

Goetz. Would to God I could forget it, or that it were otherwise!-Art thou not as free and as nobly born as any in Germany, independent, holding under the Emperor alone-and dost thou not crouch amongst vassals?-What is the Bishop to thee? Allow he is thy neighbour, and can do thee a shrewd turn, hast thou not an arm and friends to requite him in kind? Art thou ignorant of the noble situation of a free knight, who rests only upon God, the Emperor, and himself, that thou canst bear thus to crawl at the footstool of a selfish malicious Priest Weis. Let me speak!

Goetz. What canst thou say?

Weis. You look upon the Princes as the wolf upon the shepherd. And yet, canst thou blame them for uniting in the defence of their territories and property? Are they a moment secure from the unruly chivalry of your free knights, who plunder their vassals upon the very high-road, and sack their castles and towns? While upon the frontiers the public enemy threaten to overrun the lands of our dear Emperor, and, while he needs their assistance, they can scarce maintain their own security-is it not our good genius which at this moment suggests a mean of bringing peace to Germany, of securing the administration of justice, and giving to great and sinall the blessings of quiet? For this purpose is our confederacy; and dost thou blame us for securing the protection of the powerful Princes our neighbours, instead of relying on that of the Emperor, who is so far removed from us, and is hardly able to protect himself?

Goetz. Yes, yes, I understand you. Weislingen, were the Princes as you paint them, we should be all agreed-all at peace and quiet! Yes, every bird of prey naturally likes to eat its plunder undisturbed. The general weal!-They will hardly acquire untimely gray hairs in studying for that!-And with the Emperor they play a fine game--Every day comes some new adviser and gives his opinion. The Emrights-but because a great man can soon give an peror means well, and would gladly put things to order, and by a single word put a thousand hands into motion, he therefore thinks his orders will be as speedily accomplished. Then come ordinances upon ordinances contradictory of each other, while the Princes all the while obey those only which serve their own interest, and help them to press under their footstool their less powerful neighboursand all the while they talk of the quiet and peace of the Empire!-I will be sworn, many a one thanks God in his heart that the Turk keeps the Emperor from looking into these affairs!

Weis. You view things your own way. Goetz. So does every one. The question is, which is the right light in which they should be regarded ?-And your plans are of the darkest.

Weis. You may say what you will; I am you? prisoner.

Goetz. When your conscience is free, so are you

Lieb. Near Frankfort is an ample building called the correction-house

Olear. What of the Turkish expedition, please your Excellence?

you for the first time have I ceased to regret her company. She had loved, and could tell.......She had a most affectionate heart-Oh! she was an excellent woman!

Weis. Then you resemble her. (Takes her hand.) What would become of me were I to lose you?

Maria. That, I hope, is not likely to happen-But you must away.

Bishop. The Emperor has it much at heart to restore peace to the empire, stop feuds, and secure the rigid administration of justice; then, according to report, he goes in person against the Turk. At present, domestic dissensions find him enough to do; and the empire, spite of four years of external peace, Weis. I know it, dearest! and I will-Well do I is one scene of murder. Franconia, Swabia, the feel what a treasure I have purchased by this sacriUpper Rhine, and the surrounding countries, are fice!-Now, ble sed be your brother, and the day laid waste by presumptuous and restless knights-on which he undertook to seize me! And here Seckingen, Selbiss with one leg, and Maria. His heart overflowed with hope for you Goetz with the iron hand, sport with the Imperial and himself. Farewell! he said, I go to recover mandates. my friend.

Abbot. If his Majesty does not exert himself, these fellows will carry us off in their portmanteaus. Lieb. He would be a sturdy fellow indeed who should carry off the wine-butt of Fuldah in a portmanteau!

Bishop. Besides, the last has been for many years my mortal foe, and molests me hourly-But it will not last long, I hope. The Emperor holds his court at Augsburg-we have taken our measures.-Doctor, do you know Adelbert of Weislingen?

Olear. No, please your Eminence. Bishop. If you stay till his arrival, you will have the pleasure of seeing a most noble, most accomplished, and most gallant knight.

Olear. He must be excellent indeed who deserves such praises from such a mouth.

Lieb. And he was bred at no university. Bishop. We know that-(The attendants throng to the window.) What's the matter?

Attend. Just now, Farber, Weislingen's servant, rode in at the Castle gate.

Bishop. See what he brings. He will announce his master. [Exit LIEBTRAUT. They stand up and drink round.

LIEBTRAUT re-enters.

Bishop. What news?

Weis. That has he done. Would that I had studied the arrangement and security of my property, instead of neglecting it, and dallying at that worthless Court!-then couldst thou have been instantly mine.

Maria. Delay enhances pleasure.

Weis. Say not so, Maria, lest I dread that thy feelings are less keen than mine.-True, I deserved punishment, deserved to lose every glimpse of this heavenly prospect-But now! to be wholly thine, to live only in thee and in thy circle of friends-far removed from the world, to live for the enjoyment of all the raptures which two hearts can bestowWhat is the favour of princes, what applauses of the universe, to such simple yet unequalled felicity?— Many have been my hopes and wishes; henceforth I am equally above both.

Enter GOETZ.

Goetz. Your page is returned already. He can scarcely bring out a word for hunger and fatigueMy wife has ordered the poor knave to be taken care of. This much I have picked out-the Bishop will not give up my boy-an Imperial commission is to be granted, under which all matters are to be adjusted. But be it as he will, Adelbert, you are free:Pledge me but your hand, that you will neither give

Lieb. I wish it had been told by another-Weis- open nor underhand assistance to my avowed enefingen is a prisoner! Bishop. How?

Lieb. Berlichingen seized him and three attendants near Haslach-One is escaped to tell you. Abbot. A Job's messenger!

Olear. I grieve from my heart.

Bishop. I will see the servant-Bring him up-I will speak with him myself. Conduct him into my cabinet. [Exit Bishop. Abbot. (sitting down.) Another draught, how[The Servants fill round. Olear. Does your Reverence not think of a turn in the garden? 'Post cœnam stabis, seu passus mille meabis?"

ever.

Maria. You love me, you say-Alas! I am perhaps but too much inclined to believe it. Weis. Why not believe what I feel so well, that I am entirely thine!-(Embraces her.)

Maria. Softly!-I gave you one kiss for earnest, but you must encroach no further.

Weis. You are too strict, Maria!-Innocent love is pleasing in the sight of Heaven.

Maria. It may be so-But I must not build upon what you say; for I have been taught, that caresses are as strong as fetters, and that damsels when they love are weaker than Sampson when he lost his locks.

Weis. Who taught you so?

Maria. The abbess of my convent. Till my seventeenth year I was with her and only with VOL I-4 X

mies.

Weis. Here I grasp thy hand. From this mo-
ment be our union and friendship as firm and unal-
terable as a primary law of nature!-Let me take
this hand also-(Takes Maria's hand)—and with
it the possession of this lovely lady.
Goetz. Dare I promise for you?
Maria. (timidly.) If-if it is your wish-
Goetz. By good luck, our wishes will not differ on
this point.-
Thou need'st not blush-the glance
of thy eye betrays thee. Well, then, Weislingen,
join hands, and say Amen!-My friend and bro-
ther!-I thank thec, sister; thou spin'st more than
flax, for thou hast drawn a thread which can fetter
this wandering bird of Paradise. Yet thou look'st
not quite open, Adelbert-What ails thee? I am
fully happy! What I but hoped in a dream, I now
see with my eyes, and feel as if I still dreamed.
Now my vision is out-I thought to-night, that, in
token of reconciliation, I gave thee this iron hand;
and that you held it so fast that it broke away from
my arm-I started, and awoke. Had I but dream-
ed a little longer, I should have seen how thou didst
make me a new living hand.-You must away this
instant, to put in order thy castle and property.
That damned Court has detained you long from
both.-I must call my wife-Elizabeth!

Maria. How transported is my brother!
Weis. Yet I am still more so.

Goetz (to Maria.) You will have pleasant quar

ters.

Maria. They say Franconia is a fine country. Weis. And I may venture to say that my castle' lies in the most delicious part of it.

Goetz. That thou mayst, and I will swear to itLook you, here flows the Mayne, around a hill clothed with corn fields and vineyards, its top crowned with a Gothic castle-then the river makes a sharp turn, and glides round behind the very rock on which it stands. The windows of the great half

810

look perpendicularly down upon the river-a pros- | berg is no longer Bamberg-An angel of Heaven,
in semblance of woman, has taken her abode in it,
pect which would detain one for hours.
and it is become Paradise.

Enter ELIZABETH.

Eliz. What wouldst thou?

Goetz. You too must give your hand, and

bless you! They are a pair.

Eliz. So soon?

Goetz. But not unexpected.

Eliz. May ye ever love each other with the same affection as now-and as your love, so be your happiness!

Weis. Amen! On that condition I ensure it. Goetz. The bridegroom, my dear, must perforce away for a while; for this great event makes it needful for him to settle some concerns at home. He must bid adieu to the Bishop's Court, in order that that connexion may be broken off by degrees-Then he must rescue his property from the hands of some But come, sister-come, selfish stewards-andElizabeth; his squire has perhaps some private message to him.

Weis. None but what you may hear. Goetz. Needless :-Franconians and Swabians! now that you are one of us, we may bid their Mightinesses, the princes, defiance to their beard.

[Exeunt GOETZ, ELIZABETH, MARIA. Weis. (alone.) God in Heaven!-and canst thou have reserved such happiness for one so unworthy-It is too much for my heart. How meanly I depended upon wretched fools, whom I thought I was governing by superiority of intrigue, subservient to the glance of homage-demanding princes !--Goetz, my faithful Goetz, thou hast restored me to myself-and my beloved Maria has completed my reformation. I feel free, as if brought from a dungeon into the open air.-Bamberg will I never more see-will snap all the shameful bands that have connected it and me. My heart rejoices, never more to undergo the degradation of struggling for boons that may be refused-He alone is great and happy who fills his own station of independence, and has neither to command nor to obey.

Enter FRANCIS.

Fran. God greet you, noble sir! I bring you so many salutations, that I know not with which to begin-Bamberg, and ten miles around, bid God greet you.

Weis. Welcome, Francis! Bring'st thou aught else ?

Fran. You are in such consideration at Court that it cannot be expressed.

Weis. That will not last long.

Fran. As long as you live-and after your death it will shine more lasting than the marble inscription upon your monument.-How they took your misfortune to heart!

Weis. And what said the Bishop?
Fran His ardent curiosity poured out question
upon question, without giving me time to answer.
He knew your accident already; for Farber, who
galloped from Haslach, had brought him the ti-
dings-But he would hear every particular-He
asked so anxiously whether you were not wounded-
I told him you were safe, from the hair of your scalp
to the nail of your toe.

Weis. And what said he to the treaty?
Fran. He would have given up the page and a
ransom to boot for your liberty. But he heard you
were to be dismissed upon your parole, otherwise he
had granted to Berlichingen all he could ask. He
charged me with a thousand messages to you-
O how he harangued!
more than I can ever utter.
and concluded, "I cannot live without Weislingen!"
Weis. He must learn.

Fran. What mean ye?-He bids you hasten to
him-All the Court expects you.

Weis. Let them expect on-The Court will I ne

ver, never egen see.

Fran. Not see the Court !-My gracious Lord,
how comes that? Did you know what I know-
could you
but dream what I have seen-

Weis. What may it be?

Weis. No more than that?

Fran. May I become a shaven friar, if the bare glimpse of her does not drive you frantic.

Weis. Who is it, then?

Fran. Adela von Walldorf.

Weis. She!-I have heard much of her beauty. Fran. Heard!-As well might you say I have seen music. So far is the tongue from being able to rehearse the slightest article of her beauty, that the Weis. You are mad. very eye which beholds her cannot drink it all in.

Fran. That may well be. The last time I was in her company, I had no more sense than if I had ment like a glorified saint enjoying the angelic vibeen drunk; or, I may rather say, I felt at that mosion -All my senses exalted, and more lively than ever yet not one at their owner's command. Weis. Enthusiast!

Fran. As I took leave of the Bishop, she sat by him-they played at chess-He was very graciousI understood never a syllable. As I looked on his gave me his hand to kiss, and said much, of which fair antagonist, her eye was fixed upon the board, as if meditating a grand stroke-Traces of attentive intelligence around the mouth and cheek-I could have wished to be the ivory king-The mixture of dignity and feeling on the brow-and the dazzling raven ringletslustre of her neck and breast, overshaded by her

Weis. Thou art become a poet upon the subject. Fran. I felt at the moment the inspiration of a bard-my whole faculties were concentrated in one object. As the Bishop ended, and I made my obeithe best wishes of an unknown. He must not sance, she looked up and said, "Carry your master friends."-I would have answered somewhat, but despise them, though he is already so rich in old the passage betwixt my heart and my tongue was choked. I would have given my whole revenue for permission to touch but one of her fingers! As I stood thus, the Bishop threw down a pawn, and in stooping to lift it, I kissed the hem of her garment. Transport thrill'd through my limbs, and I scarce know how I left the room.

Weis. Is her husband at Court?

Fran. She has been a widow these four months, and is at the Court of Bamberg to divert her melan choly. You will see her- and to see her is to stand in the sun of spring!

Weis. She would make little impression on me. Fran. I hear you are as good as married. Weis. Would I were really so! My gentle Maria will be the happiness of my life. The sweetness of her soul beams through her mild blue eyes; and, like an angel composed of innocence and love, she guides me to the paths of peace and felicity!-Pack up and then to my castle-Never will I behold Bam[Exit WEISLINGEN. berg, should St. Bede come to guide me in person.

Fran. (alone.) God forbid!-But let me hope the best. Maria is beautiful and amiable, and I can exWould cuse a prisoner and an invalid for loving her. In her eye is compassion and a melancholy sympathy But in thine, Adela, is life-fire-spirit.to-I am a fool-Such has one glance made me (Exit. My master must hence I too must hence, and either recover my senses, or gaze them quite away

ACT II.
SCENE I.

Bamberg.-A Hall in the Bishop's Palace.
The Bishop, ADELA, LIEBTRAUT, Ladies and Cour
tiers, discovered.
Bishop. He will not return, they say.
Adela. I beseech you, put him out of your head.
Bishop. What can it mean?

Lieb. Poh! The message has been repeated to him like a paternoster. He has taken a fit of obsti

Fran. The bare recital would put me mad.-Bam-nacy; but I think I could soon cure him.

1