justice; and if refused it, he will fire the four cor- | ners of your town within an hour, and abandon it to be plundered by his vassals. Goetz. My gallant brother! Sec. So say we-but still thou mayst dwell there, and keep it for his service till he restores it to thee again. Let them wind like eels in the mud, they shall not escape us!-They will talk of the Imperial Com. Withdraw, Goetz !—(He steps aside.)-What dignity—of their orders-We'll take that risk upon is to be done? Mag. Have compassion upon us and our town!Seckingen is inexorable in his wrath-he will keep his vow. Com. Shall we forget what is due to ourselves and the Emperor ? Cap. Well said, if we had but men to support our dignity; but as we are, a show of resistance would only make matters worse.-We must gain time. Mag. We had better apply to Goetz to speak a good word for us-I feel as the flames were rising already. Com. Let Goetz approach. Goetz. What would ye? Com. Thou wilt do well to dissuade thy brother-in-❘ law from his rebellious interference. Instead of rescuing thee, he will only plunge thee deeper in destruction, and become the companion of thy fall! Goetz (spies ELIZABETH at the door, and speaks to her aside). Go-tell him instantly to break in and force his way hither, only to spare the town. As for the rascals here, if they oppose him, let him use force; there would be no great matter had he a fair pretext for knocking them all upon the head. [Trampling and galloping heard.-All the Magistrates showing signs of consternation. SCENE III. Scene changes to the front of the Council-house, beset by Seckingen's Cavaliers.—A Pause. Enter SECKINGEN and GOETZ from the Council-house. Goetz. This was help from Heaven!-How camest thou so much to our wish, and beyond our hope, brother? Sec. Without witchcraft. I had despatched two or three messengers to learn how it fared with thee, and heard from them of this villany-I set out instantly, and now you have the power in your hand. Goetz. I ask nothing but knightly ward upon my parole. Sec. You are too moderate. Avail yourself of fortune, which for once has placed worth above malice! They were doing injustice; we'll greet them with no kisses for their pains. They have misused the royal authority, and, if I know the Emperor, he will make thee ample reparation.-You ask too little. Goetz. I have ever been content with little. Sec. And hence hast thou ever been cut short even of that little. My proposal is, that they shall release your servants, and permit you all to return to your castle upon your parole-not to leave it till the Emperor's pleasure be known-You will be safer there than here. Goetz. They will say my property is escheated to the Emperor. ourselves :-I know the Emperor, and have some influence with him-He has ever wished to have thee in his service-Thou wilt not be long in thy castle ere thou art summoned to serve him. Goetz. God grant it ere I forget the use of arms! Sec. Valour can never be forgot, as it can never be learnt. Fear nothing! When once thou art settled, I will seek the Imperial Court, where my enterprises begin to ripen-Good fortune seems to smile on them I want only to sound the Emperor's mind. The towns of Triers and Pfalz as soon expect that the sky should fall, as that I should come down upon their heads-But I will come like a storm of hail on the unsuspecting traveller; and if I am successful, thou shalt soon be brother to a prince. I had hoped for thy hand in this undertaking. Goetz (looks at his hand). O! that explains to me the dream I had the morning that I promised Maria to Weislingen.-I thought he professed eternal fidelity, and held my iron hand so fast that it loosened from the arm.-Alas! I am at this moment more helpless, and fenceless, than when it was shot from me.Weislingen! Weislingen! Sec. Forget the traitor!-We will darken his prospects and cross his plans, till shame and remorse shall gnaw him to death.—I see, I see the downfall of my enemies, of thine-Goetz-only half a-year. Goetz. Thy soul soars high!-I know not how, but for some time no fair prospects have smiled upon mine -I have been in distress-I have been a prisoner ere now, but never before did I experience such a depression. Sec. Fortune gives spirits-Come, let us to the periwigs-They have had our conditions long enough— we must call for their resolution. SCENE IV. [Exeunt. Scene changes to the Palace of Adela—Augsburg. ADELA and WEISLINGEN discovered. Adela. This is detestable. Weis. I have gnashed my very teeth-So fair a prospect-so well followed out-and at last to leave him in possession of his castle as before!―That damn'd Seckingen! Adela. The Commissioners should not have consented. Weis. They were in the net-What else could they do? Seckingen, the haughty and furious chief, thundered fire and sword at their ear.-I hate him-His power waxes like a mountain torrent-let it but gain two brooks, and others come pouring to its aid. Adela. Have they no emperor? what was done, and I proposed to lead the readiest forces in his service against them: "Let them be! said he; "I can spare my old Goetz his little fortress, and if he confines himself to it, of what can you complain?"-We spoke of the welfare of the state: "O," said he, "that I had rejected every advice which pushed me to sacrifice the peace of an individual to my own ambition!" Adela. He has lost the very spirit of a prince! Weis. We broke loose against Seckingen-"He is my faithful servant," said he; "for if he has not acted by my express order, he has performed what I would have wished better than my plenipotentiaries, and I can ratify what he has done as well after as before?" Adela. 'Tis enough to make one tear one's very flesh! Weis. Yet I have not entirely renounced hope. Goetz has given his parole to remain quiet in his castle-'Tis an impossibility for him to keep his promise, and we shall soon have some new subject of complaint. Adela. 'Tis the more likely, as we may hope that the old Emperor will soon leave the world, and Charles, his gallant successor, promises to bear a princely mind. Fran. It is your pleasure that I should pine away and waste the fairest years of hope in agonizing despair. Adela (aside). I pity him-Be of good courage, youth! I feel thy love and truth, and will not be un| grateful. Fran. (sorrowfully.) Ere you can resolve to succour me, I shall be gone from you-Heaven! And there boils not a drop of blood in my veins but what is your own-I have not even a feeling but to love and to serve you! Adela. My dear Francis! Fran. You flatter me-(Bursts into tears). Does this attachment deserve only to be sacrificed to another -only to see all your thoughts fixed upon Charles ? Adela. You know not what you wish, and yet less what you speak. Fran. (stamping betwixt remorse and rage.) No more will I be your slave, your go-between! Adela. Francis, you forget yourself. Fran. To sacrifice at once myself and my beloved master Adela. Go from my sight! Fran. Gracious lady! Adela. Go, betray to thy beloved master the secret Weis. Charles!-He is neither chosen nor crowned of my soul!-Fool that I was! I thought thee what king of the Romans. Adela. Who does not expect and hope that event? Weis. You speak so warmly that one might think you saw him with partial eyes. Adela. You injure me, Weislingen. For what do you take me? Weis. I do not mean to offend-but I cannot be silent upon the subject-Charles's very unusual attentions to thee distress me. Adela. And do I receive them as if Weis. Thou art a woman-and no woman hates a flatterer. Adela. This from you! Weis. It cuts me to the heart the dreadful thought, Adela! Adela. Can I not cure thee of this folly? Adela. By what way or pretence? Thou art here -Must I leave thee and all my friends, to shut myself up with owls in your desolate castle? No, Weislingen, that will never do; set thy heart at ease, thou knowest I love thee. Weis. That is the sheet anchor while the cable holds! [Exit. Adela. Takest thou it so? It is in vain. The undertakings of my bosom are too great to brook thy interruption. Charles-the great, the gallant Charles -the future emperor-shall he be the only man not flattered to obey my power? Think not, Weislingen, to prevent it-Soon shalt thou to earth, if my way lies over thee ! Enter FRANCIS. He gives a letter. Adela. Hadst thou it from Charles's own hand? Fran. Yes. Adela. What ails thee?-Thou look'st mournful! thou art not. GOETZ seated at a table with writing materials. ELIZABETH sits beside him with her work. Goetz. This idle life does not suit me. My imprisonment becomes daily more painful; I would I could sleep, or amuse myself with trifling. Eliz. Continue writing the memoirs thou hast commenced of thy own deeds. Give thy friends evidence under thy hand to put thy enemies to shame; make thy noble neighbours acquainted with thy real character. Goetz. Alas! writing is but busy idleness; it comes slowly on with me. While I write what I have done, I lament the misspent time in which I might do more. Eliz. (takes the writing.) Thou art now at thy first imprisonment, at Heilbron. Goetz. That was always an unlucky place to me. Eliz. (reads.) "One of the confederates told me, that I had acted foolishly in espousing the cause of my very worst foes; but that I might be of good cheer, for I should be honourably dealt by."-And what didst thou answer? Write on. Goetz. I said, Have I so often risked my life for the goods and gold of others, and should I not do so for the sake of my knightly word? Eliz. Thus does fame speak of thee. Goetz. They shall not rob me of this honour. They have taken from me all-property-liberty Eliz. I happened once to stand in an inn near the Lords of Millenberg and Singlingen, who knew me not-Then I experienced rapture as at the birth of my firstborn: they extolled thee to each other, and said, He is the mirror of knighthood, noble and merciful in prosperity, dauntless and true in misfortune. Goelz. Let them show me where I have preferred my interest to my honour. God knows, my ambition has ever been to labour for my neighbour as for myself, and to acquire the fame of a gallant and irreproachable knight, rather than princedoms or power; and, God be praised! I have gained the meed of my labour. Enter GEORGE and LERSE with game. Goetz. Good luck to my gallant huntsmen! Lerse. The chase is always something-'Tis an image of war. Geo. Yes-if we were not always crossed by these Imperial gamekeepers. Don't you recollect, my Lord, how you prophesied we should become huntsmen when the world mended? We are become so, without any great chance of the other event. Goetz. What goes on without?—We are cooped up here in a circle. Geo. These are mark-worthy times!-For eight days a horrible comet has been seen-all Germany fears that it denotes the death of the Emperor, who is very ill. Goetz. Ill?-Our weal then is at an end. Lerse. And in the neighbourhood here are shocking commotions; the peasants have made a formidable insurrection. Goetz. Where? Lerse. In the heart of Swabia; they plunder, burn, and slay. I fear me they will sack the whole country. Geo. It is a horrible warfare! They have already arisen in a hundred places, and daily increase in number. A hurricane too has lately torn up whole forests; and in the place where the insurrection began, have been seen in the sky two fiery swords crossing each other. Mez. (to the Peasants.) Ye dogs, must I find you legs? How they gape and loiter, the asses! Link. Burn away!-Kill and roast them in the flames! Out with your knives! Mez. Then we brought out Helfenstein, Eltershofen, thirteen of the nobility-in all eighty. What a shouting and jubilee among our boys as they broke loose upon the long row of miserable rich sinners. Heaven and earth! how they struggled and stared on each other!-We surrounded them, and killed every soul with pikes. Link. Why was not I there? Link. Then fire the place at the four corners. Mez. "Twill make a fine bonfire!—Hadst thou seen how the fellows writhed in a heap, and croaked like frogs! It warmed my heart like a cup of brandy. There was one Rexinger there, a fellow that, when he went to hunt with his white plume and his flaxen locks, used to drive us before him like dogs, and with dogs. I had not seen him all the while, when suddenly his droll visage look'd me full in the face— Goetz. God preserve my poor friends and neigh- Push! went the spear between his ribs-and there he lay stretched all-fours above his companions. The fellows tumbled over each other, like the hares that bours! Geo. Alas! that we dare not ride out! [Exeunt. were driven together at their grand hunting parties. | Link. Whom do they think of? Mez. Maximilian Stumf, or Goetz of Berlichingen. Link. That's well. "Twould give the thing credit should Goetz accept it. He has been ever held a worthy independent knight. Away, away! Draw together!-We march towards Heilbron. Mez. The fire will light us on our way. Hast thou seen the great comet? Link. Yes-It is a dreadful ghastly sign!-As we marched by night we saw it well: it went towards Eins. Mez. And was visible for an hour and a quarter, like an arm brandishing a sword, and bloody red! Link. Didst thou mark the three stars at the sword's hilt and point? Mez. And the broad black clouds, illuminated by a thousand thousand streamers like lances and little swords? Link. I saw it well-and beneath a pale white, crossed with fiery ruddy flames, and among them grisly figures with shaggy hair and beards. Mez. Did you see them, too?—And how they all swam about as if in a sea of blood, and struggled ail in confusion, enough to drive one mad. Scene changes to an open country. In the distance two The Insurgents KOHL, WILD, and MAXIMILIAN STUMF. Stumf. You cannot wish me for your leader; it were bad for you and for me: I am a vassal of the Palsgrave, and how shall I arm against my liege lord? Besides, you would suspect I acted not from the heart. Kohl. We knew well thou wouldst have some evasion. Enter GEORGE, LERSE, and GOETZ. Goetz. What would ye with me? Kohl. You must be our captain. upon thee! I will be thy witness and thy surety Kohl. We have no time for dallying and useless speeches Short and good!--Goetz, be our chief, or look to thy castle and thy head!-Take two hours to consider of it. Goetz. To what purpose? I am resolved now as I shall be then.-Why are ye risen up in arms? If to recover your rights and freedom, why do you lay waste the land?-Will you abstain from such evil doings, and deal as men who know what they want? then will I be your chief for eight days, and help you in your lawful and orderly demands. Wild. What was done was done in the first heat, and we only needed thy prudence to have prevented it. Kohl. Thou must be ours at least for a quarter of a year. Stumf. Say four weeks-that will satisfy both. Goetz. But you must promise to send the treaty you have made with me in writing to all your troops, and to punish infringers. Wild. Well-it shall be done. Goetz. Then I bind myself to you for four weeks. Stumf. Good!-in what thou doest, take care of our noble lord the Palsgrave. Kohl (aside). Watch that none speak to him without our knowledge. Goetz. Lerse, go to my wife-Stay with her—you shall soon have news of me. [Exeunt GOETZ, George, LerSE, and some peasants. Enter MEZLER, LINK, and their followers. Mez. What hear we of a treaty? To what purpose the treaty ? Link. It is shameful to make any such bargain. Kohl. We know as well what to do as you; and will do or let alone as we please. Wild. This raging, and burning, and murdering must have an end one day sooner or later, and by renouncing it just now, we gain a brave leader. Mez. How!-An end?--Thou traitor! why are we here but to avenge ourselves on our enemies, and en Goetz. I am under ban; I cannot quit my territory. rich ourselves at their expense? Some slave of the Wild. That's no excuse. Goetz. And were I free, and you dealing with the lords and nobles as you did at Weinsberg, and ravaging and plundering the whole land, and should request me to be an abettor of your shameless raving doings-rather than be your captain, you should slay me like a mad dog! Kohl. That should not be done, were it to do again. Stumf. That's the very misfortune, that they have no leader whom they honour, and who may bridle their fury! I beseech thee, Goetz, take that office nobles has been tampering with thee. [Exeunt WILD and KOHL. Mez. Ay, go your way-few bands will stick by you. The villains!-Link, we'll set on our friends here to burn Miltenberg instantly; and when they make a bustle about the treaty, we'll cut their heads off that made it. Link. We have the great body of peasants still on [Exeunt with Insurgents. our side SCENE III. Eliz. Thou art an affectionate advocate. Should A Hill, and prospect of the country. In the flat scene a Mill. they take him prisoner, deal with him as a rebel, and A body of Horsemen ready to mount. WEISLINGEN comes out of the Mill, followed by FRANCIS and a Courier. bring his grey hairs--Lerse, I could run mad! Lerse. Send sleep to refresh her body, dear Father of mankind, if thou deniest comfort to her soul! Eliz. George promised to bring news-but he will Weis. My horse!-Have you told it to the other not dare attempt it.—They are worse than prisoners. nobles? Cour. At least seven standards will meet you in the wood behind Miltenberg. The peasants bend their course that way. Couriers are despatched in every direction to summon all your confederates. Our plan cannot fail, for they say there is division among them. Weis. The better.-Francis! Fran. Gracious sir. Weis. Discharge thy errand punctually-I bind it upon thy soul. Give her the letter-She must from the court to my castle-instantly.-Thou must see her departure, and send me notice of it. Fran. Your commands shall be obeyed. Weis. Tell her she shall go.—(To the Courier.) Carry us the nearest and best road. -Well I know they are watched like enemies.-The gallant boy! he would not quit his master. Lerse. The very heart within me bled as I left him. Had you not needed my help, all the dangers of grisly death should not have separated us. Eliz. I know not where Seckingen is.-Could I but send a message to Maria! Lerse. Do you write :-I will provide for that. SCENE V. A Village. Enter GOETZ and George. [Exeunt. Goetz. To horse, George!--Quick!--I see Miltenberg burn-Is it thus they keep the treaty ?-Ride to Cour. We must go round; all the rivers are up them-Tell them my purpose.-The murderous inwith the late dreadful rains. SCENE IV. Jaxthausen. ELIZABETH and LERSE. Lerse. Gracious lady, be comforted! [Exeunt. Eliz. Alas! Lerse, the tears stood in his eyes as he took leave of me.—It is dreadful, dreadful! Lerse. He will soon return. Eliz. It is not that.-When he went to wage honourable war, never did his danger sit so heavy at my heart-I then rejoiced at his return, which now I fear. Lerse. So noble a man Eliz. Call him not so-There lies the new misery. The miscreants!-they threatened to murder his family and burn the castle. Should he return, gloomy, gloomy is the prospect. His enemies will raise scandalous falsehoods in accusation against him, which he never can disprove. Lerse. He will, and can. Eliz. He has broken his ban :-Canst thou say No? Lerse. No!-he was constrained; and where is there reason to condemn him? Eliz. Malice seeks not reasons, but pretexts. He has joined himself to rebels, malefactors, and murderers has become their chief. Say No to that. Lerse. Cease to torture yourself and me. They have solemnly sworn to abjure all such doings as at Weinsberg. Did not I myself hear them say, in half remorse, that had not that been done already it should never have been done? Must not the princes and nobles return him their best thanks for having undertaken the dangerous office of leading these unruly people, in order to restrain their rage, and to save their lives and lands? cendiaries-I renounce them-Let them make a very Un. God greet you, gallant sir! Un. It is not necessary. I come to tell you that your life is in danger-The insurgents are weary of receiving from you such harsh language, and are resolved to rid themselves of you-Lower your tone, or endeavour to escape from them; and God be with you! [Exit. Goetz. In this way to lead thy life, Goetz! and thus to end it!-But be it so-My death will be the clearest proof to the world that I had nothing in common with the miscreants. Enter Insurgents. 1st In. Captain, they are prisoners—they are slain! Goetz. Who? 2nd In. They who burned Meltenberg-A troop of confederated cavalry rushed on them from behind the hill, and overpowered them at once. Goetz. They have their reward-O George! George! They have found him among the caitiffs-My George! my George! Enter Insurgents in confusion. Link. Up, sir captain, up!-Here is no dallying time-The enemy is near, and in force. Goetz. Who burned Meltenberg? |