No More Learning

What a fuss and a bother, forsooth, was made
By that man-tormentor, Gustavus, the Swede,
Whose camp was a church, where prayers were said
At morning reveille and evening tattoo;
And, whenever it chanced that we frisky grew,
A sermon himself from the saddle he'd read.

SERGEANT.
Ay, that was a man with the fear of God.

FIRST YAGER.
Girls he detested; and what's rather odd,
If caught with a wench you in wedlock were tacked,--
I could stand it no longer, so off I packed.

SERGEANT.
Their discipline now has a trifle slacked.

FIRST YAGER.
Well, next to the League I rode over; their men
Were mustering in haste against Magdeburg then.
Ha! that was another guess sort of a thing!
In frolic and fun we'd a glorious swing;
With gaming, and drinking, and girls at call,
I'faith, sirs, our sport was by no means small.
For Tilly knew how to command, that's plain;
He held himself in but gave us the rein;
And, long as he hadn't the bother of paying,
"Live and let live! " was the general's saying.
But fortune soon gave him the slip; and ne'er
Since the day of that villanous Leipzig affair
Would aught go aright. 'Twas of little avail
That we tried, for our plans were sure to fail.
If now we drew nigh and rapped at the door,
No greeting awaited, 'twas opened no more;
From place to place we went sneaking about,
And found that their stock of respect was out;
Then touched I the Saxon bounty, and thought
Their service with fortune must needs be fraught.

SERGEANT.
You joined them then just in the nick to share
Bohemia's plunder?

FIRST YAGER.
I'd small luck there.
Strict discipline sternly ruled the day,
Nor dared we a foeman's force display;
They set us to guard the imperial forts,
And plagued us all with the farce of the courts.
War they waged as a jest 'twere thought--
And but half a heart to the business brought,
They would break with none; and thus 'twas plain
Small honor among them could a soldier gain.
So heartily sick in the end grew I
That my mind was the desk again to try;
When suddenly, rattling near and far,
The Friedlander's drum was heard to war.

SERGEANT.
And how long here may you mean to stay?

FIRST YAGER.
You jest, man. So long as he bears the sway,
By my soul! not a thought of change have I;
Where better than here could the soldier lie?
Here the true fashion of war is found,
And the cut of power's on all things round;
While the spirit whereby the movement's given
Mightily stirs, like the winds of heaven,
The meanest trooper in all the throng.
With a hearty step shall I tramp along
On a burgher's neck as undaunted tread
As our general does on the prince's head.
As 'twas in the times of old 'tis now,
The sword is the sceptre, and all must bow.
One crime alone can I understand,
And that's to oppose the word of command.
What's not forbidden to do make bold,
And none will ask you what creed you hold.
Of just two things in this world I wot,
What belongs to the army and what does not,
To the banner alone is my service brought.

SERGEANT.
Thus, Yager, I like thee--thou speakest, I vow,
With the tone of a Friedland trooper now.

FIRST YAGER.
'Tis not as an office he holds command,
Or a power received from the emperor's hand;
For the emperor's service what should he care,
What better for him does the emperor fare?
With the mighty power he wields at will,
Has ever he sheltered the land from ill?
No; a soldier-kingdom he seeks to raise,
And for this would set the world in a blaze,
Daring to risk and to compass all--

TRUMPETER.
Hush--who shall such words as these let fall?

FIRST YAGER.
Whatever I think may be said by me,
For the general tells us the word is free.

SERGEANT.
True--that he said so I fully agree,
I was standing by. "The word is free--
The deed is dumb--obedience blind! "
His very words I can call to mind.

FIRST YAGER.
I know not if these were his words or no,
But he said the thing, and 'tis even so.

SECOND YAGER.
Victory ne'er will his flag forsake,
Though she's apt from others a turn to take:
Old Tilly outlived his fame's decline,
But under the banner of Wallenstein,
There am I certain that victory's mine!
Fortune is spell-bound to him, and must yield;
Whoe'er under Friedland shall take the field
Is sure of a supernatural shield:
For, as all the world is aware full well,
The duke has a devil in hire from hell.

SERGEANT.
In truth that he's charmed is past a doubt,
For we know how, at Luetzen's bloody affair,
Where firing was thickest he still was there,
As coolly as might be, sirs, riding about.
The hat on his head was shot thro' and thro',
In coat and boots the bullets that flew
Left traces full clear to all men's view;
But none got so far as to scratch off his skin,
For the ointment of hell was too well rubbed in.

FIRST YAGER.
What wonders so strange can you all see there?
An elk-skin jacket he happens to wear,
And through it the bullets can make no way.

SERGEANT.
'Tis an ointment of witches' herbs, I say,
Kneaded and cooked by unholy spell.

TRUMPETER.
No doubt 'tis the work of the powers of hell.

SERGEANT.
That he reads in the stars we also hear,
Where the future he sees--distant or near--
But I know better the truth of the case
A little gray man, at the dead of night,
Through bolted doors to him will pace--
The sentinels oft have hailed the sight,
And something great was sure to be nigh,
When this little gray-coat had glided by.

FIRST YAGER.
Ay, ay, he's sold himself to the devil,
Wherefore, my lads, let's feast and revel.



SCENE VII.

The above--Recruit, Citizen, Dragoon.

(The Recruit advances from the tent, wearing a tin cap
on his head, and carrying a wine-flask. )

RECRUIT.
To father and uncle pray make my bow,
And bid 'em good-by--I'm a soldier now.

FIRST YAGER.
See, yonder they're bringing us something new,

CITIZEN.
Oh, Franz, remember, this day you'll rue.

RECRUIT (sings).
The drum and the fife,
War's rattling throng,
And a wandering life
The world along!
Swift steed--and a hand
To curb and command--
With a blade by the side,
We're off far and wide.
As jolly and free,
As the finch in its glee,
On thicket or tree,
Under heaven's wide hollow--
Hurrah! for the Friedlander's banner I'll follow!

SECOND YAGER.
Foregad! a jolly companion, though.

[They salute him.

CITIZEN.
He comes of good kin; now pray let him go.

FIRST YAGER.
And we wern't found in the streets you must know.

CITIZEN.
I tell you his wealth is a plentiful stock;
Just feel the fine stuff that he wears for a frock.

TRUMPETER.
The emperor's coat is the best he can wear.

CITIZEN.
To a cap manufactory he is the heir.

SECOND YAGER.
The will of a man is his fortune alone.

CITIZEN.
His grandmother's shop will soon be his own.

FIRST YAGER.
Pish! traffic in matches! who would do't?

CITIZEN.
A wine-shop his grandfather leaves, to boot,
A cellar with twenty casks of wine.

TRUMPETER.
These with his comrades he'll surely share.

SECOND YAGER.
Hark ye, lad--be a camp-brother of mine.

CITIZEN.
A bride he leaves sitting, in tears, apart.

FIRST YAGER.
Good--that now's a proof of an iron heart.

CITIZEN.
His grandmother's sure to die with sorrow.

SECOND YAGER.
The better--for then he'll inherit to-morrow.

SERGEANT (advances gravely, and lays his hand on the
Recruit's tin cap).
The matter no doubt you have duly weighed,
And here a new man of yourself have made;
With hanger and helm, sir, you now belong
To a nobler and more distinguished throng.
Thus, a loftier spirit 'twere well to uphold--

FIRST YAGER.
And, specially, never be sparing of gold.

SERGEANT.
In Fortune's ship, with an onward gale,
My, friend, you have made up your mind to sail.
The earth-ball is open before you--yet there
Naught's to be gained, but by those who dare.
Stupid and sluggish your citizen's found,
Like a dyer's dull jade, in his ceaseless round,
While the soldier can be whatever he will,
For war o'er the earth is the watchword still.
Just look now at me, and the coat I wear,
You see that the emperor's baton I bear--
And all good government, over the earth,
You must know from the baton alone has birth;
For the sceptre that's swayed by the kingly hand
Is naught but a baton, we understand.
And he who has corporal's rank obtained,
Stands on the ladder where all's to be gained,
And you, like another, may mount to that height--

FIRST YAGER.
Provided you can but read and write.

SERGEANT.
Now, hark to an instance of this from me,
And one, which I've lived myself to see
There's Butler, the chief of dragoons, why he,
Whose rank was not higher a whit than mine,
Some thirty years since, at Cologne on Rhine,
Is a major-general now--because
He put himself forward and gained applause;
Filling the world with his martial fame,
While slept my merits without a name.
And even the Friedlander's self--I've heard--
Our general and all-commanding lord,
Who now can do what he will at a word,
Had at first but a private squire's degree;
In the goddess of war yet trusting free,
He reared the greatness which now you see,
And, after the emperor, next is he.
Who knows what more he may mean or get?
(Slyly. )
For all-day's evening isn't come yet.

FIRST YAGER.
He was little at first, though now so great--
For at Altorf, in student's gown he played
By your leave, the part of a roaring blade,
And rattled away at a queerish rate.
His fag he had well nigh killed by a blow,
And their Nur'mburg worships swore he should go
To jail for his pains--if he liked it or no.
'Twas a new-built nest to be christened by him
Who first should be lodged. Well, what was his whim?
Why, he sent his dog forward to lead the way,
And they call the jail from the dog to this day.
That was the game a brave fellow should play,
And of all the great deeds of the general, none
E'er tickled my fancy, like this one.

[During this speech, the second Yager has begun toying
with the girl who has been in waiting. ]

DRAGOON (stepping between them).
Comrade--give over this sport, I pray.

SECOND YAGER.
Why, who the devil shall say me nay!

DRAGOON.
I've only to tell you the girl's my own.

FIRST YAGER.
Such a morsel as this, for himself alone! --
Dragoon, why say, art thou crazy grown?

SECOND YAGER.
In the camp to be keeping a wench for one!
No! the light of a pretty girl's face must fall,
Like the beams of the sun, to gladden us all.
(Kisses her. )
DRAGOON (tears her away).
I tell you again, that it shan't be done.

FIRST YAGER.
The pipers are coming, lads! now for fun!

SECOND YAGER (to Dragoon).
I shan't be far off, should you look for me.

SERGEANT.
Peace, my good fellows! --a kiss goes free.



SCENE VIII.

Enter Miners, and play a waltz--at first slowly, and
afterwards quicker. The first Yager dances with the girl,
the Sutler-woman with the recruit. The girl springs away,
and the Yager, pursuing her, seizes hold of a Capuchin
Friar just entering.

CAPUCHIN.
Hurrah! halloo! tol, lol, de rol, le!
The fun's at its height! I'll not be away!
Is't an army of Christians that join in such works?
Or are we all turned Anabaptists and Turks?
Is the Sabbath a day for this sport in the land,
As though the great God had the gout in his hand,
And thus couldn't smite in the midst of your band?
Say, is this a time for your revelling shouts,
For your banquetings, feasts, and holiday bouts?
Quid hic statis otiosi? declare
Why, folding your arms, stand ye lazily there?
While the furies of war on the Danube now fare
And Bavaria's bulwark is lying full low,
And Ratisbon's fast in the clutch of the foe.
Yet, the army lies here in Bohemia still,
And caring for naught, so their paunches they fill!
Bottles far rather than battles you'll get,
And your bills than your broad-swords more readily wet;
With the wenches, I ween, is your dearest concern,
And you'd rather roast oxen than Oxenstiern.
In sackcloth and ashes while Christendom's grieving,
No thought has the soldier his guzzle of leaving.
'Tis a time of misery, groans, and tears!
Portentous the face of the heavens appears!
And forth from the clouds behold blood-red,
The Lord's war-mantle is downward spread--
While the comet is thrust as a threatening rod,
From the window of heaven by the hand of God.
The world is but one vast house of woe,
The ark of the church stems a bloody flow,
The Holy Empire--God help the same!
Has wretchedly sunk to a hollow name.
The Rhine's gay stream has a gory gleam,
The cloister's nests are robbed by roysters;
The church-lands now are changed to lurch-lands;
Abbacies, and all other holy foundations
Now are but robber-sees--rogues' habitations.
And thus is each once-blest German state,
Deep sunk in the gloom of the desolate!
Whence comes all this? Oh, that will I tell--
It comes of your doings, of sin, and of hell;
Of the horrible, heathenish lives ye lead,
Soldiers and officers, all of a breed.
For sin is the magnet, on every hand,
That draws your steel throughout the land!
As the onion causes the tear to flow,
So vice must ever be followed by woe--
The W duly succeeds the V,
This is the order of A, B, C.
Ubi erit victoriae spes,
Si offenditur Deus? which says,
How, pray ye, shall victory e'er come to pass,
If thus you play truant from sermon and mass,
And do nothing but lazily loll o'er the glass?
The woman, we're told in the Testament,
Found the penny in search whereof she went.
Saul met with his father's asses again,
And Joseph his precious fraternal train,
But he, who 'mong soldiers shall hope to see
God's fear, or shame, or discipline--he
From his toil, beyond doubt, will baffled return,
Though a hundred lamps in the search he burn.
To the wilderness preacher, th' Evangelist says,
The soldiers, too, thronged to repent of their ways,
And had themselves christened in former days.
Quid faciemus nos? they said:
Toward Abraham's bosom what path must we tread?
Et ait illis, and, said he,
Neminem concutiatis;
From bother and wrongs leave your neighbors free.
Neque calumniam faciatis;
And deal nor in slander nor lies, d'ye see?
Contenti estote--content ye, pray,
Stipendiis vestris--with your pay--
And curse forever each evil way.
There is a command--thou shalt not utter
The name of the Lord thy God in vain;
But, where is it men most blasphemies mutter?
Why here, in Duke Friedland's headquarters, 'tie plain
If for every thunder, and every blast,
Which blazing ye from your tongue-points cast,
The bells were but rung, in the country round,
Not a bellman, I ween, would there soon be found;
And if for each and every unholy prayer
Which to vent from your jabbering jaws you dare,
From your noddles were plucked but the smallest hair,
Ev'ry crop would be smoothed ere the sun went down,
Though at morn 'twere as bushy as Absalom's crown.
Now, Joshua, methinks, was a soldier as well--
By the arm of King David the Philistine fell;
But where do we find it written, I pray,
That they ever blasphemed in this villanous way?
One would think ye need stretch your jaws no more,
To cry, "God help us! " than "Zounds! " to roar.
But, by the liquor that's poured in the cask, we know
With what it will bubble and overflow.
Again, it is written--thou shalt not steal,
And this you follow, i'faith! to the letter,
For open-faced robbery suits ye better.
The gripe of your vulture claws you fix
On all--and your wiles and rascally tricks
Make the gold unhid in our coffers now,
And the calf unsafe while yet in the cow--
Ye take both the egg and the hen, I vow.
Contenti estote--the preacher said;
Which means--be content with your army bread.
But how should the slaves not from duty swerve?
The mischief begins with the lord they serve,
Just like the members so is the head.
I should like to know who can tell me his creed.

FIRST YAGER.
Sir priest, 'gainst ourselves rail on as you will--
Of the general we warn you to breathe no ill.

CAPUCHIN.
Ne custodias gregem meam!
An Ahab is he, and a Jerobeam,
Who the people from faith's unerring way,
To the worship of idols would turn astray,

TRUMPETER and RECRUIT.
Let us not hear that again, we pray.

CAPUCHIN.
Such a Bramarbas, whose iron tooth
Would seize all the strongholds of earth forsooth!
Did he not boast, with ungodly tongue,
That Stralsund must needs to his grasp be wrung,
Though to heaven itself with a chain 'twere strung?

TRUMPETER.
Will none put a stop to his slanderous bawl?

CAPUCHIN.
A wizard he is! --and a sorcerer Saul! --
Holofernes! --a Jehu! --denying, we know,
Like St. Peter, his Master and Lord below;
And hence must he quail when the cock doth crow--

BOTH YAGERS.
Now, parson, prepare; for thy doom is nigh.

CAPUCHIN.
A fox more cunning than Herod, I trow--

TRUMPETER and both YAGERS (pressing against him).
Silence, again,--if thou wouldst not die!

CROATS (interfering. )
Stick to it, father; we'll shield you, ne'er fear;
The close of your preachment now let's hear.

CAPUCHIN (still louder).
A Nebuchadnezzar in towering pride!
And a vile and heretic sinner beside!
He calls himself rightly the stone of a wall;
For faith! he's a stumbling-stone to us all.
And ne'er can the emperor have peace indeed,
Till of Friedland himself the land is freed.

[During the last passages which he pronounces in an elevated
voice, he has been gradually retreating, the Croats keeping
the other soldiers off.



SCENE IX.

The above, without the Capuchin.

FIRST YAGER (to the Sergeant).

But, tell us, what meant he about chanticleer;
Whose crowing the general dares to hear?
No doubt it was uttered in spite and scorn.

SERGEANT.
Listen--'Tis not so untrue as it appears;
For Friedland was rather mysteriously born,
And is 'specially troubled with ticklish ears;
He can never suffer the mew of a cat;
And when the cock crows he starts thereat.

FIRST YAGER.
He's one and the same with the lion in that.

SERGEANT.
Mouse-still must all around him creep,
Strict watch in this the sentinels keep,
For he ponders on matters most grave and deep.
[Voices in the tent. A tumult.
Seize the rascal! Lay on! lay on!

PEASANT'S VOICE.
Help! --mercy--help!

OTHERS.
Peace! peace! begone!

FIRST YAGER.
Deuce take me, but yonder the swords are out!

SECOND YAGER.
Then I must be off, and see what 'tis about.

[Yagers enter the tent.

SUTLER-WOMAN (comes forward).
A scandalous villain! --a scurvy thief!

TRUMPETER.
Good hostess, the cause of this clamorous grief?

SUTLER-WOMAN.
A cut-purse! a scoundrel! the-villain I call.
That the like in my tent should ever befall!
I'm disgraced and undone with the officers all.

SERGEANT.
Well, coz, what is it?

SUTLER-WOMAN.
Why, what should it be?
But a peasant they've taken just now with me--
A rogue with false dice, to favor his play.

TRUMPETER.
See I they're bringing the boor and his son this way.



SCENE X.

Soldiers dragging in the peasant, bound.

FIRST YAGER.
He must hang!

SHARPSHOOTERS and DRAGOONS.
To the provost, come on!

SERGEANT.
'Tis the latest order that forth has gone.

SUTLER-WOMAN.
In an hour I hope to behold him swinging!

SERGEANT.
Bad work bad wages will needs be bringing.

FIRST ARQUEBUSIER (to the others).
This comes of their desperation. We
First ruin them out and out, d'ye see;
Which tempts them to steal, as it seems to me.

TRUMPETER.
How now! the rascal's cause would you plead?
The cur! the devil is in you indeed!

FIRST ARQUEBUSIER.
The boor is a man--as a body may say.

FIRST YAGER (to the Trumpeter).
Let 'em go! they're of Tiefenbach's corps, the railers,
A glorious train of glovers and tailors!
At Brieg, in garrison, long they lay;
What should they know about camps, I pray?



SCENE XI.

The above. --Cuirassiers.

FIRST CUIRASSIER.
Peace! what's amiss with the boor, may I crave?

FIRST SHARPSHOOTER.
He has cheated at play, the cozening knave!

FIRST CUIRASSIER.
But say, has he cheated you, man, of aught?

FIRST SHARPHOOTER.
Just cleaned me out--and not left me a groat.

FIRST CUIRASSIER.
And can you, who've the rank of a Friedland man,
So shamefully cast yourself away,
As to try your luck with the boor at play?
Let him run off, so that run he can.

[The peasant escapes, the others throng together.

FIRST ARQUEBUSIER.
He makes short work--is of resolute mood--
And that with such fellows as these is good.
Who is he? not of Bohemia, that's clear.

SUTLER-WOMAN.
He's a Walloon--and respect, I trow,
Is due to the Pappenheim cuirassier!

FIRST DRAGOON (joining).
Young Piccolomini leads them now,
Whom they chose as colonel, of their own free might,
When Pappenheim fell in Luetzen's fight.

FIRST ARQUEBUSIER.
Durst they, indeed, presume so far?

FIRST DRAGOON.
This regiment is something above the rest.
It has ever been foremost through the war,
And may manage its laws, as it pleases best;
Besides, 'tis by Friedland himself caressed.

FIRST CUIRASSIER (to the Second. )
Is't so in truth, man? Who averred it?

SECOND CUIRASSIER.
From the lips of the colonel himself I heard it.

FIRST CUIRASSIER.
The devil! we're not their dogs, I weep!

FIRST YAGER.
How now, what's wrong? You're swollen with spleen!

SECOND YAGER.
Is it anything, comrades, may us concern?

FIRST CUIRASSIER.
'Tis what none need be wondrous glad to learn.

The Soldiers press round him.

To the Netherlands they would lend us now--
Cuirassiers, Yagers, and Shooters away,
Eight thousand in all must march, they say.

SUTLER-WOMAN.
What! What! again the old wandering way--
I got back from Flanders but yesterday!

SECOND CUIRASSIER (to the Dragoons).
You of Butler's corps must tramp with the rest.

FIRST CUIRASSIER.
And we, the Walloons, must doubtless be gone.

SUTLER-WOMAN.
Why, of all our squadrons these are the best.

FIRST CUIRASSIER.
To march where that Milanese fellow leads on.

FIRST YAGER.
The infant? that's queer enough in its way.

SECOND YAGER.
The priest--then, egad! there's the devil to pay.

FIRST CUIRASSIER.
Shall we then leave the Friedlander's train,
Who so nobly his soldiers doth entertain--
And drag to the field with this fellow from Spain!
A niggard whom we in our souls disdain!
That'll never go down--I'm off, I swear.

TRUMPETER.
Why, what the devil should we do there?
We sold our blood to the emperor--ne'er
For this Spanish red hat a drop we'll spare!

SECOND YAGER.
On the Friedlander's word and credit alone
We ranged ourselves in the trooper line,
And, but for our love to Wallenstein,
Ferdinand ne'er had our service known.

FIRST DRAGOON.
Was it not Friedland that formed our force?
His fortune shall still be the star of our course.

SERGEANT.