No More Learning

I saved his life, and he therefore places confidence
in me. He has been robbed last night--is sick--a stranger--and in no
condition to discover the villain who has plundered him. . . . and the
business on which I sought the Intendant was chiefly
that. '"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 203,
204. ]

[177] ["'And who,' said he, 'has entitled you to brand thus with
ignominious epithets a being you do not know? Who . . . has taught you
that it would be safe even for my son to insult me? '--'It is not
necessary to know the person of a ruffian,' replied Conrad, indignantly,
'to give him the appellation he merits:--and what is there in common
between my father and such a character? '--'_Everything_,' said
Siegendorf, bitterly,--'for that ruffian was your father! '"--Ibid. , p.
204. ]

[178] {382}["'Conrad . . . before you thus presume to chastise me with your
eye, learn to understand my actions! Young, and inexperienced in the
world--reposing hitherto in the bosom of indulgence and luxury, is it
for _you_ to judge of the impulse of the passions, or the temptations of
misery? Wait till, like me, you have blighted your fairest hopes--have
endured humiliation and sorrow--poverty and insult--before you pretend
to judge of their effect on you! Should that miserable day ever
arrive--should you see the being at your mercy who stands between you
and everything that is dear or noble in life! --who is ready to tear from
you your name--your inheritance--your very life itself--congratulate
your own heart, if, like me, you are content with petty plunder, and are
not tempted to exterminate a serpent, who now lives, perhaps to sting us
all. '"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 204,
205. ]

[179] {383}["'You do not know this man,' continued he; 'I do! --I believe
him to be mean--sordid--deceitful! You will conceive yourself safe,
because you are young and brave! Learn, however, . . . none are so secure
but desperation or subtilty may reach them! Stralenheim, in the palace
of a prince, was in my power! My knife was held over him--a single
moment would have swept him from the face of the earth, and with him all
my future fears:--I forbore--and I am now in his. --Are you certain that
you are not so too? Who assures you he does not know you? --who tells you
that he has not lured you into his society, either to rid himself of you
for ever, or to plunge you with your family into a
dungeon? '"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 205.
It should be noted that this and other passages from Miss Lee's story,
which have been selected for comparison with the text, are to be
regarded as representative parallels--samples of a far more extended
adaptation. _Vide ante_, "The Introduction to _Werner_," p. 326. ]

[180] ["'Me . . . he has known invariably through every change of fortune
or of name--and why not you? --_Me_ he has entrapped--are you more
discreet? He has wound the snares of Idenstein around me:--of a reptile,
whom, a few years ago, I would have spurned from my presence, and whom,
in spurning now, I have furnished with fresh venom:--will _you_ be more
patient? --Conrad, Conrad, there are crimes rendered venial by the
occasion, and temptations too exquisite for human fortitude to master or
endure. '"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii.
205. ]

[181] {384}["'These are only the systems of my father . . . My mother
thinks not with him? '"--Ibid. , p. 206. ]

[182] {385} The Ravenstone, "Rabenstein," is the _stone gibbet_ of
Germany, and so called from the ravens perching on it. [Compare
_Manfred_, act iii. , First Version, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 122. ]

[cr] {387} ----_and a master_. --[MS. M. ]

[183] {388}[Compare--"Cozenage, mere cozenage. " _Merry Wives of
Windsor_, act iv. sc. 5, line 58.

If further proof were needed, the repetition or echo of Shakespearian
phrases, here and elsewhere in the play, would reveal Byron's
handiwork. ]

[184] {389}[Compare _Marino Faliero_, act ii, sc. 2, line 115--"These
swoln silkworms masters. "

Silkworm ("mal bigatto") is an Italianism. See _Poetical Works_, 1901,
iv. 386, note 4. ]

[cs] {391}

----_and hollow_
_Sickness sits caverned in his yellow eye_. --[MS. M. ]

[185] {393}["Thou hast harped my fear aright. " _Macbeth_, act iv. sc. 1,
line 74. ]

[186] {396}["Momus is the god of cruel mockery. He is said to have found
fault with the man formed by Hephaestus, because a little door had not
been left in his breast, so as to enable his fellows to look into his
secret thoughts. " (See Lucian's _Hermotimus_, cap. xx. ) There was a
proverb, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? [To~| Mo/mo| a)re/skein] _Momo santisfacere;
vide Adagia_ Variorum, 1643, p. 58. Byron describes Suwarrow as "Now
Mars, now Momus" (_Don Juan_, Canto VII. stanza lv. line 7). ]

[187] {403}[For the "Theban brethren," Eteocles and Polynices, see the
_Septem c. Thebas_ of AEschylus. Byron had read and liked the "Seven
before Thebes. "--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 174. ]

[188] {404}[A cavity at the lower end of the lead attached to a
sounding-line is partially filled with an _arming_ (tallow), to which
the bottom, especially if it be sand, shells, or fine gravel,
adheres. --Knights's _American Mechanical Dictionary_, 1877, art.
"Sounding-Apparatus. "]

[189] {405}[Compare _The Age of Bronze_, line 45, for the story of
Sesostris being drawn by kings. (See Diodorus Siculus, _Bibl. Hist. _,
lib. i. p. 37, C. , ed. 1604, p. 53. )]

[ct] {406} _And never offered aught as a reward_. --[MS. M. erased. ]

[cu] {407} ----_that if thou wert a snail, none else_. --[MS. M. ]

[190] {408}[Compare--"The iron tongue of midnight. " _Midsummer Night's
Dream_, act v. sc. 1, line 352. ]

[191] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza xcvi. line 5,
_Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 275, note I. ]

[192] {409}[Compare--"With your leave, I will call a will-o'-the-wisp. "
Goethe's _Faust_. ]

[193] {410}[Compare--"Sleep she as sound as careless infancy. " _Merry
Wives of Windsor_, act v. sc. 5, line 50. ]

[194] {416}[At the siege of Magdeburg, May 19, 1631, "soldiers and
citizens, with their wives, boys and girls, old and young, were all
mercilessly butchered. " "The city was set fire to at more than twelve
points, and, except the cathedral and about fifty houses, sank into soot
and ashes. It was not Tilly and his men, but Magdeburg's own people, who
kindled the city to a conflagration. "--_History of the Thirty Years'
War_, by Anton Gindely, 1885, ii. 65, 66. ]

[195] {418}[In Miss Lee's _Kruitzner_, Conrad meets his death in a
skirmish on the frontiers of Franconia. ]

[196] {423}[Compare "Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish: I eat
the air" (Hamlet, act iii. sc. 2, lines 88, 89). ]

[197] [Compare--

"Had his free breathing been denied
The range of the steep mountain's side. "

_Prisoner of Chillon_, lines 142, 143. ]

[198] [The Treaty of Prague was signed May 30, 1635. ]

[199] {428}[For "the attachment of the nightingale to the rose," see
_Giaour_ lines 21-31, _Poetical Works_, 1900, in. 86, note 1. ]

[200] {446}["_Gab. _ I have yet an additional security. I did not enter
Prague a solitary individual; and there are tongues without that will
speak for me, although I should even share the fate of Stralenheim! Let
your deliberation be short. --_Sieg. _ My promise is
solemn--sacred--irrevocable: it extends not, however, beyond my own
walls. "--_Canterbury Tales_, 1838, ii. 268; see, too, pp. 269, 270. ]







WERNER

Nov. 1815.

[FIRST DRAFT. ]




ACT I.


SCENE I. --_A ruinous chateau on the Silesian frontier of Bohemia_.

_Josepha_. THE storm is at it's height--how the wind howls,
Like an unearthly voice, through these lone chambers!
And the rain patters on the flapping casement
Which quivers in it's frame--the night is starless--
Yet cheerly Werner! still our hearts are warm:
The tempest is without, or should be so--
For we are sheltered here where Fortune's clouds
May roll all harmless o'er us as the wrath
Of these wild elements that menace now,
Yet do not reach us.

_Werner_ (_without attending, and walking disturbedly,
speaking to himself_). No--'Tis past--'tis blighted, 10
The last faint hope to which my withered fortune
Clung with a feeble and a fluttering grasp,
Yet clung convulsively--for twas the _last_--
Is broken with the rest: would that my heart were!
But there is pride, and passion's war within,
Which give my breast vitality to suffer,
As it hath suffered through long years till now.
My father's wrath extends beyond the grave,
And haunts me in the shape of Stralenheim!
He revels in my fathers palace--I-- 20
Exiled--disherited--a nameless outcast!
[_Werner pauses_.
My boy, too, where and what is he? --my father
Might well have limited his curse to me.
If that my heritage had passed to Ulric,
I had not mourned my own less happy lot.
No--No--all's past--all torn away.

_Josepha_. Dear Werner,
Oh banish these discomfortable thoughts
That thus contend within you: we are poor,
So we have ever been--but I remember
The time when thy Josepha's smile could turn 30
Thy heart to hers--despite of every ill.
So let it now--alas! you hear me not.

_Werner_. What said you? --let it pass--no matter what--
Think me not churlish, Sweet, I am not well.
My brain is hot and busy--long fatigue
And last night's watching have oppressed me much.

_Josepha_. Then get thee to thy couch.
I do perceive
In thy pale cheek and in thy bloodshot eye
A strange distemperature--nay, as a boon,
I do entreat thee to thy rest.

_Werner_. My _rest! _ 40
Well--be it so--Good Night!

_Josepha_. Thy hand is burning;
I will prepare a potion:--peace be with thee--
Tomorrow's dawn I trust will find thee healthful;
And, then, our Ulric may perchance--

_Werner_. _Our_ Ulric--thine and mine--our only boy--
Curse on his father and his father's Sire!
(For, if it is so, I will render back
A curse that Heaven will hear as well as his),
Our Ulric by his father's fault or folly,
And by my father's unrelenting pride, 50
Is at this hour, perchance, undone. This night
That shelters us may shower it's wrath on him--
A homeless beggar for his parent's sin--
Thy sin and mine--Thy child and mine atones--
Our Ulric--Woman! --I'll to no bed to-night--
There is no pillow for my thoughts.

_Josepha_. What words,
What fearful words are these! what may they mean?

_Werner_. Look on me--thou hast known me, hitherto,
As an oppressed, but yet a humble creature;
By birth predestined to the yoke I've borne. 60
Till now I've borne it patiently, at least,
In bitter silence--but the hour is come,
That should and shall behold me as I was,
And ought again to be--

_Josepha_. I know not what
Thy mystery may tend to, but my fate--
My heart--my will--my love are linked with thine,
And I would share thy sorrow: lay it open.

_Werner_. Thou see'st the son of Count--but let it pass--
I forfeited the name in wedding thee:
That fault of many faults a father's pride 70
Proclaimed the last and worst--and, from that hour,
He disavowed, disherited, debased
A wayward son----tis a long tale--too long--
And I am heartsick of the heavy thought.

_Josepha_. Oh, I could weep--but that were little solace:
Yet tell the rest--or, if thou wilt not, say--
Yet say--why, through long years, from me withheld,
This fearful secret that hath gnawed thy soul?

_Werner_. Why? had it not been base to call on thee
For patience and for pity--to awake 80
The thirst of grandeur in thy gentle spirit--
To tell thee what thou shouldst have been--the wife
Of one, in power--birth--wealth, preeminent--
Then, sudden quailing in that lofty tone,
To bid thee soothe thy husband--peasant Werner?

_Josepha_. I would thou wert, indeed, the peasant Werner;
For then thy soul had been of calmer mould,
And suited to thy lot----

_Werner_. Was it not so?
Beneath a humble name and garb--the which
My youthful riot and a father's frown, 90
Too justly fixed upon me, had compelled
My bowed down spirit to assume too well--
Since it deceived the world, myself, and thee:
I linked my lot irrevocably with thine--
And I have loved thee deeply--long and dearly--
Even as I love thee still--but these late crosses,
And most of all the last,--have maddened me;
And I am wild and wayward as in youth,
Ere I beheld thee--

_Josepha_. Would thou never hadst!
Since I have been a blight upon thy hope, 100
And marred alike the present and the future.

_Werner_. Yet say not so--for all that I have known
Of true and calm content--of love--of peace--
Has been with thee and from thee: wert thou not,
I were a lonely and self-loathing thing.
Ulric has left us! all, save thou, have left me!
Father and son--Fortune--Fame--Power--Ambition--
The ties of being--the high soul of man--
All save the long remorse--the consciousness,
The curse of living on, regretting life 110
Mispent in miserably gazing upward,
While others soared--Away, I'll think no more.

_Josepha_. But Ulric--wherefore didst thou let him leave
His home and us? tis now three weary years.

_Werner_ (_interrupting her quickly_).
Since my hard father, half-relenting, sent
The offer of a scanty stipend which
I needs must earn by rendering up my son--
Fool that I was--I thought this quick compliance,
And never more assuming in myself
The haught name of my house would soften him-- 120
And for our child secure the heritage
Forfeit in me forever. Since that hour,
Till the last year, the wretched pittance came--
Then ceased with every tidings of my son
And Sire--till late I heard the last had ceased
To live--and unforgiving died--Oh God!

_Josepha_. Was it for this our Ulric left us so?
Thou dids't deceive me then--he went not forth
To join the legions of Count Tilly's war?

_Werner_. I know not--he had left my father's castle, 130
Some months before his death--but why? --but why?
Left it as I did ere his birth, perchance,
Like me an outcast. Old age had not made
My father meeker--and my son, Alas!
Too much his Sire resembled----

_Josepha_. Yet there's comfort.
Restrain thy wandering Spirit--Ulric cannot
Have left his native land--thou dost not know,
Though it looks strangely, thy Sire and he
In anger parted--Hope is left us still.

_Werner_. The best hope that I ever held in youth, 140
When every pulse was life, each thought a joy,
(Yet not irrationally sanguine, since
My birth bespoke high thoughts,) hath lured and left me.
I will not be a dreamer in mine age--
The hunter of a shadow--let _boys hope_:
Of Hope I now know nothing but the name--
And that's a sound which jars upon my heart.
I've wearied thee--Good night--my patient Love!

_Josepha_. I must not leave thee thus--my husband--friend--
My heart is rent in twain for thee--I scarce 150
Dare greet thee as I would, lest that my love
Should seem officious and ill timed:--'tis early--
Yet rest were as a healing balm to thee--
Then once again--Good night!

_Voice Without_. What Ho--lights ho!


SCENE II.

_Josepha_. What noise is that? 'tis nearer--hush! they knock.
[_A knocking heard at the gate_--WERNER _starts_.

_Werner_ (_aside_). It may be that the bloodhounds of the villain,
Who long has tracked me, have approached at last:
I'll not be taken tamely.

_Josepha_. 'Twas the voice,
The single voice of some lone traveller.
I'll to the door.

_Werner_. No--stay thou here--again!
[_Knocking repeated. Opens the door_.
Well--Sir--your pleasure?

_Enter_ CARL _the Bavarian_.

_Carl_. Thanks most worthy Sir!
My pleasure, for to-night, depends on yours--
I'm weary, wet, and wayworn--without shelter,
Unless you please to grant it.

_Josepha_. You shall have it, 10
Such as this ruinous mansion may afford:
Tis spacious, but too cold and crazy now
For Hospitality's more cordial welcome:
But as it is 'tis yours.

_Werner_ (_to his wife_). Why say ye so?
At once such hearty greeting to a stranger?
At such a lonely hour, too--

_Josepha_ (_in reply to Werner_). Nay--he's honest.
There is trust-worthiness in his blunt looks.

_Werner_ (_to Josepha_).
"Trustworthiness in looks! " I'll trust no looks!
I look into men's faces for their age,
Not for their actions--had he Adam's brow, 20
Open and goodly as before the fall,
I've lived too long to trust the frankest aspect.
(_To Carl_) Whence come you Sir?

_Carl_. From Frankfort, on my way
To my own country--I've a companion too--
He tarries now behind:--an hour ago,
On reaching that same river on your frontier,
We found it swoln by storms--a stranger's carriage,
Despite the current, drawn by sturdy mules,
Essayed to pass, and nearly reached the middle
Of that which was the _ford_ in gentler weather, 30
When down came driver, carriage, mules, and all--
You may suppose the worthy Lord within
Fared ill enough:--worse still he might have suffered,
But that my comrade and myself rushed in,
And with main strength and some good luck beside,
Dislodged and saved him: he'll be here anon.
His equipage by this time is at Dresden--
I left it floating that way.

_Werner_. Where is he?

_Carl_. Hitherward on his way, even like myself--
We saw the light and made for the nearest shelter: 40
You'll not deny us for a single night?
You've room enough, methinks--and this vast ruin
Will not be worse for three more guests.

_Werner_. Two more:
And thou? --well--be it so--(_aside_) (tonight will soon
Be overpast: they shall not stay tomorrow)--
Know you the name of him you saved?

_Carl_. Not I!
I think I heard him called a Baron Something--
But was too chill to stay and hear his titles:
You know they are sometimes tedious in the reckoning,
If counted over by the noble wearer. 50
Has't any wine? I'm wet, stung to the marrow--
My comrade waited to escort the Baron:
They will be here, anon--they, too, want cheering:
I'll taste for them, if it please you, courteous host!

_Josepha_. Such as our vintage is shall give you welcome:
I'll bring you some anon. [_goes out_.

_Carl_ (_looking round_). A goodly mansion!
And has been nobly tenanted, I doubt not.
This worn magnificence some day has shone
On light hearts and long revels--those torn banners
Have waved o'er courtly guests--and yon huge lamp 60
High blazed through many a midnight--I could wish
My lot had led me here in those gay times!
Your days, my host, must pass but heavily.
Are you the vassal of these antient chiefs,
Whose heir wastes elsewhere their fast melting hoards,
And placed to keep their cobwebs company?

_Werner_ (_who has been absorbed in thought till the latter
part of his speech_). A Vassal! --I a vassal! --_who_ accosts me
With such familiar question? --(_checks himself and says
aside_)--Down startled pride!
Have not long years of wretchedness yet quenched thee,
And, suffering evil, wilt thou start at scorn? 70
(_To Carl_. ) Sir! if I boast no birth--and, as you see,
My state bespeaks none--still, no being breathes
Who calls me slave or servant. --Like yourself
I am a stranger here--a lonely guest--
But, for a time, on sufferance. On my way,
From--a far distant city--Sickness seized,
And long detained me in the neighbouring hamlet.
The Intendant of the owner of this castle,
Then uninhabited, with kind intent,
Permitted me to wait returning health 80
Within these walls--more sheltered than the cot
Of humble peasants.

_Carl_. Worthy Sir, your mercy!
I meant not to offend you--plain of speech,
And blunt in apprehension, I do judge
Men's station from their seeming--but themselves
From acts alone. You bid me share your shelter,
And I am bound to you; and had you been
The lowliest vassal had not thanked you less,
Than I do now, believing you his better,
Perhaps my own superior--

_Werner_. What imports it? 90
What--who I am--or whence--you are welcome--sit--
You shall have cheer anon. (_walks disturbedly aside_)

_Carl_ (_to himself_). Here's a strange fellow!
Wild, churlish, angry--_why_, I know not, seek not.
Would that the wine were come! my doublet's wet,
But my throat dry as Summer's drought in desarts.
Ah--here it sparkles!

_Enter_ JOSEPHA _with wine in flask--and a cup. As she pours
it out a Voice is heard without calling at a distance_.
WERNER _starts_--JOSEPHA _listens tremulously_.

_Werner_. That voice--that voice--Hark!
No--no--tis silent--Sir--I say--that voice--
Whose is it--speak--

_Carl_ (_drinking unconcernedly_).
Whose is it? faith, I know not--
And, yet, 'tis my companion's: he's like you,
And does not care to tell his name and station. 100
[_The voice again and nearer_.

_Josepha_. 'Tis his--I knew it--Ulric! --Ulric! --Ulric!
[_She drops the wine and rushes out_.

_Carl_. The flask's unhurt--but every drop is spilt.
Confound the voice! I say--would he were dumb!
And faith! to me, he has been nearly so--
A silent and unsocial travelling mate.

_Werner_ (_stands in agitation gazing towards the door_).
If it be he--I cannot move to meet him.
Yes--it must be so--there is no such voice
That so could sound and shake me: he is here,
And I am--

_Enter_ STRALENHEIM.

_Werner_ (_turns and sees him_). A curse upon thee, stranger!
Where dids't thou learn a tone so like my boy's? 110
Thou mock bird of my hopes--a curse upon thee!
Out! Out! I say. Thou shalt not harbour here.

_Stralenheim_. What means the peasant? knows he unto whom
He dares address this language?

_Carl_. Noble Sir!
Pray heed him not--he's Phrenzy's next door neighbour,
And full of these strange starts and causeless jarrings.

_Werner_. Oh, that long wished for voice! --I dreamed of it--
And then it did elude me--then--and now.

_Enter_ ULRIC _and_ JOSEPHA. WERNER _falls on his neck_.

Oh God! forgive, for thou dids't not forget me.
Although I murmured--tis--it is my Son! 120

_Josepha_. Aye, 'tis dear Ulric--yet, methinks, he's changed, too:
His cheek is tanned, his frame more firmly knit!
That scar, too, dearest Ulric--I do fear me--
Thou hast been battling with these heretics,
And that's a Swedish token on thy brow.

_Ulric_. My heart is glad with yours--we meet like those
Who never would have parted:--of the past
You shall know more anon--but, here's a guest
That asks a gentle welcome. Noble Baron,
My father's silence looks discourtesy: 130
Yet must I plead his pardon--'tis his love
Of a long truant that has rapt him, thus,
From hospitable greeting--you'll be seated--
And, Father, we will sup like famished hunters.

JOSEPHA _goes out here_.

_Stralenheim_. I have much need of rest: no more refreshment!
Were all my people housed within the hamlet,
Or can they follow?

_Ulric_. Not to night I fear.
They staid in hope the damaged Cabriole
Might, with the dawn of day, have such repairs,
As circumstance admits of.

_Carl_.