Poetical Works
of
ROBERT BRIDGES

Volume IV

London
Smith, Elder & Co.
15 Waterloo Place
11902

OXFORD: HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

POETICAL WORKS OF
ROBERT BRIDGES

VOLUME THE FOURTH
CONTAINING

LIST OF PREVIOUS EDITIONS

PALICIO.

1. PALICIO. A Romantic Drama in Five Acts in the Elizabethan manner.

ACHILLES IN SCYROS.

1. ACHILLES IN SCYROS. A drama in a mixed manner. Published by Ewd. Bumpus. London, 1890. 4to.

2. ACHILLES IN SCYROS. Uniform with Shorter Poems (I). George Bell & Sons, 1892.

PALICIO.

1. PALICIO. A Romantic Drama in Five Acts in the Elizabethan manner.

Η καὶ ΠΑΛΙΚΩΝ εὐλόγως μενεῖ φάτις;

Πάλιν γὰρ ἵκουσ’ ἐκ σκότου τόδ’ ἐς φάος.

Æsch., Ætnææ, frag.

Published by Ewd. Bumpus. London, 1890. 4to. pp. 37-70.

RETURN OF ULYSSES.

1. THE RETURN OF ULYSSES. A Drama in Five Acts in a mixed manner.

Ἃ μὲν ἐποποιία ἔχει, ὑπάρχει τῇ τραγῳδίά

ἃ δὲ αὐτη, οὐ πάντα ἐν τῇ ἐποποιίᾳ.

Arist., Poet. 12.

Published by Ewd. Bumpus. London, 1890. 4to. pp. 71-100.

PALICIO

A ROMANTIC
DRAMA

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

The scene is in PALERMO, and sometimes in the hills above MONREALE.

Time, Spanish occupation of Sicily.

PALICIO

ACT · I

SCENE · 1

Palermo. Reception-room in the Palace.

BLASCO and FERDINAND.

BLASCO.

Have you not been in Sicily before?

FERDINAND.

Never.

Bl.And, sir, what think you of Palermo?

Have you as fine cities in Spain?

Fer.Your city,

Approached by sea or from the roofs surveyed,

Smiles back upon the gazer like a queen

That hears her praise. Nearer to speak I’ll grudge not,

When I may nearer know: but since we came

There’s been no hour a stranger might dare shew

His face in the streets.

Bl.The time is now unquiet.

10

Fer. Rather I’d say government given over

To murderous bandits, who range up and down

Unchecked: to whom the king’s commissioners

Were just the daintiest pricking. If I may brag

Of home, our cities are more orderly.

Bl. ’Tis a hot-blooded race, sir, full of stirrings,

Subject to fermentation, and like good wine

Ever the better for it.

Fer.But can you tell me

The real cause of these disturbances?

Bl. Nothing is easier, sir. Your viceroy, Hugo,

This is the point, is plunged in disesteem.

He has lost the fear and won the hate of the people.

Already, ere ye came, the news ye bring

Of the king being dead, was buzzed. Since at his death

His viceroy’s office falls to ground, our townsmen

Seize on this interval, wherein they hold

He hath no jurisdiction, to discredit him,

Kill him maybe, if nothing else will hinder

His reappointment. They but make the most

Of their occasion: that is all.

Fer.But how

Can a mere handful of such ruffians hold

The city, when the loyal troops are his?

Bl. ’Tis known to the people that their cause hath found

An ear in Spain: and here among the barons

Are many who wish well to the revolt.

Should Hugo push to extremes he might discover

Most potent enemies. Remember, sir,

’Twas a street scuffle in this very town,

That drave the French from Sicily.

Fer.The thought

Brings me no comfort.

Bl.Wherefore ’tis his policy

To meet the present rage by such concessions

As may be popular, and to give forth

The king is ill, not dead. ’Tis for this reason

No mass is sung nor mourning liveries worn:

To-night’s festivity, such as it is,

Hath only this pretence.

Fer.Are the two ladies

His daughters both?

Bl.The taller and the fairer,

The lady Constance, is his only daughter.

Your fine duke Philip, who comes now from court

With such a mightiness, was once her lover.

Fer. That doth not single her.

50

Bl.But then it did.

She was his first. ’Twas when duke Philip’s father

Was viceroy here; Hugo was then chief justice,

And Manuel, who succeeded him, was only

Young Philip’s tutor;—he succeeds moreover

Now to his pupil’s leavings, and will marry

The long-forgotten Constance.

Fer.’Twas the other

I asked of, in white satin, she who sat

On Philip’s right at supper; who is she?

Bl. That, sir, is Margaret.

Fer.And who is Margaret?

Bl. Sister to Manuel.

60

Fer.She far outshines

Her future sister.

Bl.They that can see have thought it:

And, sir, ’twill tax your better wit to add

A tittle to her full accustomed homage.

Your broken heart were but a pinch of pepper

Sprinkled on porridge. Now for full two years

Her reign hath made a melancholy madness

The fashion ’mongst our youth.

Fer.I should much like

To be presented.

Bl.O, sir, at your will.

Judge for yourself. See, here they come. (Aside.) A moth!

Fer. (aside). A very civil fellow.

[They retire to back.

Enter R. Hugo, Philip, Manuel, Margaret,

Constance and Livio.

HUGO.

I am sorry, your grace,

We make so small a party. For our poor

Reception, and for all shortcomings else,

Accuse the occasion.

PHILIP.

I think, your excellence,

I cannot play the guest. This house was once

So long my home, that here I look to find

As little ceremony as I fear I have shewn.

Hu. So should it be. Make it your home again.

Ph. I shall forget I have ever been away.

MANUEL.

Five years.

Ph.Ay, but five years of wandering,

Such as can but endear one’s home the more.

My memory still would serve me to walk blindfold

From any point of the city to these doors.

Man. What is your memory for our studies, Philip?

Ph. Too slippery for my profit. Yet the pleasure

Lives very brightly;—nay, I could but name

One deprivation I have more regretted.

MARGARET.

But now

My brother has a new philosophy.

Ph. Ah! If you share the secret, and I be thought

Worthy of initiation, may I hear it?

Mar. And welcome. Manuel, in his deep research

For the first cause and harmony of things,

Hit upon both together—they are one:

’Tis love. And now, since I profess it not,

And since ’twas learnt of you...

Man. (to Mar.).Hush, sister, hush!

Ph. I am very proud of such a pupil. (Aside.) Since

He has learned my love so readily, it may be

That he may catch my jealousy—

Hu.Come, duke,

Sit here by me. There’s more to talk of. Livio,

Fetch us the papers.

Philip crosses to L. and sits by Hugo.

Man. (crossing to R.). They must grant us, Constance,

A moment now. All day I have been away,

And yesterday I saw you not at all.

Can you forgive a lover so remiss?

CONSTANCE.

I fear I half deserve your fear.

Man.The time

Can be but short, but it shall make amends.

[They talk together.

Bl. (coming forward with Fer.). Fair lady Margaret,

Count Ferdinand of Vergas; I present him

At his desire.

Fer.Your ladyship’s true servant.

Mar. I am much honoured.

Fer.Lady, ’tis worth the pains

To cross from Spain to see you.

Mar.From that I guess

That you are a better sailor than the duke.

Fer. Nay, you judge wrong.

Mar.Have you then ate no dinner?

Fer. Now if I had not, I’d blame your stormy town

Before the sea for that: since we left ship

We are cabined in this house; to pass the door

Were to leap overboard in a whole gale.

Mar. I fear this is no country for you, sir,

If noises in the street keep you indoors.

LIVIO.

Take warning, count; Sicily’s fairest rose

Blooms on an angry plant.

Mar.But we can boast

Of warriors that for fragrance shame the rose.

(To Liv.) Is’t musk to-day?

Liv. (to Fer.). I told you.

Enter Messenger R., crosses to Hugo L.

MESSENGER.

This paper, sire, is posted thro’ the town.

Hu. Eh, eh! what have we here? [Reads.

Citizens of Palermo, King Pedro is dead. God rest his soul! The office of Viceroy being vacant, the Parliament of townsmen, assembled in the church of San Lorenzo, have this day elected Manuel to be your viceroy, in place of Hugo. Death to Hugo! Long live the king!

Why, Manuel, what’s this parliament?

130

Man.I know

No more than doth your excellence. But ’tis plain

That they are orderers who put on a dress

Of regular authority; they use

The senatorial voice, and over all

They have now usurped my name to have it thought

That I have set their hatch.

[Shouts without of “Death to Hugo! The Despatches!”]

Ph.Here comes the parliament.

Hu. Now this is what I feared. Manuel, I pray you,

Go to the balcony, you have their ear;

Use then your credit.

Man.What, sire, shall I say?

140

Hu. Well, you should know.

Liv. (to Man.). Look, if they ask to hear

The last despatches, gull them with some paper;

Which while you show, you make as if therefrom

You read the king’s not dead.

Ph. (to Liv.). Nay, Livio:

The word is wanted for a troop of horse.

My father never would have brooked this insult

From such a mob.

Liv.Our soldiers are not idle.

They laid hands yesterday upon the chief

And head of all, one John Palicio.

We have certain information that the rebels

Cannot be kept together but by him.

Hark! they are quiet now.

Hu. (to Man. returning). What is your charm

To win such meek obedience?

Man.They’re gone, your excellence;

But not from aught I said: for ere I spoke

Some rumour reached them, and the skirt of the throng,

That far beyond my hearing stood apart

In scattered groups, broke hastily away:

Then the next ranks shed off; and then the next

Loosened and followed them: till the voice came

To the very midst and huddle, where they pressed

With upturned faces; then all heads went down,

And with a cry they fled.

Hu.Whither?

Man.I think

To the prison, my lord.

Enter a Soldier.

Hu.What now? give me thy matter.

SOLDIER.

The prisoner Palicio is escaped.

He killed his guards, and fled beyond pursuit.

Ph. (to Liv.). Why, is not this the man you spoke of?

Liv.Ay,

That is the man.

Hu.Let the patrol be doubled for the night,

And give not o’er the search. Alive or dead,

A hundred florins to whoever finds him.

Blasco, go see to it: he must not escape.

Bl. (aside). But if he be escaped, who’s viceroy then?

[Exit with soldier.

Hu. This same Palicio, duke, is the chief rebel:

While he was caged, I could despise the rest.

But he’s a dangerous fellow; bred in the hills,

He is yet of noble blood and high descent:

A proud and lofty temper, that hath taken

A graft of wildness, and shot forth afresh

In base luxuriance. Tho’ yet unbearded,

Bandits and exiles own him; and the people,

Who hold such men in honour, can be drawn

But by his name to any enterprise.

’Tis he that with his bread-tax cry hath stirred

The commons to rebel, and be he ’scaped

Clear, as ’tis thought, there will be more ado.

I’ll not so much as vouch, duke, for your safety,

If you should sleep in the palace.

Man.Let the duke