Even the monarch
Is not fenced from his chamberlain's slander, or
The sneer of the last courtier whom he has made
Great and ungrateful.
Is not fenced from his chamberlain's slander, or
The sneer of the last courtier whom he has made
Great and ungrateful.
Byron
Hamburgh!
No, I have nought to do there, nor
Am aught connected with that city. Then
God speed you!
_Rod. _ Fare ye well, Count Siegendorf!
[_Exit_ RODOLPH.
_Sieg. _ Ulric, this man, who has just departed, is 290
One of those strange companions whom I fain
Would reason with you on.
_Ulr. _ My Lord, he is
Noble by birth, of one of the first houses
In Saxony.
_Sieg. _ I talk not of his birth,
But of his bearing. Men speak lightly of him.
_Ulr. _ So they will do of most men.
Even the monarch
Is not fenced from his chamberlain's slander, or
The sneer of the last courtier whom he has made
Great and ungrateful.
_Sieg. _ If I must be plain,
The world speaks more than lightly of this Rodolph: 300
They say he is leagued with the "black bands" who still
Ravage the frontier.
_Ulr. _ And will you believe
The world?
_Sieg. _ In this case--yes.
_Ulr. _ In _any_ case,
I thought you knew it better than to take
An accusation for a sentence.
_Sieg. _ Son!
I understand you: you refer to----but
My destiny has so involved about me
Her spider web, that I can only flutter
Like the poor fly, but break it not. Take heed,
Ulric; you have seen to what the passions led me: 310
Twenty long years of misery and famine
Quenched them not--twenty thousand more, perchance,
Hereafter (or even here in _moments_ which
Might date for years, did Anguish make the dial),
May not obliterate or expiate
The madness and dishonour of an instant.
Ulric, be warned by a father! --I was not
By mine, and you behold me!
_Ulr.
Am aught connected with that city. Then
God speed you!
_Rod. _ Fare ye well, Count Siegendorf!
[_Exit_ RODOLPH.
_Sieg. _ Ulric, this man, who has just departed, is 290
One of those strange companions whom I fain
Would reason with you on.
_Ulr. _ My Lord, he is
Noble by birth, of one of the first houses
In Saxony.
_Sieg. _ I talk not of his birth,
But of his bearing. Men speak lightly of him.
_Ulr. _ So they will do of most men.
Even the monarch
Is not fenced from his chamberlain's slander, or
The sneer of the last courtier whom he has made
Great and ungrateful.
_Sieg. _ If I must be plain,
The world speaks more than lightly of this Rodolph: 300
They say he is leagued with the "black bands" who still
Ravage the frontier.
_Ulr. _ And will you believe
The world?
_Sieg. _ In this case--yes.
_Ulr. _ In _any_ case,
I thought you knew it better than to take
An accusation for a sentence.
_Sieg. _ Son!
I understand you: you refer to----but
My destiny has so involved about me
Her spider web, that I can only flutter
Like the poor fly, but break it not. Take heed,
Ulric; you have seen to what the passions led me: 310
Twenty long years of misery and famine
Quenched them not--twenty thousand more, perchance,
Hereafter (or even here in _moments_ which
Might date for years, did Anguish make the dial),
May not obliterate or expiate
The madness and dishonour of an instant.
Ulric, be warned by a father! --I was not
By mine, and you behold me!
_Ulr.
