No More Learning

Look, here is Richelieu! Go and plead with him.

[_The castle guns are fired. The cloth, hiding the great
breach in the wall, drops. The_ CARDINAL _comes
in his gigantic scarlet litter, borne by twenty-four
footguards. Scarlet curtains conceal him from the
shouting mob. _

MARION (_dragging herself on her knees to the litter_):
In the name of God, oh, my Lord Cardinal,
Pardon these two poor boys!

A VOICE (_from the litter_): No pardon!

[_The litter passes on, and the crowd surges through the
wall after it_. MARION _is left alone. _


FOOTNOTES:

[J] Victor Hugo wrote "Marion de Lorme" in 1829, three months
before he composed "Hernani. " King Charles X. , however, refused to
license the play, because of the terrible way in which his ancestor,
Louis XIII. , was portrayed in it. But after the Revolution of 1830,
and the success of "Hernani," the forbidden drama was produced on the
stage.
Its original title was "A Duel Under Richelieu. " The whole play
is built around the frustrated duel in which two young men engage
against the edict of the great cardinal. This economy of stage-craft
makes "Marion de Lorme" a superior work, in point of construction, to
"Hernani. " And though it may be less picturesque than that more famous
example of the romantic drama, it is on the whole a finer effort of
genius.




Ruy Blas[K]


_Persons in the Drama_

DON SALLUST DE BAZAN, _President of the Magistrates_
RUY BLAS, _Lackey to Don Sallust_
DON CESAR DE BAZAN, _Cousin to Don Sallust_
DON MANUEL ARIAS }_Counsellors_
THE COUNT OF CAMPOREAL }
DOONA MARIA, Queen of Spain
_A crowd of_ Spanish Grandees, Counsellors, _and_
Alguazils


ACT I

SCENE--_A room in the palace of King Charles II. , at Madrid, about
1695. _

DON SALLUST: So, after twenty years of constant toil,
And twenty years of honour and high power,
The weak hand of a woman strikes me down
Into the dust. Dishonoured and exiled!
And by the queen, a foolish, foreign girl
Ignorant of our ways, who has no fear
Because she has no knowledge. Had she guessed
I had so many weapons of revenge
That I am now perplexed which one to use,
She would have been more careful. Poisoning,
Of course, is easy; and when she was dead
I could retrieve the power that I have lost.
But I would rather crush and conquer her
Some other way; make her a very slave
Obedient to my slightest wish, and rule
The country in her name. The king is mad,
And she will soon be regent. (_Calling_) Ruy Blas!

RUY BLAS (_appearing at the door_): Sir?

DON SALLUST: Order my men to gather up and pack
My papers, books and documents!