_
THE KING: Oh, it is miserable to be a king
That lives but does not govern.
THE KING: Oh, it is miserable to be a king
That lives but does not govern.
World's Greatest Books - Volume 17 - Poetry and Drama
He loves red blood,
The scarlet cardinal, he loves red blood!
MARION: You frighten me! Who are you?
L'ANGELY: The king's fool.
MARION: Ah, Didier! If a woman's feeble hand
Can save you, mine shall do it! [_She departs_.
L'ANGELY (_picking up the sword he lent to_ Didier):
Ha! Ha! Ha!
It was not I that played the fool to-night!
ACT II
SCENE--_A hall in the castle of Chambord. _ KING LOUIS XIII. ,
_a grey-haired, weak-minded man, is sitting, pale and
sorrowful, in a chair of state. _ L'ANGELY _stands beside him.
_
THE KING: Oh, it is miserable to be a king
That lives but does not govern. Richelieu
Is killing all my friends. I sometimes think
He wants their blood to dye his scarlet robes.
L'ANGELY: He works for France, sire----
THE KING: Yes, and for himself.
I hate him. Never did a king of France
Govern with so tyrannical a hand
As he now does. A single word from me
And all his pomp and splendour, all his power,
Would vanish. But I cannot say the word;
He will not let me. Come, amuse me, fool!
L'ANGELY: Is not life, sire, a thing of bitterness?
THE KING: It is. Man is a shadow.
L'ANGELY: And a king
The miserablest creature on this earth.
THE KING: It gives me pleasure when you speak like that.
I wish that I were dead. In all the world
You are the only man I ever found
Worth listening to.
The scarlet cardinal, he loves red blood!
MARION: You frighten me! Who are you?
L'ANGELY: The king's fool.
MARION: Ah, Didier! If a woman's feeble hand
Can save you, mine shall do it! [_She departs_.
L'ANGELY (_picking up the sword he lent to_ Didier):
Ha! Ha! Ha!
It was not I that played the fool to-night!
ACT II
SCENE--_A hall in the castle of Chambord. _ KING LOUIS XIII. ,
_a grey-haired, weak-minded man, is sitting, pale and
sorrowful, in a chair of state. _ L'ANGELY _stands beside him.
_
THE KING: Oh, it is miserable to be a king
That lives but does not govern. Richelieu
Is killing all my friends. I sometimes think
He wants their blood to dye his scarlet robes.
L'ANGELY: He works for France, sire----
THE KING: Yes, and for himself.
I hate him. Never did a king of France
Govern with so tyrannical a hand
As he now does. A single word from me
And all his pomp and splendour, all his power,
Would vanish. But I cannot say the word;
He will not let me. Come, amuse me, fool!
L'ANGELY: Is not life, sire, a thing of bitterness?
THE KING: It is. Man is a shadow.
L'ANGELY: And a king
The miserablest creature on this earth.
THE KING: It gives me pleasure when you speak like that.
I wish that I were dead. In all the world
You are the only man I ever found
Worth listening to.
