Scene II.
A Street in Berlin. Enter FREDERICK in a cloak—KARL following.
KING. Those who have the command of motives, and know their power, have also the command of all that the arts, or what is called a genius for the arts, can produce. The human mind and human ingenuity are much the same in Italy, England, and Prussia. Then why should not we have a Prussian as well as a Wedgewood or a Barbarini vase? We shall see. I do not understand mon metier de roi, if I can not call forth talents where I know them to exist. (To KARL.) And so the count denounced me for a tyrant, did he, Karl?
KARL.
He did, Your Majesty.
KING.
He's a mere stripling; and I permit boys and fools to speak of me as they list. But
I am no tyrant, Karl! He might have spared me that. (Musingly.) Tyrant!—
KARL (aside.)
It rankles deeply.
KING (recovering from his meditation.) Youth and inexperience—to say nothing of love—pshaw!—which is the root of all folly—shall be his apology this time: but let him beware how he offends again—
KARL (aside.)
It moves him as I intended.
KING.
No, I am no tyrant. I should not be branded with such a title!
KARL (startled.)
Branded, Your Majesty?
KING. What has happened, Karl? You are as pale as ashes! What mystery is here? I am to be trusted.
KARL.
Your Majesty was ever kind; and if I might—
KING. Might! You may. Speak freely to your sovereign—your friend—and tell me what it is that weighs upon your mind.
SONG—KARL
Dared these lips my sad story impart,
What relief it would give to my heart!
Though the scenes of past years as they rise,
Bring the dews of remorse to my eyes,
Yet, oh hear me, and ever conceal
What in agony now I reveal!—
KING.
Speak freely, Karl—
KARL.
And behold, while I throw off the mask!
Ah, no, no, no, no, no—
I shrink in despair from the task!
In the page of my life there appears
A sad passage that's written in tears!
Could but that be erased, I would give
All the remnant of days I may live:
yet the cause of the cloud on my brow
I have never disclosed until now—
KING.
Say on, Karl—
KARL.
Here behold!—It is branded in flame!
Ah, no, no, no, no, no—
I shrink in despair from my shame! [KARL rushes out.
KING.
There's a mystery about that fellow that I can not understand.—Whom have we here?
Oh, the English traveller who is in such a good humor with my manufactory, and who
has such strange notions respecting me. Good—good!
[Draws his cloak about him and retires.
(Enter WEDGEWOOD.)
WEDGEWOOD. I begin to perceive that I shall get into some confounded scrape if I stay here much longer, and so will my young friend Mr. Worrendorf, who has made me his confidant: but mum's the word! (Seeing the KING, who is in the act of taking snuff.) Ah, use snuff, my old boy?—Odd!—Thank you for a pinch. (Takes a pinch sans ceremonie, and without the King's consent. FREDERICK shuts the box angrily. WEDGEWOOD starts back in astonishment.—Aside.) Wonder who the old-fashioned brown jug can be! I'll take him by the handle and pour him out, and see what's in him.
KING.
Like the snuff?
WEDGEWOOD.
Yes (snuffs)—it's decent blackguard (snuffs)—quite decent.
KING.
Taste it again.
WEDGEWOOD.
Don't care if I do. (Helps himself.)
KING.
Perhaps you will also do me the favor to accept the box?
WEDGEWOOD (taking the box.)
If it is convenient. What am I to infer from this?
KING. That you and I cannot take snuff out of the same box. MY box is not large enough for two.
WEDGEWOOD (astonished.)
You don't say so! "Not large enough for two?" (Looks at the box.) Damn me if
I don't think it large enough for a dozen, unless they took snuff with a shovel!
(Aside.) Who in the name of all that's magnanimous can this old three-cornered
cocked-hatted cockolorum be?
KING.
You were overheard to say but now that you would like to see the king?
WEDGEWOOD. Overheard? (Aside.) Ah, that's the way they do everything here. A man can't sneeze without some one of the four winds of heaven reporting it to His Majesty! There is no such thing as a secret in the whole kingdom! How do the women get along, I wonder? (To FREDERICK.) "Like to see the king?" Certainly I should.
KING.
That box will procure you an audience. Present it at the palace.
WEDGEWOOD. Look you here, my jolly old cock, none of your jokes—none of your tricks upon travellers, if you please. What do you mean?
KING.
That I am appreciated at court.
WEDGEWOOD (aside.) Oh, there's no standing on this! (To FREDERICK.) Do you intend to say that you are personally acquainted with Frederick the Great?
KING. I know him, I believe, better than any subject in his realm. He is my most intimate friend.
WEDGEWOOD. Well, then, if that be the case, all that I have to say is, that he is not over and above nice in his choice of companions.—What an odd old file!
KING (angrily.)
Look you here, Mr. Wedgewood—
WEDGEWOOD.
W-e-d-g-e-w-o-o-d!—
KING. Yes—I know you well enough. You are an Englishman by birth—a crockery-merchant by trade—a gentleman from inclination—and an odd sort of character from habit. Without knowing anything more about it than the man in the moon, you have condemned the policy of the king, who is aware of all you have said and done since your arrival in Prussia.
WEDGEWOOD (alarmed.) Oh, I'll get out of this infernal country as fast as my legs can carry me! The king is all ears, like a field of corn; and all eyes, like a potato-patch!
KING.
What alarms you?
WEDGEWOOD. Everything. It's all over with me! I'm an earthen teapot with the spout knocked off!—Suspiciously odd!
KING.
You, sir, like too many others, are entirely mistaken in the character of Frederick.
You will understand him better when we meet again (going.)
WEDGEWOOD.
But, before you go, pray receive your box again!—(the KING looks at him sternly—
WEDGEWOOD is greatly alarmed)—if—it—is—convenient!
KING.
Not now. When next we confer, remember me.—Farewell! [Exit.
WEDGEWOOD.
Remember you? I think I shall. Once seen, never forgotten. What a deep old screw!
(Enter HAROLD.)
HAROLD.
The king commands your presence at the chateau of the countess.
WEDGEWOOD. The devil he does! (Looks at the box.) What's here? As I live, the royal arms! (Conceals the box from HAROLD.) Oh, the thing's plain enough. That fellow has stolen this box; and for fear of being found out, he has put it off on me! It's all up!—I've been bamboozled by the nefarious old monster of iniquity! But I'll after him straight, and have him JUGGED. If I don't, they'll make not bones of JUGGING me!—If it is convenient. [Exit in a flurry.
HAROLD. How he trembles! He's frightened out of his senses—Fear? What is it? A word not to be found in the articles of war—a soldier's only vocabulary!
SONG—HAROLD.
Fiery Mars, thy votary hear!
Weave for me a wreath of glory!
When I rest upon my bier,
Let my memory live in story!
Aid my sword in time of war!
In my country's cause I wield it—
Only with the breath I draw,
Will I to the foeman yield it!
[Exit.