HALFORD
Indeed so, sir:
Hard by Albuera—far in harried Spain—
Yes, sir; you have achieved a victory
Of dash unmatched and feats unparalleled!
KING
He says I have won a battle? But I thought
I was a poor afflicted captive here,
In darkness lingering out my lonely days,
Beset with terror of these myrmidons
That suck my blood like vampires! Ay, ay, ay!—
No aims left to me but to quicken death
To quicklier please my son!—And yet he says
That I have won a battle! O God, curse, damn!
When will the speech of the world accord with truth,
And men’s tongues roll sincerely!
GENTLEMAN [aside]
Faith, ’twould seem
As if the madman were the sanest here!
[The KING’S face has flushed, and he becomes violent. The
attendants rush forward to him.]
SPIRIT OF THE PITIES
Something within me aches to pray
To some Great Heart, to take away
This evil day, this evil day!
CHORUS IRONIC
Ha-ha! That’s good. Thou’lt pray to It:—
But where do Its compassions sit?
Yea, where abides the heart of it?
Is it where sky-fires flame and flit,
Or solar craters spew and spit,
Or ultra-stellar night-webs knit?
What is Its shape? Man’s counterfeit?
That turns in some far sphere unlit
The Wheel which drives the Infinite?
SPIRIT OF THE PITIES
Mock on, mock on! Yet I’ll go pray
To some Great Heart, who haply may
Charm mortal miseries away!
[The KING’S paroxysm continues. The attendants hold him.]
HALFORD
This is distressing. One can never tell
How he will take things now. I thought Albuera
A subject that would surely solace him.
These paroxysms—have they been bad this week? [To Attendants.]
FIRST ATTENDANT
Sir Henry, no. He has quite often named
The late Princess, as gently as a child
A little bird found starved.
WILLIS [aside to apothecary]
I must increase the opium to-night, and lower him by a double set of
leeches since he won’t stand the lancet quietly.
APOTHECARY
You should take twenty ounces, doctor, if a drop—indeed, go on
blooding till he’s unconscious. He is too robust by half. And the
watering-pot would do good again—not less than six feet above his
head. See how heated he is.