PART FIRST
SPIRIT SINISTER
/ saw good sport therein^ andp&an'd the Will For leaving lax so stultifying a move / Which would have marred the European broil, And scathed all swords, and silenced every gun That furrows human flesh*
SPIRIT OF THE PITIES
O say no more ;
If aught could gratify the Absolute 'Twould verily be thy censure^ not thy praue !
SPIRIT OK THE YEARS
The ruling was that we should witness things And not dispute them. To the drama, then. Emprizes over-Channel are the key To this land's stir and ferment*—Thither we.
Clouds gather over the scene, and slowly open elsewhere.
SCENE I!
J'ARIS, OFFICE OF THE MINISTER OF MARINE ADMIRAL DECR&S seated at a table. A knock without
DECRfcs
Come in! Good news, I hope!
[An attendant enters,
ATTENDANT
A courier, sir.
DECRfeS
Show him in straightway.
[The attendant goes out
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