THE DYNASTS ACT
PITT Amen, amen!
KING
I read it as a thing
Of signal augury, and one which bodes Heaven's confidence in me and in my line, That I should rule as King in such an age! . . „ Well, well—So this new march of Bonaparte's Was unexpected, forced perchance on him ?
PITT
It may be so, your Majesty; it may. . . .
Last noon the Austrian .ambassador,
Whom I consulted ere I posted down,
Assured me that his latest papers word
How General Mack and eighty thousand men
Have made good speed across Bavaria
To wait the French and give them check at Ulm,
That fortress-frontier-town, entrenched and walled,
A place long chosen as a vantage-point
Whereon to encounter them as they outwind
From the blind shades and baffling green defiles
Of the Black Forest, worn with wayfaring.
Here Mack will intercept his agile foe
Hasting to meet the Russians in Bohemia,
And cripple him, if not annihilate.
Thus now, sir, opens out this Great Alliance Of Russia, Austria, England, whereto I Have lent my earnest efforts through long months. And the realm gives her money, ships, and men.— It claps a muffler round this Cock's steel spurs, And leaves me sanguine on his overthrow. But then,—this coalition of resources Demands a strong and active Cabinet To aid your Majesty's directive hand; And thus I urge again the said additions—
86