SCENE vm PART SECOND
ALEXANDER
Good. I would speak of them. That she should
show here
After the late events, betokens much! Abasement in so proud a woman's heart
(His voice grows tremulous.) Is not without a dash of painfulness. And I beseech you, sire, that you hold out Some soothing hope to her ?
NAPOLEON
I have, already!—
Now, sire, to those affairs we entered on: Strong friendship, grown secure, bids me repeat That you have been much duped by your allies.
ALEXANDER shows mortification.
Prussia's a shuffler, England a self-seeker,
Nobility has shone in you alone.
Your error grew of over-generous dreams,
And misbeliefs by dullard ministers.
By treating personally we speed affairs
More in an hour than they in blundering months.
Between us two, henceforth, must stand no third.
There's peril in it, while England's mean ambition
Still works to get us skewered by the ears ;
And in this view your chiefs-of-staff concur.
ALEXANDER The judgment of my officers I share.
NAPOLEON
To recapitulate. Nothing can greaten you Like this alliance. Providence has flung My good friend Sultan Selim from his throne, Leaving me free in dealings with the Porte;
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