SCENE vin PART SECOND
NAPOLEON
I lighted on,some letters at Berlin, Wherein King Carlos offered to attack me. A Bourbon, minded thus, so near as Spain, Is dangerous stuff. He must be seen to soon ! . A draft, then, of our treaty being penned, We will peruse it later. If King George Will not, upon the terms there offered him, Conclude a ready peace, he can be forced* Trumpet yourself as France's firm ally, And Austria will be fain to do the same: England, left nude to such joint harassment, Must shiver—fall.
ALEXANDER (with na'ive enthusiasm) It is a great alliance!
NAPOLEON
Would it were one in blood as well as brain— Of family hopes, and sweet domestic bliss !
ALEXANDER Ah—is it to my sister you refer ?
NAPOLEON
The launching of a lineal progeny Has been much pressed upon me, much, of late, For*reasons which I will not dwell on now. Staid counsellors, my brother Joseph, top, Urge that I loose the Empress by divorce, And re-wive promptly for the country's good. Princesses even have been named for me!— However this, to-day, is premature, And 'twixt ourselves alone. . . .
The Queen of Prussia must ere long be here : Berthier escorts her. And the King, too, comes. She's one whom you admire ?
217