THE DYNASTS ACT v
SPIRIT OF THE YEARS
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It Jits thee not to augur, quick-eared Shade. Ephemeral at the best all honours be, These even more ephemeral than their kind, So random-fashioned, swift, perturbable !
SPIRIT OF THE PITIES Napoleon looks content—nay, shines with joy.
SPIRIT OF THE YEARS Yet see it pass, as by a conjurors wand.
Thereupon Napoleon's face blackens as if the shadow of a winter night had fallen upon it. Resentful and threatening, he stops the procession and looks up and down the benches.
SPIRIT SINISTER
This is sound artistry of the Immanent Will: it relieves the monotony of so much good-humour.
NAPOLEON (to the Chapel-master) Where are the Cardinals ? And why not here ?
(He speaks so loud that he is heard throughout the Gallery.)
ABB£ DE PRADT (trembling)
Many are present here, your Majesty;
But some are feebled by infirmities
Too common to their age, and cannot come.
NAPOLEON
Tell me no nonsense! Half absent themselves Because they will not come. The factious fools! Well, be it so. But they shall flinch for it!
—•MARIE LOUISE looks frightened. The procession moves bn.
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