The Dynasts : Parts First And Second

THE DYNASTS ACT
FOURTH LADY
She goes to join the King at Custrin, there To abide events—as we. Her heroism So schools her sense of her calamities As out of grief to carve new queenliness, And turn a mobile mien to statuesque, Save for a sliding tear.
The ladies leave the window severally.
SPIRIT IRONIC
So the Will plays at flux and reflux still. This monarchy, one-half whose pedestal Is built of Polish bones, has bones home-made ! Let the fair woman bear it. Poland did.
SPIRIT OF THE YEARS
Meanwhile the mighty Emperor nears apace, And soon will glitter at the city gates With palpitating drums, and breathing brass, And rampant proudly jingling retinue.
An evening mist cloaks the scene.
SCENE VI
THE SAME
It is a brilliant morning, with a fresh breeze, and not a cloud. The open Plate and the adjoining streets are filled with dense crowds of citizens, in whose upturned faces curiosity has mastered consternation and grief.
Martial music is heard, at first faint, then louder, followed by a trampling of innumerable horses and a clanking of arms and accoutrements. Through a street on the right hand of the view from the windows come troops of French dragoons heralding the arrival of BONAPARTE.
204