# Wallenstein/The Piccolomini/A1S07

SCENE VII.
Wallenstein, Duchess.
WALLENSTEIN.
To the Queen of Hungary?
DUCHESS.
And by both Majesties were we admitted To kiss the hand.
WALLENSTEIN.
That I had sent for wife and daughter hither To the camp, in winter time?
DUCHESS.
Which you commission'd me to do. I told them, You had determin'd on our daughter's marriage, And wish'd, ere yet you went into the field, To show th' elected husband his betroth'd.
WALLENSTEIN.
DUCHESS.
Upon no foreign nor yet Lutheran noble.
WALLENSTEIN.
DUCHESS.
WALLENSTEIN (after a pause).
And in all else, of what kind and complexion Was your reception at the court? (The Duchess casts her eyes on the ground, and remains silent.) Hide nothing from me. How were you receiv'd?
DUCHESS.
A cankerworm, my lord, a cankerworm Has stolen into the bud.
WALLENSTEIN.
What, they were lax? they fail'd of th' old respect?
DUCHESS.
No outward courtesy; but in the place Of condescending, confidential kindness, Familiar and endearing, there were given me Only these honors and that solemn courtesy. Ah! and the tenderness which was put on, It was the guise of pity, not of favor. No! Albrecht's wife, Duke Albrecht's princely wife, Count Harrach's noble daughter, should not so— Not wholly so should she have been receiv'd.
WALLENSTEIN.
They rail'd at it, no doubt.
DUCHESS.
I have been long accustom'd to defend you, To heal and pacify distemper'd spirits. No; no one rail'd at you. They wrapp'd them up, O Heaven! in such oppressive, solemn silence!— Here is no every-day misunderstanding, No transient pique, no cloud that passes over; Something most luckless, most unhealable, Has taken place. The Queen of Hungary Us'd formerly to call me her dear aunt, And ever at departure to embrace me—
WALLENSTEIN.
DUCHESS (wiping away her tears after a pause.)
But then first when I had already taken My formal leave, and when the door already Had clos'd upon me, then did she come out In haste, as she had suddenly bethought herself, And press'd me to her bosom, more with anguish Than tenderness.
WALLENSTEIN (seizes her hand soothingly.)
And what of Eggenberg and Lichtenstein, And of our other friends there?
DUCHESS (shaking her head.)
WALLENSTEIN.
To plead so warmly for me?—
DUCHESS.
WALLENSTEIN.
Must we roll on, our own fire, our own light.
DUCHESS.
Which mov'd about the Court in buz and whisper, But in the country let itself be heard Aloud—in that which Father Lamormain In sundry hints and———
WALLENSTEIN (eagerly.)
DUCHESS.
O'erstepped the powers intrusted to you, charg'd With traitorous contempt of th' Emperor And his supreme behests. The proud Bavarian, He and the Spaniards stand up your accusers.— That there's a storm collecting over you Of far more fearful menace than the former one Which whirl'd you headlong down at Regensburg. And people talk, said he, of——— Ah!— (stifling extreme emotion.)
WALLENSTEIN.
DUCHESS.
WALLENSTEIN.
DUCHESS.
WALLENSTEIN.
DUCHESS.
voice and hesitates.)
WALLENSTEIN.
DUCHESS.
———Dismission.
WALLENSTEIN.
(Strides across the chamber in vehement agitation.) O! they force, they thrust me With violence, against my own will, onward!
DUCHESS. (presses near him in entreaty.)
By giving way and by submission, this Can be averted—my dear Lord, give way! Win down your proud heart to it! Tell that heart, It is your sovereign lord, your Emperor Before whom you retreat. O let no longer Low tricking malice blacken your good meaning With abhor'd venomous glosses. Stand you up Shielded and helm'd and weapon'd with the truth, And drive before you into uttermost shame These slanderous liars! Few firm friends have we. You know it!—The swift growth of our good fortune It hath but set us up, a mark for hatred. What are we, if the sovereign's grace and favour Stand not before us!