UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 , attie K Merrill
 
 HESPER: 
 
 AN AMERICAN DRAMA.
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 THE CONFESSIONS OF HERMES, AND OTHER POEMS. 
 By PAUL HERMES. Bound in vellum doth, gilt top, pp. 153. 
 Price, $1.25. 
 
 FOR SALE BY CHARLES W. SEVER, 
 
 53iu&crsttg 33oofesto, 
 
 Cambridge, Mass.
 
 HESPER: 
 
 AN AMERICAN DRAMA. 
 
 PA- 
 
 WILLIAM ROSCOE THAYER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE CONFESSIONS OF HERMES, AND OTHER POEMS.' 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 CHARLES W. SEVER, 
 
 Bookstore. 
 1888.
 
 Copyright, 1888, 
 BY WILLIAM R. THAYER. 
 
 Hntocrsttg 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
 
 PS 
 
 TO PROFESSOR 
 CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, 
 
 DEDICATE THIS SLIGHT TOKEN OF ADMIRATION, 
 GRATITUDE, AND FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 213704
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 '"THHE following Drama is an excursion into a field 
 -* which has been as yet but rarely trodden by 
 American poets, the field, that is, of experience 
 almost contemporary. The Master of American fic- 
 tion has told us how much more easily he moved 
 among scenes long past, and the romantic haunts 
 of Italy, than among the glaring, obtrusive realities 
 of his own age and country. Time and distance 
 doubtless shed a pleasing glamour around persons 
 and events ; familiarity too often breeds contempt : 
 yet, certainly, the poet should discern and strive to 
 express whatsoever is beautiful or heroic or tragic in 
 the present. The moral qualities of our human 
 nature, its emotions and passions, be they good or 
 evil, vary little in substance from epoch to epoch, 
 although the acts by which they are made manifest 
 may differ as widely as fashions in garments differ. 
 Incidents are inferior in importance to character. 
 To find ourselves at conflict with our surroundings ;
 
 Viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to cherish and pursue our ideals, despite outward 
 obstacles and defeat, there lie the real tragedy, the 
 true heroism, of life. And few periods, it seems to 
 me, have been richer than our own in these contrasts : 
 for we live in an era when traditional creeds have 
 ceased to satisfy many serious minds (and that surely 
 implies a spiritual drama most awful and most in- 
 tense) ; when armies of brave men have died on the 
 field of battle, and as many more have led noble, 
 disinterested lives, in behalf of an idea; and when 
 we have come to apprehend dimly, it is true 
 that we are members, not of a detached community 
 or an isolated nation, but of humanity itself, and 
 that this kinship lays upon us the responsibility of 
 farther-reaching duties, and admonishes us to nobler 
 endeavors. Should any reader of this Drama dis- 
 cover in it a faithful portrayal of the action of some 
 of these mighty influences upon characters drawn 
 from contemporary life, my purpose in publishing 
 "Hesper" will be attained. But though I fail in 
 this, I shall hold unshaken the belief that other 
 men, richer in imagination and more skilful in ex- 
 pression, will turn to our nineteenth -century condi- 
 tions for the elements of great and abiding poetry. 
 
 W. R. T. 
 CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 
 
 October 29, 1888.
 
 Out of my hands went slipping, slipping, 
 Threads of mystery, skein on skein, 
 Threads entangled and diverse-tinted, 
 Gorgeous with joy or gloomy with pain; 
 Some seemed clews of a hope immortal, 
 Some seemed fibres of hearts that grieve : 
 " Human Passion hath spun these for thee," 
 Whispered a spirit; " wind them,
 
 CHARACTERS OF THE DRAMA. 
 
 RALPH HESPER A Northerner. 
 
 BLACKMAR His Uncle. 
 
 DARNEL Btackmar's Friend. 
 
 EDWARD ROMAINE Brother of Constance. 
 
 BLAKE A Lieutenant. 
 
 CONSTANCE ROMAINE . . . . A Virginian. 
 MRS. HESPER Ralph's Mother. 
 
 Officers, a Surgeon, etc. 
 
 THE DRAMA OPENS ABOUT 1860, AND CLOSES DURING THE 
 WAR OK THE REBELLION.
 
 H E S P E R. 
 
 SCENE I. 
 
 HESPER (alone). 
 
 Ye mighty Dead, my masters and my friends, 
 Who urge my soul with purposes sublime, 
 And show me patterns ample for the gods, 
 Shall I blame you that in this actual world 
 I find not gods, but pygmies ? Was I duped, 
 Believing your magnificent report, 
 To look for great companions like yourselves? 
 If you lived now to breathe this barren air, 
 Made murky by the sordid smoke of trade, 
 And staled by prayers of slowly withering creeds, 
 AVould your hearts beat as bravely ? Would your hopes 
 Remember still to soar ? Would you still match 
 With equal deeds your fearless aspirations ? 
 
 Alas ! to wake upon a wearied world, 
 Where mortals plod the present listlessly, 
 And turn regretful glances towards the past ! 
 Alas ! insatiate yesterdays that stript 
 The fairest fruits and blossoms from the earth, 
 And left to-day a beggar ! Egotists
 
 U HESPER. [ACT I. 
 
 Who throw your shadows 'twixt the suu and us, 
 
 And sing your paeans to a heartful joy 
 
 We crave but cannot feel, why, why torment 
 
 By praises of the rapture Beauty lit 
 
 In you, when Earth was young? Young? Can it be 
 
 Mankind's career is but a larger print 
 
 Of every several man? From infancy 
 
 To witless age, does Fate condemn our race 
 
 To unavailing and perpetual change ? 
 
 Then Rome and Athens and Jerusalem 
 
 Were but as moods and registers of life, 
 
 Which played at conquests, arts, religions, States, 
 
 As school-boys at their games. These now are toys 
 
 That more amuse us not ; and what we call, 
 
 In our delusion, progress, is but growth 
 
 From green to ripe, from ripe to sad decay. 
 
 In vain we walk the chilly Autumn through 
 To seek the budding promises of Spring, 
 Or Summer's lush fulfilment ; landscape, air, 
 Th' infrequent birds, and something in our hearts, 
 Foretell that Winter 's nearing with its shroud. 
 We are the children of Time's waning year, 
 And, thus begotten of a hoary race, 
 Are old in youth, while e'en the old, who lived 
 When Man exulted in his glorious spring, 
 Were younger than our young. But may not we 
 Content us with our season, like the flowers 
 That turn their faces latest to the sun, 
 Or like those brutish men whom satisfy 
 The scant and icy stipend of the North ? 
 
 Ah, no ! 
 October's gentian never dreamed of May,
 
 SCENE I.J HESPER. 15 
 
 Nor Esquimaux of Italy's delight, 
 Whilst us the vision of Lost Youth pursues, 
 The consciousness of Beauty unbeheld, 
 The pang of irrecoverable Joy ! 
 
 My masters ! I believe that you saw these 
 As large-eyed stars which spangle summer nights, 
 But which, receding through unfathomed dark, 
 Have sped beyond our ken. Ye deemed them fixed, 
 Eternal poles by which all men might steer ; 
 But we have searched the heavens where you bid, 
 And see no glimmer of your lustrous guides, 
 Darkness has palled them. Peradventure, now 
 They shine upon you in some world remote, 
 And ages hence, when they have lighted all 
 The denizens of all the orbs of heaven, 
 They will return on their celestial round, 
 And re-illumine Earth. Youth, then, and Hope, 
 Awaking, shall forget the hideous dreams 
 That frightened intervening sleep, and Earth 
 Shall be again the pleasant theatre 
 Whereon each mortal plays a manly part, 
 Cheered by the presence of approving gods, 
 And not this dungeon where poor slaves await 
 Their call to combat with Fate's monstrous beasts. 
 
 But must we, meanwhile, grope in darkness here? 
 Must we for comfort if a soul-suspense 
 Can feel the steadying touch of comfort take 
 Those chronicles of light revealed to you, 
 And nurse the doubtful hope more wish than hope 
 That those benignant stars, your joyous guides, 
 May shine on us hereafter? Even now 
 One voice I heard above the time's turmoil,
 
 16 HESPER. [ACT I. 
 
 That spake your language, clear and unclefiled. 
 Him, like a pilgrim from the sands of Doubt, 
 I sought among his sturdy, tranquil pines. 
 His presence was a live benevolence, 
 His smile philosophy, his manners peace ; 
 And who beheld his eyes, serene and deep, 
 Must wonder if their radiance was shed 
 From inner fountains of exhaustless light, 
 Or if, whate'er he saw, he saw divine. 
 To him I was a child that weeping brings 
 Its troubles to its mother. Silently 
 He heard my woes ; but when I thought to hear 
 The one great word that should have set me free, 
 He answered : " Not from others is thy help : 
 Rely upon thyself ; be good, and trust." 
 Saddened I went, like one who homeward fared 
 From Delphi, with his former pack of doubts 
 Made heavier by th' ambiguous oracle. 
 
 My heart, my heart, how oft I question thee ! 
 How oft thou whisperest this same behest : 
 " Mark with what gorgeous curtains day conceals 
 The nothingness of night, that thou mayst weave 
 As fair a pattern of heroic deeds 
 Upon the black of Death ! " Oh ! may I blow 
 A Roland blast, to flood this grim defile 
 Till echoes pour beyond it, and announce 
 To farthest and ignoble men that here 
 One lowliest of the Paladins has fallen, 
 But fallen unsubdued !
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 17 
 
 SCENE II. A Room. BLACKMAR and MRS. HESPER. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 So Ralph still holds his supercilious mood, 
 
 And grandly dubs the world a dunghill ! Lord, 
 
 It is prepost'rous how these youngsters rant ! 
 
 Yet I 'd not have them lessen by a hair 
 
 Their self-complacency, their proud contempt, 
 
 Their thousand schemes for bending crooked straight, 
 
 And gluing goose-quill wings on all our backs ! 
 
 Dear, silly, generous boys ! We should laugh less 
 
 If you got common-sense and beards together. 
 
 And, after all, there 's no great harm indeed, 
 
 I like the smack of talent if this mood 
 
 Lasts not too long. But Ralph is now a man, 
 
 And should behave like men. Society 
 
 Has claims upon us all ; it offers him 
 
 Advantages he were a fool to spurn. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 I do not grieve because he shuns the world, 
 
 But that he seems unhappy. If his course 
 
 Brought him contentment, I should be content ; 
 
 But since he suffers, it cannot be right, 
 
 And I beseech of your experience 
 
 A remedy. You men are more expert, 
 
 And wiser, see what 's best, though far ahead, 
 
 Whereas our doting mothers' eyes are blurred 
 
 By near solicitude.
 
 18 HESPER. [ACT I. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 True, sister, true : 
 
 Yet 't is not strange that mothers should be fond. 
 \ You judge your children by your hopes ; we men 
 Judge each man by his merits, trade in cash, 
 Not promises to pay, and square accounts. 
 Your Ralph, you know, I 've cherished as a son, 
 And though I sometimes feared his training were 
 A trifle tender, shielded from all knocks 
 That help to mould a man 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 You would not bid 
 A mother step indifferently aside 
 Whilst troubles strike her child? Too soon, alas, 
 The blows must fall she cannot take for him ! 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 No, no, you acted right, as Nature led. 
 
 I might, perhaps, if I had had a son, 
 
 Have tried the sterner method ; tossed him in 
 
 And watched him learn to swim ; encouraged him 
 
 To frolic with his fellows ; see the world, 
 
 And so learn how to use it for himself. 
 
 But Ralph's unspoiled : that proves his tissue sound, 
 
 And argues well for his success hereafter, 
 
 If we can cure him of perversity. 
 
 His father, you recall, had not outgrown 
 
 Vagaries when he died ; but he was shrewd, 
 
 And even when his fancies walked the clouds,
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 19 
 
 He firmly trod the earth. Send Ralph to me ; 
 
 I '11 show him common-sense, and, once convinced, 
 
 We '11 make a man of him. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 He 's manly now ; 
 
 I pray you make him happy. But take care 
 To treat him very gently. He is one 
 To coax, and not upbraid. His pride will rise 
 A tower against attack, but ope the gate 
 To welcome friendly comers. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Trust to me. 
 
 I have, I think, some knowledge of the world 
 Know when to smooth and when to rouse, in fine, 
 The art of arts, the art of ruling men. 
 
 [Exit MRS. HESPER. 
 
 widows' darlings, ever at extremes ! 
 
 Some take the bit in mouth and headlong drive, 
 With cards and wine and women, to the devil ; 
 Some ride their silly hobbies of conceit, 
 And think their wooden toy a Pegasus : 
 Headstrong and useless both. Ah, here he is. 
 
 [Enter RALPH. 
 Well, nephew, what good news about yourself ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 1 daily breathe my thousand quarts of air ; 
 
 I eat, and drink, and sleep, and sometimes think.
 
 20 HESPER. [Acr I. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 I thought you were above us common folk, 
 And had a lordlier habit, for we all 
 Do that. 
 
 Not all, by quail and terrapin ! 
 I have seen some from thinking so averse, 
 They worked their gullets that their brains might rest. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Still cynical ! The tune of callow youth 
 And dissipated age. Come, Ralph, 't is time 
 To take life as you find it. 
 
 So I do. 
 
 I find it heartless, vapid, and corrupt ; 
 Men are all Esaus, and I tell them so. 
 Find me but one who has a high intent, 
 Dares speak the truth whatever ears may hear, 
 Dares act regardless of the plea of self, 
 Through all obstructions sees his purpose clear, 
 And he shall be my friend. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Do you suppose 
 
 That I or any man am satisfied ? 
 That if we might create the world anew 
 We would not shape it closer to our tastes ? 
 Your dreamers prate as if they only saw
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 21 
 
 What 's patent to us all. They scold and sigh, 
 
 And neither have their dreams, nor yet enjoy 
 
 The casual good around them. Where 's their gain ? 
 
 I make the most of life. If there is bad, 
 
 Well, I am not to blame. Do many suffer? 
 
 'T was by no wish of mine, and blameless I 
 
 Accept my dole of pleasure. Confess that I 
 
 Am more philosopher than most who wear 
 
 That name. 
 
 In truth you are ! You dignify 
 A venerable school, at least as old 
 As that profound and most unselfish sage, 
 Semiramis. Eat, drink, be merry ; for 
 To-morrow you shall die. Most wise, most wise ! 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 You sneer 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Nay, uncle, this is admiration. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 But sneers are sterile. Look the other way : 
 Suppose we reckon your advantages, 
 Ere we sum up your fancied wants. First, then, 
 Good family, position well assured 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 What profits that in free America ?
 
 22 HESPER. [Acr I. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Your father came of very well-bred stock, 
 The Blackmars date from 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Adam ! Wonderful ! 
 
 When shall we stop this talk of pedigrees ? 
 Let German princelings sprung from feudal thieves, 
 Or British dukes from Stuarts' mistresses, 
 Brag of their ancestors, and shame themselves 
 Thereby. The long-kept secret 's out at last, 
 A chimpanzee was father of us all. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 I half believe it, for at every turn 
 
 I run on creatures on whose face is stamped, 
 
 Beyond dispute, their apish parentage. 
 
 Still, blood does count, no less in man than horse ; 
 
 Were this not true, all progress at a stand, 
 
 Each generation must begin afresh. 
 
 You have this treasure, though you prize it not. 
 
 Next, wealth is yours 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Too much ! If I were poor 
 I might forget myself, compelled to work, 
 If any trade were honest. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 That's your ail? 
 The cures are many. First, I will prescribe
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 23 
 
 The farmer's diet : Rise at break of day, 
 
 Sweat on till dusk, raise hay and corn and hens, 
 
 Tend crops and cattle, and at night snore loud, 
 
 Or dream your squashes took first premium 
 
 And all your calves were heifers. Brows 
 
 Hardened and tanned by sunshine and by storm 
 
 Are never wrinkled by religious doubts. 
 
 I paint a pretty idyl for you, like 
 
 Your rhymesters' sketch. Hail ! nephew Cory don ! 
 
 I '11 buy your lettuces and early peas, 
 
 And you shall sometimes bring your oaten stop 
 
 And pipe for us, and sing a madrigal. 
 
 HESPER. 
 I will do that when you shall wed Bo-peep. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Well, if this shirt-sleeve drudging likes you not, 
 
 Choose a polite profession. Doctors thrive 
 
 Upon mankind's diseases. There 's the law, 
 
 A necessary evil, sure to last 
 
 As long as folly. Honor clings to both, 
 
 Preferment too, and wealth. Admit that shams 
 
 Flourish in both : still, doctors do much good, 
 
 Relieving pain ; and are not barristers 
 
 True peacemakers ? Or, there 's the ministry 
 
 Pray, can you tell a church that 's orthodox, 
 Unless you see the steeple ? I doubt it.
 
 24 HESPER, [Acr I. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Oh, for myself, I have my private views ; 
 
 I rent a pew, but seldom sit in it ; 
 
 But still 1 recognize the need of preaching. 
 
 The lower classes must be held in check 
 
 By these religious terrors ; Eomish priests 
 
 Are but police in other uniforms. 
 
 Or say they cheer, by hopes of paradise, 
 
 Poor devils struggling with a cheerless lot, 
 
 Would you begrudge them that? I never would. 
 
 And if the rich assert their privilege 
 
 Of seeming pious one day out of seven, 
 
 Why, let them have their million-dollar church, 
 
 Their operatic choir and pulpiteer, 
 
 And eat their Sunday roast, full confident 
 
 That God and they are greater for their pomp. 
 
 Who knows but that a few get good from it? 
 
 If only one, I call it still a gain. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Your tolerance is most commendable ; 
 
 But 'twould have kept all martyrs from their crown. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Or you might teach : what worthier employ 
 Than to decant old knowledge in young minds ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 Our knowledge is our sorrow.
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 25 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 That depends 
 
 Upon its quality. Our schools should teach 
 The practical, which helps in earning bread, 
 Not fill young heads with speculative froth 
 And idle poets' whims. I half suspect 
 That even you, despite your common-sense, 
 Have been beguiled by so capricious stuff. 
 I 've seen a mountebank's apprentice try 
 To dance upon a floor bestrewn with eggs ; 
 And so our versifiers pick their way, 
 Odd and ungainly, just as if they found 
 No inch to tread unheld by others' thoughts ; 
 Or else they boldly poach on old preserves, 
 And cook you such a salmi of conceits, 
 And rondeaux, catches, ballades, villanelles, 
 In their thin sauce, you 're glad to dine off prose. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 You criticise so pat these modern wits 
 One might assume you read them. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Ralph, a man, 
 
 To pass as cultured, skims in many pans, 
 And knows the cream from curds ; it 's a disgrace 
 When those who rank as learned hem and haw, 
 Like dolts, with no opinion to express. 
 But poems, pictures, and philosophies 
 Resemble ornaments that women wear : 
 Mere luxuries if you have time and means
 
 26 HESPER. [ACT I. 
 
 To fritter on them, but superfluous 
 Till then, and even then but transient toys. 
 I 've only met one poet on the street, 
 And he was there to borrow. Do not take 
 Their myths and fairy tales in earnest. Bah ! 
 We have an English sportsman at the club, 
 Who has explored all Greece, climbed Helicon, 
 Olympus, and the rest, a sharp-eyed man, 
 And yet he saw nor god nor demigod, 
 Nor dancing faun, nor covert dryades, 
 Only dull peasants in then- fleece capotes, 
 And very little game. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Indeed ? I 've heard 
 The Muses are a bashful brood, and fly 
 At sight of gun. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Let the old fables lie : 
 
 The dead past had its day ; we now have ours. 
 In this new country we require new views. 
 This is the golden age of progress ! Now 
 Inventions, factories, and industries 
 Bring comforts and prosperity to all. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Shades of dead gods and flint-hewn fetishes, 
 Behold our new idolatry ! 
 We make our lifeless, ponderous machines, 
 Oil their steel joints, blow in a breath of steam, 
 And worship our creation ! Fools ! Bow down
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 27 
 
 In adoration of the human hand 
 
 Of which these are the proxies. Class me still 
 
 Apollo's devotee. Our trains are swift ; 
 
 But does not Shakespeare, does not Washington, 
 
 Doomed to the jolting slowness of a coach, 
 
 Still travel foremost through posterity ? 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Forever Washington ! Your frigid George, 
 If truth be told, was but like other men, 
 Not erring less than we, but more discreet. 
 I 've heard stray whispers of his quiet sport ; 
 And as a captain, he secured the wreath 
 Deserved in part by many. Life is short, 
 Our recollection careless ; therefore we 
 Roughly denote a thousand facts by one, 
 And one man looms as symbol for an age. 
 But, thanks to common-sense, I 'm critical, 
 And, unbefogged by hero- worshippers, 
 Assign to each exact, impartial due. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 There is a virtue rarer far than yours, 
 The virtue that discerns nobility, 
 And reverences greatness. Critics ever 
 Suspect the higher motives of the great 
 And hearken to the lower. Criticism 
 Is thus the measure of the critic's self, 
 Not of his subject. We Americans 
 Deem that we prove our cleverness, and prove 
 Our specious doctrine of equality, 
 By doubting those above us, dragging them
 
 28 HESPER. [ACT I. 
 
 Down to the splash and riot of the mob. 
 Democracy should raise the rabble up 
 Till all shall walk the level of the best. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 I have no fondness for the masses ; still, 
 I make allowance for our country's youth. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Our youth ! the trite and false excuse ! We date 
 From Runny mede, and all the Past is ours 
 To counsel and instruct. Nations ere this 
 Have in the compass of a single age 
 Wrought deeds that shine forever. Not to learn 
 Their novel engines and their tricks of trade 
 We seek them, but to know their wisdom, art, 
 And those best beacons to our own success, 
 The great achievements of superior men. 
 Judoea, Athens, do our thinking still ; 
 And were all Britain rotting in her grave, 
 Shakespeare has cut an epitaph to make 
 Her fame immortal. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Ralph, you 're eloquent, 
 And might turn politician. Grant all this, 
 A living vice may be of more avail 
 Than a dead virtue. For example, see 
 Those modern Argonauts who steer their course 
 For Californian gold, a cut-throat crew, 
 Which, notwithstanding, will hew out a home 
 For decent men in future. But we range
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 29 
 
 Beyond my first intent. Let us suppose 
 
 That, having jilted your inheritance, 
 
 You follow your caprice and go to work. 
 
 Well, after twenty years, or even ten, 
 
 You might, with luck, be comfortably rich ; 
 
 What then ? The present problem brings you to the 
 
 wall, 
 
 And you must then, where you should now, begin. 
 See life, see men and women, know your chance ; 
 A little folly, not indulged too far, 
 I don't forbid, it serves to teach a man 
 To prize reality, it gives him ease. 
 If you will scowl and grumble in your tub, 
 How fatuous your vaunt of knowing life ! 
 Ere you condemn, consent at least to try. 
 Your duty to your mother you forget ; 
 Your conduct grieves her ; but I cannot think 
 Her cares and wishes touch you not. 
 Be reasonable ; none at twenty-five 
 Can map out such a certain course of life 
 As that on wise old custom's chart. Submit. 
 Trust my maturer judgment and good- will 
 To lead to happiness. Enough ; it 's late ; 
 There 's whist to-night, and I must go. Good-by. 
 Ponder my counsel well, and follow it. 
 
 [Exit BLACKMAR. 
 
 O mentor most considerate, most sage, 
 Who pick your syllables to suit my youth, 
 Accept my gratitude ! I must obey, 
 Or wear the dunce's-cap. How simple, too :
 
 30 HESPER. [ACT I. 
 
 You need but know the world, see men and women, 
 
 In order to be happy ! He condones 
 
 A sip of folly ; and he frowns not on 
 
 The wanton escapades and tosspot wastes 
 
 Which in the vulgar pass for common vice, 
 
 But in the rich display uncommon breeding. 
 
 Be drunk with rum, and you 're a boorish sot ; 
 
 Champagne still leaves its drunkards gentlemen ! 
 
 A most discreet distinction. On the day 
 
 When masks shall fall, and every soul appear 
 
 In aspect naked and original, 
 
 How many wives shall shudder at the lusts 
 
 They have espoused, mistaking them for men ! 
 
 How many husbands, undeceived, shall loathe 
 
 The vanities they led away from church, 
 
 In fashion's peacock plumage ! Deacons, priests, 
 
 All shorn of sanctimonious disguise, 
 
 Unreverend, ungodly shall appear. 
 
 Then virtue shall be known, too long despised, 
 
 Because of modest garb and lowly mien ; 
 
 And many a heart now hid in loneliness 
 
 Shall shed as pure and sympathetic light 
 
 As did the Holy Grail. Break soon, oh day 
 
 Of rare surprises and grotesque events ! 
 
 Good uncle, then, when truth has pulled from thee 
 
 Thy metaphysic cloak, I may not know 
 
 Thy remnant self. Ye gracious heavens, forbid ! 
 
 4 Oh contumely and caprice of fate, 
 Why thrust us unconsulted in a sphere 
 Abhorrent to our natures? Why, by ties of kin, 
 Withhold us when in other spheres we seek 
 
 | Our proper mates ? Sarcastic and absurd 
 
 Lx i
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 31 
 
 . 
 The lot that drew for Hesper such an uncle ! 
 
 I owe my mother gratitude and love 
 Nay, owe it not, for love is not a debt ; 
 And were she not my mother, I should love 
 Her womanly benignance : yet, alas ! 
 Affection oft is baffled in its wish 
 Because it blindly would enforce that wish 
 ^ On the beloved ; but wise-eyed Sympathy, 
 / Which doth divine a comrade's highest aim, 
 And makes herself the ladder which he mounts, 
 She is the chosen deputy of Love. 
 Dear mother, whilst you dream that in the world's 
 Insipid, unsubstantial show, content 
 Awaits me if I will, I scan a world 
 Your gentle eyes have never seen : I ache 
 With doubts your faith prevents from harming you. 
 Alas ! that man should wear an aspen heart, 
 To veer and flutter Life and Death between ! 
 Wishing to live, if Life be rid of cares, 
 Wishing to die, if Death reward with rest, 
 Singly content with neither Death nor Life, 
 Yet asking for the sovereign gift of each, 
 As one might beg from haughty day the sun, 
 And from the night the moon, for special light 
 And simultaneous beauty ! Nay, 
 We must explore the outmost avenues 
 And ransack every path of being, ere 
 We sneak through the coward's postern. I have seen 
 A gentle-hearted actor play the rage 
 Of Desdemona's too-suspicious lord, 
 Until in thrice a thousand bosoms quaked 
 A single consternation. Could he feign
 
 32 HESPER. [ACT I. 
 
 A fury so repugnant to his soul, 
 Distil from mildness so innative wrath, 
 And for an evening metamorphose self 
 Into a creature most unlike himself, 
 Yet cannot I, through the brief play of life, 
 Be just myself, and laugh at circumstance ? 
 Let Fate rain uncles and malignant checks, 
 I swear to be the being I prefer.
 
 SCENE I. A Walk. 
 
 Motionless in the desert broods the Sphinx : 
 
 Before her file perpetual caravans 
 
 Across the wavy sands, beyond her ken ; 
 
 She sees, anon, fantastical mirage 
 
 Paint its seductive brilliance on the bare 
 
 And tremulous horizon ; still she broods, 
 
 In changeless isolation, desert-hemmed. 
 
 Are all the forms and persons which compose 
 
 This strange and motley pageantry of life, 
 
 Streaming confused before me, without pause, 
 
 Are these but phantasms and incarnate dreams 
 
 Of outward Nature, which elude my touch ; 
 
 Or are they emanations of my mind, 
 
 Parts of myself, and symbols of my soul? 
 
 Is each man centre of a universe, 
 
 Embodied kismet, or a little reed 
 
 Whereon Fate plays a temporary tune, 
 
 And then throws by unheeded ? Speculation 
 
 Conducts us to the adamantine wall 
 
 We may not penetrate, we cannot scale. 
 
 Hark ! an old fiddle scrapes ! My uncle comes. 
 
 [Enter BLACKMAR and DARNEL.
 
 34 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 BLACKMAK. 
 
 Ah, Ralph, well met ! We just now spoke of you. 
 You know my friend ? 
 
 DAKNEL. 
 
 Yes ; long have Ralph and I 
 Enjoyed acquaintance friendship, I may say. 
 
 HESPER (aside). 
 
 Indeed ! how jauntily some lips pronounce 
 The sacred name of friend ! You spoke of me ? 
 No slander or disparagement ? 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Oh, no ! 
 
 I 'd be the last to hear a friend abused ; 
 And then your uncle sets his praise so high 
 That the incredulous, who know you not, 
 "Would swear he flatters you ; but I '11 go bail 
 No flattery could overtake the truth. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 How rare to be the idol of our friends 1 
 Since I am certain of your sweet esteem, 
 Let 's forego present incense. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Modest Ralph ! 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Darnel was swelling with his favorite theme, 
 His Southern goddess, who has lately come ;
 
 SCENE I.] HESPER. 35 
 
 And he insists we take a peep at her. 
 Most lovers love exclusively ; but he, 
 Trebly assured of his lady's heart, 
 Invites the world to marvel at his prize. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 True love can't harbor kill-joy jealousy. 
 Perchance my sin is pride ; for I delight 
 That each who sees my beauty must adore, 
 And that adoring he will curse his doom 
 There is no second Constance for himself. 
 I know my fortune by his storm of sighs. 
 Let us go now. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 We '11 watch Ealph's fresher eyes 
 Open in wonder. You and I long since 
 First felt the deep, resistless spells of women ; 
 He has but read or dreamed of them, and thinks 
 We overrate their magic. 
 
 Constance, Ralph, 
 
 Will shame your scepticism. Though he were flint, 
 Who looks on her must perish from despair. 
 
 HESPER (aside). 
 
 Should I e'er love, may I be innocent 
 Of the unleashed, bombastic lover's tongue, 
 And keep exalted silence. I am ready 
 To face this charming peril.
 
 36 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 Then, away ! 
 
 But, friends, I beg you will not yet disclose 
 What I have told in strictest confidence 
 Of our engagement, though yourselves may read 
 In Constance's mien the summing of my joy. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE II. A Drawing-room. CONSTANCE ROMAINE, at a 
 piano, sings: 
 
 Whenever gentle thoughts would nest, 
 They fly to my Beloved's breast; 
 Soothed on her heart they sleep and wake, 
 Like swans upon a placid lake. 
 Wlien lovely wishes are astir, 
 For our delight, they visit her; 
 They shine their meaning in her eyes, 
 And in her smiles paint paradise. 
 
 I watch her through the orchard pass, 
 And through the waving upland grass, 
 The very clover loves her foot, 
 And not a bird to her is mute I 
 Now she has gone behind the hill, 
 And yet, methinks, I see her still, 
 Upon her lovely mission bent, 
 To bring the sick encouragement. 
 
 Now she has reached the cottage-door, 
 And now has crossed the threshold o'er :
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 37 
 
 What sudden radiancies illume 
 The dying farmer's darkened room ! 
 What music lulls his drowsy ears 
 As her consoling voice he hears ! 
 He murmurs: " Wife, at last is come 
 The Angel who will lead me home." 
 
 A touching song if it were only true ! 
 I wonder whether poets really burn 
 With the same passion they inspire ; or if, 
 Like those who tell ghost-stories, they enjoy 
 The telling, though they credit not the tale ? 
 Yet, ere they win the power to sway our hearts, 
 They must have entered there, and felt themselves 
 Our secretest emotions. Ah, but how? 
 
 I/Sings. 
 Love made a trusty heart 
 
 Only for thee: 
 Try not to pick its lock 
 Love has the key. 
 
 Love, love, love ! Oldest theme, and still the sweetest, 
 
 Let worldlings slur it how they will. Let those 
 
 Whose hearts are jaded, or too miserly 
 
 To entertain this god, decry his worth ; 
 
 Where he is guest, is all the soul desires, 
 
 More than all treasures of the world besides. 
 
 See what a subtle conjurer he is ! 
 
 Thinking on him, though I have never loved, 
 
 At his mere name, my thoughts take on the tint 
 
 And glow of passion, feel prophetic joy ! 
 
 [Enter a servant. 
 
 213704
 
 38 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 SERVANT. 
 
 Three gentlemen are waiting. 
 
 CONSTANCE (reading from their cards) . 
 Darnel, Blackmar, Hesper, ask them in. 
 
 [Exit servant. 
 
 I 'm piqued to see the feather of the friends 
 Who flock with Darnel, the importunate. 
 [Enter DARNEL, BLACKMAR, and HESPER. After greet- 
 ing and introduction, CONSTANCE continues. 
 You 're welcome, gentlemen. (To BLACKMAR.) I've 
 
 sometimes heard 
 Of you, sir, from our common friend. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Indeed 
 
 You have : and I have talked so oft of you 
 To Ralph and Blackmar, that their whetted thirst 
 Could be restrained no longer, and their eyes 
 Must drink their fill of beauty ; so we came. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 I think we ought to chide, not thank, the friends 
 Who load us with embarrassment of praise. 
 
 HESPER (aside) . 
 By all my dreams, but she is beautiful ! 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Believe me, Darnel utters not a word 
 I will not ratify.
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 39 
 
 CONSTANCE (to HESPER) . 
 
 And are not you 
 Adept in flattery? 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Nay, ask him not. 
 
 He 's one of those deluded youths who play 
 The dismal r61e of Timon, sweeping men 
 And women under his promiscuous ban. 
 The part ill suits him, as we can assert 
 Who know his character from bark to core. 
 
 CONSTANCE (to HESPER) . 
 
 Ah, ha ! I hope no woman's faithlessness 
 Has seemed to prop your scorn. But even then, 
 'T were hardly just to wreak upon our sex 
 Revenge for one delinquent. Be gallant ! 
 
 These gentlemen, as I suspect, do jest : 
 I mind it not, although 't is inhumane 
 That oft the crippled children of their wit 
 Should limp away, unnoticed by a smile 
 For only boys, or rough and cruel men 
 Laugh at deformities. I have no feud 
 With women, nor am I pope to ban them. 
 
 You 'd be no pope if you banned petticoats ! 
 But, notwithstanding, shunning them till now, 
 You 've tacitly confessed your disesteem.
 
 40 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Still, there is hope of pardon and amends, 
 Since ignorance, not malice, was the cause. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 I have mistaken, as it seems to me, 
 
 The object of our visit, which, I thought, 
 
 Was centred in our hostess rather than 
 
 In my poor self. To draw and tease my views, 
 
 By bantering thrusts, is but a sorry sport, 
 
 Unfit to entertain her ; farther, sirs, 
 
 If I had need of a confessor's ear, 
 
 I 'd choose, perhaps, nor you, nor you to shrive me ; 
 
 And 't is allowed the meanest penitent 
 
 To tell his sins in private. Miss Romaine 
 
 Can scarcely wish to coax a stranger's folly 
 
 From his own lips. It 's most presumptuous 
 
 To think that such a hermit-thrush as I 
 
 Should rouse her interest ; but if I do, 
 
 My uncle here, or Darnel, when I 'm gone, 
 
 Can tell more of me than I know myself. 
 
 BLACKMAK. 
 
 Fie, wayward Ralph ! 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 No, cunning, sir, instead ! 
 He 's heard we women can't sit patiently 
 Before a secret leastwise, one forbidden : 
 I contradict the hearsay by my silence. 
 So, Bluebeard, keep your tantalizing key, 
 I will not pry among your skeletons.
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 41 
 
 But come! the topic darkens. (To DARNEL.) Will 
 
 not you, 
 Best-known of all, suggest a merrier? 
 
 HESPER (aside). 
 Another disillusion ? Heart, be brave ! 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 You cannot doubt what favor I prefer, 
 To hear you sing. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Yes, if your friends agree. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 I beg you '11 be so kind. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 And I. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Then hear 
 This little song, "The Violin's Complaint." 
 
 Honest Stradivari made me; 
 With the gift of love he blest me; 
 Once delight ! a master played me. 
 Love awoke when he caressed me. 
 
 Oh the deep, ecstatic burning I 
 Oh the secrets low and tender! 
 Oh the rapture and the yearning, 
 At our love's complete surrender !
 
 42 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 Heartless men, so long to hide me 
 'Mong the costly toys you cherish ! 
 I'm, a soul : again confide me 
 To a lover, ere I perish ! 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Delightful ! 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Charming ! how the melody 
 Explains the words ! Quite realistic ! 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Yes! 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 And were you pleased ? 
 
 Exceedingly, I thank you. 
 Pray take my silence as the fittest proof 
 Of my enjoyment. I would not be the first 
 To toss a trite, unmeaning epithet 
 Into the tranquil pool of ecstasy 
 Music has flooded with her streams divine. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Then you are fond of music ? 
 
 -K, 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 "Fond"? That word 
 V>o dwarfish to express my vast delight. 
 When music plays, there is no tiniest chord
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 43 
 
 In all my frame but trembles to respond : 
 
 She gives a tongue to each emotion, blends 
 
 My soul and body in harmonious speech. 
 
 Methinks the common talk of man with man 
 
 Would be attuned to such a unison, 
 
 If each sincerely spoke his highest thought. 
 
 We pitch our voices down to custom's key, 
 
 And jangling insincerity o'erdins 
 
 The sweet and natural music of our souls. 
 
 Have you, at daybreak, never with amaze 
 
 Beheld the sun that arch-magician touch 
 
 With his translucent wand earth, sea, and sky, 
 
 Till from the raven coverlid of night, 
 
 All things awake to Beauty, till no cloud, 
 
 Or peak, or blossom, leaf or airy mote, 
 
 Or curving cheek of momentary wave, 
 
 Or any living creature, but exults 
 
 In its full meed of color and of light, 
 
 Light, which is friendship ; Color, which is love? 
 
 So Music brims with her pervasive tide 
 
 All labyrinths and crannies of the soul, 
 
 Till all would sing from overflow of joy ! 
 
 CONST AKCE. 
 
 Music you praise so nobly, you must be 
 Yourself a skilled musician. 
 
 Ah, if those 
 
 Who deeply feel could all they feel express, 
 The sacred circle of the master Few 
 Would gird a multitude !
 
 44 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 I know that truth ; 
 
 And having not this boon of utterance, 
 I make me glad revering that of others. 
 'T is the eternal privilege of art, 
 By sharing to increase : he who gets wealth, 
 In land or money, may in those deprive 
 His fellows. Art alone can hoard by giving. 
 Enrich us by a song. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 What shall it be? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 You choose the better way to match your mood. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Good ! Here 's an air I heard in Venice once. 
 
 [Sings. 
 
 4 ' Roam with me in my garden fair I 
 
 Its beauties and wonders thou slialt share, 
 
 If thou 'It roam with me. 
 There 's not a flower that blossoms there, 
 But storeth honey and sweetens the air, 
 TJiere } s not a butterfly, bird, or tree, 
 
 But has joy for thee. 
 
 " Many enchanted paths we 'tt rove, 
 O'er hill and dale, through valley and grove, 
 If thou 'It roam with me.
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 45 
 
 It matters not whither our footsteps wend, 
 From pleasure to pleasure the paths all tend, 
 For in fairyland there is never an end 
 Of felicity. 
 
 " Perchance in a shadowy copse we 'II find 
 The circle of Poets round Homer blind; 
 
 Perchance we 'II surprise, 
 In some deep meadow of asphodel, 
 Beautiful Proserpine; or dwell 
 A whole year through in the blissful spell 
 
 Of Apollo's eyes. 
 
 vi " We will wander down to the sounding shore, 
 >J And tli' horizon's fugitive charm explore, 
 
 In our stanch, swift boat; 
 Or we 'II watch each royal wavelet rise 
 For its crown of sunbeams ere it dies; 
 Or the ship-like clouds in the western skies, 
 As we idly float. 
 
 ' ' Night shall furnish a mossy bed, 
 And down through the foliage overhead 
 
 The stars will peep; 
 And we will whisper, with many a kiss, 
 Of all our passion, of all our bliss, 
 Till we glide together o'er Dreams' abyss, 
 
 On the wings of Sleep. 
 
 " Oh, life is long and our pulses strong, 
 And days are flooded with mirth and song 
 And a joy divine!
 
 46 HESPER. [ACT II, 
 
 Come, Heart' s-delight ! let us haste, let us roam 
 From joy to joy in this boundless home ! 
 For all the beautiful world is mine, 
 And I am thine I " 
 
 So the Stripling sang with the glow of youth, 
 But Sorrow approached in the garb of Truth, 
 
 With the sober years; 
 And Hope she crooned in a plaintive key; 
 And Joy sped, saying, "I'm not for thee, 
 Let Fortitude now thy pilot be, 
 
 Till thou pass these fears." 
 
 " Oh, deceitful days and hurrying world, 
 Must I ever from change to change be hurled ! " 
 
 In despair, Man cried. 
 " Yesterday's charms no more allure, 
 What passion to-day will to-morrow endure ? 
 If nothing can stay, if nothing is sure, 
 
 Oh, will Love abide?" 
 
 BLACKMAB. 
 
 Bravo ! you never sang so well before. 
 
 Yes, capital. A love-sick troubadour 
 Would relish that romance. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 It 's sweet, but sad. 
 
 Why is 't that melancholy music charms 
 Even the gay ; whereas when we behold
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 47 
 
 A grieving friend, we grieve from sympathy, 
 
 Without the sooth of pleasurable pain ? 
 
 I sometimes dread lest the too frequent stroke 
 
 Of dulcet notes should mesmerize my soul 
 
 To sensuous lethargy. I seldom hear 
 
 The quick alarum and sonorous peal 
 
 That match my dream's ambition. I dream deeds ! 
 
 You men I envy most your free career 
 
 Of action in the State. How glorious 
 
 To be an orator, to see the throng, 
 
 A mighty forest, bending to your voice ! 
 
 To see your policy, like vernal sap, 
 
 Quicken each branch, and bourgeon in each twig ! 
 
 To hear the thunders of convinced applause 
 
 Ah, that were music ! And to know your foes 
 
 Must perish or surrender that were fame ! 
 
 I wonder that there breathes a single man 
 
 Unkindled by th' Olympian draught of power ! 
 
 Had women but your chance ! 
 
 BLACKMAK. 
 
 You Southerners 
 
 Are born diplomatists : here in the North 
 Our better folk despise the politicians, 
 Who howl their burning questions, issues, frauds, 
 Devices all to keep themselves in place. 
 The marvel is our people can adopt 
 Their quarrels. Gulls and gullers make the world. 
 These knaves, who stab each other in their rant, 
 For partisan effect, carouse and wink 
 In private, like attorneys out of court.
 
 48 HESPER. [Acr II. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 You speak of knaves ; of statesmen, I. 
 
 BLACKMAK. 
 
 Two names, 
 
 But not two persons : you are more polite, 
 I more exact in naming, that is all. 
 
 DARNEL (to CONSTANCE) . 
 But take them even at your estimate, 
 You scant your sex's power. Grant that men 
 Rule politics pray tell me who rule men ? 
 Why, women ; and their influence compels 
 No less, though it be subtile and remote. 
 I know two eyes which, were I senator, 
 Would govern all my votes. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Your common ruse 
 
 To flatter us to silence ! But we know 
 That in your hearts you scorn our intellects, 
 As if they were emotional machines, 
 Wound up by prejudice or sentiment. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 May chivalry forbid such calumny ! 
 We value you, we worship, we adore ; 
 And if our worship top not your deserts, 
 'T is that our powers fail us, being men 
 Confined in natures earthlier than yours.
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 
 
 HESPER (aside). 
 Most gaudy words ! but will they dazzle her ? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Do you believe this ? 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Can you doubt my faith ? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Then you 're a man who will not hesitate 
 To prove your noble precepts, and you shall. 
 
 HESPER (aside). 
 Oh woman's eyes ! beguiled by painted gems ! 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 You '11 find me always ready for the test : 
 Let it be soon, if you consult my zeal. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 And I '11 be umpire. Darnel shall subscribe 
 
 A plum for Woman's Rights ; then, let me see, 
 
 Then he shall take the stump, and Miss Romaine 
 
 Shall judge how ably he presents her cause. 
 
 May you both see a president in skirts 
 
 And congressmen in crinoline, before you die. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 How obstinately men refuse to yield 
 To women deep convictions ! We must be 
 4 
 
 49
 
 50 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 The playthings you would have us, or you mock. 
 But, for the nonce, be politics tabooed. 
 Through the long summer which before us lies 
 I hope to greet you often, hope to show 
 My reasons are not whims ; and you shall state 
 Your most profound objections. We will chat 
 From theme to theme, in friendship's easy wont ; 
 And when discussion waxes sultry, you (to HESPER) 
 Shall send us showers of refreshing song. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 A siren plan ! 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Enticing as its source ! 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 And for to-day, if 't please you, we propose 
 To sail. My yacht awaits us ; brisk 's the wind. 
 Not boisterous ; all urges your consent. 
 Darnel assured us you 've a sailor's heart. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 I have, indeed. There 's blood within my veins 
 Drops from a viking ancestor, perchance, 
 "Which dances to the music of the sea, 
 And stagnates when ashore. I '11 gladly go 
 In an hour. 
 
 Good!
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 51 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 At three we will return. 
 
 Till then, farewell. The yacht shall leap with joy 
 To bear a viking's daughter. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 True ! Good-by. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 The French is better ; era revoir till three. 
 
 [BLACKMAR, DARNEL, and HESPER take leave. 
 A strange consorting, eagle, buzzard, jay ! 
 
 SCENE III. A Walk. BLACKMAR and DARNEL. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Gad, Darnel, you have trapped a prize ! 
 But you must bag her patiently, else she 
 Will break away. The time to tire and tame 
 These haughty beasties is before you wed : 
 Once tamed, they 're docile always. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Never fear ! 
 I '11 have one master in my house myself. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 How will Camille, who gambolled off the boards, 
 To share your golden favor, like your wife ? 
 Those wenches, like disease, are quicker caught 
 Than rid of.
 
 52 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 Money buys the night-bird's song, 
 Money shall buy her silence. If she scream, 
 The law shall hush her in a padded cage. 
 I '11 see to it, when I lead home my bride, 
 No cast-off jade, with whining brat in arms, 
 Greet us upon the door-step. 
 
 [HESPER appears in the background; seeing them, he is 
 about to retire, but is observed by BLACKMAR. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Ho, Ralph ! Here ! 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 What do you want? 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 An answer to a riddle. 
 
 Then seek a parson or an editor, 
 They only are omniscient. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 No ! but stay ; 
 
 My riddle 's easy : have you lately seen 
 Our fair Virginian? 
 
 HESPER (approaching). 
 
 On Saturday 
 I met her on the beach. Not since, I think.
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 53 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Jove ! what a captivating witch it is ! 
 
 Were I your age, or were I not content 
 
 With the snug freedom of a bachelor, 
 
 I swear I 'd join the chase, make Darnel spurt 
 
 To beat me. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 She is richly worth a run. 
 Lucky for me, I have a winning lead, 
 And dare to smile at backward rivals. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Ealph, 
 
 When you pick out a wife, make this your rule : 
 A woman must possess three requisites, 
 Blood, beauty, wealth. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 And most imports the last. 
 The other two are casual ornaments 
 Of happy wedlock ; but a golden dower 
 Compensates men who blunder in their choice. 
 See what she has in bank before you woo, 
 Then be a leech at wooing slights, rebuffs, 
 Of no avail to brush the zealot off. 
 There never lived a woman but succumbed 
 To unremitted and protesting suit : 
 If not their heart, their pride at last is won. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 By Lucifer ! this is most damnable !
 
 54 HESPER. [Acr II. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Nay, it is prudent. Prudence should control 
 Us always, and in marriage most of all. 
 " Love in a cottage " may have answered once ; 
 But cottages are turned to tenements, 
 And squalor there, and poverty, and crime 
 Leave love no perch to coo on. Ne'ertheless, 
 That she you choose be rich, need not abate 
 Your young romantic ardor. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 I despise 
 
 Your heresy against the creed of love. 
 I '11 not believe that you yourselves believe it. 
 Darnel, confess, my uncle's cynic trick 
 Maligns himself and you. No criminal 
 Would publish thus his baseness. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Ralph, you 're young. 
 In time you '11 understand and imitate 
 Maturer men, who fortify each gap 
 Against the storm of possible mischance. 
 To dally with, one woman 's like the next, 
 And may be caught without a wedding-ring ; 
 But say you 're surfeited, as must occur, 
 Pray what indemnity, what recompense, 
 From penniless wife, for years of misery? 
 
 Then you imply that were not Constance rich 
 You would not wed her ?
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 55 
 
 If you put it thus, 
 
 Although I value all her other charms, 
 I '11 not deny what any man must praise 
 As rare sagacity. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Then I declare 
 You are a mercenary villain ! 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 God! 
 
 You beardless prig ! you damned cur ! You dare 
 Insult me ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Yes. It needs no Hercules 
 To dare expose the craven. You 've confessed 
 You plot against this lady for her wealth, 
 To pilfer that you steal into her heart, 
 Just as a burglar steals into a house 
 To rob its silver ; honest men agree 
 A burglar is a villain and a sneak. 
 
 DAENEL. 
 
 By heaven and hell ! you shall retract your lies ! 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Come, come, no blows. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 There is no danger, sir. 
 These sneaking bipeds have not so much pluck
 
 56 HESPER. [Acr II. 
 
 As e'en a trampled viper. As for threats, 
 
 Who was e'er harmed by cowards' blank discharge ? 
 
 Stuff up your tender ears with cotton, sir, 
 
 If the noise disturbs you. 
 
 By my honor, hound, 
 You shall give satisfaction ! You shall fight ! 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 The duel is an antiquated crime, 
 
 Fit for a strutting Frenchman, or a bully. 
 
 Suppose you made my body as a sieve, 
 
 And through a score of vents my soul flew out, 
 
 Although I died, you still would live, still be 
 
 A villain. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 But for your uncle, now, 
 
 Upon this spot you 'd pay me. Well you chose 
 A coward's lurch of time. But never fear, 
 I swear my vengeance you shall not escape. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Hold, Ralph ! This goes too far. I '11 not permit 
 An angry nephew to abuse my friend. 
 Quick, I command you, an apology. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 When you shall prove that you have wronged yourself 
 In calling him your friend, I '11 recognize 
 Your right to order me.
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 57 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Insult me too ? 
 
 The fellow 's crazed, and will befoul us all 
 With his promiscuous frenzy. I '11 not stay 
 To be a madman's target. When he 's sane 
 He shall repent, and humbly beg our pardon. 
 Insult me ! Monstrous ! Darnel, leave him ! Come ! 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Thank Blackmar that I leave you in your skin. 
 
 Had I as many as the aloe's tongues, 
 
 They all should hiss a curse. You '11 smart for this. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Ungrateful wretch ! 
 
 [Exeunt BLACKMAR and DARNEL. 
 
 Go, weasel-brood ! 
 
 Scatter, scatter ! I have you on the run. 
 I scented your foul purpose from afar, 
 But what avails me this discovery ? 
 For knew I not already rogues may wear 
 Starched linen and a gentleman's repute ? 
 Oh, the sad, shameful, hypocritic world ! 
 I see a rascal snatch a stranger's purse, 
 I apprehend him, and prevent the theft : 
 But when I see a social villain trick 
 A woman for her fortune, I must lay 
 My finger on my lip, in tacit, base 
 Inaction. " Let those whom the fraud concerns, 
 Defend themselves against it," says the world.
 
 58 HESPER. [ACT IL 
 
 Why should I meddle ? What is she to me ? 
 Not yet a friend who might be warned by friend ; 
 Only a late acquaintance, who excites 
 A tantalizing pleasure, bitter-sweet, 
 Attractive and repellent. When I think 
 How like a dove she emblems gentleness, 
 Lo ! on a sudden comes the magic change 
 Into a tigress, haughty, fearless, strong, 
 A tawny, agile terror to her foes, 
 But to her friends a puissant sentinel ; 
 And whether she seem tigress or show dove, 
 In both she 's beautiful. Does she love him ? 
 How tell when woman loves? Yet plain it is, 
 As compliments and hints corroborate, 
 He has her special favor. It must be 
 That if she loves, she loves his glamouring mask, 
 Or an unreal, imaginary Darnel 
 Her fancy cheats her with. Oh the blind eyes 
 And wilful trust of women ! Riddles all ! 
 Gods will not save a victim that prefers 
 Destruction ! I must stand aloof and watch, 
 Until the opportune, appointed hour 
 Compels me to the rescue. Thus we wait, 
 Like helpless eaglets, for the fledge of fate. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 SCENE IV. A Cliff" overlooking the Sea. HESPER in reverie. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 artial Nature bids her seasons forth 
 Regardless of our wishes. Autumn wake's :
 
 SCENE IV.] HESPER. 59 
 
 His filmy-frosty breathing pales the view 
 
 At either twilight, though there 's summer still 
 
 I' the feel of noon. What flocks of orioles 
 
 Or strayed Brazilian birds have lately spread 
 
 Their gorgeous plumes upon our foliage ! 
 
 What vintagers have pressed their purplest grapes 
 
 Into the ocean, till it seem a bowl 
 
 Of old Falernian ! These shifting scenes 
 
 This pageant-progress of the nimble months 
 
 Divert me and surprise ; but more attracts 
 
 The tragic-comic intercourse of men 
 
 In life's great passion-play. Perchance, perchance, 
 
 Out of the throng, in tones familiar, 
 
 That voice will hail me which my spirit craves. 
 
 The landscape and the ocean e'en the stars 
 
 Which in my youth I fancied would reveal 
 
 Their secret to me if I patiently 
 
 Would listen, all are dumb. To human ears 
 
 A human voice must speak. But if I hark 
 
 Unanswered, if this world-old spectacle 
 
 Of strife unending, niggardly success, 
 
 Elusive happiness, and sure demise, 
 
 Should weary or appall me, Nature, still 
 
 In thee shall I behold, with larger awe, 
 
 A Power perpetual, an Order fixed, 
 
 Which ever after winter brings the spring, 
 
 Unmoved 'mid change, and of all ages keeps 
 
 One age alone imperishable Youth. 
 
 Lizards that bask their little hour away 
 
 On Thebes' stupendous mole, then gleaming dart 
 
 Into oblivion, are not more dull 
 
 Than we who fret our brief permitted time
 
 60 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 Among these portents of infinitude. 
 Brief, if the drama close abruptly here ! 
 What if it run hereafter ? Who would raise 
 So glorious and permanent a stage 
 For players merely mortal ? These are flights 
 Hope only dares to venture ; Reason walks. 
 Yet when o'erfreighted by the sense of crime 
 Or suffering immense ; or when perplexed 
 By the imbrangled wrongs and slurs of Fate ; 
 Or sick at heart from hopeless solitude, 
 Which is forever haunted by the form 
 Of one we love who never can be ours, 
 Then, sadly grateful, we reflect that Death, 
 The good physician, with his poppy draught, 
 Has heard our cry, is on his way to heal. 
 Courage a little ! we shall slumber soon. 
 
 CONSTANCE (appearing on a ledge above HESPER) . 
 You, too, have found this nook of reverie ! 
 Perhaps you scold intruders, for of late 
 A month at least you 've almost shunned my house ; 
 And when by chance we 've met, you 've curtly bowed, 
 Dropped a " good-morning," and passed quickly on. 
 Shall I not say 't is most unchivalrous ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 I 'm one reputed most unsocial, and 
 Deserve my reputation. Lately, too, 
 A mood uncommon and tumultuous 
 Has urged me to the ocean, where I find,
 
 SCENE IV.] HESPER. 61 
 
 If not tranquillity, a vast unrest, 
 Variety, and fathomless desire, 
 Consorting with my own. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 You were more wise, 
 Confiding in a friend, to ease your grief. 
 
 HESPEE. 
 
 Had I a comrade who could reassure, 
 I 'd need no reassurance ; having none, 
 'T is better to be silent than complain 
 In ears unsympathetic. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 I divine 
 
 You hide a deeper reason. You believe 
 We 're all unworthy of your confidence : 
 But have you tried us all ? And what great truth, 
 Which shrinks, like guilty words, from tip of tongue, 
 Have you to tell ? Sometimes the stately-silent, 
 Who seem like oysters mewing priceless pearls, 
 Are taciturn from very lack of thought. 
 
 Most pleasant scoffer ! 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Sir, I do not scoff. 
 Oh no ! we women are inquisitive 
 But you can't know, because you know not women.
 
 62 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 You wrong me, if you charge my ignorance 
 To sullenness. I 've studied in your school, 
 Have conned your virtues and conflicting flaws, 
 Your graces, contradictions, maddening ways 
 Bewitching paradoxes ! till my brain, 
 Astonished, could no more. When I, amazed, 
 Have marvelled that such attributes as make 
 The spotless seraphim the joy of heaven, 
 With earth could be compounded, some defect, 
 Most earthly, has redoubled my amazement. 
 I have seen favors which a Percival, 
 The paragon of knights, had not deserved, 
 Bestowed with spendthrift largess on a boor. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 And therefore you condemn us all, retreat 
 
 Into your selfish and superior shell, 
 
 To pity or despise us ! Have you thought, 
 
 We women are but half the world, you men 
 
 The other half? Be just : divide the blame ; 
 
 Nay, more, bear some of ours, because our state 
 
 Is chiefly fixed by you. You have assigned 
 
 The sphere we must accept. With larger scope, 
 
 In the free air, what might we not aspire ! 
 
 If men flew skyward, we would wing with them. 
 
 You like to hear us sing, to see us perch 
 
 Upon your finger. You would have us pure, 
 
 That, when you 've splashed and swum to weariness 
 
 In Folly's pool, we may wash off the stains. 
 
 Do we refuse ? Do we recriminate ?
 
 SCENE IV.] HESPER. 
 
 Suppose we beggar artifice to please 
 Do you not strive to rule ? And you ignore 
 That courtesy is woman's second nature. 
 Shall I insult all those who please me not ? 
 The blemish clings to me. Take any case, 
 And strip it to the pith : say I resent, 
 As pique might urge, your testy prejudice, 
 Whom should I punish ? Say I shut my door 
 On Darnel and all insincerity 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Do you not love him, then? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Love Darnel ? Him ? 
 Oh the keen vision of the wary blind ! 
 I answer your suspicion with a laugh. 
 
 HESPER (aside). 
 
 Dawn hope, and pack away despair ! And yet 
 A weightier rumor is abroad, it 's said 
 You '11 shortly marry him. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 I did believe 
 
 You lived above the scandalous reports 
 And tattle of the world. Life is too short 
 To waste in contradicting random lies ; 
 But those who know us, surely they should trust, 
 Or what besteads us friendship ? Must we run 
 To every friend, at any hour, and say,
 
 64 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 " 'T is gossiped I 'm a thief : believe it not " ? 
 If those who know me deem that I could wed 
 A man whose eyes are always on my purse, 
 I pity their credulity. Farewell ! 
 Learn women better, if you would be just. 
 The incoherent murmurs of this sea 
 Monotonous and husky, but sincere 
 Kebuke your cheap suspicion. List to them. 
 
 [Exit CONSTANCE. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Dupe, dupe, and dormouse ! Hoodwinked by my fear, 
 
 I read all signs to justify my fear : 
 
 Saw dignity in the false shape of pride, 
 
 Took graciousness for love, blurred everything. 
 
 Dolt ! get thee to a school : the censure lies 
 
 In staying foolish, when we may be wise. 
 
 SCENE V. A Garden. Behind , the Cottage occupied by 
 CONSTANCE. Moonlight. HESPER and CONSTANCE. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Say but once more, and seal it with a kiss, 
 / love thee ! 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Hesper, I love thee 
 
 Oh bliss !
 
 SCENE V.] HESPER. 65 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 I am forever thine, and thou art mine, 
 The joy, the marvel of it ! 
 
 Let me look 
 
 Into those clear true eyes again, which saw 
 Some merit in me, through the worthless mask 
 That hid me from myself. So in the moonlight. 
 Oh, let me touch those lips, whose soft / love tliee 
 Redeems my soul ! Oh happiness beyond 
 The utmost peep of fancy ! Now the world 
 Grows full, and sweet, and strong, a mighty heart 1 
 I feel the pulses of all virtue, passion, 
 And all divine desires throb in my frame. 
 There is no mystery, there is no doubt ; 
 Hope, joy, love, God I clasp thee in my arms ! 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 How wonderful, my Hesper, is the peace 
 Of perfect passion. I believe the stars, 
 And yonder moon, and these benignant trees, 
 And the faint lullaby of ocean, know 
 Our gladness, and rejoice. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 And I believe 
 
 There are some spirits so serene and pure, 
 That on this actual earth they live in heaven. 
 How thin a web, by my perverseness spun 
 Across the entrance of thine Eden, Love, 
 5
 
 66 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 Curtained my path to thee ! How long I groped ! 
 "Woe unto me if I had groped in vain ! 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Hush ! that one if glides like a serpent here, 
 
 Presaging harm ; for doubt, or of the past 
 
 Or of the future, harms and darkens love. 
 
 But, Hesper, in the union of two souls 
 
 There is no chance. Chance rules, perhaps, events ; ^ 
 
 But love [s the very breath and essence of 
 
 The soul, beyond the scythe of circumstance. 
 
 Chance may divide two natures with one love, 
 
 For one year or a score, but though apart 
 
 He drove them through a score of lives, when met 
 
 They would commingle with sublime delight 
 
 As we do now. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 My Wisdom and my Joy, 
 
 Speak on ! Methinks I 've listened to thy voice 
 In immemorial lives. Which is the star 
 Wherein I heard thee first? What date, what term, 
 What brief eclipse has touched, or can, our passion ? 
 Not first to-night, my better self, my soul, 
 I know thee. 
 
 [A distant church clock strikes. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 What ! do clocks still slave for Time ? 
 'T is late, to loveless watchers.
 
 SCENE V.] HESPER. 67 
 
 Ah, count not ! 
 
 To think of Time, so soon ! I would stay here 
 Forever, with thee nigh, and reckon not 
 The flight of seasons. I would talk of love 
 Till Night, entranced, should whisper to her mate, 
 And Day arose to wonder at our joy, 
 And he, bewildered, summoned Night again ! 
 Time I 'd annul. A little, little while 
 Bless me by lingering. We 've not yet begun 
 Our mutual story, scarce a word 
 Yet uttered ! Stay, until I better know 
 The rapture of thy hand until I taste 
 The honey of thy lips caress thy cheeks, 
 Thy brow and fathom those celestial depths 
 Through which thy soul beholds me ! Grant me this. 
 
 CONSTANCE (starting). 
 Hear'st thou no noise ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 I hear Love speak. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Nay, look, 
 There grates a keel upon the shingle ! 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 What, 
 
 To earth again ? Has Love no privilege ? 
 Whose eyes, save those of angels, may presume 
 To peep when lovers pledge ? A skiff, a man,
 
 68 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 A thief, to judge him by his muffled oar. 
 I '11 challenge this intruder. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Love, beware ! 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Nay, there 's no peril : only, go thou in. 
 I '11 catechise this pagan who has dared 
 Within the hallowed precinct. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Love, good- night. 
 To-morrow thou wilt come to me betimes ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 Ay, ere the earliest sparrow chirps 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Till then, 
 All happiness be thine. Good-night, good-night ! 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Oh, bid not him be happy who must trust 
 His jewel to the hazard of the dark. 
 God bless thee, Constance. Speed the night away ! 
 [After CONSTANCE has entered her cottage, HESPER goes 
 
 towards the shore; then presently returns. 
 The knave, scarce landed, when he heard my steps, 
 Leaped to his boat again, and spurted off 
 Like a scared coot. But though he did not speak, 
 Between the shadow and the silver moon,
 
 SCENE V.] HE S PER. 
 
 I knew him, Darnel. What an abject imp 
 
 To drag us down from Heaven ! Still ? Alone ? 
 
 Constance has gone, and it is dark indeed, 
 
 Except that here in memory she shines 
 
 Auroral. Eyes, upon that image dote ! 
 
 Not Aphrodite, nor chaste Artemis, 
 
 Nor Hebe of the amaranthine blush ; 
 
 Not Cleopatra, whose voluptuous arms, 
 
 Velvet and serpentine, did clip and thrall 
 
 Th' ambitious pinions of imperial pride ; 
 
 Nor yet that later Queen, whose fatal grace 
 
 Herself and all her lovers rued, not these, 
 
 Nor any other f air of large report 
 
 In history or fable (though she won 
 
 Throughout her mortal life the homage due 
 
 To Beauty's self immortal), but must pale 
 
 Before my peerless Love. I look at her, 
 
 Till sense is dazzled by superb excess, 
 
 And would avert its gaze, yet gazes on 
 
 In helpless ecstasy, delicious awe ! 
 
 And then her large and radiant eyes appear 
 
 Ideal fountains, crystalline, wherein 
 
 The inmost lustres of her being shine 
 
 In sequent loveliness ; and when she smiles, 
 
 Behold ! around her lips imparadised, 
 
 Virtues benign and wishes gently strong, 
 
 Sisters to Youth eterne, and Joyousness ; 
 
 And when she speaks, I hear what cadences 
 
 I fancied sweeten angels' high discourse, 
 
 But never dared to hope on earth to hear. 
 
 So are her features grown ethereal 
 
 And so sublimed, that motionless I gaze
 
 70 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 In lowly adoration of her soul. 
 
 Those elder men who guessed the Old "World creeds 
 
 Stablished for God mere man presumed colossal ; 
 
 Now, noble minds revolt from worshipping 
 
 Revengeful Allah, and Jehovah wroth, 
 
 And Jove, the dissolute, tyrannic Jove. 
 
 When Force was monarch, men-like gods sufficed ; 
 
 When Love shall reign, God shall be womanly, 
 
 Pure, merciful, and just, loving and lovable. 
 
 Already dimly we surmise the form 
 
 Of that ineffable Apocalypse ! 
 
 Soft ! Constance's window is ablaze with joy ! 
 
 CONSTANCE (appearing at an upper window) . 
 Nearing the point, I just discern the skiff. 
 Untimely and unkind to break upon our joy. 
 No lover held those oars : some lonely wretch, 
 Lonely as I am, Hesper being gone. 
 Oh Night, but now the very choice of Love, 
 Fragrant and still, and dusk beneath the trees, 
 For passion's whispers, thou art no more fair ; 
 Make way for morning, when my lover comes ! 
 Ah, Hesper, is it thou ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Who else should be 
 
 The guard and sentinel at Constance's door? 
 Here would I dog the sluggish march of Night, 
 And while my eyes patrol the outposts here, 
 I '11 picket Fancy nearer, nearer still
 
 SCENE V.] HESPER. 71 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 But the intruder ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Gone, a moonstruck waif 
 Who fled when I approached. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Then all is well. 
 
 Once more, good-night ! I pray thee, dearest, rest. 
 Stay take this charm to lure the vagrant, Sleep. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 A rose, made sweet and priceless by a kiss ! 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Alas ! that envious Nature should impose 
 
 These intervals on love ! Good-night ! good-night ! 
 
 [Retires from the balcony. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Dance towards the morning, Earth! Sing, sing, my 
 
 heart, 
 To waft thy mistress slumberwards. 
 
 [Sing*. 
 
 Sleep, I covet thy delight, 
 
 Oh, to have thy power to-night! 
 
 Smoothly spread my Lady's bed, 
 
 Downy pillows for her head, 
 
 And let violets perfume 
 
 Tlie holy stillness of her room.
 
 72 HESPER. [ACT II. 
 
 Gently, gently close her eyes, 
 Pearly lids o'er sapphire skies, 
 Gently close, until repose 
 Like soft music through her flows; 
 Mark how sweet her breathing slips 
 But thou may'st not kiss her lips ! 
 
 For a light, the dim moonbeams ! 
 And thy mate, the God of Dreams, 
 Shall array a pageant gay 
 As her Fancy loves by day ! 
 Oh, for fairy's eyes to see 
 If my Lady dreams of me. 
 
 Her light is out ! Oh, would that I might melt 
 My passion in one sweetest note, to steal 
 Through her delighted ears, and on her heart 
 Nestle till morning !
 
 SCENE I. A Public Square. HESPER alone. 
 
 Speed on ! speed on ! ye lagging days and weeks 
 
 Which clog the coming of that happy morn 
 
 When I shall wed. Pert, moody April, go 
 
 And beg thy beauteous sister, May, to haste. 
 
 E'en now I see her busy in her dell, 
 
 Where Youth holds up a glass, and Graces three 
 
 Attire their lovely sister, and bedeck 
 
 Her bridal-dress with blossoms and young leaves, 
 
 While Joy strays in a meadow, teaching larks 
 
 To carol her a welcome. Haste, oh haste ! 
 
 The spring suffuses Nature with new hope, 
 
 Which, unconflned by ocean, earth, and sky, 
 
 O'erflows to human souls. My Love that art, 
 
 My wife that art to be, like gods we '11 quaff 
 
 This rich elixir, till the very gods 
 
 Believe we 're deathless too ! Let anxious times 
 
 Breed doubt in whom they may. Whilst I have thee, 
 
 What fitful omens of calamity, 
 
 What shudder of approaching strife, can fright 
 
 Hope from her citadel, our hearts ? Let those 
 
 Who called the fiends of discord up from hell, 
 
 Allay them and dismiss. We '11 shine aloof,
 
 74 HESPER. [ACT TIL 
 
 Twin stars in Love's empyrean, and grieve 
 
 That brothers use the argument of Cain. 
 
 Hark to the drums, that beat out hate's tattoo ! 
 
 [Martial music. A company of volunteers marches 
 into the square. The soldiers are escorted by their 
 friends. HESPEK withdraws to one side. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 Halt ! My men, we are ready for the front. The 
 train awaits us yonder. If you wish to say a last word 
 to your friends, do so. Let your parting be brief, as 
 befits a soldier ; let it be brave, as befits men engaged 
 in the noblest duty, the defence of their country and 
 their home. 
 
 \_TJie men break ranks. 
 
 A MOTHER. 
 
 Good-by, my son. God guard you, and bring you 
 safely back to me. 
 
 A SOLDIER. 
 
 Good-by, mother. Don't be disheartened. You '11 
 soon hear that we have crushed this rebellion ; and 
 then how proud you will be, that you had a son to 
 help! 
 
 MOTHER. 
 
 Keep the little book I gave you. Bless you ! 
 
 ANOTHER SOLDIER. 
 
 No tears, Nell.
 
 SCENE I.] HESPER. 75 
 
 A YOUNG WOMAN. 
 
 But if you should be wounded, if you should be 
 
 SOLDIER. 
 
 Never fear ! There 's not much danger, after all ; 
 for when the Southerners see we are in earnest, they '11 
 slink away without fighting. Be cheerful, Nell. I '11 
 write you from Washington, and tell you how we live 
 in camp. In a few months, long before frost, we shall 
 return ; and then, sweetheart, we '11 marry. Choose 
 the spot that pleases you best to build our cottage on. 
 A year from now we shall have forgotten this trial, 
 and we will never part again. Good-by, good-by, 
 Nell. 
 
 YOUNG WOMAN. 
 
 Good-by. Remember me. 
 
 A WOMAN (hurrying in excitedly) . 
 My boy ! I want my boy i 
 
 A SOLDIER. 
 
 We 're all men here. If he has n't played truant, 
 look for your boy at school. 
 
 WOMAN. 
 
 He has run away from me. He must not go to the 
 war. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 What is his name?
 
 76 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 WOMAN. 
 
 Henry, sir ; Henry Masters. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 There 's no such name on the roll. 
 
 WOMAN. 
 Yes, there he is, behind those drummers. That 's he. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 Come here, Stone. 
 
 \_A lad reluctantly comes forward. 
 You enlisted as Charles Stone. Is that your name ? 
 
 WOMAN. 
 
 No, sir. He 's my only boy, Henry Masters. His 
 father 's dead, and I cannot spare him. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 Explain this. Why did you give a false name? 
 
 LAD. 
 
 I was afraid, sir, that my mother would find me out, 
 and stop me from enlisting. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 What 's your age ? 
 
 WOMAN. 
 
 He 's not fifteen ; he was fourteen last November.
 
 SCENE I.] HESPER. 77 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 Too young, too young. 
 
 LAD. 
 
 But I 'm as big as most fellows of eighteen. And 
 I 'm strong, and I must go. I must help the country, 
 sir. I can keep with the drummers for a while, and 
 then, when you see how tough I am, you '11 give me a 
 musket. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 It won't do, Masters. You ought to obey your 
 mother. You must stay at home with her. 
 
 LAD. 
 
 Please, please, Captain, don't refuse me. I 'm not 
 afraid. With the drummers, I shall get used to being 
 under fire. Give me a chance. Come, mother, don't 
 forbid me. I will drum courage into the men when 
 they go into battle : you would n't have them miss that. 
 
 WOMAN. 
 Alas ! my precious boy, I cannot give you up. 
 
 OFFICER. 
 
 Enough. You shall not quit your mother. Fall in, 
 men ! March ! 
 
 [Martial music. Wliilst the soldiers march away sing- 
 ing, their friends wave farewells to them, and gradu- 
 ally disperse.
 
 78 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 Tramp ! tramp ! to the beat of the drum, 
 
 And the sound of the merry fife. 
 Our country calls we come, we come ! 
 
 Good-by to lover and wife. 
 
 Tramp ! tramp ! while the Stars and Stripes 
 
 In the breeze of Freedom fly, 
 We pledge our blood to the righteous cause, 
 
 And the Union shall not die. 
 
 HESPER (coming forward as the chorus grows faint) . 
 
 What ! can a boy who 's scarce beyond the age 
 
 Of top and kite, thus urge a patriot's rights, 
 
 Greedy to taste the war's vicissitudes ! 
 
 Has Hesper, too, no country to defend ? 
 
 Most noble boy ! Your manly tears have washed 
 
 My duty clear ! I 've heard thy deep appeal, 
 
 My country, and I come. But Constance ? Oh ! 
 
 [JBtofc 
 
 SCENE II. MRS. HESPER and BLACKMAR. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 It grieves me, brother, that my Ralph and you 
 Are still at odds. I hoped that you would smooth 
 Your difference ere this ; why will you not ? 
 I cannot bear that two so dear to me 
 Should so misprize each other.
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 79 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 You forget 
 
 The provocation, but my self-respect 
 Has a long memory. Was 't not enough 
 Your son should flagrantly insult my friend, 
 But he must also hurl his gibes at me, 
 At me, his uncle ; should insinuate 
 That I, no less than Darnel, am a rogue ? 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 Alas ! I wish that hasty wrong unsaid. 
 
 But be not you too harsh. We must not judge 
 
 Hot words that flash from youth's brief, sudden clouds, 
 
 Like the affront of ripe, deliberate men. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 Pleas and excuses cannot salve the wound. 
 
 'T is evident his later tricks confirm 
 
 Ralph did not strike in haste : he planned the blow. 
 
 Darnel, he saw a rival on the crest 
 
 Of happy fortune ; jealousy contrived, 
 
 And baseness wrought, perdition. Were he not 
 
 Your son, how would you rate a man whose wiles 
 
 Enticed a woman from her earlier choice ? 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 You wrong him, when you hint dishonor. He 
 Won Constance nobly. You are blind indeed 
 If you pretend she e'er showed Darnel favor. 
 Ah, brother, be magnanimous, be just : 
 I cannot suffer rancor to embitter
 
 80 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 Their bridal happiness, or that yourself 
 Should farther nurse a grievance. I '11 not ask 
 That you forgive outright ; but if Ralph takes 
 The step towards reconciliation first, 
 Promise you '11 not draw back. 
 
 BLACKMAR. 
 
 My dignity 
 
 Shall teach my act. But his apology, 
 Solicited by you, will not, be sure, suffice. 
 On his own prompting must he come to me, 
 And as his insult had a double sting, 
 So his contrition must include my friend. 
 
 {Exit. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 My brother 's obdurate ! pride magnifies 
 A trivial offence ; yet must I urge redress. 
 Ralph shall retract, and so the quarrel ends. 
 And yet I would not have him lower bend 
 Than just his fault requires. 
 
 [Enter HESPER. 
 Welcome, my son. 
 I have grave matter to confer with you. 
 
 HESPER. 
 Have you so soon divined my late resolve ? 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 Your uncle
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 81 
 
 Nay, our country, she it is 
 Of whom I speak. I dedicate my life 
 Henceforth to her. I volunteer to-day. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 Impossible, my son, impossible ! 
 
 You must not leave me Constance you forget. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 I have forgotten none. I 've held the scales 
 Whilst love and duty trembled, till the side 
 Where duty pressed, inevitably sank ; 
 Again, again, I 've cross-examined both, 
 Yet ever, urgent as the trump of doom, 
 A voice commands me, Go. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 Reflect : 
 
 To act upon this hasty resolution, 
 Though seeming-high, would not less be a wrong. 
 Your life belongs to us, as well as you ; 
 Let those who have no ties 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 And who is he 
 
 So wretched, vile, inhuman, or supreme, 
 That Nature has not bound him to his race? 
 Who 's he can truly say : / have no Jcin : 
 Myself am my own end? There lives not one 
 Outside the clasp of those mysterious cords 
 By which the currents of our kinship pulse
 
 82 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 Forever round the world. No act, no word, 
 But doth affect us all, for good or ill. 
 The fool alone believes that he can fix 
 The orbit of his folly. Obscurely safe 
 The savage planter deemed his cotton-field ; 
 But every lash upon his helpless slave 
 Has cut a welt upon all freemen's backs. 
 Should I abandon Honor in its need, 
 There is no face in all the patriot band 
 But would behold me with convicting scorn. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 You had not thus determined yesterday. 
 
 An hour, a twinkling, makes a boy a man ; 
 To-day redeems my childish yesterday. 
 
 SIRS. HESPER. 
 
 But, Ralph, it 's still too early to decide 
 Where justice lies. Your uncle plainly states 
 That politicians have fomented strife 
 For partisan effect ; they 've overreached, 
 And soon will quell this too unruly plot. 
 Now, surely, duty does not hale you out 
 To be accomplice in such men's intrigues ? 
 
 By what election does my uncle strut 
 As Honor's spokesman? No, my mother, no ! 
 One fact abides amid the whirl and scum 
 Of quibble or dispute, our country's risk.
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 
 
 It matters not what error brought her there ; 
 All partisans are turned to patriots, 
 In emulous resolve to succor her. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 Yet, yet, delay a little, I implore, 
 
 Until the need shows unmistakable. 
 
 Within a month the tempest may be spent 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 I can't forego the duty of that month. 
 
 If brief the trial, more 's the call for haste, 
 
 Before the chance slips by. When, from the shore, 
 
 I see a drowning man at utmost gasp, 
 
 Shall I procrastinate until I learn 
 
 How he fell in ; or till I 've ascertained 
 
 He cannot save himself, and no one else 
 
 Will dare the noble plunge ? I wait he drowns. 
 
 To hear the earliest call of those in need, 
 
 And be among the foremost to respond, 
 
 That is a golden rule. I thank the fates 
 
 They leave no loop for doubt or cavil here. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 Oh Ealph ! can nothing qualify your zeal ? 
 Can new ambition harden so your heart 
 Against the voice of life-long tenderness ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Mother, can you misread me ? You accuse 
 Of cheap ambition, filial unconcern ? 
 If I spoke bluntly, 't was to root myself,
 
 84 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 Lest Love's persuasive voice seduce my will. 
 In you a motherly affection pleads. 
 Could I resist it, but that in me grow 
 The seeds of duty which you planted here? 
 All I have said your judgment will approve, 
 Once past the shock of newness ; for you taught 
 We should not, when a crisis calls for proof, 
 Abjure the creed professed by us at ease. 
 'T were better you had pined to childless age, 
 Than borne a son to skulk or falter now. 
 Henceforth, at news of danger or success, 
 You will rejoice to think, My son was there. 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 Since you will go, my blessing go with you. 
 
 I urge no more ; but from my anxious heart 
 
 Each hour I '11 pray that God most merciful 
 
 Will clear a path to lead you back to me. 
 
 But Constance does she know ? Does she consent ? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Methinks I see her standing in the sun, 
 Unconscious of the gloom which darkens us. 
 Beautiful Constance, yet a little while 
 Thy nectar of felicity sip on ! 
 I bring thee wormwood I, who would bring joy ! 
 Before my courage flinches, I must tell. 
 Thank heaven that she is brave ! I trust in that. 
 And you, dear mother, you will comfort her, 
 And pacify her dread. I hear her step : 
 Leave us a little while alone.
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 
 
 85 
 
 MRS. HESPER. 
 
 I pray 
 That God protect and fortify you both. 
 
 \Exit. Enter CONSTANCE. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 There is a sorrow on your countenance 
 I never saw before. 
 
 Here in my heart, 
 Beloved Constance, is the cause. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 What grief 
 
 So vast and terrible that it can daunt 
 My love ? Speak out your anguish at its flood. 
 
 Oh that I might ensheathe the blade of Truth 
 In painless words ! Love, we must part to-day. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 We part ? To-day ? We who are soon to wed ? 
 Who has authority to hint this wrong? 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Star of my soul's delight ! if in ourselves 
 The conduct of our happiness were placed, 
 Unchecked, unmoved, we might live happy ever ; 
 But linked we are, by bonds we may not break, 
 To all our fellow-men. This very hour
 
 86 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 One of those thoughts which rise up unawares 
 Out of our deepest soul, and sternly grasp 
 The rudder of our life and put the ship about, 
 Spoke this command : Thou mayst not longer shirk : 
 Thy country needs thee; hasten to her aid. 
 
 CONSTANCE (aside). 
 
 God ! the only voice he must obey ! 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 You know how we let go unheeded by 
 
 Wild rumors of impending war. You know 
 
 That love so joined us, past dividing seams, 
 
 We did not tremble at the cruel knife 
 
 Which cuts our friends asunder. Would to God 
 
 The woe of leaving you summed all the woes 
 
 Which duty can inflict ! That, that were hard ; 
 
 But I should master, bidden by your lips 
 
 To show that valor is the twin of love. 
 
 But now, among the Union's enemies, 
 
 Your folk, your friends, perhaps your brothers, arm. 
 
 You cannot wish me triumph in a cause 
 
 Which must destroy your home, and ruin them ; 
 
 Nor can you bid me stay. Oh serpent Fate, 
 
 To crush, not kill us, with tyrannic coils ! 
 
 [^4 short pause. 
 
 1 've told all, Constance ; are you silent ? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Yes 
 
 In admiration. That you truly loved, 
 These many happy months, I could not doubt ;
 
 SCENE II.] HESPER. 87 
 
 Now I am sure you 're worthy all my love. 
 
 This blessed certitude uplifts my soul 
 
 A little moment to that purest heaven 
 
 Where Love abides eternal, far beyond 
 
 The crosses and the griefs which maim him here. 
 
 Oh Constance, could I can I part from you? 
 I thought, at first, I might evade the call ; 
 That, wedded, we might hide ourselves away, 
 Oblivious, in some sequestered spot, 
 Known but to Love and us. But even there 
 The murmurs of my duty unperformed 
 Would persecute my rest ; the winds themselves 
 Would growl the echoes of the cannonade, 
 To taunt me, basely safe ; and I should see 
 Pitying scorn condemn me in your eyes. 
 For all the world I would not hazard that. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 We know the sentence ; and we must submit. 
 At this bleak time we '11 sow our hopes and wishes 
 Against a happier season. But to part, 
 To feel the infinite load of anxious days, 
 When every hour seems swollen to the stretch 
 Of endless time ; to waver on the brink 
 Of dread's abyss, until we almost crave 
 The jump that hurls us to the worst we fear, 
 And thereby kills suspense !
 
 88 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Constance, my soul ! 
 
 You have my plighted word to serve but you : 
 I cannot go, if you command me stay. 
 You rule my love, my life, my honor, speak ! 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 I bid you, Go ! I need not bid, Be brave ! 
 Your resolution tells me I too owe 
 My service to my kindred in distress. 
 What woman can to cheer and strengthen them, 
 That will 1 do. My heart can't weigh the cause, 
 The God of Justice must determine that. 
 And when the fury and the havoc cease 
 Pray heaven it be soon ! and peace returns 
 To heal the wounds of war and knit more firm 
 The ties which discord shattered, Hesper, then, 
 When duty may no more divide or part, 
 If you still seek a wife to love but you 
 Through this life and all others, come to me. 
 [Military music, as of a passing regiment, heard in the 
 street below. HESPER leads CONSTANCE to the win- 
 dow, and in silence they look out. 
 
 HESPER (as the sound retreats) . 
 How quick they marched ! I start with them to-night.
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 89 
 
 SCENE III. Virginia. The Seat of War. Drawing-room, of 
 a Mansion. HESPER, in colonel's uniform, writing a de- 
 spatch by lamplight. BLAKE, a Lieutenant, stands near him. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 It 's now nine o'clock, Blake. This despatch must 
 be at headquarters by midnight. You will make sure 
 the General himself receives it immediately. Yes, you 
 must hand it to him yourself. Impress upon him the 
 importance of carrying that position. The attack must 
 be made before Thursday, when the Confederates will 
 be re-enforced, and three brigades could n't dislodge 
 them. To-morrow, our regiment alone can capture it. 
 Persuade the General to let us do the work to-morrow. 
 Here 's your packet. Go. You have three hours for 
 fifteen miles. Follow the high-road for about seven, 
 till it bends westward, there (pointing on a map); 
 then you must strike towards the east, through rough 
 lanes. Don't lose your way. Remember, not later 
 than midnight. If possible, bring me the General's 
 consent by breakfast. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 I '11 not fail, Colonel, though I ditch my horse. 
 
 HESPER (accompanying him to the door). 
 May speed attend you, and success reward. 
 This ride shall gild your epaulets. Good-night. 
 
 [Exit Lieutenant. 
 
 There goes a friend in whom I trust 
 As in my own right hand ! Were all as true,
 
 90 HESPER. [Acx III. 
 
 A single will might multiply effects, 
 O'erleaping distance, at a thousand points. 
 \_He returns to his chair at the table; removes his side- 
 arms. 
 
 Night and the memory of to-day's hot deeds 
 Clew up my active spirit. Well, if thus 
 Upon the stubborn, sanguinary field 
 I always earned the recompense of sleep ! 
 When cannon roar and showering bullets hiss, 
 After the heart's first flutter takes the beat 
 Of reckless exultation, when the smoke 
 Puffs out the bosom with inspiring fumes, 
 How glorious to be a soldier then ! 
 Who would not dare amid the rush and clang, 
 Which stimulate no purpose but to dare ? 
 And as the danger shoots up tall and dire, 
 How courage mounts to match its highest threat, 
 And grieves it is so small ! In action men 
 Look destiny's worst terror in the eyes, 
 And prove themselves above it though they die. 
 Better the sharp collision and the charge, 
 Than dilatory camp and tortoise march, 
 Which rust the will and too much lengthen war. 
 Come soon, oh Peace, with Victory to crown 
 The righteous cause, and make old foes new friends. 
 Beloved Constance, where art thou to-night? 
 In every battle, bivouac, and toil, 
 Thou art my stanch companion and support : 
 Desire for thee intensates all my thoughts. 
 [A pause. HESPER seems to doze. A secret door is 
 cautiously opened at the further end of the room. 
 HESPER rouses, and seizes his revolver.
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 91 
 
 What noise was that ? Oh, there are traitors here ! 
 Come forth, or I '11 despatch a ball to fetch you. 
 
 [The door opens again; CONSTANCE issues from it. 
 What! Constance, you? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Yes, Hesper, I. 
 
 I never thought that in my father's house 
 He who should be my husband would assert 
 A conqueror's command. I dreamed that here 
 Our bridal days would glide from joy to joy. 
 Now, in my ruined home we meet, unwed. 
 
 Constance, throughout the cannonade to-day 
 Before our troops had captured this position, 
 Surely, you were not here, within the shot 
 Of peril? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Yes ; why not ? Brave men were here 
 And needed woman's care. In the South Hall 
 I nursed the wounded soldiers, till a shell 
 Set half the house ablaze. Our lines fell back 
 Slowly, and with them bore the wounded off. 
 I stayed, to seek some precious keepsakes ; then, 
 Escape cut off, I hid myself in there. 
 
 Heroic Constance ! Let us, Love, forget 
 The brutal mien of War, for this brief night, 
 The last, perhaps, which Chance may offer us. 
 Upon this jut of Time we '11 rest till morn ;
 
 92 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 Locked in the dear embraces, deified 
 
 By the nepenthe of our mutual love. 
 
 Till the in- tide of moments drowns our rock, 
 
 This night shall be our love's eternity. 
 
 Oh magic lips, you kiss the Past away ! 
 
 How fared you, sweetheart, through the tedious doom 
 
 Of absence ? Speak, and bridge the void with news. 
 
 Concerning you, the noisy months were dumb ; 
 
 And though I questioned prisoners and spies 
 
 'T was e'er to be rebuffed, save only once : 
 
 A friend of mine, a fellow-officer, 
 
 Brought low with wounds, was captured by your troops ; 
 
 Long weeks he balanced in a desperate fever ; 
 
 But at each pause in his delirium's surge, 
 
 He said a woman stood beside his cot, 
 
 And Hope beamed on him out of purple eyes ; 
 
 At last he mended, was in time exchanged, 
 
 And though he could not tell the name of her 
 
 Who wooed him back to life, I knew 't was you. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 That, Hesper, is the story of my days. 
 
 The hospital has been my battle-field ; 
 
 My battle has been waged with Death himself ; 
 
 My victory has been to wrest from him 
 
 The victims whom he clutched. But I have had 
 
 Frequent reports of you, for valor shines 
 
 Beyond the friendly camp. How like a flame 
 
 You leaped from grade to grade, and made each brighter, 
 
 I duly heard, and wondered from afar. 
 
 Though I rejoiced, I trembled that you sought 
 
 Fame and advancement where death 's oftenest met.
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 
 
 Constance, my fame is but a tiny spark 
 
 Amid the general blaze : destructive Time 
 
 Will quench the lustre of the greatest soon ; 
 
 Our mighty battles shrivel into dates 
 
 Set for a schoolboy's task ; our brave exploits 
 
 But shed a glamour on a girl's romance. 
 
 Enough for each to quit him nobly now, 
 
 That those unborn may never justly say, 
 
 " We had been happier had our sires been true." 
 
 Why talk of war, whose every thorny word 
 
 Goads up the recollection of the strife 
 
 Which separated us ? Let love balm heartache 
 
 And put to sleep unlovely apprehension. 
 
 Thank heaven that you are safe, that I still feel 
 
 A loyal pressure when I touch your hand ! 
 
 Your friends, your brothers has the war spared them ? 
 
 Were you alone? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Charles serves on Jackson's staff ; 
 Edward 
 
 HESPER. 
 Why hesitate ? Has he been killed ? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 How can I fill my duty to you both? 
 
 If I disclose, I jeopard my dear brother ; 
 
 If I conceal, my lover I betray ; 
 
 Oh, why should Hesper be my brother's foe !
 
 94 HESPER. [Acx III. 
 
 I 'II speak, and trust your honor to decide. 
 
 In to-day's combat, he was here with me. 
 
 When we despaired of keeping you at bay, 
 
 Our wounded having been removed, I stayed 
 
 To save some precious, small mementos, dear 
 
 Because they were my mother's. He stayed too. 
 
 Brief though my search, it stretched beyond our safety : 
 
 Your soldiers barred retreat, and left but time 
 
 To hide in yonder secret cabinet 
 
 Ere they came pressing in. We waited there, 
 
 And hoped that night would aid us to escape. 
 
 Constance, go, ask your brother to come out. 
 [CONSTANCE goes to the secret door, opens it, and ED- 
 
 WAKD ROMAINE emerges. 
 Though meeting thus is hardship to us both, 
 I 'm glad to take your hand. How oft did Constance 
 Tell me fond stories of her brother Ned, 
 Until your very name suggested love ! 
 The chance of war makes you my prisoner, 
 Nay, keep your sword, but though my duty here 
 Must judge, affection shall advise him. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Ah, 
 
 But for my rash, unwary confidence, 
 'Twixt now and morn you might have well been free 
 
 [to EDWARD]. 
 And blame could not have implicated you [to HKSPEK] .
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 95 
 
 EDWARD. 
 
 Grieve not, my sister. T is the soldier's risk 
 To suffer while confinement gnaws away 
 Sinews that battle toughens. 
 
 [At an open window DARNEL'S face is seen for a 
 moment. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 A trap ! A family conniving ! 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Hist! 
 I heard a voice outside. 
 
 [Goes to the window. 
 There 's no one here : 
 But yonder I discern a sentinel, 
 Along the farther margin of the lawn 
 Pacing his beat. Perhaps the fitful breeze 
 Wafted a murmur of the tune he hums. [Returns."] 
 I promise, Edward, your captivity 
 Shall be as mild as any. Every ease, 
 By which the yoke may gall your spirit less, 
 I will bespeak for you. 
 Beloved Constance, now may you forsake 
 This lair of danger and fatigue. Return 
 To cheer my mother ; she will welcome you, 
 And in her shelter you and she shall wait 
 Till Peace unite us. Here your duty 's done. 
 Oh, for my sake, my heroine ! submit 
 To honorable and deserved repose. 
 Bind not beneath a soldier's daily load
 
 96 HESPER. [Acx III. 
 
 The nettle of suspense. Consent to rest ; 
 Enough that men should brave atrocious war. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Consider not for me : my risk is slight, 
 
 And danger, grown familiar, loses soon 
 
 His power to appall. Not for myself, 
 
 But for my brother, whom his pride constrains 
 
 To silence, do I plead. Is there no course, 
 
 Which you may take with honor to us all, 
 
 Save this which leads to prison ? Must he pine 
 
 In wasted bondage ? be the mark preferred 
 
 Of small indignities, the butt of scorn? 
 
 Perhaps the prey of sickness and of ills 
 
 Which, though you would, you could not fend from him ? 
 
 I plead to you, as any sister might 
 
 To a victorious foe. As such reply. 
 
 Feign any voice, 't is always Constance speaks. 
 Love shall decree, and duty ratify. 
 I may release your brother on parole. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 He shall accept, and I must go with him. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Can nothing move you, Constance? Teach my wish 
 Not to entreat in vain.
 
 SCENE III.] HESPER. 97 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Ralph, we are both 
 
 Hedged to our kindred while their need 's a- wing ; 
 Nor you, nor I, could in mid-flight desert them. 
 But, for your sake, hereafter I will shun 
 The neighborhood of harm. I bless you for 
 This generous reprieve. 
 
 HESPEE. 
 
 Would I might bless ! 
 You understand you are in honor bound 
 To bear no arms, or otherwise abet 
 Your friends' endeavors, whilst the war shall last? 
 
 EDWARD. 
 
 The terms are hard, and clash with my desire ; 
 But Constance urges, and I must submit. 
 
 If in your hiding-place you chanced to hear 
 Aught of the message my lieutenant took, 
 That, too, must be kept sacred. 
 
 Be it so : 
 
 But liberty, thus crippled and abridged, 
 Lacks naught of servitude, except its name. 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 Do not despond ; I pi'omise you shall know 
 New ways and high, that test a soldier's zeal.
 
 98 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 UESPER. 
 
 Beloved, since you cannot be besought 
 To turn away from troubles, now 't is best 
 You linger not. I will conduct you both 
 Across our lines, that so, before the morn, 
 When greedy havoc will dart out his fangs 
 To slay fresh victims, you may both be safe. 
 Alas ! that in a world where myriads crave 
 In vain one friend, complete and absolute, 
 Parting should sever us, whose souls are one ! 
 That unison should save from such a doom. 
 Guard thy dear self, that when we next shall meet, 
 No scar of hardship give me cause to grieve. 
 When we shall meet ah, when ? 
 
 CONSTANCE. 
 
 If it be soon, 
 
 Or long-delayed, you shall not find me changed. 
 Come with the swiftest harbinger of peace 
 Be mine forever, and forever more. 
 
 HESPER (on the threshold) . 
 
 How still and sweet the night ! How bright the stars ! 
 The rumble and the smoke of mortal strife 
 Reach not a league in air ; they cannot blur 
 Those countless eyes of joyousness and peace. 
 Has Love no heaven where devoted hearts 
 May shine forever in unclouded bliss ? 
 
 [Exeunt.
 
 SCENE IV.] HESPER. 99 
 
 DARNEL (appearing again at the window). 
 Here 's treason ready-forged. Mine be the blame, 
 If thus equipped I fail in my revenge. 
 
 SCENE IV. A Camp. Distant fring heard. Two Officers. 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 Boom ! boom ! They 're hot at it, but that tune is 
 too loud to last long. Let them bellow their worst, 
 our fellows have thick drums to their ears, and the din 
 won't stop them. It 's a terrible road, though, that 
 Hesper is leading his men through. 
 
 SECOND OFFICER. 
 
 I wish we were on it. Beyond that little mile of hell 
 there 's sure promotion. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 Perhaps to heaven. 
 
 SECOND OFFICER. 
 
 I tingle with envy when I think our regiment might 
 be there at this moment, instead of loafing here, like 
 miners out of work. The General won't have Hesper's 
 glory lessened by letting us halve it. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 Those Rebs are plucky, but they may whistle for 
 help. Lee could n't save them, were he five miles off 
 instead of thirty. There 's a salute from our rifles. 
 At 'em, boys ! You '11 soon gag their battery.
 
 1 00 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 SECOND OFFICER. 
 
 Here come two riders at top speed. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 That one in front is Wells, of the staff. Perhaps 
 the General has relented, and we may smell powder 
 to-day. 
 
 SECOND OFFICER. 
 
 Too late ! Hesper has his grip on the prize already. 
 The other 's a civilian. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 Oh, I know him. That 's Darnel, one of your po- 
 litical warriors, gentlemanly buzzards who gorge them- 
 selves on camp spoils. He 's the contractor that 
 supplies us maggots in bacon, like plums in a pudding, 
 and allows us boots soled with the best brown card- 
 board. 
 
 [Enter an AIDE-DE-CAMP and DARNEL. 
 
 AIDE. 
 
 Good-morning. I have an important despatch for 
 Colonel Hesper. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 And none for our colonel ? 
 
 AIDE. 
 No ; for Colonel Hesper.
 
 SCENE IV.] HESPER. 101 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 You '11 not find him here ; and when you do find him, 
 he will not be a colonel. 
 
 AIDE. 
 Where is he ? My orders are urgent. 
 
 SECOND OFFICER. 
 
 He 's up there, looking for a brigadier's brevet, in 
 the smoke. 
 
 DARNEL (aside). 
 
 I must wait a little to see his disgrace. But revenge 
 will be sweeter if it strike him in success. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 There 's nothing for it but to ride after him. You 
 can't miss the road ; just follow the cannon-music and 
 you '11 soon overtake him, unless a bullet overtakes 
 you. 
 
 AIDE. 
 
 My orders are to have him report immediately at 
 headquarters. There 's a serious charge 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 A serious charge ! A Balaklava you might call it ! 
 
 You joke. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 Yes, and no. I 'm a Yankee.
 
 102 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 I heard unpleasant rumors at headquarters that Hes- 
 per is mixed up in a treasonable affair. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 Treason ! What jealous, scurvy rogue hatched that 
 lie ? Hurry up yonder, and I warrant you '11 see a new 
 sort of treason. 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 It J 8 too bad so good a soldier should be tainted with 
 this suspicion. Nevertheless, the General hinted to 
 me that the evidence looks pretty black against him. 
 Hesper and I are old friends, and I came to encourage 
 him until he clears himself. 
 
 SECOND OFFICER. 
 
 They have silenced the cannon. See ! see ! they 
 have planted our flag on the breastworks ! Take my 
 glass. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 It 's true ! The position 's won ! Make haste, gen- 
 tlemen, if you would be the first to congratulate General 
 Hesper. 
 
 SECOND OFFICER. 
 
 Yes ; don't delay. The road is safe enough now. 
 Any Congressman might venture it. 
 
 AIDE. 
 
 I must go. Will you come ?
 
 SCENE V.] HESPER. 10 3 
 
 DARNEL. 
 
 Most certainly. [Aside.] The higher his rise, the 
 harder will be his fall. 
 
 [They ride away. 
 
 FIRST OFFICER. 
 
 I smell a coward's trick here. 
 
 SCENE V. The captured Redoubt. HESPER, unconscious, 
 supported by his Lieutenant, and attended by a Surgeon. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 Alas ! good doctor, he has died too soon. 
 The ball that took his life took from him too 
 The news of victory. 
 
 SURGEON. 
 
 He is not dead. 
 
 A little life still flutters in his pulse, 
 And hope now sets a signal in his cheeks. 
 It was a murderous wound. Not one in ten 
 Could rise from such a shock. We must rely 
 On his uncommon vigor ; and his will, 
 If once he wakes, will battle on our side. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 See ! his eyes open ! 
 
 HESPER (faintly). 
 
 One last charge, my men !
 
 104 HESPER. [ACT III. 
 
 SURGEON. 
 
 His mind is wandering. He swoons again. 
 It 's pitiful how very weak he is. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 Doctor, I beg you save my truest friend. 
 
 SURGEON. 
 
 Ah, Blake, a desperate request is yours. 
 Lift his head up a little : so. 'T will ease 
 His breathing. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 Oh, what phantoms are we men ! 
 An hour ago this friend here in my arms 
 Was full of generous life. Strength, courage, hope, 
 And every quality of head and heart 
 That most adorns a man, and most endears, 
 Had its abode in him. Now, like a clod, 
 He sinks to nothingness strength, valor sped : 
 And all my friendship, all your utmost skill, 
 Of no avail to stop the little breach 
 Through which death creepeth in ! When thus we see 
 Our body 's but a tenement of clay, 
 Where the soul lodges, an abode of worms, 
 Unless the soul be lord and tenant there, 
 Can we believe this vivifying all, 
 Which loves, which dares, which hopes, which thinks 
 
 a God, 
 Dies with its dusty mansion ?
 
 SCENE V.] HESPER. 10 5 
 
 SURGEON. 
 
 Hush ! He stirs. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 All silent ? "Were our men repulsed ? Ah, Blake, 
 You here ? Are you not needed in the charge ? 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 The victory is yours. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Then I 'm content. 
 
 SURGEON. 
 
 Drink, Colonel. Every drop will give you strength. 
 Forbear to talk. You mend already, sir. 
 See, Blake, how regular his pulse beats now. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 Ah, friends, your wish deceives you. In my breast 
 
 I feel the gap through which life ebbs away. 
 
 But, Blake, you 're wounded. Doctor, look to him. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 Only a scratch a bullet kissed my cheek. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 "Was our loss heavy?
 
 106 HESPER. [Acx III. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 Near a hundred killed ; 
 The wounded double that. 
 
 HESPER. 
 
 A fearful price, 
 
 As mothers reckon ; but the gain atones. 
 Go, surgeon, minister to those whom yet 
 You may relieve. I am beyond your help. 
 
 Not so. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 Each moment, Hesper, betters hope. 
 
 I thank you both, but death has entered here. 
 
 Blake, my dear comrade in these heats of war 
 
 Which purge the base and purify the true, 
 
 Farewell. May happy fortune be your friend, 
 
 Ever your steadfast friend. One service more 
 
 Your love shall render. Let my mother know 
 
 That even here the thought of her upheld me ; 
 
 And can you hear me, Blake ? My voice grows faint 
 
 This ring give Constance, when you soonest may, 
 
 And say that Hesper, at farewell with Time, 
 
 Felt love more strong than death. You promise, Blake ? 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 Trust me in all.
 
 SCENE V.] HESPER. 107 
 
 We conquered are you sure ? 
 Is that you, Constance, kissed away my pain? 
 I cannot see, but, Love, I know your lips. 
 Good-night, good-night, Beloved ! I must sleep. 
 
 LIEUTENANT. 
 
 The man 1 loved and honored most is dead. 
 
 THE END.
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 Form L-9-15m-7,'32
 
 PS 
 
 3015 Thayer - 
 T33h Hesper; an 
 American 
 drama. 
 
 L 005 414 625 3 
 
 UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA 
 
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 IBRAKY