When all's done, nothing's done. There's rest above--
Below let work be death, if work be love! [Exeunt.]
SCENE VIII
A Chamber in the Castle. Counts Walter, Hugo, etc., Abbot, and
Knights.
Count Hugo. I can't forget it, as I am a Christian man. To ask for
a stoup of beer at breakfast, and be told there was no beer allowed
in the house--her Ladyship had given all the malt to the poor.
Abbot. To give away the staff of life, eh?
C. Hugo. The life itself, Sir, the life itself. All that barley,
that would have warmed many an honest fellow's coppers, wasted in
filthy cakes.
Abbot. The parent of seraphic ale degraded into plebeian dough!
Indeed, Sir, we have no right to lessen wantonly the amount of human
enjoyment!
C. Wal. In heaven's name, what would you have her do, while the
people were eating grass?
C. Hugo. Nobody asked them to eat it; nobody asked them to be there
to eat it; if they will breed like rabbits, let them feed like
rabbits, say I--I never married till I could keep a wife.
Abbot. Ah, Count Walter! How sad to see a man of your sense so led
away by his feelings! Had but this dispensation been left to work
itself out, and evolve the blessing implicit in all heaven's
chastenings! Had but the stern benevolences of providence remained
undisturbed by her ladyship's carnal tenderness--what a boon had
this famine been!
C.
Pages:
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104