to the genius of the French tongue, scarcely admits of imitation in our own. I have therefore translated the piece into verse, with the exception of such parts, (marked in the original 'recitatif,') as were evidently introduced merely to give it connection. THE CONTRABANDIST. SCENE: A BANQUET IN A GARDEN. CHORUS OF REVELLERS. Rejoice! Rejoice! Let us strike the full goblets again and again, Till their roseate lips shall be shattered in twain; Come, wind of the evening, from balm-breathing bowers, Let us drink to the day that unites us once more, At the time-honored home of our sires of yore! SIR CASTELLAN. Come, friend of my childhood, come servitor mine, Those hands that have guided my steps when a child, I then thy master shall seem no more; And to me thou wilt say, as thou often hast said, CHORUS OF REVELLERS. Fill up, fill up the merry wassail cup! For the servant good who so long hath stood Let his wrinkled brow grow joyous now! Let him yield his spirit up To the power divine of the god of wine, Who smiles in the mantling cup! "Tis Bacchus fair that lurketh there, The fairest of gods is he: Yes, even Cupid is a sluggard stupid, Drink, drink old man, till thy gray-haired age Hath vanished and fled away, And thou art as young as the youngest page, Who now doth thy word obey. That thy lord may be, when deprived of thee, Unable his couch to find, And with us may stay, till the dawn of day, Like a generous host, and kind. A GUEST. And why dost thou, my charming fair, Why dost thou take such scanty sips Come, fill thy goblet brimming high! In truth I shall begin to fear I am to thee no longer dear; And that thou shun'st the red wine's flow, CHORUS OF REVELLERS. Drink, wives and sisters, drink with us, For Bacchus only those betrays, 'Tis he unveils the hearts of men, Like the trump of the judgment day: And the truth of the true makes clear; Let fall your words confidingly, As the crystal drops in early spring, Start forth adown the ice-bound cliffs, I fear that the uproar of all our voices together, may intoxicate us sooner than the wine. Let us suffer the jolly god to take possession of us slowly, and gradually to infuse into our veins his genial influence. Let the youngest of us sing some popular air, and we will repeat the chorus only. BOY. Here is a lay of the mountains, which you must all remember. It often draws tears from the eyes of those who hear it in foreign lands, CHORUS. Ay, sing, my boy, sing, make no delay! And let each, as the chorus he swells to-day, Bless his good angel that now, once more, He sees the home of his sires of yore: BOY. 'I who a contrabandist am, A noble life I lead; I scour the mountains night and day, To sport with the lovely maidens there; Ha! who is this pilgrim that issues from the forest, followed by a famished dog, black as night? He approaches us with an uncertain step. He seems worn out with fatigue. Fill him a generous cup. Let him drink to his far-off home and absent friends. CHORUS. Tired wanderer, the cup of joy come fill with us, and drain THE STRANGER. Ungrateful country, friends untrue, I never more will drink to you! Who a brother thus like a beggar receive! Who a former friend remember not! The worthless cup ye bid me take, And your welcome cold as this lot of mine! CHORUS. Who art thou, who alone darest to beard us all in the home of our sires who boastest that thou art one of us?- who pourest out in the dust the cup of joy and hospitality? STRANGER. Who am I? I will tell you. I am an unfortunate man, and therefore none of you remember me. Had I come among you in my former splendor, you would all have run to meet me, and the fairest of your dames would have poured for me the stirrup-cup in a golden goblet. But I come alone, with no pomp of equipage-no servants, horses, nor dogs: the gold of my habit is tarnished by sun and rain; my cheeks are hollowed, and my forehead sinks under the weight of my lasting cares, like that of Atlas beneath the burthen of the world. Why do you gaze at me so stupidly? Are you not ashamed to be surprised in these bacchanalian orgies, by him who fondly thought that you were even now lamenting his absence? Come, rise! Let the proudest among you yield me his seat by the side of your fairest dame. CASTELLAN. Stranger, thou takest liberties with us which we would not permit, were not this a grand festal day. But as, during the saturnalia, slaves were permitted to lord it over their masters, so on this day, devoted to the rites of hospitality, we are willing to laugh at the jokes of a ragged vagrant, who calls himself our brother and our equal. STRANGER. The wanderer, my gracious hosts, who thus among you stands, But once he was your equal, ye who, without alloy Of care or anguish, merrily do quaff the cup of joy. CHORUS. And who art thou, then? Tell us, eccentric stranger, and raise to thy parched lips the cup of joy. STRANGER. Every cup is filled with gall for him who has no longer friends nor country; and since ye would know who I am, be assured, O children of joy, that I who have drank the cup of life to the dregs, am greater than you; for grief has made me greater and more powerful than the greatest and most powerful among you. CASTELLAN. Stranger, thy boldness amuses me; if I mistake not, thou art a street poet; an improvisator of drolleries; an expert buffoon; go on, and since it is thy whim not to drink, drink not, but continue to amuse us with thy vagaries, while we drain the cup of joy. LA HERMOSA. My beloved! my friends! Sir Castellan! this man asserts that he is greater than any of you; but you should pardon his boldness, for he has also said that he is the most unfortunate of men. Do not, I beseech you, torment him with your raillery, but prevail upon him to tell us his story. CASTELLAN. Come, then, pilgrim, since La Hermosa has taken thee under her kind protection, tell us thy misfortunes, and we, amid our joy, will hear them with pity, for love of her. STRANGER. Castellan, I have something else to think of beside your amusement. I am neither improvisator, nor singer, nor buffoon. I laugh, 't is true, and that often; but with a secret, a gloomy, and a despairing laughter, as I look upon the crimes and the woes of men. Maiden, I have naught to tell. The history of all my misfortunes is comprised in this one sentence: I am a man. LA HERMOSA. Unfortunate man! I feel for thee unutterable compassion. Look at him, my friends; do you not seem to recognize those features, so changed by grief? Look at him, my dear Diego; truly, I have seen that face in a dream, or else it is the phantom of one whom I have loved. DIEGO. Hermosa, you are too compassionate. I have never met that gloomy face in all my travels. If it has appeared to you in a dream, that dream was doubtless a night-mare, attendant on a bad supper. Nevertheless, if he will tell us his story, I am willing to lay aside my anger. CHORUS. If he is willing to relate Th' adventures he has known, But if he will nor speak nor drink, At once to Pluto going, There let him drain the gall of hate, From a cup of iron glowing! BOY. With a timid voice, on bended knee, I would make bold to offer a suggestion to my lord. This stranger has been attracted toward us by the chorus of my song. When I commenced singing, he was winding along the skirts of the wood, in the direction of the plain; but suddenly, as if his ear were struck with agreeable sounds, he returned upon his steps; twice or thrice he stopped to listen, and when I finished, he had almost reached us. He asserts that he is one of your old friends; that you once were his companions; that this is his native land. Well, then, let him sing my song, and if he can repeat it all without a mistake, we cannot doubt that he was born among our mountains. CASTELLAN. Be it so. Thou hast well spoken, young page, and I approve of thy advice, for La Hermosa smiles. CHORUS. Young page, thou hast well spoken; Our fairest's smile we see ; Of her consent it is the token, And our host approves of thee. Fill, then! and let the stranger First sing our country's lay, Then drain with us, no more a ranger, STRANGER. 'T is well; I consent. Listen, then, and let none interrupt me. |