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Act IIScene I
Scene I
Square in Brussels
Jetter and a Master Carpenter (meeting)
Carpenter. Did I not tell you beforehand? Eight days ago, at the guild, I
said there would be serious disturbances?
Jetter. Is it, then, true that they have plundered the churches in
Flanders?
Carpenter. They have utterly destroyed both churches and chapels. They
have left nothing standing but the four bare walls. The lowest rabble! And
this it is that damages our good cause. We ought rather to have laid our
claims before the Regent, formally and decidedly, and then have stood by them.
If we speak now, if we assemble now, it will be said that we are joining the
insurgents.
Jetter. Ay, so every one thinks at first. Why should you thrust your nose
into the mess? The neck is closely connected with it.
Carpenter. I am always uneasy when tumults arise among the mob - among
people who have nothing to lose. They use as a pretext that to which we also
must appeal, and plunge the country in misery.
Enter Soest
Soest. Good day, sirs! What news? Is it true that the imagebreakers are
coming straight in this direction?
Carpenter. Here they shall touch nothing, at any rate.
Soest. A soldier came into my shop just now to buy tobacco; I questioned
him about the matter. The Regent, though so brave and prudent a lady, has for
once lost her presence of mind. Things must be bad indeed when she thus takes
refuge behind her guards. The castle is strongly garrisoned. It is even
rumoured that she means to fly from the town.
Carpenter. Forth she shall not go! Her presence protects us, and we will
ensure her safety better than her mustachioed gentry. If she only maintains
our rights and privileges, we will stand faithfully by her.
Enter a Soapboiler
Soapboiler. An ugly business this! a bad business! Troubles are
beginning; all things are going wrong! Mind you keep quiet, or they`ll take
you also for rioters.
Soest. Here come the seven wise men of Greece.
Soapboiler. I know there are many who in secret hold with the Calvinists,
abuse the bishops, and care not for the king. But a loyal subject, a sincere
Catholic! -
(By degrees others join the speakers, and listen.)
Enter Vansen
Vansen. God save you, sirs! What news?
Carpenter. Have nothing to do with him, he`s a dangerous fellow.
Jetter. Is he not secretary to Dr. Wiets?
Carpenter. He has already had several masters. First he was a clerk, and
as one patron after another turned him off, on account of his roguish tricks,
he now dabbles in the business of notary and advocate, and is a brandy -
drinker to boot.
(More people gather round and stand in groups.)
Vansen. So here you are, putting your heads together. Well, it is worth
talking about.
Soest. I think so too.
Vansen. Now if only one of you had heart and another head enough for the
work, we might break the Spanish fetters at once.
Soest. Sirs! you must not talk thus. We have taken our oath to the king.
Vansen. And the king to us. Mark that!
Jetter. There`s sense in that? Tell us your opinion.
Others. Hearken to him; he`s a clever fellow. He`s sharp enough.
Vansen. I had an old master once, who possessed a collection of
parchments, among which were charters of ancient constitutions, contracts, and
privileges. He set great store, too, by the rarest books. One of these
contained our whole constitution; how, at first, we Netherlanders had princes
of our own, who governed according to hereditary laws, rights, and usages; how
our ancestors paid due honour to their sovereign so long as he governed them
equitably; and how they were immediately on their guard the moment he was for
overstepping his bounds. The states were down upon him at once; for every
province, however small, had its own chamber and representatives.
Carpenter. Hold your tongue! We knew that long ago! Every honest citizen
learns as much about the constitution as he needs.
Jetter. Let him speak; one may always learn something.
Soest. He is quite right.
Several Citizens. Go on! Go on! One does not hear this every day.
Vansen. You citizens, forsooth! You live only in the present; and as you
tamely follow the trade inherited from your fathers, so you let the government
do with you just as it pleases. You make no inquiry into the origin, the
history, or the rights of a Regent; and in consequence of this negligence, the
Spaniard has drawn the net over your ears.
Soest. Who cares for that, if one has only daily bread?
Jetter. The devil! Why did not some one come forward and tell us this in
time?
Vansen. I tell it you now. The King of Spain, whose good fortune it is to
bear sway over these provinces, has no right to govern them otherwise than the
petty princes who formerly possessed them separately. Do you understand that?
Jetter. Explain it to us.
Vansen. Why, it is as clear as the sun. Must you not be governed
according to your provincial laws? How comes that?
A Citizen. Certainly!
Vansen. Has not the burgher of Brussels a different law from the burgher
of Antwerp? The burgher of Antwerp from the burgher of Ghent? How comes that?
Another Citizen. By heavens!
Vansen. But if you let matters run on thus, they will soon tell you a
different story. Fie on you! Philip, through a woman, now ventures to do what
neither Charles the Bold, Frederick the Warrior, nor Charles the Fifth could
accomplish.
Soest. Yes, yes! The old princes tried it also.
Vansen. Ay! But our ancestors kept a sharp look-out. If they thought
themselves aggrieved by their sovereign they, would perhaps get his son and
heir into their hands, detain him as a hostage, and surrender him only on the
most favourable conditions. Our fathers were men! They knew their own
interests! They knew how to lay hold on what they wanted, and to get it
established! They were men of the right sort! and hence it is that our
privileges are so clearly defined, our liberties so well secured.
Soest. What are you saying about our liberties?
All. Our liberties! our privileges! Tell us about our privileges.
Vansen. All the provinces have their peculiar advantages, but we of
Brabant are the most splendidly provided for. I have read it all.
Soest. Say on.
Jetter. Let us hear.
A Citizen. Pray do.
Vansen. First, if stands written: - The Duke of Brabant shall be to us a
good and faithful sovereign.
Soest. Good! Stands it so?
Jetter. Faithful? Is that true?
Vansen. As I tell you. He is bound to us as we are to him. Secondly: In
the exercise of his authority he shall neither exert arbitrary power, nor
exhibit caprice, himself, nor shall he, either directly or indirectly,
sanction them in others.
Jetter. Bravo! Bravo! Not exert arbitrary power.
Soest. Nor exhibit caprice.
Another. And not sanction them in others! That is the main point. Not
sanction them, either directly or indirectly.
Vansen. In express words.
Jetter. Get us the book.
A Citizen. Yes, we must see it.
Others. The book! The book!
Another. We will to the Regent with the book.
Another. Sir doctor, you shall be spokesman.
Soapboiler. Oh, the dolts!
Others. Something more out of the book!
Soapboiler. I`ll knock his teeth down his throat if he says another word.
People. We`ll see who dares to lay hands upon him. Tell us about our
privileges! Have we any more privileges?
Vansen. Many, very good and very wholesome ones too. Thus it stands: The
sovereign shall neither benefit the clergy, nor increase their number, without
the consent of the nobles and of the states. Mark that! Nor shall he alter the
constitution of the country.
Soest. Stands it so?
Vansen. I`ll show it you, as it was written down two or three centuries
ago.
A Citizen. And we tolerate the new bishops? The nobles must protect us,
we will make a row else!
Others. And we suffer ourselves to be intimidated by the Inquisition?
Vansen. It is your own fault.
People. We have Egmont! We have Orange! They will protect our interests.
Vansen. Your brothers in Flanders are beginning the good work.
Soapboiler. Dog!
(Strikes him.)
Others oppose the Soapboiler, and exclaim, Are you also a Spaniard?
Another. What! This honourable man?
Another. This learned man?
(They attack the Soapboiler.)
Carpenter. For heaven`s sake, peace!
(Others mingle in the fray.)
Carpenter. Citizens, what means this?
(Boys whistle, throw stones, set on dogs; citizens stand and gape, people
come running up, others walk quietly to and fro, others play all sorts of
pranks, shout and huzza.)
Others. Freedom and privilege! Privilege and freedom!
Enter Egmont, with followers
Egmont. Peace! Peace! good people. What is the matter? Peace, I say!
Separate them.
Carpenter. My good lord, you come like an angel from heaven. Hush! See
you nothing? Count Egmont! Honour to Count Egmont!
Egmont. Here, too! What are you about? Burgher against burgher! Does not
even the neighbourhood of our royal mistress oppose a barrier to this frenzy?
Disperse yourselves, and go about your business. `Tis a bad sign when you thus
keep holiday on working days. How did the disturbance begin?
(The tumult gradually subsides, and the people gather around Egmont.)
Carpenter. They are fighting about their privileges.
Egmont. Which they will forfeit through their own folly - and who are
you? You seem honest people.
Carpenter. `Tis our wish to be so.
Egmont. Your calling?
Carpenter. A carpenter, and master of the guild.
Egmont. And you?
Soest. A shopkeeper.
Egmont. And you?
Jetter. A tailor.
Egmont. I remember, you were employed upon the liveries of my people.
Your name is Jetter.
Jetter. To think of your grace remembering it!
Egmont. I do not easily forget any one whom I have seen or conversed
with. Do what you can, good people, to keep the peace; you stand in bad repute
enough already. Provoke not the king still farther. The power, after all, is
in his hands. An honest burgher, who maintains himself industriously, has
everywhere as much freedom as he wants.
Carpenter. That now is just our misfortune! With all due deferences, your
grace, `tis the idle portion of the community, your drunkards and vagabonds,
who quarrel for want of something to do, and clamour about privilege because
they are hungry; they impose upon the curious and the credulous, and, in order
to obtain a pot of beer, excite disturbances that will bring misery upon
thousands. That is just what they want. We keep our houses and chests too well
guarded; they would fain drive us away from them with fire-brands.
Egmont. You shall have all needful assistance; measures have been taken
to stem the evil by force. Make a firm stand against the new doctrines, and do
not imagine that privileges are secured by sedition. Remain at home; suffer no
crowds to assemble in the streets. Sensible people can accomplish much.
(In the meantime the crowd has for the most part dispersed.)
Carpenter. Thanks, your excellency - thanks for your good opinion! We
will do what in us lies. (Exit Egmont.) A gracious lord! A true Netherlandeu!
Nothing of the Spaniard about him.
Jetter. If we had only him for a regent? `Tis a pleasure to follow him.
Soest. The king won`t hear of that. He takes care to appoint his own
people to the place.
Jetter. Did you notice his dress? It was of the newest fashion - after
the Spanish cut.
Carpenter. A handsome gentleman.
Jetter. His head now were a dainty morsel for a headsman.
Soest. Are you mad? What are you thinking about?
Jetter. It is stupid enough that such an idea should come into one`s
head! But so it is. Whenever I see a fine long neck, I cannot help thinking
how well it would suit the block. These cursed executions! One cannot get them
out of one`s head. When the lads are swimming, and I chance to see a naked
back, I think forthwith of the dozens I have seen beaten with rods. If I meet
a portly gentleman, I fancy I already see him roasting at the stake. At night,
in my dreams, I am tortured in every limb; one cannot have a single hour`s
enjoyment; all merriment and fun have long been forgotten. These terrible
images seem burnt in upon my brain.
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