Plays and controversies

SCENE V

Reading edition

Scene.—The house of SHEMUS RUA. There is an alcove at the back with curtains; in it a bed, and on the bed is the body of MARY with candles round it. The two MERCHANTS while they speak put a large book upon a table, arrange money, and so on.

FIRST MERCHANT. Thanks to that lie I told about her ships

And that about the herdsman lying sick,

We shall be too much thronged with souls to-morrow.

SECOND MERCHANT. What has she in her coffers now but mice?

FIRST MERCHANT. When the night fell and I had shaped myself

Into the image of the man-headed owl,

I hurried to the cliffs of Donegal,

And saw with all their canvas full of wind

And rushing through the parti-coloured sea

Those ships that bring the woman grain and meal.

They’re but three days from us.

267SECOND MERCHANT. When the dew rose

I hurried in like feathers to the east,

And saw nine hundred oxen driven through Meath

With goads of iron. They’re but three days from us.

FIRST MERCHANT. Three days for traffic.

[PEASANTS crowd in with TEIG and SHEMUS.

SHEMUS. Come in, come in, you are welcome.

That is my wife. She mocked at my great masters,

And would not deal with them. Now there she is;

She does not even know she was a fool,

So great a fool she was.

TEIG. So great a fool she was.She would not eat

One crumb of bread bought with our master’s money,

But lived on nettles, dock, and dandelion.

SHEMUS. There’s nobody could put into her head

That Death is the worst thing can happen us.

Though that sounds simple, for her tongue grew rank

With all the lies that she had heard in chapel.

Draw to the curtain.

[TEIG draws it.]

Draw to the curtain.You’ll not play the fool

While these good gentlemen are there to save you.

268SECOND MERCHANT. Since the drought came they drift about in a throng,

Like autumn leaves blown by the dreary winds.

Come, deal—come, deal.

FIRST MERCHANT. Come, deal—come, deal.Who will come deal with us?

SHEMUS. They are out of spirit, sir, with lack of food,

Save four or five. Here, sir, is one of these;

The others will gain courage in good time.

MIDDLE-AGED MAN. I come to deal—if you give honest price.

FIRST MERCHANT [reading in a book]. ‘John Maher, a man of substance, with dull mind,

And quiet senses and unventurous heart.

The angels think him safe.’ Two hundred crowns,

All for a soul, a little breath of wind.

THE MAN. I ask three hundred crowns. You have read there

That no mere lapse of days can make me yours.

FIRST MERCHANT. There is something more writ here—‘Often at night

He is wakeful from a dread of growing poor,

And thereon wonders if there’s any man

That he could rob in safety.’

A PEASANT. That he could rob in safety.’Who’d have thought it?

And I was once alone with him at midnight.

269ANOTHER PEASANT. I will not trust my mother after this.

FIRST MERCHANT. There is this crack in you—two hundred crowns.

A PEASANT. That’s plenty for a rogue.

ANOTHER PEASANT. A PEASANT. That’s plenty for a rogue.I’d give him nothing.

SHEMUS. You’ll get no more—so take what’s offered you.

[A general murmur, during which the MIDDLE-AGED MAN takes money, and slips into background, where he sinks on to a seat.

FIRST MERCHANT. Has no one got a better soul than that?

If only for the credit of your parishes,

Traffic with us.

A WOMAN. What will you give for mine?

FIRST MERCHANT [reading in book]. ‘Soft, handsome, and still young’—not much, I think.

‘It’s certain that the man she’s married to

Knows nothing of what’s hidden in the jar

Between the hour-glass and the pepper-pot.’

THE WOMAN. The scandalous book.

FIRST MERCHANT. THE WOMAN. The scandalous book.‘Nor how when he’s away

At the horse fair the hand that wrote what’s hid

Will tap three times upon the window-pane.’

270THE WOMAN. And if there is a letter, that is no reason

Why I should have less money than the others.

FIRST MERCHANT. You’re almost safe, I give you fifty crowns.

[She turns to go.

A hundred, then.

SHEMUS. A hundred, then.Woman, have sense—come, come.

Is this a time to haggle at the price?

There, take it up. There, there. That’s right.

[She takes them and goes into the crowd.

FIRST MERCHANT. Come, deal, deal, deal. It is but for charity

We buy such souls at all; a thousand sins

Made them our Master’s long before we came.

ALEEL enters.

ALEEL. Here, take my soul, for I am tired of it.

I do not ask a price.

SHEMUS. I do not ask a price.Not ask a price?

How can you sell your soul without a price?

I would not listen to his broken wits;

His love for Countess Cathleen has so crazed him

271He hardly understands what he is saying.

ALEEL. The trouble that has come on Countess Cathleen,

The sorrow that is in her wasted face,

The burden in her eyes, have broke my wits,

And yet I know I’d have you take my soul.

FIRST MERCHANT. We cannot take your soul, for it is hers.

ALEEL. No, but you must. Seeing it cannot help her

I have grown tired of it.

FIRST MERCHANT. I have grown tired of it.Begone from me,

I may not touch it.

ALEEL. I may not touch it.Is your power so small?

And must I bear it with me all my days?

May you be scorned and mocked!

FIRST MERCHANT. May you be scorned and mocked!Drag him away. He troubles me.

[TEIG and SHEMUS lead ALEEL into the crowd.

SECOND MERCHANT. His gaze has filled me, brother,

With shaking and a dreadful fear.

FIRST MERCHANT. With shaking and a dreadful fear.Lean forward

And kiss the circlet where my Master’s lips

Were pressed upon it when he sent us hither;

You shall have peace once more.

[SECOND MERCHANT kisses the gold circlet that is about the head of the FIRST MERCHANT.

You shall have peace once more.I, too, grow weary,

272But there is something moving in my heart

Whereby I know that what we seek the most

Is drawing near—our labour will soon end.

Come, deal, deal, deal, deal, deal; are you all dumb?

What, will you keep me from our ancient home,

And from the eternal revelry?

SECOND MERCHANT. And from the eternal revelry?Deal, deal.

SHEMUS. They say you beat the woman down too low.

FIRST MERCHANT. I offer this great price: a thousand crowns

For an old woman who was always ugly.

[An old PEASANT WOMAN comes forward, and he takes up a book and reads:

There is but little set down here against her.

‘She has stolen eggs and fowl when times were bad,

But when the times grew better has confessed it;

She never missed her chapel of a Sunday

And when she could, paid dues.’ Take up your money.

OLD WOMAN. God bless you, sir. [She screams.] Oh, sir, a pain went through me!

FIRST MERCHANT. That name is like a fire to all damned souls.

273

[Murmur among the PEASANTS, who shrink back from her as she goes out.

A PEASANT. How she screamed out!

SECOND PEASANT. And maybe we shall scream so.

THIRD PEASANT. I tell you there is no such place as hell.

FIRST MERCHANT. Can such a trifle turn you from your profit?

Come, deal; come, deal.

MIDDLE-AGED MAN. Come, deal; come, deal. Master, I am afraid.

FIRST MERCHANT. I bought your soul, and there’s no sense in fear

Now the soul’s gone.

MIDDLE-AGED MAN. Give me my soul again.

WOMAN [going on her knees and clinging to MERCHANT]. And take this money too, and give me mine.

SECOND MERCHANT. Bear bastards, drink or follow some wild fancy;

For sighs and cries are the soul’s work,

And you have none.

[Throws the woman off.

PEASANT. And you have none.Come, let’s away.

ANOTHER PEASANT. And you have none.Come, let’s away.Yes, yes.

ANOTHER PEASANT. Come quickly; if that woman had not screamed

I would have lost my soul.

274ANOTHER PEASANT. I would have lost my soul.Come, come away.

[They turn to door, but are stopped by shouts of ‘Countess Cathleen! Countess Cathleen!’

CATHLEEN [entering]. And so you trade once more?

FIRST MERCHANT. CATHLEEN [entering]. And so you trade once more?In spite of you.

What brings you here, saint with the sapphire eyes?

CATHLEEN. I come to barter a soul for a great price.

SECOND MERCHANT. What matter, if the soul be worth the price?

CATHLEEN. The people starve, therefore the people go

Thronging to you. I hear a cry come from them

And it is in my ears by night and day,

And I would have five hundred thousand crowns

That I may feed them till the dearth go by.

FIRST MERCHANT. It may be the soul’s worth it.

CATHLEEN. FIRST MERCHANT. It may be the soul’s worth it.There is more:

The souls that you have bought must be set free.

FIRST MERCHANT. We know of but one soul that’s worth the price.

CATHLEEN. Being my own it seems a priceless thing.

275SECOND MERCHANT. You offer us―⁠―

CATHLEEN. SECOND MERCHANT. You offer us―⁠―I offer my own soul.

A PEASANT. Do not, do not, for souls the like of ours

Are not precious to God as your soul is.

O! what would Heaven do without you, lady?

ANOTHER PEASANT. Look how their claws clutch in their leathern gloves.

FIRST MERCHANT. Five hundred thousand crowns; we give the price.

The gold is here; the souls even while you speak

Have slipped out of our bond, because your face

Has shed a light on them and filled their hearts.

But you must sign, for we omit no form

In buying a soul like yours.

SECOND MERCHANT. In buying a soul like yours.Sign with this quill.

It was a feather growing on the cock

That crowed when Peter dared deny his Master,

And all who use it have great honour in Hell.

[CATHLEEN leans forward to sign.

ALEEL [rushing forward and snatching the pen from her]. Leave all things to the builder of the heavens.

CATHLEEN. I have no thoughts; I hear a cry—a cry.

276ALEEL [casting the pen on the ground]. I have seen a vision under a green hedge,

A hedge of hips and haws—men yet shall hear

The Archangels rolling Satan’s empty skull

Over the mountain-tops.

FIRST MERCHANT. Over the mountain-tops.Take him away.

[TEIG and SHEMUS drag him roughly away so that he falls upon the floor among the PEASANTS. CATHLEEN picks up parchment and signs, then turns towards the PEASANTS.

CATHLEEN. Take up the money, and now come with me;

When we are far from this polluted place

I will give everybody money enough.

[She goes out, the PEASANTS crowding around her and kissing her dress. ALEEL and the two MERCHANTS are left alone.

SECOND MERCHANT. We must away and wait until she dies,

Sitting above her tower as two grey owls,

Waiting as many years as may be, guarding

Our precious jewel; waiting to seize her soul.

FIRST MERCHANT. We need but hover over her head in the air,

For she has only minutes. When she signed

277Her heart began to break. Hush, hush, I hear

The brazen door of Hell move on its hinges, and the eternal revelry float hither

To hearten us.

SECOND MERCHANT. Leap feathered on the air

And meet them with her soul caught in your claws.

[They rush out. ALEEL crawls into the middle of the room. The twilight has fallen and gradually darkens as the scene goes on. There is a distant muttering of thunder and a sound of rising storm.

ALEEL. The brazen door stands wide, and Balor comes

Borne in his heavy car, and demons have lifted

The age-weary eyelids from the eyes that of old

Turned gods to stone; Barach, the traitor, comes

And the lascivious race, Cailitin,

That cast a druid weakness and decay

Over Sualtem’s and old Dectera’s child;

And that great king Hell first took hold upon

When he killed Naisi and broke Deirdre’s heart

278And all their heads are twisted to one side,

For when they lived they warred on beauty and peace

With obstinate, crafty, sidelong bitterness.

[OONA enters.

Crouch down, old heron, out of the blind storm.

OONA. Where is the Countess Cathleen? All this day

Her eyes were full of tears, and when for a moment

Her hand was laid upon my hand it trembled,

And now I do not know where she is gone.

ALEEL. Cathleen has chosen other friends than us,

And they are rising through the hollow world.

Demons are out, old heron.

OONA. Demons are out, old heron.God guard her soul.

ALEEL. She’s bartered it away this very hour,

As though we two were never in the world.

[He points downward.

First, Orchill, her pale, beautiful head alive,

Her body shadowy as vapour drifting

Under the dawn, for she who awoke desire

Has but a heart of blood when others die;

About her is a vapoury multitude

Of women alluring devils with soft laughter;

Behind her a host heat of the blood made sin,

279But all the little pink white nails have grown

To be great talons.

[He seizes OONA and drags her into the middle of the room and points downward with vehement gestures. The wind roars.

To be great talons.They begin a song

And there is still some music on their tongues.

OONA [casting herself face downward on the floor]. O, Maker of all, protect her from the demons,

And if a soul must need be lost, take mine.

[ALEEL kneels beside her, but does not seem to hear her words. The PEASANTS return. They carry the COUNTESS CATHLEEN and lay her upon the ground before OONA and ALEEL. She lies there as if dead.

OONA. O, that so many pitchers of rough clay

Should prosper and the porcelain break in two!

[She kisses the hands of CATHLEEN.

A PEASANT. We were under the tree where the path turns,

When she grew pale as death and fainted away.

And while we bore her hither cloudy gusts

Blackened the world and shook us on our feet;

280Draw the great bolt, for no man has beheld

So black, bitter, blinding, and sudden a storm.

[One who is near the door draws the bolt.

CATHLEEN. O, hold me, and hold me tightly, for the storm

Is dragging me away.

[OONA takes her in her arms. A WOMAN begins to wail.

PEASANTS. Is dragging me away.Hush!

PEASANTS. Is dragging me away.Hush!Hush!

PEASANT WOMEN. Is dragging me away.Hush!Hush!Hush!

OTHER PEASANT WOMEN. Is dragging me away.Hush!Hush!Hush!Hush!

CATHLEEN [half rising]. Lay all the bags of money in a heap,

And when I am gone, old Oona, share them out

To every man and woman: judge, and give

According to their needs.

A PEASANT WOMAN. According to their needs.And will she give

Enough to keep my children through the dearth?

ANOTHER PEASANT WOMAN. O, Queen of Heaven, and all you blessed saints,

Let us and ours be lost so she be shriven.

CATHLEEN. Bend down your faces, Oona and Aleel;

I gaze upon them as the swallow gazes

Upon the nest under the eave, before

She wander the loud waters. Do not weep

281Too great a while, for there is many a candle

On the High Altar though one fall. Aleel,

Who sang about the dancers of the woods,

That know not the hard burden of the world,

Having but breath in their kind bodies, farewell!

And farewell, Oona, you who played with me,

And bore me in your arms about the house

When I was but a child and therefore happy,

Therefore happy, even like those that dance.

The storm is in my hair and I must go.

[She dies.

OONA. Bring me the looking-glass.

[A WOMAN brings it to her out of the inner room. OONA holds it over the lips of CATHLEEN. All is silent for a moment. And then she speaks in a half scream:

OONA. Bring me the looking-glass.O, she is dead!

A PEASANT. She was the great white lily of the world.

A PEASANT. She was more beautiful than the pale stars.

AN OLD PEASANT WOMAN. The little plant I love is broken in two.

[ALEEL takes looking-glass from OONA and flings it upon the floor so that it is broken in many pieces.

282ALEEL. I shatter you in fragments, for the face

That brimmed you up with beauty is no more:

And die, dull heart, for she whose mournful words

Made you a living spirit has passed away

And left you but a ball of passionate dust.

And you, proud earth and plumy sea, fade out!

For you may hear no more her faltering feet,

But are left lonely amid the clamorous war

Of angels upon devils.

[He stands up; almost every one is kneeling, but it has grown so dark that only confused forms can be seen.

Of angels upon devils.And I who weep

Call curses on you, Time and Fate and Change,

And have no excellent hope but the great hour

When you shall plunge headlong through bottomless space.

[A flash of lightning followed immediately by thunder.

A PEASANT WOMAN. Pull him upon his knees before his curses

Have plucked thunder and lightning on our heads.

283ALEEL. Angels and devils clash in the middle air,

And brazen swords clang upon brazen helms.

[A flash of lightning followed immediately by thunder.

Yonder a bright spear, cast out of a sling,

Has torn through Balor’s eye, and the dark clans

Fly screaming as they fled Moytura of old.

[Everything is lost in darkness.

AN OLD MAN. The Almighty wrath at our great weakness and sin

Has blotted out the world and we must die.

[The darkness is broken by a visionary light. The PEASANTS seem to be kneeling upon the rocky slope of a mountain, and vapour full of storm and ever-changing light is sweeping above them and behind them. Half in the light, half in the shadow, stand armed angels. Their armour is old and worn, and their drawn swords dim and dinted. They stand as if upon the air in formation of battle and look downward with stern faces. The PEASANTS cast themselves on the ground.

ALEEL. Look no more on the half-closed gates of Hell,

284But speak to me, whose mind is smitten of God,

That it may be no more with mortal things,

And tell of her who lies there.

[He seizes one of the angels.

And tell of her who lies there.Till you speak

You shall not drift into eternity.

THE ANGEL. The light beats down; the gates of pearl are wide

And she is passing to the floor of peace,

And Mary of the seven times wounded heart

Has kissed her lips, and the long blessed hair

Has fallen on her face; The Light of Lights

Looks always on the motive, not the deed,

The Shadow of Shadows on the deed alone.

[ALEEL releases the ANGEL and kneels.

OONA. Tell them who walk upon the floor of peace

That I would die and go to her I love;

The years like great black oxen tread the world,

And God the herdsman goads them on behind

And I am broken by their passing feet.

[A sound of far-off horns seems to come from the heart of the Light. The vision melts away, and the forms of the kneeling PEASANTS appear faintly in the darkness.

285

NOTE

‘The Countess Cathleen’

I found the story of the Countess Cathleen in what professed to be a collection of Irish folk-lore in an Irish newspaper some years ago. I wrote to the compiler, asking about its source, but got no answer, but have since heard that it was translated from Les Matinées de Timothée Trimm a good many years ago, and has been drifting about the Irish press ever since. Léo Lespès gives it as an Irish story, and though the editor of Folklore has kindly advertised for information, the only Christian variant I know of is a Donegal tale, given by Mr. Larminie in his West Irish Folk Tales and Romances, of a woman who goes to hell for ten years to save her husband, and stays there another ten, having been granted permission to carry away as many souls as could cling to her skirt. Léo Lespès may have added a few details, but I have no doubt of the essential antiquity of what seems to me the most impressive form of one of the supreme parables of the world. The parable came to the Greeks in the sacrifice of Alcestis, but her sacrifice was less overwhelming, less apparently irremediable. Léo Lespès tells the story as follows:—

Ce que je vais vous dire est un récit du carême irlandais. Le boiteux, l’aveugle, le paralytique des rues de Dublin ou de Limerick, vous le diraient mieux que moi, cher lecteur, si vous alliez le leur demander, un sixpence d’argent à la main.—Il n’est pas une jeune 286fille catholique à laquelle on ne l’ait appris pendant les jours de préparation à la communion sainte, pas un berger des bords de la Blackwater qui ne le puisse redire à la veillée.

Il y a bien longtemps qu’il apparut tout-à-coup dans la vieille Irlande deux marchands inconnus dont personne n’avait ouï parler, et qui parlaient néanmoins avec la plus grande perfection la langue du pays. Leurs cheveux étaient noirs et ferrés avec de l’or et leurs robes d’une grande magnificence.

Tous deux semblaient avoir le même âge; ils paraissaient être des hommes de cinquante ans, car leur barbe grisonnait un peu.

Or, à cette époque, comme aujourd’hui, l’Irlande était pauvre, car le soleil avait été rare, et des récoltes presque nulles. Les indigents ne savaient à quel saint se vouer, et la misère devenait de plus en plus terrible.

Dans l’hôtellerie où descendirent les marchands fastueux on chercha à pénétrer leurs desseins: mais ce fut en vain, ils demeurèrent silencieux et discrets.

Et pendant qu’ils demeurêrent dans l’hôtellerie, ils ne cessèrent de compter et de recompter des sacs de pièces d’or, dont la vive clarté s’apercevait à travers les vitres du logis.

Gentlemen, leur dit l’hôtesse un jour, d’où vient que vous êtes si opulents, et que, venus pour secourir la misère publique, vous ne fassiez pas de bonnes œuvres?

—Belle hôtesse, répondit l’un d’eux, nous n’avons pas voulu aller au-devant d’infortunes honorables, dans la crainte d’être trompés par des misères fictives: que la douleur frappe à la porte, nous ouvrirons.

Le lendemain, quand on sut qu’il existait deux opulents étrangers prêts à prodiguer l’or, la foule assiégea leur logis; mais les figures des gens qui en sortaient étaient bien diverses. Les uns avaient la fierté dans le regard, les autres portaient la honte au 287front. Les deux trafiquants achetaient des âmes pour le démon. L’âme d’un vieillard valait vingt pièces d’or, pas un penny de plus; car Satan avait eu le temps d’y former hypothèque. L’âme d’une épouse en valait cinquante quand elle était jolie, ou cent quand elle était laide. L’âme d’une jeune fille se payait des prix fous: les fleurs les plus belles et les plus pures sont les plus chères.

Pendant ce temps, il existait dans la ville un ange de beauté, la comtesse Ketty O’Connor. Elle était l’idole du peuple, et la providence des indigents. Dès qu’elle eut appris que des mécréants profitaient de la misère publique pour dérober des cœurs à Dieu, elle fit appeler son majordome.

—Master Patrick, lui dit-elle, combien ai-je de pièces d’or dans mon coffre?

—Cent mille.

—Combien de bijoux?

—Pour autant d’argent.

—Combien de chateaux, de bois et de terres?

—Pour le double de ces sommes.

—Eh bien! Patrick, vendez tout ce qui n’est pas or et apportez-m’en le montant. Je ne veux garder à moi que ce castel et le champ qui l’entoure.

Deux jours après, les ordres de la pieuse Ketty étaient exécutés et le trésor était distribué aux pauvres au fur et à mesure de leurs besoins.

Ceci ne faisait pas le compte, dit la tradition, des commis-voyageurs du malin esprit, qui ne trouvaient plus d’âmes à acheter.

Aidés par un valet infâme, ils pénétrèrent dans la retraite de la noble dame et lui dérobèrent le reste de son trésor … en vain lutta-t-elle de toutes ses forces pour sauver le contenu de son coffre, les larrons diaboliques furent les plus forts. Si Ketty avait eu les moyens de faire un signe de croix, ajoute la légende irlandaise, elle les eût mis en fuite, mais ses mains 288étaient captives—Le larcin fut effectué. Alors les pauvres sollicitèrent en vain près de Ketty dépouillée, elle ne pouvait plus secourir leur misère;—elle les abandonnait à la tentation. Pourtant il n’y avait plus que huit jours à passer pour que les grains et les fourrages arrivassent en abondance des pays d’Orient. Mais, huit jours, c’était un siècle: huit jours nécessitaient une somme immense pour subvenir aux exigences de la disette, et les pauvres allaient ou expirer dans les angoisses de la faim, ou, reniant les saints maximes de l’Evangile, vendre à vil prix leur âme, le plus beau présent de la munificence du Seigneur tout-puissant.

Et Ketty n’avait plus une obole, car elle avait abandonné son château aux malheureux.

Elle passa douze heures dans les larmes et le deuil, arrachant ses cheveux couleur de soleil et meurtrissant son sein couleur du lis: puis elle se leva résolue, animée par un vif sentiment de désespoir.

Elle se rendit chez les marchands d’âmes.

—Que voulez-vous? dirent-ils.

—Vous achetez des âmes?

—Oui, un peu malgré vous, n’est-ce pas, sainte aux yeux de saphir?

—Aujourd’hui je viens vous proposer un marché, reprit-elle.

—Lequel?

—J’ai une âme à vendre; mais elle est chère.

—Qu’importe si elle est précieuse? l’âme, comme le diamant, s’apprécie à sa blancheur.

—C’est la mienne, dit Ketty.

Les deux envoyés de Satan tressaillirent. Leurs griffes s’allongèrent sous leurs gants de cuir; leurs yeux gris étincelèrent:—l’âme, pure, immaculée, virginale de Ketty!… c’était une acquisition inappreciable.

—Gentille dame, combien voulez-vous?

289—Cent cinquante mille écus d’or.

—C’est fait, dirent les marchands: et ils tendirent à Ketty un parchemin cacheté de noir, qu’elle signa en frissonnant.

La somme lui fut comptée.

Dès qu’elle fut rentrée, elle dit au majordome:

—Tenez, distribuez ceci. Avec la somme que je vous donne les pauvres attendront la huitaine nécessaire et pas une de leurs âmes ne sera livrée au démon.

Puis elle s’enferma et recommanda qu’on ne vint pas la déranger.

Trois jours se passèrent; elle n’appela pas; elle ne sortit pas.

Quand on ouvrit sa porte, on la trouva raide et froide: elle était morte de douleur.

Mais la vente de cette âme si adorable dans sa charité fut déclarée nulle par le Seigneur: car elle avait sauvé ses concitoyens de la mort éternelle.

Après la huitaine, des vaisseaux nombreux amenèrent à l’Irlande affamée d’immenses provisions de grains.

La famine n’était plus possible. Quant aux marchands, ils disparurent de leur hôtellerie, sans qu’on sût jamais ce qu’ils étaient devenus.

Toutefois, les pêcheurs de la Blackwater prétendent qu’ils sont enchaînés dans une prison souterraine par ordre de Lucifer jusqu’au moment où ils pourront livrer l’âme de Ketty qui leur a échappé. Je vous dis la légende telle que je la sais.

Mais les pauvres l’ont raconté d’âge en âge et les enfants de Cork et de Dublin chantent encore la ballade dont voici les derniers couplets:—

Pour sauver les pauvres qu’elle aime

Ketty donna

Son esprit, sa croyance même:

Satan paya

290Cette âme au dévoûment sublime,

En écus d’or,

Disons pour racheter son crime,

Confiteor.

Mais l’ange qui se fit coupable

Par charité

Au séjour d’amour ineffable

Est remonté.

Satan vaincu n’eut pas de prise

Sur ce cœur d’or;

Chantons sous la nef de l’église,

Confiteor.

N’est-ce pas que ce récit, né de l’imagination des poètes catholiques de la verte Erin, est une véritable récit de carême?

The Countess Cathleen was acted in Dublin in 1899, with Mr. Marcus St. John and Mr. Trevor Lowe as the First and Second Demon, Mr. Valentine Grace as Shemus Rua, Master Charles Sefton as Teig, Madame San Carola as Mary, Miss Florence Farr as Aleel, Miss Anna Mather as Oona, Mr. Charles Holmes as the Herdsman, Mr. Jack Wilcox as the Gardener, Mr. Walford as a Peasant, Miss Dorothy Paget as a Spirit, Miss M. Kelly as a Peasant Woman, Mr. T. E. Wilkinson as a Servant, and Miss May Whitty as the Countess Kathleen. They had to face a very vehement opposition stirred up by a politician and a newspaper, the one accusing me in a pamphlet, the other in long articles day after day, of blasphemy because of the language of the demons or of Shemus Rua, and because I made a woman sell her soul and yet escape damnation, and of a lack of patriotism because I made Irish men and women, who, it seems, never did such a thing, sell theirs. The politician or the newspaper persuaded some forty Catholic students 291to sign a protest against the play, and a Cardinal, who avowed that he had not read it, to make another, and both politician and newspaper made such obvious appeals to the audience to break the peace, that a score or so of police were sent to the theatre to see that they did not. I had, however, no reason to regret the result, for the stalls, containing almost all that was distinguished in Dublin, and a gallery of artisans alike insisted on the freedom of literature.

After the performance in 1899 I added the love scene between Aleel and the Countess, and in this new form the play was revived in New York by Miss Wycherley as well as being played a good deal in England and America by amateurs. Now at last I have made a complete revision to make it suitable for performance at the Abbey Theatre. The first two scenes are almost wholly new, and throughout the play I have added or left out such passages as a stage experience of some years showed me encumbered the action; the play in its first form having been written before I knew anything of the theatre. I have left the old end, however, in the version printed in the body of this book, because the change for dramatic purposes has been made for no better reason than that audiences—even at the Abbey Theatre—are almost ignorant of Irish mythology—or because a shallow stage made the elaborate vision of armed angels upon a mountain-side impossible. The new end is particularly suited to the Abbey stage, where the stage platform can be brought out in front of the proscenium and have a flight of steps at one side up which the Angel comes, crossing towards the back of the stage at the opposite side. The principal lighting is from two arc lights in the balcony which throw their lights into the faces of the players, making footlights unnecessary. The room at Shemus Rua’s house is suggested by a great grey curtain—a colour which becomes full of 292rich tints under the stream of light from the arcs. The two or more arches in the third scene permit the use of a gauze. The short front scene before the last is just long enough when played with incidental music to allow the scene set behind it to be changed. The play when played without interval in this way lasts a little over an hour.

The play was performed at the Abbey Theatre for the first time on December 14, 1911, Miss Maire O’Neill taking the part of the Countess, and the last scene from the going out of the Merchants was as follows:—

[MERCHANTS rush out. ALEEL crawls into the middle of the room; the twilight has fallen and gradually darkens as the scene goes on.

ALEEL. They’re rising up—they’re rising through the earth,

Fat Asmodel and giddy Belial,

And all the fiends. Now they leap in the air.

But why does Hell’s gate creak so? Round and round.

Hither and hither, to and fro they’re running.

[He moves about as though the air was full of spirits. OONA enters.

Crouch down, old heron, out of the blind storm.

OONA. Where is the Countess Cathleen? All this day

Her eyes were full of tears, and when for a moment

Her hand was laid upon my hand, it trembled.

And now I do not know where she is gone.

ALEEL. Cathleen has chosen other friends than us,

And they are rising through the hollow world.

Demons are out, old heron.

OONA. Demons are out, old heron.God guard her soul.

ALEEL. She’s bartered it away this very hour,

As though we two were never in the world.

[He kneels beside her, but does not seem to hear her words. The PEASANTS return. They carry the COUNTESS CATHLEEN and lay 293her upon the ground before OONA and ALEEL. She lies there as if dead.

OONA. O, that so many pitchers of rough clay

Should prosper and the porcelain break in two!

[She kisses the hands of CATHLEEN.

A PEASANT. We were under the tree where the path turns

When she grew pale as death and fainted away.

CATHLEEN. O, hold me, and hold me tightly, for the storm

Is dragging me away.

[OONA takes her in her arms. A WOMAN begins to wail.

PEASANTS. Is dragging me away.Hush!

PEASANTS. Is dragging me away.Hush!Hush!

PEASANT WOMEN. Is dragging me away.Hush!Hush!Hush!

OTHER PEASANT WOMEN. Is dragging me away.Hush!Hush!Hush!Hush!

CATHLEEN [half rising]. Lay all the bags of money in a heap,

And when I am gone, old Oona, share them out

To every man and woman: judge, and give

According to their needs.

A PEASANT WOMAN. According to their needs.And will she give

Enough to keep my children through the dearth?

ANOTHER PEASANT WOMAN. O, Queen of Heaven, and all you blessed saints,

Let us and ours be lost, so she be shriven.

CATHLEEN. Bend down your faces, Oona and Aleel;

I gaze upon them as the swallow gazes

Upon the nest under the eave, before

She wander the loud waters. Do not weep

Too great a while, for there is many a candle

On the High Altar though one fall. Aleel,

Who sang about the dancers of the woods,

That know not the hard burden of the world,

Having but breath in their kind bodies, farewell!

And farewell, Oona, you who played with me

294And bore me in your arms about the house

When I was but a child—and therefore happy,

Therefore happy even like those that dance.

The storm is in my hair and I must go.

She dies.

OONA. Bring me the looking-glass.

[A WOMAN brings it to her out of inner room. OONA holds the glass over the lips of CATHLEEN. All is silent for a moment, then she speaks in a half-scream.

OONA. Bring me the looking-glass.O, she is dead!

A PEASANT. She was the great white lily of the world.

A PEASANT. She was more beautiful than the pale stars.

AN OLD PEASANT WOMAN. The little plant I loved is broken in two.

[ALEEL takes looking-glass from OONA and flings it upon floor, so that it is broken in many pieces.

ALEEL. I shatter you in fragments, for the face

That brimmed you up with beauty is no more;

And die, dull heart, for you that were a mirror

Are but a ball of passionate dust again!

And level earth and plumy sea, rise up!

And haughty sky, fall down!

A PEASANT WOMAN. And haughty sky, fall down!Pull him upon his knees,

His curses will pluck lightning on our heads.

ALEEL. Angels and devils clash in the middle air,

And brazen swords clang upon brazen helms.

Look, look, a spear has gone through Belial’s eye!

[A winged ANGEL, carrying a torch and a sword, enters from the R. with eyes fixed upon some distant thing. The ANGEL is about to pass out to the L. when ALEEL speaks. The ANGEL stops a moment and turns.

Look no more on the half-closed gates of Hell,

But speak to me whose mind is smitten of God,

295That it may be no more with mortal things: