Volume 3 / Act 5 — SCENE I

Butler's Chamber.

BUTLER and MAJOR GERALDIN

BUTLER.

Find me twelve strong dragoons, arm them with pikes, For there must be no firing— Conceal them somewhere near the banquet-room, And soon as the dessert is served up, rush all in And cry—"Who is loyal to the Emperor!" I will overturn the table—while you attack Illo and Terzky and dispatch them both. The castle-palace is well barr'd and guarded, That no intelligence of this proceeding May make its way to the Duke. Go instantly; Have you yet sent for Captain Devereux And the Macdonald?—

GERALDIN.

They'll be here anon.

[Exit GERALDIN.]

BUTLER.

Here's no room for delay. The citizens Declare for him, a dizzy drunken spirit Possesses the whole town. They see in the Duke A Prince of peace, a founder of new ages And golden times. Arms too have been given out By the town-council, and a hundred citizens Have volunteered themselves to stand on guard. Dispatch! then, be the word; for enemies Threaten us from without and from within.