ads the_ DUKE _to the cheval
glass._]

How do I know? Just glance into this mirror.
Look at the sullen sadness of your face,
The grim betrayal of your fair complexion,
This crushing golden hair--I bid you look!

THE DUKE.

[_Struggling to get out of his grasp._]

No!

METTERNICH.

You're environed with a fatal mist!

THE DUKE.

No!

METTERNICH.

Though you know it not, 'tis Germany,
'Tis Spain, for ages dormant in your blood,
Make you so haughty, sorrowful, and charming.

THE DUKE.

No! no!

METTERNICH.

Bethink you of your self-distrust!
You--reign? Come, come! You would be pale and wan;
One of those timid, introspective kings
Who are imprisoned lest they abdicate.

THE DUKE.

No, no!

METTERNICH.

Not yours the energetic brow!
Yours is the brow of languor and of yearning.

THE DUKE.

[_Shaking, passes his left hand across his brow._]

My--brow?

METTERNICH.

And drearily your Highness passes
Over an Austrian brow a Spanish hand!

THE DUKE.

My--hand?

METTERNICH.

Observe the frail and tapering fingers
Seen fair and jewelled in long lines of portraits!

THE DUKE.

No!

METTERNICH.

And those eyes through which your ancestors
Look forth!

THE DUKE.

The eyes--?

METTERNICH.

Ay! note them well! The eyes
Wherein how many eyes we've seen before
Dream of the fagot, weep for perished squadrons!
Dare you, whose conscience is so sensitive,
Ascend the throne of France with eyes like those?

THE DUKE.

Ah! but my Father!--

METTERNICH.

Naught of him is in you!
Search! Search again! Come closer to the light!
He stole our ancient blood to mix with his,
That his might grow more ancient. But he stole
Only the racial melancholy, and
The feebleness, and--

THE DUKE.

I beseech you!

METTERNICH.

Look!
Look in the mirror! You turn pale?

THE DUKE.

Enough!

METTERNICH.

And on your lips you recognize the pout
As of a doll, of Marie Antoinette,
Her whom your France beheaded; for your Father,
While stealing glory, stole mishap as well!
Nay! raise the chandelier!

[_He forces the chandelier into the_ DUKE'S _right
hand, and holds him by that wrist_.]

THE DUKE.

I am afraid.

METTERNICH.

You cannot gaze