The Resources of Quinola: A Comedy in a Prologue and Five Acts

SCENE SEVENTH

The Captain of the Guards, the Courtiers and Quinola.

Quinola (in the front of the stage) It is not sufficient to possess genius and to employ it, for there are plenty of people who make a false show to have it and meet excellent success. There is need also of opportunity and favoring circumstances; a picked up letter which puts a favorite in danger, in order to obtain an interceding tongue, and the loss of the mightiest of flotillas, in order to open the ears of a prince. Chance is an infamous wretch! And now, in the duel of Fontanares with his century, the hour has come for his poor second to appear. (Bells are heard; guard is mounted.) Is yon sound an omen of success? (To the Captain of the Guards) How ought the king to be spoken to?

The Captain Step forward, bow your knee, and say: "Sire" – and pray God to guide your tongue aright.

(The royal procession appears.)

Quinola I shall have no trouble falling upon my knees; they are giving way already; for it is not only the fate of a man, but of a world, that is at stake.

A page

The queen!

A page

The king!

(Tableau.)

SCENE EIGHTH

The same persons, the King, the Queen, the Marchioness of Mondejar, the Grand Inquisitor and the whole Court.

Philip II. Gentlemen, we are about to pray God and honor Him who had dealt a deadly blow to Spain. England has escaped us, the Armada is lost, and we desire no more to talk of that flotilla. Admiral (he turns to the admiral), you were not sent to give battle to the storms.

Quinola

Sire! (He falls on one knee.)

Philip II.

Who are you?

Quinola The most insignificant and the most devoted of your subjects; the servant of a man who pines in the prisons of the Holy Office, accused of magic, because he desires to give to your Majesty the power of escaping from similar disasters —

Philip II. If you are really a servant, rise to your feet. Only grandees are wont to kneel here, in presence of the king.

Quinola

My master, then, shall kneel at your feet.

Philip II. Explain yourself in brief; the moments of the king's whole life are not so numerous as are his subjects.

Quinola

You must have, then, but one hour for each of your empires. My master,

Senor Alfonso Fontanares, is in the prison of the Holy Office —

Philip II. (to the Grand Inquisitor) Father (the Grand Inquisitor approaches), what can you tell us of a certain Alfonso Fontanares?

The Grand Inquisitor He is a pupil of Galileo. He professes the heretical doctrine of his master and boasts the power to do wonders while he refuses to explain the means. He is accused of being rather a Moor than a Spaniard.

Quinola (aside) That sallow face is going to spoil all! (To the King) Sire, my master knows no sorcery, excepting so far as he is madly in love, first with the glory of your Majesty, next with a maid of Barcelona, heiress of Lothundiaz, the richest burgess of the town. As he picked up more science than wealth in studying natural science in Italy, the poor youth has failed in his attempt to marry this maid. – And notice, sire, how great men are calumniated; in his despair he made a pilgrimage to the Virgen del Pilar, to beg her assistance, because Marie was the name of the lady he loved. On leaving the church, he sat down wearied under a tree and fell asleep. In his dreams the Virgin appeared to him and communicated to him an invention by which he could navigate ships without sails, without oars, against wind and tide. He approached you, sire; but between the sun and him a cloud intervened, and after a deadly conflict with the cloud, he is now suffering for his confidence in the Virgen del Pilar and in his king. No one but his servant has sufficient courage to come and throw at your feet the news that there exists a means of realizing universal dominion.

Philip II.

I will see your master when I leave the chapel.

The Grand Inquisitor

Surely, the king will not expose himself to such peril?

Philip II.

My duty is to inquire.

The Grand Inquisitor

And mine is to make men respect the privileges of the Sacred Office.

Philip II.

I know them. Obey me and keep silence. I know that I owe you a hostage. I know it. (He looks round) Tell me, where is the Duke of

Olmedo?

Quinola (aside)

Aha!

The Marchioness (aside)

We are lost.

The Captain of the Guards

Sire, the duke is not yet – arrived —

Philip II. Who has given him leave thus boldly to forsake the duties of his office? (Aside) Some one is deceiving me. (To the Captain of the Guards) Tell him, if he comes, that the king has committed him as a prisoner of the Holy Office. (To the Grand Inquisitor) Issue the order.

The Grand Inquisitor

Sire, I will go myself.

The Queen

And what if the duke fails to come?

Philip II. In that case he must be dead. (To the captain) You will take his place in the execution of my orders. (He enters the chapel.)

The Marchioness (to Quinola) Run to the duke's house, tell him to come and comport himself as if he were not wounded to the death. The report will then be considered mere calumny.

Quinola You may reckon upon me, but grant us your protection. (Alone) Great heavens! The king seemed charmed by my little fable of the Virgen del Pilar; I must make a vow to her – but what shall it be? – we will see after we have succeeded.

(Scene curtain.)

SCENE NINTH

(A cell of the Inquisition.)

Fontanares (alone) I understand now why Columbus desired that his fetters should be placed beside him in his coffin. What a lesson for discoverers! A great discovery is a revelation of truth. And truth destroys so many abuses and errors that all those who live by falsehood rise up to slay the truth; they begin by assailing the man. Let inventors then have patience! I myself desire to have it. Unfortunately, my patience proceeds from my love. In the hope of obtaining Marie, I dream of glory and I pursue it. I saw a piece of straw fly up above a boiler. All men have had the same experience since boilers and straw existed. But I saw there a force; in order to estimate its violence, I put a lid on the boiler; the lid flew off but did not kill me. Archimedes and I are of the same mind! He wished for a lever and a fulcrum to move the world; I possess this lever and have been fool enough to say so; since then – misfortunes have overwhelmed me. If I should die, you, man of genius who shall discover the secret, act on it, but keep silence. The light which we discover, men take from us, only to set on fire our funeral pile. Galileo, my master, is in prison for having said that the earth moves, and I am here for attempting to apply the forces of the earth. No! I am here because I rebel against the cupidity of those who desire to steal my secret; were it not for my love for Marie, I would claim my liberty to-night, leaving to them the profit, keeping to myself the fame – Ah! What rage is in my heart! But rage is only fit for children; let me be calm and then I shall be strong. Would that I might have news of the only man who has faith in me! He is at liberty, he, who begged to win me bread. But faith is only found among the poor, who have need of it.

SCENE TENTH

The Grand Inquisitor, a familiar and Fontanares.

The Grand Inquisitor

Well, my son, how are you? You were speaking of faith, doubtless you have made some sage reflections recently. Come now, spare the Holy

Office a resort to severity.

Fontanares

Father, what do you wish me to say?

The Grand Inquisitor Before setting you at liberty, the Holy Office must be sure that the means you employ are natural —

Fontanares Father, if I had made a compact with the Evil One, would he have let me languish here?

The Grand Inquisitor Your words are impious; the devil has a master whose existence is proved by our burning of heretics.

Fontanares

Have you ever seen a ship on the sea? (The Grand Inquisitor assents.)

By what means is it propelled?

The Grand Inquisitor

The wind fills the sails.

Fontanares

Did the devil reveal this method of navigation to the first sailor?

The Grand Inquisitor

Do you know who he was?

Fontanares He was, perhaps, the founder of some long forgotten power that ruled the sea – at any rate, the means that I employ are not less natural than his. I have seen a certain force in nature, a force controllable by man. For the wind is God's creature, and man is not its master, but the wind propels the ships of man, while my force is in the ship itself.

The Grand Inquisitor (aside) This man may prove a dangerous fellow. (Aloud) And you refuse to tell us what it is?

Fontanares I will tell the king, in presence of the court; for, after that, no one will be able to rob me of my glory and the fortune that it brings.

The Grand Inquisitor You call yourself an inventor, and yet you think of nothing but fortune! You are too ambitious to be a man of genius.

Fontanares Father, I am so profoundly disgusted by the jealousy of the vulgar, by the avarice of the great, by the behavior of sham philosophers, that – but for my love for Marie – I would give back that which chance has bestowed upon me.

The Grand Inquisitor

Chance?

Fontanares I am wrong. I would give back to God the thought which God has sent to me.

The Grand Inquisitor God did not send it to you that it might be hidden, and we have the right to force you to divulge it. (To his familiar) Bid them prepare the rack.

Fontanares

I was expecting it.

SCENE ELEVENTH

The Grand Inquisitor, Fontanares, Quinola and the Duke of Olmedo.

Quinola

It isn't a very healthy thing, this torture.

Fontanares

Quinola! And in what a livery!

Quinola

The livery of success, for you are to be freed.

Fontanares

Free? And to pass from hell to heaven in an instant?

The Duke of Olmedo

As martyrs do.

The Grand Inquisitor

Sir, do you dare to say such words in this place!

The Duke of Olmedo I am charged by the king to take out of your custody this man, and will answer for him to the Holy Inquisition.

The Grand Inquisitor

What a mistake!

Quinola

Ah! you would like to boil him in your cauldrons of oil! Many thanks!

His cauldrons are going to carry us 'round the world – like this. (He twirls his hat.)

Fontanares

Embrace me, my friend, and tell me how —

The Duke of Olmedo

Say not a word here —

Quinola

Yes (he points to the Inquisitor), for here the walls have ears. Come.

And you (speaking to the duke) take courage. You are pale, and I must give to you a tinge of color; but I know how to do it.

(Scene curtain.)

SCENE TWELFTH

(Palace gallery as in first scene.)

The Duke of Olmedo, the Duke of Lerma, Fontanares and Quinola.

The Duke of Olmedo

We have come just in time!

The Duke of Lerma

You were not wounded then?

The Duke of Olmedo Who said I was? Would the favorite of the king ruin me? And should I be here, as you see me, if I were dead? (To Quinola) Stand close and hold me up.

Quinola (to Fontanares)

This is a man worthy of your love.

Fontanares Who would not envy such a one? Yet how seldom is occasion given to show one's love.

Quinola Spare us, good sir, all this rigmarole about love, in the presence of the king; for the king, hark you —

A page

The King!

Fontanares

Come on, and let all our thoughts be for Marie!

Quinola (noticing that the Duke of Olmedo is fainting)

How are you? (He puts a flask to his nostrils.)

SCENE THIRTEENTH

The same persons, the King, the Queen, the Captain of the Guards, the

Grand Inquisitor, the Marchioness of Mondejar, the President of the

Council of Castile and the whole court.

Philip II. (to the Captain of the Guards)

Has our man arrived?

The Captain The Duke of Olmedo, whom I met on the palace steps, has at once obeyed the commands of the king.

The Duke of Olmedo (falling on one knee)

Will the king deign to pardon a delay – unpardonable?

Philip II. (raising him by his wounded arm) I was told you were dying – (he glances at the marchioness) – of a wound received in a nocturnal attack.

The Duke of Olmedo

Well, you see me here, sire, a sufficient answer.

The Marchioness (aside)

He is rouged!

Philip II. (to the duke)

Where is your prisoner?

The Duke of Olmedo (pointing to Fontanares)

Yonder he stands.

Fontanares (kneeling) And ready, to the great glory of God, to do wonders which shall add splendor to the reign of the king, my master.

Philip II. Rise up and speak to me; what is this force miraculous which shall give to Spain the empire of the world?

Fontanares It is a force invincible, sire. It is steam; for, when water has become expanded in steam, it demands a much more extensive area than that which it occupies in its natural form; and in order to take that space it would blow up mountains. By my invention this force is confined; the machine is provided with wheels, which beat the sea and propel a vessel as swiftly as the wind, so that tempests cannot resist its course. Voyages can be made in safety and so swiftly that there is no limit to speed excepting in the revolution of the wheels. Human life is lengthened every time a moment is economized. Sire, Christopher Columbus gave to you a world three thousand leagues across the ocean; I will bring one to you at the port of Cadiz, and you shall claim, with the assistance of God, the dominion of the sea.

The Queen

You do not seem to be astonished, sire?

Philip II.

Astonishment is involuntary flattery, and kings may never flatter. (To

Fontanares) What do you ask of me?

Fontanares That which Columbus asked, a ship and the presence of my king to witness the experiment.

Philip II. You shall have all – the king, the realm of Spain – the whole world. They tell me that you love a maid of Barcelona. I am about to cross the Pyrenees, to visit my possessions, Roussillon and Perpignan; you shall receive your vessel at Barcelona.

Fontanares In granting me this vessel, sire, you have done me justice; in giving it to me at Barcelona, you have bestowed a favor which, from a subject, makes me your slave.

Philip II. Yet be cautious; to lose a vessel of the state will be to risk your life, for so the law provides.

Fontanares

I know it, and accept the risk.

Philip II. Well said, brave man! If you succeed in constructing this sailless, oarless vessel that shall face the wind as swiftly as if the wind were in its favor, I will create you – what is your name?

Fontanares

Alfonso Fontanares.

Philip II.

You shall be Don Alfonso Fontanares, Duke of – Neptunado, Grandee of

Spain.

The Duke of Lerma

Sire, the statutes concerning nobility —

Philip II.

Silence! Duke of Lerma. It is the duty of the king to exalt the man of genius above all other men and thus to honor the ray of light which

God has given to him.

The Grand Inquisitor

Sire —

Philip II.

What would you?

The Grand Inquisitor We did not imprison the man on the charge that he had commerce with the devil, nor because of his impiety, nor because he springs from a family suspected of heresy; but for the safety of monarchies. Printing has permitted clever men to communicate their thoughts to others and the result has been – Luther, whose word has flown abroad in every direction. But this man is endeavoring to make out of all the nations of the earth a single people, and, before a multitude like this, the Holy Office trembles for the fate of monarchy.

Philip II.

All progress moves heavenward.

The Grand Inquisitor Heaven does not command many things which yet it does not hinder men from doing.

Philip II. Our duty consists in bringing good out of evil things and in this work of amelioration gathering all within one circle, whose centre is the throne. Do you not see what is here at stake, even the realization of that universal dominion long-sought for by my glorious father? (To Fontanares) When you have won the rank of duke and Spanish grandee of the first class, I will put upon your breast the Golden Fleece; you shall then be appointed Grand Master of Naval Construction in Spain and the Indies. (To a minister) President, you will issue, this very day, under pain of my displeasure, the order to put at the disposal of this man, in our port of Barcelona, such a vessel as he desires, and – see that no obstacle interferes with his enterprise.

Quinola

Sire —

Philip II.

What do you desire?

Quinola

While you are here, grant, sire, full pardon to a wretch named

Lavradi, who was sentenced by a deaf magistrate.

Philip II.

Because the judge was deaf, must the king be blind?

Quinola

No, but indulgent, sire, which is almost the same thing.

Fontanares Pardon! Grant pardon to the only man who has sustained me in my struggle!

Philip II. (to a minister) This man has talked with me, and I gave him my hand to kiss; issue to him letters of my full pardon.

The Queen (to the king) If this man (she points to Fontanares) is one of those great discoverers, raised up by God, Don Philip you have done a good day's work this morning.

Philip II. (to the queen) It is very difficult to distinguish between a man of genius and a madman; but if he is a madman, my promises are only worth the value of his.

Quinola (to the marchioness) Here is your letter, but let me beg you, between ourselves, to write no more.

The Marchioness

We are saved!

(The court follows the king into the royal apartment.)

SCENE FOURTEENTH

Fontanares and Quinola.

Fontanares

Surely I am dreaming – Duke! Grandee of Spain! The Golden Fleece!

Quinola And Master of Naval Construction! We shall have plenty of contractors to patronize. The court is an odd place, I should like to succeed there; how is it to be done? By impudence? I have enough of that to sell! By trickery? Why, the king believes my tale of the Virgen del Pilar. (He laughs) But what is my master thinking about?

Fontanares

Let us start at once.

Quinola

For what place?

Fontanares

For Barcelona.

Quinola No – for a tavern. If the air of the court gives the citizens a good appetite, it makes me devilish thirsty. After a drink, my glorious master, you will see your Quinola a very busy man; for we must not delude ourselves. Between the word of the king and the attainment of success, we shall meet with as many jealous philosophers, scheming tricksters, malicious cavillers, crooked, rapacious, greedy beasts of prey, thievish parasites as have ever beset you in your attempts to see the king.

Fontanares

Yet to obtain my Marie I must succeed.

Quinola

Yes, and for our own sakes also.

Curtain to the Prologue

ACT I

SCENE FIRST

(The scene is Barcelona. The stage represents a public place. On the left of the spectator appear houses, among which that of Lothundiaz stands at the corner of the street. To the right is the palace of Senora Brancadori. The time is night, but the day begins to dawn.)

Monipodio (wrapped in a mantle, seated under the balcony of the Brancadori palace), Quinola (who glides forth cautiously like a thief, and brushes against Monipodio).

Monipodio

Who is it dares to tread on my shoes?

Quinola (in ragged array)

A gentleman, who does not wear any.

Monipodio

That sounds like Lavradi.

Quinola

Monipodio! – I thought that you had been – hanged!

Monipodio

I thought that you had been beaten to death in Africa.

Quinola

Alas, we have been beaten enough without going to Africa!

Monipodio

And do you dare to show yourself here?

Quinola You seem comfortable enough here. As for me, I have the king's pardon in my pocket, and while I am waiting for my patent of nobility I call myself Quinola.

Monipodio

I suppose you stole your pardon?

Quinola

Yes, from the king.

Monipodio

And have you seen the king? (He sniffs at him.) You smell of poverty —

Quinola

Like a poet's garret. And what are you doing?

Monipodio

Nothing.

Quinola That is soon done; if it gives you any income, I would like to embrace your profession.

Monipodio

I have been misunderstood, my friend! Hunted by our political enemies.

Quinola

The judges, magistrates and police.

Monipodio

It is necessary for a man to have a political party.

Quinola

I understand you; from being the game you have become the hunter.

Monipodio What nonsense! I am always myself. I have merely come to an understanding with the viceroy. When one of my fellows has reached the end of his tether, I say to him: "Get off," and if he doesn't go, ah! I hale him to justice – you understand! – That is not treachery is it?

Quinola

It is prevision —

Monipodio

And, by the bye, you have just come from court.

Quinola Listen. (Aside) Here is a man, the very one I want, knows everything in Barcelona. (Aloud) After what you have told me we ought to be friends.

Monipodio

He who has my secret must be my friend —

Quinola You are as watchful here as if you were jealous. What is it? Come let us moisten our clay and wet our whistle with a bottle in some tavern; it is daybreak —

Monipodio Do you see how this palace is lit up for a feast? Don Fregose is dining and gaming at the house of Senora Faustine Brancadori.

Quinola Quite Venetian, Brancadori. 'Tis a rare name! She must be the widow of some patrician.

Monipodio She is twenty-two, subtle as musk, and governs the governor, and, let me tell you between ourselves, has already wheedled out of him all that he picked up under Charles V. in the wars of Italy. What comes from the flute —

Quinola

The air takes. What is the age of the viceroy?

Monipodio

He owns up to sixty years.

Quinola And yet they speak of first love! I know of nothing so terrible as last love; it strangles a man. I am happy that I have been brought up so far with unsinged wings! I might be a statesman —

Monipodio

The old general is still young enough to employ me as a spy upon the

Brancadori, while she pays me for her liberty; and – you can understand the joyous life I lead by making no mischief!

Quinola Now you want to know all, Old Curiosity, in order to place your thumb upon the throat of opportunity! (Monipodio nods assent.) Is Lothundiaz still alive?

Monipodio Yonder is his house, and this palace belongs to him; always grasping more and more property.

Quinola

I had hoped to find the heiress her own mistress. My master is ruined!

Monipodio

You bring back a master