The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 74

SWELLFOOT: Pack them then. _295

PURGANAX: Or fattening some few in two separate sties.

And giving them clean straw, tying some bits Of ribbon round their legs--giving their Sows Some tawdry lace, and bits of l.u.s.tre gla.s.s, And their young Boars white and red rags, and tails _300 Of cows, and jay feathers, and sticking cauliflowers Between the ears of the old ones; and when They are persuaded, that by the inherent virtue Of these things, they are all imperial Pigs, Good Lord! they'd rip each other's bellies up, _305 Not to say, help us in destroying her.

SWELLFOOT: This plan might be tried too;--where's General Laoctonos?

[ENTER LAOCTONOS AND DAKRY.]

It is my royal pleasure That you, Lord General, bring the head and body, If separate it would please me better, hither _310 Of Queen Iona.

LAOCTONOS: That pleasure I well knew, And made a charge with those battalions bold, Called, from their dress and grin, the royal apes, Upon the Swine, who in a hollow square Enclosed her, and received the first attack _315 Like so many rhinoceroses, and then Retreating in good order, with bare tusks And wrinkled snouts presented to the foe, Bore her in triumph to the public sty.

What is still worse, some Sows upon the ground _320 Have given the ape-guards apples, nuts, and gin, And they all whisk their tails aloft, and cry, 'Long live Iona! down with Swellfoot!'

PURGANAX: Hark!

THE SWINE (WITHOUT): Long live Iona! down with Swellfoot!

DAKRY: I Went to the garret of the swineherd's tower, _325 Which overlooks the sty, and made a long Harangue (all words) to the a.s.sembled Swine, Of delicacy mercy, judgement, law, Morals, and precedents, and purity, Adultery, dest.i.tution, and divorce, _330 Piety, faith, and state necessity, And how I loved the Queen!--and then I wept With the pathos of my own eloquence, And every tear turned to a mill-stone, which Brained many a gaping Pig, and there was made _335 A slough of blood and brains upon the place, Greased with the pounded bacon; round and round The mill-stones rolled, ploughing the pavement up, And hurling Sucking-Pigs into the air, With dust and stones.--

[ENTER MAMMON.]

MAMMON: I wonder that gray wizards _340 Like you should be so beardless in their schemes; It had been but a point of policy To keep Iona and the Swine apart.

Divide and rule! but ye have made a junction Between two parties who will govern you _345 But for my art.--Behold this BAG! it is The poison BAG of that Green Spider huge, On which our spies skulked in ovation through The streets of Thebes, when they were paved with dead: A bane so much the deadlier fills it now _350 As calumny is worse than death,--for here The Gadfly's venom, fifty times distilled, Is mingled with the vomit of the Leech, In due proportion, and black ratsbane, which That very Rat, who, like the Pontic tyrant, _355 Nurtures himself on poison, dare not touch;-- All is sealed up with the broad seal of Fraud, Who is the Devil's Lord High Chancellor, And over it the Primate of all h.e.l.l Murmured this pious baptism:--'Be thou called _360 The GREEN BAG; and this power and grace be thine: That thy contents, on whomsoever poured, Turn innocence to guilt, and gentlest looks To savage, foul, and fierce deformity.

Let all baptized by thy infernal dew _365 Be called adulterer, drunkard, liar, wretch!

No name left out which orthodoxy loves, Court Journal or legitimate Review!-- Be they called tyrant, beast, fool, glutton, lover Of other wives and husbands than their own-- _370 The heaviest sin on this side of the Alps!

Wither they to a ghastly caricature Of what was human!--let not man or beast Behold their face with unaverted eyes!

Or hear their names with ears that tingle not _375 With blood of indignation, rage, and shame!'-- This is a perilous liquor;--good my Lords.-- [SWELLFOOT APPROACHES TO TOUCH THE GREEN BAG.]

Beware! for G.o.d's sake, beware!-if you should break The seal, and touch the fatal liquor--

NOTE: _373 or edition 1820; nor edition 1839.

PURGANAX: There, Give it to me. I have been used to handle _380 All sorts of poisons. His dread Majesty Only desires to see the colour of it.

MAMMON: Now, with a little common sense, my Lords, Only undoing all that has been done (Yet so as it may seem we but confirm it), _385 Our victory is a.s.sured. We must entice Her Majesty from the sty, and make the Pigs Believe that the contents of the GREEN BAG Are the true test of guilt or innocence.

And that, if she be guilty, 'twill transform her _390 To manifest deformity like guilt.

If innocent, she will become transfigured Into an angel, such as they say she is; And they will see her flying through the air, So bright that she will dim the noonday sun; _395 Showering down blessings in the shape of comfits.

This, trust a priest, is just the sort of thing Swine will believe. I'll wager you will see them Climbing upon the thatch of their low sties, With pieces of smoked gla.s.s, to watch her sail _400 Among the clouds, and some will hold the flaps Of one another's ears between their teeth, To catch the coming hail of comfits in.

You, Purganax, who have the gift o' the gab, Make them a solemn speech to this effect: _405 I go to put in readiness the feast Kept to the honour of our G.o.ddess Famine, Where, for more glory, let the ceremony Take place of the uglification of the Queen.

DAKRY (TO SWELLFOOT): I, as the keeper of your sacred conscience, _410 Humbly remind your Majesty that the care Of your high office, as Man-milliner To red Bellona, should not be deferred.

PURGANAX: All part, in happier plight to meet again.

[EXEUNT.]

END OF THE ACT 1.

ACT 2.

SCENE 1.2: THE PUBLIC STY.

THE B0ARS IN FULL a.s.sEMBLY.

ENTER PUEGANAX.

PURGANAX: Grant me your patience, Gentlemen and Boars, Ye, by whose patience under public burthens The glorious const.i.tution of these sties Subsists, and shall subsist. The Lean-Pig rates Grow with the growing populace of Swine, _5 The taxes, that true source of Piggishness (How can I find a more appropriate term To include religion, morals, peace, and plenty, And all that fit Boeotia as a nation To teach the other nations how to live?), _10 Increase with Piggishness itself; and still Does the revenue, that great spring of all The patronage, and pensions, and by-payments, Which free-born Pigs regard with jealous eyes, Diminish, till at length, by glorious steps, _15 All the land's produce will be merged in taxes, And the revenue will amount to--nothing!

The failure of a foreign market for Sausages, bristles, and blood-puddings, And such home manufactures, is but partial; _20 And, that the population of the Pigs, Instead of hog-wash, has been fed on straw And water, is a fact which is--you know-- That is--it is a state-necessity-- Temporary, of course. Those impious Pigs, _25 Who, by frequent squeaks, have dared impugn The settled Swellfoot system, or to make Irreverent mockery of the genuflexions Inculcated by the arch-priest, have been whipped Into a loyal and an orthodox whine. _30 Things being in this happy state, the Queen Iona--

NOTE: _16 land's]lands edition 1820.

A LOUD CRY FROM THE PIGS: She is innocent! most innocent!

PURGANAX: That is the very thing that I was saying, Gentlemen Swine; the Queen Iona being Most innocent, no doubt, returns to Thebes, _35 And the lean Sows and Bears collect about her, Wis.h.i.+ng to make her think that WE believe (I mean those more substantial Pigs, who swill Rich hog-wash, while the others mouth damp straw) That she is guilty; thus, the Lean-Pig faction _40 Seeks to obtain that hog-wash, which has been Your immemorial right, and which I will Maintain you in to the last drop of--

A BOAR (INTERRUPTING HIM): What Does any one accuse her of?

PURGANAX: Why, no one Makes ANY positive accusation;--but _45 There were hints dropped, and so the privy wizards Conceived that it became them to advise His Majesty to investigate their truth;-- Not for his own sake; he could be content To let his wife play any pranks she pleased, _50 If, by that sufferance, HE could please the Pigs; But then he fears the morals of the Swine, The Sows especially, and what effect It might produce upon the purity and Religion of the rising generation _55 Of Sucking-Pigs, if it could be suspected That Queen Iona--

[A PAUSE.]

FIRST BOAR: Well, go on; we long To hear what she can possibly have done.

PURGANAX: Why, it is hinted, that a certain Bull-- Thus much is KNOWN:--the milk-white Bulls that feed _60 Beside c.l.i.tumnus and the crystal lakes Of the Cisalpine mountains, in fresh dews Of lotus-gra.s.s and blossoming asphodel Sleeking their silken hair, and with sweet breath Loading the morning winds until they faint _65 With living fragrance, are so beautiful!-- Well, _I_ say nothing;--but Europa rode On such a one from Asia into Crete, And the enamoured sea grew calm beneath His gliding beauty. And Pasiphae, _70 Iona's grandmother,--but SHE is innocent!

And that both you and I, and all a.s.sert.

FIRST BOAR: Most innocent!

PURGANAX: Behold this BAG; a bag--

SECOND BOAR: Oh! no GREEN BAGS!! Jealousy's eyes are green, Scorpions are green, and water-snakes, and efts, _75 And verdigris, and--

PURGANAX: Honourable Swine, In Piggish souls can prepossessions reign?

Allow me to remind you, gra.s.s is green-- All flesh is gra.s.s;--no bacon but is flesh-- Ye are but bacon. This divining BAG _80 (Which is not green, but only bacon colour) Is filled with liquor, which if sprinkled o'er A woman guilty of--we all know what-- Makes her so hideous, till she finds one blind She never can commit the like again. _85 If innocent, she will turn into an angel, And rain down blessings in the shape of comfits As she flies up to heaven. Now, my proposal Is to convert her sacred Majesty Into an angel (as I am sure we shall do), _90 By pouring on her head this mystic water.

[SHOWING THE BAG.]

I know that she is innocent; I wish Only to prove her so to all the world.

FIRST BOAR: Excellent, just, and n.o.ble Purganax.

SECOND BOAR: How glorious it will be to see her Majesty _95 Flying above our heads, her petticoats Streaming like--like--like--

THIRD BOAR: Anything.

PURGANAX: Oh no!

But like a standard of an admiral's s.h.i.+p, Or like the banner of a conquering host, Or like a cloud dyed in the dying day, _100 Unravelled on the blast from a white mountain; Or like a meteor, or a war-steed's mane, Or waterfall from a dizzy precipice Scattered upon the wind.

FIRST BOAR: Or a cow's tail.

SECOND BOAR: Or ANYTHING, as the learned Boar observed. _105

PURGANAX: Gentlemen Boars, I move a resolution, That her most sacred Majesty should be Invited to attend the feast of Famine, And to receive upon her chaste white body Dews of Apotheosis from this BAG. _110

[A GREAT CONFUSION IS HEARD OF THE PIGS OUT OF DOORS, WHICH COMMUNICATES ITSELF TO THOSE WITHIN. DURING THE FIRST STROPHE, THE DOORS OF THE STY ARE STAVED IN, AND A NUMBER OF EXCEEDINGLY LEAN PIGS AND SOWS AND BOARS RUSH IN.]