August Wilhelm Iffland

“ Is that your wisdom! your honour! your integrity! Have I, therefore,--well,--if matters are so with you, then do as you like; enquire no more after me, come no more to see me; you ought to be ashamed of yourself, in the presence of your honest father. Farewell, Jack; repent and amend. I will visit you no more, till you have altered your ways, and divided your cursed mammon among the poor. Live on your honest earnings; then come to me, tender me a clean hand, and I will bless you. (Exit.)
SCENE V. Privy Counsellor, (alone.) ”

“ Ay, if I were in your stead, I would say to myself, "True, I have won the cause, but I will not keep what is not mine;" your conscience then would applaud you, and your fellow-citizens would esteem you; you would find consolation under every affliction, and when the cold hand of death had arrested almost every faculty, and benumbed almost every sense, your soul would look up with trembling confidence to heaven. The poor orphans would gather round your dying bed, and weep for their second father. ”

“ Yes, Clarenbach, I do not conceal it from you; I could not leave you without giving myself up to those tears.
P. Coun. Sophia, my angel! the promised companion of my life, my guardian angel, the most precious gift of providence! How dare I presume to merit your partiality? No! I shall never be able to merit you. Such purity and goodness of mind! how can I convince you of the sincerity of my esteem?
Soph. Clarenbach!
P. Coun. (takes her by the hand.) Sophia!
Soph. A wife has many duties to discharge. ”

“ Jack, listen to the words of this good old man; let them sink deep into your heart; let them be your model! He possesses little worldly wealth; but, at the last day, what myriads that now roll in wealth would wish that they had possessed as little and done half as much good with it; but it is not for me to judge; I only say, make him your model.
P. Coun. Dear father, I will. Enter Aulic Counsellor Reissman.
Reiss. I am come to tell you what I know will please you. How sweet are the tears of repentance! how refreshing to the drooping soul! I have at last settled my accounts with my conscience ”

“ SCENE IV. Enter Reissman.
Reiss. Aye, good morrow, Miss! Good morrow, Mr. Clarenbach! Well, how are you?
Clar. At work, Sir!
Reiss. So you have, ex officio, been appointed guardian of the poor orphans of Brunnig?
Clar. Yes, Sir, these four days.
Reiss. Aye, aye; it will prove a troublesome piece of business. Poor children! I pity them.
Clar. So do I.--And, to tell you the truth, the valuable bequest of the old aunt ought to go to the children, and not to you; to whom, contrary to all right and equity, she has bequeathed her all. ”

“ Who can refuse his esteem to the man who has tasted the cup of luxury, and, in the flower of youth and in the height of his career, can dash it from his lips, and say, "I will not drink it; I prefer the charms of a tranquil life to all the noise and well-bred hate of a court? I am too irritable to rule my fellow-citizens, notwithstanding I wish to serve them."
P. Coun. Sophia! ”

“ Clar. Ay! You ought to read it in my countenance; I would fain open the window, and call out, Jack is no more a Privy Counsellor,--vivat! And then there is a pretty, amiable, discreet young lady, that is not possessed with the demon of pride,--vivat! and she will be Master Clarenbach's daughter in law,--vivat! huzza, I say, Gernau! Girl, come, give me a kiss! (They kiss.)
SCENE XI. Enter Gernau and Frederica.
Clar. Jack is my son once more,--vivat! huzza! husband and wife! (steps between them,) son and daughter! (Embraces him.) ”

“ Ay, I see that your good intentions were in my favour. They were good I see,--I thank you for them. Give me your hand, sweet creature! (shaking her good naturedly by the hand.) Blessed is the man who is doomed to have you for his wife.
Soph. Happy is that son who has such a father! (She leads the son up to the father, and they embrace.)
P. Coun. Behold the father of us both, Sophia!
Soph. O heaven!
P. Coun. How!
Soph. That is the grand question that must give us pause! (Clarenbach makes a sign to Frederica and Gernau, and they retire with him.)
SCENE IX. Sophia, Privy Counsellor Clarenbach. ”

“ How can you save the honour of your situation in life, if the honour of your heart be lost, and that must be lost among these people?--You have removed honest Gernau, because he acts up to his duty.--Your sister weeps bitterly,--the town despises you;--I have not yet frowned on you. ”

“ Benninger, as I am well informed, has secretly offered your son two thousand dollars by way of present.
Clar. What?
Grob. They have agreed.
Clar. Infamous calumny!
Grob. I will give you two hundred dollars beside, if you--
Clar. Set off!--for, upon my word, I will do you some mischief.
Grob. Do you want more than two hundred?
Clar. Justice I want, Justice! My son shall send you to prison, unless he be as great a good for nothing as yourself.
Grob. (laughs.) For what?
Clar. Sell! sell a monopoly! take money,--a bribe! My son, Jack Clarenbach, the sovereign's deputy, take money! ”

“ Oh! what now am I, what do I now feel! O the power of pure love!--without thee I cannot exist. (Starts up.) Sophia! better being! forget the past, build thy requests upon the future; they commit murder on thy father and me! (Going, meets Counsellor Wellenberg at the door.)
SCENE V. Privy Counsellor Clarenbach, Counsellor Wellenberg.
Well. Most honoured Sir.
P. Coun. What is your pleasure, Sir?
Well. I am forced, by necessity, to go in quest of you, Sir; the suit of the poor orphans--
P. Coun. Is determined; the will is confirmed. ”

“ I will acknowledge it with filial affection, with the same care and attention as if I were your own daughter.
Clar. Jack has obtained you by noble means, dear daughter; that is a good and laudable commencement of the marriage-state.
SCENE VI. Enter Gernau.
Gern. Dear old man, I have forgotten all the wrongs the Privy Counsellor ever did me. They now vanish like a dream. He has more than compensated for all. ”

“ Reiss. Who is to oppose us?
Clar. The rules of the foundation itself; right and equity. The hospital, ad Sanctum Mauritium, is destined for the old and the sick; we must not displace them. No, I will carry on the suit against you as an unlawful heir.--
Reiss. Aye, thou good Lord in heaven! the will is so plain--
Clar. If I am cast, I will take Brunnig's children into my house, and then I will immediately engage in more business, employ more hands, and work hard to accomplish my design, with the aid of heaven.
Reiss. But your son, the deputy, approves of the children being sent to the hospital. ”

“ SCENE VIII. Enter Privy Counsellor Clarenbach.
P. Coun. I am happy to find you, Sophia, by the side of my good father, hand in hand. What an enchanting picture in my eye! love, worth, and affection, hand in hand! my Sophia beneath the same roof under which I was born!
Soph. Yes; and I read in your eyes that you were pleased to see me here.
P. Coun. (kissing her hand.) God is my witness, this moment is the happiest of my life; happiness has been a stranger to my heart this long time.
Soph. (rises.) Let peace and happiness dwell in this house henceforward ”

“ Should the poor children lose their suit, you are not the man neither of whom I should wish them take alms.
Reiss. Oh! if matters stand so, then I will do nothing at all, for my conscience is free, thank God.
Clar. I wish you joy.
Reiss. As for the rest, it is now all in your option, whether you will promote your son's happiness through that marriage, or not. I wish you good business, Master Clarenbach.
Clar. (alone.) Hem, hem!--I do not wish it, I know well enough;--but I should be sorry for Jack, if he were to lose the girl on that account. ”

“ My first and last words are, give up the whole of the bequest, or take the oath!
Reiss. Ay! what is all that!-- (Fills a glass for himself out of the bottle which he had removed from Wellenberg's side.) A glass of wine will warm you. Come, touch here! (Offers to touch glasses with him.)
Well. No! the inclinations which wine inspires are false. Good inclinations ought to come from the heart instead of the bottle. ”

“ SCENE V. Master Clarenbach's house.
Master Clarenbach, Sophia.
Clar. Step in here, child! here you are, if not rich, at least safe. You have now done your duty as a daughter. Now recommend the perverse man to heaven, and let things take their course.
Soph. Can I be easy with that? It is lamentable, that I have no other means left.
Clar. My son has acted as a man of honour ought. ”

“ Look you here, my sweet girl! he was not calculated for it, no more than a true genuine christian Privy Counsellor is calculated for a carpenter. He has had some learning indeed; but then all that solid by-work, such as is requisite for a Privy Counsellor, of that he never was possessed; and so sit down to work. I must work too; we will scrape plenty of money together, without wronging any one. Daughter-in-law, Frederica, and I, will nurse him as the best soul we know. Now pray give the girl a kiss, that I may believe in the relationship.-- (Sophia kisses her.) ”

“ SCENE VIII. Enter Sophia Reissman.
Sophia knocks. Frederica screams, and covers her face with her hands.
Soph. (comes in.) Any good people in this house? (Fred. rises and curtesies, her eyes cast down.) They must be all dead, as no one is to be found.
Fred. I am quite alone in the house, madam.
Soph. Do you know me, sweet girl?
Fred. You are, Miss--yes--but--
Soph. Reissman. The Aulic Counsellor Reissman's daughter.
Fred. So; I am glad; I know it well enough; but pray do me the favour to be seated. ”

“ Sit down here, if you please.-- (Wellenberg sits down at the table.) --Our good ancient German ancestors used always to drink a glass when they sat down on some good purpose, or when they had a mind to lay down some good rules for their descendents. (Fills a glass.)
Well. Ay, if there were any such good purposes in the present case, I would have no objection.
Reiss. Drink to a good intention, (raising the glass,) dear Mr. Wellenberg.
Well. When the good shall be atchieved, we will take a little wine; a very little, as an offering to gratitude.
Reiss. Wine cheers the heart of man. ”

“ When we shall be at so great a distance from each other; when, in obedience to my official duties, I must fly over hill and valley, your picture in my mind, and my heart beating only for you, the image of the poor huntsman will soon be effaced by the splendid objects with which you are going to be dazzled. ”

“ You have not been moulded to it by virtue, but frightened into it by vice. You are irritable, you are weak, you are ambitious. A time may come, when neither your father, nor the woman you love will be able to influence you, as they luckily do at present. ”

“ Soph. Alas! Brunnig's children would form the fittest groupe of weeping orphans around such a monument.
Reiss. Ungrateful wretch! is this the return for my parental affection? Was it not through the view of gaining this legacy that I raised a deputy to the rank of a privy counsellor? Who is my wealth to devolve to but you and him?
SCENE III. Enter Privy Counsellor Clarenbach.
Reiss. There he is! Thanks, my hearty thanks for the dispatch! That is what I call business. That is what I call a specimen of a useful son-in-law.--Now Miss may fix the happy day. ”

“ Reissman!
Clar. I hope, you will not make that an object of minute enquiry?
Reiss. That depends on the nature of the remaining charges. A resignation cannot undo what is done. Come along, daughter, let us go.
Soph. Dear father!
P. Coun. In virtue of your promise, you are my father-in-law; if you wish to be my enemy in earnest, you may abide by the consequence. Whatever I could do and urge against you, Sophia has my word for it, I will do nothing. Sophia is my lawful bride. ”

“ ACT V. SCENE I. Enter Aulic Counsellor Reissman, bringing in two bottles of wine, which he puts on the table.
Reiss. The doctor is dead,--good night to him! The lawyer will soon follow; he is an old man! Old people are subject to many accidents; death has them constantly at his nod, such is the course of nature! ”

“ He is a Deputy,--let him thank God for it! I am a carpenter, thank heaven! You are my good dutiful daughter, that takes care of me, nurses me, and gives me great satisfaction; and for that, I return heaven threefold thanks from the bottom of my heart. (Fred. embraces him.) Yes, you are very good! I only find fault with two things; in every other respect you are a nice girl, quite the girl after my own heart. ”