Basilio King of Poland.
Segismund his Son.
Astolfo his Nephew.
Estrella his Niece.
Clotaldo a General in Basilio's Service.
Rosaura a Muscovite Lady.
Fife her Attendant.
Chamberlain, Lords in Waiting, Officers,
Soldiers, etc., in Basilio's Service.
The Scene of the first and third Acts lies on the Polish frontier: of
the second Act, in Warsaw.
As this version of Calderon's drama is not for acting, a higher and
wider mountain-scene than practicable may be imagined for Rosaura's
descent in the first Act and the soldiers' ascent in the last. The bad
watch kept by the sentinels who guarded their state-prisoner, together
with much else (not all!) that defies sober sense in this wild drama, I
must leave Calderon to answer for; whose audience were not critical of
detail and probability, so long as a good story, with strong, rapid, and
picturesque action and situation, was set before them.
SCENE I--A pass of rocks, over which a storm is rolling away,
and the sun setting: in the foreground, half-way down, a fortress.
(Enter first from the topmost rock Rosaura, as from horseback, in man's
attire; and, after her, Fife.)
ROSAURA.
There, four-footed Fury, blast
Engender'd brute, without the wit
Of brute, or mouth to match the bit
Of man--art satisfied at last?
Who, when thunder roll'd aloof,
