Title: The Goddess of Reason: A Drama in Five Acts
Author: Mary Johnston
Release date: December 27, 2016 [eBook #53817]
Most recently updated: January 10, 2017
Language: English
Credits: E-text prepared by Richard Tonsing, MFR, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
| Note: | Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/goddessofreason00johnuoft |
Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Guests of De Vardes; Peasants; Lackeys; Soldiers; Nuns; Young Girls; The Mob at Nantes; Participants in the Fête of the Goddess of Reason; Republican Commissioners; National Soldiers; Women of the Revolution; Royalist Prisoners; Gaolers; Judges; Executioners; etc., etc.
| Act | I. | The Château of Morbec in Brittany. |
| Act | II. | The Garden of the Convent of the Visitation in Nantes. |
| Act | III. | A Square in Nantes. |
| Act | IV. | A Church in Nantes used as a Prison. |
| Act | V. | Scene I. A Judgment Hall in Nantes. |
| Scene II. The Banks of the Loire. |
The Château of Morbec in Brittany. A formal garden and a wide terrace with stone balustrade. In the background the château, white and peak-roofed, with great arched doors. Beyond it a distant prospect of a Breton village and of the sea beating against a dangerous coast. To the left a thick wood, to the right a perspective of garden alleys, fountains, and flowering trees. On the terrace a small table set with bread, fruit, and wine. In the angle formed by the level of the terrace and the wide stone steps leading into the garden the statue of a nymph, its high and broad pedestal draped with ivy. Scattered on the terrace and steps a litter of stones, broken cudgels, rusty and uncouth weapons. The sun shines, the trees wave in the wind, the birds sing, the flowers bloom. It is a summer morning in the year 1791.
Enter from one of the garden paths a lackey and Rémond Lalain. Lalain wears a riding dress with a tricolour cockade.
The garden of the Convent of the Visitation at Nantes. Long lines of fruit trees which appear to sleep in the sunshine. In the middle of the garden a stone fountain, where rises and falls a little jet of water. To the left the white buildings of the convent; in the background, between the convent and the street, a high garden wall, the tops of trees, and the roof and spire of a church. There is a barred door in the wall. The doors and windows of the convent parlour giving upon the garden are open. It is the summer of 1792.
A nun appears for a moment at the door of the convent, then vanishes, and De Vardes and Yvette enter the garden.
A square in Nantes. On the left the deep porch of a church with pillars. To the right and in the background, a perspective of streets with tall, many-windowed houses. Opposite the church a great plaster statue of Liberty. Over the church door is written in white lettering: “The Republic One and Indivisible. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or Death. National Property.” A distant view of the Loire. Men and women in holiday garb, wearing liberty caps and great tricoloured cockades, cross and recross the square. Life, movement, colour. Red the dominant note. It is the year 1794.
Hoarse voices within. Hawkers of Revolutionary journals cross the square.
[Music. The great tricolour flag of the Republic is borne across the stage.
The interior of a church in Nantes used as a prison. Great broken windows of stained glass, purple and crimson, through which streams the sunlight. Prisoners of both sexes and all ages and conditions of life move to and fro, or lean against the pillars which support the vaulted roof. Some rest or kneel upon the steps before the altar rail. Three children play beside a broken font. Against a door at the left of the great altar lounge several turnkeys dressed in blue woollen with red liberty caps. The Marquise sits beside a pillar. She talks with De Buc and Enguerrand La Fôret. Near her are Count Louis and Mlle. de Château-Gui. De L’Orient stands upon a bench beneath a shattered window. De Vardes sits at a rude table writing.
A butterfly enters at the broken window and flutters through the church.
A Judgment Hall in Nantes. A dais upon which at a heavy table sit several members of the Revolutionary Committee. Behind them soldiers and a great tricolour flag. To one side a tribune draped with tricolour; opposite the tribune a gallery filled with women of the Revolution. Upon the floor of the hall a throng of red-capped men. To the right of the dais a number of the accused, men and women. To the left a small group of the condemned.
Uproar in the hall. An accused who has been standing before the judges rejoins the right-hand group of prisoners. One of the judges rings the bell on the table before him.
The banks of the Loire. Night. Branching trees; between their trunks is seen the river. There is a full moon, but a drifting mist obscures the scene. In the background, upon the river bank, dimly appears a crowd of the condemned, men, women, and children, soldiers and executioners of the Company of Marat. From this throng comes a low, continued, confused sound of command, entreaty, distress, and lamentation. In the foreground the condemned form into groups or move singly to and fro.
Enter Yvette from the shadow of the trees.
