Beau Austin (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By William Ernest Henley and Robert Louis Stevenson

This 1892 play is set in 1820 in Tunbridge Wells, all the action occurring over the span of just ten hours. The prologue by Henley reads (in part)  "A sketch, a shadow, of one brave old time; a hint of what it might have held sublime; a dream, an idyll, call it what you will, of man still Man, and woman—Woman still!"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Dec 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781411464124

Book preview

BEAU AUSTIN

WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY AND

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

This 2011 edition published by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Barnes & Noble, Inc.

122 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10011

ISBN: 978-1-4114-6412-4

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

THE FIRST ACT

THE SECOND ACT

THE THIRD ACT

THE FOURTH ACT

PERSONS REPRESENTED

GEORGE FREDERICK AUSTIN (called "Beau Austin")

JOHN FENWICK (of Allonby Shaw)

ANTHONY MUSGRAVE (Cornet in the Prince's Own)

MENTEITH (the Beau's valet)

A ROYAL DUKE. (Dumb show)

DOROTHY MUSGRAVE (Anthony's Sister)

MISS EVELINA FOSTER (her Aunt)

BARBARA RIDLEY (her Maid)

VISITORS TO THE WELLS

The Time is 1820

The Scene is laid at Tunbridge Wells

The Action occupies a space of ten hours

PROLOGUE

Spoken by MR. TREE in the character of Beau Austin.

To all and singular, as Dryden says,

We bring a fancy of those Georgian days,

Whose style still breathed a faint and fine perfume

Of old-world courtliness and old-world bloom:

When speech was elegant and talk was fit,

For slang had not been canonised as wit;

When manners reigned, when breeding had the wall,

And Women—yes!—were ladies first of all;

When Grace was conscious of its gracefulness,

And man—though Man!—was not ashamed to dress.

A brave formality, a measured ease,

Were his—and her's—whose effort was to please.

And to excel in pleasing was to reign

And, if you sighed, never to sigh in vain.

But then, as now—it may be, something more—

Woman and man were human to the core.

The hearts that throbbed behind that quaint attire

Burned with a plenitude of essential fire.

They, too, could risk, they also could rebel,

They could love wisely—they could love too well.

In that great duel of Sex, that ancient strife

Which is the very central fact of life,

They could—and did—engage it breath for breath,

They could—and did—get wounded unto death.

As at all times since time for us began

Woman was truly woman, man was man,

And joy and sorrow were as much at home

In trifling Tunbridge as in mighty Rome.

Dead—dead and done with! Swift from shine to shade

The roaring generations flit and fade.

To this one, fading, flitting, like the rest,

We come to proffer—be it worst or best—

A sketch, a shadow, of one brave old time;

A hint of what it might have held sublime;

A dream, an idyll, call it what you will,

Of man still Man, and woman—Woman still!

BEAU AUSTIN

MUSICAL INDUCTION: "Lascia ch'io pianga" (Rinaldo).

HANDEL.

THE FIRST ACT

The Stage represents Miss Foster's apartments at the Wells. Doors, L. and C.; a window, L. C., looking on the street; a table, R., laid for breakfast.

SCENE I.

BARBARA; to her MISS FOSTER.

BARBARA.

[Out of window.] Mr. Menteith! Mr. Menteith! Mr. Menteith! Drat his old head! Will nothing make him hear? Mr. Menteith!

MISS FOSTER.

[Entering.] Barbara! this is incredible: after all my lessons, to be leaning from the window, and calling (for unless my ears deceived me, you were positively calling!) into the street.

BARBARA.

Well, madam, just wait until you hear who it was. I declare it was much more for Miss Dorothy and yourself than for me; and if it was a little countrified, I had a good excuse.

MISS FOSTER.

Nonsense, child! At least, who was it?

BARBARA.

Miss Evelina, I was sure you would ask. Well, what do you think? I was looking out of window at the barber's opposite——

MISS FOSTER.

Of which I entirely disapprove——

BARBARA.

And first there came out two of the most beautiful—the Royal livery, madam!

MISS FOSTER.

Of course, of course: the Duke of York arrived last night. I trust you did not