We are going to vote fifty millions, I hear. We'll whack him, and preserve your noble country for 'ee, Senor Viscount. The debate thereon is to come off to-morrow. It will be the finest thing the Commons have had since Pitt's time. Sheridan, who is open to it, says he and Canning are to be absolutely unanimous; and, by God, like the parties in his “Critic,” when Government and Opposition do agree, their unanimity is wonderful! Viscount Materosa, you and your friends must be in the Gallery. O, dammy, you must! MATEROSA Sir, we are already pledged to be there. PRINCE OF WALES And hark ye, Senor Viscount. You will then learn what a mighty fine thing a debate in the English Parliament is! No Continental humbug there. Not but that the Court has a trouble to keep 'em in their places sometimes; and I would it had been one in the Lords instead. However, Sheridan says he has been learning his speech these two days, and has hunted his father's dictionary through for some stunning long words.--Now, Maria [to Mrs. Fitzherbert], I am going home. LADY SALISBURY At last, then, England will take her place in the forefront of this mortal struggle, and in pure disinterestedness fight with all her strength for the European deliverance. God defend the right! [The Prince of Wales leaves, and the other guests begin to depart.] SEMICHORUS I OF THE YEARS [aerial music] Leave this glib throng to its conjecturing, And let four burdened weeks uncover what they bring! SEMICHORUS II The said Debate, to wit; its close in deed; Till England stands enlisted for the Patriots' needs. SEMICHORUS I And transports in the docks gulp down their freight Of buckled fighting-flesh, and gale-bound, watch and wait. SEMICHORUS II Till gracious zephyrs shoulder on their sails To where the brine of Biscay moans its tragic tales. CHORUS Bear we, too, south, as we were swallow-vanned, And mark the game now played there by the Master-hand! [The reception-chamber is shut over by the night without, and the point of view rapidly recedes south, London and its streets and lights diminishing till they are lost in the distance, and its noises being succeeded by the babble of the Channel and Biscay waves.] SCENE IV MADRID AND ITS ENVIRONS [The view is from the housetops of the city on a dusty evening in this July, following a day of suffocating heat. The sunburnt roofs, warm ochreous walls, and blue shadows of the capital, wear their usual aspect except for a few feeble attempts at decoration.] DUMB SHOW Gazers gather in the central streets, and particularly in the Puerta del Sol. They show curiosity, but no enthusiasm. Patrols of French soldiery move up and down in front of the people, and seem to awe them into quietude.