Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/goddessofreason00johnuoft Transcriber’s note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). THE GODDESS OF REASON A Drama in Five Acts THE GODDESS OF REASON by MARY JOHNSTON Boston and New York Houghton, Mifflin and Company MDCCCCVII Copyright 1907 by Mary Johnston All Rights Reserved Published May 1907 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TO THE HOUSEHOLD AT WOODLEY THIS DRAMA IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED [Illustration] _DRAMATIS PERSONÆ_ RENÉ-AMAURY DE VARDES, _Baron of Morbec_ RÉMOND LALAIN, _Deputy from Vannes_ THE ABBÉ JEAN DE BARBASAN COUNT LOUIS DE CHÂTEAU-GUI CAPTAIN FAUQUEMONT DE BUC MELIPARS DE L’ORIENT ENGUERRAND LA FÔRET THE VIDAME DE SAINT-AMOUR THE ENGLISHMAN GRÉGOIRE RAÔUL THE HUNTSMAN A SERGEANT OF HUSSARS YVETTE THE MARQUISE DE BLANCHEFÔRET MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI MME. DE VAUCOURT MME. DE MALESTROIT MME. DE PONT À L’ARCHE SISTER FIDELIS SISTER SIMPLICIA SISTER BENEDICTA NANON CÉLESTE ANGÉLIQUE SÉRAPHINE AN ACTRESS _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._ _TIME 1791–1794_ 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. [Illustration] THE GODDESS OF REASON _ACT I_ _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._