Before making any remarks upon this powerful play, we shall proceed to analyze the corresponding production of Schiller, in order to present the two pieces in as {705} close proximity as possible. In _Don Carlos_, we are transported at once into the Spanish court, and the tragedy has all the aids and appliances which a graphic delineation of the manners of the age and country can give. We have no “voices in the desert;” all around reminds us that we are among the ministers and courtiers of a despotic monarch; there are the pomp and circumstance of sovereign state; the jealousies, the repinings, the fears and the plots of selfish and intriguing courtiers; the designs and labors of patriotic enthusiasm and of less disinterested feelings, and the contrast of innocence and unsuspicious credulity with artful malice. The piece opens with an interview between the prince and the king's confessor Domingo, which takes place in the royal garden at Aranjuez. The priest artfully endeavors to learn the cause of the evident melancholy cherished by Don Carlos. For this purpose, he alludes to the queen, and the sorrow which the depression of her son-in-law has occasioned her. The prince, with artifice of which he seems afterwards ashamed, replies by accusing her of having cost him the affection of his father; but Domingo cannot believe in his dislike. “You mock me, prince. All Spain Adores her queen. Can you with eye of hate Behold what all esteem? * * The loveliest woman in the world, a queen— And once your bride. Impossible, my prince! It cannot be! No—no. Where all men love Can Carlos never hate; you cannot thus Strangely gainsay yourself. Be sure the queen Knows not how much she hath her son displeased; 'Twould be a grief to her.” He goes on to assure the heir of her interest for him; and relates an incident that occurred at a tournament, in which her fears for his safety were involuntarily betrayed. Carlos haughtily replies: “I much admire The king's gay confidant, so aptly versed In tales of curious wit.” and adds in a more serious tone, “Ever I've heard it said, the spy on looks, And he who treasures tales, hath done more ill In this wide world, than in the murderer's hand The dagger or the poisoned cup. Your trouble, Good sir, you might have spared; if thanks you wait, Hence to the king.”