PAMMERSTEIN, afterwards HARLEQUIN, Captain of the Robbers.
HANS, or LITTLE JACK, afterwards PANTALOON, a degraded Robber.
GRIME, afterwards CLOWN, a discontented Robber.

FUCHSEN-MAUL, afterwards SCARAMOUCH, a grasping Robber.
RIBALDO, afterwards SPRITE, an impudent Robber.

BREWIS, afterwards JEAMES, a respectable Robber.

RALPHO, a comic Robber.

BEETLE, a prosing Robber.

HALLE, an insignificant Robber.

Various other ROBBERS, of inferior character.

CRANULA, afterwards COLUMBINE, a very old woman, Housekeeper to the Robbers. ATE, the Witch of Discord.

SHODDY, a Demon.

Subordinate Characters in Pantomime.

FIGS, a Grocer. An OGRE. STILETTO, COSPETTO, and MALEDETTO, Refugees. Old GENTLEMAN. Old LADY. EX-PRESIDENT of the Peace Society. SOLDIERS. LAZZARONI. CHINESE POSTMAN. &c. &c.

No limits have we set to this our play,
It ranges wide from London to Cathay.

SCENE I.

A Wood in the vicinity of the Castle of Pammerstein.

Enter HANS.

So! I am here again, unwatched, and free!

No traitor foot hath followed in my steps

To this malignant and sequestered glen,

Where, thirty years ago, that wondrous witch,
Até, grim daughter of the infernal gods,

Breathed on my brow, and claimed me as her child.

VOL. LXXXI.

26

"Go forth," she said, "my pretty one, go forth,
And win new realms of discord for thy dam.
Be thou to all men as a blazing torch
That scatters scalding venom far and near;
Or as the pestilential fog at eve

That slowly creeps along the labourers' field,
And sours the harvest with its withering blight.
Go forth, my Hans, and be the robbers' king!"

And I went forth, and was the robbers' king. Have I not plundered churches by the score, Ransacked the hoards of thrifty husbandmen, Stripped henroosts of their silly fowls, and given The flaming stackyards to the midnight storm? Have I not set fast brothers by the ears, Yes, made them loathers of their kindred flesh, And slipped stilettoes into griping hands? Have I not sometimes backed the prurient monk, And sometimes roused the reformado's zeal? And have I not, in piping times of peace, Beset the highways with my thimble board, And fleeced the unwary traveller of his coin? What am I now? a poor degraded man, An understrapper of the thievish bandCozened, neglected, laughed at-made the scorn Of base companions whom I whilome led, And all through that arch-villain Pammerstein ! I will have vengeance, vengeance!

Here she dwells.

There hang the filthy bats above her cave,
And screech-owls hoot within the poison-tree.
O mother Até? hear me and come forth!

Enter ATE from the Cavern.
Who is this? who calls on me?
Ha! my dainty son! I see,
Years have scarcely altered thee.
Still the same in mind and feature,

Still the same engaging creature.

What is't brings thee, darling Hanschen,
To thine aged mother's mansion?
Aid or counsel doest thou lack?
Tell me all, my little Jack!

HANS.

O my dear mother, they have wronged me sore! Thou knowest that once I was the robbers' king, And now a simple outlaw stand I here.

ATE.

Who hath wronged my pretty starling?
Speak in rhymes alternate, darling!

HANS.

Pammerstein, that ancient Cupid,
Would I saw him in his grave!
I was so intensely stupid,
As to trust that slippery knave.
With his jestings and grimaces
He debauched the robber crew;
And to me their well-known faces,
Ever strange and stranger grew.