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The Resources of Quinola: A Comedy in a Prologue and Five Acts
SCENE NINTH
The same persons, Coppolus and Carpano.
Coppolus Senor, I come to tell you that the magistrates of Barcelona have granted me a lien on your machine, and I shall take measures that no part of it leaves this place. My confrere, Carpano, your locksmith, shares my claim.
Fontanares What devil is blinding you? Without me, this machine is nothing but so much iron, steel, copper and wood; with me, it represents a fortune.
Coppolus
We are not going to leave you.
(The two merchants make a movement as if to hem in Fontanares.)
Fontanares What friend embraces you so closely as a creditor? Well, well, I wish the devil would take back the great thought he gave me.
All
The devil!
Fontanares Ah! I must keep watch upon my tongue or one word will throw me into the clutches of the Inquisition! No glory can recompense me for such sufferings as these!
Coppolus (to Carpano)
Shall we have it sold?
Fontanares But to be worth anything, the machine must be finished, and one piece of it is wanting, of which the model is before you. (Coppolus and Carpano consult together.) Two hundred sequins more would be required for its completion.
SCENE TENTH
The same persons, Quinola (disguised as a fantastic old man),
Monipodio (fancifully dressed), the landlord of the Golden Sun.
The Landlord of the Golden Sun (pointing to Fontanares)
Senor, that is he.
Quinola And so you have lodged the grandson of General Fontanares in a stable! The republic of Venice will set him in a palace! My dear boy, let me embrace you. (He steps up to Fontanares.) The most noble republic has learned of your promises to the king of Spain, and I have left the arsenal at Venice, over which I preside, in order that – (aside to Fontanares) I am Quinola.
Fontanares
Never was an ancestor restored to life more opportunely —
Quinola In what a miserable condition I find you! – Is this then the antechamber of glory!
Fontanares
Misery is the crucible in which God tests our strength.
Quinola
Who are these people?
Fontanares
Creditors and workmen clamoring for their wages.
Quinola (to the landlord)
Rascal of a landlord, is this the dwelling-place of my grandson?
The Landlord
Certainly, your excellency.
Quinola I have some knowledge of the laws of Catalonia, and I shall send for the magistrate to put these rogues in prison. You may call down the bailiffs upon my grandson, but keep to your own houses, you blackguards! (He fumbles in his pocket.) Stay! Now go and drink my health. (He throws money among them.) Come to me later on and you shall be paid.
The Workmen
Long live his excellency! (Exeunt.)
Quinola (to Fontanares)
Our last doubloon! But it was a good bluff.
SCENE ELEVENTH
The same persons, without the host and the workmen.
Quinola (to the two tradesmen) As for you, my good fellows, you seem to be made of better stuff, and by the intervention of a little money we can come to a settlement.
Coppolus
Yes, we shall then, your excellency, be at your service.
Quinola Do I see here, my son, that famous invention about which Venice is so excited? Where is the plan, the elevation, the section, the working drawings of the machine?
Coppolus (to Carpano) He knows all about it, but we must get further information before advancing anything.
Quinola
You are an amazing man, my son! Like Columbus, you will yet have your day. (He kneels.) I thank God for the honor He had done our family.
(To the merchants) Two hours from this I will pay you.
(Exeunt Coppolus and Carpano.)
SCENE TWELFTH
Quinola, Fontanares and Monipodio.
Fontanares
What will be the result of this imposture?
Quinola
You were tottering on the brink of an abyss, and I rescued you.
Monipodio It was well impersonated! But the Venetians have abundance of money, and in order to obtain three months' credit, we must throw dust into the eyes of the creditors, and this is the most expensive kind of dust.
Quinola Didn't I tell you that there was a treasure coming? Well it's here now.
Monipodio
Coming of its own accord?
(Quinola assents with a nod.)
Fontanares
His effrontery terrifies me.
SCENE THIRTEENTH
The same persons, Mathieu Magis and Don Ramon.
Mathieu Magis I have brought Don Ramon to you, for I wish to do nothing without his sanction.
Don Ramon (to Fontanares) Senor, I am delighted at this opportunity of sharing the work of so eminent a man of science. We two will be enabled to bring your invention to the highest perfection.
Quinola Senor knows mechanics, ballistics, mathematics, dioptrics, catoptrics, statistics?
Don Ramon
Indeed I do. I have purchased many valuable treatises.
Quinola
In Latin?
Don Ramon
No, in Spanish.
Quinola No true philosopher, senor, writes in anything but Latin. There is a danger that science may be vulgarized. Do you know Latin?
Don Ramon
Yes, senor.
Quinola
So much the better for you.
Fontanares Senor, I respect the name which you have made; but I cannot accept your offer, because of the dangers attendant on my enterprise; I am risking my head in this work and yours is too precious to be exposed.
Don Ramon Do you think, senor, that you can afford to slight Don Ramon, the great scientific authority?
Quinola Don Ramon! The famous Don Ramon, who has expounded the causes of so many natural phenomena, which hitherto had been thought to happen without cause?
Don Ramon
The very man.
Quinola I am Fontanaresi, director of the arsenal of the Venetian Republic, and grandfather of our inventor. My son, you may have full confidence in Don Ramon; a man of his position can have no designs upon you; let us tell him everything.
Don Ramon (aside)
Ah! I am going to learn everything about the machine.
Fontanares (aside to Quinola)
What is all this about?
Quinola (aside to Fontanares) Let me give him a lesson in mathematics; it will do him no good, and us no harm. (To Don Ramon) Will you come here? (He points out the parts of the machine) All this is meaningless; for philosophers, the great thing —
Don Ramon
The great thing?
Quinola
Is the problem itself! You know the reason why clouds mount upwards?
Don Ramon
I believe it is because they are lighter than the air.
Quinola Not at all! They are heavy as well as light, for the water that is in them ends by falling as flat as a fool. I don't like water, do you?
Don Ramon
I have a great respect for it.
Quinola I see that we are made for each other. The clouds rise to such a height, because they are vapor, and are also attracted by the force of the cold upper air.
Don Ramon
That may be true. I will write a treatise on the subject.
Quinola My grandson states this in the formula R plus O. And as there is much water in the air, we simply say O plus O, which is a new binomial.
Don Ramon
A new binomial!
Quinola
Yes, an X, if you like it better.
Don Ramon
X, ah yes, I understand!
Fontanares (aside)
What a donkey!
Quinola The rest is a mere trifle. The tube receives the water which by some means or other, has been changed to cloud. This cloud is bound to rise and the resulting force is immense.
Don Ramon
Immense, why immense?
Quinola Immense – in that it is natural, since man – pay particular attention to this – does not create force —
Don Ramon
Very good, then how – ?
Quinola He borrows it from nature; to invent, is to borrow. Then – by means of certain pistons – for in mechanics – you know —
Don Ramon
Yes, senor, I know mechanics.
Quinola Very good! The method of applying a force is child's play, a trifle, a matter of detail, as in the turnspit —
Don Ramon
Ah! He employs the turnspit then?
Quinola There are two here, and the force is such that it raises the mountains, which skip like rams – as was predicted by King David.
Don Ramon
Senor, you are perfectly right, the clouds, that is, the water —
Quinola Water, senor? Why! It is the world. Without water, you could not – That is plain. Well now! This is the point on which my grandson's invention is based; water will subdue water. X equals O plus O, that is the complete formula.
Don Ramon (aside)
The terms he employs are incomprehensible.
Quinola
Do you understand me?
Don Ramon
Perfectly.
Quinola (aside) This man is a driveling dotard. (Aloud) I have spoken to you in the language of genuine philosophy —
Mathieu Magis (to Monipodio)
Can you tell me who this remarkably learned man is?
Monipodio He is a very great man, to whom I am indebted for my knowledge of ballistics; he is the director of the Venetian arsenal, and purposes this evening to make us a contribution on behalf of the republic.
Mathieu Magis
I must go and tell Senora Brancadori, she comes from Venice. (Exit.)
SCENE FOURTEENTH
The same persons, with the exception of Mathieu Magis. Lothundiaz and
Marie.
Marie
Am I in time?
Quinola (aside)
Hurrah! Here comes our treasure.
(Lothundiaz and Don Ramon exchange greetings and examine the pieces of machinery in the centre of the stage.)
Fontanares
What! Is Marie here?
Marie My father brought me. Ah! my dear friend, your servant told me of your distress —
Fontanares (to Quinola)
You scoundrel!
Quinola
What, grandson!
Marie
And he brought all my agonies to an end.
Fontanares
Tell me, pray, what was it troubled you?
Marie You cannot imagine the persecutions I have endured since your arrival, and especially since your quarrel with Madame Brancadori. What could I do against the authority of my father? It is absolute. While I remained at home, I doubted my power to help you; my heart was yours in spite of everything, but my bodily presence —
Fontanares
And so you are another martyr!
Marie By delaying the day of your triumph, you have made my position intolerable. Alas! when I see you here, I perceive that you yourself at the same time have been enduring incredible hardships. In order that I might be with you for a moment, I have feigned an intention of vowing myself to God; this evening I enter a convent.
Fontanares A convent? Is that the way they would separate us? These tortures make one curse the day of his birth. And you, Marie, you, who are the mainspring and the glory of my discovery, the star that protected my destiny, I have forced you to seek refuge in heaven! I cannot stand up against that. (He weeps.)
Marie But by promising to enter a convent, I obtained my father's permission to come here. I wish in bidding you farewell to bring you hope. Here are the savings of a young girl, of your sister, which I have kept against the day when all would forsake you.
Fontanares
And what care I for glory, for fortune, for life itself, without you?
Marie Accept the gift which is all that the woman who intends to be your wife can and ought to offer. If I feel that you are unhappy and in distress, hope will forsake me in my retirement, and I shall die, uttering a last prayer for you!
Quinola (to Marie) Let him play the proud man, we may save him in spite of himself. Do you know it is for this purpose that I am passing myself off as his grandfather?
(Marie gives her purse to Quinola.)
Lothundiaz (to Don Ramon)
So you do not think much of him?
Don Ramon Oh, no, he is an artisan, who knows nothing and who doubtless stole his secret in Italy.
Lothundiaz I have always doubted him, and it seems I was right in refusing him my daughter in marriage.
Don Ramon He would bring her to beggary. He has squandered five thousand sequins, and has gone into debt three thousand in eight months, without attaining any result! Ah! He is a contrast with his grandfather. There's a philosopher of the first rank for you! Fontanares will have to work hard to catch up with him. (He points to Quinola.)
Lothundiaz
His grandfather?
Quinola
Yes, senor, my name of Fontanares was changed to that of Fontanaresi.
Lothundiaz
And you are Pablo Fontanaresi?
Quinola
Yes, Pablo himself.
Lothundiaz
And you are rich?
Quinola
Opulent.
Lothundiaz That delights me, senor. I suppose that now you will pay me the two thousand sequins which you borrowed from my father?
Quinola Certainly, if you can show me my signature, I am ready to pay the bond.
Marie (after a conversation with Fontanares) You will accept this – will you not – as a means of securing your triumph, for is not our happiness staked on that?
Fontanares To think that I am dragging down this pearl into the gulf which is yawning to receive me.
(Quinola and Monipodio depart.)
SCENE FIFTEENTH
The same persons and Sarpi.
Sarpi (to Lothundiaz)
You here, Senor Lothundiaz? And your daughter too?
Lothundiaz I promised that she should come her to say farewell on condition that she would not refuse to retire to a convent afterwards.
Sarpi The assembly here is so numerous that I am not surprised, nor in the least offended, by your complaisance towards her.
Fontanares Ah! Here comes the fiercest of my persecutors. How are you, senor; are you come to put my constancy to a fresh test?
Sarpi I represent the viceroy of Catalonia, senor, and I have a right to your respectful treatment. (To Don Ramon) Are you satisfied with him?
Don Ramon
If he takes my advice, we are sure of success.
Sarpi
The viceroy has great hopes from your learned co-operation.
Fontanares Surely I am dreaming! Is it possible they are raising up a rival to me?
Sarpi
No! senor; but a guide who is able to save you from failure.
Fontanares
Who told you I needed one?
Marie
O Alfonso! But suppose that Don Ramon could insure your success?
Fontanares
Ah! Even she has lost confidence in me!
Marie
They say he is so learned!
Lothundiaz Presumptuous man! He thinks that he knows more than all the learned in the world.
Sarpi I was induced to come here on account of a question which has been raised and has filled the viceroy with anxiety; you have had in your possession for nearly ten months a ship belonging to the state, and you must now render an account of the loan.
Fontanares
The king fixed no term for the time of my experiments.
Sarpi The administration of Catalonia has the right to demand an account, and we have received a decree of the ministers to this effect. (Fontanares appears thunderstruck.) Oh! you can take your time; we do not wish to embarrass a man like you. Nor are we inclined to think that you wish to elude the stipulation with regard to your life by keeping the ship for an indefinite period.
Marie
His life?
Fontanares
Yes, I am staking my life in these experiments.
Marie
And yet, you refuse my help?
Fontanares In three months, Count Sarpi, I shall have completed, without the counsel of another, the work I am engaged upon. You will then see one of the greatest spectacles that a man can produce for his age to witness.
Sarpi
Here, then, is a bond to that effect; sign it.
(Fontanares signs it.)
Marie Farewell, my friend! If you are vanquished in this struggle I believe that I shall love you more than ever!
Lothundiaz
Come, my daughter; the man is mad.
Don Ramon
Young man! be sure to read my treatises.
Sarpi
Farewell, future grandee of Spain.
(Exeunt all except Fontanares.)
SCENE SIXTEENTH
Fontanares (alone in the front of the stage) While Marie is in a convent the sunlight cannot warm me. I am bearing up a world, yet fear I am no Titian. No, I shall never succeed; all is against me. And this work which cost me three years of thought and ten months of toil will never cleave the ocean! But now, I am heavy with sleep. (He lies down on the straw.)
SCENE SEVENTEENTH
Fontanares (asleep), Quinola and Monipodio (entering by the Postern).
Quinola
Diamonds! Pearls and gold! We are saved.
Monipodio
Don't forget. The Brancadori is from Venice.
Quinola Then I'd better be getting back there. Send me the landlord; I wish to re-establish our credit.
Monipodio
He is here.
SCENE EIGHTEENTH
The same persons and the Landlord of the Golden Sun.
Quinola What is this, senor, Landlord of the Golden Sun? You don't seem to have much confidence in the star of my grandson?
The Landlord
A hostelry, senor, is not a banking house.
Quinola No, but you should not, for charity's sake, have refused him bread. The most noble republic of Venice sent me to bring him to that city, but he is too fond of Spain! I return, as I arrived, secretly. I have nothing with me that I can dispose of excepting this diamond. A month from this time I will remit to you through the bank. Will you arrange with my grandson's servant for the sale of this jewel?
The Landlord
Your people here, senor, shall be treated like princes of wealth.
Quinola
You may go.
(Exit landlord.)
SCENE NINETEENTH
The same persons, excepting the landlord.
Quinola I must go and change my dress. (He looks at Fontanares) He sleeps; that noble heart has at last succumbed to its emotions; it is only we who know how to yield before misfortunes; our carelessness he cannot share. Have I not done well, in always obtaining a duplicate of that which he required? (To Monipodio) Here is the plan of the last piece; do you take charge of it.
(Exeunt.)
SCENE TWENTIETH
Fontanares (sleeping), Faustine and Mathieu Magis.
Mathieu Magis
There he is!
Faustine To what a plight have I reduced him! From the depth of the wounds which I have thus inflicted upon myself, I realize the depth of my love! Oh! how much happiness do I owe him in compensation for so much suffering!
Curtain to the Third Act
ACT IV
SCENE FIRST
(The stage setting represents a public square. In the centre stands a sheriff's officer on an auctioneer's block, around the base of which are the various pieces for the machine. A crowd is gathered on each side of the platform. To the left of the spectator are grouped together Coppolus, Carpano, the landlord of the Golden Sun, Esteban, Girone, Mathieu Magis, Don Ramon and Lothundiaz. To the right are Fontanares and Monipodio; Quinola conceals himself in a cloak behind Monipodio.)
Fontanares, Monipodio, Quinola, Coppolus, the landlord of the Golden
Sun, Esteban, Girone, Mathieu Magis, Don Ramon, Lothundiaz, Sheriff's
Officer, a crowd of people.
Sheriff's Officer Gentlemen, show a little more warmth. Here we have a boiler, big enough to cook a dinner for a regiment of the guards.
The Landlord
Four maravedis.
Sheriff's Office
Do I hear more? Come and look at it, examine it!
Mathieu Magis
Six maravedis.
Quinola (to Fontanares)
Senor, they will not fetch a hundred ducats.
Fontanares
We must try to be resigned.
Quinola Resignation seems to me to be the fourth theological virtue omitted from the list out of consideration for women!
Monipodio Hold your tongue! Justice is on your track and you would have been arrested before this if they had not taken you for one of my people.
Sheriff's Officer
This is the last lot, gentlemen. Going, going – no further bid? Gone!
It is knocked down to Senor Mathieu Magis for ten ducats, six maravedis.
Lothundiaz (to Don Ramon) What do you think of that? Thus ends the sublime invention of our great man! He was right, by heaven, when he promised us a rare spectacle!
Coppolus
You can laugh; he does not owe you anything.
Esteban
It is we poor devils who have to pay for his folly.
Lothundiaz Did you get nothing, Master Coppolus? And what of my daughter's diamonds, which the great man's servant put into the machine?
Mathieu Magis
Why, they were seized in my house.
Lothundiaz And are not the thieves in the hand of justice? I would like best of all to see Quinola, that cursed pilferer of jewels, in durance.
Quinola (aside) Oh, my young life, what lessons are you receiving! My antecedents have ruined me.
Lothundiaz But if they catch him, his goose will soon be cooked, and I shall have the pleasure of seeing him dangling from the gallows, and giving the benediction with his feet.
Fontanares (to Quinola)
Our calamity stirs this dullard's wit.
Quinola
You mean his brutality.
Don Ramon I sincerely regret this disaster. This young artisan had at last listened to my advice, and we were on the point of realizing the promises made by him to the king; but he blindly forfeited his opportunity; I mean to ask pardon for him at the court, for I shall tell the king how useful he will be to me.
Coppolus Here is an example of generosity extremely rare in the conduct of one learned man towards another.
Lothundiaz
You are an honor to Catalonia!
Fontanares (coming forward) I have endured with tranquillity the agony of seeing a piece of workmanship, which entitles me to eternal glory, sold as so much old junk – (murmurs among the people). But this passes all endurance. Don Ramon, if you have, I do not say understood, but even guessed, at the use of all these fragments of machinery, displaced and scattered as they are, you ought to have bought them even at the sacrifice of your whole fortune.
Don Ramon Young man, I respect your misfortunes; but you know that your apparatus could not possibly go, and that my experience had become necessary to you.
Fontanares The most terrible among all the horrors of destitution is that it gives ground for calumny and the triumph of fools!
Lothundiaz Is it not disgraceful for a man in your position thus to undertake to insult a philosopher whose reputation is established? Where would I be if I had given you my daughter? You would have led me a fine dance down to beggary; for you have already wasted, for absolutely no purpose, ten thousand sequins! Really this grandee of Spain seems particularly small in his grandeur to-day.
Fontanares
You make me pity you.
Lothundiaz That is possible, but you do not make me envy you; your life is at the mercy of the tribunal.
Don Ramon
Let him alone; don't you see that he is crazy?
Fontanares
Not quite crazy enough, senor, to believe that O plus O is a binomial.