Post by kaima on Feb 10, 2019 15:37:10 GMT -7
THE CITY OF THE MAGYAR.
Julia Pardoe, 1840
Pgs 326 - 333
History, more elucidatory than the (stories of) Count Mailath, goes on to say, that Casimir King of Poland,
the Queen's brother, emulating the licentious example of Charles Robert, suffered himself to nurse an unholy
passion for the daughter of a brave old officer, who was in attendance on his sister, and whose extreme
loveliness was the theme of the whole court.
Felician Zach, the father of the maiden, was descended from a noble Hungarian family, and: a
veteran of acknowledged bravery ; but of a fierce and haughty disposition. He had been one of the
generals of Matthias Csaki of Trencsin, when that noble rose against Charles Robert to maintain
his rights as Palatine of Transylvania. The King, after the death of the Count of Trencsin,
had pardoned Zach, and he was an occasional guest at Vissegrad.
The extraordinary beauty of his only daughter having reached the ears of the Queen, who loved
to surround herself with the fairest maidens in the land, the veteran had been commanded to
present Clara at Vissegrad, and he had obeyed most reluctantly ; for although the haughty Magyar
never for a moment contemplated the possibility of insult to his child, he knew too well the
laxity of morals in fashion at the court, not to shrink from exposing his pure and gentle daughter
to the indignity of such collision.
The reality, however, outran his fears, when Elizabeth, fascinated by the fair creature who
stood blushing into deeper beauty each instant before her, volunteered to replace the mother she
had lost, and to retain her about her person. In vain did Zach plead that without the presence of
his child his home would be doubly desolate : the Queen was deaf to his objections, and remained
unmoved even by the large tears which fell upon his scarred and war worn cheek ; and the pure and
timid Clara became an inmate of the Fortress-palace.
Jealously did the veteran hover about the treasure which had been wrested from him : and for a
time all went well. The young beauty was continually beside Elizabeth, or seated at her feet,
busied with her tapestry or her lute ; dreaming no evil, and all unconscious of the gulf which
was yawning dark and deep before her.
But this state of things could not last for ever.
Casimir of Poland had vowed her ruin ; and the Queen, who idolised her vain and profligate bro
ther, forgot the voluntary promise that she had made, of becoming a mother to the orphan, and
suffered him to loiter for hours in her apartment, in the impious endeavour to win the unsuspicious
heart of the guileless Clara. Vain was the attempt, however. The insidious poison of his words fell
innoxious on the ear of the innocent girl who did not comprehend their import, nor even dream of
loving the Polish King: while his flatteries, although they made her blush, and even smile,
were forgotten as soon as uttered.
But not thus was the profligate Casimir to be thwarted. Gold proved more' efficacious among
the maidens of the lady, than adulation with herself ; and on a fair night in summer, when the
outline of the bristling rock lay dark upon the Danube, and the rushing of the rapid current
could be heard on the summit of the Castle-keep, a female figure might have been seen to start
from beneath the deep arch of the fortress, and hurry wildly downward to the river. There it
paused, but only for a moment ; and then springing into a boat moored beneath the bank, seized
an oar, and pushed off boldly into the centre of the stream. It was Clara. Her hair escaped from
the fillet which should have bound it, floated in the night wind; her eyes were tearless ; and her
parted lips parched and dry, save where the blood had sprung beneath the fast-clenched teeth. She seemed
endued with superhuman strength ; and even when the current caught her little bark, and swept it on
ward, she battled stoutly and sternly with the stream, and finally sprang on shore on the opposite
bank, a few paces from the stronghold of her father.
The tower of Zach crested a height, up which the delicate but ma'ddened girl toiled on, uncon
scious of fatigue, or of the rugged difficulties of the way ; until she stood, panting and breathless, .
within the deep shadow of the portal.
At the accents of her well-known voice the astonished warder lowered the bridge and raised the portcullis;
and onward without another word, but with the speed of lightning, rushed the dishonoured daughter of the
chieftain to the bedside of her sleeping father.
" Awake, Felician Zach !" exclaimed the young and frenzied beauty, grasping the arm of the war
rior, her large eyes bright with the lustre of in sanity : " This is no time for sleep—you have
heavy work to do. First to see your child die, and then to avenge her ! Ask me nothing ; but
onward to Vissegrad, and strike freely, for your blows cannot fall where they have not been earned."
Like a roused lion, goaded in his den, sprang the proud Magyar to his feet. Clara lay on the
floor beside him senseless, and he strode over her, in search of his arms, without an effort to raise her up.
He had neither need nor breath for inquiry. His rose was withered—his sky was darkened— the sun of his age was quenched.
As the morning broke, the faint light revealed the armed figure of Zach, pacing to and fro beside the shadowy river,
awaiting the moment when he might wreak his vengeance on the regal tenants of Vissegrad. Alas ! it came too soon;
and a moment had scarcely elapsed after the courtly party had seated themselves in the great hall of the Castle to
their morning meal, when with fury in his eyes, and his drawn sabre in his hand, the Hungarian stood on the threshold.
The first glance which fell upon him was that of the infamous Casimir; who, instantly conscious
ofthe errand on which the wretched father had now intruded unbidden into the royal presence, and
cowardly as base, at once rose to fly. Blinded by his rage the blow of Zach fell short as he sprang
towards his intended victim, and the Pole had time to escape through a side-door, and to shoot
the bolt behind him. But the thirst for vengeance was not to be thus baffled ; and maddened by his
wretchedness, Zach next struck at Elizabeth, who received his blade upon her hand, as it was hastily
parried by the King; thence the old chieftain turned towards the young princes, and fiercely
shouting: "My child! my child!" attempted to strike them down, when he was surrounded and
secured by the attendants, whom the suddenness of his first attack had paralyzed.
That the crime of Felician should be speedily followed by his execution was almost as merciful
as it was just ; but the heart sickens with disgust as it dwells upon the fate of the fair and unfortunate Clara.
The messengers of the King, despatched to the tower of Zach to secure her person, found her still in the death-swoon
in which her father had left her; and unfortunately conveyed her at once to Vissegrad, ere the first burst of the
Monarch's violence had passed away; for so at least it is charitable to hope ; or surely nothing in human form could
have engendered the devilish cruelty of Charles Robert, save under the influence of temporary madness.
As the insensible girl was borne into his presence, he remembered only that she had drawn down by her communications
to her father the peril which had so lately menaced himself and his family ; and forgetting at once her wrongs and his
own Kingly nature, he commanded that her right hand should be struck off, her nose and lips cut away, and that in this
mutilated and horrible condition she should be paraded from city to city until she sank under the agony, accompanied by
a herald crying aloud : " So perish the enemies of the King!"
The brutal decree was put in force ; and the delicate girl whose smile had once made light at Vissegrad, into whose
eyes Kings had looked with admiration, and amid whose glossy hair the
fingers of a Queen had wreathed flowers and jewels, maimed, bleeding, and helpless, soon sank
beneath her sufferings; when her young brother,—the fair boy whom she had loved and tended from his birth, was beheaded
in his turn ; and the two bodies were fastened to the tails of horses, overwhelmed with indignity, and finally flung to the dogs.
The tragedy was completed by hunting down, and putting to death all the connexions of Zach,
however remote, in order that the race might be utterly extinguished ; and it is some satisfaction
to find the old historians assert that from this period a curse fell upon the arms of Charles Robert.
Surely there needed none, greater than the memory of Clara Zach to those who bore them !
Julia Pardoe, 1840
Pgs 326 - 333
History, more elucidatory than the (stories of) Count Mailath, goes on to say, that Casimir King of Poland,
the Queen's brother, emulating the licentious example of Charles Robert, suffered himself to nurse an unholy
passion for the daughter of a brave old officer, who was in attendance on his sister, and whose extreme
loveliness was the theme of the whole court.
Felician Zach, the father of the maiden, was descended from a noble Hungarian family, and: a
veteran of acknowledged bravery ; but of a fierce and haughty disposition. He had been one of the
generals of Matthias Csaki of Trencsin, when that noble rose against Charles Robert to maintain
his rights as Palatine of Transylvania. The King, after the death of the Count of Trencsin,
had pardoned Zach, and he was an occasional guest at Vissegrad.
The extraordinary beauty of his only daughter having reached the ears of the Queen, who loved
to surround herself with the fairest maidens in the land, the veteran had been commanded to
present Clara at Vissegrad, and he had obeyed most reluctantly ; for although the haughty Magyar
never for a moment contemplated the possibility of insult to his child, he knew too well the
laxity of morals in fashion at the court, not to shrink from exposing his pure and gentle daughter
to the indignity of such collision.
The reality, however, outran his fears, when Elizabeth, fascinated by the fair creature who
stood blushing into deeper beauty each instant before her, volunteered to replace the mother she
had lost, and to retain her about her person. In vain did Zach plead that without the presence of
his child his home would be doubly desolate : the Queen was deaf to his objections, and remained
unmoved even by the large tears which fell upon his scarred and war worn cheek ; and the pure and
timid Clara became an inmate of the Fortress-palace.
Jealously did the veteran hover about the treasure which had been wrested from him : and for a
time all went well. The young beauty was continually beside Elizabeth, or seated at her feet,
busied with her tapestry or her lute ; dreaming no evil, and all unconscious of the gulf which
was yawning dark and deep before her.
But this state of things could not last for ever.
Casimir of Poland had vowed her ruin ; and the Queen, who idolised her vain and profligate bro
ther, forgot the voluntary promise that she had made, of becoming a mother to the orphan, and
suffered him to loiter for hours in her apartment, in the impious endeavour to win the unsuspicious
heart of the guileless Clara. Vain was the attempt, however. The insidious poison of his words fell
innoxious on the ear of the innocent girl who did not comprehend their import, nor even dream of
loving the Polish King: while his flatteries, although they made her blush, and even smile,
were forgotten as soon as uttered.
But not thus was the profligate Casimir to be thwarted. Gold proved more' efficacious among
the maidens of the lady, than adulation with herself ; and on a fair night in summer, when the
outline of the bristling rock lay dark upon the Danube, and the rushing of the rapid current
could be heard on the summit of the Castle-keep, a female figure might have been seen to start
from beneath the deep arch of the fortress, and hurry wildly downward to the river. There it
paused, but only for a moment ; and then springing into a boat moored beneath the bank, seized
an oar, and pushed off boldly into the centre of the stream. It was Clara. Her hair escaped from
the fillet which should have bound it, floated in the night wind; her eyes were tearless ; and her
parted lips parched and dry, save where the blood had sprung beneath the fast-clenched teeth. She seemed
endued with superhuman strength ; and even when the current caught her little bark, and swept it on
ward, she battled stoutly and sternly with the stream, and finally sprang on shore on the opposite
bank, a few paces from the stronghold of her father.
The tower of Zach crested a height, up which the delicate but ma'ddened girl toiled on, uncon
scious of fatigue, or of the rugged difficulties of the way ; until she stood, panting and breathless, .
within the deep shadow of the portal.
At the accents of her well-known voice the astonished warder lowered the bridge and raised the portcullis;
and onward without another word, but with the speed of lightning, rushed the dishonoured daughter of the
chieftain to the bedside of her sleeping father.
" Awake, Felician Zach !" exclaimed the young and frenzied beauty, grasping the arm of the war
rior, her large eyes bright with the lustre of in sanity : " This is no time for sleep—you have
heavy work to do. First to see your child die, and then to avenge her ! Ask me nothing ; but
onward to Vissegrad, and strike freely, for your blows cannot fall where they have not been earned."
Like a roused lion, goaded in his den, sprang the proud Magyar to his feet. Clara lay on the
floor beside him senseless, and he strode over her, in search of his arms, without an effort to raise her up.
He had neither need nor breath for inquiry. His rose was withered—his sky was darkened— the sun of his age was quenched.
As the morning broke, the faint light revealed the armed figure of Zach, pacing to and fro beside the shadowy river,
awaiting the moment when he might wreak his vengeance on the regal tenants of Vissegrad. Alas ! it came too soon;
and a moment had scarcely elapsed after the courtly party had seated themselves in the great hall of the Castle to
their morning meal, when with fury in his eyes, and his drawn sabre in his hand, the Hungarian stood on the threshold.
The first glance which fell upon him was that of the infamous Casimir; who, instantly conscious
ofthe errand on which the wretched father had now intruded unbidden into the royal presence, and
cowardly as base, at once rose to fly. Blinded by his rage the blow of Zach fell short as he sprang
towards his intended victim, and the Pole had time to escape through a side-door, and to shoot
the bolt behind him. But the thirst for vengeance was not to be thus baffled ; and maddened by his
wretchedness, Zach next struck at Elizabeth, who received his blade upon her hand, as it was hastily
parried by the King; thence the old chieftain turned towards the young princes, and fiercely
shouting: "My child! my child!" attempted to strike them down, when he was surrounded and
secured by the attendants, whom the suddenness of his first attack had paralyzed.
That the crime of Felician should be speedily followed by his execution was almost as merciful
as it was just ; but the heart sickens with disgust as it dwells upon the fate of the fair and unfortunate Clara.
The messengers of the King, despatched to the tower of Zach to secure her person, found her still in the death-swoon
in which her father had left her; and unfortunately conveyed her at once to Vissegrad, ere the first burst of the
Monarch's violence had passed away; for so at least it is charitable to hope ; or surely nothing in human form could
have engendered the devilish cruelty of Charles Robert, save under the influence of temporary madness.
As the insensible girl was borne into his presence, he remembered only that she had drawn down by her communications
to her father the peril which had so lately menaced himself and his family ; and forgetting at once her wrongs and his
own Kingly nature, he commanded that her right hand should be struck off, her nose and lips cut away, and that in this
mutilated and horrible condition she should be paraded from city to city until she sank under the agony, accompanied by
a herald crying aloud : " So perish the enemies of the King!"
The brutal decree was put in force ; and the delicate girl whose smile had once made light at Vissegrad, into whose
eyes Kings had looked with admiration, and amid whose glossy hair the
fingers of a Queen had wreathed flowers and jewels, maimed, bleeding, and helpless, soon sank
beneath her sufferings; when her young brother,—the fair boy whom she had loved and tended from his birth, was beheaded
in his turn ; and the two bodies were fastened to the tails of horses, overwhelmed with indignity, and finally flung to the dogs.
The tragedy was completed by hunting down, and putting to death all the connexions of Zach,
however remote, in order that the race might be utterly extinguished ; and it is some satisfaction
to find the old historians assert that from this period a curse fell upon the arms of Charles Robert.
Surely there needed none, greater than the memory of Clara Zach to those who bore them !