The Dynasts

The Dynasts, by Thomas Hardy, is an epic-drama of the war with Napoleon, in three parts, nineteen acts, and one hundred and thirty scenes. The time covered by the action is about ten years. The preface says that the work is concerned with the Great Historical Calamity, or Clash of Peoples, artificially brought about some hundred years ago.

In one scene the stage directions have Beatty, the Chaplain, Magrath, the Steward, and attendants continue to regard Nelson, and Nelson dies. One scene has Napoléon discovered dressed, but in disorder and unshaven, walking up and down the room in agitation, with Caulaincourt, Bessieres, and many of the marshals of his guard present. A speaker named SPIRIT OF THE YEARS tells Young Spirits not to be critical of That Which was before, and shall be after you. Napoléon speaks of the chalky cliffs of England: if Villeneuve come, he braves the British coast, and once on the English soil he holds it firm.