The Visitation: A Play

The Visitation: A PlayAuthor(s): Austin ClarkeSource: Irish University Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Spring, 1974), pp. 74-90Published by: Edinburgh University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25477023 .

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Austin Clarke

The Visitation: A Play A Comedy in one act

Characters

FATHER BURSARIUS

BROTHER LOFTUS

BROTHER FURUNUCULUS

BROTHER BUNGAY

father ingeniosus, the Prior

Janitor monks

(Parlour of the Austin Clerks Convent near ClerkenwelL The stage is in

darkness. Steps, and two voices outside. Faint lights as door opens, left. Father

Bursarius gropes to a lamps tand. Brilliant light. Brother Lof tus, a monk on

an official call, retreats, shading his eyes. Period: Winter 1277.)

BR LOFTUS Absit

Diabolus!

The art of gold! FR BURSARIUS (at table) Visitors.

Blind, buff, themselves in here.

BR LOFTUS Are these the back-parts Of Phoebus ?

benighted horses rearing and backing ?

Withheld so long from lesser races, now seen

At last, so luminous, yet not obscene ?

Or tell me, can all be a solitary

Prescription from the dispensary of Sol ?

Glory that shone from the almighty sphincter On Heliopolis ? The sitting Sphinx ?

The...

Holy Moses! Have I become a pagan

74



THE VISITATION

Surmising how the universe began ?

Brother Bursarius, I am your pupil. Each word a heavenly droplet.

fr bursarius Fable can tell us

Much. Every question that dazzles you is telling. Not Phoebus, but his son, the careless Phaeton, Took corners fast. Fall might have changed our fate on

This Earth. You are peeping at something of his sister's

Who mourned for his fatal accident. These tears

Became pure amber which has mysterious

Powers, the energy, the hidden properties, Of light.

br loftus Then, what I half-see is not improper?

FR BURSARIUS

No.

Tha?es, the seventh sage to be elected

In Greece, had heard of the Electrides.

BR LOFTUS

Those rocky islands, if I dare suppose, Safe from the floodiness of the River Po ?

fr bursarius True,

The Sisters of Phaeton were turned to conifers, The fable shows we can maintain constant

Supply of electrum or ? as we call it ? amber.

br loftus

And Tha?es guessed it as he ambled

Abroad ?

fr bursarius (nods) This element can be distilled

From resin. So, late at night, when all is still

Except the grig, Father Ingeniosus Our Prior, is labouring for all of us.

Unseen, remote, comrade of thought, he peers Into the patient future yet appears

Among us punctually for our Vespers, Then back to his laboratory, his vessels,

Retorts, small engines, coils, wire-instruments,

Leaded cells, forever experimenting.

75



IRISH UNIVERSITY REVIEW

BR LOFTUS

No doubt, he has succeeded, can transmute

The power by formula ?

Why are you mute ?

A vow of silence ?

(Fr Bursarius nods)

Then, tell me, by simple signs, In general terms, the method he has designed.

(Fr Bursarius rubs hands)

Yes, friction

(turning hands round) wheels

(hands turning close) closer than cogs,

(sprinkles, beats) assault ?

Battery? I like dumb shewing.

And now.

(indicates pain) A moan

(indicates sleep, stoops as if under bed) A salt, under bed.

Ah, something impolite. To make a pun, associated Poe-light.

Contributed, no doubt, by the Austin Clerks here!

A habit more amusing than austere!

(Fr Bursarius lowers head, charges. The other dodges) A

charging bull.. . battery...

salt... a moan...

Battery charged with salammoniac!

FR BURSARIUS

You've guessed.

BR loftus (pointing) And this

fr bursarius His new Electrum lamp BR loftus (approaches cautiously)

So golden in hue, so luminous, so lambent

No smell of oil, no drip of candle-grease To dial each second.

76



THE VISITATION

fr bursarius The hero-light of Greece!

(briskly) And now, Brother, your business here ?

(cough, a monk at door, left)

By your leave.

That barmy monk again in the bake-house.

(leaves) br loftus (going to lamp) A lever.

I'll try it.

(crosses himself Touches lever. Black-out)

Holy Virgin, where's the knob ?

(Two yells. Light up. Fr Bursarius at lamp, rubbing head)

My hand was shocked.

fr bursarius My noddle.

You hobnobbed

With the next world.

br loftus (contrite) The sin of curiosity.

FR BURSARIUS

A firmer grip ? and you were ossified.

Once more, your business.

What do you require From Father Ingeniosus ?

Corrected quire? A script ?

BR LOFTUS (handing him a note) Read this.

fr bursarius (awed, bowing) The high Inquisitor!

Forgive me, Your Holiness. I jested, quizzed, Blabbed to Your Grace.

I'll call him up at once.

(turns to table, bends back to audience, opens lid of a box)

br loftus (pulled)

Why is he in the cellar ?

fr bursarius You may wonder

(calls softly) Father Ingeniosus, Father...

(as loud voice fills room Br Loftus retreats to door)

voice Adsum.

11




FR BURSARIUS

The High Inquisitor... voice I have to add sums.

Crastinus dies.

FR bursarius (turning) The Master cannot see you Until to-morrow. Even the Holy See

Would have to wait.

inquisitor This, this, is necromantic.

Magister must have borrowed the Mantle of

Invisibility. These goings-on

Shall be investigated. Plain po?ty!

VOICE Damnatio

(a bang) inquisitor Some powerful form of lyddite

?

Gunpowder ?

just invented ?

fr bursarius He banged the lid down.

His own invention called the Speaking Tube.

INQUISITOR (sarcastic) No doubt, the actual trumpet made by Tubal

Cain.

fr bursarius Something like it, indeed. A sort of ear-trumpet.

(smiling) He's deaf at a distance.

inquisitor The pack

(points to pocket. Pulled, Fr Bursarius searches*

Inquisitor brings it out, spreads cards on table) He holds the trump-card

(smiling) You see I can do a bit of conjuring!

Quite useful in my position as Judge and Jury.

(sternly) Address the Bench (sits down)

fr bursarius Your Worship, I'm a stupid Fellow. Your Supper ?

Broiled trout, boiled carp from the stew-pond ?

Pity it is a Friday. Pullet, roast, grill, more

78



THE VISITATION

Helpings, pease pudding, under the conventual grille.

INQUISITOR

But travellers are excused. No need to fast.

FR BURSARIUS

Dear me, my head.

Our oven can heat faster

Than ash-wood: pressurisation, the very squeeze

Of fire, the latest cooking for the most squeamish Palate.

inquisitor No, Brother, just three ordinary

Steaks, large size, such as you get at an Ordinary ?

And lightly done on charcoal.

fr bursarius You have a man or

Groom-of-the-Stole.

inquisitor Both. I left them at the manor

Nearby. FR bursarius What choice of wine ? Lacrima

Christi or, better still, Lac Virginis.

inquisitor Both.

FR BURSARIUS

? Certainly, Your Reverence. I'll order

Them, (goes to doorway, left)

INQUISITOR What's that?

A button ?

(Fr Bursarius nods, presses button, ringing heard off) Since my ordination ?

I sup after Service.

fr bursarius Of course.

(monk enters, takes order)

inquisitor The Inventory. Sit down and give me a list of his inventions.

(Fr Bursarius arranges writing-materials on table)

Shake, nod, will do.

Mere draft for the official

Report.

This room, no doubt, is artificially Heated ? (nod)

79




The refectory ? (nod) The cells ? (violent shake)

The chapel ?

FR BURSARIUS

In winter-time, itching of chilblain, chap, Gone. Eloquent

sermons are no longer comma'd

By phlegm. inquisitor (smiling)

? The customary commentary ?

FR bursarius

Or punctuated by non-stops of coughing. The heater is insulated in metal coffers.

inquisitor

And nowr the food-farm. v

fr bursarius Mechanised. Tractors;

Are used to plough,

to harrow, reclaim waste tracts.

inquisitor

The vine-yard? fr bursarius Thanks to the giving of Divine Grace.

Rich burnet glues, diseases of the Vine, have

Been cured.

inquisitor Confess, now. What are you withholding From me?

The Prior ? has he an inner hold

On you ?

fr bursarius No, Father, it was a manuscript Of his, a treatise.

inquisitor Did he hand it to you ?

fr bursarius

I found it in the vestry, read, replaced it.

inquisitor

On Alchemy? fr bursarius (surprised)

Yes.

inquisitor (sharply) Title ?

fr bursarius I cannot place it.

All diagrams, thin calculations, figures, With algebraic symbols, hid by the fig-leaf Of my pure ignorance.

inquisitor Philosopher's Stone!

80



THE VISITATION

Credulity, gold of the stony-broke.

(darting finger) Did Father Ingeniosus leave that matter in

Your ear ?

fr bursarius (shrinking)

Only a word or two on the mat.

I guessed his hope. inquisitor You share it?

FR BURSARIUS

Yes.

inquisitor Continue.

What will he get from copper, brass, tin?

fr bursarius (excitedly) New

Blockings of bullion to magnify our convents ?

Sixty in number now ? eventually

Increase them when he touches the secret nexus;

High-storied buildings, many-winged annexes,

Primary scholarships, successive grants, for

The numerous vocations Heaven must grant

Us. Vaster sheep-farms in the North, export For import, our auditors in town and port, Factors at fair.

inquisitor (gently) For Heaven ?

fr bursarius (rapt) More architecture,

Oriels, mullioned windows. Undetected

New gold will irradiate from the altar steps Below the golden Tabernacle, untarnished

Rails, increase each link of the suspended lamp-light; Bald pates must bow, yet shine, so great their plight, Their share, in the glory above. By novel means

Worry will be unwrinkled, greed have no meaning, Industrial prosperity for England

Enlighten loam and home. Let every ingle Be warmed now, not by smoky sea-coal, log,

But through the power of mighty logarithms, The tables filling both for lords and commons

Intensive agriculture, free commonage,

In short, the peace, the happiness, of a welfare

State.

81




inquisitor God or the Devil and Saints below.

(rubbing hands) Well, well, As Gallus murmured to the cunning Reynard

*T go. The young Henricus Secundus may resign." And that reminds me on the double ?

Bacon

With beans for Sunday dinner.

And Roger Bacon ?

You've heard of him ?

fr bursarius An old acquaintance of

The Prior ?

inquisitor Author, they tell, of many quaint Mechanical devices.

He's now imprisoned. The dungeon, miserable as he, dark, unsunned.

King Henry, they say, threw down his scented

hand-towels,

Called Pilot ?

"Away with him up Thames to Tower

By Water-gate" A pun

?

While I eat beef

To-night, the clank and clink of the Beefeaters

Compel him to his undoing to do more time.

Though human knot be cut, the fingers tie more.

(getting up, walks around) I'm certain there is magic hereabout.

(smiling) Come, let us change King's English to a bout

Of merrymaking, divorce the noun and verb.

FR BURSARIUS

? Poor gaffers will be left without a proverb. INQUISITOR

? We went, I guess, to the same grammar school,

Were whacked each day on the same spot.

fr bursarius Grammercy!

INQUISITOR

Do you agree that saints are very rude ?

fr bursarius More

82



THE VISITATION

Or less.

inquisitor One, who has learned the rudiments, Will call your new society

? Ou-topos,

Yew trimmed, box cut, the self-same topiary; No outlook from garden.

fr bursarius You are sceptical

And take the honey from my little skep. inquisitor (sitting down)

Query. Do you maintain the soul's immortal ?

FR BURSARIUS

Who knows ?

inquisitor Who runs ?

fr bursarius Who hunts ?

inquisitor Who sounds the Mort?

Is it not proved, my Friend, by the Moral Law?

fr bursarius

? Each country has its own Morality. INQUISITOR

Plank-players strutting from Moralities

To cobbles, prompted by Old Mysteries Ex cathedra, soon find that they have missed

The Meaning of the script; furious Herod

Is Job, drunk Noah steals his rhodomontade.

Vice, Virtue, hurly-burly to the last wagon ?

And still the regulated moments wag on.

Ergo. Keep all hereticals indoors, Don't nudge in the chapel, whisper at the inn-door.

None guess what is a-cooking when the handle

Has gone to pot. Be sure that slight-o'-hand

Won't tell what gives us fellows bigger bumps Than King, Arch-bishop, baron, villein, bumpkin.

Query. Do you believe in miracles ?

IR BURSARIUS

Old superstitions for mere acolytes. What one has worked since the acts of the Apostles ?

INQUISITOR

So you prefer the pounding of a pestle ?

I'R BURSARIUS

I hold that the mind of mankind dreams on things

83




To come, from rabble in tree or cave to Thing-mote, To Parliament; eager for natural

Affection of Earth, embraces her very nates,

Makes up these holy fables. More than a few

Of our researches will foretell the future.

iNquisitor -? An artificial Eden? Let us relax

Again, discuss, in private, what mind lacks.

In short, a spiritual Questionnaire.

FR bursarius (indicating himself) Old clerk in orders. Better question air!

inquisitor

Perhaps your Prior may solve this mental problem. At breakfast over six eggs.

jrp. bursarius Probably.

I'll say no more.

(Both laugh. Fr Bursarius turns to table,

alarmed, closes lid of box) The Speaking Tube! Ear-hole

At his end. He may have listened, Your Holiness.

j^QUISITOR

And what ofthat? (sternly) Now back to office pen,

Good ink. Nobles and shillings must change to pence.

(significantly) Neighbours have told me there is much unrest here.

Call in both sides ? two spiritual wrestlers.

At once. (Fr Bursarius rings bell)

(winking) Sit on the Bench. Look solemn. Keep cool.

(Pause. Fat Br Bungay, tipsy, enters; with him, Br Furunuculus)

FR BURSARIUS

Sire; Brother Bungay

Brother Furunuculus

(They bow) The High Inquisitor

(points to scroll)

84



THE VISITATION

His Papal Brief

(They bow lower)

INQUISITOR

Remember your Vow of Obedience in this brief

Examination.

(to Br Furunuculus)

(quietly) What do you think of the Prior

And his experiments. br furunuculus I do not pry or

Gossip, Your Holiness.

inquisitor (loudly) Truth. I command you. The whole truth -?

or, by God, you'll be remanded.

BR furunuculus (wildly, confused) He's better than Aquinas, the Syllogiser,

Work-o'-night saint as good as Pope Sylvester. He has made a clock without a pendulum.

Who ever wound the time like that ?

br bung ay Lumme,

He's right.

br furunuculus And when it strikes at every quarter, Red-white-blue knights come galloping from their quarters

With lance, shield, banneret, sword, gay panache And all of us can hear the inner gnash Of coggle, racket, as they are repelling The pagan from castle, monastery, chapel.

br bungay (interrupting) About that clock, Sire, though it is so striking, It knocks out all devotion as soon as it strikes.

When I was young and short-cut, I saw a gallanty Show and these Crusaders are so gallant,

We battle with them against the Saracens.

br furunuculus

Don't mind him, Your Holiness. It is a God-send

And marks the brevity of Time...

br bungay What's more

Prior calls a spirit up from Evermore

(points) Down there.

85




One day, I heard him arguing With someone in a kind of Norman argot As I crept near.

That Voice was never human.

And then I sniffed the fume of burning humus.

br furunuculus (interrupting) The beer he brews for himself is much too heady. Our Father has constructed a Brazen Head, but

The mechanism wasn't articulate

At first because the indefinite article, eight

Irregular verbs in the past tense, prepositions, Five suffixes, were blurring.

This preposterous Fellow thinks of his drunken speech.

fr bursarius Respect

The Bench.

(Inquisitor checks him) br bungay

? And, Father, he has a speculum

That he may watch all kinds of wickedness, The ale-wives say, in every bailiwick.

There was a Brother here that we called Rusty, Who went to the bad and had to be rusticated.

Wizarding Glass once showed him with a widow.

inquisitor (gently) What could he want ?

Speak up. br bungay (grinning) To widdle her.

So first they played at Tiddly-winks, then, Tip staff

Upstairs in her chamber.

inquisitor The blessed staff

Of life? br bungay Yes, Sire, for she began to knead

'

The cockle-bread until he soon needed more.

FR BURSARIUS (voice low) He means: Subigere panem clunibus.

BR BUNGAY

That's right. He gave her a lingua-franca buss.

There was another monk who flagellated

86



THE VISITATION

Himself, woke dormitory, early and late with

His cries of joy. All know what hit-or-miss

Can do.

inquisitor The case is clear

(aside) Ommisio

Semenis.

FR bursarius (aside) et delectado morosa.

BR FURUNUCULUS

It happened only twice.

br bungay And what is more, Sire, The Prior, in not obeying what Heaven has enjoined, Was stricken recently in every joint. And all his bones are stiff. ..

br furunuculus With rheumatism.

br bungay

Then why can he stride so quickly from his work-room

To chapel ?

Father, one night I saw him totter

In the corridor as if he had had a tot

Too much inside him.

I ran, I gripped his arm.

(pause) all What is it?

Tell us.

br bungay (slowly) He was wearing armour

Beneath his habit.

(clang of chapel bell) both brothers Vespers!

inquisitor Brothers, you may precede us.

(they leave. Steps, Right)

FR BURSARIUS

The Prior.

inquisitor Into the corner.

I want to see

His vizor.

(Prior enters stiffly, stops, sways)

m bursarius He'll fall!

(catches Prior, lays him down)

87




inquisitor I'll ring for help now.

Is he...?

FR BURSARIUS

I cannot tell. It may be a dizzy fit.

(Inquisitor rings bell. Janitor comes) inquisitor

? A stretcher.

Hurry. Hurry.

(returns) Can you hear

A tick.

FR BURSARIUS (shakes head) His flesh is chill.

(in anguish) No longer here, But there, (pointing up)

May God forgive me! I spoke ill

Of him, to-night, never suspected illness.

(Monks enter with litter. Steps, Right. Pause.

Prior enters. All retreat except the Inquisitor)

monks His ghost!

prior (pointing) Stop! that is dangerous to touch.

(To Fr Bursarius)

Father, you're grief was very moving. I am touched

By it. Let me explain.

(to all) The Father of Lies

Requires whenever he is materialising, The finest of human substance together with mode ?

Some scholars name it ecto-plasmodium ?

He took it, invisibly, without to-do

Just now ? in the fleeting of seconds ? from two monks

Present.

(Monks feel themselves) No case for medical assistance.

Slight loss of appetite, a prick,

(Fr Bursarius glances at Inquisitor) then cist.

Now I must exorcise it, the claws of cancer

(sternly) Fetch without delay. Bell.

Book.



THE VISITATION

(two monks turn to go) Candle.?

INQUISITOR

A moment, if you please ?

prior (to monks) Go quickly, lest

This golem on the ground begins to quicken. INQUISITOR

Father Ingeniosus. prior (bowing low) Your Grace, the High

Inquisitor.

(the latter is surprised, but regains self-possession) inquisitor (suavely)

Our interest has been heightened. Is there a climax ? Reveal the Devil's plan.

Perhaps that old trick he plays on villagers ?

He'll liquidate a body in retort, Alembic?

Athanor ?

(pointing) Leave poor Torpidus For burial with lofty services, new golden

Standard, swung thurible ?

prior Your words are crass.

inquisitor

No doubt.

When will you answer my question? prior Cras

inquisitor (smiling) Est scitum.

fr bursarius (aside) His tone is strangely ominous.

prior (to monks who, have returned)

Book.

Bell.

Hold up the candle.

(He presses secret lever of Electrum Lamp)

(Stage darkens. A red glow spreads as he approaches

prostrate figure) In Nomine

Patris et Filiis et. . .

(loudly. As if alarmed, steps back) Vadete omnes!

89




(All leave, Left, except Inquisitor. The Prior dismisses him, Left. He goes to the Electrum Lamp again, touches the secret lever.

Normal lighting. He takes a small hammer and pincers from his pocket and kneels down to investigate the mechanical

trouble. He puts his hand up to the habit of the Figure, his

back to the audience. A sound of light tapping. He picks

up the pincers, bends down again. Slowly the Figure rises

with stiff movements. It turns, walks to the door, Left, as

the Prior turns at the same pace to door, Right. A pause.

Distant sound of monks at prayer).

CURTAIN

90



Documents

The Visitation: A Play