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diff --git a/9162.txt b/9162.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..15c756e --- /dev/null +++ b/9162.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11715 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Becket and other plays, by Alfred Lord Tennyson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Becket and other plays + +Author: Alfred Lord Tennyson + +Posting Date: October 24, 2012 [EBook #9162] +Release Date: October, 2005 +First Posted: September 10, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BECKET AND OTHER PLAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Tapio Riikonen and Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + +BECKET AND OTHER PLAYS + +BY + +ALFRED LORD TENNYSON, POET LAUREATE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +BECKET +THE CUP +THE FALCON +THE PROMISE OF MAY + + + +BECKET + + +TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR, THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF SELBORNE. + +MY DEAR SELBORNE, + +_To you, the honoured Chancellor of our own day, I dedicate this +dramatic memorial of your great predecessor;--which, altho' not +intended in its present form to meet the exigencies of our modern +theatre, has nevertheless--for so you have assured me--won your +approbation. + +Ever yours_, + +TENNYSON. + + + + +_DRAMATIS PERSONAE_. + +HENRY II. (_son of the Earl of Anjou_). +THOMAS BECKET, _Chancellor of England, afterwards Archbishop of + Canterbury_. +GILBERT FOLIOT, _Bishop of London_. +ROGER, _Archbishop of York_. + _Bishop of Hereford_. +HILARY, _Bishop of Chichester_. +JOCELYN, _Bishop of Salisbury_. +JOHN OF SALISBURY | +HERBERT OF BOSHAM | _friends of Becket_. +WALTER MAP, _reputed author of 'Golias,' Latin poems against + the priesthood_. +KING LOUIS OF FRANCE. +GEOFFREY, _son of Rosamund and Henry_. +GRIM, _a monk of Cambridge_. +SIR REGINALD FITZURSE | +SIR RICHARD DE BRITO | _the four knights of the King's_ +SIR WILLIAM DE TRACY | _household, enemies of Becket_. +SIR HUGH DE MORVILLE | +DE BROC OF SALTWOOD CASTLE. +LORD LEICESTER. +PHILIP DE ELEEMOSYNA. +TWO KNIGHT TEMPLARS. +JOHN OF OXFORD (_called the Swearer_). +ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE, _Queen of England (divorced from Louis of France)_. +ROSAMUND DE CLIFFORD. +MARGERY. + +_Knights, Monks, Beggars, etc_. + + + + +PROLOGUE. + +_A Castle in Normandy. Interior of the Hall. Roofs of a City seen +thro' Windows_. + +HENRY _and_ BECKET _at chess_. + + +HENRY. +So then our good Archbishop Theobald +Lies dying. + +BECKET. +I am grieved to know as much. + +HENRY. +But we must have a mightier man than he +For his successor. + +BECKET. + Have you thought of one? + +HENRY. +A cleric lately poison'd his own mother, +And being brought before the courts of the Church, +They but degraded him. I hope they whipt him. +I would have hang'd him. + +BECKET. + It is your move. + +HENRY. + Well--there. [_Moves_. +The Church in the pell-mell of Stephen's time +Hath climb'd the throne and almost clutch'd the crown; +But by the royal customs of our realm +The Church should hold her baronies of me, +Like other lords amenable to law. +I'll have them written down and made the law. + +BECKET. +My liege, I move my bishop. + +HENRY. + And if I live, +No man without my leave shall excommunicate +My tenants or my household. + +BECKET. + Look to your king. + + +HENRY. +No man without my leave shall cross the seas +To set the Pope against me--I pray your pardon. + +BECKET. +Well--will you move? + +HENRY. + There. [_Moves_. + +BECKET. + Check--you move so wildly. + +HENRY. +There then! [_Moves_. + +BECKET. + Why--there then, for you see my bishop +Hath brought your king to a standstill. You are beaten. + +HENRY (_kicks over the board_). +Why, there then--down go bishop and king together. +I loathe being beaten; had I fixt my fancy +Upon the game I should have beaten thee, +But that was vagabond. + +BECKET. + Where, my liege? With Phryne, +Or Lais, or thy Rosamund, or another? + +HENRY. +My Rosamund is no Lais, Thomas Becket; +And yet she plagues me too--no fault in her-- +But that I fear the Queen would have her life. + +BECKET. +Put her away, put her away, my liege! +Put her away into a nunnery! +Safe enough there from her to whom thou art bound +By Holy Church. And wherefore should she seek +The life of Rosamund de Clifford more +Than that of other paramours of thine? + +HENRY. +How dost thou know I am not wedded to her? + +BECKET. +How should I know? + +HENRY. + That is my secret, Thomas. + +BECKET. +State secrets should be patent to the statesman +Who serves and loves his king, and whom the king +Loves not as statesman, but true lover and friend. + +HENRY. +Come, come, thou art but deacon, not yet bishop, +No, nor archbishop, nor my confessor yet. +I would to God thou wert, for I should find +An easy father confessor in thee. + +BECKET. +St. Denis, that thou shouldst not. I should beat +Thy kingship as my bishop hath beaten it. + +HENRY. +Hell take thy bishop then, and my kingship too! +Come, come, I love thee and I know thee, I know thee, +A doter on white pheasant-flesh at feasts, +A sauce-deviser for thy days of fish, +A dish-designer, and most amorous +Of good old red sound liberal Gascon wine: +Will not thy body rebel, man, if thou flatter it? + +BECKET. +That palate is insane which cannot tell +A good dish from a bad, new wine from old. + +HENRY. +Well, who loves wine loves woman. + +BECKET. + So I do. +Men are God's trees, and women are God's flowers; +And when the Gascon wine mounts to my head, +The trees are all the statelier, and the flowers +Are all the fairer. + +HENRY. + And thy thoughts, thy fancies? + +BECKET. +Good dogs, my liege, well train'd, and easily call'd +Off from the game. + +HENRY. + Save for some once or twice, +When they ran down the game and worried it. + +BECKET. +No, my liege, no!--not once--in God's name, no! + +HENRY. +Nay, then, I take thee at thy word--believe thee +The veriest Galahad of old Arthur's hall. +And so this Rosamund, my true heart-wife, +Not Eleanor--she whom I love indeed +As a woman should be loved--Why dost thou smile +So dolorously? + +BECKET. + My good liege, if a man +Wastes himself among women, how should he love +A woman, as a woman should be loved? + +HENRY. +How shouldst thou know that never hast loved one? +Come, I would give her to thy care in England +When I am out in Normandy or Anjou. + +BECKET. +My lord, I am your subject, not your-- + +HENRY. + Pander. +God's eyes! I know all that--not my purveyor +Of pleasures, but to save a life--her life; +Ay, and the soul of Eleanor from hell-fire. +I have built a secret bower in England, Thomas, +A nest in a bush. + +BECKET. + And where, my liege? + +HENRY (_whispers_). + Thine ear. + +BECKET. +That's lone enough. + +HENRY (_laying paper on table_). + This chart here mark'd '_Her Bower_,' +Take, keep it, friend. See, first, a circling wood, +A hundred pathways running everyway, +And then a brook, a bridge; and after that +This labyrinthine brickwork maze in maze, +And then another wood, and in the midst +A garden and my Rosamund. Look, this line-- +The rest you see is colour'd green--but this +Draws thro' the chart to her. + +BECKET. + This blood-red line? + +HENRY. +Ay! blood, perchance, except thou see to her. + +BECKET. +And where is she? There in her English nest? + +HENRY. +Would God she were--no, here within the city. +We take her from her secret bower in Anjou +And pass her to her secret bower in England. +She is ignorant of all but that I love her. + +BECKET. +My liege, I pray thee let me hence: a widow +And orphan child, whom one of thy wild barons-- + +HENRY. +Ay, ay, but swear to see to her in England. + +BECKET. +Well, well, I swear, but not to please myself. + +HENRY. +Whatever come between us? + +BECKET. + What should come +Between us, Henry? + +HENRY. + Nay--I know not, Thomas. + +BECKET. +What need then? Well--whatever come between us. [_Going_. + +HENRY. +A moment! thou didst help me to my throne +In Theobald's time, and after by thy wisdom +Hast kept it firm from shaking; but now I, +For my realm's sake, myself must be the wizard +To raise that tempest which will set it trembling +Only to base it deeper. I, true son +Of Holy Church--no croucher to the Gregories +That tread the kings their children underheel-- +Must curb her; and the Holy Father, while +This Barbarossa butts him from his chair, +Will need my help--be facile to my hands. +Now is my time. Yet--lest there should be flashes +And fulminations from the side of Rome, +An interdict on England--I will have +My young son Henry crown'd the King of England, +That so the Papal bolt may pass by England, +As seeming his, not mine, and fall abroad. +I'll have it done--and now. + +BECKET. + Surely too young +Even for this shadow of a crown; and tho' +I love him heartily, I can spy already +A strain of hard and headstrong in him. Say, +The Queen should play his kingship against thine! + +HENRY. +I will not think so, Thomas. Who shall crown him? +Canterbury is dying. + +BECKET. + The next Canterbury. + +HENRY. +And who shall he be, my friend Thomas? Who? + +BECKET. +Name him; the Holy Father will confirm him. + +HENRY (_lays his hand on_ BECKET'S _shoulder_). +Here! + +BECKET. + Mock me not. I am not even a monk. +Thy jest--no more. Why--look--is this a sleeve +For an archbishop? + +HENRY. + But the arm within +Is Becket's, who hath beaten down my foes. + +BECKET. +A soldier's, not a spiritual arm. + +HENRY. +I lack a spiritual soldier, Thomas-- +A man of this world and the next to boot. + +BECKET. +There's Gilbert Foliot. + +HENRY. + He! too thin, too thin. +Thou art the man to fill out the Church robe; +Your Foliot fasts and fawns too much for me. + +BECKET. +Roger of York. + +HENRY. + Roger is Roger of York. +King, Church, and State to him but foils wherein +To set that precious jewel, Roger of York. +No. + +BECKET. + Henry of Winchester? + +HENRY. + Him who crown'd Stephen-- +King Stephen's brother! No; too royal for me. +And I'll have no more Anselms. + +BECKET. + Sire, the business +Of thy whole kingdom waits me: let me go. + +HENRY. +Answer me first. + +BECKET. + Then for thy barren jest +Take thou mine answer in bare commonplace-- +_Nolo episcopari_. + +HENRY. + Ay, but _Nolo +Archiepiscopari_, my good friend, +Is quite another matter. + +BECKET. + A more awful one. +Make _me_ archbishop! Why, my liege, I know +Some three or four poor priests a thousand times +Fitter for this grand function. _Me_ archbishop! +God's favour and king's favour might so clash +That thou and I----That were a jest indeed! + +HENRY. +Thou angerest me, man: I do not jest. + + _Enter_ ELEANOR _and_ SIR REGINALD FITZURSE. + +ELEANOR (_singing_). + + Over! the sweet summer closes, + The reign of the roses is done-- + +HENRY (_to_ BECKET, _who is going_). +Thou shalt not go. I have not ended with thee. + +ELEANOR (_seeing chart on table_). +This chart with the red line! her bower! whose bower? + +HENRY. +The chart is not mine, but Becket's: take it, Thomas. + +ELEANOR. +Becket! O--ay--and these chessmen on the floor--the king's crown +broken! Becket hath beaten thee again--and thou hast kicked down the +board. I know thee of old. + +HENRY. +True enough, my mind was set upon other matters. + +ELEANOR. +What matters? State matters? love matters? + +HENRY. +My love for thee, and thine for me. + +ELEANOR. + + Over! the sweet summer closes, + The reign of the roses is done; + Over and gone with the roses, + And over and gone with the sun. + +Here; but our sun in Aquitaine lasts longer. I would I were in +Aquitaine again--your north chills me. + + Over! the sweet summer closes, + And never a flower at the close; + Over and gone with the roses, + And winter again and the snows. + +That was not the way I ended it first--but unsymmetrically, +preposterously, illogically, out of passion, without art--like a song +of the people. Will you have it? The last Parthian shaft of a forlorn +Cupid at the King's left breast, and all left-handedness and +under-handedness. + + And never a flower at the close, + Over and gone with the roses, + Not over and gone with the rose. + +True, one rose will outblossom the rest, one rose in a bower. I speak +after my fancies, for I am a Troubadour, you know, and won the violet +at Toulouse; but my voice is harsh here, not in tune, a nightingale +out of season; for marriage, rose or no rose, has killed the golden +violet. + +BECKET. +Madam, you do ill to scorn wedded love. + +ELEANOR. +So I do. Louis of France loved me, and I dreamed that I loved Louis +of France: and I loved Henry of England, and Henry of England dreamed +that he loved me; but the marriage-garland withers even with the +putting on, the bright link rusts with the breath of the first +after-marriage kiss, the harvest moon is the ripening of the harvest, +and the honeymoon is the gall of love; he dies of his honeymoon. I +could pity this poor world myself that it is no better ordered. + +HENRY. +Dead is he, my Queen? What, altogether? Let me swear nay to that by +this cross on thy neck. God's eyes! what a lovely cross! what jewels! + +ELEANOR. +Doth it please you? Take it and wear it on that hard heart of yours-- +there. + [_Gives it to him_. + +HENRY (_puts it on_). + + On this left breast before so hard a heart, + To hide the scar left by thy Parthian dart. + +ELEANOR. +Has my simple song set you jingling? Nay, if I took and translated +that hard heart into our Provencal facilities, I could so play about +it with the rhyme-- + +HENRY. +That the heart were lost in the rhyme and the matter in the metre. May +we not pray you, Madam, to spare us the hardness of your facility? + +ELEANOR. +The wells of Castaly are not wasted upon the desert. We did but jest. + +HENRY. +There's no jest on the brows of Herbert there. What is it, Herbert? + + _Enter_ HERBERT OF BOSHAM. + +HERBERT. +My liege, the good Archbishop is no more. + +HENRY. +Peace to his soul! + +HERBERT. +I left him with peace on his face--that sweet other-world smile, which +will be reflected in the spiritual body among the angels. But he +longed much to see your Grace and the Chancellor ere he past, and his +last words were a commendation of Thomas Becket to your Grace as his +successor in the archbishoprick. + +HENRY. +Ha, Becket! thou rememberest our talk! + +BECKET. +My heart is full of tears--I have no answer. + +HENRY. +Well, well, old men must die, or the world would grow mouldy, would +only breed the past again. Come to me to-morrow. Thou hast but to hold +out thy hand. Meanwhile the revenues are mine. A-hawking, a-hawking! +If I sit, I grow fat. + [_Leaps over the table, and exit_. + +BECKET. +He did prefer me to the chancellorship, +Believing I should ever aid the Church-- +But have I done it? He commends me now +From out his grave to this archbishoprick. + +HERBERT. +A dead man's dying wish should be of weight. + +BECKET. +_His_ should. Come with me. Let me learn at full +The manner of his death, and all he said. + [_Exeunt_ HERBERT _and_ BECKET. + +ELEANOR. +Fitzurse, that chart with the red line--thou sawest it--her bower. + +FITZURSE. +Rosamund's? + +ELEANOR. +Ay--there lies the secret of her whereabouts, and the King gave it to +his Chancellor. + +FlTZURSE. +To this son of a London merchant--how your Grace must hate him. + +ELEANOR. +Hate him? as brave a Soldier as Henry and a goodlier man: but thou-- +dost thou love this Chancellor, that thou hast sworn a voluntary +allegiance to him? + +FlTZURSE. +Not for my love toward him, but because he had the love of the King. +How should a baron love a beggar on horseback, with the retinue of +three kings behind him, outroyalling royalty? Besides, he holp the +King to break down our castles, for the which I hate him. + +ELEANOR. +For the which I honour him. Statesman not Churchman he. A great and +sound policy that: I could embrace him for it: you could not see the +King for the kinglings. + +FlTZURSE. +Ay, but he speaks to a noble as tho' he were a churl, and to a churl +as if he were a noble. + +ELEANOR. +Pride of the plebeian! + +FlTZURSE. +And this plebeian like to be Archbishop! + +ELEANOR. +True, and I have an inherited loathing of these black sheep of the +Papacy. Archbishop? I can see further into a man than our hot-headed +Henry, and if there ever come feud between Church and Crown, and I do +not then charm this secret out of our loyal Thomas, I am not Eleanor. + +FlTZURSE. +Last night I followed a woman in the city here. Her face was veiled, +but the back methought was Rosamund--his paramour, thy rival. I can +feel for thee. + +ELEANOR. +Thou feel for me!--paramour--rival! King Louis had no paramours, and I +loved him none the more. Henry had many, and I loved him none the +less--now neither more nor less--not at all; the cup's empty. I would +she were but his paramour, for men tire of their fancies; but I fear +this one fancy hath taken root, and borne blossom too, and she, whom +the King loves indeed, is a power in the State. Rival!--ay, and when +the King passes, there may come a crash and embroilment as in +Stephen's time; and her children--canst thou not--that secret matter +which would heat the King against thee (_whispers him and he starts_). +Nay, that is safe with me as with thyself: but canst thou not--thou +art drowned in debt--thou shalt have our love, our silence, and our +gold--canst thou not--if thou light upon her--free me from her? + +FITZURSE. +Well, Madam, I have loved her in my time. + +ELEANOR. +No, my bear, thou hast not. My Courts of Love would have held thee +guiltless of love--the fine attractions and repulses, the delicacies, +the subtleties. + +FITZURSE. +Madam, I loved according to the main purpose and intent of nature. + +ELEANOR. +I warrant thee! thou wouldst hug thy Cupid till his ribs cracked-- +enough of this. Follow me this Rosamund day and night, whithersoever +she goes; track her, if thou canst, even into the King's lodging, that +I may (_clenches her fist_)--may at least have my cry against him and +her,--and thou in thy way shouldst be +jealous of the King, for thou in thy way didst once, +what shall I call it, affect her thine own self. + +FITZURSE. +Ay, but the young colt winced and whinnied and +flung up her heels; and then the King came honeying +about her, and this Becket, her father's friend, like +enough staved us from her. + +ELEANOR. +Us! + +FITZURSE. +Yea, by the Blessed Virgin! There were more than +I buzzing round the blossom--De Tracy--even that +flint De Brito. + +ELEANOR. +Carry her off among you; run in upon her and +devour her, one and all of you; make her as hateful +to herself and to the King, as she is to me. + +FITZURSE. +I and all would be glad to wreak our spite on the +rose-faced minion of the King, and bring her to the +level of the dust, so that the King-- + +ELEANOR. +Let her eat it like the serpent, and be driven out +of her paradise. + + + + +ACT ONE. + + +SCENE I.--BECKET'S _House in London. Chamber barely furnished_. BECKET +_unrobing_. HERBERT OF BOSHAM _and_ SERVANT. + + +SERVANT. +Shall I not help your lordship to your rest? + +BECKET. +Friend, am I so much better than thyself +That thou shouldst help me? Thou art wearied out +With this day's work, get thee to thine own bed. +Leave me with Herbert, friend. [_Exit_ SERVANT. +Help me off, Herbert, with this--and this. + +HERBERT. +Was not the people's blessing as we past +Heart-comfort and a balsam to thy blood? + +BECKET. +The people know their Church a tower of strength, +A bulwark against Throne and Baronage. +Too heavy for me, this; off with it, Herbert! + +HERBERT. +Is it so much heavier than thy Chancellor's robe? + +BECKET. +No; but the Chancellor's and the Archbishop's +Together more than mortal man can bear. + +HERBERT. +Not heavier than thine armour at Thoulouse? + +BECKET. +O Herbert, Herbert, in my chancellorship +I more than once have gone against the Church. + +HERBERT. +To please the King? + +BECKET. + Ay, and the King of kings, +Or justice; for it seem'd to me but just +The Church should pay her scutage like the lords. +But hast thou heard this cry of Gilbert Foliot +That I am not the man to be your Primate, +For Henry could not work a miracle-- +Make an Archbishop of a soldier? + +HERBERT. + Ay, +For Gilbert Foliot held himself the man. + +BECKET. +Am I the man? My mother, ere she bore me, +Dream'd that twelve stars fell glittering out of heaven +Into her bosom. + +HERBERT. + Ay, the fire, the light, +The spirit of the twelve Apostles enter'd +Into thy making. + +BECKET. + And when I was a child, +The Virgin, in a vision of my sleep, +Gave me the golden keys of Paradise. Dream, +Or prophecy, that? + +HERBERT. + Well, dream and prophecy both. + +BECKET. +And when I was of Theobald's household, once-- +The good old man would sometimes have his jest-- +He took his mitre off, and set it on me, +And said, 'My young Archbishop--thou wouldst make +A stately Archbishop!' Jest or prophecy there? + +HERBERT. +Both, Thomas, both. + +BECKET. + Am I the man? That rang +Within my head last night, and when I slept +Methought I stood in Canterbury Minster, +And spake to the Lord God, and said, 'O Lord, +I have been a lover of wines, and delicate meats, +And secular splendours, and a favourer +Of players, and a courtier, and a feeder +Of dogs and hawks, and apes, and lions, and lynxes. +Am _I_ the man?' And the Lord answer'd me, +'Thou art the man, and all the more the man.' +And then I asked again, 'O Lord my God, +Henry the King hath been my friend, my brother, +And mine uplifter in this world, and chosen me +For this thy great archbishoprick, believing +That I should go against the Church with him. +And I shall go against him with the Church, +And I have said no word of this to him: +'Am _I_ the man?' And the Lord answer'd me, +'Thou art the man, and all the more the man.' +And thereupon, methought, He drew toward me, +And smote me down upon the Minster floor. +I fell. + +HERBERT. + God make not thee, but thy foes, fall. + +BECKET. +I fell. Why fall? Why did He smite me? What? +Shall I fall off--to please the King once more? +Not fight--tho' somehow traitor to the King-- +My truest and mine utmost for the Church? + +HERBERT. +Thou canst not fall that way. Let traitor be; +For how have fought thine utmost for the Church, +Save from the throne of thine archbishoprick? +And how been made Archbishop hadst thou told him, +'I mean to fight mine utmost for the Church, +Against the King?' + +BECKET. + But dost thou think the King +Forced mine election? + +HERBERT. + I do think the King +Was potent in the election, and why not? +Why should not Heaven have so inspired the King? +Be comforted. Thou art the man--be thou +A mightier Anselm. + +BECKET. +I do believe thee, then. I am the man. +And yet I seem appall'd--on such a sudden +At such an eagle-height I stand and see +The rift that runs between me and the King. +I served our Theobald well when I was with him; +I served King Henry well as Chancellor; +I am his no more, and I must serve the Church. +This Canterbury is only less than Rome, +And all my doubts I fling from me like dust, +Winnow and scatter all scruples to the wind, +And all the puissance of the warrior, +And all the wisdom of the Chancellor, +And all the heap'd experiences of life, +I cast upon the side of Canterbury-- +Our holy mother Canterbury, who sits +With tatter'd robes. Laics and barons, thro' +The random gifts of careless kings, have graspt +Her livings, her advowsons, granges, farms, +And goodly acres--we will make her whole; +Not one rood lost. And for these Royal customs, +These ancient Royal customs--they _are_ Royal, +Not of the Church--and let them be anathema, +And all that speak for them anathema. + +HERBERT. +Thomas, thou art moved too much. + +BECKET. + O Herbert, here +I gash myself asunder from the King, +Tho' leaving each, a wound; mine own, a grief +To show the scar for ever--his, a hate +Not ever to be heal'd. + + _Enter_ ROSAMUND DE CLIFFORD, _flying from_ SIR REGINALD + FITZURSE. _Drops her veil_. + +BECKET. + Rosamund de Clifford! + +ROSAMUND. +Save me, father, hide me--they follow me-- +and I must not be known. + +BECKET. + Pass in with Herbert there. + + [_Exeunt_ ROSAMUND _and_ HERBERT _by side door_. + + _Enter_ FITZURSE. + +FITZURSE. +The Archbishop! + +BECKET. + Ay! what wouldst thou, Reginald? + +FITZURSE. +Why--why, my lord, I follow'd--follow'd one-- + +BECKET. +And then what follows? Let me follow thee. + +FITZURSE. +It much imports me I should know her name. + +BECKET. +What her? + +FITZURSE. + The woman that I follow'd hither. + +BECKET. +Perhaps it may import her all as much +Not to be known. + +FITZURSE. + And what care I for that? +Come, come, my lord Archbishop; I saw that door +Close even now upon the woman. + +BECKET. + Well? + +FITZURSE (_making for the door_). +Nay, let me pass, my lord, for I must know. + +BECKET. +Back, man! + +FITZURSE. + Then tell me who and what she is. + +BECKET. +Art thou so sure thou followedst anything? +Go home, and sleep thy wine off, for thine eyes +Glare stupid--wild with wine. + +FITZURSE (_making to the door_). + I must and will. +I care not for thy new archbishoprick. + +BECKET. +Back, man, I tell thee! What! +Shall I forget my new archbishoprick +And smite thee with my crozier on the skull? +'Fore God, I am a mightier man than thou. + +FlTZURSE. +It well befits thy new archbishoprick +To take the vagabond woman of the street +Into thine arms! + +BECKET. + O drunken ribaldry! +Out, beast! out, bear! + +FlTZURSE. + I shall remember this. + +BECKET. +Do, and begone! [_Exit_ FITZURSE. + [_Going to the door, sees_ DE TRACY.] + Tracy, what dost thou here? + +DE TRACY. +My lord, I follow'd Reginald Fitzurse. + +BECKET. +Follow him out! + +DE TRACY. + I shall remember this +Discourtesy. + [_Exit_. + +BECKET. + Do. These be those baron-brutes +That havock'd all the land in Stephen's day. +Rosamund de Clifford. + + _Re-enter_ ROSAMUND _and_ HERBERT. + +ROSAMUND. + Here am I. + +BECKET. + Why here? +We gave thee to the charge of John of Salisbury. +To pass thee to thy secret bower to-morrow. +Wast thou not told to keep thyself from sight? + +ROSAMUND. +Poor bird of passage! so I was; but, father, +They say that you are wise in winged things, +And know the ways of Nature. Bar the bird +From following the fled summer--a chink--he's out, +Gone! And there stole into the city a breath +Full of the meadows, and it minded me +Of the sweet woods of Clifford, and the walks +Where I could move at pleasure, and I thought +Lo! I must out or die. + +BECKET. + Or out _and_ die. +And what hast thou to do with this Fitzurse? + +ROSAMUND. +Nothing. He sued my hand. I shook at him. +He found me once alone. Nay--nay--I cannot +Tell you: my father drove him and his friends, +De Tracy and De Brito, from our castle. +I was but fourteen and an April then. +I heard him swear revenge. + +BECKET. + Why will you court it +By self-exposure? flutter out at night? +Make it so hard to save a moth from the fire? + +ROSAMUND. +I have saved many of 'em. You catch 'em, so, +Softly, and fling them out to the free air. +They burn themselves _within_-door. + +BECKET. + Our good John +Must speed you to your bower at once. The child +Is there already. + +ROSAMUND. + Yes--the child--the child-- +O rare, a whole long day of open field. + +BECKET. +Ay, but you go disguised. + +ROSAMUND. + O rare again! +We'll baffle them, I warrant. What shall it be? +I'll go as a nun. + +BECKET. + No. + +ROSAMUND. + What, not good enough +Even to play at nun? + +BECKET. + Dan John with a nun, +That Map, and these new railers at the Church +May plaister his clean name with scurrilous rhymes! +No! + Go like a monk, cowling and clouding up +That fatal star, thy Beauty, from the squint +Of lust and glare of malice. Good night! good night! + +ROSAMUND. +Father, I am so tender to all hardness! +Nay, father, first thy blessing. + +BECKET. + Wedded? + +ROSAMUND. + Father! + +BECKET. +Well, well! I ask no more. Heaven bless thee! hence! + +ROSAMUND. +O, holy father, when thou seest him next, +Commend me to thy friend. + +BECKET. + What friend? + +ROSAMUND. + The King. + +BECKET. +Herbert, take out a score of armed men +To guard this bird of passage to her cage; +And watch Fitzurse, and if he follow thee, +Make him thy prisoner. I am Chancellor yet. + [_Exeunt_ HERBERT _and_ ROSAMUND. +Poor soul! poor soul! +My friend, the King!... O thou Great Seal of England, +Given me by my dear friend the King of England-- +We long have wrought together, thou and I-- +Now must I send thee as a common friend +To tell the King, my friend, I am against him. +We are friends no more: he will say that, not I. +The worldly bond between us is dissolved, +Not yet the love: can I be under him +As Chancellor? as Archbishop over him? +Go therefore like a friend slighted by one +That hath climb'd up to nobler company. +Not slighted--all but moan'd for: thou must go. +I have not dishonour'd thee--I trust I have not; +Not mangled justice. May the hand that next +Inherits thee be but as true to thee +As mine hath been! O, my dear friend, the King! +O brother!--I may come to martyrdom. +I am martyr in myself already.--Herbert! + +HERBERT (_re-entering_). +My lord, the town is quiet, and the moon +Divides the whole long street with light and shade. +No footfall--no Fitzurse. We have seen her home. + +BECKET. +The hog hath tumbled himself into some corner, +Some ditch, to snore away his drunkenness +Into the sober headache,--Nature's moral +Against excess. Let the Great Seal be sent +Back to the King to-morrow. + +HERBERT. + Must that be? +The King may rend the bearer limb from limb +Think on it again. + +BECKET. + Against the moral excess +No physical ache, but failure it may be +Of all we aim'd at. John of Salisbury +Hath often laid a cold hand on my heats, +And Herbert hath rebuked me even now. +I will be wise and wary, not the soldier +As Foliot swears it.--John, and out of breath! + + _Enter_ JOHN OF SALISBURY. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +Thomas, thou wast not happy taking charge +Of this wild Rosamund to please the King, +Nor am I happy having charge of her-- +The included Danae has escaped again +Her tower, and her Acrisius--where to seek? +I have been about the city. + +BECKET. + Thou wilt find her +Back in her lodging. Go with her--at once-- +To-night--my men will guard you to the gates. +Be sweet to her, she has many enemies. +Send the Great Seal by daybreak. Both, good night! + + + +SCENE II.--_Street in Northampton leading to the Castle_. + +ELEANOR'S RETAINERS _and_ BECKET'S RETAINERS _fighting. Enter_ ELEANOR +_and_ BECKET _from opposite streets_. + + +ELEANOR. +Peace, fools! + +BECKET. + Peace, friends! what idle brawl is this? + +RETAINER OF BECKET. +They said--her Grace's people--thou wast found-- +Liars! I shame to quote 'em--caught, my lord, +With a wanton in thy lodging--Hell requite 'em! + +RETAINER OF ELEANOR. +My liege, the Lord Fitzurse reported this +In passing to the Castle even now. + +RETAINER OF BECKET. +And then they mock'd us and we fell upon 'em, +For we would live and die for thee, my lord, +However kings and queens may frown on thee. + +BECKET TO HIS RETAINERS. +Go, go--no more of this! + +ELEANOR TO HER RETAINERS. + Away!--(_Exeunt_ RETAINERS) Fitzurse-- + +BECKET. +Nay, let him be. + +ELEANOR. + No, no, my Lord Archbishop, +'Tis known you are midwinter to all women, +But often in your chancellorship you served +The follies of the King. + +BECKET. + No, not these follies! + +ELEANOR. +My lord, Fitzurse beheld her in your lodging. + +BECKET. +Whom? + +ELEANOR. + Well--you know--the minion, Rosamund. + +BECKET. +He had good eyes! + +ELEANOR. + Then hidden in the street +He watch'd her pass with John of Salisbury +And heard her cry 'Where is this bower of mine?' + +BECKET. +Good ears too! + +ELEANOR. + You are going to the Castle, +Will you subscribe the customs? + +BECKET. + I leave that, +Knowing how much you reverence Holy Church, +My liege, to your conjecture. + +ELEANOR. + I and mine-- +And many a baron holds along with me-- +Are not so much at feud with Holy Church +But we might take your side against the customs-- +So that you grant me one slight favour. + +BECKET. + What? + +ELEANOR. +A sight of that same chart which Henry gave you +With the red line--'her bower.' + +BECKET. + And to what end? + +ELEANOR. +That Church must scorn herself whose fearful Priest +Sits winking at the license of a king, +Altho' we grant when kings are dangerous +The Church must play into the hands of kings; +Look! I would move this wanton from his sight +And take the Church's danger on myself. + +BECKET. +For which she should be duly grateful. + +ELEANOR. + True! +Tho' she that binds the bond, herself should see +That kings are faithful to their marriage vow. + +BECKET. +Ay, Madam, and queens also. + +ELEANOR. + And queens also! +What is your drift? + +BECKET. + My drift is to the Castle, +Where I shall meet the Barons and my King. [_Exit_. + + DE BROC, DE TRACY, DE BRITO, DE MORVILLE (_passing_). + +ELEANOR. +To the Castle? + +DE BROC. + Ay! + +ELEANOR. + Stir up the King, the Lords! +Set all on fire against him! + +DE BRITO. + Ay, good Madam! [_Exeunt_. + +ELEANOR. +Fool! I will make thee hateful to thy King. +Churl! I will have thee frighted into France, +And I shall live to trample on thy grave. + + + +SCENE III.--_The Hall in Northampton Castle_. + +_On one side of the stage the doors of an inner Council-chamber, +half-open. At the bottom, the great doors of the Hall_. ROGER +ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, FOLIOT BISHOP OF LONDON, HILARY OF CHICHESTER, +BISHOP OF HEREFORD, RICHARD DE HASTINGS (_Grand Prior of Templars_), +PHILIP DE ELEEMOSYNA (_the Pope's Almoner_), _and others_. DE BROC, +FITZURSE, DE BRITO, DE MORVILLE, DE TRACY, _and other_ BARONS +_assembled--a table before them_. JOHN OF OXFORD, _President of the +Council_. + + + _Enter_ BECKET _and_ HERBERT OF BOSHAM. + +BECKET. +Where is the King? + +ROGER OF YORK. + Gone hawking on the Nene, +His heart so gall'd with thine ingratitude, +He will not see thy face till thou hast sign'd +These ancient laws and customs of the realm. +Thy sending back the Great Seal madden'd him, +He all but pluck'd the bearer's eyes away. +Take heed, lest he destroy thee utterly. + +BECKET. +Then shalt thou step into my place and sign. + +ROGER OF YORK. +Didst thou not promise Henry to obey +These ancient laws and customs of the realm? + +BECKET. +Saving the honour of my order--ay. +Customs, traditions,--clouds that come and go; +The customs of the Church are Peter's rock. + +ROGER OF YORK. +Saving thine order! But King Henry sware +That, saving his King's kingship, he would grant thee +The crown itself. Saving thine order, Thomas, +Is black and white at once, and comes to nought. +O bolster'd up with stubbornness and pride, +Wilt thou destroy the Church in fighting for it, +And bring us all to shame? + +BECKET. + Roger of York, +When I and thou were youths in Theobald's house, +Twice did thy malice and thy calumnies +Exile me from the face of Theobald. +Now I am Canterbury and thou art York. + +ROGER OF YORK. +And is not York the peer of Canterbury? +Did not Great Gregory bid St. Austin here +Found two archbishopricks, London and York? + +BECKET. +What came of that? The first archbishop fled, +And York lay barren for a hundred years. +Why, by this rule, Foliot may claim the pall +For London too. + +FOLIOT. + And with good reason too, +For London had a temple and a priest +When Canterbury hardly bore a name. + +BECKET. +The pagan temple of a pagan Rome! +The heathen priesthood of a heathen creed! +Thou goest beyond thyself in petulancy! +Who made thee London? Who, but Canterbury? + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +Peace, peace, my lords! these customs are no longer +As Canterbury calls them, wandering clouds, +But by the King's command are written down, +And by the King's command I, John of Oxford, +The President of this Council, read them. + +BECKET. + Read! + +JOHN OF OXFORD (_reads_). +'All causes of advowsons and presentations, whether between laymen or +clerics, shall be tried in the King's court.' + +BECKET. +But that I cannot sign: for that would drag +The cleric before the civil judgment-seat, +And on a matter wholly spiritual. + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +'If any cleric be accused of felony, the Church shall not protect him: +but he shall answer to the summons of the King's court to be tried +therein.' + +BECKET. +And that I cannot sign. +Is not the Church the visible Lord on earth? +Shall hands that do create the Lord be bound +Behind the back like laymen-criminals? +The Lord be judged again by Pilate? No! + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +'When a bishoprick falls vacant, the King, till another be appointed, +shall receive the revenues thereof.' + +BECKET. +And that I cannot sign. Is the King's treasury +A fit place for the monies of the Church, +That be the patrimony of the poor? + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +'And when the vacancy is to be filled up, the King shall summon the +chapter of that church to court, and the election shall be made in the +Chapel Royal, with the consent of our lord the King, and by the advice +of his Government.' + +BECKET. +And that I cannot sign: for that would make +Our island-Church a schism from Christendom, +And weight down all free choice beneath the throne. + +FOLIOT. +And was thine own election so canonical, +Good father? + +BECKET. + If it were not, Gilbert Foliot, +I mean to cross the sea to France, and lay +My crozier in the Holy Father's hands, +And bid him re-create me, Gilbert Foliot. + +FOLIOT. +Nay; by another of these customs thou +Wilt not be suffer'd so to cross the seas +Without the license of our lord the King. + +BECKET. +That, too, I cannot sign. + + DE BROC, DE BRITO, DE TRACY, FITZURSE, DE + MORVILLE, _start up--a clash of swords_. + + Sign and obey! + +BECKET. +My lords, is this a combat or a council? +Are ye my masters, or my lord the King? +Ye make this clashing for no love o' the customs +Or constitutions, or whate'er ye call them, +But that there be among you those that hold +Lands reft from Canterbury. + +DE BROC. + And mean to keep them, +In spite of thee! + +LORDS (_shouting_). + Sign, and obey the crown! + +BECKET. +The crown? Shall I do less for Canterbury +Than Henry for the crown? King Stephen gave +Many of the crown lands to those that helpt him; +So did Matilda, the King's mother. Mark, +When Henry came into his own again, +Then he took back not only Stephen's gifts, +But his own mother's, lest the crown should be +Shorn of ancestral splendour. This did Henry. +Shall I do less for mine own Canterbury? +And thou, De Broc, that holdest Saltwood Castle-- + +DE BROC. +And mean to hold it, or-- + +BECKET. + To have my life. + +DE BROC. +The King is quick to anger; if thou anger him, +We wait but the King's word to strike thee dead. + +BECKET. +Strike, and I die the death of martyrdom; +Strike, and ye set these customs by my death +Ringing their own death-knell thro' all the realm. + +HERBERT. +And I can tell you, lords, ye are all as like +To lodge a fear in Thomas Becket's heart +As find a hare's form in a lion's cave. + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +Ay, sheathe your swords, ye will displease the King. + +DE BROC. +Why down then thou! but an he come to Saltwood, +By God's death, thou shalt stick him like a calf! + [_Sheathing his sword_. + +HILARY. +O my good lord, I do entreat thee--sign. +Save the King's honour here before his barons. +He hath sworn that thou shouldst sign, and now but shuns +The semblance of defeat; I have heard him say +He means no more; so if thou sign, my lord, +That were but as the shadow of an assent. + +BECKET. +'Twould seem too like the substance, if I sign'd. + +PHILIP DE ELEEMOSYNA. +My lord, thine ear! I have the ear of the Pope. +As thou hast honour for the Pope our master, +Have pity on him, sorely prest upon +By the fierce Emperor and his Antipope. +Thou knowest he was forced to fly to France; +He pray'd me to pray thee to pacify +Thy King; for if thou go against thy King, +Then must he likewise go against thy King, +And then thy King might join the Antipope, +And that would shake the Papacy as it stands. +Besides, thy King swore to our cardinals +He meant no harm nor damage to the Church. +Smoothe thou his pride--thy signing is but form; +Nay, and should harm come of it, it is the Pope +Will be to blame--not thou. Over and over +He told me thou shouldst pacify the King, +Lest there be battle between Heaven and Earth, +And Earth should get the better--for the time. +Cannot the Pope absolve thee if thou sign? + +BECKET. +Have I the orders of the Holy Father? + +PHILIP DE ELEEMOSYNA. +Orders, my lord--why, no; for what am I? +The secret whisper of the Holy Father. +Thou, that hast been a statesman, couldst thou always +Blurt thy free mind to the air? + +BECKET. +If Rome be feeble, then should I be firm. + +PHILIP. +Take it not that way--balk not the Pope's will. +When he hath shaken off the Emperor, +He heads the Church against the King with thee. + +RICHARD DE HASTINGS (_kneeling_). +Becket, I am the oldest of the Templars; +I knew thy father; he would be mine age +Had he lived now; think of me as thy father! +Behold thy father kneeling to thee, Becket. +Submit; I promise thee on my salvation +That thou wilt hear no more o' the customs. + +BECKET. + What! +Hath Henry told thee? hast thou talk'd with him? + +_Another_ TEMPLAR (_kneeling_). +Father, I am the youngest of the Templars, +Look on me as I were thy bodily son, +For, like a son, I lift my hands to thee. + +PHILIP. +Wilt thou hold out for ever, Thomas Becket? +Dost thou not hear? + +BECKET (_signs_). + Why--there then--there--I sign, +And swear to obey the customs. + +FOLIOT. + Is it thy will, +My lord Archbishop, that we too should sign? + +BECKET. +O ay, by that canonical obedience +Thou still hast owed thy father, Gilbert Foliot. + +FOLIOT. +Loyally and with good faith, my lord Archbishop? + +BECKET. +O ay, with all that loyalty and good faith +Thou still hast shown thy primate, Gilbert Foliot. + [BECKET _draws apart with_ HERBERT. +Herbert, Herbert, have I betray'd the Church? +I'll have the paper back--blot out my name. + +HERBERT. +Too late, my lord: you see they are signing there. + +BECKET. +False to myself--it is the will of God +To break me, prove me nothing of myself! +This Almoner hath tasted Henry's gold. +The cardinals have finger'd Henry's gold. +And Rome is venal ev'n to rottenness. +I see it, I see it. +I am no soldier, as he said--at least +No leader. Herbert, till I hear from the Pope +I will suspend myself from all my functions. +If fast and prayer, the lacerating scourge-- + +FOLIOT (_from the table_). +My lord Archbishop, thou hast yet to seal. + +BECKET. +First, Foliot, let me see what I have sign'd. + [_Goes to the table_. +What, this! and this!--what! new and old together! +Seal? If a seraph shouted from the sun, +And bad me seal against the rights of the Church, +I would anathematise him. I will not seal. + [_Exit with_ HERBERT. + + _Enter_ KING HENRY. + +HENRY. +Where's Thomas? hath he sign'd? show me the papers! +Sign'd and not seal'd! How's that? + +JOHN OF OXFORD. + He would not seal. +And when he sign'd, his face was stormy-red-- +Shame, wrath, I know not what. He sat down there +And dropt it in his hands, and then a paleness, +Like the wan twilight after sunset, crept +Up even to the tonsure, and he groan'd, +'False to myself! It is the will of God!' + +HENRY. +God's will be what it will, the man shall seal, +Or I will seal his doom. My burgher's son-- +Nay, if I cannot break him as the prelate, +I'll crush him as the subject. Send for him back. + [_Sits on his throne_. +Barons and bishops of our realm of England, +After the nineteen winters of King Stephen-- +A reign which was no reign, when none could sit +By his own hearth in peace; when murder common +As nature's death, like Egypt's plague, had fill'd +All things with blood; when every doorway blush'd, +Dash'd red with that unhallow'd passover; +When every baron ground his blade in blood; +The household dough was kneaded up with blood; +The millwheel turn'd in blood; the wholesome plow +Lay rusting in the furrow's yellow weeds, +Till famine dwarft the race--I came, your King! +Nor dwelt alone, like a soft lord of the East, +In mine own hall, and sucking thro' fools' ears +The flatteries of corruption--went abroad +Thro' all my counties, spied my people's ways; +Yea, heard the churl against the baron--yea, +And did him justice; sat in mine own courts +Judging my judges, that had found a King +Who ranged confusions, made the twilight day, +And struck a shape from out the vague, and law +From madness. And the event--our fallows till'd, +Much corn, repeopled towns, a realm again. +So far my course, albeit not glassy-smooth, +Had prosper'd in the main, but suddenly +Jarr'd on this rock. A cleric violated +The daughter of his host, and murder'd him. +Bishops--York, London, Chichester, Westminster-- +Ye haled this tonsured devil into your courts; +But since your canon will not let you take +Life for a life, ye but degraded him +Where I had hang'd him. What doth hard murder care +For degradation? and that made me muse, +Being bounden by my coronation oath +To do men justice. Look to it, your own selves! +Say that a cleric murder'd an archbishop, +What could ye do? Degrade, imprison him-- +Not death for death. +JOHN OF OXFORD. + But I, my liege, could swear, +To death for death. + +HENRY. + And, looking thro' my reign, +I found a hundred ghastly murders done +By men, the scum and offal of the Church; +Then, glancing thro' the story of this realm, +I came on certain wholesome usages, +Lost in desuetude, of my grandsire's day, +Good royal customs--had them written fair +For John of Oxford here to read to you. +JOHN OF OXFORD. +And I can easily swear to these as being +The King's will and God's will and justice; yet +I could but read a part to-day, because---- + +FITZURSE. +Because my lord of Canterbury---- + +DE TRACY. + Ay, +This lord of Canterbury---- + +DE BRITO. + As is his wont +Too much of late whene'er your royal rights +Are mooted in our councils---- + +FITZURSE. + --made an uproar. + +HENRY. +And Becket had my bosom on all this; +If ever man by bonds of gratefulness-- +I raised him from the puddle of the gutter, +I made him porcelain from the clay of the city-- +Thought that I knew him, err'd thro' love of him, +Hoped, were he chosen archbishop, Church and Crown, +Two sisters gliding in an equal dance, +Two rivers gently flowing side by side-- +But no! +The bird that moults sings the same song again, +The snake that sloughs comes out a snake again. +Snake--ay, but he that lookt a fangless one, +Issues a venomous adder. +For he, when having dofft the Chancellor's robe-- +Flung the Great Seal of England in my face-- +Claim'd some of our crown lands for Canterbury-- +My comrade, boon companion, my co-reveller, +The master of his master, the King's king.-- +God's eyes! I had meant to make him all but king. +Chancellor-Archbishop, he might well have sway'd +All England under Henry, the young King, +When I was hence. What did the traitor say? +False to himself, but ten-fold false to me! +The will of God--why, then it is my will-- +Is he coming? + MESSENGER (_entering_). + With a crowd of worshippers, +And holds his cross before him thro' the crowd, +As one that puts himself in sanctuary. + +HENRY. +His cross! + +ROGER OF YORK. + His cross! I'll front him, cross to cross. + [_Exit_ ROGER OF YORK. +HENRY. +His cross! it is the traitor that imputes +Treachery to his King! +It is not safe for me to look upon him. +Away--with me! + + [_Goes in with his_ BARONS _to the Council Chamber, + the door of which is left open_. + + _Enter_ BECKET, _holding his cross of silver before him_. + _The_ BISHOPS _come round him_. + +HEREFORD. +The King will not abide thee with thy cross. +Permit me, my good lord, to bear it for thee, +Being thy chaplain. + +BECKET. + No: it must protect me. + +HERBERT. +As once he bore the standard of the Angles, +So now he bears the standard of the angels. + +FOLIOT. +I am the Dean of the province: let me bear it. +Make not thy King a traitorous murderer. + +BECKET. +Did not your barons draw their swords against me? + + _Enter_ ROGER OF YORK, _with his cross, + advancing to_ BECKET. + +BECKET. + +Wherefore dost thou presume to bear thy cross, +Against the solemn ordinance from Rome, +Out of thy province? + +ROGER OF YORK. + Why dost thou presume, +Arm'd with thy cross, to come before the King? +If Canterbury bring his cross to court, +Let York bear his to mate with Canterbury. + +FOLIOT (_seizing hold of_ BECKET'S _cross_). +Nay, nay, my lord, thou must not brave the King. +Nay, let me have it. I will have it! + +BECKET. + Away! + + [_Flinging him off_. + +FOLIOT. +_He_ fasts, they say, this mitred Hercules! +_He_ fast! is that an arm of fast? My lord, +Hadst thou not sign'd, I had gone along with thee; +But thou the shepherd hast betray'd the sheep, +And thou art perjured, and thou wilt not seal. +As Chancellor thou wast against the Church, +Now as Archbishop goest against the King; +For, like a fool, thou knowst no middle way. +Ay, ay! but art thou stronger than the King? + +BECKET. +Strong--not in mine own self, but Heaven; true +To either function, holding it; and thou +Fast, scourge thyself, and mortify thy flesh, +Not spirit--thou remainest Gilbert Foliot, +A worldly follower of the worldly strong. +I, bearing this great ensign, make it clear +Under what Prince I fight. + +FOLIOT. + My lord of York, +Let us go in to the Council, where our bishops +And our great lords will sit in judgment on him. + +BECKET. +Sons sit in judgment on their father!--then +The spire of Holy Church may prick the graves-- +Her crypt among the stars. Sign? seal? I promised +The King to obey these customs, not yet written, +Saving mine order; true too, that when written +I sign'd them--being a fool, as Foliot call'd me. +I hold not by my signing. Get ye hence, +Tell what I say to the King. + + [_Exeunt_ HEREFORD, FOLIOT, _and other_ BISHOPS. + +ROGER OF YORK. + The Church will hate thee. + [_Exit_. + +BECKET. +Serve my best friend and make him my worst foe; +Fight for the Church, and set the Church against me! + +HERBERT. +To be honest is to set all knaves against thee. +Ah! Thomas, excommunicate them all! + +HEREFORD (_re-entering_). +I cannot brook the turmoil thou hast raised. +I would, my lord Thomas of Canterbury, +Thou wert plain Thomas and not Canterbury, +Or that thou wouldst deliver Canterbury +To our King's hands again, and be at peace. + +HILARY (_re-entering_). +For hath not thine ambition set the Church +This day between the hammer and the anvil-- +Fealty to the King, obedience to thyself? + +HERBERT. +What say the bishops? + +HILARY. + Some have pleaded for him, +But the King rages--most are with the King; +And some are reeds, that one time sway to the current, +And to the wind another. But we hold +Thou art forsworn; and no forsworn Archbishop +Shall helm the Church. We therefore place ourselves +Under the shield and safeguard of the Pope, +And cite thee to appear before the Pope, +And answer thine accusers.... Art thou deaf? + +BECKET. +I hear you. [_Clash of arms_. + +HILARY. + Dost thou hear those others? + +BECKET. + Ay! + +ROGER OF YORK (_re-entering_). +The King's 'God's eyes!' come now so thick and fast, +We fear that he may reave thee of thine own. +Come on, come on! it is not fit for us +To see the proud Archbishop mutilated. +Say that he blind thee and tear out thy tongue. + +BECKET. +So be it. He begins at top with me: +They crucified St. Peter downward. + +ROGER OF YORK. + Nay, +But for their sake who stagger betwixt thine +Appeal, and Henry's anger, yield. + +BECKET. + Hence, Satan! + + [_Exit_ ROGER OF YORK. + +FITZURSE (re-entering), +My lord, the King demands three hundred marks, +Due from his castles of Berkhamstead and Eye +When thou thereof wast warden. + +BECKET. + Tell the King +I spent thrice that in fortifying his castles. + +DE TRACY (_re-entering_.) +My lord, the King demands seven hundred marks, +Lent at the siege of Thoulouse by the King. + +BECKET. +I led seven hundred knights and fought his wars. + +DE BRITO (_re-entering_). +My lord, the King demands five hundred marks, +Advanced thee at his instance by the Jews, +For which the King was bound security. + +BECKET. +I thought it was a gift; I thought it was a gift. + + _Enter Lord_ LEICESTER (_followed by_ BARONS _and_ BISHOPS). + +My lord, I come unwillingly. The King +Demands a strict account of all those revenues +From all the vacant sees and abbacies, +Which came into thy hands when Chancellor. + +BECKET. +How much might that amount to, my lord Leicester? + +LEICESTER. +Some thirty--forty thousand silver marks. + +BECKET. +Are these your customs? O my good lord Leicester, +The King and I were brothers. All I had +I lavish'd for the glory of the King; +I shone from him, for him, his glory, his +Reflection: now the glory of the Church +Hath swallow'd up the glory of the King; +I am his no more, but hers. Grant me one day +To ponder these demands. + +LEICESTER. + Hear first thy sentence! +The King and all his lords-- + +BECKET. + Son, first hear _me_! + +LEICESTER. +Nay, nay, canst thou, that holdest thine estates +In fee and barony of the King, decline +The judgment of the King? + +BECKET. + The King! I hold +Nothing in fee and barony of the King. +Whatever the Church owns--she holds it in +Free and perpetual alms, unsubject to +One earthly sceptre. + +LEICESTER. + Nay, but hear thy judgment. +The King and all his barons-- + +BECKET. + Judgment! Barons! +Who but the bridegroom dares to judge the bride, +Or he the bridegroom may appoint? Not he +That is not of the house, but from the street +Stain'd with the mire thereof. + I had been so true +To Henry and mine office that the King +Would throne me in the great Archbishoprick: +And I, that knew mine own infirmity, +For the King's pleasure rather than God's cause +Took it upon me--err'd thro' love of him. +Now therefore God from me withdraws Himself, +And the King too. + What! forty thousand marks! +Why thou, the King, the Pope, the Saints, the world, +Know that when made Archbishop I was freed, +Before the Prince and chief Justiciary, +From every bond and debt and obligation +Incurr'd as Chancellor. + Hear me, son. + As gold +Outvalues dross, light darkness, Abel Cain, +The soul the body, and the Church the Throne, +I charge thee, upon pain of mine anathema, +That thou obey, not me, but God in me, +Rather than Henry. I refuse to stand +By the King's censure, make my cry to the Pope, +By whom I will be judged; refer myself, +The King, these customs, all the Church, to him, +And under his authority--I depart. [_Going_. + [LEICESTER _looks at him doubtingly_. +Am I a prisoner? + +LEICESTER. + By St. Lazarus, no! +I am confounded by thee. Go in peace. + +DE BROC. +In peace now--but after. Take that for earnest. + [_Flings a bone at him from the rushes_. + +DE BRITO, FITZURSE, DE TRACY, _and others (flinging wisps of rushes)_. +Ay, go in peace, caitiff, caitiff! And that too, perjured prelate--and +that, turncoat shaveling! There, there, there! traitor, traitor, +traitor! + +BECKET. +Mannerless wolves! [_Turning and facing them_. + +HERBERT. + Enough, my lord, enough! + +BECKET. +Barons of England and of Normandy, +When what ye shake at doth but seem to fly, +True test of coward, ye follow with a yell. +But I that threw the mightiest knight of France, +Sir Engelram de Trie,-- + +HERBERT. + Enough, my lord. + +BECKET. +More than enough. I play the fool again. + + _Enter_ HERALD. + +HERALD. +The King commands you, upon pain of death, +That none should wrong or injure your Archbishop. + +FOLIOT. +Deal gently with the young man Absalom. + + [_Great doors of the Hall at the back open, and + discover a crowd. They shout_: + +Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! + + + +SCENE IV.--_Refectory of the Monastery at Northampton. +A Banquet on the Tables_. + + + _Enter_ BECKET. BECKET'S RETAINERS. + +1ST RETAINER. +Do thou speak first. + +2ND RETAINER. +Nay, thou! Nay, thou! Hast not thou drawn the short straw? + +1ST RETAINER. +My lord Archbishop, wilt thou permit us-- + +BECKET. +To speak without stammering and like a free man? +Ay. + +1ST RETAINER. + My lord, permit us then to leave thy service. + +BECKET. +When? + +1ST RETAINER. +Now. + +BECKET. +To-night? + +1ST RETAINER. +To-night, my lord. + +BECKET. +And why? + +1ST RETAINER. +My lord, we leave thee not without tears. + +BECKET. +Tears? Why not stay with me then? + +1ST RETAINER. +My lord, we cannot yield thee an answer altogether to thy +satisfaction. + +BECKET. +I warrant you, or your own either. Shall I find +you one? The King hath frowned upon me. + +1ST RETAINER. +That is not altogether our answer, my lord. + +BECKET. +No; yet all but all. Go, go! Ye have eaten of my dish and drunken of +my cup for a dozen years. + +1ST RETAINER. +And so we have. We mean thee no wrong. Wilt thou not say, 'God bless +you,' ere we go? + +BECKET. +God bless you all! God redden your pale blood! But mine is human-red; +and when ye shall hear it is poured out upon earth, and see it +mounting to Heaven, my God bless you, that seems sweet to you now, +will blast and blind you like a curse. + +1ST RETAINER. +We hope not, my lord. Our humblest thanks for +your blessing. Farewell! + [_Exeunt_ RETAINERS. + +BECKET. +Farewell, friends! farewell, swallows! I wrong the bird; she leaves +only the nest she built, they leave the builder. Why? Am I to be +murdered to-night? + + [_Knocking at the door_. + +ATTENDANT. +Here is a missive left at the gate by one from the castle. + +BECKET. +Cornwall's hand or Leicester's: they write marvellously alike. + [_Reading_. +'Fly at once to France, to King Louis of France: there be those about +our King who would have thy blood.' Was not my lord of Leicester +bidden to our supper? + +ATTENDANT. +Ay, my lord, and divers other earls and barons. But the hour is past, +and our brother, Master Cook, he makes moan that all be a-getting +cold. + +BECKET. +And I make my moan along with him. Cold after warm, winter after +summer, and the golden leaves, these earls and barons, that clung to +me, frosted off me by the first cold frown of the King. Cold, but look +how the table steams, like a heathen altar; nay, like the altar at +Jerusalem. Shall God's good gifts be wasted? None of them here! Call +in the poor from the streets, and let them feast. + +HERBERT. +That is the parable of our blessed Lord. + +BECKET. +And why should not the parable of our blessed Lord be acted again? +Call in the poor! The Church is ever at variance with the kings, and +ever at one with the poor. I marked a group of lazars in the +marketplace--half-rag, half-sore--beggars, poor rogues (Heaven bless +'em) who never saw nor dreamed of such a banquet. I will amaze them. +Call them in, I say. They shall henceforward be my earls and barons-- +our lords and masters in Christ Jesus. + + [_Exit_ HERBERT. + +If the King hold his purpose, I am myself a beggar. Forty thousand +marks! forty thousand devils--and these craven bishops! + +_A_ POOR MAN _(entering) with his dog_. +My lord Archbishop, may I come in with my poor friend, my dog? The +King's verdurer caught him a-hunting in the forest, and cut off his +paws. The dog followed his calling, my lord. I ha' carried him ever so +many miles in my arms, and he licks my face and moans and cries out +against the King. + +BECKET. +Better thy dog than thee. The King's courts would use thee worse than +thy dog--they are too bloody. Were the Church king, it would be +otherwise. Poor beast! poor beast! set him down. I will bind up his +wounds with my napkin. Give him a bone, give him a bone! Who misuses a +dog would misuse a child--they cannot speak for themselves. Past help! +his paws are past help. God help him! + + _Enter the_ BEGGARS _(and seat themselves at the Tables)_. + BECKET _and_ HERBERT _wait upon them_. + +1ST BEGGAR. +Swine, sheep, ox--here's a French supper. When thieves fall out, +honest men---- + +2ND BEGGAR. +Is the Archbishop a thief who gives thee thy supper? + +1ST BEGGAR. +Well, then, how does it go? When honest men fall out, thieves--no, it +can't be that. + +2ND BEGGAR. +Who stole the widow's one sitting hen o' Sunday, when she was at mass? + +1ST BEGGAR. +Come, come! thou hadst thy share on her. Sitting hen! Our Lord +Becket's our great sitting-hen cock, and we shouldn't ha' been sitting +here if the barons and bishops hadn't been a-sitting on the +Archbishop. + +BECKET. +Ay, the princes sat in judgment against me, and the Lord hath prepared +your table--_Sederunt principes, ederunt pauperes_. + +_A Voice_. +Becket, beware of the knife! + +BECKET. +Who spoke? + +3RD BEGGAR. +Nobody, my lord. What's that, my lord? + +BECKET. +Venison. + +3RD BEGGAR. +Venison? + +BECKET. +Buck; deer, as you call it. + +3RD BEGGAR. +King's meat! By the Lord, won't we pray for your lordship! + +BECKET. +And, my children, your prayers will do more for me in the day of peril +that dawns darkly and drearily over the house of God--yea, and in the +day of judgment also, than the swords of the craven sycophants would +have done had they remained true to me whose bread they have partaken. +I must leave you to your banquet. Feed, feast, and be merry. Herbert, +for the sake of the Church itself, if not for my own, I must fly to +France to-night. Come with me. + [_Exit with_ HERBERT. + +3RD BEGGAR. +Here--all of you--my lord's health (_they drink_). Well--if that isn't +goodly wine-- + +1ST BEGGAR. +Then there isn't a goodly wench to serve him with it: they were +fighting for her to-day in the street. + +3RD BEGGAR. +Peace! + +1ST BEGGAR. + + The black sheep baaed to the miller's ewe-lamb, + The miller's away for to-night. + Black sheep, quoth she, too black a sin for me. + And what said the black sheep, my masters? + We can make a black sin white. + +3RD BEGGAR. +Peace! + +1ST BEGGAR. + + 'Ewe lamb, ewe lamb, I am here by the dam.' + But the miller came home that night, + And so dusted his back with the meal in his sack, + That he made the black sheep white. + +3RD BEGGAR. +Be we not of the family? be we not a-supping with the head of the +family? be we not in my lord's own refractory? Out from among us; thou +art our black sheep. + + _Enter the four_ KNIGHTS. + +FITZURSE. +Sheep, said he? And sheep without the shepherd, too. Where is my lord +Archbishop? Thou the lustiest and lousiest of this Cain's brotherhood, +answer. + +3RD BEGGAR. +With Cain's answer, my lord. Am I his keeper? Thou shouldst call him +Cain, not me. + +FITZURSE. +So I do, for he would murder his brother the State. + +3RD BEGGAR (_rising and advancing_). +No my lord; but because the Lord hath set his mark upon him that no +man should murder him. + +FITZURSE. +Where is he? where is he? + +3RD BEGGAR. +With Cain belike, in the land of Nod, or in the land of France for +aught I know. + +FITZURSE. +France! Ha! De Morville, Tracy, Brito--fled is he? Cross swords all of +you! swear to follow him! Remember the Queen! + + [_The four_ KNIGHTS _cross their swords_. + +DE BRITO. +They mock us; he is here. + + [_All the_ BEGGARS _rise and advance upon them_. + +FITZURSE. +Come, you filthy knaves, let us pass. + +3RD BEGGAR. +Nay, my lord, let _us_ pass. We be a-going home +after our supper in all humbleness, my lord; for the +Archbishop loves humbleness, my lord; and though +we be fifty to four, we daren't fight you with our +crutches, my lord. There now, if thou hast not laid +hands upon me! and my fellows know that I am all +one scale like a fish. I pray God I haven't given thee +my leprosy, my lord. + + [FITZURSE _shrinks from him and another presses upon_ DE BRITO. + +DE BRITO. +Away, dog! + +4TH BEGGAR. +And I was bit by a mad dog o' Friday, an' I be half dog already by +this token, that tho' I can drink wine I cannot bide water, my lord; +and I want to bite, I want to bite, and they do say the very breath +catches. + +DE BRITO. +Insolent clown. Shall I smite him with the edge of the sword? + +DE MORVILLE. +No, nor with the flat of it either. Smite the shepherd and the sheep +are scattered. Smite the sheep and the shepherd will excommunicate +thee. + +DE BRITO. +Yet my fingers itch to beat him into nothing. + +5TH BEGGAR. +So do mine, my lord. I was born with it, and sulphur won't bring it +out o' me. But for all that the Archbishop washed my feet o' Tuesday. +He likes it, my lord. + +6TH BEGGAR. +And see here, my lord, this rag fro' the gangrene i' my leg. It's +humbling--it smells o' human natur'. Wilt thou smell it, my lord? for +the Archbishop likes the smell on it, my lord; for I be his lord and +master i' Christ, my lord. + +DE MORVILLE. +Faugh! we shall all be poisoned. Let us go. + + [_They draw back,_ BEGGARS _following_. + +7TH BEGGAR. +My lord, I ha' three sisters a-dying at home o' the sweating sickness. +They be dead while I be a-supping. + +8TH BEGGAR. +And I ha' nine darters i' the spital that be dead ten times o'er i' +one day wi' the putrid fever; and I bring the taint on it along wi' +me, for the Archbishop likes it, my lord. + + [_Pressing upon the_ KNIGHTS _till they disappear thro' the door_. + +3RD BEGGAR. +Crutches, and itches, and leprosies, and ulcers, and gangrenes, and +running sores, praise ye the Lord, for to-night ye have saved our +Archbishop! + +1ST BEGGAR. +I'll go back again. I hain't half done yet. + +HERBERT OF BOSHAM (_entering_). +My friends, the Archbishop bids you good-night. He hath retired to +rest, and being in great jeopardy of his life, he hath made his bed +between the altars, from whence he sends me to bid you this night pray +for him who hath fed you in the wilderness. + +3RD BEGGAR. +So we will--so we will, I warrant thee. Becket shall be king, and the +Holy Father shall be king, and the world shall live by the King's +venison and the bread o' the Lord, and there shall be no more poor for +ever. Hurrah! Vive le Roy! That's the English of it. + + + + +ACT II. + + +SCENE I.--ROSAMUND'S _Bower. A Garden of Flowers. In the midst a bank +of wild-flowers with a bench before it_. + + +_Voices heard singing among the trees_. + +_Duet_. + +1. Is it the wind of the dawn that I hear in the pine overhead? + +2. No; but the voice of the deep as it hollows the cliffs of the land. + +1. Is there a voice coming up with the voice of the deep from the +strand, +One coming up with a song in the flush of the glimmering red? + +2. Love that is born of the deep coming up with the sun from the sea. + +1. Love that can shape or can shatter a life till the life shall have +fled? + +2. Nay, let us welcome him, Love that can lift up a life from the +dead. + +1. Keep him away from the lone little isle. Let us be, let us be. + +2. Nay, let him make it his own, let him reign in it--he, it is he, +Love that is born of the deep coming up with the sun from the sea. + + _Enter_ HENRY _and_ ROSAMUND. + +ROSAMUND. +Be friends with him again--I do beseech thee. + +HENRY. +With Becket? I have but one hour with thee-- +Sceptre and crozier clashing, and the mitre +Grappling the crown--and when I flee from this +For a gasp of freer air, a breathing-while +To rest upon thy bosom and forget him-- +Why thou, my bird, thou pipest Becket, Becket-- +Yea, thou my golden dream of Love's own bower, +Must be the nightmare breaking on my peace +With 'Becket.' + +ROSAMUND. + O my life's life, not to smile +Is all but death to me. My sun, no cloud! +Let there not be one frown in this one hour. +Out of the many thine, let this be mine! +Look rather thou all-royal as when first +I met thee. + +HENRY. + Where was that? + +ROSAMUND. + Forgetting that +Forgets me too. + +HENRY. + Nay, I remember it well. +There on the moors. + +ROSAMUND. + And in a narrow path. +A plover flew before thee. Then I saw +Thy high black steed among the flaming furze, +Like sudden night in the main glare of day. +And from that height something was said to me +I knew not what. + +HENRY. + I ask'd the way. + +ROSAMUND. + I think so. +So I lost mine. + +HENRY. + Thou wast too shamed to answer. + +ROSAMUND. +Too scared--so young! + +HENRY. + The rosebud of my rose!-- +Well, well, no more of _him_--I have sent his folk, +His kin, all his belongings, overseas; +Age, orphans, and babe-breasting mothers--all +By hundreds to him--there to beg, starve, die-- +So that the fool King Louis feed them not. +The man shall feel that I can strike him yet. + +ROSAMUND. +Babes, orphans, mothers! is that royal, Sire? + +HENRY. +And I have been as royal with the Church. +He shelter'd in the Abbey of Pontigny. +There wore his time studying the canon law +To work it against me. But since he cursed +My friends at Veselay, I have let them know, +That if they keep him longer as their guest, +I scatter all their cowls to all the hells. + +ROSAMUND. +And is that altogether royal? + +HENRY. + Traitress! + +ROSAMUND. +A faithful traitress to thy royal fame. + +HENRY. +Fame! what care I for fame? Spite, ignorance, envy, +Yea, honesty too, paint her what way they will. +Fame of to-day is infamy to-morrow; +Infamy of to-day is fame to-morrow; +And round and round again. What matters? Royal--I +mean to leave the royalty of my crown +Unlessen'd to mine heirs. + +ROSAMUND. + Still--thy fame too: +I say that should be royal. + +HENRY. + And I say, +I care not for thy saying. + +ROSAMUND. + And I say, +I care not for _thy_ saying. A greater King +Than thou art, Love, who cares not for the word, +Makes 'care not'--care. There have I spoken true? + +HENRY. +Care dwell with me for ever, when I cease +To care for thee as ever! + +ROSAMUND. + No need! no need!... +There is a bench. Come, wilt thou sit?... My bank +Of wild-flowers [_he sits_]. At thy feet! + [She sits at his feet. + +HENRY. + I had them clear +A royal pleasaunce for thee, in the wood, +Not leave these countryfolk at court. + +ROSAMUND. + I brought them +In from the wood, and set them here. I love them +More than the garden flowers, that seem at most +Sweet guests, or foreign cousins, not half speaking +The language of the land. I love _them_ too, +Yes. But, my liege, I am sure, of all the roses-- +Shame fall on those who gave it a dog's name-- +This wild one (_picking a briar-rose_)--nay, I shall not prick myself-- +Is sweetest. Do but smell! + +HENRY. + Thou rose of the world! +Thou rose of all the roses! + [Muttering. +I am not worthy of her--this beast-body +That God has plunged my soul in--I, that taking +The Fiend's advantage of a throne, so long +Have wander'd among women,--a foul stream +Thro' fever-breeding levels,--at her side, +Among these happy dales, run clearer, drop +The mud I carried, like yon brook, and glass +The faithful face of heaven-- + [Looking at her, and unconsciously aloud, + --thine! thine! + +ROSAMUND. + I know it. + +HENRY (_muttering_). +Not hers. We have but one bond, her hate of Becket. + +ROSAMUND (half hearing). +Nay! nay! what art thou muttering? _I_ hate Becket? + +HENRY (_muttering_). +A sane and natural loathing for a soul +Purer, and truer and nobler than herself; +And mine a bitterer illegitimate hate, +A bastard hate born of a former love. + +ROSAMUND, +My fault to name him! O let the hand of one +To whom thy voice is all her music, stay it +But for a breath. + [_Puts her hand before his lips_. + Speak only of thy love. +Why there--like some loud beggar at thy gate-- +The happy boldness of this hand hath won it +Love's alms, thy kiss (_looking at her hand_)--Sacred! +I'll kiss it too. [_Kissing it_. +There! wherefore dost thou so peruse it? Nay, +There may be crosses in my line of life. + +HENRY. +Not half _her_ hand--no hand to mate with _her_, +If it should come to that. + +ROSAMUND. + With her? with whom? + +HENRY. +Life on the hand is naked gipsy-stuff; +Life on the face, the brows-clear innocence! +Vein'd marble--not a furrow yet--and hers + [_Muttering_. +Crost and recrost, a venomous spider's web-- + +ROSAMUND (_springing up_). +Out of the cloud, my Sun--out of the eclipse +Narrowing my golden hour! + +HENRY. + O Rosamund, +I would be true--would tell thee all--and something +I had to say--I love thee none the less-- +Which will so vex thee. + +ROSAMUND. + Something against _me_? + +HENRY. +No, no, against myself. + +ROSAMUND. + I will not hear it. +Come, come, mine hour! I bargain for mine hour. +I'll call thee little Geoffrey. + +HENRY. + Call him! + +ROSAMUND. + Geoffrey! + [_Enter_ GEOFFREY. + +HENRY. +How the boy grows! + +ROSAMUND. + Ay, and his brows are thine; +The mouth is only Clifford, my dear father. + +GEOFFREY. +My liege, what hast thou brought me? + +HENRY. + Venal imp! +What say'st thou to the Chancellorship of England? + +GEOFFREY. +O yes, my liege. + +HENRY. + 'O yes, my liege!' He speaks +As if it were a cake of gingerbread. +Dost thou know, my boy, what it is to be Chancellor of England? + +GEOFFREY. +Something good, or thou wouldst not give it me. + +HENRY. +It is, my boy, to side with the King when Chancellor, and then to be +made Archbishop and go against the King who made him, and turn the +world upside down. + +GEOFFREY. +I won't have it then. Nay, but give it me, and I promise thee not to +turn the world upside down. + +HENRY (_giving him a ball_). +Here is a ball, my boy, thy world, to turn anyway and play with as +thou wilt--which is more than I can do with mine. Go try it, play. + [_Exit_ GEOFFREY. +A pretty lusty boy. + +ROSAMUND. + So like to thee; +Like to be liker. + +HENRY. + Not in my chin, I hope! +That threatens double. + +ROSAMUND. + Thou art manlike perfect. + +HENRY. +Ay, ay, no doubt; and were I humpt behind, +Thou'dst say as much--the goodly way of women +Who love, for which I love them. May God grant +No ill befall or him or thee when I +Am gone. + +ROSAMUND. + Is _he_ thy enemy? + +HENRY. + He? who? ay! + +ROSAMUND. +Thine enemy knows the secret of my bower. + +HENRY. +And I could tear him asunder with wild horses +Before he would betray it. Nay--no fear! +More like is he to excommunicate me. + +ROSAMUND. +And I would creep, crawl over knife-edge flint +Barefoot, a hundred leagues, to stay his hand +Before he flash'd the bolt. + +HENRY. + And when he flash'd it +Shrink from me, like a daughter of the Church. + +ROSAMUND. +Ay, but he will not. + +HENRY. + Ay! but if he did? + +ROSAMUND. +O then! O then! I almost fear to say +That my poor heretic heart would excommunicate +His excommunication, clinging to thee +Closer than ever. + +HENRY (_raising_ ROSAMUND _and kissing her_). + My brave-hearted Rose! +Hath he ever been to see thee? + +ROSAMUND + Here? not he. +And it is so lonely here--no confessor. + +HENRY. +Thou shall confess all thy sweet sins to me. + +ROSAMUND. +Besides, we came away in such a heat, +I brought not ev'n my crucifix. + +HENRY. + Take this. + + [_Giving her the Crucifix which_ ELEANOR _gave him_. + +ROSAMUND. +O beautiful! May I have it as mine, till mine +Be mine again? + +HENRY (_throwing it round her neck_). + Thine--as I am--till death! + +ROSAMUND. +Death? no! I'll have it with me in my shroud, +And wake with it, and show it to all the Saints. + +HENRY. +Nay--I must go; but when thou layest thy lip +To this, remembering One who died for thee, +Remember also one who lives for thee +Out there in France; for I must hence to brave +The Pope, King Louis, and this turbulent priest. + +ROSAMUND (_kneeling_). +O by thy love for me, all mine for thee, +Fling not thy soul into the flames of hell: +I kneel to thee--be friends with him again. + +HENRY. +Look, look! if little Geoffrey have not tost +His ball into the brook! makes after it too +To find it. Why, the child will drown himself. + +ROSAMUND. +Geoffrey! Geoffrey! + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE II.--_Montmirail. 'The Meeting of the Kings.'_ + +JOHN OF OXFORD _and_ HENRY. _Crowd in the distance_. + + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +You have not crown'd young Henry yet, my liege? + +HENRY. +Crown'd! by God's eyes, we will not have him crown'd. +I spoke of late to the boy, he answer'd me, +As if he wore the crown already--No, +We will not have him crown'd. +'Tis true what Becket told me, that the mother +Would make him play his kingship against mine. + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +Not have him crown'd? + +HENRY. +Not now--not yet! and Becket +Becket should crown him were he crown'd at all: +But, since we would be lord of our own manor, +This Canterbury, like a wounded deer, +Has fled our presence and our feeding-grounds. + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +Cannot a smooth tongue lick him whole again +To serve your will? + +HENRY. + He hates my will, not me. + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +There's York, my liege. + +HENRY. + But England scarce would hold +Young Henry king, if only crown'd by York, +And that would stilt up York to twice himself. +There is a movement yonder in the crowd-- +See if our pious--what shall I call him, John?-- +Husband-in-law, our smooth-shorn suzerain, +Be yet within the field. + +JOHN OF OXFORD. + I will. [_Exit_. + +HENRY. + Ay! Ay! +Mince and go back! his politic Holiness +Hath all but climb'd the Roman perch again, +And we shall hear him presently with clapt wing +Crow over Barbarossa--at last tongue-free +To blast my realms with excommunication +And interdict. I must patch up a peace-- +A piece in this long-tugged at, threadbare-worn +Quarrel of Crown and Church--to rend again. +His Holiness cannot steer straight thro' shoals, +Nor I. The citizen's heir hath conquer'd me +For the moment. So we make our peace with him. + [Enter_ Louis. +Brother of France, what shall be done with Becket? + +LOUIS. +The holy Thomas! Brother, you have traffick'd +Between the Emperor and the Pope, between +The Pope and Antipope--a perilous game +For men to play with God. + +HENRY. + Ay, ay, good brother, +They call you the Monk-King. + +LOUIS. + Who calls me? she +That was my wife, now yours? You have her Duchy, +The point you aim'd at, and pray God she prove +True wife to you. You have had the better of us +In secular matters. + +HENRY. + Come, confess, good brother, +You did your best or worst to keep her Duchy. +Only the golden Leopard printed in it +Such hold-fast claws that you perforce again +Shrank into France. Tut, tut! did we convene +This conference but to babble of our wives? +They are plagues enough in-door. + +LOUIS. + We fought in the East, +And felt the sun of Antioch scald our mail, +And push'd our lances into Saracen hearts. +We never hounded on the State at home +To spoil the Church. + +HENRY. + How should you see this rightly? + +LOUIS. +Well, well, no more! I am proud of my 'Monk-King,' +Whoever named me; and, brother, Holy Church +May rock, but will not wreck, nor our Archbishop +Stagger on the slope decks for any rough sea +Blown by the breath of kings. We do forgive you +For aught you wrought against us. + [HENRY _holds up his hand_. + Nay, I pray you, +Do not defend yourself. You will do much +To rake out all old dying heats, if you, +At my requesting, will but look into +The wrongs you did him, and restore his kin, +Reseat him on his throne of Canterbury, +Be, both, the friends you were. + +HENRY. + The friends we were! +Co-mates we were, and had our sport together, +Co-kings we were, and made the laws together. +The world had never seen the like before. +You are too cold to know the fashion of it. +Well, well, we will be gentle with him, gracious-- +Most gracious. + + _Enter_ BECKET, _after him,_ JOHN OF OXFORD, ROGER + OF YORK, GILBERT FOLIOT, DE BROC, FITZURSE, _etc_. + + Only that the rift he made +May close between us, here I am wholly king, +The word should come from him. + +BECKET (_kneeling_). + Then, my dear liege, +I here deliver all this controversy +Into your royal hands. + +HENRY. + Ah, Thomas, Thomas, +Thou art thyself again, Thomas again. + +BECKET (_rising_). +Saving God's honour! + +HENRY. + Out upon thee, man! +Saving the Devil's honour, his yes and no. +Knights, bishops, earls, this London spawn--by Mahound, +I had sooner have been born a Mussulman-- +Less clashing with their priests-- +I am half-way down the slope--will no man stay me? +I dash myself to pieces--I stay myself-- +Puff--it is gone. You, Master Becket, you +That owe to me your power over me-- +Nay, nay-- +Brother of France, you have taken, cherish'd him +Who thief-like fled from his own church by night, +No man pursuing. I would have had him back. +Take heed he do not turn and rend you too: +For whatsoever may displease him--that +Is clean against God's honour--a shift, a trick +Whereby to challenge, face me out of all +My regal rights. Yet, yet--that none may dream +I go against God's honour--ay, or himself +In any reason, choose +A hundred of the wisest heads from England, +A hundred, too, from Normandy and Anjou: +Let these decide on what was customary +In olden days, and all the Church of France +Decide on their decision, I am content +More, what the mightiest and the holiest +Of all his predecessors may have done +Ev'n to the least and meanest of my own, +Let him do the same to me--I am content. + +LOUIS. +Ay, ay! the King humbles himself enough. + +BECKET. +(_Aside_) Words! he will wriggle out of them like an eel +When the time serves. (_Aloud_.) My lieges and my lords, +The thanks of Holy Church are due to those +That went before us for their work, which we +Inheriting reap an easier harvest. Yet-- + +LOUIS. +My lord, will you be greater than the Saints, +More than St. Peter? whom--what is it you doubt? +Behold your peace at hand. + +BECKET. + I say that those +Who went before us did not wholly clear +The deadly growths of earth, which Hell's own heat +So dwelt on that they rose and darken'd Heaven. +Yet they did much. Would God they had torn up all +By the hard root, which shoots again; our trial +Had so been less; but, seeing they were men +Defective or excessive, must we follow +All that they overdid or underdid? +Nay, if they were defective as St. Peter +Denying Christ, who yet defied the tyrant, +We hold by his defiance, not his defect. +O good son Louis, do not counsel me, +No, to suppress God's honour for the sake +Of any king that breathes. No, God forbid! + +HENRY. +No! God forbid! and turn me Mussulman! +No God but one, and Mahound is his prophet. +But for your Christian, look you, you shall have +None other God but me--me, Thomas, son +Of Gilbert Becket, London merchant. Out! + I hear no more. [_Exit_. + +LOUIS. + Our brother's anger puts him, +Poor man, beside himself--not wise. My lord, +We have claspt your cause, believing that our brother +Had wrong'd you; but this day he proffer'd peace. +You will have war; and tho' we grant the Church +King over this world's kings, yet, my good lord, +We that are kings are something in this world, +And so we pray you, draw yourself from under +The wings of France. We shelter you no more. + [_Exit_. + +JOHN OF OXFORD. +I am glad that France hath scouted him at last: +I told the Pope what manner of man he was. + [_Exit_. + +ROGER OF YORK. +Yea, since he flouts the will of either realm, +Let either cast him away like a dead dog! + [_Exit_. + +FOLIOT. +Yea, let a stranger spoil his heritage, +And let another take his bishoprick! + [_Exit_. + +DE BROC. +Our castle, my lord, belongs to Canterbury. +I pray you come and take it. [_Exit_. + +FITZURSE. + When you will. + [_Exit_. + +BECKET. +Cursed be John of Oxford, Roger of York, +And Gilbert Foliot! cursed those De Brocs +That hold our Saltwood Castle from our see! +Cursed Fitzurse, and all the rest of them +That sow this hate between my lord and me! + +_Voices from the Crowd_. +Blessed be the Lord Archbishop, who hath withstood two Kings to their +faces for the honour of God. + +BECKET. +Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, praise! +I thank you, sons; when kings but hold by crowns, +The crowd that hungers for a crown in Heaven +Is my true king. + +HERBERT. + Thy true King bad thee be +A fisher of men; thou hast them in thy net. + +BECKET. +I am too like the King here; both of us +Too headlong for our office. Better have been +A fisherman at Bosham, my good Herbert, +Thy birthplace--the sea-creek--the petty rill +That falls into it--the green field--the gray church-- +The simple lobster-basket, and the mesh-- +The more or less of daily labour done-- +The pretty gaping bills in the home-nest +Piping for bread--the daily want supplied-- +The daily pleasure to supply it. + +HERBERT. + Ah, Thomas, +You had not borne it, no, not for a day. + +BECKET. +Well, maybe, no. + +HERBERT. + But bear with Walter Map, +For here he comes to comment on the time. + + _Enter_ WALTER MAP. + +WALTER MAP. +Pity, my lord, that you have quenched the warmth of France toward you, +tho' His Holiness, after much smouldering and smoking, be kindled +again upon your quarter. + +BECKET. +Ay, if he do not end in smoke again. + +WALTER MAP. +My lord, the fire, when first kindled, said to the smoke, 'Go up, my +son, straight to Heaven.' And the smoke said, 'I go;' but anon the +North-east took and turned him South-west, then the South-west turned +him North-east, and so of the other winds; but it was in him to go up +straight if the time had been quieter. Your lordship affects the +unwavering perpendicular; but His Holiness, pushed one way by the +Empire and another by England, if he move at all, Heaven stay him, is +fain to diagonalise. + +HERBERT. +Diagonalise! thou art a word-monger! +Our Thomas never will diagonalise. +Thou art a jester and a verse-maker. +Diagonalise! + +WALTER MAP. +Is the world any the worse for my verses if the Latin rhymes be rolled +out from a full mouth? or any harm done to the people if my jest be in +defence of the Truth? + +BECKET. +Ay, if the jest be so done that the people +Delight to wallow in the grossness of it, +Till Truth herself be shamed of her defender. +_Non defensoribus istis_, Walter Map. + +WALTER MAP. +Is that my case? so if the city be sick, and I cannot call the kennel +sweet, your lordship would suspend me from verse-writing, as you +suspended yourself after subwriting to the customs. + +BECKET. +I pray God pardon mine infirmity. + +WALTER MAP. +Nay, my lord, take heart; for tho' you suspended yourself, the Pope +let you down again; and tho' you suspend Foliot or another, the Pope +will not leave them in suspense, for the Pope himself is always in +suspense, like Mahound's coffin hung between heaven and earth--always +in suspense, like the scales, till the weight of Germany or the gold +of England brings one of them down to the dust--always in suspense, +like the tail of the horologe--to and fro--tick-tack--we make the +time, we keep the time, ay, and we serve the time; for I have heard +say that if you boxed the Pope's ears with a purse, you might stagger +him, but he would pocket the purse. No saying of mine--Jocelyn of +Salisbury. But the King hath bought half the College of Red-hats. He +warmed to you to-day, and you have chilled him again. Yet you both +love God. Agree with him quickly again, even for the sake of the +Church. My one grain of good counsel which you will not swallow. I +hate a split between old friendships as I hate the dirty gap in the +face of a Cistercian monk, that will swallow anything. Farewell. + + [_Exit_. + +BECKET. +Map scoffs at Rome. I all but hold with Map. +Save for myself no Rome were left in England, +All had been his. Why should this Rome, this Rome, +Still choose Barabbas rather than the Christ, +Absolve the left-hand thief and damn the right? +Take fees of tyranny, wink at sacrilege, +Which even Peter had not dared? condemn +The blameless exile?-- + +HERBERT. + Thee, thou holy Thomas! +I would that thou hadst been the Holy Father. + +BECKET. +I would have done my most to keep Rome holy, +I would have made Rome know she still is Rome-- +Who stands aghast at her eternal self +And shakes at mortal kings--her vacillation, +Avarice, craft--O God, how many an innocent +Has left his bones upon the way to Rome +Unwept, uncared for. Yea--on mine own self +The King had had no power except for Rome. +'Tis not the King who is guilty of mine exile, +But Rome, Rome, Rome! + +HERBERT. + My lord, I see this Louis +Returning, ah! to drive thee from his realm. + +BECKET. +He said as much before. Thou art no prophet, +Nor yet a prophet's son. + +HERBERT. + Whatever he say, +Deny not thou God's honour for a king. +The King looks troubled. + + _Re-enter_ KING LOUIS. + +LOUIS. + My dear lord Archbishop, +I learn but now that those poor Poitevins, +That in thy cause were stirr'd against King Henry, +Have been, despite his kingly promise given +To our own self of pardon, evilly used +And put to pain. I have lost all trust in him. +The Church alone hath eyes--and now I see +That I was blind--suffer the phrase--surrendering +God's honour to the pleasure of a man. +Forgive me and absolve me, holy father. [_Kneels_. + +BECKET. +Son, I absolve thee in the name of God. + +LOUIS (_rising_). +Return to Sens, where we will care for you. +The wine and wealth of all our France are yours; +Rest in our realm, and be at peace with all. + [_Exeunt_. + +_Voices from the Crowd_. +Long live the good King Louis! God bless the great Archbishop! + + _Re-enter_ HENRY _and_ JOHN OF OXFORD. + +HENRY (_looking after_ KING LOUIS _and_ BECKET). +Ay, there they go--both backs are turn'd to me-- +Why then I strike into my former path +For England, crown young Henry there, and make +Our waning Eleanor all but love me! + John, +Thou hast served me heretofore with Rome--and well. +They call thee John the Swearer. + +JOHN OF OXFORD. + For this reason, +That, being ever duteous to the King, +I evermore have sworn upon his side, +And ever mean to do it. + +HENRY (_claps him on the shoulder_). + Honest John! +To Rome again! the storm begins again. +Spare not thy tongue! be lavish with our coins, +Threaten our junction with the Emperor--flatter +And fright the Pope--bribe all the Cardinals--leave +Lateran and Vatican in one dust of gold-- +Swear and unswear, state and misstate thy best! +I go to have young Henry crown'd by York. + + + + +ACT III. + + +SCENE I.--_The Bower_. HENRY _and_ ROSAMUND. + + +HENRY. +All that you say is just. I cannot answer it +Till better times, when I shall put away-- + +ROSAMUND. +What will you put away? + +HENRY. + That which you ask me +Till better times. Let it content you now +There is no woman that I love so well. + +ROSAMUND. +No woman but should be content with that-- + +HENRY. +And one fair child to fondle! + +ROSAMUND. + O yes, the child +We waited for so long--heaven's gift at last-- +And how you doated on him then! To-day +I almost fear'd your kiss was colder--yes-- +But then the child _is_ such a child. What chance +That he should ever spread into the man +Here in our silence? I have done my best. +I am not learn'd. + +HENRY. + I am the King, his father, +And I will look to it. Is our secret ours? +Have you had any alarm? no stranger? + +ROSAMUND. + No. +The warder of the bower hath given himself +Of late to wine. I sometimes think he sleeps +When he should watch; and yet what fear? the people +Believe the wood enchanted. No one comes, +Nor foe nor friend; his fond excess of wine +Springs from the loneliness of my poor bower, +Which weighs even on me. + +HENRY. + Yet these tree-towers, +Their long bird-echoing minster-aisles,--the voice +Of the perpetual brook, these golden slopes +Of Solomon-shaming flowers--that was your saying, +All pleased you so at first. + +ROSAMUND. + Not now so much. +My Anjou bower was scarce as beautiful. +But you were oftener there. I have none but you. +The brook's voice is not yours, and no flower, not +The sun himself, should he be changed to one, +Could shine away the darkness of that gap +Left by the lack of love. + +HENRY. + The lack of love! + +ROSAMUND. +Of one we love. Nay, I would not be bold, +Yet hoped ere this you might-- + [_Looks earnestly at him_. + +HENRY. + Anything further? + +ROSAMUND. +Only my best bower-maiden died of late, +And that old priest whom John of Salisbury trusted +Hath sent another. + +HENRY. + Secret? + +ROSAMUND. + I but ask'd her +One question, and she primm'd her mouth and put +Her hands together--thus--and said, God help her, +That she was sworn to silence. + +HENRY. + What did you ask her? + +ROSAMUND. +Some daily something--nothing. + +HENRY. + Secret, then? + +ROSAMUND. +I do not love her. Must you go, my liege, +So suddenly? + +HENRY. + I came to England suddenly, +And on a great occasion sure to wake +As great a wrath in Becket-- + +ROSAMUND. + Always Becket! +He always comes between us. + +HENRY. + --And to meet it +I needs must leave as suddenly. It is raining, +Put on your hood and see me to the bounds. + + [_Exeunt_ + +MARGERY (_singing behind scene_). + + Babble in bower + Under the rose! + Bee mustn't buzz, + Whoop--but he knows. + Kiss me, little one, + Nobody near! + Grasshopper, grasshopper, + Whoop--you can hear. + Kiss in the bower, + Tit on the tree! + Bird mustn't tell, + Whoop--he can see. + + _Enter_ MARGERY. + +I ha' been but a week here and I ha' seen what I ha' seen, for to be +sure it's no more than a week since our old Father Philip that has +confessed our mother for twenty years, and she was hard put to it, and +to speak truth, nigh at the end of our last crust, and that mouldy, +and she cried out on him to put me forth in the world and to make me a +woman of the world, and to win my own bread, whereupon he asked our +mother if I could keep a quiet tongue i' my head, and not speak till I +was spoke to, and I answered for myself that I never spoke more than +was needed, and he told me he would advance me to the service of a +great lady, and took me ever so far away, and gave me a great pat o' +the cheek for a pretty wench, and said it was a pity to blindfold such +eyes as mine, and such to be sure they be, but he blinded 'em for all +that, and so brought me no-hows as I may say, and the more shame to +him after his promise, into a garden and not into the world, and bad +me whatever I saw not to speak one word, an' it 'ud be well for me in +the end, for there were great ones who would look after me, and to be +sure I ha' seen great ones to-day--and then not to speak one word, for +that's the rule o' the garden, tho' to be sure if I had been Eve i' +the garden I shouldn't ha' minded the apple, for what's an apple, you +know, save to a child, and I'm no child, but more a woman o the world +than my lady here, and I ha' seen what I ha' seen--tho' to be sure if +I hadn't minded it we should all on us ha' had to go, bless the +Saints, wi' bare backs, but the backs 'ud ha' countenanced one +another, and belike it 'ud ha' been always summer, and anyhow I am as +well-shaped as my lady here, and I ha' seen what I ha' seen, and +what's the good of my talking to myself, for here comes my lady +(_enter_ ROSAMUND), and, my lady, tho' I shouldn't speak one word, I +wish you joy o' the King's brother. + +ROSAMUND. +What is it you mean? + +MARGERY. + +I mean your goodman, your husband, my lady, for I saw your ladyship +a-parting wi' him even now i' the coppice, when I was a-getting o' +bluebells for your ladyship's nose to smell on--and I ha' seen the +King once at Oxford, and he's as like the King as fingernail to +fingernail, and I thought at first it was the King, only you know the +King's married, for King Louis-- + +ROSAMUND. +Married! + +MARGERY. +Years and years, my lady, for her husband, King Louis-- + +ROSAMUND. +Hush! + +MARGERY. +--And I thought if it were the King's brother he had a better bride +than the King, for the people do say that his is bad beyond all +reckoning, and-- + +ROSAMUND. +The people lie. + +MARGERY. +Very like, my lady, but most on 'em know an honest woman and a lady +when they see her, and besides they say, she makes songs, and that's +against her, for I never knew an honest woman that could make songs, +tho' to be sure our mother 'ill sing me old songs by the hour, but +then, God help her, she had 'em from her mother, and her mother from +her mother back and back for ever so long, but none on 'em ever made +songs, and they were all honest. + +ROSAMUND. +Go, you shall tell me of her some other time. + +MARGERY. +There's none so much to tell on her, my lady, only she kept the +seventh commandment better than some I know on, or I couldn't look +your ladyship i' the face, and she brew'd the best ale in all +Glo'ster, that is to say in her time when she had the 'Crown.' + +ROSAMUND. +The crown! who? + +MARGERY. +Mother. + +ROSAMUND. +I mean her whom you call--fancy--my husband's brother's wife. + +MARGERY. +Oh, Queen Eleanor. Yes, my lady; and tho' I be sworn not to speak a +word, I can tell you all about her, if---- + +ROSAMUND. +No word now. I am faint and sleepy. Leave me. +Nay--go. What! will you anger me. + + [_Exit_ MARGERY. + +He charged me not to question any of those +About me. Have I? no! she question'd _me_. +Did she not slander _him_? Should she stay here? +May she not tempt me, being at my side, +To question _her_? Nay, can I send her hence +Without his kingly leave! I am in the dark. +I have lived, poor bird, from cage to cage, and known +Nothing but him--happy to know no more, +So that he loved me--and he loves me--yes, +And bound me by his love to secrecy +Till his own time. + Eleanor, Eleanor, have I +Not heard ill things of her in France? Oh, she's +The Queen of France. I see it--some confusion, +Some strange mistake. I did not hear aright, +Myself confused with parting from the King. + +MARGERY (_behind scene_). + + Bee mustn't buzz, + Whoop--but he knows. + +ROSAMUND. +Yet her--what her? he hinted of some her-- +When he was here before-- +Something that would displease me. Hath he stray'd +From love's clear path into the common bush, +And, being scratch'd, returns to his true rose, +Who hath not thorn enough to prick him for it, +Ev'n with a word? + +MARGERY (_behind scene_). + + Bird mustn't tell, + Whoop--he can see. + +ROSAMUND. +I would not hear him. Nay--there's more--he frown'd +'No mate for her, if it should come to that'-- +To that--to what? + +MARGERY (_behind scene_). + + Whoop--but he knows, + Whoop--but he knows. + +ROSAMUND. +O God! some dreadful truth is breaking on me-- +Some dreadful thing is coming on me. + [_Enter_ GEOFFREY. + Geoffrey! + +GEOFFREY. +What are you crying for, when the sun shines? + +ROSAMUND. +Hath not thy father left us to ourselves? + +GEOFFREY. +Ay, but he's taken the rain with him. I hear +Margery: I'll go play with her. [_Exit_ GEOFFREY. + +ROSAMUND. + + Rainbow, stay, + Gleam upon gloom, + Bright as my dream, + Rainbow, stay! + But it passes away, + Gloom upon gleam, + Dark as my doom-- + O rainbow stay. + + + +SCENE II.--_Outside the Woods near_ ROSAMUND'S _Bower_. + +ELEANOR. FITZURSE. + + +ELEANOR. +Up from the salt lips of the land we two +Have track'd the King to this dark inland wood; +And somewhere hereabouts he vanish'd. Here +His turtle builds: his exit is our adit: +Watch! he will out again, and presently, +Seeing he must to Westminster and crown +Young Henry there to-morrow. + +FITZURSE. + We have watch'd +So long in vain, he hath pass'd out again, +And on the other side. [_A great horn winded_. + Hark! Madam! + +ELEANOR. + Ay, +How ghostly sounds that horn in the black wood! + [_A countryman flying_. +Whither away, man? what are you flying from? + +COUNTRYMAN. +The witch! the witch! she sits naked by a great heap of gold in the +middle of the wood, and when the horn sounds she comes out as a wolf. +Get you hence! a man passed in there to-day: I holla'd to him, but he +didn't hear me: he'll never out again, the witch has got him. I +daren't stay--I daren't stay! + +ELEANOR. +Kind of the witch to give thee warning tho'. + [_Man flies_. +Is not this wood-witch of the rustic's fear +Our woodland Circe that hath witch'd the King? + [_Horn sounded. Another flying_. + +FITZURSE. +Again! stay, fool, and tell me why thou fliest. + +COUNTRYMAN. +Fly thou too. The King keeps his forest head of game here, and when +that horn sounds, a score of wolf-dogs are let loose that will tear +thee piecemeal. Linger not till the third horn. Fly! + [_Exit_. + +ELEANOR. +This is the likelier tale. We have hit the place. +Now let the King's fine game look to itself. [_Horn_. + +FITZURSE. +Again!-- +And far on in the dark heart of the wood +I hear the yelping of the hounds of hell. + +ELEANOR. +I have my dagger here to still their throats. + +FITZURSE. +Nay, Madam, not to-night--the night is falling. +What can be done to-night? + +ELEANOR. + Well--well--away. + + + +SCENE III.--_Traitor's Meadow at Freteval. Pavilions and Tents of the +English and French Baronage_. BECKET _and_ HERBERT OF BOSHAM. + + +BECKET. +See here! + +HERBERT. + What's here? + +BECKET. + A notice from the priest, +To whom our John of Salisbury committed +The secret of the bower, that our wolf-Queen +Is prowling round the fold. I should be back +In England ev'n for this. + +HERBERT. + These are by-things +In the great cause. + +BECKET. + The by-things of the Lord +Are the wrong'd innocences that will cry +From all the hidden by-ways of the world +In the great day against the wronger. I know +Thy meaning. Perish she, I, all, before +The Church should suffer wrong! + +HERBERT. + Do you see, my lord, +There is the King talking with Walter Map? + +BECKET. +He hath the Pope's last letters, and they threaten +The immediate thunder-blast of interdict: +Yet he can scarce be touching upon those, +Or scarce would smile that fashion. + +HERBERT. + Winter sunshine! +Beware of opening out thy bosom to it, +Lest thou, myself, and all thy flock should catch +An after ague-fit of trembling. Look! +He bows, he bares his head, he is coming hither. +Still with a smile. + + _Enter_ KING HENRY _and_ WALTER MAP. + +HENRY. +We have had so many hours together, Thomas, +So many happy hours alone together, +That I would speak with you once more alone. + +BECKET. +My liege, your will and happiness are mine. + + [_Exeunt_ KING _and_ BECKET. + +HERBERT. +The same smile still. + +WALTER MAP. +Do you see that great black cloud that hath come over the sun and cast +us all into shadow? + +HERBERT. +And feel it too. + +WALTER MAP. +And see you yon side-beam that is forced from under it, and sets the +church-tower over there all a-hell-fire as it were? + +HERBERT. +Ay. + +WALTER MAP. +It is this black, bell-silencing, anti-marrying, burial-hindering +interdict that hath squeezed out this side-smile upon Canterbury, +whereof may come conflagration. Were I Thomas, I wouldn't trust it. +Sudden change is a house on sand; and tho' I count Henry honest +enough, yet when fear creeps in at the front, honesty steals out at +the back, and the King at last is fairly scared by this cloud--this +interdict. I have been more for the King than the Church in this +matter--yea, even for the sake of the Church: for, truly, as the case +stood, you had safelier have slain an archbishop than a she-goat: but +our recoverer and upholder of customs hath in this crowning of young +Henry by York and London so violated the immemorial usage of the +Church, that, like the gravedigger's child I have heard of, trying to +ring the bell, he hath half-hanged himself in the rope of the Church, +or rather pulled all the Church with the Holy Father astride of it +down upon his own head. + +HERBERT. +Were you there? + +WALTER MAP. +In the church rope?--no. I was at the crowning, for I have pleasure in +the pleasure of crowds, and to read the faces of men at a great show. + +HERBERT. +And how did Roger of York comport himself? + +WALTER MAP. +As magnificently and archiepiscopally as our Thomas would have done: +only there was a dare-devil in his eye--I should say a dare-Becket. He +thought less of two kings than of one Roger the king of the occasion. +Foliot is the holier man, perhaps the better. Once or twice there ran +a twitch across his face as who should say what's to follow? but +Salisbury was a calf cowed by Mother Church, and every now and then +glancing about him like a thief at night when he hears a door open in +the house and thinks 'the master.' + +HERBERT. +And the father-king? + +WALTER MAP. +The father's eye was so tender it would have called a goose off the +green, and once he strove to hide his face, like the Greek king when +his daughter was sacrificed, but he thought better of it: it was but +the sacrifice of a kingdom to his son, a smaller matter; but as to the +young crownling himself, he looked so malapert in the eyes, that had I +fathered him I had given him more of the rod than the sceptre. Then +followed the thunder of the captains and the shouting, and so we came +on to the banquet, from whence there puffed out such an incense of +unctuosity into the nostrils of our Gods of Church and State, that +Lucullus or Apicius might have sniffed it in their Hades of +heathenism, so that the smell of their own roast had not come across +it-- + +HERBERT. +Map, tho' you make your butt too big, you overshoot it. + +WALTER MAP. +--For as to the fish, they de-miracled the miraculous draught, and +might have sunk a navy-- + +HERBERT. +There again, Goliasing and Goliathising! + +WALTER MAP. +--And as for the flesh at table, a whole Peter's sheet, with all +manner of game, and four-footed things, and fowls-- + +HERBERT. +And all manner of creeping things too? + +WALTER MAP. +--Well, there were Abbots--but they did not bring their women; and so +we were dull enough at first, but in the end we flourished out into a +merriment; for the old King would act servitor and hand a dish to his +son; whereupon my Lord of York--his fine-cut face bowing and beaming +with all that courtesy which hath less loyalty in it than the backward +scrape of the clown's heel--'great honour,' says he, 'from the King's +self to the King's son.' Did you hear the young King's quip? + +HERBERT. +No, what was it? + +WALTER MAP. +Glancing at the days when his father was only Earl of Anjou, he +answered:--'Should not an earl's son wait on a king's son?' And when +the cold corners of the King's mouth began to thaw, there was a great +motion of laughter among us, part real, part childlike, to be freed +from the dulness--part royal, for King and kingling both laughed, and +so we could not but laugh, as by a royal necessity--part childlike +again--when we felt we had laughed too long and could not stay +ourselves--many midriff-shaken even to tears, as springs gush out +after earthquakes--but from those, as I said before, there may come a +conflagration--tho', to keep the figure moist and make it hold water, +I should say rather, the lacrymation of a lamentation; but look if +Thomas have not flung himself at the King's feet. They have made it up +again--for the moment. + +HERBERT. +Thanks to the blessed Magdalen, whose day it is. + + _Re-enter_ HENRY _and_ BECKET. (_During their conference + the_ BARONS _and_ BISHOPS _of_ FRANCE _and_ ENGLAND _come + in at back of stage_.) + +BECKET. +Ay, King! for in thy kingdom, as thou knowest, +The spouse of the Great King, thy King, hath fallen-- +The daughter of Zion lies beside the way-- +The priests of Baal tread her underfoot-- +The golden ornaments are stolen from her-- + +HENRY. +Have I not promised to restore her, Thomas, +And send thee back again to Canterbury? + +BECKET. +Send back again those exiles of my kin +Who wander famine-wasted thro' the world. + +HENRY. +Have I not promised, man, to send them back? + +BECKET. +Yet one thing more. Thou hast broken thro' the pales +Of privilege, crowning thy young son by York, +London and Salisbury--not Canterbury. + +HENRY. +York crown'd the Conqueror--not Canterbury. + +BECKET. +There was no Canterbury in William's time. + +HENRY. +But Hereford, you know, crown'd the first Henry. + +BECKET. +But Anselm crown'd this Henry o'er again. + +HENRY. +And thou shalt crown my Henry o'er again. + +BECKET. +And is it then with thy good-will that I +Proceed against thine evil councillors, +And hurl the dread ban of the Church on those +Who made the second mitre play the first, +And acted me? + +HENRY. + Well, well, then--have thy way! +It may be they were evil councillors. +What more, my lord Archbishop? What more, Thomas? +I make thee full amends. Say all thy say, +But blaze not out before the Frenchmen here. + +BECKET. +More? Nothing, so thy promise be thy deed. + +HENRY (_holding out his hand_). +Give me thy hand. My Lords of France and England, +My friend of Canterbury and myself +Are now once more at perfect amity. +Unkingly should I be, and most unknightly, +Not striving still, however much in vain, +To rival him in Christian charity. + +HERBERT. +All praise to Heaven, and sweet St. Magdalen! + +HENRY. +And so farewell until we meet in England. + +BECKET. +I fear, my liege, we may not meet in England. + +HENRY. +How, do you make me a traitor? + +BECKET. + No, indeed! +That be far from thee. + +HENRY. + Come, stay with us, then, +Before you part for England. + +BECKET. + I am bound +For that one hour to stay with good King Louis, +Who helpt me when none else. + +HERBERT. + He said thy life +Was not one hour's worth in England save +King Henry gave thee first the kiss of peace. + +HENRY. +He said so? Louis, did he? look you, Herbert. +When I was in mine anger with King Louis, +I sware I would not give the kiss of peace, +Not on French ground, nor any ground but English, +Where his cathedral stands. Mine old friend, Thomas, +I would there were that perfect trust between us, +That health of heart, once ours, ere Pope or King +Had come between us! Even now--who knows?-- +I might deliver all things to thy hand-- +If ... but I say no more ... farewell, my lord. + +BECKET. +Farewell, my liege! + + [_Exit_ HENRY, _then the_ BARONS _and_ BISHOPS. + +WALTER MAP. +There again! when the full fruit of the royal promise might have dropt +into thy mouth hadst thou but opened it to thank him. + +BECKET. +He fenced his royal promise with an _if_. + +WALTER MAP. +And is the King's _if_ too high a stile for your lordship to overstep +and come at all things in the next field? + +BECKET. +Ay, if this _if_ be like the Devil's '_if_ +Thou wilt fall down and worship me.' + +HERBERT. + Oh, Thomas; +I could fall down and worship thee, my Thomas, +For thou hast trodden this wine-press alone. + +BECKET. +Nay, of the people there are many with me. + +WALTER MAP. +I am not altogether with you, my lord, tho' I am none of those that +would raise a storm between you, lest ye should draw together like two +ships in a calm. You wrong the King: he meant what he said to-day. Who +shall vouch for his to-morrows? One word further. Doth not the +_fewness_ of anything make the fulness of it in estimation? Is not +virtue prized mainly for its rarity and great baseness loathed as an +exception: for were all, my lord, as noble as yourself, who would look +up to you? and were all as base as--who shall I say--Fitzurse and his +following--who would look down upon them? My lord, you have put so +many of the King's household out of communion, that they begin to +smile at it. + +BECKET. +At their peril, at their peril-- + +WALTER MAP. +--For tho' the drop may hollow out the dead stone, +doth not the living skin thicken against perpetual whippings? +This is the second grain of good counsel I +ever proffered thee, and so cannot suffer by the rule of +frequency. Have I sown it in salt? I trust not, for +before God I promise you the King hath many more +wolves than he can tame in his woods of England, and +if it suit their purpose to howl for the King, and you +still move against him, you may have no less than to +die for it; but God and his free wind grant your lordship +a happy home-return and the King's kiss of peace +in Kent. Farewell! I must follow the King. + [_Exit_. + +HERBERT. +Ay, and I warrant the customs. Did the King +Speak of the customs? + +BECKET. + No!--To die for it-- +I live to die for it, I die to live for it. +The State will die, the Church can never die. +The King's not like to die for that which dies; +But I must die for that which never dies. +It will be so--my visions in the Lord: +It must be so, my friend! the wolves of England +Must murder her one shepherd, that the sheep +May feed in peace. False figure, Map would say. +Earth's falses are heaven's truths. And when my voice +Is martyr'd mute, and this man disappears, +That perfect trust may come again between us, +And there, there, there, not here I shall rejoice +To find my stray sheep back within the fold. +The crowd are scattering, let us move away! +And thence to England. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + + +ACT IV. + + +SCENE I.--_The Outskirts of the Bower_. + + +GEOFFREY (_coming out of the wood_). +Light again! light again! Margery? no, that's a finer thing there. How +it glitters! + +ELEANOR (_entering_). +Come to me, little one. How camest thou hither? + +GEOFFREY. +On my legs. + +ELEANOR. +And mighty pretty legs too. Thou art the prettiest child I ever saw. +Wilt thou love me? + +GEOFFREY. +No; I only love mother. + +ELEANOR. +Ay; and who is thy mother? + +GEOFFREY. +They call her--But she lives secret, you see. + +ELEANOR. +Why? + +GEOFFREY. +Don't know why. + +ELEANOR. +Ay, but some one comes to see her now and then. Who is he? + +GEOFFREY. +Can't tell. + +ELEANOR. +What does she call him? + +GEOFFREY. +My liege. + +ELEANOR. +Pretty one, how camest thou? + +GEOFFREY. +There was a bit of yellow silk here and there, and it looked pretty +like a glowworm, and I thought if I followed it I should find the +fairies. + +ELEANOR. +I am the fairy, pretty one, a good fairy to thy mother. Take me to +her. + +GEOFFREY. +There are good fairies and bad fairies, and sometimes she cries, and +can't sleep sound o' nights because of the bad fairies. + +ELEANOR. +She shall cry no more; she shall sleep sound enough if thou wilt take +me to her. I am her good fairy. + +GEOFFREY. +But you don't look like a good fairy. Mother does. You are not pretty, +like mother. + +ELEANOR. +We can't all of us be as pretty as thou art--(_aside_) little bastard. +Come, here is a golden chain I will give thee if thou wilt lead me to +thy mother. + +GEOFFREY. +No--no gold. Mother says gold spoils all. Love is the only gold. + +ELEANOR. +I love thy mother, my pretty boy. Show me where thou camest out of the +wood. + +GEOFFREY. +By this tree; but I don't know if I can find the way back again. + +ELEANOR. +Where's the warder? + +GEOFFREY. +Very bad. Somebody struck him. + +ELEANOR. +Ay? who was that? + +GEOFFREY. +Can't tell. But I heard say he had had a stroke, or you'd have heard +his horn before now. Come along, then; we shall see the silk here and +there, and I want my supper. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE II.--ROSAMUND'S _Bower_. + + +ROSAMUND. +The boy so late; pray God, he be not lost. +I sent this Margery, and she comes not back; +I sent another, and she comes not back. +I go myself--so many alleys, crossings, +Paths, avenues--nay, if I lost him, now +The folds have fallen from the mystery, +And left all naked, I were lost indeed. + _Enter_ GEOFFREY _and_ ELEANOR. +Geoffrey, the pain thou hast put me to! + [_Seeing_ ELEANOR. + Ha, you! +How came you hither? + +ELEANOR. + Your own child brought me hither! + +GEOFFREY. +You said you couldn't trust Margery, and I watched her and followed +her into the woods, and I lost her and went on and on till I found the +light and the lady, and she says she can make you sleep o' nights. + +ROSAMUND. +How dared you? Know you not this bower is secret, +Of and belonging to the King of England, +More sacred than his forests for the chase? +Nay, nay, Heaven help you; get you hence in haste +Lest worse befall you. + +ELEANOR. + Child, I am mine own self +Of and belonging to the King. The King +Hath divers ofs and ons, ofs and belongings, +Almost as many as your true Mussulman-- +Belongings, paramours, whom it pleases him +To call his wives; but so it chances, child, +That I am his main paramour, his sultana. +But since the fondest pair of doves will jar, +Ev'n in a cage of gold, we had words of late, +And thereupon he call'd my children bastards. +Do you believe that you are married to him? + +ROSAMUND, +I _should_ believe it. + +ELEANOR. + You must not believe it, +Because I have a wholesome medicine here +Puts that belief asleep. Your answer, beauty! +Do you believe that you are married to him? + +ROSAMUND. +Geoffrey, my boy, I saw the ball you lost in the fork of the great +willow over the brook. Go. See that you do not fall in. Go. + +GEOFFREY. +And leave you alone with the good fairy. She calls you beauty, but I +don't like her looks. Well, you bid me go, and I'll have my ball +anyhow. Shall I find you asleep when I come back? + +ROSAMUND. +Go. [_Exit_ GEOFFREY. + + +ELEANOR. + +He is easily found again. _Do_ you believe it? +I pray you then to take my sleeping-draught; +But if you should not care to take it--see! + [_Draws a dagger_. +What! have I scared the red rose from your face +Into your heart. But this will find it there, +And dig it from the root for ever. + +ROSAMUND. + Help! help! + +ELEANOR. +They say that walls have ears; but these, it seems, +Have none! and I have none--to pity thee. + +ROSAMUND. +I do beseech you--my child is so young, +So backward too; I cannot leave him yet. +I am not so happy I could not die myself, +But the child is so young. You have children--his; +And mine is the King's child; so, if you love him-- +Nay, if you love him, there is great wrong done +Somehow; but if you do not--there are those +Who say you do not love him--let me go +With my young boy, and I will hide my face, +Blacken and gipsyfy it; none shall know me; +The King shall never hear of me again, +But I will beg my bread along the world +With my young boy, and God will be our guide. +I never meant you harm in any way. +See, I can say no more. + +ELEANOR. +Will you not say you are not married to him? + +ROSAMUND. +Ay, Madam, I can _say_ it, if you will. + +ELEANOR. +Then is thy pretty boy a bastard? + +ROSAMUND. + No. + +ELEANOR. + +And thou thyself a proven wanton? + +ROSAMUND. + No. +I am none such. I never loved but one. +I have heard of such that range from love to love, +Like the wild beast--if you can call it love. +I have heard of such--yea, even among those +Who sit on thrones--I never saw any such, +Never knew any such, and howsoever +You do misname me, match'd with any such, +I am snow to mud. + +ELEANOR. + The more the pity then +That thy true home--the heavens--cry out for thee +Who art too pure for earth. + + _Enter_ FITZURSE. + +FITZURSE. + Give her to me. + +ELEANOR. +The Judas-lover of our passion-play +Hath track'd us hither. + +FITZURSE. + Well, why not? I follow'd +You and the child: he babbled all the way. +Give her to me to make my honeymoon. + +ELEANOR. +Ay, as the bears love honey. Could you keep her +Indungeon'd from one whisper of the wind, +Dark even from a side glance of the moon, +And oublietted in the centre--No! +I follow out my hate and thy revenge. + +FITZURSE. +You bad me take revenge another way-- +To bring her to the dust.... Come with me, love, +And I will love thee.... Madam, let her live. +I have a far-off burrow where the King +Would miss her and for ever. + +ELEANOR. + How sayst thou, sweetheart? +Wilt thou go with him? he will marry thee. + +ROSAMUND. +Give me the poison; set me free of him! + [ELEANOR _offers the vial_. +No, no! I will not have it. + +ELEANOR. + Then this other, +The wiser choice, because my sleeping-draught +May bloat thy beauty out of shape, and make +Thy body loathsome even to thy child; +While this but leaves thee with a broken heart, +A doll-face blanch'd and bloodless, over which +If pretty Geoffrey do not break his own, +It must be broken for him. + +ROSAMUND. + O I see now +Your purpose is to fright me--a troubadour +You play with words. You had never used so many, +Not if you meant it, I am sure. The child.... +No.... mercy! No! (_Kneels_.) + +ELEANOR. + Play!... that bosom never +Heaved under the King's hand with such true passion +As at this loveless knife that stirs the riot, +Which it will quench in blood! Slave, if he love thee, +Thy life is worth the wrestle for it: arise, +And dash thyself against me that I may slay thee! +The worm! shall I let her go? But ha! what's here? +By very God, the cross I gave the King! +His village darling in some lewd caress +Has wheedled it off the King's neck to her own. +By thy leave, beauty. Ay, the same! I warrant +Thou hast sworn on this my cross a hundred times +Never to leave him--and that merits death, +False oath on holy cross--for thou must leave him +To-day, but not quite yet. My good Fitzurse, +The running down the chase is kindlier sport +Ev'n than the death. Who knows but that thy lover +May plead so pitifully, that I may spare thee? +Come hither, man; stand there. (_To Rosamund_) + Take thy one chance; +Catch at the last straw. Kneel to thy lord Fitzurse; +Crouch even because thou hatest him; fawn upon him +For thy life and thy son's. + +ROSAMUND (_rising_). + I am a Clifford, +My son a Clifford and Plantagenet. +I am to die then, tho' there stand beside thee +One who might grapple with thy dagger, if he +Had aught of man, or thou of woman; or I +Would bow to such a baseness as would make me +Most worthy of it: both of us will die, +And I will fly with my sweet boy to heaven, +And shriek to all the saints among the stars: +'Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eleanor of England! +Murder'd by that adulteress Eleanor, +Whose doings are a horror to the east, +A hissing in the west!' Have we not heard +Raymond of Poitou, thine own uncle--nay, +Geoffrey Plantagenet, thine own husband's father-- +Nay, ev'n the accursed heathen Saladdeen-- +Strike! +I challenge thee to meet me before God. +Answer me there. + +ELEANOR (_raising the dagger_). + This in thy bosom, fool, +And after in thy bastard's! + + _Enter_ BECKET _from behind. Catches hold of her arm_. + +BECKET. + Murderess! + + [_The dagger falls; they stare at one another. After a pause_. + +ELEANOR. +My lord, we know you proud of your fine hand, +But having now admired it long enough, +We find that it is mightier than it seems-- +At least mine own is frailer: you are laming it. + +BECKET. +And lamed and maim'd to dislocation, better +Than raised to take a life which Henry bad me +Guard from the stroke that dooms thee after death +To wail in deathless flame. + +ELEANOR. + Nor you, nor I +Have now to learn, my lord, that our good Henry +Says many a thing in sudden heats, which he +Gainsays by next sunrising--often ready +To tear himself for having said as much. +My lord, Fitzurse-- + +BECKET. + He too! what dost thou here? +Dares the bear slouch into the lion's den? +One downward plunge of his paw would rend away +Eyesight and manhood, life itself, from thee. +Go, lest I blast thee with anathema, +And make thee a world's horror. + +FITZURSE. + My lord, I shall +Remember this. + +BECKET. + I _do_ remember thee; +Lest I remember thee to the lion, go. + [_Exit_ FITZURSE. +Take up your dagger; put it in the sheath. + +ELEANOR. +Might not your courtesy stoop to hand it me? +But crowns must bow when mitres sit so high. +Well--well--too costly to be left or lost. + [_Picks up the dagger_. +I had it from an Arab soldan, who, +When I was there in Antioch, marvell'd at +Our unfamiliar beauties of the west; +But wonder'd more at my much constancy +To the monk-king, Louis, our former burthen, +From whom, as being too kin, you know, my lord, +God's grace and Holy Church deliver'd us. +I think, time given, I could have talk'd him out of +His ten wives into one. Look at the hilt. +What excellent workmanship. In our poor west +We cannot do it so well. + +BECKET. + We can do worse. +Madam, I saw your dagger at her throat; +I heard your savage cry. + +ELEANOR. + Well acted, was it? +A comedy meant to seem a tragedy-- +A feint, a farce. My honest lord, you are known +Thro' all the courts of Christendom as one +That mars a cause with over-violence. +You have wrong'd Fitzurse. I speak not of myself. +We thought to scare this minion of the King +Back from her churchless commerce with the King +To the fond arms of her first love, Fitzurse, +Who swore to marry her. You have spoilt the farce. +My savage cry? Why, she--she--when I strove +To work against her license for her good, +Bark'd out at me such monstrous charges, that +The King himself, for love of his own sons, +If hearing, would have spurn'd her; whereupon +I menaced her with this, as when we threaten +A yelper with a stick. Nay, I deny not +That I was somewhat anger'd. Do you hear me? +Believe or no, I care not. You have lost +The ear of the King. I have it.... My lord Paramount, +Our great High-priest, will not your Holiness +Vouchsafe a gracious answer to your Queen? + +BECKET. +Rosamund hath not answer'd you one word; +Madam, I will not answer you one word. +Daughter, the world hath trick'd thee. Leave it, daughter; +Come thou with me to Godstow nunnery, +And live what may be left thee of a life +Saved as by miracle alone with Him +Who gave it. + + _Re-enter_ GEOFFREY. + +GEOFFREY. +Mother, you told me a great fib: it wasn't in the willow. + +BECKET. +Follow us, my son, and we will find it for thee-- +Or something manlier. + [_Exeunt_ BECKET, ROSAMUND, _and_ GEOFFREY. + +ELEANOR. +The world hath trick'd her--that's the King; if so, +There was the farce, the feint--not mine. And yet +I am all but sure my dagger was a feint +Till the worm turn'd--not life shot up in blood, +But death drawn in;--_(looking at the vial) this_ was no feint then? +no. +But can I swear to that, had she but given +Plain answer to plain query? nay, methinks +Had she but bow'd herself to meet the wave +Of humiliation, worshipt whom she loathed, +I should have let her be, scorn'd her too much +To harm her. Henry--Becket tells him this-- +To take my life might lose him Aquitaine. +Too politic for that. Imprison me? +No, for it came to nothing--only a feint. +Did she not tell me I was playing on her? +I'll swear to mine own self it was a feint. +Why should I swear, Eleanor, who am, or was, +A sovereign power? The King plucks out their eyes +Who anger him, and shall not I, the Queen, +Tear out her heart--kill, kill with knife or venom +One of his slanderous harlots? 'None of such?' +I love her none the more. Tut, the chance gone, +She lives--but not for him; one point is gain'd. +O I, that thro' the Pope divorced King Louis, +Scorning his monkery,--I that wedded Henry, +Honouring his manhood--will he not mock at me +The jealous fool balk'd of her will--with _him_? +But he and he must never meet again. +Reginald Fitzurse! + + _Re-enter_ FITZURSE. + +FITZURSE. + Here, Madam, at your pleasure. + +ELEANOR. +My pleasure is to have a man about me. +Why did you slink away so like a cur? + +FITZURSE. + +Madam, I am as much man as the King. +Madam, I fear Church-censures like your King. + +ELEANOR. + +He grovels to the Church when he's black-blooded, +But kinglike fought the proud archbishop,--kinglike +Defied the Pope, and, like his kingly sires, +The Normans, striving still to break or bind +The spiritual giant with our island laws +And customs, made me for the moment proud +Ev'n of that stale Church-bond which link'd me with him +To bear him kingly sons. I am not so sure +But that I love him still. Thou as much man! +No more of that; we will to France and be +Beforehand with the King, and brew from out +This Godstow-Becket intermeddling such +A strong hate-philtre as may madden him--madden +Against his priest beyond all hellebore. + + + + +ACT V. + + +SCENE I.--_Castle in Normandy. King's Chamber_. + +HENRY, ROGER OF YORK, FOLIOT, JOCELYN OF SALISBURY. + + +ROGER OF YORK. +Nay, nay, my liege, +He rides abroad with armed followers, +Hath broken all his promises to thyself, +Cursed and anathematised us right and left, +Stirr'd up a party there against your son-- + +HENRY. +Roger of York, you always hated him, +Even when you both were boys at Theobald's. + +ROGER OF YORK. +I always hated boundless arrogance. +In mine own cause I strove against him there, +And in thy cause I strive against him now. + +HENRY. +I cannot think he moves against my son, +Knowing right well with what a tenderness +He loved my son. + +ROGER OF YORK. + Before you made him king. +But Becket ever moves against a king. +The Church is all--the crime to be a king. +We trust your Royal Grace, lord of more land +Than any crown in Europe, will not yield +To lay your neck beneath your citizens' heel. + +HENRY. +Not to a Gregory of my throning! No. + +FOLIOT. +My royal liege, in aiming at your love, +It may be sometimes I have overshot +My duties to our Holy Mother Church, +Tho' all the world allows I fall no inch +Behind this Becket, rather go beyond +In scourgings, macerations, mortifyings, +Fasts, disciplines that clear the spiritual eye, +And break the soul from earth. Let all that be. +I boast not: but you know thro' all this quarrel +I still have cleaved to the crown, in hope the crown +Would cleave to me that but obey'd the crown, +Crowning your son; for which our loyal service, +And since we likewise swore to obey the customs, +York and myself, and our good Salisbury here, +Are push'd from out communion of the Church. + +JOCELYN OF SALISBURY. +Becket hath trodden on us like worms, my liege; +Trodden one half dead; one half, but half-alive, +Cries to the King. + +HENRY (_aside_). + Take care o' thyself, O King. + +JOCELYN OF SALISBURY. +Being so crush'd and so humiliated +We scarcely dare to bless the food we eat +Because of Becket. + +HENRY. + What would ye have me do? + +ROGER OF YORK. +Summon your barons; take their counsel: yet +I know--could swear--as long as Becket breathes, +Your Grace will never have one quiet hour. + +HENRY. +What?... Ay ... but pray you do not work upon me. +I see your drift ... it may be so ... and yet +You know me easily anger'd. Will you hence? +He shall absolve you ... you shall have redress. +I have a dizzying headache. Let me rest. +I'll call you by and by. + + [_Exeunt_ ROGER OF YORK, FOLIOT, _and_ JOCELYN OF SALISBURY. + +Would he were dead! I have lost all love for him. +If God would take him in some sudden way-- +Would he were dead. [_Lies down_. + +PAGE (_entering_). + My liege, the Queen of England. + +HENRY. +God's eyes! [_Starting up_. + + _Enter_ ELEANOR. + +ELEANOR. + Of England? Say of Aquitaine. +I am no Queen of England. I had dream'd +I was the bride of England, and a queen. + +HENRY. +And,--while you dream'd you were the bride of England,-- +Stirring her baby-king against me? ha! + +ELEANOR. +The brideless Becket is thy king and mine: +I will go live and die in Aquitaine. + +HENRY. +Except I clap thee into prison here, +Lest thou shouldst play the wanton there again. +Ha, you of Aquitaine! O you of Aquitaine! +You were but Aquitaine to Louis--no wife; +You are only Aquitaine to me--no wife. + +ELEANOR. +And why, my lord, should I be wife to one +That only wedded me for Aquitaine? +Yet this no wife--her six and thirty sail +Of Provence blew you to your English throne; +And this no wife has born you four brave sons, +And one of them at least is like to prove +Bigger in our small world than thou art. + +HENRY. + Ay-- +Richard, if he _be_ mine--I hope him mine. +But thou art like enough to make him thine. + +ELEANOR. +Becket is like enough to make all his. + +HENRY. +Methought I had recover'd of the Becket, +That all was planed and bevell'd smooth again, +Save from some hateful cantrip of thine own. + +ELEANOR. +I will go live and die in Aquitaine. +I dream'd I was the consort of a king, +Not one whose back his priest has broken. + +HENRY. + What! +Is the end come? You, will you crown my foe +My victor in mid-battle? I will be +Sole master of my house. The end is mine. +What game, what juggle, what devilry are you playing? +Why do you thrust this Becket on me again? + +ELEANOR. +Why? for I _am_ true wife, and have my fears +Lest Becket thrust you even from your throne. +Do you know this cross, my liege? + +HENRY (_turning his head_). + Away! Not I. + +ELEANOR. +Not ev'n the central diamond, worth, I think, +Half of the Antioch whence I had it. + +HENRY. + That? + +ELEANOR. +I gave it you, and you your paramour; +She sends it back, as being dead to earth, +So dead henceforth to you. + +HENRY. + Dead! you have murder'd her, +Found out her secret bower and murder'd her. + +ELEANOR. +Your Becket knew the secret of your bower. + +HENRY (_calling out_). +Ho there! thy rest of life is hopeless prison. + +ELEANOR. +And what would my own Aquitaine say to that? +First, free thy captive from _her_ hopeless prison. + +HENRY. +O devil, can I free her from the grave? + +ELEANOR. +You are too tragic: both of us are players +In such a comedy as our court of Provence +Had laugh'd at. That's a delicate Latin lay +Of Walter Map: the lady holds the cleric +Lovelier than any soldier, his poor tonsure +A crown of Empire. Will you have it again? + (_Offering the cross. He dashes it down_.) +St. Cupid, that is too irreverent. +Then mine once more. (_Puts it on_.) + Your cleric hath your lady. +Nay, what uncomely faces, could he see you! +Foam at the mouth because King Thomas, lord +Not only of your vassals but amours, +Thro' chastest honour of the Decalogue +Hath used the full authority of his Church +To put her into Godstow nunnery. + +HENRY. +To put her into Godstow nunnery! +He dared not--liar! yet, yet I remember-- +I do remember. +He bad me put her into a nunnery-- +Into Godstow, into Hellstow, Devilstow! +The Church! the Church! +God's eyes! I would the Church were down in hell! + [_Exit_. + +ELEANOR. +Aha! + + _Enter the four_ KNIGHTS. + +FITZURSE. +What made the King cry out so furiously? + +ELEANOR. +Our Becket, who will not absolve the Bishops. +I think ye four have cause to love this Becket. + +FITZURSE. +I hate him for his insolence to all. + +DE TRACY. +And I for all his insolence to thee. + +DE BRITO. +I hate him for I hate him is my reason, +And yet I hate him for a hypocrite. + +DE MORVILLE. +I do not love him, for he did his best +To break the barons, and now braves the King. + +ELEANOR. +Strike, then, at once, the King would have him--See! + + _Re-enter_ HENRY. + +HENRY. +No man to love me, honour me, obey me! +Sluggards and fools! +The slave that eat my bread has kick'd his King! +The dog I cramm'd with dainties worried me! +The fellow that on a lame jade came to court, +A ragged cloak for saddle--he, he, he, +To shake my throne, to push into my chamber-- +My bed, where ev'n the slave is private--he-- +I'll have her out again, he shall absolve +The bishops--they but did my will--not you-- +Sluggards and fools, why do you stand and stare? +You are no king's men--you--you--you are Becket's men. +Down with King Henry! up with the Archbishop! +Will no man free me from this pestilent priest? [_Exit_. + [_The_ KNIGHTS _draw their swords_. + +ELEANOR. +_Are_ ye king's men? I am king's woman, I. + +THE KNIGHTS. +King's men! King's men! + + + +SCENE II.--_A Room in Canterbury Monastery_. + +BECKET _and_ JOHN OF SALISBURY. + + +BECKET. +York said so? + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + Yes: a man may take good counsel +Ev'n from his foe. + +BECKET. + York will say anything. +What is he saying now? gone to the King +And taken our anathema with him. York! +Can the King de-anathematise this York? + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +Thomas, I would thou hadst return'd to England, +Like some wise prince of this world from his wars, +With more of olive-branch and amnesty +For foes at home--thou hast raised the world against thee. + +BECKET. +Why, John, my kingdom is not of this world. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +If it were more of this world it might be +More of the next. A policy of wise pardon +Wins here as well as there. To bless thine enemies-- + +BECKET. +Ay, mine, not Heaven's. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + And may there not be something +Of this world's leaven in thee too, when crying +On Holy Church to thunder out her rights +And thine own wrong so pitilessly. Ah, Thomas, +The lightnings that we think are only Heaven's +Flash sometimes out of earth against the heavens. +The soldier, when he lets his whole self go +Lost in the common good, the common wrong, +Strikes truest ev'n for his own self. I crave +Thy pardon--I have still thy leave to speak. +Thou hast waged God's war against the King; and yet +We are self-uncertain creatures, and we may, +Yea, even when we know not, mix our spites +And private hates with our defence of Heaven. + + [_Enter_ EDWARD GRIM. + +BECKET. +Thou art but yesterday from Cambridge, Grim; +What say ye there of Becket? + +GRIM. + _I_ believe him +The bravest in our roll of Primates down +From Austin--there are some--for there are men +Of canker'd judgment everywhere-- + +BECKET. + Who hold +With York, with York against me. + +GRIM. + Well, my lord, +A stranger monk desires access to you. + +BECKET. +York against Canterbury, York against God! +I am open to him. + [_Exit_ GRIM. + + _Enter_ ROSAMUND _as a Monk_. + +ROSAMUND. + Can I speak with you +Alone, my father? + +BECKET. + Come you to confess? + +ROSAMUND. +Not now. + +BECKET. + Then speak; this is my other self, +Who like my conscience never lets me be. + +ROSAMUND (_throwing back the cowl_). +I know him; our good John of Salisbury. + +BECKET. +Breaking already from thy noviciate +To plunge into this bitter world again-- +These wells of Marah. I am grieved, my daughter. +I thought that I had made a peace for thee. + +ROSAMUND. +Small peace was mine in my noviciate, father. +Thro' all closed doors a dreadful whisper crept +That thou wouldst excommunicate the King. +I could not eat, sleep, pray: I had with me +The monk's disguise thou gavest me for my bower: +I think our Abbess knew it and allow'd it. +I fled, and found thy name a charm to get me +Food, roof, and rest. I met a robber once, +I told him I was bound to see the Archbishop; +'Pass on,' he said, and in thy name I pass'd +From house to house. In one a son stone-blind +Sat by his mother's hearth: he had gone too far +Into the King's own woods; and the poor mother, +Soon as she learnt I was a friend of thine, +Cried out against the cruelty of the King. +I said it was the King's courts, not the King; +But she would not believe me, and she wish'd +The Church were king: she had seen the Archbishop once, +So mild, so kind. The people love thee, father. + +BECKET. +Alas! when I was Chancellor to the King, +I fear I was as cruel as the King. + +ROSAMUND. +Cruel? Oh, no--it is the law, not he; +The customs of the realm. + +BECKET. + The customs! customs! + +ROSAMUND. +My lord, you have not excommunicated him? +Oh, if you have, absolve him! + +BECKET. + Daughter, daughter, +Deal not with things you know not. + +ROSAMUND. + I know _him_. +Then you have done it, and I call _you_ cruel. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +No, daughter, you mistake our good Archbishop; +For once in France the King had been so harsh, +He thought to excommunicate him--Thomas, +You could not--old affection master'd you, +You falter'd into tears. + +ROSAMUND. + God bless him for it. + +BECKET. +Nay, make me not a woman, John of Salisbury, +Nor make me traitor to my holy office. +Did not a man's voice ring along the aisle, +'The King is sick and almost unto death.' +How could I excommunicate him then? + +ROSAMUND. +And wilt thou excommunicate him now? + +BECKET. +Daughter, my time is short, I shall not do it. +And were it longer--well--I should not do it. + +ROSAMUND. +Thanks in this life, and in the life to come. + +BECKET. +Get thee back to thy nunnery with all haste; +Let this be thy last trespass. But one question-- +How fares thy pretty boy, the little Geoffrey? +No fever, cough, croup, sickness? + +ROSAMUND. + No, but saved +From all that by our solitude. The plagues +That smite the city spare the solitudes. + +BECKET. +God save him from all sickness of the soul! +Thee too, thy solitude among thy nuns, +May that save thee! Doth he remember me? + +ROSAMUND. +I warrant him. + +BECKET. + He is marvellously like thee. + +ROSAMUND. +Liker the King. + +BECKET. + No, daughter. + +ROSAMUND. + Ay, but wait +Till his nose rises; he will be very king. + +BECKET. +Ev'n so: but think not of the King: farewell! + +ROSAMUND. +My lord, the city is full of armed men. + +BECKET, +Ev'n so: farewell! + +ROSAMUND. + I will but pass to vespers, +And breathe one prayer for my liege-lord the King, +His child and mine own soul, and so return. + +BECKET. +Pray for me too: much need of prayer have I. + [ROSAMUND _kneels and goes_. +Dan John, how much we lose, we celibates, +Lacking the love of woman and of child. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +More gain than loss; for of your wives you shall +Find one a slut whose fairest linen seems +Foul as her dust-cloth, if she used it--one +So charged with tongue, that every thread of thought +Is broken ere it joins--a shrew to boot, +Whose evil song far on into the night +Thrills to the topmost tile--no hope but death; +One slow, fat, white, a burthen of the hearth; +And one that being thwarted ever swoons +And weeps herself into the place of power; +And one an _uxor pauperis Ibyci_. +So rare the household honey-making bee, +Man's help! but we, we have the Blessed Virgin +For worship, and our Mother Church for bride; +And all the souls we saved and father'd here +Will greet us as our babes in Paradise. +What noise was that? she told us of arm'd men +Here in the city. Will you not withdraw? + +BECKET. +I once was out with Henry in the days +When Henry loved me, and we came upon +A wild-fowl sitting on her nest, so still +I reach'd my hand and touch'd; she did not stir; +The snow had frozen round her, and she sat +Stone-dead upon a heap of ice-cold eggs. +Look! how this love, this mother, runs thro' all +The world God made--even the beast--the bird! + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +Ay, still a lover of the beast and bird? +But these arm'd men--will you not hide yourself? +Perchance the fierce De Brocs from Saltwood Castle, +To assail our Holy Mother lest she brood +Too long o'er this hard egg, the world, and send +Her whole heart's heat into it, till it break +Into young angels. Pray you, hide yourself. + +BECKET. +There was a little fair-hair'd Norman maid +Lived in my mother's house: if Rosamund is +The world's rose, as her name imports her--she +Was the world's lily. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + Ay, and what of her? + +BECKET. +She died of leprosy. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + I know not why +You call these old things back again, my lord. + +BECKET. +The drowning man, they say, remembers all +The chances of his life, just ere he dies. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +Ay--but these arm'd men--will _you_ drown _yourself?_ +He loses half the meed of martyrdom +Who will be martyr when he might escape. + +BECKET. +What day of the week? Tuesday? + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + Tuesday, my lord, + +BECKET. +On a Tuesday was I born, and on a Tuesday +Baptized; and on a Tuesday did I fly +Forth from Northampton; on a Tuesday pass'd +From England into bitter banishment; +On a Tuesday at Pontigny came to me +The ghostly warning of my martyrdom; +On a Tuesday from mine exile I return'd, +And on a Tuesday-- + + [TRACY _enters, then_ FITZURSE, DE BRITO, _and_ + DE MORVILLE. MONKS _following_. + + --on a Tuesday----Tracy! + + _A long silence, broken by_ FITZURSE _saying, contemptuously,_ + +God help thee! + +JOHN OF SALISBURY (_aside_). + How the good Archbishop reddens! +He never yet could brook the note of scorn. + +FITZURSE. +My lord, we bring a message from the King +Beyond the water; will you have it alone, +Or with these listeners near you? + +BECKET. + As you will. + +FITZURSE. +Nay, as _you_ will. + +BECKET. + Nay, as _you_ will. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + Why then +Better perhaps to speak with them apart. +Let us withdraw. + + [_All go out except the four_ KNIGHTS _and_ BECKET. + +FITZURSE. + We are all alone with him. +Shall I not smite him with his own cross-staff? + +DE MORVILLE. +No, look! the door is open: let him be. + +FITZURSE. +The King condemns your excommunicating---- + +BECKET. +This is no secret, but a public matter. +In here again! + [JOHN OF SALISBURY _and_ MONKS _return_. + Now, sirs, the King's commands! + +FITZURSE. +The King beyond the water, thro' our voices, +Commands you to be dutiful and leal +To your young King on this side of the water, +Not scorn him for the foibles of his youth. +What! you would make his coronation void +By cursing those who crown'd him. Out upon you! + +BECKET. +Reginald, all men know I loved the Prince. +His father gave him to my care, and I +Became his second father: he had his faults, +For which I would have laid mine own life down +To help him from them, since indeed I loved him, +And love him next after my lord his father. +Rather than dim the splendour of his crown +I fain would treble and quadruple it +With revenues, realms, and golden provinces +So that were done in equity. + +FITZURSE. + You have broken +Your bond of peace, your treaty with the King-- +Wakening such brawls and loud disturbances +In England, that he calls you oversea +To answer for it in his Norman courts. + +BECKET. +Prate not of bonds, for never, oh, never again +Shall the waste voice of the bond-breaking sea +Divide me from the mother church of England, +My Canterbury. Loud disturbances! +Oh, ay--the bells rang out even to deafening, +Organ and pipe, and dulcimer, chants and hymns +In all the churches, trumpets in the halls, +Sobs, laughter, cries: they spread their raiment down +Before me--would have made my pathway flowers, +Save that it was mid-winter in the street, +But full mid-summer in those honest hearts. + +FITZURSE. +The King commands you to absolve the bishops +Whom you have excommunicated. + +BECKET. + I? +Not I, the Pope. Ask _him_ for absolution. + +FITZURSE. +But you advised the Pope. + +BECKET. + And so I did. +They have but to submit. + +THE FOUR KNIGHTS. + The King commands you. +We are all King's men. + +BECKET. + King's men at least should know +That their own King closed with me last July +That I should pass the censures of the Church +On those that crown'd young Henry in this realm, +And trampled on the rights of Canterbury. + +FITZURSE. +What! dare you charge the King with treachery? +_He_ sanction thee to excommunicate +The prelates whom he chose to crown his son! + +BECKET. +I spake no word of treachery, Reginald. +But for the truth of this I make appeal +To all the archbishops, bishops, prelates, barons, +Monks, knights, five hundred, that were there and heard. +Nay, you yourself were there: you heard yourself. + +FITZURSE. +I was not there. + +BECKET. + I saw you there. + +FITZURSE. + I was not. + +BECKET. +You were. I never forget anything. + +FITZURSE. +He makes the King a traitor, me a liar. +How long shall we forbear him? + +JOHN OF SALISBURY (_drawing_ BECKET _aside_). + O my good lord. +Speak with them privately on this hereafter. +You see they have been revelling, and I fear +Are braced and brazen'd up with Christmas wines +For any murderous brawl. + +BECKET. + And yet they prate +Of mine, my brawls, when those, that name themselves +Of the King's part, have broken down our barns, +Wasted our diocese, outraged our tenants, +Lifted our produce, driven our clerics out-- +Why they, your friends, those ruffians, the De Brocs, +They stood on Dover beach to murder me, +They slew my stags in mine own manor here, +Mutilated, poor brute, my sumpter-mule, +Plunder'd the vessel full of Gascon wine, +The old King's present, carried off the casks, +Kill'd half the crew, dungeon'd the other half +In Pevensey Castle-- + +DE MORVILLE. + Why not rather then, +If this be so, complain to your young King, +Not punish of your own authority? + +BECKET. +Mine enemies barr'd all access to the boy. +They knew he loved me. +Hugh, Hugh, how proudly you exalt your head! +Nay, when they seek to overturn our rights, +I ask no leave of king, or mortal man, +To set them straight again. Alone I do it. +Give to the King the things that are the King's, +And those of God to God. + +FITZURSE. + Threats! threats! ye hear him. +What! will he excommunicate all the world? + + [_The_ KNIGHTS _come round_ BECKET. + +DE TRACY. +He shall not. + +DE BRITO. + Well, as yet--I should be grateful-- +He hath not excommunicated _me_. + +BECKET. +Because thou wast _born_ excommunicate. +I never spied in thee one gleam of grace. + +DE BRITO. +Your Christian's Christian charity! + +BECKET. + By St. Denis---- + +DE BRITO. +Ay, by St. Denis, now will he flame out, +And lose his head as old St. Denis did. + +BECKET. +Ye think to scare me from my loyalty +To God and to the Holy Father. No! +Tho' all the swords in England flash'd above me +Ready to fall at Henry's word or yours-- +Tho' all the loud-lung'd trumpets upon earth +Blared from the heights of all the thrones of her kings, +Blowing the world against me, I would stand +Clothed with the full authority of Rome, +Mail'd in the perfect panoply of faith, +First of the foremost of their files, who die +For God, to people heaven in the great day +When God makes up his jewels. Once I fled-- +Never again, and you--I marvel at you-- +Ye know what is between us. Ye have sworn +Yourselves my men when I was Chancellor-- +My vassals--and yet threaten your Archbishop +In his own house. + +KNIGHTS. + Nothing can be between us +That goes against our fealty to the King. + +FITZURSE. +And in his name we charge you that ye keep +This traitor from escaping. + +BECKET. + Rest you easy, +For I am easy to keep. I shall not fly. +Here, here, here will you find me. + +DE MORVILLE. + Know you not +You have spoken to the peril of your life? + +BECKET. +As I shall speak again. + +FITZURSE, DE TRACY, _and_ DE BRITO. + To arms! + + [_They rush out,_ DE MORVILLE _lingers_. + +BECKET. + De Morville, +I had thought so well of you; and even now +You seem the least assassin of the four. +Oh, do not damn yourself for company! +Is it too late for me to save your soul? +I pray you for one moment stay and speak. + +DE MORVILLE. +Becket, it _is_ too late. [_Exit_. + +BECKET. + Is it too late? +Too late on earth may be too soon in hell. + +KNIGHTS (_in the distance_). +Close the great gate--ho, there--upon the town. + +BECKET'S RETAINERS. +Shut the hall-doors. [_A pause_. + +BECKET. + You hear them, brother John; +Why do you stand so silent, brother John? + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +For I was musing on an ancient saw, +_Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re,_ +Is strength less strong when hand-in-hand with grace? +_Gratior in pulchro corpore virtus_. Thomas, +Why should you heat yourself for such as these? + +BECKET. +Methought I answer'd moderately enough. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +As one that blows the coal to cool the fire. +My lord, I marvel why you never lean +On any man's advising but your own. + +BECKET. +Is it so, Dan John? well, what should I have done? + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +You should have taken counsel with your friends +Before these bandits brake into your presence. +They seek--you make--occasion for your death. + +BECKET. +My counsel is already taken, John. +I am prepared to die. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY + We are sinners all, +The best of all not all-prepared to die. + +BECKET. +God's will be done! + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + Ay, well. God's will be done! + +GRIM (_re-entering_). +My lord, the knights are arming in the garden +Beneath the sycamore. + +BECKET. + Good! let them arm. + +GRIM. +And one of the De Brocs is with them, Robert, +The apostate monk that was with Randulf here. +He knows the twists and turnings of the place. + +BECKET. +No fear! + +GRIM. + No fear, my lord. + + [_Crashes on the hall-doors. The_ MONKS _flee_. + +BECKET (_rising_). + Our dovecote flown! +I cannot tell why monks should all be cowards. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +Take refuge in your own cathedral, Thomas. + +BECKET. +Do they not fight the Great Fiend day by day? +Valour and holy life should go together. +Why should all monks be cowards? + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + Are they so? +I say, take refuge in your own cathedral. + +BECKET. +Ay, but I told them I would wait them here. + +GRIM. +May they not say you dared not show yourself +In your old place? and vespers are beginning. + [_Bell rings for vespers till end of scene_. +You should attend the office, give them heart. +They fear you slain: they dread they know not what. + +BECKET. +Ay, monks, not men. + +GRIM. + I am a monk, my lord, +Perhaps, my lord, you wrong us. +Some would stand by you to the death. + +BECKET. + Your pardon. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +He said, 'Attend the office.' + +BECKET. + Attend the office? +Why then--The Cross!--who bears my Cross before me? +Methought they would have brain'd me with it, John. + + [GRIM _takes it_. + +GRIM. +I! Would that I could bear thy cross indeed! + +BECKET. +The Mitre! + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + Will you wear it?--there! + + [BECKET _puts on the mitre_. + +BECKET. + The Pall! +I go to meet my King! [_Puts on the pall_. + +GRIM. + To meet the King? + [_Crashes on the doors as they go out_. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +Why do you move with such a stateliness? +Can you not hear them yonder like a storm, +Battering the doors, and breaking thro' the walls? + +BECKET. +Why do the heathen rage? My two good friends, +What matters murder'd here, or murder'd there? +And yet my dream foretold my martyrdom +In mine own church. It is God's will. Go on. +Nay, drag me not. We must not seem to fly. + + + +SCENE III.--_North Transept of Canterbury Cathedral. On the right hand +a flight of steps leading to the Choir, another flight on the left, +leading to the North Aisle. Winter afternoon slowly darkening. Low +thunder now and then of an approaching storm_. MONKS _heard chanting +the service_. ROSAMUND _kneeling_. + + +ROSAMUND. +O blessed saint, O glorious Benedict,-- +These arm'd men in the city, these fierce faces-- +Thy holy follower founded Canterbury-- +Save that dear head which now is Canterbury, +Save him, he saved my life, he saved my child, +Save him, his blood would darken Henry's name; +Save him till all as saintly as thyself +He miss the searching flame of purgatory, +And pass at once perfect to Paradise. + [_Noise of steps and voices in the cloisters_. +Hark! Is it they? Coming! He is not here-- +Not yet, thank heaven. O save him! + [_Goes up steps leading to choir_. + +BECKET (_entering, forced along by_ JOHN OF SALISBURY _and_ GRIM). + No, I tell you! +I cannot bear a hand upon my person, +Why do you force me thus against my will? + +GRIM. +My lord, we force you from your enemies. + +BECKET. +As you would force a king from being crown'd. + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. +We must not force the crown of martyrdom. + + [_Service stops_. MONKS _come down from the + stairs that lead to the choir_. + +MONKS. +Here is the great Archbishop! He lives! he lives! +Die with him, and be glorified together. + +BECKET. +Together?... get you back! go on with the office. + +MONKS. +Come, then, with us to vespers. + +BECKET. + How can I come +When you so block the entry? Back, I say! +Go on with the office. Shall not Heaven be served +Tho' earth's last earthquake clash'd the minster-bells, +And the great deeps were broken up again, +And hiss'd against the sun? [_Noise in the cloisters_. + +MONKS. + The murderers, hark! +Let us hide! let us hide! + +BECKET. + What do these people fear? + +MONKS. +Those arm'd men in the cloister. + +BECKET. + Be not such cravens! +I will go out and meet them. + +GRIM _and others_. + Shut the doors! +We will not have him slain before our face. + [_They close the doors of the transept. Knocking_. +Fly, fly, my lord, before they burst the doors! + [_Knocking_. + +BECKET. +Why, these are our own monks who follow'd us! +And will you bolt them out, and have _them_ slain? +Undo the doors: the church is not a castle: +Knock, and it shall be open'd. Are you deaf? +What, have I lost authority among you? +Stand by, make way! + [_Opens the doors. Enter_ MONKS _from cloister_. + Come in, my friends, come in! +Nay, faster, faster! + +MONKS. + Oh, my lord Archbishop, +A score of knights all arm'd with swords and axes-- +To the choir, to the choir! + + [_Monks divide, part flying by the stairs on the + right, part by those on the left. The rush of + these last bears_ BECKET _along with them some + way up the steps, where he is left standing alone_. + +BECKET. + Shall I too pass to the choir, +And die upon the Patriarchal throne +Of all my predecessors? + +JOHN OF SALISBURY. + No, to the crypt! +Twenty steps down. Stumble not in the darkness, +Lest they should seize thee. + +GRIM. + To the crypt? no--no, +To the chapel of St. Blaise beneath the roof! + +JOHN OF SALISBURY (_pointing upward and downward_). +That way, or this! Save thyself either way. + +BECKET. +Oh, no, not either way, nor any way +Save by that way which leads thro' night to light. +Not twenty steps, but one. +And fear not I should stumble in the darkness, +Not tho' it be their hour, the power of darkness, +But my hour too, the power of light in darkness! +I am not in the darkness but the light, +Seen by the Church in Heaven, the Church on earth-- +The power of life in death to make her free! + + [_Enter the four_ KNIGHTS. JOHN OF SALISBURY + _flies to the altar of St. Benedict_. + +FITZURSE. +Here, here, King's men! + [Catches hold of the last flying MONK. + Where is the traitor Becket? + +MONK. +I am not he! I am not he, my lord. +I am not he indeed! + +FITZURSE. + Hence to the fiend! + [_Pushes him away_. +Where is this treble traitor to the King? + +DE TRACY. +Where is the Archbishop, Thomas Becket? + +BECKET. + Here. +No traitor to the King, but Priest of God, +Primate of England. + [_Descending into the transept_. + I am he ye seek. +What would ye have of me? + +FlTZURSE. + Your life. + +DE TRACY. + Your life. + +DE MORVILLE. +Save that you will absolve the bishops. + +BECKET. + Never,-- +Except they make submission to the Church. +You had my answer to that cry before. + +DE MORVILLE. +Why, then you are a dead man; flee! + +BECKET. + I will not. +I am readier to be slain, than thou to slay. +Hugh, I know well thou hast but half a heart +To bathe this sacred pavement with my blood. +God pardon thee and these, but God's full curse +Shatter you all to pieces if ye harm +One of my flock! + +FITZURSE. + Was not the great gate shut? +They are thronging in to vespers--half the town. +We shall be overwhelm'd. Seize him and carry him! +Come with us--nay--thou art our prisoner--come! + +DE MORVILLE. +Ay, make him prisoner, do not harm the man. + + [FITZURSE _lays hold of the_ ARCHBISHOP'S _pall_. + +BECKET. +Touch me not! + +DE BRITO. + How the good priest gods himself! +He is not yet ascended to the Father. + +FITZURSE. +I will not only touch, but drag thee hence. + +BECKET. +Thou art my man, thou art my vassal. Away! + [_Flings him off till he reels, almost to falling_. + +DE TRACY (_lays hold of the pall_). +Come; as he said, thou art our prisoner. + +BECKET. + Down! + [_Throws him headlong_. + +FITZURSE (_advances with drawn sword_). +I told thee that I should remember thee! + +BECKET. +Profligate pander! + +FITZURSE. + Do you hear that? strike, strike. + + [_Strikes off the_ ARCHBISHOP'S _mitre, and wounds + him in the forehead_. + +BECKET (_covers his eyes with his hand_). +I do commend my cause to God, the Virgin, +St. Denis of France and St. Alphege of England, +And all the tutelar Saints of Canterbury. + [GRIM _wraps his arms about the_ ARCHBISHOP. +Spare this defence, dear brother. + + [TRACY _has arisen, and approaches, hesitatingly, + with his sword raised_. + +FITZURSE. + Strike him, Tracy! + +ROSAMUND (_rushing down steps from the choir)_. +No, No, No, No! + +FlTZURSE. + This wanton here. De Morville, +Hold her away. + +DE MORVILLE. + I hold her. + +ROSAMUND (_held back by_ DE MORVILLE, _and stretching out her arms)_. + Mercy, mercy, +As you would hope for mercy. + +FlTZURSE. + Strike, I say. + +GRIM. +O God, O noble knights, O sacrilege! +Strike our Archbishop in his own cathedral! +The Pope, the King, will curse you--the whole world +Abhor you; ye will die the death of dogs! +Nay, nay, good Tracy. [_Lifts his arm_. + +FlTZURSE. + Answer not, but strike. + +DE TRACY. +There is my answer then. + + [_Sword falls on_ GRIM'S _arm, and glances from it, + wounding_ BECKET. + +GRIM. + Mine arm is sever'd. +I can no more--fight out the good fight--die +Conqueror. [_Staggers into the chapel of St. Benedict_. + +BECKET (_falling on his knees_). + At the right hand of Power-- +Power and great glory--for thy Church, O Lord-- +Into Thy hands, O Lord--into Thy hands!---- + [_Sinks prone_. + +DE BRITO. +This last to rid thee of a world of brawls! (_Kills him_.) +The traitor's dead, and will arise no more. + +FITZURSE. +Nay, have we still'd him? What! the great Archbishop! +Does he breathe? No? + +DE TRACY. + No, Reginald, he is dead. + +(_Storm bursts_.) [Footnote: _A tremendous thunderstorm actually +broke over the Cathedral as the murderers were leaving it.] + +DE MORVILLE. +Will the earth gape and swallow us? + +DE BRITO. + The deed's done-- +Away! + + [DE BRITO, DE TRACY, FITZURSE. _rush out, crying + 'King's men!'_ DE MORVILLE _follows slowly. + Flashes of lightning thro' the Cathedral_. + ROSAMUND _seen kneeling by the body of_ BECKET. + + + + + + +THE CUP + +A TRAGEDY + + + +_DRAMATIS PERSONAE_. + + +GALATIANS. + +SYNORIX, _an ex-Tetrarch_. +SINNATUS, _a Tetrarch_. +_Attendant_. +_Boy_. +_Maid_. +PHOEBE. +CAMMA, _wife of Sinnatus, afterwards Priestess in the Temple of + Artemis_. + +ROMANS. + +ANTONIUS, _a Roman General_. +PUBLIUS. +_Nobleman_. +_Messenger_. + + + +THE CUP. + + + + +ACT I. + + +SCENE I.--_Distant View of a City of Galatia_. + +As the curtain rises, Priestesses are heard singing in the Temple. Boy +discovered on a pathway among Rocks, picking grapes. A party of Roman +Soldiers, guarding a prisoner in chains, come down the pathway and +exeunt. + + + _Enter_ SYNORIX (_looking round_). _Singing ceases_. + +SYNORIX. +Pine, beech and plane, oak, walnut, apricot, +Vine, cypress, poplar, myrtle, bowering in +The city where she dwells. She past me here +Three years ago when I was flying from +My Tetrarchy to Rome. I almost touch'd her-- +A maiden slowly moving on to music +Among her maidens to this Temple--O Gods! +She is my fate--else wherefore has my fate +Brought me again to her own city?--married +Since--married Sinnatus, the Tetrarch here-- +But if he be conspirator, Rome will chain, +Or slay him. I may trust to gain her then +When I shall have my tetrarchy restored +By Rome, our mistress, grateful that I show'd her +The weakness and the dissonance of our clans, +And how to crush them easily. Wretched race! +And once I wish'd to scourge them to the bones. +But in this narrow breathing-time of life +Is vengeance for its own sake worth the while, +If once our ends are gain'd? and now this cup-- +I never felt such passion for a woman. + [_Brings out a cup and scroll from under his cloak_. +What have I written to her? + + [_Reading the scroll_. + +'To the admired Gamma, wife of Sinnatus, the Tetrarch, one who years +ago, himself an adorer of our great goddess, Artemis, beheld you afar +off worshipping in her Temple, and loved you for it, sends you this +cup rescued from the burning of one of her shrines in a city thro' +which he past with the Roman army: it is the cup we use in our +marriages. Receive it from one who cannot at present write himself +other than 'A GALATIAN SERVING BY FORCE IN THE ROMAN LEGION.' + + [_Turns and looks up to Boy_. + +Boy, dost thou know the house of Sinnatus? + +BOY. +These grapes are for the house of Sinnatus-- +Close to the Temple. + +SYNORIX. + Yonder? + +BOY. + Yes. + +SYNORIX (_aside_). + That I +With all my range of women should yet shun +To meet her face to face at once! My boy, + [_Boy comes down rocks to him_. +Take thou this letter and this cup to Camma, +The wife of Sinnatus. + +BOY. + Going or gone to-day +To hunt with Sinnatus. + +SYNORIX. + That matters not. +Take thou this cup and leave it at her doors. + [_Gives the cup and scroll to the Boy_. + +BOY. +I will, my lord. [_Takes his basket of grapes and exit_. + + _Enter_ ANTONIUS. + +ANTONIUS (_meeting the Boy as he goes out_). + Why, whither runs the boy? +Is that the cup you rescued from the fire? + +SYNORIX. +I send it to the wife of Sinnatus, +One half besotted in religious rites. +You come here with your soldiers to enforce +The long-withholden tribute: you suspect +This Sinnatus of playing patriotism, +Which in your sense is treason. You have yet +No proof against him: now this pious cup +Is passport to their house, and open arms +To him who gave it; and once there I warrant +I worm thro' all their windings. + +ANTONIUS. + If you prosper, +Our Senate, wearied of their tetrarchies, +Their quarrels with themselves, their spites at Rome, +Is like enough to cancel them, and throne +One king above them all, who shall be true +To the Roman: and from what I heard in Rome, +This tributary crown may fall to you. + +SYNORIX. +The king, the crown! their talk in Rome? is it so? + [ANTONIUS _nods_. +Well--I shall serve Galatia taking it, +And save her from herself, and be to Rome +More faithful than a Roman. + [_Turns and sees_ CAMMA _coming_. + Stand aside, +Stand aside; here she comes! + [_Watching_ CAMMA _as she enters with her Maid_. + +GAMMA (_to Maid_). +Where is he, girl? + +MAID. + You know the waterfall +That in the summer keeps the mountain side, +But after rain o'erleaps a jutting rock +And shoots three hundred feet. + +CAMMA. + The stag is there? + +MAID. +Seen in the thicket at the bottom there +But yester-even. + +GAMMA. + Good then, we will climb +The mountain opposite and watch the chase. + [_They descend the rocks and exeunt_. + +SYNORIX (_watching her_). +(_Aside_.) The bust of Juno and the brows and eyes +Of Venus; face and form unmatchable! + +ANTONIUS. +Why do you look at her so lingeringly? + +SYNORIX. +To see if years have changed her. + +ANTONIUS (_sarcastically_). + Love her, do you? + +SYNORIX. +I envied Sinnatus when he married her. + +ANTONIUS. +She knows it? Ha! + +SYNORIX. + She--no, nor ev'n my face. + +ANTONIUS. +Nor Sinnatus either? + +SYNORIX. + No, nor Sinnatus. + +ANTONIUS. +Hot-blooded! I have heard them say in Rome. +That your own people cast you from their bounds, +For some unprincely violence to a woman, +As Rome did Tarquin. + +SYNORIX. + Well, if this were so, +I here return like Tarquin--for a crown. + +ANTONIUS. +And may be foil'd like Tarquin, if you follow +Not the dry light of Rome's straight-going policy, +But the fool-fire of love or lust, which well +May make you lose yourself, may even drown you +In the good regard of Rome. + +SYNORIX. + Tut--fear me not; +I ever had my victories among women. +I am most true to Rome. + +ANTONIUS (_aside_). + I hate the man! +What filthy tools our Senate works with! Still +I must obey them. (_Aloud_.) Fare you well. [_Going_. + +SYNORIX. + Farewell! + +ANTONIUS (_stopping_). +A moment! If you track this Sinnatus +In any treason, I give you here an order + [_Produces a paper_. +To seize upon him. Let me sign it. (_Signs it_.) There +'Antonius leader of the Roman Legion.' + [_Hands the paper to_ SYNORIX. _Goes up pathway and exit_. + +SYNORIX. +Woman again!--but I am wiser now. +No rushing on the game--the net,--the net. + [_Shouts of_ 'Sinnatus! Sinnatus!' _Then horn. Looking off +stage_.] +He comes, a rough, bluff, simple-looking fellow. +If we may judge the kernel by the husk, +Not one to keep a woman's fealty when +Assailed by Craft and Love. I'll join with him: +I may reap something from him--come upon _her_ +Again, perhaps, to-day--_her_. Who are with him? +I see no face that knows me. Shall I risk it? +I am a Roman now, they dare not touch me. +I will. + + _Enter_ SINNATUS, HUNTSMEN _and hounds_. + + Fair Sir, a happy day to you! +You reck but little of the Roman here, +While you can take your pastime in the woods. + +SlNNATUS. +Ay, ay, why not? What would you with me, man? + +SYNORIX. +I am a life-long lover of the chase, +And tho' a stranger fain would be allow'd +To join the hunt. + +SlNNATUS. + Your name? + +SYNORIX. + Strato, my name. + +SlNNATUS. +No Roman name? + +SYNORIX. + A Greek, my lord; you know +That we Galatians are both Greek and Gaul. + [_Shouts and horns in the distance + +SINNATUS. +Hillo, the stag! (_To_ SYNORIX.) What, you are all unfurnish'd? +Give him a bow and arrows--follow--follow. + [_Exit, followed by Huntsmen_. + +SYNORIX. +Slowly but surely--till I see my way. +It is the one step in the dark beyond +Our expectation, that amazes us. + [_Distant shouts and horns_. +Hillo! Hillo! + [_Exit_ SYNORIX. _Shouts and horns_. + + + +SCENE II.--_A Room in the Tetrarch's House_. + +Frescoed figures on the walls. Evening. Moonlight outside. A couch +with cushions on it. A small table with flagon of wine, cups, plate of +grapes, etc., also the cup of Scene I. A chair with drapery on it. + + +CAMMA _enters, and opens' curtains of window_. + +CAMMA. +No Sinnatus yet--and there the rising moon. + [_Takes up a cithern and sits on couch. Plays and sings_. + + 'Moon on the field and the foam, + Moon on the waste and the wold, + Moon bring him home, bring him home + Safe from the dark and the cold, + Home, sweet moon, bring him home, + Home with the flock to the fold-- + Safe from the wolf'---- + +(_Listening_.) Is he coming? I thought I heard +A footstep. No not yet. They say that Rome +Sprang from a wolf. I fear my dear lord mixt +With some conspiracy against the wolf. +This mountain shepherd never dream'd of Rome. +(_Sings_.) 'Safe from the wolf to the fold'---- +And that great break of precipice that runs +Thro' all the wood, where twenty years ago +Huntsman, and hound, and deer were all neck-broken! +Nay, here he comes. + + _Enter_ SINNATUS _followed by_ SYNORIX. + +SINNATUS (_angrily_). + I tell thee, my good fellow, +My arrow struck the stag. + +SYNORIX. + But was it so? +Nay, you were further off: besides the wind +Went with _my_ arrow. + +SINNATUS. + I am sure _I_ struck him. + +SYNORIX. +And I am just as sure, my lord, _I_ struck him. +(_Aside_.) And I may strike your game when you are gone. + +CAMMA. +Come, come, we will not quarrel about the stag. +I have had a weary day in watching you. +Yours must have been a wearier. Sit and eat, +And take a hunter's vengeance on the meats. + +SINNATUS. +No, no--we have eaten--we are heated. Wine! + +CAMMA. +Who is our guest? + +SINNATUS. + Strato he calls himself. + + [CAMMA _offers wine to_ SYNORIX, _while_ SINNATUS _helps +himself_. + +SINNATUS. +I pledge you, Strato. [_Drinks_. + +SYNORIX. + And I you, my lord. [_Drinks_. + +SINNATUS (_seeing the cup sent to_ CAMMA). +What's here? + +CAMMA. + A strange gift sent to me to-day. +A sacred cup saved from a blazing shrine +Of our great Goddess, in some city where +Antonius past. I had believed that Rome +Made war upon the peoples not the Gods. + +SYNORIX. +Most like the city rose against Antonius, +Whereon he fired it, and the sacred shrine +By chance was burnt along with it. + +SINNATUS. + Had you then +No message with the cup? + +CAMMA. + Why, yes, see here. + [_Gives him the scroll_. + +SINNATUS (_reads_). +'To the admired Camma,--beheld you afar off--loved you--sends you this +cup--the cup we use in our marriages--cannot at present write himself +other than + 'A GALATIAN SERVING BY FORCE IN THE ROMAN LEGION.' + +Serving by force! Were there no boughs to hang on, +Rivers to drown in? Serve by force? No force +Could make me serve by force. + +SYNORIX. + How then, my lord? +The Roman is encampt without your city-- +The force of Rome a thousand-fold our own. +Must all Galatia hang or drown herself? +And you a Prince and Tetrarch in this province-- + +SINNATUS. +Province! + +SYNORIX. + Well, well, they call it so in Rome. + +SINNATUS (_angrily_). +Province! + +SYNORIX. + A noble anger! but Antonius +To-morrow will demand your tribute--you, +Can you make war? Have you alliances? +Bithynia, Pontus, Paphlagonia? +We have had our leagues of old with Eastern kings. +There is my hand--if such a league there be. +What will you do? + +SINNATUS. + Not set myself abroach +And run my mind out to a random guest +Who join'd me in the hunt. You saw my hounds +True to the scent; and we have two-legg'd dogs +Among us who can smell a true occasion, +And when to bark and how. + +SYNORIX. + My good Lord Sinnatus, +I once was at the hunting of a lion. +Roused by the clamour of the chase he woke, +Came to the front of the wood--his monarch mane +Bristled about his quick ears--he stood there +Staring upon the hunter. A score of dogs +Gnaw'd at his ankles: at the last he felt +The trouble of his feet, put forth one paw, +Slew four, and knew it not, and so remain'd +Staring upon the hunter: and this Rome +Will crush you if you wrestle with her; then +Save for some slight report in her own Senate +Scarce know what she has done. +(_Aside_.) Would I could move him, +Provoke him any way! (_Aloud_.) The Lady Camma, +Wise I am sure as she is beautiful, +Will close with me that to submit at once +Is better than a wholly-hopeless war, +Our gallant citizens murder'd all in vain, +Son, husband, brother gash'd to death in vain, +And the small state more cruelly trampled on +Than had she never moved. + +CAMMA. +Sir, I had once +A boy who died a babe; but were he living +And grown to man and Sinnatus will'd it, I +Would set him in the front rank of the fight +With scarce a pang. (_Rises_.) Sir, if a state submit +At once, she may be blotted out at once +And swallow'd in the conqueror's chronicle. +Whereas in wars of freedom and defence +The glory and grief of battle won or lost +Solders a race together--yea--tho' they fail, +The names of those who fought and fell are like +A bank'd-up fire that flashes out again +From century to century, and at last +May lead them on to victory--I hope so-- +Like phantoms of the Gods. + +SINNATUS. + Well spoken, wife. + +SYNORIX (_bowing_). +Madam, so well I yield. + +SINNATUS. + I should not wonder +If Synorix, who has dwelt three years in Rome +And wrought his worst against his native land. +Returns with this Antonius. + +SYNORIX. + What is Synorix? + +SINNATUS. +Galatian, and not know? This Synorix +Was Tetrarch here, and tyrant also--did +Dishonour to our wives. + +SYNORIX. + Perhaps you judge him +With feeble charity: being as you tell me +Tetrarch, there might be willing wives enough +To feel dishonour, honour. + +CAMMA. + Do not say so. +I know of no such wives in all Galatia. +There may be courtesans for aught I know +Whose life is one dishonour. + + _Enter_ ATTENDANT. + +ATTENDANT (_aside_). + My lord, the men! + +SINNATUS (_aside_). +Our anti-Roman faction? + +ATTENDANT (_aside_). + Ay, my lord. + +SYNORIX (_overhearing_). +(_Aside_.) I have enough--their anti-Roman faction. + +SINNATUS (_aloud_). +Some friends of mine would speak with me without. +You, Strato, make good cheer till I return. + [_Exit_. + +SYNORIX. +I have much to say, no time to say it in. +First, lady, know myself am that Galatian +Who sent the cup. + +CAMMA. + I thank you from my heart. + +SYNORIX. +Then that I serve with Rome to serve Galatia. +That is my secret: keep it, or you sell me +To torment and to death. [_Coming closer_. +For your ear only-- +I love you--for your love to the great Goddess. +The Romans sent me here a spy upon you, +To draw you and your husband to your doom. +I'd sooner die than do it. + [_Takes out paper given him by Antonius_. +This paper sign'd +Antonius--will you take it, read it? there! + +CAMMA. +(_Reads_.) 'You are to seize on Sinnatus,--if----' + +SYNORIX. (_Snatches paper_.) + No more. +What follows is for no wife's eyes. O Camma, +Rome has a glimpse of this conspiracy; +Rome never yet hath spar'd conspirator. +Horrible! flaying, scourging, crucifying------ + +CAMMA. +I am tender enough. Why do you practise on me? + +SYNORIX. +Why should I practise on you? How you wrong me! +I am sure of being every way malign'd. +And if you should betray me to your husband------ + +CAMMA. +Will _you_ betray him by this order? + +SYNORIX. + See, +I tear it all to pieces, never dream'd +Of acting on it. [_Tears the paper_. + +CAMMA. +I owe you thanks for ever. + +SYNORIX. +Hath Sinnatus never told you of this plot? + +CAMMA. +What plot? + +SYNORIX. + A child's sand-castle on the beach +For the next wave--all seen,--all calculated, +All known by Rome. No chance for Sinnatus. + +CAMMA. +Why said you not as much to my brave Sinnatus? + +SYNORIX. +Brave--ay--too brave, too over-confident, +Too like to ruin himself, and you, and me! +Who else, with this black thunderbolt of Rome +Above him, would have chased the stag to-day +In the full face of all the Roman camp? +A miracle that they let him home again, +Not caught, maim'd, blinded him. + + [CAMMA _shudders_. + +(_Aside_.) I have made her tremble. +(_Aloud_.) I know they mean to torture him to death. +I dare not tell him how I came to know it; +I durst not trust him with--my serving Rome +To serve Galatia: you heard him on the letter. +Not say as much? I all but said as much. +I am sure I told him that his plot was folly. +I say it to you--you are wiser--Rome knows all, +But you know not the savagery of Rome. + +CAMMA. +O--have you power with Rome? use it for him! + +SYNORIX. +Alas! I have no such power with Rome. All that +Lies with Antonius. + + [_As if struck by a sudden thought. Comes over to her_. + +He will pass to-morrow +In the gray dawn before the Temple doors. +You have beauty,--O great beauty,--and Antonius, +So gracious toward women, never yet +Flung back a woman's prayer. Plead to him, +I am sure you will prevail. + +CAMMA. + Still--I should tell +My husband. + +SYNORIX. + Will he let you plead for him +To a Roman? + +CAMMA. + I fear not. + +SYNORIX. + Then do not tell him. +Or tell him, if you will, when you return, +When you have charm'd our general into mercy, +And all is safe again. O dearest lady, + + [_Murmurs of_ 'Synorix! Synorix!' _heard outside_. + +Think,--torture,--death,--and come. + +CAMMA. + I will, I will. +And I will not betray you. + +SYNORIX (_aside_). +(_As_ SINNATUS _enters_.) Stand apart. + + _Enter_ SINNATUS _and_ ATTENDANT. + +SINNATUS. +Thou art that Synorix! One whom thou hast wrong'd +Without there, knew thee with Antonius. +They howl for thee, to rend thee head from limb. + +SYNORIX. +I am much malign'd. I thought to serve Galatia. + +SINNATUS. +Serve thyself first, villain! They shall not harm +My guest within my house. There! (_points to door_) there! this door +Opens upon the forest! Out, begone! +Henceforth I am thy mortal enemy. + +SYNORIX. +However I thank thee (_draws his sword_); thou hast +saved my life. + [_Exit_. + +SINNATUS. (_To Attendant_.) +Return and tell them Synorix is not here. [_Exit Attendant_. +What did that villain Synorix say to you? + +GAMMA. +Is _he--that_--Synorix? + +SINNATUS. + Wherefore should you doubt it? +One of the men there knew him. + +CAMMA. + Only one, +And he perhaps mistaken in the face. + +SINNATUS. +Come, come, could he deny it? What did he say? + +CAMMA. +What _should_ he say? + +SINNATUS. + What _should_ he say, my wife! +He should say this, that being Tetrarch once +His own true people cast him from their doors +Like a base coin. + +CAMMA. + Not kindly to them? + +SINNATUS. + Kindly? +O the most kindly Prince in all the world! +Would clap his honest citizens on the back, +Bandy their own rude jests with them, be curious +About the welfare of their babes, their wives, +O ay--their wives--their wives. What should he say? +He should say nothing to my wife if I +Were by to throttle him! He steep'd himself +In all the lust of Rome. How should _you_ guess +What manner of beast it is? + +CAMMA. + Yet he seem'd kindly, +And said he loathed the cruelties that Rome +Wrought on her vassals. + +SINNATUS. + Did he, _honest_ man? + +CAMMA. +And you, that seldom brook the stranger here, +Have let him hunt the stag with you to-day. + +SINNATUS. +I warrant you now, he said _he_ struck the stag. + +CAMMA. +Why no, he never touch'd upon the stag. + +SINNATUS. +Why so I said, _my_ arrow. Well, to sleep. + [_Goes to close door_. + +CAMMA. +Nay, close not yet the door upon a night +That looks half day. + +SINNATUS. + True; and my friends may spy him +And slay him as he runs. + +CAMMA. + He is gone already. +Oh look,--yon grove upon the mountain,--white +In the sweet moon as with a lovelier snow! +But what a blotch of blackness underneath! +Sinnatus, you remember--yea, you must, +That there three years ago--the vast vine-bowers +Ran to the summit of the trees, and dropt +Their streamers earthward, which a breeze of May +Took ever and anon, and open'd out +The purple zone of hill and heaven; there +You told your love; and like the swaying vines-- +Yea,--with our eyes,--our hearts, our prophet hopes +Let in the happy distance, and that all +But cloudless heaven which we have found together +In our three married years! You kiss'd me there +For the first time. Sinnatus, kiss me now. + +SINNATUS. +First kiss. (_Kisses her_.) There then. You talk almost as if it +Might be the last. + +CAMMA. + Will you not eat a little? + +SINNATUS. +No, no, we found a goat-herd's hut and shared +His fruits and milk. Liar! You will believe +Now that he never struck the stag--a brave one +Which you shall see to-morrow. + +CAMMA. + I rise to-morrow +In the gray dawn, and take this holy cup +To lodge it in the shrine of Artemis. + +SINNATUS. +Good! + +CAMMA. + If I be not back in half an hour, +Come after me. + +SINNATUS. + What! is there danger? + +CAMMA. + Nay, +None that I know: 'tis but a step from here +To the Temple. + +SINNATUS. + All my brain is full of sleep. +Wake me before you go, I'll after you-- +After _me_ now! [_Closes door and exit_. + +CAMMA (_drawing curtains_). + Your shadow. Synorix-- +His face was not malignant, and he said +That men malign'd him. Shall I go? Shall I go? +Death, torture-- +'He never yet flung back a woman's prayer'-- +I go, but I will have my dagger with me. + + [_Exit_. + + + +SCENE III.--_Same as Scene I. Dawn_. + +Music and Singing in the Temple. + + + _Enter_ SYNORIX _watchfully, after him_ PUBLIUS _and_ SOLDIERS. + +SYNORIX. +Publius! + +PUBLIUS. + Here! + +SYNORIX. + Do you remember what +I told you? + +PUBLIUS. + When you cry 'Rome, Rome,' to seize +On whomsoever may be talking with you, +Or man, or woman, as traitors unto Rome. + +SYNORIX. +Right. Back again. How many of you are there? + +PUBLIUS. +Some half a score. + [_Exeunt Soldiers and Publius_. + +SYNORIX. +I have my guard about me. +I need not fear the crowd that hunted me +Across the woods, last night. I hardly gain'd +The camp at midnight. Will she come to me +Now that she knows me Synorix? Not if Sinnatus +Has told her all the truth about me. Well, +I cannot help the mould that I was cast in. +I fling all that upon my fate, my star. +I know that I am genial, I would be +Happy, and make all others happy so +They did not thwart me. Nay, she will not come. +Yet if she be a true and loving wife +She may, perchance, to save this husband. Ay! +See, see, my white bird stepping toward the snare. +Why now I count it all but miracle, +That this brave heart of mine should shake me so, +As helplessly as some unbearded boy's +When first he meets his maiden in a bower. + + _Enter_ CAMMA (_with cup_). + +SYNORIX. +The lark first takes the sunlight on his wing, +But you, twin sister of the morning star, +Forelead the sun. + +CAMMA. + Where is Antonius? + +SYNORIX. +Not here as yet. You are too early for him. + [_She crosses towards Temple_. + +SYNORIX. +Nay, whither go you now? + +CAMMA. + To lodge this cup +Within the holy shrine of Artemis, +And so return. + +SYNORIX. + To find Antonius here. + + [_She goes into the Temple, he looks after her_. + +The loveliest life that ever drew the light +From heaven to brood upon her, and enrich +Earth with her shadow! I trust she _will_ return. +These Romans dare not violate the Temple. +No, I must lure my game into the camp. +A woman I could live and die for. What! +Die for a woman, what new faith is this? +I am not mad, not sick, not old enough +To doat on one alone. Yes, mad for her, +Camma the stately, Camma the great-hearted, +So mad, I fear some strange and evil chance +Coming upon me, for by the Gods I seem +Strange to myself. + + _Re-enter_ CAMMA. + +CAMMA. + Where is Antonius? + +SYNORIX. +Where? As I said before, you are still too early. + +CAMMA. +Too early to be here alone with thee; +For whether men malign thy name, or no, +It bears an evil savour among women. +Where is Antonius? (_Loud_.) + +SYNORIX. + Madam, as you know +The camp is half a league without the city; +If you will walk with me we needs must meet +Antonius coming, or at least shall find him +There in the camp. + +CAMMA. + No, not one step with thee. +Where is Antonius? (_Louder_.) + +SYNORIX (_advancing towards her_). + Then for your own sake, +Lady, I say it with all gentleness, +And for the sake of Sinnatus your husband, +I must compel you. + +CAMMA (_drawing her dagger_). + Stay!--too near is death. + +SYNORIX (_disarming her_). +Is it not easy to disarm a woman? + + _Enter_ SINNATUS (_seizes him from behind by the throat_). + +SYNORIX (_throttled and scarce audible_). +Rome! Rome! + +SINNATUS. + Adulterous dog! + +SYNORIX (_stabbing him with_ CAMMA'S _dagger_). + What! will you have it? + + [CAMMA _utters a cry and runs to_ SINNATUS. + +SINNATUS (_falls backward_). +I have it in my heart--to the Temple--fly-- +For _my_ sake--or they seize on thee. Remember! +Away--farewell! [_Dies_. + +CAMMA (_runs up the steps into the Temple, looking back_). +Farewell! + +SYNORIX (_seeing her escape_). +The women of the Temple drag her in. +Publius! Publius! No, +Antonius would not suffer me to break +Into the sanctuary. She hath escaped. + [_Looking down at_ SINNATUS. +'Adulterous dog!' that red-faced rage at me! +Then with one quick short stab--eternal peace. +So end all passions. Then what use in passions? +To warm the cold bounds of our dying life +And, lest we freeze in mortal apathy, +Employ us, heat us, quicken us, help us, keep us +From seeing all too near that urn, those ashes +Which all must be. Well used, they serve us well. +I heard a saying in Egypt, that ambition +Is like the sea wave, which the more you drink, +The more you thirst--yea--drink too much, as men +Have done on rafts of wreck--it drives you mad. +I will be no such wreck, am no such gamester +As, having won the stake, would dare the chance +Of double, or losing all. The Roman Senate, +For I have always play'd into their hands, +Means me the crown. And Camma for my bride-- +The people love her--if I win her love, +They too will cleave to me, as one with her. +There then I rest, Rome's tributary king. + [_Looking down on_ SINNATUS. +Why did I strike him?--having proof enough +Against the man, I surely should have left +That stroke to Rome. He saved my life too. Did he? +It seem'd so. I have play'd the sudden fool. +And that sets her against me--for the moment. +Camma--well, well, I never found the woman +I could not force or wheedle to my will. +She will be glad at last to wear my crown. +And I will make Galatia prosperous too, +And we will chirp among our vines, and smile +At bygone things till that (_pointing to_ SINNATUS) eternal peace. +Rome! Rome! + + _Enter_ PUBLIUS _and_ SOLDIERS. + +Twice I cried Rome. Why came ye not before? + +PUBLIUS. +Why come we now? Whom shall we seize upon? + +SYNORIX (_pointing to the body of_ SINNATUS). +The body of that dead traitor Sinnatus. +Bear him away. + +_Music and Singing in Temple_. + + + + +ACT II + + +SCENE.--_Interior of the Temple of Artemis_. Small gold gates on +platform in front of the veil before the colossal statue of the +Goddess, and in the centre of the Temple a tripod altar, on which is a +lighted lamp. Lamps (lighted) suspended between each pillar. Tripods, +vases, garlands of flowers, etc., about stage. Altar at back close to +Goddess, with two cups. Solemn music. Priestesses decorating the +Temple. + + +(_The Chorus of_ PRIESTESSES _sing as they enter_.) + + Artemis, Artemis, hear us, O Mother, hear us, and bless us! + Artemis, thou that art life to the wind, to the wave, to the glebe, + to the fire! + Hear thy people who praise thee! O help us from all that oppress us! + Hear thy priestesses hymn thy glory! O yield them all their desire! + +PRIESTESS. +Phoebe, that man from Synorix, who has been +So oft to see the Priestess, waits once more +Before the Temple. + +PHOEBE. +We will let her know. + [_Signs to one of the Priestesses, who goes out_. +Since Camma fled from Synorix to our Temple, +And for her beauty, stateliness, and power, +Was chosen Priestess here, have you not mark'd +Her eyes were ever on the marble floor? +To-day they are fixt and bright--they look straight out. +Hath she made up her mind to marry him? + +PRIESTESS. +To marry him who stabb'd her Sinnatus. +You will not easily make me credit that. + +PHOEBE. +Ask her. + + _Enter_ CAMMA _as Priestess (in front of the curtains_). + +PRIESTESS. + You will not marry Synorix? + +CAMMA. +My girl, I am the bride of Death, and only +Marry the dead. + +PRIESTESS. + Not Synorix then? + +CAMMA. + + My girl, +At times this oracle of great Artemis +Has no more power than other oracles +To speak directly. + +PHOEBE. + Will you speak to him, +The messenger from Synorix who waits +Before the Temple? + +CAMMA. + Why not? Let him enter. + [_Comes forward on to step by tripod. + + Enter a_ MESSENGER. + +MESSENGER (_kneels_). +Greeting and health from Synorix! More than once +You have refused his hand. When last I saw you, +You all but yielded. He entreats you now +For your last answer. When he struck at Sinnatus-- +As I have many a time declared to you-- +He knew not at the moment who had fasten'd +About his throat--he begs you to forget it. +As scarce his act:--a random stroke: all else +Was love for you: he prays you to believe him. + +CAMMA. +I pray him to believe--that I believe him. + +MESSENGER. +Why that is well. You mean to marry him? + +CAMMA. +I mean to marry him--if that be well. + +MESSENGER. +This very day the Romans crown him king +For all his faithful services to Rome. +He wills you then this day to marry him, +And so be throned together in the sight +Of all the people, that the world may know +You twain are reconciled, and no more feuds +Disturb our peaceful vassalage to Rome. + +CAMMA. +To-day? Too sudden. I will brood upon it. +When do they crown him? + +MESSENGER. + Even now. + +CAMMA. + And where? + +MESSENGER. +Here by your temple. + +CAMMA. + + Come once more to me +Before the crowning,--I will answer you. + + [_Exit Messenger_. + +PHOEBE. +Great Artemis! O Camma, can it be well, +Or good, or wise, that you should clasp a hand +Red with the sacred blood of Sinnatus? + +CAMMA. +Good! mine own dagger driven by Synorix found +All good in the true heart of Sinnatus, +And quench'd it there for ever. Wise! +Life yields to death and wisdom bows to Fate, +Is wisest, doing so. Did not this man +Speak well? We cannot fight imperial Rome, +But he and I are both Galatian-born, +And tributary sovereigns, he and I +Might teach this Rome--from knowledge of our people-- +Where to lay on her tribute--heavily here +And lightly there. Might I not live for that, +And drown all poor self-passion in the sense +Of public good? + +PHOEBE. +I am sure you will not marry him. + +CAMMA. +Are you so sure? I pray you wait and see. + + [_Shouts (from the distance_), 'Synorix! Synorix!' + +CAMMA. +Synorix, Synorix! So they cried Sinnatus +Not so long since--they sicken me. The One +Who shifts his policy suffers something, must +Accuse himself, excuse himself; the Many +Will feel no shame to give themselves the lie. + +PHOEBE. +Most like it was the Roman soldier shouted. + +CAMMA. +Their shield-borne patriot of the morning star +Hang'd at mid-day, their traitor of the dawn +The clamour'd darling of their afternoon! +And that same head they would have play'd at ball with +And kick'd it featureless--they now would crown. + + [_Flourish of trumpets_. + + _Enter a Galatian_ NOBLEMAN _with crown on a cushion_. + +NOBLE (_kneels_). +Greeting and health from Synorix. He sends you +This diadem of the first Galatian Queen, +That you may feed your fancy on the glory of it, +And join your life this day with his, and wear it +Beside him on his throne. He waits your answer. + +CAMMA. +Tell him there is one shadow among the shadows, +One ghost of all the ghosts--as yet so new, +So strange among them--such an alien there, +So much of husband in it still--that if +The shout of Synorix and Camma sitting +Upon one throne, should reach it, _it_ would rise +_He!_... HE, with that red star between the ribs, +And my knife there--and blast the king and me, +And blanch the crowd with horror. I dare not, sir! +Throne him--and then the marriage--ay and tell him +That I accept the diadem of Galatia-- + [_All are amazed_. +Yea, that ye saw me crown myself withal. + [_Puts on the crown_. +I wait him his crown'd queen. + +NOBLE. +So will I tell him. + + [_Exit_. + +Music. Two Priestesses go up the steps before the shrine, draw the +curtains on either side (discovering the Goddess), then open the gates +and remain on steps, one on either side, and kneel. A priestess goes +off and returns with a veil of marriage, then assists Phoebe to veil +Camma. At the same time Priestesses enter and stand on either side of +the Temple. Camma and all the Priestesses kneel, raise their hands to +the Goddess, and bow down. + + [_Shouts_, 'Synorix! Synorix!' _All rise_. + +CAMMA. +Fling wide the doors, and let the new-made children +Of our imperial mother see the show. + + [_Sunlight pours through the doors_. + +I have no heart to do it. (_To Phoebe_). Look for me! + + [_Crouches_. PHOEBE _looks out_. + + [_Shouts_, 'Synorix! Synorix!' + +PHOEBE. +He climbs the throne. Hot blood, ambition, pride +So bloat and redden his face--O would it were +His third last apoplexy! O bestial! +O how unlike our goodly Sinnatus. + +CAMMA (_on the ground_). +You wrong him surely; far as the face goes +A goodlier-looking man than Sinnatus. + +PHOEBE (_aside_). +How dare she say it? I could hate her for it +But that she is distracted. [_A flourish of trumpets_. + +CAMMA. + Is he crown'd? + +PHOEBE. +Ay, there they crown him. + + [_Crowd without shout_, 'Synorix! Synorix!' + + [_A Priestess brings a box of spices to_ CAMMA, + _who throws them on the altar-flame_. + +CAMMA. +Rouse the dead altar-flame, fling in the spices, +Nard, Cinnamon, amomum, benzoin. +Let all the air reel into a mist of odour, +As in the midmost heart of Paradise. +Lay down the Lydian carpets for the king. +The king should pace on purple to his bride, +And music there to greet my lord the king. [_Music_. +(_To Phoebe_). Dost thou remember when I wedded Sinnatus? +Ay, thou wast there--whether from maiden fears +Or reverential love for him I loved, +Or some strange second-sight, the marriage cup +Wherefrom we make libation to the Goddess +So shook within my hand, that the red wine +Ran down the marble and lookt like blood, like blood. + +PHOEBE. +I do remember your first-marriage fears. + +CAMMA. +I have no fears at this my second marriage. +See here--I stretch my hand out--hold it there. +How steady it is! + +PHOEBE. + Steady enough to stab him! + +CAMMA. +O hush! O peace! This violence ill becomes +The silence of our Temple. Gentleness, +Low words best chime with this solemnity. + +_Enter a procession of Priestesses and Children bearing +garlands and golden goblets, and strewing flowers_. + +_Enter_ SYNORIX (_as King, with gold laurel-wreath crown +and purple robes), followed by_ ANTONIUS, PUBLIUS, +_Noblemen, Guards, and the Populace_. + +CAMMA. + +Hail, King! + +SYNORIX. + + Hail, Queen! +The wheel of Fate has roll'd me to the top. +I would that happiness were gold, that I +Might cast my largess of it to the crowd! +I would that every man made feast to-day +Beneath the shadow of our pines and planes! +For all my truer life begins to-day. +The past is like a travell'd land now sunk +Below the horizon--like a barren shore +That grew salt weeds, but now all drown'd in love +And glittering at full tide--the bounteous bays +And havens filling with a blissful sea. +Nor speak I now too mightily, being King +And happy! happiest, Lady, in my power +To make you happy. + +CAMMA. + Yes, sir. + +SYNORIX. + Our Antonius, +Our faithful friend of Rome, tho' Rome may set +A free foot where she will, yet of his courtesy +Entreats he may be present at our marriage. + +CAMMA. +Let him come--a legion with him, if he will. +(_To_ ANTONIUS.) Welcome, my lord Antonius, to our Temple. +(_To_ SYNORIX.) You on this side the altar. +(_To_ ANTONIUS.) You on that. +Call first upon the Goddess, Synorix. + + [_All face the Goddess. Priestesses, Children, Populace, + and Guards kneel--the others remain standing_. + +SYNORIX. +O Thou, that dost inspire the germ with life, +The child, a thread within the house of birth, +And give him limbs, then air, and send him forth +The glory of his father--Thou whose breath +Is balmy wind to robe our hills with grass, +And kindle all our vales with myrtle-blossom, +And roll the golden oceans of our grain, +And sway the long grape-bunches of our vines, +And fill all hearts with fatness and the lust +Of plenty--make me happy in my marriage! + +CHORUS (_chanting_). + + Artemis, Artemis, hear him, Ionian Artemis! + +CAMMA. +O Thou that slayest the babe within the womb +Or in the being born, or after slayest him +As boy or man, great Goddess, whose storm-voice +Unsockets the strong oak, and rears his root +Beyond his head, and strows our fruits, and lays +Our golden grain, and runs to sea and makes it +Foam over all the fleeted wealth of kings +And peoples, hear. +Whose arrow is the plague--whose quick flash splits +The mid-sea mast, and rifts the tower to the rock, +And hurls the victor's column down with him +That crowns it, hear. +Who causest the safe earth to shudder and gape, +And gulf and flatten in her closing chasm +Domed cities, hear. +Whose lava-torrents blast and blacken a province +To a cinder, hear. +Whose winter-cataracts find a realm and leave it +A waste of rock and ruin, hear. I call thee +To make my marriage prosper to my wish! + +CHORUS. +Artemis, Artemis, hear her, Ephesian Artemis! + +CAMMA. +Artemis, Artemis, hear me, Galatian Artemis! +I call on our own Goddess in our own Temple. + +CHORUS. + + Artemis, Artemis, hear her, Galatian Artemis! + + [_Thunder. All rise_. + +SYNORIX (_aside_). +Thunder! Ay, ay, the storm was drawing hither +Across the hills when I was being crown'd. +I wonder if I look as pale as she? + +CAMMA. +Art thou--still bent--on marrying? + +SYNORIX. + Surely--yet +These are strange words to speak to Artemis. + +CAMMA. +Words are not always what they seem, my King. +I will be faithful to thee till thou die. + +SYNORIX. +I thank thee, Camma,--I thank thee. + +CAMMA (_turning to_ ANTONIUS). + Antonius, +Much graced are we that our Queen Rome in you +Deigns to look in upon our barbarisms. + + [_Turns, goes up steps to altar before the Goddess. + Takes a cup from off the altar. Holds it towards_ + ANTONIUS. ANTONIUS _goes up to the foot of the + steps, opposite to_ SYNORIX. + +You see this cup, my lord. [_Gives it to him_. + +ANTONIUS. + Most curious! +The many-breasted mother Artemis +Emboss'd upon it. + +CAMMA. + It is old, I know not +How many hundred years. Give it me again. +It is the cup belonging our own Temple. + + [_Puts it back on altar, and takes up the cup + of Act I. Showing it to_ ANTONIUS. + +Here is another sacred to the Goddess, +The gift of Synorix; and the Goddess, being +For this most grateful, wills, thro' me her Priestess, +In honour of his gift and of our marriage, +That Synorix should drink from his own cup. + +SYNORIX. +I thank thee, Camma,--I thank thee. + +CAMMA. + For--my lord-- +It is our ancient custom in Galatia +That ere two souls be knit for life and death, +They two should drink together from one cup, +In symbol of their married unity, +Making libation to the Goddess. Bring me +The costly wines we use in marriages. + + [_They bring in a large jar of wine_. + CAMMA _pours wine into cup_. + +(_To_ SYNORIX.) See here, I fill it. +(_To_ ANTONIUS.) Will you drink, my lord? + +ANTONIUS. +I? Why should I? I am not to be married. + +CAMMA. +But that might bring a Roman blessing on us. + +ANTONIUS (_refusing cup_). +Thy pardon, Priestess! + +CAMMA. + Thou art in the right. +This blessing is for Synorix and for me. +See first I make libation to the Goddess, + [_Makes libation_. +And now I drink. [_Drinks and fills the cup again_. + Thy turn, Galatian King. +Drink and drink deep--our marriage will be fruitful. +Drink and drink deep, and thou wilt make me happy. + + [SYNORIX _goes up to her. She hands him the cup. He drinks_. + +SYNORIX. +There, Gamma! I have almost drain'd the cup-- +A few drops left. + +CAMMA. + Libation to the Goddess. + + [_He throws the remaining drops on the altar + and gives_ CAMMA _the cup_. + +CAMMA (_placing the cup on the altar_). +Why then the Goddess hears. + [_Comes down and forward to tripod_. ANTONIUS _follows_. + Antonius, +Where wast thou on that morning when I came +To plead to thee for Sinnatus's life, +Beside this temple half a year ago? + +ANTONIUS. +I never heard of this request of thine. + +SYNORIX (_coming forward hastily to foot of tripod steps_). +I sought him and I could not find him. Pray you, +Go on with the marriage rites. + +CAMMA. + Antonius---- +'Camma!' who spake? + +ANTONIUS. + Not I. + +PHOEBE. + Nor any here. + +CAMMA. +I am all but sure that some one spake. Antonius, +If you had found him plotting against Rome, +Would you have tortured Sinnatus to death? + +ANTONIUS. +No thought was mine of torture or of death, +But had I found him plotting, I had counsell'd him +To rest from vain resistance. Rome is fated +To rule the world. Then, if he had not listen'd, +I might have sent him prisoner to Rome. + +SYNORIX. +Why do you palter with the ceremony? +Go on with the marriage rites. + +CAMMA. + They are finish'd. + +SYNORIX. + How! + +CAMMA. +Thou hast drunk deep enough to make me happy. +Dost thou not feel the love I bear to thee +Glow thro' thy veins? + +SYNORIX. + The love I bear to thee +Glows thro' my veins since first I look'd on thee. +But wherefore slur the perfect ceremony? +The sovereign of Galatia weds his Queen. +Let all be done to the fullest in the sight +Of all the Gods. + Nay, rather than so clip +The flowery robe of Hymen, we would add +Some golden fringe of gorgeousness beyond +Old use, to make the day memorial, when +Synorix, first King, Camma, first Queen o' the Realm, +Drew here the richest lot from Fate, to live +And die together. + This pain--what is it?--again? +I had a touch of this last year--in--Rome. +Yes, yes. (_To_ ANTONIUS.) Your arm--a moment--It will pass. +I reel beneath the weight of utter joy-- +This all too happy day, crown--queen at once. + [_Staggers_. +O all ye Gods--Jupiter!--Jupiter! [_Falls backward_. + +CAMMA. +Dost thou cry out upon the Gods of Rome? +Thou art Galatian-born. Our Artemis +Has vanquish'd their Diana. + +SYNORIX (_on the ground_). + I am poison'd. +She--close the Temple door. Let her not fly. + +CAMMA (_leaning on tripod_). +Have I not drunk of the same cup with thee? + +SYNORIX. +Ay, by the Gods of Rome and all the world, +She too--she too--the bride! the Queen! and I-- +Monstrous! I that loved her. + +CAMMA. + I loved _him_. + +SYNORIX. +O murderous mad-woman! I pray you lift me +And make me walk awhile. I have heard these poisons +May be walk'd down. + [ANTONIUS _and_ PUBLIUS _raise him up_. + My feet are tons of lead, +They will break in the earth--I am sinking--hold me-- +Let me alone. + [_They leave him; he sinks down on ground_. + Too late--thought myself wise-- +A woman's dupe. Antonius, tell the Senate +I have been most true to Rome--would have been true +To _her_--if--if---- [_Falls as if dead_. + +CAMMA (_coming and leaning over him_). + So falls the throne of an hour. + +SYNORIX (_half rising_). +Throne? is it thou? the Fates are throned, not we-- +Not guilty of ourselves--thy doom and mine-- +Thou--coming my way too--Camma--good-night. + [_Dies_. + +CAMMA (_upheld by weeping Priestesses_). +Thy way? poor worm, crawl down thine own black hole +To the lowest Hell. Antonius, is he there? +I meant thee to have follow'd--better thus. +Nay, if my people must be thralls of Rome, +He is gentle, tho' a Roman. + [_Sinks back into the arms of the Priestesses_. + +ANTONIUS. + Thou art one +With thine own people, and tho' a Roman I +Forgive thee, Camma. + +CAMMA (_raising herself_). + 'CAMMA!'--why there again +I am most sure that some one call'd. O women, +Ye will have Roman masters. I am glad +I shall not see it. Did not some old Greek +Say death was the chief good? He had my fate for it, +Poison'd. (_Sinks back again_.) Have I the crown on? I will go +To meet him, crown'd! crown'd victor of my will-- +On my last voyage--but the wind has fail'd-- +Growing dark too--but light enough to row. +Row to the blessed Isles! the blessed Isles!-- +Sinnatus! +Why comes he not to meet me? It is the crown +Offends him--and my hands are too sleepy +To lift it off. [PHOEBE _takes the crown off_. + Who touch'd me then? I thank you. + [_Rises, with outspread arms_. +There--league on league of ever-shining shore +Beneath an ever-rising sun--I see him-- +'Camma, Camma!' Sinnatus, Sinnatus! [_Dies_. + + + + + + +THE FALCON + + + +DRAMATIS PERSONAE. + +The Count Federigo Degli Alberighi. +Filippo, _Count's foster-brother_. +The lady Giovanna. +Elisabetta, _the Count's nurse_. + + + +THE FALCON + + +SCENE.--_An Italian Cottage. Castle and Mountains seen through +Window_. + +Elisabetta discovered seated on stool in window darning. The Count +with Falcon on his hand comes down through the door at back. A +withered wreath on the wall. + + +ELISABETTA. +So, my lord, the Lady Giovanna, who hath been away so long, came back +last night with her son to the castle. + +COUNT. +Hear that, my bird! Art thou not jealous of her? +My princess of the cloud, my plumed purveyor, +My far-eyed queen of the winds--thou that canst soar +Beyond the morning lark, and howsoe'er +Thy quarry wind and wheel, swoop down upon him +Eagle-like, lightning-like--strike, make his feathers +Glance in mid heaven. [_Crosses to chair_. + I would thou hadst a mate! +Thy breed will die with thee, and mine with me: +I am as lone and loveless as thyself. [_Sits in chair_. +Giovanna here! Ay, ruffle thyself--_be_ jealous! +Thou should'st be jealous of her. Tho' I bred thee +The full-train'd marvel of all falconry, +And love thee and thou me, yet if Giovanna +Be here again--No, no! Buss me, my bird! +The stately widow has no heart for me. +Thou art the last friend left me upon earth-- +No, no again to that. [_Rises and turns_. + My good old nurse, +I had forgotten thou wast sitting there. + +ELISABETTA. +Ay, and forgotten thy foster-brother too. + +COUNT. +Bird-babble for my falcon! Let it pass. +What art thou doing there? + +ELISABETTA. + Darning your lordship. +We cannot flaunt it in new feathers now: +Nay, if we _will_ buy diamond necklaces +To please our lady, we must darn, my lord. +This old thing here (_points to necklace round her neck_), + they are but blue beads--my Piero, +God rest his honest soul, he bought 'em for me, +Ay, but he knew I meant to marry him. +How couldst thou do it, my son? How couldst thou do it? + +COUNT. +She saw it at a dance, upon a neck +Less lovely than her own, and long'd for it. + +ELISABETTA. +She told thee as much? + +COUNT. + No, no--a friend of hers. + +ELISABETTA. +Shame on her that she took it at thy hands, +She rich enough to have bought it for herself! + +COUNT. +She would have robb'd me then of a great pleasure. + +ELISABETTA. +But hath she yet return'd thy love? + +COUNT. + Not yet! + +ELISABETTA. +She should return thy necklace then. + +COUNT. + Ay, if +She knew the giver; but I bound the seller +To silence, and I left it privily +At Florence, in her palace. + +ELISABETTA. + And sold thine own +To buy it for her. She not know? She knows +There's none such other---- + +COUNT. + Madman anywhere. +Speak freely, tho' to call a madman mad +Will hardly help to make him sane again. + + _Enter_ FILIPPO. + +FILIPPO. +Ah, the women, the women! Ah, Monna Giovanna, you here again! you that +have the face of an angel and the heart of a--that's too positive! You +that have a score of lovers and have not a heart for any of them-- +that's positive-negative: you that have _not_ the head of a toad, and +_not_ a heart like the jewel in it--that's too negative; you that have +a cheek like a peach and a heart like the stone in it--that's positive +again--that's better! + +ELISABETTA. +Sh--sh--Filippo! + +FILIPPO (_turns half round_). +Here has our master been a-glorifying and a-velveting and a-silking +himself, and a-peacocking and a-spreading to catch her eye for a dozen +year, till he hasn't an eye left in his own tail to flourish among the +peahens, and all along o' you, Monna Giovanna, all along o' you! + +ELISABETTA. +Sh--sh--Filippo! Can't you hear that you are saying behind his back +what you see you are saying afore his face? + +COUNT. +Let him--he never spares me to my face! + +FILIPPO. +No, my lord, I never spare your lordship to your lordship's face, nor +behind your lordship's back, nor to right, nor to left, nor to round +about and back to your lordship's face again, for I'm honest, your +lordship. + +COUNT. +Come, come, Filippo, what is there in the larder? + [ELISABETTA _crosses to fireplace and puts on wood_. + +FILIPPO. +Shelves and hooks, shelves and hooks, and when I see the shelves I am +like to hang myself on the hooks. + +COUNT. +No bread? + +FILIPPO. +Half a breakfast for a rat! + +COUNT, +Milk? + +FILIPPO. +Three laps for a cat! + +COUNT. +Cheese? + +FILIPPO. +A supper for twelve mites. + +COUNT. +Eggs? + +FILIPPO. +One, but addled. + +COUNT. +No bird? + +FILIPPO. +Half a tit and a hern's bill. + +COUNT. +Let be thy jokes and thy jerks, man! Anything or nothing? + +FILIPPO. +Well, my lord, if all-but-nothing be anything, and one plate of dried +prunes be all-but-nothing, then there is anything in your lordship's +larder at your lordship's service, if your lordship care to call for +it. + +COUNT. +Good mother, happy was the prodigal son, +For he return'd to the rich father; I +But add my poverty to thine. And all +Thro' following of my fancy. Pray thee make +Thy slender meal out of those scraps and shreds +Filippo spoke of. As for him and me, +There sprouts a salad in the garden still. +(_To the Falcon_?) Why didst thou miss thy quarry yester-even? +To-day, my beauty, thou must dash us down +Our dinner from the skies. Away, Filippo! + [_Exit, followed by_ FILIPPO. + +ELISABETTA. +I knew it would come to this. She has beggared him. I always knew it +would come to this! (_Goes up to table as if to resume darning, and +looks out of window_.) Why, as I live, there is Monna Giovanna coming +down the hill from the castle. Stops and stares at our cottage. Ay, +ay! stare at it: it's all you have left us. Shame upon you! She +beautiful! sleek as a miller's mouse! Meal enough, meat enough, well +fed; but beautiful--bah! Nay, see, why she turns down the path +through our little vineyard, and I sneezed three times this morning. +Coming to visit my lord, for the first time in her life too! Why, +bless the saints! I'll be bound to confess her love to him at last. I +forgive her, I forgive her! I knew it would come to this--I always +knew it must come to this! (_Going up to door during latter part of +speech and opens it_.) Come in, Madonna, come in. (_Retires to front +of table and curtseys as the_ LADY GIOVANNA _enters, then moves chair +towards the hearth_.) Nay, let me place this chair for your ladyship. + + [LADY GIOVANNA _moves slowly down stage, then crosses + to chair, looking about her, bows as she sees the + Madonna over fireplace, then sits in chair_. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Can I speak with the Count? + +ELISABETTA. +Ay, my lady, but won't you speak with the old woman first, and tell +her all about it and make her happy? for I've been on my knees every +day for these half-dozen years in hope that the saints would send us +this blessed morning; and he always took you so kindly, he always took +the world so kindly. When he was a little one, and I put the bitters +on my breast to wean him, he made a wry mouth at it, but he took it so +kindly, and your ladyship has given him bitters enough in this world, +and he never made a wry mouth at you, he always took you so kindly-- +which is more than I did, my lady, more than I did--and he so +handsome--and bless your sweet face, you look as beautiful this +morning as the very Madonna her own self--and better late than never-- +but come when they will--then or now--it's all for the best, come when +they will--they are made by the blessed saints--these marriages. + [_Raises her hands_. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Marriages? I shall never marry again! + +ELISABETTA (_rises and turns_). +Shame on her then! + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Where is the Count? + +ELISABETTA. + Just gone +To fly his falcon. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Call him back and say +I come to breakfast with him. + +ELISABETTA. + Holy mother! +To breakfast! Oh sweet saints! one plate of prunes! +Well, Madam, I will give your message to him. + [_Exit_. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +His falcon, and I come to ask for his falcon, +The pleasure of his eyes--boast of his hand-- +Pride of his heart--the solace of his hours-- +His one companion here--nay, I have heard +That, thro' his late magnificence of living +And this last costly gift to mine own self, + [_Shows diamond necklace_. +He hath become so beggar'd, that his falcon +Ev'n wins his dinner for him in the field. +That must be talk, not truth, but truth or talk, +How can I ask for his falcon? + [_Rises and moves as she speaks_. + O my sick boy! +My daily fading Florio, it is thou +Hath set me this hard task, for when I say +What can I do--what can I get for thee? +He answers, 'Get the Count to give me his falcon, +And that will make me well.' Yet if I ask, +He loves me, and he knows I know he loves me! +Will he not pray me to return his love-- +To marry him?--(_pause_)--I can never marry him. +His grandsire struck my grandsire in a brawl +At Florence, and my grandsire stabb'd him there. +The feud between our houses is the bar +I cannot cross; I dare not brave my brother, +Break with my kin. My brother hates him, scorns +The noblest-natured man alive, and I-- +Who have that reverence for him that I scarce +Dare beg him to receive his diamonds back-- +How can I, dare I, ask him for his falcon? + [_Puts diamonds in her casket_. + + _Re-enter_ COUNT _and_ FILIPPO. COUNT _turns to_ FILIPPO. + +COUNT. +Do what I said; I cannot do it myself. + +FILIPPO. +Why then, my lord, we are pauper'd out and out. + +COUNT. +Do what I said! [_Advances and bows low_. +Welcome to this poor cottage, my dear lady. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +And welcome turns a cottage to a palace. + +COUNT. +'Tis long since we have met! + +LADY GIOVANNA. + To make amends +I come this day to break my fast with you. + +COUNT. + +I am much honour'd--yes-- [_Turns to_ FILIPPO. +Do what I told thee. Must I do it myself? + +FlLIPPO. +I will, I will. (_Sighs_.) Poor fellow! + [_Exit_. + +COUNT. +Lady, you bring your light into my cottage +Who never deign'd to shine into my palace. +My palace wanting you was but a cottage; +My cottage, while you grace it, is a palace. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +In cottage or in palace, being still +Beyond your fortunes, you are still the king +Of courtesy and liberality. + +COUNT. +I trust I still maintain my courtesy; +My liberality perforce is dead +Thro' lack of means of giving. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Yet I come +To ask a gift. [_Moves toward him a little_. + +COUNT. + It will be hard, I fear, +To find one shock upon the field when all +The harvest has been carried. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + But my boy-- +(_Aside_.) No, no! not yet--I cannot! + +COUNT. + Ay, how is he, +That bright inheritor of your eyes--your boy? + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Alas, my Lord Federigo, he hath fallen +Into a sickness, and it troubles me. + +COUNT. +Sick! is it so? why, when he came last year +To see me hawking, he was well enough: +And then I taught him all our hawking-phrases. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Oh yes, and once you let him fly your falcon. + +COUNT. +How charm'd he was! what wonder?--A gallant boy, +A noble bird, each perfect of the breed. + +LADY GIOVANNA (_sinks in chair_). +What do you rate her at? + +COUNT. + My bird? a hundred +Gold pieces once were offer'd by the Duke. +I had no heart to part with her for money. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +No, not for money. + [COUNT _turns away and sighs_. + Wherefore do you sigh? + +COUNT. +I have lost a friend of late. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + I could sigh with you +For fear of losing more than friend, a son; +And if he leave me--all the rest of life-- +That wither'd wreath were of more worth to me. + [_Looking at wreath on wall_. + +COUNT. +That wither'd wreath is of more worth to me +Than all the blossom, all the leaf of this +New-wakening year. [_Goes and takes down wreath_. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + And yet I never saw +The land so rich in blossom as this year. + +COUNT (_holding wreath toward her_). +Was not the year when this was gather'd richer? + +LADY GIOVANNA. + +How long ago was that? + +COUNT. + Alas, ten summers! +A lady that was beautiful as day +Sat by me at a rustic festival +With other beauties on a mountain meadow, +And she was the most beautiful of all; +Then but fifteen, and still as beautiful. +The mountain flowers grew thickly round about. +I made a wreath with some of these; I ask'd +A ribbon from her hair to bind it with; +I whisper'd, Let me crown you Queen of Beauty, +And softly placed the chaplet on her head. +A colour, which has colour'd all my life, +Flush'd in her face; then I was call'd away; +And presently all rose, and so departed. +Ah! she had thrown my chaplet on the grass, +And there I found it. + [_Lets his hands fall, holding wreath despondingly_. + +LADY GIOVANNA (_after pause_). +How long since do you say? + +COUNT. +That was the very year before you married. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +When I was married you were at the wars. + +COUNT. +Had she not thrown my chaplet on the grass, +It may be I had never seen the wars. + [_Replaces wreath whence he had taken it_. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Ah, but, my lord, there ran a rumour then +That you were kill'd in battle. I can tell you +True tears that year were shed for you in Florence. + +COUNT. +It might have been as well for me. Unhappily +I was but wounded by the enemy there +And then imprison'd. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Happily, however, +I see you quite recover'd of your wound. + +COUNT. +No, no, not quite, Madonna, not yet, not yet. + + _Re-enter_ FILIPPO. + +FILIPPO. +My lord, a word with you. + +COUNT. +Pray, pardon me! + + [LADY GIOVANNA _crosses, and passes behind chair and + takes down wreath; then goes to chair by table_. + +COUNT (_to_ FILIPPO). +What is it, Filippo? + +FILIPPO. + Spoons, your lordship. + +COUNT. + Spoons! + +FILIPPO. +Yes, my lord, for wasn't my lady born with a golden spoon in her +ladyship's mouth, and we haven't never so much as a silver one for the +golden lips of her ladyship. + +COUNT. +Have we not half a score of silver spoons? + +FILIPPO. +Half o' one, my lord! + +COUNT. +How half of one? + +FILIPPO. +I trod upon him even now, my lord, in my hurry, and broke him. + +COUNT. +And the other nine? + +FILIPPO. +Sold! but shall I not mount with your lordship's leave to her +ladyship's castle, in your lordship's and her ladyship's name, and +confer with her ladyship's seneschal, and so descend again with some +of her ladyship's own appurtenances? + +COUNT. +Why--no, man. Only see your cloth be clean. + + [_Exit_ FILIPPO. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Ay, ay, this faded ribbon was the mode +In Florence ten years back. What's here? a scroll +Pinned to the wreath. + My lord, you have said so much +Of this poor wreath that I was bold enough +To take it down, if but to guess what flowers +Had made it; and I find a written scroll +That seems to run in rhymings. Might I read? + +COUNT. + +Ay, if you will. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + It should be if you can. +(_Reads_.) 'Dead mountain.' Nay, for who could trace a hand +So wild and staggering? + +COUNT. + This was penn'd, Madonna, +Close to the grating on a winter morn +In the perpetual twilight of a prison, +When he that made it, having his right hand +Lamed in the battle, wrote it with his left. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +O heavens! the very letters seem to shake +With cold, with pain perhaps, poor prisoner! Well, +Tell me the words--or better--for I see +There goes a musical score along with them, +Repeat them to their music. + +COUNT. + You can touch +No chord in me that would not answer you +In music. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + That is musically said. + + [COUNT _takes guitar_. LADY GIOVANNA _sits listening + with wreath in her hand, and quietly removes + scroll and places it on table at the end of the song_. + +COUNT (_sings, playing guitar_). + + 'Dead mountain flowers, dead mountain-meadow flowers, + Dearer than when you made your mountain gay, + Sweeter than any violet of to-day, + Richer than all the wide world-wealth of May, + To me, tho' all your bloom has died away, + You bloom again, dead mountain-meadow flowers.' + + _Enter_ ELISABETTA _with cloth_. + +ELISABETTA. +A word with you, my lord! + +COUNT (_singing_). + 'O mountain flowers!' + +ELISABETTA. +A word, my lord! (_Louder_). + +COUNT (_sings_). + 'Dead flowers!' + +ELISABETTA. + A word, my lord! (_Louder_). + +COUNT. +I pray you pardon me again! + + [LADY GIOVANNA _looking at wreath_. + +(COUNT _to_ ELISABETTA.) + What is it? + +ELISABETTA. +My lord, we have but one piece of earthenware to +serve the salad in to my lady, and that cracked! + +COUNT. +Why then, that flower'd bowl my ancestor +Fetch'd from the farthest east--we never use it +For fear of breakage--but this day has brought +A great occasion. You can take it, nurse! + +ELISABETTA. +I did take it, my lord, but what with my lady's +coming that had so flurried me, and what with the +fear of breaking it, I did break it, my lord: it is +broken! + +COUNT. +My one thing left of value in the world! +No matter! see your cloth be white as snow! + +ELISABETTA (_pointing thro' window_). +White? I warrant thee, my son, as the snow yonder +on the very tip-top o' the mountain. + +COUNT. +And yet to speak white truth, my good old mother, +I have seen it like the snow on the moraine. + +ELISABETTA: +How can your lordship say so? There my lord! + [_Lays cloth_. +O my dear son, be not unkind to me. +And one word more. [_Going--returns_. + +COUNT (_touching guitar_). + Good! let it be but one. + +ELISABETTA. +Hath she return'd thy love? + +COUNT. + Not yet! + +ELISABETTA. + And will she? + +COUNT (_looking at_ LADY GIOVANNA). +I scarce believe it! + +ELISABETTA. + Shame upon her then! [_Exit_. + +COUNT (_sings_). + +'Dead mountain flowers'---- + Ah well, my nurse has broken +The thread of my dead flowers, as she has broken +My china bowl. My memory is as dead. + [_Goes and replaces guitar_. +Strange that the words at home with me so long +Should fly like bosom friends when needed most. +So by your leave if you would hear the rest, +The writing. + +LADY GIOVANNA (_holding wreath toward him_). + There! my lord, you are a poet, +And can you not imagine that the wreath, +Set, as you say, so lightly on her head, +Fell with her motion as she rose, and she, +A girl, a child, then but fifteen, however +Flutter'd or flatter'd by your notice of her, +Was yet too bashful to return for it? + +COUNT. +Was it so indeed? was it so? was it so? + + [_Leans forward to take wreath, and touches_ LADY + GIOVANNA'S _hand, which she withdraws hastily; + he places wreath on corner of chair_. + +LADY GIOVANNA (_with dignity_). +I did not say, my lord, that it was so; +I said you might imagine it was so. + + _Enter_ FILIPPO _with bowl of salad, which he places on table_. + +FILIPPO. +Here's a fine salad for my lady, for tho' we have been a soldier, and +ridden by his lordship's side, and seen the red of the battle-field, +yet are we now drill-sergeant to his lordship's lettuces, and profess +to be great in green things and in garden-stuff. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +I thank thee, good Filippo. [_Exit_ FILIPPO. + + _Enter_ ELISABETTA _with bird on a dish which she places on +table_. + +ELISABETTA (close to table). +Here's a fine fowl for my lady; I had scant time to do him in. I hope +he be not underdone, for we be undone in the doing of him. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +I thank you, my good nurse. + +FILIPPO (_re-entering with plate of prunes_). +And here are fine fruits for my lady--prunes, my lady, from the tree +that my lord himself planted here in the blossom of his boyhood--and +so I, Filippo, being, with your ladyship's pardon, and as your +ladyship knows, his lordship's own foster-brother, would commend them +to your ladyship's most peculiar appreciation. + [_Puts plate on table_. + +ELISABETTA. +Filippo! + +LADY GIOVANNA (COUNT _leads her to table_). +Will you not eat with me, my lord? + +COUNT. + I cannot, +Not a morsel, not one morsel. I have broken +My fast already. I will pledge you. Wine! +Filippo, wine! + + [_Sits near table_; FILIPPO _brings flask, fills + the_ COUNT'S _goblet, then_ LADY GIOVANNA'S; + ELISABETTA _stands at the back of_ LADY + GIOVANNA'S _chair_. + +COUNT. + It is but thin and cold, +Not like the vintage blowing round your castle. +We lie too deep down in the shadow here. +Your ladyship lives higher in the sun. + + [_They pledge each other and drink_. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +If I might send you down a flask or two +Of that same vintage? There is iron in it. +It has been much commended as a medicine. +I give it my sick son, and if you be +Not quite recover'd of your wound, the wine +Might help you. None has ever told me yet +The story of your battle and your wound. + +FILIPPO (_coming forward_). +I can tell you, my lady, I can tell you. + +ELISABETTA. +Filippo! will you take the word out of your master's own mouth? + +FILIPPO. +Was it there to take? Put it there, my lord. + +COUNT. +Giovanna, my dear lady, in this same battle +We had been beaten--they were ten to one. +The trumpets of the fight had echo'd down, +I and Filippo here had done our best, +And, having passed unwounded from the field, +Were seated sadly at a fountain side, +Our horses grazing by us, when a troop, +Laden with booty and with a flag of ours +Ta'en in the fight---- + +FILIPPO. + Ay, but we fought for it back, +And kill'd---- + +ELISABETTA. +Filippo! + +COUNT. + A troop of horse---- + +FILIPPO. + Five hundred! + +COUNT. +Say fifty! + +FILIPPO. + And we kill'd 'em by the score! + +ELISABETTA. +Filippo! + +FILIPPO. + Well, well, well! I bite my tongue. + +COUNT. +We may have left their fifty less by five. +However, staying not to count how many, +But anger'd at their flaunting of our flag, +We mounted, and we dash'd into the heart of 'em. +I wore the lady's chaplet round my neck; +It served me for a blessed rosary. +I am sure that more than one brave fellow owed +His death to the charm in it. + +ELISABETTA. + Hear that, my lady! + +COUNT. +I cannot tell how long we strove before +Our horses fell beneath us; down we went +Crush'd, hack'd at, trampled underfoot. The night, +As some cold-manner'd friend may strangely do us +The truest service, had a touch of frost +That help'd to check the flowing of the blood. +My last sight ere I swoon'd was one sweet face +Crown'd with the wreath. _That_ seem'd to come and go. +They left us there for dead! + +ELISABETTA. + Hear that, my lady! + +FILIPPO. +Ay, and I left two fingers there for dead. See, my lady! + (_Showing his hand_.) + +LADY GIOVANNA. +I see, Filippo! + +FILIPPO. +And I have small hope of the gentleman gout in my great toe. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +And why, Filippo? [_Smiling absently_. + +FILIPPO. +I left him there for dead too! + +ELISABETTA. +She smiles at him--how hard the woman is! +My lady, if your ladyship were not +Too proud to look upon the garland, you +Would find it stain'd---- + +COUNT (_rising_). + Silence, Elisabetta! + +ELISABETTA. +Stain'd with the blood of the best heart that ever +Beat for one woman. [_Points to wreath on chair_. + +LADY GIOVANNA (_rising slowly_). + I can eat no more! + +COUNT. +You have but trifled with our homely salad, +But dallied with a single lettuce-leaf; +Not eaten anything. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Nay, nay, I cannot. +You know, my lord, I told you I was troubled. +My one child Florio lying still so sick, +I bound myself, and by a solemn vow, +That I would touch no flesh till he were well +Here, or else well in Heaven, where all is well. + + [ELISABETTA _clears table of bird and salad_; FILIPPO _snatches + up the plate of prunes and holds them to_ LADY GIOVANNA. + +FILIPPO. +But the prunes, my lady, from the tree that his lordship---- + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Not now, Filippo. My lord Federigo, +Can I not speak with you once more alone? + +COUNT. +You hear, Filippo? My good fellow, go! + +FILIPPO. +But the prunes that your lordship---- + +ELISABETTA. +Filippo! + +COUNT. +Ay, prune our company of thine own and go! + +ELISABETTA. +Filippo! + +FILIPPO (_turning_). +Well, well! the women! + [Exit. + +COUNT. +And thou too leave us, my dear nurse, alone. + +ELISABETTA (_folding up cloth and going_). + +And me too! Ay, the dear nurse will leave you alone; +but, for all that, she that has eaten the yolk is scarce +like to swallow the shell. + + [_Turns and curtseys stiffly to_ LADY GIOVANNA, _then + exit_. LADY GIOVANNA _takes out diamond necklace from casket_. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +I have anger'd your good nurse; these old-world servants +Are all but flesh and blood with those they serve. +My lord, I have a present to return you, +And afterwards a boon to crave of you. + +COUNT. +No, my most honour'd and long-worshipt lady, +Poor Federigo degli Alberighi +Takes nothing in return from you except +Return of his affection--can deny +Nothing to you that you require of him. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Then I require you to take back your diamonds-- + [_Offering necklace_. +I doubt not they are yours. No other heart +Of such magnificence in courtesy +Beats--out of heaven. They seem'd too rich a prize +To trust with any messenger. I came +In person to return them. [_Count draws back_. + If the phrase +'Return' displease you, we will say--exchange them +For your--for your---- + +COUNT (_takes a step toward her and then back_). + For mine--and what of mine? + +LADY GIOVANNA. +Well, shall we say this wreath and your sweet rhymes? + +COUNT. +But have you ever worn my diamonds? + +LADY GIOVANNA. + No! +For that would seem accepting of your love. +I cannot brave my brother--but be sure +That I shall never marry again, my lord! + +COUNT. +Sure? + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Yes! + +COUNT. + Is this your brother's order? + +LADY GIOVANNA. + No! +For he would marry me to the richest man +In Florence; but I think you know the saying-- +'Better a man without riches, than riches without a man.' + +COUNT. +A noble saying--and acted on would yield +A nobler breed of men and women. Lady, +I find you a shrewd bargainer. The wreath +That once you wore outvalues twentyfold +The diamonds that you never deign'd to wear. +But lay them there for a moment! + + [_Points to table_. LADY GIOVANNA _places necklace on table_. + + And be you +Gracious enough to let me know the boon +By granting which, if aught be mine to grant, +I should be made more happy than I hoped +Ever to be again. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Then keep your wreath, +But you will find me a shrewd bargainer still. +I cannot keep your diamonds, for the gift +I ask for, to my mind and at this present +Outvalues all the jewels upon earth. + +COUNT. +It should be love that thus outvalues all. +You speak like love, and yet you love me not. +I have nothing in this world but love for you. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + +Love? it _is_ love, love for my dying boy, +Moves me to ask it of you. + +COUNT. + What? my time? +Is it my time? Well, I can give my time +To him that is a part of you, your son. +Shall I return to the castle with you? Shall I +Sit by him, read to him, tell him my tales, +Sing him my songs? You know that I can touch +The ghittern to some purpose. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + No, not that! +I thank you heartily for that--and you, +I doubt not from your nobleness of nature, +Will pardon me for asking what I ask. + +COUNT. +Giovanna, dear Giovanna, I that once +The wildest of the random youth of Florence +Before I saw you--all my nobleness +Of nature, as you deign to call it, draws +From you, and from my constancy to you. +No more, but speak. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + I will. You know sick people, +More specially sick children, have strange fancies, +Strange longings; and to thwart them in their mood +May work them grievous harm at times, may even +Hasten their end. I would you had a son! +It might be easier then for you to make +Allowance for a mother--her--who comes +To rob you of your one delight on earth. +How often has my sick boy yearn'd for this! +I have put him off as often; but to-day +I dared not--so much weaker, so much worse +For last day's journey. I was weeping for him: +He gave me his hand: 'I should be well again +If the good Count would give me---- + +COUNT. + Give me. + +LADY GIOVANNA. + His falcon. + +COUNT (_starts back_). +My falcon! + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Yes, your falcon, Federigo! + +COUNT. +Alas, I cannot! + +LADY GIOVANNA. + Cannot? Even so! +I fear'd as much. O this unhappy world! +How shall I break it to him? how shall I tell him? +The boy may die: more blessed were the rags +Of some pale beggar-woman seeking alms +For her sick son, if he were like to live, +Than all my childless wealth, if mine must die. +I was to blame--the love you said you bore me-- +My lord, we thank you for your entertainment, + [_With a stately curtsey_. +And so return--Heaven help him!--to our son. + [_Turns--_ + +COUNT (_rushes forward_). +Stay, stay, I am most unlucky, most unhappy. +You never had look'd in on me before, +And when you came and dipt your sovereign head +Thro' these low doors, you ask'd to eat with me. +I had but emptiness to set before you, +No not a draught of milk, no not an egg, +Nothing but my brave bird, my noble falcon, +My comrade of the house, and of the field. +She had to die for it--she died for you. +Perhaps I thought with those of old, the nobler +The victim was, the more acceptable +Might be the sacrifice. I fear you scarce +Will thank me for your entertainment now. + +LADY GIOVANNA (_returning_). +I bear with him no longer. + +COUNT. + No, Madonna! +And he will have to bear with it as he may. + +LADY GIOVANNA. +I break with him for ever! + +COUNT. + Yes, Giovanna, +But he will keep his love to you for ever! + +LADY GIOVANNA. +You? you? not you! My brother! my hard brother! +O Federigo, Federigo, I love you! +Spite of ten thousand brothers, Federigo. + [_falls at his feet_. + +COUNT (_impetuously_). +Why then the dying of my noble bird +Hath served me better than her living--then + [_Takes diamonds from table_. +These diamonds are both yours and mine--have won +Their value again--beyond all markets--there +I lay them for the first time round your neck. + [_Lays necklace round her neck_. +And then this chaplet--No more feuds, but peace, +Peace and conciliation! I will make +Your brother love me. See, I tear away +The leaves were darken'd by the battle-- + [_Pulls leaves off and throws them down_. + --crown you +Again with the same crown my Queen of Beauty. + [_Places wreath on her head_. +Rise--I could almost think that the dead garland +Will break once more into the living blossom. +Nay, nay, I pray you rise. + [_Raises her with both hands_. + We two together +Will help to heal your son--your son and mine-- +We shall do it--we shall do it. [_Embraces her_. +The purpose of my being is accomplish'd, +And I am happy! + +LADY GIOVANNA. + And I too, Federigo. + + + + + + +THE PROMISE OF MAY + + 'A surface man of theories, true to none.' + + + +_DRAMATIS PERSONAE. + +FARMER DOBSON. +Mr. PHILIP EDGAR (_afterwards_ Mr. HAROLD). +FARMER STEER (DORA _and_ EVA'S _Father_). +Mr. WILSON (_a Schoolmaster_). +HIGGINS | +JAMES | +DAN SMITH | _Farm Labourers_. +JACKSON | +ALLEN | +DORA STEER. +EVA STEER. +SALLY ALLEN | +MILLY | _Farm Servants_. + +_Farm Servants, Labourers, etc_. + + + +THE PROMISE OF MAY + + + + +ACT I. + + +SCENE.--_Before Farmhouse_. + +Farming Men and Women. Farming Men carrying forms, &c., Women carrying +baskets of knives and forks, &c. + + +1ST FARMING MAN. +Be thou a-gawin' to the long barn? + +2ND FARMING MAN. +Ay, to be sewer! Be thou? + +1ST FARMING MAN. +Why, o' coorse, fur it be the owd man's birthdaaey. He be heighty this +very daaey, and 'e telled all on us to be i' the long barn by one +o'clock, fur he'll gie us a big dinner, and haaefe th' parish'll be +theer, an' Miss Dora, an' Miss Eva, an' all! + +2ND FARMING MAN. +Miss Dora be coomed back, then? + +1ST FARMING MAN. +Ay, haaefe an hour ago. She be in theer, now. (_Pointing to house_.) +Owd Steer wur afeaerd she wouldn't be back i' time to keep his +birthdaaey, and he wur in a tew about it all the murnin'; and he sent +me wi' the gig to Littlechester to fetch 'er; and 'er an' the owd man +they fell a kissin' o' one another like two sweet-'arts i' the poorch +as soon as he clapt eyes of 'er. + +2ND FARMING MAN. +Foaelks says he likes Miss Eva the best. + +1ST FARMING MAN. +Naaey, I knaws nowt o' what foaelks says, an' I caaeres nowt neither. +Foaelks doesn't hallus knaw thessens; but sewer I be, they be two o' +the purtiest gels ye can see of a summer murnin'. + +2ND FARMING MAN. +Beaent Miss Eva gone off a bit of 'er good looks o' laaete? + +1ST FARMING MAN. +Noae, not a bit. + +2ND FARMING MAN. +Why cooem awaaey, then, to the long barn. + [_Exeunt_. + + DORA _looks out of window. Enter_ DOBSON. + +DORA (_singing_). + + The town lay still in the low sun-light, + The hen cluckt late by the white farm gate, + The maid to her dairy came in from the cow, + The stock-dove coo'd at the fall of night, + The blossom had open'd on every bough; + O joy for the promise of May, of May, + O joy for the promise of May. + +(_Nodding at_ DOBSON.) I'm coming down, Mr. Dobson. I haven't seen Eva +yet. Is she anywhere in the garden? + +DOBSON. +Noae, Miss. I ha'n't seed 'er neither. + +DORA (_enters singing_). + + But a red fire woke in the heart of the town, + And a fox from the glen ran away with the hen, + And a cat to the cream, and a rat to the cheese; + And the stock-dove coo'd, till a kite dropt down, + And a salt wind burnt the blossoming trees; + O grief for the promise of May, of May, + O grief for the promise of May. + +I don't know why I sing that song; I don't love it. + +DOBSON. +Blessings on your pretty voice, Miss Dora. Wheer did they larn ye +that? + +DORA. +In Cumberland, Mr. Dobson. + +DOBSON. +An' how did ye leaeve the owd uncle i' Coomberland? + +DORA. +Getting better, Mr. Dobson. But he'll never be the same man again. + +DOBSON. +An' how d'ye find the owd man 'ere? + +DORA. +As well as ever. I came back to keep his birthday. + +DOBSON. +Well, I be coomed to keep his birthdaaey an' all. The owd man be +heighty to-daaey, beaent he? + +DORA. +Yes, Mr. Dobson. And the day's bright like a friend, but the wind east +like an enemy. Help me to move this bench for him into the sun. (_They +move bench_.) No, not that way--here, under the apple tree. Thank you. +Look how full of rosy blossom it is. + [_Pointing to apple tree_. + +DOBSON. +Theer be redder blossoms nor them, Miss Dora. + +DORA. +Where do they blow, Mr. Dobson? + +DOBSON. +Under your eyes, Miss Dora. + +DORA. +Do they? + +DOBSON. +And your eyes be as blue as---- + +DORA. +What, Mr. Dobson? A butcher's frock? + +DOBSON. +Noae, Miss Dora; as blue as---- + +DORA. +Bluebell, harebell, speedwell, bluebottle, succory, forget-me-not? + +DOBSON. +Noae, Miss Dora; as blue as---- + +DORA. +The sky? or the sea on a blue day? + +DOBSON. +Naaey then. I meaen'd they be as blue as violets. + +DORA. +Are they? + +DOBSON. +Theer ye goaes ageaen, Miss, niver believing owt I says to ye--hallus +a-fobbing ma off, tho' ye knaws I love ye. I warrants ye'll think moor +o' this young Squire Edgar as ha' coomed among us--the Lord knaws how +--ye'll think more on 'is little finger than hall my hand at the +haltar. + +DORA. +Perhaps, Master Dobson. I can't tell, for I have never seen him. But +my sister wrote that he was mighty pleasant, and had no pride in him. + +DOBSON. +He'll be arter you now, Miss Dora. + +DORA. +Will he? How can I tell? + +DOBSON. +He's been arter Miss Eva, haaen't he? + +DORA. +Not that I know. + +DOBSON. +Didn't I spy 'em a-sitting i' the woodbine harbour togither? + +DORA. +What of that? Eva told me that he was taking her likeness. He's an +artist. + +DOBSON. +What's a hartist? I doaent believe he's iver a 'eart under his +waistcoat. And I tells ye what, Miss Dora: he's no respect for the +Queen, or the parson, or the justice o' peace, or owt. I ha' heaerd 'im +a-gawin' on 'ud make your 'air--God bless it!--stan' on end. And wuss +nor that. When theer wur a meeting o' farmers at Littlechester t'other +daaey, and they was all a-crying out at the bad times, he cooms up, and +he calls out among our oaen men, 'The land belongs to the +people!' + +DORA. +And what did _you_ say to that? + +DOBSON. +Well, I says, s'pose my pig's the land, and you says it belongs to the +parish, and theer be a thousand i' the parish, taaekin' in the women +and childer; and s'pose I kills my pig, and gi'es it among 'em, why +there wudn't be a dinner for nawbody, and I should ha' lost the pig. + +DORA. +And what did he say to that? + +DOBSON. +Nowt--what could he saaey? But I taaekes 'im fur a bad lot and a burn +fool, and I haaetes the very sight on him. + +DORA. (_Looking at_ DOBSON.) +Master Dobson, you are a comely man to look at. + +DOBSON. +I thank you for that, Miss Dora, onyhow. + +DORA. +Ay, but you turn right ugly when you're in an ill temper; and I +promise you that if you forget yourself in your behaviour to this +gentleman, my father's friend, I will never change word with you +again. + + _Enter_ FARMING MAN _from barn_. + +FARMING MAN. +Miss, the farming men 'ull hev their dinner i' the long barn, and the +master 'ud be straaenge an' pleased if you'd step in fust, and see that +all be right and reg'lar fur 'em afoor he cooem. + [_Exit_. + +DORA. +I go. Master Dobson, did you hear what I said? + +DOBSON. +Yeas, yeas! I'll not meddle wi' 'im if he doaent meddle wi' meae. +(_Exit_ DORA.) Coomly, says she. I niver thowt o' mysen i' that waaey; +but if she'd taaeke to ma i' that waaey, or ony waaey, I'd slaaeve out my +life fur 'er. 'Coomly to look at,' says she--but she said it +spiteful-like. To look at--yeas, 'coomly'; and she mayn't be so fur out +theer. But if that be nowt to she, then it be nowt to me. (_Looking off +stage_.) Schoolmaster! Why if Steer han't haxed schoolmaster to +dinner, thaw 'e knaws I was hallus ageaen heving schoolmaster i' the +parish! fur him as be handy wi' a book bean't but haaefe a hand at a +pitchfork. + + _Enter_ WILSON. + +Well, Wilson. I seed that one cow o' thine i' the pinfold ageaen as I +wur a-coomin' 'ere. + +WILSON. +Very likely, Mr. Dobson. She _will_ break fence. +I can't keep her in order. + +DOBSON. +An' if tha can't keep thy one cow i' horder, how can tha keep all thy +scholards i' horder? But let that goae by. What dost a knaw o' this Mr. +Hedgar as be a-lodgin' wi' ye? I coom'd upon 'im t'other daaey lookin' +at the coontry, then a-scrattin upon a bit o' paaeper, then a-lookin' +ageaen; and I taaeked 'im fur soom sort of a land-surveyor--but a beaent. + +WILSON. +He's a Somersetshire man, and a very civil-spoken gentleman. + +DOBSON. +Gentleman! What be he a-doing here ten mile an' moor fro' a raaeil? We +laaeys out o' the waaey fur gentlefoaelk altogither--leastwaaeys they +niver cooms 'ere but fur the trout i' our beck, fur they be knaw'd as +far as Littlechester. But 'e doaent fish neither. + +WILSON. +Well, it's no sin in a gentleman not to fish. + +DOBSON. +Noa, but I haaetes 'im. + +WILSON. +Better step out of his road, then, for he's walking to us, and with a +book in his hand. + +DOBSON. +An' I haaetes boooeks an' all, fur they puts foaelk off the owd waaeys. + + _Enter_ EDGAR, _reading--not seeing_ DOBSON _and_ WILSON. + +EDGAR. +This author, with his charm of simple style +And close dialectic, all but proving man +An automatic series of sensations, +Has often numb'd me into apathy +Against the unpleasant jolts of this rough road +That breaks off short into the abysses--made me +A Quietist taking all things easily. + +DOBSON. (_Aside_.) +There mun be summut wrong theer, Wilson, fur I doaent understan' it. + +WILSON. (_Aside_.) +Nor I either, Mr. Dobson. + +DOBSON. (_Scornfully_.) +An' thou doaent understan' it neither--and thou schoolmaster an' all. + +EDGAR. +What can a man, then, live for but sensations, +Pleasant ones? men of old would undergo +Unpleasant for the sake of pleasant ones +Hereafter, like the Moslem beauties waiting +To clasp their lovers by the golden gates. +For me, whose cheerless Houris after death +Are Night and Silence, pleasant ones--the while-- +If possible, here! to crop the flower and pass. + +DOBSON. +Well, I never 'eard the likes o' that afoor. + +WILSON. (_Aside_.) +But I have, Mr. Dobson. It's the old Scripture text, 'Let us eat and +drink, for to-morrow we die.' I'm sorry for it, for, tho' he never +comes to church, I thought better of him. + +EDGAR. +'What are we,' says the blind old man in Lear? +'As flies to the Gods; they kill us for their sport.' + +DOBSON. (_Aside_.) +Then the owd man i' Lear should be shaaemed of hissen, but noaen o' the +parishes goae's by that naaeme 'ereabouts. + +EDGAR. +The Gods! but they, the shadows of ourselves, +Have past for ever. It is Nature kills, +And not for _her_ sport either. She knows nothing. +Man only knows, the worse for him! for why +Cannot _he_ take his pastime like the flies? +And if my pleasure breed another's pain, +Well--is not that the course of Nature too, +From the dim dawn of Being--her main law +Whereby she grows in beauty--that her flies +Must massacre each other? this poor Nature! + +DOBSON. +Natur! Natur! Well, it be i' _my_ natur to knock 'im o' the 'eaed now; +but I weaent. + +EDGAR. +A Quietist taking all things easily--why-- +Have I been dipping into this again +To steel myself against the leaving her? + (_Closes book, seeing_ WILSON.) +Good day! + +WILSON. +Good day, sir. + +(DOBSON _looks hard at_ EDGAR.) + +EDGAR. (_To_ DOBSON.) +Have I the pleasure, friend, of knowing you? + +DOBSON. +Dobson. + +EDGAR. +Good day, then, Dobson. [_Exit_. + +DOBSON. +'Good daaey then, Dobson!' Civil-spoken i'deed! Why, Wilson, tha 'eaerd +'im thysen--the feller couldn't find a Mister in his mouth fur me, as +farms five hoonderd haaecre. + +WILSON. +You never find one for me, Mr. Dobson. + +DOBSON. +Noae, fur thou be nobbut schoolmaster; but I taaekes 'im fur a Lunnun +swindler, and a burn fool. + +WILSON. +He can hardly be both, and he pays me regular +every Saturday. + +DOBSON. +Yeas; but I haaetes 'im. + + _Enter_ STEER, FARM MEN _and_ WOMEN. + +STEER. (_Goes and sits under apple tree_.) +Hev' ony o' ye seen Eva? + +DOBSON. +Noae, Mr. Steer. + +STEER. +Well, I reckons they'll hev' a fine cider-crop to-year if the blossom +'owds. Good murnin', neighbours, and the saaeme to you, my men. I +taaekes it kindly of all o' you that you be coomed--what's the +newspaaeper word, Wilson?--celebrate--to celebrate my birthdaaey i' this +fashion. Niver man 'ed better friends, and I will saaey niver master +'ed better men: fur thaw I may ha' fallen out wi' ye sometimes, the +fault, mebbe, wur as much mine as yours; and, thaw I says it mysen, +niver men 'ed a better master--and I knaws what men be, and what +masters be, fur I wur nobbut a laaebourer, and now I be a landlord-- +burn a plowman, and now, as far as money goaes, I be a gentleman, thaw +I beaent naw scholard, fur I 'ednt naw time to maaeke mysen a scholard +while I wur maaekin' mysen a gentleman, but I ha taaeen good care to +turn out boaeth my darters right down fine laaedies. + +DOBSON. +An' soae they be. + +1ST FARMING MAN. +Soae they be! soae they be! + +2ND FARMING MAN. +The Lord bless boaeth on 'em! + +3RD FARMING MAN. +An' the saaeme to you, Master. + +4TH FARMING MAN. +And long life to boaeth on 'em. An' the saaeme to you, Master Steer, +likewise. + +STEER. +Thank ye! + +_Enter_ EVA. +Wheer 'asta been? + +EVA. (_Timidly_.) +Many happy returns of the day, father. + +STEER. +They can't be many, my dear, but I 'oaepes they'll be 'appy. + +DOBSON. +Why, tha looks haaele anew to last to a hoonderd. + +STEER. +An' why shouldn't I last to a hoonderd? Haaele! why shouldn't I be +haaele? fur thaw I be heighty this very daaey, I niver 'es sa much as +one pin's prick of paaein; an' I can taaeke my glass along wi' the +youngest, fur I niver touched a drop of owt till my oaen wedding-daaey, +an' then I wur turned huppads o' sixty. Why shouldn't I be haaele? I +ha' plowed the ten-aaecre--it be mine now--afoor ony o' ye wur burn--ye +all knaws the ten-aaecre--I mun ha' plowed it moor nor a hoonderd +times; hallus hup at sunrise, and I'd drive the plow straaeit as a line +right i' the faaece o' the sun, then back ageaen, a-follering my oaen +shadder--then hup ageaen i' the faaece o' the sun. Eh! how the sun 'ud +shine, and the larks 'ud sing i' them daaeys, and the smell o' the +mou'd an' all. Eh! if I could ha' gone on wi' the plowin' nobbut the +smell o' the mou'd 'ud ha' maaede ma live as long as Jerusalem. + +EVA. +Methusaleh, father. + +STEER. +Ay, lass, but when thou be as owd as me thou'll put one word fur +another as I does. + +DOBSON. +But, Steer, thaw thou be haaele anew I seed tha a-limpin' up just now +wi' the roomatics i' the knee. + +STEER. +Roomatics! Noae; I laaeme't my knee last night running arter a thief. +Beaent there house-breaekers down i' Littlechester, Dobson--doaent ye +hear of ony? + +DOBSON. +Ay, that there be. Immanuel Goldsmiths was broke into o' Monday night, +and ower a hoonderd pounds worth o' rings stolen. + +STEER. +So I thowt, and I heaerd the winder--that's the winder at the end o' +the passage, that goaes by thy chaumber. (_Turning to_ EVA.) Why, lass, +what maaeakes tha sa red? Did 'e git into thy chaumber? + +EVA. +Father! + +STEER. +Well, I runned arter thief i' the dark, and fell ageaen coalscuttle and +my kneeae gev waaey or I'd ha' cotched 'im, but afoor I coomed up he got +thruff the winder ageaen. + +EVA. +Got thro' the window again? + +STEER. +Ay, but he left the mark of 'is foot i' the flowerbed; now theer be +noaen o' my men, thinks I to mysen, 'ud ha' done it 'cep' it were Dan +Smith, fur I cotched 'im once a-stealin' coaels an' I sent fur 'im, an' +I measured his foot wi' the mark i' the bed, but it wouldn't fit-- +seeaems to me the mark wur maaede by a Lunnun boot. (_Looks at_ EVA.) +Why, now, what maaekes tha sa white? + +EVA. +Fright, father! + +STEER. +Maaeke thysen eaesy. I'll hev the winder naaeiled up, and put Towser +under it. + +EVA. (_Clasping her hands_.) +No, no, father! Towser'll tear him all to pieces. + +STEER. +Let him keep awaaey, then; but coom, coom! let's be gawin. They ha' +broached a barrel of aaele i' the long barn, and the fiddler be theer, +and the lads and lasses 'ull hev a dance. + +EVA. (_Aside_.) +Dance! small heart have I to dance. I should seem to be dancing upon a +grave. + +STEER. +Wheer be Mr. Edgar? about the premises? + +DOBSON. +Hallus about the premises! + +STEER. +So much the better, so much the better. I likes 'im, and Eva likes +'im. Eva can do owt wi' 'im; look for 'im, Eva, and bring 'im to the +barn. He 'ant naw pride in 'im, and we'll git 'im to speechify for us +arter dinner. + +EVA. +Yes, father! [_Exit_. + +STEER. +Coom along then, all the rest o' ye! Churchwarden be a coomin, thaw me +and 'im we niver 'grees about the tithe; and Parson mebbe, thaw he +niver mended that gap i' the glebe fence as I telled 'im; and +Blacksmith, thaw he niver shoes a herse to my likings; and Baaeker, +thaw I sticks to hoaem-maaede--but all on 'em welcome, all on 'em +welcome; and I've hed the long barn cleared out of all the machines, +and the sacks, and the taaeters, and the mangles, and theer'll be room +anew for all o' ye. Foller me. + +ALL. +Yeas, yeas! Three cheers for Mr. Steer! + [_All exeunt except_ DOBSON _into barn_. + + _Enter_ EDGAR. + +DOBSON (_who is going, turns_). +Squire!--if so be you be a squire. + +EDGAR. +Dobbins, I think. + +DOBSON. +Dobbins, you thinks; and I thinks ye weaers a Lunnun boot. + +EDGAR. +Well? + +DOBSON. +And I thinks I'd like to taaeke the measure o' your foot. + +EDGAR. +Ay, if you'd like to measure your own length upon the grass. + +DOBSON. +Coom, coom, that's a good un. Why, I could throw four o' ye; but I +promised one of the Misses I wouldn't meddle wi' ye, and I weaent. + [_Exit into barn_. + +EDGAR. +Jealous of me with Eva! Is it so? +Well, tho' I grudge the pretty jewel, that I +Have worn, to such a clod, yet that might be +The best way out of it, if the child could keep +Her counsel. I am sure I wish her happy. +But I must free myself from this entanglement. +I have all my life before me--so has she-- +Give her a month or two, and her affections +Will flower toward the light in some new face. +Still I am half-afraid to meet her now. +She will urge marriage on me. I hate tears. +Marriage is but an old tradition. I hate +Traditions, ever since my narrow father, +After my frolic with his tenant's girl, +Made younger elder son, violated the whole +Tradition of our land, and left his heir, +Born, happily, with some sense of art, to live +By brush and pencil. By and by, when Thought +Comes down among the crowd, and man perceives that +The lost gleam of an after-life but leaves him +A beast of prey in the dark, why then the crowd +May wreak my wrongs upon my wrongers. Marriage! +That fine, fat, hook-nosed uncle of mine, old Harold, +Who leaves me all his land at Littlechester, +He, too, would oust me from his will, if I +Made such a marriage. And marriage in itself-- +The storm is hard at hand will sweep away +Thrones, churches, ranks, traditions, customs, marriage +One of the feeblest! Then the man, the woman, +Following their best affinities, will each +Bid their old bond farewell with smiles, not tears; +Good wishes, not reproaches; with no fear +Of the world's gossiping clamour, and no need +Of veiling their desires. + Conventionalism, +Who shrieks by day at what she does by night, +Would call this vice; but one time's vice may be +The virtue of another; and Vice and Virtue +Are but two masks of self; and what hereafter +Shall mark out Vice from Virtue in the gulf +Of never-dawning darkness? + + _Enter_ EVA. + + My sweet Eva, +Where have you lain in ambush all the morning? +They say your sister, Dora, has return'd, +And that should make you happy, if you love her! +But you look troubled. + +EVA. +Oh, I love her so, +I was afraid of her, and I hid myself. +We never kept a secret from each other; +She would have seen at once into my trouble, +And ask'd me what I could not answer. Oh, Philip, +Father heard you last night. Our savage mastiff, +That all but kill'd the beggar, will be placed +Beneath the window, Philip. + +EDGAR. +Savage, is he? +What matters? Come, give me your hand and kiss me +This beautiful May-morning. + +EVA. + The most beautiful +May we have had for many years! + +EDGAR. + And here +Is the most beautiful morning of this May. +Nay, you must smile upon me! There--you make +The May and morning still more beautiful, +You, the most beautiful blossom of the May. + +EVA. +Dear Philip, all the world is beautiful +If we were happy, and could chime in with it. + +EDGAR. +True; for the senses, love, are for the world; +That for the senses. + +EVA. + Yes. + +EDGAR. + And when the man, +The child of evolution, flings aside +His swaddling-bands, the morals of the tribe, +He, following his own instincts as his God, +Will enter on the larger golden age; +No pleasure then taboo'd: for when the tide +Of full democracy has overwhelm'd +This Old world, from that flood will rise the New, +Like the Love-goddess, with no bridal veil, +Ring, trinket of the Church, but naked Nature +In all her loveliness. + +EVA. +What are you saying? + +EDGAR. +That, if we did not strain to make ourselves +Better and higher than Nature, we might be +As happy as the bees there at their honey +In these sweet blossoms. + +EVA. + Yes; how sweet they smell! + +EDGAR. +There! let me break some off for you. + [_Breaking branch off_. + +EVA. + My thanks. +But, look, how wasteful of the blossom you are! +One, two, three, four, five, six--you have robb'd poor father +Of ten good apples. Oh, I forgot to tell you +He wishes you to dine along with us, +And speak for him after--you that are so clever! + +EDGAR. +I grieve I cannot; but, indeed-- + +EVA. + What is it? + +EDGAR. +Well, business. I must leave you, love, to-day. + +EVA. +Leave me, to-day! And when will you return? + +EDGAR. +I cannot tell precisely; but-- + +EVA. + But what? + +EDGAR. +I trust, my dear, we shall be always friends. + +EVA. +After all that has gone between us--friends! +What, only friends? [_Drops branch_. + +EDGAR. +All that has gone between us +Should surely make us friends. + +EVA. +But keep us lovers. + +EDGAR. +Child, do you love me now? + +EVA. +Yes, now and ever. + +EDGAR. +Then you should wish us both to love for ever. +But, if you _will_ bind love to one for ever, +Altho' at first he take his bonds for flowers, +As years go on, he feels them press upon him, +Begins to flutter in them, and at last +Breaks thro' them, and so flies away for ever; +While, had you left him free use of his wings, +Who knows that he had ever dream'd of flying? + +EVA. +But all that sounds so wicked and so strange; +'Till death us part'--those are the only words, +The true ones--nay, and those not true enough, +For they that love do not believe that death +Will part them. Why do you jest with me, and try +To fright me? Tho' you are a gentleman, +I but a farmer's daughter-- + +EDGAR. + Tut! you talk +Old feudalism. When the great Democracy +Makes a new world-- + +EVA. + And if you be not jesting, +Neither the old world, nor the new, nor father, +Sister, nor you, shall ever see me more. + +EDGAR (_moved_). +Then--(_aside_) Shall I say it?--(_aloud_) fly with me to-day. + +EVA. +No! Philip, Philip, if you do not marry me, +I shall go mad for utter shame and die. + +EDGAR. +Then, if we needs must be conventional, +When shall your parish-parson bawl our banns +Before your gaping clowns? + +EVA. + Not in our church-- +I think I scarce could hold my head up there. +Is there no other way? + +EDGAR. + Yes, if you cared +To fee an over-opulent superstition, +Then they would grant you what they call a licence +To marry. Do you wish it? + +EVA. + _Do_ I wish it? + +EDGAR. +In London. + +EVA. + You will write to me? + +EDGAR. + I will. + +EVA. +And I will fly to you thro' the night, the storm-- +Yes, tho' the fire should run along the ground, +As once it did in Egypt. Oh, you see, +I was just out of school, I had no mother-- +My sister far away--and you, a gentleman, +Told me to trust you: yes, in everything-- +_That_ was the only _true_ love; and I trusted-- +Oh, yes, indeed, I would have died for you. +How could you--Oh, how could you?--nay, how could I? +But now you will set all right again, and I +Shall not be made the laughter of the village, +And poor old father not die miserable. + +DORA (_singing in the distance_). + + 'O joy for the promise of May, of May, + O joy for the promise of May.' + +EDGAR. +Speak not so loudly; that must be your sister. +You never told her, then, of what has past +Between us. + +EVA. + Never! + +EDGAR. + Do not till I bid you. + +EVA. +No, Philip, no. [_Turns away_. + +EDGAR (_moved_). + How gracefully there she stands +Weeping--the little Niobe! What! we prize +The statue or the picture all the more +When we have made them ours! Is she less loveable, +Less lovely, being wholly mine? To stay-- +Follow my art among these quiet fields, +Live with these honest folk-- + And play the fool! +No! she that gave herself to me so easily +Will yield herself as easily to another. + +EVA. +Did you speak, Philip? + +EDGAR. + Nothing more, farewell. + + [_They embrace_. + +DORA (_coming nearer_). + + 'O grief for the promis May, of May, + O grief for the promise of May.' + +EDGAR (_still embracing her_). +Keep up your heart until we meet again. + +EVA. +If that should break before we meet again? + +EDGAR. +Break! nay, but call for Philip when you will, +And he returns. + +EVA. + Heaven hears you, Philip Edgar! + +EDGAR (_moved_). +And _he_ would hear you even from the grave. +Heaven curse him if he come not at your call! + [_Exit_. + + _Enter_ DORA. + +DORA. +Well, Eva! + +EVA. +Oh, Dora, Dora, how long you have been away from home! Oh, how often I +have wished for you! It seemed to me that we were parted for ever. + +DORA. +For ever, you foolish child! What's come over you? We parted like the +brook yonder about the alder island, to come together again in a +moment and to go on together again, till one of us be married. But +where is this Mr. Edgar whom you praised so in your first letters? You +haven't even mentioned him in your last? + +EVA. +He has gone to London. + +DORA. +Ay, child; and you look thin and pale. Is it for his absence? Have you +fancied yourself in love with him? That's all nonsense, you know, such +a baby as you are. But you shall tell me all about it. + +EVA. +Not now--presently. Yes, I have been in trouble, but I am happy--I +think, quite happy now. + +DORA (_taking EVA'S hand_). +Come, then, and make them happy in the long barn, for father is in +his glory, and there is a piece of beef like a house-side, and a +plum-pudding as big as the round haystack. But see they are coming +out for the dance already. Well, my child, let us join them. + + _Enter all from barn laughing_. EVA _sits reluctantly + under apple tree_. STEER _enters smoking, sits by_ EVA. + + _Dance_. + + + + +ACT II. + + +Five years have elapsed between Acts I. and II. + +SCENE.--_A meadow. On one side a pathway going over +a rustic bridge. At back the farmhouse among +trees. In the distance a church spire_. + +DOBSON _and_ DORA. + + +DOBSON. +So the owd uncle i' Coomberland be deaed, Miss Dora, beaent he? + +DORA. +Yes, Mr. Dobson, I've been attending on his death-bed and his burial. + +DOBSON. +It be five year sin' ye went afoor to him, and it seems to me nobbut +t'other day. Hesn't he left ye nowt? + +DORA. +No, Mr. Dobson. + +DOBSON. +But he were mighty fond o' ye, warn't he? + +DORA. +Fonder of poor Eva--like everybody else. + +DOBSON (_handing_ DORA _basket of roses_). +Not like me, Miss Dora; and I ha' browt these roses to ye--I forgits +what they calls 'em, but I hallus gi'ed soom on 'em to Miss Eva at +this time o' year. Will ya taaeke 'em? fur Miss Eva, she set the bush +by my dairy winder afoor she went to school at Littlechester--so I +allus browt soom on 'em to her; and now she be gone, will ye taaeke +'em, Miss Dora? + +DORA. +I thank you. They tell me that yesterday you mentioned her name too +suddenly before my father. See that you do not do so again! + +DOBSON. +Noae; I knaws a deal better now. I seed how the owd man wur vext. + +DORA. +I take them, then, for Eva's sake. + [_Takes basket, places some in her dress_. + +DOBSON. +Eva's saaeke. Yeas. Poor gel, poor gel! I can't abeaer to think on 'er +now, fur I'd ha' done owt fur 'er mysen; an' ony o' Steer's men, an' +ony o' my men 'ud ha' done owt fur 'er, an' all the parish 'ud ha' +done owt fur 'er, fur we was all on us proud on 'er, an' them theer be +soom of her oaen roses, an' she wur as sweet as ony on 'em--the Lord +bless 'er--'er oaen sen; an' weaent ye taaeke 'em now, Miss Dora, fur 'er +saaeke an' fur my saaeke an' all? + +DORA. +Do you want them back again? + +DOBSON. +Noae, noae! Keep 'em. But I hed a word to saaey to ye. + +DORA. +Why, Farmer, you should be in the hayfield looking after your men; you +couldn't have more splendid weather. + +DOBSON. +I be a going theer; but I thowt I'd bring tha them roses fust. The +weather's well anew, but the glass be a bit shaaeky. S'iver we've led +moaest on it. + +DORA. +Ay! but you must not be too sudden with it either, as you were last +year, when you put it in green, and your stack caught fire. + +DOBSON. +I were insured, Miss, an' I lost nowt by it. But I weaent be too sudden +wi' it; and I feel sewer, Miss Dora, that I ha' been noaen too sudden +wi' you, fur I ha' sarved for ye well nigh as long as the man sarved +for 'is sweet'art i' Scriptur'. Weaent ye gi'e me a kind answer at +last? + +DORA. +I have no thought of marriage, my friend. We have been in such grief +these five years, not only on my sister's account, but the ill success +of the farm, and the debts, and my father's breaking down, and his +blindness. How could I think of leaving him? + +DOBSON. +Eh, but I be well to do; and if ye would nobbut hev me, I would taaeke +the owd blind man to my oaen fireside. You should hev him allus wi' ye. + +DORA. +You are generous, but it cannot be. I cannot love you; nay, I think I +never can be brought to love any man. It seems to me that I hate men, +ever since my sister left us. Oh, see here. (_Pulls out a letter_.) I +wear it next my heart. Poor sister, I had it five years ago. 'Dearest +Dora,--I have lost myself, and am lost for ever to you and my poor +father. I thought Mr. Edgar the best of men, and he has proved himself +the worst. Seek not for me, or you may find me at the bottom of the +river.--EVA.' + +DOBSON. +Be that my fault? + +DORA. +No; but how should I, with this grief still at my heart, take to the +milking of your cows, the fatting of your calves, the making of your +butter, and the managing of your poultry? + +DOBSON. +Naae'y, but I hev an owd woman as 'ud see to all that; and you should +sit i' your oaen parlour quite like a laaedy, ye should! + +DORA. +It cannot be. + +DOBSON. +And plaaey the pianner, if ye liked, all daaey long, like a laaedy, ye +should an' all. + +DORA. +It cannot be. + +DOBSON. +And I would loove tha moor nor ony gentleman 'ud I loove tha. + +DORA. +No, no; it cannot be. + +DOBSON. +And p'raps ye hears 'at I soomtimes taaekes a drop too much; but that +be all along o' you, Miss, because ye weaent hev me; but, if ye would, +I could put all that o' one side eaesy anew. + +DORA. +Cannot you understand plain words, Mr. Dobson? I tell you, it cannot +be. + +DOBSON. +Eh, lass! Thy feyther eddicated his darters to marry gentlefoaelk, and +see what's coomed on it. + +DORA. +That is enough, Farmer Dobson. You have shown me that, though fortune +had born _you_ into the estate of a gentleman, you would still have +been Farmer Dobson. You had better attend to your hayfield. Good +afternoon. + [_Exit_. + +DOBSON. +'Farmer Dobson'! Well, I be Farmer Dobson; but I thinks Farmer +Dobson's dog 'ud ha' knaw'd better nor to cast her sister's misfortin +inter 'er teeth arter she'd been a-readin' me the letter wi' 'er voice +a-shaaekin', and the drop in 'er eye. Theer she goaes! Shall I foller +'er and ax 'er to maaeke it up? Noae, not yet. Let 'er cool upon it; I +likes 'er all the better fur taaekin' me down, like a laaedy, as she be. +Farmer Dobson! I be Farmer Dobson, sewer anew; but if iver I cooms +upo' Gentleman Hedgar ageaen, and doaent laaey my cartwhip athurt 'is +shou'ders, why then I beaent Farmer Dobson, but summun else--blaaeme't +if I beaent! + + _Enter_ HAYMAKERS _with a load of hay_. + +The last on it, eh? + +1ST HAYMAKER. +Yeas. + +DOBSON. +Hoaem wi' it, then. [_Exit surlily_. + +1ST HAYMAKER. +Well, it be the last loaed hoaem. + +2ND HAYMAKER. +Yeas, an' owd Dobson should be glad on it. What maaekes 'im allus sa +glum? + +SALLY ALLEN. +Glum! he be wus nor glum. He coom'd up to me yisterdaaey i' the +haaeyfield, when meae and my sweet'art was a workin' along o' one side +wi' one another, and he sent 'im awaaey to t'other end o' the field; +and when I axed 'im why, he telled me 'at sweet'arts niver worked well +togither; and I telled _'im_ 'at sweet'arts allus worked best +togither; and then he called me a rude naaeme, and I can't abide 'im. + +JAMES. +Why, lass, doaent tha knaw he be sweet upo' Dora Steer, and she weaent +sa much as look at 'im? And wheniver 'e sees two sweet'arts togither +like thou and me, Sally, he be fit to bust hissen wi' spites and +jalousies. + +SALLY. +Let 'im bust hissen, then, for owt _I_ cares. + +1ST HAYMAKER. +Well but, as I said afoor, it be the last loaed hoaem; do thou and thy +sweet'art sing us hoaem to supper--'The Last Loaed Hoaem.' + +ALL. +Ay! 'The Last Loaed Hoaem.' + + _Song_. + + What did ye do, and what did ye saaey, + Wi' the wild white rose, an' the woodbine sa gaae'y, + An' the midders all mow'd, an' the sky sa blue-- + What did ye saaey, and what did ye do, + When ye thowt there were nawbody watchin' o' you, + And you an' your Sally was forkin' the haaey, + At the end of the daaey, + For the last loaed hoaem? + + What did we do, and what did we saaey, + Wi' the briar sa green, an' the willer sa graaey, + An' the midders all mow'd, an' the sky sa blue-- + Do ye think I be gawin' to tell it to you, + What we mowt saaey, and what we mowt do, + When me an' my Sally was forkin' the haaey, + At the end of the daaey, + For the last loaed hoaem? + + But what did ye saaey, and what did ye do, + Wi' the butterflies out, and the swallers at plaae'y, + An' the midders all mow'd, an' the sky sa blue? + Why, coom then, owd feller, I'll tell it to you; + For me an' my Sally we swear'd to be true, + To be true to each other, let 'appen what maaey, + Till the end of the daaey + And the last loaed hoaem. + +ALL. +Well sung! + +JAMES. +Fanny be the naaeme i' the song, but I swopt it fur _she_. + [_Pointing to_ SALLY. + +SALLY. +Let ma aloaen afoor foaelk, wilt tha? + +1ST HAYMAKER. +Ye shall sing that ageaen to-night, fur owd Dobson'll gi'e us a bit o' +supper. + +SALLY. +I weaent goae to owd Dobson; he wur rude to me i' tha haaeyfield, and +he'll be rude to me ageaen to-night. Owd Steer's gotten all his grass +down and wants a hand, and I'll goae to him. + +1ST HAYMAKER. +Owd Steer gi'es nubbut cowd tea to '_is_ men, and owd Dobson gi'es +beer. + +SALLY. +But I'd like owd Steer's cowd tea better nor Dobson's beer. Good-bye. + [Going. + +JAMES. +Gi'e us a buss fust, lass. + +SALLY. +I tell'd tha to let ma aloaen! + +JAMES. +Why, wasn't thou and me a-bussin' o' one another t'other side o' the +haaeycock, when owd Dobson coom'd upo' us? I can't let tha aloaen if I +would, Sally. + [Offering to kiss her. + +SALLY. +Git along wi' ye, do! [_Exit_. + [_All laugh; exeunt singing_. + + 'To be true to each other, let 'appen what maaey, + Till the end o' the daae'y + An' the last loaed hoaem.' + + _Enter_ HAROLD. + +HAROLD. +Not Harold! 'Philip Edgar, Philip Edgar!' +Her phantom call'd me by the name she loved. +I told her I should hear her from the grave. +Ay! yonder is her casement. I remember +Her bright face beaming starlike down upon me +Thro' that rich cloud of blossom. Since I left her +Here weeping, I have ranged the world, and sat +Thro' every sensual course of that full feast +That leaves but emptiness. + + _Song_. + + 'To be true to each other, let 'appen what maaey, + To the end o' the daae'y + An' the last loaed hoaem.' + +HAROLD. +Poor Eva! O my God, if man be only +A willy-nilly current of sensations-- +Reaction needs must follow revel--yet-- +Why feel remorse, he, knowing that he must have +Moved in the iron grooves of Destiny? +Remorse then is a part of Destiny, +Nature a liar, making us feel guilty +Of her own faults. +My grandfather--of him +They say, that women-- +O this mortal house, +Which we are born into, is haunted by +The ghosts of the dead passions of dead men; +And these take flesh again with our own flesh, +And bring us to confusion. +He was only +A poor philosopher who call'd the mind +Of children a blank page, a tabula rasa. +There, there, is written in invisible inks +'Lust, Prodigality, Covetousness, Craft, +Cowardice, Murder'--and the heat and fire +Of life will bring them out, and black enough, +So the child grow to manhood: better death +With our first wail than life-- + +Song (further off). + + 'Till the end o' the daaey + An' the last loaed hoaem, + Load hoaem.' + +This bridge again! (Steps on the bridge.) +How often have I stood +With Eva here! The brook among its flowers! +Forget-me-not, meadowsweet, willow-herb. +I had some smattering of science then, +Taught her the learned names, anatomized +The flowers for her--and now I only wish +This pool were deep enough, that I might plunge +And lose myself for ever. + + _Enter_ DAN SMITH (_singing_). + + Gee oop! whoae! Gee oop! whoae! + Scizzars an' Pumpy was good uns to goae + Thruf slush an' squad + When roaeds was bad, + But hallus ud stop at the Vine-an'-the-Hop, + Fur boaeth on 'em knaw'd as well as mysen + That beer be as good fur 'erses as men. + Gee oop! whoae! Gee oop! whoae! + Scizzars an' Pumpy was good uns to goae. + +The beer's gotten oop into my 'eaed. S'iver I mun git along back to the +farm, fur she tell'd ma to taaeke the cart to Littlechester. + + _Enter_ DORA. + +Half an hour late! why are you loitering here? Away with you at once. + + [_Exit_ DAN SMITH. + (_Seeing_ HAROLD _on bridge_.) + +Some madman, is it, Gesticulating there upon the bridge? I am half +afraid to pass. + +HAROLD. + Sometimes I wonder, +When man has surely learnt at last that all +His old-world faith, the blossom of his youth, +Has faded, falling fruitless--whether then +All of us, all at once, may not be seized +With some fierce passion, not so much for Death +As against Life! all, all, into the dark-- +No more!--and science now could drug and balm us +Back into nescience with as little pain +As it is to fall asleep. + This beggarly life, +This poor, flat, hedged-in field--no distance--this +Hollow Pandora-box, +With all the pleasures flown, not even Hope +Left at the bottom! + Superstitious fool, +What brought me here? To see her grave? her ghost? +Her ghost is everyway about me here. + +DORA (_coming forward_). +Allow me, sir, to pass you. + +HAROLD. + Eva! + +DORA. + Eva! + +HAROLD. +What are you? Where do you come from? + +DORA. + From the farm +Here, close at hand. + +HAROLD. + Are you--you are--that Dora, +The sister. I have heard of you. The likeness +Is very striking. + +DORA. + You knew Eva, then? + +HAROLD. +Yes--I was thinking of her when--O yes, +Many years back, and never since have met +Her equal for pure innocence of nature, +And loveliness of feature. + +DORA. + No, nor I. + +HAROLD. +Except, indeed, I have found it once again +In your own self. + +DORA. + You flatter me. Dear Eva +Was always thought the prettier. + +HAROLD. + And _her_ charm +Of voice is also yours; and I was brooding +Upon a great unhappiness when you spoke. + +DORA. +Indeed, you seem'd in trouble, sir. + +HAROLD. + And you +Seem my good angel who may help me from it. + +DORA (_aside_). +How worn he looks, poor man! who is it, I wonder. +How can I help him? (_Aloud_.) Might I ask your name? + +HAROLD. +Harold. + +DORA. + I never heard her mention you. + +HAROLD. +I met her first at a farm in Cumberland-- +Her uncle's. + +DORA. + She was there six years ago. + +HAROLD. +And if she never mention'd me, perhaps +The painful circumstances which I heard-- +I will not vex you by repeating them-- +Only last week at Littlechester, drove me +From out her memory. She has disappear'd, +They told me, from the farm--and darker news. + +DORA. +She has disappear'd, poor darling, from the world-- +Left but one dreadful line to say, that we +Should find her in the river; and we dragg'd +The Littlechester river all in vain: +Have sorrow'd for her all these years in vain. +And my poor father, utterly broken down +By losing her--she was his favourite child-- +Has let his farm, all his affairs, I fear, +But for the slender help that I can give, +Fall into ruin. Ah! that villain, Edgar, +If he should ever show his face among us, +Our men and boys would hoot him, stone him, hunt him +With pitchforks off the farm, for all of them +Loved her, and she was worthy of all love. + +HAROLD. +They say, we should forgive our enemies. + +DORA. +Ay, if the wretch were dead I might forgive him; +We know not whether he be dead or living. + +HAROLD. +What Edgar? + +DORA. + Philip Edgar of Toft Hall +In Somerset. Perhaps you know him? + +HAROLD. + Slightly. +(_Aside_.) Ay, for how slightly have I known myself. + +DORA. +This Edgar, then, is living? + +HAROLD. + Living? well-- +One Philip Edgar of Toft Hall in Somerset +Is lately dead. + +DORA. + Dead!--is there more than one? + +HAROLD. +Nay--now--not one, (_aside_) for I am Philip Harold. + +DORA. +That one, is he then--dead! + +HAROLD. + (_Aside_.) My father's death, +Let her believe it mine; this, for the moment, +Will leave me a free field. + +DORA. + Dead! and this world +Is brighter for his absence as that other +Is darker for his presence. + +HAROLD. + Is not this +To speak too pitilessly of the dead? + +DORA. +My five-years' anger cannot die at once, +Not all at once with death and him. I trust +I shall forgive him--by-and-by--not now. +O sir, you seem to have a heart; if you +Had seen us that wild morning when we found +Her bed unslept in, storm and shower lashing +Her casement, her poor spaniel wailing for her, +That desolate letter, blotted with her tears, +Which told us we should never see her more-- +Our old nurse crying as if for her own child, +My father stricken with his first paralysis, +And then with blindness--had you been one of us +And seen all this, then you would know it is not +So easy to forgive--even the dead. + +HAROLD. +But sure am I that of your gentleness +You will forgive him. She, you mourn for, seem'd +A miracle of gentleness--would not blur +A moth's wing by the touching; would not crush +The fly that drew her blood; and, were she living, +Would not--if penitent--have denied him _her_ +Forgiveness. And perhaps the man himself, +When hearing of that piteous death, has suffer'd +More than we know. But wherefore waste your heart +In looking on a chill and changeless Past? +Iron will fuse, and marble melt; the Past +Remains the Past. But you are young, and--pardon me-- +As lovely as your sister. Who can tell +What golden hours, with what full hands, may be +Waiting you in the distance? Might I call +Upon your father--I have seen the world-- +And cheer his blindness with a traveller's tales? + +DORA. +Call if you will, and when you will. I cannot +Well answer for my father; but if you +Can tell me anything of our sweet Eva +When in her brighter girlhood, I at least +Will bid you welcome, and will listen to you. +Now I must go. + +HAROLD. + But give me first your hand: +I do not dare, like an old friend, to shake it. +I kiss it as a prelude to that privilege +When you shall know me better. + +DORA. + (_Aside_.) How beautiful +His manners are, and how unlike the farmer's! +You are staying here? + +HAROLD. + Yes, at the wayside inn +Close by that alder-island in your brook, +'The Angler's Home.' + +DORA. + Are _you_ one? + +HAROLD. + No, but I +Take some delight in sketching, and the country +Has many charms, altho' the inhabitants +Seem semi-barbarous. + +DORA. + I am glad it pleases you; +Yet I, born here, not only love the country, +But its inhabitants too; and you, I doubt not, +Would take to them as kindly, if you cared +To live some time among them. + +HAROLD. + If I did, +Then one at least of its inhabitants +Might have more charm for me than all the country. + +DORA. +That one, then, should be grateful for your preference. + +HAROLD. +I cannot tell, tho' standing in her presence. +(_Aside_.) She colours! + +DORA. + Sir! + +HAROLD. + Be not afraid of me, +For these are no conventional flourishes. +I do most earnestly assure you that +Your likeness-- + [_Shouts and cries without_. + +DORA. +What was that? my poor blind father-- + + _Enter_ FARMING MAN. + +FARMING MAN. +Miss Dora, Dan Smith's cart hes runned ower a laaedy i' the holler +laaene, and they ha' ta'en the body up inter your chaumber, and they be +all a-callin' for ye. + +DORA. +The body!--Heavens! I come! + +HAROLD. + But you are trembling. +Allow me to go with you to the farm. [_Exeunt_. + + _Enter_ DOBSON. + +DOBSON. +What feller wur it as 'a' been a-talkin' fur haaefe an hour wi' my +Dora? (_Looking after him_.) Seeaems I ommost knaws the back on 'im-- +drest like a gentleman, too. Damn all gentlemen, says I! I should ha' +thowt they'd hed anew o' gentlefoaelk, as I telled 'er to-daaey when she +fell foul upo' me. + +Minds ma o' summun. I could sweaer to that; but that be all one, fur I +haaetes 'im afoor I knaws what 'e be. Theer! he turns round. Philip +Hedgar o' Soomerset! Philip Hedgar o' Soomerset!--Noae--yeas--thaw the +feller's gone and maaede such a litter of his faaece. + +Eh lad, if it be thou, I'll Philip tha! a-plaaeyin' the saaeme gaaeme wi' +my Dora--I'll Soomerset tha. + +I'd like to drag 'im thruff the herse-pond, and she to be a-lookin' at +it. I'd like to leather 'im black and blue, and she to be a-laughin' +at it. I'd like to fell 'im as deaed as a bullock! (_Clenching his +fist_.) But what 'ud she saaey to that? She telled me once not to +meddle wi' 'im, and now she be fallen out wi' ma, and I can't coom at +'er. + +It mun be _him_. Noae! Fur she'd niver 'a been talkin' haaefe an hour +wi' the divil 'at killed her oaen sister, or she beaent Dora Steer. + +Yeas! Fur she niver knawed 'is faaece when 'e wur 'ere afoor; but I'll +maaeke 'er knaw! I'll maaeke 'er knaw! + + _Enter_ HAROLD. + +Naaey, but I mun git out on 'is waaey now, or I shall be the death on +'im. [_Exit_. + +HAROLD. +How the clown glared at me! that Dobbins, is it, +With whom I used to jar? but can he trace me +Thro' five years' absence, and my change of name, +The tan of southern summers and the beard? +I may as well avoid him. + Ladylike! +Lilylike in her stateliness and sweetness! +How came she by it?--a daughter of the fields, +This Dora! +She gave her hand, unask'd, at the farm-gate; +I almost think she half return'd the pressure +Of mine. What, I that held the orange blossom +Dark as the yew? but may not those, who march +Before their age, turn back at times, and make +Courtesy to custom? and now the stronger motive, +Misnamed free-will--the crowd would call it conscience-- +Moves me--to what? I am dreaming; for the past +Look'd thro' the present, Eva's eyes thro' her's-- +A spell upon me! Surely I loved Eva +More than I knew! or is it but the past +That brightens in retiring? Oh, last night, +Tired, pacing my new lands at Littlechester, +I dozed upon the bridge, and the black river +Flow'd thro' my dreams--if dreams they were. She rose +From the foul flood and pointed toward the farm, +And her cry rang to me across the years, +'I call you, Philip Edgar, Philip Edgar! +Come, you will set all right again, and father +Will not die miserable.' I could make his age +A comfort to him--so be more at peace +With mine own self. Some of my former friends +Would find my logic faulty; let them. Colour +Flows thro' my life again, and I have lighted +On a new pleasure. Anyhow we must +Move in the line of least resistance when +The stronger motive rules. + But she hates Edgar. +May not this Dobbins, or some other, spy +Edgar in Harold? Well then, I must make her +Love Harold first, and then she will forgive +Edgar for Harold's sake. She said herself +She would forgive him, by-and-by, not now-- +For her own sake _then_, if not for mine--not now-- +But by-and-by. + + _Enter_ DOBSON _behind_. + +DOBSON. +By-and-by--eh, lad, dosta knaw this paaeper? Ye dropt it upo' the road. +'Philip Edgar, Esq.' Ay, you be a pretty squire. I ha' fun' ye out, I +hev. Eh, lad, dosta knaw what tha meaens wi' by-and-by? Fur if ye be +goin' to sarve our Dora as ye sarved our Eva--then, by-and-by, if she +weaent listen to me when I be a-tryin' to saaeve 'er--if she weaent--look +to thysen, for, by the Lord, I'd think na moor o' maaekin' an end o' +tha nor a carrion craw--noae--thaw they hanged ma at 'Size fur it. + +HAROLD. +Dobbins, I think! + +DOBSON. +I beaent Dobbins. + +HAROLD. +Nor am I Edgar, my good fellow. + +DOBSON. +Tha lies! What hasta been saaeyin' to _my_ Dora? + +HAROLD. +I have been telling her of the death of one Philip Edgar of Toft Hall, +Somerset. + +DOBSON. +Tha lies! + +HAROLD (_pulling out a newspaper_). +Well, my man, it seems that you can read. Look there--under the deaths. + +DOBSON. +'O' the 17th, Philip Edgar, o' Toft Hall, Soomerset.' How coom thou to +be sa like 'im, then? + +HAROLD. +Naturally enough; for I am closely related to the dead man's family. + +DOBSON. +An 'ow coom thou by the letter to 'im? + +HAROLD. +Naturally again; for as I used to transact all his business for him, I +had to look over his letters. Now then, see these (_takes out +letters_). Half a score of them, all directed to me--Harold. + +DOBSON. +'Arold! 'Arold! 'Arold, so they be. + +HAROLD. +My name is Harold! Good day, Dobbins! + [_Exit_. +DOBSON. +'Arold! The feller's cleaen daaezed, an' maaezed, an' maaeted, an' muddled +ma. Deaed! It mun be true, fur it wur i' print as black as owt. Naaeay, +but 'Good daaey, Dobbins.' Why, that wur the very twang on 'im. Eh, +lad, but whether thou be Hedgar, or Hedgar's business man, thou hesn't +naw business 'ere wi' _my_ Dora, as I knaws on, an' whether thou calls +thysen Hedgar or Harold, if thou stick to she I'll stick to thee-- +stick to tha like a weasel to a rabbit, I will. Ay! and I'd like to +shoot tha like a rabbit an' all. 'Good daaey, Dobbins.' Dang tha! + + + + +ACT III. + + +SCENE.--_A room in_ STEER'S _House. Door leading into bedroom at the +back_. + + +DORA (_ringing a handbell_). +Milly! + + _Enter_ MILLY. + +MILLY. +The little 'ymn? Yeaes, Miss; but I wur so ta'en up wi' leaedin' the owd +man about all the blessed murnin' 'at I ha' nobbut larned mysen haaefe +on it. + + 'O man, forgive thy mortal foe, + Nor ever strike him blow for blow; + For all the souls on earth that live + To be forgiven must forgive. + Forgive him seventy times and seven: + For all the blessed souls in Heaven + Are both forgivers and forgiven.' + +But I'll git the book ageaen, and larn mysen the rest, and saaey it to +ye afoor dark; ye ringed fur that, Miss, didn't ye? + +DORA. +No, Milly; but if the farming-men be come for their wages, to send +them up to me. + +MILLY. +Yeaes, Miss. [_Exit. + +DORA (_sitting at desk counting money_). +Enough at any rate for the present. (_Enter_ FARMING MEN.) Good +afternoon, my friends. I am sorry Mr. Steer still continues too unwell +to attend to you, but the schoolmaster looked to the paying you your +wages when I was away, didn't he? + +MEN. +Yeaes; and thanks to ye. + +DORA. +Some of our workmen have left us, but he sent me an alphabetical list +of those that remain, so, Allen, I may as well begin with you. + +ALLEN (_with his hand to his ear_). +Halfabitical! Taaeke one o' the young 'uns fust, Miss, fur I be a bit +deaf, and I wur hallus scaaered by a big word; leaestwaaeys, I should be +wi' a lawyer. + +DORA. +I spoke of your names, Allen, as they are arranged here (_shows +book_)--according to their first letters. + +ALLEN. +Letters! Yeas, I sees now. Them be what they larns the childer' at +school, but I were burn afoor schoolin-time. + +DORA. +But, Allen, tho' you can't read, you could whitewash that cottage of +yours where your grandson had the fever. + +ALLEN. +I'll hev it done o' Monday. + +DORA. +Else if the fever spread, the parish will have to thank you for it. + +ALLEN. +Meae? why, it be the Lord's doin', noaen o' mine; d'ye think _I'd_ gi'e +'em the fever? But I thanks ye all the saaeme, Miss. (_Takes money_.) + +DORA (_calling out names_). +Higgins, Jackson, Luscombe, Nokes, Oldham, Skipworth! (_All take +money_.) Did you find that you worked at all the worse upon the cold +tea than you would have done upon the beer? + +HIGGINS. +Noae, Miss; we worked naw wuss upo' the cowd tea; but we'd ha' worked +better upo' the beer. + +DORA. +Come, come, you worked well enough, and I am much obliged to all of +you. There's for you, and you, and you. Count the money and see if +it's all right. + +MEN. +All right, Miss; and thank ye kindly. + + [_Exeunt_ LUSCOMBE, NOKES, OLDHAM, SKIPWORTH. + +DORA. +Dan Smith, my father and I forgave you stealing our coals. + + [DAN SMITH _advances to_ DORA. + +DAN SMITH (_bellowing_). +Whoy, O lor, Miss! that wur sa long back, and the walls sa thin, and +the winders brokken, and the weather sa cowd, and my missus a-gittin' +ower 'er lyin'-in. + +DORA. +Didn't I say that we had forgiven you? But, Dan Smith, they tell me +that you--and you have six children--spent all your last Saturday's +wages at the ale-house; that you were stupid drunk all Sunday, and so +ill in consequence all Monday, that you did not come into the +hayfield. Why should I pay you your full wages? + +DAN SMITH. +I be ready to taaeke the pledge. + +DORA. +And as ready to break it again. Besides it was you that were driving +the cart--and I fear you were tipsy then, too--when you lamed the lady +in the hollow lane. + +DAN SMITH (_bellowing_). +O lor, Miss! noae, noae, noae! Ye sees the holler laaene be hallus sa dark +i' the arternoon, and wheere the big eshtree cuts athurt it, it gi'es +a turn like, and 'ow should I see to laaeme the laaedy, and meae coomin' +along pretty sharp an' all? + +DORA. +Well, there are your wages; the next time you waste them at a pothouse +you get no more from me. (_Exit_ DAN SMITH.) Sally Allen, you worked +for Mr. Dobson, didn't you? + +SALLY (_advancing_). +Yeaes, Miss; but he wur so rough wi' ma, I couldn't abide 'im. + +DORA. +Why should he be rough with you? You are as good as a man in the +hayfield. What's become of your brother? + +SALLY. +'Listed for a soaedger, Miss, i' the Queen's Real Hard Tillery. + +DORA. +And your sweetheart--when are you and he to be married? + +SALLY. +At Michaelmas, Miss, please God. + +DORA. +You are an honest pair. I will come to your wedding. + +SALLY. +An' I thanks ye fur that, Miss, moor nor fur the waaege. + +(_Going--returns_.) + +'A cotched ma about the waaeist, Miss, when 'e wur 'ere afoor, an' axed +ma to be 'is little sweet-art, an soae I knaw'd 'im when I seed 'im +ageaen an I telled feyther on 'im. + +DORA. +What is all this, Allen? + +ALLEN. +Why, Miss Dora, meae and my maaetes, us three, we wants to hev three +words wi' ye. + +HIGGINS. +That be 'im, and meae, Miss. + +JACKSON. +An' meae, Miss. + +ALLEN. +An' we weaent mention naw naaemes, we'd as lief talk o' the Divil afoor +ye as 'im, fur they says the master goaes cleaen off his 'eaed when he +'eaers the naaeme on 'im; but us three, arter Sally'd telled us on 'im, +we fun' 'im out a-walkin' i' West Field wi' a white 'at, nine o'clock, +upo' Tuesday murnin', and all on us, wi' your leave, we wants to +leather 'im. + +DORA. +Who? + +ALLEN. +Him as did the mischief here, five year' sin'. + +DORA. +Mr. Edgar? + +ALLEN. +Theer, Miss! You ha' naaemed 'im--not me. + +DORA. +He's dead, man--dead; gone to his account--dead and buried. + +ALLEN. +I beae'nt sa sewer o' that, fur Sally knaw'd 'im; Now then? + +DORA. +Yes; it was in the Somersetshire papers. + +ALLEN. +Then yon mun be his brother, an'--we'll leather '_im_. + +DORA. +I never heard that he had a brother. Some foolish mistake of Sally's; +but what! would you beat a man for his brother's fault? That were a +wild justice indeed. Let bygones be bygones. Go home.' Goodnight! +(_All exeunt_.) I have once more paid them all. The work of the farm +will go on still, but for how long? We are almost at the bottom of the +well: little more to be drawn from it--and what then? Encumbered as we +are, who would lend us anything? We shall have to sell all the land, +which Father, for a whole life, has been getting together, again, and +that, I am sure, would be the death of him. What am I to do? Farmer +Dobson, were I to marry him, has promised to keep our heads above +water; and the man has doubtless a good heart, and a true and lasting +love for me: yet--though I can be sorry for him--as the good Sally +says, 'I can't abide him'--almost brutal, and matched with my Harold +is like a hedge thistle by a garden rose. But then, he, too--will he +ever be of one faith with his wife? which is my dream of a true +marriage. Can I fancy him kneeling with me, and uttering the same +prayer; standing up side by side with me, and singing the same hymn? I +fear not. Have I done wisely, then, in accepting him? But may not a +girl's love-dream have too much romance in it to be realised all at +once, or altogether, or anywhere but in Heaven? And yet I had once a +vision of a pure and perfect marriage, where the man and the woman, +only differing as the stronger and the weaker, should walk hand in +hand together down this valley of tears, as they call it so truly, to +the grave at the bottom, and lie down there together in the darkness +which would seem but for a moment, to be wakened again together by the +light of the resurrection, and no more partings for ever and for ever. +(_Walks up and down. She sings_.) + + 'O happy lark, that warblest high + Above thy lowly nest, + O brook, that brawlest merrily by + Thro' fields that once were blest, + O tower spiring to the sky, + O graves in daisies drest, + O Love and Life, how weary am I, + And how I long for rest.' + +There, there, I am a fool! Tears! I have sometimes been moved to tears +by a chapter of fine writing in a novel; but what have I to do with +tears now? All depends on me--Father, this poor girl, the farm, +everything; and they both love me--I am all in all to both; and he +loves me too, I am quite sure of that. Courage, courage! and all will +go well. (_Goes to bedroom door; opens it_.) How dark your room is! +Let me bring you in here where there is still full daylight. (_Brings_ +EVA _forward_.) Why, you look better. + +EVA. +And I feel so much better that I trust I may be able by-and-by to help +you in the business of the farm; but I must not be known yet. Has +anyone found me out, Dora? + +DORA. +Oh, no; you kept your veil too close for that when they carried you +in; since then, no one has seen you but myself. + +EVA. +Yes--this Milly. + +DORA. +Poor blind Father's little guide, Milly, who came to us three years +after you were gone, how should she know you? But now that you have +been brought to us as it were from the grave, dearest Eva, and have +been here so long, will you not speak with Father today? + +EVA. +Do you think that I may? No, not yet. I am not equal to it yet. + +DORA. +Why? Do you still suffer from your fall in the hollow lane? + +EVA. +Bruised; but no bones broken. + +DORA. +I have always told Father that the huge old ashtree there would cause +an accident some day; but he would never cut it down, because one of +the Steers had planted it there in former times. + +EVA. +If it had killed one of the Steers there the other day, it might have +been better for her, for him, and for you. + +DORA. +Come, come, keep a good heart! Better for me! That's good. How better +for me? + +EVA. +You tell me you have a lover. Will he not fly from you if he learn the +story of my shame and that I am still living? + +DORA. +No; I am sure that when we are married he will be willing that you and +Father should live with us; for, indeed, he tells me that he met you +once in the old times, and was much taken with you, my dear. + +EVA. +Taken with me; who was he? Have you told him I am here? + +DORA. +No; do you wish it? + +EVA. +See, Dora; you yourself are ashamed of me (_weeps_), and I do not +wonder at it. + +DORA. +But I should wonder at myself if it were so. Have we not been all in +all to one another from the time when we first peeped into the bird's +nest, waded in the brook, ran after the butterflies, and prattled to +each other that we would marry fine gentlemen, and played at being +fine ladies? + +EVA. +That last was my Father's fault, poor man. And this lover of yours-- +this Mr. Harold--is a gentleman? + +DORA. +That he is, from head to foot. I do believe I lost my heart to him the +very first time we met, and I love him so much-- + +EVA. +Poor Dora! + +DORA. +That I dare not tell him how much I love him. + +EVA. +Better not. Has he offered you marriage, this gentleman? + +DORA +Could I love him else? + +EVA. +And are you quite sure that after marriage this gentleman will not be +shamed of his poor farmer's daughter among the ladies in his +drawing-room? + +DORA. +Shamed of me in a drawing-room! Wasn't Miss Vavasour, our +schoolmistress at Littlechester, a lady born? Were not our +fellow-pupils all ladies? Wasn't dear mother herself at least by one +side a lady? Can't I speak like a lady; pen a letter like a lady; talk +a little French like a lady; play a little like a lady? Can't a girl +when she loves her husband, and he her, make herself anything he +wishes her to be? Shamed of me in a drawing-room, indeed! See here! 'I +hope your Lordship is quite recovered of your gout?' (_Curtsies_.) +'Will your Ladyship ride to cover to-day? (_Curtsies_.) I can +recommend our Voltigeur.' 'I am sorry that we could not attend your +Grace's party on the 10th!' (_Curtsies_.) There, I am glad my nonsense +has made you smile! + +EVA. +I have heard that 'your Lordship,' and 'your Ladyship,' and 'your +Grace' are all growing old-fashioned! + +DORA. +But the love of sister for sister can never be old-fashioned. I have +been unwilling to trouble you with questions, but you seem somewhat +better to-day. We found a letter in your bedroom torn into bits. I +couldn't make it out. What was it? + +EVA. +From him! from him! He said we had been most happy together, and he +trusted that some time we should meet again, for he had not forgotten +his promise to come when I called him. But that was a mockery, you +know, for he gave me no address, and there was no word of marriage; +and, O Dora, he signed himself 'Yours gratefully'--fancy, Dora, +'gratefully'! 'Yours gratefully'! + +DORA. +Infamous wretch! (_Aside_.) Shall I tell her he is dead? No; she is +still too feeble. + +EVA. +Hark! Dora, some one is coming. I cannot and I will not see anybody. + +DORA. +It is only Milly. + + _Enter_ MILLY, _with basket of roses_. + +DORA. +Well, Milly, why do you come in so roughly? The sick lady here might +have been asleep. + +MILLY. +Pleaese, Miss, Mr. Dobson telled me to saaey he's browt some of Miss +Eva's roses for the sick laaedy to smell on. + +DORA. +Take them, dear. Say that the sick lady thanks him! Is he here? + +MILLY. +Yeaes, Miss; and he wants to speaek to ye partic'lar, + +DORA. +Tell him I cannot leave the sick lady just yet. + +MILLY. +Yea's, Miss; but he says he wants to tell ye summut very partic'lar. + +DORA. +Not to-day. What are you staying for? + +MILLY. +Why, Miss, I be afeard I shall set him a-sweaering like onythink. + +DORA. +And what harm will that do you, so that you do not copy his bad +manners? Go, child. (_Exit_ MILLY.) But, Eva, why did you write 'Seek +me at the bottom of the river'? + +EVA. +Why? because I meant it!--that dreadful night! that lonely walk to +Littlechester, the rain beating in my face all the way, dead midnight +when I came upon the bridge; the river, black, slimy, swirling under +me in the lamplight, by the rotten wharfs--but I was so mad, that I +mounted upon the parapet-- + +DORA. +You make me shudder! + +EVA. +To fling myself over, when I heard a voice, 'Girl, what are you doing +there? It was a Sister of Mercy, come from the death-bed of a pauper, +who had died in his misery blessing God, and the Sister took me to her +house, and bit by bit--for she promised secrecy--I told her all. + +DORA. +And what then? + +EVA. +She would have persuaded me to come back here, but I couldn't. Then +she got me a place as nursery governess, and when the children grew +too old for me, and I asked her once more to help me, once more she +said, 'Go home;' but I hadn't the heart or face to do it. And then-- +what would Father say? I sank so low that I went into service--the +drudge of a lodging-house--and when the mistress died, and I appealed +to the Sister again, her answer--I think I have it about me--yes, +there it is! + +DORA (_reads_). +'My dear Child,--I can do no more for you. I +have done wrong in keeping your secret; your Father +must be now in extreme old age. Go back to him and +ask his forgiveness before he dies.--SISTER AGATHA.' +Sister Agatha is right. Don't you long for Father's +forgiveness? + +EVA. +I would almost die to have it! + +DORA. +And he may die before he gives it; may drop off any day, any hour. You +must see him at once. (_Rings bell. Enter_ MILLY.) Milly, my dear, how +did you leave Mr. Steer? + +MILLY. +He's been a-moaenin' and a-groaenin' in 'is sleep, but I thinks he be +wakkenin' oop. + +DORA. +Tell him that I and the lady here wish to see him. You see she is +lamed, and cannot go down to him. + +MILLY. +Yeaes, Miss, I will. [_Exit_ MILLY. + +DORA. +I ought to prepare you. You must not expect to find our Father as he +was five years ago. He is much altered; but I trust that your return-- +for you know, my dear, you were always his favourite--will give him, +as they say, a new lease of life. + +EVA (_clinging to_ DORA). +Oh, Dora, Dora! + + _Enter_ STEER, _led by_ MILLY. + +STEER. +Hes the cow cawved? + +DORA. +No. Father. + +STEER. +Be the colt deaed? + +DORA. +No, Father. + +STEER. +He wur sa bellows'd out wi' the wind this murnin', 'at I tell'd 'em to +gallop 'im. Be he deaed? + +DORA. +Not that I know. + +STEER. +That hasta sent fur me, then, fur? + +DORA (_taking_ STEER'S _arm_). +Well, Father, I have a surprise for you. + +STEER. +I ha niver been surprised but once i' my life, and I went blind +upon it. + +DORA. +Eva has come home. + +STEER. +Hoaem? fro' the bottom o' the river? + +DORA. +No, Father, that was a mistake. She's here again. + +STEER. +The Steers was all gentlefoaelks i' the owd times, an' I worked early +an' laaete to maaeke 'em all gentle-foaelks ageaen. The land belonged to +the Steers i' the owd times, an' it belongs to the Steers ageaen: I +bowt it back ageaen; but I couldn't buy my darter back ageaen when she +lost hersen, could I? I eddicated boaeth on em to marry gentlemen, an' +one on 'em went an' lost hersen i' the river. + +DORA. +No, father, she's here. + +STEER. +Here! she moaent coom here. What would her mother saaey? If it be her +ghoaest, we mun abide it. We can't keep a ghoaest out. + +EVA (_falling at his feet_). +O forgive me! forgive me! + +STEER. +Who said that? Taaeke me awaaey, little gell. It be one o' my bad daaeys. + [_Exit_ STEER _led by_ MILLY. + +DORA (_smoothing_ EVA'S _forehead_). +Be not so cast down, my sweet Eva. You heard him say it was one of his +bad days. He will be sure to know you to-morrow. + +EVA. +It is almost the last of my bad days, I think. I am very faint. I must +lie down. Give me your arm. Lead me back again. + [DORA _takes_ EVA _into inner room_. + + _Enter_ MILLY. + +MILLY. +Miss Dora! Miss Dora! + +DORA (_returning and leaving the bedroom door ajar_). +Quiet! quiet! What is it? + +MILLY. +Mr. 'Arold, Miss. + +DORA. +Below? + +MILLY. +Yeaes, Miss. He be saaeyin' a word to the owd man, but he'll coom up if +ye lets 'im. + +DORA. +Tell him, then, that I'm waiting for him. + +MILLY. +Yeaes, Miss. + [_Exit_. DORA _sits pensively and waits_. + + _Enter_ HAROLD. + +HAROLD. +You are pale, my Dora! but the ruddiest cheek +That ever charm'd the plowman of your wolds +Might wish its rose a lily, could it look +But half as lovely. I was speaking with +Your father, asking his consent--you wish'd me-- +That we should marry: he would answer nothing, +I could make nothing of him; but, my flower, +You look so weary and so worn! What is it +Has put you out of heart? + +DORA. + It puts me in heart +Again to see you; but indeed the state +Of my poor father puts me out of heart. +Is yours yet living? + +HAROLD. + No--I told you. + +DORA. + When? + +HAROLD. +Confusion!--Ah well, well! the state we all +Must come to in our spring-and-winter world +If we live long enough! and poor Steer looks +The very type of Age in a picture, bow'd +To the earth he came from, to the grave he goes to, +Beneath the burthen of years. + +DORA. +More like the picture +Of Christian in my 'Pilgrim's Progress' here, +Bow'd to the dust beneath the burthen of sin. + +HAROLD. +Sin! What sin? + +DORA. + Not his own. + +HAROLD. + That nursery-tale +Still read, then? + +DORA. + Yes; our carters and our shepherds +Still find a comfort there. + +HAROLD. + Carters and shepherds! + +DORA. +Scorn! I hate scorn. A soul with no religion-- +My mother used to say that such a one +Was without rudder, anchor, compass--might be +Blown everyway with every gust and wreck +On any rock; and tho' you are good and gentle, +Yet if thro' any want-- + +HAROLD. + Of this religion? +Child, read a little history, you will find +The common brotherhood of man has been +Wrong'd by the cruelties of his religions +More than could ever have happen'd thro' the want +Of any or all of them. + +DORA. + --But, O dear friend, +If thro' the want of any--I mean the true one-- +And pardon me for saying it--you should ever +Be tempted into doing what might seem +Not altogether worthy of you, I think +That I should break my heart, for you have taught me +To love you. + +HAROLD. + What is this? some one been stirring +Against me? he, your rustic amourist, +The polish'd Damon of your pastoral here, +This Dobson of your idyll? + +DORA. + No, Sir, no! +Did you not tell me he was crazed with jealousy, +Had threaten'd ev'n your life, and would say anything? +Did _I_ not promise not to listen to him, +Not ev'n to see the man? + +HAROLD. + Good; then what is it +That makes you talk so dolefully? + +DORA. + I told you-- +My father. Well, indeed, a friend just now, +One that has been much wrong'd, whose griefs are +mine, + +Was warning me that if a gentleman +Should wed a farmer's daughter, he would be +Sooner or later shamed of her among +The ladies, born his equals. + +HAROLD. + More fool he! +What I that have been call'd a Socialist, +A Communist, a Nihilist--what you will!-- + +DORA. +What are all these? + +HAROLD. + Utopian idiotcies. +They did not last three Junes. Such rampant weeds +Strangle each other, die, and make the soil +For Caesars, Cromwells, and Napoleons +To root their power in. I have freed myself +From all such dreams, and some will say because +I have inherited my Uncle. Let them. +But--shamed of you, my Empress! I should prize +The pearl of Beauty, 'even if I found it +Dark with the soot of slums. + +DORA. + But I can tell you, +We Steers are of old blood, tho' we be fallen. +See there our shield. (_Pointing to arms on mantelpiece_.) +For I have heard the Steers +Had land in Saxon times; and your own name +Of Harold sounds so English and so old +I am sure you must be proud of it. + +HAROLD. + Not I! +As yet I scarcely feel it mine. I took it +For some three thousand acres. I have land now +And wealth, and lay both at your feet. + +DORA. + And _what_ was +Your name before? + +HAROLD. + Come, come, my girl, enough +Of this strange talk. I love you and you me. +True, I have held opinions, hold some still, +Which you would scarce approve of: for all that, +I am a man not prone to jealousies, +Caprices, humours, moods; but very ready +To make allowances, and mighty slow +To feel offences. Nay, I do believe +I could forgive--well, almost anything-- +And that more freely than your formal priest, +Because I know more fully than _he_ can +What poor earthworms are all and each of us, +Here crawling in this boundless Nature. Dora, +If marriage ever brought a woman happiness +I doubt not I can make you happy. + +DORA. + You make me +Happy already. + +HAROLD. + And I never said +As much before to any woman living. + +DORA. +No? + +HAROLD. + No! by this true kiss, _you_ are the first +I ever have loved truly. [_They kiss each other_. + +EVA (_with a wild cry_). +Philip Edgar! + +HAROLD. +The phantom cry! _You_--did _you_ hear a cry? + +DORA. +She must be crying out 'Edgar' in her sleep. + +HAROLD. +Who must be crying out 'Edgar' in her sleep? + +DORA. +Your pardon for a minute. She must be waked. + +HAROLD +Who must be waked? + +DORA. + I am not deaf: you fright me. +What ails you? + +HAROLD. + Speak. + +DORA. + You know her, Eva. + +HAROLD. + Eva! + [EVA _opens the door and stands in the entry_. +She! + +EVA. + Make her happy, then, and I forgive you. + [_Falls dead_. + +DORA. +Happy! What? Edgar? Is it so? Can it be? +They told me so. Yes, yes! I see it all now. +O she has fainted. Sister, Eva, sister! +He is yours again--he will love _you_ again; +I give him back to you again. Look up! +One word, or do but smile! Sweet, do you hear me? + [_Puts her hand on_ EVA'S _heart_. +There, there--the heart, O God!--the poor young heart +Broken at last--all still--and nothing left +To live for. + [_Falls on body of her sister_. + +HAROLD. + Living ... dead ... She said 'all still. +Nothing to live for.' + She--she knows me--now ... + (_A pause_.) +She knew me from the first, she juggled with me, +She hid this sister, told me she was dead-- +I have wasted pity on her--not dead now-- +No! acting, playing on me, both of them. +_They_ drag the river for her! no, not they! +Playing on me--not dead now--a swoon--a scene-- +Yet--how she made her wail as for the dead! + + _Enter_ MILLY. + +MILLY. +Pleaese, Mister 'Arold. + +HAROLD (_roughly_). +Well? + +MlLLY. +The owd man's coom'd ageaen to 'issen, an' wants +To hev a word wi' ye about the marriage. + +HAROLD. +The what? + +MILLY. + The marriage. + +HAROLD. + The marriage? + +MILLY. + Yeaes, the marriage. +Granny says marriages be maaede i' 'eaven. + +HAROLD. +She lies! They are made in Hell. Child, can't you see? +Tell them to fly for a doctor. + +MILLY. + O law--yeaes, Sir! +I'll run fur 'im mysen. [_Exit_. + +HAROLD. + All silent there, +Yes, deathlike! Dead? I dare not look: if dead, +Were it best to steal away, to spare myself, +And her too, pain, pain, pain? + My curse on all +This world of mud, on all its idiot gleams +Of pleasure, all the foul fatalities +That blast our natural passions into pains! + + _Enter_ DOBSON. + +DOBSON. +You, Master Hedgar, Harold, or whativer +They calls ye, for I warrants that ye goaes +By haaefe a scoor o' naaemes--out o' the chaumber. + [_Dragging him past the body_. + +HAROLD. +Not that way, man! Curse on your brutal strength! +I cannot pass that way. + +DOBSON. + Out o' the chaumber! +I'll mash tha into nowt. + +HAROLD. + The mere wild-beast! + +DOBSON. +Out o' the chaumber, dang tha! + +HAROLD. +Lout, churl, clown! + + [_While they are shouting and struggling_ DORA + _rises and comes between them_. + +DORA (_to_ DOBSON). +Peace, let him be: it is the chamber of Death! +Sir, you are tenfold more a gentleman, +A hundred times more worth a woman's love, +Than this, this--but I waste no words upon him: +His wickedness is like my wretchedness-- +Beyond all language. + (_To_ HAROLD.) + You--you see her there! +Only fifteen when first you came on her, +And then the sweetest flower of all the wolds, +So lovely in the promise of her May, +So winsome in her grace and gaiety, +So loved by all the village people here, +So happy in herself and in her home-- + +DOBSON (_agitated_). +Theer, theer! ha' done. I can't abeaer to see her. + [_Exit_. + +DORA. +A child, and all as trustful as a child! +Five years of shame and suffering broke the heart +That only beat for you; and he, the father, +Thro' that dishonour which you brought upon us, +Has lost his health, his eyesight, even his mind. + +HAROLD (_covering his face_). +Enough! + +DORA. + It seem'd so; only there was left +A second daughter, and to her you came +Veiling one sin to act another. + +HAROLD. + No! +You wrong me there! hear, hear me! I wish'd, if you-- [_Pauses_. + +DORA. +If I-- + +HAROLD. + Could love me, could be brought to love me +As I loved you-- + +DORA. + What then? + +HAROLD. + I wish'd, I hoped +To make, to make-- + +DORA. + _What_ did you hope to make? + +HAROLD. +'Twere best to make an end of my lost life. +O Dora, Dora! + +DORA. + _What_ did you hope to make? + +HAROLD. +Make, make! I cannot find the word--forgive it-- +Amends. + +DORA. + For what? to whom? + +HAROLD. + To him, to you! + [_Falling at her feet_. + +DORA. +To _him_! to _me_! + No, not with all your wealth, +Your land, your life! Out in the fiercest storm +That ever made earth tremble--he, nor I-- +The shelter of _your_ roof--not for one moment-- +Nothing from _you_! +Sunk in the deepest pit of pauperism, +Push'd from all doors as if we bore the plague, +Smitten with fever in the open field, +Laid famine-stricken at the gates of Death-- +Nothing from you! +But she there--her last word +Forgave--and I forgive you. If you ever +Forgive yourself, you are even lower and baser +Than even I can well believe you. Go! + + [_He lies at her feet. Curtain falls_. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Becket and other plays, by Alfred Lord Tennyson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BECKET AND OTHER PLAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 9162.txt or 9162.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/1/6/9162/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Tapio Riikonen and Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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