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diff --git a/old/mrhld10.txt b/old/mrhld10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f5658c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mrhld10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10341 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Mary and Harold, by Alfred Lord Tennyson +#7 in our series by Alfred Lord Tennyson + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Queen Mary and Harold + +Author: Alfred Lord Tennyson + +Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9176] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 11, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN MARY AND HAROLD *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Tapio Riikonen and Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +QUEEN MARY and HAROLD + +BY + +ALFRED LORD TENNYSON, POET LAUREATE + + +[Illustration] + + + +CONTENTS + +QUEEN MARY: A DRAMA +HAROLD: A DRAMA + + + +QUEEN MARY: A DRAMA. + + + +_DRAMATIS PERSONAE_ + +QUEEN MARY. +PHILIP, _King of Naples and Sicily, afterwards King of Spain_. +THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH. +REGINALD POLE, _Cardinal and Papal Legate_. +SIMON RENARD, _Spanish Ambassador_. +LE SIEUR DE NOAILLES, _French Ambassador_. +THOMAS CRANMER, _Archbishop of Canterbury_. +SIR NICHOLAS HEATH, _Archbishop of York; Lord Chancellor after Gardiner_. +EDWARD COURTENAY, _Earl of Devon_. +LORD WILLIAM HOWARD, _afterwards Lord Howard, and Lord High Admiral_. +LORD WILLIAMS OF THAME. +LORD PAGET. +LORD PETRE. +STEPHEN GARDINER, _Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor_. +EDMUND BONNER, _Bishop of London_. +THOMAS THIRLBY, _Bishop of Ely_. +SIR THOMAS WYATT | +SIR THOMAS STAFFORD | _Insurrectionary Leaders_. +SIR RALPH BAGENHALL. +SIR ROBERT SOUTHWELL. +SIR HENRY BEDINGFIELD. +SIR WILLIAM CECIL. +SIR THOMAS WHITE, _Lord Mayor of London_. +THE DUKE OF ALVA | +THE COUNT DE FERIA | _attending on Philip_. +PETER MARTYR. +FATHER COLE. +FATHER BOURNE. +VILLA GARCIA. +SOTO. +CAPTAIN BRETT | +ANTHONY KNYVETT | _Adherents of Wyatt_. +PETERS, _Gentleman of Lord Howard_. +ROGER, _Servant to Noailles_. +WILLIAM, _Servant to Wyatt_. +STEWARD OF HOUSEHOLD _to the Princess Elizabeth_. +OLD NOKES _and_ NOKES. +MARCHIONESS OF EXETER, _Mother of Courtenay_. +LADY CLARENCE | +LADY MAGDALEN DACRES | _Ladies in Waiting to the Queen_. +ALICE | _to the Princess Elizabeth_. +MAID OF HONOUR | +JOAN | +TIB | _two Country Wives_. + +Lords _and other_ Attendants, Members _of the_ Privy Council, +Members _of_ Parliament, Two Gentlemen, Aldermen, +Citizens, Peasants, Ushers, Messengers, Guards, Pages, +Gospellers, Marshalmen, _etc_. + + + +QUEEN MARY. + + + + +ACT I. + + +SCENE I.--ALDGATE RICHLY DECORATED. + +CROWD. MARSHALMEN. + + +MARSHALMAN. Stand back, keep a clear lane! When will her Majesty pass, +sayst thou? why now, even now; wherefore draw back your heads and your +horns before I break them, and make what noise you will with your +tongues, so it be not treason. Long live Queen Mary, the lawful and +legitimate daughter of Harry the Eighth! Shout, knaves! + +CITIZENS. Long live Queen Mary! + +FIRST CITIZEN. That's a hard word, legitimate; what does it mean? + +SECOND CITIZEN. It means a bastard. + +THIRD CITIZEN. Nay, it means true-born. + +FIRST CITIZEN. Why, didn't the Parliament make her a bastard? + +SECOND CITIZEN. No; it was the Lady Elizabeth. + +THIRD CITIZEN. That was after, man; that was after. + +FIRST CITIZEN. Then which is the bastard? + +SECOND CITIZEN. Troth, they be both bastards by Act of Parliament and +Council. + +THIRD CITIZEN. Ay, the Parliament can make every true-born man of us a +bastard. Old Nokes, can't it make thee a bastard? thou shouldst know, +for thou art as white as three Christmasses. + +OLD NOKES (_dreamily_). Who's a-passing? King Edward or King Richard? + +THIRD CITIZEN. No, old Nokes. + +OLD NOKES. It's Harry! + +THIRD CITIZEN. It's Queen Mary. + +OLD NOKES. The blessed Mary's a-passing! + [_Falls on his knees_. + +NOKES. Let father alone, my masters! he's past your questioning. + +THIRD CITIZEN. Answer thou for him, then thou'rt no such cockerel +thyself, for thou was born i' the tail end of old Harry the Seventh. + +NOKES. Eh! that was afore bastard-making began. I was born true man at +five in the forenoon i' the tail of old Harry, and so they can't make +me a bastard. + +THIRD CITIZEN. But if Parliament can make the Queen a bastard, why, it +follows all the more that they can make thee one, who art fray'd i' +the knees, and out at elbow, and bald o' the back, and bursten at the +toes, and down at heels. + +NOKES. I was born of a true man and a ring'd wife, and I can't argue +upon it; but I and my old woman 'ud burn upon it, that would we. + +MARSHALMAN. What are you cackling of bastardy under the Queen's own +nose? I'll have you flogg'd and burnt too, by the Rood I will. + +FIRST CITIZEN. He swears by the Rood. Whew! + +SECOND CITIZEN. Hark! the trumpets. + + [_The Procession passes_, MARY _and_ ELIZABETH _riding + side by side, and disappears under the gate_. + +CITIZENS. Long live Queen Mary! down with all traitors! God save her +Grace; and death to Northumberland! + [_Exeunt_. + + _Manent_ TWO GENTLEMEN. + +FIRST GENTLEMAN. By God's light a noble creature, right royal! + +SECOND GENTLEMAN. She looks comelier than ordinary to-day; but to my +mind the Lady Elizabeth is the more noble and royal. + +FIRST GENTLEMAN. I mean the Lady Elizabeth. Did you hear (I have a +daughter in her service who reported it) that she met the Queen at +Wanstead with five hundred horse, and the Queen (tho' some say they be +much divided) took her hand, call'd her sweet sister, and kiss'd not +her alone, but all the ladies of her following. + +SECOND GENTLEMAN. Ay, that was in her hour of joy; there will be +plenty to sunder and unsister them again: this Gardiner for one, who +is to be made Lord Chancellor, and will pounce like a wild beast out +of his cage to worry Cranmer. + +FIRST GENTLEMAN. And furthermore, my daughter said that when there +rose a talk of the late rebellion, she spoke even of Northumberland +pitifully, and of the good Lady Jane as a poor innocent child who had +but obeyed her father; and furthermore, she said that no one in her +time should be burnt for heresy. + +SECOND GENTLEMAN. Well, sir, I look for happy times. + +FIRST GENTLEMAN. There is but one thing against them. I know not if +you know. + +SECOND GENTLEMAN. I suppose you touch upon the rumour that Charles, +the master of the world, has offer'd her his son Philip, the Pope and +the Devil. I trust it is but a rumour. + +FIRST GENTLEMAN. She is going now to the Tower to loose the prisoners +there, and among them Courtenay, to be made Earl of Devon, of royal +blood, of splendid feature, whom the council and all her people wish +her to marry. May it be so, for we are many of us Catholics, but few +Papists, and the Hot Gospellers will go mad upon it. + +SECOND GENTLEMAN. Was she not betroth'd in her babyhood to the Great +Emperor himself? + +FIRST GENTLEMAN. Ay, but he's too old. + +SECOND GENTLEMAN. And again to her cousin Reginald Pole, now Cardinal; +but I hear that he too is full of aches and broken before his day. + +FIRST GENTLEMAN. O, the Pope could dispense with his Cardinalate, and +his achage, and his breakage, if that were all: will you not follow +the procession? + +SECOND GENTLEMAN. No; I have seen enough for this day. + +FIRST GENTLEMAN. Well, I shall follow; if I can get near enough I +shall judge with my own eyes whether her Grace incline to this +splendid scion of Plantagenet. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE II.--A ROOM IN LAMBETH PALACE. + + +CRANMER. To Strasburg, Antwerp, Frankfort, Zurich, Worms, +Geneva, Basle--our Bishops from their sees +Or fled, they say, or flying--Poinet, Barlow, +Bale, Scory, Coverdale; besides the Deans +Of Christchurch, Durham, Exeter, and Wells-- +Ailmer and Bullingham, and hundreds more; +So they report: I shall be left alone. +No: Hooper, Ridley, Latimer will not fly. + + _Enter_ PETER MARTYR. + +PETER MARTYR. Fly, Cranmer! were there nothing else, your name +Stands first of those who sign'd the Letters Patent +That gave her royal crown to Lady Jane. + +CRANMER. +Stand first it may, but it was written last: +Those that are now her Privy Council, sign'd +Before me: nay, the Judges had pronounced +That our young Edward might bequeath the crown +Of England, putting by his father's will. +Yet I stood out, till Edward sent for me. +The wan boy-king, with his fast-fading eyes +Fixt hard on mine, his frail transparent hand, +Damp with the sweat of death, and griping mine, +Whisper'd me, if I loved him, not to yield +His Church of England to the Papal wolf +And Mary; then I could no more--I sign'd. +Nay, for bare shame of inconsistency, +She cannot pass her traitor council by, +To make me headless. + +PETER MARTYR. That might be forgiven. +I tell you, fly, my Lord. You do not own +The bodily presence in the Eucharist, +Their wafer and perpetual sacrifice: +Your creed will be your death. + +CRANMER. Step after step, +Thro' many voices crying right and left, +Have I climb'd back into the primal church, +And stand within the porch, and Christ with me: +My flight were such a scandal to the faith, +The downfall of so many simple souls, +I dare not leave my post. + +PETER MARTYR. But you divorced +Queen Catharine and her father; hence, her hate +Will burn till you are burn'd. + +CRANMER. I cannot help it. +The Canonists and Schoolmen were with me. +'Thou shalt not wed thy brother's wife.'--'Tis written, +'They shall be childless.' True, Mary was born, +But France would not accept her for a bride +As being born from incest; and this wrought +Upon the king; and child by child, you know, +Were momentary sparkles out as quick +Almost as kindled; and he brought his doubts +And fears to me. Peter, I'll swear for him +He _did_ believe the bond incestuous. +But wherefore am I trenching on the time +That should already have seen your steps a mile +From me and Lambeth? God be with you! Go. + +PETER MARTYR. Ah, but how fierce a letter you wrote against +Their superstition when they slander'd you +For setting up a mass at Canterbury +To please the Queen. + +CRANMER. It was a wheedling monk +Set up the mass. + +PETER MARTYR. I know it, my good Lord. +But you so bubbled over with hot terms +Of Satan, liars, blasphemy, Antichrist, +She never will forgive you. Fly, my Lord, fly! + +CRANMER. I wrote it, and God grant me power to burn! + +PETER MARTYR. They have given me a safe conduct: for all that +I dare not stay. I fear, I fear, I see you, +Dear friend, for the last time; farewell, and fly. + +CRANMER. Fly and farewell, and let me die the death. + [_Exit_ PETER MARTYR. + + _Enter_ OLD SERVANT. + +O, kind and gentle master, the Queen's Officers +Are here in force to take you to the Tower. + +CRANMER. Ay, gentle friend, admit them. I will go. +I thank my God it is too late to fly. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE III.--ST. PAUL'S CROSS. + +FATHER BOURNE _in the pulpit_. A CROWD. MARCHIONESS OF EXETER, +COURTENAY. _The_ SIEUR DE NOAILLES _and his man_ ROGER _in front +of the stage. Hubbub_. + + +NOAILLES. Hast thou let fall those papers in the palace? + +ROGER. Ay, sir. + +NOAILLES. 'There will be no peace for Mary till +Elizabeth lose her head.' + +ROGER. Ay, sir. + +NOAILLES. And the other, 'Long live Elizabeth the Queen!' + +ROGER. Ay, sir; she needs must tread upon them. + +NOAILLES. Well. +These beastly swine make such a grunting here, +I cannot catch what Father Bourne is saying. + +ROGER. Quiet a moment, my masters; hear what the shaveling has to say +for himself. + +CROWD. Hush--hear! + +BOURNE.--and so this unhappy land, long divided in itself, and +sever'd from the faith, will return into the one true fold, seeing +that our gracious Virgin Queen hath---- + +CROWD. No pope! no pope! + +ROGER (_to those about him, mimicking_ BOURNE).--hath sent for the +holy legate of the holy father the Pope, Cardinal Pole, to give us all +that holy absolution which---- + +FIRST CITIZEN. Old Bourne to the life! + +SECOND CITIZEN. Holy absolution! holy Inquisition! + +THIRD CITIZEN. Down with the Papist! + [_Hubbub_. + +BOURNE.--and now that your good bishop, +Bonner, who hath lain so long under bonds for the +faith-- + [_Hubbub_. + +NOAILLES. Friend Roger, steal thou in among the crowd, +And get the swine to shout Elizabeth. +Yon gray old Gospeller, sour as midwinter, +Begin with him. + +ROGER (_goes_). By the mass, old friend, we'll have no pope here while +the Lady Elizabeth lives. + +GOSPELLER. Art thou of the true faith, fellow, that swearest by the +mass? + +ROGER. Ay, that am I, new converted, but the old leaven sticks to my +tongue yet. + +FIRST CITIZEN. He says right; by the mass we'll have no mass here. + +VOICES OF THE CROWD. Peace! hear him; let his own words damn the +Papist. From thine own mouth I judge thee--tear him down! + +BOURNE.--and since our Gracious Queen, let me call her our second +Virgin Mary, hath begun to re-edify the true temple----, + +FIRST CITIZEN. Virgin Mary! we'll have no virgins here--we'll have the +Lady Elizabeth! + + [_Swords are drawn, a knife is hurled and sticks in + the pulpit. The mob throng to the pulpit stairs_. + +MARCHIONESS OF EXETER. Son Courtenay, wilt thou see the holy father +Murdered before thy face? up, son, and save him! They love thee, and +thou canst not come to harm. + +COURTENAY (_in the pulpit_). Shame, shame, my masters! are you +English-born, And set yourselves by hundreds against one? + +CROWD. A Courtenay! a Courtenay! + + [_A train of Spanish servants crosses at the back of the stage_. + +NOAILLES. These birds of passage come before their time: +Stave off the crowd upon the Spaniard there. + +ROGER. My masters, yonder's fatter game for you +Than this old gaping gurgoyle: look you there-- +The Prince of Spain coming to wed our Queen! +After him, boys! and pelt him from the city. + + [_They seize stones and follow the Spaniards. + Exeunt on the other side_ MARCHIONESS OF + EXETER _and_ ATTENDANTS. + +NOAILLES (_to_ ROGER). +Stand from me. If Elizabeth lose her head-- +That makes for France. +And if her people, anger'd thereupon, +Arise against her and dethrone the Queen-- +That makes for France. +And if I breed confusion anyway-- +That makes for France. + Good-day, my Lord of Devon; +A bold heart yours to beard that raging mob! + +COURTENAY. My mother said, Go up; and up I went. +I knew they would not do me any wrong, +For I am mighty popular with them, Noailles. + +NOAILLES. You look'd a king. + +COURTENAY. Why not? I am king's blood. + +NOAILLES. And in the whirl of change may come to be one. + +COURTENAY. Ah! + +NOAILLES. But does your gracious Queen entreat you kinglike? + +COURTENAY. 'Fore God, I think she entreats me like a child. + +NOAILLES. You've but a dull life in this maiden court, I fear, my +Lord? + +COURTENAY. A life of nods and yawns. + +NOAILLES. So you would honour my poor house to-night, +We might enliven you. Divers honest fellows, +The Duke of Suffolk lately freed from prison, +Sir Peter Carew and Sir Thomas Wyatt, +Sir Thomas Stafford, and some more--we play. + +COURTENAY. At what? + +NOAILLES. The Game of Chess. + +COURTENAY. The Game of Chess! +I can play well, and I shall beat you there. + +NOAILLES. Ay, but we play with Henry, King of France, +And certain of his court. +His Highness makes his moves across the Channel, +We answer him with ours, and there are messengers +That go between us. + +COURTENAY. Why, such a game, sir, were whole years a playing. + +NOAILLES. Nay; not so long I trust. That all depends +Upon the skill and swiftness of the players. + +COURTENAY. The King is skilful at it? + +NOAILLES. Very, my Lord. + +COURTENAY. And the stakes high? + +NOAILLES. But not beyond your means. + +COURTENAY. Well, I'm the first of players, I shall win. + +NOAILLES. With our advice and in our company, +And so you well attend to the king's moves, +I think you may. + +COURTENAY. When do you meet? + +NOAILLES. To-night. + +COURTENAY (_aside_). +I will be there; the fellow's at his tricks-- +Deep--I shall fathom him. (_Aloud_) Good morning, +Noailles. + [_Exit_ COURTENAY. + +NOAILLES. Good-day, my Lord. Strange game of chess! a King +That with her own pawns plays against a Queen, +Whose play is all to find herself a King. +Ay; but this fine blue-blooded Courtenay seems +Too princely for a pawn. Call him a Knight, +That, with an ass's, not a horse's head, +Skips every way, from levity or from fear. +Well, we shall use him somehow, so that Gardiner +And Simon Renard spy not out our game +Too early. Roger, thinkest thou that anyone +Suspected thee to be my man? + +ROGER. Not one, sir. + +NOAILLES. No! the disguise was perfect. Let's away. + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE IV.--LONDON. A ROOM IN THE PALACE. +ELIZABETH. _Enter_ COURTENAY. + + +COURTENAY. So yet am I, +Unless my friends and mirrors lie to me, +A goodlier-looking fellow than this Philip. +Pah! +The Queen is ill advised: shall I turn traitor? +They've almost talked me into it: yet the word +Affrights me somewhat: to be such a one +As Harry Bolingbroke hath a lure in it. +Good now, my Lady Queen, tho' by your age, +And by your looks you are not worth the having, +Yet by your crown you are. [_Seeing_ ELIZABETH. + The Princess there? +If I tried her and la--she's amorous. +Have we not heard of her in Edward's time, +Her freaks and frolics with the late Lord Admiral? +I do believe she'd yield. I should be still +A party in the state; and then, who knows-- + +ELIZABETH. What are you musing on, my Lord of Devon? + +COURTENAY. Has not the Queen-- + +ELIZABETH. Done what, Sir? + +COURTENAY. --made you follow +The Lady Suffolk and the Lady Lennox?-- +You, +The heir presumptive. + +ELIZABETH. Why do you ask? you know it. + +COURTENAY. You needs must bear it hardly. + +ELIZABETH. No, indeed! +I am utterly submissive to the Queen. + +COURTENAY. Well, I was musing upon that; the Queen +Is both my foe and yours: we should be friends. + +ELIZABETH. My Lord, the hatred of another to us +Is no true bond of friendship. + +COURTENAY. Might it not +Be the rough preface of some closer bond? + +ELIZABETH. My Lord, you late were loosed from out the Tower, +Where, like a butterfly in a chrysalis, +You spent your life; that broken, out you flutter +Thro' the new world, go zigzag, now would settle +Upon this flower, now that; but all things here +At court are known; you have solicited +The Queen, and been rejected. + +COURTENAY. Flower, she! +Half faded! but you, cousin, are fresh and sweet +As the first flower no bee has ever tried. + +ELIZABETH. Are you the bee to try me? why, but now +I called you butterfly. + +COURTENAY. You did me wrong, +I love not to be called a butterfly: +Why do you call me butterfly? + +ELIZABETH. Why do you go so gay then? + +COURTENAY. Velvet and gold. +This dress was made me as the Earl of Devon +To take my seat in; looks it not right royal? + +ELIZABETH. So royal that the Queen forbad you wearing it. + +COURTENAY. I wear it then to spite her. + +ELIZABETH. My Lord, my Lord; +I see you in the Tower again. Her Majesty +Hears you affect the Prince--prelates kneel to +you.-- + +COURTENAY. I am the noblest blood in Europe, Madam, +A Courtenay of Devon, and her cousin. + +ELIZABETH. She hears you make your boast that after all +She means to wed you. Folly, my good Lord. + +COURTENAY. How folly? a great party in the state +Wills me to wed her. + +ELIZABETH. Failing her, my Lord, +Doth not as great a party in the state +Will you to wed me? + +COURTENAY. Even so, fair lady. + +ELIZABETH. You know to flatter ladies. + +COURTENAY. Nay, I meant +True matters of the heart. + +ELIZABETH. _My_ heart, my Lord, +Is no great party in the state as yet. + +COURTENAY. Great, said you? nay, you shall be great. I love you, +Lay my life in your hands. Can you be close? + +ELIZABETH. Can you, my Lord? + +COURTENAY. Close as a miser's casket. +Listen: +The King of France, Noailles the Ambassador, +The Duke of Suffolk and Sir Peter Carew, +Sir Thomas Wyatt, I myself, some others, +Have sworn this Spanish marriage shall not be. +If Mary will not hear us--well--conjecture-- +Were I in Devon with my wedded bride, +The people there so worship me--Your ear; +You shall be Queen. + +ELIZABETH. You speak too low, my Lord; +I cannot hear you. + +COURTENAY. I'll repeat it. + +ELIZABETH. No! +Stand further off, or you may lose your head. + +COURTENAY. I have a head to lose for your sweet +sake. + +ELIZABETH. Have you, my Lord? Best keep it for your own. +Nay, pout not, cousin. +Not many friends are mine, except indeed +Among the many. I believe you mine; +And so you may continue mine, farewell, +And that at once. + + _Enter_ MARY, _behind_. + +MARY. Whispering--leagued together +To bar me from my Philip. + +COURTENAY. Pray--consider-- + +ELIZABETH (_seeing the_ QUEEN). +Well, that's a noble horse of yours, my Lord. +I trust that he will carry you well to-day, +And heal your headache. + +COURTENAY. You are wild; what headache? +Heartache, perchance; not headache. + +ELIZABETH (_aside to_ COURTENAY). Are you blind? + + [COURTENAY _sees the_ QUEEN _and exit. Exit_ MARY. + + + _Enter_ LORD WILLIAM HOWARD. + +HOWARD. Was that my Lord of Devon? do not you +Be seen in corners with my Lord of Devon. +He hath fallen out of favour with the Queen. +She fears the Lords may side with you and him +Against her marriage; therefore is he dangerous. +And if this Prince of fluff and feather come +To woo you, niece, he is dangerous everyway. + +ELIZABETH. Not very dangerous that way, my good uncle. + +HOWARD. But your own state is full of danger here. +The disaffected, heretics, reformers, +Look to you as the one to crown their ends. +Mix not yourself with any plot I pray you; +Nay, if by chance you hear of any such, +Speak not thereof--no, not to your best friend, +Lest you should be confounded with it. Still-- +Perinde ac cadaver--as the priest says, +You know your Latin--quiet as a dead body. +What was my Lord of Devon telling you? + +ELIZABETH. Whether he told me anything or not, +I follow your good counsel, gracious uncle. +Quiet as a dead body. + +HOWARD. You do right well. +I do not care to know; but this I charge you, +Tell Courtenay nothing. The Lord Chancellor +(I count it as a kind of virtue in him, +He hath not many), as a mastiff dog +May love a puppy cur for no more reason +Than that the twain have been tied up together, +Thus Gardiner--for the two were fellow-prisoners +So many years in yon accursed Tower-- +Hath taken to this Courtenay. Look to it, niece, +He hath no fence when Gardiner questions him; +All oozes out; yet him--because they know him +The last White Rose, the last Plantagenet +(Nay, there is Cardinal Pole, too), the people +Claim as their natural leader--ay, some say, +That you shall marry him, make him King belike. + +ELIZABETH. Do they say so, good uncle? + +HOWARD. Ay, good niece! +You should be plain and open with me, niece. +You should not play upon me. + +ELIZABETH. No, good uncle. + + _Enter_ GARDINER. + +GARDINER. The Queen would see your Grace upon the moment. + +ELIZABETH. Why, my lord Bishop? + +GARDINER. I think she means to counsel your withdrawing +To Ashridge, or some other country house. + +ELIZABETH. Why, my lord Bishop? + +GARDINER. I do but bring the message, know no more. +Your Grace will hear her reasons from herself. + +ELIZABETH. 'Tis mine own wish fulfill'd before the word +Was spoken, for in truth I had meant to crave +Permission of her Highness to retire +To Ashridge, and pursue my studies there. + +GARDINER. Madam, to have the wish before the word +Is man's good Fairy--and the Queen is yours. +I left her with rich jewels in her hand, +Whereof 'tis like enough she means to make +A farewell present to your Grace. + +ELIZABETH. My Lord, +I have the jewel of a loyal heart. + +GARDINER. I doubt it not, Madam, most loyal. + [_Bows low and exit_. + +HOWARD. See, +This comes of parleying with my Lord of Devon. +Well, well, you must obey; and I myself +Believe it will be better for your welfare. +Your time will come. + +ELIZABETH. I think my time will come. +Uncle, +I am of sovereign nature, that I know, +Not to be quell'd; and I have felt within me +Stirrings of some great doom when God's just hour +Peals--but this fierce old Gardiner--his big baldness, +That irritable forelock which he rubs, +His buzzard beak and deep-incavern'd eyes +Half fright me. + +HOWARD. You've a bold heart; keep it so. +He cannot touch you save that you turn traitor; +And so take heed I pray you--you are one +Who love that men should smile upon you, niece. +They'd smile you into treason--some of them. + +ELIZABETH. I spy the rock beneath the smiling sea. +But if this Philip, the proud Catholic prince, +And this bald priest, and she that hates me, seek +In that lone house, to practise on my life, +By poison, fire, shot, stab-- + +HOWARD. They will not, niece. +Mine is the fleet and all the power at sea-- +Or will be in a moment. If they dared +To harm you, I would blow this Philip and all +Your trouble to the dogstar and the devil. + +ELIZABETH. To the Pleiads, uncle; they have lost +a sister. + +HOWARD. But why say that? what have you done +to lose her? +Come, come, I will go with you to the Queen. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE V.--A ROOM IN THE PALACE. + +MARY _with_ PHILIP'S _miniature_. ALICE. + + +MARY (_kissing the miniature_). +Most goodly, King-like and an Emperor's son,-- +A king to be,--is he not noble, girl? + +ALICE. Goodly enough, your Grace, and yet, methinks, +I have seen goodlier. + +MARY. Ay; some waxen doll +Thy baby eyes have rested on, belike; +All red and white, the fashion of our land. +But my good mother came (God rest her soul) +Of Spain, and I am Spanish in myself, +And in my likings. + +ALICE. By your Grace's leave +Your royal mother came of Spain, but took +To the English red and white. Your royal father +(For so they say) was all pure lily and rose +In his youth, and like a lady. + +MARY. O, just God! +Sweet mother, you had time and cause enough +To sicken of his lilies and his roses. +Cast off, betray'd, defamed, divorced, forlorn! +And then the King--that traitor past forgiveness, +The false archbishop fawning on him, married +The mother of Elizabeth--a heretic +Ev'n as _she_ is; but God hath sent me here +To take such order with all heretics +That it shall be, before I die, as tho' +My father and my brother had not lived. +What wast thou saying of this Lady Jane, +Now in the Tower? + +ALICE. Why, Madam, she was passing +Some chapel down in Essex, and with her +Lady Anne Wharton, and the Lady Anne +Bow'd to the Pyx; but Lady Jane stood up +Stiff as the very backbone of heresy. +And wherefore bow ye not, says Lady Anne, +To him within there who made Heaven and Earth? +I cannot, and I dare not, tell your Grace +What Lady Jane replied. + +MARY. But I will have it. + +ALICE. She said--pray pardon me, and pity her-- +She hath harken'd evil counsel--ah! she said, +The baker made him. + +MARY. Monstrous! blasphemous! +She ought to burn. Hence, thou (_Exit_ ALICE). No--being traitor +Her head will fall: shall it? she is but a child. +We do not kill the child for doing that +His father whipt him into doing--a head +So full of grace and beauty! would that mine +Were half as gracious! O, my lord to be, +My love, for thy sake only. +I am eleven years older than he is. +But will he care for that? +No, by the holy Virgin, being noble, +But love me only: then the bastard sprout, +My sister, is far fairer than myself. +Will he be drawn to her? +No, being of the true faith with myself. +Paget is for him--for to wed with Spain +Would treble England--Gardiner is against him; +The Council, people, Parliament against him; +But I will have him! My hard father hated me; +My brother rather hated me than loved; +My sister cowers and hates me. Holy Virgin, +Plead with thy blessed Son; grant me my prayer: +Give me my Philip; and we two will lead +The living waters of the Faith again +Back thro' their widow'd channel here, and watch +The parch'd banks rolling incense, as of old, +To heaven, and kindled with the palms of Christ! + + _Enter_ USHER. + +Who waits, sir? + +USHER. Madam, the Lord Chancellor. + +MARY. Bid him come in. (_Enter_ GARDINER.) +Good morning, my good Lord. + + [_Exit_ USHER. + +GARDINER. That every morning of your Majesty +May be most good, is every morning's prayer +Of your most loyal subject, Stephen Gardiner. + +MARY. Come you to tell me this, my Lord? + +GARDINER. And more. +Your people have begun to learn your worth. +Your pious wish to pay King Edward's debts, +Your lavish household curb'd, and the remission +Of half that subsidy levied on the people, +Make all tongues praise and all hearts beat for you. +I'd have you yet more loved: the realm is poor, +The exchequer at neap-tide: we might withdraw +Part of our garrison at Calais. + +MARY. Calais! +Our one point on the main, the gate of France! +I am Queen of England; take mine eyes, mine heart, +But do not lose me Calais. + +GARDINER. Do not fear it. +Of that hereafter. I say your Grace is loved. +That I may keep you thus, who am your friend +And ever faithful counsellor, might I speak? + +MARY. I can forespeak your speaking. Would I marry +Prince Philip, if all England hate him? That is +Your question, and I front it with another: +Is it England, or a party? Now, your answer. + +GARDINER. My answer is, I wear beneath my dress +A shirt of mail: my house hath been assaulted, +And when I walk abroad, the populace, +With fingers pointed like so many daggers, +Stab me in fancy, hissing Spain and Philip; +And when I sleep, a hundred men-at-arms +Guard my poor dreams for England. Men would murder me, +Because they think me favourer of this marriage. + +MARY. And that were hard upon you, my Lord Chancellor. + +GARDINER. But our young Earl of Devon-- + +MARY. Earl of Devon? +I freed him from the Tower, placed him at Court; +I made him Earl of Devon, and--the fool-- +He wrecks his health and wealth on courtesans, +And rolls himself in carrion like a dog. + +GARDINER. More like a school-boy that hath broken bounds, +Sickening himself with sweets. + +MARY. I will not hear of him. +Good, then, they will revolt: but I am Tudor, +And shall control them. + +GARDINER. I will help you, Madam, +Even to the utmost. All the church is grateful. +You have ousted the mock priest, repulpited +The shepherd of St. Peter, raised the rood again, +And brought us back the mass. I am all thanks +To God and to your Grace: yet I know well, +Your people, and I go with them so far, +Will brook nor Pope nor Spaniard here to play +The tyrant, or in commonwealth or church. + +MARY (_showing the picture). +_Is this the face of one who plays the tyrant? +Peruse it; is it not goodly, ay, and gentle? + +GARDINER. Madam, methinks a cold face and a haughty. +And when your Highness talks of Courtenay-- +Ay, true--a goodly one. I would his life +Were half as goodly (_aside_). + +MARY. What is that you mutter? + +GARDINER. Oh, Madam, take it bluntly; marry Philip, +And be stepmother of a score of sons! +The prince is known in Spain, in Flanders, ha! +For Philip-- + +MARY. You offend us; you may leave us. +You see thro' warping glasses. + +GARDINER. If your Majesty-- + +MARY. I have sworn upon the body and blood of Christ +I'll none but Philip. + +GARDINER. Hath your Grace so sworn? + +MARY. Ay, Simon Renard knows it. + +GARDINER. News to me! +It then remains for your poor Gardiner, +So you still care to trust him somewhat less +Than Simon Renard, to compose the event +In some such form as least may harm your Grace. + +MARY. I'll have the scandal sounded to the mud. +I know it a scandal. + +GARDINER. All my hope is now +It may be found a scandal. + +MARY. You offend us. + +GARDINER (_aside_). +These princes are like children, must be physick'd, +The bitter in the sweet. I have lost mine office, +It may be, thro' mine honesty, like a fool. + [_Exit_. + + _Enter_ USHER. + +MARY. Who waits? + +USHER. The Ambassador from France, your Grace. + +MARY (_sits down_). +Bid him come in. Good morning, Sir de Noailles. + + [_Exit_ USHER, + +NOAILLES (_entering_). +A happy morning to your Majesty. + +MARY. And I should some time have a happy morning; +I have had none yet. What says the King your master? + +NOAILLES. Madam, my master hears with much alarm, +That you may marry Philip, Prince of Spain-- +Foreseeing, with whate'er unwillingness, +That if this Philip be the titular king +Of England, and at war with him, your Grace +And kingdom will be suck'd into the war, +Ay, tho' you long for peace; wherefore, my master, +If but to prove your Majesty's goodwill, +Would fain have some fresh treaty drawn between you. + +MARY. Why some fresh treaty? wherefore should I do it? +Sir, if we marry, we shall still maintain +All former treaties with his Majesty. +Our royal word for that! and your good master, +Pray God he do not be the first to break them, +Must be content with that; and so, farewell. + +NOAILLES (_going, returns_). +I would your answer had been other, Madam, +For I foresee dark days. + +MARY. And so do I, sir; +Your master works against me in the dark. +I do believe he holp Northumberland +Against me. + +NOAILLES. Nay, pure phantasy, your Grace. +Why should he move against you? + +MARY. Will you hear why? +Mary of Scotland,--for I have not own'd +My sister, and I will not,--after me +Is heir of England; and my royal father, +To make the crown of Scotland one with ours, +Had mark'd her for my brother Edward's bride; +Ay, but your king stole her a babe from Scotland +In order to betroth her to your Dauphin. +See then: +Mary of Scotland, married to your Dauphin, +Would make our England, France; +Mary of England, joining hands with Spain, +Would be too strong for France. +Yea, were there issue born to her, Spain and we, +One crown, might rule the world. There lies your fear. +That is your drift. You play at hide and seek. +Show me your faces! + +NOAILLES. Madam, I am amazed: +French, I must needs wish all good things for France. +That must be pardon'd me; but I protest +Your Grace's policy hath a farther flight +Than mine into the future. We but seek +Some settled ground for peace to stand upon. + +MARY. Well, we will leave all this, sir, to our council. +Have you seen Philip ever? + +NOAILLES. Only once. + +MARY. Is this like Philip? + +NOAILLES. Ay, but nobler-looking. + +MARY. Hath he the large ability of the Emperor? + +NOAILLES. No, surely. + +MARY. I can make allowance for thee, +Thou speakest of the enemy of thy king. + +NOAILLES. Make no allowance for the naked truth. +He is every way a lesser man than Charles; +Stone-hard, ice-cold--no dash of daring in him. + +MARY. If cold, his life is pure. + +NOAILLES. Why (_smiling_), no, indeed. + +MARY. Sayst thou? + +NOAILLES. A very wanton life indeed (_smiling_). + +MARY. Your audience is concluded, sir. + + [_Exit_ NOAILLES. + + You cannot +Learn a man's nature from his natural foe. + + _Enter_ USHER. + +Who waits? + +USHER. The Ambassador of Spain, your Grace. + [_Exit_. + + _Enter_ SIMON RENARD. + +MARY (_rising to meet him_). +Thou art ever welcome, Simon Renard. Hast thou +Brought me the letter which thine Emperor promised +Long since, a formal offer of the hand Of Philip? + +RENARD. Nay, your Grace, it hath not reach'd me. +I know not wherefore--some mischance of flood, +And broken bridge, or spavin'd horse, or wave +And wind at their old battle: he must have written. + +MARY. But Philip never writes me one poor word. +Which in his absence had been all my wealth. +Strange in a wooer! + +RENARD. Yet I know the Prince, +So your king-parliament suffer him to land, +Yearns to set foot upon your island shore. + +MARY. God change the pebble which his kingly foot +First presses into some more costly stone +Than ever blinded eye. I'll have one mark it +And bring it me. I'll have it burnish'd firelike; +I'll set it round with gold, with pearl, with diamond. +Let the great angel of the church come with him; +Stand on the deck and spread his wings for sail! +God lay the waves and strow the storms at sea, +And here at land among the people! O Renard, +I am much beset, I am almost in despair. +Paget is ours. Gardiner perchance is ours; +But for our heretic Parliament-- + +RENARD. O Madam, +You fly your thoughts like kites. My master, Charles, +Bad you go softly with your heretics here, +Until your throne had ceased to tremble. Then +Spit them like larks for aught I care. Besides, +When Henry broke the carcase of your church +To pieces, there were many wolves among you +Who dragg'd the scatter'd limbs into their den. +The Pope would have you make them render these; +So would your cousin, Cardinal Pole; ill counsel! +These let them keep at present; stir not yet +This matter of the Church lands. At his coming +Your star will rise. + +MARY. My star! a baleful one. +I see but the black night, and hear the wolf. +What star? + +RENARD. Your star will be your princely son, +Heir of this England and the Netherlands! +And if your wolf the while should howl for more, +We'll dust him from a bag of Spanish gold. +I do believe, I have dusted some already, +That, soon or late, your Parliament is ours. + +MARY. Why do they talk so foully of your Prince, +Renard? + +RENARD. The lot of Princes. To sit high +Is to be lied about. + +MARY. They call him cold, +Haughty, ay, worse. + +RENARD. Why, doubtless, Philip shows +Some of the bearing of your blue blood--still +All within measure--nay, it well becomes him. + +MARY. Hath he the large ability of his father? + +RENARD. Nay, some believe that he will go beyond him. + +MARY. Is this like him? + +RENARD. Ay, somewhat; but your Philip +Is the most princelike Prince beneath the sun. +This is a daub to Philip. + +MARY. Of a pure life? + +RENARD. As an angel among angels. Yea, by Heaven, +The text--Your Highness knows it, 'Whosoever +Looketh after a woman,' would not graze +The Prince of Spain. You are happy in him there, +Chaste as your Grace! + +MARY. I am happy in him there. + +RENARD. And would be altogether happy, Madam, +So that your sister were but look'd to closer. +You have sent her from the court, but then she goes, +I warrant, not to hear the nightingales, +But hatch you some new treason in the woods. + +MARY. We have our spies abroad to catch her tripping, +And then if caught, to the Tower. + +RENARD. The Tower! the block! +The word has turn'd your Highness pale; the thing +Was no such scarecrow in your father's time. +I have heard, the tongue yet quiver'd with the jest +When the head leapt--so common! I do think +To save your crown that it must come to this. + +MARY. No, Renard; it must never come to this. + +RENARD. Not yet; but your old Traitors of the Tower-- +Why, when you put Northumberland to death, +The sentence having past upon them all, +Spared you the Duke of Suffolk, Guildford Dudley, +Ev'n that young girl who dared to wear your crown? + +MARY. Dared? nay, not so; the child obey'd her father. +Spite of her tears her father forced it on her. + +RENARD. Good Madam, when the Roman wish'd to reign, +He slew not him alone who wore the purple, +But his assessor in the throne, perchance +A child more innocent than Lady Jane. + +MARY. I am English Queen, not Roman Emperor. + +RENARD. Yet too much mercy is a want of mercy, +And wastes more life. Stamp out the fire, or this +Will smoulder and re-flame, and burn the throne +Where you should sit with Philip: he will not come +Till she be gone. + +MARY. Indeed, if that were true-- +For Philip comes, one hand in mine, and one +Steadying the tremulous pillars of the Church-- +But no, no, no. Farewell. I am somewhat faint +With our long talk. Tho' Queen, I am not Queen +Of mine own heart, which every now and then +Beats me half dead: yet stay, this golden chain-- +My father on a birthday gave it me, +And I have broken with my father--take +And wear it as memorial of a morning +Which found me full of foolish doubts, and leaves me +As hopeful. + +RENARD (_aside_). Whew--the folly of all follies +Is to be love-sick for a shadow. (_Aloud_) Madam, +This chains me to your service, not with gold, +But dearest links of love. Farewell, and trust me, +Philip is yours. + [_Exit_. + +MARY. Mine--but not yet all mine. + + _Enter_ USHER. + +USHER. Your Council is in Session, please your Majesty. + +MARY. Sir, let them sit. I must have time to breathe. +No, say I come. (_Exit_ USHER.) I won by boldness once. +The Emperor counsell'd me to fly to Flanders. +I would not; but a hundred miles I rode, +Sent out my letters, call'd my friends together, +Struck home and won. +And when the Council would not crown me--thought +To bind me first by oaths I could not keep, +And keep with Christ and conscience--was it boldness +Or weakness that won there? when I, their Queen, +Cast myself down upon my knees before them, +And those hard men brake into woman tears, +Ev'n Gardiner, all amazed, and in that passion +Gave me my Crown. + + _Enter_ ALICE. + + Girl; hast thou ever heard +Slanders against Prince Philip in our Court? + +ALICE. What slanders? I, your Grace; no, never. + +MARY. Nothing? + +ALICE. Never, your Grace. + +MARY. See that you neither hear them nor repeat! + +ALICE (_aside_). +Good Lord! but I have heard a thousand such. +Ay, and repeated them as often--mum! +Why comes that old fox-Fleming back again? + + _Enter_ RENARD. + +RENARD. Madam, I scarce had left your Grace's presence +Before I chanced upon the messenger +Who brings that letter which we waited for-- +The formal offer of Prince Philip's hand. +It craves an instant answer, Ay or No. + +MARY. An instant Ay or No! the Council sits. +Give it me quick. + +ALICE (_stepping before her_). + Your Highness is all trembling. + +MARY. Make way. [_Exit into the Council Chamber_. + +ALICE. O, Master Renard, Master Renard, +If you have falsely painted your fine Prince; +Praised, where you should have blamed him, I pray God +No woman ever love you, Master Renard. +It breaks my heart to hear her moan at night +As tho' the nightmare never left her bed. + +RENARD. My pretty maiden, tell me, did you ever +Sigh for a beard? + +ALICE. That's not a pretty question. + +RENARD. Not prettily put? I mean, my pretty maiden, +A pretty man for such a pretty maiden. + +ALICE. My Lord of Devon is a pretty man. +I hate him. Well, but if I have, what then? + +RENARD. Then, pretty maiden, you should know that whether +A wind be warm or cold, it serves to fan +A kindled fire. + +ALICE. According to the song. + + His friends would praise him, I believed 'em, + His foes would blame him, and I scorn'd 'em, + His friends--as Angels I received 'em, + His foes--the Devil had suborn'd 'em. + +RENARD. Peace, pretty maiden. +I hear them stirring in the Council Chamber. +Lord Paget's 'Ay' is sure--who else? and yet, +They are all too much at odds to close at once +In one full-throated No! Her Highness comes. + + _Enter_ MARY. + +ALICE. How deathly pale!--a chair, your Highness + [_Bringing one to the_ QUEEN. + +RENARD. Madam, +The Council? + +MARY. Ay! My Philip is all mine. + + [_Sinks into chair, half fainting_. + + + + +ACT II + + +SCENE I.--ALINGTON CASTLE. + + +SIR THOMAS WYATT. I do not hear from Carew or the Duke +Of Suffolk, and till then I should not move. +The Duke hath gone to Leicester; Carew stirs +In Devon: that fine porcelain Courtenay, +Save that he fears he might be crack'd in using, +(I have known a semi-madman in my time +So fancy-ridd'n) should be in Devon too. + + _Enter_ WILLIAM. + +News abroad, William? + +WILLIAM. None so new, Sir Thomas, and none so old, Sir Thomas. No new +news that Philip comes to wed Mary, no old news that all men hate it. +Old Sir Thomas would have hated it. The bells are ringing at +Maidstone. Doesn't your worship hear? + +WYATT. Ay, for the Saints are come to reign again. +Most like it is a Saint's-day. There's no call +As yet for me; so in this pause, before +The mine be fired, it were a pious work +To string my father's sonnets, left about +Like loosely-scatter'd jewels, in fair order, +And head them with a lamer rhyme of mine, +To grace his memory. + +WILLIAM. Ay, why not, Sir Thomas? He was a fine courtier, he; Queen +Anne loved him. All the women loved him. I loved him, I was in Spain +with him. I couldn't eat in Spain, I couldn't sleep in Spain. I hate +Spain, Sir Thomas. + +WYATT. But thou could'st drink in Spain if I remember. + +WILLIAM. Sir Thomas, we may grant the wine. Old Sir Thomas always +granted the wine. + +WYATT. Hand me the casket with my father's sonnets. + +WILLIAM. Ay--sonnets--a fine courtier of the old Court, old Sir +Thomas. [_Exit_. + +WYATT. Courtier of many courts, he loved the more +His own gray towers, plain life and letter'd peace, +To read and rhyme in solitary fields, +The lark above, the nightingale below, +And answer them in song. The sire begets +Not half his likeness in the son. I fail +Where he was fullest: yet--to write it down. + [_He writes_. + + _Re-enter_ WILLIAM. + +WILLIAM. There _is_ news, there _is_ news, and no call for +sonnet-sorting now, nor for sonnet-making either, but ten thousand +men on Penenden Heath all calling after your worship, and your +worship's name heard into Maidstone market, and your worship the first +man in Kent and Christendom, for the Queen's down, and the world's up, +and your worship a-top of it. + +WYATT. Inverted Aesop--mountain out of mouse. +Say for ten thousand ten--and pothouse knaves, +Brain-dizzied with a draught of morning ale. + + _Enter_ ANTONY KNYVETT. + +WILLIAM. Here's Antony Knyvett. + +KNYVETT. Look you, Master Wyatt, +Tear up that woman's work there. + +WYATT. No; not these, +Dumb children of my father, that will speak +When I and thou and all rebellions lie +Dead bodies without voice. Song flies you know +For ages. + +KNYVETT. Tut, your sonnet's a flying ant, +Wing'd for a moment. + +WYATT. Well, for mine own work, + [_Tearing the paper_. +It lies there in six pieces at your feet; +For all that I can carry it in my head. + +KNYVETT. If you can carry your head upon your shoulders. + +WYATT. I fear you come to carry it off my shoulders, +And sonnet-making's safer. + +KNYVETT. Why, good Lord, +Write you as many sonnets as you will. +Ay, but not now; what, have you eyes, ears, brains? +This Philip and the black-faced swarms of Spain, +The hardest, cruellest people in the world, +Come locusting upon us, eat us up, +Confiscate lands, goods, money--Wyatt, Wyatt, +Wake, or the stout old island will become +A rotten limb of Spain. They roar for you +On Penenden Heath, a thousand of them--more-- +All arm'd, waiting a leader; there's no glory +Like his who saves his country: and you sit +Sing-songing here; but, if I'm any judge, +By God, you are as poor a poet, Wyatt, +As a good soldier. + +WYATT. You as poor a critic +As an honest friend: you stroke me on one cheek, +Buffet the other. Come, you bluster, Antony! +You know I know all this. I must not move +Until I hear from Carew and the Duke. +I fear the mine is fired before the time. + +KNYVETT (_showing a paper_). +But here's some Hebrew. Faith, I half forgot it. +Look; can you make it English? A strange youth +Suddenly thrust it on me, whisper'd, 'Wyatt,' +And whisking round a corner, show'd his back +Before I read his face. + +WYATT. Ha! Courtenay's cipher. [_Reads_. +'Sir Peter Carew fled to France: it is thought the Duke will be taken. +I am with you still; but, for appearance sake, stay with the Queen. +Gardiner knows, but the Council are all at odds, and the Queen hath no +force for resistance. Move, if you move, at once.' + +Is Peter Carew fled? Is the Duke taken? +Down scabbard, and out sword! and let Rebellion +Roar till throne rock, and crown fall. No; not that; +But we will teach Queen Mary how to reign. +Who are those that shout below there? + +KNYVETT. Why, some fifty +That follow'd me from Penenden Heath in hope +To hear you speak. + +WYATT. Open the window, Knyvett; +The mine is fired, and I will speak to them. + +Men of Kent; England of England; you that have kept your old customs +upright, while all the rest of England bow'd theirs to the Norman, the +cause that hath brought us together is not the cause of a county or a +shire, but of this England, in whose crown our Kent is the fairest +jewel. Philip shall not wed Mary; and ye have called me to be your +leader. I know Spain. I have been there with my father; I have seen +them in their own land; have marked the haughtiness of their nobles; +the cruelty of their priests. If this man marry our Queen, however +the Council and the Commons may fence round his power with restriction, +he will be King, King of England, my masters; and the Queen, and the +laws, and the people, his slaves. What? shall we have Spain on the +throne and in the parliament; Spain in the pulpit and on the law-bench; +Spain in all the great offices of state; Spain in our ships, in our +forts, in our houses, in our beds? + +CROWD. No! no! no Spain! + +WILLIAM. No Spain in our beds--that were worse than all. I have been +there with old Sir Thomas, and the beds I know. I hate Spain. + +A PEASANT. But, Sir Thomas, must we levy war against the Queen's +Grace? + +WYATT. No, my friend; war _for_ the Queen's Grace--to save her from +herself and Philip--war against Spain. And think not we shall be +alone--thousands will flock to us. The Council, the Court itself, is +on our side. The Lord Chancellor himself is on our side. The King of +France is with us; the King of Denmark is with us; the world is with +us--war against Spain! And if we move not now, yet it will be known +that we have moved; and if Philip come to be King, O, my God! the +rope, the rack, the thumbscrew, the stake, the fire. If we move not +now, Spain moves, bribes our nobles with her gold, and creeps, creeps +snake-like about our legs till we cannot move at all; and ye know, my +masters, that wherever Spain hath ruled she hath wither'd all beneath +her. Look at the New World--a paradise made hell; the red man, that +good helpless creature, starved, maim'd, flogg'd, flay'd, burn'd, +boil'd, buried alive, worried by dogs; and here, nearer home, the +Netherlands, Sicily, Naples, Lombardy. I say no more--only this, their +lot is yours. Forward to London with me! forward to London! If ye love +your liberties or your skins, forward to London! + +CROWD. Forward to London! A Wyatt! a Wyatt! + +WYATT. But first to Rochester, to take the guns +From out the vessels lying in the river. +Then on. + +A PEASANT. Ay, but I fear we be too few, Sir Thomas. + +WYATT. Not many yet. The world as yet, my friend, +Is not half-waked; but every parish tower +Shall clang and clash alarum as we pass, +And pour along the land, and swoll'n and fed +With indraughts and side-currents, in full force +Roll upon London. + +CROWD. A Wyatt! a Wyatt! Forward! + +KNYVETT. Wyatt, shall we proclaim Elizabeth? + +WYATT. I'll think upon it, Knyvett. + +KNYVETT. Or Lady Jane? + +WYATT. No, poor soul; no. +Ah, gray old castle of Alington, green field +Beside the brimming Medway, it may chance +That I shall never look upon you more. + +KNYVETT. Come, now, you're sonnetting again. + +WYATT. Not I. +I'll have my head set higher in the state; +Or--if the Lord God will it--on the stake. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE II.--GUILDHALL. + +SIR THOMAS WHITE (The Lord Mayor), LORD WILLIAM HOWARD, SIR RALPH +BAGENHALL, ALDERMEN _and_ CITIZENS. + + +WHITE. I trust the Queen comes hither with her guards. + +HOWARD. Ay, all in arms. + + [_Several of the citizens move hastily out of the hall_. + + Why do they hurry out there? + +WHITE. My Lord, cut out the rotten from your apple, +Your apple eats the better. Let them go. +They go like those old Pharisees in John +Convicted by their conscience, arrant cowards, +Or tamperers with that treason out of Kent. +When will her Grace be here? + +HOWARD. In some few minutes. +She will address your guilds and companies. +I have striven in vain to raise a man for her. +But help her in this exigency, make +Your city loyal, and be the mightiest man +This day in England. + +WHITE. I am Thomas White. +Few things have fail'd to which I set my will. +I do my most and best. + +HOWARD. You know that after +The Captain Brett, who went with your train bands +To fight with Wyatt, had gone over to him +With all his men, the Queen in that distress +Sent Cornwallis and Hastings to the traitor, +Feigning to treat with him about her marriage-- +Know too what Wyatt said. + +WHITE. He'd sooner be, +While this same marriage question was being argued, +Trusted than trust--the scoundrel--and demanded +Possession of her person and the Tower. + +HOWARD. And four of her poor Council too, my Lord, +As hostages. + +WHITE. I know it. What do and say +Your Council at this hour? + +HOWARD. I will trust you. +We fling ourselves on you, my Lord. The Council, +The Parliament as well, are troubled waters; +And yet like waters of the fen they know not +Which way to flow. All hangs on her address, +And upon you, Lord Mayor. + +WHITE. How look'd the city +When now you past it? Quiet? + +HOWARD. Like our Council, +Your city is divided. As we past, +Some hail'd, some hiss'd us. There were citizens +Stood each before his shut-up booth, and look'd +As grim and grave as from a funeral. +And here a knot of ruffians all in rags, +With execrating execrable eyes, +Glared at the citizen. Here was a young mother, +Her face on flame, her red hair all blown back, +She shrilling 'Wyatt,' while the boy she held +Mimick'd and piped her 'Wyatt,' as red as she +In hair and cheek; and almost elbowing her, +So close they stood, another, mute as death, +And white as her own milk; her babe in arms +Had felt the faltering of his mother's heart, +And look'd as bloodless. Here a pious Catholic, +Mumbling and mixing up in his scared prayers +Heaven and earth's Maries; over his bow'd shoulder +Scowl'd that world-hated and world-hating beast, +A haggard Anabaptist. Many such groups. +The names of Wyatt, Elizabeth, Courtenay, +Nay the Queen's right to reign--'fore God, the rogues-- +Were freely buzzed among them. So I say +Your city is divided, and I fear +One scruple, this or that way, of success +Would turn it thither. Wherefore now the Queen +In this low pulse and palsy of the state, +Bad me to tell you that she counts on you +And on myself as her two hands; on you, +In your own city, as her right, my Lord, +For you are loyal. + +WHITE. Am I Thomas White? +One word before she comes. Elizabeth-- +Her name is much abused among these traitors. +Where is she? She is loved by all of us. +I scarce have heart to mingle in this matter, +If she should be mishandled. + +HOWARD. No; she shall not. +The Queen had written her word to come to court: +Methought I smelt out Renard in the letter, +And fearing for her, sent a secret missive, +Which told her to be sick. Happily or not, +It found her sick indeed. + +WHITE. God send her well; +Here comes her Royal Grace. + + _Enter_ GUARDS, MARY _and_ GARDINER. SIR THOMAS + WHITE _leads her to a raised seat on the dais_. + +WHITE. I, the Lord Mayor, and these our companies +And guilds of London, gathered here, beseech +Your Highness to accept our lowliest thanks +For your most princely presence; and we pray +That we, your true and loyal citizens, +From your own royal lips, at once may know +The wherefore of this coming, and so learn +Your royal will, and do it.--I, Lord Mayor +Of London, and our guilds and companies. + +MARY. In mine own person am I come to you, +To tell you what indeed ye see and know, +How traitorously these rebels out of Kent +Have made strong head against ourselves and you. +They would not have me wed the Prince of Spain: +That was their pretext--so they spake at first-- +But we sent divers of our Council to them, +And by their answers to the question ask'd, +It doth appear this marriage is the least +Of all their quarrel. +They have betrayed the treason of their hearts: +Seek to possess our person, hold our Tower, +Place and displace our councillors, and use +Both us and them according as they will. +Now what I am ye know right well--your Queen; +To whom, when I was wedded to the realm +And the realm's laws (the spousal ring whereof, +Not ever to be laid aside, I wear +Upon this finger), ye did promise full +Allegiance and obedience to the death. +Ye know my father was the rightful heir +Of England, and his right came down to me +Corroborate by your acts of Parliament: +And as ye were most loving unto him, +So doubtless will ye show yourselves to me. +Wherefore, ye will not brook that anyone +Should seize our person, occupy our state, +More specially a traitor so presumptuous +As this same Wyatt, who hath tamper'd with +A public ignorance, and, under colour +Of such a cause as hath no colour, seeks +To bend the laws to his own will, and yield +Full scope to persons rascal and forlorn, +To make free spoil and havock of your goods. +Now as your Prince, I say, +I, that was never mother, cannot tell +How mothers love their children; yet, methinks, +A prince as naturally may love his people +As these their children; and be sure your Queen +So loves you, and so loving, needs must deem +This love by you return'd as heartily; +And thro' this common knot and bond of love, +Doubt not they will be speedily overthrown. +As to this marriage, ye shall understand +We made thereto no treaty of ourselves, +And set no foot theretoward unadvised +Of all our Privy Council; furthermore, +This marriage had the assent of those to whom +The king, my father, did commit his trust; +Who not alone esteem'd it honourable, +But for the wealth and glory of our realm, +And all our loving subjects, most expedient. +As to myself, +I am not so set on wedlock as to choose +But where I list, nor yet so amorous +That I must needs be husbanded; I thank God, +I have lived a virgin, and I noway doubt +But that with God's grace, I can live so still. +Yet if it might please God that I should leave +Some fruit of mine own body after me, +To be your king, ye would rejoice thereat, +And it would be your comfort, as I trust; +And truly, if I either thought or knew +This marriage should bring loss or danger to you, +My subjects, or impair in any way +This royal state of England, I would never +Consent thereto, nor marry while I live; +Moreover, if this marriage should not seem, +Before our own High Court of Parliament, +To be of rich advantage to our realm, +We will refrain, and not alone from this, +Likewise from any other, out of which +Looms the least chance of peril to our realm. +Wherefore be bold, and with your lawful Prince +Stand fast against our enemies and yours, +And fear them not. I fear them not. My Lord, +I leave Lord William Howard in your city, +To guard and keep you whole and safe from all +The spoil and sackage aim'd at by these rebels, +Who mouth and foam against the Prince of Spain. + +VOICES. Long live Queen Mary! + Down with Wyatt! + The Queen! + +WHITE. Three voices from our guilds and companies! +You are shy and proud like Englishmen, my masters, +And will not trust your voices. Understand: +Your lawful Prince hath come to cast herself +On loyal hearts and bosoms, hoped to fall +Into the wide-spread arms of fealty, +And finds you statues. Speak at once--and all! +For whom? +Our sovereign Lady by King Harry's will; +The Queen of England--or the Kentish Squire? +I know you loyal. Speak! in the name of God! +The Queen of England or the rabble of Kent? +The reeking dungfork master of the mace! +Your havings wasted by the scythe and spade-- +Your rights and charters hobnail'd into slush-- +Your houses fired--your gutters bubbling blood-- + +ACCLAMATION. No! No! The Queen! the Queen! + +WHITE. Your Highness hears +This burst and bass of loyal harmony, +And how we each and all of us abhor +The venomous, bestial, devilish revolt +Of Thomas Wyatt. Hear us now make oath +To raise your Highness thirty thousand men, +And arm and strike as with one hand, and brush +This Wyatt from our shoulders, like a flea +That might have leapt upon us unawares. +Swear with me, noble fellow-citizens, all, +With all your trades, and guilds, and companies. + +CITIZENS. We swear! + +MARY. We thank your Lordship and your loyal city. + [_Exit_ MARY _attended_. + +WHITE. I trust this day, thro' God, I have saved the crown. + +FIRST ALDERMAN. Ay, so my Lord of Pembroke in command +Of all her force be safe; but there are doubts. + +SECOND ALDERMAN. I hear that Gardiner, coming with the Queen, +And meeting Pembroke, bent to his saddle-bow, +As if to win the man by flattering him. +_Is_ he so safe to fight upon her side? + +FIRST ALDERMAN. If not, there's no man safe. + +WHITE. Yes, Thomas White. +I am safe enough; no man need flatter me. + +SECOND ALDERMAN. Nay, no man need; but did you mark our Queen? +The colour freely play'd into her face, +And the half sight which makes her look so stern, +Seem'd thro' that dim dilated world of hers, +To read our faces; I have never seen her +So queenly or so goodly. + +WHITE. Courage, sir, +_That_ makes or man or woman look their goodliest. +Die like the torn fox dumb, but never whine +Like that poor heart, Northumberland, at the block. + +BAGENHALL. The man had children, and he whined for those. +Methinks most men are but poor-hearted, else +Should we so doat on courage, were it commoner? +The Queen stands up, and speaks for her own self; +And all men cry, She is queenly, she is goodly. +Yet she's no goodlier; tho' my Lord Mayor here, +By his own rule, he hath been so bold to-day, +Should look more goodly than the rest of us. + +WHITE. Goodly? I feel most goodly heart and hand, +And strong to throw ten Wyatts and all Kent. +Ha! ha! sir; but you jest; I love it: a jest +In time of danger shows the pulses even. +Be merry! yet, Sir Ralph, you look but sad. +I dare avouch you'd stand up for yourself, +Tho' all the world should bay like winter wolves. + +BAGENHALL. Who knows? the man is proven by the hour. + +WHITE. The man should make the hour, not this the man; +And Thomas White will prove this Thomas Wyatt, +And he will prove an Iden to this Cade, +And he will play the Walworth to this Wat; +Come, sirs, we prate; hence all--gather your men-- +Myself must bustle. Wyatt comes to Southwark; +I'll have the drawbridge hewn into the Thames, +And see the citizens arm'd. Good day; good day. + [_Exit_ WHITE. + +BAGENHALL. One of much outdoor bluster. + +HOWARD. For all that, +Most honest, brave, and skilful; and his wealth +A fountain of perennial alms--his fault +So thoroughly to believe in his own self. + +BAGENHALL. Yet thoroughly to believe in one's own self, +So one's own self be thorough, were to do +Great things, my Lord. + +HOWARD. It may be. + +BAGENHALL. I have heard +One of your Council fleer and jeer at him. + +HOWARD. The nursery-cocker'd child will jeer at aught +That may seem strange beyond his nursery. +The statesman that shall jeer and fleer at men, +Makes enemies for himself and for his king; +And if he jeer not seeing the true man +Behind his folly, he is thrice the fool; +And if he see the man and still will jeer, +He is child and fool, and traitor to the State. +Who is he? let me shun him. + +BAGENHALL. Nay, my Lord, +He is damn'd enough already. + +HOWARD. I must set +The guard at Ludgate. Fare you well, Sir Ralph. + +BAGENHALL. 'Who knows?' I am for England. But who knows, +That knows the Queen, the Spaniard, and the Pope, +Whether I be for Wyatt, or the Queen? + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE III.--LONDON BRIDGE. + + + _Enter_ SIR THOMAS WYATT _and_ BRETT. + +WYATT. Brett, when the Duke of Norfolk moved against us +Thou cried'st 'A Wyatt!' and flying to our side +Left his all bare, for which I love thee, Brett. +Have for thine asking aught that I can give, +For thro' thine help we are come to London Bridge; +But how to cross it balks me. I fear we cannot. + +BRETT. Nay, hardly, save by boat, swimming, or wings. + +WYATT. Last night I climb'd into the gate-house, Brett, +And scared the gray old porter and his wife. +And then I crept along the gloom and saw +They had hewn the drawbridge down into the river. +It roll'd as black as death; and that same tide +Which, coming with our coming, seem'd to smile +And sparkle like our fortune as thou saidest, +Ran sunless down, and moan'd against the piers. +But o'er the chasm I saw Lord William Howard +By torchlight, and his guard; four guns gaped at me, +Black, silent mouths: had Howard spied me there +And made them speak, as well he might have done, +Their voice had left me none to tell you this. +What shall we do? + +BRETT. On somehow. To go back +Were to lose all. + +WYATT. On over London Bridge +We cannot: stay we cannot; there is ordnance +On the White Tower and on the Devil's Tower, +And pointed full at Southwark; we must round +By Kingston Bridge. + +BRETT. Ten miles about. + +WYATT. Ev'n so. +But I have notice from our partisans +Within the city that they will stand by us +If Ludgate can be reach'd by dawn to-morrow. + + _Enter one of_ WYATT'S MEN. + +MAN. Sir Thomas, I've found this paper; pray +your worship read it; I know not my letters; the old +priests taught me nothing. + +WYATT (_reads_). 'Whosoever will apprehend the traitor Thomas Wyatt +shall have a hundred pounds for reward.' + +MAN. Is that it? That's a big lot of money. + +WYATT. Ay, ay, my friend; not read it? 'tis not written +Half plain enough. Give me a piece of paper! + [_Writes 'THOMAS WYATT' large_. +There, any man can read that. [_Sticks it in his cap_. + +BRETT. But that's foolhardy. + +WYATT. No! boldness, which will give my followers boldness. + + _Enter_ MAN _with a prisoner_. + +MAN. We found him, your worship, a plundering o' Bishop Winchester's +house; he says he's a poor gentleman. + +WYATT. Gentleman! a thief! Go hang him. Shall we make +Those that we come to serve our sharpest foes? + +BRETT. Sir Thomas-- + +WYATT. Hang him, I say. + +BRETT. Wyatt, but now you promised me a boon. + +WYATT. Ay, and I warrant this fine fellow's life. + +BRETT. Ev'n so; he was my neighbour once in Kent. +He's poor enough, has drunk and gambled out +All that he had, and gentleman he was. +We have been glad together; let him live. + +WYATT. He has gambled for his life, and lost, he hangs. +No, no, my word's my word. Take thy poor gentleman! +Gamble thyself at once out of my sight, +Or I will dig thee with my dagger. Away! +Women and children! + + _Enter a Crowd of_ WOMEN _and_ CHILDREN. + +FIRST WOMAN. O Sir Thomas, Sir Thomas, pray you go away, Sir Thomas, +or you'll make the White Tower a black 'un for us this blessed day. +He'll be the death on us; and you'll set the Divil's Tower a-spitting, +and he'll smash all our bits o' things worse than Philip o' Spain. + +SECOND WOMAN. Don't ye now go to think that we be for Philip o' Spain. + +THIRD WOMAN. No, we know that ye be come to kill the Queen, and we'll +pray for you all on our bended knees. But o' God's mercy don't ye kill +the Queen here, Sir Thomas; look ye, here's little Dickon, and little +Robin, and little Jenny--though she's but a side-cousin--and all on +our knees, we pray you to kill the Queen further off, Sir Thomas. + +WYATT. My friends, I have not come to kill the Queen +Or here or there: I come to save you all, +And I'll go further off. + +CROWD. Thanks, Sir Thomas, we be beholden to you, and we'll pray for +you on our bended knees till our lives' end. + +WYATT. Be happy, I am your friend. To Kingston, forward! + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE IV.--ROOM IN THE GATEHOUSE OF WESTMINSTER PALACE. + +MARY, ALICE, GARDINER, RENARD, LADIES. + + +GARDINER. Their cry is, Philip never shall be king. + +MARY. Lord Pembroke in command of all our force +Will front their cry and shatter them into dust. + +ALICE. Was not Lord Pembroke with Northumberland? +O madam, if this Pembroke should be false? + +MARY. No, girl; most brave and loyal, brave and loyal. +His breaking with Northumberland broke Northumberland. +At the park gate he hovers with our guards. +These Kentish ploughmen cannot break the guards. + + _Enter_ MESSENGER. + +MESSENGER. Wyatt, your Grace, hath broken thro' the guards +And gone to Ludgate. + +GARDINER. Madam, I much fear +That all is lost; but we can save your Grace. +The river still is free. I do beseech you, +There yet is time, take boat and pass to Windsor. + +MARY. I pass to Windsor and I lose my crown. + +GARDINER. Pass, then, I pray your Highness, to the Tower. + +MARY. I shall but be their prisoner in the Tower. + +CRIES _without_. The traitor! treason! Pembroke! + +LADIES. Treason! treason! + +MARY. Peace. +False to Northumberland, is he false to me? +Bear witness, Renard, that I live and die +The true and faithful bride of Philip--A sound +Of feet and voices thickening hither--blows-- +Hark, there is battle at the palace gates, +And I will out upon the gallery. + +LADIES. No, no, your Grace; see there the arrows flying. + +MARY. I am Harry's daughter, Tudor, and not fear. + [_Goes out on the gallery_. +The guards are all driven in, skulk into corners +Like rabbits to their holes. A gracious guard +Truly; shame on them! they have shut the gates! + + _Enter_ SIR ROBERT SOUTHWELL. + +SOUTHWELL. The porter, please your Grace, hath shut the gates +On friend and foe. Your gentlemen-at-arms, +If this be not your Grace's order, cry +To have the gates set wide again, and they +With their good battleaxes will do you right +Against all traitors. + +MARY. They are the flower of England; set the gates wide. + + [_Exit_ SOUTHWELL. + + _Enter_ COURTENAY. + +COURTENAY. All lost, all lost, all yielded! A barge, a barge! +The Queen must to the Tower. + +MARY. Whence come you, sir? + +COURTENAY. From Charing Cross; the rebels broke us there, +And I sped hither with what haste I might +To save my royal cousin. + +MARY. Where is Pembroke? + +COURTENAY. I left him somewhere in the thick of it. + +MARY. Left him and fled; and thou that would'st be King, +And hast nor heart nor honour. I myself +Will down into the battle and there bide +The upshot of my quarrel, or die with those +That are no cowards and no Courtenays. + +COURTENAY. I do not love your Grace should call me coward. + + _Enter another_ MESSENGER. + +MESSENGER. Over, your Grace, all crush'd; the brave Lord William +Thrust him from Ludgate, and the traitor flying +To Temple Bar, there by Sir Maurice Berkeley +Was taken prisoner. + +MARY. To the Tower with _him_! + +MESSENGER. 'Tis said he told Sir Maurice there was one +Cognisant of this, and party thereunto, +My Lord of Devon. + +MARY. To the Tower with _him_! + +COURTENAY. O la, the Tower, the Tower, always the Tower, +I shall grow into it--I shall be the Tower. + +MARY. Your Lordship may not have so long to wait. Remove him! + +COURTENAY. La, to whistle out my life, +And carve my coat upon the walls again! + [_Exit_ COURTENAY _guarded_. + +MESSENGER. Also this Wyatt did confess the Princess +Cognisant thereof, and party thereunto. + +MARY. What? whom--whom did you say? + +MESSENGER. Elizabeth, +Your Royal sister. + +MARY. To the Tower with _her_! +My foes are at my feet and I am Queen. + + [GARDINER _and her_ LADIES _kneel to her_. + +GARDINER (_rising_). +There let them lie, your foot-stool! (_Aside_.) Can I strike +Elizabeth?--not now and save the life +Of Devon: if I save him, he and his +Are bound to me--may strike hereafter. (_Aloud_.) Madam, +What Wyatt said, or what they said he said, +Cries of the moment and the street-- + +MARY. He said it. + +GARDINER. Your courts of justice will determine that. + +RENARD (_advancing_). +I trust by this your Highness will allow +Some spice of wisdom in my telling you, +When last we talk'd, that Philip would not come +Till Guildford Dudley and the Duke of Suffolk, +And Lady Jane had left us. + +MARY. They shall die. + +RENARD. And your so loving sister? + +MARY. She shall die. +My foes are at my feet, and Philip King. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + + +ACT III. + + + +SCENE I.--THE CONDUIT IN GRACECHURCH, + +_Painted with the Nine Worthies, among them King Henry VIII. holding a +book, on it inscribed_ 'Verbum Dei'. + + + _Enter_ SIR RALPH BAGENHALL _and_ SIR THOMAS STAFFORD. + +BAGENHALL. A hundred here and hundreds hang'd in Kent. +The tigress had unsheath'd her nails at last, +And Renard and the Chancellor sharpen'd them. +In every London street a gibbet stood. +They are down to-day. Here by this house was one; +The traitor husband dangled at the door, +And when the traitor wife came out for bread +To still the petty treason therewithin, +Her cap would brush his heels. + +STAFFORD. It is Sir Ralph, +And muttering to himself as heretofore. +Sir, see you aught up yonder? + +BAGENHALL. I miss something. +The tree that only bears dead fruit is gone. + +STAFFORD. What tree, sir? + +BAGENHALL. Well, the tree in Virgil, sir, +That bears not its own apples. + +STAFFORD. What! the gallows? + +BAGENHALL. Sir, this dead fruit was ripening overmuch, +And had to be removed lest living Spain +Should sicken at dead England. + +STAFFORD. Not so dead, +But that a shock may rouse her. + +BAGENHALL. I believe +Sir Thomas Stafford? + +STAFFORD. I am ill disguised. + +BAGENHALL. Well, are you not in peril here? + +STAFFORD. I think so. +I came to feel the pulse of England, whether +It beats hard at this marriage. Did you see it? + +BAGENHALL. Stafford, I am a sad man and a serious. +Far liefer had I in my country hall +Been reading some old book, with mine old hound +Couch'd at my hearth, and mine old flask of wine +Beside me, than have seen it: yet I saw it. + +STAFFORD. Good, was it splendid? + +BAGENHALL. Ay, if Dukes, and Earls, +And Counts, and sixty Spanish cavaliers, +Some six or seven Bishops, diamonds, pearls, +That royal commonplace too, cloth of gold, +Could make it so. + +STAFFORD. And what was Mary's dress? + +BAGENHALL. Good faith, I was too sorry for the woman +To mark the dress. She wore red shoes! + +STAFFORD. Red shoes! + +BAGENHALL. Scarlet, as if her feet were wash'd in blood, +As if she had waded in it. + +STAFFORD. Were your eyes +So bashful that you look'd no higher? + +BAGENHALL. A diamond, +And Philip's gift, as proof of Philip's love, +Who hath not any for any,--tho' a true one, +Blazed false upon her heart. + +STAFFORD. But this proud Prince-- + +BAGENHALL. Nay, he is King, you know, the King of Naples. +The father ceded Naples, that the son +Being a King, might wed a Queen--O he +Flamed in brocade--white satin his trunk-hose, +Inwrought with silver,--on his neck a collar, +Gold, thick with diamonds; hanging down from this +The Golden Fleece--and round his knee, misplaced, +Our English Garter, studded with great emeralds, +Rubies, I know not what. Have you had enough +Of all this gear? + +STAFFORD. Ay, since you hate the telling it. +How look'd the Queen? + +BAGENHALL. No fairer for her jewels. +And I could see that as the new-made couple +Came from the Minster, moving side by side +Beneath one canopy, ever and anon +She cast on him a vassal smile of love, +Which Philip with a glance of some distaste, +Or so methought, return'd. I may be wrong, sir. +This marriage will not hold. + +STAFFORD. I think with you. +The King of France will help to break it. + +BAGENHALL. France! +We have once had half of France, and hurl'd our battles +Into the heart of Spain; but England now +Is but a ball chuck'd between France and Spain, +His in whose hand she drops; Harry of Bolingbroke +Had holpen Richard's tottering throne to stand, +Could Harry have foreseen that all our nobles +Would perish on the civil slaughter-field, +And leave the people naked to the crown, +And the crown naked to the people; the crown +Female, too! Sir, no woman's regimen +Can save us. We are fallen, and as I think, +Never to rise again. + +STAFFORD. You are too black-blooded. +I'd make a move myself to hinder that: +I know some lusty fellows there in France. + +BAGENHALL. You would but make us weaker, Thomas Stafford. +Wyatt was a good soldier, yet he fail'd, +And strengthen'd Philip. + +STAFFORD. Did not his last breath +Clear Courtenay and the Princess from the charge +Of being his co-rebels? + +BAGENHALL. Ay, but then +What such a one as Wyatt says is nothing: +We have no men among us. The new Lords +Are quieted with their sop of Abbeylands, +And ev'n before the Queen's face Gardiner buys them +With Philip's gold. All greed, no faith, no courage! +Why, ev'n the haughty prince, Northumberland, +The leader of our Reformation, knelt +And blubber'd like a lad, and on the scaffold +Recanted, and resold himself to Rome. + +STAFFORD. I swear you do your country wrong, Sir Ralph. +I know a set of exiles over there, +Dare-devils, that would eat fire and spit it out +At Philip's beard: they pillage Spain already. +The French King winks at it. An hour will come +When they will sweep her from the seas. No men? +Did not Lord Suffolk die like a true man? +Is not Lord William Howard a true man? +Yea, you yourself, altho' you are black-blooded: +And I, by God, believe myself a man. +Ay, even in the church there is a man-- +Cranmer. +Fly would he not, when all men bad him fly. +And what a letter he wrote against the Pope! +There's a brave man, if any. + +BAGENHALL. Ay; if it hold. + +CROWD (_coming on_). +God save their Graces! + +STAFFORD. Bagenhall, I see +The Tudor green and white. (_Trumpets_.) They are coming now. +And here's a crowd as thick as herring-shoals. + +BAGENHALL. Be limpets to this pillar, or we are torn +Down the strong wave of brawlers. + +CROWD. God save their Graces! + + [_Procession of Trumpeters, Javelin-men, etc.; then + Spanish and Flemish Nobles intermingled_. + +STAFFORD. Worth seeing, Bagenhall! These black dog-Dons +Garb themselves bravely. Who's the long-face there, +Looks very Spain of very Spain? + +BAGENHALL. The Duke +Of Alva, an iron soldier. + +STAFFORD. And the Dutchman, +Now laughing at some jest? + +BAGENHALL. William of Orange, +William the Silent. + +STAFFORD. Why do they call him so? + +BAGENHALL. He keeps, they say, some secret that may cost +Philip his life. + +STAFFORD. But then he looks so merry. + +BAGENHALL. I cannot tell you why they call him so. + + [_The_ KING _and_ QUEEN _pass, attended by Peers of + the Realm, Officers of State, etc. Cannon shot off_. + +CROWD. Philip and Mary, Philip and Mary! +Long live the King and Queen, Philip and Mary! + +STAFFORD. They smile as if content with one another. + +BAGENHALL. A smile abroad is oft a scowl at home. + + [KING _and_ QUEEN _pass on. Procession_. + +FIRST CITIZEN. I thought this Philip had been one of those black +devils of Spain, but he hath a yellow beard. + +SECOND CITIZEN. Not red like Iscariot's. + +FIRST CITIZEN. Like a carrot's, as thou say'st, and English carrot's +better than Spanish licorice; but I thought he was a beast. + +THIRD CITIZEN. Certain I had heard that every Spaniard carries a tail +like a devil under his trunk-hose. + +TAILOR. Ay, but see what trunk-hoses! Lord! they be fine; I never +stitch'd none such. They make amends for the tails. + +FOURTH CITIZEN. Tut! every Spanish priest will tell you that all +English heretics have tails. + +FIFTH CITIZEN. Death and the Devil--if he find I have one-- + +FOURTH CITIZEN. Lo! thou hast call'd them up! here they come--a pale +horse for Death and Gardiner for the Devil. + + _Enter_ GARDINER _(turning back from the procession)_. + +GARDINER. Knave, wilt thou wear thy cap before the Queen? + +MAN. My Lord, I stand so squeezed among the crowd +I cannot lift my hands unto my head. + +GARDINER. Knock off his cap there, some of you about him! +See there be others that can use their hands. +Thou art one of Wyatt's men? + +MAN. No, my Lord, no. + +GARDINER. Thy name, thou knave? + +MAN. I am nobody, my Lord. + +GARDINER (_shouting_). +God's passion! knave, thy name? + +MAN. I have ears to hear. + +GARDINER. Ay, rascal, if I leave thee ears to hear. +Find out his name and bring it me (_to_ ATTENDANT). + +ATTENDANT. Ay, my Lord. + +GARDINER. Knave, thou shalt lose thine ears and find thy tongue, +And shalt be thankful if I leave thee that. + [_Coming before the Conduit_. +The conduit painted--the nine worthies--ay! +But then what's here? King Harry with a scroll. +Ha--Verbum Dei--verbum--word of God! +God's passion! do you know the knave that painted it? + +ATTENDANT. I do, my Lord. + +GARDINER. Tell him to paint it out, +And put some fresh device in lieu of it-- +A pair of gloves, a pair of gloves, sir; ha? +There is no heresy there. + +ATTENDANT. I will, my Lord; +The man shall paint a pair of gloves. I am sure +(Knowing the man) he wrought it ignorantly, +And not from any malice. + +GARDINER. Word of God +In English! over this the brainless loons +That cannot spell Esaias from St. Paul, +Make themselves drunk and mad, fly out and flare +Into rebellions. I'll have their bibles burnt. +The bible is the priest's. Ay! fellow, what! +Stand staring at me! shout, you gaping rogue! + +MAN. I have, my Lord, shouted till I am hoarse. + +GARDINER. What hast thou shouted, knave? + +MAN. Long live Queen Mary! + +GARDINER. Knave, there be two. There be both King and Queen, +Philip and Mary. Shout! + +MAN. Nay, but, my Lord, +The Queen comes first, Mary and Philip. + +GARDINER. Shout, then, +Mary and Philip! + +MAN. Mary and Philip! + +GARDINER. Now, +Thou hast shouted for thy pleasure, shout for mine! +Philip and Mary! + +MAN. Must it be so, my Lord? + +GARDINER. Ay, knave. + +MAN. Philip and Mary! + +GARDINER. I distrust thee. +Thine is a half voice and a lean assent. +What is thy name? + +MAN. Sanders. + +GARDINER. What else? + +MAN. Zerubbabel. + +GARDINER. Where dost thou live? + +MAN. In Cornhill. + +GARDINER. Where, knave, where? + +MAN. Sign of the Talbot. + +GARDINER. Come to me to-morrow.-- +Rascal!--this land is like a hill of fire, +One crater opens when another shuts. +But so I get the laws against the heretic, +Spite of Lord Paget and Lord William Howard, +And others of our Parliament, revived, +I will show fire on my side--stake and fire-- +Sharp work and short. The knaves are easily cow'd. +Follow their Majesties. + [_Exit. The crowd following_. + +BAGENHALL. As proud as Becket. + +STAFFORD. You would not have him murder'd as Becket was? + +BAGENHALL. No--murder fathers murder: but I say +There is no man--there was one woman with us-- +It was a sin to love her married, dead +I cannot choose but love her. + +STAFFORD. Lady Jane? + +CROWD (_going off_). +God save their Graces! + +STAFFORD. Did you see her die? + +BAGENHALL. No, no; her innocent blood had blinded me. +You call me too black-blooded--true enough +Her dark dead blood is in my heart with mine. +If ever I cry out against the Pope +Her dark dead blood that ever moves with mine +Will stir the living tongue and make the cry. + +STAFFORD. Yet doubtless you can tell me how she died? + +BAGENHALL. Seventeen--and knew eight languages--in music +Peerless--her needle perfect, and her learning +Beyond the churchmen; yet so meek, so modest, +So wife-like humble to the trivial boy +Mismatch'd with her for policy! I have heard +She would not take a last farewell of him, +She fear'd it might unman him for his end. +She could not be unmann'd--no, nor outwoman'd-- +Seventeen--a rose of grace! +Girl never breathed to rival such a rose; +Rose never blew that equall'd such a bud. + +STAFFORD. Pray you go on. + +BAGENHALL. She came upon the scaffold, +And said she was condemn'd to die for treason; +She had but follow'd the device of those +Her nearest kin: she thought they knew the laws. +But for herself, she knew but little law, +And nothing of the titles to the crown; +She had no desire for that, and wrung her hands, +And trusted God would save her thro' the blood +Of Jesus Christ alone. + +STAFFORD. Pray you go on. + +BAGENHALL. Then knelt and said the Misere Mei-- +But all in English, mark you; rose again, +And, when the headsman pray'd to be forgiven, +Said, 'You will give me my true crown at last, +But do it quickly;' then all wept but she, +Who changed not colour when she saw the block, +But ask'd him, childlike: 'Will you take it off +Before I lay me down?' 'No, madam,' he said, +Gasping; and when her innocent eyes were bound, +She, with her poor blind hands feeling--'where is it? +Where is it?'--You must fancy that which follow'd, +If you have heart to do it! + +CROWD (_in the distance_). + God save their Graces! + +STAFFORD. Their Graces, our disgraces! God confound them! +Why, she's grown bloodier! when I last was here, +This was against her conscience--would be murder! + +BAGENHALL. The 'Thou shall do no murder,' which God's hand +Wrote on her conscience, Mary rubb'd out pale-- +She could not make it white--and over that, +Traced in the blackest text of Hell--'Thou shall!' +And sign'd it--Mary! + +STAFFORD. Philip and the Pope +Must have sign'd too. I hear this Legate's coming +To bring us absolution from the Pope. +The Lords and Commons will bow down before him-- +You are of the house? what will you do, Sir Ralph? + +BAGENHALL. And why should I be bolder than the rest, +Or honester than all? + +STAFFORD. But, sir, if I-- +And oversea they say this state of yours +Hath no more mortice than a tower of cards; +And that a puff would do it--then if I +And others made that move I touch'd upon, +Back'd by the power of France, and landing here, +Came with a sudden splendour, shout, and show, +And dazzled men and deafen'd by some bright +Loud venture, and the people so unquiet-- +And I the race of murder'd Buckingham-- +Not for myself, but for the kingdom--Sir, +I trust that you would fight along with us. + +BAGENHALL. No; you would fling your lives into the gulf. + +STAFFORD. But if this Philip, as he's like to do, +Left Mary a wife-widow here alone, +Set up a viceroy, sent his myriads hither +To seize upon the forts and fleet, and make us +A Spanish province; would you not fight then? + +BAGENHALL. I think I should fight then. + +STAFFORD. I am sure of it. +Hist! there's the face coming on here of one +Who knows me. I must leave you. Fare you well, +You'll hear of me again. + +BAGENHALL. Upon the scaffold. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE II.--ROOM IN WHITEHALL PALACE. + +MARY. _Enter_ PHILIP _and_ CARDINAL POLE. + + +POLE. Ave Maria, gratia plena, Benedicta tu in mulieribus. + +MARY. Loyal and royal cousin, humblest thanks. +Had you a pleasant voyage up the river? + +POLE. We had your royal barge, and that same chair, +Or rather throne of purple, on the deck. +Our silver cross sparkled before the prow, +The ripples twinkled at their diamond-dance, +The boats that follow'd, were as glowing-gay +As regal gardens; and your flocks of swans, +As fair and white as angels; and your shores +Wore in mine eyes the green of Paradise. +My foreign friends, who dream'd us blanketed +In ever-closing fog, were much amazed +To find as fair a sun as might have flash'd +Upon their lake of Garda, fire the Thames; +Our voyage by sea was all but miracle; +And here the river flowing from the sea, +Not toward it (for they thought not of our tides), +Seem'd as a happy miracle to make glide-- +In quiet--home your banish'd countryman. + +MARY. We heard that you were sick in Flanders, cousin. + +POLE. A dizziness. + +MARY. And how came you round again? + +POLE. The scarlet thread of Rahab saved her life; +And mine, a little letting of the blood. + +MARY. Well? now? + +POLE. Ay, cousin, as the heathen giant +Had but to touch the ground, his force return'd-- +Thus, after twenty years of banishment, +Feeling my native land beneath my foot, +I said thereto: 'Ah, native land of mine, +Thou art much beholden to this foot of mine, +That hastes with full commission from the Pope +To absolve thee from thy guilt of heresy. +Thou hast disgraced me and attainted me, +And mark'd me ev'n as Cain, and I return +As Peter, but to bless thee: make me well.' +Methinks the good land heard me, for to-day +My heart beats twenty, when I see you, cousin. +Ah, gentle cousin, since your Herod's death, +How oft hath Peter knock'd at Mary's gate! +And Mary would have risen and let him in, +But, Mary, there were those within the house +Who would not have it. + +MARY. True, good cousin Pole; +And there were also those without the house +Who would not have it. + +POLE. I believe so, cousin. +State-policy and church-policy are conjoint, +But Janus-faces looking diverse ways. +I fear the Emperor much misvalued me. +But all is well; 'twas ev'n the will of God, +Who, waiting till the time had ripen'd, now, +Makes me his mouth of holy greeting. 'Hail, +Daughter of God, and saver of the faith. +Sit benedictus fructus ventris tui!' + +MARY. Ah, heaven! + +POLE. Unwell, your Grace? + +MARY. No, cousin, happy-- +Happy to see you; never yet so happy +Since I was crown'd. + +POLE. Sweet cousin, you forget +That long low minster where you gave your hand +To this great Catholic King. + +PHILIP. Well said, Lord Legate. + +MARY. Nay, not well said; I thought of you, my liege, +Ev'n as I spoke. + +PHILIP. Ay, Madam; my Lord Paget +Waits to present our Council to the Legate. +Sit down here, all; Madam, between us you. + +POLE. Lo, now you are enclosed with boards of cedar, +Our little sister of the Song of Songs! +You are doubly fenced and shielded sitting here +Between the two most high-set thrones on earth, +The Emperor's highness happily symboll'd by +The King your husband, the Pope's Holiness +By mine own self. + +MARY. True, cousin, I am happy. +When will you that we summon both our houses +To take this absolution from your lips, +And be regather'd to the Papal fold? + +POLE. In Britain's calendar the brightest day +Beheld our rough forefathers break their Gods, +And clasp the faith in Christ; but after that +Might not St. Andrew's be her happiest day? + +MARY. Then these shall meet upon St. Andrew's day. + + _Enter_ PAGET, _who presents the Council. Dumb show_. + +POLE. I am an old man wearied with my journey, +Ev'n with my joy. Permit me to withdraw. +To Lambeth? + +PHILIP. Ay, Lambeth has ousted Cranmer. +It was not meet the heretic swine should live +In Lambeth. + +MARY. There or anywhere, or at all. + +PHILIP. We have had it swept and garnish'd after him. + +POLE. Not for the seven devils to enter in? + +PHILIP. No, for we trust they parted in the swine. + +POLE. True, and I am the Angel of the Pope. +Farewell, your Graces. + +PHILIP. Nay, not here--to me; +I will go with you to the waterside. + +POLE. Not be my Charon to the counter side? + +PHILIP. No, my Lord Legate, the Lord Chancellor goes. + +POLE. And unto no dead world; but Lambeth palace, +Henceforth a centre of the living faith. + + [_Exeunt_ PHILIP, POLE, PAGET, _etc_. + + _Manet_ MARY. + +MARY. He hath awaked! he hath awaked! +He stirs within the darkness! +Oh, Philip, husband! now thy love to mine +Will cling more close, and those bleak manners thaw, +That make me shamed and tongue-tied in my love. +The second Prince of Peace-- +The great unborn defender of the Faith, +Who will avenge me of mine enemies-- +He comes, and my star rises. +The stormy Wyatts and Northumberlands, +The proud ambitions of Elizabeth, +And all her fieriest partisans--are pale +Before my star! +The light of this new learning wanes and dies: +The ghosts of Luther and Zuinglius fade +Into the deathless hell which is their doom +Before my star! +His sceptre shall go forth from Ind to Ind! +His sword shall hew the heretic peoples down! +His faith shall clothe the world that will be his, +Like universal air and sunshine! Open, +Ye everlasting gates! The King is here!-- +My star, my son! + + _Enter_ PHILIP, DUKE OF ALVA, _etc_. + + Oh, Philip, come with me; +Good news have I to tell you, news to make +Both of us happy--ay, the Kingdom too. +Nay come with me--one moment! + +PHILIP (_to_ ALVA). More than that: +There was one here of late--William the Silent +They call him--he is free enough in talk, +But tells me nothing. You will be, we trust, +Sometime the viceroy of those provinces-- +He must deserve his surname better. + +ALVA. Ay, sir; +Inherit the Great Silence. + +PHILIP. True; the provinces +Are hard to rule and must be hardly ruled; +Most fruitful, yet, indeed, an empty rind, +All hollow'd out with stinging heresies; +And for their heresies, Alva, they will fight; +You must break them or they break you. + +ALVA (_proudly_). The first. + +PHILIP. Good! +Well, Madam, this new happiness of mine? + + [_Exeunt_. + + _Enter_ THREE PAGES. + +FIRST PAGE. News, mates! a miracle, a miracle! news! +The bells must ring; Te Deums must be sung; +The Queen hath felt the motion of her babe! + +SECOND PAGE. Ay; but see here! + +FIRST PAGE. See what? + +SECOND PAGE. This paper, Dickon. +I found it fluttering at the palace gates:-- +'The Queen of England is delivered of a dead dog!' + +THIRD PAGE. These are the things that madden her. Fie upon it! + +FIRST PAGE. Ay; but I hear she hath a dropsy, lad, +Or a high-dropsy, as the doctors call it. + +THIRD PAGE. Fie on her dropsy, so she have a dropsy! +I know that she was ever sweet to me. + +FIRST PAGE. For thou and thine are Roman to the core. + +THIRD PAGE. So thou and thine must be. Take heed! + +FIRST PAGE. Not I, +And whether this flash of news be false or true, +So the wine run, and there be revelry, +Content am I. Let all the steeples clash, +Till the sun dance, as upon Easter Day. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE III.--GREAT HALL IN WHITEHALL. + +_At the far end a dais. On this three chairs, two under one canopy +for_ MARY _and_ PHILIP, _another on the right of these for_ POLE. +_Under the dais on_ POLE'S _side, ranged along the wall, sit all the +Spiritual Peers, and along the wall opposite, all the Temporal. The +Commons on cross benches in front, a line of approach to the dais +between them. In the foreground_, SIR RALPH BAGENHALL _and other +Members of the Commons_. + + +FIRST MEMBER. St. Andrew's day; sit close, sit close, we are friends. +Is reconciled the word? the Pope again? +It must be thus; and yet, cocksbody! how strange +That Gardiner, once so one with all of us +Against this foreign marriage, should have yielded +So utterly!--strange! but stranger still that he, +So fierce against the Headship of the Pope, +Should play the second actor in this pageant +That brings him in; such a cameleon he! + +SECOND MEMBER. This Gardiner turn'd his coat in Henry's time; +The serpent that hath slough'd will slough again. + +THIRD MEMBER. Tut, then we all are serpents. + +SECOND MEMBER. Speak for yourself. + +THIRD MEMBER. Ay, and for Gardiner! being English citizen, +How should he bear a bridegroom out of Spain? +The Queen would have him! being English churchman +How should he bear the headship of the Pope? +The Queen would have it! Statesmen that are wise +Shape a necessity, as a sculptor clay, +To their own model. + +SECOND MEMBER. Statesmen that are wise +Take truth herself for model. What say you? + [_To_ SIR RALPH BAGENHALL. + +BAGENHALL. We talk and talk. + +FIRST MEMBER. Ay, and what use to talk? +Philip's no sudden alien--the Queen's husband, +He's here, and king, or will be--yet cocksbody! +So hated here! I watch'd a hive of late; +My seven-years' friend was with me, my young boy; +Out crept a wasp, with half the swarm behind. +'Philip!' says he. I had to cuff the rogue +For infant treason. + +THIRD MEMBER. But they say that bees, +If any creeping life invade their hive +Too gross to be thrust out, will build him round, +And bind him in from harming of their combs. +And Philip by these articles is bound +From stirring hand or foot to wrong the realm. + +SECOND MEMBER. By bonds of beeswax, like your creeping thing; +But your wise bees had stung him first to death. + +THIRD MEMBER. Hush, hush! +You wrong the Chancellor: the clauses added +To that same treaty which the emperor sent us +Were mainly Gardiner's: that no foreigner +Hold office in the household, fleet, forts, army; +That if the Queen should die without a child, +The bond between the kingdoms be dissolved; +That Philip should not mix us any way +With his French wars-- + +SECOND MEMBER. Ay, ay, but what security, +Good sir, for this, if Philip---- + +THIRD MEMBER. Peace--the Queen, Philip, and Pole. + [_All rise, and stand_. + + _Enter_ MARY, PHILIP, _and_ POLE. + + [GARDINER _conducts them to the three chairs of state_. + PHILIP _sits on the_ QUEEN'S _left_, POLE _on her right_. + +GARDINER. Our short-lived sun, before his winter plunge, +Laughs at the last red leaf, and Andrew's Day. + +MARY. Should not this day be held in after years +More solemn than of old? + +PHILIP. Madam, my wish +Echoes your Majesty's. + +POLE. It shall be so. + +GARDINER. Mine echoes both your Graces'; (_aside_) but the Pope-- +Can we not have the Catholic church as well +Without as with the Italian? if we cannot, +Why then the Pope. + My lords of the upper house, +And ye, my masters, of the lower house, +Do ye stand fast by that which ye resolved? + +VOICES. We do. + +GARDINER. And be you all one mind to supplicate +The Legate here for pardon, and acknowledge +The primacy of the Pope? + +VOICES. We are all one mind. + +GARDINER. Then must I play the vassal to this Pole. [_Aside_. + + [_He draws a paper from under his robes and + presents it to the_ KING _and_ QUEEN, _who look + through it and return it to him; then ascends + a tribune, and reads_. + +We, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, +And Commons here in Parliament assembled, +Presenting the whole body of this realm +Of England, and dominions of the same, +Do make most humble suit unto your Majesties, +In our own name and that of all the state, +That by your gracious means and intercession +Our supplication be exhibited +To the Lord Cardinal Pole, sent here as Legate +From our most Holy Father Julius, Pope, +And from the Apostolic see of Rome; +And do declare our penitence and grief +For our long schism and disobedience, +Either in making laws and ordinances +Against the Holy Father's primacy, +Or else by doing or by speaking aught +Which might impugn or prejudice the same; +By this our supplication promising, +As well for our own selves as all the realm, +That now we be and ever shall be quick, +Under and with your Majesties' authorities, +To do to the utmost all that in us lies +Towards the abrogation and repeal +Of all such laws and ordinances made; +Whereon we humbly pray your Majesties, +As persons undefiled with our offence, +So to set forth this humble suit of ours +That we the rather by your intercession +May from the Apostolic see obtain, +Thro' this most reverend Father, absolution, +And full release from danger of all censures +Of Holy Church that we be fall'n into, +So that we may, as children penitent, +Be once again received into the bosom +And unity of Universal Church; +And that this noble realm thro' after years +May in this unity and obedience +Unto the holy see and reigning Pope +Serve God and both your Majesties. + +VOICES. Amen. + [_All sit. + + [He again presents the petition to the_ KING _and_ + QUEEN, _who hand it reverentially to_ POLE. + +POLE (_sitting_). This is the loveliest day that ever smiled +On England. All her breath should, incenselike, +Rise to the heavens in grateful praise of Him +Who now recalls her to His ancient fold. +Lo! once again God to this realm hath given +A token of His more especial Grace; +For as this people were the first of all +The islands call'd into the dawning church +Out of the dead, deep night of heathendom, +So now are these the first whom God hath given +Grace to repent and sorrow for their schism; +And if your penitence be not mockery, +Oh how the blessed angels who rejoice +Over one saved do triumph at this hour +In the reborn salvation of a land +So noble. [_A pause_. + For ourselves we do protest +That our commission is to heal, not harm; +We come not to condemn, but reconcile; +We come not to compel, but call again; +We come not to destroy, but edify; +Nor yet to question things already done; +These are forgiven--matters of the past-- +And range with jetsam and with offal thrown +Into the blind sea of forgetfulness. [_A pause_. +Ye have reversed the attainder laid on us +By him who sack'd the house of God; and we, +Amplier than any field on our poor earth +Can render thanks in fruit for being sown, +Do here and now repay you sixty-fold, +A hundred, yea, a thousand thousand-fold, +With heaven for earth. + + [_Rising and stretching forth his hands. All kneel but_ + SIR RALPH BAGENHALL, _who rises and remains standing_. + + The Lord who hath redeem'd us +With His own blood, and wash'd us from our sins, +To purchase for Himself a stainless bride; +He, whom the Father hath appointed Head +Of all his church, He by His mercy absolve you! [_A pause_. +And we by that authority Apostolic, +Given unto us, his Legate, by the Pope, +Our Lord and Holy Father, Julius, +God's Vicar and Vicegerent upon earth, +Do here absolve you and deliver you +And every one of you, and all the realm +And its dominions from all heresy, +All schism, and from all and every censure, +Judgment, and pain accruing thereupon; +And also we restore you to the bosom +And unity of Universal Church. + [_Turning to_ GARDINER. +Our letters of commission will declare this plainlier. + + [QUEEN _heard sobbing. Cries of_ Amen! Amen! _Some of the + Members embrace one another. All but_ SIR RALPH BAGENHALL + _pass out into the neighboring chapel, whence is heard + the Te Deum_. + +BAGENHALL. We strove against the papacy from the first, +In William's time, in our first Edward's time, +And in my master Henry's time; but now, +The unity of Universal Church, +Mary would have it; and this Gardiner follows; +The unity of Universal Hell, +Philip would have it; and this Gardiner follows! +A Parliament of imitative apes! +Sheep at the gap which Gardiner takes, who not +Believes the Pope, nor any of them believe-- +These spaniel-Spaniard English of the time, +Who rub their fawning noses in the dust, +For that is Philip's gold-dust, and adore +This Vicar of their Vicar. Would I had been +Born Spaniard! I had held my head up then. +I am ashamed that I am Bagenhall, +English. + + _Enter_ OFFICER. + +OFFICER. Sir Ralph Bagenhall! + +BAGENHALL. What of that? + +OFFICER. You were the one sole man in either house +Who stood upright when both the houses fell. + +BAGENHALL. The houses fell! + +OFFICER. I mean the houses knelt +Before the Legate. + +BAGENHALL. Do not scrimp your phrase, +But stretch it wider; say when England fell. + +OFFICER. I say you were the one sole man who stood. + +BAGENHALL. I am the one sole man in either house, +Perchance in England, loves her like a son. + +OFFICER. Well, you one man, because you stood upright, +Her Grace the Queen commands you to the Tower. + +BAGENHALL. As traitor, or as heretic, or for what? + +OFFICER. If any man in any way would be +The one man, he shall be so to his cost. + +BAGENHALL. What! will she have my head? + +OFFICER. A round fine likelier. +Your pardon. [_Calling to_ ATTENDANT. + By the river to the Tower. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE IV.--WHITEHALL. A ROOM IN THE PALACE. +MARY, GARDINER, POLE, PAGET, BONNER, _etc_. + + +MARY. The King and I, my Lords, now that all traitors +Against our royal state have lost the heads +Wherewith they plotted in their treasonous malice, +Have talk'd together, and are well agreed +That those old statutes touching Lollardism +To bring the heretic to the stake, should be +No longer a dead letter, but requicken'd. + +ONE OF THE COUNCIL. Why, what hath fluster'd Gardiner? how he rubs +His forelock! + +PAGET. I have changed a word with him +In coming, and may change a word again. + +GARDINER. Madam, your Highness is our sun, the King +And you together our two suns in one; +And so the beams of both may shine upon us, +The faith that seem'd to droop will feel your light, +Lift head, and flourish; yet not light alone, +There must be heat--there must be heat enough +To scorch and wither heresy to the root. +For what saith Christ? 'Compel them to come in.' +And what saith Paul? 'I would they were cut off +That trouble you.' Let the dead letter live! +Trace it in fire, that all the louts to whom +Their A B C is darkness, clowns and grooms +May read it! so you quash rebellion too, +For heretic and traitor are all one: +Two vipers of one breed--an amphisbaena, +Each end a sting: Let the dead letter burn! + +PAGET. Yet there be some disloyal Catholics, +And many heretics loyal; heretic throats +Cried no God-bless-her to the Lady Jane, +But shouted in Queen Mary. So there be +Some traitor-heretic, there is axe and cord. +To take the lives of others that are loyal, +And by the churchman's pitiless doom of fire, +Were but a thankless policy in the crown, +Ay, and against itself; for there are many. + +MARY. If we could burn out heresy, my Lord Paget, +We reck not tho' we lost this crown of England-- +Ay! tho' it were ten Englands! + +GARDINER. Right, your Grace. +Paget, you are all for this poor life of ours, +And care but little for the life to be. + +PAGET. I have some time, for curiousness, my Lord +Watch'd children playing at _their_ life to be, +And cruel at it, killing helpless flies; +Such is our time--all times for aught I know. + +GARDINER. We kill the heretics that sting the soul-- +They, with right reason, flies that prick the flesh. + +PAGET. They had not reach'd right reason; little children! +They kill'd but for their pleasure and the power +They felt in killing. + +GARDINER. A spice of Satan, ha! +Why, good! what then? granted!--we are fallen creatures; +Look to your Bible, Paget! we are fallen. + +PAGET. I am but of the laity, my Lord Bishop, +And may not read your Bible, yet I found +One day, a wholesome scripture, 'Little children, +Love one another.' + +GARDINER. Did you find a scripture, +'I come not to bring peace but a sword'? The sword +Is in her Grace's hand to smite with. Paget, +You stand up here to fight for heresy, +You are more than guess'd at as a heretic, +And on the steep-up track of the true faith +Your lapses are far seen. + +PAGET. The faultless Gardiner! + +MARY. You brawl beyond the question; speak, Lord Legate! + +POLE. Indeed, I cannot follow with your Grace: +Rather would say--the shepherd doth not kill +The sheep that wander from his flock, but sends +His careful dog to bring them to the fold. +Look to the Netherlands, wherein have been +Such holocausts of heresy! to what end? +For yet the faith is not established there. + +GARDINER. The end's not come. + +POLE. No--nor this way will come, +Seeing there lie two ways to every end, +A better and a worse--the worse is here +To persecute, because to persecute +Makes a faith hated, and is furthermore +No perfect witness of a perfect faith +In him who persecutes: when men are tost +On tides of strange opinion, and not sure +Of their own selves, they are wroth with their own selves, +And thence with others; then, who lights the faggot? +Not the full faith, no, but the lurking doubt. +Old Rome, that first made martyrs in the Church, +Trembled for her own gods, for these were trembling-- +But when did our Rome tremble? + +PAGET. Did she not +In Henry's time and Edward's? + +POLE. What, my Lord! +The Church on Peter's rock? never! I have seen +A pine in Italy that cast its shadow +Athwart a cataract; firm stood the pine-- +The cataract shook the shadow. To my mind, +The cataract typed the headlong plunge and fall +Of heresy to the pit: the pine was Rome. +You see, my Lords, +It was the shadow of the Church that trembled; +Your church was but the shadow of a church, +Wanting the Papal mitre. + +GARDINER (_muttering_). Here be tropes. + +POLE. And tropes are good to clothe a naked truth, +And make it look more seemly. + +GARDINER. Tropes again! + +POLE. You are hard to please. Then without tropes, my Lord, +An overmuch severeness, I repeat, +When faith is wavering makes the waverer pass +Into more settled hatred of the doctrines +Of those who rule, which hatred by and by +Involves the ruler (thus there springs to light +That Centaur of a monstrous Commonweal, +The traitor-heretic) then tho' some may quail, +Yet others are that dare the stake and fire, +And their strong torment bravely borne, begets +An admiration and an indignation, +And hot desire to imitate; so the plague +Of schism spreads; were there but three or four +Of these misleaders, yet I would not say +Burn! and we cannot burn whole towns; they are many, +As my Lord Paget says. + +GARDINER. Yet my Lord Cardinal-- + +POLE. I am your Legate; please you let me finish. +Methinks that under our Queen's regimen +We might go softlier than with crimson rowel +And streaming lash. When Herod-Henry first +Began to batter at your English Church, +This was the cause, and hence the judgment on her. +She seethed with such adulteries, and the lives +Of many among your churchmen were so foul +That heaven wept and earth blush'd. I would advise +That we should thoroughly cleanse the Church within +Before these bitter statutes be requicken'd. +So after that when she once more is seen +White as the light, the spotless bride of Christ, +Like Christ himself on Tabor, possibly +The Lutheran may be won to her again; +Till when, my Lords, I counsel tolerance. + +GARDINER. What, if a mad dog bit your hand, my Lord, +Would you not chop the bitten finger off, +Lest your whole body should madden with the poison? +I would not, were I Queen, tolerate the heretic, +No, not an hour. The ruler of a land +Is bounden by his power and place to see +His people be not poison'd. Tolerate them! +Why? do they tolerate you? Nay, many of them +Would burn--have burnt each other; call they not +The one true faith, a loathsome idol-worship? +Beware, Lord Legate, of a heavier crime +Than heresy is itself; beware, I say, +Lest men accuse you of indifference +To all faiths, all religion; for you know +Right well that you yourself have been supposed +Tainted with Lutheranism in Italy. + +POLE (_angered_). But you, my Lord, beyond all supposition, +In clear and open day were congruent +With that vile Cranmer in the accursed lie +Of good Queen Catherine's divorce--the spring +Of all those evils that have flow'd upon us; +For you yourself have truckled to the tyrant, +And done your best to bastardise our Queen, +For which God's righteous judgment fell upon you +In your five years of imprisonment, my Lord, +Under young Edward. Who so bolster'd up +The gross King's headship of the Church, or more +Denied the Holy Father! + +GARDINER. Ha! what! eh? +But you, my Lord, a polish'd gentleman, +A bookman, flying from the heat and tussle, +You lived among your vines and oranges, +In your soft Italy yonder! You were sent for. +You were appeal'd to, but you still preferr'd +Your learned leisure. As for what I did +I suffer'd and repented. You, Lord Legate +And Cardinal-Deacon, have not now to learn +That ev'n St. Peter in his time of fear +Denied his Master, ay, and thrice, my Lord. + +POLE. But not for five-and-twenty years, my Lord. + +GARDINER. Ha! good! it seems then I was summon'd hither +But to be mock'd and baited. Speak, friend Bonner, +And tell this learned Legate he lacks zeal. +The Church's evil is not as the King's, +Cannot be heal'd by stroking. The mad bite +Must have the cautery--tell him--and at once. +What would'st thou do hadst thou his power, thou +That layest so long in heretic bonds with me; +Would'st thou not burn and blast them root and branch? + +BONNER. Ay, after you, my Lord. + +GARDINER. Nay, God's passion, before me! speak' + +BONNER. I am on fire until I see them flame. + +GARDINER. Ay, the psalm-singing weavers, cobblers, scum-- +But this most noble prince Plantagenet, +Our good Queen's cousin--dallying over seas +Even when his brother's, nay, his noble mother's, +Head fell-- + +POLE. Peace, madman! +Thou stirrest up a grief thou canst not fathom. +Thou Christian Bishop, thou Lord Chancellor +Of England! no more rein upon thine anger +Than any child! Thou mak'st me much ashamed +That I was for a moment wroth at thee. + +MARY. I come for counsel and ye give me feuds, +Like dogs that set to watch their master's gate, +Fall, when the thief is ev'n within the walls, +To worrying one another. My Lord Chancellor, +You have an old trick of offending us; +And but that you are art and part with us +In purging heresy, well we might, for this +Your violence and much roughness to the Legate, +Have shut you from our counsels. Cousin Pole, +You are fresh from brighter lands. Retire with me. +His Highness and myself (so you allow us) +Will let you learn in peace and privacy +What power this cooler sun of England hath +In breeding godless vermin. And pray Heaven +That you may see according to our sight. +Come, cousin. + [_Exeunt_ QUEEN _and_ POLE, _etc_. + +GARDINER. Pole has the Plantagenet face, +But not the force made them our mightiest kings. +Fine eyes--but melancholy, irresolute-- +A fine beard, Bonner, a very full fine beard. +But a weak mouth, an indeterminate--ha? + +BONNER. Well, a weak mouth, perchance. + +GARDINER. And not like thine +To gorge a heretic whole, roasted or raw. + +BONNER. I'd do my best, my Lord; but yet the Legate +Is here as Pope and Master of the Church, +And if he go not with you-- + +GARDINER. Tut, Master Bishop, +Our bashful Legate, saw'st not how he flush'd? +Touch him upon his old heretical talk, +He'll burn a diocese to prove his orthodoxy. +And let him call me truckler. In those times, +Thou knowest we had to dodge, or duck, or die; +I kept my head for use of Holy Church; +And see you, we shall have to dodge again, +And let the Pope trample our rights, and plunge +His foreign fist into our island Church +To plump the leaner pouch of Italy. +For a time, for a time. +Why? that these statutes may be put in force, +And that his fan may thoroughly purge his floor. + +BONNER. So then you hold the Pope-- + +GARDINER. I hold the Pope! +What do I hold him? what do I hold the Pope? +Come, come, the morsel stuck--this Cardinal's fault-- +I have gulpt it down. I am wholly for the Pope, +Utterly and altogether for the Pope, +The Eternal Peter of the changeless chair, +Crown'd slave of slaves, and mitred king of kings, +God upon earth! what more? what would you have? +Hence, let's be gone. + + _Enter_ USHER. + +USHER. Well that you be not gone, +My Lord. The Queen, most wroth at first with you, +Is now content to grant you full forgiveness, +So that you crave full pardon of the Legate. +I am sent to fetch you. + +GARDINER. Doth Pole yield, sir, ha! +Did you hear 'em? were you by? + +USHER. I cannot tell you, +His bearing is so courtly-delicate; +And yet methinks he falters: their two Graces +Do so dear-cousin and royal-cousin him, +So press on him the duty which as Legate +He owes himself, and with such royal smiles-- + +GARDINER. Smiles that burn men. Bonner, it will be carried. +He falters, ha? 'fore God, we change and change; +Men now are bow'd and old, the doctors tell you, +At three-score years; then if we change at all +We needs must do it quickly; it is an age +Of brief life, and brief purpose, and brief patience, +As I have shown to-day. I am sorry for it +If Pole be like to turn. Our old friend Cranmer, +Your more especial love, hath turn'd so often, +He knows not where he stands, which, if this pass, +We two shall have to teach him; let 'em look to it, +Cranmer and Hooper, Ridley and Latimer, +Rogers and Ferrar, for their time is come, +Their hour is hard at hand, their 'dies Irae' +Their 'dies Illa,' which will test their sect. +I feel it but a duty--you will find in it +Pleasure as well as duty, worthy Bonner,-- +To test their sect. Sir, I attend the Queen +To crave most humble pardon--of her most +Royal, Infallible, Papal Legate-cousin. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE V.--WOODSTOCK. + +ELIZABETH, LADY IN WAITING. + + +ELIZABETH. So they have sent poor Courtenay over sea. + +LADY. And banish'd us to Woodstock, and the fields. +The colours of our Queen are green and white, +These fields are only green, they make me gape. + +ELIZABETH. There's whitethorn, girl. + + LADY. Ay, for an hour in May. +But court is always May, buds out in masques, +Breaks into feather'd merriments, and flowers +In silken pageants. Why do they keep us here? +Why still suspect your Grace? + +ELIZABETH. Hard upon both. + [_Writes on the window with a diamond_. + + Much suspected, of me + Nothing proven can be. + Quoth Elizabeth, prisoner. + +LADY. What hath your Highness written? + +ELIZABETH. A true rhyme. + +LADY. Cut with a diamond; so to last like truth. + +ELIZABETH. Ay, if truth last. + +LADY. But truth, they say, will out, +So it must last. It is not like a word, +That comes and goes in uttering. + +ELIZABETH. Truth, a word! +The very Truth and very Word are one. +But truth of story, which I glanced at, girl, +Is like a word that comes from olden days, +And passes thro' the peoples: every tongue +Alters it passing, till it spells and speaks +Quite other than at first. + +LADY. I do not follow. + +ELIZABETH. How many names in the long sweep of time +That so foreshortens greatness, may but hang +On the chance mention of some fool that once +Brake bread with us, perhaps: and my poor chronicle +Is but of glass. Sir Henry Bedingfield +May split it for a spite. + +LADY. God grant it last, +And witness to your Grace's innocence, +Till doomsday melt it. + +ELIZABETH. Or a second fire, +Like that which lately crackled underfoot +And in this very chamber, fuse the glass, +And char us back again into the dust +We spring from. Never peacock against rain +Scream'd as you did for water. + +LADY. And I got it. +I woke Sir Henry--and he's true to you +I read his honest horror in his eyes. + +ELIZABETH. Or true to you? + +LADY. Sir Henry Bedingfield! +I will have no man true to me, your Grace, +But one that pares his nails; to me? the clown! + +ELIZABETH. Out, girl! you wrong a noble gentleman. + +LADY. For, like his cloak, his manners want the nap +And gloss of court; but of this fire he says. +Nay swears, it was no wicked wilfulness, +Only a natural chance. + +ELIZABETH. A chance--perchance +One of those wicked wilfuls that men make, +Nor shame to call it nature. Nay, I know +They hunt my blood. Save for my daily range +Among the pleasant fields of Holy Writ +I might despair. But there hath some one come; +The house is all in movement. Hence, and see. + + [_Exit_ LADY. + +MILKMAID (_singing without_). + + Shame upon you, Robin, + Shame upon you now! + Kiss me would you? with my hands + Milking the cow? + Daisies grow again, + Kingcups blow again, + And you came and kiss'd me milking the cow. + + Robin came behind me, + Kiss'd me well I vow; + Cuff him could I? with my hands + Milking the cow? + Swallows fly again, + Cuckoos cry again, + And you came and kiss'd me milking the cow. + + Come, Robin, Robin, + Come and kiss me now; + Help it can I? with my hands + Milking the cow? + Ringdoves coo again, + All things woo again. + Come behind and kiss me milking the cow! + +ELIZABETH. Right honest and red-cheek'd; Robin was violent, +And she was crafty--a sweet violence, +And a sweet craft. I would I were a milkmaid, +To sing, love, marry, churn, brew, bake, and die, +Then have my simple headstone by the church, +And all things lived and ended honestly. +I could not if I would. I am Harry's daughter: +Gardiner would have my head. They are not sweet, +The violence and the craft that do divide +The world of nature; what is weak must lie; +The lion needs but roar to guard his young; +The lapwing lies, says 'here' when they are there. +Threaten the child; 'I'll scourge you if you did it:' +What weapon hath the child, save his soft tongue, +To say 'I did not?' and my rod's the block. +I never lay my head upon the pillow +But that I think, 'Wilt thou lie there to-morrow?' +How oft the falling axe, that never fell, +Hath shock'd me back into the daylight truth +That it may fall to-day! Those damp, black, dead +Nights in the Tower; dead--with the fear of death +Too dead ev'n for a death-watch! Toll of a bell, +Stroke of a clock, the scurrying of a rat +Affrighted me, and then delighted me, +For there was life--And there was life in death-- +The little murder'd princes, in a pale light, +Rose hand in hand, and whisper'd, 'come away! +The civil wars are gone for evermore: +Thou last of all the Tudors, come away! +With us is peace!' The last? It was a dream; +I must not dream, not wink, but watch. She has gone, +Maid Marian to her Robin--by and by +Both happy! a fox may filch a hen by night, +And make a morning outcry in the yard; +But there's no Renard here to 'catch her tripping.' +Catch me who can; yet, sometime I have wish'd +That I were caught, and kill'd away at once +Out of the flutter. The gray rogue, Gardiner, +Went on his knees, and pray'd me to confess +In Wyatt's business, and to cast myself +Upon the good Queen's mercy; ay, when, my Lord? +God save the Queen! My jailor-- + + _Enter_ SIR HENRY BEDINGFIELD. + +BEDINGFIELD. One, whose bolts, +That jail you from free life, bar you from death. +There haunt some Papist ruffians hereabout +Would murder you. + +ELIZABETH. I thank you heartily, sir, +But I am royal, tho' your prisoner, +And God hath blest or cursed me with a nose-- +Your boots are from the horses. + +BEDINGFIELD. Ay, my Lady. +When next there comes a missive from the Queen +It shall be all my study for one hour +To rose and lavender my horsiness, +Before I dare to glance upon your Grace. + +ELIZABETH. A missive from the Queen: last time she wrote, +I had like to have lost my life: it takes my breath: +O God, sir, do you look upon your boots, +Are you so small a man? Help me: what think you, +Is it life or death. + +BEDINGFIELD. I thought not on my boots; +The devil take all boots were ever made +Since man went barefoot. See, I lay it here, +For I will come no nearer to your Grace; + + [_Laying down the letter_. + +And, whether it bring you bitter news or sweet, +And God hath given your Grace a nose, or not, +I'll help you, if I may. + +ELIZABETH. Your pardon, then; +It is the heat and narrowness of the cage +That makes the captive testy; with free wing +The world were all one Araby. Leave me now, +Will you, companion to myself, sir? + +BEDINGFIELD. Will I? +With most exceeding willingness, I will; +You know I never come till I be call'd. + [_Exit_. + +ELIZABETH. It lies there folded: is there venom in it? +A snake--and if I touch it, it may sting. +Come, come, the worst! +Best wisdom is to know the worst at once. [_Reads:_ + +'It is the King's wish, that you should wed Prince Philibert of Savoy. +You are to come to Court on the instant; and think of this in your +coming. 'MARY THE QUEEN.' + +Think I have many thoughts; +I think there may be birdlime here for me; +I think they fain would have me from the realm; +I think the Queen may never bear a child; +I think that I may be some time the Queen, +Then, Queen indeed: no foreign prince or priest +Should fill my throne, myself upon the steps. +I think I will not marry anyone, +Specially not this landless Philibert +Of Savoy; but, if Philip menace me, +I think that I will play with Philibert, +As once the Holy Father did with mine, +Before my father married my good mother,-- +For fear of Spain. + + _Enter_ LADY. + +LADY. O Lord! your Grace, your Grace, +I feel so happy: it seems that we shall fly +These bald, blank fields, and dance into the sun +That shines on princes. + +ELIZABETH. Yet, a moment since, +I wish'd myself the milkmaid singing here, +To kiss and cuff among the birds and flowers-- +A right rough life and healthful. + +LADY. But the wench +Hath her own troubles; she is weeping now; +For the wrong Robin took her at her word. +Then the cow kick'd, and all her milk was spilt. +Your Highness such a milkmaid? + +ELIZABETH. I had kept +My Robins and my cows in sweeter order +Had I been such. + +LADY (_slyly_). And had your Grace a Robin? + +ELIZABETH. Come, come, you are chill here; you want the sun +That shines at court; make ready for the journey. +Pray God, we 'scape the sunstroke. Ready at once. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE VI.--LONDON. A ROOM IN THE PALACE. + +LORD PETRE _and_ LORD WILLIAM HOWARD. + + +PETRE. You cannot see the Queen. Renard denied her, +Ev'n now to me. + +HOWARD. Their Flemish go-between +And all-in-all. I came to thank her Majesty +For freeing my friend Bagenhall from the Tower; +A grace to me! Mercy, that herb-of-grace, +Flowers now but seldom. + +PETRE. Only now perhaps. +Because the Queen hath been three days in tears +For Philip's going--like the wild hedge-rose +Of a soft winter, possible, not probable, +However you have prov'n it. + +HOWARD. I must see her. + + _Enter_ RENARD. + +RENARD. My Lords, you cannot see her Majesty. + +HOWARD. Why then the King! for I would have him bring it +Home to the leisure wisdom of his Queen, +Before he go, that since these statutes past, +Gardiner out-Gardiners Gardiner in his heat, +Bonner cannot out-Bonner his own self-- +Beast!--but they play with fire as children do, +And burn the house. I know that these are breeding +A fierce resolve and fixt heart-hate in men +Against the King, the Queen, the Holy Father, +The faith itself. Can I not see him? + +RENARD. Not now. +And in all this, my Lord, her Majesty +Is flint of flint, you may strike fire from her, +Not hope to melt her. I will give your message. + + [_Exeunt_ PETRE _and_ HOWARD. + + _Enter_ PHILIP _(musing)_ + +PHILIP. She will not have Prince Philibert of Savoy, +I talk'd with her in vain--says she will live +And die true maid--a goodly creature too. +Would _she_ had been the Queen! yet she must have him; +She troubles England: that she breathes in England +Is life and lungs to every rebel birth +That passes out of embryo. + Simon Renard! +This Howard, whom they fear, what was he saying? + +RENARD. What your imperial father said, my liege, +To deal with heresy gentlier. Gardiner burns, +And Bonner burns; and it would seem this people +Care more for our brief life in their wet land, +Than yours in happier Spain. I told my Lord +He should not vex her Highness; she would say +These are the means God works with, that His church +May flourish. + +PHILIP. Ay, sir, but in statesmanship +To strike too soon is oft to miss the blow. +Thou knowest I bad my chaplain, Castro, preach +Against these burnings. + +RENARD. And the Emperor +Approved you, and when last he wrote, declared +His comfort in your Grace that you were bland +And affable to men of all estates, +In hope to charm them from their hate of Spain. + +PHILIP. In hope to crush all heresy under Spain. +But, Renard, I am sicker staying here +Than any sea could make me passing hence, +Tho' I be ever deadly sick at sea. +So sick am I with biding for this child. +Is it the fashion in this clime for women +To go twelve months in bearing of a child? +The nurses yawn'd, the cradle gaped, they led +Processions, chanted litanies, clash'd their bells, +Shot off their lying cannon, and her priests +Have preach'd, the fools, of this fair prince to come; +Till, by St. James, I find myself the fool. +Why do you lift your eyebrow at me thus? + +RENARD. I never saw your Highness moved till now. + +PHILIP. So weary am I of this wet land of theirs, +And every soul of man that breathes therein. + +RENARD. My liege, we must not drop the mask before +The masquerade is over-- + +PHILIP. --Have I dropt it? +I have but shown a loathing face to you, +Who knew it from the first. + + _Enter_ MARY. + +MARY (_aside_). With Renard. Still +Parleying with Renard, all the day with Renard, +And scarce a greeting all the day for me-- +And goes to-morrow. + [_Exit_ MARY. + +PHILIP (_to_ RENARD, _who advances to him_). + Well, sir, is there more? + +RENARD (_who has perceived the QUEEN_). +May Simon Renard speak a single word? + +PHILIP. Ay. + +RENARD. And be forgiven for it? + +PHILIP. Simon Renard +Knows me too well to speak a single word +That could not be forgiven. + +RENARD. Well, my liege, +Your Grace hath a most chaste and loving wife. + +PHILIP. Why not? The Queen of Philip should be chaste. + +RENARD. Ay, but, my Lord, you know what Virgil sings, +Woman is various and most mutable. + +PHILIP. She play the harlot! never. + +RENARD. No, sire, no, +Not dream'd of by the rabidest gospeller. +There was a paper thrown into the palace, +'The King hath wearied of his barren bride.' +She came upon it, read it, and then rent it, +With all the rage of one who hates a truth +He cannot but allow. Sire, I would have you-- +What should I say, I cannot pick my words-- +Be somewhat less--majestic to your Queen. + +PHILIP. Am I to change my manners, Simon Renard, +Because these islanders are brutal beasts? +Or would you have me turn a sonneteer, +And warble those brief-sighted eyes of hers? + +RENARD. Brief-sighted tho' they be, I have seen them, sire, +When you perchance were trifling royally +With some fair dame of court, suddenly fill +With such fierce fire--had it been fire indeed +It would have burnt both speakers. + +PHILIP. Ay, and then? + +RENARD. Sire, might it not be policy in some matter +Of small importance now and then to cede +A point to her demand? + +PHILIP. Well, I am going. + +RENARD. For should her love when you are gone, my liege, +Witness these papers, there will not be wanting +Those that will urge her injury--should her love-- +And I have known such women more than one-- +Veer to the counterpoint, and jealousy +Hath in it an alchemic force to fuse +Almost into one metal love and hate,-- +And she impress her wrongs upon her Council, +And these again upon her Parliament-- +We are not loved here, and would be then perhaps +Not so well holpen in our wars with France, +As else we might be--here she comes. + + _Enter_ MARY. + +MARY. O Philip! +Nay, must you go indeed? + +PHILIP. Madam, I must. + +MARY. The parting of a husband and a wife +Is like the cleaving of a heart; one half +Will flutter here, one there. + +PHILIP. You say true, Madam. + +MARY. The Holy Virgin will not have me yet +Lose the sweet hope that I may bear a prince. +If such a prince were born and you not here! + +PHILIP. I should be here if such a prince were born. + +MARY. But must you go? + +PHILIP. Madam, you know my father, +Retiring into cloistral solitude +To yield the remnant of his years to heaven, +Will shift the yoke and weight of all the world +From off his neck to mine. We meet at Brussels. +But since mine absence will not be for long, +Your Majesty shall go to Dover with me, +And wait my coming back. + +MARY. To Dover? no, +I am too feeble. I will go to Greenwich, +So you will have me with you; and there watch +All that is gracious in the breath of heaven +Draw with your sails from our poor land, and pass +And leave me, Philip, with my prayers for you. + +PHILIP. And doubtless I shall profit by your prayers. + +MARY. Methinks that would you tarry one day more +(The news was sudden) I could mould myself +To bear your going better; will you do it? + +PHILIP. Madam, a day may sink or save a realm. + +MARY. A day may save a heart from breaking too. + +PHILIP. Well, Simon Renard, shall we stop a day? + +RENARD. Your Grace's business will not suffer, sire, +For one day more, so far as I can tell. + +PHILIP. Then one day more to please her Majesty. + +MARY. The sunshine sweeps across my life again. +O if I knew you felt this parting, Philip, +As I do! + +PHILIP. By St. James I do protest, +Upon the faith and honour of a Spaniard, +I am vastly grieved to leave your Majesty. +Simon, is supper ready? + +RENARD. Ay, my liege, +I saw the covers laying. + +PHILIP. Let us have it. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + + +ACT IV. + + +SCENE I.--A ROOM IN THE PALACE. + +MARY, CARDINAL POLE. + + +MARY. What have you there? + +POLE. So please your Majesty, +A long petition from the foreign exiles +To spare the life of Cranmer. Bishop Thirlby, +And my Lord Paget and Lord William Howard, +Crave, in the same cause, hearing of your Grace. +Hath he not written himself--infatuated-- +To sue you for his life? + +MARY. His life? Oh, no; +Not sued for that--he knows it were in vain. +But so much of the anti-papal leaven +Works in him yet, he hath pray'd me not to sully +Mine own prerogative, and degrade the realm +By seeking justice at a stranger's hand +Against my natural subject. King and Queen, +To whom he owes his loyalty after God, +Shall these accuse him to a foreign prince? +Death would not grieve him more. I cannot be +True to this realm of England and the Pope +Together, says the heretic. + +POLE. And there errs; +As he hath ever err'd thro' vanity. +A secular kingdom is but as the body +Lacking a soul; and in itself a beast. +The Holy Father in a secular kingdom +Is as the soul descending out of heaven +Into a body generate. + +MARY. Write to him, then. + +POLE. I will. + +MARY. And sharply, Pole. + +POLE. Here come the Cranmerites! + + _Enter_ THIRLBY, LORD PAGET, LORD WILLIAM HOWARD. + +HOWARD. Health to your Grace! Good morrow, my Lord Cardinal; +We make our humble prayer unto your Grace +That Cranmer may withdraw to foreign parts, +Or into private life within the realm. +In several bills and declarations, Madam, +He hath recanted all his heresies. + +PAGET. Ay, ay; if Bonner have not forged the bills. [_Aside_. + +MARY. Did not More die, and Fisher? he must burn. + +HOWARD. He hath recanted, Madam. + +MARY. The better for him. +He burns in Purgatory, not in Hell. + +HOWARD. Ay, ay, your Grace; but it was never seen +That any one recanting thus at full, +As Cranmer hath, came to the fire on earth. + +MARY. It will be seen now, then. + +THIRLBY. O Madam, Madam! +I thus implore you, low upon my knees, +To reach the hand of mercy to my friend. +I have err'd with him; with him I have recanted. +What human reason is there why my friend +Should meet with lesser mercy than myself? + +MARY. My Lord of Ely, this. After a riot +We hang the leaders, let their following go. +Cranmer is head and father of these heresies, +New learning as they call it; yea, may God +Forget me at most need when I forget +Her foul divorce--my sainted mother--No!-- + +HOWARD. Ay, ay, but mighty doctors doubted there. +The Pope himself waver'd; and more than one +Row'd in that galley--Gardiner to wit, +Whom truly I deny not to have been +Your faithful friend and trusty councillor. +Hath not your Highness ever read his book. +His tractate upon True Obedience, +Writ by himself and Bonner? + +MARY. I will take +Such order with all bad, heretical books +That none shall hold them in his house and live, +Henceforward. No, my Lord. + +HOWARD. Then never read it. +The truth is here. Your father was a man +Of such colossal kinghood, yet so courteous, +Except when wroth, you scarce could meet his eye +And hold your own; and were he wroth indeed, +You held it less, or not at all. I say, +Your father had a will that beat men down; +Your father had a brain that beat men down-- + +POLE. Not me, my Lord. + +HOWARD. No, for you were not here; +You sit upon this fallen Cranmer's throne; +And it would more become you, my Lord Legate, +To join a voice, so potent with her Highness, +To ours in plea for Cranmer than to stand +On naked self-assertion. + +MARY. All your voices +Are waves on flint. The heretic must burn. + +HOWARD. Yet once he saved your Majesty's own life; +Stood out against the King in your behalf. +At his own peril. + +MARY. I know not if he did; +And if he did I care not, my Lord Howard. +My life is not so happy, no such boon, +That I should spare to take a heretic priest's, +Who saved it or not saved. Why do you vex me? + +PAGET. Yet to save Cranmer were to serve the Church, +Your Majesty's I mean; he is effaced, +Self-blotted out; so wounded in his honour, +He can but creep down into some dark hole +Like a hurt beast, and hide himself and die; +But if you burn him,--well, your Highness knows +The saying, 'Martyr's blood--seed of the Church.' + +MARY. Of the true Church; but his is none, nor will be. +You are too politic for me, my Lord Paget. +And if he have to live so loath'd a life, +It were more merciful to burn him now. + +THIRLBY. O yet relent. O, Madam, if you knew him +As I do, ever gentle, and so gracious, +With all his learning-- + +MARY. Yet a heretic still. +His learning makes his burning the more just. + +THIRLBY. So worshipt of all those that came across him; +The stranger at his hearth, and all his house-- + +MARY. His children and his concubine, belike. + +THIRLBY. To do him any wrong was to beget +A kindness from him, for his heart was rich, +Of such fine mould, that if you sow'd therein +The seed of Hate, it blossom'd Charity. + +POLE. 'After his kind it costs him nothing,' there's +An old world English adage to the point. +These are but natural graces, my good Bishop, +Which in the Catholic garden are as flowers, +But on the heretic dunghill only weeds. + +HOWARD. Such weeds make dunghills gracious. + +MARY. Enough, my Lords. +It is God's will, the Holy Father's will, +And Philip's will, and mine, that he should burn. +He is pronounced anathema. + +HOWARD. Farewell, Madam, +God grant you ampler mercy at your call +Than you have shown to Cranmer. + [_Exeunt_ LORDS. + +POLE. After this, +Your Grace will hardly care to overlook +This same petition of the foreign exiles +For Cranmer's life. + +MARY. Make out the writ to-night. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE II.--OXFORD. CRANMER IN PRISON. + + +CRANMER. Last night, I dream'd the faggots were alight, +And that myself was fasten'd to the stake, I +And found it all a visionary flame, +Cool as the light in old decaying wood; +And then King Harry look'd from out a cloud, +And bad me have good courage; and I heard +An angel cry 'There is more joy in Heaven,'-- +And after that, the trumpet of the dead. + [_Trumpets without_. +Why, there are trumpets blowing now: what is it? + + _Enter_ FATHER COLE. + +COLE. Cranmer, I come to question you again; +Have you remain'd in the true Catholic faith +I left you in? + +CRANMER. In the true Catholic faith, +By Heaven's grace, I am more and more confirm'd. +Why are the trumpets blowing, Father Cole? + +COLE. Cranmer, it is decided by the Council +That you to-day should read your recantation +Before the people in St. Mary's Church. +And there be many heretics in the town, +Who loathe you for your late return to Rome, +And might assail you passing through the street, +And tear you piecemeal: so you have a guard. + +CRANMER. Or seek to rescue me. I thank the Council. + +COLE. Do you lack any money? + +CRANMER. Nay, why should I? +The prison fare is good enough for me. + +COLE. Ay, but to give the poor. + +CRANMER. Hand it me, then! +I thank you. + +COLE. For a little space, farewell; +Until I see you in St. Mary's Church. + [_Exit_ COLE. + +CRANMER. It is against all precedent to burn +One who recants; they mean to pardon me. +To give the poor--they give the poor who die. +Well, burn me or not burn me I am fixt; +It is but a communion, not a mass: +A holy supper, not a sacrifice; +No man can make his Maker--Villa Garcia. + + _Enter_ VILLA GARCIA. + +VILLA GARCIA. Pray you write out this paper for me, Cranmer. + +CRANMER. Have I not writ enough to satisfy you? + +VILLA GARCIA. It is the last. + +CRANMER. Give it me, then. + [_He writes_. + +VILLA GARCIA. Now sign. + +CRANMER. I have sign'd enough, and I will sign no more. + +VILLA GARCIA. It is no more than what you have sign'd already, +The public form thereof. + +CRANMER. It may be so; +I sign it with my presence, if I read it. + +VILLA GARCIA. But this is idle of you. Well, sir, well, +You are to beg the people to pray for you; +Exhort them to a pure and virtuous life; +Declare the Queen's right to the throne; confess +Your faith before all hearers; and retract +That Eucharistic doctrine in your book. +Will you not sign it now? + +CRANMER. No, Villa Garcia, +I sign no more. Will they have mercy on me? + +VILLA GARCIA. Have you good hopes of mercy! +So, farewell. + [_Exit_. + +CRANMER. Good hopes, not theirs, have I that I am fixt, +Fixt beyond fall; however, in strange hours, +After the long brain-dazing colloquies, +And thousand-times recurring argument +Of those two friars ever in my prison, +When left alone in my despondency, +Without a friend, a book, my faith would seem +Dead or half-drown'd, or else swam heavily +Against the huge corruptions of the Church, +Monsters of mistradition, old enough +To scare me into dreaming, 'what am I, +Cranmer, against whole ages?' was it so, +Or am I slandering my most inward friend, +To veil the fault of my most outward foe-- +The soft and tremulous coward in the flesh? +O higher, holier, earlier, purer church, +I have found thee and not leave thee any more. +It is but a communion, not a mass-- +No sacrifice, but a life-giving feast! +(_Writes_.) So, so; this will I say--thus will I pray. + [_Puts up the paper_. + + _Enter_ BONNER. + +BONNER. Good day, old friend; what, you look somewhat worn; +And yet it is a day to test your health +Ev'n at the best: I scarce have spoken with you +Since when?--your degradation. At your trial +Never stood up a bolder man than you; +You would not cap the Pope's commissioner-- +Your learning, and your stoutness, and your heresy, +Dumbfounded half of us. So, after that, +We had to dis-archbishop and unlord, +And make you simple Cranmer once again. +The common barber dipt your hair, and I +Scraped from your finger-points the holy oil; +And worse than all, you had to kneel to _me_; +Which was not pleasant for you, Master Cranmer. +Now you, that would not recognise the Pope, +And you, that would not own the Real Presence, +Have found a real presence in the stake, +Which frights you back into the ancient faith: +And so you have recanted to the Pope. +How are the mighty fallen, Master Cranmer! + +CRANMER. You have been more fierce against the Pope than I; +But why fling back the stone he strikes me with? + [_Aside_. +O Bonner, if I ever did you kindness-- +Power hath been given you to try faith by fire-- +Pray you, remembering how yourself have changed, +Be somewhat pitiful, after I have gone, +To the poor flock--to women and to children-- +That when I was archbishop held with me. + +BONNER. Ay--gentle as they call you--live or die! +Pitiful to this pitiful heresy? +I must obey the Queen and Council, man. +Win thro' this day with honour to yourself, +And I'll say something for you--so--good-bye. + [_Exit_. + +CRANMER. This hard coarse man of old hath crouch'd to me +Till I myself was half ashamed for him. + + _Enter_ THIRLBY. + +Weep not, good Thirlby. + +THIRLBY. Oh, my Lord, my Lord! +My heart is no such block as Bonner's is: +Who would not weep? + +CRANMER. Why do you so my--lord me, +Who am disgraced? + +THIRLBY. On earth; but saved in heaven +By your recanting. + +CRANMER. Will they burn me, Thirlby? + +THIRLBY. Alas, they will; these burnings will not help +The purpose of the faith; but my poor voice +Against them is a whisper to the roar +Of a spring-tide. + +CRANMER. And they will surely burn me? + +THIRLBY. Ay; and besides, will have you in the church +Repeat your recantation in the ears +Of all men, to the saving of their souls, +Before your execution. May God help you +Thro' that hard hour! + +CRANMER. And may God bless you, Thirlby! +Well, they shall hear my recantation there. + + [_Exit_ THIRLBY. + +Disgraced, dishonour'd!--not by them, indeed, +By mine own self--by mine own hand! +O thin-skinn'd hand and jutting veins, 'twas you +That sign'd the burning of poor Joan of Kent; +But then she was a witch. You have written much, +But you were never raised to plead for Frith, +Whose dogmas I have reach'd: he was deliver'd +To the secular arm to burn; and there was Lambert; +Who can foresee himself? truly these burnings, +As Thirlby says, are profitless to the burners, +And help the other side. You shall burn too, +Burn first when I am burnt. +Fire--inch by inch to die in agony! Latimer +Had a brief end--not Ridley. Hooper burn'd +Three-quarters of an hour. Will my faggots +Be wet as his were? It is a day of rain. +I will not muse upon it. +My fancy takes the burner's part, and makes +The fire seem even crueller than it is. +No, I not doubt that God will give me strength, +Albeit I have denied him. + + _Enter_ SOTO _and_ VILLA GARCIA. + +VILLA GARCIA. We are ready +To take you to St. Mary's, Master Cranmer. + +CRANMER. And I: lead on; ye loose me from my bonds. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE III.--ST. MARY'S CHURCH. + +COLE _in the Pulpit_, LORD WILLIAMS OF THAME _presiding_. LORD WILLIAM +HOWARD, LORD PAGET, _and others_. CRANMER _enters between_ SOTO _and_ +VILLA GARCIA, _and the whole Choir strike up_ 'Nunc Dimittis.' CRANMER +_is set upon a Scaffold before the people_. + + +COLE. Behold him-- + [_A pause: people in the foreground_. + +PEOPLE. Oh, unhappy sight! + +FIRST PROTESTANT. See how the tears run down his fatherly face. + +SECOND PROTESTANT. James, didst thou ever see a carrion crow Stand +watching a sick beast before he dies? + +FIRST PROTESTANT. Him perch'd up there? I wish some thunderbolt Would +make this Cole a cinder, pulpit and all. + +COLE. Behold him, brethren: he hath cause to weep!-- +So have we all: weep with him if ye will, +Yet-- +It is expedient for one man to die, +Yea, for the people, lest the people die. +Yet wherefore should he die that hath return'd +To the one Catholic Universal Church, +Repentant of his errors? + +PROTESTANT _murmurs_. Ay, tell us that. + +COLE. Those of the wrong side will despise the man, +Deeming him one that thro' the fear of death +Gave up his cause, except he seal his faith +In sight of all with flaming martyrdom. + +CRANMER. Ay. + +COLE. Ye hear him, and albeit there may seem +According to the canons pardon due +To him that so repents, yet are there causes +Wherefore our Queen and Council at this time +Adjudge him to the death. He hath been a traitor, +A shaker and confounder of the realm; +And when the King's divorce was sued at Rome, +He here, this heretic metropolitan, +As if he had been the Holy Father, sat +And judged it. Did I call him heretic? +A huge heresiarch! never was it known +That any man so writing, preaching so, +So poisoning the Church, so long continuing, +Hath found his pardon; therefore he must die, +For warning and example. + Other reasons +There be for this man's ending, which our Queen +And Council at this present deem it not +Expedient to be known. + +PROTESTANT _murmurs_. I warrant you. + +COLE. Take therefore, all, example by this man, +For if our Holy Queen not pardon him, +Much less shall others in like cause escape, +That all of you, the highest as the lowest, +May learn there is no power against the Lord. +There stands a man, once of so high degree, +Chief prelate of our Church, archbishop, first +In Council, second person in the realm, +Friend for so long time of a mighty King; +And now ye see downfallen and debased +From councillor to caitiff--fallen so low, +The leprous flutterings of the byway, scum +And offal of the city would not change +Estates with him; in brief, so miserable, +There is no hope of better left for him, +No place for worse. + Yet, Cranmer, be thou glad. +This is the work of God. He is glorified +In thy conversion: lo! thou art reclaim'd; +He brings thee home: nor fear but that to-day +Thou shalt receive the penitent thief's award, +And be with Christ the Lord in Paradise. +Remember how God made the fierce fire seem +To those three children like a pleasant dew. +Remember, too, +The triumph of St. Andrew on his cross, +The patience of St. Lawrence in the fire. +Thus, if thou call on God and all the saints, +God will beat down the fury of the flame, +Or give thee saintly strength to undergo. +And for thy soul shall masses here be sung +By every priest in Oxford. Pray for him. + +CRANMER. Ay, one and all, dear brothers, pray for me; +Pray with one breath, one heart, one soul for me. + +COLE. And now, lest anyone among you doubt +The man's conversion and remorse of heart, +Yourselves shall hear him speak. Speak, Master Cranmer, +Fulfil your promise made me, and proclaim +Your true undoubted faith, that all may hear. + +CRANMER. And that I will. O God, Father of Heaven! +O Son of God, Redeemer of the world! +O Holy Ghost! proceeding from them both, +Three persons and one God, have mercy on me, +Most miserable sinner, wretched man. +I have offended against heaven and earth +More grievously than any tongue can tell. +Then whither should I flee for any help? +I am ashamed to lift my eyes to heaven, +And I can find no refuge upon earth. +Shall I despair then?--God forbid! O God, +For thou art merciful, refusing none +That come to Thee for succour, unto Thee, +Therefore, I come; humble myself to Thee; +Saying, O Lord God, although my sins be great, +For thy great mercy have mercy! O God the Son, +Not for slight faults alone, when thou becamest +Man in the Flesh, was the great mystery wrought; +O God the Father, not for little sins +Didst thou yield up thy Son to human death; +But for the greatest sin that can be sinn'd, +Yea, even such as mine, incalculable, +Unpardonable,--sin against the light, +The truth of God, which I had proven and known. +Thy mercy must be greater than all sin. +Forgive me, Father, for no merit of mine, +But that Thy name by man be glorified, +And Thy most blessed Son's, who died for man. + +Good people, every man at time of death +Would fain set forth some saying that may live +After his death and better humankind; +For death gives life's last word a power to live, +And, like the stone-cut epitaph, remain +After the vanish'd voice, and speak to men. +God grant me grace to glorify my God! +And first I say it is a grievous case, +Many so dote upon this bubble world, +Whose colours in a moment break and fly, +They care for nothing else. What saith St. John: +'Love of this world is hatred against God.' +Again, I pray you all that, next to God, +You do unmurmuringly and willingly +Obey your King and Queen, and not for dread +Of these alone, but from the fear of Him +Whose ministers they be to govern you. +Thirdly, I pray you all to live together +Like brethren; yet what hatred Christian men +Bear to each other, seeming not as brethren, +But mortal foes! But do you good to all +As much as in you lieth. Hurt no man more +Than you would harm your loving natural brother +Of the same roof, same breast. If any do, +Albeit he think himself at home with God, +Of this be sure, he is whole worlds away. + +PROTESTANT _murmurs_. What sort of brothers then be those that lust +To burn each other? + +WILLIAMS. Peace among you, there! + +CRANMER. Fourthly, to those that own exceeding wealth, +Remember that sore saying spoken once +By Him that was the truth, 'How hard it is +For the rich man to enter into Heaven;' +Let all rich men remember that hard word. +I have not time for more: if ever, now +Let them flow forth in charity, seeing now +The poor so many, and all food so dear. +Long have I lain in prison, yet have heard +Of all their wretchedness. Give to the poor, +Ye give to God. He is with us in the poor. + +And now, and forasmuch as I have come +To the last end of life, and thereupon +Hangs all my past, and all my life to be, +Either to live with Christ in Heaven with joy, +Or to be still in pain with devils in hell; +And, seeing in a moment, I shall find + [_Pointing upwards_. +Heaven or else hell ready to swallow me, + [_Pointing downwards_. +I shall declare to you my very faith +Without all colour. + +COLE. Hear him, my good brethren. + +CRANMER. I do believe in God, Father of all; +In every article of the Catholic faith, +And every syllable taught us by our Lord, +His prophets, and apostles, in the Testaments, +Both Old and New. + +COLE. Be plainer, Master Cranmer. + +CRANMER. And now I come to the great cause that weighs +Upon my conscience more than anything +Or said or done in all my life by me; +For there be writings I have set abroad +Against the truth I knew within my heart, +Written for fear of death, to save my life, +If that might be; the papers by my hand +Sign'd since my degradation--by this hand + [_Holding out his right hand_. +Written and sign'd--I here renounce them all; +And, since my hand offended, having written +Against my heart, my hand shall first be burnt, +So I may come to the fire. + [_Dead silence_. + + PROTESTANT _murmurs_. + +FIRST PROTESTANT. I knew it would be so. + +SECOND PROTESTANT. Our prayers are heard! + +THIRD PROTESTANT. God bless him! + +CATHOLIC _murmurs_. Out upon him! out upon him! +Liar! dissembler! traitor! to the fire! + +WILLIAMS (_raising his voice_). +You know that you recanted all you said +Touching the sacrament in that same book +You wrote against my Lord of Winchester; +Dissemble not; play the plain Christian man. + +CRANMER. Alas, my Lord, +I have been a man loved plainness all my life; +I _did_ dissemble, but the hour has come +For utter truth and plainness; wherefore, I say, +I hold by all I wrote within that book. +Moreover, +As for the Pope I count him Antichrist, +With all his devil's doctrines; and refuse, +Reject him, and abhor him. I have said. + +[_Cries on all sides_, 'Pull him down! Away with him!' + +COLE. Ay, stop the heretic's mouth! Hale him away! + +WILLIAMS. Harm him not, harm him not! have him to the fire! + + [CRANMER _goes out between Two Friars, smiling; hands are + reached to him from the crowd_. LORD WILLIAM HOWARD _and_ + LORD PAGET _are left alone in the church_. + +PAGET. The nave and aisles all empty as a fool's jest! +No, here's Lord William Howard. What, my Lord, +You have not gone to see the burning? + +HOWARD. Fie! +To stand at ease, and stare as at a show, +And watch a good man burn. Never again. +I saw the deaths of Latimer and Ridley. +Moreover, tho' a Catholic, I would not, +For the pure honour of our common nature, +Hear what I might--another recantation +Of Cranmer at the stake. + +PAGET. You'd not hear that. +He pass'd out smiling, and he walk'd upright; +His eye was like a soldier's, whom the general +He looks to and he leans on as his God, +Hath rated for some backwardness and bidd'n him +Charge one against a thousand, and the man +Hurls his soil'd life against the pikes and dies. + +HOWARD. Yet that he might not after all those papers +Of recantation yield again, who knows? + +PAGET. Papers of recantation! Think you then +That Cranmer read all papers that he sign'd? +Or sign'd all those they tell us that he sign'd? +Nay, I trow not: and you shall see, my Lord, +That howsoever hero-like the man +Dies in the fire, this Bonner or another +Will in some lying fashion misreport +His ending to the glory of their church. +And you saw Latimer and Ridley die? +Latimer was eighty, was he not? his best +Of life was over then. + +HOWARD. His eighty years +Look'd somewhat crooked on him in his frieze; +But after they had stript him to his shroud, +He stood upright, a lad of twenty-one, +And gather'd with his hands the starting flame, +And wash'd his hands and all his face therein, +Until the powder suddenly blew him dead. +Ridley was longer burning; but he died +As manfully and boldly, and, 'fore God, +I know them heretics, but right English ones. +If ever, as heaven grant, we clash with Spain, +Our Ridley-soldiers and our Latimer-sailors +Will teach her something. + +PAGET. Your mild Legate Pole +Will tell you that the devil helpt them thro' it. + [_A murmur of the Crowd in the distance_. +Hark, how those Roman wolfdogs howl and bay him! + +HOWARD. Might it not be the other side rejoicing +In his brave end? + +PAGET. They are too crush'd, too broken, +They can but weep in silence. + +HOWARD. Ay, ay, Paget, +They have brought it in large measure on themselves. +Have I not heard them mock the blessed Host +In songs so lewd, the beast might roar his claim +To being in God's image, more than they? +Have I not seen the gamekeeper, the groom. +Gardener, and huntsman, in the parson's place, +The parson from his own spire swung out dead, +And Ignorance crying in the streets, and all men +Regarding her? I say they have drawn the fire +On their own heads: yet, Paget, I do hold +The Catholic, if he have the greater right, +Hath been the crueller. + +PAGET. Action and re-action, +The miserable see-saw of our child-world, +Make us despise it at odd hours, my Lord. +Heaven help that this re-action not re-act +Yet fiercelier under Queen Elizabeth, +So that she come to rule us. + +HOWARD. The world's mad. + +PAGET. My Lord, the world is like a drunken man, +Who cannot move straight to his end--but reels +Now to the right, then as far to the left, +Push'd by the crowd beside--and underfoot +An earthquake; for since Henry for a doubt-- +Which a young lust had clapt upon the back, +Crying, 'Forward!'--set our old church rocking, men +Have hardly known what to believe, or whether +They should believe in anything; the currents +So shift and change, they see not how they are borne, +Nor whither. I conclude the King a beast; +Verily a lion if you will--the world +A most obedient beast and fool--myself +Half beast and fool as appertaining to it; +Altho' your Lordship hath as little of each +Cleaving to your original Adam-clay, +As may be consonant with mortality. + +HOWARD. We talk and Cranmer suffers. +The kindliest man I ever knew; see, see, +I speak of him in the past. Unhappy land! +Hard-natured Queen, half-Spanish in herself, +And grafted on the hard-grain'd stock of Spain-- +Her life, since Philip left her, and she lost +Her fierce desire of bearing him a child, +Hath, like a brief and bitter winter's day, +Gone narrowing down and darkening to a close. +There will be more conspiracies, I fear. + +PAGET. Ay, ay, beware of France. + +HOWARD. O Paget, Paget! +I have seen heretics of the poorer sort, +Expectant of the rack from day to day, +To whom the fire were welcome, lying chain'd +In breathless dungeons over steaming sewers, +Fed with rank bread that crawl'd upon the tongue, +And putrid water, every drop a worm, +Until they died of rotted limbs; and then +Cast on the dunghill naked, and become +Hideously alive again from head to heel, +Made even the carrion-nosing mongrel vomit +With hate and horror. + +PAGET. Nay, you sicken _me_ +To hear you. + +HOWARD. Fancy-sick; these things are done, +Done right against the promise of this Queen +Twice given. + +PAGET. No faith with heretics, my Lord! +Hist! there be two old gossips--gospellers, +I take it; stand behind the pillar here; +I warrant you they talk about the burning. + + _Enter_ TWO OLD WOMEN. JOAN, _and after her_ TIB. + +JOAN. Why, it be Tib! + +TIB. I cum behind tha, gall, and couldn't make tha hear. Eh, the wind +and the wet! What a day, what a day! nigh upo' judgement daay loike. +Pwoaps be pretty things, Joan, but they wunt set i' the Lord's cheer +o' that daay. + +JOAN. I must set down myself, Tib; it be a var waay vor my owld legs +up vro' Islip. Eh, my rheumatizy be that bad howiver be I to win to +the burnin'. + +TIB. I should saay 'twur ower by now. I'd ha' been here avore, but +Dumble wur blow'd wi' the wind, and Dumble's the best milcher in +Islip. + +JOAN. Our Daisy's as good 'z her. + +TIB. Noa, Joan. + +JOAN. Our Daisy's butter's as good'z hern. + +TIB. Noa, Joan. + +JOAN. Our Daisy's cheeses be better. + +TIB. Noa, Joan. + +JOAN. Eh, then ha' thy waay wi' me, Tib; ez thou hast wi' thy owld +man. + +TIB. Ay, Joan, and my owld man wur up and awaay betimes wi' dree hard +eggs for a good pleace at the burnin'; and barrin' the wet, Hodge 'ud +ha' been a-harrowin' o' white peasen i' the outfield--and barrin' the +wind, Dumble wur blow'd wi' the wind, so 'z we was forced to stick +her, but we fetched her round at last. Thank the Lord therevore. +Dumble's the best milcher in Islip. + +JOAN. Thou's thy way wi' man and beast, Tib. I wonder at tha', it +beats me! Eh, but I do know ez Pwoaps and vires be bad things; tell +'ee now, I heerd summat as summun towld summun o' owld Bishop +Gardiner's end; there wur an owld lord a-cum to dine wi' un, and a wur +so owld a couldn't bide vor his dinner, but a had to bide howsomiver, +vor 'I wunt dine,' says my Lord Bishop, says he, 'not till I hears ez +Latimer and Ridley be a-vire;' and so they bided on and on till vour +o' the clock, till his man cum in post vro' here, and tells un ez the +vire has tuk holt. 'Now,' says the Bishop, says he, 'we'll gwo to +dinner;' and the owld lord fell to 's meat wi' a will, God bless un! +but Gardiner wur struck down like by the hand o' God avore a could +taste a mossel, and a set un all a-vire, so 'z the tongue on un cum +a-lolluping out o' 'is mouth as black as a rat. Thank the Lord, +therevore. + +PAGET. The fools! + +TIB. Ay, Joan; and Queen Mary gwoes on a-burnin' and a-burnin', to get +her baaby born; but all her burnin's 'ill never burn out the hypocrisy +that makes the water in her. There's nought but the vire of God's hell +ez can burn out that. + +JOAN. Thank the Lord, therevore. + +PAGET. The fools! + +TIB. A-burnin', and a-burnin', and a-makin' o' volk madder and madder; +but tek thou my word vor't, Joan,--and I bean't wrong not twice i' ten +year--the burnin' o' the owld archbishop'll burn the Pwoap out o' +this 'ere land vor iver and iver. + +HOWARD. Out of the church, you brace of cursed crones, Or I will have +you duck'd! (_Women hurry out_.) Said I not right? For how should +reverend prelate or throned prince Brook for an hour such brute +malignity? Ah, what an acrid wine has Luther brew'd! + +PAGET. Pooh, pooh, my Lord! poor garrulous country-wives. +Buy you their cheeses, and they'll side with you; +You cannot judge the liquor from the lees. + +HOWARD. I think that in some sort we may. But see, + + _Enter_ PETERS. + +Peters, my gentleman, an honest Catholic, +Who follow'd with the crowd to Cranmer's fire. +One that would neither misreport nor lie, +Not to gain paradise: no, nor if the Pope, +Charged him to do it--he is white as death. +Peters, how pale you look! you bring the smoke +Of Cranmer's burning with you. + +PETERS. Twice or thrice +The smoke of Cranmer's burning wrapt me round. + +HOWARD. Peters, you know me Catholic, but English. +Did he die bravely? Tell me that, or leave +All else untold. + +PETERS. My Lord, he died most bravely. + +HOWARD. Then tell me all. + +PAGET. Ay, Master Peters, tell us. + +PETERS. You saw him how he past among the crowd; +And ever as he walk'd the Spanish friars +Still plied him with entreaty and reproach: +But Cranmer, as the helmsman at the helm +Steers, ever looking to the happy haven +Where he shall rest at night, moved to his death; +And I could see that many silent hands +Came from the crowd and met his own; and thus +When we had come where Ridley burnt with Latimer, +He, with a cheerful smile, as one whose mind +Is all made up, in haste put off the rags +They had mock'd his misery with, and all in white, +His long white beard, which he had never shaven +Since Henry's death, down-sweeping to the chain, +Wherewith they bound him to the stake, he stood +More like an ancient father of the Church, +Than heretic of these times; and still the friars +Plied him, but Cranmer only shook his head, +Or answer'd them in smiling negatives; +Whereat Lord Williams gave a sudden cry:-- +'Make short! make short!' and so they lit the wood. +Then Cranmer lifted his left hand to heaven, +And thrust his right into the bitter flame; +And crying, in his deep voice, more than once, +'This hath offended--this unworthy hand!' +So held it till it all was burn'd, before +The flame had reach'd his body; I stood near-- +Mark'd him--he never uttered moan of pain: +He never stirr'd or writhed, but, like a statue, +Unmoving in the greatness of the flame, +Gave up the ghost; and so past martyr-like-- +Martyr I may not call him--past--but whither? +PAGET. To purgatory, man, to purgatory. + +PETERS. Nay, but, my Lord, he denied purgatory. + +PAGET. Why then to heaven, and God ha' mercy on him. + +HOWARD. Paget, despite his fearful heresies, +I loved the man, and needs must moan for him; +O Cranmer! + +PAGET. But your moan is useless now: +Come out, my Lord, it is a world of fools. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + + +ACT V. + + +SCENE I.--LONDON. HALL IN THE PALACE. + +QUEEN, SIR NICHOLAS HEATH. + + +HEATH. Madam, +I do assure you, that it must be look'd to: +Calais is but ill-garrison'd, in Guisnes +Are scarce two hundred men, and the French fleet +Rule in the narrow seas. It must be look'd to, +If war should fall between yourself and France; +Or you will lose your Calais. + +MARY. It shall be look'd to; +I wish you a good morning, good Sir Nicholas: +Here is the King. + [_Exit_ HEATH. + + _Enter_ PHILIP. + +PHILIP. Sir Nicholas tells you true, +And you must look to Calais when I go. + +MARY. Go? must you go, indeed--again--so soon? +Why, nature's licensed vagabond, the swallow, +That might live always in the sun's warm heart, +Stays longer here in our poor north than you:-- +Knows where he nested--ever comes again. + +PHILIP. And, Madam, so shall I. + +MARY. O, will you? will you? +I am faint with fear that you will come no more. + +PHILIP. Ay, ay; but many voices call me hence. + +MARY. Voices--I hear unhappy rumours--nay, +I say not, I believe. What voices call you +Dearer than mine that should be dearest to you? +Alas, my Lord! what voices and how many? + +PHILIP. The voices of Castille and Aragon, +Granada, Naples, Sicily, and Milan,-- +The voices of Franche-Comte, and the Netherlands, +The voices of Peru and Mexico, +Tunis, and Oran, and the Philippines, +And all the fair spice-islands of the East. + +MARY (_admiringly_). +You are the mightiest monarch upon earth, +I but a little Queen: and, so indeed, +Need you the more. + +PHILIP. A little Queen! but when +I came to wed your majesty, Lord Howard, +Sending an insolent shot that dash'd the seas +Upon us, made us lower our kingly flag +To yours of England. + +MARY. Howard is all English! +There is no king, not were he ten times king, +Ten times our husband, but must lower his flag +To that of England in the seas of England. + +PHILIP. Is that your answer? + +MARY. Being Queen of England, +I have none other. + +PHILIP. So. + +MARY. But wherefore not +Helm the huge vessel of your state, my liege, +Here by the side of her who loves you most? + +PHILIP. No, Madam, no! a candle in the sun +Is all but smoke--a star beside the moon +Is all but lost; your people will not crown me-- +Your people are as cheerless as your clime; +Hate me and mine: witness the brawls, the gibbets. +Here swings a Spaniard--there an Englishman; +The peoples are unlike as their complexion; +Yet will I be your swallow and return-- +But now I cannot bide. + +MARY. Not to help _me?_ +They hate _me_ also for my love to you, +My Philip; and these judgments on the land-- +Harvestless autumns, horrible agues, plague-- + +PHILIP. The blood and sweat of heretics at the stake +Is God's best dew upon the barren field. +Burn more! + +MARY. I will, I will; and you will stay? + +PHILIP. Have I not said? Madam, I came to sue +Your Council and yourself to declare war. + +MARY. Sir, there are many English in your ranks +To help your battle. + +PHILIP. So far, good. I say +I came to sue your Council and yourself +To declare war against the King of France. + +MARY. Not to see me? + +PHILIP. Ay, Madam, to see you. +Unalterably and pesteringly fond! [_Aside_. +But, soon or late you must have war with France; +King Henry warms your traitors at his hearth. +Carew is there, and Thomas Stafford there. +Courtenay, belike-- + +MARY. A fool and featherhead! + +PHILIP. Ay, but they use his name. In brief, this Henry +Stirs up your land against you to the intent +That you may lose your English heritage. +And then, your Scottish namesake marrying +The Dauphin, he would weld France, England, Scotland, +Into one sword to hack at Spain and me. + +MARY. And yet the Pope is now colleagued with France; +You make your wars upon him down in Italy:-- +Philip, can that be well? + +PHILIP. Content you, Madam; +You must abide my judgment, and my father's, +Who deems it a most just and holy war. +The Pope would cast the Spaniard out of Naples: +He calls us worse than Jews, Moors, Saracens. +The Pope has pushed his horns beyond his mitre-- +Beyond his province. Now, +Duke Alva will but touch him on the horns, +And he withdraws; and of his holy head-- +For Alva is true son of the true church-- +No hair is harm'd. Will you not help me here? + +MARY. Alas! the Council will not hear of war. +They say your wars are not the wars of England. +They will not lay more taxes on a land +So hunger-nipt and wretched; and you know +The crown is poor. We have given the church-lands back: +The nobles would not; nay, they clapt their hands +Upon their swords when ask'd; and therefore God +Is hard upon the people. What's to be done? +Sir, I will move them in your cause again, +And we will raise us loans and subsidies +Among the merchants; and Sir Thomas Gresham +Will aid us. There is Antwerp and the Jews. + +PHILIP. Madam, my thanks. + +MARY. And you will stay your going? + +PHILIP. And further to discourage and lay lame +The plots of France, altho' you love her not, +You must proclaim Elizabeth your heir. +She stands between you and the Queen of Scots. + +MARY. The Queen of Scots at least is Catholic. + +PHILIP. Ay, Madam, Catholic; but I will not have +The King of France the King of England too. + +MARY. But she's a heretic, and, when I am gone, +Brings the new learning back. + +PHILIP. It must be done. +You must proclaim Elizabeth your heir. + +MARY. Then it is done; but you will stay your going +Somewhat beyond your settled purpose? + +PHILIP. No! + +MARY. What, not one day? + +PHILIP. You beat upon the rock. + +MARY. And I am broken there. + +PHILIP. Is this a place +To wail in, Madam? what! a public hall. +Go in, I pray you. + +MARY. Do not seem so changed. +Say go; but only say it lovingly. + +PHILIP. You do mistake. I am not one to change. +I never loved you more. + +MARY. Sire, I obey you. +Come quickly. + +PHILIP. Ay. + [_Exit_ MARY. + + _Enter_ COUNT DE FERIA. + +FERIA (_aside_). The Queen in tears! + +PHILIP. Feria! +Hast thou not mark'd--come closer to mine ear-- +How doubly aged this Queen of ours hath grown +Since she lost hope of bearing us a child? + +FERIA. Sire, if your Grace hath mark'd it, so have I. + +PHILIP. Hast thou not likewise mark'd Elizabeth, +How fair and royal--like a Queen, indeed? + +FERIA. Allow me the same answer as before-- +That if your Grace hath mark'd her, so have I. + +PHILIP. Good, now; methinks my Queen is like enough +To leave me by and by. + +FERIA. To leave you, sire? + +PHILIP. I mean not like to live. Elizabeth-- +To Philibert of Savoy, as you know, +We meant to wed her; but I am not sure +She will not serve me better--so my Queen +Would leave me--as--my wife. + +FERIA. Sire, even so. + +PHILIP. She will not have Prince Philibert of Savoy. + +FERIA. No, sire. + +PHILIP. I have to pray you, some odd time, +To sound the Princess carelessly on this; +Not as from me, but as your phantasy; +And tell me how she takes it. + +FERIA. Sire, I will. + +PHILIP. I am not certain but that Philibert +Shall be the man; and I shall urge his suit +Upon the Queen, because I am not certain: +You understand, Feria. + +FERIA. Sire, I do. + +PHILIP. And if you be not secret in this matter, +You understand me there, too? + +FERIA. Sire, I do. + +PHILIP. You must be sweet and supple, like a Frenchman. +She is none of those who loathe the honeycomb. + + [_Exit_ FERIA. + + _Enter_ RENARD. + +RENARD. My liege, I bring you goodly tidings. + +PHILIP. Well? + +RENARD. There _will_ be war with France, at last, my liege; +Sir Thomas Stafford, a bull-headed ass, +Sailing from France, with thirty Englishmen, +Hath taken Scarboro' Castle, north of York; +Proclaims himself protector, and affirms +The Queen has forfeited her right to reign +By marriage with an alien--other things +As idle; a weak Wyatt! Little doubt +This buzz will soon be silenced; but the Council +(I have talk'd with some already) are for war. +This the fifth conspiracy hatch'd in France; +They show their teeth upon it; and your Grace, +So you will take advice of mine, should stay +Yet for awhile, to shape and guide the event. + +PHILIP. Good! Renard, I will stay then. + +RENARD. Also, sire, +Might I not say--to please your wife, the Queen? + +PHILIP. Ay, Renard, if you care to put it so. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE II.--A ROOM IN THE PALACE. + +MARY, _sitting: a rose in her hand_. LADY CLARENCE. ALICE _in the +background_. + + +MARY. Look! I have play'd with this poor rose so long +I have broken off the head. + +LADY CLARENCE. Your Grace hath been +More merciful to many a rebel head +That should have fallen, and may rise again. + +MARY. There were not many hang'd for Wyatt's rising. + +LADY CLARENCE. Nay, not two hundred. + +MARY. I could weep for them +And her, and mine own self and all the world. + +LADY CLARENCE. For her? for whom, your Grace? + + _Enter_ USHER. + +USHER. The Cardinal. + + _Enter_ CARDINAL POLE. (MARY _rises_.) + +MARY. Reginald Pole, what news hath plagued thy heart? +What makes thy favour like the bloodless head +Fall'n on the block, and held up by the hair? +Philip?-- + +POLE. No, Philip is as warm in life +As ever. + +MARY. Ay, and then as cold as ever. +Is Calais taken? + +POLE. Cousin, there hath chanced +A sharper harm to England and to Rome, +Than Calais taken. Julius the Third +Was ever just, and mild, and father-like; +But this new Pope Caraffa, Paul the Fourth, +Not only reft me of that legateship +Which Julius gave me, and the legateship +Annex'd to Canterbury--nay, but worse-- +And yet I must obey the Holy Father, +And so must you, good cousin;--worse than all, +A passing bell toll'd in a dying ear-- +He hath cited me to Rome, for heresy, +Before his Inquisition. + +MARY. I knew it, cousin, +But held from you all papers sent by Rome, +That you might rest among us, till the Pope, +To compass which I wrote myself to Rome, +Reversed his doom, and that you might not seem +To disobey his Holiness. + +POLE. He hates Philip; +He is all Italian, and he hates the Spaniard; +He cannot dream that _I_ advised the war; +He strikes thro' me at Philip and yourself. +Nay, but I know it of old, he hates me too; +So brands me in the stare of Christendom +A heretic! +Now, even now, when bow'd before my time, +The house half-ruin'd ere the lease be out; +When I should guide the Church in peace at home, +After my twenty years of banishment, +And all my lifelong labour to uphold +The primacy--a heretic. Long ago, +When I was ruler in the patrimony, +I was too lenient to the Lutheran, +And I and learned friends among ourselves +Would freely canvass certain Lutheranisms. +What then, he knew I was no Lutheran. +A heretic! +He drew this shaft against me to the head, +When it was thought I might be chosen Pope, +But then withdrew it. In full consistory, +When I was made Archbishop, he approved me. +And how should he have sent me Legate hither, +Deeming me heretic? and what heresy since? +But he was evermore mine enemy, +And hates the Spaniard--fiery-choleric, +A drinker of black, strong, volcanic wines, +That ever make him fierier. I, a heretic? +Your Highness knows that in pursuing heresy +I have gone beyond your late Lord Chancellor,-- +He cried Enough! enough! before his death.-- +Gone beyond him and mine own natural man +(It was God's cause); so far they call me now, +The scourge and butcher of their English church. + +MARY. Have courage, your reward is Heaven itself. + +POLE. They groan amen; they swarm into the fire +Like flies--for what? no dogma. They know nothing; +They burn for nothing. + +MARY. You have done your best. + +POLE. Have done my best, and as a faithful son, +That all day long hath wrought his father's work, +When back he comes at evening hath the door +Shut on him by the father whom he loved, +His early follies cast into his teeth, +And the poor son turn'd out into the street +To sleep, to die--I shall die of it, cousin. + +MARY. I pray you be not so disconsolate; +I still will do mine utmost with the Pope. +Poor cousin! +Have not I been the fast friend of your life +Since mine began, and it was thought we two +Might make one flesh, and cleave unto each other +As man and wife? + +POLE. Ah, cousin, I remember +How I would dandle you upon my knee +At lisping-age. I watch'd you dancing once +With your huge father; he look'd the Great Harry, +You but his cockboat; prettily you did it, +And innocently. No--we were not made +One flesh in happiness, no happiness here; +But now we are made one flesh in misery; +Our bridemaids are not lovely--Disappointment, +Ingratitude, Injustice, Evil-tongue, +Labour-in-vain. + +MARY. Surely, not all in vain. +Peace, cousin, peace! I am sad at heart myself. + +POLE. Our altar is a mound of dead men's clay, +Dug from the grave that yawns for us beyond; +And there is one Death stands behind the Groom, +And there is one Death stands behind the Bride-- + +MARY. Have you been looking at the 'Dance of Death'? + +POLE. No; but these libellous papers which I found +Strewn in your palace. Look you here--the Pope +Pointing at me with 'Pole, the heretic, +Thou hast burnt others, do thou burn thyself, +Or I will burn thee;' and this other; see!-- +'We pray continually for the death +Of our accursed Queen and Cardinal Pole.' +This last--I dare not read it her. [_Aside_. + +MARY. Away! +Why do you bring me these? +I thought you knew better. I never read, +I tear them; they come back upon my dreams. +The hands that write them should be burnt clean off +As Cranmer's, and the fiends that utter them +Tongue-torn with pincers, lash'd to death, or lie +Famishing in black cells, while famish'd rats +Eat them alive. Why do they bring me these? +Do you mean to drive me mad? + +POLE. I had forgotten +How these poor libels trouble you. Your pardon, +Sweet cousin, and farewell! 'O bubble world, +Whose colours in a moment break and fly!' +Why, who said that? I know not--true enough! + + [_Puts up the papers, all but the last, which falls. + Exit_ POLE. + +ALICE. If Cranmer's spirit were a mocking one, +And heard these two, there might be sport for him. [_Aside_. + +MARY. Clarence, they hate me; even while I speak +There lurks a silent dagger, listening +In some dark closet, some long gallery, drawn, +And panting for my blood as I go by. + +LADY CLARENCE. Nay, Madam, there be loyal papers too, +And I have often found them. + +MARY. Find me one! + +LADY CLARENCE. Ay, Madam; but Sir Nicholas Heath, the Chancellor, +Would see your Highness. + +MARY. Wherefore should I see him? + +LADY CLARENCE. Well, Madam, he may bring you news from Philip. + +MARY. So, Clarence. + +LADY CLARENCE. Let me first put up your hair; +It tumbles all abroad. + +MARY. And the gray dawn +Of an old age that never will be mine +Is all the clearer seen. No, no; what matters? +Forlorn I am, and let me look forlorn. + + _Enter_ SIR NICHOLAS HEATH. + +HEATH. I bring your Majesty such grievous news +I grieve to bring it. Madam, Calais is taken. + +MARY. What traitor spoke? Here, let my cousin Pole +Seize him and burn him for a Lutheran. + +HEATH. Her Highness is unwell. I will retire. + +LADY CLARENCE. Madam, your Chancellor, Sir Nicholas Heath. + +MARY. Sir Nicholas! I am stunn'd--Nicholas Heath? +Methought some traitor smote me on the head. +What said you, my good Lord, that our brave English +Had sallied out from Calais and driven back +The Frenchmen from their trenches? + +HEATH. Alas! no. +That gateway to the mainland over which +Our flag hath floated for two hundred years +Is France again. + +MARY. So; but it is not lost-- +Not yet. Send out: let England as of old +Rise lionlike, strike hard and deep into +The prey they are rending from her--ay, and rend +The renders too. Send out, send out, and make +Musters in all the counties; gather all +From sixteen years to sixty; collect the fleet; +Let every craft that carries sail and gun +Steer toward Calais. Guisnes is not taken yet? + +HEATH. Guisnes is not taken yet. + +MARY. There yet is hope. + +HEATH. Ah, Madam, but your people are so cold; +I do much fear that England will not care. +Methinks there is no manhood left among us. + +MARY. Send out; I am too weak to stir abroad: +Tell my mind to the Council--to the Parliament: +Proclaim it to the winds. Thou art cold thyself +To babble of their coldness. O would I were +My father for an hour! Away now--Quick! + + [_Exit_ HEATH. + +I hoped I had served God with all my might! +It seems I have not. Ah! much heresy +Shelter'd in Calais. Saints I have rebuilt +Your shrines, set up your broken images; +Be comfortable to me. Suffer not +That my brief reign in England be defamed +Thro' all her angry chronicles hereafter +By loss of Calais. Grant me Calais. Philip, +We have made war upon the Holy Father +All for your sake: what good could come of that? + +LADY CLARENCE. No, Madam, not against the Holy Father; +You did but help King Philip's war with France, +Your troops were never down in Italy. + +MARY. I am a byword. Heretic and rebel +Point at me and make merry. Philip gone! +And Calais gone! Time that I were gone too! + +LADY CLARENCE. Nay, if the fetid gutter had a voice +And cried I was not clean, what should I care? +Or you, for heretic cries? And I believe, +Spite of your melancholy Sir Nicholas, +Your England is as loyal as myself. + +MARY (_seeing the paper draft by_ POLE). +There! there! another paper! Said you not +Many of these were loyal? Shall I try +If this be one of such? + +LADY CLARENCE. Let it be, let it be. +God pardon me! I have never yet found one. [_Aside_. + +MARY (_reads_). 'Your people hate you as your husband hates you.' +Clarence, Clarence, what have I done? what sin +Beyond all grace, all pardon? Mother of God, +Thou knowest never woman meant so well, +And fared so ill in this disastrous world. +My people hate me and desire my death. + +LADY CLARENCE. No, Madam, no. + +MARY. My husband hates me, and desires my death. + +LADY CLARENCE. No, Madam; these are libels. + +MARY. I hate myself, and I desire my death. + +LADY CLARENCE. Long live your Majesty! Shall Alice sing you +One of her pleasant songs? Alice, my child, +Bring us your lute (ALICE _goes_). They say the gloom of Saul +Was lighten'd by young David's harp. + +MARY. Too young! +And never knew a Philip. + + _Re-enter_ ALICE. + + Give _me_ the lute. +He hates me! + (_She sings_.) + + Hapless doom of woman happy in betrothing! + Beauty passes like a breath and love is lost in loathing: + Low, my lute; speak low, my lute, but say the world is nothing-- + Low, lute, low! + + Love will hover round the flowers when they first awaken; + Love will fly the fallen leaf, and not be overtaken; + Low, my lute! oh low, my lute! we fade and are forsaken-- + Low, dear lute, low! + +Take it away! not low enough for me! + +ALICE. Your Grace hath a low voice. + +MARY. How dare you say it? +Even for that he hates me. A low voice +Lost in a wilderness where none can hear! +A voice of shipwreck on a shoreless sea! +A low voice from the dust and from the grave + (_Sitting on the ground_). +There, am I low enough now? + +ALICE. Good Lord! how grim and ghastly looks her Grace, +With both her knees drawn upward to her chin. +There was an old-world tomb beside my father's, +And this was open'd, and the dead were found +Sitting, and in this fashion; she looks a corpse. + + _Enter_ LADY MAGDALEN DACRES. + +LADY MAGDALEN. Madam, the Count de Feria waits without, +In hopes to see your Highness. + +LADY CLARENCE (_pointing to_ MARY). +Wait he must-- +Her trance again. She neither sees nor hears, +And may not speak for hours. + +LADY MAGDALEN. Unhappiest +Of Queens and wives and women! + +ALICE (_in the foreground with_ LADY MAGDALEN). + And all along +Of Philip. + +LADY MAGDALEN. Not so loud! Our Clarence there +Sees ever such an aureole round the Queen, +It gilds the greatest wronger of her peace, +Who stands the nearest to her. + +ALICE. Ay, this Philip; +I used to love the Queen with all my heart-- +God help me, but methinks I love her less +For such a dotage upon such a man. +I would I were as tall and strong as you. + +LADY MAGDALEN. I seem half-shamed at times to be so tall. + +ALICE. You are the stateliest deer in all the herd-- +Beyond his aim--but I am small and scandalous, +And love to hear bad tales of Philip. + +LADY MAGDALEN. Why? +I never heard him utter worse of you +Than that you were low-statured. + +ALICE. Does he think +Low stature is low nature, or all women's +Low as his own? + +LADY MAGDALEN. There you strike in the nail. +This coarseness is a want of phantasy. +It is the low man thinks the woman low; +Sin is too dull to see beyond himself. + +ALICE. Ah, Magdalen, sin is bold as well as dull. +How dared he? + +LADY MAGDALEN. Stupid soldiers oft are bold. +Poor lads, they see not what the general sees, +A risk of utter ruin. I am _not_ +Beyond his aim, or was not. + +ALICE. Who? Not you? +Tell, tell me; save my credit with myself. + +LADY MAGDALEN. I never breathed it to a bird in the eaves, +Would not for all the stars and maiden moon +Our drooping Queen should know! In Hampton Court +My window look'd upon the corridor; +And I was robing;--this poor throat of mine, +Barer than I should wish a man to see it,-- +When he we speak of drove the window back, +And, like a thief, push'd in his royal hand; +But by God's providence a good stout staff +Lay near me; and you know me strong of arm; +I do believe I lamed his Majesty's +For a day or two, tho', give the Devil his due, +I never found he bore me any spite. + +ALICE. I would she could have wedded that poor youth, +My Lord of Devon--light enough, God knows, +And mixt with Wyatt's rising--and the boy +Not out of him--but neither cold, coarse, cruel, +And more than all--no Spaniard. + +LADY CLARENCE. Not so loud. +Lord Devon, girls! what are you whispering here? + +ALICE. Probing an old state-secret--how it chanced +That this young Earl was sent on foreign travel, +Not lost his head. + +LADY CLARENCE. There was no proof against him. + +ALICE. Nay, Madam; did not Gardiner intercept +A letter which the Count de Noailles wrote +To that dead traitor Wyatt, with full proof +Of Courtenay's treason? What became of that? + +LADY CLARENCE. Some say that Gardiner, out of love for him, +Burnt it, and some relate that it was lost +When Wyatt sack'd the Chancellor's house in Southwark. +Let dead things rest. + +ALICE. Ay, and with him who died +Alone in Italy. + +LADY CLARENCE. Much changed, I hear, +Had put off levity and put graveness on. +The foreign courts report him in his manner +Noble as his young person and old shield. +It might be so--but all is over now; +He caught a chill in the lagoons of Venice, +And died in Padua. + +MARY (_looking up suddenly_). + Died in the true faith? + +LADY CLARENCE. Ay, Madam, happily. + +MARY. Happier he than I. + +LADY MAGDALEN. It seems her Highness hath awaken'd. Think you +That I might dare to tell her that the Count-- + +MARY. I will see no man hence for evermore, +Saving my confessor and my cousin Pole. + +LADY MAGDALEN. It is the Count de Feria, my dear lady. + +MARY. What Count? + +LADY MAGDALEN. The Count de Feria, from his Majesty +King Philip. + +MARY. Philip! quick! loop up my hair! +Throw cushions on that seat, and make it throne-like. +Arrange my dress--the gorgeous Indian shawl +That Philip brought me in our happy days!-- +That covers all. So--am I somewhat Queenlike, +Bride of the mightiest sovereign upon earth? + +LADY CLARENCE. Ay, so your Grace would bide a moment yet. + +MARY. No, no, he brings a letter. I may die +Before I read it. Let me see him at once. + + _Enter_ COUNT DE FERIA (_kneels_). + +FERIA. I trust your Grace is well. (_Aside_) How her hand burns! + +MARY. I am not well, but it will better me, +Sir Count, to read the letter which you bring. + +FERIA. Madam, I bring no letter. + +MARY. How! no letter? + +FERIA. His Highness is so vex'd with strange affairs-- + +MARY. That his own wife is no affair of his. + +FERIA. Nay, Madam, nay! he sends his veriest love, +And says, he will come quickly. + +MARY. Doth he, indeed? +You, sir, do _you_ remember what _you_ said +When last you came to England? + +FERIA. Madam, I brought +My King's congratulations; it was hoped +Your Highness was once more in happy state +To give him an heir male. + +MARY. Sir, you said more; +You said he would come quickly. I had horses +On all the road from Dover, day and night; +On all the road from Harwich, night and day; +But the child came not, and the husband came not; +And yet he will come quickly.... Thou hast learnt +Thy lesson, and I mine. There is no need +For Philip so to shame himself again. +Return, +And tell him that I know he comes no more. +Tell him at last I know his love is dead, +And that I am in state to bring forth death-- +Thou art commission'd to Elizabeth, +And not to me! + +FERIA. Mere compliments and wishes. +But shall I take some message from your Grace? + +MARY. Tell her to come and close my dying eyes, +And wear my crown, and dance upon my grave. + +FERIA. Then I may say your Grace will see your sister? +Your Grace is too low-spirited. Air and sunshine. +I would we had you, Madam, in our warm Spain. +You droop in your dim London. + +MARY. Have him away! +I sicken of his readiness. + +LADY CLARENCE. My Lord Count, +Her Highness is too ill for colloquy. + +FERIA (_kneels, and kisses her hand_). +I wish her Highness better. (_Aside_) How her hand burns! + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE III.--A HOUSE NEAR LONDON. + +ELIZABETH, STEWARD OF THE HOUSEHOLD, ATTENDANTS. + + +ELIZABETH. There's half an angel wrong'd in your account; +Methinks I am all angel, that I bear it +Without more ruffling. Cast it o'er again. + +STEWARD. I were whole devil if I wrong'd you, Madam. + [_Exit_ STEWARD. + +ATTENDANT. The Count de Feria, from the King of Spain. + +ELIZABETH. Ay!--let him enter. Nay, you need not go: + [_To her_ LADIES. +Remain within the chamber, but apart. +We'll have no private conference. Welcome to +England! + + _Enter_ FERIA. + +FERIA. Fair island star! + +ELIZABETH. I shine! What else, Sir Count? + +FERIA. As far as France, and into Philip's heart. +My King would know if you be fairly served, +And lodged, and treated. + +ELIZABETH. You see the lodging, sir, +I am well-served, and am in everything +Most loyal and most grateful to the Queen. + +FERIA. You should be grateful to my master, too. +He spoke of this; and unto him you owe +That Mary hath acknowledged you her heir. + +ELIZABETH. No, not to her nor him; but to the people, +Who know my right, and love me, as I love +The people! whom God aid! + +FERIA. You will be Queen, +And, were I Philip-- + +ELIZABETH. Wherefore pause you--what? + +FERIA. Nay, but I speak from mine own self, not +him; +Your royal sister cannot last; your hand +Will be much coveted! What a delicate one! +Our Spanish ladies have none such--and there, +Were you in Spain, this fine fair gossamer gold-- +Like sun-gilt breathings on a frosty dawn-- +That hovers round your shoulder-- + +ELIZABETH. Is it so fine? +Troth, some have said so. + +FERIA. --would be deemed a miracle. + +ELIZABETH. Your Philip hath gold hair and golden beard; +There must be ladies many with hair like mine. + +FERIA, Some few of Gothic blood have golden hair, +But none like yours. + +ELIZABETH. I am happy you approve it. + +FERIA. But as to Philip and your Grace--consider, +If such a one as you should match with Spain, +What hinders but that Spain and England join'd, +Should make the mightiest empire earth has known. +Spain would be England on her seas, and England +Mistress of the Indies. + +ELIZABETH. It may chance, that England +Will be the Mistress of the Indies yet, +Without the help of Spain. + +FERIA. Impossible; +Except you put Spain down. +Wide of the mark ev'n for a madman's dream. + +ELIZABETH. Perhaps; but we have seamen. +Count de Feria, +I take it that the King hath spoken to you; +But is Don Carlos such a goodly match? + +FERIA. Don Carlos, Madam, is but twelve years old. + +ELIZABETH. Ay, tell the King that I will muse upon it; +He is my good friend, and I would keep him so; +But--he would have me Catholic of Rome, +And that I scarce can be; and, sir, till now +My sister's marriage, and my father's marriages, +Make me full fain to live and die a maid. +But I am much beholden to your King. +Have you aught else to tell me? + +FERIA. Nothing, Madam, +Save that methought I gather'd from the Queen +That she would see your Grace before she--died. + +ELIZABETH. God's death! and wherefore spake you not before? +We dally with our lazy moments here, +And hers are number'd. Horses there, without! +I am much beholden to the King, your master. +Why did you keep me prating? Horses, there! + + [_Exit_ ELIZABETH, _etc_. + +FERIA. So from a clear sky falls the thunderbolt! +Don Carlos? Madam, if you marry Philip, +Then I and he will snaffle your 'God's death,' +And break your paces in, and make you tame; +God's death, forsooth--you do not know King Philip. + + [_Exit_. + + + +SCENE IV.--LONDON. BEFORE THE PALACE. + +_A light burning within_. VOICES _of the night passing_. + + +FIRST. Is not yon light in the Queen's chamber? + +SECOND. Ay, +They say she's dying. + +FIRST. So is Cardinal Pole. +May the great angels join their wings, and make +Down for their heads to heaven! + +SECOND. Amen. Come on. + [_Exeunt_. + + TWO OTHERS. + +FIRST. There's the Queen's light. I hear she cannot live. + +SECOND. God curse her and her Legate! Gardiner burns +Already; but to pay them full in kind, +The hottest hold in all the devil's den +Were but a sort of winter; sir, in Guernsey, +I watch'd a woman burn; and in her agony +The mother came upon her--a child was born-- +And, sir, they hurl'd it back into the fire, +That, being but baptized in fire, the babe +Might be in fire for ever. Ah, good neighbour, +There should be something fierier than fire +To yield them their deserts. + +FIRST. Amen to all +Your wish, and further. + +A THIRD VOICE. Deserts! Amen to what? Whose deserts? Yours? You have a +gold ring on your finger, and soft raiment about your body; and is not +the woman up yonder sleeping after all she has done, in peace and +quietness, on a soft bed, in a closed room, with light, fire, physic, +tendance; and I have seen the true men of Christ lying famine-dead by +scores, and under no ceiling but the cloud that wept on them, not for +them. + +FIRST. Friend, tho' so late, it is not safe to preach. +You had best go home. What are you? + +THIRD. What am I? One who cries continually with sweat and tears to +the Lord God that it would please Him out of His infinite love to +break down all kingship and queenship, all priesthood and prelacy; to +cancel and abolish all bonds of human allegiance, all the magistracy, +all the nobles, and all the wealthy; and to send us again, according +to His promise, the one King, the Christ, and all things in common, as +in the day of the first church, when Christ Jesus was King. + +FIRST. If ever I heard a madman,--let's away! +Why, you long-winded--Sir, you go beyond me. +I pride myself on being moderate. +Good night! Go home. Besides, you curse so loud, +The watch will hear you. Get you home at once. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + +SCENE V.--LONDON. A ROOM IN THE PALACE. + +_A Gallery on one side. The moonlight streaming through a range of +windows on the wall opposite_. MARY, LADY CLARENCE, LADY MAGDALEN +DACRES, ALICE. QUEEN _pacing the Gallery. A writing table in front_. +QUEEN _comes to the table and writes and goes again, pacing the +Gallery_. + + +LADY CLARENCE. Mine eyes are dim: what hath she written? read. + +ALICE. 'I am dying, Philip; come to me.' + +LADY MAGDALEN. There--up and down, poor lady, up and down. + +ALICE. And how her shadow crosses one by one +The moonlight casements pattern'd on the wall, +Following her like her sorrow. She turns again. + + [QUEEN _sits and writes, and goes again_. + +LADY CLARENCE. What hath she written now? + +ALICE. Nothing; but 'come, come, come,' and all awry, +And blotted by her tears. This cannot last. + + [QUEEN _returns_. + +MARY. I whistle to the bird has broken cage, +And all in vain. [_Sitting down_. +Calais gone--Guisnes gone, too--and Philip gone! + +LADY CLARENCE. Dear Madam, Philip is but at the wars; +I cannot doubt but that he comes again; +And he is with you in a measure still. +I never look'd upon so fair a likeness +As your great King in armour there, his hand +Upon his helmet. + [_Pointing to the portrait of Philip on the wall_. + +MARY. Doth he not look noble? +I had heard of him in battle over seas, +And I would have my warrior all in arms. +He said it was not courtly to stand helmeted +Before the Queen. He had his gracious moment, +Altho' you'll not believe me. How he smiles +As if he loved me yet! + +LADY CLARENCE. And so he does. + +MARY. He never loved me--nay, he could not love me. +It was his father's policy against France. +I am eleven years older than he, +Poor boy! [_Weeps_. + +ALICE. That was a lusty boy of twenty-seven; [_Aside_. +Poor enough in God's grace! + +MARY. --And all in vain! +The Queen of Scots is married to the Dauphin, +And Charles, the lord of this low world, is gone; +And all his wars and wisdoms past away: +And in a moment I shall follow him. + +LADY CLARENCE. Nay, dearest Lady, see your good physician. + +MARY. Drugs--but he knows they cannot help me--says +That rest is all--tells me I must not think-- +That I must rest--I shall rest by and by. +Catch the wild cat, cage him, and when he springs +And maims himself against the bars, say 'rest': +Why, you must kill him if you would have him rest-- +Dead or alive you cannot make him happy. + +LADY CLARENCE. Your Majesty has lived so pure a life, +And done such mighty things by Holy Church, +I trust that God will make you happy yet. + +MARY. What is the strange thing happiness? Sit down here: +Tell me thine happiest hour. + +LADY CLARENCE. I will, if that +May make your Grace forget yourself a little. +There runs a shallow brook across our field +For twenty miles, where the black crow flies five, +And doth so bound and babble all the way +As if itself were happy. It was May-time, +And I was walking with the man I loved. +I loved him, but I thought I was not loved. +And both were silent, letting the wild brook +Speak for us--till he stoop'd and gather'd one +From out a bed of thick forget-me-nots, +Look'd hard and sweet at me, and gave it me. +I took it, tho' I did not know I took it, +And put it in my bosom, and all at once +I felt his arms about me, and his lips-- + +MARY. O God! I have been too slack, too slack; +There are Hot Gospellers even among our guards-- +Nobles we dared not touch. We have but burnt +The heretic priest, workmen, and women and children. +Wet, famine, ague, fever, storm, wreck, wrath,-- +We have so play'd the coward; but by God's grace, +We'll follow Philip's leading, and set up +The Holy Office here--garner the wheat, +And burn the tares with unquenchable fire! +Burn!-- +Fie, what a savour! tell the cooks to close +The doors of all the offices below. +Latimer! +Sir, we are private with our women here-- +Ever a rough, blunt, and uncourtly fellow-- +Thou light a torch that never will go out! +'Tis out--mine flames. Women, the Holy Father +Has ta'en the legateship from our cousin Pole-- +Was that well done? and poor Pole pines of it, +As I do, to the death. I am but a woman, +I have no power.--Ah, weak and meek old man, +Seven-fold dishonour'd even in the sight +Of thine own sectaries--No, no. No pardon! +Why that was false: there is the right hand still +Beckons me hence. +Sir, you were burnt for heresy, not for treason, +Remember that! 'twas I and Bonner did it, +And Pole; we are three to one--Have you found mercy there, +Grant it me here: and see, he smiles and goes, +Gentle as in life. + +ALICE. Madam, who goes? King Philip? + +MARY. No, Philip comes and goes, but never goes. +Women, when I am dead, +Open my heart, and there you will find written +Two names, Philip and Calais; open his,-- +So that he have one,-- +You will find Philip only, policy, policy,-- +Ay, worse than that--not one hour true to me! +Foul maggots crawling in a fester'd vice! +Adulterous to the very heart of Hell. +Hast thou a knife? + +ALICE. Ay, Madam, but o' God's mercy-- + +MARY. Fool, think'st thou I would peril mine own soul +By slaughter of the body? I could not, girl, +Not this way--callous with a constant stripe, +Unwoundable. The knife! + +ALICE. Take heed, take heed! +The blade is keen as death. + +MARY. This Philip shall not +Stare in upon me in my haggardness; +Old, miserable, diseased, +Incapable of children. Come thou down. + [_Cuts out the picture and throws it down_. +Lie there. (_Wails_) O God, I have kill'd my Philip! + +ALICE. No, +Madam, you have but cut the canvas out; +We can replace it. + +MARY. All is well then; rest-- +I will to rest; he said, I must have rest. + [_Cries of_ 'ELIZABETH' _in the street_. +A cry! What's that? Elizabeth? revolt? +A new Northumberland, another Wyatt? +I'll fight it on the threshold of the grave. + +LADY CLARENCE. Madam, your royal sister comes to see you. + +MARY. I will not see her. +Who knows if Boleyn's daughter be my sister? +I will see none except the priest. Your arm. + [_To_ LADY CLARENCE. +O Saint of Aragon, with that sweet worn smile +Among thy patient wrinkles--Help me hence. + [_Exeunt_. + + _The_ PRIEST _passes. Enter_ ELIZABETH _and_ SIR WILLIAM CECIL. + +ELIZABETH. Good counsel yours-- + No one in waiting? still, +As if the chamberlain were Death himself! +The room she sleeps in--is not this the way? +No, that way there are voices. Am I too late? +Cecil ... God guide me lest I lose the way. + [_Exit_ ELIZABETH. + +CECIL. Many points weather'd, many perilous ones, +At last a harbour opens; but therein +Sunk rocks--they need fine steering--much it is +To be nor mad, nor bigot--have a mind-- +Nor let Priests' talk, or dream of worlds to be, +Miscolour things about her--sudden touches +For him, or him--sunk rocks; no passionate faith-- +But--if let be--balance and compromise; +Brave, wary, sane to the heart of her--a Tudor +School'd by the shadow of death--a Boleyn, too, +Glancing across the Tudor--not so well. + + _Enter_ ALICE. + +How is the good Queen now? + +ALICE. Away from Philip. +Back in her childhood--prattling to her mother +Of her betrothal to the Emperor Charles, +And childlike--jealous of him again--and once +She thank'd her father sweetly for his book +Against that godless German. Ah, those days +Were happy. It was never merry world +In England, since the Bible came among us. + +CECIL. And who says that? + +ALICE. It is a saying among the Catholics. + +CECIL. It never will be merry world in England, +Till all men have their Bible, rich and poor. + +ALICE. The Queen is dying, or you dare not say it. + + _Enter_ ELIZABETH. + +ELIZABETH. The Queen is dead. + +CECIL. Then here she stands! my homage. + +ELIZABETH. She knew me, and acknowledged me her heir, +Pray'd me to pay her debts, and keep the Faith: +Then claspt the cross, and pass'd away in peace. +I left her lying still and beautiful, +More beautiful than in life. Why would you vex yourself, +Poor sister? Sir, I swear I have no heart +To be your Queen. To reign is restless fence, +Tierce, quart, and trickery. Peace is with the dead. +Her life was winter, for her spring was nipt: +And she loved much: pray God she be forgiven. + +CECIL. Peace with the dead, who never were at peace! +Yet she loved one so much--I needs must say-- +That never English monarch dying left +England so little. + +ELIZABETH. But with Cecil's aid +And others, if our person be secured +From traitor stabs--we will make England great. + + _Enter_ PAGET, _and other_ LORDS OF THE COUNCIL, + SIR RALPH BAGENHALL, _etc_. + +LORDS. God save Elizabeth, the Queen of England! + +BAGENHALL. God save the Crown! the Papacy is no more. + +PAGET (_aside_). +Are we so sure of that? + +ACCLAMATION. God save the Queen! + + +END OF QUEEN MARY. + + + + + + +HAROLD: A DRAMA. + + + +TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HON. LORD LYTTON, VICEROY AND +GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA. + +My Dear Lord Lytton,--After old-world records--such as the Bayeux +tapestry and the Roman de Rou,--Edward Freeman's History of the Norman +Conquest, and your father's Historical Romance treating of the same +times, have been mainly helpful to me in writing this Drama. Your +father dedicated his 'Harold' to my father's brother; allow me to +dedicate my 'Harold' to yourself. + +A. TENNYSON. + + + +SHOW-DAY AT BATTLE ABBEY, 1876. + +A garden here--May breath and bloom of spring-- +The cuckoo yonder from an English elm +Crying 'with my false egg I overwhelm +The native nest:' and fancy hears the ring +Of harness, and that deathful arrow sing, +And Saxon battleaxe clang on Norman helm. +Here rose the dragon-banner of our realm: +Here fought, here fell, our Norman-slander'd king. +O Garden blossoming out of English blood! +O strange hate-healer Time! We stroll and stare +Where might made right eight hundred years ago; +Might, right? ay good, so all things make for good-- +But he and he, if soul be soul, are where +Each stands full face with all he did below. + + + +_DRAMATIS PERSONAE_ + +KING EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. +STIGAND, _created Archbishop of Canterbury by the Antipope Benedict_. +ALDRED, _Archbishop of York_. +THE NORMAN BISHOP OF LONDON. +HAROLD, _Earl of Wessex, afterwards King of England, Son of Godwin_ +TOSTIG, _Earl of Northumbria, Son of Godwin_ +GURTH, _Earl of East Anglia, Son of Godwin_ +LEOFWIN, _Earl of Kent and Essex, Son of Godwin_ +WULFNOTH +COUNT WILLIAM OF NORMANDY. +WILLIAM RUFUS. +WILLIAM MALET, _a Norman Noble_.[1] +EDWIN, _Earl of Mercia, Son of Alfgar of Mercia_ +MORCAR, _Earl of Northumbria after Tostig, Son of Alfgar of Mercia_ +GAMEL, _a Northumbrian Thane_. +GUY, _Count of Ponthieu_. +ROLF, _a Ponthieu Fisherman_. +HUGH MARGOT, _a Norman Monk_. +OSGOD _and_ ATHELRIC, _Canons from Waltham_. +THE QUEEN, _Edward the Confessor's Wife, Daughter of Godwin_. +ALDWYTH, _Daughter of Alfgar and Widow of Griffyth, King of Wales_. +EDITH, _Ward of King Edward_. +Courtiers, Earls and Thanes, Men-at-Arms, Canons of Waltham, +Fishermen, etc. + + +[Footnote 1: ... quidam partim Normannus et Anglus +Compater Heraldi. (_Guy of Amiens_, 587.)] + + + +HAROLD + + + + +ACT I. + + +SCENE I.--LONDON. THE KING'S PALACE. + + (_A comet seen through the open window_.) + +ALDWYTH, GAMEL, COURTIERS _talking together_. + + +FIRST COURTIER. Lo! there once more--this is the seventh night! +Yon grimly-glaring, treble-brandish'd scourge Of England! + +SECOND COURTIER. Horrible! + +FIRST COURTIER. Look you, there's a star +That dances in it as mad with agony! + +THIRD COURTIER. Ay, like a spirit in Hell who skips and flies +To right and left, and cannot scape the flame. + +SECOND COURTIER. Steam'd upward from the undescendable +Abysm. + +FIRST COURTIER. Or floated downward from the throne +Of God Almighty. + +ALDWYTH. Gamel, son of Orm, +What thinkest thou this means? + +GAMEL. War, my dear lady! + +ALDWYTH. Doth this affright thee? + +GAMEL. Mightily, my dear lady! + +ALDWYTH. Stand by me then, and look upon my face, +Not on the comet. + + _Enter_ MORCAR. + + Brother! why so pale? + +MORCAR. It glares in heaven, it flares upon the Thames, +The people are as thick as bees below, +They hum like bees,--they cannot speak--for awe; +Look to the skies, then to the river, strike +Their hearts, and hold their babies up to it. +I think that they would Molochize them too, +To have the heavens clear. + +ALDWYTH. They fright not me. + + _Enter_ LEOFWIN, _after him_ GURTH. + +Ask thou Lord Leofwin what he thinks of this! + +MORCAR. Lord Leofwin, dost thou believe, that these +Three rods of blood-red fire up yonder mean +The doom of England and the wrath of Heaven? + +BISHOP OF LONDON (_passing_). +Did ye not cast with bestial violence +Our holy Norman bishops down from all +Their thrones in England? I alone remain. +Why should not Heaven be wroth? + +LEOFWIN. With us, or thee? + +BISHOP OF LONDON. Did ye not outlaw your archbishop Robert, +Robert of Jumieges--well-nigh murder him too? +Is there no reason for the wrath of Heaven? + +LEOFWIN. Why then the wrath of Heaven hath three tails, +The devil only one. + + [_Exit_ BISHOP OF LONDON. + + _Enter_ ARCHBISHOP STIGAND. + +Ask _our_ Archbishop. +Stigand should know the purposes of Heaven. + +STIGAND. Not I. I cannot read the face of heaven; +Perhaps our vines will grow the better for it. + +LEOFWIN (_laughing_). +He can but read the king's face on his coins. + +STIGAND. Ay, ay, young lord, _there_ the king's face is power. + +GURTH. O father, mock not at a public fear, +But tell us, is this pendent hell in heaven +A harm to England? + +STIGAND. Ask it of King Edward! +And he may tell thee, _I_ am a harm to England. +Old uncanonical Stigand--ask of _me_ +Who had my pallium from an Antipope! +Not he the man--for in our windy world +What's up is faith, what's down is heresy. +Our friends, the Normans, holp to shake his chair. +I have a Norman fever on me, son, +And cannot answer sanely.... What it means? +Ask our broad Earl. + [_Pointing to_ HAROLD, _who enters_. + +HAROLD (_seeing_ GAMEL). + Hail, Gamel, son of Orm! +Albeit no rolling stone, my good friend Gamel, +Thou hast rounded since we met. Thy life at home +Is easier than mine here. Look! am I not +Work-wan, flesh-fallen? + +GAMEL. Art thou sick, good Earl? + +HAROLD. Sick as an autumn swallow for a voyage, +Sick for an idle week of hawk and hound +Beyond the seas--a change! When camest thou hither? + +GAMEL. To-day, good Earl. + +HAROLD. Is the North quiet, Gamel? + +GAMEL. Nay, there be murmurs, for thy brother breaks us +With over-taxing--quiet, ay, as yet-- +Nothing as yet. + +HAROLD. Stand by him, mine old friend, +Thou art a great voice in Northumberland! +Advise him: speak him sweetly, he will hear thee. +He is passionate but honest. Stand thou by him! +More talk of this to-morrow, if yon weird sign +Not blast us in our dreams.--Well, father Stigand-- + [_To_ STIGAND, _who advances to him_. + +STIGAND (_pointing to the comet_). +War there, my son? is that the doom of England? + +HAROLD. Why not the doom of all the world as well? +For all the world sees it as well as England. +These meteors came and went before our day, +Not harming any: it threatens us no more +Than French or Norman. War? the worst that follows +Things that seem jerk'd out of the common rut +Of Nature is the hot religious fool, +Who, seeing war in heaven, for heaven's credit +Makes it on earth: but look, where Edward draws +A faint foot hither, leaning upon Tostig. +He hath learnt to love our Tostig much of late. + +LEOFWIN. And _he_ hath learnt, despite the tiger in him, +To sleek and supple himself to the king's hand. + +GURTH. I trust the kingly touch that cures the evil +May serve to charm the tiger out of him. + +LEOFWIN. He hath as much of cat as tiger in him. +Our Tostig loves the hand and not the man. + +HAROLD. Nay! Better die than lie! + + _Enter_ KING, QUEEN, _and_ TOSTIG. + +EDWARD. In heaven signs! +Signs upon earth! signs everywhere! your Priests +Gross, worldly, simoniacal, unlearn'd! +They scarce can read their Psalter; and your churches +Uncouth, unhandsome, while in Normanland +God speaks thro' abler voices, as He dwells +In statelier shrines. I say not this, as being +Half Norman-blooded, nor as some have held, +Because I love the Norman better--no, +But dreading God's revenge upon this realm +For narrowness and coldness: and I say it +For the last time perchance, before I go +To find the sweet refreshment of the Saints. +I have lived a life of utter purity: +I have builded the great church of Holy Peter: +I have wrought miracles--to God the glory-- +And miracles will in my name be wrought +Hereafter.--I have fought the fight and go-- +I see the flashing of the gates of pearl-- +And it is well with me, tho' some of you +Have scorn'd me--ay--but after I am gone +Woe, woe to England! I have had a vision; +The seven sleepers in the cave at Ephesus +Have turn'd from right to left. + +HAROLD. My most dear Master, +What matters? let them turn from left to right +And sleep again. + +TOSTIG. Too hardy with thy king! +A life of prayer and fasting well may see +Deeper into the mysteries of heaven +Than thou, good brother. + +ALDWYTH (_aside_). Sees he into thine, +That thou wouldst have his promise for the crown? + +EDWARD. Tostig says true; my son, thou art too hard, +Not stagger'd by this ominous earth and heaven: +But heaven and earth are threads of the same loom, +Play into one another, and weave the web +That may confound thee yet. + +HAROLD. Nay, I trust not, +For I have served thee long and honestly. + +EDWARD. I know it, son; I am not thankless: thou +Hast broken all my foes, lighten'd for me +The weight of this poor crown, and left me time +And peace for prayer to gain a better one. +Twelve years of service! England loves thee for it. +Thou art the man to rule her! + +ALDWYTH (_aside_). So, not Tostig! + +HAROLD. And after those twelve years a boon, my king, +Respite, a holiday: thyself wast wont +To love the chase: thy leave to set my feet +On board, and hunt and hawk beyond the seas! + +EDWARD. What, with this flaming horror overhead? + +HAROLD. Well, when it passes then. + +EDWARD. Ay if it pass. +Go not to Normandy--go not to Normandy. + +HAROLD. And wherefore not, my king, to Normandy? +Is not my brother Wulfnoth hostage there +For my dead father's loyalty to thee? +I pray thee, let me hence and bring him home. + +EDWARD. Not thee, my son: some other messenger. + +HAROLD. And why not me, my lord, to Normandy? +Is not the Norman Count thy friend and mine? + +EDWARD. I pray thee, do not go to Normandy. + +HAROLD. Because my father drove the Normans out +Of England?--That was many a summer gone-- +Forgotten and forgiven by them and thee. + +EDWARD. Harold, I will not yield thee leave to go. + +HAROLD. Why then to Flanders. I will hawk and hunt +In Flanders. + +EDWARD. Be there not fair woods and fields +In England? Wilful, wilful. Go--the Saints +Pilot and prosper all thy wandering out +And homeward. Tostig, I am faint again. +Son Harold, I will in and pray for thee. + + [_Exit, leaning on_ TOSTIG, _and followed by_ + STIGAND, MORCAR, _and_ COURTIERS. + +HAROLD. What lies upon the mind of our good king +That he should harp this way on Normandy? + +QUEEN. Brother, the king is wiser than he seems; +And Tostig knows it; Tostig loves the king. + +HAROLD. And love should know; and--be the +king so wise,-- +Then Tostig too were wiser than he seems. +I love the man but not his phantasies. + + _Re-enter_ TOSTIG. + +Well, brother, +When didst thou hear from thy Northumbria? + +TOSTIG. When did I hear aught but this '_When_' from thee? +Leave me alone, brother, with my Northumbria: +She is _my_ mistress, let _me_ look to her! +The King hath made me Earl; make me not fool! +Nor make the King a fool, who made me Earl! + +HAROLD. No, Tostig--lest I make myself a fool +Who made the King who made thee, make thee Earl. + +TOSTIG. Why chafe me then? Thou knowest I soon go wild. + +GURTH. Come, come! as yet thou art not gone so wild +But thou canst hear the best and wisest of us. + +HAROLD. So says old Gurth, not I: yet hear! thine earldom, +Tostig, hath been a kingdom. Their old crown +Is yet a force among them, a sun set +But leaving light enough for Alfgar's house +To strike thee down by--nay, this ghastly glare +May heat their fancies. + +TOSTIG. My most worthy brother, +Thou art the quietest man in all the world-- +Ay, ay and wise in peace and great in war-- +Pray God the people choose thee for their king! +But all the powers of the house of Godwin +Are not enframed in thee. + +HAROLD. Thank the Saints, no! +But thou hast drain'd them shallow by thy tolls, +And thou art ever here about the King: +Thine absence well may seem a want of care. +Cling to their love; for, now the sons of Godwin +Sit topmost in the field of England, envy, +Like the rough bear beneath the tree, good brother, +Waits till the man let go. + +TOSTIG. Good counsel truly! +I heard from my Northumbria yesterday. + +HAROLD. How goes it then with thy Northumbria? +Well? + +TOSTIG. And wouldst thou that it went aught else than well? + +HAROLD. I would it went as well as with mine earldom, +Leofwin's and Gurth's. + +TOSTIG. Ye govern milder men. + +GURTH. We have made them milder by just government. + +TOSTIG. Ay, ever give yourselves your own good word. + +LEOFWIN. An honest gift, by all the Saints, if giver + +And taker be but honest! but they bribe +Each other, and so often, an honest world +Will not believe them. + +HAROLD. I may tell thee, Tostig, +I heard from thy Northumberland to-day. + +TOSTIG. From spies of thine to spy my nakedness +In my poor North! + +HAROLD. There is a movement there, +A blind one--nothing yet. + +TOSTIG. Crush it at once +With all the power I have!--I must--I will!-- +Crush it half-born! Fool still? or wisdom there, +My wise head-shaking Harold? + +HAROLD. Make not thou +The nothing something. Wisdom when in power +And wisest, should not frown as Power, but smile +As kindness, watching all, till the true _must_ +Shall make her strike as Power: but when to strike-- +O Tostig, O dear brother--If they prance, +Rein in, not lash them, lest they rear and run +And break both neck and axle. + +TOSTIG. Good again! +Good counsel tho' scarce needed. Pour not water +In the full vessel running out at top +To swamp the house. + +LEOFWIN. Nor thou be a wild thing +Out of the waste, to turn and bite the hand +Would help thee from the trap. + +TOSTIG. Thou playest in tune. + +LEOFWIN. To the deaf adder thee, that wilt not dance +However wisely charm'd. + +TOSTIG. No more, no more! + +GURTH. I likewise cry 'no more.' Unwholesome talk +For Godwin's house! Leofwin, thou hast a tongue! +Tostig, thou look'st as thou wouldst spring upon him. +St. Olaf, not while I am by! Come, come, +Join hands, let brethren dwell in unity; +Let kith and kin stand close as our shield-wall, +Who breaks us then? I say, thou hast a tongue, +And Tostig is not stout enough to bear it. +Vex him not, Leofwin. + +TOSTIG. No, I am not vext,-- +Altho' ye seek to vex me, one and all. +I have to make report of my good earldom +To the good king who gave it--not to you-- +Not any of you.--I am not vext at all. + +HAROLD. The king? the king is ever at his prayers; +In all that handles matter of the state +I am the king. + +TOSTIG. That shall thou never be +If I can thwart thee. + +HAROLD. Brother, brother! + +TOSTIG. Away! + + [_Exit_ TOSTIG. + +QUEEN. Spite of this grisly star ye three must gall +Poor Tostig. + +LEOFWIN. Tostig, sister, galls himself; +He cannot smell a rose but pricks his nose +Against the thorn, and rails against the rose. + +QUEEN. I am the only rose of all the stock +That never thorn'd him; Edward loves him, so +Ye hate him. Harold always hated him. +Why--how they fought when boys--and, Holy Mary! +How Harold used to beat him! + +HAROLD. Why, boys will fight. +Leofwin would often fight me, and I beat him. +Even old Gurth would fight. I had much ado +To hold mine own against old Gurth. Old Gurth, +We fought like great states for grave cause; but +Tostig-- +On a sudden--at a something--for a nothing-- +The boy would fist me hard, and when we fought +I conquer'd, and he loved me none the less, +Till thou wouldst get him all apart, and tell him +That where he was but worsted, he was wrong'd. +Ah! thou hast taught the king to spoil him too; +Now the spoilt child sways both. Take heed, take heed; +Thou art the Queen; ye are boy and girl no more: +Side not with Tostig in any violence, +Lest thou be sideways guilty of the violence. + +QUEEN. Come fall not foul on me. I leave thee, brother. + +HAROLD. Nay, my good sister-- + + [_Exeunt_ QUEEN, HAROLD, GURTH, _and_ LEOFWIN. + +ALDWYTH. Gamel, son of Orm, +What thinkest thou this means? [_Pointing to the comet_. + +GAMEL. War, my dear lady, +War, waste, plague, famine, all malignities. + +ALDWYTH. It means the fall of Tostig from his earldom. + +GAMEL. That were too small a matter for a comet! + +ALDWYTH. It means the lifting of the house of Alfgar. + +GAMEL. Too small! a comet would not show for that! + +ALDWYTH. Not small for thee, if thou canst compass it. + +GAMEL. Thy love? + +ALDWYTH. As much as I can give thee, man; +This Tostig is, or like to be, a tyrant; +Stir up thy people: oust him! + +GAMEL. And thy love? + +ALDWYTH. As much as thou canst bear. + +GAMEL. I can bear all, +And not be giddy. + +ALDWYTH. No more now: to-morrow. + + + +SCENE II.--IN THE GARDEN. THE KING'S HOUSE NEAR LONDON. SUNSET. + + +EDITH. Mad for thy mate, passionate nightingale.... +I love thee for it--ay, but stay a moment; +_He_ can but stay a moment: he is going. +I fain would hear him coming!... near me ... near. +Somewhere--To draw him nearer with a charm +Like thine to thine. + (_Singing_.) + + Love is come with a song and a smile, + Welcome Love with a smile and a song: + Love can stay but a little while. + Why cannot he stay? They call him away: + Ye do him wrong, ye do him wrong; + Love will stay for a whole life long. + + _Enter_ HAROLD. + +HAROLD. The nightingales in Havering-at-the-Bower +Sang out their loves so loud, that Edward's prayers +Were deafen'd and he pray'd them dumb, and thus +I dumb thee too, my wingless nightingale! + [_Kissing her_. + +EDITH. Thou art my music! Would their wings were mine +To follow thee to Flanders! Must thou go? + +HAROLD. Not must, but will. It is but for one moon. + +EDITH. Leaving so many foes in Edward's hall +To league against thy weal. The Lady Aldwyth +Was here to-day, and when she touch'd on thee, +She stammer'd in her hate; I am sure she hates thee, +Pants for thy blood. + +HAROLD. Well, I have given her cause-- +I fear no woman. + +EDITH. Hate not one who felt +Some pity for thy hater! I am sure +Her morning wanted sunlight, she so praised +The convent and lone life--within the pale-- +Beyond the passion. Nay--she held with Edward, +At least methought she held with holy Edward, +That marriage was half sin. + +HAROLD. A lesson worth +Finger and thumb--thus (_snaps his fingers_). And my answer to it-- +See here--an interwoven H and E! +Take thou this ring; I will demand his ward +From Edward when I come again. Ay, would she? +She to shut up my blossom in the dark! +Thou art _my_ nun, thy cloister in mine arms. + +EDITH (_taking the ring_). +Yea, but Earl Tostig-- + +HAROLD. That's a truer fear! +For if the North take fire, I should be back; +I shall be, soon enough. + +EDITH. Ay, but last night +An evil dream that ever came and went-- + +HAROLD. A gnat that vext thy pillow! Had I been by, +I would have spoil'd his horn. My girl, what was it? + +EDITH. Oh! that thou wert not going! +For so methought it was our marriage-morn, +And while we stood together, a dead man +Rose from behind the altar, tore away +My marriage ring, and rent my bridal veil; +And then I turn'd, and saw the church all fill'd +With dead men upright from their graves, and all +The dead men made at thee to murder thee, +But thou didst back thyself against a pillar, +And strike among them with thy battle-axe-- +There, what a dream! + +HAROLD. Well, well--a dream--no more! + +EDITH. Did not Heaven speak to men in dreams of old? + +HAROLD. Ay--well--of old. I tell thee what, my child; +Thou hast misread this merry dream of thine, +Taken the rifted pillars of the wood +For smooth stone columns of the sanctuary, +The shadows of a hundred fat dead deer +For dead men's ghosts. True, that the battle-axe +Was out of place; it should have been the bow.-- +Come, thou shalt dream no more such dreams; I swear it, +By mine own eyes--and these two sapphires--these +Twin rubies, that are amulets against all +The kisses of all kind of womankind +In Flanders, till the sea shall roll me back +To tumble at thy feet. + +EDITH. That would but shame me, +Rather than make me vain. The sea may roll +Sand, shingle, shore-weed, not the living rock +Which guards the land. + +HAROLD. Except it be a soft one, +And undereaten to the fall. Mine amulet ... +This last ... upon thine eyelids, to shut in +A happier dream. Sleep, sleep, and thou shalt see +My grayhounds fleeting like a beam of light, +And hear my peregrine and her bells in heaven; +And other bells on earth, which yet are heaven's; +Guess what they be. + +EDITH. He cannot guess who knows. +Farewell, my king. + +HAROLD. Not yet, but then--my queen. + [_Exeunt_. + _Enter_ ALDWYTH _from the thicket_. + +ALDWYTH. The kiss that charms thine eyelids into sleep, +Will hold mine waking. Hate him? I could love him +More, tenfold, than this fearful child can do; +Griffyth I hated: why not hate the foe +Of England? Griffyth when I saw him flee, +Chased deer-like up his mountains, all the blood +That should have only pulsed for Griffyth, beat +For his pursuer. I love him or think I love him. +If he were King of England, I his queen, +I might be sure of it. Nay, I do love him.-- +She must be cloister'd somehow, lest the king +Should yield his ward to Harold's will. What harm? +She hath but blood enough to live, not love.-- +When Harold goes and Tostig, shall I play +The craftier Tostig with him? fawn upon him? +Chime in with all? 'O thou more saint than king!' +And that were true enough. 'O blessed relics!' +'O Holy Peter!' If he found me thus, +Harold might hate me; he is broad and honest, +Breathing an easy gladness ... not like Aldwyth ... +For which I strangely love him. Should not England +Love Aldwyth, if she stay the feuds that part +The sons of Godwin from the sons of Alfgar +By such a marrying? Courage, noble Aldwyth! +Let all thy people bless thee! + Our wild Tostig, +Edward hath made him Earl: he would be king:-- +The dog that snapt the shadow, dropt the bone.-- +I trust he may do well, this Gamel, whom +I play upon, that he may play the note +Whereat the dog shall howl and run, and Harold +Hear the king's music, all alone with him, +Pronounced his heir of England. +I see the goal and half the way to it.-- +Peace-lover is our Harold for the sake +Of England's wholeness--so--to shake the North +With earthquake and disruption--some division-- +Then fling mine own fair person in the gap +A sacrifice to Harold, a peace-offering, +A scape-goat marriage--all the sins of both +The houses on mine head--then a fair life +And bless the Queen of England. + +MORCAR (_coming from the thicket_). + Art thou assured +By this, that Harold loves but Edith? + +ALDWYTH. Morcar! +Why creep'st thou like a timorous beast of prey +Out of the bush by night? + +MORCAR. I follow'd thee. + +ALDWYTH. Follow my lead, and I will make thee earl. + +MORCAR. What lead then? + +ALDWYTH. Thou shalt flash it secretly +Among the good Northumbrian folk, that I-- +That Harold loves me--yea, and presently +That I and Harold are betroth'd--and last-- +Perchance that Harold wrongs me; tho' I would not +That it should come to that. + +MORCAR. I will both flash +And thunder for thee. + +ALDWYTH. I said 'secretly;' +It is the flash that murders, the poor thunder +Never harm'd head. + +MORCAR. But thunder may bring down +That which the flash hath stricken. + +ALDWYTH. Down with Tostig! +That first of all--And when doth Harold go? + +MORCAR. To-morrow--first to Bosham, then to Flanders. + +ALDWYTH. Not to come back till Tostig shall have shown +And redden'd with his people's blood the teeth +That shall be broken by us--yea, and thou +Chair'd in his place. Good-night, and dream thyself +Their chosen Earl. + [_Exit_ ALDWYTH. + +MORCAR. Earl first, and after that +Who knows I may not dream myself their king! + + + + +ACT II. + + +SCENE I.--SEASHORE. PONTHIEU. NIGHT. + +HAROLD _and his_ MEN, _wrecked_. + + +HAROLD. Friends, in that last inhospitable plunge +Our boat hath burst her ribs; but ours are whole; +I have but bark'd my hands. + +ATTENDANT. I dug mine into +My old fast friend the shore, and clinging thus +Felt the remorseless outdraught of the deep +Haul like a great strong fellow at my legs, +And then I rose and ran. The blast that came +So suddenly hath fallen as suddenly-- +Put thou the comet and this blast together-- + +HAROLD. Put thou thyself and mother-wit together. +Be not a fool! + + _Enter_ FISHERMEN _with torches_, HAROLD _going + up to one of them_, ROLF. + + Wicked sea-will-o'-the-wisp! +Wolf of the shore! dog, with thy lying lights +Thou hast betray'd us on these rocks of thine! + +ROLF. Ay, but thou liest as loud as the black herring-pond behind +thee. We be fishermen; I came to see after my nets. + +HAROLD. To drag us into them. Fishermen? devils! +Who, while ye fish for men with your false fires, +Let the great Devil fish for your own souls. + +ROLF. Nay then, we be liker the blessed Apostles; _they_ were fishers +of men, Father Jean says. + +HAROLD. I had liefer that the fish had swallowed me, +Like Jonah, than have known there were such devils. +What's to be done? + [_To his_ MEN--_goes apart with them_. + +FISHERMAN. Rolf, what fish did swallow Jonah? + +ROLF. A whale! + +FISHERMAN. Then a whale to a whelk we have swallowed the King of +England. I saw him over there. Look thee, Rolf, when I was down in the +fever, _she_ was down with the hunger, and thou didst stand by her and +give her thy crabs, and set her up again, till now, by the patient +Saints, she's as crabb'd as ever. + +ROLF. And I'll give her my crabs again, when thou art down again. + +FISHERMAN. I thank thee, Rolf. Run thou to Count Guy; he is hard at +hand. Tell him what hath crept into our creel, and he will fee thee as +freely as he will wrench this outlander's ransom out of him--and why +not? for what right had he to get himself wrecked on another man's +land? + +ROLF. Thou art the human-heartedest, Christian-charitiest of all +crab-catchers. Share and share alike! + [_Exit_. + +HAROLD (_to_ FISHERMAN). +Fellow, dost thou catch crabs? + +FISHERMAN. As few as I may in a wind, and less than I would in a calm. +Ay! + +HAROLD. I have a mind that thou shalt catch no more. + +FISHERMAN. How? + +HAROLD. I have a mind to brain thee with mine axe. + +FISHERMAN. Ay, do, do, and our great Count-crab will make his nippers +meet in thine heart; he'll sweat it out of thee, he'll sweat it out of +thee. Look, he's here! He'll speak for himself! Hold thine own, if +thou canst! + + _Enter_ GUY, COUNT OF PONTHIEU. + +HAROLD. Guy, Count of Ponthieu? + +GUY. Harold, Earl of Wessex! + +HAROLD. Thy villains with their lying lights have wreck'd us! + +GUY. Art thou not Earl of Wessex? + +HAROLD. In mine earldom +A man may hang gold bracelets on a bush, +And leave them for a year, and coming back +Find them again. + +GUY. Thou art a mighty man +In thine own earldom! + +HAROLD. Were such murderous liars +In Wessex--if I caught them, they should hang +Cliff-gibbeted for sea-marks; our sea-mew +Winging their only wail! + +GUY. Ay, but my men +Hold that the shipwreckt are accursed of God;-- +What hinders me to hold with mine own men? + +HAROLD. The Christian manhood of the man who reigns! + +GUY. Ay, rave thy worst, but in our oubliettes +Thou shalt or rot or ransom. Hale him hence! + [_To one of his_ ATTENDANTS. +Fly thou to William; tell him we have Harold. + + + +SCENE II.--BAYEUX. PALACE. + +COUNT WILLIAM _and_ WILLIAM MALET. + + +WILLIAM. We hold our Saxon woodcock in the springe, +But he begins to flutter. As I think +He was thine host in England when I went +To visit Edward. + +MALET. Yea, and there, my lord, +To make allowance for their rougher fashions, +I found him all a noble host should be. + +WILLIAM. Thou art his friend: thou know'st my claim on England +Thro' Edward's promise: we have him in the toils. +And it were well, if thou shouldst let him feel, +How dense a fold of danger nets him round, +So that he bristle himself against my will. + +MALET. What would I do, my lord, if I were you? + +WILLIAM. What wouldst thou do? + +MALET. My lord, he is thy guest. + +WILLIAM. Nay, by the splendour of God, no guest of mine. +He came not to see me, had past me by +To hunt and hawk elsewhere, save for the fate +Which hunted _him_ when that un-Saxon blast, +And bolts of thunder moulded in high heaven +To serve the Norman purpose, drave and crack'd +His boat on Ponthieu beach; where our friend Guy +Had wrung his ransom from him by the rack, +But that I slept between and purchased him, +Translating his captivity from Guy +To mine own hearth at Bayeux, where he sits +My ransom'd prisoner. + +MALET. Well, if not with gold, +With golden deeds and iron strokes that brought +Thy war with Brittany to a goodlier close +Than else had been, he paid his ransom back. + +WILLIAM. So that henceforth they are not like to league +With Harold against _me_. + +MALET. A marvel, how +He from the liquid sands of Coesnon +Haled thy shore-swallow'd, armour'd Normans up +To fight for thee again! + +WILLIAM. Perchance against +Their saver, save thou save him from himself. + +MALET. But I should let him home again, my lord. + +WILLIAM. Simple! let fly the bird within the hand, +To catch the bird again within the bush! +No. +Smooth thou my way, before he clash with me; +I want his voice in England for the crown, +I want thy voice with him to bring him round; +And being brave he must be subtly cow'd, +And being truthful wrought upon to swear +Vows that he dare not break. England our own +Thro' Harold's help, he shall be my dear friend +As well as thine, and thou thyself shalt have +Large lordship there of lands and territory. + +MALET. I knew thy purpose; he and Wulfnoth never +Have met, except in public; shall they meet +In private? I have often talk'd with Wulfnoth, +And stuff'd the boy with fears that these may act +On Harold when they meet. + +WILLIAM. Then let them meet! + +MALET. I can but love this noble, honest Harold. + +WILLIAM. Love him! why not? thine is a loving office, +I have commission'd thee to save the man: +Help the good ship, showing the sunken rock, +Or he is wreckt for ever. + + _Enter_ WILLIAM RUFUS. + +WILLIAM RUFUS. Father. + +WILLIAM. Well, boy. + +WILLIAM RUFUS. They have taken away the toy thou gavest me, +The Norman knight. + +WILLIAM. Why, boy? + +WILLIAM RUFUS. Because I broke +The horse's leg--it was mine own to break; +I like to have my toys, and break them too. + +WILLIAM. Well, thou shalt have another Norman knight! + +WILLIAM RUFUS. And may I break his legs? + +WILLIAM. Yea,--get thee gone! + +WILLIAM RUFUS. I'll tell them I have had my way with thee. + [_Exit_. + +MALET. I never knew thee check thy will for ought +Save for the prattling of thy little ones. + +WILLIAM. Who shall be kings of England. I am heir +Of England by the promise of her king. + +MALET. But there the great Assembly choose their king, +The choice of England is the voice of England. + +WILLIAM. I will be king of England by the laws, +The choice, and voice of England. + +MALET. Can that be? + +WILLIAM. The voice of any people is the sword +That guards them, or the sword that beats them down. +Here comes the would-be what I will be ... king-like ... +Tho' scarce at ease; for, save our meshes break, +More kinglike he than like to prove a king. + + _Enter_ HAROLD, _musing, with his eyes on the ground_. + +He sees me not--and yet he dreams of me. +Earl, wilt thou fly my falcons this fair day? +They are of the best, strong-wing'd against the wind. + +HAROLD (_looking up suddenly, having caught but the last word_). +_Which_ way does it blow? + +WILLIAM. Blowing for England, ha? +Not yet. Thou hast not learnt thy quarters here. +The winds so cross and jostle among these towers. + +HAROLD. Count of the Normans, thou hast ransom'd us, +Maintain'd, and entertain'd us royally! + +WILLIAM. And thou for us hast fought as loyally, +Which binds us friendship-fast for ever! + +HAROLD. Good! +But lest we turn the scale of courtesy +By too much pressure on it, I would fain, +Since thou hast promised Wulfnoth home with us, +Be home again with Wulfnoth. + +WILLIAM. Stay--as yet +Thou hast but seen how Norman hands can strike, +But walk'd our Norman field, scarce touch'd or tasted +The splendours of our Court. + +HAROLD. I am in no mood: +I should be as the shadow of a cloud +Crossing your light. + +WILLIAM. Nay, rest a week or two, +And we will fill thee full of Norman sun, +And send thee back among thine island mists +With laughter. + +HAROLD. Count, I thank thee, but had rather +Breathe the free wind from off our Saxon downs, +Tho' charged with all the wet of all the west. + +WILLIAM. Why if thou wilt, so let it be--thou shalt. +That were a graceless hospitality +To chain the free guest to the banquet-board; +To-morrow we will ride with thee to Harfleur, +And see thee shipt, and pray in thy behalf +For happier homeward winds than that which crack'd +Thy bark at Ponthieu,--yet to us, in faith, +A happy one--whereby we came to know +Thy valour and thy value, noble earl. +Ay, and perchance a happy one for thee, +Provided--I will go with thee to-morrow-- +Nay--but there be conditions, easy ones, +So thou, fair friend, will take them easily. + + _Enter_ PAGE. + +PAGE. My lord, there is a post from over seas +With news for thee. [_Exit_ PAGE. + +WILLIAM. Come, Malet, let us hear! + + [_Exeunt_ COUNT WILLIAM _and_ MALET. + +HAROLD. Conditions? What conditions? pay him back +His ransom? 'easy '--that were easy--nay-- +No money-lover he! What said the King? +'I pray you do not go to Normandy.' +And fate hath blown me hither, bound me too +With bitter obligation to the Count-- +Have I not fought it out? What did he mean? +There lodged a gleaming grimness in his eyes, +Gave his shorn smile the lie. The walls oppress me, +And yon huge keep that hinders half the heaven. +Free air! free field! + [_Moves to go out. A_ MAN-AT-ARMS _follows him_. + +HAROLD (_to the_ MAN-AT-ARMS). +I need thee not. Why dost thou follow me? + +MAN-AT-ARMS. I have the Count's commands to follow thee. + +HAROLD. What then? Am I in danger in this court? + +MAN-AT-ARMS. I cannot tell. I have the Count's commands. + +HAROLD. Stand out of earshot then, and keep me still +In eyeshot. + +MAN-AT-ARMS. Yea, lord Harold. [_Withdraws_. + +HAROLD. And arm'd men +Ever keep watch beside my chamber door, +And if I walk within the lonely wood, +There is an arm'd man ever glides behind! + + _Enter_ MALET. + +Why am I follow'd, haunted, harass'd, watch'd? +See yonder! [_Pointing to the_ MAN-AT-ARMS. + +MALET. 'Tis the good Count's care for thee! +The Normans love thee not, nor thou the Normans, +Or--so they deem. + +HAROLD. But wherefore is the wind, +Which way soever the vane-arrow swing, +Not ever fair for England? Why but now +He said (thou heardst him) that I must not hence +Save on conditions. + +MALET. So in truth he said. + +HAROLD. Malet, thy mother was an Englishwoman; +There somewhere beats an English pulse in thee! + +MALET. Well--for my mother's sake I love your England, +But for my father I love Normandy. + +HAROLD. Speak for thy mother's sake, and tell me true. + +MALET. Then for my mother's sake, and England's sake +That suffers in the daily want of thee, +Obey the Count's conditions, my good friend. + +HAROLD. How, Malet, if they be not honourable! + +MALET. Seem to obey them. + +HAROLD. Better die than lie! + +MALET. Choose therefore whether thou wilt have thy conscience +White as a maiden's hand, or whether England +Be shatter'd into fragments. + +HAROLD. News from England? + +MALET. Morcar and Edwin have stirr'd up the Thanes +Against thy brother Tostig's governance; +And all the North of Humber is one storm. + +HAROLD. I should be there, Malet, I should be there! + +MALET. And Tostig in his own hall on suspicion +Hath massacred the Thane that was his guest, +Gamel, the son of Orm: and there be more +As villainously slain. + +HAROLD. The wolf! the beast! +Ill news for guests, ha, Malet! More? What more? +What do they say? did Edward know of this? + +MALET. They say, his wife was knowing and abetting. + +HAROLD. They say, his wife!--To marry and have no husband +Makes the wife fool. My God, I should be there. +I'll hack my way to the sea. + +MALET. Thou canst not, Harold; +Our Duke is all between thee and the sea, +Our Duke is all about thee like a God; +All passes block'd. Obey him, speak him fair, +For he is only debonair to those +That follow where he leads, but stark as death +To those that cross him.--Look thou, here is Wulfnoth! +I leave thee to thy talk with him alone; +How wan, poor lad! how sick and sad for home! + [_Exit_ MALET. + +HAROLD (_muttering_). +Go not to Normandy--go not to Normandy! + + _Enter_ WULFNOTH. + +Poor brother! still a hostage! + +WULFNOTH. Yea, and I +Shall see the dewy kiss of dawn no more +Make blush the maiden-white of our tall cliffs, +Nor mark the sea-bird rouse himself and hover +Above the windy ripple, and fill the sky +With free sea-laughter--never--save indeed +Thou canst make yield this iron-mooded Duke +To let me go. + +HAROLD. Why, brother, so he will; +But on conditions. Canst thou guess at them? + +WULFNOTH. Draw nearer,--I was in the corridor, +I saw him coming with his brother Odo +The Bayeux bishop, and I hid myself. + +HAROLD. They did thee wrong who made thee hostage; thou +Wast ever fearful. + +WULFNOTH. And he spoke--I heard him-- +'This Harold is not of the royal blood, +Can have no right to the crown,' and Odo said, +'Thine is the right, for thine the might; he is here, +And yonder is thy keep.' + +HAROLD. No, Wulfnoth, no. + +WULFNOTH. And William laugh'd and swore that might was right, +Far as he knew in this poor world of ours-- +'Marry, the Saints must go 'along with us, +And, brother, we will find a way,' said he-- +Yea, yea, he would be king of England. + +HAROLD. Never! + +WULFNOTH. Yea, but thou must not this way answer _him_. + +HAROLD. Is it not better still to speak the truth? + +WULFNOTH. Not here, or thou wilt never hence nor I: +For in the racing toward this golden goal +He turns not right or left, but tramples flat +Whatever thwarts him; hast thou never heard +His savagery at Alencon,--the town +Hung out raw hides along their walls, and cried +'Work for the tanner.' + +HAROLD. That had anger'd _me_ +Had I been William. + +WULFNOTH. Nay, but he had prisoners, +He tore their eyes out, sliced their hands away, +And flung them streaming o'er the battlements +Upon the heads of those who walk'd within-- +O speak him fair, Harold, for thine own sake. + +HAROLD. Your Welshman says, 'The Truth against the World,' +Much more the truth against myself. + +WULFNOTH. Thyself? +But for my sake, oh brother! oh! for my sake! + +HAROLD. Poor Wulfnoth! do they not entreat thee well? + +WULFNOTH. I see the blackness of my dungeon loom +Across their lamps of revel, and beyond +The merriest murmurs of their banquet clank +The shackles that will bind me to the wall. + +HAROLD. Too fearful still! + +WULFNOTH. Oh no, no--speak him fair! +Call it to temporize; and not to lie; +Harold, I do not counsel thee to lie. +The man that hath to foil a murderous aim +May, surely, play with words. + +HAROLD. Words are the man. +Not ev'n for thy sake, brother, would I lie. + +WULFNOTH. Then for thine Edith? + +HAROLD. There thou prick'st me deep. + +WULFNOTH. And for our Mother England? + +HAROLD. Deeper still. + +WULFNOTH. And deeper still the deep-down oubliette, +Down thirty feet below the smiling day-- +In blackness--dogs' food thrown upon thy head. +And over thee the suns arise and set, +And the lark sings, the sweet stars come and go, +And men are at their markets, in their fields, +And woo their loves and have forgotten thee; +And thou art upright in thy living grave, +Where there is barely room to shift thy side, +And all thine England hath forgotten thee; +And he our lazy-pious Norman King, +With all his Normans round him once again, +Counts his old beads, and hath forgotten thee. + +HAROLD. Thou art of my blood, and so methinks, my boy, +Thy fears infect me beyond reason. Peace! + +WULFNOTH. And then our fiery Tostig, while thy hands +Are palsied here, if his Northumbrians rise +And hurl him from them,--I have heard the Normans +Count upon this confusion--may he not make +A league with William, so to bring him back? + +HAROLD. That lies within the shadow of the chance. + +WULFNOTH. And like a river in flood thro' a burst dam +Descends the ruthless Norman--our good King +Kneels mumbling some old bone--our helpless folk +Are wash'd away, wailing, in their own blood-- + +HAROLD. Wailing! not warring? Boy, thou hast forgotten +That thou art English. + +WULFNOTH. Then our modest women-- +I know the Norman license--thine own Edith-- + +HAROLD. No more! I will not hear thee--William comes. + +WULFNOTH. I dare not well be seen in talk with thee. +Make thou not mention that I spake with thee. + [_Moves away to the back of the stage_. + + _Enter_ WILLIAM, MALET, _and_ OFFICER. + +OFFICER. We have the man that rail'd against thy birth. + +WILLIAM. Tear out his tongue. + +OFFICER. He shall not rail again. +He said that he should see confusion fall +On thee and on thine house. + +WILLIAM. Tear out his eyes, And plunge him into prison. + +OFFICER. It shall be done. + [_Exit_ OFFICER. + +WILLIAM. Look not amazed, fair earl! Better leave undone +Than do by halves--tongueless and eyeless, prison'd-- + +HAROLD. Better methinks have slain the man at once! + +WILLIAM. We have respect for man's immortal soul, +We seldom take man's life, except in war; +It frights the traitor more to maim and blind. + +HAROLD. In mine own land I should have scorn'd the man, +Or lash'd his rascal back, and let him go. + +WILLIAM. And let him go? To slander thee again! +Yet in thine own land in thy father's day +They blinded my young kinsman, Alfred--ay, +Some said it was thy father's deed. + +HAROLD. They lied. + +WILLIAM. But thou and he--whom at thy word, for thou +Art known a speaker of the truth, I free +From this foul charge-- + +HAROLD. Nay, nay, he freed himself +By oath and compurgation from the charge. +The king, the lords, the people clear'd him of it. + +WILLIAM. But thou and he drove our good Normans out +From England, and this rankles in us yet. +Archbishop Robert hardly scaped with life. + +HAROLD. Archbishop Robert! Robert the Archbishop! +Robert of Jumieges, he that-- + +MALET. Quiet! quiet! + +HAROLD. Count! if there sat within the Norman chair +A ruler all for England--one who fill'd +All offices, all bishopricks with English-- +We could not move from Dover to the Humber +Saving thro' Norman bishopricks--I say +Ye would applaud that Norman who should drive +The stranger to the fiends! + +WILLIAM. Why, that is reason! +Warrior thou art, and mighty wise withal! +Ay, ay, but many among our Norman lords +Hate thee for this, and press upon me--saying +God and the sea have given thee to our hands-- +To plunge thee into life-long prison here:-- +Yet I hold out against them, as I may, +Yea--would hold out, yea, tho' they should revolt-- +For thou hast done the battle in my cause; +I am thy fastest friend in Normandy. + +HAROLD. I am doubly bound to thee ... if this be so. + +WILLIAM. And I would bind thee more, and would myself +Be bounden to thee more. + +HAROLD. Then let me hence With Wulfnoth to King Edward. + +WILLIAM. So we will. We hear he hath not long to live. + +HAROLD. It may be. + +WILLIAM. Why then the heir of England, who is he? + +HAROLD. The Atheling is nearest to the throne. + +WILLIAM. But sickly, slight, half-witted and a child, +Will England have him king? + +HAROLD. It may be, no. + +WILLIAM. And hath King Edward not pronounced his heir? + +HAROLD. Not that I know. + +WILLIAM. When he was here in Normandy, +He loved us and we him, because we found him. +A Norman of the Normans. + +HAROLD. So did we. + +WILLIAM. A gentle, gracious, pure and saintly man! +And grateful to the hand that shielded him, +He promised that if ever he were king +In England, he would give his kingly voice +To me as his successor. Knowest thou this? + +HAROLD. I learn it now. + +WILLIAM. Thou knowest I am his cousin, +And that my wife descends from Alfred? + +HAROLD. Ay. + +WILLIAM. Who hath a better claim then to the crown +So that ye will not crown the Atheling? + +HAROLD. None that I know ... if that but hung upon +King Edward's will. + +WILLIAM. Wilt thou uphold my claim? + +MALET (_aside to_ HAROLD). +Be careful of thine answer, my good friend. + +WULFNOTH (_aside to_ HAROLD). +Oh! Harold, for my sake and for thine own! + +HAROLD. Ay ... if the king have not revoked his promise. + +WILLIAM. But hath he done it then? + +HAROLD. Not that I know. + +WILLIAM. Good, good, and thou wilt help me to the crown? + +HAROLD. Ay ... if the Witan will consent to this. + +WILLIAM. Thou art the mightiest voice in England, man, +Thy voice will lead the Witan--shall I have it? + +WULFNOTH (_aside to_ HAROLD). +Oh! Harold, if thou love thine Edith, ay. + +HAROLD. Ay, if-- + +MALET (_aside to_ HAROLD). +Thine 'ifs' will sear thine eyes out--ay. + +WILLIAM. I ask thee, wilt thou help me to the crown? +And I will make thee my great Earl of Earls, +Foremost in England and in Normandy; +Thou shalt be verily king--all but the name-- +For I shall most sojourn in Normandy; +And thou be my vice-king in England. Speak. + +WULFNOTH (_aside to_ HAROLD). +Ay, brother--for the sake of England--ay. + +HAROLD. My lord-- + +MALET (_aside to_ HAROLD). + Take heed now. + +HAROLD. Ay. + +WILLIAM. I am content, +For thou art truthful, and thy word thy bond. +To-morrow will we ride with thee to Harfleur. + [_Exit_ WILLIAM. + +MALET. Harold, I am thy friend, one life with thee, +And even as I should bless thee saving mine, +I thank thee now for having saved thyself. + [_Exit_ MALET. + +HAROLD. For having lost myself to save myself, +Said 'ay' when I meant 'no,' lied like a lad +That dreads the pendent scourge, said 'ay' for 'no'! +Ay! No!--he hath not bound me by an oath-- +Is 'ay' an oath? is 'ay' strong as an oath? +Or is it the same sin to break my word +As break mine oath? He call'd my word my bond! +He is a liar who knows I am a liar, +And makes believe that he believes my word-- +The crime be on his head--not bounden--no. + + [_Suddenly doors are flung open, discovering in an + inner hall_ COUNT WILLIAM _in his state robes, + seated upon his throne, between two_ BISHOPS, + ODO OP BAYEUX _being one: in the centre of + the hall an ark covered with cloth of gold; + and on either side of it the_ NORMAN BARONS. + + _Enter a_ JAILOR _before_ WILLIAM'S _throne_. + +WILLIAM (_to_ JAILOR). +Knave, hast thou let thy prisoner scape? + +JAILOR. Sir Count, +He had but one foot, he must have hopt away, +Yea, some familiar spirit must have help'd him. + +WILLIAM. Woe knave to thy familiar and to thee! +Give me thy keys. [_They fall clashing_. +Nay let them lie. Stand there and wait my will. + + [_The_ JAILOR _stands aside_. + +WILLIAM (_to_ HAROLD). +Hast thou such trustless jailors in thy North? + +HAROLD. We have few prisoners in mine earldom there, +So less chance for false keepers. + +WILLIAM. We have heard +Of thy just, mild, and equal governance; +Honour to thee! thou art perfect in all honour! +Thy naked word thy bond! confirm it now +Before our gather'd Norman baronage, +For they will not believe thee--as I believe. + [_Descends from his throne and stands by the ark_. +Let all men here bear witness of our bond! + [_Beckons to_ HAROLD, _who advances_. + + _Enter_ MALET _behind him_. + +Lay thou thy hand upon this golden pall! +Behold the jewel of St. Pancratius +Woven into the gold. Swear thou on this! + +HAROLD. What should I swear? Why should I swear on this? + +WILLIAM (_savagely_). +Swear thou to help me to the crown of England. + +MALET (_whispering_ HAROLD). +My friend, thou hast gone too far to palter now. + +WULFNOTH (_whispering_ HAROLD). +Swear thou to-day, to-morrow is thine own. + +HAROLD. I swear to help thee to the crown of England ... +According as King Edward promises. + +WILLIAM. Thou must swear absolutely, noble Earl. + +MALET (_whispering_). +Delay is death to thee, ruin to England. + +WULFNOTH (_whispering_). +Swear, dearest brother, I beseech thee, swear! + +HAROLD (_putting his hand on the jewel_). +I swear to help thee to the crown of England. + +WILLIAM. Thanks, truthful Earl; I did not doubt thy word, +But that my barons might believe thy word, +And that the Holy Saints of Normandy +When thou art home in England, with thine own, +Might strengthen thee in keeping of thy word, +I made thee swear.--Show him by whom he hath sworn. + + [_The two_ BISHOPS _advance, and raise the cloth of gold. + The bodies and bones of Saints are seen lying in the ark_. + +The holy bones of all the Canonised +From all the holiest shrines in Normandy! + +HAROLD. Horrible! [_They let the cloth fall again_. + +WILLIAM. Ay, for thou hast sworn an oath +Which, if not kept, would make the hard earth rive +To the very Devil's horns, the bright sky cleave +To the very feet of God, and send her hosts +Of injured Saints to scatter sparks of plague +Thro' all your cities, blast your infants, dash +The torch of war among your standing corn, +Dabble your hearths with your own blood.--Enough! +Thou wilt not break it! I, the Count--the King-- +Thy friend--am grateful for thine honest oath, +Not coming fiercely like a conqueror, now, +But softly as a bridegroom to his own. +For I shall rule according to your laws, +And make your ever-jarring Earldoms move +To music and in order--Angle, Jute, +Dane, Saxon, Norman, help to build a throne +Out-towering hers of France.... The wind is fair +For England now.... To-night we will be merry. +To-morrow will I ride with thee to Harfleur. + + [_Exeunt_ WILLIAM _and all the_ NORMAN BARONS, _etc_. + +HAROLD. To-night we will be merry--and to-morrow-- +Juggler and bastard--bastard--he hates that most-- +William the tanner's bastard! Would he heard me! +O God, that I were in some wide, waste field +With nothing but my battle-axe and him +To spatter his brains! Why let earth rive, gulf in +These cursed Normans--yea and mine own self. +Cleave heaven, and send thy saints that I may say +Ev'n to their faces, 'If ye side with William +Ye are not noble.' How their pointed fingers +Glared at me! Am I Harold, Harold, son +Of our great Godwin? Lo! I touch mine arms, +My limbs--they are not mine--they are a liar's-- +I mean to be a liar--I am not bound-- +Stigand shall give me absolution for it-- +Did the chest move? did it move? I am utter craven! +O Wulfnoth, Wulfnoth, brother, thou hast betray'd me! + +WULFNOTH. Forgive me, brother, I will live here and die. + + _Enter_ PAGE. + +PAGE. My lord! the Duke awaits thee at the banquet. + +HAROLD. Where they eat dead men's flesh, and drink their blood. + +PAGE. My lord-- + +HAROLD. I know your Norman cookery is so spiced, +It masks all this. + +PAGE. My lord! thou art white as death. + +HAROLD. With looking on the dead. Am I so white? +Thy Duke will seem the darker. Hence, I follow. + + [_Exeunt_. + + + + +ACT III. + + +SCENE I.--THE KING'S PALACE. LONDON. + +KING EDWARD _dying on a couch, and by him standing the_ QUEEN, HAROLD, +ARCHBISHOP STIGAND, GURTH, LEOFWIN, ARCHBISHOP ALDRED, ALDWYTH, _and_ +EDITH. + + +STIGAND. Sleeping or dying there? If this be death, +Then our great Council wait to crown thee King-- +Come hither, I have a power; [_To_ HAROLD. +They call me near, for I am close to thee +And England--I, old shrivell'd Stigand, I, +Dry as an old wood-fungus on a dead tree, +I have a power! +See here this little key about my neck! +There lies a treasure buried down in Ely: +If e'er the Norman grow too hard for thee, +Ask me for this at thy most need, son Harold, +At thy most need--not sooner. + +HAROLD. So I will. + +STIGAND. Red gold--a hundred purses--yea, and more! +If thou canst make a wholesome use of these +To chink against the Norman, I do believe +My old crook'd spine would bud out two young wings +To fly to heaven straight with. + +HAROLD. Thank thee, father! +Thou art English, Edward too is English now, +He hath clean repented of his Normanism. + +STIGAND. Ay, as the libertine repents who cannot +Make done undone, when thro' his dying sense +Shrills 'lost thro' thee.' They have built their castles here; +Our priories are Norman; the Norman adder +Hath bitten us; we are poison'd: our dear England +Is demi-Norman. He!-- + [_Pointing to_ KING EDWARD, _sleeping_. + +HAROLD. I would I were +As holy and as passionless as he! +That I might rest as calmly! Look at him-- +The rosy face, and long down-silvering beard, +The brows unwrinkled as a summer mere.-- + +STIGAND. A summer mere with sudden wreckful gusts +From a side-gorge. Passionless? How he flamed +When Tostig's anger'd earldom flung him, nay, +He fain had calcined all Northumbria +To one black ash, but that thy patriot passion +Siding with our great Council against Tostig, +Out-passion'd his! Holy? ay, ay, forsooth, +A conscience for his own soul, not his realm; +A twilight conscience lighted thro' a chink; +Thine by the sun; nay, by some sun to be, +When all the world hath learnt to speak the truth, +And lying were self-murder by that state +Which was the exception. + +HAROLD. That sun may God speed! + +STIGAND. Come, Harold, shake the cloud off! + +HAROLD. Can I, father? +Our Tostig parted cursing me and England; +Our sister hates us for his banishment; +He hath gone to kindle Norway against England, +And Wulfnoth is alone in Normandy. +For when I rode with William down to Harfleur, +'Wulfnoth is sick,' he said; 'he cannot follow;' +Then with that friendly-fiendly smile of his, +'We have learnt to love him, let him a little longer +Remain a hostage for the loyalty +Of Godwin's house.' As far as touches Wulfnoth +I that so prized plain word and naked truth +Have sinn'd against it--all in vain. + +LEOFWIN. Good brother, +By all the truths that ever priest hath preach'd, +Of all the lies that ever men have lied, +Thine is the pardonablest. + +HAROLD. May be so! +I think it so, I think I am a fool +To think it can be otherwise than so. + +STIGAND. Tut, tut, I have absolved thee: dost thou scorn me, +Because I had my Canterbury pallium, +From one whom they dispoped? + +HAROLD. No, Stigand, no! + +STIGAND. Is naked truth actable in true life? +I have heard a saying of thy father Godwin, +That, were a man of state nakedly true, +Men would but take him for the craftier liar. + +LEOFWIN. Be men less delicate than the Devil himself? +I thought that naked Truth would shame the Devil, +The Devil is so modest. + +GURTH. He never said it! + +LEOFWIN. Be thou not stupid-honest, brother Gurth! + +HAROLD. Better to be a liar's dog, and hold +My master honest, than believe that lying +And ruling men are fatal twins that cannot +Move one without the other. Edward wakes!-- +Dazed--he hath seen a vision. + +EDWARD. The green tree! +Then a great Angel past along the highest +Crying 'the doom of England,' and at once +He stood beside me, in his grasp a sword +Of lightnings, wherewithal he cleft the tree +From off the bearing trunk, and hurl'd it from him +Three fields away, and then he dash'd and drench'd, +He dyed, he soak'd the trunk with human blood, +And brought the sunder'd tree again, and set it +Straight on the trunk, that thus baptized in blood +Grew ever high and higher, beyond my seeing, +And shot out sidelong boughs across the deep +That dropt themselves, and rooted in far isles +Beyond my seeing: and the great Angel rose +And past again along the highest crying +'The doom of England!'--Tostig, raise my head! + [_Falls back senseless_. + +HAROLD (_raising him_). +Let Harold serve for Tostig! + +_QUEEN_. Harold served +Tostig so ill, he cannot serve for Tostig! +Ay, raise his head, for thou hast laid it low! +The sickness of our saintly king, for whom +My prayers go up as fast as my tears fall, +I well believe, hath mainly drawn itself +From lack of Tostig--thou hast banish'd him. + +HAROLD. Nay--but the council, and the king himself. + +QUEEN. Thou hatest him, hatest him. + +HAROLD (_coldly_). + Ay--Stigand, unriddle +This vision, canst thou? + +STIGAND. Dotage! + +EDWARD (_starting up_). + It is finish'd. +I have built the Lord a house--the Lord hath dwelt +In darkness. I have built the Lord a house-- +Palms, flowers, pomegranates, golden cherubim +With twenty-cubit wings from wall to wall-- +I have built the Lord a house--sing, Asaph! clash +The cymbal, Heman! blow the trumpet, priest! +Fall, cloud, and fill the house--lo! my two pillars, +Jachin and Boaz!-- [_Seeing_ HAROLD _and_ GURTH. +Harold, Gurth,--where am I? +Where is the charter of our Westminster? + +STIGAND. It lies beside thee, king, upon thy bed. + +EDWARD. Sign, sign at once--take, sign it, Stigand, Aldred! +Sign it, my good son Harold, Gurth, and Leofwin, +Sign it, my queen! + +ALL. We have sign'd it. + +EDWARD. It is finish'd! +The kingliest Abbey in all Christian lands, +The lordliest, loftiest minster ever built +To Holy Peter in our English isle! +Let me be buried there, and all our kings, +And all our just and wise and holy men +That shall be born hereafter. It is finish'd! +Hast thou had absolution for thine oath? [_To_ HAROLD. + +HAROLD. Stigand hath given me absolution for it. + +EDWARD. Stigand is not canonical enough +To save thee from the wrath of Norman Saints. + +STIGAND. Norman enough! Be there no Saints of England +To help us from their brethren yonder? + +EDWARD. Prelate, +The Saints are one, but those of Normanland +Are mightier than our own. Ask it of Aldred. + [_To_ HAROLD. + +ALDRED. It shall be granted him, my king; for he +Who vows a vow to strangle his own mother +Is guiltier keeping this, than breaking it. + +EDWARD. O friends, I shall not overlive the day. + +STIGAND. Why then the throne is empty. Who inherits? +For tho' we be not bound by the king's voice +In making of a king, yet the king's voice +Is much toward his making. Who inherits? +Edgar the Atheling? + +EDWARD. No, no, but Harold. +I love him: he hath served me: none but he +Can rule all England. Yet the curse is on him +For swearing falsely by those blessed bones; +He did not mean to keep his vow. + +HAROLD. Not mean +To make our England Norman. + +EDWARD. There spake Godwin, +Who hated all the Normans; but their Saints +Have heard thee, Harold. + +EDITH. Oh! my lord, my king! +He knew not whom he sware by. + +EDWARD. Yea, I know +He knew not, but those heavenly ears have heard, +Their curse is on him; wilt thou bring another, +Edith, upon his head? + +EDITH. No, no, not I. + +EDWARD. Why then, thou must not wed him. + +HAROLD. Wherefore, wherefore? + +EDWARD. O son, when thou didst tell me of thine oath, +I sorrow'd for my random promise given +To yon fox-lion. I did not dream then +I should be king.--My son, the Saints are virgins; +They love the white rose of virginity, +The cold, white lily blowing in her cell: +I have been myself a virgin; and I sware +To consecrate my virgin here to heaven-- +The silent, cloister'd, solitary life, +A life of life-long prayer against the curse +That lies on thee and England. + +HAROLD. No, no, no. + +EDWARD. Treble denial of the tongue of flesh, +Like Peter's when he fell, and thou wilt have +To wail for it like Peter. O my son! +Are all oaths to be broken then, all promises +Made in our agony for help from heaven? +Son, there is one who loves thee: and a wife, +What matters who, so she be serviceable +In all obedience, as mine own hath been: +God bless thee, wedded daughter. + [_Laying his hand on the_ QUEEN'S _head_. + +QUEEN. Bless thou too +That brother whom I love beyond the rest, +My banish'd Tostig. + +EDWARD. All the sweet Saints bless him! +Spare and forbear him, Harold, if he comes! +And let him pass unscathed; he loves me, Harold! +Be kindly to the Normans left among us, +Who follow'd me for love! and dear son, swear +When thou art king, to see my solemn vow +Accomplish'd. + +HAROLD. Nay, dear lord, for I have sworn +Not to swear falsely twice. + +EDWARD. Thou wilt not swear? + +HAROLD. I cannot. + +EDWARD. Then on thee remains the curse, +Harold, if thou embrace her: and on thee, +Edith, if thou abide it,-- + + [_The_ KING _swoons;_ EDITH _falls and kneels by the couch_. + +STIGAND. He hath swoon'd! +Death?... no, as yet a breath. + +HAROLD. Look up! look up! +Edith! + +ALDRED. Confuse her not; she hath begun +Her life-long prayer for thee. + +ALDWYTH. O noble Harold, +I would thou couldst have sworn. + +HAROLD. For thine own pleasure? + +ALDWYTH. No, but to please our dying king, and those +Who make thy good their own--all England, Earl. + +ALDRED. _I_ would thou couldst have sworn. Our holy king +Hath given his virgin lamb to Holy Church +To save thee from the curse. + +HAROLD. Alas! poor man, +_His_ promise brought it on me. + +ALDRED. O good son! +That knowledge made him all the carefuller +To find a means whereby the curse might glance +From thee and England. + +HAROLD. Father, we so loved-- + +ALDRED. The more the love, the mightier is the prayer; +The more the love, the more acceptable +The sacrifice of both your loves to heaven. +No sacrifice to heaven, no help from heaven; +That runs thro' all the faiths of all the world. +And sacrifice there must be, for the king +Is holy, and hath talk'd with God, and seen +A shadowing horror; there are signs in heaven-- + +HAROLD. Your comet came and went. + +ALDRED. And signs on earth! +Knowest thou Senlac hill? + +HAROLD. I know all Sussex; +A good entrenchment for a perilous hour! + +ALDRED. Pray God that come not suddenly! There is one +Who passing by that hill three nights ago-- +He shook so that he scarce could out with it-- +Heard, heard-- + +HAROLD. The wind in his hair? + +ALDRED. A ghostly horn +Blowing continually, and faint battle-hymns, +And cries, and clashes, and the groans of men; +And dreadful shadows strove upon the hill, +And dreadful lights crept up from out the marsh-- +Corpse-candles gliding over nameless graves-- + +HAROLD. At Senlac? + +ALDRED. Senlac. + +EDWARD (_waking_). + Senlac! Sanguelac, +The Lake of Blood! + +STIGAND. This lightning before death +Plays on the word,--and Normanizes too! + +HAROLD. Hush, father, hush! + +EDWARD. Thou uncanonical fool, +Wilt _thou_ play with the thunder? North and South +Thunder together, showers of blood are blown +Before a never-ending blast, and hiss +Against the blaze they cannot quench--a lake, +A sea of blood--we are drown'd in blood--for God +Has fill'd the quiver, and Death has drawn the bow-- +Sanguelac! Sanguelac! the arrow! the arrow! [_Dies_. + +STIGAND. It is the arrow of death in his own heart-- +And our great Council wait to crown thee King. + + + +SCENE II.--IN THE GARDEN. THE KING'S HOUSE NEAR LONDON. + + +EDITH. Crown'd, crown'd and lost, crown'd King--and lost to me! + + (_Singing_.) + + Two young lovers in winter weather, + None to guide them, + Walk'd at night on the misty heather; + Night, as black as a raven's feather; + Both were lost and found together, + None beside them. + +That is the burthen of it--lost and found +Together in the cruel river Swale +A hundred years ago; and there's another, + + Lost, lost, the light of day, + +To which the lover answers lovingly + + 'I am beside thee.' + Lost, lost, we have lost the way. + 'Love, I will guide thee.' + Whither, O whither? into the river, + Where we two may be lost together, + And lost for ever? 'Oh! never, oh! never, + Tho' we be lost and be found together.' + +Some think they loved within the pale forbidden +By Holy Church: but who shall say? the truth +Was lost in that fierce North, where _they_ were lost, +Where all good things are lost, where Tostig lost +The good hearts of his people. It is Harold! + + _Enter_ HAROLD. + +Harold the King! + +HAROLD. Call me not King, but Harold. + +EDITH. Nay, thou art King! + +HAROLD. Thine, thine, or King or churl! +My girl, thou hast been weeping: turn not thou +Thy face away, but rather let me be +King of the moment to thee, and command +That kiss my due when subject, which will make +My kingship kinglier to me than to reign +King of the world without it. + +EDITH. Ask me not, +Lest I should yield it, and the second curse +Descend upon thine head, and thou be only +King of the moment over England. + +HAROLD. Edith, +Tho' somewhat less a king to my true self +Than ere they crown'd me one, for I have lost +Somewhat of upright stature thro' mine oath, +Yet thee I would not lose, and sell not thou +Our living passion for a dead man's dream; +Stigand believed he knew not what he spake. +Oh God! I cannot help it, but at times +They seem to me too narrow, all the faiths +Of this grown world of ours, whose baby eye +Saw them sufficient. Fool and wise, I fear +This curse, and scorn it. But a little light!-- +And on it falls the shadow of the priest; +Heaven yield us more! for better, Woden, all +Our cancell'd warrior-gods, our grim Walhalla, +Eternal war, than that the Saints at peace +The Holiest of our Holiest one should be +This William's fellow-tricksters;--better die +Than credit this, for death is death, or else +Lifts us beyond the lie. Kiss me--thou art not +A holy sister yet, my girl, to fear +There might be more than brother in my kiss, +And more than sister in thine own. + +EDITH. I dare not. + +HAROLD. Scared by the church--'Love for a whole life long' +When was that sung? + +EDITH. Here to the nightingales. + +HAROLD. Their anthems of no church, how sweet they are! +Nor kingly priest, nor priestly king to cross +Their billings ere they nest. + +EDITH. They are but of spring, +They fly the winter change--not so with us-- +No wings to come and go. + +HAROLD. But wing'd souls flying +Beyond all change and in the eternal distance +To settle on the Truth. + +EDITH. They are not so true, +They change their mates. + +HAROLD. Do they? I did not know it. + +EDITH. They say thou art to wed the Lady Aldwyth. + +HAROLD. They say, they say. + +EDITH. If this be politic, +And well for thee and England--and for her-- +Care not for me who love thee. + +GURTH (_calling_). Harold, Harold! + +HAROLD. The voice of Gurth! (_Enter_ GURTH.) + Good even, my good brother! + +GURTH. Good even, gentle Edith. + +EDITH. Good even, Gurth. + +GURTH. Ill news hath come! Our hapless brother, Tostig-- +He, and the giant King of Norway, Harold +Hardrada--Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Orkney, +Are landed North of Humber, and in a field +So packt with carnage that the dykes and brooks +Were bridged and damm'd with dead, have overthrown +Morcar and Edwin. + +HAROLD. Well then, we must fight. +How blows the wind? + +GURTH. Against St. Valery +And William. + +HAROLD. Well then, we will to the North. + +GURTH. Ay, but worse news: this William sent to Rome, +Swearing thou swarest falsely by his Saints: +The Pope and that Archdeacon Hildebrand +His master, heard him, and have sent him back +A holy gonfanon, and a blessed hair +Of Peter, and all France, all Burgundy, +Poitou, all Christendom is raised against thee; +He hath cursed thee, and all those who fight for thee, +And given thy realm of England to the bastard. + +HAROLD. Ha! ha! + +EDITH. Oh! laugh not!... Strange and ghastly in the gloom +And shadowing of this double thunder-cloud +That lours on England--laughter! + +HAROLD. No, not strange! +This was old human laughter in old Rome +Before a Pope was born, when that which reign'd +Call'd itself God.--A kindly rendering +Of 'Render unto Caesar.' ... The Good Shepherd! +Take this, and render that. + +GURTH. They have taken York. + +HAROLD. The Lord was God and came as man--the Pope +Is man and comes as God.--York taken? + +GURTH. Yea, +Tostig hath taken York! + +HAROLD. To York then. Edith, +Hadst thou been braver, I had better braved +All--but I love thee and thou me--and that +Remains beyond all chances and all churches, +And that thou knowest. + +EDITH. Ay, but take back thy ring. +It burns my hand--a curse to thee and me. +I dare not wear it. + [_Proffers_ HAROLD _the ring, which he takes_. + +HAROLD. But I dare. God with thee! + + [_Exeunt_ HAROLD _and_ GURTH. + +EDITH. The King hath cursed him, if he marry me; +The Pope hath cursed him, marry me or no! +God help me! I know nothing--can but pray +For Harold--pray, pray, pray--no help but prayer, +A breath that fleets beyond this iron world, +And touches Him that made it. + + + + +ACT IV. + + +SCENE I.--IN NORTHUMBRIA. + +ARCHBISHOP ALDRED, MORCAR, EDWIN, _and_ FORCES. _Enter_ HAROLD. +_The standard of the golden Dragon of Wessex preceding him_. + + +HAROLD. What! are thy people sullen from defeat? +Our Wessex dragon flies beyond the Humber, +No voice to greet it. + +EDWIN. Let not our great king +Believe us sullen--only shamed to the quick +Before the king--as having been so bruised +By Harold, king of Norway; but our help +Is Harold, king of England. Pardon us, thou! +Our silence is our reverence for the king! + +HAROLD. Earl of the Mercians! if the truth be gall, +Cram me not thou with honey, when our good hive +Needs every sting to save it. + +VOICES. Aldwyth! Aldwyth! + +HAROLD. Why cry thy people on thy sister's name? + +MORCAR. She hath won upon our people thro' her beauty, +And pleasantness among them. + +VOICES. Aldwyth, Aldwyth! + +HAROLD. They shout as they would have her for a queen. + +MORCAR. She hath followed with our host, and suffer'd all. + +HAROLD. What would ye, men? + +VOICE. Our old Northumbrian crown, +And kings of our own choosing. + +HAROLD. Your old crown +Were little help without our Saxon carles +Against Hardrada. + +VOICE. Little! we are Danes, +Who conquer'd what we walk on, our own field. + +HAROLD. They have been plotting here! [_Aside_. + +VOICE. He calls us little! + +HAROLD. The kingdoms of this world began with little, +A hill, a fort, a city--that reach'd a hand +Down to the field beneath it, 'Be thou mine, +Then to the next, 'Thou also!' If the field +Cried out 'I am mine own;' another hill +Or fort, or city, took it, and the first +Fell, and the next became an Empire. + +VOICE. Yet +Thou art but a West Saxon: _we_ are Danes! + +HAROLD. My mother is a Dane, and I am English; +There is a pleasant fable in old books, +Ye take a stick, and break it; bind a score +All in one faggot, snap it over knee, +Ye cannot. + +VOICE. Hear King Harold! he says true! + +HAROLD. Would ye be Norsemen? + +VOICES. No! + +HAROLD. Or Norman? + +VOICES. No! + +HAROLD. Snap not the faggot-band then. + +VOICE. That is true! + +VOICE. Ay, but thou art not kingly, only grandson +To Wulfnoth, a poor cow-herd. + +HAROLD. This old Wulfnoth +Would take me on his knees and tell me tales +Of Alfred and of Athelstan the Great +Who drove you Danes; and yet he held that Dane, +Jute, Angle, Saxon, were or should be all +One England, for this cow-herd, like my father, +Who shook the Norman scoundrels off the throne, +Had in him kingly thoughts--a king of men, +Not made but born, like the great king of all, +A light among the oxen. + +VOICE. That is true! + +VOICE. Ay, and I love him now, for mine own father +Was great, and cobbled. + +VOICE. Thou art Tostig's brother, +Who wastes the land. + +HAROLD. This brother comes to save +Your land from waste; I saved it once before, +For when your people banish'd Tostig hence, +And Edward would have sent a host against you, +Then I, who loved my brother, bad the king +Who doted on him, sanction your decree +Of Tostig's banishment, and choice of Morcar, +To help the realm from scattering. + +VOICE. King! thy brother, +If one may dare to speak the truth, was wrong'd. +Wild was he, born so: but the plots against him +Had madden'd tamer men. + +MORCAR. Thou art one of those +Who brake into Lord Tostig's treasure-house +And slew two hundred of his following, +And now, when Tostig hath come back with power, +Are frighted back to Tostig. + +OLD THANE. Ugh! Plots and feuds! +This is my ninetieth birthday. Can ye not +Be brethren? Godwin still at feud with Alfgar, +And Alfgar hates King Harold. Plots and feuds! +This is my ninetieth birthday! + +HAROLD. Old man, Harold +Hates nothing; not _his_ fault, if our two houses +Be less than brothers. + +VOICES. Aldwyth, Harold, Aldwyth! + +HAROLD. Again! Morcar! Edwin! What do they mean? + +EDWIN. So the good king would deign to lend an ear +Not overscornful, we might chance--perchance-- +To guess their meaning. + +MORCAR. Thine own meaning, Harold, +To make all England one, to close all feuds, +Mixing our bloods, that thence a king may rise +Half-Godwin and half-Alfgar, one to rule +All England beyond question, beyond quarrel. + +HAROLD. Who sow'd this fancy here among the people? + +MORCAR. Who knows what sows itself among the people? +A goodly flower at times. + +HAROLD. The Queen of Wales? +Why, Morcar, it is all but duty in her +To hate me; I have heard she hates me. + +MORCAR. No! +For I can swear to that, but cannot swear +That these will follow thee against the Norsemen, +If thou deny them this. + +HAROLD. Morcar and Edwin, +When will you cease to plot against my house? + +EDWIN. The king can scarcely dream that we, who know +His prowess in the mountains of the West, +Should care to plot against him in the North. + +MORCAR. Who dares arraign us, king, of such a plot? + +HAROLD. Ye heard one witness even now. + +MORCAR. The craven! +There is a faction risen again for Tostig, +Since Tostig came with Norway--fright not love. + +HAROLD. Morcar and Edwin, will ye, if I yield, +Follow against the Norseman? + +MORCAR. Surely, surely! + +HAROLD. Morcar and Edwin, will ye upon oath, +Help us against the Norman? + +MORCAR. With good will; +Yea, take the Sacrament upon it, king. + +HAROLD. Where is thy sister? + +MORCAR. Somewhere hard at hand. +Call and she comes. + + [_One goes out, then enter_ ALDWYTH. + +HAROLD. I doubt not but thou knowest +Why thou art summon'd. + +ALDWYTH. Why?--I stay with these, +Lest thy fierce Tostig spy me out alone, +And flay me all alive. + +HAROLD. Canst thou love one +Who did discrown thine husband, unqueen thee? +Didst thou not love thine husband? + +ALDWYTH. Oh! my lord, +The nimble, wild, red, wiry, savage king-- +That was, my lord, a match of policy. + +HAROLD. Was it? +I knew him brave: he loved his land: he fain +Had made her great: his finger on her harp +(I heard him more than once) had in it Wales, +Her floods, her woods, her hills: had I been his, +I had been all Welsh. + +ALDWYTH. Oh, ay--all Welsh--and yet +I saw thee drive him up his hills--and women +Cling to the conquer'd, if they love, the more; +If not, they cannot hate the conqueror. +We never--oh! good Morcar, speak for us, +His conqueror conquer'd Aldwyth. + +HAROLD. Goodly news! + +MORCAR. Doubt it not thou! Since Griffith's +head was sent +To Edward, she hath said it. + +HAROLD. I had rather +She would have loved her husband. Aldwyth, Aldwyth, +Canst thou love me, thou knowing where I love? + +ALDWYTH. I can, my lord, for mine own sake, for thine, +For England, for thy poor white dove, who flutters +Between thee and the porch, but then would find +Her nest within the cloister, and be still. + +HAROLD. Canst thou love one, who cannot love again? + +ALDWYTH. Full hope have I that love will answer love. + +HAROLD. Then in the name of the great God, so be it! +Come, Aldred, join our hands before the hosts, +That all may see. + + [ALDRED _joins the hands of_ HAROLD _and_ ALDWYTH + _and blesses them_. + +VOICES. Harold, Harold and Aldwyth! + +HAROLD. Set forth our golden Dragon, let him flap +The wings that beat down Wales! +Advance our Standard of the Warrior, +Dark among gems and gold; and thou, brave banner, +Blaze like a night of fatal stars on those +Who read their doom and die. +Where lie the Norsemen? on the Derwent? ay +At Stamford-bridge. +Morcar, collect thy men; Edwin, my friend-- +Thou lingerest.--Gurth,-- +Last night King Edward came to me in dreams-- +The rosy face and long down-silvering beard-- +He told me I should conquer:-- +I am no woman to put faith in dreams. + (To his army.) +Last night King Edward came to me in dreams, +And told me we should conquer. + +VOICES. Forward! Forward! +Harold and Holy Cross! + +ALDWYTH. The day is won! + + + +SCENE II.--A PLAIN. BEFORE THE BATTLE OF STAMFORD-BRIDGE. + +HAROLD _and his_ GUARD. + + +HAROLD. Who is it comes this way? Tostig? +(_Enter_ TOSTIG _with a small force_.) O brother, +What art thou doing here? + +TOSTIG. I am foraging +For Norway's army. + +HAROLD. I could take and slay thee. +Thou art in arms against us. + +TOSTIG. Take and slay me, +For Edward loved me. + +HAROLD. Edward bad me spare thee. + +TOSTIG. I hate King Edward, for he join'd with thee +To drive me outlaw'd. Take and slay me, I say, +Or I shall count thee fool. + +HAROLD. Take thee, or free thee, +Free thee or slay thee, Norway will have war; +No man would strike with Tostig, save for Norway. +Thou art nothing in thine England, save for Norway, +Who loves not thee but war. What dost thou here, +Trampling thy mother's bosom into blood? + +TOSTIG. She hath wean'd me from it with such bitterness. +I come for mine own Earldom, my Northumbria; +Thou hast given it to the enemy of our house. + +HAROLD. Northumbria threw thee off, she will not have thee, +Thou hast misused her: and, O crowning crime! +Hast murder'd thine own guest, the son of Orm, +Gamel, at thine own hearth. + +TOSTIG. The slow, fat fool! +He drawl'd and prated so, I smote him suddenly, +I knew not what I did. He held with Morcar.-- +I hate myself for all things that I do. + +HAROLD. And Morcar holds with us. Come back with him. +Know what thou dost; and we may find for thee, +So thou be chasten'd by thy banishment, +Some easier earldom. + +TOSTIG. What for Norway then? +He looks for land among us, he and his. + +HAROLD. Seven feet of English land, or something more, +Seeing he is a giant. + +TOSTIG. That is noble! +That sounds of Godwin. + +HAROLD. Come thou back, and be +Once more a son of Godwin. + +TOSTIG (_turns away_). O brother, brother, +O Harold-- + +HAROLD (_laying his hand on_ TOSTIG'S _shoulder_). + Nay then, come thou back to us! + +TOSTIG (_after a pause turning to him_). Never +shall any man say that I, that Tostig +Conjured the mightier Harold from his North +To do the battle for me here in England, +Then left him for the meaner! thee!-- +Thou hast no passion for the House of Godwin-- +Thou hast but cared to make thyself a king-- +Thou hast sold me for a cry.-- +Thou gavest thy voice against me in the Council-- +I hate thee, and despise thee, and defy thee. +Farewell for ever! + [_Exit_. + +HAROLD. On to Stamford-bridge! + + + +SCENE III. + + +AFTER THE BATTLE OF STAMFORD-BRIDGE. BANQUET. + +HAROLD _and_ ALDWYTH. GURTH, LEOFWIN, MORCAR, EDWIN, +_and other_ EARLS _and_ THANES. + + +VOICES. Hail! Harold! Aldwyth! hail, bridegroom and bride! + +ALDWYTH (_talking with_ HAROLD). +Answer them thou! +Is this our marriage-banquet? Would the wines +Of wedding had been dash'd into the cups +Of victory, and our marriage and thy glory +Been drunk together! these poor hands but sew, +Spin, broider--would that they were man's to have held +The battle-axe by thee! + +HAROLD. There _was_ a moment +When being forced aloof from all my guard, +And striking at Hardrada and his madmen +I had wish'd for any weapon. + +ALDWYTH. Why art thou sad? + +HAROLD. I have lost the boy who play'd at ball with me, +With whom I fought another fight than this +Of Stamford-bridge. + +ALDWYTH. Ay! ay! thy victories +Over our own poor Wales, when at thy side +He conquer'd with thee. + +HAROLD. No--the childish fist +That cannot strike again. + +ALDWYTH. Thou art too kindly. +Why didst thou let so many Norsemen hence? +Thy fierce forekings had clench'd their pirate hides +To the bleak church doors, like kites upon a barn. + +HAROLD. Is there so great a need to tell thee why? + +ALDWYTH. Yea, am I not thy wife? + +VOICES. Hail, Harold, Aldwyth! +Bridegroom and bride! + +ALDWYTH. Answer them! [_To_ HAROLD. + +HAROLD (_to all_). Earls and Thanes! +Full thanks for your fair greeting of my bride! +Earls, Thanes, and all our countrymen! the day, +Our day beside the Derwent will not shine +Less than a star among the goldenest hours +Of Alfred, or of Edward his great son, +Or Athelstan, or English Ironside +Who fought with Knut, or Knut who coming Dane +Died English. Every man about his king +Fought like a king; the king like his own man, +No better; one for all, and all for one, +One soul! and therefore have we shatter'd back +The hugest wave from Norseland ever yet +Surged on us, and our battle-axes broken +The Raven's wing, and dumb'd his carrion croak +From the gray sea for ever. Many are gone-- +Drink to the dead who died for us, the living +Who fought and would have died, but happier lived, +If happier be to live; they both have life +In the large mouth of England, till _her_ voice +Die with the world. Hail--hail! + +MORCAR. May all invaders perish like Hardrada! +All traitors fail like Tostig. [_All drink but_ HAROLD. + +ALDWYTH. Thy cup's full! + +HAROLD. I saw the hand of Tostig cover it. +Our dear, dead, traitor-brother, Tostig, him +Reverently we buried. Friends, had I been here, +Without too large self-lauding I must hold +The sequel had been other than his league +With Norway, and this battle. Peace be with him! +He was not of the worst. If there be those +At banquet in this hall, and hearing me-- +For there be those I fear who prick'd the lion +To make him spring, that sight of Danish blood +Might serve an end not English--peace with them +Likewise, if they can be at peace with what +God gave us to divide us from the wolf! + +ALDWYTH (_aside to_ HAROLD). +Make not our Morcar sullen: it is not wise. + +HAROLD. Hail to the living who fought, the dead who fell! + +VOICES. Hail, hail! + +FIRST THANE. How ran that answer which King Harold gave +To his dead namesake, when he ask'd for England? + +LEOFWIN. 'Seven feet of English earth, or something more, +Seeing he is a giant!' + +FIRST THANE. Then for the bastard +Six feet and nothing more! + +LEOFWIN. Ay, but belike +Thou hast not learnt his measure. + +FIRST THANE. By St. Edmund +I over-measure him. Sound sleep to the man +Here by dead Norway without dream or dawn! + +SECOND THANE. What is he bragging still that he will come +To thrust our Harold's throne from under him? +My nurse would tell me of a molehill crying +To a mountain 'Stand aside and room for me!' + +FIRST THANE. Let him come! let him come. +Here's to him, sink or swim! [_Drinks_. + +SECOND THANE. God sink him! + +FIRST THANE. Cannot hands which had the strength +To shove that stranded iceberg off our shores, +And send the shatter'd North again to sea, +Scuttle his cockle-shell? What's Brunanburg +To Stamford-bridge? a war-crash, and so hard, +So loud, that, by St. Dunstan, old St. Thor-- +By God, we thought him dead--but our old Thor +Heard his own thunder again, and woke and came +Among us again, and mark'd the sons of those +Who made this Britain England, break the North: + + Mark'd how the war-axe swang, + Heard how the war-horn sang, + Mark'd how the spear-head sprang, + Heard how the shield-wall rang, + Iron on iron clang, + Anvil on hammer bang-- + +SECOND THANE. Hammer on anvil, hammer on anvil. Old dog, +Thou art drunk, old dog! + +FIRST THANE. Too drunk to fight with thee! + +SECOND THANE. Fight thou with thine own double, not with me, +Keep that for Norman William! + +FIRST THANE. Down with William! + +THIRD THANE. The washerwoman's brat! + +FOURTH THANE. The tanner's bastard! + +FIFTH THANE. +The Falaise byblow! + + [_Enter a_ THANE, _from Pevensey, spattered with mud_. + +HAROLD. Ay, but what late guest, +As haggard as a fast of forty days, +And caked and plaster'd with a hundred mires, +Hath stumbled on our cups? + +THANE _from Pevensey_. My lord the King! +William the Norman, for the wind had changed-- + +HAROLD. I felt it in the middle of that fierce fight +At Stamford-bridge. William hath landed, ha? + +THANE _from Pevensey_. Landed at Pevensey--I am from Pevensey-- +Hath wasted all the land at Pevensey-- +Hath harried mine own cattle--God confound him! +I have ridden night and day from Pevensey-- +A thousand ships--a hundred thousand men-- +Thousands of horses, like as many lions +Neighing and roaring as they leapt to land-- + +HAROLD. How oft in coming hast thou broken bread? + +THANE _from Pevensey_. +Some thrice, or so. + +HAROLD. Bring not thy hollowness +On our full feast. Famine is fear, were it but +Of being starved. Sit down, sit down, and eat, +And, when again red-blooded, speak again; +(_Aside_.) The men that guarded England to the South +Were scatter'd to the harvest.... No power mine +To hold their force together.... Many are fallen +At Stamford-bridge ... the people stupid-sure +Sleep like their swine ... in South and North at once +I could not be. + (_Aloud_.) Gurth, Leofwin, Morcar, Edwin! +(_Pointing to the revellers_.) +The curse of England! these are drown'd in wassail, +And cannot see the world but thro' their wines! +Leave them! and thee too, Aldwyth, must I leave-- +Harsh is the news! hard is our honeymoon! +Thy pardon. (_Turning round to his_ ATTENDANTS.) + Break the banquet up ... Ye four! +And thou, my carrier-pigeon of black news, +Cram thy crop full, but come when thou art call'd. + + [_Exit_ HAROLD. + + + + +ACT V. + + +SCENE I.--A TENT ON A MOUND, FROM WHICH CAN BE SEEN THE FIELD OF +SENLAC. + +HAROLD, _sitting; by him standing_ HUGH MARGOT _the Monk_, GURTH, +LEOFWIN, + + +HAROLD. Refer my cause, my crown to Rome!... The wolf +Mudded the brook and predetermined all. +Monk, +Thou hast said thy say, and had my constant 'No' +For all but instant battle. I hear no more. + +MARGOT. Hear me again--for the last time. Arise, +Scatter thy people home, descend the hill, +Lay hands of full allegiance in thy Lord's +And crave his mercy, for the Holy Father +Hath given this realm of England to the Norman. + +HAROLD. Then for the last time, monk, I ask again +When had the Lateran and the Holy Father +To do with England's choice of her own king? + +MARGOT. Earl, the first Christian Caesar drew to the East +To leave the Pope dominion in the West +He gave him all the kingdoms of the West. + +HAROLD. So!--did he?--Earl--I have a mind to play +The William with thine eyesight and thy tongue. +Earl--ay--thou art but a messenger of William. +I am weary--go: make me not wroth with thee! + +MARGOT. Mock-king, I am the messenger of God, +His Norman Daniel! Mene, Mene, Tekel! +Is thy wrath Hell, that I should spare to cry, +Yon heaven is wroth with _thee?_ Hear me again! +Our Saints have moved the Church that moves the world, +And all the Heavens and very God: they heard-- +They know King Edward's promise and thine--thine. + +HAROLD. Should they not know free England crowns herself? +Not know that he nor I had power to promise? +Not know that Edward cancell'd his own promise? +And for my part therein--Back to that juggler, + [_Rising_. +Tell him the saints are nobler than he dreams, +Tell him that God is nobler than the Saints, +And tell him we stand arm'd on Senlac Hill, +And bide the doom of God. + +MARGOT. Hear it thro' me. +The realm for which thou art forsworn is cursed, +The babe enwomb'd and at the breast is cursed, +The corpse thou whelmest with thine earth is cursed, +The soul who fighteth on thy side is cursed, +The seed thou sowest in thy field is cursed, +The steer wherewith thou plowest thy field is cursed, +The fowl that fleeth o'er thy field is cursed, +And thou, usurper, liar-- + +HAROLD. Out, beast monk! + [_Lifting his hand to strike him_. GURTH _stops the blow_. +I ever hated monks. + +MARGOT. I am but a voice +Among you: murder, martyr me if ye will-- + +HAROLD. Thanks, Gurth! The simple, silent, selfless man +Is worth a world of tonguesters. (_To_ MARGOT.) Get thee gone! +He means the thing he says. See him out safe! + +LEOFWIN. He hath blown himself as red as fire with curses. +An honest fool! Follow me, honest fool, +But if thou blurt thy curse among our folk, +I know not--I may give that egg-bald head +The tap that silences. + +HAROLD. See him out safe. + [_Exeunt_ LEOFWIN _and_ MARGOT. + +GURTH. Thou hast lost thine even temper, brother Harold! + +HAROLD. Gurth, when I past by Waltham, my foundation +For men who serve the neighbour, not themselves, +I cast me down prone, praying; and, when I rose, +They told me that the Holy Rood had lean'd +And bow'd above me; whether that which held it +Had weaken'd, and the Rood itself were bound +To that necessity which binds us down; +Whether it bow'd at all but in their fancy; +Or if it bow'd, whether it symbol'd ruin +Or glory, who shall tell? but they were sad, +And somewhat sadden'd me. + +GURTH. Yet if a fear, +Or shadow of a fear, lest the strange Saints +By whom thou swarest, should have power to balk +Thy puissance in this fight with him, who made +And heard thee swear--brother--_I_ have not sworn-- +If the king fall, may not the kingdom fall? +But if I fall, I fall, and thou art king; +And, if I win, I win, and thou art king; +Draw thou to London, there make strength to breast +Whatever chance, but leave this day to me. + +LEOFWIN (_entering_). And waste the land about thee as thou goest, +And be thy hand as winter on the field, +To leave the foe no forage. + +HAROLD. Noble Gurth! +Best son of Godwin! If I fall, I fall-- +The doom of God! How should the people fight +When the king flies? And, Leofwin, art thou mad? +How should the King of England waste the fields +Of England, his own people?--No glance yet +Of the Northumbrian helmet on the heath? + +LEOFWIN. No, but a shoal of wives upon the heath, +And someone saw thy willy-nilly nun +Vying a tress against our golden fern. + +HAROLD. Vying a tear with our cold dews, a sigh +With these low-moaning heavens. Let her be fetch'd. +We have parted from our wife without reproach, +Tho' we have dived thro' all her practices; +And that is well. + +LEOFWIN. I saw her even now: +She hath not left us. + +HAROLD. Nought of Morcar then? + +GURTH. Nor seen, nor heard; thine, William's or his own +As wind blows, or tide flows: belike he watches, +If this war-storm in one of its rough rolls +Wash up that old crown of Northumberland. + +HAROLD. I married her for Morcar--a sin against +The truth of love. Evil for good, it seems, +Is oft as childless of the good as evil +For evil. + +LEOFWIN. Good for good hath borne at times +A bastard false as William. + +HAROLD. Ay, if Wisdom +Pair'd not with Good. But I am somewhat worn, +A snatch of sleep were like the peace of God. +Gurth, Leofwin, go once more about the hill-- +What did the dead man call it--Sanguelac, +The lake of blood? + +LEOFWIN. A lake that dips in William +As well as Harold. + +HAROLD. Like enough. I have seen +The trenches dug, the palisades uprear'd +And wattled thick with ash and willow-wands; +Yea, wrought at them myself. Go round once more; +See all be sound and whole. No Norman horse +Can shatter England, standing shield by shield; +Tell that again to all. + +GURTH. I will, good brother. + +HAROLD. Our guardsman hath but toil'd his hand and foot, +I hand, foot, heart and head. Some wine! + (_One pours wine into a goblet which he hands to_ HAROLD.) + Too much! +What? we must use our battle-axe to-day. +Our guardsmen have slept well, since we came in? + +LEOFWIN. Ay, slept and snored. Your second-sighted man +That scared the dying conscience of the king, +Misheard their snores for groans. They are up again +And chanting that old song of Brunanburg +Where England conquer'd. + +HAROLD. That is well. The Norman, +What is he doing? + +LEOFWIN. Praying for Normandy; +Our scouts have heard the tinkle of their bells. + +HAROLD. And our old songs are prayers for England too! +But by all Saints-- + +LEOFWIN. Barring the Norman! + +HAROLD. Nay, +Were the great trumpet blowing doomsday dawn, +I needs must rest. Call when the Norman moves-- + + [_Exeunt all, but_ HAROLD. + +No horse--thousands of horses--our shield wall-- +Wall--break it not--break not--break-- [_Sleeps_. + +VISION OF EDWARD. Son Harold, I thy king, who came before +To tell thee thou shouldst win at Stamford-bridge, +Come yet once more, from where I am at peace, +Because I loved thee in my mortal day, +To tell thee them shalt die on Senlac hill-- +Sanguelac! + +VISION OF WULFNOTH. O brother, from my ghastly oubliette +I send my voice across the narrow seas-- +No more, no more, dear brother, nevermore-- +Sanguelac! + +VISION OF TOSTIG. O brother, most unbrotherlike to me, +Thou gavest thy voice against me in my life, +I give my voice against thee from the grave-- +Sanguelac! + +VISION OF NORMAN SAINTS. O hapless Harold! +King but for an hour! +Thou swarest falsely by our blessed bones, +We give our voice against thee out of heaven! +Sanguelac! Sanguelac! The arrow! the arrow! + +HAROLD (_starting up, battle-axe in hand_.) Away! +My battle-axe against your voices. Peace! +The king's last word--'the arrow!' I shall die-- +I die for England then, who lived for England-- +What nobler? men must die. +I cannot fall into a falser world-- +I have done no man wrong. Tostig, poor brother, +Art _thou_ so anger'd? +Fain had I kept thine earldom in thy hands +Save for thy wild and violent will that wrench'd +All hearts of freemen from thee. I could do +No other than this way advise the king +Against the race of Godwin. Is it possible +That mortal men should bear their earthly heats +Into yon bloodless world, and threaten us thence +Unschool'd of Death? Thus then thou art revenged-- +I left our England naked to the South +To meet thee in the North. The Norseman's raid +Hath helpt the Norman, and the race of Godwin +Hath ruin'd Godwin. No--our waking thoughts +Suffer a stormless shipwreck in the pools +Of sullen slumber, and arise again +Disjointed: only dreams--where mine own self +Takes part against myself! Why? for a spark +Of self-disdain born in me when I sware +Falsely to him, the falser Norman, over +His gilded ark of mummy-saints, by whom +I knew not that I sware,--not for myself-- +For England--yet not wholly-- + + _Enter_ EDITH. + + Edith, Edith, +Get thou into thy cloister as the king +Will'd it: be safe: the perjury-mongering Count +Hath made too good an use of Holy Church +To break her close! There the great God of truth +Fill all thine hours with peace!--A lying devil +Hath haunted me--mine oath--my wife--I fain +Had made my marriage not a lie; I could not: +Thou art my bride! and thou in after years +Praying perchance for this poor soul of mine +In cold, white cells beneath an icy moon-- +This memory to thee!--and this to England, +My legacy of war against the Pope +From child to child, from Pope to Pope, from age to age, +Till the sea wash her level with her shores, +Or till the Pope be Christ's. + + _Enter_ ALDWYTH. + +ALDWYTH (_to_ EDITH). Away from him! + +EDITH. I will.... I have not spoken to the king +One word; and one I must. Farewell! [_Going_. + +HAROLD. Not yet. +Stay. + +EDITH. To what use? + +HAROLD. The king commands thee, woman! + (_To_ ALDWYTH.) +Have thy two brethren sent their forces in? + +ALDWYTH. Nay, I fear not. + +HAROLD. Then there's no force in thee! +Thou didst possess thyself of Edward's ear +To part me from the woman that I loved! +Thou didst arouse the fierce Northumbrians! +Thou hast been false to England and to me!-- +As ... in some sort ... I have been false to thee. +Leave me. No more--Pardon on both sides--Go! + +ALDWYTH. Alas, my lord, I loved thee. + +HAROLD (_bitterly_). With a love +Passing thy love for Griffyth! wherefore now +Obey my first and last commandment. Go! + +ALDWYTH. O Harold! husband! Shall we meet again? + +HAROLD. After the battle--after the battle. Go. + +ALDWYTH. I go. (_Aside_.) That I could stab her standing there! + [_Exit_ ALDWYTH. + +EDITH. Alas, my lord, she loved thee. + +HAROLD. Never! never! + +EDITH. I saw it in her eyes! + +HAROLD. I see it in thine. +And not on thee--nor England--fall God's doom! + +EDITH. On _thee?_ on me. And thou art England! Alfred +Was England. Ethelred was nothing. England +Is but her king, and thou art Harold! + +HAROLD. Edith, +The sign in heaven--the sudden blast at sea-- +My fatal oath--the dead Saints--the dark dreams-- +The Pope's Anathema--the Holy Rood +That bow'd to me at Waltham--Edith, if +I, the last English King of England-- + +EDITH. No, +First of a line that coming from the people, +And chosen by the people-- + +HAROLD. And fighting for +And dying for the people-- + +EDITH. Living! living! + +HAROLD. Yea so, good cheer! thou art Harold, I am Edith! +Look not thus wan! + +EDITH. What matters how I look? +Have we not broken Wales and Norseland? slain, +Whose life was all one battle, incarnate war, +Their giant-king, a mightier man-in-arms +Than William. + +HAROLD. Ay, my girl, no tricks in him-- +No bastard he! when all was lost, he yell'd, +And bit his shield, and dash'd it on the ground, +And swaying his two-handed sword about him, +Two deaths at every swing, ran in upon us +And died so, and I loved him as I hate +This liar who made me liar. If Hate can kill, +And Loathing wield a Saxon battle-axe-- + +EDITH. Waste not thy might before the battle! + +HAROLD. No, +And thou must hence. Stigand will see thee safe, +And so--Farewell. [_He is going, but turns back_. +The ring thou darest not wear. +I have had it fashion'd, see, to meet my hand. + [HAROLD _shows the ring which is on his finger_. + +Farewell! [_He is going, but turns back again_. +I am dead as Death this day to ought of earth's +Save William's death or mine. + +EDITH. Thy death!--to-day! +Is it not thy birthday? + +HAROLD. Ay, that happy day! +A birthday welcome! happy days and many! +One--this! [_They embrace_. +Look, I will bear thy blessing into the battle +And front the doom of God. + +NORMAN CRIES (_heard in the distance_). + Ha Rou! Ha Rou! + + _Enter_ GURTH. + +GURTH. The Norman moves! + +HAROLD. Harold and Holy Cross! + + [_Exeunt_ HAROLD _and_ GURTH. + + _Enter_ STIGAND. + +STIGAND. Our Church in arms--the lamb the lion--not +Spear into pruning-hook--the counter way-- +Cowl, helm; and crozier, battle-axe. Abbot Alfwig, +Leofric, and all the monks of Peterboro' +Strike for the king; but I, old wretch, old Stigand, +With hands too limp to brandish iron--and yet +I have a power--would Harold ask me for it-- +I have a power. + +EDITH. What power, holy father? + +STIGAND. Power now from Harold to command thee hence +And see thee safe from Senlac. + +EDITH. I remain! + +STIGAND. Yea, so will I, daughter, until I find +Which way the battle balance. I can see it +From where we stand: and, live or die, I would +I were among them! + +CANONS _from Waltham (singing without)_. + + Salva patriam + Sancte Pater, + Salva Fili, + Salva Spiritus, + Salva patriam, + Sancta Mater.[1] + + [Footnote 1: The _a_ throughout these Latin hymns should be + sounded broad, as in 'father.'] + +EDITH. Are those the blessed angels quiring, father? + +STIGAND. No, daughter, but the canons out of Waltham, +The king's foundation, that have follow'd him. + +EDITH. O God of battles, make their wall of shields +Firm as thy cliffs, strengthen their palisades! +What is that whirring sound? + +STIGAND. The Norman arrow! + +EDITH. Look out upon the battle--is he safe? + +STIGAND. The king of England stands between his banners. +He glitters on the crowning of the hill. +God save King Harold! + +EDITH. --chosen by his people +And fighting for his people! + +STIGAND. There is one +Come as Goliath came of yore--he flings +His brand in air and catches it again, +He is chanting some old warsong. + +EDITH. And no David +To meet him? + +STIGAND. Ay, there springs a Saxon on him, +Falls--and another falls. + +EDITH. Have mercy on us! + +STIGAND. Lo! our good Gurth hath smitten him to the death. + +EDITH. So perish all the enemies of Harold! + +CANONS (_singing_). + + Hostis in Angliam + Ruit praedator, + Illorum, Domine, + Scutum scindatur! + Hostis per Angliae + Plagas bacchatur; + Casa crematur, + Pastor fugatur + Grex trucidatur-- + +STIGAND. Illos trucida, Domine. + +EDITH. Ay, good father. + +CANONS (_singing_). + + Illorum scelera + Poena sequatur! + +ENGLISH CRIES. Harold and Holy Cross! Out! out! + +STIGAND. Our javelins +Answer their arrows. All the Norman foot +Are storming up the hill. The range of knights +Sit, each a statue on his horse, and wait. + +ENGLISH CRIES. Harold and God Almighty! + +NORMAN CRIES. Ha Rou! Ha Rou! + +CANONS (_singing_). + + Eques cum pedite + Praepediatur! + Illorum in lacrymas + Cruor fundatur! + Pereant, pereant, + Anglia precatur. + +STIGAND. Look, daughter, look. + +EDITH. Nay, father, look for me! + +STIGAND. Our axes lighten with a single flash +About the summit of the hill, and heads +And arms are sliver'd off and splinter'd by +Their lightning--and they fly--the Norman flies. + +EDITH. Stigand, O father, have we won the day? + +STIGAND. No, daughter, no--they fall behind the horse-- +Their horse are thronging to the barricades; +I see the gonfanon of Holy Peter +Floating above their helmets--ha! he is down! + +EDITH. He down! Who down? + +STIGAND. The Norman Count is down. + +EDITH. So perish all the enemies of England! + +STIGAND. No, no, he hath risen again--he bares his face-- +Shouts something--he points onward--all their horse +Swallow the hill locust-like, swarming up. + +EDITH. O God of battles, make his battle-axe keen +As thine own sharp-dividing justice, heavy +As thine own bolts that fall on crimeful heads +Charged with the weight of heaven wherefrom they fall! + +CANONS (_singing_). + + Jacta tonitrua + Deus bellator! + Surgas e tenebris, + Sis vindicator! + Fulmina, fulmina + Deus vastator! + +EDITH. O God of battles, they are three to one, +Make thou one man as three to roll them down! + +CANONS (_singing_). + + Equus cum equite + Dejiciatur! + Acies, Acies + Prona sternatur! + Illorum lanceas + Frange Creator! + +STIGAND. Yea, yea, for how their lances snap and shiver +Against the shifting blaze of Harold's axe! +War-woodman of old Woden, how he fells +The mortal copse of faces! There! And there! +The horse and horseman cannot meet the shield, +The blow that brains the horseman cleaves the horse, +The horse and horseman roll along the hill, +They fly once more, they fly, the Norman flies! + + Equus cum equite + Praecipitatur. + +EDITH. O God, the God of truth hath heard my cry. +Follow them, follow them, drive them to the sea! + + Illorum scelera + Poena sequatur! + +STIGAND. Truth! no; a lie; a trick, a Norman trick! +They turn on the pursuer, horse against foot, +They murder all that follow. + +EDITH. Have mercy on us! + +STIGAND. Hot-headed fools--to burst the wall of shields! +They have broken the commandment of the king! + +EDITH. His oath was broken--O holy Norman Saints, +Ye that are now of heaven, and see beyond +Your Norman shrines, pardon it, pardon it, +That he forsware himself for all he loved, +Me, me and all! Look out upon the battle! + +STIGAND. They thunder again upon the barricades. +My sight is eagle, but the strife so thick-- +This is the hottest of it: hold, ash! hold, willow! + +ENGLISH CRIES. Out, out! + +NORMAN CRIES. Ha Rou! + +STIGAND. Ha! Gurth hath leapt upon him +And slain him: he hath fallen. + +EDITH. And I am heard. +Glory to God in the Highest! fallen, fallen! + +STIGAND. No, no, his horse--he mounts another--wields +His war-club, dashes it on Gurth, and Gurth, +Our noble Gurth, is down! + +EDITH. Have mercy on us! + +STIGAND. And Leofwin is down! + +EDITH. Have mercy on us! +O Thou that knowest, let not my strong prayer +Be weaken'd in thy sight, because I love +The husband of another! + +NORMAN CRIES. Ha Rou! Ha Rou! + +EDITH. I do not hear our English war-cry. + +STIGAND. No. + +EDITH. Look out upon the battle--is he safe? + +STIGAND. He stands between the banners with the dead +So piled about him he can hardly move. + +EDITH (_takes up the war-cry_). +Out! out! + +NORMAN CRIES. Ha Rou! + +EDITH (_cries out_). Harold and Holy Cross! + +NORMAN CRIES. Ha Rou! Ha Rou! + +EDITH. What is that whirring sound? + +STIGAND. The Norman sends his arrows up to Heaven, +They fall on those within the palisade! + +EDITH. Look out upon the hill--is Harold there? + +STIGAND. Sanguelac--Sanguelac--the arrow--the arrow!--away! + + + +SCENE II--FIELD OF THE DEAD. NIGHT. + +ALDWYTH _and_ EDITH. + + +ALDWYTH. O Edith, art thou here? O Harold, Harold-- +Our Harold--we shall never see him more. + +EDITH. For there was more than sister in my kiss, +And so the saints were wroth. I cannot love them, +For they are Norman saints--and yet I should-- +They are so much holier than their harlot's son +With whom they play'd their game against the king! + +ALDWYTH, The king is slain, the kingdom over-thrown! + +EDITH. No matter! + +ALDWYTH. How no matter, Harold slain?-- +I cannot find his body. O help me thou! +O Edith, if I ever wrought against thee, +Forgive me thou, and help me here! + +EDITH. No matter! + +ALDWYTH. Not help me, nor forgive me? + +EDITH. So thou saidest. + +ALDWYTH. I say it now, forgive me! + +EDITH. Cross me not! +I am seeking one who wedded me in secret. +Whisper! God's angels only know it. Ha! +What art thou doing here among the dead? +They are stripping the dead bodies naked yonder, +And thou art come to rob them of their rings! + +ALDWYTH. O Edith, Edith, I have lost both crown +And husband. + +EDITH. So have I. + +ALDWYTH. I tell thee, girl, +I am seeking my dead Harold. + +EDITH. And I mine! +The Holy Father strangled him with a hair +Of Peter, and his brother Tostig helpt; +The wicked sister clapt her hands and laugh'd; +Then all the dead fell on him. + +ALDWYTH. Edith, Edith-- + +EDITH. What was he like, this husband? like to thee? +Call not for help from me. I knew him not. +He lies not here: not close beside the standard. +Here fell the truest, manliest hearts of England. +Go further hence and find him. + +ALDWYTH. She is crazed! + +EDITH. That doth not matter either. Lower the light. +He must be here. + + _Enter two_ CANONS, OSGOD _and_ ATHELRIC, _with + torches. They turn over the dead bodies and + examine them as they pass_. + +OSGOD. I think that this is Thurkill. + +ATHELRIC. More likely Godric. + +OSGOD. I am sure this body +Is Alfwig, the king's uncle. + +ATHELRIC. So it is! +No, no--brave Gurth, one gash from brow to knee! + +OSGOD. And here is Leofwin. + +EDITH. And here is _He!_ + +ALDWYTH. Harold? Oh no--nay, if it were--my God, +They have so maim'd and murder'd all his face +There is no man can swear to him. + +EDITH. But one woman! +Look you, we never mean to part again. +I have found him, I am happy. +Was there not someone ask'd me for forgiveness? +I yield it freely, being the true wife +Of this dead King, who never bore revenge. + + _Enter_ COUNT WILLIAM _and_ WILLIAM MALET. + +WILLIAM. Who be these women? And what body is this? + +EDITH. Harold, thy better! + +WILLIAM. Ay, and what art thou? + +EDITH. His wife! + +MALET. Not true, my girl, here is the Queen! + [_Pointing out_ ALDWYTH. + +WILLIAM (_to_ ALDWYTH). +Wast thou his Queen? + +ALDWYTH. I was the Queen of Wales. + +WILLIAM. Why then of England. Madam, fear us not. +(_To_ MALET.) Knowest thou this other? + +MALET. When I visited England, +Some held she was his wife in secret--some-- +Well--some believed she was his paramour. + +EDITH. Norman, thou liest! liars all of you, +Your Saints and all! I am his wife! and she-- +For look, our marriage ring! + [_She draws it off the finger of_ HAROLD. + I lost it somehow-- +I lost it, playing with it when I was wild. +_That_ bred the doubt! but I am wiser now ... +I am too wise.... Will none among you all +Bear me true witness--only for this once-- +That I have found it here again? [_She puts it on_. + And thou, +Thy wife am I for ever and evermore. + [_Falls on the body and dies_. + +WILLIAM. Death!--and enough of death for this one day, +The day of St. Calixtus, and the day, +My day when I was born. + +MALET. And this dead king's +Who, king or not, hath kinglike fought and fallen, +His birthday, too. It seems but yestereven +I held it with him in his English halls, +His day, with all his rooftree ringing 'Harold,' +Before he fell into the snare of Guy; +When all men counted Harold would be king, +And Harold was most happy. + +WILLIAM. Thou art half English +Take them away! +Malet, I vow to build a church to God +Here on the hill of battle; let our high altar +Stand where their standard fell ... where these two lie. +Take them away, I do not love to see them. +Pluck the dead woman off the dead man, Malet! + +MALET. Faster than ivy. Must I hack her arms off? +How shall I part them? + +WILLIAM. Leave them. Let them be! +Bury him and his paramour together. +He that was false in oath to me, it seems +Was false to his own wife. We will not give him +A Christian burial: yet he was a warrior, +And wise, yea truthful, till that blighted vow +Which God avenged to-day. +Wrap them together in a purple cloak +And lay them both upon the waste sea-shore +At Hastings, there to guard the land for which +He did forswear himself--a warrior--ay, +And but that Holy Peter fought for us, +And that the false Northumbrian held aloof, +And save for that chance arrow which the Saints +Sharpen'd and sent against him--who can tell?-- +Three horses had I slain beneath me: twice +I thought that all was lost. Since I knew battle, +And that was from my boyhood, never yet-- +No, by the splendour of God--have I fought men +Like Harold and his brethren, and his guard +Of English. Every man about his king +Fell where he stood. They loved him: and, pray God +My Normans may but move as true with me +To the door of death. Of one self-stock at first, +Make them again one people--Norman, English; +And English, Norman; we should have a hand +To grasp the world with, and a foot to stamp it ... +Flat. Praise the Saints, It is over. No more blood! +I am king of England, so they thwart me not, +And I will rule according to their laws. +(_To_ ALDWYTH.) Madam, we will entreat thee with all honour. + +ALDWYTH. My punishment is more than I can bear. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Queen Mary and Harold, by Alfred Lord Tennyson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN MARY AND HAROLD *** + +This file should be named mrhld10.txt or mrhld10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, mrhld11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mrhld10a.txt + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Tapio Riikonen and Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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