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Дата написания1970-01-01
Язык книгиen
Возрастное ограничение12+
Жанры
зарубежная драматургиязарубежная классиказарубежная старинная литературалитература 18 векапьесы и драматургия

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Farewell, my lord; and, if you can, be happy!

To woo two queens has been your daring aim;

You have disdained a tender, loving heart,

Betrayed it in the hope to win a proud one:

Kneel at the feet of Queen Elizabeth!

May your reward not prove your punishment.

Farewell; I now have nothing more on earth.

[She goes, preceded by the SHERIFF; at her side

MELVIL and her nurse; BURLEIGH and PAULET follow;

the others, wailing, follow her with their eyes

till she disappears; they then retire through the

other two doors.

SCENE X.

LEICESTER (remaining alone).

Do I live still? Can I still bear to live?

Will not this roof fall down and bury me?

Yawns no abyss to swallow in its gulf

The veriest wretch on earth? What have I lost?

Oh, what a pearl have I not cast away!

What bliss celestial madly dashed aside!

She's gone, a spirit purged from earthly stain,

And the despair of hell remains for me!

Where is the purpose now with which I came

To stifle my heart's voice in callous scorn?

To see her head descend upon the block

With unaverted and indifferent eyes?

How doth her presence wake my slumbering shame?

Must she in death surround me with love's toils?

Lost, wretched man! No more it suits thee now

To melt away in womanly compassion:

Love's golden bliss lies not upon thy path,

Then arm thy breast in panoply of steel,

And henceforth be thy brows of adamant!

Wouldst thou not lose the guerdon of thy guilt,

Thou must uphold, complete it daringly!

Pity be dumb; mine eyes be petrified!

I'll see-I will be witness of her fall.

[He advances with resolute steps towards the door

through which MARY passed; but stops suddenly half way.

No! No! The terrors of all hell possess me.

I cannot look upon the dreadful deed;

I cannot see her die! Hark! What was that?

They are already there. Beneath my feet

The bloody business is preparing. Hark!

I hear their voices. Hence! Away, away

From this abode of misery and death!

[He attempts to escape by another door;

finds it locked, and returns.

How! Does some demon chain me to this spot?

To hear what I would shudder to behold?

That voice-it is the dean's, exhorting her;

She interrupts him. Hark-she prays aloud;

Her voice is firm-now all is still, quite still!

And sobs and women's moans are all I hear.

Now, they undress her; they remove the stool;

She kneels upon the cushion; lays her head--

[Having spoken these last words, and paused awhile,

he is seen with a convulsive motion suddenly to shrink

and faint away; a confused hum of voices is heard at

the same moment from below, and continues for some time.

SCENE XI.

The Second Chamber in the Fourth Act.

ELIZABETH (entering from a side door; her gait and action expressive

of the most violent uneasiness).

No message yet arrived! What! no one here!

Will evening never come! Stands the sun still

In its ethereal course? I can no more

Remain upon the rack of expectation!

Is it accomplished? Is it not? I shudder

At both events, and do not dare to ask.

My Lord of Leicester comes not,-Burleigh too,

Whom I appointed to fulfil the sentence.

If they have quitted London then 'tis done,

The bolt has left its rest-it cuts the air-

It strikes; has struck already: were my realm

At stake I could not now arrest its course.

Who's there?

SCENE XII.

Enter a PAGE.

ELIZABETH.

Returned alone? Where are the lords?

PAGE.

My Lord High-Treasurer and the Earl of Leicester?

ELIZABETH.

Where are they?

PAGE.

They are not in London.

ELIZABETH.

No!

Where are they then?

PAGE.

That no one could inform me;

Before the dawn, mysteriously, in haste

They quitted London.

ELIZABETH (exultingly).

I am Queen of England!

[Walking up and down in the greatest agitation.

Go-call me-no, remain, boy! She is dead;

Now have I room upon the earth at last.

Why do I shake? Whence comes this aguish dread?

My fears are covered by the grave; who dares

To say I did it? I have tears enough

In store to weep her fall. Are you still here?

[To the PAGE.

Command my secretary, Davison,

To come to me this instant. Let the Earl

Of Shrewsbury be summoned. Here he comes.

[Exit PAGE.

SCENE XIII.

Enter SHREWSBURY.

ELIZABETH.

Welcome, my noble lord. What tidings; say

It cannot be a trifle which hath led

Your footsteps hither at so late an hour.

SHREWSBURY.

My liege, the doubts that hung upon my heart,

And dutiful concern for your fair fame,

Directed me this morning to the Tower,

Where Mary's secretaries, Nau and Curl,

Are now confined as prisoners, for I wished

Once more to put their evidence to proof.

On my arrival the lieutenant seemed

Embarrassed and perplexed; refused to show me

His prisoners; but my threats obtained admittance.

God! what a sight was there! With frantic looks,

With hair dishevelled, on his pallet lay

The Scot like one tormented by a fury.

The miserable man no sooner saw me

Than at my feet he fell, and there, with screams,

Clasping my knees, and writhing like a worm,

Implored, conjured me to acquaint him with

His sovereign's destiny, for vague reports

Had somehow reached the dungeons of the Tower

That she had been condemned to suffer death.

When I confirmed these tidings, adding, too,

That on his evidence she had been doomed,-

He started wildly up,-caught by the throat

His fellow-prisoner; with the giant strength

Of madness tore him to the ground and tried

To strangle him. No sooner had we saved

The wretch from his fierce grapple than at once

He turned his rage against himself and beat

His breast with savage fists; then cursed himself

And his companions to the depths of hell!

His evidence was false; the fatal letters

To Babington, which he had sworn were true,

He now denounced as forgeries; for he

Had set down words the queen had never spoken;

The traitor Nau had led him to this treason.

Then ran he to the casement, threw it wide

With frantic force, and cried into the street

So loud that all the people gathered round:

I am the man, Queen Mary's secretary,

The traitor who accused his mistress falsely;

I bore false witness and am cursed forever!

ELIZABETH.

You said yourself that he had lost his wits;

A madman's words prove nothing.

SHREWSBURY.

Yet this madness

Serves in itself to swell the proof. My liege,

Let me conjure thee; be not over-hasty;

Prithee, give order for a new inquiry!

ELIZABETH.

I will, my lord, because it is your wish,

Not that I can believe my noble peers

Have in this case pronounced a hasty judgment.

To set your mind at rest the inquiry shall

Be straight renewed. Well that 'tis not too late!

Upon the honor of our royal name,

No, not the shadow of a doubt shall rest.

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