For pardon and possession of their will;
And for your kingship - sir, assure yourself
That in few hours it shall be seen and sure
You shall need never seek their loves again
Or hands to help you to it or tongues to cry,
Nor be called king by will of any man
Nor lord by choice of any friend on earth.
DARNLEY.
Nay, I would need no voices.
QUEEN.
And be sure
You shall not build your power on loves of theirs
Nor live by their election. Go, and thrive:
Think how my faith and hope and love in you
Find all their rest and stronghold, and on them
Set up your trust and standard of your strength.
Exit Darnley.
So much is done; go thou then first to death;
For from this hour I have thee. Heart, lie still,
Till I may make those mightier traitors mine
That shall be swords for me to smite him with,
And then be free as fire.
Enter Mary Beaton
Hast thou no news?
MARY BEATON.
The lord of Bothwell lies at secret ward
To bear you forth of peril here by force;
He has gathered up his men beyond the walls
To break this guard upon you when you will,
If at your suit it shall not be withdrawn;
Here is his token brought me privily
For your own hand.
QUEEN.
No, in my heart it is,
My love and lord, thy token; this poor heart
That ere mine ear is smitten with thy name
Hears it and turns to springing fire. What thanks
Would I not rather pay than these of words
For this thy loving speed? Yet send him these,
And bid him, I would fain say come, but wait
Till I have tried my traitors; if my tongue
Win them to slack their hold on me to-night,
We may speed surelier; if their hands hold fast,
Then let him smite and slay and set me free.
I would have all their heads here in my lap,
Tell him, not one or two slain suddenly,
That their blood shed may seem not spilt by chance
Nor lost and won in hazard of affray
But sacrificed by judgment, and their names
Who would have made of royalty in me
Ruin, and marred the general name of king,
Shall with their lives be perfectly put out,
Royally ruined; wherefore if I may
I will steal forth with subtle help of words,
Not break their bonds with violence; in which hope
Bid him watch close.
Exit Mary Beaton.
And when his watch is done
It will be morning, and the sun shall break
As fire for them that had their hour by night
And light for wrath to see them and to slay.
Re-enter Arthur Erskine, introducing Murray
ARTHUR ERSKINE.
Madam, my lord of Murray.
QUEEN.
Ah, my brother,
Had you been here they had not used me thus.
MURRAY.
I am sorry, madam, such things should be done
As even the strain of sharp necessity
Can make but fierce and bitter.
QUEEN.
Is this all?
Nay, it was necessary then and just,
Or I must seem and strive to think it was,
If you say so. But in my present sight,
Now when a feather’s or a flower’s weight borne
Might make life stoop within me, sense break down,
All strong capacities of nature fail;
Now when the hardest heart with iron bound
Might turn to very mercy for my sake,
Here in mine eye to do my friend to death -
For howsoe’er ye hold him, yet being dead
I will not say but he was friend of mine
Who lies now dead and slaughtered - nay, by heaven,
I will not cast that name of friend away
Because the man my friend is slain for me -
I say, to kill him at my knee, to stain
An unborn child’s brow with his murdered blood,
To affray with sanguine hands, shake with sheer blows,
The weak and holy warders of the womb,
The reverence and remembrance of us all
For that which bare us hidden before birth
And after was called mother - O, this deed,
This, though all law were cast out of the world,
All grace forgotten - this, you will not say
But they did ill who did it. What, you weep?
These tears are made of our dear father’s blood,
Who left in each of us such part of him
As must yearn each toward other, and divide
At need their mutual suffering: I knew well
I need not fear to find not in your heart
Some natural seed of comfort.
MURRAY.
That I weep
I take no shame, to see you; but mine eyes
Receive more comfort than their tears can give
To see, for all this rash and ruthless night,
Yet you stand up unwounded, and your heart
Is left you to put spirit in your speech
Not like a sick man’s; if you have no hurt,
No hurt is done though they did violently:
For this man’s life was as a present death
To the well-being and peace of all your state,
Which by the force of justice done on him
Stands now in surety. I would pray you make
Your profit of your pain herein, being wise,
As you well may; for this was not the man
That you saw slain, but the man’s policy,
Stabbed through with all their daggers; and you see
How it lies dead and outcast. I beseech you,
For your own love and honour of high rule,
Set not your heart toward it to raise it up
That men would bury, lest the graveyard reek
Of dead men’s craft and strange men’s creeds brought back
Prove poison to you.
QUEEN.
I will do what men will.
I must not die then?
MURRAY.
There are those would have it,
For scandal and offence cast on the realm
By shame done to the popular commonwealth
In majesty made shameful; as they say
Through you it hath been, and your dealings known
With this dead friend; some that would leave you life
Spake of life spent in sharp imprisonment
Unto your death’s day; but by mine award
You are quit of either danger; you must live
But under guard till you by word approve
This man’s despatch for necessary and just,
Submit yourself to call your husband king,
And own the true faith rooted in this realm
For lawful and for sovereign here of rule.
So much you shall.
QUEEN.
Nay, I will more than this.
I will seal now what you will have me seal,
What bond soever: let them come to me
Who wrought this murderous matter but last night
That I may sign their pardon with my tongue
Ere they can crave or threaten. Let them come;
So shall my perfect purpose be more plain
Freely in all things to submit myself -
I have your word already - to their will:
Ay, even with all my new submissive heart,
As else I cannot choose; for what am I
/> That I should think much to submit myself?
MURRAY.
You shall do wisely to keep faith with them
And make your word your action’s measure; so
Shall hearts now loosened from you be made fast
And love reclaimed wait on you loyally
Through all your land’s length. See, the lords are come.
Enter Darnley, Morton, and Ruthven
QUEEN.
Good morrow, sirs; ye gave me no good night,
Yet are you welcome even as life or death
Were welcome to me, coming with your will;
For without love of my good lords my life
Were scarce worth holding out against their will,
But if it please them I should die not yet,
For their love’s sake I give it welcome. Sirs,
I have heard what terms ye lay upon mine head,
And bow beneath them willingly, being sure
It is but meet I should submit myself,
It is but fit mere majesty bow down
To take the burden by good men and wise
Imposed upon it; nor shall this be hard;
For what ye did so suddenly and swift,
If there be power of pardon in me, here
With as good heart even as ye did the deed
Do I forgive it; nay, I should give you thanks
That ye vouchsafe of me to be forgiven;
For what am I among you? Let the bond
Be drawn between us presently to sign,
While for an hour’s space I will walk and wait
Here with my noble brother, hand in hand,
And heart reposed on heart, eyes answering eyes,
With pure plain faith; for what now in the world
Should lies or dumb dissembling profit me
Though I were natural liar? as I do trust
Ye shall not find me but most faithful; yet,
If I were falser than the foam of the sea
And wilfuller than wind, what should I do,
Being yours, to mock you and myself, and lie
Against mine own life? for ye see me, sirs,
How I stand bare between you, without strength,
At your mere mercy, with no friend on earth
If ye will be mine unfriends; and I think
To live but by your grace and leave, who might
If ye were minded speak me out of life
Or sign me dead with smiling; I were mad
To play with lies, who feel your hands on me
So heavy as they are, and have no hope
Save to be pitied and believed of you.
I pray you then have faith in me, who live
In your faith only, and if it fail me here
Must die the lowliest death in all the world,
And no man’s hand to help me.
DARNLEY.
She says truth;
There is no hand.
MORTON.
Madam, though faith stand fast,
Yet fear hath something here to say of you,
And wisdom to remember; we must think
That what is done in service of yourself
You cannot hold good service when it comes
So masked in bloods, so vizarded like death,
As this of ours doth; and that yet in time
You may find mean to wreak your wrath on us
For having strangely served you, and perforce
Given desperation and the dangerous time
So desperate a deliverance from despair.
We have saved you in this service done the state,
Who must have else been broken in the breach
Of the state’s order and the popular law
By this man living violently misused;
But cannot hope yet for such thanks of you
As even the deed deserves whose fierce despatch
Has shaken you with thunder, and its flame
Still makes your eyes blind to the good work done
And sharp need felt of it; so must this be,
And so must we take heed lest being yet blind
We give you scope and mean to hurt yourself.
QUEEN.
I did not think the thing was yet alive
That could fear me.
DARNLEY.
Nay, look you, she says right;
We have no room to fear her.
QUEEN.
Lo, my lords,
How dangerous and how strong a thing it is
That threatens here your state and safety; see,
It is no less than woman, and unarmed,
Half dead, unfriended, hard on childbearing,
Naked of arms or means; it were not wise
To leave unguarded, without spies or swords
About her path, so great a danger; yea,
Wise men would rather fear her force too much
Than good men show compassion. Do your wills;
I am well content to know you wise, and so
To bear what hard or lighter weight ye please;
How sore soever, God knows, I believe
It shall not long afflict me.
MURRAY.
In my mind,
It now shall less distract the general eye
With apprehension of strange times and strife
To see the ways again made clear, and gates
Not crowded up with guard.
DARNLEY.
Why, so I said.
RUTHVEN.
So I say not. Bear with me though I seem
Less confident or free of heart than men,
Whose minds are gentle as their names, should be
In things of common care; what hurt may come
By fault of us we know not, but we know
It is no private peril; if we err,
Not we nor ours must only ache for it,
But the whole popular heart of this great land
Must bleed and break for our false friendship shown
And confident remission of our cause
And very duty toward her, through mere wish
To be called gentle toward her enemies.
QUEEN.
I am her enemy then: where lies my strength?
What field? what weapon? how shall we make war,
Take truce and break it, with what equal face
Stand brow to brow for battle? By this hand,
I knew not yet how strong it was, nor worth
How many hands of swordsmen; were this true,
I might wax proud to be so terrible,
Seeing in such great men’s eyes so great a fear
And only mine own fearful face therein
As in a mirror shadowed.
DARNLEY.
’Tis mere truth;
We should be shamed to seem in fear of her,
Yea, made a mockery in men’s eyes and mouths
For base and blind misgiving.
RUTHVEN.
You, my lords
And equals with me in the proof of years,
In the age of counsel and experience borne
Of common service done our natural state,
Shall best pass judgment if in hate or fear
I speak for mine own ends or enmities
To turn your hearts from honour; for the queen,
As she shall be toward God, so I toward her
Would be fast friend and servant; but wherein
She is not friend with heaven nor with the state
I were no friend to serve her, nor to say
There were no danger and no sin to serve.
Ye must all think I think not to live long;
And being so signed of sickness for my grave
With such a mortal seal, I speak alive
As one being dead that speaketh; if ye lose
The grace of God here won by your own hands,
The power ye have to serve him, and the effect
Of his good hour, through
negligence of will
Or pride or pity, ye shall see the state
Break from your hands, and for one devil cast out
Seven entered in its body. Sirs, take heed;
The least thing lightly overlooked or done
May undo all things wrought. Keep fast your guards;
By the king’s counsel if they be withdrawn,
Upon his head that bade them go shall rest
What bloodshed ever follows; yet in time
Think nothing weak that is not with us; each
May have some sting or weapon of itself
That till sloth feel it sees not.
QUEEN.
A wise rule:
So should the wary wolf pen up the lambs,
The falcon set good guard upon the wren,
For fear of teeth or talons.
MURRAY.
We will give
To the king’s hand the bond for yours to sign;
Meantime all ease and reverence shall you have,
And freedom for your household folk to serve
As best your need may bid them.
QUEEN.
Sirs, farewell.
I will not pray you do but what ye will,
Which shall seem wisely to me. - Let me have
Word of their instant sentence.
Aside to Darnley.
DARNLEY aside.
With all speed.
Exeunt Darnley, Murray, Morton, and Ruthven.
QUEEN.
Where are my servants Standen and Traquair?
ARTHUR ERSKINE.
At hand to serve your highness.
QUEEN.
Ah, to serve!
My highness is brought low, too low to claim
Service of men; if I may find but love
Or only pity of any, this shall be
All utmost service I desire of them.
I have but my sorrows to my subjects left,
And these rebellious; yet I keep what state
And rule I may upon them. Tell those twain
I pray their patience lend me but the time
To hear what I would have them, and to choose
If they will do it for pity.
ARTHUR ERSKINE.
Think them here
And your will done already.
Exit.
QUEEN.
Yea, my will!
What knowest thou may my will be? by this light,
Delphi Complete Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne (Illustrated) (Delphi Poets Series) Page 208