John Dryden - Delphi Poets Series

by John Dryden

  Lor. Why then, father, you must have recourse to your infallible church-remedies; lie impudently, and swear devoutly, and, as you told me but now, let him try whose oath will be first believed. Retire, I hear them coming.

  [They withdraw.

  Enter the Soldiers with Gomez struggling on their backs.

  Gom. Help, good Christians! help, neighbours! my house is broken open by force, and I am ravished, and like to be assassinated! — What do you mean, villains? will you carry me away, like a pedlar’s pack, upon your backs? will you murder a man in plain day-light?

  Soldier. No; but we’ll secure you for a traitor, and for being in a plot against the state.

  Gom, Who, I in a plot! O Lord! O Lord! I never durst be in a plot: Why, how can you in conscience suspect a rich citizen of so much wit as to make a plotter? There are none but poor rogues, and those that can’t live without it, that are in plots.

  Soldier. Away with him, away with him.

  Gom. O my gold! my wife! my wife! my gold! As I hope to be saved now, I know no more of the plot than they that made it.

  [They carry him off, and exeunt.

  Lor. Thus far we have sailed with a merry gale, and now we have the Cape of Good Hope in sight; the trade-wind is our own, if we can but double it.

  [He looks out.

  [Aside.] Ah, my father and Pedro stand at the corner of the street with company; there’s no stirring till they are past.

  Enter Elvira with a casket.

  Elv. Am I come at last into your arms?

  Lor. Fear nothing; the adventure’s ended, and the knight may carry off the lady safely.

  Elv. I’m so overjoyed, I can scarce believe I am at liberty; but stand panting, like a bird that has often beaten her wings in vain against her cage, and at last dares hardly venture out, though she sees it open.

  Dom. Lose no time, but make haste while the way is free for you; and thereupon I give you my benediction.

  Lor. ’Tis not so free as you suppose; for there’s an old gentleman of my acquaintance, that blocks up the passage at the corner of the street.

  Dom. What have you gotten there under your arm, daughter? somewhat, I hope, that will bear your charges in your pilgrimage.

  Lor. The friar has an hawk’s eye to gold and jewels.

  Elv. Here’s that will make you dance without a fiddle, and provide better entertainment for us, than hedges in summer, and barns in winter. Here’s the very heart, and soul, and life-blood of Gomez; pawns in abundance, old gold of widows, and new gold of prodigals, and pearls and diamonds of court ladies, till the next bribe helps their husbands to redeem them.

  Dom. They are the spoils of the wicked, and the church endows you with them.

  Lor. And, faith, we’ll drink the church’s health out of them. But all this while I stand on thorns. Pr’ythee, dear, look out, and see if the coast be free for our escape; for I dare not peep, for fear of being known.

  [Elvira goes to look, and Gomez comes running in upon her: She shrieks out.

  Gom. Thanks to my stars, I have recovered my own territories. — What do I see? I’m ruined! I’m undone! I’m betrayed!

  Dom. [Aside.] What a hopeful enterprise is here spoiled!

  Gom. O, colonel are you there? — and you, friar? nay, then I find how the world goes.

  Lor. Cheer up, man, thou art out of jeopardy; I heard thee crying out just now, and came running in full speed, with the wings of an eagle, and the feet of a tiger, to thy rescue.

  Gom. Ay, you are always at hand to do me a courtesy, with your eagle’s feet, and your tiger’s wings. — And what were you here for, friar?

  Dom. To interpose my spiritual authority in your behalf.

  Gom. And why did you shriek out, gentlewoman?

  Elv. ’Twas for joy at your return.

  Gom. And that casket under your arm, for what end and purpose?

  Elv. Only to preserve it from the thieves.

  Gom. And you came running out of doors —

  Elv. Only to meet you, sweet husband.

  Gom. A fine evidence summed up among you; thank you heartily, you are all my friends. The colonel was walking by accidentally, and hearing my voice, came in to save me; the friar, who was hobbling the same way too, accidentally again, and not knowing of the colonel, I warrant you, he comes in to pray for me; and my faithful wife runs out of doors to meet me, with all my jewels under her arm, and shrieks out for joy at my return. But if my father-in-law had not met your soldiers, colonel, and delivered me in the nick, I should neither have found a friend nor a friar here, and might have shrieked out for joy myself, for the loss of my jewels and my wife.

  Dom. Art thou an infidel? Wilt thou not believe us?

  Gom. Such churchmen as you would make any 448 man an infidel. — Get you into your kennel, gentlewoman; I shall thank you within doors for your safe custody of my jewels and your own.

  [He thrusts his wife off the stage.

  As for you, colonel Huffcap, we shall try before a civil magistrate, who’s the greater plotter of us two, I against the state, or you against the petticoat.

  Lor. Nay, if you will complain, you shall for something.[Beats him.

  Gom. Murder, murder! I give up the ghost! I am destroyed! help, murder, murder!

  Dom. Away, colonel; let us fly for our lives: the neighbours are coming out with forks, and fire-shovels, and spits, and other domestic weapons; the militia of a whole alley is raised against us.

  Lor. This is but the interest of my debt, master usurer; the principal shall be paid you at our next meeting.

  Dom. Ah, if your soldiers had but dispatched him, his tongue had been laid asleep, colonel; but this comes of not following good counsel; ah —

  [Exeunt Lor. and Friar severally.

  Gom. I’ll be revenged of him, if I dare; but he’s such a terrible fellow, that my mind misgives me; I shall tremble when I have him before the judge. All my misfortunes come together. I have been robbed, and cuckolded, and ravished, and beaten, in one quarter of an hour; my poor limbs smart, and my poor head aches: ay, do, do, smart limb, ache head, and sprout horns; but I’ll be hanged before I’ll pity you: — you must needs be married, must ye? there’s for that; [Beats his own head.] and to a fine, young, modish lady, must ye? there’s for that too; and, at threescore, you old, doting cuckold! take that remembrance; — a fine time of day for a man to be bound prentice, when he is past using of his trade; to set up an equipage of noise, when he has 449 most need of quiet; instead of her being under covert-baron, to be under covert-femme myself; to have my body disabled, and my head fortified; and, lastly, to be crowded into a narrow box with a shrill treble,

  That with one blast through the whole house does bound,

  And first taught speaking-trumpets how to sound.[Exit.

  SCENE II. — The Court.

  Enter Raymond, Alphonso, and Pedro.

  Raym. Are these, are these, ye powers, the promised joys,

  With which I flattered my long, tedious absence,

  To find, at my return, my master murdered?

  O, that I could but weep, to vent my passion!

  But this dry sorrow burns up all my tears.

  Alph. Mourn inward, brother; ’tis observed at court,

  Who weeps, and who wears black; and your return

  Will fix all eyes on every act of yours,

  To see how you resent King Sancho’s death.

  Raym. What generous man can live with that constraint

  Upon his soul, to bear, much less to flatter,

  A court like this! Can I sooth tyranny?

  Seem pleased to see my royal master murdered,

  His crown usurped, a distaff in the throne,

  A council made of such as dare not speak,

  And could not, if they durst; whence honest men

  Banish themselves, for shame of being there:

  A government, that, knowing not true wisdom,

  Is scorned abroad, and lives on tricks at home?

  Alph. Vir
tue must be thrown off; ’tis a coarse garment,

  Too heavy for the sun-shine of a court.

  Raym. Well then, I will dissemble, for an end

  So great, so pious, as a just revenge:

  You’ll join with me?

  Alph. No honest man but must.

  Ped. What title has this queen, but lawless force?

  And force must pull her down.

  Alph. Truth is, I pity Leonora’s case;

  Forced, for her safety, to commit a crime,

  Which most her soul abhors.

  Raym. All she has done, or e’er can do, of good,

  This one black deed has damned.

  Ped, You’ll hardly gain your son to our design.

  Raym. Your reason for’t?

  Ped. I want time to unriddle it:

  Put on your t’other face, the queen approaches.

  Enter Leonora, Bertran, and Attendants.

  Raym. And that accursed Bertran

  Stalks close behind her, like a witch’s fiend,

  Pressing to be employed; stand, and observe them.

  Leo. to Bert. Buried in private, and so suddenly!

  It crosses my design, which was to allow

  The rites of funeral fitting his degree,

  With all the pomp of mourning.

  Bert. It was not safe:

  Objects of pity, when the cause is new,

  Would work too fiercely on the giddy crowd:

  Had Cæsar’s body never been exposed,

  Brutus had gained his cause.

  Leo. Then, was he loved?

  Bert. O, never man so much, for saint-like goodness.

  Ped. Had bad men feared him, but as good men loved him,

  He had not yet been sainted.[Aside.

  Leo. I wonder how the people bear his death.

  Bert. Some discontents there are; some idle murmurs.

  Ped. How, idle murmurs! Let me plainly speak:

  The doors are all shut up; the wealthier sort,

  With arms across, and hats upon their eyes,

  Walk to and fro before their silent shops;

  Whole droves of lenders crowd the bankers’ doors,

  To call in money; those, who have none, mark

  Where money goes; for when they rise, ’tis plunder:

  The rabble gather round the man of news,

  And listen with their mouths;

  Some tell, some hear, some judge of news, some make it;

  And he, who lies most loud, is most believed.

  Leo. This may be dangerous.

  Raym. Pray heaven it may![Aside.

  Bert. If one of you must fall,

  Self-preservation is the first of laws;

  And if, when subjects are oppressed by kings,

  They justify rebellion by that law,

  As well may monarchs turn the edge of right

  To cut for them, when self-defence requires it.

  Leo. You place such arbitrary power in kings,

  That I much fear, if I should make you one,

  You’ll make yourself a tyrant; let these know

  By what authority you did this act.

  Bert. You much surprise me, to demand that question:

  But, since truth must be told, ’twas by your own.

  Leo. Produce it; or, by heaven, your head shall answer

  The forfeit of your tongue.

  Raym. Brave mischief towards.[Aside.

  Bert. You bade me.

  Leo. When, and where?

  Bert. No, I confess, you bade me not in words;

  The dial spoke not, but it made shrewd signs,

  And pointed full upon the stroke of murder:

  Yet this you said,

  You were a woman, ignorant and weak,

  So left it to my care.

  Leo. What, if I said,

  I was a woman, ignorant and weak,

  Were you to take the advantage of my sex,

  And play the devil to tempt me? You contrived,

  You urged, you drove me headlong to your toils;

  And if, much tired, and frighted more, I paused,

  Were you to make my doubts your own commission?

  Bert. This ’tis, to serve a prince too faithfully;

  Who, free from laws himself, will have that done,

  Which, not performed, brings us to sure disgrace;

  And, if performed, to ruin.

  Leo. This ’tis, to counsel things that are unjust;

  First, to debauch a king to break his laws,

  Which are his safety, and then seek protection

  From him you have endangered; but, just heaven,

  When sins are judged, will damn the tempting devil,

  More deep than those he tempted.

  Bert. If princes not protect their ministers,

  What man will dare to serve them?

  Leo. None will dare

  To serve them ill, when they are left to laws;

  But, when a counsellor, to save himself,

  Would lay miscarriages upon his prince,

  Exposing him to public rage and hate;

  O, ’tis an act as infamously base,

  As, should a common soldier sculk behind,

  And thrust his general in the front of war:

  It shews, he only served himself before,

  And had no sense of honour, country, king,

  But centered on himself, and used his master,

  As guardians do their wards, with shews of care,

  But with intent to sell the public safety,

  And pocket up his prince.

  Ped. Well said, i’faith;

  This speech is e’en too good for an usurper.[Aside.

  Bert. I see for whom I must be sacrificed;

  And, had I not been sotted with my zeal,

  I might have found it sooner.

  Leo. From my sight!

  The prince, who bears an insolence like this,

  Is such an image of the powers above,

  As is the statue of the thundering god,

  Whose bolts the boys may play with.

  Bert. Unrevenged

  I will not fall, nor single.[Exit.

  Leo. Welcome, welcome! [To RAYM. who kisses her hand.

  I saw you not before: One honest lord

  Is hid with ease among a crowd of courtiers.

  How can I be too grateful to the father

  Of such a son as Torrismond?

  Raym. His actions were but duty.

  Leo. Yet, my lord,

  All have not paid that debt, like noble Torrismond.

  You hear, how Bertran brands me with a crime,

  Of which, your son can witness, I am free.

  I sent to stop the murder, but too late;

  For crimes are swift, but penitence is slow:

  The bloody Bertran, diligent in ill,

  Flew to prevent the soft returns of pity.

  Raym. O cursed haste, of making sure of sin! —

  Can you forgive the traitor?

  Leo. Never, never:

  ’Tis written here in characters so deep,

  That seven years hence, (‘till then should I not meet him,)

  And in the temple then, I’ll drag him thence,

  Even from the holy altar to the block.

  Raym. She’s fired, as I would wish her; aid me, justice, [Aside.

  As all my ends are thine, to gain this point,

  And ruin both at once. — It wounds, indeed,[To her.

  To bear affronts, too great to be forgiven,

  And not have power to punish; yet one way

  There is to ruin Bertran.

  Leo. O, there’s none;

  Except an host from heaven can make such haste

  To save my crown, as he will do to seize it.

  You saw, he came surrounded with his friends,

  And knew, besides, our army was removed

  To quarters too remote for sudden use.

  Raym. Yet you may give commission

  To so
me bold man, whose loyalty you trust,

  And let him raise the train-bands of the city.

  Leo. Gross feeders, lion talkers, lamb-like fighters.

  Raym. You do not know the virtues of your city,

  What pushing force they have; some popular chief,

  More noisy than the rest, but cries halloo,

  And, in a trice, the bellowing herd come out;

  The gates are barred, the ways are barricadoed,

  And One and all’s the word; true cocks o’the game,

  That never ask, for what, or whom, they fight;

  But turn them out, and shew them but a foe,

  Cry — Liberty! and that’s a cause of quarrel.

  Leo. There may be danger in that boisterous rout:

  Who knows, when fires are kindled for my foes,

  But some new blast of wind may turn those flames

  Against my palace-walls?

  Raym. But still their chief

  Must be some one, whose loyalty you trust.

  Leo. And who more proper for that trust than you,

  Whose interests, though unknown to you, are mine?

  Alphonso, Pedro, haste to raise the rabble;

  He shall appear to head them.

  Raym. [Aside to Alph. and Ped.]

  First sieze Bertran,

  And then insinuate to them, that I bring

  Their lawful prince to place upon the throne.

  Alph. Our lawful prince!

  Raym. Fear not; I can produce him.

  Ped. [To Alph.]

  Now we want your son Lorenzo: what a mighty faction

  Would he make for us of the city-wives,

  With, — Oh, dear husband, my sweet honey husband,

  Wont you be for the colonel? if you love me,

  Be for the colonel; Oh, he’s the finest man! [Exeunt Alph. and Ped.

  Raym. So, now we have a plot behind the plot.

  She thinks, she’s in the depth of my design,

  And that ’tis all for her; but time shall show,

  She only lives to help me ruin others,

  And last, to fall herself.[Aside.

  Leo. Now, to you, Raymond: can you guess no reason

  Why I repose such confidence in you?

  You needs must think,

  There’s some more powerful cause than loyalty:

  Will you not speak, to save a lady’s blush?

  Need I inform you, ’tis for Torrismond,

  That all this grace is shown?

  Raym. By all the powers, worse, worse than what I feared! [Aside.

  Leo. And yet, what need I blush at such a choice?

  I love a man whom I am proud to love,

  And am well pleased my inclination gives