Robert Browning - Delphi Poets Series
Page 253
I wish you well: you must be very sure
Of the King’s faith, for Pym and all his crew
Will not be idle — setting Vane aside!
STRAFFORD.
If Pym is busy, — you may write of Pym.
CARLISLE.
What need when there’s your king to take your part?
He may endure Vane’s counsel; but for Pym —
Think you he’ll suffer Pym to . . .
STRAFFORD.
Girl, your hair
Is glossier than the Queen’s!
CARLISLE.
Is that to ask
A curl of me?
STRAFFORD.
Scotland — — the weary way!
CARLISLE.
Stay, let me fasten it.
— A rival’s, Strafford?
STRAFFORD.
(Showing the George.) He hung it there: twine yours around it, girl!
CARLISLE.
No — no — another time — I trifle so!
And there’s a masque on foot: farewell: the Court
Is dull: do something to enliven us
In Scotland; we expect it at your hands.
STRAFFORD.
I shall not fall in Scotland.
CARLISLE.
Prosper — if
You’ll think of me sometimes!
STRAFFORD.
How think of him
And not of you? of you — the lingering streak
(A golden one) in my good fortune’s eve?
CARLISLE.
Strafford . . . .
Well, when the eve has its last streak
The night has its first star! (Exit.)
STRAFFORD.
That voice of hers . . .
You’d think she had a heart sometimes! His voice
Is soft too.
Only God can save him now.
Be Thou about his bed, about his path! . . .
His path! Where’s England’s path? Diverging wide,
And not to join again the track my foot
Must follow — whither? All that forlorn way —
Among the tombs! Far — far — till . . . What, they do
Then join again, these paths? For, huge in the dusk,
There’s — Pym to face!
Why then I have a Foe
To close with, and a fight to fight at last
That’s worth my soul! What — do they beard the King —
And shall the King want Strafford at his need —
My King — at his great need? Am I not here?
. . . . Not in the common blessed market-place
Pressed on by the rough artisans, so proud
To catch a glance from Wentworth! They’ll lie down
Hungry and say “Why, it must end some day —
Is he not watching for our sake?”
— Not there!
But in Whitehall — the whited sepulchre —
The . . .
(At the Window, and looking on London.)
Curse nothing to-night! Only one name
They’ll curse in all those streets to-night! Whose fault?
Did I make kings — set up, the first, a man
To represent the multitude, receive
All love in right of them — supplanting them
Until you love the man and not the king — —
The man with the mild voice and mournful eyes
That send me forth . . .
To breast the bloody sea
That sweeps before me — with one star to guide —
Night has its first supreme forsaken star! (Exit.)
ACT III
Scene I. OPPOSITE WESTMINSTER HALL.
SIR HENRY VANE, LORD SAVILE, LORD HOLLAND, and others of the Court.
VANE.
The Commons thrust you out?
SAVILE.
And what kept you
From sharing their civility?
VANE.
Kept me?
Fresh news from Scotland, sir! worse than the last
If that may be! all’s up with Strafford there!
Nothing’s to bar the mad Scots marching hither
The next fine morning! That detained me, sir!
Well now, before they thrust you out, go on,
Their speaker . . . did the fellow Lenthall say
All we set down for him?
HOLLAND.
Not a word missed!
Ere he began, we entered, Savile, I
And Bristol and some more, in hopes to breed
A wholesome awe in the new Parliament — —
But such a gang of graceless ruffians, Vane!
They glared at us. . . .
VANE.
So many?
SAVILE.
Not a bench
Without its complement of burley knaves —
Your son, there, Vane, among them — Hampden leant
Upon his shoulder — think of that!
VANE.
I’d think
On Lenthall’s speech, if I could get at it . . .
He said, I hope, how grateful they should be
For this unlooked-for summons from the King?
HOLLAND.
Just as we drilled him . . .
VANE.
That the Scots will march
On London?
HOLLAND.
All, and made so much of it
A dozen subsidies at least seemed sure
To follow, when . . .
VANE.
Well?
HOLLAND.
’Tis a strange thing now!
I’ve a vague memory of a sort of sound —
A voice — a kind of vast, unnatural voice —
Pym, Sir, was speaking! Savile, help me out, —
What was it all?
SAVILE.
Something about “a matter” . . .
No . . “a work for England.”
BRISTOL.
”England’s great revenge”
He talked of.
SAVILE.
How should I be used to Pym
More than yourselves?
HOLLAND.
However that may be,
‘Twas something with which we had nought to do,
For we were “strangers” and ‘twas “England’s work” —
(All this while looking us straight in the face)
In other words, our presence might be spared:
So, in the twinkling of an eye, before
I settled to my mind what ugly brute
Was likest Pym just then, they yelled us out,
Locked the doors after us, and here are we!
VANE.
Old Eliot’s method . . .
SAVILE.
Ah, now, Vane, a truce
To Eliot and his times, and the great Duke,
And how to manage Parliaments! ‘Twas you
Advised the Queen to summon this — why Strafford
To do him justice would not hear of it!
VANE.
Say, rather, you have done the best of turns
To Strafford — he’s at York — we all know why!
I would you had not set the Scots on Strafford
Till he had put down Pym for us, my lord!
SAVILE.
I? did I alter Strafford’s plans? did I . . .
(Enter a MESSENGER.)
MESSENGER.
The Queen, my lords . . she sends me . . follow me
At once . . ‘tis very urgent . . she would have
Your counsel . . something perilous and strange
Occasions her command.
SAVILE.
We follow, friend!
Now Vane . . your Parliament will plague us all!
VANE.
No Strafford here beside!
SAVILE.
If you dare hint
I had a hand in his betrayal, Sir . . .
HOLLAND.
Nay find a fitter time for
quarrels — Pym
Will overmatch the best of you; and, think,
The Queen!
VANE.
Come on then (as they go out.) . . . understand, I loathe
Strafford as much as any — but he serves
So well to keep off Pym — to screen us all!
I would we had reserved him yet awhile! (Exeunt.)
Scene II. WHITEHALL.
The QUEEN and CARLISLE.
QUEEN.
It cannot be!
CARLISLE.
It is so.
QUEEN.
Why the House
Have hardly met!
CARLISLE.
They met for that.
QUEEN.
No — no —
Meet to impeach Lord Strafford! ‘Tis a jest!
CARLISLE.
A bitter one.
QUEEN.
Consider! ‘Tis the House
We summoned so reluctantly — which nothing
But the disastrous issue of the war
Persuaded us to summon; they’ll wreak all
Their spite on us, no doubt; but the old way
Is to begin by talk of grievances!
They have their grievances to busy them!
CARLISLE.
Pym has begun his speech.
QUEEN.
Where’s Vane? . . That is
Pym will impeach Lord Strafford if he leaves
His Presidency — he’s at York, you know,
Since the Scots beat him — why should he leave York?
CARLISLE.
Because the King sends for him.
QUEEN.
Ah . . . but if
The King did send for him, he let him know
We had been forced to call a Parliament —
A step which Strafford, now I come to think,
Was vehement against . . .
CARLISLE.
The policy
Escaped him of first striking Parliaments
To earth, then setting them upon their feet
And giving them a sword: but this is idle!
— Did the King send for Strafford?
He will come.
QUEEN.
And what am I to do?
CARLISLE.
What do? Fail, Madam!
Be ruined for his sake! what matters how
So it but stand on record that you made
An effort — only one?
QUEEN.
The King’s away
At Theobald’s.
CARLISLE.
Send for him at once — he must
Dissolve the House.
QUEEN.
Wait till Vane finds the truth
Of the report — then . .
CARLISLE.
. . it will matter little
What the king does. Strafford that serves you all —
That’s fighting for you now!
(Enter SIR H. VANE.)
VANE.
The Commons, Madam,
Are sitting with closed doors — a huge debate —
No lack of noise — but nothing, I should guess,
Concerning Strafford: Pym has certainly
Not spoken yet.
QUEEN.
(To CARLISLE.) You hear?
CARLISLE.
I do not hear
That the King’s sent for!
VANE.
Savile will be able
To tell you more.
(Enter HOLLAND.)
QUEEN.
The last news, Holland?
HOLLAND.
Pym
Is raving like a fiend! The whole House means
To follow him together to Whitehall
And force the King to give up Strafford.
QUEEN.
Strafford?
HOLLAND.
If they content themselves with Strafford! Laud
Is talked of, Cottington and Windebank too,
Pym has not left out one of them . . I would
You heard Pym raving!
QUEEN.
Vane, find out the King!
Tell the king, Vane, the People follow Pym
To brave us at Whitehall!
(Enter SAVILE.)
SAVILE.
Not to Whitehall —
‘Tis to the Lords they go — they’ll seek redress
On Strafford from his peers — the legal way,
They call it . . .
QUEEN.
(Wait, Vane!)
SAVILE.
. . But the adage gives
Long life to threatened men! Strafford can save
Himself so readily: at York, remember,
In his own county, what has he to fear?
The Commons only mean to frighten him
From leaving York.
QUEEN.
Surely he will not come!
Carlisle, he will not come!
CARLISLE.
Once more, the King
Has sent for Strafford — He will come.
VANE.
O doubtless;
And bring destruction with him; that’s his way.
What but his coming spoilt all Conway’s plan?
The King must take his counsel, choose his friends,
Be wholly ruled by him! What’s the result?
The North that was to rise — Ireland to help —
What came of it? In my poor mind a fright
Is no prodigious punishment.
CARLISLE.
A fright?
Pym will fail worse than Strafford if he thinks
To frighten him. (To the QUEEN.) You will not save him, then?
SAVILE.
When something like a charge is made, the King
Will best know how to save him: and ‘tis clear
That, while he suffers nothing by the matter,
The King will reap advantage: this in question,
No dinning you with ship-money complaints!
QUEEN (To CARLISLE).
If we dissolve them, who will pay the army?
Protect us from the insolent Scots?
CARLISLE.
In truth
I know not, Madam: Strafford’s fate concerns
Me little: you desired to learn what course
Would save him: I obey you.
VANE.
Notice, too,
There can’t be fairer ground for taking full
Revenge — (Strafford’s revengeful) — than he’ll have
Against this very Pym.
QUEEN.
Why, he shall claim
Vengeance on Pym!
VANE.
And Strafford, who is he
To ‘scape unscathed amid the accidents
That harass all beside? I, for my part,
Should look for something of discomfiture
Had the King trusted me so thoroughly
And been so paid for it.
HOLLAND.
He’ll keep at York:
All will blow over: he’ll return no worse —
Humbled a little — thankful for a place
Under as good a man — Oh, we’ll dispense
With seeing Strafford for a month or two!
(Enter STRAFFORD.)
QUEEN.
You here!
STRAFFORD.
The King sends for me, Madam.
QUEEN.
Sir . . .
The King . . .
STRAFFORD.
An urgent matter that imports the King . . .
(To CARLISLE.) Why, Lucy, what’s in agitation now
That all this muttering and shrugging, see,
Begins at me? They do not speak!
CARLISLE.
Oh welcome!
. . And we are proud of you . . . all very proud
To have you with us, Strafford . . you were brave
At Durham . . You did well there . . Had you not
Been stayed you might have . .
. . we said, even now,
Our last, last hope’s in you!
VANE.
(To CARLISLE.) The Queen would speak
A word with you!
STRAFFORD.
(To VANE.) Will one of you vouchsafe
To signify my presence to the King?
SAVILE.
An urgent matter?
STRAFFORD.
None that touches you
Lord Savile! Say it were some treacherous,
Sly, pitiful intriguing with the Scots —
You would go free, at least! (Aside.) They half divine
My purpose! (To the QUEEN.) Madam, shall I see the King?
The service I would render much concerns
His welfare.
QUEEN.
But his Majesty, my lord,
May not be here, may . . .
STRAFFORD.
Its importance, then,
Must plead excuse for this withdrawal, Madam —
And for the grief it gives Lord Savile here.
QUEEN.
(Who has been conversing with VANE and HOLLAND.)
The King will see you, Sir.
(To CARLISLE.) Mark me: Pym’s worst
Is done by now — he has impeached the Earl,
Or found the Earl too strong for him, by now;
Let us not seem instructed! We should work
No good to Strafford, but deform ourselves
With shame in the world’s eye! (To STRAFFORD.) His Majesty
Has much to say with you.
STRAFFORD.
(Aside.) Time fleeting, too!
(To CARLISLE.) No means of getting them away, Carlisle?
What does she whisper? Does she know my purpose?
What does she think of it? Get them away!
QUEEN.
(To CARLISLE.) He comes to baffle Pym — he thinks the danger
Far off — tell him no word of it — a time
For help will come — we’ll not be wanting, then!
Keep him in play, Carlisle — you, self-possessed
And calm! (To STRAFFORD.) To spare your Lordship some delay
I will myself acquaint the King. (To CARLISLE.) Beware!
(Exeunt QUEEN, VANE, HOLLAND and SAVILE.)
STRAFFORD.
She knows it?
CARLISLE.
Tell me, Strafford. . . .
STRAFFORD.
Afterward!
The moment’s the great moment of all time!
She knows my purpose?
CARLISLE.
Thoroughly — just now
She bade me hide it from you.
STRAFFORD.
Quick, dear girl . .
The whole grand scheme?
CARLISLE.
(Aside.) Ah, he would learn if they
Connive at Pym’s procedure! Could they but
Have once apprized the King! But there’s no time
For falsehood, now. (To STRAFFORD.) Strafford, the whole is known.
STRAFFORD.
Known and approved?
CARLISLE.
Hardly discountenanced.
STRAFFORD.
And the king — say the king consents as well!
CARLISLE.
The king’s not yet informed, but will not dare