Court

ing 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 Worthy my soul! What, do they beard the King, And shall the King want Strafford at his need? Am I not here?

Not in the market-place, Pressed on by the rough artisans, so proud To catch a glance from Wentworth! They lie down

Hungry yet smile, "Why, it must end some

day:

Is he not watching for our sake?" Not there!
But in Whitehall, the whited sepulchre,
The.

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

LORD SAVILE, LORD HOLLAND and others of the Court.

Sir H. 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 to bar the mad Scots marching hither
Next Lord's-day morning. That detained me,
sir!

Well now, before they thrust you out, - go on,-
Their Speaker - did the fellow Lenthal say
All we set down for him?
Holland.

Not a word missed.
Ere he began, we entered, Savile, I
And Bristol and some more, with hope to breed
A wholesome awe in the new Parliament.
But such a gang of graceless ruffians, Vane,
As glared at us!

Vane. Sav.

So many?

Not a bench

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. Eliot's old method
Sav.
Prithee, 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, Straf-
ford

(To do him justice) would not hear of it.

Vane. Say rather, you have done the best of

Queen.

No, no!

Meet to impeach Lord Strafford? "T is a jest.
Lady Car. A bitter one.
Queen.
Consider! 'T is 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.
Lady Car. 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, we know,
Since the Scots beat him: why should he leave
York?

Lady Car. Because the King sent for him.
Queen.
Ah - but if
The King did send for him, he let him know
We had been forced to call a Parliament

Sav.

(SAVILE enters.)

Not to Whitehall'T is to the Lords they go: they seek redress On Strafford from his peers the legal way, They call it.

Queen. (Wait, Vane!) Sav. 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. Surely, he will not come. Queen. Lucy, he will not come ! Lady Car. Once more, the King Has sent for Strafford. He will come. Vane. Oh 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.

Lady Car.

A fright? Pym will fail worse than Strafford if he thinks To frighten him. [To the QUEEN.] You will not save him then?

Sav. When something like a charge is made, the King

Will best know how to save him: and 't is clear,
While Strafford suffers nothing by the matter,
The King may reap advantage: this in question,
No dinning you with ship-money complaints!
Queen. [To Lady CARLISLE.] If we dissolve
them, who will pay the army?
Protect us from the insolent Scots ?
Lady Car.

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 his old friend Pym.

Queen.

Vengeance on Pym!

Vane.

Why, he shall claim

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.

My purpose!) Madam, shall I see the King?
The service I would render, much concerns
His welfare.
But his Majesty, my lord,

Its importance, then,

Queen.
May not be here, may
Straf.
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 Lady 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 STRAF-
FORD.] His Majesty
Has much to say with you.
Straf.

Time fleeting, too! [To Lady CARLISLE.] No means of getting them away? And She

What does she whisper? Does she know my purpose?

What does she think of it? Get them away!
Queen. [To Lady 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, Lucy-you, self-possessed
And calm! To STRAFFORD.] To spare your
lordship some delay

I will myself acquaint the King. [To LADY
CARLISLE. Beware!

[The QUEEN, VANE, HOLLAND, and SAVILE go out. Straf. She knows it?

Lady Car. Tell me, Strafford!

Straf.

Afterward!

This moment's the great moment of all time. She knows my purpose?

Lady Car.

Thoroughly: just now

Quick, dear child,

She bade me hide it from you. Straf.

The whole o' the scheme?

Lady Car.

(Ah, he would learn if they Connive at Pym's procedure! Could they but Have once apprised the King! But there's no

time

Lady Car. Stay-stay, Strafford ! Straf. She'll return, The Queen -some little project of her own! No time to lose the King takes fright perhaps. Lady Car. Pym's strong, remember! Straf. Very strong, as fits The Faction's head with no offence to Hampden,

Vane, Rudyard, and my loving Hollis: one
And all they lodge within the Tower to-night
In just equality. Bryan! Mainwaring!
[Many of his Adherents enter.
The Peers debate just now (a lucky chance)
On the Scots' war; my visit 's opportune.
When all is over, Bryan, you proceed
To Ireland: these dispatches, mark me, Bryan,
Are for the Deputy, and these for Ormond:
We want the army here- my army, raised
At such a cost, that should have done such good,
And was inactive all the time! no matter,

[STRAFFORD and the rest go out. Lady Car. The King ever the King! No thought of one beside, whose little word Unveils the King to him- one word from me, Which yet I do not breathe!

Ah, have I spared Strafford a pang, and shall I seek reward Beyond that memory? Surely too, some way He is the better for my love. No, no He would not look so joyous - I'll believe His very eye would never sparkle thus, Had I not prayed for him this long, long while.

SCENE III. The Antechamber of the House of Lords. Many of the Presbyterian Party. The Adherents of STRAFFORD, etc.

A Group of Presbyterians. 1. I tell you he struck Maxwell: Maxwell sought

A Presbyterian.

No doubt.

With the great army at his back!

4.

Gentlemen,

Stand back! a great thing passes here.

A Follower of Strafford. [To another.] The Earl

Is at his work! [To M.] Say, Maxwell, what great thing!

Speak out! [To a Presbyterian.] ̧Friend, I've a kindness for you! Friend,

I've seen you with St. John: O stockishness!
Wear such a ruff, and never call to mind
St. John's head in a charger? How, the plague,
Not laugh?

Another. Say, Maxwell, what great thing!
Another.
Nay, wait:
And who 's to bear

The jest will be to wait.

First.

Pym?

Pym!

Only Pym?

Many of Strafford's Followers. No, brother, not Pym only; Vane as well,

Rudyard as well, Hampden, St. John as well! A Presbyterian. My mind misgives: can it be true?

Another. Lost! Lost!

A Strafford. Say we true, Maxwell? The Puritan. Pride before destruction, A haughty spirit goeth before a fall.

Many of Strafford's Followers. Ah now! The very thing! A word in season!

A golden apple in a silver picture
To greet Pym as he passes!

[The doors at the back begin to open, noise and light
issuing.
Max.
Stand back, all!
Many of the Presbyterians. I hold with Pym!
And I!

Strafford's Followers.

He comes! Quick!

Now for the text!

The Puritan. How hath the oppressor ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked! The sceptre of the rulers, he who smote The people in wrath with a continual stroke, That ruled the nations in his anger - he

Is persecuted and none hindereth!

[The doors open, and STRAFFORD issues in the greatest disorder, and amid cries from within of "Void the House!"

Straf. Impeach me! Pym! I never struck, I think,

The felon on that calm insulting mouth When it proclaimed - Pym's mouth proclaimed me.. God!

Was it a word, only a word that held The outrageous blood back on my heartwhich beats!

On the King's service! Maxwell, clear the way! [The Presbyterians prepare to dispute his passage. Straf. I stay: the King himself shall see me here.

Your tablets, fellow!

[To MAINWARING.] Give that to the King! Yes, Maxwell, for the next half-hour, let be! Nay, you shall take my sword!

[MAXWELL advances to take it. Or, no- not that! Their blood, perhaps, may wipe out all thus far. All up to that-not that! Why, friend, you see When the King lays your head beneath my foot It will not pay for that. Go, all of you!