Poems and Essays By the late William Caldwell Roscoe. (Edited with a Prefatory Memoir, by his Brother-in-law, Richard Holt Hutton) |
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Poems and Essays | ||
Scene II.
An Anteroom.A Soldier on guard. Enter Gentlemen.
First Gent.
May we pass in?
Sol.
Ay, sir; it is as open as the day.
[Exeunt Gentlemen.
Enter others.
Sec. Gent.
What! it is not over yet?
Sol.
Oh no, sir; they have but just met.
Sec. Gent.
I have ridden twenty miles to see it.
Sol.
Had you come sixty, it had been worth your while. It is the finest spectacle I ever set eyes on. Earl Felborg hath summoned all the judges, and they sit all in a row in their robes; 'tis the finest sight—and the great throne stands empty. The King himself makes answer at the bar.
Sec. Gent.
They say he shall be hung; that's not possible.
Sol.
It is certain—on a gallows a hundred feet high, and Malgodin on a little one beside him.
Third Gent.
I hope it will be big enough to serve; I would not have him 'scape.
Sol.
What, Malgodin? No fear. There's no chance
Sec. Gent.
Come, I'll go see it.
[Exeunt.
Enter others.
Fourth Gent.
What! is the King tried yet?
Sol.
Judgment will pass shortly.
Fourth Gent.
In, gentlemen. We shall have no
places.
[Exeunt.
Sol.
Nay, I'll not miss it either. I may as well
stand inside as out. A guard's small use where all may
go in.
[Exit.
Poems and Essays | ||