University of Virginia Library

Scene the Third.

The Council Room.
The King on his throne, in state. Ruthven, Lords, &c.
King.
Well met, my lords. Are all assembled? No—
I ask not of Lord Bothwell: his high charge
Awhile delays him: but—Earl Morton absent,
No cause assign'd. What means it? well we know
His wisdom, his experience, his authority
O'er all bear powerful sway. Lord Ruthven, answer,
You share his bosom secrets.

Morton enters much agitated.
Mor.
My dread liege,
I pray your pardon—no light cause detain'd me.
Would that the traitor now in tortures writh'd
Before my sight!

King.
Why thus incens'd? Lord Morton,
We are not wont to see you slav'd by passion.

Mor.
Your majesty—Lord Ruthven—here, apart.
Firm as these are, and faithful to our cause,
[They come forward.
They must not catch my whisper'd words.

King.
Speak freely.

Mor.
The transcripts of those bonds which Bothwell's zeal
Gave to your highness, some domestic traitor
Has from my roof purloin'd. The public eye
Must not glance on them.

King.
Be compos'd: this bond
[Producing it.
Is yet unsign'd. But—if the imperious queen
Yield not—her minion—Ruthven— [Stops in doubt.


Ruth.
Say, my liege.

King.
Ere a new day, at midnight, in her chamber,
This night—you understand me! in her chamber,
That very chamber where with lute and song
They interchange their love-sighs.
[Flourish of trumpets.
Hark, those trumpets!
The queen, the queen draws nigh, my lords, be seated.

[The Queen enters in state, Bothwell bearing her sword. Heralds, Guards, &c. All, save the King, rise: the Queen, in passing to her throne, salutes the King.]
Queen.
I greet your highness. It was my intent
First to have met the council, and here waited
The king's arrival. Speak your grace's will,
Whether Earl Murray's banishment, or England
Shall first engage our care.

King.
Let England first
Be heard, thro' her embassador.

Queen.
Go, heralds:
And duly usher to the royal presence
The lord embassador, Sir Thomas Randolph,
Bearer of England's terms.

Randolph enters in state, and kneels to the throne.
Ran.
I humbly greet
Your majesties.

King.
My lord, arise, declare
Your queen's, our sister's pleasure.

Queen.
How! her pleasure!

King.
It needs no tedious preface.

Queen.
Why compel me
To seeming disrespect, or base desertion
Of heaven's high charge? My lord embassador,
The terms of England's queen must be addrest
To Scotland's sov'reign ruler.

King.
Who am I?

Queen.
My lord—my husband, whom I love and honour.
But there are public duties which compel
The soul to their subjection. I stand here
An ancient kingdom's representative,
Sole sov'reign of the realm. In me, my nation,
'Tis Scotland must be honour'd. Say, my lord,
The purport of your mission.

Ran.
England's sov'reign
Sends health, and love, and amity to Scotland.
Be all the past forgotten: peace, henceforth,
Perpetual. Other terms than these we seek not,
That our beloved sister, Scotland's queen,
The king, her nobles, and her states attesting,
With her own hand and signature, confirm
The peace once vow'd at Edinburgh.

Queen.
Never.

King.
It meets our approbation.

Queen.
Say not so:
Repeat not that the king to this consents.
'Tis to resign—my birthright.

Ran.
Sov'reign lady,
Be this renew'd, and firmly ratified,
Thro' me my royal mistress plights her oath,
That the free suffrage of her parliament
Shall by the laws and statutes of our realm,
Determine the succession.

Queen.
No, my lord:
Your parliament may in its balance weigh
The subject's petty claims: mine must be weigh'd
By him who in his balance pois'd the world,
And severing the nations, gave to each
Peculiar blessings: to the south, fair suns,
The maize, and jocund vine, and fruitful olive:
To Scotland, glens, and friths, and heath-clad mountains,
And 'mid bleak rocks, bold hands, and dauntless hearts,
Freedom and independence. Of that race
I sprang: and, first in blood to England's monarchs,
If England's queen go childless to the tomb,
I claim, what none can change, by right divine
The sov'reignty, my birthright.

King.
[Impatient.]
We will sign it;
Give me the treaty. A king's hand shall sign it.

Queen.
If not self-reverence, nor my dignity,
Nor Scotland's glory aught avail, yet—Henry!
Pause! When thy hand has sign'd that deed of shame,
It signs away the rights of one unborn,
The sacred rights of one whose lips' first utterance
Will call thee father. By that honoured name
I now address thee: by that hallow'd union
Which heav'n has sanction'd, by those tender ties
That twine the infant round the parent's heart:
By that which gives the dove and timid hind
The lion's spirit to defend their young,
Sign not that deed of shame. King! husband! hear me:
Father! protect thy child!

King.
[Aside.]
Fix on my brow
The matrimonial crown—

Queen.
The states confer it.
It rests not on my word—

King.
I am thy scorn—
Sign this—or never look to see me more.

Queen.
Farewell!—The sovereign may resign her sceptre,
The mother never will desert her child—

King.
I am resolv'd. A sov'reign thus confirms it.
[Signs it.
My lords, subscribe this treaty. Who refuse,
I hold alike foes to their king and country.

[All but Bothwell sign it.
Queen.
Let me behold their signatures. [Considers them.]
Oh! Scotland!
All, all but one, have sign'd it—

Both.
And that one
Had rather from his arm this right hand sever,
Than sign a deed dishonouring Scotland's queen—
I may not utter in the royal presence
All that my heart contains: but, I will say
That, save my lord the king, all else, whate'er
Their rank, birth, office, whose recorded names
Attest that deed, are to their queen and country
Recorded—Traitors—

Ruth.
[starting up.]
Traitors!—

Queen.
[rising.]
Peace, Earl Ruthven!
My lord embassador, return to England,
And bear my words:—that rather than degrade
The pride and majesty of Scotland's crown,
The crown of many ages:—ere consent
To sacrifice the rights of one unborn,
The child whose blessed lip first calls me mother,
I, at the imperious will of England's queen
Would gladly perish.—To this public insult,
[holding up the treaty.
This ignominious treaty, in whose record
No eye on earth shall e'er again behold
My husband's shame, bear back the sole reply
That honour warrants. [The Queen tears and scatters the treaty.]
This—Farewell! with England
We hold no further conference—

[Embassador departs.
Messenger enters.
Mes.
[to the Queen.]
Gracious sovereign!
Thy servant, Rizzio, earnestly implores
Immediate audience.—Subjects of high import
Urge his entreaty—

Queen.
Will your grace permit it?

King.
You favour him in private—Must he mix
In our state secrets?

Queen.
Favour him in private!
The man, tho' lowly born, is highly minded,
Wise, zealous, firm, in service strictly faithful:
Therefore with liberal and unsparing hand
His merits I have recompens'd. Yet, truly,
If it displease your highness to admit him,
I will in secret hear him.

Ruth.
[To the king.]
My dread liege,
The snake that we behold not surest strikes.
Let him appear before us.

Mor.
[Aside to the king.]
Grant him audience,
Rely on Morton. What this favourite utters
Shall turn to his confusion.

King.
Let him enter.—
Rizzio enters.
Advance not. Speak thy purpose, and depart.
And—I forewarn you, let the cause, bold stranger,
Warrant this rash intrusion.

Queen.
Faithful Rizzio,
Stand nigh my throne.

King.
Be brief.

Riz.
I pray your patience:
I will not long detain you; nor again
Shall Rizzio give the realm and king offence:
For—haply—ere yon sun has clos'd his course,
Nought, save an evanescent name, will mark
That Rizzio once had being. Let me then
Thus prostrate at your throne, my gracious mistress,
Here publicly proclaim, that to your kingdom
A low-born stranger came, that on his zeal
So shone the royal favour, that this wanderer,
This out-cast of the world, who here at last
Had found a home, a country, for that country
Felt what a patriot feels, and freely offer'd
His life a sacrifice to shield the sov'reign,
And Scotland's realm from ruin.
[Rizzio rises.
King! unseal
Your eyes: behold the throne encompass'd round
With treachery and treason.

Ruth.
[Starting up, draws his dagger.]
Silence—Slave!

Mor.
[Staying him, aside.]
Not now the time.

Riz.
[Delivers to the Queen the transcripts of the bonds.]
Receive, my gracious mistress,
The last, last tribute of thy grateful servant,
These bonds. 'Tis Rizzio's farewell legacy.
These, underneath Earl Morton's roof, were found.
Earl Morton fully can the rest unfold.

Mor.
How found?

Riz.
Suffice not these? you see the proofs.

Mor.
Who brought them?

Riz.
Never shall my voice reveal
His name who brought them. For his truth I answer.

Queen.
[attentively considering them.]
'Tis Morton's hand. Fix on the king my crown!
Recall Earl Murray! does my lord the king
Know of these dark designs?

Mor.
Let Morton answer.
These are forg'd instruments.

Queen.
[To Morton.]
I'll prove the truth.
Thy faith or guilt shall now be clearly shown.
Give him the deed [To the Secretary.]
that dooms to banishment
Or death, the rebels. As the act of all,
Sign it, Earl Morton, else—thou art a traitor.

Ruth.
[Aside.]
Ere that deed pass, blood, blood shall flow.

Mor.
[Signs it.]
'Tis sign'd.
See Morton's name. Who doubts his loyalty?

Queen.
[Aside.]
I yet suspect his guilt.

Riz.
This is your hand,
My lord—and—

Mor.
I'll not answer thee, base slanderer.

Ruth.
Must we then bear his insolence? arrest him.
Wait not the law's slow sentence. Vengeance!

Lords.
[Drawing their daggers.]
Vengeance!

Queen.
Traitors, desist.

Both.
Lord Ruthven! curb thy rage.

King.
Bothwell!

Both.
My liege!

Mor.
[Aside to the king.]
Let not the king be troubled.
Rizzio shall surely perish, but not here.

Ruth.
[Advancing to strike Rizzio.]
Vengeance!

Both.
[Draws his sword and interposes.]
Who strikes that man, encounters Bothwell.

Queen.
Brave Earl! lead thou the way. Break up the council.
[To the King.]
And wilt thou not return?

King.
The crown!

Queen.
Farewell.
Approach, my faithful servant—I will guard thee—
Fear not—who aims at Rizzio, wounds his sov'reign.

[Exeunt.