University of Virginia Library

Scene I.

—Whitehall.
The King, the Queen, Hollis, Lady Carlisle. (Vane, Holland, Savile, in the background.)
Lady Carlisle.
Answer them, Hollis, for his sake! One word!

Charles.
[To Hollis.]
You stand, silent and cold, as though I were
Deceiving you—my friend, my playfellow
Of other times. What wonder after all?
Just so, I dreamed my People loved me.

Hollis.
Sir,
It is yourself that you deceive, not me.
You'll quit me comforted, your mind made up
That, since you've talked thus much and grieved thus much,
All you can do for Strafford has been done.

Queen.
If you kill Strafford—(come, we grant you leave,
Suppose)—

Hollis.
I may withdraw, sir?

Lady Carlisle.
Hear them out!
T is the last chance for Strafford! Hear them out!

Hollis.
“If we kill Strafford”—on the eighteenth day
Of Strafford's trial—“We!”

Charles.
Pym, my good Hollis—
Pym, I should say!

Hollis.
Ah, true—sir, pardon me!
You witness our proceedings every day;
But the screened gallery, I might have guessed,
Admits of such a partial glimpse at us,
Pym takes up all the room, shuts out the view.
Still, on my honour, sir, the rest of the place
Is not unoccupied. The Commons sit
—That's England; Ireland sends, and Scotland too,
Their representatives; the Peers that judge
Are easily distinguished; one remarks
The People here and there: but the close curtain
Must hide so much!

Queen.
Acquaint your insolent crew,
This day the curtain shall be dashed aside!
It served a purpose.

Hollis.
Think! This very day?
Ere Strafford rises to defend himself?

Charles.
I will defend him, sir!—sanction the past
This day: it ever was my purpose. Rage
At me, not Strafford!

Lady Carlisle.
Nobly!—will he not
Do nobly?

Hollis.
Sir, you will do honestly;
And, for that deed, I too would be a king.

Charles.
Only, to do this now!—“deaf” (in your style)
“To subjects' prayers,”—I must oppose them now!
It seems their will the trial should proceed,—
So palpably their will!

Hollis.
You peril much,
But it were no bright moment save for that.
Strafford, your prime support, the sole roof-tree
Which props this quaking House of Privilege,
(Floods come, winds beat, and see—the treacherous sand!)
Doubtless, if the mere putting forth an arm
Could save him, you'd save Strafford.

Charles.
And they mean
Consummate calmly this great wrong! No hope?
This ineffaceable wrong! No pity then?

Hollis.
No plague in store for perfidy?—Farewell!
You called me, sir—[To Lady Carlisle.]
you, lady, bade me come
To save the Earl: I came, thank God for it,
To learn how far such perfidy can go!
You, sir, concert with me on saving him
Who have just ruined Strafford!

Charles.
I?—and how?

Hollis.
Eighteen days long be throws one after one,
Pym's charges back: a blind moth-eaten law!
—He'll break from it at last: and whom to thank?
The mouse that gnawed the lion's net for him
Got a good friend,—but he, the other mouse,
That looked on while the lion freed himself—
Fared he so well, does any fable say?

Charles.
What can you mean?

Hollis.
Pym never could have proved
Strafford's design of bringing up the troops
To force this kingdom to obedience: Vane—
Your servant, not our friend, has proved it.

Charles.
Vane?

Hollis.
This day. Did Vane deliver up or no
Those notes which, furnished by his son to Pym,
Seal Strafford's fate?

Charles.
Sir, as I live, I know
Nothing that Vane has done! What treason next?
I wash my hands of it. Vane, speak the truth!
Ask Vane himself!

Hollis.
I will not speak to Vane,
Who speak to Pym and Hampden every day.

Queen.
Speak to Vane's master then! What gain to him
Were Strafford's death?

Hollis.
Ha? Strafford cannot turn
As you, sir, sit there—bid you forth, demand
If every hateful act were not set down
In his commission?—whether you contrived
Or no, that all the violence should seem
His work, the gentle ways—your own,—his part,
To counteract the King's kind impulses—
While . . . but you know what he could say! And then
He might produce,—mark, sir!—a certain charge
To set the King's express command aside,
If need were, and be blameless. He might add . . .

Charles.
Enough!

Hollis.
—Who bade him break the Parliament,
Find some pretence for setting up sword-law!

Queen.
Retire!

Charles.
Once more, whatever Vane dared do,
I know not: he is rash, a fool—I know
Nothing of Vane!

Hollis.
[Turning to Lady Carlisle.]
[Goes out.

Charles.
On you and on your warning both!—Carlisle!
That paper!

Queen.
But consider!

Charles.
Give it me!
There, signed—will that content you? Do not speak!
You have betrayed me, Vane! See! any day,
According to the tenor of that paper,
He bids your brother bring the army up,
Strafford shall head it and take full revenge.
Seek Strafford! Let him have the same, before
He rises to defend himself!

Queen.
In truth?
That your shrewd Hollis should have worked a change
Like this! You, late reluctant . . .

Charles.
Say, Carlisle,
Your brother Percy brings the army up,
Falls on the Parliament—(I'll think of you,
My Hollis!) say, we plotted long—'t is mine,
The scheme is mine, remember! Say, I cursed
Vane's folly in your hearing! If the Earl
Does rise to do us shame, the fault shall lie
With you, Carlisle!

Lady Carlisle.
Nay, fear not me! but still
That's a bright moment, sir, you throw away.
Tear down the veil and save him!

Queen.
Go, Carlisle!

Lady Carlisle.
(I shall see Strafford—speak to him: my heart
Must never beat so, then! And if I tell
The truth? What's gained by falsehood? There they stand
Whose trade it is, whose life it is! How vain
To gild such rottenness! Strafford shall know,
Thoroughly know them!)

Queen.
Trust to me! [To Carlisle.]
Carlisle,
You seem inclined, alone of all the Court,
To serve poor Strafford: this bold plan of yours
Merits much praise, and yet . . .

Lady Carlisle.
Time presses, madam.

Queen.
Yet—may it not be something premature?
Strafford defends himself to-day—reserves
Some wondrous effort, one may well suppose!

Lady Carlisle.
Ay, Hollis hints as much.

Charles.
Why linger then?
Haste with the scheme—my scheme: I shall be there
To watch his look. Tell him I watch his look!

Queen.
Stay, we'll precede you!

Lady Carlisle.
At your pleasure.

Charles.
Say—
Say, Vane is hardly ever at Whitehall!
I shall be there, remember!

Lady Carlisle.
Doubt me not.

Charles.
On our return, Carlisle, we wait you here!

Lady Carlisle.