 | The Tragedy of Tancred and Gismund |  |
Scæna. 4.
Iulio with his gard bringeth in the County Pal. prisonerIu.
If it please your highnes hither haue we broght
This captiue Earl as you commanded vs.
Whō (as we wer fortold) euen there we found
Where by your maiesty we were inioin'd
To watch for him. What more your highnes willes,
This heart and hand shal execute your hest.
Tan.
Iulio we thank your paines. Ah Palurin,
Haue we deserued in such traiterous sort
Thou shouldst abuse our kingly courtesies,
Which we too long in fauor haue bestowed
Vpon thy false-dissembling hart with vs.
What grief thou therewithal hast throwen on vs
Our soul endures, cannot be vttered.
And durst thou villen dare to vndermine
Our daughters chamber, durst thy shameles face
Be bolde to kisse her: th'rest we wil conceale.
Sufficeth that thou knowest I too wel know
All thy proceedings in thy priuat shames.
Herin what hast thou wonne? thine own content,
With the displeasure of thy Lord and king.
The thought whereof if thou hadst had in mind
The least remorce of loue and loyaltie
Might haue restraind thee from so foule fact.
But Palurin, what may I deem of thee,
Whom neither feare of gods, nor loue of him
(Whose Princely fauor hath been thine vpreare)
Could quench the fewel of thy lewd desires.
Wherfore content thee that we are resolu'd
(And therfore laid to snare thee with this bayt)
That thy iust death, with thine effused blood,
Shal coole the heate and choler of our mood.
Guiz.
My Lord the King, neither do I mislike
Your sentence, nor do your smoking sighes
Reacht from the entrals of your boiling heart,
Disturbe the quiet of my calmed thoughts:
For this I feele, and by experience proue,
Such is the force and endlesse might of loue,
As neuer shal the dread of carren death
That hath enuide our ioyes, inuade my brest,
For if it may be found a fault in me
(That euermore haue lou'd your Maiestie)
Likewise to honor and to loue your child,
If loue vnto you both may be a fault,
Then this hath been my fault, for which I ioy
That in the greatest lust of all my life,
I shall submitte for her sake to endure
The pangues of death. Oh mighty Lord of loue
Strengthen thy vassall, boldlie to receaue
Large wounds into this body for her sake.
Then vse my life or death, my Lord and king,
For your reliefe to ease your grieued soule:
For whether I liue, or els that I must die,
To end your paines I am content to beare:
Knowing by death I shall bewray the trueth
Of that sound hearth which liuing was her owne,
And dide aliue for her that liued mine,
Tan.
Thine Palurin, what, liues my daughter thine?
Traitor thou wrongst me, for she liueth mine.
Rather I wish ten thousand sundrie deaths,
Then I to liue and see my daughter thine.
Thine, that is dearer then my life to me?
Thine, whom I hope to see an Empresse?
Thine, whom I cannot pardon from my sight?
Thine, vnto whom we haue bequeath'd our crown?
Iulio, we wil that thou informe from vs
Renuchio the Capten of our Gard,
That we commaund this traitor be conueyd
Into the dungeon vnderneath our Tower,
There let him rest vntil he be resolu'd
What further we intend, which to vnderstand,
We will Renuchio repaire to vs.
Iul.
O that I might your Maiestie entreate
With clemencie to beautifie your seate,
Toward this Prince distrest by his desires,
Tan.
“This is the soundest safetie for a king
“To cut them off that vex or hinder him.
Iul.
“This haue I found the safetie of a king,
“To spare the Subiects that do honor him.
Tan.
Haue we been honourd by this leachers lust?
Iul.
No, but by this deuout submission.
Tan.
Our fortune saies we must do what we may.
Iul.
“This is praise-worth, not to do what you may.
Tan.
And may the Subiect countermaund the king?
Iul.
No, but intreat him.
Tan.
What he shal decree.
Iul.
What wisdom shall discern.
Iul.
Nay what our word
Shal best determine. We wil not replie.
Thou knowest our mind, our heart cannot be easd,
But with the slaughter of this Palurin.
The king hasteth into his Pallace.
Guis.
O thou great God, who from thy hiest throne
Hast stooped down, and felt the force of loue,
Bend gentle eares vnto the wofull mone,
Of me poore wretch, to graunt that I require:
Help to perswade the same great God, that he
So farre remit his might, and slack his fire
From my deare Ladies kindled heart, that she
May heare my death without her hurt,
Her face, wherein there is as cleere a light
As in the rising moone: let not her cheekes
As red as is the partic-coloured rose.
Be paled with the newes hereof and so
I yeeld my selfe, my sillie soul, and all,
To him, for her, for whom my death shall shew
I liu'd, and as I liu'd, I dide her thrall.
Graunt this thou Thunderer: this shal suffice,
Guizard is led to prison.
Chorus primus.
Who doth not know the fruits of Paris loue,
Nor vnderstand the end of Helens ioy,
He may behold the fatall ouerthrow
Of Priams house, and of the towne of Troy.
His death at last, and her eternal shame,
For whom so many a noble knight was slaine.
So many a Duke, so many a Prince of fame
Bereft his life, and left there in the plaine.
Medeas armed hand, Elizas sword,
Wretched Leander drenched in the floud.
Phillis so long that waited for her Lord
All these too dearly bought their loues with bloud.
Cho. 2.
But he in vertue that his Lady serues
Newils but what vnto her Honor longs,
He neuer from the rule of reason swarues,
He feeleth not the pangs, ne raging throngs
Of blind Cupid: he liues not in despaire
As done his seruants: neither spends his daies
In ioy, and care, vaine hope, and throbbing feare.
But seekes alway what may his soueraine please
In honor: he that thus serues, reapes the fruite
Of his sweet seruice: and no ielous dread
Nor base suspect of ought to let his sute
(Which causeth oft the louers hart to bleed)
Doth fret his mind, or burneth in his brest:
He wayleth not by day, nor wakes by night,
When euery other liuing thing doth rest.
Nor findes his life or death within her sight.
Cho. 3.
Remember thou in vertue serue therfore
As whilom Venus did the faire Adonne,
But as Diana lou'd the Amazons sonne.
Through whose request the gods to him alone
Restorde new life: the twine that was vndone
Was by the sisters twisted vp againe.
The loue of vertue in thy Ladies lookes,
The loue of vertue in her learned talke,
This loue yeelds matter for eternall bookes.
This loue intiseth him abroad to walke,
There to inuent and write new rondelaies
Of learned conceit, her fancies to allure
To vaine delights, such humors he allaies,
And sings of vertue and her garments pure.
Cho. 4.
Desire not of thy Soueraigne the thing
Whereof shame may ensue by any meane:
Nor wish thou ought that may dishonor bring.
So whilom did the learned Tuscan serue
His faire Lady: and glory was their end.
Such are the praises Louers done deserue,
Whose seruice doth to vertue and honor tend.
Composuit Ch. Hat.
| The Tragedy of Tancred and Gismund | |