University of Virginia Library

SCENE VII.

The Scene drawn, discovers a Hall with a long Table: The King sitting at the head; on one side the Douglases and Lord Fleming; on the other, Livingston, as Regent; the Chancellor entering, takes his seat next him: the rest of the Council on both sides below.
Livingston.
Our country's state calls loud for swift redress,
Long torn by civil hate; the laws despis'd.
Our Kings, but Kings in name, in vain resent
The wrongs they can't revenge; by statutes bound
Of haughty Lords; which they must stamp for law:
For justice flows from Kings, on them depends.

Fleming.
Far higher's her descent: God is her sire;
His goodness her conceiv'd; his wisdom tutor'd.
These fram'd the laws of order and of love;
Which are not sprung of yesterday; nor shall
To-morrow see them chang'd; they never die.
By these heav'ns Monarch sways the boundless whole.
His vengeance is but vig'rous goodness, arm'd
Against Disorder's rage, to save his offspring;
Nor falls his sword, even on the guilty head,
Till all the power of gentleness has fail'd.

Sir David Douglas.
Be princes thus his images, thus reign,
By stedfast laws, for public good devis'd;
With filial duty serv'd; as sires rever'd.

Fleming.
Let boundless goodness claim unbounded power,
And perfect wisdom to itself give law,
Secure from change where they immortal reign:
But flatt'rers kings seduce, their ear abuse;
And patriot kings their thornes to tyrants leave.
Hence stedfast laws must prince and people guard,
Such as Bruce fram'd with his heroic peers.

Douglas.
These sons of freedom tore the hostile yoke
From Scottish necks, and bad the land be free;
And left the noble purchase to their children;
Nor thought it dearly bought with lives and fortunes.
Freedom's the guard of right, the nurse of truth;
Parent of science, and all gen'rous deeds.
This steel'd their breasts, and made them dauntless rise,
Unconquer'd by defeats; and forc'd at last
Vict'ry to crown a brav'ry so resolv'd.
If such thou reign, thou such shall find thy peers.

King.
Thrice happy Bruce, in peers so true and brave!
If mine be such, I'll worth, like him, reward.

Livingston.
His heirs have felt his lavish bounty sorely,
Which rais'd so many rivals to their power.
Do thou these gifts resume; and at thy will,
King-like, command our fortunes and our lives.
You first, my Lords, into his hands resign
Estates, and honours, privileges, powers;
From royal grace, with int'rest to return;
For by that tenure, Scots henceforth shall hold
Most sure, when none dare blame the royal will.

Fleming.
Liv'd our great sires for this? and bore with joy
The painful march, and dangers of the field?
For this were all their glorious wounds and deaths.
Sure hadst thou shar'd like these the common war,
And shone the first in danger and in fame,
Thou couldst not see thy fellow-soldiers slaves.

Douglas.
And fell so many of my valiant sires
In freedom's cause, that I should first of Scots
Receive the yoke, and teach the peers to serve?
Hear, Scotia's champions once, now guardian saints!
Listen from heaven, and hear your offspring swear
Like you, to die before he lives a slave;
And stain your race, by deeds so nobly rais'd.
Can any think we'll lives or fortunes hold,
Like bubbles blown, or bursting by the breath
Of each vile tool of arbitrary power?
Perhaps a whore's, to whose imperial spleen,
A martial land must, with its tyrant, bend;
While her vile creatures trample down the brave.
Fair Liberty! thy champion I am sworn;
Their deadly foe, who seeks thy sons t'enslave.

Livingston.
Since grace thou scorn'st, vengeance sure awaits,
Heavy to fall and crush thy stubborn pride,
And end at once Aristocratic power.

Douglas
rising.
Beware then, tyrant. Douglas is thy foe;
Whose sword is sacred to his country's cause.

King.
My Lord!—My Cousins! both be pacified.
Sit! calm your wrath!—Be friends!—Dear cousin Douglas,
To me this once your anger sacrifice.

Chancellor,
apart to Livinston.
Scare not your prey; the net's just closing round them.
A moment's patience all your wishes crowns.

King.
Listen! be friends! and make your Sov'reign blest!

Douglas.
His King's desire to Douglas is a law.

[Sits down.
Chancellor.
Will Scotia's dearest son provok'd to wrath
Bathe her in blood? or in his furious rage,
Her skillful pilot steer her on a rock?
To-morrow's sun th'assembled peers beholds:
There free delib'rare; here, in social love,
Enjoy the banquet which prepar'd awaits.

Fleming.
Well spoke! and happy state, where ev'ry rank
May meet, explain their griefs, and find redress;
From faction free, above the tyrant's awe,
And only subject to their country's law.