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 | Plays and Poems |  |
SCENE V.
The State Apartments in the Tower. Queen Anne alone.Queen Anne
There 's not a pang remains; there 's not a wound,
That hate can give, at which my nerveless heart
Would shrink appalled The storm of life has blown,
And rent my prospect into countless shreds,
Chaotic, undistinguished, featureless—
Without a point, before me or behind,
On which a once familiar eye may rest—
And all is calm again. Calm, very calm,—
An utter desolation fixed and grim,
And barren as the sand. No queen, no wife—
226
My helpless child, whose rights were all in me,
How could a mother blast her memory,
Even in thy eyes, by yielding to her foes
Thy royal heritage? Thou 'lt hate me, love;
Thou 'lt say thy mother wronged thee, eking out
Her worthless days with treasures stolen from thee;
Unweeting how thy uncle and my friends
Owed life to thee. Why must I wander down
All coming time to pick new sorrows out?—
(A bell tolls. Queen Anne rushes to the door.)
Whose knell is that?
Sentinel.
(Without.)
Lord Rochford's.
Queen A.
Duped, duped, duped!
O God! my brother!—Is there such a one
As an avenging God to look on this,
And not launch fire like rain? O! shameless men!—
Men with God's raiment on their placid limbs—
Who almost swore his life should be preserved,
If I opposed not this divorce. O nature!—
Thou who dost send the harmless race of flowers,
And dews, and sunshine, and all gracious things—
What creatures hast thou sent to people earth,
And blot thy fair creation? Cut them down!
Or make this globe a dusty wilderness,
Fit for their habitation! Man, O man!
Thou art the only thing in nature's scheme
That seems disjointed from the harmony,—
The latest thought and worst!
(Enter Mary Wyatt.)
Mary Wyatt
Your majesty—
227
I prithee mock me not. I am no queen,
Nor wife, nor maid—I know not what I am!
Mary W.
What has disturbed you?
Queen A.
Did you hear that bell?
Mary W.
Pray, pray forgive me!
[Kneels, weeping.]
Queen A.
Nay, I'll kneel to you,
If I have vexed you.
[A distant shot is heard.]
Rochford!
[Another shot.]
Norris!
[Another shot.]
Weston!
[Another shot.]
And Brereton! Why stop your cannon? Shoot!—
Shoot on, till half the world shall suffer death;
For you have slain the noblest part! No, no;
The next shall be my own!
Mary W.
Alas! alas!
[Weeping.]
Queen A.
Why weep you, girl? My brother was in heaven,
Ere you could hear the noisy cannon-shot
Tell his departure.
Mary W.
Would your highness fly,
If I could ope these hideous prison-doors?
Queen A.
Not for the world.
Mary W.
My brother has a plan
To raise the common people in revolt—
Queen A.
Hold, if you 'd live! I yet am so much queen
As to protect my realm from traitor's arts.
How dare you plot these treasonable designs
Against the safety of his majesty?
Name it again, and, as I live, the king
Shall know your thoughts!
Mary W.
'T was but our love for you—
228
How! love for me, and plotting 'gainst the king!
Mary W.
Strange, very strange!
[Aside.]
(Enter Sir William Kingston and Guard.)
Queen A.
My time has come, Sir William?
Kingston.
It has, my lady.
Queen A.
You delayed my death:
I should have died some hours ago. 'T is cruel
To dally with my life.
Kings.
'T was not my fault.
The Council feared a rising of the commons,
And therefore changed the hour.
Queen A.
Ha! ha! how weak!
[Laughing.]
Who cares about my death? Is Smeaton dead?
Kings.
He is.
Queen A.
And made he no amends to me?
Did he not own his monstrous perjuries?
Kings.
Not that I heard.
Queen A.
The impious, heartless wretch!
To dare o'erleap the doubtful gulf of death,
With such a fearful load!
Mary W.
His death was just,
Even had he done no wrong,—the inborn felon!
Queen A.
Nay, Mary, chide no more. Alas! poor Mark,
I fear thy soul is suffering for thy tongue.
Can I not see my daughter?
Kings.
'Tis forbidden.
Queen A.
Well, I suppose the human frame can bear
More than I suffer—very little more!
Kings.
My lady.
[Bell tolls.]
229
That speaks plainer, sir. I am ready
I hope 't will be but death, not butchery.
Kings.
The pain is short.
Queen A.
They call the headsman skilled;
And I—ha! ha!—see, good Sir William, see—
[Laughing.]
I have a little neck!
[Clasps her neck.]
Kings.
Why, is she mad?
I in my time I have seen full many die,
But ne'er before saw one who laughed outright
At the mere thought of death.
[Aside.]
(Bell tolls.)
Queen A.
Come, Mary, come:
We keep death waiting.
Mary W.
Heaven preserve her mind!
[Aside.]
Queen A.
Set on, Sir William! You shall see, ere long,
How, like a bride, I'll meet this ugly death,
And make a triumph of my funeral!
Pray tell his majesty, in my behalf,
How much I thank him for his many favors.
He from a lady made me marchioness;
And from a marchioness he raised me up
To the full top of earthly power, a queen:
And last, his graces overrunning life,
He crowns my innocence with martyrdom.
My name is set above the reach of time,
A mark for men to carp and wonder at;
And some hereafter will believe me false,
Some think me true; bear witness, sir,
That with my latest breath I still declare
My perfect purity. (Bell tolls.)
Set on, set on!
[Exeunt.]
| Plays and Poems | |