 | The Tragedie of Charles Duke of Byron, Marshall of France |  |
Actus 5.
Scæna. 1.
Henry, Soissons, Ianin, Descures, cum altis.Hen:
What shall we thinke (my Lords) of these new forces
That (from the King of Spaine) hath past the Alps?
For which (I thinke) his Lord Ambassador,
Is come to Court, to get their passe for Flanders?
Ian:
I thinke (my Lord) they haue no end for Flanders;
Cont Maurice being allready entred Brabant
To passe to Flanders, to relieue Ostend,
And th'Arch-duke full prepar'd to hinder him;
And sure it is that they must measure forces,
Which (ere this new force could haue past the Alps)
Of force must be incountred.
Soiff:
Tis vnlikely,
That their march hath so large an ayme as Flanders;
Desc:
As these times sort, they may haue shorter reaches;
That would pierce further;
Hen:
I haue bene aduertis'd,
That Cont Fuente: (by whose meanes this army
Was lately leuied; And whose hand was strong,
In thrusting on Byrons conspiracie)
Hath caus'd these cunning forces to aduance,
With coullor onely to set downe in Flanders;
But hath intentionall respect to fauor
And friendes in Burgondie; to giue them hart
For the full taking of their hearts from me;
Be as it will; we shall preuent theyr worst,
And therefore call in Spaines Ambassador,
Enter Ambassador with others.
What would the Lord Ambassador of Spaine?
Amba:
First (in my maisters name) I would beseech
Your highnes heatty thought; That his true hand,
(Held in your vowd amities) hath not toucht,
At any least point in Byrons offence;
Nor once had notice of a cryme so foule;
Whereof, since he doubts not, you stand resolu'd,
He prayes your Leagues continuance in this fauor;
That the army he hath rais'd to march for Flanders,
May haue safe passage by your frontier townes,
And finde the Riuer free, that runs by Rhosne.
Hen:
My Lord my frontiers shall not be disarm'd,
Till, by araignment of the Duke of Byron,
My scruples are resolu'd; and I may know
In what account to hold your Maisters faith,
For his obseruance of the League betwixt vs;
You wish me to beleeue that he is cleare
From all the proiects caus'd by Cont Fuentes,
His speciall Agent; But where, deedes, pull downe,
Words, may repaire, no faith; I scarce can thinke
That his gold was so bounteously employd,
Without his speciall counsaile, and command:
These faint proceedings in our Royall faiths,
Make subiects proue so faithlesse: If because,
We sit aboue the danger of the lawes,
We likewise lift our Armes aboue their iustice;
And that our heauenly Soueraigne, bounds not vs
In those religious confines; out of which
Our iustice and our true lawes are inform'd;
In vaine haue we expectance that our subiects,
Should not as well presume to offend their Earthly,
As we our Heauenly Soueraigne? And this breach
Made in the Forts of all Society;
Makes no strengths of our bounties, counsailes armes,
Hold out against their treasons; and the rapes
Made of humanitie, and religion,
In all mens more then Pagan liberties,
Atheismes, and slaueries will deriue their springs
From their base Presidents, copied out of kings.
But all this, shall not make me breake the commerce,
Authorisde by our treaties; let your Armie
Take the directest passe, it shall goe safe.
Amb.
So rest your highnesse euer; and assurde
That my true Soueraigne, lothes all opposite thoughts.
Hen.
Are our dispatches made to all the kings,
Princes, and Potentates, of Christendome?
Ambassadors and Prouince gouernors,
T'enforme the truth of this conspiracie?
Ian.
They all are made my Lord, and some giue out,
That 'tis a blow giuen to religion,
To weaken it, in ruining of him,
That said, he neuer wisht more glorious title,
Then to be call'd the scourge of Hugenots.
Soiss.
Others that are like fauourers of the fault,
Said 'tis a politique aduise from England,
To breake the feared Iauelins, both together.
Hen.
Such shut their eyes to truth, we can but set
His lights before them, and his trumpet sound
Close to their eares; their partiall wilfulnesse,
In resting blinde, and deafe, or in peruerting,
What their most certaine sences apprehend,
Shall naught discomfort our impartiall Iustice.
Nor cleere the desperat fault that doth enforce it.
Enter Vyt.
Vyt.
The Peeres of France (my Lord) refuse t'appeare,
At the arraignement of the Duke Byron.
Hen.
The Court may yet proceed; and so command it,
'Tis not their slacknesse to appeare shall serue,
To let my will t'appeare in any fact.
Wherein the bouldest of them tempts my iustice.
I am resolu'd, and will no more endure,
To haue my subiects make what I command,
Who euer-more slack their allegiance,
As kings forbeare their pennance; how sustaine
Your prisoners their strange durance?
Vit.
One of them,
(Which is the Count D' Avuergue) hath merry spirits,
Eates well and sleepes: and neuer can imagine,
That any place where he is, is a prison;
Where on the other part, the Duke Byron,
Enterd his prison, as into his graue,
Reiects all food, sleepes not, nor once lyes downe:
Furie hath arm'd his thoughts so thick with thornes,
That rest can haue no entry: he disdaines
To grace the prison with the slendrest show,
Of any patience, least men should conceiue,
He thought his sufferance in the best sort fit;
And holds his bands so worthlesse of his worth,
That he empaires it, to uouchsafe to them,
The best part of the peace, that freedom owes it:
That patience therein, is a willing slauerie,
And (like the Cammell) stoopes to take the load:
So still he walkes: on rather as a Byrde,
Enterd a Closet, which vnwares is made,
His desperate prison (being pursude) amazd,
And wrathfull beates his brest from wall to wall,
Assaults the light strikes downe himselfe, not out,
And being taken, struggles, gaspes, and bites,
Takes all his takers strokings, to be strokes,
Abhorreth food, and with a sauadge will,
Frets, pines, and dyes, for former libertie.
So fares the wrathfull Duke; and when the strength
Of these dumbe rages, breake out into sounds,
He breaths defiance to the world, and bids vs,
Make our selues drunke, with the remaining bloud
Of fiue and thirty wounds receiud in fight,
For vs and ours; for we shall neuer brag,
That we haue made his spirits check at death:
This rage in walkes and words; but in his lookes
Hen.
Let others learne by him to curb their spleenes,
Before they be curbd; and to cease their grudges:
Now I am setled in my Sunne of height,
The circulate splendor, and full Sphere of State.
Take all place vp from enuy:as the sunne,
At height, and passiue ore the crownes of men,
His beames d ffusd, and downe-right pourd on them,
Cast but a little or no shade at all,
So he that is aduanc'd aboue the heads,
Of all his Emulators, with high light,
Preuents their enuies, and depriues them quite,
Exeunt.
Enter the Chancellor, Harlay, Potiers, Fleury, in scarlet gownes, Laffin, Descures, with other officers of state.
Cha.
I wonder at the prisoners so long stay,
Har:
I thinke it may be made a question,
If his impacience will let him come.
Pot.
Yes, he is now well stayd: Time and his Iudgment,
Haue cast his passion and his feuer of.
Fleu.
His feuer may be past, but for his passions,
I feare me we shall find it spic'd to hotly,
With his ould poulder.
Des.
He is sure come forth;
The Carosse of the Marquis of Rhosuy
Conducted him along to th'Arcenall,
Close to the Riuer-side: and there I saw him,
Enter a barge couered with Tapistry,
In which the kings gards waited and receiued him.
Stand by there cleere the place,
Cha.
The prisoner comes.
My Lord Laffin forbeare your sight a while,
It may incense the prisoner: who will know,
By your attendance nere vs, that your hand,
Was chiefe in his discouery; which as yet,
I thinke he doth not doubt,
Laf.
I will forbeare,
Till your good pleasures call me,
Exit Laf.
When he knowes
And sees Laffin, accuse him to his face,
The Court I thinke will shake with his distemper.
Enter Vitry, Byron, with others and a guarde.
Uir.
You see my Lord, 'tis in the golden chamber.
Byr.
The golden chamber? where the greatest Kings
Haue thought them honor'd to receiue a place:
And I haue had it; am I come to stand
In ranke and habite here of men arraignd,
Where I haue sat assistant, and beene honord,
With glorious title of the chiefest vertuous,
Where the Kings chiefe Solicitor hath said,
There was in France, no man that euer liu'd,
Whose parts were worth my imitation;
That, but mine owne worth; I could imitate none:
And that I made my selfe inimitable,
To all that could come after; whom this Court
Hath seene to sit vpon the Flower de Lice
In recompence of my renowned seruice.
Must I be sat on now, by petty Iudges?
These Scarlet robes, that come to sit and fight
Against my life; dsmay my valure more,
Then all the bloudy Cassocks Spaine hath brought
To field against it.
Uit.
To the barre my Lord.
He salutes, and stands to the barre.
Har.
Read the inditement.
Chan.
Stay, I will inuert
(For shortnesse sake) the forme of our proceedings,
And out of all the points, the processe holds,
Collect fiue principall, with which we charge you.
1.
First you conferd with one, cald Picote,
At Orleance borne, and into Flanders fled,
To hold intelligence by him with the Archduke,
And for two voyages to that effect,
Bestowd on him, fiue hundred, siftie crownes.
2.
Next you held treaty with the Duke of Sauoy,
Without the Kings permission; offering him
All seruice and assistance gainst all men,
3.
Thirdly you held intelligence with the Duke,
At taking in of bourge, and other Forts;
Aduising him, with all your preiudice,
Gainst the Kings armie, and his royall person.
4.
The fourth is; that you would haue brought the King,
Before Saint Katherines Fort, to be there slaine:
And to that end writ to the Gouernor,
In which you gaue him notes to know his highnesse.
5.
Fiftly, you sent Laffin to treate with Sauoy,
And with the Count Fuentes, of more plots,
Touching the ruine of the King and realme.
Byr.
All this (my Lord) I answer, and deny:
And first for Picote; he was my prisoner,
And therefore I might well conferre with him:
But that our conference tended to the Arch-duke,
Is nothing so; I onely did employ him
To Captaine La Fortune, for the reduction
Of Seurre, to the seruice of the King.
Who vsd such speedy dilligence therein,
That shortly 'twas assur'd his Maiestie,
2.
Next, for my treaties with the Duke of Sauoy,
Roncas his Secretarie, hauing made
A motion to me, for the Dukes third daughter,
I tolde it to the King; who hauing since,
Giuen me the vnderstanding by La Force
Of his dislike; I neuer dreamd of it.
3.
Thirdly, for my intelligence with the Duke,
Aduising him against his Highnesse armie:
Had this beene true, I had not vndertaken
Th'assault of Bourg, against the Kings opinion,
Hauing assistance but by them about me:
And (hauing wunne it for him) had not beene
Put out of such a gouernment so easily.
4.
Fourthly, for my aduise to kill the King;
I would beseech his Highnesse memory,
Not to let slip, that I alone diswaded
His viewing of that Fort; informing him,
But in exceeding danger, which aduise
Diuerted him: the rather, since I said,
That if he had desire to see the place
He should receiue from me a Plot of it;
Offering to take it with fiue hundred men,
And I my selfe would go to the assault.
5.
And lastly, for intelligences held,
With Sauoy and Fuentes: I confesse,
That being denyed to keepe the Cytadell,
Which with incredible perill I had got,
And seeing another, honor'd with my spoiles,
I grew so desperate that I found my spirit,
Forag'd to any act, and wisht my selfe,
Couer'd with bloud.
Chan.
With whose bloud?
Byr.
With mine owne;
Wishing to liue no longer, being denyed,
With such suspition of me, and set will,
To rack my furious humor into bloud.
And for two moneths space, I did speake, and wright,
More then I ought; but haue done euer well,
And therefore your enformers haue beene false.
And (with intent to tyranize) subornd.
Flen.
What if our witnesses come face to face,
And iustifie much more then we alledge?
Tyr.
They must be hyrelings then, and men corrupted.
Pot.
What thinke you of La Fin?
Byr.
I hold La Fin,
An honor'd Gentleman, my friend and kinsman.
Har.
If he then aggriauate, what we affirme,
With greater accusations to your face.
What will you say?
Byr.
I know it cannot be.
Chan.
Call in my Lord La Fin.
Byr.
Is he so neere?
And kept so close from me? can all the world,
Make him a treacher.
Enter La Fin.
I suppose my Lord,
You haue not stood within; without the care
Of what hath heere beene vrgd against the Duke;
If you haue heard it, and vpon your knowledge
Can witnesse all is true, vpon your soule;
Veter your knowledge.
Lafst.
I haue heard my Lord,
All that hath past here; and vpon my soule,
(Being chargd so vrgently in such a Court)
Vpon my knowledge I affirme all true;
And so much more: as had the prisoner liues
As many as his yeares, would make all forfaite.
Ayr.
O all yee vertuous powers, in earth and heauen,
That haue not put on hellish flesh and blood,
From whence these monstrous issues are produc'd,
That cannot beare in execrable concord,
And one prodigious subiect; contraries;
Nor (as the Ile that of the world admirde)
I seuerd from the world) can cut your selues
From the consent and sacred hermonie
Of life, yet liue; of honor, yet be honord;
As this extrauagant, and errant roge,
From all your faire Decerums, and iust lawes,
Findes powre to doe: and like a lothesome wen,
Sticks to the face of nature, and this Court;
Thicken this ayre, and turne your plaguie rage,
Into a shape as dismall as his sinne.
And with some equall horror teare him of
From sight and memory: let not such a court,
To whose faine all the Kings of Christendome,
Now laid their eares; so crack her royall Trumpe,
As to sound through it, that here vanted iustice
Was got in such an incest: is it iustice
To tempt, and witch a man, to breake the law,
And by that witch condemne him? let me draw
Poison into me with this cursed ayre,
If he bewitcht me, and transformd me not;
He bit me by the care, and made me drinke
That vtterd these distinct words; Thou shalt dye,
O wicked King; and if the diuill gaue him
Such powre vpon an Image; vpon me
How might he tyrannize? that by his vowes
And othes so Stygian, had my Nerues and will,
In more awe then his owne: what man is he
That is so high, but he would higher be?
So roundly sighted, but he may be found,
To haue a blinde side, which by craft, persude,
Confederacie, and simply trusted treason,
May wrest him past his Angell, and his reason?
Chan.
Witcherafe can neuer taint an honest minde.
Harl.
True gold, will any triall stand, vntoucht.
Pot.
For coulours that will staine when they are tryed,
The cloth it selfe is euer cast aside.
Byr.
Some-times, the very Glosse in any thing,
Will seeme a staine; the fault not in the light,
Nor in the guilty obiect, but our sight.
My glosse, raisd from the richnesse of my stuffe,
Had too much splendor for the Owly eye,
Of politique and thanklesse royaltie:
I did deserue too much; a plurifie
Of that blood in me is the cause I dye.
Vertue in great men must be small and sleight:
For poorest starres rule, where she is exquisite,
Tis tyrannous, and impious policie,
To put to death by fraude and trecherie;
Sleight is then royall, when it makes men liue,
And if it vrge faults, vrgeth to forgiue.
He must be guiltlesse, that condemnes the guiltie,
Like things, do nourish like, and not destroy them:
Mindes must be sound, that iudge affaires of weight,
And seeing hands, cut corosiues from your sight.
A Lord intelligencer? hangman-like,
Thrust him from humaine fellowship, to the desarts
Blowe him with curses; shall your iustice call
Treacherie her Father? would you wish her weigh
What I haue done to shunne the mortall shame,
Of so vniust an opposition;
My enuious staries cannot deny me this,
That I may make my Iudges witnesses;
And that my wretched fortunes haue reseru'd
For my last comfort; yee all know (my Lords)
This body gasht with fiue and thirty wounds,
Whose life and death you haue in your award,
Holds not a veine that hath not opened beene,
And which I would not open yet againe,
For you and yours; this hand that writ the lines
Alledgd against me; hath enacted still,
More good then there it onely talkt of ill.
I must confesse my choller hath transferd
My tender spleene to all intemperate speech:
But reason euer did my deeds attend.
In worth of praise, and imitation,
Had I borne any will to let them loose,
I could haue flesht them with bad seruices,
In England lately, and in Switzerland:
There are a hundred Gentlemen by name,
Can witnesse my demeanure in the first;
And in the last Ambassage I adiure
No other testimonies then the Seigneurs
De Uic, and Sillerie; who amply know,
In what sort, and with what fidelitie
I bore my selfe; to reconcile and knit,
In one desire so many wills disioynde,
And from the Kings allegiance quite with-drawne.
My acts askt many men, though done by one.
And I were but one, I stood for thousands,
And still I hold my worth, though not my place:
Nor sleight me, Iudges, though I be but one,
One man, in one sole expedition,
Reduc'd into th'imperiall powre of Rome,
Armenia, Pontus, and Arabia,
Syrïa, Albania, and Iberis,
Conquerd th'Hireanians; and to Caucasus,
His arme extended; the Numidians
His powre subiected; and that part of Spaine
Which stood from those parts that Sertorius rulde,
Euen to the Atlantique Sea he conquered.
Th'Albanian kings, he from the kingdoms chac'd,
And at the Caspian Sea, their dwellings plac'd:
Of all the Earths globe, by powre and his aduice,
The round-eyd Ocean saw him victor thrice:
And what shall let me (but your cruell doome,)
To adde as much to France, as he to Rome,
And to leaue Iustice neither Sword nor word,
To vse against my life; this Senate knowes,
That what with one victorious hand I tooke,
I gaue to all your vses, with another:
With this I tooke, and propt the falling kingdome,
And gaue it to the King: I haue kept
Your lawes of state from fire; and you your selues,
Fixt in this high Tribunall; from whose height
The vengefull Saturnals of the League
Had hurld yee head-long; doe yee then returne
This retribution? can the cruell King,
The kingdome, lawes, and you, (all sau'd by me)
Destroy their sauer? what (aye me) I did
Aduerse to this; this damnd Enchanter did,
That tooke into his will, my motion;
And being banck-route both of wealth and worth,
Pursued with quarrels, and with suites in law;
Feard by the kingdome; threatned by the king;
Would raise the loathed dung-hill of his ruines,
Vpon the monumentall heape of mine:
Torne with possessed whirle-winds may he dye,
And dogs barke at his murtherous memory,
Chan.
My Lord, our liberall sufferance of your speech,
Hath made it late; and for this Session,
We will dismisse you; take him back my Lord.
Exit Vit. & Byron.
Har.
You likewise may depart.
Exit Laffin.
Chan.
What resteth now
To he decided gainst this great prisoner?
A mighty merit, and a monstrous crime,
His letters and instructions, we haue prou'd
Himselfe confesseth, and excuseth all
With witch-craft, and the onely act of thought.
For witch-craft I esteeme it a meere strength
Of rage in him conceiu'd gainst his accuser;
Who being examinde hath denied it all;
Suppose it true, it made him false; But wills
And worthy mindes, witch-craft can neuer force.
And for his thoughts that brake not into deeds;
Time was the cause, not will; the mindes free act
In treason still is Iudgd as th'outward fact.
If his deserts haue had a wealthy share,
In sauing of our land from ciuill furies:
Manlues had so that saft the Capitoll;
Yet for his after traiterous factions,
They threw him head-long from the place he sau'd.
My definite sentence then, doth this import:
That we must quench the wilde-fire with his bloud,
In which it was so traiterously inflam'd;
Vnlesse with it, we seeke to incence the land,
The King can haue no refuge for his life,
If his be quitted: this was it that made
Lewis th'eleuenth renounce his countrymen,
And call the valiant Scots out of their kingdome,
To vse their greater vertues, and their faiths,
Then his owne subiects, in his royall guarde:
What then conclude your censures?
Omnes.
He must dye.
Chan.
Draw then his sentence, formally, and send him;
And so all treasons in his death attend him.
Exeunt.
Enter Byron, Espernon, Soisson Ianin, Uidame, Descures.
Uit.
I ioy you had so good a day my Lord.
Byr.
I wone it from them all: the Chancellor
I answerd to his vttermost improuements:
I mou'd my other Iudges to lament
My insolent misfortunes; and to lothe
I made replie to all that could be said,
So eloquently, and with such a charme,
Of graue enforcements, that me thought I sat,
Like Orpheus casting reignes on sauage beasts;
At the armes end (as twere) I tooke my barre
And set it farre aboue the high tribunall,
Where like a Cedar on Mount Lebanon,
I Grew, and made my iudges show like Box-trees,
And Boxtrees right, their wishes would haue made them,
Whence boxes should haue growne, till they had strooke
My head into the budget: but ahlas,
I held their bloudy armes, with such strong reasons;
And (by your leaue) with such a lyrck of wit:
That I fetcht bloud vpon the Chancelors cheekes,
Me thinkes I see his countinance as he sat;
And the most lawierly deliuery
Of his set speeches: shall I play his part?
Enter Soiss: Esp:
Esp:
For heauens sake, good my Lord.
Byr.
I will ifaith,
Behold a wicked man: A man debaucht,
A man, contesting with his King; A man,
On whom (my Lords) we are not to conniue,
Though we may condole: A man:
That Læsa Maiestate sought a lease,
Of Plus quam satis. A man that vi et armis
Assaild the King; and would per fas et nefas,
Aspire the kingdome: here was lawiers learning.
Esp:
He said not this my Lord, that I haue heard.
Byr.
This or the like, I sweare, I pen no speeches.
Soiss.
Then there is good hope of your wisht acquitall.
Byr.
Acquitall? they haue reason; were I dead
I know they can not all supply my place;
Ist possible the King should be so vaine,
To thinke he can shake me with feare of death?
Or make me apprehend that he intends it?
Thinkes he to make his firmest men, his clowds?
The clowdes (obseruing their Æriall natures)
Are borne aloft, and then to moisture hang'd,
They loose both al their heate, and leuitie;
Yet then againe recouering heate and lightnesse,
Againe they are aduanc't: and by the Sunne
Made fresh and glorious; and since clowdes are rapt
With these vncertainties: now vp, now downe,
Am I to flit so with his smile, or froune?
Esp.
I wish your comforts, and incoradgments,
May spring out of your saftie; but I heare
The King hath reasond so against your life,
And made your most friends yeeld so to his reasons,
That your estate is fearefull.
Byr.
Yeeld t'his reasons?
O how friends reasons, and their freedomes stretch,
When powre sets his wide tenters to their sides!
How, like a cure, by mere opinion,
It workes vpon our bloud? like th'antient Gods
Are Moderne Kings, that liu'd past bounds themselues,
Yet set a measure downe, to wretched men:
By many Sophismes, they made good, deceipt;
And, since they past in powre, surpast, in right:
When Kings wills passe; the starres winck, and the Sunne,
Suffers eclips: rude thunder yeelds to them
His horrid wings: sits smoothe as glasse engazd,
And lightning sticks twixt heauen and earth amazd:
Mens faiths are shaken: and the pit of truth
O'reflowes with darkenesse, in which Iustice sits,
And keepes her vengeance tied to make it fierce;
And when it comes, th'encreased horrors showe,
Heauens plague is sure, though full of state, and slowe.
Sist.
O my deare Lord and brother,
O the Duke?
Byr.
What sounds are these my Lord? hark, hark, me thinks
I heare the cries of people.
Esp.
Tis for one,
Wounded in fight here at Saint Anthonies Gate:
Byr.
Sfoote, one cried the Duke: I pray harken,
Againe, or burst your selues with silence, no:
What contriman's the common headsman here?
He's a Bourgonian.
Byr.
The great deuill he is,
The bitter wizerd told me, a Burgonian,
Should be my headsman; strange concurrences:
S'death whose here?
Enter 4. Ushers bare, Chanc: Har: Pot: Fle r: Vit: Pralin, with others.
O then I am but dead,
Now, now ye come all to pronounce my sentence.
I am condemn'd vniustly: tell my kinsfolkes,
I die an innocent:
If any friend pittie the ruine of the States sustainer
Proclaime my innocence; ah Lord Chancelor,
Is there no pardon? will there come no mercie?
I, put your hat on, and let me stand bare,
Showe your selfe right a Lawier.
Chan.
I am bare,
What would you haue me do?
Byr.
You haue not done,
Like a good iustice; and one that knew
He sat vpon the precious bloud of vertue;
Y'aue pleasd the cruell King, and haue not borne,
As great regard to saue as to condemne;
You haue condemn'd me, my Lord Chancelor,
But God acquites me; he will open lay
All your close treasons against him, to collour
Treasons layd to his truest images;
And you my Lord shall answere this iniustice,
Before his iudgement seate: to which I summon
In one yeare and a daie your hot apparanse;
I goe before, by mens corrupted domes;
But they that caus'd my death, shall after come
By the imaculate iustice of the highest.
Chan.
Well, good my Lord commend your soule to him,
And to hi mercie, thinke of that, I pray.
Byr.
Sir, I haue thought of it, and euery howre,
Since my affliction, askt on naked knees
Patience to beare your vnbeleeu d Iniustice:
But you, nor none of you haue thought of him,
In my euiction: y'are come to your benches,
With plotted iudgements; your linckt eares so lowd,
Of all, pore prisoners vrge gainst your award;
Har.
Passion, my Lord, transports your bitternes,
Beyond all colour; and your propper iudgement;
No man hath knowne your merits more then I;
And would to God your great misdedes had beene,
As much vndone, as they haue beene concealde;
The cries of them for iustice (in desert)
Haue beene so lowd and piersing; that they deafned
The eares of mercie; and haue labord more,
Your Iudges to compresse then to enforce them.
Pot.
We bring you here your sentence, will you reade it.
Byr.
For heauens sake, shame to vse me with such rigor;
I know what it imports, and will not haue,
Mine eare blowne into flames with hearing it;
Haue you beene one of them that haue condemn'd me?
Flen.
My Lord I am your Orator: God comfort you.
Byr.
Good Sir, my father lou'd you so entirely,
That if you haue beene one, my soule forgiues you;
It is the King (most childish that he is
That takes what he hath giuen) that iniures me:
He gaue grace in the first draught of my fault,
And now restaines it: grace againe I aske;
Let him againe vouchsafe it: send to him,
A post will soone returne: the Queene of England,
Told me that if the wilfull Earle of Essex,
Had vsd submission, and but askt her mercie,
She would haue giuen it, past resumption;
She (like a gratious Princesse) did desire
To pardon him: euen as she praid to God,
He would let doune a pardon vnto her;
He yet was guiltie, I am innocent:
He still refusd grace, I importune it.
Chan.
This askt in time (my Lord) while he besought it,
And ere he had made his seuerity knowne,
Had (with much ioye to him) I know beene granted;
Byr.
No, no, his bountie, then was misery,
To offer when he knew twould be refusde;
And loues men, for his vices, nor for their vertues;
My seruice would haue quickn'd gratitude,
In his owne death, had he beene truely royall;
It would haue stirr'd the image of a King,
Into perpetuall motion; to haue stood
Neere the conspiracie restraind at Mantes;
And in a danger, that had then the Woulfe,
To flie vpon his bosome, had I onely held
Intelligence with the conspirators;
Who stuck at no check but my loyaltie,
Nor kept life in their hopes, but in my death;
The seege of Amiens, would haue softned rocks,
Where couer'd all in showers of shot and fire,
I seem'd to all mens eyes a fighting flame
With bullets cut, in fashion of a man;
A sacrifize to valure (impious King)
Which he will needes extinguish, with my bloud;
Let him beware, iustice will fall from heauen,
In the same forme I serued in that seege,
And by the light of that, he shall decerne,
What good, my ill hath brought him; it will nothing,
Assure his State: the same quench he hath cast
Vpon my life, shall quite put out his fame;
This day he looseth, what he shall not finde,
By all daies he suruiues; so good a seruant,
Nor Spaine so great a foe; with whom, ahlas,
Because I treated am I put to death?
Tis put a politique glose: my courage rais'd me,
For the deare price of fiue and thirtie skarres,
And that hath ruin'd me, I thanke my Starres:
Come ile goe where yee will, yee shall not lead me.
Chan.
I feare his frenzie,
Neuer saw I man of such a spirit so amaz'd at death.
Har.
He alters euery minute: what a vapor?
The strongest minde is to a storme of crosses.
Exeunt.
Manent Esper: Soisson: Ianin: Vidame, D' escures.
Esp:
O of what contraries consists a man!
Of what impossible mixtures? vice and vertue,
And in one subiect, let together, loosse?
We haue not any strength but weakens vs,
No greatnes but doth crush vs into ayre.
Our knowledges, do light vs but to erre,
Our Ornaments are Burthens: Our delightss
Are our tormentors; fiendes that (raisd in feares)
At parting shake our Roofes about our eares.
Soi.
O vertue, thou art now farre worse then Fortune
Hoe gifts stucke by the Duke, when thine are vanisht,
Thou brau'st thy friend in Neede: Necessity,
That vsd to keepe thy welth, contempt, thy loue,
Haue both abandond thee in his extreames,
Thy powers are shadowes, and thy comfort, dreames,
Vid.
O reall goodnesse if thou be a power!
And not a word alone, in humaine vses,
Appere out of this angry conflagration,
Where this great Captaine (thy late Temple) burns,
And turne his vicious fury to thy flame,
From all earths hopes mere guilded with thy fame:
Let pietie enter with her willing crosse,
And take him on it; ope his brest and armes,
To all the Storms, Necessity can breath,
And burst them all with his embraced death,
Ian,
Yet are the ciuille tumults of his spirits,
Hot and outragiouse: not resolued, Atlas,
(Being but one man) tender the kingdomes dome;
He doubts stormes, threatens, rues, complains, implores,
Griefe hath brought all his forces to his lookes,
And nought is left to strengthen him within,
Nor lafts one habite of those greeu'd aspects:
Blood expells palenesse, palenes Blood doth chace,
And sorrow errs through all forms in his face,
Des.
So furiouse is he, that the Politique law,
Is much to seeke, how to enact her sentence:
Authority backt with arms, (though he vnarmd)
Abhorrs his furie and with doubtfull eyes,
Views on what ground it should sustaine his ruines,
Assayld and set vp) with his onely eyes,
Swimming in fire keepes of the baying hounds,
Though suncke himselfe, yet houlds his anger vp,
And snowes it so than foame; houlds firme his stand,
Of Battalouse Bristles: feedes his hate to die,
And whets his tuskes with wrathfull maiesty.
So fares the furious Duke, and with his lookes,
Doth teach death horrors; makes the hangman learne
New habites for his bloody impudence;
Which now habituall horror from him driues,
Who for his life shunns death, by which he liues,
Enter Chauncellor, Harlay, Potier, Fleury, Uitry.
Vit.
Will not your Lordshippe haue the Duke distinguisht
From other prisoners? where the order is,
To giue vp men condemd into the hands
Of th'executioner; he would be the death,
Of him that he should die by, ere he sufferd,
Such an abiection,
Cha.
But to bind his hands,
I hold it passing needefull,
Har.
Tis my Lord,
And very dangerous to bring him loose.
Pra:
You will in all dispaire and fury plunge him,
If you but offer it.
Pot.
My Lord by this,
The prisoners Spirit is some-thing pacified,
And tis a feare that th'offer of those bands,
Wou'd breed fresh furies in him, and disturbe,
The entry of his soule into her peace,
Cha.
I would not that, for any possible danger,
That can be wrought, by his vnarmed hands,
And therefore in his owne forme bring him in,
Enter Byron, a Bishop or two; with all the guards, souldiers with muskets.
Byr.
Where shall this weight fall? on what rhegion,
Must this declining prominent poure his lode?
Ile breake my bloods high billows gainst my starrs,
Before this hill be shooke into a flat,
This world shrinkes into Chaos?
Arch.
Good my Lord,
Forgoe it willingly; and now resigne,
Your sensuall powers entirely to your soule.
Byr.
Horror of death, let me alone in peace,
And leaue my soule to me, whome it concernes;
You haue no charge of it; I feele her free,
How she doth rowze, and like a Faulcon stretch
Her siluer wings; as threatening death, with death;
At whom I ioyfully will cast her off:
I know this bodie but a sinck of folly,
The ground-work, and rais'd frame of woe and frailtie
The bond, and bundle of corruption;
A quick corse, onely sensible of griefe,
A walking sepulcher, or household thiefe:
A glasse of ayre, broken with lesse then breath,
A slaue bound face to face, to death, til death:
And what sayd all you more? I know, besides
That life is but a darke and stormy night,
Of sencelesse dreames, terrors, and broken sleepes;
A Tyranie, deuising paines to plague
And make man long in dying, racks his death;
And death is nothing, what can you say more?
I bring a long Globe, and a little earth,
Am seated like earth betwixt both the heauens:
That if I rise; to heauen I rise; if fall
I likewise fall to heauen; what stronger faith,
Hath any of your soules? what say you more?
Why lose I time in these things? talke of knowledge,
It serues for inward vse. I will not die
Like to a Clergie man; but like the Captaine,
That prayd on horse-back and with sword in hand,
Threatend the Sunne, commanding it to stand;
These are but topes of sand.
Chan.
Desire you then,
To speake with any man?
Byr.
I would speake with La Force, and Saint Blancart.
Do they flie me?
Where is Prouost, controwler of my house?
Pra.
Gone to his house ith countrie three daies since.
Byr.
He should haue stayd here, he keepes all my blancks
O all the world forsakes me! wretched world,
Consisting most of parts, that flie each other:
A firmnesse, breeding all inconstancy,
A bond of all disiunction; like a man
Long buried, is a man that long hath liu'd;
Touch him, he falls to ashes; for one fault,
I forfeite all the fashion of a man,
Why should I keepe my soule in this dark light?
Whose black beames lighted me to loose my selfe.
When I haue lost my armes, my fame, my winde,
Friends, brother, hopes, fortunes, and euen my furie?
O happie were the man, could liue alone,
To know no man, nor be of any knowne!
Har.
My Lord, it is the manner once againe
To read the sentence?
Byr.
Yet more sentences?
How often will yee make me suffer death?
As yee were proud to heare your powreful domes?
I know and feele you were the men that gaue it,
And die most cruellie to heare so often
My crimes and bitter condemnation vrdg'd:
Suffize it, I am brought here; and obey,
And that all here are priuie to the crimes.
Chan.
It must be read my Lord, no remedie.
Byr.
Reade, if it must be, then, and I must talke.
Harl.
The processe being extraordinarily made and examin'd
by the Court, and chambers assembled—
Byr.
Condemn'd for depositions of a witch?
The common deposition, and her whoore
To all whorish periuries and treacheries.
Sure he cal'd vp the diuill in my spirits,
And made him to vsurpe my faculties:
Shall I be cast away now he's cast out?
What Iustice is in this? deare countrey-men,
And quit me in your hearts.
Cha.
Go on.
Har.
Against Charles Gontalt of Byron: knight of both the
orders, Duke of Byron, peere and marshall of France; Gouernor
of Burgondy, accus'd of treason in a sentence was giuen the 22.
of this month, condemning the said Duke of Byron of heigh
treason, for his direct conspiracies against the kings person;
enterprises against his state.—
Byr.
That is most false; let me for euer be,
Depriued of heauen, as I shall be of earth,
If It be true: knowe worthy country-men.
These two and twenty moneths I haue bene clere,
Of all atempts against the king and state.
Har.
Treaties and trecheries with his Enemies, being marshall
shall of the Kings army, for reparation of which crimes they
depriued him of all his estates, honors and dignities, and condemned
him to lose his head vpon a Scaffold at the Greaue
Byr.
The Greaue? had that place stood for my dispatch
I had not yeelded; all your forces should not,
Stire me one foote, wild horses should haue drawne,
My body peece-meale, eare you all had brought me.
Har.
Declaring all his goods moueable and inmoueable
whatsoeuer to be confiscate to the King: the Signeury of
Byron to loose the title of Duchy and Peere for euer.
Byr.
Now is your forme contented,
Cha.
I my Lord
And I must now entreat you to deliuer,
Your order vp, the king demands it of you.
Byr.
And I restore it, with my vow of safty,
In that world, where both he and I are one,
I neuer brake the oth I tooke to take it,
Cha.
We'l now my Lord wee'l take our latest leaues,
Beseeching heauen to take as clere from you,
All sence of torment in your willing death:
All loue and thought of what you must leaue here,
As when you shall aspire heauens highest sphere,
Byr.
Thankes to your Lordship and let me pray to,
That you will hold good censure of my life,
That I haue neuer past act gainst the King,
Which if my faith had let me vndertake,
They had bene three yeares since, amongst the dead;
Harl:
Your soule shall finde his safety in her owne,
Call the executioner;
Byr:
Good sir I pray,
Go after and beseech the Chancellor
That he will let my body be interrd,
Amongst my predecessors at Byron:
Dese:
I go my Lord:
Exit.
Byr:
Go, go? can all go thus?
And no man come with comfort? farewell world:
He is at no end of his actions blest,
Whose ends will make him greatest, and not best;
They tread no ground, but ride in ayre on stormes,
That follow State, and hunt their empty formes;
Who see not that the Valleys of the world,
Make euen right with the Mountains? that they grow
Greene, and lye warmer; and euer peacefull are,
When Clowdes spit fire as Hilles, and burne them bare?
Not Valleys part, but we should imitate Streames,
That run below the Valleys, and do yeeld
To euery Mole-hill; euery Banke imbrace
That checks their Currants; and when Torrents come,
That swell and raise them past their naturall height,
How madde they are, and trubl'd? like low straines
With Torrents crownd, are men with Diademes;
Vit:
My Lord tis late; wilt please you to go vp?
Byr:
Vp? tis a faire preferment, ha ha ha,
There should go showtes to vp-shots; not a breath
Of any mercy, yet? come, since we must;
Whose this?
Pral:
The executioner, my Lord;
Byr:
Death slaue, downe, or by the blood that moues me
Ile plucke thy throat out; goe, Ile call you straight,
Hold boy; and this,
Hang:
Soft boy ile barre you that
Byr:
Take this then, yet I pray thee, that againe
As presents death; Though this life haue a cursse;
Tis better then another, that is worse;
Arch:
My Lord, now you are blinde to this worlds sight,
Looke vpward to a world of endles light;
Byr:
I, I, you talke of vpward still to others,
And downwards looke, with headlong eyes your selues.
Now come you vp sir; But not touch me yet;
Where shall I be now?
Hang:
Heere my Lord;
Byr:
Wheres that?
Hang:
There, there, my Lord;
Byr:
And where, slaue, is that there?
Thou seest I see not? yet I speake as I saw;
Well, now ist fit?
Hang:
Kneele, I beseech your Grace,
That I may do mine office with most order;
Byr:
Do it, and if at one blow thou art short,
Giue one and thirty, Ile indure them all.
Hold; stay alittle; comes there yet no mercy?
High Heauen curse these exemplarie proceedings,
When Iustice failes, they sacrifize our example;
Hang:
Let me beseech you, I may cut your haire;
Byr:
Out vgly Image of my cruell Iustice;
Yet wilt thou be before me, stay my will,
Or by the will of Heauen Ile strangle thee;
Uit:
My Lord you make to much of this your body,
Which is no more your owne;
Byr:
Nor is it yours;
Ile take my death, with all the horride rites
And representments, of the dread it merits;
Let tame Nobilitie, and nummed fooles
That apprehend not what they vndergo,
Be such exemplarie, and formall sheepe;
I will not haue him touch me, till I will;
If you will needs racke me beyond my reason,
Hell take me, but Ile strangle halfe thats here,
And force the rest to kill me. Ile leape downe
You wish my quiet, yet giue cause of fury:
Thinke you to set rude windes vpon the Sea,
Yet keepe it calme? or cast me in a sleepe,
With shaking of my chaines about myne eares?
O honest Soldiers, you haue seene me free,
From any care, of many thousand deathes!
Yet, of this one, the manner doth amaze me.
View, view, this wounded bosome, how much bound
Should that man make me, that would shoote it through;
Is it not pitty I should lose my life,
By such a bloody and infamous stroake?
Soldi:
Now by thy spirit, and thy better Angell,
If thou wert cleere, the Continent of France,
Would shrinke beneath the burthen of thy death,
Ere it would beare it;
Vit:
Whose that?
Soldi:
I say well:
And cleere your Iustice, here is no ground shrinks,
If he were cleere it would: And I say more,
Clere, or not cleere, If he with all his foulenesse,
Stood here in one Skale, and the Kings chiefe Mynion,
Stood in another, here: Put here a pardon,
Here lay a royall gift, this, this, in merit,
Should hoyse the other Mynion into ayre:
Vit:
Hence with that franticke:
Byr:
This is some poore witnes
That my desert, might haue out-weighed my forfeyt:
But danger, hauntes desert, when he is Greatest;
His hearty ills, are prou'd out of his glaunces,
And Kings suspicions, needes no Ballances;
So her's a most decreetall end of me:
VVhich I desire, in me, may end my wrongs;
Commend my loue, I charge you, to my brothers,
And by my loue, and misery command them,
To keepe their faiths that bind them to the King,
And proue no stomakers of my misfortunes;
Nor come to Court, till time hath eaten out,
And tell the Earle, my deare friend of D' Auergne,
That my death vtterly were free from griefe,
But for the sad losse of his worthy friendship;
And if I had beene made for longer life,
I would haue more deseru'd him in my seruice,
Beseeching him to know I haue not vsde
One word in my arraignement; that might touch him,
Had I no other want then so ill meaning:
And so farewell for euer: neuer more
Shall any hope of my reuiuall see mee;
Such is the endlesse exile of dead men.
Summer succeeds the spring; Autumne the Summer,
The Frosts of Winter, the falne leaues of Autumne:
All these, and all fruites in them yearely fade,
And euery yeare returne: but cursed man,
Shall neuer more renew, his vanisht face;
Fall on your knees, then Statists ere yee fall,
That you may rise againe: knees bent too late,
Stick you in earth like statues: see in me
How you are powr'd downe from your cleerest heauens;
Fall lower yet: mixt with th'vnmoued center,
That your owne shadowes may no longer mocke yee,
Stricke, stricke, O stricke;
Flie, flie commanding soule,
And on thy wings for this thy bodies breath,
Beare the eternall victory of death.
FINIS.
| The Tragedie of Charles Duke of Byron, Marshall of France | |