 | The Massacre of Paris |  |
ACT IV.
SCENE I.
The Scene draws; the King, the Queen Mother, the Duke of Anjou, Duke of Guise, Cardinal of Lorrain: The Body of Ligneroles held up all bloody.Anj.
Ah Traytor Guise! but I will have thy life—
Gui.
Let go your hand; or by the Majesty
That Governs here, I'll send you to your Boy.
King.
Tear 'em asunder.
Anj.
I'le have Satisfaction.
King.
Remove the Body. You my Lord of Guise,
Say how this murder hapned.
Gui.
Thus, my Lord.
Charles Count of Mansfield, and the Count of Guerchy,
28
The Skies and Fountains seem'd one mutual cry,
Riding in company, with this bold Spirit,
On fiery Coursers, chanc'd to discompose him:
He frown'd, they laugh'd, and so the beaten road
Of Quarrels, hot words rose, then Blows and Thrusts,
The Youth betwixt 'em fell, I know not how;
And there's an end of him.
Anj.
Traytor, thou ly'st: thou know'st the cause.
King.
No, Sir, it was my Order.
Now, as you have respect to your own Safety,
No more of this. Had you not blush'd in Blood,
In the Heart-blood of him you dearest lov'd;
By my dead Father's Soul, by my Revenge,
You should your self have mourn'd so gross a failing.
Q. M.
Sir, he repents.
King.
He does but what he ought.
Now to the Business.
Since then the Cloud that holds our horrid Vengeance
Comes nearer racking o're the Hugonots heads;
Let's help the fall, and stir not from this place
Till we have fixt the Plat-form of their Ruine:
First, for the Queen, Jane Albert of Navarre,
Because a Woman, and of Royal Blood,
My Mother judg'd that she should dye by Poison.
Q. M.
Dispatch'd with Sweets. Pass to the rest; she's dead.
King.
Yet not without suspicion of the Princes,
Who therefore, by my Order, were desir'd
To see her Body open'd; which was done
Before the chief of all the Hugonots;
Only her Head was spar'd, as I appointed,
Out of a seeming Reverence; but indeed,
Lest that the Poison, tho' it pass'd unseen,
Like a close Murderer, through the Lanes of Life,
Might yet at last be taken where it lodg'd.
With this, in part, I satisfy'd their Murmurs.
Qu. M.
Therefore you must confer more favours still
Upon the Admiral, lull him with Honours;
Strike him but in the throat of his Ambition,
You have him sure: yet let him play a while,
And roll at random down the stream of Glory.
My Lord of Guise you have not yet convers'd him;
Therefore, while this suspicion on the death
Of the late Queen flies warm about his ears,
Visit him, as commanded by the King;
29
Proceed to half a Quarrel, that the King,
Being made the Judge, as coming there by chance,
May give it quite against you in appearance,
And force you to submit your self for Pardon.
Gui.
It shall be so: And fear not, I'le provoke him;
'Twill ease my Heart a little, with keen words,
To right my Father's wrongs, and shed the Venom
That swells me all within.
King.
On this proceed
To the intended Marriage of Navarre;
Which once perform'd, as if that were the Lightning
To the sure Peal of Horrour that must follow,
Begin our Vengeance with the Admiral's Death.
Anj.
First, Sir, it would be known how Guise approves
The Marriage of Navarre with Marguerite.
King.
I know the Duke approves what I resolve;
And on so great a push, would forfeit both
A Ligneroles and Marguerite too.
Qu. M.
Come, come, it's monstrous but to make a Scruple,
To stand on Pets, Intrigues, and foolish Passions,
When such a Fate is now upon the Bolt,
As ne're perhaps yet Thunder'd with Success,
Since first the World began.
Gui.
My Lord, I yield;
And take Prince Porcien's Widow for my Wife.
King.
I sent the Count of Rhets to bring her hither.
My Lord Lorrain, pray let me view the Contract.
This, by the hand of Guise, must first be torn,
And then presented her.
Gui.
Excuse me, Sir.
King.
If Prayers or threats can bend her, Sir, you shall not;
But, if those fail, my Lord, without more words,
I charge you for your Honour, and my own,
To act as I command: or, by my blood,
Nor you, nor I shall ever see her more.
Gui.
That's a home thrust indeed: Sir, I obey,
And wait your farther order.
King.
My Lord Lorrain,
Attend the Duke while I examine Marguerite,
Wait till I stamp, and when thy trouble's over
Make to the Admiral; and I will follow.
30
How, Marguerite, weeping? all in tears!
Sure then the Count of Rhets mistook the
Message.
I sent to give thee Joy, to tell my Sister
She must be marry'd.
Mar.
And I come, my Lord,
To shew my heart before your Majesty,
To beg your favour, mercy, and your pardon;
For O, my Lord, I cannot, if I would,
Be marry'd to Navarre.
King.
You cannot? Rise,
And tell me why: I'le hear you out with patience.
Mar.
Ah, Sir, how shall I speak your Sister's Frailty?
How shall I, but thus drown'd with tears and blushes,
Confess the fault of Duty? I am marry'd,
Betroth'd, my Lord.
King.
To whom?
Mar.
Alas, you're angry;
But I must own the truth, tho' on your brow
A thousand deaths sat menacing my Soul:
Yes, Sir, I'm marry'd to the Duke of Guise.
King.
Not marry'd, Marguerite; but contracted:
And so far I'le forgive thy heedless Youth;
But on condition that, without more noise,
Thou raze the haughty Guise from thy remembrance;
Or, by the violation of our Name,
I will not spare to drain thy tainted blood,
Till I have mounted thee by death a Victim
To the great memory of the wrong'd Valois.
Mar.
Call then, my Lord, call forth your fierce Tormentors,
Propose to Marguerite flames and wounds,
And all the cruel Arts of thoughtful Fury,
See your poor Sister's Spirit parch'd away
By lingring fires, to make my death more dreadful;
Yet, Sir, with my last breath I must avow
My Love to Guise, and hatred to Navarre.
King.
No; I have thought on't better; I'll proclaim thee,
A Prostitute; thou shalt no more be Royal:
Poor, and abandon'd, with thy shame upon thee,
I'll turn thee forth a Beggar to the World.
Mar.
Do, do, my Lord, rather than wed Navarre,
And make it death for any to relieve me,
31
To tear, to worry me like common flesh,
To drag me to a Ditch, and leave me gasping;
Yet with my last sighs I will groan to Heav'n,
'Tis easier this, than to be false to Guise.
King.
But, Marguerite, was there ever Love
Without brave Revenge on Provocation?
Yet, Wretch, thou lov'st without being lov'd again:
Since in my presence Guise now past his word
To leave thee, and to wed the Widow Porcien.
Mar.
No, no, my Lord; that Art was us'd before;
Yet, Sir, you make me tremble; for methinks
There's something more resolv'd, more stern in you,
Than in my Mother: yet my heart's confirm'd
Not to believe ev'n you; O therefore cease,
Or rather execute your former rage,
And give me up to those Tormentors hands
That wait your Call.
King.
But if I bring the Duke
Before thy face, that Contract in his hand,
Which past betwixt you, and he tears it here
Openly, in the presence of us all;
Wilt thou then quit him, with resolv'd revenge,
And wed Navarre?
Mar.
Why should you ask me, Sir?
Prove me but half as much, but half that falshood,
That Impudence, that Treason to the Throne
Of our crown'd Loves, and I will wed a Slave:
There's not a thing so loath'd upon the Earth,
But you shall bind me to it for my life,
To Age, Deformity, to all that's hateful,
Blasting, and deadly.—Ha! what's this he tears?
The Contract? O, it is the cursed Contract!
Then I'll tear too. Death, Furies, Hell, and Devils!
But call him, Sir, call back the perjur'd Traytor;
Let your Guards hold him; you shall see, my Lord,
How well I hate him: Give me but a Dagger,
And I will gore his heart with thousand wounds;
Nay, if 'twere possible, I'de stab his Soul,
Fill it so full, brimful of Womans Gall,
That, tho' he were an Angel, it should damn him;
But he's a Devil, Devil, Devil, Devil.
King.
Give me your hand; you shall along with me
To a young King, that will be proud to serve you.
Mar.
O, Sir, I know not what to say, or do,
32
You have my promise; but with all my blood
I would retrieve it; for since Guise is false,
Whom I believ'd the worthiest of the World,
Since he has prov'd himself so damn'd a Villain,
O, give me leave, Sir, give me leave to shun,
To hate, to loath, to curse all Humane Kind.
King.
I'le have no more delay; I claim your Promise:
Come then; or, by my Crown, I'le have thee drag'd:
What hoa? without there.
Enter Attendants.
Mar.
Mother, pity me.
Have patience, Sir, a little time, my Lord,
To vent these bursting sighs, and I will go;
Let me but dry my Eyes, and I will go:
This remnant of a wretched Royal woman,
This stain to all your Blood, O cruel Heav'n!
This curs'd, forlorn, unhappy Bride shall go
Thus to the Altar where my Fate's decreed;
But like a Victim that is doom to bleed.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.
Admiral, Antramont, Cavagnes, Langoiran.Ant.
Poison'd; the Royal dead Navarre was poison'd?
'Tis the first Thunder-clap of that vast Storm
That seems already breaking o're your head:
Why are you senseless then, and deaf to warning;
When, wheresoe're you cast your Eyes, the storm
Looks blacker yet? Why stays the Duke of Guise?
Why does he summon all his Blood to Court,
With Barons, Knights, that hold the Catholick Party,
With Foreign Gentry living on his Pensions,
And therefore ready upon all occasion,
With hazard of their lives to act his pleasure.
Adm.
Peace, Antramont.
Ant.
Alas, my Lord, I cannot.
Why should the Visdam Chartres, Count Mongomery,
Resolve to lodge themselves beyond the Sein,
Unless their minds presage some dreadful mischief!
33
The King and Queen delude your easie Soul
With fatal Praises, and undoing Honours:
O, they have caught you! my Prophetick Soul
Sees the red Tempest thunder down in blood,
In blood of you, of me, of all about you.
Adm.
O, Antramont, you foil me now indeed;
Yet I shall answer, if your Passion please:
First, for the Queen, I saw her Body open'd,
The parts whereof were sound, untouch'd by Poison,
And by our own Physicians 'twas concluded
She dy'd a natural Death. Then for the Guises,
Some little satisfaction must be given,
As to permit their Presence at the Marriage;
But, for the management of State-affairs,
Or Favour from the King, they're lost for ever:
Nor shall it keep my dauntless Powers awake,
Tho' Chartres and Mongomery will not come.
But, to forbear the Subject, leave me here
With my Cavagnes.
Ant.
I am commanded, Sir;
Yet, for the safety of your innocent Babes,
Beware, my Lord, be cautious, O prevent.
[Exit Antramont.
Adm.
Fear not; Farewel; be gone; I will beware,
Why should I fear, Cavagnes, when the King
Inclines his heart to the Reform'd Religion;
When the whole management of Home-affairs,
With all Confederacies made abroad,
Are left to me, as Judge and Arbitrator,
The Genius and the Oracle of France?
But, if the Will of Heav'n has set it down,
That all this trust is deep dissimulation,
That there's no Faith nor Credit to be given
To the inviolable Royal Word;
O, my Cavagnes, if 'tis possible,
If this be so, I yield, I yield to die:
I am contented for the Protestant Faith
Here to be hewn into a thousand pieces,
And made the Martyr of so good a Cause.
Lang.
My Lord, I take my leave; and am resolv'd
To leave the Court.
Adm.
Cavagnes, prethee speak,
It is not worth our smile: But why, Langoiran,
Why dost thou leave the Maker of thy Fortune?
Is it not worth the hazard?
34
No, my Lord.
I'm sorry, Sir, to see you made so much of:
And so Farewel. For my part, I'm content
To save my self with Fools; rather than perish
With those that are too wise.
[Exit.
Enter a Servant.
Serv.
My Lord the Duke of Guise.
Enter Guise.
Exeunt Cavag. Serv. and all.
Gui.
The King, my Lord, commanded me to wait you,
And bid you welcome to the Court.
Adm.
The King
Still loads me with new Honours; but none greater
Than this, the last.
Gui.
There is one greater yet,
Your high Commission for the War with Spain:
I, and my Family, are charg'd to serve you;
And 'twill be glorious work.
Adm.
If you are there,
There must be Action.
Gui.
O, your pardon, Sir;
I'm but a Stripling in the Trade of War:
But you, whose life is one continu'd Battel,
What will not your Triumphant Arms accomplish?
Who, as your self confess'd, or Fame is false,
Have quite out-gone the memory of the Ancients,
Of Alexander, and of Julius Cæsar,
For they in all their Actions had success;
But you, in spite of your malicious Fortune,
After the loss of four most signal Battels,
Still rose more fierce and dreadful to your Foes:
And last, when all men thought you had no way
To save your life, but wander through the World;
You forc'd the King to grant your own Conditions,
More proper for a Conquerour than one
That was o'recome.
Adm.
No more of that, my Lord.
Gui.
But, Sir, since I must make a little one
In this great Business, let me understand
What 'tis you mean; and why you put the King
Upon so dangerous an Expedition.
Adm.
Know, I intend the Greatness of the King,
35
To make their Arms their Aim and Occupation:
Since then the Genius of the Kingdom's rouz'd,
I'll turn the Fever of those Civil Broils
To wholesom Exercise, to war with Strangers.
Gui.
Stor'd Arsenals, and Armories, and Fields of Horse,
Ordnance, Ammunition, and the Nerve of War,
Sound Infantry; not harrass'd and diseas'd,
To meet a Veteran Army, should be thought of;
Nor ought you to rely on Protestants,
Those Mercenaries that must come: for he
Who, thus resolv'd, depends on such, shall spread
His Feathers now; but mew 'em all to morrow.
Adm.
I find; my Lord, the Argument grows warm.
Therefore thus much, and I have done. The King
Intends to send an Army into Flanders,
A powerful one, and under my Command:
First then, altho' the Wars of later Ages
Are, in respect of former, made i'th'dark,
Chastillon will not steal a Victory.
Gui.
The Phrase of Alexander at Arbela!
Adm.
No place of Honour, Office, or Command
Through the whole Series of this glorious War,
For Profit, Favour, or for Interest,
Not of the greatest shall be bought or sold:
Whereas too, for th'incouragement of Fighters,
There are degrees promiscuously conferr'd
On Souldiers, and no Souldiers, this man Knighted,
Because he charg'd a Troop before his dinner,
And sculk'd behind a hedge in th'afternoon;
I will have strict Examination made
Betwixt the meritorious and the base;
And, since I am entrusted as I wish,
I'll spoil the Traffick of this Brandy Court,
And vye Rewards for Merit with old Rome.
Gui.
You will, my good Lord Admiral?
Adm.
Sir I will.
Upon the very Spot of Victory
For Gallant Men—
Erect their Tropies, Funeral Laudatives,
And Monuments for those that dy'd in War,
Crowns of distinction, Garland Personal,
All but the Stile of Emperour, which the King
Of the whole Universe did after borrow;
That for my Master: and perhaps for me
36
Gui.
You have mouth'd it bravely; and there is no doubt
Your deeds would answer well such haughty words:
Yet, let me tell you, Sir, there was a man
(Curse on the hand that sped him) that would better,
Better than you, or all the bragging Generals,
That when he shone in Arms and sun'd the Field,
That better would become the great Battallion,
Mov'd, spoke, and fought, and was himself a War.
Adm.
The Noble Guise, your Father, Sir, you mean;
But yet, my Lord—
Gui.
No yet, my Lord; no yet:
By Arms, I bar you that;
For never was his like, nor shall again,
Till murder'd by Poltrot; curs'd, damn'd Poltrot,
Whose Soul now gluts the Maw of Lucifer.
Adm.
Speak with more Charity.
Gui.
Ha! Charity!
Damnation on the Soul that harbours it.
Were I in Heav'n, and saw him scorch'd in Flames,
I would not spit my Indignation down,
Lest I should cool his Tongue. For Beza too,
That set him on, with the Rewards of Heav'n,
To act so black, so deep, so damn'd a Murder.
O why will Charles thus sheath the Sword of Justice
Till he has rooted up this Sect of Villains,
And collar'd to the Stake that canting Slave
That preach'd my God-like Father from the World?
Adm.
Come, come, my Lord, hear with a little patience,
And you shall find 'tis not the Protestant way
To stab, and beat the Brains out in the dark:
Look home, my Lord, go to the Vatican;
See, if in all those Politick Discourses,
There be not one Red-letter'd Page for killing.
Gui.
Ha, Admiral! then dur'st thou justify
The Villain, whom my Vengeance marks for death?
Adm.
My Lord, I will not justify a Villain
More than your self: But if you thus proceed,
If that a great Man's breath can puff away
On every Pet the Lives of Free-born People;
What need that awful General Convocation,
Th'Assembly of the States? nay, let me urge,
If thus you threat the Venerable Beza,
What may the rest expect?
Gui.
What if I could,
37
Adm.
'Tis very well, my Lord, I know your mind
Which, without fear or flatt'ry to your Person,
I'll tell the King; and then, with his Permission,
Proclaim it for a Warning to our People.
Gui.
Come, you're a Murd'rer, your self.
Adm.
Away.
Gui.
You were Complotter with that Villain Beza,
The black Abetter of my Father's Murder.
Adm.
This wou'd sound well, my Lord, in Front-Battle,
But here upon a Visit from the King
It looks not like the Guise.
Gui.
My Father's Murder? bid me not stand on points
When that's remember'd!
But track me to the Forest with thy Sword,
Thus Man to Man, bark'd with all thy People,
Follow me, or I will proclaim thee Traytor, Coward.
Adm.
O King, King, King! still let me sound thy Name,
Lest this Fool-hardy-Boy, this knotty Trifler,
This Spawn of Words, this Urchin of the War,
Should raise my Anger past the pulling down.
Enter King, Queen Mother, Alberto Anjou, and Morvile.
But see He's here, I scorn to ruine thee:
Therefore go tell him, tell him thy own Story.
King.
What now, my Lord of Guise? Is this your Visit?
I charge you on your life, without reserve,
Tell me the truth; how hapned this disorder?
Those rufled hands, red looks, and port of Fury?
Gui.
I told him, Sir, since you resolve to have it,
He was the Murderer of my Noble Father;
Therefore a Traytor, Villain, and a Coward.
King.
Is't possible?
Adm.
No matter, Sir, no matter;
The Old Man rouz'd, and shook himself, my Lord;
A few hot words; no more, upon my life:
So, if your Majesty will do me Honour,
I do beseech you, let the business dye.
King.
Guise, go, submit your self, and ask his pardon.
Gui.
My Lord, I cannot speak.
King.
Where are our Guards?
Adm.
Hold there. Come, Sir, I will interpret for you.
My Lord, this close embrace makes up the breach:
We will be sorry, Sir, for one another.
38
You have out-done me, Sir; but you'l excuse me,
'Twas a great Rack that screw'd me to this Folly.
Adm.
More than enough, we're riveted the faster.
King.
My Lord of Guise.
Q. M.
My good Lord Admiral,
Now use your Power, and quite oblige the Court:
Villandry has provok'd the King at Play,
In such a nature, that he's doom'd to die;
My Son refus'd my Intercession for him;
Therefore, when he has done his Check to Guise,
For your affront; pray, my good Lord, intreat him.
King.
The Marriage stays within; which past, resolve
His Execution sudden as you can.
Gui.
Marvile.
Mar.
My Lord?
Gui.
I by the King's Commission, have Command
To take the Admiral's life.
Mar.
I'le shoot him.
Gui.
Right:
As he returns from Court.
Mar.
From some Out-Lodging
I'le watch him till I execute your Order.
Adm.
I am a Suitor to your Majesty
For poor Villandry's life.
King.
Haste, bring him forth.
I think, my Lord, if you should ask my heart,
My yielding breast would open to your hand.
But, Father, let's away; the Cardinal
Stays for Navarre.
Adm.
We'll wait your Majesty.
[Exit King with the Court.
O, my Cavagnes, where's Langoiran now?
Where's Antramont? but haste, and tell her all;
Tell her th'extravagant kindness of the King,
Tell her, but stay; why such repeated Oaths?
That's to be thought on: Hollow was his aspect,
Graves in his smiles; Death in his bloodless hands.
O, Antramont! I'le haste to meet thy Eyes:
The Face of Beauty on these rising horrours,
Looks like the Midnight-Moon upon a Murder:
It drives the Shades that thicken from the State,
And gilds the dark design that's ripe for Fate.
[Exeunt.
| The Massacre of Paris | |