University of Virginia Library

SCENE VIII.

The Court sitting, the Judge, the Jury, Witnesses, Freeman senr. at the Bar, and Weldon Foreman of the Jury.
Judge.
Hear and consider well the Charge against him.
Seven Witnesses of Reputation here
Swear that they found him striding o'er the dead,
And in his Hand a Staff, whose bloody Point
Exactly fill'd the Wound, fresh bleeding then:
From what we've hear'd we must our Judgement pass;
In mine he's guilty; but the Sentence rests
In you the Arbitrators of his Life:
You, who are foremost of the Jury, speak.

Weldon.
He's innocent.

Judge.
Is that the Voice of all?

Weldon.
I speak, my Lord, th'unbyass'd Voice of all.

Judge.
Now, by the sacred Majesty of Heav'n,
That sees and judges all, the Blood of him,
Our fellow Subject, who was foully murder'd,
Crys loud for Justice; Blood for Blood repay:
In him the King, his Wife, and only Child,
Have loss'd a Subject, Husband, and a Father:
The King, his Wife, and Child, of you demand
That Justice shou'd be executed here.

Weldon.
Give me your Promise that his Life's secure,
And I'll produce in Court the Man that kill'd him;
Nor do I ask that Promise but on Terms
Which you may grant with Honour to your Name.
If it appears that he who kill'd him did it
Neither in Wrath, nor with his Will's Consent,
But in his own Defence, your Promise stands.

Judge.
I freely give it; and be Heaven's high Judge
The Witness of my Heart.

Weldon.
I am the Man.

Judge.
Bold and intrepid.—Quick proceed to ease
Th'astonish'd Court, that's full of Expectation.
Quick and proceed I say.

Weldon.
Behold in me
The Man that kill'd him, but no Murderer.

Judge.
Now to the Fact.

Weldon.
Tho much my Mind is shock'd
At the Remembrance of the fatal Deed,
And gladly wou'd avoid th'unpleasing Tale,
Yet, in Regard to Truth and my fair Name,
I will begin.—Early in the Morning, as
My Custom was, I walk'd o'er Briar's Grounds,
And met him unexpected in my Way:
I took Occasion then to talk to him
Of an Account that had been long betwixt us:
As our Dispute grew high, I thought he us'd
A Language too ingrateful to the Man
Who had been a patient Creditor so long:
He did indeed provoke me, by his Usage,
For rude he was, to treat him with more Warmth
Than ever yet I treated any Man,
And to reproach him with Severity:
Th'unhappy Man, impatient of Rebuke,
Struck on my Temples with an oaken Staff:
Amidst my Rage the Stick I wrested from him,
And, smarting with the Blow, drove at his Side;
When suddenly he fell, and with a Groan
Cry'd, I've deserv'd my Death, and spoke no more:
Astonish'd at the Blood which flow'd from him,
I view'd the Staff; at the small End of which
Was a sharp iron Spike, which had before
Escap'd my Eye. Surpris'd I look'd around,
And, seeing no one near, I walk'd away,
And sighing thought the poor ill-fated Man
Had too severely pay'd the Debt he ow'd me.
My Sorrows with my Story so encrease,
I beg a Respite here. My Friend can best,
For he best knows, relate what happen'd next,
When, walking o'er the Field, he found him dead.

Judge.
Th'almighty Judge knows how my Soul rejoices
At this our Clearing of the innocent.
Take up the Thread of this surprising Tale;
[To Freeman senr.
And balk not our Attention with Delay.

Freeman senr.
Gay, and as joyful as the Sun, I went
To ask th'unhappy Man, that's dead, to come