 | The Earl of Warwick |  |
44
SCENE II.
PEMBROKE, WARWICK.PEMBROKE.
My friend!
WARWICK.
My Pembroke, welcome:
Thee I have ever found most just and kind;
But, in the darkness of adversity
The jewel friendship shines with double lustre.
PEMBROKE.
I am not of the insect train that bask
In fortune's sunshine, and when ev'ning damps
Arise, are seen no more: no, Warwick, what
I speak, I mean: you have been hardly treated.
WARWICK.
O! Pembroke, didst thou know but half the wrongs
That I have suffer'd, thou wou'dst pity me.
PEMBROKE.
I wou'd do more, much more, my Warwick: he
Who only pities but insults the wretched;
I come with nobler views, I come to tell thee,
That I have felt thy inj'ries as my own,
And will revenge them too.
WARWICK.
How kind thou art
To feel for Warwick!
PEMBROKE.
Ev'ry honest breast
Must feel the inj'ries that a good man suffers:
Thine is the common cause of all: adieu
To English freedom, when our liberty
45
When years of honest service shall be paid
With infamy and chains.
WARWICK.
I've not deserv'd them.
PEMBROKE.
Nor shalt thou wear them long: for thou hast great
And pow'rful friends—the noble duke of Clarence.
Behold his signet—this, my Warwick, gain'd me
Admission here—we must be secret.
WARWICK.
Then I am not forsaken: Clarence!—Ha!
PEMBROKE.
Yes:
The gallant youth, with honest zeal, declar'd
He lov'd his brother much, but justice more.
WARWICK.
Then, Edward, I defy thee: gen'rous Clarence!
Thou know'st, the man who thus cou'd treat a friend,
Wou'd soon forget a brother—but say, Pembroke,
How stands the duke of Buckingham?
PEMBROKE.
Fast bound
To Edward; he and that smooth courtier Suffolk
Are the two rotten pillars that support
His tott'ring throne: but Marg'ret—
WARWICK.
Aye: how fares
My new ally? has she escaped the tyrant?
PEMBROKE.
She has: and by some wond'rous means contriv'd
To free her captive son.
46
Tho' I abhor,
I must admire that enterprising woman:
Her active mind is ever on the wing
In search of fresh expedients, to recover
The crown she lost.
PEMBROKE.
Already she has rais'd
A pow'rful army; all the secret foes
Of York's ambitious line rush forth in crowds,
And join her standard: e'er to-morrow's sun
Shall dawn upon us, she will set thee free.
WARWICK.
O! Pembroke, nothing wounds the gen'rous mind
So deep as obligations to a foe.
Is there no way to liberty, my friend,
But through the bloody paths of civil war?
PEMBROKE.
I fear there is not.
WARWICK.
Then it must be so:
I cou'd have wish'd—but freedom and revenge
On any terms are welcome.
PEMBROKE.
Here then join we
Our hands—
WARWICK.
Our hearts.
PEMBROKE.
Now, Warwick, be thou firm
In thy resolves; let no unmanly fears,
No foolish fond remembrance of past friendship
Unnerve thy arm, or shake thy steady purpose.
47
No: by my wrongs it shall not: once, thou know'st,
I lov'd him but too well, and these vile chains
Are my reward,—O give me but the use
Of this once pow'rful arm, and thou shalt see
How it shall punish falshood.—are thy forces
Prepar'd?
PEMBROKE.
They are, and wait but for my orders;
Clarence will join us soon: our first great end
Is to secure thy liberty; that done,
We haste to seize the palace and redeem
The fair Elizabeth.
WARWICK.
Redeem her, ha!
Is she a captive too?
PEMBROKE.
A willing slave;
A gay state pris'ner, left to roam at large
O'er the young monarch's palace.
WARWICK.
Aye, my Pembroke,
That's more inviting than a prison:—O
She's false, she's false—who sent her there?
PEMBROKE.
She came
It seems, to thank him for his royal bounties
To her good father, the new earl of Rivers,
Who will no doubt persuade her to accept—
WARWICK.
Of Edward's hand—distraction! fly, my friend,
Haste thee to Marg'ret, tell her if she hopes
48
E'er Edward's ill-tim'd mercy shall prevent her.
PEMBROKE.
I go; my friend, adieu! when next we meet,
I hope to bring thee liberty.
WARWICK.
Farewel.
She's lost: she's gone: that base seducer Edward,
Hath wrought on her weak mind, it must be so.
| The Earl of Warwick | |