 | The Earl of Brecon |  |
38
ACT III.
SCENE I.
A River, and on the side opposite, a Ferry-boat.MAHEL and BARNABAS.
MAHEL.
What name and office, say'st thou?
BARNABAS.
Barnabas—
The son of consolation.
MAHEL.
Boat, ahoy!
Help me to wake this ferryman.
BARNABAS.
Do cooks
Bake larger warden-pies, with greater heed,
On that side than on this, for love of beggars?
Why should we cross the river? Think'st to freight
The boat thyself, without thy miseries?
Do cowards flock eastward out of heart and breath?
Or do the mis-begotten address them thither?
All cuckoo-kind of creatures congregate
For incubation near the rising sun,
To hatch them phœnixes from addled eggs?
Why should we cross this ferry?
MAHEL.
I would have,
Between us two, as wide a stream as this,
To keep thee out of hearing. Boat! ahoy!
I need it but for one of us.
BARNABAS.
My wits
Are scarce so light and loosely-packed as thine:
Yet such an evocation might undo me,
And blow them where thy fortunes fled before.
Thou hast a windy heritage—strong breath
Wherewith to cool thy sister's husband's porridge,
The while he keeps his hand upon the spoon.
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A grasshopper could ill digest the dew,
And he might shout as lustily.
MAHEL.
Boat! ho!
BARNABAS.
For which of us? and what dost call thyself?
Thy name, though air, is like thy patrimony,
Friends, kinsmen, servants, sister, mother, wife,
Too great a thing, and much too good for thee,
Though air be next to nothing.
MAHEL.
I have cast
All these behind me, and since then have spared
My cloak to barer misery than mine own.
Now to be nothing is the best choice left me:
My greatest grief is ever to have been!
Why strip me of my patience too?
BARNABAS.
I need,
As follower to so pitiful a lord,
A double share of it.
MAHEL.
Why follow me?
BARNABAS.
A masterless dog soon tires of liberty.
The whole world is at war with him. It needs
I follow some one. He that was, at last,
Thy lady mother's husband, as she says,
Though not in time for honesty, did garnish
Small commendations with a world of kicks.
Thy sister's husband, with his double earldom,
May double entertainment such as this,
Nor look for recompense. While Geoffrey Builth
In such wise deals his bounties as a king.
Be it but for conscience' sake, to render back
Hereditary charities like these,
I fain would follow thee.
MAHEL.
Boat, ferryman!
BARNABAS.
He doth mistake thee for his next of kin,
So neither owns nor hears thee.
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Should he cross,
He bears thee back upon thine own report:
Dogs pay no toll. My wealth will scarcely quit
The transport of a man. I shall bide here.
BARNABAS.
A man or less, had bided still at Brecon.
Our shadows may precede, may follow us,
May walk beside us—but not go without us.
In things the least substantial, I present
A body 'twixt the light and thy poor spirit.
MAHEL.
What things?
BARNABAS.
Our birth and ancestry. As thus thou hadst
One father at the most, and he most doubtful:
But one, I say, at best. Thy lady-mother
Guessed thy gestation loosely: she could make
No nearer reckoning than of eighteen months.
Nor is she sure of thee—if his indeed.
Some two or three and twenty years ago,
She had, she thinks, a son by somebody:
She partly does believe she had. Behold,
Two nations have a part in Barnabas,
And thirteen townships! His descent is not
From twenty ancestors filed one by one;
But twice as many fathers altogether.
His lady-mother's memory was not tasked
Whether she had a husband, but which was he.
MAHEL.
Boat! hilla ho!
FERRYMAN, from the opposite side.
Who calls me? what dost crave?
BARNABAS.
My breakfast, dinner, supper—two days owing—
All these are in arrear to me.
FERRYMAN.
Gramercy
Thou should'st make haste, with such a deal to do!
When all are ended, I will bring the boat.
MAHEL.
The one of us is ready now—take me.
FERRYMAN.
It were a sin, and scarce worth while, to part you.
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How many dost thou count us at? Hast got
Thy tallies for the reckoning? We stand here,
One lord, one knave, two vagabonds, two fools,
As many cowards and bastards, one great saint,
And one who fasts enough to make him such.
FERRYMAN.
Except the saint, we have of every sort—
And him we must not covet. Let him bide
To teach the others patience.
[Exit Ferryman.
MAHEL.
By this light,
The thought to quoit thee half-way after him,
Is over hot!
BARNABAS.
Beware to caulk with wrath
The vessel of thy sanctity, and daub
Its seams with malice, lest combustion follow.
The single property between us two
In which my state proves farthest off from grace,
Is this of godliness. My name is best,
And best endures to own itself. My wealth
Is amplest by a cloak with hare-skin lining:
Our ancestry has been debated of:
My wisdom stands its ground against rebuke:
My valour never ran away from Fortune,
Nor lost an earldom through its lack of heart:
No lady-love has called her favors from me,
Nor lady-mother turned me out of doors:
How great soe'er the occasion, neither yet
Has ever blushed for me or for herself.
Let me speak truth—I do weigh lightest here!
Among ten thousand mothers, are there ten
With grace enough to stand, as thine has done,
'Midst servants, kinsfolk, children, enemies,
And claim the credit of concubinage?
Make honor out of harlotry? Alas,
Such love for truth is rare!
MAHEL,
beating him.
Cat's face, take that!
And that! thou hast had notice of them.
BARNABAS.
Hold!
I was constrained to take, but will not keep them.
(beats Mahel.)
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We now shall know whose bounty spends the most.
BARNABAS.
Prithee forbear!
MAHEL.
Wilt swim the river, Patch?
BARNABAS.
Withdraw thine hands from off my throat! let go!
May palsy prove the warmest of thy friends,
And shake them from the wrists! By Dunstan's shoe,
I do suspect thee now of treachery!
No coward at all! I have been snared to this!
Nor coward nor bastard, perhaps! Thou dost fight best
Beneath fictitious banners! Boat, a hoy!
Let us be quits and part.
MAHEL.
Away with thee!
BARNABAS.
The brave have beaten me by right of nature;
The doubtful sometimes on their own report—
Never a coward confessed till now! Good sooth,
I shall begin to think thee wise as well!
Better beat me than Geoffrey!—have I said
One word which he did not?
MAHEL.
Speak of myself,
I heed not how—all things with human voice
Are licensed thus—pies, starlings, poppinjays,
Nay, even such warped and strained resemblances
To much-abused humanity as thou.
Coward, bastard, fugitive—I am a post
For every cur to stop at—do thou rail,
And I will strive to help thee. Honor's scorn,
Love's reprobation, manhood's laughing stock,
A briar to tear remembrance, him earth loathes,
And heaven may find no pity for!—Mine ears
Will cease, at last, to ring with infamy.
Deal thou as all men else do—spare them not;
Only forbear my mother.
BARNABAS.
All men else
Do not forbear thy mother; what am I
To over-rule her witness of herself?
Rebutt so great a lady? Art ashamed?
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Will doubt about such membership as thine.
Thou art not resolute in cowardice,
Nor thorough-bred in bastardy!
MAHEL.
One dog,
From many better fed, has left the fire
And so far followed me. I pelt him home
Where faith is hateful for its singleness,
And every foot shall spurn him!
BARNABAS.
Dost repent?
Art sorry?
MAHEL.
Ay.
BARNABAS.
Wilt keep thine hands in peace?
MAHEL.
Henceforth I will—but get beyond their reach.
Choose up the stream, or down it, or across—
I travel any way which thou dost not.
BARNABAS.
Yet take good counsel with thee.
MAHEL.
There is left
So much of gold as makes so small a token.
(gives a ring.)
Bear this to Brecon. She whose pledge it was
Will be thine advocate in recompense,
And pay thee its escape from shameful hands.
Give it as snatched and rescued—let it seem
Not sent, but yielded—say the lost has left it.
Thou shalt be thanked for bearing it.
BARNABAS.
Unless
She chance to love the dog above his master,
Her recompense may reach him near the tail.
Lend me thy staff and let me help myself.
MAHEL.
Take both, and peace go with thee.
BARNABAS.
Peace should keep
Her knuckles off my throat, and so be welcome:
Fain would I leave thee patience in exchange.
Thy mother's multitude of sins requires
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That charity must strip herself and starve.
But while mine eyes forbear her nakedness,
Wilt list to some last words?
MAHEL.
Ay.
BARNABAS.
Dost promise?
MAHEL.
I do on these conditions.
BARNABAS.
By what pledge?
MAHEL.
My faith and honour!
BARNABAS.
O! may all the saints
Cherish so choice a plant, and help its growth!
A medlar grafted on thy modesty!
They needs must marvel at its fruits of late!
I have known honor used like saffron crust
To hide a stinking pasty underneath—
Have known it girt with protestations round,
Like threads of tow about a linseed poultice,
To keep the air from cowardice and fraud.
But such a guarantee exceeds experience!
Swear by thy mother's love and chastity—
Thy lady's faith—thy wisdom, manhood, fortune;
Or give a mortgage on thy whole estate!
Thou wilt forbear me? I have been beset
By art and circumvention—hence distrust
Thy cowardice as much as most men's valour—
Pawn me a saint, wilt keep thy hands at rest?
MAHEL.
Ay—say and do thy pleasure.
BARNABAS.
So I will.
It is an oath! regard it heedfully!
Faith, honor, and the holy Saints to boot!
Take that and that. (beats him with his staff.)
We stand still!
Ah, fie upon thee, reprobate! thine oath!
Tarry within my reach till I have done—
Fie! wolf's-paw! no evasion! keep thy ground!
What! wouldst forswear thyself!—Yea, turn
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To tie the withes of conscience round thine arms,
And leave thy legs untethered!
(King Gryffeth rides up armed; he dismounts.
Hold! stand back:
Let loose the weapon from thine hand! forbear!
I say, down with it! If my wrath arise
I smite thee to my feet! Away! dost hear?
Forbear the youth.
BARNABAS.
Your knightship quits the thief
To catch the constable. I do stand still—
'Tis he that runs away so fast.
KING.
What sayest?
A thief? Is he a thief? By this right hand,
Never was seen so strange a sight as this!
What might he take from thee beside thy fleas?
A spectacle so marvellous!
BARNABAS.
As what?
A man that runs away?—if so, then never
Your knightship has run after one—which shows
That greasy-winded valour lives at ease.
KING.
As there is light from heaven, I have in heart
To hang thee, like a coney, by the heels!
Take heed and lay the finger on thy lip—
The ground beneath thy feet is mine. Speak truth!
Is he a thief? Thy son, didst say he is?
If peradventure so, he fled in duty—
Is the boy thine—thou hedge-pig? speak to me—
BARNABAS.
I know not that he is.
KING.
Come hither, boy!
(To Mahel.)
Knot thou the horse's rein to yonder tree.
Thou dead-cat, is he thine?
BARNABAS.
He may be so.
He may be peradventure so—
KING.
Whose else?
BARNABAS.
Nay—not his mother's—this at least is sure—
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He would have fled his vows before his father.
I have no heart to own him—whether or no.
KING.
Then, by my head, whose is he? Tell the king
Whose son he is.
BARNABAS.
The king may claim and take him.
I wash my hands of him. He is a stray
On nature's waste.
KING.
A natural? Is it true?
Now, by the bread I eat, a full-moon fool!
And he so strong of limb too! Can he talk?
A stately fool! wondrous well grown and featured!
What dost thou feed upon? And where dost sleep?
Come hither to me, innocent. Speak truth—
What meat dost eat? speak wisely.
MAHEL.
I did eat
Ripe whortle-berries yesterday, to-day
Pig-nuts and hazel-nuts. My bed last night
Was where the fern grows yonder.
KING.
Why didst quarrel?
What ground of strife?
BARNABAS.
There was no quarrel.
KING.
How?
BARNABAS.
The last had been made up.
KING.
Then why didst smite him?
BARNABAS.
He is a coward.
KING.
Ay, truly is he so!
He is indeed! good sooth, thou dost speak truly!
What next? how then?—didst therefore beat him thus
Because he is a coward?
BARNABAS.
Does your grace
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If he were not?
KING.
A coward? come hither, fool—
Thou shalt lift up thy face before the sun,
And fight against him. Shake thyself, awake!
Stand bravely to him, innocent! Behold,
A king shall be thy squire! Thou dost o'ertop
That pie-bald pate of his a span and half;
Thy hip is well-nigh level with his beard;
And shalt thou run away from him? Take heart!
A brave and stately fool he is!
BARNABAS.
A fool
To run away from me, but not a brave one.
KING.
By this right hand, he shall be justified!
Stop awhile first, boy?
BARNABAS.
He must needs do that,
Or run from victory a second time.
I care not for his stopping—let him bide
Till christmas, if he will.
KING.
Art coward too?
BARNABAS.
Ay, marry, am I. Were your grace as brave
As I am not, we might see great things some day.
KING.
A coward! As light and darkness come from heaven,
Never was found the man that said so yet!
Hark ye! stand still! forbear awhile! speak truth!
Hast seen my servant here? do thou speak first—
A noble at the ferry?
BARNABAS.
I have seen
A ragged sort of lord without his cloak.
KING.
Armed, magpie—mounted—captain of the host—
The chief of all my servants! Prince ap Rhys!
He rides with head on high above his crupper:
His greaves are brass: upon his targe he bears
A black bull chained and fetlocked.
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Bears a bull?
A mighty beast for such a little field!
KING.
Graven, I say—upon his shield, thou snake!
I did say graven: by my father's head
I will be quits with thee! Look this way, fool—
Said I not graven on his shield? Behold,
On mine are lions!
MAHEL.
Seven of them!
KING.
Canst count?
MAHEL.
The first is bigger than the six behind.
KING.
They typify the kings that rule Caermarthen:
The mightiest is myself.
MAHEL.
They all wear crowns,
And all do run one way!
KING.
Ay—wherefore do they?
It tokens love and unanimity.
I go before the rest, as first and greatest.
MAHEL.
Why do ye chain the bull, and loose the lions?
But be they lions indeed?
KING.
What else didst think?
MAHEL.
A nest of conies, with their dam before.
BARNABAS.
A she-goat—I—and followed by her kids.
KING.
Peace, thou flayed badger's peltry!
MAHEL.
Hark! a cry!
BARNABAS.
The black bull, by his bellowing! here he is.
Enter Prince Jestin ap Rhys, armed. He dismounts and kneels.
KING.
Stand on thy feet, Prince Jestin. What dost bring me?
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The king comes first, and tarries for his servant!
The king consorts with lazars! Is it good?
Beggars that lie o'nights amongst the fern;
And fight, like noblemen, without a cause?
Is this thing good, prince Jestin? Shout, thou fool!
Cry till the earth do quake beneath thy feet;
Thou godless innocent! Cry, both of ye—
The king commands the ferryman! Now speak.
(Over! over! over!)
What answer from my cousins, prince ap Rhys?
Good news shall be requited. What says Gwinneth?
Thou shalt have gold for silver in exchange.
Now, where is he and Killan?
PRINCE.
Both a-foot.
Pencarr passed round the mountains yesterday:
The kings his uncle and his son-in-law
Had crossed above Llangaddoc toward Penbrain.
My servants travel northward through the land,
By Aberath, Treegarron, Pentadarroc,
To speak your grace's pleasure. I spurred fast,—
But lo, the king before me! There will meet
Six princes, with their hosts, at Brecon gate
By dawn of day to-morrow.
KING.
I say, seven!
As breath is life, we two will ride apace!
Seven kings there will be, if I live all night.
This thou shalt see, prince Jestin. Thou shalt need
No ladder for the battlements, ap Rhys.
The king shall go before thee. Old men say
Words dropped by chance may turn to prophecies:
And these were thine. I would not go behind
For half Caermarthen. As we live by bread,
No man shall see my back.
BARNABAS.
The king must go
The last of all then.
KING.
Wherefore, Beelzebub?
Lazars that sleep amongst the fern—ap Rhys!
Their meat is hips and haws, with such like picking.
Lay thou thy finger on thy lip! The bards
Do travel with the heralds in the host,
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Hear the king speak, prince Jestin! Hold thy peace!
Our horsemen are as forward as the first:
Clydoge and Gryffeth lead them by the fords—
The foot come this way presently, ap Rhys:
I pricked before to meet thee. I would bring
No listeners with me hither. Now, prince Jestin,
The king repays thy tidings gold for brass!
We have had messengers from Geoffrey Builth
Who yields us all that lies this side Trecastle—
All that we asked he yields us! Art requited?
Are the news good, ap Rhys? Seven kings shall aid
This Geoffrey Builth to win his kinsman's earldom;
And then, to take it from him, one another.
As there is truth above, thou shalt not find
One Northman, nor one Saxon, west of Wye
On this day month.
PRINCE.
Both ferries are cut off.
We have an easier road and abler horses—
But we must spur all night. Earl Bernard's son
Is chased from Brecon by his brother-in-law—
Fitzwalter holds the Earldom through his wife,
This bastard's sister.
KING.
By my father's head,
And by my own, I will have both these Earldoms—
I will have Hereford as well, ap Rhys—
And Builth I will have! Whither is he fled?—
The son convinced of bastardy?
PRINCE.
To Builth—
To Geoffrey Builth, his late competitor.
But first, upon his father's grave he knelt,
And swore before the altar of Saint John,
That ere he polled his beard, or tasted bread,
Or slept, or loosed the sandals from his feet,
His hands should hang his mother.
KING.
So they shall!
This bastard shall have leave to hang his mother,
And I will hang the bastard. Hold thy peace!
No man shall pity either. Princess Nest
Is traitress to her kindred, prince ap Rhys—
And look, to hang one's mother is a sin.
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Cry loudly to this ferryman. I would
Have passage for myself before the host—
So lift thy voice as doth the unicorn!
A sad and peaceful innocent, ap Rhys!
I spy a tear! Remember what I sware—
Thou shalt not need a ladder.
BARNABAS.
I would lend
A long one for this purpose, if I had one.
KING.
What purpose? For what use? and to what end?
BARNABAS.
The bastard's use, and to his mother's end
KING.
Hold thou thy peace, and call this ferryman.
Shout lustily, thou devil deaf and dumb!
Bawl till thou burst thyself, dost hear?
BARNABAS.
He comes,
And we may spare our pains.
KING.
By holy Herod!
He shall dance nine-score cubits high this day:
And thou shalt be his piper underneath,
Thine ears nailed straightways to the gallows foot.
(Ferryman brings the boat.)
Lead in the horses; crocodile, go first. (Barnabas steps into the boat.)
And lend the boy thy staff awhile. Stop! stop!
Hold by the rein, thou sheep-tick, tenderly.
Now—get behind him, innocent—take time—
Use thy staff wisely, fool! The other follows—
Behold, I told thee so!
PRINCE.
Go, stand aside—
And let his highness pass thee! Get thee gone:
Why dost thou push the boat from shore?
MAHEL.
There be
Two horses and four riders; tarry awhile—
How shall we mount?
PRINCE.
Whither wouldst go?
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To Brecon.
PRINCE.
For what wouldst go?
MAHEL.
To see his highness fight—
See the king fight.
KING.
Wouldst see me fight, boy?—fie!
The king did see thee run away, just now.
MAHEL.
That scald-pate in the boat shall be a herald,
And I will be a bard. Let us both go
To see what we shall witness and record.
KING.
So far a-foot? Ye scarce would reach in time
To see the smoke, child.
MAHEL.
Therefore we will ride,
The scald-pate with the prince upon his crupper—
And I before the king.
KING.
Dost think we travel,
Like sheriffs, with their hangmen, to the gallows?
BARNABAS.
Nay, by my father's head, whose'er it was—
We two will ride together. Let the king
Mount first, and take his minister behind him.
PRINCE.
Bring the boat nearer, ferryman.
BARNABAS.
The fish
Shall sup upon his carcase if he do.
Address thee to thy prayers—art fit to die?
FERRYMAN.
The saints forbid I should be so!
KING.
Stand wide!
Out of the way, fool! bray him on the skull!
Smite him, prince Jestin, with thy leading staff.
MAHEL.
I smite again.
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Ah! what! before the king?
Down on thy knee for mercy!
KING.
This is death!
It is rebellion, which is witchcraft, prince!
Draw thou thy sword, and bring his head before me.
(The Prince fights with his sword, Mahel with his staff.)
Slay him, prince Jestin! Cleave him to the chine!
Make carrion for the foxes of him! fie!
Down with him, prince!
BARNABAS,
from the boat.
Another such as that!
Right 'twixt the black bull's horns! Now, innocent!
KING.
By this right hand, the prince goes back! What! ah!
Chased by a beggar's flea!—hold up thine head!
Stand to him! smite him! split him to the fork!
Fie, fie! then will I do it.
(King draws, and both attack Mahel.)
BARNABAS.
Now for bastards!
By this right hand a marvellous spectacle!
Two princes armed against a naked fool!
Let majesty lay on with all its might!
But keep in front, both! Would the Bards were here!
Fair play, most potent princes!
FERRYMAN.
Jump ashore,
And help thy fellow.
BARNABAS.
That was well delivered!
The bull has had the mallet 'twixt his horns!
Now, rap the lions till they roar—lay on!
They reel, the beasts grow giddy! Bravely craven!
A marvellous spectacle of one to two,
And wood to iron, and cowardice to valour!
FERRYMAN.
It is the king himself! It is his grace!
Look, here is treason! Call thy wolf-dog off!—
Let us row back and leave them!
BARNABAS.
Tarry awhile.
See, royalty grows scant of breath! Well done!
54
That road runs wide away from Brecon gate:
The bull is on his knees. Huzza! for fools!
The greatest lion of seven is on his haunches.
MAHEL,
(to Ferryman.)
Out, web-foot—jump ashore.
BARNABAS.
Take thou mine office,
As son of consolation. I the while
Will do my best in thine to cross the ferry.
MAHEL.
This water-rat has kept us half the day,
And we will keep him here the other half.
Reach me an oar! The king must lend his horses,
And we must ride all night.
BARNABAS.
Pull bravely, boy!
Make haste across the river. Just in time!
Behold the royal standards! Here they come!
Dost hear the trumpets?—pull away!
MAHEL.
Make haste!
Row straight to land—then sink the ferry-boat.
[Exeunt.
| The Earl of Brecon | |