University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

—Room in the Palace.
King Baliol, Archbishop Fraser, Donagill.
BALIOL.
Earl Duncan murder'd! and the sheriffdom
Of Fife all up in arms?

ARCHBISHOP FRASER.
True, my loved liege;
That murmurer hath perish'd; but his death,
Bruited and blabb'd about through all the shire,
With aggravation of devised lies,
As if the finger of the King were in it,
Hath call'd up twenty thousand mutineers,
Hot for revenge, and burning for the Bruce.

BALIOL.
Alas! what have I done to merit this?
Scarce rested from the toils of coronation,
Outrageous friends beset my throne with suit
And over-zeal importunate to cleanse
All grudge away from my distracted land:
And now their deadly deeds of loving-kindness,
Dared, as they say, for my security,
Rebound, in their disastrous retribution,
Upon my single head. The King, men say,
Has hatch'd all this; and, having many hands,
In every death or murder of a foe,
Even were he distant at the Antipodes,
The royal arm glares manifestly out.
'Tis thus the King contracts around his head
Clouds of dark blame, engender'd from the fens
Just honour'd by the twinkle of his beams;
And he must bide the issue.

DONAGILL.
Let your grace
Think rather how too little has been done—
Albeit enough to waken ill report,
Not so to quash and throttle opposition;
For Enmity, too slightly grazed and scratch'd
By any dolorous weapon, serpent-like
Towards the inflicter twines his saucier head
And hisses fouler poison: Wherefore needs
Some perseverance in revenge's scheme,
Some heart-struck stabs, more forcefully thrust in
To end the monster.

BALIOL.
Would to God he were
Dispatch'd or lull'd by any charm asleep,
That I might sip of peace.

DONAGILL.
To taste of peace
There wants but vigour—Let the royal features
But look severity, and all thy foes,
Confounded in their half-hatch'd treachery,
Backwards will shrink, ashamed that they have meant,
Or mutter'd mutiny.

BALIOL.
Then be it so,
O mother, as thou wilt.

ARCHBISHOP FRASER.
Let him who lopp'd
That lep'rous limb pass out with royal warrant
To muster powers, and stifle, ere it swell,
The disaffection of the sinning shire;
Bribe him to speed and faithful execution;
Attach him to the throne indissolubly
With cords of super-added obligation,
By gift of Duncan's lands, now unpossess'd
And vacant for an owner.

DONAGILL.
He, our kinsman,
Merits high meed for services fore-past,
As well as heartner-on for those a-coming:
That gift be then, with double-doing power,
At once the boon for past, and bond for future;
So shall your highness sit at ease, enshrined
Amid your servants' shelter.

BALIOL.
Happy should
It fortune so; and, in that expectation,
Be issued instant powers for Abernethy
At once to exercise and occupy
As you advise.

DONAGILL.
We'll have it quickly done;
Speed herein is best earnest of success.