University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

—Parliament-House in London.
King Edward, Baliol, Murdoch Macduff, and Lords.—Baliol seated in an inferior place.
KING EDWARD.
Brother of Scotland, we have griev'd to hear,
Rung in our ears, bad words, accusing thee
As rendering infamous that royalty
Whereof thou art partaker by our means;
Whence now before the senate of our land
We do indulge thee opportunity
To purify thy much aspersed head
From accusation, which I hope thou wilt
Do to thine honour's quittance and mine own,
From whom thou holdest.—Is there here a voice
T'accuse the King of Scotland.

MURDOCH MACDUFF.
Sire, a voice
Prepared, alas! and fully furnished
With oratory, gushing from a heart
Injured too sensibly not to be rich
And keen of speech.

KING EDWARD.
Wherein canst thou appeach
My brother Scotland?—Is he not thy King
And true liege lord?

MURDOCH MACDUFF.
He is my rightful King
And true liege lord; but thou, O sire, art his.
Thence in unshuddering confidence I stand
Before the throned Majesty of England,
Th'accuser of his vassal.

KING EDWARD.
Let thy voice
Be loud and fearless; utter from thy heart
Unmincingly thy charge, that we may know
The gross of thine unbated griefs.

MURDOCH MACDUFF.
O King!
I come not hither in malevolence
Or gall-fed envy, to impugn with lies
Him who has claim on my allegiance.
Ah no! I come too sadly arm'd with truth,
Bearing the voucher of my misery
Even on my person, that a child may read;
My brother slain, his goodly palace ransack'd,
The murderer wallowing in his rich domain,
His kinsmen hunted and extirpated,
His friends ground down with merciless extortion,
Or crush'd into their graves with tyranny,—
These are the bloody terrors that have chased
Me from my heritage, and hurl'd me hither
A beggar, roaming in this sordid garb,
Beseeching monarchs for a little mercy,
In God-like vindication of the wrong'd.
That I am so,—that here I stand before
A foreign court, a miserable pleader,
Proclaiming thus, in th'energy of grief,
My unexampled, huge calamities,
Is long of thee, King John, who didst incite
Thy minion-murd'rer 'gainst my brother's life,
Gavest him the dagger for the ruffian feat,
Bargain'dst with him in hell-hatch'd covenant,
And when th'abhorred terms were perpetrated,
Didst to my cost fulfil thy pledged part,
Even to the brim of ruthless cruelty.
These are the accusations which I pledge
Myself at lance's point to verify
Even to the terrible truth-sifting death.
God be my witness, and so friend me, God!

KING EDWARD.
Brother of Scotland, I am pain'd to hear
Such sharp-edged words, that cut into the heart
Of thy repute: arise, and with the breath
Of virtuous contradiction, blow from thee
This cloud of black aspersions:—we wait, watching,
Thy wish'd reply.

BALIOL'S ADVOCATE
, (rising.)
May it please your royal grace,
To hear from me what words th'arraigned king
Has arm'd me with for his defence:—It fits not,
'Tis unbecoming England's majesty,
And the high honours of the great defendant,
That to a subject's libel, one who owes him
Faith and knee-duty, he should be compell'd
To rise in this assembly, and to ope
His royal lips in refutation.

KING EDWARD.
It may not be: King John himself has heard
These honour-staining charges; it becomes him.
If his heart leans upon the angel-staff
Of Innocence, ev'n from his place to rise,
And with unborrow'd anger-bolted words,
Repel such monarch-blasting allegations.
He is my homager, and I require it.
Arise, John Baliol, speak.

BALIOL
, (rising.)
O King of England,
My bosom is prepared against this slander,
My tongue is not.

KING EDWARD.
Hence with face-flushing shame!
Embronze thy brows, and heave aloft thy heart,
Clothe thee all o'er with meet audacity
For manly utterance.

BALIOL.
My procurator
Shall be my mouth: My panting heart lies here,
Housed in its consciousness of honesty,
To echo to his answer.

BALIOL'S ADVOCATE
, (rising.)
Much-honour'd sire,
Vouchsafe of thy most gracious condescension,
To hear—

KING EDWARD.
I'll hear no hired proctor-lips;
My vassal must defend himself with weapons
Coin'd in his mind's own workshop.
[Baliol rises and leaves the Assembly.
Ah ha! is't thus? What, what, my brother?—Going?—
Ha, gone!—
By Edward's soul, John Baliol is in guilt;
Did you not mark, my lords, his perturbation?
How his lips quiver'd, how his colour changed,
How his eye trembled in its cowardice,
Even on his judges brooking not a glance;
Each motion had a meaning, and his exit,
Like to a dying sinner's forced confession
Cries loud, and ratifies each charged fact.
Murdoch Macduff, thou shalt have justice done thee;
As thy King's lord superior, I repeal
His sentence gone against thee; thou shalt yet
Rejoice in thy possessions; and th'usurper
Who reels triumphant in thy brother's palace,
Shall be extruded, and give place for those
Whose is the due and just inheritance.
Go then in peace, and be the carrier
Of cheer and consolation to thy friends;
But in the ears of thy blood-broking foes
Shout England, and a speedy retribution.