University of Virginia Library

Scene IV.

—A Chamber in the Palace.
Enter Athulf and Elgiva.
Elgiva.
This is the chamber where the Council sits:
I leave thee here: the very rushes bristle,
Disdaining to be trodden by female feet.

Athulf.
To meet at eight, the summons said. By this
They are at hand; but ere you go, one word.
I see a trouble sit on Leolf's brow.
Elgiva! Dear, dear sister! art thou true?

Elgiva.
Indeed I am.

Athulf.
And doth he know thee true?

Elgiva.
I trust he knows the truth.

Athulf.
The truth, Elgiva?
These are short answers. Dost thou love him still?

Elgiva.
Sincerely and in truth and honesty
Have I dealt with him always and do now.
I verily believed I loved him once.
I think I love him still.

Athulf.
You think you do!
Who thinks she loves I think can love but little.
Beware, my sister, that ambition's weeds
Choke not the garden where thy love should grow.
In Man of questionable quality
Ambition hath been holden; but in Woman—
Oh! 'tis the veriest beggary of the heart
That winter ever witnessed!

Elgiva.
Athulf, no;
A weaker to a stronger love may yield;
But not in me will love or weak or strong
Yield to ambition ever.

Athulf.
Oh, this head!
So shapely and by nature so adorned!
Far rather would I see the glossy braid
Of its own golden tresses circle it
Than England's jewelled crown.
[An Attendant, who appears at the door, announces “The Chancellor.”
Good-night, Elgiva. Said'st thou a stronger love?
The strength of love is constancy. Farewell!
As came the honey from the lion's carcase,
So sweetness comes of strength. Beware, I say;
Kings love like other men—or other boys:
Not so they marry.
[Exit Elgiva.
Gone in anger! Well;
Reproof that vexed not never yet sank deep,
Nor ever of a warning that was welcome
Came needful caution. Tush! a woman's wrath.
And yet the very day that first we meet
To send her from me angry! Tush! to-morrow—
Had she but said, Good-night!

[Enter Clarenbald.]
Clarenbald.
My Lord, well met!
If I be late, let them that are to come
Plead for me.

Athulf.
Nay, you do but prove it true
That ever are the busiest the most punctual.

Clarenbald.
Sir, they have leisure. Only frugal men
Are truly liberal, and for like cause
Will he that husbands time have time to spare.

Enter the King, with Earls Leolf, Sidroc, Alwine, the Bishop of Rochester, and two or three other Lords of the Council.
Edwin.
My Lords, we meet you here to be advised
Touching our coronation. My Lord Chancellor
Will set this thing before you.

Clarenbald.
My good Lords,
What, if I err not, each of us with each
Hath weighed in several conference, the King's Grace
Commands me that I finally propound
For your collective sanction. From the West
Come tidings that the monks of Glastonbury
(Doubtless apt implements of their Abbot they!)
Have practised with Prince Edgar in such sort
As hardly may decline the name of treason.
Whilst they this child's simplicity seduce,
Their brethren in the ignorant multitude
Work a persuasion that the King not crowned
Lacks half the warrant of his sovereignty,
Which till the Pope through them shall please bestow,
The kingdom is disposable. This creed
Spreads day by day, and till the King be crowned
Will daily breed new dangers. From the hands
Of my Lord Primate, neither crown nor chrism
By any instance can the King obtain:
Wherefore, my Lords, our counsel to his Grace
Methinks should be, that scattering like the sun
All clouds of hindrance and delay, at once
He should rise crowned, and on a summer's morn
Shine in the feeble faces of the monks
A consummated Monarch.

Edwin.
And his aid
Will this true servant of the Church and State
Afford us; [turning to the Bishop of Rochester]
from whose pure and holy hands
Much rather than from that disloyal Odo's
Would we receive the crown.

Bishop of Rochester.
Most royal Sir,
Much honoured were the See of Rochester,
More honoured still were these unworthy hands,
Should they perform the office.

Edwin.
Sirs, your votes.
You, my Lord Heretoch, speak first.

Leolf.
The time
Forces conclusions, and Necessity
Sits in the seat of Counsel. Dunstan gains
By every hour's delay. Should my will rule,
The sun that sets upon St. Austin's Eve
Shall see your Highness crowned.

Athulf.
All hail that eve!
Dunstan would rather Beelzebub were crowned.

Sidroc.
And Odo when he washed the Devil's feet
(Shame to him for his pains!) felt not his nose
So sorely troubled as his ears will be
To hear of this. Enough—St. Austin's Eve
We're all agreed on.

The Rest.
All.

Leolf.
Then must all join
Their speediest with their wariest endeavour
To bring up forces.

Clarenbald.
To this end, my Lords,
His Highness will provide you means to meet
In cover of the chase your chiefest friends,
And Wednesday he appoints a day of sport
For hunting of the boar. He then with us
Will lose himself, bewildered in the wood,
And others that shall likewise lose themselves
Shall find him, and in sylvan convocation
Shall all consult together and concert
The parts that each shall play.

Edwin.
Agreed.

The Rest.
Agreed.

Edwin.
Then for this present, trusted friends, we part.