University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE FOURTH.

Henry, Bothwell.
Hen.
What wantest thou with me? Bring'st thou perchance
The accustomed homage to thy pageant king?

Both.
Although thou treatest me with such disdain,
I, not the less, am still thy faithful subject.
To thee the queen dispatch'd me: she has learn'd,
That thou, as of an insult, bitterly
Complainest of the abode assign'd to thee.
Know, that she means, ere long, hither to come
With thee to dwell: and further I am bound
To say to thee ...

Hen.
More than the different dwelling,
Far more, it mortifies me to observe
That every word I utter is repeated:
Yet this injustice is not new to me.
Now go; and tell her, that, if I ought not
To deem myself thence injured, such excuse
Although not more believed, at least had been
More welcome from her lips; and not by means
Of an ambassador ...

Both.
If thou would'st lend
To her a somewhat more benignant ear,
My lord, far other sentiments than these
Thou would'st hear from her lips: nor should I be
The messenger selected: but, she fears
Lest that her words to thee ...

Hen.
She apprehends
To wound me with her words, and at once seeks
To do it with her deeds.

Both.
Thou art deceived.
I know how much she loves thee; and in proof,
I, though unwelcome to thee, though by thee
Suspected wrongfully, addressed myself
To bring to thee a message so important,
That to another than myself the queen
Would not confide it: it is such that thou
Art bound to hear it; neither from her lips
Would Mary venture to express it to thee:
A message, that 'tis difficult to speak,
But yet, which, if conveyed as she suggested,
As the expostulation of a friend,
Clearly denotes no lukewarm tenderness.

Hen.
Com'st thou the interpreter of nuptial secrets?—
Thou, who art thou?

Both.
Since thou would'st fain forget
The action of Dunbar, whence, having first
The rebels slain, I reconducted you
Both here in safety to your throne; I am
One who, because it is imposed on him,
Now speaks to thee.

Hen.
But it is not imposed
On me to hear thee.

Both.
Yet thou hearest others.

Hen.
What say'st thou? Others? ... What audacity? ...

Both.
Thou in these thresholds art betrayed; but not
By those whom thou mistrustest. Thou thyself,
E'en more than all of us, should'st doubt a man,
To whom the function of ambassador,
Impulse and opportunity affords
To perfidy unpunished. To ourselves
Ormond comes not the messenger of peace;
And yet thou hearest him at length; ...

Hen.
Ye traitors!—
Is this to me imputed as a crime?
E'en as ye are perfidious ye are vile;
Ye twist to evil every deed of mine.
Ormond the entreated audience obtain'd:
I sought him not: ambassador to me
He came not here ...

Both.
Assuredly he came
Contriving machinations 'gainst thyself.
Were he alone a traitor! But already
E'en more defective in dexterity
Than in discretion, he has proved himself.
Far too precipitately he divulged
His hidden hopes, his culpable designs:
With this incaution he betray'd himself
So prematurely, that before he spoke
With thee, the queen already knew the whole.
Nor thence, for him, whom he would fain delude,
Has the queen's bosom so much wrath conceived
As generous pity. In her name, oh king,
I do adjure thee to renounce thy error;
Nor with thy own dishonour, do thou bring
Advantage to the traitor, detriment
To her who loves thee.

Hen.
—More explicitly
Speak thou, or cease to speak. Mysterious words
I do not comprehend: I only know,
That where ye all of you alike are traitrous,
I can among you scarcely recognize
Which of you is the traitor.

Both.
'Tis most easy
To see who most would profit by thy ruin.
Elizabeth, your persevering foe,
Your envious, crafty, and ferocious foe,
Dreads peace betwixt you. What canst hope from her?

Hen.
From her? ... I nothing hope, and nothing ask ...
And nothing ... But what knowest thou? Speak on.
What is alleged against me? What believes,
And what says, Mary? ...

Both.
When a heart is generous,
There need no others to reprove its faults.
What ought I now to say? Except that Ormond
Is an incendiary; that snares are laid
For thy destruction; and that for thy son,
Thy innocent son, Mary, with many tears,
Conjures thee now ...

Hen.
Oh! wherefore does she weep? ...
Thou layest snares for me ...

Both.
My lord, thou art
Thy own deceiver; I do not deceive thee.
The schemes of Ormond were already known:
Already from his indiscreet expressions,
Before he came here to propose it to thee,
That impious stratagem transpired ...

Hen.
To me? ...
How darest thou, miscreant, thus speak to me? ...
If thou proceedest, I will make thee ...

Both.
Thus,
My lord, I have fulfill'd the task imposed.

Hen.
And I my toleration have exhausted.

Both.
I spoke, because I was impell'd by duty.

Hen.
Beyond thy duty hast thou spoken. Hence.

Both.
What to the queen must I report?

Hen.
Go; tell her ...
That thou art rash.

Both.
My lord ...

Hen.
What; not yet gone?