University of Virginia Library

ACT III.

Scene I.

—Opposite Westminster Hall.
Sir Henry Vane, Lord Savile, Lord Holland and others of the Court.
Sir H. Vane.
The Commons thrust you out?

Savile.
And what kept you
From sharing their civility?

Sir H. Vane.
Kept me?
Fresh news from Scotland, sir! worse than the last,
If that may be. All's up with Strafford there:
Nothing to bar the mad Scots marching hither
Next Lord's-day morning. That detained me, sir!
Well now, before they thrust you out,—go on,—
Their Speaker—did the fellow Lenthal say
All we set down for him?

Holland.
Not a word missed.
Ere he began, we entered, Savile, I
And Bristol and some more, with hope to breed
A wholesome awe in the new Parliament.
But such a gang of graceless ruffians, Vane,
As glared at us!

Vane.
So many?

Savile.
Not a bench
Without its complement of burly knaves;
Your hopeful son among them: Hampden leant
Upon his shoulder—think of that!

Vane.
I'd think
On Lenthal's speech, if I could get at it.
Urged he, I ask, how grateful they should prove
For this unlooked-for summons from the King?

Holland.
Just as we drilled him.

Vane.
That the Scots will march
On London?

Holland.
All, and made so much of it,
A dozen subsidies at least seemed sure
To follow, when . . .

Vane.
Well?

Holland.
'T is a strange thing, now!
I've a vague memory of a sort of sound,
A voice, a kind of vast unnatural voice—
Pym, sir, was speaking! Savile, help me out:
What was it all?

Savile.
Something about “a matter”—
No,—“work for England.”

Holland.
“England's great revenge”
He talked of.

Savile.
How should I get used to Pym
More than yourselves?

Holland.
However that be,
'T was something with which we had nought to do,
For we were “strangers” and't was “England's work”—
(All this while looking us straight in the face)
In other words, our presence might be spared.
So, in the twinkling of an eye, before
I settled to my mind what ugly brute
Was likest Pym just then, they yelled us out,
Locked the doors after us, and here are we.

Vane.
Eliot's old method . . .

Savile.
Prithee, Vane, a truce
To Eliot and his times, and the great Duke,
And how to manage Parliaments! 'T was you
Advised the Queen to summon this: why, Strafford
(To do him justice) would not hear of it.

Vane.
Say rather, you have done the best of turns
To Strafford: he's at York, we all know why.
I would you had not set the Scots on Strafford
Till Strafford put down Pym for us, my lord!

Savile.
Was it I altered Strafford's plans? did I . . .

A Messenger enters.
Messenger.
The Queen, my lords—she sends me: follow me
At once; 't is very urgent! she requires
Your counsel: something perilous and strange
Occasions her command.

Savile.
We follow, friend!
Now, Vane;—your Parliament will plague us all!

Vane.
No Strafford here beside!

Savile.
If you dare hint
I had a hand in his betrayal, sir . . .

Holland.
Nay, find a fitter time for quarrels—Pym
Will overmatch the best of you; and, think,
The Queen!

Vane.
Come on, then: understand, I loathe
Strafford as much as any—but his use!
To keep off Pym, to screen a friend or two,
I would we had reserved him yet awhile.

Scene II.

—Whitehall.
The Queen and Lady Carlisle.
Queen.
It cannot be.

Lady Carlisle.
It is so.

Queen.
Why, the House
Have hardly met.

Lady Carlisle.
They met for that.

Queen.
No, no!
Meet to impeach Lord Strafford? 'T is a jest.

Lady Carlisle.
A bitter one.

Queen.
Consider! 'T is the House
We summoned so reluctantly, which nothing
But the disastrous issue of the war
Persuaded us to summon. They'll wreak all
Their spite on us, no doubt; but the old way
Is to begin by talk of grievances:
They have their grievances to busy them.

Lady Carlisle.
Pym has begun his speech.

Queen.
Where's Vane?—That is,
Pym will impeach Lord Strafford if he leaves
His Presidency; he's at York, we know,
Since the Scots beat him: why should he leave York?

Lady Carlisle.
Because the King sent for him.

Queen.
Ah—but if
The King did send for him, he let him know
We had been forced to call a Parliament—
A step which Strafford, now I come to think,
Was vehement against.

Lady Carlisle.
The policy
Escaped him, of first striking Parliaments
To earth, then setting them upon their feet
And giving them a sword: but this is idle.
Did the King send for Strafford? He will come.

Queen.
And what am I to do?

Lady Carlisle.
What do? Fail, madam!
Be ruined for his sake! what matters how,
So it but stand on record that you made
An effort, only one?

Queen.
The King away
At Theobald's!

Lady Carlisle.
Send for him at once: he must
Dissolve the House.

Queen.
Wait till Vane finds the truth
Of the report: then . . .

Lady Carlisle.
—It will matter little
What the King does. Strafford that lends his arm
And breaks his heart for you!

Sir H. Vane enters.
Vane.
The Commons, madam,
Are sitting with closed doors. A huge debate,
No lack of noise; but nothing, I should guess,
Concerning Strafford: Pym has certainly
Not spoken yet.

Queen
[to Lady Carlisle].
You hear?

Lady Carlisle.
I do not hear
That the King's sent for!

Vane.
Savile will be able
To tell you more.

Holland enters.
Queen.
The last news, Holland?

Holland.
Pym
Is raging like a fire. The whole House means
To follow him together to Whitehall
And force the King to give up Strafford.

Queen.
Strafford?

Holland.
If they content themselves with Strafford! Laud
Is talked of, Cottington and Windebank too.
Pym has not left out one of them—I would
You heard Pym raging!

Queen.
Vane, go find the King!
Tell the King, Vane, the People follow Pym
To brave us at Whitehall!

Savile enters.
Savile.
Not to Whitehall—
'T is to the Lords they go: they seek redress
On Strafford from his peers—the legal way,
They call it.

Queen.
(Wait, Vane!)

Savile.
But the adage gives
Long life to threatened men. Strafford can save
Himself so readily: at York, remember,
In his own county: what has he to fear?
The Commons only mean to frighten him
From leaving York. Surely, he will not come.

Queen.
Lucy, he will not come!

Lady Carlisle.
Once more, the King
Has sent for Strafford. He will come.

Vane.
Oh doubtless!
And bring destruction with him: that's his way.
What but his coming spoilt all Conway's plan?
The King must take his counsel, choose his friends,
Be wholly ruled by him! What's the result?
The North that was to rise, Ireland to help,—
What came of it? In my poor mind, a fright
Is no prodigious punishment.

Lady Carlisle.
A fright?
Pym will fail worse than Strafford if he thinks
To frighten him. [To the Queen.]
You will not save him then?

Savile.
When something like a charge is made, the King
Will best know how to save him: and't is clear,
While Strafford suffers nothing by the matter,
The King may reap advantage: this in question,
No dinning you with ship-money complaints!

Queen
[to Lady Carlisle].
If we dissolve them, who will pay the army?
Protect us from the insolent Scots?

Lady Carlisle.
In truth,
I know not, madam. Strafford's fate concerns
Me little: you desired to learn what course
Would save him: I obey you.

Vane.
Notice, too,
There can't be fairer ground for taking full
Revenge—(Strafford's revengeful)—than he'll have
Against his old friend Pym.

Queen.
Why, he shall claim
Vengeance on Pym!

Vane.
And Strafford, who is he
To 'scape unscathed amid the accidents
That harass all beside? I, for my part,
Should look for something of discomfiture
Had the King trusted me so thoroughly
And been so paid for it.

Holland.
He'll keep at York:
All will blow over: he'll return no worse,
Humbled a little, thankful for a place
Under as good a man. Oh, we'll dispense
With seeing Strafford for a month or two!

Strafford enters.
Queen.
You here!

Strafford.
The King sends for me, madam,

Queen.
Sir,
The King . . .

Strafford.
An urgent matter that imports the King!
[To Lady Carlisle.]
Why, Lucy, what's in agitation now,
That all this muttering and shrugging, see,
Begins at me? They do not speak!

Lady Carlisle.
'T is welcome!
For we are proud of you—happy and proud
To have you with us, Strafford! You were staunch
At Durham: you did well there! Had you not
Been stayed, you might have . . . . we said, even now,
Our hope's in you!

Vane
[to Lady Carlisle].
The Queen would speak with you.

Strafford.
Will one of you, his servants here, vouchsafe
To signify my presence to the King?

Savile.
An urgent matter?

Strafford.
None that touches you,
Lord Savile! Say, it were some treacherous
Sly pitiful intriguing with the Scots—
You would go free, at least! (They half divine
My purpose!) Madam, shall I see the King?
The service I would render, much concerns
His welfare.

Queen.
But his Majesty, my lord,
May not be here, may . . .

Strafford.
Its importance, then,
Must plead excuse for this withdrawal, madam,
And for the grief it gives Lord Savile here.

Queen
[who has been conversing with Vane and Holland].
The King will see you, sir!
[To Lady Carlisle.]
Mark me: Pym's worst
Is done by now: he has impeached the Earl,
Or found the Earl too strong for him, by now.
Let us not seem instructed! We should work
No good to Strafford, but deform ourselves
With shame in the world's eye. [To Strafford.]
His Majesty
Has much to say with you.

Strafford.
Time fleeting, too!
[To Lady Carlisle.]
No means of getting them away? And She—
What does she whisper? Does she know my purpose?
What does she think of it? Get them away!

Queen
[to Lady Carlisle].
He comes to baffle Pym —he thinks the danger.
Far off: tell him no word of it! a time
For help will come; we'll not be wanting then.
Keep him in play, Lucy—you, self-possessed
And calm! [To Strafford.]
To spare you lordship some delay
I will myself acquaint the King. [To Lady Carlisle.]
Beware!

[The Queen, Vane, Holland, and Savile go out.
Strafford,
She knows it?

Lady Carlisle.
Tell me, Strafford!

Strafford.
Afterward!
This moment's the great moment of all time.
She knows my purpose?

Lady Carlisle
Thoroughly: just now
She bade me hide it from you.

Strafford.
Quick, dear child,
The whole o' the scheme?

Lady Carlisle.
(Ah, he would learn if they
Connive at Pym's procedure! Could they but
Have once apprised the King! But there's no time
For falsehood, now.) Strafford, the whole is known.

Strafford.
Known and approved?

Lady Carlisle.
Hardly discountenanced.

Strafford.
And the King—say, the King consents as well?

Lady Carlisle.
The King's not yet informed, but will not dare
To interpose.

Strafford.
What need to wait him, then?
He'll sanction it! I stayed, child, tell him, long!
It vexed me to the soul—this waiting here.
You know him, there's no counting on the King.
Tell him I waited long!

Lady Carlisle
(What can he mean?
Rejoice at the King's hollowness?)

Strafford.
I knew
They would be glad of it,—all over once,
I knew they would be glad: but he'd contrive,
The Queen and he, to mar, by helping it,
An angel's making.

Lady Carlisle.
(Is he mad?) Dear Strafford,
You were not wont to look so happy.

Strafford.
Sweet,
I tried obedience thoroughly. I took
The King's wild plan: of course, ere I could reach
My army, Conway ruined it. I drew
The wrecks together, raised all heaven and earth,
And would have fought the Scots: the King at once
Made truce with them. Then, Lucy, then, dear child,
God put it in my mind to love, serve, die
For Charles, but never to obey him more!
While he endured their insolence at Ripon
I fell on them at Durham. But you'll tell
The King I waited? All the anteroom
Is filled with my adherents.

Lady Carlisle.
Strafford—Strafford,
What daring act is this you hint?

Strafford.
No, no!
'T is here, not daring if you knew? all here! [Drawing papers from his breast.

Full proof, see, ample proof—does the Queen know
I have such damning proof? Bedford and Essex,
Brooke, Warwick, Savile (did you notice Savile?
The simper that I spoilt?), Saye, Mandeville—
Sold to the Scots, body and soul, by Pym!

Lady Carlisle.
Great heaven!

Strafford.
From Savile and his lords, to Pym
And his losels, crushed!—Pym shall not ward the blow
Nor Savile creep aside from it! The Crew
And the Cabal—I crush them!

Lady Carlisle.
And you go—
Strafford,—and now you go?—

Strafford.
—About no work
In the background, I promise you! I go
Straight to the House of Lords to claim these knaves.
Mainwaring!

Lady Carlisle.
Stay—stay, Strafford!

Strafford.
She'll return,
The Queen—some little project of her own!
No time to lose: the King takes fright perhaps.

Lady Carlisle.
Pym's strong, remember!

Strafford.
Very strong, as fits
The Faction's head—with no offence to Hampden,
Vane, Rudyard and my loving Hollis: one
And all they lodge within the Tower to-night
In just equality. Brian! Mainwaring!
[Many of his Adherents enter.
The Peers debate just now (a lucky chance)
On the Scots' war; my visit's opportune.
When all is over, Bryan, you proceed
To Ireland: these dispatches, mark me, Bryan,
Are for the Deputy, and these for Ormond:
We want the army here—my army, raised
At such a cost, that should have done such good,
And was inactive all the time! no matter,
We'll find a use for it. Willis . . . or, no—you!
You, friend, make haste to York: bear this, at once . . .
Or,—better stay for form's sake, see yourself
The news you carry. You remain with me
To execute the Parliament's command,
Mainwaring! Help to seize these lesser knaves,
Take care there's no escaping at backdoors:
I'll not have one escape, mind me—not one!
I seem revengeful, Lucy? Did you know
What these men dare!

Lady Carlisle.
It is so much they dare!

Strafford.
I proved that long ago; my turn is now.
Keep sharp watch, Goring, on the citizens!
Observe who harbours any of the brood
That scramble off: be sure they smart for it!
Our coffers are but lean.
And you, child, too,
Shall have your task; deliver this to Laud.
Laud will not be the slowest in my praise:
“Thorough” he'll cry!—Foolish, to be so glad!
This life is gay and glowing, after all:
'T is worth while, Lucy, having foes like mine
Just for the bliss of crushing them. To-day
Is worth the living for.

Lady Carlisle.
That reddening brow!
You seem . . .

Strafford.
Well—do I not? I would be well—
I could not but be well on such a day!
And, this day ended, 't is of slight import
How long the ravaged frame subjects the soul
In Strafford.

Lady Carlisle.
Noble Strafford!

Strafford.
No farewell!
I'll see you anon, to-morrow—the first thing.
—If She should come to stay me!

Lady Carlisle.
Go—'t is nothing—
Only my heart that swells: it has been thus
Ere now: go, Strafford!

Strafford.
To-night, then, let it be.
I must see Him: you, the next after Him.
I'll tell you how Pym looked. Follow me, friends!
You, gentlemen, shall see a sight this hour
To talk of all your lives. Close after me!
“My friend of friends!”

[Strafford and the rest go out.
Lady Carlisle.
The King—ever the King!
No thought of one beside, whose little word
Unveils the King to him—one word from me,
Which yet I do not breathe!
Ah, have I spared
Strafford a pang, and shall I seek reward
Beyond that memory? Surely too, some way
He is the better for my love. No, no—
He would not look so joyous—I'll believe
His very eye would never sparkle thus,
Had I not prayed for him this long, long while.

Scene III.

—The Antechamber of the House of Lords.
Many of the Presbyterian Party. The Adherents of Strafford, etc.
A Group of Presbyterians.-1.
I tell you he struck Maxwell: Maxwell sought
To stay the Earl: he struck him and passed on.

2.
Fear as you may, keep a good countenance
Before these rufflers.

3.
Strafford here the first,
With the great army at his back!

4.
No doubt.
I would Pym had made haste: that's Bryan, hush—
The gallant pointing.

Strafford's Followers.-1.
Mark these worthies, now!

2.
A goodly gathering! “Where the carcass is
“There shall the eagles”—what's the rest?

3.
For eagles
Say crows.

A Presbyterian.
Stand back, sirs!

One of Strafford's Followers.
Are we in Geneva?

A Presbyterian.
No, nor in Ireland; we have leave to breathe.

One of Strafford's Followers.
Truly? Behold how privileged we be
That serve “King Pym”! There's Some-one at Whitehall
Who skulks obscure; but Pym struts . . .

The Presbyterian.
Nearer.

A Follower of Strafford.
Higher,
We look to see him. [To his Companions.]
I'm to have St. John
In charge; was he among the knaves just now
That followed Pym within there?

Another.
The gaunt man
Talking with Rudyard. Did the Earl expect
Pym at his heels so fast? I like it not.

Maxwell enters.
Another.
Why, man, they rush into the net! Here's Maxwell—
Ha, Maxwell? How the brethren flock around
The fellow! Do you feel the Earl's hand yet
Upon your shoulder, Maxwell?

Maxwell.
Gentlemen,
Stand back! a great thing passes here.

A Follower of Strafford.
[To another.]
The Earl
Is at his work! [To M.]
Say, Maxwell, what great thing!
Speak out! [To a Presbyterian.]
Friend, I've a kindness for you! Friend,
I've seen you with St. John: O stockishness!
Wear such a ruff, and never call to mind
St. John's head in a charger? How, the plague,
Not laugh?

Another.
Say, Maxwell, what great thing!

Another.
Nay, wait:
The jest will be to wait.

First.
And who's to bear
These demure hypocrites? You'd swear they came . . .
Came . . . just as we come!

[A Puritan enters hastily and without observing Strafford's Followers.
The Puritan.
How goes on the work?
Has Pym . . .

A Follower of Strafford.
The secret's out at last. Aha,
The carrion's scented! Welcome, crow the first!
Gorge merrily, you with the blinking eye!
“King Pym has fallen!”

The Puritan.
Pym?

A Strafford.
Pym!

A Presbyterian.
Only Pym?

Many of Strafford's Followers.
No, brother, not Pym only; Vane as well,
Rudyard as well, Hampden, St. John as well!

A Presbyterian.
My mind misgives: can it be true?

Another.
Lost! Lost!

A Strafford.
Say we true, Maxwell?

The Puritan.
Pride before destruction,
A haughty spirit goeth before a fall.

Many of Strafford's Followers.
Ah now! The very thing! A word in season!
A golden apple in a silver picture,
To greet Pym as he passes!

[The doors at the back begin to open, noise and light issuing
Maxwell.
Stand back, all!

Many of the Presbyterians.
I hold with Pym! And I!

Strafford's Followers.
Now for the text!
He comes! Quick!

The Puritan.
How hath the oppressor ceased!
The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked!
The sceptre of the rulers, he who smote
The people in wrath with a continual stroke,
That ruled the nations in his anger—he
Is persecuted and none hindereth!
[The doors open, and Strafford issues in the greatest disorder, and amid cries from within of “Void the House!” Strafford.
Impeach me! Pym! I never struck, I think,
The felon on that calm insulting mouth
When it proclaimed—Pym's mouth proclaimed me . . . God!
Was it a word, only a word that held
The outrageous blood back on my heart—which beats!
Which beats! Some one word—“Traitor,” did he say,
Bending that eye, brimful of bitter fire,
Upon me?

Maxwell.
In the Commons' name, their servant
Demands Lord Strafford's sword.

Strafford.
What did you say?

Maxwell.
The Commons bid me ask your lordship's sword.

Strafford.
Let us go forth: follow me, gentlemen!
Draw your swords too: cut any down that bar us.
On the King's service! Maxwell, clear the way!

[The Presbyterians prepare to dispute his passage.
Strafford.
I stay: the King himself shall see me here.
Your tablets, fellow!
[To Mainwaring.]
Give that to the King!
Yes, Maxwell, for the next half-hour, let be!
Nay, you shall take my sword! [Maxwell advances to take it.

Or, no—not that!
Their blood, perhaps, may wipe out all thus far,
All up to that—not that! Why, friend, you see
When the King lays your head beneath my foot
It will not pay for that. Go, all of you!

Maxwell.
I dare, my lord, to disobey: none stir!

Strafford.
This gentle Maxwell!—Do not touch him, Bryan!
[To the Presbyterians.]
Whichever cur of you will carry this
Escapes his fellow's fate. None saves his life?
None?
[Cries from within of “Strafford!”
Slingsby, I've loved you at least: make haste!
Stab me! I have not time to tell you why.
You then, my Bryan! Mainwaring, you then!
Is it because I spoke so hastily
At Allerton? The King had vexed me.
[To the Presbyterians.]
You!
—Not even you? If I live over this,
The King is sure to have your heads, you know!
But what if I can't live this minute through?
Pym, who is there with his pursuing smile!
[Louder cries of “Strafford!”
The King! I troubled him, stood in the way
Of his negotiations, was the one
Great obstacle to peace, the Enemy
Of Scotland: and he sent for me, from York,
My safety guaranteed—having prepared
A Parliament—I see! And at Whitehall
The Queen was whispering with Vane—I see
The trap! [Tearing off the George.

I tread a gewgaw underfoot,
And cast a memory from me. One stroke, now!
[His own Adherents disarm him. Renewed cries of “Strafford!”
England! I see thy arm in this and yield.
Pray you now—Pym awaits me—pray you now!

[Strafford reaches the doors: they open wide. Hampden and a crowd discovered, and, at the bar, Pym standing apart. As Strafford kneels, the scene shuts.