Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Open the gates; Gloster it is that calls.

[Servants knock. 1 Ward. [Within.] Who is there that knocks so

imperiously?

1 Serv. It is the noble duke of Gloster.

2 Ward. [Within.] Whoe'er he be, you may not be let in.

1 Serv. Answer you so the lord protector, villains? 1 Ward. [Within.] The Lord protect him! so we answer him:

We do no otherwise than we are will'd.

Glo. Who willed you? or whose will stands but mine?

There's none protector of the realm, but I.-
Break up the gates, I'll be your warrantize :
Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms?

Servants rush at the Tower gates. Enter, to the gates, Woodville, the lieutenant.

Wood. [Within.] What noise is this? what traitors have we here?

Glo. Lieutenant, is it you, whose voice I hear? Open the gates; here's Gloster, that would enter. Wood. [Within.] Have patience, noble duke : may not open;

The cardinal of Winchester forbids:

From him I have express commandment,
That thou, nor none of thine, shall be let in.

Glo. Faint-hearted Woodville, prizest him 'fore

me?

Arrogant Winchester? that haughty prelate, Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne'er could brook?

Thou art no friend to God, or to the king:
Open the gates, or I'll shut thee out shortly.

1 Serv. Open the gates unto the lord protector; Or we'll burst them open, if that you come not quickly.

(1) Break open.

Enter Winchester, attended by a train of servants, in tawny-coats.

Win. How now, ambitious Humphrey? what means this?

Glo. Piel'd priest, dost thou command me to be shut out?

Win. I do, thou most usurping proditor,2 And not protector of the king, or realm.

Glo. Stand back, thou manifest conspirator; Thou, that contriv'dst to murder our dead lord; Thou, that giv'st whores indulgences to sin: I'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat, If thou proceed in this thy insolence.

Win. Nay, stand thou back, I will not budge a foot;

This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain,
To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt.

Glo. I will not slay thee, but I'll drive thee back:
Thy scarlet robes, as a child's bearing-cloth,
I'll use, to carry thee out of this place.

Win. Do what thou dar'st; I beard thee to thy face.

Glo. What? am I dar'd, and bearded to my face?

Draw, men, for all this privileged place;
Blue-coats to tawny-coats. Priest, beware your

beard;

[Gloster and his men attack the bishop. I mean to tug it, and to cuff you soundly: Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat; In spite of pope or dignities of church, Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee up and down. Win. Gloster, thou'lt answer this before the pope. Glo. Winchester goose,4 I cry-a rope! a rope!Now beat them hence, why do you let them stay?Thee I'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array.—

(1) Alluding to his shaven crown. (2) Traitor. (3) Sift. (4) A strumpet.

Out, tawney-coats!-out, scarlet hypocrite!
Here a great tumult. In the midst of it, enter
the Mayor of London, and officers.

May. Fie, lords! that you, being supreme ma-
gistrates,

Thus contumeliously should break the peace!
Glo. Peace, mayor; thou know'st little of my

wrongs:

Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king,
Hath here distrain'd the Tower to his use.

Win. Here's Gloster too, a foe to citizens;
One that still motions war, and never peace,
O'ercharging your free purses with large fines;
That seeks to overthrow religion,

Because he is protector of the realm;

And would have armour here out of the Tower, To crown himself king, and suppress the prince. Glo. I will not answer thee with words, but blows. [Here they skirmish again. May. Nought rests for me, in this tumultuous strife,

But to make open proclamation:

Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou canst.

Off. All manner of men, assembled here in arms this day, against God's peace and the king's, we charge and command you, in his highness' name, to repair to your several dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or use, any sword, weapon, or dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death. Glo. Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law: But we shall meet, and break our minds at large. Win. Gloster, we'll meet; to thy dear cost, be

sure:

Thy heart-blood I will have, for this day's work.
May. I'll call for clubs,2 if you will not away :----

(1) An allusion to the bishop's habit.

(2) That is, for peace-officers armed with clubs

or staves.

[ocr errors]

This cardinal is more haughty than the devil. Glo. Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou may'st.

Win. Abominable Gloster! guard thy head; For I intend to have it, ere long.

[Exeunt. May. See the coast clear'd, and then we will depart.

Good God! that nobles should such stomachs! bear! I myself fight not once in forty year. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-France. Before Orleans. Enter on the walls, the Master-Gunner and his Son.

M. Gun. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is besieg'd;

And how the English have the suburbs won.
Son. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them,
Howe'er, unfortunate, I miss'd my aim.

M. Gun. But now thou shalt not. Be thou rul'd by me :

Chief master-gunner am I of this town;
Something I must do, to procure me grace :2
The prince's espials have inform'd me,

How the English, in the suburbs close intrench'd,
Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars
In yonder tower, to overpeer the city;

And thence discover, how, with most advantage,
They may vex us, with shot, or with assault.
To intercept this inconvenience,

A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd;
And fully even these three days have I watch'd,
If I could see them. Now, boy, do thou watch,
For I can stay no longer.

If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word;
And thou shalt find me at the governor's. [Exit.
Son. Father, I warrant you; take you no care;
I'll never trouble you, if I may spy them.

(1) Pride.

(2) Favour.

(3) Spies.

Enter, in an upper chamber of a tower, the Lords Salisbury and Talbot, Sir William Glansdale, Sir Thomas Gargrave, and others.

Sal. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd!
How wert thou handled, being prisoner?
Or by what means got'st thou to be releas'd?
Discourse, I pr'y thee, on this turret's top.

Tal. The duke of Bedford had a prisoner,
Called-the brave lord Ponton de Santrailles;
For him I was exchang'd and ransomed.
But with a baser man of arms by far,

Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me:
Which 1, disdaining, scorn'd; and craved death,
Rather than I would be so pil'd esteem'd.1
In fine, redeem'd I was as

desir'd.

But, O! the treacherous Fastolfe wounds my heart!
Whom with my bare fists I would execute,
If I now had him brought into my power.

Sal. Yet tell'st thou not, how thou wert entertain'd.

Tal. With scoffs, and scorns, and contumelious taunts.

In open market-place produc'd they me,
To be a public spectacle to all;

Here, said they, is the terror of the French,
The scare-crow that affrights our children so.
Then broke I from the officers that led me;
And with my nails digg'd stones out of the ground,
To hurl at the beholders of my shame.

My grisly countenance made others fly;
None durst come near for fear of sudden death.
In iron walls they deem'd me not secure;

So great fear of my name 'mongst them was spread,
That they suppos'd, I could rend bars of steel,
And spurn in pieces posts of adamant:
Wherefore a guard of chosen shot I had,
That walk'd about me every minute-while;
And if I did but stir out of my bed,

(1) So stripped of honours.

« AnteriorContinuar »