Queen Mary; and, Harold Part 45

WULFNOTH. And for our Mother England?

HAROLD. Deeper still.

WULFNOTH. And deeper still the deep-down oubliette, Down thirty feet below the smiling day-- In blackness--dogs' food thrown upon thy head.

And over thee the suns arise and set, And the lark sings, the sweet stars come and go, And men are at their markets, in their fields, And woo their loves and have forgotten thee; And thou art upright in thy living grave, Where there is barely room to s.h.i.+ft thy side, And all thine England hath forgotten thee; And he our lazy-pious Norman King, With all his Normans round him once again, Counts his old beads, and hath forgotten thee.

HAROLD. Thou art of my blood, and so methinks, my boy, Thy fears infect me beyond reason. Peace!

WULFNOTH. And then our fiery Tostig, while thy hands Are palsied here, if his Northumbrians rise And hurl him from them,--I have heard the Normans Count upon this confusion--may he not make A league with William, so to bring him back?

HAROLD. That lies within the shadow of the chance.

WULFNOTH. And like a river in flood thro' a burst dam Descends the ruthless Norman--our good King Kneels mumbling some old bone--our helpless folk Are wash'd away, wailing, in their own blood--

HAROLD. Wailing! not warring? Boy, thou hast forgotten That thou art English.

WULFNOTH. Then our modest women-- I know the Norman license--thine own Edith--

HAROLD. No more! I will not hear thee--William comes.

WULFNOTH. I dare not well be seen in talk with thee.

Make thou not mention that I spake with thee.

[_Moves away to the back of the stage_.

_Enter_ WILLIAM, MALET, _and_ OFFICER.

OFFICER. We have the man that rail'd against thy birth.

WILLIAM. Tear out his tongue.

OFFICER. He shall not rail again.

He said that he should see confusion fall On thee and on thine house.

WILLIAM. Tear out his eyes, And plunge him into prison.

OFFICER. It shall be done.

[_Exit_ OFFICER.

WILLIAM. Look not amazed, fair earl! Better leave undone Than do by halves--tongueless and eyeless, prison'd--

HAROLD. Better methinks have slain the man at once!

WILLIAM. We have respect for man's immortal soul, We seldom take man's life, except in war; It frights the traitor more to maim and blind.

HAROLD. In mine own land I should have scorn'd the man, Or lash'd his rascal back, and let him go.

WILLIAM. And let him go? To slander thee again!

Yet in thine own land in thy father's day They blinded my young kinsman, Alfred--ay, Some said it was thy father's deed.

HAROLD. They lied.

WILLIAM. But thou and he--whom at thy word, for thou Art known a speaker of the truth, I free From this foul charge--

HAROLD. Nay, nay, he freed himself By oath and compurgation from the charge.

The king, the lords, the people clear'd him of it.

WILLIAM. But thou and he drove our good Normans out From England, and this rankles in us yet.

Archbishop Robert hardly scaped with life.

HAROLD. Archbishop Robert! Robert the Archbishop!

Robert of Jumieges, he that--

MALET. Quiet! quiet!

HAROLD. Count! if there sat within the Norman chair A ruler all for England--one who fill'd All offices, all bishop.r.i.c.ks with English-- We could not move from Dover to the Humber Saving thro' Norman bishop.r.i.c.ks--I say Ye would applaud that Norman who should drive The stranger to the fiends!

WILLIAM. Why, that is reason!

Warrior thou art, and mighty wise withal!

Ay, ay, but many among our Norman lords Hate thee for this, and press upon me--saying G.o.d and the sea have given thee to our hands-- To plunge thee into life-long prison here:-- Yet I hold out against them, as I may, Yea--would hold out, yea, tho' they should revolt-- For thou hast done the battle in my cause; I am thy fastest friend in Normandy.

HAROLD. I am doubly bound to thee ... if this be so.

WILLIAM. And I would bind thee more, and would myself Be bounden to thee more.

HAROLD. Then let me hence With Wulfnoth to King Edward.

WILLIAM. So we will. We hear he hath not long to live.

HAROLD. It may be.

WILLIAM. Why then the heir of England, who is he?

HAROLD. The Atheling is nearest to the throne.

WILLIAM. But sickly, slight, half-witted and a child, Will England have him king?

HAROLD. It may be, no.

WILLIAM. And hath King Edward not p.r.o.nounced his heir?

HAROLD. Not that I know.

WILLIAM. When he was here in Normandy, He loved us and we him, because we found him.

A Norman of the Normans.

HAROLD. So did we.

WILLIAM. A gentle, gracious, pure and saintly man!