A Select Collection of Old English Plays Part 26

_Enter_ FERNANDO _and_ MARIA.

ELE. 'Tis right, but now the world is chang'd, you see; Though I seem dead to you, here lives a fire---- No more, here comes the king and my Maria: The Spaniard loves my wife; she swears to me She's chaste as the white moon; well, if she be; Well, too, if she be not, I care not, I; I'll climb up by that love to dignity.

FER. Thou woo'st me to revenge thy husband's wrong, I woo thy fair self not to wrong thyself; Swear but to love me, and to thee I'll swear To crown thy husband with a diadem.

MARIA. Such love as I dare yield, I'll not deny.

FER. When in the golden arms of majesty-- I am broke off--yonder thy husband stands; I'll set him free, if thou unite my bands; So much for that. Durst then the cardinal Put on such insolence? tell me, fair madam, Where's your most valiant husband?

ELE. He sees me, and yet inquires for me.

MARIA. Yonder, my lord.

FER. Eleazar, I have in my breast writ down From her report your late receiv'd disgrace; My father lov'd you dearly, so will I.

ELE. True, for my wife's sake.

[_Aside._

FER. This indignity Will I have interest in; for, being your king, You shall perceive I'll curb my underling.

This morning is our coronation, and [Our] father's funeral solemnised.

Be present, step into your wonted place, We'll gild your dim disgraces with our grace.

[_Exeunt._

ELE. I thank my sovereign that you love my wife; I thank thee, wife, that thou wilt lock my head In such strong armour to bear off all blows; Who dare say such wives are their husbands' foes?

Let's see now, by her falling I must rise; Cardinal, you die if the king bid me live; Philip, you die for railing at me; Proud lord, you die, that with Mendoza cried, Banish the Moor.

And you, my loving liege, you're best sit fast: If all these live not, you must die at last.

ACT II., SCENE 1.

_Enter two_ LORDS, PHILIP, MENDOZA, ELEAZAR, _with him the_ KING _crowned_; QUEEN-MOTHER, ALVERO, ZARACK, BALTHAZAR, _and Attendants_.

MEN. Why stares this devil thus, as if pale death Had made his eyes the dreadful messengers To carry black destruction to the world?

Was he not banish'd Spain?

PHIL. Your sacred mouth p.r.o.nounc'd the sentence of his banishment: Then spurn the villain forth.

ELE. Who spurns the Moor, Were better set his foot upon the devil.

Do spurn me, and this confounding arm of wrath Shall, like a thunderbolt breaking the clouds, Divide his body from his soul! Stand back.

Spurn Eleazar!

ROD. Shall we bear this pride?

ALV. Why not? he underwent much injury.

MEN. What injury have we perform'd, proud lord?

ELE. Proud cardinal, my unjust banishment.

MEN. 'Twas we that did it, and our words are laws.

KING. 'Twas we repeal'd him, and our words are laws.

ZAR. BAL. If not, these are.

[_All the Moors draw._

PHIL. How! threaten'd and outdar'd!

KING. Shall we give arm to hostile violence?

Sheathe your swords, sheathe them: it's we command.

ELE. Grant Eleazar justice, my dread liege.

MEN. Eleazar hath had justice from our hands, And he stands banish'd from the court of Spain.

KING. Have you done justice? Why, Lord Cardinal, From whom do you derive authority To banish him the court without our leave?

MEN. From this, the staff of our protectors.h.i.+p; From this, which the last will of your dead father Committed to our trust; from this high place, Which lifts Mendoza's spirits beyond the pitch Of ordinary honour, and from this----

[KING _takes the staff from_ MENDOZA, _and gives it to_ ELEAZAR.

KING. Which too much overweening insolence Hath quite ta'en from thee. Eleazar, up, And from us sway this staff of Regency.

ALL. How's this!

PHIL. Dare sons presume to break their father's will?

KING. Dare subjects countercheck their sovereign's will?

'Tis done, and who gainsays it, is a traitor.

PHIL. I do, Fernando, yet am I no traitor.

MEN. Fernando, I am wrong'd; by Peter's chair, Mendoza vows revenge. I'll lay aside My cardinal's hat, and in a wall of steel, The glorious livery of a soldier, Fight for my late-lost honour.

KING. Cardinal!

MEN. King! thou shalt be no king for wronging me.

The Pope shall send his bulls through all thy realm, And pull obedience from thy subjects' hearts, To put on armour of the Mother Church.

Curses shall fall like lightnings on thy head, Bell, book, and candle: holy water, prayers, Shall all chime vengeance to the court of Spain, Till they have power to conjure down that fiend, That d.a.m.n'd Moor, that devil, that Lucifer, That dares aspire the staff the card'nal sway'd.

ELE. Ha, ha, ha! I laugh yet, that the cardinal's vex'd.

PHIL. Laugh'st thou, base slave! the wrinkles of that scorn Thine own heart's blood shall fill. Brother, farewell; Since you disprove the will our father left For base l.u.s.t of a loathed concubine.