Brian Friel Plays 2 (34 page)

Ah, sorry.

Lombard
My thesis is this. If we are to understand the Irish situation fully we must go back more than four
hundred years – to that famous October 17 when Henry II of England landed here. He had in his hand a copy of Pope Adrian the Fourth’s Bull,
Laudabiliter,
making him
Dominus
Hiberniae –

O’Donnell
Whatever that means.

Lombard
King of Ireland. And that Bull had two consequences –

O’Neill
I got married last night.

There
is
a
long,
shocked
silence.

O’Donnell
What?

O’Neill
I got married last night.

O’Donnell
You’re a liar! (
to
Harry
)
He’s a liar! (
to
O’Neill
)
You bugger, you never did!

O’Neill
Yes.

O’Donnell
God Almighty! (
to
Harry
)
You said he was in Dublin at a meeting of the Council.

Harry
He was in Dublin.

O’Donnell
Jesus God Almighty! The bloody jacket – didn’t I tell you the tail was high!

Lombard
You kept that very quiet, Hugh.

O’Donnell
Who to, you bugger, you? I have it! – the big redhead you had here all last month – that Scotch woman – Annie McDonald!

O’Neill
No.

Lombard
Congratulations.

O’Neill
Thank you.

O’Donnell
I’ve got it! – Brian McSwiney’s daughter – the
Fanad Whippet – what’s her real name? – Cecelia! Jesus, not Cecelia!

O’Neill
shakes
his
head.

Who then? Come on, man! Tell us!

Lombard
Did you say last night?

O’Neill
In fact at two o’clock this morning. We eloped …

O’Donnell
‘We el–’! Sweet Jesus God Almighty! We eloped! (
He
drums
the
table
in
his
excitement.
)
Lay me down and bury me decent! The hoor eloped! Yipeeeeee! (
He
embraces
O’Neill.
)
Terrific, man! Congratulations!

Lombard
Who’s the new Countess, Hugh?

O’Donnell
Jesus, I hope I have the same appetite for it when I’m your age!

O’Neill
Neither of you knows her. She’s from Newry.

O’Donnell
Magennis! Siobhan Magennis!

O’Neill
No. She’s –

O’Donnell
The other sister then – the one with the teeth – Maeve!

O’Neill
I met her first only a few months ago. On her twentieth birthday.

O’Donnell
She’s only –?!

O’Neill
Her name is Mabel.

O’Donnell
(
very
grand
)
Mabel.

O’Neill
She’s one of the New English. Her grandfather came over here from Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. He was given the Cistercian monastery and lands around Newry and Carlingford – that’s what brought them over.

Pause.

O’Donnell
Corne on, Hugh. Quit the aul fooling. Tell us her real –

O’Neill
She is Mabel Bagenal. She is the daughter of the retired Queen’s Marshal. She is the sister of Sir Henry Bagenal, the present Queen’s Marshal.

Silence.

Harry
Anybody for more wine?

Silence.

Lombard
Where did you get married?

O’Neill
The Bishop of Meath married us in Drumcondra – on the outskirts of Dublin.

Lombard
Which Bishop of Meath?

O’Neill
Tom Jones, the Protestant Bishop. Mabel is a Protestant.

O’Donnell
Hold on, Hugh – wait now – wait – wait. You can’t marry into the Upstarts! And a sister of the Butcher Bagenal! Jesus, man –

O’Neill
I’m going to ask her to come and meet you.

O’Donnell
Keep her for a month, Hugh – like that McDonald woman – that’s the very job – keep her for a month and then kick her out. Amn’t I right, Harry? (
to
O’Neill
)
She won’t mind, Hugh, honest to God. That’s what she’ll expect. Those New English are all half tramps. Give her some clothes and a few shillings and kick her back home to Staffordshire.

O’Neill
Her home is Newry.

O’Donnell
Wherever she’s from, (
to
Harry
)
That’s all she’ll expect. I’m telling you.

O’Neill
I’m going to ask her to join us.

O’Donnell
Amn’t I right, Peter?

Lombard
We have all got to assess the religious and political implications of this association, Hugh.

O’Neill
Marriage, Archbishop.

Lombard
Will Spain think so? Will Rome?

O’Neill
(
very
angry,
in
Tyrone
accent
)
I think so. And this is
my
country. (
quietly,
in
his
usual
accent
)
I have married a very talented, a very spirited, a very beautiful young woman. She has left her people to join me here. They will never forgive her for that. She is under this roof now, among a people she has been reared to believe are wild and barbarous. I am having a celebration tonight when I will introduce her to my people. I particularly ask you two to welcome her here. But if that is beyond you, I demand at least civility.

He
leaves.
Silence.
Lombard
begins
gathering
up
his
papers.
Harry
helps
him.
After
a
very
long
pause:

O’Donnell
The bugger’s off his aul head! – that’s all there is to it! She’s turned the bugger’s aul head.

Harry
(
to
Lombard
)
Stay overnight. We can meet again tomorrow morning.

O’Donnell
And he let me blather on about the English building new forts – and him jouking about the Newry fort all the time! That’s a class of treachery, Harry – that’s what that is!

Harry
You’re talking rubbish, Hugh.

O’Donnell
Do you know where the Butcher Bagenal was last week? In the Finn valley. Raiding and plundering with a new troop of soldiers over from Chester – the way
you’d blood young greyhounds! Slaughtered and beheaded fifteen families that were out saving hay along the river bank, men, women and children. With the result that at this moment there are over a hundred refugees in my mother’s place in Donegal Town.

Harry
(
to
Lombard
)
I’ll have copies made of these.

O’Donnell
I’ll tell you something, Harry Hoveden: as long as he has that Upstart bitch with him, there’ll be no welcome for him in Tyrconnell!

Lombard
is
about
to
leave
with
his
papers.

Harry
At least wait and meet her, Peter. For his sake.

O’Neill
enters,
leading
Mabel
by
the
elbow.

Mabel
is
twenty,
forthright,
determined.
Now
she
is
very
nervous.
Her
accent
has
traces
of
Staffordshire.

O’Neill
Here we are. I want you to meet two of my friends, Mabel. Hugh O’Donnell – Sir Hugh O’Donnell – Earl of Tyrconnell. My wife, Mabel.

Mabel
I’m pleased to meet you.

She
holds
out
her
hand.
O’Donnell
has
to
take
it.
He
does
not
speak.
Pause.

O’Neill
And Dr Peter Lombard, Titular Bishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

Mabel
I’m pleased to meet you.

Again
she
holds
out
her
hand.
After
a
pause
Lombard
takes
it.
He
does
not
speak.
Pause.

O’Neill
We’ve got to keep on the right side of Peter: he’s writing our history.

Lombard
That seems to make you uneasy for some reason.

O’Neill
Not as long as you tell the truth.

Lombard
You keep insisting on this ‘truth’, Hugh.

O’Neill
Don’t you believe in the truth, Archbishop?

Lombard
I don’t believe that a period of history – a given space of time – my life – your life – that it contains within it one ‘true’ interpretation just waiting to be mined. But I do believe that it may contain within it several possible narratives: the life of Hugh O’Neill can be told in many different ways. And those ways are determined by the needs and the demands and the expectations of different people and different eras. What do they want to hear? How do they want it told? So that in a sense I’m not altogether my own man, Hugh. To an extent I simply fulfil the needs, satisfy the expectations – don’t I? (
He
turns
away.
)

Harry
You’re looking rested now.

O’Neill
And Harry Hoveden you know.

Mabel
Oh yes. I know Harry.

Harry
Do you like the flowers?

Mabel
Yes, they’re lovely.

O’Neill
Broom.

Mabel
Yes.

O’Neill
Spanish broom.

Mabel
Yes.

O’Neill
Member of the
genista
family.

Mabel
Ah. I wouldn’t know that.

O’Neill
Actually that’s Spanish broom … comes from Spain. They need plenty of water.

Mabel
Broom? No, they don’t. They need hardly any water at all.

O’Neill
looks
accusingly
at
Harry.

O’Donnell
I’ll have another slug of that wine – if that’s all right with you, Hugh.

O’Neill
Of course. Anybody else?

Silence.

Harry
Did you have a rest?

Mabel
I lay down but I didn’t sleep any – I was too excited. Everything’s so … And the noise of those cows! I mean, I looked out the window and all I could see was millions of them stretching away to the hills. I mean, I never saw so many cows in one place in all my life. There must be millions of them. Cows and horses.

Harry
We’re moving you into the bedroom just above us. It’s quieter there.

Lombard
If you’ll pardon me. I’ve some letters to write.

O’Neill
The celebration begins at nine, Peter.

Lombard
exits.

Harry
(
taking
O’Donnell’s
elbow
)
And Hugh hasn’t eaten since this morning.

O’Donnell
What are you talking about? I ate only –

Harry
We’ll join you later.

He
steers
O’Donnell
out
in
front
of
him.
The
moment
they
are
alone
O’Neill
grabs
Mabel
from
behind
and
buries
his
face
in
her
neck
and
hair.

Mabel
Oh, my God.

O’Neill
Put your arms around me.

Mabel
I’m trembling all over.

O’Neill
I want you now.

Mabel
‘Come and meet two friends,’ you said.

O’Neill
Now! – now! – now!

Mabel
You should have warned me, Hugh.