The Complete Plays (72 page)

Of Poland, it may prejudice their hope

Of my inheritance to the crown of France;

For, if th'almighty take my brother hence,

20     By due descent the regal seat is mine.

With Poland, therefore, must I covenant thus:

That if, by death of Charles, the diadem

Of France be cast on me, then with your leaves

I may retire me to my native home.

If your commission serve to warrant this,

I thankfully shall undertake the charge

Of you and yours, and carefully maintain

The wealth and safety of your kingdom's right.

FIRST LORD

All this and more your highness shall command

30     For Poland's crown and kingly diadem.

ANJOU
Then come, my lords, let's go.

Exeunt.

Enter two
[
SOLDIERS
]
with the
ADMIRAL'S
body
.

FIRST SOLDIER
Now, sirrah, what shall we do with the Admiral?

SECOND SOLDIER
Why, let us burn him for an heretic.

FIRST SOLDIER
O no,
his body
will infect the fire, and the fire the air, and so we shall be poisoned with him.

SECOND SOLDIER
What shall we do, then?

FIRST SOLDIER
Let's throw him into the river.

SECOND SOLDIER
O, 'twill corrupt the water, and the water the fish, and by the fish ourselves when we eat them.

10      
FIRST SOLDIER
Then throw him into the ditch.

SECOND SOLDIER
No, no, to decide all doubts, be ruled by me:

let's hang him here upon this tree.

FIRST SOLDIER
Agreed.

They hang him
[
and exeunt
].

Enter the
DUKE OF GUISE
, [
CATHERINE
the
]
QUEEN-MOTHER
,
and the
CARDINAL
[
with
ATTENDANTS
].

GUISE

Now, madam, how like you our lusty Admiral?

CATHERINE

Believe me, Guise, he becomes the place so well

As I could long ere this have wished him there.

But come, let's walk aside, th'air's not very sweet.

GUISE

No, by my faith, madam.

Sirs, take him away and throw him in some ditch.

[
The
ATTENDANTS
]
carry away the dead body.

20     And now, madam, as I understand,

There are a hundred Huguenots and more

Which in the woods do hold their
synagogue
,

And daily meet about this time of day,

And thither will I to put them to the sword.

CATHERINE

Do so, sweet Guise, let us delay no time,

For if these stragglers
gather head again
,

And disperse themselves throughout the realm of France,

It will be hard for us to work their deaths.

Be gone, delay no time, sweet Guise.

GUISE
                  Madam,

30     I go as whirlwinds rage before a storm.

Exit.

CATHERINE

My lord of Lorraine, have you marked of late

How Charles, our son, begins for to lament

For the late night's work which my lord of Guise

Did make in Paris amongst the Huguenots?

CARDINAL

Madam, I have heard him solemnly vow

With the rebellious King of Navarre

For to revenge their deaths upon us all.

CATHERINE

Ay, but my lord,
let me alone for that
,

For Catherine must have her will in France.

40     As I do live, so surely shall he die,

And Henry then shall wear the diadem;

And if he grudge or cross his mother's will,

I'll disinherit him and all the rest;

For I'll rule France, but they shall wear the crown,

And, if they
storm
, I then may pull them down.

Come, my lord, let us go.

Exeunt.

Enter five or six
PROTESTANTS
with books, and kneel together. Enter also the
GUISE
and
[
others
].

GUISE

Down with the Huguenots! Murder them!

FIRST PROTESTANT

O
monsieur de Guise
, hear me but speak!

GUISE

No, villain, that tongue of thine

That hath blasphemed the holy Church of Rome,

5         Shall drive no plaints into the Guise's ears

To make the justice of my heart relent.

Tue, tue, tue!
Let none escape.

Kill them.

So, drag them away.

Exeunt.

Enter the
KING OF FRANCE, NAVARRE
and
EPERNOUN

staying him; enter
[
CATHERINE
the
]
QUEEN-MOTHER
and

the
CARDINAL
[,
PLESHÉ
and
ATTENDANTS
].

CHARLES

O, let me stay and rest me here a while,

A
griping
pain hath seized upon my heart;

A sudden pang, the messenger of death.

CATHERINE

O say not so, thou kill'st thy mother's heart.

CHARLES

I must say so; pain forceth me complain.

NAVARRE

Comfort yourself, my lord, and have no doubt

But God will sure restore you to your health.

CHARLES

O no, my loving brother of Navarre!

I have
deserved a scourge, I must confess;

Yet is their patience of another sort

10     Than to misdo the welfare of their king:

God grant my nearest friends may prove no worse!

O hold me up, my sight begins to fail,

My sinews shrink, my brains turn upside down,

My heart doth break, I faint and die.

He dies.

CATHERINE

What, art thou dead? Sweet son, speak to thy mother!

O no, his soul is fled from out his breast,

And he nor hears nor sees us what we do.

My lords, what resteth there now for to be done,

20     But that we presently dispatch ambassadors

To Poland to call Henry back again

To wear his brother's crown and dignity?

Epernoun, go see it presently be done,

And bid him come without delay to us.

EPERNOUN
Madam, I will.

Exit.

CATHERINE

And now, my lords, after these funerals be done,

We will, with all the speed we can, provide

For Henry's coronation from
Polony
.

Come, let us take his body hence.

All go out but
NAVARRE
and
PLESHÉ
.

NAVARRE

And now, Navarre, whilst that these broils do last,

30     My opportun
it
y may serve me fit

To steal from France and hie me to my home,

For here's no safety in the realm for me;

And now that Henry is called from Poland,

It is my due, by just succession;

And therefore, as speedily as I can perform,

I'll muster up an army secretly,

For fear that Guise, joined with the King of Spain,

Might seem to cross me in mine enterprise.

40     But God that always doth defend the right

Will show His mercy and preserve us still.

PLESHÉ

The virtues of our true religion

Cannot but
march with
many graces more,

Whose army shall discomfort all your foes,

And, at the length, in Pampelonia crown,

(
In spite
of Spain and all the popish power

That holds it from your highness wrongfully)

Your majesty her rightful lord and sovereign.

NAVARRE

Truth, Pleshé; and God so prosper me in all

50     As I intend to labour for the truth

And true profession of His holy word!

Come, Pleshé, let's away whilst time doth serve.

Exeunt.

Sound trumpets within, and then all cry
‘
vive le roi
'
two or

three times. Enter
HENRY
[
ANJOU
]
crowned;
[
CATHERINE

the
]
QUEEN
[-
MOTHER
],
CARDINAL, DUKE OF GUISE,

EPERNOUN
,
the King's
Minions
[
JOYEUX
and

MUGEROUN
],
with others, and the
CUTPURSE
.

ALL
Vive le roi, vive le roi!

(
Sound trumpets
.)

CATHERINE

Welcome from Poland, Henry, once again,

Welcome to France, thy father's royal seat.

Here hast thou a country void of fears,

A warlike people to maintain thy right,

A watchful senate for ordaining laws,

A loving mother to preserve thy state,

And all things that a king may wish besides;

All this and more hath Henry with his crown.

CARDINAL

10      And long may Henry enjoy all this, and more!

ALL
Vive le roi, vive le roi!

(
Sound trumpets
.)

HENRY

Thanks to you all. The guider of all crowns

Grant that our deeds may well deserve your loves!

And so they shall, if fortune speed my will,

And yield
your thoughts to height of my deserts.

What says our minions? Think they Henry's heart

Will not both harbour love and majesty?

Put off that fear, they are already joined.

No person, place, or time, or circumstance,

20     Shall slack my love's affection from
his bent
.

As now you are, so shall you still persist,

Removeless from the favours of your king.

MUGEROUN

We know that noble minds change not their thoughts

For wearing of a crown, in that your grace

Hath worn the Poland diadem before

You were invested in the crown of France.

HENRY

I tell thee, Mugeroun, we will be friends,

And fellows too, whatever storms arise.

MUGEROUN

Then may it please your majesty to give me leave

30     To punish those that do profane this holy feast.

He cuts
off the
CUTPURSE'S
ear, for cutting of the gold buttons off his cloak.

HENRY
How mean'st thou that?

CUTPURSE
O lord, mine ear!

MUGEROUN

Come, sir, give me my buttons, and here's your ear.

GUISE
[
to an
ATTENDANT
] Sirrah, take him away.

HENRY
[
to
MUGEROUN
]

Hands off, good fellow; I will be his bail

For this offence. [
To
CUTPURSE
] Go, sirrah, work no more

Till this our coronation-day be past.

And now, our solemn rites of coronation done,

What now remains but for a while to feast

40     And spend some days in
barriers
,
tourney
,
tilt
,

And like disports, such as do fit the court?

Let's go, my lords, our dinner stays for us.

Go out all but
[
CATHERINE
]
the
QUEEN
[-
MOTHER
]
and
the
CARDINAL
.

CATHERINE

My Lord Cardinal of Lorraine, tell me,

How likes your grace my son's pleasantness?

His mind, you see, runs on his minions,

And all his heaven is to delight himself;

And whilst he sleeps securely thus in ease,

Thy brother Guise and we may now provide

To plant ourselves with such authority

50     As not a man may live without our leaves.

Then shall the Catholic faith of Rome

Flourish in France, and none deny the same.

CARDINAL

Madam, as in secrecy I was told,

My brother Guise hath gathered a
power
of men,

Which
are
, he saith, to kill the Puritans;

But 'tis the
house of Bourbon
that he means.

Now, madam, must you insinuate with the king,

And tell him that 'tis for his country's good,

And common profit of religion.

CATHERINE

60     Tush, man, let me alone with him,

To work the way to bring this thing to pass;

And if he do deny what I do say,

I'll dispatch
him with his brother presently,

And then shall monsieur wear the diadem,

Tush, all shall die unless I have my will,

For, while she lives, Catherine will be queen.

Come, my
lord
, let us go seek the Guise