How much I love!

NORTH. They come not at your bidding. Your people be your care.

EDW. Ah yes—my people !

To them, and to my God-be duty done!
NORTH. Sign then-

JANE. Sign not!

EDW. (signing). Come weal, come signed !

woe-'tis

Now take me, Lord, from this calamitous life!
Yet if to live and suffer be thy will,
And to thy chosen people serviceable,
I am contented to abide, and serve.

Enter from the side, the PRINCESS MARY, followed by BEDINGFIELD, JERNINGHAM and FAKENHAM.

At last-and yet too late-I bless thee, sister! Why comes not Bess?

BED. She lay, my liege, too far

From Framlingham, and time, so rumour ran,
Pressed hardly on your grace.

MARY (kissing Edward). How wan! how wasted! My dear, lost brother!

[Northumberland attempts to pass out.

BED. Go not forth, my lord, While here her highness stays. NORTH. How, varlet, how? Who shall debar my way?

BED.

JERN.

EDW.

I will

And I.

What means this timeless brawl? Northumberland,

I deemed my sister's visit due to thee;

Whence then this heat? I am too weak to bear it. MARY. My Lord of Lisle ! or-pardon me-Lord Duke !

(To such a height your style hath grown, I learn)

essage came-and I am here! but not t precaution that secures return.

H. Madam, you err: know your friends

ter.

z. Yes.

them at their worth.

H. Lady, you mark not

ce's weak estate. I seek no brawlr no foe.

. God's death! my lord, nor I! Du silence, sir.

H. What? menace me?

Beware this sword-if you advance, it kes!

O peace, good father, peace! the king ks fast.

.-Perils beset me-scorning all I come : abide with thee?

This gentle Jane

een a sister in my sister's absence.

. Why was I bade to go? He bade me

tor! (pointing to Northumberland).

It is now too late-too late!

lone what it were well had ne'er been done. O would to God that act might be re

ed!

What act?

That makes me queen.

Thou queen! O never

gal crown clasp that unwrinkled brow! een? go, girl-betake thee to thy mappets! ham back-philosophize-but never

to parley with grey counsellors,

› forth in the front of harnessed knights! at to me, the daughter of a king.

I have wronged thee to save the state

I had much to say; but faltering thought and

tongue

Forbid. Never shall foreign prince or prelate

Bear sway in England. So my father willed.
Cranmer, speak thou.

NORTH. Nay, I speak now. The king

Still, madam, proffers hope, on penitence.
The crown may yet be your's-this act annulled;
If here before this dying saint, in presence
Of this most holy prelate, and this lady
Wise past her years, your errors you renounce.
MARY. Sir, have you done? simply I thus reply.
Not to drag England from this slough of treason—
Nor save this lady's head-nor your's, arch-
bishop ;-

Not even my brother's life-would I abjure
My faith, and forfeit heaven!

CRAN. Pause, proud lady!

The end hath come. Lo! one among us stands
Chainer of every tongue! queller of princes!
One moment more, and penitence were vain.

All kneel by the king's couch.

EDW. Lord! keep thy people steadfast in the faith!

I die-bless all-Jesus receive my soul.

LADY JANE GREY (1553)

GUILD.

LADY JANE GREY

BY JOHN WEBSTER

A room in Sion House, London.
(Enter Guildford and Jane.)

Our cousin king is dead.

[Dies.

JANE. Alas, how small an urn contains a king! He, that rul'd all even with his princely breath

Is forc'd to stoop now to the stroke of death.
Heard you not the proclamation?

GUILD. I hear of it, and I give credit to it.

What great men fear to be, their fears make greater. Our fathers grow ambitious,

And would force us sail in mighty tempests,

And are not lords of what they do possess.

Are not thy thoughts as great?

JANE. I have no thoughts so rank, so grown to head

As are our fathers' pride.

Troth, I do enjoy a kingdom, having thee;

And so my pain be prosperous in that.

What care I though a sheep-cote be my palace.
Or fairest roof of honour.

*

[Exeunt.

An apartment in the Castle of Framlingham. (Enter Queen Mary, with a prayer-book in her hand, like a nun.)

MARY. Thus like a nun, not like a princess born, Descended from the royal Henry's loins,

Live I environ'd in a house of stone.

My brother Edward lives in pomp and state;
I in a mansion here all ruinate.

Their rich attire, delicious banqueting,

Their several pleasures, all their pride and honour,

I have forsaken for a rich prayer-book.

The golden mines of wealthy India

Are all as dross compared to thy sweetness:

Thou art the joy and comfort of the poor;
The everlasting bliss in thee we find.
This little volume, enclosed in this hand,
Is richer than the empire of this land.

(Enter Sir Henry Bedingfield.)

BEDING. Pardon me, madam, that so boldly 1 press

Into your chamber: I salute your highness
With the high style of queen.

MARY. Queen! may it be?

Or jest you at my lowering misery?
BEDING. Your brother king is dead,

And you the Catholic queen must now succeed. MARY. I see my God at length hath heard my prayer,

You, Sir Harry, for your glad tidings,
Shall be held in honour and due regard.

(Enter Sir Thomas Wyatt.)

WYATT. Health to the lady Mary!
MARY. And why not queen, Sir Thomas?
WYATT. Ask that of Suffolk's duke, and great
Northumberland,

Who in your stead have crown'd another.

MARY. Another queen, Sir Thomas, we alive, The true immediate heiress of our dead father! WYATT. Nothing more true than that,

Nothing more true than you are the true heir.
Come, leave this cloister, and be seen abroad:
Your very sight will stir the people's hearts,
And make them cheerly for Queen Mary cry.
One comfort I can tell you: the tenants
Of the dukes Northumberland and Suffolk
Denied their aid in these unlawful arms;
To all the council I denied my hand,
And for King Henry's issue still will stand.
MARY. Your counsel, good Sir Thomas, is so
pithy

That I am won to like it.

WYATT. Come, let us straight

From hence, from Framlingham. Cheer your spirits.

I'll to the dukes at Cambridge, and discharge
Them all.-Prosper me, God, in these affairs !