A speech penned by William Fulbecke, gentleman, one of the society of Gray’s Inn, and pronounced instead of Gorlois his first speech penned by Thomas Hughes, and set down in the first Scene of the first Act. Alecto, thou that hast excluded me From fields Elysian, where the guiltless souls Avoid the scourge of Rhadamanthus ire, Let it be lawful (sith I am removed From blessed islands to this cursed shore, This loathed earth, where Arthur’s table stands, With ordure foul of Harpies’ fierce distained) The fates and hidden secrets to disclose Of black Cocytus and of Acheron, The floods of death, the lakes of burning souls, Where hellish frogs do prophesy revenge; Where Tartar sprites with careful heed attend The dismal summons of Alecto’s mouth. Myself by precept of Proserpina Commanded was in presence to appear Before the synod of the damned sprites. In fearful mood I did perform their hest, And, at my entrance in, th’ enchanted snakes, Which wrap themselves about the furies’ necks, Did hiss for joy: and from the dreadful bench[284] The supreme fury thus assign’d her charge. Gorlois, quoth she, thou thither must ascend, Whence, through the rancour of malicious foes, Wearied with wounds thou didst descend to us. Make Britain now the mark of thy revenge: On ruthless Britons and Pendragon’s race Disburse the treasure of thy hellish plagues. Let blood contend with blood, father with son, Subject with prince, and let confusion reign. She therewithal enjoin’d the dusky clouds, Which with their darkness turn’d the earth to hell, Convert to blood, and pour down streams of blood. Cornwall shall groan, and Arthur’s soul shall sigh: Before the conscience of Guenevera The map of hell shall hang, and fiends shall rage; And Gorlois’ ghost exacting punishment With dreams, with horrors, and with deadly trance, Shall gripe their hearts: the vision of his corse Shall be to them, as was the terror vile Of flaming whips to Agamemnon’s son. And when the trumpet calls them from their rest, Aurora shall with wat’ry cheeks behold Their slaughtered bodies prostrate to her beams: And on the banks of Camela shall lie The bones of Arthur and of Arthur’s knights, Whose fleet is now triumphing on the seas, But shall be welcom’d with a tragedy. Thy native soil shall be thy fatal gulf, Arthur: thy place of birth thy place of death. Mordred shall be the hammer of my hate To beat the bones of Cornish lords to dust. Ye ravening birds under Celœno’s power, I do adjure you, in Alecto’s name, Follow the sword of Mordred where he goes; Follow the sword of Mordred for your food. Aspiring Mordred, thou must also die, And on the altar of Proserpina Thy vital blood unto my ghost shall fume. Heaven, earth, and hell concur to plague the man,