DRAKE (_impetuously_). I speak not without book, My Royal Mistress. It was not human power that raised your Majesty and held your right hand, (a _pause_) through death and tyranny, (_the_ QUEEN _much moved_) until you reached your throne, or guided my little bark through storm and battle to your shores. It is not chance, my Liege, but Providence that rules! A secret impulse ever drove me on, (_a pause_) and now ASSURES me that the end is near. The blood of butchered nations crying to heaven, at length is heard. Spain totters to her fall! (_He walks aside excited_, _then returns and continues with energy_). The star of England rises from the sea to rule its waves, the ocean rules the land, its trident shakes the earth! (_He comes up to the_ QUEEN _impassioned_). ’Tis thine! ’Tis thine! Stretch forth thine hand, my Liege, and grasp the Trident. QUEEN (_in great excitement_). Drake! Drake! A virtue goeth out of thee. I’m filled with awe, but feel the power. (_She essays to leave_.) Come! Come! _Leaving the terrace absorbed in thought_, _her outstretched hand grasping at something in the air_, _whilst_ DRAKE _still follows her close with earnest voice and gesture_. DRAKE. My Liege! It is the will of GOD! It is the will of GOD. (_Exeunt_). SCENE VII.—A ROOM IN THE PALACE. LEICESTER’S _present on a marble table_, _backed by a large steel mirror which reflects it_. _The_ QUEEN _sitting on a sofa_, _in conversation with the_ EARL OF LEICESTER _who stands at a little distance_. LEICESTER. What thinks my royal Mistress of my symboled future now? (_he point to it_) These figures seem to speak and challenge me to ask.—I always felt that thought was inspiration! The vision rapidly developes into facts. You’ll live to see the symbol a reality. Drake’s deeds of wonder bring it up in force. QUEEN. Miraculous! Incomprehensible! Drake’s a prodigy!—At sight I read him in the first moment’s interview. He’s made for greatness not his own. A Demi-god could not accomplish his achievements, so vast in their proportions, and whose effects, perhaps, shall run through Time!—Nor dare—nor even conceive them. A clear impossibility—by himself to mortal man! The finger of God is visible throughout for his own end—then unseen! Drake’s eyes are opened now, and so are mine! I see the work and aim of Providence. We are but passive instruments to carry out his will. ’Tis always thus, Leicester. I have observed it well through life. God brings about His greatest ends by means, to us, inadequate—to show His power, and that the work is His; lest we should say “my hand hath done it.” You see how all Drake’s other ships were sunk or scattered to the winds, that HE hurled on an unknown ocean! LEFT ALONE! should be the chosen means to change the destiny of the world.