Queen Mary; and, HaroldTennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
History
Queen Mary; and, Harold
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
Drama; Mary I, Queen of England, 1516-1558 -- Drama
MARY. I am Harry's daughter, Tudor, and not fear.
[_Goes out on the gallery_.
The guards are all driven in, skulk into corners
Like rabbits to their holes. A gracious guard
Truly; shame on them! they have shut the gates!
_Enter_ SIR ROBERT SOUTHWELL.
SOUTHWELL. The porter, please your Grace, hath shut the gates
On friend and foe. Your gentlemen-at-arms,
If this be not your Grace's order, cry
To have the gates set wide again, and they
With their good battleaxes will do you right
Against all traitors.
MARY. They are the flower of England; set the gates wide.
[_Exit_ SOUTHWELL.
_Enter_ COURTENAY.
COURTENAY. All lost, all lost, all yielded! A barge, a barge!
The Queen must to the Tower.
MARY. Whence come you, sir?
COURTENAY. From Charing Cross; the rebels broke us there,
And I sped hither with what haste I might
To save my royal cousin.
MARY. Where is Pembroke?
COURTENAY. I left him somewhere in the thick of it.
MARY. Left him and fled; and thou that would'st be King,
And hast nor heart nor honour. I myself
Will down into the battle and there bide
The upshot of my quarrel, or die with those
That are no cowards and no Courtenays.
COURTENAY. I do not love your Grace should call me coward.
_Enter another_ MESSENGER.
MESSENGER. Over, your Grace, all crush'd; the brave Lord William
Thrust him from Ludgate, and the traitor flying
To Temple Bar, there by Sir Maurice Berkeley
Was taken prisoner.
MARY. To the Tower with _him_!
MESSENGER. 'Tis said he told Sir Maurice there was one
Cognisant of this, and party thereunto,
My Lord of Devon.
MARY. To the Tower with _him_!
COURTENAY. O la, the Tower, the Tower, always the Tower,
I shall grow into it--I shall be the Tower.
MARY. Your Lordship may not have so long to wait. Remove him!
COURTENAY. La, to whistle out my life,
And carve my coat upon the walls again!
[_Exit_ COURTENAY _guarded_.
MESSENGER. Also this Wyatt did confess the Princess
Cognisant thereof, and party thereunto.
MARY. What? whom--whom did you say?
MESSENGER. Elizabeth,
Your Royal sister.
MARY. To the Tower with _her_!
My foes are at my feet and I am Queen.
[GARDINER _and her_ LADIES _kneel to her_.
GARDINER (_rising_).
There let them lie, your foot-stool! (_Aside_.) Can I strike
Elizabeth?--not now and save the life
Of Devon: if I save him, he and his
Are bound to me--may strike hereafter. (_Aloud_.) Madam,
What Wyatt said, or what they said he said,
Cries of the moment and the street--
MARY. He said it.
GARDINER. Your courts of justice will determine that.
RENARD (_advancing_).
I trust by this your Highness will allow
Some spice of wisdom in my telling you,
When last we talk'd, that Philip would not come
Till Guildford Dudley and the Duke of Suffolk,
And Lady Jane had left us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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