WULFNOTH. Oh no, no--speak him fair! Call it to temporize; and not to lie; Harold, I do not counsel thee to lie. The man that hath to foil a murderous aim May, surely, play with words. HAROLD. Words are the man. Not ev'n for thy sake, brother, would I lie. WULFNOTH. Then for thine Edith? HAROLD. There thou prick'st me deep. WULFNOTH. And for our Mother England? HAROLD. Deeper still. WULFNOTH. And deeper still the deep-down oubliette, Down thirty feet below the smiling day-- In blackness--dogs' food thrown upon thy head. And over thee the suns arise and set, And the lark sings, the sweet stars come and go, And men are at their markets, in their fields, And woo their loves and have forgotten thee; And thou art upright in thy living grave, Where there is barely room to shift thy side, And all thine England hath forgotten thee; And he our lazy-pious Norman King, With all his Normans round him once again, Counts his old beads, and hath forgotten thee. HAROLD. Thou art of my blood, and so methinks, my boy, Thy fears infect me beyond reason. Peace! WULFNOTH. And then our fiery Tostig, while thy hands Are palsied here, if his Northumbrians rise And hurl him from them,--I have heard the Normans Count upon this confusion--may he not make A league with William, so to bring him back? HAROLD. That lies within the shadow of the chance. WULFNOTH. And like a river in flood thro' a burst dam Descends the ruthless Norman--our good King Kneels mumbling some old bone--our helpless folk Are wash'd away, wailing, in their own blood-- HAROLD. Wailing! not warring? Boy, thou hast forgotten That thou art English. WULFNOTH. Then our modest women-- I know the Norman license--thine own Edith-- HAROLD. No more! I will not hear thee--William comes. WULFNOTH. I dare not well be seen in talk with thee. Make thou not mention that I spake with thee. [_Moves away to the back of the stage_. _Enter_ WILLIAM, MALET, _and_ OFFICER. OFFICER. We have the man that rail'd against thy birth. WILLIAM. Tear out his tongue. OFFICER. He shall not rail again. He said that he should see confusion fall On thee and on thine house. WILLIAM. Tear out his eyes, And plunge him into prison. OFFICER. It shall be done. [_Exit_ OFFICER. WILLIAM. Look not amazed, fair earl! Better leave undone Than do by halves--tongueless and eyeless, prison'd-- HAROLD. Better methinks have slain the man at once! WILLIAM. We have respect for man's immortal soul, We seldom take man's life, except in war; It frights the traitor more to maim and blind. HAROLD. In mine own land I should have scorn'd the man, Or lash'd his rascal back, and let him go. WILLIAM. And let him go? To slander thee again! Yet in thine own land in thy father's day They blinded my young kinsman, Alfred--ay, Some said it was thy father's deed. HAROLD. They lied.