ACT III

Scene I. Opposite Westminster Hall. Sir Henry Vane, Lord Savile, Lord Holland and others of the Court. Sir H. Vane. The Commons thrust you out? Savile. And what kept you From sharing their civility? Vane. Kept me? Fresh news from Scotland, sir! worse than the last, If that may be. All 's up with Strafford there: Nothing to bar the mad Scots marching hither Next Lord's-day morning. That detained me, sir! Well now, before they thrust you out,—go on,— Their Speaker—did the fellow Lenthal say All we set down for him? Holland. Not a word missed. Ere he began, we entered, Savile, I And Bristol and some more, with hope to breed A wholesome awe in the new Parliament. But such a gang of graceless ruffians, Vane, As glared at us! Vane. So many? Sav. Not a bench Without its complement of burly knaves; Your hopeful son among them: Hampden leant Upon his shoulder—think of that! Vane. I 'd think On Lenthal's speech, if I could get at it. Urged he, I ask, how grateful they should prove For this unlooked-for summons from the King? Holl. Just as we drilled him. Vane. That the Scots will march On London? Holl. All, and made so much of it, A dozen subsidies at least seemed sure To follow, when ... Vane. Well? Holl. 'T is a strange thing now! I 've a vague memory of a sort of sound, A voice, a kind of vast unnatural voice— Pym, sir, was speaking! Savile, help me out: What was it all? Sav. Something about "a matter"— No,—"work for England." Holl. "England's great revenge" He talked of. Sav. How should I get used to Pym More than yourselves? Holl. However that may be, 'T was something with which we had naught to do, For we were "strangers," and 't was "England's work"— (All this while looking us straight in the face) In other words, our presence might be spared. So, in the twinkling of an eye, before I settled to my mind what ugly brute Was likest Pym just then, they yelled us out, Locked the doors after us, and here are we. Vane. Eliot's old method ... Sav. Prithee, Vane, a truce To Eliot and his times, and the great Duke, And how to manage Parliaments! 'T was you Advised the Queen to summon this: why, Strafford (To do him justice) would not hear of it. Vane. Say rather, you have done the best of turns To Strafford: he 's at York, we all know why. I would you had not set the Scots on Strafford Till Strafford put down Pym for us, my lord! Sav. Was it I altered Stafford's plans? did I ... (A Messenger enters.) Mes. The Queen, my lords—she sends me: follow me At once; 't is very urgent! she requires Your counsel: something perilous and strange Occasions her command. Sav. We follow, friend! Now, Vane;—your Parliament will plague us all! Vane. No Strafford here beside! Sav. If you dare hint I had a hand in his betrayal, sir ... Holl. Nay, find a fitter time for quarrels—Pym Will overmatch the best of you; and, think, The Queen! Vane. Come on, then: understand, I loathe Strafford as much as any—but his use! To keep off Pym, to screen a friend or two, I would we had reserved him yet awhile.

The Queen and Lady Carlisle. Queen. It cannot be. Lady Car. It is so. Queen. Why, the House Have hardly met. Lady Car. They met for that. Queen. No, no! Meet to impeach Lord Strafford? 'T is a jest. Lady Car. A bitter one. Queen. Consider! 'T is the House We summoned so reluctantly, which nothing But the disastrous issue of the war Persuaded us to summon. They 'll wreak all Their spite on us, no doubt; but the old way Is to begin by talk of grievances: They have their grievances to busy them. Lady Car. Pym has begun his speech. Queen. Where 's Vane?—That is, Pym will impeach Lord Strafford if he leaves His Presidency; he 's at York, we know, Since the Scots beat him: why should he leave York? Lady Car. Because the King sent for him. Queen. Ah—but if The King did send for him, he let him know We had been forced to call a Parliament— A step which Strafford, now I come to think, Was vehement against. Lady Car. The policy Escaped him, of first striking Parliaments To earth, then setting them upon their feet And giving them a sword: but this is idle. Did the King send for Strafford? He will come. Queen. And what am I to do? Lady Car. What do? Fail, madam! Be ruined for his sake! what matters how, So it but stand on record that you made An effort, only one? Queen. The King away At Theobald's! Lady Car. Send for him at once: he must Dissolve the House. Queen. Wait till Vane finds the truth Of the report: then ... Lady Car. —It will matter little What the King does. Strafford that lends his arm And breaks his heart for you! (Sir H. Vane enters.) Vane. The Commons, madam, Are sitting with closed doors. A huge debate, No lack of noise; but nothing, I should guess, Concerning Strafford: Pym has certainly Not spoken yet. Queen. [To Lady Carlisle.] You hear? Lady Car. I do not hear That the King 's sent for! Vane. Savile will be able To tell you more. (Holland enters.) Queen. The last news, Holland? Holl. Pym Is raging like a fire. The whole House means To follow him together to Whitehall And force the King to give up Strafford. Queen. Strafford? Holl. If they content themselves with Strafford! Laud Is talked of, Cottington and Windebank too. Pym has not left out one of them—I would You heard Pym raging! Queen. Vane, go find the King! Tell the King, Vane, the People follow Pym To brave us at Whitehall! (Savile enters.) Sav. Not to Whitehall— 'T is to the Lords they go: they seek redress On Strafford from his peers—the legal way, They call it. Queen. (Wait, Vane!) Sav. But the adage gives Long life to threatened men. Strafford can save Himself so readily: at York, remember, In his own county: what has he to fear? The Commons only mean to frighten him From leaving York. Surely, he will not come. Queen. Lucy, he will not come! Lady Car. Once more, the King Has sent for Strafford. He will come. Vane. Oh doubtless! And bring destruction with him: that 's his way. What but his coming spoilt all Conway's plan? The King must take his counsel, choose his friends, Be wholly ruled by him! What 's the result? The North that was to rise, Ireland to help,— What came of it? In my poor mind, a fright Is no prodigious punishment. Lady Car. A fright? Pym will fail worse than Strafford if he thinks To frighten him. [To the Queen.] You will not save him then? Sav. When something like a charge is made, the King Will best know how to save him: and 't is clear, While Strafford suffers nothing by the matter, The King may reap advantage: this in question, No dinning you with ship-money complaints! Queen. [To Lady Carlisle.] If we dissolve them, who will pay the army? Protect us from the insolent Scots? Lady Car. In truth, I know not, madam. Strafford's fate concerns Me little: you desired to learn what course Would save him: I obey you. Vane. Notice, too, There can't be fairer ground for taking full Revenge—(Strafford 's revengeful)—than he 'll have Against his old friend Pym. Queen. Why, he shall claim Vengeance on Pym! Vane. And Strafford, who is he To 'scape unscathed amid the accidents That harass all beside? I, for my part, Should look for something of discomfiture Had the King trusted me so thoroughly And been so paid for it. Holl. He 'll keep at York: All will blow over: he 'll return no worse, Humbled a little, thankful for a place Under as good a man. Oh, we 'll dispense With seeing Strafford for a month or two! (Strafford enters.) Queen. You here! Straf. The King sends for me, madam. Queen. Sir, The King ... Straf. An urgent matter that imports the King! [To Lady Carlisle.] Why, Lucy, what 's in agitation now, That all this muttering and shrugging, see, Begins at me? They do not speak! Lady Car. 'Tis welcome! For we are proud of you—happy and proud To have you with us, Strafford! You were stanch At Durham: you did well there! Had you not Been stayed, you might have ... we said, even now, Our hope 's in you! Vane. [To Lady Carlisle.] The Queen would speak with you. Straf. Will one of you, his servants here, vouchsafe To signify my presence to the King? Sav. An urgent matter? Straf. None that touches you, Lord Savile! Say, it were some treacherous Sly pitiful intriguing with the Scots— You would go free, at least! (They half divine My purpose!) Madam, shall I see the King? The service I would render, much concerns His welfare. Queen. But his Majesty, my lord, May not be here, may ... Straf. Its importance, then, Must plead excuse for this withdrawal, madam, And for the grief it gives Lord Savile here. Queen. [Who has been conversing with Vane and Holland.] The King will see you, sir! [To Lady Carlisle.] Mark me: Pym's worst Is done by now: he has impeached the Earl, Or found the Earl too strong for him, by now. Let us not seem instructed! We should work No good to Strafford, but deform ourselves With shame in the world's eye. [To Strafford.] His Majesty Has much to say with you. Straf. Time fleeting, too! [To Lady Carlisle.] No means of getting them away? And She— What does she whisper? Does she know my purpose? What does she think of it? Get them away! Queen. [To Lady Carlisle.] He comes to baffle Pym—he thinks the danger Far off: tell him no word of it! a time For help will come: we 'll not be wanting then. Keep him in play, Lucy—you, self-possessed And calm! [To Strafford.] To spare your lordship some delay I will myself acquaint the King. [To Lady Carlisle.] Beware! [The Queen, Vane, Holland, and Savile go out. Straf. She knows it? Lady Car. Tell me, Strafford! Straf. Afterward! This moment 's the great moment of all time. She knows my purpose? Lady Car. Thoroughly: just now She bade me hide it from you. Straf. Quick, dear child, The whole o' the scheme? Lady Car. (Ah, he would learn if they Connive at Pym's procedure! Could they but Have once apprised the King! But there 's no time For falsehood, now.) Strafford, the whole is known. Straf. Known and approved? Lady Car. Hardly discountenanced. Straf. And the King—say, the King consents as well? Lady Car. The King 's not yet informed, but will not dare To interpose. Straf. What need to wait him, then? He 'll sanction it! I stayed, child, tell him, long! It vexed me to the soul—this waiting here. You know him, there 's no counting on the King. Tell him I waited long! Lady Car. (What can he mean? Rejoice at the King's hollowness?) Straf. I knew They would be glad of it,—all over once, I knew they would be glad: but he 'd contrive, The Queen and he, to mar, by helping it, An angel's making. Lady Car. (Is he mad?) Dear Strafford, You were not wont to look so happy. Straf. Sweet, I tried obedience thoroughly. I took The King's wild plan: of course, ere I could reach My army, Conway ruined it. I drew The wrecks together, raised all heaven and earth, And would have fought the Scots: the King at once Made truce with them. Then, Lucy, then, dear child, God put it in my mind to love, serve, die For Charles, but never to obey him more! While he endured their insolence at Ripon I fell on them at Durham. But you 'll tell The King I waited? All the anteroom Is filled with my adherents. Lady Car. Strafford—Strafford, What daring act is this you hint? Straf. No, no! 'T is here, not daring if you knew? all here! [Drawing papers from his breast. Full proof; see, ample proof—does the Queen know I have such damning proof? Bedford and Essex, Brooke, Warwick, Savile (did you notice Savile? The simper that I spoilt?), Saye, Mandeville— Sold to the Scots, body and soul, by Pym! Lady Car. Great heaven! Straf. From Savile and his lords, to Pym And his losels, crushed!—Pym shall not ward the blow Nor Savile creep aside from it! The Crew And the Cabal—I crush them! Lady Car. And you go— Strafford,—and now you go? Straf. —About no work In the background, I promise you! I go Straight to the House of Lords to claim these knaves. Mainwaring! Lady Car. Stay—stay, Strafford! Straf. She 'll return, The Queen—some little project of her own! No time to lose: the King takes fright perhaps. Lady Car. Pym 's strong, remember! Straf. Very strong, as fits The Faction's head—with no offence to Hampden, Vane, Rudyard, and my loving Hollis: one And all they lodge within the Tower to-night In just equality. Bryan! Mainwaring! [Many of his Adherents enter. The Peers debate just now (a lucky chance) On the Scots' war: my visit 's opportune. When all is over, Bryan, you proceed To Ireland: these dispatches, mark me, Bryan, Are for the Deputy, and these for Ormond: We want the army here—my army, raised At such a cost, that should have done such good, And was inactive all the time! no matter, We 'll find a use for it. Willis ... or, no—you! You, friend, make haste to York: bear this, at once ... Or,—better stay for form's sake, see yourself The news you carry. You remain with me To execute the Parliament's command, Mainwaring! Help to seize these lesser knaves, Take care there 's no escaping at backdoors: I 'll not have one escape, mind me—not one! I seem revengeful, Lucy? Did you know What these men dare! Lady Car. It is so much they dare! Straf. I proved that long ago; my turn is now. Keep sharp watch, Goring, on the citizens! Observe who harbors any of the brood That scramble off: be sure they smart for it! Our coffers are but lean. And you, child, too, Shall have your task; deliver this to Laud. Laud will not be the slowest in my praise: "Thorough," he 'll cry!—Foolish, to be so glad! This life is gay and glowing, after all: 'T is worth while, Lucy, having foes like mine Just for the bliss of crushing them. To-day Is worth the living for. Lady Car. That reddening brow! You seem ... Straf. Well—do I not? I would be well— I could not but be well on such a day! And, this day ended, 't is of slight import How long the ravaged frame subjects the soul In Strafford. Lady Car. Noble Strafford! Straf. No farewell! I 'll see you anon, to-morrow—the first thing. —If She should come to stay me! Lady Car. Go—'t is nothing— Only my heart that swells: it has been thus Ere now: go, Strafford! Straf. To-night, then, let it be. I must see Him: you, the next after Him. I 'll tell you how Pym looked. Follow me, friends! You, gentlemen, shall see a sight this hour To talk of all your lives. Close after me! "My friend of friends!" [Strafford and the rest go out. Lady Car. The King—ever the King! No thought of one beside, whose little word Unveils the King to him—one word from me, Which yet I do not breathe! Ah, have I spared Strafford a pang, and shall I seek reward Beyond that memory? Surely too, some way He is the better for my love. No, no— He would not look so joyous—I 'll believe His very eye would never sparkle thus, Had I not prayed for him this long, long while.

Many of the Presbyterian Party. The Adherents of Strafford, etc. A Group of Presbyterians.—1. I tell you he struck Maxwell: Maxwell sought To stay the Earl: he struck him and passed on. 2. Fear as you may, keep a good countenance Before these rufflers. 3. Strafford here the first, With the great army at his back! 4. No doubt. I would Pym had made haste: that 's Bryan, hush— The gallant pointing. Strafford's Followers.—1. Mark these worthies, now! 2. A goodly gathering! "Where the carcass is There shall the eagles"—What 's the rest? 3. For eagles Say crows. A Presbyterian. Stand back, sirs! One of Strafford's Followers. Are we in Geneva? A Presbyterian. No, nor in Ireland; we have leave to breathe. One of Strafford's Followers. Truly? Behold how privileged we be That serve "King Pym"! There 's Some-one at Whitehall Who skulks obscure; but Pym struts ... The Presbyterian. Nearer. A Follower of Strafford. Higher, We look to see him. [To his Companions.] I 'm to have St. John In charge; was he among the knaves just now That followed Pym within there? Another. The gaunt man Talking with Rudyard. Did the Earl expect Pym at his heels so fast? I like it not. (Maxwell enters.) Another. Why, man, they rush into the net! Here 's Maxwell— Ha, Maxwell? How the brethren flock around The fellow! Do you feel the Earl's hand yet Upon your shoulder, Maxwell? Maxwell. Gentlemen, Stand back! a great thing passes here. A Follower of Strafford. [To another.] The Earl Is at his work! [To M.] Say, Maxwell, what great thing! Speak out! [To a Presbyterian.] Friend, I 've a kindness for you! Friend, I 've seen you with St. John: O stockishness! Wear such a ruff, and never call to mind St. John's head in a charger? How, the plague, Not laugh? Another. Say, Maxwell, what great thing! Another. Nay, wait: The jest will be to wait. First. And who 's to bear These demure hypocrites? You 'd swear they came ... Came ... just as we come! [A Puritan enters hastily and without observing Strafford's Followers. The Puritan. How goes on the work? Has Pym ... A Follower of Strafford. The secret 's out at last. Aha, The carrion 's scented! Welcome, crow the first! Gorge merrily, you with the blinking eye! "King Pym has fallen!" The Puritan. Pym? A Strafford. Pym! A Presbyterian. Only Pym? Many of Strafford's Followers. No, brother, not Pym only; Vane as well, Rudyard as well, Hampden, St. John as well! A Presbyterian. My mind misgives: can it be true? Another. Lost! Lost! A Strafford. Say we true, Maxwell? The Puritan. Pride before destruction, A haughty spirit goeth before a fall. Many of Strafford's Followers. Ah now! The very thing! A word in season! A golden apple in a silver picture To greet Pym as he passes! [The doors at the back begin to open, noise and light issuing. Max. Stand back, all! Many of the Presbyterians. I hold with Pym! And I! Strafford's Followers. Now for the text! He comes! Quick! The Puritan. How hath the oppressor ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked! The sceptre of the rulers, he who smote The people in wrath with a continual stroke, That ruled the nations in his anger—he Is persecuted and none hindereth! [The doors open, and Strafford issues in the greatest disorder, and amid cries from within of "Void the House!" Straf. Impeach me! Pym! I never struck, I think, The felon on that calm insulting mouth When it proclaimed—Pym's mouth proclaimed me ... God! Was it a word, only a word that held The outrageous blood back on my heart—which beats! Which beats! Some one word—"Traitor," did he say, Bending that eye, brimful of bitter fire, Upon me? Max. In the Commons' name, their servant Demands Lord Strafford's sword. Straf. What did you say? Max. The Commons bid me ask your lordship's sword. Straf. Let us go forth: follow me, gentlemen! Draw your swords too: cut any down that bar us. On the King's service! Maxwell, clear the way! [The Presbyterians prepare to dispute his passage. Straf. I stay: the King himself shall see me here. Your tablets, fellow! [To Mainwaring.] Give that to the King! Yes, Maxwell, for the next half-hour, let be! Nay, you shall take my sword! [Maxwell advances to take it. Or, no—not that! Their blood, perhaps, may wipe out all thus far All up to that—not that! Why, friend, you see When the King lays your head beneath my foot It will not pay for that. Go, all of you! Max. I dare, my lord, to disobey: none stir! Straf. This gentle Maxwell!—Do not touch him, Bryan! [To the Presbyterians.] Whichever cur of you will carry this Escapes his fellow's fate. None saves his life? None? [Cries from within of "Strafford!" Slingsby, I 've loved you at least: make haste! Stab me! I have not time to tell you why. You then, my Bryan! Mainwaring, you then! Is it because I spoke so hastily At Allerton? The King had vexed me. [To the Presbyterians.] You! —Not even you? If I live over this, The King is sure to have your heads, you know! But what if I can't live this minute through? Pym, who is there with his pursuing smile! [Louder cries of "Strafford!" The King! I troubled him, stood in the way Of his negotiations, was the one Great obstacle to peace, the Enemy Of Scotland: and he sent for me, from York, My safety guaranteed—having prepared A Parliament—I see! And at Whitehall The Queen was whispering with Vane—I see The trap! [Tearing off the George. I tread a gewgaw underfoot, And cast a memory from me. One stroke, now! [His own Adherents disarm him. Renewed cries of "Strafford!" England! I see thy arm in this and yield. Pray you now—Pym awaits me—pray you now! [Strafford reaches the doors: they open wide. Hampden and a crowd discovered, and, at the bar, Pym standing apart. As Strafford kneels, the scene shuts.