THE PALACE.

Courtenay. You needs must bear it hardly.

Elizabeth. No, indeed!

I am utterly submissive to the Queen. Courtenay. Well, I was musing upon that; the Queen

Is both my foe and yours: we should be friends.

Elizabeth. My Lord, the hatred of another to us

Is no true bond of friendship.

Courtenay. Might it not Be the rough preface of some closer bond? Elizabeth. My Lord, you late were loosed from out the Tower, Where, like a butterfly in a chrysalis,

you flutter Thro' the new world, go zigzag, now

would settle

To take my seat in; looks it not right royal?

Elizabeth. So royal that the Queen forbade you wearing it. Courtenay. I wear it then to spite her.

Elizabeth. My Lord, my Lord;

I see you in the Tower again. Her Majesty

Hears you affect the Prince - prelates kneel to you.

Courtenay. I am the noblest blood in Europe, Madam,

A Courtenay of Devon, and her cousin. Elizabeth. She hears you make your boast that after all

She means to wed you. Folly, my good

Lord.

Courtenay. How folly? a great party in the state Wills me to wed her?

Elizabeth. Failing her, my Lord, Doth not as great a party in the state Will you to wed me?

Courtenay.

Even so, fair lady. Elizabeth. You know to flatter ladies. Courtenay.

True matters of the heart.

Elizabeth.

Nay, I meant

My heart, my Lord, Is no great party in the state as yet. Courtenay. Great, said you? nay, you shall be great. I love you, Lay my life in your hands. Can you be close?

Nay, if by chance you hear of any such, Speak not thereof no, not to your best friend, Lest you should be confounded with it. Still

Perinde ac cadaver as the priest says, You know your Latin-quiet as a dead body.

What was my Lord of Devon telling you?

Elizabeth. Whether he told me ar
thing or not,

I follow your good counsel, gracious
uncle.
Quiet as a dead body.
Howard.
You do right well.
I do not care to know; but this I
Tell Courtenay nothing. The Lord
charge you,

Chancellor

Gardiner. Madam, to have the wish before the word

Is man's good Fairy - and the Queen is yours.

I left her with rich jewels in her hand, Whereof 't is like enough she means to make

A farewell present to your Grace.

Elizabeth.

My Lord, I have the jewel of a loyal heart. Gardiner. I doubt it not, Madam, most loyal. [Bows low and exit.

Howard. See, This comes of parleying with my Lord of Devon.

Well, well, you must obey; and I myself

Believe it will be better for your welfare. Your time will come.

Elizabeth. I think my time will come. Uncle,

I am of sovereign nature, that I know, Not to be quell'd; and I have felt

within me Stirrings of some great doom when God's just hour

Peals but this fierce old Gardinerhis big baldness,

Alice.

took

To the English red and white. Your royal father

(For so they say) was all pure lily and

rose

In his youth, and like a lady.
Mary.
O, just God!
Sweet mother, you had time and cause
enough

To sicken of his lilies and his roses. Cast off, betray'd, defamed, divorced, forlorn!

And then the king-that traitor past forgiveness,

The false archbishop fawning on him, married

The mother of Elizabeth a heretic Ev'n as she is; but God hath sent me here

To take such order with all heretics
That it shall be, before I die, as tho'
My father and my brother had not lived.
What wast thou saying of this Lady
Jane,

To him within there who made Heaven and Earth?

I cannot and I dare not, tell your Grace
What Lady Jane replied.
Mary.
But I will have it.
Alice. She said pray pardon me,
and pity her-
She hath hearken'd evil counsel - ah !
she said,

The baker made him.

Mary. Monstrous! blasphemous!! She ought to burn. Hence, thou (Exit ALICE). No being traitor Her head will fall: shall it? she is but a child.

We do not kill the child for doing that His father whipt him into doinghead

a

So full of grace and beauty! would that mine

to be,

My love, for thy sake only.

I am eleven years older than he is.
But will he care for that?
No, by the holy Virgin, being noble,
But love me only: then the bastard
sprout,

My sister, is far fairer than myself.
Will he be drawn to her?

No, being of the true faith with myself.
Paget is for him-for to wed with
Spain

Would treble England - Gardiner is against him;

The Council, people, Parliament against him;

But I will have him! My hard father hated me;

My brother rather hated me than loved;
My sister cowers and hates me. Holy
Virgin,
Plead with thy blessed Son; grant me
my prayer;

Give me my Philip; and we two will lead
The living waters of the Faith again
Back thro' their widow'd channel here,
and watch

The parch'd banks rolling incense, as of old,

To heaven, and kindled with the palms of Christ!

I made him Earl of Devon, and - the fool

He wrecks his health and wealth on courtesans,

And rolls himself in carrion like a dog.
Gardiner. More like a school-boy that
hath broken bounds,
Sickening himself with sweets.
Mary.