SCENE III. London.-The Tower-hill. Enter Constable and Officers, WARBECK, URSWICK, and LAMBERT SIMNEL as a Falconer, followed by the rabble. Const. Make room there! keep off, I require you; and none come within twelve foot of his majesty's new stocks, upon pain of displeasure. Bring forward the malefactors.-Friend, you must to this geer, no remedy.-Open the hole, and in with the legs, just in the middle hole; there, that hole. Keep off, or I'll commit you all! shall not a man in authority be obeyed? So, so, there; 'tis as it should be:-[WARBECK is put in the stocks.] put on the padlock, and give me the key. Off, I say, keep off. Urs. Yet, Warbeck, clear thy conscience; thou hast tasted King Henry's mercy liberally; the law Has forfeited thy life; an equal jury 1 Have doom'd thee to the gallows. Twice most wickedly, Most desperately hast thou escaped the Tower; May pluck the true stag down. Yet, yet, confess Thy parentage; for yet the king has mercy. Simn. You would be Dick the Fourth, very likely! Your pedigree is publish'd;3 you are known War. Baited to my death? Intolerable cruelty! I laugh at The duke of Richmond's practice on my fortunes; Possession of a crown ne'er wanted heralds. Simn. You will not know who I am? Urs. Lambert Simnel, Your predecessor in a dangerous uproar: To grace, but by the king vouchsafed his service. ruffled Against my master, leap'd to catch the moon, 3 Your pedigree is publish'd, &c.] From Bacon." Thus it was. There was a townsman of Tournay, whose name was John Osbeck, a convert Jew, married to Catherine de Faro, whose business drew him to live, for a time, with his wife at London, in King Edward the IVth's days. During which time he had a son by her; and being known in court, the king did him the honour to stand godfather to his child, and named him Peter. But afterwards proving a dainty and effeminate youth, he was commonly called by the diminutive of his name, Peter-kin or Perkin." The term land-loper, applied to him by Simnel, is also from the historian. He (Perkin) had been from his childhood such a wanderer, or, as the king called him, such a land-loper, as it was extreme hard to hunt out his nest." 66 Vaunted my name Plantagenet, as you do; Forgave me all my villanies, reprieved And is not this, now, better than to buffet The hangman's clutches? or to brave the cordage Of injuries, in scorn, may bid defiance To this base man's foul language! Thou poor vermin, How dar'st thou creep so near me? thou an earl! As all the swing of slight ambition flew at. From the base beadle's whip, crown'd all thy hopes: But, sirrah, ran there in thy veins one drop Thou would'st not change condition, to be second Simn. He's past Recovery; a Bedlam cannot cure him. Urs. Away, inform the king of his behaviour. Simn. Perkin, beware the rope! the hangman's coming. Urs. If yet thou hast no pity of thy body, Pity thy soul! [Exit. Enter KATHERINE, JANE, DALYELL, and Ox Jane. Dear lady! FORD. Oxf. Whither will you, And trouble not the current of my duty!- Lend me assistance, that I may partake Th' infliction of this penance. My life's dearest, Forgive me; I have staid too long from tend'ring Attendance on reproach, yet bid me welcome. War. Great miracle of constancy! my miseries Were never bankrupt of their confidence In worst afflictions, till this-now, I feel them. Report, and thy deserts, thou best of creatures, Might to eternity have stood a pattern For every virtuous wife, without this conquest. Thou hast outdone belief; yet may their ruin In after marriages, be never pitied, To whom thy story shall appear a fable! To glorify thy vows by such a servitude? A woman's faith hath robb'd thy fame of triumph! Orf. Sirrah, leave off your juggling, and tie up The devil that ranges in your tongue. Urs. Thus witches, Possess'd, even [to] their deaths deluded,+ say, Thus witches, Possess'd, even to their deaths deluded, &c.] The old copy is imperfect here; it reads, Possess'd, even their deaths deluded, &c. Perhaps it may be set right by a change still more slight than that of the text, by reading e'en in, for even. Of the fact itself, the age of our poet afforded unfortunately too many instances. |