The last CHANGE. Cal. So! let us breathe a while.-[Music ceases.] -Hath not this motion Rais'd fresher colours on our cheeks? Near. Sweet princess, A perfect purity of blood enamels Cal. We all look cheerfully: And, cousin, 't is methinks a rare presumption Before their own sour censure, to interrupt The custom of this ceremony bluntly. Near. None dares, lady. Cal. Yes, yes; some hollow voice deliver'd to me How that the king was dead. Arm. The king is dead: That fatal news was mine; for in mine arms He breath'd his last, and with his crown bequeath'd you Your mother's wedding-ring; which here I tender. Crot. Most strange! Cal. Peace crown his ashes! We are queen then. Near. Long live Calantha! Sparta's sovereign queen! All. Long live the queen! Cal. What whisper'd Bassanes? Bass. That my Penthea, miserable soul, Was starv'd to death. Cal. She's happy; she hath finish'd A long and painful progress.-A third murmur Org. That Ithocles Was murther'd;-rather butcher'd, had not bravery Of an undaunted spirit, conquering terror, Proclaim'd his last act triumph over ruin. Arm. How! murther'd! Cal. By whose hand? VOL. I.-19 Org. By mine; this weapon Was instrument to my revenge; the reasons Are just, and known: quit him of these, and then Never lived gentleman of greater merit, Hope, or abiliment to steer a kingdom. Crot. Fy, Orgilus! Euph. Fy, brother! Cal. You have done it? Bass. How it was done, let him report, the forfeit Of whose allegiance to our laws doth covet Mine eyes have been an evidence of credit Too sure to be convinced.' Armostes, rend not Into what's most of death, the worst of horrors. To stand these tempests calmly; mark me, nobles, Cal. We begin our reign With a first act of justice: thy confession, Crot. [to ORG.] Confirm thee, noble sorrow, 1 Mine eyes have been an evidence of credit Too sure to be convinced.] Convince is used here in the primitive sense of conquered, overthrown. In modern terms, "my evidence is too true to be confuted"-GIFFORD Euph. Could my tears speak, My griefs were slight. Org. All goodness dwell among ye! Enjoy my sister, Prophilus; my vengeance Aim'd never at thy prejudice. Cal. Now withdraw. [Exeunt CROT. PRO. and EUPH.' Bloody relater of thy stains in blood, For that thou hast reported him, whose fortunes And life by thee are both at once snatch'd from him, With honourable mention, make thy choice Of what death likes thee best; there's all our bounty. But to excuse delays, let me, dear cousin, Near. Your will commands us. Org. One suit, just queen, my last: vouchsafe your clemency, That by no common hand I be divided Cal. To their wisdoms Who are to be spectators of thine end, I make the reference: those that are dead, Are dead; had they not now died, of necessity They must have paid the debt they owed to nature, One time or other.-Use despatch, my lords; We'll suddenly prepare our coronation. [Exeunt CAL. PHIL. and CHRIS. Arm. 'Tis strange, these tragedies should never touch on Her female pity. Bass. She has a masculine spirit: And wherefore should I pule, and, like a girl, Put finger in the eye? let's be all toughness, Arm. The executioner? Org. Myself, no surgeon; I am well skill'd in letting blood. Bind fast This arm, that so the pipes may from their conduits To speed me in this execution, By lending th' other prick to th' other arm, Bass. I am for you, It most concerns my art, my care, my credit; Org. Gramercy, friendship! Such courtesies are real, which flow cheerfully Reach me a staff in this hand.-[They give him a staff-If a proneness, Or custom in my nature, from my cradle, [Pierces the vein with his dagger. Arm. Desperate courage! Bass. It sparkles like a lusty wine new broach'd; 1 This was for the purpose of being grasped during the bleeding; a practice familiar to every village doctor in the kingdom.-GIFFORD. Thine arm with vigour, and unshak[en] virtue. Good! oh, I envy not a rival, fitted [Opens the vein. To conquer in extremities: this pastime The writer's glory, and his subject's triumph. Org. I feel no palsies. On a pair-royal do I wait in death; My sovereign as his liegeman; on my mistress, As if no brave, yet no unworthy enemy: Nor did I use an engine to entrap His life, out of a slavish fear to combat Youth, strength, or cunning; but for that I durst not Engage the goodness of a cause on fortune, By which his name might have outfaced my vengeance. Oh, Tecnicus, inspired with Phœbus' fire! I call to mind thy augury, 't was perfect; When feeble man is bending to his mother, Org. So falls the standard Of my prerogative in being a creature! A mist hangs o'er mine eyes, the sun's bright splen dour Is clouded in an everlasting shadow; Welcome, thou ice, that sit'st about my heart, No heat can ever thaw thee. Near. Speech hath left him. [Dies. Bass. He hath shook hands with time; his funeral urn 1 Youth, strength, or cunning,] L. e. practical skill in the use of arms. -GIFFORD. |