That I have done with earth and sigh for peace
Need waken no man's wonder. Not disease-
Hearts of good cheer might conquer that—but grief,
Remorse, shame, strike me with stern gauntlets down,
While daily cares, and petty anxieties,

Fret me to madness.

CARDINAL.

Great of soul wert thou

And strong of heart till now. Be so again.

QUEEN.

The strength of England, in my heart till now
Concentred, melting, leaves me but myself.
Sum up my personal life. You knew me first,
A daughter, witness of her mother's wrong;
A daughter, conscious of her father's crimes;
A princess, shorn of her inheritance;

A sister, from her brother's heart estranged;
A sister, by a sister's hand betrayed;
A rightful Queen, hemmed by usurping bands;
A reigning Queen, baited by slaves she spared;
A maid betrothed, stung by the love she trusted;
A wedded wife, spurned from the hand that won her;
A Christian, reeking with the blood of martyrs ;
And now at length a hated tyrant, dragging
Her people to unprofitable wars ;

And from her feeble hold basely resigning
The trophies of long centuries of fame.

I have reigned,—I am lost; now let me die.

CARDINAL.

Is Calais worth these pangs? Ineptitude1
Hath lost what valour shall regain.

For ever! England's heritage of glory!
When shall her banner wave in France again?

CARDINAL.

When France outstrips her in the race of crime!?

QUEEN.

Prophetic be thy words! But I shall lie
Forgotten in my grave ere then. Forgotten?
Forgotten? No! Shame's never-dying echoes
Shall keep the memory of the bloody Mary
Alive in England. Vampyre3 Calumny
Shall prey on my remains. My name shall last
To fright the children of the race I love.

CARDINAL.

Daughter, you err, forgetting in this passion
The justice of your Maker.

1 Want of capacity.

2 This was the actual answer of Lord Grey de Wilton to a Frenchman who asked him when the English would come back to Calais.

3 Vampyres, according to a horrible superstition, were beings who preyed on the dead in their graves. The word is here used as an adjective to describe the evil fame of Mary after her death.

QUEEN.

Humbly I own it,

Impugning1 not the ways of Providence

Because I suffer. Justly the penalty

Of sin is meted to me.

CARDINAL.

With that thought

Consent to peace were easier.

QUEEN.

Peace? No peace

Till Calais be regained. No peace! My people

All England shouts upon my dying ear,

No peace, no peace, till Calais be won back!

CARDINAL.

Peace is God's gift.

QUEEN.

Calais thy name is graven

Upon my heart. You'll find it when I die.

1 Finding fault with.

This is a very fair historical picture of the misery of poor Queen

Mary's last illness.

AUBREY DE VERE.

THE RISING IN THE NORTH.

1569.

The rising of the Percies, Nevilles, and others on behalf of Mary of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church.

It was the time when England's Queen
Twelve years had reigned, a sovereign dread,
Nor yet the restless crown had been
Disturbed upon her virgin head;
But now the inly-working North
Was ripe to send its thousands forth,
A potent vassalage, to fight

In Percy's and in Neville's right,1
Two earls fast leagued in discontent,
Who gave their wishes open vent,
And boldly urged a general plea,
The rites of ancient piety
To be triumphantly restored,

By the dread justice of the sword!

Now was the North in arms :-they shine
In warlike trim from Tweed to Tyne,
At Percy's voice; and Neville sees
His followers gathering in from Tees.
From Wear, and all the little rills—
Concealed among the forkèd hills—

1 The Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland.

Seven hundred knights, retainers all
Of Neville, at their master's call
Had sate together in Raby Hall !1
Such strength that earldom held of yore,
Nor wanted at this time rich store
Of well-appointed chivalry.

Not loth the sleepy lance to wield,

And greet the whole paternal shield,
They heard the summons; and, furthermore,
Horsemen and foot of each degree,
Unbound by pledge of fealty,
Appeared, with free and open hate
Of novelties in Church and State:
Knight, burgher, yeoman, and esquire,
And Romish priest in priest's attire.
And thus in arms a zealous band
Proceeding under joint command,

To Durham first their course they bear;
And in Saint Cuthbert's ancient seat
Sang mass, and tore the Book of Prayer,
And trod the Bible 'neath their feet.
Thence marching southward smooth and free,
They mustered their host at Wetherby,
Full sixteen thousand, fair to see.

To London were the chieftains bent;
But what avails the bold intent?
A royal army is gone forth

To quell the rising of the North;

1 The chief seat of the Earl of Westmoreland, head of the Nevilles.