Get you away, and strangle the cardinal. [To the Murderers. [Exeunt Captain of the Guard and Murderers. These two will make one entire Duke of Guise, Especially with our old mother's help. Eper. My lord, see, where she comes, as if she droop'd To hear these news. Sec. Murd. Shed your blood! O Lord, no! for we intend to strangle you. Card. Then there is no remedy, but I must die? First Murd. No remedy; therefore prepare yourself. Card. Yet lives my brother Duke Dumaine, and many more,* Henry. And let her droop; my heart is light To revenge our death + upon that cursèd king; enough. Eater CATHERINE the Queen Mother. Mother, how like you this device of mine? me: But now I will be king, and rule myself, I would that I had murder'd thee, my son! The Guise is slain, and I rejoice therefore: [Exit with EPERNOUN. Cath. Away! leave me alone to meditate. [Exeunt Attendants. Sweet Guise, would he had died, so thou wert here! To whom shall I bewray my secrets now, [Brit. Enter two Murderers,* dragging in the CARDINAL. Card. Murder me not; I am a cardinal. First Murd. Wert thou the Pope, thou mightst not scape from us. Card. What, will you file your hands with churchmen's blood? *Enter two Murderers, &c.] Scene, a prison at Blois. Upon whose heart may all the Furies gripe, So, pluck amain: He is hard-hearted; therefore pull with violence. Come, take him away. [Exeunt with the body. Enter DUMAINE,† reading a letter; with others. He will'd the governor of Orleans, in his name, Enter Friar. Fri. My lord, I come to bring you news that your brother the Cardinal of Lorraine, by the king's consent, is lately strangled unto death. Dum. My brother [the] Cardinal slain, and I alive! O words of power to kill a thousand men !— Come, let us away, and levy men; 'Tis war that must assuage this tyrant's pride. * more] Here the old ed. has "moe": but elsewhere in these plays we find "more": nor,-considering that transcribers sometimes used one form of the word and sometimes another, -is there any reason why a modern editor should retain "mo", when it does not occur as a rhyme. ↑ our death] Old ed. "our deaths" (which I formerly retained, supposing that the Cardinal might mean "the Duke of Guise's death and his own "). Enter Dumaine, &c.] Scene, an apartment in the house of Dumaine, at Paris. § And all] Old ed. "His life, and all," &c. Fri. My lord, hear me but speak. I am a friar of the order of the Jacobins, rest, to do the deed? Henry. Then come thou near, and tell what news thou bring'st. Fri. My lord, The President of Paris greets your grace, And sends his duty by these speedy lines, Fri. O, my lord, I have been a great sinner in Humbly craving your gracious reply. my days! and the deed is meritorious. Drums and Trumpets. Enter KING HENRY,* the KING OF NAVARRE, EPERNOUN, BARTUS, PLESHÈ, Soldiers, and Attendants. Henry. Brother of Navarre, I sorrow much That ever I was prov'd your enemy, And that the sweet and princely mind you bear Was ever troubled with injurious wars. I vow, as I am lawful king of France, [Gives letter. Henry. I'll read them, friar, and then I'll answer thee. Fri. Sancte Jacobe,* now have mercy upon me! [Stabs the king with a knife, as he reads the letter; and then the king gets the knife, and kills him. Eper. O, my lord, let him live a while! Henry. No, let the villain die, and feel in hell Just torments for his treachery. Nav. What, is your highness hurt? Henry. Yes, Navarre; but not to death, I hope. Nav. God shield your grace from such a sudden death! Go call a surgeon hither straight. [Exit an Attendant. Henry. What irreligious pagans' parts be these, Of such as hold them of the holy church! Take hence that damnèd villain from my sight. [Attendants carry out the Friar's body. Eper. Ah, had your highness let him live, We might have punish'd him to his deserts! Henry. Sweet Epernoun, all rebels under heaven Shall take example by his ‡ punishment, How they bear arms against their sovereign.— Go call the English agent hither straight: [Exit an Attendant. I'll send my sister England news of this, Enter a Surgeon. Nav. Pleaseth your grace to let the surgeon search your wound? Henry. The wound, I warrant ye, is deep, my lord. Search, surgeon, and resolve § me what thou see'st. [The Surgeon searches the wound. * Jacobe] Old ed. "Jacobus." ↑ Stabs the king with a knife, &c.] "Le lendemain, premier août (1589), Henri iii, à son lever, instruit qu'un religieux, chargé de quelques dépêches des prisonniers de Paris, demandoit à lui parler, ordonne qu'on le fasse entrer, s'avance vers lui, prend ses lettres; et, dans le moment qu'il les lisoit attentivement, l'assassin tire un couteau de sa manche et le lui plonge dans le ventre. Henri blessé s'écrie, retire lui-même le couteau et en frappe le scélérat au visage. Aussitôt les gentilshommes présents, entraînés par un zèle inconsidéré, mettent en pièces le meurtrier, et enlèvent par sa mort le moyen de connoître ses complices." Anquetil, Hist. de France, t. v. 489, ed. 1817. this] Old ed. "their.' § resolve] i. e. certify, inform. Enter the English Agent. Agent for England, send thy mistress word What this detested Jacobin hath done. Tell her, for all this, that I hope to live; Which if I do, the papal monarch goes To wreck, and [th'] antichristian kingdom falls : These bloody hands shall tear his triple crown, And fire accursed Rome about his ears; Nav. These words revive my thoughts, and comfort me, To see your highness in this virtuous mind. Henry. Tell me, surgeon, shall I live? Surg. Alas, my lord, the wound is dangerous, For you are stricken with a poison'd knife! Henry. A poison'd knife! what, shall the French king die, Wounded and poison'd both at once? O, the fatal poison works within my breast!— Tell me, surgeon, and flatter not-may I live? Surg. Alas, my lord, your highness cannot live! Nav. Surgeon, why say'st thou so? the king may live. Henry. O, no, Navarre! thou must be king of France. Nav. Long may you live, and still be king of France! Eper. Or else, die Epernoun ! Henry. Sweet Epernoun, thy king must die.- Fight in the quarrel of this valiant prince, Now let the house of Bourbon wear the crown; And may it ne'er end in blood, as mine hath done! Weep not, sweet Navarre, but revenge my death.Ah, Epernoun, is this thy love to me? Henry, thy king, wipes off these childish tears, He loves me not [the most*] that sheds most tears, [Dies. Nav. Come, lords, take up the body of the king, That we may see it honourably interr'd: And then I vow so † to revenge his death As Rome, and all those popish prelates there, Shall curse the time that e'er Navarre was king, And rul'd in France by Henry's fatal death. [They march out, with the body of KING HENRY lying on four men's shoulders, with a dead march, drawing weapons on the ground. the most] So, it would seem, the author wrote.-The modern editors print "the best." † 80] Old ed. "for" (the MS. having had "soe," which the compositor misread "for"). |