• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

"With murder, rude and most licentious?

MURDERER.

"Why plainly then! I do not fear thy presence,

"And to be brief with thee, thine hour is come!

KING.

"Traitor and villain, what would'st thou?

MURDERER.

"Nay then, an thou dost speak so rudely,

"Take thy reward.

[Stabs him.

KING.

"Oh! I die, sweet Heaven receive my soul!

"Forgive, oh pardon this his crime!

"I come! bliss! bliss! is my reward for ever.

[Dies.

MURDERER.

"Farewell, good King! and thou my comrade too!"

Now for my fouler purpose, that done!

Hence on time's wing will I to Vortigern,

And this my two edg'd work to him unfold.

[Exit.

SCENE V.

Enter VORTIGERN with Guards, as

having viewed the dead body of the King,

behind the Scenes.

VORTIGERN.

O! this preposterous and inhuman act,

Doth stir up pity in the blackest hell.

Heav'n's aspect did foretell some ill this night,

For each dread shrieking minister of darkness,

Did chatter forth his rude and dismal song,

While bellowing thunder shook the troubled earth,

"And the livid, and flaky lightning,

"Widely burst ope each crack in Heav'n's high portal."

Have ye the traitor seiz'd? Is he yet dead?

OFFICER.

Hard by, my lord, he lies reeking in's blood,

Despair and horror mastered each man's breast;

The attempt to check their rage would have been useless,

His body is become one gaping wound.

VORTIGERN.

O! my good friends, wou'd you had spar'd his life,

And that your zeal had been more temperate,

For by the workings of my soul, I find

This was the instrument, but not the head.

OFFICER.

Name him you deem the murderer, good my lord?

VORTIGERN.

Be silent and mark well that I shall say,

The Scots you know do bear us enmity,

Many of rank do tarry in our Court;

On them the guilt of this foul murder rests.

I pray you instantly dispatch the guard,

And seize each Scotsman ye shall chance to meet;

I will go summon all the lords to council,

And well consider that 'twere best to do.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Assembly of Barons.

Enter VORTIGERN.

VORTIGERN.

Oh! my thrice noble and right worthy Peers,

We are now met upon the heaviest summons

That ever yet did occupy our thoughts;

The sparkling drop which graces every eye,

And fain wou'd deluge every manly cheek,

Denotes the brimful sorrow of each heart;

Pity disgraces not the manlike brow,

And yet it suits but ill the present crisis,

When our best strength and wisdom both are needful,

To stem this black, this damn'd conspiracy;

For bloody war and foul rebellion lurk

Beneath the mask of cruel treachery,

Which i'th' present is so plainly shewn,

By the brutal deed of these vile Scotsmen!

Then let not drowsy thought deter our purpose,

Nor basely rot in us the plant of justice,

The clamorous people call aloud for sentence,

Should we delay, it will go hard with us.

FIRST BARON.

Trusting to thee, our noble good Protector,

We do, without delay, pronounce as guilty,

The perpetrators of this crying deed.

We also do, with general accord,

Beseech you bear the office of a King,

Until the Princes do return from Rome;

For on Aurelius, now the elder son

Of our deceased King the election lights;

Well do we know how tedious is this task,

How full of trouble and perplexity!

But we do also know thee for a man,

Most good, most perfect, and most merciful!

VORTIGERN.

I fear good Barons you do flatter me!

I thought ere this, to have resigned the weight,

Which the late King had heap'd upon my shoulders;

But mark the sad reverse, for even now,

You double this my load, and bear me down;

Oh! you ha' struck me where I am indeed

Most vulnerable--"The voice o'th' people!"

For them I will surrender liberty.

Dispatch to Rome the messengers I pray,

And let Aurelius know, that he is called

To wear this gold, this forked diadem,

That gives to man the sway of sovereignty.

SECOND BARON.

My lord! the people, Barons, all do thank you

For this your kind compliance with their will;

To morrow's dawn shall see the packets ready,

And we will then consult what messengers

Shall