Mary Stuart - Friedrich Schiller (ebook reader screen txt) 📗

this sharp point is broken.

LEICESTER.
Unworthy wretch! this instant follow me,
And answer at the throne this insolence.

BURLEIGH.
You'll find me there, my lord; and look you well
That there your eloquence desert you not.

[Exit.


SCENE IV.

LEICESTER alone, then MORTIMER.

LEICESTER.
I am detected! All my plot's disclosed!
How has my evil genius tracked my steps!
Alas! if he has proofs, if she should learn
That I have held a secret correspondence
With her worst enemy; how criminal
Shall I appear to her! How false will then
My counsel seem, and all the fatal pains
I took to lure the queen to Fotheringay!
I've shamefully betrayed, I have exposed her
To her detested enemy's revilings!
Oh! never, never can she pardon that.
All will appear as if premeditated.
The bitter turn of this sad interview,
The triumph and the tauntings of her rival;
Yes, e'en the murderous hand which had prepared
A bloody, monstrous, unexpected fate;
All, all will be ascribed to my suggestions!
I see no rescue! nowhere - ha! Who comes?

[MORTIMER enters in the most violent uneasiness,
and looks with apprehension round him.

MORTIMER.
Lord Leicester! Is it you! Are we alone?

LEICESTER.
Ill-fated wretch, away! What seek you here?

MORTIMER.
They are upon our track - upon yours, too;
Be vigilant!

LEICESTER.
Away, away!

MORTIMER.
They know
That private conferences have been held
At Aubespine's - -

LEICESTER.
What's that to me?

MORTIMER.
They know, too,
That the assassin - -

LEICESTER.
That is your affair -
Audacious wretch! to dare to mix my name
In your detested outrage: go; defend
Your bloody deeds yourself!

MORTIMER.
But only hear me.

LEICESTER (violently enraged).
Down, down to hell! Why cling you at my heels
Like an infernal spirit! I disclaim you;
I know you not; I make no common cause
With murderers!

MORTIMER.
You will not hear me, then!
I came to warn you; you too are detected.

LEICESTER.
How! What?

MORTIMER.
Lord Burleigh went to Fotheringay
Just as the luckless deed had been attempted;
Searched with strict scrutiny the queen's apartments,
And found there - -

LEICESTER.
What?

MORTIMER.
A letter which the queen
Had just addressed to you - -

LEICESTER.
Unhappy woman!

MORTIMER.
In which she calls on you to keep your word,
Renews the promise of her hand, and mentions
The picture which she sent you.

LEICESTER.
Death and hell!

MORTIMER.
Lord Burleigh has the letter.

LEICESTER.
I am lost!

[During the following speech of MORTIMER, LEICESTER
goes up and down as in despair.

MORTIMER.
Improve the moment; be beforehand with him,
And save yourself - save her! An oath can clear
Your fame; contrive excuses to avert
The worst. I am disarmed, can do no more;
My comrades are dispersed - to pieces fallen
Our whole confederacy. For Scotland I
To rally such new friends as there I may.
'Tis now your turn, my lord; try what your weight,
What bold assurance can effect.

LEICESTER (stops suddenly as if resolved).
I will.

[Goes to the door, opens it, and calls.

Who waits without? Guards! seize this wretched traitor!

[To the officer, who comes in with soldiers.

And guard him closely! A most dreadful plot
Is brought to light - I'll to her majesty.

MORTIMER (stands for a time petrified with wonder; collects himself soon,
and follows LEICESTER with his looks expressive of the most
sovereign contempt).
Infamous wretch! But I deserve it all.
Who told me then to trust this practised villain?
Now o'er my head he strides, and on my fall
He builds the bridge of safety! be it so;
Go, save thyself - my lips are sealed forever;
I will not join even thee in my destruction;
I would not own thee, no, not even in death;
Life is the faithless villain's only good!

[To the officer of the guard, who steps forward to seize him.

What wilt thou, slave of tyranny, with me?
I laugh to scorn thy threatenings; I am free.

[Drawing a dagger.

OFFICER.
He's armed; rush in and wrest his weapon from him.

[They rush upon him, he defends himself.

MORTIMER (raising his voice).
And in this latest moment shall my heart
Expand itself in freedom, and my tongue
Shall break this long constraint. Curse and destruction
Light on you all who have betrayed your faith,
Your God, and your true sovereign! Who, alike
To earthly Mary false as to the heavenly,
Have sold your duties to this bastard queen!

OFFICER.
Hear you these blasphemies? Rush forward - seize him.

MORTIMER.
Beloved queen! I could not set thee free;
Yet take a lesson from me how to die.
Mary, thou holy one, O! pray for me!
And take me to thy heavenly home on high.

[Stabs himself, and falls into the arms of the guard.


SCENE V.

The apartment of the Queen.

ELIZABETH, with a letter in her hand, BURLEIGH.

ELIZABETH.
To lure me thither! trifle with me thus!
The traitor! Thus to lead me, as in triumph,
Into the presence of his paramour!
Oh, Burleigh! ne'er was woman so deceived.

BURLEIGH.
I cannot yet conceive what potent means,
What magic he exerted, to surprise
My queen's accustomed prudence.

ELIZABETH.
Oh, I die
For shame! How must he laugh to scorn my weakness!
I thought to humble her, and was myself
The object of her bitter scorn.

BURLEIGH.
By this
You see how faithfully I counselled you.

ELIZABETH.
Oh, I am sorely punished, that I turned
My ear from your wise counsels; yet I thought
I might confide in him. Who could suspect
Beneath the vows of faithfullest devotion
A deadly snare? In whom can I confide
When he deceives me? He, whom I have made
The greatest of the great, and ever set
The nearest to my heart, and in this court
Allowed to play the master and the king.

BURLEIGH.
Yet in that very moment he betrayed you,
Betrayed you to this wily Queen of Scots.

ELIZABETH.
Oh, she shall pay me for it with her life!
Is the death-warrant ready?

BURLEIGH.
'Tis prepared
As you commanded.

ELIZABETH.
She shall surely die -
He shall behold her fall, and fall himself!
I've driven him from my heart. No longer love,
Revenge alone is there: and high as once
He stood, so low and shameful be his fall!
A monument of my severity,
As once the proud example of my weakness.
Conduct him to the Tower; let a commission
Of peers be named to try him. He shall feel
In its full weight the rigor of the law.

BURLEIGH.
But he will seek thy presence; he will clear - -

ELIZABETH.
How can he clear himself? Does not the letter
Convict him. Oh, his crimes are manifest!

BURLEIGH.
But thou art mild and gracious! His appearance,
His powerful presence - -

ELIZABETH.
I will never see him;
No never, never more. Are orders given
Not to admit him should he come?

BURLEIGH.
'Tis done.

PAGE (entering).
The Earl of Leicester!

ELIZABETH.
The presumptuous man!
I will not see him. Tell him that I will not.

PAGE.
I am afraid to bring my lord this message,
Nor would he credit it.

ELIZABETH.
And I have raised him
So high that my own servants tremble more
At him than me!

BURLEIGH (to the PAGE).
The queen forbids his presence.

[The PAGE retires slowly.

ELIZABETH (after a pause).
Yet, if it still were possible? If he
Could clear himself? Might it not be a snare
Laid by the cunning one, to sever me
From my best friends - the ever-treacherous harlot!
She might have writ the letter, but to raise
Poisonous suspicion in my heart, to ruin
The man she hates.

BURLEIGH.
Yet, gracious queen, consider.


SCENE VI.

LEICESTER (bursts open the door with violence,
and enters with an imperious air).

LEICESTER.
Fain would I see the shameless man who dares
Forbid me the apartments of my queen!

ELIZABETH (avoiding his sight).

Audacious slave!

LEICESTER.
To turn me from the door!

If for a Burleigh she be visible,
She must be so to me!

BURLEIGH.
My lord, you are
Too bold, without permission to intrude.

LEICESTER.
My lord, you are too arrogant, to take
The lead in these apartments. What! Permission!
I know of none who stands so high at court
As to permit my doings, or refuse them.

[Humbly approaching ELIZABETH.

'Tis from my sovereign's lips alone that I - -

ELIZABETH (without looking at him).
Out of my sight, deceitful, worthless traitor!

LEICESTER.
'Tis not my gracious queen I hear, but Burleigh,
My enemy, in these ungentle words.
To my imperial mistress I appeal;
Thou hast lent him thine ear; I ask the like.

ELIZABETH.
Speak, shameless wretch! Increase your crime - deny it.

LEICESTER.
Dismiss this troublesome intruder first.
Withdraw, my lord; it is not of your office
To play the third man here: between