Mary Stuart

SCENE VIII.

LEICESTER, MORTIMER.

LEICESTER (surprised).

What ailed the knight?

MORTIMER.

My lord, I cannot tell

What angers him: the confidence, perhaps,

The queen so suddenly confers on me.

LEICESTER.

Are you deserving then of confidence?

MORTIMER.

This would I ask of you, my Lord of Leicester.

LEICESTER.

You said you wished to speak with me in private.

MORTIMER.

Assure me first that I may safely venture.

LEICESTER.

Who gives me an assurance on your side?

Let not my want of confidence offend you;

I see you, sir, exhibit at this court

Two different aspects; one of them must be

A borrowed one; but which of them is real?

MORTIMER.

The selfsame doubts I have concerning you.

LEICESTER.

Which, then, shall pave the way to confidence?

MORTIMER.

He, who by doing it, is least in danger.

LEICESTER.

Well, that are you--

MORTIMER.

No, you; the evidence

Of such a weighty, powerful peer as you

Can overwhelm my voice. My accusation

Is weak against your rank and influence.

LEICESTER.

Sir, you mistake. In everything but this

I'm powerful here; but in this tender point

Which I am called upon to trust you with,

I am the weakest man of all the court,

The poorest testimony can undo me.

MORTIMER.

If the all-powerful Earl of Leicester deign

To stoop so low to meet me, and to make

Such a confession to me, I may venture

To think a little better of myself,

And lead the way in magnanimity.

LEICESTER.

Lead you the way of confidence, I'll follow.

MORTIMER (producing suddenly the letter).

Here is a letter from the Queen of Scotland.

LEICESTER (alarmed, catches hastily at the letter).

Speak softly, sir! what see I? Oh, it is

Her picture!

[Kisses and examines it with speechless joy-a pause.

MORTIMER (who has watched him closely the whole tine).

Now, my lord, I can believe you.

LEICESTER (having hastily run through the letter).

You know the purport of this letter, sir.

MORTIMER.

Not I.

LEICESTER.

Indeed! She surely hath informed you.

MORTIMER.

Nothing hath she informed me of. She said

You would explain this riddle to me-'tis

To me a riddle, that the Earl of Leicester,

The far-famed favorite of Elizabeth,

The open, bitter enemy of Mary,

And one of those who spoke her mortal sentence,

Should be the man from whom the queen expects

Deliverance from her woes; and yet it must be;

Your eyes express too plainly what your heart

Feels for the hapless lady.

LEICESTER.

Tell me, Sir,

First, how it comes that you should take so warm

An interest in her fate; and what it was

Gained you her confidence?

MORTIMER.

My lord, I can,

And in few words, explain this mystery.

I lately have at Rome abjured my creed,

And stand in correspondence with the Guises.

A letter from the cardinal archbishop

Was my credential with the Queen of Scots.

LEICESTER.

I am acquainted, sir, with your conversion;

'Twas that which waked my confidence towards you.

[Each remnant of distrust be henceforth banished;]

Your hand, sir, pardon me these idle doubts,

I cannot use too much precaution here.

Knowing how Walsingham and Burleigh hate me,

And, watching me, in secret spread their snares;

You might have been their instrument, their creature

To lure me to their toils.

MORTIMER.

How poor a part

So great a nobleman is forced to play

At court! My lord, I pity you.

LEICESTER.

With joy

I rest upon the faithful breast of friendship,

Where I can ease me of this long constraint.

You seem surprised, sir, that my heart is turned

So suddenly towards the captive queen.

In truth, I never hated her; the times

Have forced me to be her enemy.

She was, as you well know, my destined bride,

Long since, ere she bestowed her hand on Darnley,

While yet the beams of glory round her smiled,

Coldly I then refused the proffered boon.

Now in confinement, at the gates of death,

I claim her at the hazard of my life.

MORTIMER.

True magnanimity, my lord.

LEICESTER.

The state

Of circumstances since that time is changed.

Ambition made me all insensible

To youth and beauty. Mary's hand I held

Too insignificant for me; I hoped

To be the husband of the Queen of England.

MORTIMER.

It is well known she gave you preference

Before all others.

LEICESTER.

So, indeed, it seemed.

Now, after ten lost years of tedious courtship

And hateful self-constraint-oh, sir, my heart

Must ease itself of this long agony.

They call me happy! Did they only know

What the chains are, for which they envy me!

When I had sacrificed ten bitter years

To the proud idol of her vanity;

Submitted with a slave's humility

To every change of her despotic fancies

The plaything of each little wayward whim.

At times by seeming tenderness caressed,

As oft repulsed with proud and cold disdain;

Alike tormented by her grace and rigor:

Watched like a prisoner by the Argus eyes

Of jealousy; examined like a schoolboy,

And railed at like a servant. Oh, no tongue

Can paint this hell.

MORTIMER.

My lord, I feel for you.

LEICESTER.

To lose, and at the very goal, the prize

Another comes to rob me of the fruits

Of my so anxious wooing. I must lose

To her young blooming husband all those rights

Of which I was so long in full possession;

And I must from the stage descend, where I

So long have played the most distinguished part.

'Tis not her hand alone this envious stranger

Threatens, he'd rob me of her favor too;

She is a woman, and he formed to please.

MORTIMER.

He is the son of Catherine. He has learnt

In a good school the arts of flattery.

LEICESTER.

Thus fall my hopes; I strove to seize a plank

To bear me in this shipwreck of my fortunes,

And my eye turned itself towards the hope

Of former days once more; then Mary's image

Within me was renewed, and youth and beauty

Once more asserted all their former rights.

No more 'twas cold ambition; 'twas my heart

Which now compared, and with regret I felt

The value of the jewel I had lost.

With horror I beheld her in the depths.

Of misery, cast down by my transgression;

Then waked the hope in me that I might still

Deliver and possess her; I contrived

To send her, through a faithful hand, the news

Of my conversion to her interests;

And in this letter which you brought me, she

Assures me that she pardons me, and offers

Herself as guerdon if I rescue her.

MORTIMER.

But you attempted nothing for her rescue.

You let her be condemned without a word:

You gave, yourself, your verdict for her death;

A miracle must happen, and the light

Of truth must move me, me, her keeper's nephew,

And heaven must in the Vatican at Rome

Prepare for her an unexpected succour,

Else had she never found the way to you.

LEICESTER.

Oh, sir, it has tormented me enough!

About this time it was that they removed her

From Talbot's castle, and delivered her

Up to your uncle's stricter custody.

Each way to her was shut. I was obliged

Before the world to persecute her still;

But do not think that I would patiently

Have seen her led to death. No, Sir; I hoped,

And still I hope, to ward off all extremes,

Till I can find some certain means to save her.

MORTIMER.

These are already found: my Lord of Leicester;

Your generous confidence in me deserves

A like return. I will deliver her.

That is my object here; my dispositions

Are made already, and your powerful aid

Assures us of success in our attempt.

LEICESTER.

What say you? You alarm me! How? You would--

MORTIMER.

I'll open forcibly her prison-gates;

I have confederates, and all is ready.

LEICESTER.

You have confederates, accomplices?

Alas! In what rash enterprise would you

Engage me? And these friends, know they my secret?

MORTIMER.

Fear not; our plan was laid without your help,

Without your help it would have been accomplished,

Had she not signified her resolution

To owe her liberty to you alone.

LEICESTER.

And can you, then, with certainty assure me

That in your plot my name has not been mentioned?

MORTIMER.

You may depend upon it. How, my lord,

So scrupulous when help is offered you?

You wish to rescue Mary, and possess her;

You find confederates; sudden, unexpected,

The readiest means fall, as it were from Heaven,

Yet you show more perplexity than joy.

LEICESTER.

We must avoid all violence; it is

Too dangerous an enterprise.

MORTIMER.

Delay

Is also dangerous.

LEICESTER.

I tell you, Sir,

'Tis not to be attempted--

MORTIMER.

My lord,

Too hazardous for you, who would possess her;

But we, who only wish to rescue her,

We are more bold.

LEICESTER.

Young man, you are too hasty

In such a thorny, dangerous attempt.

MORTIMER.

And you too scrupulous in honor's cause.

LEICESTER.

I see the trammels that are spread around us.

MORTIMER.

And I feel courage to break through them all.

LEICESTER.

Foolhardiness and madness, is this courage?

MORTIMER.

This prudence is not bravery, my lord.

LEICESTER.

You surely wish to end like Babington.

MORTIMER.

You not to imitate great Norfolk's virtue.

LEICESTER.

Norfolk ne'er won the bride he wooed so fondly.

MORTIMER.

But yet he proved how truly he deserved her.

LEICESTER.

If we are ruined, she must fall with us.

MORTIMER.

If we risk nothing, she will ne'er be rescued.

LEICESTER.

You will not weigh the matter, will not hear;

With blind and hasty rashness you destroy

The plans which I so happily had framed.

MORTIMER.

And what were then the plans which you had framed?

What have you done then to deliver her?

And how, if I were miscreant enough

To murder her, as was proposed to me

This moment by Elizabeth, and which

She looks upon as certain; only name

The measures you have taken to protect her?

LEICESTER.

Did the queen give you, then, this bloody order?

MORTIMER.

She was deceived in me, as Mary is in you.

LEICESTER.

And have you promised it? Say, have you?

MORTIMER.

That she might not engage another's hand,

I offered mine.

LEICESTER.

Well done, sir; that was right;

This gives us leisure, for she rests secure

Upon your bloody service, and the sentence

Is unfulfilled the while, and we gain time.

MORTIMER (angrily).

No, we are losing time.

LEICESTER.

The queen depends

On you, and will the readier make a show

Of mercy; and I may prevail on her

To give an audience to her adversary;

And by this stratagem we tie her hands

Yes! I will make the attempt, strain every nerve.

MORTIMER.

And what is gained by this? When she discovers

That I am cheating her, that Mary lives;

Are we not where we were? She never will

Be free; the mildest doom which can await her

At best is but perpetual confinement.

A daring deed must one day end the matter;

Why will you not with such a deed begin?

The power is in your hands, would you but rouse

The might of your dependents round about

Your many castles, 'twere an host; and still

Has Mary many secret friends. The Howards

And Percies' noble houses, though their chiefs

Be fallen, are rich in heroes; they but wait

For the example of some potent lord.

Away with feigning-act an open part,

And, like a loyal knight, protect your fair;

Fight a good fight for her! You know you are

Lord of the person of the Queen of England,

Whene'er you will: invite her to your castle,

Oft hath she thither followed you-then show

That you're a man; then speak as master; keep her

Confined till she release the Queen of Scots.

LEICESTER.

I am astonished-I am terrified!

Where would your giddy madness hurry you?

Are you acquainted with this country? Know you

The deeps and shallows of this court? With what

A potent spell this female sceptre binds

And rules men's spirits round her? 'Tis in vain

You seek the heroic energy which once

Was active in this land! it is subdued,

A woman holds it under lock and key,

And every spring of courage is relaxed.

Follow my counsel-venture nothing rashly.

Some one approaches-go--

MORTIMER.

And Mary hopes-

Shall I return to her with empty comfort?

LEICESTER.

Bear her my vows of everlasting love.

MORTIMER.

Bear them yourself! I offered my assistance

As her deliverer, not your messenger.

[Exit.