Mary Stuart

   Let it then be your fancy. Leicester, hence   You see the free obsequiousness of love.   Which suffers that which it cannot approve.

[LEICESTER prostrates himself before her, and the curtain falls.

ACT III

SCENE I

In a park. In the foreground trees; in the background a distant prospect.

MARY advances, running from behind the trees.

HANNAH KENNEDY follows slowly.

KENNEDY   You hasten on as if endowed with wings;   I cannot follow you so swiftly; wait.MARY   Freedom returns! Oh let me enjoy it.   Let me be childish; be thou childish with me.   Freedom invites me! Oh, let me employ it   Skimming with winged step light o'er the lea;   Have I escaped from this mansion of mourning?   Holds me no more the sad dungeon of care?   Let me, with joy and with eagerness burning,   Drink in the free, the celestial air.KENNEDY   Oh, my dear lady! but a very little   Is your sad gaol extended; you behold not   The wall that shuts us in; these plaited tufts   Of trees hide from your sight the hated object.MARY   Thanks to these friendly trees, that hide from me   My prison walls, and flatter my illusion!   Happy I now may deem myself, and free;   Why wake me from my dream's so sweet confusion?   The extended vault of heaven around me lies,   Free and unfettered range my wandering eyes   O'er space's vast, immeasurable sea!   From where yon misty mountains rise on high   I can my empire's boundaries explore;   And those light clouds which, steering southwards, fly,   Seek the mild clime of France's genial shore.      Fast fleeting clouds! ye meteors that fly;      Could I but with you sail through the sky!      Tenderly greet the dear land of my youth!      Here I am captive! oppressed by my foes,      No other than you may carry my woes.      Free through the ether your pathway is seen,      Ye own not the power of this tyrant queen.KENNEDY   Alas! dear lady! You're beside yourself,   This long-lost, long-sought freedom makes you rave.MARY   Yonder's a fisher returning to his home;   Poor though it be, would he lend me his wherry,   Quick to congenial shores would I ferry.   Spare is his trade, and labor's his doom;   Rich would I freight his vessel with treasure;   Such a draught should be his as he never had seen;   Wealth should he find in his nets without measure,   Would he but rescue a poor captive queen.KENNEDY   Fond, fruitless wishes! See you not from far   How we are followed by observing spies?   A dismal, barbarous prohibition scares   Each sympathetic being from our path.MARY   No, gentle Hannah! Trust me, not in vain   My prison gates are opened. This small grace   Is harbinger of greater happiness.   No! I mistake not; 'tis the active hand   Of love to which I owe this kind indulgence.   I recognize in this the mighty arm   Of Leicester. They will by degrees expand   My prison; will accustom me, through small,   To greater liberty, until at last   I shall behold the face of him whose hand   Will dash my fetters off, and that forever.KENNEDY   Oh, my dear queen! I cannot reconcile   These contradictions. 'Twas but yesterday   That they announced your death, and all at once,   To-day, you have such liberty. Their chains   Are also loosed, as I have oft been told,   Whom everlasting liberty awaits.

[Hunting horns at a distance.

MARY   Hear'st then the bugle, so blithely resounding?   Hear'st thou its echoes through wood and through plain?   Oh, might I now, on my nimble steed bounding,   Join with the jocund, the frolicsome train.

[Hunting horns again heard.

   Again! Oh, this sad and this pleasing remembrance!   These are the sounds which, so sprightly and clear,   Oft, when with music the hounds and the horn   So cheerfully welcomed the break of the morn,   On the heaths of the Highlands delighted my ear.

SCENE II

Enter PAULET.

PAULET   Well, have I acted right at last, my lady?   Do I for once, at least, deserve your thanks?MARY   How! Do I owe this favor, sir, to you?PAULET   Why not to me? I visited the court,   And gave the queen your letter.MARY                    Did you give it?   In very truth did you deliver it?   And is this freedom which I now enjoy   The happy consequence?PAULET (significantly)               Nor that alone;   Prepare yourself to see a greater still.MARY   A greater still! What do you mean by that?PAULET   You heard the bugle-horns?MARY (starting back with foreboding apprehension)                 You frighten me.PAULET   The queen is hunting in the neighborhood —MARY                          What!PAULET   In a few moments she'll appear before you.KENNEDY (hastening towards MARY, and about to fall)   How fare you, dearest lady? You grow pale.PAULET   How? Is't not well? Was it not then your prayer?   'Tis granted now, before it was expected;   You who had ever such a ready speech,   Now summon all your powers of eloquence,   The important time to use them now is come.MARY   Oh, why was I not told of this before?   Now I am not prepared for it – not now   What, as the greatest favor, I besought,   Seems to me now most fearful; Hannah, come,   Lead me into the house, till I collect   My spirits.PAULET          Stay; you must await her here.   Yes! I believe you may be well alarmed   To stand before your judge.

SCENE III

Enter the EARL OF SHREWSBURY.

MARY                  'Tis not for that, O God!   Far other thoughts possess me now.   Oh, worthy Shrewsbury! You come as though   You were an angel sent to me from heaven.   I cannot, will not see her. Save me, save me   From the detested sight!SHREWSBURY                Your majesty,   Command yourself, and summon all your courage,   'Tis the decisive moment of your fate.MARY   For years I've waited, and prepared myself.   For this I've studied, weighed, and written down   Each word within the tablet of my memory   That was to touch and move her to compassion.   Forgotten suddenly, effaced is all,   And nothing lives within me at this moment   But the fierce, burning feeling of my wrongs.   My heart is turned to direst hate against her;   All gentle thoughts, all sweet forgiving words,   Are gone, and round me stand with grisly mien,   The fiends of hell, and shake their snaky locks!SHREWSBURY   Command your wild, rebellious blood; – constrain   The bitterness which fills your heart. No good   Ensues when hatred is opposed to hate.   How much soe'er the inward struggle cost   You must submit to stern necessity,   The power is in her hand, be therefore humble.MARY   To her? I never can.SHREWSBURY               But pray, submit.   Speak with respect, with calmness! Strive to move   Her magnanimity; insist not now   Upon your rights, not now – 'tis not the season.MARY   Ah! woe is me! I've prayed for my destruction,   And, as a curse to me, my prayer is heard.   We never should have seen each other – never!   Oh, this can never, never come to good.   Rather in love could fire and water meet,   The timid lamb embrace the roaring tiger!   I have been hurt too grievously; she hath   Too grievously oppressed me; – no atonement   Can make us friends!SHREWSBURY              First see her, face to face:   Did I not see how she was moved at reading   Your letter? How her eyes were drowned in tears?   No – she is not unfeeling; only place   More confidence in her. It was for this   That I came on before her, to entreat you   To be collected – to admonish you —MARY (seizing his hand)   Oh, Talbot! you have ever been my friend,   Had I but stayed beneath your kindly care!   They have, indeed, misused me, Shrewsbury.SHREWSBURY   Let all be now forgot, and only think   How to receive her with submissiveness.MARY   Is Burleigh with her, too, my evil genius?SHREWSBURY   No one attends her but the Earl of Leicester.MARY   Lord Leicester?SHREWSBURY            Fear not him; it is not he   Who wishes your destruction; – 'twas his work   That here the queen hath granted you this meeting.MARY   Ah! well I knew it.SHREWSBURY              What?PAULET                 The queen approaches.

[They all draw aside; MARY alone remains, leaning on KENNEDY.

SCENE IV

The same, ELIZABETH, EARL OF LEICESTER, and Retinue.

ELIZABETH (to LEICESTER)   What seat is that, my lord?LEICESTER                  'Tis Fotheringay.ELIZABETH (to SHREWSBURY)   My lord, send back our retinue to London;   The people crowd too eager in the roads,   We'll seek a refuge in this quiet park.

[TALBOT sends the train away. She looks steadfastly at MARY, as she speaks further with PAULET.

   My honest people love me overmuch.   These signs of joy are quite idolatrous.   Thus should a God be honored, not a mortal.MARY (who the whole time had leaned, almost fainting, on KENNEDY, rises now, and her eyes meet the steady, piercing look of ELIZABETH; she shudders and throws herself again upon KENNEDY'S bosom)   O God! from out these features speaks no heart.ELIZABETH   What lady's that?

[A general, embarrassed silence.

LEICESTER             You are at Fotheringay,   My liege!ELIZABETH (as if surprised, casting an angry look at LEICESTER)   Who hath done this, my Lord of Leicester?LEICESTER   'Tis past, my queen; – and now that heaven hath led   Your footsteps hither, be magnanimous;   And let sweet pity be triumphant now.SHREWSBURY   Oh, royal mistress! yield to our entreaties;   Oh, cast your eyes on this unhappy one   Who stands dissolved in anguish.

[MARY collects herself, and begins to advance towards ELIZABETH, stops shuddering at half way: her action expresses the most violent internal struggle.

ELIZABETH                     How, my lords!   Which of you then announced to me a prisoner   Bowed down by woe? I see a haughty one   By no means humbled by calamity.MARY   Well, be it so: – to this will I submit.   Farewell high thought, and pride of noble mind!   I will forget my dignity, and all   My sufferings; I will fall before her feet   Who hath reduced me to this wretchedness.

[She turns towards the QUEEN.

   The voice of heaven decides for you, my sister.   Your happy brows are now with triumph crowned,   I bless the Power Divine which thus hath raised you.   But in your turn be merciful, my sister;

[She kneels.

   Let me not lie before you thus disgraced;   Stretch forth your hand, your royal hand, to raise   Your sister from the depths of her distress.ELIZABETH (stepping back)   You are where it becomes you, Lady Stuart;   And thankfully I prize my God's protection,   Who hath not suffered me to kneel a suppliant   Thus at your feet, as you now kneel at mine.MARY (with increasing energy of feeling)   Think on all earthly things, vicissitudes.   Oh! there are gods who punish haughty pride:   Respect them, honor them, the dreadful ones   Who thus before thy feet have humbled me!   Before these strangers' eyes dishonor not   Yourself in me: profane not, nor disgrace   The royal blood of Tudor. In my veins   It flows as pure a stream as in your own.   Oh, for God's pity, stand not so estranged   And inaccessible, like some tall cliff,   Which the poor shipwrecked mariner in vain   Struggles to seize, and labors to embrace.   My all, my life, my fortune now depends   Upon the influence of my words and tears;   That I may touch your heart, oh, set mine free.   If you regard me with those icy looks   My shuddering heart contracts itself, the stream   Of tears is dried, and frigid horror chains   The words of supplication in my bosom!ELIZABETH (cold and severe)   What would you say to me, my Lady Stuart?   You wished to speak with me; and I, forgetting   The queen, and all the wrongs I have sustained,   Fulfil the pious duty of the sister,   And grant the boon you wished for of my presence.   Yet I, in yielding to the generous feelings   Of magnanimity, expose myself   To rightful censure, that I stoop so low.   For well you know you would have had me murdered.MARY   Oh! how shall I begin? Oh, how shall I   So artfully arrange my cautious words   That they may touch, yet not offend your heart?   Strengthen my words, O Heaven! and take from them   Whate'er might wound. Alas! I cannot speak   In my own cause without impeaching you,   And that most heavily, I wish not so;   You have not as you ought behaved to me:   I am a queen, like you: yet you have held me   Confined in prison. As a suppliant   I came to you, yet you in me insulted   The pious use of hospitality;   Slighting in me the holy law of nations,   Immured me in a dungeon – tore from me   My friends and servants; to unseemly want   I was exposed, and hurried to the bar   Of a disgraceful, insolent tribunal.   No more of this; – in everlasting silence   Be buried all the cruelties I suffered!   See – I will throw the blame of all on fate,   'Twere not your fault, no more than it was mine.   An evil spirit rose from the abyss,   To kindle in our hearts the flame of hate,   By which our tender youth had been divided.   It grew with us, and bad, designing men   Fanned with their ready breath the fatal fire:   Frantics, enthusiasts, with sword and dagger   Armed the uncalled-for hand! This is the curse   Of kings, that they, divided, tear the world   In pieces with their hatred, and let loose   The raging furies of all hellish strife!   No foreign tongue is now between us, sister,

[Approaching her confidently, and with a flattering tone.

   Now stand we face to face; now, sister, speak:   Name but my crime, I'll fully satisfy you, —   Alas! had you vouchsafed to hear me then,   When I so earnest sought to meet your eye,   It never would have come to this, nor would,   Here in this mournful place, have happened now   This so distressful, this so mournful meeting.ELIZABETH   My better stars preserved me. I was warned,   And laid not to my breast the poisonous adder!   Accuse not fate! your own deceitful heart   It was, the wild ambition of your house   As yet no enmities had passed between us,   When your imperious uncle, the proud priest,   Whose shameless hand grasps at all crowns, attacked me   With unprovoked hostility, and taught   You, but too docile, to assume my arms,   To vest yourself with my imperial title,   And meet me in the lists in mortal strife:   What arms employed he not to storm my throne?   The curses of the priests, the people's sword,   The dreadful weapons of religious frenzy; —   Even here in my own kingdom's peaceful haunts   He fanned the flames of civil insurrection;   But God is with me, and the haughty priest   Has not maintained the field. The blow was aimed   Full at my head, but yours it is which falls!MARY   I'm in the hand of heaven. You never will   Exert so cruelly the power it gives you.ELIZABETH   Who shall prevent me? Say, did not your uncle   Set all the kings of Europe the example,   How to conclude a peace with those they hate.   Be mine the school of Saint Bartholomew;   What's kindred then to me, or nation's laws?   The church can break the bands of every duty;   It consecrates the regicide, the traitor;   I only practise what your priests have taught!   Say then, what surety can be offered me,   Should I magnanimously loose your bonds?   Say, with what lock can I secure your faith,   Which by Saint Peter's keys cannot be opened?   Force is my only surety; no alliance   Can be concluded with a race of vipers.MARY   Oh! this is but your wretched, dark suspicion!   For you have constantly regarded me   But as a stranger, and an enemy.   Had you declared me heir to your dominions,   As is my right, then gratitude and love   In me had fixed, for you, a faithful friend   And kinswoman.ELIZABETH           Your friendship is abroad,   Your house is papacy, the monk your brother.   Name you my successor! The treacherous snare!   That in my life you might seduce my people;   And, like a sly Armida, in your net   Entangle all our noble English youth;   That all might turn to the new rising sun,   And I —MARY   O sister, rule your realm in peace;   I give up every claim to these domains —   Alas! the pinions of my soul are lamed;   Greatness entices me no more: your point   Is gained; I am but Mary's shadow now —   My noble spirit is at last broke down   By long captivity: – you've done your worst   On me; you have destroyed me in my bloom!   Now, end your work, my sister; – speak at length   The word, which to pronounce has brought you hither;   For I will ne'er believe that you are come,   To mock unfeelingly your hapless victim.   Pronounce this word; – say, "Mary, you are free:   You have already felt my power, – learn now   To honor too my generosity."   Say this, and I will take my life, will take   My freedom, as a present from your hands.   One word makes all undone; – I wait for it; —   Oh, let it not be needlessly delayed.   Woe to you if you end not with this word!   For should you not, like some divinity,   Dispensing noble blessings, quit me now,   Then, sister, not for all this island's wealth,   For all the realms encircled by the deep,   Would I exchange my present lot for yours.ELIZABETH   And you confess at last that you are conquered:   Are all your schemes run out? No more assassins   Now on the road? Will no adventurer   Attempt again for you the sad achievement?   Yes, madam, it is over: – you'll seduce   No mortal more. The world has other cares; —   None is ambitious of the dangerous honor   Of being your fourth husband – you destroy   Your wooers like your husbands.MARY (starting angrily)                    Sister, sister! —   Grant me forbearance, all ye powers of heaven!ELIZABETH (regards her long with a look of proud contempt)   Those then, my Lord of Leicester, are the charms   Which no man with impunity can view,   Near which no woman dare to stand?   In sooth, this honor has been cheaply gained;   She who to all is common, may with ease   Become the common object of applause.MARY   This is too much!ELIZABETH (laughing insultingly)             You show us now, indeed,   Your real face; till now 'twas but the mask.MARY (burning with rage, yet dignified and noble)   My sins were human, and the faults of youth:   Superior force misled me. I have never   Denied or sought to hide it: I despised   All false appearance, as became a queen.   The worst of me is known, and I can say,   That I am better than the fame I bear.   Woe to you! when, in time to come, the world   Shall draw the robe of honor from your deeds,   With which thy arch-hypocrisy has veiled   The raging flames of lawless, secret lust.   Virtue was not your portion from your mother;   Well know we what it was which brought the head   Of Anna Boleyn to the fatal block.SHREWSBURY (stepping between both QUEENS)   Oh! Heaven! Alas, and must it come to this!   Is this the moderation, the submission,   My lady? —MARY         Moderation! I've supported   What human nature can support: farewell,   Lamb-hearted resignation, passive patience,   Fly to thy native heaven; burst at length   Thy bonds, come forward from thy dreary cave,   In all thy fury, long suppressed rancor!   And thou, who to the angered basilisk   Impart'st the murderous glance, oh, arm my tongue   With poisoned darts!SHREWSBURY              She is beside herself!   Exasperated, mad! My liege, forgive her.

[ELIZABETH, speechless with anger, casts enraged looks at MARY.

LEICESTER (in the most violent agitation; he seeks to lead ELIZABETH away)   Attend not to her rage! Away, away,   From this disastrous place!MARY (raising her voice)                  A bastard soils,   Profanes the English throne! The generous Britons   Are cheated by a juggler, [whose whole figure   Is false and painted, heart as well as face!]   If right prevailed, you now would in the dust   Before me lie, for I'm your rightful monarch!

[ELIZABETH hastily quits the stage; the lords follow her in the greatest consternation.

SCENE V

MARY, KENNEDY.

KENNEDY   What have you done? She has gone hence in wrath   All hope is over now!MARY (still quite beside herself)               Gone hence in wrath!   She carries death within her heart! I know it.

[Falling on KENNEDY'S bosom.

   Now I am happy, Hannah! and at last,   After whole years of sorrow and abasement,   One moment of victorious revenge   A weight falls off my heart, a weight of mountains;   I plunged the steel in my oppressor's breast!KENNEDY   Unhappy lady! Frenzy overcomes you.   Yes, you have wounded your inveterate foe;   'Tis she who wields the lightning, she is queen,   You have insulted her before her minion.MARY   I have abased her before Leicester's eyes;   He saw it, he was witness of my triumph.   How did I hurl her from her haughty height,   He saw it, and his presence strengthened me.

SCENE VI

Enter MORTIMER.

KENNEDY   Oh, Sir! What an occurrence!MORTIMER                   I heard all —

[Gives the nurse a sign to repair to her post, and draws nearer; his whole appearance expresses the utmost violence of passion.

   Thine is the palm; – thou trod'st her to the dust! —   Thou wast the queen, she was the malefactor; —   I am transported with thy noble courage; —   Yes! I adore thee; like a Deity,   My sense is dazzled by thy heavenly beams.MARY (with vivacity and expectation)   You spoke with Leicester, gave my letter to him.   My present, too? – oh, speak, sir.MORTIMER (beholding her with glowing looks)                     How thy noble,   Thy royal indignation shone, and cast   A glory round thy beauty; yes, by heavens,   Thou art the fairest woman upon earth!MARY   Sir, satisfy, I beg you, my impatience;   What says his lordship? Say, sir, may I hope?MORTIMER   Who? – he? – he is a wretch, a very coward,   Hope naught from him; despise him, and forget him!MARY   What say you?MORTIMER           He deliver, and possess you!   Why let him dare it: – he! – he must with me   In mortal contest first deserve the prize!MARY   You gave him not my letter? Then, indeed   My hopes are lost!MORTIMER             The coward loves his life.   Whoe'er would rescue you, and call you his,   Must boldly dare affront e'en death itself!MARY   Will he do nothing for me?MORTIMER                 Speak not of him.   What can he do? What need have we of him?   I will release you; I alone.MARY                  Alas!   What power have you?MORTIMER              Deceive yourself no more;   Think not your case is now as formerly;   The moment that the queen thus quitted you,   And that your interview had ta'en this turn,   All hope was lost, each way of mercy shut.   Now deeds must speak, now boldness must decide,   To compass all must all be hazarded;   You must be free before the morning break.MARY   What say you, sir – to-night? – impossible!MORTIMER   Hear what has been resolved: – I led my friends   Into a private chapel, where a priest   Heard our confession, and, for every sin   We had committed, gave us absolution;   He gave us absolution too, beforehand,   For every crime we might commit in future;   He gave us too the final sacrament,   And we are ready for the final journey.MARY   Oh, what an awful, dreadful preparation!MORTIMER   We scale, this very night, the castle's walls;   The keys are in my power; the guards we murder!   Then from thy chamber bear thee forcibly.   Each living soul must die beneath our hands,   That none remain who might disclose the deed.MARY   And Drury, Paulet, my two keepers, they   Would sooner spill their dearest drop of blood.MORTIMER   They fall the very first beneath my steel.MARY   What, sir! Your uncle? How! Your second father!MORTIMER   Must perish by my hand – I murder him!MARY   Oh, bloody outrage!MORTIMER              We have been absolved   Beforehand; I may perpetrate the worst;   I can, I will do so!MARY              Oh, dreadful, dreadful!MORTIMER   And should I be obliged to kill the queen,   I've sworn upon the host, it must be done!MARY   No, Mortimer; ere so much blood for me —MORTIMER   What is the life of all compared to thee,   And to my love? The bond which holds the world   Together may be loosed, a second deluge   Come rolling on, and swallow all creation!   Henceforth I value nothing; ere I quit   My hold on thee, may earth and time be ended!MARY (retiring)   Heavens! Sir, what language, and what looks! They scare,   They frighten me!MORTIMER (with unsteady looks, expressive of great madness)             Life's but a moment – death   Is but a moment too. Why! let them drag me   To Tyburn, let them tear me limb from limb,   With red-hot pincers —      [Violently approaching her with extended arms.               If I clasp but thee   Within my arms, thou fervently beloved!MARY   Madman, avaunt!MORTIMER            To rest upon this bosom,   To press upon this passion-breathing mouth —MARY   Leave me, for God's sake, sir; let me go in —MORTIMER   He is a madman who neglects to clasp   His bliss in folds that never may be loosed,   When Heaven has kindly given it to his arms.   I will deliver you, and though it cost   A thousand lives, I do it; but I swear,   As God's in Heaven I will possess you too!MARY   Oh! will no God, no angel shelter me?   Dread destiny! thou throwest me, in thy wrath,   From one tremendous terror to the other!   Was I then born to waken naught but frenzy?   Do hate and love conspire alike to fright me!MORTIMER   Yes, glowing as their hatred is my love;   They would behead thee, they would wound this neck,   So dazzling white, with the disgraceful axe!   Oh! offer to the living god of joy   What thou must sacrifice to bloody hate!   Inspire thy happy lover with those charms   Which are no more thine own. Those golden locks   Are forfeit to the dismal powers of death,   Oh! use them to entwine thy slave forever!MARY   Alas! alas! what language must I hear!   My woe, my sufferings should be sacred to you,   Although my royal brows are so no more.MORTIMER   The crown is fallen from thy brows, thou hast   No more of earthly majesty. Make trial,   Raise thy imperial voice, see if a friend,   If a deliverer will rise to save you.   Thy moving form alone remains, the high,   The godlike influence of thy heavenly beauty;   This bids me venture all, this arms my hand   With might, and drives me tow'rd the headsman's axe.MARY   Oh! who will save me from his raging madness?MORTIMER   Service that's bold demands a bold reward.   Why shed their blood the daring? Is not life   Life's highest good? And he a madman who   Casts life away? First will I take my rest,   Upon the breast that glows with love's own fire!      [He presses her violently to his bosom.MARY   Oh, must I call for help against the man   Who would deliver me!MORTIMER               Thou'rt not unfeeling,   The world ne'er censured thee for frigid rigor;   The fervent prayer of love can touch thy heart.   Thou mad'st the minstrel Rizzio blest, and gavest   Thyself a willing prey to Bothwell's arms.MARY   Presumptuous man!MORTIMER             He was indeed thy tyrant,   Thou trembled'st at his rudeness, whilst thou loved'st him;   Well, then – if only terror can obtain thee —   By the infernal gods!MARY               Away – you're mad!MORTIMER   I'll teach thee then before me, too, to tremble.KENNEDY (entering suddenly)   They're coming – they approach – the park is filled   With men in arms.MORTIMER (starting and catching at his sword)             I will defend you-I —MARY   O Hannah! save me, save me from his hands.   Where shall I find, poor sufferer, an asylum?   Oh! to what saint shall I address my prayers?   Here force assails me, and within is murder!

[She flies towards the house, KENNEDY follows her.