Mary Stuart

   I have bequeathed you to my royal brother   Of France; he will protect you, he will give you   Another country, and a better home;   And if my last desire have any weight,   Stay not in England; let no haughty Briton   Glut his proud heart with your calamities,   Nor see those in the dust who once were mine.   Swear by this image of our suffering Lord   To leave this fatal land when I'm no more.MELVIL (touching the crucifix)   I swear obedience in the name of all.MARY   What I, though poor and plundered, still possess,   Of which I am allowed to make disposal,   Shall be amongst you shared; for I have hope   In this at least my will may be fulfilled.   And what I wear upon my way to death   Is yours – nor envy me on this occasion   The pomp of earth upon the road to heaven.

[To the ladies of her chamber.

   To you, my Alice, Gertrude, Rosamund,   I leave my pearls, my garments: you are young,   And ornament may still delight your hearts.   You, Margaret, possess the nearest claims,   To you I should be generous: for I leave you   The most unhappy woman of them all.   That I have not avenged your husband's fault   On you I hope my legacy will prove.   The worth of gold, my Hannah, charms not thee;   Nor the magnificence of precious stones:   My memory, I know, will be to thee   The dearest jewel; take this handkerchief,   I worked it for thee, in the hours of sorrow,   With my own hands, and my hot, scalding tears   Are woven in the texture: – you will bind   My eyes with this, when it is time: this last   Sad service I would wish but from my Hannah.KENNEDY   O Melvil! I cannot support it.MARY                    Come,   Come all and now receive my last farewell.

[She stretches forth her hands; the WOMEN violently weeping, fall successively at her feet, and kiss her outstretched hand.

   Margaret, farewell – my Alice, fare thee well;   Thanks, Burgoyn, for thy honest, faithful service —   Thy lips are hot, my Gertrude: – I have been   Much hated, yet have been as much beloved.   May a deserving husband bless my Gertrude,   For this warm, glowing heart is formed for love.   Bertha, thy choice is better, thou hadst rather   Become the chaste and pious bride of heaven;   Oh! haste thee to fulfil thy vows; the goods   Of earth are all deceitful; thou may'st learn   This lesson from thy queen. No more; farewell,   Farewell, farewell, my friends, farewell for ever.

[She turns suddenly from them; all but MELVIL

      retire at different sides.

SCENE VII

MARY, MELVIL.

MARY (after the others are all gone)   I have arranged all temporal concerns,   And hope to leave the world in debt to none;   Melvil, one thought alone there is which binds   My troubled soul, nor suffers it to fly   Delighted and at liberty to heaven.MELVIL   Disclose it to me; ease your bosom, trust   Your doubts, your sorrows, to your faithful friend.MARY   I see eternity's abyss before me;   Soon must I stand before the highest Judge,   And have not yet appeased the Holy One.   A priest of my religion is denied me,   And I disdain to take the sacrament,   The holy, heavenly nourishment, from priests   Of a false faith; I die in the belief   Of my own church, for that alone can save.MELVIL   Compose your heart; the fervent, pious wish   Is prized in heaven as high as the performance.   The might of tyrants can but bind the hands,   The heart's devotion rises free to God,   The word is dead – 'tis faith which brings to life.MARY   The heart is not sufficient of itself;   Our faith must have some earthly pledge to ground   Its claim to the high bliss of heaven. For this   Our God became incarnate, and enclosed   Mysteriously his unseen heavenly grace   Within an outward figure of a body.   The church it is, the holy one, the high one,   Which rears for us the ladder up to heaven: —   'Tis called the Catholic Apostolic church, —   For 'tis but general faith can strengthen faith;   Where thousands worship and adore the heat   Breaks out in flame, and, borne on eagle wings,   The soul mounts upwards to the heaven of heavens.   Ah! happy they, who for the glad communion   Of pious prayer meet in the house of God!   The altar is adorned, the tapers blaze,   The bell invites, the incense soars on high;   The bishop stands enrobed, he takes the cup,   And blessing it declares the solemn mystery,   The transformation of the elements;   And the believing people fall delighted   To worship and adore the present Godhead.   Alas! I only am debarred from this;   The heavenly benediction pierces not   My prison walls: its comfort is denied me.MELVIL   Yes! it can pierce them – put thy trust in Him   Who is almighty – in the hand of faith,   The withered staff can send forth verdant branches   And he who from the rock called living water,   He can prepare an altar in this prison,   Can change —

[Seizing the cup, which stands upon the table.

          The earthly contents of this cup   Into a substance of celestial grace.MARY   Melvil! Oh, yes, I understand you, Melvil!   Here is no priest, no church, no sacrament;   But the Redeemer says, "When two or three   Are in my name assembled, I am with them,"   What consecrates the priest? Say, what ordains him   To be the Lord's interpreter? a heart   Devoid of guile, and a reproachless conduct.   Well, then, though unordained, be you my priest;   To you will I confide my last confession,   And take my absolution from your lips.MELVIL   If then thy heart be with such zeal inflamed,   I tell thee that for thine especial comfort,   The Lord may work a miracle. Thou say'st   Here is no priest, no church, no sacrament —   Thou err'st – here is a priest – here is a God;   A God descends to thee in real presence.

[At these words he uncovers his head, and shows a host in a golden vessel.

   I am a priest – to hear thy last confession,   And to announce to thee the peace of God   Upon thy way to death. I have received   Upon my head the seven consecrations.   I bring thee, from his Holiness, this host,   Which, for thy use, himself has deigned to bless.MARY   Is then a heavenly happiness prepared   To cheer me on the very verge of death?   As an immortal one on golden clouds   Descends, as once the angel from on high,   Delivered the apostle from his fetters: —   He scorns all bars, he scorns the soldier's sword,   He steps undaunted through the bolted portals,   And fills the dungeon with his native glory;   Thus here the messenger of heaven appears   When every earthly champion had deceived me.   And you, my servant once, are now the servant   Of the Most High, and his immortal Word!   As before me your knees were wont to bend,   Before you humbled, now I kiss the dust.

[She sinks before him on her knees.

MELVIL (making over her the sign of the cross)Hear, Mary, Queen of Scotland: – in the name   Of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,   Hast thou examined carefully thy heart,   Swearest thou, art thou prepared in thy confession   To speak the truth before the God of truth?MARY   Before my God and thee, my heart lies open.MELVIL   What calls thee to the presence of the Highest?MARY   I humbly do acknowledge to have erred   Most grievously, I tremble to approach,   Sullied with sin, the God of purity.MELVIL   Declare the sin which weighs so heavily   Upon thy conscience since thy last confession.MARY   My heart was filled with thoughts of envious hate,   And vengeance took possession of my bosom.   I hope forgiveness of my sins from God,   Yet could I not forgive my enemy.MELVIL   Repentest thou of the sin? Art thou, in sooth,   Resolved to leave this world at peace with all?MARY   As surely as I wish the joys of heaven.MELVIL   What other sin hath armed thy heart against thee?MARY   Ah! not alone through hate; through lawless love   Have I still more abused the sovereign good.   My heart was vainly turned towards the man   Who left me in misfortune, who deceived me.MELVIL   Repentest thou of the sin? And hast thou turned   Thy heart, from this idolatry, to God?MARY   It was the hardest trial I have passed;   This last of earthly bonds is torn asunder.MELVIL   What other sin disturbs thy guilty conscience?MARY   A bloody crime, indeed of ancient date,   And long ago confessed; yet with new terrors.   It now attacks me, black and grisly steps   Across my path, and shuts the gates of heaven:   By my connivance fell the king, my husband —   I gave my hand and heart to a seducer —   By rigid penance I have made atonement;   Yet in my soul the worm is gnawing still.MELVIL   Has then thy heart no other accusation,   Which hath not been confessed and washed away?MARY   All you have heard with which my heart is charged.MELVIL   Think on the presence of Omniscience;   Think on the punishments with which the church   Threatens imperfect and reserved confessions   This is the sin to everlasting death,   For this is sinning 'gainst his Holy Spirit.MARY   So may eternal grace with victory   Crown my last contest, as I wittingly   Have nothing hid —MELVIL             How? Wilt thou then conceal   The crime from God for which thou art condemned?   Thou tell'st me nothing of the share thou hadst   In Babington and Parry's bloody treason:   Thou diest for this a temporal death; for this   Wilt thou, too, die the everlasting death?MARY   I am prepared to meet eternity;   Within the narrow limits of an hour   I shall appear before my Judge's throne.   But, I repeat it, my confession's ended.MELVIL   Consider well – the heart is a deceiver.   Thou hast, perhaps, with sly equivocation,   The word avoided, which would make thee guilty   Although thy will was party to the crime.   Remember, that no juggler's tricks can blind   The eye of fire which darts through every breast.MARY   'Tis true that I have called upon all princes   To free me from unworthy chains; yet 'tis   As true that, neither by intent or deed,   Have I attempted my oppressor's life.MELVIL   Your secretaries then have witnessed falsely.MARY   It is as I have said; – what they have witnessed   The Lord will judge.MELVIL              Thou mountest, then, satisfied   Of thy own innocence, the fatal scaffold?MARY   God suffers me in mercy to atone,   By undeserved death, my youth's transgressions.MELVIL (making over her the sign of the cross)   Go, then, and expiate them all by death;   Sink a devoted victim on the altar,   Thus shall thy blood atone the blood thou'st spilt.   From female frailty were derived thy faults,   Free from the weakness of mortality,   The spotless spirit seeks the blest abodes.   Now, then, by the authority which God   Hath unto me committed, I absolve thee   From all thy sins; be as thy faith thy welfare!

[He gives her the host.

   Receive the body which for thee was offered —

[He takes the cup which stands upon the table, consecrates it with silent prayer, then presents it to her; she hesitates to take it, and makes signs to him to withdraw it.

   Receive the blood which for thy sins was shed,   Receive it; 'tis allowed thee by the pope   To exercise in death the highest office   Of kings, the holy office of the priesthood.

[She takes the cup.

   And as thou now, in this his earthly body   Hast held with God mysterious communion,   So may'st thou henceforth, in his realm of joy,   Where sin no more exists, nor tears of woe,   A fair, transfigured spirit, join thyself   Forever with the Godhead, and forever.

[He sets down the cup; hearing a noise, he covers his head, and goes to the door;

      MARY remains in silent devotion on her knees.MELVIL (returning)   A painful conflict is in store for thee.   Feel'st thou within thee strength enough to smother   Each impulse of malignity and hate?MARY   I fear not a relapse. I have to God   Devoted both my hatred and my love.MELVIL   Well, then, prepare thee to receive my Lords   Of Leicester and of Burleigh. They are here.

SCENE VIII

Enter BURLEIGH, LEICESTER, and PAULET.

[LEICESTER remains in the background, without raising his eyes; BURLEIGH, who remarks his confusion, steps between him and the QUEEN.

BURLEIGH   I come, my Lady Stuart, to receive   Your last commands and wishes.MARY                   Thanks, my lord.BURLEIGH   It is the pleasure of my royal mistress   That nothing reasonable be denied you.MARY   My will, my lord, declares my last desires;   I've placed it in the hand of Sir Amias,   And humbly beg that it may be fulfilled.PAULET   You may rely on this.MARY               I beg that all   My servants unmolested may return   To France, or Scotland, as their wishes lead.BURLEIGH   It shall be as you wish.MARY                And since my body   Is not to rest in consecrated ground,   I pray you suffer this my faithful servant   To bear my heart to France, to my relations —   Alas! 'twas ever there.BURLEIGH                It shall be done.   What wishes else?MARY             Unto her majesty   Of England bear a sister's salutation;   Tell her that from the bottom of my heart   I pardon her my death; most humbly, too,   I crave her to forgive me for the passion   With which I spoke to her. May God preserve her   And bless her with a long and prosperous reign.BURLEIGH   Say, do you still adhere to your resolve,   And still refuse assistance from the dean?MARY   My lord, I've made my peace with God.

[To PAULET.

                       Good sir,   I have unwittingly caused you much sorrow,   Bereft you of your age's only stay.   Oh, let me hope you do not hate my name.PAULET (giving her his hand)   The Lord be with you! Go your way in peace.

SCENE IX

HANNAH KENNEDY, and the other women of the QUEEN crowd into the room with marks of horror. The SHERIFF follows them, a white staff in his hand; behind are seen, through the open doors, men under arms.

MARY   What ails thee, Hannah? Yes, my hour is come.   The sheriff comes to lead me to my fate,   And part we must. Farewell!KENNEDY and CURL                  We will not leave thee,   We will not part from thee.MARY (to MELVIL)                  You, worthy sir,   And my dear, faithful Hannah, shall attend me   In my last moments. I am sure, my lord   Will not refuse my heart this consolation.BURLEIGH   For this I have no warrant.MARY                  How, my lord;   Can you deny me, then, this small petition?   Respect my sex; who shall attend me else,   And yield me the last service? Sure, it never   Can be my sister's pleasure that in me   My sex should be insulted; that these men   With their rude hands should touch my royal person.BURLEIGH   'Tis ordered that no woman shall ascend   The scaffold steps with you. Their tears and moans —MARY   She shall not weep, my lord; she shall not moan;   I answer for my Hannah's resolution;   Be merciful; divide me not so soon   From my true foster-mother, from my friend.   She bore me on her arms into this life;   Let her then gently lead me to my death.PAULET (to BURLEIGH)   Yield to her wishes.BURLEIGH              Be it so.MARY                    I now   Have nothing in this world to wish for more.

[She takes the crucifix, and kisses it.

   My God! My Comforter! My blest Redeemer!   As once thy arms were stretched upon the cross,   Let them be now extended to receive me!

[She turns round to go; at the same moment her eyes fall upon LEICESTER, who, on her going, starts involuntarily, and turns his eyes towards her; at this sight MARY trembles, her knees fail her, she is about to fall, when LEICESTER catches at her, and receives her in his arms; she regards him for some time earnestly, and in silence; he cannot support her looks; at length she speaks.

   You keep your word, my Lord of Leicester: for   You promised me your arm to lead me forth   From prison, and you lend it to me now.   At length the wished-for day is come, and what   Was oft the object of my fondest dreams   Is now accomplished: and the Earl of Leicester,   The long-expected, the long-wished-for friend,   Appears at length in Fotheringay Castle.   I see him standing in my prison; all   Is ready for the journey; all the gates   Stand open, and at length I cross the threshold,   Conducted by his hand; and now I leave   These dismal walls behind me, and forever.   All is fulfilled, and you have saved your honor.

[He stands as if annihilated; she continues, with a gentle voice.

   Yes, Leicester; not for liberty alone   I wished to be indebted to your hands.   You should have made me bless that liberty.   Led by your hand, and happy in your love,   I hoped once more to taste the joys of life.   Yes; now that I'm prepared from all the world   To part, and to become a happy spirit,   Whom earthly inclinations tempt no more!   Now, Leicester, I may venture to confess   Without a blush the frailty I have conquered;   Farewell, my lord; and, if you can, be happy!   To woo two queens has been your daring aim;   You have disdained a tender, loving heart,   Betrayed it in the hope to win a proud one:   Kneel at the feet of Queen Elizabeth!   May your reward not prove your punishment.   Farewell; I now have nothing more on earth.

[She goes, preceded by the SHERIFF; at her side MELVIL and her nurse; BURLEIGH and PAULET follow;

the others, wailing, follow her with their eyes till she disappears; they then retire through the other two doors.

SCENE X

LEICESTER (remaining alone).

   Do I live still? Can I still bear to live?   Will not this roof fall down and bury me?   Yawns no abyss to swallow in its gulf   The veriest wretch on earth? What have I lost?   Oh, what a pearl have I not cast away!   What bliss celestial madly dashed aside!   She's gone, a spirit purged from earthly stain,   And the despair of hell remains for me!   Where is the purpose now with which I came   To stifle my heart's voice in callous scorn?   To see her head descend upon the block   With unaverted and indifferent eyes?   How doth her presence wake my slumbering shame?   Must she in death surround me with love's toils?   Lost, wretched man! No more it suits thee now   To melt away in womanly compassion:   Love's golden bliss lies not upon thy path,   Then arm thy breast in panoply of steel,   And henceforth be thy brows of adamant!   Wouldst thou not lose the guerdon of thy guilt,   Thou must uphold, complete it daringly!   Pity be dumb; mine eyes be petrified!   I'll see – I will be witness of her fall.      [He advances with resolute steps towards the door

through which MARY passed; but stops suddenly half way.

   No! No! The terrors of all hell possess me.   I cannot look upon the dreadful deed;   I cannot see her die! Hark! What was that?   They are already there. Beneath my feet   The bloody business is preparing. Hark!   I hear their voices. Hence! Away, away   From this abode of misery and death!

[He attempts to escape by another door;

finds it locked, and returns.

   How! Does some demon chain me to this spot?   To hear what I would shudder to behold?   That voice – it is the dean's, exhorting her;   She interrupts him. Hark – she prays aloud;   Her voice is firm – now all is still, quite still!   And sobs and women's moans are all I hear.   Now, they undress her; they remove the stool;   She kneels upon the cushion; lays her head —

[Having spoken these last words, and paused awhile, he is seen with a convulsive motion suddenly to shrink and faint away; a confused hum of voices is heard at the same moment from below, and continues for some time.

SCENE XI

The Second Chamber in the Fourth Act.

ELIZABETH (entering from a side door; her gait and action expressive of the most violent uneasiness)   No message yet arrived! What! no one here!   Will evening never come! Stands the sun still   In its ethereal course? I can no more   Remain upon the rack of expectation!   Is it accomplished? Is it not? I shudder   At both events, and do not dare to ask.   My Lord of Leicester comes not, – Burleigh too,   Whom I appointed to fulfil the sentence.   If they have quitted London then 'tis done,   The bolt has left its rest – it cuts the air —   It strikes; has struck already: were my realm   At stake I could not now arrest its course.   Who's there?

SCENE XII

Enter a PAGE.

ELIZABETH   Returned alone? Where are the lords?PAGE   My Lord High-Treasurer and the Earl of Leicester?ELIZABETH   Where are they?PAGE            They are not in London.ELIZABETH                        No!   Where are they then?PAGE              That no one could inform me;   Before the dawn, mysteriously, in haste   They quitted London.ELIZABETH (exultingly)              I am Queen of England!

[Walking up and down in the greatest agitation.

   Go – call me – no, remain, boy! She is dead;   Now have I room upon the earth at last.   Why do I shake? Whence comes this aguish dread?   My fears are covered by the grave; who dares   To say I did it? I have tears enough   In store to weep her fall. Are you still here?

[To the PAGE.

   Command my secretary, Davison,   To come to me this instant. Let the Earl   Of Shrewsbury be summoned. Here he comes.

[Exit PAGE.

SCENE XIII

Enter SHREWSBURY.

ELIZABETH   Welcome, my noble lord. What tidings; say   It cannot be a trifle which hath led   Your footsteps hither at so late an hour.SHREWSBURY   My liege, the doubts that hung upon my heart,   And dutiful concern for your fair fame,   Directed me this morning to the Tower,   Where Mary's secretaries, Nau and Curl,   Are now confined as prisoners, for I wished   Once more to put their evidence to proof.   On my arrival the lieutenant seemed   Embarrassed and perplexed; refused to show me   His prisoners; but my threats obtained admittance.   God! what a sight was there! With frantic looks,   With hair dishevelled, on his pallet lay   The Scot like one tormented by a fury.   The miserable man no sooner saw me   Than at my feet he fell, and there, with screams,   Clasping my knees, and writhing like a worm,   Implored, conjured me to acquaint him with   His sovereign's destiny, for vague reports   Had somehow reached the dungeons of the Tower   That she had been condemned to suffer death.   When I confirmed these tidings, adding, too,   That on his evidence she had been doomed, —   He started wildly up, – caught by the throat   His fellow-prisoner; with the giant strength   Of madness tore him to the ground and tried   To strangle him. No sooner had we saved   The wretch from his fierce grapple than at once   He turned his rage against himself and beat   His breast with savage fists; then cursed himself   And his companions to the depths of hell!   His evidence was false; the fatal letters   To Babington, which he had sworn were true,   He now denounced as forgeries; for he   Had set down words the queen had never spoken;   The traitor Nau had led him to this treason.   Then ran he to the casement, threw it wide   With frantic force, and cried into the street   So loud that all the people gathered round:   I am the man, Queen Mary's secretary,   The traitor who accused his mistress falsely;   I bore false witness and am cursed forever!ELIZABETH   You said yourself that he had lost his wits;   A madman's words prove nothing.SHREWSBURY                    Yet this madness   Serves in itself to swell the proof. My liege,   Let me conjure thee; be not over-hasty;   Prithee, give order for a new inquiry!ELIZABETH   I will, my lord, because it is your wish,   Not that I can believe my noble peers   Have in this case pronounced a hasty judgment.   To set your mind at rest the inquiry shall   Be straight renewed. Well that 'tis not too late!   Upon the honor of our royal name,   No, not the shadow of a doubt shall rest.

SCENE XIV

Enter DAVISON.

ELIZABETH   The sentence, sir, which I but late intrusted   Unto your keeping; where is it?DAVISON (in the utmost astonishment)                    The sentence!ELIZABETH (more urgent)   Which yesterday I gave into your charge.DAVISON   Into my charge, my liege!ELIZABETH                 The people urged   And baited me to sign it. I perforce   Was driven to yield obedience to their will.   I did so; did so on extreme constraint,   And in your hands deposited the paper.   To gain time was my purpose; you remember   What then I told you. Now, the paper, sir!SHREWSBURY   Restore it, sir, affairs have changed since then,   The inquiry must be set on foot anew.DAVISON   Anew! Eternal mercy!ELIZABETH               Why this pause,   This hesitation? Where, sir, is the paper?DAVISON   I am undone! Undone! My fate is sealed!ELIZABETH (interrupting him violently)   Let me not fancy, sir —DAVISON                Oh, I am lost!   I have it not.ELIZABETH           How? What?SHREWSBURY                  Oh, God in heaven!DAVISON   It is in Burleigh's hands – since yesterday.ELIZABETH   Wretch! Is it thus you have obeyed my orders?   Did I not lay my strict injunction on you   To keep it carefully?DAVISON               No such injunction   Was laid on me, my liege.ELIZABETH                 Give me the lie?   Opprobrious wretch! When did I order you   To give the paper into Burleigh's hands?DAVISON   Never expressly in so many words.ELIZABETH   And, paltering villain I dare you then presume   To construe, as you list, my words – and lay   Your bloody meaning on them? Wo betide you,   If evil come of this officious deed!   Your life shall answer the event to me.   Earl Shrewsbury, you see how my good name   Has been abused!SHREWSBURY            I see! Oh, God in heaven!ELIZABETH   What say you?SHREWSBURY           If the knight has dared to act   In this, upon his own authority,   Without the knowledge of your majesty,   He must be cited to the Court of Peers   To answer there for subjecting thy name   To the abhorrence of all after time.