Stephen. No, no, Do not tempt me to throttle you on the gorge, Or with my gauntlet crush your hollow breast, Just when your knighthood is grown ripe and full For lordship. A Soldier. Is an honest yeoman's spear Of no use at a need? Take that. Stephen. Ah, dastard! De Kaims. What, you are vulnerable! my prisoner! Stephen. No, not yet. I disclaim it, and demand Death as a sovereign right unto a king. Who 'sdains to yield to any but his peer, If not in title, yet in noble deeds, The Earl of Glocester. Stab to the hilt, De Kaims, For I will never by mean hands be led From this so famous field. Do you hear! Be quick! [Trumpets. Enter the Earl of CHESTER and Knights. SCENE IV.-A Presence Chamber. Queen MAUD in a Chair of State, the Earls of GLOCESTER and CHESTER, Lords, Attendants. Maud. Glocester, no more. I will behold that Set him before me. Not for the poor sake Glocester. Faithful counsel have I given; Maud. The Heavens forbid that I should not think so, For by thy valour have I won this realm, A meek attentive ear, so that they treat Advised, not school'd, I would be; and henceforth Not side-ways sermon'd at. Glocester. Then, in plain terms, Once more for the fallen king Maud. Your pardon, brother, I would no more of that; for, as I said, 'Tis not for worldly pomp I wish to see The rebel, but as dooming judge to give A sentence something worthy of his guilt. Glocester. If't must be so, I'll bring him to your [Exit GLOCESTER. presence. Maud. A meaner summoner might do as well. My Lord of Chester, is 't true what I hear Of Stephen of Boulogne, our prisoner, Eats wholesome, sweet, and palatable food Off Glocester's golden dishes-drinks pure wine, Lodges soft? Chester. More than that, my gracious Queen, Has anger'd me. The noble Earl, methinks, Full soldier as he is, and without peer In counsel, dreams too much among his books. It may read well, but sure 'tis out of date To play the Alexander with Darius. Maud. Truth! I think so. By Heavens, it shall not last! Chester. It would amaze your Highness now to mark How Glocester overstrains his courtesy To that crime-loving rebel, that Boulogne- Chester. For whose vast ingratitude. To our late sovereign lord, your noble sire, Chester. Chester. A queen's nod Can make his June December. Here he comes. THE CAP AND BELLS;: OR, THE JEALOUSIES. A FAERY TALE. UNFINISHED. I 1. N midmost Ind, beside Hydaspes cool, There stood, or hover'd, tremulous in the air, A faery city, 'neath the potent rule Of Emperor Elfinan; famed ev'rywhere For love of mortal women, maidens fair, Whose lips were solid, whose soft hands were made Of a fit mould and beauty, ripe and rare, To pamper his slight wooing, warm yet staid: He lov'd girls smooth as shades, but hated a mere shade. "This Poem was written subject to future amendments and omissions; it was begun without a plan, and without any prescribed laws for the supernatural machinery.". CHARLES BROWN. "There are beautiful passages and lines of ineffable sweetness in these minor pieces, and strange outbursts of individual fancy and felicitous expressions in the Cap and Bells,' though the general extravagance of the poetry is more suited to an Italian than to an English taste."―JEFFREY, Letter to the Editor, Aug. 1848. |