Till this torn mangled body sink at once
A heap of purple ruin at thy feet.
Lady J. G. And could thy rash distracted rage
Draw thy vain sword against an armed multitude,
Only to have my poor heart split with horror,
To see thee stabb'd and butcher'd here before me?
Oh, call thy better nobler courage to thee,
And let us meet this adverse fate with patience?
Greet our insulting foes with equal tempers,
With even brows, and souls secure of death:
Here stand unmov'd; as once the Roman senate
Receiv'd fierce Brennus, and the conquering Gauls,
Till e'en the rude barbarians stood amaz'd
At such superior virtue. Be thyself,
Enter SUSSEX, GARDINER, OFFICERS and SOLDIers. Suss. Guards, execute your orders; seize the trai
my commission ends. To you, my lord,
So our great mistress, royal Mary, bids,
I leave the full disposal of the pris'ners?
To your wise care the pious queen commends
Her sacred self, her crown, and what's yet more,
The holy Roman church; for whose dear safety,
She wills your utmost diligence be shown,
To bring rebellion to the bar of justice.
Yet farther, to proclaim how much she trusts
In Winchester's deep thought, and well try'd faith,
The seal attends to grace those rev'rend hands;
And when I next salute you, I must call you
Chief minister and chancellor of England.
Gar. Unnumber'd blessings fall upon her head,
My ever-gracious lady! to remember
With such full bounty her old humble beadsman!
For these, her foes, leave me to deal with them.
Suss. The queen is on her entrance, and expects me: My lord, farewell.
Gar. Farewell, right noble Sussex :
Commend me to the queen's grace; say her bidding Shall be observ'd by her most lowly creature.
[Exit SUSSEX. Lieutenant of the Tower, take hence your pris'ners: Be it your care to see them kept apart,
That they may hold no commerce with each other. Lady J. G. That stroke was unexpected.
Gar. I hold no speech with heretics and traitors. Lieutenant, see my orders are obey'd.
[Exit GAR. Guil. Inhuman, monstrous, unexampled cruelty! Oh, tyrant! but the task becomes thee well; Thy savage temper joys to do death's office; To tear the sacred bands of love asunder,
And part those hands which Heav'n itself hath join'd. Duchess S. To let us waste the little rest of life Together, had been merciful.
Suff. Then it had not
Been done like Winchester.
Guil. Thou stand'st unmov'd;
Calm temper sits upon thy beauteous brow;
Thy eyes, that flow'd so fast for Edward's loss,
Gaze unconcern'd upon the ruin round thee;
As if thou hadst resolv'd to brave thy fate,
And triumph in the midst of desolation.
Ha! see, it swells; the liquid crystal rises,
It starts, in spite of thee,-but I will catch it;
Nor let the earth be wet with dew so rich.
Lady J. G. And dost thou think, my Guilford, I
My father, mother, and ev'n thee my husband,
Torn from my side without a pang of sorrow?
How art thou thus unknowing in my heart!
Words cannot tell thee what I feel. There is
An agonizing softness busy here,
That tugs the strings, that struggles to get loose;
And pour my soul in wailings out before thee.
Guil. Give way, and let the gushing torrent come;
Behold the tears we bring to swell the deluge,
Till the flood rise upon the guilty world,
And make the ruin common.
Lady J. G. Guilford, no:
The time for tender thoughts and soft endearments
Is fled away and gone: joy has forsaken us;
Our hearts have now another part to play;
They must be steel'd with some uncommon fortitude,
That, fearless, we may tread the path of horror;
And, in despite of fortune and our foes,
Ev'n in the hour of death, be more than conq'rors.
Guil. Oh, teach me ! say, what energy divine
Inspires thy softer sex, and tender years,
With such unshaken courage?
Lady J. G. Truth and innocence;
A conscious knowledge rooted in my heart,
That to have sav'd my country was my duty.
Yes, England, yes, my country, I would save thee;
But Heav'n forbids, Heav'n disallows my weakness,
And to some dear selected hero's hand
Reserves the glory of thy great deliverance.
Lieut. My lords, my orders-
Guil. See! we must-must part.
Lady J. G. Yet surely we shall meet again.
Lady J. G. If not on earth, among yon golden
Where other suns arise on other earths,
And happier beings rest on happier seats:
Where with a reach enlarg'd, our soul shall view
The great Creator's never-ceasing hand
Pour forth new worlds to all eternity,
And people the infinity of space.
Guil. Fain would I cheer my heart with hopes liké
But my sad thoughts turn ever to the grave;
To that last dwelling, whither now we haste;
Where the black shade shall interpose betwixt us,
And veil thee from these longing eyes for ever.
Lady J.G. "Tis true, by those dark paths our jour-
ney leads,
And through the veil of death we pass to life.
But what is there in death to blast our hopes?
Behold the universal works of nature,
Where life still springs from death. To us the sun
Dies ev'ry night, and ev'ry morn revives :
The flow'rs, which winter's icy hand destroy'd,
Lift their fair heads, and live again in spring.
Mark, with what hopes upon the furrow'd plain,
The careful plowman casts the pregnant grain;
There hid, as in a grave, a while it lies,
Till the revolving season bids it rise;
Till nature's genial pow'rs command a birth;
And potent call it from the teeming earth:
Then large increase the bury'd treasures yield,
And with full harvest crown the plenteous field.
[Exeunt severally with GUARDS.
Enter GARDINER, as Lord Chancellor, and the LIUTENANT OF THE TOWER. SERVANTS with Lights before them.
Lieut. Good morning to your lordship; you rise early.
Gar. Nay, by the rood, there are too many sleepers; Some must stir early, or the state shall suffer, Did you, as yesterday our mandate bade, Inform your pris'ners, Lady Jane and Guilford, They were to die this day?
Lieut. My lord, I did.
Gar. "Tis well. But say, like them?
Lieut. My lord, they met the summons with temper
That show'd a solemn, serious sense of death,
Mix'd with a noble scorn of all its terrors.
In short, they heard me with the self-same patience
With which they still have borne them in their prison.
In one request they both concurr'd; each begg'd
To die before the other.
Gar. That dispose
As you think fitting.
Lieut. The lord Guilford only
Implor'd another boon, and urg'd it warmly :
That ere he suffer'd he might see his wife,
And take a last farewell.
Gar. That's not much;
That grace may be allow'd him. See you to it.
How goes the morning?
Lieut. Not yet four, my lord.
Gar. By ten they meet their fate. Yet one thing
You know 'twas order'd that the Lady Jane
Should suffer here within the Tow'r. Take care
No crowds may be let in, no maudlin gazers
To wet their handkerchiefs, and make report
How like a saint she ended. Some fit number,
And those too of our friends, were most convenient :
But, above all, see that good guard be kept:
You know the queen is lodg'd at present here,
Take care that no disturbance reach her highness.
And so good morning, good master Lieutenant.
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