Might be a means to cross you in your love—
CHAR. Well, madam, let that rest.—
And now, my lords, the marriage-rites perform'd,
We think it good to go and consummate
The rest with hearing of a holy mass.—

Sister, I think yourself will bear us company.
MAR. I will, my good lord.

CHAR. The rest that will not go, my lords, may
stay.-

Come, mother,

Let us go to honour this solemnity.

CATH. Which I'll dissolve with blood and cruelty.

[Aside. [Exeunt all except the KING OF NAVARRE,

CONDE, and the ADMIRAL.

NAV. Prince Condé, and my good Lord Admiral,
Now Guise may storm, but do us little hurt,
Having the king, Queen-Mother on our sides*,
To stop the malice of his envious heart,
That seeks to murder all the protestants.
Have you not heard of late how he decreed
(If that the king had given consent thereto,)
That all the protestants that are in Paris
Should have been murderèd the other night?

ADм. My lord, I marvel that th' aspiring Guise
Dares once adventure, without the king's consent,
To meddle or attempt such dangerous things.

side",-unne

* sides] Altered by the modern editors to " cessarily." Upon our sides it never shall be broken." Shakespeare's King John, act v. sc. 2.

CON. My lord, you need not marvel at the Guise, For what he doth, the Pope will ratify,

In murder, mischief, or in tyranny.

NAV. But he that sits and rules above the clouds Doth hear and see the prayers of the just, And will revenge the blood of innocents, That Guise hath slain by treason of his heart, And brought by murder to their timeless ends. ADм. My lord, but did you mark the Cardinal, The Guise's brother, and the Duke Dumaine, How they did storm at these your nuptial rites, Because the house of Bourbon now comes in, And joins your lineage to the crown of France? NAV. And that's the cause that Guise so frowns

at us,

And beats his brains to catch us in his trap,
Which he hath pitch'd within his deadly toil.
Come, my lords, let's go to the church, and pray
That God may still defend the right of France,
And make his Gospel flourish in this land. [Exeunt.

Enter GUISE*.

GUISE. If ever Hymen lour'd at marriage-rites, And had his altars deck'd with dusky lights; If ever sun stain'd heaven with bloody clouds, And made it look with terror on the world; If ever day were turn'd to ugly night,

And night made semblance of the hue of hell;

*Enter Guise] Scene, an apartment (not in the house of Guise: see note, p. 299).

This day, this hour, this fatal night,
Shall fully shew the fury of them all.—
Apothecary!

Enter APOTHECARY.

APOTH. My lord?

GUISE. Now shall I prove, and guerdon to the full, The love thou bear'st unto the house of Guise. Where are those perfum'd gloves, which I sent + To be poison'd? hast thou done them? speak; Will every savour breed a pang of death?

APOTH. See where they be, my good lord; and he that smells

But to them, dies.

GUISE. Then thou remain'st resolute?

APOTH. I am, my lord, in what your grace commands,

Till death.

GUISE. Thanks, my good friend: I will requite thy love.

Go, then, present them to the Queen Navarre;
For she is that huge blemish in our eye,

That makes these upstart heresies in France:
Begone, my friend, present them to her straight.
Soldier!
[Exit APOTHECARY.

*This day, &c.] Something wanting in this line. Qy." and this fatal night",-"hour" being, as it very often is, a dissyllable?

+ which I sent] The modern editors, for the metre, print, "which late I sent."

Enter a SOLDier §.

SOLD. My lord?

GUISE. Now come thou forth, and play thy tragic

part.

Stand in some window, opening near the street,
And when thou see'st the Admiral ride by,
Discharge thy musket, and perform his death;
And then I'll guerdon thee with store of crowns.
SOLD. I will, my lord.

[Exit. GUISE. NOW, Guise, begin ‡ those deep-engender'd

thoughts

To burst abroad those never-dying flames
Which cannot be extinguish'd but by blood.
Oft have I levell'd, and at last have learn'd
That peril is the chiefest way to happiness,
And resolution honour's fairest aim.
What glory is there in a common good,
That hangs for every peasant to achieve?
That like I best, that flies beyond my reach..
Set me to scale the high Pyramides,

And thereon set the diadem of France;
I'll either rend it with my nails to nought,
Or mount the top with my aspiring wings,

§ Enter a Soldier, &c.] "L'assassin fut bientôt trouvé. On choisit le fameux Maurevel, qui se cacha dans une maison devant laquelle l'amiral passoit tous les jours en revenant du Louvre," &c. Anquetil,-Hist. de France, t. v. 226, ed. 1817. begin] Old ed. “ "begins."

Although my downfall be the deepest hell.
For this I wake, when others think I sleep;
For this I wait, that scorn* attendance else;
For this, my quenchless thirst, whereon I build,
Hath often pleaded kindred to the king;

For this, this head, this heart, this hand, and sword,
Contrives, imagines, and fully executes,

Matters of import aimèd at by many,

Yet understood by none;

For this, hath Heaven engender'd me of earth;
For this, this earth sustains my body's weight,
And with this weight I'll counterpoise a crown,
Or with seditions weary all the world;
For this, from Spain the stately Catholics
Send Indian gold to coin me French ecues §;
For this, have I a largess from the Pope,
A pension, and a dispensation too;
And by that privilege to work upon,
My policy hath fram'd religion.
Religion! O Diabole!

Fie, I am asham'd, however that I seem,
To think a word of such a simple sound,

Of so great matter should be made the ground!
The gentle king, whose pleasure uncontroll'd
Weakeneth his body, and will waste his realm,
If I repair not what he ruinates,