SCENE IV. London. The DUKE OF GLOSTER'S garden; part of the house, with balcony, at back. Enter MARGERY JOURDAIN, HUME, SOUTHWELL, and Bolingbroke. Hume. Come, my masters; the duchess, I tell you, expects performance of your promises. Boling. Master Hume, we are therefore provided: will her ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms? Hume. Ay, what else? fear you not her courage. Boling. I have heard her reported to be a woman of an invincible spirit: but it shall be convenient, Master Hume, that you be by her aloft, while we be busy below; and so, I pray you, go, in God's name, and leave us. [Exit Hume.] Mother Jourdain, be you prostrate, and grovel on the earth;-John Southwell, read you;-and let us to our work. Enter DUCHESS above, HUME following. Duch. Well said, my masters; and welcome all. To this gear,2-the sooner the better. Boling. Patience, good lady; wizards know their times: Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, 19 The time of night when Troy was set on fire; The time when screech-owls cry, and bandogs howl, And spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves, That time best fits the work we have in hand. Madam, sit you and fear not: whom we raise, We will make fast within a hallow'd verge. [Here they do the ceremonies belonging, and make the circle; Bolingbroke or Southwell reads, Conjuro te, &c. It thunders and lightens terribly; then the Spirit riseth. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, GLOSTER, CARDINAL, and SUFFOLK, with Falconers halloing. Queen. Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,3 I saw not better sport these seven years' day: [Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high; And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.] King. But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, And what a pitch she flew above the rest!— [To see how God in all his creatures works! Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.] Suf. No marvel, an it like your majesty, My lord protector's hawks do towers so well; 10 They know their master loves to be aloft, And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. 5 Glo. My lord, 't is but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. [Car. I thought as much; he would be above the clouds. Glo. Ay, my lord cardinal,--how think you by that?? Were it not good your grace could fly to hea ven? King. The treasury of everlasting joy. ] Car. Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts Beat on 10 a crown, the treasure of thy heart; An it like, if it please. "By that, about that. 20 8 Tower, fly high. 10 Beat on, are intent upon. Towns. Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine, Within this half-hour, hath receiv'd his sight; A man that ne'er saw in his life before. King. Now, God be prais'd, that to believing souls Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair! Enter the Mayor of Saint Alban's and his brethren; and SIMPCOX, borne between two persons in a chair, his Wife and a crowd following. Car. See where the townsmen, on procession, Come to present your highness with the man. King. Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, Although by sight his sin be multiplied. 70 That we for thee may glorify the Lord. What, hast thou been long blind, and now restor❜d? Simp. Born blind, an 't please your grace. Wife. Ay, indeed, was he. Suf. What woman is this? Wife. His wife, an 't like your worship. 80 Glo. Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have better told. King. Where wert thou born? Simp. At Berwick in the north, an 't like) your grace. King. Poor soul, God's goodness hath been great to thee: Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done. Queen. Tell me, good fellow, cam'st thou here by chance, Or of devotion, to this holy shrine? Simp. God knows, of pure devotion; being call'd A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep, 90 By good Saint Alban; who said, Simpcox, come, 66 Wife. Too true; and bought his climbing very dear. 100 Glo. Mass, thou lov'dst plums well, that' wouldst venture so. Simp. Alas, good master, my wife desir'd some damsons, And made me climb, with danger of my life.< But that, ie only that (tree). |