Mel. No, not a stronger, but more popular. Their births were full opposed, the Guise now strong

est;

But if the ill influence pass o'er Harry's head,
As in a year it will, France ne'er shall boast
A greater king than he; now cut him off,
While yet his stars are weak.

Mal. Thou talk'st of stars:

Can'st thou not see more deep into events,
And by a surer way?

Mel. No, Malicorn;

The ways of heaven are broken since our fall,
Galph beyond gulph, and never to be shot.
Once we could read our mighty Maker's mind,
As in a crystal mirror, see the ideas

Of things that always are, as he is always;
Now, shut below in this dark sphere,
By second causes dimly we may guess,
And peep far off on heaven's revolving orbs,
Which cast obscure reflections from the throne.
Mal. Then tell me thy surmises of the future.
Mel. I took the revolution of the year,

Just when the Sun was entering in the Ram:
The ascending Scorpion poisoned all the sky,
A sign of deep deceit and treachery.
Full on his cusp his angry master sate,
Conjoined with Saturn, baleful both to man:
Of secret slaughters, empires overturned,
Strife, blood, and massacres, expect to hear,
And all the events of an ill-omened year.

Mal. Then flourish hell, and mighty mischief reign!
Mischief, to some, to others must be good.
But hark! for now, though 'tis the dead of night,
When silence broods upon our darkened world,
Methinks I hear a murmuring hollow sound,
Like the deaf chimes of bells in steeples touched.
Mel. It is truly guessed;

But know, 'tis from no nightly sexton's hand.
There's not a damned ghost, nor hell-born fiend,
That can from limbo 'scape, but hither flies;
With leathern wings they beat the dusky skies,
To sacred churches all in swarms repair;
Some crowd the spires, but most the hallowed bells,
And softly toll for souls departing knells:
Each chime, thou hear'st, a future death foretells.
Now there they perch to have them in their
go loaded to the nether skies *.

"Till all

Mal. To-morrow then.

Mel. To-morrow let it be;

eyes,

Or thou deceiv'st those hungry, gaping fiends,
And Beelzebub will rage.

Mal. Why Beelzebub? hast thou not often said, That Lucifer's your king?

Mel. I told thee true;

But Lucifer, as he who foremost fell,

So now lies lowest in the abyss of hell,

Chained till the dreadful doom; in place of whom Sits Beelzebub, vicegerent of the damned,

Who, listening downward, hears his roaring lord,

See the speech of Ashtaroth and his companions, on taking leave of Rinaldo, whom they had transported to the field of Roncisvalles :

Noi ce n'andremo or, io e Farfarello,
Tra le campane, e soneremo a festa,
Quando vedrem, che tu furai macello.
In Roncisvalle una certa chiesetta

Era in quel tempo, ch' avea due campane,
Quivi stetton coloro alla veletta,

Per ciujjar di quell' anime pagane,
Come spurvier tra ramo e ramo aspetta;

E bisogno, che menassin le mane.

E che e' batessin tutto il giorno l' ali,

A presentarle a' guidici infernali.

Il Morgante Maggiore, Canto XXVI. St. 82, 89.

And executes his purpose.-But no more*.
The morning creeps behind yon eastern hill,
And now the guard is mine, to drive the elves,
And foolish fairies, from their moonlight play,
And lash the laggers from the sight of day. [Descends.
[Exit MAL

SCENE III.

Enter GUISE, MAYENNE, CARDINAL, and ARCH

BISHOP.

May. Sullen, methinks, and slow the morning breaks,

As if the sun were listless to appear,

And dark designs hung heavy on the day.

Gui. You're an old man too soon, you're superstitious;

I'll trust my stars, I know them now by proof;
The genius of the king bends under mine:
Environed with his guards, he durst not touch me;
But awed and cravened, as he had been spelled,
Would have pronounced, Go kill the Guise, and durst

not.

Card. We have him in our power, coop'd in his court. Who leads the first attack? Now by yon heaven, That blushes at my scarlet robes, I'll doff This womanish attire of godly peace,

And cry,-Lie there, Lord Cardinal of Guise.

* See the speech of Ashtaroth to Rinaldo, in the Morgante Mag

giore.

Noi abbiam come voi principe e duce

Giù nell' Inferno, e'l primo è Belzebut,

Chi una cosa, e chi altra conduce,

Ognuno attende alle faccende sue ;
Ma tutto a Belzebu, poi si riduce

Perchè Lucifer relegato fue

Ultimo a tutti, e nel centro più imo,
Poich' egli intese esser nel Ciel su primo.

Canto XV. St. 207.

M

Gui. As much too hot, as Mayenne is too cool. But 'tis the manlier fault of the two.

Arch. Have you not heard the king, preventing day, Received the guards into the city gates, The jolly Swisses marching to their fifes? The crowd stood gaping, heartless and amazed, Shrunk to their shops, and left the passage free.

Gui. I would it should be so, 'twas a good horror*. First let them fear for rapes, and ransacked houses; That very fright, when I appear to head them, Will harden their soft city courages :

Cold burghers must be struck, and struck like flints, Ere their hid fire will sparkle.

Arch. I'm glad the king has introduced these guards. Card. Your reason.

Arch. They are too few for us to fear; Our numbers in old martial men are more, The city not cast in; but the pretence, That hither they are brought to bridle Paris, Will make this rising pass for just defence. May. Suppose the city should not rise? Gui. Suppose, as well, the sun should never rise: He may not rise, for heaven may play a trick; But he has risen from Adam's time to ours.

This striking account of the entry of the guards is literally from DAVILA.

"La mattina del Giovedi duodecimo giorno dì maggio, un' ora innanzi giorno, si sentirono i pifferi e i tamburi degli Suizzeri, che battendo l'ordinanza entrarono nella città per la porta di Sant' Onorato, precedendo il Maresciallo di Birone a cavallo, e conseguentemente sotto i loro capitani entrarono con le corde accese le compagnie de' Francesi."---" All' entrare della milizia, nota a tutta la città per lo strepito de' tamburi, il popolo pieno di spavento, e già certo, che la fama divolgata dell' intenzione del re era più che sicura, cominciò a radunarsi, serrando le porte delle case, e chiudendo l'entrate delle botteghe, che conforme all' uso della città di lavorare innanzi giorno, già s'erano cominciare ad aprire, e ognuno si messe a preparare l'armi, apettando l'ordine di quello si dovesse operare. Lib. IX.

Is nothing to be left to noble hazard?
No venture made, but all dull certainty?
By heaven I'll tug with Henry for a crown,
Rather than have it on tame terms of yielding:
I scorn to poach for power.

Enter a Servant, who whispers GUISE.

A lady, say'st thou, young and beautiful,

Brought in a chair?

Conduct her in.

Card. You would be left alone?

[Exit Servant.

Gui. I would; retire. [Exeunt MAY. CARD. &c. Re-enter Servant with MARMOUTIERE, and exit. Starting back.] Is't possible? I dare not trust my eyes! You are not Marmoutiere?

Mar. What am I then?

Gui. Why, any thing but she:

What should the mistress of a king do here?
Mar. Find him, who would be master of a king.
Gui. I sent not for you, madam.

Mar. I think, my lord, the king sent not for you.
Gui. Do you not fear, your
visit will be known?
Mar. Fear is for guilty men, rebels, and traitors:
Where'er I go, my virtue is my guard.

Gui. What devil has sent thee here to plague my soul?

O that I could detest thee now as much
As ever I have loved, nay, even as much
As yet, in spite of all thy crimes, I love!
But 'tis a love so mixt with dark despair,
The smoke and soot smother the rising flame,
And make my soul a furnace. Woman, woman.
What can I call thee more? if devil, 'twere less.
Sure, thine's a race was never got by Adam,
But Eve played false, engendering with the serpent,
Her own part worse than his.