you may be suffered civilly to drink his health; be of the court, and keep a place of profit under him: for, in short, 'tis a judged case of conscience, to make your best of the king, and to side against him. Enter KING and MARMOUTIERE.

King. Grillon, be near me,

There's something for my service to be done,
Your orders will be sudden; now, withdraw.

Gril. [Aside.] Well, I dare trust my niece, even though she comes of my own family; but if she cuckolds my good opinion of her honesty, there's a whole sex fallen under a general rule, without one exception. [Exeunt GRIL. and ALPH.

Mar. You bid my uncle wait you.

King. Yes.

Mar. This hour?

King. I think it was.

Mar. Something of moment hangs upon this hour.

King. Not more on this, than on the next, and

next.

My time is all ta'en up on usury;

I never am beforehand with my hours,
But every one has work before it comes.

Some occasion was given for these reproaches by the summary and arbitrary commitment of many individuals, who had addressed the king in terms expressing their abhorrence of the vehement petitions presented by the other party for the sitting of parliament, and were thence distinguished by the name of Abhorrers. This course was ended by the sturdy resistance of one Stowell, who had, as foreman of the grand jury at Exeter, presented an abhorring address to the king. A serjeant at arms having been sent to apprehend him, he refused to submit, and bid the officer take his course, adding, he knew no law which made him accountable for what he did as a grand juryman. The House were so much embarrassed by his obstinacy, that they hushed up the matter by voting that he was indisposed, and adjourning the debate sine die.

Mar. "There's something for my service to be

done;"

Those were your words.

King. And you desire their meaning?

Mar. I dare not ask, and yet, perhaps, may guess. King. "Tis searching there where heaven can only

pry,

Not man, who knows not man but by surmise;
Nor devils, nor angels of a purer mould,

Can trace the winding labyrinths of thought.
I tell thee, Marmoutiere, I never speak,

Not when alone, for fear some fiend should hear,
And blab my secrets out.

Mar. You hate the Guise.
King. True, I did hate him.
Mar. And you hate him still.
King. I am reconciled.

Mar. Your spirit is too high.

Great souls forgive not injuries, till time

Has put their enemies into their power,

That they may shew, forgiveness is their own;
For else, 'tis fear to punish, that forgives;

The coward, not the king.

King. He has submitted.

Mar. In show; for in effect he still insults.

King. Well, kings must bear sometimes.

Mar. They must, till they can shake their burden

off;

And that's, I think, your aim.

King. Mistaken still:

All favours, all preferments, pass through them;
I'm pliant, and they mould me as they please.
Mar. These are your arts, to make them more se-

cure;

Just so your brother used the admiral.

Brothers may think, and act like brothers too.

King. What said you, ha! what mean you, Mar

moutiere?

Mar. Nay, what mean you? that start betrayed you, sir.

King. This is no vigil of St Bartholomew, Nor is Blois Paris.

Mar. 'Tis an open town.

King. What then?

Mar. Where you are strongest.

King. Well, what then?

Mar. No more;

but you

have power,

and are pro

voked.

King. O, thou hast set thy foot upon a snake! Get quickly off, or it will sting thee dead. Mar. Can I unknow it?

King. No, but keep it secret.

Mar. Think, sir, your thoughts are still as much

your own,

As when you kept the key of your own breast;
But since you let me in, I find it filled

With death and horror: you would murder Guise.
King. Murder! what, murder! use a softer word,
And call it sovereign justice.

Mar. Would I could!

But justice bears the godlike shape of law,
And law requires defence, and equal plea
Betwixt the offender, and the righteous judge.
King. Yes, when the offender can be judged by
laws :

But when his greatness overturns the scales,
Then kings are justice in the last appeal,
And, forced by strong necessity, may strike;
In which, indeed, they assert the public good,
And, like sworn surgeons, lop the gangrened limb:
Unpleasant, wholesome, work.

Mar. If this be needful.

King. Ha! didst not thou thyself, in fathoming The depth of my designs, drop there the plummet?

Didst thou not say-Affronts so great, so public,
I never could forgive?

Mar. I did; but yet

King. What means, but yet? 'tis evidence so full, If the last trumpet sounded in my ears, Undaunted I should meet the saints half way, And in the face of heaven maintain the fact. Mar. Maintain it then to heaven, but not to me. Do you love.me?

King. Can you doubt it?

Mar. Yes, I can doubt it, if you can deny;
Love begs once more this great offender's life.
Can you forgive the man you justly hate,

That hazards both your life and crown to spare him?
One, whom you may suspect I more than pity,-
For I would have you see, that what I ask,
I know, is wondrous difficult to grant,
Can you be thus extravagantly good?

King. What then? for I begin to fear my firm

ness,

And doubt the soft destruction of your tongue.
Mar. Then, in return, I swear to heaven and you,
To give you all the preference of my soul;
No rebel rival to disturb you there;

Let him but live, that he may be my convert!

[King walks awhile, then wipes his eyes, and speaks.

King. You've conquered; all that's past shall be forgiven.

My lavish love has made a lavish grant;

But know, this act of grace shall be my last.
Let him repent, yes, let him well repent;
Let him desist, and tempt revenge no further:
For, by yon heaven, that's conscious of his crimes,
I will no more by mercy be betrayed.

Deputies appearing at the Door.

The deputies are entering; you must leave me.
Thus, tyrant business all my hours usurps,

And makes me live for others.

Mar. Now heaven reward you with a prosperous reign,

And grant, you never may be good in vain! [Exit. Enter Deputies of the Three States: Cardinal of GUISE, and Archbishop of LYONS, at the head of them.

King. Well, my good lords, what matters of importance

Employed the States this morning?
Arch. One high point

Was warmly canvassed in the Commons House,
And will be soon resolved.

King. What was't?

Card. Succession.

King. That's one high point indeed, but not to be So warmly canvassed, or so soon resolved.

Card. Things necessary must sometimes be sudden. King. No sudden danger threatens you, my lord. Arch. What may be sudden, must be counted so. We hope and wish your life; but yours and ours Are in the hand of heaven.

King. My lord, they are;

Yet, in a natural way, I may live long,

If heaven, and you my loyal subjects, please.

Arch. But since good princes, like your majesty,

Take care of dangers merely possible,

Which may concern their subjects, whose they are, And for whom kings are made

King. Yes; we for them,

And they for us; the benefits are mutual,