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Kitabı oku: «Mary Stuart», sayfa 4

Фридрих Шиллер

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SCENE IV

Enter SIR AMIAS PAULET and MORTIMER.

ELIZABETH

There's Sir Amias Paulet; noble sir,
What tidings bring you?

PAULET

                Gracious sovereign,
   My nephew, who but lately is returned
   From foreign travel, kneels before thy feet,
   And offers thee his first and earliest homage,
   Grant him thy royal grace, and let him grow
   And flourish in the sunshine of thy favor.

MORTIMER (kneeling on one knee)

Long live my royal mistress! Happiness
And glory from a crown to grace her brows!

ELIZABETH

   Arise, sir knight; and welcome here in England;
   You've made, I hear, the tour, have been in France
   And Rome, and tarried, too, some time at Rheims:
   Tell me what plots our enemies are hatching?

MORTIMER

   May God confound them all! And may the darts
   Which they shall aim against my sovereign,
   Recoiling, strike their own perfidious breasts!

ELIZABETH

Did you see Morgan, and the wily Bishop
Of Ross?

MORTIMER

        I saw, my queen, all Scottish exiles
   Who forge at Rheims their plots against this realm.
   I stole into their confidence in hopes
   To learn some hint of their conspiracies.

PAULET

   Private despatches they intrusted to him,
   In cyphers, for the Queen of Scots, which he,
   With loyal hand, hath given up to us.

ELIZABETH

Say, what are then their latest plans of treason?

MORTIMER

   It struck them all as 'twere a thunderbolt,
   That France should leave them, and with England close
   This firm alliance; now they turn their hopes
   Towards Spain —

ELIZABETH

This, Walsingham hath written us.

MORTIMER

   Besides, a bull, which from the Vatican
   Pope Sixtus lately levelled at thy throne,
   Arrived at Rheims, as I was leaving it;
   With the next ship we may expect it here.

LEICESTER

England no more is frightened by such arms.

BURLEIGH

They're always dangerous in bigots' hands.

ELIZABETH (looking steadfastly at MORTIMER)

Your enemies have said that you frequented
The schools at Rheims, and have abjured your faith.

MORTIMER

So I pretended, that I must confess;
Such was my anxious wish to serve my queen.

ELIZABETH (to PAULET, who presents papers to her)

What have you there?

PAULET

'Tis from the Queen of Scots.
'Tis a petition, and to thee addressed.

BURLEIGH (hastily catching at it)

Give me the paper.

PAULET (giving it to the QUEEN)

             By your leave, my lord
   High-treasurer; the lady ordered me
   To bring it to her majesty's own hands.
   She says I am her enemy; I am
   The enemy of her offences only,
   And that which is consistent with my duty
   I will, and readily, oblige her in.

[The QUEEN takes the letter: as she reads it MORTIMER and LEICESTER speak some words in private.

BURLEIGH (to PAULET)

   What may the purport of the letter be?
   Idle complaints, from which one ought to screen
   The queen's too tender heart.

PAULET

                   What it contains
   She did not hide from me; she asks a boon;
   She begs to be admitted to the grace
   Of speaking with the queen.

BURLEIGH

It cannot be.

TALBOT

Why not? Her supplication's not unjust.

BURLEIGH

   For her, the base encourager of murder;
   Her, who hath thirsted for our sovereign's blood,
   The privilege to see the royal presence
   Is forfeited: a faithful counsellor
   Can never give this treacherous advice.

TALBOT

And if the queen is gracious, sir, are you
The man to hinder pity's soft emotions?

BURLEIGH

   She is condemned to death; her head is laid
   Beneath the axe, and it would ill become
   The queen to see a death-devoted head.
   The sentence cannot have its execution
   If the queen's majesty approaches her,
   For pardon still attends the royal presence,
   As sickness flies the health-dispensing hand.

ELIZABETH (having read the letter, dries her tears)

   Oh, what is man! What is the bliss of earth!
   To what extremities is she reduced
   Who with such proud and splendid hopes began!
   Who, called to sit on the most ancient throne
   Of Christendom, misled by vain ambition,
   Hoped with a triple crown to deck her brows!
   How is her language altered, since the time
   When she assumed the arms of England's crown,
   And by the flatterers of her court was styled
   Sole monarch of the two Britannic isles!
   Forgive me, lords, my heart is cleft in twain,
   Anguish possesses me, and my soul bleeds
   To think that earthly goods are so unstable,
   And that the dreadful fate which rules mankind
   Should threaten mine own house, and scowl so near me.

TALBOT

   Oh, queen! the God of mercy hath informed
   Your heart; Oh! hearken to this heavenly guidance.
   Most grievously, indeed, hath she atoned.
   Her grievous crime, and it is time that now,
   At last, her heavy penance have an end.
   Stretch forth your hand to raise this abject queen,
   And, like the luminous vision of an angel,
   Descend into her gaol's sepulchral night.

BURLEIGH

   Be steadfast, mighty queen; let no emotion
   Of seeming laudable humanity
   Mislead thee; take not from thyself the power
   Of acting as necessity commands.
   Thou canst not pardon her, thou canst not save her:
   Then heap not on thyself the odious blame,
   That thou, with cruel and contemptuous triumph,
   Didst glut thyself with gazing on thy victim.

LEICESTER

   Let us, my lords, remain within our bounds;
   The queen is wise, and doth not need our counsels
   To lead her to the most becoming choice.
   This meeting of the queens hath naught in common
   With the proceedings of the court of justice.
   The law of England, not the monarch's will,
   Condemns the Queen of Scotland, and 'twere worthy
   Of the great soul of Queen Elizabeth,
   To follow the soft dictates of her heart,
   Though justice swerves not from its rigid path.

ELIZABETH

   Retire, my lords. We shall, perhaps, find means
   To reconcile the tender claims of pity
   With what necessity imposes on us.
   And now retire.

[The LORDS retire; she calls SIR EDWARD MORTIMER back.

Sir Edward Mortimer!

SCENE V

ELIZABETH, MORTIMER.

ELIZABETH (having measured him for some time with her eyes in silence)

   You've shown a spirit of adventurous courage
   And self-possession, far beyond your years.
   He who has timely learnt to play so well
   The difficult dissembler's needful task
   Becomes a perfect man before his time,
   And shortens his probationary years.
   Fate calls you to a lofty scene of action;
   I prophesy it, and can, happily
   For you, fulfil, myself, my own prediction.

MORTIMER

Illustrious mistress, what I am, and all
I can accomplish, is devoted to you.

ELIZABETH

   You've made acquaintance with the foes of England.
   Their hate against me is implacable;
   Their fell designs are inexhaustible.
   As yet, indeed, Almighty Providence
   Hath shielded me; but on my brows the crown
   Forever trembles, while she lives who fans
   Their bigot-zeal, and animates their hopes.

MORTIMER

She lives no more, as soon as you command it.

ELIZABETH

   Oh, sir! I thought I saw my labors end,
   And I am come no further than at first,
   I wished to let the laws of England act,
   And keep my own hands pure from blood's defilement.
   The sentence is pronounced – what gain I by it?
   It must be executed, Mortimer,
   And I must authorize the execution.
   The blame will ever light on me, I must
   Avow it, nor can save appearances.
   That is the worst —

MORTIMER

But can appearances
Disturb your conscience where the cause is just?

ELIZABETH

   You are unpractised in the world, sir knight;
   What we appear, is subject to the judgment
   Of all mankind, and what we are, of no man.
   No one will be convinced that I am right:
   I must take care that my connivance in
   Her death be wrapped in everlasting doubt.
   In deeds of such uncertain double visage
   Safety lies only in obscurity.
   Those measures are the worst that stand avowed;
   What's not abandoned, is not wholly lost.

MORTIMER (seeking to learn her meaning)

Then it perhaps were best —

ELIZABETH (quick)

                  Ay, surely 'twere
   The best; Oh, sir, my better angel speaks
   Through you; – go on then, worthy sir, conclude
   You are in earnest, you examine deep,
   Have quite a different spirit from your uncle.

MORTIMER (surprised)

Have you imparted then your wishes to him?

ELIZABETH

I am sorry that I have.

MORTIMER

                Excuse his age,
   The old man is grown scrupulous; such bold
   Adventures ask the enterprising heart
   Of youth —

ELIZABETH

And may I venture then on you —

MORTIMER

My hand I'll lend thee; save then as thou canst
Thy reputation —

ELIZABETH

            Yes, sir; if you could
   But waken me some morning with this news
   "Maria Stuart, your bloodthirsty foe,
   Breathed yesternight her last" —

MORTIMER

Depend on me.

ELIZABETH

When shall my head lie calmly down to sleep?

MORTIMER

The next new moon will terminate thy fears.

ELIZABETH

   And be the selfsame happy day the dawn
   Of your preferment – so God speed you, sir;
   And be not hurt, if, chance, my thankfulness
   Should wear the mask of darkness. Silence is
   The happy suitor's god. The closest bonds,
   The dearest, are the works of secrecy.

[Exit

SCENE VI

MORTIMER (alone).

   Go, false, deceitful queen! As thou deludest
   The world, e'en so I cozen thee; 'tis right,
   Thus to betray thee; 'tis a worthy deed.
   Look I then like a murderer? Hast thou read
   Upon my brow such base dexterity?
   Trust only to my arm, and keep thine own
   Concealed – assume the pious outward show
   Of mercy 'fore the world, while reckoning
   In secret on my murderous aid; and thus
   By gaining time we shall insure her rescue.
   Thou wilt exalt me! – show'st me from afar
   The costly recompense: but even were
   Thyself the prize, and all thy woman's favor,
   What art thou, poor one, and what canst thou proffer?
   I scorn ambition's avaricious strife,
   With her alone is all the charm of life,
   O'er her, in rounds of endless glory, hover
   Spirits with grace, and youth eternal blessed,
   Celestial joy is throned upon her breast.
   Thou hast but earthly, mortal goods to offer —
   That sovereign good, for which all else be slighted,
   When heart in heart, delighting and delighted;
   Together flow in sweet forgetfulness; —
   Ne'er didst thou woman's fairest crown possess,
   Ne'er hast thou with thy hand a lover's heart requited.
   I must attend Lord Leicester, and deliver
   Her letter to him – 'tis a hateful charge —
   I have no confidence in this court puppet —
   I can effect her rescue, I alone;
   Be danger, honor, and the prize my own.

[As he is going, PAULET meets him.

SCENE VII

MORTIMER, PAULET.

PAULET

What said the queen to you?

MORTIMER

'Twas nothing, sir;
Nothing of consequence —

PAULET (looking at him earnestly)

                Hear, Mortimer!
   It is a false and slippery ground on which
   You tread. The grace of princes is alluring,
   Youth loves ambition – let not yours betray you.

MORTIMER

Was it not yourself that brought me to the court?

PAULET

   Oh, would to God I had not done as much!
   The honor of our house was never reaped
   In courts – stand fast, my nephew – purchase not
   Too dear, nor stain your conscience with a crime.

MORTIMER

What are these fears? What are you dreaming of?

PAULET

   How high soever the queen may pledge herself
   To raise you, trust not her alluring words.
   [The spirit of the world's a lying spirit,
   And vice is a deceitful, treacherous friend.]
   She will deny you, if you listen to her;
   And, to preserve her own good name, will punish
   The bloody deed, which she herself enjoined.

MORTIMER

The bloody deed! —

PAULET

             Away, dissimulation! —
   I know the deed the queen proposed to you.
   She hopes that your ambitious youth will prove
   More docile than my rigid age. But say,
   Have you then pledged your promise, have you?

MORTIMER

Uncle!

PAULET

If you have done so, I abandon you,
And lay my curse upon you —

LEICESTER (entering)

                  Worthy sir!
   I with your nephew wish a word. The queen
   Is graciously inclined to him; she wills
   That to his custody the Scottish queen
   Be with full powers intrusted. She relies
   On his fidelity.

PAULET

Relies! – 'tis well —

LEICESTER

What say you, sir?

PAULET

             Her majesty relies
   On him; and I, my noble lord, rely
   Upon myself, and my two open eyes.

[Exit

SCENE VIII

LEICESTER, MORTIMER.

LEICESTER (surprised)

What ailed the knight?

MORTIMER

               My lord, I cannot tell
   What angers him: the confidence, perhaps,
   The queen so suddenly confers on me.

LEICESTER

Are you deserving then of confidence?

MORTIMER

This would I ask of you, my Lord of Leicester.

LEICESTER

You said you wished to speak with me in private.

MORTIMER

Assure me first that I may safely venture.

LEICESTER

   Who gives me an assurance on your side?
   Let not my want of confidence offend you;
   I see you, sir, exhibit at this court
   Two different aspects; one of them must be
   A borrowed one; but which of them is real?

MORTIMER

The selfsame doubts I have concerning you.

LEICESTER

Which, then, shall pave the way to confidence?

MORTIMER

He, who by doing it, is least in danger.

LEICESTER

Well, that are you —

MORTIMER

              No, you; the evidence
   Of such a weighty, powerful peer as you
   Can overwhelm my voice. My accusation
   Is weak against your rank and influence.

LEICESTER

   Sir, you mistake. In everything but this
   I'm powerful here; but in this tender point
   Which I am called upon to trust you with,
   I am the weakest man of all the court,
   The poorest testimony can undo me.

MORTIMER

   If the all-powerful Earl of Leicester deign
   To stoop so low to meet me, and to make
   Such a confession to me, I may venture
   To think a little better of myself,
   And lead the way in magnanimity.

LEICESTER

Lead you the way of confidence, I'll follow.

MORTIMER (producing suddenly the letter)

Here is a letter from the Queen of Scotland.

LEICESTER (alarmed, catches hastily at the letter)

Speak softly, sir! what see I? Oh, it is
Her picture!

[Kisses and examines it with speechless joy – a pause.

MORTIMER (who has watched him closely the whole tine)

Now, my lord, I can believe you.

LEICESTER (having hastily run through the letter)

You know the purport of this letter, sir.

MORTIMER

Not I.

LEICESTER

Indeed! She surely hath informed you.

MORTIMER

   Nothing hath she informed me of. She said
   You would explain this riddle to me – 'tis
   To me a riddle, that the Earl of Leicester,
   The far-famed favorite of Elizabeth,
   The open, bitter enemy of Mary,
   And one of those who spoke her mortal sentence,
   Should be the man from whom the queen expects
   Deliverance from her woes; and yet it must be;
   Your eyes express too plainly what your heart
   Feels for the hapless lady.

LEICESTER

                  Tell me, Sir,
   First, how it comes that you should take so warm
   An interest in her fate; and what it was
   Gained you her confidence?

MORTIMER

                 My lord, I can,
   And in few words, explain this mystery.
   I lately have at Rome abjured my creed,
   And stand in correspondence with the Guises.
   A letter from the cardinal archbishop
   Was my credential with the Queen of Scots.

LEICESTER

   I am acquainted, sir, with your conversion;
   'Twas that which waked my confidence towards you.
   [Each remnant of distrust be henceforth banished;]
   Your hand, sir, pardon me these idle doubts,
   I cannot use too much precaution here.
   Knowing how Walsingham and Burleigh hate me,
   And, watching me, in secret spread their snares;
   You might have been their instrument, their creature
   To lure me to their toils.

MORTIMER

                 How poor a part
   So great a nobleman is forced to play
   At court! My lord, I pity you.

LEICESTER

                    With joy
   I rest upon the faithful breast of friendship,
   Where I can ease me of this long constraint.
   You seem surprised, sir, that my heart is turned
   So suddenly towards the captive queen.
   In truth, I never hated her; the times
   Have forced me to be her enemy.
   She was, as you well know, my destined bride,
   Long since, ere she bestowed her hand on Darnley,
   While yet the beams of glory round her smiled,
   Coldly I then refused the proffered boon.
   Now in confinement, at the gates of death,
   I claim her at the hazard of my life.

MORTIMER

True magnanimity, my lord.

LEICESTER

                 The state
   Of circumstances since that time is changed.
   Ambition made me all insensible
   To youth and beauty. Mary's hand I held
   Too insignificant for me; I hoped
   To be the husband of the Queen of England.

MORTIMER

It is well known she gave you preference
Before all others.

LEICESTER

             So, indeed, it seemed.
   Now, after ten lost years of tedious courtship
   And hateful self-constraint – oh, sir, my heart
   Must ease itself of this long agony.
   They call me happy! Did they only know
   What the chains are, for which they envy me!
   When I had sacrificed ten bitter years
   To the proud idol of her vanity;
   Submitted with a slave's humility
   To every change of her despotic fancies
   The plaything of each little wayward whim.
   At times by seeming tenderness caressed,
   As oft repulsed with proud and cold disdain;
   Alike tormented by her grace and rigor:
   Watched like a prisoner by the Argus eyes
   Of jealousy; examined like a schoolboy,
   And railed at like a servant. Oh, no tongue
   Can paint this hell.

MORTIMER

My lord, I feel for you.

LEICESTER

   To lose, and at the very goal, the prize
   Another comes to rob me of the fruits
   Of my so anxious wooing. I must lose
   To her young blooming husband all those rights
   Of which I was so long in full possession;
   And I must from the stage descend, where I
   So long have played the most distinguished part.
   'Tis not her hand alone this envious stranger
   Threatens, he'd rob me of her favor too;
   She is a woman, and he formed to please.

MORTIMER

He is the son of Catherine. He has learnt
In a good school the arts of flattery.

LEICESTER

   Thus fall my hopes; I strove to seize a plank
   To bear me in this shipwreck of my fortunes,
   And my eye turned itself towards the hope
   Of former days once more; then Mary's image
   Within me was renewed, and youth and beauty
   Once more asserted all their former rights.
   No more 'twas cold ambition; 'twas my heart
   Which now compared, and with regret I felt
   The value of the jewel I had lost.
   With horror I beheld her in the depths.
   Of misery, cast down by my transgression;
   Then waked the hope in me that I might still
   Deliver and possess her; I contrived
   To send her, through a faithful hand, the news
   Of my conversion to her interests;
   And in this letter which you brought me, she
   Assures me that she pardons me, and offers
   Herself as guerdon if I rescue her.

MORTIMER

   But you attempted nothing for her rescue.
   You let her be condemned without a word:
   You gave, yourself, your verdict for her death;
   A miracle must happen, and the light
   Of truth must move me, me, her keeper's nephew,
   And heaven must in the Vatican at Rome
   Prepare for her an unexpected succour,
   Else had she never found the way to you.

LEICESTER

   Oh, sir, it has tormented me enough!
   About this time it was that they removed her
   From Talbot's castle, and delivered her
   Up to your uncle's stricter custody.
   Each way to her was shut. I was obliged
   Before the world to persecute her still;
   But do not think that I would patiently
   Have seen her led to death. No, Sir; I hoped,
   And still I hope, to ward off all extremes,
   Till I can find some certain means to save her.

MORTIMER

   These are already found: my Lord of Leicester;
   Your generous confidence in me deserves
   A like return. I will deliver her.
   That is my object here; my dispositions
   Are made already, and your powerful aid
   Assures us of success in our attempt.

LEICESTER

What say you? You alarm me! How? You would —

MORTIMER

I'll open forcibly her prison-gates;
I have confederates, and all is ready.

LEICESTER

   You have confederates, accomplices?
   Alas! In what rash enterprise would you
   Engage me? And these friends, know they my secret?

MORTIMER

   Fear not; our plan was laid without your help,
   Without your help it would have been accomplished,
   Had she not signified her resolution
   To owe her liberty to you alone.

LEICESTER

And can you, then, with certainty assure me
That in your plot my name has not been mentioned?

MORTIMER

   You may depend upon it. How, my lord,
   So scrupulous when help is offered you?
   You wish to rescue Mary, and possess her;
   You find confederates; sudden, unexpected,
   The readiest means fall, as it were from Heaven,
   Yet you show more perplexity than joy.

LEICESTER

We must avoid all violence; it is
Too dangerous an enterprise.

MORTIMER

Delay
Is also dangerous.

LEICESTER

I tell you, Sir,
'Tis not to be attempted —

MORTIMER

                  My lord,
   Too hazardous for you, who would possess her;
   But we, who only wish to rescue her,
   We are more bold.

LEICESTER

Young man, you are too hasty
In such a thorny, dangerous attempt.

MORTIMER

And you too scrupulous in honor's cause.

LEICESTER

I see the trammels that are spread around us.

MORTIMER

And I feel courage to break through them all.

LEICESTER

Foolhardiness and madness, is this courage?

MORTIMER

This prudence is not bravery, my lord.

LEICESTER

You surely wish to end like Babington.

MORTIMER

You not to imitate great Norfolk's virtue.

LEICESTER

Norfolk ne'er won the bride he wooed so fondly.

MORTIMER

But yet he proved how truly he deserved her.

LEICESTER

If we are ruined, she must fall with us.

MORTIMER

If we risk nothing, she will ne'er be rescued.

LEICESTER

   You will not weigh the matter, will not hear;
   With blind and hasty rashness you destroy
   The plans which I so happily had framed.

MORTIMER

   And what were then the plans which you had framed?
   What have you done then to deliver her?
   And how, if I were miscreant enough
   To murder her, as was proposed to me
   This moment by Elizabeth, and which
   She looks upon as certain; only name
   The measures you have taken to protect her?

LEICESTER

Did the queen give you, then, this bloody order?

MORTIMER

She was deceived in me, as Mary is in you.

LEICESTER

And have you promised it? Say, have you?

MORTIMER

That she might not engage another's hand,
I offered mine.

LEICESTER

            Well done, sir; that was right;
   This gives us leisure, for she rests secure
   Upon your bloody service, and the sentence
   Is unfulfilled the while, and we gain time.

MORTIMER (angrily)

No, we are losing time.

LEICESTER

                The queen depends
   On you, and will the readier make a show
   Of mercy; and I may prevail on her
   To give an audience to her adversary;
   And by this stratagem we tie her hands
   Yes! I will make the attempt, strain every nerve.

MORTIMER

   And what is gained by this? When she discovers
   That I am cheating her, that Mary lives;
   Are we not where we were? She never will
   Be free; the mildest doom which can await her
   At best is but perpetual confinement.
   A daring deed must one day end the matter;
   Why will you not with such a deed begin?
   The power is in your hands, would you but rouse
   The might of your dependents round about
   Your many castles, 'twere an host; and still
   Has Mary many secret friends. The Howards
   And Percies' noble houses, though their chiefs
   Be fallen, are rich in heroes; they but wait
   For the example of some potent lord.
   Away with feigning – act an open part,
   And, like a loyal knight, protect your fair;
   Fight a good fight for her! You know you are
   Lord of the person of the Queen of England,
   Whene'er you will: invite her to your castle,
   Oft hath she thither followed you – then show
   That you're a man; then speak as master; keep her
   Confined till she release the Queen of Scots.

LEICESTER

   I am astonished – I am terrified!
   Where would your giddy madness hurry you?
   Are you acquainted with this country? Know you
   The deeps and shallows of this court? With what
   A potent spell this female sceptre binds
   And rules men's spirits round her? 'Tis in vain
   You seek the heroic energy which once
   Was active in this land! it is subdued,
   A woman holds it under lock and key,
   And every spring of courage is relaxed.
   Follow my counsel – venture nothing rashly.
   Some one approaches-go —