| [Enter MARGARET JOURDAIN, HUME, SOUTHWELL, and BOLINGBROKE] |
|
| HUME | Come, my masters; the duchess, I tell you, expects performance of your promises. |
| BOLINGBROKE | Master Hume, we are therefore provided: will her ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms? |
| HUME | Ay, what else? fear you not her courage. |
| BOLINGBROKE | 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 the DUCHESS aloft, HUME following] | |
| DUCHESS | Well said, my masters; and welcome all. To this gear the sooner the better. |
| BOLINGBROKE | Patience, good lady; wizards know their times: Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, The time of night when Troy was set on fire; The time when screech-owls cry and ban-dogs 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] |
|
| Spirit | Adsum. |
| MARGARET JOURDAIN | Asmath, By the eternal God, whose name and power Thou tremblest at, answer that I shall ask; For, till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence. |
| Spirit | Ask what thou wilt. That I had said and done! |
| BOLINGBROKE | 'First of the king: what shall of him become?' |
| [Reading out of a paper] | |
| Spirit | The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose; But him outlive, and die a violent death. |
| [As the Spirit speaks, SOUTHWELL writes the answer] | |
| BOLINGBROKE | 'What fates await the Duke of Suffolk?' |
| Spirit | By water shall he die, and take his end. |
| BOLINGBROKE | 'What shall befall the Duke of Somerset?' |
| Spirit | Let him shun castles; Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains Than where castles mounted stand. Have done, for more I hardly can endure. |
| BOLINGBROKE | Descend to darkness and the burning lake! False fiend, avoid! |
| [Thunder and lightning. Exit Spirit] | |
| [Enter YORK and BUCKINGHAM with their Guard and break in] |
|
| YORK | Lay hands upon these traitors and their trash. Beldam, I think we watch'd you at an inch. What, madam, are you there? the king and commonweal Are deeply indebted for this piece of pains: My lord protector will, I doubt it not, See you well guerdon'd for these good deserts. |
| DUCHESS | Not half so bad as thine to England's king, Injurious duke, that threatest where's no cause. |
| BUCKINGHAM | True, madam, none at all: what call you this? Away with them! let them be clapp'd up close. And kept asunder. You, madam, shall with us. Stafford, take her to thee. |
| [Exeunt above DUCHESS and HUME, guarded] | |
| We'll see your trinkets here all forthcoming. All, away! |
|
| [Exeunt guard with MARGARET JOURDAIN, SOUTHWELL, &c] | |
| YORK | Lord Buckingham, methinks, you watch'd her well: A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon! Now, pray, my lord, let's see the devil's writ. What have we here? |
| [Reads] | |
| 'The duke yet lives, that Henry shall depose; But him outlive, and die a violent death.' Why, this is just 'Aio te, AEacida, Romanos vincere posse.' Well, to the rest: 'Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk? By water shall he die, and take his end. What shall betide the Duke of Somerset? Let him shun castles; Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains Than where castles mounted stand.' Come, come, my lords; These oracles are hardly attain'd, And hardly understood. The king is now in progress towards Saint Alban's, With him the husband of this lovely lady: Thither go these news, as fast as horse can carry them: A sorry breakfast for my lord protector. |
|
| BUCKINGHAM | Your grace shall give me leave, my Lord of York, To be the post, in hope of his reward. |
| YORK | At your pleasure, my good lord. Who's within there, ho! |
| [Enter a Servingman] | |
| Invite my Lords of Salisbury and Warwick To sup with me to-morrow night. Away! |
|
| [Exeunt] |