God is my witness that this weight of Of nights and days unborn, bring some power, Which he sets me my earthly task to wield Under his law, is my delight and pride Their self-destroying rapine. The wild million Strike at the eye that guides them; like as humours Of the distempered body that conspire Against the spirit of life throned in the heart, And thus become the prey of one another, And last of death Strafford. That which would be Is duty in a sovereign; for on him, and form, one chance, Or war or pestilence or Nature's self, Doubt here the peril of the unseen event. Where now they sit, and awfully serene Smile on the trembling world? Such popular storms Philip the second of Spain, this Lewis of France, And late the German head of many bodies, | And every petty lord of Italy, Quelled or by arts or arms. poorer Is England Or feebler? or art thou who wield'st her power Tamer than they? or shall this island be [Girdled] by its inviolable watersTo the world present and the world to come And all that makes the age of reasoning Sole pattern of extinguished monarchy? man More memorable than a beast's, depend On this that Right should fence itself inviolably Not if thou dost as I would have thee do. King. Your words shall be my deeds: You speak the image of my thought. My friend With power; in which respect the state (If kings can have a friend, I call thee of England so), From usurpation by the insolent commons Beyond the large commission which Cries for reform. belongs Get treason, and spare treasure. Fee Under the great seal of the realm, take with coin this: The loudest murmurers; feed with jeal- And, for some obvious reasons, let ousies Opposing factions,-be thyself of none; And borrow gold of many, for those who lend Will serve thee till thou payest them; and thus Keep the fierce spirit of the hour at bay, Till time, and its coming generations there be No seal on it, except my kingly word Another self, here and in Ireland: And stick not even means. Hear me, Wentworth. a wall at questionable To death, imprisonment, and confisca tion, My word is as Add torture, add the ruin of the kindred Between thee and this world thine Of the offender, add the brand of in This brood of northern vipers in your Which touches our own profit or our bosom. The rabble, instructed no doubt pride, Where it indeed were Christian charity By Loudon, Lindsay, Hume, and false To turn the cheek even to the smiter's Argyll (For the waves never menace heaven until Scourged by the wind's invisible tyranny), Have in the very temple of the Lord Done outrage to his chosen ministers. They scorn the liturgy of the holy Church, Refuse to obey her canons, and deny The apostolic power with which the Spirit Has filled its elect vessels, even from him Who held the keys with power to loose and bind, To him who now pleads in this royal presence. Let ampler powers and new instructions be Sent to the High Commissioners in Scotland. hand: And, when our great Redeemer, when our God, When he who gave, accepted, and retained, Himself in propitiation of our sins, land now: For, by that Christ who came to bring a sword, Not peace, upon the earth, and gave command To his disciples at the passover That each should sell his robe and buy a sword, Once strip that minister of naked wrath, And it shall never sleep in peace again Till Scotland bend or break. King. bishop, Of loyal gentlemen and noble friends My Lord Arch- For the worshipped father of our com mon country, Do what thou wilt and what thou canst With contributions from the catholics, If loyal hearts could turn their blood to Laud. Both now grow barren: and As loving parliaments, which, as they For every petty rate (for we encounter So that, though felt as a most grievous The scourges of the bleeding Church, I hate. Upon the land, they stand us in small Methinks they scarcely can deserve our Scourge And a forced loan from the refractory city, Thou perfect, just, and honourable man! Will fill our coffers: and the golden Never shall it be said that Charles of Stripped those he loved for fear of those he scorns; Nor will he so much misbecome his As to impoverish those who most adorn Queen. ment ? We must begin first where your Grace Gold must give power, or―― The lesson to obey. And are they not mouth, Is this thy firmness? and thou wilt pre- The birth of one light breath? If they And tears and terror, and the pity of Intend to sail with the next favouring presenting them bitter physic the last Lucifer was the first republican. three posts "In one brainless skull, when the whitethorn is full, Shall sail round the world, and come back again: Shall sail round the world in a brainless skull, Queen. Is the rain over, sirrah? And the sun shines, 'twill rain again to morrow: And therefore never smile till you've done crying. Archy. But 'tis all over now: like And come back again when the moon the April anger of woman, the gentle is at full:" When, in spite of the Church, They will hear homilies of whatever length Or form they please. sky has wept itself serene. Queen. What news abroad? how looks the world this morning? Archy. Gloriously as a grave covered with virgin flowers. There's a rainbow So please your Majesty in the sky. Let your Majesty look at to sign this order Cottington. For their detention. Archy. If your Majesty were tormented night and day by fever, gout, rheumatism, and stone, and asthma, etc., and you found these diseases had secretly entered into a conspiracy to abandon you, should you think it necessary to lay an embargo on the port by which they meant to dispeople your unquiet kingdom of man? it, for "A rainbow in the morning Is the shepherd's warning;' and the flocks of which you are the pastor are scattered among the mountain-tops, where every drop of water is a flake of snow, and the breath of May pierces like a January blast. King. The sheep have mistaken the wolf for their shepherd, my poor boy; King. If fear were made for kings, and the shepherd, the wolves for their the Fool mocks wisely; But in this case- (writing). my lord, take the warrant, Here, And see it duly executed forthwith.That imp of malice and mockery shall be punished. [Exeunt all but KING, QUEEN, and ARCHY. Archy. Ay, I am the physician of whom Plato prophesied, who was to be accused by the confectioner before a jury of children, who found him guilty with out waiting for the summing-up, and hanged him without benefit of clergy. Thus Baby Charles, and the Twelfthnight Queen of Hearts, and the overgrown schoolboy Cottington, and that little urchin Laud-who would reduce a verdict of "guilty, death," by famine, if it were impregnable by compositionall impannelled against poor Archy for | watchdogs. Queen. But the rainbow was a good sign, Archy: it says that the waters of the deluge are gone, and can return no more. Archy. Ay, the salt-water one: but that of tears and blood must yet come down, and that of fire follow, if there be any truth in lies.-The rainbow hung over the city with all its shops, . . . and churches, from north to south, like a bridge of congregated lightning pieced by the masonry of heaven- like a balance in which the angel that distributes the coming hour was weighing that heavy one whose poise is now felt in the lightest hearts, before it bows the proudest heads under the meanest feet. Queen. Who taught you this trash, sirrah? Archy. A torn leaf out of an old |