Tragic Poem of Wold, The - Act 2, Scene 5
SCENE V. — A Court in Wold Castle .
The Duchess OF W OLD and M OUNTNORRIS .
D UCH . Those volunteers?
M OUNT . They're promised us by Chayr:
He's steel: they'll come.
D UCH . I trust they're not raw boys,
Unstiffened by deeds; mere gristles of service?
M OUNT . Yeomen,
Tried all and true, proud for the Old Boar's sake
To man these walls.
D UCH . Get them in. We'll be sieged.
What stores have we? Get more: lay them in large,
That we may hold it out. Would we had here
Our blind old Minstrel and his daughter Rachel.
I wished them in for safety; but the Harper
Preferred his forest cottage, thence to harp
From place to place: skilful is he to touch
The faithful popular heart.
Enter D R R OWTH .
How goes it, Father?
D R R OWTH . Ill for the King. Too well for Hereford:
He's Lancaster now, and will be more anon
Terrible things for him has Lord Wold done,
Riding from sea to sea, quelling down all
D UCH . Where's Richard?
D R R OWTH . Still in Ireland. Lionel Chayr
(Sir Lionel now, for York has knighted him)
Is the one man worth naming in his cause.
The other day — a mere wild slip of a lad,
To-day — more than a man,
This unexpected and thrice-valiant youth,
Loyal and true, what deeds has he not done!
But all in vain: The Kingdom's ta'en from Richard,
And given to another.
D UCH . That a son of mine
Should thus ride o'er his King's discrowned head!
D R R OWTH . Even were our King deposed, the Throne by right's
Not Lancaster's?
D UCH . 'Twere countenance to rebellion
To care one jot for that: If Principle
Go down on its knees even once to Accident,
Down with it once for all! The unjust excess
Is better for us, when reaction comes,
Than moderate wrong. Yet is this sorry work:
With blood for this, ay, dear shall England pay,
When Right reviving shall war back on Might,
Throned in the now usurping Lancaster.
The Duchess OF W OLD and M OUNTNORRIS .
D UCH . Those volunteers?
M OUNT . They're promised us by Chayr:
He's steel: they'll come.
D UCH . I trust they're not raw boys,
Unstiffened by deeds; mere gristles of service?
M OUNT . Yeomen,
Tried all and true, proud for the Old Boar's sake
To man these walls.
D UCH . Get them in. We'll be sieged.
What stores have we? Get more: lay them in large,
That we may hold it out. Would we had here
Our blind old Minstrel and his daughter Rachel.
I wished them in for safety; but the Harper
Preferred his forest cottage, thence to harp
From place to place: skilful is he to touch
The faithful popular heart.
Enter D R R OWTH .
How goes it, Father?
D R R OWTH . Ill for the King. Too well for Hereford:
He's Lancaster now, and will be more anon
Terrible things for him has Lord Wold done,
Riding from sea to sea, quelling down all
D UCH . Where's Richard?
D R R OWTH . Still in Ireland. Lionel Chayr
(Sir Lionel now, for York has knighted him)
Is the one man worth naming in his cause.
The other day — a mere wild slip of a lad,
To-day — more than a man,
This unexpected and thrice-valiant youth,
Loyal and true, what deeds has he not done!
But all in vain: The Kingdom's ta'en from Richard,
And given to another.
D UCH . That a son of mine
Should thus ride o'er his King's discrowned head!
D R R OWTH . Even were our King deposed, the Throne by right's
Not Lancaster's?
D UCH . 'Twere countenance to rebellion
To care one jot for that: If Principle
Go down on its knees even once to Accident,
Down with it once for all! The unjust excess
Is better for us, when reaction comes,
Than moderate wrong. Yet is this sorry work:
With blood for this, ay, dear shall England pay,
When Right reviving shall war back on Might,
Throned in the now usurping Lancaster.
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