| ACT I SCENE IV | Gloucester's garden. | |
| [
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. | 5 |
| 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. | 10 |
[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. | 15 |
| 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, | 20 |
| 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, | 25 |
| 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?' | 30 |
| [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?' | 35 |
| 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! | 40 |
| 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: | 45 |
| 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? | 50 |
| 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! | 55 |
| [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; | 60 |
| 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? | 65 |
| 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.' | 70 |
| 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: | 75 |
| 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. | 80 |
| 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] |
The Essential Student History Quiz (with answers and illustrations)