Would I had been
Born Spaniard! I had held my head up then.
I am ashamed that I am Bagenhall,
English.
_Enter_ OFFICER.
OFFICER. Sir Ralph Bagenhall!
BAGENHALL. What of that?
OFFICER. You were the one sole man in either house
Who stood upright when both the houses fell.
BAGENHALL. The houses fell!
OFFICER. I mean the houses knelt
Before the Legate.
BAGENHALL. Do not scrimp your phrase,
But stretch it wider; say when England fell.
OFFICER. I say you were the one sole man who stood.
BAGENHALL. I am the one sole man in either house,
Perchance in England, loves her like a son.
OFFICER. Well, you one man, because you stood upright,
Her Grace the Queen commands you to the Tower.
BAGENHALL. As traitor, or as heretic, or for what?
OFFICER. If any man in any way would be
The one man, he shall be so to his cost.
BAGENHALL. What! will she have my head?
OFFICER. A round fine likelier.
Your pardon. [_Calling to_ ATTENDANT.
By the river to the Tower.
[_Exeunt_.
SCENE IV.--WHITEHALL. A ROOM IN THE PALACE.
MARY, GARDINER, POLE, PAGET, BONNER, _etc_.
MARY. The King and I, my Lords, now that all traitors
Against our royal state have lost the heads
Wherewith they plotted in their treasonous malice,
Have talk'd together, and are well agreed
That those old statutes touching Lollardism
To bring the heretic to the stake, should be
No longer a dead letter, but requicken'd.
Pages:
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90