We may succeed-- who can foretell?
May heav'n help our hope--
May heav'n help our hope, farewell!
May heav'n help our hope, Help our hope, farewell!
[LEONARD embraces MERYLL and PHOEBE, and then exits.PHOEBEweeping.
MERYLL[goes up to PHOEBE] Nay, lass, be of good cheer, we may save him yet.
PHOEBEOh! see, after-- they bring the poor gentleman from the Beauchamp! [pronounced Bee'cham] Oh, father! his hour is not yet come?
MERYLLNo, no-- they lead him to the Cold Harbour Tower to await his end in solitude.But softly-- the Lieutenant approaches! He should not see thee weep.
[Enter FAIRFAX, guarded by YEOMEN.The LIEUTENANT enters, meeting him.
LIEUT.Halt! Colonel Fairfax, my old friend, we meet but sadly.
FAIRFAX Sir, I greet you with all good-will; and I thank you for the zealous acre with which you have guarded me from the pestilent dangers which threaten human life outside.In this happy little community, Death, when he comes, doth so in punctual and business-like fashion; and, like a courtly gentleman, giveth due notice of his advent, that one may not be taken unawares.
LIEUT.Sir, you bear this bravely, as a brave man should.
FAIRFAX Why, sir, it is no light boon to die swiftly and surely at a given hour and in a given fashion! Truth to tell, I would gladly have my life; but if that may not be, I have the next best thing to it, which is death.Believe me, sir, my lot is not so much amiss!
PHOEBE[aside to MERYLL] Oh, father, father, I cannot bear it!
MERYLLMy poor lass!
FAIRFAX Nay, pretty one, why weepest thou? Come, be comforted.
Such a life as mine is not worth weeping for.[sees MERYLL] Sergeant Meryll, is it not? [to LIEUTENANT]
May I greet my old friend? [Shakes MERYLL's hand;MERYLL begins to weep] Why, man, what's all this? Thou and I have faced the grim old king a dozen times, and never has his majesty come to me in such goodly fashion.Keep a stout heart, good fellow-- we are soldiers, and we know how to die, thou and I.Take my word for it, it is easier to die well than to live well-- for, in sooth, I have tried both.
No.5.Is life a boon?
(BALLAD)
FairfaxFAIRFAX Is life a boon?
If so, it must befall That Death, whene'er he call, Must call too soon.
Though fourscore years he give, Yet one would pray to live Another moon!
What kind of plaint have I, Who perish in July, who perish in July?
I might have had to die, Perchance, in June!
I might have had to die, Perchance, in June!
Is life a thorn?
Then count it not a whit!
Nay, count it not a whit!
Man is well done with it;
Soon as he's born He should all means essay To put the plague away;And I, war-worn, Poor captured fugitive, My life most gladly give--I might have had to live, Another morn!
I might have had to live, Another morn!
[At the end, PHOEBE is led off, weeping, by MERYLL.
FAIRFAX And now, Sir Richard, I have a boon to beg.I am in this strait for no better reason than because my kinsman, Sir Clarence Poltwhistle, one of the Secretaries of State, has charged me with sorcery, in order that he may succeed in my estate, which devolves to him provided I die unmarried.
LIEUT.As thou wilt most surely do.
FAIRFAX Nay, as I will most surely not do, by your worship's grace! I have a mind to thwart this good cousin of mine.
LIEUT.How?
FAIRFAX By marrying forthwith, to be sure!
LIEUT.But heaven ha' mercy, whom wouldst thou marry?
FAIRFAX Nay, I am indifferent on that score.Coming Death hath made of me a true and chivalrous knight, who holds all womankind in such esteem that the oldest, and the meanest, and the worst-favoured of them is good enough for him.So, my good Lieutenant, if thou wouldst serve a poor soldier who has but an hour to live, find me the first that comes-- my confessor shall marry us, and her dower shall be my dishonoured name and a hundred crowns to boot.No such poor dower for an hour of matrimony!
LIEUT.A strange request.I doubt that I should be warranted in granting it.
FAIRFAX There never was a marriage fraught with so little of evil to the contracting parties.In an hour she'll be a widow, and I-- a bachelor again for aught I know!
LIEUT.Well, I will see what can be done, for I hold thy kinsman in abhorrence for the scurvy trick he has played thee.
FAIRFAX A thousand thanks, good sir; we meet again in this spot in an hour or so.I shall be a bridegroom then, and your worship will wish me joy.Till then, farewell.[To GUARD] I am ready, good fellows.
[Exit with GUARD into Cold Harbour Tower]
LIEUT.He is a brave fellow, and it is a pity that he should die.Now, how to find him a bride at such short notice? Well, the task should be easy! [Exit]
[Enter JACK POINT and ELSIE MAYNARD, pursued by a CROWD of men and women.POINT and ELSIE are much terrified; POINT, however, assuming an appearance of self-possession.
No.6.Here's a man of jollity (CHORUS)
People, Elsie, and Jack PointCHORUS Here's a man of jollity, Jibe, joke, jollify!
Give us of your quality, Come, fool, follify!
If you vapour vapidly, River runneth rapidly, Into it we fling Bird who doesn't sing!
Give us an experiment In the art of merriment;Into it we throw Cock who doesn't crow!
Banish your timidity, And with all rapidity Give us quip and quiddity--Willy-nilly, O!
River none can mollify;
Into it we throw Fool who doesn't follify, Cock who doesn't crow!
Banish your timidity, And with all rapidity Give us quip and quiddity--Willy-nilly, O!
POINT [alarmed] My masters, I pray you bear with us, and we will satisfy you, for we are merry folk who would make all merry as ourselves.For, look you, there is humour in all things, and the truest philosophy is that which teaches us to find it and to make the most of it.
ELSIE [struggling with 1ST CITIZEN] Hands off, I say, unmannerly fellow! [she boxes his ears]
POINT [to 1ST CITIZEN] Ha! Didst thou hear her say, "Hands off"?
1ST
CITIZEN Aye, I heard her say it, and I felt her do it! What then?
POINT Thou dost not see the humour of that?
1ST
CITIZEN Nay, if I do, hang me!
POINT Thou dost not? Now, observe.She said, "Hands off!
