SCENE II.

  Enter King and Council. [Shouts without.

King. What mean these shouts?

Abb. I told your majesty, The sheriffs have puffed the populace with hopes Of their deliverer. [Shouts again.

King. Hark! there rung a peal Like thunder:  see, Alphonso, what’s the cause.

  Enter GRILLON.

Gril. My lord, the Guise is come.

King. Is’t possible! ha, Grillon, said’st thou, come?

Gril. Why droops the royal majesty?  O sir!

King. O villain, slave, wert thou my late-born heir, Given me by heaven, even when I lay a-dying—­ But peace, thou festering thought, and hide thy wound;—­ Where is he?

Gril. With her majesty, your mother; She has taken chair, and he walks bowing by her, With thirty thousand rebels at his heels.

King. What’s to be done?  No pall upon my spirit; But he that loves me best, and dares the most On this nice point of empire, let him speak.

Alph. I would advise you, sir, to call him in, And kill him instantly upon the spot.

Abb. I like Alphonso’s counsel, short, sure work; Cut off the head, and let the body walk.

  Enter QUEEN-MOTHER.

Qu.  M. Sir, the Guise waits.

King. He enters on his fate.

Qu.  M. Not so,—­forbear; the city is up in arms;
Nor doubt, if, in their heat, you cut him off,
That they will spare the royal majesty. 
Once, sir, let me advise, and rule your fury.

King. You shall:  I’ll see him, and I’ll spare him now.

Qu.  M. What will you say?

King. I know not;—­
Colonel Grillon, call the archers in,
Double your guards, and strictly charge the Swiss
Stand to their arms, receive him as a traitor. [Exit GRILLON. 
My heart has set thee down, O Guise, in blood,—­
Blood, mother, blood, ne’er to be blotted out.

Qu.  M. Yet you’ll relent, when this hot fit is over.

King. If I forgive him, may I ne’er be forgiven! 
No, if I tamely bear such insolence,
What act of treason will the villains stop at? 
Seize me, they’ve sworn; imprison me is the next,
Perhaps arraign me, and then doom me dead. 
But ere I suffer that, fall all together,
Or rather, on their slaughtered heaps erect
My throne, and then proclaim it for example. 
I’m born a monarch, which implies alone
To wield the sceptre, and depend on none. [Exeunt[13].

ACT IV.

SCENE I._—­The Louvre._

A Chair of State placed; the King appears sitting in it; a Table by him, on which he leans; Attendants on each Side of him; amongst the rest, ABBOT, GRILLON, and BELLIEURE. The QUEEN-MOTHER enters, led by the Duke of GUISE, who makes his Approach with three Reverences to the King’s Chair; after the third, the King rises, and coming forward, speaks.

King. I sent you word, you should not come.