The gallant is turned tailor, and all friends.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Court of Justice.

Enter ROMONT and BEAUMONT.

Rom. You have them ready?
Beaum. Yes; and they will speak

Their knowledge in this cause, when thou think'st

fit

To have them called upon.

Rom. 'Tis well; and something

I can add to their evidence, to prove

Though they are too familiar I deserve them.
And, knowing too what blood my sword hath
drunk,

In wreak of that disgrace, they yet forbear
To shake their heads, or to revile me for
A murderer; they rather all put on
(As for great losses the old Romans used)
A general face of sorrow, waited on

By a sad murmur, breaking through their silence,
And no eye but was readier with a tear
To witness 'twas shed for me, than I could
Discern a face made up with scorn against me.
Why should I, then, though for unusual wrongs

This brave revenge, which they would have called I chose unusual means to right those wrongs,

Rom. That friendship's raised on sand,
Which every sudden gust of discontent,
Or flowing of our passions, can change,

As if it ne'er had been:-But do you know
Who are to sit on him?

Beaum. Monsieur Du Croy,
Assisted by Charmi.

Rom. The advocate,

That pleaded for the marshal's funeral,

And was checked for it by Novall?
Beaum. The same.

Rom. How fortunes that?

Beaum. Why, sir, my lord Novall,
Being the accuser, cannot be the judge;'
Nor would grieved Rochfort, but lord Charalois
(However he might wrong him by his power)
Should have an equal hearing.

Rom. By my hopes

Of Charalois' acquittal, I lament
That reverend old man's fortune.

Beaum. Had you seen him,

As to my grief I have, now promise patience,
And ere it was believed, though spake by him
That never brake his word, enraged again
So far as to make war upon those hairs,
Which not a barbarous Scythian durst presume
To touch, but with a superstitious fear,
As something sacred ;-and then curse his daugh-
ter,

But with more frequent violence himself,
As if he had been guilty of her fault,
By being incredulous of your report,
You would not only judge him worthy pity,

But suffer with him.-But here comes the priso

ner;

Enter Officers, with CHARALOIS.

I dare not stay to do my duty to him;
Yet, rest assured, all possible means in me
To do him service, keeps you company.

Rom. It is not doubted. [Erit BEAUMONT.
Char. Why, yet, as I came hither,
The people, apt to mock calamity,

Condemn myself, as over partial

In my own cause?-Romont!

Rom. Best friend, well met!

By my heart's love to you, and join to that,
My thankfulness that still lives to the dead,
I look upon you now with more true joy,
Than when I saw you married.

Char. You have reason

To give you warrant for it. My falling off
From such a friendship, with the scorn that an-
swered

Your too prophetic counsel, may well move you
To think your meeting me, going to my death,
A fit encounter for that hate, which justly
I have deserved from you.

Rom. Shall I still, then,

Speak truth, and be ill understood?
Char. You are not.

I'm conscious I have wronged you; and allow me
Only a moral man, to look on you,

Whom foolishly I have abused and injured,
Must of necessity be more terrible to me,
Than any death the judges can pronounce
From the tribunal which I am to plead at.
Rom. Passion transports you.
Char. For what I have done
To my false lady, or Novall, I can
Give some apparent cause; but touching you,
In my defence, childlike, I can say nothing
But, I am sorry for it; a poor satisfaction!
And yet, mistake me not; for it is more
Than I will speak, to have my pardon signed
For all I stand accused of.

Rom. You much weaken
The strength of your good cause, should you but
think,

A man for doing well could entertain
A pardon, were it offered. You have given
To blind and slow-paced justice wings and eyes,
To see and overtake impieties,

Which from a cold proceeding had received
Indulgence or protection.

Char. Think you so?

Rom. Upon my soul! nor should the blood you challenged,

And took to cure your honour, breed more
scruple

In your soft conscience, than if your sword
Had been sheathed in a tyger or she-bear,

And tread on the oppressed, made no horns at That in their bowels would have made your tomb.

me,

To injure innocence is more than murder:

But when inhuman lusts transform us, then
As beasts we are to suffer, not like men
To be lamented. Nor did Charalois ever
Perform an act so worthy the applause
Of a full theatre of perfect men,
As he hath done in this. The glory got
By overthrowing outward enemies,

Virtue, that was my patroness, betrayed me:
For, entering, nay, possessing, this young man,
It lent him such a powerful majesty,

To grace whate'er he undertook, that freely
gave myself up with my liberty,

I

To be at his disposing. Had his person,
Lovely I must confess, or far-famed valour,

Since strength and fortune are main sharers in it, Or any other seeming good, that yet

We cannot, but by pieces, call our own:
But, when we conquer our intestine foes,
Our passions bred within us, and of those
The most rebellious tyrant, powerful love,
Our reason suffering us to like no longer
Than the fair object, being good, deserves it,
That's a true victory! which, were great men
Ambitious to achieve by your example,
Setting no price upon the breach of faith,
But loss of life, 'twould fright adultery
Out of their families; and make lust appear
As loathsome to us in the first consent,
As when 'tis waited on by punishment.
Char. You have confirmed me.
love a woman,

Who would

That might enjoy, in such a man, a friend!
You've made me know the justice of my cause,
And marked me out the way how to defend it.

Rom. Continue to that resolution constant,
And you shall, in contempt of their worst malice,
Come off with honour.-Here they come.

Char. I am ready.

Enter DU CROY, CHARMI, ROCHFORT, NO-
VALL sen. PONTALIER, and BEAUMONT.
Nov. sen. See, equal judges, with what confi-
dence

The cruel murderer stands, as if he would
Out-face the court and justice!

Roch. But look on him,

And you shall find (for still methinks I do,
Though guilt hath dyed him black) something
good in him,

That may perhaps work with a wiser man
Than I have been, again to set him free,
And give him all he has.

Charm. This is not well.

I would you had lived so, my lord, that I,
Might rather have continued your poor servant,
Than sit here as your judge.

Du Croy. I am sorry for you.

Roch. In no act of my life I have deserved
This injury from the court, that any here
Should thus uncivily usurp on what
Is proper to me only.

Du Croy. What distaste

Receives my lord?

Roch. You say you are sorry for him;
A grief in which I must not have a partner.
'Tis I alone am sorry, that when I raised
The building of my life, for seventy years,
Upon so sure a ground, that all the vices
Practised to ruin man, though brought against
me,

Could never undermine, and no way left
To send these gray hairs to the grave with sor-
row,

Holds a near neighbourhood with ill, wrought

on me,

I might have borne it better: But, when good

ness

And piety itself, in her best figure,

Were bribed to my destruction, can you blame

me,

Though I forget to suffer like a man,
Or rather act a woman?

Beaum. Good my lord!—

Nov. sen. You hinder our proceeding.
Charmi. And forget

The parts of an accuser.

Beaum. Pray you, remember

To use the temper, which to me you promised.
Roch. Angels themselves must break, Beau

mont, that promise

Beyond the strength and patience of angels.
But I have done:-My good lord, pardon me,
A weak old man, and, pray you, add to that,
A miserable father; yet be careful
That your compassion of my age, nor his,
Move you to any thing, that may mis-become
The place on which you sit.

Charmi. Read the indictment.

Char. It shall be needless; I myself, my
lords,

Will be my own accuser, and confess
All they can charge me with, nor will I spare
To aggravate that guilt with circumstance,
They seek to load me with; only I pray,
That, as for them you will vouchsafe me hear-
ing,

I may not be denied it for myself,

When I shall urge by what unanswerable reasons
I was compelled to what I did, which yet,
Till

you have taught me better, I repent not. Roch. The motion's honest.

Charmi. And 'tis freely granted.

Char. Then I confess, my lords, that I stood

bound,

When, with my friends, even hope itself had left

me,

To this man's charity for my liberty;
Nor did his bounty end there, but began:
For, after my enlargement, cherishing
The good he did, he made me master of
His only daughter and his whole estate.
Great ties of thankfulness, I must acknowledge;
Could any one, fee'd by you, press this further?-
But yet consider, my most honour'd lords,
If to receive a favour make a servant,
And benefits are bonds to tie the taker
To the imperious will of him that gives,
There's none but slaves will receive courtesies,'
Since they must fetter us to our dishonours.
Can it be called magnificence in a prince,

Your conscience, and these judges, free you from
What you are charged with! So, farewell for
ever!
[Exit ROCHFORT.
Nov. sen. I'll be mine own guide. Passion, nor

example,

Shall be my leaders. I have lost a son,
A son, grave judges! I require his blood
From his accursed homicide.
Charmi. What reply you,

In your defence, for this?
Char. I but attended

Your lordship's pleasure. For the fact, as of
The former, I confess it; but with what
Base wrongs I was unwillingly drawn to it,
Το my few words there are some other proofs,
To witness this for truth. When I was married,
(For there I must begin) the slain Novall
Was to my wife, in way of our French court-
ship,

A most devoted servant; but yet aimed at
Nothing but means to quench his wanton heat,
His heart being never warmed by lawful fires,
As mine was, lords: and though, on these pre-
sumptions,

Joined to the hate between his house and mine,
I might, with opportunity and ease,

Have found a way for my revenge, I did not;
But still he had the freedom as before,
When all was mine: and, told that he abused it
With some unseemly licence, by my friend,
My approved friend, Romont, I gave no credit
To the reporter, but reproved him for it,
As one uncourtly and malicious to him.
What could I more, my lords? Yet, after this,
He did continue in his first pursuit,
Hotter than ever, and at length obtained it;
But, how it came to my most certain knowledge,
For the dignity of the court, and my own honour,

That his great wealth was not the mark I shot at, I dare not say.
But that I held it, when fair Beaumelle

Fell from her virtue, like the fatal gold

Which Brennus took from Delphos, whose pos

session

Brought with it ruin to himself and army,
Here's one in court, Beaumont, by whom I sent
All grants and writings back which made it
mine,

Before his daughter died by his own sentence,
As freely as, unasked, he gave it to me.

Beaum. They are here to be seen.
Charmi. Open the casket.
Peruse that deed of gift.

Rom. Half of the danger

Already is discharged: The other part
As bravely, and you are not only free,
But crowned with praise for ever.
Du Croy. 'Tis apparent.

Charmi. Your state, my lord, again is yours.
Roch. Not mine;

I am not of the world. If it can prosper,
(And yet, being justly got, I'll not examine
Why it should be so fatal) do you bestow it
On pious uses: I'll go seek a grave.

And yet, for proof I die in peace, your pardon
I ask; and, as you grant it me, may Heaven,

Nov. sen. If all may be believed

A pasionate prisoner speaks, who is so foolish,
That durst be wicked, that will appear guilty?
No, my grave lords; in his impunity
But give example unto jealous men

To cut the throats they hate, and they will never
Want matter or pretence for their bad ends.
Charmi. You must find other proofs to strengthen
these

But mere presumptions.

Du Croy. Or we shall hardly
Allow your innocence.

Char. All your attempts

Shall fall on me, like brittle shafts on armour,
That break themselves; or waves against a rock,
That leave no sign of their ridiculous fury
But foam and splinters: my innocence like these
Shall stand triumphant, and your malice serve
But for a trumpet to proclaim my conquest,
Nor shall you, though you do the worst fate can,
Howe'er condemn, affright an honest man.

Rom. May it please the court, I may be heard?
Nov. sen. You come not

To rail again? But do-you shall not find
Another Rochfort.

Rom. In Novall I cannot ;

Enter Officers with AYMER, FLORIMEL, and A judge in my own cause without their warrant: