A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 8 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 460 pages of information about A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 8.

A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 8 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 460 pages of information about A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 8.

ROB.  H. Away with thee?  No; get thee far away
From me, foul Marian, fair though thou be nam’d;
For thy bewitching eyes have raised storms,
That have my name and noblesse ever sham’d;
Prince John, my dear friend once, is now for thee
Become an unrelenting enemy.

JOHN.  But I’ll relent and love thee, if thou leave her.

ROB.  H. And Elinor my sovereign, mother-queen,[181]
That yet retains true passion in her breast,
Stands mourning yonder.  Hence!  I thee detest. 
I will submit me to her majesty. 
Great princess, if you will but ride with me
A little of my way, I will express
My folly past, and humble pardon beg.

MAR.  I grant, Earl Robert, and I thank thee too.

QU.  ELIN.  She’s not the queen; sweet Robin, it is I.

ROB.  H. Hence, sorceress! thy beauty I defy. 
If thou have any love at all to me,
Bestow it on Prince John; he loveth thee.

[Exeunt ROBIN, MARIAN.

JOHN.  And I will love thee, Robin, for this deed,
And help thee, too, in thy distressful need.

QU.  ELIN.  Wilt thou not stay nor speak, proud Huntington? 
Ay me! some whirlwind hurries them away.

JOHN.  Follow him not, fair love, that from thee flies,
But fly to him that gladly follows thee. 
Wilt thou not, girl? turn’st thou away from me?

QU.  ELIN.  Nay, we shall have it then,
If my quaint son his mother ’gin to court. [Aside.

JOHN.  Wilt thou not speak, fair Marian, to Prince John,
That loves thee well?

QU.  ELIN.  Good sir, I know you do.

JOHN.  That can maintain thee.

QU.  ELIN.  Ay, I know you can,
But hitherto I have maintained you.

JOHN.  My princely mother!

QU.  ELIN.  Ay, my princely son.

JOHN.  Is Marian then gone hence with Huntington?

QU.  ELIN.  Ay, she is gone; ill may they either thrive.

JOHN.  Mother, they [needs] must go, whom the devil drives;
For your sharp fury and infernal rage,
Your scorn of me, your spite to Marian,
Your overdoating love to Huntington,
Hath cross’d yourself, and me it hath undone.

QU.  ELIN.  I in mine own deceit have met deceit: 
In brief the manner thus I will repeat. 
I knew with malice that the Prior of York
Pursued Earl Robert; and I furthered it,
Though God can tell, for love of Huntington. 
For thus I thought:  when he was in extremes,
Need and my love would win some good regard
From him to me, if I reliev’d his want. 
To this end came I to the mock spouse-feast;
To this end made I change for Marian’s weed,
That me for her Earl Robert should receive: 
But now I see they both of them agreed,
In my deceit I might myself deceive. 
Come in with me, come in, and meditate
How to turn love to never-changing hate.
          
                              [Exit.

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A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 8 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.