Elliot.—­You wrong me, noble lady.

Lady Seton.—­Away!  I’ll hear thee not, nor let my ears List to the accents of a traitor’s tongue. [Exit ELLIOT.

SCENE III.—­An Apartment in KING EDWARD’S Tent.

Enter EDWARD and PERCY.

Edward.—­Well, my Lord Percy, thou hast made good speed.  What say these haughty burghers to our clemency?

Percy.—­In truth, your Grace, they are right haughty
  burghers. 
One wondrous civil gentleman proposed
To write his answer on your servant’s tongue—­
Using his sword as clerks might do a quill—­
Then thrust it on an arrow for a post-boy!

Edward.—­Such service he shall meet.  What said their governor?

Percy.—­Marry! the old boy said I was no gentleman,
And bade me read my answer in the eyes
Of—­Heaven defend me!—­such a squalid crew! 
One looked like death run from his winding sheet;
Another like an ague clothed in rags;
A third had something of the human form,
But every bone was cursing at its fellow. 
Now, though I vow that I could read my fate
In every damsel’s eyes that kissed a moonbeam,
I’ve yet to learn the meaning of the words
Wrote on the eyeballs of his vellum-spectres,
But the old man is henpecked!

Edward.—­Prythee, Lord Percy, lay thy fool’s tongue by, And tell thy meaning plainly.

Percy.—­Nay, pardon me, your majesty; I wot Your servant is the fool his father made him, And the most dutiful of all your subjects.

Edward.—­We know it, Percy.  But what of his wife?

Percy.—­Why, if the men but possess half her spirit, You might besiege these walls till you have counted The grey hairs on the child that’s born next June.

Edward.—­And was this all?

Percy.—­Nay, there was one—­a smooth-tongued oily man—­
A leader of the citizens; and one
Who measures out dissension by the rood: 
He is an orator, and made a speech
Against the governor:  the people murmured;
And one or two cried out, “Behold an Antony!”
But he’s a traitor; and I’d hang all traitors!

Edward.—­Ha!—­then doth the devil, Disaffection, With his fair first-born, Treason, smooth our path.  So we have friends within the citadel.  Sent they no other answer?

Percy.—­I did expect me to have brought the whole, Like half-clothed beggars bending at my heels, To crave your Grace’s succour; but, behold, Ere I could bid them home for a clean shirt, That they might meet your majesty like Christians, Out stepped her ladyship, and with a speech Roused up the whole to such a flood of feeling That I did well ’scape drowning in the shout Of Scotland and Seton!—­Seton and Scotland!—­Then did she turn and ask me, “Are you answered?” I said I was!—­and they did raise a cry Of Death or Liberty!