# Miscellaneous Plays/Rayner Act 3

ACT III.
A spacious court with a magnificent building in front: a great concourse of people are discovered as if waiting in expectation of some sight.
FIRST CROWD.
SECOND CROWD.
THIRD CROWD.
WOMAN CROWD.
SECOND CROWD.
THIRD CROWD.
SECOND CROWD.
(Enter a man from the court.)
OMNES (eagerly).
MAN.
SECOND CROWD.
FIRST CROWD.
WOMAN CROWD.
FIRST CROWD.
SECOND WOMAN.
FIRST CROWD.
WOMAN CROWD.
FIRST CROWD.
WOMAN CROWD.
(Enter a second Man from the court.)
SECOND CROWD.
SECOND MAN.
(Several of the mob climb eagerly up upon the walls of the building, and look in at the windows.)
CROWD (below).
CROWD (above).
OMNES.
CROWD (above).
CROWD (below).
THIRD CROWD.
FIRST CROWD.
SECOND CROWD.
FIRST CROWD.
WOMAN CROWD.
SECOND WOMAN.
THIRD CROWD.
Enter Elizabeth attended by Richard, the crowd making way for her.
ELIZABETH.
RICHARD.
ELIZABETH.
So gather'd round the entry to this palace?
THIRD CROWD.
ELIZABETH.
OMNES (eagerly).
Enter Rayner, fettered and guarded from the court, followed by Bertram and others, and advances slowly towards the front of the stage, the crowd opening and making a lane for him on every side.
FIRST CROWD.
SECOND CROWD.
ELIZABETH (after gazing eagerly at the distant prisoner).
RICHARD.
'Tis but a distant form.
ELIZABETH.
RICHARD.
We shall be certified of the deception.
Rayner is not so tall as this young man, Nor of a make so slender; no, nor yet——
ELIZABETH.
OFFICER (conducting Rayner).
Let not the crowd so closely press around her.
Open the way, and let the pris'ner pass.
RAYNER (upon the crowd opening and discovering Elizabeth).
The last and fellest stroke of angry heaven
Falls on this cursed head.
OFFICER.
Whate'er betide.
RAYNER.
Stronger than law or judgment. Give me way: It is permitted me by ev'ry sense
Of human sympathy, were I ev'n bound
With chains tenfold enlock'd.(Bending over Elizabeth.)
Thou loveliest, and thou dearest! O thou part
Of my most inmost self! art thou thus stricken?
Cut off from ev'ry claim and tie of nature?
(Turning to the officer.)
Thou who dost wear the law's authority, May it not be permitted for the love
Of piteous charity?—Shall strangers' hands
Whilst I am thus—O, do not let it be!
OFFICER.
RAYNER (fiercely roused).
————————Ye who surround me too,
Each with the form and countenance of a man, Say ye 'tis not permitted?
To you I do stretch forth these fetter'd hands,
And call you men: O, let me not miscall you!
VOICES FROM THE CROWD.
And we will stand his sureties.
BERTRAM (stepping forward in a supplicating posture to the officer).
And shoot me thro' the head if he escape.
My arm secured him; be my recompense
This one request.
OFFICER (to Bertram).
(To the guard) Move on; we halt no longer.
CROWD.
And he shall be unshackled. (Menacingly.)
OFFICER.
And let them speak; the prisoner halts no longer;
FIRST CROWD.
SECOND CROWD.
THIRD CROWD.
OMNES.
SECOND CROWD.
ELIZABETH (opening her eyes with a heavy sigh).
Is it all vanish'd? 'twas a dreadful vision!
(Looking on the crowd around her.)
O, no! the crowd is here still—it is real;
And he is led away—horrible! horrible!
(Faints again, and is carried off the stage by Richard and the crowd.)
SCENE II. A square court, surrounded on all sides by the gloomy walls of a prison, the windows of which are narrow and grated, and the heads of one or two of the prisoners seen looking ruefully through the grates.
Enter Hardibrand, and looks round him for some time without speaking.
HARDIBRAND.
Gloomy enough, gloomy enough in faith!
Ah! what a wond'rous mass of dreary walls,
Whose frowning sides are reft in narrow slips
As I have seen full oft some sea-worn cliff,
Pierc'd with the murky holes of savage birds.
Ah! here the birds within are clipt o' wing,
And cannot fly away.
(Enter Ohio with a tankard in his hand, crossing the stage.)
Inform me, if thou canst, where I may find
The keeper of the prison.
OHIO.
I'll have thee scorch'd, and flead, and piece-meal torn,
If thou dost call me friend.
HARDIBRAND.
I see thou hast a tankard in thy hand,
And will not question thy high dignity, Softly; here's money for thee. (Giving him money.)
OHIO.
He! he! he! he! hast thou got more of them?
HARDIBRAND.
Tell me at which of all these gloomy doors
I needs must knock to find out the chief jailor.
Thou look'st like some fetch-carry to the prisoners;
Dost understand me?
OHIO.
HARDIBRAND (after knocking).
OHIO (grinning maliciously, and pointing to another door).
HARDIBRAND (after knocking some time).
OHIO (still grinning maliciously).
It is that door upon the other side.
(Pointing to the opposite wall.)
HARDIBRAND.
I'll beat thee if thou tell'st me false again.
OHIO.
Enter the Keeper of the Prison.
KEEPER (to Ohio).
Art thou a playing thy malicious tricks?
Get from my sight, thou pitchy viper, go!
(Exit Ohio.)
HARDIBRAND.
Not worth thine anger.
KEEPER.
HARDIBRAND.
KEEPER.
He is an Afric prince of royal line.
HARDIBRAND.
Upon those two black shanks?(Pointing off the stage.)
KEEPER.
When but a youth, stol'n from his noble parents,
He for a slave was sold, and many hardships
By sea and land hath pass'd.
HARDIBRAND.
Well, well, proceed.
KEEPER.
Who, thinking him unfit for further service, As then a fest'ring wound wore hard upon him,
With but a scanty sum to bury him,
Left him with me. He, ne'ertheless, recover'd;
And tho' full proud and sullen at the first,
Tam'd by the love of wine which strongly tempts him,
He by degrees forgot his princely pride,
And has been long established in these walls
To carry liquor for the prisoners.
But such a cursed, spite-envenom'd toad!——
HARDIBRAND.
Of royal line; born to command, and dignified
By sufferings and dangers past, which makes
The meanest man ennobled: yet behold him;
(Pointing off the stage.)
How by the wall he sidelong straddles on
With his base tankard!—O, the sneaking varlet!
It makes me weep to hear his piteous tale,
Yet my blood boils to run and cudgel him.
But let us on our way.
KEEPER.
And wish to be conducted thro' the prison.
It is an ancient building of great strength,
And many strangers visit it.
HARDIBRAND.
Have you at present many criminals
Within these walls?
KEEPER.
Though not what it has been in better days.
HARDIBRAND.
(As they are about to go off the stage, they are stopped by a voice singing from one of the highest windows.)
SONG.
Sweetly dawns the early day,
Rise, my love, and come away:
Leave thy grim and grated tower, Bounding walls, and step-dame's lower;
'Don thy weeds and come with me, Light and happy are the free.
No fair mansion hails me lord, Dainties smoke not on my board;
Yet full careless by my side,
Shalt thou range the forest wide;
Tho' finer far the rich may be,
Light and happy are the free.
HARDIBRAND.
What weary thrall is this that sings so sweetly?
KEEPER.
A fellow who hath aw'd the country round, And levied contributions like a king,
To feast his jolly mates in wood and wild; Yea, been the very arbiter of fortune, And as his freakish humors bit, hath lifted
At one broad sweep the churl's fav'd gear to leave it
In the poor lab'rer's cot, whose hard-worn palm
Had never chuck'd a ducat 'gainst its fellow.
HARDIBRAND.
But list! he sings again.
SONG.
Light on the hanging bough we'll swing,
Or range the thicket cool, Or sit upon the bank and sing,
Or bathe us in the pool.
HARDIBRAND.
SONG.
Well, good-man time, or blunt or keen,
Move thee slow or take thy leisure,
Longest day will bring its e'en,
Weary lives but run a measure.
HARDIBRAND.
Thy measure has its stint.
Enter Bertram from one of the doors of the prison.
I think thou had the air of an old soldier:
(To Bertram as he is hurrying past him.)
Such, without greeting, never pass me by.
Ha, Bertram! is it thee?
BERTRAM.
HARDIBRAND.
How dost thou, man? how has it far'd with thee
Since thou hast left the service?
BERTRAM.
I have no cause to grumble at my lot.
HARDIBRAND.
Thine eyes are red with weeping, and thy face
Looks ruefully.
BERTRAM.
Who is condemn'd to die.
HARDIBRAND.
BERTRAM.
HARDIBRAND.
BERTRAM.
Of a most gallant soldier.
HARDIBRAND.
BERTRAM.
HARDIBRAND.
He's innocent as are these silver'd locks.
(Laying his hand vehemently on his head.)
What is his name?
BERTRAM.
HARDIBRAND.
Out on the fools! I would as soon believe
That this right hand of mine had pilfer'd gold
As Rayner's son have done a deed of shame.
Come, lead me back with thee, for I must see him.
BERTRAM.
He might have grace!
HARDIBRAND.
BERTRAM.
With one most dear to him. But an hour hence
I will conduct you to his cell.
HARDIBRAND.
Mean time, stay thou with me, and tell me more
Of this unhappy youth: I have a mind.
With the good keeper's leave, to view the prison.
(Exeunt.
Enter Mira and Alice by opposite sides, both muffed up in cloaks and their faces conceal'd.)
MIRA (stopping Alice).
'Tis I, a visitor to these grim walls,
On the same errand with thyself. How goes it
With our enthralled colleague? doth he promise
Silence to keep in that which touches us
Of this transaction, for the which he's bound?
ALICE.
And use thy arts—hush, here's a stranger near us.
Enter a Man who gives a letter mysteriously to Mira, and upon her making a sign to him, retires to the bottom of the stage whilst she reads it.
Knit thus ungraciously at ev'ry line?
MIRA.
Despoil my hair of its fair ornaments,
And clothe me in a gown of palmer's grey,
With clouted shoon and pilgrim's staff in hand
To bear me o'er rude glens and dreary wastes
To share a stony couch and empty board,
All for the proving of my right true love
For one in great distress. Ha! ha! ha! ha!
So doth this letter modestly request:
I pray thee read it.
ALICE (reading the letter).
MIRA.
Troubles enough; this is, thou know'st, no time
To take upon me ruin'd men's distresses.
ALICE.
'Twas thy extravagance.
MIRA.
His life's a forfeit to the law: 'tis time, Good time, in faith! I should have done with him.
Why dost thou bend these frowning looks on me?
How many in my place would for the recompence
Betray him to the officers of justice?
But I, thou know'st right well, detest all baseness,
Therefore I will not.
ALICE.
Some one approaches.
Enter Countess Zaterloo.
COUNTESS ZATERLOO (to Mira).
Tracing your steps, I have made bold to follow you.
I am the mother of an only son,
Who for these many days I have not seen:
I know right well naught is conceal'd from you
Of what concerns him; let me know, I pray you,
Where I may find my child.
MIRA.
Has small concern.
COUNTESS ZATERLOO.
I come not with a parent's stern rebuke:
Do tell me where he is, for love of grace:
Or, if you will not, say if he is sick,
Or if he is distress'd with any want.
Do, for love's sake! I have no child but him.
MIRA (giving her the letter).
'Twas yonder stranger gave it to my hand;
(Pointing to the man.)
We need not interrupt you with our presence;
And so good day.(Exeunt Mira and Alice.
COUNTESS ZATERLOO (after reading the letter).
Stretch'd on the cold ground of thy hiding place
In want and fear? Oh art thou come to this!
Thou who didst smile in thy fair op'ning morn,
As cherubs smile who point the way to heaven.
And would'st thou have a stranger come to thee?
Alas! alas! where can thy aching head
So softly rest as on a parent's lap?
Yes, I will wrap me in the Pilgrim's weeds,
Nor storm nor rugged wild shall bar my way.
And tho' declining years impare my strength,
These arms shall yet support thy feeble frame, When fairer friends desert thee.
(To the Messenger, beckoning him to come forward.)
Good friend, this is no place to question thee!
Come with me to my home.
(Exuent.
END OF THE THIRD ACT.