The wrath of God hangs over thee; and the day Is near at hand when thou shalt be abandoned To desolation and the breeding of nettles.
The bittern and the cormorant shall lodge Upon thine upper lintels, and their voice Sing in thy windows.Yea, thus saith the Lord!
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Awake! awake! ye sleepers, ere too late, And wipe these bloody statutes from your books!
[Exit.
MERRY.
Take heed; the walls have ears!
UPSALL.
At last, the heart Of every honest man must speak or break!
Enter GOVERNOR ENDICOTT with his halberdiers.
ENDICOTT.
What is this stir and tumult in the street?
MERRY.
Worshipful sir, the whipping of a girl, And her old father howling from the prison.
ENDICOTT (to his halberdiers).
Go on.
CHRISTISON.
Antiochus! Antiochus!
O thou that slayest the Maccabees! The Lord Shall smite thee with incurable disease, And no man shall endure to carry thee!
MERRY.
Peace, old blasphemer!
CHRISTISON.
I both feel and see The presence and the waft of death go forth Against thee, and already thou dost look Like one that's dead!
MERRY (pointing).
And there is your own son, Worshipful sir, abetting the sedition.
ENDICOTT.
Arrest him.Do not spare him.
MERRY (aside).
His own child!
There is some special providence takes care That none shall be too happy in this world!
His own first-born.
ENDICOTT.
O Absalom, my son!
[Exeunt; the Governor with his halberdiers ascending the steps of his house.
SCENE III.-- The Governor's private room.Papers upon the table.
ENDICOTT and BELLINGHAM
ENDICOTT.
There is a ship from England has come in, Bringing despatches and much news from home, His majesty was at the Abbey crowned;And when the coronation was complete There passed a mighty tempest o'er the city, Portentous with great thunderings and lightnings.
BELLINGHAM.
After his father's, if I well remember, There was an earthquake, that foreboded evil.
ENDICOTT.
Ten of the Regicides have been put to death!
The bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw Have been dragged from their graves, and publicly Hanged in their shrouds at Tyburn.
BELLINGHAM.
Horrible!
ENDICOTT.
Thus the old tyranny revives again.
Its arm is long enough to reach us here, As you will see.For, more insulting still Than flaunting in our faces dead men's shrouds, Here is the King's Mandamus, taking from us, From this day forth, all power to punish Quakers.
BELLINGHAM.
That takes from us all power; we are but puppets, And can no longer execute our laws.
ENDICOTT.
His Majesty begins with pleasant words, "Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well;"Then with a ruthless hand he strips from me All that which makes me what I am; as if From some old general in the field, grown gray In service, scarred with many wounds, Just at the hour of victory, he should strip His badge of office and his well-gained honors, And thrust him back into the ranks again.
Opens the Mandamus and hands it to BELLINGHAM; and, while he is reading, ENDICOTT walks up and down the room.
Here, read it for yourself; you see his words Are pleasant words--considerate--not reproachful--Nothing could be more gentle--or more royal;But then the meaning underneath the words, Mark that.He says all people known as Quakers Among us, now condemned to suffer death Or any corporal punishment whatever, Who are imprisoned, or may be obnoxious To the like condemnation, shall be sent Forthwith to England, to be dealt with there In such wise as shall be agreeable Unto the English law and their demerits.
Is it not so?
BELLINGHAM (returning the paper).
Ay, so the paper says.
ENDICOTT.
It means we shall no longer rule the Province;It means farewell to law and liberty, Authority, respect for Magistrates, The peace and welfare of the Commonwealth.
If all the knaves upon this continent Can make appeal to England, and so thwart The ends of truth and justice by delay, Our power is gone forever.We are nothing But ciphers, valueless save when we follow Some unit; and our unit is the King!
'T is he that gives us value.
BELLINGHAM.
I confess Such seems to be the meaning of this paper, But being the King's Mandamus, signed and sealed, We must obey, or we are in rebellion.
ENDICOTT.
I tell you, Richard Bellingham,--I tell you, That this is the beginning of a struggle Of which no mortal can foresee the end.
I shall not live to fight the battle for you, I am a man disgraced in every way;This order takes from me my self-respect And the respect of others.'T is my doom, Yes, my death-warrant, but must be obeyed!
Take it, and see that it is executed So far as this, that all be set at large;But see that none of them be sent to England To bear false witness, and to spread reports That might be prejudicial to ourselves.
[Exit BELLINGHAM.
There's a dull pain keeps knocking at my heart, Dolefully saying, "Set thy house in order, For thou shalt surely die, and shalt not live!
For me the shadow on the dial-plate Goeth not back, but on into the dark!
[Exit.
SCENE IV.-- The street.A crowd, reading a placard on the door of the Meeting-house.NICHOLAS UPSALL among them.Enter John Norton.
NORTON.
What is this gathering here?
UPSALL.
One William Brand, An old man like ourselves, and weak in body, Has been so cruelly tortured in his prison, The people are excited, and they threaten To tear the prison down.
NORTON.
What has been done?
UPSALL.
He has been put in irons, with his neck And heels tied close together, and so left From five in the morning until nine at night.
NORTON.
What more was done?
UPSALL.
He has been kept five days In prison without food, and cruelly beaten, So that his limbs were cold, his senses stopped.
NORTON.
What more?
UPSALL.
And is this not enough?
NORTON.
Now hear me.
This William Brand of yours has tried to beat Our Gospel Ordinances black and blue;And, if he has been beaten in like manner, It is but justice, and I will appear In his behalf that did so.I suppose That he refused to work.
UPSALL.
He was too weak.
How could an old man work, when he was starving?
NORTON.
And what is this placard?
UPSALL.
