LITMIR.BIZ

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Out, tedious monk!

      Otho.

       Confess, or by the wheel

       Ethelbert. My evidence cannot be far away;

       And, though it never come, be on my head

       The crime of passing an attaint upon

       The slanderers of this virgin.

      Ludolph.

       Speak aloud!

      Ethelbert.

       Auranthe, and her brother there.

      Conrad.

       Amaze!

      Ludolph.

       Throw them from the windows!

      Otho.

       Do what you will!

      Ludolph.

       What shall I do with them?

       Something of quick dispatch, for should she hear,

       My soft Auranthe, her sweet mercy would

       Prevail against my fury. Damned priest!

      What swift death wilt thou die? As to the lady

       I touch her not.

      Ethelbert.

       Illustrious Otho, stay!

       An ample store of misery thou hast,

       Choak not the granary of thy noble mind

       With more bad bitter grain, too difficult

       A cud for the repentance of a man

       Grey-growing. To thee only I appeal,

       Not to thy noble son, whose yeasting youth

       Will clear itself, and crystal turn again.

       A young man’s heart, by Heaven’s blessing, is

       A wide world, where a thousand new-born hopes

       Empurple fresh the melancholy blood;

       But an old man’s is narrow, tenantless

       Of hopes, and stuff’d with many memories,

       Which, being pleasant, ease the heavy pulse

       Painful, clog up and stagnate. Weigh this matter

       Even as a miser balances his coin ;

       And, in the name of mercy, give command

       That your knight Albert be brought here before you.

       He will expound this riddle ; he will show

       A noonday proof of bad Auranthe’s guilt.

      Otho.

       Let Albert straight be summon ‘d.

      [Exit one of the Nobles.

      Ludolph.

       Impossible !

       I cannot doubt I will not no to doubt

       Is to be ashes! wither ‘d up to death!

      Otho.

       My gentle Ludolph, harbour not a fear;

       You do yourself much wrong.

      Ludolph.

       O, wretched dolt!

       Now, when my foot is almost on thy neck,

       Wilt thou infuriate me? Proof! thou fool!

       Why wilt thou teaze impossibility

       With such a thick-skull’d persevering suit?

       Fanatic obstinacy! Prodigy!

       Monster of folly! Ghost of a turn’d brain!

       You puzzle me, you haunt me, when I dream

       Of you my brain will split! Bald sorcerer!

       Juggler! May I come near you? On my soul

       I know not whether to pity, curse, or laugh.

      Enter ALBERT, and the Nobleman.

       Here, Albert, this old phantom wants a proof!

       Give him his proof! A camel’s load of proofs!

      Otho.

       Albert, I speak to you as to a man

       Whose words once utter ‘d pass like current gold;

       And therefore fit to calmly put a close

       To this brief tempest. Do you stand possess ‘d

       Of any proof against the honourableness

       Of Lady Auranthe, our new-spoused daughter?

      Albert.

       You chill me with astonishment. How’s this?

       My Liege, what proof should I have ‘gainst a fame

       Impossible of slur? [Otho rises.

      Erminia.

       O wickedness!

      Ethelbert.

       Deluded monarch, ’tis a cruel lie.

      Otho.

       Peace, rebel-priest!

      Conrad.

       Insult beyond credence!

      Erminia.

       Almost a dream!

      Ludolph.

       We have awaken’d from

       A foolish dream that from my brow hath wrung

       A wrathful dew. O folly! why did I

       So act the lion with this silly gnat?

       Let them depart. Lady Erminia!

       I ever griev’d for you, as who did not?

       But now you have, with such a brazen front,

       So most maliciously, so madly striven

       To dazzle the soft moon, when tenderest clouds

       Should be unloop’d around to curtain her;

       I leave you to the desert of the world

       Almost with pleasure. Let them be set free

       For me! I take no personal revenge

       More than against a nightmare, which a man

       forgets in the new dawn.

      [Exit LUDOLPH.

      Otho.

       Still in extremes! No, they must not be loose.

      Ethelbert.

       Albert, I must suspect thee of a crime

       So fiendish

       Otho. Fear’st thou not my fury, monk?

       Conrad, be they in your sure custody

       Till we determine some fit punishment.

       It is so mad a deed, I must reflect

       And question them in private ; for perhaps,

       By patient scrutiny, we may discover

       Whether they merit death, or should be placed

       In care of the physicians.

       [Exeunt OTHO and Nobles, ALBERT following.

      Conrad.

       My guards, ho!

      Erminia.

       Albert, wilt thou follow there?

       Wilt thou creep dastardly behind his back,

       And slink away from a weak woman’s eye?

       Turn, thou court-Janus! thou forget’st thyself;

       Here is the Duke, waiting with open arms,

       [Enter Guards.

       To thank

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