Enter the LORD OF OCCO.

Speak, Sir Guy.

Out with the worst, for I have guess'd it all.
Fame was here first as breathless as you are.

OCCO.

'Tis the worst fortune ever yet befel me

To be the bearer of this heavy news.

Our friends are slain, the White-Hoods hold the town,
And he, the homicide whose bloody hand
Despatch'd the peaceful knights, is lord of all.

EARL.

Oh that unhappy people! hear me, God!
Hear me ye host of heaven, and all good men!
If e'er I lift the wine-cup to my lips,

If ever other than a soldier's bed

Contain me, or if any pleasant sport

Inveigle off my heart while that town stands,
May I be driven from my royalties

To dwell with beasts like him that sinned of old!
Rise, sirs, and feast no more. My Lord of Occo,
Such entertainment as such times afford
We'll give you. Bid my chamberlain see to it.
Adieu, sirs; when the walls of Ghent lie flat
Our revel we resume.

D'ARLON.

Leave me, my lord,

The entertainment of your friends from Ghent.

My house will hold them.-[Aside.] Grant me this, my

lord;

They need a supervisor.

EARL.

Good;-Sir Guy,

Sir Walter D'Arlon is your host at Bruges.
Adieu, sirs; come to council in the morning
You that are of it. Stand aside, Sir Minstrel-
What, are you blind? Good night, good night, adieu.

SCENE III.-A Chamber in the LORD OF ARLON's House. ADRIANA VAN MERESTYN, and three Attendants in the LORD OF Occo's livery.

ADRIANA.

Where have ye brought me, Sirs? What house is this?
Nay, must I ask for ever? Wilt not speak?
Nor thou, nor thou? If ye are bid be dumb,
But say ye are so and I'll ask no more.

FIRST ATTENDANT.

Madam, we are.

ADRIANA.

Who bid you?—Not a word?

If you're afraid to tell me, make a sign.

Was it the Lord of Occo?

[First Attendant shakes his head. "Twas not he.

Then whosoe'er enjoined it, send him here;
Entreat him were it but for courtesy

To come to me. He that hath tied your tongues

May loose them, or may hold his own unfettered.

I

pray thee send him; thou art not so rude,

To guess thee by thy mien, as this so slight,

So slender service to deny me-no—

Or else thou wear'st a mask.

[The first Attendant goes out. She turns aside from the others.

Befriend me now,

Heart, head, and tongue; be bold, be wise, be ready!
Oh for some potion that for one hour's space
Should make me twice myself!

I have done nothing; if a wrong there be,
It lies with others; I have but obeyed
Whom I am bound to serve.

ADRIANA.

Alas! thy guilt

Is but more abject, being ministrant

Unto another's, and thyself no less

Accountable to Heaven. His lust and greed
Whom thou abettest thou dost make thine own,

And nothing gett'st but wages of thy service

To pay thy sin. What! is't not shame on shame!
Thou puttest thine immortal soul to sale

For profit of another, thy reward

Being the sorry guerdon of a squire

With blot and stain of such addition vile
Of countenance and favour, bred of guilt,
As he that uses thee may please to show thee:
Favour, that coming from so soiled a source,
And for such soil of service, if well weighed,
Less of reward than punishment should taste,
And less of honourable show should wear,
Than show of reprehension. Thou to stamp
A gentle name with stigma of such deeds!
Oh curse of bad men's hire!

AESWYN.

Nay, madam, nay;

'Tis not for hire, neither for countenance : But I have taken service with this lord, And by the law of arms

ADRIANA.

What law is that?

'Tis not the law of God, nor yet above it.

AESWYN.

An honest squire is bound by plighted faith,
And by the law of arms, to execute

His lord's behests.

ADRIANA.

Though they be base and foul?

Oh Sin! what thread or filament so fine

Of casual consent, of compact void,

Slipt in betwixt God save you' and good morrow,'
That's not a warrant of authority

To bind a man to thee! to thee, glib Sin!
But Virtue! where is that indissolute chain
Which to thy anchored mandaments eterne

I

The floating soul shall grapple! Law of arms!
Grant 'twere that law supernal it is not,
Yet dost thou break it for all wrongs to women
Stand in its code denounced.

AESWYN.

By all that's just,

The deed misliked me from the first; three times
I prayed his lordship to bethink himself
What quittance he should hazard and what blame,
In wronging of so rich and good a lady;

But still he said the Earl should bring him through
Let come what might; insisting that by law
You were in wardship, and His Grace might grant
Your hand to whom was fittest.

ADRIANA.

Oh blind craft!

Oh frail inventions of humanity!

Me shall no earthly prince nor potentate
Toss like a morsel of his broken meat
To any supplicant. Be they advised
I am in wardship to the King of Kings;
God and my heart alone dispose of me.

AESWYN.

Madam, I would it were so.

ADRIANA.

Say besides

The Earl should cast the mantle of his power
Over thy master, what shall cover thee,
That canst not borrow greatness for the cloak
Of evil deeds, from naked, manifest shame ?
Lo, here I stand in jeopardy and fear,