I would discourse some matters with this knight.
Leave us together. Friar, go thy ways;
Thy hands are not too clean. I know the wench
She would not tempt thee. Get thee gone, I say.

FRIAR.

;

My lord, the peace of God be with your highness, And with this knight, and with that sinful woman.

CECILE.

I thank your highness-Oh the mouldy villain!
I thank you, sir. Good even to your highness.

ARTEVELDE.

Good night, Cecile.-Sir, I disturb'd your rest;
I saw not that you lay there.

SIR FLEUREANT.

[Exit.

[Exit.

Oh, my lord,

It matters not; to-morrow I shall lie

Where you will not disturb me.

ARTEVELDE.

So you think.

SIR FLEUREANT.

So you, my lord, have said.

ARTEVELDE.

You stand condemn'd.

Yet 'tis a word that I would fain unsay.

SIR FLEUREANT.

You are most kind, my lord; the word went always
You were a merciful man and fearing God,
And God is good to such and prospers them;

And if my life it please you now to spare,
You may find mercy for yourself in straits
According as you show it.

ARTEVELDE.

Nay, thy life

Is justly forfeited: and if I spare thee
It is not that I look for God's reward
In sparing crime; since justice is most mercy.
Thou hast an intercessor, to whose prayers
I grant thy life, absolving thee, not freely,
But on conditions.

SIR FLEUREANT.

Whatsoe'er they be

I will be bound most solemnly by oath,
So God be my salvation, to fulfil them.

ARTEVELDE.

'Tis but to pay thy debt of gratitude
To her whose charity redeems thy life,
That I would bind thee. At the supplication
Of thy lord's sometime lady thou art spared.

SIR FLEUREANT.

I'm bound to her for ever.

ARTEVELDE.

Sometime hence

Mischances may befall her. Though I trust,
And with good reason, that my arms are proof,
Yet is the tide of war unsteady ever;

And should my hope be wreck'd upon some reef
Of adverse fortune, there is cause to fear
Her former lord, thy master, who suspects

Uneasily her faith, in victory's pride

Would give his vengeance and his jealousy
Free way to her destruction. In such hour,
Should it arrive, thou might'st befriend the lady,
As in thy present peril she doth thee.

SIR FLEUREANT.

I were ungrateful past all reach of words
That speak of baseness and ingratitude,

Should I not hold my life, and heart, and service,
Purely at her behest from this time forth.
And truly in conjunctures such as those
Your highness hath foreseen, to aid her flight,
Were service which no Fleming could perform,
How true soe'er his heart,—and yet to me
It were an easy task.

ARTEVELDE.

I trust the day

Will never come, that asks such service from you;
But should it so, I charge you on your faith
And duty as a knight, perform it stoutly.
Prudence, meantime, demands that you remain
In close confinement.

SIR FLEUREANT.

As you please, my lord.

ARTEVELDE (after a pause).

What, watch there, ho!

Enter two Guards.

You will give passage to Sir Fleureant

To go at large. My mind you see is changed:

It ever was my way, and shall be still,

When I do trust a man, to trust him wholly.

You shall not quit my camp; but that word given, You are at large within it.

SIR FLEUREANT.

Sir, your trust

Shall not appear misplaced.

ARTEVELDE.

Give you good rest!

And better dreams than those I woke you from.

SIR FLEUREANT.

With grateful heart I say, my lord, God keep you!

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-Ypres.-The Burgomaster of Ypres, with several Burghers of the French Faction, and VAN MUCK.

BURGOMASTER.

Well, well, God bless us! have a care-oh me!
Be careful how you speak; wear a white hat;
And ever, mind'st thou, when thou see'st Vauclaire,
Uncover and stand back.

VAN MUCK.

I will, your worship.

BURGOMASTER.

Nay, but you must. And Roosdyk-speak him fair: For give him but a saucy word, he's out,

Nay, but I say you shall.

"Tis a good rule to be more civil-spoken

Than wantonly be cut and stabb'd for nothing.

'Tis so, your worship.

VAN MUCK.

BURGOMASTER.

Cast not away your life.

VAN MUCK.

'Tis as your worship pleases.

FIRST BURGHER.

But if Vauclaire, or Roosdyk, or the captains

Should ask him whence he comes, or what's his craft, Being strange-looking for a citizen,

What should he answer?

BURGOMASTER.

Say thou com'st from Dinand

From Dinand, say, to sell Dinandery,

Pots, pitchers, mugs and beakers and the like.

VAN MUCK.

Suppose I'm question'd where they are?

BURGOMASTER.

You've sold 'em.

Say you praise God. Say you're a thriving man.

FIRST BURGHER (aside to second).

This matter will be out.