Of a calm will untroubled servants they,
And went about their offices, if here
I must not say in purity, in peace.
But he they served, he is not what he was.
[A party pass the window, and a voice cries, 'The Lion for Flanders.'
Sir knights, ye drive me close upon
the rocks,
And of my cargo you're the vilest bales,
So overboard with you! What, men of blood!
Can the son better auspicate his arms
Than by the slaying of who slew the father?
Some blood may flow because that it needs must,
But yours by choice-I'll slay you, and thank God.
The common bell has rung! the knights are there; Thou must come instantly.
Now, Master Philip, if thou miss thy way
Through this affair, we're lost. For Jesus' sake
Be counsell'd now by me; have thou in mind-
Enough, I need not counsel; I'm resolved.
Take thou thy stand beside Sir Simon Bette,
As I by Grutt; take note of all I do,
And do thyself accordingly. Come on.
SCENE VI.-The exterior of the Stadt-House.
flights of stone stairs meet in a landing-place or platform, midway in the front of the building and level with the first floor. On this platform appear SIR GUISEBERT GRUTT, with the aldermen of sundry guilds and the deans of the several crafts of butchers, fishermen, glaziers, and cordwainers. Also VAN ARTEVELde, Van den BOSCH, FRANS ACKERMAN, VAN NUITRE, and others of their party. SIR GUISEBERT GRUTT descends some steps, and meets SIR SIMON BETTE, as he is coming up from the street.
SIR GUISEBERT (aside to SIR SIMON BETTE).
God's life, sir! where is Occo ?
He has sent word he's sick and cannot come.
Pray God his sickness be the death of him!
Nay, his lieutenant's here, and has his orders.
VAN DEN BOSCH (aside to ARTEVELDE).
I see there's something that hath staggered them. Now push them to the point. [Aloud.] Make way there, Ho!
ARTEVELDE (coming forward).
Some citizen hath brought this concourse here.
Who is the man, and what hath he to say
The noble Earl of Flanders of his grace
Commissions me to speak.
[Some White-Hoods interrupt him with cries of 'Ghent,' on which there is a great tumult, and they are instantly drowned in the cry of 'Flanders.'
What, silence! peace!
Silence, and hear this noble Earl's behests,
Deliver'd by this thrice puissant knight.
First will I speak-not what I'm bid to say,
But what it most imports yourselves to hear.
For though ye cannot choose but know it well,
Yet by these cries I deem that some of you
Would, much like madmen, cast your knowledge off,
And both of that and of your reason reft
Run naked on the sword-which to forefend,
Let me remind you of the things ye know.
Sirs, when this month began ye had four chiefs
Of great renown and valour,-Jan de Bol,
Arnoul le Clerc, and Launoy and Van Ranst :
Where are they now? and what be ye without them?
Sirs, when the month began ye had good aid
From Brabant, Liege, St. Tron, and Huy and Dinant:
How shall they serve you now? The Earl sits fast
Upon the Quatre-metiers and the Bridge:
What aid of theirs can reach you? What supplies?
I tell you, sirs, that thirty thousand men
Could barely bring a bullock to your gates.
If thus without, how stand you then within?
Ask of your chatelain, the Lord of Occo;
Which worthy knight will tell you—
ARTEVELDE (aside to VAN DEN BOSCH).
Then aloud to SIR GUISEBERT.] Where is this chatelain, your
He's sick in bed; but were he here, he'd tell you
There's not provision in the public stores
To keep you for a day. Such is your plight.
Now hear the offer of your natural liege.
Moved to compassion by our prayers and tears,
Well aided as they were by good Duke Aubert,
My Lady of Brabant and Lord Compelant-
To whom our thanks are due,-the Earl says
He will have peace, and take you to his love,
And be your good lord as in former days;
And all the injuries, hatreds, and ill-will
He had against you he will now forget,
And he will pardon you your past offences,
And he will keep you in your ancient rights;
And for his love and graces thus vouchsafed
He doth demand of you three hundred men,
Such citizens of Ghent as he shall name,
To be deliver'd up to his good pleasure.
Hear we this other knight. Well, worthy sir,
Hast aught to say, or hast not got thy priming,
That thus thou gaspest like a droughty pump?
Nay, 'tis black bile that chokes him. Come, up with it! Be it but a gallon it shall ease thy stomach.
Silence! Sir Simon Bette's about to speak.
Right worthy burgesses, good men and rich!
Much trouble ye may guess, and strife had we
To win his Highness to this loving humour;
For if ye rightly think, sirs, and remember,
You've done him much offence-not of yourselves,
But through ill guidance of ungracious men.
For first ye slew his bailiff at the cross,
And with the Earl's own banner in his hand,
Which falling down was trampled under foot
Through heedlessness of them that stood about.
Also ye
burn'd the castle he loved best
And ravaged all his parks at Andrehen,
All those delightful gardens on the plain:
And ye beat down two gates at Oudenarde,
And in the dike ye cast them upside down:
Also ye slew five knights of his, and brake
The silver font wherein he was baptised.
Wherefore it must be own'd, sirs, that much cause
He had of quarrel with the town of Ghent.
For how, sirs, had the Earl afflicted you
That
ye should thus dishonour him? 'tis true
That once a burgess was detain'd at Erclo
Through misbehaviour of the bailiff; still
He hath deliver'd many a time and oft
Out of his prisons burgesses of yours
Only to do you pleasure; and when late
By kinsmen of the bailiff whom ye slew,
Some mariners of yours were sorely maim'd,
(Which was an inconvenience to this town)
What did the Earl? To prove it not his act
He banish'd out of Flanders them that did it.
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