AESWYN.

The deacons of that craft,-they're backward still: They're ever harping upon Artevelde,

Who told their worships when they did him homage If his poor humor governed, nothing else

But leathern jerkins should be worn in Ghent.

OCCO.

We'll deal with them the same as with the fullers;

So bring them in.

[Exit VAN AESWYN.

Well done, Sir Curriers!

These precious moments must be given to you!
The Devil curry you for senseless boors!

Re-enter VAN AESWYN with the two Craftsmen. Good-morrow, masters. Ha! my valued friend, Jacob Van Ryk; and if my eyes sce true,

Master

AESWYN.
Van Muck.

OCCO.

Tush, tush, sir! tell not me.

Have I forgotten my old friend Van Muck,
Or any of my friends?though time is short,
And we must scant our greetings. Worthy sirs,
We're in a perilous predicament,

And I should take no step without advice.
Rash were it, and a tempting Providence,
Should I proceed without consulting you.
We see, sirs, we must see, -we can't but own,
That we have no choice left us but of peace
Or else destruction. It is come to that.
Then if we must be subject to the Earl,

I will confess I'm not so subtle-witted

To see much difference 'twixt this hour and that,
The going over to him now at once

With flesh upon our bones, or holding back
Till famine wastes it or steel hacks it off:
I see no difference.

VAN MUCK.

Truly, sir, nor I.

OCCO.

Ay, but there is a difference, my friends,
Which I forgot. For, hark you in your ear!
Those who go over but when all go over,
If they escape from pains and penalties,
Can scarcely claim much merit with the Earl;
But they who find a guidance for themselves,
Who take a step or two before the herd,

Whilst the will's free, who lead and do not follow,
These men have claims; they have a right to say,
Reward us for our voluntary service;

Nor will they be unanswered, that I know: "First serve the first," is what they say at Bruges.

VAN RYK.

"T is a good proverb, sir, for early men,

And we have ne'er been slack in things of credit;
But we have scruples here. We see it thus:
If we should but shout peace with half the town,
The Earl would scarce distinguish us from others;
If, on the other hand, we use our weapons
Against our friends, they 'd call us renegades,
And blacken us for false and treacherous knaves.

OCCO.

Why look ye now; too surely, should ye shout, And fail in action, 't were no singular service;

There's no great guerdon were deserved by that;
The clerkships of the wards (which after peace
Must be new filled) would not be won by shouts :
But where's the treachery? My worthy friends,
Look at the matter simply as it is:

Here is a town beleaguered in such wise
That it must needs surrender upon terms:
Then come a knot of desperate-minded men,
Who, deeming the rendition gives them up
To punishment, make head against the rest:
These think no shame to say that all must die
To save their one- two three-half-dozen heads
From certain hazards. Why, if fall they must,
And they would rather 't were by steel than cord,
Let them assail us and let us be men.

Are we not free to choose 'twixt peace and war?
They, they it is that are so treacherous, - they,
Who would betray a city to destruction
For private and particular ends of theirs.
Then let us rally round the public weal
And link our names with that.

VAN RYK.

It must be owned

The city's weal doth loudly call upon us;
But some of us there are who recently
Swore fealty to Artevelde.

OCCO.

What then?

That was but for the war, -not knowing then
That it was ended by your deputies

And peace concluded: answer not so idly.
Swore ye not fealty to the Earl before?

Come, come, my friends, we 're all as one, I see;

And let me tell you that the whole of Ghent,
Almost the whole, is minded like yourselves.
Strange is it men shall meditate and muse
In secret all alike, and show no sign

Till a blow's struck, and then they speak it out,
And each man finds in each his counterpart;
And, as a sluice were opened, all shall rush
To find the self-same level, and pour on
To the same end. But I forgot, my friends;
We have to think of what particular mark
Should first be aimed at when the blow is struck.

VAN RYK.

So please you, sir, a cast at Van den Bosch
Were not amiss, methinks.

OCCO.

Well shot, Van Ryk;

But yet not quite the bull's-eye.

VAN MUCK.

By the mass,

He's shot the bull he had his horns of. - Ha!
What will Dame Oda say to, thee?

VAN RYK.

Come, come!

If that's our archery, Frans Fleisch for thee.

OCCO.

My friends, we 'll settle all such scores at will.
But is not Ghent more precious than our wives?
And who debauches her? When she was fain
To creep into her long-left lord's embrace,
Who came at night and whistled her away?
This is the aggravation that most stirs

The choler of the Earl. The other chiefs,
Men that by accidents and long degrees
Became entangled in rebellion, - them

He can forgive; but he that plunged plump in,
And so new troubled what was settling down,
This is the man that he has marked for death:
Whoso brings down that head has hit a mark
That's worth five hundred florins. Ha! my friends!
Who strikes a good stroke with his sword for this?
[A pause.

Van Artevelde must die, you understand me.

VAN RYK.

[A pause again.

Why, if he must, he must, and there's an end.

OCCO.

The Earl must have his life; who hath the guerdon Is not material save to them that get it;

But truly were the money on my head,

And I as sure to die as Artevelde,

I'd rather that such men as you should have it, Than see it snatched by luck; when die we must, "T is better that thereby good men should thrive Than snatchers.

VAN RYK.

Saving your displeasure, sir, 'Tis said good men ne'er thrive but by good deeds. Now, were it but the slaying Van den Bosch, Or Peter Nuitre, or Frans Ackerman,

There's husbands, widows, orphans, all through
Ghent,

Would say the deed was good: but Artevelde
Has, as it were, a creditable name,

And men would say we struck not for revenge,