Books: Queen Mary and Harold
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Alfred Lord Tennyson >> Queen Mary and Harold
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WILLIAM. But thou and he--whom at thy word, for thou
Art known a speaker of the truth, I free
From this foul charge--
HAROLD. Nay, nay, he freed himself
By oath and compurgation from the charge.
The king, the lords, the people clear'd him of it.
WILLIAM. But thou and he drove our good Normans out
From England, and this rankles in us yet.
Archbishop Robert hardly scaped with life.
HAROLD. Archbishop Robert! Robert the Archbishop!
Robert of Jumieges, he that--
MALET. Quiet! quiet!
HAROLD. Count! if there sat within the Norman chair
A ruler all for England--one who fill'd
All offices, all bishopricks with English--
We could not move from Dover to the Humber
Saving thro' Norman bishopricks--I say
Ye would applaud that Norman who should drive
The stranger to the fiends!
WILLIAM. Why, that is reason!
Warrior thou art, and mighty wise withal!
Ay, ay, but many among our Norman lords
Hate thee for this, and press upon me--saying
God and the sea have given thee to our hands--
To plunge thee into life-long prison here:--
Yet I hold out against them, as I may,
Yea--would hold out, yea, tho' they should revolt--
For thou hast done the battle in my cause;
I am thy fastest friend in Normandy.
HAROLD. I am doubly bound to thee ... if this be so.
WILLIAM. And I would bind thee more, and would myself
Be bounden to thee more.
HAROLD. Then let me hence With Wulfnoth to King Edward.
WILLIAM. So we will. We hear he hath not long to live.
HAROLD. It may be.
WILLIAM. Why then the heir of England, who is he?
HAROLD. The Atheling is nearest to the throne.
WILLIAM. But sickly, slight, half-witted and a child,
Will England have him king?
HAROLD. It may be, no.
WILLIAM. And hath King Edward not pronounced his heir?
HAROLD. Not that I know.
WILLIAM. When he was here in Normandy,
He loved us and we him, because we found him.
A Norman of the Normans.
HAROLD. So did we.
WILLIAM. A gentle, gracious, pure and saintly man!
And grateful to the hand that shielded him,
He promised that if ever he were king
In England, he would give his kingly voice
To me as his successor. Knowest thou this?
HAROLD. I learn it now.
WILLIAM. Thou knowest I am his cousin,
And that my wife descends from Alfred?
HAROLD. Ay.
WILLIAM. Who hath a better claim then to the crown
So that ye will not crown the Atheling?
HAROLD. None that I know ... if that but hung upon
King Edward's will.
WILLIAM. Wilt thou uphold my claim?
MALET (_aside to_ HAROLD).
Be careful of thine answer, my good friend.
WULFNOTH (_aside to_ HAROLD).
Oh! Harold, for my sake and for thine own!
HAROLD. Ay ... if the king have not revoked his promise.
WILLIAM. But hath he done it then?
HAROLD. Not that I know.
WILLIAM. Good, good, and thou wilt help me to the crown?
HAROLD. Ay ... if the Witan will consent to this.
WILLIAM. Thou art the mightiest voice in England, man,
Thy voice will lead the Witan--shall I have it?
WULFNOTH (_aside to_ HAROLD).
Oh! Harold, if thou love thine Edith, ay.
HAROLD. Ay, if--
MALET (_aside to_ HAROLD).
Thine 'ifs' will sear thine eyes out--ay.
WILLIAM. I ask thee, wilt thou help me to the crown?
And I will make thee my great Earl of Earls,
Foremost in England and in Normandy;
Thou shalt be verily king--all but the name--
For I shall most sojourn in Normandy;
And thou be my vice-king in England. Speak.
WULFNOTH (_aside to_ HAROLD).
Ay, brother--for the sake of England--ay.
HAROLD. My lord--
MALET (_aside to_ HAROLD).
Take heed now.
HAROLD. Ay.
WILLIAM. I am content,
For thou art truthful, and thy word thy bond.
To-morrow will we ride with thee to Harfleur.
[_Exit_ WILLIAM.
MALET. Harold, I am thy friend, one life with thee,
And even as I should bless thee saving mine,
I thank thee now for having saved thyself.
[_Exit_ MALET.
HAROLD. For having lost myself to save myself,
Said 'ay' when I meant 'no,' lied like a lad
That dreads the pendent scourge, said 'ay' for 'no'!
Ay! No!--he hath not bound me by an oath--
Is 'ay' an oath? is 'ay' strong as an oath?
Or is it the same sin to break my word
As break mine oath? He call'd my word my bond!
He is a liar who knows I am a liar,
And makes believe that he believes my word--
The crime be on his head--not bounden--no.
[_Suddenly doors are flung open, discovering in an
inner hall_ COUNT WILLIAM _in his state robes,
seated upon his throne, between two_ BISHOPS,
ODO OP BAYEUX _being one: in the centre of
the hall an ark covered with cloth of gold;
and on either side of it the_ NORMAN BARONS.
_Enter a_ JAILOR _before_ WILLIAM'S _throne_.
WILLIAM (_to_ JAILOR).
Knave, hast thou let thy prisoner scape?
JAILOR. Sir Count,
He had but one foot, he must have hopt away,
Yea, some familiar spirit must have help'd him.
WILLIAM. Woe knave to thy familiar and to thee!
Give me thy keys. [_They fall clashing_.
Nay let them lie. Stand there and wait my will.
[_The_ JAILOR _stands aside_.
WILLIAM (_to_ HAROLD).
Hast thou such trustless jailors in thy North?
HAROLD. We have few prisoners in mine earldom there,
So less chance for false keepers.
WILLIAM. We have heard
Of thy just, mild, and equal governance;
Honour to thee! thou art perfect in all honour!
Thy naked word thy bond! confirm it now
Before our gather'd Norman baronage,
For they will not believe thee--as I believe.
[_Descends from his throne and stands by the ark_.
Let all men here bear witness of our bond!
[_Beckons to_ HAROLD, _who advances_.
_Enter_ MALET _behind him_.
Lay thou thy hand upon this golden pall!
Behold the jewel of St. Pancratius
Woven into the gold. Swear thou on this!
HAROLD. What should I swear? Why should I swear on this?
WILLIAM (_savagely_).
Swear thou to help me to the crown of England.
MALET (_whispering_ HAROLD).
My friend, thou hast gone too far to palter now.
WULFNOTH (_whispering_ HAROLD).
Swear thou to-day, to-morrow is thine own.
HAROLD. I swear to help thee to the crown of England ...
According as King Edward promises.
WILLIAM. Thou must swear absolutely, noble Earl.
MALET (_whispering_).
Delay is death to thee, ruin to England.
WULFNOTH (_whispering_).
Swear, dearest brother, I beseech thee, swear!
HAROLD (_putting his hand on the jewel_).
I swear to help thee to the crown of England.
WILLIAM. Thanks, truthful Earl; I did not doubt thy word,
But that my barons might believe thy word,
And that the Holy Saints of Normandy
When thou art home in England, with thine own,
Might strengthen thee in keeping of thy word,
I made thee swear.--Show him by whom he hath sworn.
[_The two_ BISHOPS _advance, and raise the cloth of gold.
The bodies and bones of Saints are seen lying in the ark_.
The holy bones of all the Canonised
From all the holiest shrines in Normandy!
HAROLD. Horrible! [_They let the cloth fall again_.
WILLIAM. Ay, for thou hast sworn an oath
Which, if not kept, would make the hard earth rive
To the very Devil's horns, the bright sky cleave
To the very feet of God, and send her hosts
Of injured Saints to scatter sparks of plague
Thro' all your cities, blast your infants, dash
The torch of war among your standing corn,
Dabble your hearths with your own blood.--Enough!
Thou wilt not break it! I, the Count--the King--
Thy friend--am grateful for thine honest oath,
Not coming fiercely like a conqueror, now,
But softly as a bridegroom to his own.
For I shall rule according to your laws,
And make your ever-jarring Earldoms move
To music and in order--Angle, Jute,
Dane, Saxon, Norman, help to build a throne
Out-towering hers of France.... The wind is fair
For England now.... To-night we will be merry.
To-morrow will I ride with thee to Harfleur.
[_Exeunt_ WILLIAM _and all the_ NORMAN BARONS, _etc_.
HAROLD. To-night we will be merry--and to-morrow--
Juggler and bastard--bastard--he hates that most--
William the tanner's bastard! Would he heard me!
O God, that I were in some wide, waste field
With nothing but my battle-axe and him
To spatter his brains! Why let earth rive, gulf in
These cursed Normans--yea and mine own self.
Cleave heaven, and send thy saints that I may say
Ev'n to their faces, 'If ye side with William
Ye are not noble.' How their pointed fingers
Glared at me! Am I Harold, Harold, son
Of our great Godwin? Lo! I touch mine arms,
My limbs--they are not mine--they are a liar's--
I mean to be a liar--I am not bound--
Stigand shall give me absolution for it--
Did the chest move? did it move? I am utter craven!
O Wulfnoth, Wulfnoth, brother, thou hast betray'd me!
WULFNOTH. Forgive me, brother, I will live here and die.
_Enter_ PAGE.
PAGE. My lord! the Duke awaits thee at the banquet.
HAROLD. Where they eat dead men's flesh, and drink their blood.
PAGE. My lord--
HAROLD. I know your Norman cookery is so spiced,
It masks all this.
PAGE. My lord! thou art white as death.
HAROLD. With looking on the dead. Am I so white?
Thy Duke will seem the darker. Hence, I follow.
[_Exeunt_.
ACT III.
SCENE I.--THE KING'S PALACE. LONDON.
KING EDWARD _dying on a couch, and by him standing the_ QUEEN, HAROLD,
ARCHBISHOP STIGAND, GURTH, LEOFWIN, ARCHBISHOP ALDRED, ALDWYTH, _and_
EDITH.
STIGAND. Sleeping or dying there? If this be death,
Then our great Council wait to crown thee King--
Come hither, I have a power; [_To_ HAROLD.
They call me near, for I am close to thee
And England--I, old shrivell'd Stigand, I,
Dry as an old wood-fungus on a dead tree,
I have a power!
See here this little key about my neck!
There lies a treasure buried down in Ely:
If e'er the Norman grow too hard for thee,
Ask me for this at thy most need, son Harold,
At thy most need--not sooner.
HAROLD. So I will.
STIGAND. Red gold--a hundred purses--yea, and more!
If thou canst make a wholesome use of these
To chink against the Norman, I do believe
My old crook'd spine would bud out two young wings
To fly to heaven straight with.
HAROLD. Thank thee, father!
Thou art English, Edward too is English now,
He hath clean repented of his Normanism.
STIGAND. Ay, as the libertine repents who cannot
Make done undone, when thro' his dying sense
Shrills 'lost thro' thee.' They have built their castles here;
Our priories are Norman; the Norman adder
Hath bitten us; we are poison'd: our dear England
Is demi-Norman. He!--
[_Pointing to_ KING EDWARD, _sleeping_.
HAROLD. I would I were
As holy and as passionless as he!
That I might rest as calmly! Look at him--
The rosy face, and long down-silvering beard,
The brows unwrinkled as a summer mere.--
STIGAND. A summer mere with sudden wreckful gusts
From a side-gorge. Passionless? How he flamed
When Tostig's anger'd earldom flung him, nay,
He fain had calcined all Northumbria
To one black ash, but that thy patriot passion
Siding with our great Council against Tostig,
Out-passion'd his! Holy? ay, ay, forsooth,
A conscience for his own soul, not his realm;
A twilight conscience lighted thro' a chink;
Thine by the sun; nay, by some sun to be,
When all the world hath learnt to speak the truth,
And lying were self-murder by that state
Which was the exception.
HAROLD. That sun may God speed!
STIGAND. Come, Harold, shake the cloud off!
HAROLD. Can I, father?
Our Tostig parted cursing me and England;
Our sister hates us for his banishment;
He hath gone to kindle Norway against England,
And Wulfnoth is alone in Normandy.
For when I rode with William down to Harfleur,
'Wulfnoth is sick,' he said; 'he cannot follow;'
Then with that friendly-fiendly smile of his,
'We have learnt to love him, let him a little longer
Remain a hostage for the loyalty
Of Godwin's house.' As far as touches Wulfnoth
I that so prized plain word and naked truth
Have sinn'd against it--all in vain.
LEOFWIN. Good brother,
By all the truths that ever priest hath preach'd,
Of all the lies that ever men have lied,
Thine is the pardonablest.
HAROLD. May be so!
I think it so, I think I am a fool
To think it can be otherwise than so.
STIGAND. Tut, tut, I have absolved thee: dost thou scorn me,
Because I had my Canterbury pallium,
From one whom they dispoped?
HAROLD. No, Stigand, no!
STIGAND. Is naked truth actable in true life?
I have heard a saying of thy father Godwin,
That, were a man of state nakedly true,
Men would but take him for the craftier liar.
LEOFWIN. Be men less delicate than the Devil himself?
I thought that naked Truth would shame the Devil,
The Devil is so modest.
GURTH. He never said it!
LEOFWIN. Be thou not stupid-honest, brother Gurth!
HAROLD. Better to be a liar's dog, and hold
My master honest, than believe that lying
And ruling men are fatal twins that cannot
Move one without the other. Edward wakes!--
Dazed--he hath seen a vision.
EDWARD. The green tree!
Then a great Angel past along the highest
Crying 'the doom of England,' and at once
He stood beside me, in his grasp a sword
Of lightnings, wherewithal he cleft the tree
From off the bearing trunk, and hurl'd it from him
Three fields away, and then he dash'd and drench'd,
He dyed, he soak'd the trunk with human blood,
And brought the sunder'd tree again, and set it
Straight on the trunk, that thus baptized in blood
Grew ever high and higher, beyond my seeing,
And shot out sidelong boughs across the deep
That dropt themselves, and rooted in far isles
Beyond my seeing: and the great Angel rose
And past again along the highest crying
'The doom of England!'--Tostig, raise my head!
[_Falls back senseless_.
HAROLD (_raising him_).
Let Harold serve for Tostig!
_QUEEN_. Harold served
Tostig so ill, he cannot serve for Tostig!
Ay, raise his head, for thou hast laid it low!
The sickness of our saintly king, for whom
My prayers go up as fast as my tears fall,
I well believe, hath mainly drawn itself
From lack of Tostig--thou hast banish'd him.
HAROLD. Nay--but the council, and the king himself.
QUEEN. Thou hatest him, hatest him.
HAROLD (_coldly_).
Ay--Stigand, unriddle
This vision, canst thou?
STIGAND. Dotage!
EDWARD (_starting up_).
It is finish'd.
I have built the Lord a house--the Lord hath dwelt
In darkness. I have built the Lord a house--
Palms, flowers, pomegranates, golden cherubim
With twenty-cubit wings from wall to wall--
I have built the Lord a house--sing, Asaph! clash
The cymbal, Heman! blow the trumpet, priest!
Fall, cloud, and fill the house--lo! my two pillars,
Jachin and Boaz!-- [_Seeing_ HAROLD _and_ GURTH.
Harold, Gurth,--where am I?
Where is the charter of our Westminster?
STIGAND. It lies beside thee, king, upon thy bed.
EDWARD. Sign, sign at once--take, sign it, Stigand, Aldred!
Sign it, my good son Harold, Gurth, and Leofwin,
Sign it, my queen!
ALL. We have sign'd it.
EDWARD. It is finish'd!
The kingliest Abbey in all Christian lands,
The lordliest, loftiest minster ever built
To Holy Peter in our English isle!
Let me be buried there, and all our kings,
And all our just and wise and holy men
That shall be born hereafter. It is finish'd!
Hast thou had absolution for thine oath? [_To_ HAROLD.
HAROLD. Stigand hath given me absolution for it.
EDWARD. Stigand is not canonical enough
To save thee from the wrath of Norman Saints.
STIGAND. Norman enough! Be there no Saints of England
To help us from their brethren yonder?
EDWARD. Prelate,
The Saints are one, but those of Normanland
Are mightier than our own. Ask it of Aldred.
[_To_ HAROLD.
ALDRED. It shall be granted him, my king; for he
Who vows a vow to strangle his own mother
Is guiltier keeping this, than breaking it.
EDWARD. O friends, I shall not overlive the day.
STIGAND. Why then the throne is empty. Who inherits?
For tho' we be not bound by the king's voice
In making of a king, yet the king's voice
Is much toward his making. Who inherits?
Edgar the Atheling?
EDWARD. No, no, but Harold.
I love him: he hath served me: none but he
Can rule all England. Yet the curse is on him
For swearing falsely by those blessed bones;
He did not mean to keep his vow.
HAROLD. Not mean
To make our England Norman.
EDWARD. There spake Godwin,
Who hated all the Normans; but their Saints
Have heard thee, Harold.
EDITH. Oh! my lord, my king!
He knew not whom he sware by.
EDWARD. Yea, I know
He knew not, but those heavenly ears have heard,
Their curse is on him; wilt thou bring another,
Edith, upon his head?
EDITH. No, no, not I.
EDWARD. Why then, thou must not wed him.
HAROLD. Wherefore, wherefore?
EDWARD. O son, when thou didst tell me of thine oath,
I sorrow'd for my random promise given
To yon fox-lion. I did not dream then
I should be king.--My son, the Saints are virgins;
They love the white rose of virginity,
The cold, white lily blowing in her cell:
I have been myself a virgin; and I sware
To consecrate my virgin here to heaven--
The silent, cloister'd, solitary life,
A life of life-long prayer against the curse
That lies on thee and England.
HAROLD. No, no, no.
EDWARD. Treble denial of the tongue of flesh,
Like Peter's when he fell, and thou wilt have
To wail for it like Peter. O my son!
Are all oaths to be broken then, all promises
Made in our agony for help from heaven?
Son, there is one who loves thee: and a wife,
What matters who, so she be serviceable
In all obedience, as mine own hath been:
God bless thee, wedded daughter.
[_Laying his hand on the_ QUEEN'S _head_.
QUEEN. Bless thou too
That brother whom I love beyond the rest,
My banish'd Tostig.
EDWARD. All the sweet Saints bless him!
Spare and forbear him, Harold, if he comes!
And let him pass unscathed; he loves me, Harold!
Be kindly to the Normans left among us,
Who follow'd me for love! and dear son, swear
When thou art king, to see my solemn vow
Accomplish'd.
HAROLD. Nay, dear lord, for I have sworn
Not to swear falsely twice.
EDWARD. Thou wilt not swear?
HAROLD. I cannot.
EDWARD. Then on thee remains the curse,
Harold, if thou embrace her: and on thee,
Edith, if thou abide it,--
[_The_ KING _swoons;_ EDITH _falls and kneels by the couch_.
STIGAND. He hath swoon'd!
Death?... no, as yet a breath.
HAROLD. Look up! look up!
Edith!
ALDRED. Confuse her not; she hath begun
Her life-long prayer for thee.
ALDWYTH. O noble Harold,
I would thou couldst have sworn.
HAROLD. For thine own pleasure?
ALDWYTH. No, but to please our dying king, and those
Who make thy good their own--all England, Earl.
ALDRED. _I_ would thou couldst have sworn. Our holy king
Hath given his virgin lamb to Holy Church
To save thee from the curse.
HAROLD. Alas! poor man,
_His_ promise brought it on me.
ALDRED. O good son!
That knowledge made him all the carefuller
To find a means whereby the curse might glance
From thee and England.
HAROLD. Father, we so loved--
ALDRED. The more the love, the mightier is the prayer;
The more the love, the more acceptable
The sacrifice of both your loves to heaven.
No sacrifice to heaven, no help from heaven;
That runs thro' all the faiths of all the world.
And sacrifice there must be, for the king
Is holy, and hath talk'd with God, and seen
A shadowing horror; there are signs in heaven--
HAROLD. Your comet came and went.
ALDRED. And signs on earth!
Knowest thou Senlac hill?
HAROLD. I know all Sussex;
A good entrenchment for a perilous hour!
ALDRED. Pray God that come not suddenly! There is one
Who passing by that hill three nights ago--
He shook so that he scarce could out with it--
Heard, heard--
HAROLD. The wind in his hair?
ALDRED. A ghostly horn
Blowing continually, and faint battle-hymns,
And cries, and clashes, and the groans of men;
And dreadful shadows strove upon the hill,
And dreadful lights crept up from out the marsh--
Corpse-candles gliding over nameless graves--
HAROLD. At Senlac?
ALDRED. Senlac.
EDWARD (_waking_).
Senlac! Sanguelac,
The Lake of Blood!
STIGAND. This lightning before death
Plays on the word,--and Normanizes too!
HAROLD. Hush, father, hush!
EDWARD. Thou uncanonical fool,
Wilt _thou_ play with the thunder? North and South
Thunder together, showers of blood are blown
Before a never-ending blast, and hiss
Against the blaze they cannot quench--a lake,
A sea of blood--we are drown'd in blood--for God
Has fill'd the quiver, and Death has drawn the bow--
Sanguelac! Sanguelac! the arrow! the arrow! [_Dies_.
STIGAND. It is the arrow of death in his own heart--
And our great Council wait to crown thee King.
SCENE II.--IN THE GARDEN. THE KING'S HOUSE NEAR LONDON.
EDITH. Crown'd, crown'd and lost, crown'd King--and lost to me!
(_Singing_.)
Two young lovers in winter weather,
None to guide them,
Walk'd at night on the misty heather;
Night, as black as a raven's feather;
Both were lost and found together,
None beside them.
That is the burthen of it--lost and found
Together in the cruel river Swale
A hundred years ago; and there's another,
Lost, lost, the light of day,
To which the lover answers lovingly
'I am beside thee.'
Lost, lost, we have lost the way.
'Love, I will guide thee.'
Whither, O whither? into the river,
Where we two may be lost together,
And lost for ever? 'Oh! never, oh! never,
Tho' we be lost and be found together.'
Some think they loved within the pale forbidden
By Holy Church: but who shall say? the truth
Was lost in that fierce North, where _they_ were lost,
Where all good things are lost, where Tostig lost
The good hearts of his people. It is Harold!
_Enter_ HAROLD.
Harold the King!
HAROLD. Call me not King, but Harold.
EDITH. Nay, thou art King!
HAROLD. Thine, thine, or King or churl!
My girl, thou hast been weeping: turn not thou
Thy face away, but rather let me be
King of the moment to thee, and command
That kiss my due when subject, which will make
My kingship kinglier to me than to reign
King of the world without it.
EDITH. Ask me not,
Lest I should yield it, and the second curse
Descend upon thine head, and thou be only
King of the moment over England.
HAROLD. Edith,
Tho' somewhat less a king to my true self
Than ere they crown'd me one, for I have lost
Somewhat of upright stature thro' mine oath,
Yet thee I would not lose, and sell not thou
Our living passion for a dead man's dream;
Stigand believed he knew not what he spake.
Oh God! I cannot help it, but at times
They seem to me too narrow, all the faiths
Of this grown world of ours, whose baby eye
Saw them sufficient. Fool and wise, I fear
This curse, and scorn it. But a little light!--
And on it falls the shadow of the priest;
Heaven yield us more! for better, Woden, all
Our cancell'd warrior-gods, our grim Walhalla,
Eternal war, than that the Saints at peace
The Holiest of our Holiest one should be
This William's fellow-tricksters;--better die
Than credit this, for death is death, or else
Lifts us beyond the lie. Kiss me--thou art not
A holy sister yet, my girl, to fear
There might be more than brother in my kiss,
And more than sister in thine own.
EDITH. I dare not.
HAROLD. Scared by the church--'Love for a whole life long'
When was that sung?
EDITH. Here to the nightingales.
HAROLD. Their anthems of no church, how sweet they are!
Nor kingly priest, nor priestly king to cross
Their billings ere they nest.
EDITH. They are but of spring,
They fly the winter change--not so with us--
No wings to come and go.
HAROLD. But wing'd souls flying
Beyond all change and in the eternal distance
To settle on the Truth.
EDITH. They are not so true,
They change their mates.
HAROLD. Do they? I did not know it.
EDITH. They say thou art to wed the Lady Aldwyth.
HAROLD. They say, they say.
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