Mary Stuart

Friedrich Schiller

Mary Stuart: A Tragedy

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ELIZABETH, Queen of England.

MARY STUART, Queen of Scots, a Prisoner in England.

ROBERT DUDLEY, Earl of Leicester.

GEORGE TALBOT, Earl of Shrewsbury.

WILLIAM CECIL, Lord Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer.

EARL OF KENT.

SIR WILLIAM DAVISON, Secretary of State.

SIR AMIAS PAULET, Keeper of MARY.

SIR EDWARD MORTIMER, his Nephew.

COUNT L'AUBESPINE, the French Ambassador.

O'KELLY, Mortimer's Friend.

COUNT BELLIEVRE, Envoy Extraordinary from France.

SIR DRUE DRURY, another Keeper of MARY.

SIR ANDREW MELVIL, her House Steward.

BURGOYNE, her Physician.

HANNAH KENNEDY, her Nurse.

MARGARET CURL, her Attendant.

Sheriff of the County.

Officer of the Guard.

French and English Lords.

Soldiers.

Servants of State belonging to ELIZABETH.

Servants and Female Attendants of the Queen of Scots.

ACT I

SCENE I

A common apartment in the Castle of Fotheringay.

HANNAH KENNEDY, contending violently with PAULET, who is about to break open a closet; DRURY with an iron crown.

KENNEDY   How now, sir? what fresh outrage have we here?   Back from that cabinet!PAULET                Whence came the jewel?   I know 'twas from an upper chamber thrown;   And you would bribe the gardener with your trinkets.   A curse on woman's wiles! In spite of all   My strict precaution and my active search,   Still treasures here, still costly gems concealed!   And doubtless there are more where this lay hid.

[Advancing towards the cabinet.

KENNEDY   Intruder, back! here lie my lady's secrets.PAULET   Exactly what I seek.

[Drawing forth papers.

KENNEDY              Mere trifling papers;   The amusements only of an idle pen,   To cheat the dreary tedium of a dungeon.PAULET   In idle hours the evil mind is busy.KENNEDY   Those writings are in French.PAULET                   So much the worse!   That tongue betokens England's enemy.KENNEDY   Sketches of letters to the Queen of England.PAULET   I'll be their bearer. Ha! what glitters here?

[He touches a secret spring, and draws out jewels from a private drawer.

   A royal diadem enriched with stones,   And studded with the fleur-de-lis of France.

[He hands it to his assistant.

   Here, take it, Drury; lay it with the rest.

[Exit DRURY.

[And ye have found the means to hide from us Such costly things, and screen them, until now, From our inquiring eyes?]

KENNEDY                Oh, insolent   And tyrant power, to which we must submit.PAULET   She can work ill as long as she hath treasures;   For all things turn to weapons in her hands.KENNEDY (supplicating)   Oh, sir! be merciful; deprive us not   Of the last jewel that adorns our life!   'Tis my poor lady's only joy to view   This symbol of her former majesty;   Your hands long since have robbed us of the rest.PAULET   'Tis in safe custody; in proper time   'Twill be restored to you with scrupulous care.KENNEDY   Who that beholds these naked walls could say   That majesty dwelt here? Where is the throne?   Where the imperial canopy of state?   Must she not set her tender foot, still used   To softest treading, on the rugged ground?   With common pewter, which the lowliest dame   Would scorn, they furnish forth her homely table.PAULET   Thus did she treat her spouse at Stirling once;   And pledged, the while, her paramour in gold.KENNEDY   Even the mirror's trifling aid withheld.PAULET   The contemplation of her own vain image   Incites to hope, and prompts to daring deeds.KENNEDY   Books are denied her to divert her mind.PAULET   The Bible still is left to mend her heart.KENNEDY   Even of her very lute she is deprived!PAULET   Because she tuned it to her wanton airs.KENNEDY   Is this a fate for her, the gentle born,   Who in her very cradle was a queen?   Who, reared in Catherine's luxurious court,   Enjoyed the fulness of each earthly pleasure?   Was't not enough to rob her of her power,   Must ye then envy her its paltry tinsel?   A noble heart in time resigns itself   To great calamities with fortitude;   But yet it cuts one to the soul to part   At once with all life's little outward trappings!PAULET   These are the things that turn the human heart   To vanity, which should collect itself   In penitence; for a lewd, vicious life,   Want and abasement are the only penance.KENNEDY   If youthful blood has led her into error,   With her own heart and God she must account:   There is no judge in England over her.PAULET   She shall have judgment where she hath transgressed.KENNEDY   Her narrow bonds restrain her from transgression.PAULET   And yet she found the means to stretch her arm   Into the world, from out these narrow bonds,   And, with the torch of civil war, inflame   This realm against our queen (whom God preserve).   And arm assassin bands. Did she not rouse   From out these walls the malefactor Parry,   And Babington, to the detested crime   Of regicide? And did this iron grate   Prevent her from decoying to her toils   The virtuous heart of Norfolk? Saw we not   The first, best head in all this island fall   A sacrifice for her upon the block?[The noble house of Howard fell with him.]   And did this sad example terrify   These mad adventurers, whose rival zeal   Plunges for her into this deep abyss?   The bloody scaffold bends beneath the weight   Of her new daily victims; and we ne'er   Shall see an end till she herself, of all   The guiltiest, be offered up upon it.   Oh! curses on the day when England took   This Helen to its hospitable arms.KENNEDY   Did England then receive her hospitably?   Oh, hapless queen! who, since that fatal day   When first she set her foot within this realm,   And, as a suppliant – a fugitive —   Came to implore protection from her sister,   Has been condemned, despite the law of nations,   And royal privilege, to weep away   The fairest years of youth in prison walls.   And now, when she hath suffered everything   Which in imprisonment is hard and bitter,   Is like a felon summoned to the bar,   Foully accused, and though herself a queen,   Constrained to plead for honor and for life.PAULET   She came amongst us as a murderess,   Chased by her very subjects from a throne   Which she had oft by vilest deeds disgraced.   Sworn against England's welfare came she hither,   To call the times of bloody Mary back,   Betray our church to Romish tyranny,   And sell our dear-bought liberties to France.   Say, why disdained she to subscribe the treaty   Of Edinborough – to resign her claim   To England's crown – and with one single word,   Traced by her pen, throw wide her prison gates?   No: – she had rather live in vile confinement,   And see herself ill-treated, than renounce   The empty honors of her barren title.   Why acts she thus? Because she trusts to wiles,   And treacherous arts of base conspiracy;   And, hourly plotting schemes of mischief, hopes   To conquer, from her prison, all this isle.KENNEDY   You mock us, sir, and edge your cruelty   With words of bitter scorn: – that she should form   Such projects; she, who's here immured alive,   To whom no sound of comfort, not a voice   Of friendship comes from her beloved home;   Who hath so long no human face beheld,   Save her stern gaoler's unrelenting brows;   Till now, of late, in your uncourteous cousin   She sees a second keeper, and beholds   Fresh bolts and bars against her multiplied.PAULET   No iron-grate is proof against her wiles.   How do I know these bars are not filed through?   How that this floor, these walls, that seem so strong   Without, may not be hollow from within,   And let in felon treachery when I sleep?   Accursed office, that's intrusted to me,   To guard this cunning mother of all ill!   Fear scares me from my sleep; and in the night   I, like a troubled spirit, roam and try   The strength of every bolt, and put to proof   Each guard's fidelity: – I see, with fear,   The dawning of each morn, which may confirm   My apprehensions: – yet, thank God, there's hope   That all my fears will soon be at an end;   For rather would I at the gates of hell   Stand sentinel, and guard the devilish host   Of damned souls, than this deceitful queen.KENNEDY   Here comes the queen.PAULET               Christ's image in her hand.   Pride, and all worldly lusts within her heart.

SCENE II

The same. Enter MARY, veiled, a crucifix in her hand.

KENNEDY (hastening toward her)   O gracious queen! they tread us under foot;   No end of tyranny and base oppression;   Each coming day heaps fresh indignities,   New sufferings on thy royal head.MARY                     Be calm —   Say, what has happened?KENNEDY                See! thy cabinet   Is forced – thy papers – and thy only treasure,   Which with such pains we had secured, the last   Poor remnant of thy bridal ornaments   From France, is in his hands – naught now remains   Of royal state – thou art indeed bereft!MARY   Compose yourself, my Hannah! and believe me,   'Tis not these baubles that can make a queen —   Basely indeed they may behave to us,   But they cannot debase us. I have learned   To use myself to many a change in England;   I can support this too. Sir, you have taken   By force what I this very day designed   To have delivered to you. There's a letter   Amongst these papers for my royal sister   Of England. Pledge me, sir, your word of honor,   To give it to her majesty's own hands,   And not to the deceitful care of Burleigh.PAULET   I shall consider what is best to do.MARY   Sir, you shall know its import. In this letter   I beg a favor, a great favor of her, —   That she herself will give me audience, – she   Whom I have never seen. I have been summoned   Before a court of men, whom I can ne'er   Acknowledge as my peers – of men to whom   My heart denies its confidence. The queen   Is of my family, my rank, my sex;   To her alone – a sister, queen, and woman —   Can I unfold my heart.PAULET               Too oft, my lady,   Have you intrusted both your fate and honor   To men less worthy your esteem than these.MARY   I, in the letter, beg another favor,   And surely naught but inhumanity   Can here reject my prayer. These many years   Have I, in prison, missed the church's comfort,   The blessings of the sacraments – and she   Who robs me of my freedom and my crown,   Who seeks my very life, can never wish   To shut the gates of heaven upon my soul.PAULET   Whene'er you wish, the dean shall wait upon you.MARY (interrupting him sharply)   Talk to me not of deans. I ask the aid   Of one of my own church – a Catholic priest.PAULET   [That is against the published laws of England.MARY   The laws of England are no rule for me.   I am not England's subject; I have ne'er   Consented to its laws, and will not bow   Before their cruel and despotic sway.   If 'tis your will, to the unheard-of rigor   Which I have borne, to add this new oppression,   I must submit to what your power ordains;   Yet will I raise my voice in loud complaints.]   I also wish a public notary,   And secretaries, to prepare my will —   My sorrows and my prison's wretchedness   Prey on my life – my days, I fear, are numbered —   I feel that I am near the gates of death.PAULET   These serious contemplations well become you.MARY   And know I then that some too ready hand   May not abridge this tedious work of sorrow?   I would indite my will and make disposal   Of what belongs to me.PAULET               This liberty   May be allowed to you, for England's queen   Will not enrich herself by plundering you.MARY   I have been parted from my faithful women,   And from my servants; tell me, where are they?   What is their fate? I can indeed dispense   At present with their service, but my heart   Will feel rejoiced to know these faithful ones   Are not exposed to suffering and to want!PAULET   Your servants have been cared for; [and again   You shall behold whate'er is taken from you   And all shall be restored in proper season.]

[Going.

MARY   And will you leave my presence thus again,   And not relieve my fearful, anxious heart   From the fell torments of uncertainty?   Thanks to the vigilance of your hateful spies,   I am divided from the world; no voice   Can reach me through these prison-walls; my fate   Lies in the hands of those who wish my ruin.   A month of dread suspense is passed already   Since when the forty high commissioners   Surprised me in this castle, and erected,   With most unseemly haste, their dread tribunal;   They forced me, stunned, amazed, and unprepared,   Without an advocate, from memory,   Before their unexampled court, to answer   Their weighty charges, artfully arranged.   They came like ghosts, – like ghosts they disappeared,   And since that day all mouths are closed to me.   In vain I seek to construe from your looks   Which hath prevailed – my cause's innocence   And my friends' zeal – or my foes' cursed counsel.   Oh, break this silence! let me know the worst;   What have I still to fear, and what to hope.PAULET   Close your accounts with heaven.MARY                    From heaven I hope   For mercy, sir; and from my earthly judges   I hope, and still expect, the strictest justice.PAULET   Justice, depend upon it, will be done you.MARY   Is the suit ended, sir?PAULET                I cannot tell.MARY   Am I condemned?PAULET            I cannot answer, lady.MARY

[Sir, a good work fears not the light of day.

PAULET   The day will shine upon it, doubt it not.]MARY   Despatch is here the fashion. Is it meant   The murderer shall surprise me, like the judges?PAULET   Still entertain that thought and he will find you   Better prepared to meet your fate than they did.MARY (after a pause)   Sir, nothing can surprise me which a court   Inspired by Burleigh's hate and Hatton's zeal,   Howe'er unjust, may venture to pronounce:   But I have yet to learn how far the queen   Will dare in execution of the sentence.PAULET   The sovereigns of England have no fear   But for their conscience and their parliament.   What justice hath decreed her fearless hand   Will execute before the assembled world.

SCENE III

The same. MORTIMER enters, and without paying attention to the QUEEN, addresses PAULET.

MORTIMER   Uncle, you're sought for.

[He retires in the same manner. The QUEEN remarks it, and turns towards PAULET, who is about to follow him.

MARY                 Sir, one favor more   If you have aught to say to me – from you   I can bear much – I reverence your gray hairs;   But cannot bear that young man's insolence;   Spare me in future his unmannered rudeness.PAULET   I prize him most for that which makes you hate him   He is not, truly, one of those poor fools   Who melt before a woman's treacherous tears.   He has seen much – has been to Rheims and Paris,   And brings us back his true old English heart.   Lady, your cunning arts are lost on him.

[Exit.

SCENE IV

MARY, KENNEDY.

KENNEDY   And dare the ruffian venture to your face   Such language! Oh, 'tis hard – 'tis past endurance.MARY (lost in reflection)   In the fair moments of our former splendor   We lent to flatterers a too willing ear; —   It is but just, good Hannah, we should now   Be forced to hear the bitter voice of censure.KENNEDY   So downcast, so depressed, my dearest lady!   You, who before so gay, so full of hope,   Were used to comfort me in my distress;   More gracious were the task to check your mirth   Than chide your heavy sadness.MARY                   Well I know him —   It is the bleeding Darnley's royal shade,   Rising in anger from his darksome grave   And never will he make his peace with me   Until the measures of my woes be full.KENNEDY   What thoughts are these —MARY                Thou may'st forget it, Hannah;   But I've a faithful memory – 'tis this day   Another wretched anniversary   Of that regretted, that unhappy deed —   Which I must celebrate with fast and penance.KENNEDY   Dismiss at length in peace this evil spirit.   The penitence of many a heavy year,   Of many a suffering, has atoned the deed;   The church, which holds the key of absolution,   Pardons the crime, and heaven itself's appeased.MARY   This long-atoned crime arises fresh   And bleeding from its lightly-covered grave;   My husband's restless spirit seeks revenge;   No sacred bell can exorcise, no host   In priestly hands dismiss it to his tomb.KENNEDY   You did not murder him; 'twas done by others.MARY   But it was known to me; I suffered it,   And lured him with my smiles to death's embrace.KENNEDY   Your youth extenuates your guilt. You were   Of tender years.MARY            So tender, yet I drew   This heavy guilt upon my youthful head.KENNEDY   You were provoked by direst injuries,   And by the rude presumption of the man,   Whom out of darkness, like the hand of heaven,   Your love drew forth, and raised above all others.   Whom through your bridal chamber you conducted   Up to your throne, and with your lovely self,   And your hereditary crown, distinguished   [Your work was his existence, and your grace   Bedewed him like the gentle rains of heaven.]   Could he forget that his so splendid lot   Was the creation of your generous love?   Yet did he, worthless as he was, forget it.   With base suspicions, and with brutal manners,   He wearied your affections, and became   An object to you of deserved disgust:   The illusion, which till now had overcast   Your judgment, vanished; angrily you fled   His foul embrace, and gave him up to scorn.   And did he seek again to win your love?   Your favor? Did he e'er implore your pardon?   Or fall in deep repentance at your feet?   No; the base wretch defied you; he, who was   Your bounty's creature, wished to play your king,   [And strove, through fear, to force your inclination.]   Before your eyes he had your favorite singer,   Poor Rizzio, murdered; you did but avenge   With blood the bloody deed —MARY                  And bloodily,   I fear, too soon 'twill be avenged on me:   You seek to comfort me, and you condemn me.KENNEDY   You were, when you consented to this deed,   No more yourself; belonged not to yourself;   The madness of a frantic love possessed you,   And bound you to a terrible seducer,   The wretched Bothwell. That despotic man   Ruled you with shameful, overbearing will,   And with his philters and his hellish arts   Inflamed your passions.MARY                All the arts he used   Were man's superior strength and woman's weakness.KENNEDY   No, no, I say. The most pernicious spirits   Of hell he must have summoned to his aid,   To cast this mist before your waking senses.   Your ear no more was open to the voice   Of friendly warning, and your eyes were shut   To decency; soft female bashfulness   Deserted you; those cheeks, which were before   The seat of virtuous, blushing modesty,   Glowed with the flames of unrestrained desire.   You cast away the veil of secrecy,   And the flagitious daring of the man   O'ercame your natural coyness: you exposed   Your shame, unblushingly, to public gaze:   You let the murderer, whom the people followed   With curses, through the streets of Edinburgh,   Before you bear the royal sword of Scotland   In triumph. You begirt your parliament   With armed bands; and by this shameless farce,   There, in the very temple of great justice,   You forced the judges of the land to clear   The murderer of his guilt. You went still further —   O God!MARY       Conclude – nay, pause not – say for this   I gave my hand in marriage at the altar.KENNEDY   O let an everlasting silence veil   That dreadful deed: the heart revolts at it.   A crime to stain the darkest criminal!   Yet you are no such lost one, that I know.   I nursed your youth myself – your heart is framed   For tender softness: 'tis alive to shame,   And all your fault is thoughtless levity.   Yes, I repeat it, there are evil spirits,   Who sudden fix in man's unguarded breast   Their fatal residence, and there delight   To act their dev'lish deeds; then hurry back   Unto their native hell, and leave behind   Remorse and horror in the poisoned bosom.   Since this misdeed, which blackens thus your life,   You have done nothing ill; your conduct has   Been pure; myself can witness your amendment.   Take courage, then; with your own heart make peace.   Whatever cause you have for penitence,   You are not guilty here. Nor England's queen,   Nor England's parliament can be your judge.   Here might oppresses you: you may present   Yourself before this self-created court   With all the fortitude of innocence.MARY   I hear a step.KENNEDY           It is the nephew – In.

SCENE V

The same. Enter MORTIMER, approaching cautiously.

MORTIMER (to KENNEDY)   Step to the door, and keep a careful watch,   I have important business with the queen.MARY (with dignity)   I charge thee, Hannah, go not hence – remain.MORTIMER   Fear not, my gracious lady – learn to know me.      [He gives her a card.MARY (She examines it, and starts back astonished)   Heavens! What is this?MORTIMER (to KENNEDY)                Retire, good Kennedy;   See that my uncle comes not unawares.MARY (to KENNEDY, who hesitates, and looks at the QUEEN inquiringly)   Go in; do as he bids you.

[KENNEDY retires with signs of wonder.

SCENE VI

MARY, MORTIMER.

MARY                 From my uncle   In France – the worthy Cardinal of Lorrain?

[She reads.

   "Confide in Mortimer, who brings you this;   You have no truer, firmer friend in England."

[Looking at him with astonishment.

   Can I believe it? Is there no delusion   To cheat my senses? Do I find a friend   So near, when I conceived myself abandoned   By the whole world? And find that friend in you,   The nephew of my gaoler, whom I thought   My most inveterate enemy?MORTIMER (kneeling)                 Oh, pardon,   My gracious liege, for the detested mask,   Which it has cost me pain enough to wear;   Yet through such means alone have I the power   To see you, and to bring you help and rescue.MARY   Arise, sir; you astonish me; I cannot   So suddenly emerge from the abyss   Of wretchedness to hope: let me conceive   This happiness, that I may credit it.MORTIMER   Our time is brief: each moment I expect   My uncle, whom a hated man attends;   Hear, then, before his terrible commission   Surprises you, how heaven prepares your rescue.MARY   You come in token of its wondrous power.MORTIMER   Allow me of myself to speak.MARY                  Say on.MORTIMER   I scarce, my liege, had numbered twenty years,   Trained in the path of strictest discipline   And nursed in deadliest hate to papacy,   When led by irresistible desire   For foreign travel, I resolved to leave   My country and its puritanic faith   Far, far behind me: soon with rapid speed   I flew through France, and bent my eager course   On to the plains of far-famed Italy.   'Twas then the time of the great jubilee:   And crowds of palmers filled the public roads;   Each image was adorned with garlands; 'twas   As if all human-kind were wandering forth   In pilgrimage towards the heavenly kingdom.   The tide of the believing multitude   Bore me too onward, with resistless force,   Into the streets of Rome. What was my wonder,   As the magnificence of stately columns   Rushed on my sight! the vast triumphal arches,   The Colosseum's grandeur, with amazement   Struck my admiring senses; the sublime   Creative spirit held my soul a prisoner   In the fair world of wonders it had framed.   I ne'er had felt the power of art till now.   The church that reared me hates the charms of sense;   It tolerates no image, it adores   But the unseen, the incorporeal word.   What were my feelings, then, as I approached   The threshold of the churches, and within,   Heard heavenly music floating in the air:   While from the walls and high-wrought roofs there streamed   Crowds of celestial forms in endless train —   When the Most High, Most Glorious pervaded   My captivated sense in real presence!   And when I saw the great and godlike visions,   The Salutation, the Nativity,   The Holy Mother, and the Trinity's   Descent, the luminous transfiguration   And last the holy pontiff, clad in all   The glory of his office, bless the people!   Oh! what is all the pomp of gold and jewels   With which the kings of earth adorn themselves!   He is alone surrounded by the Godhead;   His mansion is in truth an heavenly kingdom,   For not of earthly moulding are these forms!MARY   O spare me, sir! No further. Spread no more   Life's verdant carpet out before my eyes,   Remember I am wretched, and a prisoner.MORTIMER   I was a prisoner, too, my queen; but swift   My prison-gates flew open, when at once   My spirit felt its liberty, and hailed   The smiling dawn of life. I learned to burst   Each narrow prejudice of education,   To crown my brow with never-fading wreaths,   And mix my joy with the rejoicing crowd.   Full many noble Scots, who saw my zeal,   Encouraged me, and with the gallant French   They kindly led me to your princely uncle,   The Cardinal of Guise. Oh, what a man!   How firm, how clear, how manly, and how great!   Born to control the human mind at will!   The very model of a royal priest;   A ruler of the church without an equal!MARY   You've seen him then, – the much loved, honored man,   Who was the guardian of my tender years!   Oh, speak of him! Does he remember me?   Does fortune favor him? And prospers still   His life? And does he still majestic stand,   A very rock and pillar of the church?MORTIMER   The holy man descended from his height,   And deigned to teach me the important creed   Of the true church, and dissipate my doubts.   He showed me how the glimmering light of reason   Serves but to lead us to eternal error:   That what the heart is called on to believe   The eye must see: that he who rules the church   Must needs be visible; and that the spirit   Of truth inspired the councils of the fathers.   How vanished then the fond imaginings   And weak conceptions of my childish soul   Before his conquering judgment, and the soft   Persuasion of his tongue! So I returned   Back to the bosom of the holy church,   And at his feet abjured my heresies.MARY   Then of those happy thousands you are one,   Whom he, with his celestial eloquence,   Like the immortal preacher of the mount,   Has turned and led to everlasting joy!MORTIMER   The duties of his office called him soon   To France, and I was sent by him to Rheims,   Where, by the Jesuits' anxious labor, priests   Are trained to preach our holy faith in England.   There, 'mongst the Scots, I found the noble Morgan,   And your true Lesley, Ross's learned bishop,   Who pass in France their joyless days of exile.   I joined with heartfelt zeal these worthy men,   And fortified my faith. As I one day   Roamed through the bishop's dwelling, I was struck   With a fair female portrait; it was full   Of touching wond'rous charms; with magic might   It moved my inmost soul, and there I stood   Speechless, and overmastered by my feelings.   "Well," cried the bishop, "may you linger thus   In deep emotion near this lovely face!   For the most beautiful of womankind,   Is also matchless in calamity.   She is a prisoner for our holy faith,   And in your native land, alas! she suffers."

[MARY is in great agitation. He pauses.