Mary Stuart. Friedrich von Schiller

Dishonor me, my lord, but not condemn me,

         Nor subject me to England's courts of law:

         For 'tis not justice, but mere violence,

         Which is the question 'tween myself and England.

BURLEIGH (significantly)

         Talk not, my lady, of the dreadful right

         Of power: 'tis seldom on the prisoner's side.

MARY

         I am the weak, she is the mighty one:

         'Tis well, my lord; let her, then, use her power;

         Let her destroy me; let me bleed, that she

         May live secure; but let her, then, confess

         That she hath exercised her power alone,

         And not contaminate the name of justice.

         Let her not borrow from the laws the sword

         To rid her of her hated enemy;

         Let her not clothe in this religious garb

         The bloody daring of licentious might;

         Let not these juggling tricks deceive the world.

      [Returning the sentence.

         Though she may murder me, she cannot judge me:

         Let her no longer strive to join the fruits

         Of vice with virtue's fair and angel show;

         But let her dare to seem the thing she is.

      [Exit.

      SCENE VIII

      BURLEIGH, PAULET.

BURLEIGH

         She scorns us, she defies us! will defy us,

         Even at the scaffold's foot. This haughty heart

         Is not to be subdued. Say, did the sentence

         Surprise her? Did you see her shed one tear,

         Or even change her color? She disdains

         To make appeal to our compassion. Well

         She knows the wavering mind of England's queen.

         Our apprehensions make her bold.

PAULET

                          My lord,

         Take the pretext away which buoys it up,

         And you shall see this proud defiance fail

         That very moment. I must say, my lord,

         Irregularities have been allowed

         In these proceedings; Babington and Ballard

         Should have been brought, with her two secretaries,

         Before her, face to face.

BURLEIGH

                       No, Paulet, no.

         That was not to be risked; her influence

         Upon the human heart is too supreme;

         Too strong the female empire of her tears.

         Her secretary, Curl, if brought before her,

         And called upon to speak the weighty word

         On which her life depends, would straight shrink back

         And fearfully revoke his own confession.

PAULET

         Then England's enemies will fill the world

         With evil rumors; and the formal pomp

         Of these proceedings to the minds of all

         Will only signalize an act of outrage.

BURLEIGH

         That is the greatest torment of our queen,

         [That she can never 'scape the blame. Oh God!]

         Had but this lovely mischief died before

         She set her faithless foot on English ground.

PAULET

         Amen, say I!

BURLEIGH

                Had sickness but consumed her!

PAULET

         England had been secured from such misfortune.

BURLEIGH

         And yet, if she had died in nature's course,

         The world would still have called us murderers.

PAULET

         'Tis true, the world will think, despite of us,

         Whate'er it list.

BURLEIGH

                   Yet could it not be proved?

         And it would make less noise.

PAULET

                         Why, let it make

         What noise it may. It is not clamorous blame,

         'Tis righteous censure only which can wound.

BURLEIGH

         We know that holy justice cannot 'scape

         The voice of censure; and the public cry

         Is ever on the side of the unhappy:

         Envy pursues the laurelled conqueror;

         The sword of justice, which adorns the man,

         Is hateful in a woman's hand; the world

         Will give no credit to a woman's justice

         If woman be the victim. Vain that we,

         The judges, spoke what conscience dictated;

         She has the royal privilege of mercy;

         She must exert it: 'twere not to be borne,

         Should she let justice take its full career.

PAULET

         And therefore —

BURLEIGH

                  Therefore should she live? Oh, no,

         She must not live; it must not be. 'Tis this,

         Even this, my friend, which so disturbs the queen,

         And scares all slumber from her couch; I read

         Her soul's distracting contest in her eyes:

         She fears to speak her wishes, yet her looks,

         Her silent looks, significantly ask,

         "Is there not one amongst my many servants

         To save me from this sad alternative?

         Either to tremble in eternal fear

         Upon my throne, or else to sacrifice

         A queen of my own kindred on the block?"

PAULET

         'Tis even so; nor can it be avoided —

BURLEIGH

         Well might it be avoided, thinks the queen,

         If she had only more attentive servants.

PAULET

         How