[Aside.
White Knight, there is acknowledg’d from our House
A reverence to you, and a respect
To that lov’d Duke stands next you: with the favour
Of the White King and th' aforenam’d respected,
I combat with this cause. If with all speed,—
Waste not one syllable, unfortunate Pawn,
Of what I speak,—thou dost not plead distraction,
A plea which will but faintly take thee off neither
From this leviathan-scandal that lies rolling
Upon the crystal waters of devotion;
Or, what may quit[622] thee more, though enough nothing,
Fall down and foam, and by that pang discover
The vexing spirit of falsehood strong within thee,
Make thyself ready for perdition;
There’s no remove[623] in all the game to ’scape it;
This Pawn or this, the Bishop or myself,
Will take thee in the end, play how thou canst.
W. Q. Pawn. Spite of sin’s glorious ostentation,
And all loud threats, those thunder-cracks of pride,
Ushering a storm of malice; House of impudence,
Craft[624] and equivocation, my true cause
Shall keep the path it treads in.
B. Knight. I play thus then:
Now in the hearing of this high assembly
Bring forth the time of this attempt’s conception.
W. Q. Pawn. Conception? O, how tenderly you handle it!
W. Bishop. It seems, Black Knight, you are afraid to touch it.
B. Knight. Well, its eruption: will she have it so then,
Or you, White Bishop, for her? the more unclean,[625]
Vild,[626] and more[627] impious that you urge the strain to,
The greater will her shame’s heap shew i' th' end,
And the wrong’d meek man’s glory.—The time, Pawn?
W. Q. Pawn. Yesterday’s[628] cursed evening.
B. Knight. O the treasure
Of my revenge! I cannot spend all on thee,
Ruin[629] to spare for all thy kindred too:
For honour’s sake call in more slanderers;
I have such plentiful confusion,
I know not how to waste it. I'll be nobler yet,
And put her to her own House.—King of meekness,
Take the cause to thee, for our hand’s too heavy;
Our proofs will fall upon her like a tower,
And grind her bones to powder.
W. Q. Pawn. What new engine
Has the devil rais’d in him now?
B. Knight. Is it he,
And that the time? stand firm now to your scandal,
Pray, do not shift your slander.
W. Q. Pawn. Shift your treacheries;
They’ve worn one suit too long.
B. Knight. That holy man,
So wrongfully accus’d by this lost Pawn,
Hath not been seen these ten days in these parts.
W. King.[630] How?
B. Knight. Nay, at this instant thirty leagues from hence.
W. Q. Pawn. Fathomless falsehood! will it ’scape unblasted?
W. King.[631] Can you make this appear?
B. Knight. Light is not clearer;
By his own letters, most impartial monarch.
W. Kg.'s Pawn.[632] How wrongfully may sacred virtue suffer, sir!
B. Knight. Bishop, we have a treasure of that false heart.
W. King.[633] Step forth, and reach those proofs.

[Exit B. Kt.'s Pawn, who presently returns with papers.

W. Q. Pawn. Amazement covers me!
Can I be so forsaken of a cause
So strong[634] in truth and equity? will virtue
Send me no aid in this hard time of friendship?
B. Knight. There’s an infallible staff and a red hat
Reserv’d for you.
W. Kg.'s Pawn.[635] O, sir endear’d![636]
B. Knight. A staff
That will not easily break; you may trust to’t;
And such a one had your corruption need of;
There’s a state-fig for you now.
W. King.[637] Behold all,
How they cohere in one! I always held
A charity so good to holiness
Profess’d, that[638] I ever believ’d rather
Th' accuser false than the professor vicious.
B. Knight. A charity, like all your virtues else,
Gracious and glorious.
W. King. Where settles the offence,
Let the fault’s punishment be deriv’d from thence:
We leave her to your censure.
B. Knight. Most just majesty!

[Exeunt W. King, W. Queen, W. Bishop, and W. Kg.'s Pawn; F. Bishop and F. B. Pawn.

W. Q. Pawn. Calamity of virtue! my Queen leave me too!
Am I cast off as th' olive casts her flower?
Poor friendless innocence, art thou left[639] a prey
To the devourer?
W. Knight. No, thou art not lost,
Let ’em put on their bloodiest resolutions,
If the fair policy I aim at prospers.—
Thy counsel, noble Duke!
W. Duke. For that work cheerfully.
W. Knight. A man for speed now!
W. B. Pawn. Let it be my honour, sir;
Make me that flight,[640] that owes her my life’s service.
[Exeunt W. Knight, W. Duke, and W. B. Pawn.
B. Knight. Was not this brought about well for our honours?
B. Bishop. Pish, that Galician brain can work out wonders.
B. Knight. Let’s use her as, upon the like discovery,
A maid was us’d at Venice; every one
Be ready with a penance.—Begin, majesty.—
Vessel of foolish scandal, take thy freight:
Had there been in that cabinet of niceness[641]
Half the virginities of the earth lock’d up,
And all swept at one cast by the dexterity
Of a Jesuitical gamester, ’t had not valued
The least part of that general worth thou’st tainted.
B. King.[642] First, I enjoin thee to a three days' fast for’t.
B. Queen. You’re too penurious, sir; I'll make it four.
B. Bishop. I to a twelve hours' kneeling at one time.
B. Knight. And in a room fill’d all with Aretine’s pictures,
More than the twice-twelve labours of luxury:[643]
Thou shalt not see so much as the chaste pommel
Of Lucrece' dagger peeping; nay, I'll punish thee
For a discoverer, I'll torment thy modesty.
B. Duke. After that four days' fast, to th' Inquisition-house,
Strengthen’d with bread and water for worse penance.
B. Knight. Why, well said, duke of our House, nobly aggravated!
W. Q. Pawn. Virtue, to shew her influence more strong,
Fits me with patience mightier than my wrong.
[Exeunt.

ACT III. SCENE I.

Field between the two Houses.
Enter Fat Bishop.
F. Bishop. I know my pen draws blood of the Black House,
There’s ne’er a book I write but their cause bleeds;
It hath lost many an ounce of reputation
Since I came of this side; I strike deep in,
And leave the orifex gushing where I come.
But where’s my advancement all this while I've gap’d for?
I'd have some round preferment, corpulent dignity,
That bears some breadth and compass in the gift on’t:
I am persuaded that this flesh would fill
The biggest chair ecclesiastical,
If it were put to trial.
To be made master of an hospital
Is but a kind of diseas’d bed-rid[644] honour;
Or dean of the poor alms-knights that wear badges:[645]
There’s but two lazy, beggarly preferments
In the White Kingdom, and I've got ’em both:
My merit doth begin to be crop-sick
For want of other titles.[646]
Enter Black Knight.
B. Knight. O, here walks
His fulsome holiness: now for the master-trick
T' undo him everlastingly, that’s put home,
And make him hang in hell most seriously
That jested with a halter upon me. [Aside.
F. Bishop. The Black Knight! I must look to my play then. [Aside.
B. Knight. I bring fair greetings to your reverend virtues
From Cardinal Paulus, your most princely kinsman.
[Gives a letter.
F. Bishop. Our princely kinsman, say’st thou? we accept ’em.
Pray, keep your side and distance; I am chary
Of my episcopal person:
I know the Knight’s walk in this game too well;
He may skip[647] over me, and where am I then?
B. Knight. There where thou shalt be shortly, if art fail not. [Aside.

F. Bishop. [reads] Right reverend and noble,—meaning me,—our true[648] kinsman in blood, but alienated in affection, your unkind disobedience to the mother cause proves at this time the only cause of your ill fortune: my present remove by general election to the papal dignity had now auspiciously settled you in my sede vacante—how! had it so?—which at my next remove by death might have proved your step to supremacy.

Ha! all my body’s blood mounts to my face
To look upon this letter.
B. Knight. The pill works with him. [Aside.

F. Bishop. [reads] Think on’t seriously; it is not yet too late, through the submiss acknowledgment of your disobedience, to be lovingly received into the brotherly bosom of the conclave.

This was the chair of ease I ever aim’d at.
I'll make a bonfire of my books immediately;
All that are left against that side I'll sacrifice;
Pack up my plate and goods, and steal away
By night at water-gate. It is but penning
Another recantation,[649] and inventing
Two or three bitter books against the White House,
And then I'm in on th' other side again
As firm as e’er I was, as fat and flourishing.
[Aside.
Black Knight, expect a wonder ere’t be long,
Thou shalt see me one of the Black House shortly.
B. Knight. Your holiness is merry with the messenger;
Too happy to be true; you speak what should be,
If natural compunction touch’d you truly.
O, you’ve drawn blood, life-blood, yea, blood of honour,
From your most dear, your primitive mother’s heart!
Your sharp invectives have been points of spears
In her sweet tender sides! The unkind wounds
Which a son gives, a son of reverence ’specially,
They rankle ten times more than th' adversary’s:
I tell you, sir, your reverend revolt
Did give the fearfull’st blow to adoration
Our cause e’er felt; it shook the very statues,
The urns and ashes of the sainted sleepers.
F. Bishop. Forbear, or I shall melt i' th' place I stand,
And let forth[650] a fat bishop in sad sirrop:
Suffices I am yours, when they least dream on’t;
Ambition’s fodder, power and riches, draws me:
When I smell honour, that’s the lock of hay
That leads me through the world’s field every way.
[Exit.
B. Knight. Here’s a sweet paunch to propagate belief on,
Like the foundation of a chapel laid
Upon a quagmire! I may number him now
Amongst my inferior policies, and not shame ’em.
But let me a little solace my designs
With[651] the remembrance of some brave ones past,
To cherish the futurity of project,
Whose motion must be restless till that great work,
Call’d the possession of the earth, be ours.
Was it not I procur’d a gallant fleet[652]
From the White Kingdom to secure our coasts
Against the infidel pirate, under pretext
Of more necessitous expedition?
Who made the jails fly open,[653] without miracle,
And let the locusts out, those dangerous flies,
Whose property is to burn corn with touching?
The heretics' granaries feel it to this hour:
And now they’ve got amongst the country crops,
They stick so fast to the converted ears,
The loudest tempest that authority rouses
Will hardly shake ’em off: they have their dens
In ladies' couches—there’s[654] safe groves and fens!
Nay, were they follow’d and found out by the scent,
Palm-oil will make a pursuivant relent.
Whose policy was’t to put a silenc’d muzzle[655]
On all the barking tongue-men of the time?
Made pictures, that were dumb enough before,
Poor sufferers in that politic restraint?
My light spleen skips and shakes my ribs to think on’t.
Whilst our drifts walk uncensur’d but in thought,
A whistle or a whisper would be question’d.
In the most fortunate angle[656] of the world
The court hath held the city by the horns
Whilst I have milk’d her: I have got good sops too[657]
From country ladies for their liberties,
From some for their most vainly-hop’d preferments,
High offices in th' air. I should not live
But for this mel aerium, this mirth-manna.
Enter Black Knight’s Pawn.
My Pawn!—How now, the news?
B. Kt.'s Pawn. Expect none very pleasing
That comes, sir, of my bringing; I'm for sad things.
B. Knight. Thy conscience is so tender-hoof’d of late,
Every nail pricks it.
B. Kt.'s Pawn. This may prick yours too,
If there be any quick flesh in a yard on’t.
B. Knight. Mine?
Mischief must find a deep nail, and a driver
Beyond the strength of any Machiavel
The politic kingdoms fatten, to reach mine.
Prithee, compunction needle-prick’d, a little
Unbind this sore wound.
B. Kt.'s Pawn. Sir, your plot’s discover’d.
B. Knight. Which of the twenty thousand and nine hundred
Four score and five? canst tell?
B. Kt.'s Pawn. Bless us, so many!
How do poor countrymen have but one plot
To keep a cow on, yet in law for that?
You cannot know ’em all, sure, by their names, sir.
B. Knight. Yes, were their numbers trebled: thou hast seen
A globe stand on the table in my closet?
B. Kt.'s Pawn. A thing, sir, full of countries and hard words?
B. Knight. True, with lines drawn, some tropical, some oblique.
B. Kt.'s Pawn. I scarce can read, I was brought up in blindness.
B. Knight. Just such a thing, if e’er my skull be open’d,
Will my brains look like.
B. Kt.'s Pawn. Like a globe of countries?
B. Knight. Ay, and some master-politician,
That has sharp state[658]-eyes, will go near to pick[659] out
The plots, and every[660] climate where they fasten’d;
'Twill puzzle ’em too.
B. Kt.'s Pawn. I'm of your mind for that, sir.
B. Knight. They’ll find ’em to fall thick upon some countries;
They had need use spectacles: but I turn to you now;
What plot is that discover’d?
B. Kt.'s Pawn. Your last brat, sir,
Begot ’twixt the Black Bishop and yourself,
Your ante-dated letters ’bout the Jesuit.
B. Knight. Discover’d! how?
B. Kt.'s Pawn. The White Knight’s policy hath outstript yours,
Join’d with th' assistant counsel of his Duke:
The White Bishop’s Pawn[661] undertook the journey,
Who, as they say, discharg’d it like a flight,[662]
Ay, made him for the business fit and light.
B. Knight. ’Tis but a bawdy Pawn out of the way;
Enough of them in all parts.[663]

Enter on one side White King, White Queen, White Knight, White Duke, White Bishop, Fat Bishop, and White King’s Pawn; on the other, Black King, Black Queen, Black Duke, and Black Bishop.

B. Bishop. You have heard all then?
B. Knight. The wonder’s past with me; but some shall down for’t.
W. King. Set free that[664] virtuous Pawn from all her wrongs;
Let her be brought with honour to the face
Of her malicious adversaries. [Exit W. Kg.’s Pawn.
B. Knight. Good.
W. King. Noble chaste Knight, a title of that candour
The greatest prince on earth without impeachment
May have the dignity of his worth compris’d in,
This fair delivering act Virtue will register
In that[665] white book of the defence of virgins,
Where the clear fames[666] of all preserving knights
Are to eternal memory consecrated;
And we embrace, as partner of that honour,
This worthy Duke,[667] the counsel of the act,
Whom we shall ever place in our respect.
W. Duke. Most blest of kings, thron’d in all royal graces,
Every good deed sends back its own reward
Into the bosom of the enterpriser;
But you t' express yourself as well to be
King of munificence[668] as integrity,
Adds glory to the gift.
W. King. Thy desert claims it,
Zeal, and fidelity.—Appear, thou beauty
Of truth and innocency, best ornament
Of patience, thou that mak’st thy sufferings glorious!
Re-enter White King’s Pawn with White Queen’s Pawn.
B. Knight. I'll take no knowledge on’t. [Aside.]—What makes she here?
How dares yond Pawn unpenanc’d, with a cheek
Fresh as her falsehood yet, where castigation
Hath left no pale print of her visiting anguish,
Appear in this assembly?—Let me alone:
Sin must be bold; that’s[669] all the grace ’tis born to. [Aside.
W. King. What’s this?
W. Knight. I'm wonder-strook!
W. Q. Pawn. Assist me, goodness!
I shall to prison again.
B. Knight. At least I've maz’d[670] ’em,
Scatter’d their admirations of her innocence,
As the fir’d ships[671] put in sever’d the fleet
In eighty-eight:[672] I'll on with’t; impudence
Is mischief’s patrimony. [Aside.]—Is this justice?
Is injur’d reverence no sharplier righted?
I ever held that majesty impartial
That, like most equal heaven, looks on the manners,
Not on the shapes they shroud in.
W. King.[673] This Black Knight
Will never take an answer; ’tis a victory
To make him understand he doth amiss,
When he knows in his own clear understanding
That he doth nothing else. Shew him the testimony,
Confirm’d by good men, how that foul attempter[674]
Got but this morning to the place from whence
He dated his forg’d lines for ten days past.
B. Knight. Why, may not the corruption sleep in this
By some connivance, as you have wak’d in ours
By too rash confidence?
W. Duke. I'll undertake
That Knight shall teach the devil how to lie.
W. Knight. If sin were half so wise as impudent,[675]
She’d ne’er seek further for an advocate.
Enter Black Queen’s Pawn.
B. Q. Pawn. Now to act treachery with an angel’s tongue:
Since all’s come out, I'll bring him strangely in again.
[Aside.
Where is this injur’d chastity, this goodness
Whose worth no transitory piece[676] can value?[677]
This rock of constant and invincible virtue,
That made sin’s tempest weary of his fury?
B. Queen. What, is my Pawn distracted?
B. Knight. I think rather
There is some notable masterprize of roguery
This[678] drum strikes up for.
B. Q. Pawn. Let me fall with reverence
Before this blessed altar.
B. Queen. This is madness.
B. Knight. Well, mark the end; I stand for roguery still,
I will not change my side.
B. Q. Pawn. I shall be tax’d, I know;
I care not what the Black House thinks of me.
B. Queen. What say you now?
B. Knight. I will not be unlaid yet.
B. Q. Pawn. However[679] censure flies, I honour sanctity;
That is my object, I intend no other:
I saw this glorious and most valiant virtue
Fight the most noblest combat with the devil.
B. Knight. If both the Bishops had been there for seconds,
'Thad been a complete duel.
W. King.[680] Then thou heard’st
The violence intended?
B. Q. Pawn. ’Tis a truth
I joy to justify: I was an agent
On virtue’s part, and rais’d that confus’d noise
That startled his attempt, and gave her liberty.
W. Q. Pawn. O, ’tis a righteous story she hath told, sir!
My life and fame stand[681] mutually engag’d.
Both to the truth and goodness of this Pawn.
W. King.[682] Doth it appear to you yet clear as the sun?
B. Knight. ’Las, I believ’d it long before ’twas done!
B. King.[683] Degenerate ——
B. Queen. Base ——
B. Bishop. Perfidious ——
B. Duke. Traitrous Pawn!
B. Q. Pawn. What, are you all beside[684] yourselves?
B. Knight. But I;
Remember that, Pawn.
B. Q. Pawn. May a fearful barrenness
Blast both my hopes and pleasures, if I brought not
Her ruin in my pity! a new trap
For her more sure confusion.
B. Knight. Have I won now?
Did I not say ’twas craft and machination?
I smelt conspiracy all the way it went,
Although the mess were cover’d; I'm so us’d to’t.
B. King.[685] That Queen would I fain finger.
B. Knight. You’re too hot, sir;
If she were took, the game would be ours quickly:
My aim’s at that White Knight; entrap him first,
The Duke will follow too.
B. Bishop. I would that Bishop
Were in my diocese! I'd soon change his whiteness.
B. Knight. Sir, I could whip you up a Pawn immediately;
I know where my game stands.
B. King. Do’t[686] suddenly;
Advantage least must not be lost in this play.
B. Knight. Pawn, thou art ours.
[Seizes W. Kg.'s Pawn.
W. Knight. He’s taken by default,
By wilful negligence. Guard the sacred persons;
Look well to the White Bishop, for that Pawn
Gave guard to the Queen and him in the third place.
B. Knight. See what sure piece you lock[687] your confidence in!
I made this Pawn here by corruption ours,
As soon as honour by creation yours.
This whiteness upon him is but the leprosy
Of pure dissimulation: view him now,
His heart and his intents are of our colour.

[The upper garment of W. Kg’s Pawn being taken off, he appears black underneath.

W. King.[688] Most dangerous hypocrite!
W. Duke. One made against us!
W. Queen. His truth of this[689] complexion!
W. King. Hath my goodness,
Clemency, love, and favour gracious, rais’d thee
From a condition next to popular labour,
Took thee from all the dubitable hazards
Of fortune, her most unsecure adventures,
And grafted thee into a branch of honour,
And dost thou fall from the top-bough by the rottenness
Of thy alone corruption, like a fruit
That’s over-ripen’d by the beams of favour?
Let thine own weight reward thee; I've forgot thee:
Integrity of life is so dear to me,
Where I find falsehood or a crying sin,
Be it in any whom our grace shines most on,
I'd tear ’em from my heart.
W. Bishop. Spoke like heaven’s substitute!
W. King. You have him, we can spare him; and his shame
Will make the rest look better to their game.
B. King. The more cunning we must use then.
B. Knight.[690] We shall match you,
Play how you can, perhaps and mate you too.
F. Bishop. Is there so much amazement spent on him
That’s but half black? there might be hope of that man;
But how will this House wonder if I stand forth
And shew a whole one, instantly discover
One that’s all black, where there’s no hope at all!
W. King. I'll say, thy heart then justifies thy books;
I long for that discovery.
F. Bishop. Look no further then:
Bear witness, all the House, I am the man,
And turn myself into the Black House freely;
I am of this side now.
W. King.[691] Monster ne’er match’d him!
B. King.[692] This is your noble work, Knight.
B. Knight. Now I'll halter him.
F. Bishop. Next news you hear, expect my books against you,
Printed at Douay, Brussels, or Spalato.[693]
W. King. See his goods seiz’d on!
F. Bishop. ’Las, they were all convey’d
Last night by water[694], to a tailor’s house,
A friend of[695] the Black cause.
W. King. A prepar’d hypocrite!
W. Duke. Premeditated turncoat

[Exeunt W. King, W. Queen, W. Knight, W. Duke, and W. Bishop.