weigh My valure with the hisse of such a viper What I haue done to shunne the mortall shame Of so vniust an opposition My enuious starres cannot deny me this That I may make my Iudges witnesses And that my wretched fortunes haue reseru'd For my last comfort yee all know my Lords This body gasht with fiue and thirty wounds Whose life and death you haue in your award Holds not a veine that hath not opened beene And which I would not open yet againe For you and yours this hand that writ the lines Alledgd against me hath enacted still More good then there it onely talkt of ill I must confesse my choller hath transferd My tender spleene to all intemperate speech But reason euer did my deeds attend In worth of praise and imitation Had I borne any will to let them loose I could haue flesht them with bad seruices In England lately and in Swizerland There are a hundred Gentlemen by name Can witnesse my demeanure in the first And in the last Ambassage I adiure No other testimonies then the Seigneurs De Vio and Sillerie who amply know In what sort and with what fidelitie I bore my selfe to reconcile and knit In one desire so many wills disioynde And from the Kings allegiance quite with-drawne My acts aske many men though done by one And I were but one I stood for thousands And still I hold my worth though not my place Nor sleight me Iudges though I be but one One man in one sole expedition Reduc'd into th' imperiall powre of Rome Armenia Pontus and Arabia Syria Albania and Iberia Conquerd th' Hyrcanians and to Caucasus His arme extended the Numidians And Affrick to the shores Meridionall His powre subiected and that part of Spaine Which stood from those parts that Sertorius rulde Euen to the Atlantique Sea he conquered Th' Albanian kings he from the kingdoms chac'd And at the Caspian Sea their dwellings plac'd Of all the Earths globe by powre and his aduice The round-eyd Ocean saw him victor thrice And what shall let me but your cruell doome To adde as much to France as he to Rome And to leaue Iustice neither Sword nor word To vse against my life this Senate knowes That what with one victorious hand I tooke I gaue to all your vses with another With this I tooke and propt the falling kingdome And gaue it to the King I haue kept Your lawes of state from fire and you your selues Fixt in this high Tribunall from whose height The vengefull Saturnals of the League Had hurld yee head-long doe yee then returne This retribution can the cruell King The kingdome lawes and you all sau'd by me Destroy their sauer what aye me I did Aduerse to this this damnd Enchanter did That tooke into his will my motion And being banck-route both of wealth and worth Pursued with quarrels and with suites in law Feard by the kingdome threatned by the king Would raise the loathed dung-hill of his ruines Vpon the monumentall heape of mine Torne with possessed whirle-winds may he dye And dogs barke at his murthorous memory Chan My Lord our liberall sufferance of your speech Hath made it late and for this Session We will dismisse you take him back my Lord Exit Vit. Byron Har You likewise may depart Exit Laffin Chan. What resteth now To be decreed gainst this great prisoner A mighty merit and a monstrous crime Are here concurrent what by witnesses His letters and instructions we haue prou'd Himselfe confesseth and excuseth all With witch-craft and the onely act of thought For witch-craft I esteeme it a meere strength Of rage in him conceiu'd gainst his accuser Who being examinde hath denied it all Suppose it true it made him false But wills And worthy mindes witch-craft can neuer force And for his thoughts that brake not into deeds Time was the cause not will the mindes free act In treason still is Iudgd as th' outward fact If his deserts haue had a wealthy share In sauing of our land from ciuill furies Manlius had so that fast the Capitoll Yet for his after traiterous factions They threw him head-long from the place he sau'd My definite sentence then doth this import That we must quench the wilde-fire with his bloud In which it was so traiterously inflam'd Vnlesse with it we seeke to incence the land The King can haue no refuge for his life If his be quitted this was it that made Lewis th' eleuenth renounce his countrymen And call the valiant Scots out of their kingdome To vse their greater vertues and their faiths Then his owne subiects in his royall guarde What then conclude your censures Omnes He must dye Chan Draw then his sentence formally and send him And so all treasons in his death attend him Exeunt Enter Byron Espernon Soisson Ianin Vidame Descures Vit. I ioy you had so good a day my Lord Byr. I wone it from them all the Chancellor I answerd to his vttermost improuements I mou'd my other Iudges to lament My insolent misfortunes and to lothe The pockie soule and state-bawde my accuser I made replie to all that could be said So eloquently and with such a charme Of graue enforcements that me thought I sat Like Orpheus casting reignes on sauage beasts At the armes end as t were I tooke my barre And set it farre aboue the high tribunall Where like a Cedar on Mount Lebanon I Grew and made my iudges show like Box-trees And Boxtrees right their wishes would haue made them Whence boxes should haue growne till they had strooke My head into the budget but ahlas I held their bloudy armes with such strong reasons And by your leaue with such a fyrck of wit That I fetcht bloud vpon the Chancelors cheekes Me thinkes I see his countinance as he sat And the most lawierly deliuery Of his set speeches shall I play his part Enter Soiss Espa Esp: For heauens sake good my Lord Byr. I will ifaith Behold a wicked man A man debaucht A man contesting with his King A man On whom my Lords we are not to conniue Though we may condole A man That Laesa Maiestate sought a lease Of Plus quam satis A man that vi et armis Assaild the King and would per fas et nefas Aspire the kingdome here was lawiers learning Esp: He said not this my Lord that I haue heard Byr. This or the like I sweare I pen no speeches Soiss. Then there is good hope of your wisht acquitall Byr. Acquitall they haue reason were I dead I know they can not all supply my place I st possible the King should be so vaine To thinke he can shake me with feare of death Or make me apprehend that he intends it Thinkes he to make his firmest men his clowds The clowdes obseruing their Aeriall natures Are borne aloft and then to moisture hang'd Fall to the earth where being made thick and cold They loose both al their heate and leuitie Yet then againe recouering heate and
one subiect let together loosse We haue not any strength but weakens vs No greatnes but doth crush vs into ayre Our knowledges do light vs but to erre Our Ornaments are Burthens Our delights Are our tormentors fiendes that raisd in feares At parting shake our Roofes about our eares Soi. O vertue thou art now farre worse then Fortune Her gifts stucke by the Duke when thine are vanisht Thou brau'st thy friend in Neede Necessity That vsd to keepe thy welth contempt thy loue Haue both abandond thee in his extreames Thy powers are shadowes and thy comfort dreames Vid. O reall goodnesse if thou be a power And not a word alone in humaine vses Appere out of this angry conflagration Where this great Captaine thy late Temple burns And turne his vicious fury to thy flame From all earths hopes mere guilded with thy fame Let pietie enter with her willing crosse And take him on it ope his brest and armes To all the Storms Necessity can breath And burst them all with his embraced death Ian, Yet are the ciuille tumults of his spirits Hot and outragiouse not resolued Ahlas Being but one man render the kingdomes dome He doubts stormes threatens rues complains implores Griefe hath brought all his forces to his lookes And nought is left to strengthen him within Nor lasts one habite of those greeu'd aspects Blood expells palenesse palenes Blood doth chace And sorrow errs through all forms in his face Des. So furiouse is he that the Politique law Is much to seeke how to enact her sentence Authority backt with arms though he vnarmd Abhorrs his furie and with doubtfull eyes Views on what ground it should sustaine his ruines And as a Sauadge Bore that hunted longe Assayld and set vp with his onely eyes Swimming in fire keepes of the baying hounds Though suncke himselfe yet houlds his anger vp And snowes it forth in foame houlds firme his stand Of Battalouse Bristles feedes his hate to die And whets his tuskes with wrathfull maiesty So fares the furious Duke and with his lookes Doth teach death horrors makes the hangman learne New habites for his bloody impudence Which now habituall horror from him driues Who for his life shunns death by which he liues Enter Chauncellor Harlay Potier Fleury Vitry Vit. Will not your Lordshippe haue the Duke distinguisht From other prisoners where the order is To giue vp men condemd into the hands Of th' executioner he would be the death Of him that he should die by ere he sufferd Such an abiection Cha. But to bind his hands I hold it passing needefull Har. T is my Lord And very dangerous to bring him loose Pra: You will in all dispaire and fury plunge him If you but offer it Pot. My Lord by this The prisoners Spirit is some-thing pacified And t is a feare that th' offer of those bands Would breed fresh furies in him and disturbe The entry of his soule into her peace Cha. I would not that for any possible danger That can be wrought by his vnarmed hands And therefore in his owne forme bring him in Enter Byron a Bishop or two with all the guards souldiers with muskets Byr. Where shall this weight fall on what rhegion Must this declining prominent poure his lode I le breake my bloods high billows gainst my starrs Before this will be shooke into a flat All France shall feele an earthquake with what murmur This world shrinkes into Chaos Arch. Good my Lord Forgoe it willingly and now resigne Your sensuall powers entirely to your soule Byr. Horror of death let me alone in peace And leaue my soule to me whome it concernes You haue no charge of it I feele her free How she doth rowze and like a Faulcon stretch Her siluer wings as threatening death with death At whom I ioyfully will cast her off I know this bodie but a sinck of folly The ground-work and rais'd frame of woe and frailtie The bond and bundle of corruption A quick corse onely sensible of griefe A walking sepulcher or household thiefe A glasse of ayre broken with lesse then breath A slaue bound face to face to death til death And what sayd all you more I know besides That life is but a darke and stormy night Of sencelesse dreames terrors and broken sleepes A Tyranie deuising paines to plague And make man long in dying racks his death And death is nothing what can you say more I bring a long Globe and a little earth Am seated like earth betwixt both the heauens That if I rise to heauen I rise if fall I likewise fall to heauen what stronger faith Hath any of your soules what say you more Why lose I time in these things talke of knowledge It serues for inward vse I will not die Like to a Clergie man but like the Captaine That prayd on horse-back and with sword in hand Threatend the Sunne commanding it to stand These are but ropes of sand Chan. Desire you then To speake with any man Byr. I would speake with La Force and Saint Blancart Byr. Do they flie me Where is Prouost controwler of my house Pra. Gone to his house i th countrie three daies since Byr. He should haue stayd here he keepes all my blancks O all the world forsakes me wretched world Consisting most of parts that flie each other A firmnesse breeding all inconstancy A bond of all disiunction like a man Long buried is a man that long hath liu'd Touch him he falls to ashes for one fault I forfeite all the fashion of a man Why should I keepe my soule in this dark light Whose black beames lighted me to loose my selfe When I haue lost my armes my fame my winde Friends brother hopes fortunes and euen my furie O happie were the man could liue alone To know no man nor be of any knowne Har. My Lord it is the manner once againe To read the sentence Byr. Yet more sentences How often will yee make me suffer death As yee were proud to heare your powreful domes I know and feele you were the men that gaue it And die most cruellie to heare so often My crimes and bitter condemnation vrdg'd Suffize it I am brought here and obey And that all here are priuie to the crimes Chan. It must be read my Lord no remedie Byr. Reade if it must be then and I must talke Harl. The processe being extraordinarily made and examin'd by the Court and chambers assembled Byr. Condemn'd for depositions of a witch The common deposition and her whoore To all whorish periuries and treacheries Sure he cal'd vp the diuill in my spirits And made him to vsurpe my faculties Shall I be cast away now he 's cast out What Iustice is in this deare countrey-men Take this true euidence betwixt heauen and you And quit me in your hearts Cha. Go on Har. Against Charles Gentalt of Byron knight of both the orders Duke of Byron peere and marshall of France Gouernor of Burgondy accus'd of treason in a sentence
was giuen the 22. of this month condemning the said Duke of Byron of heigh treason for his direct conspiracies against the kings person enterprises against his state Byr. That is most false let me for euer be Depriued of heauen as I shall be of earth If it be true knowe worthy country-men These two and twenty moneths I haue bene clere Of all atempts against the king and state Har. Treaties and trecheries with his Enemies being marshall of the Kings army for reparation of which crimes they depriued him of all his estates honors and dignities and condemned him to lose his head vpon a Scaffold at the Greaue Byr. The Greaue had that place stood for my dispatch I had not yeelded all your forces should not Stire me one foote wild horses should haue drawne My body peece-meale eare you all had brought me Har. Declaring all his goods moueable and inmoueable whatsoeuer to be confiscate to the King the Signeury of Byron to loose the title of Duchy and Peere for euer Byr. Now is your forme contented Cha. I my Lord And I must now entreat you to deliuer Your order vp the king demands it of you Byr. And I restore it with my vow of safty In that world where both he and I are one I neuer brake the oth I tooke to take it Cha. We 'l now my Lord wee 'l take our latest leaues Beseeching heauen to take as clere from you All sence of torment in your willing death All loue and thought of what you must leaue here As when you shall aspire heauens highest sphere Byr. Thankes to your Lordship and let me pray to That you will hold good censure of my life By the cleere witnesse of my soule in death That I haue neuer past act gainst the King Which if my faith had let me vndertake They had bene three yeares since amongst the dead Harl: Your soule shall finde his safety in her owne Call the executioner Byr: Good sir I pray Go after and beseech the Chancellor That he will let my body be interrd Amongst my predecessors at Byron Desc: I go my Lord Exit Byr: Go go can all go thus And no man come with comfort farewell world He is at no end of his actions blest Whose ends will make him greatest and not best They tread no ground but ride in ayre on stormes That follow State and hunt their empty formes Who see not that the Valleys of the world Make euen right with the Mountains that they grow Greene and lye warmer and euer peacefull are When Clowdes spit fire as Hilles and burne them bare Not Valleys part but we should imitate Streames That run below the Valleys and do yeeld To euery Mole-hill euery Banke imbrace That checks their Currants and when Torrents come That swell and raise them past their naturall height How madde they are and trubl'd like low straines With Torrents crownd are men with Diademes Vit: My Lord t is late wilt please you to go vp Byr. Vp t is a faire preferment ha ha ha There should go showtes to vp-shots not a breath Of any mercy yet come since we must Whos 's this Pral: The executioner my Lord Byr: Death slaue downe or by the blood that moues me I le plucke thy throat out goe I le call you straight Hold boy and this Hang Soft boy I le barre you that Byr: Take this then yet I pray thee that againe I do not ioy in sight of such a Pageant As presents death Though this life haue a cursse T is better then another that is worse Arch My Lord now you are blinde to this worlds sight Looke vpward to a world of endles light Byr: I I you talke of vpward still to others And downwards looke with headlong eyes your selues Now come you vp sir But not touch me yet Where shall I be now Hang Heere my Lord Byr: Where 's that Hang There there my Lord Byr: And where slaue is that there Thou seest I see not yet I speake as I saw Well now i st fit Hang Kneele I beseech your Grace That I may do mine office with most order Byr: Do it and if at one blow thou art short Giue one and thirty I le indure them all Hold stay a little comes there yet no mercy High Heauen curse these exemplarie proceedings When Iustice failes they sacrifize our example Hang Let me beseech you I may cut your haire Byr: Out vgly Image of my cruell Iustice Yet wilt thou be before me stay my will Or by the will of Heauen I le strangle thee Vit: My Lord you make to much of this your body Which is no more your owne Byr: Nor is it yours I le take my death with all the horride rites And representments of the dread it merits Let tame Nobilitie and nummed fooles That apprehend not what they vndergo Be such exemplarie and formall sheepe I will not haue him touch me till I will If you will needs racke me beyond my reason Hell take me but I le strangle halfe that 's here And force the rest to kill me I le leape downe If but once more they tempt me to dispaire You wish my quiet yet giue cause of fury Thinke you to set rude windes vpon the Sea Yet keepe it calme or cast me in a sleepe With shaking of my chaines about myne eares O honest Soldiers you haue seene me free From any care of many thousand deathes Yet of this one the manner doth amaze me View view this wounded bosome how much bound Should that man make me that would shoote it through Is it not pitty I should lose my life By such a bloody and infamous stroake Soldi Now by thy spirit and thy better Angell If thou wert cleere the Continent of France Would shrinke beneath the burthen of thy death Ere it would beare are it Vit: Whos 's that Soldi I say well And cleere your Iustice here is no ground shrinks If he were cleere it would And I say more Clere or not cleere If he with all his foulenesse Stood here in one Skale and the Kings chiefe Mynion Stood in another here Put here a pardon Here lay a royall gift this this in merit Should hoyse the other Mynion into ayre Vit: Hence with that franticke Byr: This is some poore witnes That my desert might haue out-weighed my forfeyt But danger hauntes desert when he is Greatest His hearty ills are prou'd out of his glaunces And Kings suspicions needes no Ballances So her 's a most decreetall end of me VVhich I desire in me may end my wrongs Commend my loue I charge you to my brothers And by my loue and misery command them To keepe their faiths that bind them to the King And proue no stomakers of my misfortunes Nor come to Court till time hath eaten out The blots and skarres of my opprobrious death And tell the Earle my deare friend of D'Auergne That my death vtterly were free from griefe But for the sad losse of his worthy friendship And if I had beene made for longer life I would haue more deseru'd him in my seruice Beseeching him to know I haue not vsde One word in my arraignement that might touch him Had I no other want then so ill meaning And so farewell for euer neuer more Shall any hope of my reuiuall see mee Such is the endlesse exile of dead men Summer succeeds the spring Autumne the Summer The Frosts of Winter the falne leaues of Autumne All these and all fruites in them yearely fade And euery yeare returne but cursed man Shall neuer more renew his vanisht face Fall on your knees then Statists ere yee fall That you may rise againe knees bent too late Stick you in earth like statues see in me How you are powr'd downe from your cleerest heauens Fall lower yet mixt with th' vnmoued center That your owne shadowes may no longer mocke yee Stricke stricke O stricke Flie flie commanding soule And on thy wings for this thy bodies breath Beare the eternall victory of death FINIS