Guise. O, I have my death's wound! give me leave to speak.
Sec. Murd. Then pray to God, and ask forgiveness of the king.
Guise. Trouble me not; I ne'er offended him, Nor will I ask forgiveness of the king. O, that I have not power to stay my life, Nor immortality to be revenged!80 To die by peasants, what a grief is this! Ah, Sixtus, be reveng'd upon the king! Philip and Parma, I am slain for you! Pope, excommunicate, Philip, depose The wicked branch of curs'd Valois his line! Vive la messe! perish Huguenots! Thus Cæsar did go forth, and thus he died. [Dies.
Enter the Captain of the Guard.
Cap. What, have you done? Then stay a while, and I'll go call the king. But see, where he comes.90
Enter King Henry, Epernoun, and Attendants.
My lord, see, where the Guise is slain.
Henry. Ah, this sweet sight is physic to my soul! Go fetch his son for to behold his death.— [Exit an Attendant. Surcharg'd with guilt of thousand massacres, Monsieur of Lorraine, sink away to hell! And, in remembrance of those bloody broils, To which thou didst allure me, being alive, And here, in presence of you all, I swear, I ne'er was king of France until this hour. This is the traitor that hath spent my gold100 In making foreign wars and civil broils. Did he not draw a sort [421] of English priests From Douay to the seminary at Rheims, To hatch forth treason 'gainst their natural queen? Did he not cause the king of Spain's huge fleet To threaten England, and to menace me? Did he not injure Monsieur that's deceas'd? Hath he not made me, in the Pope's defence, To spend the treasure, that should strength my land, In civil broils between Navarre and me?110 Tush, to be short, he meant to make me monk, Or else to murder me, and so be king. Let Christian princes, that shall hear of this (As all the world shall know our Guise is dead), Rest satisfied with this, that here I swear, Ne'er was there king of France so yoked as I.
Eper. My lord, here is his son.
Enter Guise's Son.