Rut. Alas, my lord! consider where we are.
Oh, 'tis the queen's apartment;
Each precious moment is by fate beset,
And time stands trembling whilst we thus confer.
Essex. Then, let us hence from this detested place;
My rescued soul disdains the house of greatness,
Where humble honesty can find no shelter.
From hence we'll fly, where love and greatness call;
Where happiness invites—that wish of all:
With sweet content enjoy each blissful hour,
Beyond the smiles of fraud, or frowns of power.
[Exeunt.
ACT THE THIRD.
SCENE I.
An Apartment in the Palace.
Enter Burleigh and Lady Nottingham.
Not. My lord, I've sought you out with much impatience.
You've had an audience of the queen: what follow'd?
Bur. Soon as I told her, Essex had refused
To yield his dignities, and staff of office,
Against her high command, pronounced by me,
She seem'd deprived of reason for a moment;
Her working mind betray'd contending passions;
She paused, like thunder in some kindling cloud,
Then instant burst with dreadful fury forth:
"And has th' ungrateful wretch defy'd my mandate?
The proud, audacious traitor, scorn'd my power?
He dares not, sure?—He dies—the villain dies!"
I instantly withdrew,
But soon was countermanded, and desired
To bring the Earl of Essex to her presence.
I like it not; and much I fear she'll stand
Between this high offender and the laws.
Not. Is Essex then secured?
Bur. Madam, he is;
And now comes guarded to the court.