Gui. Retire.[Exeunt his Followers.
Gril. The king, my lord, commanded me to wait you,
And bid you welcome to the court.
Gui. The king
Still loads me with new honours; but none greater
Than this, the last.
Gril. There is one greater yet,
Your high commission 'gainst the Huguenots;
I and my family shall shortly wait you,
And 'twill be glorious work.
Gui. If you are there,
There must be action.
Gril. O, your pardon, sir;
I'm but a stripling in the trade of war:
But you, whose life is one continued broil,
What will not your triumphant arms accomplish!
You, that were formed for mastery in war.
That, with a start, cried to your brother Mayenne,—
"To horse!" and slaughtered forty thousand Germans[9].
Gui. Let me beseech you, colonel, no more.
Gril. But, sir, since I must make at least a figure
045 In this great business, let me understand
What 'tis you mean, and why you force the king
Upon so dangerous an expedition.
Gui. Sir, I intend the greatness of the king;
The greatness of all France, whom it imports
To make their arms their business, aim, and glory;
And where so proper as upon those rebels,
That covered all the state with blood and death?
Gril. Stored arsenals and armouries, fields of horse,
Ordnance, munition, and the nerve of war,
Sound infantry, not harassed and diseased,
To meet the fierce Navarre, should first be thought on.