Qu. M. What will you say?
King. I know not;—
Colonel Grillon, call the archers in,
Double your guards, and strictly charge the Swiss
Stand to their arms, receive him as a traitor.[Exit Grillon.
My heart has set thee down, O Guise, in blood,—
Blood, mother, blood, ne'er to be blotted out.
Qu. M. Yet you'll relent, when this hot fit is over.
King. If I forgive him, may I ne'er be forgiven!
No, if I tamely bear such insolence,
What act of treason will the villains stop at?
Seize me, they've sworn; imprison me is the next,
066 Perhaps arraign me, and then doom me dead.
But ere I suffer that, fall all together,
Or rather, on their slaughtered heaps erect
My throne, and then proclaim it for example.
I'm born a monarch, which implies alone
To wield the sceptre, and depend on none.[Exeunt[13].
ACT IV.
SCENE I.—The Louvre.
A Chair of State placed; the King appears sitting in it; a Table by him, on which he leans; Attendants on each Side of him; amongst the rest, Abbot, Grillon, and Bellieure. The Queen-Mother enters, led by the Duke of Guise, who makes his Approach with three Reverences to the King's Chair; after the third, the King rises, and coming forward, speaks.
King. I sent you word, you should not come.
Gui. Sir, that I came—
067 King. Why, that you came, I see.
Once more, I sent you word, you should not come.
Gui. Not come to throw myself, with all submission,
Beneath your royal feet! to put my cause
And person in the hands of sovereign justice!