ACT IV

Scene 1. The council chamber in the Tower of London. Barons and prelates assembled. Archbishop of Canterbury presiding. Princess Adelais present, attended by several French nobles and her women. She advances before the archbishop.

Ade. Ye peers of England, and ye men of God,

Humbly I make my suit. Not as a princess

With vassal pomp and power to awe the eye

And judgment take fore-captive, though a score

Of buried kings have dowered me with veins

Of high regality; nor sue I with

The holy potency of Heaven's pontiff,