Page:CromwellHugo.djvu/107

The Roundheads. Let Cromwell die! Let us annihilate
The traitor!
The Cavaliers. The traitor! Let us smite the vile usurper!
Overton.No king!
Lambert. No king! No master!
Harrison. No king! No master! Brethren, by your leave,
I will set forth a scruple, with respect.
To my mind our base-born oppressor seems
An instrument of heaven: although he be
A tyrant, he an Independent is
At heart, and mayhap he 's the man proclaimed
By Daniel in his prophecy: "The saints
Shall seize the kingdom of the world and shall
Possess it."
Ludlow. Possess it. Ay, so runs the text. Nathless
The prophet, General, doth reassure
Your mind, for that same Daniel elsewhere says:
"The kingdom to the people of the saints
Shall for my plans be given."—Hence 'tis clear
That none must take it ere 'tis given him.
Joyce.And then we are "the people of the saints"!
Harrison.I bow to your great wisdom. But the while
I do avow myself o'ermatched, nathless
I am not, Ludlow, fully satisfied
That these texts have the sense you give to them;
And I would fain confer with you one day
Upon these themes, forbid to the profane.
Some pious friends we may convoke, thereon
To hold deliberation; with their lights
They will assist our feeble intellects.
Ludlow.With all my heart. On Friday, if you please.
[Harrison bows in token of assent.
Lambert [aside, as if absorbed in his thoughts.