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To strangle a most high and potent lord.
But such things have been known. And in your ranks,
My masters, I see some whose ancestors
Would not be sore offended were they hanged;
For they have none.—Yon Jew, yon magistrate—
Jenkins. I've not been tried. Fine or imprisonment
Or death you have no right t' inflict on me.
I am a free man, and I find these words:
Nullus liber homo imprisionetur,
In the Norman charter.
Rochester [to Sedley, laughing.] Gad! Does he propose
To quote to him the laws of Arthur's day?
Cromwell [to the Cavaliers.
We hold you fast, my masters,—generals,
Lieutenants and accomplices—all, all!
You all are caught in your own cunning snare.
The hour has struck, the arm is raised to smite.
The time is most ill-chosen to seek favours.—
Ormond [interrupting.
Favours, sir! God forbid! We claim a right
Of England's old nobility. D'ye hear?
A right!—Favours, forsooth! the block a favour?
An axe-stroke?
Cromwell. An axe-stroke? Peace! you who so proudly speak!
Last night, with swords, you came within my house,
The guard seduced or hoodwinked, and you thought
To seize me in my bed, unseen of all.
Had you succeeded, what had been my fate?
Ormond. It had not been the gallows, rest assured.
Cromwell. Ay, you were pressed for time. The dagger's swifter.
To-day, when Heav'n throws you in my hands,