Page:CromwellHugo.djvu/418

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406
CROMWELL

Rochester [aside.] …ur spouse! Ah! what an amnesty!
Wilmot, of all the fools upon this earth
Art thou not the most foolish and the most
Severely punished? See the strange effect
That thy two halves produce, one with this coat,
The other with that face! And Prances, too,
Is looking on! I shall turn virtuous!
Cromwell [pointing to Murray in the group of Cavaliers.
Go, Murray, and receive the lash that Charles,
Who commonly is called the Prince of Wales,
Has earned by this abortive childish plot.

[Applause among the people.—Archers and bailiffs seize Murray, who hides his face in his hands and seems crushed with shame and despair.—Cromwell turns to the rabbi.

Yon Jew, who would have fittingly adorned
The cross-beam of the gallows—he is free.

[Manasseh joyfully raises his head.—Cromwell continues, turning to Barebones, who stands beside the throne.

But, Barebones, to redeem his flesh, he'll pay
Thy bill.

[Barebones takes from his packet a long roll of paper, which he hands to the Jew.

Manasseh [examining it.] 'Tis very dear.
Cromwell [to the other prisoners.]You all are free.
[The archers remove the fetters of the Cavaliers.
Thurloe [to Cromwell, in an undertone.
All! But it is a serious affair—
Cromwell [in an undertone.
I have this people; of what use, I pray,
Would thirty gallows be?

[Sir William Murray, as the archers are leading