Page:CromwellHugo.djvu/197

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ACT THIRD. THE JESTERS
185

addition a fool's bauble in his hand. They come prancing upon the stage.


Elespuru [singing.]

Hark ye, gentle lords and dames,
I have travelled far thro' hell:
Moloch, Lucifer and Baal
Would have tossed me in the flames
With their forks of iron fell.
The fire it caught my linen cape,
My doublet blazed right merrily,
When, God be thanked, most happily
Old Satan took me for an ape,
And let me go—and here am I!


Giraff [gravely.]Think'st thou he let thee go? What's Cromwell, pray,
Our spiritual head and temp'ral king?
Gramadoch [to Giraff.] Is one a devil just by wearing horns?
If it be so, then hell can have no bounds.
Elespuru.What! darest thou to utter such a doubt
Of Mistress Cromwell's virtuous deportment?
Gramadoch.Hark ye. They have a song like this in France:—

Dreams come thro' two doors, my word therefor,
In Paris, 'twixt night and morn;
For lovers they come thro' the ivory door,
For husbands thro' that of horn.


Cromwell doth make me bear his train[1]; ah, well!
His wife doth likewise make him wear her horns.[1]

  1. 1.0 1.1 There is a play upon words here: the word queue (train) meaning also "tail"; and the same word, porter, being used for "to bear" and "to wear"; that is to say,