Page:CromwellHugo.djvu/169

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ACT SECOND. THE SPIES
157

Murray [to Carr.] I prithee, thy endorsement at the foot
Of my memorial!
Carr [roughly.] Of my memorial! To sign thy scrawl
Go bid Beelzebub!
Murray. Go bid Beelzebub! My lord is wroth!
[To the others.]You all do deafen him!
Waller [to Carr.] …deafen him! I seek a place—
Carr.In Bedlam!
Col. Grace [laughing.] For a poet 'tis most meet.
[To Carr.]Support my plea!
Carr. Support my plea! Nay, Noah in the Ark
Had no more animals than these!
Col. Jephson. Had no more animals than these! My lord,
'Twas I who first proposed in Parliament
That Oliver be king.
Murray. That Oliver be king. Two words, my lord—
Carr [in a frenzy.]"My lord! my lord!" confusion of strange tongues!
The clash of fetters is a pleasing sound
Beside this clamour! To these priests of Baal
I much prefer a gaoler, by my faith—
And London Tower to the Tower of Babel.
To prison I return. May Israel
Confound them all!
[He forces his way through the crowd, and exit.


Scene 12.—The Same, excepting Carr; later, Thurloe.


Murray.What says he of the Towers of London and
Of Babel?
Serg. Maynard. Of Babel? My lord's friend declares aloud