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To this end came I from the Continent.
I fain would save your head, Broghill, and now
I ask you in King Charles the Second's name,
My royal master: "Do you choose to live
A faithful subject, or to die a traitor?"
Broghill.What say you?
Ormond. What say you? To the standard of the King
Return.
Broghill. Return. Alas! I, too, in the old days
Was a leal, faithful subject; for our King
I took strong castles and defended towns;
And I, who once was soldier of the Stuarts,
Am now, by cruel destiny, transformed
To Cromwell's courtier! To his dreary fate,
Dear Ormond, leave a wretched renegade!
Do you, in your turn, list, and be my judge.—
During the conflict with the Parliament,
I hither came to raise a regiment.
Like you I lay in hiding, and a price
Was set upon my head. One day I had
A visit from a stranger. It was Cromwell.—
My life was in his hand. He saved my life.
In gratitude my duty I forgot.
He took possession of me, and ere long
I was, like him, a sacrilegious rebel.
My arm doth his republicans uphold,
And, for my King first raised, against him fights.
Cromwell hath since created me a peer,
Lieutenant-general of artillery,
A judge of his High Court and Privy Council.
Thus, by his favour raised to highest rank,
Falls he, I must fall likewise by his side;
Nor can I, faithless to my lawful King,
Whatever love I bear his noble house,
Renew my faith unstained by treachery.