CAST OF CHARACTERS.

Queen Scots,

MARY STUART, { a Prisoner in England. MODJESKA.

ELIZABETH, Queen of England....

ROBERT DUDLEY, Earl of Leicester..

GEORGE TALBOT, Earl of Shrewsbury...

WILLIAM CECIL, Lord Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer...

EARL OF KENT.

SIR WILLIAM DAVISON, Secretary of State.

SIR AMIAS PAULET...

SIR EDWARD MORTIMER, his Nephew..

SIR ANDREW MELVIL, Mary's House-Steward.
BURGOYNE, her Physician...

HANNAH KENNEDY, her Nurse..

MARGARET KURL, her Attendant...

Sheriff of the County, Officer of the Guard, French and English Lords, Soldiers, Servants of State belonging to Elizabeth, Servants and Female Attendants of the Queen of Scots.

MARY STUART.

АСТ І.

SCENE FIRST.-A common Apartment in the Castle of Fotheringay. Paulet and Drury discovered breaking open a Cabinet, R.

ΚΕΝ.

Enter KENNEDY as curtain rises.

How now, sir! What fresh outrage have we here?

Back from that cabinet!

PAU. Whence came the jewel?

I know 't was from an upper chamber thrown;

And you would bribe the gard'ner with your trinkets.
A curse on woman's wiles! In spite of search
You harbour treasures still, and costly gems.

KEN. (Advancing to cabinet.) Intruder, back! here' lie my lady's secrets.

PAU. Exactly what I seek. KEN. Mere trifling papers; Those writings are in French. PAU. So much the worse!

[Draws forth papers.

That tongue betokens England's enemy.

ΚΕΝ.

The copy of a letter to your queen.

PAU. I'll be the bearer.

Ha! what glitters here—

[Touches a secret spring and draws out jewels from a private drawer.

A royal diadem enriched with stones

And studded with the fleur-de-lis of France!

[Hands it to Drury.

Here, take it, Drury, lay it with the rest.

[Exit Drury, R. D.

She can work ill as long as she hath treasures,
For all things turn to weapons in her hands;
'Tis in safe custody; in proper time

'T will be restored to you in strict integrity.

[Crosses and sits R. of L. table. KEN. Was 't not enough to rob her of her power? Must ye then bare her life of every solace?

PAU. Let her divorce her thoughts from vanity: A vicious life demands a lowly penance.

KEN. (c.) If youthful blood has led her into error, With her own heart and Heaven she must account:There is no judge in England over her.

PAU. She shall have judgment where she hath transgressed.

ΚΕΝ. Her narrow bonds restrain her from transgression. [Sitting, L. c. PAU. (Rising.) And yet she found the means to stretch

her arm

Into the world from out those narrow bonds,

And with the torch of civil war inflame

This realm against our Queen, whom Heaven preserve.

Curse on the day when first our shores received
This queen of guiles-this Helen as their guest.

I'd sooner watch the lost below
Than this deceitful queen;

But all my fears will soon be at an end.
She's here herself,

[Rise.

[Cross R. and L.

The crucifix in her hand, and in her heart

[Goes up c.

Worldliness, and wantonness, and boundless pride. [Goes to L. of table and looks over papers.

Enter MARY, veiled, a Crucifix in her hand.

KEN. (Hastening to her.) O gracious Madam, they tread us under foot;

Each coming day heaps fresh indignities.

MARY. Be calm

Say, what has happened.

KEN. (R. C.) See, your cabinet

Is forc'd;-the papers,-and the only treasure,
Which with such pains we had secured--the last
Poor remnants of your princely bridal gear,
Are in his hands:-nought now remains
Of royal state-we are indeed bereft!

MARY. Compose yourself, my Hannah! and believe

me,

'Tis not these baubles which can make a Queen :--
Basely indeed they may behave to us,

But they cannot debase us. Sir, you have ta'en
By force what I this very day designed

To have delivered you.

There's a letter

(Hannah goes up to Cabinet.)

Amongst these papers for my royal sister

Of England.--Pledge me, sir, your word of honour
To give it to her majesty's own hands,

And not to the deceitful care of Burleigh.

PAU. I will bethink me how to do with it.

MARY. Sir, you shall know its import. In this letter I crave a weighty boon--even to have speech With her own self whom I have ne'er beheld; By men have I been judged whom I can ne'er Acknowledge as my peers-by men to whom My heart denies its confidence. The Queen Is of my family, my rank, my sex;

To her alone can I unfold my heart.

PAU. Too oft have you entrusted fate and honour To men less worthy your esteem than these.

MARY. (C., Stops him.) I in this letter beg another favour,

And surely nought but inhumanity

These many years

Can here reject my prayer.
Have I in prison miss'd the church's comfort,

The blessings of the sacraments: and she
Who robs me of my freedom and my crown,
Who seeks my very life, can never wish
To shut the gates of heaven upon my soul.

PAU. (L.) Whene'er you wish, the Dean shall wait

upon you.

MARY. (Interrupting sharply.) Talk to me not of deans! I ask the aid

Of one of my own church-a Catholic priest.
My sorrows and my prison's wretchedness
Prey on my life-my days, I fear, are number'd..
PAU. These serious contemplations well become you.

MARY.

[Going.

I have been parted from my faithful women,