_Gui._ O rise, thou image of the deity!
You shall prevail, I will do any thing:
You've broke the very gall of my ambition,
And all my powers now float in peace again.
Be satisfied that I will see the king,
Kneel to him, ere I journey to Champaigne,
And beg a kind farewell.
_Mar._ No, no, my lord;
I see through that; you but withdraw a while,
To muster all the forces that you can,
And then rejoin the Council of Sixteen.
You must not go.
_Gui._ All the heads of the League
Expect me, and I have engaged my honour.
_Mar._ Would all those heads were off, so yours were saved!
Once more, O Guise, the weeping Marmoutiere
Entreats you, do not go.
_Gui._ Is't possible
That Guise should say, in this he must refuse you!
_Mar._ Go then, my lord. I late received a letter
From one at court, who tells me, the king loves me:
Read it,--there is no more than what you hear.
I've jewels offered too,--perhaps may take them;
And if you go from Paris, I'll to court.
_Gui._ But, madam, I have often heard you say,
You loved not courts.
_Mar._ Perhaps I've changed my mind:
Nothing as yet could draw me, but a king;
And such a king,--so good, so just, so great,
That, at his birth, the heavenly council paused,
And then, at last, cried out,--This is a man.
_Gui._ Come, 'tis but counterfeit; you dare not go.
_Mar._ Go to your government, and try.
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