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ACT IV: SCENE II
SCENE: Street in front of the prison. In the background a
gateway and several flights of steps leading up terraces to the
Governor's house. A pump on one side of the street. JOHN
ENDICOTT, MERRY, UPSALL, and others. A drum beats.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Oh shame, shame, shame!
MERRY.
Yes, it would be a shame
But for the damnable sin of Heresy!
JOHN ENDICOTT.
A woman scourged and dragged about our streets!
MERRY.
Well, Roxbury and Dorchester must take
Their share of shame. She will he whipped in each!
Three towns, and Forty Stripes save one; that makes
Thirteen in each.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
And are we Jews or Christians?
See where she comes, amid a gaping crowd!
And she a child. Oh, pitiful! pitiful!
There's blood upon her clothes, her hands, her feet!
[Enter MARSHAL and a drummer. EDITH, stripped to the waist,
followed by the hangman with a scourge, and a noisy crowd.]
EDITH.
Here let me rest one moment. I am tired.
Will some one give me water?
MERRY.
At his peril.
UPSALL.
Alas! that I should live to see this day!
A WOMAN.
Did I forsake my father and my mother
And come here to New England to see this?
EDITH.
I am athirst. Will no one give me water?
JOHN ENDICOTT (making his way through the crowd with water).
In the Lord's name!
EDITH (drinking.)
In his name I receive it!
Sweet as the water of Samaria's well
This water tastes. I thank thee. Is it thou?
I was afraid thou hadst deserted me.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Never will I desert thee, nor deny thee.
Be comforted.
MERRY.
O Master Endicott,
Be careful what you say.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Peace, idle babbler!
MERRY.
You'll rue these words!
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Art thou not better now?
EDITH.
They've struck me as with roses.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Ah, these wounds!
These bloody garments!
EDITH.
It is granted me
To seal my testimony with my blood.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
O blood-red seal of man's vindictive wrath!
O roses in the garden of the Lord!
I, of the household of Iscariot,
I have betrayed in thee my Lord and Master.
[WENLOCK CHRISTISON appears above, at the window of the prison,
stretching out his hands through the bars.]
CHRISTISON.
Be of good courage, O my child! my child!
Blessed art thou when men shall persecute thee!
Fear not their faces, saith the Lord, fear not,
For I am with thee to deliver thee.
A CITIZEN.
Who is it crying from the prison yonder.
MERRY.
It is old Wenlock Christison.
CHRISTISON.
Remember
Him who was scourged, and mocked, and crucified!
I see his messengers attending thee.
Be steadfast, oh, be steadfast to the end!
EDITH (with exultation).
I cannot reach thee with these arms, O father!
But closely in my soul do I embrace thee
And hold thee. In thy dungeon and thy death
I will be with thee, and will comfort thee
MARSHAL.
Come, put an end to this. Let the drum beat.
The drum beats. Exeunt all but JOHN ENDICOTT, UPSALL, and MERRY.
CHRISTISON.
Dear child, farewell! Never shall I behold
Thy face again with these bleared eyes of flesh;
And never wast thou fairer, lovelier, dearer
Than now, when scourged and bleeding, and insulted
For the truth's sake. O pitiless, pitiless town!
The wrath of God hangs over thee; and the day
Is near at hand when thou shalt be abandoned
To desolation and the breeding of nettles.
The bittern and the cormorant shall lodge
Upon thine upper lintels, and their voice
Sing in thy windows. Yea, thus saith the Lord!
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Awake! awake! ye sleepers, ere too late,
And wipe these bloody statutes from your books!
[Exit.]
MERRY.
Take heed; the walls have ears!
UPSALL.
At last, the heart
Of every honest man must speak or break!
[Enter GOVERNOR ENDICOTT with his halberdiers.]
ENDICOTT.
What is this stir and tumult in the street?
MERRY.
Worshipful sir, the whipping of a girl,
And her old father howling from the prison.
ENDICOTT (to his halberdiers).
Go on.
CHRISTISON.
Antiochus! Antiochus!
O thou that slayest the Maccabees! The Lord
Shall smite thee with incurable disease,
And no man shall endure to carry thee!
MERRY.
Peace, old blasphemer!
CHRISTISON.
I both feel and see
The presence and the waft of death go forth
Against thee, and already thou dost look
Like one that's dead!
MERRY (pointing).
And there is your own son,
Worshipful sir, abetting the sedition.
ENDICOTT.
Arrest him. Do not spare him.
MERRY (aside).
His own child!
There is some special providence takes care
That none shall be too happy in this world!
His own first-born.
ENDICOTT.
O Absalom, my son!
[Exeunt; the Governor with his halberdiers ascending the steps of
his house.]
Content of ACT IV SCENE II [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's play/drama: John Endicott]
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