Becket and other plays

Becket and other plays

Project Gutenberg's Becket and other plays, by Alfred Lord Tennyson #7 in our series by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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Title: Becket and other plays
Author: Alfred Lord Tennyson
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9162] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 10, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BECKET AND OTHER PLAYS
BY
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON, POET LAUREATE

CONTENTS
BECKET THE CUP THE FALCON THE PROMISE OF MAY

BECKET
TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR, THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF SELBORNE.
MY DEAR SELBORNE,
_To you, the honoured Chancellor of our own day, I dedicate this dramatic memorial of your great predecessor;--which, altho' not intended in its present form to meet the exigencies of our modern theatre, has nevertheless--for so you have assured me--won your approbation.
Ever yours_,
TENNYSON.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
HENRY II. (_son of the Earl of Anjou_). THOMAS BECKET, _Chancellor of England, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury_. GILBERT FOLIOT, Bishop of London. ROGER, Archbishop of York. Bishop of Hereford. HILARY, Bishop of Chichester. JOCELYN, Bishop of Salisbury. JOHN OF SALISBURY | HERBERT OF BOSHAM | friends of Becket. WALTER MAP, _reputed author of 'Golias,' Latin poems against the priesthood_. KING LOUIS OF FRANCE. GEOFFREY, son of Rosamund and Henry. GRIM, a monk of Cambridge. SIR REGINALD FITZURSE | SIR RICHARD DE BRITO | _the four knights of the King's_ SIR WILLIAM DE TRACY | _household, enemies of Becket_. SIR HUGH DE MORVILLE | DE BROC OF SALTWOOD CASTLE. LORD LEICESTER. PHILIP DE ELEEMOSYNA. TWO KNIGHT TEMPLARS. JOHN OF OXFORD (_called the Swearer_). ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE, _Queen of England (divorced from Louis of France)_. ROSAMUND DE CLIFFORD. MARGERY.
_Knights, Monks, Beggars, etc_.

PROLOGUE.
_A Castle in Normandy. Interior of the Hall. Roofs of a City seen thro' Windows_.
HENRY and BECKET at chess.
HENRY. So then our good Archbishop Theobald Lies dying.
BECKET. I am grieved to know as much.
HENRY. But we must have a mightier man than he For his successor.
BECKET. Have you thought of one?
HENRY. A cleric lately poison'd his own mother, And being brought before the courts of the Church, They but degraded him. I hope they whipt him. I would have hang'd him.
BECKET. It is your move.
HENRY. Well--there. [Moves. The Church in the pell-mell of Stephen's time Hath climb'd the throne and almost clutch'd the crown; But by the royal customs of our realm The Church should hold her baronies of me, Like other lords amenable to law. I'll have them written down and made the law.
BECKET. My liege, I move my bishop.
HENRY. And if I live, No man without my leave shall excommunicate My tenants or my household.
BECKET. Look to your king.
HENRY. No man without my leave shall cross the seas To set the Pope against me--I pray your pardon.
BECKET. Well--will you move?
HENRY. There. [Moves.
BECKET. Check--you move so wildly.
HENRY. There then! [Moves.
BECKET. Why--there then, for you see my bishop Hath brought your king to a standstill. You are beaten.
HENRY (_kicks over the board_). Why, there then--down go bishop and king together. I loathe being beaten; had I fixt my fancy Upon the game I should have beaten thee, But that was vagabond.
BECKET. Where, my liege? With Phryne, Or Lais, or thy Rosamund, or another?
HENRY. My Rosamund is no Lais, Thomas Becket; And yet she plagues me too--no fault in her-- But that I fear the Queen would have her life.
BECKET. Put her away, put her away, my liege! Put her away into a nunnery! Safe enough there from her to whom thou art bound By Holy Church. And wherefore should she seek The life of Rosamund de Clifford more Than that of other paramours of thine?
HENRY. How dost thou know I am not wedded to her?
BECKET. How should I know?
HENRY. That is my secret, Thomas.
BECKET. State secrets should be patent to the statesman Who serves and loves his king, and whom the king Loves not as statesman, but true lover and friend.
HENRY. Come, come, thou art but deacon, not yet bishop,