# Open BookClassics

Friedrich Schiller Maria Stuart

# **Maria Stuart**

e

a royal prisoner.

a� en� on to the structure of the play.

**Maria Stuart**

Translated by Flora Kimmich

Introduction by Roger Paulin

Friedrich Schiller

book ebook and OA edi� ons also available

Cover design: Anna Ga� .

www.openbookpublishers.com

*Maria Stuart*, described as Schiller's most perfect play, is a fi nely balanced, inven� ve account of the last day of the cap� ve Queen of Scotland, caught up in a great contest for the throne of England a� er the death of Henry VIII and over the ques� on of England's religious confession. Hope for and doubt about Mary's deliverance grow in the fi rst two acts, given to the Sco� sh and the English queen respec� vely, reach crisis at the center of the play, where the two queens meet in a famous scene in a castle park, and die away in acts four and fi ve, as the ac� on advances to its inevitable end. The play is at once classical tragedy of great fi neness, costume drama of the highest order—a spectacle on the stage—and one of the great moments in the long tradi� on of classical rhetoric, as Elizabeth's ministers argue for and against execu� on of

Flora Kimmich's new transla� on carefully preserves the spirit of the original: the pathos and passion of Mary in cap� vity, the high seriousness of Elizabeth's ministers in council, and the robust comedy of that queen's un� dy private life. Notes to the text iden� fy the many historical fi gures who appear in the text, describe the poli� cal se� ng of the ac� on, and draw

Roger Paulin's introduc� on discusses the many threads of the confl ict in Maria Stuart and

*Maria Stuart* is the last of a series of fi ve new transla� ons of Schiller's major plays, accompanied by notes to the text and an authorita� ve introduc� on, and made freely available to read and download for free on the publisher's website. Printed and digital edi� ons, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at

Cover image: *Mary, Queen of Scots* a� er Nicholas Hilliard (1578), oil on panel, public domain. Wikimedia,

h� ps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary,\_Queen\_of\_Scots\_a� er\_Nicholas\_Hilliard.jpg.

enriches our understanding of this much-loved, much-produced play.

FRIEDRICH SCHILLER TRANSLATED BY FLORA KIMMICH **OBP** INTRODUCTION BY ROGER PAULIN

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# MARIA STUART

# Maria Stuart

### *By Friedrich Schiller*

*Translation and Notes to the Text by Flora Kimmich Introduction by Roger Paulin*

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Translation and Notes to the text Flora Kimmich © 2020 Introduction Roger Paulin © 2020

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Friedrich Schiller, *Maria Stuart*. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2020, https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0217

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Open Book Classics Series, vol. 12 | ISSN: 2054-216X (Print); 2054-2178 (Online)

ISBN Paperback: 9781783749812 ISBN Hardback: 9781783749829 ISBN Digital (PDF): 9781783749836 ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 9781783749843 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 9781783749850 ISBN XML: 9781783749867 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0217

Cover image: Mary, Queen of Scots, after Nicholas Hilliard (1578), oil on panel, public domain. Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary,\_Queen\_of\_Scots\_ after\_Nicholas\_Hilliard.jpg.

Cover design: Anna Gatti.

### Contents


*Maria Stuart* is the ffth and fnal volume of a series of translations of Friedrich Schiller's major plays made freely available by Open Book Publishers. This translation, like the others, is intended for students at college level and for the general reader. It is accompanied by an introduction that gives context, by a 'Short Life of Mary Stuart', and by Notes that make an old text less obscure.

Schiller's *Maria Stuart* is loved and esteemed for its fnely balanced dramatic economy, for its descending action, for the pathos of its plot, and for its spectacle of two famous queens in contest for a great throne at a celebrated moment in British history. The play is precious, too, for its presentation of a question argued and reargued by competing factions in sallies of high rhetoric sustained over fve acts: a brilliant moment in a rhetorical tradition that reaches back to the Ancients.

A great surprise, therefore, to sit down to translate this text and fnd that it reads in long passages more like work in progress than like copy ready for print. The task presented to the startled translator is to condense great billows of words without notable loss and lodge them in fve-beat lines roomy enough to preserve their sense and regular enough to be read as iambic.

Roger Paulin has contributed to this efort by restraining my extravagances, by supplying words and whole lines that I preferred to my own, and by his very presence, which kept me working and reworking at a task that knows no end. He has been present in the translation project throughout and the series bears his mark.

The endnotes and the "Short Life of Mary Stuart" rely on the commentary by Matthias Luserke-Jaqui, editor of the edition *Deutsche Klassiker (*Frankfurt, 1996), the text on which the translation is based. The Notes and the "Short Life" also draw upon an exceptionally complete and beautifully illustrated article, "Mary, Queen of Scots," posted on Wikipedia.

Alessandra Tosi presided over it all—both this volume and the fve-volume series—with patience, persistence, resourcefulness, and forbearance. The editors at Open Book Publishers have lent their considerable talents to the production of fve handsome volumes. Andrey Gerasenkov, beyond the call of duty, twice gave half a morning to teaching a device intended for legal briefs to count measured verse instead. And Christoph Kimmich has provided everything I required.

# Introduction

### *Roger Paulin*

The story of Mary Queen of Scots as a dramatic subject had been on Schiller's mind since as early as 1783.1 It featured again on the so-called 'Big List of Dramas' that he started around 1797, as number four (Wallenstein is number two).2 This marks Schiller's return to dramatic production after years of history-writing and philosophical study. By early 1799 he was writing to Goethe that he was studying the sources on the history of Scotland, and in the summer of the same year he was able to sketch to the same correspondent the outline of the play that would be completed a year later (1800) and performed in Weimar that summer:

I am starting, as I map things out, to convince myself ever more of the truly tragic quality of my material, and that means specifcally that I can see the catastrophe straight away in the frst scene, and as the action seems to move further away from there, it is being led ever closer and closer to it. There is no lack of Aristotle's fear, and there will be pity as well. My Mary will not produce a gentle aura, that is not my intention, I want to keep her as a physical being, and tragic pity will be much more of a general deep emotion than personal or individual sympathy. She feels and arouses no tenderness, it is her fate to undergo violent passions and to incite them. Only her nurse has any tenderness for her.3

In this quotation at least, Schiller expresses a greater interest in the tragic potential of this subject than in its intrinsic merits as a historical source.

<sup>1</sup> All German references and quotations are taken from *Sämtliche Werke*, ed. by Gerhard Fricke, Herbert Göpfert and Herbert Stubenrauch, 5 vols (Munich: Hanser, 1960), here IV, 1258.

<sup>2</sup> Ibid., III, 919.

<sup>3</sup> Ibid., II, 1259.

We notice him using the Aristotelian requirements of pity and fear but extending these to a general tragic pity ('das Pathetische'), a term taken from his own recent theoretical writings. He is tracing the action both in terms of character (no gratuitous tenderness or compassion) and the construction of the plot (the tragic outcome embedded in the very frst scene).

How far Schiller was acquainted with earlier dramatic representations of Mary Queen of Scots (mainly so-called martyr tragedies)4 is not known, nor is it the point. He would however, from his reading of Greek, French, English (and German) tragedy, have been aware that the exemplary confrontation of innocence (martyr) with vice or injustice (tyrant) had considerable dramatic potential. The martyr queen divesting herself of her worldly possessions in Act Five owes something to that tradition, but the meeting of the two queens (and the clash of the principles for which they stand), surely the most spectacular and audacious device in the whole play, may also ultimately come from that source. What is clear is that Schiller is constructing a drama around a moral issue with an eye to its efect on the emotions of the beholder.

Schiller, as said, had been studying the historical sources, but Maria Stuart, unlike Wallenstein, is not in any real sense a historical drama. The historical background may be real, but it needs invented situations and characters (such as Mortimer) to sustain it. Historical accuracy is extended beyond itself to charge past happenings with new signifcant meaning, a sixteenth-century event made to exemplify and be subordinated to questions of human guilt and moral freedom. Where Wallenstein's decisions (or their lack) are linked to historical forces and their outcome, the issues in Maria Stuart revolve around decisions already taken (the queen has already been sentenced to death) and their implications. We see, rather, how these political decisions bring about a moral regeneration, a reaching out for transcendence, freedom from guilt, the achievement of the state of sublimity.

These are abstract notions that form the basis of Schiller's theoretical writings in the 1790s. A philosophical reading of the play would therefore see the heroine achieving moral sublimity, freed from worldly trammels, released from passion, her senses and the world of the spirit

<sup>4</sup> Elisabeth Frenzel, *Stofe der Weltliteratur. Ein Lexikon dichtungsgeschichtlicher Längsschnitte*, Kröners Taschenburch 300 (Stuttgart: Kröner, 1963), 411-414.

#### *Introduction xi*

in harmony, what Schiller calls a 'schöne Seele' ('beautiful soul'). The spectator is involved in these processes by witnessing and being caught up in the higher reconciliation of these principles. But no moral or aesthetic principle alone makes for efective drama, and a one-sided concentration on these aspects alone may give only a limited insight into the subtleties of the text.

For this is frst and foremost a play about real and concrete issues, the interplay of politics and sexual jealousy, and it is out of these factors that the moral issues arise, not the other way round. The action, tight, taut, and enclosed (except for that meeting of the queens in Act Three), brings out the questions of Realpolitik in which both heroine and anti-heroine alike are caught up. Mary is physically imprisoned in the confnes of Fotheringhay, the place both of sufering and regeneration, while Elizabeth is morally and physically immured in the court, the 'slippery ground' of intrigue and duplicity. While not strictly classical in the French style (there is no unity of place), the play is written mainly in a blank verse suited to the close confrontations and the interplay of repartee that are conditional on both moral and political argument and the clash of principles. This enables words and notions that are related in sense to be thrown back at each other in rhetorical encounters, such as those to do with right, justice and the law. The recapitulation to a confdant (Mary and Hanna Kennedy in Act One) has elements of traditional closet drama. Set monologues are given mainly to Elizabeth, to demonstrate, among other things, her irresolution, how she needs to weigh up arguments and moral issues and their shifting options.

In such terms, one could reduce the action to 'might versus right', Mary the victim, Elizabeth the oppressor. But the issues are not so clear cut.

True, Mary is a queen in her own right, not subject to foreign jurisdiction; she is of legitimate birth (the granddaughter of Henry VII), a Catholic, unlawfully imprisoned and about to fall victim to trumped-up charges. This is the basis of her energetic and disdainful self-defence before Burleigh5 and especially before Elizabeth. She is however also complicit in murder and assassination plots, and she is linked by ties of blood and religion to England's enemies. She is

<sup>5</sup> Schiller's spelling.

also and crucially—in the terms of the play—perceived as a 'Helen', an 'Ate', Helen, who in Marlowe's famous words, 'burnt the topless towers of Ilium', brought fre and destruction to Troy, while Ate is the goddess of discord. Thus we notice how the images of fre and heat and confagration run through the play, almost literally in the case of the hothead Mortimer and his infammatory advances. In those terms Mary is at all times potentially dangerous: even from the confnes of her prison an erotic attraction radiates. Mortimer, Leicester and even Elizabeth feel these fames emanating from Fotheringhay and must react to them in their own fashion. This must be set against the genuine pity we sense for her fate: Paulet and Shrewsbury, as upholders of the moral law, are moved by it. Mary is also aware of her own sins and failings. Her long catalogue of crimes confded to Hanna Kennedy is testimony enough. On the one hand, she admits that she deserves death as an atonement for past wrongdoing. Yet she is also a political presence, a queen, familiar with statecraft and prepared—against the odds—to uphold her rights, witness her tussle with Burleigh and the defense of her status in front of Elizabeth. Thus she places her hopes—against all hope—in the broken reed of Leicester.

Elizabeth, by contrast, is (in Mary's eyes at least) illegitimate and knows that Mary has as much right to the throne as she—and can turn men's heads as well. She is a Protestant, a 'virgin queen'. Rightly or wrongly, she represents order in the state and she is prepared to use her considerable political skills to uphold it. She has few scruples, and her creatures (Burleigh especially) have even fewer. She must uphold the rule of order, however it is achieved. She must surrender personal inclinations, such as marriage, to the reasons of state in which, as said, she is imprisoned. But the execution order is not issued solely for reasons of political expediency. Mary threatens her womanhood; she feels the erotic charge of her rival.

One could therefore say that the worst of both queens is refected in Leicester, playing as he does a double game with both and eventually losing both; morally compromised, ruthless if need be (as in the arrest of Mortimer), but then again not ruthless enough. His departure for France that delivers the punchline of the play is an admission that Elizabeth has triumphed, but also that Mary too has conquered beyond the grave. For he has gone over to the other side: Mary has not died in vain.

Thus the two queens are made to interact, but not in the sense of absolute right versus absolute wrong. There would be no dramatic action were Mary's confession of guilt in Act One the moral climax of the play. False hopes, pride, a glimmer of ambition, all of these mark Mary's 'descent' from Act One to the confrontation with Elizabeth, which she 'wins' rhetorically (leaving Elizabeth speechless) but loses morally. But what are we to make of her 'transfguration' in Act Five? Does it convince? Has Schiller not deliberately contrasted her with Elizabeth's duplicity and the cravenness of her creatures? Are we not more convinced by the sheer tragedy of Mary's fate and her calm dignity than by words like 'angel', 'sacrifce' or 'freedom', the vocabulary of the 'beautiful soul' and its attainment of sublimity? For even this has its limits: her last address to Leicester is not without its tone of regal imperiousness and self-justifcation—and it has its efect.

Elizabeth, whose movements are mainly characterised by vacillation, impatience, changes of mood, nevertheless recovers her composure at the end. The German word 'Fassung' ('standing calm') in the fnal stage direction, with its overtones of stoical demeanor, suggests a resigned acceptance of things as they are. Unlike Mary's verbal ascent into the realms of spiritual freedom in her last words to Melvil, Elizabeth 'stands' frmly on the ground of reality, in kingship, the right to rule. She has nothing beyond that. She must accept the world as it is; Mary claims to have transcended it.

This is a play which must be seen and heard on the stage. It gains its efect from the structure of the verse, which keeps high emotions and political machinations in place. Only two characters—Mary herself and Mortimer—briefy abandon blank verse as they are carried away by their emotions. It is also a play that has its fair share of stunts, spectacles and coups de théâtre: the court scenes, the meeting of the queens, of course, Mortimer's arrest and stage suicide, the eucharist on stage (which shocked Schiller's contemporaries), Mary's symbolic change from black to white costume, and the panoply of her execution. Schiller loves punchlines and one-liners ('Kings are the slaves of their station' and the like), sententious statements of general import. The very last line of the play—'He is at sea and on his way to France'—seizes us for its daring—brazen—counterfactuality, but it rings true in terms of the action and the moral issues that it raises.

This play is now well established in English-language theatre repertory. Flora Kimmich's version, in verse, reminds us that Maria Stuart needs to be spoken, in original or translation, with constant regard to the cadences of the language, themselves a refection of the characters who are ranged one against the other in tragic confict.

#### Further reading:


Title page of the first edition of *Maria Stuart* (Tübingen: Cotta, 1801). Photograph by Antiquariat Dr. Haack, Leipzig (2008). Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/Category:Maria\_Stuart#/media/File:Schiller\_Maria\_Stuart\_1801.jpg

### MARIA STUART

# Characters

ELIZABETH, Queen of England

MARY STUART, Queen of Scotland

ROBERT DUDLEY, Earl of Leicester

GEORGE TALBOT, Earl of Shrewsbury

WILLIAM CECIL, Baron Burghley, Lord High Treasurer

Earl of KENT

WILLIAM DAVISON, state secretary

AMIAS PAULET, knight, Mary's keeper

MORTIMER, his nephew

Count AUBESPINE, French ambassador

Count BELLIEVRE, extraordinary emissary of France

O'KELLY, Mortimer's friend

DRUGEON DRURY, Mary's second keeper

MELVIL, her steward

BURGOYNE, her physician

HANNA KENNEDY, her nurse

MARGARET CURLE, her lady-in-waiting

SHERIFF of the county

OFFICER of the bodyguard

French and English GENTLEMEN

GUARDS

COURTIERS of the Queen of England

ATTENDANTS of the Queen of Scotland

*Tableau représentant Marie Stuart, reine de France et d'Écosse*. Château de Blois. Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blois\_-\_ tableau\_Marie\_Stuart.jpg

### Act One

*A room in Fotheringhay Castle*

### Scene One

*Hanna Kennedy, nurse of the Queen of Scotland, in sharp dispute with Paulet, who is about to open a cabinet. Drugeon Drury, his assistant, with a crowbar.*

KENNEDY. Stand back, sir! What fresh impudence! Away from This chest! PAULET. Who was it threw down all those jewels? Who? They were tossed down from the upper story And meant to bribe the gardener. Women's wiles! For all my watching, for all my sharp searching, *Still* secret valuables, *still* hidden treasure! (*Attacking the cabinet*) Where that was there is more! KENNEDY. Back, shameless man! The Lady's secrets lie here. PAULET. Just what I want! (*Pulling out papers*) KENNEDY. Of no importance, idle jottings to shorten 10 The long, sad hours of her imprisonment. PAULET. Idleness is handmaid to the devil. KENNEDY. These papers are all in French. PAULET. So much the worse! That language England's enemy speaks. KENNEDY. Drafts of letters

Intended for the Queen of England.

PAULET. I will

Deliver them. — Look here! What's sparkling so? (*He has opened a secret compartment and lifts jewels from a hidden drawer.*) A royal coronet, all studded with stones, Entwined and threaded by the lilies of France!1 (*He gives it to his companion.*) Take care of it, Drury. Add it to the rest!

*(Drury goes off.)*

KENNEDY. Disgraceful force that we have to submit to! 20 PAULET. While she still has possessions, she can do harm. In her hands everything becomes a weapon. KENNEDY. Have mercy, sir. Don't take the last fine touch from Our lives! Poor Lady! How she's cheered by the sight of Old splendor. You have taken all else away. PAULET. It's in good hands. And it will be returned Safely and surely when the proper time comes. KENNEDY. Who'd think from these bare walls to find a queen Living here? Where's the baldachin above Her chair? Must she not set her foot, accustomed 30 To softness, on raw common flooring? With The coarsest pewter—plainest noblewomen Would scorn it—they make bold to serve her table. PAULET. That's how she saw her husband served at Stirling, While she drank out of gold cups with her lover.2 KENNEDY. The simplest looking-glass is even denied her.3 PAULET. As long as she can still see her vain image She will not give up hoping—hoping and scheming. KENNEDY. There are no books here to engage her mind. PAULET. They gave her a Bible to improve her heart. 40 KENNEDY. Even her lute they took away from her. PAULET. Because she used to play her love songs on it. KENNEDY. Is that a fate for one who's gently bred, Who was crowned queen while still in the cradle, and Then brought up at the court of a Medici Amid all excess, every possible pleasure?4

Be it enough to rob her of her power.



Before the gates of Hell than over this Queen full of intrigue, queen full of wiles! KENNEDY. She's coming there herself! PAULET. The Christ in her hand Vainglory and worldly pleasures in her heart.

#### Scene Two

*Mary, veiled and carrying a Crucifix. As above.*

KENNEDY (*hurrying to meet her*). My Queen! Just look! They're trampling us underfoot! Of harshness and tyranny there is no end! Every new day heaps sorrows, heaps new shame On your crowned head. MARY. Come now! Compose yourself! And tell me what new thing has happened. KENNEDY. Look here! 130 Your desk is broken open. All your writings, Your last remaining treasure, salvaged at great pain, The rest of bridal jewelry taken from France Is now in his hands. Nothing royal is yours. You have been robbed. There is now nothing left you. MARY. Take comfort, Hanna. Tinsel such as this Makes no queen. They can treat us basely but They cannot abase us. Here in England I've learned, Accustomed myself to much and this, too, I can endure. (*To Paulet*) You, sir, have seized what I 140 Was minded to surrender to you today. Among these writings you will find a letter Intended for my royal sister of England. Give me your word that you'll deliver it To her in honor and not into Burghley's13 Faithless hands. PAULET. *I'll* decide what is to be done. MARY. You are to know the content, sir. In this letter I sue for a great favor: I request


A long and painful month has passed since forty Commissioners ambushed me here in this castle, Erected barriers, with unseemly haste put Me, unprepared and without counsel, before A court no one had ever heard of, made me, Surprised and stunned, respond then and there to 190 Sly legal points accusing me of grave crimes. Like specters they appeared and vanished again. From that day all men have kept silent before me, In vain I try to read your gaze and your glances: Whether my innocence, the efforts of friends, or My enemies' foul influence has prevailed. Break your long silence, let me know at last: What must I fear—tell me—what dare I hope?14 PAULET (*after a silence*). Settle all your accounts with Heaven, Madam. MARY. I hope for Heaven's mercy, sir, and from 200 My earthly judges I hope for strict justice. PAULET. Justice will be yours. Have no doubt of that. MARY. My trial has been decided? PAULET. I do not know. MARY. I've been condemned? PAULET. My Lady, I know nothing. MARY. One goes to work with speed here. Is the assassin To *ambush* me just as my judges did? PAULET. Assume as much. He'll find you better prepared. MARY. Nothing a Westminster court presumes to find, led By Burghley's hate and Hatton's zeal,15 shall shock me. I know too well what England's Queen dare *do*. 210 PAULET. England's great rulers need fear but their conscience And Parliament. What justice fearlessly has Spoken, their might will execute in plain view.

#### Scene Three

*As above. Mortimer, Paulet's nephew, enters, ignoring the Queen.*

MORTIMER (*to Paulet*). You're wanted, Uncle.

*(He goes off in the same fashion. The Queen turns to Paulet, who is about to follow.)*

MARY. Yet another request, sir.

If *you* have something you would say to me— From you I suffer much; I honor your years. The insolence of such a youngster I'll not Endure. Spare me his uncouth manners henceforth. PAULET. What you would not endure endears him to me. He's plainly not among the feeble fools 220 Whom women's lying tears can soften soon. He's traveled. He returns from Paris and Reims, Bringing back home his loyal old-English heart. On him your arts are lost entirely, my Lady.16 (*He goes off.*)

#### Scene Four




You have committed no crime, I am witness. Courage therefore! Make peace now with yourself! Whatever your regrets, in England you're guiltless. 310 Neither Elizabeth nor Parliament Can judge you. Force alone holds you. Before This insolent court you may take your place With all the courage of your innocence. MARY. Who's coming there?

*(Mortimer appears in the doorway.)*

KENNEDY. It is the nephew. Go in.

Scene Five

*As above. Mortimer, entering cautiously.* MORTIMER (*to the Nurse*). Go out. Keep watch before the door. I wish to Speak with the Queen. MARY (*firmly*). You stay here with me, Hanna. MORTIMER. You need not fear, my Lady. Know who I am. (*He hands her a card.*) MARY (*reads the card and steps back in surprise*). Ha! MORTIMER (*to the Nurse*). Go then, Dame Kennedy. See that my uncle Does not surprise us. MARY (*to the Nurse, who hesitates*). Go! Go! Do as he says. *(The Nurse goes out, baffled.)*

#### Scene Six

*Mortimer. Mary.*

320 MARY. The Cardinal of Lorraine, my uncle!21 He writes: "Trust him who brings this, Mortimer, a knight. You've no more loyal friend in all England." (*Looking at Mortimer in astonishment*) It's possible? No fraud? A friend so near, when






Do take it. I've long carried it—your uncle Blocked every path. My angel sent you to me— MORTIMER. My Queen, this riddle— MARY. Earl Leicester will solve it. 500 If you trust him, he will trust you. — Who's coming? KENNEDY (*entering hurriedly*). Sir Paulet with a lord from Court. MORTIMER. Lord Burghley. Prepare yourself, Queen! Steel your heart for what he brings.

*(He goes out by a side door; Kennedy follows.)*

#### Scene Seven

*Mary. Baron Burghley, Lord High Treasurer of England. Knight Paulet.*

PAULET. Today you wished for certainty of your fate. That my Lord Burghley brings you. Bear it with patience. MARY. With dignity of innocence, I hope. BURGHLEY. I come as emissary of the court. MARY. Lord Burghley lent the court his mind. Dutifully He now comes to me to lend it his mouth. BURGHLEY. You speak as if you knew the verdict already. 510 MARY. Lord Burghley brings it. Therefore it is known. To business, sir. BURGHLEY. You have submitted yourself to The court of two and forty lords, my Lady— MARY. Forgive me that I break in here at the start. "Submitted myself," I hear you say? No wise Could I submit, could I so much concede of My rank, my people's worth, and my son's,28 and The worth of all the princes of this world. English law orders and prescribes that one Accused be tried by jury of his peers. 520 What man of that tribunal was my peer? My peers are kings, kings only. BURGHLEY. You heard the articles Of accusation read you, spoke to the


Ever for me a harbinger of doom. How shall I, untaught woman, take up the challenge A speaker of such eloquence throws down? Fine! Were these lords as you describe them, I'd 560 Fall silent, my cause lost, should they find me guilty. *I* see these men, whose names are meant to crush me, Play roles quite different in the history of England. I see high noblemen play seraglio slave to The sultan's moods of Henry Tudor, my uncle. I see both the Lords and the biddable Commons Make laws, revoke them, bind and loose wedlock to King's orders, disown princes' daughters today, brand Them bastards, and then crown them queen, come the morrow. I see these worthy peers change their confession 570 *Four* times precisely, under *four* reigns.30 BURGHLEY. You call yourself a stranger to England's laws, England's misfortunes are no stranger to you. MARY. I would be just toward you, my Lord High Treasurer, Be you no less so toward me. They say you Are well-intentioned toward the State, toward your Queen, Are incorruptible, watchful and tireless. I believe it. You are ruled alone by interests Of country and sovereign. For that reason, beware! Let Interests of state not seem like justice to you. 580 I doubt not there are noble men beside you Among my judges; they are *Protestants*; Defending England's welfare, they pass judgment Upon me, Queen of Scotland and a Catholic. Briton nor Scot is ever just toward the other. That is proverbial. Neither may bear witness Against the other. Ancient custom is honored! Nature herself threw them together on A slender plank in the sea, said, "Fight it out!" The narrow Tweed presents too thin a boundary. 590 No foes press England whom Scots do not join, On civil war in Scotland England heaps tinder. Hatred will not die until *one* Parliament




#### Scene Eight

*Burghley. Paulet.*



She's given me to keep safe. Safe I shall keep her. No evil shall she do, and no evil reach her.

*(They go off.)*

Elizabeth I of England, ca. 1580, oil on panel. English School. Wikimedia, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:English\_School\_Elizabeth\_I\_of\_ England\_c.\_1580.jpg

### Act Two

*The Palace of Westminster*

#### Scene One

*Earl Kent and Sir William Davison meet.* 750 DAVISON. Is that you, Lord Kent? Back from the lists so soon? The festival's done? KENT. Were you not at the games? DAVISON. I could not get away. KENT. A brilliant spectacle! A feat of good taste and good manners. Just listen! A virginal stronghold of Beauty is Assaulted by Desire. Lord Marshal, Chief Judge, The Seneschal and other knights of the Queen Defend it. France's cavaliers attack. A Herald in a madrigal had called out The fortress, the Chancellor answered from the wall. 760 Artillery now comes into play, fires bouquets and perfumes. In vain! The storm repulsed, Desire must withdraw. DAVISON. An evil augury for the French suit, I fear. KENT. Oh, only jest. The fort will yield in the end. DAVISON. You think so? I doubt it. KENT. The difficult points are Settled, admitted all: Monsieur34 will worship In a closed chapel, honor our Church, defend it Abroad. Had you but seen how all men rejoiced!

Eternal fear in this Kingdom is that she Die without issue and this Stuart, a Catholic, 770 Succeed her.

DAVISON. England need fear such a succession No longer. *She* goes into the bridal chamber, My Lady Mary to the steps of the scaffold.

KENT. The Queen is coming!

#### Scene Two

*As above. Elizabeth, escorted by Leicester. Count Aubespine, Bellievre, Earl Shrewsbury, Lord Burghley, with other French and English Lords, enter.*

ELIZABETH (*to Aubespine*). Count! I do lament These noble lords, whom gallant zeal has brought us Across the waters, that they not find the courtly Glories of Saint Germain35 here at my Court. Magnificent feasts of the gods the Queen Mother Of France36 invents are all beyond me. A Contented, mannerly folk thronging my litter 780 Wherever I appear—this spectacle I Can offer strangers' gaze with some pride. Brilliance Of noble damsels all abloom in Catherine's Gardens of beauty simply would eclipse my Less glorious deserts along with their author. AUBESPINE. Westminster's court shows but *one* lady, to the Stranger's surprise, but all that pleases in The charming sex is gathered up in this *one*. BELLIEVRE. Exalted Majesty of England, grant That we take leave, to delight Monsieur, our royal 790 Lord, with the much-desired news. His heart's impatience Has driven him from Paris. He awaits The messengers of his good fortune in Amiens, And he has sent his posts as far as Calais To bring acceptance that your royal mouth speaks With lightning speed to his ecstatic ear.



It cannot be the friend of my foe— AUBESPINE. Unworthy In your eyes, too, were it, should it forget in This bond an unhappy soul of its confession And widow of its king.39 Mere honor, human Feeling— ELIZABETH. In this sense I know how to value Its plea. France answers to its duty of friendship. It shall be granted me to act as a queen.

> *(She bows to the French Lords, who withdraw respectfully with the other Lords.)*

#### Scene Three

*Elizabeth. Leicester. Burghley. Talbot. The Queen takes her seat.*


In all kinds of disguise. Three times they've attempted Your life. They hatch more of their likes in this pit. At Fotheringhay sits the Ate41 of this war, Enflaming the Realm with the torch of love. 890 She flatters youths with hope, to certain destruction. The lure is to free her, to replace you their purpose. Lorraine believes you a usurper, crowned by chance. They led the foolish Mary to call herself queen. There'll be no peace with her, none with her House! Or you must strike the blow or you must receive it. Her life is death to you, her death your life! ELIZABETH. My Lord, yours is a dismal office. I know Your chaste zeal, know the solid wisdom you speak. This wisdom, though, demands blood, which I loathe. 900 Find milder counsel. Lord Shrewsbury, what say you? TALBOT. You justly praise the zeal inspiring loyal Burghley's breast. I, though far less eloquent, Nurture a heart no less true. Long live my Queen, The joy of her folk, long live the peace that she brings us! This Island has not seen such days since ruled By its own princes. May it not redeem its Good fortune at the price of its good name. May Talbot's eyes be closed if ever this be! ELIZABETH. God save us if we ever blot our good name! 910 TALBOT. You then will think of other means of saving The Realm. For executing Mary Stuart Is no lawful means. You cannot pronounce Judgment against one who is not your subject, As she is not. ELIZABETH. My Council of State then Is wrong, and wrong my Parliament and the law courts Of England, which all recognized this right— TALBOT. Vote of majority is no proof of justice. England is not the world, your Parliament No union of all humankind. Nor is 920 Present-day England to be our England in future As it is not the England of the past.



BURGHLEY. Lord Leicester has not always judged things so.

LEICESTER. It's true, before the *court* I voted her death. In Council I say otherwise. We speak Here not of justice but of our advantage. Is now the time to fear her? France, her sole shield, Deserts her, now that you would give the king's son 1000 Your hand and hope of new heirs blooms in the land. Why kill her? She *is* dead! Contempt is true death. Beware lest pity bring her back to life! My counsel: Let the sentence stand in full force. She live, but under the keen blade of the axe. An arm raised in her behalf and the axe falls. ELIZABETH (*rising*). My Lords, I thank you. I have heard your counsel. With God's help, who lights kings' way on this earth, I shall consider and choose what seems best.

#### Scene Four

*As above. Knight Paulet with Mortimer.*




*(The Lords go off. She calls Mortimer back from the threshold.)*

Sir Mortimer! One word!

### Scene Five

*Elizabeth. Mortimer.*


Most foolish of all is to own to a thing. One does not lose what one does not give away. MORTIMER (*feeling his way*). The best thing then would be— ELIZABETH (*swiftly)*. Of course it would! My guardian angel speaks through you. Go on! You grasp the matter, unlike Paulet, your uncle. MORTIMER (*startled*). You put it to the Knight? ELIZABETH. To my great regret. MORTIMER. Forgive the old man. Age makes him uncertain. Such daring demands youth. ELIZABETH (*quickly*). From you I may— 1120 MORTIMER. I lend you my hand. Save your name as you're able— ELIZABETH. If you should wake me with the news one morning: The Stuart Queen has gone out of this life— MORTIMER. Count on me. ELIZABETH. When shall I sleep peacefully again? MORTIMER. Let the next new moon bring you peace. ELIZABETH. Farewell, sir. My gratitude must take the colors of night. But silence is the god of men of good fortune. Secrecy fastens tenderest bonds warm and tight. (*She goes off.*)

#### Scene Six

*Mortimer alone*

Go now, dissembling Queen. As *you*, the world Just so will *I* deceive you. Do I look like 1130 A murderer? Is there ruthlessness in my face? Just you trust in *my* arm, hold yours back, take on A merciful air, and wait for my aid— And we'll gain time to join force for her rescue! Advance me, dangle a great prize— And were *you* That great prize—you and all your woman's favors! Who are you? What can *you* give? The *one* highest good,

Life's greatest ornament, when one heart, self-Forgetting, rapt, gives itself to another— This crown of womanhood you've never known 1140 Nor ever been the happiness of a man. I must await Lord Leicester—odious errand! *I'll* save her, I alone, by my design, Danger, fame and the prize— They shall be mine! *(As he is about to go, Paulet enters.)*

#### Scene Seven


LEICESTER (*entering*).

Good sir, permit a word with your nephew here. The Queen is well-disposed toward him, she wishes That Lady Stuart's person be committed To him without condition. She puts her trust In his good faith. PAULET. In his good faith—well, fine! LEICESTER. You say— PAULET. Her trust in his good faith! And I, My Lord, put *my* trust in my two open eyes. (*He goes off.*)

#### Scene Eight

*Leicester. Mortimer.*



She was intended for me—favor I scorned. I seek her now, imprisoned, at death's door, At risk of my life. MORTIMER. An act that calls for courage. LEICESTER. The shape of things has changed in the meanwhile, sir. Ambition made me cold to youth and beauty. I hoped yet to possess the Queen of England. MORTIMER. And it is known to all that she preferred you. LEICESTER. It seemed so. But after ten lost years of an 1220 Unflagging courtship, hated constraint— Oh, sir, My heart swells! Why, if only they knew what chains They envy me for! After ten years of burning Incense to her vanity, submitting To every ripple in her sultan's moods, A plaything of her whims and stubbornness, Caressed now by her tenderness, now repulsed By her stiff pride, tormented equally First by her favor, then by her cold rigor, Watched like a prisoner by her Argus-eyed 1230 Jealousy, cross-examined like a child, Shamed like a servant—words fail for this hell— I'm cheated at the post of my prize. Another Comes and I lose my long-possessed rights to a Blossoming young bridegroom, am pushed off the stage. Her hand *and* favor I lose—he is lovable. MORTIMER. He's Catherine's son and pupil. He knows to please. LEICESTER. I look for a spar in this shipwreck and Return to my first hope. Ambition drives me No longer. Youth and beauty move me. I 1240 Compare and see the treasure I have lost. I see her plunged deep into wretchedness by My fault. If I could save her now and possess her? I reach her and reveal my changed heart.50 You bring A letter saying she forgives and accepts me. MORTIMER. But nothing have you done that would save her! You let her be condemned and voted her death! A miracle must happen, light of Truth



If you wish to. Lure her to one of your castles, Show her a man! Keep her your captive there Until she release Mary Stuart again! LEICESTER. What an extravagance! Do you know this ground? This Court? How tight this female kingdom Has bound our spirits? You just look for the 1320 Heroic spirit that once ruled this land! Crushed! Under lock and key! And to a woman! Every heart's mainspring unwound! Heed my example. Nothing imprudent. — Someone's coming. Go now! MORTIMER. Mary has hopes! What am I to bring her? LEICESTER. Bring her the vow of my undying love! MORTIMER. Bring that yourself! I offered to serve in Her rescue, not to serve you as your Cupid! (*He goes off.*)

#### Scene Nine

*Elizabeth. Leicester.*

ELIZABETH. Who left you just now? I thought I heard talking. LEICESTER (*whirling around at her entrance*). It was Sir Mortimer. ELIZABETH. What is it, my Lord? 1330 You're startled?

LEICESTER (*composing himself*).

At the sight of you, my Lady.

I'm dazzled by your beauty and your charm.

Ah, me!

ELIZABETH. You sigh?

LEICESTER. Have I not reason to sigh?

To see your beauty renews nameless pain, my Sadness at coming loss.

ELIZABETH. But what do you lose?

LEICESTER. Your heart I shall lose and your lovable self. Your youthful husband will hold you in fiery Embrace. He will possess your heart entirely, Though none on earth adores you as I do.



*The curtain falls.*

George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, 1580. Artist unknown. National Portrait Gallery, London. Wikimedia, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:George\_Talbot\_6th\_Earl\_of\_Shrewsbury\_1580.jpg

*A park. Trees at the front, a wide prospect behind.*

### Scene One



I rode after the stag with high hopes,

1460 Down the Highlands' dark hollows, up its bright slopes, Hearing the horn's far call, after the hart.

#### Scene Two

*Paulet. As above.*


#### Scene Three


1510 To grant this meeting. MARY. Oh, I knew it! SHREWSBURY. What's that? PAULET. The Queen is coming!

*(All move to the side. Only Mary remains, leaning on Kennedy.)*

#### Scene Four

*As above. Elizabeth. Earl Leicester. Retinue.*

ELIZABETH (*to Leicester*). How is the country seat called? LEICESTER. Fotheringhay, Madam.

ELIZABETH (*to Shrewsbury*). Send our hunting party

Ahead to London. Crowds there throng the streets.

Let us take refuge in this quiet park.

*(Talbot dismisses the Retinue. Elizabeth fixes Mary, as she addresses Paulet.)*

My people love me too much. They show their joy In excess, as if it were meant for an idol.

Such worship is right for a god, not a woman.

*(Mary, who has been leaning on Hanna, now stands straight. She meets Elizabeth's steady gaze, shudders, and throws herself again into the arms of her Nurse.)*

MARY. Dear God! No heart can be found in that face! ELIZABETH. Who is the lady?

*(General silence)*

LEICESTER. You're at Fotheringhay, Queen.

ELIZABETH (*showing surprise, then glowering at Leicester*).

1520 Who has done this to me? Lord Leicester!

LEICESTER. It

Has happened, Queen. Now Heaven has directed You here, let pity and large mind prevail.

SHREWSBURY. Be so good, royal Mistress, as to turn

Your eye upon misfortune here before you.

#### *62 Maria Stuart*



ELIZABETH. Who hinders me? At Saint Bartholomew



*(Elizabeth goes off quickly. The Lords follow in dismay.)*

### Scene Five

*Mary. Kennedy.*

KENNEDY. What have you done? She goes away enraged. MARY (*still beside herself*). 1650 She goes enraged! She carries death in her heart! (*Falling into Kennedy's arms*) What a relief! At last! At last! Whole years Of suffering, of abasement! Now at last A moment of revenge, a moment of triumph! It falls from my heart like an avalanche! KENNEDY. Oh, no! You wounded her. She'll not forgive you. She carries thunderbolts, she is the queen. You mocked her before her own chosen favorite! MARY. Before him! He saw it. He witnessed my triumph! His presence and his nearness gave me strength!

#### Scene Six

*As above. Mortimer.*




KENNEDY (*rushing in*). Someone is coming. They are getting closer. Armed men are filling the garden. MORTIMER (*reaching for his sword*). I shall defend you! MARY. Oh, Hanna, save me from him! Where to turn? Out here is mayhem and in there is murder.

*(She flees toward the house. Kennedy follows.)*

#### Scene Seven

*Mortimer. Paulet and Drury rush in. Attendants run onto the stage.*

1730 PAULET. Close all the gates! Draw up the bridges, all! MORTIMER. Uncle, what is it? PAULET. Where is she, that murderess? Into the darkest dungeon with her! MORTIMER. What has happened? PAULET. The Queen! MORTIMER. What Queen? PAULET. Of England! Murdered in London's streets! (*He rushes into the house.*)

### Scene Eight

*Mortimer. Then O'Kelly.*

MORTIMER. Did someone say the Queen's been murdered? Or Was it but a dream? I must have been dreaming. Who's coming? It's O'Kelly. Beside himself. O'KELLY (*rushing in*). Flee, Mortimer! Flee! All is lost! MORTIMER. What is lost? O'KELLY. Don't ask. Just run! MORTIMER. What is it? O'KELLY. Savage,61 the madman, Launched the attempt. MORTIMER. It's true?


*(They go off to different sides.)63*

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, ca. 1564, oil on panel. Anglo-Netherlandish School. Waddesdon Manor. Wikimedia, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Robert\_Dudley\_Leicester.jpg

### Act Four

*Antechamber*

### Scene One

*Count Aubespine. Kent and Leicester.*

AUBESPINE. How is Her Majesty? My Lords, you see me Beside myself. How could this be, among her Most loyal people? LEICESTER. No one among the people Did this thing. But a subject of your king, A Frank. AUBESPINE. A madman surely.

KENT. A papist, Count Aubespine.

#### Scene Two

*As above. Burghley enters, speaking to Davison.*

BURGHLEY. The writ of execution must be drawn up 1760 And sealed. Be quick! Present it to the Queen to Be signed. Now go. DAVISON. It shall be done. (*He goes off.*) AUBESPINE (*acknowledging Burghley*). My Lord, My loyal heart shares in the rightful joy of This Island. Heaven be praised, which turned the murderous


The Count in safety to the coast. The angry Mob stormed his hotel; a great arsenal of weapons Was found; they threaten to tear him limb from limb. 1790 Conceal him well. I charge you with his life! AUBESPINE. I leave a land where common rights are trampled And treaties merely toyed with. My Monarch will seek A bloody reckoning— BURGHLEY. Let him come and fetch it!

*(Kent and Aubespine go off.)*

#### Scene Three

*Leicester and Burghley*



#### Scene Four

*Leicester alone, then Mortimer*



I fall, become a bridge that he will walk over. Save yourself! I'll not take you down in *my* fall. Even in death I do not like your league. Life is the only good thing bad men have. (*To the Officer who steps forward to seize him*) Don't touch me, you slave. I am free. (*He draws a dagger.*) OFFICER. He's armed! Disarm him!

*(They press around him, he fends them off.)*

MORTIMER. Free, too, heart and soul, in death. A curse on those who deny God and their Queen, Turn from the earthly as from the heavenly Mary! OFFICER. Treason and blasphemy! Lay hand on him! 1870 MORTIMER. Mary, my love, I could not bring you release. Mary, sweet Mother, fold me into your peace. (*He stabs himself and falls into the arms of the Guard.*)

*Room of the Queen*

#### Scene Five

*Elizabeth, a letter in her hand. Burghley.* ELIZABETH. To take me there! Show me in triumph to His mistress! Never such a betrayal, Burghley! BURGHLEY. I cannot grasp how he—by what arts—could Surprise the good sense of my Queen so badly. ELIZABETH. I'm dying of shame! How he must laugh at me! I thought I would humiliate *her*, and myself Became an object of scorn. BURGHLEY. Now you see how Faithfully *I* advised you! ELIZABETH. I am punished. 1880 But should I not have believed him? Who suspects A trap among great oaths of love? Dear God!


#### Scene Six




And stabbed himself before we could stop him— LEICESTER. That will do. You may go.

*(The Officer goes off.)*


#### Scene Seven

*Earl Kent to join the others*

ELIZABETH. What is it Lord, Kent? What's the noise? KENT. The people Queen. They surround the palace, demand to see you. ELIZABETH. What does my folk want? KENT. Rumor goes through London That your life is threatened and assassins Are sent by Rome, that Catholics are in league to Free Lady Stuart by force, proclaim her queen. The mob believes it. They are demanding her head. They Refuse to go home until judgment is signed. ELIZABETH. What? Shall I be forced to?

#### Scene Eight

*Burghley and Davison with a writing. As above.*

ELIZABETH. What's this, Davison?

DAVISON (*approaching, grave*).

ELIZABETH (*reaches for the sheet, then shrinks back*).

Oh, God!

BURGHLEY. Heed the voice of

The people, it is the voice of God.

ELIZABETH (*struggling with herself*). Oh, but

My Lords, who says if I indeed hear the voice

Of all my people, of the world? Oh, how

I fear, if I obey the voice of the mob,

Another voice will make itself heard, those who

Drive me to act now will blame me when it's done.

2010 Your orders, my Queen.

#### Scene Nine



My Lords! (*To Davison*) You, sir, I'd have remain close by.

*(The Lords go off. Shrewsbury lingers before the Queen, then follows slowly, expressing great pain.)*

#### Scene Ten

*Elizabeth alone*


(*She goes to the table and seizes a pen.*) Only as long as *you* live am I so, If I destroy you, I destroy all doubt. And when the Briton can no longer choose, Then I was born and bred in lawful bed! (*She signs firmly and rapidly, drops the pen, and steps back, horrified. After a pause, she rings.*)

#### Scene Eleven

#### *Elizabeth. Davison.*

ELIZABETH. Where are their lordships? DAVISON. They have gone to calm The mob. It fell still when it saw Earl Shrewsbury. He used soft words, reproached their violence, And calmed them till they crept away from the square. 2120 ELIZABETH. The fickle crowd! Do not lean on this reed!

You may go. Very good.

*(As Davison turns toward the door)*

Here, this. Take it back. DAVISON (*casting a glance at the writing she has given him*). My Queen! Your name here! You have decided? ELIZABETH. I was to sign. I have signed. A sheet of paper Does not decide yet. A mere name does not kill. DAVISON. *Your* name, Queen, on *this* writing decides *all*, Kills, is a thunderbolt. This sheet commands The sheriff and commissioners to Fotheringhay to The Queen of Scotland to announce her death and To execute the warrant before day. 2130 No respite. She *has* lived when I release this. ELIZABETH. God lays a heavy fate in your weak hands. Beseech Him that He shine the light of his Wisdom on you. I'll leave you to your duty. DAVISON (*blocks her path*).

Tell me your wishes first, my Queen. Is


ELIZABETH. You do your duty! (*She goes off.*)

### Scene Twelve


William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, late 1580s. Attributed to the Workshop of Marcus Gheeraerts, the Younger. Wikimedia, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:William\_Cecil\_Lord\_Burghley\_Gheeraerts\_Workshop.jpg

### Act Five

*The scene is that of Act One. 66*

### Scene One

*Hanna Kennedy, dressed in deep mourning, her eyes red with weeping, is tying up packets and sealing letters. Her work is often broken by grief and pauses for prayer. Paulet and Drury, also in black, enter, followed by servants carrying gold and silver vessels, mirrors, paintings, and other treasures, which then fill the background. Paulet delivers a jewelry case to Hanna and a list of its contents, as he indicates by gestures. The sight renews the Nurse's pain. The others withdraw. Melvil enters.*


Not weaken one another. I shall weep As long as I live, no smile brighten these cheeks, Nor shall I lay aside black mourning. Always Shall I mourn. But today I would stand firm. Promise me you will master your grief and, When others give way to despair, let *us* go Before her, her staff on the way to her death! KENNEDY. Melvil, you are mistaken if you believe The Queen needs our support to go to her death. She 2200 Sets an example for us. Never fear! For Mary Stuart dies a heroine and a queen. MELVIL. And how did she receive the news of her death? I heard it said she had not been prepared. KENNEDY. She had not. Wholly different fears disturbed her, Not death but rescue. Mortimer had promised To free her last night, and between hope and fear— Whether she trust him with her honor and person— The Queen awaited him and looked for the morning. A sudden thud of footsteps, hammering and knocking. 2210 We think we hear our rescuers come at last. Hope beckons, will to live assails us— The door Opens, Sir Paulet comes to say carpenters Are setting up a scaffold down below us. (*She turns away, overcome by grief.*) MELVIL. Dear God in heaven! How did Mary respond? KENNEDY (*after a pause in which she steadies herself*). One does not lay life aside slowly. *All* At once, swift, in an instant must come the change From Time to the Eternal. And God granted My Lady in this moment strength to cast off All earthly hope with a firm spirit and 2220 Attach herself to Heaven full of faith. No sign of fear, no complaint tarnished her honor. Only on learning of Lord Leicester's bad faith, Of the fate of that boy who gave his life For her, on seeing the old knight's distress, Whose last hope had died for her cause and for her,

Did she shed tears. She passed the rest of the night In prayer, wrote to her dearest friends, and made Her will with her own hand. She's resting now, her Last sleep. MELVIL. Who's with her? KENNEDY. Her physician, her women.

#### Scene Two

*As above. Margaret Curle enters.*


#### Scene Three

*As above. Burgoyne enters, then Hanna Kennedy.*

BURGOYNE (seeing Melvil). Ah, Melvil! MELVIL (*embracing him*). Burgoyne! BURGOYNE (*to Margaret Curle*). Bring us a glass of wine for Our Lady. Quickly!

*(Curle goes off.)*

MELVIL. Is the Queen not well? BURGOYNE. She believes herself strong and she will not eat, but Hard struggle awaits her. Let no one say Fear blanched her cheek, when it was Nature's weakness. MELVIL (*to the Nurse, who enters*). Will she see me? KENNEDY. She'll be here right away. — You look about, see these magnificent things? In life we suffered need, in death we have plenty.

#### Scene Four

*As above. Two other waiting women enter, dressed in mourning. Seeing Melvil, they burst into tears.*

MELVIL. What a reunion! Gertrude! Rosamond!

2250 SECOND ATTENDANT. She sent us out, to speak with God alone.

*(Two more waiting women enter, in mourning and expressing deep grief.)*

#### Scene Five

*Margaret Curle returns. She carries a golden cup of wine, sets it on the table, and supports herself on a chair.*

MELVIL. What is it, Mistress? CURLE. Oh, God! BURGOYNE. What is wrong? CURLE. Oh, what I saw! MELVIL. Be calm. Tell us what it is. CURLE. As I came up the grand stair with this wine cup, The door sprang open in the hall. Oh, God! MELVIL. You saw what? CURLE. Walls draped in black. Before them A scaffold hung in black rose from the floor. A block, a cushion, both black, a gleaming axe, The room of men with greedy, blood-thirsty looks. THE WOMEN. God bless our Lady! MELVIL. Steady now! She is coming.

#### Scene Six

*As above. Mary. She is dressed in festive white, an Agnus Dei67 hangs on a chain at her neck, a rosary at her belt. She carries a Crucifix and, in her hair, a diadem. Her long black veil is thrown back. At her entrance all present step back to both sides, with expressions of pain. Melvil instinctively sinks to his knees.*

MARY (*looking about, poised and calm*).

2260 Why do you weep? Why grieve? Be joyful with me. The end of all my sorrow is here at last, My fetters fall, my prison doors swing open, And my soul mounts toward freedom on angels' wings. When I was in the power of my proud rival, Suffering disgrace, what a great queen is spared— That was the proper time to weep for me. Beneficent and healing, Death now approaches, That grave friend. With his dusky wings he will cover


(*To the Attendants*) To you, my Alix, Gertrude, Rosamond, My pearls and my clothes. Young, you love fine things. You, Margaret, have next claim upon my bounty. I leave you behind unhappiest of all. My will shows I do not impose your husband's Guilt on you. You, my Hanna, find no charm In gold or stones. Your treasure is my memory. This cloth is yours. I've worked it for you with my 2310 Own hands in hours of sorrow, woven my tears Into it. Bind my eyes with this when it's time. I would receive this at the last from my Hanna. KENNEDY. Oh, Melvil, I can't bear it! MARY. Come, one and all! Come and receive my last farewell.

> *(She extends her hands. One after another they kneel and kiss the offered hand, weeping.)*

Farewell!

Margaret, farewell. Alix, goodbye. My thanks, Burgoyne, for faithful service all these years. Gertrude, your lips burn. Much loved and much hated I was. Your glowing heart, Gertrude, demands love. A worthy husband seal your happiness. 2320 Berta, chaste bride of Heaven, take your vows soon! The goods of this world deceive. Learn from your Queen. No more! Farewell! Farewell! Forever farewell!

*(She turns away. All except Melvil go off.)*

#### Scene Seven

*Mary. Melvil.*





### Scene Eight

*As above. Burghley. Leicester and Paulet.*

*Leicester remains at a distance and does not look up. Burghley, noticing his state, places himself between Leicester and the Queen.*


### Scene Nine

*As above. Hanna Kennedy and the Queen's other women enter, showing horror; the Sheriff follows, carrying a white staff; behind them, through the open door, one sees armed Guards.*


You keep your word, Lord Leicester, you who promised Your arm on which to lead me from my prison.

(*He stands as if destroyed. She continues softly*) Not only freedom would I credit your hand. You were to make my freedom *precious* to me. 2490 And now on the way out of this world, tempted No more by earthly longing, I admit, With no shame, weakness I have overcome. Farewell. Live happy, too, if you are able! Your fortune was to sue for two queens; one, A loving heart, you spurned, to win a proud one. Kneel at the feet of your Elizabeth! May your reward not become your punishment. Farewell! Now I have nothing more in this world!

> *(She goes off, led by the Sheriff, Melvil and her Nurse at her side. Burghley and Paulet follow; the others, grieving, follow her with their eyes until she is out of sight. They then go off through two other doors.)*

#### Scene Ten

*Leicester alone*


No use. Hellish dread holds me. I cannot look. Listen! What was that? They are down there already, Beneath my feet. Yes. I hear voices. Away from This house of death! (*He wants to go out by another door and finds it locked.*) What binds me to this floor? Must I hear what I cannot bear to see? The deacon's voice, he cautions her, she breaks in, She prays in a loud voice, a steady, loud voice. 2520 Stillness and silence. Only sobbing—the women. She's being disrobed. The stool is placed. She kneels.

> *(He speaks these last words with mounting anxiety, then stops. One sees him start and shudder, then sink to the floor. A murmur of voices rises from below and lasts long.)*

> > *Elizabeth's room in Act Four*

#### Scene Eleven

*Elizabeth enters from the side, visibly uneasy.*

No one here. Still no word. Will evening not come?77 A torment, waiting this way. Has it happened? Has it not? Both fill me with dread. I daren't ask. No sign of Leicester, none of Burghley either. If they've left London, then the arrow's in flight. Cost it my realm, I've cannot stop it. — Who's there?

#### Scene Twelve

*Elizabeth. A Page.*

ELIZABETH. You come back all alone? Where are their lordships? PAGE. My Lord Earl Leicester and the Lord High Treasurer— 2530 ELIZABETH (*in suspense*). Where are they? PAGE. They are *not* in London.

ELIZABETH. Not?

Where *are* they then?

PAGE. That no one knew to tell me. It's said that they left London before dawn, In a great hurry and quite secretly.

ELIZABETH (*exclaiming).* I am Queen of England! (*Pacing up and down*) Go and call— No. Stay here. — She is dead! At last I have space On earth. Why do I tremble? Why so anxious? The grave hides it. Who dares say I did it? (*To the Page*) Are you still here? My scribe shall come this instant. Send for Earl Shrewsbury. — Here he is himself!

*(The Page goes off.)*

#### Scene Thirteen

*Elizabeth. Earl Shrewsbury.*

2540 ELIZABETH. Welcome, my Lord. What brings you here so late? SHREWSBURY. Great Queen, my worried heart, concerned for your fame, Compelled me to the Tower today, where Mary's scribes Curle and Nau are held.78 The Guard Refused me entry. Only threats brought me in. God! What a sight! Curle lay, his hair wild, his eyes Crazed. Hardly has he seen me, he grasps my knees, Demands to know his Queen's fate. Rumor had reached him. When I confirmed his witness had condemned her, He fell on Nau, to throttle him, then turned his 2550 Rage on himself, beat his breast, cursed them both. His Witness was false, he said. The letters he'd sworn Were true—they were false. He'd written words he Never heard spoken. Nau had led him to it. He rushed to the sill, cried into the street, So that a great crowd gathered: He was the Queen's Scribe, had accused her falsely, was a villain. ELIZABETH. You said he'd lost his mind. All this proves nothing.

SHREWSBURY. It proves the more. Oh, Queen, use caution. Order A new inquiry into everything.

2560 ELIZABETH. I shall. Because you wish it, not because I doubt the peers who tried her. To assure you We renew inquiry. Good that there's still time.

#### Scene Fourteen

*Davison to join the others*

ELIZABETH. The warrant, sir, that I put into your hand— Where is it? DAVISON (*utterly astonished*). Warrant? ELIZABETH. That I gave you to Keep yesterday— DAVISON. Gave me to keep? ELIZABETH. The people Clamored for me to sign. I did its will. I did so under duress and placed the sheet In your hand—to gain time. You know what I said. SHREWSBURY. Return it, sir. The matter has changed. Inquiry 2570 Must be reopened. DAVISON. Reopened? Merciful God! ELIZABETH. Don't take so long. Where is the sheet? DAVISON (*despairing*). I am lost! As good as dead! ELIZABETH (*breaking in*). Let me not think, sir— DAVISON. I'm lost! I do not have it anymore. ELIZABETH. What's this? SHREWSBURY. God! DAVISON. Burghley has it. Since yesterday. ELIZABETH. You wretch! Is that how you obey me? Did I not Command you strictly to keep it? DAVISON. You did not,

My Queen. ELIZABETH. You call me a liar, do you, you rogue? When did I tell you to give Burghley the sheet? DAVISON. Not in clear words, but— ELIZABETH. Good-for-Nothing! You dare 2580 *Interpret* my words? Woe betide you if this Ends in disaster. You shall pay with your life. Earl Shrewsbury, you see how my name is misused! SHREWSBURY. I see—oh, God! ELIZABETH. What is it you're saying? SHREWSBURY. If The squire has acted without your knowledge, he must Be called before a court of peers. He has Exposed your name to the contempt of all time.

#### Last Scene

*As above. Burghley. Then Kent.*

BURGHLEY (*drops to one knee before the Queen*). Long live my royal Mistress, Queen of England! May all foes of this Isle end like this Stuart!

*(Shrewsbury covers his face. Davison wrings his hands.)*

ELIZABETH. Tell me, my Lord. Did you have warrant from me? 2590 BURGHLEY. No, Mistress. I had it from Davison here. ELIZABETH. Davison gave it to you in my name? BURGHLEY. No! He did not— ELIZABETH. You executed it Not knowing my will? It was just, the world Cannot blame us. But you had no right to Encroach upon my royal kindness. You are Banned from our presence. (*To Davison*) Worse awaits you, who Exceeded your brief and betrayed a trust. To the Tower! He'll be tried for his life. My noble Talbot, you alone I find just


*The curtain falls.*

### Short Life of Mary Stuart

### *Flora Kimmich*

Mary Stuart was born on 8 December 1542 to King James V of Scotland, nephew of Henry Tudor by his mother, and his French wife Mary, of the powerful House of Guise. Six days later James died and the newborn princess became Queen of Scotland. Thereupon began the jousting about her fgure that was to accompany her all her life and lead to her death.

She was removed from this unrest to the House of Guise in France, where she was brought up as a royal princess from age fve, betrothed to the Dauphin, and at age sixteen married to him. A year later the Dauphin became King Francis II, and in December 1560 he died. He was succeeded by ten-year-old Charles IX; their mother, Catherine de' Medici, acted as regent. Mary returned to Scotland.

Five years later Mary was married to her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, descended, like Mary, from Henry Tudor's sister, and new unrest broke out among the factions in Scotland. Darnley proved a difcult husband; he demanded the crown matrimonial, which Mary refused; the marriage, which had produced a son, James, was known to be strained. In February 1567 an explosion destroyed a house where Darnley was staying, and Darnley was found dead in the garden. The corpse bore no marks. Suspicion fell on many, most frmly on James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who was tried and swiftly acquitted, whereupon he undertook to marry Mary. In April 1567 Mary, returning from a visit to her son, was abducted by Bothwell and, some said, raped. In May they were married.

The marriage created a scandal and gave rise to new unrest. Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her son; Bothwell was driven into exile. Thereafter Mary was shifted from one place of confnement to another, frst in Scotland, then in England, where she had sought refuge. When the play opens she has been moved from Earl Shrewsbury's liberal custody to stricter detention under Sir Amias Paulet.

# Endnotes

#### Act One


#### Act Two


#### Act Three


#### Act Four


#### Act Five


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# **Maria Stuart**

Friedrich Schiller

### Translated by Flora Kimmich Introduction by Roger Paulin

*Maria Stuart*, described as Schiller's most perfect play, is a fi nely balanced, inven� ve account of the last day of the cap� ve Queen of Scotland, caught up in a great contest for the throne of England a� er the death of Henry VIII and over the ques� on of England's religious confession. Hope for and doubt about Mary's deliverance grow in the fi rst two acts, given to the Sco� sh and the English queen respec� vely, reach crisis at the center of the play, where the two queens meet in a famous scene in a castle park, and die away in acts four and fi ve, as the ac� on advances to its inevitable end. The play is at once classical tragedy of great fi neness, costume drama of the highest order—a spectacle on the stage—and one of the great moments in the long tradi� on of classical rhetoric, as Elizabeth's ministers argue for and against execu� on of a royal prisoner.

Open BookClassics

**Maria Stuart**

FRIEDRICH SCHILLER

TRANSLATED BY FLORA KIMMICH

**OBP** INTRODUCTION BY ROGER PAULIN

Flora Kimmich's new transla� on carefully preserves the spirit of the original: the pathos and passion of Mary in cap� vity, the high seriousness of Elizabeth's ministers in council, and the robust comedy of that queen's un� dy private life. Notes to the text iden� fy the many historical fi gures who appear in the text, describe the poli� cal se� ng of the ac� on, and draw a� en� on to the structure of the play.

Friedrich Schiller Maria Stuart

Roger Paulin's introduc� on discusses the many threads of the confl ict in Maria Stuart and enriches our understanding of this much-loved, much-produced play.

*Maria Stuart* is the last of a series of fi ve new transla� ons of Schiller's major plays, accompanied by notes to the text and an authorita� ve introduc� on, and made freely available to read and download for free on the publisher's website. Printed and digital edi� ons, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.com

Cover image: *Mary, Queen of Scots* a� er Nicholas Hilliard (1578), oil on panel, public domain. Wikimedia, h� ps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary,\_Queen\_of\_Scots\_a� er\_Nicholas\_Hilliard.jpg. Cover design: Anna Ga� .