By none but me can the tale be told, (Lands are swayed by a King on a throne.) KING STEPHEN JOHN KEATS MATILDA'S rival was Stephen of Blois, the son of the Conqueror's daughter Adela. Distrusting a woman's ability to govern so turbulent a kingdom, the citizens of London declared for Stephen and he was crowned at Westminster (1135). But Stephen, though a man of great personal daring, possessed little stability or force of character. He allowed the barons to oppress the people and failed to enforce the laws. When Matilda brought an army from France to claim her rights, she was gladly received by all law-abiding citizens. In the battle of Lincoln (1140), Stephen was taken prisoner and Matilda was immediately elected queen; but Stephen's partisans succeeded in setting him free and in driving Matilda from the realm. Stephen, however, could not restore order, and the land was devastated by civil war, till Matilda's son, Henry Plantagenet, came in person to England and forced Stephen to recognize him as successor to the throne. ACT I SCENE I. Field of Battle. (Alarum. Enter King Stephen, Knights, and Soldiers.) Stephen. If shame can on a soldier's vein-swoll'n front Spread deeper crimson than the battle's toil, Could reach your dastard ears, and fright you more! Fly, cowards, fly! Glocester is at your backs! Throw your slack bridles o'er the flurried manes, Ply well the rowell with faint trembling heels, Scampering to death at last! Ist Knight. The enemy Bears his flaunt standard close upon their rear. 2d Knight. Sure of a bloody prey, seeing the fens Will swamp them girth-deep. Stephen. Over head and ears, No matter! 'Tis a gallant enemy; How like a comet he goes streaming on. But we must plague him in the flank, - hey, friends? We are well breathed, follow! SCENE II. Another part of the Field. (Trumpets sounding a Victory. Enter Glocester, Knights, and Forces.) Glocester. Now may we lift our bruisèd visors up, And take the flattering freshness of the air, While the wide din of battle dies away Into times past, yet to be echoed sure In the silent pages of our chroniclers. Ist Knight. Will Stephen's death be mark'd there, my good lord, Or that we gave him lodging in yon towers? Glocester. Fain would I know the great usurper's (Enter two Captains severally.) fate. Ist Captain. My lord! 2d Captain. Ist Captain. The King — 2d Captain. Most noble Earl! The Empress greets He sole and lone maintains Glocester. What of the King? A hopeless bustle 'mid our swarming arms, He must by this have fallen. Baldwin is taken; He flies, for the Welsh beagles to hunt down. Glocester. Now our dreaded Queen: What message from her highness? 2d Captain. Royal Maud From the throng'd towers of Lincoln hath look'd down, Like Pallas from the walls of Ilion, And seen her enemies havock'd at her feet. She greets most noble Glocester from her heart, BECKET LORD TENNYSON HENRY II. was not only a valiant soldier but an able king. The long struggle for the crown had reduced England to a state of anarchy. Henry came to the throne pledged to restore order. He met a serious obstacle in the claim of the church that a priest might not be punished for crime by the civil authorities. Thomas Becket, chancellor of the realm and Henry's closest friend, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in the expectation that he would aid in bringing the clergy under the royal jurisdiction. Becket, however, stood by "the honor of his order," and refused to give his official sanction to the document defining the power of the king's courts respecting the clergy. The controversy ripened into open quarrel. Becket fled to the Continent, but was lured back to England by the hope of reconciliation. On December 29, 1170, he was foully murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights, who were impelled to the deed by some angry words of the king. Henry was forced to do penance for his part in the crime, and Becket was canonized as a saint and martyr. Yet the king was right in his belief that there could be no true justice in England till all men were equal before the law. ACT I SCENE I. Becket's House in London. Chamber barely furnished. Becket unrobing. Herbert of Bosham and Servant. Becket. Am I the man? That rang Within my head last night, and when I slept Of players, and a courtier, and a feeder Of dogs and hawks, and apes, and lions, and lynxes. Ist Knight. Will Stephen's death be mark'd there, my good lord, Or that we gave him lodging in yon towers? Glocester. Fain would I know the great usurper's (Enter two Captains severally.) fate. Ist Captain. My lord! 2d Captain. Ist Captain. The King 2d Captain. Most noble Earl! The Empress greets He sole and lone maintains Glocester. What of the King? A hopeless bustle 'mid our swarming arms, He must by this have fallen. Baldwin is taken ; He flies, for the Welsh beagles to hunt down. Glocester. Now our dreaded Queen: Royal Maud What message from her highness? 2d Captain. From the throng'd towers of Lincoln hath look'd down, Like Pallas from the walls of Ilion, And seen her enemies havock'd at her feet. She greets most noble Glocester from her heart, |