See how the tears run down his
fatherly
face.
Tennyson
CRANMER. And I: lead on; ye loose me from my bonds.
[_Exeunt_.
SCENE III. --ST. MARY'S CHURCH.
COLE _in the Pulpit_, LORD WILLIAMS OF THAME _presiding_. LORD WILLIAM
HOWARD, LORD PAGET, _and others_. CRANMER _enters between_ SOTO _and_
VILLA GARCIA, _and the whole Choir strike up_ 'Nunc Dimittis. ' CRANMER
_is set upon a Scaffold before the people_.
COLE. Behold him--
[_A pause: people in the foreground_.
PEOPLE. Oh, unhappy sight!
FIRST PROTESTANT.
See how the tears run down his fatherly face.
SECOND PROTESTANT. James, didst thou ever see a carrion crow Stand
watching a sick beast before he dies?
FIRST PROTESTANT. Him perch'd up there? I wish some thunderbolt Would
make this Cole a cinder, pulpit and all.
COLE. Behold him, brethren: he hath cause to weep! --
So have we all: weep with him if ye will,
Yet--
It is expedient for one man to die,
Yea, for the people, lest the people die.
Yet wherefore should he die that hath return'd
To the one Catholic Universal Church,
Repentant of his errors?
PROTESTANT _murmurs_. Ay, tell us that.
COLE. Those of the wrong side will despise the man,
Deeming him one that thro' the fear of death
Gave up his cause, except he seal his faith
In sight of all with flaming martyrdom.
CRANMER. Ay.
