Page:CromwellHugo.djvu/216

Rochester [aside.]My verses bad! thou liest! Save the mark!
Cromwell, this regicide, a judge of verse!
Cromwell.This quatrain's savourless.
Rochester. This quatrain's savourless. Forever damned
The authors of such writings are, my lord.
But in themselves the verses seem well turned.
Trick [to the other Jesters, in an undertone.
'Tis sure, he is the author!
[Aloud.] …he is the author! I, who built
Those rhymes, agree that in Apollo's eyes
They'd loom as crimes, so pitiful they are!
Rochester [looking askance at the Jesters, aside.
Ay, jeer and mock, ye vulture's parroquets,
Ye leopard's monkeys!
Cromwell. Ye leopard's monkeys! Learned Obededom,
'Tis not within your province to appraise
These amorously soporific lines.
Rochester [putting the paper in his pocket, aside.
Frances will surely find them to her taste.
Trick [saluting Rochester ironically.
My lord is far too kind to me!
Rochester. My lord is far too kind to me! To thee!
How so? 'Twould give me pleasure thee to drive
Through London, riding backward on an ass,
And scourge thee lustily while God doth damn thee!
Trick.The quatrain's author you would punish so?
Rochester [confused.] Nay, I—
Trick. Nay, I Am I the man to hide his name?
Rochester [with increasing perturbation.
'Tis well!
Trick. 'Tis well! 'Tis not my purpose to entreat
His pardon. He deserves the lash!
Rochester [aside.] …on. He deserves the lash! The knave!