such a manner that each utters a different sound, and it becomes a kind of
chant. The old man listens, and at length joins in.)

All. Safety and peace! Order and freedom!


Scene II.---Palace of the Regent

Margaret of Parma (in a hunting dress).
Courtiers, Pages, Servants

Regent. Put off the hunt, I shall not ride to-day. Bid Machiavel attend me.

[Exeunt all but the Regent.

The thought of these terrible events leaves me no repose! Nothing can
amuse, nothing divert my mind. These images, these cares are always
before me. The king will now say that these are the natural fruits of my
kindness, of my clemency; yet my conscience assures me that I have
adopted the wisest, the most prudent course. Ought I sooner to have
kindled, and spread abroad these flames with the breath of wrath? My
hope was to keep them in, to let them smoulder in their own ashes. Yes,
my inward conviction, and my knowledge of the circumstances, justify my
conduct in my own eyes; but in what light will it appear to my brother!
For, can it be denied that the insolence of these foreign teachers waxes
daily more audacious? They have desecrated our sanctuaries, unsettled the
dull minds of the people, and conjured up amongst them a spirit of
delusion. Impure spirits have mingled among the insurgents, horrible
deeds have been perpetrated, which to think of makes one shudder, and of
these a circumstantial account must be transmitted instantly to court.