SCENE I.--(_Rise outer Curtain._) _An Inn-yard in Milan. Two_ Burghers

_discovered seated at a table, drinking_.

_1st B._ Well, well, these be the strange days indeed, indeed!

_2nd B._ (_Rather drunk._) How now, neighbor Burnard, how now?

_1st B._ Heardst thou not the news, good Neighbor? But with thy nose always i’ the wine-pot, thou canst not know anything aside its rim.

_2nd B._ Wine-pot, wine-pot, thou sayst ha! ha! nose i’ the wine-pot thou sayest, ’tis better than sticking it into every business save thine own, hey! neighbor Burnard! But what be this news that would keep the nose out o’ the wine-pot?

_1st B._ There be a new Pope at Rome, the Monk, Hildebrand. How like you that?

_2nd B._ God, keep us all! Now thou dost say it! It seemeth they be making new Popes every Michaelmas. This were no reason for to keep the nose outside the wine-pot. Here’s to his health, God save him!

’Twere a merry grape was squeezed for this, good Neighbor. Here’s long life to thee an’ the Holy Pope, and especially to the royal Henry. Soon may he come to Italy.

_1st B._ It be said, Henry cannot sleep o’ nights i’ his bed, for the making of this same Pope, Hildebrand, or Hellbrand, as some folks call him. But hast thou heard the greater news?

_2nd B._ Nay, what now? Nothing be new now. Nothing be new, along o’ fighting and preaching and lechering and damning in the Church and State. Nothing be new save drinking, and that be ever new. Ha! ha! What else be new?

_1st B._ ’Tis concerning this same scarce-baked Pope, this Hellbrand. ’Tis said he hath sworn by the mass and all the saints never to rest until he hath unwived all the priests i’ Europe. How like you that, good neighbor Burnard?

_2nd B._ Ho! ho! ’Tis a good joke. Unwive the priests! ’Tis a good joke. ’Twere well for me and thee did he swear a vow to unwive all the burghers i’ Milan. ’Twould gie one I know more peace i’ his bed o’ nights. ’Tis the priests ever have all the good fortune i’ Europe. Ah me, ah me! ’Tis ever so.

_1st B._ Yea, but there’s more news yet, good Neighbor, this same Hellbrand, which be a good name for him if he be Pope, hath sent out two wondrous preachers, endowed with uncommon powers of tongue and orders, to spread this same doctrine in all Italy and throughout Europe; an’ it be said they took fearsome oaths, on pain of eternal damnation, not to rest till they had done so; an’ further, ’tis said, they be here to-night to preach i’ the market.

_2nd B._ I’ Milan?

_1st B._ (_Rising._) Yea i’ Milan, here, i’ the square.

_2nd B._ Well now! It do be passing strange, well now! It be a damn law, and he be a damn liar, who saith not. A most unnatural law, for our good pastor. Were it my case now, it were fitting, (_1st goes out_) who taketh a lecture every midnight near upon cock-crow, such as no Pope’s Bull could outwit in language an’ rhetoric. Say good Neighbor, what thinkest thou? Might I not be made a priest? What be qualifications? (Ha! he hath gone!) I could drink with an abbot, yea, an archbishop, yea, I’ll see this same Hellbrand about the matter: it shall be done, be done, ha! ha! it shall be done. (_Reels out._)

(_Rise inner Curtain, the market place._) _Enter several jolly_ Monks.

_1st._ (_Sings_) Ours be a jolly life, No care nor ill have we, We neither toil nor starve nor beg, But live right merrily.

_All._ No wife to scold, no child to squall, An’ put us on the rack; We drink good wine, we kiss the maids, An’ the Pope is at our back.

_2nd._ So here’s unto the jolly monk, (_all grasp hands_), And here’s to him, alack, (_all clench fists_) Who’d turn him from his board and bunk, For the Pope is at his back.

_All._ The Pope is at our back, good Freres, The Pope is at our back; We fleece the churls, we scorn the King, For the Pope is at our back. (_All pass on._)

_Enter a great crowd of_ Burghers, men _and_ women, _who fill the market. Enter_ ARNULPH _and_ ARIALD, _the decretal preachers_. ARNULPH _ascends a pulpit to harangue the crowd_.

_Arnulph._ Know ye Citizens and Burghers of Milan, that whereas in the past, by reason of evils and curses, through the power of the Devil, Holy Church hath fallen into abomination, to the shame of men and sorrow of Heaven, it hath here now and at this time, behooved her to cast off certain of those abominations, to wit, especially that most heinous sin, whereby the priests of the altar, do, without grace and carnally given, co-habit in concubinage with those weaker vessels, even as do the common and unsanctified of humanity; wherefore know ye Citizens and Burghers of this city of Milan, that the Holy Father doth now and at this time, by me and through me, instruct you each and collectively, of the dreadful enormity of this most damnable sin, whereby the holy priesthood is made of none effect, and Holy Church doth languish in weakness and vassalage to the princes and lords of this carnal world,--know ye,--

_A Burgher._ Most reverend Doctor, cut ye short the “know ye’s” an’ the “wherefores” and th’ “verbiations” an’ the “latinities” an’ come down from your high flown rostrum an’ tell us the church’s will. We be plain men.

_Other Burghers._ Well done, Big Gellert. Thou art in the right of it. Bravo! Gellert.

_Ariald._ Insolent Lump! would’st thou interrupt a doctor of Holy Church?

_Gellert._ Holy Church confound him and thee, too, thou sour-faced varlet! Who’s a talking of Holy Church? He is but a stray rooster from some mad convent, an’ thou his mate ranting on a mad doctrine. Holy Church teacheth no such damned doctrine. Be we fools?

_Burghers._ Well hit, Big Gellert, thou canst give him the latinities of it. Hit him back, old Pigeon!

_Arnulph._ Beware, thou impious Mountain of mortality, an’ ye foolish burghers lest ye insult in me a power that is behind me.

_A Clerk._ Come, come, get thee down, we want no such strange doctrines. We have had clergy, good men with wives and chicks i’ Milan, these centuries back, an’ we be no Sodom.

_Arnulph._ I know not your customs, but in the name of Holy Church, I Arnulph, hereby command ye on pain of deepest Hell hereafter, that ye abstain from all masses made or performed by any priest who continues in this unholy state, for I tell you be he priest, archdeacon, bishop or archbishop, he is accursed, and doubly accursed.

_Gellert._ Thine be a big curse indeed, an’ by ’r Lady, thou mouthest it well.

_Clerk._ Dost thou tell us our good pastor be in mortal sin because he liveth with a good wife as do other men?

_Arnulph._ Have I not said it?

_Gellert._ Then art thou a brazen liar, an’ comest thou down, I will give the non of it on thy brazen chops, thou leathern-lunged Varlet of Satan.

_Arnulph._ Dog of Hell, the arm that toucheth me Heaven will wither!

(_A great clamor arises._) _Enter_ GERBHERT, _the Parish Priest_.

_Gerbhert._ What meaneth this disturbance i’ my parish? I thought I ruled a peaceful, God-fearing people, an’ not a brawling rabble.

_Gellert._ Pray, good Father, ’tis yon loud-mouthed Dog of Satan, hath insulted you an’ all Milan by his mad heresy.

_Gerbhert._ Insulteth me, good Gellert? (_To Arnulph._) Who are you who without my license come disturbing my flock with thine unseemly harangues? Come down from yon pulpit! (_To the crowd._) Good People, in God’s name, go home.

_Arnulph._ Nay, I will not come down till I have delivered this my message to this foolish mob, an’ to thee, thou carnal-minded Priest. In the name of the Holy Church I exhort ye,--

_Gel._ He saith, Pastor Gerbhert, that thou canst no more make masses, being a wedded man.

_Gerb._ (_To_ ARNULPH.) Be this true?

_Arn._ It is true, by the Mother of God. An’ thou wilt feel it too ere thou art an hour older.

_Gerb._ Nay, Man, thou art mad, this cannot be!

_Ar._ ’Tis even so as we be Holy Church’s men.

_Gerb._ Ha! art thou not Ariald, once of Rome?

_Ar._ Yea, I am that same Ariald.

_Gerb._ Then tell me Ariald, by our one-time friendship, that this man be mad, an’ his message but a foolish doctrine.

_Ar._ Nay, Gerbhert, but ’tis thou art foolish, an’ this law but too true, thou must obey.

_Gerb._ Then will I fight this mad heresy, this inhuman code. That we must give up our wives an’ babes, our pure homes, an’ all that is holiest on earth! Nay, it cannot be! ’Tis devilish!

_Ar._ But thou must obey or be driven out.

_Gerb._ Ariald, thou knowest my Margaret, thou knowest her sweet nature, her holy conversation. She hath no devil, that her loving should make me unworthy.

_Gel._ ’Tis damnable, good Father. But give me the word an’ we will trounce them out o’ the market.

_Enter_ MARGARET, _the_ Priest’s Wife.

_Marg._ Gerbhert! Gerbhert! Good citizens have you seen the pastor? Mother Bernard, poor soul, needeth the last rites, she be dying.

_Gel._ Aye, thou wert ever an angel of mercy from heaven to the sick an’ poor.

_Marg._ What aileth thee, Gerbhert? What may be the matter?

_Gerb._ Come hither Margaret, this man telleth me So strange a thing, I know not if he be mad Who sayeth it, or I who hear his words. He sayeth I am no more a priest of God While I’m thy husband.

_Marg._ Not priest of God while thou art husband? Nay! But he is mad indeed, for thou art both, A good kind pastor, as these people know, And as I know, a good and loving husband.

_Gerb._ He saith ’tis some new law within the church. He saith in sooth, sweet Margaret, I must either Put thee away or leave the priesthood.

_Marg._ An’ what say you, my Gerbhert?

_Gerb._ That I will fight it to the bitter end, I will be both or there’s no God in Heaven. Ariald, thou knowest my good Margaret, The woman of my choice, my youth’s one love, I will not give her up. The Holy Father Shall know of this strange doctrine. He shall judge ’Twixt thee and me.

_Arn._ Know then thou carnal Priest that even now He hath decided; ’tis by his own will That we be here, here is his written word.

(_Holds up the_ POPE’S _Bull_.)

Yea, further, you shall choose you even now. Thou shalt not shrive yon dying woman, till Thou hast renounced this woman.

_Gerb._ My sweet Margaret, put your trust in me. (_To_ ARNULPH.) Thou cruel preacher, show me yon dread bull, Whose horns do even now rend me. Tell me now ’Tis but a lie and not great Hildebrand’s. I knew him once, he seemed a kindly man, And never one to part a wife and husband.

_Gel._ Let me see yon paper, let me see thou liest. Nay, ’tis the Pope’s name. This be a damned world! Good Father Gerbhert, tell us if this paper Be what he saith? (_Hands paper to_ GERBHERT, _who reads_.)

(MARGARET _goes near_ GERBHERT.)

_Gerb._ Margaret, come not so near, O Margaret come not so near,--I love thee Margaret--but--O my God!

_Marg._ Gerbhert, Gerbhert, thou wilt not desert me, Remember our sweet babe.

_Ar._ Margaret, touch not that man, he is God’s own. Leave him.

_Arn._ Even so. Wouldst thou curse him with thy touch?

_Marg._ Evil Man, good Friends, forgive my misery. But even now, as I did pass our home, I left his little one, and mine, asleep, His sweet face pillowed on his rosy arm, I bent and kissed him, he did look so like His father, and now good friends forgive me, it is but A passing madness, but it seemed these men Had built a wall of hideous black between Me and my husband.

_Gerb._ Margaret, back! as thou lovest me! Nay, touch me not, I am a banished man, Good Friends, brave Gellert, pardon my poor feelings. For I am now afflicted by dread heaven For some gone, unknown sin of my past youth. Perchance I murdered one in hideous sleep, Strangled some infant on its mother’s breast, Violated some pure sanctuary; That this dread blackness lieth on me now. O Margaret, thou art springtime vanished past, And this be autumn all dead leaves and rain, With all of mem’ry’s summer ’twixt us twain, To think and dream forever. Forgive, my friends, This weak unseemliness in me your pastor. I ever did love mercy, dealt but tardily With those who seemed to suffer more than sin, Looked up to heaven and led my people, trusting; And now I am brought beneath the cruelest hand That ever pointed two roads to a man. Arnulph, Ariald, forgive my former heat, You do but your bare duty. Friends they’re right, And I your whilom pastor in the wrong. For I mistook the face of earth’s poor love And dreamed a stair of human happiness Did lead to Heaven. See me now rebuked. ’Tis the Pope’s will. Arnulph, read thou this. I charge thee, as the pastor of this parish, That you leave out no word however hard, Nor soften down one sentence of this curse, Or its conditions.

_Arn._ Of a surety I’ll not.

_Ar._ He shall not! And harken, you, good people, do you listen!

_Marg._ Gerbhert, come home, I will not hear that curse That parts us twain. My breaking heart it seems Doth hear our baby cry.

_Arn._ Silence Woman!

_Marg._ You would silence the angels. Work you this deed, I tell you Man, you shut all Heaven out And let in Hell, you desolate God’s glad homes By your brute ministry that knows not love.

_Arn._ The love of heaven knoweth not carnal love.

_Marg._ Forgive me Sir! Stern Sir! would woman’s tears But move you, would woman’s pleaded prayers But change you to the softest kindly thought, I would beg of you, read not that curse.

_Arn._ Silence, Woman!

_Gerb._ Margaret, by your love for me, be silent.

_Arn._ (_Reads._) In the name of God, amen: Gregory the Seventh by the will of Heaven, Pope, Vicar of Christ, successor of Holy Peter, sendeth greeting to all Christian peoples, and commandeth, that any priest living with a woman in the so-called marriage state, shall be accursed:--that any person who receiveth at his hands any or more offices of Holy Church shall also be accursed.--That furthermore, all offices so exercised by him shall not only be rendered null and void of all good effect, but shall rather be regarded by Holy Church as acts accursed. That this same law be proclaiméd in all parishes throughout Christendom. Know ye that this be my will. Signed, GREGORY.

_Marg._ Gerbhert, O God, Gerbhert, where art thou?

_Gerb._ Margaret, touch me not, we must obey When Heaven speaks.

_Marg._ Not when it utters thunders such as this.

_Arn._ Choose, Gerbhert, twixt this woman and thine office. Take her with thee to Hell, or both win Heaven.

_Gerb._ I have chosen, let me go and die.

_Marg._ O Gerbhert, come and kiss our little babe, Say one good-bye, to home, before you go, I’ll not detain you, I say it on my knees, I’ll not detain you.

_Gerb._ Margaret, would you curse us with your love? I can hear the Holy Father’s voice Though he’s in Rome, saying, nay, nay, to thee. Farewell, Margaret, we will meet in heaven.

(_Goes out with_ ARNULPH _and_ ARIALD.)

_Marg._ Nay, I am mad, ’twas this o’er nursing did it. Gerbhert, tell me, tell me, I am mad. Good friends, O pardon your poor Margaret. O who will lead me home!

[_Curtain._