Ch. 598: SCENE VI. London. A street

SCENE VI. London. A street****

Enter a Scrivener.

SCRIVENER.

Here is the indictment of the good Lord Hastings,

Which in a set hand fairly is engrossed,

That it may be today read o’er in Paul’s.

And mark how well the sequel hangs together:

Eleven hours I have spent to write it over,

For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me;

The precedent was full as long a-doing

And yet within these five hours Hastings lived,

Untainted, unexamined, free, at liberty.

Here’s a good world the while! Who is so gross

That cannot see this palpable device?

Yet who so bold but says he sees it not?

Bad is the world, and all will come to naught

When such ill dealing must be seen in thought.

[_Exit. _]