Page:Keats - Poetical Works, DeWolfe, 1884.djvu/429

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KING STEPHEN.
413
 De Kaims. Yes, of thy madness thou shalt take the meed.
 Stephen. Barest thou?
 De Kaims.How dare, against a man disarm'd?
 Stephen. What weapons has the lion but himself? Come not near me, De Kaims, for by the price Of all the glory I have won this day, Being a king, I will not yield alive To any but the second man of the realm, Robert of Glocester.
 De Kaims.Thou shalt vail to me.
 Stephen. Shall I, when I have sworn against it, sir? Thou think'st it brave to take a breathing king, That, on a court-day bow'd to haughty Maud, The awed presence-chamber may be bold To whisper, there's the man who took alive Stephen—me—prisoner. Certes, De Kaims The ambition is a noble one.
 De Kaims.'Tis true,And, Stephen, I must compass it.
 Stephen.No, no.Do not tempt me to throttle you on the gorge,Or with my gauntlet crush your hollow breast, Just when your knighthood is grown ripe and full For lordship.
 A Soldier. Is an honest yeoman's spear Of no use at a need? Take that.
 Stephen.Ah, dastard!
 De Kaims. What, you are vulnerable! my prisoner!
 Stephen. No, not yet. I disclaim it, and demand Death as a sovereign right unto a king
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