Let the drum beat.
The drum beats.

Exeunt all but JOHN ENDICOTT, UPSALL, and MERRY.
CHRISTISON.
Dear child, farewell! Never shall I behold Thy face again with these bleared eyes of flesh; And never wast thou fairer, lovelier, dearer Than now, when scourged and bleeding, and insulted For the truth's sake.

O pitiless, pitiless town! The wrath of God hangs over thee; and the day Is near at hand when thou shalt be abandoned To desolation and the breeding of nettles.
The bittern and the cormorant shall lodge Upon thine upper lintels, and their voice Sing in thy windows.

Yea, thus saith the Lord! JOHN ENDICOTT.
Awake! awake! ye sleepers, ere too late, And wipe these bloody statutes from your books! [Exit.
MERRY.
Take heed; the walls have ears! UPSALL.
At last, the heart Of every honest man must speak or break! Enter GOVERNOR ENDICOTT with his halberdiers.
ENDICOTT.
What is this stir and tumult in the street?
MERRY.
Worshipful sir, the whipping of a girl, And her old father howling from the prison.
ENDICOTT (to his halberdiers).
Go on.
CHRISTISON.
Antiochus! Antiochus! O thou that slayest the Maccabees! The Lord Shall smite thee with incurable disease, And no man shall endure to carry thee! MERRY.
Peace, old blasphemer! CHRISTISON.
I both feel and see The presence and the waft of death go forth Against thee, and already thou dost look Like one that's dead! MERRY (pointing).
And there is your own son, Worshipful sir, abetting the sedition.
ENDICOTT.
Arrest him.

Do not spare him.
MERRY (aside).
His own child! There is some special providence takes care That none shall be too happy in this world! His own first-born.
ENDICOTT.
O Absalom, my son! [Exeunt; the Governor with his halberdiers ascending the steps of his house.
SCENE III.