_2nd Troop._ I heard the message: it was so worded.

_Will._ 'Tis an excellent contradiction, to fight for
and against. If ye should meet the King now in
battle, would you fire on him with your pistols, or
cleave him with your swords?

_1st Troop._ Nay!

_Crom._ [_Discovering himself._] But I say, yea!

_Will._ [Without seeing CROMWELL.] What, in his
own name, kill him for himself, for his own sake, as
it were? I would fain argue that with your general--[_sees
CROMWELL._]--another time. Farewell, worthy sirs!

_Crom._ Stay, thou base knave! I'll have thee whipped without
The army of the saints. Hearken ye all!
Charles Stuart I would gladly smite to death:
Not as a king, but as a man that fights
Against the honour, conscience of the king,
And the true rights of all his loving subjects.
Is any here the muscles of whose arm
Grow slack to think he may meet such an one
In arms to-morrow? Let him home to-day,
God and his country have no need of him.

_Soldiers._ A Cromwell! Cromwell!
Lead on, we'll slay the king.