Brian Friel Plays 2 (41 page)

O’Neill
What is the point? That’s certainly a bloody lie.

Lombard
Not a lie, Hugh. Merely a convention. And I’ll come to the point later. Now, the second key event: the Nine Years War between yourself and England, culminating in the legendary battle of Kinsale and the crushing of the most magnificent Gaelic army ever assembled.

O’Neill
They routed us in less than an hour, Peter. Isn’t that the point of Kinsale?

Lombard
You lost a battle – that has to be said. But the telling of it can still be a triumph.

O’Neill
Kinsale was a disgrace. Mountjoy routed us. We ran away like rats.

Lombard
And again that’s not the point.

O’Neill
You’re not listening to
me
now. We disgraced ourselves at Kinsale.

Lombard
And then I come to my third and final key point; and I’m calling this section – I’m rather proud of the title – I’ve named it ‘The Flight of the Earls’. That has a ring to it, too, hasn’t it? That tragic but magnificent exodus of the Gaelic aristocracy –

O’Neill
Peter –

Lombard
When the leaders of the ancient civilization took boat from Rathmullan that September evening and set sail for Europe.

O’Neill
As we pulled out from Rathmullan the McSwineys stoned us from the shore!

Lombard
Then their journey across Europe when every crowned head welcomed and fêted them. And then the final coming to rest. Here. In Rome.

O’Neill
And the six years after Kinsale – before the Flight of the Earls – aren’t they going to be recorded? When I lived like a criminal, skulking round the countryside – my countryside! – hiding from the English, from the Upstarts, from the Old English, but most assiduously hiding from my brother Gaels who couldn’t wait to strip me of every blade of grass I ever owned. And then when I could endure that humiliation no longer, I ran away! If these were ‘my people’ then to hell with my people! The Flight of the Earls – you make it sound like a lap of honour. We ran away just as we ran away at Kinsale. We were going to look after our own skins! That’s why we ‘took boat’ from Rathmullan! That’s why the great O’Neill is here – at rest – here – in Rome. Because we ran away.

Lombard
That is my outline. I’ll rewrite it in any way you want.

O’Neill
That is the truth. That is what happened.

Lombard
How should it be rewritten?

O’Neill
Those are the facts. There is no way you can make unpalatable facts palatable. And your point – just what is your point, Peter?

Lombard
I’m no historian but –

O’Neill
Then don’t write my history. Or maybe you could trust me to write it myself: one of the advantages of fading eyesight is that it gives the imagination the edge over reality.

Lombard
May I try to explain something to you, Hugh? May I tell you what my point is?

O’Neill
I’m weary of all this.

Lombard
People want to know about the past. They have a genuine curiosity about it.

O’Neill
Then tell them the whole truth.

Lombard
That’s exactly what my point is. People think they just want to know the ‘facts’; they think they believe in some sort of empirical truth, but what they really want is a story. And that’s what this will be: the events of your life categorized and classified and then structured as you would structure any story. No, no, I’m not talking about falsifying, about lying, for heaven’s sake. I’m simply talking about making a pattern. That’s what I’m doing with all this stuff – offering a cohesion to that random catalogue of deliberate achievement and sheer accident that constitutes your life. And that cohesion will be a narrative that people will read and be satisfied by. And that narrative will be as true and as objective as I can make it – with the help of the Holy Spirit. Would it be profane to suggest that that was the method the Four Evangelists used? – took the haphazard events in Christ’s life and shaped them into a story, into four complementary stories. And those stories are true stories. And we believe them. We call them gospel, Hugh, don’t we? (
He laughs suddenly and heartily
.) Would you look at that man? What are you so miserable about? Think of this (
book
) as an act of
pietas
. Ireland is reduced as it has never been reduced before – we are talking about a colonized people on the brink of extinction. This isn’t the time for a critical assessment of your ‘ploys’ and your ‘disgraces’ and your ‘betrayal’ – that’s the stuff of another history for another time. Now is the time for a hero. Now is the time for a heroic literature. So I am offering Gaelic Ireland two things. I’m offering them this narrative that has the elements of myth. And I’m offering them Hugh
O’Neill as a national hero. A hero and the story of a hero. (
Pause
.) It’s a very worldly nostrum for a clergyman to propose – isn’t it? I suppose, if I were a holy man, not some kind of a half priest, half schemer, I suppose I would offer them God and prayer and suffering. But there are times when a hero can be as important to a people as a God. And isn’t God – or so I excuse my perfidy – isn’t God the perfect hero?

A
very
long
silence.
Lombard
gathers
up
his
papers
and
closes
the
book.
O’Neill
assimilates
what
he
has
heard.

O’Neill
How do you write about Harry?

Lombard
What is the ‘truth’ about Harry? Well, we know, for example, that his Old English family threw him out, that he was destitute and that when you offered him a job, any job, he grabbed at it. We know, for example, that he was once passionately loyal to the Queen but that, when he joined you, he seemed to have no problem in betraying that loyalty. Or simply – very simply – we know for example that Harry Hoveden was a man who admired and loved you without reservation and who has dedicated his whole life to you. For all I know there may be other ‘truths’ about Harry.

O’Neill
Which are you recording?

Lombard
I know which one history prefers. As I keep telling you, histories are stories, Hugh, and stories prefer faithful friends, don’t they? And isn’t that the absolute truth about Harry? – is Harry Hoveden not a most faithful friend?

Another
long
silence.

O’Neill
And Mabel?

Lombard
Yes?

O’Neill
(
shouting
) Don’t play bloody games with me, Archbishop! You know damned well what I’m asking you!

Lombard
You’re asking me how Mabel will be portrayed.

O’Neill
(
softly
) Yes, I’m asking you how Mabel will be portrayed.

Lombard
I’ve tried to explain that at this time the country needs a –

O’Neill
How-will-Mabel-be-portrayed?

Pause.

Lombard
The story of your life has a broad but very specific sweep, Hugh –

O’Neill
Peter, just –!

Lombard
And all those ladies you chose as your wives – splendid and beautiful and loyal though they undoubtedly were – well, they didn’t contribute significantly to – what was it Mabel herself used to call it? – to the overall thing – wasn’t that it? I mean they didn’t reroute the course of history, did they? So I have got to be as fair as I can to
all
those ladies without diminishing them, without inflating them into something they were not, without lying about them. I mean our Catriona, our beautiful Catriona, would be the last to claim some historical eminence, wouldn’t she? But they all did have their own scales; and they recognized what those dimensions were; and in fairness to them we should acknowledge those dimensions accurately.

O’Neill
So Mabel …?

Lombard
(
pretending irritation
) You’re incorrigible, Hugh O’Neill! You know that, don’t you? You never give up. All I’ve got down on paper is a general outline and a
couple of opening pages and the man keeps badgering me about minor details!

O’Neill
So Mabel …?

Lombard
Let me ask you a question. In the big canvas of national events – in your exchanges with popes and kings and queens – is that where Mabel herself thought her value and her importance resided? Is that how she saw herself? But she had her own value, her own importance. And at some future time and in a mode we can’t imagine now I have no doubt that story will be told fully and sympathetically. It will be a domestic story, Hugh; a love story; and a very beautiful love story it will be. But in the overall thing, Hugh … How many heroes can one history accommodate? And how will I emerge myself for heaven’s sake? At best a character in a subplot. And isn’t that adequate for minor people like us? Now, Hugh, tell me, how do you want to rewrite my outline?

O’Neill
The overall thing – yes, that was her expression.

Lombard
I made you a solemn promise. I’ll rewrite it in any way you want. What changes do you want me to make? (
Pause.
)
Not necessarily anything major. (
Pause.
) Even small adjustments. (
Pause.
)
Just say the word. (
Pause.
)
Now I’m badgering you – amn’t I? Forgive me. And if any idea or suggestion does occur to you over the next weeks or months, sure I’ll be here, won’t I? Neither of us is going anywhere – unless Plunkett and O Domhnaill recruit us for their next expedition. Now. It’s time for a drink. We’ve earned it. My poor mouth’s dry from blathering. Affane – where are you?

O’Neill
A lure to perdition – is that what you called it?

Lombard
A foretaste of immortality. It really is wonderful. Easy – easy – don’t gulp it down. Sip it slowly. Savour it.

Harry
enters,
carrying
a
bottle.

Ah, Harry! We’re just about to kill this bottle of poitin. But, as the man says, it’s not going to die without the priest. Will somebody please hit me every time I make one of those hoary clerical jokes? What’s that you have?

Harry
A bottle of wine.

Lombard
Where did that come from?

Harry
I got it ten minutes ago.

O’Neill
I thought we had no money?

Harry
It’s only cheap chianti.

O’Neill
Where did the money come from?

Harry
I had an old pair of shoes I didn’t want. The porter had some bottles to spare. Who wants a glass?

Lombard
Do you know what you are, Harry? A loyal and faithful man. Now that is a truth! (
He
pauses
beside
Hugh
as
he
goes
to
the
desk.
Privately
)
Trust it, Hugh. Trust it. (
aloud
)
To all of us. May we live for ever – in one form or another. And now I’m going to give the first public recital of
The
History
of
Hugh
O’Neill.
In the name of God – I know the opening by heart! In the name of God. Herewith I set my hand to chronicle the life of Hugh O’Neill –

When
O’Neill
speaks
he
speaks
almost
in
a
whisper
in
counterpoint
to
Lombard’s
public
recitation.
His
English
accent
gradually
fades
until
at
the
end
his
accent
is
pure
Tyrone.

O’Neill
By the Queen of England, France and Ireland her most gracious favour created Earl of Tyrone –

Lombard
Son of Feardorcha, son of Conn Bacagh, son of Conn Mor, noblest son of noble lineage, who was fostered
and brought up by the high-born nobles of his tribe –

O’Neill
I do with all true and humble penitency prostrate myself at your feet and absolutely submit myself to your mercy, most sorrowfully imploring your commiseration and appealing only to your clemency –

Lombard
He continued to grow and increase in comeliness and urbanity, tact and eloquence, wisdom and knowledge, goodly size and noble deeds so that his name and fame spread throughout the five provinces of Ireland and beyond –

O’Neill
May it please you to mitigate your just indignation against me for my betrayal of you which deserves no forgiveness and for which I can make no satisfaction, even with my life –

Lombard
And people reflected in their minds that when he would reach manhood there would not be one like him of the Irish to avenge their wrongs and punish the plunderings of his race –