The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Publisher's Notice
• To My Worthy Friend , Master Thomas Hammon, of Gray's Inn , &c.
• Persons Represented.
• The Jew of Malta.
• Act the First.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Act the Second.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Act the Third.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Act the Fourth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Act the Fifth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Edward the Second.
• Act the First.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act the Second.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Act the Third.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Act the Fourth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Act the Fifth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• The Massacre At Paris.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Scene VII.
• Scene VIII.
• Scene IX.
• Scene X.
• Scene XI.
• Scene XII.
• Scene XIII.
• Scene XIV.
• Scene XV.
• Scene XVI.
• Scene XVII.
• Scene XVIII.
• Scene XIX.
• Scene XX.
• Scene XXI.
• Scene XXII.
• Scene XXIII.
• Scene XXIV.
• The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage.
• Act I.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Act II.
• Scene I.
• Act III.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act IV.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene Iii
• Scene IV.
• Scene V
• Act V.
• Scene I.

ACT THE THIRD.

SCENE I.

Enter1Gavestonmourning, James, and theEarl OfPembroke'S Men.

Gav.

• O treacherous Warwick! thus to wrong thy friend.

James.

• I see it is your life these arms pursue.

Gav.

• Weaponless must I fall, and die in bands?
• O! must this day be period of my life?
• Centre of all my bliss! An ye be men,
• Speed to the king.
• EnterWarwickand his company.

War.

• My lord of Pembroke's men,
• Strive you no longer—I will have that Gaveston.

James.

• Your lordship does dishonour to yourself,
• And wrong our lord, your honourable friend.

War.

• No, James, it is my country's cause I follow.

  10

• Go, take the villain; soldiers, come away.
• We'll make quick work. Commend me to your master,
• My friend, and tell him that I watched it well.
• Come, let thy shadow1 parley with King Edward.

Gav.

• Treacherous earl, shall I not see the king?

War.

• The king of Heaven perhaps, no other king.
• Away! [ExeuntWarwickand his Men withGaveston.

James.

• Come, fellows, it booted not for us to strive,
• We will in haste go certify our lord.
• [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Enter2KingEdwardandYoungSpencer, Baldock, and Nobles of the king's side, with drums and fifes.

Edw.

• I long to hear an answer from the barons
• Touching my friend, my dearest Gaveston.
• Ah! Spencer, not the riches of my realm
• Can ransom him! ah, he is marked to die!
• I know the malice of the younger Mortimer,
• Warwick I know is rough, and Lancaster
• Inexorable, and I shall never see
• My lovely Pierce of Gaveston again!
• The barons overbear me with their pride.

Y. Spen.

• Were I King Edward, England's sovereign,

  10

• Son to the lovely Eleanor of Spain,
• Great Edward Longshanks' issue, would I bear
• These braves,3 this rage, and suffer uncontrolled
• These barons thus to beard me in my land,
• In mine own realm? My lord, pardon my speech:
• Did you retain your father's magnanimity,
• Did you regard the honour of your name,
• You would not suffer thus your majesty
• Be counterbuft of your nobility.
• Strike off their heads, and let them preach on poles!

  20

• No doubt, such lessons they will teach the rest,
• As by their preachments they will profit much,
• And learn obedience to their lawful king.

Edw.

• Yea, gentle Spencer, we have been too mild,
• Too kind to them; but now have drawn our sword,
• And if they send me not my Gaveston,
• We'll steel it on their crest, and poll their tops.

Bald.

• This haught1 resolve becomes your majesty
• Not to be tied to their affection,
• As though your highness were a schoolboy still,

  30

• And must be awed and governed like a child.
• EnterHughSpencer, father to theYoungSpencer, with his truncheon and Soldiers.

E. Spen.

• Long live my sovereign, the noble Edward—
• In peace triumphant, fortunate in wars!

Edw.

• Welcome, old man, com'st thou in Edward's aid?
• Then tell thy2 prince of whence, and what thou art.

E. Spen.

• Lo, with a band of bowmen and of pikes,
• Brown bills and targeteers, four hundred strong,
• Sworn to defend King Edward's royal right,
• I come in person to your majesty,
• Spencer, the father of Hugh Spencer there,

  40

• Bound to your highness everlastingly,
• For favour done, in him, unto us all.

Edw.

• Thy father, Spencer?

Y. Spen.

• True, an it like your grace,
• That pours, in lieu of all your goodness shown,
• His life, my lord, before your princely feet.

Edw.

• Welcome ten thousand times, old man, again.
• Spencer, this love, this kindness to thy king,
• Argues thy noble mind and disposition.
• Spencer, I here create thee Earl of Wiltshire,
• And daily will enrich thee with our favour,

  50

• That, as the sunshine, shall reflect o'er thee.
• Beside, the more to manifest our love,
• Because we hear Lord Bruce doth sell his land,
• And that the Mortimers are in hand withal,
• Thou shalt have crowns of us t' outbid the barons:
• And, Spencer, spare them not, lay it on.

Y. Spen.

• My lord, here comes1 the queen.
• Enter theQueenand her Son, andLevune, a Frenchman.

Edw.

• Madam, what news?

Queen.

• News of dishonour, lord, and discontent.
• Our friend Levune, faithful and full of trust,

  60

• Informeth us, by letters and by words,
• That Lord Valois our brother, King of France,
• Because your highness hath been slack in homage,
• Hath seizèd Normandy into his hands.

Edw.

• Welcome, Levune. Tush, Sib, if this be all,
• Valois and I will soon be friends again.—
• But to my Gaveston; shall I never see,
• Never behold thee now?1 —Madam, in this matter,
• We will employ you and your little son;

  70

• You shall go parley with the King of France.
• Boy, see you bear you bravely to the king,
• And do your message with a majesty.

Prince.

• Commit not to my youth things of more weight
• Than fits a prince so young as I to bear,
• And fear not, lord and father, heaven's great beams
• On Atlas' shoulder shall not lie more safe,

Queen.

• Ah, boy! this towardness makes thy mother fear
• Thou art not marked to many days on earth.

  80

Edw.

• Madam, we will that you with speed be shipped,
• And this our son; Levune shall follow you
• With all the haste we can despatch him hence.
• Choose of our lords to bear you company;

Queen.

• Unnatural wars, where subjects brave their king;
• God end them once! My lord, I take my leave,
• To make my preparation for France.
• [Exit with Prince.
• EnterArundel.

Edw.

• What, Lord Arandel, dost thou come alone?

Arun.

• Yea, my good lord, for Gaveston is dead.

  90

Edw.

• Ah, traitors! have they put my friend to death?
• Tell me, Arundel, died he ere thou cam'st,
• Or didst thou see my friend to take his death?

Arun.

• Neither, my lord; for as he was surprised,
• Begirt with weapons and with enemies round,
• I did your highness' message to them all;
• Demanding him of them, entreating rather,
• And said, upon the honour of my name,
• That I would undertake to carry him
• Unto your highness, and to bring him back.

  100

Edw.

• And tell me, would the rebels deny me that?

Y. Spen.

• Proud recreants!

Edw.

• Yea, Spencer, traitors all.

Arun.

• I found them at the first inexorable;
• The Earl of Warwick would not bide the hearing,
• Mortimer hardly; Pembroke and Lancaster
• Spake least: and when they flatly had denied,
• Refusing to receive me pledge for him,
• The Earl of Pembroke mildly thus bespake;
• “My lords, because our sovereign sends for him,
• And promiseth he shall be safe returned,

  110

• I will this undertake, to have him hence,
• And see him re-delivered to your hands.”

Edw.

• Well, and how fortunes [it] that he came not?

Y. Spen.

• Some treason, or some villany, was the cause.

Arun.

• The Earl of Warwick seized him on his way;
• For being delivered unto Pembroke's men,
• Their lord rode home thinking his prisoner safe;
• But ere he came, Warwick in ambush lay,
• And bare him to his death; and in a trench
• Strake off his head, and marched unto the camp.

  120

Y. Spen.

• A bloody part, flatly against law of arms.

Edw.

• O shall I speak, or shall I sigh and die!

Y. Spen.

• My lord, refer your vengeance to the sword
• Upon these barons; hearten up your men;
• Let them not unrevenged murder your friends!
• Advance your standard, Edward, in the field,
• And march to fire them from their starting-holes.
• [Edwardkneels.

Edw.

• By earth, the common mother of us all,
• By heaven, and all the moving orbs thereof,
• By this right hand, and by my father's sword,

  130

• And all the honours 'longing to my crown,
• I will have heads, and lives for him, as many
• As I have manors, castles, towns, and towers!
• [Rises.
• Treacherous Warwick! traitorous Mortimer!
• If I be England's king, in lakes of gore
• Your headless trunks, your bodies will I trail,
• That you may drink your fill, and quaff in blood,
• And stain my royal standard with the same,
• That so my bloody colours may suggest
• Remembrance of revenge immortally

  140

• On your accursèd traitorous progeny,
• You villains, that have slain my Gaveston!
• And in this place of honour and of trust,
• Spencer, sweet Spencer, I adopt thee here;
• And merely of our love we do create thee
• Earl of Gloucester, and Lord Chamberlain,
• Despite of times, despite of enemies.

Y. Spen.

• My lord, here is1 a messenger from the barons
• Desires access unto your majesty.

Edw.

• Admit him near.

  150

• Enter the Herald from the Barons, with his coat of arms.

Her.

• Long live King Edward, England's lawful lord!

Edw.

• So wish not they, I wis, that sent thee hither.
• Thou com'st from Mortimer and his complices,
• A ranker rout2 of rebels never was.
• Well, say thy message.

Her.

• The barons up in arms, by me salute
• Your highness with long life and happiness;
• And bid me say, as plainer to your grace,
• That if without effusion of blood
• You will this grief have ease and remedy,

  160

• That from your princely person you remove
• This Spencer, as a putrifying branch,
• That deads the royal vine, whose golden leaves3
• Empale your princely head, your diadem,
• Whose brightness such pernicious upstarts dim,
• Say they; and lovingly advise your grace,
• To cherish virtue and nobility,
• And have old servitors in high esteem,
• And shake off smooth dissembling flatterers:
• This granted, they, their honours, and their lives,

  170

• Are to your highness vowed and consecrate.

Y. Spen.

• Ah, traitors! will they still display their pride?

Edw.

• Away, tarry no answer, but be gone!
• Rebels, will they appoint their sovereign
• His sports, his pleasures, and his company?
• Yet, ere thou go, see how I do divorce
• [EmbracesSpencer.
• Spencer from me.—Now get thee to thy lords,
• And tell them I will come to chastise them
• For murdering Gaveston; hie thee, get thee gone!
• Edward with fire and sword follows at thy heels.

  180

• My lord[s], perceive you how these rebels swell?
• Soldiers, good hearts, defend your sovereign's right,
• For now, even now, we march to make them stoop.
• Away!
• [Exeunt. Alarums, excursions, a great fight, and a retreat.

SCENE III.

Enter theKing, ElderSpencer, YoungSpencer, and the Noblemen of theKing'Sside.

Edw.

• Why do we sound retreat? upon them, lords!
• This day I shall pour vengeance with my sword
• On those proud rebels that are up in arms,

Y. Spen.

• I doubt it not, my lord, right will prevail.

E. Spen.

• 'Tis not amiss, my liege, for either part
• To breathe awhile; our men, with sweat and dust
• All choked well near, begin to faint for heat;
• And this retire refresheth horse and man.

Y. Spen.

• Here come the rebels.

  10

• EnterYoungMortimer, Lancaster, Warwick, Pembroke, &c.

Y. Mor.

• Look, Lancaster, yonder is Edward
• Among his flatterers.

Lan.

• And there let him be
• Till he pay dearly for their company.

War.

• And shall, or Warwick's sword shall smite in vain.

Edw.

• What, rebels, do you shrink and sound retreat?

Y. Mor.

• No, Edward, no, thy flatterers faint and fly.

Lan.

• They'd best betimes forsake thee, and their trains,1
• For they'll betray thee, traitors as they are.

Y. Spen.

• Traitor on thy face, rebellious Lancaster!

Pem.

• Away, base upstart, bravest thou nobles thus?

  20

E. Spen.

• A noble attempt, and honourable deed,
• Is2 it not, trow ye, to assemble aid,
• And levy arms against your lawful king!

Edw.

• For which ere long their heads shall satisfy,
• To appease the wrath of their offended king.

Y. Mor.

• Then, Edward, thou wilt fight it to the last,
• And rather bathe thy sword in subjects' blood,
• Than banish that pernicious company?

Edw.

• Ay, traitors all, rather than thus be braved,
• Make England's civil towns huge heaps of stones,

  30

• And ploughs to go about our palace-gates.

War.

• A desperate and unnatural resolution!
• Alarum!-to the fight!
• St. George for England, and the barons' right.

Edw.

• St. George for England, and King Edward's right.
• [Alarums. Exeunt.
• Re-enterEdwardand his followers, with the Barons andKent, captives.

Edw.

• Now, lusty lords, now, not by chance of war,
• But justice of the quarrel and the cause,
• Vailed is your pride; methinks you hang the heads,
• But we'll advance them, traitors; now 'tis time
• To be avenged on you for all your braves,

  40

• And for the murder of my dearest friend,
• To whom right well you knew our soul was knit,
• Good Pierce of Gaveston, my sweet favourite
• Ah, rebels! recreants! you made him away.

Kent.

• Brother, in regard of thee, and of thy land,
• Did they remove that flatterer from thy throne.

Edw.

• So, sir, you have spoke; away, avoid our presence.
• [ExitKent.
• Accursèd wretches, was't in regard of us,
• When we had sent our messenger to request
• He might be spared to come to speak with us,

  50

• And Pembroke undertook for his return,
• That thou, proud Warwick, watched the prisoner,
• Poor Pierce, and headed him 'gainst law of arms?
• For which thy head shall overlook the rest,
• As much as thou in rage outwent'st the rest.

War.

• Tyrant, I scorn thy threats and menaces;
• It is but temporal that thou canst inflict.

Lan.

• The worst is death, and better die to live
• Than live in infamy under such a king.

Edw.

• Away with them, my lord of Winchester!

  60

• These lusty leaders, Warwick and Lancaster,
• I charge you roundly—off with both their heads!
• Away!

War.

• Farewell, vain world!

Lan.

• Sweet Mortimer, farewell.

Y. Mor.

• England, unkind to thy nobility,

Edw.

• Go, take that haughty Mortimer to the Tower,
• There see him safe bestowed; and for the rest,
• Do speedy execution on them all.
• Begone!

  70

Y. Mor.

• What, Mortimer! can ragged stony walls
• Immure thy virtue that aspires to heaven?
• No, Edward, England's scourge, it may not be;
• Mortimer's hope surmounts his fortune far.
• [The captive Barons are led off.

Edw.

• Sound drums and trumpets! March with me,
• my friends,
• Edward this day hath crowned him king anew.
• [Exeunt all except YoungSpencer,Levune, and Baldock.

Y. Spen.

• Levune, the trust that we repose in thee,
• Begets the quiet of King Edward's land.
• Therefore begone in haste, and with advice
• Bestow that pleasure on the lords of France,

  80

• That, therewith all enchanted, like the guard
• That suffered Jove to pass in showers of gold
• To Danae, all aid may be denied
• To Isabel, the queen, that now in France
• Makes friends, to cross the seas with her young son,
• And step into his father's regiment.1

Levune.

• That's it these barons and the subtle queen Long levelled2 at.

Bal.

• Yea, but, Levune, thou seest
• These barons lay their heads on blocks together;
• What they intend, the hangman frustrates clean.

  90

Levune.

• Have you no doubt, my lords, I'll clap3 so close
• Among the lords of France with England's gold,
• That Isabel shall make her plaints in vain,

Y. Spen.

• Then make for France, amain—Levune,
• away!
• Proclaim King Edward's wars and victories.
• [Exeunt omnes.

[1]Scene: the open country (near Warwick?).

[1]The meaning is surely “ghost, spirit,” not, as Mr. Fleay interprets, “representative, plenipotentiary.”

[2]Scene: neighbourhood of Borrowbridge.

[3]Braggard challenges.

[1]Fr. haut.

[2]Old eds. “the.”

[1]So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1598 “come.”

[1]Cunningham and Mr. Fleay silently print “more.”

[1]Ed. 1598 “heres is.”—Ed. 1612, 1622, “heres.”

[2]So ed. 1622.—Eds. 1598, 1612, “roote.”

[3]So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1598 “leave.”

[1]Schemes.

[2]So ed. 1612.— Ed. 1598 “It is.”

[1]Rule.

[2]Old eds. “leuied.”

[3]Old eds. “claps close.”