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.

SCENE I.

Enter1 the King,Leicester, the BishopofWinchester, and Trussel.

Leices.

• Be patient, good my lord, cease to lament,
• Imagine Killingworth Castle were your court,
• And that you lay for pleasure here a space,
• Not of compulsion or necessity.

Edw.

• Leicester, if gentle words might comfort me,
• Thy speeches long ago had eased my sorrows;
• For kind and loving hast thou always been.
• The griefs of private men are soon allayed,
• But not of kings. The forest deer, being struck,
• Runs to an herb2 that closeth up the wounds;

  10

• But, when the imperial lion's flesh is gored,
• He rends and tears it with his wrathful paw,
• [And] highly scorning that the lowly earth
• Should drink his blood, mounts up to the air.
• And so it fares with me, whose dauntless mind
• The ambitious Mortimer would seek to curb,
• And that unnatural queen, false Isabel,
• That thus hath pent and mewed me in a prison;
• For such outrageous passions cloy my soul,
• As with the wings of rancour and disdain,

  20

• Full oft[en] am I soaring up to heaven,
• To plain me to the gods against them both.
• But when I call to mind I am a king,
• Methinks I should revenge me of my wrongs,
• That Mortimer and Isabel have done.
• But what are kings, when regiment1 is gone,
• But perfect shadows in a sunshine day?
• My nobles rule, I bear the name of king;
• I wear the crown, but am controlled by them,
• By Mortimer, and my unconstant queen,

  30

• Who spots my nuptial bed with infamy;
• Whilst I am lodged within this cave of care,
• Where sorrow at my elbow still attends,
• To company my heart with sad laments,
• That bleeds within me for this strange exchange.
• But tell me, must I now resign my crown,
• To make usurping Mortimer a king?

Winch.

• Your grace mistakes; it is for England's good,
• And princely Edward's right we crave the crown.

Edw.

• No, 'tis for Mortimer, not Edward's head;

  40

• For he's a lamb, encompassèd by wolves,
• Which in a moment will abridge his life.
• But if proud Mortimer do wear this crown,
• Heavens turn it to a blaze of quenchless fire!1
• Or like the snaky wreath of Tisiphon,
• Engirt the temples of his hateful head;
• So shall not England's vine2 “vines.” be perishèd,
• But Edward's name survives,3 though Edward dies.

Leices.

• My lord, why waste you thus the time away?
• They stay your answer; will you yield your crown?

  50

Edw.

• Ah, Leicester, weigh how hardly I can brook
• To lose my crown and kingdom without cause;
• To give ambitious Mortimer my right,
• That like a mountain overwhelms my bliss,
• In which extreme my mind here murdered is.
• But what the heavens appoint, I must obey!
• Here, take my crown; the life of Edward too;
• [Taking off the crown.
• Two kings in England cannot reign at once.
• But stay awhile, let me be4 king till night,
• That I may gaze upon this glittering crown;

  60

• So shall my eyes receive their last content,
• My head, the latest honour due to it,
• And jointly both yield up their wishèd right.
• Continue ever thou celestial sun;
• Let never silent night possess this clime:
• Stand still you watches of the element;
• All times and seasons, rest you at a stay,
• That Edward may be still fair England's king!
• But day's bright beam doth vanish fast away,
• And needs I must resign my wishèd crown.

  70

• Inhuman creatures! nursed with tiger's milk!
• Why gape you for your sovereign's overthrow!
• My diadem I mean, and guiltless life.
• See, monsters, see, I'll wear my crown again!
• [He puts on the crown.
• What, fear you not the fury of your king?
• But, hapless Edward, thou art fondly led;
• They pass not for thy frowns as late they did,
• But seek to make a new-elected king;
• Which fills my mind with strange despairing thoughts,
• Which thoughts are martyrèd with endless torments,

  80

• And in this torment comfort find I none,
• But that I feel the crown upon my head;
• And therefore let me wear it yet awhile.

Trus.

• My lord, the parliament must have present news,
• And therefore say, will you resign or no?
• [TheKingrageth.

Edw.

• I'll not resign, but whilst I live1 [be king].
• Traitors, be gone! and join you with Mortimer!
• Elect, conspire, install, do what you will:—
• Their blood and yours shall seal these treacheries!

Winch.

• This answer we'll return, and so farewell.

  90

Leices.

• Call them again, my lord, and speak them fair:
• For if they go, the prince shall lose his right.

Edw.

• Call thou them back, I have no power to speak.

Leices.

• My lord, the king is willing to resign.

Winch.

• If he be not, let him choose.

Edw.

• O would I might! but heavens and earth conspire
• To make me miserable! Here receive my crown;
• Receive it? no, these innocent hands of mine
• Shall not be guilty of so foul a crime.
• He of you all that most desires my blood,

  100

• And will be called the murderer of a king,
• Take it. What, are you moved? pity you me?
• Then send for unrelenting Mortimer,
• And Isabel, whose eyes, being turned to steel,
• Will sooner sparkle fire than shed a tear.
• Yet stay, for rather than I'll look on them,
• Here, here!
• [He gives them the crown
• Now, sweet God of heaven,
• Make me despise this transitory pomp,
• And sit for aye enthronizèd in heaven!
• Come, death, and with thy fingers close my eyes.

  110

• Or if I live, let me forget myself.1

Winch.

• My lord.

Edw.

• Call me not lord; away—out of my sight:
• Ah. pardon me: grief makes me lunauc!
• Let not that Mortimer protect my son;
• More safety there is in a tiger's jaws,
• Than his embracements—bear this to the queen,
• Wet with my tears, and dried again with sighs;
• [Gives a handkerchief.
• If with the sight thereof she be not moved,
• Return it back and dip it in my blood.

  120

• Commend me to my son, and bid him rule
• Better than I. Yet how have I trangressed,
• Unless it be with too much clemency?

Trus.

• And thus most humbly do we take our leave
• [ExeuntBishopandTrussel

Edw.

• Farewell; I know the next news that they bring
• Will be my death; and welcome shall it be;
• To wretched men, death is felicity.
• EnterBerkeley, who gives a paper toLeicester.

Leices.

• Another post! what news brings he?

Edw.

• Such news as I expect—come, Berkeley, come,
• And tell thy message to my naked breast.

  130

Berk.

• My lord, think not a thought so villainous
• Can harbour in a man of noble birth.
• To do your highness service and devoir,
• And save you from your foes, Berkeley would die.

Leices.

• My lord, the council of1 the queen commands
• That I resign my charge.

Edw.

• And who must keep me now? Must you, my lord?

Berk.

• Ay, my most gracious lord—so 'tis decreed.

Edw.

• [taking the paper.] By Mortimer, whose name is written here!
• Well may I rent his name that rends my heart!

  140

• [Tears it.
• This poor revenge has something eased my mind.
• So may his limbs be torn, as is this paper!
• Hear me, immortal Jove, and grant it too!

Berk.

• Your grace must hence with me to Berkeley straight.

Edw.

• Whither you will, all places are alike,
• And every earth is fit for bunal.

Leices.

• Favour him, my lord, as much as lieth in you.

Berk.

• Even so betide my soul as I use him.

Edw.

• Mine enemy hath pitied my estate,
• And that's the cause that I am now removed.

  150

Berk.

• And thinks your grace that Berkeley will be cruel?

Edw.

• I know not; but of this am I assured,
• That death ends all, and I can die but once.
• Leicester, farewell!

Leices.

• Not yet, my lord; I'll bear you on your way.
• [Exeunt omnes.

[1]Scene: Kenilworth Castle.

[2] Dittany. Cf. Virgil, Aen. xii. 411-15:—

• “Hic Venus, indigno nati concussa dolore,
• Dictamnum genitrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida,
• Puberibus caulem folus et flore comantem
• Purpureo: non illa feris incognita capris
• Gramina cum tergo volucres hausere sagittœ.”
• Elizabethan poets are fond of alluding to the virtues of this herb. Cf. (one of many instances) Peele's Arraignment of Paris, iii. I.—
• “And whither wends yon thriveless swain? like to the stricken deer,
• Seeks he dictamnum for his wound within our forest here?”

[1]Rule.

[1]An allusion (as Steevens observed) to Creusa's crown in Euripides' Medea.

[2]Old eds.

[3]Ed. 1622 “survive” (and so Dyce).

[4]So eds. 1612, 1622.—Omitted in ed. 1598.

[1]Ed. 1612 “not whilst I live.”

[1]In old eds. after this line the entrance of Berkeley is marked. I have followed Dyce in giving the words “My lord” to Winchester and in placing Berkeley's entrance after line 127.

[1]Eds. 1612, 1622, “and.”