 | Queen Catharine |  |
1
ACT the First.
Scene the First.
Enter Edward IV. Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Warwick, and several Lords, as rising from Council.Edw.
Noble are your resolves, my worthy Friends:
Yes! we will meet again this Warlike Queen,
Who wields her self the Sword, and gives the Distaff
To the Effeminate and Holy Henry:
My Lord of Warwick, Guide and Father now,
Ever Unconquer'd leader of the War!
You saw, your Eyes beheld the fall of York,
Made a short promise to his mounting spirit,
That you wou'd still assist his daring Sons.
The dying Hero at the assurance smil'd,
Pleas'd, and secur'd, he left this Earth to us.
With Warwick on our side, what Foe can shock us,
So Guarded, even Gyants to our Souls
Appear like Infants, and can move no terrour.
Shall then a Woman, a rash giddy Woman,
Oppose the Force and Arm of Hercules?
O Vanity!
Warw.
Vain are indeed these Words; go, Royal Edward;
Pour on the fairer Sex thy Oily speeches,
Joyn'd with thy goodly Person, there they can't
Fail of Success; but give me trust, not flattery.
The rule of Sacred Justice be thy word?
As well in virtue, as in name be King;
And then if I forsake thee, may this Arm,
To which I owe the Power of executing
Your Noble Orders in the dusty field,
Be lost, and all the Courage that inspires it.
Edw.
I'm hush'd, the talking Genius now is silent,
List'ning to those great Oracles you utter.
Enter Clarence.
War.
Here comes Clarence, like a Bridegroom drest.
My Lord of Gloucester! I believe these gay Princes
Think we rough Fellows were only made
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Force from Crown'd heads their feeble Sceptres;
Then all our toyl and labour's paid, when we
Behold how well the gawdy Robe becomes them.
Glou.
Rather let the bright Circle tear, tear
Their beauteous Fronts, and leave them horrid,
[Aside.
As spightfull Nature has form'd mine.
I'm of your mind, my Lord, observe how
[To Warwick.
Exactly my Brothers locks are curl'd.
Clar.
I'm glad to find you thus dispos'd, my Lords,
And the Foe within our view.
Edw.
I thought you knew not of their near approach,
Else what made you absent at our last grand Council?
You have yet been learning, why the shining Court
Of Catharine, thus hovers near our Camp,
Forsaking her more peacefull Palaces?
She now is garrison'd in Ludlow Castle.
Clar.
Of the motions, that Beauty makes, my Lord,
As I expected you are always first inform'd.
Warw.
This discourse will be too hot. Come,
You lovely branch of the Plantagenets,
Let's view the Troops: tho' a Courtier now;
Yet in the fight you'll prove an English Hero.
[Exeunt War. Clar.
Edw.
Brother, come near. My Lords, pray retire.
Ex. Lords.
Brother and Friend, I long have sought these moments,
In which I might pour the secrets of my Soul
Into your faithful Bosom: Much I expect
From thee, tho' Nature seems thy body
To have rufled up in haste, the rich gifts
Within have amply made amends; for there
Thou excellest all her humane Sons, as far
As they do thee in Empty, Worthless, tho'
Beauteous forms.
Glou.
For all my Step dames gifts, I only thank her,
In that she has firmly fixt my Faith and Love
To you, my Royal Brother and my Lord.
Edw.
Didst thou observe how Clarence frown'd and sigh'd
When Warwick askt him to view our Troops.
The Court of Catharine's the cursed Cause;
There, Oh! there, the ignoble youth is ruin'd.
Glou.
This I knew before: But now I expected
Something to hear related of the first,
The noblest and most perfect of our Race.
Speak Heavens appointed King, why at the name
Of Catharine's Court do I still observe
A sigh, a pause, some sudden start of Nature,
3
It can't be Love, for justly you are call'd
The Royal Rover; you wander o'er the Field
Of tempting Beauty, with wanton revelling Joy;
And if you crop a Flower, the rifled sweet
Is thrown neglected by; to whither in some
Forgotten shade; nor ever did you make
A business of what Nature meant a trifle,
By giving us desires so prone, so apt,
So pleas'd with Change.
Edw.
Since the decisive day approaches near,
In which the work of many years is fated,
Glory and Conquest wait that pointed time,
Or in the Field an Honourable death:
Give orders that we are not Interrupted,
And thou shalt hear the weakness of thy Brother.
[Exit Gloucester, and returns.
Glou.
Silence, and Secrecy wait upon your words!
Edw.
I need not tell you Friend, that I stood
The first and dearest in our Father's Love.
Too well his partial kindness was exprest,
In my most Noble, Liberal Education.
When first he brought me to that Mart the Court,
Catharine was Regent; Introduc'd I view'd
That Queen with extasie and strange amazement,
Methought she look'd and mov'd beyond her Sex;
And something whisper'd to my ravisht Soul,
She is a Goddess!
Glou.
In those blooming years she was approv'd
By all a wonder, nor yet has fate or time
Exhausted the vast stock, she still appears
As one that's born to die a beauty: Pray, Sir, proceed.
Edw.
I kneel'd to kiss her hand; but then forgot
The Ceremony was over, and rooted there
Gaz'd on the pointed rays shot from those Globes
Of Beauty, her resistless Eyes, till they
Reach'd and pierc'd my heart.
Now, the Martial Horse can please no more;
The Bow unstrung neglected lay; and all
The Glorious exercises of my forward youth,
Wherewith I had with Emulation strove
To out-do each Rival. To Grots and Solitudes
Retir'd, I hid me from the busie World:
Gave up my self to thought,
To thoughts of Love and Rapture, which perhaps
Was not in her to give, at least not ordain'd
For me.
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How cou'd you fear, my Lord, your Birth, your Form
And your abundant Wealth might give you hopes
To gain your Mistress, tho' she were a Queen.
Edw.
Canst thou forgive the poorness of my spirit?
When I confess, I serv'd that haughty Queen,
With all the lowest marks of servile Courtship:
Fled at her command, trembl'd at her frown,
And at her anger dy'd, at length resolv'd
To know my fate; beneath her feet I fell;
In dying Accents I confess'd my Love:
She with an unrelenting look reply'd,
It is impossible! you never can be mine.
With groans and sighs I begg'd her change that Never;
That terror to the damn'd, and death to me;
And all my hopes to any other word, but she,
Deaf to my Prayers, my Vows, repeated often,
Remember Earl of March! never, never.
Glou.
Foolish Woman! to resist at once her glory
And her safety: some other Love, I guess,
Gave this strong passion ease.
Edw.
Yes, on her side, not mine? no Gloucester, Gloucester!
I was the constant'st Fool, that e'er that Sex
With more than Necromantique Charms enchain'd;
Till at last convinc'd that Owen Tuder
Held the heart and person of the Queen;
Revenge despite of such a Rival cast
Forth from my breast the darling God of Love.
Glou.
How cou'd Tudor then escape your Vengeance
Or did you not believe his boasted descent
From Great Cadwalladar the British King,
So thought him a Plebeian beneath your Sword?
Edw.
Let everlasting silence shrowd that truth,
And to after Ages in Oblivion's Grave,
May what I tell my Brother be forgotten;
I did pursue him with my eager wrongs;
But oh! He foil'd my unexperienc'd youth,
And in the Combat overcame the Cause:
Since that curs'd moment, I and my engines have
Rais'd him plagues, which he cou'd ne'er surmount,
And made Imperious Margaret his foe,
That furious Queen, whose anger knows no end:
Now he's confin'd to his own barren soil,
Hunted from Katharine's eyes, those kindly rays,
That warm'd his passions even to extasie.
Glou.
But now proud Margaret descends and courts
That Tudor, whom she has despis'd,
5
In vain their weakned Forces can oppose
My Godlike Brother, whom Fate has doom'd
Her Conqueror.
Edw.
No doubt he obeys the summons, and comes on
To meet us there; in the heat of all the battle
Thro' the rang'd troops my Sword shall point him out;
Yes; by my wrongs I swear, by all the Racks
Of disappointed Love, my abler Arm
Shall for the weakness of my Youth at one.
I'll hack his beauteous body, since even rage
And envy must allow his Person lovely.
Till doting Katharine shall not distinguish
His mangl'd Carcass from the meanest Slave's.
Glou.
You speak with so much passion, that if daily
You did not quench your flames in dear variety,
I still shou'd think you lov'd the Queen.
Edw.
The sweets of Love are gone, my Friend, but still
The sting remains, the sting of her denial.
Oh! what a torment 'tis to know another
Enjoys that Bliss, for which I sigh'd in vain,
But Revenge is more lasting, fiercer far,
If not so pleasing as fond Boyish Love.
Glou.
His approach brings the fair Queen
To this Castle, that lies between our Camps,
Suppose I glut the angry God within your
Breast, and find a way to kill this hated Tudor
In her arms.
Edw.
'Twou'd charm me more than to revel in them now.
Glou.
Mind you the pleasures that your heart is fond of,
And leave this business to your faithful Brother.
Lord Dacres and Sir James Tyrell rule the Queen,
Dacres is honest, trusty, not to be mov'd
By bribes or prayers; Tyrell is mine, and so is
Malavill, Clarence's Favourite, nor shall the amorous Boy
Wed the beauteous Ward of Katharine, Isabella,
Half English, half French, I like not
The mixt breed.
Edw.
That be thy labour'd care, for if he matches
In that abandon'd Family; we lose a Brother.
Come to my arms, and let me swear, my Gloucester,
Thou shar'st the Heart and Crown of thy lov'd Edward.
Glou.
I hope, great Sir, you'll ne'er repent the trust
You have impos'd upon your ready Servant.
Edw.
I thank thee, Gloucester, and I believe thee too,
Who waits on Fate, will find her Laws are just,
6
I cou'd ask no more, than this
To mount the Throne of my ungratefull Fair
And dash her back that bitter Cup, despair.
[Exeunt.
Enter Malavill to Gloucester.
Mala.
My Lord, are you alone.
Glou.
I am, and you are safe. Haste, dear Malavill.
Quick, inform me what
More of Importance since our last Conference
Has reach'd thy knowledge.
Mala.
I am afraid, if discover'd, I can
No longer serve your Grace.
Glou.
Therefore be quick in your Narration!
Mala.
Fair Isabella from the Castle meets
My Lord of Clarence in the adjoining Grove.
And there I've learnt, he means to try
The utmost eloquence of Conquering Love,
To perswade his Mistress to fly the Kingdom.
Glou.
Dear Malavill, observe my orders, you shan't want Gold
But at the meeting, let not a falling syllable
Escape thee, How stands, Sir James Thyrrold?
Mala.
Fixt to our Cause, as fate, fonder far
Of Isabella than he is of Life; to Hell
He'd plunge to sink his Reval.
Glou.
My Lord Dacres, will he leave the Queen;
Is Tudor's coming on confirm'd?
Mala.
All as you cou'd wish: heark, a noise!
I dare not stay to tell you more.
(Exit.
Glou.
Work on my brain, help every faculty;
And thou invention stretch, till thou hast wound me
Into the bottom of my Brothers Councils:
Then give destruction power, a Crown alone
Can safely shrou'd those foul deformities.
Those glorious rays wou'd dazle mocking Gazers;
The amongst the crowd no sawcy Slave,
Wou'd dare in whispers to pronounce me monstrous.
The Ladie's too, caught with unbounded sway:
The Royal Purple to this uncouth trunk
Gives form, and vigour to this sapless Limb.
By Heaven, nature sent me
Here in spite to plague her upright Race.
7
A Real Foe, and deep dissembling Friend:
Near the Crown, but not near enough ally'd,
Tho Seas of Blood my Title do divide,
Cruel and bold I'll wade the Kindred tide.
Exit.
| Queen Catharine | |