 | Edward the Third / edited with a preface, notes and glossary by G. C.
Moore Smith. |  |
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Act IV
Scene i
Bretagne. Camp of the English.
Forces under the Earl of Salisbury; Salisbury's Tent.
Enter Salisbury; to him, Lord Mountford, attended,
a coronet in his hand.
My Lord of Salisbury, since by your aid
Mine enemy Sir Charles of Blois is slain,
And I again am quietly possess'd
In Britain's dukedom, know that I resolve,
For this kind furth'rance of your king and you,
To swear allegiance to his majesty:
In sign whereof, receive this coronet.
Bear it unto him, and withal mine oath,
Never to be but Edward's faithful friend.
Salisbury
I take it, Mountford: thus, I hope, ere long
The whole dominions of the realm of France
Will be surrender'd to his conquering hand.
Exeunt Mountford and Train.
Now, if I knew but safely how to pass,
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Whither I am by letters certified
That he intends to have his host remov'd.
It shall be so : this policy will serve : —
Ho, who's within? Bring Villiers to me.—
Enter Villiers.
Villiers, thou know'st, thou art my prisoner,
And that I might for ransom, if I would,
Require of thee a hundred thousand franks,
Or else retain and keep thee captive still:
But so it is, that for a smaller charge
Thou may'st be quit, an if thou wilt thyself;
And this it is, procure me but a passport
Of Charles the Duke of Normandy, that I
Without restraint may have recourse to Calice
Through all the countries where he hath to do,
(Which thou may'st easily obtain, I think,
By reason I have often heard thee say,
He and thyself were students once together)
And then thou shalt be set at liberty.
How say'st thou? wilt thou undertake to do it?
Villiers
I will, my lord; but I must speak with him.
Salisbury
Why, so thou shalt; take horse, and post from hence:
Only, before thou go'st, swear by thy faith
That, if thou canst not compass my desire,
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And that shall be sufficient warrant for me.
Villiers
To that condition I agree, my lord,
And will unfeignedly perform the same.
Salisbury
Farewell, Villiers.—
Exit Villiers
This once I mean to try a Frenchman's faith.
Scene ii
Picardy. The English Camp before Calais.Enter King Edward and Derby, with Soldiers.
King Edward
Since they refuse our proffer'd league, my lord,
And will not ope their gates and let us in,
We will intrench ourselves on every side,
That neither victuals nor supply of men
May come to succour this accursed town;
Famine shall combat where our swords are stopp'd.
Derby
The promis'd aid that made them stand aloof
Is now retir'd and gone another way;
It will repent them of their stubborn will.
Enter some poor Frenchmen.
But what are these poor ragged slaves, my lord?
King Edward
Ask what they are; it seems, they come from Calice.
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You wretched patterns of despair and woe,
What are you? living men, or gliding ghosts,
Crept from your graves to walk upon the earth?
First Frenchman
No ghosts, my lord, but men that breathe a life
Far worse than is the quiet sleep of death;
We are distressed poor inhabitants
That long have been diseased, sick and lame;
And now, because we are not fit to serve,
The captain of the town hath thrust us forth
That so expense of victuals may be sav'd.
King Edward
A charitable deed, no doubt, and worthy praise.—
But how do you imagine then to speed?
We are your enemies; in such a case
We can no less but put you to the sword,
Since, when we proffer'd truce, it was refus'd.
First Frenchman
An if your grace no otherwise vouchsafe,
As welcome death is unto us as life.
King Edward
Poor silly men, much wrong'd and more distress'd! —
Go, Derby, go, and see they be reliev'd;
Command that victuals be appointed them
And give to every one five crowns a-piece: —
Exeunt Derby and Frenchmen.
The lion scorns to touch the yielding prey,
And Edward's sword must flesh itself in such
As wilful stubbornness hath made perverse. —
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Lord Percy! welcome: what's the news in England?
Percy
The queen, my lord, commends her to your grace;
And from her highness and the lord vicegerent
I bring this happy tidings of success:
David of Scotland, lately up in arms,
(Thinking, belike, he soonest should prevail,
Your highness being absent from the realm)
Is, by the fruitful service of your peers
And painful travel of the queen herself
That, big with child, was every day in arms,
Vanquish'd, subdu'd and taken prisoner.
King Edward
Thanks, Percy, for thy news, with all my heart!
What was he, took him prisoner in the field?
Percy
A squire, my lord; John Copland is his name:
Who since, entreated by her majesty,
Denies to make surrender of his prize
To any but unto your grace alone;
Whereat the queen is grievously displeas'd.
King Edward
Well, then we'll have a pursuivant despatch'd
To summon Copland hither out of hand,
And with him he shall bring his prisoner king.
Percy
The queen's, my lord, herself by this at sea,
And purposeth, as soon as wind will serve,
To land at Calice and to visit you.
King Edward
She shall be welcome; and, to wait her coming
I'll pitch my tent near to the sandy shore.
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Captain
The burgesses of Calice, mighty king,
Have, by a council, willingly decreed
To yield the town and castle to your hands,
Upon condition it will please your grace
To grant them benefit of life and goods.
King Edward
They will so! then, belike, they may command,
Dispose, elect, and govern as they list.
No, sirrah, tell them, since they did refuse
Our princely clemency at first proclaim'd,
They shall not have it now, although they would;
I will accept of nought but fire and sword,
Except, within these two days, six of them,
That are the wealthiest merchants in the town,
Come naked, all but for their linen shirts,
With each a halter hang'd about his neck,
And prostrate yield themselves, upon their knees,
To be afflicted, hang'd, or what I please;
And so you may inform their masterships.
Exeunt Edward and Percy.
Captain
Why, this it is to trust a broken staff.
Had we not been persuaded, John our king
Would with his army have reliev'd the town,
We had not stood upon defiance so.
But now 'tis past that no man can recall,
And better some do go to wrack, than all.
Exit.
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Scene iii
Poitou. Fields near Poitiers. The French Camp;Tent of the Duke of Normandy.
Enter Charles and Villiers.
Charles
I wonder, Villiers, thou shouldst importune me
For one that is our deadly enemy.
Villiers
Not for his sake, my gracious lord, so much
Am I become an earnest advocate
As that thereby my ransom will be quit.
Charles
Thy ransom, man! why need'st thou talk of that?
Art thou not free? and are not all occasions,
That happen for advantage of our foes,
To be accepted of and stood upon?
Villiers
No, good, my lord, except the same be just;
For profit must with honour be comix'd
Or else our actions are but scandalous:
But, letting pass these intricate objections,
Will't please your highness to subscribe, or no?
Charles
Villiers, I will not nor I cannot do it;
Salisbury shall not have his will so much,
To claim a passport how it please himself.
Villiers
Why, then I know the extremity, my lord:
I must return to prison whence I came.
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Return! I hope, thou wilt not.
What bird that hath escap'd the fowler's gin
Will not beware how she's ensnar'd again?
Or what is he so senseless and secure,
That, having hardly pass'd a dangerous gulf,
Will put himself in peril there again?
Villiers
Ah, but it is mine oath, my gracious lord,
Which I in conscience may not violate,
Or else a kingdom should not draw me hence.
Charles
Thine oath! why, that doth bind thee to abide:
Hast thou not sworn obedience to thy prince?
Villiers
In all things that uprightly he commands.
But either to persuade or threaten me
Not to perform the covenant of my word
Is lawless and I need not to obey.
Charles
Why, is it lawful for a man to kill,
And not, to break a promise with his foe?
Villiers
To kill, my lord, when war is once proclaim'd,
So that our quarrel be for wrongs receiv'd,
No doubt, is lawfully permitted us:
But, in an oath, we must be well advis'd
How we do swear, and, when we once have sworn,
Not to infringe it, though we die therefore.
Therefore, my lord, as willing I return
As if I were to fly to paradise.
Going.
Charles
Stay, my Villiers; thine honourable mind
Deserves to be eternally admir'd.
Thy suit shall be no longer thus defered;
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Signs, and gives it back.
And, wheretofore I lov'd thee as Villiers,
Hereafter I'II embrace thee as myself;
Stay, and be still in favour with thy lord.
Villiers
I humbly thank your grace, I must despatch
And send this passport first unto the earl,
And then I will attend your highness' pleasure.
Exit.
Charles
Do so, Villiers;—and Charles, when he hath need,
Be such his soldiers, howsoe'er he speed!
Exit Villiers.
Enter King John.
King John
Come, Charles, and arm thee; Edward is entrapp'd,
The Prince of Wales is fall'n into our hands,
And we have compass'd him, he cannot scape.
Charles
But will your highness fight to-day?
King John
What else, my son? he's scarce eight thousand strong,
And we are threescore thousand at the least.
Charles
I have a prophecy, my gracious lord,
Wherein is written what success is like
To happen us in this outrageous war;
It was deliver'd me at Cressy's field
By one that is an aged hermit there.
Reads.
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And flint-stones rise, and break the battle 'ray,
Then think on him that doth not now dissemble,
For that shall be the hapless dreadful day:
Yet in the end thy foot thou shalt advance
As far in England as thy foe in France."
King John
By this it seems we shall be fortunate:
For as it is impossible that stones
Should ever rise and break the battle 'ray,
Or airy fowl make men in arms to quake,
So is it like, we shall not be subdu'd:
Or, say this might be true, yet, in the end,
Since he doth promise we shall drive him hence
And forage their country as they have done ours,
By this revenge that loss will seem the less.
But all are frivolous fancies, toys and dreams:
Once we are sure we have ensnar'd the son,
Catch we the father after how we can.
Exeunt.
Scene iv
The Same. The English Camp.Enter Prince Edward, Audley, and others.
Prince Edward
Audley, the arms of death embrace us round,
And comfort have we none, save that to die
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At Cressy field our clouds of warlike smoke
Chok'd up those French mouths and dissever'd them:
But now their multitudes of millions hide,
Masking as 'twere, the beauteous-burning sun;
Leaving no hope to us but sullen dark
And eyeless terror of all-ending night.
Audley
This sudden, mighty and expedient head,
That they have made, fair prince, is wonderful.
Before us in the valley lies the king,
Vantag'd with all that heaven and earth can yield;
His party stronger battled than our whole:
His son, the braving Duke of Normandy,
Hath trimm'd the mountain on our right hand up
In shining plate, that now the aspiring hill
Shows like a silver quarry or an orb;
Aloft the which, the banners, bannerets,
And new-replenish'd pendants cuff the air,
And beat the winds, that for their gaudiness
Struggles to kiss them: on our left hand lies
Philip, the younger issue of the king,
Coting the other hill in such array
That all his gilded upright pikes do seem
Straight trees of gold, the pendant [streamers] leaves ;
And their device of antique heraldry,
Quarter'd in colours seeming sundry fruits,
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Behind us too the hill doth bear his height,
For, like a half-moon, op'ning but one way,
It rounds us in; there at our backs are lodg'd
The fatal cross-bows, and the battle there
Is govern'd by the rough Chatillion.
Then thus it stands, — the valley for our flight
The king binds in; the hills on either hand
Are proudly royalized by his sons;
And on the hill behind stands certain death,
In pay and service with Chatillion.
Prince Edward
Death's name is much more mighty than his deeds;—
Thy parcelling this power hath made it more.
As many sands as these my hands can hold
Are but my handful of so many sands;
Then, all the world, — and call it but a power, —
Easily ta'en up and quickly thrown away:
But, if I stand to count them sand by sand,
The number would confound my memory
And make a thousand millions of a task
Which, briefly, is no more, indeed, than one.
These quarters, squadrons, and these regiments,
Before, behind us, and on either hand,
Are but a power: when we name a man,
His hand, his foot, his head, hath several strengths;
And being all but one self instant strength,
Why, all this many, Audley, is but one,
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He, that hath far to go, tells it by miles;
If he should tell the steps, it kills his heart:
The drops are infinite that make a flood,
And yet, thou know'st, we call it but a rain.
There is but one France, one King of France,
That France hath no more kings; and that same king
Hath but the puissant legion of one king;
And we have one: then apprehend no odds,
For one to one is fair equality.—
Enter a Herald.
What tidings, messenger? be plain, and brief.
Herald
The King of France, my sovereign lord and master,
Greets by me his foe the Prince of Wales.
If thou call forth a hundred men of name,
Of lords, knights, squires, and English gentlemen,
And with thyself and those kneel at his feet,
He straight will fold his bloody colours up
And ransom shall redeem lives forfeited:
If not, this day shall drink more English blood
Than e'er was buried in our British earth.
What is the answer to his proffer'd mercy?
Prince Edward
This heaven that covers France contains the mercy
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That such base breath should vanish from my lips,
To urge the plea of mercy to a man,
The Lord forbid! Return, and tell the king,
My tongue is made of steel and it shall beg
My mercy on his coward burgonet;
Tell him, my colours are as red as his,
My men as bold, our English arms as strong,
Return him my defiance in his face.
Herald
I go.
Exit
Enter another Herald.
Prince Edward
What news with thee?
Herald
The Duke of Normandy, my lord and master,
Pitying thy youth is so engirt with peril,
By me hath sent a nimble-jointed jennet,
As swift as ever yet thou didst bestride,
And therewithal he counsels thee to fly;
Else, death himself hath sworn that thou shalt die.
Prince Edward
Back with the beast unto the beast at sent him;
Tell him, I cannot sit a coward's horse.
Bid him to-day bestride the jade himself;
For I will stain my horse quite o'er with blood
And double-gild my spurs, but I will catch him.
So tell the carping boy, and get thee gone.
Exit Herald.
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Herald
Edward of Wales, Philip, the second son
To the most mighty Christian King of France,
Seeing thy body's living date expir'd,
All full of charity and Christian love,
Commends this book, full fraught with [holy] prayers,
To thy fair hand, and, for thy hour of life,
Entreats thee that thou meditate therein
And arm thy soul for her long journey towards.
Thus have I done his bidding, and return.
Prince Edward
Herald of Philip, greet thy lord from me;
All good, that he can send, I can receive:
But think'st thou not the unadvised boy
Hath wrong'd himself in thus far tend'ring me?
Haply, he cannot pray without the book;
I think him no divine extemporal:
Then render back this commonplace of prayer,
To do himself good in adversity.
Besides, he knows not my sin's quality
And therefore knows no prayers for my avail;
Ere night his prayer may be, to pray to God
To put it in my heart to hear his prayer;
So tell the courtly wanton, and be gone.
Herald
I go.
Exit
Prince Edward
How confident their strength and number makes them!—
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And let those milk-white messengers of time
Show thy time's learning in this dangerous time;
Thyself art bruis'd and bit with many broils,
And stratagems forepast with iron pens
Are texted in thine honourable face;
Thou art a married man in this distress,
But danger woos me as a blushing maid:
Teach me an answer to this perilous time.
Audley
To die is all as common as to live;
The one in choice, the other holds in chase:
For from the instant we begin to live
We do pursue and hunt the time to die:
First bud we, then we blow, and after seed;
Then, presently, we fall; and, as a shade
Follows the body, so we follow death.
If then we hunt for death, why do we fear it?
If we fear it, why do we follow it?
If we do fear, how can we shun it?
If we do fear, with fear we do but aid
The thing we fear to seize on us the sooner:
If we fear not, then no resolved proffer
Can overthrow the limit of our fate.
For, whether ripe or rotten, drop we shall,
As we do draw the lottery of our doom.
Prince Edward
Ah, good old man, a thousand thousand armours
These words of thine have buckled on my back.
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To seek the thing it fears! and how disgrac'd
The imperial victory of murd'ring death!
Since all the lives, his conquering arrows strike,
Seek him, and he not them, to shame his glory.
I will not give a penny for a life,
Nor half a halfpenny to shun grim death,
Since for to live is but to seek to die,
And dying but beginning of new life.
Let come the hour when he that rules it will!
To live, or die, I hold indifferent.
Exeunt.
Scene v
The Same. The French Camp.
Enter King John and Charles.
A sudden darkness hath defac'd the sky,
The winds are crept into their caves for fear,
The leaves move not, the world is hush'd and still,
The birds cease singing, and the wand'ring brooks
Murmur no wonted greeting to their shores;
Silence attends some wonder and expecteth
That heaven should pronounce some prophecy:
Where or from whom proceeds this silence, Charles ?
Charles
Our men with open mouths and staring eyes
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Each other's words, and yet no creature speaks
A tongue-tied fear hath made a midnight hour
And speeches sleep through all the waking regions.
King John
But now the pompous sun, in all his pride,
Look'd through his golden coach upon the world,
And on a sudden, hath he hid himself;
That now the under earth is as a grave,
Dark, deadly, silent, and uncomfortable.
A clamour of ravens heard.
Hark! what a deadly outcry do I hear!
Charles
Here comes my brother Philip.
King John
All dismayed:—
Enter Philip.
What fearful words are those thy looks presage?
Philip
A flight, a flight!
King John
Coward, what flight? thou liest, there needs no flight.
Philip
A flight!
King John
Awake thy craven powers, and tell on
The substance of that very fear indeed,
Which is so ghastly printed on thy face:
What is the matter?
Philip
A flight of ugly ravens
Do croak and hover o'er our soldiers' heads,
And keep in triangles and corner'd squares
Right as our forces are embatteled;
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Which now hath hid the airy floor of heaven
And made at noon a night unnatural
Upon the quaking and dismayed world:
In brief, our soldiers have let fall their arms
And stand like metamorphos'd images,
Bloodless and pale, one gazing on another.
King John
Ay, now I call to mind the prophecy;
But I must give no entrance to a fear. —
Return, and hearten up those yielding souls;
Tell them, the ravens seeing them in arms —
So many fair against a famished few —
Come but to dine upon their handiwork
And prey upon the carrion that they kill:
For when we see a horse laid down to die,
Although [he be] not dead, the ravenous birds
Sit watching the departure of his life;
Even so these ravens, for the carcases
Of those poor English that are mark'd to die,
Hover about, and, if they cry to us,
'Tis but for meat that we must kill for them.
Away, and comfort up my soldiers,
And sound the trumpets; and at once despatch
This little business of a silly fraud.
Exit Philip.
Noise within. Enter a French Captain, with Salisbury, Prisoner.
Captain
Behold, my liege, this knight, and forty mo, —
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With all endeavour sought to break our ranks,
And make their way to the encompass'd prince;
Dispose of him as please your majesty.
King John
Go, and the next bough, soldier, that thou seest,
Disgrace it with his body presently:
For I do hold a tree in France too good
To be the gallows of an English thief.
Salisbury
My Lord of Normandy, I have your pass
And warrant for my safety through this land.
Charles
Villiers procur'd it for thee, did he not?
Salisbury
He did.
Charles
And it is current, thou shalt freely pass.
King John
Ay, freely to the gallows to be hang'd,
Without denial or impediment: —
Away with him.
Charles
I hope, your highness will not so disgrace me
And dash the virtue of my seal-at-arms:
He hath my never-broken name to show,
Character'd with this princely hand of mine;
And rather let me leave to be a prince
Than break the stable verdict of a prince:
I do beseech you, let him pass in quiet.
King John
Thou and thy word lie both in my command;
What canst thou promise, that I cannot break?
Which of these twain is greater infamy,
To disobey thy father, or thyself?
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Nor that same man doth never break his word
That keeps it to the utmost of his power:
The breach of faith dwells in the soul's consent:
Which if thyself without consent do break,
Thou art not charged with the breach of faith.
Go, hang him; for thy licence lies in me:
And my constraint stands the excuse for thee.
Charles
What, am I not a soldier in my word?
Then, arms adieu, and let them fight that list:
Shall I not give my girdle from my waist
But with a guardian I shall be controll'd,
To say, I may not give my things away?
Upon my soul, had Edward Prince of Wales
Engag'd his word, writ down his noble hand,
For all your knights to pass his father's land,
The royal king, to grace his warlike son,
Would not alone safe-conduct give to them,
But with all bounty feasted them and theirs.
King John
Dwell'st thou on precedents? Then be it so.
Say, Englishman, of what degree thou art.
Salisbury
An earl in England though a prisoner here;
And those that know me call me Salisbury.
King John
Then, Salisbury, say whither thou art bound.
Salisbury
To Calice, where my liege, King Edward, is.
King John
To Calice, Salisbury? Then to Calice pack;
And bid the king prepare a noble grave
To put his princely son, black Edward, in.
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Some two leagues hence there is a lofty hill,
Whose top seems topless, for the embracing sky
Doth hide his high head in her azure bosom;
Upon whose tall top when thy foot attains,
Look back upon the humble vale beneath,
(Humble of late, but now made proud with arms)
And thence behold the wretched Prince of Wales,
Hoop'd with a band of iron round about.
After which sight to Calice spur amain,
And say, the prince was smotherd and not slain:
And tell the king, this is not all his ill,
For I will greet him ere he thinks I will.
Away, begone; the smoke but of our shot
Will choke our foes, though bullets hit them not.
Exeunt
Scene vi
The Same. A Part of the Field of Battle.
Alarums, as of a battle joined, skirmishings.
Enter Prince Edward and Artois.
How fares-your grace? are you not shot, my lord?
Prince Edward
No, dear Artois; but chok'd with dust and smoke
And stepp'd aside for breath and fresher air.
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Breathe then, and to't again: the amazed French
Are quite distract with gazing on the crows;
And, were our quivers full of shafts again,
Your grace should see a glorious day of this
O, for more arrows! Lord! that's our want.
Prince Edward
Courage, Artois! a fig for feathered shafts
When feathered fowls do bandy on our side!
What need we fight and sweat and keep a coil
When railing crows out-scold our adversaries?
Up, up, Artois! the ground itself is arm'd
[With] fire-containing flint; command our bows
To hurl away their pretty-colour'd yew,
And to't with stones: away, Artois, away;
My soul doth prophesy we win the day.
Exeunt.
Alarums, and Parties skirmishing. Enter King John.
King John
Our multitudes are in themselves confounded,
Dismayed and distraught; swift-starting fear
Hath buzz'd a cold dismay through all our army,
And every petty disadvantage prompts
The fear-possessed abject soul to fly:
Myself, whose spirit is steel to their dull lead
(What with recalling of the prophecy
And that our native stones from English arms
Rebel against us) find myself attainted
With strong surprise of weak and yielding fear.
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Charles
Fly, father, fly! the French do kill the French;
Some that would stand let drive at some that fly:
Our drums strike nothing but discouragement,
Our trumpets sound dishonour and retire;
The spirit of fear, that feareth nought but death,
Cowardly works confusion on itself.
Enter Philip.
Philip
Pluck out your eyes and see not this day's shame!
An arm hath beat an army; one poor David
Hath with a stone foil'd twenty stout Goliahs:
Some twenty naked starvelings with small flints
Have driven back a puissant host of men,
Array'd and fenc'd in all accomplements.
King John
Mordieu, they quoit at us and kill us up;
No less than forty thousand wicked elders
Have forty lean slaves this day ston'd to death.
Charles
O, that I were some-other-countryman!
This day hath set derision on the French,
And all the world will blurt and scorn at us.
King John
What, is there no hope left?
Philip
No hope but death, to bury up our shame.
King John
Make up once more with me; the twentieth part
Of those that live are men enough to quail
The feeble handful on the adverse part.
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Then charge again: if Heaven be not oppos'd,
We cannot lose the day.
King John
On, [on]; away.
Exeunt.
Alarums, etc. Enter Audley, wounded, and two Esquires, his rescuers.
First Esquire
How fares my lord?
Audley
Even as a man may do,
That dines at such a bloody feast as this.
Second Esquire
I hope, my lord, that is no mortal scar.
Audley
No matter, if it be; the count is cast,
And, in the worst, ends but a mortal man.
Good friends, convey me to the princely Edward,
That, in the crimson bravery of my blood,
I may become him with saluting him;
I'll smile and tell him that this open scar
Doth end the harvest of his Audley's war.
Exeunt.
Scene vii
The game. The English Camp.
Flourish. Enter Prince Edward, in triumph, leading prisoners,
King John and his son Charles; and Officers, Soldiers, etc.,
with ensigns spread.
Now, John in France, and lately John of France,
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And you, high-vaunting Charles of Normandy,
That once to-day sent me a horse to fly,
Are now the subjects of my clemency.
Fie, lords! is't not a shame that English boys,
Whose early days are yet not worth a beard,
Should in the bosom of your kingdom thus,
One against twenty, beat you up together?
King John
Thy fortune, not thy force, hath conquer'd us.
Prince Edward
An argument that Heaven aids the right.—
Enter Artois, with Philip.
See, see, Artois doth bring with him along
The late good-counsel-giver to my soul!
Welcome, Artois, and welcome, Philip, too:
Who now, of you or I, have need to pray!
Now is the proverb verified in you,
Too bright a morning breeds a louring day,—
Enter Audley, led by the two Esquires.
But, say, what grim discouragement comes here!
Alas, what thousand armed men of France
Have writ that note of death in Audley's face?—
Speak, thou that woo'st death with thy careless smile
And look'st so merrily upon thy grave
97
What hungry sword hath so bereav'd thy face
And lopp'd a true friend from my loving soul?
Audley
O prince, thy sweet becoming speech to me
Is as a mournful knell to one dead-sick.
Prince Edward
Dear Audley, if my tongue ring out thy end,
My arms shall be thy grave: what may I do,
To win thy life, or to revenge thy death?
If thou wilt drink the blood of captive kings
Or that it were restorative, command
A health of king's blood, and I'll drink to thee
If honour may dispense for thee with death,
The never-dying honour of this day
Share wholly, Audley, to thyself, and live.
Audley
Victorious prince,— that thou art so, behold
A Caesar's fame in kings' captivity, —
If I could hold dim death but at a bay,
Till I did see my liege thy royal father,
My soul should yield this castle of my flesh,
This mangled tribute, with all willingness
To darkness, consummation, dust and worms.
Prince Edward
Cheerly, bold man! thy soul is all too proud
To yield her city for one little breach;
Should be divorced from her earthly spouse
By the soft temper of a Frenchman's sword?
Lo, to repair thy life, I give to thee
Three thousand marks a year in English land.
Audley
I take thy gift, to pay the debts I owe.
98
With lusty and dear hazard of their lives;
What thou hast given me, I give to them;
And, as thou lov'st me, prince, lay thy consent
To this bequeath in my last testament.
Prince Edward
Renowned Audley, live, and have from me
This gift twice doubled, to these squires and thee:
But, live or die, what thou hast given away,
To these and theirs shall lasting freedom stay.—
Come, gentlemen, I'll see my friend bestow'd
Within an easy litter; then we'll march
Proudly toward Calice with triumphant pace
Unto my royal father, and there bring
The tribute of my wars, fair France's king.
Exeunt.
| Edward the Third / edited with a preface, notes and glossary by G. C.
Moore Smith. | |