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 suits 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,
Than shall your charge committed to my trust.
QUEEN. Ah, boy! this towardness makes thy
Thou art not mark'd to many days on earth.
EDW. Madam, we will that you with speed be
shipp'd,
And this our son; Levune shall follow you
With all the haste we can dispatch him hence.
Chuse of our lords to bear you company,
And go in peace, leave us in wars at home.
QUEEN. Unnatural wars, where subjects brave
their king;
God end them once. My lord, I take my leave,
To make my preparation for France.
EDW. What, lord Matrevis, dost thou come alone?
MAT. Yea, my good lord, for Gaveston is dead. Ebw. Ah, traitors! have they put my friend to death?
Tell me, Matrevis, died he e'er thou cam❜st,
Or didst thou see my friend to take his death? MAT. Neither, my lord; for as he was surpriz'd; 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.
EDW. And tell me, would the rebels deny me that? Y. SPEN. Proud recreants!
EDW. Yea, Spencer, traitors all.
MAT. I found them at first inexorable;
The earl of Warwick would not bide the hearing,
Mortimer hardly, Pembroke and Lancaster
Spake least: and when they flatly had deny'd,
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 return'd,
I will this undertake to have him hence,
And see him re-deliver'd to your hands.
Edw. Well, and how fortunes that he came not?
Y. SPEN. Some treason, or some villany was the
MAT. The earl of Warwick seiz'd him on his way. For being deliver'd 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 Struck off his head, and march'd unto the camp. Y. SPEN. A bloody part, flatly 'gainst 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 unreveng'd murder your friends!
Advance your standard, Edward, in the field,
And march to fire them from their starting holes.
[Edward kneels.
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!
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.
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
On your accursed 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 out of our love we do create thee
Earl of Glou'ster, and lord chamberlain,
Despite of time, despite of enemies.
Y. SPEN. Mylord here's a messenger from une barons Desires access unto your majesty.
Enter the HERALD from the Barons, with his coat
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 accomplices, A ranker root of rebels never was.
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 ;
That from your princely person you remove
This Spencer, as a putrifying branch,
That deads the royal vine, whose golden leaves
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,
Are to your highness vow'd 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
Spencer from me-Now get thee to thy lords,
And tell them I will come to chastise them
For murthering Gaveston: hie thee! get thee gone!
Edward, with fire and sword, follows at thy heels.
My lord, 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.
Enter the KING, Old SPENCER, Young SPENCER, and the Noblemen of the King's side.
EDW. Why do we sound retreat? upon them,
This day I shall pour vengeance with my sword
On those proud rebels that are up in arms,
And do confront and countermand their king.
Y. SPEN. I doubt it not, my lord, right will prevail.
O. SPEN. 'Tis not amiss, my liege, for either part
To breathe awhile; our men, with sweat and dust
All chok'd well near, begin to faint for heat;
And this retire refresheth horse and man.
Y. SPEN. Here come the rebels.
|