Himself imprisoned, and his goods asseized: [Exit Messenger. Lan. My lord, will you take arms against the king? Archbish. What need I? God himself is up in arms, 40 When violence is offered to the church. Y. Mor. Then will you join with us, that be his peers, To banish or behead that Gaveston? Archbish. What else, my lords? for it concerns me near ; The bishoprick of Coventry is his. Enter QUEEN ISABELLA. Y. Mor. Madam, whither walks your majesty so fast? To live in grief and baleful discontent; He claps his cheek, and hangs about his neck, 50 E. Mor. Is it not strange, that he is thus bewitched? Y. Mor. Madam, return unto the court again : That sly inveigling Frenchman we'll exile, Or lose our lives; and yet ere that day come 1 It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that there is an allusion to any particular forest. What the queen means is that she is seeking solitude. The king shall lose his crown ; for we have power, 60 Archbish. But yet lift not your swords against the king. Lan. No; but we will lift Gaveston from hence. War. And war must be the means, or he'll stay still. Queen. Then let him stay; for rather than my lord Shall be oppressed with civil mutinies, I will endure a melancholy life, And let him frolic with his minion. Archbish. My lords, to ease all this, but hear me speak : We and the rest, that are his counsellors, 70 Will meet, and with a general consent Y. Mor. Content. [Archbish.] And, in the meantime, I'll entreat you all To cross to Lambeth, and there stay with me, Lan. Come then, let's away. Y. Mor. Madam, farewell! Queen. Farewell, sweet Mortimer; and, for my sake, Forbear to levy arms against the king. Y. Mor. I, if words will serve; if not, I must. 80 [Exeunt. SCENE III. Enter GAVESTON and the EARL of KENT. Gav. Edmund, the mighty prince of Lancaster, [Exeunt. SCENE IV. Enter 2 NOBLES and the ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY. Lan. Here is the form of Gaveston's exile: May it please your lordship to subscribe your name. [He subscribes, as the others do after him. Enter the KING, GAVESTON, and KENT. Edw. What, are you moved that Gaveston sits here? It is our pleasure, and we will have it so. 1 Scene: a street. Scene: the New Temple (cf. 11. 74-5 of scene ii.). At the entrance of the king we are to suppose a change of scene. Lan. Your grace doth well to place him by your side, 10 For nowhere else the new earl is so safe. E. Mor. What man of noble birth can brook this sight? Quam male conveniunt !1 See what a scornful look the peasant casts! Pem. Can kingly lions fawn on creeping ants? Aspir'st unto the guidance of the sun. Y. Mor. Their downfall is at hand, their forces down: We will not thus be faced and over-peered. Edw. Lay hands on 2 that traitor Mortimer! 20 E. Mor. Lay hands on that traitor Gaveston! die. E. Mor. We are no traitors; therefore threaten not. Gav. No, threaten not, my lord, but pay them home! Were I a king Y. Mor. Thou villain, wherefore talk'st thou of a king, That hardly art a gentleman by birth? Edw. Were he a peasant, being my minion, I'll make the proudest of you stoop to him. 30 1 Was the poet thinking of Ovid, 'Non bene conveniunt,' &c. Met. ii. 846?"-Dyce. * Perhaps we should read "upon" but "traitor" may be pronounced as a trisyllable by inserting a vowel sound before the first r. |