Read The Complete Plays Online
Authors: Christopher Marlowe
50Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Where weapons want; and, though a many friends
Are
made away
â as Warwick, Lancaster,
And others of our party and faction â
Yet have we friends, assure your grace, in England
Would
cast up caps
and clap their hands for joy
To see us there
appointed for
our foes.
KENT
Would all were well, and Edward well reclaimed
For England's honour, peace, and quietness!
MORTIMER
But by the sword, my lord, it must be deserved.
60Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The king will ne'er forsake his flatterers.
SIR JOHN
My lords of England, sith the ungentle king
Of France refuseth to give aid of arms
To this distressèd queen his sister here,
Go you with her to Hainault. Doubt ye not
We will find comfort, money, men, and friends
Ere long
to bid
the English king a base.
How say, young prince, what think you of the
match
?
PRINCE
I think King Edward will outrun us all.
QUEEN
Nay, son, not so, and you must not discourage
70Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Your friends that are so forward in your aid.
KENT
Sir John of Hainault, pardon us, I pray.
These comforts that you give our woeful queen
Bind us in kindness all at your command.
QUEEN
Yea, gentle
brother
, and the God of heaven
Prosper your happy
motion
, good Sir John!
MORTIMER
This noble gentleman,
forward in arms
,
Was born, I see, to be our anchor-hold.
Sir John of Hainault, be it thy renown
That England's queen and nobles in distress
80Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Have been by thee restored and comforted.
SIR JOHN
Madam, along, and you, my lord, with me,
That England's peers may Hainault's welcome see.
[
Exeunt
.]
Enter the
KING, ARUNDEL
,
the
TWO SPENCERS
,
with others
.
EDWARD
Thus after many threats of wrathful war
Triumpheth England's Edward with his friends;
And triumph Edward, with his friends uncontrolled.
My lord of Gloucester, do you hear the news?
SPENCER
What news, my lord?
EDWARD
Why, man, they say there is great execution
Done through the realm. My lord of Arundel,
You have the
note
, have you not?
ARUNDEL
From the lieutenant of the Tower, my lord.
EDWARD
I pray let us see it. What have we there?
10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Read it, Spencer.
SPENCER
[
JUNIOR
]
reads their names
.
Why so, they
barked apace
a month ago;
Now, on my life, they'll neither bark nor bite.
Now, sirs, the news from France. Gloucester, I trow
The lords of France love England's gold so well
As Isabella gets no aid from thence.
What now remains? Have you proclaimed, my lord,
Reward for them can bring in Mortimer?
SPENCER
My lord, we have, and if he be in England,
20Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
'A will be had
ere long, I doubt it not.
EDWARD
âIf, dost thou say? Spencer, as true as death,
He is in England's ground. Our port-masters
Are not so careless of their king's command.
Enter a
POST
[
with letters
].
How now, what news with thee? From whence come these?
POST
Letters, my lord, and tidings forth of France,
To you, my lord of Gloucester, from Levune.
EDWARD
Read.
SPENCER
[
JUNIOR
]
reads the letter
.
SPENCER
âMy duty to your honour
promised
, etc. I have, according
to instructions in that behalf, dealt with the King of France
30Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â his lords, and effected that the queen, all discontented and
discomforted, is gone; whither, if you ask, with Sir John of
Hainault, brother to the marquis, into Flanders. With them
are gone Lord Edmund and the Lord Mortimer, having in
their company divers of your nation and others; and, as
constant report goeth, they intend to give King Edward battle
in England sooner than he can look for them. This is all the
news of import.
Your honour's
in all service, Levune.'
EDWARD
Ah, villains, hath that Mortimer escaped?
40Â Â Â Â Â Â Â With him is Edmund gone associate?
And will Sir John of Hainault
lead the round
?
Welcome,
a'
God's name, madam, and your son.
England shall welcome you and all your
rout
.
Gallop apace, bright Phoebus, through the sky,
And dusky night, in rusty iron car,
Between you both shorten the time, I pray,
That I may see that most desirèd day
When we may meet these traitors in the field.
Ah, nothing grieves me but my little boy
50Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Is thus misled to countenance their ills.
Come, friends, to Bristol, there to make us strong;
And, winds, as
equal
be to bring them in
As you injurious were to bear them forth.
[
Exeunt
.]
Enter the
QUEEN
,
her son
[
PRINCE EDWARD
],
EDMUND
[
EARL OF KENT
],
MORTIMER
[
JUNIOR
],
and
SIR JOHN
[
OF HAINAULT
],
QUEEN
Now, lords, our loving friends and countrymen,
Welcome to England all with prosperous winds.
Our kindest friends in
Belgia
have we left
To
cope with
friends at home â a heavy case,
When force to force is knit, and sword and glaive
In civil broils makes kin and countrymen
Slaughter themselves in others, and their sides
With their own weapons gored. But what's the help?
Misgoverned kings are cause of all this wrack,
And, Edward, thou art one among them all
10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Whose looseness hath betrayed thy land to spoil
And made the channels overflow with blood.
Of thine own people patron shouldst thou be,
But thou â
MORTIMER
Nay, madam, if you be a warrior,
Yet must not grow so passionate in speeches.
Lords, sith that we are by sufferance of heaven
Arrived and armèd in this prince's right,
Here for our country's cause swear we to him
All homage, fealty, and forwardness;
And, for the open wrongs and injuries
20Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Edward hath done to us, his queen, and land,
We come in arms to wreck it with the sword,
That England's queen in peace may repossess
Her dignities and honours, and withal
We may remove these flatterers from the king
That
havocs
England's wealth and treasury.
SIR JOHN
Sound trumpets, my lord, and forward let us march.
Edward will think we come to flatter him.
KENT
I would he never had been flattered more.
[
Trumpets sound. Exeunt
.]
Enter the
KING, BALDOCK
,
and
SPENCER THE SON
,
flying about
the stage
.
SPENCER
Fly, fly, my lord! The queen is over-strong;
Her friends do multiply, and yours do fail.
Shape we our course to Ireland, there to breathe.
EDWARD
What, was I born to fly and run away,
5Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â And leave the Mortimers conquerors behind?
Give me my horse, and let's
r'enforce
our troops,
And in this
bed of honour
die with fame.
BALDOCK
O no, my lord, this princely resolution
Fits not the time. Away! We are pursued.
[
Exeunt
.]
[
Enter
]
EDMUND
[
EARL OF KENT
]
alone, with a sword and target
.
KENT
This way he fled, but I am come too late.
Edward, alas, my heart relents for thee.
Proud traitor, Mortimer, why dost thou chase
Thy lawful king, thy sovereign, with thy sword,
Vile wretch, and why hast thou, of all unkind,
Borne arms against thy brother and thy king?
Rain showers of vengeance on my cursèd head,
Thou God, to whom in justice it belongs
To punish this unnatural revolt!
Edward, this Mortimer aims at thy life;
10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â O, fly him, then! But, Edmund, calm this rage.
Dissemble or thou diest, for Mortimer
And Isabel do kiss while they conspire;
And yet she bears a face of love, forsooth.
Fie on that love that hatcheth death and hate!
Edmund, away.
Bristol
to Longshanks' blood
Is false.
Be
not found single for suspect;
Proud Mortimer pries near into thy walks.
Enter the
QUEEN, MORTIMER
[
JUNIOR
],
the young
PRINCE
[
EDWARD
],
and
SIR JOHN OF HAINAULT
.
QUEEN
Successful battles gives the God of kings
To them that fight in right and fear his wrath.
20Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Since then successfully we have prevailed,
Thanks be heaven's great architect and you.
Ere farther we proceed, my noble lords,
We here create our well-belovèd son,
Of love and care unto his royal person,
Lord Warden of the realm; and sith the Fates
Have made his father so infortunate,
Deal you, my lords, in this, my loving lords,
As to your wisdoms fittest seems in all.
KENT
Madam, without offence if I may ask,
30Â Â Â Â Â Â Â How will you deal with Edward in his fall?
PRINCE
Tell me, good uncle, what Edward do you mean?
KENT
Nephew, your father; I dare not call him king.
MORTIMER
My lord of Kent, what needs these questions?
'Tis not in her controlment, nor in ours,
But as the realm and Parliament shall please,
So shall your brother be disposèd of.
[
Aside to the
QUEEN
]
I like not this relenting mood in Edmund.
Madam, 'tis good to look to him betimes.
QUEEN
[
to
MORTIMER JUNIOR
]
40Â Â Â Â Â Â Â My lord, the Mayor of Bristol knows our mind.
MORTIMER
Yea, madam, and they 'scape not easily
That fled the field.
QUEEN
           Baldock is with the king;
A goodly chancellor
, is he not, my lord?
SIR JOHN
So are the Spencers, the father and the son.
KENT
[
aside
]
This Edward is the ruin of the realm.
Enter
RICE
ap
HOWELL
and the
MAYOR OF BRISTOL
,
with
SPENCER THE FATHER
[
captive, and
GUARDS
].
RICE
ap
HOWELL
God save Queen Isabel and her princely son!
Madam, the mayor and citizens of Bristol,
In sign of love and duty to
this presence
,
Present by me this traitor to the state:
50Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Spencer, the father to that wanton Spencer
That like the lawless Catiline of Rome
Revelled in England's wealth and treasury.
QUEEN
We thank you all.
MORTIMER
         Your loving care in this
Deserveth princely favours and rewards.
But where's the king and the other Spencer fled?
RICE
ap
HOWELL
Spencer the son, created earl of Gloucester,
Is with that smooth-tongued scholar Baldock gone
And shipped but late for Ireland with the king.
MORTIMER
Some whirlwind fetch them back or sink them all!
60Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â They shall be
started thence
, I doubt it not.
PRINCE
Shall I not see the king my father yet?
KENT
[
aside
]
Unhappy Edward, chased from England's bounds!
SIR JOHN
Madam, what resteth? Why stand ye
in a muse
?
QUEEN
I rue my lord's ill fortune; but alas,
Care of my country called me to this war.
MORTIMER
Madam, have done with care and sad complaint;
Your king hath wronged your country and himself,