Edward II offers compelling evidence of the way that the Elizabethan theatres provided a forum for the representation and analysis of political and social circumstances that had an immediate resonance for their audiences. It may at first seem strange that a history play should perform this function, dealing, as Edward II does, with the events of two and a half centuries before; yet Tudor ‘history’ was conspicuously concerned (as perhaps the discipline of history always is) with the fashioning and interpretation of events, rather than the provision of a mere record, or still less, an objective account. Tudor intellectuals were obsessively interested in stories of the past and employed a variety of cultural forms in order to shape them, ranging from the chronicles of Ralph Holinshed (d. 1580) and John Stowe (c. 1525-1605), to the extended homage to the genealogy of Elizabeth I that is The Faerie Queene (1590-96), the epic poem by Edmund Spenser (1552-99). By the time Edward II was first staged, Shakespeare had completed the three parts of Henry VI, and his Richard III, celebrating the Tudors’ overthrowing of a demonised Richard, appeared at roughly the same time as Marlowe’s play.
As a medium for ‘history’, the theatre was an unstable and highly suggestive cultural institution. One of the many reservations that Elizabethan critics had about the theatre was that it allowed men to dress and behave like kings, implicity demystifying (and in a public arena to boot) the aura of divinity that successful monarchs had so carefully cultivated. Moreover, the theatre condensed or extracted themes that were pertinent to its audiences, so that a play like Edward II spoke to them of issues that were extremely topical and sensitive in an intimate and unsettling way. It is no wonder, for example, that Elizabeth considered that Shakespeare’s Richard II, a play often compared to Edward II for its portrayal of the undermining power of favourites, suggested something of the circle of influence in her own court.
Marlowe’s depiction of Edward as a weak king unable to mediate between his personal desires and his public duty sets up a number of conflicts that might have seemed entirely relevant in late Tudor England. The figure of Gaveston embodies a number of ‘alien’ values and characteristics in the dramatic world of the play that were also a cause of anxiety in the Elizabethan court; as such, he is a kind of catalyst, provoking reaction and conflict which show the deep fault-lines within sovereignty itself. First, there is Gaveston’s foreignness: Marlowe is at pains to emphasise his French origins and Italian clothes and manners, in a framework of references that serves to distinguish him from the English court. This might have endorsed the contemporary post-Armada suspicion of foreign influence that dominated Tudor domestic and foreign policy. In fact the play is also laced with anti-Catholic sentiment that positions it ideologically in the realm of late sixteenth-century Reformation thinking rather than in its historical medieval setting. Edward’s tirade against Rome’s interference in English affairs (I.iv.97-105) may, when the play was first performed, have served to reinforce popular Tudor feeling against residual Catholic support and the increasing intolerance of established church structures.
Second is the question of Gaveston’s social rank. Few plays of the period are quite as centred on questions of tide and family; the barons’ response (III.ii.65-7) to Edward’s casual bestowal of tides on the lowly Gaveston (I.i.154-6) disrupts the feudal certainties of the historical world of the play, but begged questions too about the distribution of power and favour that also dominated the court of Elizabeth. Edward’s indulgence of his favourite threatened the institutions that monarchy was supposed to endorse and perpetuate, showing how susceptible these were to personal whim and political expedience, but it also raised the historical spectre of the divided kingdom, a spectre that haunted Tudor administrations from a more recent past.
For modern audiences the play’s forthright presentation of homosexuality is perhaps the most striking element of the play. Sodomy was a capital offence in Marlowe’s time, but not, surprisingly perhaps, the taboo subject oflater centuries. Although the nobles are quick to describe Edward’s desires as unnatural, it is not his passion itself that offends so much as the transgression of social hierarchies. Indeed, Mortimer Senior cites Alexander, Hercules, Achilles, Tully and Socrates as great men who had their ‘minions’, and hopes that, as far as Edward is concerned, ‘riper years will wean him from such toys’ (I.iv.4o2). The play contains scenes of verbal and physical homosexual exchange that would have offended the censors of the twentieth-century theatre; in the twenty-first century the play asks us to examine Tudor codes of friendship (and the classical models the Tudors admired) for evidence of a discontinuity in the treatment of homosexuality across the centuries.
Edward II emerges as a radical play that would have disturbed and challenged its Elizabethan audiences. Its dramatic enactment of the deposition and murder of a king, its investigation of the cycle and circles of sovereignty, and its examination of the power of rhetoric to shape social and political realities, all lead to a question that was constantly debated in Marlowe’s time, especially as Elizabeth aged and the problem of the succession loomed: if a monarch’s power is derived from God, what rights have their subjects? At the end of Edward II, as a new and unpromising cycle begins with Edward III, the talk is of retribution, fates, tragedy and lost innocence; there is little scope for analysis or reform. It is as if the shockingly graphic death of Edward, and his scream, which (according to Holinshed) ‘did move many within the castle and town of Berkeley to compassion’, has reduced language itself to a formulaic dullness, leaving the audience to open debate about the issues that the play itself closes down.
This edition is based on the octavo edition of 1594, the single copy of which is held by the Zentralbibliothek in Zurich in Switzerland (referred to in the footnotes to the text as Q). Some improvements to punctuation and spelling were made in subsequent editions in 1598, 1612 and 1622. We have followed other editors in introducing act and scene divisions, and in addressing the many inconsistencies in stage directions, speech prefixes and place names that appear in the early editions. Extracts from the principal source for the play, Ralph Holinshed’s Chronicles (1577), and other related documents are usefully reproduced in the edition of the play by Charles Forker.
Bevington, David and Rasmussen, Eric (eds) (1995) Doctor Faustus and Other Plays, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dyce, Alexander (ed.) (1850, revised 1858) The Works of Christopher Marlowe, London: William Pickering.
Forker, Charles R. (ed.) (1994) Edward II, The Revels Series, Manchester and New York, NY: Manchester University Press.
Gill, Roma (ed.) (1967) Edward II, London: Oxford University Press.
Kinney, Arthur F. (ed.) (1999) Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, Oxford: Blackwell.
Merchant, Moelwyn (ed.) (1967) Edward II, The New Mermaids, London: Ernest Benn.
Steane, J. B. (ed.) (1986) Christopher Marlowe: The Complete Plays, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Wiggins, Martin and Lindsey, Robert (eds) (1997) Edward II, The New Mermaids, London: A. & C. Black.
Wine, M. L. (ed.) (1969) Drama of the English Renaissance, Modern Library College Editions, New York, NY: Random House.
Belsey, Catherine (1992) ‘Desire’s Excess and the English Renaissance Theatre: Edward II, Troilus and Cressida, Othello’, in Susan Zimmerman (ed.), Erotic Politics: Desire on the Renaissance Stage, New York, NY, and London: Routledge.
Belt, Debra (1991) ‘Anti-Theatricalism and Rhetoric in Marlowe’s Edward II’, English Literary Renaissance, 21, 2: 134-60.
Bredbeck, Gregory W. (1991) Sodomy and Interpretation: Marlowe to Milton, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Cole, Douglas (1962) Suffering and Evil in the Plays of Christopher Marlowe, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Comensoli, Viviana (1993) ‘Homophobia and the Regulation of Desire: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Marlowe’s Edward II’, Journal of the History of Sexuality, 4, 2: 175-200.
Friedenreich, Kenneth, Gill, Roma and Kuriyama, Constance B. (eds) (1988) ‘A Poet and a Filthy Play-Maker’: New Essays on Christopher Marlowe, New York, NY: AMS Press.
Grantley, Darryl and Roberts, Peter (eds) (1996) Christopher Marlowe and English Renaissance Culture, Aldershot: Scholar Press.
Greenblatt, Stephen (1980) Renaissance Self-foshioning: From More to Shakespeare, Chicago, IL, and London: Chicago University Press.
Guybray, S. (1991) ‘Homophobia and the Depoliticizing of Edward II’, English Studies in Canada, 17, 2: 125-49.
Leech, Clifford (1986) Christopher Marlowe: Poet for the Stage, New York, NY: AMS Press.
Levin, Harry (1954) The Overreacher: A Study of Christopher Marlowe, London: Faber & Faber.
McCloskey, Susan (1985) ‘The Worlds of Edward II’, Renaissance Drama, 16: 35-48.
McElroy, John F. (1984) ‘Repetition, Contrariety, and Individualism in Edward II’, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 24, 2: 205-24.
Parks, J. (1999) ‘History, Tragedy and Truth in Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II’, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 39, 2: 275-90.
Purkiss, Diane (1994) Renaissance Women: The Plays of Elizabeth Cary, The Poems of Aemilia Canter, London: William Pickering.
Ryan, P. (1998) ‘Marlowe’s Edward II and the Medieval Passion Play’, Comparative Drama, 32, 4: 465-95.
Sanders, Wilbur (1968) The Dramatist and the Received Idea: Studies in the Plays of Marlowe and Shakespeare, London: Cambridge University Press.
Simkin, Stevie (2000) A Prefoce to Marlowe, Harlow: Longman.
Smith, Bruce R. (1991) Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare’s England, Chicago, IL, and London: Chicago University Press.
Thurn, David H. (1990) ‘Sovereignty, Disorder, and Fetishism in Marlowe’s Edward II’, Renaissance Drama, new series 21: 115-41.
Voss, James (1982) ‘Edward II: Marlowe’s Historical Tragedy’, English Studies, 63, 6: 517-3o.
Weil, Judith (1977) Christopher Marlowe: Merlin’s Prophet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, Richard (ed.) (1999) Christopher Marlowe, Harlow: Longman.
Anon., The Famous Victories of Henry V (1586)
William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Parts I, II and III (1590-1)
George Peele, Edward I (1591)
Anon.,Jack Straw (1591)
Anon., Arden of Faversham (1592)
Anon., Thomas of Woodstock (1592)
William Shakespeare, Richard III (1593)
William Shakespeare, Richard II (1595)
Anthony Munday et al., Sir Thomas More (1595)
William Shakespeare, King john (1596)
William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Parts I and II (1597)
William Shakespeare, Henry V (1599)
Thomas Heywood et al., Edward IV, Parts I and II (1599)
Ben Jonson, The Masque of Blackness (1605)
John Fletcher and William Shakespeare, Henry VIII (1613)
Elizabeth Cary, The Raign and Death of Edward II(1626) [extracted in Purkiss 1994]
John Ford, Perkin Warbeck (1633)
ENGLAND AND FRANCE
Enter GAVESTON reading on a letter that was brought him from the King
GAVESTON ’My father is deceased; come, Gaveston,
And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend.’
Ah, words that make me surfeit with delight!
What greater bliss can hap to Gaveston,
Than live and be the favourite of a king?
Sweet prince, I come; these, these thy amorous lines
Might have enforced me to have swum from France,
And, like Leander, gasped upon the sand,
So thou wouldst smile and take me in thy arms.
The sight of London to my exiled eyes 10
Is as Elysium to a new-come soul;
Not that I love the city or the men,
But that it harbours him I hold so dear,
The King, upon whose bosom let me die,
And with the world be still at enmity.
What need the arctic people love starlight,
To whom the sun shines both by day and night?
Farewell, base stooping to the lordly peers;
My knee shall bow to none but to the King.
As for the multitude, that are but sparks 20
Raked up in embers of their poverty,
Tanti! I’ll fan first on the wind
That glanceth at my lips and flieth away.
Enter THREE POOR MEN
But how now, what are these?
POOR MEN Such as desire your worship’s service.
GAVESTON What canst thou do?
I POOR MAN I can ride.
GAVESTON But I have no horses. What art thou?
2 POOR MAN A traveller. 29
GAVESTON Let me see, thou wouldst do well to wait at my trencher and tell me lies at dinner-time; and, as I like your discoursing, I’ll have you. And what art thou?
3 POOR MAN A soldier, that hath served against the Scot.
GAVESTON Why, there are hospitals for such as you;
I have no war, and therefore, sir, be gone.
3 POOR MAN Farewell, and perish by a soldier’s hand,
That wouldst reward them with an hospital.
GAVESTON (Aside) Ay, ay. These words of his move me as much
As if a goose should play the porcupine, 40
And dart her plumes, thinking to pierce my breast.
But yet it is no pain to speak men fair;
I’ll flatter these, and make them live in hope.
(To them) You know that I came lately out of France,
And yet I have not viewed my lord the King;
If I speed well, I’ll entertain you all.
POOR MEN We thank your worship.
GAVESTON I have some business; leave me to myself.
POOR MEN We will wait here about the court.
Exeunt
GAVESTON Do. These are not men for me; 50
I must have wanton poets, pleasant wits,
Musicians, that with touching of a string
May draw the pliant King which way I please.
Music and poetry is his delight;
Therefore I’ll have Italian masques by night,
Sweet speeches, comedies, and pleasing shows;
And in the day when he shall walk abroad,
Like sylvan nymphs my pages shall be clad,
My men like satyrs grazing on the lawns
Shall with their goat-feet dance an antic hay; 60
Sometime a lovely boy in Dian’s shape,
With hair that gilds the water as it glides,
Crownets of pearl about his naked arms,
And in his sportful hands an olive tree
To hide those parts which men delight to see,
Shall bathe him in a spring; and there hard by,
One like Actaeon peeping through the grove,
Shall by the angry goddess be transformed,
And running in the likeness of an hart,
By yelping hounds pulled down, and seem to die. 70
Such things as these best please his majesty.
My lord! Here comes the King and the nobles
From the parliament; I’ll stand aside.
Enter EDWARD THE KING, LANCASTER, MORTIMER SENIOR, MORTIMER JUNIOR, EDMUND, EARL OF KENT, GUY, EARL OF WARWICK, and attendants
EDWARD Lancaster.
LANCASTER My lord?
GAVESTON (Aside) That Earl of Lancaster do I abhor.
EDWARD Will you not grant me this? (Aside) In spite of them
I’ll have my will, and these two Mortimers
That cross me thus shall know I am displeased.
MORTIMER SENIOR If you love us, my lord, hate Gaveston. 80
GAVESTON (Aside) That villain Mortimer, I’ll be his death.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Mine uncle here, this earl, and I myself
Were sworn to your father at his death,
That he should ne’er return into the realm;
And know, my lord, ere I will break my oath,
This sword of mine that should offend your foes,
Shall sleep within the scabbard at thy need,
And underneath thy banners march who will,
For Mortimer will hang his armour up.
GAVESTON (Aside) Mort Dieu! 90
EDWARD Well Mortimer, I’ll make thee rue these words.
Beseems it thee to contradict thy king?
Frownst thou thereat, aspiring Lancaster?
The sword shall plane the furrows of thy brows
And hew these knees that now are grown so stiff.
I will have Gaveston; and you shall know
What danger ‘tis to stand against your king.
GAVESTON (Aside) Well done, Ned.
LANCASTER My lord, why do you thus incense your peers
That naturally would love and honour you, 100
But for that base and obscure Gaveston?
Four earldoms have I besides Lancaster:
Derby, Salisbuty, Lincoln, Leicester.
These will I sell to give my soldiers pay,
Ere Gaveston shall stay within the realm.
Therefore if he be come, expel him straight.
KENT Barons and earls, your pride hath made me mute.
But now I’ll speak, and to the proof I hope:
I do remember in my father’s days,
Lord Percy of the North, being highly moved, 110
Braved Mowbery in presence of the King.
For which, had not his highness loved him well,
He should have lost his head, but with his look
The undaunted spirit of Percy was appeased,
And Mowbety and he were reconciled.
Yet dare you brave the King unto his face?
Brother, revenge it; and let these their heads
Preach upon poles for trespass of their tongues.
WARWICK O, our heads!
EDWARD Ay, yours; and therefore I would wish you grant. 120
WARWICK Bridle thy anger, gentle Mortimer.
MORTIMER JUNIOR I cannot, nor I will not; I must speak.
Cousin, our hands I hope shall fence our heads,
And strike off his that makes you threaten us.
Come uncle, let us leave the brainsick King,
And henceforth parley with our naked swords.
MORTIMER SENIOR Welshty hath men enough to save our heads.
WARWICK All Warwickshire will love him for my sake.
LANCASTER And northward Gaveston hath many friends.
Adieu my lord; and either change your mind, 130
Or look to see the throne where you should sit
To float in blood, and at thy wanton head
The glozing head of thy base minion thrown.
Exeunt NOBLES except KENT
EDWARD I cannot brook these haughty menaces:
Am I a king and must be overruled?
Brother, display my ensigns in the field.
I’ll bandy with the barons and the earls,
And either die or live with Gaveston.
GAVESTON I can no longer keep me from my lord. 139
He steps forward
EDWARD What, Gaveston! Welcome! Kiss not my hand;
Embrace me, Gaveston, as I do thee!
Why shouldst thou kneel; knowest thou not who I am?
Thy friend, thy self, another Gaveston!
Not Hylas was more mourned of Hercules
Than thou hast been of me since thy exile.
GAVESTON And since I went from hence, no soul in hell
Hath felt more torment than poor Gaveston.
EDWARD I know it. (To KENT) Brother, welcome home my friend.
(To GAVESTON) Now let the treacherous Mortimers conspire,
And that high-minded Earl of Lancaster. 150
I have my wish, in that I joy thy sight,
And sooner shall the sea o’erwhelm my land
Than bear the ship that shall transport thee hence.
I here create thee Lord High Chamberlain,
Chief Secretary to the state and me,
Earl of Cornwall, King and Lord of Man.
GAVESTON My lord, these titles far exceed my worth.
KENT Brother, the least of these may well suffice
For one of greater birth than Gaveston. 159
EDWARD Cease brother for I cannot brook these words.
(To GAVESTON) Thy worth, sweet friend, is far above my gifts,
Therefore to equal it, receive my heart.
If for these dignities thou be envied,
I’ll give thee more, for but to honour thee
Is Edward pleased with kingly regiment.
Fear’st thou thy person? Thou shalt have a guard.
Wants thou gold? Go to my treasury.
Wouldst thou be loved and feared? Receive my seal,
Save or condemn, and in our name command
What so thy mind affects or fancy likes. 170
GAVESTON It shall suffice me to enjoy your love,
Which whiles I have, I think myself as great
As Caesar riding in the Roman street,
With captive kings at his triumphant car.
Enter the BISHOP OF COVENTRY
EDWARD Whither goes my lord of Coventry so fast?
BISHOP OF COVENTRY To celebrate your father’s exequies.
But is that wicked Gaveston returned?
EDWARD Ay, priest, and lives to be revenged on thee
That wert the only cause of his exile.
GAVESTON ’Tis true, and but for reverence of these robes 180
Thou shouldst not plod one foot beyond this place.
BISHOP OF COVENTRY I did no more than I was bound to do;
And Gaveston, unless thou be reclaimed,
As then I did incense the parliament,
So will I now, and thou shalt back to France.
GAVESTON Saving your reverence, you must pardon me.
EDWARD Throw off his golden mitre, rend his stole,
And in the channel christen him anew.
Attacks COVENTRY
KENT Ah brother, lay not violent hands on him,
For he’ll complain unto the See of Rome. 190
GAVESTON Let him complain unto the See of Hell;
I’ll be revenged on him for my exile.
EDWARD No, spare his life, but seize upon his goods.
Be thou lord bishop, and receive his rents,
And make him serve thee as thy chaplain.
I give him thee; here, use him as thou wilt.
GAVESTON He shall to prison, and there die in bolts.
EDWARD Ay, to the Tower, the Fleet, or where thou wilt.
BISHOP OF COVENTRY For this offence be thou accursed of God.
EDWARD Who’s there?
Enter GUARDS
Convey this priest to the Tower.
Exit BISHOP under guard
EDWARD But in the meantime Gaveston, away, 201
And take possession of his house and goods.
Come, follow me, and thou shalt have my guard
To see it done and bring thee safe again.
GAVESTON What should a priest do with so fair a house?
A prison may beseem his holiness.
Exeunt
Enter both the MORTIMERS on one side, WARWICK, and LANCASTER on the other
WARWICK ’Tis true, the Bishop is in the Tower,
And goods and body given to Gaveston.
LANCASTER What, will they tyrannize upon the Church?
Ah, wicked King! Accursed Gaveston!
This ground which is corrupted with their steps
Shall be their timeless sepulchre, or mine.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Well, let that peevish Frenchman guard him sure;
Unless his breast be sword-proofhe shall die.
MORTIMER SENIOR How now, why droops the Earl of Lancaster?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Wherefore is Guy of Warwick discontent? 10
LANCASTER That villain Gaveston is made an earl.
MORTIMER SENIOR An earl!
WARWICK Ay, and besides, Lord Chamberlain of the realm,
And Secretary too, and Lord of Man.
MORTIMER SENIOR We may not, nor we will not suffer this.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Why post we not from hence to levy men?
LANCASTER ’My Lord of Cornwall’ now at every word;
And happy is the man whom he vouchsafes
For vailing of his bonnet one good look.
Thus, arm in arm, the King and he doth march— 20
Nay more, the guard upon his lordship waits,
And all the court begins to flatter him.
WARWICK Thus leaning on the shoulder of the King,
He nods, and scorns, and smiles at those that pass.
MORTIMER SENIOR Doth no man take exceptions at the slave?
LANCASTER All stomach him, but none dare speak a word.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Ah, that bewrays their baseness, Lancaster.
Were all the earls and barons of my mind,
We’ll hale him from the bosom of the King,
And at the court gate hang the peasant up, 30
Who, swoll’n with venom of ambitious pride,
Will be the ruin of the realm and us.
Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, talking to a CHAPLAIN
WARWICK Here comes my Lord of Canterbury’s grace.
LANCASTER His countenance bewrays he is displeased.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY (To CHAPLAIN) First were his sacred garments rent and torn,
Then laid they violent hands upon him next,
Himself imprisoned and his goods asseized;
This certifY the Pope. Away, take horse!
Exit CHAPLAIN
LANCASTER My lord, will you take arms against the King?
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY What need God himself is up in arms 40
When violence is offered to the Church.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Then will you join with us that be his peers
To banish or behead that Gaveston?
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY What else, my lords? For it concerns me near;
The bishopric of Coventry is his.
Enter ISABELLA the Queen
MORTIMER JUNIOR Madam, whither walks your majesty so fast?
ISABELLA Unto the forest, gentle Mortimer,
To live in grief and baleful discontent;
For now my lord the King regards me not,
But dotes upon the love of Gaveston. 50
He claps his cheeks and hangs about his neck,
Smiles in his face and whispers in his ears;
And when I come he frowns, as who should say,
’Go whither thou wilt, seeing I have Gaveston.’
MORTIMER SENIOR Is it not strange that he is thus bewitched?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Madam, return unto the court again.
That sly inveigling Frenchman we’ll exile,
Or lose our lives; and yet, ere that day come,
The King shall lose his crown, for we have power
And courage too, to be revenged at full.60
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY But yet lift not your swords against the King.
LANCASTER No, but we’ll lift Gaveston from hence.
WARWICK And war must be the means, or he’ll stay still.
ISABELLA Then let him stay; for rather than my lord
Shall be oppressed by civil mutinies,
I will endure a melancholy life,
And let him frolic with his minion.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY My lords, to ease all this but hear me speak.
We and the rest that are his councillors
Will meet and with a general consent 70
Confirm his banishment with our hands and seals.
LANCASTER What we confirm the King will frustrate.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Then may we lawfully revolt from him.
WARWICK But say, my lord, where shall this meeting be?
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY At the New Temple.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Content.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY And in the meantime I’ll entreat you all
To cross to Lambeth, and there stay with me.
LANCASTER Come then, let’s away.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Madam, farewell.
ISABELLA Farewell, sweet Mortimer; and for my sake,
Forbear to levy arms against the King. 81
MORTIMER JUNIOR Ay, if words will serve; if not, I must.
Exeunt
Enter GAVESTON and the EARL OF KENT
GAVESTON Edmund, the mighty prince of Lancaster,
That hath more earldoms than an ass can bear,
And both the Mortimers, two goodly men,
With Guy of Warwick, that redoubted knight,
Are gone towards Lambeth; there let them remain.
Exeunt
Enter NOBLES LANCASTER, WARWICK, PEMBROKE, MORTIMER SENIOR, MORTIMER JUNIOR, and the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, with attendants
LANCASTER Here is the form of Gaveston’s exile;
May it please your lordship to subscribe your name.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Give me the paper.
LANCASTER (Ouick, quick, my lord; I long to write my name.
WARWICK But I long more to see him banished hence.
MORTIMER JUNIOR The name of Mortimer shall fright the King,
Unless he be declined from that base peasant.
Enter EDWARD THE KING and GAVESTON and KENT. EDWARD takes the throne, seating GAVESTON at his side
EDWARD What, are you moved that Gaveston sits here?
It is our pleasure; we will have it so.
LANCASTER Your grace doth well to place him by your side, 10
For nowhere else the new earl is so safe.
MORTIMER SENIOR What man of noble birth can brook this sight?
See what a scornful look the peasant casts.
PEMBROKE Can kingly lions fawn on creeping ants?
WARWICK Ignoble vassal, that like Phaethon
Aspir’st unto the guidance of the sun.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Their downfall is at hand, their forces down;
We will not thus be faced and over-peered.
EDWARD Lay hands on that traitor Mortimer! 20
MORTIMER SENIOR Lay hands on that traitor Gaveston!
The NOBLES draw their swords
KENT Is this the duty that you owe your king?
WARWICK We know our duties; let him know his peers.
The NOBLES seize GAVESTON
EDWARD Whither will you bear him? Stay, or ye shall die.
MORTIMER SENIOR We are no traitors, therefore threaten not.
GAVESTON No, threaten not, my lord, but pay them home.
Were I a king—
MORTIMER JUNIOR Thou villain, wherefore talks thou of a king,
That hardly art a gentleman by birth?
EDWARD Were he a peasant, being my minion, 30
I’ll make the proudest of you stoop to him.
LANCASTER My lord, you may not thus disparage us.
Away, I say, with hateful Gaveston.
MORTIMER SENIOR And with the Earl of Kent that favours him.
Exeunt GAVESTON and KENT under guard
EDWARD Nay, then lay violent hands upon your king.
Here, Mortimer, sit thou in Edward’s throne;
Warwick and Lancaster, wear you my crown.
Was ever king thus overruled as I?
LANCASTER Learn then to rule us better and the realm.
MORTIMER JUNIOR What we have done, our heart-blood shall maintain. 40
WARWICK Think you that we can brook this upstart pride?
EDWARD Anger and wrathful fury stops my speech.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Why are you moved? Be patient, my lord,
And see what we your councillors have done.
He gives the document of Gaveston s exile to EDWARD
MORTIMER JUNIOR My lords, now let us all be resolute,
And either have our wills or lose our lives.
EDWARD Meet you for this, proud overdaring peers?
Ere my sweet Gaveston shall part from me,
This isle shall fleet upon the ocean
And wander to the unfrequented Inde. 50
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY You know that I am legate to the Pope;
On your allegiance to the See of Rome,
Subscribe as we have done to his exile.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Curse him if he refuse, and then may we
Depose him and elect another king.
EDWARD Ay, there it goes, but yet I will not yield.
Curse me. Depose me. Do the worst you can.
LANCASTER Then linger not, my lord, but do it straight.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Remember how the Bishop was abused;
Either banish him that was the cause thereof, 60
Or I will presently discharge these lords
Of duty and allegiance due to thee.
EDWARD It boots me not to threat; I must speak fair,
The legate of the Pope will be obeyed.
(To CANTERBURY) My lord, you shall be Chancellor of the realm;
Thou Lancaster, High Admiral of our fleet.
Young Mortimer and his uncle shall be earls,
And you, Lord Warwick, President of the North,
(To PEMBROKE) And thou of Wales. If this content you not,
Make several kingdoms of this monarchy, 70
And share it equally amongst you all,
So I may have some nook or corner left
To frolic with my dearest Gaveston.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Nothing shall alter us; we are resolved.
LANCASTER Come, come, subscribe.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Why should you love him whom the world hates so?
EDWARD Because he loves me more than all the world.
Ah, none but rude and savage-minded men
Would seek the ruin of my Gaveston;
You that be noble born should pity him. 80
WARWICK You that are princely born should shake him off.
For shame subscribe, and let the lawn depart.
MORTIMER SENIOR Urge him, my lord.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Are you content to banish him the realm?
EDWARD I see I must, and therefore am content;
Instead of ink, I’ll write it with my tears.
He signs the document
MORTIMER JUNIOR The King is love-sick for his minion.
EDWARD ’Tis done, and now accursèd hand fall off.
LANCASTER Give it me; I’ll have it published in the streets.
MORTIMER JUNIOR I’ll see him presently dispatched away. 90
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Now is my heart at ease.
WARWICK
And so is mine.
PEMBROKE This will be good news to the common sort.
MORTIMER SENIOR Be it or no, he shall not linger here.
Exeunt all, except EDWARD
EDWARD How fast they run to banish him I love;
They would not stir, were it to do me good.
Why should a king be subject to a priest?
Proud Rome, that hatchest such imperial grooms,
For these thy superstitious taper-lights,
Wherewith thy antichristian churches blaze,
I’ll fire thy crazèd buildings and enforce 100
The papal towers to kiss the lowly ground,
With slaughtered priests make Tiber’s channel swell,
And banks raised higher with their sepulchres.
As for the peers that back the clergy thus,
If I be king, not one of them shall live.
Enter GAVESTON
GAVESTON My lord, I hear it whispered everywhere
That I am banished and must fly the land.
EDWARD ’Tis true, sweet Gaveston. O were it false!
The legate of the Pope will have it so,
And thou must hence, or I shall be deposed. 110
But I will reign to be revenged of them,
And therefore, sweet friend, take it patiently.
Live where thou wilt—I’ll send thee gold enough.
And long thou shalt not stay, or if thou dost,
I’ll come to thee; my love shall ne’er decline.
GAVESTON Is all my hope turned to this hell of grief?
EDWARD Rend not my heart with thy too-piercing words.
Thou from this land, I from my self am banished.
GAVESTON To go from hence grieves not poor Gaveston,
But to forsake you, in whose gracious looks 120
The blessedness of Gaveston remains,
For nowhere else seeks he felicity.
EDWARD And only this torments my wretched soul,
That whether I will or no, thou must depart.
Be Governor of Ireland in my stead,
And there abide till fortune call thee home.
Here, take my picture, and let me wear thine.
They exchange miniature portraits
O might I keep thee here, as I do this,
Happy were I, but now most miserable.
GAVESTON ’Tis something to be pitied of a king. 130
EDWARD Thou shalt not hence; I’ll hide thee, Gaveston.
GAVESTON I shall be found, and then ‘twill grieve me more.
EDWARD Kind words and mutual talk makes our grief greater.
Therefore, with dumb embracement, let us part—
Stay, Gaveston, I cannot leave thee thus.
GAVESTON For every look my lord drops down a tear;
Seeing I must go, do not renew my sorrow.
EDWARD The time is little that thou hast to stay,
And therefore give me leave to look my fill.
But come, sweet friend, I’ll bear thee on thy way. 140
GAVESTON The peers will frown.
EDWARD I pass not for their anger; come, let’s go.
O that we might as well return as go.
Enter EDMUND EARL OF KENT and QUEEN ISABELLA
ISABELLA Whither goes my lord?
EDWARD Fawn not on me, French strumpet; get thee gone.
ISABELLA On whom but on my husband should I fawn?
GAVESTON On Mortimer, with whom, ungentle Qyeen—
I say no more; judge you the rest, my lord.
ISABELLA In saying this, thou wrongst me, Gaveston.
Is’t not enough that thou corrupts my lord, 150
And art a bawd to his affections,
But thou must call mine honour thus in question?
GAVESTON I mean not so; your grace must pardon me.
EDWARD Thou art too familiar with that Mortimer,
And by thy means is Gaveston exiled;
But I would wish thee reconcile the lords,
Or thou shalt ne’er be reconciled to me.
ISABELLA Your highness knows it lies not in my power.
EDWARD Away then, touch me not; come Gaveston.
ISABELLA Villain, ‘tis thou that robb’st me of my lord.
GAYESTON Madam, ‘tis you that rob me of my lord. 161
EDWARD Speak not unto her; let her droop and pine.
ISABELLA Wherein, my lord, have I deserved these words?
Witness the tears that Isabella sheds,
Witness this heart, that sighing for thee breaks,
How dear my lord is to poor Isabel.
EDWARD And witness heaven how dear thou art to me.
There weep; for till my Gaveston be repealed,
Assure thyself thou com’st not in my sight.
Exeunt EDWARD and GAVESTON and KENT
ISABELLA O miserable and distressèd Queen! 170
Would when I left sweet France and was embarked,
That charming Circe, walking on the waves,
Had changed my shape, or at the marriage-day
The cup of Hymen had been full of poison,
Or with those arms that twined about my neck
I had been stifled, and not lived to see
The King my lord thus to abandon me.
Like frantic Juno will I fill the earth
With ghastly murmur of my sighs and cries,
For never doted Jove on Ganymede 180
So much as he on cursèd Gaveston.
But that will more exasperate his wrath;
I must entreat him, I must speak him fair,
And be a means to call home Gaveston.
And yet he’ll ever dote on Gaveston,
And so am I forever miserable.
Enter the NOBLES LANCASTER, WARWICK, PEMBROKE, MORTIMER SENIOR, and MORTIMER JUNIOR to ISABELLA THE QUEEN
LANCASTER Look where the sister of the King of France
Sits wringing of her hands and beats her breast.
WARWICK The King, I fear, hath ill entreated her.
PEMBROKE Hard is the heart that injures such a saint.
MORTIMER JUNIOR I know ‘tis ‘long of Gaveston she weeps. 191
MORTIMER SENIOR Why? He is gone.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Madam, how fares your grace?
ISABELLA Ah, Mortimer! Now breaks the King’s hate forth,
And he confesseth that he loves me not.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Cry quittance, madam, then; and love not him.
ISABELLA No, rather will I die a thousand deaths.
And yet I love in vain; he’ll ne’er love me.
LANCASTER Fear ye not, madam; now his minion’s gone,
His wanton humour will be quickly left.
ISABELLA O never, Lancaster! I am enjoined 200
To sue unto you all for his repeal.
This wills my lord, and this must I perform
Or else be banished from his highness’ presence.
LANCASTER For his repeal! Madam, he comes not back
Unless the sea cast up his shipwrack body.
WARWICK And to behold so sweet a sight as that
There’s none here but would run his horse to death.
MORTIMER JUNIOR But madam, would you have us call him home?
ISABELLA Ay, Mortimer, for till he be restored,
The angry King hath banished me the court; 210
And therefore, as thou lovest and tend’rest me,
Be thou my advocate unto these peers.
MORTIMER JUNIOR What, would ye have me plead for Gaveston?
MORTIMER SENIOR Plead for him he that will, I am resolved.
LANCASTER And so am I; my lord, dissuade the Queen.
ISABELLA O Lancaster, let him dissuade the King,
For ‘tis against my will he should return.
WARWICK Then speak not for him; let the peasant go.
ISABELLA Tis for myself I speak, and not for him.
PEMBROKE No speaking will prevail, and therefore cease. 220
MORTIMER JUNIOR Fair Queen, forbear to angle for the fish
Which, being caught, strikes him that takes it dead—
I mean that vile torpedo, Gaveston,
That now, I hope, floats on the Irish seas.
ISABELLA Sweet Mortimer, sit down by me a while,
And I will tell thee reasons of such weight
As thou wilt soon subscribe to his repeal.
MORTIMER JUNIOR It is impossible; but speak your mind.
ISABELLA Then thus-but none shall hear it but ourselves.
ISABELLA and MORTIMER JUNIOR talk apart
LANCASTER My lords, albeit the Queen win Mortimer,
Will you be resolute and hold with me? 231
MORTIMER SENIOR Not I, against my nephew.
PEMBROKE Fear not, the Queen’s words cannot alter him.
WARWICK No? Do but mark how earnesdy she pleads.
LANCASTER And see how coldly his looks make denial.
WARWICK She smiles! Now, for my life, his mind is changed.
LANCASTER I’ll rather lose his friendship, I, than grant.
MORTIMER JUNIOR (Returning) Well, of necessity, it must be so.
My lords, that I abhor base Gaveston
I hope your honours make no question; 240
And therefore, though I plead for his repeal,
’Tis not for his sake, but for our avail—
Nay, for the realm’s behoof and for the King’s.
LANCASTER Fie Mortimer, dishonour not thyself!
Can this be true, ‘twas good to banish him?
And is this true, to call him home again?
Such reasons make white black and dark night day.
MORTIMER JUNIOR My lord of Lancaster, mark the respect.
LANCASTER In no respect can contraries be true. 249
ISABELLA Yet, good my lord, hear what he can allege.
WARWICK All that he speaks is nothing; we are resolved.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Do you not wish that Gaveston were dead?
PEMBROKE I would he were.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Why then, my lord, give me but leave to speak.
MORTIMER SENIOR But nephew, do not play the sophister.
MORTIMER JUNIOR This which I urge is of a burning zeal
To mend the King and do our country good.
Know you not Gaveston hath store of gold,
Which may in Ireland purchase him such friends
As he will front the mightiest of us all? 260
And whereas he shall live and be beloved,
’Tis hard for us to work his overthrow.
WARWICK Mark you but that, my lord of Lancaster.
MORTIMER JUNIOR But were he here, detested as he is,
How easily might some base slave be suborned
To greet his lordship with a poniard,
And none so much as blame the murderer,
But rather praise him for that brave attempt,
And in the chronicle, enrol his name
For purging of the realm of such a plague. 270
PEMBROKE He saith true.
LANCASTER Ay, but how chance this was not done before?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Because, my lords, it was not thought upon.
Nay more, when he shall know it lies in us
To banish him, and then to call him home,
’Twill make him vail the top flag of his pride
And fear to offend the meanest nobleman.
MORTIMER SENIOR But how if he do not, nephew?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Then may we with some colour rise in arms,
For howsoever we have borne it out, 280
’Tis treason to be up against the King.
So shall we have the people of our side,
Which, for his father’s sake, lean to the King
But cannot brook a night-grown mushroom—
Such a one as my lord of Cornwall is—
Should bear us down of the nobility.
And when the commons and the nobles join,
’Tis not the King can buckler Gaveston;
We’ll pull him from the strongest hold he hath.
My lords, if to perform this I be slack, 290
Think me as base a groom as Gaveston.
LANCASTER On that condition Lancaster will grant.
PEMBROKE And so will Pembroke.
WARWICK And I.
MORTIMER SENIOR And J.
MORTIMER JUNIOR In this I count me highly gratified,
And Mortimer will rest at your command.
ISABELLA And when this favour Isabel forgets,
Then let her live abandoned and forlorn.
Enter KING EDWARD mourning, with BEAUMONT and the CLERK OF THE CROWN, with attendants
But see, in happy time, my lord the King, 300
Having brought the Earl of Cornwall on his way,
Is new returned. This news will glad him much,
Yet not so much as me; I love him more
Than he can Gaveston. Would he loved me
But half so much, then were I treble blessed.
EDWARD He’s gone, and for his absence thus I mourn.
Did never sorrow go so near my heart
As doth the want of my sweet Gaveston;
And could my crown’s revenue bring him back,
I would freely give it to his enemies 310
And think I gained, having bought so dear a friend.
ISABELLA Hark how he harps upon his minion.
EDWARD My heart is as an anvil unto sorrow,
Which beats upon it like the Cyclops’ hammers,
And with the noise turns up my giddy brain
And makes me frantic for my Gaveston.
Ah, had some bloodless Fury rose from hell,
And with kingly sceptre struck me dead,
When I was forced to leave my Gaveston.
LANCASTER Diablo! What passions call you these? 320
ISABELLA My gracious lord, I come to bring you news.
EDWARD That you have parlied with your Mortimer.
ISABELLA That Gaveston, my lord, shall be repealed.
EDWARD Repealed? The news is too sweet to be true.
ISABELLA But will you love me if you find it so?
EDWARD If it be so, what will not Edward do?
ISABELLA For Gaveston, but not for Isabel.
EDWARD For thee, fair Queen, if thou lov’st Gaveston;
I’ll hang a golden tongue about thy neck,
Seeing thou hast pleaded with so good success. 330
He embraces her
ISABELLA No other jewels hang about my neck
Than these, my lord; nor let me have more wealth
Than I may fetch from this rich treasury.
O how a kiss revives poor Isabel.
EDWARD Once more receive my hand, and let this be
A second marriage ‘twixt thyself and me.
ISABELLA And may it prove more happy than the first.
My gende lord, bespeak these nobles fair
That wait attendance for a gracious look,
And on their knees salute your majesty. 340
The NOBLES kneel
EDWARD Courageous Lancaster, embrace thy king,
And as gross vapours perish by the sun,
Even so let hatred with thy sovereign’s smile;
Live thou with me as my companion.
LANCASTER This salutation overjoys my heart.
EDWARD Warwick shall be my chiefest counsellor:
These silver hairs will more adorn my court
Than gaudy silks or rich embroidery.
Chide me, sweet Warwick, if I go astray.
WARWICK Slay me, my lord, when I offend your grace.
EDWARD In solemn triumphs and in public shows 351
Pembroke shall bear the sword before the King.
PEMBROKE And with this sword Pembroke will fight for you.
EDWARD But wherefore walks young Mortimer aside?
Be thou commander of our royal fleet,
Or if that lofty office like thee not,
I make thee here Lord Marshal of the realm.
MORTIME JUNIOR My lord, I’ll marshal so your enemies
As England shall be quiet and you safe.
EDWARD And as for you, Lord Mortimer of Chirke,
Whose great achievements in our foreign war 361
Deserves no common place nor mean reward,
Be you the general of the levied troops
That now are ready to assail the Scots.
MORTIMER SENIOR In this your grace hath highly honoured me,
For with my nature war doth best agree.
ISABELLA Now is the King of England rich and strong,
Having the love of his renowned peers.
EDWARD Ay, Isabel, ne’er was my heart so light.
Clerk of the Crown, direct our warrant forth 370
For Gaveston to Ireland; Beaumont, fly
As fast as Iris or Jove’s Mercury.
BEAUMONT It shall be done, my gracious lord.
Exit BEAUMONT, with the clerk of the crown
EDWARD Lord Mortimer, we leave you to your charge.
Now let us in and feast it royally
Against our friend the Earl of Cornwall comes.
We’ll have a general tilt and tournament,
And then his marriage shall be solemnized;
For wot you not that I have made him sure
Unto our cousin, the Earl of Gloucester’s heir? 380
LANCASTER Such news we hear, my lord.
EDWARD That day, if not for him, yet for my sake,
Who in the triumph will be challenger,
Spare for no cost; we will requite your love.
WARWICK In this, or aught, your highness shall command us.
EDWARD Thanks, gentle Warwick; come, let’s in and revel.
Exeunt all, except the MORTIMERS
MORTIMER SENIOR Nephew, I must to Scotland; thou stayest here.
Leave now to oppose thyself against the King;
Thou seest by nature he is mild and calm,
And seeing his mind so dotes on Gaveston, 390
Let him without controlment have his will.
The mightiest kings have had their minions:
Great Alexander loved Hephaestion;
The conquering Hercules for Hylas wept;
And for Patroclus stern Achilles drooped.
And not kings only, but the wisest men:
The Roman Tully loved Octavius,
Grave Socrates, wild Alcibiades.
Then let his grace, whose youth is flexible
And promiseth as much as we can wish, 400
Freely enjoy that vain light-headed Earl,
For riper years will wean him from such toys.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Uncle, his wanton humour grieves not me,
But this I scorn, that one so basely born
Should by his sovereign’s favour grow so pert,
And riot it with the treasure of the realm
While soldiers mutiny for want of pay.
He wears a lord’s revenue on his back,
And Midas-like he jets it in the court
With base outlandish cullions at his heels, 410
Whose proud fantastic liveries make such show
As if that Proteus, god of shapes, appeared.
I have not seen a dapper jack so brisk;
He wears a short Italian hooded cloak,
Larded with pearl; and in his Tuscan cap
A jewel of more value than the crown.
Whiles other walk below, the King and he
From out a window laugh at such as we,
And flout our train and jest at our attire.
Uncle, ‘tis this that makes me impatient. 420
MORTIMER SENIOR But nephew, now you see the King is changed.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Then so am I, and live to do him service;
But whiles I have a sword, a hand, a heart,
I will not yield to any such upstart.
You know my mind. Come, uncle, let’s away.
Exeunt
Enter SPENCER JUNIOR and BALDOCK
BALDOCK Spencer,
Seeing that our lord th’ Earl of Gloucester’s dead,
Which of the nobles dost thou mean to serve?
SPENCER JUNIOR Not Mortimer, nor any of his side,
Because the King and he are enemies.
Baldock, learn this of me: a factious lord
Shall hardly do himself good, much less us;
But he that hath the favour of a king
May with one word advance us while we live.
The liberal Earl of Cornwall is the man 10
On whose good fortune Spencer’s hope depends.
BALDOCK What, mean you then to be his follower?
SPENCER JUNIOR No, his companion; for he loves me well
And would have once preferred me to the King.
BALDOCK But he is banished; there’s small hope of him.
SPENCER JUNIOR Ay, for a while; but, Baldock, mark the end:
A friend of mine told me in secrecy
That he’s repealed and sent for back again;
And even now, a post came from the court
With letters to our lady from the King, 20
And as she read, she smiled, which makes me think
It is about her lover, Gaveston.
BALDOCK ’Tis like enough, for since he was exiled,
She neither walks abroad nor comes in sight.
But I had thought the match had been broke off
And that his banishment had changed her mind.
SPENCER JUNIOR Our lady’s first love is not wavering;
My life for thine, she will have Gaveston.
BALDOCK Then hope I by her means to be preferred,
Having read unto her since she was a child. 30
SPENCER JUNIOR Then, Baldock, you must cast the scholar off
And learn to court it like a gendeman.
’Tis not a black coat and a litde band,
A velvet-caped cloak, faced before with serge,
And smelling to a nosegay all the day,
Or holding of a napkin in your hand,
Or saying a long grace at a table’s end,
Or making low legs to a nobleman,
Or looking downward, with your eyelids close,
And saying, ‘Truly, an’t may please your honour’, 40
Can get you any favour with great men.
You must be proud, bold, pleasant, resolute,
And now and then, stab, as occasion serves.
BALDOCK Spencer, thou knowest I hate such formal toys,
And use them but of mere hypocrisy.
Mine old lord, whiles he lived, was so precise
That he would take exceptions at my buttons,
And, being like pins’ heads, blame me for the bigness,
Which made me curate-like in mine attire,
Though inwardly licentious enough 50
And apt for any kind of villainy.
I am none of these common pedants, I,
That cannot speak without ‘propterea quod’.
SPENCER JUNIOR But one of those that saith ‘quandoquidem’
And hath a special gift to form a verb.
BALDOCK Leave off this jesting—here my lady comes.
They draw aside
Enter the LADY MARGARET DE CLARE
LADY MARGARET The grief for his exile was not so much
As is the joy of his returning home.
This letter came from my sweet Gaveston.
She reads a letter
What needst thou, love, thus to excuse thyself? 60
I know thou couldst not come and visit me.
’I will not long be from thee, though I die’:
This argues the entire love of my lord;
’When I forsake thee, death seize on my heart.’
But rest thee here where Gaveston shall sleep.
Now to the letter of my lord the King.
She reads another letter
He wills me to repair unto the court
And meet my Gaveston. Why do I stay,
Seeing that he talks thus of my marriage-day?
Who’s there? Baldock? 70
BALDOCK and SPENCER JUNIOR come forward
See that my coach be ready; I must hence.
BALDOCK It shall be done, madam.
LADY MARGARET And meet me at the park pale presently.
Exit BALDOCK
Spencer, stay you and bear me company,
For I have joyful news to tell thee of.
My lord of Cornwall is a-coming over
And will be at the court as soon as we.
SPENCER JUNIOR I knew the King would have him home again.
LADY MARGARET If all things sort out, as I hope they will,
Thy service, Spencer, shall be thought upon. 80
SPENCER JUNIOR I humbly thank your ladyship.
LADY MARGARET Come, lead the way; I long till I am there.
Exeunt
Enter EDWARD, ISABELLA THE QUEEN, LANCASTER, MORTIMER JUNIOR, WARWICK, PEMBROKE, KENT, attendants
EDWARD The wind is good, I wonder why he stays.
I fear me he is wrecked upon the sea.
ISABELLA Look, Lancaster, how passionate he is,
And still his mind runs on his minion.
LANCASTER Mylord—
EDWARD How now, what news? Is Gaveston arrived?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Nothing but Gaveston! What means your grace?
You have matters of more weight to think upon;
The King of France sets foot in Normandy.
EDWARD A trifle! We’ll expel him when we please. 10
But tell me, Mortimer, what’s thy device
Against the stately triumph we decreed?
MORTIMER JUNIOR A homely one, my lord, not worth the telling.
EDWARD Prithee let me know it.
MORTIMER JUNIOR But seeing you are so desirous, thus it is:
A lofty cedar tree fair flourishing,
On whose top branches kingly eagles perch,
And by the bark a canker creeps me up
And gets unto the highest bough of all;
The motto: Æque tandem. 20
EDWARD And what is yours, my lord of Lancaster?
LANCASTER My lord, mine’s more obscure than Mortimer’s:
Pliny reports there is a flying fish
Which all the other fishes deadly hate,
And therefore, being pursued, it takes the air;
No sooner is it up, but there’s a fowl
That seizeth it. This fish, my lord, I bear;
The motto this: Undique mors est.
EDWARD Proud Mortimer! Ungentle Lancaster!
Is this the love you bear your sovereign? 30
Is this the fruit your reconcilement bears?
Can you in words make show of amity,
And in your shields display your rancorous minds?
What call you this but private libelling
Against the Earl of Cornwall and my brother?
ISABELLA Sweet husband, be content; they all love you.
EDWARD They love me not that hate my Gaveston.
I am that cedar; shake me not too much.
And you the eagles; soar ye ne’er so high,
I have the jesses that will pull you down, 40
And ‘que tandem’ shall that canker cry
Unto the proudest peer of Britainy.
Though thou compar’st him to a flying fish,
And threatenest death whether he rise or fall,
’Tis not the hugest monster of the sea
Nor foulest harpy that shall swallow him.
MORTIMER JUNIOR (To the NOBLES) I fin his absence thus he favours him,
What will he do whenas he shall be present?
Enter GAVESTON
LANCASTER That shall we see: look where his lordship comes.
EDWARD My Gaveston! 50
Welcome to Tynemouth, welcome to thy friend.
Thy absence made me droop and pine away;
For as the lovers of fair Danaë,
When she was locked up in a brazen tower,
Desired her more and waxed outrageous,
So did it sure with me; and now thy sight
Is sweeter far than was thy parting hence
Bitter and irksome to my sobbing heart.
GAVESTON Sweet lord and King, your speech preventeth mine,
Yet have I words left to express my joy: 60
The shepherd nipped with biting winter’s rage
Frolics not more to see the painted spring
Than I do to behold your majesty.
EDWARD Will none of you salute my Gaveston?
LANCASTER Salute him? Yes! Welcome, Lord Chamberlain.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Welcome is the good Earl of Cornwall.
WARWICK Welcome, Lord Governor of the Isle of Man.
PEMBROKE Welcome, Master Secretary.
KENT Brother, do you hear them? 69
EDWARD Still will these earls and barons use me thus!
GAVESTON My lord, I cannot brook these injuries.
ISABELLA (Aside) Ay me, poor soul, when these begin to jar.
EDWARD Return it to their throats; I’ll be thy warrant.
GAVESTON Base leaden earls that glory in your birth,
Go sit at home and eat your tenants’ beef,
And come not here to scoff at Gaveston,
Whose mounting thoughts did never creep so low
As to bestow a look on such as you.
LANCASTER Yet I disdain not to do this for you.
Draws his sword
EDWARD Treason, treason! Where’s the traitor? 79
PEMBROKE (pointing to GAVESTON)
Here, here!
EDWARD Convey hence Gaveston; they’ll murder him.
GAVESTON The life of thee shall salve this foul disgrace.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Villain, thy life, unless I miss mine aim.
He wounds GAVESTON
ISABELLA Ah, furious Mortimer, what hast thou done?
MORTIMER JUNIOR No more than I would answer were he slain.
Exit GAVESTON with attendants
EDWARD Yes, more than thou canst answer, though he live;
Dear shall you both aby this riotous deed.
Out of my presence! Come not near the court.
MORTIMER JUNIOR I’ll not be barred the court for Gaveston. 89
LANCASTER We’ll hale him by the ears unto the block.
EDWARD Look to your own heads; his is sure enough.
WARWICK Look to your own crown, if you back him thus.
KENT Warwick, these words do ill beseem thy years.
EDWARD Nay, all of them conspire to cross me thus;
But if I live, I’ll tread upon their heads
That think with high looks thus to tread me down.
Come, Edmund, let’s away and levy men;
’Tis war that must abate these barons’ pride.
Exit EDWARD THE KING, with ISABELLA and KENT
WARWICK Let’s to our castles, for the King is moved.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Moved may he be and perish in his wrath. 100
LANCASTER Cousin, it is no dealing with him now.
He means to make us stoop by force of arms,
And therefore let us jointly here protest
To prosecute that Gaveston to the death.
MORTIMER JUNIOR By heaven, the abject villain shall not live.
WARWICK I’ll have his blood or die in seeking it.
PEMBROKE The like oath Pembroke takes.
LANCASTER
And so doth Lancaster.
Now send our heralds to defy the King
And make the people swear to put him down.
Enter a POST
MORTIMER JUNIOR Letters? From whence? 110
POST From Scotland, my lord.
LANCASTER Why how now, cousin, how fares all our friends?
MORTIMER JUNIOR (Reading a letter) My uncle’s taken prisoner by the Scots.
LANCASTER We’ll have him ransomed, man; be of good cheer.
MORTIMER JUNIOR They rate his ransom at five thousand pound.
Who should defray the money but the King,
Seeing he is taken prisoner in his wars?
I’ll to the King.
LANCASTER Do cousin, and I’ll bear thee company. 119
WARWICK Meantime, my lord of Pembroke and myself
Will to Newcastle here and gather head.
MORTIMER JUNIOR About it then, and we will follow you.
LANCASTER Be resolute and full of secrecy.
WARWICK I warrant you.
Exeunt all but MORTIMER JUNIOR and LANCASTER
MORTIMER JUNIOR Cousin, an if he will not ransom him,
I’ll thunder such a peal into his ears
As never subject did unto his king.
LANCASTER Content; I’ll bear my part. Holla! Who’s there?
Enter a GUARD
MORTIMER JUNIOR Ay, marry, such a guard as this doth well.
LANCASTER Lead on the way.
GUARD Whither will your lordships?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Whither else but to the King? 131
GUARD His highness is disposed to be alone.
LANCASTER Why, so he may, but we will speak to him.
GUARD You may not in, my lord.
MORTIMER JUNIOR May we not?
Enter EDWARD and KENT
EDWARD How now, what noise is this?
Who have we there? Is’t you?
He starts to exit, ignoring MORTIMER JUNIOR and LANCASTER
MORTIMER JUNIOR Nay, stay, my lord; I come to bring you news:
Mine uncle’s taken prisoner by the Scots.
EDWARD Then ransom him. 140
LANCASTER ’Twas in your wars: you should ransom him.
MORTIMER JUNIOR And you shall ransom him, or else—
KENT What, Mortimer, you will not threaten him?
EDWARD Quiet yourself; you shall have the broad seal
To gather for him thoroughout the realm.
LANCASTER Your minion Gaveston hath taught you this.
MORTIMER JUNIOR My lord, the family of the Mortimers
Are not so poor but, would they sell their land,
Would levy men enough to anger you.
We never beg, but use such prayers as these. 150
He grasps his sword
EDWARD Shall I still be haunted thus?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Nay, now you are here alone, I’ll speak my mind.
LANCASTER And so will I; and then, my lord, farewell.
MORTIMER JUNIOR The idle triumphs, masques, lascivious shows,
And prodigal gifts bestowed on Gaveston
Have drawn thy treasure dry and made thee weak;
The murmuring commons overstretchèd hath.
LANCASTER Look for rebellion, look to be deposed:
Thy garrisons are beaten out of France,
And, lame and poor, lie groaning at the gates; 160
The wild O’Neill, with swarms of lrish kerns,
Lives uncontrolled within the English pale;
Unto the walls of York the Scots made road
And, unresisted, drave away rich spoils.
MORTIMER JUNIOR The haughty Dane commands the narrow seas,
While in the harbour ride thy ships unrigged.
LANCASTER What foreign prince sends thee ambassadors?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Who loves thee but a sort of flatterers?
LANCASTER Thy gende Queen, sole sister to Valois,
Complains that thou hast left her all forlorn. 170
MORTIMER JUNIOR Thy court is naked, being bereft of those
That makes a king seem glorious to the world—
I mean the peers whom thou shouldst dearly love.
Libels are cast again thee in the street,
Ballads and rhymes made of thy overthrow.
LANCASTER The northern borderers, seeing their houses burnt,
Their wives and children slain, run up and down
Cursing the name of thee and Gaveston.
MORTIMER JUNIOR When wert thou in the field with banner spread?
But once! And then thy soldiers marched like players,
With garish robes, not armour; and thyself, 181
Bedaubed with gold, rode laughing at the rest,
Nodding and shaking of thy spangled crest
Where women’s favours hung like labels down.
LANCASTER And thereof came it that the fleering Scots,
To England’s high disgrace, have made this jig:
’Maids of England, sore may you mourn,
For your lemans you have lost at Bannocks bourne.
With a heave and a ho.
What weeneth the King of England, 190
So soon to have won Scotland?
With a rom below.’
MORTIMER JUNIOR Wigmore shall fly, to set my uncle free.
LANCASTER And when ‘tis gone, our swords shall purchase more.
If ye be moved, revenge it as you can;
Look next to see us with our ensigns spread.
Exeunt NOBLES LANCASTER and MORTIMER JUNIOR
EDWARD My swelling heart for very anger breaks!
How oft have I been baited by these peers
And dare not be revenged, for their power is great?
Yet, shall the crowing of these cockerels 200
Affright a lion? Edward, unfold thy paws
And let their lives’ blood slake thy fury’s hunger.
If I be cruel and grow tyrannous,
Now let them thank themselves and rue too late.
KENT My lord, I see yourlove to Gaveston
Will be the ruin of the realm and you,
For now the wrathful nobles threaten wars;
And therefore, brother, banish him forever.
EDWARD Art thou an enemy to my Gaveston?
KENT Ay, and it grieves me that I favoured him. 210
EDWARD Traitor, be gone; whine thou with Mortimer.
KENT So will I, rather than with Gaveston.
EDWARD Out of my sight, and trouble me no more.
KENT No marvel though thou scorn thy noble peers,
When I thy brother am rejected thus.
EDWARD Away!
Exit KENT
Poor Gaveston, that hast no friend but me.
Do what they can, we’ll live in Tynemouth here,
And, so I walk with him about the walls,
What care I though the earls begirt us round? 220
Enter ISABELLA THE QUEEN, THREE LADIES (MARGARET DE CLARE with two LADIES IN WAITING), GAVESTON, BALDOC and SPENCERJUNIOR
Here comes she that’s cause of all these jars.
ISABELLA My lord, ‘tis thought the earls are up in arms.
EDWARD Ay, and ‘tis likewise thought you favour him.
ISABELLA Thus do you still suspect me without cause.
LADY MARGARET Sweet uncle, speak more kindly to the Queen.
GAVESTON (Aside to EDWARD) My lord, dissemble with her, speak her fair.
EDWARD Pardon me, sweet, I forgot myself.
ISABELLA Your pardon is quickly got of lsabel.
EDWARD The younger Mortimer is grown so brave
That to my face he threatens civil wars. 230
GAVESTON Why do you not commit him to the Tower?
EDWARD I dare not, for the people love him well.
GAVESTON Why then, we’ll have him privily made away.
EDWARD Would Lancaster and he had both caroused
A bowl of poison to each other’s health.
But let them go, and tell me what are these?
Indicates BALDOCK and SPENCER JUNIOR
LADY MARGARET Two of my father’s servants whilst he lived;
May’t please your grace to entertain them now.
EDWARD Tell me, where wast thou born? What is thine arms?
BALDOCK My name is Baldock, and my gentry 240
I fetched from Oxford, not from heraldry.
EDWARD The fitter art thou, Baldock, for my turn;
Wait on me, and I’ll see thou shalt not want.
BALDOCK I humbly thank your majesty.
EDWARD Knowest thou him, Gaveston?
GAVESTON
Ay, my lord.
His name is Spencer; he is well allied.
For my sake let him wait upon your grace;
Scarce shall you find a man of more desert.
EDWARD Then, Spencer, wait upon me; for his sake
I’ll grace thee with a higher style ere long. 250
SPENCER JUNIOR No greater tides happen unto me
Than to be favoured of your majesty.
EDWARD (To LADY MARGARET)
Cousin, this day shall be your marriage feast.
And, Gaveston, think that I love thee well
To wed thee to our niece, the only heir
Unto the Earl of Gloucester late deceased.
GAVESTON I know, my lord, many will stomach me,
But I respect neither their love nor hate.
EDWARD The headstrong barons shall not limit me;
He that I list to favour shall be great. 260
Come, let’s away; and when the marriage ends,
Have at the rebels and their complices.
Exeunt
Enter LANCASTER, MORTIMER JUNIOR, WARWICK, PEMBROKE, KENT
KENT My lords, of love to this our native land
I come to join with you and leave the King;
And in your quarrel and the realm’s behoof
Will be the first that shall adventure life.
LANCASTER I fear me you are sent of policy
To undermine us with a show of love.
WARWICK He is your brother; therefore have we cause
To cast the worst and doubt of your revolt.
KENT Mine honour shall be hostage of my truth;
If that will not suffice, farewell, my lords. 10
MORTIMER JUNIOR Stay, Edmund; never was Plantagenet
False of his word, and therefore trust we thee.
PEMBROKE But what’s the reason you should leave him now?
KENT I have informed the Earl of Lancaster.
LANCASTER And it sufficeth. Now, my lords, know this,
That Gaveston is secretly arrived,
And here in Tynemouth frolics with the King.
Let us with these our followers scale the walls,
And suddenly surprise them unawares.
MORTIMER JUNIOR I’ll give the onset.
WARWICK And I’ll follow thee.
MORTIMER JUNIOR This tattered ensign of my ancestors, 21
Which swept the desert shore of that dead sea
Whereof we got the name of Mortimer,
Will I advance upon these castle walls.
Drums strike alarum. Raise them from their sport,
And ring aloud the knell of Gaveston.
Alarums
LANCASTER None be so hardy as to touch the King
But neither spare you Gaveston nor his friends.
Exeunt
Enter EDWARD THE KING and SPENCER JUNIOR; from separate doors to them GAVESTON, unseen by EDWARD and SPENCER JUNIOR, with ISABELLA, LADY MARGARET DE CLARE, and attendants
EDWARD O tell me, Spencer, where is Gaveston?
SPENCER JUNIOR I fear me he is slain, my gracious lord.
EDWARD No, here he comes! Now let them spoil and kill.
Fly, fly, my lords; the earls have got the hold.
Take shipping and away to Scarborough;
Spencer and I will post away by land.
GAVESTON O stay, my lord; they will not injure you.
EDWARD I will not trust them, Gaveston. Away!
GAVESTON Farewell, my lord.
EDWARD (To LADY MARGARET) Lady, farewell. 10
LADY MARGARET Farewell, sweet uncle, till we meet agam.
EDWARD Farewell, sweet Gaveston, and farewell, niece.
ISABELLA No farewell to poor Isabel, thy Queen?
EDWARD Yes, yes—for Mortimer, yourlover’s sake.
Exeunt all, except ISABELLA
ISABELLA Heavens can witness, I love none but you.
From my embracements thus he breaks away;
O that mine arms could close this isle about,
That I might pull him to me where I would,
Or that these tears that drizzle from mine eyes
Had power to mollify his stony heart 20
That when I had him we might never part.
Enter the BARONS (LANCASTER, WARWICK, MORTIMER JUNIOR). Alarums
LANCASTER I wonder how he ‘scaped?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Who’s this, the Queen?
ISABELLA Ay, Mortimer, the miserable Queen,
Whose pining heart, her inward sighs have blasted,
And body with continual mourning wasted.
These hands are tired with haling of my lord
From Gaveston, from wicked Gaveston,
And all in vain; for when I speak him fair,
He turns away and smiles upon his minion. 30
MORTIMER JUNIOR Cease to lament, and tell us where’s the King?
ISABELLA What would you with the King? Is’t him you seek?
LANCASTER No, madam, but that cursèd Gaveston.
Far be it from the thought of Lancaster
To offer violence to his sovereign.
We would but rid the realm of Gaveston;
Tell us where he remains, and he shall die.
ISABELLA He’s gone by water unto Scarborough.
Pursue him quickly and he cannot ‘scape;
The King hath left him, and his train is small. 40
WARWICK Forslow no time, sweet Lancaster, let’s march.
MORTIMER JUNIOR How comes it that the King and he is parted?
ISABELLA That this your army, going several ways,
Might be of lesser force, and wit the power
That he intendeth presently to rarse
Be easily suppressed; and therefore be gone.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Here in the river rides a Flemish hoy;
Let’s all aboard and follow him amain.
LANCASTER The wind that bears him hence will fill our sails.
Come, come aboard—’tis but an hour’s sailing. 50
MORTIMER JUNIOR Madam, stay you within this castle here.
ISABELLA No, Mortimer, I’ll to my lord the King.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Nay, rather sail with us to Scarborough.
ISABELLA You know the King is so suspicious,
As if he hear I have but talked with you,
Mine honour will be called in question;
And therefore, gentle Mortimer, be gone.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Madam, I cannot stay to answer you;
But think of Mortimer as he deserves.
Exeunt LANCASTER, WARWICK, AND MORTIMER JUNIOR
ISABELLA So well hast thou deserved, sweet Mortimer,
As Isabel could live with thee forever. 61
In vain I look for love at Edward’s hand,
Whose eyes are fixed on none but Gaveston.
Yet once more I’ll importune him with prayers;
If he be strange and not regard my words,
My son and I will over into France,
And to the King, my brother, there complam.
How Gaveston hath robbed me of his love.
But yet I hope my sorrows will have end
And Gaveston this blessed day be slan. 70
Exit
Enter GAVESTON, pursued
GAVESTON Yet, lusty lords, I have escaped your ands,
Your threats, your ‘larums, and your hot pursmts;
And though divorced from King Edward’s eyes,
Yet liveth Piers of Gaveston unsurpnsed,
Breathing, in hope (malgrado all your beards
That muster rebels thus against your king) To see his royal sovereign once again.
Enter the NOBLES (LANCASTER, WARWICK, PEMBROKE, MORTIMER JUNIOR), SOLDIERS, JAMES, HORSE-BOY, AND PEMBROKE’s MEN
WARWICK Upon him, soldiers! Take away his weapons.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Thou proud disturber of thy country’s peace,
Corrupter of thy king, cause of these broils, 10
Base flatterer, yield! And were it not for shame—
Shame and dishonour to a soldier’s name—
Upon my weapon’s point here shouldst thou fall,
And welter in thy gore.
LANCASTER Monster of men,
That, like the Greekish strumpet, trained to arms
And bloody wars so many valiant knights,
Look for no other fortune, wretch, than death;
King Edward is not here to buckler thee.
WARWICK Lancaster, why talk’st thou to the slave?
Go, soldiers, take him hence; for by my sword, 20
His head shall off. Gaveston, short warning
Shall serve thy turn; it is our country’s cause
That here severely we will execute
Upon thy person: hang him at a bough!
GAVESTON Mylord—
WARWICK Soldiers, have him away.
But for thou wert the favourite of a king,
Thou shalt have so much honour at our hands.
He gestures to indicate beheading
GAVESTON I thank you all, my lords; then I perceive
That heading is one, and hanging is the other, 30
And death is all.
Enter the EARL OF ARUNDEL
LANCASTER How now, my lord of Arundel?
ARUNDEL My lords, King Edward greets you all by me.
WARWICK Arundel, say your message.
ARUNDEL His majesty,
Hearing that you had taken Gaveston,
Entreateth you by me, that but he may
See him before he dies; for why, he says,
And sends you word, he knows that die he shall;
And if you gratify his grace so far,
He will be mindful of the courtesy. 40
WARWICK How now?
GAVESTON Renowned Edward, how thy name
Revives poor Gaveston.
WARWICK No, it needeth not.
Arundel, we will gratify the King
In other matters; he must pardon us in this.
Soldiers, away with him.
GAVESTON Why, my lord of Warwick,
Will not these delays beget my hopes?
I know it, lords, it is this life you aim at;
Yet grant King Edward this.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Shalt thou appoint
What we shall grant? Soldiers, away with him! 50
(To ARUNDEL) Thus we’ll gratify the King:
We’ll send his head by thee; let him bestow
His tears on that, for that is all he gets
Of Gaveston, or else his senseless trunk.
LANCASTER Not so, my lord, lest he bestow more cost
In burying him than he hath ever earned.
ARUNDEL My lords, it is his majesty’s request,
And in the honour of a king he swears
He will but talk with him and send him back.
WARWICK When, can you tell? Arundel, no; we wot 60
He that the care of realm remits,
And drives his nobles to these exigents
For Gaveston, will, if he seize him once,
Violate any promise to possess him.
ARUNDEL Then if you will not trust his grace in keep,
My lords, I will be pledge for his return.
MORTIMER JUNIOR It is honourable in thee to offer this,
But for we know thou art a noble gentleman,
We will not wrong thee so,
To make away a true man for a thief. 70
GAVESTON How meanst thou, Mortimer? That is over-base!
MORTIMER JUNIOR Away, base groom, robber of kings’ renown;
Question with thy companions and thy mates.
PEMBROKE My lord Mortimer, and you my lords each one,
To gratify the King’s request therein,
Touching the sending of this Gaveston,
Because his majesty so earnestly
Desires to see the man before his death,
I will upon mine honour undertake
To carry him and bring him back again, 80
Provided this, that you, my lord of Arundel
Will join with me.
WARWICK Pembroke, what wilt thou do?
Cause yet more bloodshed? Is it not enough
That we have taken him, but must we now
Leave him on ‘had I wist’ and let him go?
PEMBROKE My lords, I will not over-woo your honours,
But if you dare trust Pembroke with the prisoner,
Upon mine oath I will return him back.
ARUNDEL My lord of Lancaster, what say you in this?
LANCASTER Why, I say, let him go on Pembroke’s word.
PEMBROKE And you, lord Mortimer? 91
MORTIMER JUNIOR How say you, my lord of Warwick?
WARWICK Nay, do your pleasures; I know how ‘twill prove.
PEMBROKE Then give him me.
GAVESTON Sweet sovereign, yet I come
To see thee ere I die.
WARWICK (Aside)
Yet not perhaps,
If Warwick’s wit and policy prevail.
MORTIMER JUNIOR My lord of Pembroke, we deliver him you;
Return him on your honour. Sound away!
Trumpets sound. Exeunt all but PEMBROKE, ARUNDEL, GAVESTON and PEMBROKE’s MEN, FOUR SOLDIERS, with JAMES, and HORSE-BOY
PEMBROKE (To ARUNDEL) My lord, you shall go with me;
My house is not far hence—out of the way 100
A little—but our men shall go along.
We that have pretty wenches to our wives,
Sir, must not come so near and balk their lips.
ARUNDEL ’Tis vety kindly spoke, my lord of Pembroke;
Your honour hath an adamant of power
To draw a prince.
PEMBROKE So my lord. Come hither, James.
I do commit this Gaveston to thee;
Be thou this night his keeper. In the morning
We will discharge thee of thy charge; be gone. 109
GAVESTON Unhappy Gaveston, whither goest thou now?
Exit GAVESTON, with PEMBROKE’s MEN and JAMES
HORSE-BOY My lord, we’ll quickly be at Cobham.
Exeunt PEMBROKE and ARUNDEL, with the HORSE-BOY and SOLDIERS
Enter GAVESTON mourning, with JAMES and the EARL OF PEMBROKE’s MEN
GAVESTON O treacherous Warwick, thus to wrong thy friend!
JAMES I see it is your life these arms pursue.
GAVESTON Weaponless must I fall and die in bands.
O, must this day be period of my life,
Centre of all my bliss? An ye be men,
Speed to the King.
Enter wARWICK and his company
WARWICK My lord of Pembroke’s men,
Strive you no longer; I will have that Gaveston.
JAMES Your lordship doth dishonour to yourself
And wrong our lord, your honourable friend.
WARWICK No, James, it is my country’s cause I follow. 10
Go, take the villain; soldiers, come away,
We’ll make quick work. Commend me to your master,
My friend, and tell him that I watched it well.
(To GAVESTON) Come, let thy shadow parley with King Edward.
GAVESTON Treacherous Earl, shall I not see the King?
WARWICK The King of Heaven perhaps, no other king. Away!
Exeunt WARWICK and his men, with GAVESTON. JAMES remains with the others
JAMES Come fellows, it booted not for us to strive.
We will in haste go certify our lord.
Exeunt
Enter KING EDWARD and Spencer JUNIOR, AND BALDOCK, with drums and fifes
EDWARD I long to hear an answer from the barons
Touching my friend, my dearest Gaveston.
Ah, Spencer, not the riches of my realm
Can ransom him; ah, he is marked to die.
I know the malice of the younger Mortimer;
Warwick, I know, is rough, and Lancaster
Inexorable; and I shall never see
My lovely Piers, my Gaveston, again.
The barons overbear me with their pride.
SPENCER JUNIOR Were I King Edward, England’s sovereign, 10
Son to the lovely Eleanor of Spain,
Great Edward Longshanks’ issue, would I bear
These braves, this rage, and suffer uncontrolled
These barons thus to beard me in my land,
In mine own realm? My lord, pardon my speech.
Did you retain your father’s magnanimity,
Did you regard the honour of your name,
You would not suffer thus your majesty
Be counterbuffed of your nobility.
Strike off their heads, and let them preach on poles;
No doubt such lessons they will teach the rest, 21
As by their preachments they will profit much
And learn obedience to their lawful king.
EDWARD Yea, gende Spencer, we have been too mild,
Too kind to them, but now have drawn our sword,
And if they send me not my Gaveston,
We’ll steel it on their crest and poll their tops.
BALDOCK This haught resolve becomes your majesty,
Not to be tied to their affection
As though your highness were a schoolboy still, 30
And must be awed and governed like a child.
Enter HUGH SPENCER SENIOR, an old man, father to the young SPENCER JUNIOR, with his truncheon, and soldiers
SPENCER SENIOR Long live my sovereign, the noble Edward,
In peace triumphant, fortunate in wars.
EDWARD Welcome, old man. Com’st thou in Edward’s aid?
Then tell thy prince of whence and what thou art.
SPENCER SENIOR Lo, with a band of bowmen and of pikes,
Brown bills and targeteers, four hundred strong,
Sworn to defend King Edward’s royal right,
I come in person to your majesty:
Spencer, the father of Hugh Spencer there, 40
Bound to your highness everlastingly
For favours done in him unto us all.
EDWARD Thy father, Spencer?
SPENCER JUNIOR True, an it like your grace,
That pours in lieu of all your goodness shown,
His life, my lord, before your princely feet.
EDWARD Welcome ten thousand times, old man, agam.
Spencer, this love, this kindness to thy king
Argues thy noble mind and disposition.
Spencer, I here create thee Earl of Wiltshire,
And daily will enrich thee with our favour 50
That, as the sunshine, shall reflect o’er thee.
Beside, the more to manifest our love,
Because we hear Lord Bruce doth sell his land
And that the Mortimers are in hand withal,
Thou shalt have crowns of us, t’ outbid the barons;
And Spencer, spare them not, but lay it on.
Soldiers, a largess, and thrice welcome all.
Enter ISABELLA THE QUEEN and PRINCE EDWARD her son, and LEVUNE, a Frenchman
SPENCER JUNIOR My lord, here comes the Queen.
EDWARD Madam, what news?
ISABELLA News of dishonour, lord, and discontent:
Our friend Levune, faithful and full of trust, 60
Informeth us by letters and by words
That Lord Valois our brother, King of France,
Because your highness hath been slack in homage,
Hath seizèd Normandy into his hands.
These be the letters, this the messenger.
EDWARD Welcome Levune. (To ISABELLA) Tush, Sib, if this be all,
Valois and I will soon be friends again.
But to my Gaveston—shall I never see,
Never behold thee now? Madam, in this matter
We will employ you and your little son; 70
You shall go parley with the King of France.
Boy, see you bear you bravely to the King
And do your message with a majesty.
PRINCE EDWARD Commit not to my youth things of more weight
Than fits 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.
ISABELLA Ah, boy, this towardness makes thy mother fear
Thou art not marked to many days on earth. 80
EDWARD Madam, we will that you with speed be shipped,
And this our son. Levune shall follow you
With all the haste we can dispatch him hence.
Choose of our lords to bear you company,
And go in peace; leave us in wars at home.
ISABELLA Unnatural wars, where subjects brave their king:
God end them once. My lord, I take my leave
To make my preparation for France.
Exeunt ISABELLA and PRINCE EDWARD
Enter LORD ARUNDEL
EDWARD What, Lord Arundel, dost thou come alone?
ARUNDEL Yea, my good lord, for Gaveston is dead. 90
EDWARD Ah, traitors, have they put my friend to death?
Tell me, Arundel, died he ere thou cam’st,
Or didst thou see my friend to take his death?
ARUNDEL Neither, my lord, for as he was surprised,
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. 100
EDWARD And tell me, would the rebels deny me that?
SPENCER JUNIOR Proud recreants!
EDWARD Yea, Spencer, traitors all.
ARUNDEL I found them at the first inexorable;
The Earl of Warwick would not bide the hearing,
Mortimer hardly; Pembroke and Lancaster
Spake least. And when they flatly had denied,
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 returned, 110
I will this undertake: to have him hence
And see him re-delivered to your hands.’
EDWARD Well, and how fortunes that he came not?
SPENCER JUNIOR Some treason or some villainy was cause.
ARUNDEL The Earl of Warwick seized him on his way,
For, being delivered 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 marched unto the camp. 120
SPENCER JUNIOR A bloody part, flatly against law of arms.
EDWARD O, shall I speak, or shall I sigh and die?
SPENCER JUNIOR My lord, refer your vengeance to the sword
Upon these barons; hearten up your men.
Let them not unrevenged murder your friends.
Advance your standard, Edward, in the field,
And march to fire them from their starting holes.
EDWARD (Kneeling) 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, 130
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.
Rises
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 140
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 of our love we do create thee
Earl of Gloucester and Lord Chamberlain,
Despite of times, despite of enemies.
SPENCER JUNIOR My lord, here is a messenger from the barons
Desires access unto your majesty.
EDWARD Admit him near. 150
Enter the HERALD from the BARONS, with his coat oj arms
HERALD Long live King Edward, England’s lawful lord.
EDWARD So wish not they, iwis, that sent thee hither.
Thou com’st from Mortimer and his complices—
A ranker rout of rebels never was.
Well, say thy message.
HERALD 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, 160
That from your princely person you remove
(Indicating SPENCER JUNIOR) This Spencer, as a putrefying branch
That deads the royal vine whose golden leaves
Impale 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 170
Are to your highness vowed and consecrate.
SPENCER JUNIOR Ah, traitors, will they still display their pride?
EDWARD 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.
Embraces SPENCER JUNIOR
Now get thee to thy lords,
And tell them I will come to chastise them
For murdering Gaveston. Hie thee, get thee gone;
Edward with fire and sword follows at thy heels. 180
Exit HERALD
My lords, 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 EDWARD THE KING, SPENCER SENIOR, SPENCER JUNIOR, and the NOBLEMEN if the King’s side
EDWARD Why do we sound retreat? Upon them, lords!
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.
SPENCER JUNIOR I doubt it not, my lord; right will prevail.
SPENCER SENIOR ’Tis not amiss, my liege, for either part
To breathe a while; our men with sweat and dust
All choked well near, begin to faint for heat,
And this retire refresheth horse and man.
SPENCER JUNIOR Here come the rebels. 10
Enter the BARONS, MORTIMER JUNIOR, LANCASTER, KENT, WARWICK, PEMBROKE with the others
MORTIMER JUNIOR Look, Lancaster,
Yonder is Edward among his flatterers.
LANCASTER And there let him be,
Till he pay dearly for their company.
WARWICK And shall, or Warwick’s sword shall smite in vain.
EDWARD What, rebels, do you shrink and sound retreat?
MORTIMER JUNIOR No, Edward, no; thy flatterers faint and fly.
LANCASTER Thou’d best betimes forsake thee and their trains,
For they’ll betray thee, traitors as they are.
SPENCER JUNIOR Traitor on thy face, rebellious Lancaster. 20
PEMBROKE Away, base upstart; brav’st thou nobles thus?
SPENCER SENIOR A noble attempt and honourable deed
Is it not, trow ye, to assemble aid
And levy arms against your lawful king?
EDWARD For which ere long their heads shall satisfy
T’appease the wrath of their offended king.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Then, Edward, thou wilt fight it to the last,
And rather bathe thy sword in subjects’ blood
Than banish that pernicious company?
EDWARD Ay, traitors all! Rather than thus be braved,
Make England’s civil towns huge heaps of stones 31
And ploughs to go about our palace gates.
WARWICK A desperate and unnatural resolution.
Alarum to the fight!
Saint George for England and the barons’ right!
EDWARD Saint George for England and King Edward’s right!
Exeunt severally. Alarums
Enter EDWARD, SPENCER SENIOR, SPENCER JUNIOR, BALDOCK, LEVUNE, and SOLDIERS with the BARONS KENT, WARWICK, LANCASTER, and MORTIMER JUNIOR captives
EDWARD Now, lusty lords, now not by chance of war
But justice of the quarrel and the cause,
Vailed is your pride. Methinks you hang the heads,
But we’ll advance them, traitors! Now ‘tis time 40
To be avenged on you for all your braves
And for the murder of my dearest friend,
To whom right well you knew our soul was knit:
Good Piers of Gaveston, my sweet favourite—
Ah rebels, recreants, you made him away!
KENT Brother, in regard of thee and of thy land,
Did they remove that flatterer from thy throne.
EDWARD So, sir, you have spoke; away, avoid our presence.
Exit KENT
Accursèd wretches, was’t in regard of us,
When we had sent our messenger to request 50
He might be spared to come to speak with us,
And Pembroke undertook for his return,
That thou, proud Warwick, watched the prisoner,
Poor Piers, and headed him against law of arms?
For which thy head shall overlook the rest
As much as thou in rage outwent’st the rest.
WARWICK Tyrant, I scorn thy threats and menaces;
’Tis but temporal that thou canst inflict.
LANCASTER The worst is death, and better die to live,
Than live in infamy under such a king. 60
EDWARD Away with them, my lord of Winchester,
These lusty leaders, Warwick and Lancaster.
I charge you roundly off with both their heads.
Away!
WARWICK Farewell, vain world.
LANCASTER
Sweet Mortimer, farewell.
Exeunt WARWICK and LANCASTER, guarded with SPENCER SENIOR
MORTIMER JUNIOR England, unkind to thy nobility,
Groan for this grief; behold how thou art maimed.
EDWARD Go take that haughty Mortimer to the Tower;
There see him safe bestowed. And for the rest,
Do speedy execution on them all.
Begone! 70
MORTIMER JUNIOR What, Mortimer! Can ragged stony walls
Immure thy virtue that aspires to heaven?
No, Edward, England’s scourge, it may not be;
Mortimer’s hope surmounts his fortune far.
Exit MORTIMER JUNIOR under guard
EDWARD Sound drums and trumpets! March with me my friends
Edward this day hath crowned him king anew.
Exit, attended. SPENCER JUNIOR, LEVUNE BALDOCK remain
SPENCER JUNIOR Levune, the trust that we repose in thee
Begets the quiet of King Edward’s land.
Therefore be gone in haste, and with advice
Bestow that treasure on the lords of France; 80
That therewithal enchanted, like the guard
That suffered Jove to pass in showers of gold
To Danaë, all aid may be denied
To Isabel the Qyeen, that now in France
Makes friends, to cross the seas with her young son,
And step into his father’s regiment.
LEVUNE That’s it these barons and the subtle Queen
Long levelled at.
BALDOCK Yea, but Levune, thou seest
These barons lay their heads on blocks together;
What they intend, the hangman frustrates clean. 90
LEVUNE Have you no doubts, my lords; I’ll clap’s close
Among the lords of France with England’s gold
That Isabel shall make her plaints in vain,
And France shall be obdurate with her tears.
SPENCER JUNIOR Then make for France amain;
Levune, away!
Proclaim King Edward’s wars and victories.
Exeunt
Enter EDMUND the EARL OF KENT
EDMUND Fair blows the wind for France; blow, gentle gale,
Till Edmund be arrived for England’s good.
Nature, yield to my country’s cause in this:
A brother—no, a butcher of thy friends—
Proud Edward, dost thou banish me thy presence?
But I’ll to France, and cheer the wrongèd Qyeen,
And certifY what Edward’s looseness is.
Unnatural king, to slaughter noblemen
And cherish flatterers. Mortimer, I stay
Thy sweet escape; stand gracious, gloomy night 10
To his device.
Enter MORTIMER JUNIOR disguised
MORTIMER JUNIOR Holla! Who walketh there? Is’t you my lord?
KENT Mortimer, ‘tis I;
But hath thy potion wrought so happily?
MORTIMER JUNIOR It hath, my lord; the warders all asleep,
I thank them, gave me leave to pass in peace. But hath your grace got shipping unto France?
KENT Fear it not.
Exeunt
Enter ISABELLA THE QUEEN and her son PRINCE EDWARD
ISABELLA Ah boy, our friends do fail us all in France;
The loards are cruel and the King unkind.
PRINCE EDWARD Madam, return to England
And please my father well, and then a fig
For all my uncle’s friendship here in France.
I warrant you, I’ll win his highness quickly;
‘A loves me better than a thousand Spencers.
ISABELLA Ah boy, thou art deceived at least in this,
To think that we can yet be tuned together.
No, no, we jar too far. Unkind Valois! 10
Unhappy Isabel! When France rejects,
Whither, 0 whither dost thou bend thy steps?
Enter SIR JOHN OF HAINAULT
SIR JOHN Madam, what cheer?
ISABELLA Ah, good Sir John of Hainault,
Never so cheerless, nor so far distressed.
SIR JOHN I hear, sweet lady, of the King’s unkindness.
But droop not, madam; noble minds contemn
Despair. Will your grace with me to Hainault
And there stay time’s advantage with your son?
How say you, my lord, will you go with your friends,
And shake off all our fortunes equally? 20
PRINCE EDWARD So pleaseth the Qyeen, my mother, me it likes.
The King of England nor the court of France
Shall have me from my gracious mother’s side,
Till I be strong enough to break a staff,
And then have at the proudest Spencer’s head.
SIR JOHN Well said, my lord.
ISABELLA Oh, my sweet heart, how do I moan thy wrongs,
Yet triumph in the hope of thee, my joy.
Ah, sweet Sir John, even to the utmost verge
Of Europe, or the shore of Tanais, 30
Will we with thee to Hainault, so we will.
The Marquis is a noble gentleman;
His grace, I dare presume, will welcome me.
Enter EDMUND the EARL OF KENT and MORTIMER JUNIOR
But who are these?
KENT Madam, long may you live
Much happier than your friends in England do.
ISABELLA Lord Edmund and Lord Mortimer alive!
Welcome to France. The news was here, my lord,
That you were dead, or very near your death.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Lady, the last was truest of the twain;
But Mortimer, reserved for better hap, 40
Hath shaken off the thraldom of the Tower,
(To PRINCE EDWARD) And lives t’advance your standard, good my lord.
PRINCE EDWARD How mean you, an the King my father lives?
No, my lord Mortimer, not I, I trow.
ISABELLA Not, son? Why not? I would it were no worse;
But gentle lords, friendless we are in France.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Monsieur le Grand, a noble friend of yours,
Told us at our arrival all the news:
How hard the nobles, how unkind the King
Hath showed himself. But madam, right makes room
Where weapons want; and though a many friends 51
Are made away—as Warwick, Lancaster,
And others of our party and faction—
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 JUNIOR But by the sword, my lord, it must be deserved.
The King will ne’er forsake his flatterers. 60
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 EDWARD I think King Edward will outrun us all.
ISABELLA Nay son, not so; and you must not discourage
Your friends that are so forward in your aid. 70
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.
ISABELLA Yea, gentle brother; and the God of heaven
Prosper your happy motion, good Sir John.
MORTIMER JUNIOR 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 Qyeen and nobles in distress
Have been by thee restored and comforted. 80
SIR JOHN Madam, along, and you, my lord, with me,
That England’s peers may Hainault’s welcome see.
Exeunt
Enter EDWARD THE KING, ARUNDEL, the two SPENCERS, SENIOR and JUNIOR, with others
EDWARD Thus after many threats of wrathful war,
Triumpheth England’s Edward with his friends;
And triumph Edward with his friends uncontrolled.
(To SPENCER JUNIOR) My lord of Gloucester, do you hear the news?
SPENCER JUNIOR 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? 10
SPENCER JUNIOR (Reads their names) [The Lord William Tuchet, the Lord William Fitzwilliam, the Lord Warren de Lisle, the Lord Henry Bradborne, and the Lord William Chenie barons, with John Page, an esquire, were drawn and hanged at Pomfret […] and then shortly after, Roger Lord Clifford, John Lord Mowbray, and Sir Gosein D’Eivill, barons, were drawn and hanged at York. At Bristol in like manner were executed Sir Henry de Willington and Sir Henry Montfort, baronets; and at Gloucester, the Lord John Gifford and Sir William Elmebridge, knights; and at London, the Lord Henry Tyes, baron; at Winchelsea, Sir Thomas Culpepper, knight: at Windsor, the Lord Francis de Aldham, baron; and at Canterbury, the Lord Bartholomew de Badlesmere and the Lord Bartholomew de Ashburnham, barons. Also, at Cardiff in Wales, Sir William Fleming, knight, was executed. Divers were executed in their counties, as Sir Thomas Mandit and others.]
EDWARD 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 JUNIOR My lord, we have; and if he be in England,
A will be had ere long, I doubt it not. 20
EDWARD If, 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. 27
SPENCER JUNIOR (Reads the letter) ‘My duty to your honour premised, etcetera, I have according to instructions in that behalf, dealt with the King of France’s 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 batde 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? 41
With him is Edmund gone associate?
And will Sir John of Hainault lead the round?
Welcome, i’ 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. 50
Ah, nothing grieves me but my litde boy
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 ISABELLA THE QUEEN, her son PRINCE EDWARD, EDMUND the EARL OF KENT, MORTIMER JUNIOR, and SIR JOHN OF HAINAULT, with soldiers
ISABELLA 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. 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, 10
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—
MORTIMER JUNIOR Nay madam, if you be a warrior,
Ye 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 20
Edward hath done to us, his Qyeen, and land,
We come in arms to wreak 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 EDWARD THE KING, BALDOCK, and SPENCER JUNIOR, flying about the stage
SPENCER JUNIOR Fly, fly, my lord! The Qyeen 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,
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 the 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? (Addressing himself) 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; 10
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 ISABELLA THE QUEEN, MORTIMER JUNIOR, the young PRINCE EDWARD, and SIR JOHN OF HAINAULT with soldiers
ISABELLA Successful battles gives the God of kings
To them that fight in right and fear his wrath. 20
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, 30
How will you deal with Edward in his fall?
PRINCE EDWARD Tell me, good uncle, what Edward do you mean?
KENT Nephew, your father; I dare not call him king.
MORTIMER JUNIOR 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 disposed of.
(Aside to ISABELLA) I like not this relenting mood in Edmund;
Madam, ‘tis good to look to him betimes.
ISABELLA (Aside to MORTIMER JUNIOR) My lord, the Mayor of Bristol knows our mind? 40
MORTIMER JUNIOR (Aside) Yea, madam, and they ‘scape not easily
That fled the field.
ISABELLA 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 (To himself) This Edward is the ruin of the realm.
Enter RHYS AP HOWELL, and the MAYOR OF BRISTOL, with SPENCER SENIOR, guarded by soldiers
RHYS AP HOWELL God save Qyeen 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—
Spencer, the father to that wanton Spencer, 50
That, like the lawless Catiline of Rome,
Revelled in England’s wealth and treasury.
ISABELLA We thank you all.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Your loving care in this
Deserveth princely favours and rewards.
But where’s the King and the other Spencer fled?
RHYS 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 JUNIOR Some whirlwind fetch them back, or sink them all!
They shall be started thence, I doubt it not. 60
PRINCE EDWARD 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?
ISABELLA I rue my lord’s ill fortune, but, alas,
Care of my country called me to this war.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Madam, have done with care and sad complaint;
Your king hath wronged your country and himself,
And we must seek to right it as we may.
Meanwhile, have hence this rebel to the block;
Your lordship cannot privilege your head. 70
SPENCER SENIOR Rebel is he that fights against his prince;
So fought not they that fought in Edward’s right.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Take him away; he prates.
Exit SPENCER SENIOR, guarded You, Rhys ap Howell,
Shall do good service to her majesty,
Being of countenance in your country here,
To follow these rebellious runagates.
We in meanwhile, madam, must take advice
How Baldock, Spencer, and their complices
May in their fall be followed to their end.
Exeunt
Enter the ABBOT, MONKS, KING EDWARD, SPENCER JUNIOR, and BALDOCK, the latter three disguised as monks
ABBOT Have you no doubt, my lord, have you no fear;
As silent and as careful will we be
To keep your royal person safe with us,
Free from suspect and fell invasion
Of such as have your majesty in chase—
Yourself, and those your chosen company—
As danger of this stormy time requires.
EDWARD Father, thy face should harbour no deceit;
O hadst thou ever been a king, thy heart,
Pierced deeply with sense of my distress, 10
Could not but take compassion of my state.
Stately and proud, in riches and in train,
Whilom I was powerful and full of pomp;
But what is he, whom rule and empery
Have not in life or death made miserable?
Come Spencer, come Baldock, come sit down by me;
Make trial now of that philosophy
That in our famous nurseries of arts
Thou sucked’st from Plato and from Aristotle.
Father, this life contemplative is heaven— 20
O that I might this life in quiet lead!
But we, alas, are chased; and you, my friends,
Your lives and my dishonour they pursue.
Yet, gentle monks, for treasure, gold nor fee,
Do you betray us and our company.
MONKS Your grace may sit secure, if none but we Do wot of your abode.
SPENCER JUNIOR Not one alive; but shrewdly I suspect
A gloomy fellow in a mead below;
A gave a long look after us, my lord, 30
And all the land, I know, is up in arms—
Arms that pursue our lives with deadly hate.
BALDOCK We were embarked for Ireland, wretched we,
With awkward winds and sore tempests driven
To fall on shore and here to pine in fear
Of Mortimer and his confederates.
EDWARD Mortimer! Who talks of Mortimer?
Who wounds me with the name of Mortimer,
That bloody man? (Kneeling) Good father, on thy lap
Lay I this head, laden with mickle care. 40
O might I never open these eyes again,
Never again lift up this drooping head,
O never more lift up this dying heart!
SPENCER JUNIOR Look up, my lord. Baldock, this drowsiness
Betides no good. Here even we are betrayed.
Enter, with Welsh hooks, RHYS AP HOWELL, a MOWER, and the EARL OF LEICESTER, with SOLDIERS
MOWER Upon my life, those be the men ye seek.
RHYS AP HOWELL Fellow, enough. (To LEICESTER) My lord, I pray be short;
A fair commission warrants what we do.
LEICESTER (Aside) The Queen’s commission, urged by Mortimer.
What cannot gallant Mortimer with the Queen? 50
Alas, see where he sits and hopes unseen
T’escape their hands that seek to reave his life.
Too true it is: quem dies vidit veniens superbum,
Hunc dies vidit fogiens iacentem.
But Leicester, leave to grow so passionate.
(Aloud) Spencer and Baldock, by no other names,
I arrest you of high treason here.
Stand not on tides, but obey th’arrest;
’Tis in the name of Isabel the Queen.
My lord, why droop you thus? 60
EDWARD O day! The last of all my bliss on earth,
Centre of all misfortune. O my stars!
Why do you lour unkindly on a king?
Comes Leicester, then, in Isabella’s name
To take my life, my company, from me?
Here, man, rip up this panting breast of mine
And take my heart in rescue of my friends.
RHYS AP HOWELL Away with them.
SPENCER JUNIOR It may become thee yet
To let us take our farewell of his grace.
ABBOT My heart with pity earns to see this sight; 70
A king to bear these words and proud commands!
EDWARD Spencer, ah sweet Spencer, thus then must we part?
SPENCER JUNIOR We must, my lord; so will the angry heavens.
EDWARD Nay, so will hell and cruel Mortimer;
The gende heavens have not to do in this.
BALDOCK My lord, it is in vain to grieve or storm.
Here humbly of your grace we take our leaves;
Our lots are cast. I fear me, so is thine.
EDWARD In heaven we may, in earth never shall we meet.
And Leicester, say, what shall become of us? 80
LEICESTER Your majesty must go to Kenilworth.
EDWARD ’Must’! Tis somewhat hard when kings must go.
LEICESTER Here is a litter ready for your grace
That waits your pleasure; and the day grows old.
RHYS AP HOWELL As good be gone, as stay and be benighted.
EDWARD A litter hast thou? Lay me in a hearse,
And to the gates of hell convey me hence;
Let Pluto’s bells ring out my fatal knell,
And hags howl for my death at Charon’s shore,
For friends hath Edward none but these, and these,
And these must die under a tyrant’s sword. 91
RHYS AP HOWELL My lord, be going; care not for these,
For we shall see them shorter by the heads.
EDWARD Well, that shall be shall be; part we must:
Sweet Spencer, gende Baldock, part we must.
Hence feignèd weeds, unfeigned are my woes.
Father, farewell. Leicester, thou stay’st for me,
And go I must. Life, farewell with my friends.
Exeunt EDWARD and LEICESTER
SPENCER JUNIOR O, is he gone? Is noble Edward gone,
Parted from hence, never to see us more? 100
Rend, sphere of heaven, and fire forsake thy orb!
Earth melt to air! Gone is my sovereign,
Gone, gone, alas, never to make return.
BALDOCK Spencer, I see our souls are fleeted hence;
We are deprived the sunshine of our life.
Make for a new life, man; throw up thy eyes,
And heart and hand to heaven’s immortal throne,
Pay nature’s debt with cheerful countenance.
Reduce we all our lessons unto this:
To die, sweet Spencer, therefore live we all; 110
Spencer, all live to die, and rise to fall.
RHYS AP HOWELL Come, come, keep these preachments till you come to the place appointed.
You, and such as you are, have made wise work in England. Will your lordships away?
MOWER Your worship, I trust, will remember me?
RHYS AP HOWELL Remember thee, fellow? What else?
Follow me to the town.
Exeunt
Enter EDWARD THE KING, LEICESTER, with the BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, and TRUSSEL for the crown, and attendants
LEICESTER Be patient, good my lord, cease to lament.
Imagine Kenilworth Castle were your court,
And that you lay for pleasure here a space,
Not of compulsion or necessity.
EDWARD Leicester, if gentle words might comfort me,
Thy speeches long ago had eased my sorrows,
For kind and loving hast thou always been.
The griefs of private men are soon allayed,
But not of kings: the forest deer, being struck,
Runs to an herb that doseth up the wounds; 10
But when the imperial lion’s flesh is gored,
He rends and tears it with his wrathful paw,
And, highly scorning that the lowly earth
Should drink his blood, mounts up into the air.
And so it fares with me, whose dauntless mind
The ambitious Mortimer would seek to curb,
And that unnatural Qyeen, false Isabel,
That thus hath pent and mewed me in a prison.
For such outrageous passions cloy my soul,
As with the wings of rancour and disdain 20
Full often am I soaring up to heaven
To plain me to the gods against them both.
But when I call to mind I am a king,
Methinks I should revenge me of the wrongs
That Mortimer and Isabel have done.
But what are kings, when regiment is gone,
But perfect shadows in a sunshine day?
My nobles rule; I bear the name of king;
I wear the crown, but am controlled by them—
By Mortimer and my unconstant Qyeen 30
Who spots my nuptial bed with infamy,
Whilst I am lodged within this cave of care,
Where sorrow at my elbow still attends
To company my heart with sad laments,
That bleeds within me for this strange exchange.
But tell me, must I now resign my crown
To make usurping Mortimer a king?
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER Your grace mistakes; it is for England’s good
And princely Edward’s right we crave the crown.
EDWARD No, ‘tis for Mortimer, not Edward’s head, 40
For he’s a lamb encompassed by wolves
Which in a moment will abridge his life.
But if proud Mortimer do wear this crown,
Heavens turn it to a blaze of quenchless fire,
Or, like the snaky wreath of Tisiphon,
Engirt the temples of his hateful head;
So shall not England’s vine be perished,
But Edward’s name survives, though Edward dies.
LEICESTER My lord, why waste you thus the time away?
They stay your answer: will you yield your crown? 50
EDWARD Ah Leicester, weigh how hardly I can brook
To lose my crown and kingdom without cause,
To give ambitious Mortimer my right,
That like a mountain overwhelms my bliss;
In which extreme my mind here murdered is.
But what the heavens appoint, I must obey.
He removes his crown
Here, take my crown—the life of Edward too.
Two kings in England cannot reign at once.
But stay awhile; let me be king till night,
That I may gaze upon this glittering crown; 60
So shall my eyes receive their last content,
My head, the latest honour due to it,
And jointly both yield up their wished right.
Continue ever, thou celestial sun;
Let never silent night possess this clime.
Stand still, you watches of the element;
All times and seasons rest you at a stay,
That Edward may be still fair England’s king.
But day’s bright beams doth vanish fast away,
And needs I must resign my wishèd crown. 70
Inhuman creatures, nursed with tiger’s milk,
Why gape you for your sovereign’s overthrow?
My diadem, I mean, and guiltless life.
See, monsters, see, I’ll wear my crown again.
He puts on the crown
What, fear you not the fury of your king?
But hapless Edward, thou art fondly led.
They pass not for thy frowns as late they did,
But seek to make a new-elected king,
Which fills my mind with strange despairing thoughts,
Which thoughts are martyred with endless torments;
And in this torment, comfort find I none 81
But that I feel the crown upon my head.
And therefore let me wear it yet a while.
TRUSSEL My lord, the parliament must have present news,
And therefore say, will you resign or no?
The King rageth
EDWARD I’ll not resign, but whilst I live—
Traitors, be gone, and join you with Mortimer.
Elect, conspire, install, do what you will;
Their blood and yours shall seal these treacheries.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER This answer we’ll return, and so farewell. 90
The BISHOP OF WINCHESTER and TRUSSEL begin to leave
LEICESTER Call them again, my lord, and speak them fair,
For if they go, the Prince shall lose his right.
EDWARD Call thou them back; I have no power to speak.
LEICESTER My lord, the King is willing to resign.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER If he be not, let him choose—
EDWARD O would I might! But heavens and earth conspire
To make me miserable.
He removes the crown
Here, receive my crown.
Receive it? No, these innocent hands of mine
Shall not be guilty of so foul a crime.
He of you all that most desires my blood 100
And will be called the murderer of a king,
Take it. What, are you moved? Pity you me?
Then send for unrelenting Mortimer
And Isabel, whose eyes, being turned to steel,
Will sooner sparkle fire than shed a tear.
Yet stay, for rather than I will look on them,
Here, here!
He gives the crown to the BISHOP
Now, sweet God of heaven,
Make me despise this transitory pomp,
And sit for aye enthronizèd in heaven.
Come death, and with thy fingers close my eyes, 110
Or if I live, let me forget myself.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER My lord.
EDWARD Call me not lord! Away, out of my sight!
Ah, pardon me; grief makes me lunatic.
Let not that Mortimer protect my son;
More safety is there in a tiger’s jaws
Than his embracements.
He gives a handkerchief
Bear this to the Qyeen,
Wet with my tears and dried again with sighs.
If with the sight thereof she be not moved,
Return it back and dip it in my blood. 120
Commend me to my son, and bid him rule
Better than I. Yet how have I transgressed,
Unless it be with too much clemency?
TRUSSEL And thus, most humbly, do we take our leave.
EDWARD Farewell. I know the next news that they bring
Will be my death, and welcome shall it be;
To wretched men death is felicity.
Enter BERKELEY with a letter
LEICESTER Another post. What news brings he?
EDWARD Such news as I expect. Come, Berkeley, come, And tell thy message to my naked breast. 130
BERKELEY My lord, think not a thought so villainous
Can harbour in a man of noble birth.
To do your highness service and devoir,
And save you from your foes, Berkeley would die.
LEICESTER (Reading the letter) My lord, the council of the Queen commands
That I resign my charge.
EDWARD And who must keep me now? Must you, my lord?
BERKELEY Ay, my most gracious lord, so ‘tis decreed.
EDWARD (Taking the letter) By Mortimer, whose name is written here.
He tears up the letter
Well may I rend his name that rends my heart! 140
This poor revenge hath something eased my mind.
So may his limbs be tom, as is this paper!
Hear me, immortal Jove, and grant it too.
BERKELEY Your grace must hence with me to Berkeley straight.
EDWARD Whither you will; all places are alike,
And every earth is fit for burial.
LEICESTER (To BERKELEY) Favour him, my lord, as much as lieth in you.
BERKELEY Even so betide my soul as I use him.
EDWARD Mine enemy hath pitied my estate,
And that’s the cause that I am now removed. 150
BERKELEY And thinks your grace that Berkeley will be cruel?
EDWARD I know not; but of this am I assured,
That death ends all, and I can die but once.
Leicester, farewell.
LEICESTER Not yet, my lord; I’ll bear you on your way.
Exeunt
Enter MORTIMER JUNIOR, and QUEEN ISABELLA
MORTIMER JUNIOR Fair Isabel, now have we our desire.
The proud corrupters of the light-brained King
Have done their homage to the lofty gallows,
And he himselflies in captivity.
Be ruled by me, and we will rule the realm.
In any case, take heed of childish fear,
For now we hold an old wolf by the ears,
That if he slip will seize upon us both,
And grip the sorer, being gripped himself.
Think therefore, madam, that imports us much 10
To erect your son with all the speed we may,
And that I be Protector over him,
For our behoof will bear the greater sway
Whenas a king’s name shall be underwrit.
ISABELLA Sweet Mortimer, the life of Isabel,
Be thou persuaded that I love thee well,
And therefore, so the Prince my son be safe,
Whom I esteem as dear as these mine eyes,
Conclude against his father what thou wilt,
And I myself will willingly subscribe. 20
MORTIMER JUNIOR First would I hear news that he were deposed,
And then let me alone to handle him.
Enter MESSENGER
MORTIMER JUNIOR Letters, from whence?
MESSENGER From Kenilworth, my lord.
ISABELLA How fares my lord the King?
MESSENGER In health, madam, but full of pensiveness.
ISABELLA Alas, poor soul, would I could ease his grief
Enter the BISHOP OF WINCHESTER with the crown
Thanks, gentle Winchester.
(To the MESSENGER)
Sirrah, be gone.
Exit MESSENGER
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER The King hath willingly resigned his crown.
ISABELLA O happy news! Send for the Prince, my son.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER Further, ere this letter was sealed, Lord Berkeley came, 30
So that he now is gone from Kenilworth.
And we have heard that Edmund laid a plot
To set his brother free; no more but so.
The lord of Berkeley is so pitiful
As Leicester that had charge of him before.
ISABELLA Then let some other be his guardian.
Exit BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
MORTIMER JUNIOR Let me alone—here is the privy seal.
(Calls offstage) Who’s there? Call hither Gourney and Maltravers.
To dash the heavy-headed Edmund’s drift,
Berkeley shall be discharged, the King removed, 40
And none but we shall know where he lieth.
ISABELLA But Mortimer, as long as he survives
What safety rests for us, or for my son?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Speak, shall he presently be dispatched and die?
ISABELLA I would he were, so it were not by my means.
Enter MAL TRAVERS and GOURNEY
MORTIMER JUNIOR Enough. Maltravers, write a letter presently
Unto the Lord of Berkeley from ourself,
That he resign the King to thee and Gourney;
And when ‘tis done, we will subscribe our name.
MALTRAVERS It shall be done, my lord.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Gourney.
GOURNEY My lord? 50
MORTIMER JUNIOR As thou intendest to rise by Mortimer,
Who now makes Fortune’s wheel turn as he please,
Seek all the means thou canst to make him droop,
And neither give him kind word nor good look.
GOURNEY I warrant you, my lord.
MORTIMER JUNIOR And this above the rest, because we hear
That Edmund casts to work his liberty,
Remove him still from place to place by night,
And at the last he come to Kenilworth,
And then from thence to Berkeley back again. 60
And by the way to make him fret the more,
Speak curstly to him; and in any case
Let no man comfort him if he chance to weep,
But amplify his grief with bitter words.
MALTRAVERS Fear not, my lord, we’ll do as you command.
MORTIMER JUNIOR So now away; post thitherwards amain.
ISABELLA Whither goes this letter? To my lord the King?
Commend me humbly to his majesty,
And tell him that I labour all in vain
To ease his grief and work his liberty. 70
And bear him this, as witness of my love.
She gives MALTRAVERS a jewel
MALTRAVERS I will, madam.
Exeunt MALTRAVERS and GOURNEY. ISABELLA and MORTIMER JUNIOR REMAIN
Enter the young PRINCE EDWARD and the EARL OF KENT talking with him
MORTIMER JUNIOR (Aside to ISABELLA) Finely dissembled; do so still, sweet Queen.
Here comes the young Prince with the Earl of Kent.
ISABELLA (Aside to MORTIMER JUNIOR) Something he whispers in his childish ears.
MORTIMER JUNIOR (Aside) If he have such access unto the Prince,
Our plots and stratagems will soon be dashed.
ISABELLA (Aside) Use Edmund friendly, as if all were well.
MORTIMER JUNIOR How fares my honourable lord of Kent?
KENT In health, sweet Mortimer. How fares your grace? 80
ISABELLA Well—if my lord your brother were enlarged.
KENT I hear of late he hath deposed himself.
ISABELLA The more my grief.
MORTIMER JUNIOR And mine.
KENT (Aside) Ah, they do dissemble.
ISABELLA Sweet son, come hither; I must talk with thee.
MORTIMER JUNIOR (To KENT) Thou, being his uncle and the next of blood,
Do look to be Protector over the Prince.
KENT Not I, my lord; who should protect the son
But she that gave him life—I mean, the Queen? 90
PRINCE EDWARD Mother, persuade me not to wear the crown;
Let him be king. I am too young to reign.
ISABELLA But be content, seeing it his highness’ pleasure.
PRINCE EDWARD Let me but see him first, and then I will.
KENT Ay, do, sweet nephew.
ISABELLA Brother, you know it is impossible.
PRINCE EDWARD Why, is he dead?
ISABELLA No, God forbid.
KENT I would those words proceeded from your heart.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Inconstant Edmund, dost thou favour him 100
That wast a cause of his imprisonment?
KENT The more cause have I now to make amends.
MORTIMER JUNIOR I tell thee ‘tis not meet that one so false
Should come about the person of a prince.
(To PRINCE EDWARD) My lord, he hath betrayed the King, his brother,
And therefore trust him not.
PRINCE EDWARD But he repents and sorrows for it now.
ISABELLA Come son, and go with this gentle lord and me.
PRINCE EDWARD With you I will, but not with Mortimer.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Why, youngling, ‘sdain’st thou so of Mortimer? 110
Then I will carry thee by force away.
PRINCE EDWARD Help, uncle Kent, Mortimer will wrong me.
Exit MORTIMER JUNIOR with PRINCE EDWARD
ISABELLA Brother Edmund, strive not; we are his friends.
Isabel is nearer than the Earl of Kent.
KENT Sister, Edward is my charge; redeem him.
ISABELLA Edward is my son, and I will keep him.
Exit
KENT Mortimer shall know that he hath wrongéd me.
Hence will I haste to Kenilworth Castle
And rescue aged Edward from his foes,
To be revenged on Mortimer and thee. 120
Exit
Enter MALTRAVERS and GOURNEY with torches, with EDWARD THE KING, and soldiers
MALTRAVERS My lord, be not pensive; we are your friends.
Men are ordained to live in misery;
Therefore come, dalliance dangereth our lives.
EDWARD Friends, whither must unhappy Edward go?
Will hateful Mortimer appoint no rest?
Must I be vexed like the nightly bird
Whose sight is loathsome to all winged fowls?
When will the fury of his mind assuage?
When will his heart be satisfied with blood?
If mine will serve, unbowel straight this breast, 10
And give my heart to Isabel and him;
It is the chiefest mark they level at.
GOURNEY Not so, my liege; the Queen hath given this charge
To keep your grace in safety.
Your passions make your dolours to increase.
EDWARD This usage makes my misery increase.
But can my air of life continue long
When all my senses are annoyed with stench?
Within a dungeon England’s king is kept,
Where I am starved for want of sustenance. 20
My daily diet is heart-breaking sobs,
That almost rends the closet of my heart.
Thus lives old Edward, not relieved by any,
And so must die, though pitied by many.
O water, gentle friends, to cool my thirst
And clear my body from foul excrements.
MALTRAVERS Here’s channel water, as our charge is given;
Sit down, for we’ll be barbers to your grace.
EDWARD Traitors, away! What, will you murder me,
Or choke your sovereign with puddle water? 30
GOURNEY No, but wash your face and shave away your beard,
Lest you be known and so be rescuèd.
MALTRAVERS Why strive you thus? Your labour is in vain.
EDWARD The wren may strive against the lion’s strength,
But all in vain; so vainly do I strive
To seek for mercy at a tyrant’s hand.
They wash him with puddle water, and shave his beard away
Immortal powers, that knows the painful cares
That waits upon my poor distressed soul,
O level all your looks upon these daring men,
That wrongs their liege and sovereign, England’s king.
O Gaveston, it is for thee that I am wronged; 41
For me, both thou and both the Spencers died,
And for your sakes a thousand wrongs I’ll take.
The Spencers’ ghosts, wherever they remain,
Wish well to mine; then tush, for them I’ll die.
MALTRAVERS ‘Twixt theirs and yours shall be no enmity.
Come, come away. Now put the torches out;
We’ll enter in by darkness to Kenilworth.
Enter EDMUND the EARL OF KENT
GOURNEY How now, who comes there?
MALTRAVERS Guard the King sure; it is the Earl of Kent. 50
EDWARD O gentle brother, help to rescue me.
MALTRAVERS Keep them asunder; thrust in the King.
KENT Soldiers, let me but talk to him one word.
GOURNEY Lay hands upon the Earl for this assault.
KENT Lay down your weapons; traitors, yield the King!
MALTRAVERS Edmund, yield thou thyself, or thou shalt die.
Soldiers seize KENT
KENT Base villains, wherefore do you grip me thus?
GOURNEY Bind him, and so convey him to the court.
KENT Where is the court but here? Here is the King,
And I will visit him. Why stay you me? 60
MALTRAVERS The court is where Lord Mortimer remains.
Thither shall your honour go; and so, farewell.
Exeunt MALTRAVERS and GOURNEY, with EDWARD THE KING.
EDMUND the EARL OF KENT and the SOLDIERS remain
KENT O, miserable is that commonweal, where lords
Keep courts and kings are locked in prison!
SOLDIER Wherefore stay we? On, sirs, to the court.
KENT Ay, lead me whither you will, even to my death,
Seeing that my brother cannot be released.
Exeunt
Enter MORTIMER JUNIOR alone
MORTIMER JUNIOR The King must die, or Mortimer goes down;
The commons now begin to pity him.
Yet he that is the cause of Edward’s death
Is sure to pay for it when his son is of age,
And therefore will I do it cunningly.
This letter, written by a friend of ours,
Contains his death, yet bids them save his life:
(He reads) ‘Edwardum occidere nolite timere, bonum est,
Fear not to kill the King, ‘tis good he die.’
But read it thus, and that’s another sense: 10
‘Edwardum occidere nolite, timere bonum est;
Kill not the King, ‘tis good to fear the worst.’
Unpointed as it is, thus shall it go,
That, being dead, if it chance to be found,
Maltravers and the rest may bear the blame,
And we be quit that caused it to be done.
Within this room is locked the messenger
That shall convey it and perform the rest.
And by a secret token that he bears,
Shall he be murdered when the deed is done. 20
Lightborne, come forth.
Enter LIGHTBORNE
Art thou as resolute as thou wast?
LIGHTBORNE What else, my lord? And far more resolute.
MORTIMER JUNIOR And hast thou cast how to accomplish it?
LIGHTBORNE Ay, ay, and none shall know which way he died.
MORTIMER JUNIOR But at his looks, Lightborne, thou wilt relent.
LIGHTBORNE Relent? Ha, ha! I use much to relent.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Well, do it bravely, and be secret.
LIGHTBORNE You shall not need to give instructions;
‘Tis not the first time I have killed a man.
I learned in Naples how to poison flowers, 30
To strangle with a lawn thrust through the throat,
To pierce the windpipe with a needle’s point,
Or, whilst one is asleep, to take a quill
And blow a little powder in his ears,
Or open his mouth and pour quicksilver down.
But yet I have a braver way than these.
MORTIMER JUNIOR What’s that?
LIGHTBORNE Nay, you shall pardon me; none shall know my tricks.
MORTIMER JUNIOR I care not how it is, so it be not spied.
Deliver this to Gourney and Maltravers. 40
He gives the letter to LIGHTBORNE
At every ten miles’ end thou hast a horse.
(Giving a token) Take this. Away, and never see me more.
LIGHTBORNE No?
MORTIMER JUNIOR No, unless thou bring me news of Edward’s death.
LIGHTBORNE That will I quickly do. Farewell, my lord.
Exit
MORTIMER JUNIOR The Prince I rule, the Queen do I command,
And with a lowly conge to the ground
The proudest lords salute me as I pass;
I seal, I cancel, I do what I will.
Feared am I more than loved; let me be feared, 50
And when I frown, make all the court look pale.
I view the Prince with Aristarchus’ eyes,
Whose looks were as a breeching to a boy.
They thrust upon me the protectorship
And sue to me for that that I desire.
While at the council table, grave enough,
And not unlike a bashful Puritan,
First I complain of imbecility,
Saying it is onus quam gravissimum,
Till being interrupted by my friends, 60
Suscepi that provinciam, as they term it,
And to conclude, I am Protector now.
Now is all sure: the Queen and Mortimer
Shall rule the realm, the King, and none rule us.
Mine enemies will I plague, my friends advance,
And what I list command, who dare control?
Maior sum quam cui possit fortuna nocere.
And that this be the coronation day,
It pleaseth me, and Isabel the Queen.
Trumpets sound within
The trumpets sound; I must go take my place. 70
Enter the young KING EDWARD III, the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, CHAMPION, NOBLES, and QUEEN ISABELLA
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Long live King Edward, by the grace of God,
King of England and Lord of ireland.
CHAMPION If any Christian, Heathen, Turk, or Jew
Dares but affirm that Edward’s not true king,
And will avouch his saying with the sword,
I am the Champion that will combat him.
MORTIMER JUNIOR None comes. Sound trumpets.
Trumpets sound
KING EDWARD III Champion, here’s to thee.
He raises his goblet
ISABELLA Lord Mortimer, now take him to your charge.
Enter SOLDIERS with EDMUND the EARL OF KENT prisoner
MORTIMER JUNIOR What traitor have we there with blades and bills?
SOLDIER Edmund, the Earl of Kent.
KING EDWARD III What hath he done? 80
SOLDIER A would have taken the King away perforce,
As we were bringing him to Kenilworth.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Did you attempt his rescue, Edmund? Speak.
KENT Mortimer, I did; he is our king,
And thou compell’st this prince to wear the crown.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Strike off his head! He shall have martial law.
KENT Strike off my head? Base traitor, I defy thee.
KING EDWARD III My lord, he is my uncle and shall live.
MORTIMER JUNIOR My lord, he is your enemy and shall die.
KENT Stay, villains. 90
KING EDWARD III Sweet mother, if I cannot pardon him,
Entreat my Lord Protector for his life.
ISABELLA Son, be content; I dare not speak a word.
KING EDWARD III Nor I, and yet methinks I should command;
But seeing I cannot, I’ll entreat for him.
(To MORTIMER JUNIOR) My lord, if you will let my uncle live,
I will requite it when I come to age.
MORTIMER JUNIOR ‘Tis for your highness’ good, and for the realm’s.
(To SOLDIERS) How often shall I bid you bear him hence?
KENT Art thou king? Must I die at thy command? 100
MORTIMER JUNIOR At our command. Once more, away with him.
KENT Let me but stay and speak; I will not go.
Either my brother or his son is king,
And none of both them thirst for Edmund’s blood.
And therefore, soldiers, whither will you hale me?
They hale EDMUND the EARL OF KENT away and carry him to be beheaded
KING EDWARD III What safety may I look for at his hands,
If that my uncle shall be murdered thus?
ISABELLA Fear not, sweet boy, I’ll guard thee from thy foes.
Had Edmund lived, he would have sought thy death.
Come son, we’ll ride a-hunting in the park. 110
KING EDWARD III And shall my uncle Edmund ride with us?
ISABELLA He is a traitor; think not on him. Come.
Exeunt
Enter MALTRAVERS and GOURNEY
MALTRAVERS Gourney, I wonder the King dies not,
Being in a vault up to the knees in water,
To which the channels of the castle run,
From whence a damp continually ariseth
That were enough to poison any man,
Much more a king, brought up so tenderly.
GOURNEY And so do I, Maltravers. Yesternight
I opened but the door to throw him meat,
And I was almost stifIed with the savour.
MALTRAVERS He hath a body able to endure 10
More than we can inflict; and therefore now
Let us assail his mind another while.
GOURNEY Send for him out thence, and I will anger him.
Enter LIGHTBORNE
MALTRAVERS But stay, who’s this?
LIGHTBORNE My Lord Protector greets you.
He gives them the letter
GOURNEY What’s here? I know not how to construe it.
MALTRAVERS Gourney, it was left unpointed for the nonce:
(Reading) ‘Edwardum occidere nolite timere’—
That’s his meaning.
LIGHTBORNE (Showing the token) Know you this token? I must have the King.
MALTRAVERS Ay, stay a while; thou shalt have answer straight. 20
(Aside to GOURNEY) This villain’s sent to make away the King.
GOURNEY(Aside to MALTRAVERS) I thought as much.
MALTRAVERS (Aside to GOURNEY) And when the murder’s done,
See how he must be handled for his labour.
Pereat iste! Let him have the King. What else?
(To LIGHTBORNE) Here is the keys; this is the lake.
Do as you are commanded by my lord.
LIGHTBORNE I know what I must do; get you away—
Yet be not far off; I shall need your help.
See that in the next room I have a fire,
And get me a spit, and let it be red hot. 30
MALTRAVERS Very well.
GOURNEY Need you anything besides?
LIGHTBORNE What else? A table and a featherbed.
GOURNEY That’s all?
LIGHTBORNE Ay, ay; so when I call you, bring it in.
MALTRAVERS Fear not you that.
GOURNEY Here’s a light to go into the dungeon.
Exit MALTRAVERS and GOURNEY
LIGHTBORNE So now must I about this gear; ne’er was there any
So finely handled as this king shall be.
Fohl Here’s a place indeed with all my heart. 40
Enter EDWARD
EDWARD Who’s there? What light is that? Wherefore comes thou?
LIGHTBORNE To comfort you and bring you joyful news.
EDWARD Small comfort finds poor Edward in thy looks.
Villain, I know thou com’st to murder me.
LIGHTBORNE To murder you, my most gracious lord?
Far is it from my heart to do you harm.
The Queen sent me to see how you were used,
For she relents at this your misery.
And what eyes can refrain from shedding tears
To see a king in this most piteous state? 50
EDWARD Weep’st thou already? List awhile to me,
And then thy heart, were it as Gourney’s is,
Or as Maltravers’, hewn from the Caucasus,
Yet will it melt ere I have done my tale.
This dungeon where they keep me is the sink
Wherein the filth of all the castle falls.
LIGHTBORNE O villains!
EDWARD And there in mire and puddle have I stood
This ten days’ space; and lest that I should sleep,
One plays continually upon a drum. 60
They give me bread and water, being a king,
So that for want of sleep and sustenance
My mind’s distempered and my body’s numbed,
And whether I have limbs or no, I know not.
O, would my blood dropped out from every vein,
As doth this water from my tattered robes.
Tell Isabel the Queen I looked not thus
When for her sake I ran at tilt in France
And there unhorsed the Duke of Cleremont.
LIGHTBORNE O speak no more, my lord; this breaks my heart. 70
Lie on this bed and rest yourself awhile.
EDWARD These looks of thine can harbour nought but death.
I see my tragedy written in thy brows.
Yet stay awhile; forbear thy bloody hand,
And let me see the stroke before it comes,
That even then when I shall lose my life,
My mind may be more steadfast on my God.
LIGHTBORNE What means your highness to mistrust me thus?
EDWARD What means thou to dissemble with me thus?
LIGHTBORNE These hands were never stained with innocent blood, 80
Nor shall they now be tainted with a king’s.
EDWARD Forgive my thought, for having such a thought.
One jewel have I left; receive thou this.
Still fear I, and I know not what’s the cause,
But every joint shakes as I give it thee.
O if thou harbour’st murder in thy heart,
Let this gift change thy mind and save thy soul.
Know that I am a king—O, at that name,
I feel a hell of grief. Where is my crown?
Gone, gone. And do I remain alive? 90
LIGHTBORNE You’re overwatched, my lord; lie down and rest.
EDWARD But that grief keeps me waking, I should sleep;
For not these ten days have these eyes’ lids closed.
Now as I speak they fall, and yet with fear
Open again. O wherefore sits thou here?
LIGHTBORNE If you mistrust me, I’ll be gone, my lord.
EDWARD No, no, for if thou mean’st to murder me,
Thou wilt return again, and therefore stay.
He falls asleep
LIGHTBORNE He sleeps.
EDWARD (Starting) O let me not die! Yet stay, O stay awhile. 100
LIGHTBORNE How now, my lord?
EDWARD Something still buzzeth in mine ears
And tells me, if I sleep I never wake.
This fear is that which makes me tremble thus;
And therefore tell me, wherefore art thou come?
LIGHTBORNE To rid thee of thy life. Maltravers, come!
Enter MALTRAVERS
EDWARD I am too weak and feeble to resist;
Assist me, sweet God, and receive my soul.
LIGHTBORNE Run for the table.
Exit MALTRAVERS
Enter MALTRAVERS with GOURNEY, carrying a table and hot spit
EDWARD O spare me, or dispatch me in a trice! 110
LIGHTBORNE So, lay the table down and stamp on it;
But not too hard, lest that you bruise his body.
They seize EDWARD and hold him down with the table.
LIGHTBORNE murders him with the spit. He screams as he is penetrated and dies
MALTRAVERS I fear me that this cry will raise the town,
And therefore let us take horse and away.
LIGHTBORNE Tell me, sirs, was it not bravely done?
GOURNEY Excellent well. Take this for thy reward.
Then GOURNEY stabs LIGHTBORNE
Come, let us cast the body in the moat,
And bear the King’s to Mortimer, our lord.
Away!
Exeunt, dragging the bodies
Enter MORTIMER JUNIOR and MALTRAVERS
MORTIMER JUNIOR Is’t done, MALTRAVERS, and the murderer dead?
MALTRAVERS Ay, my good lord; I would it were undone.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Maltravers, if thou now growest penitent
I’ll be thy ghostly father; therefore choose
Whether thou wilt be secret in this,
Or else die by the hand of Mortimer.
MALTRAVERS Gourney, my lord, is fled, and will, I fear,
Betray us both; therefore let me fly.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Fly to the savages!
MALTRAVERS I humbly thank your honour.
Exit
MORTIMER JUNIOR As for myself,
I stand as Jove’s huge tree, 11
And others are but shrubs compared to me.
All tremble at my name, and I fear none;
Let’s see who dare impeach me for his death.
Enter ISABELLA THE QUEEN
ISABELLA Ah, Mortimer, the King my son hath news
His father’s dead, and we have murdered him.
MORTIMER JUNIOR What if he have? The King is yet a child.
ISABELLA Ay, ay, but he tears his hair and wrings his hands,
And vows to be revenged upon us both.
Into the council chamber he is gone 20
To crave the aid and succour of his peers.
Enter KING EDWARD III, with the LORDS and attendants
Ay me, see where he comes, and they with him.
Now, Mortimer, begins our tragedy.
FIRST LORD Fear not, my lord; know that you are a king.
KING EDWARD III Villain!
MORTIMER JUNIOR How now, my lord?
KING EDWARD III Think not that I am frighted with thy words.
My father’s murdered through thy treachery,
And thou shalt die; and on his mournful hearse
Thy hateful and accursed head shall lie 30
To witness to the world that by thy means
His kingly body was too soon interred.
ISABELLA Weep not, sweet son.
KING EDWARD III Forbid not me to weep; he was my father.
And had you loved him half so well as I,
You could not bear his death thus patiently.
But you, I fear, conspired with Mortimer.
FIRST LORD (To MORTIMER JUNIOR) Why speak you not unto my lord the King?
MORTIMER JUNIOR Because I think it scorn to be accused.
Who is the man dare say I murdered him? 40
KING EDWARD III Traitor, in me my loving father speaks
And plainly saith, ‘twas thou that murd’redst him.
MORTIMER JUNIOR But hath your grace no other proof than this?
KING EDWARD III Yes, if this be the hand of Mortimer.
He presents a letter
MORTIMER JUNIOR (Aside to ISABELLA) False Gourney hath betrayed me and himself.
ISABELLA (Aside to MORTIMER JUNIOR) I feared as much; murder cannot be hid.
MORTIMER JUNIOR ‘Tis my hand; what gather you by this?
KING EDWARD III That thither thou didst send a murderer.
MORTIMER JUNIOR What murderer? Bring forth the man I sent.
KING EDWARD III Ah, Mortimer, thou knowest that he is slain; 50
And so shalt thou be too. Why stays he here?
Bring him unto a hurdle, drag him forth;
Hang him, I say, and set his quarters up!
But bring his head back presently to me.
ISABELLA For my sake, sweet son, pity Mortimer.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Madam, entreat not; I will rather die
Than sue for life unto a paltry boy.
KING EDWARD III Hence with the traitor, with the murderer.
MORTIMER JUNIOR Base Fortune, now I see that in thy wheel
There is a point to which, when men aspire, 60
They tumble headlong down; that point I touched,
And seeing there was no place to mount up higher,
Why should I grieve at my declining fall?
Farewell, fair Queen. Weep not for Mortimer,
That scorns the world, and as a traveller
Goes to discover countries yet unknown.
KING EDWARD III What! Suffer you the traitor to delay?
Exit MORTIMER JUNIOR under guard, with the FIRST LORD
ISABELLA As thou received’st thy life from me,
Spill not the blood of gentle Mortimer.
KING EDWARD III This argues that you spilt my father’s blood, 70
Else would you not entreat for Mortimer.
ISABELLA I spill his blood? No!
KING EDWARD III Ay, madam, you; for so the rumour runs.
ISABELLA That rum our is untrue; for loving thee
Is this report raised on poor Isabel.
KING EDWARD III I do not think her so unnatural.
SECOND LORD My lord, I fear me it will prove too true.
KING EDWARD III Mother, you are suspected for his death,
And therefore we commit you to the Tower
Till further trial may be made thereof; 80
If you be guilty, though I be your son,
Think not to find me slack or pitiful.
ISABELLA Nay, to my death, for too long have I lived
Whenas my son thinks to abridge my days.
KING EDWARD III Away with her. Her words enforce these tears,
And I shall pity her if she speak again.
ISABELLA Shall I not mourn for my belovèd lord,
And with the rest accompany him to his grave?
SECOND LORD Thus, madam, ‘tis the King’s will you shall hence.
ISABELLA He hath forgotten me; stay, I am his mother.
SECOND LORD That boots not; therefore, gentle madam, go. 91
ISABELLA Then come, sweet death, and rid me of this grief.
Exit under guard
Enter FIRST LORD with the head if MORTIMER JUNIOR
FIRST LORD My lord, here is the head of Mortimer.
KING EDWARD III Go fetch my father’s hearse, where it shall lie,
And bring my funeral robes.
Exeunt attendants
Accursèd head!
Could I have ruled thee then, as I do now,
Thou hadst not hatched this monstrous treachery.
Enter attendants with the hearse of KING EDWARD II and funeral robes
Here comes the hearse; help me to mourn, my lords.
Sweet father, here unto thy murdered ghost
I offer up this wicked traitor’s head. 100
And let these tears, distilling from mine eyes,
Be witness of my grief and innocency.
Exeunt, with a funeral march
FINIS
3 surfeit: oveflow
4 hap: happen to
7 France: Edward I had exiled Gaveston to his home in Ponthieu, Gascony
8 Leander: Marlowe’s Hero and Leander (c. 1593, published in 1598 with additional lines by George Chapman) retold the classical story of Leander who swam the Hellespont each night to be with his lover, Hero
11 Elysium: the classical Greek name for heaven
14 die: a) swoon; b) enjoy sexual orgasm
20-1 multitude, that … their poverty: the multitude are mere embers by comparison with Edward, who burns like the sun
22 Tanti!: ‘So much for that’ (corruption of tant’ è) (Italian)
31 trencher: plate, or place at a table
lies: travellers’ tales
34 the Scot: Edward I’s wars against the Scots (led by Robert the Bruce)
35 hospitals: often squalid ‘spital houses’ for the poor, including ex-soldiers
41 And dart … my breast: it was thought that porcupines could shoot their quills, if under threat
46 speed well: prosper (by rising in social rank)
entertain: take into service
51 wanton: lascivious
pleasant wits: pleasing, witty companions
53 pliant: easily influenced, manipulated
55 masques: elaborate courtly entertainments originating in Italy, they became popular in the courts of Elizabeth I and the early Stuarts. Gaveston’s allusion is, therefore, anachronistic
57 abroad: outdoors
58 sylvan nymphs: female spirits of the woods
59 satyrs: part-human and part-goat, satyrs are associated with Bacchus, the classical god of wine and revelry
60 antic: grotesque
hay: country dance involving snake-like movement
61 Dian’s shape: Diana was the classical goddess of the moon
63 Crownets: bracelets
64 sportful: playful
66 hard: near
67 Actaeon: in classical mythology Actaeon spied on the goddess Diana as she bathed; as punishment she turned him into a stag and he was then killed by his own hunting dogs
73 stand aside: Gaveston retreats to the side or back of the stage until l. 139
79 cross: oppose
90 Mort Dieu!: ‘by God’s death’, reminding us of Gaveston’s French origins. Later in the play ‘Latin is used to characterise English nobility’ (Kinney)
91 rue: regret
92 Beseems it thee: ‘is it fitting for you’
98 Ned: familiar name for Edward
100 naturally: by reason of social rank
108 to the proof: irrefutably
110 moved: angry
111 Braved: challenged
118 Preach upon poles: the heads of executed traitors were displayed as a warning to others: see The Knight of the Burning Pestle, II.469-70
120 grant: assent
123 Cousin: Mortimer Junior’s use of this familiar term to his king is presumptuous
fence: shield
126 parley: negotiate
127 Welshry: the people of Wales
129 And northward … many friends: meant ironically. Lancaster implies exactly the opposite
133 glozing: flattering
minion: a) servant; b) homosexual lover, derived from mignon (sweet) (French)
134 brook: endure
136 ensigns: military banners
137 bandy: take and return blows (a metaphor from tennis)
144 Hylas: Hercules was grief-stricken when his beloved youth Hylas was killed by water nymphs during the voyage of the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece
150 high-minded: arrogant
151 JOY: enjoy
156 King and Lord of Man: the Isle of Man enjoyed a certain autonomy and, according to Gill, their rulers were known as kings until 1829. The idea of Gaveston being a ‘Lord of Man’ may also have a homoerotic overtone
165 regiment: royal authority
168 seal: a material token of royal authority (usually a ring)
170 affects: desires
174 car: chariot
176 exequies: funeral rites
183 reclaimed: subdued
184 incense: incite
186 Saving your reverence: a polite term here used sarcastically
187 Throw off … rend his stole: seize his ecclesiastical head-dress (mitre) and tear his vestment (stole)
188 channel: open sewer
190 See of Rome: the Pope
194 rents: a) rents from church properties; b) ecclesiastical taxes
197 bolts: leg irons
198 the Tower, the Fleet: the Tower of London (used for political prisoners), the Fleet prison (used for common prisoners and debtors)
200 True, true: Coventry reacts to the fact that ‘convey’, as well as meaning ‘conduct’, commonly meant ‘steal’
206 may beseem: may (ironically) be appropriate for a priest seeking ascetic conditions for holy meditation
2 goods and body: see I.i.193-4
3 tyrannize upon the church: Edward is seen as having usurped the authority of the Church by imprisoning a bishop
7 peevish: foolish
him: himself
11 villain: a) rascal; b) a person oflow birth
16 post: travel at speed
levy men: raise an army
19 vailing: doffing
26 stomach: resent
27 bewrays: reveals
29 hale: drag
38 certifY: inform
44 near: a) deeply; b) personally (as ecclesiastical business)
47 forest: wilderness, figuratively representing her sense of alienation from her husband
48 baleful: wretched
51 claps: pats
57 inveigling: a) deceiving; b) seducing
62 lift: a) steal; b) hang
63 still: forever
72 frustrate: defeat
75 New Temple: ‘A building established and used by the Knights Templar until their suppression in 1308’ (Wiggins and Lindsey) and ‘in Edward II’s time, the site of frequent disputes between the crown and wealthy subjects’ (Kinney)
78 Lambeth: Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury since 1197
1 Edmund: Gaveston addresses Kent in an informal way
4 redoubted: feared
1 form: document
7 declined: separated
8 sits here: Gaveston takes the place normally reserved for Qreen Isabella
13 Quam male conveniunt!: ‘How badly they suit one another!’
16 Ignoble vassal: slave of low birth Phaëthon: ‘the son of Phoebus Apollo, the sun-god, who presumptuously asked his father to let him drive the chariot of the sun, lost control of the horses, was struck by a bolt of lightning, and plummeted disastrously to earth’ (Forker)
19 faced: bullied
over-peered: looked down upon, with a pun on ‘peer’ (lord)
26 pay them home: chastise them
32 disparage: vilify
49 fleet: drift
50 Inde: a) India; b) East Indies. Edward’s image implies ‘to the ends of the earth’ (Kinney)
51 legate: representative
54 Curse: excommunicate
61-2 Or I … to thee: when rulers were excommunicated, their subjects were absolved of all allegiance to them, as was the case with the excommunication of Elizabeth I in 1570
78 rude: uncivilised
82 lawn: peasant
89 published: proclaimed
97 imperial grooms: imperious servants
98 taper-lights: candles for devotional use
100 crazèd: a) cracked; b) unsound
102 Tiber’s channel: the River Tiber in Rome
121 blessedness: exceptional happiness
131 hence: go
134 dumb: silent
140 bear: accompany
142 pass: care
SD Enter EDMUND: Kent has no lines but his quiet witnessing of the exchange between Edward, Isabella and Gaveston is important in explaining his later actions
147 Gaveston is the first to accuse Isabella of adultery
151 bawd to his affections: procurer, pander to his (sexual) desires
159 touch me not: a) keep away from me; b) do not meddle in my business
167 And witness … to me: Wiggins and Lindsey note that as this line is spoken ‘many productions have Edward and Gaveston embrace or kiss as lovers’
168 repealed: recalled from exile
172 Circe: enchantress who turned Odysseus’s men into pigs. Marlowe’s source is Ovid’s Metamorphoses, XIV
174 Hymen: god of marriage
175 those arms: Edward’s arms
178-80 Like frantic … on Ganymede: Juno fell into a frenzy of jealousy when her husband Jupiter chose the youth Ganymede to be his cup-bearer. Marlowe’s source is Metamorphoses, X. The comparison of Ganymede to Gaveston in this scene ‘underscores the homosexuality of the king’s passion, for a “Ganymede” was the standard term in Marlowe’s age for the younger partner in a love affair between males’ (Forker)
179 murmur: a) rumour; b) report
182 exasperate: aggravate
183 entreat: a) negotiate with; b) beg
fair: courteously
185 ever: always
189 entreated: treated
191 Long of on account of (London dialect form)
195 Cry quittance: a) retaliate; b) renounce the marriage
199 wanton humour: amorous disposition (as in the Elizabethan belief that bodily fluids (humours) were responsible for the individual’s state of mind)
200 enjoined: obliged
211 tend’rest: cares for
224 floats: sails
226 weight: importance
234 mark: observe
237 grant: assent
242 avail: advantage
243 behoof benefit
248 respect: special circumstances
250 allege: offer as a reason
255 sophister: philosopher who employs specious arguments
257 mend: reform
260 front: confront
261 whereas: while
265 suborned: bribed
266 poniard: dagger
268 brave attempt: justified attack
269 the chronicle: history
276 vail the topflag: lower a flag (colour) in submission (naval)
279 colour: pretext
282 of: on
284 night-grown mushroom: a metaphor for a political or social upstart (since mushrooms can spring up overnight)
286 Should bear us down: overwhelm us
288 buckler: shield
289 hold: stronghold, castle
291 groom: servant
314 Cyclops’ hammers: in classical mythology Cyclops forged thunderbolts for the gods
317 Fury: the Furies tormented wrongdoers in the underworld
320 Diablo!: the devil’ (Spanish)
329 golden tongue: an item of jewellery
332 Than these: i.e. Edward’s arms
338 bespeak: speak to
342 gross vapours: thick mists, fog
348 gaudy: ornate
352 the sword: the sword of state
356 like: please
360 Mortimer of Chirke: Mortimer Senior, whose estate was in the border (Marches) area of Shropshire (England) and Wales. Mortimer Junior (of Wigmore) held lands further south on the border between the English county of Herefordshire and Wales
370 Clerk of the Crown: an officer of the court responsible for drawing up writs
372 Iris or Jove’s Mercury: in classical mythology Iris and Mercury were messengers for Juno and Jupiter respectively
376 Against: until
379 sure: betrothed
380 the Earl of Gloucester’s heir: i.e. Lady Margaret de Clare
391 controlment: restraint
393-5 Alexanderloved… stern Achilles: ‘famous male companions and couples sometimes portrayed as homosexual unions’ (Kinney)
397 Tully loved Octavius: Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), a Roman statesman, and Octavius Caesar (63 BC-AD 14). There is no recorded evidence of a homosexual relationship between these two men although Cicero expressed great loyalty to Octavius
398 Socrates, wild Alcibiades: Socrates, the Greek philosopher (c. 450-404 BC) argued for the purity of homosexual love. Alcibiades was his pupil
402 toys: trifles
409 Midas-like: King Midas of Phrygia was given the power of turning anything he touched into gold by the Greek god Dionysus
jets: struts
410 outlandish cullions: foreign low fellows
412 Proteus: a sea god who could change shape
413 dapper jack: fashionable gendeman (see the character Jack Dapper in The Roaring Girl)
brisk: smartly dressed
414-15 Italian hooded cloak: Gaveston’s Italian clothes may signify both his politics and his homosexuality since Italy was thought of by the Elizabethans as a place of both political (Machiavellian) intrigue and sexual ‘deviance’ (see Introduction)
415 Larded: encrusted
417 other: others
419 flout our train: mock our attendants
6 factious: seditious
10 liberal: a) gende (as in a gendeman); b) licentious
16 end: conclusion
20 our lady: Margaret de Clare, daughter of the Earl of Gloucester
30 Having read… a child: Baldock is Margaret’s tutor
32 court it: behave like a courtier (rather than a scholar)
33-40 Spencer Junior describes the typical dress of a (sixteenth-century) poor scholar
35 nosegay: posy of flowers
36 napkin: handkerchief
37 at a table’s end: i.e. at the socially inferior end of a formal meal
38 making low legs: bowing
43 stab: a) betray; b) make quick repartee (with pun on sexual intercourse)
53-4 ‘propterea quod’ and ‘quandoquidem’: both mean ‘because’, ‘but presumably one was regarded as ponderous, the other elegant. Baldock means he is no mere pedant, using old-fashioned constructions’ (J. B. Steane)
55 to form: to conjugate
67 repatr: come
71 coach: an anachronistic reference
73 park pale: the fence of an estate
presently: directly
82 long: am restless
2 upon the sea: Edward is waiting for Gaveston near Tynemouth Cas de in the north-east of England as though Gaveston is sailing there from Ireland. The geography is anomalous, but Marlowe conflates Gaveston’s two banishments, the first to Flanders and the second to Ireland. There is evidence that the two met actually met at Chester in the north-west of England
4 runs on: is preoccupied by
9 Normandy: then part of English crown territory
11 device: heraldic emblem
12 Against the stately triumph: prepared for the public entertainment
13 homely: plain
16 lofty cedar tree: symbol of social order
18 canker: worm (i.e. Gaveston)
creeps me up: creeps up
20 Æque tandem: equal in height
23 Pliny: Roman scholar (AD 23-79)
28 Undique mors est: death is on all sides
35 my brother: i.e. Gaveston
40 jesses: straps fastened to the legs of hunting birds
42 Britainy: Britain
46 harpy: classical bird-like creatures with female faces and breasts
53 Danaë: in classical mythology she was imprisoned in a tower by her father after an oracle prophesied that her child would kill him. She became pregnant by the god Jupiter who entered the tower as a shower of gold
55 waxed outrageous: grew unrestrained
59 preventeth: anticipates
62 painted: colourful
72 jar: quarrel
73 Return it to their throats: ‘reject their abuse’ warrant: protection
74 leaden: as in cheap coinage (as opposed to gold coins known as ‘nobles’)
75 eat your tenants’ beef: a peculiarly French insult as the French considered the English great eaters of beef; ‘beef-witted’ also meant ‘stupid’
82 salve: atone for
85 answer: answer for
87 both: i.e. Mortimer Junior and Lancaster
aby: pay for
91 sure: safe
93 these words… thy years: Warwick was a senior peer and Kent implies that he should have more wisdom
101 Cousin: a broad term for a relative or friend
103 protest: determine
104 prosecute: pursue
116 defray: pay
121 gather head: raise an army
128 Content: agreed
129 marry: to be sure (contracted from the oath ‘By Mary’)
134 in: enter
144 broad seal: the authority that would allow Mortimer Junior to beg for money (implying that he has none)
145 thoroughout: throughout
151 haunted: pursued, tormented
155 prodigal: lavish
157 murmuring commons overstretchèd hath: the discontented common people complain, presumably at the high levels of taxation
161 O’Neill: possibly a reference to Hugh O’Neill, an Ulster chieftain during the reign of Elizabeth I
kerns: footsoldiers
162 English pale: the area ofland around Dublin in Ireland preserved for English settlers, hence the expression ‘beyond the pale’
164 drave: drove
spoils: loot, plunder
165 the narrow seas: the English Channel
169 Valois: i.e. King Philip of France
174 Libels: subversive leaflets or ‘broadsides’
180 players: actors
184 favours: tokens of affection (such as gloves or scarves) labels: parchment strips for attaching seals to documents
185 fleering: sneering
188 lemans: sweethearts
Bannocks bourne: Edward was defeated at Bannockburn in 1314 having failed to secure nearby Stiding Castle from the Scots. Historically, Gaveston was dead by the time of this defeat
190 weeneth: hopes
192 rom below: meaningless refrain rhyming with ‘a heave and a ho’ which derived from sea shanties
193 Wigmore shall fly: Wigmore Castle (in Herefordshire) shall be quickly sold
196 ensigns: banners raised in battle
200-1 cockerels/Affright a lion: lions (also symbols of royalty) were proverbially afraid of the crowing of the cock
220 begirt: surround, enclose
223 him: i.e. Mortimer Junior
226 speak her fair: address her courteously
229 brave: defiant
233 privily made away: murdered
234 caroused: quaffed:
238 entertain: employ
241 Oxford, not from heraldry: Baldock claims his status through his Oxford education rather than through birth
246 well allied: of good birth
250 style: title
253 Cousin: niece (Edward’s sister, Joan of Arc, had married the Earl of Gloucester)
257 stomach: resent
260 list: choose
4 adventure: risk
5 policy: as a trick
8 cast: consider
23 Mortimer: Mortimer Junior suggests that the family name derives from the Latin for the Dead Sea (Mortum Mare) because of having fought in the Crusades. In fact the name derived from Mortemer in Normandy
25 alarum: call to arms
27 hardy: reckless
3 spoil: plunder
4 hold: fortress
6 post: go quickly (by horse)
41 Forslow: waste
47 Flemish hoy: small Flemish fishing boat
48 amain: with all speed
60-1 So well… thee forever: ‘Marlowe obviously prepares the ground here for Isabella’s adultery’ (Forker)
65 strange: a) estranged: b) unresponsive
1 lusty: insolent
5 malgrado all your beards: malgrado means’in spite of (Italian); Gaveston may here be alludmg to the long beards of his English pursuers (as opposed to the clean—shaven French)
10 broils: disturbances
15 Greekish strumpet: Helen of Troy, abducted by Paris and thus the cause of the Trojan War
trained: lured
18 buckler: shield (i.e. protect)
21 warning: notice. Warwick considers Gaveston so irredeemable that he should not be allowed to prepare himself spiritually for death
27 But for: even though
28 so much honour: the nobility were exempt from hanging
30 heading: beheading
37 for why: because
40 be mindful of: take into consideration
60 wot: know
61 remits: abandons
62 exigents: exigencies, severe measures
seize: take possession of
in keep: in custody
66 be pledge: stake my own life (as security)
70 make away: murder
73 Question: argue
85 ‘had I wist’: ‘had I known’ (proverbial)
93 do your pleasures: do as you will
96 wit and policy: cunning and strategy
103 balk: neglect
105 adamant: magnet, loadstone
109 discharge: relieve
111 Cobham: there is a Cobham in Kent and another in Surrey. Neither makes sense since Pembroke’s house was at Deddington in Oxfordshire
1 thy friend: i.e. Pembroke
2 arms: i.e. soldiers
3 bands: bonds
4 period: the end
5 Centre of all my bliss: a) nadir, the low point; b) the day of reunion with Edward
An: if
7 Strive you: struggle
13 watched it: guarded (Gaveston)
14 shadow: ghost
18 booted not: was useless
19 certify: inform
11 Eleanor of Spain: Eleanor of Castile, Edward I’s first wife
12 Longshanks: Edward I acquired this name because of his long legs
13 braves: insults
14 beard: defy (as in ‘pluck by the beard’)
16 magnanimity: courage (associated with nobility)
19 counterbuffed of: opposed by
20 preach on poles: see I.i.118n
22 preachments: exhortations
27 steel it: sharpen (his sword) poll their tops: cut off their heads (referring to the pollarding of tree-tops and punning on Spencer Junior’s ‘poles’)
28 haught: lofty
29 affection: support, desires
31 awed: frightened
SD truncheon: staff, symbol of authority (and of war)
35 of whence and what thou art: ‘where you come from and what is your name’
36 bowmen and of pikes: lines of bowmen (archers) were protected in the field by lines of sharpened lances (pikes) driven by their bearers into the ground ahead
36 Brown bills: footsoldiers with bronzed halberds (metonymic)
targeteers: shield-carrying footsoldiers
43 an it like: if it please
48 Argues: proves; ‘Ironically, this statement emphasises fact that Spencer Senior is not, by birth, a nobleman’ (Wiggins and Lindsey)
54 in hand withal: i.e. engaged with this transaction
56 spare them… it on: do not be frugal (with the crowns) but be extravagant (in your counter-offer)
57 largess: bounty
66 Sib: sibling, or an ‘affectionate diminutive of Isabella’ (Gill)
77 Atlas’ shoulder: in classical mythology Adas supported the sky on his shoulder
79 towardness: boldness
80 many days on earth: for Marlowe’s audience this would be ironic, since Edward III actually reigned from 1327-77
87 once: once and for all
94 surprised: ambushed
102 recreants: breakers of loyalty
104 bide: abide
113 fortunes: does it happen
121 part: act
123 refer: assign
127 fire them from their starting holes: smoke them from their hiding places (metaphor from hunting)
129 moving orbs: heavenly bodies thought to circle the earth
145 merely: by command rather than by succession. ‘The word suggests that Edward’s motive for honouring Spencer Junior is personal attraction, not an aspect of his vengeance upon the murderers of Gaveston’ (Forker)
152 iwis: assuredly (from the Middle English ywis)
154 rout: band
158 plainer: complainant
163 deads: deadens, kills the royal vine: anachronistic, since it was the crowns of later monarchs that were decorated with vines (Edward’s had strawberry leaves)
164 Impale: encircle diadem: crown
168 old servitors: long-standing supporters
171 consecrate: made sacred
173 Tarry: await
174 appoint: grant, allow
183 make them stoop: humiliate them
SD excursions: groups of soldiers rush across the stage as in battle
9 retire: pause, temporary retreat
18 Thou’d: thou had
23 trow ye: think you
35 Saint George: Patron Saint of England (in fact not adopted as such until the reign of Edward III)
39 Vailed: lowered
40 advance: raise the victims’ heads on pikes (like standards)
48 avoid: depart
54 headed: beheaded
55 overlook: ‘be mounted on a higher pole than’
58 temporal: earthly suffering (rather than spiritual)
61 my lord of Winchester: i.e. Spencer Senior
71 ragged: rugged
72 Immure: enclose (within walls)
83 To Danaë: see II.ii.53n
86 regiment: authority
88 levelled: aimed (as in shooting)
90 clean: absolutely
91 clap’s: clap us; seal a bargain (as with a clap of the hands) close: secretly
7 looseness: a) incompetence; b) sexual misconduct
9 stay: await
10 gracious: in grace. Kent calls upon the darkness of night to aid Mortimer Junior’s escape
11 device: plan, intent
14 thy potion… so happily?: ‘has your drug worked so well?’
4 a fig: obscene expression of contempt (where a thumb is thrust through two fingers)
6 warrant: assure
7 ‘A: he
10 jar: become discordant (as in music)
12 Whither does… thy steps?: i.e. ‘what is my next course of action?’
16 contemn: despise
17 Hainault: Fiemish county in the Low Countries, bordering France
20 shake off: cast off (our shared hopes of French support)
23 have me: move me
24 a staff: lance (to be broken in battle)
25 have at: attack
27 moan: lament
29 utmost verge: the furthest limit
30 Tanais: the Latin name for the River Don which Elizabethans thought of as the border between Europe and Asia
32 Marquis: i.e. Sir John’s brother, William, Count of Hainault
41 thraldom: bondage
44 trow: reckon, think
47 Monsieur le Grand: an invented figure with no historical origin
49 hard: obdurate: the King: i.e. of France
50 makes room: makes way
51 want: are lacking a many: many (for emphasis)
52 made away: killed
56 appointed: armed
57 reclaimed: a) subdued; b) taken back
61 sith: since
66 bid the… a base: a challenge to an opponent to risk becoming a prisoner (from a children’s game)
67 match: game
74 brother: i.e. brother-in-law
75 motion: proposal
76 forward: ardent
3 uncontrolled: without censure
8 note: official notification of the dead
11 Read it Spencer: Marlowe’s text does not include the list of names. We follow other editors by inserting the list from Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, 2nd edition (1587)
12 ‘barked: embarked (on their treason) apace: swiftly
15 love England’s gold: Edward’s bribe has worked
20 A will be had: he will be captured
28-9 ‘My duty… honour premised’: formal opening for a report
31 effected: brought about
37 constant: consistent, reliable
43 lead the round: lead the dance (the next stage)
46 Phoebus: Apollo, the classical god of the sun, who drove the sun across the sky in a chariot
52 countenance their ills: support their crimes
2 prosperous: favourable
3 Belgia: the Low Countries
4 cope: engage in battle friends: kinsfolk, relatives heavy case: sad state of affairs
5 glaive: ‘lance, but in the sixteenth century the word came also to mean “bill” and “sword’" (Forker)
8 help: remedy
9 Misgoverned: unruly wrack: destruction
13 patron: a) exemplary; b) benefactor; c) father-figure
16 sufferance: permission
17 this prince’s: i.e. young Prince Edward’s
19 homage, fealty, and forwardness: respect, loyalty and eagerness
22 wreak: avenge (wreak vengeance)
26 havocs: misuses (literally ‘lays waste’)
2 fail: a) decline in number; b) die; c) are exhausted
5 the Mortimers: historically inaccurate since Mortimer Senior was dead by this time, not having survived his imprisonment in the Tower of London
7 bed of honour: i.e. England
5 unkind: unnatural (as he is acting against his own brother)
12 Dissemble: be deceptive
14 forsooth: in truth
16-17 Bristol: the Mayor of Bristol has joined the rebellion
17 single: alone
18 walks: movement
22 architect: God you: Isabella’s supporters
26 Lord Warden: viceroy (appointed during a King’s minority)
28 Deal: proceed
38 relenting: pitying
48 presence: i.e. royal presence
51 Catiline of Rome: the corrupt Lucius Sergius Catalina (d. 62 BC) whose name was a byword for treason in Elizabethan England
58 but late: just lately
60 started: forced out from a hiding place (hunting term)
63 resteth: remains to be done in a muse: in thought, in a trance
70 Your lordship… your head: ‘your new rank will not prevent beheading’ (Kinney)
75 countenance: authority
76 runagates: renegades, traitors
77 take advice: consider
4 fell: cruel
5 chase: pursuit (as in hunting)
13 Whilom: formerly pomp: splendour
14 empery: empire
18 nurseries of arts: the universities at Oxford and Cambridge
20 this life contemplative: the reflective, devotional life as opposed to the active life (a standard medieval contrast)
27 wot: know
28 shrewdly: intuitively
29 gloomy fellow: the Mower, whom Spencer Junior supposes to be the Grim Reaper, the personification of death mead: meadow below: beyond the walls of the Abbey
34 sore: harsh
39 bloody: bloodthirsty
40 mickle: much (northern English and still used in Scodand)
44 drowsiness: an ill omen (see Arden of Faversham, v.16-17)
SD Welsh hooks: either military weapons or, as many critics think, agricultural tools. Forker convincingly argues for the latter since ‘if they are scythelike tools [they] would give visual point to the symbolism of the “gloomy fellow” mentioned earlier and add effectively to our sense of the king’s vulnerability by introducing a note of roughness-even of rustic savagery-to the moment of his capture’
48 fair commission: legal authority warrants: authorises
50 gallant: a) bold; b) her lover
52 reave: take away by force
53-4 quem dies… fugiens iacentem: from Seneca’s Thyestes, 11. 613-14. Jasper Heywood translated it in 1560 as: ‘Whom dawn of the day hath seen in pryde to reign/Him overthrown hath seen the evening late’
55 leave to grow so passionate: ‘Leicester’s sympathy for Edward here prepares us for his later replacement by Berkeley’ (Forker)
56 no other names: Spencer and Baldock have been stripped of their recently acquired titles
63 lour: frown
67 rescue: a) ransom; b) release
70 earns: grieves
81 Kenilworth: castle and town in Warwickshire. Q has Killingworth which many editors and directors preserve for its ominous overtones
83 litter: coach carried by men
88 Pluto’s bells: Pluto was the keeper of the underworld and ruler of the dead
89 Charon’s shore: the ferryman of the classical world who took the dead across the river Styx (see The Spanish Tragedy, I.i.20-2)
93 shorter by the heads: i.e. they will be beheaded
96 feignèd weeds: false do thes (he removes his monkish disguise)
101 Rend: be torn apart sphere of… thy orb: some Elizabethan astronomers thought (not uncontroversially) that the sun was a sphere or orb of fire (coelum igneum)
104 fleeted hence: left our bodies
105 the sunshine of our life: i.e. Edward
108 Pay nature’s debt: die
109 Reduce: summarise
110-11 To die… to fall: Baldock’s meditation on death (and tragedy) reminds us of his scholarly background, although the sentiment itself may have seemed a little commonplace to an Elizabethan audience
113 preachments: sermons place appointed: place of execution (where the condemned could make a speech to spectators). Rhys ap Howell is in characteristically sarcastic mood
116 remember me: a) with remuneration; b) if the Mower is a symbol of death, the last lines of the act take on a more surreal and haunting aspect
3 lay: resided space: period of time, an interval
8 allayed: abated
9-10 forest deer… the wounds: reference to the belief that a deer, wounded by an arrow, would seek out the healing herb dittany
18 pent: shut up mewed: caged (a ‘mew’ was a cage for birds and animals)
19 outrageous: excessive
22 plain me: complain
27 perfect: mere, simple
30 unconstant: unfaithful
35 strange exchange: change of circumstances unnatural to a king
43-4 this crown… quenchless fire: in classical mythology Jason deserted Medea for Creusa. Medea gave her a golden crown which burst into flames on her head (see Euripides, Medea, ll. 1,186-94)
45 Tisiphon: Tisiphone, one of the Furies who had snakes as hair (see Arden of Faversham xiv.151)
47 vine: symbol of royal lineage
50 stay: await
51 weigh: consider
66 watches of the element: the planets and stars. The night was divided in four parts or ‘watches’
67 rest you at a stay: i.e. remain fixed
71 tiger’s milk: tigers were a symbol of cruelty
76 fondly: foolishly
77 pass: care late: recently
84 present news: a prompt report
86 I’ll not… I live: the line is metrically short and some editors supply another foot (such as ‘be king’), yet the shortened line well reflects Edward’s despair
92 right: inheritance
109 for aye enthronizèd: for ever enthroned
115 protect: be Lord Protector (during Prince Edward’s minority)
133 devoir: duty
143 Jove: Jupiter, the supreme god of Roman mythology
148 so betide my soul: ‘let my soul be so treated’
149 estate: condition
2 light-brained: wanton, frivolous
7 old wolf by the ears: proverbial
9 grip the sorer: tighten his grip
10 imports us much: it is most important for us
11 erect: establish (on the throne)
13-14 For our… be underwrit: i.e. Mortimer and the Queen will have more authority once he can act in the King’s name as Protector
19 Conclude: decide
25 pensiveness: melancholy
34 so pitiful: as sympathetic (to Edward)
37 privy seal: the official symbol of royal authority
38 Gourney and Maltravers: according to Holinshed these men were ‘Sir Thomas Gourney’ and ‘the lord Maltreuers’ (‘Gurney’ and ‘Matrevis’ in Q) but ‘Marlowe deprives them of titles and treats them as hired thugs’ (Forker)
39 To dash … Edmund’s drift: ‘to frustrate the stupid Edward’s plan’
43 rests: remains
44 dispatched: killed
48 resign: surrender, turn over
52 Fortune’s wheel: an Elizabethan personification saw >Fortune with a wheel which turned to determine human fate, thus the arrogance of those (such as Mortimer Junior) who consider themselves able to control its spin. Marlowe uses the image most effectively in Tamburlaine: ‘I hold the Fates bound fast in iron chains/And with my hand turn Fortune’s wheel about’ (I.ii.174-5)
57 casts: plans
62 cursdy: meanly, cruelly
66 post thitherwards amain: go there with speed
73 dissembled: feigned still: continually
81 enlarged: released
82 deposed himself: abdicated
92 him: i.e. Edward II
110 ‘sdain’st: contracted form of ‘distainest’
114 nearer: i.e. nearer in blood (as a mother compared to an uncle)
115 charge: responsibility redeem: release
119 agèd: used to distinguish Edward II from his son. Historically Edward was 43 years old at this point
3 dalliance: delay
6-7 vexèd like … winged fowls: the owl (an omen of death) was commonly thought to have been persecuted by birds of the day
10 unbowel: cut open
straight: at once
12 mark: target
15 dolours: sadness
17 air of life: breath
22 closet: private chamber
26 excrements: faeces (but with an older sense of ‘hair’ that Maltravers and Gourney take to be Edward’s meaning)
27 channel: drain, sewer
charge: command
44 remain: dwell
59 Where is … but here: the court was considered to be wherever the monarch was present, rather than a fixed place
63 commonweal: state
2 commons: common people
13 Unpainted: unpunctuated
14 being dead: i.e once Edward is dead
16 quit: acquitted, exculpated
21 Lightborne: the assassin’s name derives from ‘Lucifer’; a figure with this name had appeared in the popular Chester cycle of Mystery plays (see Introduction)
26 use much: i.e. am accustomed to (facetiously)
27 bravely: a) fearlessly; b) skilfully
30-6 I learned … these: Lightborne’s ‘training’ in Naples plays upon the popular conception of italy as a place of political (Machiavellian) intrigue and elaborate murder (see Introduction)
31 lawn: linen
34 powder: usually arsenic (a similar fate to that of Hamlet’s father in Shakespeare’s play (I.v.59-70)
35 quicksilver: mercury
36 braver: more cunning
SD the secret token already referred to in 11. 19-20
47 congè: bow
49 seal: authorise documents
50 Feared am … be feared: Mortimer Junior alludes to a well-known piece from Machiavelli’s The Prince, which circulated surreptitiously in Marlowe’s time either in manuscript or as Il Principe, with a fictitious imprint ‘Parlermo’ (1584). Edward Dacres translated the book into English for publication in 1640
52 Aristarchus: proverbially harsh schoolmaster who lived at Alexandria in the second century BC
53 breeching: whipping
55 sue: petition
57 bashful Puritan: clearly anachronistic; Puritan strictures are here associated with extreme hypocrisy
58 imbecility: weakness
59 onus quam gravissimum: ‘a very heavy burden’
61 Suscepi that provinciam: ‘I have undertaken that office’
66 list: desire to
67 Maior sum … fortuna nocere: ‘I am so great that Fortune cannot harm me’
68 cora nation day: historically Edward III was crowned on Candlemas Day 1327 by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Walter Reynolds)
79 blades and bills: swords and halberds
81 perforce: by force, violently
86 martial law: summary execution without trial
101 At our command: Mortimer Junior refers on one level to himself (as Protector) and Isabella, yet ‘our’ also suggests the royal plural, indicating his own ambition
104 none of both them: neither of them
8 meat: food
9 savour: stench
16 unpainted for the nonce: ‘unpunctuated on purpose’
21 make away: murder
24 Pereat iste!: ‘Let him die’
25 lake: a) dungeon; b) lake of hell
33 featherbed: stuffed palliasse
38 about this gear: ‘get on with this business’
40 Fohl: Lightborne reacts to the dungeon’s stench
47 used: being treated
51 List: listen
53 Caucasus: the mountain range between the Black and Caspian Seas known for its harsh landscape and bitterly cold winters
55 sink: cesspool
63 distempered: deranged
68 ran at tilt: jousted
83 jewel: possibly that sent by Isabella at V.ii.71
89-90 Where is … remain alive?: Edward means that a king without a crown is usually dead
91 overwatched: lacking sleep
92 grief: distress, anxiety
102 buzzeth: whispers
115 bravely: skilfully
9 to the savages: i.e. beyond ‘civilisation’
11 Jove’s huge tree: the oak (like Jove because of its size and strength)
17 yet: still
21 succour: support
36 patiently: calmly
46 murder cannot be hid: proverbial; see The Spanish Tragedy: ‘The heavens are just, murder cannot be hid’ (II.v.57)
52 hurdle: a frame or sledge on which condemned prisoners were transported
53 Hang him … quarters up: ‘Mortimer Junior is to be hanged, drawn and quartered rather than merely beheaded, the normal privilege of aristocratic traitors granted even to Gaveston, Baldock and the Spencers’ (Wiggins and Lindsey)
66 countries yet unknown: i.e. the lands beyond death
75 Is this … poor Isabel: she tries to imply that the rumours are only the result of her attempts (with Mortimer) to safeguard the throne
79 to the Tower: historically Isabel was placed under house arrest at Castle Rising in Norfolk
80 trial: investigation
84 abridge: shorten
85 enforce: produce
91 boots: matters
101 distilling: falling from (in droplets)