Scene
I
A hall in Gloucester’s house.
Enter the Younger Spenser and Baldock.
Baldock
Spenser,
Seeing that our lord the Earl of Gloucester’s dead,
Which of the nobles dost thou mean to serve?
Younger Spenser
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
On whose good fortune Spenser’s hope depends.
Baldock
What, mean you, then, to be his follower?
Younger Spenser
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.
Younger Spenser
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That he’s repealed and sent for back again;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;
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.
Younger Spenser
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.
Younger Spenser
Then, Baldock, you must cast the scholar off,
And learn to court it like a gentleman.
’Tis not a black coat and a little 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,”
Can get you any favour with great men:
You must be proud, bold, pleasant, resolute,
And now and then stab, as occasion serves.
Baldock
Spenser, thou know’st 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,
And apt for any kind of villainy.
I am none of these common pedants, I,
That cannot speak without propterea quod.
Younger Spenser
But one of those that saith quando-quidem,
And hath a special gift to form a verb.
Baldock
Leave off this jesting; here my lady comes.
Enter King Edward’s Niece.
Niece
The grief for his exile was not so much
As is the joy of his returning home.
This letter came from my sweet Gaveston:
What need’st thou, love, thus to excuse thyself?
I know thou couldst not come and visit me. Reads.
“I will not long be from thee, though I die.”
This argues the entire love of my lord;—Reads.
“When I forsake thee, death seize on my heart”:
But stay thee here where Gaveston shall sleep. Puts the letter into her bosom.
Now to the letter of my lord the king:
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!
See that my coach be ready; I must hence.
Baldock
It shall be done, madam.
Niece
And meet me at the park-pale presently.
Exit Baldock.
Spenser, 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.
Younger Spenser
I knew the king would have him home again.
Niece
If all things sort out, as I hope they will,
Thy service, Spenser, shall be thought upon.
Younger Spenser
I humbly thank your ladyship.
Niece
Come, lead the way: I long till I am there.
Exeunt.