Scene + 

III + 

The battlefield, Boroughbridge. + 

Enter King Edward, the Elder Spenser, the Younger Spenser, Baldock, and Noblemen of the King’s side. + 

King Edward + 

Why do we sound retreat? upon them, lords! + 

This day I shall your vengeance with my sword + 

On those proud rebels that are up in arms, + 

And do confront and countermand their king. + 

Younger Spenser + 

I doubt it not, my lord; right will prevail. + 

Elder Spenser + 

’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. + 

Younger Spenser + 

Here come the rebels. + 

Enter the Younger Mortimer, Lancaster, Warwick, Pembroke, and others. + 

Younger Mortimer + 

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. + 

King Edward + 

What, rebels, do you shrink and sound retreat? + 

Younger Mortimer + 

No, Edward, no; thy flatterers faint and fly. + 

Lancaster + 

They’d best betimes forsake thee and their trains, + 

For they’ll betray thee, traitors as they are. + 

Younger Spenser + 

Traitor on thy face, rebellious Lancaster! + 

Pembroke + 

Away, base upstart! brav’st thou nobles thus? + 

Elder Spenser + 

A noble attempt and honourable deed, + 

Is it not, trow ye, to assemble aid + 

And levy arms against your lawful king? + 

King Edward + 

For which, ere long, their heads shall satisfy + 

To appease the wrath of their offended king. + 

Younger Mortimer + 

Then, Edward, thou wilt fight it to the last, + 

And rather bathe thy sword in subjects’ blood + 

Than banish that pernicious company? + 

King Edward + 

Ay, traitors all, rather than thus be braved, + 

Make England’s civil towns huge heaps of stones, + 

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! + 

King Edward + 

Saint George for England, and King Edward’s right! + 

Alarums. Exeunt the two parties severally. + 

Reenter King Edward and his followers, with the Barons and Kent captive. + 

King 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 + 

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 Pierce 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. + 

King Edward + 

So, sir, you have spoke: away, avoid our presence! Exit Kent. + 

Accursed wretches, was’t in regard of us, + 

When we had sent our messenger to request + 

He might be spared to come to speak with us, + 

And Pembroke undertook for his return, + 

That thou, proud Warwick, watched the prisoner, + 

Poor Pierce, and headed him ’gainst 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; + 

It is but temporal that thou canst inflict. + 

Lancaster + 

The worst is death; and better die to live + 

Than live in infamy under such a king. + 

King 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! + 

Younger Mortimer + 

England, unkind to thy nobility, + 

Groan for this grief! behold how thou art maimed! + 

King Edward + 

Go, take that haughty Mortimer to the Tower; + 

There see him safe bestowed; and, for the rest, + 

Do speedy execution on them all. + 

Be gone! + 

Younger Mortimer + 

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. + 

The captive Barons are led off. + 

King Edward + 

Sound, drums and trumpets! March with me, my friends. + 

Edward this day hath crowned him king anew. + 

Exeunt all except the Younger Spenser, Levune and Baldock. + 

Younger Spenser + 

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, + 

That, therewith all enchanted, like the guard + 

That suffered Jove to pass in showers of gold + 

To Danae, all aid may be denied + 

To Isabel the queen, 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. + 

Levune + 

Have you no doubt, my lords, I’ll clap so 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. + 

Younger Spenser + 

Then make for France amain; Levune, away! + 

Proclaim King Edward’s wars and victories. + 

Exeunt. + 