Scene
II
Before Tynemouth Castle.
Enter King Edward, Queen Isabella, Kent, Lancaster, the Younger Mortimer, Warwick, Pembroke, and Attendants.
King Edward
The wind is good; I wonder why he stays:
I fear me he is wrecked upon the sea.
Queen Isabella
Look, Lancaster, how passionate he is,
And still his mind runs on his minion!
Lancaster
My lord—
King Edward
How now! what news? is Gaveston arrived?
Younger Mortimer
Nothing but Gaveston! what means your grace?
You have matters of more weight to think upon:
The King of France sets foot in Normandy.
King Edward
A trifle! we’ll expel him when we please.
But tell me, Mortimer, what’s thy device
Against the stately triumph we decreed?
Younger Mortimer
A homely one, my lord, not worth the telling.
King Edward
Pray thee, let me know it.
Younger Mortimer
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, Aeque tandem.
King 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.
Kent
Proud Mortimer! ungentle Lancaster!
Is this the love you bear your sovereign?
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?
Queen Isabella
Sweet husband, be content; they all love you.
King 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;
And Aeque tandem shall that canker cry
Unto the proudest peer of Britainy.
Thou that compar’st him to a flying-fish,
And threaten’st death whether he rise or fall,
’Tis not the hugest monster of the sea,
Nor foulest harpy, that shall swallow him.
Younger Mortimer
If in his absence thus he favours him,
What will he do whenas he shall be present?
Lancaster
That shall we see: look, where his lordship comes!
Enter Gaveston.
King Edward
My Gaveston!
Welcome to Tynmouth! welcome to thy friend!
Thy absence made me droop and pine away;
For, as the lovers of fair Danae,
When she was locked up in a brazen tower,
Desired her more, and waxed outrageous,
So did it fare 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:
The shepherd, nipt with biting winter’s rage,
Frolics not more to see the painted spring
Than I do to behold your majesty.
King Edward
Will none of you salute my Gaveston?
Lancaster
Salute him! yes.—Welcome, Lord Chamberlain!
Younger Mortimer
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?
King Edward
Still will these earls and barons use me thus?
Gaveston
My lord, I cannot brook these injuries.
Queen Isabella
Aside. Ay me, poor soul, when these begin to jar!
King 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, and offers to stab Gaveston.
King Edward
Treason! treason! where’s the traitor?
Pembroke
Here, here!
King Edward
Convey hence Gaveston; they’ll murder him.
Gaveston
The life of thee shall salve this foul disgrace.
Younger Mortimer
Villain, thy life! unless I miss mine aim. Wounds Gaveston.
Queen Isabella
Ah, furious Mortimer, what hast thou done?
Younger Mortimer
No more than I would answer, were he slain.
Exit Gaveston with Attendants.
King Edward
Yes, more than thou canst answer, though he live:
Dear shall you both abide this riotous deed:
Out of my presence! come not near the court.
Younger Mortimer
I’ll not be barred the court for Gaveston.
Lancaster
We’ll hale him by the ears unto the block.
King 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.
King 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.
Exeunt King Edward, Queen Isabella, and Kent.
Warwick
Let’s to our castles, for the king is moved.
Younger Mortimer
Moved may he be, and perish in his wrath!
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.
Younger Mortimer
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 Messenger.
Younger Mortimer
Letters! from whence?
Messenger
Giving letters to Mortimer. From Scotland, my lord.
Lancaster
Why, how now, cousin! how fare all our friends?
Younger Mortimer
My uncle’s taken prisoner by the Scots.
Lancaster
We’ll have him ransomed, man: be of good cheer.
Younger Mortimer
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.
Warwick
Meantime my Lord of Pembroke and myself
Will to Newcastle here, and gather head.
Younger Mortimer
About it, then, and we will follow you.
Lancaster
Be resolute and full of secrecy.
Warwick
I warrant you. Exit with Pembroke.
Younger Mortimer
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.—Hollo! who’s there?
Enter Guard.
Younger Mortimer
Ay, marry, such a guard as this doth well.
Lancaster
Lead on the way.
Guard
Whither will your lordships?
Younger Mortimer
Whither else but to the king?
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.
Younger Mortimer
May we not?
Enter King Edward and Kent.
King Edward
How now!
What noise is this? who have we here? is’t you? Going.
Younger Mortimer
Nay, stay, my lord; I come to bring you news;
Mine uncle’s taken prisoner by the Scots.
King Edward
Then ransom him.
Lancaster
’Twas in your wars; you should ransom him.
Younger Mortimer
And you will ransom him, or else—
Kent
What, Mortimer, you will not threaten him?
King Edward
Quiet yourself; you shall have the broad seal,
To gather for him throughout the realm.
Lancaster
Your minion Gaveston hath taught you this.
Younger Mortimer
My lord, the family of the Mortimers
Are not so poor, but, would they sell their land,
’Twould levy men enough to anger you.
We never beg, but use such prayers as these.
King Edward
Shall I still be haunted thus?
Younger Mortimer
Nay, now you are here alone, I’ll speak my mind.
Lancaster
And so will I; and then, my lord, farewell.
Younger Mortimer
The idle triumphs, masks, lascivious shows,
And prodigal gifts bestowed on Gaveston,
Have drawn thy treasury dry, and made thee weak;
The murmuring commons, overstretched, break.
Lancaster
Look for rebellion, look to be deposed:
Thy garrisons are beaten out of France,
And, lame and poor, lie groaning at the gates;
The wild Oneil, with swarms of Irish kerns,
Lives uncontrolled within the English pale;
Unto the walls of York the Scots make road,
And, unresisted, drive away rich spoils.
Younger Mortimer
The haughty Dane commands the narrow seas,
While in the harbour ride thy ships unrigged.
Lancaster
What foreign prince sends thee ambassadors?
Younger Mortimer
Who loves thee, but a sort of flatterers?
Lancaster
Thy gentle queen, sole sister to Valois,
Complains that thou hast left her all forlorn.
Younger Mortimer
Thy court is naked, being bereft of those
That make a king seem glorious to the world,
I mean the peers, whom thou shouldst dearly love;
Libels are cast against 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.
Younger Mortimer
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,
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 Bannocksbourn—
With a heave and a ho!
What weeneth the king of England
So soon to have won Scotland!—
With a rombelow!”
Younger Mortimer
Wigmore shall fly, to set my uncle free.
Lancaster
And, when ’tis gone, our swords shall purchase more.
If you be moved, revenge it as you can:
Look next to see us with our ensigns spread. Exit with the Younger Mortimer.
King 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 crowning of these cockerels
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 your love to Gaveston
Will be the ruin of the realm and you,
For now the wrathful nobles threaten wars;
And therefore, brother, banish him forever.
King Edward
Art thou an enemy to my Gaveston?
Kent
Ay; and it grieves me that I favoured him.
King Edward
Traitor, be gone! whine thou with Mortimer.
Kent
So will I, rather than with Gaveston.
King 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.
King Edward
Away! Exit Kent.
Poor Gaveston, thou hast no friend but me!
Do what they can, we’ll live in Tynmouth here;
And, so I walk with him about the walls,
What care I though the earls begirt us round?
Here comes she that is cause of all these jars.
Enter Queen Isabella, with Edward’s Niece, two Ladies, Gaveston, Baldock, and the Younger Spenser.
Queen Isabella
My lord, ’tis thought the earls are up in arms.
King Edward
Ay, and ’tis likewise thought you favour ’em.
Queen Isabella
Thus do you still suspect me without cause.
Niece
Sweet uncle, speak more kindly to the queen.
Gaveston
My lord, dissemble with her; speak her fair.
King Edward
Pardon me, sweet; I forgot myself.
Queen Isabella
Your pardon is quickly got of Isabel.
King Edward
The younger Mortimer is grown so brave,
That to my face he threatens civil wars.
Gaveston
Why do you not commit him to the Tower?
King Edward
I dare not, for the people love him well.
Gaveston
Why, then, we’ll have him privily made away.
King 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.
Niece
Two of my father’s servants whilst he lived:
May’t please your grace to entertain them now.
King Edward
Tell me, where wast thou born? what is thine arms?
Baldock
My name is Baldock, and my gentry
I fetch from Oxford, not from heraldry.
King 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.
King Edward
Knowest thou him, Gaveston.
Gaveston
Ay, my lord;
His name is Spenser; he is well allied:
For my sake let him wait upon your grace;
Scarce shall you find a man of more desert.
King Edward
Then, Spenser, wait upon me for his sake:
I’ll grace thee with a higher style ere long.
Younger Spenser
No greater titles happen unto me
Than to be favoured of your majesty!
King Edward
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.
King Edward
The headstrong barons shall not limit me;
He that I list to favour shall be great.
Come, let’s away; and, when the marriage ends,
Have at the rebels and their complices!
Exeunt.