Scene + 

II + 

Near Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire. + 

Enter King Edward, the Younger Spenser, Baldock, Noblemen of the King’s side, and Soldiers with drums and fifes. + 

King Edward + 

I long to hear an answer from the barons + 

Touching my friend, my dearest Gaveston. + 

Ah, Spenser, 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 Pierce of Gaveston again! + 

The barons overbear with me their pride. + 

Younger Spenser + 

Were I King Edward, England’s sovereign, + 

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, + 

As by their preachments they will profit much, + 

And learn obedience to their lawful king. + 

King Edward + 

Yes, gentle Spenser, 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 crests, 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, + 

And must be awed and governed like a child. + 

Enter the Elder Spenser with his truncheon, and Soldiers. + 

Elder Spenser + 

Long live my sovereign, the noble Edward, + 

In peace triumphant, fortunate in wars! + 

King Edward + 

Welcome, old man: com’st thou in Edward’s aid? + 

Then tell thy prince of whence and what thou art. + 

Elder Spenser + 

Low, 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, + 

Spenser, the father of Hugh Spenser there, + 

Bound to your highness everlastingly + 

For favour done, in him, unto us all. + 

King Edward + 

Thy father, Spenser? + 

Younger Spenser + 

True, an it like your grace, + 

That pours, in lieu of all your goodness shown, + 

His life, my lord, before your princely feet. + 

King Edward + 

Welcome ten thousand times, old man, again! + 

Spenser, this love, this kindness to thy king, + 

Argues thy noble mind and disposition. + 

Spenser, I here create thee Earl of Wiltshire, + 

And daily will enrich thee with our favour, + 

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 to outbid the barons; + 

And, Spenser, spare them not, lay it on.⁠— + 

Soldiers, a largess, and thrice-welcome all! + 

Younger Spenser + 

My lord, here comes the queen. + 

Enter Queen Isabella, Prince Edward, and Levune, a Frenchman. + 

King Edward + 

Madam, what news? + 

Queen Isabella + 

News of dishonour, lord, and discontent. + 

Our friend Levune, faithful and full of trust, + 

Informeth us, by letters and by words, + 

That Lord Valois our brother, King of France, + 

Because your highness hath been slack in homage, + 

Hath seized Normandy into his hands. + 

These be the letters, this the messenger. + 

King Edward + 

Welcome, Levune.⁠—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; + 

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. + 

Queen Isabella + 

Ah, boy, this towardness makes thy mother fear + 

Thou art not marked to many days on earth! + 

King Edward + 

Madam, we will that you with speed be shipped, + 

And this our son; Levune shall follow you + 

With all the haste we can despatch him hence. + 

Choose of our lords to bear you company; + 

And go in peace; leave us in wars at home. + 

Queen Isabella + 

Unnatural wars, where subjects brave their king: + 

God end them once!⁠—My lord, I take my leave, + 

To make my preparation for France. Exit with Prince Edward. + 

Enter Arundel. + 

King Edward + 

What, Lord Arundel, dost thou come alone? + 

Arundel + 

Yea, my good lord, for Gaveston is dead. + 

King 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. + 

King Edward + 

And, tell me, would the rebels deny me that? + 

Younger Spenser + 

Proud recreants! + 

King Edward + 

Yea, Spenser, 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 lord, because our sovereign sends for him, + 

And promiseth he shall be safe returned, + 

I will this undertake, to have him hence, + 

And see him re-delivered to your hands.” + 

King Edward + 

Well, and how fortunes that he came not? + 

Younger Spenser + 

Some treason, or some villainy, was the 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 + 

Strake off his head, and marched unto the camp. + 

Younger Spenser + 

A bloody part, flatly ’gainst law of arms! + 

King Edward + 

O, shall I speak, or shall I sigh and die! + 

Younger Spenser + 

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. + 

King 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, + 

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 + 

On your accursed traitorous progeny, + 

You villains that have slain my Gaveston!⁠— + 

And in this place of honour and of trust, + 

Spenser, sweet Spenser, 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. + 

Younger Spenser + 

My lord, here’s a messenger from the barons + 

Desires access unto your majesty. + 

King Edward + 

Admit him near. + 

Enter Herald with his coat of arms. + 

Herald + 

Long live King Edward, England’s lawful lord! + 

King Edward + 

So wish not they, I wis, 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, + 

That from your princely person you remove + 

This Spenser, as a putrifying 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, + 

Are to your highness vowed and consecrate. + 

Younger Spenser + 

Ah, traitors! will they still display their pride? + 

King 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 embraces the Younger Spenser + 

Spenser from thee. 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. 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 sounded, within. + 