Act 5 — [Scene II.][638]

K. Edw. The wind is good, I wonder why he stays; I fear me he is wrack’d upon the sea. Q. Isab. Look, Lancaster, how passionate[639] he is, And still his mind runs on his minion! Lan. My lord,—5 K. Edw. How now! what news? Is Gaveston arriv’d? Y. Mor. Nothing but Gaveston!—What means your grace? You have matters of more weight to think upon; The King of France sets foot in Normandy. K. Edw. A trifle! we’ll expel him when we please.10 But tell me, Mortimer, what’s thy device Against the stately triumph we decreed? Y. Mor. A homely one, my lord, not worth the telling. K. Edw. Pray thee let me know it. Y. Mor. But, seeing you are so desirous, thus it is:15 A lofty cedar-tree, fair flourishing, On whose top-branches kingly eagles perch, And by the bark a canker[640] creeps me up, And gets into the highest bough of all: The motto, Aeque tandem.[641]20 K. Edw. And what is yours, my lord of Lancaster? Lan. 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 fowl26 That seizeth it; this fish, my lord, I bear: The motto this: Undique mors est.[642] K. Edw. 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? Q. Isab. Sweet husband, be content, they all love you.36 K. Edw. 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[643] that will pull you down;40 And Aeque 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, ’T is not the hugest monster of the sea,45 Nor foulest harpy that shall swallow him. Y. Mor. If in his absence thus he favours him, What will he do whenas he shall be present? Lan. That shall we see; look where his lordship comes.

K. Edw. My Gaveston!50 Welcome to Tynemouth! Welcome to thy friend! Thy absence made me droop and pine away; For, as the lovers of fair Danae, When she was lock’d up in a brazen tower, Desir’d her more, and wax’d outrageous,55 So did it fare[644] with me; and now thy sight Is sweeter far than was thy parting hence Bitter and irksome to my sobbing heart. Gav. Sweet lord and king, your speech preventeth[645] mine, Yet have I words left to express my joy:60 The shepherd nipt with biting winter’s rage Frolics not more to see the painted spring, Than I do to behold your majesty. K. Edw. Will none of you salute my Gaveston? Lan. Salute him? yes. Welcome, Lord Chamberlain!65 Y. Mor. Welcome is the good Earl of Cornwall! War. Welcome, Lord Governor of the Isle of Man! Pem. Welcome, Master Secretary! Kent. Brother, do you hear them? K. Edw. Still will these earls and barons use me thus.70 Gav. My lord, I cannot brook these injuries. Q. Isab. [Aside.] Aye me, poor soul, when these begin to jar. K. Edw. Return it to their throats, I’ll be thy warrant. Gav. Base, leaden earls, that glory in your birth, Go sit at home and eat your tenants’ beef;75 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. Lan. Yet I disdain not to do this for you. [Draws his sword and offers to stab Gaveston.] K. Edw. Treason! treason! where’s the traitor?80 Pem. Here! here! K. Edw. Convey hence Gaveston; they’ll murder him. Gav. The life of thee shall salve this foul disgrace. Y. Mor. Villain! thy life, unless I miss mine aim. [Wounds Gaveston.] Q. Isab. Ah! furious Mortimer, what hast thou done?85 Y. Mor. No more than I would answer, were he slain. [Exit Gaveston with Attendants.] K. Edw. Yes, more than thou canst answer, though he live. Dear shall you both abye[646] this riotous deed. Out of my presence! Come not near the court. Y. Mor. I’ll not be barr’d the court for Gaveston.90 Lan. We’ll hale him by the ears unto the block. K. Edw. Look to your own heads; his is sure enough. War. Look to your own crown, if you back him thus. Kent. Warwick, these words do ill beseem thy years. K. Edw. Nay, all of them conspire to cross me thus;95 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, ’T is war that must abate these barons’ pride. Exeunt King [Edward, Queen Isabella and Kent]. War. Let’s to our castles, for the king is mov’d.100 Y. Mor. Mov’d may he be, and perish in his wrath! Lan. 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 persecute that Gaveston to the death.105 Y. Mor. By heaven, the abject villain shall not live! War. I’ll have his blood, or die in seeking it. Pem. The like oath Pembroke takes. Lan. And so doth Lancaster. Now send our heralds to defy the king;110 And make the people swear to put him down.

Y. Mor. Letters! From whence? Mess. From Scotland, my lord. [Giving letters to Mortimer.] Lan. Why, how now, cousin, how fares all our friends? Y. Mor. My uncle’s taken prisoner by the Scots.115 Lan. We’ll have him ransom’d, man; be of good cheer. Y. Mor. 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.120 Lan. Do, cousin, and I’ll bear thee company. War. Meantime, my lord of Pembroke and myself Will to Newcastle here, and gather head.[648] Y. Mor. About it then, and we will follow you. Lan. Be resolute and full of secrecy:125 War. I warrant you. [Exit with Pembroke.] Y. Mor. Cousin, and if he will not ransom him, I’ll thunder such a peal into his ears, As never subject did unto his king. Lan. Content, I’ll bear my part—Holla! who’s there?130 [Enter Guard.] Y. Mor. Ay, marry, such a guard as this doth well. Lan. Lead on the way. Guard. Whither will your lordships? Y. Mor. Whither else but to the king.134 Guard. His highness is dispos’d to be alone. Lan. Why, so he may, but we will speak to him. Guard. You may not in, my lord. Y. Mor. May we not? [Enter King Edward and Kent.] K. Edw. How now! What noise is this? Who have we there? Is’t you?140 [Going.] Y. Mor. Nay, stay, my lord, I come to bring you news; Mine uncle’s taken prisoner by the Scots. K. Edw. Then ransom him. Lan. ’T was in your wars; you should ransom him. Y. Mor. And you shall ransom him, or else—145 Kent. What! Mortimer, you will not threaten him? K. Edw. Quiet yourself, you shall have the broad seal, To gather for him thoroughout the realm. Lan. Your minion Gaveston hath taught you this. Y. Mor. My lord, the family of the Mortimers150 Are not so poor, but, would they sell their land, ’T would levy men enough to anger you. We never beg, but use such prayers as these. K. Edw. Shall I still be haunted thus? Y. Mor. Nay, now you’re here alone, I’ll speak my mind.155 Lan. And so will I, and then, my lord, farewell. Y. Mor. The idle triumphs, masques, lascivious shows, And prodigal gifts bestow’d on Gaveston, Have drawn thy treasury dry, and made thee weak; The murmuring commons, overstretched, [break].[649]160 Lan. Look for rebellion, look to be depos’d. Thy garrisons are beaten out of France, And, lame and poor, lie groaning at the gates, The wild O’Neill, with swarms of Irish kerns,[650] Lives uncontroll’d within the English pale.165 Unto the walls of York the Scots made road, And unresisted drave away rich spoils. Y. Mor. The haughty Dane commands the narrow seas, While in the harbour ride thy ships unrigg’d. Lan. What foreign prince sends thee ambassadors?170 Y. Mor. Who loves thee, but a sort[651] of flatterers? Lan. Thy gentle queen, sole sister to Valois, Complains that thou hast left her all forlorn. Y. Mor. Thy court is naked, being bereft of those174 That make a king seem glorious to the world; I mean the peers, whom thou should’st dearly love. Libels are cast again thee in the street; Ballads and rhymes made of thy overthrow. Lan. The Northern borderers seeing their houses burnt, Their wives and children slain, run up and down,180 Cursing the name of thee and Gaveston. Y. Mor. When wert thou in the field with banner spread, But once? and then thy soldiers marcht like players, With garish robes, not armour; and thyself, Bedaub’d with gold, rode laughing at the rest, Nodding and shaking of thy spangled crest,186 Where women’s favours hung like labels down. Lan. And therefore came it, that the fleering[652] Scots, To England’s high disgrace, have made this jig; “Maids of England, sore may you mourn,—190 For your lemans[653] you have lost at Bannocksbourn,—[654] With a heave and a ho! What weeneth the King of England, So soon to have won Scotland?— With a rombelow”195 Y. Mor. Wigmore[655] shall fly, to set my uncle free. Lan. And when ’t is gone, our swords shall purchase more. If ye be mov’d, revenge it as you can; Look next to see us with our ensigns spread. Exit [with Young Mortimer]. K. Edw. My swelling heart for very anger breaks!200 How oft have I been baited by these peers, And dare not be reveng’d, for their power is great! Yet, shall the crowing of these cockerels Affright a lion? Edward, unfold thy paws, And let their lives’ blood slake thy fury’s hunger.205 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,210 And therefore, brother, banish him for ever. K. Edw. Art thou an enemy to my Gaveston? Kent. Ay, and it grieves me that I favoured him. K. Edw. Traitor, begone! whine thou with Mortimer.214 Kent. So will I, rather than with Gaveston. K. Edw. 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. K. Edw. Away! Exit Kent. Poor Gaveston, that has no friend but me,220 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?— Here comes she that is cause of all these jars.

Q. Isab. My lord, ’tis thought the earls are up in arms.225 K. Edw. Ay, and ’tis likewise thought you favour ’em. Q. Isab. Thus do you still suspect me without cause? Niece. Sweet uncle! speak more kindly to the queen. Gav. My lord, dissemble with her, speak her fair. K. Edw. Pardon me, sweet, I forgot myself.230 Q. Isab. Your pardon is quickly got of Isabel. K. Edw. The younger Mortimer is grown so brave, That to my face he threatens civil wars. Gav. Why do you not commit him to the Tower? K. Edw. I dare not, for the people love him well.235 Gav. Why, then we’ll have him privily made away. K. Edw. Would Lancaster and he had both carous’d 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 liv’d,—240 Mayst please your grace to entertain them now. K. Edw. Tell me, where wast thou born? What is thine arms? Bald. My name is Baldock, and my gentry I fetcht from Oxford, not from heraldry. K. Edw. The fitter art thou, Baldock, for my turn.245 Wait on me, and I’ll see thou shalt not want. Bald. I humbly thank your majesty. K. Edw. Knowest thou him, Gaveston? Gav. Ay, my lord; His name is Spencer, he is well allied; For my sake, let him wait upon your grace;250 Scarce shall you find a man of more desert. K. Edw. Then, Spencer, wait upon me; for his sake I’ll grace thee with a higher style ere long. Y. Spen. No greater titles happen unto me, Than to be favoured of your majesty.255 K. Edw. 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 deceas’d. Gav. I know, my lord, many will stomach[656] me,260 But I respect neither their love nor hate. K. Edw. 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!265 Exeunt.