Shakespeare's Kings (132 page)

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Authors: John Julius Norwich

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BOOK: Shakespeare's Kings
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And will be met, I warrant ye, to their cost,

Before they break so far into the realm.

[1
cit
.] Ay, so the grasshopper doth spend the time

In mirthful jollity, till winter come;

And then too late he would redeem his time

When frozen cold hath nipp'd his careless head.

He, that no sooner will provide a cloak

Than when he sees it doth begin to rain,

May, peradventure, for his negligence,

Be throughly wash'd down when he suspects it not.

We that have charge and such a train as this

Must look in time to look for them and us,

Lest, when we would, we cannot be reliev'd.

1
[fr
.]
Belike, you then despair of all success

And think your country will be subjugate.

[2
cit
.] We cannot tell; 'tis good to fear the worst.

1
[fr
.] Yet rather fight, than like unnatural sons

Forsake your loving parents in distress.

[1
cit
.] Tush, they that have already taken arms

Are many fearful millions in respect

Of that small handful of our enemies.

But 'tis a rightful quarrel must prevail;

Edward is son unto our late king's sister,

Where John Valois is three degrees remov'd.

wom
. Besides, there goes a prophecy abroad,

(III, ii) Publish'd by one that was a friar once

Whose oracles have many times prov'd true;

And now he says, 'The time will shortly come,

When as a lion, roused in the west,

Shall carry hence the flower-de-luce of France':

These, I can tell ye, and such-like surmises

Strike many Frenchmen cold unto the heart.

Enter a Frenchman

[3
fr
.] Fly, countrymen and citizens of France!

Sweet-flow'ring peace, the root of happy life,

Is quite abandon'd and expuls'd the land:

Instead of whom, ransack-constraining war

Sits like to ravens upon your houses' tops;

Slaughter and mischief walk within your streets,

And, unrestrain'd, make havoc as they pass:

The form whereof even now myself beheld,

Upon this fair mountain, whence

I came. For so far off as I directed mine eyes,

I might perceive five cities all on fire,

Corn-fields and vineyards burning like an oven;

And, as the reeking vapour in the wind

Turn'd but aside, I likewise might discern

The poor inhabitants, escap'd the flame,

Fall numberless upon the soldiers' pikes.

Three ways these dreadful ministers of wrath

Do tread the measures of their tragic march.

Upon the right hand comes the conquering king,

Upon the left his hot unbridled son,

And in the midst our nation's glittering host;

All which, though distant, yet conspire in one

To leave a desolation where they come.

Fly, therefore, citizens, if you be wise,

Seek out some habitation further off.

Here if you stay, your wives will be abus'd,

Your treasure shar'd before your weeping eyes.

Shelter you yourselves, for now the storm doth rise.

Away, away! methinks, I hear their drums.

Ah, wretched France, I gready fear thy fall;

Thy glory shaketh like a tottering wall.

(III,
iii)

SCENE
III
The Same.

Enter King Edward, and the Earl of Derby,

with soldiers and Gobin de Grey.

k. ed
. Where's the Frenchman, by whose cunning guide

We found the shallow of this river Somme,

And had direction how to pass the sea?

gob
. Here, my good lord.

k. ed
. How art thou called? tell me thy name.

gob
. Gobin de Grey, if please your excellence.

k. ed
. Then, Gobin, for the service thou hast done,

We here enlarge and give thee liberty;

And, for recompense, beside this good,

Thou shalt receive five hundred marks in gold.

-I know not how we should have met our son,

Whom now in heart I wish I might behold.

Enter Artois

art
. Good news, my lord; the prince is hard at hand,

And with him comes Lord Audley and the rest,

Whom since our landing we could never meet.

Enter Prince Edward, Lord Audley, and soldiers

k. ed
. Welcome, fair prince! How hast thou sped, my son,

Since thy arrival on the coast of France?

pr. ed
. Successfully, I thank the gracious heavens:

Some of their strongest cities we have won,

As Harflew, Lo, Crotaye, and Carentine,

And others wasted; leaving at our heels

A wide apparent field and beaten path

For solitariness to progress in:

Yet, those that would submit, we kindly pardon'd;

But who in scorn refus'd our proffer'd peace,

Endur'd the penalty of sharp revenge.

k. ed
. Ah, France, why shouldst thou be thus obstinate

Against the kind embracement of thy friends?

How ge
ntly
had we thought to touch thy breast

And set our foot upon thy tender mould,

But that in froward and disdainful pride

Thou, like a skittish and untamed colt,

Dost start aside and strike us with thy heels? -

But tell me, Ned, in all thy warlike course

Hast thou no
t seen the usurping K
ing of France?

(III, iii)
pr. ed
. Yes, my good lord, and not two hours ago,

With full a hundred thousand fighting men,

Upon the one side of the river's bank,

And on the other both his multitudes.

I fear'd he would have cropp'd our smaller power:

But, happily, perceiving your approach

He hath withdrawn himself to Cressy plains;

Where, as it seemeth by his good array,

He means to bid us battle prese
ntly
.

k. ed
. He shall be welcome, that's the thing we crave.

Enter King John, Dukes of Normandy and

Lorraine, King of Bohemia, young Philip, and soldiers.

k. john.
Edward, know, that John, the true King of France, -

Musing thou shouldst encroach upon his land,

And, in thy tyrannous proceeding, slay

His faithful subjects and subvert his towns, -

Spits in thy face; and in this manner following

Upbraids thee with thine arrogant intrusion.

First, I condemn thee for a fugitive,

A thievish pirate, and a needy mate;

One, that hath either no abiding place,

Or else, inhabiting some barren soil,

Where neither herb nor fruitful grain is had,

Dost altogether live by pilfering:

Next, - insomuch thou hast infring'd thy faith,

Broke league and solemn covenant made with me, -

I hold thee for a false pernicious wretch:

And last of all, - although I scorn to cope

With one so much inferior to myself;

Yet, in respect thy thirst is all for gold,

Thy labour rather to be fear'd than lov'd, -

To satisfy thy lust in either part,

Here am I come, and with me have I brought

Exceeding store of treasure, pearl and coin.

Leave therefore now to persecute the weak;

And, armed ent'ring conflict with the arm'd,

Let it be seen, 'mongst other petty thefts,

How thou canst win this pillage manfully.

k. ed
. If gall or wormwood have a pleasant taste,

Then is thy salutation honey-sweet:

But as the one hath no such property,

So is the other most satirical.

Yet wot how I regard thy worthless taunts; -

(III, iii) If thou have utter'd them to foil my fame

Or dim the reputation of my birth,

Know that thy wolvish barking cannot hurt:

If slily to insinuate with the world,

And with a strumpet's artificial line

To paint thy vicious and deformed cause,

Be well assur'd the counterfeit will fade

And in the end thy foul defects be seen:

But if thou didst it to provoke me on,

-As who should say, I were but timorous,

Or coldly negligent did need a spur,

-Bethink thyself how slack I was at sea;

How, since my landing, I have won no towns,

Enter'd no further but upon the coast,

And there have ever since securely slept.

But if I have been otherwise employ'd,

Imagine, Valois, whether I intend

To skirmish, not for pillage, but for the crown

Which thou dost wear; and that I vow to have,

Or one of us shall fall into his grave.

pr. ed
. Look not for cross invectives at our hands

Or railing execrations of despite:

Let creeping serpents hid in hollow banks

Sting with their tongues; we have remorseless swords,

And they shall plead for us and our affairs.

Yet thus much, briefly, by my father's leave:

As all the immodest poison of thy throat

Is scandalous and most notorious lies,

And our pretended quarrel is truly just,

So end the
Battle
when we meet to-day;

May either of us prosper and prevail

Or, luckless curst, receive eternal shame!

k. ed
. That needs no further question, and, I know,

His conscience witnesseth, it is my right.

-Therefore, Valois, say, wilt thou yet resign,

Before the sickle's thrust into the corn

Or that enkindled fury turn to flame?

k. john
. Edward, I know what right thou hast in France,

And ere I basely will resign my crown

This champion field shall be a pool of blood

And all our prospect as a slaughter-house.

pr. ed
. Ay, that approves thee, tyrant, what thou art:

No father, king or shepherd of thy realm;

But one that tears her entrails with thy hands

(III, iii) And, like a thirsty tiger, suck'st her blood.

aud.
Y
ou
peers of France, why do you follow him

That is so prodigal to spend your lives?

char
. Whom should they follow, aged impotent,

But he that is their true-born sovereign?

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