The Complete Plays (58 page)

Madam, how fares your grace?

QUEEN

Ah, Mortimer! Now breaks the king's hate forth,

And he confesseth that he loves me not.

MORTIMER

Cry quittance
, madam, then, and love not him.

QUEEN

No, rather will I die a thousand deaths.

And yet I love in vain; he'll ne'er love me.

LANCASTER

Fear ye not, madam. Now his minion's gone,

His
wanton humour
will be quickly left.

QUEEN

200  O never, Lancaster! I am enjoined

To sue unto you all for his repeal;

This wills my lord, and this must I perform,

Or else be banished from his highness' presence.

LANCASTER

For his repeal, madam? He comes not back,

Unless the sea cast up his shipwrack body.

WARWICK

And to behold so sweet a sight as that

There's none here but would run his horse to death.

MORTIMER

But, madam, would you have us call him home?

QUEEN

Ay, Mortimer, for till he be restored

The angry king hath banished me the court;

210  And therefore, as thou lovest and
tend'rest
me,

Be thou my advocate unto these peers.

MORTIMER

What, would ye have me plead for Gaveston?

MORTIMER SENIOR

Plead for
him
he that will, I am resolved.

LANCASTER

And so am I, my lord. Dissuade the queen.

QUEEN

O Lancaster, let him dissuade the king,

For'tis against my will he should return.

WARWICK

Then speak not for him; let the peasant go.

QUEEN

'Tis for myself I speak, and not for him.

PEMBROKE

220   No speaking will prevail, and therefore cease.

MORTIMER

Fair queen, forbear to angle for the fish

Which, being caught, strikes him that takes it dead –

I mean that vile
torpedo
, Gaveston,

That now, I hope,
floats
on the Irish seas.

QUEEN

Sweet Mortimer, sit down by me a while,

And I will tell thee reasons of such weight

As thou wilt soon subscribe to his repeal.

MORTIMER

It is impossible, but speak your mind.

QUEEN

Then thus, but none shall hear it but ourselves.

[
They talk apart.
]

LANCASTER

My lords, albeit the queen win Mortimer,

230  Will you be resolute and hold with me?

MORTIMER SENIOR

Not I against my nephew.

PEMBROKE

Fear not, the queen's words cannot alter him.

WARWICK

No? Do but mark how earnestly she pleads.

LANCASTER

And see how coldly his looks make denial.

WARWICK

She smiles. Now, for my life, his mind is changed.

LANCASTER

I'll rather lose his friendship, I, than grant.

MORTIMER
[
returning to the
NOBLES
]

Well, of necessity it must be so.

My lords, that I abhor base Gaveston,

240  I hope your honours make no question,

And therefore, though I plead for his repeal,

'Tis not for his sake but for our avail –

Nay, for the realm's behoof and for the king's.

LANCASTER

Fie, Mortimer, dishonour not thyself.

Can this be true, 'twas good to banish him,

And is this true, to call him home again?

Such reasons
make white
black and dark night day.

MORTIMER

My lord of Lancaster, mark the respect.

LANCASTER

In no respect can contraries be true.

QUEEN

250  Yet, good my lord, hear what he can allege.

WARWICK

All that he speaks is nothing; we are resolved.

MORTIMER

Do you not wish that Gaveston were dead?

PEMBROKE
I would he were.

MORTIMER

Why then, my lord, give me but leave to speak.

MORTIMER SENIOR

But, nephew, do not
play the sophister
.

MORTIMER

This which I urge is of a burning zeal

To mend the king and do our country good.

Know you not Gaveston hath store of gold

Which may in Ireland purchase him such friends

As he will front the mightiest of us all?

260  And
whereas
he shall live and be beloved,

'Tis hard for us to work his overthrow.

WARWICK

Mark you but that, my lord of Lancaster.

MORTIMER

But were he here, detested as he is,

How easily might some base slave be suborned

To greet his lordship with a poniard,

And none so much as blame the murderer,

But rather praise him for that brave attempt,

And
in the chronicle
enrol his name

270     For purging of the realm of such a plague.

PEMBROKE
He saith true.

LANCASTER

Ay, but how chance this was not done before?

MORTIMER

Because, my lords, it was not thought upon.

Nay, more, when he shall know it lies in us

To banish him and then to call him home,

'Twill make him vail the top-flag of his pride,

And fear to offend the meanest nobleman.

MORTIMER SENIOR

But how if he do not, nephew?

MORTIMER

Then may we with some colour rise in arms;

For, howsoever we have borne it out,

280  'Tis treason to be up against the king.

So shall we have the people of our side,

Which for his father's sake lean to the king

But cannot brook a
night-grown mushroom
,

Such a one as my lord of Cornwall is,

Should bear us down of the nobility.

And when the commons and the nobles join,

'Tis not the king can buckler Gaveston;

We'll pull him from the strongest hold he hath.

290  My lords, if to perform this I be slack,

Think me as base a groom as Gaveston.

LANCASTER

On that condition, Lancaster will grant.

WARWICK

And so will Pembroke and I.

MORTIMER SENIOR
     And I.

MORTIMER

In this I count me highly gratified,

And Mortimer will rest at your command.

QUEEN

And when this favour Isabel forgets,

Then let her live abandoned and forlorn.

But see, in happy time, my lord the king,

Having brought the earl of Cornwall on his way,

300  Is new returned. This news will glad him much,

Yet not so much as me. I love him more

Than he can Gaveston. Would he loved me

But half so much, then were I treble blest.

Enter
KING EDWARD
,
mourning
[
and
ATTENDANTS
,
including
BEAUMONT
,
Clerk of the Crown
].

EDWARD

He's gone, and for his absence thus I mourn.

Did never sorrow go so near my heart

As doth the want of my sweet Gaveston,

And, could my crown's revenue bring him back,

I would freely give it to his enemies,

And think I gained, having bought so dear a friend.

QUEEN
[
to the
NOBLES
]

310  Hark, how he harps upon his minion.

EDWARD

My heart is as an anvil unto sorrow,

Which beats upon it like the Cyclops' hammers,

And with the noise turns up my giddy brain

And makes me frantic for my Gaveston.

Ah, had some bloodless Fury rose from hell

And with my kingly sceptre struck me dead,

When I was forced to leave my Gaveston!

LANCASTER

Diablo!
What passions call you these?

QUEEN
[
to
EDWARD
]

My gracious lord, I come to bring you news.

EDWARD

320     That you have parlèd with your Mortimer?

QUEEN

That Gaveston, my lord, shall be repealed.

EDWARD

Repealed! The news is too sweet to be true.

QUEEN

But will you love me if you find it so?

EDWARD

If it be so, what will not Edward do?

QUEEN

For Gaveston, but not for Isabel.

EDWARD

For thee, fair queen, if thou lovest Gaveston,

I'll hang a
golden tongue
about thy neck,

Seeing thou hast pleaded with so good success.

QUEEN

No other jewels hang about my neck

Than
these
, my lord, nor let me have more wealth

330  Than I may fetch from this rich treasury.

[
They kiss.
]

O, how a kiss revives poor Isabel!

EDWARD

Once more receive my hand, and let this be

A second marriage 'twixt thyself and me.

QUEEN

And may it prove more happy than the first.

[
The
NOBLES
kneel.
]

My gentle lord, bespeak these nobles fair,

That wait attendance for a gracious look,

And on their knees salute your majesty.

EDWARD

Courageous Lancaster, embrace thy king,

340  And, as gross vapours perish by the sun,

Even so let hatred with thy
sovereign's
smile.

Live thou with me as my companion.

LANCASTER

This salutation over joys my heart.

EDWARD

Warwick shall be my chiefest counsellor;

These silver hairs will more adorn my court

Than gaudy silks or rich embroidery.

Chide me, sweet Warwick, if I go astray.

WARWICK

Slay me, my lord, when I offend your grace.

EDWARD

In solemn triumphs and in public shows

350  Pembroke shall
bear the sword
before the king.

PEMBROKE

And with this sword Pembroke will fight for you.

EDWARD

But wherefore walks young Mortimer aside?

Be thou commander of our royal fleet,

Or, if that lofty office like thee not,

I make thee here Lord Marshal of the realm.

MORTIMER

My lord, I'll marshal so your enemies

As England shall be quiet and you safe.

EDWARD

And as for you, Lord Mortimer of
Chirk
,

Whose great achievements in our foreign war

360  Deserves no common place nor mean reward,

Be you the general of the levied troops

That now are ready to assail the Scots.

MORTIMER SENIOR

In this your grace hath highly honoured me,

For with my nature war doth best agree.

QUEEN

Now is the King of England rich and strong,

Having the love of his renownèd peers.

EDWARD

Ay, Isabel, ne'er was my heart so light.

Clerk of the Crown, direct our warrant forth

For Gaveston to Ireland; Beaumont, fly

370     As fast as Iris or Jove's Mercury.

BEAUMONT

It shall be done, my gracious lord.

[
Exit
BEAUMONT
.]

EDWARD

Lord Mortimer, we leave you to your charge.

Now let us in and feast it royally.

Against
our friend the earl of Cornwall comes,

We'll have a general tilt and tournament,

And then his marriage shall be solemnized,

For wot you not that I have
made him sure

Unto our cousin, the earl of
Gloucester's heir
?

LANCASTER

Such news we hear, my lord.

EDWARD

That day, if not for him, yet for my sake,

380  Who in the
triumph
will be challenger,

Spare for no cost; we will requite your love.

WARWICK

In this, or aught, your highness shall command us.

EDWARD

Thanks, gentle Warwick. Come, let's in and revel.

Exeunt; the
MORTIMERS
remain.

MORTIMER SENIOR

Nephew, I must to Scotland; thou stayest here.

Leave now to oppose thyself against the king.

Thou seest by nature he is mild and calm,

And, seeing his mind so dotes on Gaveston,

Let him without controlment have his will.

The
mightiest kings
have had their minions:

390  Great Alexander loved Hephaestion,

The conquering
Hercules
for Hylas wept,

And for Patroclus stern Achilles drooped.

And not kings only, but the wisest men:

The Roman Tully loved Octavius,

Grave Socrates, wild Alcibiades.

Then let his grace, whose youth is flexible,