The Complete Plays (68 page)

My lord, he is your enemy and shall die.

[
The
SOLDIERS
seize
KENT
.]

KENT
Stay, villains!

EDWARD III

Sweet mother, if I cannot pardon him,

Entreat my Lord Protector for his life.

QUEEN

Son, be content. I dare not speak a word.

EDWARD III

Nor I, and yet methinks I should command;

But seeing I cannot, I'll entreat for him.

My lord, if you will let my uncle live,

I will requite it when I come of age.

MORTIMER

100       'Tis for your highness' good, and for the realm's.

[
To
SOLDIERS
]

How often shall I bid you bear him hence?

KENT

Art thou king? Must I die at thy command?

MORTIMER

At our command. Once more, away with him.

KENT

Let me but stay and speak; I will not go.

Either my brother or his son is king,

And
none of both them
thirst for Edmund's blood.

And therefore, soldiers, whither will you hale me?

They hale
EDMUND
[
EARL OF KENT
]
away, and carry him to be beheaded.

EDWARD III

What safety may I look for at his hands

If that my uncle shall be murdered thus?

QUEEN

110    Fear not, sweet boy, I'll guard thee from thy foes.

Had Edmund lived, he would have sought thy death.

Come, son, we'll ride a-hunting in the park.

EDWARD III

And shall my uncle Edmund ride with us?

QUEEN

He is a traitor. Think not on him. Come.

Exeunt
.

Enter
MATREVIS
and
GURNEY
[
with lights. A bed is thrust onstage
].

MATREVIS

Gurney, I wonder the king dies not,

Being in a vault up to the knees in water

To which the channels of the castle run,

From whence a damp continually ariseth

That were enough to poison any man –

Much more a king brought up so tenderly.

GURNEY

And so do I, Matrevis. Yesternight

I opened but the door to throw him meat,

And I was almost stifled with the
savour
.

MATREVIS

10       He hath a body able to endure

More than we can inflict, and therefore now

Let us assail his mind another while.

GURNEY

Send for him out thence, and I will anger him.

MATREVIS

But stay, who's this?

Enter
LIGHTBORNE
.

LIGHTBORNE
[
giving them the letter
]

My Lord Protector greets you.

[
MATREVIS
and
GURNEY
read the letter
.]

GURNEY
[
aside to
MATREVIS
]

What's here? I know not how to conster it.

MATREVIS
[
aside to
GURNEY
]

Gurney, it was left unpointed
for the nonce
.

‘Edwardum occidere nolite timere'
,

That's his meaning.

LIGHTBORNE
[
showing the token
]

Know you this token? I must have the king.

MATREVIS

Ay, stay a while, thou shalt have answer straight.

20       [
Aside to
GURNEY
] This villain's sent to make away the king.

GURNEY
[
aside to
MATREVIS
]

I thought as much.

MATREVIS
[
aside to
GURNEY
] And when the murder's done,

See how he must be handled for his labour:

‘
Pereat iste
.
' Let him have the king.

What else?

[
To
LIGHTBORNE
] Here is the keys, this is the
lake
.

[
He points to the door of
EDWARD'S
dungeon
.]

Do as you are commanded by my lord.

LIGHTBORNE

I know what I must do. Get you away.

Yet be not far off, I shall need your help.

See that in the next room I have a fire,

30   And get me a spit, and let it be red hot.

MATREVIS
Very well.

GURNEY
Need you anything besides?

LIGHTBORNE
What else? A table and a
featherbed
.

GURNEY
That's all?

LIGHTBORNE
Ay, ay, so; when I call you, bring it in.

MATREVIS
Fear not you that.

GURNEY
[
giving a light
]

Here's a light to go into the dungeon.

LIGHTBORNE
So.

[
Exeunt
MATREVIS
and
GURNEY
.]

Now must I about this gear. Ne'er was there any

40       So finely handled as this king shall be.

[
LIGHTBORNE
opens the door to the dungeon
.]

Foh
! Here's a place indeed,
with all my heart
.

[
Enter
KING EDWARD
.]

EDWARD

Who's there? What light is that? Wherefore comes thou?

LIGHTBORNE

To comfort you and bring you joyful news.

EDWARD

Small comfort finds poor Edward in thy looks.

Villain, I know thou com'st to murder me.

LIGHTBORNE

To murder you, my most gracious lord?

Far is it from my heart to do you harm.

The queen sent me to see how you were
used
,

For she relents at this your misery.

50       And what eyes can refrain from shedding tears

To see a king in this most piteous state?

EDWARD

Weep'st thou already? List a while to me,

And then thy heart, were it as Gurney's is,

Or as Matrevis', hewn from the
Caucasus
,

Yet will it melt ere I have done my tale.

This dungeon where they keep me is the sink

Wherein the filth of all the castle falls.

LIGHTBORNE
O, villains!

EDWARD

And there in mire and puddle have I stood

60       This ten days' space, and, lest that I should sleep,

One plays continually upon a drum.

They give me bread and water, being a king,

So that for want of sleep and sustenance

My mind's distempered and my body's numbed,

And whether I have limbs or no I know not.

O, would my blood dropped out from every vein

As doth this water from my tattered robes!

Tell Isabel the queen I looked not thus,

When for her sake I
ran at tilt
in France,

70    And there unhorsed the duke of Cleremont.

LIGHTBORNE

O, speak no more, my lord! This breaks my heart.

Lie on this bed and rest yourself a while.

EDWARD

These looks of thine can harbour nought but death;

I see my tragedy written in thy brows.

Yet stay a while; forbear thy bloody hand,

And let me see the stroke before it comes,

That, even
then when I shall lose my life,

My mind may be more steadfast on my God.

LIGHTBORNE

What means your highness to mistrust me thus?

EDWARD

80   What means thou to dissemble with me thus?

LIGHTBORNE

These hands were never stained with innocent blood,

Nor shall they now be tainted with a king's.

EDWARD

Forgive my thought for having such a thought.

One jewel have I left; receive thou this.

[
He gives a jewel
.]

Still fear I, and I know not what's the cause,

But every joint shakes as I give it thee.

O, if thou harbour'st murder in thy heart,

Let this gift change thy mind and save thy soul.

Know that I am a king. O, at that name

I feel a hell of grief. Where is my crown?

90       Gone, gone, and do I remain alive?

LIGHTBORNE

You're overwatched
, my lord. Lie down and rest.

EDWARD

But that grief keeps me waking, I should sleep,

For not these ten days have these eyes' lids closed;

Now as I speak they fall, and yet with fear

Open again. [
LIGHTBORNE
sits on the bed
.]

O, wherefore sits thou here?

LIGHTBORNE

If you mistrust me, I'll be gone, my lord.

EDWARD

No, no, for if thou mean'st to murder me

Thou wilt return again, and therefore stay.

100    
LIGHTBORNE
He sleeps.

EDWARD

O, let me not die yet! Stay, O, stay a while!

LIGHTBORNE
How now, my lord?

EDWARD

Something still buzzeth in mine ears

And tells me if I sleep I never wake;

This fear is that which makes me tremble thus.

And therefore tell me: wherefore art thou come?

LIGHTBORNE

To rid thee of thy life. Matrevis, come!

[
Enter
MATREVIS
and
GURNEY
.]

EDWARD

I am too weak and feeble to resist.

Assist me, sweet God, and receive my soul!

110     
LIGHTBORNE
Run for the table.

EDWARD

O, spare me, or dispatch me in a trice!

[
MATREVIS
and
GURNEY
bring in a table and a red-hot spit
.]

LIGHTBORNE

So, lay the table down, and stamp on it,

But not too hard, lest that you bruise his body.

[
EDWARD
dies
.]

MATREVIS

I fear me that this cry will raise the town,

And therefore let us take horse and away.

LIGHTBORNE

Tell me, sirs, was it not bravely done?

GURNEY

Excellent well. Take this for thy reward.

Then
GURNEY
stabs
LIGHTBORNE
.

Come, let us cast the body in the moat,

And bear the king's to Mortimer, our lord.

120   Away!

               
Exeunt
[
with the bodies
].

Enter
MORTIMER
[
JUNIOR
]
and
MATREVIS
[
at different doors
].

MORTIMER

Is't done, Matrevis, and the murderer dead?

MATREVIS

Ay, my good lord. I would it were undone.

MORTIMER

Matrevis, if thou now growest penitent,

I'll be thy
ghostly father
. Therefore choose

Whether thou wilt be secret in this

Or else die by the hand of Mortimer.

MATREVIS

Gurney, my lord, is fled, and will, I fear,

Betray us both; therefore let me
fly
.

MORTIMER
Fly to the savages.

10    
MATREVIS
I humbly thank your honour.

                    [
Exit
MATREVIS
.]

MORTIMER

As for myself, I stand as
Jove's huge tree
,

And others are but shrubs compared to me;

All tremble at my name, and I fear none.

Let's see who dare impeach me for his death?

Enter the
QUEEN
.

QUEEN

Ah, Mortimer, the king my son hath news

His father's dead, and we have murdered him.

MORTIMER

What if he have? The king is yet a child.

QUEEN

Ay, ay, but he tears his hair, and wrings his hands,

And vows to be revenged upon us both.

20       Into the council chamber he is gone

To crave the aid and succour of his peers.

Ay me! See where he comes, and they with him.

Now, Mortimer, begins our tragedy.

Enter the
KING
,
with the
LORDS
[
and
ATTENDANTS
].

FIRST LORD

Fear not, my lord. Know that you are a king.

EDWARD III
[
to
MORTIMER JUNIOR
]

Villain!

MORTIMER

How now, my lord?

EDWARD III

Think not that I am frighted with thy words.

My father's murdered through thy treachery,

And thou shalt die, and on his mournful hearse

30       Thy hateful and accursèd head shall lie,

To witness to the world that by thy means