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PG has multiple editions of William Shakespeare's Complete Works

King Edward the Third

by William Shakespeare

June, 1999

King Edward the Third

The Reign of King Edward the Third, attributed in part to William Shakespeare.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

EDWARD THE THIRD, King of England. EDWARD, Prince of Wales, his Son. Earl of WARWICK. Earl of DERBY. Earl of SALISBURY. Lord AUDLEY. Lord PERCY. LODOWICK, Edward's Confident. Sir WILLIAM MOUNTAGUE. Sir JOHN COPLAND. Two ESQUIRES, and a HERALD, English. ROBERT, styling himself Earl, of Artois. Earl of MONTFORT, and GOBIN DE GREY. JOHN, King of France. CHARLES, and PHILIP, his Sons. Duke of LORRAIN. VILLIERS, a French Lord. King of BOHEMIA, Aid to King John. A POLISH CAPTAIN, Aid to King John. Six CITIZENS of Calais. A CAPTAIN, and A POOR INHABITANT, of the same. Another CAPTAIN. A MARINER. Three HERALDS; and Four other FRENCHMEN. DAVID, King of Scotland. Earl DOUGLAS; and Two MESSENGERS, Scotch.

PHILIPPA, Edward's Queen. Countess of SALISBURY. A FRENCH WOMAN.

Lords, and divers other Attendants; Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, &c.

Scene, dispers'd; in England, Flanders, and France.

KING EDWARD. Robert of Artois, banished though thou be >From France, thy native Country, yet with us Thou shalt retain as great a Seigniorie: For we create thee Earl of Richmond here. And now go forwards with our pedigree: Who next succeeded Phillip le Bew?

ARTOIS. Three sons of his, which all successfully Did sit upon their father's regal Throne, Yet died, and left no issue of their loins.

KING EDWARD. But was my mother sister unto those?

ARTOIS. She was, my Lord; and only Isabel Was all the daughters that this Phillip had, Whom afterward your father took to wife; And from the fragrant garden of her womb Your gracious self, the flower of Europe's hope, Derived is inheritor to France. But note the rancor of rebellious minds: When thus the lineage of le Bew was out, The French obscured your mother's Privilege, And, though she were the next of blood, proclaimed John, of the house of Valois, now their king: The reason was, they say, the Realm of France, Replete with Princes of great parentage, Ought not admit a governor to rule, Except he be descended of the male; And that's the special ground of their contempt, Wherewith they study to exclude your grace: But they shall find that forged ground of theirs To be but dusty heaps of brittle sand. Perhaps it will be thought a heinous thing, That I, a French man, should discover this; But heaven I call to record of my vows: It is not hate nor any private wrong, But love unto my country and the right, Provokes my tongue, thus lavish in report. You are the lineal watchman of our peace, And John of Valois indirectly climbs; What then should subjects but embrace their King? Ah, where in may our duty more be seen, Than striving to rebate a tyrant's pride And place the true shepherd of our commonwealth?

KING EDWARD. This counsel, Artois, like to fruitful showers, Hath added growth unto my dignity; And, by the fiery vigor of thy words, Hot courage is engendered in my breast, Which heretofore was raked in ignorance, But now doth mount with golden wings of fame, And will approve fair Isabel's descent, Able to yoke their stubborn necks with steel, That spurn against my sovereignty in France.

A messenger?--Lord Audley, know from whence.

AUDLEY. The Duke of Lorrain, having crossed the seas, Entreats he may have conference with your highness.

KING EDWARD. Admit him, Lords, that we may hear the news.

Say, Duke of Lorrain, wherefore art thou come?

LORRAIN. The most renowned prince, King John of France, Doth greet thee, Edward, and by me commands, That, for so much as by his liberal gift The Guyen Dukedom is entailed to thee, Thou do him lowly homage for the same. And, for that purpose, here I summon thee, Repair to France within these forty days, That there, according as the custom is, Thou mayst be sworn true liegeman to our King; Or else thy title in that province dies, And he him self will repossess the place.

KING EDWARD. See, how occasion laughs me in the face! No sooner minded to prepare for France, But straight I am invited,--nay, with threats, Upon a penalty, enjoined to come: Twere but a childish part to say him nay.-- Lorrain, return this answer to thy Lord: I mean to visit him as he requests; But how? not servilely disposed to bend, But like a conqueror to make him bow. His lame unpolished shifts are come to light; And truth hath pulled the vizard from his face, That set a gloss upon his arrogance. Dare he command a fealty in me? Tell him, the Crown that he usurps, is mine, And where he sets his foot, he ought to kneel. Tis not a petty Dukedom that I claim, But all the whole Dominions of the Realm; Which if with grudging he refuse to yield, I'll take away those borrowed plumes of his, And send him naked to the wilderness.

LORRAIN. Then, Edward, here, in spite of all thy Lords, I do pronounce defiance to thy face.

PRINCE EDWARD. Defiance, French man? we rebound it back, Even to the bottom of thy master's throat. And, be it spoke with reverence of the King, My gracious father, and these other Lords, I hold thy message but as scurrilous, And him that sent thee, like the lazy drone, Crept up by stealth unto the Eagle's nest; >From whence we'll shake him with so rough a storm, As others shall be warned by his harm.

WARWICK. Bid him leave of the Lyons case he wears, Least, meeting with the Lyon in the field, He chance to tear him piecemeal for his pride.

ARTOIS. The soundest counsel I can give his grace, Is to surrender ere he be constrained. A voluntary mischief hath less scorn, Than when reproach with violence is borne.

LORRAIN. Degenerate Traitor, viper to the place Where thou was fostered in thine infancy, Bearest thou a part in this conspiracy?

KING EDWARD. Lorrain, behold the sharpness of this steel:

Fervent desire that sits against my heart, Is far more thorny pricking than this blade; That, with the nightingale, I shall be scared, As oft as I dispose my self to rest, Until my colours be displayed in France: This is my final Answer; so be gone.

LORRAIN. It is not that, nor any English brave, Afflicts me so, as doth his poisoned view, That is most false, should most of all be true.

KING EDWARD. Now, Lord, our fleeting Bark is under sail; Our gage is thrown, and war is soon begun, But not so quickly brought unto an end.

But wherefore comes Sir William Mountague? How stands the league between the Scot and us?

MOUNTAGUE. Cracked and dissevered, my renowned Lord. The treacherous King no sooner was informed Of your with drawing of your army back, But straight, forgetting of his former oath, He made invasion on the bordering Towns: Barwick is won, Newcastle spoiled and lost, And now the tyrant hath begirt with siege The Castle of Rocksborough, where inclosed The Countess Salisbury is like to perish.

KING EDWARD. That is thy daughter, Warwick, is it not? Whose husband hath in Brittain served so long About the planting of Lord Mountford there?

WARWICK. It is, my Lord.

KING EDWARD. Ignoble David! hast thou none to grieve But silly Ladies with thy threatening arms? But I will make you shrink your snaily horns! First, therefore, Audley, this shall be thy charge, Go levy footmen for our wars in France; And, Ned, take muster of our men at arms: In every shire elect a several band. Let them be Soldiers of a lusty spirit, Such as dread nothing but dishonor's blot; Be wary, therefore, since we do commence A famous War, and with so mighty a nation. Derby, be thou Ambassador for us Unto our Father in Law, the Earl of Henalt: Make him acquainted with our enterprise, And likewise will him, with our own allies That are in Flanders, to solicit to The Emperour of Almaigne in our name. My self, whilst you are jointly thus employed, Will, with these forces that I have at hand, March, and once more repulse the traitorous Scot. But, Sirs, be resolute: we shall have wars On every side; and, Ned, thou must begin Now to forget thy study and thy books, And ure thy shoulders to an Armor's weight.

PRINCE EDWARD. As cheerful sounding to my youthful spleen This tumult is of war's increasing broils, As, at the Coronation of a king, The joyful clamours of the people are, When Ave, Caesar! they pronounce aloud. Within this school of honor I shall learn Either to sacrifice my foes to death, Or in a rightful quarrel spend my breath. Then cheerfully forward, each a several way; In great affairs tis nought to use delay.

COUNTESS. Alas, how much in vain my poor eyes gaze For succour that my sovereign should send! Ah, cousin Mountague, I fear thou wants The lively spirit, sharply to solicit With vehement suit the king in my behalf: Thou dost not tell him, what a grief it is To be the scornful captive of a Scot, Either to be wooed with broad untuned oaths, Or forced by rough insulting barbarism; Thou doest not tell him, if he here prevail, How much they will deride us in the North, And, in their wild, uncivil, skipping gigs, Bray forth their Conquest and our overthrow Even in the barren, bleak, and fruitless air.

I must withdraw, the everlasting foe Comes to the wall; I'll closely step aside, And list their babble, blunt and full of pride.

KING DAVID. My Lord of Lorrain, to our brother of France Commend us, as the man in Christendom That we most reverence and entirely love. Touching your embassage, return and say, That we with England will not enter parley, Nor never make fair weather, or take truce; But burn their neighbor towns, and so persist With eager Rods beyond their City York. And never shall our bonny riders rest, Nor rusting canker have the time to eat Their light borne snaffles nor their nimble spurs, Nor lay aside their Jacks of Gymould mayle, Nor hang their staves of grained Scottish ash In peaceful wise upon their City walls, Nor from their buttoned tawny leathern belts Dismiss their biting whinyards, till your King Cry out: Enough, spare England now for pity! Farewell, and tell him that you leave us here Before this Castle; say, you came from us, Even when we had that yielded to our hands.

LORRAIN. I take my leave, and fairly will return Your acceptable greeting to my king.

KING DAVID. Now, Douglas, to our former task again, For the division of this certain spoil.

DOUGLAS. My liege, I crave the Lady, and no more.

KING DAVID. Nay, soft ye, sir; first I must make my choice, And first I do bespeak her for my self.

DOUGLAS. Why then, my liege, let me enjoy her jewels.

KING DAVID. Those are her own, still liable to her, And who inherits her, hath those with all.

MESSENGER. My liege, as we were pricking on the hills, To fetch in booty, marching hitherward, We might descry a might host of men; The Sun, reflecting on the armour, shewed A field of plate, a wood of picks advanced. Bethink your highness speedily herein: An easy march within four hours will bring The hindmost rank unto this place, my liege.

KING DAVID. Dislodge, dislodge! it is the king of England.

DOUGLAS. Jemmy, my man, saddle my bonny black.

KING DAVID. Meanst thou to fight, Douglas? we are too weak.

DOUGLAS. I know it well, my liege, and therefore fly.

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