The Complete Plays (57 page)

Enter the
KING
and
GAVESTON
[
and
KENT.
The
KING
sits on the throne with
GAVESTON
at his side
].

EDWARD

What? Are you moved that Gaveston
sits here
?

It is our pleasure, we will have it so.

LANCASTER

10   Your grace doth well to place him by your side,

For nowhere else the new earl is so safe.

MORTIMER SENIOR

What man of noble birth can brook this sight?

Quam male conveniunt!

See what a scornful look the peasant casts.

PEMBROKE

Can kingly lions fawn on creeping ants?

WARWICK

Ignoble vassal, that like Phaethon

Aspir'st unto the guidance of the sun!

MORTIMER

Their downfall is at hand, their forces down;

We will not thus be
faced and overpeered
.

EDWARD

20   Lay hands on that traitor Mortimer!

MORTIMER SENIOR

Lay hands on that traitor Gaveston!

[
They seize
GAVESTON
.]

KENT

Is this the duty that you owe your king?

WARWICK

We know our duties. Let him know his peers.

EDWARD

Whither will you bear him? Stay, or ye shall die.

MORTIMER SENIOR

We are no traitors; therefore threaten not.

GAVESTON
[to
the
KING
]

No, threaten not, my lord, but
pay them home
.

Were I a king –

MORTIMER

Thou villain, wherefore talks thou of a king,

That hardly art a gentleman by birth?

EDWARD

Were he a peasant, being my minion,

30       I'll make the proudest of you stoop to him.

LANCASTER

My lord, you may not thus disparage us.

Away, I say, with hateful Gaveston!

MORTIMER SENIOR

And with the earl of Kent that favours him.

[
Exeunt
KENT
and
GAVESTON,
guarded.
]

EDWARD

Nay, then lay violent hands upon your king.

Here, Mortimer, sit thou in Edward's throne;

Warwick and Lancaster, wear you my crown.

Was ever king thus overruled as I?

LANCASTER

Learn then to rule us better, and the realm.

MORTIMER

40       What we have done, our heart-blood shall maintain.

WARWICK

Think you that we can brook this upstart pride?

EDWARD

Anger and wrathful fury stops my speech.

CANTERBURY

Why are you moved? Be patient, my lord,

And see what we your counsellors have done.

MORTIMER

My lords, now let us all be resolute,

And either have our wills or lose our lives.

EDWARD

Meet you for this, proud overdaring peers?

Ere my sweet Gaveston shall part from me,

This isle shall fleet upon the ocean

50       And wander to the unfrequented Inde.

CANTERBURY

You know that I am
legate to
the Pope.

On your allegiance to the See of Rome,

Subscribe as we have done to his exile.

[
They present the document to the
KING
.]

MORTIMER
[
to
CANTERBURY
]

Curse
him if he refuse, and then may we

Depose him and elect another king.

EDWARD

Ay, there it goes, but yet I will not yield,

Curse me, depose me, do the worst you can.

LANCASTER

Then linger not, my lord, but do it straight.

CANTERBURY

Remember how the bishop was abused.

Either banish him that was the cause thereof,

60     Or I will presently
discharge
these lords

Of duty and allegiance due to thee.

EDWARD
[
aside
]

It boots me not to threat, I must speak fair.

The legate of the Pope will be obeyed.

[
To
CANTERBURY
]

My lord, you shall be Chancellor of the realm,

Thou, Lancaster, High Admiral of our fleet,

Young Mortimer and his uncle shall be earls,

And you, Lord Warwick,
President of the North
,

[
to
PEMBROKE
]

And thou of Wales. If this content you not,

Make several kingdoms of this monarchy

70     And share it equally amongst you all,

So I may have some nook or corner left

To frolic with my dearest Gaveston.

CANTERBURY

Nothing shall alter us, we are resolved.

LANCASTER
Come, come, subscribe.

MORTIMER

Why should you love him whom the world hates so?

EDWARD

Because he loves me more than all the world.

Ah, none but rude and savage-minded men

Would seek the ruin of my Gaveston.

80     You that be noble born should pity him.

WARWICK

You that are princely born should shake him off.

For shame, subscribe, and let the lown depart.

MORTIMER SENIOR
[
to
CANTERBURY
]

Urge him, my lord.

CANTERBURY

Are you content to banish him the realm?

EDWARD

I see I must, and therefore am content.

Instead of ink, I'll write it with my tears.

[
He writes.
]

MORTIMER

The king is lovesick for his minion.

EDWARD

'Tis done, and now, accursèd hand, fall off!

LANCASTER
[
taking the document
]

Give it me. I'll have it published in the streets.

MORTIMER

90       I'll see him presently dispatched away.

CANTERBURY

Now is my heart at ease.

WARWICK
       And so is mine.

PEMBROKE

This will be good news to the common sort.

MORTIMER SENIOR

Be it or no, he shall not linger here.

Exeunt
NOBLES.

EDWARD

How fast they run to banish him I love!

They would not stir, were it to do me good.

Why should a king be subject to a priest?

Proud Rome
, that hatchest such imperial grooms,

For these thy superstitious taper lights,

Wherewith thy antichristian churches blaze,

100    I'll fire thy crazèd buildings and enforce

The papal towers to kiss the lowly ground,

With slaughtered priests
make
Tiber's channel swell,

And banks raised higher with their sepulchres.

As for the peers that back the clergy thus,

If I be king, not one of them shall live.

Enter
GAVESTON.

GAVESTON

My lord, I hear it whispered everywhere

That I am banished and must fly the land.

EDWARD

'Tis true, sweet Gaveston. O, were it false!

The legate of the Pope will have it so,

And thou must hence or I shall be deposed.

110    But I will reign to be revenged of them;

And therefore, sweet friend, take it patiently.

Live where thou wilt, I'll send thee gold enough;

And long thou shalt not stay, or, if thou dost,

I'll come to thee; my love shall ne'er decline.

GAVESTON

Is all my hope turned to this hell of grief?

EDWARD

Rend not my heart with thy too-piercing words;

Thou from this land, I from myself am banished.

GAVESTON

To go from hence grieves not poor Gaveston,

But to forsake you, in whose gracious looks

120  The blessedness of Gaveston remains,

For nowhere else seeks he felicity.

EDWARD

And only this torments my wretched soul,

That, whether I will or no, thou must depart.

Be governor of Ireland in my stead,

And there abide till fortune call thee home.

Here, take my picture and let me wear thine.

[
They exchange pictures.
]

O, might I keep thee here as I do this,

Happy were I, but now most miserable.

GAVESTON

130     'Tis something to be pitied of a king.

EDWARD

Thou shalt not hence; I'll hide thee, Gaveston.

GAVESTON

I shall be found, and then 't will grieve me more.

EDWARD

Kind words and mutual talk makes our grief greater;

Therefore with dumb embracement let us part.

[
They embrace
,
GAVESTON
starts to leave.
]

Stay, Gaveston, I cannot leave thee thus.

GAVESTON

For every look, my lord, drops down a tear;

Seeing I must go, do not renew my sorrow.

EDWARD

The time is little that thou hast to stay,

And therefore give me leave to look my fill.

140   But come, sweet friend, I'll bear thee on thy way.

GAVESTON
The peers will frown.

EDWARD

I pass not for their anger. Come, let's go.

O, that we might as well return as go!

Enter
EDMUND
[,
EARL OF KENT
]
and
QUEEN ISABEL.

QUEEN
Whither goes my lord?

EDWARD

Fawn not on me, French strumpet; get thee gone.

QUEEN

On whom but on my husband should I fawn?

GAVESTON

On Mortimer, with whom, ungentle queen –

I say no more; judge you the rest, my lord.

QUEEN

In saying this, thou wrong'st me, Gaveston.

150   Is't not enough that thou corrupts my lord And art a bawd to his affections,

But thou must call mine honour thus in question?

GAVESTON

I mean not so, your grace must pardon me.

EDWARD

Thou art too familiar with that Mortimer,

And by thy means is Gaveston exiled;

But I would wish thee reconcile the lords,

Or thou shalt ne'er be reconciled to me.

QUEEN

Your highness knows it lies not in my power.

EDWARD

Away then, touch me not. Come, Gaveston.

QUEEN
[
to
GAVESTON
]

160     Villain, 'tis thou that robb'st me of my lord.

GAVESTON

Madam, 'tis you that rob me of my lord.

EDWARD

Speak not unto her, let her droop and pine.

QUEEN

Wherein, my lord, have I deserved these words?

Witness the tears that Isabella sheds,

Witness this heart that, sighing for thee, breaks,

How dear my lord is to poor Isabel.

EDWARD
[
pushing her away
]

And witness heaven how dear thou art to me.

There weep, for, till my Gaveston be
repealed
,

Assure thyself thou com'st not in my sight.

Exeunt
EDWARD
and
GAVESTON.

QUEEN

O, miserable and distressèd queen!

170  Would when I left sweet France and was embarked,

That charming Circes, walking on the waves,

Had changed my shape, or at the marriage day

The cup of Hymen had been full of poison,

Or with
those arms
that twined about my neck

I had been stifled and not lived to see

The king my lord thus to abandon me.

Like
frantic Juno
will I fill the earth

With ghastly murmur of my sighs and cries,

For never doted Jove on Ganymede

180  So much as he on cursèd Gaveston.

But that will more exasperate his wrath.

I must entreat him, I must speak him fair,

And be a means to call home Gaveston;

And yet he'll ever dote on Gaveston,

And so am I for ever miserable.

Enter the
NOBLES
[
LANCASTER, WARWICK, PEMBROKE, MORTIMER SENIOR
and
MORTIMER JUNIOR
]
to the
QUEEN
.

LANCASTER

Look where the sister of the King of France

Sits wringing of her hands and beats her breast.

WARWICK

The king, I fear, hath
ill entreated her
.

PEMBROKE

190  Hard is the heart that injures such a saint.

MORTIMER

I know 'tis
long of
Gaveston she weeps.

MORTIMER SENIOR

Why? He is gone.

MORTIMER
[
to the
QUEEN
]