Edward the First - Scene 1
Enter Gilbert DE C LARE , Earl of G LOCESTER , with the Earl of S USSEX , M ORTIMER , the Earl of M ARCH , and D AVID , L LUELLEN'S brother, waiting on E LINOR , the Queen-Mother.
Q. Mother . My Lord Lieutenant of Glocester, and Lord Mortimer,
To do you honour in your sovereign's eyes,
That, as we hear, is newly come a-land
From Palestine, with all his men-of-war
(The poor remainder of the royal fleet,
Preserved by miracle in Sicil road),
Go mount your coursers, meet him on the way:
Pray him to spur his steed; minutes are hours,
Until his mother see her princely son
Shining in glory of his safe return.
Illustrious England, ancient seat of kings,
Whose chivalry hath royalised thy fame,
That sounding bravely through terrestrial vale,
Proclaiming conquests, spoils, and victories,
Rings glorious echoes through the farthest world;
What warlike nation, trained in feats of arms,
What barbarous people, stubborn, or untamed,
What climate under the meridian signs,
Or frozen zone under his brumal plage,
Erst have not quaked and trembled at the name
Of Britain and her mighty conquerors?
Her neighbour realms, as Scotland, Denmark, France,
Awed with their deeds, and jealous of her arms,
Have begged defensive and offensive leagues.
Thus Europe, rich and mighty in her kings,
Hath feared brave England, dreadful in her kings.
And now, t' eternise Albion's champions
Equivalent with Trojans' ancient fame,
Comes lovely Edward from Jerusalem,
Veering before the wind, ploughing the sea;
His stretched sails filled with the breath of men
That through the world admires his manliness.
And, lo, at last arrived in Dover-road,
Longshank[s], your king, your glory, and our son,
With troops of conquering lords and warlike knights,
Like bloody-crested Mars, o'erlooks his host,
Higher than all his army by the head,
Marching along as bright as Phaebus eyes!
And we, his mother, shall behold our son,
And England's peers shall see their sovereign. The trumpets sound, and enter the train, viz., his maimed Soldiers with head-pieces and garlands on them, every man with his red-cross on his coat; the Ancient borne in a chair, his garland and his plumes on his headpiece, his ensign in his hand. Enter, after them , G LOCESTER and M ORTIMER bareheaded, and others, as many as may be. Then enter L ONGSHANKS and his wife E LINOR , E DMOND C OUCHBACK , and J OAN , and Signor M OUNTFORT , the Earl of L EICESTER'S prisoner, with Sailors and Soldiers, and C HARLES DE M OUNTFORT his brother .
Glocester! Edward! O my sweet sons!
Longsh . Help, ladies! — O ingrateful destiny,
To welcome Edward with this tragedy!
Glocester . Patient, your highness: 'tis but mother's love
Ravish'd with sight of her thrice-valiant sons. —
Madam, amaze not: see his majesty
Return'd with glory from the holy land.
Q. Mother . Brave sons, the worthy champions of our God,
The honourable soldiers of the Highest,
Bear with your mother, whose abundant love
With tears of joy salutes your sweet return
From famous journeys hard and fortunate.
But, lords, alas, how heavy is our loss
Since your departure to these Christian wars!
The king your father, and the prince your son,
And your brave uncle, Almain's emperor,
Ay me, are dead!
Longsh . Take comfort, madam; leave these sad laments:
Dear was my uncle, dearer was my son,
And ten times dearer was my noble father;
Yet, were their lives valued at thousand worlds,
They cannot scape th' arrest of dreadful death,
Death that doth seize and summon all alike.
Then, leaving them to heavenly blessedness,
To join in thrones of glory with the just,
I do salute your royal majesty,
My gracious mother-queen, and you, my lords,
Gilbert de Clare, Sussex, and Mortimer,
And all the princely states of England's peers,
With health and honour to your hearts' content.
And welcome, wished England, on whose ground
These feet so often have desired to tread:
Welcome, sweet queen, my fellow-traveller,
Welcome, sweet Nell, my fellow-mate in arms,
Whose eyes have seen the slaughtered Saracens
Piled in the ditches of Jerusalem:
And lastly welcome, manly followers,
That bears the scars of honour and of arms,
And on your war-drums carry crowns as kings,
Crown mural, naval, and triumphant all;
At view of whom the Turks have trembling fled,
And Saracens, like sheep before the wolves,
Have made their cottages in walled towns;
But bulwarks had no fence to beat you back.
Lords, these are they will enter brazen gates,
And tear down lime and mortar with their nails:
Embrace them, barons: these have got the name
Of English gentlemen and knights-at-arms;
Not one of these but in the champaign field
Hath won his crown, his collar, and his spurs.
Not Caesar, leading though the streets of Rome
The captive kings of conquered nations,
Was' in his princely triumphs honoured more
Than English Edward in this martial sight.
Countrymen, your limbs are lost in service of the Lord,
Which is your glory and your country's fame:
For limbs you shall have living, lordships, lands,
And be my counsellors in war's affairs.
Soldiers, sit down. — Nell, sit thee by my side. —
These be Prince Edward's pompous treasury. [ The Q UEEN -M OTHER being set on the one side, and Q UEEN E LINOR on the other, the King sitteth in the midst, mounted highest, and at his feet the ensign underneath him .
O glorious Capitol! beauteous senate-house!
Triumphant Edward, how, like sturdy oaks,
Do these thy soldiers circle thee about,
To shield and shelter thee from winter's storms!
Display thy cross, old Aimes of the Vies:
Dub on your drums, tanned with India's sun,
My lusty western lads: Matrevers, thou
Sound proudly here a perfect point of war
In honour of thy sovereign's safe return.
Thus Longshanks bids his soldiers Bien venu .
[ Use drums, irumpets, and ensigns, and then speak E DWARD .
O God, my God, the brightness of my day,
How oft hast thou preserved thy servant safe,
By sea and land, yea, in the gates of death!
O God, to thee how highly am I bound
For setting me with these on English ground!
One of my mansion-houses will I give.
To be a college for my maimed men,
Where every one shall have an hundred marks
Of yearly pension to his maintenance:
A soldier that for Christ and country fights
Shall want no living whilst King Edward lives.
Lords, you that love me, now be liberal,
And give your largess to these maimed men.
Q. Mother . Towards this erection doth thy mother give,
Out of her dowry, five thousand pounds of gold,
To find them surgeons to recure their wounds;
And whilst this ancient standard-bearer lives,
He shall have forty pound of yearly fee,
And be my beadsman, father, if you please.
Longsh . Madam, I tell you, England never bred
A better soldier than your beadsman is;
And that the Soldan and his army felt.
Lancaster . Out of the duchy of rich Lancaster,
To find soft bedding for their bruised bones,
Duke Edmund gives [thee here] three thousand pounds.
Longsh . Grammercies, brother Edmund,
Happy is England under Edward's reign,
When men are had so highly in regard
That nobles strive who shall remunerate
The soldiers' resolution with regard.
My Lord of Glocester, what is your benevolence?
Glocester . A thousand marks, and please your majesty.
Longsh . And yours, my Lord of Sussex?
Sussex . Five hundred pound, and please your majesty.
Longsh . What say you, Sir David of Brecknock?
Sir David . To a soldier Sir David cannot be too liberal: yet that I may give no more than a poor knight is able, and not presume as a mighty earl, I give, my lord, four hundred, fourscore, and nineteen pounds. — And so, my Lord of Sussex, I am behind you an ace.
Sussex . And yet, Sir David, ye amble after apace.
Longsh . Well said, Da[vid]; thou couldst not be a Camber-Briton, if thou didst not love a soldier with thy heart. Let me see now if my arithmetic will serve to total the particulars.
Q. Elinor . Why, my lord, I hope you mean I shall be a benefactor to my fellow-soldiers.
Longsh . And well said, Nell! what wilt thou I set down for thee?
Q. Elinor . Nay, my lord, I am of age to set it down for myself. You will allow what I do, will you not?
Longsh . That I will, madam, were it to the value of my kingdom.
Q. Elinor . What is the sum, my lord?
Longsh . Ten thousand pounds, my Nell.
Q. Elinor . Then, Elinor, bethink thee of a gift worthy the King of England's wife and the King of Spain's daughter, and give such a largess that the chronicles of this land may crake with record of thy liberality.
Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus .
There, my lord; neither one, two, nor three, but a poor cipher in agrum, to enrich good fellows, and compound their figure in their kind.
Longsh . Madam, I commend your composition, an argument of your honourable disposition. Sweet Nell, thou shouldst not be thyself, did not, with thy mounting mind, thy gift surmount the rest.
Glocester . Call you this ridiculus mus? Marry, sir, this mouse would make a foul hole in a fair cheese. 'Tis but a cipher in agrum, and it hath made of ten thousand pounds a hundred thousand pounds.
Lancaster . A princely gift and worthy memory.
Glocester . My gracious lord, as erst I was assigned Lieutenant to his majesty, here render I up the crown, left in charge with me by your princely father King Henry;
Who on his death-bed still did call for you,
And dying will'd to you the diadem.
Longsh . Thanks, worthy lord:
And seeing by doom of heavens it is decreed,
And lawful line of our succession,
Unworthy Edward is become your king,
We take it as a blessing from on high,
And will our coronation be solemnised
Upon the fourteenth of December next.
Q. Elinor . Upon the fourteenth of December next!
Alas, my lord, the time is all too short
And sudden for so great solemnity:
A year were scarce enough to set a-work
Tailors, embroiderers, and men of rare device,
For preparation of so great estate.
Trust me, sweet Ned, hardly shall I bethink me
In twenty weeks what fashion robes to wear.
I pray thee, then, defer it till the spring,
That we may have our garments point-device.
I mean to send for tailors into Spain,
That shall confer of some fantastic suits
With those that be our cunning'st Englishmen.
What, let me brave it now or never, Ned!
Longsh . Madam, content ye: would that were greatest care!
You shall have garments to your heart's desire.
I never read but Englishmen excell'd
For change of rare devices every way.
Q. Elinor . Yet pray thee, Ned, my love, my lord, and king,
My fellow-soldier, and compeer in arms,
Do so much honour to thy Elinor,
To wear a suit that she shall give thy grace;
Of her own cost and workmanship perhaps.
Q. Mother . 'Twill come by leisure, daughter, then, I fear:
Thou'rt too fine-finger'd to be quick at work.
Longsh . 'Twixt us a greater matter breaks no square,
So be it such, my Nell, as may beseem
The majesty and greatness of a king. —
And now, my lords and [all my] loving friends,
Follow your general [un] to the court,
After his travels, to repose him then,
There to recount with pleasure what is past
Of war's alarums, showers, and sharpest storms.
Q. Elinor . Now, Elinor, now England's lovely queen,
Bethink thee of the greatness of thy state,
And how to bear thyself with royalty
Above the other queens of Christendom;
That Spain reaping renown by Elinor,
And Elinor adding renown to Spain,
Britain may her magnificence admire. —
I tell thee, Joan, what time our highness sits
Under our royal canopy of state,
Glistering with pendants of the purest gold,
Like as our seat were spangled all with stars,
The world shall wonder at our majesty,
As if the daughter of eternal Ops,
Turn'd to the likeness of vermilion fumes,
Where from her cloudy womb the Centaurs leapt,
Were in her royal seat enthronised.
Joan . Madam, if Joan thy daughter may advise,
Let not your honour make your manners change.
The people of this land are men of war,
The women courteous, mild, and debonair;
Laying their lives at princes' feet
That govern with familiar majesty.
But if their sovereigns once gin swell with pride,
Disdaining commons' love, which is the strength
And sureness of the richest commonwealth,
That prince were better live a private life
Than rule with tyranny and discontent.
Q. Elinor . Indeed, we count them headstrong Englishmen;
But we shall hold them in a Spanish yoke,
And make them know their lord and sovereign.
Come, daughter, let us home for to provide;
For all the cunning workmen of this isle
In our great chamber shall be set a-work,
And in my hall shall bountifully feed.
My king, like Phaebus, bridegroom-like, shall march
With lovely Thetis to her glassy bed,
And all the lookers-on shall stand amazed
To see King Edward and his lovely queen
Sit loftily in England's stately throne.
Q. Mother . My Lord Lieutenant of Glocester, and Lord Mortimer,
To do you honour in your sovereign's eyes,
That, as we hear, is newly come a-land
From Palestine, with all his men-of-war
(The poor remainder of the royal fleet,
Preserved by miracle in Sicil road),
Go mount your coursers, meet him on the way:
Pray him to spur his steed; minutes are hours,
Until his mother see her princely son
Shining in glory of his safe return.
Illustrious England, ancient seat of kings,
Whose chivalry hath royalised thy fame,
That sounding bravely through terrestrial vale,
Proclaiming conquests, spoils, and victories,
Rings glorious echoes through the farthest world;
What warlike nation, trained in feats of arms,
What barbarous people, stubborn, or untamed,
What climate under the meridian signs,
Or frozen zone under his brumal plage,
Erst have not quaked and trembled at the name
Of Britain and her mighty conquerors?
Her neighbour realms, as Scotland, Denmark, France,
Awed with their deeds, and jealous of her arms,
Have begged defensive and offensive leagues.
Thus Europe, rich and mighty in her kings,
Hath feared brave England, dreadful in her kings.
And now, t' eternise Albion's champions
Equivalent with Trojans' ancient fame,
Comes lovely Edward from Jerusalem,
Veering before the wind, ploughing the sea;
His stretched sails filled with the breath of men
That through the world admires his manliness.
And, lo, at last arrived in Dover-road,
Longshank[s], your king, your glory, and our son,
With troops of conquering lords and warlike knights,
Like bloody-crested Mars, o'erlooks his host,
Higher than all his army by the head,
Marching along as bright as Phaebus eyes!
And we, his mother, shall behold our son,
And England's peers shall see their sovereign. The trumpets sound, and enter the train, viz., his maimed Soldiers with head-pieces and garlands on them, every man with his red-cross on his coat; the Ancient borne in a chair, his garland and his plumes on his headpiece, his ensign in his hand. Enter, after them , G LOCESTER and M ORTIMER bareheaded, and others, as many as may be. Then enter L ONGSHANKS and his wife E LINOR , E DMOND C OUCHBACK , and J OAN , and Signor M OUNTFORT , the Earl of L EICESTER'S prisoner, with Sailors and Soldiers, and C HARLES DE M OUNTFORT his brother .
Glocester! Edward! O my sweet sons!
Longsh . Help, ladies! — O ingrateful destiny,
To welcome Edward with this tragedy!
Glocester . Patient, your highness: 'tis but mother's love
Ravish'd with sight of her thrice-valiant sons. —
Madam, amaze not: see his majesty
Return'd with glory from the holy land.
Q. Mother . Brave sons, the worthy champions of our God,
The honourable soldiers of the Highest,
Bear with your mother, whose abundant love
With tears of joy salutes your sweet return
From famous journeys hard and fortunate.
But, lords, alas, how heavy is our loss
Since your departure to these Christian wars!
The king your father, and the prince your son,
And your brave uncle, Almain's emperor,
Ay me, are dead!
Longsh . Take comfort, madam; leave these sad laments:
Dear was my uncle, dearer was my son,
And ten times dearer was my noble father;
Yet, were their lives valued at thousand worlds,
They cannot scape th' arrest of dreadful death,
Death that doth seize and summon all alike.
Then, leaving them to heavenly blessedness,
To join in thrones of glory with the just,
I do salute your royal majesty,
My gracious mother-queen, and you, my lords,
Gilbert de Clare, Sussex, and Mortimer,
And all the princely states of England's peers,
With health and honour to your hearts' content.
And welcome, wished England, on whose ground
These feet so often have desired to tread:
Welcome, sweet queen, my fellow-traveller,
Welcome, sweet Nell, my fellow-mate in arms,
Whose eyes have seen the slaughtered Saracens
Piled in the ditches of Jerusalem:
And lastly welcome, manly followers,
That bears the scars of honour and of arms,
And on your war-drums carry crowns as kings,
Crown mural, naval, and triumphant all;
At view of whom the Turks have trembling fled,
And Saracens, like sheep before the wolves,
Have made their cottages in walled towns;
But bulwarks had no fence to beat you back.
Lords, these are they will enter brazen gates,
And tear down lime and mortar with their nails:
Embrace them, barons: these have got the name
Of English gentlemen and knights-at-arms;
Not one of these but in the champaign field
Hath won his crown, his collar, and his spurs.
Not Caesar, leading though the streets of Rome
The captive kings of conquered nations,
Was' in his princely triumphs honoured more
Than English Edward in this martial sight.
Countrymen, your limbs are lost in service of the Lord,
Which is your glory and your country's fame:
For limbs you shall have living, lordships, lands,
And be my counsellors in war's affairs.
Soldiers, sit down. — Nell, sit thee by my side. —
These be Prince Edward's pompous treasury. [ The Q UEEN -M OTHER being set on the one side, and Q UEEN E LINOR on the other, the King sitteth in the midst, mounted highest, and at his feet the ensign underneath him .
O glorious Capitol! beauteous senate-house!
Triumphant Edward, how, like sturdy oaks,
Do these thy soldiers circle thee about,
To shield and shelter thee from winter's storms!
Display thy cross, old Aimes of the Vies:
Dub on your drums, tanned with India's sun,
My lusty western lads: Matrevers, thou
Sound proudly here a perfect point of war
In honour of thy sovereign's safe return.
Thus Longshanks bids his soldiers Bien venu .
[ Use drums, irumpets, and ensigns, and then speak E DWARD .
O God, my God, the brightness of my day,
How oft hast thou preserved thy servant safe,
By sea and land, yea, in the gates of death!
O God, to thee how highly am I bound
For setting me with these on English ground!
One of my mansion-houses will I give.
To be a college for my maimed men,
Where every one shall have an hundred marks
Of yearly pension to his maintenance:
A soldier that for Christ and country fights
Shall want no living whilst King Edward lives.
Lords, you that love me, now be liberal,
And give your largess to these maimed men.
Q. Mother . Towards this erection doth thy mother give,
Out of her dowry, five thousand pounds of gold,
To find them surgeons to recure their wounds;
And whilst this ancient standard-bearer lives,
He shall have forty pound of yearly fee,
And be my beadsman, father, if you please.
Longsh . Madam, I tell you, England never bred
A better soldier than your beadsman is;
And that the Soldan and his army felt.
Lancaster . Out of the duchy of rich Lancaster,
To find soft bedding for their bruised bones,
Duke Edmund gives [thee here] three thousand pounds.
Longsh . Grammercies, brother Edmund,
Happy is England under Edward's reign,
When men are had so highly in regard
That nobles strive who shall remunerate
The soldiers' resolution with regard.
My Lord of Glocester, what is your benevolence?
Glocester . A thousand marks, and please your majesty.
Longsh . And yours, my Lord of Sussex?
Sussex . Five hundred pound, and please your majesty.
Longsh . What say you, Sir David of Brecknock?
Sir David . To a soldier Sir David cannot be too liberal: yet that I may give no more than a poor knight is able, and not presume as a mighty earl, I give, my lord, four hundred, fourscore, and nineteen pounds. — And so, my Lord of Sussex, I am behind you an ace.
Sussex . And yet, Sir David, ye amble after apace.
Longsh . Well said, Da[vid]; thou couldst not be a Camber-Briton, if thou didst not love a soldier with thy heart. Let me see now if my arithmetic will serve to total the particulars.
Q. Elinor . Why, my lord, I hope you mean I shall be a benefactor to my fellow-soldiers.
Longsh . And well said, Nell! what wilt thou I set down for thee?
Q. Elinor . Nay, my lord, I am of age to set it down for myself. You will allow what I do, will you not?
Longsh . That I will, madam, were it to the value of my kingdom.
Q. Elinor . What is the sum, my lord?
Longsh . Ten thousand pounds, my Nell.
Q. Elinor . Then, Elinor, bethink thee of a gift worthy the King of England's wife and the King of Spain's daughter, and give such a largess that the chronicles of this land may crake with record of thy liberality.
Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus .
There, my lord; neither one, two, nor three, but a poor cipher in agrum, to enrich good fellows, and compound their figure in their kind.
Longsh . Madam, I commend your composition, an argument of your honourable disposition. Sweet Nell, thou shouldst not be thyself, did not, with thy mounting mind, thy gift surmount the rest.
Glocester . Call you this ridiculus mus? Marry, sir, this mouse would make a foul hole in a fair cheese. 'Tis but a cipher in agrum, and it hath made of ten thousand pounds a hundred thousand pounds.
Lancaster . A princely gift and worthy memory.
Glocester . My gracious lord, as erst I was assigned Lieutenant to his majesty, here render I up the crown, left in charge with me by your princely father King Henry;
Who on his death-bed still did call for you,
And dying will'd to you the diadem.
Longsh . Thanks, worthy lord:
And seeing by doom of heavens it is decreed,
And lawful line of our succession,
Unworthy Edward is become your king,
We take it as a blessing from on high,
And will our coronation be solemnised
Upon the fourteenth of December next.
Q. Elinor . Upon the fourteenth of December next!
Alas, my lord, the time is all too short
And sudden for so great solemnity:
A year were scarce enough to set a-work
Tailors, embroiderers, and men of rare device,
For preparation of so great estate.
Trust me, sweet Ned, hardly shall I bethink me
In twenty weeks what fashion robes to wear.
I pray thee, then, defer it till the spring,
That we may have our garments point-device.
I mean to send for tailors into Spain,
That shall confer of some fantastic suits
With those that be our cunning'st Englishmen.
What, let me brave it now or never, Ned!
Longsh . Madam, content ye: would that were greatest care!
You shall have garments to your heart's desire.
I never read but Englishmen excell'd
For change of rare devices every way.
Q. Elinor . Yet pray thee, Ned, my love, my lord, and king,
My fellow-soldier, and compeer in arms,
Do so much honour to thy Elinor,
To wear a suit that she shall give thy grace;
Of her own cost and workmanship perhaps.
Q. Mother . 'Twill come by leisure, daughter, then, I fear:
Thou'rt too fine-finger'd to be quick at work.
Longsh . 'Twixt us a greater matter breaks no square,
So be it such, my Nell, as may beseem
The majesty and greatness of a king. —
And now, my lords and [all my] loving friends,
Follow your general [un] to the court,
After his travels, to repose him then,
There to recount with pleasure what is past
Of war's alarums, showers, and sharpest storms.
Q. Elinor . Now, Elinor, now England's lovely queen,
Bethink thee of the greatness of thy state,
And how to bear thyself with royalty
Above the other queens of Christendom;
That Spain reaping renown by Elinor,
And Elinor adding renown to Spain,
Britain may her magnificence admire. —
I tell thee, Joan, what time our highness sits
Under our royal canopy of state,
Glistering with pendants of the purest gold,
Like as our seat were spangled all with stars,
The world shall wonder at our majesty,
As if the daughter of eternal Ops,
Turn'd to the likeness of vermilion fumes,
Where from her cloudy womb the Centaurs leapt,
Were in her royal seat enthronised.
Joan . Madam, if Joan thy daughter may advise,
Let not your honour make your manners change.
The people of this land are men of war,
The women courteous, mild, and debonair;
Laying their lives at princes' feet
That govern with familiar majesty.
But if their sovereigns once gin swell with pride,
Disdaining commons' love, which is the strength
And sureness of the richest commonwealth,
That prince were better live a private life
Than rule with tyranny and discontent.
Q. Elinor . Indeed, we count them headstrong Englishmen;
But we shall hold them in a Spanish yoke,
And make them know their lord and sovereign.
Come, daughter, let us home for to provide;
For all the cunning workmen of this isle
In our great chamber shall be set a-work,
And in my hall shall bountifully feed.
My king, like Phaebus, bridegroom-like, shall march
With lovely Thetis to her glassy bed,
And all the lookers-on shall stand amazed
To see King Edward and his lovely queen
Sit loftily in England's stately throne.
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