Edward the First - Scene 5
[SCENE V.]
Enter L ONGSHANKS , S USSEX , [M ORTIMER ,] and others .
Longsh . Why, barons, suffer ye our foes to breathe?
Assault, assault, and charge them all amain!
They fear, they fly, they faint, they fight in vain.
But where is gentle David in [t]his den?
Loth were I aught but good should him betide.
On the walls enter [L LUELLEN ], D AVID , the Friar, M EREDITH holding D AVID by the collar, with a dagger in his hand .
Where is the proud disturber of our state,
Traitor to Wales and to his sovereign?
Lluellen . Usurper, here I am. What dost thou crave?
Longsh . Welshman, allegiance, which thou ow'st thy king.
Lluellen . Traitor, no king, that seeks thy country's sack,
The famous runagate of Christendom.
Longsh . Ambitious rebel, know'st thou what I am,
How great, how famous, and how fortunate?
And dar'st thou carry arms against me here,
Even when thou shouldst do reverence at my feet?
Yea, feared and honoured in the farthest parts
Hath Edward been, the noble Henry's son.
Traitor, this sword unsheathed hath shined oft
With reeking in the blood of Saracens;
When, like to Perseus on his winged steed,
Brandishing bright the blade of adamant
That aged Saturn gave fair Maia's son,
Conflicting tho with Gorgon in the vale,
Sitting before the gates of Nazareth,
My horse's hoofs I stain'd in pagan's gore,
Sending whole centuries of heathen souls
To Pluto's house: this sword, this thirsty sword,
Aims at thy head, and shall, I hope, ere long,
Gash and divide thy bowels and thy bulk,
Disloyal villain, thou, and what is more?
Lluellen . Why, Longshanks, think'st thou I'll be scared with words?
No: didst thou speak in thunder like to Jove,
Or shouldst, as Briareus, shake at once
A hundred bloody swords with bloody hands,
I tell thee, Longshanks, here he faceth thee
Whom naught can daunt, no, not the stroke of death.
Resolved ye see: but see the chance of war:
Know'st thou a traitor an thou seest his head?
Then, Longshanks, look this villain in the face:
This rebel, he hath wrought his country's wreck;
Base rascal, bad and hated in his kind,
Object of wrath, and subject of revenge.
Longsh . Lluellen, call'st thou this the chance of war?
Bad for us all, pardie, but worse for him. —
Courage, Sir David! kings thou know'st must die,
And noble minds all dastard fear defy.
Sir David . Renowmed Edward, star of England's globe,
My liefest lord and sweetest sovereign,
Glorious and happy is this chance to me,
To reap this fame and honour in my death, —
That I was hewed with foul-defiled hands
For my beloved king and country's good,
And died in grace and favour with my prince. —
Seize on me, bloody butchers, with your paws:
It is but temporal that you can inflict.
Longsh . Bravely resolv'd, brave soldier, by my life!
Friar . Hark you, sir, I am afeard you will not be so resolved by that time you know so much as I can show you: here be hot dogs, I can tell you, means to have the baiting of you.
Mortimer . Lluellen, in the midst of all thy braves,
How wilt thou use thy brother thou hast ta'en?
Wilt thou [not] let his master ransom him?
Lluellen . No, nor his mistress, gallant Mortimer,
With all the gold and silver of the land.
Rice ap Mer. Ransom this Judas to his father's line!
Ransom this traitor to his brother's life!
No. — Take that earnest-penny of thy death. —
This touch, my lord, comes nothing near the mark.
Longsh . O damned villain, hold thy hands!
Ask and have.
Lluellen . We will not ask nor have. Seest thou these tools?
These be the dogs shall bait him to the death,
And shall by piece-meals tear his cursed flesh;
And in thy sight here shall he hang and pine.
Longsh . O villains, traitors, how will I be veng'd!
Lluellen . What, threats thou, Edward? Desperate minds contemn
That fury menaceth: see thy words' effects.
Sir David . O gracious heavens, dissolve me into clay!
This tyranny is more than flesh can bear.
Longsh . Bear it, brave mind, sith nothing but thy blood
May satisfy in this extreme estate.
Sussex . My lord, it is in vain to threaten them;
They are resolv'd, ye see, upon his death.
Longsh . Sussex, his death, they all shall buy it dear:
Offer them any favour for his life,
Pardon, or peace, or aught what is beside:
So love me God as I regard my friends! —
Lluellen, let me have thy brother's life
Even at what rate and ransom thou wilt name.
Lluellen . Edward, King Edward, as thou list be term'd,
Thou know'st thou hast my beauteous Elinor:
Produce her forth to plead for David's life;
She may obtain more than an host of men.
Longsh . Wilt thou exchange thy prisoner for thy love?
Lluellen . Talk no more to me; let me see her face.
Mortimer . Why, will your majesty be all so base
To stoop to his demands in every thing?
Longsh . Fetch her at once; good Mortimer, be gone.
Mortimer [ aside ]. I go; but how unwilling heavens doth know.
Rice ap Mer. Apace, Mortimer, if thou love thy friend.
Mortimer [ aside ]. I go for dearer than I leave behind.
Longsh . See, Sussex, how he bleedeth in my eye,
That beareth fortune's shock triumphantly.
Friar . Sa-ha, master! I have found, I have found.
Lluellen . What hast thou found, friar, ha?
Rice-ap-Mer. News, my lord, a star from out the sea;
The same is risen and made a summer's day.
Then L LUELLEN spieth E LINOR and M ORTIMER , and sayeth thus .
Lluellen . What, Nell, sweet Nell, do I behold thy face?
Fall heavens, fleet stars, shine Phaebus' lamp no more!
This is the planet lends this world her light;
Star of my fortune this, that shineth bright,
Queen of my heart, loadstar of my delight,
Fair mould of beauty, miracle of fame.
O, let me die with Elinor in mine arms!
What honour shall I lend thy loyalty
Or praise unto thy sacred deity?
Rice ap Mer. Marry, this, my lord, if I may give you counsel: sacrifice this tyke in her sight, her friend; which being done, one of your soldiers may dip his soul shirt in his blood; so shall you be waited with as many crosses as King Edward.
Longsh . Good cheer, Sir David; we shall up anon.
Mortimer [ aside ]. Die, Mortimer; thy life is almost gone.
Elinor . Sweet Prince of Wales, were I within thine arms,
Then should I in peace possess my love,
And heavens open fair their crystal gates,
That I may see the palace of my intent.
Longsh . Lluellen, set thy brother free:
Let me have him, thou shalt have Elinor.
Lluellen . Sooth, Edward, I do prize my Elinor
Dearer than life; but there belongeth more
To these affairs than my content in love:
And to be short, if thou wilt have thy man,
Of whom, I swear, thou thinkest over-well,
The safety of Lluellen and his men
Must be regarded highly in this match.
Say, therefore, and be short, wilt thou give peace
And pardon to Lluellen and his men?
Longsh . I will herein have time to be advised.
Lluellen . King Edward, no: we will admit no pause,
For goes this wretch, this traitor, to the pot.
And if Lluellen he pursued so near,
May chance to show thee such a tumbling-cast,
As erst our father when he thought to scape,
And broke his neck from Julius Caesar's tower.
Sussex . My lord, these rebels all are desperate.
Mortimer [ aside ]. And Mortimer of all most miserable.
Longsh . How, say you, Welshmen, will you leave your arms,
And be true liegemen unto Edward's crown?
All the Sold . If Edward pardon surely what is past,
Upon conditions we are all content.
Longsh . Belike you will condition with us, then?
[ First ] Soldier . Special conditions for our safety first,
And for our country Cambria's common good,
T' avoid the fusion of our guilty blood.
Longsh . Go to; say on.
[ First ] Soldier . First, for our followers, and ourselves, and all,
We ask a pardon in the prince's word;
Then for this lord's possession in his love;
But for our country chief these boons we beg,
And England's promise princely to thy Wales,
That none be Cambria's prince to govern us
But he that is a Welshman, born in Wales:
Grant this, and swear it on thy knightly sword,
And have thy man and us and all in peace.
Lluellen . Why, Cambria-Britons, are you so incensed?
Will you deliver me to Edward's hands?
[ First ] Soldier . No, Lord Lluellen; we will back for thee
Thy life, thy love, and golden liberty.
Mortimer [ aside ]. A truce with honourable conditions ta'en;
Wales' happiness, England's glory, and my bane.
Longsh . Command retreat be sounded in our camp. —
Soldiers, I grant at full what you request. —
David, good cheer. — Lluellen, ope the gates.
Lluellen . The gates are opened: enter thee and thine.
Sir David . The sweetest sun that e'er I saw to shine!
Longsh . Madam, a brabble well begun for thee;
Be thou my guest and Sir Lluellen's love.
Mortimer . Mortimer, a brabble ill begun for thee;
A truce with capital conditions ta'en,
A prisoner saved and ransomed with thy life.
Edward, my king, my lord, and lover dear,
Full little dost thou wot how this retreat,
As with a sword, hath slain poor Mortimer.
Farewell the flower, the gem of beauty's blaze,
Sweet Ellen, miracle of nature's hand!
Hell in thy name, but heaven is in thy looks:
Sweet Venus, let me saint or divel be
In that sweet heaven or hell that is in thee.
Enter L ONGSHANKS , S USSEX , [M ORTIMER ,] and others .
Longsh . Why, barons, suffer ye our foes to breathe?
Assault, assault, and charge them all amain!
They fear, they fly, they faint, they fight in vain.
But where is gentle David in [t]his den?
Loth were I aught but good should him betide.
On the walls enter [L LUELLEN ], D AVID , the Friar, M EREDITH holding D AVID by the collar, with a dagger in his hand .
Where is the proud disturber of our state,
Traitor to Wales and to his sovereign?
Lluellen . Usurper, here I am. What dost thou crave?
Longsh . Welshman, allegiance, which thou ow'st thy king.
Lluellen . Traitor, no king, that seeks thy country's sack,
The famous runagate of Christendom.
Longsh . Ambitious rebel, know'st thou what I am,
How great, how famous, and how fortunate?
And dar'st thou carry arms against me here,
Even when thou shouldst do reverence at my feet?
Yea, feared and honoured in the farthest parts
Hath Edward been, the noble Henry's son.
Traitor, this sword unsheathed hath shined oft
With reeking in the blood of Saracens;
When, like to Perseus on his winged steed,
Brandishing bright the blade of adamant
That aged Saturn gave fair Maia's son,
Conflicting tho with Gorgon in the vale,
Sitting before the gates of Nazareth,
My horse's hoofs I stain'd in pagan's gore,
Sending whole centuries of heathen souls
To Pluto's house: this sword, this thirsty sword,
Aims at thy head, and shall, I hope, ere long,
Gash and divide thy bowels and thy bulk,
Disloyal villain, thou, and what is more?
Lluellen . Why, Longshanks, think'st thou I'll be scared with words?
No: didst thou speak in thunder like to Jove,
Or shouldst, as Briareus, shake at once
A hundred bloody swords with bloody hands,
I tell thee, Longshanks, here he faceth thee
Whom naught can daunt, no, not the stroke of death.
Resolved ye see: but see the chance of war:
Know'st thou a traitor an thou seest his head?
Then, Longshanks, look this villain in the face:
This rebel, he hath wrought his country's wreck;
Base rascal, bad and hated in his kind,
Object of wrath, and subject of revenge.
Longsh . Lluellen, call'st thou this the chance of war?
Bad for us all, pardie, but worse for him. —
Courage, Sir David! kings thou know'st must die,
And noble minds all dastard fear defy.
Sir David . Renowmed Edward, star of England's globe,
My liefest lord and sweetest sovereign,
Glorious and happy is this chance to me,
To reap this fame and honour in my death, —
That I was hewed with foul-defiled hands
For my beloved king and country's good,
And died in grace and favour with my prince. —
Seize on me, bloody butchers, with your paws:
It is but temporal that you can inflict.
Longsh . Bravely resolv'd, brave soldier, by my life!
Friar . Hark you, sir, I am afeard you will not be so resolved by that time you know so much as I can show you: here be hot dogs, I can tell you, means to have the baiting of you.
Mortimer . Lluellen, in the midst of all thy braves,
How wilt thou use thy brother thou hast ta'en?
Wilt thou [not] let his master ransom him?
Lluellen . No, nor his mistress, gallant Mortimer,
With all the gold and silver of the land.
Rice ap Mer. Ransom this Judas to his father's line!
Ransom this traitor to his brother's life!
No. — Take that earnest-penny of thy death. —
This touch, my lord, comes nothing near the mark.
Longsh . O damned villain, hold thy hands!
Ask and have.
Lluellen . We will not ask nor have. Seest thou these tools?
These be the dogs shall bait him to the death,
And shall by piece-meals tear his cursed flesh;
And in thy sight here shall he hang and pine.
Longsh . O villains, traitors, how will I be veng'd!
Lluellen . What, threats thou, Edward? Desperate minds contemn
That fury menaceth: see thy words' effects.
Sir David . O gracious heavens, dissolve me into clay!
This tyranny is more than flesh can bear.
Longsh . Bear it, brave mind, sith nothing but thy blood
May satisfy in this extreme estate.
Sussex . My lord, it is in vain to threaten them;
They are resolv'd, ye see, upon his death.
Longsh . Sussex, his death, they all shall buy it dear:
Offer them any favour for his life,
Pardon, or peace, or aught what is beside:
So love me God as I regard my friends! —
Lluellen, let me have thy brother's life
Even at what rate and ransom thou wilt name.
Lluellen . Edward, King Edward, as thou list be term'd,
Thou know'st thou hast my beauteous Elinor:
Produce her forth to plead for David's life;
She may obtain more than an host of men.
Longsh . Wilt thou exchange thy prisoner for thy love?
Lluellen . Talk no more to me; let me see her face.
Mortimer . Why, will your majesty be all so base
To stoop to his demands in every thing?
Longsh . Fetch her at once; good Mortimer, be gone.
Mortimer [ aside ]. I go; but how unwilling heavens doth know.
Rice ap Mer. Apace, Mortimer, if thou love thy friend.
Mortimer [ aside ]. I go for dearer than I leave behind.
Longsh . See, Sussex, how he bleedeth in my eye,
That beareth fortune's shock triumphantly.
Friar . Sa-ha, master! I have found, I have found.
Lluellen . What hast thou found, friar, ha?
Rice-ap-Mer. News, my lord, a star from out the sea;
The same is risen and made a summer's day.
Then L LUELLEN spieth E LINOR and M ORTIMER , and sayeth thus .
Lluellen . What, Nell, sweet Nell, do I behold thy face?
Fall heavens, fleet stars, shine Phaebus' lamp no more!
This is the planet lends this world her light;
Star of my fortune this, that shineth bright,
Queen of my heart, loadstar of my delight,
Fair mould of beauty, miracle of fame.
O, let me die with Elinor in mine arms!
What honour shall I lend thy loyalty
Or praise unto thy sacred deity?
Rice ap Mer. Marry, this, my lord, if I may give you counsel: sacrifice this tyke in her sight, her friend; which being done, one of your soldiers may dip his soul shirt in his blood; so shall you be waited with as many crosses as King Edward.
Longsh . Good cheer, Sir David; we shall up anon.
Mortimer [ aside ]. Die, Mortimer; thy life is almost gone.
Elinor . Sweet Prince of Wales, were I within thine arms,
Then should I in peace possess my love,
And heavens open fair their crystal gates,
That I may see the palace of my intent.
Longsh . Lluellen, set thy brother free:
Let me have him, thou shalt have Elinor.
Lluellen . Sooth, Edward, I do prize my Elinor
Dearer than life; but there belongeth more
To these affairs than my content in love:
And to be short, if thou wilt have thy man,
Of whom, I swear, thou thinkest over-well,
The safety of Lluellen and his men
Must be regarded highly in this match.
Say, therefore, and be short, wilt thou give peace
And pardon to Lluellen and his men?
Longsh . I will herein have time to be advised.
Lluellen . King Edward, no: we will admit no pause,
For goes this wretch, this traitor, to the pot.
And if Lluellen he pursued so near,
May chance to show thee such a tumbling-cast,
As erst our father when he thought to scape,
And broke his neck from Julius Caesar's tower.
Sussex . My lord, these rebels all are desperate.
Mortimer [ aside ]. And Mortimer of all most miserable.
Longsh . How, say you, Welshmen, will you leave your arms,
And be true liegemen unto Edward's crown?
All the Sold . If Edward pardon surely what is past,
Upon conditions we are all content.
Longsh . Belike you will condition with us, then?
[ First ] Soldier . Special conditions for our safety first,
And for our country Cambria's common good,
T' avoid the fusion of our guilty blood.
Longsh . Go to; say on.
[ First ] Soldier . First, for our followers, and ourselves, and all,
We ask a pardon in the prince's word;
Then for this lord's possession in his love;
But for our country chief these boons we beg,
And England's promise princely to thy Wales,
That none be Cambria's prince to govern us
But he that is a Welshman, born in Wales:
Grant this, and swear it on thy knightly sword,
And have thy man and us and all in peace.
Lluellen . Why, Cambria-Britons, are you so incensed?
Will you deliver me to Edward's hands?
[ First ] Soldier . No, Lord Lluellen; we will back for thee
Thy life, thy love, and golden liberty.
Mortimer [ aside ]. A truce with honourable conditions ta'en;
Wales' happiness, England's glory, and my bane.
Longsh . Command retreat be sounded in our camp. —
Soldiers, I grant at full what you request. —
David, good cheer. — Lluellen, ope the gates.
Lluellen . The gates are opened: enter thee and thine.
Sir David . The sweetest sun that e'er I saw to shine!
Longsh . Madam, a brabble well begun for thee;
Be thou my guest and Sir Lluellen's love.
Mortimer . Mortimer, a brabble ill begun for thee;
A truce with capital conditions ta'en,
A prisoner saved and ransomed with thy life.
Edward, my king, my lord, and lover dear,
Full little dost thou wot how this retreat,
As with a sword, hath slain poor Mortimer.
Farewell the flower, the gem of beauty's blaze,
Sweet Ellen, miracle of nature's hand!
Hell in thy name, but heaven is in thy looks:
Sweet Venus, let me saint or divel be
In that sweet heaven or hell that is in thee.
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