King Edward the Third [9]
that prescribes
A shame for shame or penance for offence.
No, let me die, if his too boistrous will
Will have it so, before I will consent
To be an actor in his graceless lust.
WARWICK.
Why, now thou speakst as I would have thee speak:
And mark how I unsay my words again.
An honorable grave is more esteemed
Than the polluted closet of a king:
The greater man, the greater is the thing,
Be it good or bad, that he shall undertake:
An unreputed mote, flying in the Sun,
Presents a greater substance than it is:
The freshest summer's day doth soonest taint
The loathed carrion that it seems to kiss:
Deep are the blows made with a mighty Axe:
That sin doth ten times aggravate it self,
That is committed in a holy place:
An evil deed, done by authority,
Is sin and subornation: Deck an Ape
In tissue, and the beauty of the robe
Adds but the greater scorn unto the beast.
A spatious field of reasons could I urge
Between his glory, daughter, and thy shame:
That poison shews worst in a golden cup;
Dark night seems darker by the lightning flash;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds;
And every glory that inclines to sin,
The shame is treble by the opposite.
So leave I with my blessing in thy bosom,
Which then convert to a most heavy curse,
When thou convertest from honor's golden name
To the black faction of bed blotting shame.
COUNTESS.
I'll follow thee; and when my mind turns so,
My body sink my soul in endless woe!
[Exeunt.]
ACT II. SCENE II. The Same. A Room in the Castle.
[Enter at one door Derby from France, At an other door
Audley with a Drum.]
DERBY.
Thrice noble Audley, well encountered here!
How is it with our sovereign and his peers?
AUDLEY.
Tis full a fortnight, since I saw his highness
What time he sent me forth to muster men;
Which I accordingly have done, and bring them hither
In fair array before his majesty.
What news, my Lord of Derby, from the Emperor?
DERBY.
As good as we desire: the Emperor
Hath yielded to his highness friendly aid,
And makes our king lieutenant general
In all his lands and large dominions;
Then via for the spatious bounds of France!
AUDLEY.
What, doth his highness leap to hear these news?
DERBY.
I have not yet found time to open them;
The king is in his closet, malcontent;
For what, I know not, but he gave in charge,
Till after dinner none should interrupt him:
The Countess Salisbury and her father Warwick,
Artois and all look underneath the brows.
AUDLEY.
Undoubtedly, then, some thing is amiss.
[Trumpet within.]
DERBY.
The Trumpets sound, the king is now abroad.
[Enter the King.]
AUDLEY.
Here comes his highness.
DERBY.
Befall my sovereign all my sovereign's wish!
KING EDWARD.
Ah, that thou wert a Witch to make it so!
DERBY.
The Emperour greeteth you.
[Presenting Letters.]
KING EDWARD.
--Would it were the Countess!
DERBY.
And hath accorded to your highness suite.
KING EDWARD.
--Thou liest, she hath not; but I would she had.
AUDLEY.
All love and duty to my Lord the King!
KING EDWARD.
Well, all but one is none.--What news with you?
AUDLEY.
I have, my liege, levied those horse and foot
According to your charge, and brought them hither.
KING EDWARD.
Then let those foot trudge hence upon those horse
According to our discharge, and be gone.--
Darby, I'll look upon the Countess' mind anon.
DERBY.
The Countess' mind, my liege?
KING EDWARD.
I mean the Emperour:--leave me alone.
AUDLEY.
What is his mind?
DERBY.
Let's leave him to his humor.
[Exeunt.]
KING EDWARD.
Thus from the heart's aboundance speaks the tongue;
Countess for Emperour: and indeed, why not?
She is as imperator over me
And I to her
Am as a kneeling vassal, that observes
The pleasure or displeasure of her eye.
[Enter Lodowick.]
What says the more than Cleopatra's match
To Caesar now?
LODOWICK.
That yet, my liege, ere night
She will resolve your majesty.
[Drum within.]
KING EDWARD.
What drum is this that thunders forth this march,
To start
A shame for shame or penance for offence.
No, let me die, if his too boistrous will
Will have it so, before I will consent
To be an actor in his graceless lust.
WARWICK.
Why, now thou speakst as I would have thee speak:
And mark how I unsay my words again.
An honorable grave is more esteemed
Than the polluted closet of a king:
The greater man, the greater is the thing,
Be it good or bad, that he shall undertake:
An unreputed mote, flying in the Sun,
Presents a greater substance than it is:
The freshest summer's day doth soonest taint
The loathed carrion that it seems to kiss:
Deep are the blows made with a mighty Axe:
That sin doth ten times aggravate it self,
That is committed in a holy place:
An evil deed, done by authority,
Is sin and subornation: Deck an Ape
In tissue, and the beauty of the robe
Adds but the greater scorn unto the beast.
A spatious field of reasons could I urge
Between his glory, daughter, and thy shame:
That poison shews worst in a golden cup;
Dark night seems darker by the lightning flash;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds;
And every glory that inclines to sin,
The shame is treble by the opposite.
So leave I with my blessing in thy bosom,
Which then convert to a most heavy curse,
When thou convertest from honor's golden name
To the black faction of bed blotting shame.
COUNTESS.
I'll follow thee; and when my mind turns so,
My body sink my soul in endless woe!
[Exeunt.]
ACT II. SCENE II. The Same. A Room in the Castle.
[Enter at one door Derby from France, At an other door
Audley with a Drum.]
DERBY.
Thrice noble Audley, well encountered here!
How is it with our sovereign and his peers?
AUDLEY.
Tis full a fortnight, since I saw his highness
What time he sent me forth to muster men;
Which I accordingly have done, and bring them hither
In fair array before his majesty.
What news, my Lord of Derby, from the Emperor?
DERBY.
As good as we desire: the Emperor
Hath yielded to his highness friendly aid,
And makes our king lieutenant general
In all his lands and large dominions;
Then via for the spatious bounds of France!
AUDLEY.
What, doth his highness leap to hear these news?
DERBY.
I have not yet found time to open them;
The king is in his closet, malcontent;
For what, I know not, but he gave in charge,
Till after dinner none should interrupt him:
The Countess Salisbury and her father Warwick,
Artois and all look underneath the brows.
AUDLEY.
Undoubtedly, then, some thing is amiss.
[Trumpet within.]
DERBY.
The Trumpets sound, the king is now abroad.
[Enter the King.]
AUDLEY.
Here comes his highness.
DERBY.
Befall my sovereign all my sovereign's wish!
KING EDWARD.
Ah, that thou wert a Witch to make it so!
DERBY.
The Emperour greeteth you.
[Presenting Letters.]
KING EDWARD.
--Would it were the Countess!
DERBY.
And hath accorded to your highness suite.
KING EDWARD.
--Thou liest, she hath not; but I would she had.
AUDLEY.
All love and duty to my Lord the King!
KING EDWARD.
Well, all but one is none.--What news with you?
AUDLEY.
I have, my liege, levied those horse and foot
According to your charge, and brought them hither.
KING EDWARD.
Then let those foot trudge hence upon those horse
According to our discharge, and be gone.--
Darby, I'll look upon the Countess' mind anon.
DERBY.
The Countess' mind, my liege?
KING EDWARD.
I mean the Emperour:--leave me alone.
AUDLEY.
What is his mind?
DERBY.
Let's leave him to his humor.
[Exeunt.]
KING EDWARD.
Thus from the heart's aboundance speaks the tongue;
Countess for Emperour: and indeed, why not?
She is as imperator over me
And I to her
Am as a kneeling vassal, that observes
The pleasure or displeasure of her eye.
[Enter Lodowick.]
What says the more than Cleopatra's match
To Caesar now?
LODOWICK.
That yet, my liege, ere night
She will resolve your majesty.
[Drum within.]
KING EDWARD.
What drum is this that thunders forth this march,
To start