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When most of all abuses are controlled;

Yet, insomuch it shall be known that we

As well can master our affections

As conquer other by the dint of sword,

Phillip, prevail; we yield to thy request:

These men shall live to boast of clemency,

And, tyranny, strike terror to thy self.

SECOND CITIZEN.

Long live your highness! happy be your reign!

KING EDWARD.

Go, get you hence, return unto the town,

And if this kindness hath deserved your love,

Learn then to reverence Edward as your king.—

[Exeunt Citizens.]

Now, might we hear of our affairs abroad,

We would, till gloomy Winter were o'er spent,

Dispose our men in garrison a while.

But who comes here?

[Enter Copland and King David.]

DERBY.

Copland, my Lord, and David, King of Scots.

KING EDWARD.

Is this the proud presumptuous Esquire of the North,

That would not yield his prisoner to my Queen?

COPLAND.

I am, my liege, a Northern Esquire indeed,

But neither proud nor insolent, I trust.

KING EDWARD.

What moved thee, then, to be so obstinate

To contradict our royal Queen's desire?

COPLAND.

No wilful disobedience, mighty Lord,

But my desert and public law at arms:

I took the king my self in single fight,

And, like a soldiers, would be loath to lose

The least pre-eminence that I had won.

And Copland straight upon your highness' charge

Is come to France, and with a lowly mind

Doth vale the bonnet of his victory:

Receive, dread Lord, the custom of my fraught,

The wealthy tribute of my laboring hands,

Which should long since have been surrendered up,

Had but your gracious self been there in place.

QUEEN PHILLIP.

But, Copland, thou didst scorn the king's command,

Neglecting our commission in his name.

COPLAND.

His name I reverence, but his person more;

His name shall keep me in allegiance still,

But to his person I will bend my knee.

KING EDWARD.

I pray thee, Phillip, let displeasure pass;

This man doth please me, and I like his words:

For what is he that will attempt great deeds,

And lose the glory that ensues the same?

All rivers have recourse unto the Sea,

And Copland's faith relation to his king.

Kneel, therefore, down: now rise, king Edward's knight;

And, to maintain thy state, I freely give

Five hundred marks a year to thee and thine.

[Enter Salisbury.]

Welcome, Lord Salisbury: what news from Brittain?

SALISBURY.

This, mighty king: the Country we have won,

And John de Mountford, regent of that place,

Presents your highness with this Coronet,

Protesting true allegiance to your Grace.

KING EDWARD.

We thank thee for thy service, valiant Earl;

Challenge our favour, for we owe it thee.

SALISBURY.

But now, my Lord, as this is joyful news,

So must my voice be tragical again,

And I must sing of doleful accidents.

KING EDWARD.

What, have our men the overthrow at Poitiers?

Or is our son beset with too much odds?

SALISBURY.

He was, my Lord: and as my worthless self

With forty other serviceable knights,

Under safe conduct of the Dauphin's seal,

Did travail that way, finding him distressed,

A troop of Lances met us on the way,

Surprised, and brought us prisoners to the king,

Who, proud of this, and eager of revenge,

Commanded straight to cut off all our heads:

And surely we had died, but that the Duke,

More full of honor than his angry sire,

Procured our quick deliverance from thence;

But, ere we went, 'Salute your king', quoth he,

'Bid him provide a funeral for his son:

To day our sword shall cut his thread of life;

And, sooner than he thinks, we'll be with him,

To quittance those displeasures he hath done.'

This said, we past, not daring to reply;

Our hearts were dead, our looks diffused and wan.

Wandering, at last we climed unto a hill,

>From whence, although our grief were much before,

Yet now to see the occasion with our eyes

Did thrice so much increase our heaviness:

For there, my Lord, oh, there we did descry

Down in a valley how both armies lay.

The French had cast their trenches like a ring,

And every Barricado's open front

Was thick embossed with brazen ordinance;