Edward II Page 01
EDWARD II
or "The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer"
by Christopher Marlowe
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
King Edward II
Prince Edward, his son; Later King Edward III
Edmund Earl of Kent, the King's brother
Piers de Gaveston
The Earls of
Warwick
Lancaster
Pembroke
Arundel
Leicester
Berkeley
Mortimer the elder
Mortimer the younger, his nephew
Spencer the elder
Spencer the younger, his son
Baldock
The Bishops of
Coventry
Canterbury
Winchester
Beaumont
James, one of Pembroke's men
Levune
Sir John of Hainault
Rice ap Howell
Mayor of Bristol
Trussel
Gurney
Matrevis
Lightborn
Three Poor Men
Herald
Abbot
A Mower
Champion
Isabella, Queen to Edward II
Lady Margaret de Clare, betrothed to Gaveston
Lords, Ladies, Messengers, Soldiers, Attendants, Monks.
ACT ONE, SCENE ONE
Enter Gaveston, reading a letter from the King.
GAVESTON. 'My father is deceased. Come Gaveston,
And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend.'
Ah, words that make me surfeit with delight!
What greater bliss can hap to Gaveston
Than live and be the favourite of a King!
Sweet prince, I come! These, these thy amorous lines
Might have enforced me to have swum from France,
And, like Leander, gasped upon the sand,
So thou wouldst smile, and take me in thine arms.
The sight of London to my exiled eyes
Is as Elysium to a newcome soul:
Not that I love the city or the men,
But that it harbours him I hold so dear,
The King, upon whose bosom let me die,
And with the world be still at enmity.
What need the arctic people love starlight,
To whom the sun shines both by day and night?
Farewell base stooping to the lordly peers,
My knee shall bow to none but to the King.
As for the multitude, that are but sparks,
Raked up in embers of their poverty,
Tanti! I'll fawn first on the wind
That glanceth at my lips, and flieth away.
But how now, what are these?
Enter three poor men.
POOR MEN. Such as desire your worship's service.
GAVESTON. What canst thou do?
FIRST POOR MAN. I can ride.
GAVESTON. But I have no horses. What art thou?
SECOND POOR MAN. A traveller.
GAVESTON. Let me see; thou wouldst do well
To wait at my trencher, and tell me lies at dinner-
time; and, as I like your discoursing, I'll have you.
And what art thou?
THIRD POOR MAN. A soldier, that hath served against the Scot.
GAVESTON. Why, there are hospitals for such as you,
I have no war, and therefore, sir, be gone.
THIRD POOR MAN. Farewell, and perish by a soldier's hand,
That wouldst reward them with an hospital!
GAVESTON. Ay, ay, these words of his move me as much
As if a goose should play the porpentine
And dart her plumes, thinking to pierce my breast;
But yet it is no pain to speak men fair;
I'll flatter these, and make them live in hope.
You know that I came lately out of France,
And yet I have not viewed my lord the King.
If I speed well, I'll entertain you all.
POOR MEN. We thank your worship.
GAVESTON. I have some business, leave me to myself.
POOR MEN. We will wait here about the court.
Exeunt all except Gaveston.
GAVESTON. Do. These are not men for me,
I must have wanton poets, pleasant wits,
Musicians, that with touching of a string
May draw the pliant King which way I please.
Music and poetry is his delight;
Therefore I'll have Italian masks by night,
Sweet speeches, comedies, and pleasing shows;
And in the day, when he shall walk abroad,
Like sylvan nymphs my pages shall be clad;
My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat feet dance the antic hay.
Sometime a lovely boy in Dian's shape,
With hair that gilds the water as it glides,
Crownets of pearl about his naked arms,
And in his sportful hands an olive tree,
To hide those parts which men delight to see,
Shall bathe him in a spring; and there, hard by,
One like Actæon, peeping through the grove,
Shall by the angry goddess be transformed,
And running in the likeness of an hart,
By yelping hounds pulled down, shall seem to die:
Such things as these best please his majesty,
My lord! Here comes the King and the nobles
From the parliament.