Come, Gaveston.
ISABELLA. Villain, 'tis thou that robb'st me of my lord.
GAVESTON. Madam, 'tis you that rob me of my lord.
EDWARD. Speak not unto her: let her droop and pine.
ISABELLA. Wherein, my lord, have I deserved these words?
Witness the tears that Isabella sheds,
Witness this heart, that, sighing for thee, breaks,
How dear my lord is to poor Isabel!
EDWARD. And witness heaven how dear thou art to me:
There weep; for, till my Gaveston be repealed,
Assure thyself thou com'st not in my sight.
Exeunt Edward and Gaveston.
ISABELLA. O miserable and distressed Queen!
Would, when I left sweet France, and was embarked,
That charming Circe, walking on the waves,
Had changed my shape, or at the marriage day
The cup of Hymen had been full of poison,
Or with those arms, that twined about my neck
I had been stifled, and not lived to see
The King my lord thus to abandon me!
Like frantic Juno will I fill the earth
With ghastly murmur of my sighs and cries;
For never doted Jove on Ganymede
So much as he on cursed Gaveston:
But that will more exasperate his wrath;
I must entreat him, I must speak him fair,
And be a means to call home Gaveston:
And yet he'll ever dote on Gaveston;
And so am I for ever miserable.
Enter the nobles to the Queen.
LANCASTER. Look where the sister of the King of France
Sits wringing of her hands and beats her breast!
WARWICK. The King I fear, hath ill entreated her.
PEMBROKE. Hard is the heart that injures such a saint.
MORTIMER. I know 'tis long of Gaveston she weeps.
MORTIMER SENIOR. Why? He is gone.
MORTIMER. Madam, how fares your grace?
ISABELLA. Ah, Mortimer, now breaks the King's hate forth,
And he confesseth that he loves me not!
MORTIMER. Cry quittance, madam, then, and love not him.
ISABELLA. No, rather will I die a thousand deaths,
And yet I love in vain; he'll ne'er love me.
LANCASTER. Fear ye not, madam; now his minion's gone,
His wanton humour will be quickly left.
ISABELLA. O, never, Lancaster! I am enjoined
To sue unto you all for his repeal:
This wills my lord, and this must I perform,
Or else be banished from his highness' presence.
LANCASTER. For his repeal? Madam! he comes not back,
Unless the sea cast up his shipwracked body.
WARWICK. And to behold so sweet a sight as that,
There's none here but would run his horse to death.
MORTIMER. But, madam, would you have us call him home?
ISABELLA. Ay, Mortimer, for, till he be restored,
The angry King hath banished me the court;
And, therefore, as thou lov'st and tender'st me,
Be thou my advocate unto these peers.
MORTIMER. What, would you have me plead for Gaveston?
MORTIMER SENIOR. Plead for him he that will, I am resolved.
LANCASTER. And so am I, my lord. Dissuade the Queen.
ISABELLA. O, Lancaster, let him dissuade the King,
For 'tis against my will he should return.
WARWICK. Then speak not for him; let the peasant go.
ISABELLA. 'Tis for myself I speak, and not for him.
PEMBROKE. No speaking will prevail; and therefore cease.
MORTIMER. Fair Queen, forbear to angle for the fish
Which, being caught, strikes him that takes it dead;
I mean that vile torpedo, Gaveston,
That now, I hope, floats on the Irish seas.
ISABELLA. Sweet Mortimer, sit down by me a while,
And I will tell thee reasons of such weight
As thou wilt soon subscribe to his repeal.
MORTIMER. It is impossible: but speak your mind.
ISABELLA. Then thus; but none shall hear it but ourselves.
LANCASTER. My lords, albeit the Queen win Mortimer,
Will you be resolute and hold with me?
MORTIMER SENIOR. Not I, against my nephew.
PEMBROKE. Fear not; the Queen's words cannot alter him.
WARWICK. No? Do but mark how earnestly she pleads!
LANCASTER.