Uncle, his wanton humour grieves not me;
But this I scorn, that one so basely born
Should by his sovereign's favour grow so pert,
And riot it with the treasure of the realm,
While soldiers mutiny for want of pay.
He wears a lord's revenue on his back,
And, Midas-like, he jets it in the court,
With base outlandish cullions at his heels,
Whose proud fantastic liveries make such show
As if that Proteus, god of shapes, appeared.
I have not seen a dapper jack so brisk.
He wears a short Italian hooded cloak,
Larded with pearl, and in his Tuscan cap
A jewel of more value than the crown.
While others walk below, the King and he,
From out a window, laugh at such as we,
And flout our train, and jest at our attire.
Uncle, 'tis this that makes me impatient.
MORTIMER SENIOR. But, nephew, now you see the King is changed.
MORTIMER. Then so am I, and live to do him service:
But, while I have a sword, a hand, a heart,
I will not yield to any such upstart.
You know my mind: come, uncle, let's away.
Exeunt.
ACT TWO, SCENE ONE
Enter Spencer and Baldock.
BALDOCK. Spencer,
Seeing that our lord th' Earl of Gloucester's dead,
Which of the nobles dost thou mean to serve?
SPENCER. Not Mortimer, nor any of his side,
Because the King and he are enemies.
Baldock, learn this of me: a factious lord
Shall hardly do himself good, much less us;
But he that hath the favour of a King
May with one word advance us while we live.
The liberal Earl of Cornwall is the man
On whose good fortune Spencer's hope depends.
BALDOCK. What, mean you, then, to be his follower?
SPENCER. No, his companion, for he loves me well.
And would have once preferred me to the King.
BALDOCK. But he is banished; there's small hope of him.
SPENCER. Ay, for a while; but, Baldock, mark the end.
A friend of mine told me in secrecy
That he's repealed and sent for back again;
And even now a post came from the court
With letters to our lady from the King;
And, as she read, she smiled; which makes me think
It is about her lover Gaveston.
BALDOCK. 'Tis like enough; for, since he was exiled,
She neither walks abroad nor comes in sight.
But I had thought the match had been broke off,
And that his banishment had changed her mind.
SPENCER. Our lady's first love is not wavering;
My life for thine, she will have Gaveston.
BALDOCK. Then hope I by her means to be preferred,
Having read unto her since she was a child.
SPENCER. Then, Baldock, you must cast the scholar off,
And learn to court it like a gentleman.
'Tis not a black coat and a little band,
A velvet caped cloak, faced before with serge,
And smelling to a nosegay all the day,
Or holding of a napkin in your hand,
Or saying a long grace at a table's end,
Or making low legs to a nobleman,
Or looking downward, with your eyelids close,
And saying, "truly, an't may please your honour,"
Can get you any favour with great men:
You must be proud, bold, pleasant, resolute,
And now and then stab, as occasion serves.
BALDOCK. Spencer, thou knowest I hate such formal toys,
And use them but of mere hypocrisy.
Mine old lord whiles he lived, was so precise,
That he would take exceptions at my buttons,
And being like pins' heads, blame me for the bigness,
Which made me curate-like in mine attire,
Though inwardly licentious enough,
And apt for any kind of villainy.
I am none of these common pedants I,
That cannot speak without propterea quod. (because)
SPENCER. But one of those that saith quandoquidem, (because)
And hath a special gift to form a verb.
BALDOCK. Leave off this jesting, here my lady comes.