If, dost thou say? Spencer, as true as death,
He is in England's ground; our port masters
Are not so careless of their king's command.
Enter a Post.
How now! What news with thee? From whence come these?
POST. Letters, my lord, and tidings forth of France;
To you, my lord of Gloucester, from Levune.
EDWARD. Read.
Spencer reads the letter.
SPENCER. "My duty to your honour premised, etc.
I have, according to instructions in that behalf,
dealt with the King of France his lords, and effected
that the Queen, all discontented and discomforted, is
gone; whither, if you ask, with Sir John of Hainault,
brother to the marquis, into Flanders. With them are
gone lord Edmund and the lord Mortimer, having in
their company divers of your nation, and others; and,
as constant report goeth, they intend to give King
Edward battle in England sooner than he can look for
them. This is all the news of import.
Your honour's in all service, Levune".
EDWARD. Ah, villains, hath that Mortimer escaped?
With him is Edmund gone associate?
And will Sir John of Hainault lead the round?
Welcome, a God's name, madam, and your son,
England shall welcome you and all your rout.
Gallop apace, bright Phoebus, through the sky,
And, dusky night, in rusty iron car,
Between you both shorten the time, I pray,
That I may see that most desired day
When we may meet these traitors in the field.
Ah, nothing grieves me but my little boy
Is thus misled to countenance their ills.
Come, friends, to Bristol, there to make us strong;
And, winds, as equal be to bring them in,
As you injurious were to bear them forth. .
Exeunt.
ACT FOUR, SCENE FOUR
Enter the Queen, Prince Edward, Kent, Mortimer, and Sir John.
ISABELLA. Now lords, our loving friends and countrymen,
Welcome to England all, with prosperous winds.
Our kindest friends in Belgia have we left,
To cope with friends at home; a heavy case
When force to force is knit, and sword and glaive
In civil broils make kin and countrymen
Slaughter themselves in others, and their sides
With their own weapons gored! But what's the help?
Misgoverned kings are cause of all this wrack;
And, Edward, thou art one among them all
Whose looseness hath betrayed thy land to spoil
And made the channels overflow with blood.
Of thine own people patron shouldst thou be,
But thou...
MORTIMER. Nay, madam, if you be a warrior,
You must not grow so passionate in speeches.
Lords, sith that we are, by sufferance of heaven,
Arrived and armed in this prince's right,
Here for our country's cause swear we to him
All homage, fealty, and forwardness;
And for the open wrongs and injuries
Edward hath done to us, his Queen, and land,
We come in arms to wreck it with the sword,
That England's Queen in peace may repossess
Her dignities and honours; and withal
We may remove these flatterers from the King
That havoc England's wealth and treasury.
SIR JOHN. Sound trumpets, my lord, and forward let us march.
Edward will think we come to flatter him.
KENT. I would he never had been flattered more. .
Exeunt.
ACT FOUR, SCENE FIVE
Enter the King, Baldock, and Spencer the son, flying about the stage.
SPENCER. Fly, fly, my lord, the Queen is overstrong;
Her friends do multiply, and yours do fail.
Shape we our course to Ireland, there to breathe.
EDWARD. What, was I born to fly and run away,
And leave the Mortimers conquerors behind?
Give me my horse, and let's r'enforce our troops,
And in this bed of honour die with fame.
BALDOCK. O no, my lord, this princely resolution
Fits not the time; away, we are pursued.