MATREVIS. I fear me that this cry will raise the town,
And therefore let us take horse and away.
LIGHTBORN. Tell me, sirs, was it not bravely done?
GURNEY. Excellent well, take this for thy reward
Gurney stabs Lightborn.
Come, let us cast the body in the moat,
And bear the King's to Mortimer our lord.
Away!
Exeunt.
ACT FIVE, SCENE SIX
Enter Mortimer and Matrevis.
MORTIMER. Is't done, Matrevis, and the murderer dead?
MATREVIS. Ay, my good lord: I would it were undone!
MORTIMER. Matrevis, if thou now growest penitent
I'll be thy ghostly father; therefore choose,
Whether thou wilt be secret in this,
Or else die by the hand of Mortimer.
MATREVIS. Gurney, my lord, is fled, and will, I fear,
Betray us both; therefore let me fly.
MORTIMER. Fly to the savages!
MATREVIS. I humbly thank your honour. Exit
MORTIMER. As for myself, I stand as Jove's huge tree,
And others are but shrubs compared to me:
All tremble at my name, and I fear none;
Let's see who dare impeach me for his death!
Enter the Queen.
ISABELLA. Ah, Mortimer, the King my son hath news
His father's dead, and we have murdered him!
MORTIMER. What if we have? The King is yet a child.
ISABELLA. Ay, ay, but he tears his hair, and wrings his hands.
And vows to be revenged upon us both.
Into the council chamber he is gone,
To crave the aid and succour of his peers.
Ay me, see where he comes, and they with him.
Now, Mortimer, begins our tragedy.
Enter the King, with the lords.
1 LORD. Fear not, my lord; know that you are a King.
EDWARD III. Villain!
MORTIMER. How now my lord?
EDWARD III. Think not that I am frighted with thy words.
My father's murdered through thy treachery;
And thou shalt die, and on his mournful hearse
Thy hateful and accursed head shall lie
To witness to the world that by thy means
His kingly body was too soon interred.
ISABELLA. Weep not, sweet son.
EDWARD III. Forbid not me to weep; he was my father;
And had you loved him half so well as I,
You could not bear his death thus patiently.
But you, I fear, conspired with Mortimer.
1 LORD. Why speak you not unto my lord the King?
MORTIMER. Because I think scorn to be accused.
Who is the man dares say I murdered him?
EDWARD III. Traitor, in me my loving father speaks,
And plainly saith, 'twas thou that murdered'st him.
MORTIMER. But hath your grace no other proof than this?
EDWARD III. Yes, if this be the hand of Mortimer.
MORTIMER. False Gurney hath betrayed me and himself.
ISABELLA. I feared as much; murder cannot be hid.
MORTIMER. 'Tis my hand; what gather you by this?
EDWARD III. That thither thou didst send a murderer.
MORTIMER. What murderer? Bring forth the man I sent.
EDWARD III. Ah, Mortimer, thou knowest that he is slain;
And so shalt thou be too. Why stays he here?
Bring him unto a hurdle, drag him forth;
Hang him, I say, and set his quarters up,
And bring his head back presently to me.
ISABELLA. For my sake, sweet son, pity Mortimer!
MORTIMER. Madam, entreat not. I will rather die
Than sue for life unto a paltry boy.
EDWARD III. Hence with the traitor, with the murderer!
MORTIMER. Base Fortune, now I see, that in thy wheel
There is a point, to which when men aspire,
They tumble headlong down. That point I touched,
And, seeing there was no place to mount up higher,
Why should I grieve at my declining fall?
Farewell, fair Queen, weep not for Mortimer,
That scorns the world and, as a traveller,
Goes to discover countries yet unknown.
EDWARD III. What! Suffer you the traitor to delay?
Exit Mortimer, with First Lord.
ISABELLA. As thou received'st thy life from me,
Spill not the blood of gentle Mortimer.
EDWARD III.