SCENE I.Picardy.The English Camp before Calais.
[Enter King Edward,Queen Phillip,Derby,soldiers.]
KING EDWARD.
No more,Queen Phillip,pacify your self;
Copland,except he can excuse his fault,Shall find displeasure written in our looks.
And now unto this proud resisting town!
Soldiers,assault:I will no longer stay,To be deluded by their false delays;Put all to sword,and make the spoil your own.
[Enter six Citizens in their Shirts,bare foot,with halters about their necks.]
ALL.
Mercy,king Edward,mercy,gracious Lord!
KING EDWARD.
Contemptuous villains,call ye now for truce?
Mine ears are stopped against your bootless cries:--Sound,drums alarum;draw threatening swords!
FIRST CITIZEN.
Ah,noble Prince,take pity on this town,And hear us,mighty king:
We claim the promise that your highness made;The two days'respite is not yet expired,And we are come with willingness to bear What torturing death or punishment you please,So that the trembling multitude be saved.
KING EDWARD.
My promise?Well,I do confess as much:
But I do require the chiefest Citizens And men of most account that should submit;You,peradventure,are but servile grooms,Or some felonious robbers on the Sea,Whom,apprehended,law would execute,Albeit severity lay dead in us:
No,no,ye cannot overreach us thus.
SECOND CITIZEN.
The Sun,dread Lord,that in the western fall Beholds us now low brought through misery,Did in the Orient purple of the morn Salute our coming forth,when we were known;Or may our portion be with damned fiends.
KING EDWARD.
If it be so,then let our covenant stand:
We take possession of the town in peace,But,for your selves,look you for no remorse;But,as imperial justice hath decreed,Your bodies shall be dragged about these walls,And after feel the stroke of quartering steel:
This is your doom;--go,soldiers,see it done.
QUEEN PHILLIP.
Ah,be more mild unto these yielding men!
It is a glorious thing to stablish peace,And kings approach the nearest unto God By giving life and safety unto men:
As thou intendest to be king of France,So let her people live to call thee king;For what the sword cuts down or fire hath spoiled,Is held in reputation none of ours.
KING EDWARD.
Although experience teach us this is true,That peaceful quietness brings most delight,When most of all abuses are controlled;Yet,insomuch it shall be known that we As well can master our affections As conquer other by the dint of sword,Phillip,prevail;we yield to thy request:
These men shall live to boast of clemency,And,tyranny,strike terror to thy self.
SECOND CITIZEN.
Long live your highness!happy be your reign!
KING EDWARD.
Go,get you hence,return unto the town,And if this kindness hath deserved your love,Learn then to reverence Edward as your king.--[Exeunt Citizens.]
Now,might we hear of our affairs abroad,We would,till gloomy Winter were o'er spent,Dispose our men in garrison a while.
But who comes here?
[Enter Copland and King David.]
DERBY.
Copland,my Lord,and David,King of Scots.
KING EDWARD.
Is this the proud presumptuous Esquire of the North,That would not yield his prisoner to my Queen?
COPLAND.
I am,my liege,a Northern Esquire indeed,But neither proud nor insolent,I trust.
KING EDWARD.
What moved thee,then,to be so obstinate To contradict our royal Queen's desire?
COPLAND.
No wilful disobedience,mighty Lord,But my desert and public law at arms:
I took the king my self in single fight,And,like a soldiers,would be loath to lose The least pre-eminence that I had won.
And Copland straight upon your highness'charge Is come to France,and with a lowly mind Doth vale the bonnet of his victory:
Receive,dread Lord,the custom of my fraught,The wealthy tribute of my laboring hands,Which should long since have been surrendered up,Had but your gracious self been there in place.
QUEEN PHILLIP.
But,Copland,thou didst scorn the king's command,Neglecting our commission in his name.
COPLAND.
His name I reverence,but his person more;
His name shall keep me in allegiance still,But to his person I will bend my knee.
KING EDWARD.
I pray thee,Phillip,let displeasure pass;
This man doth please me,and I like his words:
For what is he that will attempt great deeds,And lose the glory that ensues the same?
All rivers have recourse unto the Sea,And Copland's faith relation to his king.
Kneel,therefore,down:now rise,king Edward's knight;And,to maintain thy state,I freely give Five hundred marks a year to thee and thine.
[Enter Salisbury.]
Welcome,Lord Salisbury:what news from Brittain?
SALISBURY.
This,mighty king:the Country we have won,And John de Mountford,regent of that place,Presents your highness with this Coronet,Protesting true allegiance to your Grace.
KING EDWARD.
We thank thee for thy service,valiant Earl;
Challenge our favour,for we owe it thee.
SALISBURY.
But now,my Lord,as this is joyful news,So must my voice be tragical again,And I must sing of doleful accidents.
KING EDWARD.
What,have our men the overthrow at Poitiers?
Or is our son beset with too much odds?
SALISBURY.
He was,my Lord:and as my worthless self With forty other serviceable knights,Under safe conduct of the Dauphin's seal,Did travail that way,finding him distressed,A troop of Lances met us on the way,Surprised,and brought us prisoners to the king,Who,proud of this,and eager of revenge,Commanded straight to cut off all our heads.