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  • Title: Edward III (Modern)
  • Editors: Amy Lidster, Sonia Massai

    • Copyright Sonia Massai and Amy Lidster. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Editors: Amy Lidster, Sonia Massai
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Edward III (Modern)

    [Scene 5]
    1040Enter King John of France, his two sons, Charles [Duke] of Normandy and Philip, and the Duke of Lorraine.
    King John
    1045Here, till our navy of a thousand sail
    Have made a breakfast to our foe by sea,
    Let us encamp to wait their happy speed.
    Lorraine, what readiness is Edward in?
    How hast thou heard that he provided is
    1050Of martial furniture for this exploit?
    Lorraine
    To lay aside unnecessary soothing,
    And not to spend the time in circumstance,
    'Tis bruited for a certainty, my lord,
    That he's exceeding strongly fortified;
    1055His subjects flock as willingly to war
    As if unto a triumph they were led.
    Charles
    England was wont to harbor malcontents,
    Bloodthirsty and seditious Catilines,
    Spendthrifts, and such as gape for nothing else
    1060But changing and alteration of the state.
    And is it possible that they are now
    So loyal in themselves?
    Lorraine
    All but the Scot, who solemnly protests,
    As heretofore I have informed his grace,
    1065Never to sheathe his sword or take a truce.
    King John
    Ah, that's the anch'rage of some better hope.
    But, on the other side, to think what friends
    King Edward hath retained in Netherland
    Among those ever-bibbing epicures --
    1070Those frothy Dutchmen puffed with double beer,
    That drink and swill in every place they come --
    Doth not a little aggravate mine ire;
    Besides we hear the emperor conjoins
    And stalls him in his own authority.
    1075But all the mightier that their number is,
    The greater glory reaps the victory.
    Some friends have we beside domestic power:
    The stern Polonian, and the warlike Dane,
    The King of Bohemia, and of Sicily
    1080Are all become confederates with us,
    And, as I think, are marching hither apace.
    [Drums within.]
    But soft, I hear the music of their drums,
    By which I guess that their approach is near.
    Enter the King of Bohemia with1085 Danes, and a Polonian Captain with other soldiers another way.
    Bohemia
    King John of France, as league and neighborhood
    Requires when friends are any way distressed,
    1090I come to aid thee with my country's force.
    Polonian Captain
    And from great Moscow, fearful to the Turk,
    And lofty Poland, nurse of hardy men,
    I bring these servitors to fight for thee,
    Who willingly will venture in thy cause.
    1095King John
    Welcome Bohemian King, and welcome all.
    This your great kindness I will not forget;
    Besides your plentiful rewards in crowns
    That from our treasury ye shall receive,
    There comes a hare-brained nation decked in pride,
    1100The spoil of whom will be a treble gain.
    And now my hope is full, my joy complete.
    At sea we are as puissant as the force
    Of Agamemnon in the haven of Troy;
    By land, with Xerxes we compare of strength,
    1105Whose soldiers drank up rivers in their thirst.
    Then Bayard-like, blind, overweening Ned,
    To reach at our imperial diadem
    Is either to be swallowed of the waves
    Or hacked a-pieces when thou com'st ashore.
    1110Enter Mariner.
    Mariner
    Near to the coast I have descried, my lord,
    As I was busy in my watchful charge,
    The proud armada of King Edward's ships,
    Which, at the first far off when I did ken,
    1115Seemed as it were a grove of withered pines.
    But, drawing near, their glorious bright aspect,
    Their streaming ensigns wrought of colored silk,
    Like to a meadow full of sundry flowers
    Adorns the naked bosom of the earth;
    1120Majestical the order of their course,
    Figuring the hornèd circle of the moon;
    And on the top gallant of the admiral,
    And likewise all the handmaids of his train,
    The arms of England and of France unite
    1125Are quartered equally by herald's art.
    Thus titely carried with a merry gale,
    They plough the ocean hitherward amain.
    King John
    Dare he already crop the fleur-de-lis?
    I hope the honey being gathered thence,
    1130He with the spider afterward approached,
    Shall suck forth deadly venom from the leaves.
    But where's our navy? How are they prepared
    To wing themselves against this flight of ravens?
    Mariner
    They, having knowledge brought them by the scouts,
    1135Did break from anchor straight and, puffed with rage
    No otherwise than were their sails with wind,
    Made forth, as when the empty eagle flies
    To satisfy his hungry griping maw.
    King John
    There's for thy news, return unto thy bark;
    1140And if thou scape the bloody stroke of war
    And do survive the conflict, come again,
    And let us hear the manner of the fight.
    Exit Mariner.
    Mean space, my lords, 'tis best we be dispersed
    To several places lest they chance to land.
    1145First you, my lord, with your Bohemian troops
    Shall pitch your battles on the lower hand;
    My eldest son, the Duke of Normandy,
    Together with this aid of Muscovites,
    Shall climb the higher ground another way;
    1150Here in the middle coast betwixt you both,
    Philip, my youngest boy, and I will lodge.
    So, lords, begone, and look unto your charge;
    You stand for France, an empire fair and large.
    Exeunt [all except King John and Philip].
    Now tell me, Philip, what is thy conceit
    1155Touching the challenge that the English make?
    Philip
    I say, my lord, claim Edward what he can,
    And bring he ne'er so plain a pedigree,
    'Tis you are in possession of the crown,
    And that's the surest point of all the law.
    1160But were it not, yet ere he should prevail,
    I'll make a conduit of my dearest blood
    Or chase those straggling upstarts home again.
    King John
    Well said, young Philip. Call for bread and wine,
    That we may cheer our stomachs with repast
    1165To look our foes more sternly in the face.
    The battle heard afar off.
    Now is begun the heavy day at sea.
    Fight, Frenchmen, fight; be like the field of bears
    When they defend their younglings in their caves.
    Steer, angry Nemesis, the happy helm
    1170That with the sulphur battles of your rage
    The English fleet may be dispersed and sunk.
    Shot [heard.]
    Philip
    O father, how this echoing cannon shot,
    Like sweet harmony, digests my cates.
    King John
    Now, boy, thou hearst what thund'ring terror 'tis
    1175To buckle for a kingdom's sovereignty.
    The earth with giddy trembling when it shakes,
    Or when the exhalations of the air
    Breaks in extremity of lightning flash,
    Affrights not more than kings when they dispose
    1180To show the rancor of their high-swoll'n hearts.
    Retreat.
    Retreat is sounded; one side hath the worse.
    Oh, if it be the French, sweet Fortune turn,
    And in thy turning change the froward winds,
    That with advantage of a favoring sky
    1185Our men may vanquish and th'other fly.
    Enter Mariner.
    My heart misgives -- say, mirror of pale death,
    To whom belongs the honor of this day?
    Relate, I pray thee, if thy breath will serve,
    1190The sad discourse of this discomfiture.
    Mariner
    I will, my lord.
    My gracious sovereign, France hath ta'en the foil,
    And boasting Edward triumphs with success.
    These iron-hearted navies,
    1195When last I was reporter to your grace,
    Both full of angry spleen, of hope and fear,
    Hasting to meet each other in the face,
    At last conjoined, and by their admiral,
    Our admiral encountered many shot.
    1200By this, the other, that beheld these twain
    Give earnest penny of a further wrack,
    Like fiery dragons took their haughty flight,
    And, likewise meeting, from their smoky wombs
    Sent many grim ambassadors of death.
    1205Then 'gan the day to turn to gloomy night,
    And darkness did as well enclose the quick
    As those that were but newly reft of life.
    No leisure served for friends to bid farewell,
    And if it had, the hideous noise was such
    1210As each to other seemèd deaf and dumb;
    Purple the sea, whose channel filled as fast
    With streaming gore that from the maimèd fell,
    As did her gushing moisture break into
    The crannied cleftures of the through-shot planks.
    1215Here flew a head dissevered from the trunk,
    There mangled arms and legs were tossed aloft,
    As when a whirlwind takes the summer dust
    And scatters it in middle of the air.
    Then might ye see the reeling vessels split,
    1220And tottering sink into the ruthless flood
    Until their lofty tops were seen no more.
    All shifts were tried both for defence and hurt,
    And now the effect of valor and of force,
    Of resolution and of cowardice,
    1225Were lively pictured; how the one for fame,
    The other by compulsion laid about.
    Much did the Nompareille, that brave ship,
    So did the black snake of Boulogne, than which
    A bonnier vessel never yet spread sail.
    1230But all in vain: both sun, the wind and tide
    Revolted all unto our foemen's side,
    That we perforce were fain to give them way,
    And they are landed. Thus my tale is done:
    We have untimely lost, and they have won.
    1235King John
    Then rests there nothing but with present speed
    To join our several forces all in one
    And bid them battle ere they range too far.
    Come, gentle Philip, let us hence depart,
    This soldier's words have pierced thy father's heart.
    Exeunt.
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