Internet Shakespeare Editions

Toolbox




Jump to line
Through Line Number
Help on texts
About this text
Print this page

About this text

  • 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    Not Peer Reviewed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 7]
    Enter King Edward and the Earl of Derby, 1320with soldiers and Gobin de Grace.
    King Edward
    Where's the Frenchman by whose cunning guide
    We found the shallow of this River Somme,
    And had direction how to pass the sea?
    Gobin
    Here, my good lord.
    1325King Edward
    How art thou called? Tell me thy name.
    Gobin
    Gobin de Grace, if please your excellence.
    King Edward
    Then, Gobin, for the service thou hast done,
    We here enlarge and give thee liberty;
    And, for recompense beside this good,
    1330Thou shalt receive five hundred marks in gold. --
    I know not how we should have met our son,
    Whom now in heart I wish I might behold.
    Enter Artois.
    Artois
    Good news, my lord: the prince is hard at hand,
    1335And with him comes Lord Audley and the rest,
    Whom since our landing we could never meet.
    Enter Prince Edward, Lord Audley and soldiers.
    King Edward
    Welcome, fair prince; how hast thou sped, my son,
    Since thy arrival on the coast of France?
    1340Prince
    Successfully, I thank the gracious heavens.
    Some of their strongest cities we have won,
    As Barfleur, Lô, Crotoy and Carentan,
    And others wasted, leaving at our heels
    A wide apparent field and beaten path
    1345For solitariness to progress in.
    Yet those that would submit we kindly pardoned,
    For who in scorn refused our proffered peace
    Endured the penalty of sharp revenge.
    King Edward
    Ah France, why shouldst thou be this obstinate
    1350Against the kind embracement of thy friends?
    How gently had we thought to touch thy breast
    And set our foot upon thy tender mould,
    But that in froward and disdainful pride
    Thou, like a skittish and untamèd colt,
    1355Dost start aside and strike us with thy heels.
    But tell me Ned, in all thy warlike course,
    Hast thou not seen the usurping King of France?
    Prince
    Yes, my good lord, and not two hours ago,
    With full a hundred thousand fighting men
    1360Upon the one side of the river's bank,
    And on the other, both his multitudes.
    I feared he would have cropped our smaller power,
    But happily, perceiving your approach,
    He hath withdrawn himself to Crécy plains,
    1365Where, as it seemeth by his good array,
    He means to bid us battle presently.
    King Edward
    He shall be welcome -- that's the thing we crave.
    Enter King John, [Prince Charles] Duke of Normandy, Lorraine, King of Bohemia, young [Prince] Philip, and soldiers.
    1370King John
    Edward, know that John, the true King of France,
    Musing thou shouldst encroach upon his land
    And in thy tyrannous proceeding slay
    His faithful subjects and subvert his towns,
    Spits in thy face, and in this manner following
    1375Upbraids thee with thine arrogant intrusion.
    First, I condemn thee for a fugitive,
    A thievish pirate, and a needy mate --
    One that hath either no abiding place,
    Or else, inhabiting some barren soil
    1380Where neither herb or fruitful grain is had,
    Dost altogether live by pilfering.
    Next, insomuch thou hast infringed thy faith,
    Broke league and solemn covenant made with me,
    I hold thee for a false pernicious wretch.
    1385And last of all, although I scorn to cope
    With one so much inferior to myself,
    Yet in respect thy thirst is all for gold,
    Thy labor rather to be feared than loved,
    To satisfy thy lust in either part
    1390Here am I come, and with me have I brought
    Exceeding store of treasure, pearl and coin.
    Leave therefore now to persecute the weak,
    And armèd ent'ring conflict with the armed,
    Let it be seen 'mongst other petty thefts
    1395How thou canst win this pillage manfully.
    King Edward
    If gall or wormwood have a pleasant taste,
    Then is thy salutation honey-sweet;
    But as the one hath no such property,
    So is the other most satirical.
    1400Yet wot how I regard thy worthless taunts:
    If thou have uttered them to foil my fame
    Or dim the reputation of my birth,
    Know that thy wolvish barking cannot hurt;
    If slyly to insinuate with the world,
    1405And with a strumpet's artificial line
    To paint thy vicious and deformèd cause,
    Be well assured the counterfeit will fade,
    And in the end thy foul defects be seen.
    But if thou didst it to provoke me on,
    1410As who should say I were but timorous
    Or, coldly negligent, did need a spur,
    Bethink thyself how slack I was at sea.
    Now since my landing I have won no towns,
    Entered no further but upon the coast,
    1415And there have ever since securely slept;
    But if I have been otherwise employed,
    Imagine, Valois, whether I intend
    To skirmish not for pillage, but for the crown
    Which thou dost wear, and that I vow to have,
    1420Or one of us shall fall into his grave.
    Prince
    Look not for cross invectives at our hands
    Or railing execrations of despite.
    Let creeping serpents hid in hollow banks
    Sting with their tongues; we have remorseless swords,
    1425And they shall plead for us and our affairs.
    Yet, thus much briefly, by my father's leave:
    As all the immodest poison of thy throat
    Is scandalous and most notorious lies,
    And our pretended quarrel is truly just,
    1430So end the battle when we meet today --
    May either of us prosper and prevail,
    Or luckless cursed, receive eternal shame.
    King Edward
    That needs no further question, and I know
    His conscience witnesseth it is my right.
    1435Therefore Valois, say, wilt thou yet resign
    Before the sickle's thrust into the corn,
    Or that enkindled fury turn to flame?
    King John
    Edward, I know what right thou hast in France,
    And, ere I basely will resign my crown,
    1440This champion field shall be a pool of blood
    And all our prospect as a slaughterhouse.
    Prince
    Ay, that approves thee, tyrant, what thou art:
    No father, king, or shepherd of thy realm,
    But one that tears her entrails with thy hands,
    1445And like a thirsty tiger suckst her blood.
    Audley
    You peers of France, why do you follow him
    That is so prodigal to spend your lives?
    Charles
    Whom should they follow, agèd impotent,
    But he that is their true-born sovereign?
    1450King Edward
    Upbraidst thou him, because within his face
    Time hath engraved deep characters of age?
    Know that these grave scholars of experience,
    Like stiff-grown oaks, will stand immovable
    When whirlwind quickly turns up younger trees.
    1455Derby
    Was ever any of thy father's house
    King, but thyself, before this present time?
    Edward's great lineage, by the mother's side,
    Five hundred years hath held the sceptre up;
    Judge then, conspirators, by this descent
    1460Which is the true-born sovereign, this or that.
    Philip
    Father, range your battles, prate no more;
    These English fain would spend the time in words
    That, night approaching, they might escape unfought.
    King John
    Lords and my loving subjects, now's the time
    1465That your intended force must bide the touch.
    Therefore, my friends, consider this in brief:
    He that you fight for is your natural king,
    He against whom you fight a foreigner;
    He that you fight for rules in clemency
    1470And reins you with a mild and gentle bit,
    He against whom you fight, if he prevail
    Will straight enthrone himself in tyranny,
    Make slaves of you, and with a heavy hand
    Curtail and curb your sweetest liberty.
    1475Then to protect your country and your king,
    Let but the haughty courage of your hearts
    Answer the number of your able hands,
    And we shall quickly chase these fugitives.
    For what's this Edward but a belly-god,
    1480A tender and lascivious wantonness,
    That th'other day was almost dead for love?
    And what, I pray you, is his goodly guard?
    Such as, but scant them of their chines of beef
    And take away their downy featherbeds,
    1485And presently they are as resty-stiff
    As 'twere a many overridden jades.
    Then, Frenchmen, scorn that such should be your lords,
    And rather bind ye them in captive bands.
    All French
    Vive le roi! God save King John of France!
    1490King John
    Now on this plain of Crécy spread yourselves,
    And, Edward, when thou dar'st, begin the fight.
    [Exeunt King John, King of Bohemia and all the French.]
    King Edward
    We presently will meet thee, John of France.
    And, English lords, let us resolve the day,
    Either to clear us of that scandalous crime,
    1495Or be entombèd in our innocence.
    And, Ned, because this battle is the first
    That ever yet thou fought'st in pitchèd field,
    As ancient custom is of martialists
    To dub thee with the type of chivalry,
    1500In solemn manner we will give thee arms.
    Come therefore, heralds: orderly bring forth
    A strong attirement for the Prince, my son.
    Enter four heralds bringing in a coat [of] armor, a helmet, a lance, and a shield.
    1505Edward Plantagenet, in the name of God,
    As with this armor I impall thy breast,
    So be thy noble unrelenting heart
    Walled in with flint of matchless fortitude,
    That never base affections enter there.
    1510Fight and be valiant, conquer where thou com'st.
    Now follow, lords, and do him honor too.
    Derby
    Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales,
    As I do set this helmet on thy head,
    Wherewith the chamber of this brain is fenced,
    1515So may thy temples with Bellona's hand
    Be still adorned with laurel victory.
    Fight and be valiant, conquer where thou com'st.
    Audley
    Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales,
    Receive this lance into thy manly hand,
    1520Use it in fashion of a brazen pen
    To draw forth bloody stratagems in France
    And print thy valiant deeds in honor's book.
    Fight and be valiant, conquer where thou com'st.
    Artois
    Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales,
    1525Hold, take this target, wear it on thy arm
    And may the view thereof, like Perseus' shield,
    Astonish and transform thy gazing foes
    To senseless images of meager death.
    Fight and be valiant, conquer where thou com'st.
    1530King Edward
    Now wants there naught but knighthood, which deferred
    We leave till thou hast won it in the field.
    Prince
    My gracious father and ye forward peers,
    This honor you have done me animates
    And cheers my green, yet scarce appearing, strength
    1535With comfortable good-presaging signs,
    No otherwise than did old Jacob's words,
    Whenas he breathed his blessings on his sons.
    These hallowed gifts of yours when I prophane,
    Or use them not to glory of my God,
    1540To patronage the fatherless and poor,
    Or for the benefit of England's peace,
    Be numb my joints, wax feeble both mine arms,
    Wither my heart that, like a sapless tree,
    I may remain the map of infamy.
    1545King Edward
    Then thus our steelèd battles shall be ranged:
    The leading of the vaward, Ned, is thine,
    To dignify whose lusty spirit the more
    We temper it with Audley's gravity,
    That, courage and experience joined in one,
    1550Your manage may be second unto none.
    For the main battles, I will guide myself,
    And Derby in the rearward march behind.
    That orderly disposed and set in 'ray,
    Let us to horse and God grant us the day.
    Exeunt
    About
    Contact us
    Content quality
    Site guide
    © Internet Shakespeare Editions
    Copyright details
    Privacy policy
    This site is supported by:
    University of Victoria
    Friends of the ISE
    SSHRC