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  • Title: Edward III (Quarto 1, 1596)
  • Editor: Sonia Massai

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    Not Peer Reviewed

    Edward III (Quarto 1, 1596)

    The Raigne of King
    2565Tell me what ransome thou requirest to haue?
    Kin: Thy ransome Iohn, hereafter shall be known
    But first to England thou must crosse the seas,
    To see what intertainment it affords,
    How ere it fals, it cannot be so bad,
    2570as ours hath bin since we ariude in France.
    Ioh: Accursed man, of this I was fortolde,
    But did misconster what the prophet told.
    Pri: Now father this petition Edward makes,
    To thee whose grace hath bin his strongest shield
    2575That as thy pleasure chose me for the man,
    To be the instrument to shew thy power,
    So thou wilt grant that many princes more,
    Bred and brought vp within that little Isle,
    May still be famous for lyke victories:
    2580and for my part, the bloudie scars I beare,
    The wearie nights that I haue watcht in field,
    The dangerous conflicts I haue often had,
    The fearefull menaces were proffered me,
    The heate and cold, and what else might displease
    2585I wish were now redoubled twentie fold,
    So that hereafter ages when they reade
    The painfull traffike of my tender youth
    Might thereby be inflamd with such resolue,
    as not the territories of France alone,
    2590But likewise Spain, Turkie, and what countries els
    That iustly would prouoke faire Englands ire,
    Might at their presence tremble and retire.
    Kin: Here English Lordes we do proclaime a rest
    an intercession of our painfull armes,
    2595Sheath vp your swords, refresh your weary lims,
    Peruse your spoiles, and after we haue breathd
    a daie or two within this hauen towne,
    God willing then for England wele be shipt,
    Where in a happie houre I trust we shall
    2600Ariue three kings, two princes, and a queene.

    FINIS.
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