Rejected from the ranks of war,
Had not unmoved beheld the fight,

When strove the Bruce for Scotland's right;
Each heart had caught the patriot spark,
Old man and stripling, priest and clerk,
Bondsman and serf; even female hand
Stretched to the hatchet or the brand.

"To us, as to our lords, are given
A native earth, a promised heaven;
To us, as to our lords, belongs

The vengeance for our nation's wrongs;
The choice, 'twixt death or freedom, warms
Our breasts as theirs - To arms, to arms!"
To arms they flew, - axe, club, or spear,
And mimic ensigns high they rear,
And, like a bannered host afar,
Bear down on England's wearied war.

Already scattered o'er the plain,
Reproof, command, and counsel vain,
The rearward squadrons fled amain,

Or made but doubtful stay :

But when they marked the seeming show
Of fresh and fierce and marshalled foe,
The boldest broke array.

O give their hapless prince his due!
In vain the royal Edward threw

His person 'mid the spears,

Cried "Fight!" to terror and despair,

Menaced, and wept, and tore his hair,
And cursed their caitiff fears;
Till Pembroke turned his bridle rein,
And forced him from the fatal plain.
With them rode Argentine, until
They gained the summit of the hill,

But quitted there the train:

'Speed hence, my Liege, for on your trace
The fiery Douglas takes the chase,

I know his banner well.

God send my Sovereign joy and bliss,
And many a happier field than this! -
Once more, my Liege, farewell."

KING EDWARD THE SECOND

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

THE deposition of the second Edward was due to his foolish fondness for favorites. The first of these, Piers Gaveston, a French adventurer, had been banished by Edward I.

Immediately on his

accession to the throne, Edward II. recalled his "Brother Peter" and

lavished estates and great offices upon him. The haughty and insolent ways of Gaveston rendered him hateful to the English lords, and they sought to drive him from the kingdom. Failing in this, they put him to death. The king consoled himself with a new favorite, Hugh Despenser, English born, but quite as unpopular as the Frenchman. The exasperated barons rose in revolt against their unworthy sovereign. They found an ally in Queen Isabel who, neglected by her husband, schemed to place her son upon the throne. Edward and Despenser were taken prisoners, the favorite was put to death, the king deposed (1327), and the young prince proclaimed as

Edward III. The fate of Edward II. is uncertain, but it seems most probable that he was secretly and brutally murdered by order of Mortimer.

ACT I

SCENE I. A Street in London.

reading a letter.

Enter Gaveston,

Gav. "My father is deceas'd! Come, Gaveston, And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend." Ah! words that make me surfeit with delight! What greater bliss can hap to Gaveston

Than live and be the favourite of a king!

Sweet prince, I come! these, these thy amorous lines
Might have enforc'd me to have swum from France,
And, like Leander, gasp'd upon the sand,

So thou wouldst smile, and take me in thine arms.
The sight of London to my exil'd eyes
Is as Elysium to a new-come soul;
Not that I love the city, or the men,
But that it harbours him I hold so dear,
The king, upon whose bosom let me lie,
And with the world be still at enmity.
What need the Arctic people love starlight,
To whom the sun shines both by day and night?
Farewell base stooping to the lordly peers!
My knee shall bow to none but to the king.
As for the multitude, that are but sparks,
Raked up in embers of their poverty,
Tanti; I'll fawn first on the wind

That glanceth at my lips, and flieth away.

*

(Enter King Edward, Lancaster, the Elder Mortimer, Young Mortimer, Kent, Warwick, and Attendants.) K. Edw. Lancaster!

Lan. My Lord.

Gav. That Earl of Lancaster do I abhor. (Aside.) K. Edw. Will you not grant me this? In spite of them

I'll have my will; and these two Mortimers,
That cross me thus, shall know I am displeased.

(Aside.)

E. Mor. If you love us, my lord, hate Gaveston. Gav. That villain Mortimer! I'll be his death. (Aside.) Y. Mor. Mine uncle here, this earl, and I myself, Were sworn to your father at his death, That he should ne'er return into the realm:

And know, my lord, ere I will break my oath,

This sword of mine, that should offend your foes,
Shall sleep within the scabbard at thy need,
And underneath thy banners march who will,
For Mortimer will hang his armour up.

Gav. Mort Dieu!

(Aside.)

K. Edw. Well, Mortimer, I'll make thee rue these words.

Beseems it thee to contradict thy king?

Frown'st thou thereat, aspiring Lancaster?

The sword shall plane the furrows of thy brows,
And hew these knees that now are grown so, stiff.
I will have Gaveston; and you shall know
What danger 'tis to stand against your king.

Gav. Well done, Ned!

(Aside.)

Lan. My lord, why do you thus incense your

peers,

That naturally would love and honour you
But for that base and obscure Gaveston ?
Four earldoms have I, besides Lancaster
Derby, Salisbury, Lincoln, Leicester;
These will I sell, to give my soldiers pay,
Ere Gaveston shall stay within the realm;
Therefore, if he be come, expel him straight.

Kent. Barons and earls, your pride hath made me mute;

But now I'll speak, and to the proof, I hope.

I do remember, in my father's days,

Lord Percy of the north, being highly moved,
Braved Moubery in presence of the king;
For which, had not his highness lov'd him well,
He should have lost his head; but with his look
The undaunted spirit of Percy was appeas'd,
And Moubery and he were reconcil'd:

Yet dare you brave the king unto his face.
Brother, revenge it, and let these their heads
Preach upon poles, for trespass of their tongues.
War. O, our heads!

K. Edw. Ay, yours; and therefore I would wish you grant

War. Bridle thy anger, gentle Mortimer.

Y. Mor. I cannot, nor I will not; I must speak. Cousin, our hands I hope shall fence our heads, And strike off his that makes you threaten us.