ACT III., SCENE I.
Enter QUEEN, BRUCE'S LADY, HUBERT, SALISBURY.
QUEEN. Be comforted, good madam, do not fear,
But give your son as pledge unto the king:
Yourself at court may keep him company.
LADY B. I am betray'd! alas, I am betray'd!
And little thought your highness had been bent
So much against me for my many loves,
As to prepare an entrance for my foe.
QUEEN. As I shall live in heaven, I did not know
Of Hubert's coming. But lament not this:
Your son, you say, is gone; what fear you then?
LADY B. O madam, murder, mischief, wrongs of men
I fear, I fear—what is't I do not fear,
Sith hope is so far off, despair so near?
SAL. Answer me, good Hubert, I pray thee, Hubert, do:
What think you of this matter? may I on your word
Persuade the woman that all things are well?
HUB. You may persuade her if you can, my lord;
For I protest I know no other thing,
But that the king would have him for a pledge
Of the Lord Bruce's faith.
SAL. And reason, too.
Now, by my honour, Hubert, I protest
It is good reason: Bruce, I tell you plain,
Is no sound cloak to keep John from the rain.[322]
I will go to her.
HUB. Do, good simple earl.
If not by threats nor my entreats she yield,
Thy brain is barren of invention,
Dried up with care; and never will she yield
Her son to thee, that having power want'st wit.
LADY B. I overhear thee, Hubert.
SAL. So do I, Dame Bruce;
But stir no coals: the man is well belov'd,
And merits more than so.
LADY B. But I will answer.
Hubert, thou fatal keeper of poor babes,
That are appointed hostages for John,[323]
Had I a son here, as I have not one,
(For yesterday I sent him into Wales),
Think'st thou I would be so degenerate,
So far from kind, to give him unto thee?
I would not, I protest: thou know'st my mind.
SAL. Lady, you fear more than you need to do;
Indeed you do—in very deed you do.
Hubert is wrong'd about the thing you mean—
About young Arthur: O, I thought 'twas so:
Indeed the honest, good, kind gentleman
Did all he might for safeguard of the child.
QUEEN. Believe me, Madam Bruce, the man is wrong'd.
LADY B. But he wrongs me to keep my castle thus,
Disarming my true servants, arming his.
Now more of outrage comes! what shall I do?
Enter the KING, MOWBRAY, WINCHESTER, CHESTER.
KING. O, this is well! Hubert, where's Bruce's son?
LADY B. Where thou shalt never see him, John.
KING. Lady, we will have talk with you anon.
Where is he, Hubert?
HUB. Hid or fled, my lord:
We can by no means get her to confess.
SAL. Welcome to Guildford, Salisbury's liefest lord.[324]
KING. You scarce give welcome, ere I bid you go;
For you, my lord, the queen and Winchester
Shall march to Hertford. Sweet Isabel,
And if thou love me, play the amazon.
Matilda, that hath long bewitch'd mine eye,
Is, as I hear by spials, now in Hertford Castle:
Besiege her there; for now her haughty father
Ruffians it up and down, and all the brood
Of viperous traitors whet their poison'd teeth,
That they may feed on us that foster them.
Go forward, and go with you victory!
Which to assure my powers shall follow you.
SAL. Did I not tell you this? then trust me next.
Nay, he is chang'd, and cares no more for her
Than I do, madam.
KING. Begone, I say, begone!
Your speed rich victory attendeth on:
But your delay
May give your foes the happy glorious day.
QUEEN. One boon, my liege, and part.
KING. Be brief.
QUEEN. Show that poor lady pity, I beseech.
[Exeunt.
KING. I will indeed. Come, lady, let us in.
You have a son; go in and bring him me,
And for the queen's sake I will favour ye.
LADY B. I have no son. Come, come; come in and search, And if you find him, wretched may I be. [Exit.
KING. Chester and Hubert, see you keep good watch.
Not far off do I hear a warlike sound:
Bruce, on my life! look to't, while I go in
To seek this boy, for needs we must have him.
Come with us, Mowbray.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.
Enter BRUCE, RICHMOND, Soldiers.
RICH. The castle-gates are shut. What ho! what ho!
You that are servants to the Lady Bruce,
Arise, make entrance for your lord and friends.
Enter, or above, HUBERT, CHESTER.[325]
HUB. We will make issue, ere ye enter here.
Who have we there? Richmond and Bruce, is't you?
What, up so soon? are ye so early here?
In you, i' faith, the proverb's verified,
Y'are early up, and yet are ne'er the near.
RICH. The worse, our fortune. Bruce, let us go hence;
We have no power to fight, nor make defence.
CHES. What, Richmond, will you prove a runaway?
RICH. From thee, good Chester I now the Lord defend!
Bruce, we will stay and fight.
BRUCE. 'Tis to no end:
We have but twenty men, and they be tired.
But ere we do retire, tell me, Lord Hubert,
Where are my wife and son?
HUB. Your wife is here; your son we cannot find.
BRUCE. Let son and wife, high heavens, your comfort find!
[Exeunt.
SCENE III.[326]
Enter KING, MOWBRAY, LADY BRUCE.
CHES. Bruce hath been here, my lord.
KING. Ay, let him go.
We have good pledges: though we see but one,
The other we are sure will come anon.
MOW. I do advise you, for your own discharge,
Deliver up your son unto the king.
KING. Nay, let her choose. Come hither, Mowbray.
[The KING and MOWBRAY whisper.
HUB. The king is angry: Lady Bruce, advise you.
LADY B. What! be advis'd by thee
To have my loving, kind, and pretty boy
Given to an unkind killer of sweet boys?
CHES. Madam, go to; take counsel of your friends.
I warrant you the king will use him well.
LADY B. Ay, as he us'd his nephew Arthur, Chester.
God bless my child from being used so!
MOW. Sir Hubert, what, are all the people voided,
The horses and the cattle turned forth?
HUB. Mowbray, they be.
MOW. Then will I do the king's commandment.
LADY B. What will he do? good Lord! what will he do?
Mowbray, I pray you, what is't you will do?
MOW. Why, fire the castle.
LADY B. The castle, Mowbray? tarry, tarry, man!
Hold me not, Chester! gentle Mowbray, stay!
Good Hubert, let me go!
MOW. You must not go:
The king is mov'd, and will not hear you speak.
LADY B. But he shall hear me! pity me, King John!
Call Mowbray back: hear me, for pity's sake!
Regard the Lady Bruce's woful cry!
KING. What dost thou ask?
LADY B. First call back Mowbray.
KING. Stay, Mowbray. Now, be brief.
LADY B. I have some linen garments, jewels, 'tires,
Pack'd in a hamper here within the lodge:
O, let me save it from consuming fire!
KING. And is this all?
LADY B. It's all the little all I here have left.
KING. Away! set fire! linen and trash!
LADY B. Once more hear me! there's a precious gem,
You have not any richer in all the realm:
If fire do blemish it, art never more
To his true colour can the same restore.
KING. Fetch it.
Two of ye help her with her hamper hither.
LADY B. Nay, nay, one will suffice: the jewel if I save, Is all I ask. [Exit with CHESTER.
KING. We shall her jewel have.
HUB. She is very fearful I should keep her son.
LADY B. [Within.] Ye do, ye do!
KING. Alas! good Lady, hark: Chester and she are chiding.
Enter CHESTER and she, leading the boy.
LADY B. Let go his hand! Is this a paw, think you,
To hold a tender hand in? fie, for shame!
A nobleman so churlish! Look, I pray,
His arms are gristless.[327]
KING. How now, Lady Bruce!
Doth Chester hurt the jewel of your joy?
Now, by my troth, it is a pretty boy!
LADY B. Ay, knew your majesty as much as I,
You would say more.
KING. Well, he and you of us no wrong shall have,
But stay in Windsor Castle with Sir Walter Blunt,
And honourably be us'd; provided still
Your husband and your son obey our will.
LADY B. For this great mercy, if they disobey,
Myself will chide them. Fortune follow John,
And on his foes fall swift destruction!
KING. Come! let us now after the queen and Salisbury.
[Exeunt omnes.
SCENE IV.
Enter the QUEEN, SALISBURY, Soldiers.
QUEEN. Now are ye, worthy and resolved men,
Come to the cage where the unclean birds bide,
That tire[328] on all the fair flight in the realm.
Summon this castle, or (to keep my words)
This cage of night-hid owls, light-flying birds.
[Offer to summon.
Enter YOUNG BRUCE, MATILDA, Soldiers.
SAL. Stay, drum! thou need'st not summon willing men,
Or rather wilful, for such methinks they be.
QUEEN. See ye yon baggage, muffled in black weeds:
Those clouds fold in the comet that portends
Sad desolation to this royal realm.
For ever seek to mask her light, good friends:
Let us disrobe her of each little beam,
And then your Phoebus will one Phoebe have,
That while they live shall lend your land true light,
Give joy unto your day, rest to your night.
Assail them, stay not.
SAL. Stay, and assay them first!
I say to you, fair queen, this fact is foul.
Let not provoking words whet dull-edg'd swords,
But try if we can blunt sharp blades with words.
Fitzwater's nephew, Bruce, I see thee there,
And tell thee it is shame for such a boy
To lead a many able men to fight.
And, modest-looking maid, I see you too:
An unfit sight to view virginity
Guarded with other soldiers than good prayers.
But you will say the king occasions it:
Say what you will, no king but would take cause
Of just offence.
Yield you, young Bruce, your mother is in hold.
Yield you, young maid, your father is in hold.
MAT. Will the queen keep me from the lustful king,
Then will I yield.
QUEEN. A plague upon this counterfeiting quean.
MAT. God's blessed mercy! will you still be mad,
And wrong a noble virgin with vile speech?
SAL. Let me alone. Matilda, maiden fair,
Thou virgin spouse, true Huntington's just heir,
Wilt thou come hither? and I do protest,
The queen and I, to mitigate this war,
Will do what thou wouldst have.
MAT. I come.
BRUCE. You shall not go. Sound, drums, to war!
Alack, alack, for woe!
Well, God for us! sith it will needs be so.
[Alarum, fight, stay.
SAL. What stay you for?
BRUCE. Matilda's cries do stay us.
MAT. Salisbury, I come in hope of thy defence.
BRUCE. First will I die, ere you shall yield yourself
To any coward lord that serves the king.
SAL. Coward, proud boy! Thou find'st me no such beast,
And thou shalt rue in earnest this rude jest.
[Fight again. MATILDA taken, led by the hair
by two Soldiers.
SAL. Rude hands! how hale you virtuous honour forth!
You do not well: away!
Now, by my faith, ye do not well, I say.
Take her, fair queen, use her as she deserves:
She's fair, she's noble, chaste, and debonair.
I must, according to due course of war,
See that our soldiers scatter not too far,
Lest, what care won, our negligence may lose.
[Exit.
QUEEN. Is this the Helen, this the paragon,
That makes the English Ilion[329] flame so fast?
MAT. I am not she; you see I am not she:
I am not ravish'd yet, as Helen was.
I know not what will come of John's desire,
That rages like the sea, that burns like fire.
QUEEN. Plain John, proud Joan! I'll tear your painted face.
Thus, thus I'll use you. [Scratches her.
Enter SALISBURY.
MAT. Do, do what you will.
SAL. How goes this gear? ha! foul fall so foul deed![330]
Poor chaste child of Fitzwater, dost thou bleed?
By God's bless'd mother! this is more than need;
And more, I tell you true, than I would bear,
Were not the danger of the camp so near.
Enter a MESSENGER.
MES. My lord, the foes have gathered head:
Lord Bruce, the father, joineth with the son.
SAL. Why, here's the matter: we must spend our time
To keep your nails from scratching innocence,
Which should have been bestow'd for our defence.
What shall we now do? Help me, holy God!
The foe is come, and we are out of rank.
[Skirmish: QUEEN taken, MATILDA rescued.
Enter OLD BRUCE wounded, led by his Son, and LEICESTER.
BRUCE. Is the field ours?
YOUNG B. Ay, thanks to noble Leicester.
BRUCE. Give God thanks, son: be careful to thy mother;
Commend me to Fitzwater; love thy brother,
If either arms or prayers may him recover.
LEI. How cheers old Bruce?
YOUNG B. His soul to joy is fled,
His grief is in my bosom buried.
LEI. His life was dearly bought; for my eyes saw
A shambles of dead men about his feet,
Sent by his sword into eternal shade.
With honour bury him. Cease tears, good Bruce.
YOUNG B, Tears help not, I confess, yet must I weep.
Soldiers, your help to bear him to my tent.
[Exeunt cum BRUCE.
Enter QUEEN and MATILDA.
MAT. Be comforted, great queen: forget my wrongs.
It was my fortune, and no fault of yours.
QUEEN. Is she thus mild? or doth she mock my chance?
LEI. Queen Isabel,[331] are you a prisoner?
See what it is to be a soldier.
But what foul hand hath harm'd Matilda's fair?[332]
Speak, honourable maid, who tore thy hair?
Did Salisbury or the queen this violence?
MAT. Ungentle grooms first took and tore me thus,
From whom old Salisbury, chastising their wrong,
Most kindly brought me to this gentle queen;
Who laid her soft hand on my bleeding cheeks,
Gave kisses to my lips, wept for my woe;
And was devising how to send me back,
Even when your last alarum frighted us,
And by her kindness fell into your hands.
LEI. Which kindness we return: Madam, be free.
Soldiers, conduct the queen whither she please.
QUEEN. Farewell, Matilda; if I live, believe
I will remember this. O, how I grieve
That I should wrong so innocent a maid!
Come, lady, old Fitzwater is not far:
He'll weep to see these scars, full well I know.
MAT. Would I were from this woful world of war!
Sure I will 'scape, and to some nunnery go.
[Exeunt.
SCENE V.
Enter KING, SALISBURY, HUBERT.
KING. Had you her, then, had you her in your power?
SAL. Ay, marry had we: we had taken her.
KING. O, had she been in mine, not all earth's power
From my power should have freed her!
SAL. You are a king, and high are princes' thoughts:
It may be, with your sight you could have chas'd
A host of armed men; it may be so:
But we, your subjects, did the best we could.
Yet Bruce the father, backing Bruce the son,
Scatter'd our troops, brought rescue to Matilda,
And took your peerless queen their prisoner.
KING. On all the race of Bruces for this wrong
I will have vengeance! Hubert, call in Brand. [Exit HUBERT.
My Lord of Salisbury, give us leave awhile
To be alone.
SAL. I will, my liege. Be you comforted;
The queen will be recovered, do not fear,
As well as e'er she was.
KING. Salisbury, forbear, I pray.
SAL. Yet for the wrong she did unto Matilda, I fear, I fear— [Exit.
KING. The father and the son did rescue her;
The mother and the son shall rue the deed.
So it shall be; I am resolv'd thereon.
Matilda, my soul's food, those have bereft,
And these of body's food I will bereave.
Enter HUBERT [with] BRAND.
KING. Will Brand.
BRAND. Your majesty. [Make legs.
KING. Less of your court'sy. Hubert, stand aside.
Post speedily to Windsor; take this ring;
Bid Blunt deliver Bruce's wife and child
Into your hands, and ask him for the key
Of the dark tower o'er the dungeon vault:
In that see you shut up the dam and brat.
Pretend to Blunt that you have left them meat,
Will serve some se'ennight; and unto him say,
It is my will you bring the key away.
And hear you, sir, I charge you on your life,
You do not leave a bit of bread with them.
BRAND. I warrant you; let me alone.
KING. Come back again with all the speed you may.
[Exit BRAND.
HUB. Some cruel task is pointed for that slave,
Which he will execute as cruelly. [Aside.]
KING. No ruth, no pity shall have harbour here,
Till fair Matilda be within these arms.
Enter SALISBURY with the QUEEN.
SAL. Comfort, my lord; comfort, my gracious lord;
Your love is come again!
KING. Ah, Salisbury! where?
SAL. Here, my dread sovereign.
KING. Thou liest; she is not there.
SAL. Under correction you wrong my age.
Say, I beseech you, is not this the queen?
KING. I cry you mercy, Salisbury; 'tis indeed.
Where is Matilda?
QUEEN. Where virtue, chastity, and innocence remain,
There is Matilda.
KING. How comes she, pray, to be so chaste, so fair:
So virtuous in your eye?
QUEEN. She freed me from my foes, and never urg'd
My great abuse when she was prisoner.
KING. What did you to her!
QUEEN. Rail'd upon her first,
Then tare her hair, and rent her tender cheeks.
KING. O heaven! was not the day dark at that foul deed?
Could the sun see without a red eclipse
The purple tears fall from those tyrant wounds?
Out, Ethiop, gipsy, thick-lipped blackamoor!
Wolf, tigress! worse than either of them both!
SAL. Are you advis'd, my lord?
KING. Out, doting earl!
Couldst thou endure to see such violence?
SAL. I tell you plain, my lord, I brook'd it not.
But stay'd the tempest.
KING. Rend my love's cheeks! that matchless effigy
Of wonder-working nature's chiefest work:
Tear her rich hair! to which gold wires,
Sun's rays, and best of best compares
(In their most pride) have no comparison.
Abuse her name! Matilda's sacred name!
O barbarous outrage, rudeness merciless!
QUEEN. I told you, Salisbury, you mistook the king.
SAL. I did indeed. My liege lord, give me leave
To leave the camp.
KING. Away, old fool! and take with thee that trull;
For if she stay—
SAL. Come, lady, come away,
Tempt not his rage. Ruin wrath always brings:
Lust being lord, there is no trust in kings.
[Exeunt.
Enter MOWBRAY.
MOW. To arms, King John! Fitzwater's field is pitch'd
About some mile hence on a champain[333] plain.
Chester hath drawn our soldiers in array:
The wings already have begun the fight.
KING. Thither we will with wings of vengeance fly,
And win Matilda, or lose victory!
[Exeunt.