CHAP. XVII.

EDWARD AND WARWICK.

Edw. LET me have no intruders; above all, Keep Warwick from my sight.

Enter WARWICK.

War. Behold him here;

No welcome guest, it seems, unless I ask
My lord of Suffolk's leave-there was a time,
When Warwick wanted not his aid to gain
.Admission here.

Edw. There was a time, perhaps,

When Warwick more desir'd, and more-deserv'd it. War. Never; I've been a foolish, faithful slave, All my best years; the morning of my

life

Hath been devoted to your service: what
Are now the fruits? Disgrace and infamy!
My spotless name, which never yet the breath
Of calumny had tainted, made the mock
For foreign fools to carp at: but 'tis fit.
Who trust in princes should be thus rewarded.
Edw. I thought, my lord, I had full well repaid
Your services with honours, wealth, and pow'r
Unlimited thy all-directing hand

:

Guided in secret ev'ry latent wheel

Of government, and mov'd the whole machine:
Warwick was all in all, and pow'rless Edward
Stood like a cipher in the great account.

War. Who gave that cipher worth, and seated thee
On England's throne? Thy undistinguish'd name
Had rotted in the dust from whence it sprang,

And moulder'd in oblivion, had not Warwick

Dug from it's sordid mine the useless ore,
And stamp'd it with a diadem. Thou know'st,
This wretched country, doom'd perhaps like Rome,
To fall by it's own self-destroying hand,
Toss'd for so many years in the rough sea
Of civil discord, but for me had perish'd.
In that distressful hour I seiz'd the helm,

Bade the rough waves subside in peace,

and steer'd

Your shatter'd vessel safe into the harbour.

You may despise, perhaps, that useless aid, Which you no longer want; but know, proud youth, He who forgets a friend deserves a foe.

Edw. Know too, reproach for benefits receiv'd Pays ev'ry debt, and cancels obligation.

War. Why that indeed is frugal honesty; A thrifty, saving knowledge: when the debt Grows burdensome, and cannot be discharg'd, A sponge will wipe out all, and cost you nothing. Edw. When you have counted o'er the num'rous train Of mighty gifts your bounty lavish'd on me,

You may remember next the injuries,

Which I have done you; let me know them all,

And I will make you ample satisfaction.

War. Thou canst not: thou hast robb'd me of a jewel, It is not in thy power to restore;

I was the first, shall future annals

say,

That broke the sacred bond of public trust,
And mutual confidence; ambassadors
In after times, mere instruments perhaps
Of venal statesmen, shall recal my name,
To witness that they want not an example,
And plead my guilt, to sanctify their own.
Amidst the herd of mercenary slaves,

That haunt your court, could none be found but Warwick,
To be the shameless herald of a lie?"

Edw. And wouldst thou turn the vile reproach on me? If I have broke my faith, and stain'd the name

Of England, thank thy own pernicious counsels,
That urg'd me to it, and extorted from me
A cold consent to what my heart abhorr'd.

War. I've been abus'd, insulted, and betray'd;
My injur'd honour cries aloud for vengeance!
Her wounds will never close.

Edw. These gusts of passion

Will but inflame them. If I have been right
Inform'd, my lord, beside these dang'rous scars
Of bleeding honour, you have other wounds
As deep, though not so fatal; such, perhaps,
As none but fair Elizabeth can cure.

War.

Elizabeth!

Edw. Nay, start not; I have cause

To wonder most: I little thought indeed,
When Warwick told me I might learn to love,
He was himself so able to instruct me:

But I've discover'd all.

War. And so have I ;

Too well I know thy breach of friendship there,
Thy fruitless base endeavours to supplant me..

Edw. I scorn it, Sir-Elizabeth hath charms,
And I have equal right with you t' admire theni;
Nor see I ought so godlike in the form,
So all-commanding in the name of Warwick,
That he alone should revel in the charms
Of beauty, and monopolize perfection...
I knew not of your love.

War. By Heav'n, 'tis false !

You knew it all, and meanly took occasion,
While I was busied in the noble office
Your grace thought fit to honour me withal,
To tamper with a weak unguarded woman,
To bribe her passions high, and basely steal
A treasure, which your kingdom could not purchase.
Edw. How know you that? But be it as it may,
had a right; nor will I tamely yield

y claim to happiness, the privilege

To choose the partner of my throne and bed;

It is a branch of my prerogative.

War. Prerogative! what's that? the boast of tyrants ! A borrow'd jewel, glitt'ring in the crown

With specious lustre, lent but to betray:

You had it, Sir, and hold it—from the people.

Edw. And therefore do I prize it: I would guard Their liberties, and they shall strengthen mine; But when proud Faction, and her rebel crew, Insult their sov'reign, trample on his laws, And bid defiance to his pow'r, the people, n justice to themselves, will then defend lis cause, and vindicate the rights they gave.

IVar. Go to your darling people, then; for soon, If I mistake not, 'twill be needful; try

Their boasted zeal, and see if one of them
Will dare to lift his arm up in your cause,
If I forbid them.

Edw. Is it so, my lord?

Then mark my words: I've been your slave too long,
And you have rul'd me with a rod of iron;

But henceforth know, proud peer, I am thy master,
And will be so: the king who delegates

His pow'r to others' hands but ill deserves
The crown he wears.

War. Look well then to your own;

It sits but loosely on your head; for know,
The man who injur'd Warwick never pass'd
Unpunish'd yet.

Edw. Nor he who threaten'd Edward-
You may repent it, Sir-my guards there-seize
This traitor, and convey him to the Tow'r;
There let him learn obedience.

EARL OF WARWICK,

CHAP. XVIII.

HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER.

Glen. SIT, cousin Percy; sit, good cousin Hotspur ;

For by that name as oft as Lancaster

Doth speak of you, his cheek looks pale! and with

A risen sigh, he wisheth you in Heav'n.

Hot. And you in Hell, as often as he hears

Owen Glendower spoke of.

Glen. I blame him not: at my nativity
The front of Heav'n was full of fiery shapes,
Of burning cressets; know, that at my birth
The frame and the foundation of the earth
Shook like a coward.

Hot. So it would have done,
At the same season, if your mother's cat

Had kitten'd, though yourself had ne'er been born.
Glen. I say, the earth did shake when I was born.
Hot. I say, the earth then was not of my mind,
If you suppose, as fearing you it shook.

Glen. The Heav'ns were all on fire, the earth did tremble.

Hot. O, then the earth shook to see the Heav'ns on fire! And not in fear of your nativity.

Diseased Nature oftentimes breaks forth

In strange eruptions; and the teeming earth
Is with a kind of colic pinch'd and vex'd,

By the impris'ning of unruly wind

Within her womb, which, for enlargement striving,
Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples down
High tow'rs and moss-grown steeples. At your birth,
Our grandam earth with this distemperature
In passion shook.

Glen.

Cousin, of many men

I do not bear these crossings: give me leave
To tell you once again, that at my birth
The front of Heav'n was full of fiery shapes;
The goats ran from the mountains; and the herds
Were strangely clam'rous in the frighted fields:
These signs have mark'd me extraordinary,
And all the courses of my life do show,

I am not in the roll of commcn men.
Where is he living, clipt in with the sea

That chides the banks of England, Wales, or Scotland,
Who calls me pupil, or hath read to me?

And bring him out, that is but woman's son,
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art,

Or hold me pace in deep experiments.

Hot. I think there is no man speaks better Welsh. Glen. I can speak English, Lord, as well as you ; For I was train'd up in the English court,

Where, being young, I framed to the harp

Many an English ditty lovely well,

And gave the tongue a helpful ornament;

A virtue that was never seen in you.

Hot. Marry, and I am glad of it with all my heart;

I'd rather be a kitten, and cry mew!

Than one of these same metre-balladmongers!

I'd rather hear a brazen candlestick turn'd,

Or a dry wheel grate on tlie axle-trée,

And that would nothing set my teeth on edge,