SCENE III.Poitou.Fields near Poitiers.
The French camp;Tent of the Duke of Normandy.
[Enter Charles of Normandy and Villiers.]
CHARLES.
I wonder,Villiers,thou shouldest importune me For one that is our deadly enemy.
VILLIERS.
Not for his sake,my gracious Lord,so much Am I become an earnest advocate,As that thereby my ransom will be quit.
CHARLES.
Thy ransom,man?why needest thou talk of that?
Art thou not free?and are not all occasions,That happen for advantage of our foes,To be accepted of,and stood upon?
VILLIERS.
No,good my Lord,except the same be just;
For profit must with honor be comixt,Or else our actions are but scandalous.
But,letting pass their intricate objections,Wilt please your highness to subscribe,or no?
CHARLES.
Villiers,I will not,nor I cannot do it;
Salisbury shall not have his will so much,To claim a passport how it pleaseth himself.
VILLIERS.
Why,then I know the extremity,my Lord;
I must return to prison whence I came.
CHARLES.
Return?I hope thou wilt not;
What bird that hath escaped the fowler's gin,Will not beware how she's ensnared again?
Or,what is he,so senseless and secure,That,having hardly past a dangerous gul,Will put him self in peril there again?
VILLIERS.
Ah,but it is mine oath,my gracious Lord,Which I in conscience may not violate,Or else a kingdom should not draw me hence.
CHARLES.
Thine oath?why,tat doth bind thee to abide:
Hast thou not sworn obedience to thy Prince?
VILLIERS.
In all things that uprightly he commands:
But either to persuade or threaten me,Not to perform the covenant of my word,Is lawless,and I need not to obey.
CHARLES.
Why,is it lawful for a man to kill,And not,to break a promise with his foe?
VILLIERS.
To kill,my Lord,when war is once proclaimed,So that our quarrel be for wrongs received,No doubt,is lawfully permitted us;But in an oath we must be well advised,How we do swear,and,when we once have sworn,Not to infringe it,though we die therefore:
Therefore,my Lord,as willing I return,As if I were to fly to paradise.
CHARLES.
Stay,my Villiers;thine honorable min Deserves to be eternally admired.
Thy suit shall be no longer thus deferred:
Give me the paper,I'll subscribe to it;
And,wheretofore I loved thee as Villiers,Hereafter I'll embrace thee as my self.
Stay,and be still in favour with thy Lord.
VILLIERS.
I humbly thank you grace;I must dispatch,And send this passport first unto the Earl,And then I will attend your highness pleasure.
CHARLES.
Do so,Villiers;--and Charles,when he hath need,Be such his soldiers,howsoever he speed!
[Exit Villiers.]
[Enter King John.]
KING JOHN.
Come,Charles,and arm thee;Edward is entrapped,The Prince of Wales is fallen into our hands,And we have compassed him;he cannot escape.
CHARLES.
But will your highness fight to day?
KING JOHN.
What else,my son?he's scarce eight thousand strong,And we are threescore thousand at the least.
CHARLES.
I have a prophecy,my gracious Lord,Wherein is written what success is like To happen us in this outrageous war;It was delivered me at Cresses field By one that is an aged Hermit there.
[Reads.]'When feathered foul shall make thine army tremble,And flint stones rise and break the battle ray,Then think on him that doth not now dissemble;For that shall be the hapless dreadful day:
Yet,in the end,thy foot thou shalt advance As far in England as thy foe in France.'
KING JOHN.
By this it seems we shall be fortunate:
For as it is impossible that stones Should ever rise and break the battle ray,Or airy foul make men in arms to quake,So is it like,we shall not be subdued:
Or say this might be true,yet in the end,Since he doth promise we shall drive him hence And forage their Country as they have done ours,By this revenge that loss will seem the less.
But all are frivolous fancies,toys,and dreams:
Once we are sure we have ensnared the son,Catch we the father after how we can.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE IV.The same.The English Camp.
[Enter Prince Edward,Audley,and others.]
PRINCE EDWARD.
Audley,the arms of death embrace us round,And comfort have we none,save that to die We pay sower earnest for a sweeter life.
At Cressey field out Clouds of Warlike smoke Choked up those French mouths &dissevered them;But now their multitudes of millions hide,Masking as twere,the beauteous burning Sun,Leaving no hope to us,but sullen dark And eyeless terror of all ending night.
AUDLEY.
This sudden,mighty,and expedient head That they have made,fair prince,is wonderful.
Before us in the valley lies the king,Vantaged with all that heaven and earth can yield;His party stronger battled than our whole:
His son,the braving Duke of Normandy,Hath trimmed the Mountain on our right hand up In shining plate,that now the aspiring hill Shews like a silver quarry or an orb,Aloft the which the Banners,bannarets,And new replenished pendants cuff the air And beat the winds,that for their gaudiness Struggles to kiss them:on our left hand lies Phillip,the younger issue of the king,Coating the other hill in such array,That all his guilded upright pikes do seem Straight trees of gold,the pendants leaves;And their device of Antique heraldry,Quartered in colours,seeming sundry fruits,Makes it the Orchard of the Hesperides:
Behind us too the hill doth bear his height,For like a half Moon,opening but one way,It rounds us in;there at our backs are lodged The fatal Crossbows,and the battle there Is governed by the rough Chattillion.
Then thus it stands:the valley for our flight The king binds in;the hills on either hand Are proudly royalized by his sons;And on the Hill behind stands certain death In pay and service with Chattillion.
PRINCE EDWARD.
Death's name is much more mighty than his deeds;Thy parcelling this power hath made it more.
