Now then, let us repose and rest us here.

And loving England, to thy lovely queen,

Queen Elinor, unto her turn thy eye,

Whose honour cannot choose but love thee well.

Q. Elinor. The welkin spangled through with golden

spots,

Reflects no finer in a frosty night

Than lovely Edward in his Elinor's eye:
See Ned thy Nell in every part of thee,
Thy person's guarded with a troop of queens,
And every queen as brave as Elinor.

Give glory to those glorious crystal quarries,
Where every robe an object entertains
Of rich device and princely majesty.
Thus like Narcissus, diving in the deep,
I die in honour and in England's arms ;
And if I drown, it is in my delight,
Whose company is chiefest life in death,
From forth whose coral lips I suck the sweet
Wherewith are dainty Cupid's caudles made.
Then live or die, brave Ned, or sink or swim,
An earthly bliss it is to look on him,-
On thee, sweet Ned. It shall become thy Nell
Bounteous to be unto the beauteous.

Open thy arms, sweet fountains of my bliss,
And I will stand on tiptoe for a kiss.

Edw. He had no thought of any gentle heart,
That would not feel desire for such desert.

If any heavenly joy in woman be,

Sweet of all sweets, sweet Nell, it is in thee.-
Now lords, along: by this the Earl of March,
Lord Mortimer, o'er Cambria's mountain-tops
Hath ranged his men, and feels Lluellen's mind :
To which confines, that will in waiting be,
Our solemn coronation-service past,
We will amain to back our friends at need;
And into Wales our men-at-arms shall march,
And we with them in person, foot by foot.
Brother of Scotland, you shall to your home,
And live in honour there fair England's friend.
And thou, sweet Nell, Queen of King Edward's heart

Shall now come lesser at thy dainty love,
And at Carnarvon meet thy loving peers,
When storms are past, and we have cooled the rage
Of these rebellious Welshmen, that contend
'Gainst England's majesty and Edward's crown.
Sound trumpets! Heralds, lead the train along :
This be King Edward's feast and holiday.

[Exeunt.

ACT II

SCENE I. Outside Carnarvon Castle.

Enter RICE AP MEREDITH, SIR DAVID, and LLUELLEN.

Sir David. Soft! is it not Meredith I behold? Lluellen. All good, all friends.—Meredith, see the man Must make us great, and raise Lluellen's head :

Fight thou, Lluellen, for thy friend and thee.

Rice ap Mer. strong,

Fight, maugre fortune strong, our battle's

And bear thy foes before thy pointed lance.

Sir David. Not too much prowess, good my lord, at once: Some talk of policy another while.

Lluellen. Sir David's wit is full of good device,

And kindly will perform what he pretends.

Sir David. Enough of this, my lord, at once.

What will you, that I hold the king in hand?

Or what shall I especially advise,

Sitting in council with the English lords,
That so my counsel may avail my friends?

Lluellen. David, if thou wilt best for me devise,
Advise my love be render'd to my hand.

Tell them the chains that Mulciber erst made

To tie Prometheus' limbs to Caucasus,

Nor Furies' fangs shall hold me long from her,
But I will have her from th' usurper's tent,
My beauteous Elinor! If aught in this,

If in this case thy wit may boot thy friends,

Express it, then, in this, in nothing else.

Sir David. Ay, there's a card that puts us to our trump; For might I see the star of Leicester's loins,

It were enough to darken and obscure
This Edward's glory, fortune, and his pride.
First, hereof can I put you out of doubt:
Lord Mortimer of the king hath her in charge,
And honourably entreats your Elinor.
Some think he prays Lluellen were in heaven,
And thereby hopes to couch his love on earth.

Lluellen. No: where Lluellen mounts, there Ellen flies. Inspeakable are my thoughts for her:

She's not from me in death to be divorc'd.
Go to, it shall be so; so shall it be.
Edward is full resolvéd of thy faith,

So are the English lords and barons all :
Then what may let thee to intrude on them
Some new-found stratagem to feel their wit?

Sir David. It is enough. Meredith, take my weapons; I am your prisoner; say so at the least.

Go hence, and when you parle on the walls,
Make show of monstrous tyranny you intend
To execute on me, as on the man

That shamefully rebels 'gainst kin and kind;
And 'less thou have thy love, and make thy peace
With such conditions as shall best concern,
David must die, say thou, a shameful death.
Edward, perhaps, with ruth and pity mov'd,
Will in exchange yield Elinor to thee,

And thou by me shalt gain thy heart's desire.

Lluellen. Sweetly advis'd: David, thou blessest me, My brother David, lengthener of my life!—

Friends, gratulate to me my joyful hopes.

[Exeunt.

Enter KING EDWARD, SUSSEX, MORTIMER, and others.

Edw.

Why, barons, suffer ye our foes to breathe ?

Assault, assault, and charge them all amain!
They fear, they fly, they faint, they fight in vain.
But where is gentle David? in his den?

Loth were I aught but good should him betide.

[Sound an alarum.

Enter, on the walls, LLUELLEN, and Soldiers.

Where is the proud disturber of our state,
Traitor to Wales and to his sovereign?

Lluellen. Usurper, here I am. What dost thou crave? Edw. Welshman, allegiance, which thou ow'st thy king. Lluellen. Traitor, no king, that seeks thy country's sack, The famous runagate of Christendom.

Edw. Ambitious rebel, know'st thou what I am,
How great, how famous, and how fortunate?
And dar'st thou carry arms against me here,

Even when thou shouldst do reverence at my feet?
Yea, fear'd and honour'd in the farthest parts
Hath Edward been, the noble Henry's son.
Traitor, this sword unsheath'd hath shinéd oft
With reeking in the blood of Saracens.
Sitting before the gates of Nazareth,
My horse's hoofs I stain'd in pagan's gore,
Sending whole centuries of heathen souls

To Pluto's house: this sword, this thirsty sword,
Aims at thy head, and shall, I hope, ere long,

Gage and divide thy bowels and thy bulk,

Disloyal villain, thou, and what is more?

Lluellen. Why, thinkest thou I will be scar'd with words? No: didst thou speak in thunder like to Jove,

Or shouldst thou as Briareus, shake at once

A hundred bloody swords with bloody hands,

I tell thee, Longshanks, here he faceth thee

Whom naught can daunt, no, not the stroke of death.
Resolv'd ye see: but see the chance of war:

Enter DAVID, guarded.

Know'st thou a traitor an thou seest his head?
Then, Longshanks, look this villain in the face :
This rebel, he hath wrought his country's wreck;
Base rascal, bad and hated in his kind,
Object of wrath, and subject of revenge.

Edw.

Lluellen, call'st thou this the chance of war?

Bad for us all, perdy, but worse for him.—

Courage, Sir David! kings thou know'st must die,

And noble minds all dastard fear defy.

Sir David. Renowned Edward, star of England's globe,
My liefest lord and sweetest sovereign,
Glorious and happy is this chance to me,
To reap this fame and honour in my death,—
That I was hew'd with foul-defiléd hands
For my beloved king and country's good,
And died in grace and favour with my prince.-
Seize on me, bloody butchers, with your paws:
It is but temporal that you can inflict.

Edw. Bravely resolv'd, brave soldier, by my life!
Mortimer. Lluellen, in the midst of all thy braves,
How wilt thou use thy brother thou hast ta'en?
Wilt thou not let his master ransom him?

Lluellen. No, nor his mistress, gallant Mortimer,
With all the gold and silver of the land.

Rice ap Mer. Ransom this Judas to his father's line! Ransom this traitor to his brother's life!

No. Take that earnest-penny of thy death.

[Seems to stab SIR DAVID.

This touch, my lord, comes nothing near the mark.

Edw. O villain, hold thy hands! but ask and have.

Lluellen. We will not ask nor have. Seest thou these

tools?

[Shows hot pincers.

These be the dogs shall bait him to the death,
And shall by piece-meals tear his curséd flesh;
And in thy sight here shall he hang and pine.
Edw. O villains, traitors, how will I be veng'd!

Lluellen. What, threat'st thou, Edward? Desperate minds

contemn

That fury menaceth: see thy words' effects.

[Seems to cut SIR DAVID.

Sir David. O gracious heavens, dissolve me into clay!

This tyranny is more than flesh can bear.

Edw. Bear it, brave mind, sith nothing but thy blood

May satisfy in this extreme estate.

Sussex. My lord, it is in vain to threaten them;

They are resolv'd, ye see, upon his death.