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Edward III: Act IV, Scene 3

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Edward III
Act IV, Scene 3

Poitou. Fields near Poitiers. The French camp; tent of the Duke of Normandy.

  1. Enter Charles of Normandy and Villiers.

Charles

1 - 2
  1. I wonder, Villiers, thou shouldest importune me
  2. For one that is our deadly enemy.

Villiers

3 - 5
  1. Not for his sake, my gracious lord, so much
  2. Am I become an earnest advocate,
  3. As that thereby my ransom will be quit.

Charles

6 - 9
  1. Thy ransom, man? Why needest thou talk of that?
  2. Art thou not free? And are not all occasions,
  3. That happen for advantage of our foes,
  4. To be accepted of, and stood upon?

Villiers

10 - 14
  1. No, good my lord, except the same be just;
  2. For profit must with honor be comixt,
  3. Or else our actions are but scandalous.
  4. But, letting pass their intricate objections,
  5. Wilt please your highness to subscribe, or no?

Charles

15 - 17
  1. Villiers, I will not, nor I cannot do it;
  2. Salisbury shall not have his will so much,
  3. To claim a passport how it pleaseth himself.

Villiers

18 - 19
  1. Why, then I know the extremity, my lord;
  2. I must return to prison whence I came.

Charles

20 - 25
  1. Return? I hope thou wilt not;
  2. What bird that hath escaped the fowler’s gin,
  3. Will not beware how she’s ensnared again?
  4. Or, what is he, so senseless and secure,
  5. That, having hardly past a dangerous gul,
  6. Will put himself in peril there again?

Villiers

26 - 28
  1. Ah, but it is mine oath, my gracious lord,
  2. Which I in conscience may not violate,
  3. Or else a kingdom should not draw me hence.

Charles

29 - 30
  1. Thine oath? Why, tat doth bind thee to abide:
  2. Hast thou not sworn obedience to thy Prince?

Villiers

31 - 34
  1. In all things that uprightly he commands:
  2. But either to persuade or threaten me,
  3. Not to perform the covenant of my word,
  4. Is lawless, and I need not to obey.

Charles

35 - 36
  1. Why, is it lawful for a man to kill,
  2. And not, to break a promise with his foe?

Villiers

37 - 44
  1. To kill, my lord, when war is once proclaimed,
  2. So that our quarrel be for wrongs received,
  3. No doubt, is lawfully permitted us;
  4. But in an oath we must be well advised,
  5. How we do swear, and, when we once have sworn,
  6. Not to infringe it, though we die therefore:
  7. Therefore, my lord, as willing I return,
  8. As if I were to fly to paradise.

Charles

45 - 51
  1. Stay, my Villiers; thine honorable min
  2. Deserves to be eternally admired.
  3. Thy suit shall be no longer thus deferred:
  4. Give me the paper, I’ll subscribe to it;
  5. And, wheretofore I loved thee as Villiers,
  6. Hereafter, I’ll embrace thee as myself.
  7. Stay, and be still in favor with thy lord.

Villiers

52 - 54
  1. I humbly thank you grace; I must dispatch,
  2. And send this passport first unto the Earl,
  3. And then I will attend your highness pleasure.

Charles

55 - 56
  1. Do so, Villiers;—and Charles, when he hath need,
  2. Be such his soldiers, howsoever he speed!
  1. Exit Villiers.
  1. Enter King John.

John de Valois, King of France

57 - 59
  1. Come, Charles, and arm thee; Edward is entrapped,
  2. The Prince of Wales is fallen into our hands,
  3. And we have compassed him; he cannot escape.

Charles

60
  1. But will your highness fight today?

John de Valois, King of France

61 - 62
  1. What else, my son? He’s scarce eight thousand strong,
  2. And we are threescore thousand at the least.

Charles

63 - 73
  1. I have a prophecy, my gracious lord,
  2. Wherein is written what success is like
  3. To happen us in this outrageous war;
  4. It was delivered me at Cressy’s field
  5. By one that is an aged hermit there.
  6. Reads.
  7. “When feathered fowl shall make thine army tremble,
  8. And flint stones rise and break the battle ray,
  9. Then think on him that doth not now dissemble;
  10. For that shall be the hapless dreadful day:
  11. Yet, in the end, thy foot thou shalt advance
  12. As far in England as thy foe in France.”

John de Valois, King of France

74 - 85
  1. By this it seems we shall be fortunate:
  2. For as it is impossible that stones
  3. Should ever rise and break the battle ray,
  4. Or airy foul make men in arms to quake,
  5. So is it like, we shall not be subdued:
  6. Or say this might be true, yet in the end,
  7. Since he doth promise we shall drive him hence
  8. And forage their country as they have done ours,
  9. By this revenge that loss will seem the less.
  10. But all are frivolous fancies, toys, and dreams:
  11. Once we are sure we have ensnared the son,
  12. Catch we the father after how we can.
  1. Exeunt.
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