Edward III: Act IV, Scene 9

PRINCE EDWARD.EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES

Now, John in France, and lately John of France,

Thy bloody ensigns are my captive colours;

And you, high vaunting Charles of Normandy,

That once today sent me a horse to fly,

Are now the subjects of my clemency.

Fie, lords! Is it not a shame that English boys,

Whose early days are yet not worth a beard,

Should in the bosom of your kingdom thus,

One against twenty, beat you up together?

KING JOHN.JOHN THE SECOND, KING OF FRANCE

Thy fortune, not thy force, hath conquered us.

PRINCE EDWARD.EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES

An argument that heaven aides the right.

See, see! Artois doth bring with him along

The late good counsel giver to my soul.

Welcome, Artois; and welcome, Phillip, too:

Who now of you or I have need to pray?

Now is the proverb verified in you:

“Too bright a morning breeds a low’ring day.”

But say, what grim discouragement comes here!

Alas, what thousand armed men of France

Have writ that note of death in Audley’s face?

Speak, thou that wooest death with thy careless smile,

And lookst so merrily upon thy grave,

As if thou were enamored on thine end:

What hungry sword hath so bereaved thy face,

And lopped a true friend from my loving soul?

AUDLEY.LORD AUDLEY

O Prince, thy sweet bemoaning speech to me

Is as a mournful knell to one dead-sick.

PRINCE EDWARD.EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES

Dear Audley, if my tongue ring out thy end,

My arms shall be thy grave: what may I do

To win thy life, or to revenge thy death?

If thou wilt drink the blood of captive kings,

Or that it were restorative, command

A health of kings’ blood, and I’ll drink to thee;

If honor may dispense for thee with death,

The never dying honor of this day

Share wholly, Audley, to thyself, and live.

AUDLEY.LORD AUDLEY

Victorious Prince,—that thou art so, behold

A Caesar’s fame in king’s captivity—

If I could hold him death but at a bay,

Till I did see my liege thy royal father,

My soul should yield this castle of my flesh,

This mangled tribute, with all willingness,

To darkness, consummation, dust, and worms.

PRINCE EDWARD.EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES

Cheerily, bold man, thy soul is all too proud

To yield her city for one little breach;

Should be divorced from her earthly spouse

By the soft temper of a Frenchman’s sword?

Lo, to repair thy life, I give to thee

Three thousand marks a year in English land.

AUDLEY.LORD AUDLEY

I take thy gift, to pay the debts I owe:

These two poor esquires redeemed me from the French

With lusty and dear hazard of their lives:

What thou hast given me, I give to them;

And, as thou lovest me, prince, lay thy consent

To this bequeath in my last testament.

PRINCE EDWARD.EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES

Renowned Audley, live, and have from me

This gift twice doubled to these esquires and thee:

But live or die, what thou hast given away

To these and theirs shall lasting freedom stay.

Come, gentlemen, I will see my friend bestowed

With in an easy litter; then we’ll march

Proudly toward Callice, with triumphant pace,

Unto my royal father, and there bring

The tribute of my wars, fair France his king.