kinde Ne countries care can fiered hartes restrayne Whan force hath armed enuie and disdaine When kinges of foreâ—ette will neglect the rede Of best aduise and yelde to pleasing tales That do their fansies noysome humour feede Ne reason nor regarde of right auailes Succeding heapes of plagues shall teach to late To learne the mischiefes of misguided state Fowie fall the traitour false that vndermines The loue of brethren to destroye them both Wo to the prince that pliant care â—nclynes And yeldes his mind to poysonous tale that floweth From flattering mouth And woe to wretched land That wastes it selfe with ciuil sworde in hand Loe thus it is poyson in golde to take And holsome drinke in homely cuppe forsake ¶ The order and signification of the domme shewe before the thirde act ¶ Firste the musicke of flutes began to playe during which came in vpon the stage a company of mourners all clad in blacke betokening death and sorowe to ensue vpon the ill aduised misgouernement and discention of bretherne as befell vpon the murderer of Ferrex by his yonger brother After the mourners had passed thryse about the stage they departed and than the musicke ceased Actus tertius Scena prima Gorboduc Eubulus Arostus Philander Nuntius GOrb. O cruel fates O mindful wrath of Goddes Whose vengeance neither Simois stayned streames Flowing with bloud of Troian princes slaine Nor Phrygian fieldes made ranck with corpses dead Of Asian kynges and lordes can yet appease Ne slaughter of vnhappie Pryams race Nor Ilions fall made leuell with the soile Can yet suffice but still continued rage Pursues our lynes and from the farthest seas Doth chase the issues of destroyed Troye Oh no man happie till his ende be seene If any flowing wealth and seemyng ioye In present yeres might make a happy wight Happie was Hecuba the wofullest wretch That euer lyued to make a myrrour of And happie Pryam with his noble sonnes And happie I till nowe alas I see And feele my most vnhappye wretchednesse Beholde my lordes read ye this letter here Loe it conteins the ruine of our realme If timelie speede prouide not hastie helpe Yet O ye Goddes if euer wofull kyng Might moue ye kings of kinges wreke it on me And on my sonnes not on this giltlesse realme Send down your wasting flames froÌ„ wrathful skies To reue me and my sonnes the hatefull breath Read read my lordes this is the matter why I called ye nowe to haue your good aduyse ¶ The letter from Dordan the Counsellour of the elder prince Eubulus readeth the letter MY soneraigne lord what I am loth to write But lothest am to see that I am forced By letters nowe to make you vnderstande My lord Ferrex your eldest sonne misledde By traitorous fraude of yong vntempred wittes Assembleth force agaynst your yonger sonne Ne can my counsell yet withdrawe the heate And furyous panges of hys enflamed head Disdaine sayth he of his disheritance Armes him to wreke the great pretended wrong With ciuyll sword vpon his brothers life If present helpe do not restraine this rage This flame will wast your sonnes your land you Your maiesties faithfull and most humble subiect Dordan ARostus O king appease your griefe and stay your plaint Great is the matter and a wofull case But timely knowledge may bring timely helpe Sende for them both vnto your presence here The reuerence of your honourage and state Your graue aduice the awe of fathers name Shall quicklie knit agayne this broken peace And if in either of my lordes your sonnes Be suche vntamed and vnyelding pride As will not bende vnto your noble hestes If Ferrex the elder sonne can beare no peere Or Porrex not content aspires to more Than you him gaue aboue his natiue right Ioyne with the iuster side so shall you force Them to agree and holde the lande in stay Eub. What meaneth this Loe yonder comes in hast Philander from my lord your yonger sonne Gorb. The Goddes sende ioyfull newes Phil. The mightie Ioue Preserue your maiestie O noble king Gorb. Philander welcome but how doth my sonne Phil. Your sonne sir lyues and healthie I him left But yet O king the want of lustfull health Could not be halfe so griefefull to your grace As these most wretched tidynges that I bryng Gorb. O heauens yet more not ende of woes to me Phil. Tyndar O king came lately from the court Of Ferrex to my lord your yonger sonne And made reporte of great prepared store For warre and sayth that it is wholly ment Agaynst Porrex for high disdayne that he Lyues now a king and egall in degree With him that claimeth to succede the whole As by due title of discending right Porrex is nowe so set on flaming fire Partely with kindled rage of cruell wrath Partely with hope to gaine a realme thereby That he in hast prepareth to inuade His brothers land and with vnkindely warre Threatens the murder of your elder sonne Ne could I him perswade that first he should Send to his brother to demaunde the cause Nor yet to you to staie this hatefull strife Wherfore sithe there no more I can be hearde I come my selfe now to enforme your grace And to beseche you as you loue the life And safetie of your children and your realme Now to employ your wisdome and your force To stay this mischiefe ere it be to late Gorb. Are they in armes would he not sende to me Is this the honour of a fathers name In vaine we trauaile to asswage their mindes As if their hartes whome neither brothers loue Nor fathers awe nor kingdomes cares can moue Our counsels could withdraw from raging heat Ioue slay them both and end the cursed line For though perhappes feare of such mightie force As I my lordes ioyned with your noble aides Maye yet raise shall represse their present heate The secret grudge and malice will remayne The fire not quenched but kept in close restraint Fedde still within breakes forth with double flame Their death and myne must peaze the angrie Gods Phil. Yelde not O king so much to weake dispeire Your sonnes yet lyue and long I trust they shall If fates had taken you from earthly life Before beginning of this ciuyll strife Perhaps your sounes in their vnmaistered youth Loose from regarde of any lyuing wight Would runne on headlong with vnbridled race To their owne death and ruine of this realme But sith the Gods that haue the care for kinges â–ª Of thinges and times dispose the order so That in your life this kindled flame breakes forth While yet your lyfe your wisdome and your power May stay the growing mischiefe and represse The fierie blaze of their inkindled heate It seemes and so ye ought to deeme thereof That louyng Ioue hath tempred so the time Of this debate to happen in your dayes That you yet lyuing may the same appeaze And adde it to the glory of your latter age And they our sonnes may learne to liue in
vaine of cattell slaine To send the sacred smoke to heauens throne For thee my sonne if thinges do so succede As now my ielous minde misdemeth sore Ferrex Madame leaue care carefull plaint for me Iust hath my father bene to euery wight His first vniustice he will not extend To me I trust that geue no cause therof My brothers pride shall hurt him selfe not me Viden. So graunt the Goddes But yet thy father so Hath firmely fixed his vnmoued minde That plaintes and prayers can no whit auaile For those haue I assaied but euen this day He will endeuour to procure assent Of all his counsell to his fonde deuise Ferrex Their ancestors from race to race haue borne True fayth to my forefathers and their seede I trust they eke will beare the like to me Viden. There resteth all But if they faile thereof And if the end bring forth an ill successe On them and theirs the mischiefe shall befall And so I pray the Goddes requite it them And so they will for so is wont to be When lordes and trusted rulers vnder kinges To please the present fancie of the prince With wrong transpose the course of gouernance Murders mischiefe or ciuill sword at length Or mutuall treason or a iust reuenge When right succeding line returnes againe By Ioues iust iudgement and deserued wrath Bringes them to cruell and reprochfull death And rootes their names and kindredes from the earth Ferrex Mother content you you shall see the end Viden. The end thy end I feare Ioue end me first Actus primus Scena secunda Gorboduc Arostus Philander Eubulus GOrb. My lords whose graue aduise faithful aide Haue long vpheld my honour and my realme And brought me to this age from tender yeres Guidyng so great estate with great renowme Nowe more importeth mee than erst to vse Your fayth and wisedome whereby yet I reigne That when by death my life and rule shall cease The kingdome yet may with vnbroken course Haue certayne prince by whose vndoubted right Your wealth and peace may stand in quiet stay And eke that they whome nature hath preparde In time to take my place in princely seate While in their fathers tyme their pliant youth Yeldes to the frame of skilfull gouernance Maye so be taught and trayned in noble artes As what their fathers which haue reigned before Haue with great fame deriued downe to them With honour they may leaue vnto their seede And not be thought for their vnworthy life And for their lawlesse swaruynge out of kinde Worthy to lose what lawe and kind them gaue But that they may preserue the common peace The cause that first began and still mainteines The lyne all course of kinges inheritance For me for myne for you and for the state Where of both I and you haue charge and care Thus do I meane to vse your wonted fayth To me and myne and to your natiue lande My lordes be playne without all wrie respect Or poysonous craft to speake in pleasyng wise Lest as the blame of yll succedyng thinges Shall light on you so light the harmes also Arostus Your good acceptance so most noble king Of suche our faithfulnesse as heretofore We haue employed in dueties to your grace And to this realme whose worthy head you are Well proues that neyther you mistrust at all Nor we shall neede in boasting wise to shewe Our trueth to you nor yet our wakefull care For you for yours and for our natiue lande Wherefore O kyng I speake as one for all Sithe all as one do beare you egall faith Doubt not to vse our counsells and our aides Whose honours goods and lyues are whole auowed To serue to ayde and to defende your grace Gorb. My lordes I thanke you all This is the case Ye know the Gods who haue the soueraigne care For kings for kingdomes and for common weales Gaue me two sonnes in my more lusty age Who nowe in my decayeng yeres are growen Well towardes typer state of minde and strength To take in hande some greater princely charge As yet they lyue and spende hopefull daies With me and with their mother here in courte Their age nowe asketh other place and trade And myne also doth aske an other chaunge Theirs to more trauaile myne to greater case Whan fatall death shall ende my mortall life My purpose is to leaue vnto them twaine The realme diuided into two sondry partes The one Ferrex myne elder sonne shall haue The other shall the yonger Porrex rule That both my purpose may more firmely stande And eke that they may better rule their charge I meane forthwith to place them in the same That in my life they may both learne to rule And I may ioy to see their ruling well This is in summe what I woulde haue ye wey First whether ye allowe my whole deuise And thinke it good for me for them for you And for our countrey mother of vs all And if ye lyke it and allowe it well Then for their guydinge and their gouernaunce Shew forth such meanes of circumstance As ye thinke meete to be both knowne and kept Loe this is all now tell me your aduise Aros And this is much and asketh great aduise But for my part my soueraigne lord and kyng This do I thinke Your maiestie doth know How vnder you in iustice and in peace Great wealth and honour long we haue enioyed So as we can not seeme with gredie mindes To wisshe for change of Prince or gouernaunce But if we lyke your purpose and deuise Our lyking must be deemed to proceede Of rightfull reason and of heedefull care Not for our selues but for the common state Sithe our owne state doth neede no better change I thinke in all as erst your Grace hath saide Firste when you shall vnlode your aged mynde Of heuye care and troubles manifolde And laye the same vpon my Lordes your sonnes Whose growing yeres may beare the burden long And long I pray the Goddes to graunt it so And in your life while you shall so beholde Their rule their vertues and their noble deedes Suche as their kinde behighteth to vs all Great be the profites that shall growe therof Your age in quiet shall the longer last Your lasting age shal be their longer stay For cares of kynges that rule as you haue ruled For publique wealth and not for priuate ioye Do wast mannes lyfe and hasten crooked age With furrowed face and with enfcebled lymines To draw on creepyng death a swifter pace They two yet yong shall beare the parted reigne With greater ease than one nowe olde alone Can welde the whole for whom muche harder is With lessened strength the double weight to beare Your eye your counsell and the graue regarde Of Father yea of such a fathers name Nowe at beginning of their sondred reigne When is the hazarde of their whole successe Shall bridle so their force of youthfull heates And so restreine the rage of insolence Whiche most assailes the
reason ledde the king â–ª My Father thus without all my desert To reue me halfe the kingdome which by course Of law and nature should remayne to me Hermon If you with stubborne and vntamed pryde Had stood against him in rebelling wise Or if with grudging minde you had enuied So slow a slidyng of his aged yeres Or sought before your time to haste the course Of fatall death vpon his royall head Or stained your stocke with murder of your kyn Some face of reason might perhaps haue seemed To yelde some likely cause to spoyle ye thus Ferrox The wrekeful Gods powre on my cursed head Eternall plagues and neuer dying woes The hellish prince adiudge my dampned ghost To Tantales thirste or proude Ixions wheele Or cruell gripe to gnaw my growing harte To during tormentes and vnquenched flames If euer I conceyued so foule a thought To wisshe his ende of life or yet of reigne Dordan Ne yet your father O most noble Prince Did euer thinke so fowle a thing of you For he with more than fathers tendre loue While yet the fates do lende him life to rule Who long might lyue to see your ruling well To you my Lorde and to his other sonne Lo he resignes his realme and royaltie Which neuer would so wise a Prince haue done If he had once misdemed that in your harte There euer lodged so vnkinde a thought But tendre loue my Lorde and setled truste Of your good nature and your noble minde Made him to place you thus in royall throne And now to geue you half his realme to guide Yea and that halfe which in abounding store Of things that serue to make a welthy realme In stately cities and in frutefull soyle In temperate breathing of the milder heauen In thinges of nedefull vse which frendly sea Transportes by traffike from the forreine partes In flowing wealth in honour and in force Doth passe the double value of the parte That Porrex hath allotted to his reigne Such is your case such is your fathers loue Ferrex Ah loue my frendes loue wrongs not whoÌ„ he loues Dordan Ne yet he wrongeth you that geueth you So large a reigne ere that the course of time Bring you to kingdome by discended right Which time perhaps might end your time before Ferrex Is this no wrong say you to reaue from me My natiue right of halfe so great a realme And thus to matche his yonger sonne with me In egall power and in as great degree Yea and what sonne the sonne whose swelling pride Woulde neuer yelde one poinct of reuerence Whan I the elder and apparaunt heire Stoode in the likelihode to possesse the whole Yea and that sonne which from his childish age Enuieth myne honour and doth hate my life What will he now do when his pride his rage The mindefull malice of his grudging harte Is armed with force with wealth and kingly state Hermon Was this not wrong yea yll aduised wrong To giue so mad a man so sharpe a sworde To so great perill of so great missehappe Wide open thus to set so large a waye Dordan Alas my Lord what griefull thing is this That of your brother you can thinke so ill I neuer saw him vtter likelie signe Whereby a man might see or once misdeme Such hate of you ne such vnyelding pride Ill is their counsell shamefull be their ende That raysing such mistrustfull feare in you Sowing the seede of such vnkindly hate Trauaile by treason to destroy you both Wise is your brother and of noble hope Worthie to welde a large and mightie realme So much a stronger frende haue you therby Whose strength is your strength if you gree in one Hermon If nature and the Goddes had pinched so Their flowing bountie and their noble giftes Of princelie qualities from you my Lorde And powrde them all at ones in wastfull wise Upon your fathers yonger sonne alone Perhappes there be that in your preiudice Would say that birth should yeld to worthinesse But sithe in eche good gift and princelie arte Ye are his matche and in the chiefe of all In mildenesse and in sobre gouernaunce Ye farre surmount And sith there is in you Sufficing skill and hopefull towardnesse To weld the whole and match your elders prayse I see no cause why ye should loose the halfe Ne would I wisshe you yelde to such a losse Lest your milde sufferaunce of so great a wronge Be deemed cowardishe and simple dreade Which shall geue courage to the fierie head Of your yonge brother to inuade the whole While yet therfore stickes in the peoples minde The lothed wrong of your disheritaunce And ere your brother haue by settled power By guile full cloke of an alluring showe Got him some force and fauour in the realme And while the noble Queene your mother lyues To worke and practise all for your auaile Attempt redresse by armes and wreake your self Upon his life that gayneth by your losse Who nowe to shame of you and griefe of vs In your owne kingdome triumphes ouer you Shew now your courage meete for kingly state That they which haue auowed to spend theyr goods Their landes their liues and honours in your cause â–ª May be the bolder to mainteyne your parte When they do see that cowarde feare in you Shall not betray ne faile their faithfull hartes If once the death of Porrex ende the strife And pay the price of his vsurped reigne Your mother shall perswade the angry kyng The Lords your frends eke shall appease his rage For they be wise and well they can forsee That ere longe time your aged fathers death Will bryng a time when you shall well requite Their frendlie fauour or their hatefull spite Yea or their slackenesse to auaunce your cause Wise men do not so hang on passing staâ—â— Of present Princes chiefely in their age But they will further cast their reaching eye To viewe and weye the times and reignes to come Ne is it likely though the kyng be wrothe That he yet will or that the realme will beare Extreme reuenge vpon his onely sonne Or if he woulde what one is he that dare Be minister to such an enterprise And here you be now placed in your owne Amyd your Frendes your vassalles and your strength We shall defende and kepe your person safe Till either counsell turne his tender minde Or age or sorrow end his werie dayes But if the feare of Goddes and secrete grudge Of natures law repining at the fact Withholde your courage from so great attempt Know ye that lust of kingdomes hath no law The Goddes do beare and well allow in kinges The thinges they abhorre in rascall routes When kinges on slender quarrells runne to warres And then in cruell and vnkindely wise Commaund theftes rapes murders of innocentes The spoile of townes ruines of mighty realmes Thinke you such princes do suppose them selues Subiect to lawes of kinde and feare of Gods Murders and violent theftes in priuate men Are hainous crimes
peace Beware O king the greatest harme of all Lest by your waylefull plaints your hastened death Yelde larger roume vnto their growing rage Preserue your life the onely hope of stay And if your highnes herein list to vse Wisdome or force counsell or knightly aide Loe we our persons powers and lyues are yours Use vs tyll death O king we are your owne Eub. Loe here the perill that was erst foresene When you O king did first deuide your lande And yelde your present reigne vnto your sonnes But now O noble prince now is no time To waile and plaine and wast your wofull life Now is the time for present good aduise Sorow doth darke the iudgement of the wytte The hart vnbroken and the courage free From feble faintnesse of bootelesse despeire Doth either ryse to safetie or renowme By noble valure of vnuanquisht minde Or yet doth perishe in more happy sort Your grace may send to either of your sonnes Some one both wise and noble personage Which with good counsell and with weightie name Of father shall present before their eyes Your hest your life your safetie and their owne The present mischiefe of their deadly strife And in the while assemble you the force Which your commaundement and the spedy hast Of all my lordes here present can prepare The terrour of your mightie power shall stay The rage of both or yet of one at lest Nun. O king the greatest griefe that euer prince dyd heare That euer wofull messenger did tell That euer wretched lande hath sene before I bryng to you Porrex your yonger sonne With soden force inuaded hath the lande That you to Ferrex did allotte to rule And with his owne most bloudy hand he hath His brother slaine and doth possesse his realme Gorb. O heauens send down the flames of your reuenge Destroy I say with flash of wrekefull fier The traitour sonne and then the wretched sire But let vs go that yet perhappes I may Die with reuenge and peaze the hatefull gods Chor. The lust of kingdome knowes no sacred faith No rule of reason no regarde of right No kindely loue no feare of heauens wrath But with contempt of Goddes and mans despite Through blodie slaughter doth prepare the waies To fatall scepter and accursed reigne The sonne so lothes the fathers lingering daies Ne dreades his hand in brothers blode to staine O wretched prince ne doest thou yet recorde The yet fresh murthers done within the lande Of thy forefathers when the cruell sworde Bereft Morgan his life with cosyns hand Thus fatall plagues pursue the giltie race Whose murderous hand imbrued with giltlesse blood Askes vengeaunce still before the heauens face With endlesse mischiefes on the cursed broode The wicked childe thus bringes to wofull sire The mournefull plaintes to wast his very life Thus do the cruell flames of ciuyll fier Destroy the parted reigne with hatefull strife And hence doth spring the well from which doth flow The dead black streames of mourning plaints woe ¶ The order and signification of the domme shew before the fourth act ¶ First the musick of Howbâ—ies begaÌ„ to plaie during which there came from vnder the stage as though out of hell three furies Alecto Megera and â—tesiphone clad in black garmentes sprinkled with bloud and flames their bodies girt with snakes their heds spred with serpentes in steâ—d of heare the one bearing in her hand a Snake the other a Whip and the third a burning Firebrand ech driuing before them a king and a queene which moued by furies vnnaturally had slaine their owne children The names of the kings and queenes were these Tantalus Medea Athamas Ino Cambises Althea after that the furies and these had passed about the sâ—age thrise they departed and than the musicke ceased hereby was signified the vnnaturall murders to follow that is to say Porrex slaine by his owne mother And of king Gorboduc and queene Uiden killed by their owne subiectes Actus quartus Scena prima Viden sola VId. Why should I lyue and liuger forth my time In longer life to double my distresse O me most wofull wight whom no mishappe Long ere this day could haue bereued hence Mought not these handes by fortune or by fate Haue perst this brest and life with iron rest Or in this palace here where I so long Haue spent my daies could not that happie houre Once once haue hapt in which these hugie frames With death by fall might haue oppressed me Or should not this most hard and cruell soile So oft where I haue prest my wretched steps Sometime had ruthe of myne accursed life To rende in twayne swallow me therin So had my bones possessed now in peace Their happie graue within the closed grounde And greadie wormes had gnawen this pyned harâ— Without my feeling payne so should not now This lyuing brest remayne the ruthefull tombe Wherein my hart yelden to death is graued Nor driery thoughts with panges of pining griefe My dolefull minde had not afflicted thus O my beloued sonne O my swete childe My deare Ferrex my ioye my lyues delyght Is my beloued sonne is my sweete childe My deare Ferrex my ioye my lyues delight Murdered with cruell death O hatefull wretch O heynous traitour both to heauen and earth Thou Porrex thou this damned dede hast wrought Thou Porrex thou shalt dearely bye the same Traitour to kinne and kinde to sire and me To thine owne fleshe and traitour to thy selfe The Gods on thee in hell shall wreke their wrath And here in earth this hand shall take reuenge On thee Porrex thou false and caitife wight If after bloud so eigre were thy thirst And murderous minde had so possessed thee If such hard hart of rocke and stonie flint Liued in thy brest that nothing els could like Thy cruell tyrantes thought but death and bloud Wilde sauage beasts mought not their slaughter seruâ— To fede thy gredie will and in the middest Of their entrailes to staine thy deadly handes With bloud deserued and drinke thereof thy fill Or if nought els but death and bloud of man Mought please thy lust could none in Brittaine land Whose hart betorne out of his panting brest With thine owne hand or worke what death thou wouldest Suffice to make a sacrifice to peaze That deadly minde and murderous thought in thee But he who in the selfe same wombe was wrapped Where thou in dismall hower receiuedst life Or if nedes nedes thy hand must slaughter make Moughtest thou not haue reached a mortall wound And with thy sword haue pearsed this cursed wombe That the accursed Porrex brought to light And geuen me a iust reward therefore So Ferrex yet sweete life mought haue enioyed And to his aged father comfort brought With some yong sonne in whom they both might liue But whereunto waste I this ruthfull speche To thee that hast thy brothers bloud thus shed Shall I still thinke that froÌ„ this wombe thou sprong That I thee bare or take thee
spedie wise to put the same in vre Thus haue I tolde the cause that moued me To worke my brothers death and so I yeld My life my death to iudgement of your grace Gord. Oh cruell wight should any cause preuaile To make thee staine thy hands with brothers bloud But what of thee we will resolue to doe Shall yet remaine vnknowen Thou in the meane Shalt from our royall presence banisht be Untill our princely pleasure furder shall To thee be shewed Depart therefore our sight Accursed childe What cruell desrenie What froward fate hath sorted vs this chaunce That euen in those where we should comfort find Where our delight now in our aged dayes Sould rest and be euen there our onely griefe And depest sorrowes to abridge our life Most pyning cares and deadly thoughts do grow Aros Your grace should now in these graue yeres of yours Haue found ere this y price of mortall ioyes How short they be how fading here in earth How full of chaunge how brittle our estate Of nothing sure saue onely of the death To whom both man and all the world doth owe Their end at last neither should natures power In other sort against your hart preuaile Than as the naked hand whose stroke assayes The armed brest where force doth light in vaine Gorbod Many can yelde right sage and graue aduise Of pacient sprite to others wrapped in woe And can in speche both rule and conquere kinde Who if by proofe they might feele natures force Would shew them selues men as they are in dede Which now wil nedes be gods But what doth meane The sory chere of her that here doth come Marcella Oh where is ruth or where is pitie now Whether is gentle hart and mercy fled Are they exiled out of our stony brestes Neuer to make returne is all the world Drowned in bloud and soncke in crueltie If not in women mercy may be found If not alas within the mothers brest To her owne childe to her owne fleshe and bloud If ruthe be banished thence if pitie there May haue no place if there no gentle hart Do liue and dwell where should we seeke it then Gorb. Madame alas what meanes your woful tale Marcella O fillie woman I why to this houre Haue kinde and fortune thus deferred my breath That I should liue to see this dolefull day Will euer wight beleue that such hard hart Could rest within the cruell mothers brest With her owne hand to slay her onely sonne But out alas these eyes behelde the same They saw the driery sight and are becomeÌ„ Most ruthfull recordes of the bloudy fact Porrex alas is by his mother slaine And with her hand a wofull thing to tell While slumbring on his carefull bed he restes His hart stabde in with knife is rest of life Gorboduc O Eubulus oh draw this sword of ours And pearce this hart with speed O hatefull light O lothsome life O sweete and welcome death Deare Eubulus worke this we thee besech Eubulus Pacient your grace perhappes he liueth yet With wound receaued but not of certaine death Gorboduc O let vs then repayre vnto the place And see if Porrex liue or thus be slaine Marcella Alas he liueth not it is to true That with these eyes of him a perelesse prince Sonne to a king and in the flower of youth Euen with a twinke a senselesse stocke I saw Arostus O damned deede Marcella But heare hys ruthefull end The noble prince pearst with the sodeine wound Out of his wretched slumber hastely start Whose strength now fayling straight he ouerthrew When in the fall his eyes euen new vnclosed Behelde the Queene and cryed to her for helpe We then alas the ladies which that time Did there attend seing that heynous deede And hearing him oft call the wretched name Of mother and to crye to her for aide Whose direfull hand gaue him the mortall wound Pitying alas for nought els could we do His ruthefull end ranne to the wofull bedde Dispoyled straight his brest and all we might Wiped in vaine with napkins next at hand The sodeine streames of bloud that flushed fast Out of the gaping wound O what a looke O what a ruthefull stedfast eye me thought He fixt vpon my face which to my death Will neuer part fro me when with a braide A deepe fet sigh he gaue and therewithall Clasping his handes to heauen he cast his sight And straight pale death pressing within his face The flying ghost his mortall corpes forsooke Arostus Neuer did age bring forth so vile a fact Marcella O hard and cruell happe that thus assigned Unto so worthy a wight so wretched end But most hard cruell hart that could consent To lend the hatefull destenies that hand By which alas so heynous crime was wrought O Queene of adamant O marble brest If not the fauour of his comely face If not his princely chere and countenance His valiant actiue armes his manly brest If not his faire and seemely personage His noble limnies in such proportion cast As would haue wrapt a sillie womans thought If this mought not haue moued thy bloudy hart And that most cruell hand the wretched weapon Euen to let fall and kiste him in the face With teares for ruthe to reaue such one by death Should nature yet consent to slay her sonne O mother thou to murder thus thy childe Euen Ioue with iustice must with lightning flames FroÌ„ heauen send downe some strange reuenge on thee Ah noble prince how oft haue I behelde Thee mounted on thy fierce and traumpling stede Shining in armour bright before the tilt And with thy mistresse sleue tied on thy helme And charge thy staffe to please thy ladies eye That bowed the head peece of thy frendly foe How oft in armes on horse to bend the mace How oft in armes on foote to breake the sworde Which neuer now these eyes may see againe Arostus Madame alas in vaine these plaints are shed Rather with me depart and helpe to swage The thoughtfull griefes that in the aged king Must needes by nature growe by death of this His onely sonne whom he did holde so deare Marcella What wight is that which saw y I did see And could refraine to waile with plaint and teares Not I alas that hart is not in me But let vs goe for I am greued anew To call to minde the wretched fathers woe Chorus Whan greedy lust in royall seate to reigne Hath reâ—t all care of Goddes and eke of men And cruell hart wrath treason and disoaine Within ambicious brest are lodged then Beholde how mischiefe wide her selfe displayes And with the brothers hand the brother slayes When bloud thus shed doth staine the heauens face Crying to Ioue for vengeance of the deede The mightic God euen moueth from his place With wrath to wreke then sendes he forth with spede The dreadfull furies daughters of the night With Serpentes girt carying the whip of ire With heare of stinging
Snakes and shining bright With flames and bloud and with a brand of fire These for reuenge of wretched murder done Do make the mother kill her onely sonne Blood asketh blood and death must death requite Ioue by his iust and euerlasting dome Iustly hath euer so requited it The times before recorde and times to come Shall finde it true and so doth present proofe Present before our eyes for our behoofe O happy wight that suffres not the snare Of murderous minde to tangle him in blood And happy he that can in time beware By others harmes and turne it to his good But wo to him that fearing not to offend Doth serue his lust and will not see the end ¶ The order and signification of the domme shew before the fifth act ¶ First the drommes sluites began to sound during which there came forth vpon the stage a company of Hargabusiers and of Armed men all in order of battaile These after their peeces discharged and that the armed men had three times marched about the stage departed and then the drommes and fluits did cease Hereby was signified tumults rebellions armes and ciuill warres to follow as fell in the realme of great Brittayne which by the space of fiftie yeares more continued in ciuill warre betwene the nobilitie after the death of king Gorboduc and of his issues for want of certayne limitacion in succession of the crowne till the time of Dunwallo Molmutius who reduced the land to monarchie Actus quintus Scena prima Clotyn. Mandud Gwenard Fergus Eubulus CLot Did euer age bring forth such tirants harts The brother hath bereft the brothers life The mother she hath died her cruell handes In bloud of her owne sonne and now at last The people loe forgetting trouth and loue Contemning quite both law and loyall hart Euen they haue slaine their soueraigne lord queene Mand. Shall this their traitorous crime vnpunished rest Euen yet they cease not caryed on with rage In their rebellious routes to threaten still A new bloud shed vnto the princes kinne To slay them all and to vproote the race Both of the king and queene so are they moued With Porrex death wherin they falsely charge The giltlesse king without desert at all And traitorously haue murdered him therfore And eke the queene Gwena Shall subiectes dare with force To worke reuenge vpon their princes fact Admit the worst that may as sure in this The deede was fowle the queene to slay her sonne Shall yet the subiect seeke to take the sworde Arise agaynst his lord and slay his king O wretched state where those rebellious hartes Are not rent out euen from their liuing breastes And with the body throwen vnto the foules As carrion foode for terrour of the rest Ferg There can no punishment be thought to great For this so greuous cryine let spede therfore Be vsed therin for it behoueth so Eubulus Ye all my lordes I see consent in one And I as one consent with ye in all I holde it more than neede with sharpest law To punish this tinnultuous bloudy rage For nothing more may shake the common state Than sufferance of vproares without redresse Wherby how some kingdomes of mightie power After great conquestes made and florishing In fame and wealth haue ben to ruine brought I pray to Ioue that we may rather wayle Such happe in them than witnesse in our selues Eke fully with the duke my minde agrees Though kinges forget to gouerne as they ought Yet subiectes must obey as they are bounde But now my lordes before ye farder wade Or spend your speach what sharpe reuenge shall fall By iustice plague on these rebellious wightes Me thinkes ye rather should first search the way By which in time the rage of this vproare Mought be repressed and these great tumults ceased Euen yet the life of Brittayne land doth hang In traitours balaunce of vnegall weight Thinke not my lordes the death of Gorboduc Nor yet Videnaes bloud will cease their rage Euen our owne lyues our wiues and children deare Our countrey dearest of all in daunger standes Now to be spoiled now now made desolate And by our selues a conquest to ensue For geue once swey vnto the peoples lustes To rush forth on and stay them not in time And as the streame that rowleth downe the hyll So will they headlong ronne with raging thoughtes From bloud to bloud from mischiefe vnto â—oe To ruine of the realme them selues and all So giddy are the common peoples mindes So glad of chaunge more wauering than the sea Ye see my lordes what strength these rebelles haue What hugie nombre is assembled still For though the traiterous fact for which they rose Be wrought and done yet lodge they still in field So that how farre their furies yet will stretch Breat cause we haue to dreade That we may seeke By present battaile to represse their power Speede must we vse to leuie force therfore For either they forthwith will mischiefe worke Or their rebellious roares forthwith will cease These violent thinges may haue no lasting long Let vs therfore vse this for present helpe Perswade by gentle speach and offre grace With gift of pardon saue vnto the chiefe And that vpon condicion that forthwith They yelde the captaines of their euterprise To beare such guerdon of their traiterous fact As may be both due vengeance to them selues And holsome terrour to posteritie This shall I thinke scatter the greatest part That now are holden with desire of home Weried in field with cold of winters nightes And some no doubt striken with dread of law Whan this is once proclamed it shall make The captaines to mistrust the multitude Whose safetie biddes them to betray their heads And so much more bycause the rascall routes In thinges of great and perillous attemptes Are neuer trustie to the noble race And while we treate and stand on termes of grace We shall both stay their furies rage the while And eke gaine time whose onely helpe sufficeth Withoten warre to vanquish rebelles power In the meane while make you in redynes Such band of horsemen as ye may prepare Horsemen you know are not the commons strength But are the force and store of noble men Wherby the vnchosen and vnarmed sort Of skillesse rebelles whome none other power But nombre makes to be of dreadfull force With sodeyne brunt may quickely be opprest And if this gentle meane of proffered grace With stubborne hartes cannot so farre auayle As to asswage their desperate courages Then do I wish such slaughter to be made As present age and eke posteritie May be adrad with horrour of reuenge That iustly then shall on these rebelles fall This is my lord the summe of mine aduise Clotyn. Neither this case admittes debate at large And though it did this speach that hath ben sayd Hath well abridged the tale I would haue tolde Fully with Eubulus do I consent In all that he hath sayd and if the same To you
and full of foule reproch Yet none offence but deckt with glorious name Of noble conquestes in the handes of kinges But if you like not yet so hoâ—e deuise Ne list to take such vauntage of the time But though with perill of your owne estate You will not be the first that shall inuade Assemble yet your force for your defence And for your safetie stand vpon your garde Dordan O heauen was there euer heard or knowen So wicked counsell to a noble prince Let me my Lorde disclose vnto your grace This hainous tale what mischiefe it containes Your fathers death your brothers and your owne Your present murder and eternall shame Heare me O King and suffer not to sinke So high a treason in your princely brest Ferrex The mightie Goddes forbid that euer I Should once conceaue such mischiefe in my hart Although my brother hath bereft my realme And beare perhappes to me an hatefull minde Shall I reuenge it with his death therefore Or shall I so destroy my fathers life That gaue me life the Gods forbid I say Cease you to speake so any more to me Ne you my frend with answere once repeate So foule a tale In silence let it die What lord or subiect shall haue hope at all That vnder me they safely shall enioye Their goods their honours landes and liberties With whom neither one onely brother deare Ne father dearer could emoye their liues But sith I feare my yonger brothers rage And sith perhappes some other man may geue Some like aduise to moue his grudging head At mine estate which counsell may perchaunce Take greater force with him than this with me I will in secrete so prepare my selfe As if his malice or his lust to reigne Breake forth in armes or sodeine violence I may withstand his rage and keepe mine owne Dordan I feare the fatall time now draweth on When ciuil hate shall end the noble line Of famous Brute and of his royall seede Great Ioue defend the mischiefes now at hand O that the Secretaries wise aduise Had erst bene heard when he besought the king Not to diuide his land nor send his sonnes To further partes from presence of his court Ne yet to yelde to them his gouernaunce Lo such are they now in the royall throne As was rashe Phaeton in Phebus carre Ne then the fiery stedes did draw the flame With wilder randoâ— through the kindled skies Than traitorous counseâ—â— now will whirle abouâ— The youthfull heades of these vnskilfull kinges But I here of their father will enforme The reuerence of him perhappes shall stay The growing mischiefes while they yet are greene If this helpe not then woe vnto them selues The prince the people the diuided land Actus secundus Scena secunda Porrex Tyndar Philander POrrex And is it thus And doth he so prepare Against his brother as his mortall foe And now while yet his aged father liues Neither regardes he him nor feares he me Warre would he haue and he shall haue it so Tyndar I saw my selfe the great prepared store Of horse of armour and of weapon there Ne bring I to my lorde reported tales Without the ground of seen and fearched trouth Loe secrete quarrels runne about his court To bring the name of you my lorde in hate Ech man almost can now debate the cause And aske a reason of so great a wrong Why he so noble and so wise a prince Is as vnworthy rest his heritage And why the king misseledde by craftie meanes Diuided thus his land from course of right The wiser sort holde downe their griefull heades Eche man withdrawes from talke and company Of those that haue bene knowne to fauour you To hide the mischiefe of their meaning there Rumours are spread of your preparing here The rascall numbers of vnskilfull sort Are filled with monstrous tales of you and yours In secrete I was counselled by my frendes To hast me thence and brought you as you know Letters from those that both can truely tell And would not write vnlesse they knew it well Philand My lord yet ere you moue vnkindly warre Send to your brother to demaund the cause Perhappes some traitorous tales haue filled his eares With false reportes against your noble grace Which once disclosed shall end the growing strife That els not stayed with wise foresight in time Shall hazarde both your kingdomes and your liues Send to your father eke he shall appease Your kindled mindes and rid you of this feare Porrex Ridde me of feare I feare him not at all Ne will to him ne to my father send If danger were for one to tary there Thinke ye it safetie to returne againe In mischiefes such as Ferrex now intendes The wonted courteous lawes to messengers Are not obserued which in iust warre they vse Shall I so hazard any one of mine Shall I betray my trusty frendes to him That haue disclosed his treason vnto me Let him entreate that feares I feare him not Or shall I to the king my father send Yea and send now while such a mother liues That loues my brother and that hateth me Shall I geue leasure by my fonde delayes To Ferrex to oppresse me all vnware I will not but I will inuade his realme And seeke the traitour prince within his court Mischiefe for mischiefe is a due reward His wretched head shall pay the worthy price Of this his treason and his hate to me Shall I abide and treate and send and pray And holde my yelden throate to traitours knife While I with valiant minde and conquering force Might rid my selfe of foes and winne a realme Yet rather when I haue the wretches head Then to the king my father will I send The bootelesse case may yet appease his wrath If not I will defend me as I may Philand Lo here the end of these two youthful kings The fathers death the ruine of their realmes O most vnhappy state of counsellers That light on so vnhappy lordes and times That neither can their good aduise be heard Yet must they beare the blames of ill successe But I will to the king their father haste Ere this mischiefe come to the likely end That if the mindfull wrath of wrekefull Gods Since mightie Ilions fall not yet appeased With these poore remnantes of the Troian name Haue not determined by vnmoued fate Out of this realme to rase the Brittishe line By good aduise by awe of fathers name By force of wiser lordes this kindled hate May yet be quentched ere it consume vs all Chorus When youth not bridled with a guiding stay Is left to randon of their owne delight And welds whole realmes by force of soueraign sway Great is the daunger of vnmaistred might Lest skillesse rage throwe downe with headlong fallâ— Their lands their states their liues them selues alâ— When growing pride doth fill the swelling brest And gredy lust doth rayse the climbing minde Oh hardlie maye the perill be represt Ne feare of angrie Goddes ne lawes
for my sonne No traitour no I thee refuse for mine Murderer I thee renounce thou art not mine Neuer O wretch this wombe conceiued thee Nor neuer bode I painfull throwes for thee Changeling to me thou art and not my childe Nor to no wight that sparke of pitie knew Ruthelesse vnkinde monster of natures worke Thou neuer suckt the milke of womans brest But from thy birth the cruell Tigers teates Haue nursed thee nor yet of fleshe and bloud Formde is thy hart but of hard iron wrought And wilde and desert woods bredde thee to life But canst thou hope to scape my iust reuenge Or that these handes will not be wrooke on thee Doest thou not know that Ferrex mother liues That loued him more dearly than her selfe And doth she liue and is not venged on thee Actus quartus Scena secunda Gorboduc Arostus Eubulus Porrex Marcella GOrb. We maruell much wherto this lingring stay Falles out so long Porrex vnto our court By order of our letters is returned â–ª And Eubulus receaued from vs by hest At his arriuall here to geue him charge Before our presence straight to make repaire And yet we haue no worde whereof he stayes Arostus Lo where he commes Eubulus with him Eubulus According to your highnesse hest to me Here haue I Porrex brought euen in such sort As from his weried horse he did alight For that your grace did will such hast therein Gorboduc We like and praise this spedy will in you To worke the thing that to your charge we gaue Porrex if we so farre should swarue from kinde And from those boundes which lawe of nature sets As thou hast done by vile and wretched deede In cruell murder of thy brothers life Our present hand could stay no longer time But straight should bathe this blade in bloud of thee As iust reuenge of thy detested crime No we should not offend the lawe of kinde If now this sworde of ours did slay thee here For thou hast murdered him whose heinous death Euen natures force doth moue vs to reuenge By bloud againe and iustice forceth vs To measure death for death thy due desert Yet sithens thou art our childe and sith as yet In this hard case what worde thou canst alledge For thy defence by vs hath not bene heard We are content to staye our will for that Which iustice biddes vs presently to worke And geue thee leaue to vse thy speche at full If ought thou haue to lay for thine excuse Porrex Neither O king I can or will denie But that this hand from Ferrex life hath reft Which fact how much my dolefull hart doth waile Oh would it mought as full appeare to sight As inward griefe doth poure it forth to me So yet perhappes if euer ruthefull hart Melting in teares within a manly brest Through depe repentance of his bloudy fact If euer griefe if euer wofull man Might moue regreite with sorrowe of his fault I thinke the torment of my mournefull case Knowen to your grace as I do feele the same Would force euen wrath her selfe to pitie me But as the water troubled with the mudde Shewes not the face which els the eye should see Euen so your irefull minde with stirred thought Can not so perfectly discerne my cause But this vnhappe amongest so many heapes I must content me with most wretched man That to my selfe I must reserue my woe In pining thoughtes of mine accursed fact Since I may not shewe here my smallest griefe Such as it is and as my brest endures Which I esteeme the greatest miserie Of all misschappes that fortune now can send Not that I rest in hope with plaint and teares To purchase life for to the Goddes I clepe For true recorde of this my faithfull speche Neuer this hart shall haue the thoughtfull dread To die the death that by your graces dome By iust desert shall be pronounced to me Nor neuer shall this tongue once spend the speche Pardon to craue or seeke by sute to liue I meane not this as though I were not touchde With care of dreadfull death or that I helde Life in contempt but that I know the minde Stoupes to no dread although the fleshe be fraile And for my gilt I yelde the same so great As in my selfe I finde a feare to sue For graunt of life Gorbodue In vaine O wretch thou shewest A wofull hart Ferrex now lies in graue Slaine by thy hand Porrex Yet this O father heare And then I end Your maiestie well knowes That when my brother Ferrex and my selfe By your owne hest were ioyned in gouernance Of this your graces realme of Brittaine land I neuer sought nor trauailled for the same Nor by my selfe nor by no frend I wrought But from your highnesse will alone it sprong Of your most gracious goodnesse bent to me But how my brothers hart euen then repined With swollen disdaine against mine egall rule Seing that realme which by discent should grow Wholly to him allotted halfe to me Euen in your highnesse court he now remaines And with my brother then in nearest place Who can recorde what proofe thereof was shewde And how my brothers enuious hart appearde Yet I that iudged it my part to seeke His fauour and good will and loth to make Your highnesse know the thing which should haue brought Brief to your grace your offence to him Hoping my earnest sute should soone haue wonne A louing hart within a brothers brest Wrought in that sort that for a pledge of loue And faithfull hart he gaue to me his hand This made me thinke that he had banisht quite All rancour from his thought and bare to me Such hartie loue as I did owe to him But after once we left your graces court And from your highnesse presence liued apart This egall rule still still did grudge him so That now those enumous sparkes which erst lay raked In liuing cinders of dissembling brest Kindled so farre within his hart disdaine That longer could he not refraine from proofe Of secrete practise to depriue me life By poysons force and had berest me so If mine owne seruant hired to this fact And moued by trouth with hate to worke the same In time had not bewrayed it vnto me Whan thus I sawe the knot of loue vnknitte All honest league and faithfull promise broke The law of kinde and trouth thus rent in twaine His hart on mischiefe set and in his brest Blacke treason hid then then did I despeire That euer time could winne him frend to me Then saw I how he smiled with slaying knife Wrapped vnder cloke then saw I depe deceite Lurke in his face and death prepared for me Euen nature moued me than to holde my life More deare to me than his and had this hand Since by his life my death must nedes ensue And by his death my life to be preserued To shed his bloud and seeke my safetie so And wisedome willed me without protract In
my lordes may seeme for best aduise I wish that it should streight be put in vre Mandud My lordes than let vs presently depart And follow this that liketh vs so well Fergus If euer time to gaine a kingdome here Were offred man now it is offred mee The realme is reft both of their king and queene The ofspring of the prince is slaine and dead No issue now remaines the heire vnknowen The people are in armes and mutynies The nobles they are busied how to cease These great rebellious tumultes and vproares And Brittavne land now desert left alone Amyd these broyles vncertayne where to rest Offers her selfe vnto that noble hart That will or dare pursue to beare her crowne Shall I that am the duke of Albanye Discended from that line of noble bloud Which hath so long florished in worthy fame Of valiaunt hartes such as in noble brestes Of right should rest aboue the the baser sort Refuse to venture life to winne a crowne Whom shall I finde enmies that will withstand My fact herein if I attempt by armes To seeke the same now in these times of broyle These dukes power can hardly well appease The people that already are in armes But if perhappes my force be once in field Is not my strength in power aboue the best Of all these lordes now left in Brittayne land And though they should match me with power of mē Yet doubtfull is the chaunce of battailles ioyued If victors of the field we may depart Ours is the scepter then of great Brittayne ▪ If slayne amid the playne this body lye Mine enemies yet shall not deny me this But that I dyed geuing the noble charge To hazarde life for conquest of a crowne Forthwith therefore will I in post depart To Albanye and raise in armour there All power I can and here my secret friendes By secret practise shall sollicite still To seeke to wynne to me the peoples hartes Actus quintus Scena Secunda Eubulus Clotyn. Mandad Gwenard Arostus Nuntius Evb. O Ioue how are these peoples harts abusde ▪ What blind fury thus he adlong caries them That though so many bookes so many rolles Of auncient time recorde what greuous plagues Light on these rebelles aye and though so oft Their cares haue heard their aged fathers tell What iuste reward these traitours still receyue Yea though them selues haue sene depe death bloud By strangling cord and slaughter of the sword To such assigned yet can they not beware Yet can not stay their lewde rebellious handes But suffring loe fowle treason to distaine Their wretched myndes forget their loyall hart Reiect all truth and rise against their prince A ruthefull case that those whom duties bond Whom grafted law by nature truth and faith Bound to preserue their countrey and their king Borne to defend their common wealth and prince Euen they should geue consent thus to subuert Thee Brittaine land from thy wombe should spring O natiue soile those that will needs destroy And tuyne thee and eke them selues in fine For lo when once the dukes had offred grace Of pardon sweete the multitude missledde By traitorous fraude of their vngracious heades One sort that saw the dangerous successe Of stubborne standing in rebellious warre And knew the difference of princes power From headlesse nombre of tumultuous routes Whom common countreies care and priuate feare Taught to repent the errour of their rage Layde handes vpon the captaines of their band And brought them bound vnto the mightie dukes And other sort not trusting yet so well The truth of pardon or mistrusting more Their owne offence than that they could conceiue Such hope of pardon for so foule misdede Or for that they their captaines could not yeld Who fearing to be yelded fled before Stale home by silence of the secret night The thirde vnhappy and enraged sort Of desperate hartes who stained in princes bloud From trayterous furour could not be withdrawen By loue by law by grace ne yet by feare By proffered life ne yet by threatned death With mindes hopelesse of life dreadlesse of death Carelesse of countrey and awelesse of God Stoode bent to fight as furies did them moue With violent death to close their traiterous life These all by power of horsemen were opprest And with reuenging sworde slayne in the field Or with the strangling cord hangd on the tree Where yet their carryen carcases do preach The fruites that rebelles reape of their vproares And of the murder of their sacred prince But loe where do approche the noble dukes By whom these tumults haue ben thus appeasde Clotyn. I thinke the world will now at length beware And feare to put on armes agaynst their prince Mand. If not those trayterous hartes that dare rebell Let them beholde the wide and hugie fieldes With bloud and bodies spread of rebelles slayne The lofty trees clothed with the corpses dead That strangled with the corde do hang theron Arostus A iust rewarde such as all times before Haue euer lotted to those wretched folkes Gwen. But what meanes he that commeth here so fast Nun. My lordes as dutie and my trouth doth moue And of my countrey worke a care in mee That if the spending of my breath auailed To do the seruice that my hart desires I would not shunne to imbrace a present death So haue I now in that wherein I thought My trauayle mought performe some good effect Uentred my life to bring these tydinges here Fergus the mightie duke of Albanye Is now in armes and lodgeth in the fielde With twentie thousand men hether he bendes His spedy marche and mindes to inuade the crowne Dayly he gathereth strength and spreads abrode That to this realme no certeine heire remaines That Brittayne land is left without a guide That he the scepter seekes for nothing els But to preserue the people and the land Which now remaine as ship without a sterne Loe this is that which I haue here to say Cloyton Is this his fayth and shall he falsely thus Abuse the vauntage of vnhappie times O wretched land if his outragious pride His cruell and vntempred wilfulness His deepe dissembling shewes of false pretence Should once attaine the crowne of Brittaine land Let vs my lordes with timely force resist The new attempt of this our common foe As we would quench the flames of common fire Mand. Though we remaine without a certain prince To weld the realme or guide the wandring rule Yet now the common mother of vs all Our natiue land our countrey that conteines Our wiues children kindred our selues and all That euer is or may be deare to man Cries vnto vs to helpe our selues and her Let vs aduaunce our powers to represse This growing foe of all our liberties Gwenard Yea let vs so my lordes with hasty speede And ye O Goddes send vs the welcome death To shed our bloud in field and leaue vs not In lothesome life to lenger out our dayes To see the hugie heapes of
these vnhappes 〈◊〉 now roll downe vpon the wretched land Where emptie place of princely gouernaunce No certaine stay now left of doubtlesse heire Thus leaue this guidelesse realme an open pray To endlesse stormes and waste of ciuill warre Arostus That ye my lordes do so agree in one To saue your countrey from the violent reigne And wrongfully vsurped tyrannie Of him that threatens conquest of you all To saue your realme and in this realme your selues From forreine thraldome of so proud a prince Much do I prayse and I besech the Goddes With happy honour to requite it you But O my lordes sith now the heauens wrath Hath reft this land the issue of their prince Sith of the body of our late soueraigne lorde Remaines no moe since the yong kinges be slaine And of the title of discended crowne Uncertainly the diuerse mindes do thinke Euen of the learned sort and more vncertainly Will parciall fancie and affection deeme But most vncertainly will climbing pride And hope of reigne withdraw to sundry partes The doubtfull right and hopefull lust to reigne When once this noble seruice is atchieued For Brittaine land the mother of ye all When once ye haue with armed force represt The proude attemptes of this Albanian prince That threatens thraldome to your natiue land When ye shall vanquishers returne from field And finde the princely state an open pray To gredie lust and to vsurping power Then then my lordes if euer kindly care Of auncient honour of your auncesters Of present wealth and noblesse of your stockes Yea of the liues and safetie yet to come Of your deare wiues your children and your selues Might moue your noble hartes with gentle ruth Then then haue pitie on the torne estate Then helpe to salue the welneare hopelesse sore Which ye shall do if ye your selues withholde The slaying knife from your owne mothers throate Her shall you saue and you and yours in her If ye shall all with one assent forbeare Once to lay hand or take vnto your selues The crowne by colour of pretended right Or by what other meanes so euer it be Till first by common counsell of you all In Parliament the regall diademe Be set in certaine place of gouernaunce In which your Parliament and in your choise Preferre the right my lordes with respect Of streugth or frendes or what soeuer cause That may set forward any others part For right will last and wrong can not endure Right meane I his or hers vpon whose name The people rest by meane of natiue line Or by the vertue of some former lawe Already made their title to aduaunce Such one my lordes let be your chosen king Such one so borne within your natiue land Such one preferre and in no wise admitte The heauie yoke of forreine gouernance Let forreine titles yelde to publike wealth And with that hart wherewith ye now prepare Thus to withstand the proude muading foe With that same hart my lordes keepe out also Unnaturall thraldome of strangers reigne Ne suffer you against the rules of kinde Your mother land to serue a forreine prince Eubulus Loe here the end of Brutus royall line And loe the entry to the wofull wracke And vtter ruine of this noble realme The royall king and eke his sonnes are slaine No ruler restes within the regall seate The heire to whom the scepter longes vnknowen That to eche force of forreine princes power Whom vauntage of our wretched state may moue By sodeine armes to gaine so riche a realme And to the proud and gredie minde at home Whom blinded lust to reigne leade to aspire Loe Brittaine realme is left an open pray A present spoyle by conquest to ensue Who seeth not now how many rising mindes Do feede their thoughts with hope to reach a realme And who will not by force attempt to winne So great a gaine that hope perswades to haue A simple colour shall for title serue Who winnes the royall crowne will want no right Nor such as shall display by long discent A lineall race to proue him lawfull king In the meane while these ciuel armes shall rage And thus a thousand mischiefes shall vnfolde And farre and neare spread thee O Brittaine land All right and lawe shall cease and he that had Nothing to day to morrowe shall enioye Great heapes of golde and he that flowed in wealth Loe he shall be berest of life and all And happiest he that then possesseth least The wiues shall suffer rape the maides defloured And children fatherlesse shall weepe and wane With fire and sworde thy natiue folke shall perishe One kinsman shall bereaue an others life The father shall vnwitting slay the sonne The sonne shall slay the sire and know it not Women and maides the cruell souldiers sword Shall perse to death and sillie children loe That play in the streetes and fieldes are found By violent hand shall close their latter day Whom shall the fierce and bloudy souldier Reserue to life Whom shall he spare from death Euen thou O wretched mother halfe aliue Thou shalt beholde thy deare and onely childe Slaine with the sworde while he yet suckes thy brest Loe giltlesse bloud shall thus eche where be shed Thus shall the wasted soile yelde forth no fruite But dearth and famine shall possesse the land The townes shall be consumed and burnt with fire The peopled cities shall waxe desolate And thou O Brittaine whilome in renowme Whilome in wealth and fame shalt thus be torne Dismembred thus and thus be rent in twaine Thus wasted and defaced spoyled and destroyed These be the fruites your ciuil warres will bring Hereto it commes when kinges will not consent To graue aduise but followe wilfull will. This is the end when in fonde princes hartes Flattery preuailes and sage rede hath no place These are the plages when murder is the meane To make new heires vnto the royall crowne Thus wreke the Gods when that the mothers wrath Nought but the bloud of her owne childe may swage These mischiefes spring when rebells will arise To worke reuenge and iudge their princes fact This this ensues when noble men do faile In loyall trouth and subiectes will be kinges And this doth growe when loe vnto the prince Whom death or sodeine happe of life bereaues No certaine heire remaines such certaine heire As not all onely is the rightfull heire But to the realme is so made knowen to be And trouth therby vested in subiectes hartes To owe fayth there where right is knowen to rest Alas in Parliament what hope can be When is of Parliament no hope at all Which though it be assembled by consent Yet is not likely with consent to end While eche one for him selfe or for his frend Against his foe shall trauaile what he may While now the state left open to the man That shall with greatest force inuade the same Shall fill ambicious mindes with gaping hope When will they once with yelding hartes agree Or in the while how shall the realme be vsed No no then Parliament should haue bene holden And certeine heires appointed to the crowne To stay the title of established right And in the people plant obedience While yet the prince did liue whose name and power By lawfull sommons and authoritie Might make a Parliament to be of force And might haue set the state in quiet stay But now O happie man whom spedie death Depriues of life ne is enforced to see These hugie mischiefes and these miseries These ciuil warres these murders these wronges Of iuâ—â—ice yet must God in fine restore This noble crowne vnto the lawfull heire For right will alwayes liue and rise at length But wrong can neuer take deepe roote to last â–ª