Ch. 284: SCENE I. The Coast of Kent

SCENE I. The Coast of Kent****

Alarum. Fight at sea. Ordnance goes off. Enter a Lieutenant, Suffolk, disguised, a prisoner. The Master, a Master’s Mate, Walter Whitmore, and prisoners.

LIEUTENANT.

The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day

Is crept into the bosom of the sea;

And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades

That drag the tragic melancholy night,

Who, with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings

Clip dead men’s graves and from their misty jaws

Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air.

Therefore bring forth the soldiers of our prize;

For, whilst our pinnace anchors in the Downs,

Here shall they make their ransom on the sand,

Or with their blood stain this discoloured shore.

Master, this prisoner freely give I thee,

And thou that art his mate, make boot of this;

The other, Walter Whitmore, is thy share.

1 GENTLEMAN.

What is my ransom, master? Let me know.

MASTER.

A thousand crowns, or else lay down your head.

MATE.

And so much shall you give, or off goes yours.

LIEUTENANT.

What, think you much to pay two thousand crowns,

And bear the name and port of gentlemen?

Cut both the villains’ throats—for die you shall.

The lives of those which we have lost in fight

Be counterpoised with such a petty sum!

1 GENTLEMAN.

I’ll give it, sir, and therefore spare my life.

2 GENTLEMAN.

And so will I, and write home for it straight.

WHITMORE.

[_To Suffolk_.] I lost mine eye in laying the prize aboard,

And therefore to revenge it shalt thou die;

And so should these, if I might have my will.

LIEUTENANT.

Be not so rash; take ransom, let him live.

SUFFOLK.

Look on my George; I am a gentleman.

Rate me at what thou wilt, thou shalt be paid.

WHITMORE.

And so am I; my name is Walter Whitmore.

How now! Why starts thou? What, doth death affright?

SUFFOLK.

Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death.

A cunning man did calculate my birth

And told me that by water I should die.

Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded;

Thy name is Gaultier, being rightly sounded.

WHITMORE.

Gaultier or Walter, which it is, I care not.

Never yet did base dishonour blur our name

But with our sword we wiped away the blot.

Therefore, when merchant-like I sell revenge,

Broke be my sword, my arms torn and defaced,

And I proclaimed a coward through the world!

SUFFOLK.

Stay, Whitmore, for thy prisoner is a prince,

The Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole.

WHITMORE.

The Duke of Suffolk, muffled up in rags?

SUFFOLK.

Ay, but these rags are no part of the Duke.

Jove sometime went disguised, and why not I?

LIEUTENANT.

But Jove was never slain, as thou shalt be.

SUFFOLK.

Obscure and lowly swain, King Henry’s blood,

The honourable blood of Lancaster,

Must not be shed by such a jaded groom.

Hast thou not kissed thy hand and held my stirrup?

Bareheaded plodded by my foot-cloth mule,

And thought thee happy when I shook my head?

How often hast thou waited at my cup,

Fed from my trencher, kneeled down at the board,

When I have feasted with Queen Margaret?

Remember it, and let it make thee crestfallen,

Ay, and allay thus thy abortive pride.

How in our voiding lobby hast thou stood

And duly waited for my coming forth?

This hand of mine hath writ in thy behalf,

And therefore shall it charm thy riotous tongue.

WHITMORE.

Speak, captain, shall I stab the forlorn swain?

LIEUTENANT.

First let my words stab him, as he hath me.

SUFFOLK.

Base slave, thy words are blunt, and so art thou.

LIEUTENANT.

Convey him hence, and on our longboat’s side

Strike off his head.

SUFFOLK.

Thou dar’st not, for thy own.

LIEUTENANT.

Yes, poll!

SUFFOLK.

Pole!

LIEUTENANT.

Pool! Sir Pool! Lord!

Ay, kennel, puddle, sink, whose filth and dirt

Troubles the silver spring where England drinks;

Now will I dam up this thy yawning mouth

For swallowing the treasure of the realm.

Thy lips that kissed the Queen shall sweep the ground;

And thou that smiledst at good Duke Humphrey’s death

Against the senseless winds shalt grin in vain,

Who in contempt shall hiss at thee again.

And wedded be thou to the hags of hell,

For daring to affy a mighty lord

Unto the daughter of a worthless king,

Having neither subject, wealth, nor diadem.

By devilish policy art thou grown great

And, like ambitious Sylla, overgorged

With gobbets of thy mother’s bleeding heart.

By thee Anjou and Maine were sold to France,

The false revolting Normans thorough thee

Disdain to call us lord, and Picardy

Hath slain their governors, surprised our forts,

And sent the ragged soldiers wounded home.

The princely Warwick, and the Nevilles all,

Whose dreadful swords were never drawn in vain,

As hating thee are rising up in arms.

And now the house of York, thrust from the crown

By shameful murder of a guiltless king

And lofty, proud, encroaching tyranny,

Burns with revenging fire, whose hopeful colours

Advance our half-faced sun, striving to shine,

Under the which is writ “_Invitis nubibus_.”

The commons here in Kent are up in arms;

And, to conclude, reproach and beggary

Is crept into the palace of our King,

And all by thee. —Away! Convey him hence.

SUFFOLK.

O that I were a god, to shoot forth thunder

Upon these paltry, servile, abject drudges!

Small things make base men proud. This villain here,

Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more

Than Bargulus the strong Illyrian pirate.

Drones suck not eagles’ blood but rob beehives.

It is impossible that I should die

By such a lowly vassal as thyself.

Thy words move rage and not remorse in me.

I go of message from the Queen to France;

I charge thee waft me safely ’cross the Channel.

LIEUTENANT.

Walter.

WHITMORE.

Come, Suffolk, I must waft thee to thy death.

SUFFOLK.

_Pene gelidus timor occupat artus_.

It is thee I fear.

WHITMORE.

Thou shalt have cause to fear before I leave thee.

What, are ye daunted now? Now will ye stoop?

1 GENTLEMAN.

My gracious lord, entreat him, speak him fair.

SUFFOLK.

Suffolk’s imperial tongue is stern and rough,

Used to command, untaught to plead for favour.

Far be it we should honour such as these

With humble suit. No, rather let my head

Stoop to the block than these knees bow to any

Save to the God of heaven and to my King;

And sooner dance upon a bloody pole

Than stand uncovered to the vulgar groom.

True nobility is exempt from fear;

More can I bear than you dare execute.

LIEUTENANT.

Hale him away, and let him talk no more.

SUFFOLK.

Come, soldiers, show what cruelty ye can,

That this my death may never be forgot!

Great men oft die by vile Bezonians.

A Roman sworder and banditto slave

Murdered sweet Tully; Brutus’ bastard hand

Stabbed Julius Caesar; savage islanders

Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates.

[_Exeunt Whitmore and others with Suffolk. _]

LIEUTENANT.

And as for these whose ransom we have set,

It is our pleasure one of them depart.

Therefore come you with us, and let him go.

[_Exeunt all but the 1 Gentleman. _]

Enter Whitmore with Suffolk’s body and head.

WHITMORE.

There let his head and lifeless body lie,

Until the Queen his mistress bury it.

[_Exit. _]

1 GENTLEMAN.

O barbarous and bloody spectacle!

His body will I bear unto the King.

If he revenge it not, yet will his friends;

So will the Queen, that living held him dear.

[_Exit with the body. _]