The Project Gutenberg EBook of Edward II., by Christopher Marlowe

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Title: Edward II.
Marlowe's Plays

Author: Christopher Marlowe

Editor: Ernest Rhys

Release Date: January 7, 2007 [EBook #20288]

Language: English and Latin

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDWARD II. ***

Produced by Gustavo Daniel Queipo

EDWARD THE SECOND

By Christopher Marlowe

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

KING EDWARD THE SECOND.
PRINCE EDWARD, _his son, afterwards_ KING EDWARD THE THIRD.
KENT, _brother to_ KING EDWARD THE SECOND.
GAVESTON.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
BISHOP OF COVENTRY.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER.
WARWICK.
LANCASTER.
PEMBROKE.
ARUNDER.
LEICESTER.
BERKELEY.
MORTIMER _the elder._
MORTIMER _the younger, his nephew._
SPENSER _the elder._
SPENSER _the younger, his son._
BALDOCK.
BAUMONT.
TRUSSEL.
GURNEY.
MATREVIS.
LIGHTBORN.
SIR JOHN OF HAINAULT.
LEVUNE.
RICE AP HOWEL.
ABBOT.
MONKS.
HERALD.
LORDS, POOR MEN, JAMES, MOWER, CHAMPION,
MESSENGERS, SOLDIERS, _and_ ATTENDANTS.

QUEEN ISABELLA, _wife to_ KING EDWARD THE SECOND.
NIECE _to_ KING EDWARD THE SECOND, _daughter to
the _DUKE OF GLOCESTER._
LADIES.

_Enter_ GAVESTON, _reading a letter._

_Gav. My father is deceas'd. Come, Gaveston,
And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend._
Ah, words that make me surfeit with delight!
What greater bliss can hap to Gaveston
Than live and be the favourite of a king!
Sweet prince, I come! these, thy amorous lines
Might have enforc'd me to have swum from France,
And, like Leander, gasp'd upon the sand,
So thou wouldst smile, and take me in thine arms.
The sight of London to my exil'd eyes
Is as Elysium to a new-come soul:
Not that I love the city or the men,
But that it harbours him I hold so dear,--
The king, upon whose bosom let me lie,
And with the world be still at enmity.
What need the arctic people love star-light,
To whom the sun shines both by day and night?
Farewell base stooping to the lordly peers!
My knee shall bow to none but to the king.
As for the multitude, that are but sparks,
Rak'd up in embers of their