Craw. The king is serious,

Deep in his meditation[s].

Dal. Lift them up

To heaven, his better genius!

War. Can you study,

While such a devil raves? Oh, sir.

K. Ja. Well,-bishop,

You'll not be drawn to mercy?

Dur. Construe me

In like case by a subject of your own:

My resolution's fix'd; king James, be consell'd, A greater fate waits on thee.

[Exeunt DURHAM and Soldiers from

the walls.

K. Ja. Forage through

The country; spare no prey of life or goods.
War. Oh, sir, then give me leave to yield to

nature:

I am most miserable; had I been

Born what this clergyman would, by defame,
Baffle belief with, I had never sought

The truth of mine inheritance with rapes
Of women, or of infants murder'd; virgins
Deflower'd; old men butcher'd; dwellings fired;
My land depopulated, and my people

Afflicted with a kingdom's devastation:

Shew more remorse, great king, or I shall never Endure to see such havock with dry eyes;

Spare, spare, my dear, dear England!

K. Ja. You fool your piety, Ridiculously careful of an interest

Another man possesseth. Where's your faction?
Shrewdly the bishop guess'd of your adherents,
When not a petty burgess of some town,
No, not a villager hath yet appear'd,

In your

assistance: that should make you whine,

And not your country's sufferance as you term it.
Dal. The king is angry.

Craw. And the passionate duke,
Effeminately dolent.'

War. The experience

In former trials, sir, both of mine own
Or other princes, cast out of their thrones,
Hath so acquainted me, how misery
Is destitute of friends, or of relief,
That I can easily submit to taste

Lowest reproof, without contempt or words.

Enter FRION.

K. Ja. An humble-minded man!-Now, what

intelligence

Speaks master secretary Frion.

Fri. Henry

Of England hath in open field o'erthrown
The armies who opposed him, in the right
Of this young prince.

' And the passionate duke,

Effeminately dolent.] Thus Bacon-" It is said that Perkin, acting the part of a prince handsomely, when he saw the Scotch fall to waste his country, came to the king in a passionate (plaintive, tearful) manner, making great lamentation," &c. Whereunto the king answered "half in sport,"-much as we have it above.

K. Ja. His subsidies you meanMore, if you have it?

Fri. Howard earl of Surrey,

Back'd by twelve earls and barons of the north,
An hundred knights and gentlemen of name,
And twenty thousand soldiers, is at hand
To raise your siege. Brooke, with a goodly navy,
Is admiral at sea; and Dawbeney follows

With an unbroken army for a second.

War. 'Tis false! they come to side with us.
K. Ja. Retreat;

We shall not find them stones and walls to cope with.
Yet, duke of York, for such thou say'st thou art,
I'll try thy fortune to the height; to Surrey,
By Marchmont, I will send a brave defiance
For single combat. Once a king will venture
His person to an earl,' with condition
Of spilling lesser blood. Surrey is bold,
And James resolv'd.

War. Oh, rather, gracious sir,

Create me to this glory; since my cause
Doth interest this fair quarrel; valued least,
I am his equal.

K. Ja. I will be the man.

March softly off; where victory can reap A harvest crown'd with triumph, toil is cheap. [Exeunt.

2 His person to an earl.] Here, and in p. 80, earl is used as a dissyllable. It is necessary to notice this, as Ford occasionally varies in the measure of this and similar words, in the course of the same speech.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

The English Camp near Ayton, on the Borders. Enter SURREY, DURHAM, Soldiers, with Drums and Colours.

Sur. Are all our braving enemies shrunk back, Hid in the fogs of their distemper'd climate, Not daring to behold our colours wave In spite of this infected air? Can they Look on the strength of Cundrestine defaced? The glory of Heydon-hall devasted? that Of Edington cast down? the pile of Fulden O'erthrown, and this, the strongest of their forts, Old Ayton-Castle,' yielded and demolish'd, And yet not peep abroad?

abroad? The Scots are bold, Hardy in battle; but it seems the cause They undertake, considered, appears Unjointed in the frame on't.

Dur. Noble Surrey,

Our royal master's wisdom is at all times
His fortune's harbinger; for when he draws
His sword to threaten war, his providence
Settles on peace, the crowning of an empire.
[A trumpet without:

3

and this, the strongest of their forts, Old Ayton-Castle-] The castle of Aton, Bacon says, was then esteemed one of the strongest places between Berwick and Edinburgh. With the capture of this place, the struggle terminated; little to the honour, and less to the advantage of either side. The noble historian says nothing of the main business of this scene, which, must, I believe, be placed entirely to the account of the poet; though it is, in some measure, justified, by the chivalrous and romantic character of James IV.

Sur. Rank all in order: 'tis a herald's sound; Some message from king James. Keep a fix'd

station.

Enter MARCHMONT and another, in Heralds' coats. March. From Scotland's awful majesty we

March. Thus, then; the waste and prodigal Effusion of so much guiltless blood,

As in two potent armies, of necessity,

Must glut the earth's dry womb, his sweet compassion

Hath studied to prevent; for which to thee,
Great earl of Surrey, in a single fight,
He offers his own royal person; fairly
Proposing these conditions only, that
If victory conclude our master's right,
The earl shall deliver for his ransom

The town of Berwick to him, with the Fishgarths;

If Surrey shall prevail, the king will pay

A thousand pounds down present for his freedom, And silence further arms: so speaks king James. Sur. So speaks king James! so like a king he

speaks.

Heralds, the English general returns

A sensible devotion from his heart,
His very soul, to this unfellow'd grace: