Library / Literature & Fiction
King Edward III
by William, 1564-1616 [Dubious author] Shakespeare
- Pages
- about 76
- Category
- Literature & Fiction
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 83 min at 250 wpm
From the opening
ACT I. SCENE I. London. A Room of State in the
Palace. Flourish.
KING EDWARD.
Robert of Artois, banished though thou be
From France, thy native Country, yet with us
Thou shalt retain as great a Seigniorie:
For we create thee Earl of Richmond here.
And now go forwards with our pedigree:
Who next succeeded Phillip le Bew?
ARTOIS.
Three sons of his, which all successfully
Did sit upon their father’s regal Throne,
Yet died, and left no issue of their loins.
ARTOIS.
She was, my Lord; and only Isabel
Was all the daughters that this Phillip had,
Whom afterward your father took to wife;
And from the fragrant garden of her womb
Your gracious self, the flower of Europe’s hope,
Derived is inheritor to France.
But note the rancor of rebellious minds:
When thus the lineage of le Bew was out,
The French obscured your mother’s Privilege,
And, though she were the next of blood, proclaimed
John, of the house of Valois, now their king:
The reason was, they say, the Realm of France,
Replete with Princes of great parentage,
Ought not admit a governor to rule,
Except he be descended of the male;
And that’s the special ground of their contempt,
Wherewith they study to exclude your grace:
But they shall find that forged ground of theirs
To be but dusty heaps of brittle sand.
Perhaps it will be thought a heinous thing,
That I, a French man, should discover this;
But heaven I call to record of my vows:
It is not hate nor any private wrong,
But love unto my country and the right,
Provokes my tongue, thus lavish in report.
You are the lineal watchman of our peace,
And John of Valois indirectly climbs;
What then should subjects but embrace their King?
Ah, where in may our duty more be seen,
Than striving to rebate a tyrant’s pride
And place the true shepherd of our commonwealth?
A short sample. Read the whole book
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