Derived is inheritor to France.

But note the rancour of rebellious minds:

When thus the lineage of Beau was out

The French obscured your mother’s privilege

And, though she were the next of blood, proclaimed

Jean 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.

KING EDWARD

But they shall find that forged ground of theirs

To be but dusty heaps of brittle sand.

COMTE D’ARTOIS

Perhaps it will be thought a heinous thing

That I, a Frenchman, 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 Jean of Valois indirectly climbs.

What then should subjects but embrace their king?

Ah, wherein may our duty more be seen

Than striving to rebate a tyrant’s pride

And place thee, the true shepherd of our commonwealth?

KING EDWARD

This counsel, Artois, like to fruitful showers,

Hath added growth unto my dignity,

And by the fiery vigour of thy words

Hot courage is engendered in my breast,

Which heretofore was raked in ignorance

But now doth mount with golden wings of fame

And will approve fair Isabel’s descent,

Able to yoke their stubborn necks with steel

That spurn against my sovereignty in France.

Sound a horn

A messenger. Lord Audley, know from whence.

⌈Enter a messenger, the Duc de Lorraine⌉

AUDLEY

The Duke of Lorraine, having crossed the seas,

Entreats he may have conference with your highness.

KING EDWARD

Admit him, lords, that we may hear the news.

(To Lorraine) Say, Duke of Lorraine, wherefore art thou come? 55

DUC DE LORRAINE

The most renowned prince, King Jean of France,

Doth greet thee, Edward, and by me commands

That, forsomuch as by his liberal gift

The Guienne dukedom is entailed to thee,

Thou do him lowly homage for the same.

And for that purpose, here I summon thee

Repair to France within these forty days

That there, according as the custom is,

Thou mayst be sworn true liegeman to our king;

Or else thy title in that province dies

And he himself will repossess the place.

KING EDWARD

See how occasion laughs me in the face!

No sooner minded to prepare for France

But straight I am invited—nay, with threats,

Upon a penalty, enjoined to come!

‘Twere but a childish part to say him nay.

Lorraine, return this answer to thy lord:

I mean to visit him as he requests.

But how? Not servilely disposed to bend,

But like a conqueror to make him bow.

His lame unpolished shifts are come to light,

And truth hath pulled the vizard from his face

That set a gloss upon his arrogance.

Dare he command a fealty in me?

Tell him the crown that he usurps is mine,

And where he sets his foot he ought to kneel.

’Tis not a petty dukedom that I claim

But all the whole dominions of the realm

Which if, with grudging, he refuse to yield

I’ll take away those borrowed plumes of his,

And send him naked to the wilderness.

DUC DE LORRAINE

Then, Edward, here, in spite of all thy lords,

I do pronounce defiance to thy face.

PRINCE OF WALES

Defiance, Frenchman? We rebound it back

Even to the bottom of thy master’s throat!

And, be it spoke with reverence of the King,

My gracious father, and these other lords,

I hold thy message but as scurrilous,

And him that sent thee like the lazy drone

Crept up by stealth unto the eagle’s nest,

From whence we’ll shake him with so rough a storm

As others shall be warned by his harm.

EARL OF WARWICK (to Lorraine)

Bid him leave off the lion’s case he wears

Lest, meeting with the lion in the field,

He chance to tear him piecemeal for his pride.

COMTE D’ARTOIS (to Lorraine)

The soundest counsel I can give his grace

Is to surrender ere he be constrained.

A voluntary mischief hath less scorn

Than when reproach with violence is borne.

DUC DE LORRAINE

Regenerate traitor, viper to the place

Where thou wast fostered in thine infancy!

Bear’st thou a part in this conspiracy?

⌈Lorraine⌉ draws his sword

KING EDWARD ⌈drawing his sword⌉

Lorraine, behold the sharpness of this steel:

Fervent desire that sits against my heart

Is far more thorny-pricking than this blade

That, with the nightingale, I shall be scarred

As oft as I dispose myself to rest