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SCENE V.

The Coast of Cornwall.

A general shout within.-Enter WARBECK, DALYELL, KATHERINE, and JANE.

War. After so many storms as wind and seas Have threaten'd to our weather-beaten ships, At last, sweet fairest, we are safe arrived On our dear mother earth, ungrateful only To heaven and us, in yielding sustenance To sly usurpers of our throne and right. These general acclamations are an omen Of happy process to their welcome lord: They flock in troops, and from all parts, with wings Of duty fly, to lay their hearts before us. Unequall'd pattern of a matchless wife, How fares my dearest yet?

Kath. Confirm'd in health;

By which I may the better undergo

The roughest face of change; but I shall learn
Patience to hope, since silence courts affliction,
For comforts, to this truly noble gentleman,
(Rare unexampled pattern of a friend!)
And, my beloved Jane, the willing follower
Of all misfortunes.

Dal. Lady, I return

But barren crops of early protestations,
Frost-bitten in the spring of fruitless hopes.
Jane. I wait but as the shadow to the body,
For, madam, without you let me be nothing.

War. None talk of sadness, we are on the way Which leads to victory; keep cowards thoughts With desperate sullenness! The lion faints not Lock'd in a grate, but, loose, disdains all force Which bars his prey, (and we are lion-hearted,) Or else no king of beasts.-[Another general shout within.]-Hark, how they shout;

Triumphant in our cause! bold confidence
Marches on bravely, cannot quake at danger.

Enter SKETON.

Sket. Save king Richard the Fourth! save thee King of hearts! The Cornish blades are men of mettle; have proclaimed through Bodnam, and the whole county, my sweet prince monarch of England: four thousand tall yeomen, with bow and sword, already vow to live and die at the foot of King Richard.

Enter ASTLEY.

Ast. The mayor, our fellow-counsellor, is servant for an emperor. Exeter is appointed for the rendezvous, and nothing wants to victory but courage and resolution. Sigillatum et datum decimo Septembris, anno Regni Regis primo, et cætera ; confirmatum est. All's cock-sure!

War. To Exeter! to Exeter, march on: Commend us to our people; we in person Will lend them double spirits; tell them so. Sket. and Ast. King Richard, king Richard! [Exeunt SKET. and AST.

War. A thousand blessings guard our lawful

arms!

A thousand horrors pierce our enemies' souls! Pale fear unedge their weapons' sharpest points, And when they draw their arrows to the head, Numbness shall strike their sinews! such advantage

Hath majesty in its pursuit of justice,

That on the proppers up of Truth's old throne,
It both enlightens counsel, and gives heart
To execution; whilst the throats of traitors
Lie bare before our mercy. O divinity

Of royal birth! how it strikes dumb the tongues
Whose prodigality of breath is bribed

By trains to greatness! Princes are but men,
Distinguish'd in the fineness of their frailty;
Yet not so gross in beauty of the mind;
For there's a fire more sacred, purifies
The dross of mixture. Herein stand the odds,
Subjects are men on earth, kings men and gods.

[Exeunt.

ACT V. SCENE I.

St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall.

Enter KATHERINE and JANE, in Riding-suits,
with one Servant.

Kath. It is decreed; and we must yield to fate, Whose angry justice, though it threaten ruin, Contempt, and poverty, is all but trial

Of a weak woman's constancy in suffering.
Here in a stranger's, and an enemy's land,
Forsaken and unfurnish'd of all hopes,
But such as wait on misery, I range
To meet affliction wheresoe'er I tread.
My train, and pomp of servants, is reduced
To one kind gentlewoman, and this groom.
Sweet Jane, now whither must we?

Jane. To your ships,

Dear lady, and turn home.

Kath. Home! I have none.

Fly thou to Scotland; thou hast friends will weep
For joy to bid thee welcome; but, oh Jane,
My Jane! my friends are desperate of comfort,
As I must be of them: the common charity,
Good people's alms, and prayers of the gentle,
Is the revenue must support my state.
As for my native country, since it once

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8 St. Michael's Mount.] It appears that when Perkin marched on his ill-fated expedition, Lady Katherine was left at this place, from which she was now preparing to withdraw, on some rumours of her husband's want of success.

Saw me a princess in the height of greatness
My birth allow'd me; here I make a vow,
Scotland shall never see me, being fallen,
Or lessen'd in my fortunes. Never, Jane,
Never to Scotland more will I return.
Could I be England's queen, a glory, Jane,
I never fawn'd on, yet the king who gave me,
Hath sent me with my husband from his presence;
Deliver'd us suspected to his nation;

Render'd us spectacles to time and pity:
And is it fit I should return to such

As only listen after our descent
From happiness enjoy'd, to misery,

Expected, though uncertain? Never, never!
Alas, why dost thou weep? and that
poor creature
Wipe his wet cheeks too? let me feel alone
Extremities, who know to give them harbour;
Nor thou nor he has cause: you may live safely.
Jane. There is no safety whilst your dangers,
madam,

Are every way apparent.

Serv. Pardon, lady;

I cannot choose but shew my honest heart;
You were ever my good lady.

Kath. Oh, dear souls,

Your shares in grief are too too much.

Dal. I bring,

Enter DALYell.

Fair princess, news of further sadness yet,

Than your sweet youth hath been acquainted with.

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