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 Dal. Lady, I return But barren crops of early protestations, 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 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, Of royal birth! how it strikes dumb the tongues By trains to greatness! Princes are but men, [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall. Enter KATHERINE and JANE, in Riding-suits, 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. Jane. To your ships, Dear lady, and turn home. Kath. Home! I have none. Fly thou to Scotland; thou hast friends will weep 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 Render'd us spectacles to time and pity: As only listen after our descent Expected, though uncertain? Never, never! Are every way apparent. Serv. Pardon, lady; I cannot choose but shew my honest heart; 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. |