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King Leir

The anonymous King Leir in modern spelling.
Transcribed by Barboura Flues.
Edited for the web by Robert Brazil.
Run on lines (closing open endings) are indicated by ~~~.
Copyright © 2005 B. Flues, R. Brazil and elizabethanauthors.com.

Cordella from Holinshed's Chronicles

The True Chronicle history of King Leir,
and his three daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordella:

As it hath bene diuers and sundry times lately acted.

London, Printed by Simon Stafford for Iohn Wright,
and are to bee sold at his shop at Christes Church dore,
next Newgate-market, 1605.

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GLOSSARY For King Leir below text

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Scene 17
[Enter Messenger solus.]

MESS: It is a world to see now I am flush,
How many friends I purchase everywhere!
How many seeks to creep into my favor,
And kiss their hands, and bend their knees to me!
No more, here comes the Queen, now shall I know her mind,
And hope for to derive more crowns from her. [Enter Ragan.]

RAGAN: My friend, I see thou mind'st thy promise well,
And art before me here, me thinks, today.

MESS: I am a poor man, and it like your Grace;
But yet I always love to keep my word. ... [17.10]

RAGAN: Well, keep thy word with me, & thou shalt see,
That of a poor man I will make thee rich.

MESS: I long to hear it, it might have been dispatched,
If you had told me of it yesternight.

RAGAN: It is a thing of right strange consequence,
And well I cannot utter it in words.

MESS: It is more strange, that I am not by this
Beside myself, with longing for to hear it.
Were it to meet the Devil in his den,
And try a bout with him for a scratched face, ... [17.20]
I'd undertake it, if you would but bid me.

RAGAN: Ah, good my friend, that I should have thee do,
Is such a thing, as I do shame to speak;
Yet it must needs be done.

MESS: I'll speak it for thee, Queen: shall I kill thy father?
I know tis that, and if it be so, say.

RAGAN: Aye.

MESS: Why, that's enough.

RAGAN: And yet that is not all.

MESS: What else? ... [17.30]

RAGAN: Thou must kill that old man that came with him.

MESS: Here are two hands, for each of them is one.

RAGAN: And for each hand here is a recompense.
[Gives him two purses.]

MESS: Oh, that I had ten hands by miracle,
I could tear ten in pieces with my teeth,
So in my mouth you'd put a purse of gold,
But in what manner must it be effected?

RAGAN: Tomorrow morning ere the break of day,
I by a while will send them to the thicket,
That is about some two miles from the Court, ... [17.40]
And promise them to meet them there myself,
Because I must have private conference,
About some news I have received from Cornwall.
This is enough, I know, they will not fail,
And then be ready for to play thy part:
Which done, thou mayst right easily escape,
And no man once mistrust thee for the fact:
But yet, before thou prosecute the act,
Show him the letter, which my sister sent,
There let him read his own indictment first, ... [17.50]
And then proceed to execution:
But see thou faint not; for they will speak fair.

MESS: Could he speak words as pleasing as the pipe
Of Mercury, which charmed the hundred eyes
Of watchful Argos, and enforced him sleep:
Yet here are words so pleasing to my thoughts, [To the purse.]
As quite shall take away the sound of his. [Exit.]

RAGAN: About it then, and when thou hast dispatched,
I'll find a means to send thee after him. [Exit.]

Scene 18
[Enter Cornwall and Gonorill.]

CORNWALL: I wonder that the Messenger doth stay,
Whom we dispatched for Cambria so long since:
If that his answer do not please us well,
And he do show good reason for delay,
I'll teach him how to dally with his King,
And to detain us in such long suspense.

GONORILL: My Lord, I think the reason may be this:
My father means to come along with him;
And thereafter tis his pleasure he shall stay,
For to attend upon him on the way. ... [18.10]

CORNWALL: It may be so, and therefore till I know
The truth thereof, I will suspend my judgment. [Enter Servant.]

SERVANT: And't like your Grace, there is an Ambassador
Arrived from Gallia, and craves admittance to your Majesty.

CORNWALL: From Gallia? what should his message
Hither import? is not your father happily
Gone thither? well, whatsoere it be,
Bid him come in, he shall have audience. [Enter Ambassador.]
What news from Gallia? speak Ambassador.

AMB: The noble King and Queen of Gallia first salutes, ... [18.20]
By me, their honorable father, my Lord Leir:
Next, they commend them kindly to your Graces.
As those whose welfare they entirely wish.
Letters I have to deliver to my Lord Leir,
And presents too, if I might speak with him.

GONORILL: If you might speak with him? why, do you think,
We are afraid that you should speak with him?

AMB: Pardon me, Madam; for I think not so,
But say so only, 'cause he is not here.

CORNWALL: Indeed, my friend, upon some urgent cause, ... [18.30]
He is at this time absent from the Court:
But if a day or two you here repose,
Tis very likely you shall have him here,
Or else have certain notice where he is.

GONORILL: Are not we worthy to receive your message?

AMB: I had in charge to do it to himself.

GONORILL: [To herself.] It may be then 'twill not be done in haste.
How doth my sister brook the air of France?

AMB: Exceeding well, and never sick one hour,
Since first she set her foot upon the shore. ... [18.40]

GONORILL: I am the more sorry.

AMB: I hope, not so, Madam.

GONORILL: Didst thou not say, that she was ever sick,
Since the first hour that she arrived there?

AMB: No, Madam, I said quite contrary.

GONORILL: Then I mistook thee.

CORNWALL: Then she is merry, if she have her health.

AMB: Oh no, her grief exceeds, until the time,
That she be reconciled unto her father.

GONORILL: God continue it. ... [18.50]

AMB: What, madam?

GONORILL: Why, her health.

AMB: Amen to that: but God release her grief,
And send her father in a better mind,
Than to continue always so unkind.

CORNWALL: I'll be a mediator in her cause,
And seek all means to expiate his wrath.

AMB: Madam, I hope your Grace will do the like.

GONORILL: Should I be a mean to exasperate his wrath
Against my sister, whom I love so dear? no, no. ... [18.60]

AMB: To expiate or mitigate his wrath:
For he hath misconveyed without a cause.

GONORILL: O, Aye, what else?

AMB: Tis pity it should be so, would it were otherwise.

GONORILL: It were great pity it should be otherwise.

AMB: Then how, Madam?

GONORILL: Then that they should be reconciled again.

AMB: It shows you bear an honorable mind.

GONORILL: It shows thy understanding to be blind,
[Speaks to herself.]
And that thou hadst need of an Interpreter: ... [18.70]
Well, I will know thy message er't be long,
And find a mean to cross it, if I can.

CORNWALL: Come in, my friend, and frolic in our Court,
Till certain notice of my father come. [Exeunt.]

Scene 19
[Enter Leir and Perillus.]

PERILLUS: My Lord, you are up today before your hour,
Tis news to you to be abroad so rathe.

LEIR: Tis news indeed, I am so extreme heavy,
That I can scarcely keep my eyelids open.

PERILLUS: And so am I, but I impute the cause
To rising sooner than we use to do.

LEIR: Hither my daughter means to come disguised:
I'll sit me down, and read until she come.
[Pull out a book and sit down.]

PERILLUS: She'll not be long, I warrant you, my Lord:
But say, a couple of these they call good fellows, ... [19.10]
Should step out of a hedge, and set upon us,
We were in good case for to answer them.

LEIR: 'Twere not for us to stand upon our hands.

PERILLUS: I fear, we scant should stand upon our legs.
But how should we do to defend ourselves?

LEIR: Even pray to God, to bless us from their hands:
For fervent prayer much ill hap withstands.

PERILLUS: I'll sit and pray with you for company;
Yet was I ne're so heavy in my life.
[They fall both asleep. Enter the Messenger or murderer
with two daggers in his hands.]

MESS: Were it not a mad jest, if two or three of my ... [19.20]
profession should meet me, and lay me down in a ditch, and
play rob thief with me, & perforce take my gold away
from me, whilest I act this stratagem, and by this means
the gray-beards should escape? Faith, when I were at liberty
again, I would make no more to do, but go to the next tree,
and there hang myself. [See them and start.]
But stay, me thinks, my youths are here already,
And with pure zeal have prayed themselves asleep.
I think, they know to what intent they came,
And are provided for another world. [He takes their books away.] ... [19.30]
Now could I stab them bravely, while they sleep,
And in a manner put them to no pain;
And doing so, I showed them mighty friendship:
For fear of death is worse than death itself.
But that my sweet Queen willed me for to show
This letter to them, ere I did the deed.
Mass, they begin to stir: I'll stand aside;
So shall I come upon them unawares. [They wake and rise.]

LEIR: I marvel, that my daughter stays so long.

PERILLUS: I fear, we did mistake the place, my Lord. ... [19.40]

LEIR: God grant we do not miscarry in the place:
I had a short nap, but so full of dread,
As much amazeth me to think thereof.

PERILLUS: Fear not, my Lord, dreams are but fantasies,
And slight imaginations of the brain.

MESS: Persuade him so; but I'll make him and you.
Confess, that dreams do often prove too true.

PERILLUS: I pray, my Lord, what was the effect of it?
I may go near to guess what it pretends.

MESS: Leave that to me, I will expound the dream. ... [19.50]

LEIR: Me thought, my daughters Gonorill & Ragan,
Stood both before me with such grim aspects,
Each brandishing a Falchion in their hand,
Ready to lop a limb off where it fell,
And in their other hands a naked poniard,
Wherewith they stabbed me in a hundred places,
And to their thinking left me there for dead:
But then my youngest daughter, fair Cordella,
Came with a box of Balsam in her hand,
And poured it into my bleeding wounds, ... [19.60]
By whose good means I was recovered well,
In perfect health, as erst I was before:
And with the fear of this I did awake,
And yet for fear my feeble joints do quake.

MESS: I'll make you quake for something presently.
Stand, Stand. [They reel.]

LEIR: We do, my friend, although with much ado.

MESS: Deliver, deliver.

PERILLUS: Deliver us, good Lord, from such as he.

MESS: You should have prayed before, while it was time, ... [19.70]
And then perhaps, you might have scaped my hands:
But you, like faithful watchmen, fell asleep,
The whilst I came and took your Halberds from you.
[Show their Books.]
And now you want your weapons of defense,
How have you any hope to be delivered?
This comes, because you have no better stay,
But fall asleep, when you should watch and pray.

LEIR: My friend, thou seemst to be a proper man.

MESS: Sblood, how the old slave claws me by the elbow!
He thinks, belike, to scape by scaping thus. ... [19.80]

PERILLUS: And it may be, are in some need of money.

MESS: That to be false, behold my evidence. [Shows his purses.]

LEIR: If that I have will do thee any good,
I give it thee, even with a right good will. [Take it.]

PERILLUS: Here, take mine too, & wish with all my heart,
To do thee pleasure, it were twice as much.
[Take his, and weigh them both in his hands.]

MESS: I'll none of them, they are too light for me.
[Puts them in his pocket.]

LEIR: Why then farewell: and if thou have occasion,
In anything, to use me to the Queen,
'Tis like enough that I can pleasure thee. ... [19.90]
[They proffer to go.]

MESS: Do you hear, do you hear, sir?
If I had occasion to use you to the Queen,
Would you do one thing for me that I should ask?

LEIR: Aye, anything that lies within my power.
Here is my hand upon it, so farewell. [Proffer to go.]

MESS: Hear you sir, hear you? pray, a word with you.
Me thinks, a comely honest ancient man
Should not dissemble with one for a vantage.
I know, when I shall come to try this gear,
You will recant from all that you have said. ... [19.100]

PERILLUS: Mistrust not him, but try him when thou wilt:
He is her father, therefore may do much.

MESS: I know he is, and therefore mean to try him:
You are his friend too, I must try you both.

AMB: Prithy do, prithy do. [Proffer to go out.]

MESS: Stay gray-beards then, and prove men of your words:
The Queen hath tied me by a solemn oath,
Here in this place to see you both dispatched:
Now for the safeguard of my conscience,
Do me the pleasure for to kill yourselves: ... [19.110]
So shall you save me labor for to do it,
And prove yourselves true old men of your words.
And here I vow in sight of all the world,
I ne're will trouble you whilst I live again.

LEIR: Affright us not with terror, good my friend,
Nor strike such fear into our aged hearts.
Play not the Cat, which dallieth with the mouse;
And on a sudden maketh her a prey:
But if thou art marked for the man of death
To me and to my Damien, tell me plain, ... [19.120]
That we may be prepared for the stroke,
And make ourselves fit for the world to come.

MESS: I am the last of any mortal race,
That ere your eyes are likely to behold,
And hither sent of purpose to this place,
To give a final period to your days,
Which are so wicked, and have lived so long,
That your own children seek to short your life.

LEIR: Camst thou from France, of purpose to do this?

MESS: From France? zoons, do I look like a Frenchman? ... [19.130]
Sure I have not mine own face on; somebody hath changed
faces with me, and I know not of it: But I am sure, my apparel
is all English. Sirra, what meanest thou to ask that question?
I could spoil the fashion of this face for anger. A French face!

LEIR: Because my daughter, whom I have offended,
And at whose hands I have deserved as ill,
As ever any father did of child,
Is Queen of France, no thanks at all to me,
But unto God, who my injustice see.
If it be so, that she doth seek revenge, ... [19.140]
As with good reason she may justly do,
I will most willingly resign my life,
A sacrifice to mitigate her ire:
I never will entreat thee to forgive,
Because I am unworthy for to live.
Therefore speak soon, & I will soon make speed:
Whether Cordella willed thee do this deed?

MESS: As I am a perfect gentleman, thou speakst French to me:
I never heard Cordella's name before,
Nor never was in France in all my life: ... [19.150]
I never knew thou hadst a daughter there,
To whom thou didst prove so unkind a churl:
But thy own tongue declares that thou hast been
A vile old wretch, and full of heinous sin.

LEIR: Ah no, my friend, thou art deceived much:
For her except, whom I confess I wronged,
Through doting frenzy, and o'er-jealous love.
There lives not any under heaven's bright eye,
That can convict me of impiety.
And therefore sure thou dost mistake the mark: ... [19.160]
For I am in true peace with all the world.

MESS: You are the fitter for the King of heaven:
And therefore, for to rid thee of suspense,
Know thou, the Queens of Cambria and Cornwall,
Thy own two daughters, Gonorill and Ragan,
Appointed me to massacre thee here.
Why wouldst thou then persuade me, that thou art
In charity with all the world? but now
When thy own issue hold thee in such hate,
That they have hired me t'abridge thy fate, ... [19.170]
Oh, fie upon such vile dissembling breath,
That would deceive, even at the point of death.

PERILLUS: Am I awake, or it is but a dream?

MESS: Fear nothing, man, thou art but in a dream,
And thou shalt never wake until doomsday,
By then, I hope, thou wilt have slept enough.

LEIR: Yet, gentle friend, grant one thing ere I die.

MESS: I'll grant you anything, except your lives.

LEIR: Oh, but assure me by some certain token,
That my two daughters hired thee to this deed: ... [19.180]
If I were once resolved of that, then I
Would wish no longer life, but crave to die.

MESS: That to be true, in sight of heaven I swear.

LEIR: Swear not by heaven, for fear of punishment:
The heavens are guiltless of such heinous acts.

MESS: I swear by earth, the mother of us all.

LEIR: Swear not by earth; for she abhors to bear
Such bastards, as are murderers of her sons.

MESS: Why then, by hell, and all the devils I swear.

LEIR: Swear not by hell; for that stands gaping wide, ... [19.190]
To swallow thee, and if thou do this deed.
[Thunder and lightning.]

MESS: I would that word were in his belly again,
It hath frightened me even to the very heart:
This old man is some strong Magician:
His words have turned my mind from this exploit.
Then neither heaven, earth, nor hell be witness;
But let this paper witness for them all. [Shows Gonorill's letter.]
Shall I relent, or shall I prosecute?
Shall I resolve, or were I best recant?
I will not crack my credit with two Queens, ... [19.200]
To whom I have already passed my word.
Oh, but my conscience for this act doth tell,
I get heaven's hate, earth's scorn, and pains of hell.
[They bless themselves.]

PERILLUS: Oh just Jehova, whose almighty power
Doth govern all things in this spacious world,
How canst thou suffer such outrageous acts
To be committed without just revenge?
O viperous generation and accurst,
To seek his blood, whose blood did make them first!

LEIR: Ah, my true friend in all extremity, ... [19.210]
Let us submit us to the will of God:
Things past all sense, let us not seek to know;
It is God's will, and therefore must be so.
My friend, I am prepared for the stroke:
Strike when thou wilt, and I forgive thee here,
Even from the very bottom of my heart.

MESS: But I am not prepared for to strike.

LEIR: Farewell, Perillus, even the truest friend,
That ever lived in adversity:
The latest kindness I'll request of thee, ... [19.220]
Is that thou go unto my daughter Cordella,
And carry her her father's latest blessing:
Withal desire her, that she will forgive me;
For I have wronged her without any cause.
Now, Lord, receive me, for I come to thee,
And die, I hope, in perfect charity.
Dispatch, I pray thee, I have lived too long.

MESS: Aye, but you are unwise, to send an errand
By him that never meaneth to deliver it:
Why, he must go along with you to heaven: ... [19.230]
It were not good you should go all alone.

LEIR: No doubt, he shall, when by the course of nature,
He must surrender up his due to death:
But that time shall not come, till God permit.

MESS: Nay, presently, to bear you company.
I have a Passport for him in my pocket,
Already sealed, and he must needs ride Post.
[Show a bag of money.]

LEIR: The letter which I read, imports not so,
It only toucheth me, no word of him.

MESS: Aye, but the Queen commands it must be so, ... [19.240]
And I am paid for him, as well as you.

PERILLUS: I, who have born you company in life,
Most willingly will bear a share in death.
It skilleth not for me, my friend, a whit,
Nor for a hundred such as thou and I.

MESS: Mary, but it doth, sir, by your leave; your good days
are past: though it be no matter for you, tis a matter for me,
proper men are not so rife.

PERILLUS: Oh, but beware, how thou dost lay thy hand
Upon the high anointed of the Lord: ... [19.250]
O, be advised ere thou dost begin:
Dispatch me straight, but meddle not with him.

LEIR: Friend, thy commission is to deal with me,
And I am he that hath deserved all:
The plot was laid to take away my life:
And here it is, I do entreat thee take it:
Yet for my sake, and as thou art a man,
Spare this my friend, that hither with me came:
I brought him forth, whereas he had not been,
But for good will to bear me company. ... [19.260]
He left his friends, his country and his goods,
And came with me in most extremity.
Oh, if he should miscarry here and die,
Who is the cause of it, but only I?

MESS: Why that am I, let that ne're trouble thee.

LEIR: O no, tis I. O, had I now to give thee
The monarchy of all the spacious world
To save his life, I would bestow it on thee:
But I have nothing but these tears and prayers,
And the submission of a bended knee. [Kneel.] ... [19.270]
O, if all this to mercy move thy mind,
Spare him, in heaven thou shalt like mercy find.

MESS: I am as hard to be moved as another, and yet me
thinks the strength of their persuasions stirs me a little.

PERILLUS: My friend, if fear of the almighty power
Have power to move thee, we have said enough:
But if thy mind be movable with gold,
We have not presently to give it thee:
Yet to thyself thou mayst do greater good,
To keep thy hands still undefiled from blood: ... [19.280]
For do but well consider with thyself,
When thou hast finished this outrageous act,
What horror still will haunt thee for the deed:
Think this again, that they which would incense
Thee for to be the Butcher of their father,
When it is done, for fear it should be known,
Would make a means to rid thee from the world:
Oh, then art thou for ever tied in chains
Of everlasting torments to endure,
Even in the hottest hole of grisly hell, ... [19.290]
Such pains, as never mortal tongue can tell.
[It thunders. He quakes, and lets fall the Dagger next to Perillus.]

LEIR: O, heavens be thanked, he will spare my friend.
Now when thou wilt come make an end of me.
[He lets fall the other dagger.]

PERILLUS: Oh, happy sight! he means to save my Lord.
The King of heaven continue this good mind.

LEIR: Why stayst thou to do execution?

MESS: I am as willful as you for your life:
I will not do it, now you do entreat me.

PERILLUS: Ah, now I see thou hast some spark of grace.

MESS: Beshrew you for it, you have put it in me: ... [19.300]
The parlosest old men, that ere I heard.
Well, to be flat, I'll not meddle with you:
Here I found you, and here I'll leave you:
If any ask you why the case so stands?
Say that your tongues were better than your hands.
[Exit Messenger.]

PERILLUS: Farewell. If ever we together meet,
It shall go hard, but I will thee regreet.
Courage, my Lord, the worst is overpast;
Let us give thanks to God, and high us hence.

LEIR: Thou are deceived; for I am past the best, ... [19.310]
And know not whither for to go from hence:
Death had been better welcome unto me,
Than longer life to add more misery.

PERILLUS: It were not good to return from whence we came,
Unto your daughter Ragan back again.
Now let us go to France, unto Cordella,
Your youngest daughter, doubtless she will succor you.

LEIR: Oh, how can I persuade myself of that,
Since the other two are quite devoid of love;
To whom I was so kind, as that my gifts, ... [19.320]
Might make them love me, if 'twere nothing else?

PERILLUS: No worldly gifts, but grace from God on high,
Doth nourish virtue and true charity.
Remember well what words Cordella spake,
What time you asked her, how she loved your Grace.
She said, her love unto you was as much,
As ought a child to bear unto her father.

LEIR: But she did find, my love was not to her,
As should a father bear unto a child.

PERILLUS: That makes not her love to be any less, ... [19.330]
If she do love you as a child should do:
You have tried two, try one more for my sake.
I'll ne're entreat you further trial make.
Remember well the dream you had of late,
And think what comfort it foretells to us.

LEIR: Come, truest friend, that ever man possessed,
O know thou counsel'st all things for the best:
If this third daughter play a kinder part,
It comes of God, and not of my desert. [Exeunt.]

Scene 20
[Enter Enter the Gallian Ambassador solus.]

AMB: There is of late news come unto the Court,
That old Lord Leir remains in Cambria:
I'll hie me thither presently, to impart
My letters and my message unto him.
I never was less welcome to a place
In all my life time, than I have been hither,
Especially unto the stately Queen,
Who would not cast one gracious look on me,
But still with low'ring and suspicious eyes,
Would take exceptions at each word I spake, ... [20.10]
And fain she would have undermined me,
To know what my Ambassage did import:
But she is like to hop without her hope,
And in this matter for to want her will,
Though (by report) she'll hav't in all things else.
Well, I will post away for Cambria:
Within these few days I hope to be there. [Exit.]

Scene 21
[Enter the King and Queen of Gallia, & Mumford.]

KING: By this, our father understands our mind,
And our kind greetings sent to him of late:
Therefore my mind presageth ere't be long,
We shall receive from Britain happy news.

CORDELLA: I fear, my sister will dissuade his mind;
For she to me hath always been unkind.

KING: Fear not, my love, since that we know the worst,
The last means helps, if that we miss the first:
If he'll not come to Gallia unto us,
Then we will sail to Britain unto him. ... [21.10]

MUMFORD: Well, if I once see Britain again,
I have sworn, I'll ne're come home without my wench,
And I'll not be forsworn,
I'll rather never come home while I live.

CORDELLA: Are you sure, Mumford, she is a maid still?

MUMFORD: Nay, I'll not swear she is a maid, but she goes for one:
I'll take her at all adventures, if I can get her.

CORDELLA: Aye, that's well put in.

MUMFORD: Well put in? nay, it was ill put in; for had it
Been as well put in, as ere I put in my days, ... [21.20]
I would have made her follow me to France.

CORDELLA: Nay, you'd have been so kind, as take her with you,
Or else, were I as she,
I would have been so loving, as I'd stay behind you:
Yet I must confess, you are a very proper man,
And able to make a wench do more than she would do.

MUMFORD: Well, I have a pair of slops for the nonce,
Will hold all your mocks.

KING: Nay, we see you have a handsome hose.

CORDELLA: Aye, and of the newest fashion. ... [21.30]

MUMFORD: More bobs, more: put them in still,
They'll serve instead of bombast; yet put not in too many,
lest the seams crack, and they fly out amongst you again:
you must not think to outface me so easily in my mistress' quarrel,
who if I see once again, ten team of horses shall
not draw me away, till I have full and whole possession.

KING: Aye, but one team and a cart will serve the turn.

CORDELLA: Not only for him, but also for his wench.

MUMFORD: Well, you are two to one, I'll give you over:
And since I see you so pleasantly disposed, ... [21.40]
Which indeed is but seldom seen, I'll claim
A promise of you, which you shall not deny me:
For promise is debt, & by this hand you promised it me.
Therefore you owe it me, and you shall pay it me,
Or I'll sue you upon an action of unkindness.

KING: Prithy, Lord Mumford, what promise did I make thee?

MUMFORD: Faith, nothing but this,
That the next fair weather, which is very now,
You would go in progress down to the seaside,
Which is very near. ... [21.50]

KING: Faith, in this motion I will join with thee,
And be a mediator to my Queen.
Prithy, my Love, let this match go forward,
My mind foretells, 'twill be a lucky voyage.

CORDELLA: Entreaty needs not, where you may command,
So you be pleased, I am right well content:
Yet, as the Sea I much desire to see,
So am I most unwilling to be seen.

KING: We'll go disguised, all unknown to any.

CORDELLA: Howsoever you make one, I'll make another. ... [21.60]

MUMFORD: And I the third: oh, I am overjoyed!
See what love is, which getteth with a word,
What all the world besides could ne're obtain!
But what disguises shall we have, my Lord?

KING: Faith thus: my Queen and I will be disguised,
Like a plain country couple, and you shall be Roger
Our man, and wait upon us: or if you will,
You shall go first, and we will wait on you.

MUMFORD: 'Twere more than time; this device is excellent.
Come let us about it. [Exeunt.] ... [21.70]

Scene 22
[Enter Cambria and Ragan with Nobles.]

CAMBRIA: What strange mischance or unexpected hap
Hath thus deprived us of our father's presence?
Can no man tell us what's become of him,
With whom we did converse not two days since?
My Lords, let everywhere light-horse be sent,
To scour about through all our Regiment.
Dispatch a Post immediately to Cornwall,'
To see if any news be of him there;
Myself will make a strict inquiry here,
And all about our Cities near at hand, ... [22.10]
Till certain news of his abode be brought.

RAGAN: All sorrow is but counterfeit to mine,
Whose lips are almost sealed up with grief:
Mine is the substance, whilst they do but seem
To weep the loss, which tears cannot redeem.
O, ne're was heard so strange a misadventure,
A thing so far beyond the reach of sense,
Since no man's reason in the cause can enter.
What hath removed my father thus from hence?
O, I do fear some charm or invocation ... [22.20]
Of wicked spirits, or infernal fiends,
Stirred by Cordella, moves this innovation,
And brings my father timeless to his end.
But might I know, that the detested Witch
Were certain cause of this uncertain ill,
Myself to France would go in some disguise,
And with these nails scratch out her hateful eyes:
For since I am deprived of my father,
I loath my life, and with my death the rather.

CAMBRIA: The heavens are just, and hate impiety, ... [22.30]
And will (no doubt) reveal such heinous crimes:
Censure not any, till you know the right:
Let him be Judge, that bringeth truth to light.

RAGAN: O, but my grief, like to a swelling tide,
Exceeds the bounds of common patience:
Nor can I moderate my tongue so much,
To conceal them, whom I hold in suspect.

CAMBRIA: This matter shall be sifted: if it be she,
A thousand Frances shall not harbor her.
[Enter the Gallian Ambassador.]

AMB: All happiness unto the Cambrian King. ... [22.40]

CAMBRIA: Welcome, my friend, from whence is thy Ambassage?

AMB: I came from Gallia, unto Cornwall sent,
With letters to your honorable father,
Whom there not finding, as I did expect,
I was directed hither to repair.

RAGAN: Frenchman, what is thy message to my father?

AMB: My letters, Madam, will import the same,
Which my Commission is for to deliver.

RAGAN: In his absence you may trust us with your letters.

AMB: I must perform my charge in such a manner, ... [22.50]
As I have strict commandment from the King.

RAGAN: There is good packing twixt your King and you:
You need not hither come to ask for him,
You know where he is better than ourselves.

AMB: Madam, I hope, not far off.

RAGAN: Hath the young murd'ress, your outrageous Queen,
No means to color her detested deeds,
In finishing my guiltless father's days,
(Because he gave her nothing of a dower)
But by the color of a feigned Ambassage, ... [22.60]
To send him letters hither to our Court?
Go carry them to them that sent them hither,
And bid them keep their scrolls unto themselves:
They cannot blind us with such slight excuse,
To smother up so monstrous vild abuse.
And were it not, it is 'gainst law of Arms,
To offer violence to a Messenger,
We would inflict such torments on thyself,
As should enforce thee to reveal the truth.

AMB: Madam, your threats no whit appall my mind, ... [22.70]
I know my conscience guiltless of this act;
My King and Queen, I dare be sworn, are free
From any thought of such impiety:
And therefore, Madam, you have done them wrong,
And ill beseeming with a sisters love,
Who in mere duty tender him as much,
As ever you respected him for dower.
The King your husband will not say as much.

CAMBRIA: I suspend my judgment for a time,
Till more apparance give us further light: ... [22.80]
Yet to be plain, your coming doth enforce
A great suspicion to our doubtful mind,
And that you do resemble, to be brief,
Him that first robs, and then cries, Stop the thief.

AMB: Pray God some near you have not done the like.

RAGAN: Hence, saucy mate, reply no more to us.
[She strikes him.]
For law of Arms shall not protect thy tongue.

AMB: Ne're was I offered such discourtesy;
God and my King, I trust, ere it be long,
Will find a mean to remedy this wrong. [Exit Amb.] ... [22.90]

RAGAN: How shall I live, to suffer this disgrace,
At every base and vulgar peasants hands?
It ill befitteth my imperial state,
To be thus used, and no man to take my part. [She weeps.]

CAMBRIA: What should I do? infringe the law of Arms,
Were to my everlasting obloquy:
But I will take revenge upon his master,
Which sent him hither, to delude us thus.

RAGAN: Nay, if you put up with this, be sure, ere long,
Now that my father is thus made away, ... [22.100]
She'll come & claim a third part of your Crown,
As due unto her by inheritance.

CAMBRIA: But I will prove her title to be nought
But shame, and the reward of Parricide,
And make her an example to the world,
For after-ages to admire her penance.
This will I do, as I am Cambria's King,
Or lose my life, to prosecute revenge.
Come, first let's learn what news is of our father,
And then proceed, as best occasion fits. [Exeunt.] ... [22.110]

Scene 23
[Enter Leir, Perillus, and two Mariners, in sea-gowns and sea-caps.]

PERILLUS: My honest friends, we are ashamed to show
The great extremity of our present state,
In that at this time we are brought so low,
That we want money for to pay our passage.
The truth is so, we met with some good fellows,
A little before we came aboard your ship,
Which stripped us quite of all the coin we had,
And left us not a penny in our purses:
Yet wanting money, we will use the mean,
To see you satisfied to the uttermost. [Look on Lear.] ... [23.10]

1 MAR: Here's a good gown, 'twould become me passing well,
I should be fine in it. [Look on Perillus.]

2 MAR: Here's a good cloak, I marvel how I should look in it.

LEIR: Faith, had we others to supply their room,
Though ne'er so mean, you willingly should have them.

1 MAR: Do you hear, sir? you look like an honest man;
I'll not stand to do you a pleasure: here's a good strong motley
gabardine, cost me xiiii. good shillings at Billingsgate; give
me your gown for it, & your cap for mine, & I'll forgive
your passage. ... [23.20]

LEIR: With all my heart, and xx. thanks. [Leir & he changeth.]

2 MAR: Do you hear, sir? you shall have a better match
than he, because you are my friend: here is a good sheeps
russet sea-gown, will bide more stress, I warrant you,
than two of his, yet for you seem to be an honest gentleman,
I am content to change it for your cloak, and ask you
nothing for your passage more. [Pull off Perillus cloak.]

PERILLUS: My own I willingly would change with thee,
And think myself indebted to thy kindness:
But would my friend might keep his garment still. ... [23.30]
My friend, I'll give thee this new doublet, if thou wilt
Restore his gown unto him him back again.

1 MAR: Nay, if I do, would I might ne're eat powdered
beef and mustard more, nor drink Can of good liquor whilst
I live. My friend, you have small reason to seek to hinder me
of my bargain: but the best is, a bargain's a bargain.

LEIR: Kind friend, it is much better as it is; [Leir to Perillus.]
For by this means we may escape unknown,
Til time and opportunity do fit.

2 MAR: Hark, hark, they are laying their heads together, ... [23.40]
They'll repent them of their bargain anon,
'Twere best for us to go while we are well.

1 MAR: God be with you, sir, for your passage back again,
I'll use you as unreasonable as another.

LEIR: I know thou wilt; but we hope to bring ready money
With us, when we come back again. [Exeunt Mariners.]
Were ever men in this extremity,
In a strange country, and devoid of friends,
And not a penny for to help ourselves?
Kind friend, what thinkst thou will become of us? ... [23.50]

PERILLUS: Be of good cheer, my Lord, I have a doublet,
Will yield us money enough to serve our turns,
Until we come unto your daughter's Court:
And then, I hope, we shall find friends enough.

LEIR: Ah, kind Perillus, that is it I fear,
And makes me faint, or ever I come there.
Can kindness spring out of ingratitude?
Or love be reaped, where hatred hath been sown?
Can Henbane join in league with Mithridate?
Or Sugar grow in Wormwood's bitter stalk? ... [23.60]
It cannot be, they are too opposite:
And so am I to any kindness here.
I have thrown Wormwood on the sugared youth,
And like to Henbane poisoned the Fount,
Whence flowed the Mithridate of a child's good will:
I, like an envious thorn, have pricked the heart,
And turned sweet Grapes, to sour unrelished Sloes:
The causeless ire of my respectless breast,
Hath soured the sweet milk of dame Nature's paps:
My bitter words have galled her honey thoughts, ... [23.70]
And weeds of rancor choked the flower of grace.
Then what remainder is of any hope,
But all our fortunes will go quite aslope?

PERILLUS: Fear not, my Lord, the perfect good indeed,
Can never be corrupted by the bad:
A new fresh vessel still retains the taste
Of that which first is poured into the same:
And therefore, though you name yourself the thorn,
The weed, the gall, the henbane & the wormwood;
Yet she'll continue in her former state, ... [23.80]
The honey milk, Grape, Sugar, Mithridate.

LEIR: Thou pleasing Orator unto me in woe,
Cease to beguile me with thy hopeful speeches:
O join with me, and think of nought but crosses,
And then we'll one lament another's losses.

PERILLUS: Why, say the worst, the worst can be but death,
And death is better than for to despair:
Then hazard death, which may convert to life;
Banish despair, which brings a thousand deaths.

LEIR: Orecome with thy strong arguments, I yield, ... [23.90]
To be directed by thee, as thou wilt:
As thou yieldst comfort to my crazed thoughts,
Would I could yield the like unto thy body,
Which is full weak, I know, and ill-apaid
For want of fresh meat and due sustenance.

PERILLUS: Alack, my Lord, my heart doth bleed, to think
That you should be in such extremity.

LEIR: Come, let us go, and see what God will send;
When all means fail, he is the surest friend. [Exeunt.]

Scene 24
[Enter the Gallian King and Queen, and Mumford,
with a basket, disguised like Country folk.]

KING: This tedious journey all on foot, sweet Love,
Cannot be pleasing to your tender joints,
Which ne're were used to these toilsome walks.

CORDELLA: I never in my life took more delight
In any journey, than I do in this:
It did me good, when as we happed to light
Amongst the merry crew of country folk,
To see what industry and pains they took,
To win them commendations 'mongst their friends.
Lord, how they labor to bestir themselves, ... [24.10]
And in their quirks to go beyond the Moon,
And so take on them with such antic fits,
That one would think they were beside their wits!
Come away, Roger, with your basket.

MUMFORD: Soft, Dame, here comes a couple of old youths,
I must needs make myself fat with jesting at them.
[Enter Leir & Perillus very faintly.]

CORDELLA: Nay, prithy do not, they do seem to be
Men much o'ergone with grief and misery.
Let's stand aside, and hearken what they say.

LEIR: Ah, my Perillus, now I see we both ... [24.20]
Shall end our days in this unfruitful soil.
Oh, I do faint for want of sustenance:
And thou, I know, in little better case.
No gentle tree affords one taste of fruit,
To comfort us, until we meet with men:
No lucky path conducts our luckless steps
Unto a place where any comfort dwells.
Sweet rest betide unto our happy souls;
For here I see our bodies must have end.

PERILLUS: Ah, my dear Lord, how doth my heart lament, ... [24.30]
To see you brought to this extremity!
O, if you love me, as you do profess,
Or ever thought well of me in my life, [He strips up his arms.]
Feed on this flesh, whose veins are not so dry,
But there is virtue left to comfort you.
O, feed on this, if this will do you good,
I'll smile for joy, to see you suck my blood.

LEIR: I am no Cannibal, that I should delight
To slake my hungry jaws with human flesh:
I am no devil, or ten times worse than so, ... [24.40]
To suck the blood of such a peerless friend.
O, do not think that I respect my life
So dearly, as I do thy loyal love.
Ah, Britain, I shall never see thee more,
That hast unkindly banished thy King:
And yet thou dost not make me to complain,
But they which were more near to me than thou.

CORDELLA: What do I hear? this lamentable voice,
Me thinks, ere now I often times have heard.

LEIR: Ah, Gonorill, was half my Kingdom's gift ... [24.50]
The cause that thou didst seek to have my life?
Ah, cruel Ragan, did I give thee all,
And all could not suffice without my blood?
Ah, poor Cordella, did I give thee nought,
Nor never shall be able for to give?
O, let me warn all ages that ensueth,
How they trust flattery, and reject the trueth.
Well, unkind Girls, I here forgive you both,
Yet the just heavens will hardly do the like;
And only crave forgiveness at the end ... [24.60]
Of good Cordella, and of thee, my friend;
Of God, whose Majesty I have offended,
By my transgression many thousand ways:
Of her, dear heart, whom I for no occasion
Turned out of all, through flatterers persuasion:
Of thee, kind friend, who but for me, I know,
Hadst never come unto this place of woe.

CORDELLA: Alack, that ever I should live to see
My noble father in this misery.

KING: Sweet Love, reveal not what thou art as yet, ... [24.70]
Until we know the ground of all this ill.

CORDELLA: O, but some meat, some meat: do you not see,
How near they are to death for want of food?

PERILLUS: Lord, which didst help thy servants at their need,
Or now or never send us help with speed.
Oh comfort, comfort! yonder is a banquet,
And men and women, my Lord: be of good cheer:
For I see comfort coming very near.
O my Lord, a banquet, and men and women!

LEIR: O, let kind pity mollify their hearts, ... [24.80]
That they may help us in our great extremes.

PERILLUS: God save your, friends; & if this blessed banquet
Affordeth any food or sustenance,
Even for his sake that saved us all from death,
Vouchsafe to save us from the gripe of famine.
[She bringeth him to the table.]

CORDELLA: Here father, sit and eat, here, sit & drink:
And would it were far better for your sakes.
[Perillus takes Leir by the hand to the table.]

PERILLUS: I'll give you thanks anon: my friend doth faint,
And needeth present comfort. [Leir drinks.]

MUMFORD: I warrant, he ne're stays to say grace: ... [24.90]
O, there's no sauce to a good stomach.

PERILLUS: The blessed God of heaven hath thought upon us.

LEIR: The thanks be his, and these kind courteous folk,
By whose humanity we are preserved.
[They eat hungerly, Leir drinks.]

CORDELLA: And may that draught be unto him, as was
That which old Aeson drank, which did renew
His withered age, and made him young again.
And may that meat be unto him, as was
That which Elias ate, in strength whereof
He walked forty days, and never fainted. ... [24.100]
Shall I conceal me longer from my father?
Or shall I manifest myself to him?

KING: Forbear a while, until his strength return,
Lest being overjoyed with seeing thee,
His poor weak senses should forsake their office,
And so our cause of joy be turned to sorrow.

PERILLUS: What cheer, my Lord? how do you feel yourself?

LEIR: Methinks, I never saw such savory meat:
It is as pleasant as the blessed Manna,
That rained from heaven amongst the Israelites: ... [24.110]
It hath recalled my spirits home again,
And made me fresh, as erst I was before.
But how shall we congratulate their kindness?

PERILLUS: In faith, I know not how sufficiently;
But the best mean that I can think on, is this:
I'll offer them my doublet in requital;
For we have nothing else to spare.

LEIR: Nay, stay, Perillus, for they shall have mine.

PERILLUS: Pardon, my Lord, I swear they shall have mine.
[Perillus proffers his doublet: they will not take it.]

LEIR: Ah, who would think such kindness should remain ... [24.120]
Among such strange and unacquainted men:
And that such hate should harbor in the breast
Of those, which have occasion to be best?

CORDELLA: Ah, good old father, tell to me thy grief,
I'll sorrow with thee, if not add relief.

LEIR: Ah, good young daughter, I may call thee so,
For thou art like a daughter I did owe.

CORDELLA: Do you not owe her still? what, is she dead?

LEIR: No, God forbid: but all my interest's gone,
By showing myself too much unnatural: ... [24.130]
So have I lost the title of a father,
And may be called a stranger to her rather.

CORDELLA: Your title's good still: for tis always known,
A man may do as him list with his own.
But have you but one daughter then in all?

LEIR: Yes, I have more by two, than would I had.

CORDELLA: O, say not so, but rather see the end:
They that are bad, may have the grace to mend:
But how have they offended you so much?

LEIR: If from the first, I should relate the cause, ... [24.140]
'Twould make a heart of Adamant to weep;
And thou, poor soul, kind-hearted as thou art,
Dost weep already, ere I do begin.

CORDELLA: For God's love tell it, and when you have done,
I'll tell the reason why I weep so soon.

LEIR: Then know this first, I am a Britain born,
And had three daughters by one loving wife:
And though I say it, of beauty they were sped;
Especially the youngest of the three,
For her perfections hardly matched could be: ... [24.150]
On these I doted with a jealous love,
And thought to try which of them loved me best,
By asking them, which would do most for me?
The first and second flattered me with words,
And vowed they loved me better than their lives:
The youngest said, she loved me as a child
Might do: her answer I esteemed most vild,
And presently in an outrageous mood,
I turned her from me to go sink or swim:
And all I had, even to the very clothes, ... [24.160]
I gave in dowry with the other two:
And she that best deserved the greatest share,
I gave her nothing, but disgrace and care.
Now mark the sequel: When I had done thus,
I sojourned in my eldest daughter's house,
Where for a time I was entreated well,
And lived in state sufficing my content:
But every day her kindness did grow cold,
Which I with patience put up well enough,
And seemed not to see the things I saw: ... [24.170]
But at the last she grew so far incensed
With moody fury, and with causeless hate,
That in most vild and contumelious terms,
She bade me pack, and harbor somewhere else.
Then was I fain for refuge to repair
Unto my other daughter for relief,
Who gave me pleasing and most courteous words;
But in her actions showed herself so sore,
As never any daughter did before:
She prayed me in a morning out betime, ... [24.180]
To go to a thicket two miles from the Court,
Pointing that there she would come talk with me:
There she had set a shag-haired murd'ring wretch,
To massacre my honest friend and me.
Then judge yourself, although my tale be brief,
If ever may had greater cause of grief.

KING: Nor never like impiety was done,
Since the creation of the world begun.

LEIR: And now I am constrained to seek relief
Of her, to whom I have been so unkind; ... [24.190]
Whose censure, if it do award me death,
I must confess she pays me but my due:
But if she show a loving daughter's part,
It comes of God and her, not my desert.

CORDELLA: No doubt she will, I dare be sworn she will.

LEIR: How know you that, not knowing what she is?

CORDELLA: Myself a father have a great way hence,
Used me as ill as ever you did her;
Yet, that his reverend age I once might see,
I'd creep along, to meet him on my knee. ... [24.200]

LEIR: O, no men's children are unkind but mine.

CORDELLA: Condemn not all, because of other's crime:
But look, dear father, look behold and see
Thy loving daughter speaketh unto thee. [She kneels.]

LEIR: O, stand thou up, it is my part to kneel,
And ask forgiveness for my former faults. [He kneels.]

CORDELLA: O, if you wish, I should enjoy my breath,
Dear father rise, or I receive my death. [He riseth.]

LEIR: Then I will rise to satisfy your mind,
But kneel again, til pardon be resigned. [He kneels.] ... [24.210]

CORDELLA: I pardon you: the word beseems not me:
But I do say so, for to ease your knee.
You gave me life, you were the cause that I
Am what I am, who else had never been.

LEIR: But you gave life to me and to my friend,
Whose days had else had an untimely end.

CORDELLA: You brought me up, when as I was but young,
And far unable for to help myself.

LEIR: I cast thee forth, when as thou wast but young,
And far unable for to help thyself. ... [24.220]

CORDELLA: God, world and nature say I do you wrong,
That can endure to see you kneel so long.

PERILLUS: Let me break off this loving controversy,
Which doth rejoice my very soul to see.
Good father, rise, she is your loving daughter, [He riseth.]
And honors you with as respective duty,
As if you were the Monarch of the world.

CORDELLA: But I will never rise from off my knee, [She kneels.]
Until I have your blessing, and your pardon
Of all my faults committed any way ... [24.230]
From my first birth unto this present day.

LEIR: The blessing, which the God of Abraham gave
Unto the tribe of Juda, light on thee,
And multiply thy days, that thou mayst see
Thy children's children prosper after thee.
Thy faults, which are just none that I do know,
God pardon on high, and I forgive below. [She riseth.]

CORDELLA: Now is my heart at quiet, and doth leap
Within my breast, for joy of this good hap:
And now (dear father) welcome to our Court, ... [24.240]
And welcome (kind Perillus) unto me,
Mirror of virtue and true honesty.

LEIR: O, he hath been the kindest friend to me,
That ever man had in adversity.

PERILLUS: My tongue doth fail, to say what heart doth think,
I am so ravished with exceeding joy.

KING: All you have spoke: now let me speak my mind,
And in few words much matter here conclude: [He kneels.]
If ere my heart do harbor any joy,
Or true content repose within my breast, ... [24.250]
Till I have rooted out this viperous sect,
And repossessed my father of his crown,
Let me be counted for the perjurdst man,
That ever spake word since the world began. [Rise.]

MUMFORD: Let me pray too, that never prayed before; [Mumford kneels.]
If ere I resalute the British earth,
(As (ere't be long) I do presume I shall)
And do return from thence without my wench,
Let me be gelded for my recompense. [Rise.]

KING: Come, let's to arms for to redress this wrong: ... [24.260]
Till I am there, me thinks, the time seems long. [Exeunt.]

Scene 25
[Enter Ragan sola.]

RAGAN: I feel a hell of conscience in my breast,
Tormenting me with horror for my fact,
And makes me in an agony of doubt,
For fear the world should find my dealing out.
The slave whom I appointed for the act,
I ne're set eye upon the peasant since:
O, could I get him for to make him sure,
My doubts would cease, and I should rest secure.
But if the old men, with persuasive words,
Have saved their lives, and made him to relent; ... [25.10]
Then are they fled unto the Court of France,
And like a Trumpet manifest my shame.
A shame on these white-livered slaves, say I,
That with fair words so soon are overcome.
O God, that I had been but made a man;
Or that my strength were equal with my will!
These foolish men are nothing but mere pity,
And melt as butter doth against the Sun.
Why should they have preeminence over us,
Since we are creatures of more brave resolve? ... [25.20]
I swear, I am quite out of charity
With all the heartless men in Christendom.
A pox upon them, when they are afraid
To give a stab, or slit a paltry Windpipe,
Which are so easy matters to be done.
Well, had I thought the slave would serve me so,
Myself would have been executioner:
Tis now undone, and if that it be known,
I'll make as good shift as I can for one.
He that repines at me, how ere it stands, ... [25.30]
'Twere best for him to keep him from my hands. [Exit.]

Scene 26
[Sound Drums & Trumpets: Enter the Gallian King, Leir, Mumford and the army.]

KING: Thus have we brought our army to the sea,
Whereas our ships are ready to receive us:
The wind stands fair, and we in four hours sail
May easily arrive on British shore,
Where unexpected we may them surprise,
And gain a glorious victory with ease.
Wherefore, my loving Countrymen, resolve,
Since truth and justice fighteth on our sides,
That we shall march with conquest where we go.
Myself will be as forward as the first, ... [26.10]
And step-by-step march with the hardiest wight:
And not the meanest soldier in our Camp
Shall be in danger, but I'll second him.
To you, my Lord, we give the whole command
Of all the army, next unto ourself,
Not doubting of you, but you will extend
Your wonted valor in this needful case,
Encouraging the rest to do the like,
By your approved magnanimity.

MUMFORD: My Liege, tis needless to spur a willing horse, ... [26.20]
That's apt enough to run himself to death:
For here I swear by that sweet Saint's bright eye,
Which are the stars, which guide me to good hap,
Either to see my old Lord crowned anew,
Or in his cause to bid the world adieu.

LEIR: Thanks, good Lord Mumford, tis more of your good will,
Than any merit or desert in me.

MUMFORD: And now to you, my worthy Countrymen,
Ye valiant race of Genovestan Gauls,
Surnamed Red-shanks, for your chivalry, ... [26.30]
Because you fight up to the shanks in blood;
Show yourselves now to be right Gauls indeed,
And be so bitter on your enemies,
That they may say, you are as bitter as Gall.
Gall them, brave Shot, with your Artillery:
Gall them, brave Halberds, with your sharp-point Bills,
Each in their pointed place, not one, but all,
Fight for the credit of yourselves and Gaul.

KING: Then what should more persuasion need to those,
That rather wish to deal, than hear of blows? ... [26.40]
Let's to our ships, and if that God permit,
In four hours' sail, I hope we shall be there.

MUMFORD: And in five hours more, I make no doubt,
But we shall bring our wished desires about. [Exeunt.]

Scene 27
[Enter a Captain of the watch, and two watchmen.]

CAPTAIN: My honest friends, it is your turn tonight,
To watch in this place, near about the Beacon,
And vigilantly have regard,
If any fleet of ships pass hitherward:
Which if you do, your office is to fire
The Beacon presently, and raise the town. [Exit.]

1 WATCH: Aye, aye, aye, fear nothing; we know our charge, I
warrant: I have been a watchman about this Beacon this xxx.
year, and yet I ne're see it stir, but stood as quietly as might be.

2 WATCH: Faith neighbor, and you'll follow my vice, ... [27.10]
instead of watching the Beacon, we'll go to goodman
Gennings, & watch a pot of Ale and a rasher of Bacon: and
if we do not drink ourselves drunk, then so; I warrant, the
Beacon will see us when we come out again.

1 WATCH: Aye, but how if somebody excuse us to the Captain?

2 WATCH: Tis no matter, I'll prove by good reason that we
watch the Beacon: ass for example.

1 WATCH: I hope you do not call me ass by craft, neighbor.

2 WATCH: No, no, but for example: Say here stands the pot
of ale, that's the Beacon.

1 WATCH: ~~~ Aye, Aye, tis a very good Beacon. ... [27.20]

2 WATCH: Well, say here stands your nose, that's the fire.

1 WATCH: Indeed I must confess, tis somewhat red.

2 WATCH: I see come marching in a dish, half a score pieces
of salt Bacon.

1 WATCH: ~~~ I understand your meaning, that's
as much to say, half a score ships.

2 WATCH: ~~~ True, you conster
right; presently, like a faithful watchman, I fire the
Beacon, and call up the town.

1 WATCH: Aye, that's as much as to say, you set your nose to
the pot, and drink up the drink.

2 WATCH: ~~~ You are in the right;
come, let's go fire the Beacon. [Exeunt.] ... [27.30]

Scene 28
[Enter the King of Gallia with a still march, Mumford & soldiers.]

KING: Now march our ensigns on the British earth,
And we are near approaching to the town:
Then look about you, valiant Countrymen,
And we shall finish this exploit with ease.
Th'inhabitants of this mistrustful place,
Are dead asleep, as men that are secure:
Here shall we skirmish but with naked men,
Devoid of sense, new-waked from a dream,
That know not what our coming doth pretend,
Till they do feel our meaning on their skins: ... [28.10]
Therefore assail: God and our right for us. [Exeunt.]

Scene 29
[Alarum, with men and women half naked:
Enter two Captains without doublets, with swords.]

1 CAP: Where are these villains that were set to watch,
And fire the Beacon, if occasion served,
That thus have suffered us to be surprised,
And never given notice to the town?
We are betrayed, and quite devoid of hope,
By any means to fortify ourselves.

2 CAP: Tis ten to one the peasants are o'ercome with
drink and sleep, and so neglect their charge.

1 CAP: A whirlwind carry them quick to a whirlpool,
That there the slaves may drink their bellies full. ... [29.10]

2 CAP: This tis, to have the Beacon so near the Ale-house.
[Enter the watchmen drunk, with each a pot.]

1 CAP: Out on ye, villains, whither run you now?

1 WATCH: To fire the town, and call up the Beacon.

2 WATCH: No, no, sir, to fire the Beacon. [He drinks.]

2 CAP: What, with a pot of ale, you drunken Rogues?

1 CAP: You'll fire the Beacon, when the town is lost:
I'll teach you how to tend your office better. [Draw to stab them.]
[Enter Mumford, Captains run away.]

MUMFORD: Yield, yield, yield. [He kicks down their pots.]

1 WATCH: Reel? no, we do not reel:
You may lack a pot of Ale ere you dye. ... [29.20]

MUMFORD: But in mean space, I answer, you want none.
Well, there's no dealing with you, y'are tall men, & well-weaponed,
I would there were no worse than you in the town. [Exit.]

2 WATCH: A speaks like an honest man; my cholers past already.
Come, neighbor, let's go.

1 WATCH: Nay, first let's see and we can stand. [Exeunt.]
[Alarum, excursions, Mumford after them, and some half naked.]

Scene 30
[Enter the Gallian King, Leir, Mumford, Cordella, Perillus, and soldiers, with the chief of the town bound.]

KING: Fear not, my friends, you shall receive no hurt,
If you'll subscribe unto your lawful King,
And quite revoke your fealty from Cambria,
And from aspiring Cornwall too, whose wives
Have practiced treason 'gainst their father's life.
We come in justice of your wronged King,
And do intend no harm at all to you,
So you submit unto your lawful King.

LEIR: Kind Countrymen, it grieves me, that perforce,
I am constrained to use extremities. ... [30.10]

NOBLE: Long have you here been looked-for, good my Lord,
And wished-for by a general consent:
And had we known your Highness had arrived,
We had not made resistance to your Grace:
And now, my gracious Lord, you need not doubt,
But all the Country will yield presently,
Which since your absence have him greatly taxed,
For to maintain their over-swelling pride.
We'll presently send word to all our friends;
When they have notice, they will come apace. ... [30.20]

LEIR: Thanks, loving subjects; and thanks, worthy son,
Thanks, my kind daughter, thanks to you, my Lord,
Who willingly adventured have your blood,
(Without desert) to do me so much good.

MUMFORD: O, say no so:
I have been much beholding to your Grace:
I must confess, I have been in some skirmishes,
But I was never in the like to this:
For where I was wont to meet with armed men,
I was now encountered with naked women. ... [30.30]

CORDELLA: We that are feeble, and want use of Arms,
Will pray to God, to shield you from all harms.

LEIR: The while your hands do manage ceaseless toil,
Our hearts shall pray, the foes may have the foil.

PERILLUS: We'll fast and pray, whilst you for us do fight,
That victory may prosecute the right.

KING: Me thinks, your words do amplify (my friends)
And add fresh vigor to my willing limbs: [Drum.]
But hark, I hear the adverse Drum approach.
God and our right, Saint Denis, and Saint George. ... [30.40]
[Enter Cornwall, Cambria, Gonorill, Ragan, and the army.]

CORNWALL: Presumptuous King of Gauls, how darest thou
Presume to enter on our British shore?
And more than that, to take our towns perforce,
And draw our subjects' hearts from their true King?
Be sure to buy it at as dear a price,
As ere you bought presumption in your lives.

KING: O'er-daring Cornwall, know, we came in right,
And just revengement of the wronged King,
Whose daughters there, fell vipers as they are,
Have sought to murder and deprive of life: ... [30.50]
But God protected him from all their spite,
And we are come in justice of his right.

CAMBRIA: Nor he nor thou have any interest here,
But what you win and purchase with the sword.
Thy slanders to our noble virtuous Queenes,
We'll in the battle thrust them down thy throat,
Except for fear of our revenging hands,
Thou fly to sea, as not secure on lands.

MUMFORD: Welshman, I'll so ferret you ere night for that word,
That you shall have no mind to crake so well this twelve-month. ... [30.60]

GONORILL: They lie, that say, we sought our father's death.

RAGAN: Tis merely forged for a color's sake,
To set a gloss on your invasion.
Me thinks, an old man ready for to die,
Should be ashamed to broach so foul a lie.

CORDELLA: Fie, shameless sister, so devoid of grace,
To call our father liar to his face.

GONORILL: Peace (Puritan) dissembling hypocrite,
Which art so good, that thou wilt prove stark naught:
Anon, when as I have you in my fingers, ... [30.70]
I'll make you wish yourself in Purgatory.

PERILLUS: Nay, peace thou monster, shame unto thy sex:
Thou fiend in likeness of a human creature.

RAGAN: I never heard a fouler-spoken man.

LEIR: Out on thee, viper, scum, filthy parricide,
More odious to my sight than is a Toad.
Knowest thou these letters? [She snatches them & tears them.]

RAGAN: Think you to outface me with your paltry scrolls?
You come to drive my husband from his right,
Under the color of a forged letter. ... [30.80]

LEIR: Who ever heard the like impiety?

PERILLUS: You are our debtor of more patience:
We were more patient when we stayed for you,
Within the thicket two long hours and more.

RAGAN: What hours? what thicket?

PERILLUS: There, where you sent your servant with your letters,
Sealed with your hand, to send us both to heaven,
Where, as I think, you never mean to come.

RAGAN: Alas, you are grown a child again with age,
Or else your senses dote for want of sleep. ... [30.90]

PERILLUS: Indeed you made us rise betimes, you know,
Yet had a care we should sleep where you bade us stay,
But never wake more till the latter day.

GONORILL: Peace, peace, old fellow, thou art sleepy still.

MUMFORD: Faith, and if you reason till to morrow,
You get no other answer at their hands.
Tis pity two such good faces
Should have so little grace between them.
Well let us see if their husbands with their hands,
Can do as much, as they do with their tongues. ... [30.100]

CAMBRIA: Aye, with their swords they'll make your tongue unsay
What they have said, or else they'll cut them out.

KING: To't, gallants, to't, let's not stand brawling thus.
[Exeunt both armies.]

Scene 31
[Sound alarum: excursions.
Mumford must chase Cambria away: then cease. Enter Cornwall.]

CORNWALL: The day is lost, our friends do all revolt,
And join against us with the adverse part:
There is no means of safety but by flight,
And therefore I'll to Cornwall with my Queen. [Exit.]
[Enter Cambria.]

CAMBRIA: I think, there is a devil in the Camp hath
haunted me today: he hath so tired me, that in a manner
I can fight no more. [Enter Mumford.]
Zounds, here he comes, I'll take me to my home.
[Mumford follows him to the door, and returns.]

MUMFORD: Farewell (Welshman) give thee but thy due,
Thou hast a light and nimble pair of legs: ... [31.10]
Thou art more in debt to them than to thy hands:
But if I meet thee once again today,
I'll cut them off, and set them to a better heart. [Exit.]

Scene 32
[Alarums and excursions, then sound victory.
Enter Leir, Perillus, King, Cordella, and Mumford.]

KING: Thanks be to God, your foes are overcome,
And you again possessed of your right.

LEIR: First to the heavens, next, thanks to you, my son,
By whose good means I repossess the same:
Which if it please you to accept yourself,
With all my heart I will resign to you:
For it is yours by right, and none of mine.
First, have you raised, at your own charge, a power
Of valiant Soldiers; (this comes all from you)
Next have you ventured your own person's scathe. ... [32.10]
And lastly, (worthy Gallia never stained)
My kingly title I by thee have gained.

KING: Thank heavens, not me, my zeal to you is such.
Command my utmost, I will never grutch.

CORDELLA: He that with all kind love entreats his Queen,
Will not be to her father unkind seen.

LEIR: Ah, my Cordella, now I call to mind,
The modest answer, which I took unkind:
But now I see, I am no whit beguiled,
Thou lovedst me dearly, and as ought a child. ... [32.20]
And thou (Perillus) partner once in woe,
Thee to requite, the best I can, I'll do:
Yet all I can, aye, were it ne're so much,
Were not sufficient, thy true love is such.
Thanks (worthy, Mumford) to thee last of all,
Not greeted last, 'cause thy desert was small;
No, thou hast Lion-like laid on today,
Chasing the Cornwall King and Cambria;
Who with my daughters, daughters did I say?
To save their lives, the fugitives did play. ... [32.30]
Come, son and daughter, who did me advance,
Repose with me awhile, and then for France.
[Sound drums and Trumpets. Exeunt.]

Finis

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---

Glossary for King Leir
by B. Flues 2005
(FS means found in Shakespeare.)
(NFS means not found in Shakespeare)

adamant (n): alleged mineral, ascribed with the hard, unbreakable properties of a diamond; others ascribed to it properties of the lodestone or magnet. Golding uses both meanings, according to need. FS (3-1H6, MND, T&C); Golding Ovid; (anon.) Leir; many others.
adventure (v): risk, dare. FS (R&J, MV); (anon.) Leir.
affright (v): terrify. FS (17); Watson Hekatompathia; Lyly Love's Met; Kyd Cornelia; Marlowe Edw2; Nashe Menaphon (1st OED citation); (anon.) Woodstock, Leir, Penelope, Leicester's Gh; Munday Huntington; Chapman D'Olive.
appall (v): (1) weaken. FS (2-1H6, Edw3); Golding Ovid; Edwards Dam&Pith; (anon.) Locrine. "Unappalled" in Brooke Romeus. (2) appall (n or v): shock, dismay. FS (6-T&C, Ham, Mac, V&A, TNK (v); Mac (n)); Golding Abraham; Gascoigne Jocasta; Watson Tears; Chapman (v) Iliad, Batrachom. (3) frighten. FS (T&C); (anon.) Leir.
apparance (n): preparation; in Leir it seems to mean "investigation/evidence". NFS. Cf. (anon.) Leir. Very rare.
aslope (a, adv): slanting, sloping, athwart. NFS. Cf. (anon.) Leir, Warning Fair Women
aventure [at all] (adv): in any case; at random. NFS. Cf. Golding Ovid; Bedingfield Cardanus; (anon.) Leir.Per OED a legal term: 1672 Manley Interpr., Aventure..is a Mischance, causing the death of a Man, without Felony; as when he is suddenly drowned or burnt, falling into the Water or Fire.
balsamum (n): aromatic resin yielding a balm. FS (1-Errors); Lodge Wounds; (anon.) Leir.
beshrew [part of an imprecation]: curse. FS (31, Q2); Gascoigne Supposes; Lodge Wounds; Edwards Dam&Pith; Lyly Bombie; Greene James IV, Selimus; (anon.) Woodstock, Leir; Nashe Summers; Drayton et al Oldcastle; (disp.) Maiden's Tragedy; Munday More; Chapman d'Olive. Common.
bewray (v): reveal. FS (7); Golding Ovid; Brooke Romeus; Watson Hek; Edwards Dam&Pith; Gascoigne Jocasta; Greene Orl Fur, Fr Bacon, James IV, Pandosto, Maiden's Dream; Kyd Sp Tr, Sol&Per; Marlowe Massacre, Jew/Malta; Lyly Campaspe, Gallathea, Endymion, Midas, Bombie, Whip; Pasquil Return; Drayton et al Oldcastle; (anon.) Leir, Marprelate; Locrine, Ironside, Arden, Willobie, Penelope, Leic Gh.
bill (n): weapon, long pole with axe and pike on one end. FS (many); Golding Ovid; many others. bill [broad brown] (n): halberd (a kind of combination of spear and battle-axe, consisting of a sharp-edged blade ending in a point and a spear-head, mounted on a handle five-to seven-feet long). FS (Ado); Golding Ovid; Lyly Sapho, Endymion; (anon.) Leir.
Billingsgate ward, Pudding lane end: between Eastcheap and the river. NFS. Cf. (anon.) Fam Vic, Leir, Arden; Pasquil Countercuff.
bob (n): malicious jest, jibe. FS (AsYou, 3d OED citation); Lyly Campaspe, Pap (OED missed citations); (anon.) Leir.
breed young bones: are pregnant. See See Connections, note on "bone/breed/belly".
brook (v): put up with, bear with, tolerate. Usually in negative or preclusive constructions. FS (many); Golding Ovid; Lodge Wounds; (anon.) Mucedorus, Woodstock, Leir, Ironside, Penelope; Lyly Love's Met; Greene G a G, Alphonsus, Orl Fur, Fr Bac, James IV, Maiden's Dream; Marlowe Massacre, Edw2; Sidney Astrophel; Nashe Valentines; Harvey Pierce's Super; Marprelate Prot; Munday Huntington.
buckler (n): shield. (4-1H4, Ado); Lyly Midas; Greene Fr Bac; (anon.) Fam Vic, Woodstock, Leir, Ironside . Common.
Cambria: Wales.
censure (n): (1) opinion, judgment. FS (1H6, 2H6, Ham, Oth, Corio, WT); (anon.) Leir. (2) punishment. FS (AsYou, Oth, Cymb, Lear, Corio, H8); (anon.) Leir. (v) judge.
colors (n): that which serves to conceal or cloak the truth, pretext. FSk (2H4, MWW, JC, Cymb); (anon.) Leir.
complements (n): accomplishments, refinements. FS (LLL); Spenser M. Hubberd; (anon.) Leir.
conge (n): bow, curtsey. FS (H8); (anon.) Leir; Munday Huntington; Marston Malcontent.
cony (n): [rabbit] after Greene .. Cony Catching (1591), came to mean dupe, victim of a "cony-catcher". FS (4-3H6, AsYou, Corio, V&A); Gascoigne Supposes; (anon.) Leir, Dodypoll.
cooling card (n): drawback, anything that "cools" a person's passion or enthusiasm; possibly ruins one's chances of winning a game.FS (1-1H6); Lyly Euphues; (anon.) Leir; Giles Gooscap.
contumelious (a) (1) humiliating. (2) insolent, spiteful. FS (3-2H6,1H6, Timon); (anon.) Leir, Ironside; Harvey Pierce's Super. contumeliously (adv). 1H6.
crack/crake (v): brag. (LLL); Golding Ovid; Peele Edw I; Greene Alphonsus; (anon.) Ironside, Leir, Willobie (n); (disp.) Greene's Groat (out-cracked); Munday More; Marston Fawn.
craft (n): guile, cunning, plot. FS (Ham, 12th); (anon.) Leir.
Daedalus: who built the Cretan Labyrinth. Father of Icarus. Cf. Golding Ovid; (anon.) Leir.
dart (n): spear, javelin. FS (many); Golding Ovid; Marlowe T2; Kyd Cornelia, Sol&Per; (anon.) Fam Vic, Leir, Willobie, Mucedorus, Locrine, Leic Gh; Sidney Antony; Munday More, Huntington.
disconsolate (v): deprive of consolation. NFS. Cf. (anon.) Leir. Only OED citations: 1530 Palsgr; 1601 R. Yarington Two Lament. Traj; 1642 Sir T. Stafford in Lismore Papers.
divorce (n): (1) disunion, discord. FS (V&A, Timon); (anon.) Leir. (2) disavowal, breakdown. FS (H5, WT).
dump (v, n): muse. mood. NFS. Watson Hek; Greene Orl Fur, Never Too Late, Fr Bacon, Pandosto; (anon.) Leir.
ensign (n): (1) standard. FS (Edw3, V&A); Cardano Cardanus; Gascoigne Jocasta; Lyly Campaspe; Lodge Wounds; Marlowe T1, T2, Edw2; Kyd Cornelia; Sidney Antony; Chettle Kind Hart; (anon.) Pasqual Apology, Leir; Munday Huntington. Common.
Eson/Jason: half-brother of King Pelias of Thessaly, father of Jason. His youth was restored by Medea. FS (MV); Golding Ovid; (anon.) Leir.
falchion (n): broad sword. FS (8); Golding Ovid; Gascoigne Supposes; Kyd Sp Tr; Greene Maiden's Dream; (anon.) Leir, Arden, Ironside.
fell (a): savage, cruel. FS (many); Golding Ovid; Brooke Romeus; Gascoigne Jocasta; Watson Hek, Tears; Kyd Sp Tr, Sol&Per; Greene Selimus; Marlowe Edw2; (anon) Leir, Locrine, Mucedorus, Woodstock, Penelope.
ferret (v): stalk, harass, worry. FS (H5); (anon.) Leir.
flat (1) (a): direct, outright, straightforward. FS (Ado, MM); Greene Ups Court; (anon.) Leir.
flush (a): plentifully supplied with money. NFS. Cf. (anon.) Leir. OED first citation: 1603 Dekker Batch. Banq. viii. G ij a, Some dames..are more flush in crownes then her good man.
flying fame (n): rumor. See Connections.
foppet (n): A petty fop; in quot. applied to a woman. NFS. Cf. (anon.) Leir (only OED citation).
frame (v): prepare, create, arrange. FS (many); Golding Ovid; Edwards Dam&Pith; Lyly Gallathea, Sapho; (anon.) Leir. Common.
frolic (a): merry. FS (MND?); Lodge Wounds, Kyd Sp Tr; Lyly Midas; Marlowe Faustus; (disp.) Cromwell; (anon.) Leir, Mucedorus; Nashe Saffron; Chapman D'Olive.
hardly (adv): reluctantly. FS (A&C); (anon.) Leir.
heartless (a): without courage. FS (R&J); (anon.) Leir.
heavy (n): sleepy. FS (2H6); Tindale Bible (Matt.); Turberv. Trag. T; (anon.) Leir.
Hibernia: Ireland.
indubitate (a): undoubted. FS (1-LLL); (anon.) Leir.
in his shirt (a): in one's night attire; without one's outer garments, coat and waistcoat. FS (2-2H6, LLL); Kyd Sol&Per, Sp Tr; (anon.) Leir.
gear/geere (n): device, matter. FS (11); Golding Ovid, Abraham; Sundrie Flowers; Gascoigne Supposes; Edwards Dam&Pith; Lyly Sapho, Bombie; Marlowe T1, Edw2; Kyd Sp Tr; Drayton et al Oldcastle; (anon.) Fam Vic, Leir; Munday Huntington.
grutch (v): grouch, complain. NFS. Cf. Turberville Trag.; Sundry Flowers (poem, E/N); Spenser FQ; (anon.) Leir, Mucedorus; poem Fruit of Reconciliation.
guerdon (n, v): prize, recompense. FS (4-2H6, LLL, Ado, Edw3); Golding Ovid; Brooke Romeus; Lyly Woman/Moon; Lodge Wounds; Kyd Sp Tr; Marlowe Massacre; Nashe Summers; Munday Huntington; (anon.) Leir, Ironside, Leic Gh.
halberd (n): battle axe, mounted on a long pole. FS (2-3H6, Errors); Kyd Sp Tr; (anon.) Leir; Munday More.
henbane, hebona, hebenon, hebon (n): names given by Shakespeare and Marlowe to some substance having a poisonous juice, identified the word with ebon, henbane, and Ger. eibe, eibenbaum the yew.FS (Ham); Marlowe Jew/Malta; (anon.) Leir.
imp (n): child of. FS (2-2H4, H5); Golding Ovid; (anon.) Leir; Chapman D'Olive.
innovation (n): commotion. FS (Oth); (anon.) Leir.
jointure (n): The holding of property to the joint use of a husband and wife for life or in tail, as a provision for the latter, in the event of her widowhood. FS (5); (anon.) Leir, Nobody/Somebody
latter day (n): (1) end of life. (2) end of a sequence, the world. NFS. Cf. Surrey Aeneid. (anon.) Leir.
law of arms (n): fighting within the monarch's residence was punishable by death. FS (4-1H6, H5, Lear); (anon.) Leir.
list (v): choose. FS (many); Brooke Romeus; Gascoigne Jocasta; Lodge Wounds; Sidney Arcadia; (anon.) Leir, Willobie.
lowering (a): gloomy. FS (Edw3); Golding Abraham; Sundrie Flowers; Greene Pandosto; (anon.) Ironside, Leir
mate (n): (1) lackey, servant. FS (1H6, 2H4); Gascoigne Supposes; Greene G a G, Alphonsus, Orl Fur, James IV, Selimus; (anon.) Ironside, Leir; Nashe Almond; Harvey Pierce's Super; (anon.) Willobie.
minion (n & a): lackey, wanton. FS (many); Edwards Dam&Pith; Greene Selimus; (anon.) Leir, Nobody/Somebody. Common. Here the word "hussy" instead of wanton seems appropriate.
miscarry (v): (1) come to harm. FS ( 12th); (anon.) Leir. (2) die. FS (2H6)
misconvey (v): give a false impression of one's meaning. NFS. Cf. (anon.) Leir. 1st OED definition 1839. "Misconveying", meaning "mismanagement", found once in 1540 (Henry VIII).
mithridate (n): composition of many ingredients in the form of an electuary, regarded as a universal antidote or preservative against poison and infectious disease; any medicine to which similar powers were ascribed. NFS. Lyly Sapho; Cf. (anon.) Leir, Arden; Chettle Kind Harts; Dekker Gull's Hornbook.
moiety (n): half of two equal parts. FS (many); Kyd Sp Tr; (anon.) Leir, Nobody/Somebody.
neck-verse/neckeverse (n): Latin verse shown to defendant in a capital case; claiming benefit of clergy because of ability to read would save him from hanging. NFS. Cf. Golding Ovid; (anon.) Leir. OED cites 1st use with the verb "put to" (similar to "put the question").
out of hand (adv). suddenly, immediately. FS (4-1H6, 3H6, Titus, Edw3); Golding Ovid, Abraham; Holinshed; Lodge Wounds; Gascoigne Jocasta; Greene Alphonsus, James IV; Sidney Antony; (anon.) Leir, Yorkshire Tr.
owe (v): own.FS (MND); (anon.) Leir; Chapman Iliad.
pack/packing (n): intrigue, conspiracy. FS (5-Shrew, MWW, Cymb, Lear, Edw3); Golding Ovid; Gascoigne Supposes; Kyd Sol&Per; Lyly Bombie; (anon.) Leir.
pack/be packing (v): begone, depart. FS (5-Shrew, MV, MWW, Timon, PP); Edwards Dam&Pith; Robinson Delights; Watson Hek; Greene Alphonsus, James IV; (anon.) Leir, Willobie.
palmer (n): pilgrim who from the Holy Land, carrying a palm-branch or leaf; also itinerant monk under a vow of poverty; equivalent of pilgrim. FS (R&J, Rich2); Greene Orl Fur; (anon.) Leir.
parlous/parlose (a): (1) dangerous,alarming. FS (MND). (2) clever, tricky, cunning. FS (Rich3); (anon.) Leir.
peat (n): (1) pet, spoiled girl. FS (1-Shrew); Rich Farewell; (anon.) Leir; Drayton Man in Moon. (2) applied to an animal. NFS. Cf. Gascoigne Praise P.
perillus (n): Lyly spurious natural history: stone which causes mistrust and jealousy. Cf. Lyly Sapho. The anonymous author of Edmund Ironside used Perillus correctly, to refer to an Athenian who fell victim to his own device: a brazen bull in which condemned men were roasted to death. Cf. (anon.) Edmund Ironside. Name of character in the old King Leir.
phoenix (n): (1) mythical bird, of gorgeous plumage, fabled to be the only one of its kind, and to live five or six hundred years in the Arabian desert, after which it burnt itself to ashes on a funeral pile of aromatic twigs ignited by the sun and fanned by its own wings, but only to emerge from its ashes with renewed youth, to live through another cycle of years. FS (3H6, AsYou, Temp, H8, Sonnet 19, Lov Comp, Ph & Turt); Lodge Wounds. (2) rare person or thing, likened to the bird. FS (1H6, AWEW, Timon); Greene Selimus; (anon.) Leir.
pine, pine away (v): starve, waste away. FS (10+); Golding Ovid; Oxford poems; Leir; many others.
poniard (n): short stabbing weapon, dagger. FS (5-3H5, Ado, AWEW, Titus, Ham); Lodge Wounds; Kyd Cornelia; Marlowe Massacre, Edw II; Greene Fr Bacon; (anon.) Leir; Nashe Unf Trav; Dekker Hornbook; Marston Malcontent; .
post (n): messenger. FS (Ado); (anon.) Leir.
post (v): travel speedily, gallop. FS (1H4, Ham); Greene Pandosto, Selimus; (anon.) Leir.
postulate (v): demand, claim. Cf. (anon.) Leir (1st OED citation).
poulter/polter (n): poulterer, chicken-seller. FS (1H4); Gascoigne Supposes. Not in OED. Here the meaning is obviously extended to a seller of rabbit meat.
power (n): (1) army; host, large number. FS (Rich2); Marlowe Massacre; (anon.) Leir, Locrine.
precise (a): guided by Puritan precepts; code word for Puritan. FS (9-1H6, TGV, MWW, AWEW, Ham, MM); Lyly Campaspe, Gallathea, Sapho, Midas, Whip; Marlowe Jew of Malta; Greene James IV; (anon.) Fam Vic, Leir, Blast of Retreat, Willobie, Leic Gh.
pretend/protend (v): portend, signify. NFS. Cf. Greene Menaphon; (anon.) Leir; Willobie.
prick (n): highest point, acme. FS (Lucrece); Golding Ovid; Udall Eras; (anon.) Leir.
rathe (a): (1) early. NFS. Cf. Golding Ovid; (anon.) Leir; E. B. in Eng. Helicon. (2) prompt. NFS. Cf. Gascoigne Dan Bartholomew Wks. rather (adv): earlier. FS (Oth); Golding Ovid.
regiment (n): rule, government, regime. NFS. Cf. Marlowe T1; (anon.) Selimus, Leir. Very common 1550-1680.
repine (v): (1) murmur against, resist, grudge. FS (1H6, T&C); Hall Chron; Lodge Wounds; (anon.) Leir; Spenser FQ.
restrain (v): withhold, keep back from. FS (MM, Corio); (anon.) Lear.
sheen(a, n): (1) bright. FS (2-MND, Ham); Golding Ovid (anon.) Leir. (2) beautiful. NFS. Cf. Golding Ovid; Greene Menaphon; Spenser FQ. OED contemp citation: 1586 ? Montgomerie Banks of Helicon.
seely/sielie (a): silly, innocent, vulnerable. FS (many); Ovid Golding; many others.
sequestered (a): Legal: cut off from someone. FS (AsYou); (anon.) Leir
shag-haired/shaghayred (a): having shaggy hair. FS (2H6, 3d OED citation); (anon.) Leir. See also "shacky ... and "shag", ff. shacky/shack-hair/shakheard (a): shaggy. NFS. Cf. Golding Ovid (only OED citation); but see "shag-haired", above. shag (a): shaggy; having shaggy hair. FS (V&A); Munday More.
shift (n): trick. FS (many); Golding Ovid; Lodge Wounds; (anon.) Leir; (disp.) Cromwell; Munday Huntington. Common. shift (v): manage. FS (4-2H4, MWW, Cymb, Temp); (anon.) Leir, Fam Vic.
sift (v): question, examine; also understand, comprehend. FS (3-Rich2, Ham Q2, AWEW); Golding Ovid; Edwards Dam&Pith; Lyly Gallathea, Woman ... Moon; Greene Never too Late, Pandosto; (anon.) Ironside, Leir, Weakest; Pasquil Return.
Skalliger: from scalader, climber?
skill (v): (1) matter, care. FS (3-Shrew, 12th, 2H6); Golding Ovid; Lyly Campaspe, Endymion, Love's Met, Gallathea; Greene Fr Bac; Chettle Kind Hart; (anon.) Fam Vic, Ironside, Leir; Leic Gh; (disp.) Greene's Groat.
slenderly (adv): lightly, insufficiently. FS (1-Lear); Golding Ovid; Greene Cony; (anon.) Leir, Weakest; Munday John a Kent.
slops/side slops (n): loose, baggy breeches/trousers, esp. those worn by sailors. FS (Ado). Cf. Peele Wives; (anon.) Leir.
sort (v): (1) agree. FS (3H6); (anon.) Leir. (2) fit. FS (3H6).
speed (v): fare, succeed. FS (19+, ); Golding Ovid, Abraham; Kyd Sol&Per; Greene James IV; Marlowe Edw2; (anon.) Leir, Ironside, Willobie, Leic Gh; Peele Wives. Common.
stand on hands (v): be concerned. NFS. Cf. Calvin on Ps; Anon. Leir.
surreverence (adv): with respect to (contemptuously). Cf. Warner, Alb. England (1586, 1st OED citation); Nashe Summers; (anon. Leir). Used in different sense in Nashe Strange News and Lenten Stuff.
tenor/tenure (n): substance, drift, underlying meaning, principles. FS (H5, Ado, AsYou, MM); (anon.) Leir.
timeless (adv, a): out of its proper time. FS (Rich2, Luc); Marlowe T2; (anon.) Leir. (a) OED 1st citation (1560) Tragedy of Rich2.
Troynovant: new Troy, Great Britain. NFS. Cf. (anon.) Leir, Locrine, Nobody/Somebody, Leic Gh.
weeds (n): clothing. FS (many); Golding Ovid; many others.
wight (n): living being. FS (8-H5, LLL, MWW, Pericles, Oth); Golding Ovid, Abraham; Oxford poem; Brooke Romeus; Sundrie Flowers; Robinson Delights; Gascoigne Jocasta; Edwards Dam&Pith (song); Watson Hek; Kyd Sp Tr; Greene Alphonsus, Maiden's Dream; Marlowe Jew/Malta; (anon.) Leir, Marprelate, Locrine, Mucedorus, Weakest, Ironside, Willobie, Penelope, Leic Gh; (disp.) Nashe Valentines; Harvey Pierce's Super, Poem 1598 (Slumb'ring); Greene's Groat; many others.
with child (a): eager, longing, yearning (to do a thing). NFS. Cf. Udall Eras (1st OED citation); Spenser FQ (2d OED citation); (anon.) Leir.