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George Sewell [1723–5], The works of Shakespear in six [seven] volumes. Collated and Corrected by the former Editions, By Mr. Pope ([Vol. 7] Printed by J. Darby, for A. Bettesworth [and] F. Fayram [etc.], London) [word count] [S11101].
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SCENE V. Enter Exeter.

Fr. King.
From our brother England?

Exe.
From him; and thus he greets your Majesty:
He wills you in the name of God Almighty,
That you divest your self, and lay apart
The borrow'd glories, that by gift of heaven,
By law of nature and of nations, 'long

-- 427 --


To him and to his heirs; namely the crown,
And all the wide-stretch'd honours that pertain
By custom and the ordinance of times,
Unto the crown of France. That you may know
'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim,
Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
Nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd;
He sends you this most memorable line,
In every branch truly demonstrative,
Willing you over-look his pedigree;
And when you find him evenly deriv'd
From his most fam'd of famous ancestors,
Edward the Third; he bids you then resign
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.

Fr. King.
Or else what follows?

Exe.
Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown
Ev'n in your hearts, there will he rake for it.
And therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,
In thunder and in earthquake like a Jove:
That if requiring fail, he may compell.
He bids you in the bowels of the lord,
Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy
On the poor souls for whom this hungry war
Opens his vasty jaws; upon your head
Turning the widows tears, the orphans cries,
The dead mens blood, the c notepining maidens groans,
For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers,
That shall be swallow'd in this controversie.
This is his claim, his threatning, and my message;
Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,
To whom expresly I bring greeting too.

Fr. King.
For us we will consider of this further:

-- 428 --


To-morrow shall you bear our full intent
Back to our brother England.

Dau.
For the Dauphin,
I stand here for him; what to him from England?

Exe.
Scorn and defiance, slight regard, contempt,
And any thing that may not mis-become
The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.
Thus says my King; and if your father's highness
Do not in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his Majesty;
He'll call you to so hot an answer for it,
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your trespass, and return your mock
In second accent to his ordinance.

Dau.
Say, if my father d noterender fair reply,
It is against my will; for I desire
Nothing but odds with England; to that end,
As matching to his youth and vanity,
I did present him with those Paris balls.

Exe.
He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it,
Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe:
And be assur'd you'll find a difference,
As we his subjects have in wonder found,
Between the promise of his greener days
And these he masters now; now he weighs time
Even to the utmost grain, which you shall read
In your own losses, if he stay in France.

Fr. King.
To-morrow you shall know our mind at full.
[Flourish.

Exe.
Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our King
Come here himself to question our delay,
For he is footed in this land already.

Fr. King.
You shall be soon dispatch'd with fair conditions

-- 429 --


A night is but small breath, and little pause,
To answer matters of this consequence. [Exeunt. noteACT III.

† [Footnote:
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George Sewell [1723–5], The works of Shakespear in six [seven] volumes. Collated and Corrected by the former Editions, By Mr. Pope ([Vol. 7] Printed by J. Darby, for A. Bettesworth [and] F. Fayram [etc.], London) [word count] [S11101].
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