SCENE I. London. A Room of State in the
Palace.Flourish.
[Enter King Edward, Derby, Prince Edward, Audley, and Artois.]
KING EDWARD. Robert of Artois, banished though thou be >From
France, thy native Country, yet with us Thou shalt retain as great a
Seigniorie: For we create thee Earl of Richmond here. And now go
forwards with our pedigree: Who next succeeded Phillip le Bew?
ARTOIS. Three sons of his, which all successfully Did sit upon their
father\'s regal Throne, Yet died, and left no issue of their loins.
KING EDWARD. But was my mother sister unto those?
ARTOIS. She was, my Lord; and only Isabel Was all the daughters
that this Phillip had, Whom afterward your father took to wife; And from
the fragrant garden of her womb Your gracious self, the flower of Europe\'s
hope, Derived is inheritor to France. But note the rancor of rebellious
minds: When thus the lineage of le Bew was out, The French obscured
your mother\'s Privilege, And, though she were the next of blood,
proclaimed John, of the house of Valois, now their king: The reason was,
they say, the Realm of France, Replete with Princes of great parentage,
Ought not admit a governor to rule, Except he be descended of the male;
And that\'s the special ground of their contempt, Wherewith they study to
exclude your grace: But they shall find that forged ground of theirs To be
but dusty heaps of brittle sand. Perhaps it will be thought a heinous thing,
That I, a French man, should discover this; But heaven I call to record of
my vows: It is not hate nor any private wrong, But love unto my country
and the right, Provokes my tongue, thus lavish in report. You are the lineal
watchman of our peace, And John of Valois indirectly climbs; What then
should subjects but embrace their King? Ah, where in may our duty more
be seen, Than striving to rebate a tyrant\'s pride And place the true
shepherd of our commonwealth?