Alphonsus 
 
 Emperor of Germany 
 
 A Iragedy 
 
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 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
ALPHONSUS 
 
 EMPEROR OF GERMANY 
 
 REPRINTED IN FACSIMILE 
 FROM THE EDITION OF 1654 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT F. SCHWARZ 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 Ii:be 1knicf?erbocfier press 
 
 1913 
 

 W3A^3 
 
 Copyright, 1913 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT F. SCHWARZ 
 
 TEbe litnfcherbocltec ipceM* "Skew ffocft 
 
 ©C!,A332840 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The text of this edition of Alphonsus, Emperor of 
 Germany, is a reproduction in facsimile of a copy of 
 the original edition designated British Museum copy 
 644 d. 50. 
 
 In the introduction no attempt has been made to 
 solve the vexed questions of authorship and of date — 
 questions that have been so ably discussed by others 
 — but the endeavor has been to bring the play into 
 relation with certain tendencies of the Elizabethan and 
 Jacobean age. 
 
 In the notes appended to the volume the purpose 
 has been to draw as largely as possible upon the 
 records of contemporary travellers for the elucidation 
 of the references made by the dramatist to conditions 
 characteristic of the Germany of his day. To the 
 praiseworthy pioneer work of Elze and to the scholarly 
 investigations of Professor Parrott any one who at- 
 tempts to bring out this play must necessarily be 
 under special obligations. For the quotations fre- 
 quently made from the edition of the former and for 
 the guidance that the edition of the latter has been in 
 connection with the comments on the text the writer 
 wishes to express his deep indebtedness. The writer 
 takes this opportunity, too, of recording his warm ap- 
 preciation of the help which certain suggestions, made 
 by his wife, have been to him. 
 
iv Preface 
 
 The eminently satisfactory text that Professor Parrott 
 has prepared in his collected plays of Chapman must 
 render the attempt by another to further reconstruct 
 the play a futile task. The present edition contains, 
 therefore, only a very few text emendations, and these 
 have been necessarily relegated to the notes. 
 
 H. F. S. 
 
 December i, igz2. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In his Literary Relations of England and Germany in 
 the Sixteenth Century, Herford makes the statement 
 (p. 171) that "the score or so of early plays which pro- 
 fess to be founded on German history treat it with an 
 open contempt much beyond what is demanded by the 
 exclusive pursuit of scenic effect. Historic truth is not 
 subordinated to dramatic truth but simply ignored." 
 After characterising Alphonsus of Germany as "a crude 
 and sanguinary travesty of an imperial election dispute 
 in which the chief interest attaches to a wholly mythical 
 love affair, " he goes on to say that "the play is never- 
 theless probably the least unhistorical of the whole 
 group. " 
 
 The plot evolves out of the contention of Alphonso X 
 of Castile and Richard, Earl of Cornwall, aspirants, 
 during the Interregnum of the thirteenth century, to 
 the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. The dramatis 
 personce include a large number of historic figures, but 
 the plot and the interpretation of character are for 
 the most part at variance with the record of history. 
 Alphonsus, who in the play is depicted as a monster of 
 iniquity, was an inoffensive monarch who never entered 
 the land over which the dramatist would have us believe 
 he established so bloody a rule. The partisan align- 
 ment credited to the different Electors does scant 
 justice to the stand they actually took. Prince Edward 
 (later Edward I of England) never placed foot upon 
 the soil of Germany and thus escaped the charms of 
 
vi Alphonsus 
 
 the German maiden to which in the play he succumbs so 
 completely. Both the lives and the deaths of the prin- 
 cipal characters were, in short, radically different from 
 what a reading of the drama would lead one to suppose. 
 
 As an offset to the liberties which he takes with the 
 events of history, the dramatist preserves, with rather 
 exceptional fidelity, social customs and political insti- 
 tutions peculiar to the Empire. 
 
 If the play fails to render accurately the spirit of the 
 age in which the action is laid, it indicates, though in an 
 exaggerated manner, the violence and the trickery of 
 the period in which it was written. Although it would 
 be a libel to assert, without some modification, that the 
 play taken as an entity illustrates the temper of those 
 times, several incidents of brutality and craft that find 
 place in it have their parallels, more or less close, in 
 the history of the day. To attempt to identify the 
 events or allusions in this drama with any one of these 
 parallels would be hazardous, and yet, after a review 
 of the evidence, the conclusion seems legitimate that 
 the violence and intrigue of the Elizabethan age find 
 their magnified reflection in Alphonsus of Germany and 
 in dramas of that type. To the substantiation of this 
 contention this brief introduction is devoted. 
 
 The first five maxims which Lorenzo impresses upon 
 his willing pupil (see pp. 3-5 of the play) are, as Meyer has 
 pointed out in Machiavelli and the Elizabethan Drama, 
 more or less close renditions of precepts contained in Gen- 
 tillet's Discours sur les Moyens de bien gouverner. . . . 
 Contre Nicholas Machiavel. Of the sixth maxim: 
 
 "Be alwaies jealous of him that knows your secrets. 
 And therefore it behooves you credit few ; 
 And when you grow into the least suspect, 
 With silent cunning must you cut them off, " 
 
Introduction vii 
 
 Meyer {Machiavelli and the Elizabethan Drama, p. 136) 
 says: "This is not to be found exactly as stated either 
 in Machiavelli or Gentillet, but must have been per- 
 verted by the dramatists from Principe, 23." The 
 last two lines of the sixth maxim are deserving of special 
 attention. The murder of an accomplice or of one 
 cognisant of some secret the betrayal of which would 
 be costly, is not infrequent in the Elizabethan drama. 
 What is worthy of emphasis is that it was apparently 
 not exceptional in the history of that age. For instance, 
 some of those who had a hand in the assassination of 
 Darnley had to be rendered safe, to prevent their mak- 
 ing revelations implicating others. One of them who 
 wandered about in the dark, professing his guilt, was 
 seized and thrust into prison. Another, from whom 
 betrayal was feared, was knocked over the head and 
 buried out of the way (Froude, History of England from 
 the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 
 vol. xi, p. 42). According to Weldon {Court and 
 Character of James I, p. 23) when Sir Gervase Elwaies, 
 Lieutenant of the Tower, learned of the design of 
 Weston against the life of Overbury, he attempted, 
 and at the time succeeded in, dissuading him from so 
 foul a deed by stating among other things that "so 
 many personages of honour would never cabinet such a 
 secret in his breast, that might ruin them," thereby 
 making Weston sensible of the dangers he ran. It was 
 no uncommon thing in those days, "the game being 
 bagged," as Lord Castlemaine expresses it, "to hang 
 the spaniel which caught it, that its master might not 
 appear." 
 
 Having delivered himself of the sixth maxim above 
 quoted, Lorenzo, to teach his pupil by example, relates 
 how he sent Julio Lentulus to his grave with a poison 
 that the latter had entrusted to him. The particular 
 
viii Alphonsus 
 
 virtue of this poison is that "it is twenty days before 
 it works." Lorenzo has another poison, which ''kills 
 suddenly," and it is this poison which Alphonsus, who 
 has profited by the nefarious teachings of his secretary, 
 uses in killing the latter. In Act III, Alphonsus, after 
 having drunk to the King of Bohemia, puts poison into 
 the beaker. Bohemia, unaware of the treachery of the 
 Emperor, drinks the poisoned draft. Later there is 
 allusion to the fact that "in twenty hours" this poison 
 will not work, a statement which has prompted Elze, 
 somewhat arbitrarily, to identify it with the poison 
 that Lorenzo had in his possession and to change the 
 reading of the line in Act I from "twenty days" to 
 "twenty hours. " But slow-working poisons, as well as 
 those that "killed suddenly," are referred to in the 
 Elizabethan age. In 1579, for instance, there appeared 
 before Don Bernardino in London a youth who claimed 
 that he had a poison which, if applied to the lining of a 
 man's hat, would dry up his brain and cause his death 
 in ten days. He was ready, if the Ambassador ap- 
 proved, to try its power on the Prince of Orange. 
 Although Don Bernardino had no great faith in the 
 successful issue of the attempt, he nevertheless gave 
 the youth his blessing and sent him on his evil mission 
 (Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey 
 to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, vol. xi, p. 590). 
 The efficacy of this method of poisoning may be 
 doubted. And yet it is in order to point out that in 
 The White Devil (Act V, sc. 2) Lodovico sprinkles 
 Brachiano's beaver with a poison, and Brachiano in 
 the next scene, feeHng the effects of the poison, 
 exclaims: 
 
 "O, my brain 's on fire! 
 The helmet is poisoned. " 
 
Introduction ix 
 
 In this play, moreover, allusion is made (Act V, sc. i) 
 to a poisoning attempt of the time. The lines, 
 
 "To have poisoned . . . 
 The pummel of his saddle . . . ," 
 
 Reed points out, recall the case of Edward Squire, who 
 in 1 598 ' ' was convicted of anointing the pummel of the 
 Queen's saddle with poison, for which he was afterwards 
 executed." 
 
 The notion of poisoning saddles seems to have been 
 harboured, however, by others besides Squire. More 
 than ten years earlier, in January, 1587, Stafford, a 
 brother of Sir Edward, the Ambassador at Paris, came 
 to Walsingham with the story that there was a conspir- 
 acy to take the life of the Queen, in which M. Chas- 
 teauneuf was the prime mover. According to Stafford's 
 report Chasteauneuf had asked him whether he knew 
 any one who, for a suitable reward, would undertake 
 to kill Elizabeth. The Pope was ready to pay an an- 
 nuity of ten thousand crowns to the successful assassin. 
 Stafford further told Walsingham that he was ap- 
 proached by Destrappes, Chasteauneuf 's secretary, to 
 the same purpose. To ingratiate himself with them 
 and thus to gather further details of the conspiracy, 
 Stafford, according to his account, replied that there 
 was a man named Moody, under arrest for debt at 
 Newgate, who, he thought, might be prevailed upon. 
 Destrappes expressing a readiness to interview Moody, 
 he and Stafford went to the prison. There, according 
 to Stafford, Moody proposed that if he were released 
 (a thing that could be readily accomplished, for his debt 
 was but a trifling one) , he would either poison the Queen's 
 saddle or introduce a bag of powder under her bed 
 (Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the 
 Destruction of the Spanish Armada, vol. xii, pp. 336-337). 
 
X Alphonsus 
 
 Chimerical as this proposal appears, the drama con- 
 tains instances equally fantastic. Barabas in the Jew 
 of Malta (Act IV, sc. 4) administers poison through a 
 flower, which he presents to his victim to smell — a de- 
 vice which is employed in the French ballad entitled 
 "La Marquise" (Blade, Poesies Populaires en Langue 
 Frangaise, p. 26): 
 
 ' ' La reinne lui donne un bouquet 
 Fait de fleurs tant jolies ; 
 Mais en flairant ce beau bouquet, 
 EUe a perdu la vie." 
 
 In Marlowe's Massacre at Paris, sc. 2, Guise, addressing 
 an apothecary, says: 
 
 "Where are those perfumed gloves which late I sent 
 To be poisoned?" 
 
 Guise, having come into possession of the gloves, sends 
 them to the Queen. In the very words used in the 
 play the Bishop of Rodez refers to this incident in his 
 History of Henry IV. "Some historians," he states, 
 "say that she was poisoned with a pair of perfumed 
 gloves; but if I be not deceived, this is a falsity." 
 
 When Ithamore in Act II, sc. 3, of The Jew of Malta 
 takes for granted that the letter which Barabas hands 
 him is poisoned, he may well be alluding to a practice 
 of the day. Certain it is that in an age not very dis- 
 tant, as time goes, the attempt of conveying poison 
 on the paper of a letter was sometimes made. Witness 
 the following incidents: — At Rome there was held in 
 captivity by Pope Innocent VIII an unfortunate 
 Turkish prince named Djem, whose existence was a 
 menace to the rule of Bajazet, his brother. Living in 
 constant fear of his life, Djem took the precaution on 
 one occasion, in giving audience to an ambassador sent 
 by his hostile-minded brother, of having that emissary 
 
Introduction xi 
 
 lick every part of a letter he bore, both inside and out, 
 before Djem would venture to so much as take it in his 
 fingers (Fyvie, Story of the Borgias, pp. 27-28). The 
 suspicion that was harboured by Djem proved to be ill- 
 founded, but an instance occurred not many years later 
 which proves the wisdom of the men who in crafty Italy 
 were on their guard. Tomasino, a musician in the serv- 
 ice of Alexander VI, undertook to bear to the Pope 
 certain letters purporting to come from the commu- 
 nity of Forli, of which Tomasino was a native. These 
 letters Tomasino had contrived to envenom with a 
 deadly poison. Possibly as a precaution against in- 
 fection he therefore brought them rolled up within a 
 hollow cane (Gordon, Lives of Alexander VI and CcBsar 
 Borgia, p. 141). The carrying of letters in a cane 
 was not unknown to the Elizabethan age and the 
 bearer of poisoned letters would, therefore, have run 
 no greater risk of infection then than in the time of the 
 Borgias. This secret conveyance is alluded to in Tan- 
 cred and Gismunda, as well as in Boccaccio's first novel 
 of the fourth day, on which Tancred and Gismunda is 
 based, but it played a part, too, in the history of the 
 period. Froude records (History of England from the 
 Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 
 vol. X, p. 297) that a lad was detected bringing secret 
 letters to Mary Stuart "concealed in a staff." 
 
 The "toy," mentioned in Act I of Alphonsus of 
 Germany, "to cast a man asleep" even when merely 
 "smelt unto," though not a deadly poison, suggests 
 one or two of the poisoning devices described above. 
 
 To the poisoned weapon there is no reference in 
 Alphonsus of Germany and yet its use in the Elizabethan 
 age and the allusions that are made to it in other dramas 
 may serve as excuse for a paragraph or two regarding it. 
 In Act V, sc. I, of Tamhurlaine occurs the line, "And 
 
xii Alphonsus 
 
 every bullet dipt in poisoned drugs. " In The Devil's 
 Charter, Baglioni, exulting over the fallen Rotsi, ex- 
 claims, "You never drempt of a poysoned bullet, did 
 you?" If one seeks for confirmation in the history 
 of the period of this method of making assassination 
 doubly sure, the death of the Prince of Orange is a case 
 in point. Balthazar Gerard fired three poisoned balls 
 into the body of the Protestant Prince (Morley, Rise 
 of the Dutch Republic, p. 718). 
 
 Allusions to poisoned swords, rapiers, and daggers are 
 frequent in the Elizabethan drama. To mention only 
 a few: — In Act I, sc. i, of ^ Fair Quarrel, Russell says, 
 
 "And I must tell you, sir, you have spoke swords, 
 And 'gainst the law of arms, poisoned the blades. ' ' 
 
 In The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, sc. 6, occurs the 
 phrase "envenomed steel." The surgeon called in to 
 examine the King's wounds {The Massacre at Paris, 
 sc. 24) exclaims, 
 
 "Alas, my lord, the wound is dangerous 
 For you are stricken with a poisoned knife. " 
 
 But perhaps the most convincing example of an allusion 
 to this contemporary practice is to be found in Hamlet. 
 Whether or not the Hamlet-Laertes fencing bout found 
 place in the Ur-Hamlet — in all probability Kyd's — 
 there is certainly neither in Saxo Grammaticus nor 
 in the Hystorie of Hamblet, based on Belleforest and 
 published in 1608, a situation, however embryonic, 
 which suggests this contest, much less the poisoning 
 of the foils that are used in it. It was probably not 
 merely the scenic limitations or the more noble concep- 
 tion of Hamlet's character that prompted Shakespeare, 
 or the playwright responsible for the earlier drama, to 
 
Introduction xiii 
 
 replace the holocaust of the non-dramatic versions of 
 the story by a new denouement. It seems probable that 
 the substitution was recognised as adding vraisemblance 
 by association with a practice familiar to the age. 
 
 There was certainly one conspicuous case, antedating 
 Shakespeare's Hamlet and involving the destinies of the 
 nation, in which the poisoned rapier played its part. At 
 the examination and voluntary confession of Edmond 
 Yorke, taken the 20th of August, 1594, before Sir Michael 
 Blount, Knt., Sir Edward Coke, Knt., etc. (Jardine, 
 Criminal Trials, vol. ii, p. 271), it was elicited that at a 
 certain conference there had been discussed "divers de- 
 vices how to kill her majesty. Some spake of a little 
 cross-bow of steel, that should carry a little arrow level 
 a great way ; and if the same did with a small arrow draw 
 blood, being poisoned, she should not escape it. And 
 this examinate was persuaded to have a little dagger, 
 and so to kill her as she walked in the garden. But it 
 was thought better to execute it with a rapier poisoned 
 in the point, which is least suspected." Years later it 
 was rumoured that Elizabeth's successor had been done 
 to death by similar means. On Saturday, March 22d, 
 five months after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, 
 it is recorded (Stow's Annates of King James, p. 881) 
 that a report was circulated, and continued to grow, 
 to the effect that the King had been murdered. " Most 
 reports agreed," the account adds, "that the king was 
 stabd with an envenomed knife. " 
 
 The drinking of poisoned wine, through a draught 
 of which Bohemia is done to death in Alphonsus of 
 Germany, was a common mode of assassination in the 
 Elizabethan as in other ages, and is alluded to in the 
 dramas of the period. Occasionally in the plays men 
 meet their death accidentally, as it was at one time 
 believed Pope Alexander VI met his, by drinking a 
 
xiv Alphonsus 
 
 poisoned beverage Intended for another. Thus in 
 Women Beware of Women the Duke drinks the poisoned 
 cup which Bianca had prepared for his brother, the 
 Cardinal. In Hamlet the Queen-mother swallows the 
 potion which the King had set aside for her son. 
 
 The proffering of poisoned wine under a semblance 
 of good will, a circumstance that adds to the dramatic 
 effectiveness of the scene in Alphonsus of Germany, 
 had its parallels, too, in history. Froude records {His- 
 tory of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of 
 the Spanish Armada, vol. i, p. 50) that "as a first 
 evidence of returning cordiality, a present of wine was 
 sent to Shan O'Neil from Dublin. It was consumed at 
 his table, but the poison had been unskilfully prepared. 
 It brought him and half his household to the edge of 
 death, but no one actually died." 
 
 "Half this I drink unto your Highness health, 
 It is the first since we were joynd in Office, " 
 
 says Alphonsus to his victim before handing him the 
 beaker he has just surreptitiously poisoned, reminding 
 one of the words Piero gives expression to (Antoftio's 
 Revenge, Act I, sc. i) when referring to the poisoned 
 draught intended for Andrugio : 
 
 "That I should drop strong poison in the bowl, 
 Which I myself caroused unto his health 
 And future fortune of our unity!" 
 
 The introduction of poisoned drinks as a material part 
 of the plot or allusions to them occur in a number of 
 plays, of which a few only need be mentioned : — Devil's 
 Charter, Hoffman, Robert Earl of Huntington, The 
 Bloody Banquet, Webster's Appius and Virginia, 
 Thomas Wyatt, Sophonisba, etc. 
 
Introduction xv 
 
 Perhaps nothing so conclusively proves the pre- 
 valence of poisoning during the era and the decades 
 preceding and following it than the ready attribution 
 to its agency of illnesses of mysterious origin. When 
 Don John of Austria died in 1578 of a sudden illness, 
 some maintained that he had been poisoned either 
 by Philip, or by the States, or by an assassin in the 
 employ of Walsingham, while others were of the 
 opinion that he died from breakdown occasioned by 
 anxiety and his brother's suspicions (Froude, History 
 of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the 
 Spanish Armada, vol. xi, p. 158). It was uncertain 
 whether poison or natural illness caused the death of 
 the Earl of Mar (Froude, vol. x, p. 448). Queen 
 Elizabeth took the precaution after Mary had thrown 
 herself on her bounty to direct that the food consumed 
 by the Queen of Scots should be prepared by her own 
 servants, "lest an accidental illness should be imputed 
 to poison" (Froude, vol. ix, p. 240). And Mary 
 profited by the dominant suspicion of the age in seeking 
 release. Froude states (vol. ix, p. 457) that she wrote 
 to La Mothe Fenelon to present a sharp demand for 
 her Uberation, on the ground that she was "seized with 
 symptoms of the same disorder which had so nearly 
 killed her at Jedburgh. They were harmless, being 
 the result merely of pills, but she had calculated justly 
 on the alarm of the Queen of England, who dreaded 
 nothing so much as any serious illness of her prisoner 
 which the world would attribute to poison." The 
 Bishop of Rodez records {History of Henry IV) that 
 when Charles IX fell mortally sick, he was believed 
 by many to have been poisoned, and that when Henry 
 III was stricken with an ear affliction, he attributed 
 his malady to poison, accusing Monsieur. Aiken makes 
 the statement {Memoirs of the Court of James /, vol. i, 
 
xvi Alphonsus 
 
 p. 341) that after a time it became the belief, ''not 
 merely of the vulgar, or of a party, but of persons of 
 the highest rank and consequence, " that Prince Henry 
 was poisoned by Viscount Rochester. "Nor did the 
 king himself escape the horrid and incredible charge 
 of being privy to the poisoning of his son, at least after 
 the fact. " Alphonsus' audacity in accusing those of a 
 rank all but equal to his own of being poisoners must 
 have seemed plausible to an audience of the Elizabethan 
 age when poisoning was a practice resorted to in a most 
 conscienceless manner. Marvell several decades later 
 was thought to have died of poison and Birrell points 
 out {Lije of Marvell) that "such a suspicion in those bad 
 times was not far-fetched." 
 
 In Act II of Alphonsus of Germany two peasants are 
 prompted to make an attempt upon the life of Richard 
 through an anonymous letter. Crude as is this device, 
 it is only one of many instances in the Elizabethan 
 drama of the use of the letter for treacherous purposes, 
 and for at least some of these instances there are 
 historic parallels. In Fletcher's Bonduca, Act III, sc. 2, 
 the daughter of Bonduca sends a letter to Junius pro- 
 testing her love for him and arranging for a rendez-vous. 
 She closes her epistle with "the gods, my Junius, keep 
 thee, and me to serve thee!" Junius has every need 
 of the gods* assistance, for the faithless maiden soon 
 shows him what sort of service he may expect from her. 
 Arrived at the trysting-place with his friends, he is 
 apprehended, called a salt-itch'd slave, and threatened 
 w4th death, from which, however, he is spared by the 
 intervention of Caratach. Francisco de Medicis in 
 The White Devil is even more cunning in inditing an 
 amorous epistle that he hopes, and not vainly, will work 
 mischief. He gives instructions to his servant to de- 
 liver to Vittoria a letter offering his love, at such time 
 
Introduction xvii 
 
 when the followers of Brachiano, her lover, may be near 
 to intercept it or demand the nature of its contents. 
 
 Instances of the use of forged letters to calumniate 
 the innocent are found in Middleton. Geraldine in 
 The Family of Love, hoping to involve in trouble the 
 guardian of the girl he loves, presents a letter to the 
 guardian's wife. This letter, purporting to come from 
 a woman in the country, relates how the guardian has 
 gotten her with child. In More Dissemblers Besides 
 Women, Lactantio, at the instigation of the Duchess, 
 draws up a letter in the General's handwriting and 
 affixes to it the General's signature. The letter con- 
 tains a dishonourable proposal of love and the Duchess 
 hopes, through its instrumentality, to have the General 
 arrested. She has, however, a subtler reason for de- 
 siring his arrest than Lactantio supposes. Secure in 
 her power, she confronts the General with the forged 
 letter and offers him a love which she pretends he has 
 solicited. In Phosnix, Act V, sc. i, occurs the line, 
 " 'T is forg'd against mine honour and my life." 
 
 A somewhat different use of the letter is made in 
 Massinger's Duke of Milan. In this play Francisco, 
 to undermine the constancy of Marcelia and thus 
 accomplish his designs upon her honour, gives her a 
 letter written by her husband, Lodovico Sforza, which, 
 without an explanation of the circumstances under 
 which it was written and of the contingency under 
 which its instructions were to be carried out, gives the 
 false impression that the Duke, instead of loving his 
 wife with an extravagant passion, really has a deep 
 hatred for her. 
 
 Interesting examples of the letter forged for treacher- 
 ous purposes occur in Fletcher's Valentinian and in 
 The Knight of Malta. In the former play Maximus, 
 in order to remove every obstacle that threatens the 
 
xviii Alphonsus 
 
 accomplishment of his vengeance, resolves to clear 
 from his path the too faithful Aecius whose loyalty 
 to the tyrannical Valentinian is unswerving. He 
 accordingly draws up a letter and places it where 
 Valentinian cannot fail to come upon it. In the letter 
 Maximus is urged to keep a vigilant eye upon Aecius, 
 whose popularity among the soldiers, it is alleged, 
 is so great that they are on the point of dethroning the 
 Emperor and raising Aecius to the pinnacle of the 
 State in Valentinian's stead. The credulous Valentin- 
 ian hereupon resolves to have Aecius killed. In The 
 Knight of Malta, Zanthia, the mistress of Mountferrat, 
 forges a letter of a treasonable purport and attaches 
 to it the signature of Oriana, who is guiltless of con- 
 spiring with the Turkish enemy and, contrary to the 
 impression which the letter conveys, is equally guilt- 
 less of entertaining love for him. 
 
 The instances of the use of the treacherous letter in 
 Fletcher — their number might be added to — deserve 
 some emphasis, for Fletcher's father played an im- 
 portant role in the life, or perhaps more accurately in 
 the death, of Mary Stuart, a woman against whom, 
 many believe, was directed a forgery of the most daring 
 magnitude. It was Fletcher's father who as chaplain 
 was a witness to Mary's tragic end at Fotheringay and 
 who, when the axe had fallen on her head, pronounced, 
 amid the silence of the awe-struck assemblage, the 
 solemn words: "So perish all the Queen's enemies. " 
 
 Circumstances of the career of Mary Queen of Scots 
 must have frequently been described to the family 
 circle by one who had been present in an official capa- 
 city at her spectacular execution and mention must 
 have been made more than once of the famous "casket 
 letters. " If this assumption is sound, it may account 
 for Fletcher's partiality for the forged letter written to 
 
Introduction xix 
 
 calumniate, or bring about the ruin of, the innocent. 
 Even if Fletcher placed no faith in the contention that 
 the "casket letters" were forged, the attribution of 
 their origin to forgery must have appealed strongly to 
 his sense of the dramatic. The "casket letters," it 
 will be recalled, were letters and sonnets discovered 
 in an old casket. They were neither signed nor 
 directed, but they were declared, after comparison 
 with Mary Stuart's letters, to have been written by 
 her and to have been sent to Bothwell. Their character, 
 if genuine, tells heavily against Mary's innocence. 
 
 The contention that the treacherous letter as used 
 in the EUzabethan drama has an historic complexion 
 does not rest, however, on the authenticity or lack of 
 authenticity of the "casket letters." Many citations 
 might be made from the history of the period to con- 
 firm the impression that the forged letter was frequently 
 employed to embarrass and cast suspicion upon its al- 
 leged inditers. Essex, on trial, asserted that letters coun- 
 terfeited in his name had been sent into Ireland to 
 Sir Christopher Blunt, the hope of the writers being to 
 cast reflection on his honour and his reputation. He 
 furthermore testified that one Bales had confessed that 
 he had been compelled to forge Essex's handwriting 
 in at least a dozen letters. The Attorney-General by 
 way of reply contended that Bales had been hired 
 thereunto by John Daniels, one of Essex's own men, to 
 the end that if Essex's own handwriting were submitted 
 as evidence against him, he might deny its authenticity 
 (Jardine, Criminal Trials, vol. i, p. 328). 
 
 Gerard is authority for the statement that it was an 
 "inveterate habit " of conspirators at that period to drop 
 compromising documents in places where their discovery 
 was assured. He instances {What was the Gunpowder 
 Plot?, p. 218) the placing of a letter in the court of Salis- 
 
XX Alphonsus 
 
 bury House, which letter purported to come from five 
 Catholics. Although professing to be appalled and 
 horrified by the Gunpowder Plot, these men are re- 
 presented as warning Cecil that they have pledged 
 themselves to assassinate him if he makes the occasion 
 the excuse for relentless activity against the CathoHcs. 
 The letter was in all probability a forgery, maliciously 
 framed against the Catholics. The resourcefulness of 
 Throgmorton also bears testimony to the prevalence 
 of forgery for defamatory purposes. Before he was 
 carried off under arrest, Throgmorton found time to 
 write a few hasty words in cipher to Mendoza. He said 
 that he had denied all knowledge of certain compromis- 
 ing papers and had explained that they must have been 
 left in his house by some one who desired to do him 
 injury (Froude, History of England from the Fall of 
 Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, vol. xi, 
 pp. 642-643). 
 
 Welwood is of the opinion that Cecil was aware 
 of the Gunpowder Plot long before its discovery, and 
 that the famous letter to Monteagle, presumably 
 coming from one of the conspirators, was "a contri- 
 vance of his own. " Jardine thinks it not at all unlikely 
 that the letter was, as Osbom calls it, a "neat device" 
 which the Secretary adopted to prevent the real mode 
 of the discovery from becoming known (Jardine, 
 Criminal Trials, vol. ii, p. 189). The hypothesis 
 that Tresham (the brother-in-law of Monteagle), or 
 Monteagle acting on information received from him, 
 laid bare the conspiracy before the government, thus 
 enabling it to frame the letter of warning, has its 
 defenders. This was the theory held by Greenway, one 
 of the Jesuits who was accused of being a party to the 
 plot (Hume-Stafford, History of England, vol. i, p. 685). 
 
 In 1586, in order that more light might be shed on 
 
Introduction xxi 
 
 the Babington conspiracy, the Queen suggested that a 
 ciphered letter be conveyed to Ballard as if from one of 
 the confederates. It was hoped that thereby Ballard 
 might be lured into writing an answer. But Phillips, a 
 professional decipherer, was unable to furnish a key and 
 hence the project had to be abandoned (Froude, History 
 of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the 
 Spanish Armada, vol. xii, p. 272), The name of Phillips 
 turns up later on again. The bearer of it had fallen 
 under suspicion because of a correspondence with 
 Hugh Owen. Accordingly another agent, named 
 Barnes, was employed by Cecil to write a letter pur- 
 porting to come from Phillips, who was then in England, 
 and carry it to Owen, who was sojourning in Flanders. 
 This plan miscarried owing to the arrest of Barnes in 
 Dover (Gerard, What was the Gunpowder Plot?, pp. iii- 
 112). 
 
 The forging of one side of a correspondence, though 
 it might sometimes tempt the innocent into the com- 
 mission of treasons for which they had previously had 
 only a mild sympathy, served the prime purpose of 
 trapping the guilty into an admission of their guilt. 
 More subversive of justice was the attempt to force 
 Gowrie into confession. He was induced, notwith- 
 standing his protest that such a statement would be 
 an untruth, to profess in a letter to the King that he 
 had been involved in several conspiracies against 
 his Majesty which he could reveal in a private inter- 
 view. Those who counselled him to take this step 
 urged that the letter, being of a general character, would 
 pique the King's curiosity, and that at the audience 
 which was certain to be granted him as a consequence, 
 he could explain that the letter was only an expedient 
 to enable him to secure the attention of the King for 
 the stating of his own case. Threatened with death 
 
xxii Alphonsus 
 
 if he did not comply with the suggestion, he yielded. 
 Arran pledged his sacred word of honoiir that he should 
 be safe. But at the trial, where nothing was proved 
 against Gowrie, the letter was produced and resulted 
 in his conviction (Andrew Lang, James VI and the 
 Gowrie Mystery, p. 120). A similar case is recorded in 
 Gordon's Lives of Pope Alexa?tder VI and his Son 
 CcEsar Borgia (p. 119). The Pope, being anxious to 
 propitiate the Castilian monarchs and their ally, Freder- 
 ick, King of Naples, denied having granted a certain 
 dispensation which had incensed them, alleging that 
 it was forged by the secretary of the briefs, one Mon- 
 seigneur Florida, Archbishop of Cosenza. The un- 
 fortunate scapegoat was put under arrest. The Pope 
 commissioned a scamp named Giovanni Merades to 
 visit Florida and under pretence of playing chess with 
 him to persuade him, innocent as he was, to acknowledge 
 himself guilty. As an inducement Florida was pro- 
 mised reinstatement in the Pope's good graces, the 
 restoration of all the benefices of which he had been 
 deprived, and even promotion to greater dignities 
 than he had ever enjoyed. On the strength of the 
 confession which the deluded Archbishop was thus in- 
 veigled into making, his estate was confiscated and 
 given to Borgia. 
 
 The following testimony of Cobham is cited not 
 necessarily for its authenticity, for Cobham was given 
 to contradiction, but in substantiation of the tend- 
 ency to forgery at that period. In denying that he 
 had made a declaration attributed to him incriminating 
 Raleigh, Cobham said: "That villain Wade [the Lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower] did often solicit me, and, not 
 prevailing, got me, by a trick, to write my name on 
 a piece of white paper, which I, thinking nothing, did ; 
 so that if any charge came under my hand, it was forged 
 
Introduction xxiii 
 
 by that villain Wade, by writing something above my 
 hand, without my consent or knowledge " (Gerard, What 
 Was the Gunpowder Plot?, pp. 202-3). 
 
 The section of this introduction that has to do with 
 the forged letter may fittingly be closed with a brief 
 allusion to forged letters patent. In Stow's Annales 
 (p. 865) it is stated that "James Steward was executed 
 for counterfeiting the King's hand, thinking thereby to 
 have procured the Great Scale of England, unto a forged 
 letters patents, for the passing and conveying of an 
 hundred marks by the year, of Crown land unto him- 
 self, " In Part II. of Heywood's Edward IV a stage 
 direction reads, "Enter Rufford and Fogge with the 
 counterfait letter-patents. Shore stands aside." This 
 conversation then ensues : 
 
 Rufford: This is King Richard's hand, I know it well. 
 And this of thine is justly counterfeit, 
 As he himself would swear it were his own. 
 
 Shore: The King's hand counterfeit? List more of that. 
 
 Rufford: Why every letter, every little dash 
 
 In all respects alike. Now may I use 
 My transportation of my corn and hides. 
 Without the danger of forbidding law. 
 
 When the Empress bids Alphonsus (p. 41) to cut off 
 her nose, she is alluding to a barbarous punishment of 
 the age, which is mentioned in not a few dramas. 
 In Blurt Master Constable, Act II, sc. 2, Imperia says, 
 "Trivia, strip that villain; Simperina, pinch him, sHt 
 his wide nose." Isabella in The White Devil in her 
 eagerness to do physical violence to Vittoria, who has 
 supplanted her in her husband's affections, proposes 
 among other things to "cut off her nose." Jane Shore 
 in Part II of Edward IV is fearful of being led before the 
 
xxiv Alphonsus 
 
 offended Queen lest the latter "slit her nose" or "spurn 
 her unto death. " In Middleton's Anything for a Quiet 
 Life, Knavesby proposes to go home and cut his "wife's 
 nose off." Aiken records {Memoirs of the Court of 
 James /, vol. i, pp. 189-190) that Jonson, Marston, 
 and Chapman were in danger of having their ears and 
 noses slit upon complaint of Sir James Murray, gentle- 
 man of the bedchamber, who took offence at their 
 lines regarding the Scots in their joint play Eastward 
 Ho. 
 
 The ear, however, more often than the nose suffered 
 mutilation. The offences for which these punishments 
 were imposed were frequently of a trivial character. 
 Ii^ I559> ^ dishonest purveyor who had taken smelts 
 for the queen's provision and had then sold them at an 
 advanced price was as a punishment placed for three 
 days in the pillory in Cheapside, with a "bawdricke of 
 smelts" about his neck, and upon his forehead a paper 
 indicating his offence. As a culmination to these in- 
 dignities he was to have lost one of his ears, but owing 
 to the petition of the Lord Mayor, he was instead 
 condemned to a prolonged imprisonment (Hayward, 
 Annals of the First Four Years of Elizabeth's Reign, p. 
 30). Thomas Pound, a Lancashire gentleman, upon 
 whom had been imposed a fine for infringement of the 
 laws against Catholics, under Elizabeth, was a victim 
 of the bigotry from which the reign of her successor 
 was not free. Pound had ventured to send a petition 
 to the King on behalf of one Skitel, a neighbour of his, 
 who had been condemned to death for "harbouring a 
 Jesuit." For his temerity Pound was sentenced to 
 pay a fine of £1000 and to stand in the pillory at 
 Westminster and Lancaster. It was further pro- 
 posed that he should have an ear cut off at each of 
 these places. Owing to the public indignation occa- 
 
Introduction xxv 
 
 sioned by this harsh sentence and the intercession 
 of the Queen as well as that of the Spanish and the 
 French ambassadors, the punishment was modified 
 in the execution, and even Skitel's sentence of death 
 was changed to one of banishment (Hume-Stafford, 
 History of England, p. 684). The part of Pound's sen- 
 tence which has to do with the loss of his ears is of 
 pertinence in this connection. When both ears were 
 to be forfeited, it seems to have been a not unusual 
 custom to make the excision of one ear in a designated 
 place and to lop off the other ear in a different locality. 
 The following quotation from The Blind Beggar of 
 Bednall Green is in keeping with the citation just made : 
 "This reprieve is counterfeit and made by me, your 
 ordinary pasport maker, that should have lost an ear 
 at Salisbury, and another at Northampton." 
 
 There are not a few allusions in the drama of the 
 period to the custom of amputating the ear. Refer- 
 ences to it may be found, to mention only a few instances, 
 in Marston's What You Will, Marlowe's Massacre at 
 Paris, Middleton's Michaelmas Term and Anything for a 
 Quiet Life, Webster's Appius and Virginia, and in the 
 Prologue of The Woman Hater. As Prof. Ashley H. 
 Thomdike has pointed out {The Influence of Beaumont 
 and Fletcher on Shakspere, p. 58), the allusion in the 
 Prologue of The Woman Hater is reminiscent of the 
 plight in which the collaborators of Eastward Ho found 
 themselves. A wag who had written an abusive satire, 
 concluded with these lines: 
 
 " Now God preserve the king, the queen, the peers, 
 And grant the author long may wear his ears, " 
 
 whereat his Majesty was much amused. 
 
 In the reign of Henry VIII able-bodied men found 
 begging were, for a first offence, merely whipped. A 
 
xxvi Alphonsus 
 
 second conviction was punished by the cropping of the 
 offender's ears (Traill, Social England, vol. iii, p. 120). 
 According to the Act of 1 530-1 scholars of the uni- 
 versities, sailors, pardoners, and others were for the 
 first offence whipped in the same manner as ordinary 
 vagabonds; for the second, they were to be scourged 
 two days, to be placed in the pillory, and were further- 
 more to forfeit one of their ears; for the third, they 
 were to be scourged again, to suffer the humiliation 
 of the pillory, and to lose their remaining ear (Traill, 
 Social England, vol. iii, pp. 250-1). 
 
 An even more revolting spectacle is that conjured 
 up by the threat to tear from the body the victim's 
 heart. The second murderer {Massacre at Paris, sc. 
 21) exclaims, "O that his heart were leaping in my 
 hand." Lines as sanguinary appear even in such a 
 play as A Woman Killed with Kindness: 
 
 "Rip up my breast, and with my bleeding heart 
 Present him as a token. " 
 
 Lodowick {The Jew of Malta, Act II, sc. 2) declares he 
 will have Mathias's heart. The Cardinal in the 
 Blind Beggar oj Bednall Green voices this sentiment, so 
 out of accord with his Christian office: 
 
 "0 1 could tear my flesh 
 And eat his heart for this disparagement, " 
 
 lines which remind one of the unnatural appetite of 
 Nicke in A Woman Killed with Kindness: 
 
 "I cannot eate, 
 But had I Wendol's heart I would eate that. " 
 
 Philip in Lust*s Dominion threatens to "beat that dog 
 to death that sounds retreat," and adds "I '11 tear his 
 
Introduction xxvii 
 
 heart out that dares name that sound." Citations of 
 this character — and they might be multiplied — sound 
 strange to the modern ear, but they probably did not 
 shock the robust nerves of the Elizabethans. In fact, 
 language no less violent was under extreme circum- 
 stances used at that time in civil life as well as on the 
 stage. When Essex was accused of treason, he ex- 
 claimed, "This hand shall pull out this heart when any 
 disloyal thought shall enter it" (Strickland's Queen 
 Elizabeth). Lord Gray, one of the commissioners at 
 the trial of Davison, who was made a scapegoat by 
 Elizabeth for the execution of Mary Stuart, in deliver- 
 ing his judgment used these words, that "in revenge 
 for his sovereign, he [Davison] would have been 
 the first to have rent his heart out of his body" 
 (Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey 
 to the Destruction of the Spanish Armada, vol. xii, 
 
 P- 375)- 
 
 This punishment was actually imposed, among others 
 equally revolting, upon the assassin of William the 
 Silent. It was decreed that his heart should be torn 
 from his breast and flung in his face. The sentence was 
 literally executed (Motley, Rise of the Dutch Repub- 
 lic, pp. 719-720), as inhuman a proceeding as that 
 perpetrated by the Aztecs on their human sacrifices' 
 (Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, vol. i, p. 79). 
 
 Another execrable punishment was the chopping off 
 of the hand of an offender. Allusions to it are not 
 infrequent in the drama. In The Royal King and 
 Loyal Subject, the Loyal Subject, commanded to send 
 one of his daughters to court, says: 
 
 "Had the King commanded 
 One of my hands, I had sent it willingly; 
 But her! yet Kings must not be dallied with, " 
 
xxviii Alphonsus 
 
 which reminds one of the words used by Susan in 
 A Woman Killed with Kindness, 
 
 "Will Charles 
 Have me cut off my hands and send them Acton?" 
 
 In Traill's Social England (vol. iii, p. 364) it is recorded 
 that in the reign of Elizabeth the exportation of raw 
 materials was sharply discouraged. The exportation of 
 a live sheep might, in the case of a first offence, cost a 
 man his hand. 
 
 The courage with which the victims bore their 
 punishment — fine examples of the physical hardihood 
 of that age of iron as well as of gold — blots out in 
 some measure, or at any rate directs attention from, 
 the appalling cruelty of the following incident. A 
 Puritan lawyer, John Stubbs by name, wrote a pamph- 
 let, wherein he commented rather too frankly and dis- 
 tastefully regarding the match at one time proposed 
 between Elizabeth and Alengon (Creighton, Queen 
 Elizabeth, p. 172). Both Stubbs and his book-seller, 
 Page, were sentenced to lose their right hand. They 
 were conducted from the Tower to a scaffold erected 
 in front of the palace at Westminster, and "their 
 right hands were struck off with a cleaver driven 
 through the wrist with a beetle, " While the dismem- 
 bered stump was being cauterised with a hot iron. 
 Page said proudly, "I have left there a true English- 
 man's hand." Stubbs, exhausted from the flow of 
 blood, nevertheless waved his hat with all the energy 
 he could muster and cried, "God save Queen Elizabeth, '' 
 before dropping in a faint (Froude, History of E?igland 
 from the Fall of Wolsey to the Destruction of the Spanish 
 Armada, vol. xi, p. 181). 
 
 Characterised by loyalty, though tempered some- 
 
Introduction xxix 
 
 what doubtless by self-interest, is an incident, not 
 unlike in some respects the case just related, which 
 occurred some decades earlier, Holinshed records 
 that "on the loth of June, 1541 Sir Edmund 
 Knevet, knight, of Norfolk, was arraigned before 
 the king's justices . . . for striking of one master 
 Clere of Norfolk, servant with the Earl of Surrey, 
 within the king's house in the tennis court. There was 
 first chosen to go upon the said Edmund, a quest of 
 gentlemen, and a quest of yeomen, to inquire of the 
 said strife, by the which inquests he was found guilty, 
 and had judgement to lose his right hand. ... At the 
 time when this sentence was to be executed, Sir Ed- 
 mund Knevet desired that the king, of his benign grace, 
 would pardon him of his right hand, and take the left, 
 for (quoth he) if my right hand be spared, I may here- 
 after do such good service to his grace, as shall please 
 him to appoint." So touched was the King by this 
 plea that he granted Knevet a free pardon. 
 
 It may be in order at this point to make reference to 
 the fact that in the Elizabethan age the hand was looked 
 upon as a responsible agent and not only were blame and 
 praise attached to it, but self-inflicted punishment was at 
 times visited upon it for its failure to execute a difficult 
 and desired task or for its activity in a cause that led 
 to humiliating or other evil results. In Alphonsus of 
 Germany (p. 67) Alexander gives his hand credit for 
 murdering the Emperor: 
 
 "This happy hand, blest be my hand therefore, 
 Reveng'd my Fathers death upon his Soul. " 
 
 More often, however, the hand is taken to task for 
 some evil done or good left undone. In Tamhurlaine, 
 Part II, Act IV, sc. 3, for instance, Olympia, pretend- 
 
XXX Alphonsus 
 
 ing that she has an ointment which will render the part 
 of the body that is anointed with it invulnerable, per- 
 suades her importunate and lustful lover, Theridamas, 
 to stab her neck. Theridamas in his credulity strikes 
 the blow, and when he realises the consequence of his 
 act exclaims: 
 
 "What have I slain her! Villain stab thyself; 
 Cut off this arm that murdered thy love. " 
 
 When Cranmer, who had signed a recantation of 
 Luther's doctrines, was led to the stake in 1556, he 
 repented of his previous weakness and gave utterance to 
 these memorable words, stamping him the hero that 
 in life's supreme moment he showed himself to be: 
 ''Forasmuch as my hand offended, writing contrary 
 to my heart, my hand shall first be punished therefor, 
 for when I come to the fire, it shall first be burned!" 
 When the fire was kindled and rose, he held his right 
 hand steadfastly and immovably in the consuming flame 
 so that all those present might see it burn away before his 
 body was touched. Mucius is supposed to have had con- 
 ferred upon him the surname of Scasvola because after 
 having mistakenly killed another, in the belief that it was 
 Porsena, he is said to have burned off the hand that 
 served him so ill. The incident is recorded in Plutarch 
 and in Livy (de Beaufort, / 'Incertitude des cinq premiers 
 siecles de Vhistoire Romaine). Scsevola is a character 
 in Haywood's Rape of Lucrece and his spoken lines: 
 
 "Oh too rash, Mutius, hast thou missed thy aime? 
 And thou base hand that didst direct my poniard 
 Against a peasants breast, behold thy error 
 Thus will I punish : I will give thee freely 
 Unto the fire, nor will I wear a limbe, 
 That with such rashnesse shall offend his Lord, " 
 
Introduction xxxi 
 
 must have sounded like a distorted version of Cranmer's 
 declaration. 
 
 Reference may at this point be made to a custom 
 which seems to have its reflection in some of the plays 
 of the day. After Mary Stuart's execution all of the 
 objects spattered with her blood, including her beads, 
 Paternoster, handkerchief, the cloth on the block, and 
 the scaffold were burned, so that none of them might be 
 taken away (Froude's History of England from the Fall 
 of Wolsey to the Destruction of the Spanish Armada, vol. 
 xii, p. 361). Just before her execution Mary, noticing 
 that her chaplain and her ladies were not present, 
 asked the reason of their absence. Kent told her he 
 feared they might scream or faint or attempt perhaps 
 to dip their handkerchiefs in her blood. The last assigned 
 reason has an astonishingly close parallel in The 
 Spanish Tragedy. Hieronimo, it will be recalled, dips 
 a handkerchief in his son's blood and vows not to part 
 with it till he has achieved his revenge. In Marlowe's 
 Dido it is related that Pyrrhus took his father's flag 
 "and dipped it in the old king's chill-cold blood. " 
 
 The breaking on the wheel, referred to on p. 67 of 
 Alphonsus of Germany, was a common punishment of 
 the day. Allusions to it are found in Tamburlaine, Part 
 II, in Hoffman, in The White Devil, in The Duchess of 
 Malfi, etc. After the rising of the Castilians in Scotland 
 and the murder of the captured regent, Lennox, Cawdor, 
 who was taken, was broken on the wheel (Froude's 
 History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the De- 
 struction of the Spanish Armada, vol. x, p. 285). The 
 Bishop of Rodez, in his History of Henry IV, records that 
 " the Baron of Fontanelles for having had a hand in the 
 Byron conspiracy and besides that treating of his own 
 accord with the Spaniards to deliver to them a little is- 
 land on the coast of Britany, was broke on the wheel in 
 
xxxii Alphonsus 
 
 the Greve by sentence of the Great Council. " Coryat, 
 one of the travellers of the age who has left an interest- 
 ing record of his impressions and gleanings in foreign 
 lands, states {Crudities, vol. ii, p. 308) that he "ob- 
 served in a great many places, on both sides of the 
 Rhene, more gallowes and wheeles betwixt Mentz 
 and Colen, then ever I saw in so short a space in all 
 my life, especially within a few miles of Colen." 
 Coryat describes {Crudities, vol. i, p. 159) in some de- 
 tail the method of execution by the wheel. Referring 
 to a wheel he saw on his jaunt through France, he states 
 that on it "the bodies of murderers only are tormented 
 and broken in peeces with certaine yron instruments, 
 wherewith they breake their armes first, then their legs 
 and thighes, and after their breast: If they are fav- 
 oured their breast is first broken. That blow on their 
 breast is called the blow of mercy, because it doth 
 quickly bereave them of their life. This torment of 
 the wheele I find in Aristotle to have been used amongst 
 the ancient Grecians also Who in the seventh booke of 
 his Ethicks and third Chapter, useth the word Tpoxi^euq 
 which signifieth to be tormented with the wheele. " In 
 Germany the penalty of being broken on the wheel was 
 most frequently associated with the crime of murder. 
 But in the Netherlands, according to Fynes Moryson, 
 another traveller of the age, the punishment was also 
 imposed upon counterfeiters {Iti7ierary, vol. iv, p. 471). 
 To the last-mentioned traveller one turns for eluci- 
 dation of the strangely barbarous custom referred to 
 on pp. 69-70 of Alphonsus of Germany. When the 
 punishment to be meted out to Alexander is under dis- 
 cussion. Prince Edward says: 
 
 "I would adjudge the Villain to be hang'd 
 As here the Jewes are hang'd in Germany. " 
 
Introduction xxxiii 
 
 To this the Elector of Saxony assents: 
 
 "Young Prince it shall be so; go dragg the Slave 
 Unto the place of execution: 
 There let the Judas, on a Jewish Gallowes, 
 Hang by the heels between two English Mastives, 
 There feed on Doggs, let Doggs there feed on thee, 
 And by all means prolong his miserie. " 
 
 "Neare Lindaw, " writes Fynes Moryson (Itinerary, 
 vol. iv, p. 289), *' I did see a malefactor hanging in 
 Iron chaines on the gallowes, with a Mastive Dogge 
 hanging on each side by the heeles, so as being starved, 
 they might eate the flesh of the malefactor before him- 
 selfe died by famine. And at Franckford I did see the 
 like spectacle of a Jew hanged alive in chaines, after 
 the same manner." This method of execution, modi- 
 fied according to local custom or caprice, seems to have 
 been practised at one time or another in diverse places. 
 In the year 1399 one of those miraculous occurrences 
 that are so characteristic of the credulity of the Middle 
 Ages, and so strange a mingling of devotion and re- 
 ligious antipathy, was said to have taken place in 
 Posen. Certain Jews of Posen were accused of having 
 persuaded a poor woman to steal the Host for them. 
 The sacred thing was, according to the account, taken 
 to a cellar in the Ghetto, where the Jews showed their 
 aversion for it by thrusting into it their knives. Then 
 occurred the astonishing thing. The Host began to 
 bleed and to perform miracles. In fear the Jews threw 
 it into a swamp, but it still continued to perform mir- 
 acles, thereby attracting the notice of the Christians. 
 For this alleged desecration a punishment resembling 
 closely the diabolical torment referred to above was 
 imposed. The woman who had stolen the Host, the 
 
xxxiv Alphonsus 
 
 Jewish Rabbi, and the most aged of the Jews were 
 together with dogs attached to posts and were slowly 
 roasted to death (Kohnt, Geschichte der Deutschen 
 Juden, pp. 287-8). Discrimination against Jews not 
 only in life but even in death is, furthermore, referred 
 to by Alphonse Levy {Geschichte der Juden in Sachsen, 
 p. 47). According to this author Jewish criminals, 
 condemned to death in Leipzig, who failed to recant 
 their belief, were not considered worthy to be hung upon 
 a Christian gallows; wherefore a special gallows was 
 assigned to them. If one may believe Roger Ascham, 
 a form of execution not radically different from those 
 described above was practised by the Turk, who, 
 however, in the instance recorded, visited the punish- 
 ment not on the unbelieving Jew but upon the Christian 
 unbeliever. 
 
 In the foregoing sketch the writer pleads guilty to 
 having every now and then strayed into a discussion of 
 matters which, while legitimately classifiable under the 
 headings of violence and intrigue, may at times have 
 seemed to the reader to have only an indirect bearing 
 on Alphonsus of Germany. But, if he has overstepped 
 his prerogative, it has been in the hope of re-emphasising 
 certain tendencies of the age which find exaggerated ex- 
 pression in this drama, and thus of smoothing the way 
 for an understanding of certain incidents in the play 
 that, without such an explanation, would seem grotesque 
 and unnatural. A period of literature that cultivated 
 the chronicle history play; that put on the stage 
 dramatisations of contemporary events like the trage- 
 dies of Byron and Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt; that 
 occasionally used the drama for the presentation of a 
 political allegory, as in the case of Middleton's Game 
 at Chess; and that in the field of the domestic tragedy 
 was even known to draw for its subject-matter upon an 
 
Introduction xxxv 
 
 actual murder case of the time; a period of literature 
 that throws so much interesting light on customs 
 and manners peculiar to the day and through which 
 runs the strong current of late i6th and early 17th 
 century life — did not, it may be safely concluded, fail 
 to reflect in fulness the brutal practices and the sub- 
 terranean methods that prevailed at the time. 
 
THE 
 
 TRAGEDY 
 
 O F 
 
 ALPHONSUS 
 
 OF 
 
 GERMANY 
 
 As it liath been very often Adled ( with 
 
 great app!aufe ) at the Privat houfe 
 
 inBLACKt-RiERs by Iiis late 
 
 M A » B s T I E s Servfents. 
 
 By Q^OYgc Qhap}nan Gent. 
 
 •-3 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed for Humphrey MosELEY,ancl aretobe 
 
 fold at his Shopp at the Pnnces-Arms 
 
 in ^i/Pauls Cliurch-yard 1654. 
 
^ #» i^ i;;^ c.'iva :^ 1^ i^ ^ V ci;^ ^ ^ -^ ^ c^i^a #. c.:»a ^ clija 
 
 To the Reader 
 
 I Shall not need to befpeak thee C our- 
 teouSjif thou haft feen tliis Piece pre- 
 fented with all the Elegance of Life 
 and Aftion on the "Blacl^Friers Stage; 
 But if it be a Stranger to thee^give me 
 leave to prepare thy acceptation^by tel- 
 ling thee, it was receiv'd with general 
 applaufe, and thy judgement (1 doubt 
 not ) will be fatisficd in the reading. 
 
 1 will not raife thy Exped:ation fur- 
 ther, nor delay thy Entertainment by 
 ateclious Preface. TheDefign ishigb, 
 the Contriven^ent fubtle, and will 
 defervc thy grave Attention in the 
 perufalL 
 
 FarovelL 
 
mwmnwvmwm 
 
 ^Dramatis Terfon^. 
 
 ALfhonftis Emperour of Germany , 
 King of Bohemia, > 
 BHhop of Mentz* 
 BiQiopof C9llen» 
 Bi(hop of Tr^^r. 
 Talhtine of the Rhein, 
 Duke of Saxon, 
 Marque fs of Brandenhurgh* 
 Prince Edward of England, 
 Jilchard Duke of Gornwall: 
 Lorenzo de cipres^ Secretary to the Etfiperour, 
 i^lexander his Son, the Emperours Page. 
 jfahelU the Empreft. 
 
 Hedewick Daughter to the Duke of SSlX^^^ 
 Captain of the Guard. 
 Souldiers. 
 Jaylor. 
 Two Boores# 
 
 •v- 
 
 The fcvcn Elc- 
 Aors of the Ger- 
 man Empire. 
 
(I) 
 
 ALP HONSUS 
 
 Emperour dKjermany. 
 
 Enter Alphonfus ihe Emperour in bts night-gown, af:d hu 
 
 Potrt,andatorch in hts h^Tid, Alexander tie Tnpcs 
 
 hii Pag€,followtnq^ htm, 
 
 Oy, give me the Matter Key of all the doors. 
 To Bed a-gain, and leave me to my \c\(, [£xit 
 U Ktchard come? hare four Ele^i^ors [Alex- 
 fworn der. 
 
 To make him Kcifar in defpiteofme f 
 
 Why then Alfhonftu it is time to wake. 
 
 No Hnglidiman, thou art too hot at hand. 
 
 Too dial low bf aind co undermine my tbrone j 
 
 JheSpani/h Si^n haih purifi'd my wit. 
 
 And dry*d up all grofs humours in my head. 
 
 That I am fightcd as the King of Birds, 
 
 And can cUlirern thy deepeft Stratagems. 
 
 \ im the lawful German Emperour, 
 
 Chofen, en(hll*d,hy general confent; 
 
 And ihcy may tearm me Tyrant as they pleafe^ 
 
 I will be King, and Tyrant if I pleafe; 
 
 For what is Empire but a Tyrannies 
 
 And none but children ufe it otherwife. 
 
 Of feven EIc«.%rs, four are faJIn away. 
 
 The other three I dare not greatly truft; 
 
 My Wife is Sifter to mine enemy, 
 
 And therefore wifely to be dealt withaUi 
 
 But why do I except in fpecial. 
 
 When ihis poAuon muft be geaeraf. 
 
» A LPHON SUS 
 
 Thai no man living muil be credited, 
 
 Further than tends unto thy proper good. 
 
 But to the purpolc oftny filent walk; 
 
 Within t'.iis Chamber lyes my Seeretar)^, 
 
 Lorenz,o de Cipres, in whofe learned brain 
 
 Is all the Gompars of the world eontaind j 
 
 And as the ignorant and limple age 
 
 Of our foret'athers, blinded in their zeal, 
 
 Recciv'd dark anfwcrs from l^pp^lh's Hirineji 
 
 And honour'd him as Pairon of their blifs; 
 
 Sol, not muffled in fimplicitie. 
 
 Zealous indeed ofnothing but my good* 
 
 Haft to the At*gur of my happineN, 
 
 To lay the ground of my enfbino Wars. 
 
 He learns his wifdom, not by flighc"bi Bird?, 
 
 By prying into facrificed beafts. 
 
 By Hares that crofs the way , by howling Wolves, 
 
 By gazing on the Starry Element, 
 
 Of vain imaginary calculation? ; 
 
 But from a fetled wifdom in it [q.\( 
 
 Which teaeheth to be void of paflion. 
 
 To be Religious as the ravenous Wolf, 
 
 Who loves the Lamb for hunger, and for prey; 
 
 To threaten our inferiors with our looks ; 
 
 To flatter our Superiors at our need ; 
 
 To be an outward Saint, an iriwa-d Devill; 
 
 TheCe are the le»ftures that my Mafter reads. 
 
 This Key commands a!l Chambers in the Court;' 
 
 Now on a fudain will I try his wit, 
 
 I kn:>vv my eomming is unlook'd for. 
 
 He opens the door, and findf lloxenzo fleep a lofr. 
 
 Nay flcep, Lorer}z,o, I will walk a while. 
 
 As natu'ein the framing of the world, 
 
 Ordain'd there ^\ou\dht njht I vac num' 
 
 Even Co ms thinks his wif lom fhou'd contriyCj 
 
 That all his Study fhouid be full of wit, 
 
 And every corner fiuft with fentences ? 
 
 What's this ?P/<«f 5? tArifiotle f ixxQn thefe are Ordinary, 
 
 It (Qtcas this is a note but newly written. \^He reads a note 
 
 which hejinds among his Books, 
 
 Vna 
 
nmferauY pf Germany. j 
 
 Un* Sibu-^a non a]ic duos Erithicos ; ivhich being granted^ 
 the %oman Em fire yotll Kot Jnjjice Alphonfus King oj Caftilc, 
 arid Richard £^r/ <?/ Cornvvali hi^ cornpetitor^ thy wifdom tea- 
 cheth thee to cleave to the firongefi ; Alphonfus is i» pojfejjiett, 
 ayid there fore the firongefi, bm he is in hatred with the £/<•- 
 IhrSyandmen rather honour theSnnrifing than the Sun aoin^ 
 don>n, I marry this is argued like him(eif,and now cne thinks 
 he wakes, 
 [Lore)jz.o Rifeth; arid Tnatchcs at his fword which hun^ by 
 
 his Bed fide.] "" ' 
 
 LorenANhzi are there thieves within theEmperour's Court? 
 Villain thou dy'rt ; what mak'ft thou in my Chamber > 
 
 jilphoK. How now Lorenz.0^ wilt thou flay thy Lord? 
 
 Loren. Idobefcech your facrcd Maje/iy to pardon me, 
 I did not know your grace. 
 
 uilphon. Ly down L>orenz.o^ I vvill fit by if^ec 
 Tne ayr isfiiarp and piercing ; tremble not, 
 Had it been any oiher but our id(. 
 He murt have been a villain .nd a thief. 
 
 Loren. Aa^ my Lordivvhar means your exGclIcQce, 
 To walk by night in thefe Co dangerous times ? 
 
 Alphon. Have I not reafon now lo walk and watch 
 When I am compaft with fo many fees ? 
 They ward, they watch, they caft,and they confpirc* 
 To win confederate Pqnces to their aid, 
 And batter down the Eagle from my creaft. 
 Omy Lorenz.0, if thou iielp me not, 
 Th' Imperial Crown is flisken from my head. 
 And giv'o Trom meu'ito an Englifh Earl. 
 Thou knoweli how all things ftand as well as we» 
 Who are our enemies, and who cur friends, 
 Wh )muft b^ ihreatn^d, and whodallyed^with. 
 Who won by words, and who by force of arms 5 
 For all the honour I have done to thee. 
 Now fpeak, and fpcak to purpofe in the caufc i 
 Na/ r^i^ thy body, labour with thy brain, 
 And of thy words my felf will be the fcribe. 
 
 Lore}i, why then my Lord, take Paper, Pen and Tnki 
 Write firl^ this maxim, it fhall do you good, 
 
 1. \ Prince muft be of the nature of. the Lion and the 
 Fox j but not the one without the other. jllpheTt, 
 
4 ALPHON SUS 
 
 jdlphon. T.ie r-ox is lubiil, but he vvanceth force - 
 The Lion /Irong, but Icorncth policie ; 
 1*1 imitate Lyfwder in this point , 
 And where the Lion's hide is thin and (canr. 
 Pi firmly patch it with the Foxes fell. 
 Let it futfice f can be both in on?. 
 
 Lorfff. 2. A Prince above a!l thinc;<; rnufi fecm devout* 
 but there is nothing fo dangerous to his (late, as to re^^ard 
 hispromife orhi^oath. 
 
 yjlphon, Tufli, fear not me, my promife<; are found. 
 But he that trufts them fha!! be (urc to (dU. 
 
 Lorcn. Nay my g :oJ Lord, but that I know your MajeHy, 
 To be a rea.ly .,uickvvitted Scholar, 
 I would bellow a comment on the text. 
 
 3. Trull not a reconciled friend ; for good turns cannot 
 blot out old grudges. 
 
 Alphoyj. Then mull I watch the Palatine of the Rhcit?^ 
 I caus'd his Father to be put to death. 
 
 Loren. Ycur H ighncfs hath as little caufe to truft 
 The dangerous mighty Dxikzo^Saxonj/ ; 
 You know, you fought to banifh him the Land; 
 And as for CnlUn, was not he the firit 
 That fent for %ichArd'mio germanj f 
 
 Alphon. What's thy opinion of the other four? 
 Alpho>7. That Bohemte neither cares for one nor other j 
 But hopes thi<: deadly lltife b.'tween you twain, 
 Will cafl th' I.nperial Crown upon his head. 
 For Trtcr anj BraKtieubcr^^, I think of them 
 As fimple men that wiHi the common good ; 
 And as for Mentz. J need not cenfurc him, 
 Ktchard hath chain'd him in a golden bond. 
 And fav'd his lil'e from ignominious death. 
 
 Alphon. Let it fuRice, Lorenz^o^ that I know. 
 When ChurfHrfi Mentn. yyas taken Prifonert 
 By young vi*-'^or»Ous Otho Duke ot Br^nfchrvetge 
 Tnat Richard Earl o\' (^or»rv alidad disburfe 
 The ranfome of a King, a million, 
 To favehis life, and rid him out of bands, 
 That fu n of gold did fill the Brnn{chweiqe bagJ ; 
 But fince my felf have rain'd a golden fltowcr. 
 
 Of 
 
Ofbright Hungarian Ducatcs and Cfufadoes, 
 Into the private Coffers of the Bi/liop, 
 The English Angela took cheir wings and fled ; 
 My crofTes blefy his <?offer<; and plead for me. 
 His Voice is mine, bought with ten tun of Gold, 
 And at lfi« meetin;> of the fevcn Elctflors, 
 His Princely double-dealing holiners 
 Will fpoyl the EnglifJi Emp^reur ofhope. 
 But I refer thefe matters to thefequcl. 
 Proceed Lorenz.0 tbnvird to the next. 
 
 Lorert. I'm o!ad your grace hath dealt fo cunningly, 
 With that vi^^oricus/^clc^c minded Prclaie ; for in clevlioii 
 his voice is hrli but to the next. 
 
 4. ' I is more fa^ety far a Prince to be feared than loved. 
 
 Al^hoK. Lore is an hum: ur pfeafcth him that loves j 
 Let me be hated, \o I pleafe iny fe f. 
 Love is an humour mi;dand changeable ; 
 But fear ergraves a reverence in the heart. 
 
 Lore*i. J. To keep an ufurped Crown, a Prirce maft 
 fwear, forfwear, poyibn. mur ier, and commit all kind of vil- 
 lanics, provided it be cunningly kept from the eye of the 
 world. 
 
 siphon. But my Lorcnz,o that's the harde/l point* 
 It is not for a Prince to exc cute, 
 Phyficians and Apothecaries"muf) krvn\v» 
 And fervile fv-^ar or Counlel-Srcak'ng bribes, 
 VV/il from a Peafant In an hour extort 
 Enough toovertnrov a \fr)narchv. 
 
 Lorcti. Thctetore my Lord fct dowo this TTxt and lafi 
 Article. 
 
 6. Be aiwales jealous of him that knows your fecrets, 
 And therefore it behooves you credit few; 
 And when ycu grow into the icafi (ufpe-'i, 
 With filenc cunning muff you cut them cff-. 
 As tor examp!e,7«//V LetJtHlus^ 
 A molt rcnowne i Neapolitan^ 
 Gave me this Box cf poyfon. t'was not Ion' 
 
 ig 
 But therewithal! Ifent him to his grave. 
 
 Alphort. And vyhat's the fpecial vertue of the fame ? 
 
 L01 en. That it is twenty diys before it workj. 
 
 ^;^W. But what is this? Loren. 
 
C ALPHONSUS 
 
 Loren. This an infection thaikilsfuddainly. 
 This but a toy locafl amanaileep. 
 
 Alfho». How? being drunk ? 
 
 Lor^M. No.'bcingrmeltunio. 
 
 Jlphorj. Then fmell Loren^.o^ I did break thy fleep j 
 And for this time, this lecture fliall fuffice. 
 
 Lorayj. What have you done my Lord ? y'ave made 
 me fafe, 
 For (tirring henee thefe four and twenty hours. 
 
 Alpho». 1 fee this charms his fenfesfudainly. 
 How now hore-fjz^o, haU* afleep already ? 
 t/£neiii Pilot bv the God of dreams, 
 Was never luli*d into a founder trance; 
 And now jilfhonfta over- read thy notej. [He rtads, 
 
 Thelc a'C already at my finoers ends. 
 And Icli ihe wor d O-^ouldfi idthislittleSchcdalc, 
 Thus will I rend the text, and after this, 
 On my behaviou'* fet fo fair a glofs. 
 That men fhall take me for a Convertite ; 
 But fome may think, I OioulJ forget my parr» 
 And have been over ra(h in renting it, 
 Topnt them out of doubt I fludy iiire. 
 Tie make a backward repeti'ion. 
 In being jealous of my CounfcJ keepers, 
 Thi<; i<; the poyfon that kils fu.lainly. 
 So oidli thou \miO Julna Lentnlit', 
 And blood with blood muU be reOjuited thus. 
 Now am I fafe, and no man knows my Counfels. 
 Churfurfl o^ Mentz.^ if now thou pi 7 thy part, 
 Erning thy gold with cunnmgworkmanfliip. 
 Upon the Bemifli Kfncs ambition, 
 Richard fhall fhamefully fail of his hope. 
 And I with triumph keep my Emperie. "Exit* 
 
 Enter the Kiyig of Bohemia, the Bipops of IVfentz, ColIcn» 
 
 Trier, the Tallattne of the Rhein, The Duke o/Saxon, 
 
 T/;^ (Jl^i^rcjueji of Brandenburg. 
 
 Bohe. Chnrfurfls and Princes of the Ek«.^ioD, 
 Since by the adverfe fortune of our age, 
 Th^facredand Impetial MajeHy 
 
 Nstb 
 
Em^erour ^/Germany. 7 
 
 Hath been ufurp'd by opt n Tyranny, 
 
 We the feven Pilfais oUhe Gcrn?an Empire^ 
 
 To whom (ucceirj/cly it doth belon;^ 
 
 To make eledion of our Emperours, 
 
 Are here afi'eml^Ied to uniie a new 
 
 Unto her former Hrengih and ^loriou? type 
 
 Our half declining Roman Monarchy, 
 
 And in that hope, I Henry King o[' Bohcm, 
 
 Churftirfl and Sevvcr to the EDipercur, 
 
 Do take my feat next to the facred throne. 
 
 Mentz.. Next feat belongs to 'jnhm Tlorttu 
 Archbifhop o^ Mentz., Chancelor oHScrmanjy 
 By birth the Duke ot fruitful Tomo /.ird. 
 
 Pal. The next place in elev-'Hon longs tome, 
 (jeorge (^ajfimirm Palfgraveofihc %l^erri^ 
 His Highnefs Tafler, and upon my knee 
 Ivo\V a purcfincereinoated^cal 
 Unto my Country, and no wrelied hate. 
 Or private love fiiall blind mine intellev?!. 
 
 Collen. Brave DuTce of Saxony Dure ilinds greateft hope, 
 Stir now or never, let the Spanifh tyrant. 
 That hath diflionoured us, murdjr'd our Friend^ 
 And /bin'd this feat with blood of innocents. 
 At la(t becha'lis'd with ibt Saxon I'word, 
 And may zA/hrtits Arciibilliop of ^0 //£■«, 
 Chancelor Q\Oalha and the fourtli tiev'lor; 
 Be thought u.iwortliyothis phceand birtli , 
 But he affifJ thee to his utmofl power. 
 
 Sax. WifJom. not word-', mufl be the foveraign falve, 
 To fearch anJ heal thefe grievou- fc/ircd wounds. 
 And in that hope zy^uq^ptflii^s Duke of Saxon^ 
 Arch-Marfl\3ll to the Emp.Tour take my place. 
 
 Trtfr, The like doth Fredenck^\rcU-'Ri(\\op o{ Trier, 
 Dukco^Lorram, Chancelour o[ Itabe. 
 
 Bran. Thefeventh and laf^ \s Jo.ichim CaroltUj 
 Marquefs of Brandenburg, overworn with age, 
 Whofe Office is to be the Treafurer ; 
 But Wars have made theCoffer': like the Chair. 
 Peace bringeth plenty, Wars bring poverty : 
 Grant Heavens, this meeting may be to ctfcvl, 
 Eftablifh Peace, and cut ofi Tyrannic. Ento" 
 
8 ALPHONSUS 
 
 £»ftr the Empref? Ifabel'a Kifi^ John's Daughter 
 
 Empreji. Pardon my bold intrunon migluy (Iwrfttrfis, 
 And let nriy words pierce deeply in your hearis. 
 O 1 1 befeech you on my bended Knees, 
 Ithepoor mirerablcEmpre(5, 
 A Granger in this Land.unu'dtobroyl', 
 Wife to the one, and Siliei to the other 
 That are Competitors for Soveraignty ; 
 All that I pray, is, mzke a quiet end; 
 Make Peace b^fivveen my Husband and my Brother, 
 O chink ho.vgrici doth (hnd on either /ide, 
 ir cither party chance to be vmifs; 
 My Huiband is my Husband ; bur my Drorhcr, 
 My heart doth melt to think he lliouidmiic-arry. 
 My Brother is my Brother ;bui my Husband, 
 O how my joynts do ihake fearing his wrong ! 
 If both flioul j dye in thefe uncertam broyls. 
 O me, why do 1 live to think upon'tl 
 Bear with my interrupted fpeeches Lords, 
 Tears flop my voice* your wiidomi know my meaning. 
 Alas I know my Brother Rtchard\ heart 
 Atfcfis not Empire, he would rather choofe 
 To make return again to Palejlttte^ 
 And be a fcourge unto the Inridelsj 
 As for my Lord, he is impatient, 
 The more my grief, the lelVer is my hope. 
 Yec Princes thus he lends you word by mc. 
 He will fubmjt himfelf to your award, 
 And labour to amend vvhat is amifs. 
 All I have fa id, or can device to (siy^ 
 Is few words of great worth, Make unity, 
 
 Bohe, Madam, that ive have fuffer'd you to knecI (o long 
 Agrees not with your d'^^nhy nor ours ; 
 Thus we cxcul'c it, when we once arc fee. 
 In foJcmn Councclof £le.4ion, 
 AVemaynot rife till fomc what be concluded 
 So much for that; coaching your carncft fute; 
 Your Majertic doth know how it concerns us, 
 Comfort your fdfj as wc do hope the beH ; 
 
 Bat 
 
"Emfercur of Germany. ^ 
 But tell us, Madam, wher's your Husband now' 
 
 EmpreJ?. 1 left him at his prayers, good my Lorcf. 
 
 Saxon. At prayers? Madam, that's a miracle. 
 
 Pall. Vndcubtediy your Hi^^hnels did mi/Jake J 
 Tvvaslure fomeBookot Conjuridon; 
 I think he never faid pray 'r in hii life. 
 
 Empref. Ah me, my fear, I fear, will take effe^l , 
 Your hace to him, and love unto my Brother, 
 Will break my heart, and fpoil th'- Imperial peace. 
 
 Mentz.. My Lord otSaxon^ and Prihre PalUtwe, 
 This hard opinion yet is more than needs ; 
 But, gracious Madam* leave as to our (tlvts. 
 
 EmpreJI. I go, and Heav'n {hat hpidj the Hearts of Kingj^ 
 Dire(^ your Counfels unto unity. Exit. 
 
 Bohe. Novv to the depth of that we have in hand ; 
 This is the quc/iion, whether the King ofSpM^t 
 Shall Hill continue in the Royal throne. 
 Or yield It up u\MoPUr.tagenet^ 
 Or we proceed uuo a third Eelei^ion. 
 
 Saxon. E'rc fuch a viperous blood- thir% Spaniard 
 Shall fuck the hearts of our Nobility, 
 Th' Imperial Sword which Saxony doth bear. 
 Shall be unOieith'd to War againft the world. 
 
 Pall. My hate is more than words can cefti/ie. 
 Slave as he is he murdered my Father. 
 
 Coll. Prince %t,chnrd h the Champion of the world. 
 Learned, and mild, fie for the Government. 
 
 Bohe. And what have we to do with Englifhmen ? 
 They are divided from our Continent. 
 But now that we niay orderly proceed 
 To our hioh OfHce of Eleilfon, 
 To you my Lord o^Mentz. it doth belong 
 Having firfl voice in this Imperial Synod, 
 To name a worthy man for Emperour^. {cts^ 
 
 Mentz,. It may be thought,moft grave and rcrcrend Prin- 
 That in refped ofdivers (urns of gold, 
 Which Richard of mecr charitable love. 
 Not as a bribe, but as a deed of Alms, 
 Disburs'd for me unto the Duke ofBrur.[chrveige, 
 That I dare name no other man but hej 
 
 C Or 
 
30 ALPHONSUS 
 
 Or fhould I nominate an other Prince, 
 Upon the contrary I may be thought 
 A. molt ingratefui wretch unto my Ftlend ; 
 But private caufe mull yield to publiek ^ood ; 
 Therefore me thinks it were the fitteft courld 
 To choofc the worthiert upon this Bench. 
 
 Bo)yem. We are all Germans, wljy (hould we be yoak'd 
 Either by En^liflmienor Spaniards ? 
 
 Saxo. The Earl o^CormvaU by a fail eonfcqc 
 Was fent for out o^EngUnd. 
 
 (J[ientu, Though he were. 
 Our later thoughts are purer than our firft. 
 And to conclude, I think this end were bef^. 
 Since we have once chofen him Empetour, 
 That fome great Prince of wifdom and of power, 
 Whofe countenance may overbear his pride. 
 Be joynd in equal Government with ^Iphcryjfta, 
 
 Bohew. Your HoJinefs hath found ly in few wordf 
 Set down a mean to t^uiet all thcfe broyls. 
 
 Trier, So may we hope for peace if he amend ; 
 But (hail Prince %icbard then be joynd with him ? 
 
 Fal. Why fhould your Hiohnels ask that quelHon ? 
 As if a Prince of fo high Kingly Birth, 
 Would live in couples with fo bafc a Cur ? 
 
 Bohe. Prince Pallatwe,(ucQ words do ill become ihce. 
 
 Snxon, He fardbut right, and cali'd a Dog a Dog. 
 
 Bohe. His Birth iz Princely. 
 
 Saxo, His manners villanouSj 
 And vertuou< Richard fcorns fo bafe a voak. 
 
 Bohe. My Lord of S.ixon^ give me leave to tell you, 
 Ambition b'inds your judgement in this cafe ; 
 You hope, if by your means Rtchard be Emperour» 
 He, in requital of fo great advancement, 
 Will make the long, defi red Marriage up 
 Between the Prince of England and your Siftcr» 
 And to that end Edward the Prince o^Wnks^ 
 Hath born his Uncle Company to i^ermarty. 
 
 Saxo. Why King of Bohem \*{\ unknown to ihee, 
 How oft the5^A-o«jSons havemarryed Queens, 
 And Daughters Kings, yea mightiert Emperours ? 
 
 If 
 
Smferour of Germany. n 
 
 It Edward like her be^uiy and behaviour, 
 Hc'I make no que/Hon ot'lier Princely Birth ; 
 nut let that pais, I Cay, as tii\ I 'aid, 
 That vcrtLOu^ Ji^chatd fcorns Co bafc ayoak. 
 
 Aierii^c. It' Rtcliard icorn, fomc one upon this Bench, 
 \Vho(c power may overbear zy^/pho^m pride. 
 Is to be named. Wli?c think you my Lords ? 
 
 Saxon. I think it was a mii;hty mafs ot" G^ld, 
 That made your grace o| this opinion. 
 
 Mentz.. My Lord oCSaxotty^ you wrong me much. 
 And know I highly fcorn to take a bribe. ^ 
 
 Pal. I think you fcorn indeed to have it known : 
 But to the purpofe, if it muft be fo. 
 Who is the Htteil man to joyn with him ? 
 
 ColUn. Firft with an Oxe to plou^^h will I be yok'd 
 
 CMem^. The fittefi is your grace in mine opinion. 
 
 Bohem. I am content, to ftay theie mutinies. 
 To take upon me what you do impofe. 
 
 Saxon. Why here's a tempeft quickly overblown.] 
 God give you joy my Lord of half the Empire; 
 For rre I will not meddle in the matter. 
 But warn your Majeftie to have a care. 
 And vigilant refped unto yourperfon, 
 I'J hie me home to fortifie my Towns, 
 Not to oftlnd, but to defend my felf. 
 
 Palf. Ha' with youCofin, and adieu my Lord?, 
 1 am afraid this fuddam knitted Peace. 
 Will turn unto a tedious lafting War % 
 Only thus much we do requclt you all, ' 
 
 Deal honourably with the Earl of C^r;nr^//, 
 And (b adieu. Sxennt. Saxon.<?»dPal{. 
 
 Br.^.f'd. I like not this Grange Farewel of the Dukes. 
 
 Bohew. In all eleftionsfome are malcontent. 
 It doth concern us now with fpeed to know. 
 How the Competitors will like of this, 
 And therefore you my Lord Archbidiop of 7r/Vr, 
 Impart this order of arbitrament 
 Unto the Empcrour, bid him be content. 
 To (land content with half, or lofe the whole. 
 My Lord o(Mcy>tz. go you unto Prince Richara, 
 
 (^ J Aim 
 
n ALPHOKSUS 
 
 And tell him flatly here's no Crown, nor Empire 
 For En-^IiiTi iaaaders;tell him, 'twere his bdi 
 To hie him home to help the King his Brother* 
 AgainfUhe Earl of Leice/ler tind the Barons ' 
 
 p//.«. My Lord ofMe»u^ fweet words will qualiffc 
 When bitter tearms will adde unto his raee 
 Tis no fmall hope that hath deceit 'd the Duke • 
 Therefore be mildj I know an Englilliman, 
 Being flatteredjis a Lamb,threa(ned,a Lion; 
 Tell him his charges what fo e're they are 
 Shalbe repaid with treble vantages ; 
 Do thi$,-vve will exped their refolmions. 
 
 CMe>ttz,.Btothzi: of a//^«,I entreat your oracc 
 To take this charge upon you in my liead -^ 
 
 For why I fliame to look him in the face. ' 
 ColUu. Your Holinefs Oian pardon me in this. 
 
 Had I the profit I would take the pains • 
 
 With (Lame enough your Grace may b/ing the meflage. 
 Mentz,.Thus am J Wrong 'd, God knows^unguilcify. 
 
 A It /u S^«" 3rm your countenance with innocency 
 
 And boldly do the meflage to the Prince • 
 
 For no man qKq mil be the meflfenger. * 
 
 C/lf.j.c Why then I muft,/7nce thefs no remedy. [ExH 
 
 Jra.d. IfH^ivn that guides the hearts of [Menti 
 
 mighty men, ' 
 
 Doealnriihe Winds oftAefe great Potentates 
 And make them like of this Arbitrament 
 Sweet Peace wiJ! tryumph thorough Chn-flendom, 
 And germa^y (hill bids this happy day. 
 
 Ef^tcr Alexander dc Toledot^^ r^^e. 
 
 fi!'''"^? '^e moft mifcrablel O my dear Father! 
 
 S.^.;;. What means this pa/Honate accent? what art thou 
 That founds thefe acclamation* in our ears > 
 
 ^/^x Pardon me Princes, Huveioft a Father, 
 
 ?W "^^^ of Father kih my heart 
 O ! I fhall never fee my Father more. 
 H as tane his kaveof me for age and a'^c. 
 
 Olle»» What was thy Father? " 
 
 -^icx. Ah me i what was a not? 
 
 Nobie. 
 
EmpersHr of Germany. I| 
 
 Koble, Rich, valiant, welNbelov'd ofall. 
 
 The glory and ihe wifdom of bis age^ 
 
 Chief Secretary toihe Emperour. 
 
 (pollen. LoreMz.0 de Toledo, isht dcid} 
 
 ^lex. Dead, ay me dead, ay me my life is dead. 
 
 Strangely this night bereft of breath and fenls. 
 
 And 1, poor I, am comforted in nothing, 
 
 But that the Emperour laments with me^ 
 
 As J exclame. fo he, he rings his hands» 
 
 And mikcsme mad to fee his Majeliy 
 
 Excruciate himfelf with endlefs Ibrrow. 
 Colleyj, The happielt news that ever I did heir 
 
 Thy Father was a vilhin murderer, 
 
 Witty, not wife, Jov'd like a Scorpion, 
 
 Grown rich by the impoverifhing of others. 
 
 The ehiefeli caufeof all chefe mutinies, 
 
 And C^ej^r's tutor to all villaoie. 
 jiltx. None but an open lyar terms him (o* 
 Ccl. What Boy, fo malepcrt? . . „ ^ 
 
 Bohem. Good Co//?« bear with him, it was his FAther, 
 
 Stitch-land ishlt^tA in L«?r^«^o*s Death. ^ 
 Brand. Did ncTcr live a viler minded mafi. 
 
 Exeunt . Manet Alex. 
 Alex, Nor King, nor CW/«r/?^ fliouJd be privileged 
 
 TocallmeBoVfandrayl upon my Father, 
 
 Were I wchrfafflig ; But ia qermanj, 
 
 A man muft be a Boy at 40. year?. 
 
 And dires not draw his weapon at a Dog, 
 
 Till being foundly box'd about the ears. 
 
 His Lord and Malier gird him with a fword; 
 
 The time will come I (hall be made a tnan. 
 
 Till then 1*1 pine with thought of dire revenge. 
 
 And lire in Hell untill I lakerCvcDgc. 
 
 fi 
 
 ACT. 
 
1/1 ALPHONSUS 
 
 ACT. II. 
 
 3Ei»rff Alphonfus, Richard Earl of CornvfiW, Meni7, Trter 
 
 Priffcff Edwai-d, Bohemia, CoUcn, Bi-andenburw 
 
 Attendants^and Pages wttha^rvord. 
 
 Bohent. Behold here come the Princes hand in hand 
 Pieas'd highly with the fcntenee as it fcem??. 
 
 AlfhoTj. Princes and Pillars of the Monarchy, 
 We do admire your wifdoms in this caufe, 
 And do accept the King o( Bohemia, 
 As worthy partner in the Governmenr. 
 Alas my Lords, I flatly now confefs, 
 I was alone too weak to underprop 
 So great a burden as the Roman Empire, 
 And hope to make you all admire the courfe 
 TTiat we intend in this conjun<5^ion. 
 
 Richard. That I was cali'd from SnglandmthcotiCcai 
 Of all the feven Ele(5lors to this place, 
 Your (qU^ beft know, who wrote for me to come. 
 Twas no ambition mov'd me to the joarney , 
 But pitty of your half declining State; 
 Which being likely now to be repayr'd. 
 By the united force of thefe two Kings, 
 1 rert content to fee yon fatisfied. 
 
 Mentz,, Brave Earl, wondc r of Princely patience, 
 I hope your grace will not mif-think of me. 
 Who for your good, and for the Empires beft, 
 Bethough t this means to fet the world at Peace, (upon, 
 
 Edward. No doubt this means might have been thought 
 Although yr ur Holinefs haddy'd in Prifon. 
 
 Merits. Peac<*, peace young.Prince,you want experience; 
 Your Uockle knows what cares accompany. 
 And wail uprn the Crowns ofmigh[ieft Kings, 
 And glad he is that he hath fhak'd it off. 
 
 Sdward. Heark in your ear my Lord, hear me one word,' 
 Arthcugh it were more than a million. 
 Which thcfe two Kings beftow'd upon your orace, 
 Minellnckle /^/rW^x million fav'd your life! 
 
 Me^!t^. Youwere bcQ to fay, yonr Vockle brib'f me 
 f"«"- Edpi'ard. 
 
I.TT.'^srour (?/Gcrmany, i$ 
 
 Edrvard. I do but lay mine Vnckle fav'ci your life* 
 You know Count Mavsfeldyoui feJJow Prifoner, 
 Was by the Duke of Brnnfclnvfg put to death. 
 
 Me?:tz,. Yon ate a Child my Lord, your words are wind. 
 
 Edward. You are a Fox my Lord, and paft a Child. 
 
 Bohem, My Lord of Cormvall^yonv great forwardneff, 
 CrolTiog the Seas with aid of EngliOimen, 
 Is more than wc can any way requite ; 
 But this your admirable patience, 
 In being pleas'd with our elcdion, 
 Dcfervcs far more than thanks can fatiffie. 
 In any thing comniand the Emperours, 
 Who live to honour Richard Earl of (^ormvall. 
 
 Alpho. Our deeds fhall make our Prorefiations good, 
 Mean while, brave Princes, let us leave this place, 
 And folace as with ;oy of this accord. 
 
 Ertn Ifabella the Empref, Hedcwick the Vuke c/ Saxon's 
 
 Daughter, afparelled Irke Fort^ie, drawn on a Glohe^ 
 
 with a Cup tn her hand, wherein are Bay leaves ^ 
 
 trheretipon are written the lots. A tram 
 
 of Ladies following tttth (JMnJick^. 
 
 Empref. Togratulate this unexpe«5^ed Peace, 
 This glorious league confi m'd ai;ainft allhope» 
 JoyfuT J fahlla doth prefent ihi"? Hiew, 
 of Fortunes triumph, as the cultom is 
 At Coronation of our Emperours ; 
 If therefore every party b? well pleas'd, 
 And ftand content with this arbiirimcnt, 
 Tlren daign to do 2s your Progenitors, 
 And draw in fequence Lots for Offices. 
 
 Alfborj. This is an order here in Germany,^ 
 For Prmces to di'port themfelves with all* 
 Infign their hearts fo firmly areconioyn'J, 
 Tbat thev will bear a 1 fortunes equally, . 
 
 And that the world may know I fcorn no ftate. 
 Or courfc of life to do the Empire good, 
 I take my chance : My Fortune is to be the Forreftcr. 
 
 Emp, Ifwe want Vcnfon cither red Qt fallow. 
 
Id ALPHONSU8 
 
 Wild bore or bear, youmud be fin'd my lord. 
 Bohem. The Emperour*s Ta/fcr I. 
 £wp. Your MajeiJy hach been ta(kd to lb ofr, 
 Th.tyou have need of ima I i inlirurlions* 
 
 Richard. I am the bo,vr,Si/K'r what is my durc»c? 
 
 Emp, Tyr'd iikea Career, andj Ciownifii Bovvr, 
 To bring a load of Wood inco the Kirchiii. 
 Now for my fcif, Faith I am Chamber Maid, 
 I know my charge; proceed unco ihe next* ' 
 
 Alphon. Prince Edward ftandeth melancholy ftil/, 
 Pleafe it your Grace, my Lord, to dra;v your lot. 
 
 Emp. Nephew you muli be fotemn with the fad. 
 And given to myrth in fportful Company, 
 The German Princes when they will be lufty. 
 Shake of all cares, and Clowns and they are Fallow?, 
 
 Edward. Sweet Aunt, I do not know the Country "uife 
 Yet would be ^lad to learn al faQiions. ^ ' 
 
 Since I am nexc, good Fortune be my guide. 
 
 Brand. A mol^ ingenuous countenance hath iMs Prince 
 Worthy to be the King of E^^^U^d's Heir. * 
 
 Edward. Be it no dilparagcmcnt to you my Lords 
 i am yoar Emperour. * 
 
 ^lpho». Sound trumpets, God favetheEmocrour. 
 
 ColU». The world could never worfe have fitted me, 
 1 am nor old cnouoh to be the Cook. 
 
 EmprcJ?. If you be Cook, there is no remedy 
 But you muft drefs one Mefs of meat your (elf. 
 
 Brar:den. I am Phyfician, 
 
 Trier. I am Secretary. 
 
 Mtntjj. lam thejefler. 
 
 Edward.O cxcellcnt.'isyourHoliners the Vice? 
 Fortune hach fitted you y'faich my Lord, 
 You'l play the Ambndexter cunningly. ' 
 
 McKtz,. Your Highnefs is to biccer \n your fens* 
 
 ^/;>W Come hither ^lexn^der, CO comion thee. 
 After the death of thy beloved Father. 
 Whofe life was deer unco his Emperour, 
 Thou iTiait make one in this folemnity. 
 Yet e're thou draw, my felf wiii honour thee 
 And as ihe cpftom is make thee a man.. 
 
 Scan4 
 
Em^erour rf Germany; j^ 
 
 Stand ftiiFSir Boy, now com'ft thou to thy tryal ; 
 Take this.and ihat^nd therewithal! thi j Svvord|[V^ givesK^ 
 If while thou live, thou ever take the like» Icxander a 
 
 Of me, or any man, I here pronounce Box on the 
 
 Thou art a fehelm* other wife a man. ear or nv^. 
 
 Now draw thy lot, and Fortune b^ chy /peed. 
 
 Edward. Vnckle I pray why did be box the fellow ? 
 Fowl Jubber as he is, to take fuch blows. 
 
 Richard. Thus do the Princes maketheir Pages men. 
 
 Edward. But that is /^rangcto inake a man with blowy. 
 We fay in England that he is a man. 
 That like a man dare meet his enemy. 
 And in my judgement 'tis the founder tryal. 
 
 Alex. Fortune hath made me Madhatl of the tryumphj. 
 
 Alpho/j, Now what remains? 
 
 Emfcre^. That Fortune draw her lot. 
 
 She Of ens it^ and gives it to the Empere^to read. 
 
 EmpreJ^. Sound trumpets, Fortune is your Emperefs. 
 
 Alphon. This happens right ; for Fortune will bcQji€en» 
 Now Emperouryoumnft unmask her face. 
 And tell us how you like your Emperefs, 
 In my opinion England breeds no fairer. 
 
 Bohe. Fair Hedewtckjhc Duke of 5rf;f<7/?/ daughter. 
 Young Prince o( England, you are bravely match'd. 
 
 Edward. Tell me Iweet Aunt, is that this Saxon Princefs^ 
 Whofe beauties fame made Edward crofs the Seas ? 
 
 EmpereJ?. Nephew, it is; hath fame been prodiga/; 
 Or overfparing in the Princeis prailc? 
 
 Edward. Fame lacca/cthee, thoudid'l^ni^gardize* 
 And fnintly found my loves perfedicns. 
 Great Lady Fortune, and fail Emperers> 
 Whom chance this day hath thrown into my arms^ 
 More welconne tHan the Rcni.in Emperefs. [Edward k.f" 
 
 Hcd . . fece ooDl). isaffl <tt ^(cr befn geb^ncb. fis her. 
 ^tin 0et ta oaf jj ofr € nglffc^ manfer,Oaf0 W\f* 
 
 Edvvay d. W "lat nieancth this ? vvny chafes my Emperefs ? 
 AlphoK. Now !iy tny troth, I did expe^i this jert. 
 Prince Edir'ard us d his Country faOiion. 
 
 Edward. I am an Englifhman, why Hiould I not ? 
 
tS ALPHONSUS 
 
 Smo. Fy Nephew Edward, here in Germanf 
 To kifs a Maid,a faulc intollcrable. 
 
 Edrvard. WhyHiouldnM german MaiJs be kift afyf.'cU 
 as others ? 
 
 Rtchard. Nephew, becaufe you did not knovr the fafliion. 
 And want the language to excufe your felf, 
 ri be your fpokcs-man to your Emperefs. 
 
 Edrvard. Exeufe it thus : I like the firft fo well. 
 That tell het. Hie /hall chide mc twics as much 
 For fuch an other; nay tellher more thanfo, 
 n double kifs on kifs, and give her leave 
 To chide and brauU and cry ten thoufand Daf0Qic^, 
 And niakehcr weary of her fretting hunoour, 
 E're I be weary of my kiffing vein, 
 )3Daif0 ^t\^ a KunsfratO angry for a kiff . 
 
 Empreji. Nephew, Qiz thinks you mock her ioher mirth* 
 
 Bdxvard, I think the Princes make a fcorn of me. 
 Ifiny do, Vi prove it with my Sword, 
 That Englifh Courtfhip leaves it from the world. 
 
 Bohem. The pleafant'/l accident that Iha/cfccn. 
 Bran. Me thinks the Pr'nce is chafd as well as flic 
 Rich. dPnefifgestriJtDlfn* 
 
 Edward. j^afsWc^I have kiftas good as you. 
 Pray Uickle tell hec ; if (he mi (like the kifs, 
 I'i take it ofFagen vvith fuch an oihcr. » 
 
 Rich, (^p Hfcbea fratolfn nhn z^ all for saW 
 Cs m Ofe (insltfcb minfcr mnD gebjnncge. 
 
 Heie. (iBtjDer gnat^en ta)cf(tt0 iftoU ^0 iftwSt efn grotte 
 
 fc^ande. (pardon. 
 
 Edrvard. Good Aunt reach Tie fo mnch Dutch to a<;k her 
 
 Empre^. Say fo; ©neWge0fratoU»t tjergebet mfw, icft tDfUd 
 irfmrnermel^jtitien, 
 Then kifs yoat tian.-i three time? tjpl^ Datch. (ri^hr, 
 
 EdwarJ. 3c^ tsjflls n<rtiilierme(jM(>aeit> if I underftand it, 
 That's as muci to lay, ai I'l do fo no more. 
 
 Evtpr, True Nephew. 
 
 Edrvard. ^yay Aunt pardoQ mel pray,I hope to kifs her 
 «niny tboufand limes. 
 
 Aid 
 
Bmperpur of Germany. i^ 
 
 ^fhalllgotoherJtkeagreat Boy, and fay M do fo no 
 
 more. 
 
 Emvref?. I pray Cofin fay as T tell you. 
 
 Edward. (i^neetge0(ratDlfnl»erge&0trafrf0 k^ i8ai0 nfm« 
 mcrtsie^jtljacn. 
 
 Hedew. (Dncifger ijotljgebojnerifarff tJimtfjerr 
 wan ftl) bonte fo t)U cngWc^ fj^jccljen kt) toolt elwec 
 
 if or toaljj etn flU f geben, lct> !joffe after fc^ foil ttnmm 
 ^0 DfsUertien oafs BDle mic^ ^ritr^en foil. 
 
 Edivard. What fays Oiej* 
 
 jibho». O excellent young Prince look to your felf. 
 She fwcars ^e '1 learn fome Engjifli for yoar fake. 
 To make you undcrfUnd her when fhe chides. 
 
 Edward. I'l teach her Englifh, fhe (hall teach me Dutch. 
 
 ©neDfgC0tratoUn,&c. 
 
 5(7/jf»r. It is great piety that the Duke oi Saxon, 
 
 Is abfcm at this joyful accident, 
 I fee no rcifon if his Grace were here, 
 But that the Marriage might be fokmniz'd, 
 I think the Prince of A^*«/<rx were well content. 
 
 E^ard. I left Cfvtct England to none other end; 
 And though the Prince-her Father be not here, 
 This Royal prefence knows his mind in this. 
 
 Emp. Since you do come fo roundly to the purpofc. 
 'tis time forme tofprak, the Maidismmc, 
 Giv'n freely by her Father unto me, 
 And to the end thefc broyls may have an cnd» 
 I give the Father's intereft and mine own. 
 Unto my Nephew Edrvard Prince of yVales. 
 
 Edward. A Jewel of incomparable price. 
 Your Majefty hath here beftowed on mc. 
 
 How main askherif (he ^^^^°':.,^,^^„(,i^^, 
 Emvr Say thus,lftctowgtw»cwttJollWemttiawfe^i* 
 Edward. 3ftetoer(!5nattmtooUWemftiiiWej^^^^^^ 
 Hede. ma^m twvlefj^fgkelt uafff trtll oaftf tofU wtfil 
 
 Jlphor,, It iscnough, (he doth confirm thematch ; ^^^ 
 
20 ALPHONSUS 
 
 We will difparch a Port uhlo her Father, 
 
 On Sunday Oiall the Rf.vels and the Weddingj 
 
 Be both foleTinized wim mutaal ?oy. 
 
 Sound trumpets, each one lock unco his charge* 
 
 For preparation of the Fcflivais. Exettfit. 
 
 Ai^nent Alphonfus^A?^ Alexander. 
 
 ^/phofi. Come hither ay^lcxander^ihy Fathers ;oy. 
 I 'tears and fii^hs, and deeo-fetcht deadly groans, 
 Cou! J (erve t' everc inexorable fate. 
 Divine Loreiiz^o, whom in Jifemy hearty 
 In d.-ar'ii my fo'jl and belter part adores. 
 Had to thy comfor-t and his Prince's honour, 
 Surviv'd, and drawn this day this breath oflife. 
 
 AbxaiK Dread Crf/^i^jproflrate on my bended Knee-, 
 I thank your Majefly for all favours fhewn 
 To my deceafed Father and my M^. 
 I mufi confefs, I fpcnd but bootlefs tear?, 
 Yet cannot bridle nature, Imuft vveep> 
 Or heart wl 1 break with burd;:n oFmy thought?^ 
 Nor am I yet lb young or fond withal), 
 Cauflefs tofpend my gall, and fret my heart, 
 ' T\^ not that he is dead/or all mu!f dye ; 
 But that I live to hear his \iwts reproicb. 
 O (acred Empercur.thefc ears have he^rd. 
 What no.Sons cars cin unrevenged hear, 
 The Princes all of them, bur fpccially. 
 The Prince EIev%r ArchbiOiop oiCollcyi^ 
 Revil'd him by the names ofmurderer. 
 Arch villain, robber of the Empires fame. 
 And ('<)i{^irs [utor in all wickednefs. 
 And with a general voice applaus'd his death, 
 As for a Ipecial good to Chriftcndome. 
 
 yjlphon. Have they not reafon to applaud the deed 
 Which they thcmfelve? haveplottedr* ah my Boy, 
 Thou art too young to dive into their drift-r". 
 ^lex. Yet old enoagh I hope to be reveng'd. 
 ^tphor. What wilt ihou do, or whither wilt thou run ? 
 yilcw Headlong to bring them death, then dye my felf. 
 Alpho-fu Firft hear the reafon why I do miftruft them* 
 
Emperot^r of Germany. zi 
 
 j4!ex. They had no realon lor my Father's deajfa, 
 And I I'corn reafon till they aiJ be dead. 
 
 ^/pho». Thou will not /corn my Counfel in revenoe? 
 
 t/ilcx. My rage admits no CounfcI but revenoe. ^ 
 
 uilfhon. Firft let me teli thee whom I do millruf?. 
 
 jllex. Ycur Hiolinefs faid you did mi/lruf] t'lem alJ. 
 
 zy^ipho. Yea ^lexaf7der^aU of [hem, and more than aJ] 
 My mo(i efpeciall neere/i deareii friends. 
 
 yilex. AH 's one to me, for know thou Emperour, 
 Were it thy Father, Brother, or thine Emprels, 
 Yea were 't thy klf, that did'lt confpirt his death, 
 Thi>;:'ataJ hand lliculd take away thy Jife. 
 
 zy^IphoM. Spoke li ke a Son, worthy fo dear a Father y 
 Be Hill and hearken, I vviJi tell ihee aJJ, 
 1 he Duke of Saxo??--- 
 
 yilex. 0,I thGU£;ht noJefs. 
 
 Alphcn. Suppreis thy choJer, hearken to the reR. 
 Saxon 1 lay lb wrought with flittering Me?u^^ 
 ajVtcntz. with Bohetniat Triers and Bran.ier.burg-t 
 I-or Collen and the ?al\^rave of the %l)ein 
 Were principals with 5^Ac»in the Plot, 
 That ill a ^^eneral meeting to that purpoie 
 The kwzn I'eleded Emperours elek.%rs, 
 Moll hainouDy concluded of the murder ; 
 The reafon why they doom'd him unto death. 
 Was his deep wifdom and /bund policy ; 
 Knowing while he did live my ftatcwas firm. 
 He being dead my hope mufl dye with him. 
 Now AUxaKder will we be reveng'd 
 Upon tf^is wicked whore o\ B.ibjloyt, 
 This hideous monfier with the feven-fold head • 
 "We muR with cunning level at the heart. 
 With piercd and periflit all the body dyzs: 
 Or ftrikc we orf her heads by one and one. 
 Behoove th us to ufe dexterity, 
 LeH fhe do tramp'e us under her feer. 
 And tryumph in our honours overthrow. 
 
 Jlex.^ Mad and amaz'd to hear this tragick doom, 
 I do iubfcribe unto your found advice. ' ('tence 
 
 Aiphcri, Then hear the re'n;thefefcvenoave but ihefen.' 
 
 D ? A 
 
22 ALPHONSUS 
 
 A necrerhambputu in extaadon. 
 And but I lov'd Lor e^z,e ^Amy lite t 
 I never wonhi betlcay my dcarelt Wife. 
 
 j4lex. What ? what the Emprcfs acccflfary to ? 
 
 Alfhott. What caonot kindred do? her Brother Richsrd, 
 Wopin)? thereby to be an Emperour, 
 Gave her a dram that tent him to his grave, 
 
 (tyilex. O my poor Fathe'r.vvert thou fuch an eye- fore. 
 That 9, the greaicd Princes of the earth 
 Muft be confederate in thy tragedy ? 
 Bat why do I rcfpeft their mightinef"?, 
 Who did not once refpcsft my Fathers life ? 
 Your Majef^tnaytakeit asyouylea'e, 
 ri be reveog'd upon your Empcrefs, 
 On Englifh %tchard^ Saxon, and the Palforave, 
 On BohemfCollcf7y/l<fentz.,Tner,ind £randefd;nr£. 
 If that the Popeof 7^w<f himfelfvyerc one 
 In this confederacy, undaunted I. 
 Amid/i the College of his Cardinals, 
 Would prcfs, and ftab him in St. Peters chair. 
 Though clad in ail his Pontificaltbtu. 
 
 jilphoH,\W)vf Alexander?do'i\ thou fpeak to m^ 
 As ifthou didft mil Jruft my forwardncfs ? 
 No, thou fhalt know my Jove to him was (ucB, 
 And in my heart I have profcrib'd them all» 
 That had 'o do in this con /piracy. 
 The band"; of Wedlock fliall not fer ve her turn. 
 Her fatal lot is cart among the reff. 
 And to conclude, my foul doth live in Hell 
 Till I have fet my foot upon their necks. 
 That gave this fpur rfforrow to my heart ; 
 fiat with advice it murt bemanaged» 
 Not with a head-long rage as thou intend'ft. 
 Nor in a moment can it be performed* 
 This work requires long time.diffembling lookf, 
 Commrxt with undermining afJions, 
 Watching advantages to execute. 
 Our foes are mighty, and their number great. 
 It therefore follows that our Stratagems 
 Uaftbcaoch forth into maoifoM deceits, 
 
 Cadlefs 
 
B?tipeyotfr ^/Germany. 2$ 
 
 Endlefs devices, botcomlcfs eonclufions. 
 
 Alexan. What by ycur Majerty is prcfcrlb'd to tac. 
 That will I execute or dy<t the death. 
 I am content to fuck my forrovvs up. 
 And with dull patience will attend the time. 
 Gaping for every opportunity 
 That may prcfent the leali occafion ; 
 Although each minute multiply mine anguifh. 
 And to my view prei ent a thoufand forms 
 Of fenfelcfs bodies in my Fathers fhapc. 
 Yelling with open throat tor jaft revenge. 
 
 Alpon. Content thy felf, he (hall not cry in vaif», 
 I have already plotted %u:htird.s death. 
 
 Alex. That hath my Fathers facred Ghofl infpir'd, 
 
 tcUmc,rhalI I ftab himfuddainly ? 
 Tne time feems long, till I be fet a work. 
 
 (tAlphon. Thou knoweft in griping at out lots to day. 
 It was Prince Rtc hard's hap to be the bowr 5 
 So that his Office is to drive the Cart, 
 And bring a load ofWood into the Kitchin. 
 
 tAlex. O cxcellent.your Grace being f orefter. 
 As in the thicket he doth load the Cart, 
 May iTioot him dead, as if he were a Deer. 
 
 Alphon. No Alexander, that device were ftial!owr» 
 Thus it mull be> there are two very bowrs 
 Appointed for to help him in the AVood, 
 Thcfe muli bcbrib'd or cunningly feduc'd, 
 Infiead of helping him to murder him. 
 
 Alf. VcrbHm fatts fapieMhit is enough. 
 Fortune hach madcmc Marfhal of the fport* 
 
 1 hope to Matfhal tbcm to th' Devils Feaft. 
 Plot you the jrc^> this will I execute, 
 
 Dutch bowrs as towfaadtfchelms and gold to tempt them - 
 Alphon. ' ris^right, about it thcn» but cnnninglf . 
 Alex. Elfe let me lofc that good opinion 
 
 Which by your Hii;hnefs I dcfire tohold> 
 
 By Letters which I'l ftrew within the Wood, 
 
 ri undermine the bowrs to murd«ir him, 
 
 Nor (hill they know who fet them fo a work* 
 
 Like a familiar will I fly aboarj 
 
 Ami 
 
24 ALPHONSUS 
 
 And nimbly haunt chcir Ghofts in every nook. 
 Exit. M(ir,et Alphonfus, 
 ^Iphon. This one nayl helps 10 drive the other oor» 
 1 flew the Father, and bewitch the Sod, 
 With power of words to be the in/^rumenc 
 To rid my iocs wich danger of his life. 
 How eafily can fubui age intice. 
 Such credulous yo;ing novices to their death ? 
 Huge wondtrs svili Al^honfiu jring lo ^di(s^ 
 By the mad mind of thn enraged Boy; 
 Even they which think rhcmfelves my greattft friend?. 
 Shall fall by this deed yc* my Arch-enemies 
 Shall turn to be my chief confederates. 
 My foliitary walks may biecd Mpt^, 
 rie therefore give my fc.'f ro Companie, 
 As I intended nothing but tnc.'efports 
 Yet hope to fend molf a.tor. int ;is Pageant, 
 To Revel ii with Rh^dAnKim in i^dl. £x/i. 
 
 Enter Richard Earl of Cornwall hl:^ a Clo-.v>t. 
 Richard. How far Is Rich.i d now unlike the man 
 That crol^ the Seas to win an h-nperie ? 
 But as I plod it like a plumper Bowr, 
 To fetch in Fewel for the Kitchin fire, 
 So every one in his vocation. 
 Labours to make the paflimes plaufible -, 
 My Nephew Edward jas it through the Court, 
 "With Pxinceis i/^f^/^nV^/^Emprefsofhis Fortune 
 The demy C^far in his hunters fuic, 
 Makes all the Court to Ring wiih Horns and Hounds, 
 Co//f«cheCook beiiirs him in the Kitchin; 
 Bat that which joyts me moii in all thefe I'ports, 
 Is Mentz., to fee how he is made an Afs ? 
 The common feorn and by-word of the Court; 
 And every one to be the fame he fecms. 
 Seems to forget to be the fame he is. 
 Yet tomyroabs I cannot fuitmymind. 
 Nor with my habit lliake dilTionour ol?. 
 The fevfn Ele»5lorspromis'dmetbe Empire, 
 The perjuc*d Bifliop Msntx, did fwcar no k(s 
 
 Y€f 
 
:Emferdur of Germany, 2J 
 
 Yet I have Teen it Hiar'tJ before my face, 
 Whife my be.'t friends do hide cheir heads forfhame* 
 I bear a (lievv of outward fml contend, 
 But^rief thereof hath almoft kill'd my heart. 
 Here re(^ liiee Richard ^i\^\vk upon a mean, 
 To end thy life, or to repair ihinc honcur9 
 And vow ]KVs.r co Ire fair Eijgl.uids bounds. 
 Till thou in yiix be Crowned Empercur. 
 
 Ei:tcriwo Bowrs. 
 Holla.mc thinks there ccmech Company, 
 The Bowrs J tree that come to hew (he Wood^ 
 Which I muli carry to the Kitchen Fire, 
 Tie lye a while and JilJen to cheir talk. 
 
 r.?i:er fians.v.v/ J.^rick two Dutch Bowrs. 
 
 Jc. l^om^fcr ^?iii3 lt3o;e bill Doto, VoarumbbfC lotDfO 
 tratrjfcU ?b<f3froIfckijan lucl gclt terD^cnen. to(r toUi f^ 
 bcF potts taUjfciiiDt toot ffblngcn. 
 
 Ham. iiatmictjDiebjtcffefeben. 
 
 Rich. Me thinks c^icy talk of muidering fome body, 1*^ 
 
 lificn more. 
 
 Reads the Letter. 
 
 ^ano tnD 3erfck, mem liebe frcfnoe kb bfftelaffct cff bep 
 ciicb blclben in geijcfm, tno fcblaget Den CngellaBDcc p 
 toot. 
 
 i^/c/7. Wnn's that ? //<?wj tJnD J.^-r/ci^my good friend, I 
 pray be fecret and murder the Enj^lilliman. 
 Jcr'ick reads J 
 
 K^Cfi r toeftcr, Den tx ill Ucfn botojc nk!)t, et itt ef n SJancfeer. 
 tnD batt "Old gelt tjno klcinotben bcp ficfj. 
 
 i^/r/.'. For he J s no Bowrebuta Cjenticman, andhaih ftore 
 of Gold and Jewels by him. 
 
 Jeric j^ocb tocftcr -AWdM foUbe. gelcgenbeft nfcbt l)er« 
 fabmen,l3nD toantb^getbanljabet. kb tofll ewcb f^'g^n, Ibas 
 itb tar ctn guter Karl bfn, 5er tm}^ rabt gegeben babe. 
 
 R:ch^ Slip not this opportunity, and when you have done, 
 I win yifcover who gave you the Counf_-l. 
 
 Jerick. Mat fagtt DotD, toiU DotD C0 tbtm } 
 Hans. umatMUcbnfcb fur gelt tt)nn? fee potta taufevM* 
 Dar tiler. 
 
 E Jerick} 
 
i6 ALPHONc^US 
 
 Jerick. 3a, bep potts taufcnDsflappcrment) tt fti,l^olU 
 gater mo jgc" ■ eUick ^ii puncher. 
 
 Hans. BlimcUcr, OCT Diljcll ijc is efn Jjoiujc ! 
 
 Rich. DoVDbiftelnrcl)clni,Ujdc^t)cn m(r. 
 
 Jerick. ^oUc?, boHa. bltt ^OtD fo bO^Cftfcfe > tmt^tt 
 botojc,bompt bfcr. ooct Dfcfe^ tjna icnner fclleucb bol^n. 
 
 Rich, jcbbicncin^urll. 0;ieDnucbnfcbttbj fcbclma, \^% 
 
 Bath. ^lato,flato, tofrVDfUpoto farftUch tractlcrcn. 
 
 Richard having nothing in his hand but his wnip, defends 
 himfclfawhile, and then fell's down, a? if he were dead : 
 
 Rich. £)(5ot, nfmbradnefcefefnoefnebanoe. 
 Jerick. £D cyccUent.bwticfe ^ tettiOt,bc<9toot» 
 )lat.t)n0 fee. Isatbe W Co; gelt hzi^ (icb, tiolla \i\tx is all 
 
 enongb. all faff, tjo^fs foj okb; atio 80 j (0 fo; xt;:,^^, tjno Dftt 
 
 M)L(cbiMKtobaben: 
 
 J(fr;Vj^puts the chain about his necV, 
 
 Han?, ^oto fo iaans i>ai:bal0» gciKmirolebcttcbtsr. 
 
 Jerick. 31a tm Ojccb, 5lt fern tte^ct bupCcb timbmcin baUfi 
 0(ft toUUcb tragcn. 
 
 Hans. 2Dat oicb poffs tJcltcH le^ocit uat foUa nfmmer* 
 mebJtbunDoUjfcbcim. 
 
 Jerick. ijulat foUootomifbfcbchttljdtm.nfmbtjRf. 
 
 Hans. ^atDtcbbunocrttonncnoltcll0, barricb Ml Qtfi^ 
 lernen. 
 
 Jerick. taUf uT) batocti oocr Uecben ? 
 
 Hans. Bleb Voill rcDlicb bi^toen ; 
 
 Jerick. j>i.xix VDolltui, Dar in inefn racfe* fla tO; 
 
 They mufl have axc« made for the nonfl to fTght vvit'iall, 
 
 and w.'iile one l^rikey, the other holds his 
 
 back w'rhout defence. 
 
 Hans: ^!'nb oo*tj oaa, brto &ar baflt twin ruck. 
 
 Jerict J>^c^ amj^l: £)erceIlcm,Ugftoote Uar, min tsiftt 
 ftb 91183 habcii gelttinofectt,bnOaUc mtt dnanoer. £) but* 
 f(c frtfc^^tjpludts nan bin fcbcinburtfg Junckcr. 
 
 T^lcy^ard rifes up again and fnatcbeth up the fellows 
 hatchet tnat was llain. 
 Rich.A'c Herculcj artra ^//o;,yQcpoJliey hath gone beyond 
 ibemboih. ^u 
 
Emperour of Germany. 2 7 
 
 jirtr o(e feett Uno gcU tofeoer ,• 
 
 Jenck. OTat btttu lutcoer labenDfg InojUen, fo m«g ict) 
 meren, toat tutltu ftecl^en ooer ftalwen ? 
 
 Ridiar.'. S>o totU <c^ macfjen Dii fcfjclm 
 
 J eriLk. ^arr, ftarr, biHa tin rcoifco bade, fo ftg^t rcoltc^. 
 €) kij Herb, <c^ ftcrb, lat mrc!> Ubcn 
 
 Richara . ^apt mfr Oan toer ftatt ofe b jfetfe geccbJfebcn ? 
 ^f e ntcl^t (ionQern fagt Dfe Uiar^eft : 
 
 Jerick. £D ttiefn ftomcr. giitcr, cMcr, peHrenger B^uncfecr, 
 oar fit uat gck tjno bett toicoer, poto foil allea ftabcn, F.bec 
 lDer^attDteb^fefifegefcb}feb0n,Dattoet tc^ bep mcfncr fcele 
 rrttbt. 
 
 Kich. ?Lfg 00) tttU. Itm U\f fag. ' 
 The villain ivVvars , and deeply doih protdi^ 
 He kno^vs noi who incired them to this, 
 And T^ ir (cems the fcrowl imports no kCs. 
 ^0 fterb ou mfc ficbelm. 
 
 jcriuk. £) icb Uexb, atoe. atse, atoe oat oicb oer Diteff 
 |)oie/ 
 
 ^/ Richard kji^ tl^f Bowr. Enter Saxon and the PaHgTive. 
 
 Saxon. i?p ofcl) ati lofcr Ocbehif, \faXt\x nzin gelellen to^t 
 gc(cblagcn ? 
 J^aiigr. Haft tjs oen fcbelmcn angrclffert 
 
 Rich.nd. CaJJ you nic ibeUltC how dare you clien 
 Being Princ:fs oifcr to lay hands on me? 
 That is the Hani^mans Office here in Dutch-land. 
 
 Saxon. But this is ftrange, our Bours can fpcak no Eng« 
 lifln. 
 
 What birtum more than a damn'd murderer ? 
 That t! ou art lomuch we arewitneires. 
 
 Rich. Can then thishabiraltcrmefomucFj, 
 That I am call d a villain by my friends? 
 Or Hiali I dare once to fufpc^-'t your graces. 
 That for you could not make me Emperour, 
 Pittyingmy forvovv through mine honour lolJ, 
 Yon fei thefe flsvcs to rid me of my life, 
 Tci far be fuch a thought from Richard^ $ heart. 
 
 E * ^ T.r//. 
 
a8 ALPHONSUS 
 
 rjil[. H0W now ? what do I licar prince Richard fpeak ? 
 Rich. The fame : but wonder tbat he liwtii loTpcak. 
 And had nor poh"cy heipt above iirength^ 
 Thefe fturdy Iwain^ had rid me oFmy Jife. 
 ^Sax. Fir be it from your Grace for to fufpefl v$. 
 Rich. Alas, I know not whom I llioujd fufpeiS • 
 But yet my heart cannot mifdoubr your Graces ? 
 
 Saxon, How came your Highnels i;jto thisapparrel .^ 
 Rich. We ai? the manner is drew lots for Oilice^, 
 My hap was hardell: to be made a Carter, 
 And by this letter which (omt villain wrote 
 I wa-? betray'd, here to be murdered; 
 But Heav'n which doth defend the Innocent, 
 Arm'd me with flrenoch and policy tOi;ether 
 That I efcap'd out of their treacherous i'nare! 
 
 Palf. Were it well founded, I dare lay my iife^ 
 TheSpanilh tyrant xncw of thisconfpiracie; 
 Therefore the b.'cer lo dive into the depth 
 Of this mo'i deviililli murderous compjoti 
 As alfo fecrcf ly to be beliolders, 
 Ofthe iong-willit for wedding of your dau^'hter 
 W^ vvill diirobe thefe bowrs of their apparrel 
 Clapping their ruflick cafes on our backs, 
 And help your Hi'^AiUo^fs for to drive thec'arf. 
 T' may be the traytor that did write theTe lines 
 Milhkfng us for them will (htw himfelf. 
 
 Richard. Prince Palatiy?? this p-ot doth pleafeme well, 
 I make no doubt ifvve deal cunning, y. 
 But we fhaiJ find the writer of this fcroul. 
 
 Saxon. And in that hope I will difrobe this flave. 
 Come Princes in the neighbouring thicket here, 
 Wemavdifguifeourrelvcs, and talk at plcafure- 
 Fye on him heavy iijbber how he weighs, 
 
 Richard. The fin ofmurdcr hangs upon his foul, 
 It is no meryail chen i^t\^ be heavy. Exeum . 
 
 AC 
 
Mmperour <?/Germanyr, 2^ 
 
 ACT. III. 
 
 Enter to the %^vels. 
 
 Edward reith an ImferialCrown. Hedewig the Emprefs 
 Bohemia the Tafier. Alphonfus the Forrcfter. Mentz the 
 (jefier. Emf re fs the Chambermaid, Vt^n^Quhwo Phyfictan. 
 Trya Secretarie. Alexander the Marjhal, with his Marjhals 
 fiajfy and all the refl in their proper apparrel, and Attendants 
 and P^^^fs. 
 
 Jlex. Princes and Princes Superior?, Lords and Lords 
 feIlows,GentIemen and G ntlemens M ftcr ,and all the reft 
 of ihe States here afTembledj as wellMa'cu me as Feminine, 
 be it known unto you by iherepreience,thac I AUxander de 
 7 o/f^^, Fortunes chief Marfhal dovviiiand command ynut 
 by the authority of my faid OlfiCf', to lake your places in 
 manlier and form follovvin^, Firli t6e Emperour and the 
 £'■> pref-jihen theTa<^er, th^- S -cretary the Forrerter, the 
 Pnyiipian, as for the Chambermaid and my felt, we will take 
 ourp'acesat the neither end, the JvHer is to wait up, and 
 live by the crums that fall from the tmperours trencher, 
 But rosv I have Marfhal d yu to iht:tab^e» what remains?' 
 
 Mentz.. Every fool can tell that, when mtn are /ct to 
 dinner they commonly cxp'^tfl n eat. 
 
 Edyvard. That's the beft ]d\ the fool made fince he came 
 into his Oifice. Mar'Tial walk into the Kitchin, and lee how 
 the Churfurfi of Co lien br ftirs himfc if. Exit. Alex. 
 
 Mehtz.. Shalllgowith hiir. too?i love tobc imploy'd in 
 the Kitchin. 
 
 Ld rard. I prcthee go, that we may be rid of thy wicked 
 ]c(ls. 
 
 Mentz.. Have with ihee Marfhal, the fool rides thee. 
 Sxit. on Alex. h({f;k^ 
 
 E 3 Alphon. 
 
^o ALPHONSUS 
 
 AlphoH. isow by mine honour, my Lord OitMentz, plays 
 tlie fool the worft that ever I faw. 
 
 SdTvard. He do's all by contraries ; for I am fure he playd 
 the witcman iike atool, and now he plays the fool wilcly. 
 
 Alphon. Princes and C/;«r/:'<ry?j let us froJicknow^ 
 This IS a joyful daytoChri(icnd.->me, 
 When Chriftian Princes ;oynin amity, 
 Schinck bowls of Reinfal and the pureftVVine, 
 We'I fpend this evening luHieupfie Dutch, 
 In honour of this unexpedcd league. 
 
 Empref. Nay gentle Fjrrelier, diere you range amifs. 
 His looks are fitly fuitcd to his thoughts. 
 His glorious Emprcfs makes his heart tryumph. 
 And hearts tryumphing makes his countenance (laid. 
 In contemplation of his lives delight. 
 
 Sdward. Good Aun t let me excufe my fclf in this, 
 I am an Emperour but for a day, 
 SheEmprefs ofmy heart while life doth Jaft; 
 Then give me leave to ufe Imperial looks. 
 Nay iri be an Emperour I'l take leave. 
 And here I do pronounce it openly. 
 What I have lately whifpcr'd in her ears, 
 1 love mine Emprefs more than Empery, 
 I love her looks above my fortunes hope. (bowl, 
 
 (i^bhon. Saving your looks dread Emperour td gdt a 
 tlmo tne health of your fair Bride and Emprefs. 
 
 Edward, ^rfn (^ot es foU mfr en ifcbc tijanfe Tefn, fo 
 
 much Dutch have I learnt Hnce I aame into Cjermahy. 
 
 Bran. When you have drunk a dozen of chefc bowlj. 
 So can your Maje% with a full mouth, 
 Trowl out high Dutch, till then ic (oxxnds not right, 
 
 ^}antf 00 gelt nocl^ tim i\^% ^a^edat^ 
 Edwird. ^afn CDot la(0 lauSfem 
 
 Bohem. My Lord of Brandenburg fpoken like a jgOOfll 
 Dutch Brother; 
 
 But moft unlike a good Phyfician, 
 You fbould coofider what he has to do, 
 HisBfide will give you little thanks tonight. 
 
 AlphoM. Ha, ha my Lord, now give me leave to laugh. 
 Hcn2c4not therefore (hun one Beaker full. 
 
 In 
 
Emfirour <^/Germany. jt 
 
 In Saxon Land you know it is the ufe. 
 That the fir(^ night ihe Bridegroom fpares the Bride. 
 
 Bohem. 'Tis true indeed,that had I quite forootcen. 
 
 Edward. Howundeifhnd I that ? 
 
 uilfhon. That the firft night, 
 TheBtide and Bridegroom never fleep together. 
 
 £dxvard. That may well be,perchance they wake together. 
 
 Bohem. Nay witliout (aJiacc they have feverai Bedsf 
 
 Edward, I in one Chamber, that is moft Princely. 
 
 ^Iphan. Not oaely feverai Beds, but feverai Chamber?, 
 Locke fonndly coo, with Iron Bolts and Bars. 
 
 Smpr, BeJeevemeNephevv, that's the cuibm here. 
 
 Edward. O my good Aunt, the world is now gcown new. 
 Old cuftoms ace but fuperfiitions. 
 I 'm lure this day, this prefence all can witnefs, 
 The high and miohcy prince th* .ArchbiOiopofO//^;;, 
 Who now is bum in the skullery, 
 Jovn'd us together in Si. 'Peters Church, 
 And he that would disjovn us two to night, 
 ' i wixt )di and earnelt be it proudly fpoken, 
 ShaUeat a pieceofill-digeHing Iron. 
 
 B i i je iviii t)otD Of0 tifc^t ben mee rc{)lapen< 
 
 Hedc. H)abeS)utemfcb(^ottfur, Bfc^t^offed^nretiMieCffC 
 Mis ton miv mf ft. bcgeran* 
 
 Edipard. What fays (Ik- bcl^tlte mfc^ (DOt fwr? 
 
 yllphoM. She fays God bicfs her from luch a deed. 
 
 Edivard. Tufli Emprefs^clap thy hands upon thy head. 
 And God will blefs thee, I have a Jacobs ftaff, 
 Sha'l take the Elevation of ihe Pole ; 
 For I have heard it fayd. the Dutch North ftar, 
 Is a degree or two higher than ours, 
 
 Bohem. Nay though we talk lets drink, and Emperour, 
 l'\ tell you p'ainly what you muft truftunto, 
 Can they decei e you of your Bride to night. 
 They'll fureiy do't, therefore lo^k to yonr felf. 
 
 Edivard. If flu' deceive me not, let all do their worft. 
 
 yllphoK. Aff ire you Emperour fhe'l do her beftt. 
 
 Edward. I think the Maids in (^ermany arsmad, 
 E'rethey bemarryed they will notkifs. 
 And being marryed will not go to Bed. 
 
 Wc 
 
3i A.LPH0NSU8 
 
 Yfe drink about. Ice's talk no more of this. 
 Well warn'd half arm 'd our Englifh proverb fay 
 
 jilphon. Holla Marfha!, what lays the Cook ? 
 Bmer A cxandcr. 
 Belike he thinks we have fed fo w..l already. 
 That we difd^iin his fimplc Cookery. 
 
 Alex.Viixh the Cook lays (p, that his Office was to dreft a 
 mcfs ofmeac with that Wood which the Englifh Prince fliould 
 brint' in, but he hath neither feen Dutch Wood nnr Eng- 
 iilh Prince, therefore he dc/iresyou hold him excu^'d. 
 
 jilphon. I wonder where Prince Richard l^ays fo long. 
 
 Alex. Aa*t, pleafe your Majefly,hc*s come at length, 
 AnJ with him has he brought a crew of Bowrs, 
 A hipfe bqwr maikins kt(h as FJow'rs in May, 
 With whom they mean to dance a Saxon round, 
 1 1 honour ofihe Bridegroom and his Bride. 
 
 Edrvard. So has he made amends for his long tarrying. 
 Ipiethee Mar/liali them into the prefence. 
 
 siphon. Lives K^chard then ? I had thought th' hadft 
 made him fure. 
 
 Alex, O I could fear my flefh toihink upon 'c, 
 He lives and kcrctly hath brought with him. 
 The Palfgrave and the DuVe ofSaxome^ 
 Clad like two Bowrs, e /en in the fame apparrel (him, 
 
 Thar i/4»/ and Jf/'^'^^vvore when they went out to murder 
 It now behooves us to be circu-nfpe.'K 
 
 Alphon. It likes me not ; Away MarHial bring them. 
 
 Exti. Alexander. 
 I Jong to fee this fports concluhon. 
 
 Bohem. Vi\ not a 'oveJy lio'u to fee this couple 
 Sit fweetly billing like two Turtle Doves. 
 
 Alphon. I promife you it fets my Teeth an Ed^e, 
 That I murt take mine Emprefs in mine arms. 
 Comehither Ifabel^ though thy roabs be homely. 
 Thy face and countenance noids coloar dWl 
 
 Enter 
 
Em^erettr of Germany. 3- 
 
 Enter Alexander, Collen, Mentz, Richard, Soxony, Pall- 
 grave, CoUen Cook, with a gaKKOK oj raw b^.conl ^^d 
 Itnkj or puddings in a flatter, Richard, Pallorave 
 Saxon, Mentz, likj Clowns wiih each of them 
 a Critter with (^orances 
 on their Jjeadt, 
 
 Collen, Dread Empcrour and Emperefs fotr to day, 
 I Your appcinied Cook un[ill co morrow, 
 Have by the MarlTial lent my ]\xi\ excufe. 
 And hope your Hi\t;hnelsi3 therewith conrenr, 
 Our Carter lie. e for whom I now do /peak. 
 Says that his Axletrce broke by t',e way. 
 That is his anlvvcr, and for you fiiaJI not f^miHi, 
 He and his fellow bovvrs of the next dorf), 
 Have brougtit a fchinkel of good raw Bacon, 
 And that's a common mest withus,unrod, 
 Defiring you, you would not /'corn the fare, 
 'Twilmakei cupof Wineiaf-^enippiiate. 
 
 Ed^vard. Welcome good fellovvs, we thank you for your 
 prcfcnr. 
 
 Richard. SofptMtvcffy op and let us rommersaunfcu. 
 
 y^lex. Pleale it your Highnef»to dance with your Bride? 
 
 Edward. Alas I cannot dance your (Jerwan dances. 
 
 Bohcm . I do befeech your HighneJs mock us not, 
 We Germans hive no changes in our dances> 
 An Almain and an upfpring that is all. 
 So dance the Princes, Burgcrs^and the Bovvr?. 
 
 Brand. So daunc'd our Auncc/lors for thoufand year j 
 
 Edrvard. It is i fign the Dutch are not newfangled. 
 ric follow in the meafarc ; MarOial lead. 
 
 Alexander andyitnxz have the fore dance with each of them 
 
 a glafs offViKe tntheir hands^ then Edward and Hedewick, 
 
 Palfgravc ^rid Emprefs, and two other couple, after 
 
 T>rHm and Trumpt. 
 
 The Palfgrave whifpers with the Emprcfs. 
 Al\)hon, I think the Bowr is amorous of my Emprcfj. 
 ^t%\ feOtUJ and ICfTcl xmiq.tXly when thou com'ft to houfc. 
 (pollen. Now is your Graces time to flcal away, 
 
 F Look 
 
j4 ALPHONSUS 
 
 Look to'c or elfc you'l lie alone to night. 
 
 Ed vard fl:als air ay the Bride. 
 Alex, ('DnnkcthtothcPalfgrave,) ^eU&^toje. 
 Palforave. &a(n<Dott. 
 
 * The Pa'fgrave requcfts the Ernprefs. 
 
 CBp BftmgfratD l^lpe mfcl) ooc{iefn Blnngtrato o^uncft 
 €0 gelt getter (cenuot efn froUcHen Xi%m. i{\m 
 
 Aiphon. &amCD9t£meln ftunot it^ toflt gem befcl^ftf 
 
 f Alphonfus takj^ the (^tip of the Vz\i^x2iVt,and drtnkj to the 
 King ofBohzmi^i, arid after he h/zth drH»\putsfoj/fo/i imo t he- 
 Beaker.) 
 
 Half this I drink onto your Highnefs heahh. 
 It is the firrt fincc we were joynd' in Office. 
 
 fiohem. I thank your Ma jefiy, lie pledge you halF, 
 ( As Bohem is a drinking^ e*re he hath drunks it allout, Al- 
 phonfus pnlls the Beaker from his mouth,) 
 
 t/flphotj. Hold, hold, your Maj :fty» drink not too much. 
 
 Bohem. What mean5 your Highncfir. Ctccth, 
 
 Alphott, Methinks thajc fomething grates bctweep my 
 Pray God there be not poyfoninthc bowi« 
 
 Bohem. Marry Cod forbid. 
 
 ^lex, Sowcrcipeppcr'd. 
 
 Aiphon. I highly do mi/lrurt this fchelmifTi bowir. 
 Lay hands on him. lie make him drink the rcff. 
 
 xnmiit tDlias (ff toat MW pou nut ifiee macl^eti 
 
 Aiphon. Drink out.drink out ODer Ocr OftieU foUOfCj^ ftOleilV 
 
 Pair. €p geb ^ou to fWcDen \t\^ tofU gefn D^fnli. (ground* 
 
 Saxon. Drink not Prince Pallatim ^ throw it on the 
 It is not good to truft his Spanidi flics. 
 
 Bohem. Saxon and Palfgrave, this cannot be good. 
 
 Aiphon. ' Twas not for nought my mind mifgave mc fo ; 
 Tftis hath Princi %ichard done t'entrapour Jive?. 
 
 Richard. No Alpho-afns y I difdain to be a traycor. 
 
 Empress. O Oicath your fwordj, forbear thefe necdloT^ 
 bfoyls. 
 
 Aiphon. A.way,Idomif^ruft thccasthe reft. 
 
 Bohem. Lord's hear mcfpeak.to pacify thefe broylj^ 
 For my part I f.cl no dirtcmperaturc. 
 How do you feci your felff 
 
 4lp''>on, I cinnot tc/f, not ill, and yet methinks I am not 
 well . Boh tot. 
 
Bwpirour of Gcrm-ariy. 35 
 
 JSoheni. Were k a poyfon 'tvv uld begin to work* 
 j^lfhon. Notro,3ll poyfons do not work alike. 
 Palf. If there were poyion in, which God forbid* 
 
 The Emprefs and my fclr and ^yUexandcr^ 
 
 Have caufe to fear as well as any other. 
 
 Jlphofj. Why didft thou throw the Wine upon theeatth? 
 
 Hadft thou but drunk, thou hadft fatisficd our minds. 
 Falf. I will not be enforc't by Sp?nifli bands* 
 ^Ipho», If all be well with us, that fchuce (hall f^rve* 
 
 If not, the Spaniards blood will be revcng'd. 
 Kich, Your Majefty is more afraid than hnrr# 
 Bohem. For me I do not fear my felf a whit. 
 
 let all be friends, and forward with our mirth, 
 
 £nter Edward in his night'goron And hisjhirt. 
 
 Eichard. Nephew,how now?is all well with you? 
 
 Bohem. I lay my life the Prince has loft his bride, 
 
 Edward. I hope not fo, Qie is but ftray'd a little. 
 
 Alphon. Your Gracemuft not be angry though we laugh. 
 
 Edward. If it had hapned by default of mine,. 
 You might have worthily laught me to fcorn; 
 But to be fo deceiv'd, fo over reach'd. 
 Even as I meant to clafp her in mine arms. 
 The grief is intollerable, not to be gucft^ 
 Or comprehended by the thought ofany „ 
 But by a man that hath been fo deceiv'd, 
 And that's by no man living but my felf. 
 
 Saxon. My Princely Son-in-Law God oive you joy, 
 
 Edward. Of what my Princely Father? 
 
 Saxon. O* my Daughter. 
 Your new berroathcd Wife and Bed- fellow. 
 
 Edward. I thank you Father, indeed I mult confcfs 
 She is my Wife, but not my Bed-fellow. 
 
 Saxon, How fo youn^ Prince? I faw you fteal her hence. 
 And a?, me thought flic went fu!l willingly. 
 
 Edward. Tis true, ! (kj'e her finely ftom amongft yon. 
 And by the Arch Billiop o^Collens help. 
 Got her alone into the Bridi-Chamber, 
 Where havi no lockt the Door,' thoug'-c all vvas WCll. 
 I could not fpeak bat pointed to the Bed, 
 
 ^ ^ Fa She 
 
3<J ALPHONSUS 
 
 she anrwered la and gan for to unlace her: 
 I feeing chat lufpe^cd no deceit. 
 But ftraight untrufimy points, uncas'd my klf. 
 And in a moment nipt between the Sheets ; 
 There lying in deep contemplation, 
 ThePrincels of her lelf drew neer tome» 
 Gave me her hand, fpake prettily in Dutch 
 I know not what, and kift me lovingly. 
 And as I ilirank out of my luke warm place 
 To make her room,fhe dapt thrice with her fe€C,- 
 And through a trap-door funck out ofmyfightj 
 Knew J but her Confederates in the deed — 
 I fay no more. 
 
 Empress. TuOi Cofin.be content ; 
 So many Lands, fo many fafhions, 
 It is the Cernmn ufe, be not impatient. 
 She will be fomuch wclcomer tomorrow. 
 
 Rich. Come MepheWjWe'l be Bed-fellows to night. 
 Edward. Nay if / find her not, I'lc lye alone, 
 I have good hope to ferret out her Bed, 
 And fo good nii^hc Ivvect Prlncefs all at once. 
 
 ytlphoM. Gojni,L;httoalI; MarHial difcharge the train, 
 ^fx. To Bed, to Bed the Mardial crys 'tis time. Sxenift 
 
 Flotirifh Cornets, Mnnsnt Saxon, Richard, Palfgrave, 
 Colic n, Emprefs. 
 
 SaxoM. Now Prirce? it is time that we advife. 
 Now vveareallfili in the Fowlers gin, 
 Not CO efcape his fubile (nares alive> 
 Unlefs by force we break the Nets afunder. 
 When he begins to cavil and pick quarrels, 
 I will not truft him inihz leafi deoree. 
 
 Emprefs. It may befeemme evilJ to mi^ruft 
 My Lord and Bmperour ofio foul a fa A ; 
 But love unco his honour and your lives* 
 Makes mc with tears intreat your Excellencies 
 To fly with fpeed out of his danf;erous reach. 
 His clou'ly brow fo^^ceJls afnddain ftorm 
 Of blood noc natural but prodigic us. 
 
 F.rch, The CaiHe gates are (imi, how GhouJd we ty 
 
 Bui 
 
But were they open> 1 would lofc my life, 
 E'rc I would leave my Nep'iew to the flauofiter; 
 He and his Bride were fure t<^ bear the brunt. 
 
 Saxoyi, Could I^et out ot'doors, I'ld venture that 
 And yet I hold their perfons dear enough, 
 I would not doubt, but e're themornino Sun 
 Should ha It' way run his courfe into the South. 
 To compaH? and begirt bim in his Forts 
 \\!\i\\ Saxon lanskniohtsand brunt-bearing ^rnVx-fr/, 
 Who lye in Amhufcado not far hence. 
 That he fhould come to Cornpofition, 
 And with fafeconduil bring into our tents. 
 Both Bride and Bridegroom, and all other friend?. 
 
 EmpreJ^, My Chamber Window ftands upon the Wall '» 
 And thence with eafe you may elcape away. 
 
 Saxon. Prince Rtchard, yo\x will bear me Coiftpany? 
 
 %ichard. I will my Lord, 
 
 SdxofK An J you Prince Pdl!^ti»e? 
 
 Palf, The Spanifh Tyrant harh me in fufpeil 
 Of poyfoning him, VI therefore Ihy it out. 
 To fly upon't were to accufe my felf. 
 
 £wf,rej?. Ifneed require, Tie hide the PMLttinff, 
 llntiJl to morrow, if you ftay no longer. 
 
 Saxon. IfCodbewith us, e're tomorrow noon. 
 We'll be with Eingns Ipread before the Walls, 
 We leave dear pledges of our quick reiucn. 
 
 Entf, May the Heavens profper your \\x\k intents. Exeunt. 
 
 Er.ter Alphonfus. 
 y4//?/7<?>7.ThIs dangerous pjoc was happily overheard. 
 Here diJ(t thou lifien io a biefl'ed howr. 
 Alexander, where do'ft thou hide thy felf? 
 I've fought thee in each Corner of the Court, 
 And now or never mult thou play the xn^n. 
 
 ^Isx. And now or never muf^ your Highnefs riir. 
 Treai'on Haih round encompaffed your fife. 
 
 ^llphoyr, I have no leafure now to hear thy talk. 
 Seeft thou this Kc^ ? ' 
 
 Alex. Int-.^nds your Majefiy ihatllliould Hleal into the 
 Piinees Chambers, 
 
 F i And 
 
;g ALPHONSUS 
 
 A.nd fleeping fiab them in their Beds to night? 
 That cannot be. 
 
 uilphoff. wik than not hear me rpeak? 
 
 ^lex. The Prince o( England, 5Avo»,and oiColUn, 
 Are in the Emprcfs Chamber privily. 
 
 jilphon. All this is nothing, they would murder m«, 
 I come not there to nightjfeeli thoa this Kc> ? 
 
 u^lrv. They mean to fly out at the Chamber Window, 
 And raife an" Army to befecch your Grace, 
 No w may your Highncls take tbem with the deed. 
 
 Alphofi. The Prince o^H^Mes I hope is none of them. 
 
 ^lex. Him and his Bride by force they will recover. 
 
 Alphofj, What makes the eurfcd Palfgrave of the Rheh ? 
 
 u4lcx. Him hath the Emprcfs taken to her charge. 
 And m her Clofet means to hidebim /afe, 
 
 Alphon. To hide him in her Clofei ? of bold deeds. 
 The deareft charge that e're Hie undertook, 
 Well let them bring their Cooipiot* *o aocnd, 
 I'lc undermine to meet them in their works, 
 
 Alex. Will not your Grace furprizc thcmc*rc they fly ? 
 
 tAlphott. No, let them bring their purpcfe to effcit, 
 I'lefall upon them atmybeft advantage, 
 Secrt thou this Key ? there take it Alexander; 
 Yet take it not unlefs thou be refolv'd ; 
 Tufh I am fond to make a doubt of thee; 
 Take it I lay, it dorh command all Doors, 
 And will make open way to dire revenge* 
 
 Alex. I know not what your Ma/efty doth mean. 
 
 Alphon. Hie thee with fpecd into the inner Chamber^ 
 Next to the GhappeU and there (halt thoa find 
 The danty trembling Bride coutcht in her Bed, 
 Having beguil'd her Bridegroom ofhishopesi 
 Tafking her farcwel of Virginity, 
 Which Hie to morrow night exDCvfti to lofe, 
 By night ali Cats are gray, and in the dark* 
 She will imbrace thee for the Prince nfi^yaUt, 
 Thinking that he hath found her Chamber ouc, 
 Fall to thy bafinefs and makeffw wor.^s. 
 And having picas'd tliy fenfci with delight. 
 
 Add 
 
Em^erour c/Gcrraany. ^§ 
 
 And fildday beating vains with ftcaling joy. 
 
 Make thence agcn before the break of day. 
 
 What ftrangc events will fellow this device. 
 
 We need not ftady oe^our foes fiiall find. 
 
 How now ?faow ftand^ thou? haft thou not the heart? 
 
 Alex, Should I not have the heart to do this dccd,^ 
 I were a Baftard villain and no man; 
 Her fwcetnefs, and the fweetnefs of revenge* 
 Tickles my fenfcs in a double fenfc. 
 And (o I wifii yonr Majefty good night. 
 
 Alfhon, Godnight,rwectr'<?««i profper thy attempt." 
 
 Alex. Sweet Venus and grim Ate I implore. 
 Stand both of you to me aufpicious. Exit, Afexaodtf* 
 
 /llphon. It had been pitty oF his Fathers life, 
 Whofc death hath made him fuch a perfed vilJain, 
 What murder, wrack> and caufclefs enmity, 
 Twixt dejsrcft friends that arc my ftrongcft focJ, 
 Wiil follow fuddainly upon this rape; 
 I hope to live to fee* and laugh thereaf, 
 And yet this peece of pra^icc is not alh 
 The King o^Bohem though he little feci it, 
 Bccaufein twenty hours it will network. 
 Hath from my Knives point fuck'd his deadfy bane. 
 Whereof I will be Icaft of all fufpeded ; 
 For I will feign my fclf as fick as he. 
 And blind mine enemies cyzs with deadly groanj ; 
 Upon the Palfgrave and mine Empcrefs, 
 Heavy fufpedt (ball light to bruze their bones j 
 Though Saxon would not fufFer him to tafte. 
 The deadly potion provided for him 
 Hecannotfavehimffomth^ Sword of luflice. 
 When all the world fhaH think that like a villain, 
 He hath poyfon'd two great Eraperours with one draught; 
 That deed is done, and by this time I hope, 
 The other is a doing, zy^^exander 
 I douSr it not will doit thorovvly. 
 While the'^ things arc a brewing VI not fleepi 
 But ludiinly break ope the Chamber doors, 
 And ruHi upon my Emprcfs and the Palfgrave, 
 
 HoIIi 
 
40 ALPHO N SUS 
 
 Holla vvher's the Captain of the Guard ? 
 
 Etiter Captai/j^ and Sonldiers, 
 
 Cap. What would your Majcfty ? 
 Alphon, Take fix travants well artn'd andfollowe, 
 They hrc^hjivith violence into the Chamhert and Alphonfus 
 trayU the Emprefs by the hair. 
 
 Enter Alphonfus,, EmpreJ^^ Souldiers^Uc 
 
 Alphon. Come forth thou damned Witch, adulterous 
 Whore, 
 Foul fcandal to thy name, thy fex, thy blood, 
 
 Emp, O Emperour, gencle Husband^pitty me. 
 
 Alphon. Canft chou deny thou wert confederate. 
 With my arch enemies that fought my blood? 
 And like a Strumpet through thy Chamber Window, 
 Haft with thineown hands helpt to jet them down, 
 With an intent that they Hiould gather arms, 
 Befiege my Court, and take awa> my life ? 
 
 Emf, Ah my Alphonfus, 
 
 Alphon. rhy <tAlphonfus Whore? 
 
 Emp. O pierce my heart, trail me not by my hair ; 
 What r have done, I did it for the beft. 
 
 Alphon, So for the bef^ advantage of thy luft. 
 Haft thou in fecret Clytemneflra hire. 
 Hid thy ty£geflns thy adulterous Jove. 
 
 Ewp. Heav*n be the record 't*vixt my Lord and mej 
 How pure and facred I do hold thy Bed. 
 
 Alphen. Art choH To impudent to bely the dt&d. 
 Is not the Talfgrave hidden in thy Chamber ? 
 
 Empe. That I have hid the Palfgrave I confefs ; 
 But to no ill intent your confrience knows. 
 
 Alphon, Thy treafoas, murders, incefts, for ceries. 
 Are all committed to a good intent; 
 Thou Icnow'ft he was my deadly enemy» 
 
 Emp. By this device I hop'd to make your friend?. 
 
 Aiphon. Then bring him forth, we*l reconcile our felves. 
 
 Emp. Should I betray fo great a Prince's lifc? 
 
 Alphon, Thou holdft his \ik far dearer than thy Lord^,' 
 This Ycry night haft thou bctrayd my blood. 
 
 Dm 
 
Mmferour of Gcnnany. ^^ 
 
 But ihn?, and thus, wiJl I revenge m y {t\^^ 
 And but thou fpeedily deliver him, 
 I'ie trail thee through the Kennels of the Street, 
 And cut the Nofe from thy bewitching face. 
 And into England fend thee like a Strumpet 
 
 Emf, Pull every hair from oft my head. 
 Drag me at Hojrfes cayls, cut ofFmy nofe 
 My Princely tongue fhall not betray a Prince 
 
 jilphon. That will I try. 
 
 Emp. O Heav'n revenge my fhame. 
 
 Enter Palfgrave, 
 
 Tal. Is Cafar now become a torturer, 
 A HangTnanofhis Wife, lurn'd murderer ? 
 Here is the Tallatine^ what wouldft thou more? 
 
 siphon. Upon him Souldiers, ftrike him to the ground. 
 
 Emp. Ah Souldiers, fpare the princely PalUtine. 
 
 Alphon. Down with the damn'd adulterous murderer. 
 Kill him I fay, his blood be on nay head. 
 
 They kill the Pallatine. 
 
 Run to the Tow'r.and Ring the Latum Be\I, 
 That fore the world I may excufe my felf. 
 And tell the reafon of this bloody dscd* 
 
 Em^r Edward in his mght goxon andjhirt, 
 
 Edvff. How now? what means this fudain ftrange Allarm? 
 
 What wretched dame is this with blubbeicd checks. 
 
 And rent difhevel'd hair? 
 £'wp. O my dear Nephew, 
 
 Fly, fly the Shambles, for thy turn is next. 
 
 Edward. What, my rmpcrial Aunt?then break my heart* 
 t/4lphon. Brave Prince be lii.'lj as I am nobly born. 
 
 There is no ill intended to thy perfon. 
 
 Enter Mentz,Tryer, Branden. Bohem. 
 Aff«f?..Wherf is my Rage?brirg me my two handSword. 
 I'ryer. VVhat is the maticr? is the Court a fire 
 
 G Bohiml 
 
^2 ALPHONSUS 
 
 Bran, Whofe that?thc Emperour with his weapon drawn? 
 
 Bohem. Though deadly fickyet am I forc'd to rife, 
 To know the reafbn of rhis hurley hurley. 
 
 AlfhoM. Princes he fiient, I will tcW the caufir. 
 Though fudai nly a griping at my heard 
 Forbids my tongue his wonted courfe of (pccch* 
 See you thi's Harlot, traytrefs to my /ife, 
 Sec you this murderer ftain to mine honour, 
 Thefe twain I found together in my Bed, 
 Shamefully committing lewd Adultery, 
 And hainoufly confpiring all your deaths, 
 I mean your deaths, that are not dead already; 
 As for the King of 5^^fw^ and my {q\{. 
 We are not of diis world, wc have our tratjfpofts 
 Giv'n in the bowl by this adulterous Prince* 
 And leart the poyfon work too rtrong with me. 
 Before that I have warnd you of your harmf, 
 I will be brief in the relation. 
 That he hatti ftamd my Bed, thefe eyes have fcen» 
 That he hath murdcr'd two Imperial Kings, 
 Our fpeedy deaths will be too fudain proof; 
 That he and Oiehave boughtand fold your Jive?, 
 To SaxoH, Colletf, and the EngliOi ?rincc, 
 Their Enfigns fpreai before iheWalls to morrow 
 Will all too fudainly bid you defiance. 
 Now tell me Princes have I not /uftcaufe. 
 To flay the murderer of To many fouls? 
 Afidhave not all caufe to applaud the deed? 
 More would I utter, but the poyfons force 
 Forbids my fpeech, you can concdwt the reft. 
 
 Bohem. Your Majefly reach me your dying hand. 
 With thoufand thanks for this fb juft revenge. 
 O, how the poyfon? force begins to work ! 
 
 (JMcntz,. The world may pitty and applaud the ^tzA, 
 
 Brand. Di -I never age bring forth fuch hainous a5ls., 
 
 Edrpard. My fenfes are confounded and amaz'd. 
 
 Smp. The God of Heav'n know? my u'lguiltinefs. 
 Enter Me^enq^er. 
 
 Mef.^ Arm, arm my Lords, we have dcfcry'd a far. 
 
 Aa 
 
Ewfer&ur of Germany. ^» 
 
 An Army often thoufand men at arm?. 
 
 Jlphon. Sonne run unto the VVa!ls,rome draw up the SIucc 
 Some fpcedily let the PurcuIIefs down. 
 
 Mentz.. Now may we fee the Emperours words arc true. 
 To prifon with the wicked murderous Whore. ExcHMt, 
 
 ACT. IV. 
 
 Smer Saxon W Richard roith Souldiers. 
 
 Saxon. My Lord oCCornwall, let us march before. 
 To fpecdy re(cue of our deareft friends. 
 The rcreward with the armed Legions, 
 Committed to the Prince of Co //f«*s charge. 
 Cannot lb Jightly pafs the mountain tops. 
 
 Richard. Let's I'ummon fudainly unto a Parly, 
 I do not doubt but e're we need their helps* 
 Collen with all his forces will be here. 
 
 EfJter Collcn with Drnms and an Arntj. 
 
 Richard. Your Holinefs hath made good haft to day» 
 And like a beaten Souldier lead your troops. 
 
 Cotlen. In time of peace I am an Arch*Bi(hop, 
 And like a Church-man can bothfing and fay ; 
 But when the innocent do TufFer wrong, 
 I cart my rocket off upon the Altar, 
 And like a Prince betake my felf to arms. 
 
 EfJter above Mcniz, Tryer, and Brandenburg. 
 
 Mentz.. Great Prince o£Saxome, what mean thcfe aims? 
 Richard ofC^rKtvall, what may this intend ? 
 Brother ciCollen no more Churchman now, 
 Inftead of Miter, and a Croffier Staff, 
 Have you bctane you to your Helm and Targe? 
 Were you To merry ycftcrday as friends, 
 Cloaking your treafon in your Clowns attire? 
 
 Saxon. Mentz^y wc return the iraytor in thy face.. 
 To fave our liyes, and to rcleafe our friends, 
 
 G 2 . One 
 
^ ALPHO N SUS 
 
 Outofthe Spaniards deadly trapping Snares. 
 Without intent of i II, this power is rais'd J 
 Therefore grave Prince Marquefs o^BrandKhtirg^ 
 My loving Cofjn, as indifferent Judge, 
 To you an aged Peace-make- we ipeak. 
 Deliver with fafc c^niu^ in our tens, 
 VtlnctEdward and ni? Bride, the PalUtine, 
 .With everyone of hiijh or low degree. 
 That arc lufpicious of the King of Spaftt, 
 So (hall you fee that in the fe]f fame howr 
 We marched to the Walls with colours fpread. 
 We will cafhicr our troups, and part good friends. 
 Brand. Alas my Lord, crave you the TalUtine } 
 %lch. If craving will not ferve, we wii) command^ 
 Brand* Ah me. lince your dep^rture,gQod my Lords, 
 Strange accidents of bloud and death are hapned. 
 Saxon. My mind mifgave a maffacre^his night. 
 Hich. How do's Priocc Bdward then ? 
 Sax. How do's my Daughter? 
 X^ollen. How goes it with the Palfgrazc ofthe Rhfin ? 
 Brand. Prince £^7v^r^ and his Bridle do .ivein health. 
 And fliallbe brought unto you when you pleafc. 
 Saxon. Let them be prelenily de'ivcr'd? 
 (*oll. Lives not the 'Taffgtave too ? 
 ^ Mentz., In Heaven or HJl he lives, and reaps the mer- 
 fit of his deeds. 
 
 Coll. What damned hand hath hutchercd the Prince? 
 Saxon., O that demand is needlels, who but he, 
 That feeksto be the Butcher ofusa'l; 
 But vengeance and revenge (hall light on him. 
 
 Bran. Be p^'ti; nr noble Princes, hear the reft. 
 The two great Kings ofBohem and Cajlile^ 
 God comfort them, \tt now at point of death. 
 Both poyfon'd b^ the T.^Z/^Mt'^yef^erday. 
 
 Rich. How h that pofTibli* ? To mart my Sifter, 
 The Pallitine himlelf, and Alwander, 
 Who drunk out ofthe b^wl, be poyfoned too. 
 
 Mentz.. Nor IS that hainousderd alone the caufe. 
 Though caufe en^ ugh to ruin Vfonarc'iics ; 
 He hath defi/d witii iu(^ tii' imperial Bed, 
 
 And 
 
Emperour ^/Germany. 45 
 
 And by theEmperour m me fad was flain. 
 
 Collefj, O worthy ^uiHlefs Pdnce, O had he fled. 
 
 ^ch . But (dy where is the Emprefs, where's my Sifter. 
 
 Mentz,. Not burnt to afhes yet, but fhall be fiiortly. 
 
 Rich. I hope her Majefty wiJi Jive to fee 
 A hundred thoufand flittering turncoat flavcs, 
 Such as your Holine(s»dyc a ihanneful death. 
 
 Brand. She is in prifon, and attends her tryal. 
 
 Saxon. Oftranjje heart-breaking mi fchievous intcnw. 
 Give me my children if you Jove your Jives, 
 No f fety is in this enchanted Fort. 
 O fee in happy hour there comes my Daughter, 
 And Joving Ton, fc^pt from the Maffacre. 
 
 Enter Edward and Hedewick. 
 Edward. My body lives,a!though my heartbe flaia, 
 O Princes this hath been the difmaii'fi night, 
 Tnat ever eye offorrovv did befioid, 
 Here Jay the Palfgravt weltrlng in his b/oud. 
 Dying Alfhonfm Handing over him. 
 Upon the other hand the King of i?oi>^w, 
 ScilJ locking when his poyfon'd hulk would break ; 
 But that which picrc'd my fcul v\ ith natures touch 
 Was my tormented Aunt with biubhcrd cheeks. 
 Torn bloody Garments, and dilhevf Id' hair. 
 Waiting for death ; defervedly or no. 
 That knows the fearcher of all humane thoughts ; 
 For thefe devices arebeyond my reach. fttfSfl. 
 
 Saxon. %ailDO2f)Wtb00fiofi!cr to^jo toart uoto Cicfelblr* 
 Hede. l|.sU)t)o tuboroUrcIjfemfcl^U^artnbette. 
 Saxon, ^ert Doto aUrfnfo toart ooto ear t)o,fcb?0£feen» 
 H 'd(>. i(b ba mf (t auDcs gememt oam uaa \i\^ toolt alldn 
 geffflaffnebaoen, abut \)mb mtttertiatlt bam vnxintx \i%iu* 
 groom banDt fiQaffet kz\> \Xfk, bin Mx mit oem getunnHel 
 crVeacbtUJaren. (midnight? 
 
 Edrvard. What favs fhe? came her Bridegroom to her ac 
 %f,ch. Nephew, I fee you were not over-reach'd; 
 A though fhe fl'pt out of your arms at firftt 
 Youceiz d her <urely,e'rc you left the chace. 
 ^ Saxon, But kfi your Grace your Bride alone In Bed ? 
 
 G 3 Ot 
 
^i ALPHONSUS 
 
 Oi" did Hie run together in toe Larum ? 
 
 Edward. Alas my Lords, this is no time to jeft j 
 I lay full fadiy in my Bed alone, 
 Noc a'ule for my life to fleep a vvink» 
 Till that the Larum JizW began to Ring, 
 n i then 1 fhrted from my weary coucb. (Tpeech, 
 
 Saxon. How now ? this rimes not with my daughters 
 ,Shc fays you found her Bed, and lay with her. 
 
 edcvard. Not I, your Highnefs did mi.Qake her words. 
 
 ColleM. Deny it not Prince Edward,'iis an honour. 
 
 Edward. My Lords I know no reafon to deny it ; 
 T' have found her Bed, I wou'd have given a million, (fin. 
 
 Saxon, ^ecctofcfeoeri^ortt^gtcr fatt mitt be nit UW" 
 
 Hede. Csgefett i^ alfo|umfaganaber ic^ ^abeo ujoU 
 
 gcifralct. 
 
 %ich. Shefay's you are di'pos'd to jed with her ; 
 But ycrternight Hie felt it in good earne/?. 
 
 Sdrvard. Unckic thcfc je/ts are too unfavorie, 
 III Ajitcd to thefe times, and pleafc me not, 
 Jlafafcb bfn ycu gcdbiapen ye'lemfohr. 
 
 Hede. 3 Icff , Ixjarum fnlt iW tragcn. 
 
 Saxo}7. Ed<vard,l tell thee 'tis no jcNing matter. 
 Say ohhily, wa'/^ thou by her I or no ? 
 
 Edrva>d. As I am Prince, true heir to EngUnds Crown, 
 I never toucht her 'lodv in a Bed. 
 
 Hede. 2Das b^ttc gctljan mtt ^olte mfcb 5er uft)eU. 
 
 Rtchard. Nephevv,t3ke liced,you hear ihe Princels wordj. 
 Edward. It is not fTie, nor ycu nor all the world, 
 Sha/Imakemefay I did anothers deed. 
 Saxo»,_AXiot\iti:s deed ? what ihink'/^ thcu her a whore ? 
 
 Saxon flrihes Edward. 
 Edward. Shemay be Whore, and thou a viJiain too. 
 Strook me thcEmperour I will /Irike again. 
 Collen. Content you Princes, buffet noi fike boys. 
 "Richard. Ho.'d you the one, and I wi II hold the other. 
 
 Hede. J©l^ergot,^elp,^eIp,ofcbarm0hfnDt. 
 
 Saxon. Sou/diers lay hands upon the Prince of Wales, 
 <lor\vtyk{\r[\(ptz^\\y unto a prifon, 
 And load his l^t°% vvith grievous bolts of Iron; 
 Some bring the Whore my Daughter from my fight; 
 And thou Imooth Englilliman to thee I fpeak. My 
 
'Emprour <>/ Germany, ^^ 
 
 My hate extends to ail thy Nation, 
 Pack thee out of my fight, an 1 that with fpecd 
 Your Englifh prad'iCi have alJ to long. 
 Muffled our German eyes, pack, pack I fay. 
 
 Richard. Although your Grace have reafon for your ra^e, 
 Yet be not like a madman to your friends. 
 
 Saxon, My friends? I fcorn the friendQiip offuch mate?, 
 That feek my Daughters fpoil, and my didionour j 
 B.it I will teach the Boy another kffon. 
 His head fhali pay theranfom of his fault. 
 
 Richard. His head? 
 
 Saxon. And thy head too, O how my heart doih fwell.' 
 Was there no other Prince to mock hue me? 
 Firft woo, then marry her, then \^fL with her. 
 And having had the pleafure of her B^d, 
 Call her a Whore in open audience. 
 None but a villain and a flave would do it, 
 My Lords of yl^f^f-c, ofTrjc-r^ and Bnr^de^lur^f 
 Make ope the Gates, receive me as a friend. 
 Tic be a fcourge unto the Englifh Nation. 
 
 tjlientz,. Your Grace fhail be the welcom'ft gueft stlive* 
 
 Collen. None buc a madman would do fuch a deed. 
 
 Saxon. Then (pollen cc-unt me mad,for I wi \l do it. 
 Tie let my life and Land upon the hazard, 
 But I will thorou^hly found this deceit. 
 What will your Grace leave me or follow me ? 
 
 Ccllen. No Saxon. kno?v I mW not follow thee, 
 And leave Prince Rtchard in fo great extreams. 
 
 Saxon. Then 1 defy you both, and fo farweH. 
 
 Rich. Yet Saxon hear me fpeak before thou go, 
 look to the Princes life as to thine own. 
 Each perifht hair that f llcth from his head 
 By thy default, fliail cof^ a Saxon City, 
 Heyiry o^ England will not lofe his heir. 
 And fo farwel and think upon my words. 
 
 Saxon. Away, I do difdiin to m^vvcr thee. 
 Pick thee with fhame again i uo thy Countrie* 
 l"e have a C«^ck-boat at my proper charge. 
 And fend th* Irnoenal Crown which thou haft won, 
 To Englaad by Prince Edtvard ^fi^r thee. £xeHnt. 
 
 Man.l^^ch.znd CoP Collen, 
 
4? ALPHONSUS 
 
 Colleyt, Anfvver him not Prince K^chard, he is mad, 
 Choler and griefhave rob'd him of nis fenl'cs. 
 Like accid.nctothisivas never heard. 
 
 Rich, Break heart and dye, flie hence my troubled fpirit, 
 ^ am n :c able for to undcrbear 
 The weight offorrow which doth bruzemyfoul, 
 b Edward, O fwcet Edward, O my life. 
 O noble Co lien la ft of "all my hopes. 
 The only friend in my extremities. 
 If thou doeft love me, as I know thou d(3eft» 
 Unfheath thy fword, and rid me of this forrow. 
 
 Collet. Away with abjei^ thoughts, Re PiiDccly%schard^ 
 Rouce up thy felf, and call thy fenles homc^ 
 Shake of this bafe pufillanimitie, 
 And cart about toremcdie ihefe wrongs. 
 
 Richard. Alas I fee no means of remedie. 
 
 Collet. Then hearken to my Counfel and advice. 
 We will Intrench our fdves not far from hence, 
 With thofe Cmzll pow'rs we have, and fend forjnorc, 
 If they do make affaultjWe will defend; 
 If violence be oifer'd to the Prince, 
 We'i refcue him with venture of our livCJ; 
 Let us with parience attend advantage. 
 Time may reveal the author of thefc creafonsj 
 For why undoubtedly the fwcet young Princefj, 
 Fowly beguild by night witli cunning ITiew, 
 Hath to fome villain loft her Maiden-head. 
 
 Rich. O that I knew the foul inceftuouj wretch* 
 Thus would I tear him with my teeth and nails. 
 Had Saxof7 fcnfe he would conceave lb much. 
 And not revenge on guiltlefs Edwards life, 
 
 Collen, Perfwadeyour felf he will be twiee advis*d v 
 Before he offer wrong unto the Prince. 
 
 Rich. In that good hope I will have patience. 
 Come gentle Prince whofe pitty to a ftranc^er 
 Is rare and admirable, not to be fpoken. 
 England cznnot requite this gentlenefs. 
 
 Collen. Tufli talk not of requital, let us "O 
 To fortifie our fclvcs within our trerch. '^ ' Exettnt, 
 
 lEnter 
 
:Empmur of Germany. ^g 
 
 Snter Alphonfo {^carried in the Couch") Saxony, McntZ 
 Tryer, Brandenburg, Alexander. * 
 
 Alphon. O moft cxccffive pain, O raging Fircf 
 Is burning £ancer or the Seorfiont 
 Defccnded from the Heavenly Zodiack, 
 To parch mine Entrals with a qnenchlcfs flame ? 
 Drink, drink I fay, give drink or I (hall dye. 
 Fill a thoufand bowls of Wine, Water I fay 
 Water from forth the cold Tartarian hi Is. 
 I ^tzl ih* afcending flame lick up niy blood. 
 Mine Entrals Oirink together like a fcrowf 
 Of burning parchment, and my Marrow fricJ, 
 Bring hugie Cakes of Ice, and Flakes oFSnow, 
 That I may drink ofchem being diffolved, 
 
 Saxon. We do befeech your M ajeftie have plticocc, 
 
 Alfhon, Had I but drunk an ordinary poyfon. 
 The fight of thee great Duke of Saxony, 
 My friend in death, in life my grcatefi foe. 
 Might both allay the venonn and the torment ; 
 But that adulterous Palfgrave and my Wife, 
 Upon whofe life and foul I vengeance cry, 
 Gave me a mineral not to be digefied. 
 Which burning eats, and eating burns my heart. 
 My Lord ofTryer^ run to the King o^Bohem, 
 Commend me to him, ask him how he fares. 
 None but my felf can rightly pitty him ; 
 For none but we have fympathie of painsi 
 Tell him when he is dead, my time's not long. 
 And when I dyt bid him prepare to follow. Exit.Ttycu 
 
 Now, now it works a frefh;are you my friends? 
 Then throw me on the cold fwift running Rhyn^ 
 And let me bath there for an hour or two, 
 I cannot bear this pain. 
 
 (JHentz,. O would th'unpartial fates affli<ft on me, 
 Thcfe deadly pains, and eafe my Emperour, 
 H ow willing would I bear them for his fake. 
 
 Alfhon. O Mentz,9 T would not wifh unto a Dog, 
 The leart of thoufand torments that affli(f^ me, 
 Much lefs unto your Princely holincfs 
 
 H Sh 
 
50 ALPHONSIIS 
 
 Scci Tec my lord ofMe^tz., he points ac you. 
 Mtntz.. It \$ your fantafie and norhing elfc; 
 But were death here, I would difpuce with hiro. 
 And tell him to his tcecbhedoth wn/ufticfj 
 To take your Majerty in the prime ofyouch ; 
 Sueh wither'd rotten branches as my ielf. 
 Should firft be Jopt, had he not partial hand^j 
 And here I do protcft upon my Knee, 
 I would as willinoly now leave my life, 
 Tofave my King and Emperour alive> 
 As errtmy Mother brought me to the world. 
 
 Brand. My Lord o^Mentz.^ this flattery is too grofs, 
 A Prince ofyour experience and ca!iing9 
 Should not fo fondly call the Heavens to witnefs. 
 
 Mentz,. Think you my Lord, I would not hold my word? 
 
 Brand. You know my Lord, death is a bitter gue/L 
 
 Mentz.. To eafe his pain and fave my Emperour, 
 I fweetly would embrace that bitternc/?. 
 
 Alex. If I were death, I knew what I would do. 
 
 Mentz,. But fee, his Majefly is fain a flecp, 
 Ah mc. I fear it is a dying flumber. 
 
 Alphon. My Lord oiSaxonie do you hear this j'eft. 
 
 Saxon. What fhouldl I hear my Lord ? 
 
 Alphon, Do you not hear 
 How loudly death proclames it inmincears, 
 Swearing by trophies, Tombs and dcadmens GravCJ, 
 If f have any friend fo dear to me, 
 That to cxcufe my life will lofe his own, 
 I Hiall be prefentiy rcftor'd to health. 
 
 Enter Trycr. 
 
 Mentz,. I would he durIT make good his promifes. 
 
 Alphon. My Lord of Tryer, how fares my fellow Em- 
 perour? 
 
 Tryer. His Ma/efty is eas'd of all his pain?. 
 
 Atphon. O happy news, now have I hope of healths 
 
 Mentz,. My joyful heart doth fpring within my bodie, 
 To hear thofc words, 
 Com W your Majeftie I will cxcufe yoa. 
 Or at the Icaft will bear you Company, 
 
 Alfh)t, 
 
EmjefMr df Gcitnany. yi 
 
 ^IfhcH. My hope U vain, now, now my heart will breik^ 
 My Lord o^Tryer you did but flatter me. 
 Tell me the truth, how fares his MajcRie. 
 
 Tryer, I told your Highnefs, cas'd of all his pain. 
 
 Alphon. I underhand thee now, he's cai*dby deaife, 
 And now I feel an alteration ; 
 Farewel fvvcet Lords, farewel my Lord o^Mentz,^ 
 The trueft friend that ever earth did bear, 
 Live long in happinefs to revenge my death. 
 Upon my Wife and all the Englifii brood. 
 My Lord oiSaxome yocr Grace haf. h caufe. 
 
 Mentz,. I dare thee death to take away my life. 
 Some charitable hand that loves his Prince, 
 And hath the heart, draw forth his Sword and rid me of 
 
 my life. 
 
 Alex. I love my Prince, and have the hcan to do it. 
 
 Mentz., Ofiayawhile. 
 
 Alex. Nay now it js to iatc* 
 
 Bran. Villain what haft thou done ? th'aft fltin a Prince. 
 
 Alex. I did no more than he intrcatedmc? 
 
 Alphon. How now, what make 1 in my Conch fo latc.5 
 Princes why ftand you fo gazing about me ? 
 Or who \% that lies flain before my face ? 
 O I have wrong, my foul was half in Heaven, 
 His holinefs did know the y^yi above. 
 And therefore is afcended in my ftead. 
 Come Princes let us bear the body hence; 
 rie fpend a Million to embalm the fame. 
 Let all the Bels within the Empire Ring, 
 Let Mafs be faid in every Church and Chappef, 
 And that I may perform my lateft vow, 
 I will procure fomuch by Gold or friends. 
 That my fweet Memz, fhall be Canonized, 
 AndnumSredin the Bed-role of the S^iniSy 
 I hope the Pope will not deny it me, 
 lie build a Church in honour of thy name. 
 Within the antient famous Citic Mentz, , 
 Fairer than any one in (jermany^ 
 There flialt thou be interrd with Kingly Pomp^ 
 Over thy Tomb (hall hang a facrcd Lamp ,, ^^ , 
 
 Hi 'Which 
 
51 ALPHONSUS 
 
 which till the day of doomdiali ever burn, 
 
 Yea afcer ages fhall fpeak of thy renown, 
 
 And go a Pilgrimage to thy facred Tomb. 
 
 Grief flops rny voice, who loves his Emperour, 
 
 Lay to his helping hand and bear him hence. 
 
 Sweet Father and redeemer of my lik. Exeunt. 
 
 Manet Alexander, 
 Alex. Now is my Lord fole Emp^rour of Rortie^ 
 And three Confpirators of my Fathers death. 
 Are cunningly fent unto Heaven or HcJi ; 
 Like fubciity to this was never feen. 
 Alas poor -i/f^r^'Ipittying thy prayers, 
 Goiild do no lefs than lend a helping hand. 
 Thou wcrt a famous flatterer in thy life, 
 And now haft reapt the fruits thereof in death 
 But thou fhalt be rewarded iike a Saint, 
 With Maffcs, Bci5, dirges and burning Lamp?; 
 ' Tis good, I envie not thy happinefs : 
 But ah the fweet remembrance of that night. 
 That night I mean of fwcetnefs and of Health, 
 ^Vhcn lor a Prince, a Princefs did imbrace me. 
 Paying the /irft fruits of her Marriage Btd^ 
 Makes me forget all other accident?. 
 O Saxon I would wiiiinglv forgive, 
 The deadly trefpafs of my Fathers death. 
 So I might have thy Daughter to my Wife, 
 And to be plain, I have-beft right unto her. 
 And love her beft, and have defer v'd herbeft; 
 But thou art fond to think on fuch a match i 
 Thou mult imagin nothing but revenge, 
 And ifmy computation fail me not. 
 Ere long I fhall be.thorowly revcng'd. Exit,. 
 
 Enter the Duke of Saxon, a»d Hedewick tv'tk the Child, 
 
 Saxon. Come forth thou per feil map of miferie, 
 Defolate Daughter and dirtreflTed Mother, 
 In whom tiie Father and the Son are curft ; 
 Thus once again we will affay the Prince. 
 T may be the light of his own flefhandblood 
 
 Will 
 
JEmferour <j/Germany. j^ 
 
 win now at laft pierce his obdurate heirt- 
 Jailor how fires it with thy prifoncr? 
 Let him appear upon the battlements. 
 
 CngUfcl^selernet, tuiD <([) ^opc, |)$ iPiU me tjerCoin. tmo 
 a)eljDmeam(e{)ltt^e* 
 
 f'wrfr Edward ^« the flails and }atlor. 
 
 Saxon. Good morrow to your gi^^ce Edward of H'a/a, 
 •Son and immediate Heir to Hewy the third. 
 King of England and Lord of Irelandj 
 Thy Fathers comfort, and the peoples hope; 
 f is not in mockage nor at unawares, 
 Tliat [ am ceremonious to repeat 
 Thy high defcent joynd with thy Kingly might ; 
 But therewithal! ro intimate unto thee 
 What God expedeth from the higher powers, 
 Juiiice, and mcrcie, truth; fobrieiie> 
 Relenting hearts, hands innocent of blood. 
 Princes are Gods chief fubdituteson earth. 
 And (hoa.'d be Lamps unto the common forr. 
 But you will fay I am become a Preacher^, 
 No, Prince, I am an humble fupplianr. 
 And to prepare thine ears make this exordium', 
 To pierce thine eyes and heart, behold this fpectacle* 
 Three Generations of the Saxon blood, 
 Dcfeended lineallie from forth my Loynj» 
 Kneeling and crying to thy mightinefsj 
 Firlt look on me, and think what Ihavebeen» 
 For now I think \ny felf of no account. 
 Next Cafar^ greateft man in Germanie\ 
 Neerly alycd, and ever friend to England -^ 
 But Womens fighs move more in manly heart? » 
 O fee the hands fhe elevates to Heaven, 
 Behold thofe eyes that whilome were thy joycs. 
 Uttering domb eloquence in Chriftal tears ; 
 If thefe cxclames and fights be ordinarie. 
 Then look with pitiie on thy other feif. 
 This is thy flefti and blood, bone of thy bonf, 
 
 H^ A 
 
54 ALPHONSUS 
 
 A goodly Boy the Image of his fire* 
 TiTrn'ft thou away? Q were thy Father here. 
 He would, as I dOy take him in his arm.?. 
 And fwcetly kifs his Grand- child in the face. 
 O Edvoard too young in experience. 
 That cenft not look into the grievous wraclc, 
 Enfuing this thy obftinate deniall ; 
 O Edrvard too young in cxperisnce. 
 That canft not fee into the future good, 
 En/uing thy moil juft acknovvledgcmenc; 
 Hear me thy trueft friend* I wilJ repeat them j 
 For good thou hart an Heir indubitate» 
 Whofe eyes a'ready fparekle Majefly* 
 Born in true Wedlock of a Princdy Mother, 
 And aiJthe German Princes to thy friends ; 
 Where on the contrary thine eyes fhall fee. 
 The fpeedy Tragedie of thee and thine ; 
 Like Athamas iir(} will I ccirc upon 
 Thy youno unchriftened and defpifed Son, 
 And with his guiltlefs brains bcpaint the Sionc5 ; 
 Then like r/r^/>j/r<^ will I kill my Child, 
 Unto thine eyes a plealing fpeftacle ; 
 Yet fliall it bea momentarie plealurc, 
 Henry of SngUtid Hiall mourn with me; 
 For thou thy felf Edward G^zU makechctfaird. 
 And be an after in this bloody Scean. 
 
 Hedc. 4()nipn0(eeteCoouart,nieftil^rfbfti,m^tie fc]^er|< 
 
 Bfpjeeoeemefnleefe&emefdenDUct^ one> good feete tiarte 
 tell oe trttt : and at left to me, am> optic aUcrleeCeS (cW^ Q)etD 
 pfttp I orni f c^ bin opne, t)no ooto btC^ mpne, ooU) l^ntt nte ge^ 
 t)en efn btnoelefn; £) c^ootiatt, teete> C^oonart ttbaxrmt 
 Uttti 
 Edw. O F-fedewiclv: peace, thy foeeche? pierce mv foul. 
 
 Hede. l^eoetofck ooc pott) emUendel^g^t me ^eoelokft 
 feef e Coonart poto tcecte fcb bfn potor allerWeuettc toftSc. 
 
 Edward. The Prieft 1 tnuii cootcfs made thee my Wife, 
 Curft be the damned villaoous adulterer. 
 That with Co TdwI a blot divorced our love. 
 
 Hede. ^m^fnal(erllet)e(fer; (itebo^nriFifrll^ tmo ^tr. 
 
ofticb Daf tmfen^crr d^tf fitts fn ijfmmelU (rone, anu (^a 
 Oat |art t}nQ tofU mp caufe tpoU rec^n : 
 
 Saxon. Sdivard hold mc not up with lono delays ; 
 But quickly fay^wik thou confds the truth?'' 
 
 Edrrard. As cruc as I am born of Kingly Li na^^e, 
 And am the be(l Tlamagenet next my Father, 
 1 never carnalliedid touch her body. 
 
 Saxon. Edward this anfvver had wclong a"'o» 
 Seefi thon this brat? fpeak quickly or he dyes. 
 
 Edward, His death will be more piercing to thine eyes 
 Than unto mine, he is not of my kin. 
 
 Hede. £) iFat^er, i2D mpnc tdattet fpwem^neWnW 
 ^C^Douart ^Tj^iitict^iiimm fjneak notD ooer nfmiKfr 
 m\)i oie Htnot iH mzin, it foil nfc^t ff erbcn ; 
 
 Saxon, Have I difhonoured my felffo much, 
 To bowmy Knee to thf e, which never bov/d 
 But to my God, and am I thus rewarded I 
 h he not thine ? fpcak murderous-minded Pnnce. 
 
 Edward. O Saxon, Saxon mitigate thy rage. 
 Flrft thy exceeding great humilitie. 
 When to thy captive prifoncr thou didft kncrl. 
 Had almoft made my lyiijg tongue confefs. 
 The deed which 1 protcft I never did ; 
 But thy not caufclefs furious madding humour, 
 Together with thy Daughters pitions cryes. 
 Whom as my iifc and foul I dearly love. 
 Had thorowly almoftperfwadedme. 
 To fave her honour and belie my fclf. 
 And were I not a Prince offo high bloody 
 And Baftards have no fcepter- bearing hands, 
 I would in filencc fmother up this blot. 
 And in compaflion of thy Daughters wrong. 
 Be connted Father to an others Child ; 
 For why my foul knows her unguiltincfs. 
 
 Saxon. Smooth words in bitter fcnfe j is thine anfwer? 
 
 Hede. ctptjattcrgcnemlrmefnbfnde, tfefefnoiiitmeftt 
 Saxon. jDaatDcfoic^tDOlUevfagteslftnfe^t fefti; there- 
 
 fore it dyes. He dafhes mn the Childs (frains, 
 
 Hede. iS> (So{ fn fiefnem trone, S> mtin bfnpt mein bfiiM* 
 
 SAxon.lhziz murderer take hij headland breathlefs lymbs, 
 
 Tber's 
 
S6 ALPHONSUS 
 
 Ther'S flefti enoui;h, bury it in thy bo\YeIs^ 
 
 Eat I bar, oi* Jye for Imnger, I proieft, 
 
 Th ju *Ktil no oibcr food ti 1] that be I'penr. 
 
 And now totbeclevvd Wbore, dil7\onour'd flrumpct. 
 
 Thy turn is next, tbercfore prepare to dyt;. 
 
 Edn\trd. O mighty Duke oiSaxoyi^ ipare tliy Child. 
 
 5.r.v. She is thy VVit'e Edward, and thou fhouldli /pare her. 
 One Gracious word of chine will fave her life. 
 
 Sd)v^rd. I do conlefs Sff/»u)n (lie is mine own. 
 As Ihavemarryedher,! will live with her. 
 Comfort thy klf /wcet Uednnck an.dlwcet Wife. 
 
 Hede, ^cb, acb tjnD toe^c luarumb fagt poar excellence 
 vAtU fo bcfoie, nolo t ft to late, tjnfcr armc Utnut ift M\, 
 
 Edward. Though thou be mme, and I do pittic thee, 
 I would not Nurlc a Baferd for a Son. 
 
 Hede. ^cBoonarDMotoklbtttarfe pour mcnfng Ub iliolftf 
 be pour tobo ;ic, m^in Matter f cb bcgcb; upon mcfnc fence, lali 
 infcbUeberlterben^aoeralcod^Douart, fake '^lintz, it^ b^ 
 gebjsnfcbt. * r r . 
 
 Saxon. Unprincely (houghts do hammer in thy head, 
 Vi\ not encu;^h that ihou halt Hum *d her once, 
 And fecn the Balhrd torn before thy facc^ 
 But thou wouldit get more brats for Rutcherie? 
 
 No Hcdoruk thou fhalr not live the day. 
 
 Hede. fS^ ^m <^oiU nUnh meinc fccle in bcdterbenbeii. 
 
 Saxofj. It is thy hand that jjive-? thisdeadly (hoak. 
 
 Hede. £) !^err ^abote, uas mzin t)n(cb«lt)t m tag feoiB- 
 ttietimocbt. 
 
 Edward. Her blood be on that wretched villains head* 
 That is the caulc of all thi« mifery. 
 
 Saxon. Now murderous-minded Prince, haft thou beheld 
 Vpon my Child, and Childs Child; thy de/ire, 
 Swe'ar to thy fclf,that herel firmly fwear, 
 That thou iLall furely follow her to morrow. 
 In Company of thy adulterous Aunt, 
 Jaylor convey him to his Dungeon, 
 If he be hungrie, I have thrown him tneat, 
 ICthiiftie let him fuck the newly born lymbs. 
 
lEmferour of G^rmaoy. 5 7 
 
 vAxvcirl OHeavensand Heavenly powers, ir you be juff, 
 R tard the author of this vvickednefs. Exit, Edw.cr Jaoler, 
 
 Enter Alexander^ 
 
 Atcx. To arms great Duke of S.txonte, to armff, 
 Mv Lord of^c;//c>;, and the Earl oiCormvall^ 
 In refcue of Prince Edward and the Emprefs, 
 Have levy 'd freOi fupplies, and preiently 
 VViil bid you batiaii in the open tield* ^ 
 
 Sax- rhey never could have come in fitter time ; 
 Thirl'l they for blood? anJ they Oiall quench their thir(f . 
 
 Alex. O piteous fpe^aclel poor Princefs Hedewicl^. 
 
 Sax standnot to pittie» lend a helping hand. 
 
 Jle'x What Have hath murdered this guiltlels Child? 
 
 S^x. What? dar'll thou call me flive unto my face? 
 I tell thee villain. I have dune this deed. ^ 
 And leeing the Father and the Grand fires heart. 
 Can «ive confent and execute their ovvn. 
 Wherefore Oiould fuch a rafcal as thy lelf ^ 
 Prcfume to pittie them, whom we bave flam .-> 
 
 Alex. Pard. ^n me, it it be pr efumption 
 To pittie them, I will prcfume no more. 
 
 Sax. Then help, 1 long to be anrjidft my foe?. ExsuKt. 
 
 AUrnm And Retreat, ACT. V. 
 
 Enter Richard ar.d Collen with 'Drums and Souldiers. 
 
 %tclhtrd. What means ycur Excellence to found retreat? 
 This is the day of doom unto our Ff iend- ; 
 Befoie sun fct,my Sifter, and my Nephew, 
 Vnlefs we refcue them, mull lofe their lives; 
 The cjufe admits no dalliance nor delay. 
 He that fo tyrant-like hath flain his o-vn. 
 Will take no pittie on a lUangers blood. 
 
 Colle-^. \t my entreaty e're we llrikc the battail. 
 Let's fummon out our enemies to a park. ^ 
 
 Words fpokenin time, have venue, power, and price, 
 
jg ALPHONSUS 
 
 Aodmildnefs may prevail and rake eftea, 
 When dyntot'Sword perhaps will aggrame. 
 
 Kich^ Then Ibund a Piarly to fuitill your mind, 
 Alihou''h I know no good can follow it. A TarUj, 
 
 tr.ur A!p'^onrot£»/p*<'/, Sa\on, Edward /?rf/<7;;^r, Tryer, 
 Brandonburg, Alexander and Sotildtcrs. 
 
 j^l:}:of),.VJ^y how now Emperonr that (hould have been, 
 Arc tlicfc the Ep^jHt Generals bravado's? 
 Make yob aflauli io hotly at the firf^ 
 And in the feirfame moment found retreat ? 
 To Icryon know* that neither War nor word?, 
 Hivej>ower for to divert their fatall doom. 
 Thus arc wc both refolv*d; if we tryumph. 
 And by liic right and jul^ice of our caufc 
 Obtain theyictorie, a."; I doubt it not , 
 Then both of yon Qiall bear them Company, 
 Ande're Sun fct we will perform our oaths, 
 With jud ciiufion of their guilty bloods? 
 If you be Conquerours.tnd we otcrcome» . 
 Carry not that cor.ctit co rcfcne thcm^ 
 My felf will be the Executioner, 
 
 And with thei'e Ponyardsfrnft rate all yourhope?. 
 
 Making you tryuirip/i in a bloodie Field. 
 
 Saxon. TopDiyou ont ofdouSt tliat we intend if» 
 
 PleafcityoDrMajcnyiorake ycur Scate, 
 
 And make a dcmonftration of your meaning. 
 
 Atfhen. Pirft on my ri flu hand bind the EnglifK Whore, 
 
 That venemou5 Serpent nurrt within my brcaft 
 
 To fuck the vitall b/oud out of my veins, 
 
 My Emprefs mufi hare fome prehemincncc, 
 
 Efpecially at fuch abloodieBanqoec, 
 
 Her State, and love tome delcrvcs no lefs. 
 
 SaxoK. That to Prince Edward I may flicw lilj^ love. 
 
 And do the lateft honour to his Stare. 
 
 Thefe hrnds of mine that never chained any. 
 
 Shall faften him in fetters to the Chair. 
 
 Now Princes are you ready for the bat tail ? 
 
 Collen. Now att thou right the piflurc of thy- fel€ 
 
 Seated iiviicighc of all thy Tyrannic^ 
 
 Bet 
 
ZfHperfiur 0/ Germany. yp 
 
 Snt tcii nS what intends this fpCv^iac/e. 
 
 Jlfhoyt. To make the certaintie of their death* more plaia 
 j^ncj Cancel all your hopes to fave their live?, ' 
 
 yf\{\\cSax6yj leads iht troups into the Field 9 
 Thus will J vex their fouls, with hght ot death, 
 Loudly exclaming in their half dead car? ,• 
 That ifvve win they Chall havecompanie, 
 Viz.. The Enojfh Emperbur, 
 And you my Lord Archbifhop of C* ///?>/, 
 If wc be vanqui/ht, then they murt expr£l 
 Speedy difpatch from thefe two Daggers point?. 
 
 Collen. What canli thou tyrant then expe^'^but death ? 
 
 JlphoM. Tufhhearmc out, ihac hand which flicd (heir 
 blood, 
 Can do the like to rid me out of bond ^*. 
 
 Rich. But that'f a damned refolution. 
 
 t/ilphoyi. Somali thisdcrperatedii'eafebecnr'd. 
 
 Rich. O Saxon He yield my fcif and all my powe^ 
 ToTavemy Nephew, though my Sifter dye. 
 
 Sax. Thy Brothers Kini^dom dial! not fave his life. 
 
 Edrvard. Uncle, you (ce thefc favage minded meit 
 Will have no other ran'omc but my blood, 
 jEw^/Whath Heir>', though I be never King> 
 And hearts and hands to Icourgc this tyrannic, 
 Ard/ofarewcL 
 
 Emf. Ath.ul'and timcsfarewcl, 
 Sweet Brother Richard and brave Prince o^Coltert. 
 
 Sax. Whar Richardy\\di\.\\ thisob;e«5l pierc'd thy heart? 
 Bythis imagine how it went with me. 
 When yeftcrday I Ikw my diidren. 
 
 Rich. O Saxon I cncreat thee on my Kneef . 
 
 Sax. Thou fhaltobcain like mercy with thy knccling> 
 As lately I obtaind at Edward's hands. 
 
 %ich. Pitty the tears f powr before thy fset. 
 
 ^^.v. Pitty thofe tears? why I (hed bldudic tears. 
 
 J^jck rie do the like to fave Prince Edwardt life. 
 
 ^^.v. Then like a Warrior fpill it in cSfi Field, 
 My griefull anger cannot be appcaz'd, 
 By facrifice of any but himfdf, 
 Thou haft difhoaour'd me, and thou (halt dye ; 
 
 2 2 Therefore 
 
^0 ALPHONSUS 
 
 ThcfcfofCalarntn, alarum to thcfighr, 
 
 That thoufands more may bear thee company.. 
 'B^ch. Nephew and S'i'ler. now farewell for ever 
 Ed, Heaven and the Right prevail, and let medi'e- 
 
 Uncle farewell. ' 
 
 i,7;'p. Brother farewell ontill wee meet in Heaven. 
 Exeunt, Mayjoit Kp\\on>Ed\\, Emp. Aiex'. 
 ^/pho». Here's farewell Brother, N: phew, Vnde Aan 
 
 As if in thoufand years you fiiould not meet* *^ * 
 
 Good Nephew, and good Aunt content yourfelvw 
 
 The Sword of Saxon and chefe Dag oers- point j * 
 
 Before the Evening-Star doth fhcw it fcif. 
 
 Will ukc fuiHcient order for your meeting. 
 
 But j4lcxa>idcr^ my truf^ic Alexander ^ 
 
 Kunto the VVatch-Tow'r as I pointed thcc. 
 
 And by thy life I cha.rgethce iookujuo it ' 
 
 Thou be the firft to bring me certain word 
 
 ! we be Conquerors, or Concjuercd. 
 Alex. With cirefull fpecd I will perform this charge.f*;wr^ 
 Alfhon Now have I ieafureyet totalk with you. 
 
 Fair I{a[;ell, the Palfgrave's VzrmioviT , 
 
 Wherein was he a better man than l> 
 
 Or wberfore fijouid thy love to him, eftcs5l 
 
 Such deadly bate unto thy Emperour ? 
 
 Yet welfare wcnche.-j that c^n love Gcod fcJiows 
 
 AnJ not mix Murder with Adn'tcrie. 
 ^Emp. Great Emperor, I dare not call you Husband, 
 
 Your Confcience knows my bearti unguikinefs. 
 Alpha. Dija thou not poilbn,or confentto poifon us ? ' 
 £r,;p Should any but yx)urf!ighnefsteilmc (o, 
 
 Ifhouidiorgctmy patience at my death, 
 
 And call bm Viiiain, JLiar, Murderer. 
 
 ^/;^c«. She that doth fomifcallmc at hercnd 
 
 Sdwardl prethee fpcak thy Con/cience, * 
 
 T.iinkft thou not that in her profpericie 
 
 Sh'hath vext my Soul with bitter wdrds and Deeds? 
 
 t) Prince of England I do count thee wife 
 
 That thou wilt not be cumber'd with a wife 
 
 When thou hadft Mn her daintie rofcCortnce, 
 
 And pluck d the. flower of her virginiiie. 
 
Zwperour o/Gcrraany* ^^ 
 
 Fia Tyrant -.f S^mn t^ou iief t in thy throat* 
 ^plc.GrM words', thou ieeli thy life is in our haads. 
 
 i. UK' thou art become a common-.Hang^ani 
 4 n Ofc unt nore fitting to thy mind 
 Tha^ prinre.ie to the Imptriall dignitie. 
 
 jlphon. I do not exsrcile oa common perfons, 
 YoJriighncfs is a Princc.and fl-ie an Emprefs, 
 1 therefore count not of adignitie^^ 
 Hatk £^w'^''^ i^ovv they^ labour all in vain , 
 with iofs of many a valiant Soldiers lite. 
 To refcue them whom Heaven and wc have doom'd; 
 Doft thou not tremble when thou think'ft upon'c? - 
 
 Sdn>. Let guiitie minds tremble at fight of Death* 
 My heart is of the nature of the Palm, 
 Not to be broken, till the higheft Bud 
 Be bent and ci'd unto the loweft Root; 
 I rather wonder that thy Tyrants heart 
 Can ^'ve consent that thole thy Butchercus hands 
 Should offer violence to thy Fle(h and Blood, 
 See how her guiltlefs innocence doth plead 
 In (ilent Oratorie of her chafteft tears. 
 
 t/4lpho!j, Thofe tear."? proceed from Fury and curft heart, 
 Iknow thei^omach of your Englifh Dames. 
 
 £mp. No Empcrour, thefe tears proceed from grtcfl 
 
 Alfhon. Grief that thou caaft not bercvcng'dof Vs. 
 
 Sm-p, Grief that your Highnefsij fo ill advised. 
 To offer violence to my Nephew Sd^vard ; 
 Since then there mu(i be faerifice of Blood, 
 Lcttny heart- blood fave both your bloods unfpilt> 
 For of his death, thy Heart mult pay the guilt. 
 
 Sdw. No Auut, I win not buy my lifefo de*ci 
 Therefore Al^honfo if thonbecft a man 
 Shed manly blood, and lee me end this lirife. 
 
 Jlphof7, Here's draining curt'fie at a bitter Fcaft. 
 Content thee Empirefs for thou art my Wife* 
 Thon (halt obtain thy Boon and die the death # 
 And for it were unprinccby to denjr 
 So flight requeft unto fo great a Lord , 
 Ed^vard fliall bear thee company in Death. j4 Retreat. 
 
 •ttthatk the heat of battail hath an end : 
 
 I 3 One 
 
i^2 ALPH0NSU8 
 
 One fide or other hath ihe vi».'^ory, Enter Al^xattie 
 
 And lee where Alexander iweatii;^ comes ; * 
 
 5peak man, what ncvves. Jpeak, fliali I die or live ? 
 Shall f flab lure, or z\^ prolong their jives 
 To grievous Torments? fpeak, am I Conquerour? 
 What, hath thy \a\\ berefc thee of thy fpcech? 
 Hall thou pot breath toTpcakone Tillable? 
 O fpeak, thy dalliance kills me» \vonn or loli? AmAr^i 
 y^lex.Loli. ^ ^ fetsfaUtht 
 
 jilphon. An me my Sen'es fail ! my fight U gon. Differs 
 uilex. Will DOC your Grace difpatch tue Strumpet Queen? 
 Shall (he then live, and we be doom'd to death ? 
 Is your Heart faint, or is your Hand to? weak? 
 Shill fcrviil fear break your'fo facred Oaths.^ 
 Me thinks an Empcrour ODU.'d hold his word; 
 Give me the Weapons,! will foon diipai ch tticm, 
 Aly Fathers yelling Ghoft cries for revenue, 
 Hh B.'ood within my Veins boy is for revenue; 
 
 give me leave Cefar to take reveni;e. 
 ey^lphon. Vpon condition that tnou wilt proteft 
 
 To take revenge upon the Murthercrs , 
 Without refped of dignity, or State* 
 Affliv^ed/peedy, pittilefs Revenge, 
 
 1 will commit this Dagger to thy trufl. 
 And give thee leave to cxecote thy vVil!. 
 
 -/ilex. Whit need I here reiterate the Deeds 
 Which deadly forrow made me perpetrate? 
 How ncer did I entrap Prince Richard's life? 
 How fure fet I the Knife to Mentz, his heart? 
 How cuiininglie was TaLfgravedooxtid, to death? 
 How fuStiliy was J^d/?^^* poifoned? 
 How fitly did I faiisfie my luft: 
 Commixing dulcet Love with deadly Hate, 
 When Prineeffe H^^w'/rj^loll her Maidenhead^ 
 Sweetly embracing me for Englands Heir? 
 
 Edvp. O execrable deeds' 
 
 Emp, Ofalvage minc'l 
 
 jiUx, Edward^ I give thee leave to hear of this. 
 But will forbid the blabbing of your tongoc. 
 Now oratious Lord and lacrcci Etnpcrcyj , YOW 
 
 
JEmperour o/Getmany. ^5 
 
 Your hig^nels knowing thefe and many more, 
 Which learies pregnancie hath wrought in me. 
 You do me wrong to doubt that I will dive 
 Imo their hearts'that have not fpar'd their better?. 
 Be therefore fuddain left we die our fcives. 
 IknowtheConquerour hafts to refcue them. 
 
 Jbhort. Thy Realbns are efFeduail, take this Dagger^ 
 Yeipavvfeawhile- 
 to. Sweet Nephew^ now Tarewe II. 
 Ahhon.Tbty arc trfoft dear to me whom thou muft kill. 
 Umrd. Hark Aunt he now begins to pitiie you. 
 AUx. Buc they conrented to my Fathers death. 
 idl^hon. More then confcnted, they did execute. 
 £wp. IwillnoLmakehis Majeftie a Lyar, 
 I kil. d thy Father, therefore iet me die. 
 But fave the life of this unguilty Prince. 
 
 Ihard. I kiWd thy Father, therefore let me die. 
 Bur ave the life of this unguiltie Emprefs. 
 
 Jlfhon Hark thou to me, and think their words aJ wind 
 I kiird thy Father, therfore let me die. 
 And fave the lives of thefe two guiltlefs Prince?. 
 Art thou amaz'd to hfar what I have faid? 
 There, take the weapon, now revenge at tull 
 Thy Fathers death5 and thofe my dire deceits 
 That made thee murtherer of lo many Souls. 
 
 Alex. O Emperour, how cunningly wouldft thou entrap 
 My f.mple youth to credit Fi».^ions? 
 Thou kill my Father, no, no Emperour» 
 C<epr did love Lorentz^ozW to dearly ; 
 Seeing thy Forces now are vanquiOied, 
 FruHratethy hopes, thy Higlinefs like lofall 
 Into the cruel and revengcfull hands 
 Of mercilefs incenfed Enenjiej , 
 like (dim Caffins wcarie of thy life. 
 Now wouldft thou make thy Page an inftrument 
 By fuddain ftroak to rid thee of thy bond?. 
 
 Alphon. Haft thou forgotten how that very night 
 Tny Father ^y'A, I took the Mafter-Key , 
 Andwith a lighted Torch w^lk'd through the Court. 
 -^^x, I muft remember that, for to my death 
 
^4 ALPHONSUS 
 
 I never Hiall f rgerthe nighted deed, 
 WhichonthatdilhuHNigHtorDayr did. 
 
 ji[pho>!. Tiiou vvaf^ no iboner in thy reftfull ^td, 
 But I di/^urb"d thy Father of his re/f. 
 And to be (liorc, not thai I hited him , 
 But for he knew mydetpefl Secrets, 
 With cunnih« Poilon I did end his li^Q^ 
 Art thou his Son? exprcfs it with aStab^, 
 And make account it I had profpered. 
 Thy date vvas our, thou wall aire, dy doom'd/' 
 Thou kuewfi too mucfi of me to live with me. 
 
 Alex. What wonders do I hear gr.:at Emperour? 
 Not that Ido liodfdltlie beliv-ve 
 Tiiat thou didit murder my beloved Father; 
 Butinmeer piitieot'thy vanquiOi'd Rate 
 J undertake thi<? execution- 
 Ycti for I fear the ff-a;krmg Maieftie . 
 Which ilVue'? from thy 'lioll Imperial, eye$ 
 May f^tike relenting Paffi'*>n to my h-.arc, 
 And after wound leceiv'd from fainting hand. 
 Thou fall halfe dead among thine Enemies, 
 I crave thy Highnefs leave cobinditiee firft. 
 
 A/phon. Then bind me quickly, ufe me as th ou plcafe 
 
 E/>ip. O Villain, wi/t thou kill thv Soverei;^n? 
 
 u4le.\. Your Hig' ne/> lees th.;t I am forc'd unto it. 
 siphon. Fair Emprefff, I Hiame to a<:k thee pardon* 
 Whom Ihavewrong'd fomany thousand waies. 
 
 Fmp. Dread Lord and Husband , leave the/e dcfperat 
 Doubt not the Princes m^ be reconcli'd. (thouohtJ, 
 
 Afex. 'T may be the Princts will be rfconcii'd , 
 But what is that to me? all Potentates on Earth 
 Can flever reconcile my grieved Soul. 
 Thou (Icw'ft my Father, thou didll make this hand 
 Mad with Revenge to mnnher rnn'*>(;enc? , 
 Nokv hear, how in the height o^ all rSy pride 
 Therightfnil Gods hove po>vr'c rheir jiiflfull wrat/i 
 Upontby Tyrants head, r>evi' I as thou art* 
 And fav'd by miracle fhe'e Princes Irve5; 
 For know, thy fide hath ^f the ViAor^ ; 
 Saxo» triuoaphs o?er his dcare/^ friends; 
 
Bmperour tf/ Germany. ^y 
 
 pichayd and Col/eft, both are Prifoners, 
 And every thing hath forced tothywi(h; 
 Only hath Heaven put it in my mind 
 ( for he alone direded then my thoughts 
 Although my meaning was moll triiichievouj ) 
 To tell thee thou hadli loft, in certain hope 
 That fuddainly thou wouldft have flain them both. 
 For if the Princes came to talk about it, 
 I greatly feard their lives might be prolong'd. 
 Art thou net mad to think on this deceit? 
 He make thee madder, with tormenting ihecc 
 I tell thee Arch-Thief, Villain, Murcherer, 
 Tby Forces have obtaind the Vi«f^ory, 
 Vic'lory leads thy Foes in captive bands | 
 ThisVi^ftory hath crown'd thee Empetour, 
 Only my felf have vanqnifht Vis5iory, 
 And triumph in the Victors overthrow. 
 
 Alfhon. O Alexander (pare thy Princes life, 
 
 Alex, Even now thou didft entreat the contrary. 
 
 Alfhon, Think what I am that beggmy life of thee. 
 
 AlexJ\^lx^k what he was whom ihoo haft doom'd to deaths 
 Bm leaft the Princes do (urprize us here 
 Before I have performed my /irange revenge, 
 I will be luddain in the execution. 
 
 Al^hon. I will accept any condicion. 
 
 Alex. Then in the prefence of the Empereft, 
 The captive Prince of £*;^/^«^, and my felf, 
 Forfwear the joyes of Heaven, the Hght of God, 
 Thy Souls falvatidn,and thy Saviour Chri ft. 
 Damning thy Soul to endlel's pains of Hell. 
 Do this or die upon my Rapiers point. 
 
 Emf, Sweet Lord and Husband, ipit in*s face. 
 Didike aman, and live not like a Devill. 
 
 ^lex. What? wilt ihou fave thy life, and damn thy Soul? 
 'ft/^/p^. O hold thy hand, Ahhonfas doth renounce. 
 
 lixvar^. Aunt ftop your years, hear not this Blafphcmy, 
 
 f'Kp-. Sweet Husband think that Chrift did dy for thee. 
 
 Alfhort, Alphotjfns doih renounce the joyesof Heaven^ 
 The fight of Angellsand his Saviours blood, 
 And gives his Soul unto the Devil Is power. 
 
 -^hx. Thus will I make delivery of ihc Dee<l, 
 
 K Dye 
 
6S ALPHONSU^ 
 
 Die and bedamn*d now am I latisficd. 
 
 Eriivnrd. O damned Mi cream, what haft thoii done? 
 
 j4lfx, when I have kifarc I will an/wer ihee: 
 Mwn while I^e take my heels and jave my /cif. 
 It' I bs ever cail'd in qucfhon, 
 I hope your Majc<Hes will fave my life. 
 You have (b happily prelerved yours; ^ 
 Did I not chink i I, both of you Hiould dfe. Exit Altx, 
 
 £«f^r Saxon, Branden. Tryer, CHichard and CoIIen 
 as prifonersj and Soldiers, 
 
 Saxon. Bring forth thefe daring Champions to the BIoc]f> 
 Comfort your felves you fTial have company. 
 Great Emperor. where is his Majeliie.^ 
 What bloody fpcvJ^acledo I beholdi* 
 
 Fm^. Revenue, revenue O Saxort^ ^rartderihtirg^ 
 Mv Lord is flain, C'^f^'^' is doom d to dcatii. 
 
 Ed^vard. Pfince<; makehalJe,to.low the murtherej 
 
 S^xcft, Fs Cd.far flain? 
 
 Edward Follo^v the Mortherer . 
 
 £«/>. Why fiand yoagahng on an ciher thus? 
 Follovy (he Murtherer. 
 
 Saxon. What Murtherer? 
 
 Edward. The villain Alc.\/iyid^r hath flain his LofiJ, 
 Make after him vvith Ipced. fo Hiall you heat 
 Such vi.lanie a-^you have never heard. 
 
 Brdnd. My Lord of Tryet^ we both with our light Horfe 
 Will fcoure the Coalis and quickly brin^ him in. 
 
 S.I \ on. ]'l)2[ can your Excellence alone perform. 
 Stay you my Lord and ;^uard the Prifoners» 
 While I, alas, nnhappie/i P:ince alive, 
 Over his Trunk comume rwv felf in Tears, 
 Hith Alexarfder done t hi « damned deed? 
 That cannot be why Oieu d he flay his Lord? 
 Ocru-i Fate, O miieraMe me ! 
 Me thinks I now preient Marl^ Antony ^ 
 Folding dead J;///«.f ( dfar m mine arrrjs. 
 No, no, I rather will prcfent Achllcs^ 
 And on Fatrocluslomh do lacrLfifc. 
 
 Let 
 
JEmperour ofGcnnmy, 6j 
 
 IctfflC befpurii'dand h.ited asaDo^g, 
 «jjj J perform more direfull bJoodv Kites 
 Than Thetis Son for CMenctiadi^s* 
 
 £drvard. Leave mourning for thy Foes, pitty thy Fricndf. 
 
 5,^;^;. Friends have I none,and that v^hich grieves my Seal, 
 Iswantof Foes to work my wreak upon; 
 Butwefcyou Traitors 4, tour hundred ihoufand. 
 Then might I fatisfie rny lelf with Blood.^ 
 
 Sutcr Brandenb. Alexand. and Soldiers* 
 
 Saxon. See ^Icx/iftder where ^^p)* lieih flain. 
 The guilt wnereot the Traitors cart on theej 
 Speak, canlhhou tell who flew thy Soveraign? 
 
 Alexnn. Why who but I? how ftould I curfemy (eiT 
 If any but my fclf had done this deed ? 
 This happy hand, bJed be my hand therefore, 
 Reveng'dmy Fathen death upon his Soul: 
 And Saxon thou hart caule to curfe and bana 
 That he is dead, before thoudidrt infliv^ 
 Torments on him that fo hath torn thy heart. 
 
 ^4a:ow. What Myrtcriesare thefe? 
 
 iriin. Princes, can you inform us of the Truth ? 
 
 Schard. The Deed's fo heinous that my faltering tongue 
 Abhorres the utterance. Yet Imoftteilir. 
 
 zy^lex. Your Highnefs fiiall not need to take the painj. 
 What you abhorr to tell, I joy to tell. 
 Therefore be filcnt and give audience. 
 You mighty men, and Ruiers of the Earth, 
 Prepare your Ears.tohear of Stratagems 
 Wfiofe dire eff^jfts have gaul'd your princely heart5» 
 Confoundcrd your concJts.n.uffled youreyesf 
 Firft to bei^in. this vil/anou^ Fi^nd of Heil 
 Murther'd my Father, flcepin'g in his Chair, 
 The reafon why. becaufe he only knew 
 AH Ploit>. an j complots of his vil/anie; 
 Hisdeith WIS m de the Bafisand the Ground 
 Of fverymifchief that hath trou'jled you* 
 
 Sitxo». Tf thou, thy Father and thy Progenie 
 Wereh«ii:g*d and burnt, an J broken on the Wheel 
 
 K 2 Hovf 
 
^S ALPHONSUS 
 
 How coald their deaths hcip mifehief on our heads? 
 
 j^lex. And if you will not hear the Reafon chufe. 
 I tell thcc I have ilain an Empero'ur, 
 And thereby think my felf as i;ood a man 
 A 5 thou or any man in Chriflendomj 
 7hou ihalt entreat me ere I tell thee more. 
 3r^iud, Proceed 
 Jle^' Not I. 
 
 Snxofi Iprethenow proceed. 
 ^Irx. Since you inireat me then, I will proceed. 
 Thismurtheron5 Deviil having llainmy Father, 
 Bu2'd cnnninoly jhto my credulous ears, 
 That hy a General Councell of the States, 
 And as it were by SSk of Pavement, 
 The (tven Eie^ors had fcx down his death , 
 And made the Emprefs Execuiicner, 
 Tr jn<rcrring all the quilc from him to you. 
 This I be.'iev'd, and iirfl did fee upnn 
 Tic life ot Princely Krchnn^yby the Boors, 
 But how mv purpoie faild in (hat, his Grace bcft knovrs; 
 N.Nt.by a double intricate deceit, 
 h\M all lis Mirth was BoheM povfoned. 
 And ^ood old McMiz. tofavc j^tpm-^{o's iife. 
 ( Wheat chflt inf^ant was in perfcv*! health ) 
 Twixt jeft and earncH was i-ocdc a SacriHce; 
 As for the ^fileli»e. your Grjces' knew 
 His Highnefs and the Queen<? unguihine?; 
 But now my Lord of Saxon hark to me % 
 Faihcr of 5^xo» fliould I raihcr call you, 
 Twas I that made your Grace a Grandfather : 
 Prirce f^Tv^ir^ plow *d die ground,! fow'd theSecd. 
 Poor HfidewiclihorQ the mo(^ unhappy fruit. 
 Created in amoftunluckie hour, 
 Toa moll violent and untimely death. 
 
 ^.7.v. O lo.i I hfome Villain, Odetcfted deed?, 
 O guiltlefs Prince, O me mol\ mifcrable. 
 
 hy^ad.Bm tell us who revesl'd to thee at Ul\ 
 This Diamefull ^uih, and our unguiltinefs ? 
 
 J lex. why that's the wonder Lords, and thus it was- 
 When like a tyrant he had tane hif fear, 
 
 And 
 
Emper&uy of Germany. 
 
 And that the furie of the Fight began, ^ 
 
 Uoon tHc higheft Watch-Tovy'r of the Forr. 
 
 Jnvas my oriiee'io behold aloffc 
 
 The Warres evenr> and having feen the eftd, 
 
 i faw how Vi^ory with equal wings 
 
 Hang hovering 'twixtthe Batcaih here and iherCi 
 
 TilUt the laft, the EngliHi Lyons fled. 
 
 And Saxons fide obtain'd the Vi^ory; 
 
 Which feenj I pofted from the turrets top , 
 
 More furioufly than crc LaocooK Tir), 
 
 When Trojan hands drew in Tro/s overthrow, 
 
 Buryet as fatally as he or any. 
 
 The tyrant feeing me, ftar'd in my face, 
 
 And fuddamly demanded vvhats the newes, 
 
 J, as the Fates would have it, hoping that he 
 
 Even in a twinkling would have Oain 'em both. 
 
 For 10 he fvvore before the Fight be^an 9 
 
 Cri'd bitterly that he had loii the day. 
 
 The found whereof did kill his dafiard heart* 
 
 And made the Villain defperatly confefs 
 
 Themurther of my Father, praying me , 
 
 With dire revenge, to ridd him of his life; 
 
 Short talc to make, I bound him cunningly^ 
 
 Told him of the deceit, triumphing over him. 
 
 And lal^ly with my Rapier flew him dead. 
 
 Sax. O Heavens ! julWy have you tan^ revenge*. 
 But thou, thou murthercus adulterous Have , 
 WhstBulI of Phalansy what flrange device, 
 Shall we invent to take away thy life? 
 
 Jlex. If Edrvard and the Emprefs, whom I fav*^d. 
 Will not requite it now, and favemylife. 
 Then let me die, contentedly I die. 
 Having at lall reveng'd my Fathers death. 
 
 Sax. Villain, not all the world fliall fave thy life, 
 
 Edw. Hadft thou not been Author of my HedewicKs deaths 
 I Would have certainly fav'd tfiec from d^^ach; 
 But iF my Sentence novr may rake etfe.-^, 
 I would adjudge the Villain to be han.H'd 
 As here the Jewes are hang'd in Germany. 
 
 Sax. Young Prince it fhall be fo; co dragg the Siavc 
 
 K5 ^ " Uao 
 
70 ALPHONSUS 
 
 Ijnfo thepiace of execucion: 
 
 There let tbe Jadas, on a jcvvifli Gallowes, 
 
 Hang bjthe heds between two Englifh Mafiives, 
 
 There feed on Doggs, let Doggs there feed on theej 
 
 And by all means prolong hismiferie. 
 
 Alex. O mi^ht thy felf and all thefe Eoglidi Curry, 
 Infttfadof Maltive-Doggshangbymy fide. 
 How fweetly would I tugg upon your FleHi. Extt Altx* 
 
 Sax. A.way with him, fuf^cr him not to fpealc. 
 And now my lords, ColUn, Trver, and Barndcftbttrg^ 
 Whofe Hearts arc bruz'd to inink upon thefe wocs, 
 Thou^ihnomanhath fuch reafon asmy Tel^ 
 We ofthe feven Eiecf^ors that remain , 
 After (o many bloody Maffacr&s, 
 Kneeling npon ouf Knees, humbly irjtrcat 
 Your Excellence to be our Emperour. 
 The Royalties ofthe Coronation 
 Shallbc at ey/'jt:, Oiortly folcmnfzed. 
 
 Cullen. Brave Princely ^/V/?/jr^ now rcCifc it nor. 
 Though the EIc(5)ion be made in Tears, 
 joy fhall attend thy Coronation. 
 
 Richard, h ftands not with mine Honour to de»y iu 
 Yet by mine honour, fain I would refufe if. 
 
 Edivjrd Uncle, the weight of ail thefe Mifcries 
 Makethmy heart as heavj' as yourovyn. 
 But an Imperial Crown would iijibrenu . 
 Let this one reafonmake you take the Crown* 
 Richard, What's that fweet nephew? 
 Edward. Sweet Uncle, this it is. 
 Was n^ver Englifhmanyct Enoperour* 
 Therefore to honour EngUnd and your felf. 
 Let private fcrrow yield topublike Fame , 
 That once anEnglifhmanbare Cafar's name. 
 
 ^/<rW^.Nephcw,thou haft prevaiJ'd; Princes ftand op. 
 We humbly do accept your facred offer. 
 
 Cnllen, Then found the Trumpets, and cry P^tvat Cafar. 
 Alt. ytvat C<ejar. 
 
 Ct*lUn, Richarditj 7)ei grtitia Romanorum Imperat&r,ffnt' 
 per AtiguftHj, Comes CornuHd, 
 
 Richard 
 
Entfcrour of Germany. 17 
 
 fjcharJ. Svveei Siiicr now let Cxjar comfort you , 
 And aU ihe reft that yei are comfonlef j 
 Let ihem cxpcift trom Engiifli Cafar's hands 
 peace, and awndance of all earthly Joy. 
 
 FINIS 
 
Notes 
 
 73 
 
NOTES 
 Page I 
 
 Stage direction : Alexander de Tripes. 
 
 This character is later referred to as Alexander de Toledo, 
 and his father, who in the dramatis personcB appears as 
 Lorenzo de Cipres (a probable misprint for Cyprus) , is on 
 p. 13, 1. 4, spoken of as Lorenzo de Toledo. 
 
 Page 2 
 
 Line 15: He learns his wisdom, not by flight of Birds. 
 Compare with ^neid, Bk. Ill, 11. 359-361 : 
 
 " Troiugena, inter pres divum, giii numina Phoehi, 
 qui tripodas, Clarii laurus, qui sidera sentis 
 et volucrum linguds et prcepetis omina pinna,'' etc. 
 
 Line 16: By prying into sacrificed beasts. 
 
 Compare this passage with jEneid, Bk. IV, 11. 63-64: 
 
 "... pecudumque reclusis 
 pectoribus inhians spir antra consulit exta.'' 
 
 Line 17: By Hares that cross the way. 
 
 Compare with Webster's Duchess of Malfi, Act II, sc. 2: 
 
 "The throwing down salt, or crossing of a hare 
 
 . . . are of power 
 
 To daunt whole man in us. " 
 
 Line 17 : by howling Wolves. 
 
 75 
 
76 Alphonsus 
 
 The wolf had an uncanny reputation among the Eliza- 
 bethans. Thus in Macbeth, Act II, sc. i, appear the lines: 
 
 "... and wither'd Murther 
 Alarum 'd by his centinell, the Wolfe 
 Whose howle's his Watch," etc. 
 
 Duchess oj Malfi, Act IV, sc. i : 
 
 "The wolf shall find her grave, and scrape it up, 
 Not to devour the corpse, but to discover 
 The horrid murder." 
 
 Also see Go<i'5 Revenge against Murther, Bk. VI, Hist. 27, 
 p. 407, ed. 1670, 
 
 Pages 
 
 Line i : Una arbusta non alit duos Erithicos: — 
 
 "ou Tpeipst ]xi(i ^oyj^r\ ouo IptOaxouq " Schol. Aristoph. Ve.sp., 
 
 922. Stephani Thesaur. s. 'EpcSaxo?. Plin. Hist. Nat., 
 
 X, 29, 44 [Elze's note]. 
 
 Line 41 : LA Prince must be of the nature of the Lion 
 and the Fox ; but not the one without the other. 
 
 Meyer points out (Machiavelli and the Elizabethan Drama, 
 pp. 134-135) that this maxim is derived from Gentillet's 
 Discours sur les Moyens de bien gouverner et maintenir en 
 bonne paix tin Royanme ou autre Principaute . . . Contre 
 Nicholas Machiavel, 1576, popularly known as Contre 
 Machiavel. 
 
 Meyer gives, for purposes of comparison, the passage 
 from // Principe, followed by the derived passage in Contre 
 Machiavel and the corresponding passage in Patericke's 
 rendering of Gentillet. 
 
 Machiavelli (chap, xviii) says: " Essendo adunque un 
 principe necessitato sapere bene usare la bestia, debbe di 
 quella pigliare la volpe ed il leone; perche il leone non si 
 difende dai lacci, la volpe non si difende da' lupi. Bisogyia 
 adunque essere volpe a conoscere i lacci, e Hone a sbigottire i 
 
Notes ^'] 
 
 lupi. Coloro che stanno semplicemente in sul Hone non se 
 ne intendono." 
 
 Gentillet's version reads: "Le Prince doit ensuyure la 
 nature du Lyon, et dii Renard: non de Vim sans V autre. " 
 
 Patericke translates: "A prince ought to follow the 
 nature of the Lyon and of the Fox, yet not of the one without 
 the other. " 
 
 Page 4 
 
 Lines 3-6: I'l imitate Lysander in this point, 
 
 And where the Lion's hide is thin and scant, 
 ri firmly patch it with the Foxes fell. 
 Let it sufhce I can be both in one. 
 
 Compare this passage with Plutarch's Lysander, which 
 would seem to be its source : " When he [Lysander] was told, 
 it did not become the descendants of Hercules to adopt 
 such artful expedients, he turned it off with a jest, and said, 
 'Where the lion's skin falls short, it must be eked out with 
 the fox's.'" 
 
 Also compare with lines 1 732-4 in Selimus: 
 
 " I like Lysander' s counsel passing well ; 
 * If that I cannot speed with lion's force 
 To clothe my complots in a fox's skin.'" 
 
 It is a singular coincidence that both this passage from 
 Selimus and the one from Alphonsus are imbedded in 
 material Machiavellian in character. 
 
 Lines 7-9: 2. A Prince above all things must seem de- 
 vout ; but there is nothing so dangerous to his state, as to 
 regard his promise or his oath. 
 
 For this passage Meyer (p. 135) refers the reader to 
 Gentillet, ii, i, and iii, 21, The former reads: " Un 
 prince, sur toutes choses, doit appeter d'estre estime devot, 
 bien gtiil ne le soit pas.^^ The latter reads: "Le Prince 
 prudent ne doit observer la fay, quand V observation liiy en est 
 
78 Alphonsus 
 
 dommageable, et que les occasions qui la luy ont fait promettre 
 sent passees. " Meyer likewise makes reference to Principe, 
 i8: Discorsi, iii, 42. 
 
 Lines 15-16: 3. Trust not a reconciled friend; for good 
 turns cannot blot out old grudges. 
 
 Meyer (p. 135) directs the reader to Gentillet, iii, 6, a 
 passage which is worded as follows: " C est folic de penser 
 que nouveaux plaisirs facent oublier vieilles offences aux 
 grajids Seigneurs. " Reference is likewise made to Principe, 
 7: Discorsi, iii, 4: 1st. Fior., iv (217). 
 
 Lines 25-32 : This speech should be assigned to Lorenzo, 
 not to Alphonsus. 
 
 Page 5 
 
 Line i: Hungarian Ducates. 
 
 "The Gold Ducket of Hungary," says Fynes Moryson 
 {Itinerary, vol. ii, p. 143), "is of the purest gold of twenty 
 foure Caracts, and it is two penny weight and sixe graines 
 ; and in England they are worth seven shillings 
 and two pence, " On p. 124 of this volume Moryson states 
 that this coin was in use in Bohemia, was most current in 
 Vienna and the confines of Hungary, and was used 
 more extensively than other large coins in Dantzic and 
 throughout all Poland. Moryson goes on to say (vol. ii, 
 pp. 154 and 158) that the Hungarian Ducat was of the same 
 standard, fineness, and value as the Venetian zecchine and 
 the Turkish Sultanon. 
 
 Line i : Crusadoes. 
 
 According to Moryson {Itinerary, vol. ii, p. 145), "the 
 short and long Crusado was esteemed at five and thirty, the 
 Hungarian Ducket at thirty silver Groshen" [the silver 
 ^rosh was worth more than twopence and less than two- 
 pence halfpenny English money]. This was the value in 
 Magdeburg, Leipzig, Misen, in all the Electorate of Saxony, 
 
Notes 79 
 
 and in the neighbouring territories, to the confines of 
 Bohemia. 
 
 Line 3 : English Angels. 
 
 Fynes Moryson (Itinerary, vol. i, p. 23) gives the value 
 of this coin: " A Gold Angell of the standard of 23 Caracts 3 
 graines and an halfe, is three peny waight and 8 graines, and 
 is given for ten silver shillings, 12 pence making a shilling, 
 the silver being of the standard of 11 ounces two peny 
 weight, and the shilling foure penny (or ninety six graines) 
 weight." This standard was adopted in the year 1600. 
 The standard of the year 1609 was lighter than the standard 
 of the year 1600 by ten pence in each angel, and the second 
 standard of this same year was lighter in like proportion 
 than the second standard of the year 1600. See Fynes 
 Moryson, Itinerary, vol. ii, pp. 135-137. The facility with 
 which the word angel lent itself to punning proved here, 
 as in other instances throughout the Elizabethan drama, 
 an irresistible temptation. 
 
 Line 4: crosses. 
 
 Pieces of money, so named because many pieces had a 
 cross on one side. 
 
 Line 7: holiness. 
 
 Elze thus explains the application of this title to the 
 Archbishop of Mentz: "From the times of St. Boniface 
 the Archbishop of Mentz was always considered the highest 
 dignitary of the Church next to the Pope; his was a Holy 
 See {heiliger Stuhl) like the Pope's, whilst the other Arch- 
 bishops were styled Archbishops of the Holy Cathedrals 
 {der heiligen Kirche) of Collen, Trier, etc. " 
 
 Lines 12-13 • for i^i election his voice is first. 
 
 This is an error. Fynes Moryson, on the authority of 
 the Golden Bull, gives the order of registering the choice as 
 follows: It is decreed "that the Arch-bishop of Mentz shall 
 aske the Voyces first, of the Arch-bishop of Trier, then of 
 the Arch-bishop of Colon, then of the King of Bohemia, 
 
8o Alphonsus 
 
 then of the Palatine, then of the Duke of Saxony, then of the 
 Marquis of Brandeburg, and lastly that these Princes 
 shall aske the Voyce of the Arch-bishop of Mentz" {Itiner- 
 ary, vol. iv, p. 258). 
 
 Line 14: 4. 'T is more safety for a Prince to be feared 
 than loved. 
 
 Meyer makes reference {Machiavelli and the English 
 Drama, p. 136) to Gentillet, iii, 9. Also Principe, 17: 
 Discorsi, iii, 21 : 1st. Fior., ii (130). Gentillet, iii, 9, reads: 
 " Mieux vant a un Prince d'estre craint gii'aime. " 
 
 Lines 15-18 : Love is an humour pleaseth him that loves ; 
 Let me be hated, so I please my self. 
 Love is an humour mild and changeable; 
 But fear engraves a reverence in the heart. " 
 
 Meyer (p. 136) calls attention to the fact that Gentillet 
 says: " Les hommes {dit nostre Florentin) aiment comnie il 
 leiir plait, et craignent comme il plait au Prince,'' and that 
 Machiavelli says: '^ Conchido adunque, tornando alV esser 
 temuto et amato, che amando gli iiomini a posta loro, et temendo 
 a posta del Principe, deve un principe savio fondarsi in su 
 guello che e siio, non in su guello che b d'altri." Meyer 
 concludes from this that the author of Alphonsus had 
 Gentillet and not Machiavelli before him. 
 
 Lines 19-22: 5, To keep an usurped Crown, a Prince 
 must swear, forswear, poyson, murder, and commit all 
 kind of villanies, provided it be cunningly kept from the eye 
 of the world. 
 
 Meyer (p. 136) refers to Gentillet, iii, 18; also Principe, 
 18 : Discorsi, ii, 13 : ist. Fior., iii (147). Meyer further calls 
 attention to the fact that in the reference to "poison, mur- 
 der, and all kinds of villainies" the influence of Marlowe 
 and the drama subsequent to Marlowe is apparent. The 
 passage in Gentillet referred to reads: "Le Prince ne doit 
 craindre de se perjurer, tromper et dissimider: car le trompeur 
 trouve tousiours qui se laisse tromper.'' 
 
Notes 8 1 
 
 Lines 31-34: 6. Be alwaies jealous of him that knows 
 your secrets, 
 
 And therefore it behooves you credit few ; 
 
 And when you grow into the least sus- 
 pect, 
 
 With silent cunning must you cut them 
 off. 
 
 "This last," says Meyer, p. 136, "is not to be found 
 exactly as stated either in Machiavelli or Gentillet, but 
 must have been perverted by the dramatists from Principe, 
 
 23- 
 
 See Introduction to this edition. 
 
 Line 40 : That it is twenty days before it works. 
 See Introduction. 
 
 Page 6 
 
 Line 12 : Aeneas Pilot by the God of dreams. 
 A reference to Palinurus. For an account of Palinurus* 
 fatal sleep see the closing portion of Bk. V of the JEneid. 
 
 Page 7 
 
 Line 2 : We the seven Pillars of the German Empire. 
 
 Elze calls attention to the fact that the Electors are 
 referred to as pillars in Bulla Aurea, chap, xii: "Sacri 
 Imperii Electores . . . qui solidce bases Imperii et 
 columnce immobiles, " which citation in the English edition 
 of the Golden Bull (161 9) reads: "Which sound pillers and 
 stedfast and immoveable supporters of the Empire. " 
 
 Line 9: Sewer to the Emperour. 
 
 This title is wrongly assigned to the King of Bohemia, 
 belonging by rights to the Palatine. Fynes Moryson calls 
 the King of Bohemia " Archbutler of the Empire " {Itinerary, 
 vol. iv, p. 256). 
 
82 Alphonsus 
 
 Line lo sqq.: Do take my seat next to the sacred throne. 
 Elze points out that "the precedence here assigned to the 
 Princes Electors does not agree with the Golden Bull." 
 
 Line 12: Archbishop of Mentz, Chancelor of Germany. 
 
 In his Crudities, vol. ii, p. 275, Coryat states that the 
 Archbishop of Mentz is "intituled Chancellor of Germany 
 for the more addition of dignity." Moryson, too, alludes 
 to the Archbishop under this title {Itinerary, vol. iv, p. 256) . 
 
 Line 16: His Highness Taster. 
 
 Strictly not Taster but chief Sewer, an office which the au- 
 thor of Alphonsus wrongly assigns to the King of Bohemia. 
 Coryat in his Crudities, vol. ii, p. 223, assigns the Palatine 
 his full title, " Serenissimus Princeps etc. Elector, Comes 
 Palatinus ad Rhenum, Sacri Romani Imperii Archidapifer, 
 et BavaricB Dux." He is intitled Archidapifer, he explains 
 (vol. ii, p. 224), "because he is chiefe Sewer to the Emper- 
 our, and attendeth him at Table the first meale that hee 
 maketh after his Election, according to an ancient custome 
 that hath beene continually observed at the Emperours 
 election any time these sixe hundred yeares and a little more, 
 by the first institution of Otho the third Germane Emperor 
 of that name." Fynes Moryson confirms the statement 
 regarding this custom (Itinerary, vol. iv, p. 256): "The 
 Count Palatine of the Rheine carries the first dish at the 
 feast of the Emp. coronation." 
 
 Line 26 : Chancelor of Gallia. 
 
 Should be Chancellor of Italy. 
 
 Coryat (Crudities, vol. ii, p. 333) cites two epitaphs in 
 which the titles of the Archbishops of Cologne appear : 
 
 " Reverendissimo Domino D. Adolpho Archiepo. ac Prin- 
 cipi Electori Coloniensi, S. Rom. Impii per Italiam Archi- 
 cancellario, legatogiie nato, Westphalice et Angaries Diici, etc. 
 ex illustri familid Comitum a Schawenhurg oriiindo," etc. 
 
 Another epitaph: 
 
 "Reverendissimo Domino D. Antonio electa ac confirmato 
 Principi Electori Coloniensi, S. S. Imperii Per Italiam 
 
Notes 83 
 
 Archcancellano, Legaioque nato, Westphalia e Angaria Duci, 
 ex illustri Jamilid Comitum d, Schawenhurg oriundo," etc. 
 
 Moryson calls the Archbishop of Cologne "Chancelor 
 for Italy" (Itinerary, vol. iv, p. 256). 
 
 Line 32 : Arch-Marshal, to the Emperour. 
 Fynes Moryson refers to the Duke of Saxony as the 
 "Marshal of the Empire" (Itinerary, vol. iv, p. 256). 
 
 Line 34 : Chancelour of Italic. 
 
 This is the title of the Archbishop of Cologne. Trier 
 was Chancellor of Gallia, an office wrongly assigned to 
 Cologne. 
 
 Line 37 : Whose Office is to be the Treasurer. 
 
 This was not the office of Brandenburg, who, on the 
 contrary, was "Great Chamberlaine, " under which title 
 Fynes Moryson refers to him (Itinerary, vol. iv, p. 256). 
 
 Pages 
 
 Line 33 : when we once are set. 
 Elze has the following note on this passage: — 
 " I am unable to say, whether or not the custom alluded 
 to in the text was really observed in the elective council; 
 thus much, however, is certain, that it admirably harmon- 
 izes with the directions contained in the Golden Bull: 
 'They (viz. the Electors) shall proceed to the Election and 
 shall not in any manner depart out of the said Citie of 
 Franckford, before that the greater part of them shall have 
 chosen a temporall head or governour of the world or of 
 Christendome, a King of Romains, to be Emperour, which 
 if they shall prolong or def erre the space of thirty dayes from 
 the day of taking their oathes, then the said thirty dayes 
 being expired, they shall eate nothing but bread and water, 
 nor by any meanes goe away from the said Citie, until 1 
 or before they or the greater number of them shall have 
 chosen the ruler or temporall head of Christendome, as afore- 
 said.' Compare also the following passage from Romer- 
 
84 Alphonsus 
 
 Biichner, Die Wahl und Kronung der deiitschen Kaiser zu 
 Frankfurt a. M. (Frankf. a. M., 1858), p. 34 sg.: 'Die Wahl- 
 kapelle, Capella regia oder imperaioria, in der Bartholo- 
 mdikirche [zu Frankfurt], welche wahrscheinlich Karl IV. 
 selhst erbauen Hess, befindet sich aif der Sildseite des hohen 
 Chores, ist 45 Fuss lafig und 16 Fuss breit und hat nur 
 Einen Eingang, ndmlich vom hohen Chor aus, indent diejenige 
 Thiir, welche aus der Wahlkapelle in die Heilig-Grabkapelle 
 filhrt, erst spdter gebrochen zu sein schei?it. Auf der Sild- 
 seite der Wahlkapelle finden wir seitwarts an den beiden mit- 
 tleren Fenstern zwei zugemauerte Oeffnungen, die kehie Thiir en 
 sein konnen. Wenn auch in spdtere?i Zeiten und namentlich 
 seit Karl V. die Wahl nur mehr eine Formsache war und in 
 ganz kurzer Zeit beendigt wurde, so scheint es doch friiher, 
 zur Zeit des Baues der Kapelle, die Absicht gewesefi zu sein, 
 dass, wie bei der Papstwahl die Cardindle eingemauert worden, 
 auch die Wahlfilrsten nicht eher den Wahlort verlassen sollten, 
 bis die Wahl beendigt sei, und diese beiden Oeffnungen zur 
 Darreichung von Lebensmitteln angebracht wurden. Wenig- 
 stens musste jedesmal, auch bei der letzten Wahl 7ioch, wdhrend 
 der Zusammen-ktcnft im Conclave der Reichs-Erbthiirhiiter 
 den Eingajig bewacheny 
 
 Page 9 
 
 Line 32 : To you my Lord of Mentz it doth belong, 
 Having first voice in this Imperial Synod. 
 
 This is not the official order of voting. See note regard- 
 ing 11. 12-13 of p. 5. 
 
 Page 10 
 
 Line 18: Your Holiness. 
 See note on 1. 7 of p. 5. 
 
 Line 36: And to that end Edward the Prince of Wales. 
 This is an anachronism. The Edward ^referred to was 
 the eldest son of Henry HI, later Edward L The first 
 
Notes 85 
 
 Prince of Wales, however, was Edward II. It is in order to 
 state, in this connection, that Edward I was never in Ger- 
 many and that the romantic adventure attributed to him, 
 in which Hedewick also figures, has no foundation in fact. 
 
 Line 37: Hath born his Uncle Company to Germany. 
 Richard of Cornwall was a younger brother of Henry III. 
 
 Page 12 
 
 Line 4 : the Earl of Leicester. 
 An allusion to Simon de Montfort. 
 
 Line 16: Your Holiness. 
 See note on 1. 7 of p. 5. 
 
 Page 13 
 
 Line 25 : wehrsaffiig. 
 
 A misprint for wehrhaftig, meaning able to carry arms. 
 
 Line 26: A man must be a Boy at 40 years. 
 It is very probable that we have here a reference to the 
 " Schwahenalter . " 
 
 Lines 28-29: Till being soundly box'd about the cars, 
 
 His Lord and Master gird him with a sword. 
 
 This is an allusion to an old German custom. Elze 
 quotes a parallel passage from Simplicissimus (ed. A. 
 Keller, ii, p. 179): " Dannenhero erhielte ich bald von ihm, 
 dass er mir einen Degen schenckte und mich mil einer 
 Maultasche wehrhaft machte. " 
 
 Page 14 
 
 Line 3 : Pillars. 
 
 See note on 1. 2 of p. 7. 
 
 Line 25 : Holiness. 
 See note on 1. 7 of p. 5. 
 
86 Alphonsus 
 
 Page 15 
 
 Line 2 : Count Mansfield. 
 
 Elze points out that this name was known to the poet's 
 contemporaries, Count Ernest Mansfield having visited 
 London in the second decade of the 17th century. 
 
 Line 33 : If we want Venson either red or fallow. 
 
 Red and fallow deer were plentiful in England. Fynes 
 Moryson states {Itinerary, vol. iv, p. 168), "The Kings 
 Forrests have innumerable heards of Red Deare, and all 
 parts have such plenty of Fallow Deare, as every Gentleman 
 of five hundreth or a thousand pounds rent by the yeere 
 hath a Parke for them inclosed with pales of wood for two 
 or three miles compasse . . . Lastly (without offence 
 be it spoken) I will boldly say, that England (yea perhaps 
 one County thereof) hath more fallow Deare, then all 
 Europe that I have scene." Moryson affirms (vol. iv, p. 
 139) that in France there were no fallow deer, though there 
 were red deer. In the Netherlands there were no red deer 
 nor had they any enclosed parks for fallow deer. See 
 Moryson (vol. iv, p. 60). 
 
 Page 16 
 
 Line i : Wild bore. 
 
 The "hunting of wilde boares, " says Coryat {Crudities, 
 vol. ii, p. 138), "is more exercised by the Germans then by 
 any other Christian nation." 
 
 Line 14: lusty. 
 
 Merry, like the German lustig. 
 
 Line 31 : your Holiness the Vice. 
 See note on 1. 7 of p. 5. 
 
 Line 33 : play the Ambodexter. 
 
 Regarding the expression "play the Ambodexter, " which 
 occurs also in Middleton's Family of Love, Act V, sc. 3, Bullen 
 has the following note: " 'Play Ambidexter' = keep well with 
 
Notes 87 
 
 both sides. A tricksey character in Wilham BuUein's 
 Dialogue against the Fever Pestilence, 1564, is named Ambi- 
 dexter. In legal phraseology the term was applied to 
 'that juror or embracer that taketh of both parties for the 
 giving of his verdict.' — Cowell's Interpreter.'" Ambidex- 
 ter, the Vice in Preston's King Cambises, thus explains his 
 name: 
 
 " My name is Ambidexter, I signify one 
 That with both hands finely can play." 
 
 Page 17 
 
 Line 2 : Take this, and that, and therewithall this Sword. 
 See note on 11. 28-29 of p. 13. 
 
 Line 33 : See dodh, dass ist hier kein gebranch. 
 
 Elze reconstructs this line as follows : Sieh dock, das ist 
 
 hier kein gehrauch." 
 
 Elze cites Shakespeare's Henry V, Act V, sc. 2. "Les 
 dames et demoiselles, pour estre haisees devant leurs noces, 
 it nest pas la coutume de France.'" Elze refers the reader 
 for information about the English fashion of kissing the 
 ladies to Rye's England as seen by Foreigners, 260 s^q. 
 
 Page 18 
 
 Line 16: mock her in her mirth. 
 
 The second "her" should, of course, be altered to "your. " 
 
 Line 28 : Ey Lirbes frawlin nim es all fur gutti. 
 Elze changes this passage to *'£i, liebes Frawlin, nempt es 
 allfiir giitte." 
 
 Line 35: upsy Dutch. 
 
 "'Upsy,'" says Elze, "is printed in black-letter, as if it 
 was a German word. — This is a curious passage, the phrase 
 'upsy Dutch' having this once no reference to drinking. 
 'Upsy Dutch' is a corruption either of the Middle Dutch 
 'op syn dietsch' or of the Low German 'op syn diltsch.' It 
 
88 Alphonsus 
 
 means 'in his German,' 'in German,' or as the Germans say, 
 'auf gut Deutsch,' and, from the language, has been trans- 
 ferred to German manners altogether." In this connection 
 the reference is to the German custom of kissing one's own 
 hand as a form of salutation. 
 
 Page 19 
 
 Line 10: filtz gehen. 
 
 This phrase signifies to chide. It is an expression, says 
 Elze, that "frequently occurs in the plays of Ayrer, of 
 Duke Heinrich Julius, in Simplicissimus, and other writers 
 of the time." 
 
 Lines 22 and 3 1 : Prince of Wales. 
 See note on 1. 36 of p. 10. 
 
 Line 37 : Wass ihr durleichtigkeit dass will dass will mein 
 vattler. 
 
 Elze changes this corrupt passage to " Was Ihre Durch- 
 lauchtigkeit will, das will mein Vater." 
 
 Page 21 
 
 Line 30: whore of Babylon. 
 
 A phrase not infrequently used in the Elizabethan and 
 Jacobean periods. Dekker has a play by this title. 
 Thomas Browne in Religio Medici, p. 12, says, speaking of 
 the Pope, "yet can no Ear witness, I ever returned him the 
 Name of Antichrist, Man of Sin, or Whore of Babylon." 
 
 Page 22 
 
 Line 21: Pontificalihus. 
 
 The following explanation of this word appears in 
 Murray's New English Dictionary: "Lat., abl. of ponti- 
 ficalia (The vestments and other insignia of a bishop). 
 Almost always used in the phrase in his (or their) pon- 
 tificalihus, in imitation of the Latin phrase. Hence (some- 
 times) improperly as if an ordinary English noun." 
 
Notes 89 
 
 Page 23 
 
 Line 17: griping at our lots. 
 
 Elze calls attention to the fact that the dramatist has 
 discarded the more usual phrase, "drawing our lots," to 
 adopt a phrase that reads like a translation of the German 
 idiom beim Greifen nach den Loosen. 
 
 Line 37: By Letters which I '1 strew within the Wood. 
 See Introduction. 
 
 Page 24 
 
 Line 5 : To rid my foes. 
 
 Elze compares this construction of the verb "to rid" to 
 the line in Richard II, Act V, sc. 4, "I am the king's friend 
 and will rid his foe. " 
 
 Line 17 : To Revel it with Rhadamant in Hell. 
 
 Rhadamant was a judge of the Nether World. A Styg- 
 ian vocabulary was characteristic of the plays of Seneca, 
 which exerted considerable influence upon the Elizabethan 
 drama. 
 
 Line 20: plumper Bowr, 
 
 Elze interprets this phrase as "a lubberly peasant." 
 
 Page 25 
 
 Line 8: Till thou in Aix be Crowned Emperour. 
 
 Aix = Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 
 According to Fynes Moryson (Itinerary, vol. iv, p. 261), 
 "the Emperour was to be chosen at Franckfort, crowned at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, and was, unless prevented by some lawful 
 impediment, to hold his first Court in Nurnberg." 
 
 Stage direction : Enter two Bowrs. 
 
 As Prof. Parrott points out {Anglia, vol. xxx, Ncue 
 Folge, 18, p. 361), this is an anticipation of the entrance of 
 Hans and Jerick four lines later. It should be omitted. 
 
90 Alphonsus 
 
 Stage direction : Jerick reads. 
 
 This stage direction should follow the words in the next 
 line "Hear weiier/* 
 
 Lines 28-29 • versahmen. 
 Should read "versdumen.** 
 
 Line 30: Karl. 
 
 Should read Kerl, as Elze points out. 
 
 Page 26 
 
 Line 6: jenner selleuch. 
 
 "jener soil euch " is Elze's substitution. 
 
 Line 7: hried. 
 
 Should read "beruri,** according to Elze. 
 
 Line 2C : Dat dich potts velten leiden. 
 
 "Elze translates this "may the falling sickness hurt you" 
 and compares the phrase with "Dass Dich Potz V cites 
 marter schend" [Ayrer's Dramas (ed. Keller, iv, 2816)], and 
 " Dass dich sant Veltin schend" (Ibid, v, 3216). 
 
 Line 23 : harr ich will dich lernen. 
 
 Elze compares this to the line in Ayrer's Dramas (ed. 
 Keller, iv, 2695): "Harr! ich will dich bringn von der 
 Gassn.^^ 
 
 Page 27 
 
 Lines 3-4: So mus ich meren. 
 
 Elze emends to "so muss ich mich wehren." 
 
 Line 6 : karle. 
 See p. 25, 1. 30. 
 
 Lines 24-26 : how dare you then 
 
 Being Princes offer to lay hands on me? 
 
 That is the Hangmans Office here in Dutch-land. 
 
Notes 91 
 
 "The Germans," says Fynes Moryson {Itinerary, vol. iv, 
 p. 287), "hold it reprochfuU to apprehend any malefactor, 
 which is onely done by the Serjeants of the Hangmans 
 disgracefull Family." 
 
 Page 29 
 
 Line 10: wait up. 
 
 Elze points out that this is a literal translation of auf- 
 
 warten. 
 
 Page 30 
 
 Line 9: upsie Dutch. 
 See note on L 35 of p. 18. 
 
 Page 31 
 
 Lines 1-2 : In Saxon Land you know it is the use. 
 
 That the first night the Bridegroom spares 
 the Bride. 
 
 Regarding the custom here alluded to, Elze has the fol- 
 lowing note: "It was a far-spread custom in the early 
 Christian church for newly-married couples to pass the 
 first three nights in prayer, according to the pious example 
 set by Toby (Book of Toby, ch. 8) ; by such continence they 
 hoped to propitiate heaven and to call down the blessings 
 of God on their marriage. This custom was expressly 
 enjoined by a council held at Carthage in 398, and par- 
 ticularly prevailed in Italy and in France. From the in- 
 formation we can gather on the subject, it appears highly 
 improbable that the Germans should ever have shown the 
 same implicit obedience to this mandate of the church as 
 their western and southern neighbours. Their cooler blood 
 did not require such a check to their desires; they rather 
 took a legal view of matrimony and, according to the Saxon 
 law. did not think it consummated before the young couple 
 had been covered by one blanket. It therefore formed part 
 
92 Alphonsus 
 
 of the marriage ceremonies almost down to the end of the 
 i6th century, that the young couple, in presence of the wit- 
 nesses and guests, and without undressing, ascended a couch 
 and there for a little while lay down under the same cover. ' ' 
 
 Line 22 : dis nicht hen mee. 
 
 Elze changes to ^^dis nacht hey me.''* 
 
 Line 24: mist begeraji. 
 
 Elze substitutes "nicht hegeren." 
 
 Line 28 : a Jacohs staff. 
 
 An astronomical instrument. 
 
 Page 32 
 
 Line i : We drink about. 
 
 Regarding this custom Fynes Moryson {Itinerary, vol. iv, 
 pp. 37-38) says: "For equality they [Germans] drinke 
 round, especially in Saxony, except in curtesie they some- 
 times drinke out of course to a Guest; and this equall 
 manner of drinking, they say had its first originall from a 
 pleasant or rather wicked Act, of an undutifull Sonne, who 
 receiving a boxe of the eare from his Father, and daring not 
 strike him againe, did notwithstanding strike his next 
 Neighbour as hard a blow as hee received, desiring him to 
 passe it round about the Table as a frolicke, in these wordes : 
 Lasset umb gehen, so kriagt der vatter auch was ; Let it goe 
 round, so my Father shall have it in his course, and so more 
 modestly or lesse wickedly hee revenged himselfe. While 
 all drinke in this manner circularly out of one and the same 
 pot, they scoffe at him that drinkcs the last remainder say- 
 ing proverbially that hee shall marry an old trot." 
 
 Page 33 
 
 Stage direction at head of page: with a gamon of raw 
 bacon, and links or puddings in a platter. 
 The "links or puddings'' were sausages. 
 
Notes 93 
 
 Fynes Moryson {Itinerary, vol. iv, p. 24) says that "in 
 lower Germany they supply the meale with hacon and great 
 dried puddings, which puddines are savory and so pleasant, 
 as in their kind of mirth they wish proverbially for Kurtz 
 predigen, lange worsten, that is; Short sermons and long 
 puddings. " See also Fynes Moryson {Itinerary, vol. i, p. 27) 
 where "raw bacon" and "dried puddings" are mentioned 
 in conjunction. 
 
 Stage direction: a Miter. 
 See note on 1. 24 of p. 43. 
 
 Stage direction at head of page: Corances. 
 Corances were garlands. See note on 1. 38 of p. 60. 
 
 Line 8: dorp. 
 
 dorp = village (German dorj). 
 
 Stanyhurst uses this word in his translation of Mneid, 
 Bk. I, "where dorps and cottages earst stood." 
 
 Line 12: nippitate. 
 
 The meaning of this word is strong, good, prime. In 
 Murray's New English Dictionary instances of its use in 
 connection with liquors of various kinds are given. Weakest 
 goeth to the Wall: "Fresh ale, prime ale, nappie ale, nippi- 
 tate ale!" Look about You: " two bottles of nippitate sack. " 
 
 Line 15: spell. 
 
 Should be spiel according to Elze. 
 
 Line 15: Rommer daunteu. 
 
 Should be rommer dantzen. ''Rommer or rummer is a 
 corruption of ^emw" (Elze). 
 
 Line 20: an upspring. 
 
 This, according to Elze, was the Hiipfauf, "the last and 
 consequently wildest dance at the old German merry- 
 makings." Elze refers to Ayrer's Dramas (ed. Keller, iv, 
 2840 and 2846) : 
 
94 Alphonsus 
 
 "Ey, jtzt geht erst der hupffauff an. 
 Ey, Herr, jtzt kummt erst der hupffauff/' 
 
 Stage direction at bottom of page : fore dance. 
 A literal translation of the German Vortanz. 
 
 Line 27: leffel morgen. 
 
 To be translated "make love to-morrow," the verb 
 leffeln or loffeln meaning "to make love." Elze says 
 ' ' loffeln frequently occurs in the German writers of the time, ' * 
 
 Line 27 : when thou com'st to house. 
 
 "To house" suggests the German phrase nach Hause. 
 
 Page 34 
 
 Line 2 : Skelt howre. 
 
 Elze changes to " 'Sgelt, bowr.** 
 
 Line 5 : fcenudt. 
 
 Elze suggests "freundi." 
 
 Line 5: frolocken. 
 
 Elze changes to "frohlichen/* 
 
 Lines 7-8 : Half this I drink unto your Highness health, 
 It is the first since we were joynd in Office. 
 
 Coryat says (Crudities, vol. ii, p. 174): "It is their 
 [the Germans'] custome whensoever they drink to another, 
 to see their glasse filled up incontinent, (for therein they 
 most commonly drinke) and then they deliver it into the 
 hand of him to whome they drinke, esteeming him a very 
 curteous man that doth pledge the whole, according to the 
 old verse: 
 
 'Germanus mihi f rater eris si pocula siccas.''' 
 
 Line 22 : Spanish flies. 
 
 A reference to the drug cantharides. 
 
Notes , 95 
 
 Page 36 
 
 Line 3 : untnist my points. 
 
 That is, untied the points that joined the breeches to the 
 doublet. 
 
 Line 31: so foul a fact. 
 
 Possibly "fact" should read act, as Elze suggests, though 
 not necessarily so. There is a similar use of the word in the 
 sense of deed in Tamburlaine, Part I, Act III, sc. 2 : " Will 
 rattle forth his facts of war and blood. " 
 
 Page 37 
 
 Line 9: With Saxon lansknights. 
 
 "Their [the Germans'] Footemen, " says Moryson (Itiner- 
 ary, vol. iv, p. 274), "are vulgarly called Lantzknechten, 
 that is, Servants with Lances, and the best of them are those 
 of TyroU, Suevia, and Westphaha. Commonly they are 
 corpulent, and of a dull or lesse fiery spirit, yet are of great 
 strength in fighting a battell, by reason of their strong 
 members, and the constant order they use in fighting. And 
 they are armed with Lances most fit for their strength, 
 rather than with Calivers, requiring nimblenesse in charg- 
 ing and discharging." 
 
 Line 9 : Switzers. 
 
 The mercenary troops of Switzerland. 
 
 Stage direction: Ewier Alphonsus, 
 and 
 
 Lines 28-32. 
 
 Prof. Parrott has an ingenious solution for the difficulties 
 that present themselves in these lines when taken in con- 
 junction with the later text. He assigns Hnes 28-29 to 
 Alexander, postponing Alphonsus' entrance until just 
 before line 30. His arrangement reads thus: 
 
 Exeunt. 
 
96 Alphonsus 
 
 [Alex coming forward.] This dangerous plot was happily- 
 overheard. 
 Here didst thou listen in a blessed 
 hour. 
 
 Enter Alphonsus. 
 [Alp.] Alexander, where dost thou hide thyself ? 
 I Ve sought thee, etc. 
 
 Page 38 
 
 Line 1 1 : The Prince of Wales. 
 See note on 1. 36 of p. 10. 
 
 Line 25 : I am fond, 
 fond = foolish. 
 
 Line 35 : By night all Cats are gray. 
 
 Elze speaks of this as "a German proverb," which, he 
 thinks, "will nowhere else be found in English." This 
 statement is altogether too sweeping. Prof. Thomas 
 Parrott, in his scholarly edition of Chapman's Tragedies, 
 points out that in John Heywood's Proverbs, 1562, Part I, 
 chap. V, occurs the sentence, "When all candles be out, 
 all cats be gray." To this might be added that another 
 variant of the same proverb appears in Shelton's translation 
 of Don Quixote (1612-20): "If your highness has no mind 
 that the government you promised should be given me, 
 God made me of less, and perhaps it may be easier for 
 Sancho, the Squire, to get to Heaven than for Sancho, 
 the Governor. In the dark all cats are gray. " 
 
 Line 36 : Prince of Wales. 
 See note on 1. 36 of p. 10. 
 
 Page 39 
 
 Line i : And fild thy beating vains with stealing joy. 
 Robertson calls attention to the close parallel between 
 
Notes 97 
 
 this line and the one in Peele's Arraignment of Paris, Act II, 
 sc. 1 , 1. 176: "To ravish all thy beating veins with joy. " 
 
 Page 40 
 
 Line 3: travants. 
 
 " The word 'travant' seems again to be borrowed from the 
 German" (Elze). 
 
 Stage direction: trayls the Empress by the hair. 
 
 A not uncommon situation in the drama. In Bussy 
 D'Ambois, Act V, sc. i, the stage direction reads: "Enter 
 Montsurry bare, unbrac't, pulling Tamyra in by the haire. " 
 In Robert Earl of Huntington, Part II, Matilda is led by the 
 hair by two soldiers. 
 
 Lines 19-20: Hast thou in secret Clytemnestra like 
 Hid thy ^gestus thy adulterous love. 
 
 Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, had during her 
 husband's absence committed adultery with ^gisthus, son 
 of Thyestes. With her paramour she planned the de- 
 struction of Agamemnon. Although Cassandra warned the 
 King , her prophecy was as usual not heeded. So it happened 
 that while Agamemnon was bathing, shortly before the 
 banquet which was to be given in honour of his return, he 
 was murdered. 
 
 Page 41 
 
 Line 3 : Kennels. 
 
 The surface drain of a street; the gutter. 
 
 Line 4 : And cut the Nose from thy bewitching face. 
 See Introduction. 
 
 Page 42 
 
 Line 3 : hurley burley. 
 
 In The Garden of Eloquence, 1577, by Henry Peacham, is 
 
98 Alphonsus 
 
 found the following definition: " Onomatopeia, when we 
 invent, devise, fayne, and make a name intimating the 
 sownd of that it signify eth, as hurly burly ^ for an uprore 
 and tumultuous stirre." 
 
 Page 43 
 
 Line 19: rocket. 
 
 A misprint for rochet, a vestment of linen, worn usually 
 by bishops and abbots, and resembling a surplice. 
 
 Line 24 : Instead of Miter, and a Crossier Staff. 
 
 Coryat in his Crudities (vol. i, p. 177) describes these two 
 articles as worn and carried by the Bishop of Paris: "He 
 himself e was that day in his sumptuous Pontificalities, 
 wearing religious ornaments of great price, like a second 
 Aaron, with his Episcopall staffe in his hand, bending 
 round at the toppe, called by us English men a Croisier, and 
 his Miter on his head of cloth of silver, with two long labels 
 hanging downe behind his neck." 
 
 Murray's New English Dictionary gives the following 
 explanation of the crosier: "In the i6th century crosier' s 
 or crosier-staff was a common term for the episcopal crook, 
 borne by the crociarius, and at length the crook itself was 
 called the crosier. Many 19th century ecclesiastical an- 
 tiquaries have erroneously transferred the name to the cross 
 borne before an archbishop. " 
 
 Page 45 
 
 Line i : in the fact was slain. 
 See note on 1. 31 of p. 36. 
 
 Line 7 : Holiness. 
 See note on 1. 7 of p. 5. 
 
 Lines 27-32. 
 
 These lines are so garbled that their proper form must 
 be given to make them intelligible. 
 
Notes 99 
 
 Sast dorh liches doister should read Sag dock, liebe dochter. 
 dicselbir-maft is intended for dieselbe nacht. 
 
 Ich ha mist audes gemeint should be restored to Ich hah 
 nicht anders gemeint. 
 
 allrin gesiflaffne is a typographical blunder for allein 
 geschlaffen. 
 
 bundt sislaffet all but effectually disguises the words undt 
 schlaffet. 
 
 The corrected readings are taken from Elze. 
 
 Page 46 
 
 Line 13: satt mist. 
 
 Should read hatt nicht (Elze). 
 
 Line 14: ztim sagun. 
 
 Elze reconstructs to read zu sagen. 
 
 Line 15: gerfralet. 
 'Elze changes to gefiilet. 
 
 Line 21 : I leff — snlt 
 
 Elze substitutes Ey lef — soli. 
 
 Line 36: Prince of Wales. 
 See note on 1. 36 of p. 10. 
 
 Page 49 
 
 Stage direction at head of page: (carried in the Couch). 
 
 Albright makes the statement {The Shaksperian Stage, 
 p. 144) that "the carrying of a couch from one room to 
 another, or moving it around in the same room, seems 
 to have been a very conventional thing. For example, 
 in The Roman Actor, V, i, Cssar calls out, 'Bring my Couch 
 there: Eitter with Couch. A sudden but a secure Drowsi- 
 ness invites me to repose myself.'" Among the instances 
 cited by Albright (p. 145) of the carrying in of people on 
 articles of furniture are the following: — "Gentleman Usher , 
 V, I. 'Enter Strozza, Vincentio, brought in a chaire, 
 
100 Alphonsus 
 
 Benevenius, Pogio, Cynanche, with a guard, Strozza before 
 & Mediae.' . . . King Lear (folio, 1623), IV, 7. 'Enter 
 Lear in a chaire carried by Servants.'" 
 
 Line 7: cold Tartarian hills. 
 
 Robertson recalls the phrase in Tamburlaine, Part I, Act 
 III, sc. 3, 1. 151: "white Tartarian hills." 
 
 Lines 8-10: I feel th' ascending flame lick up my blood, 
 Mine Entrals shrink together like a scrowl 
 Of burning parchment, and my Marrow fries. 
 
 Koeppel remarks (Quellen Studien zu den Dramen George 
 Chapman's, Philip Massinger' s und John Ford's, p. 79) 
 that he is in accord with Elze in finding an echo of Shakes- 
 peare in the mendacious utterances of Alphonsus when 
 the Emperor pretends he is suffering from the effects of 
 poison. The latter employs about the same figures of speech 
 as does King John when poisoned. 
 
 " K. John. There is so hot a summer in my bosom, 
 That all my bowels crumble up to dust : 
 I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen 
 Upon a parchment, and against this fire 
 Do I shrink up." (V, 7, 30 ff.) 
 
 Line 10: my Marrow fries. 
 
 The susceptibility of the marrow to the influence of heat, 
 whether actually or figuratively, constitutes a favourite 
 allusion in the literature of the time. Compare with Stany- 
 hurst's translation of the jEneid, Bk. IV: 
 
 "whilst deepelye the flamd fire 
 Kindleth in her marrow," 
 
 and Bussy D'Ambois, Act IV, sc. 2, 1. 189: 
 
 "like lightning melt 
 The very marrow." 
 
Notes loi 
 
 Line 29 : cold swift running Rhyn. 
 
 Elze remarks that "the Rhine could hardly be better 
 characterised in so few words than by the mention of its 
 two pre-eminent features." 
 
 Line 37 : holiness. 
 See note on 1. 7 of p. 5. 
 
 Page 50 
 
 Line 14: fondly. 
 
 In the sense of foolishly. 
 
 Page 51 
 
 Line 25 : His holiness. 
 See note on 1. 7 of p. 5. 
 
 Line 34: Bed-role of the Saints. 
 
 Bed-role or bead-roll — "a list of persons to be specially 
 prayed for. Obs. or arch. " (Murray's New English Diction- 
 ary). 
 
 Page 52 
 
 Line 28: fond. 
 
 See note on 1. 25 of p. 38 and note on 1. 14 of p. 50. 
 
 Line 32 : Come forth thou perfect map of miserie. 
 
 The word map in the sense of picture or image occurs 
 frequently in the drama of the period. Richard II, Act V, 
 sc. I, "Thou map of honour"; Gentleman Usher, Act I, 
 "a map of basenesse"; Marlowe's Dido, Act I, sc. i, "the 
 map of weather-beaten woe"; Titus Andronicus, Act III, 
 sc. 2, "Thou map of woe," etc. 
 
 Page 53 
 
 Line 8 : Edward of Wales. 
 See note on 1. 36 of p. 10. 
 
102 Alphonsus 
 
 Page 54 
 
 Line i8: Athamas. 
 
 Ino, the wife of Athamas, incurred the wrath of Hera, 
 because she had given suck to the infant Bacchus. As a pun- 
 ishment she was pursued by her raving husband and with 
 her youngest son, Mehcertes, hurled by him into the sea. 
 
 Line 2 1 : Then Hke Virginiiis will I kill my Child. 
 An allusion to the slaying of Virginia by her father. 
 
 Line 27 : Ah myne seete Edouart. 
 
 Should read Ach mein susse Eduart (Elze). 
 
 Line 29 : friendlich one. 
 
 This is a misspelling oi freindlich an (Elze). 
 
 seete hart = sweetheart. 
 
 Page 58 
 
 Line 34 : Shall fasten him in fetters to the Chair. 
 A stock situation that occurs in Antonio's Revenge, Act V, 
 sc. 2, The Woman Hater, Act V, sc. 5, and other plays. 
 
 Page 60 
 
 Line 38 : rose Corance. 
 
 Elze notes that "in Germany a 'Rosenkranz' served as a 
 symbol of virginity, and therefore in old popular songs often 
 denotes maidenhead itself." 
 
 In connection with this passage and the use of " corances " 
 in the stage direction that appears on the top of p. 33, a 
 little further explanation of the rose corance seems in order. 
 The German custom of wearing garlands on the head is 
 described at length by Fynes Moryson {Itinerary, vol. iv, 
 209-210): "Citizens daughters and Virgines of inferiour 
 sort, weare nothing upon their heads, but their haire woven 
 with laces, and so gathered on the fore-part of the head, 
 with the forehead stroked up plaine, and upon the fore-part 
 of the head the Gentlewomen weare a border of pearle, and 
 
Notes 103 
 
 all other from the highest to the lowest, commonly weare 
 garlands of roses, (which they call Crantzes) . 
 
 "For they keepe Roses all Winter in little pots of earth, 
 whereof they open one each Saturday at night, and dis- 
 tribute the Roses among the women of the house, to the 
 very kitchin maide; others keepe them all in one pot, and 
 weekely take as many Roses as they neede, and cover the 
 rest, keeping them fresh till the next Summer. And the 
 common sort mingle guilded nutmegs with these Roses, 
 and make garlands thereof: Only women weare these 
 Garlands in Winter, but in Summer time men of the better 
 sort weare them within doores, and men of the common sort 
 weare them going abroade. They keepe Roses all Winter 
 in this sort, they choose the closest and thickest buds of all 
 kinds of Roses but the Damaske Roses best keepe the smell, 
 and other kindes the colour. Then they take a pot of earth, 
 and sprinckle some bay salt in the bottome, and lay these 
 buds severally, not very close one to the other, in two rowes 
 one above the other, which done they sprinckle the same, 
 and wet all the buds with two little glasses of Rhenish 
 Wine, and againe sprinckle them with bay salt in greater 
 quantity, yet such as it may not eate the leaves. In like 
 sort they put up each two rowes of buds, till the pot be 
 full, which they cover with wood or leade, so as no aire can 
 enter, and then lay it up in a cold cellar, where no sunne 
 comes. When they take out the buds, they dip them in 
 luke warme water, or put them into the Oven when the 
 bread is taken out, which makes the leaves open with the 
 turning of the buds betweene two fingers, then they dip a 
 feather in rhenish wine, and wipe the leaves therewith, to 
 refresh the coloiur, and some doe the like with rose water, 
 to renew the smell. " 
 
 (Page 63 
 
 Line 34 : Caius Cassius. 
 
 Cassius, after his defeat at Philippi, believing all was lost, 
 compelled Pindarus, his freedman, to put him to death. 
 
104 Alphonsus 
 
 Page 64 
 
 Line 1 1 : Thou knewst too much of me to live with me. 
 See Introduction. 
 
 Line 22 ; I crave thy Highness leave to bind thee first. 
 See note on 1, 34 of p. 58. 
 
 Page 65 
 
 Lines 38-40: ^/^/tow«/5dothrenounce the joyesof Heaven, 
 The sight of Angells and his Saviours blood, 
 And gives his Soul unto the Devills power. 
 
 This renunciation is hardly less sweeping than that of 
 Marlowe's Faustus (sc. VI) : 
 
 "And Faustus vows never to look to Heaven, 
 Never to name God, or to pray to him, 
 To bum his Scriptures, slay his ministers, 
 And make my spirits pull his churches down. " 
 
 Page 67 
 
 Line 3: Thetis Son. 
 Achilles. 
 
 Line 3 : Menetiades. 
 Patroclus. 
 
 Lines 14-15: This happy hand, blest be my hand there- 
 fore, 
 Reveng'd my Fathers death upon his soul. 
 
 See Introduction. 
 
 Line 37 : broken on the Wheel. 
 See Introduction. 
 
 Page 69 
 Line 10: More furiously than ere Laocoon ran. 
 
Notes 105 
 
 See ^neid, Bk. II, 1. 41: Laocoon ardens summa de- 
 currit ab arce. 
 
 Line 1 1 : Troy^s overthrow. 
 
 A reference to the wooden horse, which the Trojans 
 admitted within their walls. 
 
 Line 28 : What Bull of Phalaris. 
 
 In this contrivance, a brazen bull, objectionable persons 
 were slowly roasted to death. According to Jebb {Life of 
 Richard Bentley) "as early as 500 B.C. Phalaris' name had 
 become a proverb for horrible cruelty, not only in Sicily, 
 but throughout Hellas." 
 
 In Fletcher's Valentinian, Act V, sc. 2, there is allusion 
 to the torturing device cited above: "The brazen bull of 
 Phalaris was feign'd." 
 
 Page 70 
 
 Lines 2-3 ; There let the Judas, on a Jewish Gallowes, 
 Hang by the heels between two English 
 Mastives. 
 
 See Introduction. 
 
 Line 18: Aix. 
 
 See note on 1. 8 of p. 25. 
 
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