William Shakespeare - The Complete Apocryphal Works of William Shakespeare - All 17 Rare Plays in One Edition

MAYOR

See, mistress Arden, where your husband lies;

Confess this foul fault and be penitent.

ALICE

Arden, sweet husband, what shall I say?

The more I sound his name, the more he bleeds;

This blood condemns me, and in gushing forth

Speaks as it falls and asks me why I did it.

Forgive me, Arden: I repent me now,

And, would my death save thine, thou shouldst not die.

Rise up, sweet Arden, and enjoy thy love,

And frown not on me when we meet in heaven:

In heaven I’ll love thee, though on earth I did not.

MAYOR

Say, Mosbie, what made thee murder him?

FRANKLIN

Study not for an answer; look not down:

His purse and girdle found at thy bed’s head

Witness sufficiently thou didst the deed;

MOSBIE

I hired Black Will and Shakebag, ruffians both,

And they and I have done this murderous deed.

But wherefore stay we?

Come and bear me hence.

Rank. Those ruffians shall not escape;

I will up to London. And get the councilhs warrant

To apprehend them. (Exeunt. Here enters WILL

WILL

Shakebag, I hear, hath taken sanctuary,

But I am so pursued with hues and cries

For petty robberies that I have done,

That I can come unto no sanctuary.

Therefore must I in some oyster boat

At last be fain to go a board some hoy,

And so to flushing. There is no staying here.

At sittingburgh the watch was like to take me,

And had not I with my buckler covered my head,

And run full blank at all adventures,

I am sure I had ne’er gone further than that place,

For the constable had twenty warrants to apprehend me,

Besides that, I robbed him and his man once at gadshill.

Farewell, england, I’ll to flushing now. (Exit WILL

(here Enter the Mayor, Mosbie, Alice, Michael, Susan, and BRADSHAW

MAYOR

Come, make haste and bring away the prisoners.

BRADSHAW

Mistress Arden, you are now going to god,

And I am by the law condemned to die

About a letter I brought from master GREENE

I pray you, mistress Arden, speak the truth:

Was I ever privy to your intent or no.

ALICE

What should I say?

You brought me such a letter,

But I dare swear thou knewest not the contents.

Leave now to trouble me with worldly things,

And let me meditate upon my saviour Christ,

Whose blood must save me for the blood I shed.

MOSBIE

How long shall I live in this hell of grief?

Convey me from the presence of that strumpet.

ALICE

Ah but for thee I had never been strumpet.

What cannot oaths and protestations do,

When men have opportunity to woo?

But now I find it and repent too late.

SUSAN

Ah, gentle brother, wherefore should I die?

I knew not of it till the deed was done.

MOSBIE

For thee I mourn more than for myself;

But let it suffice, I cannot save thee now.

MICHAEL

And if your brother and my mistress

MOSBIE

Fie upon women! This shall be my song;

But bear me hence, for I have lived too long.

SUSAN

Seeing no hope on earth, in heaven is my hope.

MICHAEL

Faith, I care not, seeing I die with susan.

BRADSHAW

My blood be on his head that gave the sentence.

MAYOR

To speedy execution with them all! (Exeunt.

(here enters FRANKLIN

FRANKLIN

Thus have you seen the truth of Arden’s death.

As for the ruffians, Shakebag and Black Will,

The one took sanctuary, and, being sent for out,

Was murdered in southwark as he passed

To greenwich, where the lord protector lay.

Black Will was burned in flushing on a stage;

Greene was hanged at osbridge in kent;

The painter fled and how he died we know not.

But this above the rest is to be noted:

Arden lay murdered in that plot of ground

Which he by force and violence held from Reede;

And in the grass his body’s print was seen

Two years and more after the deed was done.

Gentlemen, we hope you’ll pardon this naked tragedy,

Wherein no filed points are foisted in

To make it gracious to the ear or eye;

For simple truth is gracious enough,

And needs no other points of glosing stuff.

THE END

Table of Contents Table of Contents ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY THE LAMENTABLE TRAGEDY OF LOCRINE MUCEDORUS THE KING’S SON OF VALENTIA, AND AMADINE, THE KING’S DAUGHTER OF ARRAGON. THE LONDON PRODIGAL THE PURITAINE WIDDOW THE SECOND MAIDEN’S TRAGEDY SIR JOHN OLD CASTLE LORD CROMWELL KING EDWARD THE THIRD EDMUND IRONSIDE SIR THOMAS MORE FAIRE EM A FAIRY TALE IN TWO ACTS THE MERRY DEVILL OF EDMONTON THOMAS OF WOODSTOCK

By William Shakespeare

ALL’S ONE, OR, ONE OF THE FOUR PLAYS IN ONE, CALLED A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY AS IT WAS PLAYED BY THE KING’S MAJESTY’S PLAYERS.

Dramatis Personae.

Husband.

Master of a College.

Knight, a Justice of Peace.

Oliver,

Ralph,

Samuel, servingmen.

Other Servants, and Officers.

Wife.

Maid-servant.

A little Boy.

SCENE I. A room in Calverly Hall.

[Enter Oliver and Ralph, two servingmen.]

OLIVER. Sirrah Ralph, my young Mistress is in such a pitiful passionate humor for the long absence of her love—

RALPH. Why, can you blame her? why, apples hanging longer on the tree then when they are ripe makes so many fallings; viz., Mad wenches, because they are not gathered in time, are fain to drop of them selves, and then tis Common you know for every man to take em up.

OLIVER. Mass, thou sayest true, Tis common indeed: but, sirrah, is neither our young master returned, nor our fellow Sam come from London?

RALPH.

Neither of either, as the Puritan bawd says. Slidd, I hear

Sam: Sam’s come, her’s! Tarry! come, yfaith, now my nose

itches for news.

OLIVER.

And so does mine elbow.