Complete Plays, The (259 page)

York

If York have ill demean’d himself in France,
Then let him be denay’d the regentship.

Somerset

If Somerset be unworthy of the place,
Let York be regent; I will yield to him.

Warwick

Whether your grace be worthy, yea or no,
Dispute not that: York is the worthier.

Cardinal

Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.

Warwick

The cardinal’s not my better in the field.

Buckingham

All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.

Warwick

Warwick may live to be the best of all.

Salisbury

Peace, son! and show some reason, Buckingham,
Why Somerset should be preferred in this.

Queen Margaret

Because the king, forsooth, will have it so.

Gloucester

Madam, the king is old enough himself
To give his censure: these are no women’s matters.

Queen Margaret

If he be old enough, what needs your grace
To be protector of his excellence?

Gloucester

Madam, I am protector of the realm;
And, at his pleasure, will resign my place.

Suffolk

Resign it then and leave thine insolence.
Since thou wert king — as who is king but thou?—
The commonwealth hath daily run to wreck;
The Dauphin hath prevail’d beyond the seas;
And all the peers and nobles of the realm
Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.

Cardinal

The commons hast thou rack’d; the clergy’s bags
Are lank and lean with thy extortions.

Somerset

Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife’s attire
Have cost a mass of public treasury.

Buckingham

Thy cruelty in execution
Upon offenders, hath exceeded law,
And left thee to the mercy of the law.

Queen Margaret

They sale of offices and towns in France,
If they were known, as the suspect is great,
Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.

Exit Gloucester. Queen Margaret drops her fan

Give me my fan: what, minion! can ye not?

She gives the Duchess a box on the ear

I cry you mercy, madam; was it you?

Duchess

Was’t I! yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman:
Could I come near your beauty with my nails,
I’d set my ten commandments in your face.

King Henry VI

Sweet aunt, be quiet; ’twas against her will.

Duchess

Against her will! good king, look to’t in time;
She’ll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby:
Though in this place most master wear no breeches,
She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unrevenged.

Exit

Buckingham

Lord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor,
And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds:
She’s tickled now; her fume needs no spurs,
She’ll gallop far enough to her destruction.

Exit

Re-enter Gloucester

Gloucester

Now, lords, my choler being over-blown
With walking once about the quadrangle,
I come to talk of commonwealth affairs.
As for your spiteful false objections,
Prove them, and I lie open to the law:
But God in mercy so deal with my soul,
As I in duty love my king and country!
But, to the matter that we have in hand:
I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man
To be your regent in the realm of France.

Suffolk

Before we make election, give me leave
To show some reason, of no little force,
That York is most unmeet of any man.

York

I’ll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am unmeet:
First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride;
Next, if I be appointed for the place,
My Lord of Somerset will keep me here,
Without discharge, money, or furniture,
Till France be won into the Dauphin’s hands:
Last time, I danced attendance on his will
Till Paris was besieged, famish’d, and lost.

Warwick

That can I witness; and a fouler fact
Did never traitor in the land commit.

Suffolk

Peace, headstrong Warwick!

Warwick

Image of pride, why should I hold my peace?

Enter Horner, the Armourer, and his man Peter, guarded

Suffolk

Because here is a man accused of treason:
Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself!

York

Doth any one accuse York for a traitor?

King Henry VI

What mean’st thou, Suffolk; tell me, what are these?

Suffolk

Please it your majesty, this is the man
That doth accuse his master of high treason:
His words were these: that Richard, Duke of York,
Was rightful heir unto the English crown
And that your majesty was a usurper.

King Henry VI

Say, man, were these thy words?

Horner

An’t shall please your majesty, I never said nor thought any such matter: God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain.

Peter

By these ten bones, my lords, he did speak them to me in the garret one night, as we were scouring my Lord of York’s armour.

York

Base dunghill villain and mechanical,
I’ll have thy head for this thy traitor’s speech.
I do beseech your royal majesty,
Let him have all the rigor of the law.

Horner

Alas, my lord, hang me, if ever I spake the words. My accuser is my ’prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me: I have good witness of this: therefore I beseech your majesty, do not cast away an honest man for a villain’s accusation.

King Henry VI

Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?

Gloucester

This doom, my lord, if I may judge:
Let Somerset be regent over the French,
Because in York this breeds suspicion:
And let these have a day appointed them
For single combat in convenient place,
For he hath witness of his servant’s malice:
This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey’s doom.

Somerset

I humbly thank your royal majesty.

Horner

And I accept the combat willingly.

Peter

Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God’s sake, pity my case. The spite of man prevaileth against me. O Lord, have mercy upon me! I shall never be able to fight a blow. O Lord, my heart!

Gloucester

Sirrah, or you must fight, or else be hang’d.

King Henry VI

Away with them to prison; and the day of combat shall be the last of the next month. Come, Somerset, we’ll see thee sent away.

Flourish. Exeunt

S
CENE
IV. G
LOUCESTER
’
S
GARDEN
.

Enter Margaret Jourdain, Hume, Southwell, and Bolingbroke

Hume

Come, my masters; the duchess, I tell you, expects performance of your promises.

Bolingbroke

Master Hume, we are therefore provided: will her ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms?

Hume

Ay, what else? fear you not her courage.

Bolingbroke

I have heard her reported to be a woman of an invincible spirit: but it shall be convenient, Master Hume, that you be by her aloft, while we be busy below; and so, I pray you, go, in God’s name, and leave us.

Exit Hume

Mother Jourdain, be you prostrate and grovel on the earth; John Southwell, read you; and let us to our work.

Enter the Duchess aloft, Hume following

Duchess

Well said, my masters; and welcome all. To this gear the sooner the better.

Bolingbroke

Patience, good lady; wizards know their times:
Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,
The time of night when Troy was set on fire;
The time when screech-owls cry and ban-dogs howl,
And spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves,
That time best fits the work we have in hand.
Madam, sit you and fear not: whom we raise,
We will make fast within a hallow’d verge.

Here they do the ceremonies belonging, and make the circle; Bolingbroke or Southwell reads, Conjuro te, &c. It thunders and lightens terribly; then the Spirit riseth

Spirit

Adsum.

Margaret Jourdain

Asmath,
By the eternal God, whose name and power
Thou tremblest at, answer that I shall ask;
For, till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence.

Spirit

Ask what thou wilt. That I had said and done!

Bolingbroke

[Reading out of a paper]
 
‘First of the king: what shall of him become?’

Spirit

The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose;
But him outlive, and die a violent death.

As the Spirit speaks, Southwell writes the answer

Bolingbroke

‘What fates await the Duke of Suffolk?’

Spirit

By water shall he die, and take his end.

Bolingbroke

‘What shall befall the Duke of Somerset?’

Spirit

Let him shun castles;
Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains
Than where castles mounted stand.
Have done, for more I hardly can endure.

Bolingbroke

Descend to darkness and the burning lake!
False fiend, avoid!

Thunder and lightning. Exit Spirit

Enter York and Buckingham with their Guard and break in

York

Lay hands upon these traitors and their trash.
Beldam, I think we watch’d you at an inch.
What, madam, are you there? the king and commonweal
Are deeply indebted for this piece of pains:
My lord protector will, I doubt it not,
See you well guerdon’d for these good deserts.

Duchess

Not half so bad as thine to England’s king,
Injurious duke, that threatest where’s no cause.

Buckingham

True, madam, none at all: what call you this?
Away with them! let them be clapp’d up close.
And kept asunder. You, madam, shall with us.
Stafford, take her to thee.

Exeunt above Duchess and Hume, guarded

We’ll see your trinkets here all forthcoming.
All, away!

Exeunt guard with Margaret Jourdain, Southwell, &c

York

Lord Buckingham, methinks, you watch’d her well:
A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon!
Now, pray, my lord, let’s see the devil’s writ.
What have we here?

[Reads]
 
‘The duke yet lives, that Henry shall depose;
But him outlive, and die a violent death.’
Why, this is just
‘Aio te, Aeacida, Romanos vincere posse.’
Well, to the rest:
‘Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk?
By water shall he die, and take his end.
What shall betide the Duke of Somerset?
Let him shun castles;
Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains
Than where castles mounted stand.’
Come, come, my lords;
These oracles are hardly attain’d,
And hardly understood.
The king is now in progress towards Saint Alban’s,
With him the husband of this lovely lady:
Thither go these news, as fast as horse can carry them:
A sorry breakfast for my lord protector.

Buckingham

Your grace shall give me leave, my Lord of York,
To be the post, in hope of his reward.

York

At your pleasure, my good lord. Who’s within there, ho!

Enter a Servingman

Invite my Lords of Salisbury and Warwick
To sup with me to-morrow night. Away!

Exeunt

A
CT
II

S
CENE
I. S
AINT
A
LBAN
’
S
.

Enter King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, Gloucester, Cardinal, and Suffolk, with Falconers halloing

Queen Margaret

Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,
I saw not better sport these seven years’ day:
Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high;
And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.

King Henry VI

But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,
And what a pitch she flew above the rest!
To see how God in all his creatures works!
Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.

Suffolk

No marvel, an it like your majesty,
My lord protector’s hawks do tower so well;
They know their master loves to be aloft,
And bears his thoughts above his falcon’s pitch.

Gloucester

My lord, ’tis but a base ignoble mind
That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

Cardinal

I thought as much; he would be above the clouds.

Gloucester

Ay, my lord cardinal? how think you by that?
Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?

King Henry VI

The treasury of everlasting joy.

Cardinal

Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts
Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart;
Pernicious protector, dangerous peer,
That smooth’st it so with king and commonweal!

Gloucester

What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown peremptory?
Tantaene animis coelestibus irae?
Churchmen so hot? good uncle, hide such malice;
With such holiness can you do it?

Suffolk

No malice, sir; no more than well becomes
So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.

Gloucester

As who, my lord?

Suffolk

 
Why, as you, my lord,
An’t like your lordly lord-protectorship.

Gloucester

Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.