King Henry VI, Part II

King Henry VI, Part II

ACT I SCENE I	London. The palace.
	Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter KINGHENRY VI, GLOUCESTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, andCARDINAL, on the one side; QUEEN MARGARET, SUFFOLK,YORK, SOMERSET, and BUCKINGHAM, on the other
SUFFOLK	As by your high imperial majesty
	I had in charge at my depart for France,
	As procurator to your excellence,
	To marry Princess Margaret for your grace,	5
	So, in the famous ancient city, Tours,
	In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil,
	The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne and Alencon,
	Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops,
	I have perform'd my task and was espoused:	10
	And humbly now upon my bended knee,
	In sight of England and her lordly peers,
	Deliver up my title in the queen
	To your most gracious hands, that are the substance
	Of that great shadow I did represent;	15
	The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,
	The fairest queen that ever king received.
KING HENRY VI	Suffolk, arise. Welcome, Queen Margaret:
	I can express no kinder sign of love
	Than this kind kiss. O Lord, that lends me life,	20
	Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
	For thou hast given me in this beauteous face
	A world of earthly blessings to my soul,
	If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.
QUEEN MARGARET	Great King of England and my gracious lord,	25
	The mutual conference that my mind hath had,
	By day, by night, waking and in my dreams,
	In courtly company or at my beads,
	With you, mine alder-liefest sovereign,
	Makes me the bolder to salute my king	30
	With ruder terms, such as my wit affords
	And over-joy of heart doth minister.
KING HENRY VI	Her sight did ravish; but her grace in speech,
	Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty,
	Makes me from wondering fall to weeping joys;	35
	Such is the fulness of my heart's content.
	Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love.
ALL	Kneeling
	happiness!
QUEEN MARGARET	We thank you all.
	Flourish
SUFFOLK	My lord protector, so it please your grace,	40
	Here are the articles of contracted peace
	Between our sovereign and the French king Charles,
	For eighteen months concluded by consent.
GLOUCESTER	Reads
	king Charles, and William de la Pole, Marquess of
	Suffolk, ambassador for Henry King of England, that	45
	the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret,
	daughter unto Reignier King of Naples, Sicilia and
	Jerusalem, and crown her Queen of England ere the
	thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item, that the duchy
	of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released	50
	and delivered to the king her father'--
	Lets the paper fall
KING HENRY VI	Uncle, how now!
GLOUCESTER	Pardon me, gracious lord;
	Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart
	And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further.	55
KING HENRY VI	Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.
CARDINAL	Reads
	that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be
	released and delivered over to the king her father,
	and she sent over of the King of England's own
	proper cost and charges, without having any dowry.'	60
KING HENRY VI	They please us well. Lord marquess, kneel down:
	We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,
	And gird thee with the sword. Cousin of York,
	We here discharge your grace from being regent
	I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen months	65
	Be full expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester,
	Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset,
	Salisbury, and Warwick;
	We thank you all for the great favour done,
	In entertainment to my princely queen.	70
	Come, let us in, and with all speed provide
	To see her coronation be perform'd.
	Exeunt KING HENRY VI, QUEEN MARGARET, and SUFFOLK
GLOUCESTER	Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,
	To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief,
	Your grief, the common grief of all the land.	75
	What! did my brother Henry spend his youth,
	His valour, coin and people, in the wars?
	Did he so often lodge in open field,
	In winter's cold and summer's parching heat,
	To conquer France, his true inheritance?	80
	And did my brother Bedford toil his wits,
	To keep by policy what Henry got?
	Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
	Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
	Received deep scars in France and Normandy?	85
	Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself,
	With all the learned council of the realm,
	Studied so long, sat in the council-house
	Early and late, debating to and fro
	How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe,	90
	And had his highness in his infancy
	Crowned in Paris in despite of foes?
	And shall these labours and these honours die?
	Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance,
	Your deeds of war and all our counsel die?	95
	O peers of England, shameful is this league!
	Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame,
	Blotting your names from books of memory,
	Razing the characters of your renown,
	Defacing monuments of conquer'd France,	100
	Undoing all, as all had never been!
CARDINAL	Nephew, what means this passionate discourse,
	This peroration with such circumstance?
	For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.
GLOUCESTER	Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can;	105
	But now it is impossible we should:
	Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast,
	Hath given the duchy of Anjou and Maine
	Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style
	Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.	110
SALISBURY	Now, by the death of Him that died for all,
	These counties were the keys of Normandy.
	But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son?
WARWICK	For grief that they are past recovery:
	For, were there hope to conquer them again,	115
	My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears.
	Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both;
	Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer:
	And are the cities, that I got with wounds,
	Delivered up again with peaceful words?	120
	Mort Dieu!
YORK	For Suffolk's duke, may he be suffocate,
	That dims the honour of this warlike isle!
	France should have torn and rent my very heart,
	Before I would have yielded to this league.	125
	I never read but England's kings have had
	Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives:
	And our King Henry gives away his own,
	To match with her that brings no vantages.
GLOUCESTER	A proper jest, and never heard before,	130
	That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth
	For costs and charges in transporting her!
	She should have stayed in France and starved
	in France, Before--
CARDINAL	My Lord of Gloucester, now ye grow too hot:	135
	It was the pleasure of my lord the King.
GLOUCESTER	My Lord of Winchester, I know your mind;
	'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike,
	But 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye.
	Rancour will out: proud prelate, in thy face	140
	I see thy fury: if I longer stay,
	We shall begin our ancient bickerings.
	Lordings, farewell; and say, when I am gone,
	I prophesied France will be lost ere long.
	Exit
CARDINAL	So, there goes our protector in a rage.	145
	'Tis known to you he is mine enemy,
	Nay, more, an enemy unto you all,
	And no great friend, I fear me, to the king.
	Consider, lords, he is the next of blood,
	And heir apparent to the English crown:	150
	Had Henry got an empire by his marriage,
	And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west,
	There's reason he should be displeased at it.
	Look to it, lords! let not his smoothing words
	Bewitch your hearts; be wise and circumspect.	155
	What though the common people favour him,
	Calling him 'Humphrey, the good Duke of
	Gloucester,'
	Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice,
	'Jesu maintain your royal excellence!'	160
	With 'God preserve the good Duke Humphrey!'
	I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,
	He will be found a dangerous protector.
BUCKINGHAM	Why should he, then, protect our sovereign,
	He being of age to govern of himself?	165
	Cousin of Somerset, join you with me,
	And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk,
	We'll quickly hoise Duke Humphrey from his seat.
CARDINAL	This weighty business will not brook delay:
	I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently.	170
	Exit
SOMERSET	Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey's pride
	And greatness of his place be grief to us,
	Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal:
	His insolence is more intolerable
	Than all the princes in the land beside:	175
	If Gloucester be displaced, he'll be protector.
BUCKINGHAM	Or thou or I, Somerset, will be protector,
	Despite Duke Humphrey or the cardinal.
	Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and SOMERSET
SALISBURY	Pride went before, ambition follows him.
	While these do labour for their own preferment,	180
	Behoves it us to labour for the realm.
	I never saw but Humphrey Duke of Gloucester
	Did bear him like a noble gentleman.
	Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal,
	More like a soldier than a man o' the church,	185
	As stout and proud as he were lord of all,
	Swear like a ruffian and demean himself
	Unlike the ruler of a commonweal.
	Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age,
	Thy deeds, thy plainness and thy housekeeping,	190
	Hath won the greatest favour of the commons,
	Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey:
	And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland,
	In bringing them to civil discipline,
	Thy late exploits done in the heart of France,	195
	When thou wert regent for our sovereign,
	Have made thee fear'd and honour'd of the people:
	Join we together, for the public good,
	In what we can, to bridle and suppress
	The pride of Suffolk and the cardinal,	200
	With Somerset's and Buckingham's ambition;
	And, as we may, cherish Duke Humphrey's deeds,
	While they do tend the profit of the land.
WARWICK	So God help Warwick, as he loves the land,
	And common profit of his country!	205
YORK	Aside
SALISBURY	Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main.
WARWICK	Unto the main! O father, Maine is lost;
	That Maine which by main force Warwick did win,
	And would have kept so long as breath did last!
	Main chance, father, you meant; but I meant Maine,	210
	Which I will win from France, or else be slain,
	Exeunt WARWICK and SALISBURY
YORK	Anjou and Maine are given to the French;
	Paris is lost; the state of Normandy
	Stands on a tickle point, now they are gone:
	Suffolk concluded on the articles,	215
	The peers agreed, and Henry was well pleased
	To change two dukedoms for a duke's fair daughter.
	I cannot blame them all: what is't to them?
	'Tis thine they give away, and not their own.
	Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage	220
	And purchase friends and give to courtezans,
	Still revelling like lords till all be gone;
	While as the silly owner of the goods
	Weeps over them and wrings his hapless hands
	And shakes his head and trembling stands aloof,	225
	While all is shared and all is borne away,
	Ready to starve and dare not touch his own:
	So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue,
	While his own lands are bargain'd for and sold.
	Methinks the realms of England, France and Ireland	230
	Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood
	As did the fatal brand Althaea burn'd
	Unto the prince's heart of Calydon.
	Anjou and Maine both given unto the French!
	Cold news for me, for I had hope of France,	235
	Even as I have of fertile England's soil.
	A day will come when York shall claim his own;
	And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts
	And make a show of love to proud Duke Humphrey,
	And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown,	240
	For that's the golden mark I seek to hit:
	Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right,
	Nor hold the sceptre in his childish fist,
	Nor wear the diadem upon his head,
	Whose church-like humours fits not for a crown.	245
	Then, York, be still awhile, till time do serve:
	Watch thou and wake when others be asleep,
	To pry into the secrets of the state;
	Till Henry, surfeiting in joys of love,
	With his new bride and England's dear-bought queen,	250
	And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at jars:
	Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose,
	With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfumed;
	And in my standard bear the arms of York
	To grapple with the house of Lancaster;	255
	And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the crown,
	Whose bookish rule hath pull'd fair England down.
	Exit