OF

HENRY VI.

ACT I.

SCENE 1. The Palace.

Flourish of Trumpets: then Hautboys. Enter King HENRY, Duke HUMPHREY, SALISBURY, WAR WICK, and BEAUFORT, on the one Side; the Queen, SUEFOLK, 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;
So, in the famous ancient city, Tours-
In prefence of the kings of France and Sicil,
The dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretaigne, Alençon,
Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bithops-
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
I have performed my tafk, and was efpous'd:
In fight of England and her lordly peers,
Deliver up my title in the queen

To your most gracious hand, that are the substance
Of that great fhadow I did reprefent;

The happieft gift that ever marquefs gave,
The faireft queen that ever king receiv'd.
A 2

K. Henry.

K. Henry. Suffolk, arife.-Welcome queen Ma I can exprefs no kinder fign of love, [garet Than this kind kifs-O Lord, that lends me life Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! For thou haft given me, in this beauteous face, A world of earthly bleffings to my foul, If fympathy of love unite our thoughts.

2. Mar. Great king of England, and my gra cious lord;

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-liefeft fovereign,
Makes me the bolder to falute my king
With ruder terms; fuch as my wit affords,
And over-joy of heart doth minister.

K. Henry. Her fight did ravish: but her grac
in fpeech,

Her words y-clad with wifdom's majesty,
Makes me, from wondering, fall to weeping joys
Such is the fulnes of my heart's content.-
Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love
All. Long live queen Margaret, England's hap
pinefs!

2. Mar. We thank you all.

[Flourish Suf. My lord protector, fo it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace, Between our fovereign and the French king Charles, For eighteen months concluded by confent.

Glo. reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king Charles, and William de la Poole, marquess of Suf folk, embajador for Henry king of England-that the faid Henry fhall efpoufe the lady Margaret, daughter to Reignier king of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerusalem; and

crown

Crown her queen of England, ere the thirtieth of May next enfuing.

Item, That the dutchies of Anjou and of Maine, fhall be releafed and delivered to the king her faK. Henry. Uncle, how now?

Glo. Pardon me, gracious lord;

Some fudden qualm hath ftruck me to the heart, And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further. K. Henry. Uncle of Winchefter, I pray, read on. Win. Item, It is further agreed between them—that the dutchies of Anjou and Maine fhall be releafed and delivered to the king her father; and fhe fent over of the king of England's own proper coft and charges, without having any dowry.

1

K. Henry. They please us well.-Lord marquefs, kneel down;

We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,
And gird thee with the fword.-

Coufin of York, we here difcharge your grace
From being regent in the parts of France,
'Till term of eighteen months be full expir'd.
Thanks, uncle Winchester, Glofter, York, and Buck
Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick; [ingham,
We thank you all for this great favour done,
In entertainment to my princely queen.
Come, let us in; and with all speed provide
To fee her coronation be perform'd.

[Exeunt King, Queen, and SUFFOLK,
Glo. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,
To you duke Humphrey muft unload his grief,
Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What! did my brother Henry spend his youth,
His valour, coin, and people, in the wars?
Did he fo often lodge in open field,

In winter's cold, and fummer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits,
To keep by policy what Henry got?

Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, and Salisbury, victorious Warwick,
Receiv'd deep fears in France and Normandy?
Or hath mine uncle Beaufort, and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Study'd fo long, fat in the council-house,
Early and late, debating to and fro

How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe
Or hath his highnefs in his infancy

Been crown'd in Paris, in defpight of foes;
And fhall these labours, and these honours, die
Shall Henry's conqueft, Bedford's vigilance,
Your deeds of war, and all our counsel, die?
O peers of England, fhameful is this league!
Fatal this marriage! cancelling your fame;
Blotting your names from books of memory;
Razing the characters of your renown;
Reverfing monuments of conquer'd France;
Undoing all, as all had never been!

Car. Nephew, what means this paffionate dif This peroration with fuch circumftanee? [courfe? For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it ftill.

Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can; But now it is impoffible we fhould:

Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast,
Hath given the dutchies of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor king Reignier, whofe large ftyle
Agrees not with the leannefs of his purse.
Sal. Now, by the death of him who dy'd for all,
These counties were the keys of Normandy

But

But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant fon?
War. For grief that they are past recovery:
For, were there hope to conquer them again,
Myfword fhould 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,
Deliver'd up again with peaceful words?
Mort Dieu!

York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be fuffocate,
That dims the honour of this warlike ifle!
France fhould have torn and rent my very heart,
Before I would have yielded to this league.
I never read but England's kings have had
Large fums of gold, and dowries, with their wives:
And our king Henry gives away his own,
To match with her that brings no vantages.
Glo. A proper jeft, and never heard before,
That Suffolk thould demand a whole fifteenth,
For cofts and charges in tranfporting her!
She fhould have ftaid in France, and ftarv'd in
Before
[France,
Car. My lord of Glofter, now ye grow too hot
It was the pleasure of my lord the king.

Glo. My lord of Winchester, I know your mind;
'Tis not my fpeeches that you do dislike,
But 'tis my presence that doth trouble you.
Rancour will out: Proud prelate, in thy face
I fee thy fury: if I longer stay,

We fhall begin our ancient bickerings.-
Farewell, my lords; and fay, when I am gone,
I prophefy'd-France will be loft ere long. [Exit.
Car. So, there goes our protector in a rage.
'Tis known to you, he is mine enemy :

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