Palace.

Flourish of Trumpets; then Hautboys. Enter, on one side, KING HENRY, DUKE OF GLOSTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and CARDINAL BEAUFORT; on the other, QUEEN MARGARET, led in by SUFFOLK; YORK, SOMERSET, BUCKINGHAM, and others, following.

Suff. 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 presence of the kings of France and Sicil,
The dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretaigne, Alençon,
Seven earls,twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops,-
I have perform'd my task, and was espous'd:
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
In sight of England, and her lordly peers,

To your most gracious hands, that are the sul stance
Of that great shadow I did represent;
The fairest queen that ever king receiv'd.
The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,

K. Hen. Suffolk, arise. - Welcome, queen Margaret:

I can express no kinder sign of love,

Than this kind kiss.- O Lord, that lends me life,
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.

Q. Mar. Great king of England, and my gracious 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-liefest sovereign,
1 Beloved above all things.

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

O peers of England, shameful is this league!
Fatal this marriage, cancelling your tame:
Blotting your names from books of memory:
Razing the characters of your renown;
Defacing monuments of conquer'd France;
Undoing all, as all had never been!

Car. Nephew, what means this passionate discourse?

This peroration with such circumstance??
For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.
Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can;
But now it is impossible we should:
Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast,
Hath given the duchies of Anjou and Maine,
Unto the poor king Reignier, whose large style
Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.

Sal. Now, by the death of him that died for all,

K. Hen. Uncle, how now?
Glo.

Pardon me, gracious lord; Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart, And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further. K. Hen. Uncle of Winchester, I pray read on. Car. Item, It is further agreed between them, 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 dowry.

K. Hen. They please us well. kneel down;

- Lord marquess

We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,

--

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

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.
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 with her that brings no vantages.
Glo. A proper jest, and never heard before,
That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth,
For cost and charges in transporting her!
She should have staid in France, and starv'd in
France,

[Exeunt KING, QUEEN, and SUFFOLK.
Glo. 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.
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?
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,
Receiv'd deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath my 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 ?
And hath his highness in his infancy

Car. My lord of Gloster, now you grow too hot It was the pleasure of my lord the king.

3

Glo. My lord of Winchester, I know your mind 'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, But 'tis my presence that doth trouble you. Rancour will out: Proud prelate, in thy face I see thy fury: if 1 longer stay, We shall begin our ancient bickerings.3. Lordings farewell; and say, when I am gone, I prophesied - France will be lost ere long. [Erit. Car. So, there goes our protector in a rage. '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; Had Henry got an empire by his marriage, And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west, There's reason he should be displeas'd at it. Look to it, lords! let not his smoothing words Bewitch your hearts; be wise, and circumspect. What though the common people favour him, Calling him - Humphrey, the good duke of Gloster · Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice

2 This speech, crowded with so many circumstances of aggravation. 3 Skirmishings.

May heaven preserve the good duke Humphrey !
I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,
He will be found a dangerous protector.

Buck. Why should he then protect our sovereign,
He being of age to govern of himself?
Cousin of Somerset, join you with me,

And all together with the duke of Suffolk, -
We'll quickly hoise duke Humphrey from his seat.
Car. This weighty business will not brook delay;
I'll to the duke of Suffolk presently.
[Exit.
Som. 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 princes in the land beside;
If Gloster be displac'd, he'll be protector.
Buck. Or thou, or I, Somerset, will be protector,
Despite duke Humphrey, or the cardinal.

[Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and Somerset. Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows him. While these do labour for their own preferment, Behoves it us to labour for the realm.

I never saw but Humphrey duke of Gloster
Did bear him like a noble gentleman.
Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal
More like a soldier, than a man o'the church,
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 house-keeping,
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,
When thou wert regent for our sovereign,

While his own lands are bargain'd for, and sold. Methinks, the realms of England, France, and Ireland,

| Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood,
As did the fatal brand Althea burn'd,
Unto the prince's heart of Calydon. 5

Anjou and Maine, both given unto the French!
Cold news for me; for I had hope of France,
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,
For that's the golden mark I seek to hit :
Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right,
Nor hold his scepter in his childish fist,
Nor wear the diadem upon his head,
Whose church-like humours fit not for a crown.
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,
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 perfum'd;
And in my standard bear the arms of York,
To grapple with the house of Lancaster ;
And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the crown,
Whose bookish rule hath pull'd fair England down.

SCENE II.

[Exit.

ple:

Join we together, for the public good;

In what we can to bridle and suppress

The pride of Suffolk, and the cardinal,
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.

War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the land, And common profit of his country!

York. And so says York, for he hath greatest cause. Sal. Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main.

[Exeunt WARWICK and SALISBURY. York. Anjou and Maine are given to the French; Paris is lost; the state of Normandy Stands on a tickle 4 point, now they are gone: Suffolk concluded on the articles;

The peers agreed; and Henry was well pleas'd,
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,
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,
While all is shar'd, and all is borne away;
Ready to starve, and dare not touch his own.
So York must sit, and fret, and bite his tongue,

4 For ticklish.

Why are thine eyes fix'd to the sullen earth,
Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight?
What seest thou there? king Henry's diadem,
Enchas'd with all the honours of the world?
If so, gaze on, and grovel on thy face,
Until thy head be circled with the same.
Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold: -
What, is't too short? I'll lengthen it with mine:
And, having both together heav'd it up,
We'll both together lift our heads to heaven;
And never more abase our sight so low,
As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground.

Glo. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy lord,
Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts:
And may that thought, when I imagine ill
Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry,
Be my last breathing in this mortal world!

My troublous dream this night doth make me sad. Duch. What dream'd my lord? tell me, and I'll requite it

With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream.
Glo. Methought, this staff, mine office-badge in

court,

Was broke in twain, by whom, I have forgot,
But, as I think, it was by the cardinal;
And on the pieces of the broken wand
Were plac'd the heads of Edmond duke of Somerset,
And William de la Poole first duke of Suffolk.

5 Meleager; whose life was to continue only so long as a certain firebrand should last. His mother Althea having thrown it into the fire, he expired in torment.