My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come in kindness, and unfeigned love→
First, to do greetings to thy royal person;
And, then, to crave a league of amity ;

And, lastly, to confirm that amity

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With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant

That virtuous lady Bona, thy fair sister,

To England's king in lawful marriage.

Queen. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done. War. And, gracious madam, in our king's behalf, [Speaking to BONA.

I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart;
Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue. 360
Queen. King Lewis · and lady Bona

speak,

Before you answer Warwick. His demand

hear me

Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love,
But from deceit, bred by necessity:

For how can tyrants safely govern home,
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
To prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice-
That Henry liveth still: but were he dead,
Yet here prince Edward stands, king Henry's son.
Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and mar-

riage

Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour :

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For though usurpers sway the rule a while,

Yet

Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.

War. Injurious Margaret!

Prince. And why not queen?

War. Because thy father Henry did usuṛp;

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And thou no more art prince, than she is queen.
Oxf. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,
Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain,
And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the fourth,
Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest ;
And, after that wise prince, Henry the fifth,
Who by his prowess conquered all France :
From these our Henry lineally descends.

War. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth discourse,

You told not, how Henry the sixth hath lost

All that which Henry the fifth had gotten?
Methinks, these peers of France should smile at

that.

But for the rest-You tell a pedigree

Of threescore and two years; a silly time

To make prescription for a kingdom's worth.

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Oxf. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy

liege,

Whom thou obeyed'st thirty and six years,

And not bewṛay thy treason with a blush ?

War. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,

Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?

For shame, leave Henry, and call Edward king. Oxf. Call him my king, by whose injurious doom My elder brother, the lord Aubrey Vere,

Was

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Was done to death? and more than so, my father,
Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years,
When nature brought him to the door of death ?
No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm,
This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.

War. And I the house of York.

K. Lew. Queen Margaret, prince Edward, and Oxford,

Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside,

While I use further conference with Warwick.
Queen. Heavens grant, that Warwick's words be-

witch him not!

[They retire. K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy

conscience,

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Is Edward your true king? for I were loth,
To link with him that were not lawful chosen.
War. Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.
K. Lew. But is he gracious in the people's eye?
War. The more, that Henry was unfortunate.
K. Lew. Then further all dissembling set aside,
Tell me for truth the measure of his love

Unto our sister Bona.

War. Such it seems,

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As may beseem a monarch like himself.
Myself have often heard him say, and swear-
That this his love was an eternal plant;
Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,
The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun;
Exempt from envy, but not from disdain,
Unless the lady Bona quit his pain.

K. Lew.

K. Lew. Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve. Bona. Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine :Yet I confess, that often ere this day,

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[Speaking to WARWICK. When I have heard your king's desert recounted, Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire.

K. Lew. Then, Warwick, this-Our sister shall be Edward's ;

And now forthwith shall articles be drawn
Touching the jointure that your king must make,
Which with her dowry shall be counterpois'd:
Draw near, queen Margaret; and be a witness,
That Bona shall be wife to the English king.
Prince. To Edward, but not to the English king.
Queen. Deceitful Warwick it was thy device
By this alliance to make void my suit;

Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry's friend.

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K. Lew. And still is friend to him and Margaret :

But if your title to the crown be weak-
As may appear by Edward's good success-
Then 'tis but reason, that I be releas'd
From giving aid, which late I promised.
Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand,
That your estate requires, and mine can yield.
War, Henry now lives in Scotland, at his ease;
Where having nothing, nothing he can lose.
And as for you yourself, our quondam queen-
You have a father able to maintain you ;
And better 'twere, you troubled him than France.

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Queen.

Queen. Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick,

peace;

Proud setter-up and puller-down of kings!
I will not hence, 'till with my talk and tears,
Both full of truth, I make king Lewis behold
Thy sly conveyance, and thy lord's false love;

[Post, blowing a Horn within. For both of you are birds of self-same feather. K. Lew. Warwick, this is some post to us, or

thee.

Enter a Post.

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Post. My lord ambassador, these letters are for you

[To WARWICK.

Sent from your brother, marquis Montague.—
These from our king unto your majesty.-

[To King LEWIS.

And, madam, these for you; from whom, I know not. [To the Queen. They all read their Letters. Oxf. I like it well, that our fair queen and mistress Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his. Prince. Nay, mark, how Lewis stamps as he were nettled:

I hope, all's for the best.

K. Lew. Warwick, what are thy news? and your's, fair queen?

Queen. Mine, such as fills my heart with unhop'd

joys.

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War. Mine, full of sorrow and heart's discontent.