The First Part Of Henry The Sixth

1 Enter the King, Gloucester, Bishop of Winchester, Talbot, Exeter, York,
2 and Warwick; Suffolk, Somerset, the Governor of Paris, and others.
3 GLOUCESTER.
4 Lord bishop, set the crown upon his head.
5 WINCHESTER.
6 God save King Henry, of that name the Sixth!
7 GLOUCESTER.
8 Now, Governor of Paris, take your oath,
9 That you elect no other king but him;
10 Esteem none friends but such as are his friends,
11 And none your foes but such as shall pretend
12 Malicious practices against his state:
13 This shall ye do, so help you righteous God!
14 Enter Sir John Fastolf.
15 FASTOLF.
16 My gracious sovereign, as I rode from Calais,
17 To haste unto your coronation,
18 A letter was deliver’d to my hands,
19 Writ to your Grace from th’ Duke of Burgundy.
20 TALBOT.
21 Shame to the Duke of Burgundy and thee!
22 I vow’d, base knight, when I did meet thee next,
23 To tear the Garter from thy craven’s leg, [_Plucking it off_.]
24 Which I have done, because unworthily
25 Thou wast installed in that high degree.
26 Pardon me, princely Henry, and the rest.
27 This dastard, at the battle of Patay,
28 When but in all I was six thousand strong
29 And that the French were almost ten to one,
30 Before we met or that a stroke was given,
31 Like to a trusty squire did run away;
32 In which assault we lost twelve hundred men;
33 Myself and divers gentlemen beside
34 Were there surprised and taken prisoners.
35 Then judge, great lords, if I have done amiss,
36 Or whether that such cowards ought to wear
37 This ornament of knighthood, yea or no?
38 GLOUCESTER.
39 To say the truth, this fact was infamous
40 And ill beseeming any common man,
41 Much more a knight, a captain, and a leader.
42 TALBOT.
43 When first this Order was ordain’d, my lords,
44 Knights of the Garter were of noble birth,
45 Valiant and virtuous, full of haughty courage,
46 Such as were grown to credit by the wars;
47 Not fearing death nor shrinking for distress,
48 But always resolute in most extremes.
49 He then that is not furnish’d in this sort
50 Doth but usurp the sacred name of knight,
51 Profaning this most honourable Order,
52 And should, if I were worthy to be judge,
53 Be quite degraded, like a hedge-born swain
54 That doth presume to boast of gentle blood.
55 KING HENRY.
56 Stain to thy countrymen, thou hear’st thy doom!
57 Be packing, therefore, thou that wast a knight;
58 Henceforth we banish thee on pain of death.
59 [_Exit Fastolf._]
60 And now, my Lord Protector, view the letter
61 Sent from our uncle, Duke of Burgundy.
62 GLOUCESTER.
63 What means his Grace, that he hath changed his style?
64 No more but, plain and bluntly, “To the King”!
65 Hath he forgot he is his sovereign?
66 Or doth this churlish superscription
67 Pretend some alteration in good will?
68 What’s here? [_Reads_] “I have, upon especial cause,
69 Moved with compassion of my country’s wrack,
70 Together with the pitiful complaints
71 Of such as your oppression feeds upon,
72 Forsaken your pernicious faction
73 And join’d with Charles, the rightful King of France.”
74 O monstrous treachery! Can this be so,
75 That in alliance, amity, and oaths,
76 There should be found such false dissembling guile?
77 KING HENRY.
78 What! Doth my uncle Burgundy revolt?
79 GLOUCESTER.
80 He doth, my lord, and is become your foe.
81 KING HENRY.
82 Is that the worst this letter doth contain?
83 GLOUCESTER.
84 It is the worst, and all, my lord, he writes.
85 KING HENRY.
86 Why, then, Lord Talbot there shall talk with him
87 And give him chastisement for this abuse.
88 How say you, my lord, are you not content?
89 TALBOT.
90 Content, my liege! Yes, but that I am prevented,
91 I should have begg’d I might have been employ’d.
92 KING HENRY.
93 Then gather strength and march unto him straight;
94 Let him perceive how ill we brook his treason,
95 And what offence it is to flout his friends.
96 TALBOT.
97 I go, my lord, in heart desiring still
98 You may behold confusion of your foes.
99 [_Exit._]
100 Enter Vernon and Basset.
101 VERNON.
102 Grant me the combat, gracious sovereign.
103 BASSET.
104 And me, my lord, grant me the combat too.
105 YORK.
106 This is my servant; hear him, noble prince.
107 SOMERSET.
108 And this is mine, sweet Henry, favour him.
109 KING HENRY.
110 Be patient, lords, and give them leave to speak.
111 Say, gentlemen, what makes you thus exclaim,
112 And wherefore crave you combat, or with whom?
113 VERNON.
114 With him, my lord, for he hath done me wrong.
115 BASSET.
116 And I with him, for he hath done me wrong.
117 KING HENRY.
118 What is that wrong whereof you both complain?
119 First let me know, and then I’ll answer you.
120 BASSET.
121 Crossing the sea from England into France,
122 This fellow here, with envious carping tongue,
123 Upbraided me about the rose I wear,
124 Saying the sanguine colour of the leaves
125 Did represent my master’s blushing cheeks
126 When stubbornly he did repugn the truth
127 About a certain question in the law
128 Argued betwixt the Duke of York and him;
129 With other vile and ignominious terms.
130 In confutation of which rude reproach,
131 And in defence of my lord’s worthiness,
132 I crave the benefit of law of arms.
133 VERNON.
134 And that is my petition, noble lord;
135 For though he seem with forged quaint conceit
136 To set a gloss upon his bold intent,
137 Yet know, my lord, I was provoked by him,
138 And he first took exceptions at this badge,
139 Pronouncing that the paleness of this flower
140 Bewray’d the faintness of my master’s heart.
141 YORK.
142 Will not this malice, Somerset, be left?
143 SOMERSET.
144 Your private grudge, my Lord of York, will out,
145 Though ne’er so cunningly you smother it.
146 KING HENRY.
147 Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men,
148 When for so slight and frivolous a cause
149 Such factious emulations shall arise!
150 Good cousins both, of York and Somerset,
151 Quiet yourselves, I pray, and be at peace.
152 YORK.
153 Let this dissension first be tried by fight,
154 And then your Highness shall command a peace.
155 SOMERSET.
156 The quarrel toucheth none but us alone;
157 Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
158 YORK.
159 There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset.
160 VERNON.
161 Nay, let it rest where it began at first.
162 BASSET.
163 Confirm it so, mine honourable lord.
164 GLOUCESTER.
165 Confirm it so! Confounded be your strife!
166 And perish ye, with your audacious prate!
167 Presumptuous vassals, are you not ashamed
168 With this immodest clamorous outrage
169 To trouble and disturb the King and us?
170 And you, my lords, methinks you do not well
171 To bear with their perverse objections,
172 Much less to take occasion from their mouths
173 To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves.
174 Let me persuade you take a better course.
175 EXETER.
176 It grieves his Highness. Good my lords, be friends.
177 KING HENRY.
178 Come hither, you that would be combatants:
179 Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favour,
180 Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.
181 And you, my lords, remember where we are:
182 In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation;
183 If they perceive dissension in our looks,
184 And that within ourselves we disagree,
185 How will their grudging stomachs be provoked
186 To willful disobedience, and rebel!
187 Beside, what infamy will there arise
188 When foreign princes shall be certified
189 That for a toy, a thing of no regard,
190 King Henry’s peers and chief nobility
191 Destroy’d themselves and lost the realm of France!
192 O, think upon the conquest of my father,
193 My tender years, and let us not forgo
194 That for a trifle that was bought with blood!
195 Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife.
196 I see no reason if I wear this rose,
197 [_Putting on a red rose._]
198 That anyone should therefore be suspicious
199 I more incline to Somerset than York.
200 Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both.
201 As well they may upbraid me with my crown
202 Because, forsooth, the King of Scots is crown’d.
203 But your discretions better can persuade
204 Than I am able to instruct or teach;
205 And therefore, as we hither came in peace,
206 So let us still continue peace and love.
207 Cousin of York, we institute your Grace
208 To be our Regent in these parts of France;
209 And, good my Lord of Somerset, unite
210 Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot;
211 And like true subjects, sons of your progenitors,
212 Go cheerfully together and digest
213 Your angry choler on your enemies.
214 Ourself, my Lord Protector, and the rest
215 After some respite will return to Calais;
216 From thence to England, where I hope ere long
217 To be presented, by your victories,
218 With Charles, Alençon, and that traitorous rout.
219 [_Flourish. Exeunt all but York, Warwick, Exeter and Vernon._]
220 WARWICK.
221 My Lord of York, I promise you the King
222 Prettily, methought, did play the orator.
223 YORK.
224 And so he did; but yet I like it not,
225 In that he wears the badge of Somerset.
226 WARWICK.
227 Tush, that was but his fancy; blame him not;
228 I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no harm.
229 YORK.
230 An if I wist he did—but let it rest;
231 Other affairs must now be managed.
232 [_Exeunt all but Exeter._]
233 EXETER.
234 Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice;
235 For, had the passions of thy heart burst out,
236 I fear we should have seen decipher’d there
237 More rancorous spite, more furious raging broils,
238 Than yet can be imagined or supposed.
239 But howsoe’er, no simple man that sees
240 This jarring discord of nobility,
241 This shouldering of each other in the court,
242 This factious bandying of their favourites,
243 But sees it doth presage some ill event.
244 ’Tis much when scepters are in children’s hands;
245 But more when envy breeds unkind division:
246 There comes the ruin, there begins confusion.
247 [_Exit._]