The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth

1 Enter Peter and Petitioners.
2 1 PETITIONER.
3 My masters, let’s stand close. My Lord Protector will come this way by
4 and by, and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill.
5 2 PETITIONER.
6 Marry, the Lord protect him, for he’s a good man! Jesu bless him!
7 Enter Suffolk and Queen.
8 1 PETITIONER.
9 Here he comes, methinks, and the Queen with him. I’ll be the first,
10 sure.
11 2 PETITIONER.
12 Come back, fool! This is the Duke of Suffolk and not my Lord Protector.
13 SUFFOLK.
14 How now, fellow; wouldst anything with me?
15 1 PETITIONER.
16 I pray, my lord, pardon me, I took ye for my Lord Protector.
17 QUEEN MARGARET.
18 [_Reading_.] “To my Lord Protector.” Are your supplications to his
19 lordship? Let me see them. What is thine?
20 1 PETITIONER.
21 Mine is, an ’t please your grace, against John Goodman, my Lord
22 Cardinal’s man, for keeping my house and lands, and wife and all, from
23 me.
24 SUFFOLK.
25 Thy wife too! That’s some wrong, indeed.—What’s yours?—What’s here!
26 [_Reads_.] _Against the Duke of Suffolk for enclosing the commons of
27 Melford._ How now, sir knave!
28 2 PETITIONER.
29 Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.
30 PETER.
31 [_Giving his petition_.] Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying
32 that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.
33 QUEEN MARGARET.
34 What sayst thou? Did the Duke of York say he was rightful heir to the
35 crown?
36 PETER.
37 That my master was? No, forsooth, my master said that he was, and that
38 the King was an usurper.
39 SUFFOLK.
40 Who is there?
41 Enter Servant.
42 Take this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant
43 presently.—We’ll hear more of your matter before the King.
44 [_Exit Servant with Peter._]
45 QUEEN MARGARET.
46 And as for you, that love to be protected
47 Under the wings of our Protector’s grace,
48 Begin your suits anew, and sue to him.
49 [_Tears the supplications._]
50 Away, base cullions!—Suffolk, let them go.
51 ALL.
52 Come, let’s be gone.
53 [_Exeunt._]
54 QUEEN MARGARET.
55 My Lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise,
56 Is this the fashion in the court of England?
57 Is this the government of Britain’s isle,
58 And this the royalty of Albion’s king?
59 What, shall King Henry be a pupil still
60 Under the surly Gloucester’s governance?
61 Am I a queen in title and in style,
62 And must be made a subject to a duke?
63 I tell thee, Pole, when in the city Tours
64 Thou ran’st atilt in honour of my love
65 And stol’st away the ladies’ hearts of France,
66 I thought King Henry had resembled thee
67 In courage, courtship, and proportion.
68 But all his mind is bent to holiness,
69 To number Ave-Maries on his beads.
70 His champions are the prophets and apostles,
71 His weapons holy saws of sacred writ,
72 His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves
73 Are brazen images of canonized saints.
74 I would the college of the cardinals
75 Would choose him pope and carry him to Rome
76 And set the triple crown upon his head!
77 That were a state fit for his holiness.
78 SUFFOLK.
79 Madam, be patient. As I was cause
80 Your highness came to England, so will I
81 In England work your grace’s full content.
82 QUEEN MARGARET.
83 Beside the haughty Protector, have we Beaufort
84 The imperious churchman, Somerset, Buckingham,
85 And grumbling York; and not the least of these
86 But can do more in England than the King.
87 SUFFOLK.
88 And he of these that can do most of all
89 Cannot do more in England than the Nevilles;
90 Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.
91 QUEEN MARGARET.
92 Not all these lords do vex me half so much
93 As that proud dame, the Lord Protector’s wife.
94 She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies,
95 More like an empress than Duke Humphrey’s wife.
96 Strangers in court do take her for the Queen.
97 She bears a duke’s revenues on her back,
98 And in her heart she scorns our poverty.
99 Shall I not live to be avenged on her?
100 Contemptuous base-born callet as she is,
101 She vaunted ’mongst her minions t’ other day
102 The very train of her worst wearing gown
103 Was better worth than all my father’s lands
104 Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.
105 SUFFOLK.
106 Madam, myself have limed a bush for her
107 And placed a quire of such enticing birds
108 That she will light to listen to the lays
109 And never mount to trouble you again.
110 So let her rest; and, madam, list to me,
111 For I am bold to counsel you in this:
112 Although we fancy not the Cardinal,
113 Yet must we join with him and with the lords
114 Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace.
115 As for the Duke of York, this late complaint
116 Will make but little for his benefit.
117 So, one by one, we’ll weed them all at last,
118 And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.
119 Sound a sennet. Enter the King, Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort,
120 Somerset, Buckingham, Salisbury, York, Warwick and the Duchess of
121 Gloucester.
122 KING HENRY.
123 For my part, noble lords, I care not which;
124 Or Somerset or York, all’s one to me.
125 YORK.
126 If York have ill demeaned himself in France,
127 Then let him be denied the regentship.
128 SOMERSET.
129 If Somerset be unworthy of the place,
130 Let York be regent; I will yield to him.
131 WARWICK.
132 Whether your Grace be worthy, yea or no,
133 Dispute not that; York is the worthier.
134 CARDINAL.
135 Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
136 WARWICK.
137 The Cardinal’s not my better in the field.
138 BUCKINGHAM.
139 All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.
140 WARWICK.
141 Warwick may live to be the best of all.
142 SALISBURY.
143 Peace, son!—And show some reason, Buckingham,
144 Why Somerset should be preferred in this.
145 QUEEN MARGARET.
146 Because the King, forsooth, will have it so.
147 GLOUCESTER.
148 Madam, the King is old enough himself
149 To give his censure. These are no women’s matters.
150 QUEEN MARGARET.
151 If he be old enough, what needs your grace
152 To be Protector of his excellence?
153 GLOUCESTER.
154 Madam, I am Protector of the realm,
155 And at his pleasure will resign my place.
156 SUFFOLK.
157 Resign it then, and leave thine insolence.
158 Since thou wert king—as who is king but thou?—
159 The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack,
160 The Dauphin hath prevailed beyond the seas,
161 And all the peers and nobles of the realm
162 Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.
163 CARDINAL.
164 The commons hast thou racked; the clergy’s bags
165 Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
166 SOMERSET.
167 Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife’s attire
168 Have cost a mass of public treasury.
169 BUCKINGHAM.
170 Thy cruelty in execution
171 Upon offenders hath exceeded law,
172 And left thee to the mercy of the law.
173 QUEEN MARGARET.
174 Thy sale of offices and towns in France,
175 If they were known, as the suspect is great,
176 Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.
177 [_Exit Gloucester. The Queen drops her fan._]
178 Give me my fan. What minion! Can ye not?
179 [_She gives the Duchess a box on the ear._]
180 I cry your mercy, madam; was it you?
181 ELEANOR.
182 Was’t I! Yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman.
183 Could I come near your beauty with my nails,
184 I’d set my ten commandments in your face.
185 KING HENRY.
186 Sweet aunt, be quiet; ’twas against her will.
187 ELEANOR.
188 Against her will! Good King, look to ’t in time;
189 She’ll hamper thee and dandle thee like a baby.
190 Though in this place most master wear no breeches,
191 She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unrevenged.
192 [_Exit._]
193 BUCKINGHAM.
194 Lord Cardinal, I will follow Eleanor,
195 And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds.
196 She’s tickled now; her fume needs no spurs,
197 She’ll gallop far enough to her destruction.
198 [_Exit._]
199 Enter Gloucester.
200 GLOUCESTER.
201 Now, lords, my choler being overblown
202 With walking once about the quadrangle,
203 I come to talk of commonwealth affairs.
204 As for your spiteful false objections,
205 Prove them, and I lie open to the law;
206 But God in mercy so deal with my soul
207 As I in duty love my king and country!
208 But, to the matter that we have in hand:
209 I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man
210 To be your regent in the realm of France.
211 SUFFOLK.
212 Before we make election, give me leave
213 To show some reason, of no little force,
214 That York is most unmeet of any man.
215 YORK.
216 I’ll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am unmeet:
217 First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride;
218 Next, if I be appointed for the place,
219 My Lord of Somerset will keep me here
220 Without discharge, money, or furniture,
221 Till France be won into the Dauphin’s hands.
222 Last time, I danced attendance on his will
223 Till Paris was besieged, famished, and lost.
224 WARWICK.
225 That can I witness, and a fouler fact
226 Did never traitor in the land commit.
227 SUFFOLK.
228 Peace, headstrong Warwick!
229 WARWICK.
230 Image of pride, why should I hold my peace?
231 Enter Horner the armourer and his man Peter, guarded.
232 SUFFOLK.
233 Because here is a man accused of treason.
234 Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself!
235 YORK.
236 Doth anyone accuse York for a traitor?
237 KING HENRY.
238 What mean’st thou, Suffolk? Tell me, what are these?
239 SUFFOLK.
240 Please it your majesty, this is the man
241 That doth accuse his master of high treason.
242 His words were these: that Richard, Duke of York
243 Was rightful heir unto the English crown,
244 And that your majesty was an usurper.
245 KING HENRY.
246 Say, man, were these thy words?
247 HORNER.
248 An ’t shall please your majesty, I never said nor thought any such
249 matter. God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain.
250 PETER.
251 By these ten bones, my lords, he did speak them to me in the garret one
252 night as we were scouring my Lord of York’s armour.
253 YORK.
254 Base dunghill villain and mechanical,
255 I’ll have thy head for this thy traitor’s speech!—
256 I do beseech your royal majesty,
257 Let him have all the rigour of the law.
258 HORNER.
259 Alas, my lord, hang me if ever I spake the words. My accuser is my
260 prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he
261 did vow upon his knees he would be even with me. I have good witness of
262 this, therefore I beseech your majesty, do not cast away an honest man
263 for a villain’s accusation.
264 KING HENRY.
265 Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?
266 GLOUCESTER.
267 This doom, my lord, if I may judge:
268 Let Somerset be regent o’er the French,
269 Because in York this breeds suspicion;
270 And let these have a day appointed them
271 For single combat in convenient place,
272 For he hath witness of his servant’s malice.
273 This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey’s doom.
274 SOMERSET.
275 I humbly thank your royal Majesty.
276 HORNER.
277 And I accept the combat willingly.
278 PETER.
279 Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God’s sake, pity my case! The spite
280 of man prevaileth against me. O Lord, have mercy upon me! I shall never
281 be able to fight a blow. O Lord, my heart!
282 GLOUCESTER.
283 Sirrah, or you must fight or else be hanged.
284 KING HENRY.
285 Away with them to prison; and the day
286 Of combat shall be the last of the next month.
287 Come, Somerset, we’ll see thee sent away.
288 [_Flourish. Exeunt._]