The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth

1 Enter the King, Queen, Gloucester, Cardinal and Suffolk with Falconers
2 hallooing.
3 QUEEN MARGARET.
4 Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook
5 I saw not better sport these seven years’ day;
6 Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high,
7 And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.
8 KING HENRY.
9 But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,
10 And what a pitch she flew above the rest!
11 To see how God in all His creatures works!
12 Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.
13 SUFFOLK.
14 No marvel, an it like your majesty,
15 My Lord Protector’s hawks do tower so well;
16 They know their master loves to be aloft,
17 And bears his thoughts above his falcon’s pitch.
18 GLOUCESTER.
19 My lord, ’tis but a base ignoble mind
20 That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.
21 CARDINAL.
22 I thought as much. He would be above the clouds.
23 GLOUCESTER.
24 Ay, my Lord Cardinal, how think you by that?
25 Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?
26 KING HENRY.
27 The treasury of everlasting joy.
28 CARDINAL.
29 Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts
30 Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart,
31 Pernicious Protector, dangerous peer,
32 That smooth’st it so with king and commonweal!
33 GLOUCESTER.
34 What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown peremptory?
35 _Tantaene animis coelestibus irae?_
36 Churchmen so hot? Good uncle, hide such malice.
37 With such holiness can you do it?
38 SUFFOLK.
39 No malice, sir; no more than well becomes
40 So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.
41 GLOUCESTER.
42 As who, my lord?
43 SUFFOLK.
44 Why, as you, my lord,
45 An ’t like your lordly Lord Protectorship.
46 GLOUCESTER.
47 Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.
48 QUEEN MARGARET.
49 And thy ambition, Gloucester.
50 KING HENRY.
51 I prithee, peace, good queen,
52 And whet not on these furious peers;
53 For blessed are the peacemakers on earth.
54 CARDINAL.
55 Let me be blessed for the peace I make
56 Against this proud Protector, with my sword!
57 GLOUCESTER.
58 [_Aside to Cardinal_.] Faith, holy uncle, would ’twere come to that!
59 CARDINAL.
60 [_Aside to Gloucester_.] Marry, when thou dar’st.
61 GLOUCESTER.
62 [_Aside to Cardinal_.] Make up no factious numbers for the matter,
63 In thine own person answer thy abuse.
64 CARDINAL.
65 [_Aside to Gloucester_.] Ay, where thou dar’st not peep; an if thou
66 dar’st,
67 This evening, on the east side of the grove.
68 KING HENRY.
69 How now, my lords?
70 CARDINAL.
71 Believe me, cousin Gloucester,
72 Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly,
73 We had had more sport.—[_Aside to Gloucester_.]
74 Come with thy two-hand sword.
75 GLOUCESTER.
76 True, uncle.
77 [_Aside to Cardinal_.] Are ye advised? The east side of the grove?
78 CARDINAL.
79 [_Aside to Gloucester_.] I am with you.
80 KING HENRY.
81 Why, how now, uncle Gloucester?
82 GLOUCESTER.
83 Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord.
84 [_Aside to Cardinal_.] Now, by God’s mother, priest,
85 I’ll shave your crown for this,
86 Or all my fence shall fail.
87 CARDINAL.
88 [_Aside to Gloucester_.] _Medice, teipsum._—
89 Protector, see to ’t well, protect yourself.
90 KING HENRY.
91 The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords.
92 How irksome is this music to my heart!
93 When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?
94 I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.
95 Enter a Townsman of Saint Albans, crying, “A miracle!”
96 GLOUCESTER.
97 What means this noise?
98 Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?
99 TOWNSMAN.
100 A miracle! A miracle!
101 SUFFOLK.
102 Come to the King, and tell him what miracle.
103 TOWNSMAN.
104 Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban’s shrine,
105 Within this half hour, hath received his sight,
106 A man that ne’er saw in his life before.
107 KING HENRY.
108 Now, God be praised, that to believing souls
109 Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!
110 Enter the Mayor of Saint Albans and his brethren, bearing Simpcox
111 between two in a chair, Simpcox’s Wife following.
112 CARDINAL.
113 Here comes the townsmen on procession,
114 To present your highness with the man.
115 KING HENRY.
116 Great is his comfort in this earthly vale,
117 Although by his sight his sin be multiplied.
118 GLOUCESTER.
119 Stand by, my masters. Bring him near the King.
120 His highness’ pleasure is to talk with him.
121 KING HENRY.
122 Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance,
123 That we for thee may glorify the Lord.
124 What, hast thou been long blind and now restored?
125 SIMPCOX.
126 Born blind, an ’t please your grace.
127 WIFE.
128 Ay, indeed, was he.
129 SUFFOLK.
130 What woman is this?
131 WIFE.
132 His wife, an ’t like your worship.
133 GLOUCESTER.
134 Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have better told.
135 KING HENRY.
136 Where wert thou born?
137 SIMPCOX.
138 At Berwick in the north, an ’t like your grace.
139 KING HENRY.
140 Poor soul, God’s goodness hath been great to thee.
141 Let never day nor night unhallowed pass,
142 But still remember what the Lord hath done.
143 QUEEN MARGARET.
144 Tell me, good fellow, cam’st thou here by chance,
145 Or of devotion, to this holy shrine?
146 SIMPCOX.
147 God knows, of pure devotion; being called
148 A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep,
149 By good Saint Alban, who said “Simpcox, come,
150 Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee.”
151 WIFE.
152 Most true, forsooth; and many time and oft
153 Myself have heard a voice to call him so.
154 CARDINAL.
155 What, art thou lame?
156 SIMPCOX.
157 Ay, God Almighty help me!
158 SUFFOLK.
159 How cam’st thou so?
160 SIMPCOX.
161 A fall off of a tree.
162 WIFE.
163 A plum-tree, master.
164 GLOUCESTER.
165 How long hast thou been blind?
166 SIMPCOX.
167 O, born so, master.
168 GLOUCESTER.
169 What, and wouldst climb a tree?
170 SIMPCOX.
171 But that in all my life, when I was a youth.
172 WIFE.
173 Too true; and bought his climbing very dear.
174 GLOUCESTER.
175 Mass, thou lov’dst plums well, that wouldst venture so.
176 SIMPCOX.
177 Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons,
178 And made me climb, with danger of my life.
179 GLOUCESTER.
180 A subtle knave! But yet it shall not serve.—
181 Let me see thine eyes. Wink now. Now open them.
182 In my opinion yet thou seest not well.
183 SIMPCOX.
184 Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and Saint Alban.
185 GLOUCESTER.
186 Sayst thou me so? What colour is this cloak of?
187 SIMPCOX.
188 Red, master, red as blood.
189 GLOUCESTER.
190 Why, that’s well said. What colour is my gown of?
191 SIMPCOX.
192 Black, forsooth, coal-black as jet.
193 KING HENRY.
194 Why, then, thou know’st what colour jet is of?
195 SUFFOLK.
196 And yet, I think, jet did he never see.
197 GLOUCESTER.
198 But cloaks and gowns before this day, a many.
199 WIFE.
200 Never before this day in all his life.
201 GLOUCESTER.
202 Tell me, sirrah, what’s my name?
203 SIMPCOX.
204 Alas, master, I know not.
205 GLOUCESTER.
206 What’s his name?
207 SIMPCOX.
208 I know not.
209 GLOUCESTER.
210 Nor his?
211 SIMPCOX.
212 No, indeed, master.
213 GLOUCESTER.
214 What’s thine own name?
215 SIMPCOX.
216 Sander Simpcox, an if it please you, master.
217 GLOUCESTER.
218 Then, Sander, sit there, the lyingest knave in Christendom. If thou
219 hadst been born blind, thou mightst as well have known all our names as
220 thus to name the several colours we do wear. Sight may distinguish of
221 colours; but suddenly to nominate them all, it is impossible.—My lords,
222 Saint Alban here hath done a miracle; and would ye not think his
223 cunning to be great that could restore this cripple to his legs again?
224 SIMPCOX.
225 O master, that you could!
226 GLOUCESTER.
227 My masters of Saint Albans, have you not beadles in your town, and
228 things called whips?
229 MAYOR.
230 Yes, my lord, if it please your grace.
231 GLOUCESTER.
232 Then send for one presently.
233 MAYOR.
234 Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight.
235 [_Exit a Townsman._]
236 GLOUCESTER.
237 Now fetch me a stool hither by and by.—Now, sirrah, if you mean to save
238 yourself from whipping, leap me over this stool and run away.
239 SIMPCOX.
240 Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone.
241 You go about to torture me in vain.
242 Enter a Beadle with whips.
243 GLOUCESTER.
244 Well, sir, we must have you find your legs.
245 Sirrah beadle, whip him till he leap over that same stool.
246 BEADLE.
247 I will, my lord.—Come on, sirrah; off with your doublet quickly.
248 SIMPCOX.
249 Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand.
250 [_After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the stool and runs
251 away; and they follow and cry, “A miracle!”_]
252 KING HENRY.
253 O God, seest Thou this, and bearest so long?
254 QUEEN MARGARET.
255 It made me laugh to see the villain run.
256 GLOUCESTER.
257 Follow the knave, and take this drab away.
258 WIFE.
259 Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.
260 GLOUCESTER.
261 Let them be whipped through every market town
262 Till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.
263 [_Exeunt Wife, Beadle, Mayor, etc._]
264 CARDINAL.
265 Duke Humphrey has done a miracle today.
266 SUFFOLK.
267 True, made the lame to leap and fly away.
268 GLOUCESTER.
269 But you have done more miracles than I.
270 You made in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.
271 Enter Buckingham.
272 KING HENRY.
273 What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?
274 BUCKINGHAM.
275 Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold.
276 A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent,
277 Under the countenance and confederacy
278 Of Lady Eleanor, the Protector’s wife,
279 The ringleader and head of all this rout,
280 Have practised dangerously against your state,
281 Dealing with witches and with conjurers,
282 Whom we have apprehended in the fact,
283 Raising up wicked spirits from under ground,
284 Demanding of King Henry’s life and death,
285 And other of your highness’ Privy Council,
286 As more at large your Grace shall understand.
287 CARDINAL.
288 [_Aside to Gloucester_.] And so, my Lord Protector, by this means
289 Your lady is forthcoming yet at London.
290 This news, I think, hath turned your weapon’s edge;
291 ’Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.
292 GLOUCESTER.
293 Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart.
294 Sorrow and grief have vanquished all my powers,
295 And, vanquished as I am, I yield to thee,
296 Or to the meanest groom.
297 KING HENRY.
298 O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,
299 Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!
300 QUEEN MARGARET.
301 Gloucester, see here the tainture of thy nest,
302 And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.
303 GLOUCESTER.
304 Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal
305 How I have loved my king and commonweal;
306 And, for my wife, I know not how it stands.
307 Sorry I am to hear what I have heard.
308 Noble she is; but if she have forgot
309 Honour and virtue, and conversed with such
310 As like to pitch defile nobility,
311 I banish her my bed and company
312 And give her as a prey to law and shame
313 That hath dishonoured Gloucester’s honest name.
314 KING HENRY.
315 Well, for this night we will repose us here;
316 Tomorrow toward London back again,
317 To look into this business thoroughly,
318 And call these foul offenders to their answers,
319 And poise the cause in Justice’ equal scales,
320 Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.
321 [_Flourish. Exeunt._]