The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth

1 Sound trumpets. Enter the King, the Queen, Gloucester, York, Suffolk
2 and Salisbury; the Duchess of Gloucester, Margery Jourdain, Southwell,
3 Hume and Bolingbroke under guard.
4 KING HENRY.
5 Stand forth, Dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloucester’s wife.
6 In sight of God and us, your guilt is great;
7 Receive the sentence of the law for sins
8 Such as by God’s book are adjudged to death.
9 You four, from hence to prison back again;
10 From thence unto the place of execution.
11 The witch in Smithfield shall be burnt to ashes,
12 And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.
13 You, madam, for you are more nobly born,
14 Despoiled of your honour in your life,
15 Shall, after three days’ open penance done,
16 Live in your country here in banishment,
17 With Sir John Stanley in the Isle of Man.
18 ELEANOR.
19 Welcome is banishment; welcome were my death.
20 GLOUCESTER.
21 Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hath judged thee.
22 I cannot justify whom the law condemns.
23 [_Exeunt Duchess and the other prisoners, guarded._]
24 Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.
25 Ah, Humphrey, this dishonour in thine age
26 Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground!—
27 I beseech your majesty, give me leave to go;
28 Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.
29 KING HENRY.
30 Stay, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Ere thou go,
31 Give up thy staff. Henry will to himself
32 Protector be; and God shall be my hope,
33 My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet.
34 And go in peace, Humphrey, no less beloved
35 Than when thou wert Protector to thy king.
36 QUEEN MARGARET.
37 I see no reason why a king of years
38 Should be to be protected like a child.
39 God and King Henry govern England’s realm!
40 Give up your staff, sir, and the King his realm.
41 GLOUCESTER.
42 My staff? Here, noble Henry, is my staff.
43 As willingly do I the same resign
44 As e’er thy father Henry made it mine;
45 And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it
46 As others would ambitiously receive it.
47 Farewell, good King. When I am dead and gone,
48 May honourable peace attend thy throne.
49 [_Exit._]
50 QUEEN MARGARET.
51 Why, now is Henry King and Margaret Queen,
52 And Humphrey Duke of Gloucester scarce himself,
53 That bears so shrewd a maim. Two pulls at once;
54 His lady banished, and a limb lopped off.
55 This staff of honour raught, there let it stand
56 Where it best fits to be, in Henry’s hand.
57 SUFFOLK.
58 Thus droops this lofty pine and hangs his sprays;
59 Thus Eleanor’s pride dies in her youngest days.
60 YORK.
61 Lords, let him go.—Please it your majesty,
62 This is the day appointed for the combat,
63 And ready are the appellant and defendant,
64 The armourer and his man, to enter the lists,
65 So please your highness to behold the fight.
66 QUEEN MARGARET.
67 Ay, good my lord; for purposely therefore
68 Left I the court to see this quarrel tried.
69 KING HENRY.
70 I’ God’s name, see the lists and all things fit.
71 Here let them end it, and God defend the right!
72 YORK.
73 I never saw a fellow worse bested,
74 Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant,
75 The servant of his armourer, my lords.
76 Enter at one door Horner the armourer, and his Neighbours, drinking to
77 him so much that he is drunk; and he enters with a drum before him and
78 his staff with a sandbag fastened to it; and at the other door Peter,
79 his man, with a drum and sandbag, and Prentices drinking to him.
80 1 NEIGHBOUR.
81 Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to you in a cup of sack; and fear not,
82 neighbour, you shall do well enough.
83 2 NEIGHBOUR.
84 And here, neighbour, here’s a cup of charneco.
85 3 NEIGHBOUR.
86 And here’s a pot of good double beer, neighbour. Drink, and fear not
87 your man.
88 HORNER.
89 Let it come, i’ faith, and I’ll pledge you all; and a fig for Peter!
90 1 PRENTICE.
91 Here, Peter, I drink to thee, and be not afraid.
92 2 PRENTICE.
93 Be merry, Peter, and fear not thy master. Fight for credit of the
94 prentices.
95 PETER.
96 I thank you all. Drink, and pray for me, I pray you, for I think I have
97 taken my last draught in this world. Here, Robin, an if I die, I give
98 thee my apron; and, Will, thou shalt have my hammer; and here, Tom,
99 take all the money that I have. O Lord bless me! I pray God, for I am
100 never able to deal with my master, he hath learnt so much fence
101 already.
102 SALISBURY.
103 Come, leave your drinking and fall to blows.
104 Sirrah, what’s thy name?
105 PETER.
106 Peter, forsooth.
107 SALISBURY.
108 Peter? What more?
109 PETER.
110 Thump.
111 SALISBURY.
112 Thump! Then see thou thump thy master well.
113 HORNER.
114 Masters, I am come hither, as it were, upon my man’s instigation, to
115 prove him a knave and myself an honest man; and touching the Duke of
116 York, I will take my death I never meant him any ill, nor the King, nor
117 the Queen; and therefore, Peter, have at thee with a downright blow!
118 YORK.
119 Dispatch! This knave’s tongue begins to double.
120 Sound, trumpets. Alarum to the combatants!
121 [_They fight, and Peter strikes him down._]
122 HORNER.
123 Hold, Peter, hold! I confess, I confess treason.
124 [_Dies._]
125 YORK.
126 Take away his weapon.—Fellow, thank God and the good wine in thy
127 master’s way.
128 PETER.
129 O God, have I overcome mine enemies in this presence? O Peter, thou
130 hast prevailed in right!
131 KING HENRY.
132 Go, take hence that traitor from our sight,
133 For by his death we do perceive his guilt.
134 And God in justice hath revealed to us
135 The truth and innocence of this poor fellow,
136 Which he had thought to have murdered wrongfully.
137 Come, fellow, follow us for thy reward.
138 [_Sound a flourish. Exeunt._]