The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth

1 Alarum. Fight at sea. Ordnance goes off. Enter a Lieutenant, Suffolk,
2 disguised, a prisoner. The Master, a Master’s Mate, Walter Whitmore,
3 and prisoners.
4 LIEUTENANT.
5 The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day
6 Is crept into the bosom of the sea;
7 And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades
8 That drag the tragic melancholy night,
9 Who, with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings
10 Clip dead men’s graves and from their misty jaws
11 Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air.
12 Therefore bring forth the soldiers of our prize;
13 For, whilst our pinnace anchors in the Downs,
14 Here shall they make their ransom on the sand,
15 Or with their blood stain this discoloured shore.
16 Master, this prisoner freely give I thee,
17 And thou that art his mate, make boot of this;
18 The other, Walter Whitmore, is thy share.
19 1 GENTLEMAN.
20 What is my ransom, master? Let me know.
21 MASTER.
22 A thousand crowns, or else lay down your head.
23 MATE.
24 And so much shall you give, or off goes yours.
25 LIEUTENANT.
26 What, think you much to pay two thousand crowns,
27 And bear the name and port of gentlemen?
28 Cut both the villains’ throats—for die you shall.
29 The lives of those which we have lost in fight
30 Be counterpoised with such a petty sum!
31 1 GENTLEMAN.
32 I’ll give it, sir, and therefore spare my life.
33 2 GENTLEMAN.
34 And so will I, and write home for it straight.
35 WHITMORE.
36 [_To Suffolk_.] I lost mine eye in laying the prize aboard,
37 And therefore to revenge it shalt thou die;
38 And so should these, if I might have my will.
39 LIEUTENANT.
40 Be not so rash; take ransom, let him live.
41 SUFFOLK.
42 Look on my George; I am a gentleman.
43 Rate me at what thou wilt, thou shalt be paid.
44 WHITMORE.
45 And so am I; my name is Walter Whitmore.
46 How now! Why starts thou? What, doth death affright?
47 SUFFOLK.
48 Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death.
49 A cunning man did calculate my birth
50 And told me that by water I should die.
51 Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded;
52 Thy name is Gaultier, being rightly sounded.
53 WHITMORE.
54 Gaultier or Walter, which it is, I care not.
55 Never yet did base dishonour blur our name
56 But with our sword we wiped away the blot.
57 Therefore, when merchant-like I sell revenge,
58 Broke be my sword, my arms torn and defaced,
59 And I proclaimed a coward through the world!
60 SUFFOLK.
61 Stay, Whitmore, for thy prisoner is a prince,
62 The Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole.
63 WHITMORE.
64 The Duke of Suffolk, muffled up in rags?
65 SUFFOLK.
66 Ay, but these rags are no part of the Duke.
67 Jove sometime went disguised, and why not I?
68 LIEUTENANT.
69 But Jove was never slain, as thou shalt be.
70 SUFFOLK.
71 Obscure and lowly swain, King Henry’s blood,
72 The honourable blood of Lancaster,
73 Must not be shed by such a jaded groom.
74 Hast thou not kissed thy hand and held my stirrup?
75 Bareheaded plodded by my foot-cloth mule,
76 And thought thee happy when I shook my head?
77 How often hast thou waited at my cup,
78 Fed from my trencher, kneeled down at the board,
79 When I have feasted with Queen Margaret?
80 Remember it, and let it make thee crestfallen,
81 Ay, and allay thus thy abortive pride.
82 How in our voiding lobby hast thou stood
83 And duly waited for my coming forth?
84 This hand of mine hath writ in thy behalf,
85 And therefore shall it charm thy riotous tongue.
86 WHITMORE.
87 Speak, captain, shall I stab the forlorn swain?
88 LIEUTENANT.
89 First let my words stab him, as he hath me.
90 SUFFOLK.
91 Base slave, thy words are blunt, and so art thou.
92 LIEUTENANT.
93 Convey him hence, and on our longboat’s side
94 Strike off his head.
95 SUFFOLK.
96 Thou dar’st not, for thy own.
97 LIEUTENANT.
98 Yes, poll!
99 SUFFOLK.
100 Pole!
101 LIEUTENANT.
102 Pool! Sir Pool! Lord!
103 Ay, kennel, puddle, sink, whose filth and dirt
104 Troubles the silver spring where England drinks;
105 Now will I dam up this thy yawning mouth
106 For swallowing the treasure of the realm.
107 Thy lips that kissed the Queen shall sweep the ground;
108 And thou that smiledst at good Duke Humphrey’s death
109 Against the senseless winds shalt grin in vain,
110 Who in contempt shall hiss at thee again.
111 And wedded be thou to the hags of hell,
112 For daring to affy a mighty lord
113 Unto the daughter of a worthless king,
114 Having neither subject, wealth, nor diadem.
115 By devilish policy art thou grown great
116 And, like ambitious Sylla, overgorged
117 With gobbets of thy mother’s bleeding heart.
118 By thee Anjou and Maine were sold to France,
119 The false revolting Normans thorough thee
120 Disdain to call us lord, and Picardy
121 Hath slain their governors, surprised our forts,
122 And sent the ragged soldiers wounded home.
123 The princely Warwick, and the Nevilles all,
124 Whose dreadful swords were never drawn in vain,
125 As hating thee are rising up in arms.
126 And now the house of York, thrust from the crown
127 By shameful murder of a guiltless king
128 And lofty, proud, encroaching tyranny,
129 Burns with revenging fire, whose hopeful colours
130 Advance our half-faced sun, striving to shine,
131 Under the which is writ “_Invitis nubibus_.”
132 The commons here in Kent are up in arms;
133 And, to conclude, reproach and beggary
134 Is crept into the palace of our King,
135 And all by thee.—Away! Convey him hence.
136 SUFFOLK.
137 O that I were a god, to shoot forth thunder
138 Upon these paltry, servile, abject drudges!
139 Small things make base men proud. This villain here,
140 Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more
141 Than Bargulus the strong Illyrian pirate.
142 Drones suck not eagles’ blood but rob beehives.
143 It is impossible that I should die
144 By such a lowly vassal as thyself.
145 Thy words move rage and not remorse in me.
146 I go of message from the Queen to France;
147 I charge thee waft me safely ’cross the Channel.
148 LIEUTENANT.
149 Walter.
150 WHITMORE.
151 Come, Suffolk, I must waft thee to thy death.
152 SUFFOLK.
153 _Pene gelidus timor occupat artus_.
154 It is thee I fear.
155 WHITMORE.
156 Thou shalt have cause to fear before I leave thee.
157 What, are ye daunted now? Now will ye stoop?
158 1 GENTLEMAN.
159 My gracious lord, entreat him, speak him fair.
160 SUFFOLK.
161 Suffolk’s imperial tongue is stern and rough,
162 Used to command, untaught to plead for favour.
163 Far be it we should honour such as these
164 With humble suit. No, rather let my head
165 Stoop to the block than these knees bow to any
166 Save to the God of heaven and to my King;
167 And sooner dance upon a bloody pole
168 Than stand uncovered to the vulgar groom.
169 True nobility is exempt from fear;
170 More can I bear than you dare execute.
171 LIEUTENANT.
172 Hale him away, and let him talk no more.
173 SUFFOLK.
174 Come, soldiers, show what cruelty ye can,
175 That this my death may never be forgot!
176 Great men oft die by vile Bezonians.
177 A Roman sworder and banditto slave
178 Murdered sweet Tully; Brutus’ bastard hand
179 Stabbed Julius Caesar; savage islanders
180 Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates.
181 [_Exeunt Whitmore and others with Suffolk._]
182 LIEUTENANT.
183 And as for these whose ransom we have set,
184 It is our pleasure one of them depart.
185 Therefore come you with us, and let him go.
186 [_Exeunt all but the 1 Gentleman._]
187 Enter Whitmore with Suffolk’s body and head.
188 WHITMORE.
189 There let his head and lifeless body lie,
190 Until the Queen his mistress bury it.
191 [_Exit._]
192 1 GENTLEMAN.
193 O barbarous and bloody spectacle!
194 His body will I bear unto the King.
195 If he revenge it not, yet will his friends;
196 So will the Queen, that living held him dear.
197 [_Exit with the body._]