“The” Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare

Upon offenders, hath exceeded law,
And left thee to the mercy of the law.

Q. Mar. Thy sale of offices, and towns in
France,-

If they were known, as the suspect is great,
Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.
[Exit GLOSTER. The Queen drops her Fan.
Give me my fan: What, minion! can you not?
[Gives the DUCHESS a box on the Ear.
I cry, you mercy, madam; Was it you?
Duch. Was't I? yea, I it was, proud French-

woman:

Could I come near your beauty with my nails, I'd set my ten commandments in your face.* K. Hen. Sweet aunt, be quiet; 'twas against her will.

Duch. Against her will! Good king, look to't in time;

She'll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby: Though in this place most master wear no breeches,

She shall not strike dame Eleanor unreveng'd. [Exit DUCHESS. Buck. Lord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor, And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds: She's tickled now; her fume can need no spurs, She'll gallop fast enough to her destruction. [Exit BUCKINGHAM.

Re-enter GLOster.

Glo. Now, lords, my choler being over-blown, With walking once about the quadrangle, I come to talk of commonwealth affairs. As for your spiteful false objections, Prove them, and I lie open to the law: But God in mercy so deal with my soul, As I in duty love my king and country! But, to the matter that we have in hand: I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man To be your regent in the realm of France.

Suf. Before we make election, give me leave To show some reason, of no little force, That York is most unmeet of any man.

York. I'll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am un

meet.

First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride:
Next, if I be appointed for the place,
My lord of Somerset will keep me here,
Without discharge, money, or furniture,
Till France be won into the Dauphin's hands.
Last time, I danc'd attendance on his will,
Till Paris was besieg'd, famish'd, and lost.
War. That I can witness; and a fouler fact
Did never traitor in the land commit.
Suf. Peace, head-strong Warwick!
War. Image of pride, why should I hold my
peace?

Enter servants of SUFFOLK, bringing in HORNER and PETER.

Suf. Because here is a man accus'd of trea

son:

Pray God, the duke of York excuse himself! York. Doth any one accuse York for a trai

tor?

K. Hen. What mean'st thou, Suffolk? tell me: What are these?

Suf. Please it your majesty, this is the man That doth accuse his master of high treason: His words were these ;-that Richard, duke of York.

Was rightful heir unto the English crown;
And that your majesty was an usurper.
K. Hen. Say, man, were these thy words?
Hor. An't shall please your majesty, I never

The marks of her fingers and thumbs.

said nor thought any such matter: God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain.

Pet. By these ten bones, my lords, [Holding up his Hands.] he did speak them to me in the garret one night, as we were scouring my lord of York's armour.

York. Base dunghill villain, and mechanical, I'll have thy head for this thy traitor's speech :I do beseech your royal majesty, Let him have all the rigour of the law.

Hor. Alas, my lord, hang me, if ever I spake the words. My accuser is my prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me: I have good witness of this; therefore, I beseech your majesty, do not cast away an honest man for a villain's accusation. K Hen. Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?

Glo. This doom, my lord, if I may judge. Let Somerset be regent o'er the French, Because in York this breeds suspicion: And let these have a day appointed them For single combat in convenient place; For he hath witness of his servant's malice: This is the law, and this duke Humphrey's doom.

K. Hen. Then be it so. My lord of Somerset, We make your grace lord regent o'er the French.

Som. I humbly thank your royal majesty.
Hcr. And I accept the combat willingly.

Pet. Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God's sake, pity my case! the spite of man prevaileth against me. O, Lord, have mercy upon me! I shall never be able to fight a blow: O Lord, my heart!

Glo. Sirrah, or you must fight, or else be hang'd.

K. Hen. Away with them to prison: and

the day

Of combat shall be the last of the next month. Come, Somerset, we'll see thee sent away. [Exeunt.

Spir. Let him shun castles;

Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains
Than where castles mounted stand.
Have done, for more I hardly can endure.
Boling. Descend to darkness, and the burn-
ing lake:

False fiend, avoid!

[Thunder and Lightning. SPIRIT descends. Enter YORK and BUCKINGHAM, hastily, with their Guards, and others.

York. Lay hands upon these traitors, and their trash. [inch.Beldame, I think, we watch'd you at an What, madam, are you there? the king and commonweal

Are deeply indebted for this piece of pains;
My lord protector will, I doubt it not,
See you well guerdon'dt for these good deserts.
Duch. Not half so bad as thine to England's
king,

Injurious duke; that threat'st where is no

Tell me what fate awaits the duke of Suffolk?
By water shall he die, and take his end.--
What shall betide the duke of Somerset ?
Let him shun castles;

Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains,
Than where castles mounted stand.
These oracles are hardily attain'd,
Come, come, my lords;

[Albans.

The king is now in progress toward Saint
And hardly understood.
With him, the husband of this lovely lady:
Thither go these news, as fast as horse can
carry them;

A sorry breakfast for my lord protector.
Buck. Your grace shall give me leave, my
lord of York,

To be the post, in hope of his reward.
York. At your pleasure, my good lord.-
Who's within there, ho!

Enter a SERVANT.

Invite my lords of Salisbury, and Warwick, To sup with me to-morrow night.-Away!

ACT II.

SCENE I-Saint Albans.

[Exeunt.

Enter King HENRY, Queen MARGARET, GLOS TER, CARDINAL, and SUFFOLK, with Falconers hollaing.

Q. Mar. Believe me, lords, for flying at

the brook,*

I saw not better sport these seven years' day: Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high; And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.

K. Hen. But what a point, my lord, your

falcon made,

And what a pitch she flew above the rest!To see how God in all his creatures works!

Yea, man and birds, are faint of climbing high.

My lord protector's hawks do tower so well;
Suf. No marvel, an it like your majesty,
They know their master loves to be aloft,
And bears his thoughts above his falcon's
pitch.

Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. Car. I thought as much; he'd be above the clouds.

Glo. Ay, my lord cardinal; How think you

by that?

Were it not good, your grace could fly to heaven?

K. Hen. The treasury of everlasting joy! Car. Thy heaven is on earth: thine eyes

and thoughts

Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart;
Pernicious protector, dangerous peer, [weal!
That smooth'st it so with king and common-
Glo. What cardinal, is your priesthood
grown peremptory?
Tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ ? [malice;
Churchmen so hot? good uncle, hide such
With such holiness can you do it?

Suf. No malice, Sir; no more than well be

comes

So good a quarrel, and so bad a peer.

Glo. As who, my lord?

Suf. Why, as you, my lord;

An't like your lordly lord-protectorship.
Glo. Why Suffolk, England knows thine
insolence.

Q. Mar. And thy ambition, Gloster.

The falconer's term for hawking at water fowl.
Fond. 1. e. Thy mind is working on a crown.

K. Hen. I pr'y thee, peace, [peers, [ Good queen; and whet not on these furious For blessed are the peacemakers on earth. Car. Let me be blessed for the peace I make Against this proud protector, with my sword! Glo. 'Faith, holy uncle, 'would 'twere come to that! [Aside to the CARDINAL. Car. Marry, when thou dar'st. [Aside. Glo. Make up no factious numbers for the matter,

In thine own person answer thy abuse. [Aside. Car. Ay, where thou dar'st not peep: an if thou dar'st

This evening on the east side of the grove.

[Aside.

Car. Medice teipsum:

[Aside.

Protector, see to't well, protect yourself.

K. Hen. The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords.

How Irksome is this music to my heart!
When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?
I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.
Enter an INHABITANT of Saint Albans, crying,
A Miracle!

Glo. What means this noise?
Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?
Inhab. A miracle! a miracle!

Suf. Come to the king, and tell him what miracle.

Inhab. Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine,

Within this half hour, hath receiv'd his sight; A man, that ne'er saw in his life before.

K. Hen. Now, God be prais'd! that to believing souls

Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair! Enter the MAYOR of Saint Albans, and his Brethren; and SIMPCOX, borne between two persons in a Chair; his Wife, and a great multitude following.

Car. Here come the townsmen on procession, To present your highness with the man.

K. Hen. Great is his comfort in this earthly
vale,

Although by his sight his sin be multiplied.
Glo. Stand by, my masters, bring him near

the king,

His highness' pleasure is to talk with him

K. Hen. Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance,

That we for thee may glorify the Lord.

Glo. Had'st thou been his mother, thou could'st have better told.

K. Hen. Where wert thou born?

Simp. At Berwick in the north, an't like your grace.

K. Hen. Poor soul! God's goodness hath
been great to thee:

Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass,
But still remember what the Lord hath done.
Q. Mar. Tell me, good fellow, cam'st thou
here by chance,

Or of devotion, to this holy shrine?

Simp. God knows, of pure devotion; being
call'd

A hundred times, and oftener, in my sleep
By good Saint Alban; who said,-Simpcox,

Myself have heard a voice to call him so.
Car. What, art thou lame?
Simp. Ay, God Almighty help me!
Suf. How cam'st thou so?
Simp. A fall off of a tree.
Wife. A plum-tree, master.

Glo. How long hast thou been blind?
Simp. O, born so, master.

Glo. What, and would'st climb a tree?
Simp. But that in all my life, when I was a
youth.

Wife. Too true; and bought his climbing very dear.

Glo. 'Mass, thou lov'dst plums well, that would'st venture so.

Simp. Alas, good master, my wife desir'd

some damsons,

And made me climb, with danger of my life. Glo. A subtle knave! but yet it shall not

serve.

Let me see thine eyes:wink now ;-now open them :

In my opinion yet thou see'st not well.

Simp. Yes, master, clear as day; I thank God, and Saint Alban.

Glo. Say'st thou me so? What colour is this cloak of?

Simp. Red, master; red as blood.

Glo. Why, that's well said: What colour is my gown of?

Simp. Black, forsooth; coal-black, as jet.
K. Hen. Why then, thou know'st what col-
our jet is of?

Suf. And yet, I think, jet did he never see.
Glo. But cloaks, and gowns, before this day,

Glo. Nor his ?

Simp. No, indeed, master.

Glo. What's thine own name?

Simp. Saunder Simpcox, an if it please you master.

Glo. Then, Saunder, sit thou there, the lyingest knave

What, hast thou been long blind, and now re- In Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind,

stor'd?

Thou might'st as well have known our names

as thus

And would ye not think that cunning to be great,

That could restore this cripple to his legs?

Simp. O, master, that you could!

Glo. My masters of St. Albans, have you, not beadles in your town, and things called whips?

May. Yes, my lord, if it please your grace. Glo. Then send for one presently. May. Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight. [Exil an ATTENDANT. Glo. Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. [A Stool brought out.] Now, sirrah, if you mean to save yourself from whipping, leap me over this stool, and run away.

Simp. Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone: You go about to torture me in vain. Re-enter ATTENDANT, with the BEADLE. Glo. Well, Sir, we must have you find your legs. Sirrah, beadle, whip him till he leap

over that same stool.

Bead. I will, my lord.-Come on, off with your doublet quickly.

sirrah;

Simp. Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand.

[After the BEADLE hath hit him once, he leaps
over the Stool, and runs away; and the
People follow, and cry, A miracle!
K. Hen. O God, see'st thou this, and bear'st
so long!

Q. Mar. It made me laugh, to see the villain

K. Hen. What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?

K. Hen. O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones;

[by! Heaping confusion on their own heads thereQ. Mar. Gloster, see here the tainture of thy nest;

And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.
Glo. Madam, for myself, to heaven I do ap-
peal,

How I have lov'd my king, and commonweal:
And, for my wife, I know not how it stands;
Sorry I am to hear what I have heard:
Noble she is; but if she have forgot
Honour, and virtue, and convers'd with such
As, like to pitch, defile nobility,
I banish her, my bed, and company;
And give her, as a prey, to law, and shame,
That hath dishonour'd Gloster's honest name.
K. Hen. Well, for this night, we will repose
us here:

To-morrow, toward London, back again,
To look into this business thoroughly,

And call these foul offenders to their answers;
And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,
Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause
prevails.
[Flourish. Exeunt.
SCENE II.-London.-the Duke of YORK'S
Garden.

Enter YORK, SALISBURY, and WARWICK.
York. Now, my good lords of Salisbury and
Warwick,
Our simple supper ended, give me leave,
In craving your opinion of my title,
In this close walk, to satisfy myself,
Which is infallible, to England's crown.
Sal. My lord, I long to hear it at full.
War. Sweet York, begin: and if thy claim
be good,

The Nevils are thy subjects to command.
York. Then thus:

Edward the Third, my lords, had seven sons:
The first, Edward the Black Prince, prince of
Wales;

The second, William of Hatfield; and the third,
Lionel, duke of Clarence; next to whom,
Was John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster:
The fifth, was Edmund Langley, duke of York;
The sixth, was Thomas of Woodstock, duke of

Gloster;

William of Windsor was the seventh, and last. Buck. Such as my heart doth tremble to un-Edward, the Black Prince, died before his

fold.

A sort of naughty persons, lewdlyf bent,-
Under the countenance and confederacy
Of lady Eleanor, the protector's wife,
The ringleader and head of all this rout,—
Have practis'd dangerously against your state,
Dealing with witches, and with conjurers:
Whom we have apprehended in the fact;
Raising up wicked spirits from under ground,
Demanding of king Henry's life and death,
And other of your highness' privy council,
As more at large your grace shall understand.
Car. And so, my lord protector, by this means
Your lady is forthcoming yet at London.
This news, I think, bath turn'd your weapon's
edge;

'Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.
[Aside to GLOSTER.
Glo. Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict
my heart!
[powers;
Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my
And, vanquish'd as I am, I yield to thee,
Or to the meanest groom.

father;

And left behind him Richard, his only son,
Who, after Edward the Third's death, reign'd
as king;

Till Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster,
The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt.
Crown'd by the name of Henry the Fourth,
Seiz'd on the realm; depos'd the rightful king;
Sent his poor queen to France, from whence

she came,
And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know,
Harmless Richard was murder'd traitorously.

War. Father, the duke hath told the truth; Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown. York. Which now they hold by force, and

Who married Edmund Mortimer, earl of You four, from hence to prison back again;

March,

Edmund had issue-Roger, earl of March: Roger had issue-Edmund, Anne, and Elea

nor.

Sal. This Edmund, in the reign of Boiingbroke,

As I have read, laid claim unto the crown;
And, but for Owen Glendower, had been king,
Who kept him in captivity, till he died.
But, to the rest.

son

York. His eldest sister, Anne, My mother being heir unto the crown, Married Richard, earl of Cambridge; who was [son. To Edmund Langley, Edward the Third's fifth By her I claim the kingdom: she was heir To Roger, earl of March; who was the son Of Edmund Mortimer; who married Philippe, Sole daughter unto Lionel, duke of C'arence: So, if the issue of the elder son Succeed before the younger, I am king.

War. What plain proceedings are more plain than this?

Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt,

[To JOURD, &c. From thence, unto the place of execution: The witch in Smithfield shall be burn'd to ashes,

And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.

You, madam, for you are more nobly born,
Despoiled of your honour in your life,
Shall, after three days' open penance done,
Live in your country here, in banishment,
With Sir John Stanley, in the isle of Man.
Duch. Welcome is banishment, welcome
were my death.

Glo. Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hatb
judg'd thee;

I cannot justify whom the law condemns.[Exeunt the DUCHESS, and the other prisoners, guarded.

Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief. Ah, Humphrey, this dishonour in thine age Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground!

K. Hen. Stay, Humphrey duke of Gloster: ere they go,

The fourth son; York claims it from the third.
Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign:
It fails not yet; but flourishes in thee,
And in thy sons, fair slips of such a stock.—
Then, father Salisbury, kneel we both togeth-My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet;

cr;

And, in this private plot,* be we the first,
That shall salute our rightful sovereign
With honour of his birthright to the crown.
Both. Long live our sovereign Richard,
England's king!

York. We thank you lords. But I am not
your king
[stain'd

Till I be crown'd; and that my sword be
With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster.
And that's not suddenly to be perform'd;
But with advice, and silent secrecy.
Do you, as I do, in these dangerous days,
Wink at the duke of Suffolk's insolence,
At Beaufort's pride, at Somerset's ambition,
At Buckingham, and all the crew of them,
Till they have snar'd the shepherd of the flock,
That virtuous prince, the good duke Humph-
rey:

'Tis that they seek; and they in seeking that, Shall find their deaths, if York can prophesy. Sal. My lord, break we off; we know your mind at full.

War. My heart assures ine, that the earl of Warwick

Shall one day make the duke of York a king.
York. And, Nevil, this I do assure myself,-
Richard shall live to make the earl of War-
wick

The greatest man in England, but the king.
[Exeunt.
SCENE III-The same.-A Hall of Justice.
Trumpets sounded. Enter King HENRY, Queen
MARGARET, GLOSTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, and
SALISBURY; the Dutchess of GLOSTER, MAR-
GERY JOURDAIN, SOUTHWELL, HUME, and
BOLINGBROKE, under guard.

K. Hen. Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloster's wife:

In sight of God, and us, your guilt is great; Receive the sentence of the law, for sins Such as by God's book are adjudg'd to death.Sequestered spot.

Give up thy staff; Henry will to himself Protector be; and God shall be my hope,

And go in peace, Humphrey; no less belov'd, Than when thou wert protector to thy king.

Q. Mar. I see no reason, why a king of
years

Should be to be protected like a child.—
God and king Henry govern England's helm:
Give up your staff, Sir, and the king his
realm.

Glo. My staff?-here, noble Henry, is my
staff:

As willingly do I the same resign,
As e'er thy father Henry made it mine;
And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it,
As others would ambitiously receive it.
Farewell, good king: When I am dead and
gone,

May honourable peace attend thy throne!

[Exit.

Q. Mar. Why, now is Henry king, and

Margaret queer; And Humphrey, duke of Gloster, scarce himself,

That bears so shrewd a maim; two pulls at

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“The” Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare: From the Text of ..., Volume 2