Sorry am I to hear what I have heard;
Noble fhe is; but if fhe have forgot

Honour and Virtue, and convers'd with fuch
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 Glo' fter's honest name.

K. Henry. Well, for this night we will repofe us here; To morrow toward London back again,

To look into this bufinefs thoroughly.

And call these foul offenders to their answers;
And poife the Caufe in Juftice' equal fcales,

Whole beam ftands fure, whofe rightful caufe prevails.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

York.

SCENE IV.

Changes to the Duke of York's Palace.

Enter York, Salisbury, and Warwick.

TOW, my good lords of Salisbury and Waravick,

Now

Our fimple fupper ended, give me leave,
In this clote walk to fatisfy myfelf;

In craving your opinion of my Title,
Which is infallible, to England's Crown.

Sal. My lord, I long to hear it thus at full.

War. Sweet York, begin; and if thy Claim be good, The Nevills are thy fubjects to command.

York. Then thus:

Edward the Third, my lords, had feven fons :

The first, Edward the black Prince, Prince of Wales;
The fecond, William of Hatfield; and the third,
Lionel Duke of Clarence; next to whom

Was John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster ;
The fifth, was Edmond Langley, Duke of York;

The fixth, was Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Glofter ;
William of Windsor was the feventh and last.
Edward the black Prince dy'd before his father,
And left behind him Richard, his only fon,

Who, after Edward the Third's death, reign'd King

'Till Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster,
The eldest fon 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 the came,
And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know,
Harmless King Richard trait'rously was murther'd.
War. Father, the Duke hath told the truth;
Thus got the house of Lancafter the Crown.
York. Which now they hold by force, and not by rights
For Richard, the firft fon's heir being dead,

The Iffue of the next fon fhould have reign'd.

Sal. But William of Hatfield dy'd without an heir. York. The third fon, Duke of Clarence, from whose

Line

I claim the Crown, had iffue Philip, a daughter,
Who married Edmond Mortimer, Earl of March.
Edmond had iffue, Roger Earl of March :
Roger had iffue, Edmond, Anne, and Eleanor.
Sal. This Edmond, in the reign of Bolingbroke,
As I have read, laid Claim unto the Crown;
And, but for Owen Glendour, had been King;
Who kept him in captivity, 'till he dy❜d.
But, to the reft

York His eldest fifter, Anne,

My mother, being heir unto the Crown,
Married Richard Earl of Cambridge,
Who was the fon to Edmond Langley,
Edward the Third's fifth fon.

By her I claim the Kingdom; fhe was heir
To Roger Earl of March, who was the fon
Of Edmond Mortimer, who married Philip,
Sole daughter unto Lionel Duke of Clarence.
So, if the iffue of the elder fon

Succeed before the younger, I am King.

War. What plain proceeding is more plain than this? Henry doth claim the Crown from John of Gaunt, The fourth fon; York here claims it from the third. "Till Lionel's iffue fail, his fhould not reign; It fails not yet, but flourisheth in thee And in thy fons, fair flips of such a stock.

Then,

Then, father Salisbury, kneel we together,
And in this private Plot be we the first,
That fhall falute our rightful Sovereign

With honour of his birth-right to the Crown.

Both. Long live our Sov'reign Richard, England's King!

York. We thank you, lords: but I am not yourKing,
'Till I be crown'd; and that my fword be ftain'd
With heart-blood of the Houfe of Lancaster:
And that's not fuddenly to be perform'd,
But with advice and filent fecrecy.

Do you, as I do, in thefe dang'rous days,
Wink at the Duke of Suffolk's Infolence,
At Beauford's Pride, at Somerfet's Ambition,
At Buckingham, and all the crew of them;
'Till they have fnar'd the fhepherd of the flock,
That virtuous Prince, the good Duke Humphry:
"Tis That they seek; and they in feeking That
Shall feek their deaths, if York can prophefie.

Sal. My lord, here break we off; we know your mind.

War. My heart affures me, that the Earl of War

wick

Shall one day make the Duke of York a King,

York. And, Nevil, this I do affure my

felf:

Richard fhall live to make the Earl of Warwick

The greatest man in England, but the King. [Exeunt,

SCENE V.

Changes to a House near to Smithfield.

Sound Trumpets. Enter King Henry and Nobles; the Dutchefs, Mother Jordan, Southwel, Hume, and Bolingbrook, under guard.

K. Henry. STAND forth, Dame Eleanor Cobham,

Glo'fter's wife,

In fight of God and us your guilt is great;
Receive the fentence of the law for fins,

Such as by God's Book are adjudg'd to death.
You four from hence to prifon, back again;

From

From thence unto the place of execution;
The Witch in Smithfield shall be burn'd to ashes.
And you three fhall be ftrangled on the gallows.
You, Madam, for you are more nobly born,
Defpoiled 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.

Elean. Welcome is exile, welcome were my death. Glo. The law, thou feeft, hath judg'd thee, Eleanor ; I cannot justifie, whom law condemns.

Exeunt Eleanor, and the others, guarded.
Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.
Ah, Humphry! this dishonour in thine age
Will bring thy head with forrow to the ground.
I beseech your Majefty, give me leave to go;
Sorrow would Solace, and my age would Eafe.
K. Henry. Stay Humphry, Duke of Glofter; ere thou
go,

Give up thy ftaff; Henry will to himself
Protector be, and God fhall be my hope,
My ftay, my guide, and lanthorn to my feet.
And go in peace, Humphry, no lefs belov'd,
Than when thou wert Protector to thy King.

Q. Mar. I fee no reafon, why a King of years
Should be to be protected like a child:
God and King Henry govern England's realm:
Give up your staff, Sir, and the King his realm.
Glo. My ftaff? here, noble Henry, is my staff:
As willingly do I the fame refign,
As e'er thy father Henry made it mine;
And even as willing at thy feet I leave it,
As others would ambitiously receive it.
Farewel, good King; when I am dead and gone,
May honourable peace attend thy throne.

[Exit Glo'fter.. Q. Mar. Why, now is Henry King, and Margret

Queen.

And Humphry, Duke of Glo'fter, fcarce himself,
That bears fo fhrewd a maim; two pulls at once;
His lady banish'd, and a limb lopt off:

This ftaff of honour raught, there let it ftand,
Where beft it fits to be, in Henry's hand.

Suf. Thus droops this lofty pine, and hangs his sprayes;

Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her younger days.

York. Lords, let him go. Please it your Majefty,
This is the day appointed for the combat,
And ready are th'appellant and defendant,
The armourer and his man, to enter the lifts,
So please your Highness to behold the fight.

Q. Mar, Ay, good my lord; for purposely therefore Left I the court, to fee this quarrel try'd.

K. Henry. A'God's name, see the lists and all things

fit;

Here let them end it, and God guard the right!
York. I never faw a fellow worfe beftead,
Or more afraid to fight, than is th' appellant!
The fervant of the armourer, my lords.

SCENE VI..

Enter at one door the armourer and his neighbours, drinking to him fo much, that he is drunk; and he enters with a drum before him, and his fiaff 7 with a fandbag faftned to it; and at the other door his man, with a drum and fand-bag, and prentices drinking to him.

1 Neigh. Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to you in of fack; and fear not, neighbour, you shall do well enough.

a

cup

8

2 Neigh. And here, neighbour, here's a cup of charneco.

3 Neigh.

7 with a Sand-bag faftned to it.] As, according to the old laws of duels, Knights were to fight with the lance and fword; fo those of inferior rank fought with an Eben staff or battoon, to the farther end of which was fix'd a bag cram'd hard with sand. To this cuftom Hudibras has alluded in these humourous lines.

Engag'd with money bags, as bold

As men with Sand-bags did of old.

8 a cup of charneco.] On which the Oxford Editor thus criticifes, in his index. This feems to have been a cant word for fome ftrong liquor, which was apt to bring drunken fellows to the flocks, fince in Starifh

Charniegos