K. Hen.

Let it be so.

Urswick, command straight Stanley to his chamber.
'Tis well we are i'th' Tower. Set a guard on him.
Clifford, to bed: you must lodge here to-night;
We'll talk with you to-morrow. My sad soul
Divines strange troubles.
Daw. (within.)

I must have entrance.

K. Hen.

Ho! the king, the king!

Dawbeney's voice; admit him.

What new combustions huddle next to keep
Our eyes from rest?-the news?

Daw.

Enter DAWBENEY.

Ten thousand Cornish Grudging to pay your subsidies, have gather'd A-head, led by a blacksmith and a lawyer, They make for London, and to them is join'd Lord Audley. As they march, their number daily Increases; they are

K. Hen.

Rascals-talk no more; Such are not worthy of my thoughts to-night: And if I cannot sleep, I'll wake :-to bed. When counsels fail, and there's no man to trust, Even then an arm from heaven fights for the just.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-Edinburgh.-The Presence-Chamber in the Palace, with a Gallery.

Enter above, the Countess of CRAWFORD, Lady KATHERINE, JANE, and other ladies.

Countess. Come, ladies, here's a solemn preparation

For entertainment of this English prince;

The king intends grace more than ordinary;
'Twere pity now, if he should prove a counterfeit.
Kath. Bless the young man!
Our nation would

be laugh'd at

For honest souls through Christendom. My father
Hath a weak stomach to the business, madam,
But that the king must not be cross'd.

Countess.

He brings

A goodly troop, they say, of gallants with him;
But very modest people, for they strive not
To fame their names too much; their godfathers
May be beholding to them, but their fathers
Scarce owe them thanks: they are disguised princes,
Brought up it seems to honest trades: no matter;
They will break forth in season.

For most of them are broken by report.

A Flourish. Enter King JAMES, HUNTLEY, CRAWFORD, and DALYELL.

The king.

Kath. Let us observe 'em and be silent.

K. Ja. The right of kings, my lords, extends not only

To the safe conservation of their own,

But also to the aid of such allies

As change of time and state hath oftentimes
Hurl'd down from careful' crowns, to undergo
An exercise of sufferance in both fortunes:
So English Richard, surnam'd Cœur de Lion,
So Robert Bruce, our royal ancestor,
Forc'd by the trial of the wrongs they felt,

Both sought and found supplies from foreign kings
To repossess their own. Then grudge not, lords,

Careful.] Here used in the literal sense, full of cares.

A much distressed prince: king Charles of France, And Maximilian of Bohemia both,

Have ratified his credit by their letters.

Shall we then be distrustful? No; compassion
Is one rich jewel that shines in our crown,
And we will have it shine there.

Hunt.

Do your will, sir.

K. Ja. The young duke is at hand; Dalyell, from us

First greet him, and conduct him on; then Craw

ford

Shall meet him next, and Huntley, last of all, Present him to our arms. Sound sprightly music, Whilst majesty encounters majesty!

Hautboys.-Exit DALYELL, and re-enter with PERKIN WARBECK, FRION, HERON, SKETON, ASTLEY, and JOHN A-WATER. CRAWFORD salutes PERKIN, and afterwards HUNTLEY, who presents him to the King, by whom he is embraced. In the meantime the noblemen slightly salute his followers.

War. Most high, most mighty king! that now
there stands

Before your eyes, in presence of your peers,
A subject of the rarest kind of pity
That hath in any age touch'd noble hearts,
The vulgar story of a prince's ruin,'
Hath made it too apparent: Europe knows,
And all the western world, what persecution
Hath rag'd in malice against us, sole heir
To the great throne of old Plantagenets.
How, from our nursery, we have been hurried
Unto the sanctuary, from the sanctuary
Forc'd to the prison, from the prison haul'd
By cruel hands to the tormentor's fury;
Is register'd already in the volume

Of all mens' tongues, whose true relation draws
Compassion, melted into weeping eyes,

And bleeding souls: but our misfortunes since,
Have rang'd a larger progress thro' strange lands,
Protected in our innocence by Heaven.

Edward the Fifth, our brother, in his tragedy, Quench'd their hot thirst of blood, whose hire to murther

Paid them their wages of despair and horror;
The softness of my childhood smil'd upon

The roughness of their task, and robb'd them farther
Of hearts to dare, or hands to execute.

Great king they spar'd my life, the butchers spar'd

it ;

Return'd the tyrant, my unnatural uncle,
A truth of my dispatch; I was convey'd
With secrecy and speed to Tournay; foster'd
By obscure means, taught to unlearn myself:
But as I grew in years, I grew in sense
Of fear and of disdain; fear of the tyrant
Whose power sway'd the throne then, when disdain
Of living so unknown, in such a servile
And abject lowness, prompted me to thoughts
Of recollecting who I was; I shook off
My bondage, and made haste to let my aunt
Of Burgundy acknowledge me her kinsman;
Heir to the crown of England, snatch'd by Henry
From Richard's head; a thing scarce known i'th'
world.

K. Ja. My lord, it stands not with your counsel

now

To fly upon invectives; if you can

Make this apparent what you have discoursed,
In every circumstance, we will not study
An answer, but are ready in your cause.

War. You are a wise and just king, by the powers Above reserv'd, beyond all other aids,

To plant me in mine own inheritance:
To marry these two kingdoms in a love
Never to be divorc'd, while time is time.
As for the manner, first of my escape,
Of my conveyance next, of my life since,
The means, and persons who were instruments,
Great sir, 'tis fit I over-pass in silence;
Reserving the relation to the secrecy

Of your own princely care, since it concerns
Some great ones living yet, and others dead,
Whose issue might be question'd. For your bounty,
Royal magnificence to him that seeks it,

We vow hereafter to demean ourself,

As if we were your own and natural brother;
Omitting no occasion in our person,

To express a gratitude beyond example.

K. Ja. He must be more than subject who can

utter

The language of a king, and such is thine.
Take this for answer, be whate'er thou art,
Thou never shalt repent that thou hast put
Thy cause and person into my protection.
Cousin of York, thus once more we embrace thee;
Welcome to James of Scotland. For thy safety,
Know, such as love thee not, shall never wrong thee.
Come, we will taste a while our court-delights,
Dream hence afflictions past, and then proceed
To high attempts of honour. On, lead on!
Both thou and thine are ours, and we will guard ye.
Lead on-
[Exeunt all but the Ladies above.
Countess. I have not seen a gentleman

Of a more brave aspect, or goodlier carriage.
His fortunes move not him.-Madam, you're pas-
sionate,

Kath. Beshrew me, but his words have touched me home,