 | Henry the Sixth, The First part |  |
ACT. I.
Enter Humphry Duke of Glocester, Duke of York, Cardinal Beauford, Duke of Somerset, Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Warwick.Glo.
My Lords, you cannot but have seen of late
Much discontent sit always on my Brow.
All Men that know me well, must know, no private
Petty concernment can unfix my mind.
No; (some will think perhaps I speak too proudly,
I care not what they think, I'le speak my Mind)
Nothing has weight enough to press my spirits
Less than the great Misfortunes of the Kingdom.
Card.
So! how my Lord Protector gracefully—
aside.
Ushers himself into these Lords esteem?
What bosom here now will not bid him wellcome?
I hate him, but I will not let him know it,
Till I can let him know it to his ruine.
2
Ah! my Lords, Did my valiant glorious Brother,
Henry the Fifth, erect the Law of England
Above the Roman, or the Macedonian?
Do things, that made the Continent all tremble,
When e're the favourable Winds unlockt
The floating Gates of this our little World,
To let out that our brave Warriors to invade it,
That France not only did confess it self
A Vassal to his Royal English Blood;
But the whole Empire of the World did seem
To own it self the Birth right of his Valour?
Yo.
Eternity shall ne'r wear out the Characters
Of his Renown, which his keen Sword engrav'd.
Glo.
Ay, yes his fame shall last; but not his Empire:
He's dead, and with him his great Empire dies:
All that his Valour got, all that the vigilance
And wisdom of my Brother Bedford kept:
All that your selves and I, have early and late
Study'd to keep, and kept some years with glory,
Crowning our King in Paris in his Infancy,
Making Proud France bow to an English Child.
All, all these Labours, Victories and Glories,
Are melting down in a soft beautious bosom,
Given away to purchase a Fair Face.
A fatal Marriage in one fatal minute
Has spoyl'd the Work of many glorious years.
Card.
Nephew, you are more passionate than needs;
France is not gone, nor shall it go so easily.
Glo.
No, 'tis not gone indeed, but all the sluces
Are pulling up, and it is going fast.
'Tis pouring out apace in Provinces;
The new made Duke of Suffolk gives whole Provinces
To buy the King a Wife, Anjou and Maine
Are frankly given to the Queen's poor Father
King Reignier, whose high and flowing style
Dwells far above the Banks of his low Purse,
But he must have these Provinces to fill it.
Of such low value, in this Duke's esteem,
Is all the purchase of our Blood, that he
Will give it all away for Blushing Cheeks.
Sal.
Those Dukedoms were the Keys of Normandy.
My Lord of Warwick Weeps—Why weeps my Son?
War.
Who wou'd not weep to see his own Blood cheapned
And sold before his Face at a low rate?
I won those Provinces, and what got
With Wounds, is given away with peaceful words.
3
Yes, and to make it even ridiculous,
The Duke of Suffolk Asks a whole Fifteenth
For Charges, to Transport the Queen to England.
What? Was there ne'r a Beauty in the World
Besides the Queen? yes, sure there was in England;
Had the King so much doted upon Beauty,
He might have Married one of His fair Subjects,
And had more Beauty at a cheaper rate.
Card.
My Lord of Glocester, this is hot discourse,
And, as I think, to very little purpose;
Since what is done, now cannot be recall'd;
And what is done, was done to please the King.
Glo.
My Lord of Winchester I understand you;
'Tis not my hot Discourse, but Presence warms you.
You have a Fester'd Mind, and 'twill break out;
I saw it in your Face; if I stay longer
We shall begin our antient Bickerings:
But such small matters shall not trouble me,
I will be gone; but e're I go I'le Prophesy,
France will be lost: but I desire to prove
As False a Prophet, as you are a Priest—
Exeunt.
Card.
Affronted thus? 'Pox o' these fumbling Robes!
(aside.)
How came my Warlike Spirit wrapt in these
Formalities, that hold my hands from Blood?
I'm fitter for a Sword, and I will use one—
Did you not hear the good Protector, Lords?
Expect what usage you will have; when I
His Unckle, and a Priest, am thus abus'd.
You see how well his Enmity is heal'd;
And he has much the same kindness for you,
And indeed for the King. He makes great shew
Of Zeal for England, and he has great zeal for it
That is t'enjoy it; he is heir apparent;
And the King cannot please him by a Marriage,
Unless he'd Wed an Altar, or a Cell.
Be not, my Lords, cheated with his smooth words.
What though the foolish common people dote on him,
Clapping their hands, and shouting when they see him,
Crying, Heaven save your Royal Excellence,
And call him always the good Duke of Glocester?
They are Fools, and know not Men, nor what they love;
Uncheat e'm; but however save the King,
Protect him from his dangerous Protector.
Buck.
Why shou'd the King, my Lords, have a Protector?
He is of age (I think) to rule himself.
My Lord of Somerset joyn you with me,
4
Duke Humphry from his Seat.
Card.
This weighty business
Brooks no delay; I'le to the Duke of Suffolk—
Exit.
Som.
Though the Protector's Pride and Greatness vex us,
The Cardinal's Insolence is more intolerable;
If Gloster be displac'd he'l be Protector.
Buck.
If Gloster falls, or you or I'le succeed—
Ex. Buck. and Sal.
Sal.
So! so! the Kingdom will thrive well no doubt,
When all will rend her for their private ends.
I never saw but the good Duke of Glocester
Bore himself like a Noble Gentleman;
But I have seen the Cardinal demean himself
More like a Soldier than a Priest; he'l often
Swear like a Ruffian, quarrel like a Hector,
Trample on all, as he were Lord of all:
My worthy Son, and you my Lord of York,
My valiant Brother, let us joyn together,
And shew the Kingdom has some good Men in it,
Who faithfully will serve their King and Country,
And ayd all others who promote that work,
And among those I reckon the Protector.
War.
So heaven help me, as I love my Country.—
(Ex. Sal. & War.
Yo.
And so say I, for I have greatest cause,
Anjou and Main are given to the French.
Two Dukedoms given for a Dukes fair Daughter.
Henry, I blame thee not: What is it to thee?
Thou dost not give away thine own, but mine.
Pirates may make cheap penny-worths of their Pillage.
Whilst the poor injur'd owner stands aloofe,
And shakes his head, and weeps, and wrings his hands,
And sees his Goods all borne away, and dares
Not touch his own, or scarcely call it his.
England, and France, and Ireland, are my Kingdoms
One day I may both claim and seize my own,
And from weak Henry's Head may pull the Crown:
These high fierce Tempests methinks make it shake.
What opportunity they give, I'le take.
(Exit.
Enter Duke of Glocester, and his Dutchess Elianor.
Eli.
Why droops my Lord, and on the sullen Earth
Fixes his Eyes? What dost thou there behold
King Henry's Diadem fallen from his Head,
Too feeble to support the mighty weight?
If it be that thou look'st on, gaze thy fill,
5
Glo.
Oh Nell! sweet Nell! if thou dost love thy self,
Banish the Canker of Ambitious thoughts,
They will devour thy Peace, thy Life, thy Soul.
May the curst hour, when I imagine ill
Against my Royal Nephew, vertuous Henry,
Be my last breathing in this mortal World.
Eli.
I wish the same to me; but, Is it ill
To the good Pious King, to take from him
A heavy Weight that presses him to Earth,
An Element his heavenly mind abhors?
His thoughts are all above, and Royal cares
Tear e'm, and pull e'm down to earth in spite of him,
And, What a torment to him must that be?
It is unjust to let so good a Prince
So cruelly be tortur'd with a Crown.
Gloc.
Oh Elianour! away with thy fond words,
Thou mayst deceive thy self, thou canst not me:
Hast thou in my Embraces layn so long,
And am I yet wholly a stranger to thee?
I find thy high aspiring thoughts did study
My honor, and my offices, not me.
Thou know'st them well, thou hast weigh'd them exactly,
But me thou art an utter stranger to,
Or thou woud'st never tempt me to disloyalty.
Eli.
He is the loyal Subject seeks to please
His King, and not himself: 'Tis more disloyalty
T'impose a Crown upon Religious Henry,
Than 'tis to Usurp one from another King.
But you are only Loyal to your self,
And your own fame; because to take the Crown
The World wou'd call Disloyalty and Treason;
You wrong the King, to save your own renown.
Glo.
Away, away fond Elianor!—as Nature
Has given you Women thinner skins than Men,
Through which your working blood is easier seen;
So thinner Arts to hide your laboring thoughts.
Do not I know your thoughts, designs, and soul,
And all you'd work me to as well as you?
You would have me throw my self down to Villany,
To exalt you in place above the Queen.
Blast my Renown and Soul to all eternity,
To please your haughtiness for some few years.
Oh Elianor! now I must Chide outright;
Presumptuous, unkind, ill-minded Elianor!
Are you not the second Woman in the Kingdom?
6
A greater circle of delight, than all
Thy Soul can range about in thy whole Life?
Yet not content with these, Wilt thou be forging
New impious honors, till pil'd heap on heap
They fall, and overwhelm thy self and me?
Eli.
I must confess I mortally abhor,
And scorn that Woman, which is now my Queen.
Oh! hateful thought! she! she! my Queen—a Vassal
Of France subdu'd by us into a Province;
And she a Beggar in that Conquer'd Province,
Become the Queen, and Mistriss of her Conquerors;
I the first Woman of Victorious England,
Bow to the last of low dejected France?
Preposterous! ignominious! base! contemptible!
Had you the spirit of an English Conqueror,
You wou'd not bear it—but you have it not.
The mighty fire, that burnt so bright and hot
In the brave English Souls of the last Age,
Is blazing now its last in me a Woman;
Who can no more than greatly think and talk;
A shrewd sign heaven is taking from us France,
Since he takes from us spirits that shou'd rule it.
And yet were I but Queen of England once,
I wou'd not doubt but to keep Conquer'd France.
Though Kings, and Lord Protectors cannot do it.
Glo.
Talk not of ruling Kingdoms, rule your self.
That I lament the King's most fatal Marriage,
The Queen her self, and all the Kingdom knows:
But I abhor it not for Womanish causes,
Because my Wive's inferior goes before her;
But because France, England's inferior,
Will by this Match ascend above her Conqueror:
We give two Provinces to buy a Wife,
Who brings nought with her but a shameful Peace,
And this is that causes my present sadness.
Eli.
And sadness will redress your Country's Griefs.
Gl.
Yes! He shall dye that wrought e'm, trayterous Suffolk.
Eli.
If Suffolk dyes for bringing such a Curse on us,
What shou'd be done to her who is that Curse?
Let her not live, or rather let her live,
But live no Queen—
Glo.
But subject to your self—
Eli.
almost scorn to have so poor a Subject.
Glo.
Ah, Elianor! thy Pride, and my fond Love
To thee, will bring destruction on us both.
7
And Enemies enow that plot my ruine?
But you must be among the number of e'm?
Eli.
I'em Enemy to nothing but the Queen;
And I'le to her be an implacable
And Devillish Enemy, whil'st she is a Queen:
Let her be poor Dame Margaret, and my Subject,
And I will Sign her then an Act of Grace.
Glo.
You will comply in nothing to please me.
Eli.
I will comply in every thing I can;
But I must hate the Queen in spite of me.
Glo.
If thou must hate her, do; but yet love me.
Eli.
I hope you doubt not that, my Lord.
Glo.
I do not.
Enter a Messenger.
Messen.
My Lord Protector, 'tis His Majesties pleasure
You prepare to ride to S. Albans,
Where both the King and Queen are a going to Hawke.
Glo.
I go!—Come Nell—Wilt thou along with us?—
Ex.
Eli.
Yes, my good Lord, I'le follow presently.
Follow—I that's the Word—follow I must,
Whil'st Glocester bears this base and humble mind.
My Spirit cries, go first; the Duke sayes, follow:
Shall I obey my Husband, or my Soul?
My Soul is my self, he but my other self;
And by his humble mind my weaker self:
Well, I will play my part in Fortune; Pageant
Where are you there? Sir John—nay, fear not Man,
We are alone, here's none but thee and I.
Enter Humes.
Hume.
Heaven preserve your Majesty.
Eli.
My Majesty?
Hume.
Yes, that will be your Title very shortly.
Eli.
Has my infernal friend the Devil said this,
By his Priest and Priestess the Conjurer and Witch?
Hast thou conferr'd with e'm?
Hume.
Madam I have.
Eli.
And Will they undertake to do me service?
Hume.
They have promised from the infernal deeps to dragge
One of the Spirits that of old gave Oracles,
Whose fiery eye, by its own Native Light,
Sees all that's hidden in Fates dark Abyss,
8
This Spirit shall make Answer to all Questions,
That it shall please your Grace to pose him with.
Eli.
It is enough. I'le think upon the Questions.
Here, Hume, take this reward, make merry Man
With thy Confederates in this weighty business.
Hume.
I humbly thank your Grace—
Exit.
Enter the Duke of Suffolk talking with the Queen.
Eli.
See, here comes she
That blasts my eyes worse than the Spirit can do
The Witch will raise out of th'Infernal deep;
And with her, her damn'd Minion, Trayterous Suffolk.
That I were now a Pestilence to cover her
From head to foot with tort'ring deadly sores.
I will throw scorn on her as I pass by,
A thing a Woman hates worse than the Plague.
And I will undermine her Royal Glories,
If digging deep as lowest Hell will do it.
I'le climbe the Throne, or else to Hell I'le fall;
If Heaven won't make me great, the Devil shall.
Qu.
Ha! Did you not observe, my Lord of Suffolk,
With what contempt that Woman look'd upon me,
As she past by?
Suff.
I saw it, and I laugh'd at it.
Qu.
Ho! call her back, and fling her at my feet.
Suff.
She shall fall shortly there, and lower too,
If my Plots fail not.—
Enter Petitioners, Peter the Armorers Man being one.
1. Pet.
May it please your Grace.
Suff.
What woud'st thou have with me?
1. Pet.
I think you be my Lord Protectors Grace,
If you be, pray your Grace see my Petition.
2. Pet.
And mine.
3 Pet.
And mine—an't please your Grace,
Qu.
So, All Petitions to the Protector's Grace,
The Kingdom's supplications all to him,
And all the Ladies follow his Wives Train:
The King and I are only Royal Cyphers,
Flourish'd and guilded only with fine Titles.
Come, What are your Petitions? let me see e'm.
1. Pet.
Mine is, an't please you Madam, against John Goodman, my
Lord Cardinall's Man, for keeping my House, and my Lands, and my
Wife from me.
9
How? thy Wife from thee too? that's very hard.
1. Pet.
Nay, an't please your Grace, let him give me my House and
my Lands, and let him keep my Wife an' he will, I do not care, now
he has had her so long.
Suff.
What's yours? What's here? Against the Duke of Suffolk, for
Enclosing the Commons of Melford? How now you Rascal?
2. Pet.
An't please your Grace I am but a poor Petitioner of our
whole Township.
Pet.
Mine is against my Master Thomas Horner, for saying, the Duke
of York is lawful Heir to the Crown.
Qu.
How?
Pet.
Yes, and that the King is but an Usurper.
Qu.
There's a Villain indeed.
Suff.
Who is there?
Enter a Servant.
Take this Fellow in, and send for a Pursuivant presently,
We'l hear more of this Matter before the King.
Qu.
You, here; who shroud your selves under the Protector,
Begin your Suits anew, and sue to him.
(Tears their Petitions.
This is the Duke of Suffolk, I'me your Queen.
2 Pet.
The Duke of Suffolk! oh! I am undone!
Qu.
Away you Slaves! ho! turn these Fellows out.
Is this the Fashion in the Court of England?
Is this the Royalty of th'English King,
To be a Pupil to a Governour?
Am I a Queen, yet Subject to a Duke?
Oh my La Poole! when in the City Tours
Thou rann'st a tilt in honour of my Love,
And stol'st away the Ladies hearts of France;
I from thy Graces copyed in my Mind
A charming glorious Picture of King Henry;
I thought thy Courage, Courtship, and Proportion,
Had been brave Shadows, of thy braver King.
But oh! there ne'r was Woman so deceiv'd
At the first sight of the Kings sad grave Look;
The golden Image of him in my mind
Fell down upon my heart, and almost broke it.
My heavy heart sunk in a Royal shadow,
And greater was the fall, because before
It stood on high and golden expectations.
Ah! never was so sad a fall, as that
From glorious Suffolk, down to soft King Henry.
Suff.
Madam, be patient, for I Married you,
Not to the poor weak King, but to the brave Kingdom,
10
Qu.
Indeed the Marriage 'tween the King and me
Is but a strange one; for to speak the truth,
I'm Wedded to the Throne more than to him,
And he is Married more to Heaven than me.
His Soul is Married to all the Saints in Heaven;
Heaven is the King's spacious Seraglio:
There his heart lives; that which he leaves below
With me, and with the Kingdom, is a shadow.
Suff.
He is indeed no more but a King's Ghost,
That walks in night; it has been night in England
E'r since that Glorious Sun, his Father, set.
And France and England, like two metled Steeds
Bound, startle, break their reins, and run away,
At sight of this pale Ghost; nor will be Govern'd.
Qu.
'Twere night with England, I am sure with me,
If 'twere not for my glorious La Poole.
If 'twere not for thee, England, were Hell to me,
And I tormented with Infernal pains,
Under the Arrogance of the Protector,
Of Cardinal Beauford, that imperious Church-Man,
Of Somerset, Buckingham, and grumbling York
For each of these is greater than the King.
Suff.
And Salisbury, and Warwick are as great as they.
Qu.
Indeed, for any thing that I can see,
The King's the only Subject in the Kingdom.
He obeys all, and no one obeys him.
But all this does not vex me half so much,
As the intolerable insolence
Of that proud Dame, the Lord Protectors Wife.
She invades the Court each day, with Troopes of Ladies,
And vanquishes my Glory so entirely,
That I appear a little falling Star,
And she a Comet upon whom all gaze.
Her very Habit does exceed in cost
Th'expences of a little Princes Court.
She Swim's along the Court, like a Guilt Ship;
New come from India, laden all with Jewels,
And then she scorns to strike her Sayl to me,
But over-looks me, like a little Pinke
Laden with Toyes and Fripperies from France.
This slave to Pride, that shou'd be slave to me,
Vaunted amongst her Minions the other day,
The very Train of her worst wearing Gown,
Was better worth then all my Fathers Lands,
Till Suffolk gave two Dukedoms for his Daughter.
11
Laugh at her Pride; for, Madam, it shall shortly
Be your Divertisement, and her Destruction.
I've dug a Pit for the fierce Lyoness.
Who, greedy of Honor, ranges to the very
Suburbs of Hell for it; and I've turn'd loose
Jackalls to tempt her to the Pit in shew,
Of guiding her to her desired Prey.
See here comes one of my Jackalls—Sir John
What News?
Enter Humes.
Humes.
Good News, my Lord, I have been with the Duchess,
And did Salute her in the Devil's Name,
With the Title of Majesty.
Suff.
Ha! ha! ha!
(Laughs.)
Qu.
What do you mean?
Suff.
Madam, the Story will make you Laugh; the Duchess
Is going to the Devil for Preferment.
Qu.
How? To the Devil?
Suff.
Yes; and bribes this Gentleman,
To find out some of the Devil's Spyes and Agents,
To ayd her in a Correspondence with him.
Humes.
Madam, it is most true, and I've found out
One Margery Jordan, an experienc'd Witch,
And Roger Bullingbrook a Conjurer,
And they pretend they'l raise from Hell a Spirit
Shall tell her all she'l aske.
Qu.
Sure they are Cheats.
Suff.
They shall be Cheats to her, and her Duke Humphry.
Two mortal Devils, call'd York and Buckingham,
Shall send their Devil to Hell, and carry her
To what she more than Hell abhors, to shame
And ruine, and her Duke shall quickly follow:
He must have share of it in spite of him.
Qu.
Oh! my La Poole, that I were now in private
(aside.
To Kiss thee for this Plot! Oh! 'tis a rare one!
Humes, carry on this Plot, here's Gold for thee,
Thou shalt have more.
Humes.
So, the Gold tumbles in
On every side of me, but 'tis no wonder.
(aside.
I serve the Master of the Mines of the Devil,
And how in Hell he uses Slaves I know not:
He is an excellent Master in this World.
(Exit.
Qu.
Oh! Suffolk! thou didst never look so lovely
In all thy Life as now; nor did I ever
12
Now I shall be a Queen.
Suff.
A glorious one.
I'm sure the fairest England ever saw.
Qu.
Oh! Suffolk! bravest, loveliest of Men!
I'm trebly blest by thee, thou dost delight
My Love, and my Revenge, and my Ambition.
Now all the Ladies that in scorn of me,
Flatter'd and waited on proud Gloster's Wife,
Shall suddenly repent their sawcy follies.
Suff.
The Duke's of Somerset, and Buckingham,
With the Insolent Cardinal, shall all fall too.
As for the Duke of York, this late Complaint
Will make but little for his benefit;
So one by one we'l tumble e'm all down.
Qu.
And on the Ruines of 'em all, we'l revel.
Suff.
And England at the Queen's command shall be.
Qu.
I'le Govern that, and thou shalt govern me.
| Henry the Sixth, The First part | |