THE FIRST PART OF THE CONTENTION - (2 HENRY VI)

THE FIRST PART OF THE CONTENTION (2 HENRY VI) WHEN Shakespeare’s history plays were gathered together in the 1623 Folio, seven years after he died, they were printed in the order of their historical events, each with a title naming the king in whose reign those events occurred. No one supposes that this is the order in which Shakespeare wrote them; and the Folio titles are demonstrably not, in all cases, those by which the plays were originally known. The three concerned with the reign of Henry VI are listed in the Folio, simply and unappealingly, as the First, Second, and Third Parts of King Henry the Sixth, and these are the names by which they have continued to be known. Versions of the Second and Third had appeared long before the Folio, in 1594 and 1595; their head titles read The First Part of the Contention of the two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster with the Death of the Good Duke Humphrey and The True Tragedy of Richard, Duke of York, and the Good King Henry the Sixth. These are, presumably, full versions of the plays’ original titles, and we revert to them in preference to the Folio’s historical listing. A variety of internal evidence suggests that the Folio’s Part One was composed after The First Part of the Contention and Richard, Duke of York, so we depart from the Folio order, though a reader wishing to read the plays in their narrative sequence will read Henry VI, Part One before the other two plays. The dates of all three are uncertain, but Part One is alluded to in 1592, when it was probably new. The First Part of the Contention probably belongs to 1590-1. The play draws extensively on English chronicle history for its portrayal of the troubled state of England under Henry VI (1421-71). It dramatizes the touchingly weak King’s powerlessness against the machinations of his nobles, especially Richard, Duke of York, himself ambitious for the throne. Richard engineers the Kentish rebellion, led by Jack Cade, which provides some of the play’s liveliest episodes; and at the play’s end Richard seems poised to take the throne. Historical events of ten years (11445-55) are dramatized with comparative fidelity within a coherent structure that offers a wide variety of theatrical entertainment. Though the play employs old-fashioned conventions of language (particularly the recurrent classical references) and of dramaturgy (such as the horrors of severed heads), its bold characterization, its fundamentally serious but often ironically comic presentation of moral and political issues, the powerful rhetoric of its verse, and the vivid immediacy of its prose have proved highly effective in its rare modern revivals. THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY

Of the King’s Party KING HENRY VI QUEEN MARGARET William de la Pole, Marquis, later Duke, of SUFFOLK, the Queen’s lover Duke Humphrey of GLOUCESTER, the Lord Protector, the King’s uncle Dame Eleanor Cobham, the DUCHESS of Gloucester CARDINAL BEAUFORT, Bishop of Winchester, Gloucester’s uncle and the King’s great-uncle Duke of BUCKINGHAM Duke of SOMERSET Old Lord CLIFFORD YOUNG CLIFFORD, his son Of the Duke of York’s Party Earl of SALISBURY Earl of WARWICK, his son The petitions and the combat Two or three PETITIONERS Thomas HORNER, an armourer PETER Thump, his man Three NEIGHBOURS, who drink to Horner Three PRENTICES, who drink to Peter The conjuration Margery Jordan, a WITCH Roger BOLINGBROKE, a conjurer ASNATH, a spirit The false miracle Simon SIMPCOX SIMPCOX’S WIFE The MAYOR of Saint Albans Aldermen of Saint Albans A BEADLE of Saint Albans Townsmen of Saint Albans Eleanor’s penance Gloucester’s SERVANTS Two SHERIFFS of London Sir John STANLEY HERALD The murder of Gloucester Two MURDERERS COMMONS The murder of Suffolk CAPTAIN of a ship MASTER of that ship The Master’s MATE Walter WHITMORE Two GENTLEMEN The Cade Rebellion Jack CADE, a Kentishman suborned by the Duke of York Three or four CITIZENS of London Alexander IDEN, an esquire of Kent, who kills Cade Others VAUX, a messenger APOST MESSENGERS A SOLDIER Attendants, guards, servants, soldiers, falconers

The First Part of the Contention of the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster

Atto 1, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Flourish of trumpets, then hautboys. Enter, at one door, King Henry and Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Somerset, the Duke of Buckingham, Cardinal Beaufort,and others. Enter, at the other door, the Duke of York, and the Marquis of Suffolk, and Queen Margaret, and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick
SUFFOLK	(kneeling before King Henry) As by your high imperial majesty I had in charge at my depart for France, As Procurator to your excellence, To marry Princess Margaret for your grace, So, in the famous ancient city Tours, In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil, The Dukes of Orléans, Calaber, Bretagne, and Alençon, Seven earls, twelve barons, and twenty reverend bishops, I have performed my task and was espoused, And humbly now upon my bended knee, In sight of England and her lordly peers, Deliver up my title in the Queen To your most gracious hands, that are the substance Of that great shadow I did represent— The happiest gift that ever marquis gave, The fairest queen that ever king received.
KING HENRY	Suffolk, arise. Welcome, Queen Margaret. I can express no kinder sign of love Than this kind kiss. He kisses her O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! For thou hast given me in this beauteous face A world of earthly blessings to my soul, If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.
QUEEN MARGARET	Th’excess of love I bear unto your grace Forbids me to be lavish of my tongue Lest I should speak more than beseems a woman. Let this suffice: my bliss is in your liking, And naught can make poor Margaret miserable Unless the frown of mighty England’s King.
KING HENRY	Her sight did ravish, but her grace in speech, Her words yclad with wisdom’s majesty, Makes me from wond’ring fall to weeping joys, Such is the fullness of my heart’s content. Lords, with one cheerful voice, welcome my love.
LORDS	(kneeling) Long live Queen Margaret, England’s happiness.
QUEEN MARGARET	We thank you all.
(didascalia)	Flourish. They all rise
SUFFOLK	(to Gloucester) My Lord Protector, so it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace Between our sovereign and the French King Charles, For eighteen months concluded by consent.
GLOUCESTER	(reads) Imprimis: it is agreed between the French King Charles and William de la Pole, Marquis of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry, King of England, that the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret, daughter unto René, King of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerusalem, and crown her Queen of England, ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item: it is further agreed between them that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and delivered to the King her fa—
(didascalia)	Gloucester lets the paper fall
KING HENRY	Uncle, how now?
GLOUCESTER	Pardon me, gracious lord. Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart And dimmed mine eyes that I can read no further.
KING HENRY	(to Cardinal Beaufort) Uncle of Winchester, I pray read on.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(reads) Item: it is further agreed between them that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and delivered to the King her father, and she sent over of the King of England’s own proper cost and charges, without dowry.
KING HENRY	They please us well. (To Suffolk) Lord Marquis, kneel down. Suffolk kneels We here create thee first Duke of Suffolk, And gird thee with the sword. Suffolk rises Cousin of York, We here discharge your grace from being regent I’th’ parts of France till term of eighteen months Be full expired. Thanks uncle Winchester, Gloucester, York, and Buckingham, Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick. We thank you all for this great favour done In entertainment to my princely Queen. Come, let us in, and with all speed provide To see her coronation be performed.
(didascalia)	Exeunt King Henry, Queen Margaret, and
(didascalia)	Suffolk. Gloucester stays all the rest
GLOUCESTER	Brave peers of England, pillars of the state, To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief, Your grief, the common grief of all the land. What—did my brother Henry spend his youth, His valour, coin, and people in the wars? Did he so often lodge in open field In winter’s cold and summer’s parching heat To conquer France, his true inheritance? And did my brother Bedford toil his wits To keep by policy what Henry got? Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham, Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick, Received deep scars in France and Normandy? Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself, With all the learned Council of the realm, Studied so long, sat in the Council House Early and late, debating to and fro, How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe, And had his highness in his infancy Crowned in Paris in despite of foes? And shall these labours and these honours die? Shall Henry’s conquest, Bedford’s vigilance, Your deeds of war, and all our counsel die? O peers of England, shameful is this league, Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame, Blotting your names from books of memory, Razing the characters of your renown, Defacing monuments of conquered France, Undoing all, as all had never been!
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Nephew, what means this passionate discourse, This peroration with such circumstance? For France, ’tis ours; and we will keep it still.
GLOUCESTER	Ay, uncle, we will keep it if we can— But now it is impossible we should. Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast, Hath given the duchy of Anjou and Maine Unto the poor King René, whose large style Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.
SALISBURY	Now by the death of Him that died for all, These counties were the keys of Normandy— But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son?
WARWICK	For grief that they are past recovery. For were there hope to conquer them again My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears. Anjou and Maine? Myself did win them both! Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer— And are the cities that I got with wounds Delivered up again with peaceful words? Mort Dieu!
YORK	For Suffolk’s duke, may he be suffocate, That dims the honour of this warlike isle! France should have torn and rent my very heart Before I would have yielded to this league. I never read but England’s kings have had Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives— And our King Henry gives away his own, To match with her that brings no vantages.
GLOUCESTER	A proper jest, and never heard before, That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth For costs and charges in transporting her! She should have stayed in France and starved in France Before—
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	My lord of Gloucester, now ye grow too hot! It was the pleasure of my lord the King.
GLOUCESTER	My lord of Winchester, I know your mind. ’Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, But ‘tis my presence that doth trouble ye. Rancour will out. Proud prelate, in thy face I see thy fury. If I longer stay We shall begin our ancient bickerings— But I’ll be gone, and give thee leave to speak. Lordings, farewell, and say when I am gone, I prophesied France will be lost ere long. Exit
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	So, there goes our Protector in a rage. ’Tis known to you he is mine enemy; Nay more, an enemy unto you all, And no great friend, I fear me, to the King. Consider, lords, he is the next of blood And heir apparent to the English crown. Had Henry got an empire by his marriage, And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west, There’s reason he should be displeased at it. Look to it, lords—let not his smoothing words Bewitch your hearts. Be wise and circumspect. What though the common people favour him, Calling him ‘Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester‘, Clapping their hands and crying with loud voice ’‘Jesu maintain your royal excellence !’ With ’God preserve the good Duke Humphrey !’ I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss, He will be found a dangerous Protector.
BUCKINGHAM	Why should he then protect our sovereign, He being of age to govern of himself? Cousin of Somerset, join you with me, And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk, We’ll quickly hoist Duke Humphrey from his seat.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	This weighty business will not brook delay— I’ll to the Duke of Suffolk presently. Exit
SOMERSET	Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey’s pride And greatness of his place be grief to us, Yet let us watch the haughty Cardinal; His insolence is more intolerable Than all the princes in the land beside. If Gloucester be displaced, he’ll be Protector.
BUCKINGHAM	Or thou or I, Somerset, will be Protector, Despite Duke Humphrey or the Cardinal.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset
SALISBURY	Pride went before, ambition follows him. While these do labour for their own preferment, Behoves it us to labour for the realm. I never saw but Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Did bear him like a noble gentleman. Oft have I seen the haughty Cardinal, More like a soldier than a man o’th’ church, As stout and proud as he were lord of all, Swear like a ruffian, and demean himself Unlike the ruler of a commonweal. Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age, Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy housekeeping Hath won thee greatest favour of the commons, Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey. And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland, In bringing them to civil discipline, Thy late exploits done in the heart of France, When thou wert Regent for our sovereign, Have made thee feared and honoured of the people. The reverence of mine age and Neville’s name Is of no little force if I command. Join we together for the public good, In what we can to bridle and suppress The pride of Suffolk and the Cardinal With Somerset’s and Buckingham’s ambition; And, as we may, cherish Duke Humphrey’s deeds While they do tend the profit of the land.
WARWICK	So God help Warwick, as he loves the land, And common profit of his country!
YORK	And so says York, (aside) for he hath greatest cause.
SALISBURY	Then let’s away, and look unto the main.
WARWICK	Unto the main? O, father, Maine is lost ! That Maine which by main force Warwick did win, And would have kept so long as breath did last! Main chance, father, you meant—but I meant Maine, Which I will win from France or else be slain.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury, leaving only York
YORK	Anjou and Maine are given to the French, Paris is lost, the state of Normandy Stands on a tickle point now they are gone; Suffolk concluded on the articles, The peers agreed, and Henry was well pleased To change two dukedoms for a duke’s fair daughter. I cannot blame them all—what is’t to them? ’Tis thine they give away and not their own! Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage, And purchase friends, and give to courtesans, Still revelling like lords till all be gone, Whileas the seely owner of the goods Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands, And shakes his head, and, trembling, stands aloof, While all is shared and all is borne away, Ready to starve and dare not touch his own. So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue, While his own lands are bargained for and sold. Methinks the realms of England, France, and Ireland Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood As did the fatal brand Althaea burnt Unto the prince’s heart of Calydon. Anjou and Maine both given unto the French ! Cold news for me—for I had hope of France, Even as I have of fertile England’s soil. A day will come when York shall claim his own, And therefore I will take the Nevilles’ parts, And make a show of love to proud Duke Humphrey, And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown, For that’s the golden mark I seek to hit. Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right, Nor hold the sceptre in his childish fist, Nor wear the diadem upon his head Whose church-like humours fits not for a crown. Then, York, be still a while till time do serve. Watch thou, and wake when others be asleep, To pry into the secrets of the state— Till Henry, surfeit in the joys of love With his new bride and England’s dear-bought queen, And Humphrey with the peers be fall’n at jars. Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose, With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfumed, And in my standard bear the arms of York, To grapple with the house of Lancaster; And force perforce I’ll make him yield the crown, Whose bookish rule hath pulled fair England down.
(didascalia)	Exit

Atto 1, Scena 2

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and his wife Eleanor, the Duchess
DUCHESS	Why droops my lord, like over-ripened corn Hanging the head at Ceres’ plenteous load? Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his brows, As frowning at the favours of the world ? Why are thine eyes fixed to the sullen earth, Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight? What seest thou there? King Henry’s diadem, Enchased with all the honours of the world? If so, gaze on, and grovel on thy face Until thy head be circled with the same. Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold. What, is’t too short? I’ll lengthen it with mine; And having both together heaved it up, We’ll both together lift our heads to heaven And never more abase our sight so low As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground.
GLOUCESTER	O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy lord, Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts! And may that hour when I imagine ill Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry, Be my last breathing in this mortal world! ! My troublous dream this night doth make me sad.
DUCHESS	What dreamed my lord? Tell me and I’ll requite it With sweet rehearsal of my morning’s dream.
GLOUCESTER	Methought this staff, mine office-badge in court, Was broke in twain—by whom I have forgot, But, as I think, it was by th’ Cardinal— And on the pieces of the broken wand Were placed the heads of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, And William de la Pole, first Duke of Suffolk. This was my dream—what it doth bode, God knows.
DUCHESS	Tut, this was nothing but an argument That he that breaks a stick of Gloucester’s grove Shall lose his head for his presumption. But list to me, my Humphrey, my sweet duke: Methought I sat in seat of majesty In the cathedral church of Westminster, And in that chair where kings and queens are crowned, Where Henry and Dame Margaret kneeled to me, And on my head did set the diadem.
GLOUCESTER	Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright. Presumptuous dame! Ill-nurtured Eleanor! Art thou not second woman in the realm, And the Protector’s wife beloved of him ? Hast thou not worldly pleasure at command Above the reach or compass of thy thought? And wilt thou still be hammering treachery To tumble down thy husband and thyself From top of honour to disgrace’s feet? Away from me, and let me hear no more!
DUCHESS	What, what, my lord? Are you so choleric With Eleanor for telling but her dream? Next time I’ll keep my dreams unto myself And not be checked.
GLOUCESTER	Nay, be not angry; I am pleased again. Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER	My Lord Protector, ’tis his highness’ pleasure You do prepare to ride unto Saint Albans, Whereas the King and Queen do mean to hawk.
GLOUCESTER	I go. Come, Nell, thou wilt ride with us ?
DUCHESS	Yes, my good lord, I’ll follow presently.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Gloucester and the Messenger
DUCHESS	Follow I must; I cannot go before While Gloucester bears this base and humble mind. Were I am an, a duke, and next of blood, I would remove these tedious stumbling blocks And smooth my way upon their headless necks. And, being a woman, I will not be slack To play my part in fortune’s pageant. (Calling within) Where are you there? Sir John! Nay, fear not man. We are alone. Here’s none but thee and I.
(didascalia)	Enter Sir John Hume
HUME	Jesus preserve your royal majesty.
DUCHESS	What sayst thou? ‘Majesty’ ? I am but ‘grace’.
HUME	But by the grace of God and Hume’s advice Your grace’s title shall be multiplied.
DUCHESS	What sayst thou, man? Hast thou as yet conferred With Margery Jordan, the cunning witch of Eye, With Roger Bolingbroke, the conjuror? And will they undertake to do me good?
HUME	This they have promisèd: to show your highness A spirit raised from depth of underground That shall make answer to such questions As by your Grace shall be propounded him.
DUCHESS	It is enough. I’ll think upon the questions. When from Saint Albans we do make return, We’ll see these things effected to the full. Here, Hume (giving him money), take this reward. Make merry, man, With thy confederates in this weighty cause.
(didascalia)	Exit
HUME	Hume must make merry with the Duchess’ gold; Marry, and shall. But how now, Sir John Hume? Seal up your lips, and give no words but mum ; The business asketh silent secrecy. Dame Eleanor gives gold to bring the witch. Gold cannot come amiss were she a devil. Yet have I gold flies from another coast— I dare not say from the rich Cardinal And from the great and new-made Duke of Suffolk, Yet I do find it so; for, to be plain, They, knowing Dame Eleanor’s aspiring humour, Have hired me to undermine the Duchess, And buzz these conjurations in her brain. They say ‘A crafty knave does need no broker’, Yet am I Suffolk and the Cardinal’s broker. Hume, if you take not heed you shall go near To call them both a pair of crafty knaves. Well, so it stands; and thus, I fear, at last Hume’s knavery will be the Duchess’ wrack, And her attainture will be Humphrey’s fall. Sort how it will, I shall have gold for all.
(didascalia)	Exit

Atto 1, Scena 3

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Peter, the armourer’s man, with two or three other Petitioners
FIRST PETITIONER	My masters, let’s stand close. My Lord Protector will come this way by and by and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill.
SECOND PETITIONER	Marry, the Lord protect him, for he’s a good man, Jesu bless him.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Suffolk and Queen Margaret
(didascalia)	FIRST PETITIONER Here a comes, methinks, and the Queen with him. I’ll be the first, sure.
SECOND PETITIONER	He goes to meet Suffolk and the Queen
SECOND PETITIONER	Come back, foot—this is the Duke of Suffolk and not my Lord Protector.
SUFFOLK	(to the First Petitioner) How now, fellow—wouldst anything with me?
FIRST PETITIONER	I pray, my lord, pardon me—I took ye for my Lord Protector.
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET seeing his supplication, she reads ‘Tomy Lord Protector’—are your supplications to his lordship ? Let me see them.
(didascalia)	She takes First Petitioner’s supplication
FIRST PETITIONER	What is thine?
FIRST PETITIONER	Mine is, an’t please your grace, against John Goodman, my lord Cardinal’s man, for keeping my house and lands and wife and all from me.
(didascalia)	SUFFOLK Thy wife too ? That’s some wrong indeed. To the Second Petitioners What’s yours?
FIRST PETITIONER	He takes the supplication What’s here? (Reads) ‘Against the Duke of Suffolk for
(didascalia)	enclosing the commons of Melford’ ! To the Second
(didascalia)	Petitioner How now, Sir Knave?
SECOND PETITIONER	Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.
(didascalia)	PETER offering his petition Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.
QUEEN MARGARET	What sayst thou? Did the Duke of York say he was rightful heir to the crown?
PETER	That my master was ? No, forsooth, my master said that he was and that the King was an usurer.
QUEEN MARGARET	An usurper thou wouldst say.
PETER	Ay, forsooth—an usurper.
SUFFOLK	(calling within) Who is there?
(didascalia)	Enter a servant
SUFFOLK	Take this fellow in and send for his master with a pursuivant presently. (To Peter) We’ll hear more of your matter before the King. Exit the servant with Peter
QUEEN MARGARET	(to the Petitioners) And as for you that love to be protected Under the wings of our Protector’s grace, Begin your suits anew and sue to him.
(didascalia)	She tears the supplication
QUEEN MARGARET	Away, base cullions! Suffolk, let them go.
ALL PETITIONERS	Come, let’s be gone. Exeunt Petitioners
QUEEN MARGARET	My lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise? Is this the fashions in the court of England ? Is this the government of Britain’s isle, And this the royalty of Albion’s king? What, shall King Henry be a pupil still Under the surly Gloucester’s governance? Am I a queen in title and in style, And must be made a subject to a duke? I tell thee, Pole, 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 thought King Henry had resembled thee In courage, courtship, and proportion. But all his mind is bent to holiness, To number Ave-Maries on his beads. His champions are the prophets and apostles, His weapons holy saws of sacred writ, His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves Are brazen images of canonized saints. I would the college of the cardinals Would choose him Pope, and carry him to Rome, And set the triple crown upon his head— That were a state fit for his holiness.
SUFFOLK	Madam, be patient—as I was cause Your highness came to England, so will I In England work your grace’s full content.
QUEEN MARGARET	Beside the haught Protector have we Beaufort The imperious churchman, Somerset, Buckingham, And grumbling York; and not the least of these But can do more in England than the King.
SUFFOLK	And he of these that can do most of all Cannot do more in England than the Nevilles: Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.
QUEEN MARGARET	Not all these lords do vex me half so much As that proud dame, the Lord Protector’s wife. She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies More like an empress than Duke Humphrey’s wife. Strangers in court do take her for the queen. She bears a duke’s revenues on her back, And in her heart she scorns our poverty. Shall I not live to be avenged on her? Contemptuous base-born callet as she is, She vaunted ‘mongst her minions t’other day The very train of her worst-wearing gown Was better worth than all my father’s lands, Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.
SUFFOLK	Madam, myself have limed a bush for her, And placed a choir of such enticing birds That she will light to listen to their lays, And never mount to trouble you again. So let her rest; and, madam, list to me, For I am bold to counsel you in this: Although we fancy not the Cardinal, Yet must we join with him and with the lords Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace. As for the Duke of York, this late complaint Will make but little for his benefit. So one by one we’ll weed them all at last, And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.
(didascalia)	Sound a sennet. Enter King Henry with the Duke
SUFFOLK	of York and the Duke of Somerset on either side of him whispering with him. Also enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, Dame Eleanor the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Buckingham, the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, and Cardinal
(didascalia)	Beaufort Bishop of Winchesteri
KING HENRY	For my part, noble lords, I care not which: Or Somerset or York, all’s one to me.
YORK	If York have ill demeaned himself in France Then let him be denied the regentship.
SOMERSET	If Somerset be unworthy of the place, Let York be regent—I will yield to him.
WARWICK	Whether your grace be worthy, yea or no, Dispute not that: York is the worthier.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
WARWICK	The Cardinal’s not my better in the field.
BUCKINGHAM	All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.
WARWICK	Warwick may live to be the best of all.
SALISBURY	Peace, son; (to Buckingham) and show some reason, Buckingham, Why Somerset should be preferred in this.
QUEEN MARGARET	Because the King, forsooth, will have it so.
GLOUCESTER	Madam, the King is old enough himself To give his censure. These are no women’s matters.
QUEEN MARGARET	If he be old enough, what needs your grace To be Protector of his excellence?
GLOUCESTER	Madam, I am Protector of the realm, And at his pleasure will resign my place.
SUFFOLK	Resign it then, and leave thine insolence. Since thou wert king—as who is king but thou?— The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack, The Dauphin hath prevailed beyond the seas, And all the peers and nobles of the realm Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to Gloucester) The commons hast thou racked, the clergy’s bags Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
SOMERSET	(to Gloucester) Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife’s attire Have cost a mass of public treasury.
BUCKINGHAM	(to Gloucester) Thy cruelty in execution Upon offenders hath exceeded law And left thee to the mercy of the law.
QUEEN MARGARET	(to Gloucester) 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.
(didascalia)	Exit Gloucester
QUEEN MARGARET	Queen Margaret lets fall her fan (To the Duchess) Give me my fan—what, minion, can ye not? She gives the Duchess a box on the ear I cry you mercy, madam! Was it you ?
DUCHESS	Was’t I? Yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman! Could I come near your beauty with my nails, I’d set my ten commandments in your face.
KING HENRY	Sweet aunt, be quiet—’twas against her will.
DUCHESS	Against her will? Good King, look to’t in time! She’ll pamper thee and dandle thee like a baby. Though in this place most master wear no breeches, She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unrevenged ! Exit
BUCKINGHAM	(aside to Cardinal Beaufort) Lord Cardinal, I will follow Eleanor And listen after Humphrey how he proceeds. She’s tickled now, her fury needs no spurs— She’ll gallop far enough to her destruction. Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester
GLOUCESTER	Now, lords, my choler being overblown 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.
SUFFOLK	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 unmeet: 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 danced attendance on his will Till Paris was besieged, famished, and lost.
WARWICK	That can I witness, and a fouler fact Did never traitor in the land commit.
SUFFOLK	Peace, headstrong Warwick.
WARWICK	Image of pride, why should I hold my peace?
(didascalia)	Enter, guarded, Horner the armourer and Peter his man
SUFFOLK	Because here is a man accused of treason— Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself!
YORK	Doth anyone accuse York for a traitor?
KING HENRY	What mean’st thou, Suffolk? Tell me, what are these?
SUFFOLK	Please it your majesty, this is the man He indicates Peter That doth accuse his master (indicating Horner) 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.
KING HENRY	(to Horner) Say, man, were these thy words?
HORNER	An’t shall please your majesty, I never said nor thought any such matter. God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain.
(didascalia)	PETER raising his hands By these ten bones, my lords, 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 ! (To King Henry) I do beseech your royal majesty, Let him have all the rigour of the law.
HORNER	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.
KING HENRY	(to Gloucester) Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?
GLOUCESTER	This doom, my lord, if I may judge by case: Let Somerset be regent o’er the French, Because in York this breeds suspicion. (Indicating Horner and Peter) And let these have a day appointed them For single combat in convenient place, For he (indicating Horner) hath witness of his servant’s malice. This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey’s doom.
KING HENRY	Then be it so. (To Somerset) My lord of Somerset, We make you regent o‘er the realm of France There to defend our rights ’gainst foreign foes.
SOMERSET	I humbly thank your royal majesty.
HORNER	And I accept the combat willingly.
(didascalia)	PETER to Gloucester 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 !
GLOUCESTER	Sirrah, or you must fight or else be hanged.
KING HENRY	Away with them to prison, and the day Of combat be the last of the next month. Come, Somerset, we’ll see thee sent away.
(didascalia)	Flourish. Exeunt

Atto 1, Scena 4

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Margery Jordan, a witch; Sir John Hume and John Southwell, two priests; and Roger Bolingbroke, a conjuror
(didascalia)	Hume Come, my masters, the Duchess, I tell you, expects performance of your promises.
BOLINGBROKE	Master Hume, we are therefore provided. Will her ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms?
HUME	Ay, what else? Fear you not her courage.
BOLINGBROKE	I have heard her reported to be a woman of an invincible spirit. But it shall be convenient, Master Hume, that you be by her, aloft, while we be busy below. And so, I pray you, go in God’s name and leave us. Exit Hume Mother Jordan, be you prostrate and grovel on the earth. She lies down upon her face.
(didascalia)	Enter Eleanor, the Duchess of Gloucester, aloft
BOLINGBROKE	John Southwell, read you and let us to our work.
DUCHESS	Well said, my masters, and welcome all. To this gear the sooner the better.
(didascalia)	Enter Hume aloft
BOLINGBROKE	Patience, good lady—wizards know their times. Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, The time of night when Troy was set on fire, The time when screech-owls cry and bandogs howl, And spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves— That time best fits the work we have in hand. Madam, sit you, and fear not. Whom we raise We will make fast within a hallowed verge. Here do the ceremonies belonging, and make the circle. Southwell reads ‘Coniuro te’, &c. It thunders and lightens terribly, then the spirit Asnath riseth
ASNATH	Adsum.
WITCH	Asnath, By the eternal God whose name and power Thou tremblest at, answer that I shall ask, For till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence.
ASNATH	Ask what thou wilt, that I had said and done.
BOLINGBROKE	(reads) ‘First, of the King: what shall of him become ?’
ASNATH	The Duke yet lives that Henry shall depose, But him outlive, and die a violent death.
(didascalia)	As the spirit speaks, Southwell writes the answer
BOLINGBROKE	(reads) ‘Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk.’
ASNATH	By water shall he die, and take his end.
BOLINGBROKE	(reads) ‘What shall betide the Duke of Somerset?’
ASNATH	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.
BOLINGBROKE	Descend to darkness and the burning lake! False fiend, avoid!
(didascalia)	Thunder and lightning. The spirit sinks down again
(didascalia)	Enter, breaking in, the Dukes of York and
BOLINGBROKE	Buckingham with their guard, among them Sir Humphrey Stafford
YORK	Lay hands upon these traitors and their trash.
(didascalia)	Bolingbroke, Southwell, and Jordan are taken
YORK	prisoner. Buckingham takes the writings from
(didascalia)	Bolingbroke and Southwell
YORK	(To Jordan) Beldam, I think we watched you at an inch. (To the Duchess) What, madam, are you there? The King and common weal Are deep indebted for this piece of pains. My lord Protector will, I doubt it not, See you well guerdoned for these good deserts.
DUCHESS	Not half so bad as thine to England’s king, Injurious Duke, that threatest where’s no cause.
BUCKINGHAM	True, madam, none at all—
(didascalia)	He raises the writings
BUCKINGHAM	what call you this? (To his men) Away with them. Let them be clapped up close And kept asunder. (To the Duchess) You, madam, shall with us. Stafford, take her to thee.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Stafford and others to the Duchess
(didascalia)	and Hume above
BUCKINGHAM	We’ll see your trinkets here all forthcoming. All away!
(didascalia)	Exeunt below Jordan, Southwell, and
(didascalia)	Bolingbroke, guarded, and, above, Hume and
(didascalia)	the Duchess guarded by Stafford and others.
(didascalia)	York and Buckingham remain
YORK	Lord Buckingham, methinks you watched her well. A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon. Now pray, my lord, let’s see the devil’s writ.
(didascalia)	Buckingham gives him the writings
YORK	What have we here? He reads the writings Why, this is just Aio Aeacidam, Romanos vincere posse. These oracles are hardily attained And hardly understood. Come, come, my lord, The King is now in progress towards Saint Albans; With him the husband of this lovely lady. Thither goes these news as fast as horse can carry them— A sorry breakfast for my lord Protector.
BUCKINGHAM	Your grace shall give me leave, my lord of York, To be the post in hope of his reward.
YORK	(returning the writings to Buckingham)
(didascalia)	At your pleasure, my good lord. Exit Buckingham (Calling within) Who’s within there, ho!
(didascalia)	Enter a servingman
YORK	Invite my lords of Salisbury and Warwick To sup with me tomorrow night. Away.
(didascalia)	Exeunt severally

Atto 2, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter King Henry, Queen Margaret with her hawk on her fist, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort, and the Duke of Suffolk, with falconers hollering
QUEEN MARGARET	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.
KING HENRY	(to Gloucester) 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 fain of climbing high.
SUFFOLK	No marvel, an it like your majesty, My Lord Protector’s hawks do tower so well; They know their master loves to be aloft, And bears his thoughts above his falcon’s pitch.
GLOUCESTER	My lord, ‘tis but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	I thought as much; he would be above the clouds.
GLOUCESTER	Ay, my lord Cardinal, how think you by that? Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?
KING HENRY	The treasury of everlasting joy.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to Gloucester) Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart, Pernicious Protector, dangerous peer, That smooth’st it so with King and common weal!
GLOUCESTER	What, Cardinal? Is your priesthood grown peremptory ? Tantaene animis caelestibus irae? Churchmen so hot? Good uncle, hide such malice With some holiness—can you do it?
SUFFOLK	No malice, sir, no more than well becomes So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.
GLOUCESTER	As who, my lord ?
SUFFOLK	Why, as you, my lord— An’t like your lordly Lord’s Protectorship.
GLOUCESTER	Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.
QUEEN MARGARET	And thy ambition, Gloucester.
KING HENRY	I prithee peace, Good Queen, and whet not on these furious peers—For blessèd are the peacemakers on earth.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Let me be blessed for the peace I make Against this proud Protector with my sword.
(didascalia)	Gloucester and Cardinal Beaufort speak privately to one another
GLOUCESTER	Faith, holy uncle, would’t were come to that.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Marry, when thou dar’st.
GLOUCESTER	Dare? I tell thee, priest, Plantagenets could never brook the dare!
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	I am Plantagenet as well as thou, And son to John of Gaunt.
GLOUCESTER	In bastardy.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	I scorn thy words.
GLOUCESTER	Make up no factious numbers for the matter, In thine own person answer thy abuse.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Ay, where thou dar‘st not peep; an if thou dar’st, This evening on the east side of the grove.
KING HENRY	How now, my lords?
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(aloud) Believe me, cousin Gloucester, Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly, We had had more sport. (Aside to Gloucester) Come with thy two-hand sword.
GLOUCESTER	(aloud) True, uncle. (Aside to Cardinal Beaufort) Are ye advised? The east side of the grove.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(aside to Gloucester) I am with you.
KING HENRY	Why, how now, uncle Gloucester?
GLOUCESTER	Talking of hawking, nothing else, my lord. (Aside to the Cardinal) Now, by God’s mother, priest, I’ll shave your crown for this, Or all my fence shall fail.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(aside to Gloucester) Medice, teipsum— Protector, see to’t well; protect yourself.
KING HENRY	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.
(didascalia)	Enter one crying ‘a miracle’
GLOUCESTER	What means this noise? Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?
ONE	A miracle, a miracle!
SUFFOLK	Come to the King—tell him what miracle.
ONE	(to King Henry) Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban’s shrine
(didascalia)	Within this half-hour hath received his sight—
ONE	A man that ne’er saw in his life before.
KING HENRY	Now God be praised, that to believing souls Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!
(didascalia)	Enter the Mayor and aldermen of Saint Albans, with music, bearing the man, Simpcox, between two in a chair. Enter Simpcox’s Wife and other townsmeni with them
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Here comes the townsmen on procession To present your highness with the man.
(didascalia)	The townsmen kneel
KING HENRY	Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, Although by sight his sin be multiplied.
GLOUCESTER	(to the townsmen) Stand by, my masters, bring him near the King. His highness’ pleasure is to talk with him.
(didascalia)	They rise and bear Simpcox before the King
KING HENRY	(to Simpcox) Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance, That we for thee may glorify the Lord. What, hast thou been long blind and now restored?
SIMPCOX	Born blind, an’t please your grace.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Ay, indeed, was he.
SUFFOLK	What woman is this?
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	His wife, an’t like your worship.
GLOUCESTER	Hadst thou been his mother Thou couldst have better told.
KING HENRY	(to Simpcox) Where wert thou born?
SIMPCOX	At Berwick, in the north, an’t like your grace.
KING HENRY	Poor soul, God’s goodness hath been great to thee. Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done.
QUEEN MARGARET	(to Simpcox) Tell me, good fellow, cam’st thou here by chance, Or of devotion to this holy shrine?
SIMPCOX	God knows, of pure devotion, being called A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep, By good Saint Alban, who said, ‘Simon, come; Come offer at my shrine and I will help thee.’
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Most true, forsooth, and many time and oft Myself have heard a voice to call him so.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to Simpcox) What, art thou lame ?
SIMPCOX	Ay, God almighty help me.
SUFFOLK	How cam’st thou so?
SIMPCOX	A fall off of a tree.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	(to Suffolk) A plum tree, master.
GLOUCESTER	How long hast thou been blind?
SIMPCOX	O, born so, master.
GLOUCESTER	What, and wouldst climb a tree? SIMPCOX But that in all my life, when I was a youth.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	(to Gloucester) Too true—and bought his climbing very dear.
GLOUCESTER	(to Simpcox) Mass, thou loved’st plums well that wouldst venture so.
SIMPCOX	Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons, And made me climb with danger of my life.
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER aside
SIMPCOX	A subtle knave, but yet it shall not serve. (To Simpcox) Let me see thine eyes: wink now, now open them. In my opinion yet thou seest not well.
SIMPCOX	Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and Saint Alban.
GLOUCESTER	Sayst thou me so? (Pointing) What colour is this cloak of?
SIMPCOX	Red, master; red as blood.
GLOUCESTER	Why, that’s well said. (Pointing) And his cloak?
SIMPCOX	Why, that’s green.
GLOUCESTER	(pointing) And what colour’s His hose?
SIMPCOX	Yellow, master; yellow as gold.
GLOUCESTER	And what colour’s my gown?
SIMPCOX	Black, sir; coal-black, as jet.
KING HENRY	Why, then, thou know’st what colour jet is of?
UFFOLK	And yet I think jet did he never see.
GLOUCESTER	But cloaks and gowns before this day, a many.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Never before this day in all his life.
GLOUCESTER	Tell me, sirrah, what’s my name?
SIMPCOX	Alas, master, I know not.
GLOUCESTER	(pointing) What’s his name?
SIMPCOX	I know not.
GLOUCESTER	(pointing) Nor his?
SIMPCOX	No, truly, sir.
GLOUCESTER	(pointing) Nor his name?
SIMPCOX	No indeed, master.
GLOUCESTER	What’s thine own name?
SIMPCOX	Simon Simpcox, an it please you, master.
GLOUCESTER	Then, Simon, sit thou there the lying’st knave In Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind Thou mightst as well have known our names as thus To name the several colours we do wear. Sight may distinguish colours, but suddenly To nominate them all—it is impossible. Saint Alban here hath done a miracle. Would you not think his cunning to be great That could restore this cripple to his legs again?
SIMPCOX	O master, that you could!
GLOUCESTER	(to the Mayor and aldermen) My masters of Saint Albans, have you not Beadles in your town, and things called whips?
MAYOR	We have, my lord, an if it please your grace.
GLOUCESTER	Then send for one presently.
MAYOR	(to a townsman) Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight. Exit one
GLOUCESTER	Bring me a stool. A stool is brought (To Simpcox) Now, sirrah, if you mean To save yourself from whipping, leap me o’er This stool and run away.
SIMPCOX	Alas, master, I am not able even to stand alone. You go about to torture me in vain.
(didascalia)	Enter a Beadle with whips
GLOUCESTER	Well, sirrah, we must have you find your legs. (To the Beadle) Whip him till he leap over that same stool.
BEADLE	I will, my lord. (To Simpcox) Come on, sirrah, off with your doublet quickly.
SIMPCOX	Alas, master, what shall I do ? I am not able to stand.
(didascalia)	After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the stool and runs away. Some of the townsmen follow and cry, ‘A miracle ! A miracle !’
KING HENRY	O God, seest thou this and bear’st so long?
QUEEN MARGARET	It made me laugh to see the villain run!
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER to the Beadlel
QUEEN MARGARET	Follow the knave, and take this drab away.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.
(didascalia)	Exit the Beadle with the Wife
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER to the Mayor
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Let them be whipped through every market-town 160 Till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.
(didascalia)	Exeunt the Mayor and any remaining townsmen
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Duke Humphrey has done a miracle today.
SUFFOLK	True: made the lame to leap and fly away.
GLOUCESTER	But you have done more miracles than I— You made, in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Buckingham
KING HENRY	What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?
BUCKINGHAM	Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold. A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent, Under the countenance and confederacy Of Lady Eleanor, the Protector’s wife, The ringleader and head of all this rout, Have practised dangerously against your state, Dealing with witches and with conjurors, 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. And here’s the answer the devil did make to them. Buckingham gives King Henry the writings
(didascalia)	KING HENRY (reads)
BUCKINGHAM	‘First of the King: what shall of him become? The Duke yet lives that Henry shall depose, But him outlive and die a violent death.’ God’s will be done in all. Well, to the rest. (Reads) ‘Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk? By water shall he die, and take his end.’
SUFFOLK	[aside] By water must the Duke of Suffolk die? It must be so, or else the devil doth lie.
KING HENRY	(reads) ‘What shall betide the Duke of Somerset? Let him shun castles. Safer shall he be Upon the sandy plains than where castles mounted stand.’
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to Gloucester) And so, my Lord Protector, by this means Your lady is forthcoming yet at London. (Aside to Gloucester) This news, I think, hath turned your weapon’s edge. ᾽“Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.
GLOUCESTER	Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart. Sorrow and grief have vanquished all my powers, And, vanquished as I am, I yield to thee Or to the meanest groom.
KING HENRY	O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones, Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!
QUEEN MARGARET	Gloucester, see here the tainture of thy nest, And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.
GLOUCESTER	Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal, How I have loved my King and common weal; 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 conversed 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 dishonoured Gloucester’s honest name.
KING HENRY	Well, for this night we will repose us here; Tomorrow 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

Atto 2, Scena 2

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of York and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick
YORK	Now, my good lords of Salisbury and Warwick, Our simple supper ended, give me leave In this close walk to satisfy myself In craving your opinion of my title, Which is infallible, to England’s crown.
SALISBURY	My lord, I long to hear it out at full.
WARWICK	Sweet York, begin, and if thy claim be good, The Nevilles 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 Gloucester; William of Windsor was the seventh and last. Edward the Black Prince died before his father And left behind him Richard, his only son, Who, after Edward the Third’s death, reigned as king Till Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt, Crowned by the name of Henry the Fourth, Seized on the realm, deposed the rightful king, Sent his poor queen to France from whence she came, And him to Pomfret; where, as well you know, Harmless Richard was murdered traitorously.
WARWICK	(to Salisbury) Father, the Duke of York hath told the truth; Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown.
YORK	Which now they hold by force and not by right; For Richard, the first son’s heir, being dead, The issue of the next son should have reigned.
SALISBURY	But William of Hatfield died without an heir.
YORK	The third son, Duke of Clarence, from whose line I claim the crown, had issue Phillipe, a daughter, Who married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March; Edmund had issue, Roger, Earl of March; Roger had issue, Edmund, Anne and Eleanor.
SALISBURY	This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke, As I have read, laid claim unto the crown, And, but for Owain Glyndwr, had been king, Who kept him in captivity till he died. But to the rest.
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 son. By her I claim the kingdom: she was heir To Roger, Earl of March, who was the son Of Edmund Mortimer, who married Phillipe, Sole daughter unto Lionel, Duke of Clarence. So if the issue of the elder son Succeed before the younger, I am king.
WARWICK	What plain proceedings is more plain than this? Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt, The fourth son; York claims it from the third: Till Lionel’s issue fails, John’s 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 together, And in this private plot be we the first That shall salute our rightful sovereign With honour of his birthright to the crown.
SALISBURY	and WARWICK (kneeling) Long live our sovereign Richard, England’s king!
YORK	We thank you, lords;
(didascalia)	Salisbury and Warwick rise
YORK	but I am not your king Till I be crowned, and that my sword be stained With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster— And that’s not suddenly to be performed, 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 snared the shepherd of the flock, That virtuous prince, the good Duke Humphrey. ᾽Tis that they seek, and they, in seeking that, Shall find their deaths, if York can prophesy.
SALISBURY	My lord, break off—we know your mind at full.
WARWICK	My heart assures me that the Earl of Warwick Shall one day make the Duke of York a king.
YORK	And Neville, this I do assure myself— Richard shall live to make the Earl of Warwick The greatest man in England but the King. Exeunt

Atto 2, Scena 3

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Sound trumpets. Enter King Henry and state, with guard, to banish the Duchess: King Henry and Queen Margaret, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the Duke of Suffolk [and the Duke of Buckingham, Cardinal [Beaufort], and, led with officers, Dame Eleanor Cobham the Duchess, Margery Jordan the witch, John Southwell and Sir John Hume the two priests, and Roger Bolingbroke the conjuror; then enter to them] the Duke of York and the Earls of Salisbury rand Warwick
KING HENRY	(to the Duchess) Stand forth, Dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloucester’s wife. She comes forward 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 adjudged to death. (To the Witch, Southwell, Hume, and Bolingbroke) You four, from hence to prison back again; From thence, unto the place of execution. The witch in Smithfield shall be burned to ashes, And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Witch, Southwell, Hume, and Bolingbroke, guarded
KING HENRY	(To the Duchess) 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.
DUCHESS	Welcome is banishment; welcome were my death.
GLOUCESTER	Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hath judged thee; I cannot justify whom the law condemns.
(didascalia)	Exit the Duchess, guarded
GLOUCESTER	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 grave. (To King Henry) I beseech your majesty, give me leave to go. Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.
KING HENRY	Stay, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Ere thou go, Give up thy staff. Henry will to himself Protector be; and God shall be my hope, My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet. And go in peace, Humphrey, no less beloved Than when thou wert Protector to thy King.
QUEEN MARGARET	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.
GLOUCESTER	My staff? Here, noble Henry, is my staff. As willingly do I the same resign As erst thy father Henry made it mine; And even as willing at thy feet I leave it As others would ambitiously receive it. He lays the staff at King Henry’s feet Farewell, good King. When I am dead and gone, May honourable peace attend thy throne. Exit
QUEEN MARGARET	Why, now is Henry King and Margaret Queen, And Humphrey Duke of Gloucester scarce himself, That bears so shrewd a maim; two pulls at once— His lady banished and a limb lopped off. She picks up the staff This staff of honour raught, there let it stand Where it best fits to be, in Henry’s hand. She gives the staff to King Henry
SUFFOLK	Thus droops this lofty pine and hangs his sprays; Thus Eleanor’s pride dies in her youngest days.
YORK	Lords, let him go. Please it your majesty, This is the day appointed for the combat, And ready are the appellant and defendant— The armourer and his man—to enter the lists, So please your highness to behold the fight.
QUEEN MARGARET	Ay, good my lord, for purposely therefor Left I the court to see this quarrel tried.
KING HENRY	A God’s name, see the lists and all things fit; Here let them end it, and God defend the right.
YORK	I never saw a fellow worse bestead, Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant, The servant of this armourer, my lords.
(didascalia)	Enter at one door Horner the armourer and his
YORK	Neighbours, drinking to him so much that he is drunken; and he enters with a drummer before him
(didascalia)	and carrying his staff with a sandbag fastened to
YORK	it. Enter at the other door Peter his man, also with a drummer and a staff with sandbag, and Prentices drinking to him
FIRST NEIGHBOUR	(offering drink to Horner) Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to you in a cup of sack, and fear not, neighbour, you shall do well enough.
SECOND NEIGHBOUR	(offering drink to Horner) And here, neighbour, here’s a cup of charneco.
(didascalia)	THIRD NEIGHBOUR (offering drink to Horner) Here’s a pot of good double beer, neighbour, drink and be merry, and fear not your man. HORNER accepting the offers of drink Let it come, i’faith I’ll pledge you all, and a fig for Peter.
FIRST PRENTICE	(offering drink to Peter) Here, Peter, I drink to thee, and be not afeard.
SECOND PRENTICE	(offering drink to Peter) Here, Peter, here’s a pint of claret wine for thee.
THIRD PRENTICE	(offering drink to Peter) And here’s a quart for me, and be merry, Peter, and fear not thy master. Fight for credit of the prentices!
(didascalia)	PETER refusing the offers of drink I thank you all. Drink and pray for me, I pray you, for I think I have taken my last draught in this world. Here, Robin, an if I die, I give thee my apron; and, Will, thou shalt have my hammer; and here, Tom, take all the money that I have. OLord bless me, I pray God, for I am never able to deal with my master, he hath learned so much fence already.
SALISBURY	Come, leave your drinking, and fall to blows. (To Peter) Sirrah, what’s thy name?
PETER	Peter, forsooth.
SALISBURY	Peter? What more?
PETER	Thump.
SALISBURY	Thump! Then see that thou thump thy master well.
HORNER	Masters, I am come hither, as it were, upon my man’s instigation, to prove him a knave and myself an honest man; and touching the Duke of York, I will take my death I never meant him any ill, nor the King, nor the Queen; and therefore, Peter, have at thee with a downright blow.
YORK	Dispatch; this knave’s tongue begins to double.
(didascalia)	Sound trumpets an alarum to the combatants. They fight and Peter hits Horner on the head and strikes him down
HORNER	Hold, Peter, hold—I confess, I confess treason. He dies
YORK	(to an attendant, pointing to Horner) Take away his weapon. (To Peter) Fellow, thank God and the good wine in thy master’s wame.
PETER	[kneeling] O God, have I overcome mine enemy in this presence? O, Peter, thou hast prevailed in right.
KING HENRY	(to attendants, pointing to Horner) Go, take hence that traitor from our sight, For by his death we do perceive his guilt. And God in justice hath revealed to us The truth and innocence of this poor fellow, Which he had thought to have murdered wrongfully. (To Peter) Come, fellow, follow us for thy reward.
(didascalia)	Sound a flourish. Exeunt, some carrying Horner’s body

Atto 2, Scena 4

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and his men in mourning cloaks
GLOUCESTER	Thus sometimes hath the brightest day a cloud; And after summer evermore succeeds Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold; So cares and joys abound as seasons fleet. Sirs, what’s o’clock?
SERVANT	Ten, my lord.
GLOUCESTER	Ten is the hour that was appointed me To watch the coming of my punished Duchess; Uneath may she endure the flinty streets, To tread them with her tender-feeling feet. Sweet Nell, ill can thy noble mind abrook The abject people gazing on thy face With envious looks, laughing at thy shame, That erst did follow thy proud chariot wheels When thou didst ride in triumph through the streets. But soft, I think she comes; and I’ll prepare My tear-stained eyes to see her miseries.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duchess, Dame Eleanor Cobham, barefoot,
GLOUCESTER	with a white sheet about her, written verses pinned on her back, and carrying a wax candle in her hand; she is accompanied by the [two Sheriffs] of London, and Sir John Stanley, and officers with bills and halberds
SERVANT	(to Gloucester) So please your grace, we’ll take her from the sheriffs.
GLOUCESTER	No, stir not for your lives, let her pass by.
DUCHESS	Come you, my lord, to see my open shame? Now thou dost penance too. Look how they gaze, See how the giddy multitude do point And nod their heads, and throw their eyes on thee. Ah, Gloucester, hide thee from their hateful looks, And, in thy closet pent up, rue my shame, And ban thine enemies—both mine and thine.
GLOUCESTER	Be patient, gentle Nell; forget this grief.
DUCHESS	Ah, Gloucester, teach me to forget myself; For whilst I think I am thy married wife, And thou a prince, Protector of this land, Methinks I should not thus be led along, Mailed up in shame, with papers on my back, And followed with a rabble that rejoice To see my tears and hear my deep-fet groans. The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet, And when I start, the envious people laugh, And bid me be advised how I tread. Ah, Humphrey, can I bear this shameful yoke? Trowest thou that e’er I’ll look upon the world, Or count them happy that enjoys the sun? No, dark shall be my light, and night my day; To think upon my pomp shall be my hell. Sometime I’ll say I am Duke Humphrey’s wife, And he a prince and ruler of the land; Yet so he ruled, and such a prince he was, As he stood by whilst I, his forlorn Duchess, Was made a wonder and a pointing stock To every idle rascal follower. But be thou mild and blush not at my shame, Nor stir at nothing till the axe of death Hang over thee, as sure it shortly will. For Suffolk, he that can do all in all With her that hateth thee and hates us all, And York, and impious Beaufort that false priest, Have all limed bushes to betray thy wings, And fly thou how thou canst, they’ll tangle thee. But fear not thou until thy foot be snared, Nor never seek prevention of thy foes.
GLOUCESTER	Ah, Nell, forbear; thou aimest all awry. I must offend before I be attainted, And had I twenty times so many foes, And each of them had twenty times their power, All these could not procure me any scathe So long as I am loyal, true, and crimeless. Wouldst have me rescue thee from this reproach? Why, yet thy scandal were not wiped away, But I in danger for the breach of law. Thy greatest help is quiet, gentle Nell. I pray thee sort thy heart to patience. These few days’ wonder will be quickly worn.
(didascalia)	Enter a Herald
HERALD	I summon your grace to his majesty’s parliament holden at Bury the first of this next month.
GLOUCESTER	And my consent ne’er asked herein before? This is close dealing. Well, I will be there. Exit Herald My Nell, I take my leave; and, Master Sheriff, Let not her penance exceed the King’s commission.
(didascalia)	FIRST SHERIFF
GLOUCESTER	An’t please your grace, here my commission stays, And Sir John Stanley is appointed now To take her with him to the Isle of Man.
GLOUCESTER	Must you, Sir John, protect my lady here?
STANLEY	So am I given in charge, may’t please your grace.
GLOUCESTER	Entreat her not the worse in that I pray You use her well. The world may laugh again, And I may live to do you kindness if You do it her. And so, Sir John, farewell. 85
(didascalia)	Gloucester begins to leave
DUCHESS	What, gone, my lord, and bid me not farewell?
GLOUCESTER	Witness my tears—I cannot stay to speak.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Gloucester and his men
DUCHESS	Art thou gone too? All comfort go with thee, For none abides with me. My joy is death— Death, at whose name I oft have been afeard, Because I wished this world’s eternity. Stanley, I prithee go and take me hence. I care not whither, for I beg no favour, Only convey me where thou art commanded.
STANLEY	Why, madam, that is to the Isle of Man, There to be used according to your state.
DUCHESS	That’s bad enough, for I am but reproach; And shall I then be used reproachfully?
STANLEY	Like to a duchess and Duke Humphrey’s lady, According to that state you shall be used.
DUCHESS	Sheriff, farewell, and better than I fare, Although thou hast been conduct of my shame.
(didascalia)	FIRST SHERIFF
DUCHESS	It is my office, and, madam, pardon me.
DUCHESS	Ay, ay, farewell—thy office is discharged.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Sheriffs
DUCHESS	Come, Stanley, shall we go?
STANLEY	Madam, your penance done, throw off this sheet, And go we to attire you for our journey.
DUCHESS	My shame will not be shifted with my sheet— No, it will hang upon my richest robes And show itself, attire me how I can. Go, lead the way, I long to see my prison. Exeunt

Atto 3, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Sound a sennet. Enter to the parliament: enter two heralds before, then the Dukes of Buckingham and Suffolk, and then the Duke of York and Cardinal Beaufort, and then King Henry and Queen Margaret, and then the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, With attendants
KING HENRY	I muse my lord of Gloucester is not come. “Tis not his wont to be the hindmost man, Whate’er occasion keeps him from us now.
QUEEN MARGARET	Can you not see, or will ye not observe, The strangeness of his altered countenance? With what a majesty he bears himself? How insolent of late he is become? How proud, how peremptory, and unlike himself? We know the time since he was mild and affable, And if we did but glance a far-off look, Immediately he was upon his knee, That all the court admired him for submission. But meet him now, and be it in the morn When everyone will give the time of day, He knits his brow, and shows an angry eye, And passeth by with stiff unbowed knee, Disdaining duty that to us belongs. Small curs are not regarded when they grin, But great men tremble when the lion roars— And Humphrey is no little man in England. First, note that he is near you in descent, And, should you fall, he is the next will mount. Meseemeth then it is no policy, Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears And his advantage following your decease, That he should come about your royal person, Or be admitted to your highness’ Council. By flattery hath he won the commons’ hearts, And when he please to make commotion, “Tis to be feared they all will follow him. Now ‘tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; Suffer them now, and they’ll o’ergrow the garden, And choke the herbs for want of husbandry. The reverent care I bear unto my lord Made me collect these dangers in the Duke. If it be fond, call it a woman’s fear; Which fear, if better reasons can supplant, I will subscribe and say I wronged the Duke. My lord of Suffolk, Buckingham, and York, Reprove my allegation if you can, Or else conclude my words effectual.
SUFFOLK	Well hath your highness seen into this Duke, And had I first been put to speak my mind, I think I should have told your grace’s tale. The Duchess by his subornation, Upon my life, began her devilish practices; Or if he were not privy to those faults, Yet by reputing of his high descent, As next the King he was successive heir, And such high vaunts of his nobility, Did instigate the bedlam brainsick Duchess By wicked means to frame our sovereign’s fall. Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep, And in his simple show he harbours treason. The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb. (To King Henry) No, no, my sovereign, Gloucester is a man Unsounded yet, and full of deep deceit.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to King Henry) Did he not, contrary to form of law, Devise strange deaths for small offences done?
YORK	(to King Henry) And did he not, in his Protectorship, Levy great sums of money through the realm For soldiers’ pay in France, and never sent it, By means whereof the towns each day revolted?
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) Tut, these are petty faults to faults unknown, Which time will bring to light in smooth Duke Humphrey.
KING HENRY	My lords, at once: the care you have of us To mow down thorns that would annoy our foot Is worthy praise, but shall I speak my conscience? Our kinsman Gloucester is as innocent From meaning treason to our royal person As is the sucking lamb or harmless dove. The Duke is virtuous, mild, and too well given To dream on evil or to work my downfall.
QUEEN MARGARET	Ah, what’s more dangerous than this fond affiance? Seems he a dove? His feathers are but borrowed, For he’s disposed as the hateful raven. Is he a lamb? His skin is surely lent him, For he’s inclined as is the ravenous wolf. Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit? Take heed, my lord, the welfare of us all Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Somerset
(didascalia)	SOMERSET kneeling before King Henry
QUEEN MARGARET	All health unto my gracious sovereign.
KING HENRY	Welcome, Lord Somerset. What news from France?
SOMERSET	That all your interest in those territories Is utterly bereft you—all is lost.
KING HENRY	Cold news, Lord Somerset; but God’s will be done.
(didascalia)	Somerset rises
YORK	(aside) Cold news for me, for I had hope of France, As firmly as I hope for fertile England. Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud, And caterpillars eat my leaves away. 90 But I will remedy this gear ere long, Or sell my title for a glorious grave.
(didascalia)	Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER kneeling before King Henry
YORK	All happiness unto my lord the King. Pardon, my liege, that I have stayed so long.
SUFFOLK	Nay, Gloucester, know that thou art come too soon 95 Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art. I do arrest thee of high treason here.
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER rising
SUFFOLK	Well, Suffolk’s Duke, thou shalt not see me blush, Nor change my countenance for this arrest. A heart unspotted is not easily daunted. The purest spring is not so free from mud As I am clear from treason to my sovereign. Who can accuse me? Wherein am I guilty?
YORK	“Tis thought, my lord, that you took bribes of France, And, being Protector, stayed the soldiers’ pay, By means whereof his highness hath lost France.
GLOUCESTER	Is it but thought so? What are they that think it? I never robbed the soldiers of their pay, Nor ever had one penny bribe from France. So help me God, as I have watched the night, Ay, night by night, in studying good for England, That doit that e’er I wrested from the King, Or any groat I hoarded to my use, Be brought against me at my trial day I No: many a pound of mine own proper store, Because I would not tax the needy commons, Have I dispursèd to the garrisons, And never asked for restitution.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	It serves you well, my lord, to say so much.
GLOUCESTER	I say no more than truth, so help me God.
YORK	In your Protectorship you did devise Strange tortures for offenders, never heard of, That England was defamed by tyranny.
GLOUCESTER	Why, ’tis well known that whiles I was Protector Pity was all the fault that was in me, For I should melt at an offender’s tears, And lowly words were ransom for their fault. Unless it were a bloody murderer, Or foul felonious thief that fleeced poor passengers, I never gave them condign punishment. Murder, indeed—that bloody sin—I tortured Above the felon or what trespass else.
SUFFOLK	My lord, these faults are easy, quickly answered, But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge Whereof you cannot easily purge yourself. I do arrest you in his highness’ name, And here commit you to my good lord Cardinal To keep until your further time of trial.
KING HENRY	My lord of Gloucester, ’tis my special hope That you will clear yourself from all suspense. My conscience tells me you are innocent.
GLOUCESTER	Ah, gracious lord, these days are dangerous. Virtue is choked with foul ambition, And charity chased hence by rancour’s hand. Foul subornation is predominant, And equity exiled your highness’ land. I know their complot is to have my life, And if my death might make this island happy And prove the period of their tyranny, I would expend it with all willingness. But mine is made the prologue to their play, For thousands more that yet suspect no peril Will not conclude their plotted tragedy. Beaufort’s red sparkling eyes blab his heart’s malice, And Suffolk’s cloudy brow his stormy hate; Sharp Buckingham unburdens with his tongue The envious load that lies upon his heart; And dogged York that reaches at the moon, Whose overweening arm I have plucked back, By false accuse doth level at my life. (To Queen Margaret) And you, my sovereign lady, with the rest, Causeless have laid disgraces on my head, And with your best endeavour have stirred up My liefest liege to be mine enemy. Ay, all of you have laid your heads together— Myself had notice of your conventicles— And all to make away my guiltless life. I shall not want false witness to condemn me, Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt. The ancient proverb will be well effected: ‘A staff is quickly found to beat a dog’.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to King Henry) My liege, his railing is intolerable. If those that care to keep your royal person From treason’s secret knife and traitor’s rage Be thus upbraided, chid, and rated at, And the offender granted scope of speech, ‘Twill make them cool in zeal unto your grace.
SUFFOLK	(to King Henry) Hath he not twit our sovereign lady here With ignominious words, though clerkly couched, As if she had suborned some to swear False allegations to o’erthrow his state?
QUEEN MARGARET	But I can give the loser leave to chide.
GLOUCESTER	Far truer spoke than meant. I lose indeed; Beshrew the winners, for they played me false! And well such losers may have leave to speak.
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) He’ll wrest the sense, and hold us here all day. Lord Cardinal, he is your prisoner.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to some of his attendants) Sirs, take away the Duke and guard him sure.
GLOUCESTER	Ah, thus King Henry throws away his crutch Before his legs be firm to bear his body. Thus is the shepherd beaten from thy side, And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first. Ah, that my fear were false; ah, that it were! For, good King Henry, thy decay I fear.
(didascalia)	Exit Gloucester, guarded by the Cardinal’s men
KING HENRY	My lords, what to your wisdoms seemeth best Do or undo, as if ourself were here.
QUEEN MARGARET	What, will your highness leave the Parliament?
KING HENRY	Ay, Margaret, my heart is drowned with grief, Whose flood begins to flow within mine eyes, My body round engirt with misery; For what’s more miserable than discontent? Ah, uncle Humphrey, in thy face I see The map of honour, truth, and loyalty; And yet, good Humphrey, is the hour to come That e‘er I proved thee false, or feared thy faith. What louring star now envies thy estate, That these great lords and Margaret our Queen Do seek subversion of thy harmless life? Thou never didst them wrong, nor no man wrong. And as the butcher takes away the calf, And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strains, Bearing it to the bloody slaughterhouse, Even so remorseless have they borne him hence; And as the dam runs lowing up and down, Looking the way her harmless young one went, And can do naught but wail her darling’s loss; Even so myself bewails good Gloucester’s case With sad unhelpful tears, and with dimmed eyes Look after him, and cannot do him good, So mighty are his vowèd enemies. His fortunes I will weep, and ’twixt each groan, Say ‘Who’s a traitor? Gloucester, he is none’.
(didascalia)	Exit with Salisbury and Warwick
QUEEN MARGARET	Free lords, cold snow melts with the sun’s hot beams. Henry my lord is cold in great affairs, Too full of foolish pity; and Gloucester’s show Beguiles him as the mournful crocodile With sorrow snares relenting passengers, Or as the snake rolled in a flow’ring bank With shining chequered slough doth sting a child That for the beauty thinks it excellent. Believe me, lords, were none more wise than I— And yet herein I judge mine own wit good— This Gloucester should be quickly rid the world To rid us from the fear we have of him.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	That he should die is worthy policy; But yet we want a colour for his death. ’Tis meet he be condemned by course of law.
SUFFOLK	But, in my mind, that were no policy. The King will labour still to save his life, The commons haply rise to save his life; And yet we have but trivial argument More than mistrust that shows him worthy death.
YORK	So that, by this, you would not have him die?
SUFFOLK	Ah, York, no man alive so fain as I.
YORK	(aside) ’Tis York that hath more reason for his death. (Aloud) But my lord Cardinal, and you my lord of Suffolk, Say as you think, and speak it from your souls. Were’t not all one an empty eagle were set To guard the chicken from a hungry kite, As place Duke Humphrey for the King’s Protector?
QUEEN MARGARET	So the poor chicken should be sure of death.
SUFFOLK	Madam, ‘tis true; and were’t not madness then To make the fox surveyor of the fold, Who being accused a crafty murderer, His guilt should be but idly posted over Because his purpose is not executed? No—let him die in that he is a fox, By nature proved an enemy to the flock, Before his chaps be stained with crimson blood, As Humphrey, proved by reasons, to my liege. And do not stand on quillets how to slay him; Be it by gins, by snares, by subtlety, Sleeping or waking, ‘tis no matter how, So he be dead; for that is good conceit Which mates him first that first intends deceit.
QUEEN MARGARET	Thrice-noble Suffolk, ’tis resolutely spoke.
SUFFOLK	Not resolute, except so much were done; For things are often spoke and seldom meant; But that my heart accordeth with my tongue, Seeing the deed is meritorious, And to preserve my sovereign from his foe, Say but the word and I will be his priest.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	But I would have him dead, my lord of Suffolk, Ere you can take due orders for a priest. Say you consent and censure well the deed, And I’ll provide his executioner; I tender so the safety of my liege.
SUFFOLK	Here is my hand; the deed is worthy doing.
QUEEN MARGARET	And SO say I.
YORK	And I. And now we three have spoke it, It skills not greatly who impugns our doom.
(didascalia)	Enter a Post
POST	Great lord, from Ireland am I come amain To signify that rebels there are up And put the Englishmen unto the sword. Send succours, lords, and stop the rage betime, Before the wound do grow uncurable; For, being green, there is great hope of help.
(didascalia)	Exit
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	A breach that craves a quick expedient stop! What counsel give you in this weighty cause?
YORK	That Somerset be sent as regent thither. ’Tis meet that lucky ruler be employed— Witness the fortune he hath had in France.
SOMERSET	If York, with all his far-fet policy, Had been the regent there instead of me, He never would have stayed in France so long.
YORK	No, not to lose it all as thou hast done. I rather would have lost my life betimes Than bring a burden of dishonour home By staying there so long till all were lost. Show me one scar charactered on thy skin. Men’s flesh preserved so whole do seldom win.
QUEEN MARGARET	Nay, then, this spark will prove a raging fire If wind and fuel be brought to feed it with. No more, good York; sweet Somerset, be still. Thy fortune, York, hadst thou been regent there, Might happily have proved far worse than his.
YORK	What, worse than naught? Nay, then a shame take all!
SOMERSET	And, in the number, thee that wishest shame.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	My lord of York, try what your fortune is. Th’uncivil kerns of Ireland are in arms And temper clay with blood of Englishmen. To Ireland will you lead a band of men Collected choicely, from each county some, And try your hap against the Irishmen?
YORK	I will, my lord, so please his majesty.
SUFFOLK	Why, our authority is his consent, And what we do establish he confirms. Then, noble York, take thou this task in hand.
YORK	I am content. Provide me soldiers, lords, Whiles I take order for mine own affairs.
SUFFOLK	A charge, Lord York, that I will see performed. But now return we to the false Duke Humphrey.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	No more of him—for I will deal with him That henceforth he shall trouble us no more. And so, break off; the day is almost spent. Lord Suffolk, you and I must talk of that event.
YORK	My lord of Suffolk, within fourteen days At Bristol I expect my soldiers; For there I’ll ship them all for Ireland.
SUFFOLK	I’ll see it truly done, my lord of York.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but York
YORK	Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts, And change misdoubt to resolution. Be that thou hop‘st to be, or what thou art Resign to death; it is not worth th’enjoying. Let pale-faced fear keep with the mean-born man And find no harbour in a royal heart. Faster than springtime showers comes thought on thought, And not a thought but thinks on dignity. My brain, more busy than the labouring spider, Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies. Well, nobles, well: ’tis politicly done To send me packing with an host of men. I fear me you but warm the starved snake, Who, cherished in your breasts, will sting your hearts. ’Twas men I lacked, and you will give them me. I take it kindly. Yet be well assured You put sharp weapons in a madman’s hands. Whiles I in Ireland nurse a mighty band, I will stir up in England some black storm Shall blow ten thousand souls to heaven or hell, And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage Until the golden circuit on my head Like to the glorious sun’s transparent beams Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw. And for a minister of my intent, I have seduced a headstrong Kentishman, John Cade of Ashford, To make commotion, as full well he can, Under the title of John Mortimer. In Ireland have I seen this stubborn Cade Oppose himself against a troop of kerns, And fought so long till that his thighs with darts Were almost like a sharp-quilled porcupine; And in the end, being rescued, I have seen Him caper upright like a wild Morisco, Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells. Full often like a shag-haired crafty kern Hath he conversed with the enemy And, undiscovered, come to me again And given me notice of their villainies. This devil here shall be my substitute, For that John Mortimer, which now is dead, In face, in gait, in speech, he doth resemble. By this I shall perceive the commons’ mind, How they affect the house and claim of York. Say he be taken, racked, and torturèd— I know no pain they can inflict upon him Will make him say I moved him to those arms. Say that he thrive, as ’tis great like he will— Why then from Ireland come I with my strength And reap the harvest which that coistrel sowed. For Humphrey being dead, as he shall be, And Henry put apart, the next for me. Exit
(didascalia)	3.2 The curtains are drawn apart, revealing Duke Humphrey of Gloucester in his bed with two men lying on his breast, smothering him in his bed
FIRST MURDERER	(to the Second Murderer) Run to my lord of Suffolk—let him know We have dispatched the Duke as he commanded.
SECOND MURDERER	O that it were to do! What have we done? Didst ever hear a man so penitent?
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Suffolk
FIRST MURDERER	Here comes my lord.
SUFFOLK	Now, sirs, have you dispatched this thing?
FIRST MURDERER	Ay, my good lord, he’s dead.
SUFFOLK	Why, that’s well said. Go, get you to my house. I will reward you for this venturous deed. The King and all the peers are here at hand. Have you laid fair the bed? Is all things well, According as I gave directions?
FIRST MURDERER	’Tis, my good lord.
SUFFOLK	Then draw the curtains close; away, be gone!
(didascalia)	Exeunt the Murderers, drawing the curtains as
(didascalia)	they leave
(didascalia)	Sound trumpets, then enter King Henry and Queen
SUFFOLK	Margaret, Cardinal Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset, and attendants
(didascalia)	KING HENRY to Suffolk
SUFFOLK	Go call our uncle to our presence straight. Say we intend to try his grace today If he be guilty, as ’tis published.
SUFFOLK	I’ll call him presently, my noble lord.
(didascalia)	Exit
KING HENRY	Lords, take your places; and, I pray you all, Proceed no straiter ’gainst our uncle Gloucester Than from true evidence, of good esteem, He be approved in practice culpable.
QUEEN MARGARET	God forbid any malice should prevail That faultless may condemn a noble man! Pray God he may acquit him of suspicion!
KING HENRY	I thank thee, Meg. These words content me much.
(didascalia)	Enter Suffolk
KING HENRY	How now? Why look’st thou pale? Why tremblest thou? Where is our uncle? What’s the matter, Suffolk?
SUFFOLK	Dead in his bed, my lord—Gloucester is dead.
QUEEN MARGARET	Marry, God forfend!
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	God’s secret judgement. I did dream tonight The Duke was dumb and could not speak a word. King Henry falls to the ground
QUEEN MARGARET	How fares my lord? Help, lords—the King is dead!
SOMERSET	Rear up his body; wring him by the nose.
QUEEN MARGARET	Run, go, help, help! O Henry, ope thine eyes!
SUFFOLK	He doth revive again. Madam, be patient.
KING HENRY	O heavenly God!
QUEEN MARGARET	How fares my gracious lord?
SUFFOLK	Comfort, my sovereign; gracious Henry, comfort.
KING HENRY	What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me? Came he right now to sing a raven’s note Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers; And thinks he that the chirping of a wren, By crying comfort from a hollow breast Can chase away the first-conceived sound? Hide not thy poison with such sugared words.
(didascalia)	He begins to rise. Suffolk offers to assist him
KING HENRY	Lay not thy hands on me—forbear, I say! Their touch affrights me as a serpent’s sting. Thou baleful messenger, out of my sight! Upon thy eyeballs murderous tyranny Sits in grim majesty to fright the world. Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding— Yet do not go away. Come, basilisk, And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight. For in the shade of death I shall find joy; In life, but double death, now Gloucester’s dead.
QUEEN MARGARET	Why do you rate my lord of Suffolk thus? Although the Duke was enemy to him, Yet he most Christian-like laments his death. And for myself, foe as he was to me, Might liquid tears, or heart-offending groans, Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life, I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans, Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs, And all to have the noble Duke alive. What know I how the world may deem of me? For it is known we were but hollow friends, It may be judged I made the Duke away. So shall my name with slander’s tongue be wounded And princes’ courts be filled with my reproach. This get I by his death. Ay me, unhappy, To be a queen, and crowned with infamy.
KING HENRY	Ah, woe is me for Gloucester, wretched man!
QUEEN MARGARET	Be woe for me, more wretched than he is. What, dost thou turn away and hide thy face? I am no loathsome leper—look on me! What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf? Be poisonous too and kill thy forlorn queen. Is all thy comfort shut in Gloucester’s tomb? Why, then Queen Margaret was ne‘er thy joy. Erect his statue and worship it, 80 And make my image but an alehouse sign. Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea, And twice by awkward winds from England’s bank Drove back again unto my native clime? What boded this, but well forewarning winds Did seem to say, ‘Seek not a scorpion’s nest, Nor set no footing on this unkind shore’. What did I then, but cursed the gentle gusts And he that loosed them forth their brazen caves, And bid them blow towards England’s blessed shore, Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock. Yet Aeolus would not be a murderer, But left that hateful office unto thee. The pretty vaulting sea refused to drown me, Knowing that thou wouldst have me drowned on shore With tears as salt as sea through thy unkindness. The splitting rocks cow’red in the sinking sands, And would not dash me with their ragged sides, Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they, Might in thy palace perish Margaret. As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs, When from thy shore the tempest beat us back, I stood upon the hatches in the storm, And when the dusky sky began to rob My earnest-gaping sight of thy land’s view, I took a costly jewel from my neck— A heart it was, bound in with diamonds— And threw it towards thy land. The sea received it, And so I wished thy body might my heart. And even with this I lost fair England’s view, And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart, And called them blind and dusky spectacles For losing ken of Albion’s wished coast. How often have I tempted Suffolk’s tongue— The agent of thy foul inconstancy— To sit and witch me, as Ascanius did, When he to madding Dido would unfold His father’s acts, commenced in burning Troy! Am I not witched like her? Or thou not false like him? Ay me, I can no more. Die, Margaret, For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long. Noise within. Enter the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury with many commons
WARWICK	(to King Henry) It is reported, mighty sovereign, That good Duke Humphrey traitorously is murdered By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort’s means. The commons, like an angry hive of bees That want their leader, scatter up and down And care not who they sting in his revenge. Myself have calmed their spleenful mutiny, Until they hear the order of his death.
KING HENRY	That he is dead, good Warwick, ’tis too true. But how he died God knows, not Henry.
(didascalia)	Enter his chamber, view his breathless corpse,
KING HENRY	And comment then upon his sudden death.
WARWICK	That shall I do, my liege.—Stay, Salisbury, With the rude multitude till I return.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Warwick at one door, Salisbury and
(didascalia)	commons at another
KING HENRY	O thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts, My thoughts that labour to persuade my soul Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey’s life. If my suspect be false, forgive me God, For judgement only doth belong to thee. Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain Upon his face an ocean of salt tears, To tell my love unto his dumb, deaf trunk, And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling. But all in vain are these mean obsequies,
(didascalia)	Enter Warwick who draws apart the curtains and
(didascalia)	shows Gloucester dead in his bed. Bed put forth
KING HENRY	And to survey his dead and earthy image, What were it but to make my sorrow greater?
WARWICK	Come hither, gracious sovereign, view this body.
KING HENRY	That is to see how deep my grave is made: For with his soul fled all my worldly solace, For seeing him I see my life in death.
WARWICK	As surely as my soul intends to live With that dread King that took our state upon Him To free us from his Father’s wrathful curse, I do believe that violent hands were laid Upon the life of this thrice-famed Duke.
SUFFOLK	A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue! What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?
WARWICK	See how the blood is settled in his face. Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless, Being all descended to the labouring heart; Who, in the conflict that it holds with death, Attracts the same for aidance ‘gainst the enemy; Which, with the heart, there cools, and ne’er returneth To blush and beautify the cheek again. But see, his face is black and full of blood; His eyeballs further out than when he lived, Staring full ghastly like a strangled man; His hair upreared; his nostrils stretched with struggling; His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped And tugged for life and was by strength subdued. Look on the sheets. His hair, you see, is sticking; His well-proportioned beard made rough and rugged, Like to the summer’s corn by tempest lodged. It cannot be but he was murdered here. The least of all these signs were probable.
SUFFOLK	Why, Warwick, who should do the Duke to death? Myself and Beaufort had him in protection, And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers.
WARWICK	But both of you were vowed Duke Humphrey’s foes, (To Cardinal Beaufort) And you, forsooth, had the good Duke to keep. ’Tis like you would not feast him like a friend; And ’tis well seen he found an enemy.
QUEEN MARGARET	Then you, belike, suspect these noblemen As guilty of Duke Humphrey’s timeless death?
WARWICK	Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding fresh, And sees fast by a butcher with an axe, But will suspect ’twas he that made the slaughter? Who finds the partridge in the puttock’s nest But may imagine how the bird was dead, Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak? Even so suspicious is this tragedy.
QUEEN MARGARET	Are you the butcher, Suffolk? Where’s your knife? Is Beaufort termed a kite? Where are his talons?
SUFFOLK	I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men. But here’s a vengeful sword, rusted with ease, That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart That slanders me with murder’s crimson badge. Say, if thou dar’st, proud Lord of Warwickshire, That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey’s death.
(didascalia)	Exit Cardinal Beaufort assisted by Somerset
WARWICK	What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?
QUEEN MARGARET	He dares not calm his contumelious spirit, Nor cease to be an arrogant controller, Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
WARWICK	Madam, be still, with reverence may I say, For every word you speak in his behalf Is slander to your royal dignity.
SUFFOLK	Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanour! If ever lady wronged her lord so much, Thy mother took into her blameful bed Some stern untutored churl, and noble stock Was graffed with crabtree slip, whose fruit thou art, And never of the Nevilles’ noble race.
WARWICK	But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee And I should rob the deathsman of his fee, Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames, And that my sovereign’s presence makes me mild, I would, false murd‘rous coward, on thy knee Make thee beg pardon for thy passed speech, And say it was thy mother that thou meant’st— That thou thyself wast born in bastardy! And after all this fearful homage done, Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell, Pernicious blood-sucker of sleeping men!
SUFFOLK	Thou shalt be waking while I shed thy blood, If from this presence thou dar’st go with me.
WARWICK	Away, even now, or I will drag thee hence. Unworthy though thou art, I’ll cope with thee, And do some service to Duke Humphrey’s ghost.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Suffolk and Warwick
KING HENRY	What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted? Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just; And he but naked, though locked up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.
COMMONS	(within) Down with Suffolk! Down with Suffolk!
QUEEN MARGARET	What noise is this?
(didascalia)	Enter Suffolk and Warwick with their weapons drawn
KING HENRY	Why, how now, lords? Your wrathful weapons drawn Here in our presence? Dare you be so bold? Why, what tumultuous clamour have we here?
SUFFOLK	The trait’rous Warwick with the men of Bury Set all upon me, mighty sovereign!
COMMONS	(within) Down with Suffolk! Down with Suffolk!
(didascalia)	Enter from the commons the Earl of Salisbury
SALISBURY	(to the commons, within) Sirs, stand apart. The King shall know your mind. (To King Henry) Dread lord, the commons send you word by me Unless Lord Suffolk straight be done to death, Or banished fair England’s territories, They will by violence tear him from your palace And torture him with grievous ling‘ring death. They say, by him the good Duke Humphrey died; They say, in him they fear your highness’ death; And mere instinct of love and loyalty, Free from a stubborn opposite intent, As being thought to contradict your liking, Makes them thus forward in his banishment. They say, in care of your most royal person, That if your highness should intend to sleep, And charge that no man should disturb your rest In pain of your dislike, or pain of death, Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict, Were there a serpent seen with forked tongue, That slily glided towards your majesty, It were but necessary you were waked, Lest, being suffered in that harmful slumber, The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal. And therefore do they cry, though you forbid, That they will guard you, whe’er you will or no, From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is, With whose envenomed and fatal sting Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth, They say, is shamefully bereft of life.
COMMONS	(within) An answer from the King, my lord of Salisbury!
SUFFOLK	’Tis like the commons, rude unpolished hinds, Could send such message to their sovereign. But you, my lord, were glad to be employed, To show how quaint an orator you are. But all the honour Salisbury hath won Is that he was the Lord Ambassador Sent from a sort of tinkers to the King.
COMMONS	(within) An answer from the King, or we will all break in!
KING HENRY	Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me I thank them for their tender loving care, And had I not been ’cited so by them, Yet did I purpose as they do entreat; For sure my thoughts do hourly prophesy Mischance unto my state by Suffolk’s means. And therefore by His majesty I swear, Whose far unworthy deputy I am, He shall not breathe infection in this air But three days longer, on the pain of death.
(didascalia)	Exit Salisbury
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET kneeling
KING HENRY	O Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk.
KING HENRY	Ungentle Queen, to call him gentle Suffolk. No more, I say! If thou dost plead for him Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath. Had I but said, I would have kept my word; But when I swear, it is irrevocable. (To Suffolk) If after three days’ space thou here beest found On any ground that I am ruler of, The world shall not be ransom for thy life. Come, Warwick; come, good Warwick, go with me. I have great matters to impart to thee.
(didascalia)	Exeunt King Henry and Warwick with
(didascalia)	attendants who draw the curtains as they
(didascalia)	leave. Queen Margaret and Suffolk remain
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET rising
KING HENRY	Mischance and sorrow go along with you! Heart’s discontent and sour affliction Be playfellows to keep you company! There’s two of you, the devil make a third, And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!
SUFFOLK	Cease, gentle Queen, these execrations, And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.
QUEEN MARGARET	Fie, coward woman and soft-hearted wretch! Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemies?
SUFFOLK	A plague upon them! Wherefore should I curse them? Could curses kill, as doth the mandrake’s groan, I would invent as bitter searching terms, As curst, as harsh, and horrible to hear, Delivered strongly through my fixed teeth, With full as many signs of deadly hate, As lean-faced envy in her loathsome cave. My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words; Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint; My hair be fixed on end, as one distraught; Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban. And, even now, my burdened heart would break Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink! Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste! Their sweetest shade a grove of cypress trees! Their chiefest prospect murd’ring basilisks! Their softest touch as smart as lizards’ stings! Their music frightful as the serpent’s hiss, And boding screech-owls make the consort full! All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell—
QUEEN MARGARET	Enough, sweet Suffolk, thou torment‘st thyself, And these dread curses, like the sun ’gainst glass, Or like an overcharged gun, recoil And turn the force of them upon thyself.
SUFFOLK	You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave? Now by this ground that I am banished from, Well could I curse away a winter’s night, Though standing naked on a mountain top, Where biting cold would never let grass grow, And think it but a minute spent in sport.
QUEEN MARGARET	O let me entreat thee cease. Give me thy hand, That I may dew it with my mournful tears; Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place To wash away my woeful monuments.
(didascalia)	She kisses his palm
QUEEN MARGARET	O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand That thou mightst think upon these lips by the seal, Through whom a thousand sighs are breathed for thee! So get thee gone, that I may know my grief. ’Tis but surmised whiles thou art standing by, As one that surfeits thinking on a want. I will repeal thee, or, be well assured, Adventure to be banished myself. And banished I am, if but from thee. Go, speak not to me; even now be gone! O, go not yet. Even thus two friends condemned Embrace, and kiss, and take ten thousand leaves, Loather a hundred times to part than die. Yet now farewell, and farewell life with thee.
SUFFOLK	Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banishèd— Once by the King, and three times thrice by thee. ’Tis not the land I care for, wert thou thence, A wilderness is populous enough, So Suffolk had thy heavenly company. For where thou art, there is the world itself, With every several pleasure in the world; And where thou art not, desolation. I can no more. Live thou to joy thy life; Myself no joy in naught but that thou liv’st.
(didascalia)	Enter Vaux
QUEEN MARGARET	Whither goes Vaux so fast? What news, I prithee?
VAUX	To signify unto his majesty That Cardinal Beaufort is at point of death. For suddenly a grievous sickness took him That makes him gasp, and stare, and catch the air, Blaspheming God and cursing men on earth. Sometime he talks as if Duke Humphrey’s ghost Were by his side; sometime he calls the King, And whispers to his pillow as to him The secrets of his over-charged soul; And I am sent to tell his majesty That even now he cries aloud for him.
QUEEN MARGARET	Go tell this heavy message to the King. Exit Vaux Ay me! What is this world? What news are these? But wherefore grieve I at an hour’s poor loss Omitting Suffolk’s exile, my soul’s treasure? Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee, And with the southern clouds contend in tears— Theirs for the earth’s increase, mine for my sorrow’s? Now get thee hence. The King, thou know’st, is coming. 390 If thou be found by me, thou art but dead.
SUFFOLK	If I depart from thee, I cannot live. And in thy sight to die, what were it else But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap? Here could I breathe my soul into the air, As mild and gentle as the cradle babe Dying with mother’s dug between his lips; Where, from thy sight, I should be raging mad, And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes, To have thee with thy lips to stop my mouth, So shouldst thou either turn my flying soul Or I should breathe it, so, into thy body—
(didascalia)	He kisseth her
SUFFOLK	And then it lived in sweet Elysium. By thee to die were but to die in jest; From thee to die were torture more than death. O, let me stay, befall what may befall!
QUEEN MARGARET	Away. Though parting be a fretful corrosive, It is applied to a deathful wound. To France, sweet Suffolk. Let me hear from thee. For wheresoe’er thou art in this world’s Globe I’ll have an Iris that shall find thee out.
SUFFOLK	I go.
QUEEN MARGARET	And take my heart with thee.
(didascalia)	She kisseth him
SUFFOLK	A jewel, locked into the woefull’st cask That ever did contain a thing of worth. Even as a splitted barque, so sunder we—This way fall I to death.
QUEEN MARGARET	This way for me.
(didascalia)	Exeunt severally

Atto 3, Scena 3

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter King Henry and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick. Then the curtains be drawn revealing Cardinal Beaufort in his bed raving and staring as if he were mad
KING HENRY	(to Cardinal Beaufort) How fares my lord? Speak, Beaufort, to thy sovereign.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	If thou beest death, I’ll give thee England’s treasure Enough to purchase such another island, So thou wilt let me live and feel no pain.
KING HENRY	Ah, what a sign it is of evil life Where death’s approach is seen so terrible.
WARWICK	Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Bring me unto my trial when you will. Died he not in his bed ? Where should he die? Can I make men live whe’er they will or no? O, torture me no more—I will confess. Alive again? Then show me where he is. I’ll give a thousand pound to look upon him. He hath no eyes! The dust hath blinded them. Comb down his hair—look, look: it stands upright, Like lime twigs set to catch my winged soul. Give me some drink, and bid the apothecary Bring the strong poison that I bought of him.
KING HENRY	O Thou eternal mover of the heavens, Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch. O, beat away the busy meddling fiend That lays strong siege unto this wretch’s soul, And from his bosom purge this black despair.
WARWICK	See how the pangs of death do make him grin.
SALISBURY	Disturb him not; let him pass peaceably.
KING HENRY	Peace to his soul, if God’s good pleasure be. Lord Card‘nal, if thou think’st on heaven’s bliss, Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope. Cardinal Beaufort dies He dies and makes no sign. O God, forgive him.
WARWICK	So bad a death argues a monstrous life.
KING HENRY	Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all. Close up his eyes and draw the curtain close, And let us all to meditation.
(didascalia)	Exeunt, drawing the curtains. The bed is
(didascalia)	removed

Atto 4, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Alarums within, and the chambers be discharged like as it were a fight at sea. And then enter the Captain of the ship, the Master, the Master’s Mate, Walter Whitmore, and others. With them, as their prisoners, the Duke of Suffolk, disguised, and two Gentlemen
CAPTAIN	The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day Is crept into the bosom of the sea ; And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades That drag the tragic melancholy night; Who, with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings Clip dead men’s graves, and from their misty jaws Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air. Therefore bring forth the soldiers of our prize, For whilst our pinnace anchors in the downs, Here shall they make their ransom on the sand, Or with their blood stain this discoloured shore. Master, (pointing to the First Gentleman) this prisoner freely give I thee, (To the Mate) And thou, that art his mate, make boot of this. He points to the Second Gentleman (To Walter Whitmore) The other (pointing to Suffolk), Walter Whitmore, is thy share.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	(to the Master) What is my ransom, Master, let me know.
MASTER	A thousand crowns, or else lay down your head.
MATE	(to the Second Gentleman) And so much shall you give, or off goes yours.
CAPTAIN	(to both the Gentlemen) What, think you much to pay two thousand crowns, And bear the name and port of gentlemen?
(didascalia)	WHITMORE
(didascalia)	Cut both the villains’ throats! To Suffolk For die you
CAPTAIN	shall. The lives of those which we have lost in fight
(didascalia)
CAPTAIN	Be counterpoised with such a petty sum.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	(to the Master) I’ll give it, sir, and therefore spare my life.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	(to the Mate) And so will,I, and write home for it straight.
WHITMORE	(to Suffolk) I lost mine eye in laying the prize aboard, And therefore to revenge it, shalt thou die— And so should these, if I might have my will.
CAPTAIN	Be not so rash; take ransom; let him live.
SUFFOLK	Look on my George—I am a gentleman. Rate me at what thou wilt, thou shalt be paid.
WHITMORE	And so am I; my name is Walter Whitmore. Suffolk starteth How now—why starts thou? What doth thee affright?
SUFFOLK	Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death. A cunning man did calculate my birth, And told me that by ‘water’ I should die. Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded; Thy name is Gualtier, being rightly sounded.
WHITMORE	Gualtier or Walter—which it is I care not. Never yet did base dishonour blur our name But with our sword we wiped away the blot. Therefore, when merchant-like I sell revenge, Broke be my sword, my arms torn and defaced, And I proclaimed a coward through the world.
SUFFOLK	Stay, Whitmore; for thy prisoner is a prince, The Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole.
WHITMORE	The Duke of Suffolk muffled up in rags?
SUFFOLK	Ay, but these rags are no part of the Duke. Jove sometime went disguised, and why not I?
CAPTAIN	But Jove was never slain as thou shalt be.
SUFFOLK	Obscure and lousy swain, King Henry’s blood, The honourable blood of Lancaster, Must not be shed by such a jady groom. Hast thou not kissed thy hand and held my stirrup? Bare-headed plodded by my foot-cloth mute And thought thee happy when I shook my head? How often hast thou waited at my cup, Fed from my trencher, kneeled down at the board When I have feasted with Queen Margaret? Remember it, and let it make thee crestfall’n, Ay, and allay this thy abortive pride, How in our voiding lobby hast thou stood And duly waited for my coming forth ? This hand of mine hath writ in thy behalf, And therefore shall it charm thy riotous tongue.
WHITMORE	Speak, Captain—shall I stab the forlorn swain?
CAPTAIN	First let my words stab him as he hath me.
SUFFOLK	Base slave, thy words are blunt and so art thou.
CAPTAIN	Convey him hence and, on our longboat’s side, Strike off his head.
SUFFOLK	Thou dar’st not for thy own.
CAPTAIN	Pole—
(didascalia)	SUFFOLK Pole?
CAPTAIN	Ay, kennel, puddle, sink, whose filth and dirt Troubles the silver spring where England drinks, Now will I dam up this thy yawning mouth For swallowing the treasure of the realm. Thy lips that kissed the Queen shall sweep the ground, And thou that smiledst at good Duke Humphrey’s death Against the senseless winds shalt grin in vain, Who in contempt shall hiss at thee again. And wedded be thou to the hags of hell, For daring to affy a mighty lord Unto the daughter of a worthless king, Having neither subject, wealth, nor diadem. By devilish policy art thou grown great, And like ambitious Sylla, overgorged With gobbets of thy mother’s bleeding heart. By thee Anjou and Maine were sold to France, The false revolting Normans, thorough thee, Disdain to call us lord, and Picardy Hath slain their governors, surprised our forts, And sent the ragged soldiers, wounded, home. The princely Warwick, and the Nevilles all, Whose dreadful swords were never drawn in vain, As hating thee, are rising up in arms; And now the house of York, thrust from the crown, By shameful murder of a guiltless king And lofty, proud, encroaching tyranny, Burns with revenging fire, whose hopeful colours Advance our half-faced sun, striving to shine, Under the which is writ, ‘Invitis nubibus’. The commons here in Kent are up in arms, And, to conclude, reproach and beggary Is crept into the palace of our King, And all by thee. (To Whitmore) Away, convey him hence.
SUFFOLK	O that I were a god, to shoot forth thunder Upon these paltry, servile, abject drudges. Small things make base men proud. This villain here, Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more Than Bargulus, the strong Illyrian pirate. Drones suck not eagles’ blood, but rob beehives. It is impossible that I should die By such a lowly vassal as thyself. Thy words move rage, and not remorse in me.
(didascalia)	CAPTAIN
SUFFOLK	But my deeds, Suffolk, soon shall stay thy rage.
SUFFOLK	I go of message from the Queen to France— I charge thee, waft me safely cross the Channel!
CAPTAIN	Walter—
WHITMORE	Come, Suffolk, I must waft thee to thy death.
SUFFOLK	Paene gelidus timor occupat artus— It is thee I fear.
WHITMORE	Thou shalt have cause to fear before I leave thee. What, are ye daunted now? Now will ye stoop?
FIRST GENTLEMAN	(to Suffolk) My gracious lord, entreat him—speak him fair.
SUFFOLK	Suffolk’s imperial tongue is stern and rough, Used to command, untaught to plead for favour. Far be it we should honour such as these With humble suit. No, rather let my head Stoop to the block than these knees bow to any Save to the God of heaven and to my king; And sooner dance upon a bloody pole Than stand uncovered to the vulgar groom. True nobility is exempt from fear; More can I bear than you dare execute.
CAPTAIN	Hale him away, and let him talk no more.
SUFFOLK	Come, ‘soldiers’, show what cruelty ye can, That this my death may never be forgot. Great men oft die by vile Besonians; A Roman sworder and banditto slave Murdered sweet Tully ; Brutus’ bastard hand Stabbed Julius Caesar; savage islanders Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates.
(didascalia)	Exit Whitmore with Suffolk
CAPTAIN	And as for these whose ransom we have set, It is our pleasure one of them depart. (To the Second Gentleman) Therefore, come you with us and (to his men, pointing to the First Gentleman) let him go.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but the First Gentleman
(didascalia)	Enter Whitmore with Suffolk’s head and body
WHITMORE	There let his head and lifeless body lie, Until the Queen his mistress bury it. Exit
FIRST GENTLEMAN	O barbarous and bloody spectacle! His body will I bear unto the King. If he revenge it not, yet will his friends; So will the Queen, that living held him dear.
(didascalia)	Exit with Suffolk’s head and body

Atto 4, Scena 2

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter two Rebels with long staves
FIRST REBEL	Come and get thee a sword, though made of a lath; they have been up these two days.
SECOND REBEL	They have the more need to sleep now then.
FIRST REBEL	I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.
SECOND REBEL	So he had need, for ‘tis threadbare. Well, I say it was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up.
FIRST REBEL	O, miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in handicraftsmen.
SECOND REBEL	The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.
FIRST REBEL	Nay more, the King’s Council are no good workmen.
SECOND REBEL	True; and yet it is said ‘Labour in thy vocation’; which is as much to say as ‘Let the magistrates be labouring men’; and therefore should we be magistrates.
FIRST REBEL	Thou hast hit it; for there’s no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand.
SECOND REBEL	I see them! I see them! There’s Best’s son, the tanner of Wingham—
FIRST REBEL	He shall have the skins of our enemies to make dog’s leather of. SECOND REBEL And Dick the butcher—
FIRST REBEL	Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity’s throat cut like a calf.
SECOND REBEL	And Smith the weaver—
FIRST REBEL	Argo, their thread of life is spun.
SECOND REBEL	Come, come, let’s fall in with them.
(didascalia)	Enter Jack Cade, Dick the Butcher, Smith the
(didascalia)	Weaver, a sawyer, and a drummer, with infinite
(didascalia)	numbers, fall with long staves
CADE	We, John Cade, so termed of our supposed father—BUTCHER (to his fellows) Or rather of stealing a cade of herrings.
CADE	For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with the spirit of putting down kings and princes—command silence!
BUTCHER	Silence!
CADE	My father was a Mortimer—
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) He was an honest man and a good bricklayer.
CADE	My mother a Plantagenet—
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) I knew her well, she was a midwife. CADE My wife descended of the Lacys—
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) She was indeed a pedlar’s daughter and sold many laces.
WEAVER	(to his fellows) But now of late, not able to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks here at home. CADE Therefore am I of an honourable house.
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable, and there was he born, under a hedge; for his father had never a house but the cage.
CADE	Valiant I am—
WEAVER	(to his fellows) A must needs, for beggary is valiant.
CADE	I am able to endure much—
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) No question of that, for I have seen him whipped three market days together.
CADE	I fear neither sword nor fire.
WEAVER	(to his fellows) He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof.
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) But methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burned i’th’ hand for stealing of sheep.
CADE	Be brave, then, for your captain is brave and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny, the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops, and I will make it felony to drink small beer. All the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass. And when I am king, as king I will be—
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	God save your majesty!
CADE	I thank you good people!—there shall be no money. All shall eat and drink on my score, and I will apparel them all in one livery that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord.
BUTCHER	The first thing we do let’s kill all the lawyers.
CADE	Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? That parchment, being scribbled o‘er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings, but I say ‘tis the bee’s wax. For I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since. How now? Who’s there? Enter some bringing forth the Clerk of Chatham
WEAVER	The Clerk of Chatham—he can write and read and cast account.
CADE	O, monstrous!
WEAVER	We took him setting of boys’ copies.
CADE	Here’s a villain.
WEAVER	He’s a book in his pocket with red letters in’t. CADE Nay, then he is a conjuror!
BUTCHER	Nay, he can make obligations and write court hand.
CADE	I am sorry for’t. The man is a proper man, of mine honour. Unless I find him guilty, he shall not die. Come hither, sirrah, I must examine thee. What is thy name?
CLERK	Emmanuel.
BUTCHER	They use to write that on the top of letters—‘twill go hard with you.
CADE	Let me alone. (To the Clerk) Dost thou use to write thy name? Or hast thou a mark to thyself like an honest plain-dealing man?
CLERK	Sir, I thank God I have been so well brought up that I can write my name.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	He hath confessed—away with him He’s a villain and a traitor.
CADE	Away with him, I say, hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck. Exit one with the Clerk Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER	Where’s our general? no CADE Here I am, thou particular fellow.
MESSENGER	Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother are hard by with the King’s forces.
CADE	Stand, villain, stand—or I’ll fell thee down. He shall be encountered with a man as good as himself. He is but a knight, is a?
MESSENGER	No.
CADE	To equal him I will make myself a knight presently. He kneels and knights himself Rise up, Sir John Mortimer. He rises Now have at him! Enter Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother, with a drummer and soldiers
STAFFORD	(to Cade’s followers) Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent, Marked for the gallows, lay your weapons down; Home to your cottages, forsake this groom. The King is merciful, if you revolt.
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	(to Cade’s followers) But angry, wrathful, and inclined to blood, If you go forward. Therefore, yield or die.
CADE	(to his followers) As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not. It is to you, good people, that I speak, Over whom, in time to come, I hope to reign— For I am rightful heir unto the crown.
STAFFORD	Villain, thy father was a plasterer And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?
CADE	And Adam was a gardener.
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	And what of that?
CADE	Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, Married the Duke of Clarence’ daughter, did he not?
STAFFORD	Ay, sir.
CADE	By her he had two children at one birth.
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	That’s false.
CADE	Ay, there’s the question—but I say ’tis true. The elder of them, being put to nurse, Was by a beggar-woman stol’n away, And, ignorant of his birth and parentage, Became a bricklayer when he came to age. His son am I—deny it an you can.
BUTCHER	Nay, ’tis too true—therefore he shall be king.
WEAVER	Sir, he made a chimney in my father’s house, and the bricks are alive at this day to testify. Therefore deny it not.
STAFFORD	(to Cade’s followers) And will you credit this base drudge’s words That speaks he knows not what?
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	Ay, marry, will we—therefore get ye gone.
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this.
CADE	(aside) He lies, for I invented it myself. (Aloud) Go to, sirrah—tell the King from me that for his father’s sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose time boys went to span-counter for French crowns, I am content he shall reign; but I’ll be Protector over him.
BUTCHER	And, furthermore, we’ll have the Lord Saye’s head for selling the dukedom of Maine.
CADE	And good reason, for thereby is England maimed, and fain to go with a staff, but that my puissance holds it up. Fellow-kings, I tell you that that Lord Saye hath gelded the commonwealth, and made it an eunuch, and, more than that, he can speak French, and therefore he is a traitor!
STAFFORD	O gross and miserable ignorance !
CADE	Nay, answer if you can: the Frenchmen are our enemies; go to, then, I ask but this—can he that speaks with the tongue of an enemy be a good counsellor or no?
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	No, no—and therefore we’ll have his head!
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	(to Stafford) Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail, Assail them with the army of the King.
STAFFORD	Herald, away, and throughout every town Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade; That those which fly before the battle ends May, even in their wives’ and children’s sight, Be hanged up for example at their doors. And you that be the King’s friends, follow me!
(didascalia)	Exeunt The Staffords and their soldiers
CADE	And you that love the commons, follow me! Now show yourselves men—’tis for liberty. We will not leave one lord, one gentleman— Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon, For they are thrifty honest men, and such As would, but that they dare not, take our parts.
BUTCHER	They are all in order, and march toward us.
CADE	But then are we in order when we are
(didascalia)	Most out of order. Come, march forward! Exeunt

Atto 4, Scena 3

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Alarums to the fight; excursions, wherein both the Staffords are slain. Enter Jack Cade, Dick the Butcher, and the rest
CADE	Where’s Dick, the butcher of Ashford?
BUTCHER	Here, sir.
CADE	They fell before thee like sheep and oxen, and thou behaved’st thyself as if thou hadst been in thine own slaughterhouse. Therefore, thus will I reward thee—the Lent shall be as long again as it is. Thou shalt have licence to kill for a hundred, lacking one.
BUTCHER	I desire no more.
(didascalia)	CADE And to speak truth, thou deserv’st no less. He apparels himself in the Staffords’ armour This monument of the victory will I bear, and the bodies shall be dragged at my horse heels till I do come to London, where we will have the Mayor’s sword borne before us.
BUTCHER	If we mean to thrive and do good, break open the jails and let out the prisoners.
CADE	Fear not that, I warrant thee. Come, let’s march towards London.
(didascalia)	Exeunt, dragging the Staffords’ bodies

Atto 4, Scena 4

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter King Henry reading a supplication, Queen Margaret carrying Suffolk’s head, the Duke of Buckingham, and the Lord Saye, with others
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET aside
(didascalia)	Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind, And makes it fearful and degenerate; Think, therefore, on revenge, and cease to weep. But who can cease to weep and look on this? Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast, But where’s the body that I should embrace?
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) What answer makes your grace to the rebels’ supplication?
KING HENRY	I’ll send some holy bishop to entreat, For God forbid so many simple souls Should perish by the sword. And I myself, Rather than bloody war shall cut them short, Will parley with Jack Cade their general. But stay, I’ll read it over once again. He reads
QUEEN MARGARET	(to Suffolk’s head) Ah, barbarous villains! Hath this lovely face Ruled like a wandering planet over me, And could it not enforce them to relent, That were unworthy to behold the same?
KING HENRY	Lord Saye, Jack Cade hath sworn to have thy head.
SAYE	Ay, but I hope your highness shall have his.
KING HENRY	(to Queen Margaret) How now, madam? Still lamenting and mourning Suffolk’s death? I fear me, love, if that I had been dead, Thou wouldest not have mourned so much for me.
(didascalia)	No, my love, I should not mourn, but die for thee. Enter a Messenger, Fin haste
KING HENRY	How now? What news? Why com’st thou in such haste?
MESSENGER	The rebels are in Southwark—fly, my lord! Jack Cade proclaims himself Lord Mortimer, Descended from the Duke of Clarence’ house, And calls your grace usurper, openly, And vows to crown himself in Westminster. His army is a ragged multitude Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless. Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother’s death Hath given them heart and courage to proceed. All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen, They call false caterpillars and intend their death.
KING HENRY	O, graceless men; they know not what they do.
BUCKINGHAM	My gracious lord, retire to Kenilworth Until a power be raised to put them down.
QUEEN MARGARET	Ah, were the Duke of Suffolk now alive These Kentish rebels would be soon appeased!
KING HENRY	Lord Saye, the trait’rous rabble hateth thee— Therefore away with us to Kenilworth.
SAYE	So might your grace’s person be in danger. The sight of me is odious in their eyes, And therefore in this city will I stay And live alone as secret as I may.
(didascalia)	Enter another Messenger
SECOND MESSENGER	(to King Henry) Jack Cade hath almost gotten London Bridge; The citizens fly and forsake their houses; The rascal people, thirsting after prey, Join with the traitor; and they jointly swear To spoil the city and your royal court.
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) Then linger not, my lord; away, take horse!
KING HENRY	Come, Margaret. God, our hope, will succour us.
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET aside
KING HENRY	My hope is gone, now Suffolk is deceased.
KING HENRY	(to Saye) Farewell, my lord. Trust not the Kentish rebels.
BUCKINGHAM	(to Saye) Trust nobody, for fear you be betrayed.
SAYE	The trust I have is in mine innocence, And therefore am I bold and resolute.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Saye at one door, the rest at another

Atto 4, Scena 5

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Lord Scales upon the Tower, walking. Enter three or four Citizens below
SCALES	How now? Is Jack Cade slain?
FIRST CITIZEN	No, my lord Scales, nor likely to be slain, for he and his men have won the bridge, killing all those that did withstand them. The Lord Mayor craveth aid of your honour from the Tower to defend the city from the rebels.
SCALES	Such aid as I can spare you shall command, But I am troubled here with them myself. The rebels have essayed to win the Tower. Get you to Smithfield, there to gather head, And thither will I send you Matthew Gough. Fight for your king, your country, and your lives! And so, farewell, for I must hence again.
(didascalia)	Exeunt, Scales above, the Citizens below

Atto 4, Scena 6

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Jack Cade, the Weaver, the Butcher, and the rest. Cade strikes his sword on London Stone
CADE	Now is Mortimer lord of this city. And, here sitting upon London Stone, I charge and command that, of the city’s cost, the Pissing Conduit run nothing but claret wine this first year of our reign. And now henceforward it shall be treason for any that calls me otherwise than Lord Mortimer.
(didascalia)	Enter a Soldier, running
SOLDIER	Jack Cade, Jack Cade!
CADE	Zounds, knock him down there! They kill him
(didascalia)	BUTCHER If this fellow be wise, he’ll never call ye Jack Cade more; I think he hath a very fair warning. He takes a paper from the soldier’s body and reads it My lord, there’s an army gathered together in Smithfield.
CADE	Come then, let’s go fight with them—but first, go on and set London Bridge afire, and, if you can, burn down the Tower too. Come, let’s away. Exeunt

Atto 4, Scena 7

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Alarums. Excursions, wherein Matthew Gough is slain, and all the rest of his men with him. Then enter Jack Cade with his company, among them the Butcher, the Weaver, and John, a rebel
CADE	So, sirs, now go some and pull down the Savoy; others to th’ Inns of Court—down with them all.
BUTCHER	I have a suit unto your lordship.
CADE	Be it a lordship, thou shalt have it for that word.
BUTCHER	Only that the laws of England may come out of your mouth.
JOHN	(aside to his fellows) Mass, ‘twill be sore law then, for he was thrust in the mouth with a spear, and ’tis not whole yet.
WEAVER	(aside to John) Nay, John, it will be stinking law, for his breath stinks with eating toasted cheese.
CADE	I have thought upon it—it shall be so. Away! Burn all the records of the realm. My mouth shall be the Parliament of England.
JOHN	(aside to his fellows) Then we are like to have biting statutes unless his teeth be pulled out.
CADE	And henceforward all things shall be in common. Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER	My lord, a prize, a prize! Here’s the Lord Saye which sold the towns in France. He that made us pay one-and-twenty fifteens and one shilling to the pound the last subsidy.
(didascalia)	Enter a rebel with the Lord Saye
CADE	Well, he shall be beheaded for it ten times. (To Saye) Ah, thou say, thou serge—nay, thou buckram lord! Now art thou within point-blank of our jurisdiction regal. What canst thou answer to my majesty for giving up of Normandy unto Mounsieur Basimecu, the Dauphin of France? Be it known unto thee by these presence, even the presence of Lord Mortimer, that I am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and, whereas before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used and, contrary to the King his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear. Thou hast appointed justices of peace to call poor men before them about matters they were not able to answer. Moreover, thou hast put them in prison, and, because they could not read, thou hast hanged them when indeed only for that cause they have been most worthy to live. Thou dost ride on a foot-cloth, dost thou not?
SAYE	What of that?
CADE	Marry, thou ought’st not to let thy horse wear a cloak when honester men than thou go in their hose and doublets.
BUTCHER	And work in their shirts, too; as myself, for example, that am a butcher.
SAYE	You men of Kent.
BUTCHER	What say you of Kent?
SAYE	Nothing but this—’tis bona terra, mala gens.
CADE	Bonum terrum—zounds, what’s that?
BUTCHER	He speaks French.
(didascalia)	first REBEL No, ’tis Dutch.
(didascalia)	SECOND REBEL No, ’tis Out-talian, I know it well enough.
SAYE	Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will. Kent, in the commentaries Caesar writ, Is termed the civil’st place of all this isle; Sweet is the country, because full of riches; The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy; Which makes me hope you are not void of pity. I sold not Maine, I lost not Normandy; Yet to recover them would lose my life. Justice with favour have I always done, Prayers and tears have moved me—gifts could never. When have I aught exacted at your hands, But to maintain the King, the realm, and you? Large gifts have I bestowed on learned clerks Because my book preferred me to the King, And seeing ignorance is the curse of God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. Unless you be possessed with devilish spirits, You cannot but forbear to murder me. This tongue hath parleyed unto foreign kings For your behoof—
CADE	Tut, when struck’st thou one blow in the field?
SAYE	Great men have reaching hands. Oft have I struck Those that I never saw, and struck them dead.
REBEL	O monstrous coward! What, to come behind folks?
SAYE	These cheeks are pale for watching for your good—
CADE	Give him a box o‘th’ ear, and that will make ’em red again.
(didascalia)	One of the rebels strikes Saye
SAYE	Long sitting to determine poor men’s causes Hath made me full of sickness and diseases.
CADE	Ye shall have a hempen caudle, then, and the health o’th’ hatchet.
BUTCHER	(to Saye) Why dost thou quiver, man?
SAYE	The palsy, and not fear, provokes me.
CADE	Nay, he nods at us as who should say ‘I’ll be even with you’. I’ll see if his head will stand steadier on a pole or no. Take him away, and behead him.
SAYE	Tell me wherein have I offended most ? Have I affected wealth or honour? Speak. Are my chests filled up with extorted gold? Is my apparel sumptuous to behold? Whom have I injured, that ye seek my death? These hands are free from guiltless bloodshedding, This breast from harbouring foul deceitful thoughts. O let me live!
CADE	(aside) I feel remorse in myself with his words, but I’ll bridle it. He shall die an it be but for pleading so well for his life. (Aloud) Away with him—he has a familiar under his tongue; he speaks not a God’s name. Go, take him away, I say, to the Standard in Cheapside, and strike off his head presently; and then go to Mile End Green—break into his son-in-law’s house, Sir James Cromer, and strike off his head, and bring them both upon two poles hither.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	It shall be done!
SAYE	Ah, countrymen, if, when you make your prayers, God should be so obdurate as yourselves, How would it fare with your departed souls ? And therefore yet relent and save my life
CADE	Away with him, and do as I command ye!
(didascalia)	Exeunt the Butcher and one or two with the Lord Saye
CADE	The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head on his shoulders unless he pay me tribute. There shall not a maid be married but she shall pay to me her maidenhead, ere they have it. Married men shall hold of me in capite. And we charge and command that their wives be as free as heart can wish or tongue can tell.
(didascalia)	Enter a Rebel
REBEL	O captain, London Bridge is afire!
CADE	Run to Billingsgate and fetch pitch and flax and quench it.
(didascalia)	Enter the Butcher and a Sergeant
SERGEANT	Justice, justice, I pray you, sir, let me have justice of this fellow here.
CADE	Why, what has he done?
SERGEANT	Alas, sir, he has ravished my wife.
BUTCHER	(to Cade) Why, my lord, he would have ’rested me and I went and entered my action in his wife’s proper house.
CADE	Dick, follow thy suit in her common place. (To the Sergeant) You whoreson villain, you are a sergeant—you’ll take any man by the throat for twelve pence, and ’rest a man when he’s at dinner, and have him to prison ere the meat be out of his mouth. (To the Butcher) Go, Dick, take him hence: cut out his tongue for cogging, hough him for running, and, to conclude, brain him with his own mace.
(didascalia)	Exit the Butcher with the Sergeant
REBEL	My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside and take up commodities upon our bills?
CADE	Marry, presently. He that will lustily stand to it shall go with me and take up these commodities following—item, a gown, a kirtle, a petticoat, and a smock.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	O brave!
(didascalia)	Enter two with the Lord Saye’s head and Sir James Cromer’s upon two poles
CADE	But is not this braver? Let them kiss one another, for they loved well when they were alive.
(didascalia)	The two heads are made to kiss
CADE	Now part them again, lest they consult about the giving up of some more towns in France. Soldiers, defer the spoil of the city until night. For with these borne before us instead of maces will we ride through the streets, and at every corner have them kiss. Away!
(didascalia)	Exeunt two with the heads. The others begin to follow
CADE	Up Fish Street! Down Saint Magnus’ Corner! Kill and knock down! Throw them into Thames!
(didascalia)	Sound a parley
CADE	What noise is this? Dare any be so bold to sound retreat or parley when I command them kill?
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Buckingham and old Lord Clifford
BUCKINGHAM	Ay, here they be that dare and will disturb thee! Know, Cade, we come ambassadors from the King Unto the commons, whom thou hast misled, And here pronounce free pardon to them all That will forsake thee and go home in peace.
CLIFFORD	What say ye, countrymen, will ye relent And yield to mercy whilst ‘tis offered you, Or let a rebel lead you to your deaths? Who loves the King and will embrace his pardon, Fling up his cap and say ‘God save his majesty’. Who hateth him and honours not his father, Henry the Fifth, that made all France to quake, Shake he his weapon at us, and pass by.
(didascalia)	They fling up their caps and forsake Cade
ALL CADE’S	FoLLOwERS God save the King! God save the King!
CADE	What, Buckingham and Clifford, are ye so brave? (To the rabble) And you, base peasants, do ye believe him? Will you needs be hanged with your pardons about your necks? Hath my sword, therefore, broke through London gates that you should leave me at the White Hart in Southwark? I thought ye would never have given out these arms till you had recovered your ancient freedom. But you are all recreants and dastards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility. Let them break your backs with burdens, take your houses over your heads, ravish your wives and daughters before your faces. For me, I will make shift for one, and so God’s curse light upon you all.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	We’ll follow Cade! We’ll follow Cade! They run to Cade again
CLIFFORD	Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth That thus you do exclaim you’ll go with him? Will he conduct you through the heart of France And make the meanest of you earls and dukes? Alas, he hath no home, no place to fly to, Nor knows he how to live but by the spoil— Unless by robbing of your friends and us. Were’t not a shame that whilst you live at jar The fearful French, whom you late vanquished, Should make a start o‘er seas and vanquish you? Methinks already in this civil broil I see them lording it in London streets, Crying ‘Villiago!’ unto all they meet. Better ten thousand base-born Cades miscarry Than you should stoop unto a Frenchman’s mercy. To France! To France! And get what you have lost! Spare England, for it is your native coast. Henry hath money; you are strong and manly; God on our side, doubt not of victory.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	A Clifford! A Clifford! We’ll follow the King and Clifford! They forsake Cade
CADE	(aside) Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro as this multitude? The name of Henry the Fifth hales them to an hundred mischiefs, and makes them leave me desolate. I see them lay their heads together to surprise me. My sword make way for me, for here is no staying. (Aloud) In despite of the devils and hell, have through the very middest of you! And heavens and honour be witness that no want of resolution in me, but only my followers’ base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels. He runs through them with his staff, and flies away
BUCKINGHAM	What, is he fled? Go, some, and follow him, And he that brings his head unto the King Shall have a thousand crowns for his reward.
(didascalia)	Exeunt some of them after Cade
BUCKINGHAM	(To the remaining rebels) Follow me, soldiers, we’ll devise a mean To reconcile you all unto the King. Exeunt

Atto 4, Scena 8

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Sound trumpets. Enter King Henry, Queen Margaret, and the Duke of Somerset on the terrace
KING HENRY	Was ever King that joyed an earthly throne And could command no more content than I? No sooner was I crept out of my cradle But I was made a king at nine months old. Was never subject longed to be a king As I do long and wish to be a subject.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Clifford on the terrace
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) Health and glad tidings to your majesty.
KING HENRY	Why, Buckingham, is the traitor Cade surprised? Or is he but retired to make him strong?
(didascalia)	Enter, below, multitudes with halters about their necks
CLIFFORD	He is fled, my lord, and all his powers do yield, And humbly thus with halters on their necks Expect your highness’ doom of life or death.
KING HENRY	Then, heaven, set ope thy everlasting gates To entertain my vows of thanks and praise. (To the multitudes below) Soldiers, this day have you redeemed your lives, And showed how well you love your prince and country. Continue still in this so good a mind, And Henry, though he be infortunate, Assure yourselves will never be unkind. And so, with thanks and pardon to you all, I do dismiss you to your several countries.
(didascalia)	ALL CADE’S FORMER FOLLOWERS God save the King! Gold save the King! Exeunt multitudes below
(didascalia)	Enter a Messenger on the terrace
MESSENGER	(to King Henry) Please it your grace to be advertised The Duke of York is newly come from Ireland, And with a puissant and a mighty power Of galloglasses and stout Irish kerns Is marching hitherward in proud array, And still proclaimeth, as he comes along, His arms are only to remove from thee The Duke of Somerset, whom he terms a traitor.
KING HENRY	Thus stands my state, ’twixt Cade and York distressed, Like to a ship that, having scaped a tempest, Is straightway calmed and boarded with a pirate. But now is Cade driven back, his men dispersed, And now is York in arms to second him. I pray thee, Buckingham, go and meet him, And ask him what’s the reason of these arms. Tell him I’ll send Duke Edmund to the Tower; And, Somerset, we will commit thee thither, Until his army be dismissed from him.
SOMERSET	My lord, I’ll yield myself to prison willingly, Or unto death, to do my country good.
KING HENRY	(to Buckingham) In any case, be not too rough in terms, For he is fierce and cannot brook hard language.
BUCKINGHAM	I will, my lord, and doubt not so to deal As all things shall redound unto your good.
KING HENRY	Come, wife, let’s in and learn to govern better; For yet may England curse my wretched reign.
(didascalia)	Flourish. Exeunt

Atto 4, Scena 9

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Jack Cade
CADE	Fie on ambitions; fie on myself that have a sword and yet am ready to famish. These five days have I hid me in these woods and durst not peep out, for all the country is laid for me. But now am I so hungry that if I might have a lease of my life for a thousand years, I could stay no longer. Wherefore o‘er a brick wall have I climbed into this garden to see if I can eat grass or pick a sallet another while, which is not amiss to cool a man’s stomach this hot weather. And I think this word ‘sallet’ was born to do me good; for many a time, but for a sallet, my brain-pan had been cleft with a brown bill; and many a time, when I have been dry, and bravely marching, it hath served me instead of a quart pot to drink in; and now the word ‘sallet’ must serve me to feed on.
(didascalia)	He lies down picking of herbs and eating them. Enter Sir Alexander Iden and five of his men
IDEN	Lord, who would live turmoilèd in the court And may enjoy such quiet walks as these? This small inheritance my father left me Contenteth me, and worth a monarchy. I seek not to wax great by others’ waning, Or gather wealth I care not with what envy; Sufficeth that I have maintains my state, And sends the poor well pleased from my gate.
(didascalia)	Cade rises to his knees
CADE	(aside) Zounds, here’s the lord of the soil come to seize me for a stray for entering his fee-simple without leave. (To Iden) A villain, thou wilt betray me and get a thousand crowns of the king by carrying my head to him; but I’ll make thee eat iron like an ostrich and swallow my sword like a great pin, ere thou and I part.
IDEN	Why, rude companion, whatsoe’er thou be, I know thee not. Why then should I betray thee? Is’t not enough to break into my garden, And, like a thief, to come to rob my grounds, Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner, But thou wilt brave me with these saucy terms?
CADE	Brave thee? Ay, by the best blood that ever was broached—and beard thee too! Look on me well—I have eat no meat these five days, yet come thou and thy five men, an if I do not leave you all as dead as a doornail I pray God I may never eat grass more.
IDEN	Nay, it shall ne’er be said while England stands That Alexander Iden, an esquire of Kent, Took odds to combat a poor famished man. Oppose thy steadfast gazing eyes to mine— See if thou canst outface me with thy looks. Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser— Thy hand is but a finger to my fist, Thy leg a stick compared with this truncheon. My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast, And if mine arm be heaved in the air, Thy grave is digged already in the earth. As for words, whose greatness answers words, Let this my sword report what speech forbears. (To his men) Stand you all aside.
CADE	By my valour, the most complete champion that ever I heard. (To his sword) Steel, if thou turn the edge or cut not out the burly-boned clown in chines of beef ere thou sleep in thy sheath, I beseech God on my knees thou mayst be turned to hobnails.
(didascalia)	Cade stands. Here they fight, and Cade falls down
CADE	O, I am slain! Famine and no other hath slain me! Let ten thousand devils come against me, and give me but the ten meals I have lost, and I’d defy them all. Wither, garden, and be henceforth a burying place to all that do dwell in this house, because the unconquered soul of Cade is fled.
IDEN	Is’t Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor? Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed And hang thee o‘er my tomb when I am dead. Ne’er shall this blood be wiped from thy point But thou shalt wear it as a herald’s coat To emblaze the honour that thy master got.
CADE	Iden, farewell, and be proud of thy victory. Tell Kent from me she hath lost her best man, and exhort all the world to be cowards. For I, that never feared any, am vanquished by famine, not by valour. He dies
IDEN	How much thou wrong’st me, heaven be my judge. Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bore thee!
(didascalia)	And stabbing him again as I thrust thy body in with
IDEN	my sword, So wish I I might thrust thy soul to hell. Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels Unto a dunghill, which shall be thy grave, And there cut off thy most ungracious head, Which I will bear in triumph to the King, Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon.
(didascalia)	Exeunt with the body

Atto 5, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of York and his army of Irish with a drummer and soldiers bearing colours
YORK	From Ireland thus comes York to claim his right, And pluck the crown from feeble Henry’s head. Ring, bells, aloud; burn, bonfires, clear and bright, To entertain great England’s lawful king. Ah, sancta maiestas! Who would not buy thee dear? Let them obey that knows not how to rule; This hand was made to handle naught but gold. I cannot give due action to my words, Except a sword or sceptre balance it. A sceptre shall it have, have I as word, On which I’ll toss the fleur-de-lis of France.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Buckingham
YORK	(Aside) Whom have we here? Buckingham to disturb me? The King hath sent him sure—I must dissemble.
BUCKINGHAM	York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee well.
YORK	Humphrey of Buckingham, I accept thy greeting. Art thou a messenger, or come of pleasure?
BUCKINGHAM	A messenger from Henry, our dread liege, To know the reason of these arms in peace; Or why thou, being a subject as I am, Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn, Should raise so great a power without his leave, Or dare to bring thy force so near the court?
YORK	(aside) Scarce can I speak, my choler is so great. O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint, I am so angry at these abject terms; And now, like Ajax Telamonius, On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury. I am far better born than is the King, More like a king, more kingly in my thoughts; But I must make fair weather yet a while, Till Henry be more weak and I more strong. (Aloud) Buckingham, I prithee pardon me, That I have given no answer all this while; My mind was troubled with deep melancholy. The cause why I have brought this army hither Is to remove proud Somerset from the King, Seditious to his grace and to the state.
BUCKINGHAM	That is too much presumption on thy part; But if thy arms be to no other end, The King hath yielded unto thy demand: The Duke of Somerset is in the Tower.
YORK	Upon thine honour, is he prisoner?
BUCKINGHAM	Upon mine honour, he is prisoner.
YORK	Then, Buckingham, I do dismiss my powers. Soldiers, I thank you all; disperse yourselves; Meet me tomorrow in Saint George’s field. You shall have pay and everything you wish.
(didascalia)	Exeunt soldiers
YORK	(To Buckingham) And let my sovereign, virtuous Henry, Command my eldest son—nay, all my sons— As pledges of my fealty and love. I’ll send them all as willing as I live. Lands, goods, horse, armour, anything I have Is his to use, so Somerset may die.
BUCKINGHAM	York, I commend this kind submission. We twain will go into his highness’ tent.
(didascalia)	Enter King Henry and attendants
KING HENRY	Buckingham, doth York intend no harm to us, That thus he marcheth with thee arm in arm?
YORK	In all submission and humility York doth present himself unto your highness.
KING HENRY	Then what intends these forces thou dost bring?
YORK	To heave the traitor Somerset from hence, And fight against that monstrous rebel Cade, Who since I heard to be discomfited.
(didascalia)	Enter Iden with Cade’s head
IDEN	If one so rude and of so mean condition May pass into the presence of a king,
(didascalia)	Kneeling Lo, I present your grace a traitor’s head,
IDEN	The head of Cade, whom I in combat slew.
KING HENRY	The head of Cade? Great God, how just art thou! O let me view his visage, being dead, That living wrought me such exceeding trouble. Tell me, my friend, art thou the man that slew him?
(didascalia)	IDEN rising
KING HENRY	Iwis, an’t like your majesty.
KING HENRY	How art thou called? And what is thy degree?
IDEN	Alexander Iden, that’s my name; A poor esquire of Kent that loves his king.
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) So please it you, my lord, ’twere not amiss He were created knight for his good service.
KING HENRY	Iden, kneel down. Iden kneels and King Henry knights him Rise up a knight. Iden rises We give thee for reward a thousand marks, And will that thou henceforth attend on us.
IDEN	May Iden live to merit such a bounty, And never live but true unto his liege.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Queen Margaret and the Duke of Somerset
KING HENRY	See, Buckingham, Somerset comes wi’th’ Queen. Go bid her hide him quickly from the Duke.
QUEEN MARGARET	For thousand Yorks he shall not hide his head, But boldly stand and front him to his face.
YORK	How now? Is Somerset at liberty? Then, York, unloose thy long imprisoned thoughts, And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart. Shall I endure the sight of Somerset? False King, why hast thou broken faith with me, Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse? ‘King’ did I call thee? No, thou art not king; Not fit to govern and rule multitudes, Which dar’st not—no, nor canst not—rule a traitor. That head of thine doth not become a crown; Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer’s staff, And not to grace an aweful princely sceptre. That gold must round engird these brows of mine, Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles’ spear, Is able with the change to kill and cure. Here is a hand to hold a sceptre up, And with the same to act controlling laws. Give place! By heaven, thou shalt rule no more O’er him whom heaven created for thy ruler.
SOMERSET	O monstrous traitor! I arrest thee, York, Of capital treason ’gainst the King and crown. Obey, audacious traitor; kneel for grace.
YORK	(to an attendant) Sirrah, call in my sons to be my bail. Exit attendant I know, ere they will have me go to ward, They’ll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement.
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET to Buckingham
YORK	Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain, To say if that the bastard boys of York Shall be the surety for their traitor father.
(didascalia)	Exit Buckingham
YORK	O blood-bespotted Neapolitan, Outcast of Naples, England’s bloody scourge! The sons of York, thy betters in their birth, Shall be their father’s bail, and bane to those That for my surety will refuse the boys.
(didascalia)	Enter at one door York’s sons Edward and crookback Richard with a drummer and soldiers
YORK	See where they come. I’ll warrant they’ll make it good.
(didascalia)	Enter at the other door Clifford and his son, with a drummer and soldiers
QUEEN MARGARET	And here comes Clifford to deny their bail.
CLIFFORD	(kneeling before King Henry) Health and all happiness to my lord the King. He rises
YORK	I thank thee, Clifford. Say, what news with thee? Nay, do not fright us with an angry look— We are thy sovereign, Clifford; kneel again. For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.
CLIFFORD	This is my king, York; I do not mistake. But thou mistakes me much to think I do. (To King Henry) To Bedlam with him! Is the man grown mad?
KING HENRY	Ay, Clifford, a bedlam and ambitious humour Makes him oppose himself against his king.
CLIFFORD	He is a traitor; let him to the Tower, And chop away that factious pate of his.
QUEEN MARGARET	He is arrested, but will not obey. His sons, he says, shall give their words for him.
YORK	(to Edward and Richard) Will you not, sons?
EDWARD	Ay, noble father, if our words will serve.
RICHARD	And if words will not, then our weapons shall.
CLIFFORD	Why, what a brood of traitors have we here!
YORK	Look in a glass, and call thy image so. I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor. Call hither to the stake my two brave bears, That with the very shaking of their chains, They may astonish these fell-lurking curs. (To an attendant) Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.
(didascalia)	Exit attendant
(didascalia)	Enter the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury with a drummer and soldiers
CLIFFORD	Are these thy bears? We’ll bait thy bears to death, And manacle the bearherd in their chains, If thou dar’st bring them to the baiting place.
RICHARD	Oft have I seen a hot o’erweening cur Run back and bite, because he was withheld; Who, being suffered with the bear’s fell paw, Hath clapped his tail between his legs and cried; And such a piece of service will you do, If you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick.
CLIFFORD	Hence, heap of wrath, foul indigested lump, As crooked in thy manners as thy shape!
YORK	Nay, we shall heat you thoroughly anon.
CLIFFORD	Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves.
KING HENRY	Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot to bow? Old Salisbury, shame to thy silver hair, Thou mad misleader of thy brainsick son! What, wilt thou on thy deathbed play the ruffian, And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles? O, where is faith? O, where is loyalty? If it be banished from the frosty head, Where shall it find a harbour in the earth? Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war, And shame thine honourable age with blood? Why, art thou old and want’st experience? Or wherefore dost abuse it if thou hast it? For shame in duty bend thy knee to me, That bows unto the grave with mickle age.
SALISBURY	My lord, I have considered with myself The title of this most renowned Duke, And in my conscience do repute his grace The rightful heir to England’s royal seat.
KING HENRY	Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me?
SALISBURY	I have.
KING HENRY	Canst thou dispense with heaven for such an oath?
SALISBURY	It is great sin to swear unto a sin, But greater sin to keep a sinful oath. Who can be bound by any solemn vow To do a murd’rous deed, to rob a man, To force a spotless virgin’s chastity, To reave the orphan of his patrimony, To wring the widow from her customed right, And have no other reason for this wrong But that he was bound by a solemn oath?
QUEEN MARGARET	A subtle traitor needs no sophister.
KING HENRY	(to an attendant) Call Buckingham, and bid him arm himself.
(didascalia)	Exit attendant
YORK	(to King Henry) Call Buckingham and all the friends thou hast, I am resolved for death or dignity.
CLIFFORD	The first, I warrant thee, if dreams prove true.
WARWICK	You were best to go to bed and dream again, To keep you from the tempest of the field.
CLIFFORD	I am resolved to bear a greater storm Than any thou canst conjure up today— And that I’ll write upon thy burgonet Might I but know thee by thy household badge.
WARWICK	Now by my father’s badge, old Neville’s crest, The rampant bear chained to the ragged staff, This day I’ll wear aloft my burgonet, As on a mountain top the cedar shows That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm, Even to affright thee with the view thereof.
CLIFFORD	And from thy burgonet I’ll rend thy bear, And tread it under foot with all contempt, Despite the bearherd that protects the bear.
YOUNG CLIFFORD	And so to arms, victorious father, To quell the rebels and their complices.
RICHARD	Fie, charity, for shame! Speak not in spite— For you shall sup with Jesu Christ tonight.
YOUNG CLIFFORD	Foul stigmatic, that’s more than thou canst tell.
RICHARD	If not in heaven, you’ll surely sup in hell.
(didascalia)	Exeunt severally
(didascalia)	5.2 An alehouse sign: a castle. Alarums to the battle. Then enter the Duke of Somerset and Richard fighting. Richard kills Somerset under the sign
RICHARD	So lie thou there— For underneath an alehouse’ paltry sign, The Castle in Saint Albans, Somerset Hath made the wizard famous in his death. Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathfull still— Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.
(didascalia)	Exit with Somerset’s body. The sign is removed
(didascalia)	5.3 Alarum again. Enter the Earl of Warwick
WARWICK	Clifford of Cumberland, ’tis Warwick calls! An if thou dost not hide thee from the bear, Now, when the angry trumpet sounds alarum, And dead men’s cries do fill the empty air, Clifford I say, come forth and fight with me! Proud northern lord, Clifford of Cumberland, Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms!
CLIFFORD	(Within) Warwick, stand still; and stir not till I come.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of York
WARWICK	How now, my noble lord? What, all afoot?
YORK	The deadly-handed Clifford slew my steed. But match to match I have encountered him, And made a prey for carrion kites and crows Even of the bonny beast he loved so well.
(didascalia)	Enter Lord Clifford
WARWICK	(to Clifford) Of one or both of us the time is come.
YORK	Hold, Warwick—seek thee out some other chase, For I myself must hunt this deer to death.
WARWICK	Then nobly, York; ‘tis for a crown thou fight’st. (To Clifford) As I intend, Clifford, to thrive today, It grieves my soul to leave thee unassailed. Exit
YORK	Clifford, since we are singled here alone, Be this the day of doom to one of us. For know my heart hath sworn immortal hate To thee and all the house of Lancaster.
CLIFFORD	And here I stand and pitch my foot to thine, Vowing not to stir till thou or I be slain. For never shall my heart be safe at rest Till I have spoiled the hateful house of York.
(didascalia)	Alarums. They fight. York kills Clifford
YORK	Now, Lancaster, sit sure—thy sinews shrink. Come, fearful Henry, grovelling on thy face— Yield up thy crown unto the prince of York. Exit
(didascalia)	Alarums, then enter Young Clifford
YOUNG CLIFFORD	Shame and confusion, all is on the rout! Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds Where it should guard. O, war, thou son of hell, Whom angry heavens do make their minister, Throw in the frozen bosoms of our part Hot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly! He that is truly dedicate to war Hath no self-love; nor he that loves himself Hath not essentially, but by circumstance, The name of valour. He sees his father’s body O, let the vile world end, And the premised flames of the last day Knit earth and heaven together. Now let the general trumpet blow his blast, Particularities and petty sounds To cease! Wast thou ordained, dear father, To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieve The silver livery of advised age, And in thy reverence and thy chair-days, thus To die in ruffian battle? Even at this sight My heart is turned to stone, and while ’tis mine It shall be stony. York not our old men spares; No more will I their babes. Tears virginal Shall be to me even as the dew to fire, And beauty that the tyrant oft reclaims Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax. Henceforth I will not have to do with pity. Meet I an infant of the house of York, Into as many gobbets will I cut it As wild Medea young Absyrtus did. In cruelty will I seek out my fame. Come, thou new ruin of old Clifford’s house, He takes his father’s body up on his back As did Aeneas old Anchises bear, So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders. But then Aeneas bare a living load, Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine.
(didascalia)	Exit with the body
(didascalia)	5.4 Alarums
(didascalia)	again. Then enter three or four bearing the Duke of Buckingham wounded to his tent. Alarums still. Enter King Henry, Queen Margaret, and others
QUEEN MARGARET	Away, my lord! You are slow. For shame, away!
KING HENRY	Can we outrun the heavens? Good Margaret, stay.
QUEEN MARGARET	What are you made of? You’ll nor fight nor fly. Now is it manhood, wisdom, and defence, To give the enemy way, and to secure us By what we can, which can no more but fly.
(didascalia)	Alarum afar off
QUEEN MARGARET	If you be ta’en, we then should see the bottom Of all our fortunes; but if we haply scape— As well we may if not through your neglect— We shall to London get where you are loved, And where this breach now in our fortunes made May readily be stopped.
(didascalia)	Enter Young Clifford
YOUNG CLIFFORD	(to King Henry) But that my heart’s on future mischief set, I would speak blasphemy ere bid you fly; But fly you must; uncurable discomfit Reigns in the hearts of all our present parts. Away for your relief, and we will live To see their day and them our fortune give. Away, my lord, away! Exeunt

Atto 5, Scena 5

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Alarum. Retreat. Enter the Duke of York, his sons Edward and Richard, and soldiers, including a drummer and some bearing colours
YORK	(to Edward and Richard) How now, boys! Fortunate this fight hath been, I hope, to us and ours for England’s good And our great honour, that so long we lost Whilst faint-heart Henry did usurp our rights. Of Salisbury, who can report of him? That winter lion who in rage forgets Aged contusions and all brush of time, And, like a gallant in the brow of youth, Repairs him with occasion. This happy day Is not itself, nor have we won one foot If Salisbury be lost.
RICHARD	My noble father, Three times today I holp him to his horse; Three times bestrid him; thrice I led him off, Persuaded him from any further act; But still where danger was, still there I met him, And like rich hangings in a homely house, So was his will in his old feeble body.
(didascalia)	Enter the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick
EDWARD	(to York) See, noble father, where they both do come— The only props unto the house of York!
SALISBURY	Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought today; By th’ mass, so did we all. I thank you, Richard. God knows how long it is I have to live, And it hath pleased him that three times today You have defended me from imminent death. Well, lords, we have not got that which we have— ’Tis not enough our foes are this time fled, Being opposites of such repairing nature.
YORK	I know our safety is to follow them, For, as I hear, the King is fled to London, To call a present court of Parliament. Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth. What says Lord Warwick, shall we after them?
WARWICK	After them? Nay, before them if we can! Now by my hand, lords, ’twas a glorious day! Saint Albans battle won by famous York Shall be eternized in all age to come.
(didascalia)	Sound drums and trumpets, and to London all,
WARWICK	And more such days as these to us befall!
(didascalia)	Flourish. Exeunt
ADDITIONAL PASSAGES	A. We adopt the 1594 Quarto version of the Queen’s initial speech, 1.1.24—9; the Folio version, which follows, is probably the author’s original draft.
QUEEN MARGARET	Great King of England, and my gracious lord, The mutual conference that my mind hath had— By day, by night; waking, and in my dreams; In courtly company, or at my beads— With you, mine alder liefest sovereign, Makes me the bolder to salute my king With ruder terms, such as my wit affords And overjoy of heart doth minister. B. For 1.4.39―40.2 the Quarto substitutes the following; it may report a revision made in rehearsal to cover the Spirit’s descent. The Spirit sinks down again
BOLINGBROKE	Then down, I say, unto the damned pool Where Pluto in his fiery wagon sits Riding, amidst the singed and parched smokes, The road of Ditis by the River Styx. There howl and burn for ever in those flames. Rise, Jordan, rise, and stay thy charming spells— Zounds, we are betrayed! C. The entire debate on Duke Humphrey’s death in 3. 1 is handled differently by the Quarto from the Folio. We retain the Folio version of the debate, but the Quarto version may represent authorial revision. The following Q lines, roughly corresponding to 3.1.310―30.1, are of particular interest because they supply Buckingham with speeches for this latter part of the scene. [YORK] Let me have some bands of chosen soldiers, And York shall try his fortune ‘gainst those kerns.
QUEEN MARGARET	York, thou shalt. My lord of Buckingham, Let it be your charge to muster up such soldiers As shall suffice him in these needful wars.
BUCKINGHAM	Madam, I will, and levy such a band As soon shall overcome those Irish rebels. But, York, where shall those soldiers stay for thee?
YORK	At Bristol I will expect them ten days hence.
BUCKINCHAM	Then thither shall they come, and so farewell.
(didascalia)	Exit
YORK	Adieu, my lord of Buckingham.
QUEEN MARGARET	Suffolk, remember what you have to do— And you, Lord Cardinat—concerning Duke Humphrey. ‘Twere good that you did see to it in time. Come, let us go, that it may be performed.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but York
QUEEN MARGARET	D. We adopt the Quarto version of the confrontation between Clifford and York at 5.3.20—30; the Folio version, an edited text of which follows, is probably the author’s original draft.
CLIFFORD	What seest thou in me, York? Why dost thou pause?
YORK	With thy brave bearing should I be in love, But that thou art so fast mine enemy.
CLIFFORD	Nor should thy prowess want praise and esteem, But that ’tis shown ignobly and in treason.
YORK	So let it help me now against thy sword, As I in justice and true right express it.
CLIFFORD	My soul and body on the action, both.
YORK	A dreadful lay. Address thee instantly.
CLIFFORD	La fin couronne les oeuvres. Alarms. They fight. York kills Clifford
YORK	Thus war hath given thee peace, for thou art still. Peace with his soul, heaven, if it be thy will. Exit
RICHARD DUKE OF YORK	(3 HENRY VI)
THE	play printed in the 1623 Folio as The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, with the Death of the Duke of York was described on the title-page of its first, unauthoritative publication in 1595 as The True Tragedy of Richard, Duke of York, and the Death of Good King Henry the Sixth, with the whole Contention between the two houses Lancaster and York. It is clearly a continuation of The First Part of the Contention, taking up the story where that play had ended, with the aspirations of Richard, Duke of York to the English throne, and was probably composed immediately afterwards. The final scenes of The First Part of the Contention briefly introduce two of York’s sons, Edward (the eldest) and Richard (already described as a ‘foul, indigested lump, | As crooked in … manners as [in] shape’). They, along with their brothers Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and George (later Duke of Clarence), figure more prominently in Richard Duke of York. The first scenes show York apparently fulfilling his ambition, as Henry VI weakly cedes his rights to the throne after his death; but Queen Margaret leads an army against York, and, when he is captured, personally taunts him with news of the murder of his youngest son, stabs York to death, and commands that his head be ‘set on York gates’. (This powerful scene includes the line ‘O tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide’, paraphrased by Robert Greene before September 1592, which establishes the upward limit of the play’s date.) Though Richard of York dies early in the action, the remainder of the play centres on his sons’ efforts (aided by Warwick’s politic schemings) to avenge his death and to establish the dominance of Yorkists over Lancastrians. The balance of power shifts frequently, and the brothers’ alliance crumbles, but finally Queen Margaret, with her French allies, is defeated and captured, and Richard of York’s surviving sons avenge their father’s death by killing her son, Edward, before her eyes. Richard of Gloucester starts to clear his way to the throne by murdering ‘Good King Henry’ in the Tower, and the play ends with the new King Edward IV exulting in his ‘country’s peace and brothers’ loves’ while Richard makes clear to the audience that Edward’s self-confidence is ill-founded. Though the play is loud and strife-ridden with war, power politics, and personal ambition, a concern with humane values emerges in the subtle and touching continuing portrayal of the quietist Henry VI, a saintly fool who meditates on the superiority of humble contentment to regal misery in an emblematic scene (2.5) that epitomizes the tragedy of civil strife. Richard Duke of York, like The First Part of the Contention, draws extensively on English chronicle history. Historically, the period of the action covers about sixteen years (1455 to 1471), but events are telescoped and rearranged; for instance, the opening scenes move rapidly from the Battle of St Albans (1445) to York’s death (1460); the future Richard III was only three years old, and living abroad, at the time of this opening battle in which he takes an active part; and Richard’s murder of Henry owes more to legend than to fact.
THE PERSONS OF THE	PLAY Of the King’s Party
PRINCE	EDWARD, their son Duke of S0MERSET Duke of EXETER Earl of NORTHUMBERLAND Earl of WESTMORLAND Lord CLIFFORD Lord Stafford
SOMERVILLE	Henry, young Earl of Richmond A SOLDIER who has killed his father A HUNTSMAN who guards King Edward The Divided House of Neville Earl of WARWICK, first of York’s party, later of Lancaster’s Marquis of MONTAGUE, his brother, of York’s party Earl of OXFORD, their brother-in-law, of Lancaster’s party Lord HASTINGS, their brother-in-law, of York’s party Of the Duke of York’s Party Richard Plantagenet, Duke of YORK EDWARD, Earl of March, his son, later Duke of York and
LADY	GRAY, a widow, later Edward’s wife and queen Earl RIVERS, her brother GEORGE, Edward’s brother, later Duke OF CLARENCE RICHARD, Edward’s brother, later Duke OF GLOUCESTER Earl of RUTLAND, Edward’s brother Rutland’s TUTOR, a chaplain
SIR JOHN	Mortimer, York’s uncle Sir Hugh Mortimer, his brother Duke of NORFOLK Sir William Stanley Earl of Pembroke Sir John MONTGOMERY A NOBLEMAN Two GAMEKEEPERS Three WATCHMEN, who guard King Edward’s tent
LIEUTENANT	of the Tower The French
LADY	BONA, his sister-in-law Lord Bourbon, the French High Admiral Others A SOLDIER who has killed his son Mayor of Coventry
MAYOR	of York Aldermen of York Soldiers, messengers, and attendants

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Flourish of trumpets, then hautboys. Enter, at one door, King Henry and Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Somerset, the Duke of Buckingham, Cardinal Beaufort,and others. Enter, at the other door, the Duke of York, and the Marquis of Suffolk, and Queen Margaret, and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick
SUFFOLK	(kneeling before King Henry) As by your high imperial majesty I had in charge at my depart for France, As Procurator to your excellence, To marry Princess Margaret for your grace, So, in the famous ancient city Tours, In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil, The Dukes of Orléans, Calaber, Bretagne, and Alençon, Seven earls, twelve barons, and twenty reverend bishops, I have performed my task and was espoused, And humbly now upon my bended knee, In sight of England and her lordly peers, Deliver up my title in the Queen To your most gracious hands, that are the substance Of that great shadow I did represent— The happiest gift that ever marquis gave, The fairest queen that ever king received.
KING HENRY	Suffolk, arise. Welcome, Queen Margaret. I can express no kinder sign of love Than this kind kiss. He kisses her O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! For thou hast given me in this beauteous face A world of earthly blessings to my soul, If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.
QUEEN MARGARET	Th’excess of love I bear unto your grace Forbids me to be lavish of my tongue Lest I should speak more than beseems a woman. Let this suffice: my bliss is in your liking, And naught can make poor Margaret miserable Unless the frown of mighty England’s King.
KING HENRY	Her sight did ravish, but her grace in speech, Her words yclad with wisdom’s majesty, Makes me from wond’ring fall to weeping joys, Such is the fullness of my heart’s content. Lords, with one cheerful voice, welcome my love.
LORDS	(kneeling) Long live Queen Margaret, England’s happiness.
QUEEN MARGARET	We thank you all.
(didascalia)	Flourish. They all rise
SUFFOLK	(to Gloucester) My Lord Protector, so it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace Between our sovereign and the French King Charles, For eighteen months concluded by consent.
GLOUCESTER	(reads) Imprimis: it is agreed between the French King Charles and William de la Pole, Marquis of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry, King of England, that the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret, daughter unto René, King of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerusalem, and crown her Queen of England, ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item: it is further agreed between them that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and delivered to the King her fa—
(didascalia)	Gloucester lets the paper fall
KING HENRY	Uncle, how now?
GLOUCESTER	Pardon me, gracious lord. Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart And dimmed mine eyes that I can read no further.
KING HENRY	(to Cardinal Beaufort) Uncle of Winchester, I pray read on.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(reads) Item: it is further agreed between them that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and delivered to the King her father, and she sent over of the King of England’s own proper cost and charges, without dowry.
KING HENRY	They please us well. (To Suffolk) Lord Marquis, kneel down. Suffolk kneels We here create thee first Duke of Suffolk, And gird thee with the sword. Suffolk rises Cousin of York, We here discharge your grace from being regent I’th’ parts of France till term of eighteen months Be full expired. Thanks uncle Winchester, Gloucester, York, and Buckingham, Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick. We thank you all for this great favour done In entertainment to my princely Queen. Come, let us in, and with all speed provide To see her coronation be performed.
(didascalia)	Exeunt King Henry, Queen Margaret, and
(didascalia)	Suffolk. Gloucester stays all the rest
GLOUCESTER	Brave peers of England, pillars of the state, To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief, Your grief, the common grief of all the land. What—did my brother Henry spend his youth, His valour, coin, and people in the wars? Did he so often lodge in open field In winter’s cold and summer’s parching heat To conquer France, his true inheritance? And did my brother Bedford toil his wits To keep by policy what Henry got? Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham, Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick, Received deep scars in France and Normandy? Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself, With all the learned Council of the realm, Studied so long, sat in the Council House Early and late, debating to and fro, How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe, And had his highness in his infancy Crowned in Paris in despite of foes? And shall these labours and these honours die? Shall Henry’s conquest, Bedford’s vigilance, Your deeds of war, and all our counsel die? O peers of England, shameful is this league, Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame, Blotting your names from books of memory, Razing the characters of your renown, Defacing monuments of conquered France, Undoing all, as all had never been!
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Nephew, what means this passionate discourse, This peroration with such circumstance? For France, ’tis ours; and we will keep it still.
GLOUCESTER	Ay, uncle, we will keep it if we can— But now it is impossible we should. Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast, Hath given the duchy of Anjou and Maine Unto the poor King René, whose large style Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.
SALISBURY	Now by the death of Him that died for all, These counties were the keys of Normandy— But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son?
WARWICK	For grief that they are past recovery. For were there hope to conquer them again My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears. Anjou and Maine? Myself did win them both! Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer— And are the cities that I got with wounds Delivered up again with peaceful words? Mort Dieu!
YORK	For Suffolk’s duke, may he be suffocate, That dims the honour of this warlike isle! France should have torn and rent my very heart Before I would have yielded to this league. I never read but England’s kings have had Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives— And our King Henry gives away his own, To match with her that brings no vantages.
GLOUCESTER	A proper jest, and never heard before, That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth For costs and charges in transporting her! She should have stayed in France and starved in France Before—
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	My lord of Gloucester, now ye grow too hot! It was the pleasure of my lord the King.
GLOUCESTER	My lord of Winchester, I know your mind. ’Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, But ‘tis my presence that doth trouble ye. Rancour will out. Proud prelate, in thy face I see thy fury. If I longer stay We shall begin our ancient bickerings— But I’ll be gone, and give thee leave to speak. Lordings, farewell, and say when I am gone, I prophesied France will be lost ere long. Exit
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	So, there goes our Protector in a rage. ’Tis known to you he is mine enemy; Nay more, an enemy unto you all, And no great friend, I fear me, to the King. Consider, lords, he is the next of blood And heir apparent to the English crown. Had Henry got an empire by his marriage, And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west, There’s reason he should be displeased at it. Look to it, lords—let not his smoothing words Bewitch your hearts. Be wise and circumspect. What though the common people favour him, Calling him ‘Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester‘, Clapping their hands and crying with loud voice ’‘Jesu maintain your royal excellence !’ With ’God preserve the good Duke Humphrey !’ I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss, He will be found a dangerous Protector.
BUCKINGHAM	Why should he then protect our sovereign, He being of age to govern of himself? Cousin of Somerset, join you with me, And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk, We’ll quickly hoist Duke Humphrey from his seat.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	This weighty business will not brook delay— I’ll to the Duke of Suffolk presently. Exit
SOMERSET	Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey’s pride And greatness of his place be grief to us, Yet let us watch the haughty Cardinal; His insolence is more intolerable Than all the princes in the land beside. If Gloucester be displaced, he’ll be Protector.
BUCKINGHAM	Or thou or I, Somerset, will be Protector, Despite Duke Humphrey or the Cardinal.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset
SALISBURY	Pride went before, ambition follows him. While these do labour for their own preferment, Behoves it us to labour for the realm. I never saw but Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Did bear him like a noble gentleman. Oft have I seen the haughty Cardinal, More like a soldier than a man o’th’ church, As stout and proud as he were lord of all, Swear like a ruffian, and demean himself Unlike the ruler of a commonweal. Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age, Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy housekeeping Hath won thee greatest favour of the commons, Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey. And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland, In bringing them to civil discipline, Thy late exploits done in the heart of France, When thou wert Regent for our sovereign, Have made thee feared and honoured of the people. The reverence of mine age and Neville’s name Is of no little force if I command. Join we together for the public good, In what we can to bridle and suppress The pride of Suffolk and the Cardinal With Somerset’s and Buckingham’s ambition; And, as we may, cherish Duke Humphrey’s deeds While they do tend the profit of the land.
WARWICK	So God help Warwick, as he loves the land, And common profit of his country!
YORK	And so says York, (aside) for he hath greatest cause.
SALISBURY	Then let’s away, and look unto the main.
WARWICK	Unto the main? O, father, Maine is lost ! That Maine which by main force Warwick did win, And would have kept so long as breath did last! Main chance, father, you meant—but I meant Maine, Which I will win from France or else be slain.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury, leaving only York
YORK	Anjou and Maine are given to the French, Paris is lost, the state of Normandy Stands on a tickle point now they are gone; Suffolk concluded on the articles, The peers agreed, and Henry was well pleased To change two dukedoms for a duke’s fair daughter. I cannot blame them all—what is’t to them? ’Tis thine they give away and not their own! Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage, And purchase friends, and give to courtesans, Still revelling like lords till all be gone, Whileas the seely owner of the goods Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands, And shakes his head, and, trembling, stands aloof, While all is shared and all is borne away, Ready to starve and dare not touch his own. So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue, While his own lands are bargained for and sold. Methinks the realms of England, France, and Ireland Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood As did the fatal brand Althaea burnt Unto the prince’s heart of Calydon. Anjou and Maine both given unto the French ! Cold news for me—for I had hope of France, Even as I have of fertile England’s soil. A day will come when York shall claim his own, And therefore I will take the Nevilles’ parts, And make a show of love to proud Duke Humphrey, And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown, For that’s the golden mark I seek to hit. Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right, Nor hold the sceptre in his childish fist, Nor wear the diadem upon his head Whose church-like humours fits not for a crown. Then, York, be still a while till time do serve. Watch thou, and wake when others be asleep, To pry into the secrets of the state— Till Henry, surfeit in the joys of love With his new bride and England’s dear-bought queen, And Humphrey with the peers be fall’n at jars. Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose, With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfumed, And in my standard bear the arms of York, To grapple with the house of Lancaster; And force perforce I’ll make him yield the crown, Whose bookish rule hath pulled fair England down.
(didascalia)	Exit

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and his wife Eleanor, the Duchess
DUCHESS	Why droops my lord, like over-ripened corn Hanging the head at Ceres’ plenteous load? Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his brows, As frowning at the favours of the world ? Why are thine eyes fixed to the sullen earth, Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight? What seest thou there? King Henry’s diadem, Enchased with all the honours of the world? If so, gaze on, and grovel on thy face Until thy head be circled with the same. Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold. What, is’t too short? I’ll lengthen it with mine; And having both together heaved it up, We’ll both together lift our heads to heaven And never more abase our sight so low As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground.
GLOUCESTER	O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy lord, Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts! And may that hour when I imagine ill Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry, Be my last breathing in this mortal world! ! My troublous dream this night doth make me sad.
DUCHESS	What dreamed my lord? Tell me and I’ll requite it With sweet rehearsal of my morning’s dream.
GLOUCESTER	Methought this staff, mine office-badge in court, Was broke in twain—by whom I have forgot, But, as I think, it was by th’ Cardinal— And on the pieces of the broken wand Were placed the heads of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, And William de la Pole, first Duke of Suffolk. This was my dream—what it doth bode, God knows.
DUCHESS	Tut, this was nothing but an argument That he that breaks a stick of Gloucester’s grove Shall lose his head for his presumption. But list to me, my Humphrey, my sweet duke: Methought I sat in seat of majesty In the cathedral church of Westminster, And in that chair where kings and queens are crowned, Where Henry and Dame Margaret kneeled to me, And on my head did set the diadem.
GLOUCESTER	Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright. Presumptuous dame! Ill-nurtured Eleanor! Art thou not second woman in the realm, And the Protector’s wife beloved of him ? Hast thou not worldly pleasure at command Above the reach or compass of thy thought? And wilt thou still be hammering treachery To tumble down thy husband and thyself From top of honour to disgrace’s feet? Away from me, and let me hear no more!
DUCHESS	What, what, my lord? Are you so choleric With Eleanor for telling but her dream? Next time I’ll keep my dreams unto myself And not be checked.
GLOUCESTER	Nay, be not angry; I am pleased again. Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER	My Lord Protector, ’tis his highness’ pleasure You do prepare to ride unto Saint Albans, Whereas the King and Queen do mean to hawk.
GLOUCESTER	I go. Come, Nell, thou wilt ride with us ?
DUCHESS	Yes, my good lord, I’ll follow presently.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Gloucester and the Messenger
DUCHESS	Follow I must; I cannot go before While Gloucester bears this base and humble mind. Were I am an, a duke, and next of blood, I would remove these tedious stumbling blocks And smooth my way upon their headless necks. And, being a woman, I will not be slack To play my part in fortune’s pageant. (Calling within) Where are you there? Sir John! Nay, fear not man. We are alone. Here’s none but thee and I.
(didascalia)	Enter Sir John Hume
HUME	Jesus preserve your royal majesty.
DUCHESS	What sayst thou? ‘Majesty’ ? I am but ‘grace’.
HUME	But by the grace of God and Hume’s advice Your grace’s title shall be multiplied.
DUCHESS	What sayst thou, man? Hast thou as yet conferred With Margery Jordan, the cunning witch of Eye, With Roger Bolingbroke, the conjuror? And will they undertake to do me good?
HUME	This they have promisèd: to show your highness A spirit raised from depth of underground That shall make answer to such questions As by your Grace shall be propounded him.
DUCHESS	It is enough. I’ll think upon the questions. When from Saint Albans we do make return, We’ll see these things effected to the full. Here, Hume (giving him money), take this reward. Make merry, man, With thy confederates in this weighty cause.
(didascalia)	Exit
HUME	Hume must make merry with the Duchess’ gold; Marry, and shall. But how now, Sir John Hume? Seal up your lips, and give no words but mum ; The business asketh silent secrecy. Dame Eleanor gives gold to bring the witch. Gold cannot come amiss were she a devil. Yet have I gold flies from another coast— I dare not say from the rich Cardinal And from the great and new-made Duke of Suffolk, Yet I do find it so; for, to be plain, They, knowing Dame Eleanor’s aspiring humour, Have hired me to undermine the Duchess, And buzz these conjurations in her brain. They say ‘A crafty knave does need no broker’, Yet am I Suffolk and the Cardinal’s broker. Hume, if you take not heed you shall go near To call them both a pair of crafty knaves. Well, so it stands; and thus, I fear, at last Hume’s knavery will be the Duchess’ wrack, And her attainture will be Humphrey’s fall. Sort how it will, I shall have gold for all.
(didascalia)	Exit

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Peter, the armourer’s man, with two or three other Petitioners
FIRST PETITIONER	My masters, let’s stand close. My Lord Protector will come this way by and by and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill.
SECOND PETITIONER	Marry, the Lord protect him, for he’s a good man, Jesu bless him.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Suffolk and Queen Margaret
(didascalia)	FIRST PETITIONER Here a comes, methinks, and the Queen with him. I’ll be the first, sure.
SECOND PETITIONER	He goes to meet Suffolk and the Queen
SECOND PETITIONER	Come back, foot—this is the Duke of Suffolk and not my Lord Protector.
SUFFOLK	(to the First Petitioner) How now, fellow—wouldst anything with me?
FIRST PETITIONER	I pray, my lord, pardon me—I took ye for my Lord Protector.
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET seeing his supplication, she reads ‘Tomy Lord Protector’—are your supplications to his lordship ? Let me see them.
(didascalia)	She takes First Petitioner’s supplication
FIRST PETITIONER	What is thine?
FIRST PETITIONER	Mine is, an’t please your grace, against John Goodman, my lord Cardinal’s man, for keeping my house and lands and wife and all from me.
(didascalia)	SUFFOLK Thy wife too ? That’s some wrong indeed. To the Second Petitioners What’s yours?
FIRST PETITIONER	He takes the supplication What’s here? (Reads) ‘Against the Duke of Suffolk for
(didascalia)	enclosing the commons of Melford’ ! To the Second
(didascalia)	Petitioner How now, Sir Knave?
SECOND PETITIONER	Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.
(didascalia)	PETER offering his petition Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.
QUEEN MARGARET	What sayst thou? Did the Duke of York say he was rightful heir to the crown?
PETER	That my master was ? No, forsooth, my master said that he was and that the King was an usurer.
QUEEN MARGARET	An usurper thou wouldst say.
PETER	Ay, forsooth—an usurper.
SUFFOLK	(calling within) Who is there?
(didascalia)	Enter a servant
SUFFOLK	Take this fellow in and send for his master with a pursuivant presently. (To Peter) We’ll hear more of your matter before the King. Exit the servant with Peter
QUEEN MARGARET	(to the Petitioners) And as for you that love to be protected Under the wings of our Protector’s grace, Begin your suits anew and sue to him.
(didascalia)	She tears the supplication
QUEEN MARGARET	Away, base cullions! Suffolk, let them go.
ALL PETITIONERS	Come, let’s be gone. Exeunt Petitioners
QUEEN MARGARET	My lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise? Is this the fashions in the court of England ? Is this the government of Britain’s isle, And this the royalty of Albion’s king? What, shall King Henry be a pupil still Under the surly Gloucester’s governance? Am I a queen in title and in style, And must be made a subject to a duke? I tell thee, Pole, 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 thought King Henry had resembled thee In courage, courtship, and proportion. But all his mind is bent to holiness, To number Ave-Maries on his beads. His champions are the prophets and apostles, His weapons holy saws of sacred writ, His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves Are brazen images of canonized saints. I would the college of the cardinals Would choose him Pope, and carry him to Rome, And set the triple crown upon his head— That were a state fit for his holiness.
SUFFOLK	Madam, be patient—as I was cause Your highness came to England, so will I In England work your grace’s full content.
QUEEN MARGARET	Beside the haught Protector have we Beaufort The imperious churchman, Somerset, Buckingham, And grumbling York; and not the least of these But can do more in England than the King.
SUFFOLK	And he of these that can do most of all Cannot do more in England than the Nevilles: Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.
QUEEN MARGARET	Not all these lords do vex me half so much As that proud dame, the Lord Protector’s wife. She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies More like an empress than Duke Humphrey’s wife. Strangers in court do take her for the queen. She bears a duke’s revenues on her back, And in her heart she scorns our poverty. Shall I not live to be avenged on her? Contemptuous base-born callet as she is, She vaunted ‘mongst her minions t’other day The very train of her worst-wearing gown Was better worth than all my father’s lands, Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.
SUFFOLK	Madam, myself have limed a bush for her, And placed a choir of such enticing birds That she will light to listen to their lays, And never mount to trouble you again. So let her rest; and, madam, list to me, For I am bold to counsel you in this: Although we fancy not the Cardinal, Yet must we join with him and with the lords Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace. As for the Duke of York, this late complaint Will make but little for his benefit. So one by one we’ll weed them all at last, And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.
(didascalia)	Sound a sennet. Enter King Henry with the Duke
SUFFOLK	of York and the Duke of Somerset on either side of him whispering with him. Also enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, Dame Eleanor the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Buckingham, the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, and Cardinal
(didascalia)	Beaufort Bishop of Winchesteri
KING HENRY	For my part, noble lords, I care not which: Or Somerset or York, all’s one to me.
YORK	If York have ill demeaned himself in France Then let him be denied the regentship.
SOMERSET	If Somerset be unworthy of the place, Let York be regent—I will yield to him.
WARWICK	Whether your grace be worthy, yea or no, Dispute not that: York is the worthier.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
WARWICK	The Cardinal’s not my better in the field.
BUCKINGHAM	All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.
WARWICK	Warwick may live to be the best of all.
SALISBURY	Peace, son; (to Buckingham) and show some reason, Buckingham, Why Somerset should be preferred in this.
QUEEN MARGARET	Because the King, forsooth, will have it so.
GLOUCESTER	Madam, the King is old enough himself To give his censure. These are no women’s matters.
QUEEN MARGARET	If he be old enough, what needs your grace To be Protector of his excellence?
GLOUCESTER	Madam, I am Protector of the realm, And at his pleasure will resign my place.
SUFFOLK	Resign it then, and leave thine insolence. Since thou wert king—as who is king but thou?— The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack, The Dauphin hath prevailed beyond the seas, And all the peers and nobles of the realm Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to Gloucester) The commons hast thou racked, the clergy’s bags Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
SOMERSET	(to Gloucester) Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife’s attire Have cost a mass of public treasury.
BUCKINGHAM	(to Gloucester) Thy cruelty in execution Upon offenders hath exceeded law And left thee to the mercy of the law.
QUEEN MARGARET	(to Gloucester) 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.
(didascalia)	Exit Gloucester
QUEEN MARGARET	Queen Margaret lets fall her fan (To the Duchess) Give me my fan—what, minion, can ye not? She gives the Duchess a box on the ear I cry you mercy, madam! Was it you ?
DUCHESS	Was’t I? Yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman! Could I come near your beauty with my nails, I’d set my ten commandments in your face.
KING HENRY	Sweet aunt, be quiet—’twas against her will.
DUCHESS	Against her will? Good King, look to’t in time! She’ll pamper thee and dandle thee like a baby. Though in this place most master wear no breeches, She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unrevenged ! Exit
BUCKINGHAM	(aside to Cardinal Beaufort) Lord Cardinal, I will follow Eleanor And listen after Humphrey how he proceeds. She’s tickled now, her fury needs no spurs— She’ll gallop far enough to her destruction. Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester
GLOUCESTER	Now, lords, my choler being overblown 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.
SUFFOLK	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 unmeet: 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 danced attendance on his will Till Paris was besieged, famished, and lost.
WARWICK	That can I witness, and a fouler fact Did never traitor in the land commit.
SUFFOLK	Peace, headstrong Warwick.
WARWICK	Image of pride, why should I hold my peace?
(didascalia)	Enter, guarded, Horner the armourer and Peter his man
SUFFOLK	Because here is a man accused of treason— Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself!
YORK	Doth anyone accuse York for a traitor?
KING HENRY	What mean’st thou, Suffolk? Tell me, what are these?
SUFFOLK	Please it your majesty, this is the man He indicates Peter That doth accuse his master (indicating Horner) 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.
KING HENRY	(to Horner) Say, man, were these thy words?
HORNER	An’t shall please your majesty, I never said nor thought any such matter. God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain.
(didascalia)	PETER raising his hands By these ten bones, my lords, 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 ! (To King Henry) I do beseech your royal majesty, Let him have all the rigour of the law.
HORNER	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.
KING HENRY	(to Gloucester) Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?
GLOUCESTER	This doom, my lord, if I may judge by case: Let Somerset be regent o’er the French, Because in York this breeds suspicion. (Indicating Horner and Peter) And let these have a day appointed them For single combat in convenient place, For he (indicating Horner) hath witness of his servant’s malice. This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey’s doom.
KING HENRY	Then be it so. (To Somerset) My lord of Somerset, We make you regent o‘er the realm of France There to defend our rights ’gainst foreign foes.
SOMERSET	I humbly thank your royal majesty.
HORNER	And I accept the combat willingly.
(didascalia)	PETER to Gloucester 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 !
GLOUCESTER	Sirrah, or you must fight or else be hanged.
KING HENRY	Away with them to prison, and the day Of combat be the last of the next month. Come, Somerset, we’ll see thee sent away.
(didascalia)	Flourish. Exeunt

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Margery Jordan, a witch; Sir John Hume and John Southwell, two priests; and Roger Bolingbroke, a conjuror
(didascalia)	Hume Come, my masters, the Duchess, I tell you, expects performance of your promises.
BOLINGBROKE	Master Hume, we are therefore provided. Will her ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms?
HUME	Ay, what else? Fear you not her courage.
BOLINGBROKE	I have heard her reported to be a woman of an invincible spirit. But it shall be convenient, Master Hume, that you be by her, aloft, while we be busy below. And so, I pray you, go in God’s name and leave us. Exit Hume Mother Jordan, be you prostrate and grovel on the earth. She lies down upon her face.
(didascalia)	Enter Eleanor, the Duchess of Gloucester, aloft
BOLINGBROKE	John Southwell, read you and let us to our work.
DUCHESS	Well said, my masters, and welcome all. To this gear the sooner the better.
(didascalia)	Enter Hume aloft
BOLINGBROKE	Patience, good lady—wizards know their times. Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, The time of night when Troy was set on fire, The time when screech-owls cry and bandogs howl, And spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves— That time best fits the work we have in hand. Madam, sit you, and fear not. Whom we raise We will make fast within a hallowed verge. Here do the ceremonies belonging, and make the circle. Southwell reads ‘Coniuro te’, &c. It thunders and lightens terribly, then the spirit Asnath riseth
ASNATH	Adsum.
WITCH	Asnath, By the eternal God whose name and power Thou tremblest at, answer that I shall ask, For till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence.
ASNATH	Ask what thou wilt, that I had said and done.
BOLINGBROKE	(reads) ‘First, of the King: what shall of him become ?’
ASNATH	The Duke yet lives that Henry shall depose, But him outlive, and die a violent death.
(didascalia)	As the spirit speaks, Southwell writes the answer
BOLINGBROKE	(reads) ‘Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk.’
ASNATH	By water shall he die, and take his end.
BOLINGBROKE	(reads) ‘What shall betide the Duke of Somerset?’
ASNATH	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.
BOLINGBROKE	Descend to darkness and the burning lake! False fiend, avoid!
(didascalia)	Thunder and lightning. The spirit sinks down again
(didascalia)	Enter, breaking in, the Dukes of York and
BOLINGBROKE	Buckingham with their guard, among them Sir Humphrey Stafford
YORK	Lay hands upon these traitors and their trash.
(didascalia)	Bolingbroke, Southwell, and Jordan are taken
YORK	prisoner. Buckingham takes the writings from
(didascalia)	Bolingbroke and Southwell
YORK	(To Jordan) Beldam, I think we watched you at an inch. (To the Duchess) What, madam, are you there? The King and common weal Are deep indebted for this piece of pains. My lord Protector will, I doubt it not, See you well guerdoned for these good deserts.
DUCHESS	Not half so bad as thine to England’s king, Injurious Duke, that threatest where’s no cause.
BUCKINGHAM	True, madam, none at all—
(didascalia)	He raises the writings
BUCKINGHAM	what call you this? (To his men) Away with them. Let them be clapped up close And kept asunder. (To the Duchess) You, madam, shall with us. Stafford, take her to thee.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Stafford and others to the Duchess
(didascalia)	and Hume above
BUCKINGHAM	We’ll see your trinkets here all forthcoming. All away!
(didascalia)	Exeunt below Jordan, Southwell, and
(didascalia)	Bolingbroke, guarded, and, above, Hume and
(didascalia)	the Duchess guarded by Stafford and others.
(didascalia)	York and Buckingham remain
YORK	Lord Buckingham, methinks you watched her well. A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon. Now pray, my lord, let’s see the devil’s writ.
(didascalia)	Buckingham gives him the writings
YORK	What have we here? He reads the writings Why, this is just Aio Aeacidam, Romanos vincere posse. These oracles are hardily attained And hardly understood. Come, come, my lord, The King is now in progress towards Saint Albans; With him the husband of this lovely lady. Thither goes these news as fast as horse can carry them— A sorry breakfast for my lord Protector.
BUCKINGHAM	Your grace shall give me leave, my lord of York, To be the post in hope of his reward.
YORK	(returning the writings to Buckingham)
(didascalia)	At your pleasure, my good lord. Exit Buckingham (Calling within) Who’s within there, ho!
(didascalia)	Enter a servingman
YORK	Invite my lords of Salisbury and Warwick To sup with me tomorrow night. Away.
(didascalia)	Exeunt severally

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter King Henry, Queen Margaret with her hawk on her fist, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort, and the Duke of Suffolk, with falconers hollering
QUEEN MARGARET	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.
KING HENRY	(to Gloucester) 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 fain of climbing high.
SUFFOLK	No marvel, an it like your majesty, My Lord Protector’s hawks do tower so well; They know their master loves to be aloft, And bears his thoughts above his falcon’s pitch.
GLOUCESTER	My lord, ‘tis but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	I thought as much; he would be above the clouds.
GLOUCESTER	Ay, my lord Cardinal, how think you by that? Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?
KING HENRY	The treasury of everlasting joy.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to Gloucester) Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart, Pernicious Protector, dangerous peer, That smooth’st it so with King and common weal!
GLOUCESTER	What, Cardinal? Is your priesthood grown peremptory ? Tantaene animis caelestibus irae? Churchmen so hot? Good uncle, hide such malice With some holiness—can you do it?
SUFFOLK	No malice, sir, no more than well becomes So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.
GLOUCESTER	As who, my lord ?
SUFFOLK	Why, as you, my lord— An’t like your lordly Lord’s Protectorship.
GLOUCESTER	Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.
QUEEN MARGARET	And thy ambition, Gloucester.
KING HENRY	I prithee peace, Good Queen, and whet not on these furious peers—For blessèd are the peacemakers on earth.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Let me be blessed for the peace I make Against this proud Protector with my sword.
(didascalia)	Gloucester and Cardinal Beaufort speak privately to one another
GLOUCESTER	Faith, holy uncle, would’t were come to that.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Marry, when thou dar’st.
GLOUCESTER	Dare? I tell thee, priest, Plantagenets could never brook the dare!
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	I am Plantagenet as well as thou, And son to John of Gaunt.
GLOUCESTER	In bastardy.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	I scorn thy words.
GLOUCESTER	Make up no factious numbers for the matter, In thine own person answer thy abuse.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Ay, where thou dar‘st not peep; an if thou dar’st, This evening on the east side of the grove.
KING HENRY	How now, my lords?
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(aloud) Believe me, cousin Gloucester, Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly, We had had more sport. (Aside to Gloucester) Come with thy two-hand sword.
GLOUCESTER	(aloud) True, uncle. (Aside to Cardinal Beaufort) Are ye advised? The east side of the grove.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(aside to Gloucester) I am with you.
KING HENRY	Why, how now, uncle Gloucester?
GLOUCESTER	Talking of hawking, nothing else, my lord. (Aside to the Cardinal) Now, by God’s mother, priest, I’ll shave your crown for this, Or all my fence shall fail.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(aside to Gloucester) Medice, teipsum— Protector, see to’t well; protect yourself.
KING HENRY	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.
(didascalia)	Enter one crying ‘a miracle’
GLOUCESTER	What means this noise? Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?
ONE	A miracle, a miracle!
SUFFOLK	Come to the King—tell him what miracle.
ONE	(to King Henry) Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban’s shrine
(didascalia)	Within this half-hour hath received his sight—
ONE	A man that ne’er saw in his life before.
KING HENRY	Now God be praised, that to believing souls Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!
(didascalia)	Enter the Mayor and aldermen of Saint Albans, with music, bearing the man, Simpcox, between two in a chair. Enter Simpcox’s Wife and other townsmeni with them
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Here comes the townsmen on procession To present your highness with the man.
(didascalia)	The townsmen kneel
KING HENRY	Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, Although by sight his sin be multiplied.
GLOUCESTER	(to the townsmen) Stand by, my masters, bring him near the King. His highness’ pleasure is to talk with him.
(didascalia)	They rise and bear Simpcox before the King
KING HENRY	(to Simpcox) Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance, That we for thee may glorify the Lord. What, hast thou been long blind and now restored?
SIMPCOX	Born blind, an’t please your grace.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Ay, indeed, was he.
SUFFOLK	What woman is this?
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	His wife, an’t like your worship.
GLOUCESTER	Hadst thou been his mother Thou couldst have better told.
KING HENRY	(to Simpcox) Where wert thou born?
SIMPCOX	At Berwick, in the north, an’t like your grace.
KING HENRY	Poor soul, God’s goodness hath been great to thee. Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done.
QUEEN MARGARET	(to Simpcox) Tell me, good fellow, cam’st thou here by chance, Or of devotion to this holy shrine?
SIMPCOX	God knows, of pure devotion, being called A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep, By good Saint Alban, who said, ‘Simon, come; Come offer at my shrine and I will help thee.’
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Most true, forsooth, and many time and oft Myself have heard a voice to call him so.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to Simpcox) What, art thou lame ?
SIMPCOX	Ay, God almighty help me.
SUFFOLK	How cam’st thou so?
SIMPCOX	A fall off of a tree.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	(to Suffolk) A plum tree, master.
GLOUCESTER	How long hast thou been blind?
SIMPCOX	O, born so, master.
GLOUCESTER	What, and wouldst climb a tree? SIMPCOX But that in all my life, when I was a youth.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	(to Gloucester) Too true—and bought his climbing very dear.
GLOUCESTER	(to Simpcox) Mass, thou loved’st plums well that wouldst venture so.
SIMPCOX	Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons, And made me climb with danger of my life.
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER aside
SIMPCOX	A subtle knave, but yet it shall not serve. (To Simpcox) Let me see thine eyes: wink now, now open them. In my opinion yet thou seest not well.
SIMPCOX	Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and Saint Alban.
GLOUCESTER	Sayst thou me so? (Pointing) What colour is this cloak of?
SIMPCOX	Red, master; red as blood.
GLOUCESTER	Why, that’s well said. (Pointing) And his cloak?
SIMPCOX	Why, that’s green.
GLOUCESTER	(pointing) And what colour’s His hose?
SIMPCOX	Yellow, master; yellow as gold.
GLOUCESTER	And what colour’s my gown?
SIMPCOX	Black, sir; coal-black, as jet.
KING HENRY	Why, then, thou know’st what colour jet is of?
UFFOLK	And yet I think jet did he never see.
GLOUCESTER	But cloaks and gowns before this day, a many.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Never before this day in all his life.
GLOUCESTER	Tell me, sirrah, what’s my name?
SIMPCOX	Alas, master, I know not.
GLOUCESTER	(pointing) What’s his name?
SIMPCOX	I know not.
GLOUCESTER	(pointing) Nor his?
SIMPCOX	No, truly, sir.
GLOUCESTER	(pointing) Nor his name?
SIMPCOX	No indeed, master.
GLOUCESTER	What’s thine own name?
SIMPCOX	Simon Simpcox, an it please you, master.
GLOUCESTER	Then, Simon, sit thou there the lying’st knave In Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind Thou mightst as well have known our names as thus To name the several colours we do wear. Sight may distinguish colours, but suddenly To nominate them all—it is impossible. Saint Alban here hath done a miracle. Would you not think his cunning to be great That could restore this cripple to his legs again?
SIMPCOX	O master, that you could!
GLOUCESTER	(to the Mayor and aldermen) My masters of Saint Albans, have you not Beadles in your town, and things called whips?
MAYOR	We have, my lord, an if it please your grace.
GLOUCESTER	Then send for one presently.
MAYOR	(to a townsman) Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight. Exit one
GLOUCESTER	Bring me a stool. A stool is brought (To Simpcox) Now, sirrah, if you mean To save yourself from whipping, leap me o’er This stool and run away.
SIMPCOX	Alas, master, I am not able even to stand alone. You go about to torture me in vain.
(didascalia)	Enter a Beadle with whips
GLOUCESTER	Well, sirrah, we must have you find your legs. (To the Beadle) Whip him till he leap over that same stool.
BEADLE	I will, my lord. (To Simpcox) Come on, sirrah, off with your doublet quickly.
SIMPCOX	Alas, master, what shall I do ? I am not able to stand.
(didascalia)	After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the stool and runs away. Some of the townsmen follow and cry, ‘A miracle ! A miracle !’
KING HENRY	O God, seest thou this and bear’st so long?
QUEEN MARGARET	It made me laugh to see the villain run!
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER to the Beadlel
QUEEN MARGARET	Follow the knave, and take this drab away.
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.
(didascalia)	Exit the Beadle with the Wife
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER to the Mayor
SIMPCOX’S WIFE	Let them be whipped through every market-town 160 Till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.
(didascalia)	Exeunt the Mayor and any remaining townsmen
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Duke Humphrey has done a miracle today.
SUFFOLK	True: made the lame to leap and fly away.
GLOUCESTER	But you have done more miracles than I— You made, in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Buckingham
KING HENRY	What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?
BUCKINGHAM	Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold. A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent, Under the countenance and confederacy Of Lady Eleanor, the Protector’s wife, The ringleader and head of all this rout, Have practised dangerously against your state, Dealing with witches and with conjurors, 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. And here’s the answer the devil did make to them. Buckingham gives King Henry the writings
(didascalia)	KING HENRY (reads)
BUCKINGHAM	‘First of the King: what shall of him become? The Duke yet lives that Henry shall depose, But him outlive and die a violent death.’ God’s will be done in all. Well, to the rest. (Reads) ‘Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk? By water shall he die, and take his end.’
SUFFOLK	[aside] By water must the Duke of Suffolk die? It must be so, or else the devil doth lie.
KING HENRY	(reads) ‘What shall betide the Duke of Somerset? Let him shun castles. Safer shall he be Upon the sandy plains than where castles mounted stand.’
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to Gloucester) And so, my Lord Protector, by this means Your lady is forthcoming yet at London. (Aside to Gloucester) This news, I think, hath turned your weapon’s edge. ᾽“Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.
GLOUCESTER	Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart. Sorrow and grief have vanquished all my powers, And, vanquished as I am, I yield to thee Or to the meanest groom.
KING HENRY	O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones, Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!
QUEEN MARGARET	Gloucester, see here the tainture of thy nest, And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.
GLOUCESTER	Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal, How I have loved my King and common weal; 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 conversed 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 dishonoured Gloucester’s honest name.
KING HENRY	Well, for this night we will repose us here; Tomorrow 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

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of York and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick
YORK	Now, my good lords of Salisbury and Warwick, Our simple supper ended, give me leave In this close walk to satisfy myself In craving your opinion of my title, Which is infallible, to England’s crown.
SALISBURY	My lord, I long to hear it out at full.
WARWICK	Sweet York, begin, and if thy claim be good, The Nevilles 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 Gloucester; William of Windsor was the seventh and last. Edward the Black Prince died before his father And left behind him Richard, his only son, Who, after Edward the Third’s death, reigned as king Till Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt, Crowned by the name of Henry the Fourth, Seized on the realm, deposed the rightful king, Sent his poor queen to France from whence she came, And him to Pomfret; where, as well you know, Harmless Richard was murdered traitorously.
WARWICK	(to Salisbury) Father, the Duke of York hath told the truth; Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown.
YORK	Which now they hold by force and not by right; For Richard, the first son’s heir, being dead, The issue of the next son should have reigned.
SALISBURY	But William of Hatfield died without an heir.
YORK	The third son, Duke of Clarence, from whose line I claim the crown, had issue Phillipe, a daughter, Who married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March; Edmund had issue, Roger, Earl of March; Roger had issue, Edmund, Anne and Eleanor.
SALISBURY	This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke, As I have read, laid claim unto the crown, And, but for Owain Glyndwr, had been king, Who kept him in captivity till he died. But to the rest.
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 son. By her I claim the kingdom: she was heir To Roger, Earl of March, who was the son Of Edmund Mortimer, who married Phillipe, Sole daughter unto Lionel, Duke of Clarence. So if the issue of the elder son Succeed before the younger, I am king.
WARWICK	What plain proceedings is more plain than this? Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt, The fourth son; York claims it from the third: Till Lionel’s issue fails, John’s 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 together, And in this private plot be we the first That shall salute our rightful sovereign With honour of his birthright to the crown.
SALISBURY	and WARWICK (kneeling) Long live our sovereign Richard, England’s king!
YORK	We thank you, lords;
(didascalia)	Salisbury and Warwick rise
YORK	but I am not your king Till I be crowned, and that my sword be stained With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster— And that’s not suddenly to be performed, 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 snared the shepherd of the flock, That virtuous prince, the good Duke Humphrey. ᾽Tis that they seek, and they, in seeking that, Shall find their deaths, if York can prophesy.
SALISBURY	My lord, break off—we know your mind at full.
WARWICK	My heart assures me that the Earl of Warwick Shall one day make the Duke of York a king.
YORK	And Neville, this I do assure myself— Richard shall live to make the Earl of Warwick The greatest man in England but the King. Exeunt

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Sound trumpets. Enter King Henry and state, with guard, to banish the Duchess: King Henry and Queen Margaret, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the Duke of Suffolk [and the Duke of Buckingham, Cardinal [Beaufort], and, led with officers, Dame Eleanor Cobham the Duchess, Margery Jordan the witch, John Southwell and Sir John Hume the two priests, and Roger Bolingbroke the conjuror; then enter to them] the Duke of York and the Earls of Salisbury rand Warwick
KING HENRY	(to the Duchess) Stand forth, Dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloucester’s wife. She comes forward 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 adjudged to death. (To the Witch, Southwell, Hume, and Bolingbroke) You four, from hence to prison back again; From thence, unto the place of execution. The witch in Smithfield shall be burned to ashes, And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Witch, Southwell, Hume, and Bolingbroke, guarded
KING HENRY	(To the Duchess) 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.
DUCHESS	Welcome is banishment; welcome were my death.
GLOUCESTER	Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hath judged thee; I cannot justify whom the law condemns.
(didascalia)	Exit the Duchess, guarded
GLOUCESTER	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 grave. (To King Henry) I beseech your majesty, give me leave to go. Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.
KING HENRY	Stay, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Ere thou go, Give up thy staff. Henry will to himself Protector be; and God shall be my hope, My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet. And go in peace, Humphrey, no less beloved Than when thou wert Protector to thy King.
QUEEN MARGARET	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.
GLOUCESTER	My staff? Here, noble Henry, is my staff. As willingly do I the same resign As erst thy father Henry made it mine; And even as willing at thy feet I leave it As others would ambitiously receive it. He lays the staff at King Henry’s feet Farewell, good King. When I am dead and gone, May honourable peace attend thy throne. Exit
QUEEN MARGARET	Why, now is Henry King and Margaret Queen, And Humphrey Duke of Gloucester scarce himself, That bears so shrewd a maim; two pulls at once— His lady banished and a limb lopped off. She picks up the staff This staff of honour raught, there let it stand Where it best fits to be, in Henry’s hand. She gives the staff to King Henry
SUFFOLK	Thus droops this lofty pine and hangs his sprays; Thus Eleanor’s pride dies in her youngest days.
YORK	Lords, let him go. Please it your majesty, This is the day appointed for the combat, And ready are the appellant and defendant— The armourer and his man—to enter the lists, So please your highness to behold the fight.
QUEEN MARGARET	Ay, good my lord, for purposely therefor Left I the court to see this quarrel tried.
KING HENRY	A God’s name, see the lists and all things fit; Here let them end it, and God defend the right.
YORK	I never saw a fellow worse bestead, Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant, The servant of this armourer, my lords.
(didascalia)	Enter at one door Horner the armourer and his
YORK	Neighbours, drinking to him so much that he is drunken; and he enters with a drummer before him
(didascalia)	and carrying his staff with a sandbag fastened to
YORK	it. Enter at the other door Peter his man, also with a drummer and a staff with sandbag, and Prentices drinking to him
FIRST NEIGHBOUR	(offering drink to Horner) Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to you in a cup of sack, and fear not, neighbour, you shall do well enough.
SECOND NEIGHBOUR	(offering drink to Horner) And here, neighbour, here’s a cup of charneco.
(didascalia)	THIRD NEIGHBOUR (offering drink to Horner) Here’s a pot of good double beer, neighbour, drink and be merry, and fear not your man. HORNER accepting the offers of drink Let it come, i’faith I’ll pledge you all, and a fig for Peter.
FIRST PRENTICE	(offering drink to Peter) Here, Peter, I drink to thee, and be not afeard.
SECOND PRENTICE	(offering drink to Peter) Here, Peter, here’s a pint of claret wine for thee.
THIRD PRENTICE	(offering drink to Peter) And here’s a quart for me, and be merry, Peter, and fear not thy master. Fight for credit of the prentices!
(didascalia)	PETER refusing the offers of drink I thank you all. Drink and pray for me, I pray you, for I think I have taken my last draught in this world. Here, Robin, an if I die, I give thee my apron; and, Will, thou shalt have my hammer; and here, Tom, take all the money that I have. OLord bless me, I pray God, for I am never able to deal with my master, he hath learned so much fence already.
SALISBURY	Come, leave your drinking, and fall to blows. (To Peter) Sirrah, what’s thy name?
PETER	Peter, forsooth.
SALISBURY	Peter? What more?
PETER	Thump.
SALISBURY	Thump! Then see that thou thump thy master well.
HORNER	Masters, I am come hither, as it were, upon my man’s instigation, to prove him a knave and myself an honest man; and touching the Duke of York, I will take my death I never meant him any ill, nor the King, nor the Queen; and therefore, Peter, have at thee with a downright blow.
YORK	Dispatch; this knave’s tongue begins to double.
(didascalia)	Sound trumpets an alarum to the combatants. They fight and Peter hits Horner on the head and strikes him down
HORNER	Hold, Peter, hold—I confess, I confess treason. He dies
YORK	(to an attendant, pointing to Horner) Take away his weapon. (To Peter) Fellow, thank God and the good wine in thy master’s wame.
PETER	[kneeling] O God, have I overcome mine enemy in this presence? O, Peter, thou hast prevailed in right.
KING HENRY	(to attendants, pointing to Horner) Go, take hence that traitor from our sight, For by his death we do perceive his guilt. And God in justice hath revealed to us The truth and innocence of this poor fellow, Which he had thought to have murdered wrongfully. (To Peter) Come, fellow, follow us for thy reward.
(didascalia)	Sound a flourish. Exeunt, some carrying Horner’s body

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and his men in mourning cloaks
GLOUCESTER	Thus sometimes hath the brightest day a cloud; And after summer evermore succeeds Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold; So cares and joys abound as seasons fleet. Sirs, what’s o’clock?
SERVANT	Ten, my lord.
GLOUCESTER	Ten is the hour that was appointed me To watch the coming of my punished Duchess; Uneath may she endure the flinty streets, To tread them with her tender-feeling feet. Sweet Nell, ill can thy noble mind abrook The abject people gazing on thy face With envious looks, laughing at thy shame, That erst did follow thy proud chariot wheels When thou didst ride in triumph through the streets. But soft, I think she comes; and I’ll prepare My tear-stained eyes to see her miseries.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duchess, Dame Eleanor Cobham, barefoot,
GLOUCESTER	with a white sheet about her, written verses pinned on her back, and carrying a wax candle in her hand; she is accompanied by the [two Sheriffs] of London, and Sir John Stanley, and officers with bills and halberds
SERVANT	(to Gloucester) So please your grace, we’ll take her from the sheriffs.
GLOUCESTER	No, stir not for your lives, let her pass by.
DUCHESS	Come you, my lord, to see my open shame? Now thou dost penance too. Look how they gaze, See how the giddy multitude do point And nod their heads, and throw their eyes on thee. Ah, Gloucester, hide thee from their hateful looks, And, in thy closet pent up, rue my shame, And ban thine enemies—both mine and thine.
GLOUCESTER	Be patient, gentle Nell; forget this grief.
DUCHESS	Ah, Gloucester, teach me to forget myself; For whilst I think I am thy married wife, And thou a prince, Protector of this land, Methinks I should not thus be led along, Mailed up in shame, with papers on my back, And followed with a rabble that rejoice To see my tears and hear my deep-fet groans. The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet, And when I start, the envious people laugh, And bid me be advised how I tread. Ah, Humphrey, can I bear this shameful yoke? Trowest thou that e’er I’ll look upon the world, Or count them happy that enjoys the sun? No, dark shall be my light, and night my day; To think upon my pomp shall be my hell. Sometime I’ll say I am Duke Humphrey’s wife, And he a prince and ruler of the land; Yet so he ruled, and such a prince he was, As he stood by whilst I, his forlorn Duchess, Was made a wonder and a pointing stock To every idle rascal follower. But be thou mild and blush not at my shame, Nor stir at nothing till the axe of death Hang over thee, as sure it shortly will. For Suffolk, he that can do all in all With her that hateth thee and hates us all, And York, and impious Beaufort that false priest, Have all limed bushes to betray thy wings, And fly thou how thou canst, they’ll tangle thee. But fear not thou until thy foot be snared, Nor never seek prevention of thy foes.
GLOUCESTER	Ah, Nell, forbear; thou aimest all awry. I must offend before I be attainted, And had I twenty times so many foes, And each of them had twenty times their power, All these could not procure me any scathe So long as I am loyal, true, and crimeless. Wouldst have me rescue thee from this reproach? Why, yet thy scandal were not wiped away, But I in danger for the breach of law. Thy greatest help is quiet, gentle Nell. I pray thee sort thy heart to patience. These few days’ wonder will be quickly worn.
(didascalia)	Enter a Herald
HERALD	I summon your grace to his majesty’s parliament holden at Bury the first of this next month.
GLOUCESTER	And my consent ne’er asked herein before? This is close dealing. Well, I will be there. Exit Herald My Nell, I take my leave; and, Master Sheriff, Let not her penance exceed the King’s commission.
(didascalia)	FIRST SHERIFF
GLOUCESTER	An’t please your grace, here my commission stays, And Sir John Stanley is appointed now To take her with him to the Isle of Man.
GLOUCESTER	Must you, Sir John, protect my lady here?
STANLEY	So am I given in charge, may’t please your grace.
GLOUCESTER	Entreat her not the worse in that I pray You use her well. The world may laugh again, And I may live to do you kindness if You do it her. And so, Sir John, farewell. 85
(didascalia)	Gloucester begins to leave
DUCHESS	What, gone, my lord, and bid me not farewell?
GLOUCESTER	Witness my tears—I cannot stay to speak.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Gloucester and his men
DUCHESS	Art thou gone too? All comfort go with thee, For none abides with me. My joy is death— Death, at whose name I oft have been afeard, Because I wished this world’s eternity. Stanley, I prithee go and take me hence. I care not whither, for I beg no favour, Only convey me where thou art commanded.
STANLEY	Why, madam, that is to the Isle of Man, There to be used according to your state.
DUCHESS	That’s bad enough, for I am but reproach; And shall I then be used reproachfully?
STANLEY	Like to a duchess and Duke Humphrey’s lady, According to that state you shall be used.
DUCHESS	Sheriff, farewell, and better than I fare, Although thou hast been conduct of my shame.
(didascalia)	FIRST SHERIFF
DUCHESS	It is my office, and, madam, pardon me.
DUCHESS	Ay, ay, farewell—thy office is discharged.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Sheriffs
DUCHESS	Come, Stanley, shall we go?
STANLEY	Madam, your penance done, throw off this sheet, And go we to attire you for our journey.
DUCHESS	My shame will not be shifted with my sheet— No, it will hang upon my richest robes And show itself, attire me how I can. Go, lead the way, I long to see my prison. Exeunt

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Sound a sennet. Enter to the parliament: enter two heralds before, then the Dukes of Buckingham and Suffolk, and then the Duke of York and Cardinal Beaufort, and then King Henry and Queen Margaret, and then the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, With attendants
KING HENRY	I muse my lord of Gloucester is not come. “Tis not his wont to be the hindmost man, Whate’er occasion keeps him from us now.
QUEEN MARGARET	Can you not see, or will ye not observe, The strangeness of his altered countenance? With what a majesty he bears himself? How insolent of late he is become? How proud, how peremptory, and unlike himself? We know the time since he was mild and affable, And if we did but glance a far-off look, Immediately he was upon his knee, That all the court admired him for submission. But meet him now, and be it in the morn When everyone will give the time of day, He knits his brow, and shows an angry eye, And passeth by with stiff unbowed knee, Disdaining duty that to us belongs. Small curs are not regarded when they grin, But great men tremble when the lion roars— And Humphrey is no little man in England. First, note that he is near you in descent, And, should you fall, he is the next will mount. Meseemeth then it is no policy, Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears And his advantage following your decease, That he should come about your royal person, Or be admitted to your highness’ Council. By flattery hath he won the commons’ hearts, And when he please to make commotion, “Tis to be feared they all will follow him. Now ‘tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; Suffer them now, and they’ll o’ergrow the garden, And choke the herbs for want of husbandry. The reverent care I bear unto my lord Made me collect these dangers in the Duke. If it be fond, call it a woman’s fear; Which fear, if better reasons can supplant, I will subscribe and say I wronged the Duke. My lord of Suffolk, Buckingham, and York, Reprove my allegation if you can, Or else conclude my words effectual.
SUFFOLK	Well hath your highness seen into this Duke, And had I first been put to speak my mind, I think I should have told your grace’s tale. The Duchess by his subornation, Upon my life, began her devilish practices; Or if he were not privy to those faults, Yet by reputing of his high descent, As next the King he was successive heir, And such high vaunts of his nobility, Did instigate the bedlam brainsick Duchess By wicked means to frame our sovereign’s fall. Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep, And in his simple show he harbours treason. The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb. (To King Henry) No, no, my sovereign, Gloucester is a man Unsounded yet, and full of deep deceit.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to King Henry) Did he not, contrary to form of law, Devise strange deaths for small offences done?
YORK	(to King Henry) And did he not, in his Protectorship, Levy great sums of money through the realm For soldiers’ pay in France, and never sent it, By means whereof the towns each day revolted?
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) Tut, these are petty faults to faults unknown, Which time will bring to light in smooth Duke Humphrey.
KING HENRY	My lords, at once: the care you have of us To mow down thorns that would annoy our foot Is worthy praise, but shall I speak my conscience? Our kinsman Gloucester is as innocent From meaning treason to our royal person As is the sucking lamb or harmless dove. The Duke is virtuous, mild, and too well given To dream on evil or to work my downfall.
QUEEN MARGARET	Ah, what’s more dangerous than this fond affiance? Seems he a dove? His feathers are but borrowed, For he’s disposed as the hateful raven. Is he a lamb? His skin is surely lent him, For he’s inclined as is the ravenous wolf. Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit? Take heed, my lord, the welfare of us all Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Somerset
(didascalia)	SOMERSET kneeling before King Henry
QUEEN MARGARET	All health unto my gracious sovereign.
KING HENRY	Welcome, Lord Somerset. What news from France?
SOMERSET	That all your interest in those territories Is utterly bereft you—all is lost.
KING HENRY	Cold news, Lord Somerset; but God’s will be done.
(didascalia)	Somerset rises
YORK	(aside) Cold news for me, for I had hope of France, As firmly as I hope for fertile England. Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud, And caterpillars eat my leaves away. 90 But I will remedy this gear ere long, Or sell my title for a glorious grave.
(didascalia)	Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER kneeling before King Henry
YORK	All happiness unto my lord the King. Pardon, my liege, that I have stayed so long.
SUFFOLK	Nay, Gloucester, know that thou art come too soon 95 Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art. I do arrest thee of high treason here.
(didascalia)	GLOUCESTER rising
SUFFOLK	Well, Suffolk’s Duke, thou shalt not see me blush, Nor change my countenance for this arrest. A heart unspotted is not easily daunted. The purest spring is not so free from mud As I am clear from treason to my sovereign. Who can accuse me? Wherein am I guilty?
YORK	“Tis thought, my lord, that you took bribes of France, And, being Protector, stayed the soldiers’ pay, By means whereof his highness hath lost France.
GLOUCESTER	Is it but thought so? What are they that think it? I never robbed the soldiers of their pay, Nor ever had one penny bribe from France. So help me God, as I have watched the night, Ay, night by night, in studying good for England, That doit that e’er I wrested from the King, Or any groat I hoarded to my use, Be brought against me at my trial day I No: many a pound of mine own proper store, Because I would not tax the needy commons, Have I dispursèd to the garrisons, And never asked for restitution.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	It serves you well, my lord, to say so much.
GLOUCESTER	I say no more than truth, so help me God.
YORK	In your Protectorship you did devise Strange tortures for offenders, never heard of, That England was defamed by tyranny.
GLOUCESTER	Why, ’tis well known that whiles I was Protector Pity was all the fault that was in me, For I should melt at an offender’s tears, And lowly words were ransom for their fault. Unless it were a bloody murderer, Or foul felonious thief that fleeced poor passengers, I never gave them condign punishment. Murder, indeed—that bloody sin—I tortured Above the felon or what trespass else.
SUFFOLK	My lord, these faults are easy, quickly answered, But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge Whereof you cannot easily purge yourself. I do arrest you in his highness’ name, And here commit you to my good lord Cardinal To keep until your further time of trial.
KING HENRY	My lord of Gloucester, ’tis my special hope That you will clear yourself from all suspense. My conscience tells me you are innocent.
GLOUCESTER	Ah, gracious lord, these days are dangerous. Virtue is choked with foul ambition, And charity chased hence by rancour’s hand. Foul subornation is predominant, And equity exiled your highness’ land. I know their complot is to have my life, And if my death might make this island happy And prove the period of their tyranny, I would expend it with all willingness. But mine is made the prologue to their play, For thousands more that yet suspect no peril Will not conclude their plotted tragedy. Beaufort’s red sparkling eyes blab his heart’s malice, And Suffolk’s cloudy brow his stormy hate; Sharp Buckingham unburdens with his tongue The envious load that lies upon his heart; And dogged York that reaches at the moon, Whose overweening arm I have plucked back, By false accuse doth level at my life. (To Queen Margaret) And you, my sovereign lady, with the rest, Causeless have laid disgraces on my head, And with your best endeavour have stirred up My liefest liege to be mine enemy. Ay, all of you have laid your heads together— Myself had notice of your conventicles— And all to make away my guiltless life. I shall not want false witness to condemn me, Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt. The ancient proverb will be well effected: ‘A staff is quickly found to beat a dog’.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to King Henry) My liege, his railing is intolerable. If those that care to keep your royal person From treason’s secret knife and traitor’s rage Be thus upbraided, chid, and rated at, And the offender granted scope of speech, ‘Twill make them cool in zeal unto your grace.
SUFFOLK	(to King Henry) Hath he not twit our sovereign lady here With ignominious words, though clerkly couched, As if she had suborned some to swear False allegations to o’erthrow his state?
QUEEN MARGARET	But I can give the loser leave to chide.
GLOUCESTER	Far truer spoke than meant. I lose indeed; Beshrew the winners, for they played me false! And well such losers may have leave to speak.
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) He’ll wrest the sense, and hold us here all day. Lord Cardinal, he is your prisoner.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	(to some of his attendants) Sirs, take away the Duke and guard him sure.
GLOUCESTER	Ah, thus King Henry throws away his crutch Before his legs be firm to bear his body. Thus is the shepherd beaten from thy side, And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first. Ah, that my fear were false; ah, that it were! For, good King Henry, thy decay I fear.
(didascalia)	Exit Gloucester, guarded by the Cardinal’s men
KING HENRY	My lords, what to your wisdoms seemeth best Do or undo, as if ourself were here.
QUEEN MARGARET	What, will your highness leave the Parliament?
KING HENRY	Ay, Margaret, my heart is drowned with grief, Whose flood begins to flow within mine eyes, My body round engirt with misery; For what’s more miserable than discontent? Ah, uncle Humphrey, in thy face I see The map of honour, truth, and loyalty; And yet, good Humphrey, is the hour to come That e‘er I proved thee false, or feared thy faith. What louring star now envies thy estate, That these great lords and Margaret our Queen Do seek subversion of thy harmless life? Thou never didst them wrong, nor no man wrong. And as the butcher takes away the calf, And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strains, Bearing it to the bloody slaughterhouse, Even so remorseless have they borne him hence; And as the dam runs lowing up and down, Looking the way her harmless young one went, And can do naught but wail her darling’s loss; Even so myself bewails good Gloucester’s case With sad unhelpful tears, and with dimmed eyes Look after him, and cannot do him good, So mighty are his vowèd enemies. His fortunes I will weep, and ’twixt each groan, Say ‘Who’s a traitor? Gloucester, he is none’.
(didascalia)	Exit with Salisbury and Warwick
QUEEN MARGARET	Free lords, cold snow melts with the sun’s hot beams. Henry my lord is cold in great affairs, Too full of foolish pity; and Gloucester’s show Beguiles him as the mournful crocodile With sorrow snares relenting passengers, Or as the snake rolled in a flow’ring bank With shining chequered slough doth sting a child That for the beauty thinks it excellent. Believe me, lords, were none more wise than I— And yet herein I judge mine own wit good— This Gloucester should be quickly rid the world To rid us from the fear we have of him.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	That he should die is worthy policy; But yet we want a colour for his death. ’Tis meet he be condemned by course of law.
SUFFOLK	But, in my mind, that were no policy. The King will labour still to save his life, The commons haply rise to save his life; And yet we have but trivial argument More than mistrust that shows him worthy death.
YORK	So that, by this, you would not have him die?
SUFFOLK	Ah, York, no man alive so fain as I.
YORK	(aside) ’Tis York that hath more reason for his death. (Aloud) But my lord Cardinal, and you my lord of Suffolk, Say as you think, and speak it from your souls. Were’t not all one an empty eagle were set To guard the chicken from a hungry kite, As place Duke Humphrey for the King’s Protector?
QUEEN MARGARET	So the poor chicken should be sure of death.
SUFFOLK	Madam, ‘tis true; and were’t not madness then To make the fox surveyor of the fold, Who being accused a crafty murderer, His guilt should be but idly posted over Because his purpose is not executed? No—let him die in that he is a fox, By nature proved an enemy to the flock, Before his chaps be stained with crimson blood, As Humphrey, proved by reasons, to my liege. And do not stand on quillets how to slay him; Be it by gins, by snares, by subtlety, Sleeping or waking, ‘tis no matter how, So he be dead; for that is good conceit Which mates him first that first intends deceit.
QUEEN MARGARET	Thrice-noble Suffolk, ’tis resolutely spoke.
SUFFOLK	Not resolute, except so much were done; For things are often spoke and seldom meant; But that my heart accordeth with my tongue, Seeing the deed is meritorious, And to preserve my sovereign from his foe, Say but the word and I will be his priest.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	But I would have him dead, my lord of Suffolk, Ere you can take due orders for a priest. Say you consent and censure well the deed, And I’ll provide his executioner; I tender so the safety of my liege.
SUFFOLK	Here is my hand; the deed is worthy doing.
QUEEN MARGARET	And SO say I.
YORK	And I. And now we three have spoke it, It skills not greatly who impugns our doom.
(didascalia)	Enter a Post
POST	Great lord, from Ireland am I come amain To signify that rebels there are up And put the Englishmen unto the sword. Send succours, lords, and stop the rage betime, Before the wound do grow uncurable; For, being green, there is great hope of help.
(didascalia)	Exit
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	A breach that craves a quick expedient stop! What counsel give you in this weighty cause?
YORK	That Somerset be sent as regent thither. ’Tis meet that lucky ruler be employed— Witness the fortune he hath had in France.
SOMERSET	If York, with all his far-fet policy, Had been the regent there instead of me, He never would have stayed in France so long.
YORK	No, not to lose it all as thou hast done. I rather would have lost my life betimes Than bring a burden of dishonour home By staying there so long till all were lost. Show me one scar charactered on thy skin. Men’s flesh preserved so whole do seldom win.
QUEEN MARGARET	Nay, then, this spark will prove a raging fire If wind and fuel be brought to feed it with. No more, good York; sweet Somerset, be still. Thy fortune, York, hadst thou been regent there, Might happily have proved far worse than his.
YORK	What, worse than naught? Nay, then a shame take all!
SOMERSET	And, in the number, thee that wishest shame.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	My lord of York, try what your fortune is. Th’uncivil kerns of Ireland are in arms And temper clay with blood of Englishmen. To Ireland will you lead a band of men Collected choicely, from each county some, And try your hap against the Irishmen?
YORK	I will, my lord, so please his majesty.
SUFFOLK	Why, our authority is his consent, And what we do establish he confirms. Then, noble York, take thou this task in hand.
YORK	I am content. Provide me soldiers, lords, Whiles I take order for mine own affairs.
SUFFOLK	A charge, Lord York, that I will see performed. But now return we to the false Duke Humphrey.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	No more of him—for I will deal with him That henceforth he shall trouble us no more. And so, break off; the day is almost spent. Lord Suffolk, you and I must talk of that event.
YORK	My lord of Suffolk, within fourteen days At Bristol I expect my soldiers; For there I’ll ship them all for Ireland.
SUFFOLK	I’ll see it truly done, my lord of York.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but York
YORK	Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts, And change misdoubt to resolution. Be that thou hop‘st to be, or what thou art Resign to death; it is not worth th’enjoying. Let pale-faced fear keep with the mean-born man And find no harbour in a royal heart. Faster than springtime showers comes thought on thought, And not a thought but thinks on dignity. My brain, more busy than the labouring spider, Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies. Well, nobles, well: ’tis politicly done To send me packing with an host of men. I fear me you but warm the starved snake, Who, cherished in your breasts, will sting your hearts. ’Twas men I lacked, and you will give them me. I take it kindly. Yet be well assured You put sharp weapons in a madman’s hands. Whiles I in Ireland nurse a mighty band, I will stir up in England some black storm Shall blow ten thousand souls to heaven or hell, And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage Until the golden circuit on my head Like to the glorious sun’s transparent beams Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw. And for a minister of my intent, I have seduced a headstrong Kentishman, John Cade of Ashford, To make commotion, as full well he can, Under the title of John Mortimer. In Ireland have I seen this stubborn Cade Oppose himself against a troop of kerns, And fought so long till that his thighs with darts Were almost like a sharp-quilled porcupine; And in the end, being rescued, I have seen Him caper upright like a wild Morisco, Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells. Full often like a shag-haired crafty kern Hath he conversed with the enemy And, undiscovered, come to me again And given me notice of their villainies. This devil here shall be my substitute, For that John Mortimer, which now is dead, In face, in gait, in speech, he doth resemble. By this I shall perceive the commons’ mind, How they affect the house and claim of York. Say he be taken, racked, and torturèd— I know no pain they can inflict upon him Will make him say I moved him to those arms. Say that he thrive, as ’tis great like he will— Why then from Ireland come I with my strength And reap the harvest which that coistrel sowed. For Humphrey being dead, as he shall be, And Henry put apart, the next for me. Exit
(didascalia)	3.2 The curtains are drawn apart, revealing Duke Humphrey of Gloucester in his bed with two men lying on his breast, smothering him in his bed
FIRST MURDERER	(to the Second Murderer) Run to my lord of Suffolk—let him know We have dispatched the Duke as he commanded.
SECOND MURDERER	O that it were to do! What have we done? Didst ever hear a man so penitent?
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Suffolk
FIRST MURDERER	Here comes my lord.
SUFFOLK	Now, sirs, have you dispatched this thing?
FIRST MURDERER	Ay, my good lord, he’s dead.
SUFFOLK	Why, that’s well said. Go, get you to my house. I will reward you for this venturous deed. The King and all the peers are here at hand. Have you laid fair the bed? Is all things well, According as I gave directions?
FIRST MURDERER	’Tis, my good lord.
SUFFOLK	Then draw the curtains close; away, be gone!
(didascalia)	Exeunt the Murderers, drawing the curtains as
(didascalia)	they leave
(didascalia)	Sound trumpets, then enter King Henry and Queen
SUFFOLK	Margaret, Cardinal Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset, and attendants
(didascalia)	KING HENRY to Suffolk
SUFFOLK	Go call our uncle to our presence straight. Say we intend to try his grace today If he be guilty, as ’tis published.
SUFFOLK	I’ll call him presently, my noble lord.
(didascalia)	Exit
KING HENRY	Lords, take your places; and, I pray you all, Proceed no straiter ’gainst our uncle Gloucester Than from true evidence, of good esteem, He be approved in practice culpable.
QUEEN MARGARET	God forbid any malice should prevail That faultless may condemn a noble man! Pray God he may acquit him of suspicion!
KING HENRY	I thank thee, Meg. These words content me much.
(didascalia)	Enter Suffolk
KING HENRY	How now? Why look’st thou pale? Why tremblest thou? Where is our uncle? What’s the matter, Suffolk?
SUFFOLK	Dead in his bed, my lord—Gloucester is dead.
QUEEN MARGARET	Marry, God forfend!
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	God’s secret judgement. I did dream tonight The Duke was dumb and could not speak a word. King Henry falls to the ground
QUEEN MARGARET	How fares my lord? Help, lords—the King is dead!
SOMERSET	Rear up his body; wring him by the nose.
QUEEN MARGARET	Run, go, help, help! O Henry, ope thine eyes!
SUFFOLK	He doth revive again. Madam, be patient.
KING HENRY	O heavenly God!
QUEEN MARGARET	How fares my gracious lord?
SUFFOLK	Comfort, my sovereign; gracious Henry, comfort.
KING HENRY	What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me? Came he right now to sing a raven’s note Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers; And thinks he that the chirping of a wren, By crying comfort from a hollow breast Can chase away the first-conceived sound? Hide not thy poison with such sugared words.
(didascalia)	He begins to rise. Suffolk offers to assist him
KING HENRY	Lay not thy hands on me—forbear, I say! Their touch affrights me as a serpent’s sting. Thou baleful messenger, out of my sight! Upon thy eyeballs murderous tyranny Sits in grim majesty to fright the world. Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding— Yet do not go away. Come, basilisk, And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight. For in the shade of death I shall find joy; In life, but double death, now Gloucester’s dead.
QUEEN MARGARET	Why do you rate my lord of Suffolk thus? Although the Duke was enemy to him, Yet he most Christian-like laments his death. And for myself, foe as he was to me, Might liquid tears, or heart-offending groans, Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life, I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans, Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs, And all to have the noble Duke alive. What know I how the world may deem of me? For it is known we were but hollow friends, It may be judged I made the Duke away. So shall my name with slander’s tongue be wounded And princes’ courts be filled with my reproach. This get I by his death. Ay me, unhappy, To be a queen, and crowned with infamy.
KING HENRY	Ah, woe is me for Gloucester, wretched man!
QUEEN MARGARET	Be woe for me, more wretched than he is. What, dost thou turn away and hide thy face? I am no loathsome leper—look on me! What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf? Be poisonous too and kill thy forlorn queen. Is all thy comfort shut in Gloucester’s tomb? Why, then Queen Margaret was ne‘er thy joy. Erect his statue and worship it, 80 And make my image but an alehouse sign. Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea, And twice by awkward winds from England’s bank Drove back again unto my native clime? What boded this, but well forewarning winds Did seem to say, ‘Seek not a scorpion’s nest, Nor set no footing on this unkind shore’. What did I then, but cursed the gentle gusts And he that loosed them forth their brazen caves, And bid them blow towards England’s blessed shore, Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock. Yet Aeolus would not be a murderer, But left that hateful office unto thee. The pretty vaulting sea refused to drown me, Knowing that thou wouldst have me drowned on shore With tears as salt as sea through thy unkindness. The splitting rocks cow’red in the sinking sands, And would not dash me with their ragged sides, Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they, Might in thy palace perish Margaret. As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs, When from thy shore the tempest beat us back, I stood upon the hatches in the storm, And when the dusky sky began to rob My earnest-gaping sight of thy land’s view, I took a costly jewel from my neck— A heart it was, bound in with diamonds— And threw it towards thy land. The sea received it, And so I wished thy body might my heart. And even with this I lost fair England’s view, And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart, And called them blind and dusky spectacles For losing ken of Albion’s wished coast. How often have I tempted Suffolk’s tongue— The agent of thy foul inconstancy— To sit and witch me, as Ascanius did, When he to madding Dido would unfold His father’s acts, commenced in burning Troy! Am I not witched like her? Or thou not false like him? Ay me, I can no more. Die, Margaret, For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long. Noise within. Enter the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury with many commons
WARWICK	(to King Henry) It is reported, mighty sovereign, That good Duke Humphrey traitorously is murdered By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort’s means. The commons, like an angry hive of bees That want their leader, scatter up and down And care not who they sting in his revenge. Myself have calmed their spleenful mutiny, Until they hear the order of his death.
KING HENRY	That he is dead, good Warwick, ’tis too true. But how he died God knows, not Henry.
(didascalia)	Enter his chamber, view his breathless corpse,
KING HENRY	And comment then upon his sudden death.
WARWICK	That shall I do, my liege.—Stay, Salisbury, With the rude multitude till I return.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Warwick at one door, Salisbury and
(didascalia)	commons at another
KING HENRY	O thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts, My thoughts that labour to persuade my soul Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey’s life. If my suspect be false, forgive me God, For judgement only doth belong to thee. Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain Upon his face an ocean of salt tears, To tell my love unto his dumb, deaf trunk, And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling. But all in vain are these mean obsequies,
(didascalia)	Enter Warwick who draws apart the curtains and
(didascalia)	shows Gloucester dead in his bed. Bed put forth
KING HENRY	And to survey his dead and earthy image, What were it but to make my sorrow greater?
WARWICK	Come hither, gracious sovereign, view this body.
KING HENRY	That is to see how deep my grave is made: For with his soul fled all my worldly solace, For seeing him I see my life in death.
WARWICK	As surely as my soul intends to live With that dread King that took our state upon Him To free us from his Father’s wrathful curse, I do believe that violent hands were laid Upon the life of this thrice-famed Duke.
SUFFOLK	A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue! What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?
WARWICK	See how the blood is settled in his face. Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless, Being all descended to the labouring heart; Who, in the conflict that it holds with death, Attracts the same for aidance ‘gainst the enemy; Which, with the heart, there cools, and ne’er returneth To blush and beautify the cheek again. But see, his face is black and full of blood; His eyeballs further out than when he lived, Staring full ghastly like a strangled man; His hair upreared; his nostrils stretched with struggling; His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped And tugged for life and was by strength subdued. Look on the sheets. His hair, you see, is sticking; His well-proportioned beard made rough and rugged, Like to the summer’s corn by tempest lodged. It cannot be but he was murdered here. The least of all these signs were probable.
SUFFOLK	Why, Warwick, who should do the Duke to death? Myself and Beaufort had him in protection, And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers.
WARWICK	But both of you were vowed Duke Humphrey’s foes, (To Cardinal Beaufort) And you, forsooth, had the good Duke to keep. ’Tis like you would not feast him like a friend; And ’tis well seen he found an enemy.
QUEEN MARGARET	Then you, belike, suspect these noblemen As guilty of Duke Humphrey’s timeless death?
WARWICK	Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding fresh, And sees fast by a butcher with an axe, But will suspect ’twas he that made the slaughter? Who finds the partridge in the puttock’s nest But may imagine how the bird was dead, Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak? Even so suspicious is this tragedy.
QUEEN MARGARET	Are you the butcher, Suffolk? Where’s your knife? Is Beaufort termed a kite? Where are his talons?
SUFFOLK	I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men. But here’s a vengeful sword, rusted with ease, That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart That slanders me with murder’s crimson badge. Say, if thou dar’st, proud Lord of Warwickshire, That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey’s death.
(didascalia)	Exit Cardinal Beaufort assisted by Somerset
WARWICK	What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?
QUEEN MARGARET	He dares not calm his contumelious spirit, Nor cease to be an arrogant controller, Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
WARWICK	Madam, be still, with reverence may I say, For every word you speak in his behalf Is slander to your royal dignity.
SUFFOLK	Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanour! If ever lady wronged her lord so much, Thy mother took into her blameful bed Some stern untutored churl, and noble stock Was graffed with crabtree slip, whose fruit thou art, And never of the Nevilles’ noble race.
WARWICK	But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee And I should rob the deathsman of his fee, Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames, And that my sovereign’s presence makes me mild, I would, false murd‘rous coward, on thy knee Make thee beg pardon for thy passed speech, And say it was thy mother that thou meant’st— That thou thyself wast born in bastardy! And after all this fearful homage done, Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell, Pernicious blood-sucker of sleeping men!
SUFFOLK	Thou shalt be waking while I shed thy blood, If from this presence thou dar’st go with me.
WARWICK	Away, even now, or I will drag thee hence. Unworthy though thou art, I’ll cope with thee, And do some service to Duke Humphrey’s ghost.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Suffolk and Warwick
KING HENRY	What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted? Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just; And he but naked, though locked up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.
COMMONS	(within) Down with Suffolk! Down with Suffolk!
QUEEN MARGARET	What noise is this?
(didascalia)	Enter Suffolk and Warwick with their weapons drawn
KING HENRY	Why, how now, lords? Your wrathful weapons drawn Here in our presence? Dare you be so bold? Why, what tumultuous clamour have we here?
SUFFOLK	The trait’rous Warwick with the men of Bury Set all upon me, mighty sovereign!
COMMONS	(within) Down with Suffolk! Down with Suffolk!
(didascalia)	Enter from the commons the Earl of Salisbury
SALISBURY	(to the commons, within) Sirs, stand apart. The King shall know your mind. (To King Henry) Dread lord, the commons send you word by me Unless Lord Suffolk straight be done to death, Or banished fair England’s territories, They will by violence tear him from your palace And torture him with grievous ling‘ring death. They say, by him the good Duke Humphrey died; They say, in him they fear your highness’ death; And mere instinct of love and loyalty, Free from a stubborn opposite intent, As being thought to contradict your liking, Makes them thus forward in his banishment. They say, in care of your most royal person, That if your highness should intend to sleep, And charge that no man should disturb your rest In pain of your dislike, or pain of death, Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict, Were there a serpent seen with forked tongue, That slily glided towards your majesty, It were but necessary you were waked, Lest, being suffered in that harmful slumber, The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal. And therefore do they cry, though you forbid, That they will guard you, whe’er you will or no, From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is, With whose envenomed and fatal sting Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth, They say, is shamefully bereft of life.
COMMONS	(within) An answer from the King, my lord of Salisbury!
SUFFOLK	’Tis like the commons, rude unpolished hinds, Could send such message to their sovereign. But you, my lord, were glad to be employed, To show how quaint an orator you are. But all the honour Salisbury hath won Is that he was the Lord Ambassador Sent from a sort of tinkers to the King.
COMMONS	(within) An answer from the King, or we will all break in!
KING HENRY	Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me I thank them for their tender loving care, And had I not been ’cited so by them, Yet did I purpose as they do entreat; For sure my thoughts do hourly prophesy Mischance unto my state by Suffolk’s means. And therefore by His majesty I swear, Whose far unworthy deputy I am, He shall not breathe infection in this air But three days longer, on the pain of death.
(didascalia)	Exit Salisbury
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET kneeling
KING HENRY	O Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk.
KING HENRY	Ungentle Queen, to call him gentle Suffolk. No more, I say! If thou dost plead for him Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath. Had I but said, I would have kept my word; But when I swear, it is irrevocable. (To Suffolk) If after three days’ space thou here beest found On any ground that I am ruler of, The world shall not be ransom for thy life. Come, Warwick; come, good Warwick, go with me. I have great matters to impart to thee.
(didascalia)	Exeunt King Henry and Warwick with
(didascalia)	attendants who draw the curtains as they
(didascalia)	leave. Queen Margaret and Suffolk remain
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET rising
KING HENRY	Mischance and sorrow go along with you! Heart’s discontent and sour affliction Be playfellows to keep you company! There’s two of you, the devil make a third, And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!
SUFFOLK	Cease, gentle Queen, these execrations, And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.
QUEEN MARGARET	Fie, coward woman and soft-hearted wretch! Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemies?
SUFFOLK	A plague upon them! Wherefore should I curse them? Could curses kill, as doth the mandrake’s groan, I would invent as bitter searching terms, As curst, as harsh, and horrible to hear, Delivered strongly through my fixed teeth, With full as many signs of deadly hate, As lean-faced envy in her loathsome cave. My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words; Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint; My hair be fixed on end, as one distraught; Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban. And, even now, my burdened heart would break Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink! Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste! Their sweetest shade a grove of cypress trees! Their chiefest prospect murd’ring basilisks! Their softest touch as smart as lizards’ stings! Their music frightful as the serpent’s hiss, And boding screech-owls make the consort full! All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell—
QUEEN MARGARET	Enough, sweet Suffolk, thou torment‘st thyself, And these dread curses, like the sun ’gainst glass, Or like an overcharged gun, recoil And turn the force of them upon thyself.
SUFFOLK	You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave? Now by this ground that I am banished from, Well could I curse away a winter’s night, Though standing naked on a mountain top, Where biting cold would never let grass grow, And think it but a minute spent in sport.
QUEEN MARGARET	O let me entreat thee cease. Give me thy hand, That I may dew it with my mournful tears; Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place To wash away my woeful monuments.
(didascalia)	She kisses his palm
QUEEN MARGARET	O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand That thou mightst think upon these lips by the seal, Through whom a thousand sighs are breathed for thee! So get thee gone, that I may know my grief. ’Tis but surmised whiles thou art standing by, As one that surfeits thinking on a want. I will repeal thee, or, be well assured, Adventure to be banished myself. And banished I am, if but from thee. Go, speak not to me; even now be gone! O, go not yet. Even thus two friends condemned Embrace, and kiss, and take ten thousand leaves, Loather a hundred times to part than die. Yet now farewell, and farewell life with thee.
SUFFOLK	Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banishèd— Once by the King, and three times thrice by thee. ’Tis not the land I care for, wert thou thence, A wilderness is populous enough, So Suffolk had thy heavenly company. For where thou art, there is the world itself, With every several pleasure in the world; And where thou art not, desolation. I can no more. Live thou to joy thy life; Myself no joy in naught but that thou liv’st.
(didascalia)	Enter Vaux
QUEEN MARGARET	Whither goes Vaux so fast? What news, I prithee?
VAUX	To signify unto his majesty That Cardinal Beaufort is at point of death. For suddenly a grievous sickness took him That makes him gasp, and stare, and catch the air, Blaspheming God and cursing men on earth. Sometime he talks as if Duke Humphrey’s ghost Were by his side; sometime he calls the King, And whispers to his pillow as to him The secrets of his over-charged soul; And I am sent to tell his majesty That even now he cries aloud for him.
QUEEN MARGARET	Go tell this heavy message to the King. Exit Vaux Ay me! What is this world? What news are these? But wherefore grieve I at an hour’s poor loss Omitting Suffolk’s exile, my soul’s treasure? Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee, And with the southern clouds contend in tears— Theirs for the earth’s increase, mine for my sorrow’s? Now get thee hence. The King, thou know’st, is coming. 390 If thou be found by me, thou art but dead.
SUFFOLK	If I depart from thee, I cannot live. And in thy sight to die, what were it else But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap? Here could I breathe my soul into the air, As mild and gentle as the cradle babe Dying with mother’s dug between his lips; Where, from thy sight, I should be raging mad, And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes, To have thee with thy lips to stop my mouth, So shouldst thou either turn my flying soul Or I should breathe it, so, into thy body—
(didascalia)	He kisseth her
SUFFOLK	And then it lived in sweet Elysium. By thee to die were but to die in jest; From thee to die were torture more than death. O, let me stay, befall what may befall!
QUEEN MARGARET	Away. Though parting be a fretful corrosive, It is applied to a deathful wound. To France, sweet Suffolk. Let me hear from thee. For wheresoe’er thou art in this world’s Globe I’ll have an Iris that shall find thee out.
SUFFOLK	I go.
QUEEN MARGARET	And take my heart with thee.
(didascalia)	She kisseth him
SUFFOLK	A jewel, locked into the woefull’st cask That ever did contain a thing of worth. Even as a splitted barque, so sunder we—This way fall I to death.
QUEEN MARGARET	This way for me.
(didascalia)	Exeunt severally

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter King Henry and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick. Then the curtains be drawn revealing Cardinal Beaufort in his bed raving and staring as if he were mad
KING HENRY	(to Cardinal Beaufort) How fares my lord? Speak, Beaufort, to thy sovereign.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	If thou beest death, I’ll give thee England’s treasure Enough to purchase such another island, So thou wilt let me live and feel no pain.
KING HENRY	Ah, what a sign it is of evil life Where death’s approach is seen so terrible.
WARWICK	Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT	Bring me unto my trial when you will. Died he not in his bed ? Where should he die? Can I make men live whe’er they will or no? O, torture me no more—I will confess. Alive again? Then show me where he is. I’ll give a thousand pound to look upon him. He hath no eyes! The dust hath blinded them. Comb down his hair—look, look: it stands upright, Like lime twigs set to catch my winged soul. Give me some drink, and bid the apothecary Bring the strong poison that I bought of him.
KING HENRY	O Thou eternal mover of the heavens, Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch. O, beat away the busy meddling fiend That lays strong siege unto this wretch’s soul, And from his bosom purge this black despair.
WARWICK	See how the pangs of death do make him grin.
SALISBURY	Disturb him not; let him pass peaceably.
KING HENRY	Peace to his soul, if God’s good pleasure be. Lord Card‘nal, if thou think’st on heaven’s bliss, Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope. Cardinal Beaufort dies He dies and makes no sign. O God, forgive him.
WARWICK	So bad a death argues a monstrous life.
KING HENRY	Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all. Close up his eyes and draw the curtain close, And let us all to meditation.
(didascalia)	Exeunt, drawing the curtains. The bed is
(didascalia)	removed

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Alarums within, and the chambers be discharged like as it were a fight at sea. And then enter the Captain of the ship, the Master, the Master’s Mate, Walter Whitmore, and others. With them, as their prisoners, the Duke of Suffolk, disguised, and two Gentlemen
CAPTAIN	The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day Is crept into the bosom of the sea ; And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades That drag the tragic melancholy night; Who, with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings Clip dead men’s graves, and from their misty jaws Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air. Therefore bring forth the soldiers of our prize, For whilst our pinnace anchors in the downs, Here shall they make their ransom on the sand, Or with their blood stain this discoloured shore. Master, (pointing to the First Gentleman) this prisoner freely give I thee, (To the Mate) And thou, that art his mate, make boot of this. He points to the Second Gentleman (To Walter Whitmore) The other (pointing to Suffolk), Walter Whitmore, is thy share.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	(to the Master) What is my ransom, Master, let me know.
MASTER	A thousand crowns, or else lay down your head.
MATE	(to the Second Gentleman) And so much shall you give, or off goes yours.
CAPTAIN	(to both the Gentlemen) What, think you much to pay two thousand crowns, And bear the name and port of gentlemen?
(didascalia)	WHITMORE
(didascalia)	Cut both the villains’ throats! To Suffolk For die you
CAPTAIN	shall. The lives of those which we have lost in fight
(didascalia)
CAPTAIN	Be counterpoised with such a petty sum.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	(to the Master) I’ll give it, sir, and therefore spare my life.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	(to the Mate) And so will,I, and write home for it straight.
WHITMORE	(to Suffolk) I lost mine eye in laying the prize aboard, And therefore to revenge it, shalt thou die— And so should these, if I might have my will.
CAPTAIN	Be not so rash; take ransom; let him live.
SUFFOLK	Look on my George—I am a gentleman. Rate me at what thou wilt, thou shalt be paid.
WHITMORE	And so am I; my name is Walter Whitmore. Suffolk starteth How now—why starts thou? What doth thee affright?
SUFFOLK	Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death. A cunning man did calculate my birth, And told me that by ‘water’ I should die. Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded; Thy name is Gualtier, being rightly sounded.
WHITMORE	Gualtier or Walter—which it is I care not. Never yet did base dishonour blur our name But with our sword we wiped away the blot. Therefore, when merchant-like I sell revenge, Broke be my sword, my arms torn and defaced, And I proclaimed a coward through the world.
SUFFOLK	Stay, Whitmore; for thy prisoner is a prince, The Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole.
WHITMORE	The Duke of Suffolk muffled up in rags?
SUFFOLK	Ay, but these rags are no part of the Duke. Jove sometime went disguised, and why not I?
CAPTAIN	But Jove was never slain as thou shalt be.
SUFFOLK	Obscure and lousy swain, King Henry’s blood, The honourable blood of Lancaster, Must not be shed by such a jady groom. Hast thou not kissed thy hand and held my stirrup? Bare-headed plodded by my foot-cloth mute And thought thee happy when I shook my head? How often hast thou waited at my cup, Fed from my trencher, kneeled down at the board When I have feasted with Queen Margaret? Remember it, and let it make thee crestfall’n, Ay, and allay this thy abortive pride, How in our voiding lobby hast thou stood And duly waited for my coming forth ? This hand of mine hath writ in thy behalf, And therefore shall it charm thy riotous tongue.
WHITMORE	Speak, Captain—shall I stab the forlorn swain?
CAPTAIN	First let my words stab him as he hath me.
SUFFOLK	Base slave, thy words are blunt and so art thou.
CAPTAIN	Convey him hence and, on our longboat’s side, Strike off his head.
SUFFOLK	Thou dar’st not for thy own.
CAPTAIN	Pole—
(didascalia)	SUFFOLK Pole?
CAPTAIN	Ay, kennel, puddle, sink, whose filth and dirt Troubles the silver spring where England drinks, Now will I dam up this thy yawning mouth For swallowing the treasure of the realm. Thy lips that kissed the Queen shall sweep the ground, And thou that smiledst at good Duke Humphrey’s death Against the senseless winds shalt grin in vain, Who in contempt shall hiss at thee again. And wedded be thou to the hags of hell, For daring to affy a mighty lord Unto the daughter of a worthless king, Having neither subject, wealth, nor diadem. By devilish policy art thou grown great, And like ambitious Sylla, overgorged With gobbets of thy mother’s bleeding heart. By thee Anjou and Maine were sold to France, The false revolting Normans, thorough thee, Disdain to call us lord, and Picardy Hath slain their governors, surprised our forts, And sent the ragged soldiers, wounded, home. The princely Warwick, and the Nevilles all, Whose dreadful swords were never drawn in vain, As hating thee, are rising up in arms; And now the house of York, thrust from the crown, By shameful murder of a guiltless king And lofty, proud, encroaching tyranny, Burns with revenging fire, whose hopeful colours Advance our half-faced sun, striving to shine, Under the which is writ, ‘Invitis nubibus’. The commons here in Kent are up in arms, And, to conclude, reproach and beggary Is crept into the palace of our King, And all by thee. (To Whitmore) Away, convey him hence.
SUFFOLK	O that I were a god, to shoot forth thunder Upon these paltry, servile, abject drudges. Small things make base men proud. This villain here, Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more Than Bargulus, the strong Illyrian pirate. Drones suck not eagles’ blood, but rob beehives. It is impossible that I should die By such a lowly vassal as thyself. Thy words move rage, and not remorse in me.
(didascalia)	CAPTAIN
SUFFOLK	But my deeds, Suffolk, soon shall stay thy rage.
SUFFOLK	I go of message from the Queen to France— I charge thee, waft me safely cross the Channel!
CAPTAIN	Walter—
WHITMORE	Come, Suffolk, I must waft thee to thy death.
SUFFOLK	Paene gelidus timor occupat artus— It is thee I fear.
WHITMORE	Thou shalt have cause to fear before I leave thee. What, are ye daunted now? Now will ye stoop?
FIRST GENTLEMAN	(to Suffolk) My gracious lord, entreat him—speak him fair.
SUFFOLK	Suffolk’s imperial tongue is stern and rough, Used to command, untaught to plead for favour. Far be it we should honour such as these With humble suit. No, rather let my head Stoop to the block than these knees bow to any Save to the God of heaven and to my king; And sooner dance upon a bloody pole Than stand uncovered to the vulgar groom. True nobility is exempt from fear; More can I bear than you dare execute.
CAPTAIN	Hale him away, and let him talk no more.
SUFFOLK	Come, ‘soldiers’, show what cruelty ye can, That this my death may never be forgot. Great men oft die by vile Besonians; A Roman sworder and banditto slave Murdered sweet Tully ; Brutus’ bastard hand Stabbed Julius Caesar; savage islanders Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates.
(didascalia)	Exit Whitmore with Suffolk
CAPTAIN	And as for these whose ransom we have set, It is our pleasure one of them depart. (To the Second Gentleman) Therefore, come you with us and (to his men, pointing to the First Gentleman) let him go.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but the First Gentleman
(didascalia)	Enter Whitmore with Suffolk’s head and body
WHITMORE	There let his head and lifeless body lie, Until the Queen his mistress bury it. Exit
FIRST GENTLEMAN	O barbarous and bloody spectacle! His body will I bear unto the King. If he revenge it not, yet will his friends; So will the Queen, that living held him dear.
(didascalia)	Exit with Suffolk’s head and body

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter two Rebels with long staves
FIRST REBEL	Come and get thee a sword, though made of a lath; they have been up these two days.
SECOND REBEL	They have the more need to sleep now then.
FIRST REBEL	I tell thee, Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and turn it, and set a new nap upon it.
SECOND REBEL	So he had need, for ‘tis threadbare. Well, I say it was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up.
FIRST REBEL	O, miserable age! Virtue is not regarded in handicraftsmen.
SECOND REBEL	The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons.
FIRST REBEL	Nay more, the King’s Council are no good workmen.
SECOND REBEL	True; and yet it is said ‘Labour in thy vocation’; which is as much to say as ‘Let the magistrates be labouring men’; and therefore should we be magistrates.
FIRST REBEL	Thou hast hit it; for there’s no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand.
SECOND REBEL	I see them! I see them! There’s Best’s son, the tanner of Wingham—
FIRST REBEL	He shall have the skins of our enemies to make dog’s leather of. SECOND REBEL And Dick the butcher—
FIRST REBEL	Then is sin struck down like an ox, and iniquity’s throat cut like a calf.
SECOND REBEL	And Smith the weaver—
FIRST REBEL	Argo, their thread of life is spun.
SECOND REBEL	Come, come, let’s fall in with them.
(didascalia)	Enter Jack Cade, Dick the Butcher, Smith the
(didascalia)	Weaver, a sawyer, and a drummer, with infinite
(didascalia)	numbers, fall with long staves
CADE	We, John Cade, so termed of our supposed father—BUTCHER (to his fellows) Or rather of stealing a cade of herrings.
CADE	For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired with the spirit of putting down kings and princes—command silence!
BUTCHER	Silence!
CADE	My father was a Mortimer—
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) He was an honest man and a good bricklayer.
CADE	My mother a Plantagenet—
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) I knew her well, she was a midwife. CADE My wife descended of the Lacys—
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) She was indeed a pedlar’s daughter and sold many laces.
WEAVER	(to his fellows) But now of late, not able to travel with her furred pack, she washes bucks here at home. CADE Therefore am I of an honourable house.
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) Ay, by my faith, the field is honourable, and there was he born, under a hedge; for his father had never a house but the cage.
CADE	Valiant I am—
WEAVER	(to his fellows) A must needs, for beggary is valiant.
CADE	I am able to endure much—
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) No question of that, for I have seen him whipped three market days together.
CADE	I fear neither sword nor fire.
WEAVER	(to his fellows) He need not fear the sword, for his coat is of proof.
BUTCHER	(to his fellows) But methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burned i’th’ hand for stealing of sheep.
CADE	Be brave, then, for your captain is brave and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny, the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops, and I will make it felony to drink small beer. All the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass. And when I am king, as king I will be—
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	God save your majesty!
CADE	I thank you good people!—there shall be no money. All shall eat and drink on my score, and I will apparel them all in one livery that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord.
BUTCHER	The first thing we do let’s kill all the lawyers.
CADE	Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? That parchment, being scribbled o‘er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings, but I say ‘tis the bee’s wax. For I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since. How now? Who’s there? Enter some bringing forth the Clerk of Chatham
WEAVER	The Clerk of Chatham—he can write and read and cast account.
CADE	O, monstrous!
WEAVER	We took him setting of boys’ copies.
CADE	Here’s a villain.
WEAVER	He’s a book in his pocket with red letters in’t. CADE Nay, then he is a conjuror!
BUTCHER	Nay, he can make obligations and write court hand.
CADE	I am sorry for’t. The man is a proper man, of mine honour. Unless I find him guilty, he shall not die. Come hither, sirrah, I must examine thee. What is thy name?
CLERK	Emmanuel.
BUTCHER	They use to write that on the top of letters—‘twill go hard with you.
CADE	Let me alone. (To the Clerk) Dost thou use to write thy name? Or hast thou a mark to thyself like an honest plain-dealing man?
CLERK	Sir, I thank God I have been so well brought up that I can write my name.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	He hath confessed—away with him He’s a villain and a traitor.
CADE	Away with him, I say, hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck. Exit one with the Clerk Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER	Where’s our general? no CADE Here I am, thou particular fellow.
MESSENGER	Fly, fly, fly! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother are hard by with the King’s forces.
CADE	Stand, villain, stand—or I’ll fell thee down. He shall be encountered with a man as good as himself. He is but a knight, is a?
MESSENGER	No.
CADE	To equal him I will make myself a knight presently. He kneels and knights himself Rise up, Sir John Mortimer. He rises Now have at him! Enter Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother, with a drummer and soldiers
STAFFORD	(to Cade’s followers) Rebellious hinds, the filth and scum of Kent, Marked for the gallows, lay your weapons down; Home to your cottages, forsake this groom. The King is merciful, if you revolt.
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	(to Cade’s followers) But angry, wrathful, and inclined to blood, If you go forward. Therefore, yield or die.
CADE	(to his followers) As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not. It is to you, good people, that I speak, Over whom, in time to come, I hope to reign— For I am rightful heir unto the crown.
STAFFORD	Villain, thy father was a plasterer And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?
CADE	And Adam was a gardener.
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	And what of that?
CADE	Marry, this: Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, Married the Duke of Clarence’ daughter, did he not?
STAFFORD	Ay, sir.
CADE	By her he had two children at one birth.
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	That’s false.
CADE	Ay, there’s the question—but I say ’tis true. The elder of them, being put to nurse, Was by a beggar-woman stol’n away, And, ignorant of his birth and parentage, Became a bricklayer when he came to age. His son am I—deny it an you can.
BUTCHER	Nay, ’tis too true—therefore he shall be king.
WEAVER	Sir, he made a chimney in my father’s house, and the bricks are alive at this day to testify. Therefore deny it not.
STAFFORD	(to Cade’s followers) And will you credit this base drudge’s words That speaks he knows not what?
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	Ay, marry, will we—therefore get ye gone.
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	Jack Cade, the Duke of York hath taught you this.
CADE	(aside) He lies, for I invented it myself. (Aloud) Go to, sirrah—tell the King from me that for his father’s sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose time boys went to span-counter for French crowns, I am content he shall reign; but I’ll be Protector over him.
BUTCHER	And, furthermore, we’ll have the Lord Saye’s head for selling the dukedom of Maine.
CADE	And good reason, for thereby is England maimed, and fain to go with a staff, but that my puissance holds it up. Fellow-kings, I tell you that that Lord Saye hath gelded the commonwealth, and made it an eunuch, and, more than that, he can speak French, and therefore he is a traitor!
STAFFORD	O gross and miserable ignorance !
CADE	Nay, answer if you can: the Frenchmen are our enemies; go to, then, I ask but this—can he that speaks with the tongue of an enemy be a good counsellor or no?
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	No, no—and therefore we’ll have his head!
STAFFORD’S BROTHER	(to Stafford) Well, seeing gentle words will not prevail, Assail them with the army of the King.
STAFFORD	Herald, away, and throughout every town Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade; That those which fly before the battle ends May, even in their wives’ and children’s sight, Be hanged up for example at their doors. And you that be the King’s friends, follow me!
(didascalia)	Exeunt The Staffords and their soldiers
CADE	And you that love the commons, follow me! Now show yourselves men—’tis for liberty. We will not leave one lord, one gentleman— Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon, For they are thrifty honest men, and such As would, but that they dare not, take our parts.
BUTCHER	They are all in order, and march toward us.
CADE	But then are we in order when we are
(didascalia)	Most out of order. Come, march forward! Exeunt

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Alarums to the fight; excursions, wherein both the Staffords are slain. Enter Jack Cade, Dick the Butcher, and the rest
CADE	Where’s Dick, the butcher of Ashford?
BUTCHER	Here, sir.
CADE	They fell before thee like sheep and oxen, and thou behaved’st thyself as if thou hadst been in thine own slaughterhouse. Therefore, thus will I reward thee—the Lent shall be as long again as it is. Thou shalt have licence to kill for a hundred, lacking one.
BUTCHER	I desire no more.
(didascalia)	CADE And to speak truth, thou deserv’st no less. He apparels himself in the Staffords’ armour This monument of the victory will I bear, and the bodies shall be dragged at my horse heels till I do come to London, where we will have the Mayor’s sword borne before us.
BUTCHER	If we mean to thrive and do good, break open the jails and let out the prisoners.
CADE	Fear not that, I warrant thee. Come, let’s march towards London.
(didascalia)	Exeunt, dragging the Staffords’ bodies

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter King Henry reading a supplication, Queen Margaret carrying Suffolk’s head, the Duke of Buckingham, and the Lord Saye, with others
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET aside
(didascalia)	Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind, And makes it fearful and degenerate; Think, therefore, on revenge, and cease to weep. But who can cease to weep and look on this? Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast, But where’s the body that I should embrace?
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) What answer makes your grace to the rebels’ supplication?
KING HENRY	I’ll send some holy bishop to entreat, For God forbid so many simple souls Should perish by the sword. And I myself, Rather than bloody war shall cut them short, Will parley with Jack Cade their general. But stay, I’ll read it over once again. He reads
QUEEN MARGARET	(to Suffolk’s head) Ah, barbarous villains! Hath this lovely face Ruled like a wandering planet over me, And could it not enforce them to relent, That were unworthy to behold the same?
KING HENRY	Lord Saye, Jack Cade hath sworn to have thy head.
SAYE	Ay, but I hope your highness shall have his.
KING HENRY	(to Queen Margaret) How now, madam? Still lamenting and mourning Suffolk’s death? I fear me, love, if that I had been dead, Thou wouldest not have mourned so much for me.
(didascalia)	No, my love, I should not mourn, but die for thee. Enter a Messenger, Fin haste
KING HENRY	How now? What news? Why com’st thou in such haste?
MESSENGER	The rebels are in Southwark—fly, my lord! Jack Cade proclaims himself Lord Mortimer, Descended from the Duke of Clarence’ house, And calls your grace usurper, openly, And vows to crown himself in Westminster. His army is a ragged multitude Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless. Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother’s death Hath given them heart and courage to proceed. All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen, They call false caterpillars and intend their death.
KING HENRY	O, graceless men; they know not what they do.
BUCKINGHAM	My gracious lord, retire to Kenilworth Until a power be raised to put them down.
QUEEN MARGARET	Ah, were the Duke of Suffolk now alive These Kentish rebels would be soon appeased!
KING HENRY	Lord Saye, the trait’rous rabble hateth thee— Therefore away with us to Kenilworth.
SAYE	So might your grace’s person be in danger. The sight of me is odious in their eyes, And therefore in this city will I stay And live alone as secret as I may.
(didascalia)	Enter another Messenger
SECOND MESSENGER	(to King Henry) Jack Cade hath almost gotten London Bridge; The citizens fly and forsake their houses; The rascal people, thirsting after prey, Join with the traitor; and they jointly swear To spoil the city and your royal court.
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) Then linger not, my lord; away, take horse!
KING HENRY	Come, Margaret. God, our hope, will succour us.
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET aside
KING HENRY	My hope is gone, now Suffolk is deceased.
KING HENRY	(to Saye) Farewell, my lord. Trust not the Kentish rebels.
BUCKINGHAM	(to Saye) Trust nobody, for fear you be betrayed.
SAYE	The trust I have is in mine innocence, And therefore am I bold and resolute.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Saye at one door, the rest at another

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Lord Scales upon the Tower, walking. Enter three or four Citizens below
SCALES	How now? Is Jack Cade slain?
FIRST CITIZEN	No, my lord Scales, nor likely to be slain, for he and his men have won the bridge, killing all those that did withstand them. The Lord Mayor craveth aid of your honour from the Tower to defend the city from the rebels.
SCALES	Such aid as I can spare you shall command, But I am troubled here with them myself. The rebels have essayed to win the Tower. Get you to Smithfield, there to gather head, And thither will I send you Matthew Gough. Fight for your king, your country, and your lives! And so, farewell, for I must hence again.
(didascalia)	Exeunt, Scales above, the Citizens below

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Jack Cade, the Weaver, the Butcher, and the rest. Cade strikes his sword on London Stone
CADE	Now is Mortimer lord of this city. And, here sitting upon London Stone, I charge and command that, of the city’s cost, the Pissing Conduit run nothing but claret wine this first year of our reign. And now henceforward it shall be treason for any that calls me otherwise than Lord Mortimer.
(didascalia)	Enter a Soldier, running
SOLDIER	Jack Cade, Jack Cade!
CADE	Zounds, knock him down there! They kill him
(didascalia)	BUTCHER If this fellow be wise, he’ll never call ye Jack Cade more; I think he hath a very fair warning. He takes a paper from the soldier’s body and reads it My lord, there’s an army gathered together in Smithfield.
CADE	Come then, let’s go fight with them—but first, go on and set London Bridge afire, and, if you can, burn down the Tower too. Come, let’s away. Exeunt

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Alarums. Excursions, wherein Matthew Gough is slain, and all the rest of his men with him. Then enter Jack Cade with his company, among them the Butcher, the Weaver, and John, a rebel
CADE	So, sirs, now go some and pull down the Savoy; others to th’ Inns of Court—down with them all.
BUTCHER	I have a suit unto your lordship.
CADE	Be it a lordship, thou shalt have it for that word.
BUTCHER	Only that the laws of England may come out of your mouth.
JOHN	(aside to his fellows) Mass, ‘twill be sore law then, for he was thrust in the mouth with a spear, and ’tis not whole yet.
WEAVER	(aside to John) Nay, John, it will be stinking law, for his breath stinks with eating toasted cheese.
CADE	I have thought upon it—it shall be so. Away! Burn all the records of the realm. My mouth shall be the Parliament of England.
JOHN	(aside to his fellows) Then we are like to have biting statutes unless his teeth be pulled out.
CADE	And henceforward all things shall be in common. Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER	My lord, a prize, a prize! Here’s the Lord Saye which sold the towns in France. He that made us pay one-and-twenty fifteens and one shilling to the pound the last subsidy.
(didascalia)	Enter a rebel with the Lord Saye
CADE	Well, he shall be beheaded for it ten times. (To Saye) Ah, thou say, thou serge—nay, thou buckram lord! Now art thou within point-blank of our jurisdiction regal. What canst thou answer to my majesty for giving up of Normandy unto Mounsieur Basimecu, the Dauphin of France? Be it known unto thee by these presence, even the presence of Lord Mortimer, that I am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and, whereas before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used and, contrary to the King his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear. Thou hast appointed justices of peace to call poor men before them about matters they were not able to answer. Moreover, thou hast put them in prison, and, because they could not read, thou hast hanged them when indeed only for that cause they have been most worthy to live. Thou dost ride on a foot-cloth, dost thou not?
SAYE	What of that?
CADE	Marry, thou ought’st not to let thy horse wear a cloak when honester men than thou go in their hose and doublets.
BUTCHER	And work in their shirts, too; as myself, for example, that am a butcher.
SAYE	You men of Kent.
BUTCHER	What say you of Kent?
SAYE	Nothing but this—’tis bona terra, mala gens.
CADE	Bonum terrum—zounds, what’s that?
BUTCHER	He speaks French.
(didascalia)	first REBEL No, ’tis Dutch.
(didascalia)	SECOND REBEL No, ’tis Out-talian, I know it well enough.
SAYE	Hear me but speak, and bear me where you will. Kent, in the commentaries Caesar writ, Is termed the civil’st place of all this isle; Sweet is the country, because full of riches; The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy; Which makes me hope you are not void of pity. I sold not Maine, I lost not Normandy; Yet to recover them would lose my life. Justice with favour have I always done, Prayers and tears have moved me—gifts could never. When have I aught exacted at your hands, But to maintain the King, the realm, and you? Large gifts have I bestowed on learned clerks Because my book preferred me to the King, And seeing ignorance is the curse of God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. Unless you be possessed with devilish spirits, You cannot but forbear to murder me. This tongue hath parleyed unto foreign kings For your behoof—
CADE	Tut, when struck’st thou one blow in the field?
SAYE	Great men have reaching hands. Oft have I struck Those that I never saw, and struck them dead.
REBEL	O monstrous coward! What, to come behind folks?
SAYE	These cheeks are pale for watching for your good—
CADE	Give him a box o‘th’ ear, and that will make ’em red again.
(didascalia)	One of the rebels strikes Saye
SAYE	Long sitting to determine poor men’s causes Hath made me full of sickness and diseases.
CADE	Ye shall have a hempen caudle, then, and the health o’th’ hatchet.
BUTCHER	(to Saye) Why dost thou quiver, man?
SAYE	The palsy, and not fear, provokes me.
CADE	Nay, he nods at us as who should say ‘I’ll be even with you’. I’ll see if his head will stand steadier on a pole or no. Take him away, and behead him.
SAYE	Tell me wherein have I offended most ? Have I affected wealth or honour? Speak. Are my chests filled up with extorted gold? Is my apparel sumptuous to behold? Whom have I injured, that ye seek my death? These hands are free from guiltless bloodshedding, This breast from harbouring foul deceitful thoughts. O let me live!
CADE	(aside) I feel remorse in myself with his words, but I’ll bridle it. He shall die an it be but for pleading so well for his life. (Aloud) Away with him—he has a familiar under his tongue; he speaks not a God’s name. Go, take him away, I say, to the Standard in Cheapside, and strike off his head presently; and then go to Mile End Green—break into his son-in-law’s house, Sir James Cromer, and strike off his head, and bring them both upon two poles hither.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	It shall be done!
SAYE	Ah, countrymen, if, when you make your prayers, God should be so obdurate as yourselves, How would it fare with your departed souls ? And therefore yet relent and save my life
CADE	Away with him, and do as I command ye!
(didascalia)	Exeunt the Butcher and one or two with the Lord Saye
CADE	The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head on his shoulders unless he pay me tribute. There shall not a maid be married but she shall pay to me her maidenhead, ere they have it. Married men shall hold of me in capite. And we charge and command that their wives be as free as heart can wish or tongue can tell.
(didascalia)	Enter a Rebel
REBEL	O captain, London Bridge is afire!
CADE	Run to Billingsgate and fetch pitch and flax and quench it.
(didascalia)	Enter the Butcher and a Sergeant
SERGEANT	Justice, justice, I pray you, sir, let me have justice of this fellow here.
CADE	Why, what has he done?
SERGEANT	Alas, sir, he has ravished my wife.
BUTCHER	(to Cade) Why, my lord, he would have ’rested me and I went and entered my action in his wife’s proper house.
CADE	Dick, follow thy suit in her common place. (To the Sergeant) You whoreson villain, you are a sergeant—you’ll take any man by the throat for twelve pence, and ’rest a man when he’s at dinner, and have him to prison ere the meat be out of his mouth. (To the Butcher) Go, Dick, take him hence: cut out his tongue for cogging, hough him for running, and, to conclude, brain him with his own mace.
(didascalia)	Exit the Butcher with the Sergeant
REBEL	My lord, when shall we go to Cheapside and take up commodities upon our bills?
CADE	Marry, presently. He that will lustily stand to it shall go with me and take up these commodities following—item, a gown, a kirtle, a petticoat, and a smock.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	O brave!
(didascalia)	Enter two with the Lord Saye’s head and Sir James Cromer’s upon two poles
CADE	But is not this braver? Let them kiss one another, for they loved well when they were alive.
(didascalia)	The two heads are made to kiss
CADE	Now part them again, lest they consult about the giving up of some more towns in France. Soldiers, defer the spoil of the city until night. For with these borne before us instead of maces will we ride through the streets, and at every corner have them kiss. Away!
(didascalia)	Exeunt two with the heads. The others begin to follow
CADE	Up Fish Street! Down Saint Magnus’ Corner! Kill and knock down! Throw them into Thames!
(didascalia)	Sound a parley
CADE	What noise is this? Dare any be so bold to sound retreat or parley when I command them kill?
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Buckingham and old Lord Clifford
BUCKINGHAM	Ay, here they be that dare and will disturb thee! Know, Cade, we come ambassadors from the King Unto the commons, whom thou hast misled, And here pronounce free pardon to them all That will forsake thee and go home in peace.
CLIFFORD	What say ye, countrymen, will ye relent And yield to mercy whilst ‘tis offered you, Or let a rebel lead you to your deaths? Who loves the King and will embrace his pardon, Fling up his cap and say ‘God save his majesty’. Who hateth him and honours not his father, Henry the Fifth, that made all France to quake, Shake he his weapon at us, and pass by.
(didascalia)	They fling up their caps and forsake Cade
ALL CADE’S	FoLLOwERS God save the King! God save the King!
CADE	What, Buckingham and Clifford, are ye so brave? (To the rabble) And you, base peasants, do ye believe him? Will you needs be hanged with your pardons about your necks? Hath my sword, therefore, broke through London gates that you should leave me at the White Hart in Southwark? I thought ye would never have given out these arms till you had recovered your ancient freedom. But you are all recreants and dastards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility. Let them break your backs with burdens, take your houses over your heads, ravish your wives and daughters before your faces. For me, I will make shift for one, and so God’s curse light upon you all.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	We’ll follow Cade! We’ll follow Cade! They run to Cade again
CLIFFORD	Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth That thus you do exclaim you’ll go with him? Will he conduct you through the heart of France And make the meanest of you earls and dukes? Alas, he hath no home, no place to fly to, Nor knows he how to live but by the spoil— Unless by robbing of your friends and us. Were’t not a shame that whilst you live at jar The fearful French, whom you late vanquished, Should make a start o‘er seas and vanquish you? Methinks already in this civil broil I see them lording it in London streets, Crying ‘Villiago!’ unto all they meet. Better ten thousand base-born Cades miscarry Than you should stoop unto a Frenchman’s mercy. To France! To France! And get what you have lost! Spare England, for it is your native coast. Henry hath money; you are strong and manly; God on our side, doubt not of victory.
ALL CADE’S FOLLOWERS	A Clifford! A Clifford! We’ll follow the King and Clifford! They forsake Cade
CADE	(aside) Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro as this multitude? The name of Henry the Fifth hales them to an hundred mischiefs, and makes them leave me desolate. I see them lay their heads together to surprise me. My sword make way for me, for here is no staying. (Aloud) In despite of the devils and hell, have through the very middest of you! And heavens and honour be witness that no want of resolution in me, but only my followers’ base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels. He runs through them with his staff, and flies away
BUCKINGHAM	What, is he fled? Go, some, and follow him, And he that brings his head unto the King Shall have a thousand crowns for his reward.
(didascalia)	Exeunt some of them after Cade
BUCKINGHAM	(To the remaining rebels) Follow me, soldiers, we’ll devise a mean To reconcile you all unto the King. Exeunt

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Sound trumpets. Enter King Henry, Queen Margaret, and the Duke of Somerset on the terrace
KING HENRY	Was ever King that joyed an earthly throne And could command no more content than I? No sooner was I crept out of my cradle But I was made a king at nine months old. Was never subject longed to be a king As I do long and wish to be a subject.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Clifford on the terrace
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) Health and glad tidings to your majesty.
KING HENRY	Why, Buckingham, is the traitor Cade surprised? Or is he but retired to make him strong?
(didascalia)	Enter, below, multitudes with halters about their necks
CLIFFORD	He is fled, my lord, and all his powers do yield, And humbly thus with halters on their necks Expect your highness’ doom of life or death.
KING HENRY	Then, heaven, set ope thy everlasting gates To entertain my vows of thanks and praise. (To the multitudes below) Soldiers, this day have you redeemed your lives, And showed how well you love your prince and country. Continue still in this so good a mind, And Henry, though he be infortunate, Assure yourselves will never be unkind. And so, with thanks and pardon to you all, I do dismiss you to your several countries.
(didascalia)	ALL CADE’S FORMER FOLLOWERS God save the King! Gold save the King! Exeunt multitudes below
(didascalia)	Enter a Messenger on the terrace
MESSENGER	(to King Henry) Please it your grace to be advertised The Duke of York is newly come from Ireland, And with a puissant and a mighty power Of galloglasses and stout Irish kerns Is marching hitherward in proud array, And still proclaimeth, as he comes along, His arms are only to remove from thee The Duke of Somerset, whom he terms a traitor.
KING HENRY	Thus stands my state, ’twixt Cade and York distressed, Like to a ship that, having scaped a tempest, Is straightway calmed and boarded with a pirate. But now is Cade driven back, his men dispersed, And now is York in arms to second him. I pray thee, Buckingham, go and meet him, And ask him what’s the reason of these arms. Tell him I’ll send Duke Edmund to the Tower; And, Somerset, we will commit thee thither, Until his army be dismissed from him.
SOMERSET	My lord, I’ll yield myself to prison willingly, Or unto death, to do my country good.
KING HENRY	(to Buckingham) In any case, be not too rough in terms, For he is fierce and cannot brook hard language.
BUCKINGHAM	I will, my lord, and doubt not so to deal As all things shall redound unto your good.
KING HENRY	Come, wife, let’s in and learn to govern better; For yet may England curse my wretched reign.
(didascalia)	Flourish. Exeunt

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Jack Cade
CADE	Fie on ambitions; fie on myself that have a sword and yet am ready to famish. These five days have I hid me in these woods and durst not peep out, for all the country is laid for me. But now am I so hungry that if I might have a lease of my life for a thousand years, I could stay no longer. Wherefore o‘er a brick wall have I climbed into this garden to see if I can eat grass or pick a sallet another while, which is not amiss to cool a man’s stomach this hot weather. And I think this word ‘sallet’ was born to do me good; for many a time, but for a sallet, my brain-pan had been cleft with a brown bill; and many a time, when I have been dry, and bravely marching, it hath served me instead of a quart pot to drink in; and now the word ‘sallet’ must serve me to feed on.
(didascalia)	He lies down picking of herbs and eating them. Enter Sir Alexander Iden and five of his men
IDEN	Lord, who would live turmoilèd in the court And may enjoy such quiet walks as these? This small inheritance my father left me Contenteth me, and worth a monarchy. I seek not to wax great by others’ waning, Or gather wealth I care not with what envy; Sufficeth that I have maintains my state, And sends the poor well pleased from my gate.
(didascalia)	Cade rises to his knees
CADE	(aside) Zounds, here’s the lord of the soil come to seize me for a stray for entering his fee-simple without leave. (To Iden) A villain, thou wilt betray me and get a thousand crowns of the king by carrying my head to him; but I’ll make thee eat iron like an ostrich and swallow my sword like a great pin, ere thou and I part.
IDEN	Why, rude companion, whatsoe’er thou be, I know thee not. Why then should I betray thee? Is’t not enough to break into my garden, And, like a thief, to come to rob my grounds, Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner, But thou wilt brave me with these saucy terms?
CADE	Brave thee? Ay, by the best blood that ever was broached—and beard thee too! Look on me well—I have eat no meat these five days, yet come thou and thy five men, an if I do not leave you all as dead as a doornail I pray God I may never eat grass more.
IDEN	Nay, it shall ne’er be said while England stands That Alexander Iden, an esquire of Kent, Took odds to combat a poor famished man. Oppose thy steadfast gazing eyes to mine— See if thou canst outface me with thy looks. Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser— Thy hand is but a finger to my fist, Thy leg a stick compared with this truncheon. My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast, And if mine arm be heaved in the air, Thy grave is digged already in the earth. As for words, whose greatness answers words, Let this my sword report what speech forbears. (To his men) Stand you all aside.
CADE	By my valour, the most complete champion that ever I heard. (To his sword) Steel, if thou turn the edge or cut not out the burly-boned clown in chines of beef ere thou sleep in thy sheath, I beseech God on my knees thou mayst be turned to hobnails.
(didascalia)	Cade stands. Here they fight, and Cade falls down
CADE	O, I am slain! Famine and no other hath slain me! Let ten thousand devils come against me, and give me but the ten meals I have lost, and I’d defy them all. Wither, garden, and be henceforth a burying place to all that do dwell in this house, because the unconquered soul of Cade is fled.
IDEN	Is’t Cade that I have slain, that monstrous traitor? Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed And hang thee o‘er my tomb when I am dead. Ne’er shall this blood be wiped from thy point But thou shalt wear it as a herald’s coat To emblaze the honour that thy master got.
CADE	Iden, farewell, and be proud of thy victory. Tell Kent from me she hath lost her best man, and exhort all the world to be cowards. For I, that never feared any, am vanquished by famine, not by valour. He dies
IDEN	How much thou wrong’st me, heaven be my judge. Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bore thee!
(didascalia)	And stabbing him again as I thrust thy body in with
IDEN	my sword, So wish I I might thrust thy soul to hell. Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels Unto a dunghill, which shall be thy grave, And there cut off thy most ungracious head, Which I will bear in triumph to the King, Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon.
(didascalia)	Exeunt with the body

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of York and his army of Irish with a drummer and soldiers bearing colours
YORK	From Ireland thus comes York to claim his right, And pluck the crown from feeble Henry’s head. Ring, bells, aloud; burn, bonfires, clear and bright, To entertain great England’s lawful king. Ah, sancta maiestas! Who would not buy thee dear? Let them obey that knows not how to rule; This hand was made to handle naught but gold. I cannot give due action to my words, Except a sword or sceptre balance it. A sceptre shall it have, have I as word, On which I’ll toss the fleur-de-lis of France.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of Buckingham
YORK	(Aside) Whom have we here? Buckingham to disturb me? The King hath sent him sure—I must dissemble.
BUCKINGHAM	York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee well.
YORK	Humphrey of Buckingham, I accept thy greeting. Art thou a messenger, or come of pleasure?
BUCKINGHAM	A messenger from Henry, our dread liege, To know the reason of these arms in peace; Or why thou, being a subject as I am, Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn, Should raise so great a power without his leave, Or dare to bring thy force so near the court?
YORK	(aside) Scarce can I speak, my choler is so great. O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint, I am so angry at these abject terms; And now, like Ajax Telamonius, On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury. I am far better born than is the King, More like a king, more kingly in my thoughts; But I must make fair weather yet a while, Till Henry be more weak and I more strong. (Aloud) Buckingham, I prithee pardon me, That I have given no answer all this while; My mind was troubled with deep melancholy. The cause why I have brought this army hither Is to remove proud Somerset from the King, Seditious to his grace and to the state.
BUCKINGHAM	That is too much presumption on thy part; But if thy arms be to no other end, The King hath yielded unto thy demand: The Duke of Somerset is in the Tower.
YORK	Upon thine honour, is he prisoner?
BUCKINGHAM	Upon mine honour, he is prisoner.
YORK	Then, Buckingham, I do dismiss my powers. Soldiers, I thank you all; disperse yourselves; Meet me tomorrow in Saint George’s field. You shall have pay and everything you wish.
(didascalia)	Exeunt soldiers
YORK	(To Buckingham) And let my sovereign, virtuous Henry, Command my eldest son—nay, all my sons— As pledges of my fealty and love. I’ll send them all as willing as I live. Lands, goods, horse, armour, anything I have Is his to use, so Somerset may die.
BUCKINGHAM	York, I commend this kind submission. We twain will go into his highness’ tent.
(didascalia)	Enter King Henry and attendants
KING HENRY	Buckingham, doth York intend no harm to us, That thus he marcheth with thee arm in arm?
YORK	In all submission and humility York doth present himself unto your highness.
KING HENRY	Then what intends these forces thou dost bring?
YORK	To heave the traitor Somerset from hence, And fight against that monstrous rebel Cade, Who since I heard to be discomfited.
(didascalia)	Enter Iden with Cade’s head
IDEN	If one so rude and of so mean condition May pass into the presence of a king,
(didascalia)	Kneeling Lo, I present your grace a traitor’s head,
IDEN	The head of Cade, whom I in combat slew.
KING HENRY	The head of Cade? Great God, how just art thou! O let me view his visage, being dead, That living wrought me such exceeding trouble. Tell me, my friend, art thou the man that slew him?
(didascalia)	IDEN rising
KING HENRY	Iwis, an’t like your majesty.
KING HENRY	How art thou called? And what is thy degree?
IDEN	Alexander Iden, that’s my name; A poor esquire of Kent that loves his king.
BUCKINGHAM	(to King Henry) So please it you, my lord, ’twere not amiss He were created knight for his good service.
KING HENRY	Iden, kneel down. Iden kneels and King Henry knights him Rise up a knight. Iden rises We give thee for reward a thousand marks, And will that thou henceforth attend on us.
IDEN	May Iden live to merit such a bounty, And never live but true unto his liege.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Queen Margaret and the Duke of Somerset
KING HENRY	See, Buckingham, Somerset comes wi’th’ Queen. Go bid her hide him quickly from the Duke.
QUEEN MARGARET	For thousand Yorks he shall not hide his head, But boldly stand and front him to his face.
YORK	How now? Is Somerset at liberty? Then, York, unloose thy long imprisoned thoughts, And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart. Shall I endure the sight of Somerset? False King, why hast thou broken faith with me, Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse? ‘King’ did I call thee? No, thou art not king; Not fit to govern and rule multitudes, Which dar’st not—no, nor canst not—rule a traitor. That head of thine doth not become a crown; Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer’s staff, And not to grace an aweful princely sceptre. That gold must round engird these brows of mine, Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles’ spear, Is able with the change to kill and cure. Here is a hand to hold a sceptre up, And with the same to act controlling laws. Give place! By heaven, thou shalt rule no more O’er him whom heaven created for thy ruler.
SOMERSET	O monstrous traitor! I arrest thee, York, Of capital treason ’gainst the King and crown. Obey, audacious traitor; kneel for grace.
YORK	(to an attendant) Sirrah, call in my sons to be my bail. Exit attendant I know, ere they will have me go to ward, They’ll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement.
(didascalia)	QUEEN MARGARET to Buckingham
YORK	Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain, To say if that the bastard boys of York Shall be the surety for their traitor father.
(didascalia)	Exit Buckingham
YORK	O blood-bespotted Neapolitan, Outcast of Naples, England’s bloody scourge! The sons of York, thy betters in their birth, Shall be their father’s bail, and bane to those That for my surety will refuse the boys.
(didascalia)	Enter at one door York’s sons Edward and crookback Richard with a drummer and soldiers
YORK	See where they come. I’ll warrant they’ll make it good.
(didascalia)	Enter at the other door Clifford and his son, with a drummer and soldiers
QUEEN MARGARET	And here comes Clifford to deny their bail.
CLIFFORD	(kneeling before King Henry) Health and all happiness to my lord the King. He rises
YORK	I thank thee, Clifford. Say, what news with thee? Nay, do not fright us with an angry look— We are thy sovereign, Clifford; kneel again. For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.
CLIFFORD	This is my king, York; I do not mistake. But thou mistakes me much to think I do. (To King Henry) To Bedlam with him! Is the man grown mad?
KING HENRY	Ay, Clifford, a bedlam and ambitious humour Makes him oppose himself against his king.
CLIFFORD	He is a traitor; let him to the Tower, And chop away that factious pate of his.
QUEEN MARGARET	He is arrested, but will not obey. His sons, he says, shall give their words for him.
YORK	(to Edward and Richard) Will you not, sons?
EDWARD	Ay, noble father, if our words will serve.
RICHARD	And if words will not, then our weapons shall.
CLIFFORD	Why, what a brood of traitors have we here!
YORK	Look in a glass, and call thy image so. I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor. Call hither to the stake my two brave bears, That with the very shaking of their chains, They may astonish these fell-lurking curs. (To an attendant) Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.
(didascalia)	Exit attendant
(didascalia)	Enter the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury with a drummer and soldiers
CLIFFORD	Are these thy bears? We’ll bait thy bears to death, And manacle the bearherd in their chains, If thou dar’st bring them to the baiting place.
RICHARD	Oft have I seen a hot o’erweening cur Run back and bite, because he was withheld; Who, being suffered with the bear’s fell paw, Hath clapped his tail between his legs and cried; And such a piece of service will you do, If you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick.
CLIFFORD	Hence, heap of wrath, foul indigested lump, As crooked in thy manners as thy shape!
YORK	Nay, we shall heat you thoroughly anon.
CLIFFORD	Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves.
KING HENRY	Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot to bow? Old Salisbury, shame to thy silver hair, Thou mad misleader of thy brainsick son! What, wilt thou on thy deathbed play the ruffian, And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles? O, where is faith? O, where is loyalty? If it be banished from the frosty head, Where shall it find a harbour in the earth? Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war, And shame thine honourable age with blood? Why, art thou old and want’st experience? Or wherefore dost abuse it if thou hast it? For shame in duty bend thy knee to me, That bows unto the grave with mickle age.
SALISBURY	My lord, I have considered with myself The title of this most renowned Duke, And in my conscience do repute his grace The rightful heir to England’s royal seat.
KING HENRY	Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me?
SALISBURY	I have.
KING HENRY	Canst thou dispense with heaven for such an oath?
SALISBURY	It is great sin to swear unto a sin, But greater sin to keep a sinful oath. Who can be bound by any solemn vow To do a murd’rous deed, to rob a man, To force a spotless virgin’s chastity, To reave the orphan of his patrimony, To wring the widow from her customed right, And have no other reason for this wrong But that he was bound by a solemn oath?
QUEEN MARGARET	A subtle traitor needs no sophister.
KING HENRY	(to an attendant) Call Buckingham, and bid him arm himself.
(didascalia)	Exit attendant
YORK	(to King Henry) Call Buckingham and all the friends thou hast, I am resolved for death or dignity.
CLIFFORD	The first, I warrant thee, if dreams prove true.
WARWICK	You were best to go to bed and dream again, To keep you from the tempest of the field.
CLIFFORD	I am resolved to bear a greater storm Than any thou canst conjure up today— And that I’ll write upon thy burgonet Might I but know thee by thy household badge.
WARWICK	Now by my father’s badge, old Neville’s crest, The rampant bear chained to the ragged staff, This day I’ll wear aloft my burgonet, As on a mountain top the cedar shows That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm, Even to affright thee with the view thereof.
CLIFFORD	And from thy burgonet I’ll rend thy bear, And tread it under foot with all contempt, Despite the bearherd that protects the bear.
YOUNG CLIFFORD	And so to arms, victorious father, To quell the rebels and their complices.
RICHARD	Fie, charity, for shame! Speak not in spite— For you shall sup with Jesu Christ tonight.
YOUNG CLIFFORD	Foul stigmatic, that’s more than thou canst tell.
RICHARD	If not in heaven, you’ll surely sup in hell.
(didascalia)	Exeunt severally
(didascalia)	5.2 An alehouse sign: a castle. Alarums to the battle. Then enter the Duke of Somerset and Richard fighting. Richard kills Somerset under the sign
RICHARD	So lie thou there— For underneath an alehouse’ paltry sign, The Castle in Saint Albans, Somerset Hath made the wizard famous in his death. Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathfull still— Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.
(didascalia)	Exit with Somerset’s body. The sign is removed
(didascalia)	5.3 Alarum again. Enter the Earl of Warwick
WARWICK	Clifford of Cumberland, ’tis Warwick calls! An if thou dost not hide thee from the bear, Now, when the angry trumpet sounds alarum, And dead men’s cries do fill the empty air, Clifford I say, come forth and fight with me! Proud northern lord, Clifford of Cumberland, Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms!
CLIFFORD	(Within) Warwick, stand still; and stir not till I come.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke of York
WARWICK	How now, my noble lord? What, all afoot?
YORK	The deadly-handed Clifford slew my steed. But match to match I have encountered him, And made a prey for carrion kites and crows Even of the bonny beast he loved so well.
(didascalia)	Enter Lord Clifford
WARWICK	(to Clifford) Of one or both of us the time is come.
YORK	Hold, Warwick—seek thee out some other chase, For I myself must hunt this deer to death.
WARWICK	Then nobly, York; ‘tis for a crown thou fight’st. (To Clifford) As I intend, Clifford, to thrive today, It grieves my soul to leave thee unassailed. Exit
YORK	Clifford, since we are singled here alone, Be this the day of doom to one of us. For know my heart hath sworn immortal hate To thee and all the house of Lancaster.
CLIFFORD	And here I stand and pitch my foot to thine, Vowing not to stir till thou or I be slain. For never shall my heart be safe at rest Till I have spoiled the hateful house of York.
(didascalia)	Alarums. They fight. York kills Clifford
YORK	Now, Lancaster, sit sure—thy sinews shrink. Come, fearful Henry, grovelling on thy face— Yield up thy crown unto the prince of York. Exit
(didascalia)	Alarums, then enter Young Clifford
YOUNG CLIFFORD	Shame and confusion, all is on the rout! Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds Where it should guard. O, war, thou son of hell, Whom angry heavens do make their minister, Throw in the frozen bosoms of our part Hot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly! He that is truly dedicate to war Hath no self-love; nor he that loves himself Hath not essentially, but by circumstance, The name of valour. He sees his father’s body O, let the vile world end, And the premised flames of the last day Knit earth and heaven together. Now let the general trumpet blow his blast, Particularities and petty sounds To cease! Wast thou ordained, dear father, To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieve The silver livery of advised age, And in thy reverence and thy chair-days, thus To die in ruffian battle? Even at this sight My heart is turned to stone, and while ’tis mine It shall be stony. York not our old men spares; No more will I their babes. Tears virginal Shall be to me even as the dew to fire, And beauty that the tyrant oft reclaims Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax. Henceforth I will not have to do with pity. Meet I an infant of the house of York, Into as many gobbets will I cut it As wild Medea young Absyrtus did. In cruelty will I seek out my fame. Come, thou new ruin of old Clifford’s house, He takes his father’s body up on his back As did Aeneas old Anchises bear, So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders. But then Aeneas bare a living load, Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine.
(didascalia)	Exit with the body
(didascalia)	5.4 Alarums
(didascalia)	again. Then enter three or four bearing the Duke of Buckingham wounded to his tent. Alarums still. Enter King Henry, Queen Margaret, and others
QUEEN MARGARET	Away, my lord! You are slow. For shame, away!
KING HENRY	Can we outrun the heavens? Good Margaret, stay.
QUEEN MARGARET	What are you made of? You’ll nor fight nor fly. Now is it manhood, wisdom, and defence, To give the enemy way, and to secure us By what we can, which can no more but fly.
(didascalia)	Alarum afar off
QUEEN MARGARET	If you be ta’en, we then should see the bottom Of all our fortunes; but if we haply scape— As well we may if not through your neglect— We shall to London get where you are loved, And where this breach now in our fortunes made May readily be stopped.
(didascalia)	Enter Young Clifford
YOUNG CLIFFORD	(to King Henry) But that my heart’s on future mischief set, I would speak blasphemy ere bid you fly; But fly you must; uncurable discomfit Reigns in the hearts of all our present parts. Away for your relief, and we will live To see their day and them our fortune give. Away, my lord, away! Exeunt

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Alarum. Retreat. Enter the Duke of York, his sons Edward and Richard, and soldiers, including a drummer and some bearing colours
YORK	(to Edward and Richard) How now, boys! Fortunate this fight hath been, I hope, to us and ours for England’s good And our great honour, that so long we lost Whilst faint-heart Henry did usurp our rights. Of Salisbury, who can report of him? That winter lion who in rage forgets Aged contusions and all brush of time, And, like a gallant in the brow of youth, Repairs him with occasion. This happy day Is not itself, nor have we won one foot If Salisbury be lost.
RICHARD	My noble father, Three times today I holp him to his horse; Three times bestrid him; thrice I led him off, Persuaded him from any further act; But still where danger was, still there I met him, And like rich hangings in a homely house, So was his will in his old feeble body.
(didascalia)	Enter the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick
EDWARD	(to York) See, noble father, where they both do come— The only props unto the house of York!
SALISBURY	Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought today; By th’ mass, so did we all. I thank you, Richard. God knows how long it is I have to live, And it hath pleased him that three times today You have defended me from imminent death. Well, lords, we have not got that which we have— ’Tis not enough our foes are this time fled, Being opposites of such repairing nature.
YORK	I know our safety is to follow them, For, as I hear, the King is fled to London, To call a present court of Parliament. Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth. What says Lord Warwick, shall we after them?
WARWICK	After them? Nay, before them if we can! Now by my hand, lords, ’twas a glorious day! Saint Albans battle won by famous York Shall be eternized in all age to come.
(didascalia)	Sound drums and trumpets, and to London all,
WARWICK	And more such days as these to us befall!
(didascalia)	Flourish. Exeunt
ADDITIONAL PASSAGES	A. We adopt the 1594 Quarto version of the Queen’s initial speech, 1.1.24—9; the Folio version, which follows, is probably the author’s original draft.
QUEEN MARGARET	Great King of England, and my gracious lord, The mutual conference that my mind hath had— By day, by night; waking, and in my dreams; In courtly company, or at my beads— With you, mine alder liefest sovereign, Makes me the bolder to salute my king With ruder terms, such as my wit affords And overjoy of heart doth minister. B. For 1.4.39―40.2 the Quarto substitutes the following; it may report a revision made in rehearsal to cover the Spirit’s descent. The Spirit sinks down again
BOLINGBROKE	Then down, I say, unto the damned pool Where Pluto in his fiery wagon sits Riding, amidst the singed and parched smokes, The road of Ditis by the River Styx. There howl and burn for ever in those flames. Rise, Jordan, rise, and stay thy charming spells— Zounds, we are betrayed! C. The entire debate on Duke Humphrey’s death in 3. 1 is handled differently by the Quarto from the Folio. We retain the Folio version of the debate, but the Quarto version may represent authorial revision. The following Q lines, roughly corresponding to 3.1.310―30.1, are of particular interest because they supply Buckingham with speeches for this latter part of the scene. [YORK] Let me have some bands of chosen soldiers, And York shall try his fortune ‘gainst those kerns.
QUEEN MARGARET	York, thou shalt. My lord of Buckingham, Let it be your charge to muster up such soldiers As shall suffice him in these needful wars.
BUCKINGHAM	Madam, I will, and levy such a band As soon shall overcome those Irish rebels. But, York, where shall those soldiers stay for thee?
YORK	At Bristol I will expect them ten days hence.
BUCKINCHAM	Then thither shall they come, and so farewell.
(didascalia)	Exit
YORK	Adieu, my lord of Buckingham.
QUEEN MARGARET	Suffolk, remember what you have to do— And you, Lord Cardinat—concerning Duke Humphrey. ‘Twere good that you did see to it in time. Come, let us go, that it may be performed.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but York
QUEEN MARGARET	D. We adopt the Quarto version of the confrontation between Clifford and York at 5.3.20—30; the Folio version, an edited text of which follows, is probably the author’s original draft.
CLIFFORD	What seest thou in me, York? Why dost thou pause?
YORK	With thy brave bearing should I be in love, But that thou art so fast mine enemy.
CLIFFORD	Nor should thy prowess want praise and esteem, But that ’tis shown ignobly and in treason.
YORK	So let it help me now against thy sword, As I in justice and true right express it.
CLIFFORD	My soul and body on the action, both.
YORK	A dreadful lay. Address thee instantly.
CLIFFORD	La fin couronne les oeuvres. Alarms. They fight. York kills Clifford
YORK	Thus war hath given thee peace, for thou art still. Peace with his soul, heaven, if it be thy will. Exit
RICHARD DUKE OF YORK	(3 HENRY VI)
THE	play printed in the 1623 Folio as The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, with the Death of the Duke of York was described on the title-page of its first, unauthoritative publication in 1595 as The True Tragedy of Richard, Duke of York, and the Death of Good King Henry the Sixth, with the whole Contention between the two houses Lancaster and York. It is clearly a continuation of The First Part of the Contention, taking up the story where that play had ended, with the aspirations of Richard, Duke of York to the English throne, and was probably composed immediately afterwards. The final scenes of The First Part of the Contention briefly introduce two of York’s sons, Edward (the eldest) and Richard (already described as a ‘foul, indigested lump, | As crooked in … manners as [in] shape’). They, along with their brothers Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and George (later Duke of Clarence), figure more prominently in Richard Duke of York. The first scenes show York apparently fulfilling his ambition, as Henry VI weakly cedes his rights to the throne after his death; but Queen Margaret leads an army against York, and, when he is captured, personally taunts him with news of the murder of his youngest son, stabs York to death, and commands that his head be ‘set on York gates’. (This powerful scene includes the line ‘O tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide’, paraphrased by Robert Greene before September 1592, which establishes the upward limit of the play’s date.) Though Richard of York dies early in the action, the remainder of the play centres on his sons’ efforts (aided by Warwick’s politic schemings) to avenge his death and to establish the dominance of Yorkists over Lancastrians. The balance of power shifts frequently, and the brothers’ alliance crumbles, but finally Queen Margaret, with her French allies, is defeated and captured, and Richard of York’s surviving sons avenge their father’s death by killing her son, Edward, before her eyes. Richard of Gloucester starts to clear his way to the throne by murdering ‘Good King Henry’ in the Tower, and the play ends with the new King Edward IV exulting in his ‘country’s peace and brothers’ loves’ while Richard makes clear to the audience that Edward’s self-confidence is ill-founded. Though the play is loud and strife-ridden with war, power politics, and personal ambition, a concern with humane values emerges in the subtle and touching continuing portrayal of the quietist Henry VI, a saintly fool who meditates on the superiority of humble contentment to regal misery in an emblematic scene (2.5) that epitomizes the tragedy of civil strife. Richard Duke of York, like The First Part of the Contention, draws extensively on English chronicle history. Historically, the period of the action covers about sixteen years (1455 to 1471), but events are telescoped and rearranged; for instance, the opening scenes move rapidly from the Battle of St Albans (1445) to York’s death (1460); the future Richard III was only three years old, and living abroad, at the time of this opening battle in which he takes an active part; and Richard’s murder of Henry owes more to legend than to fact.
THE PERSONS OF THE	PLAY Of the King’s Party
PRINCE	EDWARD, their son Duke of S0MERSET Duke of EXETER Earl of NORTHUMBERLAND Earl of WESTMORLAND Lord CLIFFORD Lord Stafford
SOMERVILLE	Henry, young Earl of Richmond A SOLDIER who has killed his father A HUNTSMAN who guards King Edward The Divided House of Neville Earl of WARWICK, first of York’s party, later of Lancaster’s Marquis of MONTAGUE, his brother, of York’s party Earl of OXFORD, their brother-in-law, of Lancaster’s party Lord HASTINGS, their brother-in-law, of York’s party Of the Duke of York’s Party Richard Plantagenet, Duke of YORK EDWARD, Earl of March, his son, later Duke of York and
LADY	GRAY, a widow, later Edward’s wife and queen Earl RIVERS, her brother GEORGE, Edward’s brother, later Duke OF CLARENCE RICHARD, Edward’s brother, later Duke OF GLOUCESTER Earl of RUTLAND, Edward’s brother Rutland’s TUTOR, a chaplain
SIR JOHN	Mortimer, York’s uncle Sir Hugh Mortimer, his brother Duke of NORFOLK Sir William Stanley Earl of Pembroke Sir John MONTGOMERY A NOBLEMAN Two GAMEKEEPERS Three WATCHMEN, who guard King Edward’s tent
LIEUTENANT	of the Tower The French
LADY	BONA, his sister-in-law Lord Bourbon, the French High Admiral Others A SOLDIER who has killed his son Mayor of Coventry
MAYOR	of York Aldermen of York Soldiers, messengers, and attendants