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Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter the KING, HUMPHREY, Duke of GLOUCESTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and CARDINAL BEAUFORT, on the one side; the QUEEN, SUFFOLK, YORK, SOMERSET, and BUCKINGHAM, on the other."

Suf. 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 Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne and Alençon,

Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops,

I have perform'd 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

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To your most gracious hands, that are the sub

stance

Of that great shadow I did represent;
The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,
The fairest queen that ever king received.
King. Suffolk, arise. Welcome, Queen
Margaret:

I can express no kinder sign of love

Than this kind kiss. O Lord, that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! 20
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. 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 30
And over-joy of heart doth minister.

King. Her sight did ravish; but her grace in speech,

Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty, Makes me from wondering fall to weeping

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Henry King of England, that the said Henry
shall espouse the Lady Margaret, daughter
unto Reignier King of Naples, Sicilia and Jeru-
salem, and crown her Queen of England ere
the thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item, that
the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine
shall be released and delivered to the king her
father'-
[Lets the paper fall.

King. Uncle, how now!
Glou.

Pardon me, gracious lord; Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart

And dimm'd mine eyes, that 1 can read no further.

King. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.

Car. [Reads] Item, It is further agreed be tween them, that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered over to the king her father, and she sent over of the King of England's own proper cost and charges, without having any dowry.'

King. They please us well. Lord marquess, kneel down:

We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk, And gird thee with the sword. Cousin of York,

We here discharge your grace from being re

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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 valor, coin and people, in the wars ?
Did he so often lodge in open field,

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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 War-
wick,

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

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And shall these labors and these honors 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,

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Blotting your names from books of memory, Razing the characters of your renown, Defacing monuments of conquer'd France, Undoing all, as all had never been!

Car. Nephew, what means this passionate discourse,

This peroration with such circumstance?
For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.
Go 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 110 Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.

Sal. Now, by the death of Him that died for all,

These counties were the keys of Normandy. But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son ?

War. For grief that they are past recovery: For, were there hope to conquer them again, My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes

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'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, 140 But 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye. Rancor will out: proud prelate, in thy face I see thy fury: if I longer stay, We shall begin our ancient bickerings. Lordings, farewell; and say, when I am gone, I prophesied France will be lost ere long. [Exit. Car. 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. 150 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 favor him, Calling him 'Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester,'

Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice, 160

'Jesu maintain your royal excellence!'
With God preserve the good Duke Hum-
phrey !'

I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,
He will be found a dangerous protector.
Buck. 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 hoise Duke Humphrey from his

seat.

Car. This weighty business will not brook delay:

170 [Exit.

I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently.
Som. Cousin of Buckingham, though Hum-
phrey'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.
Buck. Or thou or I, Somerset, will be pro-
tector,

Despite Duke Humphrey or the cardinal.
[Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset.
Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows
him.
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While these do labor for their own preferment,
Behoves it us to labor 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' the 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, 190
Thy deeds, thy plainness and thy housekeep-
ing,

Hath won the greatest favor 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 fear'd and honor'd of the peo-
ple:

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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.
War. So God help Warwick, as he loves
the land,

And common profit of his country! York. [Aside] And so says York, for he hath greatest cause.

Sal. Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main.

War. 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,
[Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury.
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

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And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts 240 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 humors fits not for a crown.
Then, York, be still awhile, till time do serve :
Watch thou and wake when others be asleep,
To pry into the secrets of the state;
Till Henry, surfeiting in joys of love,
With his new bride and England's dear-bought

queen,

250

[jars:

And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at 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 pull'd fair England down. [Erit.

SCENE II. The DUKE OF GLOUCESTER'S house.

Enter DUKE HUMPHREY and his wife ELEANOR.

Duch. Why droops my lord, like overripen'd corn,

Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load? Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his brows,

As frowning at the favors 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 honors 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;

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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.
Glou. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love
thy lord,

Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts.
And may that thought, when I imagine ill
Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry,
Be my last breathing in this mortal world! 21
My troublous dream this night doth make me
sad.

Duch. What dream'd my lord? tell me,

and I'll requite it

With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream. Glou. Methought this staff, mine office

badge in court,

Was broke in twain; by whom I have forgot,
But, as I think, it was by the 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. 31

Duch. Tut, this was nothing but an argu

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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 honor to disgrace's feet?
Away from me, and let me hear no more! 50
Duch. 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 check'd.

Glou. Nay, be not angry; I am pleased again.

Enter Messenger.

Mess. My lord protector, 'tis his highness' pleasure

You do prepare to ride unto Saint Alban's, Where as the king and queen do mean to hawk. Glou. I go. Come, Nell, thou wilt ride with us?

Duch. Yes, my good lord, I'll follow presently. 60

[Exeunt Gloucester and Messenger. Follow I must; I cannot go before, While Gloucester bears this base and humble mind.

Were I a man, a duke, and next of blood,

I would remove these tedious stumblingblocks

[necks; And smooth my way upon their headless And, being a woman, I will not be slack To play my part in Fortune's pageant. Where are you there? Sir John! nay, fear

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but grace.

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Hume. But, by the grace of God, and Hume's advice,

Your grace's title shall be multiplied.

Duch. What say'st thou, man? hast thou as yet conferr'd

With Margery Jourdain, the cunning witch,
With Roger Bolingbroke, the conjurer?
And will they undertake to do me good?
Hume. This they have promised, to show
your highness

A spirit raised from depth of under-ground,
That shall make answer to such questions 80
As by your grace shall be propounded him.
Duch. It is enough; I'll think upon the
questions:

When from St. Alban's we do make return,
We'll see these things effected to the full.
Here, Hume, take this reward; make merry,

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Enter three or four Petitioners, PETER, the Armorer's man, being one.

First Petit. 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.

Sec. Petit. Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a good man! Jesu bless him!

Enter SUFFOLK and QUEEN.

Peter. Here a' comes, methinks, and the queen with him. I'll be the first, sure.

Sec. Petit. Come back, fool; this is the Duke of Suffolk, and not my lord protector. 10 Suf How now, fellow! would'st anything with me?

First Petit. I pray, my lord, pardon me; I took ye for my lord protector.

Queen. [Reading] To my Lord Protector!' Are your supplications to his lordship? Let me see them what is thine ?

First Petit. 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.

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Suf. Thy wife, too! that's some wrong, indeed. What's yours? What's here! [ Reads] 'Against the Duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the commons of Melford.' How now, sir knave !

Sec. Petit. Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.

Peter. [Gwing his petition] Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.

Queen. 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 usurper.

Suf. Who is there? [Enter Servant.] Take

this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant presently: we'll hear more of your matter before the king. [Exit Servant with Peter. Queen. And as for you, that love to be protected

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Under the wings of our protector's grace, Begin your suits anew, and sue to him. [Tears the supplication. Away, base cullions! Suffolk, let them go. All. Come, let's be gone. [Exeunt.

Queen. My Lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise,

Is this the fashion 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 ran'st a tilt in honor of my love

And stolest 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;

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Cannot do more in England than the Nevils: Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.

Queen. 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, 80

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 daugh-
ter.

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So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last,
And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.

Sound a sennet. Enter the KING, DUKE HUM-
PHREY of Gloucester, CARDINAL
FORT, BUCKINGHAM,

BEAUYORK, SOMERSET, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and the DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER.

King. For my part, noble lords, I care not which;

Or Somerset or York, all's one to me.

York. If York have ill demean'd himself in France,

Then let him be denay'd the regentship.
Som. If Somerset be unworthy of the
place,

Let York be regent; I will yield to him.
War. Whether your grace be worthy, yea

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