THE SECOND PART OF

KING HENRY VI

ACT FIRST

SCENE I

London. The palace.

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,

1. "As by your high," &c.; "The Contention" reads:-"As by your high imperial majesty's command.”—I. G.

7. “and”; the reading of F. 1; Ff. 2, 3, 4, omit it.—I. G.

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

10

To your most gracious hands, and 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,

30

With you, mine alder-liefest sovereign, Makes me the bolder to salute my king With ruder terms, such as my wit affords And over-joy of heart doth minister. King. Her sight did ravish; but her grace in

speech,

19. "lends"; Rowe, "lend'st."—I. G.

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

Such is the fulness of my heart's content.

Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love. All [kneeling]. Long live Queen Margaret, England's happiness!

Queen. We thank you all.

40

[Flourish. Suff. 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. Glou. [Reads] 'Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king Charles and William de la Pole, Marquess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry King of England, that the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier King of Naples, Sicilia and Jerusalem, and crown her Queen of England cre the thirtieth of May next 50 ensuing. Item, that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and delivered to the king her father-'

King. Uncle, how now!

Glou.

[Lets the paper fall.

Pardon me, gracious lord;

Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart, And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further.

Sachy of Anjou and the county of Maine"; changed by Capell from Qq. to "dutchies of Anjou and Maine.”—I. G.

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 of her father, and she sent over of 60
the King 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-
gent

I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen
months

Be full expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset,
Salisbury, and Warwick;

We thank you all for this great favor done,
In entertainment to my princely queen.
Come, let us in, and with all speed provide
To see her coronation be perform'd.

70

[Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk.

60. Of course the reader will observe that this item does not run the same as it did in the hands of Gloster. Malone remarks, that "the words of the astrument could not thus vary whilst it was passing from the 1.nds of the duke to those of the cardinal." Doubtless Gloster had caught the drift and substance of the document, but the dimness of his eyes prevented his reading with literal exactness.-H. N. H.

63. "kneel down"; Pope reads "kneel you down"; Keightley, Collier MS., "kneel thee down." Perhaps "kneel" is to be read as a dissyllable.-I. G.

Glou. 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 valor, 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?

80

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

90

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 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,
Blotting your names from books of memory,

88. "Beaufort"; Ff. read "Beauford"; Rowe, "Bedford."-I. G. 93. “And had his highness in his infancy Crowned”; Grant White's emendation of Ff., "And hath Crowned"; Rowe reads "And

was

Crowned"; Capell, "Or hath

Malone, "And hath

... Been crown'd";

Been crown'd.”—I. G.