*I'll play the orator as well as Nestor, Change shapes, with Proteus, for advantages, [Exit. SCENE III. France. A Room in the Palace. Flourish. Enter LEWIS, the French King, and LADY BONA, attended; the King takes his state. Then enter QUEEN MARGARET, PRINCE EDWARD her Son, and the EARL of OXFORD. K. Lew. Fair queen of England, worthy Margaret, [Rising. • Sit down with us: it ill befits thy state, And birth, that thou shouldst stand, while Lewis doth sit. * Q. Mar. No, mighty king of France; now Margaret * Must strike her sail, and learn awhile to serve, * Where kings command. I was, I must confess, * Great Albion's queen in former golden days. * But now mischance hath trod my title down, *And with dishonor laid me on the ground; *Where I must take like seat unto my fortune, *And to my humble seat conform myself. *K. Lew. Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep despair? *Q. Mar. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears, *And stops my tongue, while heart is drowned in cares. *K. Lew. Whate'er it be, be thou still like thyself, * And sit thee by our side: yield not thy neck 1 The old play reads, with more propriety, [Seats her by him. "And set the aspiring Catiline to school." By which the anachronism is also avoided. * To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind *Still ride in triumph over all mischance. * Be plain, queen Margaret, and tell thy grief; * It shall be eased, if France can yield relief. * Q. Mar. Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts, *And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak. * While proud, ambitious Edward, duke of York, * Of England's true, anointed, lawful king. *This is the cause, that I, poor Margaret, * With this my son, prince Edward, Henry's heir, * K. Lew. Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm, * While we bethink a means to break it off. * Q. Mar. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe. *K. Lew. The more I stay, the more I'll succor thee. * Q. Mar. O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow; * And see, where comes the breeder of my sorrow. Enter WARWICK,' attended. K. Lew. What's he, approacheth boldly to our presence? 1 This nobleman's embassy and commission, the insult he receives by the king's hasty marriage, and his consequent resolution to avenge it, with the capture, imprisonment, and escape of the king, Shakspeare found in Hall and Holinshed; but later as well as earlier writers of better au Q. Mar. Our earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend. K. Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to France? * [Descending from his state, Queen MARGARET rises. Q. Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise; *For this is he that moves both wind and tide. War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion, With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant To England's king in lawful marriage. 'Q. Mar. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done. War. And, gracious madam, [To BONA.] in our king's behalf, 'I am commanded, with your leave and favor, Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart; Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears, Hath placed thy beauty's image, and thy virtue. Q. Mar. King Lewis, and lady Bona, hear me speak, Before you answer Warwick. His demand Springs not from Edward's well-meant, honest love, *But from deceit, bred by necessity; *For how can tyrants safely govern home, thority incline us to discredit the whole; and to refer the rupture between the king and his political creator to other causes. The king was privately married to the lady Elizabeth Widville, in 1463, and in February, 1465, Warwick actually stood sponsor to the princess Elizabeth, their first child. It should seem from the Annales of W. of Wyrcester, that no open rupture had taken place between the king and Warwick, up to the beginning of November, 1468; at least, nothing appears to the contrary in that historian, whose work is, unfortunately, defective from that period. * That Henry liveth still; but were he dead, * Yet here prince Edward stands, king Henry's son. * Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage, *Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonor; *For though usurpers sway the rule awhile, * Yet Heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs. War. Injurious Margaret! Prince. And why not queen? War. Because thy father Henry did usurp; And thou no more art prince, than she is queen. Oxf. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt, Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain; And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth, Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest; And, after that wise prince, Henry the Fifth, Who by his prowess conquered all France: From these our Henry lineally descends. War. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth discourse, You told not, how Henry the Sixth hath lost All that which Henry the Fifth had gotten? Methinks these peers of France should smile at that. Of threescore and two years; a silly time Oxf. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy Whom thou obey'dst thirty and six years, For shame, leave Henry, and call Edward king. 6 Oxf. Call him my king, by whose injurious doom My elder brother, the lord Aubrey Vere, Was done to death? and more than so, my father, When nature brought him to the door of death? K. Lew. Queen Margaret, prince Edward, and Oxford, Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside, "While I use further conference with Warwick. * Q. Mar. Heaven grant that Warwick's words bewitch him not! [Retiring with the Prince and Oxford. K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience, Is Edward your true king? for I were loath Unto our sister Bona. War. Such it seems, As may beseem a monarch like himself. Myself have often heard him say, and swear,- Whereof the root was fixed in virtue's ground, Unless the lady Bona quit his pain. K. Lew. Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve. Bona. Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine; Yet I confess, [To WAR.] that often ere this day, When I have heard your king's desert recounted, Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire. *K. Lew. Then, Warwick, thus-Our sister shall be Edward's; *And now forthwith shall articles be drawn *Touching the jointure that your king must make, *Which with her dowry shall be counterpoised.Draw near, queen Margaret; and be a witness, That Bona shall be wife to the English king. Prince. To Edward, but not to the English king. 1 He means, "that Henry was unsuccessful in war." |