master said, That he was; and that the king was 'an usurper3. Suf. Who is there? [Enter Servants.] Take this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant presently: we'll hear more of your matter before the king. [Exeunt Servants, with Peter. Q. Mar. And as for you, that love to be pro tected Under the wings of our protector's grace, [Tears the Petition. Away, base cuillons4! -Suffolk, let them go. * All. Come, let's be gone. [Exeunt Petitioners. * Q. Mar. 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 Gloster's governance? * Am I a queen in title and in style, * And must be made a subject to a duke? "I tell thee, Poole, when in the city Tours Thou rann'st a tilt in honour of my love, And stol'st away the ladies' hearts of France; 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 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. The quarto reads 'an usurer.` Queen. An usurper thou would'st say, 4 i. e. scoundrels; from coglioni, Ital. Suf. Madam, be patient; as I was cause Your highness came to England, so will ] In England work your grace's full content. * Q. Mar. 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. * Suf. And he of these, that can do most of all, * Cannot do more in England than the Nevils: * Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers. 'Q. Mar. 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 her poverty: * Shall I not live to be aveng'd on her? * Contemptuous base-born callat 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 dukedoms5 for his daughter. Suf. Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her; * And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds, , That she will light to listen to the 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, The duchies of Anjou and Maine, which Henry surrendered to Reignier on his marriage with Margaret. See Sc. i. p. 119. In the original play : 'I have set limetwigs that will entangle them.' * 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. Enter KING HENRY, YORK, and SOMERSET, conversing with him; DUKE and DUCHESS of GLOSTER, CARDINAL BEAUFORT, BUCKINGHAM, SALISBURY, and WARWICK. K. Hen. 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'ds 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, or no, Dispute not that: York is the worthier. Car. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak. War. The cardinal's not my better in the field. Buck. All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick. War. Warwick may live to be the best of all. * Sal. Peace, son;--and show some reason, Buckingham, * Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this. * Q. Mar. Because the king, forsooth, will have it so. Glo. Madam, the king is old enough himself To give his censure9: these are no women's matters. Q. Mar. If he be old enough, what needs your grace i. e. the complaint of Peter the armourer's man against his master, for saying that York was the rightful king. 8 Denay is frequently used instead of deny among the old writers. So in Twelfth Night: My love can give no place, bide no denay. 9 Censure here means simply judgment or opinion: the sense in which it was used by all the writers of the time. To be protector of his excellence? Glo. Madam, I am protector of the realm; And, at his pleasure, will resign my place. Suf. Resign it then, and leave thine insolence. Since thou wert king (as who is king, but thou?) The commonwealth hath daily run to wreck: * The Dauphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas; * And all the peers and nobles of the realm * Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty. * Car. The commons hast thou rack'd; the clergy's bags * Are lank and lean with thy extortions. * Som. Thy sumptuous buildings, and thy wife's attire, * Have cost a mass of public treasury. * Buck. Thy cruelty in execution, * Upon offenders, hath exceeded law, * And left thee to the mercy of the law. * Q. Mar. 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. [Exit GLOSTER. The Queen drops her Fan. 'Give me my fan: What, minion! can you not? [Gives the Duchess a box on the ear. I cry you mercy, madam; Was it you? 'Duch. Was't I? yea, I it was, proud French woman: Could I come near your beauty with my nails, I'd set my ten commandments in your face10. 10 This appears to have been a popular phrase for the hands or ten fingers. Thus in Selimus, Emperor of the Turks, 1594:'I would set a tap abroach and not live in fear of my wife's ten commandments. Again, in Westward Hoe, 1607:- Your harpy has set his ten commandments on my back.' 'When Xantippe had pulled awaye her housbandes cope from his backe, even in the open streete, and his familiar compaignons gave him a by warning to avenge suche a naughtie touche or pranke with his tenne comandementes. Gayly saied (quod he), Yea, Marie, that while she and I bee towzing and toplying together ye may crye to us, one, now go to Socrates; an other, hold thyne own Xantippe.'— Erasmus's Apothegms, by Nicholas Udal. K. Hen. Sweet aunt, be quiet; 'twas against her will. Duch. Against her will! Good king, look to't in time; She'll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby: * Though in this place most master wear no breeches, She shall not strike dame Eleanor unreveng'd. [Exit Duchess. *Buck. Lord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor, * And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds: * She's tickled now; her fume needs no spurs, * She'll gallop fast enough to her destruction. [Exit BUCKINGHAM. Re-enter Gloster. * Glo. Now, lords, my choler being over-blown, *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. Suf. 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 danc'd attendance on his will, * Till Paris was besieg'd, famish'd, and lost. * War. That I can witness; and a fouler fact * Did never traitor in the land commit. Suf. Peace, headstrong Warwick! War. Image of pride, why should I hold my peace? |