* Glo. A subtle knave! but yet it shall not serve. Let me see thine eyes:-wink now;-now open

them :

:

In my opinion yet thou see'st not well.

Simp. Yes, masters, clear as day; I tkank God, and Saint Alban.

Glo. Say'st thou me so?

cloak of?

What colour is this

Simp. Red, master: red as blood.

Glo. Why, that's well said: What colour is my gown of?

Simp. Black, forsooth; coal-black, as jet.

K. Hen. Why then, thou know'st what colour jet

is of?

Suf. And yet, I think, jet did he never see. Glo. But cloaks, and gowns, before this day, a many.

*Wife. Never, before this day, in all his life. Glo. Tell me, sirrah, what's my name? Simp. Alas, master, I know not.

Glo. What's his name?

Simp. I know not.

Glo. Nor his ?

Simp. No, indeed, master.

Glo. What's thine own name?

Simp. Saunder Simpcox, an if it please you,

master.

Glo. Then, Saunder, sit thou there, the lyingest 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 of colours; but suddenly
To nominate them all, 's impossible.--

My lords, Saint Alban here hath done a miracle;
And would ye not think that cunning to be great,
That could restore this cripple to his legs?
Simp. O, master, that you could!

Glo. My masters of Saint Albans, have you not beadles in your town, and things called whips?

May. Yes, my lord, if it please your grace.
Glo. Then send for one presently.

May. Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight. [Exit an Attendant. Glo. Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. [A Stool brought out.] Now, sirrah, if you mean to save yourself from whipping, leap me over this stool, and run away.

Simp. Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone: You go about to torture me in vain.

Re-enter Attendant, with the Beadle.

Glo. Well, sir, we must have you find your legs. Sirrah beadle, whip him till he leap over that same stool.

Bead. I will, my lord.-Come on, sirrah: off with your doublet quickly.

Simp. Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand.

[After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the Stool, and runs away; and the People follow, and cry, A miracle!

* K. Hen. O God, seest thou this, and bear'st so long?

* Q. Mar. It made me laugh, to see the villain run. * Glo. Follow the knave; and take this drab away. * Wife. Alas, sir, we did it for pure need. Glo. Let them be whipped through every market town, till they come to Berwick, whence they came. [Exeunt Mayor, Beadle, Wife, &c. 'Car. Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to-day. Suf. True; made the lame to leap, and fly away. 'Glo. But you have done more miracles than I; 'You made, in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.

Enter BUCKINGHAM.

'K. Hen. What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?

Buck. Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold.

• A sort of naughty persons, lewdly10 bent,Under the countenance and confederacy Of Lady Eleanor, the protector's wife, The ringleader and head of all this rout,— Have practis'd dangerously against your state, Dealing with witches; and with conjurers: 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, 'As more at large your grace shall understand. Car. And so, my lord protector, by this means Your lady is forthcoming yet at London. "This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's edge; 'Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour. [Aside to GLOSTER. Glo. Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my

heart!

* Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers: * And, vanquish'd as I am, I yield to thee,

* Or to the meanest groom.

* K. Hen. O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones;

Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby! * Q. Mar. Gloster, see here the tainture of thy nest; * And, look, thyself be faultless, thou wert best. Glo. Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal, How I have lov'd my king, and commonweal: 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 convers'd with such As, like to pitch, defile nobility,

I banish her my bed, and company;

9 A sort is a company. So in King Richard III. :

'A sort of vagabonds, rascals, runaways!

10 i. e. wickedly, knavishly.

Nothing, Act v Sc. 1, p. 192

11 i. e. your lady is in custody.

See note on Much Ado About

And give her, as a prey, to law, and shame,
That hath dishonour'd Gloster's honest name.

K. Hen. Well, for this night, we will repose us here:

To-morrow, 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
[Flourish. Exeunt.

prevails.

SCENE II.

London. The Duke of York's Garden.

Enter YORK, 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.

* Sal. My lord, I long to hear it at full. War. Sweet York, begin; and if thy claim be good, The Nevils 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 Edmond Langley, duke of York;
The sixth, was Thomas of Woodstock, duke of
Gloster;

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, reign'd as
king;

Till Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster,

The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt, Crown'd by the name of Henry the Fourth, Seiz'd on the realm; depos'd the rightful king; Sent his poor queen to France, from whence she came,

And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know1, Harmless Richard was murder'd traitorously. * War. Father, the duke 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 reign'd. * Sal. But William of Hatfield died without an heir. * York. The third son, duke of Clarence (from

whose line

*I claim the crown), had issue-Philippe, a daughter, *Who married Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, * Edmund had issue-Roger, earl of March: * Roger had issue-Edmund, Anne, and Eleanor. Sal. This Edmund2, in the reign of Bolingbroke, As I have read, laid claim unto the crown; And, but for Owen Glendower, had been king, Who kept him in captivity, till he died3. · But, to the rest.

1 In the original play the words are, as you both know.' 'The phraseology of the text is peculiar to Shakspeare: in King Henry IV. Part 11. Act iii. Sc. 1, the king, addressing Warwick and Surrey, says :

Why then, good morrow to you all, my lords.'

2 In Act ii. Sc. 5, of the last play, York, to whom this is spoken, is present at the death of Edmund Mortimer in prison; and the reader will recollect him to have been married to Owen Glendower's daughter in the First Part of King Henry IV.

3 Some of the mistakes of the historians and the drama concerning Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, are noticed in a note to the former play, where he is introduced an aged and gray haired prisoner in the Tower, and represented as having been confined since Harry Monmouth first began to reign. Yet here we are told he was kept in captivity by Owen Glendower till he died. The fact is, that Hall having said Owen Glendower kept his son in law, Lord Grey of Ruthvin, in captivity till he died, and this Lord March having been said by some historians to have married Owen's daughter, the author of this play has confounded them with each other. This Edmund being only six years of