| ACT I SCENE I | London. The palace. | |
| [
Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter KING
HENRY VI, GLOUCESTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and
CARDINAL, on the one side; QUEEN MARGARET, SUFFOLK,
YORK, SOMERSET, and BUCKINGHAM, on the other
] |
| SUFFOLK | 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, | 5 |
| In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil, |
| The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne and Alencon, |
| Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops, |
| I have perform'd my task and was espoused: |
| And humbly now upon my bended knee, | 10 |
| In sight of England and her lordly peers, |
| Deliver up my title in the queen |
| To your most gracious hands, that are the substance |
| Of that great shadow I did represent; |
| The happiest gift that ever marquess gave, | 15 |
| The fairest queen that ever king received. |
| KING HENRY VI | 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 MARGARET | Great King of England and my gracious lord, |
| The mutual conference that my mind hath had, | 25 |
| 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 HENRY VI | Her sight did ravish; but her grace in speech, |
| 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. | 35 |
| Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love. |
| ALL | [Kneeling] Long live Queen Margaret, England's
|
| happiness! |
| QUEEN MARGARET | We thank you all. |
| [Flourish] |
| SUFFOLK | My lord protector, so it please your grace, | 40 |
| Here are the articles of contracted peace |
| Between our sovereign and the French king Charles, |
| For eighteen months concluded by consent. |
| GLOUCESTER | [Reads] 'Imprimis, it is agreed between the French
|
| king Charles, and William de la Pole, Marquess of | 45 |
| 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 ere the |
| thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item, that the duchy | 50 |
| of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released |
| and delivered to the king her father'-- |
| [Lets the paper fall] |
| KING HENRY VI | Uncle, how now! |
| GLOUCESTER | Pardon me, gracious lord; |
| Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart | 55 |
| And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further. |
| KING HENRY VI | Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on. |
| CARDINAL | [Reads] 'Item, It is further agreed between them,
|
| that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be |
| released and delivered over to the king her father, | 60 |
| and she sent over of the King of England's own |
| proper cost and charges, without having any dowry.' |
| KING HENRY VI | 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, | 65 |
| We here discharge your grace from being regent |
| I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen months |
| Be full expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester, |
| Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset, |
| Salisbury, and Warwick; | 70 |
| We thank you all for the great favour done, |
| In entertainment to my princely queen. |
| Come, let us in, and with all speed provide |
| To see her coronation be perform'd. |
| [Exeunt KING HENRY VI, QUEEN MARGARET, and SUFFOLK] |
| GLOUCESTER | Brave peers of England, pillars of the state, | 75 |
| 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 valour, coin and people, in the wars? |
| Did he so often lodge in open field, | 80 |
| 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, | 85 |
| Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick, |
| 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 | 90 |
| Early and late, debating to and fro |
| 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 labours and these honours die? | 95 |
| 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, | 100 |
| Razing the characters of your renown, |
| Defacing monuments of conquer'd France, |
| Undoing all, as all had never been! |
| CARDINAL | Nephew, what means this passionate discourse, |
| This peroration with such circumstance? | 105 |
| For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still. |
| GLOUCESTER | 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. |
| SALISBURY | Now, by the death of Him that died for all, |
| These counties were the keys of Normandy. |
| But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son? | 115 |
| WARWICK | For grief that they are past recovery: |
| For, were there hope to conquer them again, |
| My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears. |
| Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both; |
| Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer: | 120 |
| And are the cities, that I got with wounds, |
| Delivered up again with peaceful words? |
| Mort Dieu! |
| YORK | For Suffolk's duke, may he be suffocate, |
| That dims the honour of this warlike isle! | 125 |
| France should have torn and rent my very heart, |
| Before I would have yielded to this league. |
| I never read but England's kings have had |
| Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives: |
| And our King Henry gives away his own, | 130 |
| To match with her that brings no vantages. |
| GLOUCESTER | A proper jest, and never heard before, |
| That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth |
| For costs and charges in transporting her! |
| She should have stayed in France and starved | 135 |
| in France, Before-- |
| CARDINAL | My Lord of Gloucester, now ye grow too hot: |
| It was the pleasure of my lord the King. |
| GLOUCESTER | My Lord of Winchester, I know your mind; |
| 'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, | 140 |
| But 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye. |
| Rancour 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, | 145 |
| I prophesied France will be lost ere long. |
| [Exit] |
| CARDINAL | 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. | 155 |
| Look to it, lords! let not his smoothing words |
| Bewitch your hearts; be wise and circumspect. |
| What though the common people favour him, |
| Calling him 'Humphrey, the good Duke of |
| Gloucester,' | 160 |
| Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice, |
| 'Jesu maintain your royal excellence!' |
| With 'God preserve the good Duke Humphrey!' |
| I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss, |
| He will be found a dangerous protector. | 165 |
| BUCKINGHAM | 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. | 170 |
| CARDINAL | This weighty business will not brook delay: |
| I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently. |
| [Exit] |
| SOMERSET | Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey's pride |
| And greatness of his place be grief to us, |
| Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal: | 175 |
| His insolence is more intolerable |
| Than all the princes in the land beside: |
| If Gloucester be displaced, he'll be protector. |
| BUCKINGHAM | Or thou or I, Somerset, will be protector, |
| Despite Duke Humphrey or the cardinal. | 180 |
| [Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and SOMERSET] |
| SALISBURY | Pride went before, ambition follows him. |
| While these do labour for their own preferment, |
| Behoves it us to labour for the realm. |
| I never saw but Humphrey Duke of Gloucester |
| Did bear him like a noble gentleman. | 185 |
| 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. | 190 |
| Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age, |
| Thy deeds, thy plainness and thy housekeeping, |
| Hath won the greatest favour of the commons, |
| Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey: |
| And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland, | 195 |
| 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 honour'd of the people: |
| Join we together, for the public good, | 200 |
| 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. | 205 |
| WARWICK | 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.
|
| SALISBURY | Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main. |
| WARWICK | Unto the main! O father, Maine is lost; | 210 |
| 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; | 215 |
| 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 daughter. | 220 |
| I cannot blame them all: what is't to them? |
| 'Tis thine they give away, and not their own. |
| Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage |
| And purchase friends and give to courtezans, |
| Still revelling like lords till all be gone; | 225 |
| While as the silly owner of the goods |
| Weeps over them and wrings his hapless hands |
| And shakes his head and trembling stands aloof, |
| While all is shared and all is borne away, |
| Ready to starve and dare not touch his own: | 230 |
| So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue, |
| While his own lands are bargain'd for and sold. |
| Methinks the realms of England, France and Ireland |
| Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood |
| As did the fatal brand Althaea burn'd | 235 |
| Unto the prince's heart of Calydon. |
| Anjou and Maine both given unto the French! |
| Cold news for me, for I had hope of France, |
| Even as I have of fertile England's soil. |
| A day will come when York shall claim his own; | 240 |
| And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts |
| 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, | 245 |
| Nor hold the sceptre in his childish fist, |
| Nor wear the diadem upon his head, |
| Whose church-like humours fits not for a crown. |
| Then, York, be still awhile, till time do serve: |
| Watch thou and wake when others be asleep, | 250 |
| 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, |
| And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at jars: |
| Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose, | 255 |
| 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. | 260 |
| [Exit] |
The Essential Student History Quiz (with answers and illustrations)