| ACT I SCENE III | The Palace. | |
| [
Enter three or four Petitioners, PETER, the
Armourer's man, being one
] |
| First Petitioner | My masters, let's stand close: my lord protector |
| will come this way by and by, and then we may deliver |
| our supplications in the quill. |
| Second Petitioner | Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a good man! |
| Jesu bless him! | 5 |
| [Enter SUFFOLK and QUEEN MARGARET] |
| PETER | Here a' comes, methinks, and the queen with him. |
| I'll be the first, sure. |
| Second Petitioner | Come back, fool; this is the Duke of Suffolk, and |
| not my lord protector. |
| SUFFOLK | How now, fellow! would'st anything with me? | 10 |
| First Petitioner | I pray, my lord, pardon me; I took ye for my lord |
| protector. |
| QUEEN MARGARET | [Reading] 'To my Lord Protector!' Are your
|
| supplications to his lordship? Let me see them: |
| what is thine? | 15 |
| First Petitioner | Mine is, an't please your grace, against John |
| Goodman, my lord cardinal's man, for keeping my |
| house, and lands, and wife and all, from me. |
| SUFFOLK | Thy wife, too! that's some wrong, indeed. What's |
| yours? What's here! | 20 |
[Reads] |
| 'Against the Duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the |
| commons of Melford.' How now, sir knave! |
| Second Petitioner | Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township. |
| PETER | [Giving his petition] Against my master, Thomas
|
| Horner, for saying that the Duke of York was rightful | 25 |
| heir to the crown. |
| QUEEN MARGARET | What sayst thou? did the Duke of York say he was |
| rightful heir to the crown? |
| PETER | That my master was? no, forsooth: my master said |
| that he was, and that the king was an usurper. | 30 |
| SUFFOLK | Who is there? |
[Enter Servant] |
| Take this fellow in, and send for |
| his master with a pursuivant presently: we'll hear |
| more of your matter before the King. |
| [Exit Servant with PETER] |
| QUEEN MARGARET | And as for you, that love to be protected | 35 |
| Under the wings of our protector's grace, |
| Begin your suits anew, and sue to him. |
[Tears the supplication] |
| Away, base cullions! Suffolk, let them go. |
| ALL | Come, let's be gone. |
| [Exeunt] |
| QUEEN MARGARET | My Lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise, | 40 |
| 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 Gloucester's governance? | 45 |
| Am I a queen in title and in style, |
| And must be made a subject to a duke? |
| I tell thee, Pole, when in the city Tours |
| Thou ran'st a tilt in honour of my love |
| And stolest away the ladies' hearts of France, | 50 |
| I thought King Henry had resembled thee |
| In courage, courtship and proportion: |
| But all his mind is bent to holiness, |
| To number Ave-Maries on his beads; |
| His champions are the prophets and apostles, | 55 |
| 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 the cardinals |
| Would choose him pope, and carry him to Rome, | 60 |
| And set the triple crown upon his head: |
| That were a state fit for his holiness. |
| SUFFOLK | Madam, be patient: as I was cause |
| Your highness came to England, so will I |
| In England work your grace's full content. | 65 |
| QUEEN MARGARET | Beside the haughty 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. |
| SUFFOLK | And he of these that can do most of all | 70 |
| Cannot do more in England than the Nevils: |
| Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers. |
| QUEEN MARGARET | 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, | 75 |
| 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 our poverty: |
| Shall I not live to be avenged on her? | 80 |
| Contemptuous base-born callet 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 dukedoms for his daughter. | 85 |
| SUFFOLK | Madam, myself have limed a bush for her, |
| And placed 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; | 90 |
| 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, |
| Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace. |
| As for the Duke of York, this late complaint | 95 |
| 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. |
| [
Sound a sennet. Enter KING HENRY VI, GLOUCESTER,
CARDINAL, BUCKINGHAM, YORK, SOMERSET, SALISBURY,
WARWICK, and the DUCHESS
] |
| KING HENRY VI | For my part, noble lords, I care not which; |
| Or Somerset or York, all's one to me. | 100 |
| YORK | If York have ill demean'd himself in France, |
| Then let him be denay'd the regentship. |
| SOMERSET | If Somerset be unworthy of the place, |
| Let York be regent; I will yield to him. |
| WARWICK | Whether your grace be worthy, yea or no, | 105 |
| Dispute not that: York is the worthier. |
| CARDINAL | Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak. |
| WARWICK | The cardinal's not my better in the field. |
| BUCKINGHAM | All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick. |
| WARWICK | Warwick may live to be the best of all. | 110 |
| SALISBURY | Peace, son! and show some reason, Buckingham, |
| Why Somerset should be preferred in this. |
| QUEEN MARGARET | Because the king, forsooth, will have it so. |
| GLOUCESTER | Madam, the king is old enough himself |
| To give his censure: these are no women's matters. | 115 |
| QUEEN MARGARET | If he be old enough, what needs your grace |
| To be protector of his excellence? |
| GLOUCESTER | Madam, I am protector of the realm; |
| And, at his pleasure, will resign my place. |
| SUFFOLK | Resign it then and leave thine insolence. | 120 |
| 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. | 125 |
| CARDINAL | The commons hast thou rack'd; the clergy's bags |
| Are lank and lean with thy extortions. |
| SOMERSET | Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife's attire |
| Have cost a mass of public treasury. |
| BUCKINGHAM | Thy cruelty in execution | 130 |
| Upon offenders, hath exceeded law, |
| And left thee to the mercy of the law. |
| QUEEN MARGARET | They sale of offices and towns in France, |
| If they were known, as the suspect is great, |
| Would make thee quickly hop without thy head. | 135 |
[Exit GLOUCESTER. QUEEN MARGARET drops her fan] |
| Give me my fan: what, minion! can ye not? |
[She gives the DUCHESS a box on the ear] |
| I cry you mercy, madam; was it you? |
| DUCHESS | Was't I! yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman: |
| Could I come near your beauty with my nails, |
| I'd set my ten commandments in your face. | 140 |
| KING HENRY VI | Sweet aunt, be quiet; 'twas against her will. |
| DUCHESS | 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 unrevenged. | 145 |
| [Exit] |
| BUCKINGHAM | 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 far enough to her destruction. |
| [Exit] |
| [Re-enter GLOUCESTER] |
| GLOUCESTER | Now, lords, my choler being over-blown | 150 |
| 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, | 155 |
| 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. |
| SUFFOLK | Before we make election, give me leave | 160 |
| 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, | 165 |
| 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 danced attendance on his will |
| Till Paris was besieged, famish'd, and lost. | 170 |
| WARWICK | That can I witness; and a fouler fact |
| Did never traitor in the land commit. |
| SUFFOLK | Peace, headstrong Warwick! |
| WARWICK | Image of pride, why should I hold my peace? |
| [
Enter HORNER, the Armourer, and his man
PETER, guarded
] |
| SUFFOLK | Because here is a man accused of treason: | 175 |
| Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself! |
| YORK | Doth any one accuse York for a traitor? |
| KING HENRY VI | What mean'st thou, Suffolk; tell me, what are these? |
| SUFFOLK | Please it your majesty, this is the man |
| That doth accuse his master of high treason: | 180 |
| His words were these: that Richard, Duke of York, |
| Was rightful heir unto the English crown |
| And that your majesty was a usurper. |
| KING HENRY VI | Say, man, were these thy words? |
| HORNER | An't shall please your majesty, I never said nor | 185 |
| thought any such matter: God is my witness, I am |
| falsely accused by the villain. |
| PETER | By these ten bones, my lords, he did speak them to |
| me in the garret one night, as we were scouring my |
| Lord of York's armour. | 190 |
| YORK | Base dunghill villain and mechanical, |
| I'll have thy head for this thy traitor's speech. |
| I do beseech your royal majesty, |
| Let him have all the rigor of the law. |
| HORNER | Alas, my lord, hang me, if ever I spake the words. | 195 |
| My accuser is my 'prentice; and when I did correct |
| him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his |
| knees he would be even with me: I have good |
| witness of this: therefore I beseech your majesty, |
| do not cast away an honest man for a villain's | 200 |
| accusation. |
| KING HENRY VI | Uncle, what shall we say to this in law? |
| GLOUCESTER | This doom, my lord, if I may judge: |
| Let Somerset be regent over the French, |
| Because in York this breeds suspicion: | 205 |
| And let these have a day appointed them |
| For single combat in convenient place, |
| For he hath witness of his servant's malice: |
| This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey's doom. |
| SOMERSET | I humbly thank your royal majesty. | 210 |
| HORNER | And I accept the combat willingly. |
| PETER | Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God's sake, pity |
| my case. The spite of man prevaileth against me. O |
| Lord, have mercy upon me! I shall never be able to |
| fight a blow. O Lord, my heart! | 215 |
| GLOUCESTER | Sirrah, or you must fight, or else be hang'd. |
| KING HENRY VI | Away with them to prison; and the day of combat |
| shall be the last of the next month. Come, |
| Somerset, we'll see thee sent away. |
| [Flourish. Exeunt] |
The Essential Student History Quiz (with answers and illustrations)