| ACT II SCENE III | A hall of justice. | |
| [
Sound trumpets. Enter KING HENRY VI, QUEEN
MARGARET, GLOUCESTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, and SALISBURY;
the DUCHESS, MARGARET JOURDAIN, SOUTHWELL, HUME,
and BOLINGBROKE, under guard
] |
| KING HENRY VI | Stand forth, Dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloucester's wife: |
| In sight of God and us, your guilt is great: |
| Receive the sentence of the law for sins |
| Such as by God's book are adjudged to death. |
| You four, from hence to prison back again; | 5 |
| From thence unto the place of execution: |
| The witch in Smithfield shall be burn'd to ashes, |
| And you three shall be strangled on the gallows. |
| You, madam, for you are more nobly born, |
| Despoiled of your honour in your life, | 10 |
| Shall, after three days' open penance done, |
| Live in your country here in banishment, |
| With Sir John Stanley, in the Isle of Man. |
| DUCHESS | Welcome is banishment; welcome were my death. |
| GLOUCESTER | Eleanor, the law, thou see'st, hath judged thee: | 15 |
| I cannot justify whom the law condemns. |
[Exeunt DUCHESS and other prisoners, guarded] |
| Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief. |
| Ah, Humphrey, this dishonour in thine age |
| Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground! |
| I beseech your majesty, give me leave to go; | 20 |
| Sorrow would solace and mine age would ease. |
| KING HENRY VI | Stay, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester: ere thou go, |
| Give up thy staff: Henry will to himself |
| Protector be; and God shall be my hope, |
| My stay, my guide and lantern to my feet: | 25 |
| And go in peace, Humphrey, no less beloved |
| Than when thou wert protector to thy King. |
| QUEEN MARGARET | I see no reason why a king of years |
| Should be to be protected like a child. |
| God and King Henry govern England's realm. | 30 |
| Give up your staff, sir, and the king his realm. |
| GLOUCESTER | My staff? here, noble Henry, is my staff: |
| As willingly do I the same resign |
| As e'er thy father Henry made it mine; |
| And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it | 35 |
| As others would ambitiously receive it. |
| Farewell, good king: when I am dead and gone, |
| May honourable peace attend thy throne! |
| [Exit] |
| QUEEN MARGARET | Why, now is Henry king, and Margaret queen; |
| And Humphrey Duke of Gloucester scarce himself, | 40 |
| That bears so shrewd a maim; two pulls at once; |
| His lady banish'd, and a limb lopp'd off. |
| This staff of honour raught, there let it stand |
| Where it best fits to be, in Henry's hand. |
| SUFFOLK | Thus droops this lofty pine and hangs his sprays; | 45 |
| Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her youngest days. |
| YORK | Lords, let him go. Please it your majesty, |
| This is the day appointed for the combat; |
| And ready are the appellant and defendant, |
| The armourer and his man, to enter the lists, | 50 |
| So please your highness to behold the fight. |
| QUEEN MARGARET | Ay, good my lord; for purposely therefore |
| Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried. |
| KING HENRY VI | O God's name, see the lists and all things fit: |
| Here let them end it; and God defend the right! | 55 |
| YORK | I never saw a fellow worse bested, |
| Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant, |
| The servant of this armourer, my lords. |
| [
Enter at one door, HORNER, the Armourer, and his
Neighbours, drinking to him so much that he is drunk;
and he enters with a drum before him and his staff
with a sand-bag fastened to it; and at the other
door PETER, his man, with a drum and sand-bag, and
'Prentices drinking to him
] |
| First Neighbour | Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to you in a cup of |
| sack: and fear not, neighbour, you shall do well enough. | 60 |
| Second Neighbour | And here, neighbour, here's a cup of charneco. |
| Third Neighbour | And here's a pot of good double beer, neighbour: |
| drink, and fear not your man. |
| HORNER | Let it come, i' faith, and I'll pledge you all; and |
| a fig for Peter! | 65 |
| First 'Prentice | Here, Peter, I drink to thee: and be not afraid. |
| Second 'Prentice | Be merry, Peter, and fear not thy master: fight |
| for credit of the 'prentices. |
| PETER | I thank you all: drink, and pray for me, I pray |
| you; for I think I have taken my last draught in | 70 |
| this world. Here, Robin, an if I die, I give thee |
| my apron: and, Will, thou shalt have my hammer: |
| and here, Tom, take all the money that I have. O |
| Lord bless me! I pray God! for I am never able to |
| deal with my master, he hath learnt me so much fence already. | 75 |
| SALISBURY | Come, leave your drinking, and fall to blows. |
| Sirrah, what's thy name? |
| PETER | Peter, forsooth. |
| SALISBURY | Peter! what more? |
| PETER | Thump. | 80 |
| SALISBURY | Thump! then see thou thump thy master well. |
| HORNER | Masters, I am come hither, as it were, upon my man's |
| instigation, to prove him a knave and myself an |
| honest man: and touching the Duke of York, I will |
| take my death, I never meant him any ill, nor the | 85 |
| king, nor the queen: and therefore, Peter, have at |
| thee with a downright blow! |
| YORK | Dispatch: this knave's tongue begins to double. |
| Sound, trumpets, alarum to the combatants! |
| [Alarum. They fight, and PETER strikes him down] |
| HORNER | Hold, Peter, hold! I confess, I confess treason. | 90 |
| [Dies] |
| YORK | Take away his weapon. Fellow, thank God, and the |
| good wine in thy master's way. |
| PETER | O God, have I overcome mine enemy in this presence? |
| O Peter, thou hast prevailed in right! |
| KING HENRY VI | Go, take hence that traitor from our sight; | 95 |
| For his death we do perceive his guilt: |
| And God in justice hath revealed to us |
| The truth and innocence of this poor fellow, |
| Which he had thought to have murder'd wrongfully. |
| Come, fellow, follow us for thy reward. | 100 |
| [Sound a flourish. Exeunt] |
The Essential Student History Quiz (with answers and illustrations)