SECOND PART OF

KING HENRY THE SIXTH.

ACT I.

SCENE I. London. A Room of State in the Palace.

Flourish of trumpets ; then hautboys. Enter, on one side,

King HENRY, DUKE of GLOSTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and CARDINAL BEAUFORT; on the other, QUEEN MARGARET, led in by SUFFOLK; YORK, SOMERSET, BUCKINGHAM, and others, following.

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,
In presence of the kings of France and Sicil,
The dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretaigne, and Alençon,
Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops, –
I have performed my task, and was espoused;
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
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,
The fairest queen that ever king received.

K. Hen. 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 !
For thou hast given me, in this beauteous face,
A world of earthly blessings to my soul,
If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.

Q. Mar. Great king of England, and my gracious lord; The mutual conference that my mind hath had 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, And over-joy of heart doth minister.

K. Hen. 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. Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love.

All. Long live queen Margaret, England's happiness! Q. Mar. We thank you all.

Flourish. Suff. My lord protector, so it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace, Between our sovereign and the French king Charles, For eighteen months concluded by consent.

Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king Charles, and William de la Poole, marquess of 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 of Anjou, and the county of Maine, shall be released and delivered to the king her father.

K. Hen. Uncle, how now?
Glo.

Pardon me, gracious lord;
Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart,
And dimmed mine eyes, that I can read no further.

K. Hen. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.

Win. 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, and she sent over of the king of England's own proper cost and charges, without having dowry. K. Hen. 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, we here discharge your grace From being regent in the parts of France, Till term of eighteen months be full expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester, Gloster, York, and Buckingham,

Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick ;
We thank you all for this great favor done,
In entertainment to my princely queen.
Come, let us in; and with all speed provide
To see her coronation be performed.

[Exeunt King, Queen, and SUFFOLK.
Glo. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,
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 valor, coin, and people, in the wars?
Did he so often lodge in open field,
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 wbat Henry got ?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
Received deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath my uncle Beaufort, and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Studied so long, sat in the council-house,
Early and late, debating to and fro
How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe ?
And hath his highness in his infancy
Been crowned in Paris, in despite of foes?
And shall these labors, and these honors, die ?
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;
Razing the characters of your renown;
Defacing monuments of conquered France;
Undoing all, as all had never been !

Car. Nephew, what means this passionate discourse?
This peroration with such circumstance?
For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.

Glo. 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 duchies of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor king Reignier, whose large style
Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.

Sal. Now, by the death of Him that died for all,

These counties were the keys of Normandy :
But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son?

War. 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 :
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 honor of this warlike isle !
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,
To match with her that brings no vantages.

Glo. A proper jest, and never heard before,
That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth,
For costs and charges in transporting her!
She should have staid in France, and starved in France,
Before

Car. My lord of Gloster, now you grow too hot; It was the pleasure of my lord the king.

Glo. My lord of Winchester, I know your mind;
Tis not .my speeches that you do mislike,
But 'tis my presence that doth trouble you.
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,
I prophesied - France will be lost ere long. [Exit.

Car. 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;
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.
Look to it, lords; let not his smoothing words
Bewitch your hearts; be wise, and circumspect.
What though the common people favor him,
Calling him — Humphrey, the good duke of Gloster;

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.

Buck. 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.

Car. This weighty business will not brook delay;
I'll to the duke of Suffolk presently.

[Exit. Som. Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey's pride, And greatness of his place, be grief to us, Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal : His insolence is more intolerable Than all the princes in the land beside ; If Gloster be displaced, he'll be protector.

Buck. Or thou, or I, Somerset, will be protector. Despite duke Humphrey, or the cardinal.

Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and SOMERSET. Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows him. While these do labor for their own preferment, Behooves it us to labor for the realm. I never saw but Humphrey duke of Gloster Did bear him like a noble gentleman. 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 common-weal.—. Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age! Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy house-keeping, Hath won the greatest favor of the commons, Excepting none but good duke Humphrey.And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland, 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 feared and honored of the people: Join we together, for the public good; 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 Huinphrey's deeds, While they do tend the profit of the land.