For, I perceive, I am thy prisoner. Suf. How canst thou tell she will deny thy suit, Before thou make a trial of her love? [Aside. Mar. Why speak'st thou not? what ransome must I pay? Suf. She's beautiful; and therefore to be woo'd: She is a woman; therefore to be won. [Aside. Mar. Wilt thou accept of ransome, yea, or no? Suf. Fond man! remember, that thou hast a wife: Then how can Margaret be thy paramour? [Aside. Mar. I were best to leave him, for he will not hear. Suf. There all is marr'd; there lies a cooling card 13. Mar. He talks at random; sure, the man is mad. Suf. And yet a dispensation may be had. Mar. And yet I would that you would answer me. Suf. I'll win this Lady Margaret. For whom? Why, for my king: Tush! that's a wooden thing 14. Mar. He talks of wood: It is some carpenter. Suf. Yet so my fancy 15 may be satisfied, And peace established between these realms. But there remains a scruple in that too; For though her father be the king of Naples, Duke of Anjou and Maine, yet is he poor, And our nobility will scorn the match. [Aside. Mar. Hear ye, captain? Are you not at leisure? Suf. It shall be so, disdain they ne'er so much : Henry is youthful, and will quickly yield.— 13 A cooling card was most probably a card so decisive as to cool the courage of the adversary. Metaphorically, something to damp or overwhelm the hopes of an expectant. Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher's Island Princess : "These hot youths, I fear, will find a cooling card." 14 A wooden thing, i. e. an awkward business, an undertaking not likely to succeed. "It is sport to see a bold fellow out of countenance, for that puts his face into a most shrunken and wooden posture." 15 Fancy, i. e. love. Thus in Midsummer-Night's Dream:"Fair Helena in fancy following me." Madam, I have a secret to reveal. Mar. What though I be enthrall'd? he seems a knight, And will not any way dishonour me. [Aside. Suf. Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say. Mar. Perhaps, I shall be rescu'd by the French; And then I need not crave his courtesy. [Aside. Suf. Sweet madam, give me hearing in a cause— Mar. Tush! women have been captivate ere now. [Aside. Suf. Lady, wherefore talk you so? Mar. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo. Suf. Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose Your bondage happy, to be made a queen? Mar. To be a queen in bondage, is more vile, Than is a slave in base servility; For princes should be free. Suf. And so shall you, If happy England's royal king be free. Mar. Why, what concerns his freedom unto me? Suf. I'll undertake to make thee Henry's queen; To put a golden sceptre in thy hand, And set a precious crown upon thy head, Mar. Suf. His love. 16 What? Mar. I am unworthy to be Henry's wife. To woo so fair a dame to be his wife, Mar. An if my father please, I am content. 16 Steevens thought the words be my an interpolation, and it must be confessed that the metre would be improved as well as the spirit of the passage by their omission. And, madam, at your father's castle walls [Troops come forward. A Parley sounded. Enter REIGNIER, on the Walls. Suf. See, Reignier, see, thy daughter prisoner. Reig. To whom? Suf. Reig. To me. Suffolk, what remedy? I am a soldier, and unapt to weep, Or to exclaim on fortune's fickleness. Suf. Yes, there is remedy enough, my lord: Consent (and, for thy honour, give consent), Thy daughter shall be wedded to my king; Whom I with pain have woo'd and won thereto; And this her easy-held imprisonment Fair Margaret knows, Hath gain'd thy daughter princely liberty. [Exit, from the Walls. Reig. Since thou dost deign to woo her little worth, To be the princely bride of such a lord; 17 To face it is to carry a false appearance, to play the hypocrite. Hence the name of one of Ben Jonson's characters in The Alchymist. Upon condition I may quietly Enjoy mine own, the counties 18 Maine and Anjou, Reig. And I again, in Henry's royal name, Give thee her hand, for sign of plighted faith. Suf. Reignier of France, I give thee kingly thanks, Because this is in traffick of a king: And yet, methinks, I could be well content [Aside. Reig. I do embrace thee, as I would embrace The Christian prince, King Henry, were he here. Mar. Farewell, my lord! Good wishes, praise, and prayers, Shall Suffolk ever have of Margaret. [Going. Suf. Farewell, sweet madam! But hark you, Mar garet; No princely commendations to my king? Mar. Such commendations as become a maid, A virgin, and his servant, say to him. Suf. Words sweetly plac'd, and modestly directed. But madam, I must trouble you again— No loving token to his majesty? Mar. Yes, my good lord; a pure unspotted heart, Never yet taint with love, I send the king. Suf. And this withal. [Kisses her. 18 The old copy has country, but Maine and Anjou are called counties in Suffolk's reply Mar. That for thyself:-I will not so presume, To send such peevish19 tokens to a king. [Exeunt REIGNIER and MARGARET. Suf. O, wert thou for myself!-But, Suffolk, stay; Thou may'st not wander in that labyrinth ; There Minotaurs, and ugly treasons, lurk. Solicit Henry with her wondrous praise : Bethink thee on her virtues that surmount, And 20 natural graces that extinguish, art; Repeat their semblance often on the seas, That, when thou com'st to kneel at Henry's feet, Thou may'st bereave him of his wits with wonder. [Exit. SCENE IV. Camp of the Duke of York, in Anjou. Enter YORK, WARWICK, and Others. Have I sought every country far and near, 19 Peevish, i. e. silly, foolish. Vide note on Comedy of Errors, Act iv. Sc. 1. 20 The first folio reads: "Bethinke thee on her Virtues that surmount, Mad natural Graces that extinguish art, Repeate their semblance often on the Seas," &c. The second folio changed Mad to Made. It has been proposed to read Mid for Mad. But Mason's reading which I have adopted, gives much better sense:-" Think of her virtues that surmount art, and of her natural graces that extinguish it." 1 Timeless is untimely. Thus Drayton in his Legend of Robert Duke of Normandy:— "Thy strength was buried in his timeless death." We have the word again in King Richard IL and in Romeo and Juliet. |
