Where I may have fruition of her love. As is fair Margaret, he be link'd in love. Suff. Tush! my good lord! this superficial tale Then yield, my lords; and here conclude with me Is but a preface of her worthy praise: And, which is more, she is not so divine, K. Hen. And otherwise will Henry ne'er sume. Therefore, my lord protector, give consent, How shall we then dispense with that contract, pre Glo. Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than Her father is no better than an earl, Suff. Yes, my good lord, her father is a king, Glo. And so the earl of Armagnac may do, While Reignier sooner will receive, than give. That he should be so abject, base, and poor, And not to seek a queen to make him rich: And therefore, lords, since he affects her most, That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she. report, My noble lord of Suffolk; or for that I cannot tell; but this I am assur'd, I feel such sharp dissension in my breast, goes, As did the youthful Paris once to Greece; Of this play there is no copy earlier than that of the folio in 1623, though the two succeeding parts are extant in two editions in quarto. That the second and third parts were published without the first, may be admitted as no weak proof that the copies were surreptitiously obtained, and that the printers at that time gave the public those plays, not such as the author designed, but such as they could get them. That this play was written before the two others is indubitably collected from the series of events; that it was written and played before Henry the Fifth is apparent; because, in the epilogue there is mention made of this play, and not of the other parts: 'Henry the Sixth in swaddling bands crown'd king, 'Which oft our stage hath shown.' France is lost in this play. The two following contain, as the old title imports, the contention of Whom should we match, with Henry, being a king, the houses of York and Lancaster. But Margaret, that is daughter to a king? (1) A triumph then signified a public exhibition; such as a mask, or revel. The second and third parts of Henry VI. were printed in 1600. When Henry V. was written, we know not, but it was printed likewise in 1600, and therefore before the publication of the first and second parts. The first part of Henry VI. had been often shown on the stage, and would certainly have appeared in its place, had the author been the publisher. JOHNSON. (2) By the discretional agency of another. (27) SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI. The Contention of the two famous houses of York and Lancaster,' in two parts, was published in quarto, in 1600; and the first part was entered on the Stationers' books, (as Mr. Steevens has observed,) March 12, 1593-4. On these two plays, which I believe to have been written by some preceding author, before the year 1590, Shakspeare formed, as I conceive, this and the following drama; altering, retrenching, or amplifying, as he thought proper. At present it is only necessary to apprize the reader of the method observed in the printing of these plays. All the lines printed in the usual manner are found in the original quarto plays (or at least with such minute variations as are not worth noticing) and those, I conceive, Shakspeare adopted as he found them. The lines to which inverted commas are prefixed, were, if my hypothesis be well founded, retouched, and greatly improved by him and those with asterisks were his own original production; the embroidery with which he ornamented the coarse stuff that had been awkwardly made up for the stage by some of his contemporaries. The speeches which he new-modelled, he improved, sometimes by amplification, and sometimes by re trenchment. MALONE. Hume and Southwell, two priests. PERSONS REPRESENTED. King Henry the Sixth: Humphrey, duke of Gloster, his uncle, uncle to the king. Bolingbroke, a conjurer. A Spirit raised by him. Cardinal Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, great Thomas Horner, an armourer. Peter, his man. Richard Plantagenet, duke of York: Edward and Richard, his sons. Duke of Somerset, Duke of Suffolk, Duke of Buckingham, Young Clifford, his son. Earl of Salisbury, } the king's party. Earl of Warwick, of the York faction. Lord Scales, Governor of the Tower. Lord Say. A Sea-captain, Master, and Master's Mate, and Two Gentlemen, prisoners with Suffolk. Vaux. Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's. George, John, Dick, Smith, the Weaver, Michael, Alexander Iden, a Kentish Gentleman. Margaret, queen to king Henry. Margery Jourdain, a witch. Wife to Simpcox, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Petitioners, Aldermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citizens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c. Scene, dispersedly in various parts of England. Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops, K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.-Welcome, queen Mar- I can express no kinder sign of love, If sympathy of love unite our thoughts. R 'The mutual conference that my mind hath had1- Studied so long, sat in the council-house, How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe? Been crown'd in Paris, in despite of foes? And shall these labours, and these honours, die? 'K. Hen. Her sight did ravish: but her grace in Your deeds of war, and all our council, die? 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. 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; All. Long live queen Margaret, England's hap-Undoing all, as all had never been! piness! Q. Mar. We thank you all. [Flourish. 'Car. Nephew,. what means this passionate discourse? Suff. My lord protector, so it please your grace,This peroration with such circumstance ?3 Here are the articles of contracted peace, 'For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still. Between our sovereign and the French king Charles, Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can; 'For eighteen months concluded by consent. 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 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 dimm'd 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 We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk, Cousin of York, we here discharge your grace Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick; and tears. 'Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both; *York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be suffocate, And our king Henry gives away his own, Glo. A proper jest, and never heard before, *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, [Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk. Glo. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,'But 'tis my presence that doth trouble you. To you duke Humphrey must unload his grief, 'In winter's cold, and summer's parching heat, (1) I am the bolder to address you, having 'Rancour will out: Proud prelate, in thy face We shall begin our ancient bickerings.4- (3) This speech crowded with so many circumstances of aggravation. (4) Skirmishings. * Look to it, lords; let not his smoothing words ter; · Clapping their hands, and crying with a loud voice* * Buck. Why should he then protect our *He being of age to govern of himself?'Cousin of Somerset, join you with me, 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, 1 And purchase friends, and give to courtezans, Still revelling, like lords, till all be gone: *While as the silly owner of the goods sove-Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands, *And shakes his head, and trembling stands aloof, *While all is shar'd, and all is borne away; *Ready to starve, and dare not touch his own. *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, And all together-with the duke of Suffolk,"We'll quickly hoise duke Humphrey from his seat. *Car. This weighty business will not brook de-* lay; I'll to the duke of Suffolk presently. [Exit. 'And greatness of his place be grief to us, [Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset. 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 Humphrey's deeds, 'While they do tend the profit of the land. *War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the * And common profit of his country! cause. Sal. Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main. Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood, A day will come, when York shall claim his own; 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: SCENE II.-The same. A room in the duke Duch. Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn, Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load? * As frowning at the favours of the world? Why are thine eyes fix'd to the sullen earth, Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight? 'What see'st thou there? king Henry's diadem, Enchas'd with all the honours of the world? *If so, gaze on, and grovel on thy face, War. Unto the main! O father, Maine is lost;* [Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury. (1) For ticklish. Until thy head be circled with the same. Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold::What, is't too short? I'll lengthen it with mine: * And, having both together heav'd it up, *We'll both together lift our heads to heaven; And never more abase our sight so low, * As to vouchafe one glance unto the ground. (2) Meleager; whose life was to continue only so long as a certain firebrand should last. His mother Althea having thrown it into the fire, he expired in torment. 'Glo. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy Your grace's title shall be multiplied. lord, 'Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts: And may that thought, when I imagine ill 'My troublous dream this night doth make me sad. "Duch. What dream, my lord? tell me, and I'll requite it 'With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream. Was broke in twain, by whom I have forgot, Duch. What say'st thou, man? hast thou as yet conferr'd With Margery Jourdain, the cunning witch; And Roger Bolingbroke, the conjurer? And will they undertake to do me good? "Hume. This they have promised,-to show your highness A spirit rais'd from depth of under ground, As by your grace shall be propounded him. tions: of Here Hume, take this reward: make merry, man, 'And William de la Poole first duke of Suffolk. And in that chair where kings and queens are crown'd; Where Henry, and dame Margaret, kneel'd to me, "And on my head did set the diadem. Glo. Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright: Presumptuous dame, ill-nurtur'd' Eleanor! Art thou not second woman in the realm; And the protector's wife, belov'd of him?" Hast thou not worldly pleasure at command, *Above the reach or compass of thy thought? And wilt thou still be hammering treachery, *To tumble down thy husband and thyself, *From top of honour to disgrace's feet? Away from me, and let me hear no more. 'Duch. What, what, my lord! are you choleric 'With Eleanor, for telling but her dream? Next time, I'll keep my dreams unto myself, 'And not be check'd. 'Glo. Nay, be not angry, I am pleas'd again. Enter a Messenger. 'Marry, and shall. But how now, sir John Hume? Seal up your lips, and give no words but-mum! The business asketh silent secrecy. *Dame Eleanor gives gold, to bring the witch: * Gold cannot come amiss, were she a devil. Yet have I gold, flies from another coast: I dare not say, from the rich cardinal, And from the great and new-made duke of Suffolk, 'Yet I do find it so: for, to be plain, They knowing dame Eleanor's aspiring humour, 'Have hired me to undermine the duchess, And buzz these conjurations in her brain. They say, A crafty knave does need no broker; *Yet am I Suffolk and the cardinal's broker. * Hume, if you take not heed, you shall go near *To call them both-a pair of crafty knaves. *Well, so it stands. And thus, I fear, at last, Hume's knavery will be the duchess' wreck; * And her attainture will be Humphrey's fall: so* Sort how it will, I shall have gold for all. [Exit. SCENE III-The same. A room in the palace. Enter Peter, and others, with petitions. Mess. My lord protector, 'tis his highness' pleasure, "You do prepare to ride unto Saint Albans, Where are you there? Sir John !3 nay, fear not, 4 1 Pet. 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. 2 Pet. Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a good man! Jesu bless him! Enter Suffolk, and Queen Margaret. * 1 Pet. Here 'a comes, methinks, and the queen with him: I'll be the first, sure. 2 Pet. Come back, fool; this is the duke of Suffolk, and not my lord protector. Suff. How now, fellow? would'st any thing with me? 1 Pet. I pray, my lord, pardon me! I took ye 'for my lord protector. Q. Mar. [Reading the superscription.] To my lord protector! are your supplications to his lordship? Let me see them: What is thine? 'I Pet. Mine is, an't please your grace, against 'John Goodman, my lord cardinal's man, for keep'ing my house and lands, and wife and all, from me. Suff. Thy wife too? that is some wrong indeed.What's yours?-What's here! [Reads.] Against the duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the commons of Melford.-How now, sir knave? 2 Pet. Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township. Peter. [Presenting his petition] Against my (4) Let the issue be what it will. (5) With great exactness and observance of form. |