SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI. "The Contention of the two famous houses of York and Lancaster,' in two parts, was pub hshed in quarto, in 1600; and the first part was entered on the Stationers' books, (as Mr. Steevens bas 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 retrenchment. PERSONS REPRESENTED. MALONE. King Henry the Sixth: Humphrey, duke of Gloster, his uncle. Hume and Southwell, two priests. 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: uncle to the king. Edward and Richard, his sons. Duke of Somerset, Duke of Suffolk, Duke of Buckingham, >of the king's party. Lord Clifford, Young Clifford, his son. Earl of Salisbury, Sir Humphrey Stafford, and his brother. Earl of Warwick,of the York faction. Lord Say. 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. Eleanor, duchess of Gloster. Margery Jourdain, a witch. Wife to Simpeox. 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, ACT I. Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops, I have perform'd my task, and was espous'd: SCENE I-London.-A room of state in the And humbly now upon my bended knee, palace. Flourish of trumpets: then Hautboys. in sight of England and her lordly peers, Enter, on one side, King Henry, Duke of Glos-Deliver up my title in the queen ter, Salisbury, Warwick, and Cardinal Beaufort; on the other, Queen Margaret, led in by Suffolk; York, Somerset, Buckingham, and others, following. To your most gracious hands, that are the substance K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.-Welcome, queen Mar- I can express no kinder sign of love, R had'-Studied so long, sat in the council-house, "The mutual conference that my mind hath How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe? '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, O peers of England, shameful is this league' " Makes me, from wondering fall to weeping joys; piness! 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 '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; 'War. For grief, that they are past recovery: 'Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both; 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; *York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be suffocate, That dims the honour 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, Glo. A proper jest, and never heard before, *Before *Car. My lord of Gloster, now you grow too hot; [Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk.'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, 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 'I see thy fury: If 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. (3) This speech crowded with so many circum stances 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 sove- * He being of age to govern of himself?— *The peers agreed; and Henry is well pleas'd, To change two dukedoms for a duke's fair daughter. I 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, And purchase friends, and give to courtezans, Still revelling, like lords, till all be gone: *While as the silly owner of the goods 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. * Car. This weighty business will not brook de-*Methinks, the realms of England, France, and lay; * I'll to the duke of Suffolk presently. Ireland, [Exit. Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood, 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 displac'd, he'll be protector. Buck. Or thou, or I, Somerset, will be protector, * Despite duke Humphrey, or the cardinal. [Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset. 'Join we together, for the public good; * War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the And common profit of his country! * York. And so says York, for he hath greatest cause. Sal. Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main. 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 of Gloster's house. Enter Gloster and the Duchess. Duch. Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd 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;* That Maine, which by main force Warwick did win, And would have kept, so long as breath did last Main chance, father, you meant; but I meant Maine; Which I will win from France, or else be slain. [Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury. York. Anjou and Maine are given to the French; Paris is lost; the state of Normandy *Stands on a tickle' point, now they are gone: * Suffolk concluded on the articles; (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: "With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream. 'Was broke in twain, by whom I have forgot, 'And on the pieces of the broken wand ́ Duch. What say'st thou, man? hast thou as yet With Margery Jourdain, the cunning witch; Hume. This they have promised,-to show A spirit rais'd from depth of under ground, tions: When from Saint Albans we do make return, 'We'll see these things effected to the full. 'Were plac'd the heads of Edmond duke of Here Hume, take this reward: make merry, man, Somerset, 'And William de la Poole first duke of Suffolk. But list to me, my Humphrey, my sweet duke: In the cathedral church of Westminster, 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: "With Eleanor, for telling but her dream? 'Glo. Nay, be not angry, I am pleas'd again. 'With thy confederates in this weighty cause. [Exit Duchess. *Hume. Hume must make merry with the duchess' gold; 'Marry, and shall. But how now, sir John Hume? *Dame Eleanor gives gold, to bring the witch: They knowing dame Eleanor's aspiring humour, 'Mess. My lord protector, 'tis his highness' pleasure, 'You do prepare to ride unto Saint Albans, Where are you there? Sir John! nay, fear not, man, 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? John Goodman, my lord cardinal's man, for keep'I Pet. Mine is, an't please your grace, against 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. Scene 111. master, Thomas Horner, for saying, That the duke* And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds, 'Q. Mar. What say'st thou? Did the duke of* And never mount to trouble you again. So, let her rest: And, madam, list to me; Suff. Who is there? [Enter Servants.]-Take this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant presently:-we'll hear more of your matter before* the king. [Exeunt Servants, with Peter. 'Q. Mar. And as for you, that love to be protected Under the wings of our protector's grace, 'Begin your suits anew, and sue to him. [Tears the petition. *Is this the fashion in the court of England? * And must be made a subject to a duke? * His champions are-the prophets and apostles; * Would choose him pope, and carry him to Rome, That were a state fit for his holiness. Suf. Madam, be patient: as I was cause Your highness came to England, so will I 'In England work your grace's full content. * Q. Mar. Beside the haught protector, have we Beaufort, • The imperious churchman; Somerset, Buckingham, So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last, Warwick. K. Hen. For my part, noble lords, I care not Or Somerset, or York, all's one to me. York. If York have ill demean'd himself in Then let him be denay'd' the regentship. Som. If Somerset be unworthy of the place, Car. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak. War. Warwick may live to be the best of all. *Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this. * Q. Mar. Because the king, forsooth, will have it so. Glo. Madam, the king is old enough himself 'To give his censure: these are no women's mat ters. Q. Mar. If he be old enough, what need your grace 'To be protector of his excellence? Glo. Madam, I am protector of the realm; 'And, at his pleasure, will resign my place. Suff. Resign it then, and leave thine insolence. 'The commonwealth hath daily run to wreck : And grumbling York; and not the least of these, 'As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife. ladies, 'More like an empress than duke Humphrey's wife; * She bears a duke's revenues on her back, Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter. Scoundrels. (2) Sayings. (3) Drab, trull. 41... The complaint of Peter the armourer's man against his master, Som. Thy sumptuous buildings, and thy wife's Are lank and lean with thy extortions. attire, * Buck. Thy cruelty in execution, Have cost a mass of public treasury. *And left thee to the mercy of the law. Upon offenders, hath exceeded law, * Q. Mar. Thy sale of offices and towns in France, *If they were known, as the suspect is great,- (5) Denay is frequently used instead of deny among the old writers. (6) Censure here means simply judgment or opinion. |