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Shakspeare's predecessors; but the tameness of the ge-produced previous to 1592, but were not printed until neral style is very different from the peculiar characte-they appeared in the folio of 1623. ristics of that poet's mighty line, which are great energy To Johnson's high panegyric of that impressive scene both of thought and language, degenerating too fre- in this play, the death of Cardinal Beaufort, we may quently into tumour and extravagance. The versifica-add that Schlegel says, 'It is sublime beyond all praise. tion appears to me to be of a different colour.-That Can any other poet be named who has drawn aside the Marlowe, Peele, and Greene, may all of them have had curtain of eternity at the close of this life in such an a share in these dramas, is consonant to the frequent overpowering and awful manner? And yet it is not practice of the age; of which ample proofs may be mere horror with which we are filled, but solemn emofound in the extracts from Henslowe's MS. printed by tion; we have an exemplification of a blessing and a Mr. Malone.' curse in close proximity; the pious king is an image of From the passage alluding to these plays, in Greene's the heavenly mercy, which, even in his last moinents, Groatsworth of Wit, it seems probable that they were labours to enter into the soul of the sinner.'

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shops,

I have perform'd my task, and was espous'd;
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 receiv'd.

K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.-Welcome, Queen Mar-
garet;

I can express no kinder sign of love,
Than this kind kiss.-O Lord, that lends me life,

A Herald. VAUX.

HUME and SOUTHWELL, two Priests.
BOLINGBROKе, a Conjuror. A Spirit raised by him.
THOMAS HORNER, an Armourer. PETER, his Man.
Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of St. Albans.
SIMPCOX, an Impostor. Two Murderers.
JACK CADE, a Rebel:

GEORGE, JOHN, DICK, SMITH the Weaver,
CHAEL, &c. his Followers.

Mi

ALEXANDER IDEN, a Kentish Gentleman.
MARGARET, Queen to King Henry.
ELEANOR, Duchess of Gloster.
MARGERY JOURDAIN, a Witch. Wife to Simpcox.
Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Petitioners, Al-
dermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citi-
zens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers.
Messengers, &c.

SCENE, dispersedly in various parts of England.

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 gra

cious lord;

The mutual conference that my mind hath had3——
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, mar-
quess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry king of Eng-
and, 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

1 'The marquesse of Suffolk, as procurator to King Henry, espoused the said ladie in the church of St. Martins. At the which marriage were present, the father and mother of the bride; the French king himself, that 3 I am the bolder to address you, having already fa was uncle to the husband; and the French queen also,miliarized you to my imagination. that was aunt to the wife. There were also the Dukes! 4 i. e. most beloved of all: from alder, of all; for. of Orleance, of Calabre, of Alanson, and of Britaine seven earles, twelve barons, twenty bishops.'-Hall and Holinshed.

2 i. e. to the gracious hands of you, my sovereign, who are, &c. In the old play the line stands :Unto your gracious excellence, that are."

merly used in composition with adjectives of the superlative degree and liefest, dearest, or most loved.

5 This weeping joy, of which there is no trace in the original play, Shakspeare frequently uses. It is intro. duced in Much Ado about Nothing, King Richard IL Macbeth, and King Lear.

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 duches 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 girt 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 expir`d.—
Thanks, uncle Winchester, Gloster, York, and
Buckingham,

Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick;

We thank you all for this great favour done,
In entertainment to my princely queen.
Come, let us in; and with all speed provide
To see her coronation be perform'd.

[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 valour, 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 what Henry got?

Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
Receiv'd 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 crown'd in Paris, in despite of foes?
And shall these labours, and these honours, 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 conquer'd France;
Undoing all, as all had never been!

*Car. Nephew, what means this passionate discourse ?

* This peroration with such circumstance?1 *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.2

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, 'Deliver'd up again with peaceful words ?3 'Mort Dieu!

1 This speech crowded with so many circumstances of aggravation.

2 King Reignier, her father, for all his long style, had too short a purse to send his daughter honourably to the king her spouse.-Holinshed.

3 The indignation of Warwick is natural, but might have been better expressed: there is a kind of jingle

*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, 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 starv'd in France,

defore

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

I

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, 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 displeas'd at it. * Look to it, lords; let not his smoothing word Bewitch your hearts; be wise, and circumspect. What though the common people favour 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 sove-
reign,

*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 displac'd, he'll be protector. Buck. Or thou, or I, Somerset, will be protector, *Despight Duke Humphrey, or the cardinal.

[Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and SOMERSET, Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows him. While these do labour for their own preferment, Behooves it us to labour for the realm. I never saw but Humphrey duke of Gloster Did bear him like a noble gentleman. Oft have I seen the haughty cardinalMore 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 favour of the commons, Excepting none but good duke Humphrey. And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland, intended in wounds and words. In the old play the jan gle is different. And must that then which we won with our swords, be given away with words?

4

4 Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, married Cicely, the daughter of Ralf Neville, earl of Westmoreland, by Joan, daughter to John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by his third wife, dame Catharine Swinford. Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, was son to the earl of Westmore

SCENE 11.

KING HENRY VI.

In bringing them to civil discipline;1
Thy late exploits, done in the heart of France,
When thou wert regent for our sovereign,

Have made thee fear'd, and honour'd, 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 Humphrey's deeds,
While they do tend the profit of the land.
*War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the land,
*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.

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 tickle2 point, now they are gone :
* Suffolk concluded on the articles;

*The peers agreed; and Henry was 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 courtesans,
*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.
* Methinks, the realms of England, France, and
Ireland,

* Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood,
As did the fatal brand Althea burn'd,
* Unto the prince's heart of Calydon.
Anjou and Maine, both given unto the French!
Cold news for me; for I had hope of France,
Even as I have of fertile England's soil.

A day will come, when York shall claim his own;
And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts,
And make a show of love to proud Duke Humphrey,
And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown,
For that's the golden mark I seek to hit :
Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right,
Nor hold his sceptre in his childish fist,
Nor wear the diadem upon his head,

Whose church-like humours fit not for a crown.
Then, York, be still awhile, till time do serve:
Watch thou, and wake, when others be asleep,
To pry into the secrets of the state;
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 ;
Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose,
With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfum'd;
And in my standard bear the arms of York,
To grapple with the house of Lancaster;
And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the crown,
Exit.
Whose bookish rule hath pull'd fair England down.

land by a second wife. He married Alice, only daugh-
ter of Thomas Montacute, earl of Salisbury, who was
killed at the siege of Orleans (see Part I. of this play,
Act. i. Sc. 3.), and in consequence of that alliance ob-
tained the title of Salisbury in 1429. His eldest son,
Richard, having married the sister and heir of Henry
Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, was created earl of
Warwick, 1449.

This is an anachronism. The present scene is in

SCENE II. The same. A Room in the Duke of
Enter GLOSTER and the
Gloster's House.

Duchess.

Duch. Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn,
Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load?
*Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his
brows,

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 seest thou there? King Henry's diadem,
Enchas'd with all the honours of the world?
*If so, gaze on, and grovel on thy face,
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 vouchsafe one glance unto the ground.
Glo. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy
lord,

'Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts:
And may that thought, when I imagine ill

Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry
* Be my last breathing in this mortal world!
'My troublous dream this night doth make me sad.
Duch. What dream'd my lord? tell me, and I'll
requite it

With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream.
Glo Methought, this staff, mine office-badge in
court,

Was broke in twain, by whom, I have forgot,
But, as I think, it was by the cardinal;
And on the pieces of the broken wand
'Were plac'd the heads of Edmond duke of Som-
erset,

And William de la Poole, first duke of Suffolk.
This was my dream; what doth it bole, God

knows.

Duch. Tut, this was nothing but an argument,
That he that breaks a stick of Gloster's grove,
Shall lose his head for his presumption.
But list to me, my Humphrey, my sweet dükø :
'Methought I sat in seat of majesty,
"In the cathedral church of Westminster,
And in that chair where kings and queens are

crown'd;

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"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 noc 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 so cho-

leric

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.

'Mess. My lord protector, 'tis his highness'
pleasure.

'You do prepare to ride into Saint Albans,
'Whereas the king and queen do mean to hawk.
Glo. I go.-Come, Nell, thou wilt ride with us?
1445; but Richard, Duke of York, was not viceroy of
2 Tickle is frequently used for ticklish by ancient
Ireland till 1449.
writers.

3 Meleager; whose life was to continue only so long
as a certain firebrand should last. His mother Althea
4 Ill nurtur'd is ill educated.
having thrown it into the fire, he expired in torment.

5 Whereas for where; a common substitution in old
language, as where is often used for whereas.

1

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!

'Duch. Yes, good my lord, I'll follow presently. [Exeunt GLOSTER and Messenger. Follow I must, I cannot go before, *While Gloster bears this base and humble mind. *Were I a man, a duke, and next of blood, *I would remove these tedious stumbling-blocks, And smooth my way upon their headless necks: *And, being a woman, I will not be slack *To play my part in fortune's pageant.

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Where are you there? Sir John! nay, fear not,

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grace.

Hume. But, by the grace of God, and Hume's advice,

Your grace's title shall be multiplied.

Duch. What say'st thou, man? hast thou as yet
conferr'd

With Margery Jourdain, the cunning witch;2
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, That shall make answer to such questions, As by your grace shall be propounded him. 'Duch. It is enough; I'll think upon the questions: When from Saint Albans we do make return, 'We'll see these things effected to the full. Here, Hume, take this reward; make merry, man, 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? 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 buz these conjurations in her brain. They say, A crafty knave does need no broker ;3 * 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: * 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. '1 Pet. My masters, let's stand close; my lord

1 A title frequently bestowed on the clergy. See the first note on the Merry Wives of Windsor.

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'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 master, Thomas Horner, for saying, That the duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.

'Q. Mar. What say'st thou? did the duke of "York say, he was rightful heir to the crown?

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'Peter. That my master was? No, forsooth: my 'master said, That he was; and that the king was an usurper."

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 pro

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* Is this the fashion in the court of England?
* Is this the government of Britain's isle,
*And this the royalty of Albion's king?
* What, shall King Henry be a pupil still,
*Under the surly Gloster's governance ?
*Am I a queen in title and in style,

* And must be made a subject to a duke?
'I tell thee, Poole, when in the city Tours
Thou rann'st a tilt in honour of my love,
And stol'st away the ladies' hearts of France;
I thought King Henry had resembled thee,
In courage, courtship, and proportion:
But all his mind is bent to holiness,
*To number Ave-Maries on his beads:
* His champions are--the prophets and apostles,

cations. Mr. Tollet thinks it means with great exact ness and observance of form, in allusion to the quilled 2 It appears from Rymer's Fodera, vol. x. p. 505, or plaited ruffs. Hawkins suggests that it may be the that in the tenth year of Henry VI. Margery Jourde. same with the French en quille, said of a man when he mayn, John Virley Clerk, and Friar John Ashwell, stands upright upon his feet, without moving from the were, on the ninth of May, brought from Windsor by place, in allusion to quille, a ninepin. It appears to be nothe constable of the castle, to which they had been com-thing more than an intention to mark the vulgar pronun mitted for sorcery, before the council at Westminster,ciation of in the coil,' i. e. in the bustle. This word is and afterwards committed to the custody of the Lord spelt in the old dictionaries quoil, and was no doubt Chancellor. It was ordered that whenever the said Vir- often pronounced by ignorant persons quile, or quill. ley and Ashwell should find security for their good be. 6 This wrong seems to have been sometimes prachaviour they should be set at liberty, and in like man- tised in Shakspeare's time. Among the Lansdowne ner that Jourdemayn should be discharged on her hus- MSS. we meet with the following singular petition:band's finding security. This woman was afterwards-Julius Bogarucius to the Lord Treasurer in Latin, burned in Smithfield, as stated in the play, and also in the Chronicles.

3 This expression was proverbial.

4 Let the issue be what it will.

There have been some strange conjectures in expla nation of this phrase, in the quill. Steevens says that i may mean no more than written or penned suppli

complaining that the Master of the Rolls keeps his wife from him in his own house, and wishes he may not teach her to be a papist.'

7 The quarto reads an usurer.

'Queen. An usurper thou would`st say,
Ay-an usurper.'

8 i. e. scoundrels; from coglioni, Ital.

His weapons, holy saws of sacred writ; *His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves

Are brazen images of canonized saints. *I would, the college of cardinals

Would choose him pope, and carry him to Rome, *And set the triple crown upon his head; *That were a state fit for his holiness.

Suff. Madam, be patient; as I was cause Your highness came to England, so will I "In England work your grace's full content.

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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.
Since thou wert king (as who is king, but thou?)
The commonwealth hath daily run to wreck :

*Q. Mar. Beside the haught protector, have we The Dauphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas

Beaufort,

*And all the peers and nobles of the realm

The imperious churchman; Somerset, Bucking-Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.

ham,

*And grumbling York: and not the least of these, 11 *But can do more in England than the king.

*Suff. And he of these, that can do most of all, *Cannot do more in England than the Nevils: *Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers. 'Q. Mar. Not all these lords do vex me half so much,

As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife. She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies,

More like an empress than Duke Humphrey's
wife;

Strangers in court do take her for the queen:
*She bears a duke's revenues on her back,
* And in her heart she scorns her poverty:
* Shall I not live to be aveng'd on her?
* Contemptuous base-born callat as she is,

She vaunted 'mongst her minions t'other day,
The very train of her worst wearing-gown
Was better worth than all my father's lands,
*Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms' for his daughter.
Suff. Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for
her;2

And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds, That she will light to listen to the lays, *And never mount to trouble you again. * So, let her rest; And, madam, list to me: *For I am bold to counsel you in this. *Although we fancy not the cardinal,

Yet must we join with him, and with the lords, *Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace. As for the duke of York, this late complaint * Will make but little for his benefit: *So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last, * And you yourself shall steer the happy helm. Enter KING HENRY, YORK, and SOMERSET, conversing with him; DUKE and DUCHESS of GLOSTER, CARDINAL BEAUFORT, BUCKINGHAM, SALISBURY, and WARWICK.

K. Hen. For my part, noble lords, I care not which;

* Car. The commons hast thou rack'd; the
clergy's bags

* Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
*Som. Thy sumptuous buildings, and thy wife's
attire,

* Have cost a mass of public treasury.
Buck. Thy cruelty in execution,
Upon offenders, hath exceeded law,
*And left thee to the mercy of the law.

*

* Q. Mar. Thy sale of offices, and towns in France,

If they were known, as the suspect is great,*Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.

[Exit GLOSTER. The Queen drops her Fan. Give me my fan: What, minion! can you not? [Gives the Duchess a box on the ear. I cry you mercy, madam; Was it you? Duch. Was'i I? yea, I it was, proud French

woman:

Could I come near your beauty with my nails,
I'd set my ten commandments in your face.
K. Hen. Sweet aunt, be quiet; 'twas against her
will.

'Duch. Against her will! Good king, look to't
in time;

She'll bamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby:
Though in this place most master wear no

breeches,

She shall not strike dame Eleanor unreveng'd.

[Erit Duchess.

*Buck. Lord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor, And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds; *She's tickled now; her fume needs no spurs, *She'll gallop fast enough to her destruction. [Exit BUCKINGHAM.

Re-enter GLOSTER.

*Glo. Now, lords, my choler being over-blown,
With walking once about the quadrangle,
I come to talk of commonwealth affairs.
*As for your spiteful false objections,
*Prove them, and I lie open to the law:
*But God in mercy so deal with my soul,
*As I in duty love my king and country!

Or Somerset, or York, all's one to me.'
"York. If York have ill demean'd himself in But, to the matter that we have in hand:

France,

Then let him be denay'd' the regentship.

Som. If Somerset be unworthy of the place,
Let York be regent, I will yield to him.,
War. Whether your grace be worthy, yea, or no,
Dispute not that: York is the worthier."

Car. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
War. The cardinal's not my better in the field.
Buck. All in this presence are thy betters, War-
wick.

War. Warwick may live to be the best of all.
* Sal. Peace, son;-and show some reason,
Buckingham,

Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this.
* Q. Mar. Because the king, forsooth, will have

it so.

'Gl. Madam, the king is old enough himself

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*I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man,
*To be your regent in the realm of France.
*Suff. Before we make election, give me leave
To show some reason, of no little force,
That York is most unmeet of any man.
York. I'll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am unmeet.
First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride:
*Next, if I be appointed for the place,

My lord of Somerset will keep me here,
*Without discharge, money, or furniture,
* Till France be won into the Dauphin's hands.
*Last time, I danc'd attendance on his will,
*Till Paris was besieg'd, famish'd, and lost.

* War. That I can witness; and a fouler fact * Did never traitor in the land commit. Suff. Peace, headstrong Warwick!

War. Image of pride, why should I hold my peace?

4 Denay is frequently used instead of deny among the old writers.

5 Censure here means simply judgment or opinion; the sense in which it was used by all the writers of the time.

6 This appears to have been a popular phrase for the hands or ten fingers.

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