And are the cities that I got with wounds,
Deliver'd up again with peaceful words?a
York. France fhould 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 fums of gold, and dowries with their wives:
And our king Henry gives away his own,
To match with her that brings no vantages.
Glou. A proper jeft, and never heard before,
That Suffolk fhould demand a whole fifteenth,
For coft and charges in transporting her!
She should have ftay'd in France, and ftarv'd in France,
Before
Car. My lord of Glafter, now ye grow too hot:
It was the pleasure of my lord the king.
Glou. My lord of Winchester, I know your mind: 'Tis not my speeches that you do miflike,
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, farewel; and fay, when I am gone,
I prophefy'd, France will be loft ere long.
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.
Confider, 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 weft,
There's reason he should be difpleas'd at it.
Look to it, lords; let not his smoothing words
York. For Suffolk's duke, may he be fuffocate, That dims the honour of this warlike ifle!
Bewitch your hearts, be wife and circumfpect.
What though the common people favour him,
Calling him Humphry, the good duke of Glo'fter,
Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice,
Jefu maintain your royal excellence,
With, God preferve the good Duke Humphry!
I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,
He will be found a dangerous protector.
Buck. Why fhould he then protect our fovereign,
He being of age to govern of himself?
Coufin of Somerset, join you with me,
And all together with the duke of Suffolk,
We'll quickly hoife duke Humphry from his feat.
Car. This weighty business will not brook delay:
I'll to the duke of Suffolk prefently.
Som. Coufin of Buckingham, though Humphry's pride,
And greatness of his place be grief to us,
Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal;
His infolence is more intolerable
Than all the princes in the land befide:
If Gloft'er be difplac'd, he'll be protector.
Buck. Or Somerset, or I, will be protector,
Despite duke Humphry, or the cardinal.
[Exeunt Buckingham and Somerfet.
Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows him.
While thefe do labour for their own preferment,
Behoves it us to labour for the realm.
I never faw but Humphry duke of Glofter
Did bear him like a noble gentleman :
Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal,
More like a foldier than a man o'th' church,
As ftout and proud as he were lord of all,
Swear like a ruffian, and demean himself
Unlike the ruler of a commonweal. ·
Warwick my fon, the comfort of my age!
Thy deeds, thy plainnefs, and thy housekeeping,
Have won the greatest favour of the commons,
Excepting none but good duke Humphry. —.
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 fovereign;
Have made thee fear'd and honour'd of the people.
Join we together for the publick good,
In what we can to bridle and fupprefs
The pride of Suffolk, and the cardinal,
With Somerset's and Buckingham's ambition;
And, as we may, cherish duke Humphry'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 fo fays York, for he hath greatest cause. Sal. Then let's make haste, and look unto the main.* [Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury.
York. Anjou and Maine are given to the French,
Paris is loft, the ftate of Normandy
Stands on a tickle 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 penn'worths of their pillage,
And purchase friends, and give to courtezans,
War. Unto the main? O father, Maine is loft,
That Maine, which by main force Warwick did win,
And would have kept, fo long as breath did last :
Main-chance, father, you meant, but I meant Maine,
Which I will win from France, or elfe be flain.
Still revelling, like lords, till all be gone:
While as the filly owner of the goods
Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands,
And shakes his head, and trembling stands aloof,
While all is fhar'd, and all is born away;
Ready to ftarve, and dares not touch his own.
So York muft fit, and fret, and bite his tongue,
While his own lands are bargain'd for, and fold.
Methinks, the realms of England, France, and Ireland,
Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood,
As did the fatal brand Althea burnt,
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,
Ev'n as I have of fertile England's foil.
A day will come, when York fhall claim his own;
And therefore I will take the Nevills' parts,
And make a show of love to proud duke Humphry,
And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown;
For that's the golden mark I seek to hit.
Nor fhall proud Lancaster ufurp my right,
Nor hold the fceptre in his childish fist,
Nor wear the diadem upon his head,
Whofe church-like humour fits not for a crown.
Then, York, be ftill a while, till time do ferve:
Watch thou, and wake when others be asleep,
To pry into the fecrets of the state;
Till Henry furfeit in the joys of love,
With his new bride and England's dear-bought queen,
And Humphry with the peers be fall'n at jars.
Then will I raise aloft the milkwhite rofe,
With whose sweet smell the air fhall be perfum'd;
And in my standard bear the arms of York,
And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the crown,
To grapple with the house of Lancafter;
Whose bookish rule hath pull'd fair England down. [Exit York.
SCENE IV.
The Duke of Gloucester's house.
Enter Duke Humphry, and his Wife Eleanor.
W Hanging the head with Ceres' plenteous load?
HY droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn
Why doth the great duke Humphry knit his brows,
As frowning at the favours of the world?
Why are thine eyes fix'd to the fullen earth,
Gazing at that which feems to dim thy fight?
What feest 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 fhort? 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 fight so low,
As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground.
Glou. O Nell, fweet Nell, if thou doft 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 dreams this night do make me fad.
Elean. What dream'd my lord? tell me, and I'll requite it
With fweet rehearsal of my morning's dream.
Glou. Methought, this staff, mine office-badge in court, Was broke in twain; by whom, I have forgot:
But, as I think, it was by th' cardinal;
And on the pieces of the broken wand
Were plac'd the heads of Edmund duke of Somerset,
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