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 moments, Groatsworth of Wit, it seems probable that they were labours to enter into the soul of the sinner.' KING HENRY THE SIXTH. PERSONS REPRESENTED HUMPHREY, Duke of Gloster, his Uncle. RICHARD PLANTAGENET, Duke of York: DUKE of SUFFOLK, DUKE of BUCKINGHAM, Young CLIFFORD, his Son, of the King's Party. 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, ACT I. SCENE I. London. A Room of State in the Pa- Suffolk. As by your high imperial majesty To marry Princess Margaret for your grace; Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bi shops, I have perform'd my task, and was espous'd; To your most gracious hands, that are the substance? garet; A Herald. VAUX. HUME and SOUTHWELL, two Priests. GEORGE, JOHN, DICK, SMITH the Weaver, MI- MARGERY JOURDAIN, a Witch. Wife to Simpcox. SCENE, dispersedly in various parts of England. Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! Q. Mar. Great king of England, and my gra- The mutual conference that my mind hath had3- K. Hen. Her sight did ravish: but her grace in Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty, [Flourish. Q. Mar. We thank you all. Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the I can express no kinder sign of love, 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 was uncle to the husband; and the French queen also, that was aunt to the wife. There were also the Dukes 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.' 3 I am the bolder to address you, having already familiarized you to my imagination. 4 i. e. most beloved of all: from alder, of all; formerly 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 introduced in Much Ado about Nothing, King Richard IIMacbeth, 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, We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk, Cousin of York, we here discharge your grace Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick; We thank you all for this great favour done, [Exeunt King, Queen, and SUFFOLK. In winter's cold, and summer's parching heat, How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe? * Car. Nephew, what means this passionate dis- *This peroration with such circumstance?1 Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can; * York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be suffocate, * France should have torn and rent my very heart, 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. 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, *Before *Car. My lord of Gloster, now you grow too hot; *If was the pleasure of my lord the king. I 2 King Reignier, her father, for all his long style, nad 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 Glo. My lord of Winchester, I know your mind; We shall begin our ancient bickerings. And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west, Calling him-Humphrey the good duke of Gloster; *He being of age to govern of himself, [Exit. Som. Cousin of Buckingham, though Hum phrey's pride, And greatness of his place be grief to us, His insolence is more intolerable Than all the princes in the land beside; [Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and SOMERSET. 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 Noville, earl of Salisbury, was son to the earl of Westmore 'In bringing them to civil discipline;1 Thy late exploits, done in the heart of France, Join we together, for the public good; *York. And so says York, for he hath greatest cause. Sal. Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main. SCENE II. The same. A Room in the Duke of Enter GLOSTER and the Duch. Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn, *As frowning at the favours of the world? War. Unto the main! O father, Maine is lost; Which I will win from France, or else be slain. * The peers agreed; and Henry was well pleas'd, And purchase friends, and give to courtesans, 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, * Unto the prince's heart of Calydon. A day will come, when York shall claim his own; With his new bride, and England's dear-bought queen, And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at jars; land by a second wife. He married Alice, only daughter of Thomas Montacute, earl of Salisbury, who was killed at the siege of Orleans (see Part I. of this play, ACL. i. Sc. 3.), and in consequence of that alliance obtained 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. 1 This is an anachronism. The present scene is in * As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground. And may that thought, when I imagine ill 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. Duch. Tut, this was nothing but an argument, In the cathedral church of Westminster, 'Where Henry, and dame Margaret, kneel'd to me, Glo. Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright: *Presumptuous dame, ill nurtur'd' Eleanor! And the protector's wife, belov'd of him?" Art thou not second woman in the realm; *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 so cho- With Eleanor, for telling but her dream? Glo. Nay, be not angry, I am pleas'd again. 'Mess. My lord protector, 'tis his highness' 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 Ireland till 1449. 2 Tickle is frequently used for ticklish by ancient writers. 3 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. 4 Ill nurtur'd is ill educated. 5 Whereas for where ; a common substitution in old language, as where is often used for whereas. 'Duch. Yes, good my lord, I'll follow presently. protector will come this way by and by, and then [Exeunt GLOSTER and Messenger.we may deliver our supplications in the quill." Follow I must, I cannot go before, *While Gloster bears this base and humble mind. To play my part in fortune's pageant. Where are you there? Sir John!' nay, fear not, man, 'We are alone; here's none but thee, and I. Enter HUME. Hume. Jesu preserve your royal majesty! 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 With Margery Jourdain, the cunning witch;2 Hume. This they have promised,-to show your 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. Hume, if you take not heed, you shall go near Enter PETER, and others, with Petitions. 1 A title frequently bestowed on the clergy. See the first note on the Merry Wives of Windsor. 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 * with him: I'll be the first, sure. queen 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? for 1 Pet. I pray, my lord, pardon me! I took ye my lord protector. Q. Mar. [Reading the superscription.] To my lord protector! are your supplications to his lord'ship? Let me see them: What is thine? 1 Pet. Mine is, an't please your grace, against John Goodman, my lord cardinal's man, for keeping 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 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 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 tected Under the wings of our protector's grace, 'Begin your suits anew, and sue to him. [Tears the Petition Away, base cullions!"-Suffolk, let them go. *All. Come, let's be gone. [Exeunt Petitioners. Q. Mar. My lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise, Is this the fashion in the court of England? And must be made a subject to a duke? 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 Fœdera, 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 no the 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 quoi?, 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 Jourdeinayn should be discharged on her hus- MSS. we meet with the following singular petition : band's finding security. This woman was afterwards 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. 5 There have been some strange conjectures in expla nation of this phrase, in the quill. Steevens says that it may mean no more than written or penned suppli Julius Bogarucius to the Lord Treasurer, in Latin. 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, * His weapons, holy saws of sacred writ; *Would choose him pope, and carry him to Rome, Suff. Madam, be patient; as I was cause To give his censure: these are no women's matters. Q. Mar. If he be old enough, what needs your grace To be protector of his excellence? Glo. Madam, I am protector of the realm; * 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-* ham, *And grumbling York: and not the least of these, * But can do more in England than the king. *Suff. And he of these, that can do most of all, As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife. More like an empress than Duke Humphrey's Strangers in court do take her for the queen: She vaunted 'mongst her minions t'other day, her;2 | *And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds, K. Hen. For my part, noble lords, I care not Or Somerset, or York, all's one to me. 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, Car, Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak wick. War. Warwick may live to be the best of all. Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this. * the *Are lank and lean with thy extortions. *Have cost a mass of public treasury. Q. Mar. Thy sale of offices, and towns in If they were known, as the suspect is great, [Exit GLOSTER. The Queen drops her Fan. woman: Could I come near your beauty with my nails, 'Duch. Against her will! Good king, look to't in time; She'll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby: *Though in this place most master wear no breeches, 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! * But, to the matter that we have in hand: *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. Next, if I be appointed for the place, First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride: 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. Su Peace, headstrong Warwick! War. Image of pride, why should I hold my peace? Q. Mar. Because the king, forsooth, will have* it so. 'Glo. Madam, the king is old enough himself 1 The duchies of Anjou and Maine, which Henry surrendered to Reignier on his marriage with Margaret. 2 In the original play :- I have set limeticigs that will entangle them.' 3 i. e. the complaint of Peter the armourer's man against his master, for saying that York was the rightful king. E 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. |