Enter Servants of SUFFOLK, bringing in HORNER and PETER.

Suff. Because here is a man accus'd of treason: Pray God, the duke of York excuse himself!

York. Doth any one accuse York for a traitor? *K. Hen. What mean'st thou, Suffolk ? tell me : What are these?

Suff. Please it your majesty, this is the man
That doth accuse his master of high treason:
His words were these ;-that Richard, duke of
York,

Was rightful heir unto the English crown;
And that your majesty was an usurper.

K. Hen. Say, man, were these thy words? Hor. An't shall please your majesty, I never said nor thought any such matter: God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain.

Pet. By these ten bones,' my lords, [holding up his hands.] he did speak them to me in the garret one night, as we were scouring my lord of York's

armour.

York. Base dunghill villain, and mechanical, I'll have thy head for this thy traitor's speech; I do beseech your royal majesty,

Let him have all the rigour of the law.

Hor. Alas, my lord, hang me, if ever I spake the words. My accuser is my prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me: I have good witness of this; therefore, I beseech your majesty, do not cast away an honest man for a villain's accusation.

K. Hen. Uncle, what shall we say to this in law? Glo. This doom, my lord, if I may judge. Let Somerset be regent o'er the French, Because in York this breeds suspicion: And let these have a day appointed them For single combat in convenient place; For he hath witness of his servant's malice: This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey's doom. K. Hen. Then be it so. My lord of Somerset, We make your grace lord regent o'er the French.2 Som. I humbly thank your royal majesty. Hor. And I accept the combat willingly. Pet. Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God's sake, pity my case! the spite of man prevaileth against me. O, Lord have mercy upon me! I *shall never be able to fight a blow: O Lord, my * heart!

*

Glo. Sirrah, or you must fight, or else be hang'd. K. Hen. Away with them to prison: and the day Of combat shall be the last of the next month. * Come, Somerset, we'll see thee sent away.

[Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. The Duke of Gloster's Garden. Enter MARGERY JOURDAIN, HUME, SOUTHWELL, and BOLINGBROKE.

Hume. Come, my masters; the duchess, I tell you, expects performance of your promises. *Boling. Master Hume, we are therefore pro*vided: Will her ladyship behold and hear our *exorcisms?3

*

*Hume. Ay; What else? fear you not her cou

rage.

1 We have just heard a duchess threaten to set her ten commandments in the face of a queen. We have here again a similar vulgar expression. It is, however, a very ancient popular adjuration, and may be found in many old dramatic pieces.

*Boling. I have heard her reported to be a woman of an invincible spirit: But it shall be con*venient, master Hume, that you be by her aloft, *while we be busy below; and so, I pray you, go in God's name, and leave us. [Exit HUME.] 'Mother Jourdain, be you prostrate, and grovel on the earth ;- John Southwell, read you; and let * us to our work.

2 Theobald inserted these two lives from the old play, because without them the king has not declared his assent to Gloster's opinion: and the duke of Somerset is made to thank him for his regency before the king has deputed him to it. Malone supposes that Shakspeare thought Henry's consent to Humphrey's doom might be expressed by a nod; and therefore omits the lines.

Enter Duchess, above.

*Duch. Well said, my masters; and welcome all. To this geer; the sooner the better. *Boling. Patience, good lady; wizards know their times:

Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night. The time of night when Troy was set on fire The time when screechowls cry, and ban-dogs howl,

3 By exorcise Shakspeare invariably means to raise spirits, and not to lay them. Vide note on All's Well that Ends Well, Act v. Sc. 3.

4 Matter or business.

5 The old quarto reads the silence of the night.' The variation of the copies is worth notice:

Dark night, dread night, the silence of the night,

And spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves, That time best fits the work we have in hand. Madam, sit you, and fear not; whom we raise, We will make fast within a hallow'd verge. [Here they perform the Ceremonies appertaining, and make the Circle; BOLINGBROKE, or SOUTHWELL, reads, Conjuro te, &c. It thunders and lightens terribly; then the Spirit riseth.

*Spir. Adsum.

*M. Jourd. Asmath,

By the eternal God, whose name and power Thou tremblest at, answer that I shall ask; For, till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence. * Spir. Ask what thou wilt:-That I had said and done!"

king,

Injurious duke; that threat'st where is no cause.

Wherein the furies mask in hellish troops,
Send up, I charge you, from Cocytus' lake
The spirit of Ascalon to come to me,
To pierce the bowels of this centric earth,
And hither come in twinkling of an eye!
Ascalon, ascend, ascend !—

Warburton, in a learned but erroneous note, wished to prove that an interlunar night was meant. Steevens has justly observed that silent is here used by the poet as a substantive.

6 Ban-dog, or band-dog, any great fierce dog which required to be tied or chained up. Canis molossus, a mastive, beare-dog, or bull-dog. It is sometimes called in the dictionaries canis catenarius,

7 It was anciently believed that spirits, who were raised by incantations, remained above ground, and answered questions with reluctance. Sce both Lucan and Statins,

8 Rewarded.

you this?

* Buck. True, madam, none at none. What call [Showing her the papers. Away with them; let them be clapp'd up close, And kept asunder :-You, madam, shall with us: 'Stafford, take her to thee.

[Exit Duchess from above. 'We'll see your trinkets here all forth-coming; All-Away!

[Exeunt Guards, with SOUTH. BOLING. &c. * York. Lord Buckingham, methinks, you watch'd her well:

A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon!
Now, pray, my lord, let's see the devil's writ.
What have we here?

The duke yet lives, that Henry shall depose;
But him outlive, and die a violent death.
*Why, this is just,
*Aio te,

acida, Romanos vincere posse.

Well, to the rest:

Tell me,

[Reads.

what fate awaits the duke of Suffolk?
By water shall he die, and take his end.—
What shall betide the duke of Somerset ?
Let him shun castles;

Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains,
Than where castles mounted stand.
*Come, come, my lords;

*These oracles are hardily attain'd,
*And hardly understood.

The king is now in progress toward Saint Albans, With him the husband of this lovely lady: 'Thither go these news, as fast as horse can carry

them;

A sorry breakfast for my lord protector. 'Buck. Your grace shall give me leave, my lord

of York,

3Q. Mar. Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,'

'I saw not better sport these seven years' day: Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high; And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.2 K. Hen. But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,

And what a pitch she flew above the rest!To see how God in all his creatures works! *Yea, man and birds, are fain3 of climbing high. Suff. No marvel, an it like your majesty, My lord protector's hawks do tower so well; They know their master loves to be aloft, * And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. 1 The falconer's term for hawking at water-fowl. 2 Johnson was informed that the meaning here is, the wind being high, it was ten to one that the old hawk had flown quite away; a trick which hawks often play their masters in windy weather.' But surely, not go ing out cannot signify not coming home. Dr. Percy's Pterpretation is entirely opposed to this: he explains it, -The wind was so high it was ten to one that old Joan would not have taken her flight at the game. Steevens says, 'The ancient books of hawking do not enable him to decide on the merits of such discordant explanations. I think, if he had looked into Latham's Falconry, he would have found that Dr. Percy's is the right explanaWhen you shall come afterward to fly her she must be altogether guided and governed by her stomacke; yea, she will be kept and also lost by the same: for let her faile of that never so little, and every puff of wind will blow her away from you; nay, if there be no

Tantane animis cœlestibus iræ ?

Churchmen so hot? good uncle, hide such malice; With such holiness can you do it?

Suff. No malice, sir; no more than well be

* Or all my fence' shall fail. * Car. Medice teipsum;

[Aside.

Protector, see to't well, protect yourself. [Aside. K. Hen. The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords.

* How irksome is this music to my heart!
*When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?
*I
pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.
Enter an Inhabitant of Saint Albans, crying
A Miracle!

Glo. What means this noise?
Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?

arind stirring, yet she will wheele and sinke away from him and from his voice, that all the time before had lured and trained her up.' Booke i. p. 60, Ed. 1633. 3 i. e. fond or glad.

4 i. e. thy mind is working on a crown.

5 Vide St. Matthew, v. 9.

6 The two-hand-sword' was sometimes called the long sword, and in common use before the introduction of the rapier. Justice Shallow, in the Merry Wives of Windsor, boasts of the exploits he had performed in his youth with this instrument. In the original play the Cardinal desires Gloster to bring his sword and buckler. 7 Fence is the art of defence.

8 This scene is founded on a story which Sir Thomas More has related, and which he says was communicated to him by his father. The impostor's name is not mentioned; but he was detected by Humphrey Duke of Gloster, and in the manner here represented. More's Works, p. 134, Edit. 1557.

See

shrine,

Within this half hour, hath receiv'd his sight;
A man, that ne'er saw in his life before.

K. Hen. Now, God be prais'd! that to believing
souls

Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair! Enter the Mayor of Saint Albans, and his Brethren; and SIMPCOX, borne between two Persons in a Chair; his Wife, and a great Multitude, following. *Car. Here come the townsmen on procession, *To present your highness with the man. *K. Hen. Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, *Although by his sight his sin be multiplied." * Glo. Stand by, my masters, bring him near the king,

His highness' pleasure is to talk with him.

*K. Hen. Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance,

*That we for thee may glorify the Lord.
What, hast thou been fong blind, and now restor❜d?
Simp. Born blind, an't please your grace.
Wife. Ay, indeed, was he.

Suff. What woman is this?

Wife. His wife, an't like your worship.

Glo. Had'st thou been his mother, thou could'st

have better told.

K. Hen. Where wert thou born?

Simp. At Berwick in the north, an't like your

Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass,

But still remember what the Lord hath done.

To name the several colours we do wear.

Sight may distinguish of colours; but suddenly
To nominate them all, 's impossible.-
My lords, Saint Alban here hath done a miracle ;
And would ye not think that cunning to be great,
That could restore this cripple to his legs?

Simp. O, master, that you could!

Glo. My masters of Saint Albans, have you not beadles in your town, and things called whips? May. Yes, my lord, if it please your grace. Glo. Then send for one presently. May. Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight. [Exit an Attendant. Glo. Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. [A Stool brought out.] Now, sirrah, if you mean to save yourself from whipping, leap me over this stool, and run away.

Simp. Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone : You go about to torture me in vain.

Re-enter Attendant, with the Beadle.

Glo. Well, sir, we must have you find your legs.

by chance,

*Or of devotion, to this holy shrine?

Simp. God knows, of pure devotion; being call'd A hundred times, and oftner, in my sleep By good Saint Alban; who said,-Simpcox, come; Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee. *Wife. Most true, forsooth; and many time and

oft

*Myself have heard a voice to call him so.
Car. What, art thou lame?
Simp.
Ay, God Almighty help me!
Suff. How cam'st thou so?
Simp.
Wife. A plum-tree, master.
Glo.

A fall of a tree.

How long hast thou been blind? Simp O, born so, master. Glo. What, and would'st climb a tree? Simp. But that in all my life, when I was a youth. *Wife. Too true; and bought his climbing very

dear.

* Glo. 'Mass, thou lov'dst plums well, that would'st venture so.

Simp. Alas, good master, my wife desir'd some damsons,

life.

And made me climb, with danger of my *Glo. A subtle knave! but yet it shall not serve,'Let me see thine eyes :-wink now;-now open them:

In my opinion yet thou see'st not well.

and Saint Alban.

Simp. Yes, master, clear as day; I thank God, Glo. Say'st thou me so? What colour is this cloak of!

Simp. Red, master: red as blood.

Glo. Why, that's well said: What colour is my

gown of?

Simp. Black, forsooth; coal-black, as jet.
K. Hen. Why then, thou know'st what colour jet

is of?

Suff. And yet, I think, jet did he never see.
Glo. But cloaks, and gowns, before this day, a

stool.

Enter BUCKINGHAM.

K. Hen. What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?

'Buck. Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold.
A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent,-
Under the countenance and confederacy,
Of Lady Eleanor, the protector's wife,
The ringleader and head of all this rout,-
Have practis'd dangerously against your state,
Dealing with witches, and with conjurers;
Whom we have apprehended in the fact;
Raising up wicked spirits from under ground,
Demanding of King Henry's life and death,
As more at large your grace shall understand.
And other of your highness' privy council,

Car. And so, my lord protector, by this means
Your lady is forthcoming yet at London.
This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's
edge:

"Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour. [Aside to GLOSTER.

2 . e. wickedly, knavishly.

3 i. e. your lady is in custody.

*And, look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.

Glo. Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal, 'How I have lov'd my king, and commonweal: And, for my wife, I know not how it stands; Sorry I am to hear what I have heard: Noble she is ; but if she have forgot Honour, and virtue, and convers'd with such As, like to pitch, defile nobility,

I banish her my bed, and company;

And give her, as a prey, to law and shame,

That hath dishonour'd Gloster's honest name. 'K. Hen. Well, for this night, we will repose us here:

To-morrow, toward London, back again, To look into this business thoroughly, And call these foul offenders to their answers; And poise the cause in justice' equal scales, Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE II. London. The Duke of York's Gar-
den. Enter YORK, SALISBURY, and WARWICK.
York. Now, my good lords of Salisbury and
Warwick,

Our simple supper ended, give me leave
In this close walk, to satisfy myself,
In craving your opinion of my title,
Which is infallible to England's crown.
*Sal. My lord, I long to hear it at full.

War. Sweet York, begin; and if thy claim be

good,

The second, William of Hatfield; and the third,
Lionel, duke of Clarence; next to whom,
Was John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster;
The fifth, was Edmond Langley, duke of York;
The sixth, was Thomas of Woodstock, duke of
Gloster;

William of Windsor was the seventh, and last.
Edward, the Black Prince, died before his father;
And left behind him Richard, his only son,
Who, after Edward the Third's death, reign'd as
king;

Till Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster,
The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt,
Crown'd by the name of Henry the Fourth,
Seiz'd on the realm; depos'd the rightful king;

1 In the original play the words are, as you both know. The phraseology of the text is peculiar to Shak

speare.

2 In Art ii. Sc. 5, of the last play, York, to whom this is spoken, is present at the death of Edmund Mortimer in prison; and the reader will recollect him to have been married to Owen Glendower's daughter in the First Part of King Henry IV.

3 Some of the mistakes of the historians and the drama concerning Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, are noticed in a note to the former play; where he is introduced an aged and gray-haired prisoner in the Tower, and represented as having been confined since Harry Monmouth first began to reign. Yet here we are told he was kept in captivity by Owen Glendower till he died. The fact is, that Hall having said Owen Glendower kept his son-in-law, Lord Grey of Ruth vin, in captivity till he died, and this Lord March having been said by some historians to have married Owen's daughter, the author of this play has confounded them with each other. This Edmund being only six years of age at the death of his father, in 1399, he was delivered by King Henry IV. in ward to his son Henry prince of

*York. The third son, duke of Clarence (from whose line

* I claim the crown,) had issue-Philippe, a daughter,

*Who married Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, * Edmund had issue-Roger, earl of March: *Roger had issue-Edmund, Anne, and Eleanor.

Sal. This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke, As I have read, laid claim unto the crown; And, but for Owen Glendower, had been king, Who kept him in captivity, till he died.' *But, to the rest. • York.

His eldest sister, Anne,

My mother being heir unto the crown,
Married Richard, earl of Cambridge; who was son
To Edmund Langley, Edward the Third's fifth

Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt,
The fourth son; York claims it from the third.
Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign:
It fails not yet; but flourishes in thee,

And in thy sons, fair slips of such a stock.-
Then, father Salisbury, kneel we both together;
And, in this private plot, be we the first,
That shall salute our rightful sovereign
With honour of his birthright to the crown.
Both. Long live our sovereign Richard, England's
king!

York. We thank you, lords. But I am not your

king

Till I be crown'd; and that my sword be stain'd
With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster.
*And that's not suddenly to be perform'd;
But with advice and silent scerecy.

* Do you, as I do, in these dangerous days,
*Wink at the duke of Suffolk's insolence,
* At Beaufort's pride, at Somerset's ambition,
* At Buckingham, and all the crew of them,

Till they have snar'd the shepherd of the flock, *That virtuous prince, the good Duke Humphrey :

Wales, and during the whole of that reign, being a minor, and related to the family on the throne, he was under the particular care of the king. At the age of tea years, in 1402, he headed a body of Herefordshire men against Owen Glendower, and was taken prisoner by him. The Percies, in the manifesto they published before the battle of Shrewsbury, speak of him as rightful heir to the crown, whom Owen had confined, and whom, finding for political reasons that the king would not ransom him, they at their own charges had ransomed. If he was at the battle of Shrewsbury, he was probably brought there against his will, to grace their cause. and was under the care of the king soon after. Great trust was reposed in this earl of March during the whole reign of King Henry V. In the sixth year of that king he was at the siege of Fresnes, with the earl of Salisbury; and soon afterwards with the king himself at the siege of Melun. In the same year he was made lieutenant of Normandy; was at Melun with Henry to treat of his marriage with Catharine; and accompanied that queen when she returned from France with the corpse of her husband, in 1422, and died two years afterwards at his castle of Trim, in Ireland.

4 Sequestered spot.

"Tis that they seek and they, in seeking that, *Shall find their deaths, if York can prophesy. *Sul. My lord, break we off; we know your mind at full.

War. My heart assures me, that the earl of
Warwick

Shall one day make the duke of York a king.
'York. And, Nevil, this I do assure myself,-
Richard shall live to make the earl of Warwick
The greatest man in England, but the king.

[Exeunt. SCENE III. The same. A Hall of Justice. Trumpets sounded. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, GLOSTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, and SALISBURY; the Duchess of Gloster, MARGERY JOURDAIN, SOUTHWELL, HUME, and BOLINGBROKE, under guard.

'K. Hen. Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloster's wife:

In sight of God, and us, your guilt is great; Receive the sentence of the law, for sins Such as by God's book are adjudg'd to death.— *You four, from hence to prison back again; [TO JOURD. &c.

*From thence, unto the place of execution: *The witch in Smithfield shall be burn'd to ashes, *And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.You, madam, for you are more nobly born, Despoiled of your honour in your life, Shall after three days' open penance done, Live in your country here, in banishment, With Sir John Stanley, in the Isle of Man. 'Duch. Welcome is banishment, welcome were my death.

* Glo. Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hath judged
thee;

I cannot justify whom the law condemns.-
[Exeunt the Duchess, and the other pri-
soners guarded.

Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.
Ah, Humphrey, this dishonour in thine age
Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground!
I beseech your majesty, give me leave to go;
Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.'
'K. Hen. Stay, Humphrey duke of Gloster: ere
thou go,

Give up thy staff; Henry will to himself
Protector be: and God shall be my hope,
My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet;2
And go in peace, Humphrey; no less belov'd,
Than when thou wert protector to thy king.
* Q. Mar. I see no reason, why a king of
*Should be to be protected like a child.--
God and King Henry govern England's helm:
Give up your staff, sir, and the king his realm.
Glo. My staff?-here, noble Henry, is my staff;
As willingly do I the same resign,

years

sprays;

*Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried. 'K. Hen. O' God's name, see the lists and all' things fit ;

Here let them end it, and God defend the right! * York. I never saw a fellow worse bested, *Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant, *The servant of this armourer, my lords. Enter, on one side, HORNER, and his neighbours, drinking to him so much that he is drunk; and he enters bearing his staff with a sand-bag fastened to it; a drum before him; at the other side, PETER, with a drum and a similar stuff; accompanied by Prentices drinking to him.

1 Neigh. Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to you in a cup of sack; And fear not, neighbour, you shall do well enough.

2 Neigh. And here, neighbour, here's a cup of charneco."

3 Neigh. And here's a pot of good double beer, neighbour: drink, and fear not your man.

Hor. Let it come, i'faith, and I'll pledge you all; And a fig for Peter!

1 Pren. Here, Peter, I drink to thee; and be not afraid.

2 Pren. Be merry, Peter, and fear not thy master; fight for credit of the prentices.

Peter. I thank you all: drink, and pray for me, *I pray you; for, I think, I have taken my last * draught in this world.*-Here, Robin, an if I die, I give thee my apron; and, Will, thou shalt have my hammer:-and here, Tom, take all the money that I have. O Lord, bless me, I pray God! for I am never able to deal with my master, he hath learnt so much fence already.

Sal. Come, leave your drinking, and fall to blows. -Sirrah, what's thy name?

Peter. Peter, forsooth.

Sal. Peter! what more? Peter. Thump.

Sal. Thump! then see thou thump thy master well.

Q. Mar. Why, now is Henry king, and Margaret queen;

*And Humphrey, duke of Gloster, scarce himself,

turpentine tree; but Steevens says Charneco is the name of a village in Portugal where this wine was made. It is frequently mentioned by old writers. 9 Gay has borrowed this idea in his What d'ye call it, where Peascod says:

Stay, let me pledge-tis my last earthly liquor. Peascod's subsequent bequest is likewise copied from Peter's division of his moveables.

10 Warburton added this allusion to Beris and Aseapart from the old quarto. The story of this knight and giant were familiar to our ancestors; their effigies are still preserved on the gates of Southampton.

11 This is from Holinshed, whose narrative Shakspeare has deserted in making the armourer confess treason:- His neighbours gave him wine and strong drinke in such excessive sort, that he was therewith