THE SECOND PART OF

KING HENRY

VI

ACT I. SCENE I.

The Palace.

Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter King Henry, Duke Humphry, Salisbury, Warwick, and cardinal, on the one fide. The Queen, Suffolk, York, Somerset, and Buckingham, on the

other.

A

SUFFOLK.

S by your high imperial majesty

I had in charge at my depart for France,
As procurator to your excellence,

To marry princess Margret for your grace;
So, in the famous ancient city Tours,
In prefence of the kings of France, and Sicil,
The dukes of Orleans, Bretagne, Alanfon,
Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops,
I have perform'd my tafk, and was efpous'd:
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
In fight of England and her lordly peers,
Deliver up my title in the queen

To your

[prefenting the Queen to the King.

moft gracious hand, that are the substance

Of that great shadow I did reprefent ;

This and the third part were first written under the title of The Contention of York and Lancaster: printed in 1600; but fince vastly improved by the author.

Vide Hall's Chron. fol. 66, year 23. Init..

The

The happiest gift that ever marquifs gave,
The fairest queen that ever king receiv'd.

K. Henry. Suffolk, arise. Welcome, queen Margaret; I can exprefs no kinder fign of love

Than this kind kifs. O lord, that lend'ft me life,

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!

For thou haft giv'n me, in this beauteous face,

A world of earthly bleffings to my foul,

If fympathy of love unite our thoughts.

Q. Mar. Great king of England, and my gracious lord,
The mutual conf'rence that my mind hath had,

By day, by night, waking, and in my dreams,
In courtly company, or at my beads,

With you mine alder-liefeft fovereign,
Makes me the bolder to falute my king
With ruder terms; fuch as my wit affords,

And over-joy of heart doth minifter.

K. Henry. Her fight did ravish, but her grace in speech, Her words yclad with wifdom's majesty,

Make me from wond'ring fall to weeping joys;

Such is the fullness of my heart's content. —

Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love.

All kneel. Long live queen Margret, England's happiness ! Q. Mar. We thank you all.

Suf. My lord protector, so it please your grace,
Here are the articles of contracted peace,

Between our fovereign and the French king Charles,
For eighteen months concluded by confent.

[flourish.

Glou. reads.] Imprimis, it is agreed between the French king Charles, and William de la Pole, marquifs of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry king of England, that the said Henry shall efpoufe the lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier, king of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerufalem, and crown her queen of England, ere the thirtieth of May next enfuing.

Item, That the dutchy of Anjou, and the county of Maine, ball be releafed and delivered to the king her father. [lets fall the paper. K. Henry.

K. Henry. Uncle, how now?

Glou. Pardon me, gracious lord;

Some fudden qualm hath struck me to the heart,
And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read on further.
K. Henry. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.

Car. Item, That the dutchies of Anjou and Maine fhall be releafed and delivered to the king her father, and fhe fent over of the king of England's own proper coft and charges, without having any dowry.

K.Henry. They please us well.-Lord marquifs, kneel you down: We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,

And gird thee with the sword. Coufin of York,
We here discharge your grace from being regent
I'th' parts of France, till term of eighteen months
Be full expir'd. Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Glofler, York, Buckingham, and 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 fee her coronation be perform'd.

To

[Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk.

SCENE II.

Manent the reft.

Glou. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,
you duke Humphry 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 fo often lodge in open field,

In winter's cold, and fummer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits
To keep by policy what Henry got?

VOL. IV.

N

Have

Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, and Salisbury, victorious Warwick,
Receiv'd deep fears in France and Normandy?
Or hath mine uncle Beaufort, and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Studied fo long, fat in the council-house,
Early and late, debating to and fro,

How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe?
And was his highness in his infancy
Crowned in Paris, in defpite of foes?

And shall these labours, and these honours, die?
Shall Henry's conqueft, Bedford's vigilance,
Your deeds of war, and all our counfel die?
O peers of England, fhameful is this league,
Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame,
Blotting your names from books of memory,
Rafing the characters of your renown,
Defacing monuments of conquer'd France,
Undoing all, as all had never been.

Car. Nephew, what means this paffionate difcourfe?

This peroration with such circumftances?

For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.

Glou. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can ;

But now it is impoffible we should.

Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast,
Hath giv'n the dutchy of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor king Reignier, whose large style
Agrees not with the leannefs of his purse.

Sal. Now, by the death of him who dy'd for all,
These counties were the keys of Normandy:
But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant fon?
War. For grief that they are paft recovery:
For, were there hope to conquer them again,
My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears.
Anjou and Maine! myfelf did win them both:
Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer.

'And

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 tranfporting her!

She should have ftay'd in France, and starv'd in France,
Before

Car. My lord of Glo'fter, 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 mislike,
But 'tis my presence that doth trouble you.
Rancour will out, proud prelate; in thy face
I fee 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 reafon he fhould be difpleas'd at it.
Look to it, lords; let not his smoothing words

[Exit.

N 2

Bewitch