Flourish of trumpets, then hautboys.
Enter King ⌜Henry,⌝ Duke Humphrey ⌜of Gloucester,⌝
Salisbury, Warwick, and ⌜Cardinal⌝ Beaufort, on the one
side; Queen ⌜Margaret,⌝ Suffolk, York, Somerset, and
Buckingham, on the other.SUFFOLK As by your high imperial Majesty I had in charge at my depart for France, As procurator to your Excellence, To marry Princess Margaret for your Grace,5 So, in the famous ancient city Tours, In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil, The Dukes of Orleance, Calaber, Britaigne, and Alanson, Seven earls, twelve barons, and twenty reverend10 bishops, I have performed my task and was espoused;⌜He kneels.⌝ And humbly now upon my bended knee, In sight of England and her lordly peers, Deliver up my title in the Queen15 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 received.
9
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 1
KING HENRY Suffolk, arise.—Welcome, Queen Margaret.⌜Suffolk rises.⌝20 I can express no kinder sign of love Than this kind kiss.⌜He kisses her.⌝ O Lord, that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! For Thou hast given me in this beauteous face25 A world of earthly blessings to my soul, If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.QUEEN MARGARET Great king of England and my gracious lord, The mutual conference that my mind hath had By day, by night, waking and in my dreams,30 In courtly company or at my beads, With you, mine alderliefest sovereign, Makes me the bolder to salute my king With ruder terms, such as my wit affords And overjoy of heart doth minister.KING HENRY 35 Her sight did ravish, but her grace in speech, Her words yclad with wisdom’s majesty, Makes 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. 40 Long live Queen Margaret, England’s happiness!QUEEN MARGARET We thank you all.Flourish. ⌜All rise.⌝SUFFOLK, ⌜to Gloucester⌝ My Lord Protector, so it please your Grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace Between our sovereign and the French king Charles,45 For eighteen months concluded by consent.⌜He hands Gloucester a paper.⌝
11
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 1
GLOUCESTER (reads) Imprimis, it is agreed between the
French king Charles and William de la Pole, Marquess
of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry, King of England,
that the said Henry shall espouse the Lady
50 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
55 father—⌜He drops the paper.⌝KING HENRY Uncle, how now?GLOUCESTER Pardon me, gracious lord. Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart And dimmed mine eyes, that I can read no further.KING HENRY 60 Uncle of Winchester, I pray read on.CARDINAL ⌜picks up the paper and reads⌝ Item, it is further
agreed between them that the ⌜duchies⌝ of
Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered to
the King her father, and she sent over of the King of
65 England’s own proper cost and charges, without
having any dowry.KING HENRY They please us well.—Lord Marquess, kneel down.⌜Suffolk kneels.⌝ We here create thee the first Duke of Suffolk And girt thee with the sword. ⌜Suffolk rises.⌝ Cousin70 of York, We here discharge your Grace from being regent I’ th’ parts of France till term of eighteen months Be full expired.—Thanks, Uncle Winchester, Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset,75 Salisbury, and Warwick; We thank you all for this great favor done In entertainment to my princely queen.
13
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 1
Come, let us in, and with all speed provide To see her coronation be performed.King, Queen, and Suffolk exit.
The rest remain.GLOUCESTER 80 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 valor, coin, and people in the wars?85 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?90 Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham, Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick, Received deep scars in France and Normandy? Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself, With all the learnèd council of the realm,95 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 ⌜had⌝ his Highness in his infancy Crowned in Paris in despite of foes?100 And shall these labors and these honors 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,105 Blotting your names from books of memory, Razing the characters of your renown, Defacing monuments of conquered France, Undoing all, as all had never been!CARDINAL Nephew, what means this passionate discourse,
15
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 1
110 This peroration with such circumstance? For France, ’tis ours, and we will keep it still.GLOUCESTER 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,115 Hath given the duchy of Anjou and Maine Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.SALISBURY Now, by the death of Him that died for all, These counties were the keys of Normandy.120 But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son?WARWICK 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.125 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 Delivered up again with peaceful words? Mort Dieu!YORK 130 For Suffolk’s duke, may he be suffocate That dims the honor 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 had135 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.GLOUCESTER A proper jest, and never heard before, That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth140 For costs and charges in transporting her!
17
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 1
She should have stayed in France and starved in France Before—CARDINAL My lord of Gloucester, now you grow too hot.145 It was the pleasure of my lord the King.GLOUCESTER My lord of Winchester, I know your mind. ’Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, But ’tis my presence that doth trouble you. Rancor will out. Proud prelate, in thy face150 I see thy fury. If I longer stay, We shall begin our ancient bickerings.— Lordings, farewell; and say, when I am gone, I prophesied France will be lost ere long.Gloucester exits.CARDINAL So, there goes our Protector in a rage.155 ’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.160 Had Henry got an empire by his marriage, And all the wealthy kingdoms of the West, There’s reason he should be displeased at it. Look to it, lords. Let not his smoothing words Bewitch your hearts; be wise and circumspect.165 What though the common people favor him, Calling him “Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester,” Clapping their hands and crying with loud voice “Jesu maintain your royal Excellence!”170 With “God preserve the good Duke Humphrey!” I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss, He will be found a dangerous Protector.
19
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 1
BUCKINGHAM Why should he, then, protect our sovereign, He being of age to govern of himself?—175 Cousin of Somerset, join you with me, And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk, We’ll quickly hoise Duke Humphrey from his seat.CARDINAL This weighty business will not brook delay. I’ll to the Duke of Suffolk presently.Cardinal exits.SOMERSET 180 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 besides.185 If Gloucester be displaced, he’ll be Protector.BUCKINGHAM Or thou or I, Somerset, will be ⌜Protector,⌝ Despite Duke Humphrey or the Cardinal.Buckingham and Somerset exit.SALISBURY Pride went before; Ambition follows him. While these do labor for their own preferment,190 Behooves it us to labor for the realm. I never saw but Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Did bear him like a noble gentleman. Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal, More like a soldier than a man o’ th’ Church,195 As stout and proud as he were lord of all, Swear like a ruffian and demean himself Unlike the ruler of a commonweal.— Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age, Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy housekeeping200 Hath won the greatest favor of the Commons, Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey.— And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland,
21
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 1
In bringing them to civil discipline, Thy late exploits done in the heart of France,205 When thou wert regent for our sovereign, Have made thee feared and honored 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,210 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.WARWICK So God help Warwick, as he loves the land And common profit of his country!YORK 215 And so says York—⌜aside⌝ for he hath greatest cause.SALISBURY Then let’s make haste away and look unto the main.WARWICK Unto the main? O father, Maine is lost! That Maine which by main force Warwick did win220 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.Warwick and Salisbury exit.
York remains.YORK Anjou and Maine are given to the French; Paris is lost; the state of Normandy225 Stands on a tickle point now they are gone. Suffolk concluded on the articles, The peers agreed, and Henry was well pleased To change two dukedoms for a duke’s fair daughter. I cannot blame them all. What is ’t to them?230 ’Tis thine they give away, and not their own. Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage,
23
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 1
And purchase friends, and give to courtesans, Still reveling like lords till all be gone;235 Whileas 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 shared and all is borne away, Ready to starve, and dare not touch his own.240 So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue While his own lands are bargained for and sold. Methinks the realms of England, France, and Ireland Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood245 As did the fatal brand Althaea 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, Even as I have of fertile England’s soil.250 A day will come when York shall claim his own; And therefore I will take the Nevilles’ 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.255 Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right, Nor hold the scepter in his childish fist, Nor wear the diadem upon his head, Whose churchlike humors fits not for a crown. Then, York, be still awhile till time do serve.260 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,265 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 perfumed, And in my standard bear the arms of York, To grapple with the house of Lancaster;
25
Henry VI, Part 2
ACT 1. SC. 2
270 And force perforce I’ll make him yield the crown, Whose bookish rule hath pulled fair England down.York exits.
Henry VI, Part 2
