Enter King ⌜Henry,⌝ Queen ⌜Margaret, Gloucester the
Lord⌝ Protector, Cardinal, and Suffolk, ⌜and
Attendants,⌝ with Falconers hallowing.QUEEN MARGARET 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.KING HENRY, ⌜to Gloucester⌝ 5 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 fain of climbing high.SUFFOLK No marvel, an it like your Majesty,10 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.GLOUCESTER My lord, ’tis but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.CARDINAL 15 I thought as much. He would be above the clouds.GLOUCESTER Ay, my Lord Cardinal, how think you by that? Were it not good your Grace could fly to heaven?
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KING HENRY The treasury of everlasting joy.CARDINAL, ⌜to Gloucester⌝ Thy heaven is on Earth; thine eyes and thoughts20 Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart. Pernicious Protector, dangerous peer, That smooth’st it so with king and commonweal!GLOUCESTER What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown peremptory?25 Tantaene animis caelestibus irae? Churchmen so hot? Good uncle, hide such malice. With such holiness, can you do it?SUFFOLK No malice, sir, no more than well becomes So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.GLOUCESTER 30 As who, my lord?SUFFOLK Why, as you, my lord, An ’t like your lordly ⌜Lord⌝ Protectorship.GLOUCESTER Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.QUEEN MARGARET And thy ambition, Gloucester.KING HENRY 35 I prithee peace, Good queen, and whet not on these furious peers, For blessèd are the peacemakers on Earth.CARDINAL Let me be blessèd for the peace I make Against this proud Protector with my sword!GLOUCESTER, ⌜aside to Cardinal⌝ 40 Faith, holy uncle, would ’t were come to that!CARDINAL, ⌜aside to Gloucester⌝ Marry, when thou dar’st!GLOUCESTER, ⌜aside to Cardinal⌝ Make up no factious numbers for the matter. In thine own person answer thy abuse.
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CARDINAL, ⌜aside to Gloucester⌝ 45 Ay, where thou dar’st not peep. An if thou dar’st, This evening, on the east side of the grove.KING HENRY How now, my lords?CARDINAL Believe me, cousin Gloucester, Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly,50 We had had more sport. ⌜(Aside to Gloucester.)⌝ Come with thy two-hand sword.GLOUCESTER True, uncle. ⌜(Aside to Cardinal.)⌝ Are you advised? The east side of the grove.CARDINAL, ⌜aside to Gloucester⌝ I am with you.KING HENRY 55 Why, how now, uncle Gloucester?GLOUCESTER Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord. ⌜(Aside to Cardinal.)⌝ Now, by God’s mother, priest, I’ll shave your crown for this, Or all my fence shall fail.CARDINAL, ⌜aside to Gloucester⌝ 60 Medice, teipsum; Protector, see to ’t well; protect yourself.KING HENRY 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?65 I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.Enter ⌜a man from St. Albans⌝ crying “A miracle!”GLOUCESTER What means this noise?— Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?MAN A miracle, a miracle!SUFFOLK Come to the King, and tell him what miracle.MAN 70 Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban’s shrine
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Within this half hour hath received his sight, A man that ne’er saw in his life before.KING HENRY Now, God be praised, that to believing souls Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair.Enter the Mayor of Saint Albans, and his brethren,
bearing the man ⌜Simpcox⌝ between two in a chair,
⌜followed by Simpcox’s Wife and Others.⌝CARDINAL 75 Here comes the townsmen on procession To present your Highness with the man.KING HENRY Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, Although by his sight his sin be multiplied.GLOUCESTER Stand by, my masters.—Bring him near the King.80 His Highness’ pleasure is to talk with him.⌜The two bearers bring the chair forward.⌝KING HENRY Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance, That we for thee may glorify the Lord. What, hast thou been long blind and now restored?SIMPCOX Born blind, an ’t please your Grace.WIFE 85Ay, indeed, was he.SUFFOLK What woman is this?WIFE His wife, an ’t like your Worship.GLOUCESTER Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have better told.KING HENRY 90Where wert thou born?SIMPCOX At Berwick in the North, an ’t like your Grace.KING HENRY Poor soul, God’s goodness hath been great to thee. Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done.
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QUEEN MARGARET 95 Tell me, good fellow, cam’st thou here by chance, Or of devotion to this holy shrine?SIMPCOX God knows, of pure devotion, being called A hundred times and oftener in my sleep By good Saint Alban, who said “Simon, come,100 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.CARDINAL What, art thou lame?SIMPCOX Ay, God Almighty help me!SUFFOLK 105How cam’st thou so?SIMPCOX A fall off of a tree.WIFE A plum tree, master.GLOUCESTER How long hast thou been blind?SIMPCOX O, born so, master.GLOUCESTER 110What, and wouldst climb a tree?SIMPCOX But that in all my life, when I was a youth.WIFE Too true, and bought his climbing very dear.GLOUCESTER Mass, thou lov’dst plums well, that wouldst venture so.SIMPCOX 115Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons, and made me climb, with danger of my life.GLOUCESTER A subtle knave, but yet it shall not serve.— Let me see thine eyes. Wink now. Now open them.120 In my opinion, yet thou seest not well.SIMPCOX Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and Saint ⌜Alban.⌝GLOUCESTER Sayst thou me so? What color is this cloak of?SIMPCOX Red, master, red as blood.
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GLOUCESTER 125 Why, that’s well said. What color is my gown of?SIMPCOX Black, forsooth, coal-black as jet.KING HENRY Why, then, thou know’st what color jet is of.SUFFOLK And yet, I think, jet did he never see.GLOUCESTER But cloaks and gowns, before this day, a many.WIFE 130 Never, before this day, in all his life.GLOUCESTER Tell me, sirrah, what’s my name?SIMPCOX Alas, master, I know not.GLOUCESTER, ⌜pointing⌝ What’s his name?SIMPCOX I know not.GLOUCESTER, ⌜pointing to someone else⌝ 135Nor his?SIMPCOX No, indeed, master.GLOUCESTER What’s thine own name?SIMPCOX Sander Simpcox, an if it please you, master.GLOUCESTER Then, Sander, sit there, the lying’st knave140 in Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind, thou mightst as well have known all our names as thus to name the several colors we do wear. Sight may distinguish of colors; but suddenly to nominate them all, it is impossible.—My lords, Saint145 Alban here hath done a miracle; and would you not think ⌜his⌝ cunning to be great that could restore this cripple to his legs again?SIMPCOX O master, that you could!GLOUCESTER My masters of Saint Albans, have you not150 beadles in your town and things called whips?MAYOR Yes, my lord, if it please your Grace.GLOUCESTER Then send for one presently.MAYOR Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight.⌜A man⌝ exits.
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GLOUCESTER Now fetch me a stool hither by and by.155 ⌜One brings a stool.⌝ Now, sirrah, if you mean to save yourself from whipping, leap me over this stool, and run away.SIMPCOX Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone. You go about to torture me in vain.Enter a Beadle with whips.GLOUCESTER 160Well, sir, we must have you find your legs.—Sirrah beadle, whip him till he leap over that same stool.BEADLE I will, my lord.—Come on, sirrah, off with your doublet quickly.SIMPCOX 165Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand.After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps
over the stool and runs away; and they follow
and cry “A miracle!”KING HENRY O God, seest Thou this, and bearest so long?QUEEN MARGARET It made me laugh to see the villain run.GLOUCESTER, ⌜to the Beadle⌝ Follow the knave, and take this drab away.WIFE 170Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.GLOUCESTER Let them be whipped through every market town Till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.⌜The Beadle, Mayor, Wife, and the others from
Saint Albans⌝ exit.CARDINAL Duke Humphrey has done a miracle today.SUFFOLK True, made the lame to leap and fly away.GLOUCESTER 175 But you have done more miracles than I. You made in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.
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Enter Buckingham.KING HENRY What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?BUCKINGHAM Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold: A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent,180 Under the countenance and confederacy Of Lady Eleanor, the Protector’s wife, The ringleader and head of all this rout, Have practiced dangerously against your state, Dealing with witches and with conjurers,185 Whom we have apprehended in the fact, Raising up wicked spirits from under ground, Demanding of King Henry’s life and death And other of your Highness’ Privy Council, As more at large your Grace shall understand.CARDINAL 190 And so, my Lord Protector, by this means Your lady is forthcoming yet at London. ⌜Aside to Gloucester.⌝ This news, I think, hath turned your weapon’s edge; ’Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.GLOUCESTER 195 Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart. Sorrow and grief have vanquished all my powers, And, vanquished as I am, I yield to thee, Or to the meanest groom.KING HENRY O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,200 Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!QUEEN MARGARET Gloucester, see here the tainture of thy nest, And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.GLOUCESTER Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal
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How I have loved my king and commonweal;205 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 Honor and virtue, and conversed with such As, like to pitch, defile nobility,210 I banish her my bed and company And give her as a prey to law and shame That hath dishonored Gloucester’s honest name.KING HENRY Well, for this night we will repose us here. Tomorrow toward London back again,215 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. They exit.
Henry VI, Part 2
