Enter the Duchess of GLOSTER, in a white Sheet, with Papers pinned upon her Back, her Feet bare, and a Taper burning in her Hand; Sir JOHN STANLEY, a Sheriff, and Officers.

Serv. So please your grace, we'll take her from the sheriff.

Glo. No, stir not, for your lives; let her pass by. Duch. Come you, my lord, to see my open shame? Now thou dost penance too. Look, how they gaze! See, how the giddy multitude do point,

And nod their heads, and throw their eyes on thee!
Ah, Gloster, hide thee from thier hateful looks;
And, in thy closet pent up, rue my shame,
And ban thine enemies, both mine and thine.
Glo. Be patient, gentle Nell; forget this grief.
Dach. Ah, Gloster, teach me to forget myself:
For, whilst I think I am thy married wife,
And thou a prince, protector of this land,
Methinks, I should not thus be led along,
Mail'd up in shame, with papers on my back;
And follow'd with a rabble, that rejoice
To see my tears, and hear my deep-fett groans.
The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet;
And, when I start, the envious people laugh,
And bid me be advised how I tread.
Ah, Humphrey, can I bear this shameful yoke!
Trowest thou, that e'er I'll look upon the world;
Or count them happy, that enjoy the sun!
No; dark shall be my light, and night my day;
To think upon my pomp, shall be my hell.
Sometime I'll say, I am duke Humphrey's wife;
And he a prince, and ruler of the land:
Yet so he ruled, and such a prince he was,
As he stood by, whilst I, his forlorn duchess,
Was made a wonder, and a pointing-stock,
To every idle rascal follower.

But be thou mild, and blush not at my shame ;
Nor stir at nothing, till the axe of death
Hang over thee, as, sure, it shortly will.
For Suffolk,-he that can do all in all
With her, that hateth thee, and hates us all,-
And York, and impious Beaufort, that false priest,
Have all limed bushes to betray thy wings,
And, fly thou how thou canst, they'll tangle thee:
But fear not thou, until thy foot be snared,
Nor never seek prevention of thy foes.

Glo. Ah! Nell, forbear; thou aimest all awry;
I must offend, before I be attainted:
And had I twenty times so many foes,
And each of them had twenty times their power,
All these could not procure me any scathe,
So long as I am loyal, true, and crimeless.
Wouldst have me rescue thee from this reproach?
Why, yet thy scandal were not wiped away,
But I in danger for the breach of law.
Thy greatest help is quiet, gentle Nell:
I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience;
These few days' wonder will be quickly worn.
Enter a HERALD.

Her. I summon your grace to his majesty's parliament, holdon at Bury the first of this next month. Glo. And my consent ne'er ask'd herein before! This is close dealing.-Well, I will be there. [Exit Herald. My Nell, I take my leave:-And, master sheriff, Let not her penance exceed the king's commission. Sher. An't please your grace, here my commis.

sion stays:

And Sir John Stanley is appointed now
To take her with him to the Isle of Man.
Glo. Must you, Sir John, protect my lady here?
Stan. So am I given in charge, may't please

your grace.

Glo. Entreat her not the worse, in that I pray You use her well: the world may langh again; And I may live to do you kindness, if You do it her. And so, Sir John, farewell. Duch. What gone, my lord; and bid me not farewell?

Glo. Witness my tears, I cannot stay to speak.
[Exeunt Gloster and Servants.
Duch. Art thou gone too? All comfort go with
thee!

For none abides with me: my joy is-death;
Death, at whose name I oft have been afear'd

Because I wish'd this world's eternity.-
Stanley, I pr'ythee, go, and take me bence;
I care not whither, for I beg no favour,
Only convey me where thou art commanded.
Stan. Why, madam, that is to the Isle of Man ;
There to be used according to your state.

Duch. That's bad enough, for I am but reproach :-
And shall I then be used reproachfully?
-Stan. Like to a duchess, and duke Humphrey's
lady,

According to that state you shall be used.

Duch. Sheriff, farewell, and better than I fare; Although thou hast been conduct of my shame! Sher. It is my office; and, madam, pardon me. Duch. Ay, ay, farewell; thy office is discharged.Come, Stanley, shall we go?

Stan. Madam, your penance done, throw off this sheet,

And go we to attire you for our journey.

Duch. My shame will not be shifted with my

sheet:

No, it will hang upon my richest robes,
And shew itself, attire me how I can.

Go, lead the way; I long to see my prison. [Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I.-The Abbey at Bury.

Enter to the Parliament, King HENRY, Queen MARGARET, Cardinal BEAUFORT, SUFFOLK, YORK, BUCKINGHAM, and others.

K. Hen. I muset, my lord of Gloster is not

come :

'Tis not his wont to be the hindmost man, Whate'er occasion keeps him from us now.

Q. Mar. Can you not see? or will you not observe
The strangeness of his alter'd countenance ?
With what a majesty he bears himself;
How insolent of late he is become,

How proud, peremptory, and unlike himself?
We know the time, since he was mild and affable;
And, if we did but glance a far-off look,
Immediately he was upon his knee,

That all the court admired him for submission:
But meet him now, and, be it in the morn,
When every one will give the time of day,
He knits his brow, and shews an angry eye,
And passeth by with stiff unbowed knee,
Disdaining duty that to us belongs.
Small curs are not regarded, when they grin;
But great men tremble, when the lion roars;
And Humphrey is no little man in England.
First, note, that he is near you in descent;
And, should you fall, he is the next will mount.
Me seemeth then, it is no policy,

Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears,
And his advantage following your decease,-
That he should come about your royal person,
Or be admitted to your highness' council.
By flattery hath he won the commons' hearts;
And, when he please to make commotion,
'Tis to be fear'd, they all will follow him.
Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden,
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
The reverent care, I bear unto my lord,
Made me collect these dangers in the duke.
If it be fond , call it a woman's fear,
Which fear if better reasons can supplant,
I will subscribe, and say-I wrong'd the duke.
My lord of Suffolk,-Buckingham,-and York,-
Reprove my allegation, if you can;
Or else conclude my words effectual.

Suf. Well hath your highness seen into this duke;

And, had I first been put to speak my mind,
I think, I should have told your grace's tale.
The duchess, by his subornation,
Upon my life, began her devilish practices:
Or if he were not privy to those faults,
Yet by reputing of his high descent,
(As next the king, he was successive heir,)
And such high vaunts of his nobility,
Did instigate the bedlam brain-sick duchess,
By wicked means to frame our sovereign's fall.
Smooth runs the water, where the brook is deep;
And in his siniple show he harbours treason.
The fox barks not, when he would steal the lamb.

And as the dam runs lowing up and down,
Looking the way her harmless young one went,
And can do naught but wail her darling's loss;
Even so myself bewails good Gloster's case,
With sad unhelpful tears; and with dimm'd eyes
Look after him, and cannot do him good;
So mighty are his vowed enemies.

His fortunes I will weep; and 'twixt each groan,
Say-Who's a traitor? Gloster he is none.

[Exit.

Q. Mar. Free lords, cold snow melts with the sun's hot beams,

Henry my lord is cold in great affairs,
Too full of foolish pity: and Gloster's show
Beguiles him, as the mournful crocodile
With sorrow snares relenting passengers;
Or as the snake, roll'd in a flowering bank,
With shining checker'd slough †, doth sting a child,
That, for the beauty, thinks it excellent.
Believe me, lords, were none more wise than 1,
(And yet, herein, I judge mine own wit good,)
This Gloster should be quickly rid the world,
To rid us from the fear we have of him.

Car. That he should die, is worthy policy;
But yet we want a colour for his death:
'Tis meet, he be condemn'd by course of law.
Suf. But, in my mind, that were no policy:
The king will labour still to save his life,
The commons happily rise to save his life;
And yet we have but trivial argument,
More than mistrust, that shews him worthy death.
York. So that, by this, you would not have him
die.

Suf. Ah, York, no man alive so fain as I.

York. 'Tis York that hath more reason for his death.

But, my lord cardinal, and you, my lord of Suffolk,
Say as you think, and speak it from your souls,--
Wer't not all one, an empty eagle were set
To guard the chicken from a hungry kite,
As place duke Humphrey for the king's protector?
Q. Mar. So the poor chicken should be sure of

death.

Suf. Madam, 'tis true: and wer't not madness then,

To make the fox surveyor of the fold?
Who being accused a crafty murderer,
His guilt should be but idly posted over,
Because his purpose is not executed.
No; let him die, in that he is a fox,
By nature proved an enemy to the flock,
Before his chaps be stain'd with crimson blood;
As Humphrey, proved by reasons, to my liege.
And do not stand on quillets, how to slay him;
Be it by gins, by snares, by subtilty,
Sleeping, or waking, 'tis no matter how,
So he be dead; for that is good deceit
Which mates him first, that first intends deceit.
Q. Mar. Thrice-noble Suffolk, 'tis resolutely
spoke.

Suf. Not resolute, except so much were done; For things are often spoke, and seldom meant: But, that my heart accordeth with my tongue,Seeing the deed meritorious,

And to preserve my sovereign from his foe,-
Say but the word, and I will be his priest.

'Tis meet, that lucky ruler be employ'd;
Witness the fortune he hath had in France.
Som. If York, with all his far-fet policy,
Had been the regent there instead of me,
He never would have staid in France so long.
York. No, not to lose it all, as thou hast done:
I rather would have lost my life betimes,
Than bring a burden of dishonour home,
By staying there so long, till all were lost.
Shew me one scar charácter'd on thy skin:
Men's flesh preserved so whole, do seldom win.
Q. Mar. Nay then, this spark will prove a raging
fire,

If wind and fuel be brought to feed it with:-
No more, good York ;-Sweet Somerset, be still ;-
Thy fortune, York, hadst thou been regent there,
Might happily have proved far worse than his.

York. What, worse than naught? Nay, then a shame take all!

Som. And, in the number, thee, that wishest shame!

Car. My lord of York, try what your fortune is.
The uncivil Kernes of Ireland are in arms,
And temper clay with blood of Englishmen :
To Ireland will you lead a band of men,
Collected choicely, from each county some,
And try your hap against the Irishmen?

York. I will, my lord, so please his majesty.
Suf. Why, our authority is his consent;
And, what we do establish, he confirms:
Then, noble York, take thou this task in hand.

York. I am content: Provide me soldiers, lords,
Whiles I take order for mine own affairs.
Suf. A charge, lord York, that I will see per.
form'd.

But now return we to the false duke Humphrey.
Car. No more of him; for I will deal with him,
That, henceforth, he shall trouble us no more.
And so break off; the day is almost spent:
Lord Suffolk, you and I must talk of that event.
York. My lord of Suffolk, within fourteen days,
At Bristol I expect my soldiers;

For there I'll ship them all for Ireland.
Suf. I'll see it truly done, my lord of York.

[Exeunt all but York. York. Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts,

And change inisdoubt to resolution:

Be that thou hopest to be; or what thou art
Resign to death, it is not worth the enjoying:
Let pale-faced fear keep with the mean-born man,
And find no harbour in a royal heart.
Faster than spring-time showers, comes thought on

thought;

And not a thought, but thinks on dignity.
My brain more busy than the labouring spider,
Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies.
Well, nobles, well; 'tis politicly done,
To send me packing with an host of men:
I fear me, you but warm the starved snake
Who, cherish'd in your breasts, will sting your
hearts.

'Twas men I lack'd, and you will give them me : I take it kindly; yet, be well assured

You put sharp weapons in a madman's hands.

Suffolk,

Ere you take due orders for a priest:

Say, you consent, and censure well the deed,
And I'll provide his executioner,

I tender so the safety of my liege.

Suf. Here is my hand, the deed is worthy doing. Q. Mar. And so say I.

York. And I: and now we three have spoke it, It skills not greatly who impugns our doom. Enter a MESSENGER,

Mess. Great lords, from Ireland am I come amain,

To signify-that rebels there are up,
And put the Englishmen unto the sword:
Send succours, lords, and stop the rage betime,
Before the wound do grow incurable;

For being green, there is great hope of help.
Car. A breach, that craves a quick expedient
stop!

What counsel give you in this weighty cause? York. That Somerset be sent as regent thither: • i. e. in the flowers growing on a bank. + Skin. + Perhaps. § Confounds. It is of no importance. ¶ Expeditious.

I will stir up in England some black storm,
Shall blow ten thousand souls to heaven, or hell:
And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage
Until the golden circuit on my head,
Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams,
Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw †.
And, for a minister of my intent,

I have seduced a head-strong Kentish-man,
John Cade of Ashford,

To make commotion, as full well he can,
Under the title of John Mortimer.

In Ireland have I seen this stubborn Cade
Oppose himself against a troop of Kernest;
And fought so long, till that his thighs with darts
Were almost like a sharp-quill'd porcupine:
And, in the end being rescued, I have seen him
Caper upright like a wild Morisco,
Shaking the bloody darts, as he his bells.
Full often, like a shag-hair'd crafty Kerne,
Hath he conversed with the enemy;
And undiscover'd come to me again,
And given me notice of their villainics.

This devil here shall be my substitute;
For that John Mortimer, which now is dead,
In face, in gait, in speech, he doth resemble:
By this I shall perceive the commons' mind,
How they affect the house and claim of York.
Say, be he taken, rack'd, and tortured;
I know, no pain, they can inflict upon him,
Will make him say-I moved him to those arms.
Say, that he thrive, (as 'tis great like he will,)
Why, then from Ireland come I with my strength,
And reap the harvest which that rascal sow'd:
For, Humphrey being dead, as he shall be,
And Henry put apart, the next for me.

[Exit.

SCENE IL-Bury.-A Room in the Palace.

Enter certain MURDERERS, hastily.

1 Mur. Run to my lord of Suffolk, let him know, We have despatch'd the duke, as he commanded. 2 Mur. O, that it were to do!-What have we done?

Didst ever hear a man so penitent?

Enter SUFFOLK.

1 Mur. Here comes my lord.

Suf. Now, Sirs, have you

Despatch'd this thing?

1 Mur. Ay, my good lord, he's dead.

Yet do not go away;-Come, basilisk,
And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight:
For in the shade of death I shall find joy;
In life, but double death, now Gloster's dead.
Q. Mar. Why do you rate my lord of Suffolk thus?
Although the duke was enemy to him,
Yet he, most christian-like, laments his death:
And for myself,-foe as he was to me,
Might liquid tears, or heart-offending groans,
Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life,

I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans,
Look pale as primrose, with blood-drinking sighs,
And all to have the noble duke alive.
What know I how the world may deem of me?
For it is known, we were but hollow friends;
It may be judged, I made the duke away:
So shall my name with slander's tongue be wounded,
And princes' courts be fill'd with my reproach.
This get I by his death :-Ah me, unhappy!
To be a queen and crown'd with infamy!

K. Hen. Ah, woe is me for Gloster, wretched

man!

house;

I will reward you for this venturous deed.
The king and all the peers are here at hand:-
Have you laid fair the bed? Are all things well,
According as I gave directions?

1 Mur. Tis, my good lord.
Suf. Away, be gone! [Exeunt Murderers.
Enter King HENRY, Queen MARGARET, Cardinal
BEAUFORT, SOMERSET, Lords, and others.

K. Hen. Go, call our uncle to our presence straight:

Say, we intend to try his grace to-day,
If he be guilty, as 'tis published.

Suf. I'll call him presently, my noble lord.

[Erit. K. Hen. Lords, take your places;-And, I pray you all,

Proceed no straiter 'gainst our uncle Gloster,
Than from true evidence of good esteem,
He be approved in practice culpable.

Q. Mar. God forbid any malice should prevail,
That fauitless may condemn a nobleman!
Pray God he may acquit him of suspicion!

K. Hen. I thank thee, Margaret, these words content me much.

thou?

Re-enter SUFFOLK.

How now? Why look'st thou pale? Why tremblest
Where is our uncle? What is the matter, Suffolk?
Suf. Dead in his bed, my lord; Gloster is dead.
Q. Mar. Marry, God forefend!
Car. God's secret judgment:-I did dream to-
night,

The duke was dumb, and could not speak a word. [The King swoons. Q. Mar. How fares my lord?-Help, lords! the king is dead.

Som. Rear up his body; ring him by the nose. Q. Mar. Run, go, help, help!-0, Henry, ope thine eyes!

Suf. He doth revive again;-Madam, be patient. K. Hen. O heavenly God!

Q. Mar. How fares my gracious lord?

Suf. Comfort my sovereign! Gracious Henry, comfort!

K. Hen. What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me?

Came he right now to sing a raven's note,
Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers;
And thinks he, that the chirping of a wren,'
Ey crying comfort from a hollow breast,
Can chase away the first-conceived sound?
Hide not thy poison with such sugar'd words.
Lay not thy hands on me; forbear, I say;
Their touch affrights me, as a serpent's sting.
Thou baleful messenger, out of my sight!
Upon thy eye-balls murderous tyranny
Sits in grim majesty, to fright the world.
Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding :-

• Just now.

Why, then dame Margaret was ne'er the joy :
Erect his statue then, and worship it,

And make my image but an alehouse sign.
Was I, for this, nigh wreck'd upon the sea;
And twice by aukward wind from England's bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?
What boded this, but well-fore-warning wind
Did seem to say,-Seek not a scorpion's nest,
Nor set no footing on this unkind shore?
What did I then, but cursed the gentle gusts,
And he that loosed them from their brazen caves;
And bid them blow towards England's blessed shore,
Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock !
Yet Eolus would not be a murderer,
But left that hateful office unto thee:
The pretty vaulting seas refused to drown me;
Knowing, that thou wouldst have me drown'd on
shore,

With tears as salt as sea through thy unkindness:
The splitting rocks cower'd in the sinking sands,
And would not dash me with their ragged sides;
Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they,
Might in thy palace perish Margaret.
As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs,
When from the shore the tempest beat us back,
I stood upon the hatches in the storm:
And when the dusky sky began to rob
My earnest-gaping sight of thy land's view,
I took a costly jewel from my neck,-
A heart it was, bound in with diamonds,-
And threw it towards thy land; the sea received it;
And so, I wish'd, thy body might my heart:
And even with this, I lost fair England's view,
And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart;
And called them blind and dusky spectacles,
For losing ken of Albion's wished coast,
How often have I tempted Suffolk's tongue
(The agent of thy foul inconstancy),
To sit and witch me, as Ascanius did,
When he to madding Dido would unfold
His father's acts, commenced in burning Troy?
Am I not witched like her? or thou not false like
him?

Ah me, I can no more! Die, Margaret!
For Henry weeps, that thou dost live so long.
Noise within.-Enter WARWICK and SALISBURY.
The Commons press to the Door.
War. It is reported, mighty sovereign,
That good duke Humphrey traitorously is murder'd
By Suffolk and the cardinal Beaufort's means.
The commons, like an angry hive of bees,
That want their leader, scatter up and down,
And care not who they sting in his revenge.
Myself have calm'd their spleenful mutiny,
Until they hear the order of his death.

K. Hen. That he is dead, good Warwick, 'tis too

War. That I shall do, my liege :-Stay, Salisbury, With the rude multitude, till I return.

[Warwick goes into an inner Room, and Salisbury retires.

K. Hen. O thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts;

My thoughts, that labour to persuade my sonl,
Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey's life!
If my suspect be false, forgive me, God;
For judgment only doth belong to thee!
Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips
With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain
Upon his face an occan of salt fears;
To tell my love unto his dumb deaf trunk,
And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling:
But all in vain are these mean obsequies;
And, to survey his dead and earthly image,
What were it but to make my sorrow greater?
The folding Doors of an inner Chamber are thrown
open, and GLOSTER is discovered dead in his Bed:
WARWICK and others standing by it.

War. Come hither, gracious sovereign, view this body.

K. Hen. That is to see how deep my grave is

made:

For, with his soul, fled all my worldly solace;
For seeing him, I see my life in death •.

War. As surely as my soul intends to live
With that dread King, that took our state upon him
To free us from his Father's wrathful curse,
I do believe that violent hands were laid
Upon the life of this thrice-famed duke.

Suf. A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue!

What instance gives lord Warwick for his vow?
War. See, how the blood is settled in his face!
Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,
Of ashy semblance, meager, pale, and bloodless,
Being all descended to the labouring heart;
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy;
Which with the heart there cools, and ne'er re-
turneth

To blush and beautify the cheek again.
But, see, his face is black, and full of blood;
His eye-balls further out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man:

His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretch'd with struggling;

His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd
And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdued.
Look on the sheets, his hair, you see, is sticking;
His well-proportion'd beard made rough and rugged,
Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodged.
It cannot be, but he was murder'd here;
The least of all these signs were probable.
Suf. Why, Warwick, whe should do the duke to
death?

Myself, and Beaufort, had him in protection;
And we, I hope, Sir, are no murderers.

War. But both of you were vow'd duke Humphrey's foes;

And
you, forsooth, had the good duke to keep:
'Tis like, you would not feast him like a friend;
And 'tis well seen, he found an enemy.

Q. Mar. Then you, belike, suspect these noblemen
As guilty of duke Humphrey's timeless death.
War. Who finds the heifer dead, and bleeding
fresh,

And sees fast by a butcher with an axe,

But will suspect, 'twas he that made the slaughter?
Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest,
But may imagine how the bird was dead,
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?
Even so suspicious is this tragedy.

Q. Mar. Are you the butcher, Suffolk? Where's your knife?

Is Beaufort term'd a kite? Where are his talons?
Suf. I wear no knife, to slaughter sleeping men;
But here's a vengeful sword, rusted with ease,
That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart,
That slanders me with murder's crimson badge:-
Say, if thou darest, proud lord of Warwickshire,
That I am faulty in duke Humphrey's death.

[Exeunt Cardinal, Som. and others.

• i. e. I see my life destroyed or endangered by his death.

A body becomes inanimate in the common course of nature, to which violence has not brought a timeless end.

War. What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?

Q. Mar. He dares not calm his contumelious spirit,

Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
War. Madam, be still; with reverence may I

say;

For every word, you speak in his behalf,
Is slander to your royal dignity.

Suf. Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanour !
If every lady wrong'd her lord so much,
Thy mother took into her baneful bed
Some stern untutor❜d churl, and noble stock
Was graft with crab-tree slip; whose fruit thou art,
And never of the Nevil's noble race.

War. But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee, And I should rob the deathsman of his fee, And that my sovereign's presence makes me mild, Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames, I would, false murderous coward, on thy knee Make thee beg pardon for thy passed speech, And say-it was thy mother that thou mean'st, That thou thyself was born in bastardy: And, after all this fearful homage done, Give thee thy hire, and send thy soul to hell, Pernicious bloodsucker of sleeping men!

Suf. Thou shalt be waking, while I shed thy blood,

If from this presence thou darest go with me. War. Away even now, or I will drag thee hence: Unworthy though thou art, I'll cope with thee, And do some service to duke Humphrey's ghost. [Exeunt Suffolk and Warwick. K. Hen. What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted? Thrice is he arm'd, that hath his quarrel just ; And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted. [A Noise within.

Q. Mar. What noise is this?

Re-enter SUFFOLK and WARWICK, with their Weapons drawn.

K Hen. Why, how now lords? Your wrathful weapons drawn

Here in our presence? Dare you be so bold ?-Why what tumultuous clamour have we here? Suf. The traitorous Warwick, with the men of Bury,

Set all upon me, mighty sovereign.

Noise of a Crowd within.-Re-enter SALISBURY.
Sal. Sirs, stand apart; the king shall know your
mind.-
[Speaking to those within.
Dread lord, the commons send you word by me,
Unless false Suffolk straight be done to death,
Or banished fair England's territories,
They will by violence tear him from your palace,
And torture him with grievous ling'ring death.
They say, by him the good duke Humphrey died;
They say, in him they fear your highness' death;
And mere instinct of love, and loyalty,-
Free from a stubborn opposite intent,

As being thought to contradict your liking,-
Makes them thus forward, in his banishment.
They say, in care of your most royal person,
That, if your highness should intend to sleep,
And charge-that no man should disturb your rest,
In pain of your dislike, or pain of death;
Yet notwithstanding such a strait edict,
Were there a serpent seen, with forked tongue,
That slily glided towards your majesty,
It were but necessary you were waked;
Lest, being suffer'd in that harmful slumber,
The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal:
And therefore do they cry, though you forbid,
That they will guard you, whe'r you will, or no,
From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is;
With whose envenomed and fatal-sting,
Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,
They say, is shamefully bereft of life.

Commons. [Within.] An answer from the king,
my lord of Salisbury.
Suf. "Tis like, the commons, rude unpolish'd
hinds,

Could send such message to their sovereign:
But you, my lord, were glad to be employ'd,
To shew how quaint an orator you are:
But all the honour Salisbury hath won,