War. The greatest miracle that e'er ye wrought: Is all your strict preciseness come to this? York. She and the dauphin have been juggling: I did imagine what would be her refuge. War. Well, go to; we will have no bastards live; Especially since Charles must father it. Puc. You are deceiv'd; my child is none of his; It was Alençon, that enjoy'd my love. York. Alençon! that notorious Machiavel! It dies, an if it had a thousand lives. Puc. O, give me leave, I have deluded you; 'Twas neither Charles, nor yet the duke I nam'd, But Reignier, king of Naples, that prevail'd. War. A married man! that's most intolerable. York. Why, here's a girl! I think, she knows not well, There were so many, whom she may accuse. War. It's sign, she hath been liberal and free. York. And, yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure! Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat, and thee: Use no entreaty, for it is in vain. Puc. Then lead me hence ;-with whom I leave my curse: May never glorious sun reflex his beams Enter Cardinal Beaufort, attended. York. Is all our travail turn'd to this effect? War. Be patient, York: if we conclude a peace, Char. Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed, That peaceful truce shall be proclaim'd in France, We come to be informed by yourselves What the conditions of that league must be. York. Speak, Winchester; for boiling choler chokes The hollow passage of my poison'd voice, By sight of these our baleful2 enemies. Alen. Must he be then as shadow of himself? Char. 'Tis known already, that I am possess'd With more than half the Gallian territories, And therein reverenc'd for their lawful king: Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquish'd, Detract so much from that prerogative, As to be call'd but viceroy of the whole? No, lord ambassador; I'll rather keep That which I have, than, coveting for more, Be cast from possibility of all. York. Insulting Charles! hast thou by secret means Used intercession to obtain a league; Alen. To say the truth, it is your policy, And therefore take this compact of a truce, Although you break it when your pleasure serves. [Aside to Charles. War. How say'st thou, Charles? shall our condition stand? Char. It shall: Only reserv'd, you claim no interest York. Then swear allegiance to his majesty; [Charles, and the rest, give tokens of fealty. So, now dismiss your army when you please; Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still, For here we entertain a solemn peace. Exeunt. SCENE V-London. A room in te palace. Enter King Henry, in conference with Suffolk ; Gloster and Exeter following. K. Hen. Your wond'rous rare description, noble earl, Of beauteous Margaret hath astonish'd me: (4) 'Be content to live as the beneficiary of our Iking.' Where I may have fruition of her love. As is fair Margaret, he be link'd in love. Suff. Tush! my good lord! this superficial tale Then yield, my lords; and here conclude with me Is but a preface of her worthy praise: K. Hen. And otherwise will Henry ne'er pre sume. Therefore, my lord protector, give consent, How shall we then dispense with that contract, Suff. As doth a ruler with unlawful oaths; A poor earl's daughter is unequal odds, Glo. Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than Her father is no better than an earl, Suff. Yes, my good lord, her father is a king, Glo. And so the earl of Armagnac may do, Because he is near kinsman unto Charles. Exe. Beside, his wealth doth warrant liberal dower; While Reignier sooner will receive, than give. Suff. A dower, my lords! disgrace not so your king, That he should be so abject, base, and poor, If with a lady of so high resolve, (1) A triumph then signified a public exhibition: such as a mask, or revel. That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she. K. Hen. Whether it be through force of your report, My noble lord of Suffolk; or for that goes, As did the youthful Paris once to Greece; Of this play there is no copy earlier than that of the folio in 1623, though the two succeeding parts are extant in two editions in quarto. That the second and third parts were published without the first, may be admitted as no weak proof that the copies were surreptitiously obtained, and that the printers of that time gave the public those plays, not such as the author designed, but such as they could get them. That this play was written before the two others is indubitably collected from the series of events; that it was written and played before Henry the Fifth is apparent; because, in the epilogue there is mention made of this play, and not of the other parts: 'Henry the Sixth in swaddling bands crown'd king, Whose state so many had the managing, That they lost France, and made his England bleed: Which oft our stage hath shown.' France is lost in this play. The two following contain, as the old title imports, the contention of the houses of York and Lancaster. The second and third parts of Henry VI. were printed in 1600. When Henry V. was written, we know not, but it was printed likewise in 1600, and therefore before the publication of the first and second parts. The first part of Henry VI. had been often shown on the stage, and would certainly have appeared in its place, had the author been the publisher. JOHNSON. (2) By the discretional agency of another. (3) Judge. SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI. 'The Contenfion of the two famous houses of York and Lancaster,' in two parts, was pub. lished in quarto, in 1600; and the first part was entered on the Stationers' books, (as Mr. Steevens has observed,) March 12, 1593-4. On these two plays, which I believe to have been written by some preceding author, before the year 1590, Shakspeare formed, as I conceive, this and the following drama; altering, retrenching, or amplifying, as he thought proper. At present it is only necessary to apprize the reader of the method observed in the printing of these plays. All the lines printed in the usual manner are found in the original quarto plays (or at least with such minute variations as are not worth noticing :) and those, I conceive, Shakspeare adopted as he found them. The lines to which inverted commas are prefixed, were, if my hypothesis be well founded, retouched, and greatly improved by him; and those with asterisks were his own original production; the embroidery with which he ornamented the coarse stuff that had been awkwardly made up for the stage by some of his contemporaries. The speeches which he new-modelled, he improved, sometimes by amplification, and sometimes by retrenchment. PERSONS REPRESENTED. MALONE. King Henry the Sixth: Humphrey, duke of Gloster, his uncle. Hume and Southwell, two priests. Bolingbroke, a conjurer. A Spirit raised by him. Cardinal Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, great Thomas Horner, an armourer. Peter, his man. uncle to the king. Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's. George, John, Dick, Smith, the Weaver, Michael, Alexander Iden, a Kentish gentleman. Margaret, queen to king Henry. Margery Jourdain, a witch. Wife to Simpcox. Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Petitioners, Aldermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citizens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c. Scene, dispersedly in various parts of England. Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops, K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.- Welcome, queen Mar I can express no kinder sign of love, *If sympathy of love unite our thoughts. Q. Mar. Great king of England, and my gracious lord; had1-'Studied so long, sat in the council-house, 'The mutual conference that my mind hath Been crown'd in Paris, in despite of foes? And shall these labours, and these honours, die? K. Hen. Her sight did ravish: but her grace in Your deeds of war, and all our counsel, die speech, 'Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty, Makes me, from wondering fall to weeping joys; Such is the fulness of my heart's content.'Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love. All. Long live queen Margaret, England's happiness! Q. Mar. We thank you all. [Flourish. Suff. My lord protector, so it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace, Between our sovereign and the French king Charles, 'For eighteen months concluded by consent. O peers of England, shameful is this league! Blotting your names from books of memory: Defacing monuments of conquered France; Undoing all, as all had never been! 'Car. Nephew, what means this passionate dis course? This peroration with such circumstance?3 For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still. Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can; But now it is impossible we should: Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast, French king, Charles, and William de la Poole, Hath given the duchies of Anjou and Maine marquess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry king* Unto the poor king Reignier, whose large style of England, that the said Henry shall espouse * Agrees not with the leanness of his purse. the lady 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 father K. Hen. Uncle, how now? We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk, Cousin of York, we here discharge your grace Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick; We thank you all for this great favour done, [Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk. In winter's cold, and summer's parching heat, (1) I am the bolder to address you, having Sal. Now, by the death of him that died for all *These counties were the keys of Normandy:But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son? War. For grief, that they are past recovery : tears. Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both; * York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be suffocate, wives: And our king Henry gives away his own, To match with her that brings no vantages. * Glo. A proper jest, and never heard before, *That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth, For costs and charges in transporting her! * She should have staid in France, and starv'd in France, *Before * Car. My lord of Gloster, now you grow too hot; *It was the pleasure of my lord the king. *Glo. 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 see thy fury: If I longer stay, We shall begin our ancient bickerings.4 Lordings, farewell; and say, when I am gone, I prophesied-France will be lost ere long. [Exit. 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. * Consider, 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 west, * There's reason he should be displeas'd at it. (3) This speech crowded with so many circum stances of aggravation. (4) Skirmishings. * Look to it, lords; let not his smoothing words ter; Clapping their hands, and crying with a loud voice* Jesu maintain your royal excellence! "With-God preserve the good duke Humphrey! 'I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss, He will be found a dangerous protector. * Buck. Why should he then protect our sovereign, *He being of age to govern of himself?— 'Cousin of Somerset, join you with me, And all together-with the duke of Suffolk,- I'll to the duke of Suffolk presently. And greatness of his place be grief to us, *The peers agreed; and Henry was well pleas'd, *I cannot blame them all; What is't to them? *And purchase friends, and give to courtezans, [Exit. Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood, Than all the princes in the land beside; [Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset. Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows him. While these do labour for their own preferment, 'Beboves it us to labour for the realm. I never saw but Humphrey duke of Gloster Join we together, for the public good; * War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the * And common profit of his country! cause. Sal. Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main. War. Unto the main! O father, Maine is lost; That Maine, which by main force Warwick did win, * 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. [Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury. York. Anjou and Maine are given to the French; * Paris is lost; the state of Normandy Stands on a tickle point, now they are gone: (1) For ticklish. A day will come, when York shall claim his own; queen, And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at jars: SCENE 11-The same. A room in the duke Duch. Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn, Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load? brows, *As frowning at the favours of the world? Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight? Until thy head be circled with the same. Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold: What, is't too short? I'll lengthen it with mine: And, having both together heav'd it up, *We'll both together lift our heads to heaven; *And never more abase our sight so low, As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground. (2) Meleager; whose life was to continue only so long as a certain firebrand should last. His mother Althea having thrown it into the fire, he lexpired in torment. |