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 commission 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 there?

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 laugh again ; 9

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 afeard,
Because I wish'd this world's eternity.
Stanley, I pr'ythee, go, and take me hence;
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 10 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?

9 Meaning," the world may smile on me again."

10 Conduct for conductor. Repeatedly so. See vol. v. page 208, note 20.

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
No, it will hang upon my richest robes,
And show itself, attire me how I can.
Go, lead the way; I long to see my prison.

my

sheet :

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I. The Abbey at Bury St. Edmund's.

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

1

King. I muse my Lord of Gloster is not come :

'Tis not his wont to be the hindmost man,

Whate'er occasion keeps him from us now.

Queen. Can you not see? or will ye 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, how peremptory, and unlike himself?
We know the time since 2 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 shows an angry cye,

1 "I muse

is I wonder, I marvel. A frequent usage.
2 Since is here equivalent to when. See vol. iii. page 29, note 23.

And passeth by with stiff unbowèd knee,
Disdaining duty that to us belongs.

Small curs are not regarded when they grim;
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, -

Respecting3 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,4 call it a woman's fear;
Which fear if better reasons can supplant,

I will subscribe, and say I wrong'd the duke.—
My Lords of Suffolk, Buckingham, and York,
Reprove 5 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,

3 Respecting here has the exact sense of considering. Respect, substan

tive, is very often used in the same sense.

4 Here, as usual, fond is foolish or weak.

5 Reprove for refute or disprove. See vol. iv. page 194, note 14.

Upon my life, began her devilish practices:
Or, if he were not privy to those faults,
Yet, by reputing of his high descent,6-
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 simple show he harbours treason.
The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.
No, no, my sovereign; Gloster is a man
Unsounded yet, and full of deep deceit.

Car. Did he not, contrary to form of law,
Devise strange deaths for small offences done?
York. And did he not, in his protectorship,
Levy great sums of money through the realm
For soldiers' pay in France, and never sent it?
By means whereof the towns each day revolted.

Buck. Tut, those are petty faults to faults unknown, Which time will bring to light in smooth Duke Humphrey. King. My lords, at once: The care you have of us,

To mow down thorns that would annoy our foot,

Is worthy praise: but - shall I speak my conscience?
Our kinsman Gloster is as innocent

From meaning treason to our royal person
As is the sucking lamb or harmless dove:

The duke is virtuous, mild, and too well-given7

To dream on evil, or to work my downfall.

Queen. Ah, what's more dangerous than this fond affiance !

Seems he a dove? his feathers are but borrow'd,

6 That is, by reckoning upon, or making much of, his high descent. 7" Well-given" is well-disposed. So in Julius Cæsar, i. 2: “He is a noble Roman, and well-given."

For he's disposed as the hateful raven :
Is he a lamb? his skin is surely lent him,
For he's inclined as is the ravenous wolf.
Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit?
Take heed, my lord; the welfare of us all
Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man.

Enter SOMERSET.

Som. All health unto my gracious sovereign!
King. Welcome, Lord Somerset. What news from France?
Som. That all your interest in those territories

Is utterly bereft you; all is lost.

King. Cold news, Lord Somerset: but God's will be done! York. [Aside.] Cold news for me; for I had hope of France As firmly as I hope for fertile England. Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud, And caterpillars eat my leaves away : But I will remedy this gear ere long, Or sell my title for a glorious grave.

Enter GLOSTER.

Glo. All happiness unto my lord the King! Pardon, my liege, that I have stay'd so long.

Suf. Nay, Gloster, know that thou art come too soon, Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art :

I do arrest thee of high treason here.

Glo. Well, Suffolk, well, thou shalt not see me blush
Nor change my countenance for this arrest:

A heart unspotted is not easily daunted.
The purest spring is not so free from mud
As I am clear from treason to my sovereign:

Who can accuse me? wherein am I guilty?

York. 'Tis thought, my lord, that you took bribes of France, And, being Protector, stay'd the soldiers' pay;