ELIEVE me, lords, for flying at
the brook',

I faw 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 2.
K. Henry. But what a point, my lord, your falcon
made,

25

30

35

Suf. No malice, fir; no more than well becomes So good a quarrel, and so bad a peer.

Glo. As who, my lord?

[lence.

Suf. Why, as yourself, my lord;
An't like your lordly lord-protectorship.
Glo. Why, Suffolk, England knows thine info-
2. Mar. And thy ambition, Glofter.

K. Henry. I pr'ythee, peace, good queen;
And whet not on these too too furious peers,
For bleffed are the peace-makers on earth.

Car. Let me be bleffed for the peace I make, Against this proud protector, with my sword! Glo. Faith, holy uncle, 'would 'twere

come to that!

Car. Marry, when thou dar'ft.
Glo. Make up no factious numbers for

the matter,

140 In thine own person answer thy abuse.
Car. Ay, where thou dar'st not peep:
an if thou dar'ft,

And what a pitch fhe flew above the reft!--
To fee how God in all his creatures works!
Yea, man and birds are fain 3 of climbing high.
Suf. No marvel, an it like your majesty,
My lord protector's hawks do tower fo well;
They know, their mafter loves to be aloft,
And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch.
Glo. My lord, 'tis but a bafe ignoble mind
That mounts no higher than a bird can foar.
Car. I thought as much; he'd be above the
clouds.
[that? 45
Glo. Ay, my lord cardinal; How think you by
Were it not good, your grace could fly to heaven?
K. Henry. The treasury of everlasting joy!
Car. Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and
thoughts

This evening, on the eaft fide of the grove..
K. Henry, How now, my lords?

Afide

Car. Believe me, coufin Glofter, Had not your man put up the fowl fo fuddenly, We'd had more fport.-Come with thy two-hand fword. [Afide to Glofter.

Glo. True, uncle.

50 Are you advis'd?-the east fide of the grove? Cardinal, I am with you.

Beat 4 on a crown, the treasure of thy heart;
Pernicious protector, dangerous peer,
That smooth'ft it so with king and common-weal!
Glo. What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown fo
Tantæne animis cœleftibus iræ ? [peremptory 55
Churchmen fo hot? good uncle, hide fuch malice ;|
With fuch holiness can you do it?

[Afide.

K. Henry. Why, how now, uncle Glofter?
Glo. Talking of hawking; nothing elfe, my

lord.

[for this,

This is the falconer's term for hawking at water-fowl. 2 The meaning, according to Dr. Johnfon, is, that the wind being high, it was ten to one that the old hawk had flown quite away; a trick which hawks often play their mafters in windy weather; while Dr. Percy fays, that the paffage fignifies, that the wind was fo high, it was ten to one that old Joan would not have taken her flight at the game. Utrum horum mavis accipe. 3 i. c. glad. 4 To bait or beat (batbe) is a term in falconry.

5 Fence is the art of defence.

Protector,

10

K. Henry. Now, God be prais'd! that to believing 15 Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair! Enter the Mayor of Saint Albans, and bis brethren, bearing Simpcox between two in a chair, Simpcox's wife following.

Car. Here come the townsmen on proceffion, To prefent your highness with the man.

K. Henry. Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, Though by his fight his fin be multiply'd. [king,

20

Glo. Stand by, my mafters, bring him near the His highness' pleasure is to talk with him. [ftance, 25 K. Henry. Good fellow, tell us here the circumThat we for thee may glorify the Lord. What, haft thou been long blind, and now reftor'd?

30

[grace. 35

140

Or of devotion, to this holy fhrine? [by chance,
Simp. God knows, of pure devotion; being call'd
A hundred times, and oftener, in my sleep
By good faint Alban; who said,—Saunder, come; 45
Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee.

Wife. Moft true, forfooth; and many time and oft
Myfelf have heard a voice to call him fo.

Car. What, art thou lame?

Simp. Ay, God Almighty help me!
Suf. How cam'st thou so ?

Simp. A fall off of a tree.

Wife. A plum-tree, master.

Gle. What, and would'st climb a tree?
Simp. But that in all my life, when I was a youth.
Wife.Too true; and bought his climbing very dear.
Glo. Mafs, thou lov'dst plums well, that would'st
[damfons, 60
venture fo.
Simp. Alas, good master, my wife defir'd fome
And made me climb, with danger of my life.
Gls. A fubtle knave! but yet it shall not serve.
Let me fee thine eyes:-wink now;-now open
In my opinion, yet thou fee'ft not well. [them:-65

Glo. But you have done more miracles than I ;| You made, in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly. Enter Buckingham.

K. Henry. What tidings with our coufin Buckingham?

1

Buck. Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold.
A fort of naughty perfons, lewdly 1 bent,-
Under the countenance and confederacy
Of lady Eleanor, the protector's wife,
The ring-leader and head of all this rout,
Have practis'd dangerously against your state,
Dealing with witches, and with conjurers:
Whom we have apprehended in the fact;
Raifing up wicked fpirits from under ground,
Demanding of king Henry's life and death,
And other of your highnefs' privy council,
As more at large your grace thall understand.

Car. And fo, my lord protector, by this means
Your lady is forth-coming yet at London 2.

5

The firft, Edward the Black Prince, prince of
Wales;

The fecond, William of Hatfield; and the third,
Lionel, duke of Clarence; next to whom
Was John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster:
The fifth was Edmund Langley, duke of York;
The fixth was Thomas of Woodstock, duke of
Glofter;

William of Windfor was the feventh, and laft.
10 Edward, the Black Prince, dy'd before his father;
And left behind him Richard, his only fon,
Who, after Edward the third's death, reign'd king;
Till Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster,
The eldeft fon and heir of John of Gaunt,

15 Crown'd by the name of Henry the fourth,
Seiz'd on the realm; depos'd the rightful king;
Sent his poor queen to France, from whence the

came,

And him to Pomfret; where, as both you know,

This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's edge; 20 Harmlefs Richard was murder'd traitorously. "Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.

[Afide to Glifter.

Glo. Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my

heart!

War. Father, the duke hath told the truth;
Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown.
York. Which now they hold by force, and not
by right;

Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers; 25 For Richard, the first fon's heir, being dead,
And, vanquish'd as I am, I yield to thee,

K. Henry. O God, what mifchiefs work the wick-
Heaping confufion on their own heads thereby !
Queen. Glofter, fee here the tainture of thy neft; 3
And, look, thy felf be faultlefs, thou wert beft.

Glo. Madam, for myfelf, to heaven I do appeal,
How I have lov'd my king, and common-weal:
And, for my wife, I know not how it stands;
Sorry I am to hear what I have heard:
Noble fhe is; but, if the have forgot
Honour, and virtue, and convers'd with such
As, like to pitch, defile nobility,

I banish her my bed and company;
And give her, as a prey, to law, and shame,
That hath difhonour'd Glofter's honeft name.
K. Henry. Well, for this night, we will repofe
us here:

To-morrow, toward London, back again,
To look into this bufinefs thoroughly,
And call these foul offenders to their answers;
And poife the caufe in juftice' equal fcales,
Whofe beam ftands fure, whofe rightful caufe
prevails.
[Flourish. Excunt.

SCENE

II.

The iffue of the next fon fhould have reign'd.
Sal. But William of Hatfield died without an
heir.
[whofe line
York. The third fon, duke of Clarence, (from
I claim the crown) had iffue-Philippe, a daughter,
Who married Edmund Mortimer, earl of March.
Edmund had iffue-Roger, earl of March:
Roger had iffue-Edmund, Anne, and Eleanor.

Sal. This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke,
35 As I have read, laid claim unto the crown;
And, but for Owen Glendower, had been king,
Who kept him in captivity, 'till he dy`d.
But, to the reft.

York. His eldeft fifter, Anne,

40 My mother, being heir unto the crown,

Married Richard earl of Cambridge; who was fon
To Edmund Langley, Edward the third's fifth fon.
By her I claim the kingdom: She then was heir
To Roger, earl of March; who was the fon
45 Of Edmund Mortimer; who married Philippe,
Sole daughter unto Lionel, duke of Clarence:
So, if the iffue of the elder fon
Succeed before the younger, I am king.
War. What plain proceeding is more plain than
Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt,
The fourth fon; York claimeth it from the third.
"Till Lionel's iffue fails, his fhould not reign :
It fails not yet; but flourishes in thee,
And in thy fons, fair flips of fuch a stock.

50

[this?

55 Then, father Salisbury, kneel we both together;
And, in this private plot, be we the first,
That fhall falute our rightful fovereign
With honour of his birth-right to the crown.
Both. Long live our fovereign Richard, England's
king!
[king

Sal. My lord, I long to hear it at full. [good, War. Sweet York, begin: and if thy claim be 60 The Nevils are thy fubjects to command.

York. Then thus:

Idward the third, my lords, had feven fons:

York. We thank you, lords. But I am not your 'Till I be crown'd; and that my fword be ftain'd With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster:

i. e. wickedly. 2 That is, your lady is in cuftody.

And

And that's not suddenly to be perform'd;
But with advice, and filent fecrecy.
Do you, as I do, in these dangerous days,
Wink at the duke of Suffolk's infolence,
At Beaufort's pride, at Somerset's ambition,
At Buckingham, and all the crew of them,
'Till they have fnar'd the fhepherd of the flock,
That virtuous' prince, the good duke Humphrey :
'Tis that they feek; and they, in feeking that,
Shall find their deaths, if York can prophefy.
Sal. My lord, break we off; we know your
mind at full.
[wick

War. My heart affures me, that the earl of War-
Shall one day make the duke of York a king.
York. And, Nevil, this I do affure myself,―
Richard shall live to make the earl of Warwick
The greatest man in England, but the king.

[Exeunt.

Sound trumpets. Enter King Henry, Queen Marga-
ret, Glifter, York, Suffolk, and Salisbury; the
Dutchess, Mother Jourdain, Southwel, Hume, and
Bolingbroke, under guard.

K. Henry. Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham,
Glofter's wife:

20

25

In fight of God, and us, your guilt is great;
Receive the fentence of the law, for fins
Such as by God's book are adjudg'd to death.-30
You four, from hence to prifon back again;
[To the other prisoners.
From thence, unto the place of execution:
The witch in Smithfield fhall be burnt to ashes,
And you three thall be strangled on the gallows.-35
You, madam, for you are more nobly born,
Defpoiled of your honour in your life,
Shall, after three days open penance done,
Live in your country here, in banishment,
With Sir John Stanley, in the isle of Man.
Elean. Welcome is banishment, welcome were
my death.

[thee;

Glo. Eleanor, the law, thou feeft, hath judged I cannot justify whom the law condemns.

This ftaff of honour raught :-There let it stand,
Where beft it fits to be, in Henry's hand. [fprays;
Suf. Thus droops this lofty pine, and hangs his
Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her youngest days.
York. Lords,let him go 3.-Pleafe it your majefty,
This is the day appointed for the combat;
And ready are the appellant and defendant,
The armourer and his man, to enter the lifts,
So pleafe your highness to behold the fight. [fore
2. Mar. Ay, good my lord; for purpofely there-
Left I the court, to fee this quarrel try'd.

K. Henry. O' God's name, fee the lifts and all

things fit;

Here let them end it, and God defend the right!
York. I never faw a fellow worse bested 4,
Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant,
The fervant of this armourer, my lords.
Enter at one door the Armourer and bis Neighbours,
drinking to bim fo much that he is drunk; and he
enters with a drum before bim, and his staff with
fand-bag fastened to it; and at the other door
enters bis Man, with a drum and fand-bag, and
Prentices drinking to kim.

a

I Neigh. Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to 40 you in a cup of fack; And, fear not, neighbour, you fhall do well enough.

2 Neigh. And here, neighbour, here's a cup of charneco 6.

3 Neigh. And here's a pot of good double beer,

[Exeunt Eleanor, and the others, guarded. 45 neighbour: drink, and fear not your man.

Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.
Ah, Humphrey, this dishonour in thine age
Will bring thy head with forrow to the ground!——
I befeech your majesty, give me leave to go;
Sorrow would folace, and mine age would eafe 1.
K. Henry. Stay, Humphrey duke of Glofter:
ere thou go,

Give up thy ftaff; Henry will to himself
Protector be; and God shall be my hope,
My ftay, my guide, and lanthorn to my feet:
And go in peace, Humphrey; no less belov'd,
Than when thou wert protector to thy king.

2. Mar. I fee no reafon, why a king of years Should be to be protected like a child.

50

Arm. Let it come, i' faith, and I'll pledge you all; And a fig for Peter!

1 Pren. Here, Peter, I drink to thee; and be not afraid.

2 Pren. Be merry, Peter, and fear not thy mafter: fight for credit of the prentices.

Peter. I thank you all: drink, and pray for me, I pray you; for I think I have taken my lat draught in this world.-Here, Robin, an if I die, I 55 give thee my apron ;-and, Will, thou shalt have my hammer;-and here, Tom, take all the money that I have.-O Lord, blefs me, I pray God! for I am never able to deal with my mafter, he hath 'learn'd fo much fence already.

1 That is, forrow requires folace, and age requires eafe. Raught is the ancient preterite of the verb reach. 3 i. e. let him pafs out of your thoughts. 4 i. e. in a worse plight, perhaps worfe betyd. 5 As, according to the old laws of duels, knights were to fight with the lance and fword; fo thofe of inferior rank fought with an ebon staff or battoon, to the farther end of which was fixed a bag cramm'd hard with fand. A name for a fort of fweet wine, probably much in ufe in our author's

time.

Sal. Come, leave your drinking, and fall to blows.Sirrah, what's thy name?

Peter. Peter, forsooth,

Sal. Peter! what more?

Peter, Thump.

Sal. Thump! then fee thou thump thy mafter well.

Arm. Masters, I am come hither, as it were, upon my man's inftigation, to prove him a knave,

5

Now thou doft penance too. Look, how they gaze!
See, how the giddy multitude do point,

And nod their heads, and throw their eyes on thee!
Ah, Glofter, hide thee from their 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.
Elean. Ah, Glofter, teach me to forget myself:
For, whilft I think I am thy marry'd wife,

and myself an honeft man: and touching the duke 10 And thou a prince, protector of this land,

of York, I will take my death, I never meant
him any ill, nor the king, nor the queen; And
therefore, Peter, have at thee with a downright
blow, as Bevis of Southampton fell upon Ascapart 1.
York. Difpatch this knave's tongue begins to
double.

Sound, trumpets, alarum to the combatants.
[They fight, and Peter ftrikes him down,
Arm, Hold, Peter, hold! I confefs, I confefs
treafon.

Methinks, I fhould not thus be led along,
Mail'd up 5 in fhame, with papers on my back;
And follow'd with a rabble, that rejoice
To fee my tears, and hear my deep-fet groans.
15 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? Trow'ft thou, that e'er I'll look upon the world; [Dies. 20 Or count them happy, that enjoy the fun?

York. Take away his weapon:-Fellow, thank
God, and the good wine in thy master's way.
Peter. O God! have I overcome mine enemy
in this presence?

Peter, thou haft prevailed in right!

[fight; 25

K. Henry. Go, take hence that traiter from our
For, by his death, we do perceive his guilt2:
And God, in justice, hath reveal'd to us
The truth and innocence of this poor fellow,
Which he had thought to have murder'd wrong-30
fully.

Come, fellow, follow us for thy reward. [Exeunt.
SCENE IV.
The Street.
Enter Duke Humphrey, and his men, in mourning|35

cloaks.

Gl. Thus, fometimes, hath the brightest day a
And, after fummer, evermore fucceeds [cloud;
Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold:
So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet3.-
Sirs, what's o'clock?

Serv. Ten, my lord.

No; dark fhall be my light, and night my day;
To think upon my pomp, shall be my hell.
Sometime I'll fay, I am duke Humphrey's wife;
And he a prince, and ruler of the land:
Yet fo he rul’d, and such a prince he was,
That he ftood by, whilft I, his forlorn dutchess,
Was made a wonder, and a pointing-stock,

To every idle raícal follower.

But be thou mild, and blush not at my shame;
Nor ftir at nothing, 'till the axe of death
Hang over thee, as, fure, 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 lim'd bushes to betray thy wings,
And, fly thou how thou canft, they'll tangle thee:
But fear not thou, until thy foot be fnar'd,
Nor never feek prevention of thy foes.

Glo. Ah, Nell, forbear; thou aimest all awry;
40I must offend, before I be attainted:
And had I twenty times fo many foes,
And each of them had twenty times their power,
All thefe could not procure me any scathe 7,
So long as I am loyal, true, and crimeless.
45 Would't have me rescue thee from this reproach?
Why, yet thy fcandal were not wip'd away,
But I in danger for the breach of law.
Thy greatest help is quiet, gentle Nell:'
I pray thee, fort thy heart to patience;
50 Thefe few-days' wonder will be quickly worn.
Enter a Herald.

Glo. Ten is the hour that was appointed me,
To watch the coming of my punish'd dutchess;
Uneath may she endure the flinty streets,
To tread them with her tender-feeling feet!
Sweet Nell, ill can thy noble mind abrook
The abject people, gazing on thy face,
With envious looks still laughing at thy fhame;
That erft did follow thy proud chariot-wheels,
When thou didst ride in triumph through the streets.
But, foft! I think, fhe comes; and I'll prepare
My tear-ftain'd eyes to fee her miferies,
Enter the Dutchess in a white sheet, ber feet bare, and
a taper burning in ber band, with Sir John Stanley, 55
a Sheriff, and Officers.

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

Glo. No, ftir not for your lives; let her pafs by.
Elean. Come you, my lord, to fee my open shame? 60

Y Alcapart-the giant of the story—was a name familiar to our ancestors. The figures of these combatants are still preserved on the gates of Southampton. 2 According to the ancient usage of the duel, the vanquished perfon not only loft his life but his reputation, and his death was always regarded as a certain evidence of his guilt. 3 To fleet is to change. + Eath is the antient word for cafe. Uncath, therefore, implies uneafry or painfully. 5 i. e. e. wrapped up in difgrace; alluding to the sheet of

penance, • Think'ft. 7 Scatbe is barm ọt mischief.

And