In bringing them to civil discipline ;1 Have made thee fear'd, and honour'd, of the people : Join we together, for the public good; In what we can to bridle and suppress The pride of Suffolk, and the cardinal, "With Somerset's and Buckingham's ambition; And, as we may, cherish Duke Humphrey's deeds, While they do tend the profit of the land. War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the land, And common profit of his country! * York. And so says York, for he hath greatest 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 tickle2 point, now they are gone: Suffolk concluded on the articles; The peers agreed; and Henry was well pleas'd, To change two dukedoms for a duke's fair daughter. * I cannot blame them all; What is't to them? *Tis thine they give away, and not their own. Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage, And purchase friends, and give to courtesans, * Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands, And shakes his head, and trembling stands aloof, *While all is shar'd, and all is borne away; Ready to starve, and dare not touch his own. *Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood, A day will come, when York shall claim his own; Whose church-like humours fit not for a crown. With his new bride, and England's dear-bought SCENE II. The same. A Room in the Duke of Gloster's House. Enter GLOSTER and the Duchess. Duch. Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn, Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load? * Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his brows, * As frowning at the favours of the world? Why are thine eyes fix'd to the sullen earth, Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight! 'What seest thou there? King Henry's diadem, Enchas'd with all the honours of the world? *If so, gaze on, and grovel on thy face, 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. Glo. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love tay lord, 'Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts: And may that thought, when I imagine ill Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry *Be my last breathing in this mortal world! 'My troublous dream this night doth make me sad. Duch. What dream'd my lord? tell me, and I'll requite it With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream. Glo Methought, this staff, mine office-badge in erset, And William de la Poole, first duke of Suffolk. This was my dream; what doth it bole, God knows. Duch. Tut, this was nothing but an argument, That he that breaks a stick of Gloster's grove, Shall lose his head for his presumption. But list to me, my Humphrey, my sweet duke: 'Methought I sat in seat of majesty, In the cathedral church of Westminster, And in that chair where kings and queens are crown'd; Where Henry, and dame Margaret, kneel'd to me, And on my head did set the diadem. Glo. Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright: * Presumptuous dame, ill nurtur'd' Eleanor! Art thou not second woman in the realm; And the protector's wife, belov'd of him? *Hast thou no. worldly pleasure at command, * Above the reach or compass of thy thought? And wilt thou still be hammering treachery, *To tumble down thy husband, and thyself, * From top of honour to disgrace's feet? Away from me, and let me hear no more. 'Duch. What, what, my lord! are you so cho leric With Eleanor, for telling but her dream? Next time I'll keep my dreams unto myself, And not be check'd. Glo. Nay, be not angry, I am pleas'd again. Mess. My lord protector, 'tis his highness' You do prepare to ride into Saint Albans, 'Whereas the king and queen do mean to hawk. Glo. I go.-Come, Nell, thou wilt ride with us? 1445; but Richard, Duke of York, was not viceroy of 2 Tickle is frequently used for ticklish by ancient writers. 3 Meleager; whose life was to continue only so long as a certain firebrand should last. His mother Althea land by a second wife. He married Alice, only daugh-Ireland till 1449. 1 This is an anachronism. The present scene is in | having thrown it into the fire, he expired in torment. 4 Ill nurtur'd is ill educated. 5 Whereas for where; a common substitution in old language, as where is often used for whereas. 'Duch. Yes, good my lord, I'll follow presently. 'protector will come this way by and by, and then [Exeunt GLOSTER and Messenger.we may deliver our supplications in the quill." 2 Pet. Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a 'good man! Jesu bless him! Follow I must, I cannot go before, *While Gloster bears this base and humble mind. *Were I a man, a duke, and next of blood, *I would remove these tedious stumbling-blocks, And smooth my way upon their headless necks: And, being a woman, I will not be slack *To play my part in fortune's pageant. Where are you there? Sir John!' nay, fear not, A spirit rais'd from depth of under ground, That shall make answer to such questions, 'As by your grace shall be propounded him. 'Duch. It is enough; I'll think upon the questions: "When from Saint Albans we do make return, We'll see these things effected to the full. Here, Hume, take this reward; make merry, man, With thy confederates in this weighty cause. [Exit Duchess. Hume. Hume must make merry with the duch ess' gold; Marry, and shall. But how now, Sir John Hume? Seal up your lips, and give no words but-mum! The business asketh silent secrecy. *Dame Eleanor gives gold, to bring the witch: *Gold cannot come amiss, were she a devil. 'Yet have I gold, flies from another coast: I dare not say, from the rich cardinal, And from the great and new-made duke of Suffolk; 'Yet I do find it so: for, to be plain, They, knowing dame Eleanor's aspiring humour, 'Have hired me to undermine the duchess, 'And buz these conjurations in her brain. *They say, A crafty knave does need no broker ;3 *Yet am I Suffolk and the cardinal's broker. Hume, if you take not heed, you shall go near To call them both-a pair of crafty knaves. *Well, so it stands: And thus, I fear, at last, *Hume's knavery will be the duchess' wreck; And her attainture will be Humphrey's fall: *Sort how it will,4 I shall have gold for all. [Exit. SCENE III. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter PETER, and others, with Petitions. '1 Pet. My masters, let's stand close; my lord 1 A title frequently bestowed on the clergy. See the first note on the Merry Wives of Windsor. Suff. Thy wife too? that is some wrong indeed. -What's yours?-What's here? [Reads.] Against the duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the commons of Melford.-How now, sir knave? 2 Pet. Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township. Peter. [Presenting his petition.] Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying, That the duke of York was rightful heir to the crown. 'Q. Mar. What say'st thou? did the duke of "York say, he was rightful heir to the crown? 'Peter. That my master was? No, forsooth: my 'master said, That he was; and that the king was 'an usurper. Suff. Who is there? [Enter Servants.]-Take this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant presently:-we'll hear more of your matter before the king." [Exeunt Servants, with Peter. 'Q. Mar. And as for you, that love to be pro tected Under the wings of our protector's grace, 'Begin your suits anew, and sue to him. [Tears the Petition. Away, base cullions !-Suffolk, let them go. *All. Come, let's be gone. [Exeunt Petitioners. *Q. Mar. My lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise, *Is this the fashion in the court of England? Is this the government of Britain's isle, And must be made a subject to a duke? cations. Mr. Tollet thinks it means with great eractness and observance of form, in allusion to the quilled or plaited ruffs. Hawkins suggests that it may be the same with the French en quille, said of a man when he stands upright upon his feet, without moving from the place, in allusion to quille, a ninepin. It appears to be nociation of in the coil,' i. e. in the bustle. This word is spelt in the old dictionaries quoil, and was no doubt often pronounced by ignorant persons quile, or quill. 2 It appears from Rymer's Fadera, vol. x. p. 505, that in the tenth year of Henry VI. Margery Jourde mayn, John Virley Clerk, and Friar John Ashwell, were, on the ninth of May, brought from Windsor by the constable of the castle, to which they had been com-thing more than an intention to mark the vulgar pronunmitted for sorcery, before the council at Westminster, and afterwards committed to the custody of the Lord Chancellor. It was ordered that whenever the said Virley and Ashwell should find security for their good be- 6 This wrong seems to have been sometimes prachaviour they should be set at liberty, and in like man- tised in Shakspeare's time. Among the Lansdowne ner that Jourdemayn should be discharged on her hus- MSS. we meet with the following singular petition:band's finding security. This woman was afterwards-Julius Bogarucius to the Lord Treasurer, in Latin, burned in Smithfield, as stated in the play, and also in the Chronicles. 3 This expression was proverbial. 4 Let the issue be what it will. There have been some strange conjectures in explanation of this phrase, in the quill. Steevens says that may mean no more than written or penned suppli complaining that the Master of the Rolls keeps his wife from him in his own house, and wishes he may not teach her to be a papist." 7 The quarto reads 'an usurer,” Queen. An usurper thou would'st say, *His weapons, holy saws of sacred writ; *Would choose him pope, and carry him to Rome, Suff. Madam, be patient; as I was cause To give his censure: these are no women's matters. Q. Mar. If he be old enough, what needs your grace To be protector of his excellence ? Glo. Madam, I am protector of the realm; Q. Mar. Beside the haught protector, have we The Dauphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas Beaufort, The imperious churchman; Somerset, Bucking-* hara, * And grimitling York: and not the least of these, * Bu can do more in England than the king. * Suff. And he of these, that can do most of all, *Caunot do more in England than the Nevils : *Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers. Q. Mar. Not all these lords do vex me half so moch, As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife. She sweeps it through the court with troops of lahes, More like an empress than Duke Humphrey's Strangers in court do take her for the queen: *And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds, Although we fancy not the cardinal, So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last, *And you yourself shall steer the happy helm. Enter KING HENRY, YORK, and SOMERSET, conversing with him; DUKE and DUCHESS of GLOSTER, CARDINAL BEAUFORT, BUCKINGHAM, SALISBURY, and WARWICK. K. Hen. For my part, noble lords, I care not which; Or Somerset, or York, all's one to me. And all the peers and nobles of the realm * Car. The commons hast thou rack'd; the *Are lank and lean with thy extortions. * Have cost a mass of public treasury. * Q. Mar. Thy sale of offices, and towns in If they were known, as the suspect is great,*Would make thee quickly hop without thy head. [Exit GLOSTER. The Queen drops her Fan. Give me my fan: What, minion! can you not? [Gives the Duchess a box on the ear. I cry you merey, madam; Was it you? Duch. Was't I? yea, I it was, proud French woman: Could I come near your beauty with my nails, 'Duch. Against her will! Good king, look to't She'll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby: breeches, She shall not strike dame Eleanor unreveng'd. *Buck. Lord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor, Re-enter GLOSTER. Glo. Now, lords, my choler being over-blown, With walking once about the quadrangle, I come to talk of commonwealth affairs As for your spiteful false objections, Prove them, and I lie open to the law: *But God in mercy so deal with my soul, *As I in duty love my king and country! York. If York have ill demean'd himself in But, to the matter that we have in hand: France, Then let him be denay'd' the regentship. Som. If Somerset be unworthy of the place, Let York be regent, I will yield to him. War. Whether your grace be worthy, yea, or no, Car. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak. wick. War. Warwick may live to be the best of all. *I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man, Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this. it so. Glo. Madam, the king is old enough himself 1 The duchies of Anjou and Maine, which Henry surrendered to Reignier on his marriage with Margaret. 2 In the original play : 'I have set limetwigs that will entangle them.' 3 i. e. the complaint of Peter the armourer's man against his master, for saying that York was the rightful king 4 Denay is frequently used instead of deny among the old writers. 5 Censure here means simply judgment or opinion, the sense in which it was used by all the writers of the time. 6 This appears to have been a popular phrase for the hands or ten fingers Enter Servants of SUFFOLK, bringing in HORNER and PETER. Suff. Because here is a man accus'd of treason: Pray God, the duke of York excuse himself! *York. Doth any one accuse York for a traitor? *K. Hen. What mean'st thou, Suffolk ? tell me: What are these? Suff. Please it your majesty, this is the man That doth accuse his master of high treason: His words were these ;-that Richard, duke of York, 'Was rightful heir unto the English crown; And that your majesty was an usurper, 'K. Hen. Say, man, were these thy words? Hor. An't shall please your majesty, I never said nor thought any such matter: God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain. Pet. By these ten bones,1 my lords, [holding up his hands.] he did speak them to me in the garret one night, as we were scouring my lord of York's armour. "York. Base dunghill villain, and mechanical, I'll have thy head for this thy traitor's speech; I do beseech your royal majesty, Let him have all the rigour of the law. Hor. Alas, my lord, hang me, if ever. I spake the words. My accuser is my prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me: I have good witness of this; therefore, I beseech your majesty, do not cast away an honest man for a villain's accusation. K. Hen. Uncle, what shall we say to this in law? Glo. This doom, my lord, if I may judge. Let Somerset be regent o'er the French, Because in York this breeds suspicion : And let these have a day appointed them For single combat in convenient place; For he hath witness of his servant's malice: This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey's doom. K. Hen. Then be it so. My lord of Somerset, We make your grace lord regent o'er the French.2 Som. I humbly thank your royal majesty. Hor. And I accept the combat willingly. Pet. Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God's sake, pity my case! the spite of man prevaileth against me. O, Lord have mercy upon me! I *shall never be able to fight a blow: O Lord, my * heart! * * Glo. Sirrah, or you must fight, or else be hang'd. K. Hen. Away with them to prison: and the day Of combat shall be the last of the next month. * Come, Somerset, we'll see thee sent away. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. The Duke of Gloster's Garden. Enter MARGERY JOURDAIN, HUME, SOUTHWELL, and BOLINGBROKE. * Hume. Come, my masters; the duchess, I tell you, expects performance of your promises. Boling. Master Hume, we are therefore pro*vided: Will her ladyship behold and hear our * exorcisms ?? * Hume. Ay; What else? fear you not her cou rage. 1 We have just heard a duchess threaten to set her ten commandments in the face of a queen. We have here again a similar vulgar expression. It is, however, a very ancient popular adjuration, and may be found in many old dramatic pieces. 2 Theobald inserted these two lines from the old play, because without them the king has not declared his as. sent to Gloster's opinion: and the duke of Somerset is made to thank him for his regency before the king has deputed him to it. Malone supposes that Shakspeare thought Henry's consent to Humphrey's doom might be expressed by a nod; and therefore omits the lines. 3 By exorcise Shakspeare invariably means to raise spirits, and not to lay them. Vide note on All's Well that Ends Well, Act v. Sc. 3. 4 Matter or business. 5 The old quarto reads 'the silence of the night.' The variation of the copies is worth notice : 'Dark night, dread night, the silence of the night, * Boling. I have heard her reported to be a wo*man of an invincible spirit: But it shall be con*venient, master Hume, that you be by her aloft. while we be busy below; and so, I pray you, go in God's name, and leave us. [Eail HU ME.] 'Mother Jourdain, be you prostrate, and grovel on the earth; John Southwell, read you; and lez * us to our work. Enter Duchess, above. * Duch. Well said, my masters ; and welcome * all. To this geer; the sooner the better. *Boling. Patience, good lady; wizards know their times: Deep night, dark night, the silents of the night. And spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves, * Spir. Adsum. *M. Jourd. Asmath, By the eternal God, whose name and power Thou tremblest at, answer that I shall ask; It *For, till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence. * Spir. Ask what thou wilt:-That I had said and done!" Boling. First, of the king. What shall of him become? [Reading out of a paper. Spir. The duke yet lives, that Henry shall de Boling. What fate awaits the duke of Suffolk? Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains Have done, for more I hardly can endure. [Thunder and Lightning. Spirit descends. Enter YORK and BUCKINGHAM, hastily, with their Guards, and others. king, *Injurious duke; that threat'st where is no cause. Wherein the furies mask in hellish troops, Warburton, in a learned but erroneous note, wished to prove that an interlunar night was meant. Steevens has justly observed that silent is here used by the poet as a substantive. 6 Ban-dog, or band-dog, any great fierce dog which required to be tied or chained up. "Canis molossus, a mastive, beare-dog, or bull-dog. It is someti:nes called in the dictionaries canis catenarius. 7 It was anciently believed that spirits who were raised by incantations, remained above ground, and answered questions with reluctance. See both Lucan and Statius. 8 Rewarded. * Buck. True, madam, none at none. What call you this? [Showing her the papers. Away with them; let them be clapp'd up close, And kept asunder :-You, madam, shall with us: · Stafford, take her to thee. [Exit Duchess from above. We'll see your trinkets here all forth-coming; All.-Away! [Exeunt Guards, with SOUTH. BOLING. &c. * York, Lord Buckingham, methinks, you watch'd her well: A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon! Now, pray, my lord, let's see the devil's writ. What have we here? The duke yet lives, that Henry shall depose; But him outlive, and die a violent death. *Why, this is just, * Aio te, acida, Romanos vincere posse. Well, to the rest: me, [Reads. Tell what fate awaits the duke of Suffolk? Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains, *These oracles are hardily attain'd, The king is now in progress toward Saint Albans, With him the husband of this lovely lady: Thither go these news, as fast as horse can carry them; A sorry breakfast for my lord protector. Buck. Your grace shall give me leave, my lord of York, To be the post, in hope of his reward. York. At your pleasure, my good lord.-Who's within there, ho! SCENE I. Saint Albans. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, GLOSTER, Cardinal, and SUFFOLK, with Falconers hollaing. Q. Mar. Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,1 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.2 K. Hen. 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 fain3 of climbing high. Suff. No marvel, an it like your majesty, 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. Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. 1 The falconer's term for hawking at water-fowl. 2 Johnson was informed that the meaning here is, 'the wind being high, it was ten to one that the old hawk bad flown quite away; a trick which hawks often play their masters in windy weather. But surely, not going out cannot signify not coming home. Dr. Percy's interpretation is entirely opposed to this: he explains it, -The wind was so high it was ten to one that old Joan would not have taken her flight at the game.' Steevens says, 'The ancient books of hawking do not enable him to decide on the merits of such discordant explanations.' I think, if he had looked into Latham's Falconry, he would have found that Dr. Percy's is the right explana. tion. 'When you shall come afterward to fly her she must be altogether guided and governed by her stomacke; yea, she will be kept and also lost by the same: for let her faile of that never so little, and every puff of wind will blow her away from you; nay, if there be no This evening, on the east side of the grove. [Aside. K. Hen. How now, my lords? • Car. Believe me, cousin Gloster, Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly, We had had more sport.-Come with thy two[Aside to GLO. hand-sword. Glo True, uncle. Car. Are you advis'd?—the east side of the grove? Glo. Cardinal, I am with you. K. Hen. Aside. Why, how now, uncle Gloster ? Glo. Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord. Now, by God's mother, priest, I'll shave your crowr. for this, [Aside. *Or all my fence" shall fail. *Car. Medice teipsum; Protector, see to't well, protect yourself. [Aside. K. Hen. The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords. * How irksome is this music to my heart! Glo. What means this noise? wind stirring, yet she will wheele and sinke away from him and from his voice, that all the time before had lured and trained her up.' Booke i. p. 60, Ed. 1633 3 i. e. fond or glad. 4 i. e. thy mind is working on a crown. 5 Vide St. Matthew, v. 9. 6 The two-hand-sword' was sometimes called the long sword, and in common use before the introduction of the rapier. Justice Shallow, in the Merry Wives of Windsor, boasts of the exploits he had performed in his youth with this instrument. In the original play the Cardinal desires Gloster to bring his sword and buckler 7 Fence is the art of defence. 8 This scene is founded on a story which Sir Thomas More has related, and which he says was communicated to him by his father. The impostor's name is not mentioned; but he was detected by Humphrey Duke of Gloster, and in the manner here represented More's Works, p. 134, Edit. 1657. See |
