William Shakespeare

“ Is Beaufort termed a kite? Where are his talons?
SUFFOLK.
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 dar’st, proud Lord of Warwickshire,
That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey’s death.
[Exeunt Cardinal, Somerset and others.]
WARWICK.
What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?
QUEEN MARGARET.
He dares not calm his contumelious spirit,
Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times. ”

“ GLOUCESTER.
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.
SOMERSET.
I humbly thank your royal Majesty.
HORNER.
And I accept the combat willingly.
PETER.
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! ”

“ SUFFOLK.
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.
GLOUCESTER.
My lord, ’tis but a base ignoble mind
That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.
CARDINAL.
I thought as much. He would be above the clouds.
GLOUCESTER.
Ay, my Lord Cardinal, how think you by that?
Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?
KING HENRY.
The treasury of everlasting joy.
CARDINAL.
Thy heaven is on earth ”

“ SUFFOLK.
Nay, Gloucester, know that thou art come too soon,
Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art.
I do arrest thee of high treason here.
GLOUCESTER.
Well, Suffolk, 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, stayed the soldiers’ pay,
By means whereof his highness hath lost France. ”

“ RICHARD.
And if words will not, then our weapons shall.
CLIFFORD.
Why, what a brood of traitors have we here!
YORK.
Look in a glass, and call thy image so.
I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor.
Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,
That with the very shaking of their chains
They may astonish these fell-lurking curs.
Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.
Enter the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury.
CLIFFORD.
Are these thy bears? We’ll bait thy bears to death
And manacle the bearherd in their chains,
If thou dar’st bring them to the baiting-place. ”

“ The commons haply rise to save his life,
And yet we have but trivial argument,
More than mistrust, that shows him worthy death.
YORK.
So that, by this, you would not have him die.
SUFFOLK.
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:
Were ’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?
QUEEN MARGARET.
So the poor chicken should be sure of death. ”

“ YORK.
How now? Is Somerset at liberty?
Then, York, unloose thy long-imprisoned thoughts,
And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart.
Shall I endure the sight of Somerset?
False king, why hast thou broken faith with me,
Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse?
“King” did I call thee? No, thou art not king,
Not fit to govern and rule multitudes,
Which dar’st not, no, nor canst not rule a traitor.
That head of thine doth not become a crown;
Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer’s staff,
And not to grace an awful princely sceptre. ”

“ Beside the haughty Protector, have we Beaufort
The imperious churchman, Somerset, Buckingham,
And grumbling York; and not the least of these
But can do more in England than the King.
SUFFOLK.
And he of these that can do most of all
Cannot do more in England than the Nevilles;
Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.
QUEEN MARGARET.
Not all these lords do vex me half so much
As that proud dame, the Lord Protector’s wife.
She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies,
More like an empress than Duke Humphrey’s wife.
Strangers in court do take her for the Queen. ”

“ Enter Salisbury.
Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought today.
SALISBURY.
By th’ mass, so did we all. I thank you, Richard.
God knows how long it is I have to live,
And it hath pleased him that three times today
You have defended me from imminent death.
Well, lords, we have not got that which we have;
’Tis not enough our foes are this time fled,
Being opposites of such repairing nature.
YORK.
I know our safety is to follow them;
For, as I hear, the King is fled to London
To call a present court of parliament.
Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth.
What says Lord Warwick? ”

“ Enter the King, the Queen, Cardinal Beaufort, Somerset with attendants.
KING HENRY.
Go, call our uncle to our presence straight;
Say we intend to try his grace today
If he be guilty, as ’tis published.
SUFFOLK.
I’ll call him presently, my noble lord.
[Exit.]
KING HENRY.
Lords, take your places; and, I pray you all,
Proceed no straiter ’gainst our uncle Gloucester
Than from true evidence of good esteem
He be approved in practice culpable.
QUEEN MARGARET.
God forbid any malice should prevail
That faultless may condemn a nobleman! ”

“ More like a soldier than a man o’ th’ church,
As stout and proud as he were lord of all,
Swear like a ruffian and demean himself
Unlike the ruler of a commonweal.—
Warwick my son, the comfort of my age,
Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy housekeeping,
Hath won the greatest favour of the commons,
Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey.—
And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland,
In bringing them to civil discipline,
Thy late exploits done in the heart of France,
When thou wert regent for our sovereign,
Have made thee feared and honoured of the people. ”

“ Our kinsman Gloucester 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 given
To dream on evil or to work my downfall.
QUEEN MARGARET.
Ah, what’s more dangerous than this fond affiance?
Seems he a dove? His feathers are but borrowed,
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 wolves.
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. ”

“ SUFFOLK.
My lord, these faults are easy, quickly answered;
But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge
Whereof you cannot easily purge yourself.
I do arrest you in his highness’ name,
And here commit you to my Lord Cardinal
To keep until your further time of trial.
KING HENRY.
My Lord of Gloucester, ’tis my special hope
That you will clear yourself from all suspense.
My conscience tells me you are innocent.
GLOUCESTER.
Ah, gracious lord, these days are dangerous.
Virtue is choked with foul ambition,
And charity chased hence by rancour’s hand ”

“ Ay me, I can no more! Die, Margaret,
For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long.
Noise within. Enter Warwick, Salisbury and many Commons.
WARWICK.
It is reported, mighty sovereign,
That good Duke Humphrey traitorously is murdered
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 calmed their spleenful mutiny,
Until they hear the order of his death.
KING HENRY.
That he is dead, good Warwick, ’tis too true ”

“ GLOUCESTER.
Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright.
Presumptuous dame, ill-nurtured Eleanor,
Art thou not second woman in the realm,
And the Protector’s wife, beloved of him?
Hast thou not 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!
ELEANOR.
What, what, my lord! Are you so choleric
With Eleanor for telling but her dream? ”

“ What, Buckingham and Clifford, are ye so brave? And you, base peasants, do ye believe him? Will you needs be hanged with your pardons about your necks? Hath my sword therefore broke through London gates, that you should leave me at the White Hart in Southwark? I thought ye would never have given out these arms till you had recovered your ancient freedom; but you are all recreants and dastards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility. Let them break your backs with burdens, take your houses over your heads, ravish your wives and daughters before your faces. ”

“ The rebels are in Southwark; fly, my lord!
Jack Cade proclaims himself Lord Mortimer,
Descended from the Duke of Clarence’ house,
And calls your grace usurper openly,
And vows to crown himself in Westminster.
His army is a ragged multitude
Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless.
Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother’s death
Hath given them heart and courage to proceed.
All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen,
They call false caterpillars, and intend their death.
KING HENRY.
O graceless men! They know not what they do. ”

“ Upon the life of this thrice-famed duke.
SUFFOLK.
A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue!
What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?
WARWICK.
See how the blood is settled in his face.
Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,
Of ashy semblance, meagre, 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 returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again. ”

“ 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.
WARWICK.
So God help Warwick, as he loves the land
And common profit of his country!
YORK.
And so says York, [Aside.] for he hath greatest cause.
SALISBURY.
Then let’s make haste away and look unto the main.
WARWICK.
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! ”

“ 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.
HORNER.
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. ”

“ But fly you must; uncurable discomfit
Reigns in the hearts of all our present parts.
Away, for your relief! And we will live
To see their day and them our fortune give.
Away, my lord, away!
[Exeunt.]
SCENE III. Fields near Saint Albans Alarum. Retreat. Enter York, Richard, Warwick and Soldiers with drum and colours.
YORK.
Of Salisbury, who can report of him,
That winter lion, who in rage forgets
Aged contusions and all brush of time,
And, like a gallant in the brow of youth,
Repairs him with occasion? This happy day
Is not itself, nor have we won one foot,
If Salisbury be lost. ”

“ YORK.
That Somerset be sent as regent thither.
’Tis meet that lucky ruler be employed;
Witness the fortune he hath had in France.
SOMERSET.
If York, with all his far-fet policy,
Had been the regent there instead of me,
He never would have stayed 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.
Show me one scar charactered on thy skin;
Men’s flesh preserved so whole do seldom win. ”

“ Enter Richard and Somerset to fight. Somerset is killed.
RICHARD.
So, lie thou there;
For underneath an alehouse’ paltry sign,
The Castle in Saint Albans, Somerset
Hath made the wizard famous in his death.
Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathful still!
Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.
[Exit.]
Fight. Excursions. Enter King, Queen and others.
QUEEN MARGARET.
Away, my lord! You are slow, for shame, away!
KING HENRY.
Can we outrun the heavens? Good Margaret, stay.
QUEEN MARGARET.
What are you made of? You’ll nor fight nor fly. ”

“ SALISBURY.
Disturb him not; let him pass peaceably.
KING HENRY.
Peace to his soul, if God’s good pleasure be!
Lord Cardinal, if thou think’st on heaven’s bliss,
Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope.
He dies and makes no sign. O God, forgive him!
WARWICK.
So bad a death argues a monstrous life.
KING HENRY.
Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.
Close up his eyes, and draw the curtain close,
And let us all to meditation.
[Exeunt.]
ACT IV SCENE I. The Coast of Kent Alarum. Fight at sea. Ordnance goes off. Enter a Lieutenant, Suffolk, disguised, a prisoner. ”