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Suf. As by your high imperial majesty
I had in charge at my depart for France,
As procurator to your excellence,

To marry Princess Margaret for your grace,
So, in the famous ancient city Tours,

In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil,
The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne and
Alençon,

Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops,

I have perform'd my task and was espoused:
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
In sight of England and her lordly peers,
Deliver up my title in the queen

ΙΟ

To your most gracious hands, that are the sub

stance

Of that great shadow I did represent;
The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,
The fairest queen that ever king received.

King. Suffolk, arise. Welcome, Queen Margaret:

BOLINGBROKE, a conjurer. THOMAS HORNER, an armourer. his man.

PETER,

Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's.
SIMPCOX, an impostor.

ALEXANDER IDEN, a Kentish gentleman.
JACK CADE, a rebel.

GEORGE BEVIS, JOHN HOLLAND, DICK the butcher, SMITH the weaver, MICHAEL, &c., followers of Cade.

Two Murderers.

MARGARET, Queen to King Henry.
ELEANOR, Duchess of Gloucester.
MARGARET JOURDAIN, a witch.
Wife to Simpcox.

Lords, Ladies, and Attendants, Petitioners, Al-
dermen, a Herald, a Beadle, Sheriff, and
Officers, Citizens, 'Prentices, Falconers,
Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c.

A Spirit. SCENE: England.

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I can express no kinder sign of love
Than this kind kiss. O Lord, that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
For thou hast given me in this beauteous face
A world of earthly blessings to my soul,
If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.
Queen. Great King of England and my gra-
cious lord,

The mutual conference that my mind hath had,
By day, by night, waking and in my dreams,
In courtly company or at my beads,
With you, mine alder-liefest sovereign,
Makes me the bolder to salute my king
With ruder terms, such as my wit affords
And over-joy of heart doth minister.

30

King. Her sight did ravish; but her grace in 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 [kneeling]. Long live Queen Margaret,
England's happiness!

Queen. We thank you all.

[Flourish.

Suff. My lord protector, so it please your

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the French king Charles, and William de la Pole, Marquess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry King of England, that the said Henry_shall espouse 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' [Lets the paper fall. King. Uncle, how now!

Glou. Pardon me, gracious lord; Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further.

King. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on. Car. [Reads] 'Item, It is further agreed between them, that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered over to the king her father, and she sent over of the King of England's own proper cost and charges, without having any dowry.'

King. They please us well. Lord marquess, kneel down:

We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,
And gird thee with the sword. Cousin of York,
We here discharge your grace from being regent
I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen months
Be full expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset,
Salisbury, and Warwick;

We thank you all for this great favour done,
In entertainment to my princely queen..
Come, let us in, and with all speed provide
To see her coronation be perform'd.

70

[Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk. Glou. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,

80

To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief,
Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What! did my brother Henry spend his youth,
His valour, coin and people, in the wars?
Did he so often lodge in open field,
In winter's cold and summer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits,
To keep by policy what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
Received deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Studied so long, sat in the council-house
Early and late, debating to and fro
How France and Frenchmen might be kept in

awe,

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And had his highness in his infancy
Crowned in Paris in despite of foes?
And shall these labours and these honours die?
Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance,
Your deeds of war and all our counsel die?
O peers of England, shameful is this league!
Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame,
Blotting your names from books of memory, 100
Razing the characters of your renown,
Defacing monuments of conquer'd France,
Undoing all, as all had never been!

Car. Nephew, what means this passionate discourse,

This peroration with such circumstance?

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'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, But 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye. Rancour will out: proud prelate, in thy face I see thy fury: if I longer stay,

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We shall begin our ancient bickerings.
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. 150
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 displeased at it.
Look to it, lords; let not his smoothing words
Bewitch your hearts; be wise and circumspect.
What though the common people favour him,
Calling him 'Humphrey, the good Duke of Glou-
cester,'

159

Clapping their hands, and crying with 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 sove

reign,

He being of age to govern of himself?

Cousin of Somerset, join you with me,
And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk,
We'll quickly hoise Duke Humphrey from his

seat.

Car This weighty business will not brook delay; 170

I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently. [Exit. Som. Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey's pride

And greatness of his place be grief to us,
Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal:
His insolence is more intolerable
Than all the princes in the land beside:
If Gloucester be displaced, he'll be protector.
Buck. Or thou or I, Somerset, will be pro-
tector,
Despite Duke Humphrey or the cardinal. 179
[Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset.
Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows him.
While these do labour for their own preferment,
Behoves it us to labour for the realm.
I never saw but Humphrey Duke of Gloucester
Did bear him like a noble gentleman.
Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal,
More like a soldier than a man o' the 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 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.

190

200

War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the land,

And common profit of his country!

York. [Aside] 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 tickle point, now they are gone:
Suffolk concluded on the articles,

The peers agreed, and Henry was well pleased To change two dukedoms for a duke's fair daughter. I cannot blame them all: what is't to them? 220 'Tis thine they give away, and not their own. Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage

And purchase friends and give to courtezans,

Still revelling like lords till all be gone;
While as the silly owner of the goods
Weeps over them and wrings his hapless hands
And shakes his head and trembling stands aloof,
While all is shared and all is borne away,
Ready to starve and dare not touch his own:
So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue, 230
While his own lands are bargain'd for and sold.
Methinks the realms of England, France and
Ireland

Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood
As did the fatal brand Althæa burn'd
Unto the prince's heart of Calydon.
Anjou and Maine both given unto the French!
Cold news for me, for I had hope of France,
Even as I have of fertile England's soil.
A day will come when York shall claim his own;
And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts 240
And make a show of love to proud Duke Hum-
phrey,

And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown,
For that's the golden mark I seek to hit:
Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right,
Nor hold the sceptre in his childish fist,
Nor wear the diadem upon his head,
Whose church-like humours fits not for a crown.
Then, York, be still awhile, till time do serve:
Watch thou and wake when others be asleep,
To pry into the secrets of the state;
Till Henry, surfeiting in joys of love,
With his new bride and England's dear-bought

queen,

250

And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at jars :
Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose,
With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfumed;
And in my standard bear the arms of York,
To grapple with the house of Lancaster ;
And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the

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ΤΟ

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,
Enchased 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 heaved 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.
Glou. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy
lord,

Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts.
And may that thought, when I imagine ill
Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry, 20
Be my last breathing in this mortal world!

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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. Glou. Methought this staff, mine office-badge in court,

Was broke in twain; by whom I have forgot,
But, as I think, it was by the cardinal;
And on the pieces of the broken wand

Were placed the heads of Edmund Duke of
Somerset,

And William de la Pole, first duke of Suffolk. 30 This was my dream: what it doth bode, God knows.

Duch. Tut, this was nothing but an argument That he that breaks a stick of Gloucester'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.

40

Glou. Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide out-
right:

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!
Duch. What, what, my lord! are you so choleric
With Eleanor, for telling but her dream?
Next time I'll keep my dreams unto myself,
And not be check'd.

50

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Duch. What say'st thou, man? hast thou as yet conferr'd

With Margery Jourdain, the cunning witch,
With Roger Bolingbroke, the conjurer?
And will they undertake to do me good?
Hume. This they have promised, to show your
highness

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A spirit raised 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 ques-
tions:

When from Saint Alban's 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.

Hume. Hume must make merry with the duchess' 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.

90

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;'
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, I shall have gold for all. [Exit.

SCENE III. The palace.

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ΙΟΙ

Enter three or four Petitioners, PETER, the Armourer's man, being one.

First Petit. My masters, let's stand close: my lord protector will come this way by and by, and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill.

Sec. Petit. Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a good man! Jesu bless him!

Enter SUFFOLK and QUEEN.

Peter. Here a' comes, methinks, and the queen with him. I'll be the first, sure.

Sec. Petit. Come back, fool; this is the Duke of Suffolk, and not my lord protector.

ΙΟ

Suf. How now, fellow! wouldst any thing with me?

First Petit. I pray, my lord, pardon me; I took ye for my lord protector.

Queen. [Reading] 'To my Lord Protector!' Are your supplications to his lordship? Let me see them: what is thine?

First Petit. Mine is, an't please your grace, against John Goodman, my lord_cardinal's man, for keeping my house, and lands, and wife and all, from me.

21

Suf. Thy wife too! that's 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!

Sec. Petit. Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.

Peter. [Giving his petition] Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown. 30 Queen. 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.

Suf. Who is there? [Enter Servant.] Take this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant presently: we'll hear more of your matter before the king. [Exit Servant with Peter. Queen. And as for you, that love to be protected

40

[Exeunt.

Under the wings of our protector's grace,
Begin your suits anew, and sue to him.
[Tears the supplications.
Away, base cullions! Suffolk, let them go.
All Come, let's be gone.
Queen. 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 this the royalty of Albion's king?
What, shall King Henry be a pupil still
Under the surly Gloucester's governance?
Am I a queen in title and in style,
And must be made a subject to a duke?
I tell thee, Pole, when in the city Tours
Thou ran'st a tilt in honour of my love
And stolest away the ladies' hearts of France,
I thought King Henry had resembled thee
In courage, courtship and proportion:
But all his mind is bent to holiness,
To number Ave-Maries on his beads;

She vaunted 'mongst her minions t'other day,
The very train of her worst wearing gown
Was better worth than all my father's lands, 89
Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.
Suf. Madam, myself have limed a bush for her,
And placed a quire of such enticing birds,
That she will light to listen to the lays,
And never mount to trouble you again.
So, let her rest: and, madam, list to me;
For I am bold to counsel you in this.
Although we fancy not the cardinal,
Yet must we join with him and with the lords,
Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace.
As for the Duke of York, this late complaint 100
Will make but little for his benefit.
So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last,
And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.

Sound a sennet. Enter the KING, DUKE HUM-
PHREY of Gloucester, CARDINAL BEAU Fort,
BUCKINGHAM, YORK, SOMERSET, Salisbury,
WARWICK, and the DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTer.
King. For my part, noble lords, I care not
which;

Or Somerset or York, all's one to me.

York. If York have ill demean'd himself in
France,

50 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,
Dispute not that: York is the worthier.

His champions are the prophets and apostles, 60
His weapons holy saws of sacred writ,
His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves
Are brazen images of canonized saints.
I would the college of the cardinals

Would choose him pope and carry him to Rome,
And set the triple crown upon his head:
That were a state fit for his holiness.

Suf. Madam, be patient: as I was cause
Your highness came to England, so will I
In England work your grace's full content.
Queen. Beside the haughty protector, have we
Beaufort

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Car. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak. War. The cardinal's not my better in the field. Buck. All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.

War. Warwick may live to be the best of all.
Sal. Peace, son! and show some reason,
Buckingham,

Why Somerset should be preferred in this.
Queen. Because the king, forsooth, will have

it so.

Glou. Madam, the king is old enough himself To give his censure: these are no women's matters. Queen. If he be old enough, what needs your

grace

To be protector of his excellence?

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Glou. Madam, I am protector of the realm; And, at his pleasure, will resign my place.

Suf. Resign it then and leave thine insolence. Since thou wert king-as who is king but thou?→ The commonwealth hath daily run to wreck; The Dauphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas; And all the peers and nobles of the realm Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty. Car. The commons hast thou rack'd; the clergy's bags

130

Are lank and lean with thy extortions. Som. Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife's attire

Have cost a mass of public treasury.

Buck. Thy cruelty in execution Upon offenders hath exceeded law And left thee to the mercy of the law.

Queen. Thy sale of offices and towns in France, If they were known, as the suspect is great, Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.

[Exit Gloucester. The Queen drops her fan.

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