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SECOND PART

OF

KING HENRY VI.

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE.

SHAKSPEARE is said to have formed this and the succeeding part of Henry VI. from a dramatic production entitled, The Contention of the two famous Houses of York and Lancaster; “altering, retrenching, or amplify ing," as his genius or his judgment suggested. The present drama embraces the transactions of ten years, commencing with the king's marriage, A D. 1445, and closing with the battle of St. Alban's, won by the York faction, A. D. 1455.

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ACT I.

I have perform'd my task, and was espous'd: And humbly now upou my bended knee, SCENE 1-London.-A Room of State in In sight of England and her lordly peers, the Palace. Deliver up my title in the queen

En

Flourish of Trumpets: then Hautboys. ter, on one side, King HENRY, Duke of GLOSTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and Cardinal BEAUFORT; on the other, Queen MARGARET, led in by SUFFOLK; YORK, SOMERSET, BUCKINGHAM, and others, following.

Suf. As by your high imperial majesty, 1 bad 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, Bretaigne, and
Alençon,
[bishops,
Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend

To your most gracious hands, that are the sub
Of that great shadow I did represent;
stance
The happiest gift that ever marquis gave,
The fairest queen that ever king receiv'd.

K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.-Welcome, queen
Margaret :

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.

Q. Mar. Great king of England, and my gracious lord;

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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASOR, LINK TILEEN FOUNDATION

The mutual conference that my mind hath | Or hath my uncle Beaufort, and myself, bad •

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.

K. Hen. 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. Long live queen Margaret, England's happiness!

[Flourish.

Q. Mar. We thank you all.
Suf. My lord protector, so it please your
grace,

Here are the articles of contracted peace,
Between our sovereign and the French king
Charles,

For eighteen months concluded by consent.
Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed be-
tween the French King, Charles, and Wil-
liam de la Poole, marquis of Suffolk, ambas-
sador for Henry king of England, that the
said Henry shall espouse the lady Margaret,
daughter unto Reignier king of Naples, Si-
cilia, and Jerusalem; and crown her queen
of England, ere the thirtieth of May next
ensuing.—Item,-That the dutchy of Anjou
and the county of Maine, shall be released
and delivered to the king her father-

K. Hen. Uncle, how now?
Glo. Pardon me, gracious lord;
Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the
heart,

And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no
further.

K. Hen. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read

on.

Win. Item,—It is further agreed between them, that the dutchies 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 dowry.

K. Hen. They please us well.-Lord mar-
quis, kneel down;

We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,
And girt thee with the sword.

Cousin of York, we here discharge your grace
From being regent in the parts of France,
Till term of eighteen months be full expir'd.
Thanks, uncle Winchester, Gloster, York, and
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.

[Exeunt KING, QUEEN, and SUFFOLK. Glo. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,

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 bis wits,
To keep by policy what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious War-
wick,

Receiv'd deep scars in France and Normandy?

I am the bolder to address you, having already fa miliarized you to my imagination. + Belcred above all things.

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 ?

And hath his highness in his infancy
Been crown'd 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;
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 dis-
course?

This peroration with such circumstance? *
For France, 'tis our's: and we will keep it stil.
Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can ;
But now it is impossible we should :
Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the
roast,

Hath given the dutchies of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor king Reignier, whose large style
Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.
Sal. Now, by the death of him that died for

all,

These counties were the keys of Normandy :-
But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant

son?

War. For grief, that they are past recovery:
For, were there hope to conquer them again,
My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no

tears.

Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both;
Those provinces these arms of mine did con-
quer:

And are the cities, that I got with wounds,
Deliver'd up again with peaceful words?
Mort Dieu !

York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be suffo

cate,

That dims the honour of this warlike isle!
Frauce should have torn and rent my very
heart,

Before I would have yielded to this league.
I never read but England's kings have had
Large sums of gold, and dowries, with their
wives :

And our king Henry gives away his own,
To match with her that brings no vantages.
Glo. A proper jest, and never heard before,
That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth,
For costs and charges in transporting her!
She should have staid in France, and starv'd in
France,

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Behoves it us to labour for the realm.
I never saw but Humphrey duke of Gloster
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 common-weal.-
Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age!
Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy house-keeping,
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.

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 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 thei
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 shar'd, and all is borne away;
Ready to starve, and dare not touch his own.
So York must sit, and fret, and bite his tongue,
While his own lands are bargain'd for and
sold.
[Ireland,
Methinks, the realms of England, France, and
Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood,
As did the fatal brand Althea 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 bis

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And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown;
For that's the golden inark 1 seek to bit:
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 fit 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

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corn,

Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load? War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the Why doth the great duke Humphrey knit his

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;

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 see'st 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 ;

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