Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy;
Which with the heart there coolsand ne'er returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again.
But see, his face is black and full of blood,
His eye-balls further out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man;
His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretched with

struggling;
His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd
And tugg'd for life and was by strength subdued :
Look, on the sheets his hair, you see, is sticking ;
His well-proportion'd beard made rough and rugged,
Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodged.
It cannot be but he was murder'd here;
The least of all these signs were probable.
Sur. Why, Warwick, who should do the duke

to death? Myself and Beaufort had him in protection ; And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers. WAR. But both of you were vow'd Duke

Humphrey's foes, And you, forsooth, had the good duke to keep: 'Tis like

you would not feast him like a friend ; And 'tis well seen he found an enemy.

Queen. Then you, belike, suspect these noble

men

As guilty of Duke Humphrey's timeless death. War. Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding

fresh And sees fast by a butcher with an axe,

But will suspect 'twas he that made the slaughter?
Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest,
But may imagine how the bird was dead,
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?
Even so suspicious is this tragedy.
QUEEN. Are you the butcher, Suffolk ? Where's
your

knife ? Is Beaufort term'd a kite: Where are his talons ?

Sur. 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 darest, proud Lord of Warwickshire, That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey's death.

[Exeunt CARDINAL, SOMERSET, and others. War. What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk

dare him? QUEEN. He dares not calm his contumelious

spirit Nor cease to be an arrogant controller, Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.

WAR. Madam, be still; with reverence may I say; For every word

you speak in his behalf Is slander to your royal dignity.

Sur. Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanour ! If ever lady wrong'd her lord so much, Thy mother took into her blameful bed Some stern untutor's churl, and noble stock Was graft with crab-tree slip; whose fruit thou art And never of the Nevils noble race.

WAR. But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee And I should rob the deathsman of his fee, Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames, And that my sovereign's presence

makes me mild,
I would, false murderous coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy passed speech
And

say it was thy mother that thou meant'st,
That thou thyself wast born in bastardy;
And after all this fearful homage done,
Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell,
Pernicious blood-sucker of sleeping men!

Sur. Thou shalt be waking while I shed thy blood, If from this presence thou darest go

with me. WAR. Away even now, or I will drag thee hence: Unworthy though thou art, I'll cope with thee And do some service to Duke Humphrey's ghost.

[Exeunt SUFFOLK and WARWICK. King. What stronger breastplate than a heart

untainted!
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just,
And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.

[4 noise within.
QUEEN. What noise is this?
Re-enter SUFFOLK and WARWICK, with their

weapons drawn. KING. Why, how now, lords ! your wrathful

weapons drawn Here in our presence ! dare you be so bold? Why, what tumultuous clamour have we here?

Suf. The traitorous Warwick with the men of

Bury Set all upon me, mighty sovereign. Sal. [To the Commons, entering] Sirs, stand apart; the king shall know your

mind. Dread lord, the commons send you word by me, Unless Lord Suffolk straight be done to death, Or banished fair England's territories, They will by violence tear him from your palace And torture him with grievous lingering death. They say, by him the good Duke Humphrey

died;

In pain

They say, in him they fear your highness' death;
And mere instinct of love and loyalty,
Free from a stubborn opposite intent,
As being thought to contradict your liking,
Makes them thus forward in his banishment.
They say, in care of your most royal person,
That if your highness should intend to sleep
And charge that no man should disturb your rest

of

your dislike or pain of death, Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict, Were there a serpent seen, with forked tongue, That slily glided towards your majesty, It were but necessary you were waked, Lest, being suffer'd in that harmful slumber, The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal; And therefore do they cry, though you forbid, That they will guard you, whether

will or no,

you From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is,

With whose envenomed and fatal sting,
Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,
They say, is shamefully bereft of life.
Commons. [Within] An answer from the king, my

Lord of Salisbury !
Suf. 'Tis like the commons,rudeunpolish'd hinds,
Could send such message to their sovereign :
But you, my lord, were glad to be employ’d,
To show how quaint an orator you are :
But all the honour Salisbury hath won
Is, that he was the lord ambassador
Sent from a sort of tinkers to the king.
Commons. [Within] An answer from the king, or

we will all break in! KING. Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me, I thank them for their tender loving care ; And had I not been cited so by them, Yet did I purpose as they do entreat; For, sure, my thoughts do hourly prophesy Mischance unto my state by Suffolk's means: And therefore, by His majesty I swear, Whose far unworthy deputy I am, He shall not breathe infection in this air But three days longer, on the pain of death.

[Exit SALISBURY. QUEEN. ( Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk! King. Ungentle queen, to call him gentle Suffolk!

I say: if thou dost plead for him, Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath. Had I but said, I would have kept my word,

No more,