*In pain of your dislike, or pain of death; * It were but necessary you were waked; Commons. [Within.] An answer from the king, my lord of Salisbury. Suff. 'Tis like the commons, rude, unpolished hinds, Could send such message to their sovereign. But you, my lord, were glad to be employed, To show how quaint' an orator you are: But all the honor Salisbury hath won, Is that he was the lord ambassador, Sent from a sort of tinkers to the king. 6 Commons. [Within.] An answer from the king, or we'll all break in. 'K. Hen. 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, • He shall not breathe infection in this air 3 [Exit SALISBURY. 'Q. Mar. O, Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk! K. Hen. Ungentle queen, to call him gentle Suf folk. 1 i. e. dexterous. 2 A company. 3 i. e. he shall not contaminate this air with his infected breath. No more, 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; 'But, when I swear, it is irrevocable. * If, after three days' space, thou here be'st found, * On any ground that I am ruler of, *The world shall not be ransom for thy life. 'Come, Warwick, come, good Warwick, go with me; 'I have great matters to impart to thee. 6 [Exeunt K. HENRY, WARWICK, Lords, &c. Q. Mar. Mischance, and sorrow, go along with you! • Heart's discontent, and sour affliction, Be playfellows to keep you company! There's two of you, the devil make a third! And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps! *Suff. Cease, gentle queen, these execrations, *And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave. Q. Mar. Fie, coward woman, and soft-hearted wretch! 'Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemies? Suff. A plague upon them! wherefore should I curse them? Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan, 1 The fabulous accounts of the plant called a mandrake give it an inferior degree of animal life, and relate that, when it is torn from the ground, it groans, and that, this groan being certainly fatal to him that is offering such unwelcome violence, the practice of those who gathered mandrakes was to tie one end of a string to the plant, and the other to a dog, upon whom the fatal groan discharged its malignity. See Bulleine's Bulwarke of Defence against Sicknesse, &c. fol. 1579, p. 41. Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink! Q. Mar. Enough, sweet Suffolk; thou torment'st thyself; *And these dread curses-like the sun 'gainst glass, * Or like an overcharged gun-recoil, * And turn the force of them upon thyself. Suff. You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave? Now, by the ground that I am banished from, Well could I curse away a winter's night, Though standing naked on a mountain top, Where biting cold would never let grass grow, And think it but a minute spent in sport. * Q. Mar. O, let me entreat thee, cease! thy hand, *That I may dew it with my mournful tears; *Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place, 6 *To wash away my woful monuments. O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand; Give me [Kisses his hand. *That thou might'st think upon these by the seal, Through whom a thousand sighs are breathed for thee! 2 'So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief; 'Tis but surmised whilst thou art standing by, * As one that surfeits thinking on a want. 'I will repeal thee, or, be well assured, · Adventure to be banished myself; 1 This is one of the vulgar errors in the natural history of our ancestors. The lizard has no sting, and is quite harmless. 2 That by the impression of my kiss forever remaining on thy hand, thou mightst think on those lips through which a thousand sighs will be breathed for thee. * And banished I am, if but from thee. *Go, speak not to me; even now be gone. * O, go not yet!-Even thus two friends condemned * Yet now farewell; and farewell life with thee! * I can no more.-Live thou to joy thy life; 6 Enter VAUX. Q. Mar. Whither goes Vaux so fast? what news, I pr'ythee? Vaux. To signify unto his majesty, That cardinal Beaufort is at point of death. For suddenly a grievous sickness took him, 'That makes him gasp, and stare, and catch the air, 'Blaspheming God, and cursing men on earth. Sometime he talks as if duke Humphrey's ghost Were by his side; sometime he calls the king, And whispers to his pillow, as to him, *The secrets of his overcharged soul: And I am sent to tell his majesty, 'That even now he cries aloud for him. 6 Q. Mar. Go, tell this heavy message to the king. [Exit VAUX. Ah me! what is this world? what news are these? But wherefore grieve I at an hour's poor loss, Omitting Suffolk's exile, my soul's treasure? Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee, And with the southern clouds, contend in tears; Theirs for the earth's increase, mine for my sorrow's? 'Now, get thee hence. The king, thou know'st, is coming: If thou be found by me, thou art but dead. Suff. If I depart from thee, I cannot live; To die by thee, were but to die in jest ; From thee to die, were torture more than death; Q. Mar. Away! though parting be a fretful cor'sive,2 It is applied to a deathful wound. 'To France, sweet Suffolk; let me hear from thee; 'For wheresoe'er thou art in this world's globe, I'll have an Iris that shall find thee out. Suff. I go. Q. Mar. And take my heart with thee. Q. Mar. This way for me. [Exeunt, severally. 1 Where for whereas; as in other places. 2 Corrosive was generally pronounced and most frequently written cor sive in Shakspeare's time. |