Henry VI, Part II

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.




Enter three or four Petitioners, Peter, the Armourer’s man, being one.


First Petitioner
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.


Second Petitioner
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.


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


Suffolk
How now, fellow! would’st any thing with me?


First Petitioner
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 Petitioner
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.


Suffolk
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!


Second Petitioner
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.


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.


Suffolk
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

Under the wings of our protector’s grace,

Begin your suits anew, and sue to him. Tears the supplication.

Away, base cullions! Suffolk, let them go.



All
Come, let’s be gone. Exeunt.


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;

His champions are the prophets and apostles,

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.



Suffolk

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

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 Nevils:

Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.



Queen

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:

She bears a duke’s revenues on her back,

And in her heart she scorns our poverty:

Shall I not live to be avenged on her?

Contemptuous base-born callet as she is,

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,

Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.



Suffolk

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

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 Humphrey of Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort, 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,

Then let him be denay’d the regentship.



Somerset

If Somerset be unworthy of the place,

Let York be regent; I will yield to him.



Warwick

Whether your grace be worthy, yea or no,

Dispute not that: York is the worthier.



Cardinal
Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.


Warwick
The cardinal’s not my better in the field.


Buckingham
All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.


Warwick
Warwick may live to be the best of