ARKCODEX
Act I, Scene 3
1The palace.
2Enter three or four Petitioners, Peter, the Armourer’s man, being one.
3First PetitionerMy 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.
4Second PetitionerMarry, the Lord protect him, for he’s a good man! Jesu bless him!
5Enter Suffolk and Queen.
6PeterHere a’ comes, methinks, and the queen with him. I’ll be the first, sure.
7Second PetitionerCome back, fool; this is the Duke of Suffolk, and not my lord protector.
8SuffolkHow now, fellow! would’st any thing with me?
9First PetitionerI pray, my lord, pardon me; I took ye for my lord protector.
10QueenReading. “To my Lord Protector!” Are your supplications to his lordship? Let me see them: what is thine?
11First PetitionerMine 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.
12SuffolkThy 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!
13Second PetitionerAlas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.
14PeterGiving his petition. Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.
15QueenWhat say’st thou? did the Duke of York say he was rightful heir to the crown?
16PeterThat my master was? no, forsooth: my master said that he was, and that the king was an usurper.
17SuffolkWho 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.
18QueenAnd 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.
19AllCome, let’s be gone. Exeunt.
20QueenMy 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.
21SuffolkMadam, be patient: as I was cause
Your highness came to England, so will I
In England work your grace’s full content.
22QueenBeside 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.
23SuffolkAnd he of these that can do most of all
Cannot do more in England than the Nevils:
Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.
24QueenNot 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.
25SuffolkMadam, myself have limed a bush for her,
And placed a choir 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.
26Sound a sennet. Enter the King, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort, Buckingham, York, Somerset, Salisbury, Warwick, and the Duchess of Gloucester.
27KingFor my part, noble lords, I care not which;
Or Somerset or York, all’s one to me.
28YorkIf York have ill demean’d himself in France,
Then let him be denay’d the regentship.
29SomersetIf Somerset be unworthy of the place,
Let York be regent; I will yield to him.
30WarwickWhether your grace be worthy, yea or no,
Dispute not that: York is the worthier.
31CardinalAmbitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
32WarwickThe cardinal’s not my better in the field.
33BuckinghamAll in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.
34WarwickWarwick may live to be the best of all.
35SalisburyPeace, son! and show some reason, Buckingham,
Why Somerset should be preferred in this.
36QueenBecause the king, forsooth, will have it so.
37GloucesterMadam, the king is old enough himself
To give his censure: these are no women’s matters.
38QueenIf he be old enough, what needs your grace
To be protector of his excellence?
39GloucesterMadam, I am protector of the realm;
And, at his pleasure, will resign my place.
40SuffolkResign 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.
41CardinalThe commons hast thou rack’d; the clergy’s bags
Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
42SomersetThy sumptuous buildings and thy wife’s attire
Have cost a mass of public treasury.
43BuckinghamThy cruelty in execution
Upon offenders hath exceeded law
And left thee to the mercy of the law.
44QueenThy 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.
Give me my fan: what, minion! can ye not? She gives the Duchess a box on the ear.
I cry you mercy, madam; was it you?
45DuchessWas’t I! yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman:
Could I come near your beauty with my nails,
I’ld set my ten commandments in your face.
46KingSweet aunt, be quiet; ’twas against her will.
47DuchessAgainst her will! good king, look to’t in time;
She’ll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby:
Though in this place most master wear no breeches,
She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unrevenged. Exit.
48BuckinghamLord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor,
And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds:
She’s tickled now; her fume needs no spurs,
She’ll gallop far enough to her destruction. Exit.
49Reenter Gloucester.
50GloucesterNow, lords, my choler being over-blown
With walking once about the quadrangle,
I come to talk of commonwealth affairs.
As for your spiteful false objections,
Prove them, and I lie open to the law:
But God in mercy so deal with my soul,
As I in duty love my king and country!
But, to the matter that we have in hand:
I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man
To be your regent in the realm of France.
51SuffolkBefore we make election, give me leave
To show some reason, of no little force,
That York is most unmeet of any man.
52YorkI’ll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am unmeet:
First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride;
Next, if I be appointed for the place,
My Lord of Somerset will keep me here,
Without discharge, money, or furniture,
Till France be won into the Dauphin’s hands:
Last time, I danced attendance on his will
Till Paris was besieged, famish’d, and lost.
53WarwickThat can I witness; and a fouler fact
Did never traitor in the land commit.
54SuffolkPeace, headstrong Warwick!
55WarwickImage of pride, why should I hold my peace?
56Enter Horner, the Armourer, and his man Peter, guarded.
57SuffolkBecause here is a man accused of treason:
Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself!
58YorkDoth any one accuse York for a traitor?
59KingWhat mean’st thou, Suffolk; tell me, what are these?
60SuffolkPlease it your majesty, this is the man
That doth accuse his master of high treason:
His words were these: that Richard Duke of York
Was rightful heir unto the English crown,
And that your majesty was a usurper.
61KingSay, man, were these thy words?
62HornerAn’t shall please your majesty, I never said nor thought any such matter: God is my witness, I am falsely accused by the villain.
63PeterBy these ten bones, my lords, he did speak them to me in the garret one night, as we were scouring my Lord of York’s armour.
64YorkBase dunghill villain and mechanical,
I’ll have thy head for this thy traitor’s speech.
I do beseech your royal majesty,
Let him have all the rigour of the law.
65HornerAlas, my lord, hang me, if ever I spake the words. My accuser is my ’prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me: I have good witness of this: therefore I beseech your majesty, do not cast away an honest man for a villain’s accusation.
66KingUncle, what shall we say to this in law?
67GloucesterThis doom, my lord, if I may judge:
Let Somerset be regent o’er the French,
Because in York this breeds suspicion:
And let these have a day appointed them
For single combat in convenient place,
For he hath witness of his servant’s malice:
This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey’s doom.
68SomersetI humbly thank your royal majesty.
69HornerAnd I accept the combat willingly.
70PeterAlas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God’s sake, pity my case. The spite of man prevaileth against me. O Lord, have mercy upon me! I shall never be able to fight a blow. O Lord, my heart!
71GloucesterSirrah, or you must fight, or else be hang’d.
72KingAway with them to prison; and the day of combat shall be the last of the next month. Come, Somerset, we’ll see thee sent away. Flourish. Exeunt.