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,
The mutual conference that my mind hath had,
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. [Kneeling.] Long live queen Margaret, England's hap

piness!

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.

[Flourish.

Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king, Charles, and William De-la-Poole, marquess of Suffolk, embassador for Henry king of England,-that the said Henry shall espouse the lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier king of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerusalem; and crown her queen of England ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item, That the duchy 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, my gracious lord;
Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart,
And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no farther.

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

Car. [Reads.] "Item, It is farther agreed between them, that the duchies 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 costs and charges, without having any dowry."

K. Hen. They please us well.-Lord marquess, 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

*Alder-liefest-most dearly beloved.

I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen months
Be full expir'd.-Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Gloster, York, Buckingham, Somerset,
Salisbury, and Warwick;

We thank you all for this great favor 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 valor, 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 his wits,
To keep by policy what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
Receiv'd deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself,
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 crowned in Paris, in despite of foes?

And shall these labors, and these honors, 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 discourse,

This peroration with such circumstance?

For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.

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 duchies of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor king Reignier, whose large style
Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.

Sal. 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 conquer:
And are the cities, that I got with wounds,
Deliver'd up again with peaceful words?

York. For Suffolk's duke, may he be suffocate,
That dims the honor of this warlike isle!
France 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 stay'd in France, and starv'd in France,
Before-

Car. My lord of Gloster, now you grow too hot:

It was the pleasure of my lord the king.

Glo. My lord of Winchester, I know your mind;
'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike,
But 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye.
Rancor will out: proud prelate, in thy face
I see thy fury: if I longer stay,

We shall begin our ancient bickerings.-
Lordlings, farewell; and say, when I am gone,
I prophesied France will be lost ere long.
Car. So, there goes our protector in a rage.
'Tis known to you he is mine enemy;
Nay, more, an enemy unto you all;
And no great friend, I fear me, to the king.
Consider, lords, he is the next of blood,
And heir-apparent to the English crown:
Had Henry got an empire by his marriage,
And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west,
There's reason he should be displeas'd at it.
Look to it, lords; let not his smoothing words
Bewitch your hearts; be wise, and circumspect.
What though the common people favor him,
Calling him "Humphrey, the good duke of Gloster;
Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice-
"Heaven maintain your royal excellence!
With "Heaven preserve the good duke Humphrey !"

[Exit.

I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,
He will be found a dangerous protector.

Buck. Why should he, then, protect our sovereign,
He being of age to govern of himself?-
Cousin of Somerset, join you with me,

And all together, with the duke of Suffolk,

We'll quickly hoist duke Humphrey from his seat.
Car. This weighty business will not brook delay;

I'll to the duke of Suffolk presently.

Som. Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey's pride
And greatness of his place be grief to us,
Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal:

His insolence is more intolerable

Than all the princes in the land beside:

If Gloster be displac'd, he'll be protector.

Buck. Or thou, or I, Somerset, will be protector, Despite duke Humphrey, or the cardinal.

[Exit.

[Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and SOMERSET.

Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows him.
While these do labor for their own preferment,
Behoves it us to labor 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.

War. So heaven help Warwick, as he loves the 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; 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 their pillage,
And York must sit, and fret, and bite his tongue,
While his own lands are bargain'd for, and sold.
A day will come when York shall claim his own;

And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts,
And make a show of love to proud duke Humphrey,
And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown,

For that's the golden mark I seek to hit :
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 humors 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 queen,
And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at jars:
Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose,

With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfum'd;
And in my standard bear the arms of York,
To grapple with the house of Lancaster;

And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the crown,
Whose bookish rule hath pull'd fair England down.

[Exit.

SCENE II.-London. A Room in the DUKE OF GLOSTER'S

House.

The Duke of Gloster, saddened at the growing discontents in the kingdom, confers with his duchess, a haughty, ambitious woman. She narrates her dream, which seems to promise her a queenly dignity. The duchess sends to a certain Margery Jourdain and one Roger Bolingbroke, a conjurer, to consult with them, and then proceeds with the duke to join King Henry and the court, at St. Alban's.

SCENE III.-London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter PETER and other Petitioners.

1 Pet. 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.

2 Pet. Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a good man!

1 Pet. Here 'a comes, methinks, and the queen with him. I'll be the first, sure.

Enter SUFFOLK and QUEEN Margaret.

2 Pet. Come back, fool! this is the duke of Suffolk, and not my lord protector.

Suf. How now, fellow! would'st any thing with me?

1 Pet. I pray, my lord, pardon me; I took ye for my lord protector.