KING HENRY VI.

SECOND PART.

ACT I. SCENE I.

London. A Room of ftate in the Palace.

Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter, on one fide, King HENRY, Duke of GLOSTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and Cardinal BEAUFORT; on the other, Queen MARGARET, led in by SUFFOLK; YORK, SOMERSET, BUCKINGHAM, and Others, following.

A

Suffolk.

S by your high imperial majesty

I had in charge at my depart for France,
As procurator to your excellence,

To marry princess Margaret for your grace;
So, in the famous ancient city, Tours,-

In presence of the kings of France and Sicil,

The dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretaigne, and Alençon, Seven earls, twelve barons, and twenty reverend bishops,— I have perform'd my task, and was espous'd:

And humbly now upon my bended knee,'

In fight of England and her lordly peers,

Deliver up my title in the queen

To your most gracious hands, that are the substance
B

Of

Of that great fhadow I did represent;

The happiest gift that ever marquefs gave,
The fairest queen that ever king receiv'd.

K. Hen. Suffolk, arife.-Welcome, queen Margaret :
I can express no kinder fign of love,

Than this kind kifs.-O Lord, that lends me life,

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
For thou haft given me, in this beauteous face,
A world of earthly bleffings to my foul,
"If fympathy 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 falute my king

• With ruder terms; fuch as my wit affords,
And over-joy of heart doth minister.

K. Hen. Her fight did ravish: but her grace in speech, Her words y-clad with wifdom's majefty,

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. Long live queen Margaret, England's happiness!
2. Mar. We thank you all.
[Flourish.

Suf. My lord protector, fo it please your grace,
Here are the articles of contracted peace,

Between our fovereign and the French king Charles,
For eighteen months concluded by confent.

Glo. [reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king, Charles, and William de la Poole, marquess of Suffolk, ambajador for Henry king of England,—that the Jaid Henry fball efpoufe the lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier king of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerusalem ; and crown her king of Eng

land,

land, ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing.—

-Item,-That

the dutchy of Anjou and the county of Maine, fall be released and delivered to the king her father

K. Hen. Uncle, how now?

Glo.

Pardon me, gracious lord;

Some fudden qualm hath struck me at the heart,
And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further.
K. Hen. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.

Win. Item,-It is further 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 coft and charges, without having dowry.

K. Hen. They pleafe us well.-Lord marquefs, kneel down;

We here create thee the firft duke of Suffolk,

And girt thee with the sword.

Coufin of York, we here discharge your grace

From being regent in the parts of France,

Till term of eighteen months be full expir'd.Thanks, uncle Winchester, Glofter, York, and Buckingham,

Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick;

We thank you all for this great favour done,
In entertainment to my princely queen.

Come, let us in; and with all speed provide
To fee 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 valour, coin, and people, in the wars? • Did he so often lodge in open field,

• In winter's cold, and fummer'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, Somerfet, Buckingham,
'Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
Receiv'd deep fcars in France and Normandy?
• Or hath mine uncle Beaufort, and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Study'd fo long, fat 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 crown'd in Paris, in despite of foes ;

And thall these labours, and thefe honours, die?
Shall Henry's conqueft, Bedford's vigilance,
• Your deeds of war, and all our counfel, die?
O peers of England, fhameful 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 paffionate discourse? This peroration with fuch 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 impoffible 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 purfe.

"Sal. Now, by the death of him that died for all, "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 fword 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? • Mort Dieu !

"York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be fuffocate, "That dims the honour of this warlike ifle ! "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 fums 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 jeft, and never heard before, "That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth, "For costs and charges in transporting her!

"She fhould have ftaid in France, and starv'd in France, "Before

"Car. My lord of Glofter, 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 you. • Rancour will out: Proud prelate, in thy face I fee thy fury: if I longer stay,

• We shall begin our ancient bickerings.Lordings, farewell; and fay, when I am gone, I prophefy'd-France will be loft 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 i "And no great friend, I fear me, to the king. B 3

[Exit.

"Confider,