KING Great is his comfort in this earthly vale,
Although by sight his sin be multiplied.
70
GLOUCESTER
Stand by, my masters, bring him near the King.
His highness’ pleasure is to talk with him.
KING Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance,
That we for thee may glorify the Lord.
What, hast thou been long blind and now restored?
75
SIMPCOX Born blind, an’t please your grace.
WIFE Ay, indeed, was he.
SUFFOLK What woman is this?
WIFE His wife, an’t like your worship.
GLOUCESTER
Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have better told.
KING Where wert thou born?
SIMPCOX At Berwick in the north, an’t like your grace.
80
KING
Poor soul, God’s goodness hath been great to thee.
Let never day nor night unhallowed pass,
But still remember what the Lord hath done.
QUEEN
Tell me, good fellow, cam’st thou here by chance,
Or of devotion to this holy shrine?
85
SIMPCOX God knows, of pure devotion; being called
A hundred times and oft’ner, in my sleep,
By good Saint Alban, who said, ‘Simon, come;
Come offer at my shrine, and I will help thee.’
WIFE Most true, forsooth; and many time and oft
90
Myself have heard a voice to call him so.
CARDINAL What, art thou lame?
SIMPCOX Ay, God Almighty help me!
SUFFOLK How cam’st thou so?
SIMPCOX A fall off of a tree.
WIFE A plum-tree, master.
GLOUCESTER How long hast thou been blind?
SIMPCOX O, born so, master.
GLOUCESTER What, and wouldst climb a tree?
95
SIMPCOX But that in all my life, when I was a youth.
WIFE Too true, and bought his climbing very dear.
GLOUCESTER
’Mass, thou lov’dst plums well, that wouldst venture so.
SIMPCOX
Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons,
And made me climb, with danger of my life.
100
GLOUCESTER
A subtle knave! But yet it shall not serve. –
Let me see thine eyes; wink now – now open them.
In my opinion yet thou seest not well.
SIMPCOX
Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and Saint Alban.
GLOUCESTER
Sayst thou me so? What colour is this cloak of?
105
SIMPCOX Red, master, red as blood.
GLOUCESTER
Why, that’s well said. What colour is my gown of?
SIMPCOX Black, forsooth, coal-black as jet.
KING Why then, thou knowst what colour jet is of?
SUFFOLK And yet, I think, jet did he never see.
110
GLOUCESTER
But cloaks and gowns before this day a many.
WIFE Never before this day, in all his life.
GLOUCESTER Tell me, sirrah, what’s my name?
SIMPCOX Alas, master, I know not.
GLOUCESTER What’s his name?
115
SIMPCOX I know not.
GLOUCESTER Nor his?
SIMPCOX No, indeed, master.
GLOUCESTER What’s thine own name?
SIMPCOX Simon Simpcox, an if it please you, master.
120
GLOUCESTER Then, Simon, sit there the lying’st knave
In Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind
Thou mightst as well have known all our names as thus
To name the several colours we do wear.
Sight may distinguish of colours, but suddenly
125
To nominate them all, it is impossible.
My lords, Saint Alban here hath done a miracle.
And would ye not think that cunning to be great
That could restore this cripple to his legs again?
SIMPCOX O master, that you could!
130
GLOUCESTER My masters of Saint Albans, have you not
Beadles in your town, and things called whips?
MAYOR Yes, my lord, if it please your grace.
GLOUCESTER Then send for one presently.
MAYOR Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight.
135
Exit a townsman.
GLOUCESTER Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. –
Now, sirrah, if you mean to save yourself from whipping,
Leap me over this stool, and run away.
SIMPCOX Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone.
You go about to torture me in vain.
140
Enter a Beadle with whips.
GLOUCESTER Well, sir, we must have you find your legs.
Sirrah beadle, whip him till he leap over that same stool.
BEADLE I will, my lord. –
Come on, sirrah, off with your doublet quickly.
SIMPCOX
Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand.
145
After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the stool and runs away; and they follow and cry, ‘ A miracle!’
KING O God, seest thou this, and bearest so long?
QUEEN It made me laugh to see the villain run.
GLOUCESTER Follow the knave, and take this drab away.
WIFE Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.
GLOUCESTER
Let them be whipped through every market town
150
Till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.
Exeunt Wife, Beadle, Mayor and others.
CARDINAL Duke Humphrey has done a miracle today.
SUFFOLK True, made the lame to leap and fly away.
GLOUCESTER But you have done more miracles than I
You made in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.
155
Enter BUCKINGHAM.
KING What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?
BUCKINGHAM Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold.
A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent,
Under the countenance and confederacy
Of Lady Eleanor, the Protector’s wife,
160
The ringleader and head of all this rout,
Have practised dangerously against your state,
Dealing with witches and with conjurors,
Whom we have apprehended in the fact,
Raising up wicked spirits from under ground,
165
Demanding of King Henry’s life and death,
And other of your highness’ Privy Council,
As more at large your grace shall understand.
CARDINAL And so, my Lord Protector, by this means
Your lady is forthcoming yet at London.
170
This news, I think, hath turned your weapon’s edge.
’Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.
GLOUCESTER
Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart.
Sorrow and grief have vanquished all my powers,
And, vanquished as I am, I yield to thee
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Or to the meanest groom.
KING O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,
Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!
QUEEN Gloucester, see here the tainture of thy nest,
And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.
180
GLOUCESTER Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal
How I have loved my king and commonweal;
And for my wife I know not how it stands.
Sorry I am to hear what I have heard.
Noble she is,
but if she have forgot
185
Honour and virtue, and conversed with such
As, like to pitch, defile nobility,
I banish her my bed and company
And give her as a prey to law and shame
That hath dishonoured Gloucester’s honest name.
190
KING Well, for this night we will repose us here;
Tomorrow toward London back again,
To look into this business thoroughly
And call these foul offenders to their answers,
And poise the cause in Justice’ equal scales,
195
Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause
prevails. Flourish. Exeunt.
2.2 Enter YORK, SALISBURY and WARWICK.
YORK Now, my good Lords of Salisbury and Warwick,
Our simple supper ended, give me leave
In this close walk to satisfy myself
In craving your opinion of my title,
Which is infallible, to England’s crown.
5
SALISBURY My lord, I long to hear it out at full.
WARWICK Sweet York, begin; an if thy claim be good,
The Nevilles are thy subjects to command.
YORK Then thus:
Edward the Third, my lords, had seven sons:
10
The first, Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales;
The second, William of Hatfield; and the third,
Lionel, Duke of Clarence; next to whom
Was John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster;
The fifth was Edmund Langley, Duke of York;
15
The sixth was Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester;
William of Windsor was the seventh and last.
Edward the Black Prince died before his father,
And left behind him Richard, his only son,
Who after Edward the Third’s death reigned as king,
20
Till Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster,
The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt,
Crowned by the name of Henry the Fourth,
Seized on the realm, deposed the rightful king,
Sent his poor queen to France, from whence she came,
25
And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know,
Harmless Richard was murdered traitorously.
WARWICK Father, the Duke of York hath told the truth;
Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown.
YORK Which now they hold by force and not by right;
30
For Richard, the first son’s heir being dead,
The issue of the next son should have reigned.
SALISBURY
But William of Hatfield died without an heir.
YORK
The third son, Duke of Clarence, from whose line
I claim the crown, had issue Philippe, a daughter,
35
Who married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March;
Edmund had issue, Roger, Earl of March;
Roger had issue, Edmund, Anne and Eleanor.
SALISBURY This Edmund in the reign of Bolingbroke,
As I have read, laid claim unto the crown
40
And, but for Owen Glendower, had been king,
Who kept him in captivity till he died.
But to the rest.
YORK His eldest sister, Anne,
My mother, being heir unto the crown,
Married Richard, Earl of Cambridge, who was son
45
To Edmund Langley, Edward the Third’s fifth son.
By her I claim the kingdom; she was heir
To Roger, Earl of March, who was the son
Of Edmund Mortimer, who married Philippe,
Sole daughter unto Lionel, Duke of Clarence.
50
So, if the issue of the elder son
Succeed before the younger, I am king.
WARWICK
What plain proceeding is more plain than this?
Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt,
The fourth son; York claims it from the third.
55
Till Lionel’s issue fails, Gaunt’s should not reign;
It fails not yet, but flourishes in thee
And in thy sons, fair slips of such a stock.
Then, father Salisbury, kneel we together,
[They kneel.]
And, in this private plot, be we the first
60
That shall salute our rightful sovereign
With honour of his birthright to the crown.
BOTH
Long live our sovereign, Richard, England’s king!
YORK We thank you, lords. [They rise.]
But I am not your king
The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 218