Complete Plays, The

by William Shakespeare

But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,

  And what a pitch she flew above the rest!

  To see how God in all his creatures works!

  Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.

  Suffolk

  No marvel, an it like your majesty,

  My lord protector’s hawks do tower so well;

  They know their master loves to be aloft,

  And bears his thoughts above his falcon’s pitch.

  Gloucester

  My lord, ’tis but a base ignoble mind

  That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

  Cardinal

  I thought as much; he would be above the clouds.

  Gloucester

  Ay, my lord cardinal? how think you by that?

  Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?

  King Henry VI

  The treasury of everlasting joy.

  Cardinal

  Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts

  Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart;

  Pernicious protector, dangerous peer,

  That smooth’st it so with king and commonweal!

  Gloucester

  What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown peremptory?

  Tantaene animis coelestibus irae?

  Churchmen so hot? good uncle, hide such malice;

  With such holiness can you do it?

  Suffolk

  No malice, sir; no more than well becomes

  So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.

  Gloucester

  As who, my lord?

  Suffolk

  Why, as you, my lord,

  An’t like your lordly lord-protectorship.

  Gloucester

  Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.

  Queen Margaret

  And thy ambition, Gloucester.

  King Henry VI

  I prithee, peace, good queen,

  And whet not on these furious peers;

  For blessed are the peacemakers on earth.

  Cardinal

  Let me be blessed for the peace I make,

  Against this proud protector, with my sword!

  Gloucester

  [Aside to Cardinal] Faith, holy uncle, would

  ’twere come to that!

  Cardinal

  [Aside to Gloucester] Marry, when thou darest.

  Gloucester

  [Aside to Cardinal] Make up no factious numbers for the matter;

  In thine own person answer thy abuse.

  Cardinal

  [Aside to Gloucester] Ay, where thou darest not peep: an if thou darest,

  This evening, on the east side of the grove.

  King Henry VI

  How now, my lords!

  Cardinal

  Believe me, cousin Gloucester,

  Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly,

  We had had more sport.

  Aside to Gloucester

  Come with thy two-hand sword.

  Gloucester

  True, uncle.

  Cardinal

  [Aside to Gloucester] Are ye advised? the east side of the grove?

  Gloucester

  [Aside to Cardinal] Cardinal, I am with you.

  King Henry VI

  Why, how now, uncle Gloucester!

  Gloucester

  Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord.

  Aside to Cardinal

  Now, by God’s mother, priest, I’ll shave your crown for this,

  Or all my fence shall fail.

  Cardinal

  [Aside to Gloucester] Medice, teipsum —

  Protector, see to’t well, protect yourself.

  King Henry VI

  The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords.

  How irksome is this music to my heart!

  When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?

  I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.

  Enter a Townsman of Saint Alban’s, crying ‘A miracle!’

  Gloucester

  What means this noise?

  Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?

  Townsman

  A miracle! a miracle!

  Suffolk

  Come to the king and tell him what miracle.

  Townsman

  Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban’s shrine,

  Within this half-hour, hath received his sight;

  A man that ne’er saw in his life before.

  King Henry VI

  Now, God be praised, that to believing souls

  Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!

  Enter the Mayor of Saint Alban’s and his brethren, bearing Simpcox, between two in a chair, Simpcox’s Wife following

  Cardinal

  Here comes the townsmen on procession,

  To present your highness with the man.

  King Henry VI

  Great is his comfort in this earthly vale,

  Although by his sight his sin be multiplied.

  Gloucester

  Stand by, my masters: bring him near the king;

  His highness’ pleasure is to talk with him.

  King Henry VI

  Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance,

  That we for thee may glorify the Lord.

  What, hast thou been long blind and now restored?

  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 Henry VI

  Where wert thou born?

  Simpcox

  At Berwick in the north, an’t like your grace.

  King Henry VI

  Poor soul, God’s goodness hath been great to thee:

  Let never day nor night unhallow’d pass,

  But still remember what the Lord hath done.

  Queen Margaret

  Tell me, good fellow, camest thou here by chance,

  Or of devotion, to this holy shrine?

  Simpcox

  God knows, of pure devotion; being call’d

  A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep,

  By good Saint Alban; who said, ‘simpcox, come,

  Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee.’

  Wife

  Most true, forsooth; and many time and oft

  Myself have heard a voice to call him so.

  Cardinal

  What, art thou lame?

  Simpcox

  Ay, God Almighty help me!

  Suffolk

  How camest thou so?

  Simpcox

  A fall off of a tree.

  Wife

  A plum-tree, master.

  Gloucester

  How long hast thou been blind?

  Simpcox

  Born so, master.

  Gloucester

  What, and wouldst climb a tree?

  Simpcox

  But that in all my life, when I was a youth.

  Wife

  Too true; and bought his climbing very dear.

  Gloucester

  Mass, thou lovedst plums well, that wouldst venture so.

  Simpcox

  Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons,

  And made me climb, with danger of my life.

  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

  Say’st thou me so? What colour is this cloak of?

  Simpcox

  Red, master; red as blood.

  Gloucester

  Why, that’s well said. What colour is m
y gown of?

  Simpcox

  Black, forsooth: coal-black as jet.

  King Henry VI

  Why, then, thou know’st what colour jet is of?

  Suffolk

  And yet, I think, jet did he never see.

  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?

  Simpcox

  I know not.

  Gloucester

  Nor his?

  Simpcox

  No, indeed, master.

  Gloucester

  What’s thine own name?

  Simpcox

  Saunder Simpcox, an if it please you, master.

  Gloucester

  Then, Saunder, sit there, the lyingest knave in Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind, thou mightest as well have known all our names as thus to name the several colours we do wear. Sight may distinguish of colours, but suddenly to nominate them all, it is impossible. My lords, Saint Alban here hath done a miracle; and would ye not think his cunning to be great, that could restore this cripple to his legs again?

  Simpcox

  O master, that you could!

  Gloucester

  My masters of Saint Alban’s, 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.

  Exit an Attendant

  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.

  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.

  After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the stool and runs away; and they follow and cry, ‘A miracle!’

  King Henry VI

  O God, seest Thou this, and bearest so long?

  Queen Margaret

  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, till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.

  Exeunt Wife, Beadle, Mayor, &c

  Cardinal

  Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to-day.

  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.

  Enter Buckingham

  King Henry VI

  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,

  The ringleader and head of all this rout,

  Have practised dangerously against your state,

  Dealing with witches and with conjurers:

  Whom we have apprehended in the fact;

  Raising up wicked spirits from under ground,

  Demanding of King Henry’s life and death,

  And other of your highness’ privy-council;

  As more at large your grace shall understand.

  Cardinal

  [Aside to Gloucester] And so, my lord protector, by this means

  Your lady is forthcoming yet at London.

  This news, I think, hath turn’d 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 vanquish’d all my powers;

  And, vanquish’d as I am, I yield to thee,

  Or to the meanest groom.

  King Henry VI

  O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,

  Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!

  Queen Margaret

  Gloucester, see here the tainture of thy nest.

  And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.

  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

  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 dishonour’d Gloucester’s honest name.

  King Henry VI

  Well, for this night we will repose us here:

  To-morrow 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,

  Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.

  Flourish. Exeunt

  SCENE II. LONDON. YORK’S GARDEN.

  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.

  Salisbury

  My lord, I long to hear it at full.

  Warwick

  Sweet York, begin: and if thy claim be good,

  The Nevils are thy subjects to command.

  York

  Then thus:

  Edward the Third, my lords, had seven sons:

  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;

  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 reign’d as king;

  Till Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster,

  The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt,

  Crown’d 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,

  And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know,

  Harmless Richard was murder’d traitorously.

  Warwick

  Father, the duke hath told the truth:

  Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown.

  York

  Which now they hold by force and not by right;

  For Richard, the first son’s heir, being dead,

  The issue of the next son should have reign’d.

  Salisbury

  But William of Hatfield died without a
n heir.

  York

  The third son, Duke of Clarence, from whose line

  I claimed the crown, had issue, Philippe, a daughter,

  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;

  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

  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:

  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.

  Till Lionel’s issue fails, his 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;

  And in this private plot be we the first

  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. But I am not your king

  Till I be crown’d and that my sword be stain’d

  With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster;

  And that’s not suddenly to be perform’d,

  But with advice and silent secrecy.

  Do you as I do in these dangerous days:

  Wink at the Duke of Suffolk’s insolence,

  At Beaufort’s pride, at Somerset’s ambition,

  At Buckingham and all the crew of them,

  Till they have snared the shepherd of the flock,

  That virtuous prince, the good Duke Humphrey:

  ’Tis that they seek, and they in seeking that

  Shall find their deaths, if York can prophesy.

  Salisbury

  My lord, break we off; we know your mind at full.

  Warwick

  My heart assures me that the Earl of Warwick

  Shall one day make the Duke of York a king.

  York

  And, Nevil, this I do assure myself:

  Richard shall live to make the Earl of Warwick

  The greatest man in England but the king.

  Exeunt

  SCENE III. A HALL OF JUSTICE.

  Sound trumpets. Enter King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, Gloucester, York, Suffolk, and Salisbury; the Duchess, Margaret Jourdain, Southwell, Hume, and Bolingbroke, under guard