Complete Plays, The
Page 222
Oxford
Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,
Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;
And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,
Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest;
And, after that wise prince, Henry the Fifth,
Who by his prowess conquered all France:
From these our Henry lineally descends.
Warwick
Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth discourse,
You told not how Henry the Sixth hath lost
All that which Henry Fifth had gotten?
Methinks these peers of France should smile at that.
But for the rest, you tell a pedigree
Of threescore and two years; a silly time
To make prescription for a kingdom’s worth.
Oxford
Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,
Whom thou obeyed’st thirty and six years,
And not bewray thy treason with a blush?
Warwick
Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?
For shame! leave Henry, and call Edward king.
Oxford
Call him my king by whose injurious doom
My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere,
Was done to death? and more than so, my father,
Even in the downfall of his mellow’d years,
When nature brought him to the door of death?
No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm,
This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.
Warwick
And I the house of York.
King Lewis XI
Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,
Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside,
While I use further conference with Warwick.
They stand aloof
Queen Margaret
Heavens grant that Warwick’s words bewitch him not!
King Lewis XI
Now Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience,
Is Edward your true king? for I were loath
To link with him that were not lawful chosen.
Warwick
Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.
King Lewis XI
But is he gracious in the people’s eye?
Warwick
The more that Henry was unfortunate.
King Lewis XI
Then further, all dissembling set aside,
Tell me for truth the measure of his love
Unto our sister Bona.
Warwick
Such it seems
As may beseem a monarch like himself.
Myself have often heard him say and swear
That this his love was an eternal plant,
Whereof the root was fix’d in virtue’s ground,
The leaves and fruit maintain’d with beauty’s sun,
Exempt from envy, but not from disdain,
Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain.
King Lewis XI
Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve.
Bona
Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine:
To Warwick
Yet I confess that often ere this day,
When I have heard your king’s desert recounted,
Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire.
King Lewis XI
Then, Warwick, thus: our sister shall be Edward’s;
And now forthwith shall articles be drawn
Touching the jointure that your king must make,
Which with her dowry shall be counterpoised.
Draw near, Queen Margaret, and be a witness
That Bona shall be wife to the English king.
Prince Edward
To Edward, but not to the English king.
Queen Margaret
Deceitful Warwick! it was thy device
By this alliance to make void my suit:
Before thy coming Lewis was Henry’s friend.
King Lewis XI
And still is friend to him and Margaret:
But if your title to the crown be weak,
As may appear by Edward’s good success,
Then ’tis but reason that I be released
From giving aid which late I promised.
Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand
That your estate requires and mine can yield.
Warwick
Henry now lives in Scotland at his ease,
Where having nothing, nothing can he lose.
And as for you yourself, our quondam queen,
You have a father able to maintain you;
And better ’twere you troubled him than France.
Queen Margaret
Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, peace,
Proud setter up and puller down of kings!
I will not hence, till, with my talk and tears,
Both full of truth, I make King Lewis behold
Thy sly conveyance and thy lord’s false love;
For both of you are birds of selfsame feather.
Post blows a horn within
King Lewis XI
Warwick, this is some post to us or thee.
Enter a Post
Post
[To Warwick] My lord ambassador, these letters are for you,
Sent from your brother, Marquess Montague:
To King Lewis XI
These from our king unto your majesty:
To Queen Margaret
And, madam, these for you; from whom I know not.
They all read their letters
Oxford
I like it well that our fair queen and mistress
Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his.
Prince Edward
Nay, mark how Lewis stamps, as he were nettled:
I hope all’s for the best.
King Lewis XI
Warwick, what are thy news? and yours, fair queen?
Queen Margaret
Mine, such as fill my heart with unhoped joys.
Warwick
Mine, full of sorrow and heart’s discontent.
King Lewis XI
What! has your king married the Lady Grey!
And now, to soothe your forgery and his,
Sends me a paper to persuade me patience?
Is this the alliance that he seeks with France?
Dare he presume to scorn us in this manner?
Queen Margaret
I told your majesty as much before:
This proveth Edward’s love and Warwick’s honesty.
Warwick
King Lewis, I here protest, in sight of heaven,
And by the hope I have of heavenly bliss,
That I am clear from this misdeed of Edward’s,
No more my king, for he dishonours me,
But most himself, if he could see his shame.
Did I forget that by the house of York
My father came untimely to his death?
Did I let pass the abuse done to my niece?
Did I impale him with the regal crown?
Did I put Henry from his native right?
And am I guerdon’d at the last with shame?
Shame on himself! for my desert is honour:
And to repair my honour lost for him,
I here renounce him and return to Henry.
My noble queen, let former grudges pass,
And henceforth I am thy true servitor:
I will revenge his wrong to Lady Bona,
And replant Henry in his former state.
Queen Margaret
Warwick, these words have turn’d my hate to love;
And I forgive and quite forget old faults,
And joy that thou becomest King Henry’s friend.
Warwick
So much his friend, ay, his unfeigned friend,
That, if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us
>
With some few bands of chosen soldiers,
I’ll undertake to land them on our coast
And force the tyrant from his seat by war.
’Tis not his new-made bride shall succor him:
And as for Clarence, as my letters tell me,
He’s very likely now to fall from him,
For matching more for wanton lust than honour,
Or than for strength and safety of our country.
Bona
Dear brother, how shall Bona be revenged
But by thy help to this distressed queen?
Queen Margaret
Renowned prince, how shall poor Henry live,
Unless thou rescue him from foul despair?
Bona
My quarrel and this English queen’s are one.
Warwick
And mine, fair lady Bona, joins with yours.
King Lewis XI
And mine with hers, and thine, and Margaret’s.
Therefore at last I firmly am resolved
You shall have aid.
Queen Margaret
Let me give humble thanks for all at once.
King Lewis XI
Then, England’s messenger, return in post,
And tell false Edward, thy supposed king,
That Lewis of France is sending over masquers
To revel it with him and his new bride:
Thou seest what’s past, go fear thy king withal.
Bona
Tell him, in hope he’ll prove a widower shortly,
I’ll wear the willow garland for his sake.
Queen Margaret
Tell him, my mourning weeds are laid aside,
And I am ready to put armour on.
Warwick
Tell him from me that he hath done me wrong,
And therefore I’ll uncrown him ere’t be long.
There’s thy reward: be gone.
Exit Post
King Lewis XI
But, Warwick,
Thou and Oxford, with five thousand men,
Shall cross the seas, and bid false Edward battle;
And, as occasion serves, this noble queen
And prince shall follow with a fresh supply.
Yet, ere thou go, but answer me one doubt,
What pledge have we of thy firm loyalty?
Warwick
This shall assure my constant loyalty,
That if our queen and this young prince agree,
I’ll join mine eldest daughter and my joy
To him forthwith in holy wedlock bands.
Queen Margaret
Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion.
Son Edward, she is fair and virtuous,
Therefore delay not, give thy hand to Warwick;
And, with thy hand, thy faith irrevocable,
That only Warwick’s daughter shall be thine.
Prince Edward
Yes, I accept her, for she well deserves it;
And here, to pledge my vow, I give my hand.
He gives his hand to Warwick
King Lewis XI
Why stay we now? These soldiers shall be levied,
And thou, Lord Bourbon, our high admiral,
Shalt waft them over with our royal fleet.
I long till Edward fall by war’s mischance,
For mocking marriage with a dame of France.
Exeunt all but Warwick
Warwick
I came from Edward as ambassador,
But I return his sworn and mortal foe:
Matter of marriage was the charge he gave me,
But dreadful war shall answer his demand.
Had he none else to make a stale but me?
Then none but I shall turn his jest to sorrow.
I was the chief that raised him to the crown,
And I’ll be chief to bring him down again:
Not that I pity Henry’s misery,
But seek revenge on Edward’s mockery.
Exit
ACT IV
SCENE I. LONDON. THE PALACE.
Enter Gloucester, Clarence, Somerset, and Montague
Gloucester
Now tell me, brother Clarence, what think you
Of this new marriage with the Lady Grey?
Hath not our brother made a worthy choice?
Clarence
Alas, you know, ’tis far from hence to France;
How could he stay till Warwick made return?
Somerset
My lords, forbear this talk; here comes the king.
Gloucester
And his well-chosen bride.
Clarence
I mind to tell him plainly what I think.
Flourish. Enter King Edward IV, attended; Queen Elizabeth, Pembroke, Stafford, Hastings, and others
King Edward IV
Now, brother of Clarence, how like you our choice,
That you stand pensive, as half malcontent?
Clarence
As well as Lewis of France, or the Earl of Warwick,
Which are so weak of courage and in judgment
That they’ll take no offence at our abuse.
King Edward IV
Suppose they take offence without a cause,
They are but Lewis and Warwick: I am Edward,
Your king and Warwick’s, and must have my will.
Gloucester
And shall have your will, because our king:
Yet hasty marriage seldom proveth well.
King Edward IV
Yea, brother Richard, are you offended too?
Gloucester
Not I:
No, God forbid that I should wish them sever’d
Whom God hath join’d together; ay, and ’twere pity
To sunder them that yoke so well together.
King Edward IV
Setting your scorns and your mislike aside,
Tell me some reason why the Lady Grey
Should not become my wife and England’s queen.
And you too, Somerset and Montague,
Speak freely what you think.
Clarence
Then this is mine opinion: that King Lewis
Becomes your enemy, for mocking him
About the marriage of the Lady Bona.
Gloucester
And Warwick, doing what you gave in charge,
Is now dishonoured by this new marriage.
King Edward IV
What if both Lewis and Warwick be appeased
By such invention as I can devise?
Montague
Yet, to have join’d with France in such alliance
Would more have strengthen’d this our commonwealth
’Gainst foreign storms than any home-bred marriage.
Hastings
Why, knows not Montague that of itself
England is safe, if true within itself?
Montague
But the safer when ’tis back’d with France.
Hastings
’Tis better using France than trusting France:
Let us be back’d with God and with the seas
Which He hath given for fence impregnable,
And with their helps only defend ourselves;
In them and in ourselves our safety lies.
Clarence
For this one speech Lord Hastings well deserves
To have the heir of the Lord Hungerford.
King Edward IV
Ay, what of that? it was my will and grant;
And for this once my will shall stand for law.
Gloucester
And yet methinks your grace hath not done well,
To give the heir and daughter of Lord Scales
Unto the brother of your loving bride;
She better would have fitted me or Clarence:
But in your bride you bury brotherhood.
Clarence
Or else you would not have bestow’d the heir
Of the Lord Bonville on your new wife
’s son,
And leave your brothers to go speed elsewhere.
King Edward IV
Alas, poor Clarence! is it for a wife
That thou art malcontent? I will provide thee.
Clarence
In choosing for yourself, you show’d your judgment,
Which being shallow, you give me leave
To play the broker in mine own behalf;
And to that end I shortly mind to leave you.
King Edward IV
Leave me, or tarry, Edward will be king,
And not be tied unto his brother’s will.
Queen Elizabeth
My lords, before it pleased his majesty
To raise my state to title of a queen,
Do me but right, and you must all confess
That I was not ignoble of descent;
And meaner than myself have had like fortune.
But as this title honours me and mine,
So your dislike, to whom I would be pleasing,
Doth cloud my joys with danger and with sorrow.
King Edward IV
My love, forbear to fawn upon their frowns:
What danger or what sorrow can befall thee,
So long as Edward is thy constant friend,
And their true sovereign, whom they must obey?
Nay, whom they shall obey, and love thee too,
Unless they seek for hatred at my hands;
Which if they do, yet will I keep thee safe,
And they shall feel the vengeance of my wrath.
Gloucester
[Aside] I hear, yet say not much, but think the more.
Enter a Post
King Edward IV
Now, messenger, what letters or what news
From France?
Post
My sovereign liege, no letters; and few words,
But such as I, without your special pardon,
Dare not relate.
King Edward IV
Go to, we pardon thee: therefore, in brief,
Tell me their words as near as thou canst guess them.
What answer makes King Lewis unto our letters?
Post
At my depart, these were his very words:
‘Go tell false Edward, thy supposed king,
That Lewis of France is sending over masquers
To revel it with him and his new bride.’
King Edward IV
Is Lewis so brave? belike he thinks me Henry.
But what said Lady Bona to my marriage?
Post
These were her words, utter’d with mad disdain:
‘Tell him, in hope he’ll prove a widower shortly,
I’ll wear the willow garland for his sake.’
King Edward IV
I blame not her, she could say little less;
She had the wrong. But what said Henry’s queen?
For I have heard that she was there in place.
Post
‘Tell him,’ quoth she, ‘my mourning weeds are done,
And I am ready to put armour on.’
King Edward IV