That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.-
I am with child, ye bloody homicides:
Mu.der not then the fruit within my womb,
Although ye hale me to a violent death.
York. Now heaven forefend! the holy maid with
child?

War. The greatest miracle that e'er ye wrought:
Is all your strict preciseness come to this?
York. She and the dauphin have been juggling:
I did imagine what would be her refuge.
War. Well, go to; we will have no bastards live;
Especially since Charles must father it.

Puc. You are deceiv'd; my child is none of his;
It was Alençon, that enjoy'd my love.

York. Alençon! that notorious Machiavel! It dies, an if it had a thousand lives.

Puc. O, give me leave, I have deluded you; 'Twas neither Charles, nor yet the duke I nam'd, But Reignier, king of Naples, that prevail'd.

War. A married man! that's most intolerable. York. Why, here's a girl! I think, she knows not well,

By sight of these our baleful2 enemies.
Win. Charles, and the rest, it is enacted thus.
That-in regard king Henry gives consent,
Of mere compassion, and of lenity,
To ease your country of distressful war,
And suffer you to breathe in fruitful peace,-
You shall become true licgemen to his crown:
And, Charles, upon condition thou wilt swear
To pay him tribute, and submit thyself,
Thou shalt be plac'd as viceroy under him,
And still enjoy thy regal dignity.

Alen. Must he be then as shadow of himself?
Adorn his temples with a coronet;
And yet, in substance and authority,
Retain but privilege of a private man?
This proffer is absurd and reasonless.

Char. 'Tis known already, that I am possess'd
With more than half the Gallian territories,
And therein reverenc'd for their lawful king:
Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquish'd,
Detract so much from that prerogative,
As to be call'd but viceroy of the whole ?
No, lord ambassador; I'll rather keep
That which I have, than, coveting for more,

There were so many, whom she may accuse.
War. It's sign, she hath been liberal and free.
York. And, vet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure!-Be cast from possibility of all.
Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat, and thee:
Use no entreaty, for it is in vain.

Puc. Then lead me hence ;-with whom I leave

my curse:

May never glorious sun reflex his beams
Upon the country where you make abode!
But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
Environ you; till mischief, and despair,
Drive you to break your necks, or hang yourselves!
[Exit, guarded.
York. Break thou in pieces, and consume to ashes,
Thou foul accursed minister of hell!

Enter Cardinal Beaufort, attended.

Car. Lord regent, I do greet your excellence
With letters of commission from the king.
For know, my lords, the states of Christendom,
Mor'd with remorse' of these outrageous broils,
Have earnestly implor'd a general peace
Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French;
And here at hand the dauphin, and his train,
Approacheth, to confer about some matter.

York. Is all our travail turn'd to this effect?
After the slaughter of so many peers,
So many captains, gentlemen, and soldiers,
That in this quarrel have been overthrown,
And sold their bodies for their country's benefit,
Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace?
Have we not lost most part of all the towns,
By treason, falsehood, and by treachery,
Our great progenitors had conquered?-
0, Warwick, Warwick! I foresce with grief,
The utter loss of all the realm of France.
Wer. Be patient, York: if we conclude a peace,
It shall be with such strict and severe covenants,
As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby.
Enter Charles, attended; Alençon, Bastard, Reig-
nier, and others.

Char. Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed,
That peaceful truce shall be proclaim'd in France,
We come to be informed by yourselves
What the conditions of that league must be.
York. Speak, Winchester; for boiling choler
chokes

The hollow passage of my poison'd voice,

(1) Compassion. (2) Baneful. (s) Coronet is here used for crown.

York. Insulting Charles! hast thou by secret

means

Used intercession to obtain a league;
And, now the matter grows to compromise,
Stand'st thou aloof upon comparison?
Either accept the title thou usurp'st,
Of benefit proceeding from our king,
And not of any challenge of desert,
Or we will plague thee with incessant wars.
Reig. My lord, you do not well in obstinacy,
To cavil in the course of this contract:
If once it be neglected, ten to one,
We shall not find like opportunity.

Alen. To say the truth, it is your policy,
To save your subjects from such massacre,
And ruthless slaughters, as are daily seen
By our proceeding in hostility:

And therefore take this compact of a truce,
Although you break it when your pleasure serves.
Aside to Charles.

War. How say'st thou, Charles? shall our
condition stand?

Char. It shall:

Only reserv'd, you claim no interest

In any of our towns of garrison.

York. Then swear allegiance to his majesty,
As thou art knight, never to disobey,
Nor be rebellious to the crown of England,
Thou, nor thy nobles, to the crown of England.-

[Charles, and the rest, give tokens of fealty.
So, now dismiss your army when you please;
Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still,
For here we entertain a solemn peace. [Excunt.
SCENE V.-London. A room the palace
Enter King Henry, in conference with Suffolk
Gloster and Exeter following.

K. Hen. Your wond'rous rare description, noble
earl,

Of beauteous Margaret hath astonish'd me:
Her virtues, graced with external gifts,
Do breed love's settled passions in my neart
And like as rigour in tempestuous gusts
Provokes the mightiest hulk against the tide;
So am I driven, by breath of her renown,
Either to suffer shipwreck, or arrive

(4) Be content to live as the benefic ary of ou

king.'

Where I may have fru.don of her love.

As is fair Margaret, he be link'd in love.

Suff. Tush! my good lord! this superficial tale Then yield, my lords; and here conclude with me

Is but a preface of her worthy praise:
The chief perfections of that lovely dame
(Had I sufficient skill to utter thein,)
Would make a volume of enticing lines,
Able to ravish any dull conceit.

And, which is more, she is not so divine,
So full replete with choice of all delights,
But, with as humble lowliness of mind,
She is content to be at your command;
Command, I mean, of virtuous chaste intents,
To love and honour Henry as her lord.

K. Hen. And otherwise will Henry ne'er

sume.

Therefore, my lord protector, give consent,
That Margaret may be England's royal queen.
Glo. So should I give consent to flatter sin.
You know, my lord, your highness is betroth'd
Unto another lady of esteem;

How shall we then dispense with that contract,
And not deface your honour with reproach?

Suff. As doth a ruler with unlawful oaths;
Or one, that, at a triumph' having vow'd
To try his strength, forsaketh yet the lists
By reason of his adversary's odds:

A poor earl's daughter is unequal odds,
And therefore may be broke without offence.

That Margaret shall be queen, and noue but she.
K. Hen. Whether it be through force of your

report,

My noble lord of Suffolk; or for that
My tender youth was never yet attaint
With any passion of inflaming love,
I cannot tell; but this I am assur'd,
I feel such sharp dissension in my breast,
Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear,
As I am sick with working of my thoughts.
Take, therefore, shipping; post, my lord, to France
pre-Agree to any covenants: and procure

Glo. Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than
that?

Her father is no better than an earl,
Although in glorious tities he excel.

Suff. Yes, my good loud, her father is a king,
The king of Naples, and Jerusalem;
And of such great authority in France,
As his alliance will confirin our peace,
And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance.

Glo. And so the earl of Armagnac may do,
Because he is near kinsman unto Charles.
Exe. Beside, his weaith doth warrant liberal
dower;

While Reignier sooner will receive, than give.
Suff A dower, my lord: disgrace not so your
king,

that he should be so abject, base, and poor,
To choose for wealth, and not for perfect love.
Henry is able to enrich his queen,

And not to seek a queen to make him rich:
So worthless peasants bargain for their wives,
As market-men for oxen, sheep, or horse.
Marriage is a matter of more worth,
Than to be dealt in by attorneyship;2
Not whom we will, but whom his grace affects,
Must be companion of his nuptial bed:

And therefore, lords, since he affects her most,
It most of all these reasons bindeth us,
In our opinion she should be preferr'd.
For what is wedlock forced, but a hell,
An age of discord and continual strife?
Whereas the contrary bringeth forth bliss,
And is a pattern of celestial peace.

That lady Margaret do vouchsafe to come
To cross the seas to England, and be crown'd
King Henry's faithful and anointed queen:
For your expenses and sufficient charge,
Among the people gather up a tenth.
Be gone, I say; for, till you do return,
I rest perplexed with a thousand cares.-
And you, good uncle, banish all offence:
If you do censure me by what you were,
Not what you are, I know it will excuse
This sudden exccution of my will.
And so conduct me, where from company,
I may revolve and ruminate my grief. [Exil.
Glo. Ay, grief, I fear me, both at first and last.
[Exeunt Gloster and Exeter.
Suff. Thus Suffolk hath prevail'd: and thus he

Of this play there is no copy earlier than that of the folio in 1623, though the two succeeding parts are extant in two editions in quarto. That the second and third parts were published without the first, may be admitted as no weak proof that the copies were surreptitiously obtained, and that the printers at that time gave the public those plays, not such as the author designed, but such as they could get them. That this play was written before the two others is indubitably collected from the series of events; that it was written and played be[fore Henry the Fifth is apparent; because, in the epilogue there is mention made of this play, and not of the other parts:

'Henry the Sixth in swaddling bands crown'd king, "Whose state so many had the managing,

That they lost France, and made his England bleed:

'Which oft our stage hath shown.'

France is lost in this play. The two following contain, as the old title imports, the contention of

Whom should we match, with Henry, being a king, the houses of York and Lancaster.

Bat Margaret, that is daughter to a king?
Her peerless feature, joined with her birth,
Approves her fit for none, but for a king:
Her valiant courage, and undaunted spirit
(More than in women commonly is seen,)
Will answer our hope in issue of a king;
For Henry, son unto a conqueror,
Is likely to beget more conquerors,
If with a lady of so high resolve,

(1) A triumph then signified a public exhibition
ich as a mask, or revel.

The second and third parts of Henry VI. were printed in 1600. When Henry V. was written, we know not, but it was printed likewise in 1600, and therefore before the publication of the first and second parts. The first part of Henry VI. had been often shown on the stage, and would certainly have appeared in its place, had the author been the pub

lisher.

JOHNSON.

(2) By the discretional agency of another.
73) Judge.

SECOND PART OF

KING HENRY VI.

"The untention of the two famous houses of York and Lancaster,' in two parts, was pub lashed in quarto, in 1600; and the first part was entered on the Stationers' books, (as Mr. Steevens has observed,) March 12, 1593-4. On these two plays, which I believe to have been written by some preceding author, before the year 1590, Shakspeare formed, as I conceive, this and the following drama ; altering, retrenching, or amplifying, as he thought proper. At present it is only necessary to app: ze the reader of the method observed in the printing of these plays. All the lines printed in the usual manner are found in the original quarto plays (or at least with such minute variations as are not worth noticing:) and those, I conceive, Shakspeare adopted as he found them. The lines to which inverted commas are prefixed, were, if my hypothesis be well founded, retouched, and greatly improved by him, and those with asterisks were his own original production; the embroidery with which he ornamented the coarse stuff that had been awkwardly made up for the stage by some of his contemporaries. The speeches which he new-modelled, he improved, sometimes by amplification, and sometimes by retrenchment.

MALONE.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Humphrey, duke of Gloster, his uncle.

King Henry the Sixth:

Hume and Southwell, two priests.

Bolingbroke, a conjurer. A Spirit raised by him.

Cardinal Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, great Thomas Horner, an armourer. Peter, his man.

uncle to the king.

Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's.
Simpeox, an impostor. Two Murder ers.
Jack Cade, a rébel:

George, John, Dick, Smith, the Weaver, Michael,
&c. his followers.

Alexander Iden, a Kentish Gentleman.

Margaret, queen to king Henry.

Eleanor, duchess of Gloster.

Margery Jourdain, a witch. Wife to Simpcox.

Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Petitioners, Al dermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citizens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c.

Scene, dispersedly in various parts of England.

ACT I.

Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops, have perform'd my task, and was espous'd:

SCENE L-London. A room of state in the And humbly now upon my bended knee, palace. Flourish of trumpets: then Hautboys. In sight of England and her lordly peers, Enter, on one side, King Henry, Duke of Glos-Deliver up my title in the queen ter, Salisbury, Warwick, and Cardinal Beaufort; To your most gracious hands, that are the substance on the other, Queen Margaret, led in by Suffolk; Of that great shadow I did represent;

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

K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.-Welcome, queen Mar.
garet:

I can express no kinder sign of love,
Than this kind kiss.-O Lord, that lends me life,
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 gra
cious lord;

R

had'—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

The mutual conference that my mind hath 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.

Been crown'd in Paris, in despite of foes?
And shall these labours, and these honours, dic?
Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance,

'K. Hen. Her sight did ravish: but her grace in Your deeds of war, and all our council, die? 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. Long live queen Margaret, England's happiness!

Q. Mar. We thank you all.

[Flourish.

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 conquered France; Undoing all, as all had never been!

'Car. Nephew, what means this passionate dis course?

Suff. My lord protector, so it please your grace,This peroration with such circumstance?? Here are the articles of contracted peace, 'For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still. Between our sovereign and the French king Charles, Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can; 'For eighteen months concluded by consent. But now it is impossible we should: Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast, French king, Charles, and William de la Poole,Hath given the duchies of Anjou and Maine marquess of Suffolk, ambassador 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 t: the king her father

Unto the poor king Reignier, whose large style Agrees not with the leanness of his purse. *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 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:
are the cities, that I got with wounds,
Deliver'd up again with peaceful words?
Mort Dieu!

K. Hen. Uncle, how now? Glo. Pardon me, gracious lord; Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart, And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further.And 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 cost and charges, without having 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 in the parts of France,
Till term of eighteen months be full expir'd.—
Thanks, uncle Winchester, Gloster, 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 see her coronation be perform'd.

*York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be suffocate,
That dims the honour 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 staid 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 ·

[Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk.'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike, Glo. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,But 'tis my presence that doth trouble you.

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 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,

(1) I am the bolder to address you, having already familiarized you to my imagination. (2) Beloved above all things.

Rancour will out: Proud prelate, in thy face

I see thy fury: If I longer stav,

We shall begin our ancient bickerings."-
Lordings, farewell; and say, when I am gone,
I prophesied-France will be lost ere long. [Ext
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 displeased at it.

(3) This speech crowded with so many circum stances of aggravation.

(4) Skirmishings.