That France must vail' her lofty-plumed crest, York. Damsel of France, I think I have you fast: And may ye both be suddenly surpris'd Puc. I pr'ythee, give me leave to curse a while. York. Curse, miscreant, when thou comest to the stake. [Exeunt. Alarums. Enter Suffolk, leading in Lady Margaret. Suff. Be what thou wilt, thou art my prisoner. [Gazes on her. O fairest beauty, do not fear, nor fly; For I will touch thee but with reverent hands, And lay them gently on thy tender side. I kiss these fingers [Kissing her hand.] for eternal peace : Who art thou? say, that I may honour thee. Mar. Margaret my name: and daughter to a king, The king of Naples, whosoe'er thou art. Suff. An earl I am, and Suffolk am I call'd. Be not offended, nature's miracle, So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, [She turns away as going. So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes. Hast not a tongue? is she not here thy prisoner? Suff. How canst thou tell, she will deny thy suit, Before thou make a trial of her love? [Aside. Mar. Why speak'st thou not? what ransom must I pay? Suff. She's beautiful; and therefore to be woo'd: She is a woman; therefore to be won. [Aside. Mar. Wilt thou accept of ransom, yea, or no? Suff. Fond man! remember, that thou hast a wife; (1) Lower. (2) To ban is to curse. (3)Do not represent thyself so weak.' Then how can Margaret be thy paramour ? [Aside. Mar. I were best leave him, for he will not hear. Suff. There all is marr'd; there lies a cooling card. Mar. He talks at random: sure the man is mad. Suff. And yet a dispensation may be had. Mar. And yet I would that you would answer me. Suff. I'll win this lady Margaret. For whom? Why, for my king: Tush! that's a wooden thing." Mar. He talks of wood: It is some carpenter. Suff. Yet so my fancy' may be satisfied, And peace established between these realms, But there remains a scruple in that too: For though her father be the king of Naples, Duke of Anjou and Maine, yet he is poor, And our nobility will scorn the match. Mar. Hear ye, captain? Are you not at leisure? Suff. It shall be so, disdain they ne'er so much: Henry is youthful, and will quickly yield.Madam, I have a secret to reveal. [Aside. Mar. What though I be enthrall'd? he seems a knight, And will not any way dishonour me. [Aside. Suff. Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say. Mur. Perhaps I shall be rescu'd by the French; And then I need not crave his courtesy. [Aside. Suff. Sweet madam, give me hearing in a causeMar. Tush! women have been captivate ere [Aside. now. Suff. Lady, wherefore talk you so? Mar. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo. Suff. Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose Your bondage happy, to be made a queen? Mar. To be a queen in bondage, is more vile, Than is a slave in base servility; For princes should be free. Suff And so shall you, If happy England's royal king be free. Suff. His love. What? Mar. I am unworthy to be Henry's wife. Mar. An if my father please, I am content. And, madam, at your father's castle walls [Troops come forward. Reig. Speaks Suffolk as he thinks? Suff Fair Margaret knows, That Suffolk doth not flatter, face, or feign. Reig. Upon thy princely warrant, I descend, To give thee answer of thy just demand. [Exit, from the walls. Suff. And here I will expect thy coming. Trumpets sounded. Enter Reignier, below. Reig. Welcome, brave earl, into our territories; Command in Anjou what your honour pleases. Suff. Thanks, Reignier, happy for so sweet a child, Fit to be made companion with a king: To be the princely bride of such a lord; Enjoy mine own, the county Maine, and Anjou, Suff. That is her ransom, I deliver her; Reig. And I again,-in Henry's royal name, Suff. Reignier of France, I give thee kingly thanks, [Aside. Because this is in traffic of a king: Reig. I'do embrace thee, as I would embrace The Christian prince, king Henry, were he here. Mar. Farewell, my lord! Good wishes, praise, and prayers, Shall Suffolk ever have of Margaret. [Going. Suff. Farewell, sweet madam! But, hark you, Margaret; No princely commendations to my king? Mar. Such commendations as become a maid, A virgin, and his servant, say to him. Suff. Words sweetly plac'd, and modestly directed. But, madam, I must trouble you again,— Mar. Yes, my good lord; a pure unspotted heart, Never yet taint with love, I send the king. [Exeunt Reignier and Margaret. Suff. O, wert thou for myself!-But, Suffolk, stay; Thou may'st not wander in that labyrinth ; (2) Childish. SCENE IV.-Camp of the Duke of York, in Anjou. Enter York, Warwick, and others. York. Bring forth that sorceress, condemn'd to burn. Enter La Pucelle, guarded, and a Shepherd. Shep. Ah, Joan! this kills thy father's heart outright! Have I sought every country far and near, Thou art no father, nor no friend, of mine. I did beget her, all the parish knows: She was the first fruit of my bachelorship. War. Graceless! wilt thou deny thy parentage? York. This argues what her kind of life hath been; Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes. Shep. Fie, Joan! that thou wilt be so obstacle!" God knows thou art a collop of my flesh; And for thy sake have I shed many a tear: Deny me not, I pr'ythee, gentle Joan. Puc. Peasant, avaunt!-You have suborn'd this man, On purpose to obscure my noble birth. Shep. 'Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest, The morn that I was wedded to her mother.Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl. Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursed be the time Of thy nativity! I would, the milk Thy mother gave thee, when thou suck'dst her breast, Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake! Puc. First, let me tell you whom you have condemn'd: Not me begotten of a shepherd swain, To work exceeding miracles on earth. (6) A corruption of obstinate. Play the hypocrite. (3) Wild. (4) Untimely. 'No, ve misconceivers, ye who mistake me (5) Miser here simply means a miserable creature. and my qualities.' That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.— War. The greatest miracle that e'er ye wrought: 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, There were so many, whom she may accuse. War. It's sign, she hath been liberal and free. York. And, yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure! 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 May never glorious sun reflex his beams Enter Cardinal Beaufort, attended. Car. Lord regent, I do greet your excellence York. Is all our travail turn'd to this effect? Wer. Be patient, York: if we conclude a peace, 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, By sight of these our baleful enemies. Alen. Must he be then as shadow of himself? 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, Be cast from possibility of all. York. Insulting Charles! hast thou by secret means Used intercession to obtain a league ; Alen. To say the truth, it is your policy, 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 feally. So, now dismiss your army when you please; Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still, For here we entertain a solemn peace. [Exeunt. SCENE V.-London. A room in 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: (4) Be content to live as the beneficiary of our (1) Compassion. (2) Baneful. (3) Coronet is here used for crown. king.' Where I may have fruition 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: And, which is more, she is not so divine, K. Hen. And otherwise will Henry ne'er sume. Therefore, my lord protector, give consent, How shall we then dispense with that contract, Suff. As doth a ruler with unlawful oaths; pre Glo. Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than Her father is no better than an earl, Suff. Yes, my good lord, her father is a king, Glo. And so the earl of Armagnac may do, While Reignier sooner will receive, than give. That he should be so abject, base, and poor, And not to seek a queen to make him rich: And therefore, lords, since he affects her most, That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she. report, My noble lord of Suffolk; or for that I feel such sharp dissension in my breast, 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 before 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. But Margaret, that is daughter to a king? (1) A triumph then signified a public exhibition; such 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 publisher. JOHNSON. (2) By the discretional agency of another. SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI. 'The Contention of the two famous houses of York and Lancaster,' in two parts, was pub hshed 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 apprize 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. Hume and Southwell, two priests. Humphrey, duke of Gloster, his uncle. King Henry the Sixth: 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. Richard Plantagenet, duke of York: Edward and Richard, his sons. Duke of Somerset, Duke of Suffolk, Duke of Buckingham, of the king's party. Lord Clifford, Young Clifford, his son. Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Warwick, of the York faction. Lord Scales, Governor of the Tower. Lord Sav. A Sea-captain, Master, and Master's Mate, and Two Gentlemen, prisoners with Suffolk. Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's. George, John, Dick, Smith, the Weaver, Michael, Alexander Iden, a Kentish Gentleman. Margaret, queen to king Henry. Margery Jourdain, a witch. Wife to Simpcox. Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Petitioners, Aldermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citi zens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c. Scene, dispersedly in various parts of England. |Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops, K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.-Welcome, queen Mar I can express no kinder sign of love, R |