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Enter two or three running over the stage, from the murder of DUKE HUMPHREY.
Enter two or three running over the stage, from the murder of DUKE HUMPHREY.
FIRST MURDERER
Run to my lord of Suffolk. Let him know
We have dispatched the Duke as he commanded.
FIRST MURDERER
Run to my lord of Suffolk. Let him know
We have dispatched the Duke as he commanded.
SECOND MURDERER
O, that it were to do! What have we done?
Didst ever hear a man so penitent?
SECOND MURDERER
O, that it were to do! What have we done?
Didst ever hear a man so penitent?
Enter SUFFOLK.
Enter SUFFOLK.
FIRST MURDERER
5
Here comes my lord.
FIRST MURDERER
5
Here comes my lord.
SUFFOLK
Now, sirs, have you dispatched this thing?
SUFFOLK
Now, sirs, have you dispatched this thing?
FIRST MURDERER
Ay, my good lord, he’s dead.
FIRST MURDERER
Ay, my good lord, he’s dead.
SUFFOLK
Why, that’s well said. Go, get you to my house;
I will reward you for this venturous deed.
10
The King and all the peers are here at hand.
Have you laid fair the bed? Is all things well,
According as I gave directions?
SUFFOLK
Why, that’s well said. Go, get you to my house;
I will reward you for this venturous deed.
10
The King and all the peers are here at hand.
Have you laid fair the bed? Is all things well,
According as I gave directions?
FIRST MURDERER
’Tis, my good lord.
FIRST MURDERER
’Tis, my good lord.
SUFFOLK
Away, be gone.
SUFFOLK
Away, be gone.
The MURDERERS exit.
The MURDERERS exit.
Sound trumpets. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, CARDINAL, SOMERSET, with ATTENDANTS.
Sound trumpets. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, CARDINAL, SOMERSET, with ATTENDANTS.
KING HENRY
15
Go, call our uncle to our presence straight.
Say we intend to try his Grace today
If he be guilty, as ’tis publishèd.
KING HENRY
15
Go, call our uncle to our presence straight.
Say we intend to try his Grace today
If he be guilty, as ’tis publishèd.
SUFFOLK
I’ll call him presently, my noble lord. He exits.
SUFFOLK
I’ll call him presently, my noble lord. He exits.
KING HENRY
Lords, take your places; and, I pray you all,
20
Proceed no straiter ’gainst our uncle Gloucester
Than from true evidence of good esteem
He be approved in practice culpable.
KING HENRY
Lords, take your places; and, I pray you all,
20
Proceed no straiter ’gainst our uncle Gloucester
Than from true evidence of good esteem
He be approved in practice culpable.
QUEEN MARGARET
God forbid any malice should prevail
That faultless may condemn a nobleman!
25
Pray God he may acquit him of suspicion!
QUEEN MARGARET
God forbid any malice should prevail
That faultless may condemn a nobleman!
25
Pray God he may acquit him of suspicion!
KING HENRY
I thank thee, Meg. These words content me much.
Enter SUFFOLK.
How now? Why look’st thou pale? Why tremblest
thou?
Where is our uncle? What’s the matter, Suffolk?
KING HENRY
I thank thee, Meg. These words content me much.
Enter SUFFOLK.
How now? Why look’st thou pale? Why tremblest
thou?
Where is our uncle? What’s the matter, Suffolk?
SUFFOLK
30
Dead in his bed, my lord. Gloucester is dead.
SUFFOLK
30
Dead in his bed, my lord. Gloucester is dead.
QUEEN MARGARET
Marry, God forfend!
QUEEN MARGARET
Marry, God forfend!
CARDINAL
God’s secret judgment. I did dream tonight
The Duke was dumb and could not speak a word.
CARDINAL
God’s secret judgment. I did dream tonight
The Duke was dumb and could not speak a word.
KING HENRY swoons.
KING HENRY swoons.
QUEEN MARGARET
How fares my lord? Help, lords, the King is dead!
QUEEN MARGARET
How fares my lord? Help, lords, the King is dead!
SOMERSET
35
Rear up his body. Wring him by the nose.
SOMERSET
35
Rear up his body. Wring him by the nose.
QUEEN MARGARET
Run, go, help, help! O Henry, ope thine eyes!
QUEEN MARGARET
Run, go, help, help! O Henry, ope thine eyes!
KING HENRY stirs.
KING HENRY stirs.
SUFFOLK
He doth revive again. Madam, be patient.
SUFFOLK
He doth revive again. Madam, be patient.
KING HENRY
O heavenly God!
KING HENRY
O heavenly God!
QUEEN MARGARET
How fares my gracious lord?
QUEEN MARGARET
How fares my gracious lord?
SUFFOLK
40
Comfort, my sovereign! Gracious Henry, comfort!
SUFFOLK
40
Comfort, my sovereign! Gracious Henry, comfort!
KING HENRY
What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me?
Came he right now to sing a raven’s note,
Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers,
And thinks he that the chirping of a wren,
45
By crying comfort from a hollow breast,
Can chase away the first-conceivèd sound?
Hide not thy poison with such sugared words.
Lay not thy hands on me. Forbear, I say!
Their touch affrights me as a serpent’s sting.
50
Thou baleful messenger, out of my sight!
Upon thy eyeballs, murderous Tyranny
Sits in grim majesty to fright the world.
Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding.
Yet do not go away. Come, basilisk,
55
And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight;
For in the shade of death I shall find joy,
In life but double death, now Gloucester’s dead.
KING HENRY
What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me?
Came he right now to sing a raven’s note,
Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers,
And thinks he that the chirping of a wren,
45
By crying comfort from a hollow breast,
Can chase away the first-conceivèd sound?
Hide not thy poison with such sugared words.
Lay not thy hands on me. Forbear, I say!
Their touch affrights me as a serpent’s sting.
50
Thou baleful messenger, out of my sight!
Upon thy eyeballs, murderous Tyranny
Sits in grim majesty to fright the world.
Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding.
Yet do not go away. Come, basilisk,
55
And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight;
For in the shade of death I shall find joy,
In life but double death, now Gloucester’s dead.
QUEEN MARGARET
Why do you rate my lord of Suffolk thus?
Although the Duke was enemy to him,
60
Yet he most Christian-like laments his death.
And for myself, foe as he was to me,
Might liquid tears or heart-offending groans
Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life,
I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans,
65
Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs,
And all to have the noble duke alive.
What know I how the world may deem of me?
For it is known we were but hollow friends.
It may be judged I made the Duke away;
70
So shall my name with slander’s tongue be wounded
And princes’ courts be filled with my reproach.
This get I by his death. Ay me, unhappy,
To be a queen and crowned with infamy!
QUEEN MARGARET
Why do you rate my lord of Suffolk thus?
Although the Duke was enemy to him,
60
Yet he most Christian-like laments his death.
And for myself, foe as he was to me,
Might liquid tears or heart-offending groans
Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life,
I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans,
65
Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs,
And all to have the noble duke alive.
What know I how the world may deem of me?
For it is known we were but hollow friends.
It may be judged I made the Duke away;
70
So shall my name with slander’s tongue be wounded
And princes’ courts be filled with my reproach.
This get I by his death. Ay me, unhappy,
To be a queen and crowned with infamy!
KING HENRY
Ah, woe is me for Gloucester, wretched man!
KING HENRY
Ah, woe is me for Gloucester, wretched man!
QUEEN MARGARET
75
Be woe for me, more wretched than he is.
What, dost thou turn away and hide thy face?
I am no loathsome leper. Look on me.
What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf?
Be poisonous too, and kill thy forlorn queen.
80
Is all thy comfort shut in Gloucester’s tomb?
Why, then, Dame Margaret was ne’er thy joy.
Erect his statue and worship it,
And make my image but an alehouse sign.
Was I for this nigh-wracked upon the sea
85
And twice by awkward wind from England’s bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?
What boded this, but well forewarning wind
Did seem to say “Seek not a scorpion’s nest,
Nor set no footing on this unkind shore”?
90
What did I then but cursed the gentle gusts
And he that loosed them forth their brazen caves
And bid them blow towards England’s blessèd shore
Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock?
Yet Aeolus would not be a murderer,
95
But left that hateful office unto thee.
The pretty-vaulting sea refused to drown me,
Knowing that thou wouldst have me drowned on
shore
With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness.
100
The splitting rocks cow’red in the sinking sands
And would not dash me with their ragged sides
Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they,
Might in thy palace perish Margaret.
As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs,
105
When from thy shore the tempest beat us back,
I stood upon the hatches in the storm,
And when the dusky sky began to rob
My earnest-gaping sight of thy land’s view,
I took a costly jewel from my neck—
110
A heart it was, bound in with diamonds—
And threw it towards thy land. The sea received it,
And so I wished thy body might my heart.
And even with this I lost fair England’s view,
And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart,
115
And called them blind and dusky spectacles
For losing ken of Albion’s wishèd coast.
How often have I tempted Suffolk’s tongue,
The agent of thy foul inconstancy,
To sit and watch me, as Ascanius did
120
When he to madding Dido would unfold
His father’s acts commenced in burning Troy!
Am I not witched like her, or thou not false like
him?
Ay me, I can no more. Die, Margaret,
125
For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long.
QUEEN MARGARET
75
Be woe for me, more wretched than he is.
What, dost thou turn away and hide thy face?
I am no loathsome leper. Look on me.
What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf?
Be poisonous too, and kill thy forlorn queen.
80
Is all thy comfort shut in Gloucester’s tomb?
Why, then, Dame Margaret was ne’er thy joy.
Erect his statue and worship it,
And make my image but an alehouse sign.
Was I for this nigh-wracked upon the sea
85
And twice by awkward wind from England’s bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?
What boded this, but well forewarning wind
Did seem to say “Seek not a scorpion’s nest,
Nor set no footing on this unkind shore”?
90
What did I then but cursed the gentle gusts
And he that loosed them forth their brazen caves
And bid them blow towards England’s blessèd shore
Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock?
Yet Aeolus would not be a murderer,
95
But left that hateful office unto thee.
The pretty-vaulting sea refused to drown me,
Knowing that thou wouldst have me drowned on
shore
With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness.
100
The splitting rocks cow’red in the sinking sands
And would not dash me with their ragged sides
Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they,
Might in thy palace perish Margaret.
As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs,
105
When from thy shore the tempest beat us back,
I stood upon the hatches in the storm,
And when the dusky sky began to rob
My earnest-gaping sight of thy land’s view,
I took a costly jewel from my neck—
110
A heart it was, bound in with diamonds—
And threw it towards thy land. The sea received it,
And so I wished thy body might my heart.
And even with this I lost fair England’s view,
And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart,
115
And called them blind and dusky spectacles
For losing ken of Albion’s wishèd coast.
How often have I tempted Suffolk’s tongue,
The agent of thy foul inconstancy,
To sit and watch me, as Ascanius did
120
When he to madding Dido would unfold
His father’s acts commenced in burning Troy!
Am I not witched like her, or thou not false like
him?
Ay me, I can no more. Die, Margaret,
125
For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long.
Noise within. Enter WARWICK and SALISBURY, and many COMMONS.
Noise within. WARWICK and SALISBURY, and many

COMMONS

Common people; that is, peasants, merchants, and anyone else not in the aristocracy or clergy.

COMMONS
WARWICK
It is reported, mighty sovereign,
That good Duke Humphrey traitorously is murdered
By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort’s means.
The Commons, like an angry hive of bees
130
That want their leader, scatter up and down
And care not who they sting in his revenge.
Myself have calmed their spleenful mutiny,
Until they hear the order of his death.
WARWICK
It is reported, mighty sovereign,
That good Duke Humphrey traitorously is murdered
By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort’s means.
The Commons, like an angry hive of bees
130
That want their leader, scatter up and down
And care not who they sting in his revenge.
Myself have calmed their spleenful mutiny,
Until they hear the order of his death.
KING HENRY
That he is dead, good Warwick, ’tis too true;
135
But how he died God knows, not Henry.
Enter his chamber, view his breathless corpse,
And comment then upon his sudden death.
KING HENRY
That he is dead, good Warwick, ’tis too true;
135
But how he died God knows, not Henry.
Enter his chamber, view his breathless corpse,
And comment then upon his sudden death.
WARWICK
That shall I do, my liege.—Stay, Salisbury,
With the rude multitude till I return.
WARWICK
That shall I do, my liege.—Stay, Salisbury,
With the rude multitude till I return.
WARWICK exits through one door; SALISBURY and COMMONS exit through another.
WARWICK exits through one door; SALISBURY and COMMONS exit through another.
KING HENRY
140
O Thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts,
My thoughts that labor to persuade my soul
Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey’s life.
If my suspect be false, forgive me, God,
For judgment only doth belong to Thee.
145
Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips
With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain
Upon his face an ocean of salt tears,
To tell my love unto his dumb deaf trunk
And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling;
150
But all in vain are these mean obsequies.
And to survey his dead and earthy image,
What were it but to make my sorrow greater?
KING HENRY
140
O Thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts,
My thoughts that labor to persuade my soul
Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey’s life.
If my suspect be false, forgive me, God,
For judgment only doth belong to Thee.
145
Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips
With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain
Upon his face an ocean of salt tears,
To tell my love unto his dumb deaf trunk
And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling;
150
But all in vain are these mean obsequies.
And to survey his dead and earthy image,
What were it but to make my sorrow greater?
Bed put forth, bearing GLOUCESTER’S body. Enter WARWICK.
Bed put forth, bearing GLOUCESTER’S body. Enter WARWICK.
WARWICK
Come hither, gracious sovereign. View this body.
WARWICK
Come hither, gracious sovereign. View this body.
KING HENRY
That is to see how deep my grave is made,
155
For with his soul fled all my worldly solace;
For seeing him, I see my life in death.
KING HENRY
That is to see how deep my grave is made,
155
For with his soul fled all my worldly solace;
For seeing him, I see my life in death.
WARWICK
As surely as my soul intends to live
With that dread King that took our state upon Him
To free us from His Father’s wrathful curse,
160
I do believe that violent hands were laid
Upon the life of this thrice-famèd duke.
WARWICK
As surely as my soul intends to live
With that dread King that took our state upon Him
To free us from His Father’s wrathful curse,
160
I do believe that violent hands were laid
Upon the life of this thrice-famèd duke.
SUFFOLK
A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue!
What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?
SUFFOLK
A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue!
What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?
WARWICK
See how the blood is settled in his face.
165
Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,
Of ashy semblance, meager, pale, and bloodless,
Being all descended to the laboring heart,
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the same for aidance ’gainst the enemy,
170
Which with the heart there cools and ne’er
returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again.
But see, his face is black and full of blood;
His eyeballs further out than when he lived,
175
Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man;
His hair upreared, his nostrils stretched with
struggling;
His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped
And tugged for life and was by strength subdued.
180
Look, on the sheets his hair, you see, is sticking;
His well-proportioned beard made rough and
rugged,
Like to the summer’s corn by tempest lodged.
It cannot be but he was murdered here.
185
The least of all these signs were probable.
WARWICK
See how the blood is settled in his face.
165
Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,
Of ashy semblance, meager, pale, and bloodless,
Being all descended to the laboring heart,
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the same for aidance ’gainst the enemy,
170
Which with the heart there cools and ne’er
returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again.
But see, his face is black and full of blood;
His eyeballs further out than when he lived,
175
Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man;
His hair upreared, his nostrils stretched with
struggling;
His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped
And tugged for life and was by strength subdued.
180
Look, on the sheets his hair, you see, is sticking;
His well-proportioned beard made rough and
rugged,
Like to the summer’s corn by tempest lodged.
It cannot be but he was murdered here.
185
The least of all these signs were probable.
The bed is removed.
The bed is removed.
SUFFOLK
Why, Warwick, who should do the Duke to death?
Myself and Beaufort had him in protection,
And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers.
SUFFOLK
Why, Warwick, who should do the Duke to death?
Myself and Beaufort had him in protection,
And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers.
WARWICK
But both of you were vowed Duke Humphrey’s foes,
190 To CARDINAL.
And you, forsooth, had the good duke
to keep.
’Tis like you would not feast him like a friend,
And ’tis well seen he found an enemy.
WARWICK
But both of you were vowed Duke Humphrey’s foes,
190 To CARDINAL.
And you, forsooth, had the good duke
to keep.
’Tis like you would not feast him like a friend,
And ’tis well seen he found an enemy.
QUEEN MARGARET
Then you, belike, suspect these noblemen
195
As guilty of Duke Humphrey’s timeless death.
QUEEN MARGARET
Then you, belike, suspect these noblemen
195
As guilty of Duke Humphrey’s timeless death.
WARWICK
Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding fresh,
And sees fast by a butcher with an ax,
But will suspect ’twas he that made the slaughter?
Who finds the partridge in the puttock’s nest
200
But may imagine how the bird was dead,
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?
Even so suspicious is this tragedy.
WARWICK
Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding fresh,
And sees fast by a butcher with an ax,
But will suspect ’twas he that made the slaughter?
Who finds the partridge in the puttock’s nest
200
But may imagine how the bird was dead,
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?
Even so suspicious is this tragedy.
QUEEN MARGARET
Are you the butcher, Suffolk? Where’s your knife?
Is Beaufort termed a kite? Where are his talons?
QUEEN MARGARET
Are you the butcher, Suffolk? Where’s your knife?
Is Beaufort termed a kite? Where are his talons?
SUFFOLK
205
I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men,
But here’s a vengeful sword, rusted with ease,
That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart
That slanders me with murder’s crimson badge.—
Say, if thou dar’st, proud lord of Warwickshire,
210
That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey’s death.
SUFFOLK
205
I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men,
But here’s a vengeful sword, rusted with ease,
That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart
That slanders me with murder’s crimson badge.—
Say, if thou dar’st, proud lord of Warwickshire,
210
That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey’s death.
WARWICK
What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?
WARWICK
What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?
QUEEN MARGARET
He dares not calm his contumelious spirit
Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
QUEEN MARGARET
He dares not calm his contumelious spirit
Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
WARWICK
215
Madam, be still—with reverence may I say—
For every word you speak in his behalf
Is slander to your royal dignity.
WARWICK
215
Madam, be still—with reverence may I say—
For every word you speak in his behalf
Is slander to your royal dignity.
SUFFOLK
Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanor!
If ever lady wronged her lord so much,
220
Thy mother took into her blameful bed
Some stern untutored churl, and noble stock
Was graft with crab-tree slip, whose fruit thou art
And never of the Nevilles’ noble race.
SUFFOLK
Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanor!
If ever lady wronged her lord so much,
220
Thy mother took into her blameful bed
Some stern untutored churl, and noble stock
Was graft with crab-tree slip, whose fruit thou art
And never of the Nevilles’ noble race.
WARWICK
But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee
225
And I should rob the deathsman of his fee,
Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames,
And that my sovereign’s presence makes me mild,
I would, false murd’rous coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy passèd speech
230
And say it was thy mother that thou meant’st,
That thou thyself wast born in bastardy;
And after all this fearful homage done,
Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell,
Pernicious bloodsucker of sleeping men!
WARWICK
But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee
225
And I should rob the deathsman of his fee,
Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames,
And that my sovereign’s presence makes me mild,
I would, false murd’rous coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy passèd speech
230
And say it was thy mother that thou meant’st,
That thou thyself wast born in bastardy;
And after all this fearful homage done,
Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell,
Pernicious bloodsucker of sleeping men!
SUFFOLK
235
Thou shalt be waking while I shed thy blood,
If from this presence thou dar’st go with me.
SUFFOLK
235
Thou shalt be waking while I shed thy blood,
If from this presence thou dar’st go with me.
WARWICK
Away even now, or I will drag thee hence!
Unworthy though thou art, I’ll cope with thee
And do some service to Duke Humphrey’s ghost.
WARWICK
Away even now, or I will drag thee hence!
Unworthy though thou art, I’ll cope with thee
And do some service to Duke Humphrey’s ghost.
WARWICK and SUFFOLK exit.
WARWICK and SUFFOLK exit.
KING HENRY
240
What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just,
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.
KING HENRY
240
What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just,
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.
A noise within.
A noise within.
QUEEN MARGARET
What noise is this?
QUEEN MARGARET
What noise is this?
Enter SUFFOLK and WARWICK, with their weapons drawn.
Enter SUFFOLK and WARWICK, with their weapons drawn.
KING HENRY
245
Why, how now, lords? Your wrathful weapons
drawn
Here in our presence? Dare you be so bold?
Why, what tumultuous clamor have we here?
KING HENRY
245
Why, how now, lords? Your wrathful weapons
drawn
Here in our presence? Dare you be so bold?
Why, what tumultuous clamor have we here?
SUFFOLK
The trait’rous Warwick, with the men of Bury,
250
Set all upon me, mighty sovereign.
SUFFOLK
The trait’rous Warwick, with the men of Bury,
250
Set all upon me, mighty sovereign.
Enter SALISBURY.
Enter SALISBURY.
SALISBURY , to the offstage COMMONS
Sirs, stand apart. The King shall know your mind.—
Dread lord, the Commons send you word by me,
Unless Lord Suffolk straight be done to death
Or banishèd fair England’s territories,
255
They will by violence tear him from your palace
And torture him with grievous ling’ring death.
They say, by him the good duke Humphrey died;
They say, in him they fear your Highness’ death;
And mere instinct of love and loyalty,
260
Free from a stubborn opposite intent,
As being thought to contradict your liking,
Makes them thus forward in his banishment.
They say, in care of your most royal person,
That if your Highness should intend to sleep,
265
And charge that no man should disturb your rest,
In pain of your dislike or pain of death,
Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict,
Were there a serpent seen with forkèd tongue
That slyly glided towards your Majesty,
270
It were but necessary you were waked,
Lest, being suffered in that harmful slumber,
The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal.
And therefore do they cry, though you forbid,
That they will guard you, whe’er you will or no,
275
From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is,
With whose envenomèd and fatal sting
Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,
They say, is shamefully bereft of life.
SALISBURY , to the offstage COMMONS
Sirs, stand apart. The King shall know your mind.—
Dread lord, the Commons send you word by me,
Unless Lord Suffolk straight be done to death
Or banishèd fair England’s territories,
255
They will by violence tear him from your palace
And torture him with grievous ling’ring death.
They say, by him the good duke Humphrey died;
They say, in him they fear your Highness’ death;
And mere instinct of love and loyalty,
260
Free from a stubborn opposite intent,
As being thought to contradict your liking,
Makes them thus forward in his banishment.
They say, in care of your most royal person,
That if your Highness should intend to sleep,
265
And charge that no man should disturb your rest,
In pain of your dislike or pain of death,
Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict,
Were there a serpent seen with forkèd tongue
That slyly glided towards your Majesty,
270
It were but necessary you were waked,
Lest, being suffered in that harmful slumber,
The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal.
And therefore do they cry, though you forbid,
That they will guard you, whe’er you will or no,
275
From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is,
With whose envenomèd and fatal sting
Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,
They say, is shamefully bereft of life.
COMMONS , within
An answer from the King, my lord of Salisbury!
COMMONS , within
An answer from the King, my lord of Salisbury!
SUFFOLK
280
’Tis like the Commons, rude unpolished hinds,
Could send such message to their sovereign!
To SALISBURY. But you, my lord, were glad to be
employed,
To show how quaint an orator you are.
285
But all the honor Salisbury hath won
Is that he was the lord ambassador
Sent from a sort of tinkers to the King.
SUFFOLK
280
’Tis like the Commons, rude unpolished hinds,
Could send such message to their sovereign!
To SALISBURY. But you, my lord, were glad to be
employed,
To show how quaint an orator you are.
285
But all the honor Salisbury hath won
Is that he was the lord ambassador
Sent from a sort of tinkers to the King.
COMMONS , within
An answer from the King, or we will all break in.
COMMONS , within
An answer from the King, or we will all break in.
KING HENRY
Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me,
290
I thank them for their tender loving care;
And, had I not been cited so by them,
Yet did I purpose as they do entreat.
For, sure, my thoughts do hourly prophesy
Mischance unto my state by Suffolk’s means.
295
And therefore, by His Majesty I swear,
Whose far unworthy deputy I am,
He shall not breathe infection in this air
But three days longer, on the pain of death.
KING HENRY
Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me,
290
I thank them for their tender loving care;
And, had I not been cited so by them,
Yet did I purpose as they do entreat.
For, sure, my thoughts do hourly prophesy
Mischance unto my state by Suffolk’s means.
295
And therefore, by His Majesty I swear,
Whose far unworthy deputy I am,
He shall not breathe infection in this air
But three days longer, on the pain of death.
SALISBURY exits.
SALISBURY exits.
QUEEN MARGARET
O Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk!
QUEEN MARGARET
O Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk!
KING HENRY
300
Ungentle queen to call him gentle Suffolk!
No more, I say. If thou dost plead for him,
Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath.
Had I but said, I would have kept my word;
But when I swear, it is irrevocable.
305 To SUFFOLK.
If, after three days’ space, thou here
be’st found
On any ground that I am ruler of,
The world shall not be ransom for thy life.—
Come, Warwick, come, good Warwick, go with me.
310
I have great matters to impart to thee.
KING HENRY
300
Ungentle queen to call him gentle Suffolk!
No more, I say. If thou dost plead for him,
Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath.
Had I but said, I would have kept my word;
But when I swear, it is irrevocable.
305 To SUFFOLK.
If, after three days’ space, thou here
be’st found
On any ground that I am ruler of,
The world shall not be ransom for thy life.—
Come, Warwick, come, good Warwick, go with me.
310
I have great matters to impart to thee.
All but the QUEEN and SUFFOLK exit.
All but the QUEEN and SUFFOLK exit.
QUEEN MARGARET , calling after KING HENRY and
WARWICK
Mischance and sorrow go along with you!
Heart’s discontent and sour affliction
Be playfellows to keep you company!
There’s two of you; the devil make a third,
315
And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!
QUEEN MARGARET , calling after KING HENRY and
WARWICK
Mischance and sorrow go along with you!
Heart’s discontent and sour affliction
Be playfellows to keep you company!
There’s two of you; the devil make a third,
315
And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!
SUFFOLK
Cease, gentle queen, these execrations,
And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.
SUFFOLK
Cease, gentle queen, these execrations,
And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.
QUEEN MARGARET
Fie, coward woman and soft-hearted wretch!
Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemies?
QUEEN MARGARET
Fie, coward woman and soft-hearted wretch!
Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemies?
SUFFOLK
320
A plague upon them! Wherefore should I curse
them?
Could curses kill, as doth the mandrake’s groan,
I would invent as bitter searching terms,
As curst, as harsh, and horrible to hear,
325
Delivered strongly through my fixèd teeth,
With full as many signs of deadly hate,
As lean-faced Envy in her loathsome cave.
My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words;
Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint;
330
Mine hair be fixed on end, as one distract;
Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban;
And even now my burdened heart would break
Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink!
Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste;
335
Their sweetest shade, a grove of cypress trees;
Their chiefest prospect, murd’ring basilisks;
Their softest touch, as smart as lizards’ stings!
Their music, frightful as the serpent’s hiss,
And boding screech owls make the consort full!
340
All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell—
SUFFOLK
320
A plague upon them! Wherefore should I curse
them?
Could curses kill, as doth the mandrake’s groan,
I would invent as bitter searching terms,
As curst, as harsh, and horrible to hear,
325
Delivered strongly through my fixèd teeth,
With full as many signs of deadly hate,
As lean-faced Envy in her loathsome cave.
My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words;
Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint;
330
Mine hair be fixed on end, as one distract;
Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban;
And even now my burdened heart would break
Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink!
Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste;
335
Their sweetest shade, a grove of cypress trees;
Their chiefest prospect, murd’ring basilisks;
Their softest touch, as smart as lizards’ stings!
Their music, frightful as the serpent’s hiss,
And boding screech owls make the consort full!
340
All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell—
QUEEN MARGARET
Enough, sweet Suffolk, thou torment’st thyself,
And these dread curses, like the sun ’gainst glass,
Or like an over-chargèd gun, recoil
And turn the force of them upon thyself.
QUEEN MARGARET
Enough, sweet Suffolk, thou torment’st thyself,
And these dread curses, like the sun ’gainst glass,
Or like an over-chargèd gun, recoil
And turn the force of them upon thyself.
SUFFOLK
345
You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave?
Now, by the ground that I am banished from,
Well could I curse away a winter’s night,
Though standing naked on a mountain top
Where biting cold would never let grass grow,
350
And think it but a minute spent in sport.
SUFFOLK
345
You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave?
Now, by the ground that I am banished from,
Well could I curse away a winter’s night,
Though standing naked on a mountain top
Where biting cold would never let grass grow,
350
And think it but a minute spent in sport.
QUEEN MARGARET
O, let me entreat thee cease! Give me thy hand,
That I may dew it with my mournful tears;
Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place
To wash away my woeful monuments.
She kisses his hand.
355
O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand,
That thou mightst think upon these by the seal,
Through whom a thousand sighs are breathed for
thee!
So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief;
360
’Tis but surmised whiles thou art standing by,
As one that surfeits thinking on a want.
I will repeal thee, or, be well assured,
Adventure to be banishèd myself;
And banishèd I am, if but from thee.
365
Go, speak not to me. Even now be gone!
O, go not yet! Even thus two friends condemned
Embrace and kiss and take ten thousand leaves,
Loather a hundred times to part than die.
They embrace.
Yet now farewell, and farewell life with thee.
QUEEN MARGARET
O, let me entreat thee cease! Give me thy hand,
That I may dew it with my mournful tears;
Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place
To wash away my woeful monuments.
She kisses his hand.
355
O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand,
That thou mightst think upon these by the seal,
Through whom a thousand sighs are breathed for
thee!
So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief;
360
’Tis but surmised whiles thou art standing by,
As one that surfeits thinking on a want.
I will repeal thee, or, be well assured,
Adventure to be banishèd myself;
And banishèd I am, if but from thee.
365
Go, speak not to me. Even now be gone!
O, go not yet! Even thus two friends condemned
Embrace and kiss and take ten thousand leaves,
Loather a hundred times to part than die.
They embrace.
Yet now farewell, and farewell life with thee.
SUFFOLK
370
Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banishèd,
Once by the King, and three times thrice by thee.
’Tis not the land I care for, wert thou thence.
A wilderness is populous enough,
So Suffolk had thy heavenly company;
375
For where thou art, there is the world itself,
With every several pleasure in the world;
And where thou art not, desolation.
I can no more. Live thou to joy thy life;
Myself no joy in naught but that thou liv’st.
SUFFOLK
370
Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banishèd,
Once by the King, and three times thrice by thee.
’Tis not the land I care for, wert thou thence.
A wilderness is populous enough,
So Suffolk had thy heavenly company;
375
For where thou art, there is the world itself,
With every several pleasure in the world;
And where thou art not, desolation.
I can no more. Live thou to joy thy life;
Myself no joy in naught but that thou liv’st.
Enter VAUX.
Enter VAUX.
QUEEN MARGARET
380
Whither goes Vaux so fast? What news, I prithee?
QUEEN MARGARET
380
Whither goes Vaux so fast? What news, I prithee?
VAUX
To signify unto his Majesty,
That Cardinal Beaufort is at point of death;
For suddenly a grievous sickness took him
That makes him gasp and stare and catch the air,
385
Blaspheming God and cursing men on Earth.
Sometimes he talks as if Duke Humphrey’s ghost
Were by his side; sometimes he calls the King
And whispers to his pillow, as to him,
The secrets of his overchargèd soul.
390
And I am sent to tell his Majesty
That even now he cries aloud for him.
VAUX
To signify unto his Majesty,
That Cardinal Beaufort is at point of death;
For suddenly a grievous sickness took him
That makes him gasp and stare and catch the air,
385
Blaspheming God and cursing men on Earth.
Sometimes he talks as if Duke Humphrey’s ghost
Were by his side; sometimes he calls the King
And whispers to his pillow, as to him,
The secrets of his overchargèd soul.
390
And I am sent to tell his Majesty
That even now he cries aloud for him.
QUEEN MARGARET
Go, tell this heavy message to the King. VAUX exits.
Ay me! What is this world? What news are these!
But wherefore grieve I at an hour’s poor loss,
395
Omitting Suffolk’s exile, my soul’s treasure?
Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee,
And with the southern clouds contend in tears—
Theirs for the earth’s increase, mine for my
sorrows’?
400
Now get thee hence. The King, thou know’st, is
coming;
If thou be found by me, thou art but dead.
QUEEN MARGARET
Go, tell this heavy message to the King. VAUX exits.
Ay me! What is this world? What news are these!
But wherefore grieve I at an hour’s poor loss,
395
Omitting Suffolk’s exile, my soul’s treasure?
Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee,
And with the southern clouds contend in tears—
Theirs for the earth’s increase, mine for my
sorrows’?
400
Now get thee hence. The King, thou know’st, is
coming;
If thou be found by me, thou art but dead.
SUFFOLK
If I depart from thee, I cannot live;
And in thy sight to die, what were it else
405
But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap?
Here could I breathe my soul into the air,
As mild and gentle as the cradle babe
Dying with mother’s dug between its lips;
Where, from thy sight, I should be raging mad
410
And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes,
To have thee with thy lips to stop my mouth.
So shouldst thou either turn my flying soul,
Or I should breathe it so into thy body,
And then it lived in sweet Elysium.
415
To die by thee were but to die in jest;
From thee to die were torture more than death.
O, let me stay, befall what may befall!
SUFFOLK
If I depart from thee, I cannot live;
And in thy sight to die, what were it else
405
But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap?
Here could I breathe my soul into the air,
As mild and gentle as the cradle babe
Dying with mother’s dug between its lips;
Where, from thy sight, I should be raging mad
410
And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes,
To have thee with thy lips to stop my mouth.
So shouldst thou either turn my flying soul,
Or I should breathe it so into thy body,
And then it lived in sweet Elysium.
415
To die by thee were but to die in jest;
From thee to die were torture more than death.
O, let me stay, befall what may befall!
QUEEN MARGARET
Away! Though parting be a fretful corrosive,
It is applièd to a deathful wound.
420
To France, sweet Suffolk. Let me hear from thee,
For wheresoe’er thou art in this world’s globe,
I’ll have an Iris that shall find thee out.
QUEEN MARGARET
Away! Though parting be a fretful corrosive,
It is applièd to a deathful wound.
420
To France, sweet Suffolk. Let me hear from thee,
For wheresoe’er thou art in this world’s globe,
I’ll have an Iris that shall find thee out.
SUFFOLK
I go.
SUFFOLK
I go.
QUEEN MARGARET
And take my heart with thee.
QUEEN MARGARET
And take my heart with thee.
SUFFOLK
425
A jewel locked into the woefull’st cask
That ever did contain a thing of worth!
Even as a splitted bark, so sunder we.
This way fall I to death.
SUFFOLK
425
A jewel locked into the woefull’st cask
That ever did contain a thing of worth!
Even as a splitted bark, so sunder we.
This way fall I to death.
QUEEN MARGARET
This way for me.
QUEEN MARGARET
This way for me.
They exit through different doors.
They exit through different doors.

Original Text

Modern Text
Enter two or three running over the stage, from the murder of DUKE HUMPHREY.
Enter two or three running over the stage, from the murder of DUKE HUMPHREY.
FIRST MURDERER
Run to my lord of Suffolk. Let him know
We have dispatched the Duke as he commanded.
FIRST MURDERER
Run to my lord of Suffolk. Let him know
We have dispatched the Duke as he commanded.
SECOND MURDERER
O, that it were to do! What have we done?
Didst ever hear a man so penitent?
SECOND MURDERER
O, that it were to do! What have we done?
Didst ever hear a man so penitent?
Enter SUFFOLK.
Enter SUFFOLK.
FIRST MURDERER
5
Here comes my lord.
FIRST MURDERER
5
Here comes my lord.
SUFFOLK
Now, sirs, have you dispatched this thing?
SUFFOLK
Now, sirs, have you dispatched this thing?
FIRST MURDERER
Ay, my good lord, he’s dead.
FIRST MURDERER
Ay, my good lord, he’s dead.
SUFFOLK
Why, that’s well said. Go, get you to my house;
I will reward you for this venturous deed.
10
The King and all the peers are here at hand.
Have you laid fair the bed? Is all things well,
According as I gave directions?
SUFFOLK
Why, that’s well said. Go, get you to my house;
I will reward you for this venturous deed.
10
The King and all the peers are here at hand.
Have you laid fair the bed? Is all things well,
According as I gave directions?
FIRST MURDERER
’Tis, my good lord.
FIRST MURDERER
’Tis, my good lord.
SUFFOLK
Away, be gone.
SUFFOLK
Away, be gone.
The MURDERERS exit.
The MURDERERS exit.
Sound trumpets. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, CARDINAL, SOMERSET, with ATTENDANTS.
Sound trumpets. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, CARDINAL, SOMERSET, with ATTENDANTS.
KING HENRY
15
Go, call our uncle to our presence straight.
Say we intend to try his Grace today
If he be guilty, as ’tis publishèd.
KING HENRY
15
Go, call our uncle to our presence straight.
Say we intend to try his Grace today
If he be guilty, as ’tis publishèd.
SUFFOLK
I’ll call him presently, my noble lord. He exits.
SUFFOLK
I’ll call him presently, my noble lord. He exits.
KING HENRY
Lords, take your places; and, I pray you all,
20
Proceed no straiter ’gainst our uncle Gloucester
Than from true evidence of good esteem
He be approved in practice culpable.
KING HENRY
Lords, take your places; and, I pray you all,
20
Proceed no straiter ’gainst our uncle Gloucester
Than from true evidence of good esteem
He be approved in practice culpable.
QUEEN MARGARET
God forbid any malice should prevail
That faultless may condemn a nobleman!
25
Pray God he may acquit him of suspicion!
QUEEN MARGARET
God forbid any malice should prevail
That faultless may condemn a nobleman!
25
Pray God he may acquit him of suspicion!
KING HENRY
I thank thee, Meg. These words content me much.
Enter SUFFOLK.
How now? Why look’st thou pale? Why tremblest
thou?
Where is our uncle? What’s the matter, Suffolk?
KING HENRY
I thank thee, Meg. These words content me much.
Enter SUFFOLK.
How now? Why look’st thou pale? Why tremblest
thou?
Where is our uncle? What’s the matter, Suffolk?
SUFFOLK
30
Dead in his bed, my lord. Gloucester is dead.
SUFFOLK
30
Dead in his bed, my lord. Gloucester is dead.
QUEEN MARGARET
Marry, God forfend!
QUEEN MARGARET
Marry, God forfend!
CARDINAL
God’s secret judgment. I did dream tonight
The Duke was dumb and could not speak a word.
CARDINAL
God’s secret judgment. I did dream tonight
The Duke was dumb and could not speak a word.
KING HENRY swoons.
KING HENRY swoons.
QUEEN MARGARET
How fares my lord? Help, lords, the King is dead!
QUEEN MARGARET
How fares my lord? Help, lords, the King is dead!
SOMERSET
35
Rear up his body. Wring him by the nose.
SOMERSET
35
Rear up his body. Wring him by the nose.
QUEEN MARGARET
Run, go, help, help! O Henry, ope thine eyes!
QUEEN MARGARET
Run, go, help, help! O Henry, ope thine eyes!
KING HENRY stirs.
KING HENRY stirs.
SUFFOLK
He doth revive again. Madam, be patient.
SUFFOLK
He doth revive again. Madam, be patient.
KING HENRY
O heavenly God!
KING HENRY
O heavenly God!
QUEEN MARGARET
How fares my gracious lord?
QUEEN MARGARET
How fares my gracious lord?
SUFFOLK
40
Comfort, my sovereign! Gracious Henry, comfort!
SUFFOLK
40
Comfort, my sovereign! Gracious Henry, comfort!
KING HENRY
What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me?
Came he right now to sing a raven’s note,
Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers,
And thinks he that the chirping of a wren,
45
By crying comfort from a hollow breast,
Can chase away the first-conceivèd sound?
Hide not thy poison with such sugared words.
Lay not thy hands on me. Forbear, I say!
Their touch affrights me as a serpent’s sting.
50
Thou baleful messenger, out of my sight!
Upon thy eyeballs, murderous Tyranny
Sits in grim majesty to fright the world.
Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding.
Yet do not go away. Come, basilisk,
55
And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight;
For in the shade of death I shall find joy,
In life but double death, now Gloucester’s dead.
KING HENRY
What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me?
Came he right now to sing a raven’s note,
Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers,
And thinks he that the chirping of a wren,
45
By crying comfort from a hollow breast,
Can chase away the first-conceivèd sound?
Hide not thy poison with such sugared words.
Lay not thy hands on me. Forbear, I say!
Their touch affrights me as a serpent’s sting.
50
Thou baleful messenger, out of my sight!
Upon thy eyeballs, murderous Tyranny
Sits in grim majesty to fright the world.
Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding.
Yet do not go away. Come, basilisk,
55
And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight;
For in the shade of death I shall find joy,
In life but double death, now Gloucester’s dead.
QUEEN MARGARET
Why do you rate my lord of Suffolk thus?
Although the Duke was enemy to him,
60
Yet he most Christian-like laments his death.
And for myself, foe as he was to me,
Might liquid tears or heart-offending groans
Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life,
I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans,
65
Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs,
And all to have the noble duke alive.
What know I how the world may deem of me?
For it is known we were but hollow friends.
It may be judged I made the Duke away;
70
So shall my name with slander’s tongue be wounded
And princes’ courts be filled with my reproach.
This get I by his death. Ay me, unhappy,
To be a queen and crowned with infamy!
QUEEN MARGARET
Why do you rate my lord of Suffolk thus?
Although the Duke was enemy to him,
60
Yet he most Christian-like laments his death.
And for myself, foe as he was to me,
Might liquid tears or heart-offending groans
Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life,
I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans,
65
Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs,
And all to have the noble duke alive.
What know I how the world may deem of me?
For it is known we were but hollow friends.
It may be judged I made the Duke away;
70
So shall my name with slander’s tongue be wounded
And princes’ courts be filled with my reproach.
This get I by his death. Ay me, unhappy,
To be a queen and crowned with infamy!
KING HENRY
Ah, woe is me for Gloucester, wretched man!
KING HENRY
Ah, woe is me for Gloucester, wretched man!
QUEEN MARGARET
75
Be woe for me, more wretched than he is.
What, dost thou turn away and hide thy face?
I am no loathsome leper. Look on me.
What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf?
Be poisonous too, and kill thy forlorn queen.
80
Is all thy comfort shut in Gloucester’s tomb?
Why, then, Dame Margaret was ne’er thy joy.
Erect his statue and worship it,
And make my image but an alehouse sign.
Was I for this nigh-wracked upon the sea
85
And twice by awkward wind from England’s bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?
What boded this, but well forewarning wind
Did seem to say “Seek not a scorpion’s nest,
Nor set no footing on this unkind shore”?
90
What did I then but cursed the gentle gusts
And he that loosed them forth their brazen caves
And bid them blow towards England’s blessèd shore
Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock?
Yet Aeolus would not be a murderer,
95
But left that hateful office unto thee.
The pretty-vaulting sea refused to drown me,
Knowing that thou wouldst have me drowned on
shore
With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness.
100
The splitting rocks cow’red in the sinking sands
And would not dash me with their ragged sides
Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they,
Might in thy palace perish Margaret.
As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs,
105
When from thy shore the tempest beat us back,
I stood upon the hatches in the storm,
And when the dusky sky began to rob
My earnest-gaping sight of thy land’s view,
I took a costly jewel from my neck—
110
A heart it was, bound in with diamonds—
And threw it towards thy land. The sea received it,
And so I wished thy body might my heart.
And even with this I lost fair England’s view,
And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart,
115
And called them blind and dusky spectacles
For losing ken of Albion’s wishèd coast.
How often have I tempted Suffolk’s tongue,
The agent of thy foul inconstancy,
To sit and watch me, as Ascanius did
120
When he to madding Dido would unfold
His father’s acts commenced in burning Troy!
Am I not witched like her, or thou not false like
him?
Ay me, I can no more. Die, Margaret,
125
For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long.
QUEEN MARGARET
75
Be woe for me, more wretched than he is.
What, dost thou turn away and hide thy face?
I am no loathsome leper. Look on me.
What, art thou, like the adder, waxen deaf?
Be poisonous too, and kill thy forlorn queen.
80
Is all thy comfort shut in Gloucester’s tomb?
Why, then, Dame Margaret was ne’er thy joy.
Erect his statue and worship it,
And make my image but an alehouse sign.
Was I for this nigh-wracked upon the sea
85
And twice by awkward wind from England’s bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?
What boded this, but well forewarning wind
Did seem to say “Seek not a scorpion’s nest,
Nor set no footing on this unkind shore”?
90
What did I then but cursed the gentle gusts
And he that loosed them forth their brazen caves
And bid them blow towards England’s blessèd shore
Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock?
Yet Aeolus would not be a murderer,
95
But left that hateful office unto thee.
The pretty-vaulting sea refused to drown me,
Knowing that thou wouldst have me drowned on
shore
With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness.
100
The splitting rocks cow’red in the sinking sands
And would not dash me with their ragged sides
Because thy flinty heart, more hard than they,
Might in thy palace perish Margaret.
As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs,
105
When from thy shore the tempest beat us back,
I stood upon the hatches in the storm,
And when the dusky sky began to rob
My earnest-gaping sight of thy land’s view,
I took a costly jewel from my neck—
110
A heart it was, bound in with diamonds—
And threw it towards thy land. The sea received it,
And so I wished thy body might my heart.
And even with this I lost fair England’s view,
And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart,
115
And called them blind and dusky spectacles
For losing ken of Albion’s wishèd coast.
How often have I tempted Suffolk’s tongue,
The agent of thy foul inconstancy,
To sit and watch me, as Ascanius did
120
When he to madding Dido would unfold
His father’s acts commenced in burning Troy!
Am I not witched like her, or thou not false like
him?
Ay me, I can no more. Die, Margaret,
125
For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long.
Noise within. Enter WARWICK and SALISBURY, and many COMMONS.
Noise within. WARWICK and SALISBURY, and many

COMMONS

Common people; that is, peasants, merchants, and anyone else not in the aristocracy or clergy.

COMMONS
WARWICK
It is reported, mighty sovereign,
That good Duke Humphrey traitorously is murdered
By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort’s means.
The Commons, like an angry hive of bees
130
That want their leader, scatter up and down
And care not who they sting in his revenge.
Myself have calmed their spleenful mutiny,
Until they hear the order of his death.
WARWICK
It is reported, mighty sovereign,
That good Duke Humphrey traitorously is murdered
By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort’s means.
The Commons, like an angry hive of bees
130
That want their leader, scatter up and down
And care not who they sting in his revenge.
Myself have calmed their spleenful mutiny,
Until they hear the order of his death.
KING HENRY
That he is dead, good Warwick, ’tis too true;
135
But how he died God knows, not Henry.
Enter his chamber, view his breathless corpse,
And comment then upon his sudden death.
KING HENRY
That he is dead, good Warwick, ’tis too true;
135
But how he died God knows, not Henry.
Enter his chamber, view his breathless corpse,
And comment then upon his sudden death.
WARWICK
That shall I do, my liege.—Stay, Salisbury,
With the rude multitude till I return.
WARWICK
That shall I do, my liege.—Stay, Salisbury,
With the rude multitude till I return.
WARWICK exits through one door; SALISBURY and COMMONS exit through another.
WARWICK exits through one door; SALISBURY and COMMONS exit through another.
KING HENRY
140
O Thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts,
My thoughts that labor to persuade my soul
Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey’s life.
If my suspect be false, forgive me, God,
For judgment only doth belong to Thee.
145
Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips
With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain
Upon his face an ocean of salt tears,
To tell my love unto his dumb deaf trunk
And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling;
150
But all in vain are these mean obsequies.
And to survey his dead and earthy image,
What were it but to make my sorrow greater?
KING HENRY
140
O Thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts,
My thoughts that labor to persuade my soul
Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey’s life.
If my suspect be false, forgive me, God,
For judgment only doth belong to Thee.
145
Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips
With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain
Upon his face an ocean of salt tears,
To tell my love unto his dumb deaf trunk
And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling;
150
But all in vain are these mean obsequies.
And to survey his dead and earthy image,
What were it but to make my sorrow greater?
Bed put forth, bearing GLOUCESTER’S body. Enter WARWICK.
Bed put forth, bearing GLOUCESTER’S body. Enter WARWICK.
WARWICK
Come hither, gracious sovereign. View this body.
WARWICK
Come hither, gracious sovereign. View this body.
KING HENRY
That is to see how deep my grave is made,
155
For with his soul fled all my worldly solace;
For seeing him, I see my life in death.
KING HENRY
That is to see how deep my grave is made,
155
For with his soul fled all my worldly solace;
For seeing him, I see my life in death.
WARWICK
As surely as my soul intends to live
With that dread King that took our state upon Him
To free us from His Father’s wrathful curse,
160
I do believe that violent hands were laid
Upon the life of this thrice-famèd duke.
WARWICK
As surely as my soul intends to live
With that dread King that took our state upon Him
To free us from His Father’s wrathful curse,
160
I do believe that violent hands were laid
Upon the life of this thrice-famèd duke.
SUFFOLK
A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue!
What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?
SUFFOLK
A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue!
What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?
WARWICK
See how the blood is settled in his face.
165
Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,
Of ashy semblance, meager, pale, and bloodless,
Being all descended to the laboring heart,
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the same for aidance ’gainst the enemy,
170
Which with the heart there cools and ne’er
returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again.
But see, his face is black and full of blood;
His eyeballs further out than when he lived,
175
Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man;
His hair upreared, his nostrils stretched with
struggling;
His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped
And tugged for life and was by strength subdued.
180
Look, on the sheets his hair, you see, is sticking;
His well-proportioned beard made rough and
rugged,
Like to the summer’s corn by tempest lodged.
It cannot be but he was murdered here.
185
The least of all these signs were probable.
WARWICK
See how the blood is settled in his face.
165
Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,
Of ashy semblance, meager, pale, and bloodless,
Being all descended to the laboring heart,
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the same for aidance ’gainst the enemy,
170
Which with the heart there cools and ne’er
returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again.
But see, his face is black and full of blood;
His eyeballs further out than when he lived,
175
Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man;
His hair upreared, his nostrils stretched with
struggling;
His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasped
And tugged for life and was by strength subdued.
180
Look, on the sheets his hair, you see, is sticking;
His well-proportioned beard made rough and
rugged,
Like to the summer’s corn by tempest lodged.
It cannot be but he was murdered here.
185
The least of all these signs were probable.
The bed is removed.
The bed is removed.
SUFFOLK
Why, Warwick, who should do the Duke to death?
Myself and Beaufort had him in protection,
And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers.
SUFFOLK
Why, Warwick, who should do the Duke to death?
Myself and Beaufort had him in protection,
And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers.
WARWICK
But both of you were vowed Duke Humphrey’s foes,
190 To CARDINAL.
And you, forsooth, had the good duke
to keep.
’Tis like you would not feast him like a friend,
And ’tis well seen he found an enemy.
WARWICK
But both of you were vowed Duke Humphrey’s foes,
190 To CARDINAL.
And you, forsooth, had the good duke
to keep.
’Tis like you would not feast him like a friend,
And ’tis well seen he found an enemy.
QUEEN MARGARET
Then you, belike, suspect these noblemen
195
As guilty of Duke Humphrey’s timeless death.
QUEEN MARGARET
Then you, belike, suspect these noblemen
195
As guilty of Duke Humphrey’s timeless death.
WARWICK
Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding fresh,
And sees fast by a butcher with an ax,
But will suspect ’twas he that made the slaughter?
Who finds the partridge in the puttock’s nest
200
But may imagine how the bird was dead,
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?
Even so suspicious is this tragedy.
WARWICK
Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding fresh,
And sees fast by a butcher with an ax,
But will suspect ’twas he that made the slaughter?
Who finds the partridge in the puttock’s nest
200
But may imagine how the bird was dead,
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?
Even so suspicious is this tragedy.
QUEEN MARGARET
Are you the butcher, Suffolk? Where’s your knife?
Is Beaufort termed a kite? Where are his talons?
QUEEN MARGARET
Are you the butcher, Suffolk? Where’s your knife?
Is Beaufort termed a kite? Where are his talons?
SUFFOLK
205
I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men,
But here’s a vengeful sword, rusted with ease,
That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart
That slanders me with murder’s crimson badge.—
Say, if thou dar’st, proud lord of Warwickshire,
210
That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey’s death.
SUFFOLK
205
I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men,
But here’s a vengeful sword, rusted with ease,
That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart
That slanders me with murder’s crimson badge.—
Say, if thou dar’st, proud lord of Warwickshire,
210
That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey’s death.
WARWICK
What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?
WARWICK
What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?
QUEEN MARGARET
He dares not calm his contumelious spirit
Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
QUEEN MARGARET
He dares not calm his contumelious spirit
Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
WARWICK
215
Madam, be still—with reverence may I say—
For every word you speak in his behalf
Is slander to your royal dignity.
WARWICK
215
Madam, be still—with reverence may I say—
For every word you speak in his behalf
Is slander to your royal dignity.
SUFFOLK
Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanor!
If ever lady wronged her lord so much,
220
Thy mother took into her blameful bed
Some stern untutored churl, and noble stock
Was graft with crab-tree slip, whose fruit thou art
And never of the Nevilles’ noble race.
SUFFOLK
Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanor!
If ever lady wronged her lord so much,
220
Thy mother took into her blameful bed
Some stern untutored churl, and noble stock
Was graft with crab-tree slip, whose fruit thou art
And never of the Nevilles’ noble race.
WARWICK
But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee
225
And I should rob the deathsman of his fee,
Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames,
And that my sovereign’s presence makes me mild,
I would, false murd’rous coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy passèd speech
230
And say it was thy mother that thou meant’st,
That thou thyself wast born in bastardy;
And after all this fearful homage done,
Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell,
Pernicious bloodsucker of sleeping men!
WARWICK
But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee
225
And I should rob the deathsman of his fee,
Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames,
And that my sovereign’s presence makes me mild,
I would, false murd’rous coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy passèd speech
230
And say it was thy mother that thou meant’st,
That thou thyself wast born in bastardy;
And after all this fearful homage done,
Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell,
Pernicious bloodsucker of sleeping men!
SUFFOLK
235
Thou shalt be waking while I shed thy blood,
If from this presence thou dar’st go with me.
SUFFOLK
235
Thou shalt be waking while I shed thy blood,
If from this presence thou dar’st go with me.
WARWICK
Away even now, or I will drag thee hence!
Unworthy though thou art, I’ll cope with thee
And do some service to Duke Humphrey’s ghost.
WARWICK
Away even now, or I will drag thee hence!
Unworthy though thou art, I’ll cope with thee
And do some service to Duke Humphrey’s ghost.
WARWICK and SUFFOLK exit.
WARWICK and SUFFOLK exit.
KING HENRY
240
What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just,
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.
KING HENRY
240
What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just,
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.
A noise within.
A noise within.
QUEEN MARGARET
What noise is this?
QUEEN MARGARET
What noise is this?
Enter SUFFOLK and WARWICK, with their weapons drawn.
Enter SUFFOLK and WARWICK, with their weapons drawn.
KING HENRY
245
Why, how now, lords? Your wrathful weapons
drawn
Here in our presence? Dare you be so bold?
Why, what tumultuous clamor have we here?
KING HENRY
245
Why, how now, lords? Your wrathful weapons
drawn
Here in our presence? Dare you be so bold?
Why, what tumultuous clamor have we here?
SUFFOLK
The trait’rous Warwick, with the men of Bury,
250
Set all upon me, mighty sovereign.
SUFFOLK
The trait’rous Warwick, with the men of Bury,
250
Set all upon me, mighty sovereign.
Enter SALISBURY.
Enter SALISBURY.
SALISBURY , to the offstage COMMONS
Sirs, stand apart. The King shall know your mind.—
Dread lord, the Commons send you word by me,
Unless Lord Suffolk straight be done to death
Or banishèd fair England’s territories,
255
They will by violence tear him from your palace
And torture him with grievous ling’ring death.
They say, by him the good duke Humphrey died;
They say, in him they fear your Highness’ death;
And mere instinct of love and loyalty,
260
Free from a stubborn opposite intent,
As being thought to contradict your liking,
Makes them thus forward in his banishment.
They say, in care of your most royal person,
That if your Highness should intend to sleep,
265
And charge that no man should disturb your rest,
In pain of your dislike or pain of death,
Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict,
Were there a serpent seen with forkèd tongue
That slyly glided towards your Majesty,
270
It were but necessary you were waked,
Lest, being suffered in that harmful slumber,
The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal.
And therefore do they cry, though you forbid,
That they will guard you, whe’er you will or no,
275
From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is,
With whose envenomèd and fatal sting
Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,
They say, is shamefully bereft of life.
SALISBURY , to the offstage COMMONS
Sirs, stand apart. The King shall know your mind.—
Dread lord, the Commons send you word by me,
Unless Lord Suffolk straight be done to death
Or banishèd fair England’s territories,
255
They will by violence tear him from your palace
And torture him with grievous ling’ring death.
They say, by him the good duke Humphrey died;
They say, in him they fear your Highness’ death;
And mere instinct of love and loyalty,
260
Free from a stubborn opposite intent,
As being thought to contradict your liking,
Makes them thus forward in his banishment.
They say, in care of your most royal person,
That if your Highness should intend to sleep,
265
And charge that no man should disturb your rest,
In pain of your dislike or pain of death,
Yet, notwithstanding such a strait edict,
Were there a serpent seen with forkèd tongue
That slyly glided towards your Majesty,
270
It were but necessary you were waked,
Lest, being suffered in that harmful slumber,
The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal.
And therefore do they cry, though you forbid,
That they will guard you, whe’er you will or no,
275
From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is,
With whose envenomèd and fatal sting
Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,
They say, is shamefully bereft of life.
COMMONS , within
An answer from the King, my lord of Salisbury!
COMMONS , within
An answer from the King, my lord of Salisbury!
SUFFOLK
280
’Tis like the Commons, rude unpolished hinds,
Could send such message to their sovereign!
To SALISBURY. But you, my lord, were glad to be
employed,
To show how quaint an orator you are.
285
But all the honor Salisbury hath won
Is that he was the lord ambassador
Sent from a sort of tinkers to the King.
SUFFOLK
280
’Tis like the Commons, rude unpolished hinds,
Could send such message to their sovereign!
To SALISBURY. But you, my lord, were glad to be
employed,
To show how quaint an orator you are.
285
But all the honor Salisbury hath won
Is that he was the lord ambassador
Sent from a sort of tinkers to the King.
COMMONS , within
An answer from the King, or we will all break in.
COMMONS , within
An answer from the King, or we will all break in.
KING HENRY
Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me,
290
I thank them for their tender loving care;
And, had I not been cited so by them,
Yet did I purpose as they do entreat.
For, sure, my thoughts do hourly prophesy
Mischance unto my state by Suffolk’s means.
295
And therefore, by His Majesty I swear,
Whose far unworthy deputy I am,
He shall not breathe infection in this air
But three days longer, on the pain of death.
KING HENRY
Go, Salisbury, and tell them all from me,
290
I thank them for their tender loving care;
And, had I not been cited so by them,
Yet did I purpose as they do entreat.
For, sure, my thoughts do hourly prophesy
Mischance unto my state by Suffolk’s means.
295
And therefore, by His Majesty I swear,
Whose far unworthy deputy I am,
He shall not breathe infection in this air
But three days longer, on the pain of death.
SALISBURY exits.
SALISBURY exits.
QUEEN MARGARET
O Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk!
QUEEN MARGARET
O Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk!
KING HENRY
300
Ungentle queen to call him gentle Suffolk!
No more, I say. If thou dost plead for him,
Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath.
Had I but said, I would have kept my word;
But when I swear, it is irrevocable.
305 To SUFFOLK.
If, after three days’ space, thou here
be’st found
On any ground that I am ruler of,
The world shall not be ransom for thy life.—
Come, Warwick, come, good Warwick, go with me.
310
I have great matters to impart to thee.
KING HENRY
300
Ungentle queen to call him gentle Suffolk!
No more, I say. If thou dost plead for him,
Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath.
Had I but said, I would have kept my word;
But when I swear, it is irrevocable.
305 To SUFFOLK.
If, after three days’ space, thou here
be’st found
On any ground that I am ruler of,
The world shall not be ransom for thy life.—
Come, Warwick, come, good Warwick, go with me.
310
I have great matters to impart to thee.
All but the QUEEN and SUFFOLK exit.
All but the QUEEN and SUFFOLK exit.
QUEEN MARGARET , calling after KING HENRY and
WARWICK
Mischance and sorrow go along with you!
Heart’s discontent and sour affliction
Be playfellows to keep you company!
There’s two of you; the devil make a third,
315
And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!
QUEEN MARGARET , calling after KING HENRY and
WARWICK
Mischance and sorrow go along with you!
Heart’s discontent and sour affliction
Be playfellows to keep you company!
There’s two of you; the devil make a third,
315
And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!
SUFFOLK
Cease, gentle queen, these execrations,
And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.
SUFFOLK
Cease, gentle queen, these execrations,
And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.
QUEEN MARGARET
Fie, coward woman and soft-hearted wretch!
Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemies?
QUEEN MARGARET
Fie, coward woman and soft-hearted wretch!
Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemies?
SUFFOLK
320
A plague upon them! Wherefore should I curse
them?
Could curses kill, as doth the mandrake’s groan,
I would invent as bitter searching terms,
As curst, as harsh, and horrible to hear,
325
Delivered strongly through my fixèd teeth,
With full as many signs of deadly hate,
As lean-faced Envy in her loathsome cave.
My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words;
Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint;
330
Mine hair be fixed on end, as one distract;
Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban;
And even now my burdened heart would break
Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink!
Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste;
335
Their sweetest shade, a grove of cypress trees;
Their chiefest prospect, murd’ring basilisks;
Their softest touch, as smart as lizards’ stings!
Their music, frightful as the serpent’s hiss,
And boding screech owls make the consort full!
340
All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell—
SUFFOLK
320
A plague upon them! Wherefore should I curse
them?
Could curses kill, as doth the mandrake’s groan,
I would invent as bitter searching terms,
As curst, as harsh, and horrible to hear,
325
Delivered strongly through my fixèd teeth,
With full as many signs of deadly hate,
As lean-faced Envy in her loathsome cave.
My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words;
Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint;
330
Mine hair be fixed on end, as one distract;
Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban;
And even now my burdened heart would break
Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink!
Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste;
335
Their sweetest shade, a grove of cypress trees;
Their chiefest prospect, murd’ring basilisks;
Their softest touch, as smart as lizards’ stings!
Their music, frightful as the serpent’s hiss,
And boding screech owls make the consort full!
340
All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell—
QUEEN MARGARET
Enough, sweet Suffolk, thou torment’st thyself,
And these dread curses, like the sun ’gainst glass,
Or like an over-chargèd gun, recoil
And turn the force of them upon thyself.
QUEEN MARGARET
Enough, sweet Suffolk, thou torment’st thyself,
And these dread curses, like the sun ’gainst glass,
Or like an over-chargèd gun, recoil
And turn the force of them upon thyself.
SUFFOLK
345
You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave?
Now, by the ground that I am banished from,
Well could I curse away a winter’s night,
Though standing naked on a mountain top
Where biting cold would never let grass grow,
350
And think it but a minute spent in sport.
SUFFOLK
345
You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave?
Now, by the ground that I am banished from,
Well could I curse away a winter’s night,
Though standing naked on a mountain top
Where biting cold would never let grass grow,
350
And think it but a minute spent in sport.
QUEEN MARGARET
O, let me entreat thee cease! Give me thy hand,
That I may dew it with my mournful tears;
Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place
To wash away my woeful monuments.
She kisses his hand.
355
O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand,
That thou mightst think upon these by the seal,
Through whom a thousand sighs are breathed for
thee!
So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief;
360
’Tis but surmised whiles thou art standing by,
As one that surfeits thinking on a want.
I will repeal thee, or, be well assured,
Adventure to be banishèd myself;
And banishèd I am, if but from thee.
365
Go, speak not to me. Even now be gone!
O, go not yet! Even thus two friends condemned
Embrace and kiss and take ten thousand leaves,
Loather a hundred times to part than die.
They embrace.
Yet now farewell, and farewell life with thee.
QUEEN MARGARET
O, let me entreat thee cease! Give me thy hand,
That I may dew it with my mournful tears;
Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place
To wash away my woeful monuments.
She kisses his hand.
355
O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand,
That thou mightst think upon these by the seal,
Through whom a thousand sighs are breathed for
thee!
So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief;
360
’Tis but surmised whiles thou art standing by,
As one that surfeits thinking on a want.
I will repeal thee, or, be well assured,
Adventure to be banishèd myself;
And banishèd I am, if but from thee.
365
Go, speak not to me. Even now be gone!
O, go not yet! Even thus two friends condemned
Embrace and kiss and take ten thousand leaves,
Loather a hundred times to part than die.
They embrace.
Yet now farewell, and farewell life with thee.
SUFFOLK
370
Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banishèd,
Once by the King, and three times thrice by thee.
’Tis not the land I care for, wert thou thence.
A wilderness is populous enough,
So Suffolk had thy heavenly company;
375
For where thou art, there is the world itself,
With every several pleasure in the world;
And where thou art not, desolation.
I can no more. Live thou to joy thy life;
Myself no joy in naught but that thou liv’st.
SUFFOLK
370
Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banishèd,
Once by the King, and three times thrice by thee.
’Tis not the land I care for, wert thou thence.
A wilderness is populous enough,
So Suffolk had thy heavenly company;
375
For where thou art, there is the world itself,
With every several pleasure in the world;
And where thou art not, desolation.
I can no more. Live thou to joy thy life;
Myself no joy in naught but that thou liv’st.
Enter VAUX.
Enter VAUX.
QUEEN MARGARET
380
Whither goes Vaux so fast? What news, I prithee?
QUEEN MARGARET
380
Whither goes Vaux so fast? What news, I prithee?
VAUX
To signify unto his Majesty,
That Cardinal Beaufort is at point of death;
For suddenly a grievous sickness took him
That makes him gasp and stare and catch the air,
385
Blaspheming God and cursing men on Earth.
Sometimes he talks as if Duke Humphrey’s ghost
Were by his side; sometimes he calls the King
And whispers to his pillow, as to him,
The secrets of his overchargèd soul.
390
And I am sent to tell his Majesty
That even now he cries aloud for him.
VAUX
To signify unto his Majesty,
That Cardinal Beaufort is at point of death;
For suddenly a grievous sickness took him
That makes him gasp and stare and catch the air,
385
Blaspheming God and cursing men on Earth.
Sometimes he talks as if Duke Humphrey’s ghost
Were by his side; sometimes he calls the King
And whispers to his pillow, as to him,
The secrets of his overchargèd soul.
390
And I am sent to tell his Majesty
That even now he cries aloud for him.
QUEEN MARGARET
Go, tell this heavy message to the King. VAUX exits.
Ay me! What is this world? What news are these!
But wherefore grieve I at an hour’s poor loss,
395
Omitting Suffolk’s exile, my soul’s treasure?
Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee,
And with the southern clouds contend in tears—
Theirs for the earth’s increase, mine for my
sorrows’?
400
Now get thee hence. The King, thou know’st, is
coming;
If thou be found by me, thou art but dead.
QUEEN MARGARET
Go, tell this heavy message to the King. VAUX exits.
Ay me! What is this world? What news are these!
But wherefore grieve I at an hour’s poor loss,
395
Omitting Suffolk’s exile, my soul’s treasure?
Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee,
And with the southern clouds contend in tears—
Theirs for the earth’s increase, mine for my
sorrows’?
400
Now get thee hence. The King, thou know’st, is
coming;
If thou be found by me, thou art but dead.
SUFFOLK
If I depart from thee, I cannot live;
And in thy sight to die, what were it else
405
But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap?
Here could I breathe my soul into the air,
As mild and gentle as the cradle babe
Dying with mother’s dug between its lips;
Where, from thy sight, I should be raging mad
410
And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes,
To have thee with thy lips to stop my mouth.
So shouldst thou either turn my flying soul,
Or I should breathe it so into thy body,
And then it lived in sweet Elysium.
415
To die by thee were but to die in jest;
From thee to die were torture more than death.
O, let me stay, befall what may befall!
SUFFOLK
If I depart from thee, I cannot live;
And in thy sight to die, what were it else
405
But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap?
Here could I breathe my soul into the air,
As mild and gentle as the cradle babe
Dying with mother’s dug between its lips;
Where, from thy sight, I should be raging mad
410
And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes,
To have thee with thy lips to stop my mouth.
So shouldst thou either turn my flying soul,
Or I should breathe it so into thy body,
And then it lived in sweet Elysium.
415
To die by thee were but to die in jest;
From thee to die were torture more than death.
O, let me stay, befall what may befall!
QUEEN MARGARET
Away! Though parting be a fretful corrosive,
It is applièd to a deathful wound.
420
To France, sweet Suffolk. Let me hear from thee,
For wheresoe’er thou art in this world’s globe,
I’ll have an Iris that shall find thee out.
QUEEN MARGARET
Away! Though parting be a fretful corrosive,
It is applièd to a deathful wound.
420
To France, sweet Suffolk. Let me hear from thee,
For wheresoe’er thou art in this world’s globe,
I’ll have an Iris that shall find thee out.
SUFFOLK
I go.
SUFFOLK
I go.
QUEEN MARGARET
And take my heart with thee.
QUEEN MARGARET
And take my heart with thee.
SUFFOLK
425
A jewel locked into the woefull’st cask
That ever did contain a thing of worth!
Even as a splitted bark, so sunder we.
This way fall I to death.
SUFFOLK
425
A jewel locked into the woefull’st cask
That ever did contain a thing of worth!
Even as a splitted bark, so sunder we.
This way fall I to death.
QUEEN MARGARET
This way for me.
QUEEN MARGARET
This way for me.
They exit through different doors.
They exit through different doors.
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