6

Boling. What fate awaits the duke of Suffolk?
Spir. By water shall he die, and take his end.
Boling. What shall befall the duke of Somerset ?
Spir. Let him shun castles

Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains,

Than where castles mounted stand.

'Have done, for more I hardly can endure.

Boling. Descend to darkness, and the burning lake; False fiend, avoid!

[Thunder and lightning. Spirit descends.

Enter YORK and BUCKINGHAM, hastily, with their Guards, and others.

• York. Lay hands upon these traitors, and their trash.

'Beldame, I think we watched you at an inch.• What, madam, are you there? The king and commonweal

Are deeply indebted for this piece of pains;

My lord protector will, I doubt it not,

• See you well guerdoned for these good deserts.

*Duch. Not half so bad as thine to England's king, Injurious duke; that threat'st where is no cause.

this?

* Buck. True, madam, none at all. What call you [Showing her the papers. ' Away with them; let them be clapped up close, · And kept asunder.-You, madam, shall with us: 'Stafford, take her to thee.

[Exit Duchess, from above. • We'll see your trinkets here all forth-coming; • All.-Away!

* York.

[Exeunt Guards, with SOUTH., BOLING., &c. Lord Buckingham, methinks you watched

her well.

* A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon!
Now, pray, my lord, let's see the devil's writ.
What have we here?

The duke yet lives, that Henry shall depose;
But him outlive, and die a violent death.

[Reads.

*Why, this is just,

* Aio te, Eacida, Romanos vincere posse.
Well, to the rest:

Tell me, what fate awaits the duke of Suffolk?
By water shall he die, and take his end.-

What shall betide the duke of Somerset ?

Let him shun castles;

Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains,
Than where castles mounted stand.

* Come, come, my lords;

*These oracles are hardily attained,

* And hardly understood.

'The king is now in progress toward Saint Albans, With him the husband of this lovely lady..

'Thither go these news, as fast as horse can carry them;

A sorry breakfast for my lord protector.

• Buck. Your grace shall give me leave, my lord of York,

To be the post, in hope of his reward.

· York. At your pleasure, my good lord.-Who's ' within there, ho!

Enter a Servant.

'Invite my lords of Salisbury, and Warwick,

To sup with me to-morrow night.-Away!

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. Saint Albans.

Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, GLOSTER, Cardinal, and SUFFOLK, with Falconers hollaing.

Q. Mar. Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,1 'I saw not better sport these seven years' day.

1 The falconer's term for hawking at water-fowl.

'Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high; And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.1

· K. Hen. But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, And what a pitch she flew above the rest!— To see how God in all his creatures works! * Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high. Suff. No marvel, an it like your majesty, My lord protector's hawks to tower so well; They know their master loves to be aloft, *And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base, ignoble mind

That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

· Car. I thought as much; he'd be above the clouds. Glo. Ay, my lord cardinal; how think you by that ?

Were it not good, your grace could fly to heaven? *K. Hen. The treasury of everlasting joy!

· Car. Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts

2

'Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart; Pernicious protector, dangerous peer,

That smooth'st it so with king and commonweal! Glo. What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown peremptory?

*Tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ?

'Churchmen so hot? Good uncle, hide such malice; With such holiness can you do it?

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Suff. No malice, sir; no more than well becomes

• So good a quarrel, and so bad a peer.

1 Johnson was informed that the meaning here is, "the wind being high, it was ten to one that the old hawk had flown quite away; a trick which hawks often play their masters in windy weather." But surely not going out cannot signify not coming home. Dr. Percy's interpretation is entirely opposed to this: he explains it," The wind was so high it was ten to one that old Joan would not have taken her flight at the game." Latham's Falconry confirms Dr. Percy's explanation. "When you shall come afterward to fly her she must be altogether guided and governed by her stomacke; yea, she will be kept and also lost by the same; for let her faile of that never so little, and every puff of wind will blow her away from you; nay, if there be no wind stirring, yet she will wheele and sinke away from him and from his voice, that all the time before had lured and trained her up." Booke i. p. 60, Ed. 1633.

2 i. e. thy mind is working on a crown.

Glo. As who, my lord?

Suff.

Why, as you, my lord; An't like your lordly lord protectorship.

Glo. Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence. Q. Mar. And thy ambition, Gloster.

K. Hen. I pr'ythee, peace, Good queen; and whet not on these furious peers, For blessed are the peacemakers on earth.

Car. Let me be blessed for the peace I make, Against this proud protector, with my sword! Glo. 'Faith, holy uncle, 'would 'twere come to that! [Aside to the Cardinal.

'Car. Marry, when thou dar'st.

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[Aside.

[Aside.

Glo. Make up no factious numbers for the matter, In thine own person answer thy abuse.

'Car. Ay, where thou dar'st not peep; an if thou

dar'st,

This evening, on the east side of the grove. [Aside. 'K. Hen. How now, my lords?

• Car. Believe me, cousin Gloster, 'Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly,

• We had had more sport.-Come with thy two-hand

sword.1

Glo. True, uncle.

[Aside to GLO.

Car. Are you advised?-the east side of the grove? Glo. Cardinal, I am with you.

K. Hen.

[Aside.

Why, how now, uncle Gloster?

Glo. Talking of hawking; nothing else, my

lord.

Now, by God's mother, priest, I'll shave your crown

for this,

*Or all my fence shall fail.

• P. Car. Medice teipsum protect yourself.}

• Protector, see to't well, protect yourself.

[Aside.

[Aside.

K. Hen. The winds grow high; so do your

stomachs, lords.

* How irksome is this music to my heart!

1 The "two-hand-sword" was sometimes called the long-sword, and in common use before the introduction of the rapier. In the original play, the cardinal desires Gloster to bring his sword and buckler.

*When such strings jar, what hope of harmony? * I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.

Enter an Inhabitant of Saint Albans, crying A
Miracle! 1

1

Glo. What means this noise?

Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?

Inhab. A miracle! a miracle!

Suff. Come to the king, and tell him what miracle. Inhab. Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine, Within this half hour, hath received his sight;

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

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K. Hen. Now, God be praised! that to believing souls

Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!

Enter the Mayor of Saint Albans, and his Brethren; and SIMPCox, borne between two Persons in a chair; his Wife, and a great Multitude, following.

* Car. Here come the townsmen on procession, *To present your highness with the man.

*K. Hen. Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, Although by his sight his sin be multiplied.

*Glo. Stand by, my masters; bring him near the king;

* His highness' pleasure is to talk with him.

* K. Hen. Good fellow, tell us here the circum

stance,

*That we for thee may glorify the Lord.

What, hast thou been long blind, and now restored?
Simp. Born blind, an't please your grace.
Wife. Ay, indeed, was he.

Suff. What woman is this?

1 This scene is founded on a story which sir Thomas More has related, and which he says was communicated to him by his father. The impostor's name is not mentioned; but he was detected by Humphrey duke of Gloster, and in the manner here represented. See More's Works, p. 134, Edit. 1557.