SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI. ACT. I. SCENE I. London. A Room of State in the Palace. Flourish of Trumpets: then Haut boys. Enter, on one side, King HENRY, Duke of GLOSTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and Cardinal BEAUFORT; on the other, Queen MARGARET, led in by SUFFOLK; YORK, SOMERSET, BUCKINGHAM, and Others following. Suff. As by your high' imperial majesty To marry princess Margaret for your grace; The dukes of Orleans, Calabar, Bretaigne, and Alençon, Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bishops, As by your high, &c.] It is apparent that this play begins where the former ends, and continues the series of transactions of which it presupposes the first part already known. This is a sufficient proof that the second and third parts were not written without dependance on the first, though they were printed as containing a complete period of history. JOHNSON. I have perform'd my task, and was espous'd: To your most gracious hands, that are the sub stance Of that great shadow I did represent; K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.-Welcome, queen Mar- I can express no kinder sign of love, Than this kind kiss.-O Lord, that lends me life, * If sympathy of love unite our thoughts. 'Q. Mar. Great king of England, and my gracious lord; The mutual conference2 that my mind hath had→→→ By day, by night; waking, and in my dreams; In courtly company, or at my beads,• With you mine alder-liefest sovereign,' Makes me the bolder to salute my king With ruder terms; such as my wit affords, 'And over-joy of heart doth minister. "K. Hen. Her sight did ravish: but her grace in speech, Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty, Makes me, from wondering fall to weeping joys; Such is the fulness of my heart's content. 'Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love. 3 * The mutual conference-] I am the bolder to address you, having already familiarized you to my imagination. JOHNSON. mine alder-liefest sovereign,] Alder-liefest is a corruption of the German word alder-leibste, beloved above all things, dearest of all. 12 1 All. Long live queen Margaret, England's hap piness! Q. Mar. We thank you all. [Flourish. Suf. My lord protector, so it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace, Between our sovereign and the French king Charles, "For eighteen months concluded by consent. Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king, Charles, and William de la Poole, marquess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry king of England, that the said Henry shall espouse the lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier king of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerusalem; and crown her queen of England, ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing.Item,-That the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine, shall be released and delivered to the king her father K. Hen. Uncle, how now? Glo. Pardon me, gracious lord; Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart, And dimm'd mine eyes that I can read no further. K. Hen. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on. Win. Item,—It is further agreed between them, that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered over to the king her father; and she sent over of the king of England's own proper cost and charges, without having dowry. K. Hen. They please us well.-Lord marquess, We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk, Cousin of York, we here discharge your grace Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick; VOL. V. FF We thank you all for this great favour done, 6 [Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk. Glo. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state, To you duke Humphrey must unload his grief, "Your grief, the common grief of all the land. "What! did my brother Henry spend his youth, 'His valour, coin, and people, in the wars? 'Did he so often lodge in open field, In winter's cold, and summer's parching heat, To conquer France, his true inheritance? And did my brother Bedford toil his wits, To keep by policy what Henry got? • Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham, Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick, Receiv'd deep scars in France and Normandy? 'Or hath mine uncle Beaufort, and myself, With all the learned council of the realm, • Studied so long, sat in the council-house, Early and late, debating to and fro "How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe ?" "And hath his highness in his infancy "Been crown'd in Paris, in despite of foes? "And shall these labours, and these honours, die è 'Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance, Your deeds of war, and all our counsel, die? "O peers of England, shameful is this league! Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame: < Blotting your names from books of memory: Razing the characters of your renown; 'Defacing monuments of conquer'd France; Undoing all, as all had never been! "Car. Nephew, what means this passionate dis course? This peroration with such circumstance ?* For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still. *Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can; * But now it is impossible we should: Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast, 'Hath given the duchies of Anjou and Maine * Unto the poor king Reignier, whose large style * Agrees not with the leanness of his purse. * Sal. Now, by the death of him that died for all, * These counties were the keys of Normandy:But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son? War. For grief, that they are past recovery: For were there hope to conquer them again, "My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears. Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both; Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer: And are the cities, that I got with wounds, 'Deliver'd up again with peaceful words? 'Mort Dieu! * York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be suffocate, *That dims the honour of this warlike isle! * France should have torn and rent my very heart, * Before I would have yielded to this league. 'I never read but England's kings have had 'Large sums of gold, and dowries, with their wives: And our king Henry gives away his own, 'To match with her that brings no vantages. *Glo. A proper jest, and never heard before, * That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth, *For costs and charges in transporting her! * She should have staid in France, and starv'd in France, *Before 4 This peroration with such circumstance?] This speech crouded with so many instances of aggravation. JOHNSON. 5 And are the cities, &c.] The indignation of Warwick is natural, and I wish it had been better expressed; there is a kind of jingle intended in wounds and words. JOHNSON. |