3 Ser. My lord, we know your grace to be a man Just and upright; and, for your royal birth, Inferior to none but to his majesty:

And, ere that we will suffer such a prince,
So kind a father of the commonweal,

To be disgraced by an inkhorn mate,1

We, and our wives, and our children all will fight, And have our bodies slaughter'd by thy foes.

1 Ser. Ay, and the very parings of our nails Shall pitch a field, when we are dead.

Glos.

[skirmish again. Stay, stay, I say;

And, if you love me, as you say you do,

Let me persuade you to forbear awhile.

K. Hen. O, how this discord doth afflict my soul!

Can you, my lord of Winchester, behold

My sighs and tears, and will not once relent?
Who should be pitiful, if you be not?

Or who should study to prefer a peace,

If holy churchmen take delight in broils?

War. Yield, my lord protector;-yield, Winchester;

Except you mean, with obstinate repulse,
To slay your sovereign, and destroy the realm.
You see what mischief, and what murder too,
Hath been enacted through your enmity:
Then be at peace, except ye thirst for blood.

1 i. e. a bookinan, pedant.

Win. He shall submit, or I will never yield.

Glos. Compassion on the king commands me stoop;

Or I would see his heart out, ere the priest
Should ever get that privilege of me.

War. Behold, my lord of Winchester, the duke
Hath banish'd moody discontented fury,
As by his smoothed brows it doth appear.
Why look you still so stern and tragical ?

Glos. Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand.
K. Hen. Fie, uncle Beaufort! I have heard you
preach,

That malice was a great and grievous sin:
And will not you maintain the thing you teach,
But prove a chief offender in the same?

War. Sweet king!-the bishop hath a kindly gird.1

For shame, my lord of Winchester! relent.
What, shall a child instruct you what to do?

Win. Well, duke of Gloster, I will yield to thee: Love for thy love, and hand for hand I give.

Glos. Ay; but, I fear me, with a hollow heart.— See here, my friends, and loving countrymen ; This token serveth for a flag of truce Betwixt ourselves and all our followers: So help me God, as I dissemble not!

Win. So help me God, as I intend it not! [aside. K. Hen. O loving uncle, kind duke of Gloster,

Feels an emotion of kindness.

How joyful am I made by this contract!—
Away, my masters! trouble us no more;

But join in friendship, as your lords have done.
1 Ser. Content; I'll to the surgeon's.

2 Ser. And so will I. 3 Ser. And I will see what physic the tavern affords. [Exeunt Servants, Mayor, &c. War. Accept this scroll, most gracious sovereign, Which, in the right of Richard Plantagenet, We do exhibit to your majesty.

Glos. Well urged, my lord of Warwick;-for, sweet prince,

An if your grace mark every circumstance,
You have great reason to do Richard right;
Especially, for those occasions

At Eltham-place I told your majesty.

K. Hen. And those occasions, uncle, were of force:

Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is,
That Richard be restored to his blood.

War. Let Richard be restored to his blood;
So shall his father's wrongs be recompensed.
Win. As will the rest, so willeth Winchester.
K. Hen. If Richard will be true, not that alone,
But all the whole inheritance I give,

That doth belong unto the house of York,
From whence you spring by lineal descent.
Plan. Thy humble servant vows obedience,
And humble service, till the point of death.
K. Hen. Stoop then, and set your knee against
my foot;

And, in reguerdon 1 of that duty done,

I girt thee with the valiant sword of York:
Rise, Richard, like a true Plantagenet;

And rise created princely duke of York.

Plan. And so thrive Richard, as thy foes may fall!

And as my duty springs, so perish they

That grudge one thought against your majesty!
All. Welcome, high prince, the mighty duke of
York!

Som. Perish, base prince, ignoble duke of York!

[aside.

Glos. Now will it best avail your majesty,
To cross the seas, and to be crown'd in France.
The presence of a king engenders love

Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends,
As it disanimates his enemies.

K. Hen. When Gloster says the word, king

Henry goes;

For friendly counsel cuts off

many foes.

Glos. Your ships already are in readiness.

[Exeunt all but Exeter.

Exe. Ay, we may march in England or in

France,

Not seeing what is likely to ensue :

This late dissension,

grown

betwixt the peers,

Burns under feigned ashes of forged love,

And will at last break out into a flame.

1 Recompense.

As fester'd members rot but by degrees,

Till bones, and flesh, and sinews fall away,
So will this base and envious discord breed.
And now I fear that fatal prophecy,

Which, in the time of Henry, named the fifth,
Was in the mouth of every sucking babe ;-
That Henry, born at Monmouth, should win all;
And Henry, born at Windsor, should lose all :
Which is so plain, that Exeter doth wish

His days may finish ere that hapless time.

[Exit.

SCENE II.

France. Before Rouen.

Enter LA PUCELLE disguised, and Soldiers dressed like countrymen, with sacks upon their backs.

Pu. These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen, Through which our policy must make a breach. Take heed; be wary how you place your words: Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men, That come to gather money for their corn. If we have entrance, (as, I hope, we shall) And that we find the slothful watch but weak, I'll by a sign give notice to our friends, That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.

1 Sol. Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city, And we be lords and rulers over Rouen ;

Therefore we 'll knock.

Guard. [within.] Qui est là?

Pu. Paisans, pauvres gens de France:

[knocks.