King Henry VI, Part 2 | Page 4

and the
county of Maine
shall be released and delivered to the king her father'--
[Lets the paper fall.]
KING.
Uncle, how now!
GLOSTER.
Pardon me, gracious lord;
Some sudden qualm hath
struck me at the heart
And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no
further.
KING.
Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.

CARDINAL.
[Reads] '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 any dowry.'
KING.
They please us well.--Lord marquess, kneel down.
We here
create thee the first duke of Suffolk,
And girt thee with the
sword.--Cousin of York,
We here discharge your grace from being
regent
I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen months
Be full
expir'd.--Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Gloster, York, Buckingham,
Somerset,
Salisbury, and Warwick;
We thank you all for this great
favour done
In entertainment to my princely queen.
Come, let us in,
and with all speed provide
To see her coronation be perform'd.
[Exeunt King, Queen, and Suffolk.]
GLOSTER.
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 counsel 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 had
his highness in his infancy
Crowned in Paris in despite of foes?

And shall these labours and these honours die?
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!
CARDINAL.
Nephew, what means this passionate discourse,
This
peroration with such circumstance?
For France, 't is ours; and we will
keep it still.
GLOSTER.
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 duchy of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor
King Reignier, whose large style
Agrees not with the leanness of his
purse.
SALISBURY.
Now, by the death of Him that died for all,
These
counties were the keys of Normandy!--
But wherefore weeps
Warwick, my valiant son?
WARWICK.
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.
GLOSTER.
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--

CARDINAL.
My Lord of Gloster, now ye grow too hot;
It was the
pleasure of my lord the King.
GLOSTER.
My Lord of Winchester, I know your mind;
'T is not
my speeches that you do mislike,
But 't is my presence that doth
trouble ye.
Rancour will out.
Proud prelate, in thy face
I see thy
fury; if I longer stay,
We shall begin our ancient bickerings.--

Lordings, farewell; and say, when I am gone,
I prophesied France
will be lost ere long.
[Exit.]
CARDINAL.
So, there goes our protector in a rage.
'T is known to
you he is mine enemy,
Nay, more, an enemy unto you all,
And no
great friend, I fear me, to the king.
Consider, lords, he is the next of
blood,
And heir apparent to the English crown.
Had Henry got an
empire by his marriage,
And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west,

There's reason he should be displeas'd at it.
Look to it, lords.
Let
not his smoothing words
Bewitch your hearts; be wise and
circumspect.
What though the common people favour him,
Calling
him 'Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloster,'
Clapping their hands, and
crying with loud voice,
'Jesu maintain your royal excellence!'
With
'God preserve the good Duke Humphrey!'
I fear me, lords, for all this
flattering gloss,
He will be found a dangerous protector.
BUCKINGHAM.
Why should he, then, protect our sovereign,
He
being of age to govern of himself?--
Cousin of Somerset, join you
with me,
And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk,
We'll quickly
hoise Duke Humphrey from his seat.
CARDINAL.
This weighty business