King Henry VI, Part 2 | Page 7

a pupil still?Under the surly Gloster's governance??Am I a queen in title and in style,?And must be made a subject to a duke??I tell thee, Pole, when in the city Tours?Thou ran'st a tilt in honour of my love?And stol'st away the ladies' hearts of France,?I thought King Henry had resembled thee?In courage, courtship, and proportion;?But all his mind is bent to holiness,?To number Ave-Maries on his beads,?His champions are the prophets and apostles,?His weapons holy saws of sacred writ,?His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves?Are brazen images of canoniz'd saints.?I would the college of the cardinals?Would choose him pope and carry him to Rome,?And set the triple crown upon his head;?That were a state fit for his holiness.
SUFFOLK.?Madam, be patient; as I was cause?Your highness came to England, so will I?In England work your grace's full content.
QUEEN.?Beside the haughty protector, have we Beaufort?The imperious churchman, Somerset, Buckingham,?And grumbling York; and not the least of these?But can do more in England than the king.
SUFFOLK.?And he of these that can do most of all?Cannot do more in England than the Nevils;?Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.
QUEEN.?Not all these lords do vex me half so much?As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife.?She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies,?More like an empress than Duke Humphrey's wife.?Strangers in court do take her for the queen;?She bears a duke's revenues on her back,?And in her heart she scorns our poverty.?Shall I not live to be aveng'd on her??Contemptuous base-born callat as she is,?She vaunted 'mongst her minions t' other day,?The very train of her worst wearing gown?Was better worth than all my father's land?Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.
SUFFOLK.?Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her,?And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds?That she will light to listen to the lays,?And never mount to trouble you again.?So, let her rest; and, madam, list to me,?For I am bold to counsel you in this.?Although we fancy not the cardinal,?Yet must we join with him and with the lords?Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace.?As for the Duke of York, this late complaint?Will make but little for his benefit.?So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last,?And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.
[Sennet. Enter the KING, DUKE HUMPHREY, CARDINAL?BEAUFORT, BUCKINGHAM, YORK, SOMERSET, SALISBURY,?WARWICK, and the DUCHESS OF GLOSTER.]
KING.?For my part, noble lords, I care not which;?Or Somerset or York, all's one to me.
YORK.?If York have ill demean'd himself in France,?Then let him be denay'd the regentship.
SOMERSET.?If Somerset be unworthy of the place,?Let York be regent; I will yield to him.
WARWICK.?Whether your grace be worthy, yea or no,?Dispute not that; York is the worthier.
CARDINAL.?Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
WARWICK.?The cardinal's not my better in the field.
BUCKINGHAM.?All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.
WARWICK.?Warwick may live to be the best of all.
SALISBURY.?Peace, son!--and show some reason, Buckingham,?Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this.
QUEEN.?Because the king, forsooth, will have it so.
GLOSTER.?Madam, the King is old enough himself?To give his censure; these are no women's matters.
QUEEN.?If he be old enough, what needs your grace?To be protector of his excellence?
GLOSTER.?Madam, I am protector of the realm,?And, at his pleasure, will resign my place.
SUFFOLK.?Resign it then, and leave thine insolence.?Since thou wert king--as who is king but thou?--?The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack;?The Dauphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas;?And all the peers and nobles of the realm?Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.
CARDINAL.?The commons hast thou rack'd; the clergy's bags?Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
SOMERSET.?Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife's attire?Have cost a mass of public treasury.
BUCKINGHAM.?Thy cruelty in execution?Upon offenders hath exceeded law,?And left thee to the mercy of the law.
QUEEN.?Thy sale of offices and towns in France,?If they were known, as the suspect is great,?Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.--
[Exit Gloster. The Queen drops her fan..]
Give me my fan. What minion! can ye not?
[She gives the Duchess a box on the ear.]
I cry your mercy, madam; was it you?
DUCHESS.?Was 't I! yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman.?Could I come near your beauty with my nails,?I'd set my ten commandments in your face.
KING.?Sweet aunt, be quiet; 't was against her will.
DUCHESS.?Against her will! good king, look to 't in time;?She'll hamper thee and dandle thee like a baby.?Though in this place most master wear no breeches,?She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unreveng'd.
[Exit.]
BUCKINGHAM.?Lord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor,?And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds.?She's tickled now; her fume needs no spurs,?She'll gallop far enough to her destruction.
[Exit.]
[Re-enter GLOSTER.]
GLOSTER.?Now, lords, my choler being overblown?With walking once about the quadrangle,?I come to talk of commonwealth affairs.?As for your spiteful false objections,?Prove them, and I lie open to the law;?But God in mercy so deal with my soul?As I in duty love my king and country!?But, to the matter that we