Henry VI, Part II

gold to bring the witch:
Gold cannot come amiss, were she a devil.
Yet have I gold flies from another coast;
I dare not say, from the rich cardinal
And from the great and new-made Duke of Suffolk,
Yet I do find it so; for, to be plain,
They, knowing Dame Eleanor’s aspiring humour,
Have hired me to undermine the duchess
And buz these conjurations in her brain.
They say “A crafty knave does need no broker;”
Yet am I Suffolk and the cardinal’s broker.
Hume, if you take not heed, you shall go near
To call them both a pair of crafty knaves.
Well, so it stands; and thus, I fear, at last
Hume’s knavery will be the duchess’ wreck,
And her attainture will be Humphrey’s fall:
Sort how it will, I shall have gold for all. Exit.

Scene III

The palace.

	Enter three or four Petitioners, Peter, the Armourer’s man, being one.
First Petitioner	My masters, let’s stand close: my lord protector will come this way by and by, and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill.
Second Petitioner	Marry, the Lord protect him, for he’s a good man! Jesu bless him!
	Enter Suffolk and Queen.
Peter	Here a’ comes, methinks, and the queen with him. I’ll be the first, sure.
Second Petitioner	Come back, fool; this is the Duke of Suffolk, and not my lord protector.
Suffolk	How now, fellow! would’st any thing with me?
First Petitioner	I pray, my lord, pardon me; I took ye for my lord protector.
Queen	Reading. “To my Lord Protector!” Are your supplications to his lordship? Let me see them: what is thine?
First Petitioner	Mine is, an’t please your grace, against John Goodman, my lord cardinal’s man, for keeping my house, and lands, and wife and all, from me.
Suffolk	Thy wife, too! that’s some wrong, indeed. What’s yours? What’s here! Reads. “Against the Duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the commons of Melford.” How now, sir knave!
Second Petitioner	Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.
Peter	Giving his petition. Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.
Queen	What say’st thou? did the Duke of York say he was rightful heir to the crown?
Peter	That my master was? no, forsooth: my master said that he was, and that the king was an usurper.
Suffolk	Who is there? Enter Servant. Take this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant presently: we’ll hear more of your matter before the king. Exit Servant with Peter.
Queen	And as for you, that love to be protected Under the wings of our protector’s grace, Begin your suits anew, and sue to him. Tears the supplication. Away, base cullions! Suffolk, let them go.
All	Come, let’s be gone. Exeunt.
Queen	My Lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise, Is this the fashion in the court of England? Is this the government of Britain’s isle, And this the royalty of Albion’s king? What, shall King Henry be a pupil still Under the surly Gloucester’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 stolest 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 canonized 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 avenged on her? Contemptuous base-born callet 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 lands, Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.
Suffolk	Madam, myself have limed a bush for her, And placed 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.
	Sound a sennet. Enter the King, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort, Buckingham, York, Somerset, Salisbury, Warwick, and the Duchess of Gloucester.
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