Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter three or four Petitioners, Peter, the
Armorer’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! 5 Enter Suffolk, wearing the red rose,
and Queen Margaret. FIRST PETITIONER Here he comes, methinks, and the
Queen with him. I’ll be the first, sure. He steps forward. SECOND PETITIONER Come back, fool! This is the Duke
of Suffolk, and not my Lord Protector. SUFFOLK How now, fellow? Wouldst anything with 10
me? FIRST PETITIONER I pray, my lord, pardon me. I took
you for my Lord Protector. QUEEN MARGARET takes a petition and reads. To my
Lord Protector. Are your supplications to his Lordship? 15
Let me see them.—What is thine? | Back at the palace, a couple of petitioners are trying to find
Gloucester. When they see Suffolk with Margaret, one of them thinks that
Suffolk is Gloucester. The other insists it's Suffolk. When Margaret
and Suffolk see that the papers are for Gloucester, Margaret wants to
read them. |
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. 20 SUFFOLK Thy wife too? That’s some wrong indeed.—
What’s yours? Taking a petition. 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 25
of our whole township. PETER, showing his petition Against my master,
Thomas Horner, for saying that the Duke of York
was rightful heir to the crown. | Suffolk finds that one letter is complaining about him and another is
against Thomas Horner, who apparently said that York is the rightful
heir to the throne. Uh oh. |
QUEEN MARGARET What sayst thou? Did the Duke of 30
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, calling Who is there? 35 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. Peter exits with Servant. | Both Margaret and Suffolk are shocked by this. Why did Horner say that? Is York saying that, too? No way, Peter (one of the petitioners) answers. Horner just went rogue; York himself hasn't said anything it. Suffolk tells Peter and the petitioners to take their matters to the king. Then Margaret rips up some of the complaints she just took from the petitioners. |
QUEEN MARGARET
And as for you that love to be protected
Under the wings of our Protector’s grace, 40
Begin your suits anew, and sue to him. Tear the supplication. Away, base cullions.—Suffolk, let them go. ALL Come, let’s be gone. They exit. QUEEN MARGARET
My lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise,
Is this the fashions in the court of England? 45
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, 50
And must be made a subject to a duke?
I tell thee, Pole, when in the city Tours
Thou rann’st atilt in honor of my love
And stol’st away the ladies’ hearts of France,
I thought King Henry had resembled thee 55
In courage, courtship, and proportion.
But all his mind is bent to holiness,
To number Ave Marys on his beads;
His champions are the prophets and apostles,
His weapons holy saws of sacred writ, 60
His study is his tiltyard, 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! 65
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 MARGARET
Besides the haughty Protector, have we Beaufort 70
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 Nevilles; 75
Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers. QUEEN MARGARET
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, 80
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? 85
Contemptuous baseborn 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. 90 | Suffolk tells Margaret to cool it. He'll help her out here, just like he did before (when he arranged for her to be queen). Then it's foe fest: Margaret and Suffolk size up all their enemies. Aside from Gloucester, they've got Somerset, Buckingham, York, Beaufort… and the list goes on. And what about the Duchess Eleanor? She acts like she's the one who's queen. |
SUFFOLK
Madam, myself have limed a bush for her
And placed a choir 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, 95
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 100
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 King Henry, Duke Humphrey
of Gloucester, Cardinal, Somerset, wearing the red
rose, Buckingham, Salisbury; York and Warwick, both
wearing the white rose; and the Duchess of
Gloucester. | Don't worry, Suffolk says: he's already got a plan cooking that will
ruin Eleanor. As for Beaufort, they should side with him for now, until
Gloucester is humiliated. They've got their takedown list all sorted
when Henry and his nobles enter. |
KING HENRY
For my part, noble lords, I care not which;
Or Somerset or York, all’s one to me. 105 YORK
If York have ill demeaned himself in France,
Then let him be denied 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, 110
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. 115 SALISBURY
Peace, son.—And show some reason, Buckingham,
Why Somerset should be preferred in this. | There's a dispute over who should become the regent in France, and Henry readily admits he doesn't care. Everyone weighs in. |
QUEEN MARGARET
Because the King, forsooth, will have it so. GLOUCESTER
Madam, the King is old enough himself
To give his censure. These are no women’s matters. 120 QUEEN MARGARET
If he be old enough, what needs your Grace
To be Protector of his Excellence? | When Margaret speaks up, Gloucester shuts her down, saying Henry doesn't need a woman to help him—he can decide all by himself. Burn. Margaret isn't one to let things go, though. If Henry can make decisions without her help, she says, then why does he need Gloucester? Score. |
GLOUCESTER
Madam, I am Protector of the realm,
And at his pleasure will resign my place. SUFFOLK
Resign it, then, and leave thine insolence. 125
Since thou wert king—as who is king but thou?—
The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack,
The Dauphin hath prevailed beyond the seas,
And all the peers and nobles of the realm
Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty. 130 CARDINAL, to Gloucester
The Commons hast thou racked; the clergy’s bags
Are lank and lean with thy extortions. SOMERSET, to Gloucester
Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife’s attire
Have cost a mass of public treasury. BUCKINGHAM, to Gloucester
Thy cruelty in execution 135
Upon offenders hath exceeded law
And left thee to the mercy of the law. | But Margaret's smack-down doesn't quite have the sting she was hoping
for. Gloucester says he'll gladly resign as Protector if that's what the
king wants. Suffolk tells him he should go ahead and do it. |
QUEEN MARGARET, to Gloucester
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. 140 Gloucester exits.
Queen Margaret drops her fan. To Duchess. Give me my fan. What, minion, can
you not? She gives the Duchess a box on the ear.
I cry you mercy, madam. Was it you? DUCHESS
Was ’t I? Yea, I it was, proud Frenchwoman.
Could I come near your beauty with my nails, 145
I’d set my ten commandments in your face. KING HENRY
Sweet aunt, be quiet. ’Twas 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, 150
She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unrevenged.
Eleanor, the Duchess, exits. | Margaret decides to send Gloucester's wife a message, too: she drops her fan and asks Eleanor to pick it up. When Eleanor bends over to get it, Margaret punches her in the ear. No, folks, we didn't make that up: it really does almost become a first- and second-lady brawl.
Eleanor promises to get revenge and departs. |
BUCKINGHAM, aside to Cardinal
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. 155 Buckingham exits. Enter Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. GLOUCESTER
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; 160
But God in mercy so deal with my soul
As I in duty love my king and country!
But, to the matter that we have in hand:
I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man
To be your regent in the realm of France. 165 SUFFOLK
Before we make election, give me leave
To show some reason, of no little force,
That York is most unmeet of any man. YORK
I’ll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am unmeet:
First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride; 170
Next, if I be appointed for the place,
My lord of Somerset will keep me here
Without discharge, money, or furniture
Till France be won into the Dauphin’s hands.
Last time I danced attendance on his will 175
Till Paris was besieged, famished, and lost. WARWICK
That can I witness, and a fouler fact
Did never traitor in the land commit. SUFFOLK Peace, headstrong Warwick! WARWICK
Image of pride, why should I hold my peace? 180 | Gloucester reenters and asks Henry to make York the regent of France
because he's the most suited to the job. York doesn't think so: he
thinks he'll lose more land in France because Somerset hasn't given him
money or equipment to fight properly. |
Enter Horner, the Armorer, and his Man
Peter, under guard. SUFFOLK
Because here is a man accused of treason.
Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself! YORK
Doth anyone accuse York for a traitor? KING HENRY
What mean’st thou, Suffolk? Tell me, what are
these? 185 SUFFOLK
Please it your Majesty, this is the man
That doth accuse his master of high treason.
His words were these: that Richard, Duke of York,
Was rightful heir unto the English crown,
And that your Majesty was an usurper. 190 KING HENRY Say, man, were these thy words? HORNER An ’t shall please your Majesty, I never said
nor thought any such matter. God is my witness, I
am falsely accused by the villain. PETER By these ten bones, my lords, he did speak 195
them to me in the garret one night as we were
scouring my lord of York’s armor. YORK, to Horner
Base dunghill villain and mechanical,
I’ll have thy head for this thy traitor’s speech!—
I do beseech your royal Majesty, 200
Let him have all the rigor of the law. HORNER Alas, my lord, hang me if ever I spake the
words. My accuser is my prentice; and when I did
correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow
upon his knees he would be even with me. I have 205
good witness of this. Therefore I beseech your
Majesty, do not cast away an honest man for a
villain’s accusation! | Just then, Peter and Horner enter with some heavy accusations. Peter
claims he heard Horner calling York the rightful king—and that is a big
deal. Horner says that he's never said such a thing and that he's not a
traitor. There's bickering and name-calling—pretty much what you might
expect when someone calls someone else a traitor right in front of the
king. |
KING HENRY
Uncle, what shall we say to this in law? GLOUCESTER
This doom, my lord, if I may judge: 210
Let Somerset be regent o’er the French,
Because in York this breeds suspicion;
And let these have a day appointed them
For single combat in convenient place,
For he hath witness of his servant’s malice. 215
This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey’s doom. SOMERSET
I humbly thank your royal Majesty. HORNER
And I accept the combat willingly. PETER Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God’s sake pity
my case! The spite of man prevaileth against me. O 220
Lord, have mercy upon me! I shall never be able to
fight a blow. O Lord, my heart! GLOUCESTER
Sirrah, or you must fight or else be hanged. KING HENRY Away with them to prison; and the day of
combat shall be the last of the next month.— 225
Come, Somerset, we’ll see thee sent away. Flourish. They exit. | Henry, as usual, looks to Gloucester for advice about what to do. Gloucester now thinks Somerset should be regent of France. Why? This whole York-should-be-king thing might be too much of a coincidence, and York shouldn't be allowed to get any more power. He also thinks Peter and Horner should duke it out themselves. Gloucester suggests a good old-fashioned duel. Peter says doesn't know how to fight, so naturally he's really worried about this.
Horner is sitting pretty. Henry orders for Peter and Horner to be taken away to await their fight. Then he tells Somerset to pack his bags. Translation: Somerset got the job as regent of France. |