King Henry VI, Part I
ACT IV SCENE I | Paris. A hall of state. | |
[ Enter KING HENRY VI, GLOUCESTER, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, SOMERSET, WARWICK, TALBOT, EXETER, the Governor, of Paris, and others ] | ||
GLOUCESTER | Lord bishop, set the crown upon his head. | |
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER | God save King Henry, of that name the sixth! | |
GLOUCESTER | Now, governor of Paris, take your oath, | |
That you elect no other king but him; | ||
Esteem none friends but such as are his friends, | 5 | |
And none your foes but such as shall pretend | ||
Malicious practises against his state: | ||
This shall ye do, so help you righteous God! | ||
[Enter FASTOLFE] | ||
FASTOLFE | My gracious sovereign, as I rode from Calais, | |
To haste unto your coronation, | 10 | |
A letter was deliver’d to my hands, | ||
Writ to your grace from the Duke of Burgundy. | ||
TALBOT | Shame to the Duke of Burgundy and thee! | |
I vow’d, base knight, when I did meet thee next, | ||
To tear the garter from thy craven’s leg, | 15 | |
[Plucking it off] | ||
Which I have done, because unworthily | ||
Thou wast installed in that high degree. | ||
Pardon me, princely Henry, and the rest | ||
This dastard, at the battle of Patay, | ||
When but in all I was six thousand strong | 20 | |
And that the French were almost ten to one, | ||
Before we met or that a stroke was given, | ||
Like to a trusty squire did run away: | ||
In which assault we lost twelve hundred men; | ||
Myself and divers gentlemen beside | 25 | |
Were there surprised and taken prisoners. | ||
Then judge, great lords, if I have done amiss; | ||
Or whether that such cowards ought to wear | ||
This ornament of knighthood, yea or no. | ||
GLOUCESTER | To say the truth, this fact was infamous | 30 |
And ill beseeming any common man, | ||
Much more a knight, a captain and a leader. | ||
TALBOT | When first this order was ordain’d, my lords, | |
Knights of the garter were of noble birth, | ||
Valiant and virtuous, full of haughty courage, | 35 | |
Such as were grown to credit by the wars; | ||
Not fearing death, nor shrinking for distress, | ||
But always resolute in most extremes. | ||
He then that is not furnish’d in this sort | ||
Doth but usurp the sacred name of knight, | 40 | |
Profaning this most honourable order, | ||
And should, if I were worthy to be judge, | ||
Be quite degraded, like a hedge-born swain | ||
That doth presume to boast of gentle blood. | ||
KING HENRY VI | Stain to thy countrymen, thou hear’st thy doom! | 45 |
Be packing, therefore, thou that wast a knight: | ||
Henceforth we banish thee, on pain of death. | ||
[Exit FASTOLFE] | ||
And now, my lord protector, view the letter | ||
Sent from our uncle Duke of Burgundy. | ||
GLOUCESTER | What means his grace, that he hath changed his style? | 50 |
No more but, plain and bluntly, ‘To the king!’ | ||
Hath he forgot he is his sovereign?![]() | ||
Or doth this churlish superscription | ||
Pretend some alteration in good will? | ||
What’s here? | 55 | |
[Reads] | ||
‘I have, upon especial cause, | ||
Moved with compassion of my country’s wreck, | ||
Together with the pitiful complaints | ||
Of such as your oppression feeds upon, | ||
Forsaken your pernicious faction | 60 | |
And join’d with Charles, the rightful King of France.’ | ||
O monstrous treachery! can this be so, | ||
That in alliance, amity and oaths, | ||
There should be found such false dissembling guile? | ||
KING HENRY VI | What! doth my uncle Burgundy revolt? | 65 |
GLOUCESTER | He doth, my lord, and is become your foe. | |
KING HENRY VI | Is that the worst this letter doth contain? | |
GLOUCESTER | It is the worst, and all, my lord, he writes. | |
KING HENRY VI | Why, then, Lord Talbot there shall talk with him | |
And give him chastisement for this abuse. | 70 | |
How say you, my lord? are you not content? | ||
TALBOT | Content, my liege! yes, but that I am prevented, | |
I should have begg’d I might have been employ’d. | ||
KING HENRY VI | Then gather strength and march unto him straight: | |
Let him perceive how ill we brook his treason | 75 | |
And what offence it is to flout his friends. | ||
TALBOT | I go, my lord, in heart desiring still | |
You may behold confusion of your foes. | ||
[Exit] | ||
[Enter VERNON and BASSET] | ||
VERNON | Grant me the combat, gracious sovereign. | |
BASSET | And me, my lord, grant me the combat too. | 80 |
YORK | This is my servant: hear him, noble prince. | |
SOMERSET | And this is mine: sweet Henry, favour him. | |
KING HENRY VI | Be patient, lords; and give them leave to speak. | |
Say, gentlemen, what makes you thus exclaim? | ||
And wherefore crave you combat? or with whom? | 85 | |
VERNON | With him, my lord; for he hath done me wrong. | |
BASSET | And I with him; for he hath done me wrong. | |
KING HENRY VI | What is that wrong whereof you both complain? | |
First let me know, and then I’ll answer you. | ||
BASSET | Crossing the sea from England into France, | 90 |
This fellow here, with envious carping tongue, | ||
Upbraided me about the rose I wear; | ||
Saying, the sanguine colour of the leaves | ||
Did represent my master’s blushing cheeks, | ||
When stubbornly he did repugn the truth | 95 | |
About a certain question in the law | ||
Argued betwixt the Duke of York and him; | ||
With other vile and ignominious terms: | ||
In confutation of which rude reproach | ||
And in defence of my lord’s worthiness, | 100 | |
I crave the benefit of law of arms. | ||
VERNON | And that is my petition, noble lord: | |
For though he seem with forged quaint conceit | ||
To set a gloss upon his bold intent, | ||
Yet know, my lord, I was provoked by him; | 105 | |
And he first took exceptions at this badge, | ||
Pronouncing that the paleness of this flower | ||
Bewray’d the faintness of my master’s heart. | ||
YORK | Will not this malice, Somerset, be left? | |
SOMERSET | Your private grudge, my Lord of York, will out, | 110 |
Though ne’er so cunningly you smother it. | ||
KING HENRY VI | Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men, | |
When for so slight and frivolous a cause | ||
Such factious emulations shall arise! | ||
Good cousins both, of York and Somerset, | 115 | |
Quiet yourselves, I pray, and be at peace. | ||
YORK | Let this dissension first be tried by fight, | |
And then your highness shall command a peace. | ||
SOMERSET | The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; | |
Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then. | 120 | |
YORK | There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset. | |
VERNON | Nay, let it rest where it began at first. | |
BASSET | Confirm it so, mine honourable lord. | |
GLOUCESTER | Confirm it so! Confounded be your strife! | |
And perish ye, with your audacious prate! | 125 | |
Presumptuous vassals, are you not ashamed | ||
With this immodest clamorous outrage | ||
To trouble and disturb the king and us? | ||
And you, my lords, methinks you do not well | ||
To bear with their perverse objections; | 130 | |
Much less to take occasion from their mouths | ||
To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves: | ||
Let me persuade you take a better course. | ||
EXETER | It grieves his highness: good my lords, be friends. | |
KING HENRY VI | Come hither, you that would be combatants: | 135 |
Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favour, | ||
Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause. | ||
And you, my lords, remember where we are, | ||
In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation: | ||
If they perceive dissension in our looks | 140 | |
And that within ourselves we disagree, | ||
How will their grudging stomachs be provoked | ||
To wilful disobedience, and rebel! | ||
Beside, what infamy will there arise, | ||
When foreign princes shall be certified | 145 | |
That for a toy, a thing of no regard, | ||
King Henry’s peers and chief nobility | ||
Destroy’d themselves, and lost the realm of France! | ||
O, think upon the conquest of my father, | ||
My tender years, and let us not forego | 150 | |
That for a trifle that was bought with blood | ||
Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife. | ||
I see no reason, if I wear this rose, | ||
[Putting on a red rose] | ||
That any one should therefore be suspicious | ||
I more incline to Somerset than York: | 155 | |
Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both: | ||
As well they may upbraid me with my crown, | ||
Because, forsooth, the king of Scots is crown’d. | ||
But your discretions better can persuade | ||
Than I am able to instruct or teach: | 160 | |
And therefore, as we hither came in peace, | ||
So let us still continue peace and love. | ||
Cousin of York, we institute your grace | ||
To be our regent in these parts of France: | ||
And, good my Lord of Somerset, unite | 165 | |
Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot; | ||
And, like true subjects, sons of your progenitors, | ||
Go cheerfully together and digest. | ||
Your angry choler on your enemies. | ||
Ourself, my lord protector and the rest | 170 | |
After some respite will return to Calais; | ||
From thence to England; where I hope ere long | ||
To be presented, by your victories, | ||
With Charles, Alencon and that traitorous rout. | ||
[ Flourish. Exeunt all but YORK, WARWICK, EXETER and VERNON ] | ||
WARWICK | My Lord of York, I promise you, the king | 175 |
Prettily, methought, did play the orator. | ||
YORK | And so he did; but yet I like it not, | |
In that he wears the badge of Somerset. | ||
WARWICK | Tush, that was but his fancy, blame him not; | |
I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no harm. | 180 | |
YORK | An if I wist he did,–but let it rest; | |
Other affairs must now be managed. | ||
[Exeunt all but EXETER] | ||
EXETER | Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice; | |
For, had the passions of thy heart burst out, | ||
I fear we should have seen decipher’d there | 185 | |
More rancorous spite, more furious raging broils, | ||
Than yet can be imagined or supposed. | ||
But howsoe’er, no simple man that sees | ||
This jarring discord of nobility, | ||
This shouldering of each other in the court, | 190 | |
This factious bandying of their favourites, | ||
But that it doth presage some ill event. | ||
‘Tis much when sceptres are in children’s hands; | ||
But more when envy breeds unkind division; | ||
There comes the rain, there begins confusion. | 195 | |
[Exit] |
Continue to 1 Henry VI, Act 4, Scene 2