William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (48 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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KING HENRY
I muse my lord of Gloucester is not come.
“Tis not his wont to be the hindmost man,
Whate’er occasion keeps him from us now.
“Tis not his wont to be the hindmost man,
Whate’er occasion keeps him from us now.
QUEEN MARGARET
Can you not see, or will ye not observe,
The strangeness of his altered countenance?
With what a majesty he bears himself?
How insolent of late he is become?
How proud, how peremptory, and unlike himself?
We know the time since he was mild and affable,
And if we did but glance a far-off look,
Immediately he was upon his knee,
That all the court admired him for submission.
But meet him now, and be it in the morn
When everyone will give the time of day,
He knits his brow, and shows an angry eye,
And passeth by with stiff unbowed knee,
Disdaining duty that to us belongs.
Small curs are not regarded when they grin,
But great men tremble when the lion roars—
And Humphrey is no little man in England.
First, note that he is near you in descent,
And, should you fall, he is the next will mount.
Meseemeth then it is no policy,
Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears
And his advantage following your decease,
That he should come about your royal person,
Or be admitted to your highness’ Council.
By flattery hath he won the commons’ hearts,
And when he please to make commotion,
“Tis to be feared they all will follow him.
Now ‘tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they’ll o’ergrow the garden,
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
The reverent care I bear unto my lord
Made me collect these dangers in the Duke.
If it be fond, call it a woman’s fear;
Which fear, if better reasons can supplant,
I will subscribe and say I wronged the Duke.
My lord of Suffolk, Buckingham, and York,
Reprove my allegation if you can,
Or else conclude my words effectual.
The strangeness of his altered countenance?
With what a majesty he bears himself?
How insolent of late he is become?
How proud, how peremptory, and unlike himself?
We know the time since he was mild and affable,
And if we did but glance a far-off look,
Immediately he was upon his knee,
That all the court admired him for submission.
But meet him now, and be it in the morn
When everyone will give the time of day,
He knits his brow, and shows an angry eye,
And passeth by with stiff unbowed knee,
Disdaining duty that to us belongs.
Small curs are not regarded when they grin,
But great men tremble when the lion roars—
And Humphrey is no little man in England.
First, note that he is near you in descent,
And, should you fall, he is the next will mount.
Meseemeth then it is no policy,
Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears
And his advantage following your decease,
That he should come about your royal person,
Or be admitted to your highness’ Council.
By flattery hath he won the commons’ hearts,
And when he please to make commotion,
“Tis to be feared they all will follow him.
Now ‘tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they’ll o’ergrow the garden,
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
The reverent care I bear unto my lord
Made me collect these dangers in the Duke.
If it be fond, call it a woman’s fear;
Which fear, if better reasons can supplant,
I will subscribe and say I wronged the Duke.
My lord of Suffolk, Buckingham, and York,
Reprove my allegation if you can,
Or else conclude my words effectual.
SUFFOLK
Well hath your highness seen into this Duke,
And had I first been put to speak my mind,
I think I should have told your grace’s tale.
The Duchess by his subornation,
Upon my life, began her devilish practices;
Or if he were not privy to those faults,
Yet by reputing of his high descent,
As next the King he was successive heir,
And such high vaunts of his nobility,
Did instigate the bedlam brainsick Duchess
By wicked means to frame our sovereign’s fall.
Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep,
And in his simple show he harbours treason.
The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.
(To King Henry)
No, no, my sovereign, Gloucester is a man
Unsounded yet, and full of deep deceit.
And had I first been put to speak my mind,
I think I should have told your grace’s tale.
The Duchess by his subornation,
Upon my life, began her devilish practices;
Or if he were not privy to those faults,
Yet by reputing of his high descent,
As next the King he was successive heir,
And such high vaunts of his nobility,
Did instigate the bedlam brainsick Duchess
By wicked means to frame our sovereign’s fall.
Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep,
And in his simple show he harbours treason.
The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.
(To King Henry)
No, no, my sovereign, Gloucester is a man
Unsounded yet, and full of deep deceit.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT (
to King Henry
)
to King Henry
)
Did he not, contrary to form of law,
Devise strange deaths for small offences done?
Devise strange deaths for small offences done?
YORK (
to King Henry
)
to King Henry
)
And did he not, in his Protectorship,
Levy great sums of money through the realm
For soldiers’ pay in France, and never sent it,
By means whereof the towns each day revolted?
Levy great sums of money through the realm
For soldiers’ pay in France, and never sent it,
By means whereof the towns each day revolted?
BUCKINGHAM (
to King Henry
)
to King Henry
)
Tut, these are petty faults to faults unknown,
Which time will bring to light in smooth Duke
Humphrey.
Which time will bring to light in smooth Duke
Humphrey.
KING HENRY
My lords, at once: the care you have of us
To mow down thorns that would annoy our foot
Is worthy praise, but shall I speak my conscience?
Our kinsman Gloucester is as innocent
From meaning treason to our royal person
As is the sucking lamb or harmless dove.
The Duke is virtuous, mild, and too well given
To dream on evil or to work my downfall.
To mow down thorns that would annoy our foot
Is worthy praise, but shall I speak my conscience?
Our kinsman Gloucester is as innocent
From meaning treason to our royal person
As is the sucking lamb or harmless dove.
The Duke is virtuous, mild, and too well given
To dream on evil or to work my downfall.
QUEEN MARGARET
Ah, what’s more dangerous than this fond affiance?
Seems he a dove? His feathers are but borrowed,
For he’s disposed as the hateful raven.
Is he a lamb? His skin is surely lent him,
For he’s inclined as is the ravenous wolf.
Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit?
Take heed, my lord, the welfare of us all
Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man.
Enter the Duke of Somerset
Seems he a dove? His feathers are but borrowed,
For he’s disposed as the hateful raven.
Is he a lamb? His skin is surely lent him,
For he’s inclined as is the ravenous wolf.
Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit?
Take heed, my lord, the welfare of us all
Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man.
Enter the Duke of Somerset
SOMERSET ⌈
kneeling before King Henry
⌉
kneeling before King Henry
⌉
All health unto my gracious sovereign.
KING HENRY
Welcome, Lord Somerset. What news from France?
SOMERSET
That all your interest in those territories
Is utterly bereft you—all is lost.
Is utterly bereft you—all is lost.
KING HENRY
Cold news, Lord Somerset; but God’s will be done.
⌈
Somerset rises
⌉
YORK (
aside
)
aside
)
Cold news for me, for I had hope of France,
As firmly as I hope for fertile England.
Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud,
And caterpillars eat my leaves away. 90
But I will remedy this gear ere long,
Or sell my title for a glorious grave.
As firmly as I hope for fertile England.
Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud,
And caterpillars eat my leaves away. 90
But I will remedy this gear ere long,
Or sell my title for a glorious grave.
Enter Duke Humphrey of Gloucester
GLOUCESTER ⌈
kneeling before King Henry
⌉
kneeling before King Henry
⌉
All happiness unto my lord the King.
Pardon, my liege, that I have stayed so long.
Pardon, my liege, that I have stayed so long.
SUFFOLK
Nay, Gloucester, know that thou art come too soon 95
Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art.
I do arrest thee of high treason here.
Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art.
I do arrest thee of high treason here.
GLOUCESTER ⌈
rising
⌉
rising
⌉
Well, Suffolk’s Duke, thou shalt not see me blush,
Nor change my countenance for this arrest.
A heart unspotted is not easily daunted.
The purest spring is not so free from mud
As I am clear from treason to my sovereign.
Who can accuse me? Wherein am I guilty?
Nor change my countenance for this arrest.
A heart unspotted is not easily daunted.
The purest spring is not so free from mud
As I am clear from treason to my sovereign.
Who can accuse me? Wherein am I guilty?
YORK
“Tis thought, my lord, that you took bribes of France,
And, being Protector, stayed the soldiers’ pay,
By means whereof his highness hath lost France.
GLOUCESTER
Is it but thought so? What are they that think it?
I never robbed the soldiers of their pay,
Nor ever had one penny bribe from France.
So help me God, as I have watched the night,
Ay, night by night, in studying good for England,
That doit that e’er I wrested from the King,
Or any groat I hoarded to my use,
Be brought against me at my trial day I
No: many a pound of mine own proper store,
Because I would not tax the needy commons,
Have I dispursèd to the garrisons,
And never asked for restitution.
And, being Protector, stayed the soldiers’ pay,
By means whereof his highness hath lost France.
GLOUCESTER
Is it but thought so? What are they that think it?
I never robbed the soldiers of their pay,
Nor ever had one penny bribe from France.
So help me God, as I have watched the night,
Ay, night by night, in studying good for England,
That doit that e’er I wrested from the King,
Or any groat I hoarded to my use,
Be brought against me at my trial day I
No: many a pound of mine own proper store,
Because I would not tax the needy commons,
Have I dispursèd to the garrisons,
And never asked for restitution.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT
It serves you well, my lord, to say so much.
GLOUCESTER
I say no more than truth, so help me God.
YORK
In your Protectorship you did devise
Strange tortures for offenders, never heard of,
That England was defamed by tyranny.
Strange tortures for offenders, never heard of,
That England was defamed by tyranny.
GLOUCESTER
Why, ’tis well known that whiles I was Protector
Pity was all the fault that was in me,
For I should melt at an offender’s tears,
And lowly words were ransom for their fault.
Unless it were a bloody murderer,
Or foul felonious thief that fleeced poor passengers,
I never gave them condign punishment.
Murder, indeed—that bloody sin—I tortured
Above the felon or what trespass else.
Pity was all the fault that was in me,
For I should melt at an offender’s tears,
And lowly words were ransom for their fault.
Unless it were a bloody murderer,
Or foul felonious thief that fleeced poor passengers,
I never gave them condign punishment.
Murder, indeed—that bloody sin—I tortured
Above the felon or what trespass else.
SUFFOLK
My lord, these faults are easy, quickly answered,
But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge
Whereof you cannot easily purge yourself.
I do arrest you in his highness’ name,
And here commit you to my good lord Cardinal
To keep until your further time of trial.
But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge
Whereof you cannot easily purge yourself.
I do arrest you in his highness’ name,
And here commit you to my good lord Cardinal
To keep until your further time of trial.
KING HENRY
My lord of Gloucester, ’tis my special hope
That you will clear yourself from all suspense.
My conscience tells me you are innocent.
That you will clear yourself from all suspense.
My conscience tells me you are innocent.
GLOUCESTER
Ah, gracious lord, these days are dangerous.
Virtue is choked with foul ambition,
And charity chased hence by rancour’s hand.
Foul subornation is predominant,
And equity exiled your highness’ land.
I know their complot is to have my life,
And if my death might make this island happy
And prove the period of their tyranny,
I would expend it with all willingness.
But mine is made the prologue to their play,
For thousands more that yet suspect no peril
Will not conclude their plotted tragedy.
Beaufort’s red sparkling eyes blab his heart’s malice,
And Suffolk’s cloudy brow his stormy hate;
Sharp Buckingham unburdens with his tongue
The envious load that lies upon his heart;
And dogged York that reaches at the moon,
Whose overweening arm I have plucked back,
By false accuse doth level at my life.
(To Queen Margaret)
And you, my sovereign lady, with the rest,
Causeless have laid disgraces on my head,
And with your best endeavour have stirred up
My liefest liege to be mine enemy.
Ay, all of you have laid your heads together—
Myself had notice of your conventicles—
And all to make away my guiltless life.
I shall not want false witness to condemn me,
Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt.
The ancient proverb will be well effected:
‘A staff is quickly found to beat a dog’.
Virtue is choked with foul ambition,
And charity chased hence by rancour’s hand.
Foul subornation is predominant,
And equity exiled your highness’ land.
I know their complot is to have my life,
And if my death might make this island happy
And prove the period of their tyranny,
I would expend it with all willingness.
But mine is made the prologue to their play,
For thousands more that yet suspect no peril
Will not conclude their plotted tragedy.
Beaufort’s red sparkling eyes blab his heart’s malice,
And Suffolk’s cloudy brow his stormy hate;
Sharp Buckingham unburdens with his tongue
The envious load that lies upon his heart;
And dogged York that reaches at the moon,
Whose overweening arm I have plucked back,
By false accuse doth level at my life.
(To Queen Margaret)
And you, my sovereign lady, with the rest,
Causeless have laid disgraces on my head,
And with your best endeavour have stirred up
My liefest liege to be mine enemy.
Ay, all of you have laid your heads together—
Myself had notice of your conventicles—
And all to make away my guiltless life.
I shall not want false witness to condemn me,
Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt.
The ancient proverb will be well effected:
‘A staff is quickly found to beat a dog’.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT (
to King Henry
)
to King Henry
)
My liege, his railing is intolerable.
If those that care to keep your royal person
From treason’s secret knife and traitor’s rage
Be thus upbraided, chid, and rated at,
And the offender granted scope of speech,
‘Twill make them cool in zeal unto your grace.
If those that care to keep your royal person
From treason’s secret knife and traitor’s rage
Be thus upbraided, chid, and rated at,
And the offender granted scope of speech,
‘Twill make them cool in zeal unto your grace.
SUFFOLK (
to King Henry
)
to King Henry
)
Hath he not twit our sovereign lady here
With ignominious words, though clerkly couched,
As if she had suborned some to swear
False allegations to o’erthrow his state?
With ignominious words, though clerkly couched,
As if she had suborned some to swear
False allegations to o’erthrow his state?
QUEEN MARGARET
But I can give the loser leave to chide.
GLOUCESTER
Far truer spoke than meant. I lose indeed;
Beshrew the winners, for they played me false!
And well such losers may have leave to speak.
Beshrew the winners, for they played me false!
And well such losers may have leave to speak.
BUCKINGHAM (to King Henry)
He’ll wrest the sense, and hold us here all day.
Lord Cardinal, he is your prisoner.
Lord Cardinal, he is your prisoner.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT (to some of his attendants)
Sirs, take away the Duke and guard him sure.
GLOUCESTER
Ah, thus King Henry throws away his crutch
Before his legs be firm to bear his body.
Thus is the shepherd beaten from thy side,
And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first.
Ah, that my fear were false; ah, that it were!
For, good King Henry, thy decay I fear.
Before his legs be firm to bear his body.
Thus is the shepherd beaten from thy side,
And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first.
Ah, that my fear were false; ah, that it were!
For, good King Henry, thy decay I fear.
Exit Gloucester, guarded by the Cardinal’s men
KING HENRY
My lords, what to your wisdoms seemeth best
Do or undo, as if ourself were here.
Do or undo, as if ourself were here.
QUEEN MARGARET
What, will your highness leave the Parliament?
KING HENRY
Ay, Margaret, my heart is drowned with grief,
Whose flood begins to flow within mine eyes,
My body round engirt with misery;
For what’s more miserable than discontent?
Ah, uncle Humphrey, in thy face I see
The map of honour, truth, and loyalty;
And yet, good Humphrey, is the hour to come
That e‘er I proved thee false, or feared thy faith.
What louring star now envies thy estate,
That these great lords and Margaret our Queen
Do seek subversion of thy harmless life?
Thou never didst them wrong, nor no man wrong.
And as the butcher takes away the calf,
And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strains,
Bearing it to the bloody slaughterhouse,
Even so remorseless have they borne him hence;
And as the dam runs lowing up and down,
Looking the way her harmless young one went,
And can do naught but wail her darling’s loss;
Even so myself bewails good Gloucester’s case
With sad unhelpful tears, and with dimmed eyes
Look after him, and cannot do him good,
So mighty are his vowèd enemies.
His fortunes I will weep, and ’twixt each groan,
Say ‘Who’s a traitor? Gloucester, he is none’.
Exit ⌈
with Salisbury and Warwick
⌉
Whose flood begins to flow within mine eyes,
My body round engirt with misery;
For what’s more miserable than discontent?
Ah, uncle Humphrey, in thy face I see
The map of honour, truth, and loyalty;
And yet, good Humphrey, is the hour to come
That e‘er I proved thee false, or feared thy faith.
What louring star now envies thy estate,
That these great lords and Margaret our Queen
Do seek subversion of thy harmless life?
Thou never didst them wrong, nor no man wrong.
And as the butcher takes away the calf,
And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strains,
Bearing it to the bloody slaughterhouse,
Even so remorseless have they borne him hence;
And as the dam runs lowing up and down,
Looking the way her harmless young one went,
And can do naught but wail her darling’s loss;
Even so myself bewails good Gloucester’s case
With sad unhelpful tears, and with dimmed eyes
Look after him, and cannot do him good,
So mighty are his vowèd enemies.
His fortunes I will weep, and ’twixt each groan,
Say ‘Who’s a traitor? Gloucester, he is none’.
Exit ⌈
with Salisbury and Warwick
⌉
QUEEN MARGARET
Free lords, cold snow melts with the sun’s hot beams.
Henry my lord is cold in great affairs,
Too full of foolish pity; and Gloucester’s show
Beguiles him as the mournful crocodile
With sorrow snares relenting passengers,
Or as the snake rolled in a flow’ring bank
With shining chequered slough doth sting a child
That for the beauty thinks it excellent.
Believe me, lords, were none more wise than I—
And yet herein I judge mine own wit good—
This Gloucester should be quickly rid the world
To rid us from the fear we have of him.
Henry my lord is cold in great affairs,
Too full of foolish pity; and Gloucester’s show
Beguiles him as the mournful crocodile
With sorrow snares relenting passengers,
Or as the snake rolled in a flow’ring bank
With shining chequered slough doth sting a child
That for the beauty thinks it excellent.
Believe me, lords, were none more wise than I—
And yet herein I judge mine own wit good—
This Gloucester should be quickly rid the world
To rid us from the fear we have of him.
CARDINAL BEAUFORT
That he should die is worthy policy;
But yet we want a colour for his death.
’Tis meet he be condemned by course of law.
But yet we want a colour for his death.
’Tis meet he be condemned by course of law.
SUFFOLK
But, in my mind, that were no policy.
The King will labour still to save his life,
The commons haply rise to save his life;
And yet we have but trivial argument
More than mistrust that shows him worthy death.
The King will labour still to save his life,
The commons haply rise to save his life;
And yet we have but trivial argument
More than mistrust that shows him worthy death.
YORK
So that, by this, you would not have him die?
SUFFOLK
Ah, York, no man alive so fain as I.
YORK (
aside
)
aside
)
’Tis York that hath more reason for his death.
(
Aloud
) But my lord Cardinal, and you my lord of
Suffolk,
Say as you think, and speak it from your souls.
Were’t not all one an empty eagle were set
To guard the chicken from a hungry kite,
As place Duke Humphrey for the King’s Protector?
(
Aloud
) But my lord Cardinal, and you my lord of
Suffolk,
Say as you think, and speak it from your souls.
Were’t not all one an empty eagle were set
To guard the chicken from a hungry kite,
As place Duke Humphrey for the King’s Protector?
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