Q. Mar. He dares not calm his contumelious fpirit, Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
War. Madam, be ftill; with rev'rence may I say ;
For ev'ry word you speak in his behalf,
Is flander to your royal Dignity.
Suf. Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanour,
If ever lady wrong'd her lord fo much,
Thy mother took into her blameful bed
Some ftern untutor'd churl; and noble ftock
Was
as graft with crab-tree flip, whofe fruit thou art ; And never of the Nevills' noble Race.
War. But that the guilt of murther buckles thee,
And I fhould rob the death's man of his fee,
Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand fhames,
And that my Sovereign's prefence makes me mild,
I would, falfe murd'rous Coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy paffed fpeech,
And fay, it was thy mother that thou meant'ft ;
That thou thyfelf waft born in bastardy :
And, after all this fearful homage done,
Give thee thy hire, and fend thy foul to hell,
Pernicious blood-fucker of fleeping men!
Suf. Thou fhalt be waking, while I fhed thy blood, If from this prefence thou dar'ft go with me.
War. Away ev'n now, or I will drag thee hence; Unworthy though thou art, I'll cope with thee;
And do fome fervice to Duke Humphry's ghost. [Exeunt. K. Henry. What stronger breaft-plate than a heart un
Thrice is he arm'd, that hath his quarrel just ;
And he but naked, (though lock'd up in fteel)
Whose confcience with injuftice is corrupted.
Q. Mar. What noife is this?
Enter Suffolk and Warwick, with their weapons drawn. K. Henry. Why, how now, lords? your wrathful weapons drawn
Here in our prefence! dare you te so bold ?
Why, what tumultuous clamour have we here?
Suf. The trait'rous Warwick with the men of Bury
Set all upon me, mighty Sovereign.
Sal. Sirs, ftand apart; the King shall know your mind.
Dread lord, the Commons fend you word by me,
Unless lord Suffolk ftrait be done to death,
Or banished fair England's territories,
They will by violence tear him from your Palace,
And torture him with grievous lingring death.
They fay, by him the good Duke Humphry died;
They fay, in him they fear your Highness' death;
And mere inftinct of love and loyalty,
(Free from a stubborn oppofite intent,
As being thought to contradict your liking)
Makes them thus forward in his Banishment.
They fay, in care of your moft royal person,
That if your Highness fhould intend to fleep,
And charge that no man should disturb your reft,
In pain of your dislike, or pain of death;
Yet, notwithstanding fuch a ftrait ediet,
Were there a ferpent feen with forked tongue,
That flily glided tow'rds your Majefty,
It were but neceffary you were wak'd;
Left, being fuffer'd in that harmful flumber,
The mortal worm might make the fleep eternal.
And therefore do they cry, though you forbid,
That they will guard you whe're you will or no,
From fuch fell ferpents as falfe Suffolk is;
With whose invenomed and fatal sting
Your loving Uncle, twenty times his worth,
They fay, is fhamefully bereft of life.
Commons. [within.] An anfwer from the King, my lord of Salisbury.
Suf. 'Tis like the Commons, rude unpolish'd hinds,
Could fend fuch meffage to their Sovereign:
But you, my lord, were glad to be employ'd,
To fhew how queint an orator you are.
But all the honour Salisbury hath won,
Is, that he was the lord Ambassador
Sent from a fort of tinkers to the King.
Within. An anfwer from the King, or we will all break in.
K. Henry. Go, Salisbury, and tell them all. from me,
I thank them for their tender loving care;
And had I not been cited fo by them,
Yet did I purpose as they do entreat;
For, fure, my thoughts do hourly prophefie
Mifchance unto my State by Suffolk's means.
And therefore by his Majefty I fwear,
Whofe far unworthy Deputy I am,
He fhall not breathe infection in this air
But three days longer, on the pain of death.
Q: Mar. Oh Henry, let me plead for gentle Suffolk.
K. Henry. Ungentle Queen, to call him gentle Suffolk.
No more, I fay if thou doft plead for him,
Thou wilt but add increafe unto my wrath.
Had I but faid, I would have kept my word;
But, when I fwear, it is irrevocable;
If after three days' fpace thou here be'ft found,
On any ground that I am ruler of,
The world fhall not be ranfom for thy life.
Come, Warwick; come, good Warwick; go with me; I have great matters to impart to thee.
[Exeunt K. Henry, Warwick, &c..
·Manent Suffolk, and Queen.
Q. Mar. Mifchance and forrow go along with you! Heart's Difcontent and four Affliction
Be play-fellows to keep you company!
There's two of you, the devil make a third,
And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!
Suf. Ceafe, gentle Queen, thefe execrations;
And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.
Q. Mar. Fie, coward woman, and foft-hearted wretch, Haft thou not fpirit to curfe thine enemy?
Suf. A plague upon them! Wherefore fhould I curfe
Would curfes kill, as doth the mandrake's groan,
I would invent as bitter fearching terms,
As curft, as harsh, and horrible to hear,
Deliver'd ftrongly through my fixed teeth,
With full as many figns of deadly hate,
As lean-fac'd envy in her loathsome cave.
My tongue fhould stumble in mine earnest words,
Mine eyes fhould sparkle like the beaten flint,
Mine hair be fixt on end like one diftract:
Ay, ev'ry joint fhould feem to curfe and ban.
And even now my burthen'd heart would break,
Should I not curfe them. Poifon be their drink!
Gall, worse than gall, the dantiest meat they tafte!
Their sweetest shade a grove of cypress trees!
Their chiefeft profpect murd'ring bafilisks?
Their fofteft touch, as fmart as lizards' ftings!
Their mufick frightful as the ferpent's hifs!
And boading fcreech-owls make the concert full !
All the foul terrors in dark-feated hell-
Q. Mar. Enough, sweet Suffolk, thou torment'st thyfelf;
And these dread curfes, like the fun 'gainft glafs,
Or like an over-charged gun, recoil,
And turn the force of them upon thyself.
Suf. You bad me ban, and will you bid me leave?
Now, by the ground that I am banish'd from,
Well could I curfe away a winter's night,
Though ftanding naked on a mountain top,
Where biting Cold would never let grafs grow,
And think it but a minute spent in fport.
Q. Mar. Oh, let me entreat thee cease; give me thy
That I may dew it with my mournful tears;
Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place,
To wash away my woful monuments.
Oh, could this kifs be printed in thy hand,
That thou might'ft think upon these by the feal,
Through whom a thoufand fighs are breath'd for thee.
So, get thee gone, that I may know
my grief;
'Tis but furmis'd, whilft thou art standing by :
As one that furfeits, thinking on a Want.
I will repeal thee, or, be well affur'd,
Ad venture to be banished myself:
And banished I am, if but from thee.
Go, fpeak not to me; ev'n now be gone
Oh, go not yet-Ev'n thus two friends condemn'd
Embrace and kiss, and take ten thousand leaves,
Loather a hundred times to part than die :
Yet now farewel, and farewel life with thee!
Suf. Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished,
Once by the King and three times thrice by thee.
'Tis not the Land I care for, wert thou hence;
A wilderness is populous enough,
So Suffolk had thy heavenly company.
For where thou art, there is the World itfelf;
With every fev'ral pleasure in the world:
And where thou art not, Defolation.
I can no more—. Live thou to joy thy life;
Myself no joy in aught but that thou liv'ft.
Enter Vaux.
Q. Mar. Whither goes Vaux so fast? what news, I pr'ythee?
Vaux. To fignifie unto his Majefty,
That Cardinal Beauford is at point of death:
For fuddenly a grievous fickness took him,
That makes him gasp, and ftare, and catch the air,
Blafpheming God, and curfing men on earth.
Sometimes he talks, as if Duke Humphry's ghost
Were by his fide; fometimes, he calls the King
And whifpers to his pillow, as to him,
The fecrets of his over-charged foul:
And I am fent to tell his Majefty,
That even now he cries aloud for him.
Q. Mar. Go tell this heavy meffage to the King.
[Exit Vaux Ay me! what is this world? what news are these? But wherefore grieve I at an hour's poor lofs, Omitting Suffolk's exile, my foul's treasure? Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee, And with the fouthern clouds contend in tears? Theirs for the earth's increase; mine for my forrows. Now, get thee hence; the King, thou know'it, is coming;
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