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Glo. My masters of Saint Albans, have you not
Beadles in your town, and things called whips?
May. Yes, my lord, if it please your grace.
Glo. Then send for one presently.

May. Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight. [Exit an Attendant.

Glo. Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. [A stool brought in.] Now, sirrah, if you mean to save yourself from whipping, leap me over this stool, and run away. Simp. Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone; You go about to torture me in vain.

Re-enter Attendant with the Beadle.

Glo. Well, sir, we must have you find your legs. Sirrah beadle, whip him till he leap over that same stool.

Bead. I will, my lord.-Come on, sirrah; off with your doublet quickly.

Simp. Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand. [After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the stool, and runs away; and the people follow, and cry, A miracle!

K. Hen. O God, seest thou this, and bear'st so long! Q. Mar. It made me laugh to see the villain run. Glo. Follow the knave; and take this drab away. Wife. Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.

Glo. Let them be whipped through every market town, Till they come to Berwick, whence they came.

[Exeunt Mayor, Beadle, Wife, &c. Car. Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to-day. Suff. True; made the lame to leap, and fly away. Glo. But you have done more miracles than I; You made, in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.

Enter BUCKINGHAM.

K. Hen. What tidings with our cousin Buckingham? Buck. Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold. A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent,Under the countenance and confederacy, Of lady Eleanor, the protector's wife, The ringleader and head of all this rout,Have practised dangerously against your state, Dealing with witches, and with conjurers; Whom we have apprehended in the fact; Raising up wicked spirits from under ground, Demanding of king Henry's life and death,

And other of your highness' privy council,
As more at large your grace shall understand.
Car. And so, my lord protector, by this means
Your lady is forthcoming yet at London.
This news, I think, hath turned your weapon's edge.
'Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.
[Aside to GLOster.
Glo. Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart!
Sorrow and grief have vanquished all my powers;
And, vanquished as I am, I yield to thee,

Or to the meanest groom.

K. Hen. O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones; Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!

Q. Mar. Gloster, see here the tainture of thy nest;
And, look thyself be faultless; thou were best.
Glo. Madam, for myself, to Heaven I do appeal,
How I have loved my king, and common-weal:
And, for my wife, I know not how it stands;
Sorry I am to hear what I have heard:
Noble she is; but if she have forgot
Honor and virtue, and conversed with such
As, like to pitch, defile nobility,

I banish her my bed and company;

And give her, as a prey, to law and shame,

That hath dishonored Gloster's honest name.

K. Hen. Well, for this night, we will repose us here. To-morrow, toward London, back again,

To look into this business thoroughly,

And call these foul offenders to their answers;
And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,

Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE II. London. The Duke of York's Garden. Enter YORK, SALISBURY, and WARWICK.

York. Now, my good lords of Salisbury and Warwick, Our simple supper ended, give me leave,

In this close walk, to satisfy myself,

In craving your opinion of my title,
Which is infallible to England's crown.

Sal. My lord, I long to hear it at full.

War. Sweet York, begin; and if thy claim be good,
The Nevils are thy subjects to command.
York. Then thus:-

Edward the Third, my lords, had seven sons:
The first, Edward, the Black Prince, prince of Wales;
The second, William of Hatfield; and the third,
Lionel, duke of Clarence; next to whom,
Was John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster;
The fifth was Edmond Langley, duke of York;
The sixth was Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloster;
William of Windsor was the seventh, and last,
Edward, the Black Prince, died before his father;
And left behind him Richard, his only son,
Who, after Edward the Third's death, reigned as king;
Till Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster,
The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt,
Crowned by the name of Henry the Fourth,
Seized on the realm; deposed the rightful king;
Sent his poor queen to France, from whence she came,
And him to Pomfret; where, as you all know,
Harmless Richard was murdered traitorously.
War. Father, the duke hath told the truth;
Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown.

York. Which now they hold by force, and not by right; For Richard, the first son's heir being dead, The issue of the next son should have reigned.

Sal. But William of Hatfield died without an heir. York. The third son, duke of Clarence (from whose line I claim the crown) had issue-Philippe, a daughter, Who married Edmund Mortimer, earl of March; Edmund had issue-Roger, earl of March; Roger had issue-Edmund, Anne, and Eleanor. Sal. This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke, As I have read, laid claim unto the crown; And, but for Owen Glendower, had been king, Who kept him in captivity, till he died.

But, to the rest.

York.

His eldest sister, Anne,
My mother, being heir unto the crown,

Married Richard, earl of Cambridge; who was son
To Edmund Langley, Edward the Third's fifth son.
By her I claim the kingdom: she was heir

To Roger, earl of March; who was the son
Of Edmund Mortimer; who married Philippe,
Sole daughter unto Lionel, duke of Clarence:
So, if the issue of the elder son

Succeed before the younger, I am king.

War. What plain proceedings are more plain than this? Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt,

The fourth son; York claims it from the third.
Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign;
It fails not yet; but flourishes in thee,

And in thy sons, fair slips of such a stock.-
Then, father Salisbury, kneel we both together;
And, in this private plot, be we the first
That shall salute our rightful sovereign.

With honor of his birthright to the crown.

Both. Long live our sovereign Richard, England's king!
York. We thank you, lords. But I am not your king

Till I be crowned; and that my sword be stained
With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster.
And that's not suddenly to be performed;
But with advice and silent secrecy.

Do you, as I do, in these dangerous days,
Wink at the duke of Suffolk's insolence,
At Beaufort's pride, at Somerset's ambition,
At Buckingham, and all the crew of them,
Till they have snared the shepherd of the flock,
That virtuous prince, the good duke Humphrey.
'Tis that they seek and they in seeking that,
Shall find their deaths, if York can prophesy.

Sal. My lord, break we off; we know your mind at full. War. My heart assures me, that the earl of Warwick, Shall one day make the duke of York a king.

York. And, Nevil, this I do assure myself,Richard shall live to make the earl of Warwick The greatest man in England, but the king.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. The same. A Hall of Justice. Trumpets sounded. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, GLOSTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, and SALISBURY; the DUCHESS of GLOSTER, MARGERY JOURDAIN, SOUTHWELL, HUME, and BOLINGBROKE, under guard.

K. Hen. Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloster's wife:
In sight of God, and us, your guilt is great;
Receive the sentence of the law, for sins

Such as by God's book are adjudged to death.-
You four, from hence to prison back again;

[To JOURD., &c.

From thence unto the place of execution;
The witch in Smithfield shall be burned to ashes,
And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.-
You, madam,- for you are more nobly born,—
Despoiled of your honor in your life,

Shall, after three days' open penance done,
Live in your country here, in banishment,
With sir John Stanley, in the Isle of Man.

Duch. Welcome is banishment; welcome were my death. Glo. Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hath judged thee; I cannot justify whom the law condemns.

[Exeunt the Duchess, and the other Prisoners,
guarded.

Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.
Ah, Humphrey, this dishonor in thine age
Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground!
I beseech your majesty, give me leave to go;
Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.

K. Hen. Stay, Humphrey duke of Gloster: ere thou go,
Give up thy staff; Henry will to himself
Protector be; and God shall be my hope,
My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet;
And go in peace, Humphrey; no less beloved,
Than when thou wert protector to thy king.

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Q. Mar. I see no reason why a king of years
Should be to be protected like a child.-
God and King Henry govern England's helm;
Give up your staff, sir, and the king his realm.

Glo. My staff?-Here, noble Henry, is my staff;
As willingly do I the same resign,

As e'er thy father Henry made it mine;

And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it,

As others would ambitiously receive it.

Farewell, good king. When I am dead and gone,
May honorable peace attend thy throne!

[Exit.

Q. Mar. Why, now is Henry king, and Margaret queen;

And Humphrey, duke of Gloster, scarce himself,

That bears so shrewd a maim; two pulls at once,-
His lady banished, and a limb lopped off.

This staff of honor raught, there let it stand,

Where it best fits to be, in Henry's hand.

Suff. Thus droops this lofty pine, and hangs his sprays; Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her youngest days.

York. Lords, let him go.-Please it your majesty,
This is the day appointed for the combat;
And ready are the appellant and defendant,
The armorer and his man, to enter the lists,
So please your highness to behold the fight.

Q. Mar. Ay, good my lord; for purposely therefore Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried.

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