KING HENRY VI    What178 mean’st thou, Suffolk? Tell me, what are these?

  Indicating Peter

  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.

  KING HENRY VI    Say, man, were these thy words?

  HORNER An’t185 shall please your majesty, I never said nor

  thought any such matter: God is my witness, I am falsely

  accused by the villain.

  Raising his hands

  PETER    By these ten bones188, my lords, he did

  speak them to me in the garret189 one night, as we

  were scouring190 my Lord of York’s armour.

  YORK    Base dunghill villain and mechanical191,

  I’ll have thy head for this thy traitor’s speech.—

  I do beseech your royal majesty,

  Let him have all the rigour of the law.

  HORNER    Alas, my lord, hang me if ever I spake the words: my

  accuser is my prentice, and when I did correct196 him for his

  fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be

  even with me — I have good witness of this — therefore I

  beseech your majesty, do not cast away an honest man for a

  villain’s accusation.

  To Gloucester

  KING HENRY VI    Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?

  GLOUCESTER    This doom202, my lord, if I may judge:

  Let Somerset be regent o’er the French,

  Because in York this204 breeds suspicion:

  Indicating Horner and Peter Indicating Horner

  And let these have a day appointed them

  For single combat in convenient206 place,

  For he hath witness of his servant’s malice:

  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 Lord, have

  mercy upon me! I shall never be able to fight a blow. O Lord,

  my heart!

  GLOUCESTER    Sirrah215, or you must fight, or else be hanged.

  KING HENRY VI    Away with them to prison, and the day

  Of combat shall be the last of the next month.

  Come, Somerset, we’ll see thee sent away.

  Flourish. Exeunt

  [Act 1 Scene 4]

  running scene 4

  Enter the Witch [Margaret Jordan], the two priests [Hume and Southwell] and Bullingbrook

  HUME    Come, my masters, the duchess, I tell you, expects

  performance of your promises.

  BULLINGBROOK    Master Hume, we are therefore provided3: will

  her ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms4?

  HUME    Ay, what else? Fear you not her courage.

  BULLINGBROOK    I have heard her reported to be a woman of an

  invincible spirit: but it shall be convenient, Master Hume,

  that you be by her aloft, while we be busy below: and so, I

  pray you, go in God’s name and leave us.

  Exit Hume

  She lies down upon her face

  Mother Jordan, be you prostrate and grovel on

  the earth. John Southwell, read you, and let us

  to our work.

  Enter Eleanor aloft [Hume following]

  ELEANOR    Well said13, my masters, and welcome all. To this gear

  the sooner the better.

  BULLINGBROOK    Patience, good lady: wizards know their times:

  Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,

  The time of night when Troy was set on fire17,

  The time when screech-owls18 cry and bandogs howl,

  And spirits walk, and ghosts break up19 their graves:

  That time best fits the work we have in hand.

  Madam, sit you and fear not: whom we raise,

  We will make fast within a hallowed verge22.

  Here [they] do the ceremonies belonging, and make the circle: Bullingbrook or Southwell reads, ‘Conjuro te’, etc. It thunders and lightens terribly: then the Spirit [Asnath] riseth

  ASNATH. Adsum23.

  MARGARET JORDAN    Asnath,

  By the eternal God, whose name and power

  Thou tremblest at, answer that26 I shall ask:

  For till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence.

  ASNATH    Ask what thou wilt: that28 I had said and done.

  Reads

  BULLINGBROOK    ‘First of the king: what shall of him become?’

  ASNATH    The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose:

  As the Spirit speaks,

  But him outlive, and die a violent death.

  Reads   Southwell writes the answer

  BULLINGBROOK    ‘What fates await the Duke of Suffolk?’

  ASNATH    By water shall he die, and take his end.

  Reads

  BULLINGBROOK    ‘What shall befall the Duke of Somerset?’

  ASNATH    Let him shun castles;

  Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains

  Than where castles mounted37 stand.

  Have done, for more I hardly can endure.

  BULLINGBROOK    Descend to darkness and the burning lake!

  False fiend, avoid40!

  Thunder and lightning. Exit Spirit

  Enter the Duke of York and the Duke of Buckingham with their guard [Sir Humphrey Stafford as Captain] and break in

  YORK    Lay hands upon these traitors and their trash41:

  To Jordan

  Beldam, I think we watched you at an inch42.

  What, madam, are you there? The king and commonweal

  Are deeply indebted for this piece of pains44:

  My Lord Protector will, I doubt it not,

  See you well guerdoned for these good deserts46.

  ELEANOR    Not half so bad as thine to England’s king,

  Injurious duke, that threatest48 where’s no cause.

  BUCKINGHAM    True, madam, none at all: what call you this?

  Pointing to the papers

  Away with them: let them be clapped up close50

  To Eleanor

  And kept asunder51.— You, madam, shall with us.

  Stafford, take her to52 thee.

  [Exeunt above Eleanor and Hume, guarded]

  We’ll see your trinkets here all forthcoming53.

  All, away!

  Exeunt [below guard with Margaret Jordan, Southwell and Bullingbrook]

  YORK    Lord Buckingham, methinks you watched her well:

  A pretty56 plot, well chosen to build upon.

  Buckingham gives him the papers

  Now pray, my lord, let’s see the devil’s writ57.

  What have we here?

  Reads

  ‘The duke yet lives, that Henry shall depose:

  But him outlive, and die a violent death.’

  Why, this is just61

  ‘Aio Aeacidam, Romanos vincere posse.’62

  Well, to the rest:

  ‘Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk?’

  ‘By water shall he die, and take his end.’

  ‘What shall betide the Duke of Somerset?’

  ‘Let him shun castles:

  Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains

  Than where castles mounted stand.’

  Come, come, my lords,

  These oracles are hardly attained71,

  And hardly72 understood.

  The king is now in progress73 towards St Albans,

  With him the husband of this lovely lady:

  Thither goes these news as fast as horse can carry them:

  A sorry breakfast for my Lord Protector.

  BUCKINGHAM    Your grace shall give me leave, my lord of York,

  To be the post78 in hope of his reward.

  Calling within

  YORK    At your pleasure, my good lord. Who’s within there, ho!

  Enter a Servingman

  Invite my lords of Salisbury and Warwick

  To sup81 with me tomorrow night. Away.

  Exeunt [severally]

  [Act 2 Scene 1]

  running scene 5

  Enter the King [Henry VI], Queen [Margaret], Protector [Gloucester], Cardinal and Suffolk, with Falconers hallooing

  QUEEN MARGARET    Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook1,

  I saw not better sport these seven years’ day2:

  Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high,

  And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.4

  To Gloucester

  KING HENRY VI    But what a point5, my lord, your falcon made,

  And what a pitch6 she flew above the rest:

  To see how God in all his creatures works!

  Yea, man and birds are fain of8 climbing high.

  SUFFOLK    No marvel, an it like9 your majesty,

  My Lord Protector’s hawks do tower10 so well:

  They know their master loves to be aloft11,

  And bears his thoughts above his falcon’s pitch.

  GLOUCESTER    My lord, ’tis but a base ignoble mind

  That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

  CARDINAL    I thought as much: he would be above the clouds.

  GLOUCESTER    Ay, my lord cardinal, how think you by that16?

  Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?

  KING HENRY VI    The treasury of everlasting joy.

  CARDINAL    Thy heaven is on earth: thine eyes and thoughts

  Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart,

  Pernicious21 Protector, dangerous peer,

  That smooth’st it22 so with king and commonweal!

  GLOUCESTER    What, cardinal?

  Is your priesthood grown peremptory24?

  Tantaene animis coelestibus irae25?

  Churchmen so hot26? Good uncle, hide such malice:

  With such holiness, can you do it?

  SUFFOLK    No malice, sir, no more than well becomes

  So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.

  GLOUCESTER    As who, my lord?

  SUFFOLK    Why, as you, my lord,

  An’t like your lordly Lord’s Protectorship.

  GLOUCESTER    Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.

  QUEEN MARGARET    And thy ambition, Gloucester.

  KING HENRY VI    I prithee, peace, good queen,

  And whet not on36 these furious peers,

  For blessèd are the peacemakers on earth37.

  CARDINAL    Let me be blessèd for the peace I make

  Against this proud Protector, with my sword.

  Gloucester and Cardinal speak aside

  GLOUCESTER    Faith, holy uncle, would’t were come to that.

  CARDINAL    Marry41, when thou dar’st.

  GLOUCESTER    Make up no factious numbers for the matter42,

  In thine own person answer thy abuse43.

  CARDINAL    Ay, where thou dar’st not peep: an if44 thou dar’st,

  This evening, on the east side of the grove.

  KING HENRY VI    How now, my lords?

  CARDINAL    Believe me, cousin Gloucester,

  Had not your man put up48 the fowl so suddenly,

  We had had more sport.— Come with thy two-hand sword49.

  GLOUCESTER    True, uncle.—

  Are ye advised?51 The east side of the grove?

  CARDINAL    I am with you.

  KING HENRY VI    Why, how now, uncle Gloucester?

  GLOUCESTER    Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord.—

  Now, by God’s mother, priest, I’ll shave your crown55 for this,

  Or all my fence56 shall fail.

  CARDINAL. Medice, teipsum57—

  Protector, see to’t well, protect yourself.

  KING HENRY VI    The winds grow high: so do your stomachs59, lords:

  How irksome is this music to my heart!

  When such strings jar61, what hope of harmony?

  I pray, my lords, let me compound62 this strife.

  Enter one [Townsman] crying ‘A miracle!’

  GLOUCESTER    What means this noise?

  Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?

  TOWNSMAN    A miracle, a miracle!

  SUFFOLK    Come to the king and tell him what miracle.

  TOWNSMAN    Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban’s shrine67

  Within this half-hour hath received his sight:

  A man that ne’er saw in his life before.

  KING HENRY VI    Now, God be praised, that to believing souls

  Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair.

  Enter the Mayor of St Albans, and his brethren, bearing the man [Simpcox] between two in a chair, [Simpcox’s Wife and Townspeople following]

  CARDINAL    Here comes the townsmen on procession,

  To present your highness with the man.

  KING HENRY VI    Great is his comfort in this earthly vale74,

  Although by his sight his sin be multiplied75.

  GLOUCESTER    Stand by, my masters, bring him near the king:

  His highness’ pleasure is to talk with him.

  KING HENRY VI    Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance78,

  That we for thee may glorify the Lord.

  What, hast thou been long blind and now restored?

  SIMPCOX    Born blind, an’t please your grace.

  WIFE    Ay, indeed, was he.

  SUFFOLK    What woman is this?

  WIFE    His wife, an’t like your worship.

  GLOUCESTER    Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have better told85.

  To simpcox

  KING HENRY VI    Where wert thou born?

  SIMPCOX    At Berwick87 in the north, an’t like your grace.

  KING HENRY VI    Poor soul, God’s goodness hath been great to thee:

  Let never day nor night unhallowed pass89,

  But still90 remember what the Lord hath done.

  To Simpcox

  QUEEN MARGARET    Tell me, good fellow, cam’st thou here by chance,

  Or of92 devotion, to this holy shrine?

  SIMPCOX    God knows, of pure devotion, being called

  A hundred times and oft’ner in my sleep,

  By good Saint Alban, who said, ‘Simon, come:

  Come offer96 at my shrine, and I will help thee.’

  WIFE    Most true, forsooth: and many time and oft

  Myself have heard a voice to call him so.

  CARDINAL    What, art thou lame?

  SIMPCOX    Ay, God Almighty help me.

  SUFFOLK    How cam’st thou so?

  SIMPCOX    A fall off of a tree102.

  WIFE    A plum tree, master.

  GLOUCESTER    How long hast thou been blind?

  SIMPCOX    O, born so, master.

  GLOUCESTER    What, and wouldst climb a tree?

  SIMPCOX    But that107 in all my life, when I was a youth.

  WIFE    Too true, and bought his climbing very dear.

  GLOUCESTER    Mass109, thou lov’dst plums well, that wouldst venture so.

  SIMPCOX    Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons110,

  And made me climb111, with danger of my life.

  GLOUCESTER    A subtle knave, but yet it shall not serve112:

  Let me see thine eyes: wink113 now: now open them:

  In my opinion, yet114 thou see’st not well.

  SIMPCOX    Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and Saint Alban.

  GLOUCESTER    Say’st thou me so116: what colour is this cloak of?

  SIMPCOX    Red, master, red as blood.

  GLOUCESTER    Why, that’s well said: what colour is my gown of?

  SIMPCOX    Black, forsooth, coal-black as jet.

  KING HENRY VI    Why, then, thou know’st what colour jet is of?

  SUFFOLK    And yet, I think, jet did he never see.