SCENE I. London. The palace. Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter KING HENRY VI, GLOUCESTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and CARDINAL, on the one side; QUEEN MARGARET, SUFFOLK, YORK, SOMERSET, and BUCKINGHAM, on the other SUFFOLK As by your high imperial majesty I had in charge at my depart for France, As procurator to your excellence, To marry Princess Margaret for your grace, So, in the famous ancient city, Tours, In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil, The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne and Alencon, Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops, I have perform'd my task and was espoused:
And humbly now upon my bended knee, In sight of England and her lordly peers, Deliver up my title in the queen To your most gracious hands, that are the substance Of that great shadow I did represent;The happiest gift that ever marquess gave, The fairest queen that ever king received. KING HENRY VI Suffolk, arise. Welcome, Queen Margaret:
I can express no kinder sign of love Than this kind kiss. O Lord, that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
For thou hast given me in this beauteous face A world of earthly blessings to my soul, If sympathy of love unite our thoughts. QUEEN MARGARET Great King of England and my gracious lord, The mutual conference that my mind hath had, By day, by night, waking and in my dreams, In courtly company or at my beads, With you, mine alder-liefest sovereign, Makes me the bolder to salute my king With ruder terms, such as my wit affords And over-joy of heart doth minister. KING HENRY VI Her sight did ravish; but her grace in speech, Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty, Makes me from wondering fall to weeping joys;Such is the fulness of my heart's content.
Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love. ALL [Kneeling] Long live Queen Margaret, England's happiness! QUEEN MARGARET We thank you all.
Flourish SUFFOLK My lord protector, so it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace Between our sovereign and the French king Charles, For eighteen months concluded by consent. GLOUCESTER [Reads] 'Imprimis, it is agreed between the French king Charles, and William de la Pole, Marquess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry King of England, that the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier King of Naples, Sicilia and Jerusalem, and crown her Queen of England ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item, that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and delivered to the king her father'--Lets the paper fall KING HENRY VI Uncle, how now! GLOUCESTER Pardon me, gracious lord;Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further. KING HENRY VI Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on. CARDINAL [Reads] 'Item, It is further agreed between them, that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered over to the king her father, and she sent over of the King of England's own proper cost and charges, without having any dowry.' KING HENRY VI They please us well. Lord marquess, kneel down:
We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk, And gird thee with the sword. Cousin of York, We here discharge your grace from being regent I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen months Be full expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester, Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick;We thank you all for the great favour done, In entertainment to my princely queen.
Come, let us in, and with all speed provide To see her coronation be perform'd.
Exeunt KING HENRY VI, QUEEN MARGARET, and SUFFOLK GLOUCESTER Brave peers of England, pillars of the state, To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief, Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What! did my brother Henry spend his youth, His valour, coin and people, in the wars?
Did he so often lodge in open field, In winter's cold and summer's parching heat, To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits, To keep by policy what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham, Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick, Received deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself, With all the learned council of the realm, Studied so long, sat in the council-house Early and late, debating to and fro How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe, And had his highness in his infancy Crowned in Paris in despite of foes?
And shall these labours and these honours die?
Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance, Your deeds of war and all our counsel die?
O peers of England, shameful is this league!
Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame, Blotting your names from books of memory, Razing the characters of your renown, Defacing monuments of conquer'd France, Undoing all, as all had never been! CARDINAL Nephew, what means this passionate discourse, This peroration with such circumstance?
For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still. GLOUCESTER Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can;But now it is impossible we should:
Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast, Hath given the duchy of Anjou and Maine Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style Agrees not with the leanness of his purse. SALISBURY Now, by the death of Him that died for all, These counties were the keys of Normandy.
But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son? WARWICK For grief that they are past recovery:
For, were there hope to conquer them again, My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears.
Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both;Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer:
And are the cities, that I got with wounds, Delivered up again with peaceful words?
Mort Dieu! YORK For Suffolk's duke, may he be suffocate, That dims the honour of this warlike isle!
France should have torn and rent my very heart, Before I would have yielded to this league.
I never read but England's kings have had Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives: