With him the husband of this lovely lady:

Thither go these news, as fast as horse can carry them,—(41) A sorry breakfast for my lord protector.

Buck. Your grace shall give me leave, my Lord of York, To be the post, in hope of his reward.

York. At your pleasure, my good lord.-Who's within there, ho!

Enter a Servant.

Invite my Lords of Salisbury and Warwick
To sup with me to-morrow night.-Away!

[Exeunt.

ACT II

SCENE I. Saint Alban's.

Enter King HENRY, Queen MARGARET, GLOSTER, Cardinal, and
SUFFOLK, with Falconers hallooing.

Q. Mar. Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,
I saw not better sport these seven years' day:
Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high;

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

K. Hen. But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,
And what a pitch she flew above the rest!-
To see how God in all his creatures works!
Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.

Suf. No marvel, an it like your majesty,
My lord protector's hawks do tower so well;
They know their master loves to be aloft,
And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch.

Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind

That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

Car. I thought as much: he'd be above the clouds.

(41) carry them,-] "Write 'carry 'em,' and pronounce rapidly, to avoid the trisyllabic ending, which is out of place in these dramas, as it is also, though not altogether unknown, i. those which are entirely and undisputedly Shakespeare's." Walker's Shakespeare's Versification, &c., p. 99.

Glo. Ay, my lord cardinal,-how think you by that? Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?

K. Hen. The treasury of everlasting joy !

Car. Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart; Pernicious protector, dangerous peer,

That smooth'st it so with king and commonweal!

Glo. What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown perémptory?

Tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ ?*

Churchmen so hot? good uncle, hide such malice;
For with such holiness well can you do it.(42)

Suf. No malice, sir; no more than well becomes

So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.

Glo. As who, my lord?

Suf.

Why, as you, my lord,

An't like your lordly lord-protectorship.

Glo. Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.

Q. Mar. And thy ambition, Gloster.

K. Hen.

I prithee, peace, Good queen, and whet not on these furious peers.

For blessed are the peacemakers on earth.

Car. Let me be blessèd for the peace I make,

Against this proud protector, with my sword!

Glo. [aside to Car.] Faith, holy uncle, would 'twere come to that!

Car. [aside to Glo.] Marry, when thou dar'st.

Glo. [aside to Car.] Make up no factious numbers for the

matter;

In thine own person answer thy abuse.

Car. [aside to Glo.] Ay, where thou dar'st not peep: an if thou dar'st,

This evening on the east side of the grove.

• Tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ ?] Virgil, Æn. i. 11.

(42) For with such holiness well can you do it.] The folio has "With such Holynesse can you doe it?" What is the true reading here, will probably be always a matter of doubt. (The corresponding passage in The First Part of the Contention, &c., is "Church-men so hote. Good vnckle can you doate" [in 4to 1619 ". can you do't"])" Spoken ironically. By 'holiness' he means hypocrisy." WARBURTON.

Believe me, cousin Gloster,

K. Hen. How now, my lords!

Car.

Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly,

We had had more sport.-[Aside to Glo.] Come with thy two-hand sword.

Glo. True, uncle.

Car. [aside to Glo.] Are ye advis'd?-the east side of

the grove?

Glo. [aside to Car.] Cardinal, I am with you. (43)

K. Hen.

Why, how now, uncle Gloster!

Glo. Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord.— [Aside to Car.] Now, by God's mother, priest, I'll shave your crown

For this, or all my fence shall fail.

Car. [aside to Glo.] Medice, teipsum;

Protector, see to't well, protect yourself.

K. Hen. The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords.

How irksome is this music to my heart!

When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?

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

Enter a Townsman of Saint Alban's, crying "A miracle!"

Glo. What means this noise?

Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?

Towns. A miracle! a miracle!

Suf. Come to the king, and tell him what miracle. Towns. Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine, Within this half-hour, hath receiv'd his sight;

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

K. Hen. Now, God be prais'd, that to believing souls Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!

*Medice, teipsum;] "Medice, cura teipsum." Luc. iv. 23, Vulg.
(43) Glo. True, uncle.

Car. [aside to Glo.] Are ye advis'd?—the east side of the grove?
Glo. [aside to Car.] Cardinal, I am with you.]

In the folio the whole of this is assigned to "Glost."-Theobald made the proper distribution.

Enter the Mayor of Saint Alban's and his brethren; and SIMPCOX, borne between two persons in a chair, his Wife and a multitude following.

Car. Here come the townsmen on procession,

To present your highness with the man.(44)

K. Hen. Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, Though (45) by his sight his sin be multiplied.

Glo. Stand by, my masters:-bring him near the king; His highness' pleasure is to talk with him.

K. Hen. Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance,

That we for thee may glorify the Lord.

What, hast thou been long blind, and now restor❜d?
Simp. Born blind, an't please your grace.
Wife.

Ay, indeed was he.

His wife, an't like your worship.

Suf. What woman's this?

Wife.

Glo. Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have

better told.

K. Hen. Where wert thou born?

Simp. At Berwick in the north, an't like your grace. K. Hen. Poor soul, God's goodness hath been great to thee:

Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass,

But still remember what the Lord hath done.

Q. Mar. Tell me, good fellow, cam'st thou here by chance, Or of devotion, to this holy shrine ?

Simp. God knows, of pure devotion; being call'd A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep,

(44) Here come the townsmen on procession,

To present your highness with the man.]

I know not how to treat the second line, which is unmetrical, and hardly gives the sense required by the context. The earlier editors altered this speech in two ways, and very violently: Pope read

"Here come the townsmen on procession,

and Capell gave

Before your highness to present the man;"

"Here are the townsmen on procession,

Come to present your highness with the man."

(46) Though] The folio has "Although."

By good Saint Alban; who said, "Simpcox,(46) come,-
Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee." (47)
Wife. Most true, forsooth; and many time and oft
Myself have heard a voice to call him so.

Car. What, art thou lame?
Simp.

Suf. How cam'st thou so?
Simp.

Wife. A plum-tree, master.

Glo.

Ay, God Almighty help me!

A fall off of a tree.

How long hast thou been blind?

Simp. O, born so, master.
Glo.
What, and wouldst climb a tree?
Simp. But that in all my life, when I was a youth.
Wife. Too true; and bought his climbing very dear.
Glo. Mass, thou lov'dst plums well, that wouldst venture

SO.

Simp. Alas, good master, my wife desir'd some damsons, And made me climb, with danger of my life.

Glo. A subtle knave! but yet it shall not serve.-
Let me see thine eyes :-wink now;-now open them :-
In my opinion yet thou see'st not well.

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

Glo. Say'st thou me so? What colour is this cloak of? Simp. Red, master; red as blood.

Glo. Why, that's well said. What colour is my gown of? Simp. Black, forsooth; coal-black as jet.

K. Hen. Why, then, thou know'st what colour jet is of?

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

Glo. But cloaks and gowns, before this day, a niany.
Wife. Never, before this day, in all his life.

Glo. Tell me, sirrah, what's my name?

Simp. Alas, master, I know not.

Glo. What's his name?

Simp. I know not.

Glo. Nor his ?

(46) Simpcox,] The folio has "Symon."

and I will help thee.] "Surely, and I will heal thee."" Walker.

Crit. Exam., &c., vol. i. p. 27S.