Glo. Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. [A stool brought out.] 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, and a Beadle with a whip.

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 bearest 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 whipp'd through every market town,
Till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.

[Exeunt Mayor, Beadle, Wife, &c.

Car. Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to-day.
Suf. 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.

25

K. Hen. What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?
Buck. Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold.

A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent, 26
Under the countenance and confederacy

25) Anspielung auf die französischen Städte, welche durch Suffolks Vermittelung bei der Vermählung der Königin den Franzosen herausgegeben wurden.

26) Eine Gesellschaft nichtsnutziger Leute von schlechter Gesinnung.

Haufe, in verächtlichem Sinne, und lewdly

=

So kommen sort =

schlecht, öfter vor.

28) life and death ist dem Sinne nach auch auf das Folgende zu beziehen: sie fragten nach Leben und Tod Anderer, die zum Geheimenrath Eurer Majestät gehören. Damit sind? Suffolk und Somerset gemeint.

Car. And so, my lord protector, by this means
Your lady is forthcoming 29 yet at London.
This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's edge;
'Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour. 30

Glo. Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart.
Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers;

And, vanquish'd 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 wert best.

Glo. Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal,

How I have lov'd my king, and commonweal;
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
Honour, and virtue, and convers'd with such
As, like to pitch, defile nobility,

31

I banish her my bed and company.

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

That hath dishonour'd 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 tho roughly,

And call these foul offenders to their answers;

And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,

Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.

SCENE II.

London. The Duke of YORK's Garden.

Enter YORK, SALISBURY, and WARWICK.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

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, 1 to England's crown.

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

29 d. h. vor Gericht erscheinend.

30) die zum Zweikampf mit dem Cardinal heimlich anberaumte Stunde.

31) Anspielung anf das bekannte Sprichwort, u. A. in Much Ado about Nothing

(A. 3, Sc. 3) They that touch pitch will be defiled.

1) which is infallible bezieht sich auf your opinion, nicht auf my title.

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 Edmund 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, reign'd as king,
Till Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster,

The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt,
Crown'd by the name of Henry 2 the fourth,
Seized on the realm; depos'd the rightful king;

Sent his poor queen to France, from whence she came,
And him to Pomfret; where, as all 3 you know,
Harmless Richard was murder'd 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 reign'd.

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 Edmond Mortimer, earl of March,

Edmond had issue

Roger had issue

-

Roger, earl of March:

Edmond, Anne, and Eleanor.

Sal. This Edmond, 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.

2) Wie hie und da in K. Henry VI. First Part mag auch hier Henry dreisylbig zu lesen sein.

3) Mit all werden ebenfalls nur zwei Personen angeredet in K. Henry VI. Second Part (A. 3, Sc. 1) Why then, good morrow, to you all, my lords. Die Qs. haben hier as you both know.

Married Richard, earl of Cambridge, who was son

To Edmond 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 Edmond 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 proceeding is 5 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 together,
And, in this private plot, 6 be we the first,
That shall salute our rightful sovereign
With honour 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 crown'd, and that my sword be stain'd
With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster;
And that's not suddenly to be perform'd,
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 snar'd the shepherd of the flock,
That virtuous prince, the good duke Humphrey.
T is 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.

4) Die Fol. liest dafür Who was to Edmond Langley, || Edward's the third's fifth son's

son.

5) Manche Hgg. lesen proceedings are, weil die Fol. proceedings is hat.

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. 1

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 adjudg'd to death.
You four, from hence to prison back again;
From thence, unto the place of execution:

3

The witch in Smithfield shall be burn'd to ashes,
And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.
You, Madam, for 2 you are more nobly born,
Despoiled of your honour 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.

[To JOURD., &c.

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 dishonour 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.

5

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. 6
And go in peace, Humphrey; no less belov'd,
Than when thou wert protector to thy king.

1) Die Bühnenweisung der Fol. ist: Sound Trumpets. Enter the King and State, with Guard to banish the Duchess.

2) for = because.

3) entkleidet der Ehre, die Ihr im Leben, vor der Welt, genossen habt.

4) in banishment ist Gegensatz zu in your country: Ihr sollt, obwohl in Eurem Vaterlande, doch wie in der Verbanuung leben, Ihr sollt in Eurem eigenen Lande die Strafe der Verbannung erdulden.

5) Der Schmerz verlangt nach Trost, und mein Alter nach Ruhe.

6) Aus der Liturgie der Englischen Kirche: a lantern to my feet, and a light to my path.