SCENE III.

France. A Room in the Palace.

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Flourish. Enter LEWIS the French King, aud Lady Bona, attended: the King takes his state. Then enter Queen MARGARET, Prince EDWARD,

and the Earl of Oxford. 1 K. Lew. Fair queen of England, worthy Margaret,

[Rising. Sit down with us: it ill befits thy state And birth that thou shouldst stand, while Lewis doth sit.

Q. Mar. No, mighty king of France; now Margaret
Must strike her sail, and learn a while to serve,
Where kings command. I was, I must confess,
Great Albion's queen in former golden days;
But now mischance hath trod my title down,
And with dishonour laid me on the ground,
Where I must take like seat unto my fortune,
And to my humble seat conform myself.

K. Lew. Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep despair ?

Q. Mar. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears, And stops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in cares.

K. Lew. Whate'er it be, be thou still like thyself , And sit thee by our side: yield not thy neck

[Seats her by him.
To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind
Still ride in triumph over all mischance.
Be plain, queen Margaret, and tell thy grief;
It shall be eas'd, if France can yield relief.

Q. Mar. Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts,
And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.
Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,
That Henry, sole possessor of my love,
Is of a king become a banish'd man,
And forc'd to live iu Scotland, a forlorn;
While proud ambitious Edward, duke of York,
Usurps the regal title, and the seat

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of England's true-anointed lawful king.
This is the cause, that I, poor Margaret,
With this my son, prince Edward, Henry's heir,
Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid;
And if thou fail us, all our hope is done.
Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help;
Our people and our peers are both misled,
Our treasure seiz'd, our soldiers put to flight,
And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight.*

K. Lew. Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm,
While we bethink a means to break it off.

Q. Mar. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.
K. Lew. The more I stay, the more I 'll succour thee.

Q. Mar. 0! but impatience waiteth on true sorrow:
And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow.

Enter WARWICK,

attended.
K. Lew. What is he, approacheth boldly 5 to our presence ?
Q. Mar. Our 6 earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.
K. Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick. What brings thee to France ?

[Descending from his state. Queen MARGARET rises. 1 7 Q. Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm 8 to rise ; For this is he that moves both wind and tide.

War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion,
My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come, in kindness, and unfeigned love,
First, to do greetings to thy royal person,
And then, to crave a league of amity ;
And lastly, to confirm that amity
With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant
That virtuous lady Bona, thy fair sister,
To England's king in lawful marriage.

Q. Mar. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done. 9

War. And, gracious Madam, [To Bona.] in our king's behalf,
I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue

To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart;
Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue.

Q. Mar. King Lewis, and lady Bona, hear me speak,
Before you answer Warwick. His demand
Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love,

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But from deceit, bred by necessity;
For how can tyrants safely govern home,
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
To prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice,
That Henry liveth still; but were he dead,
Yet here prince Edward stands, king Henry's son.
Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage
Thou draw not on 11 thy danger and dishonour;
For though usurpers sway the rule a while,
Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.

War. Injurious Margaret!
Prince.

And why not queen ?
War. Because thy father Henry did usurp,
And thou no more art prince, than she is queen.

Oxf. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,
Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;
And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the fourth,
Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest;
And after that wise prince, Henry the fifth,
Who by his prowess conquered all France:
From these our Henry lineally descends.

War. Oxford, how baps it, in this smooth discourse,
You told not, how Henry the sixth hath lost
All that which Henry the fifth had gotten ?
Methinks, these peers of France should smile at that.
But for the rest,

you tell a pedigree
Of threescore and two years; a silly time
To make prescription for a kingdom's worth. 12

Oxf. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,
Whom thou obeyedst thirty and six years,
And not bewray thy treason with a blush ? 13

19 Warwick's Werbung entspringt nicht aus einer Liebe, welche etwa Edward aufrichtig

und redlich für Bona empfände, sondern u. s. w. 11) to draw on = herbeiziehen, fördern, als transitives Verbum mit dem Accusativ des

Objectes. Halliwell, der on als Präposition auffasste, wollte thy in thee ändern. 17 Eine Frist von zwei und sechszig Jahren ist eine Zeit, zu kümmerlich, als dass man

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War. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?
For shame! leave Henry, and call Edward king.
Oxf. Call him my king, by whose'

, injurious doom
My elder brother, the lord Aubrey Vere,
Was done to death ? and more than so, my father,
Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years,
When nature brought him to the door of death?
No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm,
This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.

War. And I the house of York.

K. Lew. Queen Margaret, prince Edward, and Oxford,
Vouchsafe at our request to stand aside,
While I use further conference with Warwick.
Q. Mar. Heavens grant, that Warwick's words bewitch him not!

[Retiring with the Prince and Oxford.
K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience,
Is Edward your true king ? for I were loath,
To link with him that were not lawful chosen.

War. Thereon I pawn my credit, and mine honour.
K. Lew. But is he gracious 15 in the people's eye?
War. The more, that Henry was unfortunate. 16

K. Lew. Then further, all dissembling set aside,
Tell me for truth the measure of his love
Unto our sister Bona.
War.

Such it seems,
As may beseem a monarch like himself.
Myself have often heard him say, and swear,
That this his love was an eternal 17 plant;
Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,
The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun,
Exempt from envy, but not from disdain, 18
Unless the lady Bona quit his pain.

14) Die Fol. hat They stand aloof. 15) gracious erklärt Malone mit a favourite with the people. Vielleicht ist es aber =

mit den Gaben Gottes versehen, die einen König zieren sollen, und es bezöge sich die Frage auf die innerliche und persönliche Berechtigung Edward's zur Königswürde, während die vorhergehende Frage nur die Legitimität und die Rechtmässigkeit der Wahl

betraf. So in Macbeth mehrere Mal the gracious Duncan. 16) Dass Heinrich kein Glück hatte, galt in den Augen des Volks für ein Zeichen, dass

die Gnade des Himmels nicht auf ihm ruhe, dass er also nicht gracious sei. 17) eternal, von Steevens richtig mit perennial erklärt, ist die Lesart der Qs. Die

Fol. hat external dafür. 18) Edward's Liebe zu der Bona ist unbesorgt vor dem Hasse oder dem bösen Leumunde K. Lew. Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve.

Bona. Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine.
Yet I confess, [T. WAR.] that often ere this day,
When I have heard your king's desert recounted,
Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire. 19

K. Lew. Then, Warwick, thus: — our sister shall be Edward's ;
And now forthwith shall articles be drawn
Touching the jointure that your king must make,
Which with her dowry shall be counterpois'd. —
Draw near, queen Margaret, and be a witness,
That Bona shall be wife to the English king.

Prince. To Edward, but not to the English king.

Q. Mar. Deceitful Warwick! it was thy device
By this alliance to make void my suit:
Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry's friend.

K. Lew. And still is friend to him and Margaret :
But if your title to the crown be weak,
As may appear by Edward's good success,
Then 't is but reason,

that I be releas'd
From giving aid which late I promised.
Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand,
That your estate requires, and mine can yield.

War. Henry now lives in Scotland, at his ease,
Where having nothing, nothing can he lose.
And as for you yourself, our quondam queen,
You have a father able 20 to maintain you,
And better 't were you troubled him than France.

Q. Mar. Peace! impudent and shameless Warwick, peace,
Proud setter-up and puller-down of kings; 22
I will not hence, till with my talk and tears,
Both full of truth, I make king Lewis behold
Thy sly conveyance, 23 and thy lord's false love;
For both of you are birds of self-same feather. [A horn sounded within. 24
K. Lew. Warwick, this is some post to us,

or thee.

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19) Ich hörte das Lob des Königs so gern an, dass darüber mein besonneneres Urtheil

Gefahr lief, in Liebe überzugehen. 20) Da sonst überall nur von der Armuth Regnier's die Rede ist, so hält Johnson diese

Verweisung auf ihn hier für ironisch; indess scheint die Ironie im Munde Warwicks weniger passend an dieser Stelle, wo es dem Redenden ernstlich daran liegen muss,

das Band zwischen Margarethe und dem König von Frankreich zu lösen. 21) Das zweite peace, das in der Fol. zufällig ausgefallen war, ergänzt die zweite Fol. von

1632. 227 Vgl. A. 2, Sc. 3, Anin. 6, und Anm. 9 dieser Scene. 23) conveyance List, Intrigue, heimliche Betreibung einer Sache. 2*) Die Bühnenweisung der Fol. lautet Post blowing a horn within. Vgl. A. 2, Sc. 1,

Aunn 13. Demgemäs hat die Fol. auch Enter the Post.