Glo. Brave Peers of England, pillars of the state, In winter's cold, and summer's parching heat, Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham, 7 With all the learned council of the realm, Study'd so long, sat in the council - house, Early and late, debating to and fro How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe ? And hath his Highness in his infancy Been crown'd in Paris, in despite of foes; And shall these labours, and these honours, die? Shali 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! Car. Nephew, what means this passionate discourse? This peroration with such circumstance? For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still. Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can; *Rut now it is impossible we should: Suffolk, the new-made Duke that rules the roast, Hath given the dnchies of Anjou and Maine Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style * Agrees not with the leanness of his purse. * Sal. Now, by the death of him that died for all, These counties were the keys of Normandy: But wherefore wee Warwick, my valiant son? War. 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; conquer: And are the cities, that I got with wounds, * York, For Suffolk's Duke suffocate, may he be That dims the honour of this warlike isle! I never read but England's Kings have had And our King Henry gives away his own, To match with her that brings no vantages. * Glo. A proper jest, and never heard before, That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth, For costs and charges in transporting her! She should have staid in France, and starv'd in France, * Before Car. My Lord of Gloster, now you grow too hot; was the pleasure of my lord the King, Glo. My Lord of Winchester, I know your 'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike. We shall begin our ancient bickerings, * * * Nay, more, an enemy unto you all;. * And no great friend, I fear me, to the King. * Consider Lords, he is the next of blood, And heir apparent to the English crown; Had Henry got an empire by his marriage, And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west. There's reason he should be displeas'd at it. *Look to it, Lords; let not his smoothing words * Bewitch your hearts; be wise, and circumspect. What though the common people favour hin, Calling him Humphrey the good Duke of Gloster ; Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice Jesu maintain your royal Excellence! Buck. Why should he then protect our Sor *He being of age to govern of himself? 'Cousin of Somerset, join you with me. And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk, We'll quickly hoise Duke Humphrey from his seat. * Car. This weighty business will not brook delay; *I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently.. 6 * [Exit. 'Som. Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey's pride, And greatness of his place be grief to us, Than all the Princes in the land beside; If Gloster be displac'd, he'll be Protector. Buck, Or thou, or I, Somerset, will be Protector, Despight Duke Humphrey, or the Cardinal [Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and SOMERSET, Sal. Pride went before, ambition follows him. 'While these do labour for their own preferment, Behoves it us to labour for the realm. I never saw but Humphrey Duke of Gloster Oft have I seen the haughty Cardinal More like a soldier, than a man o'the church, As stout, and proud, as he were lord of all, 'Swear like a ruffian, and demean himself Unlike the ruler of a commonweal, Warwick my son, the comfort of my age! Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy housekeeping, Hath won the greatest favour of the commons, Excepting noue but good Duke Humphrey, And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland, In bringing them to civil discipline; Thy late exploits done in the heart of France, When thou wert regent for our Sovereign, Have made thee fear'd, and honour'd, of the people: Join we together, for the publick good; In what we can, to bridle and suppress The pride of Suffolk, and the Cardinal, 'With Somerset's and Buckingham's ambition : And, as we may, cherish Duke Humphrey's deeds, 'While they do tend the profit of the land. * War. So God help Warwick, as he loves the land, * And common profit of his country! *York. And so says York, for he hath greatest cause. Sal. Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main. War. Unto the main! O father, Maine is lost; That Maine, which by main force Warwick did win, * And would have kept, so long as breath did last : Main chance, father, you meant; but I meant Maine; Which I will win from France, or else be slain. [Exeunt WARWICK and SALISBURY. York. Anjou and Maine are given to the French; * Paris is lost; the state of Normandy * Stands on a tickle point, now they are gone: *Suffolk concluded on the articles; The Peers agreed; and Henry was well pleas'd, *To change two dukedoms for a Duke's fair daughter. * I cannot blame them all; What is't to them? 'Tis thine they give away, and not their own. Pirates may make cheap penny worth's of their pillage, * And purchase friends, and give to courtezans, Still revelling, like lords, till all be gone: While as the silly owner of the goods Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands, |