TPTT The First Part of Henry the Sixth: ACT III
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
SCENE I. London. The Parliament-house.
SCENE II. France. Before Rouen.
SCENE III. The plains near Rouen.
SCENE IV. Paris. The palace.
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
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SCENE I. London. The Parliament-house.
Flourish. Enter KING HENRY VI, EXETER, GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, SOMERSET, and SUFFOLK; the BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, RICHARD PLANTAGENET, and others. GLOUCESTER offers to put up a bill; BISHOP OF WINCHESTER snatches it, and tears it
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      Comest thou with deep premeditated lines,
      With written pamphlets studiously devised,
      Humphrey of Gloucester? If thou canst accuse,
      Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge,
5     Do it without invention, suddenly;
      As I with sudden and extemporal speech
      Purpose to answer what thou canst object.
GLOUCESTER
      Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience,
      Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonour'd me.
10    Think not, although in writing I preferr'd
      The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,
      That therefore I have forged, or am not able
      Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen:
      No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness,
15    Thy lewd, pestiferous and dissentious pranks,
      As very infants prattle of thy pride.
      Thou art a most pernicious usurer,
      Forward by nature, enemy to peace;
      Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems
20    A man of thy profession and degree;
      And for thy treachery, what's more manifest?
      In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life,
      As well at London bridge as at the Tower.
      Beside, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted,
25    The king, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt
      From envious malice of thy swelling heart.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      Gloucester, I do defy thee. Lords, vouchsafe
      To give me hearing what I shall reply.
      If I were covetous, ambitious or perverse,
30    As he will have me, how am I so poor?
      Or how haps it I seek not to advance
      Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling?
      And for dissension, who preferreth peace
      More than I do?--except I be provoked.
35    No, my good lords, it is not that offends;
      It is not that that hath incensed the duke:
      It is, because no one should sway but he;
      No one but he should be about the king;
      And that engenders thunder in his breast
40    And makes him roar these accusations forth.
      But he shall know I am as good--
GLOUCESTER
      As good!
      Thou bastard of my grandfather!
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      Ay, lordly sir; for what are you, I pray,
45    But one imperious in another's throne?
GLOUCESTER
      Am I not protector, saucy priest?
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      And am not I a prelate of the church?
GLOUCESTER
      Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps
      And useth it to patronage his theft.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
50    Unreverent Gloster!
GLOUCESTER
      Thou art reverent
      Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      Rome shall remedy this.
WARWICK
      Roam thither, then.
SOMERSET
55    My lord, it were your duty to forbear.
WARWICK
      Ay, see the bishop be not overborne.
SOMERSET
      Methinks my lord should be religious
      And know the office that belongs to such.
WARWICK
      Methinks his lordship should be humbler;
60    it fitteth not a prelate so to plead.
SOMERSET
      Yes, when his holy state is touch'd so near.
WARWICK
      State holy or unhallow'd, what of that?
      Is not his grace protector to the king?
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
      (Aside) Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue,
65    Lest it be said 'Speak, sirrah, when you should;
      Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords?'
      Else would I have a fling at Winchester.
KING HENRY VI
      Uncles of Gloucester and of Winchester,
      The special watchmen of our English weal,
70    I would prevail, if prayers might prevail,
      To join your hearts in love and amity.
      O, what a scandal is it to our crown,
      That two such noble peers as ye should jar!
      Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell
75    Civil dissension is a viperous worm
      That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth.

A noise within, 'Down with the tawny-coats!'

      What tumult's this?
WARWICK
      An uproar, I dare warrant,
      Begun through malice of the bishop's men.
A noise again, 'Stones! stones!' Enter Mayor
Mayor
80    O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry,
      Pity the city of London, pity us!
      The bishop and the Duke of Gloucester's men,
      Forbidden late to carry any weapon,
      Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble stones
85    And banding themselves in contrary parts
      Do pelt so fast at one another's pate
      That many have their giddy brains knock'd out:
      Our windows are broke down in every street
      And we for fear compell'd to shut our shops.
Enter Serving-men, in skirmish, with bloody pates
KING HENRY VI
90    We charge you, on allegiance to ourself,
      To hold your slaughtering hands and keep the peace.
      Pray, uncle Gloucester, mitigate this strife.
First Serving-man
      Nay, if we be forbidden stones,
      We'll fall to it with our teeth.
Second Serving-man
95    Do what ye dare, we are as resolute.
Skirmish again
GLOUCESTER
      You of my household, leave this peevish broil
      And set this unaccustom'd fight aside.
Third Serving-man
      My lord, we know your grace to be a man
      Just and upright; and, for your royal birth,
100   Inferior to none but to his majesty:
      And ere that we will suffer such a prince,
      So kind a father of the commonweal,
      To be disgraced by an inkhorn mate,
      We and our wives and children all will fight
105   And have our bodies slaughtered by thy foes.
First Serving-man
      Ay, and the very parings of our nails
      Shall pitch a field when we are dead.
Begin again
GLOUCESTER
      Stay, stay, I say!
      And if you love me, as you say you do,
110   Let me persuade you to forbear awhile.
KING HENRY VI
      O, how this discord doth afflict my soul!
      Can you, my Lord of Winchester, behold
      My sighs and tears and will not once relent?
      Who should be pitiful, if you be not?
115   Or who should study to prefer a peace.
      If holy churchmen take delight in broils?
WARWICK
      Yield, my lord protector; yield, Winchester;
      Except you mean with obstinate repulse
      To slay your sovereign and destroy the realm.
120   You see what mischief and what murder too
      Hath been enacted through your enmity;
      Then be at peace except ye thirst for blood.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      He shall submit, or I will never yield.
GLOUCESTER
      Compassion on the king commands me stoop;
125   Or I would see his heart out, ere the priest
      Should ever get that privilege of me.
WARWICK
      Behold, my Lord of Winchester, the duke
      Hath banish'd moody discontented fury,
      As by his smoothed brows it doth appear:
130   Why look you still so stern and tragical?
GLOUCESTER
      Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand.
KING HENRY VI
      Fie, uncle Beaufort! I have heard you preach
      That malice was a great and grievous sin;
      And will not you maintain the thing you teach,
135   But prove a chief offender in the same?
WARWICK
      Sweet king! the bishop hath a kindly gird.
      For shame, my lord of Winchester, relent!
      What, shall a child instruct you what to do?
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      Well, Duke of Gloucester, I will yield to thee;
140   Love for thy love and hand for hand I give.
GLOUCESTER
      (Aside) Ay, but, I fear me, with a hollow heart.--
      See here, my friends and loving countrymen,
      This token serveth for a flag of truce
      Betwixt ourselves and all our followers:
145   So help me God, as I dissemble not!
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      (Aside) So help me God, as I intend it not!
KING HENRY VI
      O, loving uncle, kind Duke of Gloucester,
      How joyful am I made by this contract!
      Away, my masters! trouble us no more;
150   But join in friendship, as your lords have done.
First Serving-man
      Content: I'll to the surgeon's.
Second Serving-man
      And so will I.
Third Serving-man
      And I will see what physic the tavern affords.
Exeunt Serving-men, Mayor, &c
WARWICK
      Accept this scroll, most gracious sovereign,
155   Which in the right of Richard Plantagenet
      We do exhibit to your majesty.
GLOUCESTER
      Well urged, my Lord of Warwick: or sweet prince,
      And if your grace mark every circumstance,
      You have great reason to do Richard right;
160   Especially for those occasions
      At Eltham Place I told your majesty.
KING HENRY VI
      And those occasions, uncle, were of force:
      Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is
      That Richard be restored to his blood.
WARWICK
165   Let Richard be restored to his blood;
      So shall his father's wrongs be recompensed.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
      As will the rest, so willeth Winchester.
KING HENRY VI
      If Richard will be true, not that alone
      But all the whole inheritance I give
170   That doth belong unto the house of York,
      From whence you spring by lineal descent.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
      Thy humble servant vows obedience
      And humble service till the point of death.
KING HENRY VI
      Stoop then and set your knee against my foot;
175   And, in reguerdon of that duty done,
      I gird thee with the valiant sword of York:
      Rise Richard, like a true Plantagenet,
      And rise created princely Duke of York.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET
      And so thrive Richard as thy foes may fall!
180   And as my duty springs, so perish they
      That grudge one thought against your majesty!
ALL
      Welcome, high prince, the mighty Duke of York!
SOMERSET
      (Aside) Perish, base prince, ignoble Duke of York!
GLOUCESTER
      Now will it best avail your majesty
185   To cross the seas and to be crown'd in France:
      The presence of a king engenders love
      Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends,
      As it disanimates his enemies.
KING HENRY VI
      When Gloucester says the word, King Henry goes;
190   For friendly counsel cuts off many foes.
GLOUCESTER
      Your ships already are in readiness.
Sennet. Flourish. Exeunt all but EXETER
EXETER
      Ay, we may march in England or in France,
      Not seeing what is likely to ensue.
      This late dissension grown betwixt the peers
195   Burns under feigned ashes of forged love
      And will at last break out into a flame:
      As fester'd members rot but by degree,
      Till bones and flesh and sinews fall away,
      So will this base and envious discord breed.
200   And now I fear that fatal prophecy
      Which in the time of Henry named the Fifth
      Was in the mouth of every sucking babe;
      That Henry born at Monmouth should win all
      And Henry born at Windsor lose all:
205   Which is so plain that Exeter doth wish
      His days may finish ere that hapless time.
Exit
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