A man at leaft, for lefs I fhould not be;
And men may talk of kings, and why not I?

Ham. Ay, but thou talk'ft as if thou wert a king. K. Henry. Why, fo I am, in mind; and that's enough.

Ham. But, if thou be a king, where is thy crown? K. Henry. My crown is in my heart, not on my head;

Not deck'd with diamonds, and Indian ftones,
Nor to be feen: my crown is call'd, content;
A crown it is, that feldom kings enjoy.

[tent,

K. Hory. But did you never wear, and break an
Hon. No, never fuch an oath; nor will we now.
K. Henry. Where did you dwell, when I was
king of England?
[main.

Ham. Here in this country, where we now re-
K. Heary. I was anointed king at nine months
My father and my grandfather were kings; [old;
And you were iworn true subjects unto me:
And, tell me then, have you not broke your oaths?
Sink. No; for we were fubjects but while you
were king.

[a man?

K. Henry. Why, am I dead? do I not breathe Ah, fumple men, you know not what you fwear. Look, as I blow this feather from my face, And as the air blows it to me again, Obeying with my wind when I do blow, And yielding to another when it blows, Commanded always by the greater guit; Such is the lightnefs of you common men. But do not break your oaths; for, of that fin My mild entreaty fhall not make you guilty. Go where you will, the king fhall be commanded; And be you kings; command, and I'll obey.

Sink. We are true fubjects to the king, king Edward.

K. Henry. So would you be again to Henry, If he were feated as king Edward is. [the king's, Sink. We charge you, in God's name, and in! To go with us unto the officers. [be obey'd:

K. Henry. In God's name, lead; your king's name And what God will, that let your king perform ; And what he will, I humbly yield unto. [Exeunt.] SCENE II.

London. The Palace.

Enter King Edward, Glofter, Clarence, and Lady Grey.

K.Edw. Brother of Glofter, at Saint Alban's field This lady's hufband, Sir John Grey, was flain, His land then feiz'd on by the conqueror: Her fuit is now, to repoffefs thofe lands; Which we in juftice cannot well deny, Becaule in quarrel of the house of York The noble gentleman did lofe his life.

K. Edw. Widow, we will confider of your fuit; And come fome other time, to know our mind.

Grey. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay: May it pleafe your highnels to refolve me now; And what your pleafure is, thall fatisfy me.

Glo. [ide.] Ay, widow? then I'll warrant you all your lands,

An if what pleafes lum, fhall pleasure you. Fight clofer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow. Clar. [-fide.] I fear her not, unless the chance to fall. [vantages. Glo. [hide] God forbid that! for he'll take K. Edw. How many children haft thou, widow? tell me.

[of her. Clar. [ide. I think, he means to beg a child Glo. [-ide.] Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her two.

Grey. Three, my moft gracious lord. Glo. [fide.] You fhall have four, if you'll be [ther's land.

rul'd by him.

K. Ed. 'Twere pity they fhould lofe their faGry. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then. K. Edw. Lords, give us leave; I'll try this wi

dow's wit.

[leave, Glo. Ay, good leave have you; for you will have Till youth take leave, and leave you to your crutch. [Glofter and Clarence retire to the other fide. K. Edw. Now tell me, madam, do you love

your children?

And am I then a man to be belov'd?

O, monftrous fault to harbour such a thought!
Then, fince this earth affords no joy to me,
But to command, to check, to o'erbear fuch
As are of better perfon than myself,
I'll make my heaven--to dream upon the crown;
And, while I live, to account this world but hell,
Until my mil-fhap'd trunk that bears this head,
Be round impaled with a glorious crown.
And yet I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives ftand between me and home:
And I,-like one loft in a thorny wood,

L

That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns;
Seeking a way, and straying from the way;
Not knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling desperately to find it out,——
Torment myself to catch the English crown:
And from that torment I will free myself,
Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.
Why, I can fmile, and murder while I fmile;
And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart;
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
And frame my face to all occafions.

I'll drown more failors than the mermaid fhall;
I'll flay more gazers than the bafilisk;
I'll play the orator as well as Neftor,
Deceive more flily than Ulyffes could,
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy :
I can add colours to the cameleon;
Change fhapes, with Proteus, for advantages,
And fet the murd'rous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut! were it further off, I'll pluck it down.

Muft ftrike her fail, and learn a while to ferve,
Where kings command. I was, I muft confefs,
Great Albion's queen in former golden days:
But now mifchance hath trod my title down,
And with difhonour laid me on the ground;
Where I must take like feat unto my fortune,
And to my humble feat conform myself.

K. Lewis. Why fay, fair queen, whence (prings
this deep defpair?

Queen. From fuch a caufe as fills mine eyes with tears, [cares. And ftops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in K. Lewis. Whate'er it be, be thou ftill like thyfelf,

And fit thee by our fide: yield not thy neck

[Seats her by him.

To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntiefs mind
Still ride in triumph over all mifchance.
Be plain, queen Margaret, and tell thy grief;
It shall be eas'd, if France can yield relief.
Queen. Thofe gracious words revive my drooping
thoughts,

And give my tongue-ty'd forrows leave to speak.
Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,
That Henry, fole poffeffor of my love,
Is, of a king, become a banifh'd man,
And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn ;
While proud ambitious Edward, duke of York,
Ufurps the regal title, and the feat

Of England's true-anointed lawful king.
This is the caufe, that I, poor Margaret,-
With this my fon, 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 mis-led,
Our treafure feiz'd, our foldiers put to flight,
And, as thou feeft, ourselves in heavy plight.
K. Lewis. Renowned queen, with patience calm
the storm,

While we bethink a means to break it off-
Queen. The more we ftay, the stronger grows
our foe.
[thee.
K. Lewis. The more I stay, the more I'll fuccour
Queen. O, but impatience waiteth on true forrow:
And fee, where comes the breeder of my forrow.
Enter Warwick.

K. Lewis. What's he approacheth boldly to our prefence?

Queen. Our earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest

friend.

K. Lewis. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to France?

[He defcends. She arifeth. Queen. Ay, now begins a fecond storm to rife: For this is he, that moves both wind and tide.

War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion,
My lord and fovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come, in kindness, and unfeigned love,-
First, to do greetings to thy royal perfon;
And, then, to crave a league of amity;
And, lastly, to confirm that amity
With nuptial knot, if thou vouchfafe to grant
That virtuous lady Bona, thy fair fifter,
To England's king in lawful marriage.
Queen. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.
War. And, gracious madam, in our king's behalf,
[Speaking to Bona.

I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kifs your hand, and with my tongue
To tell the paffion of my fovereign's heart;
Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue.
Queen. King Lewis,-and lady Bona,-hear
me fpeak,

Before

Before you anfwer Warwick. His demand
Springs not from Edward's well-meant honeft love,
But from deceit, bred by neceffity:

For how can tyrants fafely govern home,
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance!
To prove him tyrant, this reafon may fuffice,-
That Henry liveth ftill: but were be dead,
Yet here prince Edward ftands, king Henry's fon.
Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and
marriage

Thou draw not on thy danger and difhonour :
For though ufurpers fway the rule a while,
Yet heavens are juft, and time fuppreffeth wrongs.
War. Injurious Margaret !

Prince. And why not queen?

War. Because thy father Henry did ufurp; And thou no more art prince, than the is queen. Oxf. Then Warwick difannuls great John of Gaunt,

Which did fubdue the greatest part of Spain;
And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the fourth,
Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wifeft;
And, after that wife prince, Henry the fifth,
Who by his prowefs conquered all France :
From these our Henry lineally defcends.

War. Oxford, how haps it, in this fmooth
difcourfe,

You told not, how Henry the fixth hath loft
All that which Henry the fifth had gotten ?
Methinks, thefe peers of France thould fmile

at that.

But for the reft,-You tell a pedigree
Of threefcore and two years; a filly time
To make prefcription for a kingdom's worth.
Oxf. Why, Warwick, canft thou fpeak against
thy liege,

Whom thou obey'dit thirty and fix years,
And not bewray thy treafon with a blufh?
War. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falihood with a pedigree ?
For fhame, leave Henry, and call Edward king.
Oxf. Call him my king, by whofe injurious doom
My elder brother, the lord Aubrey Vere,
Was done to death? and more than fo, 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 houfe of Lancaster.

War. And I the houfe of York.

K. Lewis. But is he gracious in the people's eye!
War. The more, that Henry was unfortunate.
K. Lewis. Then further, all diffembling fet
afide,

Tell me for truth the measure of his love
Unto our fifter Bona.

War. Such it feems,

As may beleem a monarch like himself.
Myfelf have often heard him fay, and swear,—
That this his love was an eternal plant;
Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,
The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's fun;
Exempt from envy, but not from difdain,
Unless the lady Bona quit his pain.

K. Lewis. Now, fifter, let us hear your firm
refolve.

Bona. Your grant, or your denial, fhall be mine :-Yet I confels, that often ere this day,

[Speaking to Warwijk. When I have heard your king's defert recounted, Mine ear hath tempted judgement to defire.

K. Lewis. Then, Warwick, this,-Our fifter fhall be Edward's;

And now forthwith fhall articles be drawn Touching the jointure that your king must make, Which with her dowry fhall be counterpois'd :Draw near, queen Margaret; and be a witness, That Bona fhall be wife to the English king.

Prince. To Edward, but not to the English king. Queen. Deceitful Warwick! it was thy device By this alliance to make void my fuit; Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry's friend.

K. Lewis. And ftill is friend to him and Mar-
garet:

But if your title to the crown be weak,-
As may appear by Edward's good fuccefs,—
Then 'tis but reafon, that I be releas'd
From giving aid, which late I promised.
Yet thall you have all kindness at my hand,
That your eftate requires, and mine can yield.

War. Henry now lives in Scotland, at his ease ;
Where having nothing, nothing he can lofe.
And as for you yourtelf, our quendam queen,-
You have a father able 2 to maintain you;
And better 'twere, you troubled him than France.
Queen. Peace, impudent and fhameless War-
wick, peace;

Proud fetter-up and puller-down of kings!
I will not hence, 'till with my talk and tears,

2 This feems to be fpoken ironically;

And,

mistress

Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his.
Prince. Nay, mark, how Lewis ftamps as he
I hope, all's for the best.
[were nettled:

K. Lew. Warwick, what are thy news and
yours, fair queen?
[joys.
Queen. Mine, fuch as fills my heart with unhop'd
War. Mine, full of forrow and heart's difcontent.
K. Lew. What! has your king marry'd the lady
Grey?

And now, to footh your forgery and his,
Sends me a paper to perfuade me patience?
Is this the alliance that he feeks with France?
Dare he prefume to fcorn us in this manner?
Queen. I told your Majefty as much before:
This proveth Edward's love, and Warwick's ho-
nefty.
[heaven,
War. King Lewis, I here proteft,-in fight of
And by the hope I have of heavenly blifs,-
That I am clear from this misdeed of Edward's;
No more my king, for he difhonours me;
But moft himself, if he could fee his fhame.--
Did I forget, that by the houfe of York
My father came untimely to his death?
Did I let pafs the abufe done to my niece 1?
Did I impale him with the regal crown?
Did I put Henry from his native right;
And am I guerdon'd at the laft with fhame?
Shame on himself! for my defert is honour.
And, to repair my honour loft for him,
I here renounce him, and return to Henry :-
My noble queen, let former grudges país,
And henceforth I am thy true fervitor;
I will revenge his wrong to lady Bona,
And replant Henry in his former state.
Queen. Warwick, thefe words have turn'd my

hate to love;

And I forgive and quite forget old faults,
And joy that thou becom'it king Henry's friend.
War. So much his friend, ay, his unfeigned
friend,

That, if king Lewis vouchfafe to furnish us
With fome few bands of chofen foldiers,
I'll undertake to land them on our coaft,
And force the tyrant from his feat by war.
'I is not his new-made bride fhall fuccour him:
And as for Clarence,-as my letters tell me,
He's very likely now to fall from him ;
For matching more for wanton luft than honour,
Or than for ftrength and safety of our country.
Bona. Dear brother, how shall Bona be reveng`d
But by thy help to this diftreffed queen?

Queen. Renowned prince, how thall poor Hen.
ry live,

Unless thou refcue him from foul despair?

Queen. Tell him, my mourning weeds are laid And I am ready to put armour on. [wrong; War. Tell him from me, that he hath done me And therefore I'll uncrown him cre 't be long. There's thy reward; be gone. [Exit Poft.

K. Lew. But, Warwick; Thyfelf, and Oxford, with five thousand men, Shall crofs the feas, and bid falfe Edward battle: Aird, as occafion ferves, this noble queen And prince fhall follow with a fresh supply. Yet, ere thou go, but anfwer me one doubt;What pledge have we of thy firm loyalty?

War. This fhall affure my conftant loyalty;— That if our queen and this young prince agree, I'll join my younger daughter, and my joy, To him forthwith in holy wedlock bands.

Queen. Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion :--

Son Edward, fhe is fair and virtuous,
Therefore delay not, give thy hand to Warwick;
And, with thy hand, thy faith irrevocable,
That only Warwick's daughter fhall be thine. [it;

Prince. Yes, I accept her, for the well deferves And here, to pledge my vow, I give my hand. [He gives his hand to Warwick. K. Lew. Why ftay we now? Thefe foldiers fhall be levy'd,

And thou, lord Bourbon, our high admiral,
Shall waft them over with our royal fleet.---
I long, 'till Edward fall by war's mifchance,
For mocking marriage with a dame of France.
[Exeunt. Manet Warwith.
War. I came from Edward as embalador,
But I return his fworn and mortal foe:
Matter of marriage was the charge he gave me,
But dreadful war thall anfwer his demand.
Had he none elfe to make a ftale, but me?
Then none but I fhall turn his jeft to forrow.
I was the chief that rais'd him to the crown,
And I'll be chief to bring him down again;
Not that I pity Henry's mifery,
But feek revenge on Edward's mockery.

[Exit.

ACT