History of Henry VI, Part III (role extract)

History of Henry VI, Part III

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King Henry VI complete text

King Henry VI. My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits,	1.1.50
Even in the chair of state: belike he means,	1.1.51
Back'd by the power of Warwick, that false peer,	1.1.52
To aspire unto the crown and reign as king.	1.1.53
Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father.	1.1.54
And thine, Lord Clifford; and you both have vow'd revenge	1.1.55
On him, his sons, his favourites and his friends.	1.1.56
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King Henry VI. Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmoreland.	1.1.61
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King Henry VI. Ah, know you not the city favours them,	1.1.67
And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?	1.1.68
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King Henry VI. Far be the thought of this from Henry's heart,	1.1.70
To make a shambles of the parliament-house!	1.1.71
Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words and threats	1.1.72
Shall be the war that Henry means to use.	1.1.73
Thou factious Duke of York, descend my throne,	1.1.74
and kneel for grace and mercy at my feet;	1.1.75
I am thy sovereign.	1.1.76
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King Henry VI. And shall I stand, and thou sit in my throne?	1.1.85
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King Henry VI. What title hast thou, traitor, to the crown?	1.1.105
Thy father was, as thou art, Duke of York;	1.1.106
Thy grandfather, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March:	1.1.107
I am the son of Henry the Fifth,	1.1.108
Who made the Dauphin and the French to stoop	1.1.109
And seized upon their towns and provinces.	1.1.110
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King Henry VI. The lord protector lost it, and not I:	1.1.112
When I was crown'd I was but nine months old.	1.1.113
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King Henry VI. Peace, thou! and give King Henry leave to speak.	1.1.121
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King Henry VI. Think'st thou that I will leave my kingly throne,	1.1.125
Wherein my grandsire and my father sat?	1.1.126
No: first shall war unpeople this my realm;	1.1.127
Ay, and their colours, often borne in France,	1.1.128
And now in England to our heart's great sorrow,	1.1.129
Shall be my winding-sheet. Why faint you, lords?	1.1.130
My title's good, and better far than his.	1.1.131
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King Henry VI. Henry the Fourth by conquest got the crown.	1.1.133
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King Henry VI. [Aside] I know not what to say; my title's weak.--	1.1.135
Tell me, may not a king adopt an heir?	1.1.136
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King Henry VI. An if he may, then am I lawful king;	1.1.138
For Richard, in the view of many lords,	1.1.139
Resign'd the crown to Henry the Fourth,	1.1.140
Whose heir my father was, and I am his.	1.1.141
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King Henry VI. Art thou against us, Duke of Exeter?	1.1.148
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King Henry VI. [Aside] All will revolt from me, and turn to him.	1.1.152
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King Henry VI. O Clifford, how thy words revive my heart!	1.1.164
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King Henry VI. My Lord of Warwick, hear me but one word:	1.1.171
Let me for this my life-time reign as king.	1.1.172
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King Henry VI. I am content: Richard Plantagenet,	1.1.175
Enjoy the kingdom after my decease.	1.1.176
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King Henry VI. Ah, Exeter!	1.1.192
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King Henry VI. Not for myself, Lord Warwick, but my son,	1.1.194
Whom I unnaturally shall disinherit.	1.1.195
But be it as it may: I here entail	1.1.196
The crown to thee and to thine heirs for ever;	1.1.197
Conditionally, that here thou take an oath	1.1.198
To cease this civil war, and, whilst I live,	1.1.199
To honour me as thy king and sovereign,	1.1.200
And neither by treason nor hostility	1.1.201
To seek to put me down and reign thyself.	1.1.202
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King Henry VI. And long live thou and these thy forward sons!	1.1.205
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King Henry VI. And I, with grief and sorrow, to the court.	1.1.212
Enter QUEEN MARGARET and PRINCE EDWARD
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King Henry VI. Exeter, so will I.	1.1.215
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King Henry VI. Be patient, gentle queen, and I will stay.	1.1.217
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King Henry VI. Pardon me, Margaret; pardon me, sweet son:	1.1.231
The Earl of Warwick and the duke enforced me.	1.1.232
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King Henry VI. Stay, gentle Margaret, and hear me speak.	1.1.260
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King Henry VI. Gentle son Edward, thou wilt stay with me?	1.1.262
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King Henry VI. Poor queen! how love to me and to her son	1.1.267
Hath made her break out into terms of rage!	1.1.268
Revenged may she be on that hateful duke,	1.1.269
Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire,	1.1.270
Will cost my crown, and like an empty eagle	1.1.271
Tire on the flesh of me and of my son!	1.1.272
The loss of those three lords torments my heart:	1.1.273
I'll write unto them and entreat them fair.	1.1.274
Come, cousin you shall be the messenger.	1.1.275
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King Henry VI. Ay, as the rocks cheer them that fear their wreck:	2.2.5
To see this sight, it irks my very soul.	2.2.6
Withhold revenge, dear God! 'tis not my fault,	2.2.7
Nor wittingly have I infringed my vow.	2.2.8
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King Henry VI. Full well hath Clifford play'd the orator,	2.2.43
Inferring arguments of mighty force.	2.2.44
But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear	2.2.45
That things ill-got had ever bad success?	2.2.46
And happy always was it for that son	2.2.47
Whose father for his hoarding went to hell?	2.2.48
I'll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind;	2.2.49
And would my father had left me no more!	2.2.50
For all the rest is held at such a rate	2.2.51
As brings a thousand-fold more care to keep	2.2.52
Than in possession and jot of pleasure.	2.2.53
Ah, cousin York! would thy best friends did know	2.2.54
How it doth grieve me that thy head is here!	2.2.55
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King Henry VI. Edward Plantagenet, arise a knight;	2.2.61
And learn this lesson, draw thy sword in right.	2.2.62
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King Henry VI. Why, that's my fortune too; therefore I'll stay.	2.2.76
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King Henry VI. Have done with words, my lords, and hear me speak.	2.2.117
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King Henry VI. I prithee, give no limits to my tongue:	2.2.119
I am a king, and privileged to speak.	2.2.120
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King Henry VI. This battle fares like to the morning's war,	2.5.1
When dying clouds contend with growing light,	2.5.2
What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails,	2.5.3
Can neither call it perfect day nor night.	2.5.4
Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea	2.5.5
Forced by the tide to combat with the wind;	2.5.6
Now sways it that way, like the selfsame sea	2.5.7
Forced to retire by fury of the wind:	2.5.8
Sometime the flood prevails, and then the wind;	2.5.9
Now one the better, then another best;	2.5.10
Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast,	2.5.11
Yet neither conqueror nor conquered:	2.5.12
So is the equal of this fell war.	2.5.13
Here on this molehill will I sit me down.	2.5.14
To whom God will, there be the victory!	2.5.15
For Margaret my queen, and Clifford too,	2.5.16
Have chid me from the battle; swearing both	2.5.17
They prosper best of all when I am thence.	2.5.18
Would I were dead! if God's good will were so;	2.5.19
For what is in this world but grief and woe?	2.5.20
O God! methinks it were a happy life,	2.5.21
To be no better than a homely swain;	2.5.22
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,	2.5.23
To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,	2.5.24
Thereby to see the minutes how they run,	2.5.25
How many make the hour full complete;	2.5.26
How many hours bring about the day;	2.5.27
How many days will finish up the year;	2.5.28
How many years a mortal man may live.	2.5.29
When this is known, then to divide the times:	2.5.30
So many hours must I tend my flock;	2.5.31
So many hours must I take my rest;	2.5.32
So many hours must I contemplate;	2.5.33
So many hours must I sport myself;	2.5.34
So many days my ewes have been with young;	2.5.35
So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean:	2.5.36
So many years ere I shall shear the fleece:	2.5.37
So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,	2.5.38
Pass'd over to the end they were created,	2.5.39
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.	2.5.40
Ah, what a life were this! how sweet! how lovely!	2.5.41
Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade	2.5.42
To shepherds looking on their silly sheep,	2.5.43
Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy	2.5.44
To kings that fear their subjects' treachery?	2.5.45
O, yes, it doth; a thousand-fold it doth.	2.5.46
And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds,	2.5.47
His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle.	2.5.48
His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade,	2.5.49
All which secure and sweetly he enjoys,	2.5.50
Is far beyond a prince's delicates,	2.5.51
His viands sparkling in a golden cup,	2.5.52
His body couched in a curious bed,	2.5.53
When care, mistrust, and treason waits on him.	2.5.54
Alarum. Enter a Son that has killed his father, dragging in the dead body
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King Henry VI. O piteous spectacle! O bloody times!	2.5.73
Whiles lions war and battle for their dens,	2.5.74
Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity.	2.5.75
Weep, wretched man, I'll aid thee tear for tear;	2.5.76
And let our hearts and eyes, like civil war,	2.5.77
Be blind with tears, and break o'ercharged with grief.	2.5.78
Enter a Father that has killed his son, bringing in the body
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King Henry VI. Woe above woe! grief more than common grief!	2.5.94
O that my death would stay these ruthful deeds!	2.5.95
O pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity!	2.5.96
The red rose and the white are on his face,	2.5.97
The fatal colours of our striving houses:	2.5.98
The one his purple blood right well resembles;	2.5.99
The other his pale cheeks, methinks, presenteth:	2.5.100
Wither one rose, and let the other flourish;	2.5.101
If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.	2.5.102
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King Henry VI. How will the country for these woful chances	2.5.107
Misthink the king and not be satisfied!	2.5.108
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King Henry VI. Was ever king so grieved for subjects' woe?	2.5.111
Much is your sorrow; mine ten times so much.	2.5.112
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King Henry VI. Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care,	2.5.123
Here sits a king more woful than you are.	2.5.124
Alarums: excursions. Enter QUEEN MARGARET, PRINCE EDWARD, and EXETER
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King Henry VI. Nay, take me with thee, good sweet Exeter:	2.5.137
Not that I fear to stay, but love to go	2.5.138
Whither the queen intends. Forward; away!	2.5.139
Exeunt
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King Henry VI. From Scotland am I stol'n, even of pure love,	3.1.13
To greet mine own land with my wishful sight.	3.1.14
No, Harry, Harry, 'tis no land of thine;	3.1.15
Thy place is fill'd, thy sceptre wrung from thee,	3.1.16
Thy balm wash'd off wherewith thou wast anointed:	3.1.17
No bending knee will call thee Caesar now,	3.1.18
No humble suitors press to speak for right,	3.1.19
No, not a man comes for redress of thee;	3.1.20
For how can I help them, and not myself?	3.1.21
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King Henry VI. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity,	3.1.24
For wise men say it is the wisest course.	3.1.25
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King Henry VI. My queen and son are gone to France for aid;	3.1.28
And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick	3.1.29
Is thither gone, to crave the French king's sister	3.1.30
To wife for Edward: if this news be true,	3.1.31
Poor queen and son, your labour is but lost;	3.1.32
For Warwick is a subtle orator,	3.1.33
And Lewis a prince soon won with moving words.	3.1.34
By this account then Margaret may win him;	3.1.35
For she's a woman to be pitied much:	3.1.36
Her sighs will make a battery in his breast;	3.1.37
Her tears will pierce into a marble heart;	3.1.38
The tiger will be mild whiles she doth mourn;	3.1.39
And Nero will be tainted with remorse,	3.1.40
To hear and see her plaints, her brinish tears.	3.1.41
Ay, but she's come to beg, Warwick to give;	3.1.42
She, on his left side, craving aid for Henry,	3.1.43
He, on his right, asking a wife for Edward.	3.1.44
She weeps, and says her Henry is deposed;	3.1.45
He smiles, and says his Edward is install'd;	3.1.46
That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more;	3.1.47
Whiles Warwick tells his title, smooths the wrong,	3.1.48
Inferreth arguments of mighty strength,	3.1.49
And in conclusion wins the king from her,	3.1.50
With promise of his sister, and what else,	3.1.51
To strengthen and support King Edward's place.	3.1.52
O Margaret, thus 'twill be; and thou, poor soul,	3.1.53
Art then forsaken, as thou went'st forlorn!	3.1.54
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King Henry VI. More than I seem, and less than I was born to:	3.1.56
A man at least, for less I should not be;	3.1.57
And men may talk of kings, and why not I?	3.1.58
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King Henry VI. Why, so I am, in mind; and that's enough.	3.1.60
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King Henry VI. My crown is in my heart, not on my head;	3.1.62
Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones,	3.1.63
Nor to be seen: my crown is called content:	3.1.64
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.	3.1.65
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King Henry VI. But did you never swear, and break an oath?	3.1.72
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King Henry VI. Where did you dwell when I was King of England?	3.1.74
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King Henry VI. I was anointed king at nine months old;	3.1.76
My father and my grandfather were kings,	3.1.77
And you were sworn true subjects unto me:	3.1.78
And tell me, then, have you not broke your oaths?	3.1.79
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King Henry VI. Why, am I dead? do I not breathe a man?	3.1.82
Ah, simple men, you know not what you swear!	3.1.83
Look, as I blow this feather from my face,	3.1.84
And as the air blows it to me again,	3.1.85
Obeying with my wind when I do blow,	3.1.86
And yielding to another when it blows,	3.1.87
Commanded always by the greater gust;	3.1.88
Such is the lightness of you common men.	3.1.89
But do not break your oaths; for of that sin	3.1.90
My mild entreaty shall not make you guilty.	3.1.91
Go where you will, the king shall be commanded;	3.1.92
And be you kings, command, and I'll obey.	3.1.93
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King Henry VI. So would you be again to Henry,	3.1.95
If he were seated as King Edward is.	3.1.96
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King Henry VI. In God's name, lead; your king's name be obey'd:	3.1.99
And what God will, that let your king perform;	3.1.100
And what he will, I humbly yield unto.	3.1.101
Exeunt
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King Henry VI. Master lieutenant, now that God and friends	4.6.1
Have shaken Edward from the regal seat,	4.6.2
And turn'd my captive state to liberty,	4.6.3
My fear to hope, my sorrows unto joys,	4.6.4
At our enlargement what are thy due fees?	4.6.5
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King Henry VI. For what, lieutenant? for well using me?	4.6.9
Nay, be thou sure I'll well requite thy kindness,	4.6.10
For that it made my imprisonment a pleasure;	4.6.11
Ay, such a pleasure as incaged birds	4.6.12
Conceive when after many moody thoughts	4.6.13
At last by notes of household harmony	4.6.14
They quite forget their loss of liberty.	4.6.15
But, Warwick, after God, thou set'st me free,	4.6.16
And chiefly therefore I thank God and thee;	4.6.17
He was the author, thou the instrument.	4.6.18
Therefore, that I may conquer fortune's spite	4.6.19
By living low, where fortune cannot hurt me,	4.6.20
And that the people of this blessed land	4.6.21
May not be punish'd with my thwarting stars,	4.6.22
Warwick, although my head still wear the crown,	4.6.23
I here resign my government to thee,	4.6.24
For thou art fortunate in all thy deeds.	4.6.25
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King Henry VI. Warwick and Clarence give me both your hands:	4.6.38
Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts,	4.6.39
That no dissension hinder government:	4.6.40
I make you both protectors of this land,	4.6.41
While I myself will lead a private life	4.6.42
And in devotion spend my latter days,	4.6.43
To sin's rebuke and my Creator's praise.	4.6.44
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King Henry VI. But, with the first of all your chief affairs,	4.6.58
Let me entreat, for I command no more,	4.6.59
That Margaret your queen and my son Edward	4.6.60
Be sent for, to return from France with speed;	4.6.61
For, till I see them here, by doubtful fear	4.6.62
My joy of liberty is half eclipsed.	4.6.63
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King Henry VI. My Lord of Somerset, what youth is that,	4.6.65
Of whom you seem to have so tender care?	4.6.66
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King Henry VI. Come hither, England's hope.	4.6.68
Lays his hand on his head
If secret powers	4.6.69
Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts,	4.6.70
This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss.	4.6.71
His looks are full of peaceful majesty,	4.6.72
His head by nature framed to wear a crown,	4.6.73
His hand to wield a sceptre, and himself	4.6.74
Likely in time to bless a regal throne.	4.6.75
Make much of him, my lords, for this is he	4.6.76
Must help you more than you are hurt by me.	4.6.77
Enter a Post
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King Henry VI. Let's levy men, and beat him back again.	4.8.6
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King Henry VI. Farewell, my Hector, and my Troy's true hope.	4.8.25
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King Henry VI. Well-minded Clarence, be thou fortunate!	4.8.27
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King Henry VI. Sweet Oxford, and my loving Montague,	4.8.30
And all at once, once more a happy farewell.	4.8.31
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King Henry VI. Here at the palace I will rest awhile.	4.8.33
Cousin of Exeter, what thinks your lordship?	4.8.34
Methinks the power that Edward hath in field	4.8.35
Should not be able to encounter mine.	4.8.36
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King Henry VI. That's not my fear; my meed hath got me fame:	4.8.38
I have not stopp'd mine ears to their demands,	4.8.39
Nor posted off their suits with slow delays;	4.8.40
My pity hath been balm to heal their wounds,	4.8.41
My mildness hath allay'd their swelling griefs,	4.8.42
My mercy dried their water-flowing tears;	4.8.43
I have not been desirous of their wealth,	4.8.44
Nor much oppress'd them with great subsidies.	4.8.45
Nor forward of revenge, though they much err'd:	4.8.46
Then why should they love Edward more than me?	4.8.47
No, Exeter, these graces challenge grace:	4.8.48
And when the lion fawns upon the lamb,	4.8.49
The lamb will never cease to follow him.	4.8.50
Shout within. 'A Lancaster! A Lancaster!'
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King Henry VI. Ay, my good lord:--my lord, I should say rather;	5.6.2
'Tis sin to flatter; 'good' was little better:	5.6.3
'Good Gloucester' and 'good devil' were alike,	5.6.4
And both preposterous; therefore, not 'good lord.'	5.6.5
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King Henry VI. So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf;	5.6.7
So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece	5.6.8
And next his throat unto the butcher's knife.	5.6.9
What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?	5.6.10
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King Henry VI. The bird that hath been limed in a bush,	5.6.13
With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush;	5.6.14
And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,	5.6.15
Have now the fatal object in my eye	5.6.16
Where my poor young was limed, was caught and kill'd.	5.6.17
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King Henry VI. I, Daedalus; my poor boy, Icarus;	5.6.21
Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;	5.6.22
The sun that sear'd the wings of my sweet boy	5.6.23
Thy brother Edward, and thyself the sea	5.6.24
Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life.	5.6.25
Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words!	5.6.26
My breast can better brook thy dagger's point	5.6.27
Than can my ears that tragic history.	5.6.28
But wherefore dost thou come? is't for my life?	5.6.29
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King Henry VI. A persecutor, I am sure, thou art:	5.6.31
If murdering innocents be executing,	5.6.32
Why, then thou art an executioner.	5.6.33
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King Henry VI. Hadst thou been kill'd when first thou didst presume,	5.6.35
Thou hadst not lived to kill a son of mine.	5.6.36
And thus I prophesy, that many a thousand,	5.6.37
Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear,	5.6.38
And many an old man's sigh and many a widow's,	5.6.39
And many an orphan's water-standing eye--	5.6.40
Men for their sons, wives for their husbands,	5.6.41
And orphans for their parents timeless death--	5.6.42
Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born.	5.6.43
The owl shriek'd at thy birth,--an evil sign;	5.6.44
The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time;	5.6.45
Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempest shook down trees;	5.6.46
The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top,	5.6.47
And chattering pies in dismal discords sung.	5.6.48
Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain,	5.6.49
And, yet brought forth less than a mother's hope,	5.6.50
To wit, an indigested and deformed lump,	5.6.51
Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree.	5.6.52
Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born,	5.6.53
To signify thou camest to bite the world:	5.6.54
And, if the rest be true which I have heard,	5.6.55
Thou camest--	5.6.56
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King Henry VI. Ay, and for much more slaughter after this.	5.6.59
God forgive my sins, and pardon thee!	5.6.60
Dies
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