Have practis'd dangerously against your ftate;
Dealing with witches and with conjurers,
Whom we have apprehended in the fact,
Railing up wicked fpirits from under ground;
Demanding of King Henry's life and death,
And other of your Highnefs' privy council,
As more at large your grace fhall understand.

Car. And fo, my Lord Protector, by this means Your lady is forthcoming. yet at London. This news I think hath turn'd your weapon's edge. 'Tis like, my Lord, you will not keep your hour. Afide to Gloucester.

Glo. Ambitious churchman? leave to afflict my heart! Sorrow and grief have vanquifh'd all my powers; And vanquifh'd as I am, I yield to thee,

Or to the meanest groom.

K. Henry. O God, what mifchiefs work the wicked Heaping confufion on their own heads thereby! [ones, Queen. Glo'fter, see here the tainture of thy neft, And look thyfelf be faultlefs, thou wert beft.

Gio. Madam, for myfelf to Heav'n I do appeal,
How I have lov'd my King and common-weal:
And for my wife, I know not how it ftands.
Sorry am I to hear what I have heard;
Noble fhe is; but if fhe have forgot
Honour and virtue, and convers'd with fuch
As, like to pitch, defile nobility;

I banish her my bed and company,

And give her as a prey to law and fhame,

That hath difhonour'd Glo'fter's honeft name.

K. Henry. Well, for this night we will repofe us here; To-morrow toward London back again,

To look into this bufinefs thoroughly,

And call thefe foul offenders to their anfwers;
And poife the caufe in Juftice' equal fcales,

Whofe beam ftands fure, whofe rightful caufe prevails.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Changes to the Duke of York's palace.

Enter York, Salisbury, and Warwick.inf

[wick,

York. Now, my good Lords of Salisbury and War!
Our fimple fupper ended, give me leave,
In this clofe walk to fatisfy myself,

In craving your opinion of my title,
Which is infallible, to England's crown.

Sal. My Lord I long to hear it thus at full. Wi War. Sweet York begin; and if thy claim be good, The Nevils are thy fubjects to command.

York. Then, thus:

Edward the Third, my Lords, had feven fons: mod
The firft, Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales;
The fecond, William of Hatfield; and the third,
Lionel Duke of Clarence; next to whom
Was John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster;
The fifth was Edmond Langley, Duke of York;
The fixth, was Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Glo❜ster;
William of Windfor was the feventh and laft.

Edward the Black Prince dy'd before his father,
And left behind him Richard, his only fon,
Who, after Edward the Third's death, reign'd King;
Till Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster,
The eldelt fon and heir of John of Gaunt,
Crown'd by the name of Henry the Fourth,
Seiz'd on the realm; depos'd the rightful King:
Sent his poor Queen to France from whence the came,
And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know,
Harmless King Richard' trait'roufly was murther'd.
War. Father the Duke hath told the truth.
Thus got the houfe of Lancafter the crown.
York. Which now they hold by force, and not by
For Richard the first fon's heir being dead, [right;
The iffue of the next fon fhould have reign'd.

1

Sal, But William of Hatfield dy'd without an heir. York. The third son, Duke of Clarence, from whose I claim the crown, had iffue Philippe, a daughter, [line Who married Edmond Mortimer, Earl of March. Edmond had iffue; Roger earl of March Roger had iffue; Edmond, Anne, and Eleanor.

Sal.

Sal. This Edmond, in the reign of Bolingbroke, As I have read, laid claim unto the crown; And, but for Owen Glendower, had been King; Who kept him in captivity till he dy'd.

But to the rest

*York. His eldest sister, Anne,

My mother, being heir unto the crown,
Married Richard Earl of Cambridge,
Who was the fon to Edmond Langley,
Edward the Third's fifth fon.

By her I claim the kingdom; fhe was heir
To Roger Earl of March, who was the fon
Of Edmond Mortimer, who married Philippe,
Sole daughter unto Lionel Duke of Clarence,
So, if the iffue of the elder fon

Succeed before the younger, I am King.

War. What plain proceeding is more plain than this? Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt, The fourth fon; York here claims it from the third Till Lionel's iffue fail, his fhould not reign; It fails not yet, but flourisheth in thee, And in thy fons, fair flips of fuch a stock. Then, father Salisbury, kneel we together, And in this private plot be we the first, That fhall falute our rightful Sovereign, With honour of his birthright to the crown.

Both. Long live our Sov'reign Richard, England's King!

York. We thank you, Lords: but I am not your King Till I be crown'd; and that my fword be ftain'd With heart-blood of the houfe of Lancaster: And that's not fuddenly to be perform'd, But with advice and filent fecrecy. Do you, as I do, in these dang'rous days, Wink at the Duke of Suffolk's infolence, At Beaufort's pride, at Somerset's ambition, At Buckingham, and all the crew of them, Till they have faar'd the fhepherd of the flock, That virtuous prince, the good Duke Humphry: 'Tis that they feck, and they in feeking that Shall feek their deaths, if York can prophecy.

Sal.

Sal. My Lord, here break we off; we know your

mind.

War. My heart affures me, that the Earl of Warwick Shall one day make the Duke of York a king. qşin əzə York. And, Nevil, this I do affure myfelft: „Að Richard fhall live to make the Earl of Warwick 2 The greatest man in England, but the King. [Exeunt.D

SCENE V. Changes to a houfe near to Smithfield. Sound trumpets. Enter King Henry, Queen, and No bles; the Duchefs, Mother Jordan, Southwel, Hume, and Bolingbrook, under guard.

K. Henry. Stand forth, Dame Eleanor Cobham,
Glo'fter's wife.

In fight of God and us your guilt is great;
Receive the fentence of the law for fins,

Such as by God's book are adjudge'd to death. T
You four from hence to prison, back again;&
From thence unto the place of execution;

The witch in Smithfield fhall be burn'd to afhes,
And you three fhall be ftrangled on the gallows.
You, Madam, for you are more nobly born, Ț"
Defpoiled of your honour in your life,

Shall after three days open penance done,
Live in your country here, in banishment,
With Sir John Stanley, in the ifle of Man.

Elean. Welcome is exile, welcome were my death, Glo. The law, thou feeft, hath judg'd thee, Eleanor; I cannot justify whom law condemns.

[Exeunt Eleanor, and the others, guarded. Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief. Ah Humphry! this dishonour in thine age Will bring thy head with forrow to the ground. I befecch your Majefty, give me leave to go; Sorrow would folace, and my age would ease.

[thou go,

K. Henry. Stay, Humphry, Duke of Glo'fter; ere Give up thy staff; Henry will to himself Protector be, and God fhall be my hope, My ftay, my guide, and lanthorn to my feet. And go in peace, Humphry, no lefs belov'd, Than when thou wert Protector to thy King.

2. Mar.

2. Mar. I fee no reafon why a King of years Should be to be protected like a child :

God and King Henry govern England's realm:
Give up your staff, Sir, and the King his realm.
Glo. My ftaff! here, Noble Henry is my staff:
As willingly do I the fame refign,

As e'er thy father Henry made it mine;
And even as willing at thy feet I leave it,
As others would ambitiously receive it.
Farewel, good King; when I am dead and gone,
May honourable peace attend thy throne.

[Exit Gloucester. 2. Mar. Why, now is Henry King, and Marg'ret Queen.

And Humphry Duke of Glo'fter fcarce himfelf,
That bears fo fhrewd a maim; two pulls at once;
His Lady banish'd, and a limb lopp'd off;
This staff of honour raught, there let it stand,
Where beft it fits to be, in Henry's hand.

Suf. Thus droops this lofty pine, and hangs his sprays;
Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her younger days.
York. Lords, let him go. Please it your Majefty,
This is the day appointed for the combat,
And ready are the appellant and defendant,
The armourer and his man, to enter the lifts;
So please your Highness to behold the fight.

2. Mar. Ay, good my Lord: for purpofely therefore Left I the court, to fee this quarrel try'd.'

K.Henry. A' God's name, fee the lifts and all things Here let them end it, and God guard the right!

York. I never faw a fellow worse bestead,
Or more afraid to fight, than is th' appellant!"
The fervant of the armourer, my Lords.

[fit;

SCENE