By day, by night; waking, and in my dreams;
In courtly company, or at my beads,-
With you mine alder-liefest sovereign, 3
Makes me the bolder to salute my king
With ruder terms; such as my wit affords,
And over-joy of heart doth minister.

K.Hen. Her sight did ravish: but her grace in speech, Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty,

Makes me, from wondering fall to weeping joys;
Such is the fulness of my heart's content.-

Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love.
All. Long live queen Margaret, England's happiness!
Q.Mar. We thank you all.
[Flourish
Suf. My lord protector, so it please your grace,
Here are the articles of contracted peace,
Between our sovereign and the French king Charles,
For eighteen months concluded by consent.

Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king, Charles, and William de la Poole, marquess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry king of England, that the said Henry shall espouse the lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier king of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerusalem; and crown her queen of England, ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing. -Item,- That the duchy of Anjou, and the county of Maine, shall be rereased and delivered to the king her father

K.Hen. Uncle, how now?

Glo. Pardon me, gracious lord;

Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart,
And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further.
K.Hen. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.

Win. Item, It is further agreed between them,that the duches of Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered over to the king her father; and she sent over of the king of England's own proper cost and charges, without having dowry.

K.Hen. They please us well.-Lord marquess, kneel down;

We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,

And girt thee with the sword.—

Cousin of York, we here discharge your grace

[3] Alder-lievest is an old English word given to him to whom the speaker is supremely attached: liefest being the superlative of the comparative levar, rather, from lief. WARB.- -Alder-liefest is a corruption of the German word alder-liebste, beloved of all things, dearest of all. STEEV.

From being regent in the parts of France,
Till term of eighteen months be full expir'd.--
Thanks, uncle Winchester, Gloster, York, and Buck-
ingham,

Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick;

We thank you all for this great favour done,
In entertainment to my princely queen.

—Come, let us in; and with all speed provide
To see her coronation be perform’d.

[Exeunt King, Queen, and SUFFOLK.
Glo. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,
To you duke Humphrey must unload his grief,
Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What did my brother Henry spend his youth,
His valour, coin, and people, in the wars?
Did he so often lodge in open field,

In winter's cold, and summer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits,
To keep by policy what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
Receiv'd deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath my uncle Beaufort, and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Studied 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?
Shall 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 ?4

For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.
Glo. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can ;

[4] This speech crowded with so many instances of aggravation. JOHNS

But now it is impossible we should :

Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast,
Hath given the duchies 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 weeps 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 ;
Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer:
And are the cities, that I got with wounds,
Deliver'd up again with peaceful words?
Mort Dieu !

York. For Suffolk's duke-may he be suffocate,
That dims the honour of this warlike isle !
France should have torn and rent my very heart,
Before I would have yielded to this league.

I never read but England's kings have had
Large sums of gold, and dowries, with their wives :
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;
It was the pleasure of my lord the king.

Glo. My lord of Winchester, I know your mind;
Tis not my speeches that you do mislike,
But 'tis my presence that doth trouble you.
Rancour will out: Proud prelate, in thy face
I see thy fury: if I longer stay,

We shall begin our ancient bickerings.6-
Lordlings, farewell; and say, when I am gone,
I prophesied-France will be lost ere long.

Car. So, there goes our protector in a rage. 'Tis known to you, he is mine enemy:

[Exit.

[5] The indignation of Warwick is natural, and I wish it had been better expressed; there is a kind of jingle intended in wounds and words JOH. [6] To bicker is to skirmish In the ancient met cal romance of Guy ear! of Warwick, bl. 1. no date, the heroes consult whether they should bicker on the walls, or descend to battle on the plain. STEEV.

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 him,
Calling him-Humphrey, the good duke of Gloster;
Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice-
Jesu maintain your royal excellence!

With-God preserve the good duke Humphrey !
I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,
He will be found a dangerous protector.

Buck. Why should he then protect our sovereign,
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.

[Exit.

Som. Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey's pride,

And greatness of his place be grief to us,
Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal;
His insolence is the more intolerable
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 BUCK. and SOM. 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
Did bear him like a noble gentleman.
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 common-weal.-
Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age!
Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy house-keeping
Hath won the greatest favour of the commons,

Excepting none 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 public 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 WAR. and SAL: 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 pennyworths 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,
And shakes his head, and trembling stands aloof,
While all is shar'd, and all is borne away;
Ready to starve, and dare not touch his own.

[7] Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, married Cicely, the daughter of Ralph Nevil, earl of Westmoreland. Richard Nevil, earl of Salisbury, was son to the earl of Westmoreland, by a second wife. He married Alice, the only daughter of Thos. Montacute, earl of Salisbury, who was killed at the siege of Orleans [See this play, Part I. act I. sc. iii.] and in consequence of that alliance obtained the title of Salisbury in 1428. His eldest son Richard, having married the sister and heir of Henry Beauchamp earl of Warwick, was created earl of Warwick in 1449. MAL.

[8] Tickle is very frequently used for ticklish by old writers.

STEET.