Glos. Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. [a stool brought out.] Now, sirrah, if you mean to save yourself from whipping, leap me over this stool, and run away.

Simp. Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone: You go about to torture me in vain.

Re-enter Attendant, with the BEADLE.

Glos. Well, sir, we must have you find your legs. Sirrah beadle, whip him till he leap over that same stool.

Bea. I will, my lord.-Come on, sirrah; off with your doublet quickly.

Simp. Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand.

[after the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the stool, and runs away; and the people follow, and cry, A Miracle!'

'K. Hen. O God, seest thou this, and bear'st so

long?

Q. Mar. It made me laugh to see the villain

run.

"Glos. Follow the knave; and take this drab

away.

Wife. Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.

Glos. Let them be whipped through every market town, till they come to Berwick, whence they came. [Exeunt Mayor, Beadle, Wife, &c. · Car. Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to

day.

Suf. True; made the lame to leap, and fly

away.

'Glos. But you have done more miracles than I; You made, in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.

Enter BUCKINGHAM.

K. Hen. What tidings with our cousin Buckingham ?

• Buck. Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold. A sort of naughty persons, lewdly 2 bent,• Under the countenance and confederacy Of lady Eleanor, the protector's wife,

6

• The ringleader and head of all this rout,—
Have practised dangerously against your state,
Dealing with witches and with conjurers;
'Whom we have apprehended in the fact;

Raising up wicked spirits from under ground,

Demanding of king Henry's life and death,

And other of your highness' privy council,

As more at large your grace shall understand. 'Car. And so, my lord protector, by this means Your lady is forthcoming 3 yet at London.

This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's

edge:

. "Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour. [aside to Gloster. 'Glos. Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my

heart!

I Company.

2 Wickedly.

3 In custody.

"Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers; "And, vanquish'd as I am, I yield to thee,

Or to the meanest groom.

K. Hen. O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,

Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby! "Q. Mar. Gloster, see here the tainture of thy

nest;

"And, look, thyself be faultless: thou wert best. · Glos. Madam, for myself, to Heaven I do ap

peal,

• How I have loved my king and commonweal;

And, for my wife, I know not how it stands.

Sorry I am to hear what I have heard:

Noble she is; but, if she have forgot

'Honor and virtue, and conversed with such As, like to pitch, defile nobility,

I banish her bed and company,

my

And give her, as a prey, to law and shame,

That hath dishonor'd Gloster's honest name.

K. Hen. Well, for this night we will repose us

here:

To-morrow, toward London, back again,

To look into this business thoroughly,

And call these foul offenders to their answers;

'And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,

Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause [florish. Exeunt.

prevails.

SCENE II.

London. The Duke of York's garden.

Enter YORK, SALISBURY, and WARWICK.

York. Now, my good lords of Salisbury and
Warwick,

Our simple supper ended, give me leave,

In this close walk, to satisfy myself,

In craving your opinion of my title,

Which is infallible, to England's crown.

Sal. My lord, I long to hear it at full.

War. Sweet York, begin; and if thy claim be

good,

The Nevils are thy subjects to command.

York. Then thus:

Edward the third, my lords, had seven sons:

The first, Edward the Black Prince, prince of

Wales;

The second, William of Hatfield; and the third,

• Lionel, duke of Clarence; next to whom,

Was John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster;

The fifth was Edmund Langley, duke of York;

The sixth was Thomas of Woodstock, duke of

Gloster;

William of Windsor was the seventh, and last.

Edward, the Black Prince, died before his father;

And left behind him Richard, his only son,

Who, after Edward the third's death, reign'd as

king;

Till Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster,

The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt,

• Crown'd by the name of Henry the fourth,

Seised on the realm; deposed the rightful king; 'Sent his poor queen to France, from whence she

came,

And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know, 'Harmless Richard was murder'd traitorously.

War. Father, the duke hath told the truth: "Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown. "York. Which now they hold by force, and not by right;

"For Richard, the first son's heir, being dead,
"The issue of the next son should have reign'd.

Sal. But William of Hatfield died without an

heir.

York. The third son, duke of Clarence, (from whose line

"I claim the crown) had issue-Philippe, a daugh

ter,

"Who married Edmund Mortimer, earl of March. "Edmund had issue-Roger, earl of March:

Roger had issue-Edmund, Anne, and Eleanor.

Sal. This Edmund, 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 died.

But, to the rest.

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York.

His eldest sister, Anne,

My mother, being heir unto the crown,

Married Richard, earl of Cambridge, who was son

To Edmund Langley, Edward the third's fifth son.