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 appeal,

• 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 my bed and company,

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.

My mother, being heir unto the crown,

Married Richard, earl of Cambridge, who was son

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

By her I claim the kingdom: she was heir

To Roger, earl of March, who was the son

· Of Edmund Mortimer, who married Philippe, Sole daughter unto Lionel, duke of Clarence : So, if the issue of the elder son

Succeed before the younger, I am king.

War. What plain proceedings are more plain than this?

Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt, The fourth son; York claims it from the third.

Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign:

It fails not yet; but florishes in thee,

And in thy sons, fair slips of such a stock.

Then, father Salisbury, kneel we both together;

‹ And, in this private plot,1 be we the first,

That shall salute our rightful sovereign

With honor of his birthright to the crown.

Both. Long live our sovereign Richard, England's

king!

York. We thank you, lords. But I am not your

king

• Till I be crown'd, and that my sword be stain'd
• With heart blood of the house of Lancaster :
"And that's not suddenly to be perform'd;
"But with advice and silent secresy.

"Do you, as I do, in these dangerous days;
"Wink at the duke of Suffolk's insolence,
"At Beaufort's pride, at Somerset's ambition,

Sequestered spot.