presently. We'll hear more of your matter before the [Exeunt Servants with PETER.

King.

Q. Mar. And as for you, that love to be protected 40 Under the wings of our protector's Grace,

Begin your suits anew, and sue to him.

[Tears the petition.

[Exeunt Petitioners.

Away, base cullions! - Suffolk, let them go.

All. Come, let's be gone.

Q. Mar. My Lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise,

Is this the fashion in the Court of England?

Is this the government of Britain's isle,
And this the royalty of Albion's king?
What, shall King Henry be a pupil still,
Under the surly Gloster's governance ?
Am I a queen in title and in style,
And must be made a subject to a duke?
I tell thee, Poole, when in the city Tours
Thou ran'st a tilt in honour of my love,
And stol'st away the ladies' hearts of France,
I thought King Henry had resembled thee,
In courage, courtship, and proportion;
But all his mind is bent to holiness,

To number Ave-Maries on his beads:

His champions are the Prophets and Apostles;

His weapons, holy saws of sacred writ;

His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves
Are brazen images of canoniz'd saints.
I would the College of the Cardinals

Would choose him Pope, and carry him to Rome,

(R)

53 ran'st. White spelt rann'st.

57 courtship, courtliness. proportion, i. e. physical proportions. (R)

61 saws, maxims-the whole phrase-texts. (R)

68 canoniz'd-accented on the

second syllable. So with rev1. 83. (R)

enues,

And set the triple crown upon his head:
That were a state fit for his holiness.

Suf. Madam, be patient: as I was cause
Your Highness came to England, so will I
In England work your Grace's full content.

Q. Mar. Beside the haughty Protector, have we
Beaufort,

The imperious churchman; Somerset, Buckingham,
And grumbling York: and not the least of these
But can do more in England than the King.

Suf. And he of these that can do most of all,
Cannot do more in England than the Nevils:
Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.

Q. Mar. Not all these lords do vex me half so much As that proud dame, the Lord Protector's wife :

70

She sweeps it through the Court with troops of ladies, 80 More like an empress than Duke Humphrey's wife.

Strangers in Court do take her for the Queen:

She bears a duke's revenues on her back,
And in her heart she scorns our poverty.
Shall I not live to be aveng'd on her?
Contemptuous base-born callet as she is,
She vaunted 'mongst her minions t'other day,
The very train of her worst wearing gown
Was better worth than all my father's lands,
Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.
Suf. Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her;
And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds,
That she will light to listen to the lays,

71 haughty.
So first folio;
second, third, and fourth folios,
"haught." (R)

72 churchman, ecclesiastic. (R) 86 Contemptuous, contemptible. callet, a low woman. Cf. "a cal

90

let," Winter's Tale, II. iii. 90. White printed callat. The folio has Callot. (R)

91-8 Cf. III. iii. 16, "like limetwigs set to catch my winged soul." (R)

And never mount to trouble you again.

So let her rest; and, Madam, list to me;
For I am bold to counsel you in this.
Although we fancy not the Cardinal,

Yet must we join with him, and with the lords,
Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace.
As for the Duke of York, this late complaint

Will make but little for his benefit:

So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last,
And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.

Enter King HENRY, YORK, and SOMERSET; Duke and
Duchess of GLOSTER, Cardinal BEAUFORT, BUCKING-
HAM, SALISBURY, and WARWICK.

K. Hen. For my part, noble lords, I care not which;

Or Somerset, or York, all's one to me.

York. If York have ill demean'd himself in France, Then let him be denay'd the Regentship.

Som. If Somerset be unworthy of the place, Let York be regent; I will yield to him.

War. Whether your Grace be worthy, yea or no,
Dispute not that: York is the worthier.

Car. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
War. The Cardinal's not my better in the field.
Buck. All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.
War. Warwick may live to be the best of all.
Sal. Peace, son! - and shew some reason, Buck-
ingham,

Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this.

100

110

Q. Mar. Because the King, forsooth, will have it so. Glo. Madam, the King is old enough himself To give his censure. These are no women's matters. Q. Mar. If he be old enough, what needs your 120 Grace

To be Protector of his Excellence?

Glo. Madam, I am Protector of the realm,
And, at his pleasure, will resign my place.

Suf. Resign it, then, and leave thine insolence.
Since thou wert King, (as who is King but thou?)
The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack:
The Dolphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas,
And all the peers and nobles of the realm
Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.

Car. The Commons hast thou rack'd; the Clergy's

bags

Are lank and lean with thy extortions.

Som. Thy sumptuous buildings, and thy wife's

attire,

Have cost a mass of public treasury.
Buck. Thy cruelty in execution
Upon offenders hath exceeded law,
And left thee to the mercy of the law.

Q. Mar. Thy sale of offices and towns in France,
If they were known, as the suspect is great,
Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.

[Exit GLOSTER. The Queen drops her fan. Give me my fan: what, minion, can ye not?,

[Giving the Duchess a box on the ear. I cry you mercy, Madam: was it you?

119 censure, judgment; - the word implying no detraction. (w)

181 The Commons... the Clergy's. The two "Estates "besides the Nobles. (R)

184 treasury, treasure. (R)

130

140

189 suspect, suspicion. Cf. III. ii. 139, "if my suspect be false." (R)

141

ye. White read you. (R)

Duch. Was 't I? yea, I it was, proud French

woman:

Could I come near your beauty with my nails,

I'd set my ten commandments in your face.

K. Hen. Sweet aunt, be quiet: 't was against her will.

Duch. Against her will! Good King, look to 't in time;

She'll hamper thee, and dandle thee like a baby:
Though in this place most master wear no breeches,
She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unreveng'd.

[Exit Duchess.

Buck. Lord Cardinal, I will follow Eleanor, And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds: She's tickled now; her fury needs no spurs, She'll gallop far enough to her destruction.

Enter GLOSTER.

[Exit BUCKINGHAM.

Glo. Now, lords, my choler being over-blown
With walking once about the quadrangle,
I come to talk of commonwealth affairs.

145 I'd set my ten commandments [i. e. ten fingers], &c. The folio has, I could, &c.; the superfluous word having been caught from the line above. The quarto has, Ide set, &c. (w)

149 master wear. Such is the reading of the first folio. The later folios have master wears. White, following Halliwell, read masters wear, but the phrase most master, i. e. she that is master in most, seems to refer to the queen and to warrant retaining the reading of the folio, which is that of late editions. (R)

150

150 She shall not strike Dame Eleanor, &c. For this characteristic scene we are indebted entirely to the poet. Eleanor and Margaret never met. (w)

158 fury. The folio has Fume. The ingenious correction is Dyce's. The second folio attained only rhythm by reading, her fume can need no spurs, which was long retained.

154 far. The folio has farre. Pope changed to fast and was followed by White in his first edition unnecessarily it would seem. (R)