And greatness of his place be grief to us, 'Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal; • His insolence is 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 BUCKINGHAM and SOMERSET. 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 publick 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. Só God help Warwick, as he loves the land, * And common profit of his country!

* York. And so says York, for he hath greatest

6

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 Warwick and SALISBURY. 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 makecheap 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. * So York must sit, and fret, and bite his tongue, * While his own lands are bargain’d for, and sold. * Methinks, the realms of England, France, and

Ireland, * Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood, * As did the fatal brand Althea burn'd, * Unto the prince's heart of Calydon. Anjou and Maine, both given unto the French! Cold news for me; for I had hope of France,

6 — the prince's heart of Calydon.] According to the fable, Meleager's life was to continue only so long as a certain firebrand should last. His mother Althea having thrown it into the fire, he expired in great torments.

Even as I have of fertile England's soil.
A day will come, when York shall claim his own;
And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts,
And make a show of love to proud duke Humphrey,
And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown,
For that's the golden mark I see to hit:
Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right,
Nor hold his sceptre in his childish fist,
Nor wear the diadem upon his head,
Whose church-like humours fit not for a crown.
Then, York, be still awhile, till time do serve:
Watch thou, and wake, when others be asleep,
To
pry

into the secrets of the state;
Till Henry, surfeiting in joys of love,
With his new bride, and England’s dear-bought queen,
And Humphrey with the peers be fall’n at jars:
Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose,
With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfum'd;
And in my standard bear the arms of York,
To grapple with the house of Lancaster ;
And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the crown,
Whose bookish rule hath pull’d fair England down.

[Exit.

SCENE II.

The same. A Room in the Duke of Gloster's House.

Enter GLOSTER and the Duchess.

Duch. Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn, Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load? * Why doth the great duke Humphrey knit his

brows, * As frowning at the favours of the world? * Why are thine eyes fix'd to the sullen earth, * Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight? • What see'st thou there? king Henry's diadem,

* Enchas'd with all the honours of the world? * If so, gaze on, and grovel on thy face, * Until thy head be circled with the same. • Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold:• What, is't too short? I'll lengthen it with mine: * And, having both together heav'd it up, * We'll both together lift our heads to heaven; * And never more abase our sight so low, * As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground. • Glo. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy

lord. • Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts: • And may that thought, when I imagine ill

Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry, · Be my last breathing in this mortal world! My troublous dream this night doth make me sad, Duch. What dream'd my lord? tell me, and I'll

requite it • With the sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream. • Glo. Methought, this staff, mine office-badge

in court, · Was broke in twain; by whom, I have forgot, • But, as I think, it was by the cardinal;

And, on the pieces of the broken wand • Were plac'd the heads of Edmond duke of Somerset,

And William de la Poole first duke of Suffolk. • This was my dream; what it doth bode, God knows.

* Duch. Tut, this was nothing but an argument, That he that breaks a stick of Gloster's grove, • Shall lose his head for his presumption. * But list to me, my Humphrey, my sweet duke: Methought, I sat in seat of majesty, In the cathedral church of Westminster, And in that chair where kings and queens are

crown'd; Where Henry, and dame Margaret, kneeld to me, * And on my head did set the diadem,

Glo. Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright: * Presumptuous daine, ill-nurtur'd Eleanor !! Art thou not second woman in the realm: And the protector's wife, belov’d of him? * Hast thou not worldly pleasure at command, * Above the reach or compass of thy thought? And wilt thou still be hammering treachery, * To tumble down thy husband, and thyself, * From top of honour to disgrace's feet? Away from me, and let me hear no more. · Duch. What, what, my lord! are you so cho

lerick With Eleanor, for telling but her dream? · Next time, I'll keep my dreams unto myself, And not be check'd.

Glo. Nay, be not angry, I am pleas'd again.

Enter a Messenger. • Mes. My lord protector, 'tis his highness' plea

sure, You do prepare to ride unto Saint Albans, •Whereas the king and queen do mean to hawk.

Glo. I go.—Come, Nelị, thou wilt ride with us ? · Duch. Yes, good my lord, I'll follow presently,

(Exeunt Gloster and Messenger. * Follow I must, I cannot go before, * While Gloster bears this base and humble mind. * Were I a man, a duke, and next of blood, * I would remove these tedious stumbling-blocks, * And smooth my way upon their headless necks: * And, being a woman, I will not be slack * To play my part in fortune's pageant.

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ill-nurturid -] Ill-nurtur'd, is ill-educated. 8 Whereas —] Whereas is the same as where; and seems to be brought into use only on account of its being a dissyllable.