WARWICK
I wonder how the King escaped our hands.
YORK
While we pursued the horsemen of the north,
He slyly stole away and left his men;
Whereat the great Lord of Northumberland,
Whose warlike ears could never brook retreat,
Cheered up the drooping army; and himself,
Lord Clifford, and Lord Stafford, all abreast,
Charged our main battle’s front, and breaking in,
Were by the swords of common soldiers slain.
EDWARD
Lord Stafford’s father, Duke of Buckingham,
Is either slain or wounded dangerous;
I cleft his beaver with a downright blow.
That this is true, father, behold his blood.
MONTAGUE
And, brother, here’s the Earl of Wiltshire’s blood,
MONTAGUE
Whom I encountered as the battles joined.
RICHARD
Speak for me, and tell them what I did.
YORK
Richard best deserved of all my sons.
But is your Grace dead, my Lord of Somerset?
NORFOLK
Such hope have all the line of John of Gaunt!
RICHARD
Thus do I hope to shake King Henry’s head.
WARWICK
And so do I. Victorious Prince of York,
Before I see seated in that throne
Which now the house of Lancaster usurps,
I vow by heaven these eyes shall never close.
This is the palace of the fearful king,
And this the regal seat. Possess it, York,
For this is , and not King Henry’s heirs’.
YORK
Assist me, then, sweet Warwick, and I will;
For we have broken in by force.
NORFOLK
We’ll all assist you; he that flies shall die.
YORK
Thanks, gentle Norfolk. Stay by me, my lords;
And, soldiers, stay and lodge by me this night.
WARWICK
And when the King comes, offer him no violence,
Unless he seek to thrust you out perforce.
YORK
The Queen this day here holds her parliament,
But little thinks we shall be of her council.
By words or blows here let us win our right.
RICHARD
Armed as we are, let’s stay within this house.
WARWICK
The bloody parliament shall this be called,
Unless Plantagenet, Duke of York, be king,
And bashful Henry deposed, whose cowardice
made us bywords to our enemies.
YORK
Then leave me not, my lords; be resolute.
I mean to take possession of my right.
WARWICK
Neither the King, nor he that loves him best,
The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,
Dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells.
I’ll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares.
Resolve , Richard; claim the English crown.
KING HENRY
My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits,
Even in the chair of state! he means,
Backed by the power of Warwick, that false peer,
To aspire unto the crown and reign as king.
Earl of Northumberland, he slew father,
And , Lord Clifford; and you both have vowed revenge
On him, his sons, his favourites, and his friends.
NORTHUMBERLAND
If I be not, heavens be revenged on me!
CLIFFORD
The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel.
WESTMORELAND
What, shall we suffer this? Let’s pluck him down.
My heart for anger burns. I cannot brook it.
KING HENRY
Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmoreland.
CLIFFORD
Patience is for poltroons, such as he.
He durst not sit there had your father lived.
My gracious lord, here in the parliament
Let us assail the family of York.
NORTHUMBERLAND
Well spoken, cousin. Be it so.
KING HENRY
Ah, know you not the city favours them,
And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?
EXETER
But when the Duke is slain, they’ll quickly fly.
KING HENRY
Far be the thought of this from Henry’s heart,
To make a shambles of the Parliament House!
Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words, and threats
Shall be the war that Henry means to use.
KING HENRY
factious Duke of York, descend my throne,
And kneel for grace and mercy at my feet;
I am sovereign.
YORK
I am .
EXETER
For shame, come down. He made Duke of York.
YORK
my inheritance, as the earldom was.
EXETER
father was a traitor to the crown.
WARWICK
Exeter, art a traitor to the crown
In following this usurping Henry.
CLIFFORD
Whom should he follow but his natural king?
WARWICK
True, Clifford, that’s Richard, Duke of York.
KING HENRY
And shall I stand, and sit in my throne?
YORK
It must and shall be so. Content thyself.
WARWICK
Be Duke of Lancaster. Let him be king.
WESTMORELAND
He is both King and Duke of Lancaster;
And that the Lord of Westmoreland shall maintain.
WARWICK
And Warwick shall disprove it. You forget
That we are those which chased you from the field
And slew your fathers, and with colours spread
Marched through the city to the palace gates.
NORTHUMBERLAND
Yes, Warwick, I remember it to my grief;
And, by his soul, and house shall rue it.
WESTMORELAND
Plantagenet, of and these sons,
kinsmen, and friends, I’ll have more lives
Than drops of blood were in my father’s veins.
CLIFFORD
Urge it no more; lest that, instead of words,
I send , Warwick, such a messenger
As shall revenge his death before I stir.
WARWICK
Poor Clifford, how I scorn his worthless threats!
YORK
Will you we show our title to the crown?
If not, our swords shall plead it in the field.
KING HENRY
What title , traitor, to the crown?
father was, as art, Duke of York;
grandfather, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March.
I am the son of Henry the Fifth,
Who made the Dauphin and the French to stoop,
And seized upon their towns and provinces.
WARWICK
Talk not of France, sith lost it all.
KING HENRY
The Lord Protector lost it, and not I.
When I was crowned I was but nine months old.
RICHARD
You are old enough now, and yet, , you lose.
Father, tear the crown from the usurper’s head.
EDWARD
Sweet father, do so; set it on your head.
MONTAGUE
Good brother, as lov’st and honourest arms,
Let’s fight it out and not stand cavilling thus.
RICHARD
Sound drums and trumpets, and the King will fly.
YORK
Sons, peace!
KING HENRY
Peace , and give King Henry leave to speak.
WARWICK
Plantagenet shall speak first. Hear him, lords,
And be you silent and attentive too,
For he that interrupts him shall not live.
KING HENRY
Think’st that I will leave my kingly throne,
Wherein my grandsire and my father sat?
No. First shall war unpeople this my realm;
Ay, and their colours, often borne in France,
And now in England, to our heart’s great sorrow,
Shall be my winding-sheet. Why faint you, lords?
My title’s good, and better far than his.
WARWICK
Prove it, Henry, and be king.
KING HENRY
Henry the Fourth by conquest got the crown.
YORK
by rebellion against his king.
KING HENRY
I know not what to say; my title’s weak.
Tell me, may not a king adopt an heir?
YORK
What then?
KING HENRY
An if he may, then am I lawful king;
For Richard, in the view of many lords,
Resigned the crown to Henry the Fourth,
Whose heir my father was, and I am his.
YORK
He rose against him, being his sovereign,
And made him to resign his crown perforce.
WARWICK
Suppose, my lords, he did it unconstrained,
Think you ’twere prejudicial to his crown?
EXETER
No, for he could not so resign his crown
But that the next heir should succeed and reign.
KING HENRY
Art against us, Duke of Exeter?
EXETER
His is the right, and therefore pardon me.
YORK
Why whisper you, my lords, and answer not?
EXETER
My conscience tells me he is lawful king.
KING HENRY
All will revolt from me and turn to him.
NORTHUMBERLAND
Plantagenet, for all the claim lay’st,
Think not that Henry shall be so deposed.
WARWICK
Deposed he shall be, in despite of all.
NORTHUMBERLAND
art deceived. not southern power,
Of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, nor of Kent,
Which makes thus presumptuous and proud,
Can set the Duke up in despite of me.
CLIFFORD
King Henry, be title right or wrong,
Lord Clifford vows to fight in defence.
May that ground gape and swallow me alive,
Where I shall kneel to him that slew my father!
KING HENRY
O Clifford, how words revive my heart!
YORK
Henry of Lancaster, resign crown.
What mutter you, or what conspire you, lords?
WARWICK
Do right unto this princely Duke of York,
Or I will fill the house with armed men,
And over the chair of state where now he sits,
Write up his title with usurping blood.
KING HENRY
My Lord of Warwick, hear but one word:
Let me for this my lifetime reign as king.
YORK
Confirm the crown to me, and to mine heirs,
And reign in quiet while liv’st.
KING HENRY
I am content. Richard Plantagenet,
Enjoy the kingdom after my decease.
CLIFFORD
What wrong is this unto the Prince your son!
WARWICK
What good is this to England and himself!
WESTMORELAND
Base, fearful, and despairing Henry!
CLIFFORD
How injured both thyself and us!
WESTMORELAND
I cannot stay to hear these articles.
NORTHUMBERLAND
Nor I.
CLIFFORD
Come, cousin, let us tell the Queen these news.
WESTMORELAND
Farewell, faint-hearted and degenerate king,
In whose cold blood no spark of honour bides.
NORTHUMBERLAND
Be a prey unto the house of York,
And die in bands for this unmanly deed!
CLIFFORD
In dreadful war mayst be overcome,
Or live in peace abandoned and despised!
WARWICK
Turn this way, Henry, and regard them not.
EXETER
They seek revenge, and therefore will not yield.
KING HENRY
Ah, Exeter!
WARWICK
Why should you sigh, my lord?
KING HENRY
Not for myself, Lord Warwick, but my son,
Whom I unnaturally shall disinherit.
But be it as it may, I here entail
The crown to and to heirs for ever;
Conditionally, that here take an oath
To cease this civil war, and whilst I live,
To honour me as king and sovereign,
And neither by treason nor hostility
To seek to put me down and reign thyself.
YORK
This oath I willingly take and will perform.
WARWICK
Long live King Henry! Plantagenet, embrace him.
KING HENRY
And long live , and these forward sons!
YORK
Now York and Lancaster are reconciled.
EXETER
Accursed be he that seeks to make them foes!
YORK
Farewell, my gracious lord. I’ll to my castle.
WARWICK
And I’ll keep London with my soldiers.
NORFOLK
And I to Norfolk with my followers.
MONTAGUE
And I unto the sea from I came.
KING HENRY
And I with grief and sorrow to the court.
EXETER
Here comes the Queen, whose looks bewray her anger.
I’ll steal away.
KING HENRY
Exeter, so will I.
QUEEN MARGARET
Nay, go not from me; I will follow .
KING HENRY
Be patient, gentle Queen, and I will stay.
QUEEN MARGARET
Who can be patient in such extremes?
Ah, wretched man, would I had died a maid,
And never seen , never borne son,
Seeing proved so unnatural a father.
he deserved to lose his birthright thus?
Hadst but loved him half so well as I,
Or felt that pain which I did for him once,
Or nourished him as I did with my blood,
have left dearest heart-blood there,
Rather than have made that savage duke heir
And disinherited only son.
PRINCE EDWARD
Father, you cannot disinherit me.
If you be king, why should not I succeed?
KING HENRY
Pardon me, Margaret; pardon me, sweet son.
The Earl of Warwick and the Duke enforced me.
QUEEN MARGARET
Enforced ! Art King, and wilt be forced?
I shame to hear speak. Ah, timorous wretch,
undone thyself, son, and me,
And given unto the house of York such head
As reign but by their sufferance.
To entail him and his heirs unto the crown,
What is it but to make sepulchre
And creep into it far before time?
Warwick is Chancellor and the lord of Calais;
Stern Falconbridge commands the narrow seas;
The Duke is made Protector of the realm;
And yet be safe? Such safety finds
The trembling lamb environed with wolves.
Had I been there, which am a silly woman,
The soldiers should have tossed me on their pikes
Before I would have granted to that act.
But prefer’st life before honour.
And seeing , I here divorce myself
Both from table, Henry, and bed,
Until that act of parliament be repealed
Whereby my son is disinherited.
The northern lords that have forsworn colours
Will follow mine if once they see them spread;
And spread they shall be, to foul disgrace
And utter ruin of the house of York.
Thus do I leave . Come, son, let’s away:
Our army is ready; come, we’ll after them.
KING HENRY
Stay, gentle Margaret, and hear me speak.
QUEEN MARGARET
spoke too much already. Get gone.
KING HENRY
Gentle son Edward, wilt stay with me?
QUEEN MARGARET
Ay, to be murdered by his enemies.
PRINCE EDWARD
When I return with victory from the field
I’ll see your Grace. Till then I’ll follow her.
QUEEN MARGARET
Come, son, away; we may not linger thus.
KING HENRY
Poor queen! How love to me and to her son
made her break out into terms of rage!
Revenged may she be on that hateful Duke,
Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire,
Will cost my crown, and like an empty eagle
Tire on the flesh of me and of my son.
The loss of those three lords torments my heart.
I’ll write unto them and entreat them fair.
Come, cousin, you shall be the messenger.
EXETER
And I, I hope, shall reconcile them all.