Folger Shakespeare Library

http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org

Contents

Front Matter |
ACT 1 |
ACT 2 |
ACT 3 |
ACT 4 |
ACT 5 |

From the Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library

It is hard to imagine a world without Shakespeare. Since their composition four hundred years ago, Shakespeare’s plays and poems have traveled the globe, inviting those who see and read his works to make them their own.

Readers of the New Folger Editions are part of this ongoing process of “taking up Shakespeare,” finding our own thoughts and feelings in language that strikes us as old or unusual and, for that very reason, new. We still struggle to keep up with a writer who could think a mile a minute, whose words paint pictures that shift like clouds. These expertly edited texts are presented to the public as a resource for study, artistic adaptation, and enjoyment. By making the classic texts of the New Folger Editions available in electronic form as Folger Digital Texts, we place a trusted resource in the hands of anyone who wants them.

The New Folger Editions of Shakespeare’s plays, which are the basis for the texts realized here in digital form, are special because of their origin. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is the single greatest documentary source of Shakespeare’s works. An unparalleled collection of early modern books, manuscripts, and artwork connected to Shakespeare, the Folger’s holdings have been consulted extensively in the preparation of these texts. The Editions also reflect the expertise gained through the regular performance of Shakespeare’s works in the Folger’s Elizabethan Theater.

I want to express my deep thanks to editors Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine for creating these indispensable editions of Shakespeare’s works, which incorporate the best of textual scholarship with a richness of commentary that is both inspired and engaging. Readers who want to know more about Shakespeare and his plays can follow the paths these distinguished scholars have tread by visiting the Folger either in-person or online, where a range of physical and digital resources exists to supplement the material in these texts. I commend to you these words, and hope that they inspire.

Michael Witmore
Director, Folger Shakespeare Library

Textual Introduction
By Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine

Until now, with the release of the Folger Digital Texts, readers in search of a free online text of Shakespeare’s plays had to be content primarily with using the Moby™ Text, which reproduces a late-nineteenth century version of the plays. What is the difference? Many ordinary readers assume that there is a single text for the plays: what Shakespeare wrote. But Shakespeare’s plays were not published the way modern novels or plays are published today: as a single, authoritative text. In some cases, the plays have come down to us in multiple published versions, represented by various Quartos (Qq) and by the great collection put together by his colleagues in 1623, called the First Folio (F). There are, for example, three very different versions of Hamlet, two of King Lear, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, and others. Editors choose which version to use as their base text, and then amend that text with words, lines or speech prefixes from the other versions that, in their judgment, make for a better or more accurate text.

Other editorial decisions involve choices about whether an unfamiliar word could be understood in light of other writings of the period or whether it should be changed; decisions about words that made it into Shakespeare’s text by accident through four hundred years of printings and misprinting; and even decisions based on cultural preference and taste. When the Moby™ Text was created, for example, it was deemed “improper” and “indecent” for Miranda to chastise Caliban for having attempted to rape her. (See The Tempest, 1.2: “Abhorred slave,/Which any print of goodness wilt not take,/Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee…”). All Shakespeare editors at the time took the speech away from her and gave it to her father, Prospero.

The editors of the Moby™ Shakespeare produced their text long before scholars fully understood the proper grounds on which to make the thousands of decisions that Shakespeare editors face. The Folger Library Shakespeare Editions, on which the Folger Digital Texts depend, make this editorial process as nearly transparent as is possible, in contrast to older texts, like the Moby™, which hide editorial interventions. The reader of the Folger Shakespeare knows where the text has been altered because editorial interventions are signaled by square brackets (for example, from Othello: “If she in chains of magic were not bound,”), half-square brackets (for example, from Henry V: “With blood and sword and fire to win your right,”), or angle brackets (for example, from Hamlet: “O farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved/you?”). At any point in the text, you can hover your cursor over a bracket for more information.

Because the Folger Digital Texts are edited in accord with twenty-first century knowledge about Shakespeare’s texts, the Folger here provides them to readers, scholars, teachers, actors, directors, and students, free of charge, confident of their quality as texts of the plays and pleased to be able to make this contribution to the study and enjoyment of Shakespeare.

Synopsis

The English crown changes hands often in Henry VI, Part 3. At first, Richard, Duke of York, is allied with Warwick. York invades the throne-room of Henry VI with Warwick’s army, but allows Henry to remain king if he makes York his heir—thus disinheriting Henry’s son, Prince Edward.

Infuriated, Henry’s queen, Margaret, raises an army. York breaks his oath to Henry and fights for the crown. After Margaret and her supporters kill York, Warwick proclaims that York’s son Edward is king. Edward, now Edward IV, captures Henry.

Warwick breaks with King Edward and joins with Margaret to raise a French army. King Edward’s brother Clarence joins with Warwick to capture Edward and free King Henry.

Richard, now Duke of Gloucester, rescues his brother, King Edward, who returns, captures King Henry, and leads an army against Warwick. When Clarence abandons Warwick, Warwick is defeated and killed. King Edward captures Margaret and helps to kill her son, Prince Edward. Richard murders King Henry and begins to plot his way to the crown.

Characters in the Play
King Henry VI
Queen Margaret
Prince Edward
Lord Clifford
Earl of Northumberland
Earl of Westmorland
Duke of Exeter
Earl of Oxford
Sir John Somerville
Lancastrian supporters
Earl of Warwick
Marquess of Montague
Duke of Somerset
Supporters first of York,
then of Lancaster
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
Edward, Earl of March, later King Edward IV
George, later Duke of Clarence
Richard, later Duke of Gloucester
Rutland
Sons of Richard,
Duke of York
Sir John Mortimer, York’s uncle
Lady Grey, later Queen Elizabeth
Earl Rivers, brother to the queen
Duke of Norfolk
Earl of Pembroke
Lord Stafford
Lord Hastings
Sir William Stanley
Sir John Montgomery
Yorkist supporters
King Lewis of France
Lady Bona, his sister-in-law
Rutland’s Tutor
A Son that has killed his father
A Father that has killed his son
First Gamekeeper
Second Gamekeeper
A Nobleman
Post
First Watch
Second Watch
Third Watch
Huntsman
Lieutenant at the Tower of London
First Messenger
Second Messenger
Other Messengers
Mayor of York
Soldier
Soldiers, Servants, Attendants, Drummers, Trumpeters, Sir Hugh Mortimer, Henry, Earl of Richmond, Aldermen of York, Mayor of Coventry, Nurse, the infant prince, and Others

ACT 1
Scene 1
Alarum. Enter Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York;
Edward; Richard; Norfolk; Montague; Warwick; and
Soldiers, all wearing the white rose.
WARWICK
FTLN 0001 I wonder how the King escaped our hands.
YORK
FTLN 0002 While we pursued the horsemen of the north,
FTLN 0003 He slyly stole away and left his men;
FTLN 0004 Whereat the great lord of Northumberland,
FTLN 0005 5 Whose warlike ears could never brook retreat,
FTLN 0006 Cheered up the drooping army; and himself,
FTLN 0007 Lord Clifford, and Lord Stafford, all abreast,
FTLN 0008 Charged our main battle’s front and, breaking in,
FTLN 0009 Were by the swords of common soldiers slain.
EDWARD
FTLN 0010 10 Lord Stafford’s father, Duke of Buckingham,
FTLN 0011 Is either slain or wounded dangerous.
FTLN 0012 I cleft his beaver with a downright blow.
FTLN 0013 That this is true, father, behold his blood.
He shows his bloody sword.
MONTAGUE , to York, showing his sword
FTLN 0014 And, brother, here’s the Earl of Wiltshire’s blood,
FTLN 0015 15 Whom I encountered as the battles joined.
RICHARD , holding up a severed head
FTLN 0016 Speak thou for me, and tell them what I did.
7

9
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
YORK
FTLN 0017 Richard hath best deserved of all my sons.
FTLN 0018 But is your Grace dead, my lord of Somerset?
NORFOLK
FTLN 0019 Such hope have all the line of John of Gaunt!
RICHARD
FTLN 0020 20 Thus do I hope to shake King Henry’s head.
WARWICK
FTLN 0021 And so do I, victorious prince of York.
FTLN 0022 Before I see thee seated in that throne
FTLN 0023 Which now the house of Lancaster usurps,
FTLN 0024 I vow by heaven these eyes shall never close.
FTLN 0025 25 This is the palace of the fearful king,
FTLN 0026 And this the regal seat. Possess it, York,
FTLN 0027 For this is thine and not King Henry’s heirs’.
YORK
FTLN 0028 Assist me, then, sweet Warwick, and I will,
FTLN 0029 For hither we have broken in by force.
NORFOLK
FTLN 0030 30 We’ll all assist you. He that flies shall die.
YORK
FTLN 0031 Thanks, gentle Norfolk. Stay by me, my lords.—
FTLN 0032 And soldiers, stay and lodge by me this night.
They go up onto a dais or platform.
WARWICK
FTLN 0033 And when the King comes, offer him no violence
FTLN 0034 Unless he seek to thrust you out perforce.
Soldiers exit or retire out of sight.
YORK
FTLN 0035 35 The Queen this day here holds her parliament,
FTLN 0036 But little thinks we shall be of her council.
FTLN 0037 By words or blows, here let us win our right.
RICHARD
FTLN 0038 Armed as we are, let’s stay within this house.
WARWICK
FTLN 0039 “The Bloody Parliament” shall this be called

11
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
FTLN 0040 40 Unless Plantagenet, Duke of York, be king
FTLN 0041 And bashful Henry deposed, whose cowardice
FTLN 0042 Hath made us bywords to our enemies.
YORK
FTLN 0043 Then leave me not, my lords; be resolute.
FTLN 0044 I mean to take possession of my right.
WARWICK
FTLN 0045 45 Neither the King nor he that loves him best,
FTLN 0046 The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,
FTLN 0047 Dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells.
FTLN 0048 I’ll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares.
FTLN 0049 Resolve thee, Richard; claim the English crown.
York sits in the chair of state.
Flourish. Enter King Henry, Clifford, Northumberland,
Westmorland, Exeter, and the rest, all wearing
the red rose.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0050 50 My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits,
FTLN 0051 Even in the chair of state! Belike he means,
FTLN 0052 Backed by the power of Warwick, that false peer,
FTLN 0053 To aspire unto the crown and reign as king.
FTLN 0054 Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father,
FTLN 0055 55 And thine, Lord Clifford, and you both have vowed
FTLN 0056 revenge
FTLN 0057 On him, his sons, his favorites, and his friends.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0058 If I be not, heavens be revenged on me!
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0059 The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel.
WESTMORLAND
FTLN 0060 60 What, shall we suffer this? Let’s pluck him down.
FTLN 0061 My heart for anger burns. I cannot brook it.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0062 Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmorland.

13
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0063 Patience is for poltroons such as he.
FTLN 0064 He durst not sit there had your father lived.
FTLN 0065 65 My gracious lord, here in the Parliament
FTLN 0066 Let us assail the family of York.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0067 Well hast thou spoken, cousin. Be it so.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0068 Ah, know you not the city favors them,
FTLN 0069 And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?
EXETER
FTLN 0070 70 But when the Duke is slain, they’ll quickly fly.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0071 Far be the thought of this from Henry’s heart,
FTLN 0072 To make a shambles of the Parliament House!
FTLN 0073 Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words, and threats
FTLN 0074 Shall be the war that Henry means to use.—
FTLN 0075 75 Thou factious Duke of York, descend my throne
FTLN 0076 And kneel for grace and mercy at my feet.
FTLN 0077 I am thy sovereign.
YORK FTLN 0078 I am thine.
EXETER
FTLN 0079 For shame, come down. He made thee Duke of
FTLN 0080 80 York.
YORK
FTLN 0081 It was my inheritance, as the earldom was.
EXETER
FTLN 0082 Thy father was a traitor to the crown.
WARWICK
FTLN 0083 Exeter, thou art a traitor to the crown
FTLN 0084 In following this usurping Henry.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0085 85 Whom should he follow but his natural king?
WARWICK
FTLN 0086 True, Clifford, that’s Richard, Duke of York.

15
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
KING HENRY , to York
FTLN 0087 And shall I stand, and thou sit in my throne?
YORK
FTLN 0088 It must and shall be so. Content thyself.
WARWICK , to King Henry
FTLN 0089 Be Duke of Lancaster. Let him be king.
WESTMORLAND
FTLN 0090 90 He is both king and Duke of Lancaster,
FTLN 0091 And that the lord of Westmorland shall maintain.
WARWICK
FTLN 0092 And Warwick shall disprove it. You forget
FTLN 0093 That we are those which chased you from the field
FTLN 0094 And slew your fathers and, with colors spread,
FTLN 0095 95 Marched through the city to the palace gates.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0096 Yes, Warwick, I remember it to my grief;
FTLN 0097 And by his soul, thou and thy house shall rue it.
WESTMORLAND
FTLN 0098 Plantagenet, of thee and these thy sons,
FTLN 0099 Thy kinsmen, and thy friends, I’ll have more lives
FTLN 0100 100 Than drops of blood were in my father’s veins.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0101 Urge it no more, lest that, instead of words,
FTLN 0102 I send thee, Warwick, such a messenger
FTLN 0103 As shall revenge his death before I stir.
WARWICK
FTLN 0104 Poor Clifford, how I scorn his worthless threats!
YORK
FTLN 0105 105 Will you we show our title to the crown?
FTLN 0106 If not, our swords shall plead it in the field.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0107 What title hast thou, traitor, to the crown?
FTLN 0108 Thy father was as thou art, Duke of York;
FTLN 0109 Thy grandfather, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March.
FTLN 0110 110 I am the son of Henry the Fifth,

17
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
FTLN 0111 Who made the Dauphin and the French to stoop
FTLN 0112 And seized upon their towns and provinces.
WARWICK
FTLN 0113 Talk not of France, sith thou hast lost it all.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0114 The Lord Protector lost it and not I.
FTLN 0115 115 When I was crowned, I was but nine months old.
RICHARD
FTLN 0116 You are old enough now, and yet, methinks, you
FTLN 0117 lose.—
FTLN 0118 Father, tear the crown from the usurper’s head.
EDWARD
FTLN 0119 Sweet father, do so. Set it on your head.
MONTAGUE , to York
FTLN 0120 120 Good brother, as thou lov’st and honorest arms,
FTLN 0121 Let’s fight it out and not stand caviling thus.
RICHARD
FTLN 0122 Sound drums and trumpets, and the King will fly.
YORK FTLN 0123 Sons, peace!
KING HENRY
FTLN 0124 Peace thou, and give King Henry leave to speak!
WARWICK
FTLN 0125 125 Plantagenet shall speak first. Hear him, lords,
FTLN 0126 And be you silent and attentive too,
FTLN 0127 For he that interrupts him shall not live.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0128 Think’st thou that I will leave my kingly throne,
FTLN 0129 Wherein my grandsire and my father sat?
FTLN 0130 130 No. First shall war unpeople this my realm;
FTLN 0131 Ay, and their colors, often borne in France,
FTLN 0132 And now in England to our heart’s great sorrow,
FTLN 0133 Shall be my winding-sheet. Why faint you, lords?
FTLN 0134 My title’s good, and better far than his.
WARWICK
FTLN 0135 135 Prove it, Henry, and thou shalt be king.

19
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
KING HENRY
FTLN 0136 Henry the Fourth by conquest got the crown.
YORK
FTLN 0137 ’Twas by rebellion against his king.
KING HENRY , aside
FTLN 0138 I know not what to say; my title’s weak.—
FTLN 0139 Tell me, may not a king adopt an heir?
YORK FTLN 0140 140 What then?
KING HENRY
FTLN 0141 An if he may, then am I lawful king;
FTLN 0142 For Richard, in the view of many lords,
FTLN 0143 Resigned the crown to Henry the Fourth,
FTLN 0144 Whose heir my father was, and I am his.
YORK
FTLN 0145 145 He rose against him, being his sovereign,
FTLN 0146 And made him to resign his crown perforce.
WARWICK
FTLN 0147 Suppose, my lords, he did it unconstrained,
FTLN 0148 Think you ’twere prejudicial to his crown?
EXETER
FTLN 0149 No, for he could not so resign his crown
FTLN 0150 150 But that the next heir should succeed and reign.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0151 Art thou against us, Duke of Exeter?
EXETER
FTLN 0152 His is the right, and therefore pardon me.
YORK
FTLN 0153 Why whisper you, my lords, and answer not?
EXETER
FTLN 0154 My conscience tells me he is lawful king.
KING HENRY , aside
FTLN 0155 155 All will revolt from me and turn to him.
NORTHUMBERLAND , to York
FTLN 0156 Plantagenet, for all the claim thou lay’st,
FTLN 0157 Think not that Henry shall be so deposed.

21
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
WARWICK
FTLN 0158 Deposed he shall be, in despite of all.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0159 Thou art deceived. ’Tis not thy southern power
FTLN 0160 160 Of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, nor of Kent,
FTLN 0161 Which makes thee thus presumptuous and proud,
FTLN 0162 Can set the Duke up in despite of me.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0163 King Henry, be thy title right or wrong,
FTLN 0164 Lord Clifford vows to fight in thy defense.
FTLN 0165 165 May that ground gape and swallow me alive
FTLN 0166 Where I shall kneel to him that slew my father.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0167 O Clifford, how thy words revive my heart!
YORK
FTLN 0168 Henry of Lancaster, resign thy crown.—
FTLN 0169 What mutter you, or what conspire you, lords?
WARWICK , to King Henry
FTLN 0170 170 Do right unto this princely Duke of York,
FTLN 0171 Or I will fill the house with armèd men,
FTLN 0172 And over the chair of state, where now he sits,
FTLN 0173 Write up his title with usurping blood.
He stamps with his foot,
and the Soldiers show themselves.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0174 My lord of Warwick, hear but one word:
FTLN 0175 175 Let me for this my lifetime reign as king.
YORK
FTLN 0176 Confirm the crown to me and to mine heirs,
FTLN 0177 And thou shalt reign in quiet while thou liv’st.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0178 I am content. Richard Plantagenet,
FTLN 0179 Enjoy the kingdom after my decease.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0180 180 What wrong is this unto the Prince your son!

23
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
WARWICK
FTLN 0181 What good is this to England and himself!
WESTMORLAND
FTLN 0182 Base, fearful, and despairing Henry!
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0183 How hast thou injured both thyself and us!
WESTMORLAND
FTLN 0184 I cannot stay to hear these articles.
NORTHUMBERLAND FTLN 0185 185 Nor I.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0186 Come, cousin, let us tell the Queen these news.
WESTMORLAND
FTLN 0187 Farewell, faint-hearted and degenerate king,
FTLN 0188 In whose cold blood no spark of honor bides.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0189 Be thou a prey unto the house of York,
FTLN 0190 190 And die in bands for this unmanly deed.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0191 In dreadful war mayst thou be overcome,
FTLN 0192 Or live in peace abandoned and despised!
Westmorland, Northumberland, Clifford,
and their Soldiers exit.
WARWICK
FTLN 0193 Turn this way, Henry, and regard them not.
EXETER
FTLN 0194 They seek revenge and therefore will not yield.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0195 195 Ah, Exeter!
WARWICK FTLN 0196 Why should you sigh, my lord?
KING HENRY
FTLN 0197 Not for myself, Lord Warwick, but my son,
FTLN 0198 Whom I unnaturally shall disinherit.
FTLN 0199 But be it as it may. (To York.) I here entail
FTLN 0200 200 The crown to thee and to thine heirs forever,
FTLN 0201 Conditionally, that here thou take an oath
FTLN 0202 To cease this civil war and, whilst I live,

25
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
FTLN 0203 To honor me as thy king and sovereign,
FTLN 0204 And neither by treason nor hostility
FTLN 0205 205 To seek to put me down and reign thyself.
YORK
FTLN 0206 This oath I willingly take and will perform.
WARWICK
FTLN 0207 Long live King Henry! Plantagenet, embrace him.
York stands, and King Henry ascends the dais.
KING HENRY , to York
FTLN 0208 And long live thou and these thy forward sons!
They embrace.
YORK
FTLN 0209 Now York and Lancaster are reconciled.
EXETER
FTLN 0210 210 Accursed be he that seeks to make them foes.
Sennet. Here they come down.
YORK , to King Henry
FTLN 0211 Farewell, my gracious lord. I’ll to my castle.
WARWICK
FTLN 0212 And I’ll keep London with my soldiers.
NORFOLK
FTLN 0213 And I to Norfolk with my followers.
MONTAGUE
FTLN 0214 And I unto the sea, from whence I came.
York, Edward, Richard, Warwick, Norfolk,
Montague, and their Soldiers exit.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0215 215 And I with grief and sorrow to the court.
Enter Queen Margaret, with Prince Edward.
EXETER
FTLN 0216 Here comes the Queen, whose looks bewray her
FTLN 0217 anger.
FTLN 0218 I’ll steal away.
KING HENRY FTLN 0219 Exeter, so will I.
They begin to exit.

27
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0220 220 Nay, go not from me. I will follow thee.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0221 Be patient, gentle queen, and I will stay.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0222 Who can be patient in such extremes?
FTLN 0223 Ah, wretched man, would I had died a maid
FTLN 0224 And never seen thee, never borne thee son,
FTLN 0225 225 Seeing thou hast proved so unnatural a father.
FTLN 0226 Hath he deserved to lose his birthright thus?
FTLN 0227 Hadst thou but loved him half so well as I,
FTLN 0228 Or felt that pain which I did for him once,
FTLN 0229 Or nourished him as I did with my blood,
FTLN 0230 230 Thou wouldst have left thy dearest heart-blood
FTLN 0231 there,
FTLN 0232 Rather than have made that savage duke thine heir
FTLN 0233 And disinherited thine only son.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 0234 Father, you cannot disinherit me.
FTLN 0235 235 If you be king, why should not I succeed?
KING HENRY
FTLN 0236 Pardon me, Margaret.—Pardon me, sweet son.
FTLN 0237 The Earl of Warwick and the Duke enforced me.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0238 Enforced thee? Art thou king and wilt be forced?
FTLN 0239 I shame to hear thee speak. Ah, timorous wretch,
FTLN 0240 240 Thou hast undone thyself, thy son, and me,
FTLN 0241 And giv’n unto the house of York such head
FTLN 0242 As thou shalt reign but by their sufferance!
FTLN 0243 To entail him and his heirs unto the crown,
FTLN 0244 What is it but to make thy sepulcher
FTLN 0245 245 And creep into it far before thy time?
FTLN 0246 Warwick is Chancellor and the lord of Callice;
FTLN 0247 Stern Falconbridge commands the Narrow Seas;
FTLN 0248 The Duke is made Protector of the realm;
FTLN 0249 And yet shalt thou be safe? Such safety finds

29
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 1
FTLN 0250 250 The trembling lamb environèd with wolves.
FTLN 0251 Had I been there, which am a silly woman,
FTLN 0252 The soldiers should have tossed me on their pikes
FTLN 0253 Before I would have granted to that act.
FTLN 0254 But thou preferr’st thy life before thine honor.
FTLN 0255 255 And seeing thou dost, I here divorce myself
FTLN 0256 Both from thy table, Henry, and thy bed,
FTLN 0257 Until that act of Parliament be repealed
FTLN 0258 Whereby my son is disinherited.
FTLN 0259 The northern lords that have forsworn thy colors
FTLN 0260 260 Will follow mine if once they see them spread;
FTLN 0261 And spread they shall be, to thy foul disgrace
FTLN 0262 And utter ruin of the house of York.
FTLN 0263 Thus do I leave thee.—Come, son, let’s away.
FTLN 0264 Our army is ready. Come, we’ll after them.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0265 265 Stay, gentle Margaret, and hear me speak.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0266 Thou hast spoke too much already. Get thee gone.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0267 Gentle son Edward, thou wilt stay with me?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0268 Ay, to be murdered by his enemies!
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 0269 When I return with victory from the field,
FTLN 0270 270 I’ll see your Grace. Till then, I’ll follow her.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0271 Come, son, away. We may not linger thus.
Queen Margaret and Prince Edward exit.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0272 Poor queen! How love to me and to her son
FTLN 0273 Hath made her break out into terms of rage!
FTLN 0274 Revenged may she be on that hateful duke,
FTLN 0275 275 Whose haughty spirit, wingèd with desire,
FTLN 0276 Will cost my crown, and like an empty eagle
FTLN 0277 Tire on the flesh of me and of my son.

31
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 2
FTLN 0278 The loss of those three lords torments my heart.
FTLN 0279 I’ll write unto them and entreat them fair.
FTLN 0280 280 Come, cousin, you shall be the messenger.
EXETER
FTLN 0281 And I, I hope, shall reconcile them all.
Flourish. They exit.
Scene 2
Enter Richard, Edward, and Montague,
all wearing the white rose.
RICHARD
FTLN 0282 Brother, though I be youngest, give me leave.
EDWARD
FTLN 0283 No, I can better play the orator.
MONTAGUE
FTLN 0284 But I have reasons strong and forcible.
Enter the Duke of York.
YORK
FTLN 0285 Why, how now, sons and brother, at a strife?
FTLN 0286 5 What is your quarrel? How began it first?
EDWARD
FTLN 0287 No quarrel, but a slight contention.
YORK FTLN 0288 About what?
RICHARD
FTLN 0289 About that which concerns your Grace and us:
FTLN 0290 The crown of England, father, which is yours.
YORK
FTLN 0291 10 Mine, boy? Not till King Henry be dead.
RICHARD
FTLN 0292 Your right depends not on his life or death.
EDWARD
FTLN 0293 Now you are heir; therefore enjoy it now.

33
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 2
FTLN 0294 By giving the house of Lancaster leave to breathe,
FTLN 0295 It will outrun you, father, in the end.
YORK
FTLN 0296 15 I took an oath that he should quietly reign.
EDWARD
FTLN 0297 But for a kingdom any oath may be broken.
FTLN 0298 I would break a thousand oaths to reign one year.
RICHARD
FTLN 0299 No, God forbid your Grace should be forsworn.
YORK
FTLN 0300 I shall be, if I claim by open war.
RICHARD
FTLN 0301 20 I’ll prove the contrary, if you’ll hear me speak.
YORK
FTLN 0302 Thou canst not, son; it is impossible.
RICHARD
FTLN 0303 An oath is of no moment, being not took
FTLN 0304 Before a true and lawful magistrate
FTLN 0305 That hath authority over him that swears.
FTLN 0306 25 Henry had none, but did usurp the place.
FTLN 0307 Then, seeing ’twas he that made you to depose,
FTLN 0308 Your oath, my lord, is vain and frivolous.
FTLN 0309 Therefore, to arms! And, father, do but think
FTLN 0310 How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown,
FTLN 0311 30 Within whose circuit is Elysium
FTLN 0312 And all that poets feign of bliss and joy.
FTLN 0313 Why do we linger thus? I cannot rest
FTLN 0314 Until the white rose that I wear be dyed
FTLN 0315 Even in the lukewarm blood of Henry’s heart.
YORK
FTLN 0316 35 Richard, enough. I will be king or die.—
FTLN 0317 Brother, thou shalt to London presently,
FTLN 0318 And whet on Warwick to this enterprise.—
FTLN 0319 Thou, Richard, shalt to the Duke of Norfolk
FTLN 0320 And tell him privily of our intent.—
FTLN 0321 40 You, Edward, shall unto my Lord Cobham,

35
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 2
FTLN 0322 With whom the Kentishmen will willingly rise;
FTLN 0323 In them I trust, for they are soldiers
FTLN 0324 Witty, courteous, liberal, full of spirit.
FTLN 0325 While you are thus employed, what resteth more
FTLN 0326 45 But that I seek occasion how to rise,
FTLN 0327 And yet the King not privy to my drift,
FTLN 0328 Nor any of the house of Lancaster.
Enter a Messenger.
FTLN 0329 But stay, what news? Why com’st thou in such post?
MESSENGER
FTLN 0330 The Queen with all the northern earls and lords
FTLN 0331 50 Intend here to besiege you in your castle.
FTLN 0332 She is hard by with twenty thousand men.
FTLN 0333 And therefore fortify your hold, my lord. He exits.
YORK
FTLN 0334 Ay, with my sword. What, think’st thou that we fear
FTLN 0335 them?—
FTLN 0336 55 Edward and Richard, you shall stay with me;
FTLN 0337 My brother Montague shall post to London.
FTLN 0338 Let noble Warwick, Cobham, and the rest,
FTLN 0339 Whom we have left Protectors of the King,
FTLN 0340 With powerful policy strengthen themselves
FTLN 0341 60 And trust not simple Henry nor his oaths.
MONTAGUE
FTLN 0342 Brother, I go. I’ll win them, fear it not.
FTLN 0343 And thus most humbly I do take my leave.
Montague exits.
Enter Sir John Mortimer, and his brother,
Sir Hugh Mortimer.
YORK
FTLN 0344 Sir John and Sir Hugh Mortimer, mine uncles,
FTLN 0345 You are come to Sandal in a happy hour.
FTLN 0346 65 The army of the Queen mean to besiege us.

37
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 3
SIR JOHN
FTLN 0347 She shall not need; we’ll meet her in the field.
YORK FTLN 0348 What, with five thousand men?
RICHARD
FTLN 0349 Ay, with five hundred, father, for a need.
FTLN 0350 A woman’s general; what should we fear?
A march afar off.
EDWARD
FTLN 0351 70 I hear their drums. Let’s set our men in order,
FTLN 0352 And issue forth and bid them battle straight.
YORK
FTLN 0353 Five men to twenty: though the odds be great,
FTLN 0354 I doubt not, uncle, of our victory.
FTLN 0355 Many a battle have I won in France
FTLN 0356 75 Whenas the enemy hath been ten to one.
FTLN 0357 Why should I not now have the like success?
Alarum. They exit.
Scene 3
Enter Rutland and his Tutor.
RUTLAND
FTLN 0358 Ah, whither shall I fly to scape their hands?
Enter Clifford with Soldiers, all wearing the red rose.
FTLN 0359 Ah, tutor, look where bloody Clifford comes.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0360 Chaplain, away. Thy priesthood saves thy life.
FTLN 0361 As for the brat of this accursèd duke,
FTLN 0362 5 Whose father slew my father, he shall die.
TUTOR
FTLN 0363 And I, my lord, will bear him company.
CLIFFORD FTLN 0364 Soldiers, away with him.

39
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 3
TUTOR
FTLN 0365 Ah, Clifford, murder not this innocent child,
FTLN 0366 Lest thou be hated both of God and man.
He exits, dragged off by Soldiers.
CLIFFORD , approaching Rutland
FTLN 0367 10 How now? Is he dead already? Or is it fear
FTLN 0368 That makes him close his eyes? I’ll open them.
RUTLAND
FTLN 0369 So looks the pent-up lion o’er the wretch
FTLN 0370 That trembles under his devouring paws;
FTLN 0371 And so he walks, insulting o’er his prey;
FTLN 0372 15 And so he comes to rend his limbs asunder.
FTLN 0373 Ah, gentle Clifford, kill me with thy sword
FTLN 0374 And not with such a cruel threat’ning look.
FTLN 0375 Sweet Clifford, hear me speak before I die.
FTLN 0376 I am too mean a subject for thy wrath.
FTLN 0377 20 Be thou revenged on men, and let me live.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0378 In vain thou speak’st, poor boy. My father’s blood
FTLN 0379 Hath stopped the passage where thy words should
FTLN 0380 enter.
RUTLAND
FTLN 0381 Then let my father’s blood open it again;
FTLN 0382 25 He is a man and, Clifford, cope with him.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0383 Had I thy brethren here, their lives and thine
FTLN 0384 Were not revenge sufficient for me.
FTLN 0385 No, if I digged up thy forefathers’ graves
FTLN 0386 And hung their rotten coffins up in chains,
FTLN 0387 30 It could not slake mine ire nor ease my heart.
FTLN 0388 The sight of any of the house of York
FTLN 0389 Is as a fury to torment my soul,
FTLN 0390 And till I root out their accursèd line
FTLN 0391 And leave not one alive, I live in hell.
FTLN 0392 35 Therefore— He raises his rapier.

41
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 4
RUTLAND
FTLN 0393 O, let me pray before I take my death!
FTLN 0394 To thee I pray: sweet Clifford, pity me!
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0395 Such pity as my rapier’s point affords.
RUTLAND
FTLN 0396 I never did thee harm. Why wilt thou slay me?
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0397 40 Thy father hath.
RUTLAND FTLN 0398 But ’twas ere I was born.
FTLN 0399 Thou hast one son; for his sake pity me,
FTLN 0400 Lest in revenge thereof, sith God is just,
FTLN 0401 He be as miserably slain as I.
FTLN 0402 45 Ah, let me live in prison all my days,
FTLN 0403 And when I give occasion of offense
FTLN 0404 Then let me die, for now thou hast no cause.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0405 No cause? Thy father slew my father; therefore die.
He stabs Rutland.
RUTLAND
FTLN 0406 Di faciant laudis summa sit ista tuae! He dies.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0407 50 Plantagenet, I come, Plantagenet!
FTLN 0408 And this thy son’s blood, cleaving to my blade,
FTLN 0409 Shall rust upon my weapon till thy blood,
FTLN 0410 Congealed with this, do make me wipe off both.
He exits, with Soldiers carrying off Rutland’s body.
Scene 4
Alarum. Enter Richard, Duke of York, wearing the
white rose.
YORK
FTLN 0411 The army of the Queen hath got the field.
FTLN 0412 My uncles both are slain in rescuing me;

43
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 4
FTLN 0413 And all my followers to the eager foe
FTLN 0414 Turn back and fly like ships before the wind,
FTLN 0415 5 Or lambs pursued by hunger-starvèd wolves.
FTLN 0416 My sons, God knows what hath bechancèd them;
FTLN 0417 But this I know: they have demeaned themselves
FTLN 0418 Like men borne to renown by life or death.
FTLN 0419 Three times did Richard make a lane to me
FTLN 0420 10 And thrice cried “Courage, father, fight it out!”
FTLN 0421 And full as oft came Edward to my side,
FTLN 0422 With purple falchion painted to the hilt
FTLN 0423 In blood of those that had encountered him;
FTLN 0424 And when the hardiest warriors did retire,
FTLN 0425 15 Richard cried “Charge, and give no foot of ground!”
FTLN 0426 And cried “A crown or else a glorious tomb;
FTLN 0427 A scepter or an earthly sepulcher!”
FTLN 0428 With this we charged again; but, out alas,
FTLN 0429 We budged again, as I have seen a swan
FTLN 0430 20 With bootless labor swim against the tide
FTLN 0431 And spend her strength with over-matching waves.
A short alarum within.
FTLN 0432 Ah, hark, the fatal followers do pursue,
FTLN 0433 And I am faint and cannot fly their fury;
FTLN 0434 And were I strong, I would not shun their fury.
FTLN 0435 25 The sands are numbered that makes up my life.
FTLN 0436 Here must I stay, and here my life must end.
Enter Queen Margaret, Clifford, Northumberland,
the young Prince Edward, and Soldiers,
all wearing the red rose.
FTLN 0437 Come, bloody Clifford, rough Northumberland,
FTLN 0438 I dare your quenchless fury to more rage.
FTLN 0439 I am your butt, and I abide your shot.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0440 30 Yield to our mercy, proud Plantagenet.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0441 Ay, to such mercy as his ruthless arm

45
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 4
FTLN 0442 With downright payment showed unto my father.
FTLN 0443 Now Phaëton hath tumbled from his car
FTLN 0444 And made an evening at the noontide prick.
YORK
FTLN 0445 35 My ashes, as the Phoenix’, may bring forth
FTLN 0446 A bird that will revenge upon you all;
FTLN 0447 And in that hope I throw mine eyes to heaven,
FTLN 0448 Scorning whate’er you can afflict me with.
FTLN 0449 Why come you not? What, multitudes, and fear?
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0450 40 So cowards fight when they can fly no further;
FTLN 0451 So doves do peck the falcon’s piercing talons;
FTLN 0452 So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives,
FTLN 0453 Breathe out invectives ’gainst the officers.
YORK
FTLN 0454 O Clifford, but bethink thee once again
FTLN 0455 45 And in thy thought o’errun my former time;
FTLN 0456 And, if thou canst for blushing, view this face
FTLN 0457 And bite thy tongue that slanders him with cowardice
FTLN 0458 Whose frown hath made thee faint and fly ere this.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0459 I will not bandy with thee word for word,
FTLN 0460 50 But buckler with thee blows twice two for one.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0461 Hold, valiant Clifford, for a thousand causes
FTLN 0462 I would prolong a while the traitor’s life.—
FTLN 0463 Wrath makes him deaf; speak thou, Northumberland.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0464 Hold, Clifford, do not honor him so much
FTLN 0465 55 To prick thy finger, though to wound his heart.
FTLN 0466 What valor were it when a cur doth grin
FTLN 0467 For one to thrust his hand between his teeth,
FTLN 0468 When he might spurn him with his foot away?
FTLN 0469 It is war’s prize to take all vantages,
FTLN 0470 60 And ten to one is no impeach of valor.
They attack York.

47
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 4
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0471 Ay, ay, so strives the woodcock with the gin.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0472 So doth the coney struggle in the net.
YORK
FTLN 0473 So triumph thieves upon their conquered booty;
FTLN 0474 So true men yield with robbers, so o’ermatched.
York is overcome.
NORTHUMBERLAND , to Queen Margaret
FTLN 0475 65 What would your Grace have done unto him now?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0476 Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumberland,
FTLN 0477 Come, make him stand upon this molehill here
FTLN 0478 That raught at mountains with outstretchèd arms,
FTLN 0479 Yet parted but the shadow with his hand.
They place York on a small prominence.
FTLN 0480 70 What, was it you that would be England’s king?
FTLN 0481 Was ’t you that reveled in our parliament
FTLN 0482 And made a preachment of your high descent?
FTLN 0483 Where are your mess of sons to back you now,
FTLN 0484 The wanton Edward and the lusty George?
FTLN 0485 75 And where’s that valiant crookback prodigy,
FTLN 0486 Dickie, your boy, that with his grumbling voice
FTLN 0487 Was wont to cheer his dad in mutinies?
FTLN 0488 Or, with the rest, where is your darling Rutland?
FTLN 0489 Look, York, I stained this napkin with the blood
FTLN 0490 80 That valiant Clifford with his rapier’s point
FTLN 0491 Made issue from the bosom of the boy;
FTLN 0492 And if thine eyes can water for his death,
FTLN 0493 I give thee this to dry thy cheeks withal.
She gives him a bloody cloth.
FTLN 0494 Alas, poor York, but that I hate thee deadly
FTLN 0495 85 I should lament thy miserable state.
FTLN 0496 I prithee grieve to make me merry, York.
FTLN 0497 What, hath thy fiery heart so parched thine entrails
FTLN 0498 That not a tear can fall for Rutland’s death?

49
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 4
FTLN 0499 Why art thou patient, man? Thou shouldst be mad;
FTLN 0500 90 And I, to make thee mad, do mock thee thus.
FTLN 0501 Stamp, rave, and fret, that I may sing and dance.
FTLN 0502 Thou would’st be fee’d, I see, to make me sport.—
FTLN 0503 York cannot speak unless he wear a crown.
FTLN 0504 A crown for York! She is handed a paper crown.
FTLN 0505 95 And, lords, bow low to him.
FTLN 0506 Hold you his hands whilst I do set it on.
She puts the crown on York’s head.
FTLN 0507 Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king.
FTLN 0508 Ay, this is he that took King Henry’s chair,
FTLN 0509 And this is he was his adopted heir.
FTLN 0510 100 But how is it that great Plantagenet
FTLN 0511 Is crowned so soon and broke his solemn oath?—
FTLN 0512 As I bethink me, you should not be king
FTLN 0513 Till our King Henry had shook hands with Death.
FTLN 0514 And will you pale your head in Henry’s glory
FTLN 0515 105 And rob his temples of the diadem
FTLN 0516 Now, in his life, against your holy oath?
FTLN 0517 O, ’tis a fault too too unpardonable.
FTLN 0518 Off with the crown and, with the crown, his head;
FTLN 0519 And whilst we breathe, take time to do him dead.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0520 110 That is my office, for my father’s sake.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0521 Nay, stay, let’s hear the orisons he makes.
YORK
FTLN 0522 She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of
FTLN 0523 France,
FTLN 0524 Whose tongue more poisons than the adder’s tooth:
FTLN 0525 115 How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex
FTLN 0526 To triumph like an Amazonian trull
FTLN 0527 Upon their woes whom Fortune captivates.
FTLN 0528 But that thy face is vizard-like, unchanging,
FTLN 0529 Made impudent with use of evil deeds,
FTLN 0530 120 I would assay, proud queen, to make thee blush.

51
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 4
FTLN 0531 To tell thee whence thou cam’st, of whom derived,
FTLN 0532 Were shame enough to shame thee, wert thou not
FTLN 0533 shameless.
FTLN 0534 Thy father bears the type of King of Naples,
FTLN 0535 125 Of both the Sicils, and Jerusalem,
FTLN 0536 Yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman.
FTLN 0537 Hath that poor monarch taught thee to insult?
FTLN 0538 It needs not, nor it boots thee not, proud queen,
FTLN 0539 Unless the adage must be verified
FTLN 0540 130 That beggars mounted run their horse to death.
FTLN 0541 ’Tis beauty that doth oft make women proud,
FTLN 0542 But God He knows thy share thereof is small.
FTLN 0543 ’Tis virtue that doth make them most admired;
FTLN 0544 The contrary doth make thee wondered at.
FTLN 0545 135 ’Tis government that makes them seem divine;
FTLN 0546 The want thereof makes thee abominable.
FTLN 0547 Thou art as opposite to every good
FTLN 0548 As the Antipodes are unto us
FTLN 0549 Or as the south to the Septentrion.
FTLN 0550 140 O, tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide,
FTLN 0551 How couldst thou drain the lifeblood of the child
FTLN 0552 To bid the father wipe his eyes withal,
FTLN 0553 And yet be seen to bear a woman’s face?
FTLN 0554 Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible;
FTLN 0555 145 Thou, stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.
FTLN 0556 Bidd’st thou me rage? Why, now thou hast thy wish.
FTLN 0557 Wouldst have me weep? Why, now thou hast thy will;
FTLN 0558 For raging wind blows up incessant showers,
FTLN 0559 And when the rage allays, the rain begins.
FTLN 0560 150 These tears are my sweet Rutland’s obsequies,
FTLN 0561 And every drop cries vengeance for his death
FTLN 0562 ’Gainst thee, fell Clifford, and thee, false
FTLN 0563 Frenchwoman!
NORTHUMBERLAND , aside
FTLN 0564 Beshrew me, but his passions moves me so
FTLN 0565 155 That hardly can I check my eyes from tears.

53
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 4
YORK
FTLN 0566 That face of his the hungry cannibals
FTLN 0567 Would not have touched, would not have stained
FTLN 0568 with blood;
FTLN 0569 But you are more inhuman, more inexorable,
FTLN 0570 160 O, ten times more than tigers of Hyrcania.
FTLN 0571 See, ruthless queen, a hapless father’s tears.
FTLN 0572 This cloth thou dipped’st in blood of my sweet boy,
FTLN 0573 And I with tears do wash the blood away.
He hands her the cloth.
FTLN 0574 Keep thou the napkin and go boast of this;
FTLN 0575 165 And if thou tell’st the heavy story right,
FTLN 0576 Upon my soul, the hearers will shed tears.
FTLN 0577 Yea, even my foes will shed fast-falling tears
FTLN 0578 And say “Alas, it was a piteous deed.”
He hands her the paper crown.
FTLN 0579 There, take the crown and, with the crown, my
FTLN 0580 170 curse,
FTLN 0581 And in thy need such comfort come to thee
FTLN 0582 As now I reap at thy too cruel hand.—
FTLN 0583 Hard-hearted Clifford, take me from the world,
FTLN 0584 My soul to heaven, my blood upon your heads.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0585 175 Had he been slaughterman to all my kin,
FTLN 0586 I should not for my life but weep with him
FTLN 0587 To see how inly sorrow gripes his soul.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0588 What, weeping ripe, my Lord Northumberland?
FTLN 0589 Think but upon the wrong he did us all,
FTLN 0590 180 And that will quickly dry thy melting tears.
CLIFFORD , stabbing York twice
FTLN 0591 Here’s for my oath; here’s for my father’s death!
QUEEN MARGARET , stabbing York
FTLN 0592 And here’s to right our gentle-hearted king.
YORK
FTLN 0593 Open thy gate of mercy, gracious God.

55
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 1. SC. 4
FTLN 0594 My soul flies through these wounds to seek out Thee.
He dies.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0595 185 Off with his head, and set it on York gates,
FTLN 0596 So York may overlook the town of York.
Flourish. They exit, Soldiers carrying York’s body.

ACT 2
Scene 1
A march. Enter Edward, Richard, and their power,
all wearing the white rose.
EDWARD
FTLN 0597 I wonder how our princely father scaped,
FTLN 0598 Or whether he be scaped away or no
FTLN 0599 From Clifford’s and Northumberland’s pursuit.
FTLN 0600 Had he been ta’en, we should have heard the news;
FTLN 0601 5 Had he been slain, we should have heard the news;
FTLN 0602 Or had he scaped, methinks we should have heard
FTLN 0603 The happy tidings of his good escape.
FTLN 0604 How fares my brother? Why is he so sad?
RICHARD
FTLN 0605 I cannot joy until I be resolved
FTLN 0606 10 Where our right valiant father is become.
FTLN 0607 I saw him in the battle range about
FTLN 0608 And watched him how he singled Clifford forth.
FTLN 0609 Methought he bore him in the thickest troop
FTLN 0610 As doth a lion in a herd of neat,
FTLN 0611 15 Or as a bear encompassed round with dogs,
FTLN 0612 Who having pinched a few and made them cry,
FTLN 0613 The rest stand all aloof and bark at him;
FTLN 0614 So fared our father with his enemies;
FTLN 0615 So fled his enemies my warlike father.
FTLN 0616 20 Methinks ’tis prize enough to be his son.
FTLN 0617 See how the morning opes her golden gates
59

61
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 1
FTLN 0618 And takes her farewell of the glorious sun.
FTLN 0619 How well resembles it the prime of youth,
FTLN 0620 Trimmed like a younker, prancing to his love!
EDWARD
FTLN 0621 25 Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?
RICHARD
FTLN 0622 Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun,
FTLN 0623 Not separated with the racking clouds
FTLN 0624 But severed in a pale clear-shining sky.
FTLN 0625 See, see, they join, embrace, and seem to kiss,
FTLN 0626 30 As if they vowed some league inviolable.
FTLN 0627 Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun;
FTLN 0628 In this, the heaven figures some event.
EDWARD
FTLN 0629 ’Tis wondrous strange, the like yet never heard of.
FTLN 0630 I think it cites us, brother, to the field,
FTLN 0631 35 That we, the sons of brave Plantagenet,
FTLN 0632 Each one already blazing by our meeds,
FTLN 0633 Should notwithstanding join our lights together
FTLN 0634 And overshine the earth, as this the world.
FTLN 0635 Whate’er it bodes, henceforward will I bear
FTLN 0636 40 Upon my target three fair shining suns.
RICHARD
FTLN 0637 Nay, bear three daughters: by your leave I speak it,
FTLN 0638 You love the breeder better than the male.
Enter a Messenger, blowing.
FTLN 0639 But what art thou whose heavy looks foretell
FTLN 0640 Some dreadful story hanging on thy tongue?
MESSENGER
FTLN 0641 45 Ah, one that was a woeful looker-on
FTLN 0642 Whenas the noble Duke of York was slain,
FTLN 0643 Your princely father and my loving lord.
EDWARD
FTLN 0644 O, speak no more, for I have heard too much!

63
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 1
RICHARD
FTLN 0645 Say how he died, for I will hear it all.
MESSENGER
FTLN 0646 50 Environèd he was with many foes,
FTLN 0647 And stood against them, as the hope of Troy
FTLN 0648 Against the Greeks that would have entered Troy.
FTLN 0649 But Hercules himself must yield to odds;
FTLN 0650 And many strokes, though with a little axe,
FTLN 0651 55 Hews down and fells the hardest-timbered oak.
FTLN 0652 By many hands your father was subdued,
FTLN 0653 But only slaughtered by the ireful arm
FTLN 0654 Of unrelenting Clifford and the Queen,
FTLN 0655 Who crowned the gracious duke in high despite,
FTLN 0656 60 Laughed in his face; and when with grief he wept,
FTLN 0657 The ruthless queen gave him to dry his cheeks
FTLN 0658 A napkin steepèd in the harmless blood
FTLN 0659 Of sweet young Rutland, by rough Clifford slain.
FTLN 0660 And after many scorns, many foul taunts,
FTLN 0661 65 They took his head and on the gates of York
FTLN 0662 They set the same, and there it doth remain,
FTLN 0663 The saddest spectacle that e’er I viewed. He exits.
EDWARD
FTLN 0664 Sweet Duke of York, our prop to lean upon,
FTLN 0665 Now thou art gone, we have no staff, no stay.
FTLN 0666 70 O Clifford, boist’rous Clifford, thou hast slain
FTLN 0667 The flower of Europe for his chivalry;
FTLN 0668 And treacherously hast thou vanquished him,
FTLN 0669 For hand to hand he would have vanquished thee.
FTLN 0670 Now my soul’s palace is become a prison;
FTLN 0671 75 Ah, would she break from hence, that this my body
FTLN 0672 Might in the ground be closèd up in rest,
FTLN 0673 For never henceforth shall I joy again.
FTLN 0674 Never, O never, shall I see more joy! He weeps.
RICHARD
FTLN 0675 I cannot weep, for all my body’s moisture
FTLN 0676 80 Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart;

65
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 1
FTLN 0677 Nor can my tongue unload my heart’s great burden,
FTLN 0678 For selfsame wind that I should speak withal
FTLN 0679 Is kindling coals that fires all my breast
FTLN 0680 And burns me up with flames that tears would
FTLN 0681 85 quench.
FTLN 0682 To weep is to make less the depth of grief:
FTLN 0683 Tears, then, for babes; blows and revenge for me.
FTLN 0684 Richard, I bear thy name. I’ll venge thy death
FTLN 0685 Or die renownèd by attempting it.
EDWARD
FTLN 0686 90 His name that valiant duke hath left with thee;
FTLN 0687 His dukedom and his chair with me is left.
RICHARD
FTLN 0688 Nay, if thou be that princely eagle’s bird,
FTLN 0689 Show thy descent by gazing ’gainst the sun;
FTLN 0690 For “chair” and “dukedom,” “throne” and
FTLN 0691 95 “kingdom” say;
FTLN 0692 Either that is thine or else thou wert not his.
March. Enter Warwick, Marquess Montague, and their
army, all wearing the white rose.
WARWICK
FTLN 0693 How now, fair lords? What fare, what news abroad?
RICHARD
FTLN 0694 Great lord of Warwick, if we should recount
FTLN 0695 Our baleful news, and at each word’s deliverance
FTLN 0696 100 Stab poniards in our flesh till all were told,
FTLN 0697 The words would add more anguish than the wounds.
FTLN 0698 O valiant lord, the Duke of York is slain.
EDWARD
FTLN 0699 O Warwick, Warwick, that Plantagenet
FTLN 0700 Which held thee dearly as his soul’s redemption
FTLN 0701 105 Is by the stern Lord Clifford done to death.
WARWICK
FTLN 0702 Ten days ago I drowned these news in tears.
FTLN 0703 And now to add more measure to your woes,

67
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 1
FTLN 0704 I come to tell you things sith then befall’n.
FTLN 0705 After the bloody fray at Wakefield fought,
FTLN 0706 110 Where your brave father breathed his latest gasp,
FTLN 0707 Tidings, as swiftly as the posts could run,
FTLN 0708 Were brought me of your loss and his depart.
FTLN 0709 I, then in London, keeper of the King,
FTLN 0710 Mustered my soldiers, gathered flocks of friends,
FTLN 0711 115 Marched toward Saint Albans to intercept the
FTLN 0712 Queen,
FTLN 0713 Bearing the King in my behalf along;
FTLN 0714 For by my scouts I was advertisèd
FTLN 0715 That she was coming with a full intent
FTLN 0716 120 To dash our late decree in Parliament
FTLN 0717 Touching King Henry’s oath and your succession.
FTLN 0718 Short tale to make, we at Saint Albans met,
FTLN 0719 Our battles joined, and both sides fiercely fought.
FTLN 0720 But whether ’twas the coldness of the King,
FTLN 0721 125 Who looked full gently on his warlike queen,
FTLN 0722 That robbed my soldiers of their heated spleen,
FTLN 0723 Or whether ’twas report of her success
FTLN 0724 Or more than common fear of Clifford’s rigor,
FTLN 0725 Who thunders to his captives blood and death,
FTLN 0726 130 I cannot judge; but to conclude with truth,
FTLN 0727 Their weapons like to lightning came and went;
FTLN 0728 Our soldiers’, like the night owl’s lazy flight
FTLN 0729 Or like an idle thresher with a flail,
FTLN 0730 Fell gently down, as if they struck their friends.
FTLN 0731 135 I cheered them up with justice of our cause,
FTLN 0732 With promise of high pay and great rewards,
FTLN 0733 But all in vain; they had no heart to fight,
FTLN 0734 And we, in them, no hope to win the day,
FTLN 0735 So that we fled: the King unto the Queen;
FTLN 0736 140 Lord George your brother, Norfolk, and myself
FTLN 0737 In haste, posthaste, are come to join with you;
FTLN 0738 For in the Marches here we heard you were,
FTLN 0739 Making another head to fight again.

69
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 1
EDWARD
FTLN 0740 Where is the Duke of Norfolk, gentle Warwick?
FTLN 0741 145 And when came George from Burgundy to England?
WARWICK
FTLN 0742 Some six miles off the Duke is with the soldiers,
FTLN 0743 And, for your brother, he was lately sent
FTLN 0744 From your kind aunt, Duchess of Burgundy,
FTLN 0745 With aid of soldiers to this needful war.
RICHARD
FTLN 0746 150 ’Twas odds, belike, when valiant Warwick fled.
FTLN 0747 Oft have I heard his praises in pursuit,
FTLN 0748 But ne’er till now his scandal of retire.
WARWICK
FTLN 0749 Nor now my scandal, Richard, dost thou hear?
FTLN 0750 For thou shalt know this strong right hand of mine
FTLN 0751 155 Can pluck the diadem from faint Henry’s head
FTLN 0752 And wring the awful scepter from his fist,
FTLN 0753 Were he as famous and as bold in war
FTLN 0754 As he is famed for mildness, peace, and prayer.
RICHARD
FTLN 0755 I know it well, Lord Warwick; blame me not.
FTLN 0756 160 ’Tis love I bear thy glories make me speak.
FTLN 0757 But in this troublous time, what’s to be done?
FTLN 0758 Shall we go throw away our coats of steel
FTLN 0759 And wrap our bodies in black mourning gowns,
FTLN 0760 Numb’ring our Ave Marys with our beads?
FTLN 0761 165 Or shall we on the helmets of our foes
FTLN 0762 Tell our devotion with revengeful arms?
FTLN 0763 If for the last, say “Ay,” and to it, lords.
WARWICK
FTLN 0764 Why, therefore Warwick came to seek you out,
FTLN 0765 And therefore comes my brother Montague.
FTLN 0766 170 Attend me, lords: the proud insulting queen,
FTLN 0767 With Clifford and the haught Northumberland
FTLN 0768 And of their feather many more proud birds,
FTLN 0769 Have wrought the easy-melting king like wax.

71
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 1
FTLN 0770 He swore consent to your succession,
FTLN 0771 175 His oath enrollèd in the Parliament.
FTLN 0772 And now to London all the crew are gone
FTLN 0773 To frustrate both his oath and what beside
FTLN 0774 May make against the house of Lancaster.
FTLN 0775 Their power, I think, is thirty thousand strong.
FTLN 0776 180 Now, if the help of Norfolk and myself,
FTLN 0777 With all the friends that thou, brave Earl of March,
FTLN 0778 Amongst the loving Welshmen canst procure,
FTLN 0779 Will but amount to five and twenty thousand,
FTLN 0780 Why, via, to London will we march,
FTLN 0781 185 And once again bestride our foaming steeds,
FTLN 0782 And once again cry “Charge!” upon our foes,
FTLN 0783 But never once again turn back and fly.
RICHARD
FTLN 0784 Ay, now methinks I hear great Warwick speak.
FTLN 0785 Ne’er may he live to see a sunshine day
FTLN 0786 190 That cries “Retire!” if Warwick bid him stay.
EDWARD
FTLN 0787 Lord Warwick, on thy shoulder will I lean,
FTLN 0788 And when thou fail’st—as God forbid the hour!—
FTLN 0789 Must Edward fall, which peril heaven forfend.
WARWICK
FTLN 0790 No longer Earl of March, but Duke of York;
FTLN 0791 195 The next degree is England’s royal throne:
FTLN 0792 For King of England shalt thou be proclaimed
FTLN 0793 In every borough as we pass along,
FTLN 0794 And he that throws not up his cap for joy
FTLN 0795 Shall for the fault make forfeit of his head.
FTLN 0796 200 King Edward, valiant Richard, Montague,
FTLN 0797 Stay we no longer dreaming of renown,
FTLN 0798 But sound the trumpets and about our task.
RICHARD
FTLN 0799 Then, Clifford, were thy heart as hard as steel,
FTLN 0800 As thou hast shown it flinty by thy deeds,
FTLN 0801 205 I come to pierce it or to give thee mine.

73
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 2
EDWARD
FTLN 0802 Then strike up drums! God and Saint George for us!
Enter a Messenger.
WARWICK FTLN 0803 How now, what news?
MESSENGER
FTLN 0804 The Duke of Norfolk sends you word by me,
FTLN 0805 The Queen is coming with a puissant host,
FTLN 0806 210 And craves your company for speedy counsel.
WARWICK
FTLN 0807 Why, then it sorts. Brave warriors, let’s away!
They all exit.
Scene 2
Flourish. Enter King Henry, Queen Margaret,
Clifford, Northumberland, and young Prince Edward,
all wearing the red rose with Drum and Trumpets,
the head of York fixed above them.
QUEEN MARGARET , to King Henry
FTLN 0808 Welcome, my lord, to this brave town of York.
FTLN 0809 Yonder’s the head of that arch-enemy
FTLN 0810 That sought to be encompassed with your crown.
FTLN 0811 Doth not the object cheer your heart, my lord?
KING HENRY
FTLN 0812 5 Ay, as the rocks cheer them that fear their wrack!
FTLN 0813 To see this sight, it irks my very soul.
FTLN 0814 Withhold revenge, dear God! ’Tis not my fault,
FTLN 0815 Nor wittingly have I infringed my vow.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0816 My gracious liege, this too much lenity
FTLN 0817 10 And harmful pity must be laid aside.
FTLN 0818 To whom do lions cast their gentle looks?
FTLN 0819 Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
FTLN 0820 Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick?

75
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 2
FTLN 0821 Not his that spoils her young before her face.
FTLN 0822 15 Who scapes the lurking serpent’s mortal sting?
FTLN 0823 Not he that sets his foot upon her back.
FTLN 0824 The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on,
FTLN 0825 And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.
FTLN 0826 Ambitious York did level at thy crown,
FTLN 0827 20 Thou smiling while he knit his angry brows.
FTLN 0828 He, but a duke, would have his son a king
FTLN 0829 And raise his issue like a loving sire;
FTLN 0830 Thou being a king, blest with a goodly son,
FTLN 0831 Didst yield consent to disinherit him,
FTLN 0832 25 Which argued thee a most unloving father.
FTLN 0833 Unreasonable creatures feed their young;
FTLN 0834 And though man’s face be fearful to their eyes,
FTLN 0835 Yet in protection of their tender ones,
FTLN 0836 Who hath not seen them, even with those wings
FTLN 0837 30 Which sometime they have used with fearful flight,
FTLN 0838 Make war with him that climbed unto their nest,
FTLN 0839 Offering their own lives in their young’s defense?
FTLN 0840 For shame, my liege, make them your precedent.
FTLN 0841 Were it not pity that this goodly boy
FTLN 0842 35 Should lose his birthright by his father’s fault,
FTLN 0843 And long hereafter say unto his child
FTLN 0844 “What my great-grandfather and grandsire got,
FTLN 0845 My careless father fondly gave away”?
FTLN 0846 Ah, what a shame were this! Look on the boy,
FTLN 0847 40 And let his manly face, which promiseth
FTLN 0848 Successful fortune, steel thy melting heart
FTLN 0849 To hold thine own and leave thine own with him.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0850 Full well hath Clifford played the orator,
FTLN 0851 Inferring arguments of mighty force.
FTLN 0852 45 But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear
FTLN 0853 That things ill got had ever bad success?
FTLN 0854 And happy always was it for that son
FTLN 0855 Whose father for his hoarding went to hell?

77
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 2
FTLN 0856 I’ll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind,
FTLN 0857 50 And would my father had left me no more;
FTLN 0858 For all the rest is held at such a rate
FTLN 0859 As brings a thousandfold more care to keep
FTLN 0860 Than in possession any jot of pleasure.
FTLN 0861 Ah, cousin York, would thy best friends did know
FTLN 0862 55 How it doth grieve me that thy head is here.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0863 My lord, cheer up your spirits; our foes are nigh,
FTLN 0864 And this soft courage makes your followers faint.
FTLN 0865 You promised knighthood to our forward son.
FTLN 0866 Unsheathe your sword and dub him presently.—
FTLN 0867 60 Edward, kneel down. He kneels.
KING HENRY , dubbing him knight
FTLN 0868 Edward Plantagenet, arise a knight,
FTLN 0869 And learn this lesson: draw thy sword in right.
PRINCE EDWARD , rising
FTLN 0870 My gracious father, by your kingly leave,
FTLN 0871 I’ll draw it as apparent to the crown
FTLN 0872 65 And in that quarrel use it to the death.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0873 Why, that is spoken like a toward prince.
Enter a Messenger.
MESSENGER
FTLN 0874 Royal commanders, be in readiness,
FTLN 0875 For with a band of thirty thousand men
FTLN 0876 Comes Warwick backing of the Duke of York,
FTLN 0877 70 And in the towns as they do march along
FTLN 0878 Proclaims him king, and many fly to him.
FTLN 0879 Deraign your battle, for they are at hand. He exits.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0880 I would your Highness would depart the field.
FTLN 0881 The Queen hath best success when you are absent.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0882 75 Ay, good my lord, and leave us to our fortune.

79
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 2
KING HENRY
FTLN 0883 Why, that’s my fortune too; therefore I’ll stay.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0884 Be it with resolution, then, to fight.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 0885 My royal father, cheer these noble lords
FTLN 0886 And hearten those that fight in your defense.
FTLN 0887 80 Unsheathe your sword, good father; cry “Saint
FTLN 0888 George!”
March. Enter Edward, Warwick, Richard,
George, Norfolk, Montague, and Soldiers,
all wearing the white rose.
EDWARD
FTLN 0889 Now, perjured Henry, wilt thou kneel for grace
FTLN 0890 And set thy diadem upon my head,
FTLN 0891 Or bide the mortal fortune of the field?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0892 85 Go rate thy minions, proud insulting boy.
FTLN 0893 Becomes it thee to be thus bold in terms
FTLN 0894 Before thy sovereign and thy lawful king?
EDWARD
FTLN 0895 I am his king, and he should bow his knee.
FTLN 0896 I was adopted heir by his consent.
FTLN 0897 90 Since when, his oath is broke; for, as I hear,
FTLN 0898 You that are king, though he do wear the crown,
FTLN 0899 Have caused him, by new act of Parliament,
FTLN 0900 To blot out me and put his own son in.
CLIFFORD FTLN 0901 And reason too:
FTLN 0902 95 Who should succeed the father but the son?
RICHARD
FTLN 0903 Are you there, butcher? O, I cannot speak!
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0904 Ay, crookback, here I stand to answer thee,
FTLN 0905 Or any he, the proudest of thy sort.

81
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 2
RICHARD
FTLN 0906 ’Twas you that killed young Rutland, was it not?
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0907 100 Ay, and old York, and yet not satisfied.
RICHARD
FTLN 0908 For God’s sake, lords, give signal to the fight!
WARWICK
FTLN 0909 What sayst thou, Henry? Wilt thou yield the crown?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0910 Why, how now, long-tongued Warwick, dare you
FTLN 0911 speak?
FTLN 0912 105 When you and I met at Saint Albans last,
FTLN 0913 Your legs did better service than your hands.
WARWICK
FTLN 0914 Then ’twas my turn to fly, and now ’tis thine.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0915 You said so much before, and yet you fled.
WARWICK
FTLN 0916 ’Twas not your valor, Clifford, drove me thence.
NORTHUMBERLAND
FTLN 0917 110 No, nor your manhood that durst make you stay.
RICHARD
FTLN 0918 Northumberland, I hold thee reverently.—
FTLN 0919 Break off the parley, for scarce I can refrain
FTLN 0920 The execution of my big-swoll’n heart
FTLN 0921 Upon that Clifford, that cruel child-killer.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0922 115 I slew thy father; call’st thou him a child?
RICHARD
FTLN 0923 Ay, like a dastard and a treacherous coward,
FTLN 0924 As thou didst kill our tender brother Rutland.
FTLN 0925 But ere sunset I’ll make thee curse the deed.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0926 Have done with words, my lords, and hear me
FTLN 0927 120 speak.

83
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 2
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0928 Defy them, then, or else hold close thy lips.
KING HENRY
FTLN 0929 I prithee, give no limits to my tongue.
FTLN 0930 I am a king and privileged to speak.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 0931 My liege, the wound that bred this meeting here
FTLN 0932 125 Cannot be cured by words; therefore, be still.
RICHARD
FTLN 0933 Then, executioner, unsheathe thy sword.
FTLN 0934 By Him that made us all, I am resolved
FTLN 0935 That Clifford’s manhood lies upon his tongue.
EDWARD
FTLN 0936 Say, Henry, shall I have my right or no?
FTLN 0937 130 A thousand men have broke their fasts today
FTLN 0938 That ne’er shall dine unless thou yield the crown.
WARWICK
FTLN 0939 If thou deny, their blood upon thy head,
FTLN 0940 For York in justice puts his armor on.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 0941 If that be right which Warwick says is right,
FTLN 0942 135 There is no wrong, but everything is right.
RICHARD
FTLN 0943 Whoever got thee, there thy mother stands,
FTLN 0944 For well I wot thou hast thy mother’s tongue.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 0945 But thou art neither like thy sire nor dam,
FTLN 0946 But like a foul misshapen stigmatic,
FTLN 0947 140 Marked by the Destinies to be avoided,
FTLN 0948 As venom toads or lizards’ dreadful stings.
RICHARD
FTLN 0949 Iron of Naples, hid with English gilt,
FTLN 0950 Whose father bears the title of a king,
FTLN 0951 As if a channel should be called the sea,

85
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 2
FTLN 0952 145 Sham’st thou not, knowing whence thou art
FTLN 0953 extraught,
FTLN 0954 To let thy tongue detect thy baseborn heart?
EDWARD
FTLN 0955 A wisp of straw were worth a thousand crowns
FTLN 0956 To make this shameless callet know herself.—
FTLN 0957 150 Helen of Greece was fairer far than thou,
FTLN 0958 Although thy husband may be Menelaus;
FTLN 0959 And ne’er was Agamemnon’s brother wronged
FTLN 0960 By that false woman as this king by thee.
FTLN 0961 His father reveled in the heart of France,
FTLN 0962 155 And tamed the King, and made the Dauphin stoop;
FTLN 0963 And had he matched according to his state,
FTLN 0964 He might have kept that glory to this day.
FTLN 0965 But when he took a beggar to his bed
FTLN 0966 And graced thy poor sire with his bridal day,
FTLN 0967 160 Even then that sunshine brewed a shower for him
FTLN 0968 That washed his father’s fortunes forth of France
FTLN 0969 And heaped sedition on his crown at home.
FTLN 0970 For what hath broached this tumult but thy pride?
FTLN 0971 Hadst thou been meek, our title still had slept,
FTLN 0972 165 And we, in pity of the gentle king,
FTLN 0973 Had slipped our claim until another age.
GEORGE
FTLN 0974 But when we saw our sunshine made thy spring,
FTLN 0975 And that thy summer bred us no increase,
FTLN 0976 We set the axe to thy usurping root;
FTLN 0977 170 And though the edge hath something hit ourselves,
FTLN 0978 Yet know thou, since we have begun to strike,
FTLN 0979 We’ll never leave till we have hewn thee down
FTLN 0980 Or bathed thy growing with our heated bloods.
EDWARD
FTLN 0981 And in this resolution, I defy thee,
FTLN 0982 175 Not willing any longer conference,
FTLN 0983 Since thou denied’st the gentle king to speak.—

87
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 3
FTLN 0984 Sound, trumpets! Let our bloody colors wave;
FTLN 0985 And either victory or else a grave!
QUEEN MARGARET FTLN 0986 Stay, Edward!
EDWARD
FTLN 0987 180 No, wrangling woman, we’ll no longer stay.
FTLN 0988 These words will cost ten thousand lives this day.
They all exit.
Scene 3
Alarum. Excursions. Enter Warwick,
wearing the white rose.
WARWICK , lying down
FTLN 0989 Forspent with toil, as runners with a race,
FTLN 0990 I lay me down a little while to breathe,
FTLN 0991 For strokes received and many blows repaid
FTLN 0992 Have robbed my strong-knit sinews of their strength;
FTLN 0993 5 And spite of spite, needs must I rest awhile.
Enter Edward, wearing the white rose, running.
EDWARD
FTLN 0994 Smile, gentle heaven, or strike, ungentle death,
FTLN 0995 For this world frowns and Edward’s sun is clouded.
Enter George, wearing the white rose.
WARWICK , standing
FTLN 0996 How now, my lord, what hap? What hope of good?
GEORGE
FTLN 0997 Our hap is loss, our hope but sad despair;
FTLN 0998 10 Our ranks are broke, and ruin follows us.
FTLN 0999 What counsel give you? Whither shall we fly?
EDWARD
FTLN 1000 Bootless is flight; they follow us with wings,
FTLN 1001 And weak we are and cannot shun pursuit.

89
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 3
Enter Richard, wearing the white rose.
RICHARD
FTLN 1002 Ah, Warwick, why hast thou withdrawn thyself?
FTLN 1003 15 Thy brother’s blood the thirsty earth hath drunk,
FTLN 1004 Broached with the steely point of Clifford’s lance,
FTLN 1005 And in the very pangs of death he cried,
FTLN 1006 Like to a dismal clangor heard from far,
FTLN 1007 “Warwick, revenge! Brother, revenge my death!”
FTLN 1008 20 So, underneath the belly of their steeds,
FTLN 1009 That stained their fetlocks in his smoking blood,
FTLN 1010 The noble gentleman gave up the ghost.
WARWICK
FTLN 1011 Then let the earth be drunken with our blood!
FTLN 1012 I’ll kill my horse because I will not fly.
FTLN 1013 25 Why stand we like soft-hearted women here,
FTLN 1014 Wailing our losses whiles the foe doth rage,
FTLN 1015 And look upon, as if the tragedy
FTLN 1016 Were played in jest by counterfeiting actors?
He kneels.
FTLN 1017 Here on my knee I vow to God above
FTLN 1018 30 I’ll never pause again, never stand still,
FTLN 1019 Till either death hath closed these eyes of mine
FTLN 1020 Or Fortune given me measure of revenge.
EDWARD
FTLN 1021 O Warwick, I do bend my knee with thine,
FTLN 1022 And in this vow do chain my soul to thine
He kneels.
FTLN 1023 35 And, ere my knee rise from the Earth’s cold face,
FTLN 1024 I throw my hands, mine eyes, my heart to Thee,
FTLN 1025 Thou setter up and plucker down of kings,
FTLN 1026 Beseeching Thee, if with Thy will it stands
FTLN 1027 That to my foes this body must be prey,
FTLN 1028 40 Yet that Thy brazen gates of heaven may ope
FTLN 1029 And give sweet passage to my sinful soul.
Edward and Warwick stand.

91
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 4
FTLN 1030 Now, lords, take leave until we meet again,
FTLN 1031 Where’er it be, in heaven or in Earth.
RICHARD
FTLN 1032 Brother, give me thy hand.—And, gentle Warwick,
FTLN 1033 45 Let me embrace thee in my weary arms.
FTLN 1034 I that did never weep now melt with woe
FTLN 1035 That winter should cut off our springtime so.
WARWICK
FTLN 1036 Away, away! Once more, sweet lords, farewell.
GEORGE
FTLN 1037 Yet let us all together to our troops
FTLN 1038 50 And give them leave to fly that will not stay,
FTLN 1039 And call them pillars that will stand to us;
FTLN 1040 And, if we thrive, promise them such rewards
FTLN 1041 As victors wear at the Olympian Games.
FTLN 1042 This may plant courage in their quailing breasts,
FTLN 1043 55 For yet is hope of life and victory.
FTLN 1044 Forslow no longer; make we hence amain.
They exit.
Scene 4
Excursions. Enter, at separate doors, Richard wearing
the white rose, and Clifford, wearing the red rose.
RICHARD
FTLN 1045 Now, Clifford, I have singled thee alone.
FTLN 1046 Suppose this arm is for the Duke of York,
FTLN 1047 And this for Rutland, both bound to revenge,
FTLN 1048 Wert thou environed with a brazen wall.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 1049 5 Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone.
FTLN 1050 This is the hand that stabbed thy father York,
FTLN 1051 And this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland,
FTLN 1052 And here’s the heart that triumphs in their death
FTLN 1053 And cheers these hands that slew thy sire and brother

93
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 5
FTLN 1054 10 To execute the like upon thyself.
FTLN 1055 And so, have at thee!
They fight; Warwick comes; Clifford flies.
RICHARD
FTLN 1056 Nay, Warwick, single out some other chase,
FTLN 1057 For I myself will hunt this wolf to death.
They exit.
Scene 5
Alarum. Enter King Henry alone, wearing the red rose.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1058 This battle fares like to the morning’s war,
FTLN 1059 When dying clouds contend with growing light,
FTLN 1060 What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails,
FTLN 1061 Can neither call it perfect day nor night.
FTLN 1062 5 Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea
FTLN 1063 Forced by the tide to combat with the wind;
FTLN 1064 Now sways it that way, like the selfsame sea
FTLN 1065 Forced to retire by fury of the wind.
FTLN 1066 Sometime the flood prevails, and then the wind;
FTLN 1067 10 Now one the better, then another best,
FTLN 1068 Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast,
FTLN 1069 Yet neither conqueror nor conquerèd.
FTLN 1070 So is the equal poise of this fell war.
FTLN 1071 Here on this molehill will I sit me down.
He sits on a small prominence.
FTLN 1072 15 To whom God will, there be the victory;
FTLN 1073 For Margaret my queen and Clifford too
FTLN 1074 Have chid me from the battle, swearing both
FTLN 1075 They prosper best of all when I am thence.
FTLN 1076 Would I were dead, if God’s good will were so,
FTLN 1077 20 For what is in this world but grief and woe?
FTLN 1078 O God! Methinks it were a happy life

95
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 5
FTLN 1079 To be no better than a homely swain,
FTLN 1080 To sit upon a hill as I do now,
FTLN 1081 To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,
FTLN 1082 25 Thereby to see the minutes how they run:
FTLN 1083 How many makes the hour full complete,
FTLN 1084 How many hours brings about the day,
FTLN 1085 How many days will finish up the year,
FTLN 1086 How many years a mortal man may live.
FTLN 1087 30 When this is known, then to divide the times:
FTLN 1088 So many hours must I tend my flock,
FTLN 1089 So many hours must I take my rest,
FTLN 1090 So many hours must I contemplate,
FTLN 1091 So many hours must I sport myself,
FTLN 1092 35 So many days my ewes have been with young,
FTLN 1093 So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean,
FTLN 1094 So many years ere I shall shear the fleece;
FTLN 1095 So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,
FTLN 1096 Passed over to the end they were created,
FTLN 1097 40 Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
FTLN 1098 Ah, what a life were this! How sweet, how lovely!
FTLN 1099 Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade
FTLN 1100 To shepherds looking on their silly sheep
FTLN 1101 Than doth a rich embroidered canopy
FTLN 1102 45 To kings that fear their subjects’ treachery?
FTLN 1103 O yes, it doth, a thousandfold it doth.
FTLN 1104 And to conclude, the shepherd’s homely curds,
FTLN 1105 His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle,
FTLN 1106 His wonted sleep under a fresh tree’s shade,
FTLN 1107 50 All which secure and sweetly he enjoys,
FTLN 1108 Is far beyond a prince’s delicates—
FTLN 1109 His viands sparkling in a golden cup,
FTLN 1110 His body couchèd in a curious bed—
FTLN 1111 When care, mistrust, and treason waits on him.
Alarum. Enter at one door a Son that hath killed his
Father, carrying the body.

97
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 5
SON
FTLN 1112 55 Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.
FTLN 1113 This man, whom hand to hand I slew in fight,
FTLN 1114 May be possessèd with some store of crowns,
FTLN 1115 And I, that haply take them from him now,
FTLN 1116 May yet ere night yield both my life and them
FTLN 1117 60 To some man else, as this dead man doth me.
FTLN 1118 Who’s this? O God! It is my father’s face,
FTLN 1119 Whom in this conflict I unwares have killed.
FTLN 1120 O heavy times, begetting such events!
FTLN 1121 From London by the King was I pressed forth.
FTLN 1122 65 My father, being the Earl of Warwick’s man,
FTLN 1123 Came on the part of York, pressed by his master.
FTLN 1124 And I, who at his hands received my life,
FTLN 1125 Have by my hands of life bereavèd him.
FTLN 1126 Pardon me, God, I knew not what I did;
FTLN 1127 70 And pardon, father, for I knew not thee.
FTLN 1128 My tears shall wipe away these bloody marks,
FTLN 1129 And no more words till they have flowed their fill.
He weeps.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1130 O piteous spectacle! O bloody times!
FTLN 1131 Whiles lions war and battle for their dens,
FTLN 1132 75 Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity.
FTLN 1133 Weep, wretched man. I’ll aid thee tear for tear,
FTLN 1134 And let our hearts and eyes, like civil war,
FTLN 1135 Be blind with tears and break, o’ercharged with grief.
Enter at another door a Father that hath killed his Son,
bearing of his Son’s body.
FATHER
FTLN 1136 Thou that so stoutly hath resisted me,
FTLN 1137 80 Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold,
FTLN 1138 For I have bought it with an hundred blows.
FTLN 1139 But let me see: is this our foeman’s face?
FTLN 1140 Ah, no, no, no, it is mine only son!

99
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 5
FTLN 1141 Ah, boy, if any life be left in thee,
FTLN 1142 85 Throw up thine eye! See, see, what showers arise,
FTLN 1143 Blown with the windy tempest of my heart
FTLN 1144 Upon thy wounds, that kills mine eye and heart!
FTLN 1145 O, pity God this miserable age!
FTLN 1146 What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly,
FTLN 1147 90 Erroneous, mutinous, and unnatural
FTLN 1148 This deadly quarrel daily doth beget!
FTLN 1149 O, boy, thy father gave thee life too soon,
FTLN 1150 And hath bereft thee of thy life too late!
KING HENRY
FTLN 1151 Woe above woe, grief more than common grief!
FTLN 1152 95 O, that my death would stay these ruthful deeds!
FTLN 1153 O pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity!
FTLN 1154 The red rose and the white are on his face,
FTLN 1155 The fatal colors of our striving houses;
FTLN 1156 The one his purple blood right well resembles,
FTLN 1157 100 The other his pale cheeks methinks presenteth.
FTLN 1158 Wither one rose and let the other flourish;
FTLN 1159 If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.
SON
FTLN 1160 How will my mother for a father’s death
FTLN 1161 Take on with me and ne’er be satisfied!
FATHER
FTLN 1162 105 How will my wife for slaughter of my son
FTLN 1163 Shed seas of tears and ne’er be satisfied!
KING HENRY
FTLN 1164 How will the country for these woeful chances
FTLN 1165 Misthink the King and not be satisfied!
SON
FTLN 1166 Was ever son so rued a father’s death?
FATHER
FTLN 1167 110 Was ever father so bemoaned his son?
KING HENRY
FTLN 1168 Was ever king so grieved for subjects’ woe?
FTLN 1169 Much is your sorrow, mine ten times so much.

101
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 5
SON
FTLN 1170 I’ll bear thee hence, where I may weep my fill.
He exits, bearing the body.
FATHER
FTLN 1171 These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet;
FTLN 1172 115 My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulcher,
FTLN 1173 For from my heart thine image ne’er shall go.
FTLN 1174 My sighing breast shall be thy funeral bell;
FTLN 1175 And so obsequious will thy father be
FTLN 1176 E’en for the loss of thee, having no more,
FTLN 1177 120 As Priam was for all his valiant sons.
FTLN 1178 I’ll bear thee hence, and let them fight that will,
FTLN 1179 For I have murdered where I should not kill.
He exits, bearing the body.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1180 Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care,
FTLN 1181 Here sits a king more woeful than you are.
Alarums. Excursions. Enter Queen Margaret, Prince
Edward, and Exeter, all wearing the red rose.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 1182 125 Fly, father, fly, for all your friends are fled,
FTLN 1183 And Warwick rages like a chafèd bull.
FTLN 1184 Away, for Death doth hold us in pursuit.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1185 Mount you, my lord; towards Berwick post amain.
FTLN 1186 Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds
FTLN 1187 130 Having the fearful flying hare in sight,
FTLN 1188 With fiery eyes sparkling for very wrath
FTLN 1189 And bloody steel grasped in their ireful hands,
FTLN 1190 Are at our backs, and therefore hence amain.
EXETER
FTLN 1191 Away, for Vengeance comes along with them.
FTLN 1192 135 Nay, stay not to expostulate, make speed;
FTLN 1193 Or else come after; I’ll away before.

103
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 6
KING HENRY
FTLN 1194 Nay, take me with thee, good sweet Exeter;
FTLN 1195 Not that I fear to stay, but love to go
FTLN 1196 Whither the Queen intends. Forward, away!
They exit.
Scene 6
A loud alarum. Enter Clifford,
wearing the red rose, wounded.
CLIFFORD
FTLN 1197 Here burns my candle out; ay, here it dies,
FTLN 1198 Which whiles it lasted gave King Henry light.
FTLN 1199 O Lancaster, I fear thy overthrow
FTLN 1200 More than my body’s parting with my soul!
FTLN 1201 5 My love and fear glued many friends to thee;
FTLN 1202 And now I fall, thy tough commixtures melts,
FTLN 1203 Impairing Henry, strength’ning misproud York;
FTLN 1204 And whither fly the gnats but to the sun?
FTLN 1205 And who shines now but Henry’s enemies?
FTLN 1206 10 O Phoebus, hadst thou never given consent
FTLN 1207 That Phaëton should check thy fiery steeds,
FTLN 1208 Thy burning car never had scorched the Earth!
FTLN 1209 And Henry, hadst thou swayed as kings should do,
FTLN 1210 Or as thy father and his father did,
FTLN 1211 15 Giving no ground unto the house of York,
FTLN 1212 They never then had sprung like summer flies;
FTLN 1213 I and ten thousand in this luckless realm
FTLN 1214 Had left no mourning widows for our death,
FTLN 1215 And thou this day hadst kept thy chair in peace.
FTLN 1216 20 For what doth cherish weeds but gentle air?
FTLN 1217 And what makes robbers bold but too much lenity?
FTLN 1218 Bootless are plaints, and cureless are my wounds;
FTLN 1219 No way to fly, no strength to hold out flight.
FTLN 1220 The foe is merciless and will not pity,

105
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 6
FTLN 1221 25 For at their hands I have deserved no pity.
FTLN 1222 The air hath got into my deadly wounds,
FTLN 1223 And much effuse of blood doth make me faint.
FTLN 1224 Come, York and Richard, Warwick and the rest.
FTLN 1225 I stabbed your fathers’ bosoms; split my breast.
He faints.
Alarum and retreat. Enter Edward, Warwick,
Richard, and Soldiers, Montague, and George,
all wearing the white rose.
EDWARD
FTLN 1226 30 Now breathe we, lords. Good fortune bids us pause
FTLN 1227 And smooth the frowns of war with peaceful looks.
FTLN 1228 Some troops pursue the bloody-minded queen
FTLN 1229 That led calm Henry, though he were a king,
FTLN 1230 As doth a sail filled with a fretting gust
FTLN 1231 35 Command an argosy to stem the waves.
FTLN 1232 But think you, lords, that Clifford fled with them?
WARWICK
FTLN 1233 No, ’tis impossible he should escape,
FTLN 1234 For, though before his face I speak the words,
FTLN 1235 Your brother Richard marked him for the grave,
FTLN 1236 40 And wheresoe’er he is, he’s surely dead.
Clifford groans, and dies.
RICHARD
FTLN 1237 Whose soul is that which takes her heavy leave?
FTLN 1238 A deadly groan, like life and death’s departing.
EDWARD
FTLN 1239 See who it is; and, now the battle’s ended,
FTLN 1240 If friend or foe, let him be gently used.
RICHARD
FTLN 1241 45 Revoke that doom of mercy, for ’tis Clifford,
FTLN 1242 Who not contented that he lopped the branch
FTLN 1243 In hewing Rutland when his leaves put forth,
FTLN 1244 But set his murd’ring knife unto the root

107
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 6
FTLN 1245 From whence that tender spray did sweetly spring,
FTLN 1246 50 I mean our princely father, Duke of York.
WARWICK
FTLN 1247 From off the gates of York fetch down the head,
FTLN 1248 Your father’s head, which Clifford placèd there;
FTLN 1249 Instead whereof let this supply the room.
FTLN 1250 Measure for measure must be answerèd.
EDWARD
FTLN 1251 55 Bring forth that fatal screech owl to our house
FTLN 1252 That nothing sung but death to us and ours;
FTLN 1253 Now death shall stop his dismal threat’ning sound,
FTLN 1254 And his ill-boding tongue no more shall speak.
WARWICK
FTLN 1255 I think his understanding is bereft.—
FTLN 1256 60 Speak, Clifford, dost thou know who speaks to
FTLN 1257 thee?—
FTLN 1258 Dark cloudy death o’ershades his beams of life,
FTLN 1259 And he nor sees nor hears us what we say.
RICHARD
FTLN 1260 O, would he did—and so, perhaps, he doth!
FTLN 1261 65 ’Tis but his policy to counterfeit,
FTLN 1262 Because he would avoid such bitter taunts
FTLN 1263 Which in the time of death he gave our father.
GEORGE
FTLN 1264 If so thou think’st, vex him with eager words.
RICHARD
FTLN 1265 Clifford, ask mercy and obtain no grace.
EDWARD
FTLN 1266 70 Clifford, repent in bootless penitence.
WARWICK
FTLN 1267 Clifford, devise excuses for thy faults.
GEORGE
FTLN 1268 While we devise fell tortures for thy faults.
RICHARD
FTLN 1269 Thou didst love York, and I am son to York.

109
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 6
EDWARD
FTLN 1270 Thou pitied’st Rutland; I will pity thee.
GEORGE
FTLN 1271 75 Where’s Captain Margaret to fence you now?
WARWICK
FTLN 1272 They mock thee, Clifford; swear as thou wast wont.
RICHARD
FTLN 1273 What, not an oath? Nay, then, the world goes hard
FTLN 1274 When Clifford cannot spare his friends an oath.
FTLN 1275 I know by that he’s dead; and, by my soul,
FTLN 1276 80 If this right hand would buy but two hours’ life
FTLN 1277 That I in all despite might rail at him,
FTLN 1278 This hand should chop it off, and with the issuing
FTLN 1279 blood
FTLN 1280 Stifle the villain whose unstaunchèd thirst
FTLN 1281 85 York and young Rutland could not satisfy.
WARWICK
FTLN 1282 Ay, but he’s dead. Off with the traitor’s head,
FTLN 1283 And rear it in the place your father’s stands.
FTLN 1284 And now to London with triumphant march,
FTLN 1285 There to be crownèd England’s royal king,
FTLN 1286 90 From whence shall Warwick cut the sea to France
FTLN 1287 And ask the Lady Bona for thy queen;
FTLN 1288 So shalt thou sinew both these lands together,
FTLN 1289 And having France thy friend, thou shalt not dread
FTLN 1290 The scattered foe that hopes to rise again;
FTLN 1291 95 For though they cannot greatly sting to hurt,
FTLN 1292 Yet look to have them buzz to offend thine ears.
FTLN 1293 First will I see the coronation,
FTLN 1294 And then to Brittany I’ll cross the sea
FTLN 1295 To effect this marriage, so it please my lord.
EDWARD
FTLN 1296 100 Even as thou wilt, sweet Warwick, let it be;
FTLN 1297 For in thy shoulder do I build my seat,
FTLN 1298 And never will I undertake the thing
FTLN 1299 Wherein thy counsel and consent is wanting.—

111
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 2. SC. 6
FTLN 1300 Richard, I will create thee Duke of Gloucester,
FTLN 1301 105 And George, of Clarence. Warwick as ourself
FTLN 1302 Shall do and undo as him pleaseth best.
RICHARD
FTLN 1303 Let me be Duke of Clarence, George of Gloucester,
FTLN 1304 For Gloucester’s dukedom is too ominous.
WARWICK
FTLN 1305 Tut, that’s a foolish observation.
FTLN 1306 110 Richard, be Duke of Gloucester. Now to London,
FTLN 1307 To see these honors in possession.
They exit, with Clifford’s body.

ACT 3
Scene 1
Enter two Gamekeepers,
with crossbows in their hands.
FIRST GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1308 Under this thick-grown brake we’ll shroud ourselves,
FTLN 1309 For through this laund anon the deer will come;
FTLN 1310 And in this covert will we make our stand,
FTLN 1311 Culling the principal of all the deer.
SECOND GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1312 5 I’ll stay above the hill, so both may shoot.
FIRST GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1313 That cannot be. The noise of thy crossbow
FTLN 1314 Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost.
FTLN 1315 Here stand we both, and aim we at the best.
FTLN 1316 And for the time shall not seem tedious,
FTLN 1317 10 I’ll tell thee what befell me on a day
FTLN 1318 In this self place where now we mean to stand.
SECOND GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1319 Here comes a man; let’s stay till he be past.
Enter King Henry, in disguise, with a prayer book.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1320 From Scotland am I stol’n, even of pure love,
FTLN 1321 To greet mine own land with my wishful sight.
FTLN 1322 15 No, Harry, Harry, ’tis no land of thine!
FTLN 1323 Thy place is filled, thy scepter wrung from thee,
115

117
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 1
FTLN 1324 Thy balm washed off wherewith thou wast anointed.
FTLN 1325 No bending knee will call thee Caesar now,
FTLN 1326 No humble suitors press to speak for right,
FTLN 1327 20 No, not a man comes for redress of thee;
FTLN 1328 For how can I help them an not myself?
FIRST GAMEKEEPER , aside to Second Gamekeeper
FTLN 1329 Ay, here’s a deer whose skin’s a keeper’s fee.
FTLN 1330 This is the quondam king. Let’s seize upon him.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1331 Let me embrace the sour adversaries,
FTLN 1332 25 For wise men say it is the wisest course.
SECOND GAMEKEEPER , aside to First Gamekeeper
FTLN 1333 Why linger we? Let us lay hands upon him.
FIRST GAMEKEEPER , aside to Second Gamekeeper
FTLN 1334 Forbear awhile; we’ll hear a little more.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1335 My queen and son are gone to France for aid,
FTLN 1336 And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick
FTLN 1337 30 Is thither gone to crave the French king’s sister
FTLN 1338 To wife for Edward. If this news be true,
FTLN 1339 Poor queen and son, your labor is but lost,
FTLN 1340 For Warwick is a subtle orator,
FTLN 1341 And Lewis a prince soon won with moving words.
FTLN 1342 35 By this account, then, Margaret may win him,
FTLN 1343 For she’s a woman to be pitied much.
FTLN 1344 Her sighs will make a batt’ry in his breast,
FTLN 1345 Her tears will pierce into a marble heart.
FTLN 1346 The tiger will be mild whiles she doth mourn,
FTLN 1347 40 And Nero will be tainted with remorse
FTLN 1348 To hear and see her plaints, her brinish tears.
FTLN 1349 Ay, but she’s come to beg, Warwick to give;
FTLN 1350 She on his left side craving aid for Henry;
FTLN 1351 He on his right asking a wife for Edward.
FTLN 1352 45 She weeps and says her Henry is deposed;
FTLN 1353 He smiles and says his Edward is installed;
FTLN 1354 That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more,

119
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 1
FTLN 1355 Whiles Warwick tells his title, smooths the wrong,
FTLN 1356 Inferreth arguments of mighty strength,
FTLN 1357 50 And in conclusion wins the King from her
FTLN 1358 With promise of his sister and what else
FTLN 1359 To strengthen and support King Edward’s place.
FTLN 1360 O Margaret, thus ’twill be, and thou, poor soul,
FTLN 1361 Art then forsaken, as thou went’st forlorn.
SECOND GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1362 55 Say, what art thou that talk’st of kings and queens?
KING HENRY
FTLN 1363 More than I seem, and less than I was born to:
FTLN 1364 A man at least, for less I should not be;
FTLN 1365 And men may talk of kings, and why not I?
SECOND GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1366 Ay, but thou talk’st as if thou wert a king.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1367 60 Why, so I am in mind, and that’s enough.
SECOND GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1368 But if thou be a king, where is thy crown?
KING HENRY
FTLN 1369 My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
FTLN 1370 Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones,
FTLN 1371 Nor to be seen. My crown is called content;
FTLN 1372 65 A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.
SECOND GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1373 Well, if you be a king crowned with content,
FTLN 1374 Your crown content and you must be contented
FTLN 1375 To go along with us. For, as we think,
FTLN 1376 You are the king King Edward hath deposed;
FTLN 1377 70 And we his subjects sworn in all allegiance
FTLN 1378 Will apprehend you as his enemy.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1379 But did you never swear and break an oath?
SECOND GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1380 No, never such an oath, nor will not now.

121
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 1
KING HENRY
FTLN 1381 Where did you dwell when I was King of England?
SECOND GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1382 75 Here in this country, where we now remain.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1383 I was anointed king at nine months old.
FTLN 1384 My father and my grandfather were kings,
FTLN 1385 And you were sworn true subjects unto me.
FTLN 1386 And tell me, then, have you not broke your oaths?
FIRST GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1387 80 No, for we were subjects but while you were king.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1388 Why, am I dead? Do I not breathe a man?
FTLN 1389 Ah, simple men, you know not what you swear.
FTLN 1390 Look as I blow this feather from my face
FTLN 1391 And as the air blows it to me again,
FTLN 1392 85 Obeying with my wind when I do blow
FTLN 1393 And yielding to another when it blows,
FTLN 1394 Commanded always by the greater gust,
FTLN 1395 Such is the lightness of you common men.
FTLN 1396 But do not break your oaths, for of that sin
FTLN 1397 90 My mild entreaty shall not make you guilty.
FTLN 1398 Go where you will, the King shall be commanded,
FTLN 1399 And be you kings: command, and I’ll obey.
FIRST GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1400 We are true subjects to the King, King Edward.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1401 So would you be again to Henry
FTLN 1402 95 If he were seated as King Edward is.
FIRST GAMEKEEPER
FTLN 1403 We charge you in God’s name and the King’s
FTLN 1404 To go with us unto the officers.
KING HENRY
FTLN 1405 In God’s name, lead. Your king’s name be obeyed,
FTLN 1406 And what God will, that let your king perform.
FTLN 1407 100 And what he will, I humbly yield unto.
They exit.

123
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 2
Scene 2
Enter King Edward, Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
George, Duke of Clarence, Lady Grey,
and Attendants.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1408 Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Albans field
FTLN 1409 This lady’s husband, Sir Richard Grey, was slain,
FTLN 1410 His land then seized on by the conqueror.
FTLN 1411 Her suit is now to repossess those lands,
FTLN 1412 5 Which we in justice cannot well deny,
FTLN 1413 Because in quarrel of the house of York
FTLN 1414 The worthy gentleman did lose his life.
RICHARD
FTLN 1415 Your Highness shall do well to grant her suit;
FTLN 1416 It were dishonor to deny it her.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1417 10 It were no less, but yet I’ll make a pause.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence FTLN 1418 Yea, is it so?
FTLN 1419 I see the lady hath a thing to grant
FTLN 1420 Before the King will grant her humble suit.
CLARENCE , formerly GEORGE, aside to Richard
FTLN 1421 He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind!
RICHARD , aside to Clarence FTLN 1422 15 Silence!
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1423 Widow, we will consider of your suit,
FTLN 1424 And come some other time to know our mind.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1425 Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay.
FTLN 1426 May it please your Highness to resolve me now,
FTLN 1427 20 And what your pleasure is shall satisfy me.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1428 Ay, widow? Then I’ll warrant you all your lands,
FTLN 1429 An if what pleases him shall pleasure you.
FTLN 1430 Fight closer, or, good faith, you’ll catch a blow.

125
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 2
CLARENCE , aside to Richard
FTLN 1431 I fear her not, unless she chance to fall.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1432 25 God forbid that, for he’ll take vantages.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1433 How many children hast thou, widow? Tell me.
CLARENCE , aside to Richard
FTLN 1434 I think he means to beg a child of her.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1435 Nay, then, whip me; he’ll rather give her two.
LADY GREY FTLN 1436 Three, my most gracious lord.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1437 30 You shall have four if you’ll be ruled by him.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1438 ’Twere pity they should lose their father’s lands.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1439 Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1440 Lords, give us leave. I’ll try this widow’s wit.
Richard and Clarence stand aside.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1441 Ay, good leave have you, for you will have leave
FTLN 1442 35 Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1443 Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?
LADY GREY
FTLN 1444 Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1445 And would you not do much to do them good?
LADY GREY
FTLN 1446 To do them good I would sustain some harm.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1447 40 Then get your husband’s lands to do them good.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1448 Therefore I came unto your Majesty.

127
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 2
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1449 I’ll tell you how these lands are to be got.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1450 So shall you bind me to your Highness’ service.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1451 What service wilt thou do me if I give them?
LADY GREY
FTLN 1452 45 What you command that rests in me to do.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1453 But you will take exceptions to my boon.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1454 No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1455 Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1456 Why, then, I will do what your Grace commands.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1457 50 He plies her hard, and much rain wears the marble.
CLARENCE , aside to Richard
FTLN 1458 As red as fire! Nay, then, her wax must melt.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1459 Why stops my lord? Shall I not hear my task?
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1460 An easy task; ’tis but to love a king.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1461 That’s soon performed because I am a subject.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1462 55 Why, then, thy husband’s lands I freely give thee.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1463 I take my leave with many thousand thanks.
She curtsies and begins to exit.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1464 The match is made; she seals it with a cursy.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1465 But stay thee; ’tis the fruits of love I mean.

129
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 2
LADY GREY
FTLN 1466 The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1467 60 Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.
FTLN 1468 What love, think’st thou, I sue so much to get?
LADY GREY
FTLN 1469 My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers,
FTLN 1470 That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1471 No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1472 65 Why, then, you mean not as I thought you did.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1473 But now you partly may perceive my mind.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1474 My mind will never grant what I perceive
FTLN 1475 Your Highness aims at, if I aim aright.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1476 To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1477 70 To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1478 Why, then, thou shalt not have thy husband’s lands.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1479 Why, then, mine honesty shall be my dower,
FTLN 1480 For by that loss I will not purchase them.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1481 Therein thou wrong’st thy children mightily.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1482 75 Herein your Highness wrongs both them and me.
FTLN 1483 But, mighty lord, this merry inclination
FTLN 1484 Accords not with the sadness of my suit.
FTLN 1485 Please you dismiss me either with ay or no.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1486 Ay, if thou wilt say “ay” to my request;
FTLN 1487 80 No, if thou dost say “no” to my demand.

131
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 2
LADY GREY
FTLN 1488 Then no, my lord; my suit is at an end.
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1489 The widow likes him not; she knits her brows.
CLARENCE , aside to Richard
FTLN 1490 He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.
KING EDWARD , aside
FTLN 1491 Her looks doth argue her replete with modesty;
FTLN 1492 85 Her words doth show her wit incomparable;
FTLN 1493 All her perfections challenge sovereignty.
FTLN 1494 One way or other, she is for a king,
FTLN 1495 And she shall be my love or else my queen.—
FTLN 1496 Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?
LADY GREY
FTLN 1497 90 ’Tis better said than done, my gracious lord.
FTLN 1498 I am a subject fit to jest withal,
FTLN 1499 But far unfit to be a sovereign.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1500 Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee
FTLN 1501 I speak no more than what my soul intends,
FTLN 1502 95 And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1503 And that is more than I will yield unto.
FTLN 1504 I know I am too mean to be your queen
FTLN 1505 And yet too good to be your concubine.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1506 You cavil, widow; I did mean my queen.
LADY GREY
FTLN 1507 100 ’Twill grieve your Grace my sons should call you
FTLN 1508 father.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1509 No more than when my daughters call thee mother.
FTLN 1510 Thou art a widow and thou hast some children,
FTLN 1511 And, by God’s mother, I, being but a bachelor,
FTLN 1512 105 Have other some. Why, ’tis a happy thing
FTLN 1513 To be the father unto many sons.
FTLN 1514 Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.

133
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 2
RICHARD , aside to Clarence
FTLN 1515 The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.
CLARENCE , aside to Richard
FTLN 1516 When he was made a shriver, ’twas for shift.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1517 110 Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.
RICHARD
FTLN 1518 The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1519 You’d think it strange if I should marry her.
CLARENCE
FTLN 1520 To who, my lord?
KING EDWARD FTLN 1521 Why, Clarence, to myself.
RICHARD
FTLN 1522 115 That would be ten days’ wonder at the least.
CLARENCE
FTLN 1523 That’s a day longer than a wonder lasts.
RICHARD
FTLN 1524 By so much is the wonder in extremes.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1525 Well, jest on, brothers. I can tell you both
FTLN 1526 Her suit is granted for her husband’s lands.
Enter a Nobleman.
NOBLEMAN
FTLN 1527 120 My gracious lord, Henry, your foe, is taken
FTLN 1528 And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1529 See that he be conveyed unto the Tower.
Nobleman exits.
FTLN 1530 And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,
FTLN 1531 To question of his apprehension.—
FTLN 1532 125 Widow, go you along.—Lords, use her honorably.
They exit.
Richard remains.

135
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 2
RICHARD
FTLN 1533 Ay, Edward will use women honorably!
FTLN 1534 Would he were wasted—marrow, bones, and all—
FTLN 1535 That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring
FTLN 1536 To cross me from the golden time I look for.
FTLN 1537 130 And yet, between my soul’s desire and me,
FTLN 1538 The lustful Edward’s title burièd,
FTLN 1539 Is Clarence, Henry, and his son, young Edward,
FTLN 1540 And all the unlooked-for issue of their bodies
FTLN 1541 To take their rooms ere I can place myself.
FTLN 1542 135 A cold premeditation for my purpose.
FTLN 1543 Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty
FTLN 1544 Like one that stands upon a promontory
FTLN 1545 And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,
FTLN 1546 Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,
FTLN 1547 140 And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,
FTLN 1548 Saying he’ll lade it dry to have his way.
FTLN 1549 So do I wish the crown, being so far off,
FTLN 1550 And so I chide the means that keeps me from it,
FTLN 1551 And so, I say, I’ll cut the causes off,
FTLN 1552 145 Flattering me with impossibilities.
FTLN 1553 My eye’s too quick, my heart o’erweens too much,
FTLN 1554 Unless my hand and strength could equal them.
FTLN 1555 Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard,
FTLN 1556 What other pleasure can the world afford?
FTLN 1557 150 I’ll make my heaven in a lady’s lap
FTLN 1558 And deck my body in gay ornaments,
FTLN 1559 And ’witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
FTLN 1560 O miserable thought, and more unlikely
FTLN 1561 Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!
FTLN 1562 155 Why, Love forswore me in my mother’s womb,
FTLN 1563 And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
FTLN 1564 She did corrupt frail Nature with some bribe
FTLN 1565 To shrink mine arm up like a withered shrub;
FTLN 1566 To make an envious mountain on my back,

137
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 2
FTLN 1567 160 Where sits Deformity to mock my body;
FTLN 1568 To shape my legs of an unequal size;
FTLN 1569 To disproportion me in every part,
FTLN 1570 Like to a chaos, or an unlicked bear-whelp,
FTLN 1571 That carries no impression like the dam.
FTLN 1572 165 And am I then a man to be beloved?
FTLN 1573 O monstrous fault to harbor such a thought!
FTLN 1574 Then, since this Earth affords no joy to me
FTLN 1575 But to command, to check, to o’erbear such
FTLN 1576 As are of better person than myself,
FTLN 1577 170 I’ll make my heaven to dream upon the crown,
FTLN 1578 And, whiles I live, t’ account this world but hell
FTLN 1579 Until my misshaped trunk that bears this head
FTLN 1580 Be round impalèd with a glorious crown.
FTLN 1581 And yet I know not how to get the crown,
FTLN 1582 175 For many lives stand between me and home;
FTLN 1583 And I, like one lost in a thorny wood,
FTLN 1584 That rents the thorns and is rent with the thorns,
FTLN 1585 Seeking a way and straying from the way,
FTLN 1586 Not knowing how to find the open air,
FTLN 1587 180 But toiling desperately to find it out,
FTLN 1588 Torment myself to catch the English crown.
FTLN 1589 And from that torment I will free myself
FTLN 1590 Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.
FTLN 1591 Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,
FTLN 1592 185 And cry “Content” to that which grieves my heart,
FTLN 1593 And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
FTLN 1594 And frame my face to all occasions.
FTLN 1595 I’ll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
FTLN 1596 I’ll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
FTLN 1597 190 I’ll play the orator as well as Nestor,
FTLN 1598 Deceive more slyly than Ulysses could,
FTLN 1599 And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
FTLN 1600 I can add colors to the chameleon,
FTLN 1601 Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,

139
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
FTLN 1602 195 And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
FTLN 1603 Can I do this and cannot get a crown?
FTLN 1604 Tut, were it farther off, I’ll pluck it down.
He exits.
Scene 3
Flourish. Enter Lewis the French king, his sister
the Lady Bona, his Admiral called Bourbon,
Prince Edward, Queen Margaret, and the Earl of Oxford,
the last three wearing the red rose.
Lewis sits, and riseth up again.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1605 Fair Queen of England, worthy Margaret,
FTLN 1606 Sit down with us. It ill befits thy state
FTLN 1607 And birth that thou shouldst stand while Lewis
FTLN 1608 doth sit.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1609 5 No, mighty King of France. Now Margaret
FTLN 1610 Must strike her sail and learn awhile to serve
FTLN 1611 Where kings command. I was, I must confess,
FTLN 1612 Great Albion’s queen in former golden days,
FTLN 1613 But now mischance hath trod my title down
FTLN 1614 10 And with dishonor laid me on the ground,
FTLN 1615 Where I must take like seat unto my fortune
FTLN 1616 And to my humble seat conform myself.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1617 Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep
FTLN 1618 despair?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1619 15 From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears
FTLN 1620 And stops my tongue, while heart is drowned in cares.

141
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1621 Whate’er it be, be thou still like thyself,
FTLN 1622 And sit thee by our side. Seats her by him.
FTLN 1623 Yield not thy neck
FTLN 1624 20 To Fortune’s yoke, but let thy dauntless mind
FTLN 1625 Still ride in triumph over all mischance.
FTLN 1626 Be plain, Queen Margaret, and tell thy grief.
FTLN 1627 It shall be eased if France can yield relief.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1628 Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts
FTLN 1629 25 And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.
FTLN 1630 Now therefore be it known to noble Lewis
FTLN 1631 That Henry, sole possessor of my love,
FTLN 1632 Is, of a king, become a banished man
FTLN 1633 And forced to live in Scotland a forlorn;
FTLN 1634 30 While proud ambitious Edward, Duke of York,
FTLN 1635 Usurps the regal title and the seat
FTLN 1636 Of England’s true-anointed lawful king.
FTLN 1637 This is the cause that I, poor Margaret,
FTLN 1638 With this my son, Prince Edward, Henry’s heir,
FTLN 1639 35 Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid;
FTLN 1640 And if thou fail us, all our hope is done.
FTLN 1641 Scotland hath will to help but cannot help;
FTLN 1642 Our people and our peers are both misled,
FTLN 1643 Our treasure seized, our soldiers put to flight,
FTLN 1644 40 And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1645 Renownèd queen, with patience calm the storm
FTLN 1646 While we bethink a means to break it off.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1647 The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1648 The more I stay, the more I’ll succor thee.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1649 45 O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow.

143
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
Enter Warwick, wearing the white rose.
FTLN 1650 And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1651 What’s he approacheth boldly to our presence?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1652 Our Earl of Warwick, Edward’s greatest friend.
KING LEWIS , standing
FTLN 1653 Welcome, brave Warwick. What brings thee to France?
He descends. She ariseth.
QUEEN MARGARET , aside
FTLN 1654 50 Ay, now begins a second storm to rise,
FTLN 1655 For this is he that moves both wind and tide.
WARWICK
FTLN 1656 From worthy Edward, King of Albion,
FTLN 1657 My lord and sovereign and thy vowèd friend,
FTLN 1658 I come in kindness and unfeignèd love,
FTLN 1659 55 First, to do greetings to thy royal person,
FTLN 1660 And then to crave a league of amity,
FTLN 1661 And, lastly, to confirm that amity
FTLN 1662 With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant
FTLN 1663 That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair sister,
FTLN 1664 60 To England’s king in lawful marriage.
QUEEN MARGARET , aside
FTLN 1665 If that go forward, Henry’s hope is done.
WARWICK , speaking to Lady Bona
FTLN 1666 And, gracious madam, in our king’s behalf,
FTLN 1667 I am commanded, with your leave and favor,
FTLN 1668 Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
FTLN 1669 65 To tell the passion of my sovereign’s heart,
FTLN 1670 Where fame, late ent’ring at his heedful ears,
FTLN 1671 Hath placed thy beauty’s image and thy virtue.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1672 King Lewis and Lady Bona, hear me speak
FTLN 1673 Before you answer Warwick. His demand
FTLN 1674 70 Springs not from Edward’s well-meant honest love,

145
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
FTLN 1675 But from deceit, bred by necessity;
FTLN 1676 For how can tyrants safely govern home
FTLN 1677 Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
FTLN 1678 To prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice:
FTLN 1679 75 That Henry liveth still; but were he dead,
FTLN 1680 Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henry’s son.
FTLN 1681 Look, therefore, Lewis, that by this league and
FTLN 1682 marriage
FTLN 1683 Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonor;
FTLN 1684 80 For though usurpers sway the rule awhile,
FTLN 1685 Yet heav’ns are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.
WARWICK
FTLN 1686 Injurious Margaret!
PRINCE EDWARD FTLN 1687 And why not “Queen”?
WARWICK
FTLN 1688 Because thy father Henry did usurp,
FTLN 1689 85 And thou no more art prince than she is queen.
OXFORD
FTLN 1690 Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,
FTLN 1691 Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;
FTLN 1692 And after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,
FTLN 1693 Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest;
FTLN 1694 90 And after that wise prince, Henry the Fifth,
FTLN 1695 Who by his prowess conquerèd all France.
FTLN 1696 From these our Henry lineally descends.
WARWICK
FTLN 1697 Oxford, how haps it in this smooth discourse
FTLN 1698 You told not how Henry the Sixth hath lost
FTLN 1699 95 All that which Henry the Fifth had gotten.
FTLN 1700 Methinks these peers of France should smile at that.
FTLN 1701 But, for the rest: you tell a pedigree
FTLN 1702 Of threescore and two years, a silly time
FTLN 1703 To make prescription for a kingdom’s worth.
OXFORD
FTLN 1704 100 Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,
FTLN 1705 Whom thou obeyed’st thirty and six years,
FTLN 1706 And not bewray thy treason with a blush?

147
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
WARWICK
FTLN 1707 Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
FTLN 1708 Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?
FTLN 1709 105 For shame, leave Henry, and call Edward king.
OXFORD
FTLN 1710 Call him my king, by whose injurious doom
FTLN 1711 My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere,
FTLN 1712 Was done to death? And more than so, my father,
FTLN 1713 Even in the downfall of his mellowed years,
FTLN 1714 110 When nature brought him to the door of death?
FTLN 1715 No, Warwick, no. While life upholds this arm,
FTLN 1716 This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.
WARWICK FTLN 1717 And I the house of York.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1718 Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,
FTLN 1719 115 Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside
FTLN 1720 While I use further conference with Warwick.
They stand aloof.
QUEEN MARGARET , aside
FTLN 1721 Heavens grant that Warwick’s words bewitch him
FTLN 1722 not.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1723 Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience,
FTLN 1724 120 Is Edward your true king? For I were loath
FTLN 1725 To link with him that were not lawful chosen.
WARWICK
FTLN 1726 Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honor.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1727 But is he gracious in the people’s eye?
WARWICK
FTLN 1728 The more that Henry was unfortunate.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1729 125 Then further, all dissembling set aside,
FTLN 1730 Tell me for truth the measure of his love
FTLN 1731 Unto our sister Bona.

149
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
WARWICK FTLN 1732 Such it seems
FTLN 1733 As may beseem a monarch like himself.
FTLN 1734 130 Myself have often heard him say and swear
FTLN 1735 That this his love was an eternal plant,
FTLN 1736 Whereof the root was fixed in virtue’s ground,
FTLN 1737 The leaves and fruit maintained with beauty’s sun,
FTLN 1738 Exempt from envy but not from disdain,
FTLN 1739 135 Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1740 Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve.
LADY BONA
FTLN 1741 Your grant or your denial shall be mine.
FTLN 1742 (Speaks to Warwick.) Yet I confess that often ere this
FTLN 1743 day,
FTLN 1744 140 When I have heard your king’s desert recounted,
FTLN 1745 Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1746 Then, Warwick, thus: our sister shall be Edward’s.
FTLN 1747 And now forthwith shall articles be drawn
FTLN 1748 Touching the jointure that your king must make,
FTLN 1749 145 Which with her dowry shall be counterpoised.—
FTLN 1750 Draw near, Queen Margaret, and be a witness
FTLN 1751 That Bona shall be wife to the English king.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 1752 To Edward, but not to the English king.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1753 Deceitful Warwick, it was thy device
FTLN 1754 150 By this alliance to make void my suit.
FTLN 1755 Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry’s friend.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1756 And still is friend to him and Margaret.
FTLN 1757 But if your title to the crown be weak,
FTLN 1758 As may appear by Edward’s good success,
FTLN 1759 155 Then ’tis but reason that I be released
FTLN 1760 From giving aid which late I promisèd.

151
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
FTLN 1761 Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand
FTLN 1762 That your estate requires and mine can yield.
WARWICK
FTLN 1763 Henry now lives in Scotland at his ease,
FTLN 1764 160 Where, having nothing, nothing can he lose.—
FTLN 1765 And as for you yourself, our quondam queen,
FTLN 1766 You have a father able to maintain you,
FTLN 1767 And better ’twere you troubled him than France.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1768 Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick,
FTLN 1769 165 Proud setter-up and puller-down of kings!
FTLN 1770 I will not hence till with my talk and tears,
FTLN 1771 Both full of truth, I make King Lewis behold
FTLN 1772 Thy sly conveyance and thy lord’s false love,
FTLN 1773 For both of you are birds of selfsame feather.
Post blowing a horn within.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1774 170 Warwick, this is some post to us or thee.
Enter the Post.
POST speaks to Warwick.
FTLN 1775 My lord ambassador, these letters are for you,
FTLN 1776 Sent from your brother, Marquess Montague.
FTLN 1777 (To Lewis.) These from our king unto your Majesty.
FTLN 1778 (To Margaret.) And, madam, these for you—from
FTLN 1779 175 whom, I know not. They all read their letters.
OXFORD , aside
FTLN 1780 I like it well that our fair queen and mistress
FTLN 1781 Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his.
PRINCE EDWARD , aside
FTLN 1782 Nay, mark how Lewis stamps as he were nettled.
FTLN 1783 I hope all’s for the best.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1784 180 Warwick, what are thy news? And yours, fair queen?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1785 Mine, such as fill my heart with unhoped joys.

153
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
WARWICK
FTLN 1786 Mine, full of sorrow and heart’s discontent.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1787 What, has your king married the Lady Grey,
FTLN 1788 And now, to soothe your forgery and his,
FTLN 1789 185 Sends me a paper to persuade me patience?
FTLN 1790 Is this th’ alliance that he seeks with France?
FTLN 1791 Dare he presume to scorn us in this manner?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1792 I told your Majesty as much before.
FTLN 1793 This proveth Edward’s love and Warwick’s honesty.
WARWICK
FTLN 1794 190 King Lewis, I here protest in sight of heaven
FTLN 1795 And by the hope I have of heavenly bliss,
FTLN 1796 That I am clear from this misdeed of Edward’s—
FTLN 1797 No more my king, for he dishonors me,
FTLN 1798 But most himself, if he could see his shame.
FTLN 1799 195 Did I forget that by the house of York
FTLN 1800 My father came untimely to his death?
FTLN 1801 Did I let pass th’ abuse done to my niece?
FTLN 1802 Did I impale him with the regal crown?
FTLN 1803 Did I put Henry from his native right?
FTLN 1804 200 And am I guerdoned at the last with shame?
FTLN 1805 Shame on himself, for my desert is honor!
FTLN 1806 And to repair my honor lost for him,
FTLN 1807 I here renounce him and return to Henry.
He removes the white rose.
FTLN 1808 My noble queen, let former grudges pass,
FTLN 1809 205 And henceforth I am thy true servitor.
FTLN 1810 I will revenge his wrong to Lady Bona
FTLN 1811 And replant Henry in his former state.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1812 Warwick, these words have turned my hate to love,
FTLN 1813 And I forgive and quite forget old faults,
FTLN 1814 210 And joy that thou becom’st King Henry’s friend.

155
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
WARWICK
FTLN 1815 So much his friend, ay, his unfeignèd friend,
FTLN 1816 That if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us
FTLN 1817 With some few bands of chosen soldiers,
FTLN 1818 I’ll undertake to land them on our coast
FTLN 1819 215 And force the tyrant from his seat by war.
FTLN 1820 ’Tis not his new-made bride shall succor him.
FTLN 1821 And as for Clarence, as my letters tell me,
FTLN 1822 He’s very likely now to fall from him
FTLN 1823 For matching more for wanton lust than honor,
FTLN 1824 220 Or than for strength and safety of our country.
LADY BONA
FTLN 1825 Dear brother, how shall Bona be revenged
FTLN 1826 But by thy help to this distressèd queen?
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1827 Renownèd prince, how shall poor Henry live
FTLN 1828 Unless thou rescue him from foul despair?
LADY BONA
FTLN 1829 225 My quarrel and this English queen’s are one.
WARWICK
FTLN 1830 And mine, fair Lady Bona, joins with yours.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1831 And mine with hers and thine and Margaret’s.
FTLN 1832 Therefore at last I firmly am resolved
FTLN 1833 You shall have aid.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1834 230 Let me give humble thanks for all, at once.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1835 Then, England’s messenger, return in post,
FTLN 1836 And tell false Edward, thy supposèd king,
FTLN 1837 That Lewis of France is sending over maskers
FTLN 1838 To revel it with him and his new bride.
FTLN 1839 235 Thou seest what’s passed; go fear thy king withal.
LADY BONA
FTLN 1840 Tell him, in hope he’ll prove a widower shortly,
FTLN 1841 I wear the willow garland for his sake.

157
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1842 Tell him my mourning weeds are laid aside
FTLN 1843 And I am ready to put armor on.
WARWICK
FTLN 1844 240 Tell him from me that he hath done me wrong,
FTLN 1845 And therefore I’ll uncrown him ere ’t be long.
FTLN 1846 There’s thy reward. Gives money.
FTLN 1847 Be gone. Post exits.
KING LEWIS FTLN 1848 But, Warwick,
FTLN 1849 245 Thou and Oxford with five thousand men
FTLN 1850 Shall cross the seas and bid false Edward battle;
FTLN 1851 And as occasion serves, this noble queen
FTLN 1852 And prince shall follow with a fresh supply.
FTLN 1853 Yet ere thou go, but answer me one doubt:
FTLN 1854 250 What pledge have we of thy firm loyalty?
WARWICK
FTLN 1855 This shall assure my constant loyalty:
FTLN 1856 That if our queen and this young prince agree,
FTLN 1857 I’ll join mine eldest daughter, and my joy,
FTLN 1858 To him forthwith in holy wedlock bands.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 1859 255 Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion.
FTLN 1860 Son Edward, she is fair and virtuous.
FTLN 1861 Therefore, delay not; give thy hand to Warwick,
FTLN 1862 And with thy hand, thy faith irrevocable,
FTLN 1863 That only Warwick’s daughter shall be thine.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 1864 260 Yes, I accept her, for she well deserves it,
FTLN 1865 And here, to pledge my vow, I give my hand.
He gives his hand to Warwick.
KING LEWIS
FTLN 1866 Why stay we now? These soldiers shall be levied,
FTLN 1867 And thou, Lord Bourbon, our High Admiral,
FTLN 1868 Shall waft them over with our royal fleet.
FTLN 1869 265 I long till Edward fall by war’s mischance
FTLN 1870 For mocking marriage with a dame of France.

159
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 3. SC. 3
All but Warwick exit.
WARWICK
FTLN 1871 I came from Edward as ambassador,
FTLN 1872 But I return his sworn and mortal foe.
FTLN 1873 Matter of marriage was the charge he gave me,
FTLN 1874 270 But dreadful war shall answer his demand.
FTLN 1875 Had he none else to make a stale but me?
FTLN 1876 Then none but I shall turn his jest to sorrow.
FTLN 1877 I was the chief that raised him to the crown,
FTLN 1878 And I’ll be chief to bring him down again:
FTLN 1879 275 Not that I pity Henry’s misery,
FTLN 1880 But seek revenge on Edward’s mockery.
He exits.

ACT 4
Scene 1
Enter Richard of Gloucester, Clarence, Somerset,
and Montague, all wearing the white rose.
RICHARD
FTLN 1881 Now tell me, brother Clarence, what think you
FTLN 1882 Of this new marriage with the Lady Grey?
FTLN 1883 Hath not our brother made a worthy choice?
CLARENCE
FTLN 1884 Alas, you know ’tis far from hence to France.
FTLN 1885 5 How could he stay till Warwick made return?
Flourish.
SOMERSET
FTLN 1886 My lords, forbear this talk. Here comes the King.
RICHARD FTLN 1887 And his well-chosen bride.
CLARENCE
FTLN 1888 I mind to tell him plainly what I think.
Enter King Edward, with Attendants,
Lady Grey, now Queen Elizabeth, Pembroke, Stafford,
Hastings, and others, all wearing the white rose.
Four stand on one side, and four on the other.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1889 Now, brother of Clarence, how like you our choice,
FTLN 1890 10 That you stand pensive, as half malcontent?
CLARENCE
FTLN 1891 As well as Lewis of France or the Earl of Warwick,
163

165
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 1
FTLN 1892 Which are so weak of courage and in judgment
FTLN 1893 That they’ll take no offense at our abuse.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1894 Suppose they take offense without a cause,
FTLN 1895 15 They are but Lewis and Warwick; I am Edward,
FTLN 1896 Your king and Warwick’s, and must have my will.
RICHARD
FTLN 1897 And shall have your will because our king.
FTLN 1898 Yet hasty marriage seldom proveth well.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1899 Yea, brother Richard, are you offended too?
RICHARD FTLN 1900 20 Not I.
FTLN 1901 No, God forbid that I should wish them severed
FTLN 1902 Whom God hath joined together. Ay, and ’twere pity
FTLN 1903 To sunder them that yoke so well together.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1904 Setting your scorns and your mislike aside,
FTLN 1905 25 Tell me some reason why the Lady Grey
FTLN 1906 Should not become my wife and England’s queen?
FTLN 1907 And you too, Somerset and Montague,
FTLN 1908 Speak freely what you think.
CLARENCE
FTLN 1909 Then this is mine opinion: that King Lewis
FTLN 1910 30 Becomes your enemy for mocking him
FTLN 1911 About the marriage of the Lady Bona.
RICHARD
FTLN 1912 And Warwick, doing what you gave in charge,
FTLN 1913 Is now dishonorèd by this new marriage.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1914 What if both Lewis and Warwick be appeased
FTLN 1915 35 By such invention as I can devise?
MONTAGUE
FTLN 1916 Yet to have joined with France in such alliance
FTLN 1917 Would more have strengthened this our
FTLN 1918 commonwealth
FTLN 1919 ’Gainst foreign storms than any home-bred marriage.

167
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 1
HASTINGS
FTLN 1920 40 Why, knows not Montague that of itself
FTLN 1921 England is safe, if true within itself?
MONTAGUE
FTLN 1922 But the safer when ’tis backed with France.
HASTINGS
FTLN 1923 ’Tis better using France than trusting France.
FTLN 1924 Let us be backed with God and with the seas
FTLN 1925 45 Which He hath giv’n for fence impregnable,
FTLN 1926 And with their helps only defend ourselves.
FTLN 1927 In them and in ourselves our safety lies.
CLARENCE
FTLN 1928 For this one speech, Lord Hastings well deserves
FTLN 1929 To have the heir of the Lord Hungerford.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1930 50 Ay, what of that? It was my will and grant,
FTLN 1931 And for this once my will shall stand for law.
RICHARD
FTLN 1932 And yet methinks your Grace hath not done well
FTLN 1933 To give the heir and daughter of Lord Scales
FTLN 1934 Unto the brother of your loving bride.
FTLN 1935 55 She better would have fitted me or Clarence;
FTLN 1936 But in your bride you bury brotherhood.
CLARENCE
FTLN 1937 Or else you would not have bestowed the heir
FTLN 1938 Of the Lord Bonville on your new wife’s son,
FTLN 1939 And leave your brothers to go speed elsewhere.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1940 60 Alas, poor Clarence, is it for a wife
FTLN 1941 That thou art malcontent? I will provide thee.
CLARENCE
FTLN 1942 In choosing for yourself you showed your judgment,
FTLN 1943 Which, being shallow, you shall give me leave
FTLN 1944 To play the broker in mine own behalf.
FTLN 1945 65 And to that end, I shortly mind to leave you.

169
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 1
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1946 Leave me or tarry, Edward will be king
FTLN 1947 And not be tied unto his brother’s will.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
FTLN 1948 My lords, before it pleased his Majesty
FTLN 1949 To raise my state to title of a queen,
FTLN 1950 70 Do me but right and you must all confess
FTLN 1951 That I was not ignoble of descent,
FTLN 1952 And meaner than myself have had like fortune.
FTLN 1953 But as this title honors me and mine,
FTLN 1954 So your dislikes, to whom I would be pleasing,
FTLN 1955 75 Doth cloud my joys with danger and with sorrow.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1956 My love, forbear to fawn upon their frowns.
FTLN 1957 What danger or what sorrow can befall thee
FTLN 1958 So long as Edward is thy constant friend
FTLN 1959 And their true sovereign, whom they must obey?
FTLN 1960 80 Nay, whom they shall obey, and love thee too,
FTLN 1961 Unless they seek for hatred at my hands;
FTLN 1962 Which if they do, yet will I keep thee safe,
FTLN 1963 And they shall feel the vengeance of my wrath.
RICHARD , aside
FTLN 1964 I hear, yet say not much, but think the more.
Enter a Post.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1965 85 Now, messenger, what letters or what news from
FTLN 1966 France?
POST
FTLN 1967 My sovereign liege, no letters and few words
FTLN 1968 But such as I without your special pardon
FTLN 1969 Dare not relate.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1970 90 Go to, we pardon thee. Therefore, in brief,
FTLN 1971 Tell me their words as near as thou canst guess them.
FTLN 1972 What answer makes King Lewis unto our letters?

171
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 1
POST
FTLN 1973 At my depart, these were his very words:
FTLN 1974 “Go tell false Edward, the supposèd king,
FTLN 1975 95 That Lewis of France is sending over maskers
FTLN 1976 To revel it with him and his new bride.”
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1977 Is Lewis so brave? Belike he thinks me Henry.
FTLN 1978 But what said Lady Bona to my marriage?
POST
FTLN 1979 These were her words, uttered with mild disdain:
FTLN 1980 100 “Tell him, in hope he’ll prove a widower shortly,
FTLN 1981 I’ll wear the willow garland for his sake.”
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1982 I blame not her; she could say little less;
FTLN 1983 She had the wrong. But what said Henry’s queen?
FTLN 1984 For I have heard that she was there in place.
POST
FTLN 1985 105 “Tell him,” quoth she, “my mourning weeds are
FTLN 1986 done,
FTLN 1987 And I am ready to put armor on.”
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1988 Belike she minds to play the Amazon.
FTLN 1989 But what said Warwick to these injuries?
POST
FTLN 1990 110 He, more incensed against your Majesty
FTLN 1991 Than all the rest, discharged me with these words:
FTLN 1992 “Tell him from me that he hath done me wrong,
FTLN 1993 And therefore I’ll uncrown him ere ’t be long.”
KING EDWARD
FTLN 1994 Ha! Durst the traitor breathe out so proud words?
FTLN 1995 115 Well, I will arm me, being thus forewarned.
FTLN 1996 They shall have wars and pay for their presumption.
FTLN 1997 But say, is Warwick friends with Margaret?
POST
FTLN 1998 Ay, gracious sovereign, they are so linked in
FTLN 1999 friendship

173
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 1
FTLN 2000 120 That young Prince Edward marries Warwick’s
FTLN 2001 daughter.
CLARENCE , aside
FTLN 2002 Belike the elder; Clarence will have the younger.—
FTLN 2003 Now, brother king, farewell, and sit you fast,
FTLN 2004 For I will hence to Warwick’s other daughter,
FTLN 2005 125 That, though I want a kingdom, yet in marriage
FTLN 2006 I may not prove inferior to yourself.
FTLN 2007 You that love me and Warwick, follow me.
Clarence exits, and Somerset follows.
RICHARD , aside
FTLN 2008 Not I. My thoughts aim at a further matter:
FTLN 2009 I stay not for the love of Edward, but the crown.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2010 130 Clarence and Somerset both gone to Warwick?
FTLN 2011 Yet am I armed against the worst can happen,
FTLN 2012 And haste is needful in this desp’rate case.
FTLN 2013 Pembroke and Stafford, you in our behalf
FTLN 2014 Go levy men and make prepare for war.
FTLN 2015 135 They are already, or quickly will be, landed.
FTLN 2016 Myself in person will straight follow you.
Pembroke and Stafford exit.
FTLN 2017 But ere I go, Hastings and Montague,
FTLN 2018 Resolve my doubt: you twain, of all the rest,
FTLN 2019 Are near to Warwick by blood and by alliance.
FTLN 2020 140 Tell me if you love Warwick more than me.
FTLN 2021 If it be so, then both depart to him.
FTLN 2022 I rather wish you foes than hollow friends.
FTLN 2023 But if you mind to hold your true obedience,
FTLN 2024 Give me assurance with some friendly vow,
FTLN 2025 145 That I may never have you in suspect.
MONTAGUE
FTLN 2026 So God help Montague as he proves true!
HASTINGS
FTLN 2027 And Hastings as he favors Edward’s cause!

175
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 2
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2028 Now, brother Richard, will you stand by us?
RICHARD
FTLN 2029 Ay, in despite of all that shall withstand you.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2030 150 Why, so. Then am I sure of victory.
FTLN 2031 Now therefore let us hence and lose no hour
FTLN 2032 Till we meet Warwick with his foreign power.
They exit.
Scene 2
Enter Warwick and Oxford in England,
wearing the red rose, with French Soldiers.
WARWICK
FTLN 2033 Trust me, my lord, all hitherto goes well.
FTLN 2034 The common people by numbers swarm to us.
Enter Clarence and Somerset.
FTLN 2035 But see where Somerset and Clarence comes.—
FTLN 2036 Speak suddenly, my lords: are we all friends?
CLARENCE FTLN 2037 5 Fear not that, my lord.
WARWICK
FTLN 2038 Then, gentle Clarence, welcome unto Warwick,
FTLN 2039 And welcome, Somerset. I hold it cowardice
FTLN 2040 To rest mistrustful where a noble heart
FTLN 2041 Hath pawned an open hand in sign of love;
FTLN 2042 10 Else might I think that Clarence, Edward’s brother,
FTLN 2043 Were but a feignèd friend to our proceedings.
FTLN 2044 But welcome, sweet Clarence; my daughter shall be
FTLN 2045 thine.
FTLN 2046 And now, what rests but, in night’s coverture
FTLN 2047 15 Thy brother being carelessly encamped,
FTLN 2048 His soldiers lurking in the town about,
FTLN 2049 And but attended by a simple guard,

177
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 3
FTLN 2050 We may surprise and take him at our pleasure?
FTLN 2051 Our scouts have found the adventure very easy;
FTLN 2052 20 That, as Ulysses and stout Diomed
FTLN 2053 With sleight and manhood stole to Rhesus’ tents
FTLN 2054 And brought from thence the Thracian fatal steeds,
FTLN 2055 So we, well covered with the night’s black mantle,
FTLN 2056 At unawares may beat down Edward’s guard
FTLN 2057 25 And seize himself. I say not “slaughter him,”
FTLN 2058 For I intend but only to surprise him.
FTLN 2059 You that will follow me to this attempt,
FTLN 2060 Applaud the name of Henry with your leader.
They all cry “Henry!”
FTLN 2061 Why then, let’s on our way in silent sort.
FTLN 2062 30 For Warwick and his friends, God and Saint George!
They exit.
Scene 3
Enter three Watchmen to guard King Edward’s tent,
all wearing the white rose.
FIRST WATCH
FTLN 2063 Come on, my masters, each man take his stand.
FTLN 2064 The King by this is set him down to sleep.
SECOND WATCH FTLN 2065 What, will he not to bed?
FIRST WATCH
FTLN 2066 Why, no, for he hath made a solemn vow
FTLN 2067 5 Never to lie and take his natural rest
FTLN 2068 Till Warwick or himself be quite suppressed.
SECOND WATCH
FTLN 2069 Tomorrow, then, belike shall be the day,
FTLN 2070 If Warwick be so near as men report.
THIRD WATCH
FTLN 2071 But say, I pray, what nobleman is that
FTLN 2072 10 That with the King here resteth in his tent?

179
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 3
FIRST WATCH
FTLN 2073 ’Tis the Lord Hastings, the King’s chiefest friend.
THIRD WATCH
FTLN 2074 O, is it so? But why commands the King
FTLN 2075 That his chief followers lodge in towns about him,
FTLN 2076 While he himself keeps in the cold field?
SECOND WATCH
FTLN 2077 15 ’Tis the more honor, because more dangerous.
THIRD WATCH
FTLN 2078 Ay, but give me worship and quietness;
FTLN 2079 I like it better than a dangerous honor.
FTLN 2080 If Warwick knew in what estate he stands,
FTLN 2081 ’Tis to be doubted he would waken him.
FIRST WATCH
FTLN 2082 20 Unless our halberds did shut up his passage.
SECOND WATCH
FTLN 2083 Ay, wherefore else guard we his royal tent
FTLN 2084 But to defend his person from night foes?
Enter Warwick, Clarence, Oxford, Somerset, all wearing
the red rose, and French Soldiers, silent all.
WARWICK
FTLN 2085 This is his tent, and see where stand his guard.
FTLN 2086 Courage, my masters. Honor, now or never!
FTLN 2087 25 But follow me, and Edward shall be ours.
FIRST WATCH FTLN 2088 Who goes there?
SECOND WATCH FTLN 2089 Stay, or thou diest!
Warwick and the rest cry all “Warwick, Warwick!”
and set upon the guard, who fly, crying “Arm, Arm!”
Warwick and the rest following them.
The drum playing and trumpet sounding,
enter Warwick, Somerset, and the rest, bringing
King Edward out in his gown, sitting in a chair.
Richard and Hastings flies over the stage.

181
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 3
SOMERSET
FTLN 2090 What are they that fly there?
WARWICK FTLN 2091 Richard and Hastings.
FTLN 2092 30 Let them go. Here is the Duke.
KING EDWARD FTLN 2093 The Duke?
FTLN 2094 Why, Warwick, when we parted, thou call’dst me king.
WARWICK FTLN 2095 Ay, but the case is altered.
FTLN 2096 When you disgraced me in my embassade,
FTLN 2097 35 Then I degraded you from being king
FTLN 2098 And come now to create you Duke of York.
FTLN 2099 Alas, how should you govern any kingdom
FTLN 2100 That know not how to use ambassadors,
FTLN 2101 Nor how to be contented with one wife,
FTLN 2102 40 Nor how to use your brothers brotherly,
FTLN 2103 Nor how to study for the people’s welfare,
FTLN 2104 Nor how to shroud yourself from enemies?
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2105 Yea, brother of Clarence, art thou here too?
FTLN 2106 Nay, then, I see that Edward needs must down.
FTLN 2107 45 Yet, Warwick, in despite of all mischance,
FTLN 2108 Of thee thyself and all thy complices,
FTLN 2109 Edward will always bear himself as king.
FTLN 2110 Though Fortune’s malice overthrow my state,
FTLN 2111 My mind exceeds the compass of her wheel.
WARWICK
FTLN 2112 50 Then for his mind be Edward England’s king,
Takes off his crown.
FTLN 2113 But Henry now shall wear the English crown
FTLN 2114 And be true king indeed, thou but the shadow.—
FTLN 2115 My lord of Somerset, at my request,
FTLN 2116 See that forthwith Duke Edward be conveyed
FTLN 2117 55 Unto my brother, Archbishop of York.
FTLN 2118 When I have fought with Pembroke and his fellows,
FTLN 2119 I’ll follow you and tell what answer
FTLN 2120 Lewis and the Lady Bona send to him.—
FTLN 2121 Now for awhile farewell, good Duke of York.

183
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 4
They begin to lead him out forcibly.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2122 60 What Fates impose, that men must needs abide;
FTLN 2123 It boots not to resist both wind and tide.
Somerset and Soldiers exit, guarding King Edward.
OXFORD
FTLN 2124 What now remains, my lords, for us to do
FTLN 2125 But march to London with our soldiers?
WARWICK
FTLN 2126 Ay, that’s the first thing that we have to do,
FTLN 2127 65 To free King Henry from imprisonment
FTLN 2128 And see him seated in the regal throne.
They exit.
Scene 4
Enter Rivers and Queen Elizabeth,
wearing the white rose.
RIVERS
FTLN 2129 Madam, what makes you in this sudden change?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
FTLN 2130 Why, brother Rivers, are you yet to learn
FTLN 2131 What late misfortune is befall’n King Edward?
RIVERS
FTLN 2132 What, loss of some pitched battle against Warwick?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
FTLN 2133 5 No, but the loss of his own royal person.
RIVERS FTLN 2134 Then is my sovereign slain?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
FTLN 2135 Ay, almost slain, for he is taken prisoner,
FTLN 2136 Either betrayed by falsehood of his guard
FTLN 2137 Or by his foe surprised at unawares;
FTLN 2138 10 And, as I further have to understand,
FTLN 2139 Is new committed to the Bishop of York,
FTLN 2140 Fell Warwick’s brother and by that our foe.

185
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 4
RIVERS
FTLN 2141 These news I must confess are full of grief;
FTLN 2142 Yet, gracious madam, bear it as you may.
FTLN 2143 15 Warwick may lose that now hath won the day.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
FTLN 2144 Till then fair hope must hinder life’s decay;
FTLN 2145 And I the rather wean me from despair
FTLN 2146 For love of Edward’s offspring in my womb.
FTLN 2147 This is it that makes me bridle passion
FTLN 2148 20 And bear with mildness my misfortune’s cross.
FTLN 2149 Ay, ay, for this I draw in many a tear
FTLN 2150 And stop the rising of blood-sucking sighs,
FTLN 2151 Lest with my sighs or tears I blast or drown
FTLN 2152 King Edward’s fruit, true heir to th’ English crown.
RIVERS
FTLN 2153 25 But, madam, where is Warwick then become?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
FTLN 2154 I am informèd that he comes towards London
FTLN 2155 To set the crown once more on Henry’s head.
FTLN 2156 Guess thou the rest: King Edward’s friends must
FTLN 2157 down.
FTLN 2158 30 But to prevent the tyrant’s violence—
FTLN 2159 For trust not him that hath once broken faith—
FTLN 2160 I’ll hence forthwith unto the sanctuary
FTLN 2161 To save at least the heir of Edward’s right.
FTLN 2162 There shall I rest secure from force and fraud.
FTLN 2163 35 Come, therefore, let us fly while we may fly.
FTLN 2164 If Warwick take us, we are sure to die.
They exit.

187
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 5
Scene 5
Enter Richard of Gloucester, Lord Hastings,
and Sir William Stanley, with Soldiers,
all wearing the white rose.
RICHARD
FTLN 2165 Now, my Lord Hastings and Sir William Stanley,
FTLN 2166 Leave off to wonder why I drew you hither
FTLN 2167 Into this chiefest thicket of the park.
FTLN 2168 Thus stands the case: you know our king, my brother,
FTLN 2169 5 Is prisoner to the Bishop here, at whose hands
FTLN 2170 He hath good usage and great liberty,
FTLN 2171 And, often but attended with weak guard,
FTLN 2172 Comes hunting this way to disport himself.
FTLN 2173 I have advertised him by secret means
FTLN 2174 10 That, if about this hour he make this way
FTLN 2175 Under the color of his usual game,
FTLN 2176 He shall here find his friends with horse and men
FTLN 2177 To set him free from his captivity.
Enter King Edward, wearing the white rose,
and a Huntsman with him.
HUNTSMAN
FTLN 2178 This way, my lord, for this way lies the game.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2179 15 Nay, this way, man. See where the huntsmen stand.—
FTLN 2180 Now, brother of Gloucester, Lord Hastings, and the
FTLN 2181 rest,
FTLN 2182 Stand you thus close to steal the Bishop’s deer?
RICHARD
FTLN 2183 Brother, the time and case requireth haste.
FTLN 2184 20 Your horse stands ready at the park corner.
KING EDWARD FTLN 2185 But whither shall we then?
HASTINGS
FTLN 2186 To Lynn, my lord, and shipped from thence
FTLN 2187 to Flanders.

189
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 6
RICHARD
FTLN 2188 Well guessed, believe me, for that was my meaning.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2189 25 Stanley, I will requite thy forwardness.
RICHARD
FTLN 2190 But wherefore stay we? ’Tis no time to talk.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2191 Huntsman, what sayst thou? Wilt thou go along?
HUNTSMAN
FTLN 2192 Better do so than tarry and be hanged.
RICHARD
FTLN 2193 Come then, away! Let’s ha’ no more ado.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2194 30 Bishop, farewell; shield thee from Warwick’s frown,
FTLN 2195 And pray that I may repossess the crown.
They exit.
Scene 6
Flourish. Enter King Henry the Sixth, Clarence,
Warwick, Somerset, young Henry Earl of Richmond,
Oxford, Montague, all wearing the red rose,
and Lieutenant of the Tower.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2196 Master lieutenant, now that God and friends
FTLN 2197 Have shaken Edward from the regal seat
FTLN 2198 And turned my captive state to liberty,
FTLN 2199 My fear to hope, my sorrows unto joys,
FTLN 2200 5 At our enlargement what are thy due fees?
LIEUTENANT
FTLN 2201 Subjects may challenge nothing of their sov’reigns,
FTLN 2202 But, if an humble prayer may prevail,
FTLN 2203 I then crave pardon of your Majesty.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2204 For what, lieutenant? For well using me?

191
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 6
FTLN 2205 10 Nay, be thou sure I’ll well requite thy kindness,
FTLN 2206 For that it made my imprisonment a pleasure,
FTLN 2207 Ay, such a pleasure as encagèd birds
FTLN 2208 Conceive when, after many moody thoughts,
FTLN 2209 At last by notes of household harmony
FTLN 2210 15 They quite forget their loss of liberty.—
FTLN 2211 But, Warwick, after God thou sett’st me free,
FTLN 2212 And chiefly, therefore, I thank God and thee.
FTLN 2213 He was the author, thou the instrument.
FTLN 2214 Therefore, that I may conquer Fortune’s spite
FTLN 2215 20 By living low where Fortune cannot hurt me,
FTLN 2216 And that the people of this blessèd land
FTLN 2217 May not be punished with my thwarting stars,
FTLN 2218 Warwick, although my head still wear the crown,
FTLN 2219 I here resign my government to thee,
FTLN 2220 25 For thou art fortunate in all thy deeds.
WARWICK
FTLN 2221 Your Grace hath still been famed for virtuous
FTLN 2222 And now may seem as wise as virtuous
FTLN 2223 By spying and avoiding Fortune’s malice,
FTLN 2224 For few men rightly temper with the stars.
FTLN 2225 30 Yet, in this one thing let me blame your Grace:
FTLN 2226 For choosing me when Clarence is in place.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2227 No, Warwick, thou art worthy of the sway,
FTLN 2228 To whom the heav’ns in thy nativity
FTLN 2229 Adjudged an olive branch and laurel crown
FTLN 2230 35 As likely to be blest in peace and war;
FTLN 2231 And therefore I yield thee my free consent.
WARWICK
FTLN 2232 And I choose Clarence only for Protector.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2233 Warwick and Clarence, give me both your hands.
FTLN 2234 Now join your hands, and with your hands your
FTLN 2235 40 hearts,
FTLN 2236 That no dissension hinder government.

193
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 6
He joins their hands.
FTLN 2237 I make you both Protectors of this land,
FTLN 2238 While I myself will lead a private life
FTLN 2239 And in devotion spend my latter days,
FTLN 2240 45 To sin’s rebuke and my Creator’s praise.
WARWICK
FTLN 2241 What answers Clarence to his sovereign’s will?
CLARENCE
FTLN 2242 That he consents, if Warwick yield consent,
FTLN 2243 For on thy fortune I repose myself.
WARWICK
FTLN 2244 Why, then, though loath, yet must I be content.
FTLN 2245 50 We’ll yoke together like a double shadow
FTLN 2246 To Henry’s body, and supply his place—
FTLN 2247 I mean, in bearing weight of government—
FTLN 2248 While he enjoys the honor and his ease.
FTLN 2249 And, Clarence, now then it is more than needful
FTLN 2250 55 Forthwith that Edward be pronounced a traitor
FTLN 2251 And all his lands and goods be confiscate.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2252 What else? And that succession be determinèd.
WARWICK
FTLN 2253 Ay, therein Clarence shall not want his part.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2254 But with the first of all your chief affairs
FTLN 2255 60 Let me entreat—for I command no more—
FTLN 2256 That Margaret your queen and my son Edward
FTLN 2257 Be sent for, to return from France with speed,
FTLN 2258 For till I see them here, by doubtful fear
FTLN 2259 My joy of liberty is half eclipsed.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2260 65 It shall be done, my sovereign, with all speed.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2261 My lord of Somerset, what youth is that
FTLN 2262 Of whom you seem to have so tender care?

195
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 6
SOMERSET
FTLN 2263 My liege, it is young Henry, Earl of Richmond.
KING HENRY , to Richmond
FTLN 2264 Come hither, England’s hope.
Lays his hand on Richmond’s head.
FTLN 2265 70 If secret powers
FTLN 2266 Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts,
FTLN 2267 This pretty lad will prove our country’s bliss.
FTLN 2268 His looks are full of peaceful majesty,
FTLN 2269 His head by nature framed to wear a crown,
FTLN 2270 75 His hand to wield a scepter, and himself
FTLN 2271 Likely in time to bless a regal throne.
FTLN 2272 Make much of him, my lords, for this is he
FTLN 2273 Must help you more than you are hurt by me.
Enter a Post.
WARWICK FTLN 2274 What news, my friend?
POST
FTLN 2275 80 That Edward is escapèd from your brother
FTLN 2276 And fled, as he hears since, to Burgundy.
WARWICK
FTLN 2277 Unsavory news! But how made he escape?
POST
FTLN 2278 He was conveyed by Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
FTLN 2279 And the Lord Hastings, who attended him
FTLN 2280 85 In secret ambush on the forest side
FTLN 2281 And from the Bishop’s huntsmen rescued him,
FTLN 2282 For hunting was his daily exercise.
WARWICK
FTLN 2283 My brother was too careless of his charge.
FTLN 2284 But let us hence, my sovereign, to provide
FTLN 2285 90 A salve for any sore that may betide.
All but Somerset, Richmond, and Oxford exit.
SOMERSET , to Oxford
FTLN 2286 My lord, I like not of this flight of Edward’s,
FTLN 2287 For doubtless Burgundy will yield him help,

197
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 7
FTLN 2288 And we shall have more wars before ’t be long.
FTLN 2289 As Henry’s late presaging prophecy
FTLN 2290 95 Did glad my heart with hope of this young
FTLN 2291 Richmond,
FTLN 2292 So doth my heart misgive me in these conflicts
FTLN 2293 What may befall him, to his harm and ours.
FTLN 2294 Therefore, Lord Oxford, to prevent the worst,
FTLN 2295 100 Forthwith we’ll send him hence to Brittany
FTLN 2296 Till storms be past of civil enmity.
OXFORD
FTLN 2297 Ay, for if Edward repossess the crown,
FTLN 2298 ’Tis like that Richmond, with the rest, shall down.
SOMERSET
FTLN 2299 It shall be so. He shall to Brittany.
FTLN 2300 105 Come, therefore, let’s about it speedily.
They exit.
Scene 7
Flourish. Enter King Edward, Richard, Hastings,
and Soldiers, all wearing the white rose.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2301 Now, brother Richard, Lord Hastings, and the rest:
FTLN 2302 Yet thus far Fortune maketh us amends,
FTLN 2303 And says that once more I shall interchange
FTLN 2304 My wanèd state for Henry’s regal crown.
FTLN 2305 5 Well have we passed, and now re-passed, the seas,
FTLN 2306 And brought desirèd help from Burgundy.
FTLN 2307 What then remains, we being thus arrived
FTLN 2308 From Ravenspurgh Haven before the gates of York,
FTLN 2309 But that we enter as into our dukedom?
Hastings knocks at the gate.
RICHARD
FTLN 2310 10 The gates made fast? Brother, I like not this.

199
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 7
FTLN 2311 For many men that stumble at the threshold
FTLN 2312 Are well foretold that danger lurks within.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2313 Tush, man, abodements must not now affright us.
FTLN 2314 By fair or foul means we must enter in,
FTLN 2315 15 For hither will our friends repair to us.
HASTINGS
FTLN 2316 My liege, I’ll knock once more to summon them.
He knocks.
Enter on the walls the Mayor of York and his brethren,
the Aldermen.
MAYOR
FTLN 2317 My lords, we were forewarnèd of your coming,
FTLN 2318 And shut the gates for safety of ourselves,
FTLN 2319 For now we owe allegiance unto Henry.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2320 20 But, master mayor, if Henry be your king,
FTLN 2321 Yet Edward, at the least, is Duke of York.
MAYOR
FTLN 2322 True, my good lord, I know you for no less.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2323 Why, and I challenge nothing but my dukedom,
FTLN 2324 As being well content with that alone.
RICHARD , aside
FTLN 2325 25 But when the fox hath once got in his nose,
FTLN 2326 He’ll soon find means to make the body follow.
HASTINGS
FTLN 2327 Why, master mayor, why stand you in a doubt?
FTLN 2328 Open the gates. We are King Henry’s friends.
MAYOR
FTLN 2329 Ay, say you so? The gates shall then be opened.
He descends with the Aldermen.
RICHARD
FTLN 2330 30 A wise stout captain, and soon persuaded.

201
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 7
HASTINGS
FTLN 2331 The good old man would fain that all were well,
FTLN 2332 So ’twere not long of him; but being entered,
FTLN 2333 I doubt not, I, but we shall soon persuade
FTLN 2334 Both him and all his brothers unto reason.
Enter the Mayor and two Aldermen.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2335 35 So, master mayor, these gates must not be shut
FTLN 2336 But in the night or in the time of war.
FTLN 2337 What, fear not, man, but yield me up the keys.
Takes his keys.
FTLN 2338 For Edward will defend the town and thee
FTLN 2339 And all those friends that deign to follow me.
March. Enter Montgomery, with Drum and Soldiers.
RICHARD
FTLN 2340 40 Brother, this is Sir John Montgomery,
FTLN 2341 Our trusty friend, unless I be deceived.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2342 Welcome, Sir John. But why come you in arms?
MONTGOMERY
FTLN 2343 To help King Edward in his time of storm,
FTLN 2344 As every loyal subject ought to do.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2345 45 Thanks, good Montgomery. But we now forget
FTLN 2346 Our title to the crown, and only claim
FTLN 2347 Our dukedom, till God please to send the rest.
MONTGOMERY
FTLN 2348 Then fare you well, for I will hence again.
FTLN 2349 I came to serve a king and not a duke.—
FTLN 2350 50 Drummer, strike up, and let us march away.
The Drum begins to march.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2351 Nay, stay, Sir John, a while, and we’ll debate
FTLN 2352 By what safe means the crown may be recovered.

203
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 7
MONTGOMERY
FTLN 2353 What talk you of debating? In few words,
FTLN 2354 If you’ll not here proclaim yourself our king,
FTLN 2355 55 I’ll leave you to your fortune and be gone
FTLN 2356 To keep them back that come to succor you.
FTLN 2357 Why shall we fight if you pretend no title?
RICHARD
FTLN 2358 Why, brother, wherefore stand you on nice points?
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2359 When we grow stronger, then we’ll make our claim.
FTLN 2360 60 Till then ’tis wisdom to conceal our meaning.
HASTINGS
FTLN 2361 Away with scrupulous wit! Now arms must rule.
RICHARD
FTLN 2362 And fearless minds climb soonest unto crowns.
FTLN 2363 Brother, we will proclaim you out of hand;
FTLN 2364 The bruit thereof will bring you many friends.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2365 65 Then be it as you will, for ’tis my right,
FTLN 2366 And Henry but usurps the diadem.
MONTGOMERY
FTLN 2367 Ay, now my sovereign speaketh like himself,
FTLN 2368 And now will I be Edward’s champion.
HASTINGS
FTLN 2369 Sound, trumpet! Edward shall be here proclaimed.—
FTLN 2370 70 Come, fellow soldier, make thou proclamation.
Flourish. Sound.
SOLDIER reads FTLN 2371 Edward the Fourth, by the Grace of
FTLN 2372 God, King of England and France, and Lord of
FTLN 2373 Ireland, &c.
MONTGOMERY
FTLN 2374 And whosoe’er gainsays King Edward’s right,
FTLN 2375 75 By this I challenge him to single fight.
Throws down his gauntlet.
ALL FTLN 2376 Long live Edward the Fourth!

205
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 8
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2377 Thanks, brave Montgomery, and thanks unto you all.
FTLN 2378 If fortune serve me, I’ll requite this kindness.
FTLN 2379 Now, for this night let’s harbor here in York,
FTLN 2380 80 And when the morning sun shall raise his car
FTLN 2381 Above the border of this horizon,
FTLN 2382 We’ll forward towards Warwick and his mates;
FTLN 2383 For well I wot that Henry is no soldier.
FTLN 2384 Ah, froward Clarence, how evil it beseems thee
FTLN 2385 85 To flatter Henry and forsake thy brother!
FTLN 2386 Yet, as we may, we’ll meet both thee and Warwick.
FTLN 2387 Come on, brave soldiers; doubt not of the day;
FTLN 2388 And that once gotten, doubt not of large pay.
They exit.
Scene 8
Flourish. Enter King Henry, Warwick, Montague,
Clarence, Oxford, and Exeter, all wearing the red rose.
WARWICK
FTLN 2389 What counsel, lords? Edward from Belgia,
FTLN 2390 With hasty Germans and blunt Hollanders,
FTLN 2391 Hath passed in safety through the Narrow Seas,
FTLN 2392 And with his troops doth march amain to London,
FTLN 2393 5 And many giddy people flock to him.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2394 Let’s levy men and beat him back again.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2395 A little fire is quickly trodden out,
FTLN 2396 Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench.
WARWICK
FTLN 2397 In Warwickshire I have true-hearted friends,
FTLN 2398 10 Not mutinous in peace yet bold in war.
FTLN 2399 Those will I muster up; and thou, son Clarence,
FTLN 2400 Shalt stir up in Suffolk, Norfolk, and in Kent

207
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 8
FTLN 2401 The knights and gentlemen to come with thee.—
FTLN 2402 Thou, brother Montague, in Buckingham,
FTLN 2403 15 Northampton, and in Leicestershire shalt find
FTLN 2404 Men well inclined to hear what thou command’st.—
FTLN 2405 And thou, brave Oxford, wondrous well beloved,
FTLN 2406 In Oxfordshire shalt muster up thy friends.—
FTLN 2407 My sovereign, with the loving citizens,
FTLN 2408 20 Like to his island girt in with the ocean,
FTLN 2409 Or modest Dian circled with her nymphs,
FTLN 2410 Shall rest in London till we come to him.
FTLN 2411 Fair lords, take leave, and stand not to reply.—
FTLN 2412 Farewell, my sovereign.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2413 25 Farewell, my Hector and my Troy’s true hope.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2414 In sign of truth, I kiss your Highness’ hand.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2415 Well-minded Clarence, be thou fortunate.
MONTAGUE
FTLN 2416 Comfort, my lord; and so I take my leave.
OXFORD
FTLN 2417 And thus I seal my truth, and bid adieu.
He kisses Henry’s hand.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2418 30 Sweet Oxford and my loving Montague
FTLN 2419 And all at once, once more a happy farewell.
WARWICK
FTLN 2420 Farewell, sweet lords. Let’s meet at Coventry.
All but King Henry and Exeter exit.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2421 Here at the palace will I rest awhile.
FTLN 2422 Cousin of Exeter, what thinks your Lordship?
FTLN 2423 35 Methinks the power that Edward hath in field
FTLN 2424 Should not be able to encounter mine.
EXETER
FTLN 2425 The doubt is that he will seduce the rest.

209
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 4. SC. 8
KING HENRY
FTLN 2426 That’s not my fear. My meed hath got me fame.
FTLN 2427 I have not stopped mine ears to their demands,
FTLN 2428 40 Nor posted off their suits with slow delays.
FTLN 2429 My pity hath been balm to heal their wounds,
FTLN 2430 My mildness hath allayed their swelling griefs,
FTLN 2431 My mercy dried their water-flowing tears.
FTLN 2432 I have not been desirous of their wealth
FTLN 2433 45 Nor much oppressed them with great subsidies,
FTLN 2434 Nor forward of revenge, though they much erred.
FTLN 2435 Then why should they love Edward more than me?
FTLN 2436 No, Exeter, these graces challenge grace;
FTLN 2437 And when the lion fawns upon the lamb,
FTLN 2438 50 The lamb will never cease to follow him.
Shout within “À York! À York!”
EXETER
FTLN 2439 Hark, hark, my lord, what shouts are these?
Enter King Edward and Richard and Soldiers,
all wearing the white rose.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2440 Seize on the shamefaced Henry, bear him hence,
FTLN 2441 And once again proclaim us King of England.—
FTLN 2442 You are the fount that makes small brooks to flow.
FTLN 2443 55 Now stops thy spring; my sea shall suck them dry
FTLN 2444 And swell so much the higher by their ebb.—
FTLN 2445 Hence with him to the Tower. Let him not speak.
Soldiers exit with King Henry and Exeter.
FTLN 2446 And, lords, towards Coventry bend we our course,
FTLN 2447 Where peremptory Warwick now remains.
FTLN 2448 60 The sun shines hot, and if we use delay,
FTLN 2449 Cold biting winter mars our hoped-for hay.
RICHARD
FTLN 2450 Away betimes, before his forces join,
FTLN 2451 And take the great-grown traitor unawares.
FTLN 2452 Brave warriors, march amain towards Coventry.
They exit.

ACT 5
Scene 1
Enter Warwick, wearing the red rose, the Mayor of
Coventry, two Messengers, and others, upon the walls.
WARWICK
FTLN 2453 Where is the post that came from valiant Oxford?—
FTLN 2454 How far hence is thy lord, mine honest fellow?
FIRST MESSENGER
FTLN 2455 By this at Dunsmore, marching hitherward.
He exits.
WARWICK
FTLN 2456 How far off is our brother Montague?
FTLN 2457 5 Where is the post that came from Montague?
SECOND MESSENGER
FTLN 2458 By this at Daintry, with a puissant troop. He exits.
Enter, upon the walls, Somerville
wearing the red rose.
WARWICK
FTLN 2459 Say, Somerville, what says my loving son?
FTLN 2460 And, by thy guess, how nigh is Clarence now?
SOMERVILLE
FTLN 2461 At Southam I did leave him with his forces
FTLN 2462 10 And do expect him here some two hours hence.
Drum offstage.
WARWICK
FTLN 2463 Then Clarence is at hand; I hear his drum.
213

215
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 1
SOMERVILLE
FTLN 2464 It is not his, my lord; here Southam lies.
FTLN 2465 The drum your Honor hears marcheth from Warwick.
WARWICK
FTLN 2466 Who should that be? Belike unlooked-for friends.
SOMERVILLE
FTLN 2467 15 They are at hand, and you shall quickly know.
March. Flourish. Enter below, King Edward,
Richard, and Soldiers, including a Trumpeter,
all wearing the white rose.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2468 Go, Trumpet, to the walls, and sound a parle.
RICHARD
FTLN 2469 See how the surly Warwick mans the wall.
WARWICK
FTLN 2470 O unbid spite, is sportful Edward come?
FTLN 2471 Where slept our scouts, or how are they seduced,
FTLN 2472 20 That we could hear no news of his repair?
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2473 Now, Warwick, wilt thou ope the city gates,
FTLN 2474 Speak gentle words, and humbly bend thy knee?
FTLN 2475 Call Edward king, and at his hands beg mercy,
FTLN 2476 And he shall pardon thee these outrages.
WARWICK
FTLN 2477 25 Nay, rather wilt thou draw thy forces hence,
FTLN 2478 Confess who set thee up and plucked thee down,
FTLN 2479 Call Warwick patron, and be penitent,
FTLN 2480 And thou shalt still remain the Duke of York.
RICHARD
FTLN 2481 I thought at least he would have said “the King.”
FTLN 2482 30 Or did he make the jest against his will?
WARWICK
FTLN 2483 Is not a dukedom, sir, a goodly gift?

217
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 1
RICHARD
FTLN 2484 Ay, by my faith, for a poor earl to give.
FTLN 2485 I’ll do thee service for so good a gift.
WARWICK
FTLN 2486 ’Twas I that gave the kingdom to thy brother.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2487 35 Why, then, ’tis mine, if but by Warwick’s gift.
WARWICK
FTLN 2488 Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight;
FTLN 2489 And, weakling, Warwick takes his gift again,
FTLN 2490 And Henry is my king, Warwick his subject.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2491 But Warwick’s king is Edward’s prisoner.
FTLN 2492 40 And, gallant Warwick, do but answer this:
FTLN 2493 What is the body when the head is off?
RICHARD
FTLN 2494 Alas, that Warwick had no more forecast,
FTLN 2495 But whiles he thought to steal the single ten,
FTLN 2496 The King was slyly fingered from the deck.
FTLN 2497 45 You left poor Henry at the Bishop’s palace,
FTLN 2498 And ten to one you’ll meet him in the Tower.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2499 ’Tis even so; yet you are Warwick still.
RICHARD
FTLN 2500 Come, Warwick, take the time; kneel down, kneel
FTLN 2501 down.
FTLN 2502 50 Nay, when? Strike now, or else the iron cools.
WARWICK
FTLN 2503 I had rather chop this hand off at a blow
FTLN 2504 And with the other fling it at thy face
FTLN 2505 Than bear so low a sail to strike to thee.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2506 Sail how thou canst, have wind and tide thy friend,
FTLN 2507 55 This hand, fast wound about thy coal-black hair,
FTLN 2508 Shall, whiles thy head is warm and new cut off,
FTLN 2509 Write in the dust this sentence with thy blood:
FTLN 2510 “Wind-changing Warwick now can change no more.”

219
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 1
Enter Oxford, below, wearing the red rose,
with Soldiers, Drum and Colors.
WARWICK
FTLN 2511 O, cheerful colors, see where Oxford comes!
OXFORD FTLN 2512 60 Oxford, Oxford for Lancaster!
Oxford and his troops exit as through a city gate.
RICHARD
FTLN 2513 The gates are open; let us enter too.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2514 So other foes may set upon our backs.
FTLN 2515 Stand we in good array, for they no doubt
FTLN 2516 Will issue out again and bid us battle.
FTLN 2517 65 If not, the city being but of small defense,
FTLN 2518 We’ll quickly rouse the traitors in the same.
Oxford enters aloft.
WARWICK
FTLN 2519 O welcome, Oxford, for we want thy help.
Enter Montague, below, wearing the red rose,
with Soldiers, Drum and Colors.
MONTAGUE FTLN 2520 Montague, Montague for Lancaster!
RICHARD
FTLN 2521 Thou and thy brother both shall buy this treason
FTLN 2522 70 Even with the dearest blood your bodies bear!
Montague and his troops exit as through a city gate.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2523 The harder matched, the greater victory.
FTLN 2524 My mind presageth happy gain and conquest.
Enter Somerset, below, wearing the red rose,
with Soldiers, Drum and Colors.
SOMERSET FTLN 2525 Somerset, Somerset for Lancaster!

221
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 1
RICHARD
FTLN 2526 Two of thy name, both dukes of Somerset,
FTLN 2527 75 Have sold their lives unto the house of York,
FTLN 2528 And thou shalt be the third, if this sword hold.
Somerset and his troops exit as through a city gate.
Enter Clarence, below, wearing the red rose,
with Soldiers, Drum and Colors.
WARWICK
FTLN 2529 And lo, where George of Clarence sweeps along,
FTLN 2530 Of force enough to bid his brother battle,
FTLN 2531 With whom an upright zeal to right prevails
FTLN 2532 80 More than the nature of a brother’s love.—
FTLN 2533 Come, Clarence, come; thou wilt, if Warwick call.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2534 Father of Warwick, know you what this means?
He removes the red rose.
FTLN 2535 Look, here I throw my infamy at thee.
He throws the rose at Warwick.
FTLN 2536 I will not ruinate my father’s house,
FTLN 2537 85 Who gave his blood to lime the stones together
FTLN 2538 And set up Lancaster. Why, trowest thou, Warwick,
FTLN 2539 That Clarence is so harsh, so blunt, unnatural,
FTLN 2540 To bend the fatal instruments of war
FTLN 2541 Against his brother and his lawful king?
FTLN 2542 90 Perhaps thou wilt object my holy oath.
FTLN 2543 To keep that oath were more impiety
FTLN 2544 Than Jephthah when he sacrificed his daughter.
FTLN 2545 I am so sorry for my trespass made
FTLN 2546 That, to deserve well at my brother’s hands,
FTLN 2547 95 I here proclaim myself thy mortal foe,
FTLN 2548 With resolution, wheresoe’er I meet thee—
FTLN 2549 As I will meet thee if thou stir abroad—
FTLN 2550 To plague thee for thy foul misleading me.
FTLN 2551 And so, proud-hearted Warwick, I defy thee
FTLN 2552 100 And to my brother turn my blushing cheeks.—

223
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 2
FTLN 2553 Pardon me, Edward, I will make amends.—
FTLN 2554 And, Richard, do not frown upon my faults,
FTLN 2555 For I will henceforth be no more unconstant.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2556 Now, welcome more, and ten times more beloved,
FTLN 2557 105 Than if thou never hadst deserved our hate.
RICHARD
FTLN 2558 Welcome, good Clarence; this is brother-like.
WARWICK
FTLN 2559 O, passing traitor, perjured and unjust.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2560 What, Warwick, wilt thou leave the town and fight?
FTLN 2561 Or shall we beat the stones about thine ears?
WARWICK
FTLN 2562 110 Alas, I am not cooped here for defense.
FTLN 2563 I will away towards Barnet presently
FTLN 2564 And bid thee battle, Edward, if thou dar’st.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2565 Yes, Warwick, Edward dares, and leads the way.—
Warwick exits from the walls and descends.
FTLN 2566 Lords, to the field! Saint George and victory!
They exit. March. Warwick and his company follows.
Scene 2
Alarum and excursions. Enter King Edward,
wearing the white rose, bringing forth Warwick,
wearing the red rose, wounded.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2567 So, lie thou there. Die thou, and die our fear,
FTLN 2568 For Warwick was a bug that feared us all.
FTLN 2569 Now, Montague, sit fast. I seek for thee,
FTLN 2570 That Warwick’s bones may keep thine company.
He exits.

225
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 2
WARWICK
FTLN 2571 5 Ah, who is nigh? Come to me, friend or foe,
FTLN 2572 And tell me who is victor, York or Warwick?
FTLN 2573 Why ask I that? My mangled body shows,
FTLN 2574 My blood, my want of strength, my sick heart shows
FTLN 2575 That I must yield my body to the earth
FTLN 2576 10 And, by my fall, the conquest to my foe.
FTLN 2577 Thus yields the cedar to the axe’s edge,
FTLN 2578 Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle,
FTLN 2579 Under whose shade the ramping lion slept,
FTLN 2580 Whose top branch overpeered Jove’s spreading tree
FTLN 2581 15 And kept low shrubs from winter’s pow’rful wind.
FTLN 2582 These eyes, that now are dimmed with death’s black
FTLN 2583 veil,
FTLN 2584 Have been as piercing as the midday sun
FTLN 2585 To search the secret treasons of the world.
FTLN 2586 20 The wrinkles in my brows, now filled with blood,
FTLN 2587 Were likened oft to kingly sepulchers,
FTLN 2588 For who lived king but I could dig his grave?
FTLN 2589 And who durst smile when Warwick bent his brow?
FTLN 2590 Lo, now my glory smeared in dust and blood!
FTLN 2591 25 My parks, my walks, my manors that I had
FTLN 2592 Even now forsake me; and of all my lands
FTLN 2593 Is nothing left me but my body’s length.
FTLN 2594 Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust?
FTLN 2595 And live we how we can, yet die we must.
Enter Oxford and Somerset, both wearing the red rose.
SOMERSET
FTLN 2596 30 Ah, Warwick, Warwick, wert thou as we are,
FTLN 2597 We might recover all our loss again.
FTLN 2598 The Queen from France hath brought a puissant
FTLN 2599 power;
FTLN 2600 Even now we heard the news. Ah, could’st thou fly—
WARWICK
FTLN 2601 35 Why, then, I would not fly. Ah, Montague,

227
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 3
FTLN 2602 If thou be there, sweet brother, take my hand
FTLN 2603 And with thy lips keep in my soul awhile.
FTLN 2604 Thou lov’st me not, for, brother, if thou didst,
FTLN 2605 Thy tears would wash this cold congealèd blood
FTLN 2606 40 That glues my lips and will not let me speak.
FTLN 2607 Come quickly, Montague, or I am dead.
SOMERSET
FTLN 2608 Ah, Warwick, Montague hath breathed his last,
FTLN 2609 And to the latest gasp cried out for Warwick,
FTLN 2610 And said “Commend me to my valiant brother.”
FTLN 2611 45 And more he would have said, and more he spoke,
FTLN 2612 Which sounded like a cannon in a vault,
FTLN 2613 That mought not be distinguished, but at last
FTLN 2614 I well might hear, delivered with a groan,
FTLN 2615 “O, farewell, Warwick.”
WARWICK
FTLN 2616 50 Sweet rest his soul! Fly, lords, and save yourselves,
FTLN 2617 For Warwick bids you all farewell to meet in heaven.
He dies.
OXFORD
FTLN 2618 Away, away, to meet the Queen’s great power!
Here they bear away his body. They exit.
Scene 3
Flourish. Enter King Edward in triumph, with Richard,
Clarence, and the rest, all wearing the white rose.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2619 Thus far our fortune keeps an upward course,
FTLN 2620 And we are graced with wreaths of victory.
FTLN 2621 But in the midst of this bright-shining day,
FTLN 2622 I spy a black suspicious threat’ning cloud
FTLN 2623 5 That will encounter with our glorious sun
FTLN 2624 Ere he attain his easeful western bed.
FTLN 2625 I mean, my lords, those powers that the Queen

229
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 4
FTLN 2626 Hath raised in Gallia have arrived our coast
FTLN 2627 And, as we hear, march on to fight with us.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2628 10 A little gale will soon disperse that cloud
FTLN 2629 And blow it to the source from whence it came;
FTLN 2630 Thy very beams will dry those vapors up,
FTLN 2631 For every cloud engenders not a storm.
RICHARD
FTLN 2632 The Queen is valued thirty thousand strong,
FTLN 2633 15 And Somerset, with Oxford, fled to her.
FTLN 2634 If she have time to breathe, be well assured
FTLN 2635 Her faction will be full as strong as ours.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2636 We are advertised by our loving friends
FTLN 2637 That they do hold their course toward Tewkesbury.
FTLN 2638 20 We having now the best at Barnet Field
FTLN 2639 Will thither straight, for willingness rids way,
FTLN 2640 And, as we march, our strength will be augmented
FTLN 2641 In every county as we go along.
FTLN 2642 Strike up the drum, cry “Courage!” and away.
They exit.
Scene 4
Flourish. March. Enter Queen Margaret,
young Prince Edward, Somerset, Oxford,
and Soldiers, all wearing the red rose.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2643 Great lords, wise men ne’er sit and wail their loss
FTLN 2644 But cheerly seek how to redress their harms.
FTLN 2645 What though the mast be now blown overboard,
FTLN 2646 The cable broke, the holding-anchor lost,
FTLN 2647 5 And half our sailors swallowed in the flood?
FTLN 2648 Yet lives our pilot still. Is ’t meet that he
FTLN 2649 Should leave the helm and, like a fearful lad,

231
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 4
FTLN 2650 With tearful eyes add water to the sea
FTLN 2651 And give more strength to that which hath too much,
FTLN 2652 10 Whiles in his moan the ship splits on the rock,
FTLN 2653 Which industry and courage might have saved?
FTLN 2654 Ah, what a shame, ah, what a fault were this!
FTLN 2655 Say Warwick was our anchor; what of that?
FTLN 2656 And Montague our topmast; what of him?
FTLN 2657 15 Our slaughtered friends the tackles; what of these?
FTLN 2658 Why, is not Oxford here another anchor?
FTLN 2659 And Somerset another goodly mast?
FTLN 2660 The friends of France our shrouds and tacklings?
FTLN 2661 And, though unskillful, why not Ned and I
FTLN 2662 20 For once allowed the skillful pilot’s charge?
FTLN 2663 We will not from the helm to sit and weep,
FTLN 2664 But keep our course, though the rough wind say no,
FTLN 2665 From shelves and rocks that threaten us with wrack.
FTLN 2666 As good to chide the waves as speak them fair.
FTLN 2667 25 And what is Edward but a ruthless sea?
FTLN 2668 What Clarence but a quicksand of deceit?
FTLN 2669 And Richard but a ragged fatal rock—
FTLN 2670 All these the enemies to our poor bark?
FTLN 2671 Say you can swim: alas, ’tis but awhile;
FTLN 2672 30 Tread on the sand: why, there you quickly sink;
FTLN 2673 Bestride the rock: the tide will wash you off
FTLN 2674 Or else you famish; that’s a threefold death.
FTLN 2675 This speak I, lords, to let you understand,
FTLN 2676 If case some one of you would fly from us,
FTLN 2677 35 That there’s no hoped-for mercy with the brothers
FTLN 2678 More than with ruthless waves, with sands and rocks.
FTLN 2679 Why, courage then! What cannot be avoided
FTLN 2680 ’Twere childish weakness to lament or fear.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 2681 Methinks a woman of this valiant spirit
FTLN 2682 40 Should, if a coward heard her speak these words,
FTLN 2683 Infuse his breast with magnanimity
FTLN 2684 And make him, naked, foil a man-at-arms.

233
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 4
FTLN 2685 I speak not this as doubting any here,
FTLN 2686 For did I but suspect a fearful man,
FTLN 2687 45 He should have leave to go away betimes,
FTLN 2688 Lest in our need he might infect another
FTLN 2689 And make him of like spirit to himself.
FTLN 2690 If any such be here, as God forbid,
FTLN 2691 Let him depart before we need his help.
OXFORD
FTLN 2692 50 Women and children of so high a courage,
FTLN 2693 And warriors faint? Why, ’twere perpetual shame!
FTLN 2694 O, brave young prince, thy famous grandfather
FTLN 2695 Doth live again in thee. Long mayst thou live
FTLN 2696 To bear his image and renew his glories!
SOMERSET
FTLN 2697 55 And he that will not fight for such a hope,
FTLN 2698 Go home to bed and, like the owl by day,
FTLN 2699 If he arise, be mocked and wondered at.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2700 Thanks, gentle Somerset.—Sweet Oxford, thanks.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 2701 And take his thanks that yet hath nothing else.
Enter a Messenger.
MESSENGER
FTLN 2702 60 Prepare you, lords, for Edward is at hand,
FTLN 2703 Ready to fight. Therefore be resolute. He exits.
OXFORD
FTLN 2704 I thought no less. It is his policy
FTLN 2705 To haste thus fast to find us unprovided.
SOMERSET
FTLN 2706 But he’s deceived. We are in readiness.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2707 65 This cheers my heart to see your forwardness.
OXFORD
FTLN 2708 Here pitch our battle; hence we will not budge.

235
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 5
Flourish, and march. Enter King Edward, Richard,
Clarence, and Soldiers, all wearing the white rose.
KING EDWARD , to his army
FTLN 2709 Brave followers, yonder stands the thorny wood
FTLN 2710 Which by the heavens’ assistance and your strength
FTLN 2711 Must by the roots be hewn up yet ere night.
FTLN 2712 70 I need not add more fuel to your fire,
FTLN 2713 For, well I wot, you blaze to burn them out.
FTLN 2714 Give signal to the fight, and to it, lords!
QUEEN MARGARET , to her army
FTLN 2715 Lords, knights, and gentlemen, what I should say
FTLN 2716 My tears gainsay, for every word I speak
FTLN 2717 75 You see I drink the water of my eye.
FTLN 2718 Therefore, no more but this: Henry, your sovereign,
FTLN 2719 Is prisoner to the foe, his state usurped,
FTLN 2720 His realm a slaughterhouse, his subjects slain,
FTLN 2721 His statutes cancelled and his treasure spent,
FTLN 2722 80 And yonder is the wolf that makes this spoil.
FTLN 2723 You fight in justice. Then, in God’s name, lords,
FTLN 2724 Be valiant, and give signal to the fight!
Alarum, retreat, excursions. They exit.
Scene 5
Flourish. Enter King Edward, Richard, and
Clarence, all wearing the white rose, with Soldiers
guarding Queen Margaret, Oxford, and Somerset,
all wearing the red rose, prisoners.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2725 Now here a period of tumultuous broils.
FTLN 2726 Away with Oxford to Hames Castle straight.
FTLN 2727 For Somerset, off with his guilty head.
FTLN 2728 Go bear them hence. I will not hear them speak.

237
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 5
OXFORD
FTLN 2729 5 For my part, I’ll not trouble thee with words.
SOMERSET
FTLN 2730 Nor I, but stoop with patience to my fortune.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2731 So part we sadly in this troublous world
FTLN 2732 To meet with joy in sweet Jerusalem.
Oxford and Somerset exit, under guard.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2733 Is proclamation made that who finds Edward
FTLN 2734 10 Shall have a high reward, and he his life?
RICHARD
FTLN 2735 It is, and lo where youthful Edward comes.
Enter Prince Edward, wearing the red rose,
under guard.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2736 Bring forth the gallant; let us hear him speak.
FTLN 2737 What, can so young a thorn begin to prick?—
FTLN 2738 Edward, what satisfaction canst thou make
FTLN 2739 15 For bearing arms, for stirring up my subjects,
FTLN 2740 And all the trouble thou hast turned me to?
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 2741 Speak like a subject, proud ambitious York.
FTLN 2742 Suppose that I am now my father’s mouth:
FTLN 2743 Resign thy chair, and where I stand, kneel thou,
FTLN 2744 20 Whilst I propose the selfsame words to thee
FTLN 2745 Which, traitor, thou wouldst have me answer to.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2746 Ah, that thy father had been so resolved!
RICHARD
FTLN 2747 That you might still have worn the petticoat
FTLN 2748 And ne’er have stol’n the breech from Lancaster.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 2749 25 Let Aesop fable in a winter’s night;
FTLN 2750 His currish riddles sorts not with this place.

239
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 5
RICHARD
FTLN 2751 By heaven, brat, I’ll plague you for that word.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2752 Ay, thou wast born to be a plague to men.
RICHARD
FTLN 2753 For God’s sake, take away this captive scold.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 2754 30 Nay, take away this scolding crookback, rather.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2755 Peace, willful boy, or I will charm your tongue.
CLARENCE , to Prince Edward
FTLN 2756 Untutored lad, thou art too malapert.
PRINCE EDWARD
FTLN 2757 I know my duty. You are all undutiful.
FTLN 2758 Lascivious Edward, and thou perjured George,
FTLN 2759 35 And thou misshapen Dick, I tell you all
FTLN 2760 I am your better, traitors as you are,
FTLN 2761 And thou usurp’st my father’s right and mine.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2762 Take that, the likeness of this railer here! Stabs him.
RICHARD
FTLN 2763 Sprawl’st thou? Take that to end thy agony!
Richard stabs him.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2764 40 And there’s for twitting me with perjury.
Clarence stabs him.
QUEEN MARGARET FTLN 2765 O, kill me too!
RICHARD FTLN 2766 Marry, and shall. Offers to kill her.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2767 Hold, Richard, hold, for we have done too much.
RICHARD
FTLN 2768 Why should she live to fill the world with words?
Queen Margaret faints.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2769 45 What, doth she swoon? Use means for her recovery.
They attempt to revive her.

241
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 5
RICHARD , taking Clarence aside
FTLN 2770 Clarence, excuse me to the King my brother.
FTLN 2771 I’ll hence to London on a serious matter.
FTLN 2772 Ere you come there, be sure to hear some news.
CLARENCE FTLN 2773 What? What?
RICHARD FTLN 2774 50 The Tower, the Tower! He exits.
QUEEN MARGARET , rising from her swoon
FTLN 2775 O Ned, sweet Ned, speak to thy mother, boy.
FTLN 2776 Canst thou not speak? O traitors, murderers!
FTLN 2777 They that stabbed Caesar shed no blood at all,
FTLN 2778 Did not offend, nor were not worthy blame,
FTLN 2779 55 If this foul deed were by to equal it.
FTLN 2780 He was a man; this, in respect, a child,
FTLN 2781 And men ne’er spend their fury on a child.
FTLN 2782 What’s worse than murderer, that I may name it?
FTLN 2783 No, no, my heart will burst an if I speak,
FTLN 2784 60 And I will speak, that so my heart may burst.
FTLN 2785 Butchers and villains, bloody cannibals,
FTLN 2786 How sweet a plant have you untimely cropped!
FTLN 2787 You have no children, butchers. If you had,
FTLN 2788 The thought of them would have stirred up remorse.
FTLN 2789 65 But if you ever chance to have a child,
FTLN 2790 Look in his youth to have him so cut off
FTLN 2791 As, deathsmen, you have rid this sweet young prince.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2792 Away with her. Go bear her hence perforce.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2793 Nay, never bear me hence! Dispatch me here.
FTLN 2794 70 Here sheathe thy sword; I’ll pardon thee my death.
FTLN 2795 What, wilt thou not?—Then, Clarence, do it thou.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2796 By heaven, I will not do thee so much ease.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2797 Good Clarence, do! Sweet Clarence, do thou do it.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2798 Didst thou not hear me swear I would not do it?

243
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 6
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2799 75 Ay, but thou usest to forswear thyself.
FTLN 2800 ’Twas sin before, but now ’tis charity.
FTLN 2801 What, wilt thou not? Where is that devil’s butcher,
FTLN 2802 Richard,
FTLN 2803 Hard-favored Richard? Richard, where art thou?
FTLN 2804 80 Thou art not here. Murder is thy alms-deed;
FTLN 2805 Petitioners for blood thou ne’er putt’st back.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2806 Away, I say! (To Soldiers.) I charge you bear her
FTLN 2807 hence.
QUEEN MARGARET
FTLN 2808 So come to you and yours as to this prince!
Queen Margaret exits under guard.
Soldiers carry off Prince Edward’s body.
KING EDWARD FTLN 2809 85 Where’s Richard gone?
CLARENCE
FTLN 2810 To London all in post, and, as I guess,
FTLN 2811 To make a bloody supper in the Tower.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2812 He’s sudden if a thing comes in his head.
FTLN 2813 Now march we hence. Discharge the common sort
FTLN 2814 90 With pay and thanks, and let’s away to London
FTLN 2815 And see our gentle queen how well she fares.
FTLN 2816 By this I hope she hath a son for me.
They exit.
Scene 6
Enter King Henry the Sixth, wearing the red rose,
and Richard of Gloucester, wearing the white rose,
with the Lieutenant above on the Tower walls.
RICHARD
FTLN 2817 Good day, my lord. What, at your book so hard?

245
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 6
KING HENRY
FTLN 2818 Ay, my good lord—“my lord,” I should say rather.
FTLN 2819 ’Tis sin to flatter; “good” was little better:
FTLN 2820 “Good Gloucester” and “good devil” were alike,
FTLN 2821 5 And both preposterous: therefore, not “good lord.”
RICHARD , to Lieutenant
FTLN 2822 Sirrah, leave us to ourselves; we must confer.
Lieutenant exits.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2823 So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf;
FTLN 2824 So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece
FTLN 2825 And next his throat unto the butcher’s knife.
FTLN 2826 10 What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?
RICHARD
FTLN 2827 Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
FTLN 2828 The thief doth fear each bush an officer.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2829 The bird that hath been limèd in a bush,
FTLN 2830 With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush;
FTLN 2831 15 And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,
FTLN 2832 Have now the fatal object in my eye
FTLN 2833 Where my poor young was limed, was caught, and
FTLN 2834 killed.
RICHARD
FTLN 2835 Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete
FTLN 2836 20 That taught his son the office of a fowl!
FTLN 2837 And yet, for all his wings, the fool was drowned.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2838 I Daedalus, my poor boy Icarus,
FTLN 2839 Thy father Minos, that denied our course;
FTLN 2840 The sun that seared the wings of my sweet boy
FTLN 2841 25 Thy brother Edward, and thyself the sea
FTLN 2842 Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life.
FTLN 2843 Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words!
FTLN 2844 My breast can better brook thy dagger’s point

247
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 6
FTLN 2845 Than can my ears that tragic history.
FTLN 2846 30 But wherefore dost thou come? Is ’t for my life?
RICHARD
FTLN 2847 Think’st thou I am an executioner?
KING HENRY
FTLN 2848 A persecutor I am sure thou art.
FTLN 2849 If murdering innocents be executing,
FTLN 2850 Why, then, thou art an executioner.
RICHARD
FTLN 2851 35 Thy son I killed for his presumption.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2852 Hadst thou been killed when first thou didst presume,
FTLN 2853 Thou hadst not lived to kill a son of mine.
FTLN 2854 And thus I prophesy: that many a thousand
FTLN 2855 Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear,
FTLN 2856 40 And many an old man’s sigh, and many a widow’s
FTLN 2857 And many an orphan’s water-standing eye,
FTLN 2858 Men for their sons, wives for their husbands,
FTLN 2859 Orphans for their parents’ timeless death,
FTLN 2860 Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born.
FTLN 2861 45 The owl shrieked at thy birth, an evil sign;
FTLN 2862 The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time;
FTLN 2863 Dogs howled, and hideous tempest shook down trees;
FTLN 2864 The raven rooked her on the chimney’s top;
FTLN 2865 And chatt’ring pies in dismal discords sung;
FTLN 2866 50 Thy mother felt more than a mother’s pain,
FTLN 2867 And yet brought forth less than a mother’s hope:
FTLN 2868 To wit, an indigested and deformèd lump,
FTLN 2869 Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree.
FTLN 2870 Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born
FTLN 2871 55 To signify thou cam’st to bite the world.
FTLN 2872 And if the rest be true which I have heard,
FTLN 2873 Thou cam’st—
RICHARD
FTLN 2874 I’ll hear no more. Die, prophet, in thy speech;

249
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 6
Stabs him.
FTLN 2875 For this amongst the rest was I ordained.
KING HENRY
FTLN 2876 60 Ay, and for much more slaughter after this.
FTLN 2877 O God, forgive my sins, and pardon thee. Dies.
RICHARD
FTLN 2878 What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster
FTLN 2879 Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted.
FTLN 2880 See how my sword weeps for the poor king’s death.
FTLN 2881 65 O, may such purple tears be always shed
FTLN 2882 From those that wish the downfall of our house.
FTLN 2883 If any spark of life be yet remaining,
FTLN 2884 Down, down to hell, and say I sent thee thither—
Stabs him again.
FTLN 2885 I that have neither pity, love, nor fear.
FTLN 2886 70 Indeed, ’tis true that Henry told me of,
FTLN 2887 For I have often heard my mother say
FTLN 2888 I came into the world with my legs forward.
FTLN 2889 Had I not reason, think you, to make haste
FTLN 2890 And seek their ruin that usurped our right?
FTLN 2891 75 The midwife wondered, and the women cried
FTLN 2892 “O Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!”
FTLN 2893 And so I was, which plainly signified
FTLN 2894 That I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog.
FTLN 2895 Then, since the heavens have shaped my body so,
FTLN 2896 80 Let hell make crook’d my mind to answer it.
FTLN 2897 I have no brother, I am like no brother;
FTLN 2898 And this word “love,” which graybeards call divine,
FTLN 2899 Be resident in men like one another
FTLN 2900 And not in me. I am myself alone.
FTLN 2901 85 Clarence, beware; thou keep’st me from the light,
FTLN 2902 But I will sort a pitchy day for thee;
FTLN 2903 For I will buzz abroad such prophecies
FTLN 2904 That Edward shall be fearful of his life;
FTLN 2905 And then to purge his fear, I’ll be thy death.
FTLN 2906 90 King Henry and the Prince his son are gone.

251
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 7
FTLN 2907 Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest,
FTLN 2908 Counting myself but bad till I be best.
FTLN 2909 I’ll throw thy body in another room,
FTLN 2910 And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.
He exits, carrying out the body.
Scene 7
Flourish. Enter King Edward, Queen Elizabeth,
Clarence, Richard of Gloucester, Hastings, Nurse,
carrying infant Prince Edward, and Attendants.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2911 Once more we sit in England’s royal throne,
FTLN 2912 Repurchased with the blood of enemies.
FTLN 2913 What valiant foemen, like to autumn’s corn,
FTLN 2914 Have we mowed down in tops of all their pride!
FTLN 2915 5 Three dukes of Somerset, threefold renowned
FTLN 2916 For hardy and undoubted champions;
FTLN 2917 Two Cliffords, as the father and the son;
FTLN 2918 And two Northumberlands; two braver men
FTLN 2919 Ne’er spurred their coursers at the trumpet’s sound.
FTLN 2920 10 With them the two brave bears, Warwick and
FTLN 2921 Montague,
FTLN 2922 That in their chains fettered the kingly lion
FTLN 2923 And made the forest tremble when they roared.
FTLN 2924 Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat
FTLN 2925 15 And made our footstool of security.—
FTLN 2926 Come hither, Bess, and let me kiss my boy.—
FTLN 2927 Young Ned, for thee, thine uncles and myself
FTLN 2928 Have in our armors watched the winter’s night,
FTLN 2929 Went all afoot in summer’s scalding heat,
FTLN 2930 20 That thou mightst repossess the crown in peace,
FTLN 2931 And of our labors thou shalt reap the gain.

253
Henry VI, Part 3
ACT 5. SC. 7
RICHARD , aside
FTLN 2932 I’ll blast his harvest, if your head were laid;
FTLN 2933 For yet I am not looked on in the world.
FTLN 2934 This shoulder was ordained so thick to heave,
FTLN 2935 25 And heave it shall some weight or break my back.
FTLN 2936 Work thou the way and that shalt execute.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2937 Clarence and Gloucester, love my lovely queen,
FTLN 2938 And kiss your princely nephew, brothers both.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2939 The duty that I owe unto your Majesty
FTLN 2940 30 I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe.
He kisses the infant.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2941 Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy brother, thanks.
RICHARD
FTLN 2942 And that I love the tree from whence thou sprang’st,
FTLN 2943 Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit.
He kisses the infant.
FTLN 2944 Aside. To say the truth, so Judas kissed his master
FTLN 2945 35 And cried “All hail!” whenas he meant all harm.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2946 Now am I seated as my soul delights,
FTLN 2947 Having my country’s peace and brothers’ loves.
CLARENCE
FTLN 2948 What will your Grace have done with Margaret?
FTLN 2949 Reignier, her father, to the King of France
FTLN 2950 40 Hath pawned the Sicils and Jerusalem,
FTLN 2951 And hither have they sent it for her ransom.
KING EDWARD
FTLN 2952 Away with her, and waft her hence to France.
FTLN 2953 And now what rests but that we spend the time
FTLN 2954 With stately triumphs, mirthful comic shows,
FTLN 2955 45 Such as befits the pleasure of the court?
FTLN 2956 Sound drums and trumpets! Farewell, sour annoy,
FTLN 2957 For here I hope begins our lasting joy.
Flourish. They all exit.