Winchester.
Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines,
With written pamphlets studiously devis'd?
Humphrey of Glo'ster, if thou can'st accuse,
Or ought intend'st to lay unto my charge,
Do it without invention suddenly;
As I with sudden and extemporal speech
Purpose to answer what thou canst object.

Glou.
Presumptuous Priest, this place commands my patience;
Or thou should'st find, thou hast dishonour'd me.
Think not, altho in writing I prefer'd
The manner of thy vile outragious crimes,
That therefore I have forg'd, or am not able
Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen.
No, Prelate, such is thy audacious wickedness,
Thy leud, pestif'rous, and dissentious pranks,
The very Infants prattle of thy pride.
Thou art a most pernicious usurer,
Froward by nature, enemy to peace,
Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems
A man of thy profession and degree.
And for thy treach'ry, what's more manifest?
In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life,
As well at London-Bridge, as at the Tower.

Beside, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted,
The King thy Soveraign is not quite exempt
From envious malice of thy swelling heart.

Win.
Glo'ster, I do defie thee. Lords, vouchsafe
To give me hearing what I shall reply.
If I were covetous, perverse, ambitious,
As he will have me; how am I so poor?
How haps it then, I seek not to advance
Or raise my self? but keep my wonted Calling.
And for dissention, who preferreth peace
More than I do? except I be provok'd.
No, my good lords, it is not That offends;
It is not That, which hath incens'd the Duke:
It is, because no one should sway but he;
No one, but he, should be about the King;
And That engenders thunder in his breast,
And makes him roar these accusations forth.
But he shall know, I am as good—

Glou.
As good?
Thou bastard of my grandfather!

Win.
Ay, lordly Sir; for what are you, I pray,
But one imperious in another's throne?

Glou.
Am not I then Protector, sawcy priest?

Win.
And am not I a prelate of the Church?

Glou.
Yes, as an out-law in a castle keeps,
And useth it to patronage his theft.

Win.
Unrev'rend Glo'ster!

Glou.
Thou art reverend
Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.

Win.
This Rome shall remedy.

War.
Roam thither then.

Som.
My lord, it were your duty to forbear.

War.
Ay, see, the Bishop be not over-born:

Som.
Methinks, my lord should be religious;
And know the office that belongs to such.

War.
Methinks, his lordship should be humbler then,
It fitteth not a prelate so to plead.

Som.
Yes, when his holy state is touch'd so near.

War.
State, holy or unhallow'd, what of that?
Is not his Grace Protector to the King?

Rich.
Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue;
Least it be said, ‘Speak, sirrah, when you should;
‘Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords?
Else would I have a fling at Winchester.

K. Henry.
Uncles of Glo'ster, and of Winchester,
The special watchmen of our English weal;
I would prevail, if prayers might prevail,
To join your hearts in love and amity.
Oh, what a scandal is it to our Crown,
That two such noble peers, as ye, should jar!
Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell,
Civil dissention is a vip'rous worm,
That gnaws the bowels of the Common-wealth. [A noise within; Down with the tawny coats.

K. Henry.
What tumult's this?

War.
An uproar, I dare warrant,
Begun thro' malice of the Bishop's men. [A noise again, Stones, Stones. Enter Mayor.

Mayor.
Oh, my good lords, and virtuous Henry,
Pity the city London, pity us;
The Bishop and the Duke of Glo'ster's men,
Forbidden late to carry any weapon,
Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble stones;
And, banding themselves in contrary parts,
Do pelt so fast at one another's pates,
That many have their giddy brains knock'd out:
Our windows are broke down in ev'ry street,
And we for fear compell'd to shut our shops. Enter, in Skirmish, with bloody pates.

K. Henry.
We charge you on allegiance to our selves,
To hold your slaught'ring hands, and keep the peace:
Pray, uncle Glo'ster, mitigate this strife.

1 Serv.

Nay, if we be forbidden stones, we'll fall to it with our teeth.

2 Serv.
Do what ye dare, we are as resolute. [Skirmish again.

Glou.
You of my houshold, leave this peevish broil;
And set this unaccustom'd fight aside.

3 Serv.
My lord, we know your Grace to be a man
Just and upright; and for your royal birth
Inferior to none but to his Majesty:
And ere that we will suffer such a Prince,
So kind a father of the Common-weal,
To be disgraced by an Inkhorn mate;
We, and our wives, and children, all will fight:
And have our bodies slaughter'd by thy foes.

1 Serv.
Ay, and the very parings of our nails
Shall pitch a field, when we are dead. [Begin again.

Glou.
Stay, stay, I say;
And if you love me, as you say you do,
Let me persuade you to forbear awhile.

K. Henry.
O, how this discord doth afflict my soul!
Can you, my lord of Winchester, behold
My sighs and tears, and will not once relent?
Who should be pitiful, if you be not?
Or who should study to prefer a peace,
If holy churchmen take delight in broils?

War.
My lord Protector, yield: yield, Winchester;
Except you mean with obstinate repulse
To slay your Soveraign, and destroy the Realm.
You see, what mischief, and what murther too,
Hath been enacted thro' your enmity:
Then be at peace, except ye thirst for blood.

Win.
He shall submit, or I will never yield.

Glou.
Compassion on the King commands me stoop;
Or I would see his heart out, ere the priest
Should ever get that priviledge of me.

War.
Behold, my lord of Winchester, the Duke
Hath banish'd moody discontented fury,
As by his smoothed brows it doth appear.
Why look you still so stern and tragical?

Glou.
Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand.

K. Henry.
Fie, uncle Beauford: I have heard you preach,
That malice was a great and grievous sin:

And will not you maintain the thing you teach,
But prove a chief offender in the same?

War.
Sweet King! the Bishop hath a kindly gird:
For shame, my lord of Winchester, relent;
What, shall a child instruct you what to do?

Win.
Well, Duke of Glo'ster, I will yield to thee;
Love for thy love, and hand for hand I give.

Glou.
Ay, but I fear me with a hollow heart.
See here, my friends and loving countrymen,
This token serveth for a flag of truce
Betwixt our selves, and all our followers:
So help me God, as I dissemble not!

Win. [Aside.]
So help me God, as I intend it not!

K. Henry.
O loving uncle, gentle Duke of Glo'ster,
How joyful am I made by this contract!
Away, my masters, trouble us no more;
But join in friendship, as your lords have done.

1 Serv.
Content, I'll to the surgeon's.

2 Serv.
So will I.

3 Serv.
And I'll see what physick the tavern affords. [Exeunt.

War.
Accept this scrowl, most gracious Soveraign,
Which in the right of Richard Plantagenet
We do exhibit to your Majesty.

Glou.
Well urg'd, my lord of Warwick; For, sweet Prince,
An if your Grace mark ev'ry circumstance,
You have great reason to do Richard right:
Especially, for those occasions
At Eltham place I told your Majesty.

K. Henry.
And those occasions, uncle, were of force:
Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is,
That Richard be restored to his blood.

War.
Let Richard be restored to his blood,
So shall his father's wrongs be recompens'd.

Win.
As will the rest, so willeth Winchester.

K. Henry.
If Richard will be true, not that alone,
But all the whole inheritance I give,
That doth belong unto the house of York;
From whence you spring by lineal descent.

Rich.
Thy humble servant vows obedience,
And faithful service, till the point of death.

K. Henry.
Stoop then, and set your knee against my foot.
And in reguerdon of that duty done,
I gird thee with the valiant Sword of York.
Rise, Richard, like a true Plantagenet,
And rise created Princely Duke of York.

Rich.
And so thrive Richard, as thy Foes may fall!
And as my duty springs, so perish they,
That grudge one thought against your Majesty!

All.
Welcome, high Prince, the mighty Duke of York!

Som.
Perish, base Prince, ignoble Duke of York! [Aside.

Glou.
Now will it best avail your Majesty
To cross the seas, and to be crown'd in France:
The presence of a King engenders love
Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends,
As it disanimates his enemies.

K. Henry.
When Glo'ster says the word, King Henry goes;
For friendly counsel cuts off many foes.

Glou.
Your ships already are in readiness. [Exeunt. Manet Exeter.

Exe.
Ay, we may march in England or in France,
Not seeing what is likely to ensue;
This late dissension, grown betwixt the peers,
Burns under feigned ashes of forg'd love;
And will at last break out into a flame.
As fester'd members rot but by degrees,
'Till bones, and flesh, and sinews, fall away;
So will this base and envious discord breed.
And now I fear that fatal Prophecy,
Which in the time of Henry, nam'd the Fifth,
Was in the mouth of ev'ry sucking babe;
That Henry, born at Monmouth, should win all;
And Henry, born at Windsor, should lose all:
Which is so plain, that Exeter doth wish,
His days may finish ere that hapless time. [Exit.

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