SCENE VII.
Changes to an Apartment in the Palace.
Enter three or four Petitioners, Peter the Armourer's man being one.
1 Pet.
My masters, let's stand close; my Lord
Protector will come this way by and
by, and then we may deliver our supplications 8 notein quill.
2 Pet.
Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a
good man, Jesu bless him!
Enter Suffolk, and Queen.
1 Pet.
Here a' comes, methinks, and the Queen
with him. I'll be the first, sure.
2 Pet.
Come back, fool, this is the Duke of Suffolk,
and not my Lord Protector.
Suf.
How now, fellow, wouldst any thing with me?
1 Pet.
I pray, my Lord, pardon me; I took ye for
my Lord Protector.
Q. Mar.
To my Lord Protector. [reading.] Are your
supplications to his lordship? Let me see them; what
is thine?
1 Pet.
Mine is, an't please your Grace, against
John Goodman, my Lord Cardinal's man, for keeping
my house and lands, and wife, and all from me.
Suf.
Thy wife too? that's some wrong, indeed.
What's yours? what's here? [reads.] Against the Duke
of Suffolk, for inclosing the Commons of Long Melford.
How now, Sir Knave?
-- 16 --
2 Pet.
Alas, Sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our
whole Township.
Suf. [reads.]
Against my master, Thomas Horner,
for saying, that the Duke of York was rightful heir to
the Crown.
Q. Mar.
What! did the Duke of York say, he was
rightful heir to the Crown?
Peter.
That my master was? no, forsooth; my
master said, that he was; and that the King was an
usurper.
Suf.
Who is there?—Take this fellow in, and send
for his master with a pursuivant, presently; we'll hear
more of your matter before the King.
[Exit Peter guarded.
Q. Mar.
And as for you, that love to be protected
Under the wings of our Protector's Grace,
Begin your suits anew, and sue to him.
[Tears the supplications.
Away, base cullions.—Suffolk, let them go.
All.
Come, let's be gone.
[Exeunt Petitioners.
Q. Mar.
My lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise?
Is this the fashion in the Court of England?
Is this the government of Britain's isle?
And this the royalty of Albion's King?
What! shall King Henry be a Pupil still,
Under the surly Glo'ster's governance?
Am I a Queen in title and in style,
And must be made a Subject to a Duke?
I tell thee, Pole, when in the city Tours
Thou ran'st a-tilt in honour of my love,
And stol'st away the ladies' hearts of France;
I thought, King Henry had resembled thee
In courage, courtship, and proportion:
But all his mind is bent to holiness,
To number Ave Maries on his beads;
His champions are the Prophets and Apostles;
His weapons holy Saws of sacred Writ;
His study is his tilt-yard; and his loves
-- 17 --
Are brazen images of canoniz'd saints.
I would, the College of the Cardinals
Would chuse him Pope, and carry him to Rome,
And set the triple Crown upon his head;
That were a state fit for his holiness!
Suf.
Madam, be patient; as I was the cause
Your Highness came to England, so will I
In England work your Grace's full content.
Q. Mar.
Beside the proud Protector, have we Beauford
Th' imperious Churchman; Somerset, Buckingham,
And grumbling York; and not the least of these
But can do more in England, than the King.
Suf.
And he of these, that can do most of all,
Cannot do more in England than the Nevills;
Salisb'ry and Warwick are no simple Peers.
Q. Mar.
Not all these Lords do vex me half so much,
As that proud Dame, the Lord Protector's wife;
She sweeps it through the Court with troops of ladies,
More like an Empress than Duke Humphry's wife.
Strangers in Court do take her for the Queen;
She bears a Duke's revenues on her back,
And in her heart she scorns our poverty.
Shall I not live to be aveng'd on her?
Contemptuous, base born, Callat as she is,
She vaunted 'mongst her minions t'other day,
The very train of her worst wearing gown
Was better worth than all my father's lands;
Till Suffolk gave two Dukedoms for his daughter!
Suf.
Madam, myself have lim'd a bush for her,
And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds,
That she will light to listen to their lays?
And never mount to trouble you again.
So, let her rest; and, Madam, list to me;
For I am bold to counsel you in this;
Although we fancy not the Cardinal,
Yet must we join with him and with the Lords,
-- 18 --
Till we have brought Duke Humphry in disgrace,
As for the Duke of York, this late complaint* note
Will make but little for his benefit.
So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last,
And you yourself shall steer the happy Realm.
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
