Glo.
Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,
To you Duke Humphry must unload his grief,
Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What! did my brother Henry spend his youth,
His valour, coin, and people in the wars?
Did he so often lodge in open field,
In winter's cold, and summer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits
To keep by policy what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, and Salisbury, victorious Warwick,
Receiv'd deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath mine uncle Beauford, and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Studied so long, sat in the council-house,
Early and late, debating to and fro,
How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe,
And was his Highness in his infancy
Crowned in Paris, in despight of foes?
And shall these labours and these honours die!
Shall Henry's Conquest, Bedford's vigilance,
Your deeds of war, and all our counsel die!
O peers of England, shameful is this league,
Fatal this marriage; cancelling your fame,
Blotting your names from books of memory;
Razing the characters of your renown,
Defacing monuments of conquer'd France,
Undoing all, as all had never been.

Car.
Nephew, what means this passionate discourse?
This peroration with such circumstances?
For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.

Glo.
Ay, uncle, we will keep it if we can;
But now it is impossible we should.
Suffolk, the new-made Duke that rules the roast,
Hath giv'n the dutchy of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style
Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.

Sal.
Now, by the death of him who dy'd for all,
These counties were the keys of Normandy:
But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son?

War.
For grief that they are past recovery.
For were there hope to conquer them again,
My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears.
Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both:
Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer.
And are the cities, that I got with wounds,
Delivered up again with peaceful words?

York.
For Suffolk's Duke, may he be suffocate,
That dims the honour of this warlike isle!
France should have torn and rent my very heart,
Before I would have yielded to this league.
I never read, but England's Kings have had
Large sums of gold, and dowries with their wives:
And our King Henry gives away his own,
To match with her that brings no vantages.

Glo.
A proper jest, and never heard before,
That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth,
For cost and charges in transporting her:
She should have staid in France, and starv'd in France,
Before—

Car.
My lord of Glo'ster, now ye grow too hot:
It was the pleasure of my lord the King.

Glo.
My lord of Winchester, I know your mind.
'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike,
But 'tis my presence that doth trouble you.
Rancour will out, proud prelate; in thy face,

I see thy fury: if I longer stay,
We shall begin our ancient bickerings.
Lordings, farewel; and say, when I am gone,
I prophesy'd, France will be lost ere long. [Exit.

Car.
So, there goes our protector in a rage:
'Tis known to you, he is mine enemy:
Nay more, an enemy unto you all;
And no great friend, I fear me, to the King.
Consider, lords, he is the next of blood,
And heir apparent to the English crown.
Had Henry got an empire by his marriage,
^{4 note}And all the wealthy kingdoms of the east,
There's reason he should be displeas'd at it.
Look to it, lords, let not his smoothing words,
Bewitch your hearts; be wise and circumspect.
What though the common people favour him,
Calling him Humphry, the good Duke of Glo'ster,
Clapping their hands and crying with loud voice,
Jesu maintain your royal excellence!
With, God preserve the good Duke Humphry!
I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,
He will be found a dangerous protector.

Buck.
Why should he then protect our sovereign,
He being of age to govern of himself?
Cousin of Somerset, join you with me,
And altogether with the Duke of Suffolk,
We'll quickly hoist Duke Humphry from his seat.

Car.
This weighty business will not brook delay.
I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently. [Exit.

Som.
Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphry's pride
And greatness of his place be grief to us,
Yet let us watch the haughty Cardinal:
His insolence is more intolerable
Than all the princes in the land beside:
If Glo'ster be displac'd, he'll be protector.

Buck.
Or Somerset, or I, will be protector,
Despight Duke Humphry, or the Cardinal. [Ex. Buckingham and Somerset.

Sal.
Pride went before, ambition follows him.
While these do labour for their own preferment,
Behoves it us to labour for the realm.
I never saw, but Humphry Duke of Glo'ster
Did bear him like a noble gentleman:
Oft have I seen the haughty Cardinal
More like a soldier, than a man o'th' church,
As stout and proud as he were lord of all,
Swear like a ruffian, and demean himself
Unlike the ruler of a common-weal.
Warwick my son, the comfort of my age!
Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy house-keeping,
Have won the greatest favour of the commons,
Excepting none but good Duke Humphry.
And brother York, thy acts in Ireland,
In bringing them to civil discipline;
Thy late exploits done in the heart of France,
When thou wert regent for our sovereign,
Have made thee fear'd and honour'd of the people.
Join we together for the publick good,
In what we can, to bridle and suppress
The pride of Suffolk, and the Cardinal,
With Somerset's and Buckingham's ambition;
And, as we may, cherish Duke Humphry's deeds,
While they do tend the profit of the land.

War.
So God help Warwick, as he loves the land,
And common profit of his country!

York.
And so says York, for he hath greatest cause. [Aside.

Sal.
Then let's make haste, and look unto the main.

War.
Unto the main? Oh father, Maine is lost;
That Maine, which by main force Warwick did win,
And would have kept, so long as breath did last:

Main chance, father, you meant; but I meant Maine,
Which I will win from France, or else be slain. [Ex. Warwick and Salisbury.

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