York.
Anjou and Maine are given to the French;
Paris is lost; the state of Normandy
Stands on a tickle point, now they are gone:
Suffolk concluded on the articles,
The peers agreed, and Henry was well pleas'd
To change two dukedoms for a duke's fair daughter.
I cannot blame them all, what is't to them?
'Tis thine they give away, and not their own.
Pirates may make cheap penn'worths of their pillage,
And purchase friends, and give to courtezans,
Still revelling, like lords, till all be gone:
While as the silly owner of the goods
Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands,
And shakes his head, and trembling stands aloof,
While all is shar'd, and all is borne away;
Ready to starve, and dares not touch his own.
So York must sit, and fret, and bite his tongue,
While his own lands are bargain'd for, and sold.
Methinks, the realms of England, France, and Ireland,
Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood,
As did the fatal brand Althea burnt,
Unto the prince's heart of Calydon.
Anjou and Maine, both giv'n unto the French!
Cold news for me: for I had hope of France,
Ev'n as I have of fertile England's soil.
A day will come, when York shall claim his own;
And therefore I will take the Nevills' parts,
And make a shew of love to proud Duke Humphry;
And, when I spy advantage, claim the Crown;
For that's the golden mark I seek to hit.

Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right,
Nor hold the scepter in his childish fist,
Nor wear the diadem upon his head,
Whose church-like humour fits not for a Crown.
Then, York, be still a while, till time do serve:
Watch thou, and wake when others be asleep,
To pry into the secrets of the State;
Till Henry, surfeiting in joys of love,
With his new bride, and England's dear-bought Queen,
And Humphry with the Peers be fall'n at jars.
Then will I raise aloft the milk-white Rose,
With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfum'd;
And in my Standard bear the arms of York,
To grapple with the house of Lancaster;
And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the Crown,
Whose bookish Rule hath pull'd fair England down. [Exit York.

Previous section

Next section