SCENE III. London. The palace
Enter three or four PETITIONERS, PETER, the Armourer's man, being one
FIRST PETITIONER. My masters, let's stand close; my Lord Protector will come this way by and by, and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill.
SECOND PETITIONER. Marry, the Lord protect him, for he's a good man, Jesu bless him!
Enter SUFFOLK and QUEEN
FIRST PETITIONER. Here 'a comes, methinks, and the Queen with him.
I'll be the first, sure.
SECOND PETITIONER. Come back, fool; this is the Duke of Suffolk and not my Lord Protector.
SUFFOLK. How now, fellow! Wouldst anything with me?
FIRST PETITIONER. I pray, my lord, pardon me; I took ye for my Lord Protector.
QUEEN. [Reads] 'To my Lord Protector!' Are your supplications to his lordship? Let me see them. What is thine?
FIRST PETITIONER. 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.
SUFFOLK. Thy wife too! That's some wrong indeed. What's yours?
What's here! [Reads] 'Against the Duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the commons of Melford.' How now, sir knave!
SECOND PETITIONER. Alas, sir, I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township.
PETER. [Presenting his petition] Against my master, Thomas Horner, for saying that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown.
QUEEN. What say'st thou? 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.
SUFFOLK. Who is there? [Enter servant] Take this fellow in, and send for his master with a pursuivant presently. We'll hear more of your matter before the King.
Exit servant with PETER
QUEEN. 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
QUEEN. My Lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise,
Is this the fashions 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 Gloucester'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
Are brazen images of canonized saints.
I would the college of the Cardinals
Would choose him Pope, and carry him to Rome,
And set the triple crown upon his head;
That were a state fit for his holiness.
SUFFOLK. Madam, be patient. As I was cause
Your Highness came to England, so will I
In England work your Grace's full content.
QUEEN. Beside the haughty Protector, have we Beaufort
The imperious churchman; Somerset, Buckingham,
And grumbling York; and not the least of these
But can do more in England than the King.
SUFFOLK. And he of these that can do most of all
Cannot do more in England than the Nevils;
Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.
QUEEN. 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 Humphrey'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 callet 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.
SUFFOLK. 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 the 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,
Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace.
As for the Duke of York, this late complaint
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 helm.
Sound a sennet. Enter the KING, DUKE HUMPHREY, CARDINAL BEAUFORT, BUCKINGHAM, YORK, SOMERSET, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and the DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER
KING HENRY. For my part, noble lords, I care not which:
Or Somerset or York, all's one to me.
YORK. If York have ill demean'd himself in France,
Then let him be denay'd the regentship.
SOMERSET. If Somerset be unworthy of the place,
Let York be Regent; I will yield to him.
WARWICK. Whether your Grace be worthy, yea or no,
Dispute not that; York is the worthier.
CARDINAL. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.
WARWICK. The Cardinal's not my better in the field.
BUCKINGHAM. All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.
WARWICK. Warwick may live to be the best of all.
SALISBURY. Peace, son! And show some reason, Buckingham,
Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this.
QUEEN. Because the King, forsooth, will have it so.
GLOUCESTER. Madam, the King is old enough himself
To give his censure. These are no women's matters.
QUEEN. If he be old enough, what needs your Grace
To be Protector of his Excellence?
GLOUCESTER. Madam, I am Protector of the realm;
And at his pleasure will resign my place.
SUFFOLK. Resign it then, and leave thine insolence.
Since thou wert king- as who is king but thou? -
The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack,
The Dauphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas,
And all the peers and nobles of the realm
Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.
CARDINAL. The commons hast thou rack'd; the clergy's bags
Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
SOMERSET. Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife's attire
Have cost a mass of public treasury.
BUCKINGHAM. Thy cruelty in execution
Upon offenders hath exceeded law,
And left thee to the mercy of the law.
QUEEN. Thy sale of offices and towns in France,
If they were known, as the suspect is great,
Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.
Exit GLOUCESTER. The QUEEN drops QUEEN her fan Give me my fan. What, minion, can ye not?