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Henry VI, Part 3 (Folio 1, 1623)

Author: William Shakespeare
Not Peer Reviewed
The third Part of Henry the Sixt.
161
Our People, and our Peeres, are both mis-led,
Our Treasure seiz'd, our Souldiors put to flight,
And (as thou seest) our selues in heauie plight.
1765Lewis. Renowned Queene,
With patience calme the Storme,
While we bethinke a meanes to breake it off.
Marg. The more wee stay, the stronger growes our
Foe.
1770Lewis. The more I stay, the more Ile succour thee.
Marg. O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow.
And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow.

Enter Warwicke.

Lewis. What's hee approacheth boldly to our pre-
1775sence?
Marg. Our Earle of Warwicke, Edwards greatest
Friend.
Lewis. Welcome braue Warwicke, what brings thee
to France?
Hee descends. Shee ariseth.
1780Marg. I now begins a second Storme to rise,
For this is hee that moues both Winde and Tyde.
Warw. From worthy Edward, King of Albion,
My Lord and Soueraigne, and thy vowed Friend,
I come (in Kindnesse, and vnfayned Loue)
1785First, to doe greetings to thy Royall Person,
And then to craue a League of Amitie:
And lastly, to confirme that Amitie
With Nuptiall Knot, if thou vouchsafe to graunt
That vertuous Lady Bona, thy faire Sister,
1790To Englands King, in lawfull Marriage.
Marg. If that goe forward, Henries hope is done.
Warw. And gracious Madame,
Speaking to Bona.
In our Kings behalfe,
I am commanded, with your leaue and fauor,
1795Humbly to kisse your Hand, and with my Tongue
To tell the passion of my Soueraignes Heart;
Where Fame, late entring at his heedfull Eares,
Hath plac'd thy Beauties Image, and thy Vertue.
Marg. King Lewis, and Lady Bona, heare me speake,
1800Before you answer Warwicke. His demand
Springs not from Edwards well-meant honest Loue,
But from Deceit, bred by Necessitie:
For how can Tyrants safely gouerne home,
Vnlesse abroad they purchase great allyance?
1805To proue him Tyrant, this reason may suffice,
That Henry liueth still: but were hee dead,
Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henries Sonne.
Looke therefore Lewis, that by this League and Mariage
Thou draw not on thy Danger, and Dis-honor:
1810For though Vsurpers sway the rule a while,
Yet Heau'ns are iust, and Time suppresseth Wrongs.
Warw. Iniurious Margaret.
Edw. And why not Queene?
Warw. Because thy Father Henry did vsurpe,
1815And thou no more art Prince, then shee is Queene.
Oxf. Then Warwicke disanulls great Iohn of Gaunt,
Which did subdue the greatest part of Spaine;
And after Iohn of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,
Whose Wisdome was a Mirror to the wisest:
1820And after that wise Prince, Henry the Fift,
Who by his Prowesse conquered all France:
From these, our Henry lineally descends.
Warw. Oxford, how haps it in this smooth discourse,
You told not, how Henry the Sixt hath lost
1825All that, which Henry the Fift had gotten:
Me thinkes these Peeres of France should smile at that.
But for the rest: you tell a Pedigree
Of threescore and two yeeres, a silly time
To make prescription for a Kingdomes worth.
1830 Oxf. Why Warwicke, canst thou speak against thy Liege,
Whom thou obeyd'st thirtie and six yeeres,
And not bewray thy Treason with a Blush?
Warw. Can Oxford, that did euer fence the right,
Now buckler Falsehood with a Pedigree?
1835For shame leaue Henry, and call Edward King.
Oxf. Call him my King, by whose iniurious doome
My elder Brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere
Was done to death? and more then so, my Father,
Euen in the downe-fall of his mellow'd yeeres,
1840When Nature brought him to the doore of Death?
No Warwicke, no: while Life vpholds this Arme,
This Arme vpholds the House of Lancaster.
Warw. And I the House of Yorke.
Lewis. Queene Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,
1845Vouchsafe at our request, to stand aside,
While I vse further conference with Warwicke.
They stand aloofe.
Marg. Heauens graunt, that Warwickes wordes be-
witch him not.
1850 Lew. Now Warwicke, tell me euen vpon thy conscience
Is Edward your true King? for I were loth
To linke with him, that were not lawfull chosen.
Warw. Thereon I pawne my Credit, and mine Ho-
nor.
1855Lewis. But is hee gracious in the Peoples eye?
Warw. The more, that Henry was vnfortunate.
Lewis. Then further: all dissembling set aside,
Tell me for truth, the measure of his Loue
Vnto our Sister Bona.
1860War. Such it seemes,
As may beseeme a Monarch like himselfe.
My selfe haue often heard him say, and sweare,
That this his Loue was an externall Plant,
Whereof the Root was fixt in Vertues ground,
1865The Leaues and Fruit maintain'd with Beauties Sunne,
Exempt from Enuy, but not from Disdaine,
Vnlesse the Lady Bona quit his paine.
Lewis. Now Sister, let vs heare your firme resolue.
Bona. Your graunt, or your denyall, shall be mine.
1870Yet I confesse, that often ere this day,
Speaks to War.
When I haue heard your Kings desert recounted,
Mine eare hath tempted iudgement to desire.
Lewis. Then Warwicke, thus:
Our Sister shall be Edwards.
1875And now forthwith shall Articles be drawne,
Touching the Ioynture that your King must make,
Which with her Dowrie shall be counter-poys'd:
Draw neere, Queene Margaret, and be a witnesse,
That Bona shall be Wife to the English King.
1880Pr.Edw. To Edward, but not to the English King.
Marg. Deceitfull Warwicke, it was thy deuice,
By this alliance to make void my suit:
Before thy comming, Lewis was Henries friend.
Lewis. And still is friend to him, and Margaret.
1885But if your Title to the Crowne be weake,
As may appeare by Edwards good successe:
Then 'tis but reason, that I be releas'd
From giuing ayde, which late I promised.
Yet shall you haue all kindnesse at my hand,
1890That your Estate requires, and mine can yeeld.
Warw. Henry now liues in Scotland, at his ease;
Where