KING HENRY VI PART I ACT I SCENE I.—Westminster Abbey. The Cloisters. Enter the DUKES of Bedford, GLOSTER, and EXETER, and the BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. Bed. Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! Comets, importing change of times and states, Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky, Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long ! Glo. England ne'er had a king until his time. Virtue he had, deserving to command: His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire, Than mid-day sun, fierce bent against their faces. What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech : He ne'er lift up his hand but conquered. Exe. We mourn in black: Why mourn we not in blood? Henry is dead, and never shall revive: Upon a wooden coffin we attend ; And death's dishonourable victory We with our stately presence glorify, Like captives bound to a triumphant car. Win. He was a king bless'd of the King of kings. The battles of the Lord of Hosts he fought : pray'd, Had not churchmen His thread of life had not so soon decay'd; None do you like but an effeminate prince, Whom, like a school-boy, you may over-awe. Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art protector; And lookest to command the prince and realm. Bed. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace! Let's to the altar-Heralds, wait on us : Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms Enter a Messenger. Mess. Lords, view these letters, full of bad mischance : France is revolted from the English quite; Except some petty towns of no import : The Dauphin Charles is crowned king in Rheims ; Duke Reignier of Anjou doth take his part; The Duke of Alençon flieth to his side. Exe. The Dauphin crowned king! all fly to him! O, whither shall we fly from this reproach? Glo. We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats :- Bed. Gloster, why doubt'st thou of my forwardness? Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, Bed. Me they concern; regent I am of France: Give me my steeled coat, I'll fight for France. Exe. Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn, Either to quell the Dauphin utterly, Or bring him in obedience to your yoke. Bed. I do remember; and here take my leave, To go about my preparation. Glo. I'll to the Tower, with all the haste I can, To view the artillery and munition; And then I will proclaim young Henry king. SCENE II.-London. The Temple Garden. [Exeunt. Enter the EARLS OF SOMERSET, SUFFOLK, and WARWICK ; RICHARD PLANTAGENET, VERNON, and another Lawyer. Plan. Great lords and gentlemen, what means this silence? Dare no man answer in a case of truth? Suf. Within the Temple hall we were too loud; The garden here is more convenient. Plan. Then say at once, if I maintain the truth ; Or, else, was wrangling Somerset in error? Suf. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law; And never yet could frame my will to it; And, therefore, frame the law unto my will. Som. Judge you, my Lord of Warwick, then between us. Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch, Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth, Between two blades, which bears the better temper, Between two horses, which doth bear him best, Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye, I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment: But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw. Plan. Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance: The truth appears so naked on my side, That any purblind eye may find it out. Som. And on my side it is so well apparell'd, So clear, so shining, and so evident, That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye. Plan. Since you are tongue-tied, and so loth to speak, In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts: Let him that is a true-born gentleman, If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, From off this brier pluck a white rose with me. Som. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, But dare maintain the party of the truth, Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me. War. I love no colours; and, without all colour Of base insinuating flattery, I pluck this white rose, with Plantagenet. Suf. I pluck this red rose, with young Somerset ; And say withal, I think he held the right. Ver. Stay, lords and gentlemen; and pluck no more, Till you conclude that he upon whose side The fewest roses are cropp'd from the tree Shall yield the other in the right opinion. Som. Good Master Vernon, it is well objected; If I have fewest I subscribe in silence. Plan. And I. Ver. Then for the truth and plainness of the case, Som. Prick not your finger as you pluck it off; Ver. If I, my lord, for my opinion bleed, Som. Unless my study and my books be false, Now, Somerset, where is your argument? Plan. Meantime, your cheeks do counterfeit our roses, For pale they look with fear as witnessing The truth on our side. Som. No, Plantagenet, 'Tis not for fear, but anger,-that thy cheeks Blush for pure shame, to counterfeit our roses; And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error. Plan. Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset ? Som. Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet? Plan. Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his truth, Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood. Som. Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding rose, That shall maintain what I have said is true, Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen. Plan. Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand, I scorn thee and thy faction, peevish boy. Suf. Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet. Plan. Proud Poole, I will; and scorn both him and thee. Suf. I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat. Som. Away, away, good William De-la Poole ! We grace the yeoman by conversing with him. War. Now, by God's will, thou wrong'st him, Somerset ; His grandfather was Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Third son to the third Edward, king of England; Spring crestless yeomen from so deep a root? Plan. He bears him on the place's privilege, Or durst not, for his craven heart, say thus. Som. By Him that made me, I'll maintain my words. Was not thy father, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, Plan. My father was attached, not attainted: in my And know us, by these colours, for thy foes; As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate, |