NORFOLK

We’ll all assist you—he that flies shall die.

YORK

Thanks, gentle Norfolk. Stay by me, my lords

And soidiers—stay, and lodge by me this night.

They go up upon the state

WARWICK

And when the King comes, offer him no violence

Unless he seek to thrust you out perforce.

⌈The soldiers withdraw⌉

YORK

The Queen this day here holds her Parliament,

But little thinks we shall be of her council;

By words or blows here let us win our right.

RICHARD

Armed as we are, let’s stay within this house.

WARWICK

‘The Bloody Parliament’ shall this be called,

Unless Plantagenet, Duke of York, be king,

And bashful Henry deposed, whose cowardice

Hath made us bywords to our enemies.

YORK

Then leave me not, my lords. Be resolute—

I mean to take possession of my right.

WARWICK

Neither the King nor he that loves him best—

The proudest he that holds up Lancaster—

Dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells.

I’ll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares.

Resolve thee, Richard—claim the English crown.

⌈York sits in the chair.⌉

Flourish. Enter King Henry, Lord Clifford, the Earls

of Northumberland and Westmorland, the Duke of

Exeter, and the rest. ⌈They all wear red roses in

their hats⌉

KING HENRY

My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits—

Even in the chair of state! Belike he means,

Backed by the power of Warwick, that false peer,

To aspire unto the crown and reign as king.

Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father—

And thine, Lord Clifford—and you both have vowed

revenge

On him, his sons, his favourites, and his friends.

NORTHUMBERLAND

If I be not, heavens be revenged on me.

CLIFFORD

The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel.

WESTMORLAND

What, shall we suffer this? Let’s pluck him down.

My heart for anger burns—I cannot brook it.

KING HENRY

Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmorland.

CLIFFORD

Patience is for poltroons, such as he (indicating York).

He durst not sit there had your father lived.

My gracious lord, here in the Parliament

Let us assail the family of York.

NORTHUMBERLAND

Well hast thou spoken, cousin, be it so.

KING HENRY

Ah, know you not the city favours them,

And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?

EXETER

But when the Duke is slain, they’ll quickly fly.

KING HENRY

Far be the thought of this from Henry’s heart,

To make a shambles of the Parliament House.

Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words, and threats

Shall be the war that Henry means to use.

(To York) Thou factious Duke of York, descend my

throne

And kneel for grace and mercy at my feet.

I am thy sovereign.

YORK I am thine.

EXETER

For shame, come down—he made thee Duke of York.

YORK

It was mine inheritance, as the earldom was.

EXETER

Thy father was a traitor to the crown.

WARWICK

Exeter, thou art a traitor to the crown

In following this usurping Henry.

CLIFFORD

Whom should he follow but his natural king?

WARWICK

True, Clifford, and that’s Richard Duke of York.

KING HENRY (to York)

And shall I stand and thou sit in my throne?

YORK

It must and shall be so—content thyself.

WARWICK (to King Henry)

Be Duke of Lancaster, let him be king.

WESTMORLAND

He is both king and Duke of Lancaster—

And that, the Lord of Westmorland shall maintain.

WARWICK

And Warwick shall disprove it. You forget

That we are those which chased you from the field,

And slew your fathers, and, with colours spread,

Marched through the city to the palace gates.

NORTHUMBERLAND

Yes, Warwick, I remember it to my grief,

And, by his soul, thou and thy house shall rue it.

WESTMORLAND (to York)

Plantagenet, of thee, and these thy sons,

Thy kinsmen, and thy friends, I’ll have more lives

Than drops of blood were in my father’s veins.

CLIFFORD (to Warwick)

Urge it no more, lest that, instead of words,

I send thee, Warwick, such a messenger

As shall revenge his death before I stir.

WARWICK ⌈to York⌉

Poor Clifford, how I scorn his worthless threats.

YORK ⌈to King Henry⌉

Will you we show our title to the crown?

If not, our swords shall plead it in the field.

KING HENRY

What title hast thou, traitor, to the crown?

Thy father was, as thou art, Duke of York;

Thy grandfather, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March.

I am the son of Henry the Fifth,

Who made the Dauphin and the French to stoop

And seized upon their towns and provinces.

WARWICK

Talk not of France, sith thou hast lost it all.

KING HENRY

The Lord Protector lost it, and not I.

When I was crowned, I was but nine months old.

RICHARD

You are old enough now, and yet, methinks, you lose.

(To York) Father, tear the crown from the usurper’s

head.

EDWARD (to York)

Sweet father, do so—set it on your head.

MONTAGUE (to York)

Good brother, as thou lov‘st and honour’st arms,

Let’s fight it out and not stand cavilling thus.

RICHARD

Sound drums and trumpets, and the King will fly.

YORK Sons, peace!

⌈NORTHUMBERLAND⌉

Peace, thou—and give King Henry leave to speak.

KING HENRY

Ah, York, why seekest thou to depose me?

Are we not both Plantagenets by birth,

And from two brothers lineally descent?

Suppose by right and equity thou be king—