And by one and one I will dispatch the rest,

Counting myself but bad till I be best.

I’ll throw thy body in another room

And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.

Exit with the body

5.7 ⌈A chair of state.⌉ Flourish. Enter King Edward, Lady Gray his Queen, George Duke off Clarence, Richard Duke of Gloucester, the Lord Hastings, a nurse carrying the infant Prince Edward, and attendants

KING EDWARD

Once more we sit in England’s royal throne,

Repurchased with the blood of enemies.

What valiant foemen, like to autumn’s corn,

Have we mowed down in tops of all their pride!

Three dukes of Somerset, threefold renowned

For hardy and undoubted champions;

Two Cliffords, as the father and the son;

And two Northumbertands—two braver men

Ne’er spurred their coursers at the trumpet’s sound.

With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and

Montague,

That in their chains fettered the kingly lion

And made the forest tremble when they roared.

Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat

And made our footstool of security.

(To Lady Gray)

Come hither, Bess, and let me kiss my boy.

The nurse brings forth the infant prince. King Edward kisses him

Young Ned, for thee, thine uncles and myself

Have in our armours watched the winter’s night,

Went all afoot in summer’s scalding heat,

That thou mightst repossess the crown in peace;

And of our labours thou shalt reap the gain.

RICHARD OF GLOUCESTER (aside)

I’ll blast his harvest, an your head were laid;

For yet I am not looked on in the world.

This shoulder was ordained so thick to heave;

And heave it shall some weight or break my back.

Work thou the way, and thou shalt execute.

KING EDWARD

Clarence and Gloucester, love my lovely queen;

And kiss your princely nephew, brothers, both.

GEORGE OF CLARENCE

The duty that I owe unto your majesty

I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe.

He kisses the infant prince

LADY GRAY

Thanks, noble Clarence—worthy brother, thanks.

RICHARD OF GLOUCESTER

And that I love the tree from whence thou sprang’st,

Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit.

He kisses the infant prince

(Aside) To say the truth, so Judas kissed his master,

And cried ‘All hail!’ whenas he meant all harm.

KING EDWARD

Now am I seated as my soul delights,

Having my country’s peace and brothers’ loves.

GEORGE OF CLARENCE

What will your grace have done with Margaret?

René her father, to the King of France

Hath pawned the Sicils and Jerusalem,

And hither have they sent it for her ransom.

KING EDWARD

Away with her, and waft her hence to France.

And now what rests but that we spend the time

With stately triumphs, mirthful comic shows,

Such as befits the pleasure of the court?

Sound drums and trumpets—fareweti, sour annoy!

For here, I hope, begins our lasting joy.

⌈Flourish.⌉ Exeunt

ADDITIONAL PASSAGES

A. Our edition adopts the 1595 version of 1.1.120-5 in the belief that it reflects an authorial revision; an edited text of the Folio alternative follows.

KING HENRY

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

WARWICK

Plantagenet shall speak first—hear him, lords,

And be you silent and attentive too,

For he that interrupts him shall not live.

KING HENRY ⌈to York⌉

Think’st thou that I will leave my kingly throne,

B. The 1595 text abridges 5.4.82.1-5.5.17, and may reflect authorial revision. An edited text of the abridged passage follows:

ALL THE LANCASTER PARTY

Saint George for Lancaster!

Alarums to the battle. ⌈The house of⌉ York flies, then the chambers are discharged. Then enter King Edward, George of Clarence, and Richard of Gloucester, and their followers: they make a great shout, and cry ‘For York! For York!’ Then Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, Oxford and Somerset are all taken prisoner. Flourish, and enter all again

KING EDWARD

Now here a period of tumultuous broils.

Away with Oxford to Hames Castle straight;

For Somerset, off with his guilty head.

Go, bear them hence—I will not hear them speak.

OXFORD

For my part, I’ll not trouble thee with words.

Exit, guarded

SOMERSET

Nor I, but stoop with patience to my death.

Exit, guarded

KING EDWARD (to Prince Edward)

Edward, what satisfaction canst thou make

For stirring up my subjects to rebellion?

PRINCE EDWARD

Speak like a subject, proud ambitious York.

HENRY VI PART ONE

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND OTHERS

THE play printed here first appeared in the 1623 Folio, as The First Part of Henry VI; it tells the beginning of the story that is continued in The First Part of the Contention and in Richard Duke of York. Although in narrative sequence it belongs before those plays, there is good reason to believe that it was written after them. It is probably the ‘new’ play referred to as ‘harey the vj’ in the record of its performance on 3 March 1592 by Lord Strange’s Men. The box-office takings of £3 16s. 8d. were a record for the season, and the play was acted another fifteen times during the following ten months. Its success is mentioned in Thomas Nashe’s satirical pamphlet Piers Penniless, published later in 1592. Defending the drama against moralistic attacks, Nashe claims that plays based on ‘our English chronicles’ celebrate ‘our forefathers’ valiant acts’ and set them up as a ‘reproof to these degenerate effeminate days of ours’. By way of illustration he alludes specifically to the exploits of Lord Talbot, the principal English warrior in Henry VI Part One: ‘How would it have joyed brave Talbot, the terror of the French, to think that after he had lain two hundred years in his tomb he should triumph again on the stage, and have his bones new-embalmed with the tears of ten thousand spectators at least, at several times, who in the tragedian that represents his person imagine they behold him fresh bleeding!’ Nashe may have had personal reasons to puff this play: a variety of evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote it in collaboration with at least two other authors; Nashe himself was probably responsible for Act 1. The passages most confidently attributed to Shakespeare are Act 2, Scene 4 and Act 4, Scene 2 to the death of Talbot at 4.7.32.