And no great friend, I fear me, to the King.

Consider, lords, he is the next of blood

And heir apparent to the English crown.

Had Henry got an empire by his marriage,

And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west,

There’s reason he should be displeased at it.

Look to it, lords—let not his smoothing words

Bewitch your hearts. Be wise and circumspect.

What though the common people favour him,

Calling him ‘Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester‘,

Clapping their hands and crying with loud voice

’‘Jesu maintain your royal excellence !’

With ’God preserve the good Duke Humphrey !’

I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,

He will be found a dangerous Protector.

BUCKINGHAM

Why should he then protect our sovereign,

He being of age to govern of himself?

Cousin of Somerset, join you with me,

And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk,

We’ll quickly hoist Duke Humphrey from his seat.

CARDINAL BEAUFORT

This weighty business will not brook delay—

I’ll to the Duke of Suffolk presently. Exit

SOMERSET

Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey’s pride

And greatness of his place be grief to us,

Yet let us watch the haughty Cardinal;

His insolence is more intolerable

Than all the princes in the land beside.

If Gloucester be displaced, he’ll be Protector.

BUCKINGHAM

Or thou or I, Somerset, will be Protector,

Despite Duke Humphrey or the Cardinal.

Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset

SALISBURY

Pride went before, ambition follows him.

While these do labour for their own preferment,

Behoves it us to labour for the realm.

I never saw but Humphrey Duke of Gloucester

Did bear him like a noble gentleman.

Oft have I seen the haughty Cardinal,

More like a soldier than a man o’th’ church,

As stout and proud as he were lord of all,

Swear like a ruffian, and demean himself

Unlike the ruler of a commonweal.

Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age,

Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy housekeeping

Hath won thee greatest favour of the commons,

Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey.

And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland,

In bringing them to civil discipline,

Thy late exploits done in the heart of France,

When thou wert Regent for our sovereign,

Have made thee feared and honoured of the people.

The reverence of mine age and Neville’s name

Is of no little force if I command.

Join we together for the public good,

In what we can to bridle and suppress

The pride of Suffolk and the Cardinal

With Somerset’s and Buckingham’s ambition;

And, as we may, cherish Duke Humphrey’s deeds

While they do tend the profit of the land.

WARWICK

So God help Warwick, as he loves the land,

And common profit of his country!

YORK

And so says York, (aside) for he hath greatest cause.

SALISBURY

Then let’s away, and look unto the main.

WARWICK

Unto the main? O, father, Maine is lost !

That Maine which by main force Warwick did win,

And would have kept so long as breath did last!

Main chance, father, you meant—but I meant Maine,

Which I will win from France or else be slain.

Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury, leaving only York

YORK

Anjou and Maine are given to the French,

Paris is lost, the state of Normandy

Stands on a tickle point now they are gone;

Suffolk concluded on the articles,

The peers agreed, and Henry was well pleased

To change two dukedoms for a duke’s fair daughter.

I cannot blame them all—what is’t to them?

’Tis thine they give away and not their own!

Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage,

And purchase friends, and give to courtesans,

Still revelling like lords till all be gone,

Whileas the seely owner of the goods

Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands,

And shakes his head, and, trembling, stands aloof,

While all is shared and all is borne away,

Ready to starve and dare not touch his own.

So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue,

While his own lands are bargained for and sold.

Methinks the realms of England, France, and Ireland

Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood

As did the fatal brand Althaea burnt

Unto the prince’s heart of Calydon.

Anjou and Maine both given unto the French !

Cold news for me—for I had hope of France,

Even as I have of fertile England’s soil.

A day will come when York shall claim his own,

And therefore I will take the Nevilles’ parts,

And make a show of love to proud Duke Humphrey,

And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown,

For that’s the golden mark I seek to hit.

Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right,