London. A Room in the Palace. | |
| |
Enter KING HENRY, GLOUCESTER, and EXETER. | |
| K. Hen. Have you perus’d the letters from the pope, | |
| The emperor, and the Earl of Armagnac? | 4 |
| Glo. I have, my lord; and their intent is this: | |
| They humbly sue unto your excellence | |
| To have a godly peace concluded of | |
| Between the realms of England and of France. | 8 |
| K. Hen. How doth your Grace affect their motion? | |
| Glo. Well, my good lord; and as the only means | |
| To stop effusion of our Christian blood, | |
| And stablish quietness on every side. | 12 |
| K. Hen. Ay, marry, uncle; for I always thought | |
| It was both impious and unnatural | |
| That such immanity and bloody strife | |
| Should reign among professors of one faith. | 16 |
| Glo. Beside, my lord, the sooner to effect | |
| And surer bind this knot of amity, | |
| The Earl of Armagnac, near knit to Charles, | |
| A man of great authority in France, | 20 |
| Proffers his only daughter to your Grace | |
| In marriage, with a large and sumptuous dowry. | |
| K. Hen. Marriage, uncle! alas! my years are young, | |
| And fitter is my study and my books | 24 |
| Than wanton dalliance with a paramour. | |
| Yet call the ambassadors; and, as you please, | |
| So let them have their answers every one: | |
| I shall be well content with any choice | 28 |
| Tends to God’s glory and my country’s weal. | |
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Enter a Legate, and two Ambassadors, with WINCHESTER, now CARDINAL BEAUFORT, and habited accordingly. | |
| Exe. [Aside.] What! is my Lord of Winchester install’d, | |
| And call’d unto a cardinal’s degree? | 32 |
| Then, I perceive that will be verified | |
| Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy,— | |
| ‘If once he come to be a cardinal, | |
| He’ll make his cap co-equal with the crown.’ | 36 |
| K. Hen. My lords ambassadors, your several suits | |
| Have been consider’d, and debated on. | |
| Your purpose is both good and reasonable; | |
| And therefore are we certainly resolv’d | 40 |
| To draw conditions of a friendly peace; | |
| Which by my Lord of Winchester we mean | |
| Shall be transported presently to France. | |
| Glo. And for the proffer of my lord your master, | 44 |
| I have inform’d his highness so at large, | |
| As,—liking of the lady’s virtuous gifts, | |
| Her beauty, and the value of her dower,— | |
| He doth intend she shall be England’s queen. | 48 |
| K. Hen. [To the Ambassador.] In argument and proof of which contract, | |
| Bear her this jewel, pledge of my affection. | |
| And so, my lord protector, see them guarded, | |
| And safely brought to Dover; where inshipp’d | 52 |
| Commit them to the fortune of the sea. | |
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[Exeunt KING HENRY and Train; GLOUCESTER, EXETER, and Ambassadors. | |
| Win. Stay, my lord legate: you shall first receive | |
| The sum of money which I promised | 56 |
| Should be deliver’d to his holiness | |
| For clothing me in these grave ornaments. | |
| Leg. I will attend upon your lordship’s leisure. | |
| Win. [Aside.] Now Winchester will not submit, I trow, | 60 |
| Or be inferior to the proudest peer. | |
| Humphrey of Gloucester, thou shalt well perceive | |
| That neither in birth or for authority | |
| The bishop will be overborne by thee: | 64 |
| I’ll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee, | |
| Or sack this country with a mutiny. [Exeunt. | |
