Simp. Alas, mafter, I am not able to ftand alone : you go about to torture me in vain.

Enter a Beadle with Whips.

Glo. Well, Sir, we must have you find your legs. Sirrah, beadle, whip him till he leap over the fame ftool. Bead. I will, my Lord. Come on, Sirrah, off with your doublet quickly.

Simp. Alas, mafter, what fhall I do? I am not able to ftand.

[After the beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the fool
and runs away; and they follow and cry, A miracle!

K. Henry. O God, feeft thou this, and bear'ft fo long!
Queen. It made me laugh to fee the villain run.
Glo. Follow the knave, and take this drab away.
Wife. Alas, Sir, we did it for pure need.

Glo. Let them be whipt through every market town,
till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.
[Exit beadle, with the woman.
Car. Duke Humphry has done a miracle to-day.
Suf. True; made the lame to leap, and fly away.
Glo. But you have done more miracles than I;
You made in a day, my Lord, whole towns to fly.

Enter Buckingham.

K. Henry. What tidings with our coufin Buckingham?
Buck. Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold :
A fort of naughty perfons, lewdly bent,
Under the countenance and confederacy
Of lady Eleanor, the Protector's wife,
(The ring-leader and head of all this rout)
Have practis'd dangerously against your state;
Dealing with witches and with conjurers,
Whom we have apprehended in the fact,
Raifing up wicked fpirits from under ground;
Demanding of King Henry's life and death,

And

`And other of your Highness's Privy-council,
As more at large your Grace fhall understand.
Car. And fo my Lord Protector, by this means
Your Lady is forth coming, yet at London.
This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's edge.
"Tis like, my Lord, you will not keep your hour.
[Afide to Glo'fter.
Glo. Ambitious Church-man! leave t'affli&t my heart!
Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers;
And vanquish'd as I am, I yield to thee,

Or to the meanest groom.

K. Hen. O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,
Heaping confufion on their own heads thereby !

Queen. Glofter, see here the tainture of thy neft,
And look, thyfelf be faultlefs, thou wert best.

Glo. Madam, for myfelf, to heav'n I do appeal,
How I have lov'd my King and common-weal:
And for my wife, I know not how it ftands.
Sorry am I to hear what I have heard;
Noble fhe is; but if he have forgot
Honour and virtue, and convers'd with fuch
As, like to pitch, defile Nobility;

I banifh her my bed and company:

And give her as a prey to law and fhame,
That hath dishonour'd Glo'fter's honeft name.

K. Henry. Well, for this night we will repofe us here;
To-morrow toward London back again,

To look into this business thoroughly.

And call these foul offenders to their answers;
And poife the Caufe in juftice' equal fcales,

Whofe beam ftands fure, whofe rightful caufe prevails,

[Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Duke of York's Palace.

Enter York, Salisbury, and Warwick.

York. N

WOW, my good Lords of Salisbury and Warwick,
Our fimple fupper ended, give me leave,

In this close walk to fatisfy myself;

B 4

In

In craving your opinion of my Title,

Which is infallible, to England's crown.

Sal, My Lord, I long to hear it thus at full.
War. Sweet York, begin; and if thy Claim be good,
The Nevills are thy fubjects to command.

York. Then thus:

Edward the Third, my Lords, had seven fons:

The firft, Edward the black Prince, Prince of Wales;
The fecond, William of Hatfield; and the third,
Lionel Duke of Clarence; next to whom

Was John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster;
The fifth was Edmond Langley, Duke of York;
The fixth was Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Glo'fter,
William of Windfor was the feventh and last.
Edward the black Prince dy'd before his father,
And left behind him Richard, his only fon,
Who, after Edward the Third's death, reign'd King;
Till Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster,
The eldest fon and heir of John of Gaunt,
Crown'd by the name of Henry the Fourth,
Seiz'd on the realm; depos'd the rightful King;
Sent his poor Queen to France from whence the came,
And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know,
Harmless King Richard trait'roufly was murder'd,
War. Father, the Duke hath told the truth;
Thus got the houfe of Lancafter the Crown.

York. Which now they hold by force, and not by right;
For Richard the first fon's heir being dead,

The Iffue of the next fon fhould have reign'd.

Sal. But William of Hatfield dy'd without an heir.

York. The third fon, Duke of Clarence, from whose line

I claim the Crown, had issue Philip, a daughter,

Who married Edmond Mortimer, Earl of March.
Edmond had iffue; Roger Earl of March:
Roger had iffue, Edmond, Anne, and Eleanor.

Sal. This Edmond, in the reign of Bolingbroke,
As I have read, laid claim unto the Crown;
And, but for Owen Glendour, had been King;
Who kept him in captivity, till he dy'd.

But,

But, to the rest

York. His eldest fifter, Anne,

My mother, being heir unto the crown,
Married Richard Earl of Cambridge,
Who was the fon to Edmond Langley,
Edward the Third's fifth fon..

By her I claim the kingdom; she was heir
To Roger Earl of March, who was the fon
Of Edmond Mortimer, who married Philip,
Sole daughter unto Lionel Duke of Clarence.
So, if the iffue of the elder fon

Succeed before the younger, I am King.

War. What plain proceeding is more plain than this? Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt, The fourth fon; York here claims it from the third. Till Lionel's iffue fail, his fhould not reign; It fails not yet, but flourisheth in thee And in thy fons, fair flips of such a stock. Then, father Salisbury, kneel we together, And in this private plot be we the first, That shall falute our rightful Sovereign With honour of his birth-right to the crown.

Both. Long live our Sov'reign Richard, England's King! York. We thank you, Lords: but I am not your King, 'Till I be crown'd; and that my fword be ftain'd "With heart-blood of the houfe of Lancaster: And that's not fuddenly to be perform'd, But with advice and filent fecrecy. Do you, as I do, in these dang❜rous days, Wink at the Duke of Suffolk's infolence, At Beauford's pride, at Somerfet's ambition, At Buckingham, and all the crew of them; Till they have fnar'd the fhepherd of the flock, That virtuous Prince, the good Duke Humphry: "Tis that they feek; and they in feeking that Shall feek their deaths, if York can prophesy.

Sal.My Lord, here break we off; we know your mind. War. My heart affures me, that the Earl of Warwick Shall one day make the Duke of York a King. York. And, Nevill, this I do affure myself :

B5

Richard

Richard fhall live to make the Earl of Warwick
The greatest man in England, but the King. [Exeunt.

SCENE changes to a House near Smithfield.

Sound Trumpets. Enter King Henry and Nobles; the Dutchefs, Mother Jordan, Southwel, Hume, and Bolingbroke, under guard.

K.H. Tand forth, Dame Eleanor Cobham, Glo' fter's wife,

K.H. In fight of God and us your guilt is great;

Receive the fentence of the law for fins,

Such as by God's book are adjudg'd to death.
You four from hence to prifon, back again;
From thence unto the place of execution;
The Witch in Smithfield shall be burn'd to ashes.
And you three shall be ftrangled on the gallows.
You, Madam, for you are more nobly born,
Defpoiled of your honour in your life,
Shall after three days open penance done,
Live in your country here, in banishment,
With Sir John Stanley in the Isle of Man.

Elean. Welcome is exile, welcome were my death. Glo. The law, thou seeft, hath judg'd thee, Eleanor ; I cannot justify, whom law condemns.

[Exeunt Eleanor, and the others, guarded. Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief. Ah, Humphry! this difhonour in thine age Will bring thy head with forrow to the ground. I beseech your Majefty, give me leave to go; Sorrow would folace, and my age would ease. K. Henry. Stay Humphry, Duke of Glo'fter; ere thou go, Give up thy ftaff; Henry will to himself Protector be, and God fhall be my hope, My ftay, my guide, and lanthorn to my feet. And go in peace, Humphry, no lefs belov'd, Than when thou wert Protector to thy King. Q. Mar. I fee no reason, why a King of years Should he protected like a child :

God