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Dramatis Personae
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/ Home / Library / Complete Shakespeare / King Henry VI, Part 3 / Act IV Scene VI
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King Henry VI, Part 3: Act 4 Scene 6
Scene VI London. The Tower.
- [Flourish. Enter KING HENRY VI, CLARENCE, WARWICK,
- SOMERSET, HENRY OF RICHMOND, OXFORD, MONTAGUE, and
- Lieutenant of the Tower]
- KING HENRY VI
- Master lieutenant, now that God and friends
- Have shaken Edward from the regal seat,
- And turn'd my captive state to liberty,
- My fear to hope, my sorrows unto joys,
- At our enlargement what are thy due fees?
- LIEUTENANT
- Subjects may challenge nothing of their sovereigns;
- But if an humble prayer may prevail,
- I then crave pardon of your majesty.
- KING HENRY VI
- For what, lieutenant? for well using me?
- Nay, be thou sure I'll well requite thy kindness,
- For that it made my imprisonment a pleasure;
- Ay, such a pleasure as incaged birds
- Conceive when after many moody thoughts
- At last by notes of household harmony
- They quite forget their loss of liberty.
- But, Warwick, after God, thou set'st me free,
- And chiefly therefore I thank God and thee;
- He was the author, thou the instrument.
- Therefore, that I may conquer fortune's spite
- By living low, where fortune cannot hurt me,
- And that the people of this blessed land
- May not be punish'd with my thwarting stars,
- Warwick, although my head still wear the crown,
- I here resign my government to thee,
- For thou art fortunate in all thy deeds.
- WARWICK
- Your grace hath still been famed for virtuous;
- And now may seem as wise as virtuous,
- By spying and avoiding fortune's malice,
- For few men rightly temper with the stars:
- Yet in this one thing let me blame your grace,
- For choosing me when Clarence is in place.
- CLARENCE
- No, Warwick, thou art worthy of the sway,
- To whom the heavens in thy nativity
- Adjudged an olive branch and laurel crown,
- As likely to be blest in peace and war;
- And therefore I yield thee my free consent.
- WARWICK
- And I choose Clarence only for protector.
- KING HENRY VI
- Warwick and Clarence give me both your hands:
- Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts,
- That no dissension hinder government:
- I make you both protectors of this land,
- While I myself will lead a private life
- And in devotion spend my latter days,
- To sin's rebuke and my Creator's praise.
- WARWICK
- What answers Clarence to his sovereign's will?
- CLARENCE
- That he consents, if Warwick yield consent;
- For on thy fortune I repose myself.
- WARWICK
- Why, then, though loath, yet must I be content:
- We'll yoke together, like a double shadow
- To Henry's body, and supply his place;
- I mean, in bearing weight of government,
- While he enjoys the honour and his ease.
- And, Clarence, now then it is more than needful
- Forthwith that Edward be pronounced a traitor,
- And all his lands and goods be confiscate.
- CLARENCE
- What else? and that succession be determined.
- WARWICK
- Ay, therein Clarence shall not want his part.
- KING HENRY VI
- But, with the first of all your chief affairs,
- Let me entreat, for I command no more,
- That Margaret your queen and my son Edward
- Be sent for, to return from France with speed;
- For, till I see them here, by doubtful fear
- My joy of liberty is half eclipsed.
- CLARENCE
- It shall be done, my sovereign, with all speed.
- KING HENRY VI
- My Lord of Somerset, what youth is that,
- Of whom you seem to have so tender care?
- SOMERSET
- My liege, it is young Henry, earl of Richmond.
- KING HENRY VI
- Come hither, England's hope.
- [Lays his hand on his head]
- If secret powers
- Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts,
- This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss.
- His looks are full of peaceful majesty,
- His head by nature framed to wear a crown,
- His hand to wield a sceptre, and himself
- Likely in time to bless a regal throne.
- Make much of him, my lords, for this is he
- Must help you more than you are hurt by me.
- [Enter a Post]
- WARWICK
- What news, my friend?
- POST
- That Edward is escaped from your brother,
- And fled, as he hears since, to Burgundy.
- WARWICK
- Unsavoury news! but how made he escape?
- POST
- He was convey'd by Richard Duke of Gloucester
- And the Lord Hastings, who attended him
- In secret ambush on the forest side
- And from the bishop's huntsmen rescued him;
- For hunting was his daily exercise.
- WARWICK
- My brother was too careless of his charge.
- But let us hence, my sovereign, to provide
- A salve for any sore that may betide.
- [Exeunt all but SOMERSET, HENRY OF RICHMOND, and OXFORD]
- SOMERSET
- My lord, I like not of this flight of Edward's;
- For doubtless Burgundy will yield him help,
- And we shall have more wars before 't be long.
- As Henry's late presaging prophecy
- Did glad my heart with hope of this young Richmond,
- So doth my heart misgive me, in these conflicts
- What may befall him, to his harm and ours:
- Therefore, Lord Oxford, to prevent the worst,
- Forthwith we'll send him hence to Brittany,
- Till storms be past of civil enmity.
- OXFORD
- Ay, for if Edward repossess the crown,
- 'Tis like that Richmond with the rest shall down.
- SOMERSET
- It shall be so; he shall to Brittany.
- Come, therefore, let's about it speedily.
- [Exeunt]
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