READ STUDY GUIDE: Act 1, Scenes iv-viii |
|
Act I, Scene iv
| London. Before the Tower. |
| [Enter the Duke of Gloucester, with his Serving-menin blue coats.] |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| I am come to survey the Tower this day: |
| Since Henry's death, I fear, there is conveyance. |
| Where be these warders that they wait not here? |
| Open the gates; 'tis Gloucester that calls. |
| FIRST WARDER.: |
| [Within] Who's there that knocks so imperiously? |
| FIRST SERVING-MAN.: |
| It is the noble Duke of Gloucester. |
| SECOND WARDER.: |
| [Within] Whoe'er he be, you may not be let in. |
| FIRST SERVING-MAN.: |
| Villains, answer you so the lord protector? |
| FIRST WARDER.: |
| [Within] The Lord protect him! so we answer him: |
| We do no otherwise than we are will'd. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Who willed you? or whose will stands but mine? |
| There's none protector of the realm but I. |
| Break up the gates, I 'll be your warrantize: |
| Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms? |
| Gloucester's men rush at the Tower Gates, and Woodvile the |
| Lieutenant speaks within. |
| WOODVILE.: |
| What noise is this? what traitors have we here? |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Lieutenant, is it you whose voice I hear? |
| Open the gates; here's Gloucester that would enter. |
| WOODVILE.: |
| Have patience, noble duke; I may not open; |
| The Cardinal of Winchester forbids: |
| From him I have express commandment |
| That thou nor none of thine shall be let in. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Faint-hearted Woodvile, prizest him 'fore me? |
| Arrogant Winchester, that haughty prelate |
| Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne'er could brook? |
| Thou art no friend to God or to the King. |
| Open the gates, or I 'll shut thee out shortly. |
| SERVING-MEN.: |
| Open the gates unto the lord protector, |
| Or we 'll burst them open, if that you come not quickly. |
| [Enter to the Protector at the Tower Gates Winchesterand his men in tawny coats.] |
| WINCHESTER.: |
| How now, ambitious Humphry! what means this? |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Peel'd priest, dost thou command me to be shut out? |
| WINCHESTER.: |
| I do, thou most usurping proditor, |
| And not protector, of the king or realm. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Stand back, thou manifest conspirator, |
| Thou that contrivedst to murder our dead lord; |
| Thou that givest whores indulgences to sin: |
| I 'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat, |
| If thou proceed in this thy insolence. |
| WINCHESTER.: |
| Nay, stand thou back; I will not budge a foot: |
| This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain, |
| To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| I will not slay thee, but I 'll drive thee back: |
| Thy scarlet robes as a child's bearing-cloth |
| I 'll use to carry thee out of this place. |
| WINCHESTER.: |
| Do what thou darest; I beard thee to thy face. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| What! am I dared and bearded to my face? |
| Draw, men, for all this privileged place; |
| Blue coats to tawny coats. Priest, beware your beard; |
| I mean to tug it and to cuff you soundly: |
| Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat: |
| In spite of pope or dignities of church, |
| Here by the cheeks I 'll drag thee up and down. |
| WINCHESTER.: |
| Gloucester, thou wilt answer this before the |
| pope. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Winchester goose, I cry, a rope! a rope! |
| Now beat them hence; why do you let them stay? |
| Thee I 'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array. |
| Out, tawny coats! out, scarlet hypocrite! |
| Here Gloucester's men beat out the Cardinal's |
| men, and enter in the hurly-burly the Mayor of |
| London and his Officers. |
| MAYOR.: |
| Fie, lords! that you, being supreme magistrates, |
| Thus contumeliously should break the peace! |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Peace, mayor! thou know'st little of my wrongs: |
| Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king, |
| Hath here distrain'd the Tower to his use. |
| WINCHESTER.: |
| Here's Gloucester, a foe to citizens, |
| One that still motions war and never peace, |
| O'ercharging your free purses with large fines, |
| That seeks to overthrow religion, |
| Because he is protector of the realm, |
| And would have armour here out of the Tower, |
| To crown himself king and suppress the prince. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| I will not answer thee with words, but blows. |
| Here they skirmish again. |
| MAYOR.: |
| Nought rests for me in this tumultuous strife |
| But to make open proclamation: |
| Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou canst: |
| Cry. |
| OFFICER.: |
| All manner of men assembled here in arms |
| this day against God's peace and the king's, we charge |
| and command you, in his highness' name, to repair to |
| your several dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or |
| use any sword, weapon, or dagger, henceforward, upon |
| pain of death. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Cardinal, I 'll be no breaker of the law; |
| But we shall meet, and break our minds at large. |
| WINCHESTER.: |
| Gloucester, we will meet; to thy cost, be sure; |
| Thy heart-blood I will have for this day's work. |
| MAYOR.: |
| I 'll call for clubs, if you will not away. |
| This Cardinal's more haughty than the devil. |
| GLOUCESTER.: |
| Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou mayst. |
| WINCHESTER.: |
| Abominable Gloucester, guard thy head; |
| For I intend to have it ere long. |
| [Exeunt, severally, Gloucester and Winchester with theirServing-men.] |
| MAYOR.: |
| See the coast clear'd, and then we will depart. |
| Good God, these nobles should such stomachs bear! |
| I myself fight not once in forty year. |
| [Exeunt.] |
|
|
||||
|
