READ STUDY GUIDE: Act II, Scenes i-ii |
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Act II, Scene i
| [Enter the KING, QUEEN, GLOSTER, CARDINAL, and SUFFOLK,with FALCONERS halloing.] |
| QUEEN.: |
| Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook, |
| I saw not better sport these seven years' day; |
| Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high, |
| And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out. |
| KING.: |
| But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, |
| And what a pitch she flew above the rest! |
| To see how God in all His creatures works! |
| Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high. |
| SUFFOLK.: |
| No marvel, an it like your majesty, |
| My lord protector's hawks do tower so well; |
| They know their master loves to be aloft, |
| And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| My lord, 't is but a base ignoble mind |
| That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. |
| CARDINAL.: |
| I thought as much; he would be above the clouds. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Ay, my lord cardinal? how think you by that? |
| Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven? |
| KING.: |
| The treasury of everlasting joy. |
| CARDINAL.: |
| Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts |
| Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart, |
| Pernicious protector, dangerous peer, |
| That smooth'st it so with king and commonweal. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown peremptory? |
| Tantaene animis coelestibus irae? |
| Churchmen so hot? good uncle, hide such malice; |
| With such holiness can you do it? |
| SUFFOLK.: |
| No malice, sir; no more than well becomes |
| So good a quarrel and so bad a peer. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| As who, my lord? |
| SUFFOLK.: |
| Why, as you, my lord, |
| An 't like your lordly lord-protectorship. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence. |
| QUEEN.: |
| And thy ambition, Gloster. |
| KING.: |
| I prithee, peace, good queen, |
| And whet not on these furious peers; |
| For blessed are the peacemakers on earth. |
| CARDINAL.: |
| Let me be blessed for the peace I make |
| Against this proud protector, with my sword! |
| GLOSTER.: |
| [Aside to Cardinal.] Faith, holy uncle, would 't |
| were come to that! |
| CARDINAL.: |
| [Aside to Gloster.] Marry, when thou dar'st. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| [Aside to Cardinal.] Make up no factious numbers |
| for the matter; |
| In thine own person answer thy abuse. |
| CARDINAL.: |
| [Aside to Gloster.] Ay, where thou dar'st not peep; |
| an if thou dar'st, |
| This evening, on the east side of the grove. |
| KING.: |
| How now, my lords! |
| CARDINAL.: |
| Believe me, cousin Gloster, |
| Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly, |
| We had had more sport.—[Aside to Gloster.]Come with thy |
| two-hand sword. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| True, uncle. |
| CARDINAL.: |
| [Aside to Gloster.] Are ye advis'd? the east side |
| of the grove? |
| GLOSTER.: |
| [Aside to CARDINAL.] Cardinal, I am with you. |
| KING.: |
| Why, how now, uncle Gloster! |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord.— |
| [Aside to Cardinal.] Now, by God's mother, priest, |
| I'll shave your crown for this, |
| Or all my fence shall fail. |
| CARDINAL.: |
| [Aside to Gloster.] Medice, teipsum— |
| Protector, see to 't well, protect yourself. |
| KING.: |
| The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords. |
| How irksome is this music to my heart! |
| When such strings jar, what hope of harmony? |
| I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife. |
| [Enter a Townsman of Saint Alban's, crying 'A miracle!'] |
| GLOSTER.: |
| What means this noise? |
| Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim? |
| TOWNSMAN.: |
| A miracle! A miracle! |
| SUFFOLK.: |
| Come to the king, and tell him what miracle. |
| TOWNSMAN.: |
| Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine, |
| Within this half hour, hath receiv'd his sight; |
| A man that ne'er saw in his life before. |
| KING.: |
| Now, God be prais'd, that to believing souls |
| Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair! |
| [Enter the Mayor of Saint Alban's and his brethren,bearing SIMPCOX, between two in a chair, SIMPCOX'sWife following.] |
| CARDINAL.: |
| Here comes the townsmen on procession, |
| To present your highness with the man. |
| KING HENRY.: |
| Great is his comfort in this earthly vale, |
| Although by his sight his sin be multiplied. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Stand by, my masters. |
| Bring him near the king; |
| His highness' pleasure is to talk with him. |
| KING.: |
| Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance, |
| That we for thee may glorify the Lord. |
| What, hast thou been long blind and now restor'd? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Born blind, an 't please your grace. |
| WIFE.: |
| Ay indeed was he. |
| SUFFOLK.: |
| What woman is this? |
| WIFE.: |
| His wife, an 't like your worship. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst |
| have better told. |
| KING.: |
| Where wert thou born? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| At Berwick in the north, an 't like your grace. |
| KING.: |
| Poor soul, God's goodness hath been great to thee; |
| Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass, |
| But still remember what the Lord hath done. |
| QUEEN.: |
| Tell me, good fellow, cam'st thou here by chance, |
| Or of devotion, to this holy shrine? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| God knows, of pure devotion; being call'd |
| A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep, |
| By good Saint Alban, who said 'Simpcox, come, |
| Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee.' |
| WIFE.: |
| Most true, forsooth; and many time and oft |
| Myself have heard a voice to call him so. |
| CARDINAL.: |
| What, art thou lame? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Ay, God Almighty help me! |
| SUFFOLK.: |
| How cam'st thou so? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| A fall off of a tree. |
| WIFE.: |
| A plum-tree, master. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| How long hast thou been blind? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| O, born so, master! |
| GLOSTER.: |
| What, and wouldst climb a tree? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| But that in all my life, when I was a youth. |
| WIFE.: |
| Too true; and bought his climbing very dear. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Mass, thou lov'dst plums well that wouldst venture so. |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Alas, good master, my wife desir'd some damsons, |
| And made me climb, with danger of my life. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| A subtle knave! but yet it shall not serve.— |
| Let me see thine eyes.—Wink now;—now open them. |
| In my opinion yet thou seest not well. |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and Saint Alban. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Say'st thou me so? What colour is this cloak of? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Red, master, red as blood. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Why, that's well said. What colour is my gown of? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Black, forsooth, coal-black as jet. |
| KING.: |
| Why, then, thou know'st what colour jet is of? |
| SUFFOLK.: |
| And yet, I think, jet did he never see. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| But cloaks and gowns before this day, a many. |
| WIFE.: |
| Never before this day in all his life. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Tell me, sirrah, what's my name? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Alas, master, I know not. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| What's his name? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| I know not. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Nor his? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| No, indeed, master. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| What's thine own name? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Saunder Simpcox, an if it please you, master. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Then, Saunder, sit there, the lyingest knave in |
| Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind, thou mightst as well |
| have known all our names as thus to name the several colours we |
| do wear. Sight may distinguish of colours; but suddenly to |
| nominate them all, it is impossible.—My lords, Saint Alban here |
| hath done a miracle; and would ye not think his cunning to be |
| great that could restore this cripple to his legs again? |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| O master, that you could! |
| GLOSTER.: |
| My masters of Saint Alban's, have you not beadles in |
| your town, and things called whips? |
| MAYOR.: |
| Yes, my lord, if it please your grace. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Then send for one presently. |
| MAYOR.: |
| Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight. |
| [Exit an Attendant.] |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Now fetch me a stool hither by and by.—Now, sirrah, |
| if you mean to save yourself from whipping, leap me over this |
| stool and run away. |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone; |
| You go about to torture me in vain. |
| [Enter a Beadle with whips.] |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Well, sir, we must have you find your legs.— |
| Sirrah beadle, whip him till he leap over that same stool. |
| BEADLE.: |
| I will, my lord.—Come on, sirrah; off with your doublet |
| quickly. |
| SIMPCOX.: |
| Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand. |
| [After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps overthe stool and runs away; and they follow and cry,'A miracle!'] |
| KING.: |
| O God, seest Thou this, and bearest so long? |
| QUEEN.: |
| It made me laugh to see the villain run. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Follow the knave, and take this drab away. |
| WIFE.: |
| Alas, sir, we did it for pure need! |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Let them be whipped through every market-town |
| till they come to Berwick, from whence they came. |
| [Exeunt Wife, Beadle, Mayor, etc.] |
| CARDINAL.: |
| Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to-day. |
| SUFFOLK.: |
| True; made the lame to leap and fly away. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| But you have done more miracles than I; |
| You made in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly. |
| [Enter BUCKINGHAM.] |
| KING.: |
| What tidings with our cousin Buckingham? |
| BUCKINGHAM.: |
| Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold. |
| A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent, |
| Under the countenance and confederacy |
| Of Lady Eleanor, the protector's wife, |
| The ringleader 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, |
| Raising up wicked spirits from underground, |
| Demanding of King Henry's life and death, |
| And other of your highness' privy-council, |
| As more at large your Grace shall understand. |
| CARDINAL.: |
| [Aside to Gloster.] And so, my lord protector, |
| by this means |
| Your lady is forthcoming yet at London. |
| This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's edge; |
| 'T is like, my lord, you will not keep your hour. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict 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. |
| KING.: |
| O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones, |
| Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby! |
| QUEEN.: |
| Gloster, see here the tainture of thy nest; |
| And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best. |
| GLOSTER.: |
| Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal, |
| How I have lov'd my king and commonweal; |
| And, for my wife, I know not how it stands. |
| Sorry I am to hear what I have heard; |
| Noble she is; but if she have forgot |
| Honour and virtue, and convers'd with such |
| As like to pitch defile nobility, |
| I banish her my bed and company, |
| And give her as a prey to law and shame, |
| That hath dishonoured Gloster's honest name. |
| KING.: |
| Well, for this night we will repose us here; |
| To-morrow toward London back again, |
| To look into this business thoroughly, |
| And call these foul offenders to their answers, |
| And poise the cause in justice' equal scales, |
| Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails. |
| [Flourish. Exeunt.] |
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