Speeches (Lines) for Earl of Suffolk
in "Henry VI, Part II"
Total: 67

1

I,1,5

(stage directions). [Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter KING]
HENRY VI, GLOUCESTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and
CARDINAL, on the one side; QUEEN MARGARET, SUFFOLK,
YORK, SOMERSET, and BUCKINGHAM, on the other]

Earl of Suffolk. As by your high imperial majesty
I had in charge at my depart for France,
As procurator to your excellence,
To marry Princess Margaret for your grace,
So, in the famous ancient city, Tours,
In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil,
The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne and Alencon,
Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops,
I have perform'd my task and was espoused:
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
In sight of England and her lordly peers,
Deliver up my title in the queen
To your most gracious hands, that are the substance
Of that great shadow I did represent;
The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,
The fairest queen that ever king received.

2

I,1,45

(stage directions). [Flourish]

Earl of Suffolk. My lord protector, so it please your grace,
Here are the articles of contracted peace
Between our sovereign and the French king Charles,
For eighteen months concluded by consent.

3

I,3,398

Second Petitioner. Come back, fool; this is the Duke of Suffolk, and
not my lord protector.

Earl of Suffolk. How now, fellow! would'st anything with me?

4

I,3,407

First Petitioner. Mine is, an't please your grace, against John
Goodman, my lord cardinal's man, for keeping my
house, and lands, and wife and all, from me.

Earl of Suffolk. Thy wife, too! that's some wrong, indeed. What's
yours? What's here!
[Reads]
'Against the Duke of Suffolk, for enclosing the
commons of Melford.' How now, sir knave!

5

I,3,420

Peter. That my master was? no, forsooth: my master said
that he was, and that the king was an usurper.

Earl of Suffolk. Who is there?
[Enter Servant]
Take this fellow in, and send for
his master with a pursuivant presently: we'll hear
more of your matter before the King.

6

I,3,456

Queen Margaret. My Lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise,
Is this the fashion in the court of England?
Is this the government of Britain's isle,
And this the royalty of Albion's king?
What shall King Henry be a pupil still
Under the surly Gloucester's governance?
Am I a queen in title and in style,
And must be made a subject to a duke?
I tell thee, Pole, when in the city Tours
Thou ran'st a tilt in honour of my love
And stolest away the ladies' hearts of France,
I thought King Henry had resembled thee
In courage, courtship and proportion:
But all his mind is bent to holiness,
To number Ave-Maries on his beads;
His champions are the prophets and apostles,
His weapons holy saws of sacred writ,
His study is his tilt-yard, and his loves
Are brazen images of canonized saints.
I would the college of the cardinals
Would choose him pope, and carry him to Rome,
And set the triple crown upon his head:
That were a state fit for his holiness.

Earl of Suffolk. Madam, be patient: as I was cause
Your highness came to England, so will I
In England work your grace's full content.

7

I,3,463

Queen Margaret. Beside the haughty protector, have we Beaufort,
The imperious churchman, Somerset, Buckingham,
And grumbling York: and not the least of these
But can do more in England than the king.

Earl of Suffolk. And he of these that can do most of all
Cannot do more in England than the Nevils:
Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers.

8

I,3,479

Queen Margaret. Not all these lords do vex me half so much
As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife.
She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies,
More like an empress than Duke Humphrey's wife:
Strangers in court do take her for the queen:
She bears a duke's revenues on her back,
And in her heart she scorns our poverty:
Shall I not live to be avenged on her?
Contemptuous base-born callet as she is,
She vaunted 'mongst her minions t'other day,
The very train of her worst wearing gown
Was better worth than all my father's lands,
Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.

Earl of Suffolk. Madam, myself have limed a bush for her,
And placed a quire of such enticing birds,
That she will light to listen to the lays,
And never mount to trouble you again.
So, let her rest: and, madam, list to me;
For I am bold to counsel you in this.
Although we fancy not the cardinal,
Yet must we join with him and with the lords,
Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace.
As for the Duke of York, this late complaint
Will make but little for his benefit.
So, one by one, we'll weed them all at last,
And you yourself shall steer the happy helm.
[Sound a sennet. Enter KING HENRY VI, GLOUCESTER,]
CARDINAL, BUCKINGHAM, YORK, SOMERSET, SALISBURY,
WARWICK, and the DUCHESS]

9

I,3,516

Duke of Gloucester. Madam, I am protector of the realm;
And, at his pleasure, will resign my place.

Earl of Suffolk. Resign it then and leave thine insolence.
Since thou wert king—as who is king but thou?—
The commonwealth hath daily run to wreck;
The Dauphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas;
And all the peers and nobles of the realm
Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty.

10

I,3,561

Duke of Gloucester. Now, lords, my choler being over-blown
With walking once about the quadrangle,
I come to talk of commonwealth affairs.
As for your spiteful false objections,
Prove them, and I lie open to the law:
But God in mercy so deal with my soul,
As I in duty love my king and country!
But, to the matter that we have in hand:
I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man
To be your regent in the realm of France.

Earl of Suffolk. Before we make election, give me leave
To show some reason, of no little force,
That York is most unmeet of any man.

11

I,3,574

Earl of Warwick. That can I witness; and a fouler fact
Did never traitor in the land commit.

Earl of Suffolk. Peace, headstrong Warwick!

12

I,3,578

Earl of Warwick. Image of pride, why should I hold my peace?
[Enter HORNER, the Armourer, and his man]
PETER, guarded]

Earl of Suffolk. Because here is a man accused of treason:
Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself!

13

I,3,582

Henry VI. What mean'st thou, Suffolk; tell me, what are these?

Earl of Suffolk. Please it your majesty, this is the man
That doth accuse his master of high treason:
His words were these: that Richard, Duke of York,
Was rightful heir unto the English crown
And that your majesty was a usurper.

14

II,1,735

Henry VI. 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.

Earl of 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.

15

II,1,753

Duke of Gloucester. 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?

Earl of Suffolk. No malice, sir; no more than well becomes
So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.

16

II,1,756

Duke of Gloucester. As who, my lord?

Earl of Suffolk. Why, as you, my lord,
An't like your lordly lord-protectorship.

17

II,1,799

Townsman. A miracle! a miracle!

Earl of Suffolk. Come to the king and tell him what miracle.

18

II,1,819

Simpcox's Wife. Ay, indeed, was he.

Earl of Suffolk. What woman is this?

19

II,1,838

Simpcox. Ay, God Almighty help me!

Earl of Suffolk. How camest thou so?

20

II,1,860

Henry VI. Why, then, thou know'st what colour jet is of?

Earl of Suffolk. And yet, I think, jet did he never see.

21

II,1,908

Winchester. Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to-day.

Earl of Suffolk. True; made the lame to leap and fly away.

22

II,3,1090

Queen Margaret. Why, now is Henry king, and Margaret queen;
And Humphrey Duke of Gloucester scarce himself,
That bears so shrewd a maim; two pulls at once;
His lady banish'd, and a limb lopp'd off.
This staff of honour raught, there let it stand
Where it best fits to be, in Henry's hand.

Earl of Suffolk. Thus droops this lofty pine and hangs his sprays;
Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her youngest days.

23

III,1,1319

Queen Margaret. Can you not see? or will ye not observe
The strangeness of his alter'd countenance?
With what a majesty he bears himself,
How insolent of late he is become,
How proud, how peremptory, and unlike himself?
We know the time since he was mild and affable,
And if we did but glance a far-off look,
Immediately he was upon his knee,
That all the court admired him for submission:
But meet him now, and, be it in the morn,
When every one will give the time of day,
He knits his brow and shows an angry eye,
And passeth by with stiff unbowed knee,
Disdaining duty that to us belongs.
Small curs are not regarded when they grin;
But great men tremble when the lion roars;
And Humphrey is no little man in England.
First note that he is near you in descent,
And should you fall, he as the next will mount.
Me seemeth then it is no policy,
Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears
And his advantage following your decease,
That he should come about your royal person
Or be admitted to your highness' council.
By flattery hath he won the commons' hearts,
And when he please to make commotion,
'Tis to be fear'd they all will follow him.
Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
The reverent care I bear unto my lord
Made me collect these dangers in the duke.
If it be fond, call it a woman's fear;
Which fear if better reasons can supplant,
I will subscribe and say I wrong'd the duke.
My Lord of Suffolk, Buckingham, and York,
Reprove my allegation, if you can;
Or else conclude my words effectual.

Earl of Suffolk. Well hath your highness seen into this duke;
And, had I first been put to speak my mind,
I think I should have told your grace's tale.
The duchess, by his subornation,
Upon my life, began her devilish practises:
Or, if he were not privy to those faults,
Yet, by reputing of his high descent,
As next the king he was successive heir,
And such high vaunts of his nobility,
Did instigate the bedlam brain-sick duchess
By wicked means to frame our sovereign's fall.
Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep;
And in his simple show he harbours treason.
The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.
No, no, my sovereign; Gloucester is a man
Unsounded yet and full of deep deceit.

24

III,1,1375

Duke of Gloucester. All happiness unto my lord the king!
Pardon, my liege, that I have stay'd so long.

Earl of Suffolk. Nay, Gloucester, know that thou art come too soon,
Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art:
I do arrest thee of high treason here.

25

III,1,1414

Duke of Gloucester. Why, 'tis well known that, whiles I was
protector,
Pity was all the fault that was in me;
For I should melt at an offender's tears,
And lowly words were ransom for their fault.
Unless it were a bloody murderer,
Or foul felonious thief that fleeced poor passengers,
I never gave them condign punishment:
Murder indeed, that bloody sin, I tortured
Above the felon or what trespass else.

Earl of Suffolk. My lord, these faults are easy, quickly answered:
But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge,
Whereof you cannot easily purge yourself.
I do arrest you in his highness' name;
And here commit you to my lord cardinal
To keep, until your further time of trial.

26

III,1,1459

Winchester. My liege, his railing is intolerable:
If those that care to keep your royal person
From treason's secret knife and traitors' rage
Be thus upbraided, chid and rated at,
And the offender granted scope of speech,
'Twill make them cool in zeal unto your grace.

Earl of Suffolk. Hath he not twit our sovereign lady here
With ignominious words, though clerkly couch'd,
As if she had suborned some to swear
False allegations to o'erthrow his state?

27

III,1,1522

Winchester. That he should die is worthy policy;
But yet we want a colour for his death:
'Tis meet he be condemn'd by course of law.

Earl of Suffolk. But, in my mind, that were no policy:
The king will labour still to save his life,
The commons haply rise, to save his life;
And yet we have but trivial argument,
More than mistrust, that shows him worthy death.

28

III,1,1528

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). So that, by this, you would not have him die.

Earl of Suffolk. Ah, York, no man alive so fain as I!

29

III,1,1536

Queen Margaret. So the poor chicken should be sure of death.

Earl of Suffolk. Madam, 'tis true; and were't not madness, then,
To make the fox surveyor of the fold?
Who being accused a crafty murderer,
His guilt should be but idly posted over,
Because his purpose is not executed.
No; let him die, in that he is a fox,
By nature proved an enemy to the flock,
Before his chaps be stain'd with crimson blood,
As Humphrey, proved by reasons, to my liege.
And do not stand on quillets how to slay him:
Be it by gins, by snares, by subtlety,
Sleeping or waking, 'tis no matter how,
So he be dead; for that is good deceit
Which mates him first that first intends deceit.

30

III,1,1551

Queen Margaret. Thrice-noble Suffolk, 'tis resolutely spoke.

Earl of Suffolk. Not resolute, except so much were done;
For things are often spoke and seldom meant:
But that my heart accordeth with my tongue,
Seeing the deed is meritorious,
And to preserve my sovereign from his foe,
Say but the word, and I will be his priest.

31

III,1,1562

Winchester. But I would have him dead, my Lord of Suffolk,
Ere you can take due orders for a priest:
Say you consent and censure well the deed,
And I'll provide his executioner,
I tender so the safety of my liege.

Earl of Suffolk. Here is my hand, the deed is worthy doing.

32

III,1,1601

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). I will, my lord, so please his majesty.

Earl of Suffolk. Why, our authority is his consent,
And what we do establish he confirms:
Then, noble York, take thou this task in hand.

33

III,1,1606

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). I am content: provide me soldiers, lords,
Whiles I take order for mine own affairs.

Earl of Suffolk. A charge, Lord York, that I will see perform'd.
But now return we to the false Duke Humphrey.

34

III,1,1615

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). My Lord of Suffolk, within fourteen days
At Bristol I expect my soldiers;
For there I'll ship them all for Ireland.

Earl of Suffolk. I'll see it truly done, my Lord of York.

35

III,2,1680

First Murderer. Here comes my lord.

Earl of Suffolk. Now, sirs, have you dispatch'd this thing?

36

III,2,1682

First Murderer. Ay, my good lord, he's dead.

Earl of Suffolk. Why, that's well said. Go, get you to my house;
I will reward you for this venturous deed.
The king and all the peers are here at hand.
Have you laid fair the bed? Is all things well,
According as I gave directions?

37

III,2,1688

First Murderer. 'Tis, my good lord.

Earl of Suffolk. Away! be gone.
[Exeunt Murderers]
[Sound trumpets. Enter KING HENRY VI, QUEEN]
MARGARET, CARDINAL, SOMERSET, with Attendants]

38

III,2,1695

Henry VI. Go, call our uncle to our presence straight;
Say we intend to try his grace to-day.
If he be guilty, as 'tis published.

Earl of Suffolk. I'll call him presently, my noble lord.

39

III,2,1708

Henry VI. I thank thee, Meg; these words content me much.
[Re-enter SUFFOLK]
How now! why look'st thou pale? why tremblest thou?
Where is our uncle? what's the matter, Suffolk?

Earl of Suffolk. Dead in his bed, my lord; Gloucester is dead.

40

III,2,1716

Queen Margaret. Run, go, help, help! O Henry, ope thine eyes!

Earl of Suffolk. He doth revive again: madam, be patient.

41

III,2,1719

Queen Margaret. How fares my gracious lord?

Earl of Suffolk. Comfort, my sovereign! gracious Henry, comfort!

42

III,2,1843

Earl of Warwick. As surely as my soul intends to live
With that dread King that took our state upon him
To free us from his father's wrathful curse,
I do believe that violent hands were laid
Upon the life of this thrice-famed duke.

Earl of Suffolk. A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue!
What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?

43

III,2,1864

Earl of Warwick. See how the blood is settled in his face.
Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,
Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale and bloodless,
Being all descended to the labouring heart;
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy;
Which with the heart there cools and ne'er returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again.
But see, his face is black and full of blood,
His eye-balls further out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man;
His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretched with struggling;
His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd
And tugg'd for life and was by strength subdued:
Look, on the sheets his hair you see, is sticking;
His well-proportion'd beard made rough and rugged,
Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodged.
It cannot be but he was murder'd here;
The least of all these signs were probable.

Earl of Suffolk. Why, Warwick, who should do the duke to death?
Myself and Beaufort had him in protection;
And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers.

44

III,2,1882

Queen Margaret. Are you the butcher, Suffolk? Where's your knife?
Is Beaufort term'd a kite? Where are his talons?

Earl of Suffolk. I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men;
But here's a vengeful sword, rusted with ease,
That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart
That slanders me with murder's crimson badge.
Say, if thou darest, proud Lord of Warwick-shire,
That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey's death.

45

III,2,1896

Earl of Warwick. Madam, be still; with reverence may I say;
For every word you speak in his behalf
Is slander to your royal dignity.

Earl of Suffolk. Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanor!
If ever lady wrong'd her lord so much,
Thy mother took into her blameful bed
Some stern untutor'd churl, and noble stock
Was graft with crab-tree slip; whose fruit thou art,
And never of the Nevils' noble race.

46

III,2,1913

Earl of Warwick. But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee
And I should rob the deathsman of his fee,
Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames,
And that my sovereign's presence makes me mild,
I would, false murderous coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy passed speech,
And say it was thy mother that thou meant'st
That thou thyself was born in bastardy;
And after all this fearful homage done,
Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell,
Pernicious blood-sucker of sleeping men!

Earl of Suffolk. Thou shall be waking well I shed thy blood,
If from this presence thou darest go with me.

47

III,2,1930

Henry VI. Why, how now, lords! your wrathful weapons drawn
Here in our presence! dare you be so bold?
Why, what tumultuous clamour have we here?

Earl of Suffolk. The traitorous Warwick with the men of Bury
Set all upon me, mighty sovereign.

48

III,2,1963

Commons. [Within] An answer from the king, my
Lord of Salisbury!

Earl of Suffolk. 'Tis like the commons, rude unpolish'd hinds,
Could send such message to their sovereign:
But you, my lord, were glad to be employ'd,
To show how quaint an orator you are:
But all the honour Salisbury hath won
Is, that he was the lord ambassador
Sent from a sort of tinkers to the king.

49

III,2,1999

Queen Margaret. Mischance and sorrow go along with you!
Heart's discontent and sour affliction
Be playfellows to keep you company!
There's two of you; the devil make a third!
And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!

Earl of Suffolk. Cease, gentle queen, these execrations,
And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave.

50

III,2,2003

Queen Margaret. Fie, coward woman and soft-hearted wretch!
Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemy?

Earl of Suffolk. A plague upon them! wherefore should I curse them?
Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan,
I would invent as bitter-searching terms,
As curst, as harsh and horrible to hear,
Deliver'd strongly through my fixed teeth,
With full as many signs of deadly hate,
As lean-faced Envy in her loathsome cave:
My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words;
Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint;
Mine hair be fixed on end, as one distract;
Ay, every joint should seem to curse and ban:
And even now my burthen'd heart would break,
Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink!
Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they taste!
Their sweetest shade a grove of cypress trees!
Their chiefest prospect murdering basilisks!
Their softest touch as smart as lizards' sting!
Their music frightful as the serpent's hiss,
And boding screech-owls make the concert full!
All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell—

51

III,2,2027

Queen Margaret. Enough, sweet Suffolk; thou torment'st thyself;
And these dread curses, like the sun 'gainst glass,
Or like an overcharged gun, recoil,
And turn the force of them upon thyself.

Earl of Suffolk. You bade me ban, and will you bid me leave?
Now, by the ground that I am banish'd from,
Well could I curse away a winter's night,
Though standing naked on a mountain top,
Where biting cold would never let grass grow,
And think it but a minute spent in sport.

52

III,2,2051

Queen Margaret. O, let me entreat thee cease. Give me thy hand,
That I may dew it with my mournful tears;
Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place,
To wash away my woful monuments.
O, could this kiss be printed in thy hand,
That thou mightst think upon these by the seal,
Through whom a thousand sighs are breathed for thee!
So, get thee gone, that I may know my grief;
'Tis but surmised whiles thou art standing by,
As one that surfeits thinking on a want.
I will repeal thee, or, be well assured,
Adventure to be banished myself:
And banished I am, if but from thee.
Go; speak not to me; even now be gone.
O, go not yet! Even thus two friends condemn'd
Embrace and kiss and take ten thousand leaves,
Loather a hundred times to part than die.
Yet now farewell; and farewell life with thee!

Earl of Suffolk. Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished;
Once by the king, and three times thrice by thee.
'Tis not the land I care for, wert thou thence;
A wilderness is populous enough,
So Suffolk had thy heavenly company:
For where thou art, there is the world itself,
With every several pleasure in the world,
And where thou art not, desolation.
I can no more: live thou to joy thy life;
Myself no joy in nought but that thou livest.

53

III,2,2084

Queen Margaret. Go tell this heavy message to the king.
[Exit VAUX]
Ay me! what is this world! what news are these!
But wherefore grieve I at an hour's poor loss,
Omitting Suffolk's exile, my soul's treasure?
Why only, Suffolk, mourn I not for thee,
And with the southern clouds contend in tears,
Theirs for the earth's increase, mine for my sorrows?
Now get thee hence: the king, thou know'st, is coming;
If thou be found by me, thou art but dead.

Earl of Suffolk. If I depart from thee, I cannot live;
And in thy sight to die, what were it else
But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap?
Here could I breathe my soul into the air,
As mild and gentle as the cradle-babe
Dying with mother's dug between its lips:
Where, from thy sight, I should be raging mad,
And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes,
To have thee with thy lips to stop my mouth;
So shouldst thou either turn my flying soul,
Or I should breathe it so into thy body,
And then it lived in sweet Elysium.
To die by thee were but to die in jest;
From thee to die were torture more than death:
O, let me stay, befall what may befall!

54

III,2,2104

Queen Margaret. Away! though parting be a fretful corrosive,
It is applied to a deathful wound.
To France, sweet Suffolk: let me hear from thee;
For wheresoe'er thou art in this world's globe,
I'll have an Iris that shall find thee out.

Earl of Suffolk. I go.

55

III,2,2106

Queen Margaret. And take my heart with thee.

Earl of Suffolk. A jewel, lock'd into the wofull'st cask
That ever did contain a thing of worth.
Even as a splitted bark, so sunder we
This way fall I to death.

56

IV,1,2181

Captain. Be not so rash; take ransom, let him live.

Earl of Suffolk. Look on my George; I am a gentleman:
Rate me at what thou wilt, thou shalt be paid.

57

IV,1,2186

Walter Whitmore. And so am I; my name is Walter Whitmore.
How now! why start'st thou? what, doth
death affright?

Earl of Suffolk. Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death.
A cunning man did calculate my birth
And told me that by water I should die:
Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded;
Thy name is Gaultier, being rightly sounded.

58

IV,1,2197

Walter Whitmore. Gaultier or Walter, which it is, I care not:
Never yet did base dishonour blur our name,
But with our sword we wiped away the blot;
Therefore, when merchant-like I sell revenge,
Broke be my sword, my arms torn and defaced,
And I proclaim'd a coward through the world!

Earl of Suffolk. Stay, Whitmore; for thy prisoner is a prince,
The Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole.

59

IV,1,2200

Walter Whitmore. The Duke of Suffolk muffled up in rags!

Earl of Suffolk. Ay, but these rags are no part of the duke:
Jove sometimes went disguised, and why not I?

60

IV,1,2203

Captain. But Jove was never slain, as thou shalt be.

Earl of Suffolk. Obscure and lowly swain, King Henry's blood,
The honourable blood of Lancaster,
Must not be shed by such a jaded groom.
Hast thou not kiss'd thy hand and held my stirrup?
Bare-headed plodded by my foot-cloth mule
And thought thee happy when I shook my head?
How often hast thou waited at my cup,
Fed from my trencher, kneel'd down at the board.
When I have feasted with Queen Margaret?
Remember it and let it make thee crest-fall'n,
Ay, and allay this thy abortive pride;
How in our voiding lobby hast thou stood
And duly waited for my coming forth?
This hand of mine hath writ in thy behalf,
And therefore shall it charm thy riotous tongue.

61

IV,1,2220

Captain. First let my words stab him, as he hath me.

Earl of Suffolk. Base slave, thy words are blunt and so art thou.

62

IV,1,2223

Captain. Convey him hence and on our longboat's side
Strike off his head.

Earl of Suffolk. Thou darest not, for thy own.

63

IV,1,2225

Captain. Yes, Pole.

Earl of Suffolk. Pole!

64

IV,1,2260

Captain. Pool! Sir Pool! lord!
Ay, kennel, puddle, sink; whose filth and dirt
Troubles the silver spring where England drinks.
Now will I dam up this thy yawning mouth
For swallowing the treasure of the realm:
Thy lips that kiss'd the queen shall sweep the ground;
And thou that smiledst at good Duke Humphrey's death,
Against the senseless winds shalt grin in vain,
Who in contempt shall hiss at thee again:
And wedded be thou to the hags of hell,
For daring to affy a mighty lord
Unto the daughter of a worthless king,
Having neither subject, wealth, nor diadem.
By devilish policy art thou grown great,
And, like ambitious Sylla, overgorged
With gobbets of thy mother's bleeding heart.
By thee Anjou and Maine were sold to France,
The false revolting Normans thorough thee
Disdain to call us lord, and Picardy
Hath slain their governors, surprised our forts,
And sent the ragged soldiers wounded home.
The princely Warwick, and the Nevils all,
Whose dreadful swords were never drawn in vain,
As hating thee, are rising up in arms:
And now the house of York, thrust from the crown
By shameful murder of a guiltless king
And lofty proud encroaching tyranny,
Burns with revenging fire; whose hopeful colours
Advance our half-faced sun, striving to shine,
Under the which is writ 'Invitis nubibus.'
The commons here in Kent are up in arms:
And, to conclude, reproach and beggary
Is crept into the palace of our king.
And all by thee. Away! convey him hence.

Earl of Suffolk. O that I were a god, to shoot forth thunder
Upon these paltry, servile, abject drudges!
Small things make base men proud: this villain here,
Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more
Than Bargulus the strong Illyrian pirate.
Drones suck not eagles' blood but rob beehives:
It is impossible that I should die
By such a lowly vassal as thyself.
Thy words move rage and not remorse in me:
I go of message from the queen to France;
I charge thee waft me safely cross the Channel.

65

IV,1,2273

Walter Whitmore. Come, Suffolk, I must waft thee to thy death.

Earl of Suffolk. Gelidus timor occupat artus it is thee I fear.

66

IV,1,2277

First Gentleman. My gracious lord, entreat him, speak him fair.

Earl of Suffolk. Suffolk's imperial tongue is stern and rough,
Used to command, untaught to plead for favour.
Far be it we should honour such as these
With humble suit: no, rather let my head
Stoop to the block than these knees bow to any
Save to the God of heaven and to my king;
And sooner dance upon a bloody pole
Than stand uncover'd to the vulgar groom.
True nobility is exempt from fear:
More can I bear than you dare execute.

67

IV,1,2288

Captain. Hale him away, and let him talk no more.

Earl of Suffolk. Come, soldiers, show what cruelty ye can,
That this my death may never be forgot!
Great men oft die by vile bezonians:
A Roman sworder and banditto slave
Murder'd sweet Tully; Brutus' bastard hand
Stabb'd Julius Caesar; savage islanders
Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates.