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Henry VI, Pt. 2: Act II, Scene 3

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Henry VI, Pt. 2
Act II, Scene 3

A hall of justice.

Here, neighbor Horner, I drink to you in a cup of sack; and fear not, neighbor, you shall do well enough.

J. Coghlan, circa 1825

  1. Sound trumpets. Enter the King and State: the Queen,
  2. Gloucester, York, Suffolk, and Salisbury, with Guard, to
  3. banish the Duchess. Enter, guarded, the Duchess of
  4. Gloucester, Margery Jourdain, Southwell, Hume, and
  5. Bolingbrook.

King Henry the Sixth

1 - 13
  1. Stand forth, Dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloucester’s wife:
  2. In sight of God and us, your guilt is great;
  3. Receive the sentence of the law for sins
  4. Such as by God’s book are adjudg’d to death.
  5. You four, from hence to prison back again;
  6. From thence, unto the place of execution.
  7. The witch in Smithfield shall be burnt to ashes,
  8. And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.
  9. You, madam, for you are more nobly born,
  10. Despoiled of your honor in your life,
  11. Shall, after three days’ open penance done,
  12. Live in your country here in banishment,
  13. With Sir John Stanley, in the Isle of Man.

Duchess

14
  1. Welcome is banishment, welcome were my death.

Duke of Gloucester

15 - 21
  1. Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hath judged thee;
  2. I cannot justify whom the law condemns.
  3. Exeunt Duchess and other prisoners, guarded.
  4. Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.
  5. Ah, Humphrey, this dishonor in thine age
  6. Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground!
  7. I beseech your Majesty give me leave to go;
  8. Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.

King Henry the Sixth

22 - 27
  1. Stay, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester! Ere thou go,
  2. Give up thy staff. Henry will to himself
  3. Protector be, and God shall be my hope,
  4. My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet;
  5. And go in peace, Humphrey, no less belov’d
  6. Than when thou wert Protector to thy king.

Queen Margaret

28 - 31
  1. I see no reason why a king of years
  2. Should be to be protected like a child.
  3. God and King Henry govern England’s realm.
  4. Give up your staff, sir, and the King his realm.

Duke of Gloucester

32 - 38
  1. My staff? Here, noble Henry, is my staff.
  2. As willingly do I the same resign
  3. As ere thy father Henry made it mine;
  4. And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it
  5. As others would ambitiously receive it.
  6. Farewell, good King; when I am dead and gone,
  7. May honorable peace attend thy throne!
  1. Exit Gloucester.

Queen Margaret

39 - 44
  1. Why, now is Henry king and Margaret queen,
  2. And Humphrey Duke of Gloucester scarce himself,
  3. That bears so shrewd a maim: two pulls at once—
  4. His lady banish’d, and a limb lopp’d off.
  5. This staff of honor raught, there let it stand,
  6. Where it best fits to be, in Henry’s hand.

Duke of Suffolk

45 - 46
  1. Thus droops this lofty pine and hangs his sprays,
  2. Thus Eleanor’s pride dies in her youngest days.

Duke of York

47 - 51
  1. Lords, let him go. Please it your Majesty,
  2. This is the day appointed for the combat,
  3. And ready are the appellant and defendant,
  4. The armorer and his man, to enter the lists,
  5. So please your Highness to behold the fight.

Queen Margaret

52 - 53
  1. Ay, good my lord; for purposely therefore
  2. Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried.

King Henry the Sixth

54 - 55
  1. A’ God’s name see the lists and all things fit;
  2. Here let them end it, and God defend the right!

Duke of York

56 - 58
  1. I never saw a fellow worse bestead,
  2. Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant,
  3. The servant of this armorer, my lords.
  1. Enter at one door Horner the armorer and his Neighbors,
  2. drinking to him so much that he is drunk; and he enters with
  3. a Drum before him and his staff with a sand-bag fastened to
  4. it; and at the other door Peter, his man, with a Drum and
  5. sand-bag, and Prentices drinking to him.
Robert Baddeley as Peter Thump

I have taken my last draught in this world

Robert Baddeley as Peter Thump

J. Thornthwaite; John Bell, publisher; Mather Brown; 1786

First Neighbor

59 - 60
  1. Here, neighbor Horner, I drink to you in a cup of sack; and
  2. fear not, neighbor, you shall do well enough.

Second Neighbor

61
  1. And here, neighbor, here’s a cup of charneco.

Third Neighbor

62 - 63
  1. And here’s a pot of good double beer, neighbor. Drink, and
  2. fear not your man.

Thomas Horner

64 - 65
  1. Let it come, i’ faith, and I’ll pledge you all, and a fig
  2. for Peter!

First Prentice

66
  1. Here, Peter, I drink to thee, and be not afraid.

Second Prentice

67 - 68
  1. Be merry, Peter, and fear not thy master. Fight for credit
  2. of the prentices.

Peter

69 - 74
  1. I thank you all. Drink, and pray for me, I pray you, for I
  2. think I have taken my last draught in this world. Here,
  3. Robin, and if I die, I give thee my apron; and, Will, thou
  4. shalt have my hammer; and here, Tom, take all the money that
  5. I have. O Lord bless me, I pray God, for I am never able to
  6. deal with my master, he hath learnt so much fence already.

Earl of Salisbury

75 - 76
  1. Come, leave your drinking, and fall to blows. Sirrah, what’s
  2. thy name?

Peter

77
  1. Peter, forsooth.

Earl of Salisbury

78
  1. Peter? What more?

Peter

79
  1. Thump.

Earl of Salisbury

80
  1. Thump? Then see thou thump thy master well.

Thomas Horner

81 - 85
  1. Masters, I am come hither, as it were, upon my man’s
  2. instigation, to prove him a knave and myself an honest man;
  3. and touching the Duke of York, I will take my death, I never
  4. meant him any ill, nor the King, nor the Queen; and
  5. therefore, Peter, have at thee with a downright blow!

Duke of York

86 - 87
  1. Dispatch. This knave’s tongue begins to double.
  2. Sound, trumpets, alarum to the combatants!
  1. Alarum. They fight, and Peter hits him on the head and
  2. strikes him down.

Thomas Horner

88
  1. Hold, Peter, hold! I confess, I confess treason.
  1. He dies.

Duke of York

89 - 90
  1. Take away his weapon. Fellow, thank God, and the good wine
  2. in thy master’s way.

Peter

91 - 92
  1. He kneels down.
  2. O God, have I overcome mine enemies in this presence? O
  3. Peter, thou hast prevail’d in right!

King Henry the Sixth

93 - 98
  1. Go, take hence that traitor from our sight,
  2. For by his death we do perceive his guilt,
  3. And God in justice hath reveal’d to us
  4. The truth and innocence of this poor fellow,
  5. Which he had thought to have murder’d wrongfully.
  6. Come, fellow, follow us for thy reward.
  1. Sound a flourish. Exeunt.
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