'Dealing with witches, and with conjurers; 'Whom we have apprehended in the fact; 'Raising up wicked spirits from under ground, 'Demanding of king Henry's life and death, And other of your highness' privy council, 'As more at large your grace shall understand. 'Car. And so, my lord protector, by this means Your lady is forthcoming yet at London. This news, I think, hath turned your weapon's edge. 'Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour. [Aside to GLOster. Glo. Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart! * Sorrow and grief have vanquished all my powers; * And, vanquished as I am, I yield to thee, * Or to the meanest groom. *K. Hen. O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones; * Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby! * Q. Mar. Gloster, see here the tainture of thy nest; *And, look thyself be faultless; thou wert best. Glo. Madam, for myself, to Heaven I do appeal, 'How I have loved my king, and common-weal: 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 'Honor and virtue, and conversed 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, · K. Hen. 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; Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails. [Flourish. Exeunt. SCENE II. London. The Duke of York's Garden. Enter YORK, SALISBURY, and WARWICK. York. Now, my good lords of Salisbury and War- Our simple supper ended, give me leave, War. Sweet York, begin; and if thy claim be good, The Nevils are thy subjects to command. York. Then thus: Edward the Third, my lords, had seven sons: • The first, Edward, the Black Prince, prince of Wales; 'The second, William of Hatfield; and the third, Lionel, duke of Clarence; next to whom, Was John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster; The fifth was Edmond Langley, duke of York; The sixth was Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloster; 'William of Windsor was the seventh, and last. 'Edward, the Black Prince, died before his father; And left behind him Richard, his only son, Who, after Edward the Third's death, reigned as king; 'Till Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster, The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt, Crowned by the name of Henry the Fourth, Seized on the realm; deposed the rightful king; Sent his poor queen to France, from whence she came, And him to Pomfret; where, as you all know, Harmless Richard was murdered traitorously. * War. Father, the duke hath told the truth; *Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown. * York. Which now they hold by force, and not by right; * For Richard, the first son's heir being dead, *The issue of the next son should have reigned. * Sal. But William of Hatfield died without an heir. *York. The third son, duke of Clarence (from whose line * I claim the crown) had issue-Philippe, a daughter, * Who married Edmund Mortimer, earl of March; * Edmund had issue-Roger, earl of March; * Roger had issue-Edmund, Anne, and Eleanor. Sal. This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke, 'As I have read, laid claim unto the crown; 'And, but for Owen Glendower, had been king, 'Who kept him in captivity, till he died.1 *But, to the rest. • York. His eldest sister, Anne, 'My mother, being heir unto the crown, Married Richard, earl of Cambridge; who was son 'To Edmund Langley, Edward the Third's fifth son. 'By her I claim the kingdom: she was heir To Roger, earl of March; who was the son 1 Some of the mistakes of the historians and the drama concerning Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, are noticed in a note to the former play; where he is introduced as an aged and gray-haired prisoner in the Tower, and represented as having been confined" since Harry Monmouth first began to reign." Yet here we are told he was kept in captivity by Owen Glendower till he died. The fact is, that Hall having said Owen Glendower kept his son-in-law, lord Grey of Ruthvin, in captivity till he died, and this lord March having been said by some historians to have married Owen's daughter, the author of this play has confounded them with each other. This Edmund being only six years of age at the death of his father, in 1398, he was delivered by king Henry IV. in ward to his son Henry prince of Wales, and during the whole of that reign, being a minor, and related to the family on the throne, he was under the particular care of the king. At the age of ten years, in 1402, he headed a body of Herefordshire men against Owen Glendower, and was taken prisoner by him. The Percies, in the manifesto they published before the battle of Shrewsbury, speak of him as rightful heir to the crown, whom Owen had confined, and whom, finding for political reasons that the king would not ransom him, they at their own charges had ransomed. If he was at the battle of Shrewsbury, he was probably brought there against his will, to grace their cause, and was under the care of the king soon after. Great trust was reposed in this earl of March during the whole reign of king Henry V. In the sixth year of that king he was at the siege of Fresnes, with the earl of Salisbury; and soon afterwards with the king himself at the siege of Melun. In the same year he was made lieutenant of Normandy; was at Melun with Henry to treat of his marriage with Catharine; and accompanied that queen when she returned from France with the corpse of her husband, in 1422, and died two years afterwards at his castle of Trim, in Ireland. 6 'Of Edmund Mortimer; who married Philippe, 'Sole daughter unto Lionel, duke of Clarence: So, if the issue of the elder son Succeed before the younger, I am king. 'War. What plain proceedings are more plain than this? Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt, • Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign; And in thy sons, fair slips of such a stock.- • With honor of his birthright to the crown. Both. Long live our sovereign Richard, England's king! · York. We thank you, lords. But I am not your king 'Till I be crowned; and that my sword be stained * But with advice and silent secrecy. * Do you, as I do, in these dangerous days, * Sal. My lord, break we off; we know your mind at full. War. My heart assures me, that the earl of War wick • Shall one day make the duke of York a king. York. And, Nevil, this I do assure myself, 1 Sequestered spot. 'Richard shall live to make the earl of Warwick The greatest man in England, but the king. [Exeunt. SCENE III. The same. A Hall of Justice. Trumpets sounded. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, GLOSTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, and SALISBURY; the DUCHESS of GLOSTER, MARGERY JOURdain, SouthwelL, HUME, and BOLINGBROKE, under guard. 'K. Hen. Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloster's wife: In sight of God, and us, your guilt is great; [TO JOURD., &c. *From thence unto the place of execution; *The witch in Smithfield shall be burned to ashes, * And you three shall be strangled on the gallows.'You, madam,-for you are more nobly born,— 6 Despoiled of your honor in your life, • Shall after three days' open penance done, 'Live in your country here, in banishment, With sir John Stanley, in the Isle of Man. 'Duch. Welcome is banishment; welcome were my death. * Glo. Eleanor, the law, thou seest, hath judged thee; *I cannot justify whom the law condemns. [Exeunt the Duchess, and the other Prisoners, Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief. thou go, |