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| The Second part of King Henry the Sixth |
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| Henry VI, part 2
| Act 4, Scene 4
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Enter KING HENRY VI with a supplication, and the QUEEN with SUFFOLK'S head, BUCKINGHAM and Lord SAYQUEEN MARGARET
Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind,BUCKINGHAM
And makes it fearful and degenerate;
Think therefore on revenge and cease to weep.
But who can cease to weep and look on this?
Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast:
But where's the body that I should embrace?
What answer makes your grace to the rebels'KING HENRY VI
supplication?
I'll send some holy bishop to entreat;QUEEN MARGARET
For God forbid so many simple souls
Should perish by the sword! And I myself,
Rather than bloody war shall cut them short,
Will parley with Jack Cade their general:
But stay, I'll read it over once again.
Ah, barbarous villains! hath this lovely faceKING HENRY VI
Ruled, like a wandering planet, over me,
And could it not enforce them to relent,
That were unworthy to behold the same?
Lord Say, Jack Cade hath sworn to have thy head.SAY
Ay, but I hope your highness shall have his.KING HENRY VI
How now, madam!QUEEN MARGARET
Still lamenting and mourning for Suffolk's death?
I fear me, love, if that I had been dead,
Thou wouldst not have mourn'd so much for me.
No, my love, I should not mourn, but die for thee.KING HENRY VI
Enter a Messenger
How now! what news? why comest thou in such haste?Messenger
The rebels are in Southwark; fly, my lord!KING HENRY VI
Jack Cade proclaims himself Lord Mortimer,
Descended from the Duke of Clarence' house,
And calls your grace usurper openly
And vows to crown himself in Westminster.
His army is a ragged multitude
Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless:
Sir Humphrey Stafford and h is brother's death
Hath given them heart and courage to proceed:
All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen,
They call false caterpillars, and intend their death.
O graceless men! they know not what they do.BUCKINGHAM
My gracious lord, return to Killingworth,QUEEN MARGARET
Until a power be raised to put them down.
Ah, were the Duke of Suffolk now alive,KING HENRY VI
These Kentish rebels would be soon appeased!
Lord Say, the traitors hate thee;SAY
Therefore away with us to Killingworth.
So might your grace's person be in danger.Messenger
The sight of me is odious in their eyes;
And therefore in this city will I stay
And live alone as secret as I may.
Enter another Messenger
Jack Cade hath gotten London bridge:BUCKINGHAM
The citizens fly and forsake their houses:
The rascal people, thirsting after prey,
Join with the traitor, and they jointly swear
To spoil the city and your royal court.
Then linger not, my lord, away, take horse.KING HENRY VI
Come, Margaret; God, our hope, will succor us.QUEEN MARGARET
My hope is gone, now Suffolk is deceased.KING HENRY VI
Farewell, my lord: trust not the Kentish rebels.BUCKINGHAM
Trust nobody, for fear you be betray'd.SAY
The trust I have is in mine innocence,
And therefore am I bold and resolute.
Exeunt
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| Henry VI, part 2
| Act 4, Scene 4
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