Act III, Scene 3

France. KING LEWIS XI’s palace.

[Flourish. Enter KING LEWIS XI, his sister BONA,] [p]his Admiral, called BOURBON, PRINCE EDWARD, QUEEN [p]MARGARET, and OXFORD. KING LEWIS XI sits, and [p]riseth up again]

• King Lewis XI. Fair Queen of England, worthy Margaret, 1690
  Sit down with us: it ill befits thy state
  And birth, that thou shouldst stand while Lewis doth sit.

• Queen Margaret. No, mighty King of France: now Margaret
  Must strike her sail and learn awhile to serve
  Where kings command. I was, I must confess, 1695
  Great Albion's queen in former golden days:
  But now mischance hath trod my title down,
  And with dishonour laid me on the ground;
  Where I must take like seat unto my fortune,
  And to my humble seat conform myself. 1700

• King Lewis XI. Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep despair?

• Queen Margaret. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears
  And stops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in cares.

• King Lewis XI. Whate'er it be, be thou still like thyself,
  And sit thee by our side: 1705
  [Seats her by him]
  Yield not thy neck
  To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind
  Still ride in triumph over all mischance.
  Be plain, Queen Margaret, and tell thy grief; 1710
  It shall be eased, if France can yield relief.

• Queen Margaret. Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts
  And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.
  Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,
  That Henry, sole possessor of my love, 1715
  Is of a king become a banish'd man,
  And forced to live in Scotland a forlorn;
  While proud ambitious Edward Duke of York
  Usurps the regal title and the seat
  Of England's true-anointed lawful king. 1720
  This is the cause that I, poor Margaret,
  With this my son, Prince Edward, Henry's heir,
  Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid;
  And if thou fail us, all our hope is done:
  Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help; 1725
  Our people and our peers are both misled,
  Our treasures seized, our soldiers put to flight,
  And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight.

• King Lewis XI. Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm,
  While we bethink a means to break it off. 1730

• Queen Margaret. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.

• King Lewis XI. The more I stay, the more I'll succor thee.

• Queen Margaret. O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow.
  And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow!

[Enter WARWICK]

• King Lewis XI. What's he approacheth boldly to our presence?

• Queen Margaret. Our Earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.

• King Lewis XI. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to France?

[He descends. She ariseth]

• Queen Margaret. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise; 1740
  For this is he that moves both wind and tide.

• Earl of Warwick. From worthy Edward, King of Albion,
  My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
  I come, in kindness and unfeigned love,
  First, to do greetings to thy royal person; 1745
  And then to crave a league of amity;
  And lastly, to confirm that amity
  With a nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant
  That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair sister,
  To England's king in lawful marriage. 1750

• Queen Margaret. [Aside] If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.

• Earl of Warwick. [To BONA] And, gracious madam, in our king's behalf,
  I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
  Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
  To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart; 1755
  Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
  Hath placed thy beauty's image and thy virtue.

• Queen Margaret. King Lewis and Lady Bona, hear me speak,
  Before you answer Warwick. His demand
  Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love, 1760
  But from deceit bred by necessity;
  For how can tyrants safely govern home,
  Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
  To prove him tyrant this reason may suffice,
  That Henry liveth still: but were he dead, 1765
  Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henry's son.
  Look, therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage
  Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour;
  For though usurpers sway the rule awhile,
  Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs. 1770

• Earl of Warwick. Injurious Margaret!

• Prince Edward. And why not queen?

• Earl of Warwick. Because thy father Henry did usurp;
  And thou no more are prince than she is queen.

• Earl Oxford. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt, 1775
  Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;
  And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,
  Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest;
  And, after that wise prince, Henry the Fifth,
  Who by his prowess conquered all France: 1780
  From these our Henry lineally descends.

• Earl of Warwick. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth discourse,
  You told not how Henry the Sixth hath lost
  All that which Henry Fifth had gotten?
  Methinks these peers of France should smile at that. 1785
  But for the rest, you tell a pedigree
  Of threescore and two years; a silly time
  To make prescription for a kingdom's worth.

• Earl Oxford. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,
  Whom thou obeyed'st thirty and six years, 1790
  And not bewray thy treason with a blush?

• Earl of Warwick. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
  Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?
  For shame! leave Henry, and call Edward king.

• Earl Oxford. Call him my king by whose injurious doom 1795
  My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere,
  Was done to death? and more than so, my father,
  Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years,
  When nature brought him to the door of death?
  No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm, 1800
  This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.

• Earl of Warwick. And I the house of York.

• King Lewis XI. Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,
  Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside,
  While I use further conference with Warwick. 1805

[They stand aloof]

• Queen Margaret. Heavens grant that Warwick's words bewitch him not!

• King Lewis XI. Now Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience,
  Is Edward your true king? for I were loath
  To link with him that were not lawful chosen. 1810

• Earl of Warwick. Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.

• King Lewis XI. But is he gracious in the people's eye?

• Earl of Warwick. The more that Henry was unfortunate.

• King Lewis XI. Then further, all dissembling set aside,
  Tell me for truth the measure of his love 1815
  Unto our sister Bona.

• Earl of Warwick. Such it seems
  As may beseem a monarch like himself.
  Myself have often heard him say and swear
  That this his love was an eternal plant, 1820
  Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,
  The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun,
  Exempt from envy, but not from disdain,
  Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain.

• King Lewis XI. Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve. 1825

• Bona. Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine:
  [To WARWICK]
  Yet I confess that often ere this day,
  When I have heard your king's desert recounted,
  Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire. 1830

• King Lewis XI. Then, Warwick, thus: our sister shall be Edward's;
  And now forthwith shall articles be drawn
  Touching the jointure that your king must make,
  Which with her dowry shall be counterpoised.
  Draw near, Queen Margaret, and be a witness 1835
  That Bona shall be wife to the English king.

• Prince Edward. To Edward, but not to the English king.

• Queen Margaret. Deceitful Warwick! it was thy device
  By this alliance to make void my suit:
  Before thy coming Lewis was Henry's friend. 1840

• King Lewis XI. And still is friend to him and Margaret:
  But if your title to the crown be weak,
  As may appear by Edward's good success,
  Then 'tis but reason that I be released
  From giving aid which late I promised. 1845
  Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand
  That your estate requires and mine can yield.

• Earl of Warwick. Henry now lives in Scotland at his ease,
  Where having nothing, nothing can he lose.
  And as for you yourself, our quondam queen, 1850
  You have a father able to maintain you;
  And better 'twere you troubled him than France.

• Queen Margaret. Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, peace,
  Proud setter up and puller down of kings!
  I will not hence, till, with my talk and tears, 1855
  Both full of truth, I make King Lewis behold
  Thy sly conveyance and thy lord's false love;
  For both of you are birds of selfsame feather.

[Post blows a horn within]

• King Lewis XI. Warwick, this is some post to us or thee. 1860

[Enter a Post]

• Post. [To WARWICK] My lord ambassador, these letters are for you,
  Sent from your brother, Marquess Montague:
  [To KING LEWIS XI]
  These from our king unto your majesty: 1865
  [To QUEEN MARGARET]
  And, madam, these for you; from whom I know not.

[They all read their letters]

• Earl Oxford. I like it well that our fair queen and mistress
  Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his. 1870

• Prince Edward. Nay, mark how Lewis stamps, as he were nettled:
  I hope all's for the best.

• King Lewis XI. Warwick, what are thy news? and yours, fair queen?

• Queen Margaret. Mine, such as fill my heart with unhoped joys.

• Earl of Warwick. Mine, full of sorrow and heart's discontent. 1875

• King Lewis XI. What! has your king married the Lady Grey!
  And now, to soothe your forgery and his,
  Sends me a paper to persuade me patience?
  Is this the alliance that he seeks with France?
  Dare he presume to scorn us in this manner? 1880

• Queen Margaret. I told your majesty as much before:
  This proveth Edward's love and Warwick's honesty.

• Earl of Warwick. King Lewis, I here protest, in sight of heaven,
  And by the hope I have of heavenly bliss,
  That I am clear from this misdeed of Edward's, 1885
  No more my king, for he dishonours me,
  But most himself, if he could see his shame.
  Did I forget that by the house of York
  My father came untimely to his death?
  Did I let pass the abuse done to my niece? 1890
  Did I impale him with the regal crown?
  Did I put Henry from his native right?
  And am I guerdon'd at the last with shame?
  Shame on himself! for my desert is honour:
  And to repair my honour lost for him, 1895
  I here renounce him and return to Henry.
  My noble queen, let former grudges pass,
  And henceforth I am thy true servitor:
  I will revenge his wrong to Lady Bona,
  And replant Henry in his former state. 1900

• Queen Margaret. Warwick, these words have turn'd my hate to love;
  And I forgive and quite forget old faults,
  And joy that thou becomest King Henry's friend.

• Earl of Warwick. So much his friend, ay, his unfeigned friend,
  That, if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us 1905
  With some few bands of chosen soldiers,
  I'll undertake to land them on our coast
  And force the tyrant from his seat by war.
  'Tis not his new-made bride shall succor him:
  And as for Clarence, as my letters tell me, 1910
  He's very likely now to fall from him,
  For matching more for wanton lust than honour,
  Or than for strength and safety of our country.

• Bona. Dear brother, how shall Bona be revenged
  But by thy help to this distressed queen? 1915

• Queen Margaret. Renowned prince, how shall poor Henry live,
  Unless thou rescue him from foul despair?

• Bona. My quarrel and this English queen's are one.

• Earl of Warwick. And mine, fair lady Bona, joins with yours.

• King Lewis XI. And mine with hers, and thine, and Margaret's. 1920
  Therefore at last I firmly am resolved
  You shall have aid.

• Queen Margaret. Let me give humble thanks for all at once.

• King Lewis XI. Then, England's messenger, return in post,
  And tell false Edward, thy supposed king, 1925
  That Lewis of France is sending over masquers
  To revel it with him and his new bride:
  Thou seest what's past, go fear thy king withal.

• Bona. Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly,
  I'll wear the willow garland for his sake. 1930

• Queen Margaret. Tell him, my mourning weeds are laid aside,
  And I am ready to put armour on.

• Earl of Warwick. Tell him from me that he hath done me wrong,
  And therefore I'll uncrown him ere't be long.
  There's thy reward: be gone. 1935

[Exit Post]

• King Lewis XI. But, Warwick,
  Thou and Oxford, with five thousand men,
  Shall cross the seas, and bid false Edward battle;
  And, as occasion serves, this noble queen 1940
  And prince shall follow with a fresh supply.
  Yet, ere thou go, but answer me one doubt,
  What pledge have we of thy firm loyalty?

• Earl of Warwick. This shall assure my constant loyalty,
  That if our queen and this young prince agree, 1945
  I'll join mine eldest daughter and my joy
  To him forthwith in holy wedlock bands.

• Queen Margaret. Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion.
  Son Edward, she is fair and virtuous,
  Therefore delay not, give thy hand to Warwick; 1950
  And, with thy hand, thy faith irrevocable,
  That only Warwick's daughter shall be thine.

• Prince Edward. Yes, I accept her, for she well deserves it;
  And here, to pledge my vow, I give my hand.

[He gives his hand to WARWICK]

• King Lewis XI. Why stay we now? These soldiers shall be levied,
  And thou, Lord Bourbon, our high admiral,
  Shalt waft them over with our royal fleet.
  I long till Edward fall by war's mischance,
  For mocking marriage with a dame of France. 1960

[Exeunt all but WARWICK]

• Earl of Warwick. I came from Edward as ambassador,
  But I return his sworn and mortal foe:
  Matter of marriage was the charge he gave me,
  But dreadful war shall answer his demand. 1965
  Had he none else to make a stale but me?
  Then none but I shall turn his jest to sorrow.
  I was the chief that raised him to the crown,
  And I'll be chief to bring him down again:
  Not that I pity Henry's misery, 1970
  But seek revenge on Edward's mockery.

[Exit]