Saint Albans.
 Enter the KING, QUEEN MARGARET, GLOUCESTER, CARDINAL, and SUFFOLK,
 with FALCONERS hallooing.

Margaret	Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,
	I saw not better sport these seven years' day;
	Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high,
	And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.

King Henry	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.

Suffolk	No marvel, and 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.

Gloucester	My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind
	That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

Cardinal	I thought as much; he'd be above the clouds.

Gloucester	Ay, my Lord Cardinal, how think you by that?
	Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?

King Henry	The treasury of everlasting joy.

Cardinal	Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts
	Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart;
	Pernicious Protector, dangerous peer,
	That smooth'st it so with king and commonweal!

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?

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

Gloucester	As who, my lord?

Suffolk						Why, as you, my lord;
	An't like your lordly Lord-Protectorship.

Gloucester	Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.

Margaret	And thy ambition, Gloucester.

King Henry										I prithee, peace,
	Good queen, and whet not on these furious peers;
	For blessd are the peacemakers on earth.

Cardinal	Let me be blessd for the peace I make
	Against this proud Protector with my sword!

Gloucester	[Aside to CARDINAL.]
	Faith, holy uncle, would 'twere come to that!

Cardinal	[Aside to GLOUCESTER.]
	Marry, when thou dar'st.

Gloucester	[Aside to CARDINAL.]		Dare? I tell thee, priest,
	Plantagenets could never brook the dare.

Cardinal	[Aside to GLOUCESTER.]
	I am Plantagenet as well as thou,
	And son to John of Gaunt.

Gloucester	[Aside to CARDINAL.]
	In bastardy.

Cardinal	[Aside to GLOUCESTER.]
	I scorn thy words.

Gloucester	[Aside to CARDINAL.]
	Make up no factious numbers for the matter;
	In thine own person answer thy abuse.

Cardinal	[Aside to GLOUCESTER.]
	Ay, where thou dar'st not peep; and if thou dar'st,
	This evening on the east side of the grove.

King Henry	How now, my lords!

Cardinal							Believe me, cousin Gloucester,
	Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly,
	We had had more sport.
	[Aside to GLOUCESTER.]	Come with thy two-hand sword.

Gloucester	True, uncle.
	[Aside to CARDINAL.]
	Are ye advised? The east side of the grove.

Cardinal	[Aside to GLOUCESTER.]
	I am with you.

King Henry					Why, how now, uncle Gloucester?

Gloucester	Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord.
	[Aside to CARDINAL.]
	Now, by God's mother, priest, I'll shave your crown for
	this,
	Or all my fence shall fail.

Cardinal	[Aside to GLOUCESTER.]		Medice, teipsum-
	Protector, see to't well; protect yourself.

King Henry	The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords.
	How irksome is this music to my heart!
	When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?
	I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.

                      Enter ONE crying 'A miracle'.

Gloucester	What means this noise?
	Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?

One	A miracle, a miracle!

Suffolk	Come to the king, and tell him what miracle.

One	Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine
	Within this half hour hath received his sight;
	A man that ne'er saw in his life before.

King Henry	Now God be praised, that to believing souls
	Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!

            Enter the MAYOR of Saint Albans, and his BRETHREN,
             bearing the man SIMPCOX between two in a chair;
                     his WIFE and TOWNSMEN following.

Cardinal	Here comes the townsmen on procession,
	To present your highness with the man.

King Henry	Great is his comfort in this earthly vale,
	Although by sight his sin be multiplied.

Gloucester	Stand by, my masters; bring him near the king.
	His highness' pleasure is to talk with him.

King Henry	Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance,
	That we for thee may glorify the Lord.
	What, hast thou been long blind, and now restored?

Simpcox	Born blind, and't please your grace.

Wife	Ay, indeed was he.

Suffolk	What woman is this?

Wife	His wife, and't like your worship.

Gloucester	Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have better told.

King Henry	Where wert thou born?

Simpcox	At Berwick in the north, and't like your grace.

King Henry	Poor soul, God's goodness hath been great to thee.
	Let never day nor night unhallowed pass,
	But still remember what the Lord hath done.

Margaret	Tell me, good fellow, cam'st thou here by chance,
	Or of devotion, to this holy shrine?

Simpcox	God knows, of pure devotion; being called
	A hundred times and oft'ner in my sleep,
	By good Saint Alban, who said 'Simon, come;
	Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee'.

Wife	Most true, forsooth; and many time and oft
	Myself have heard a voice to call him so.

Cardinal	What, art thou lame?

Simpcox								Ay, God Almighty help me!

Suffolk	How cam'st thou so?

Simpcox							A fall off of a tree.

Wife	A plum-tree, master.

Gloucester							How long hast thou been blind?

Simpcox	O, born so, master.

Gloucester							What, and wouldst climb a tree?

Simpcox	But that in all my life, when I was a youth.

Wife	Too true; and bought his climbing very dear.

Gloucester	Mass, thou loved'st plums well, that wouldst venture so.

Simpcox	Alas, good master, my wife desired some damsons,
	And made me climb with danger of my life.

Gloucester	A subtle knave! But yet it shall not serve.
	Let me see thine eyes: wink now; now open them.
	In my opinion yet thou seest not well.

Simpcox	Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and Saint Alban.

Gloucester	Sayst thou me so? What colour is this cloak of?

Simpcox	Red, master; red as blood.

Gloucester	Why, that's well said. What colour is my gown of?

Simpcox	Black, forsooth; coal-black as jet.

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

Suffolk	And yet I think jet did he never see.

Gloucester	But cloaks and gowns before this day a many.

Wife	Never before this day in all his life.

Gloucester	Tell me, sirrah, what's my name?

Simpcox	Alas, master, I know not.

Gloucester	What's his name?

Simpcox	I know not.

Gloucester	Nor his?

Simpcox	No indeed, master.

Gloucester	What's thine own name?

Simpcox	Saunder Simpcox, and if it please you, master.

Gloucester	Then Saunder, sit there, the lying'st knave in Christendom. 
	If thou hadst been born blind, thou mightst as well have 
	known all our names as thus to name the several colours we 
	do wear. Sight may distinguish of colours; but suddenly to 
	nominate them all, it is impossible. My lords, Saint Alban 
	here hath done a miracle; and would ye not think his 
	cunning to be great, that could restore this cripple to his 
	legs again?

Simpcox	O master, that you could!

Gloucester	My masters of Saint Albans, have you not beadles in your 
	town, and things called whips?

Mayor	Yes, my lord, if it please your grace.

Gloucester	Then send for one presently.

Mayor	Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight.
													[Exit ONE.
Gloucester	Now fetch me a stool hither by and by.
													[A stool brought.
	Now, sirrah, if you mean to save yourself from whipping, 
	leap me over this stool and run away.

Simpcox	Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone. You go about to 
	torture me in vain.

                        Enter a BEADLE with whips.

Gloucester	Well, sir, we must have you find your legs. Sirrah beadle, 
	whip him till he leap over that same stool.

Beadle	I will, my lord. Come on, sirrah, off with your doublet, 
	quickly.

Simpcox	Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand.

       After the Beadle hath hit him once, he leaps over the stool
           and runs away; and they follow and cry 'A miracle!'

King Henry	O God, seest Thou this, and bearest so long?

Margaret	It made me laugh to see the villain run.

Gloucester	Follow the knave; and take this drab away.

Wife	Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.

Gloucester	Let them be whipped through every market-town
	Till they come to Berwick, from whence they came.
													[Exeunt MAYOR, BRETHREN,
											and the BEADLE with the WIFE.

Cardinal	Duke Humphrey has done a miracle today.

Suffolk	True: made the lame to leap and fly away.

Gloucester	But you have done more miracles than I;
	You made in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.

                            Enter BUCKINGHAM.

King Henry	What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?

Buckingham	Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold.
	A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent,
	Under the countenance and confederacy
	Of Lady Eleanor, the Protector's wife,
	The ringleader and head of all this rout,
	Have practised dangerously against your state,
	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.

Cardinal	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.

Gloucester	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.

King Henry	O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,
	Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby.

Margaret	Gloucester, see here the tainture of thy nest;
	And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.

Gloucester	Madam, for myself to heaven I do appeal
	How I have loved my king and commonweal;
	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
	Honour 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,
	That hath dishonoured Gloucester's honest name.

King Henry	Well, for this night we will repose us here;
	Tomorrow toward London back again,
	To look into this business thoroughly,
	And call these foul offenders to their answers,
	And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,
	Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.
													[Flourish. Exeunt.
