Speeches (Lines) for Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester in "History of Henry VI, Part II"

Earl of Suffolk. My lord protector, so it please your grace,
Here are the articles of contracted peace
Between our sovereign and the French king Charles,
For eighteen months concluded by consent.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. [Reads] 'Imprimis, it is agreed between the French
king Charles, and William de la Pole, Marquess of
Suffolk, ambassador for Henry King of England, that
the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret,
daughter unto Reignier King of Naples, Sicilia and
Jerusalem, and crown her Queen of England ere the
thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item, that the duchy
of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released
and delivered to the king her father'--

Henry VI. Uncle, how now!

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Pardon me, gracious lord;
Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart
And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further.

Henry VI. They please us well. Lord marquess, kneel down:
We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,
And gird thee with the sword. Cousin of York,
We here discharge your grace from being regent
I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen months
Be full expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset,
Salisbury, and Warwick;
We thank you all for the great favour done,
In entertainment to my princely queen.
Come, let us in, and with all speed provide
To see her coronation be perform'd.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,
To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief,
Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What! did my brother Henry spend his youth,
His valour, coin and people, in the wars?
Did he so often lodge in open field,
In winter's cold and summer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits,
To keep by policy what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
Received deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Studied so long, sat in the council-house
Early and late, debating to and fro
How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe,
And had his highness in his infancy
Crowned in Paris in despite of foes?
And shall these labours and these honours die?
Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance,
Your deeds of war and all our counsel die?
O peers of England, shameful is this league!
Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame,
Blotting your names from books of memory,
Razing the characters of your renown,
Defacing monuments of conquer'd France,
Undoing all, as all had never been!

Winchester. Nephew, what means this passionate discourse,
This peroration with such circumstance?
For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can;
But now it is impossible we should:
Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast,
Hath given the duchy of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style
Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.

Richard Plantagenet - Duke of York. For Suffolk's duke, may he be suffocate,
That dims the honour of this warlike isle!
France should have torn and rent my very heart,
Before I would have yielded to this league.
I never read but England's kings have had
Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives:
And our King Henry gives away his own,
To match with her that brings no vantages.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. A proper jest, and never heard before,
That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth
For costs and charges in transporting her!
She should have stayed in France and starved
in France, Before--

Winchester. My Lord of Gloucester, now ye grow too hot:
It was the pleasure of my lord the King.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. My Lord of Winchester, I know your mind;
'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike,
But 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye.
Rancour will out: proud prelate, in thy face
I see thy fury: if I longer stay,
We shall begin our ancient bickerings.
Lordings, farewell; and say, when I am gone,
I prophesied France will be lost ere long.

Eleanor. Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn,
Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load?
Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his brows,
As frowning at the favours of the world?
Why are thine eyes fixed to the sullen earth,
Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight?
What seest thou there? King Henry's diadem,
Enchased with all the honours of the world?
If so, gaze on, and grovel on thy face,
Until thy head be circled with the same.
Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold.
What, is't too short? I'll lengthen it with mine:
And, having both together heaved it up,
We'll both together lift our heads to heaven,
And never more abase our sight so low
As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy lord,
Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts.
And may that thought, when I imagine ill
Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry,
Be my last breathing in this mortal world!
My troublous dream this night doth make me sad.

Eleanor. What dream'd my lord? tell me, and I'll requite it
With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Methought this staff, mine office-badge in court,
Was broke in twain; by whom I have forgot,
But, as I think, it was by the cardinal;
And on the pieces of the broken wand
Were placed the heads of Edmund Duke of Somerset,
And William de la Pole, first duke of Suffolk.
This was my dream: what it doth bode, God knows.

Eleanor. Tut, this was nothing but an argument
That he that breaks a stick of Gloucester's grove
Shall lose his head for his presumption.
But list to me, my Humphrey, my sweet duke:
Methought I sat in seat of majesty
In the cathedral church of Westminster,
And in that chair where kings and queens are crown'd;
Where Henry and dame Margaret kneel'd to me
And on my head did set the diadem.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Nay, Eleanor, then must I chide outright:
Presumptuous dame, ill-nurtured Eleanor,
Art thou not second woman in the realm,
And the protector's wife, beloved of him?
Hast thou not worldly pleasure at command,
Above the reach or compass of thy thought?
And wilt thou still be hammering treachery,
To tumble down thy husband and thyself
From top of honour to disgrace's feet?
Away from me, and let me hear no more!

Eleanor. What, what, my lord! are you so choleric
With Eleanor, for telling but her dream?
Next time I'll keep my dreams unto myself,
And not be cheque'd.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Nay, be not angry; I am pleased again.

Messenger. My lord protector, 'tis his highness' pleasure
You do prepare to ride unto Saint Alban's,
Where as the king and queen do mean to hawk.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. I go. Come, Nell, thou wilt ride with us?

Queen Margaret. Because the king, forsooth, will have it so.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Madam, the king is old enough himself
To give his censure: these are no women's matters.

Queen Margaret. If he be old enough, what needs your grace
To be protector of his excellence?

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Madam, I am protector of the realm;
And, at his pleasure, will resign my place.

Duke of Buckingham. Lord cardinal, I will follow Eleanor,
And listen after Humphrey, how he proceeds:
She's tickled now; her fume needs no spurs,
She'll gallop far enough to her destruction.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Now, lords, my choler being over-blown
With walking once about the quadrangle,
I come to talk of commonwealth affairs.
As for your spiteful false objections,
Prove them, and I lie open to the law:
But God in mercy so deal with my soul,
As I in duty love my king and country!
But, to the matter that we have in hand:
I say, my sovereign, York is meetest man
To be your regent in the realm of France.

Henry VI. Uncle, what shall we say to this in law?

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. This doom, my lord, if I may judge:
Let Somerset be regent over the French,
Because in York this breeds suspicion:
And let these have a day appointed them
For single combat in convenient place,
For he hath witness of his servant's malice:
This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey's doom.

Peter. Alas, my lord, I cannot fight; for God's sake, pity
my case. The spite of man prevaileth against me. O
Lord, have mercy upon me! I shall never be able to
fight a blow. O Lord, my heart!

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Sirrah, or you must fight, or else be hang'd.

Earl of Suffolk. No marvel, an 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.

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

Winchester. I thought as much; he would be above the clouds.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Ay, my lord cardinal? how think you by that?
Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?

Winchester. 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!

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of 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?

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

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. As who, my lord?

Earl of Suffolk. Why, as you, my lord,
An't like your lordly lord-protectorship.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.

Winchester. Let me be blessed for the peace I make,
Against this proud protector, with my sword!

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. [Aside to CARDINAL] Faith, holy uncle, would
'twere come to that!

Winchester. [Aside to GLOUCESTER] Marry, when thou darest.

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

Winchester. 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.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. True, uncle.

Winchester. [Aside to GLOUCESTER] Are ye advised? the
east side of the grove?

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. [Aside to CARDINAL] Cardinal, I am with you.

Henry VI. Why, how now, uncle Gloucester!

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of 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.

Henry VI. 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.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. What means this noise?
Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?

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

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Stand by, my masters: bring him near the king;
His highness' pleasure is to talk with him.

Simpcox's Wife. His wife, an't like your worship.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have
better told.

Simpcox's Wife. A plum-tree, master.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. How long hast thou been blind?

Simpcox. Born so, master.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. What, and wouldst climb a tree?

Simpcox's Wife. Too true; and bought his climbing very dear.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Mass, thou lovedst plums well, that wouldst
venture so.

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

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of 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.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Say'st thou me so? What colour is this cloak of?

Simpcox. Red, master; red as blood.

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

Earl of Suffolk. And yet, I think, jet did he never see.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. But cloaks and gowns, before this day, a many.

Simpcox's Wife. Never, before this day, in all his life.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Tell me, sirrah, what's my name?

Simpcox. Alas, master, I know not.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. What's his name?

Simpcox. I know not.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Nor his?

Simpcox. No, indeed, master.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. What's thine own name?

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

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Then, Saunder, sit there, the lyingest knave in
Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind, thou
mightest 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!

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. My masters of Saint Alban's, have you not beadles in
your town, and things called whips?

Mayor of Saint Alban's. Yes, my lord, if it please your grace.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Then send for one presently.

Mayor of Saint Alban's. Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. 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.

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

Queen Margaret. It made me laugh to see the villain run.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Follow the knave; and take this drab away.

Simpcox's Wife. Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Let them be whipped through every market-town, till
they come to Berwick, from whence they came.

Earl of Suffolk. True; made the lame to leap and fly away.

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

Winchester. [Aside to GLOUCESTER] And so, my lord protector,
by this means
Your lady is forthcoming yet at London.
This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's edge;
'Tis like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart:
Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers;
And, vanquish'd as I am, I yield to thee,
Or to the meanest groom.

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

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of 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 dishonour'd Gloucester's honest name.

Eleanor. Welcome is banishment; welcome were my death.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Eleanor, the law, thou see'st, hath judged thee:
I cannot justify whom the law condemns.
[Exeunt DUCHESS and other prisoners, guarded]
Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief.
Ah, Humphrey, this dishonour in thine age
Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground!
I beseech your majesty, give me leave to go;
Sorrow would solace and mine age would ease.

Queen Margaret. I see no reason why a king of years
Should be to be protected like a child.
God and King Henry govern England's realm.
Give up your staff, sir, and the king his realm.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. My staff? here, noble Henry, is my staff:
As willingly do I the same resign
As e'er thy father Henry made it mine;
And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it
As others would ambitiously receive it.
Farewell, good king: when I am dead and gone,
May honourable peace attend thy throne!

Henry VI. Go, take hence that traitor from our sight;
For his death we do perceive his guilt:
And God in justice hath revealed to us
The truth and innocence of this poor fellow,
Which he had thought to have murder'd wrongfully.
Come, fellow, follow us for thy reward.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Thus sometimes hath the brightest day a cloud;
And after summer evermore succeeds
Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold:
So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet.
Sirs, what's o'clock?

Servants. Ten, my lord.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Ten is the hour that was appointed me
To watch the coming of my punish'd duchess:
Uneath may she endure the flinty streets,
To tread them with her tender-feeling feet.
Sweet Nell, ill can thy noble mind abrook
The abject people gazing on thy face,
With envious looks, laughing at thy shame,
That erst did follow thy proud chariot-wheels
When thou didst ride in triumph through the streets.
But, soft! I think she comes; and I'll prepare
My tear-stain'd eyes to see her miseries.
[Enter the DUCHESS in a white sheet, and a taper]
burning in her hand; with STANLEY, the Sheriff,
and Officers]

Servant. So please your grace, we'll take her from the sheriff.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. No, stir not, for your lives; let her pass by.

Eleanor. Come you, my lord, to see my open shame?
Now thou dost penance too. Look how they gaze!
See how the giddy multitude do point,
And nod their heads, and throw their eyes on thee!
Ah, Gloucester, hide thee from their hateful looks,
And, in thy closet pent up, rue my shame,
And ban thine enemies, both mine and thine!

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Be patient, gentle Nell; forget this grief.

Eleanor. Ah, Gloucester, teach me to forget myself!
For whilst I think I am thy married wife
And thou a prince, protector of this land,
Methinks I should not thus be led along,
Mail'd up in shame, with papers on my back,
And followed with a rabble that rejoice
To see my tears and hear my deep-fet groans.
The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet,
And when I start, the envious people laugh
And bid me be advised how I tread.
Ah, Humphrey, can I bear this shameful yoke?
Trow'st thou that e'er I'll look upon the world,
Or count them happy that enjoy the sun?
No; dark shall be my light and night my day;
To think upon my pomp shall be my hell.
Sometime I'll say, I am Duke Humphrey's wife,
And he a prince and ruler of the land:
Yet so he ruled and such a prince he was
As he stood by whilst I, his forlorn duchess,
Was made a wonder and a pointing-stock
To every idle rascal follower.
But be thou mild and blush not at my shame,
Nor stir at nothing till the axe of death
Hang over thee, as, sure, it shortly will;
For Suffolk, he that can do all in all
With her that hateth thee and hates us all,
And York and impious Beaufort, that false priest,
Have all limed bushes to betray thy wings,
And, fly thou how thou canst, they'll tangle thee:
But fear not thou, until thy foot be snared,
Nor never seek prevention of thy foes.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Ah, Nell, forbear! thou aimest all awry;
I must offend before I be attainted;
And had I twenty times so many foes,
And each of them had twenty times their power,
All these could not procure me any scathe,
So long as I am loyal, true and crimeless.
Wouldst have me rescue thee from this reproach?
Why, yet thy scandal were not wiped away
But I in danger for the breach of law.
Thy greatest help is quiet, gentle Nell:
I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience;
These few days' wonder will be quickly worn.

Herald. I summon your grace to his majesty's parliament,
Holden at Bury the first of this next month.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. And my consent ne'er ask'd herein before!
This is close dealing. Well, I will be there.
[Exit Herald]
My Nell, I take my leave: and, master sheriff,
Let not her penance exceed the king's commission.

Sheriff. An't please your grace, here my commission stays,
And Sir John Stanley is appointed now
To take her with him to the Isle of Man.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Must you, Sir John, protect my lady here?

Sir John Stanley. So am I given in charge, may't please your grace.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Entreat her not the worse in that I pray
You use her well: the world may laugh again;
And I may live to do you kindness if
You do it her: and so, Sir John, farewell!

Eleanor. What, gone, my lord, and bid me not farewell!

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Witness my tears, I cannot stay to speak.

Richard Plantagenet - Duke of York. [Aside] Cold news for me; for I had hope of France
As firmly as I hope for fertile England.
Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud
And caterpillars eat my leaves away;
But I will remedy this gear ere long,
Or sell my title for a glorious grave.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. All happiness unto my lord the king!
Pardon, my liege, that I have stay'd so long.

Earl of Suffolk. Nay, Gloucester, know that thou art come too soon,
Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art:
I do arrest thee of high treason here.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Well, Suffolk, thou shalt not see me blush
Nor change my countenance for this arrest:
A heart unspotted is not easily daunted.
The purest spring is not so free from mud
As I am clear from treason to my sovereign:
Who can accuse me? wherein am I guilty?

Richard Plantagenet - Duke of York. 'Tis thought, my lord, that you took bribes of France,
And, being protector, stayed the soldiers' pay;
By means whereof his highness hath lost France.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Is it but thought so? what are they that think it?
I never robb'd the soldiers of their pay,
Nor ever had one penny bribe from France.
So help me God, as I have watch'd the night,
Ay, night by night, in studying good for England,
That doit that e'er I wrested from the king,
Or any groat I hoarded to my use,
Be brought against me at my trial-day!
No; many a pound of mine own proper store,
Because I would not tax the needy commons,
Have I disbursed to the garrisons,
And never ask'd for restitution.

Winchester. It serves you well, my lord, to say so much.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. I say no more than truth, so help me God!

Richard Plantagenet - Duke of York. In your protectorship you did devise
Strange tortures for offenders never heard of,
That England was defamed by tyranny.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Why, 'tis well known that, whiles I was
protector,
Pity was all the fault that was in me;
For I should melt at an offender's tears,
And lowly words were ransom for their fault.
Unless it were a bloody murderer,
Or foul felonious thief that fleeced poor passengers,
I never gave them condign punishment:
Murder indeed, that bloody sin, I tortured
Above the felon or what trespass else.

Henry VI. My lord of Gloucester, 'tis my special hope
That you will clear yourself from all suspect:
My conscience tells me you are innocent.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Ah, gracious lord, these days are dangerous:
Virtue is choked with foul ambition
And charity chased hence by rancour's hand;
Foul subornation is predominant
And equity exiled your highness' land.
I know their complot is to have my life,
And if my death might make this island happy,
And prove the period of their tyranny,
I would expend it with all willingness:
But mine is made the prologue to their play;
For thousands more, that yet suspect no peril,
Will not conclude their plotted tragedy.
Beaufort's red sparkling eyes blab his heart's malice,
And Suffolk's cloudy brow his stormy hate;
Sharp Buckingham unburthens with his tongue
The envious load that lies upon his heart;
And dogged York, that reaches at the moon,
Whose overweening arm I have pluck'd back,
By false accuse doth level at my life:
And you, my sovereign lady, with the rest,
Causeless have laid disgraces on my head,
And with your best endeavour have stirr'd up
My liefest liege to be mine enemy:
Ay, all you have laid your heads together--
Myself had notice of your conventicles--
And all to make away my guiltless life.
I shall not want false witness to condemn me,
Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt;
The ancient proverb will be well effected:
'A staff is quickly found to beat a dog.'

Queen Margaret. But I can give the loser leave to chide.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Far truer spoke than meant: I lose, indeed;
Beshrew the winners, for they play'd me false!
And well such losers may have leave to speak.

Winchester. Sirs, take away the duke, and guard him sure.

Humphrey of Lancaster - Duke of Gloucester. Ah! thus King Henry throws away his crutch
Before his legs be firm to bear his body.
Thus is the shepherd beaten from thy side,
And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first.
Ah, that my fear were false! ah, that it were!
For, good King Henry, thy decay I fear.