Page:Henry VI Part 2 (1923) Yale.djvu/21

King Henry the Sixth, I. i

I cannot blame them all: what is 't to them?

'Tis thine they give away, and not their own.

Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage,

And purchase friends, and give to courtezans,

Still revelling like lords till all be gone;

While as the silly owner of the goods

Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands,

And shakes his head, and trembling stands aloof,

While all is shar'd and all is borne away,

Ready to starve and dare not touch his own:

So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue

While his own lands are bargain'd for and sold.

Methinks the realms of England, France, and Ireland

Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood

As did the fatal brand Althæa burnt

Unto the prince's heart of Calydon.

Anjou and Maine both given unto the French!

Cold news for me, for I had hope of France,

Even as I have of fertile England's soil.

A day will come when York shall claim his own;

And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts

And make a show of love to proud Duke Humphrey,

And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown,

For that's the golden mark I seek to hit.

Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right.

Nor hold the sceptre in his childish fist,

Nor wear the diadem upon his head,

Whose churchlike humours fit not for a crown.

Then, York, be still awhile, till time do serve:

Watch thou and wake when others be asleep,

To pry into the secrets of the state;

 223 pennyworths: bargains

226 While as: while

silly: helpless

234 proportion: relation

235, 236 Cf. n.

236 prince's heart: heart of the prince

241 take the Nevils' parts; cf. n.

248 churchlike humours: pietistic temperament 