The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (273 page)

Our people and our peers are both misled,

Our treasure seiz'd, our soldiers put to flight,

And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight.

These kind words lift up my depressed thoughts,

and give my silent sorrows permission to speak.

So, noble Louis, you should know that

Henry, the only man I love,

has been changed from a king to an exile,

forced to live abandoned in Scotland,

while arrogant ambitious Edward, Duke of York,

has stolen the royal title and the throne

of England's rightful and lawful king.

That's the reason that I, poor Margaret,

with my son here, Prince Edward, Henry's heir,

have come to ask for your just and legal help;

if you don't help us, we have no hope.

Scotland wants to help, but can't;

our people and our peers are both led astray,

our treasure has been seized, our soldiers routed,

and, as you can see, we have been put in a terrible position.

KING LEWIS.

Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm

While we bethink a means to break it off.

Great queen, you must ride out the storm patiently

while we think of a way to end it.

QUEEN MARGARET.

The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.

The longer we wait, the stronger our enemy grows.

KING LEWIS.

The more I stay, the more I'll succour thee.

The longer I wait, the more I'll be able to help you.

QUEEN MARGARET.

O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow!--

And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow.

Oh, but true sorrow cannot wait!

And here comes the one who's caused my sorrow.

[Enter WARWICK, attended.]

KING LEWIS.

What's he approacheth boldly to our presence?

Who is this who boldly comes into my presence?

QUEEN MARGARET.

Our Earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.

Our Earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.

KING LEWIS.

Welcome, brave Warwick. What brings thee to France?

Welcome, brave Warwick. What brings you to France?

[He descends. Queen Margaret rises.]

QUEEN MARGARET.

Ay, now begins a second storm to rise,

For this is he that moves both wind and tide.

Now there's a second storm coming,

for here is the one who causes them.

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;

And then, to crave a league of amity;

And lastly, to confirm that amity

With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant

That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair sister,

To England's king in lawful marriage.

I have come from good Edward, King of

England, my lord and ruler and your sworn friend,

with kindness and genuine love,

firstly, to give you his greetings;

and then, to ask for your friendship;

and lastly to confirm that friendship

with a marriage, if you will give permission

for the good Lady Bona, your lovely sister,

to be married to the King of England.

QUEEN MARGARET.

[Aside.] If that go forward, Henry's hope is

done.

If that happens, Henry has no hope.

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,

Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,

Hath plac'd thy beauty's image and thy virtue.

And, gracious madam, on my king's behalf,

I have been ordered, with your kind permission,

to humbly kiss your hand, and to tell you

how passionately my King feels about you,

due to the reputation you have

for goodness and for beauty.

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,

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,

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.

King Louis–and Lady Bona–listen to me

before you answer Warwick. His demand

does not come from any honest love of Edward's,

but from deceit, and his own needs;

how can tyrants safely rule their own countries

unless they have great support from abroad?

I can give you proof that he is a tyrant:

Henry is still alive; but if he were dead,

here is Prince Edward, the son of King Henry.

So make sure, Louis, that this alliance and marriage

does not dishonour you or put you in danger;

usurpers can rule for a while,

but heaven is just, and time corrects wrongs.

WARWICK.

Injurious Margaret!

Slanderous Margaret!

PRINCE.

And why not queen?

Why don't you call her queen?

WARWICK.

Because thy father Henry did usurp,

And thou no more art prince than she is queen.

Because your father Henry was a usurper,

and you are no more a prince than she is a queen.

OXFORD.

Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,

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.

From these our Henry lineally descends.

So Warwick rejects great John of Gaunt,

who triumphed over most of Spain;

and, after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,

whose wisdom was equal to the wisest;

and after that the wise prince, Henry the Fifth,

who by his skill conquered all of France.

Our Henry is a direct descendant of all these men.

WARWICK.

Oxford, how haps it in this smooth discourse,

You told not how Henry the Sixth hath lost

All that which Henry the Fifth had gotten?

Methinks these peers of France should smile at that.

But for the rest, you tell a pedigree

Of threescore and two years,--a silly time

To make prescription for a kingdom's worth.

Oxford, why is it that in this smooth speech

you haven't told of how Henry the Sixth has lost

everything which Henry the Fifth won?

I think that would make these French peers smile.

As for the rest of it, you're talking of a line

that's lasted sixty-two years - no time at all

to stake a claim to the ownership of a kingdom.

OXFORD.

Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,

Whom thou obeyedst thirty and six years,

And not bewray thy treason with a blush?

Why, Warwick, can you speak against your lord,

whom you have obeyed for thirty-six years,

without blushing at your treason?

WARWICK.

Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,

Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?

For shame, leave Henry, and call Edward king.

How can Oxford, who always defended what was right,

now try and defend deceit by giving it a pedigree?

For shame, leave Henry and acknowledge Edward as king.

OXFORD.

Call him my king by whose injurious doom

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,

This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.

Call the person whose vicious sentence

meant my elder brother Lord Aubrey Vere

was killed king? And even worse, my father,

who was in the autumn of his years,

approaching death in any case?

No, Warwick, no; while this arm still has life in it,

it will support the house of Lancaster.

WARWICK.

And I the house of York.

And I will support the house of York.

KING LEWIS.

Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,

Vouchsafe at our request to stand aside

While I use further conference with Warwick.

Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,

please just stand aside

while I talk further with Warwick.

QUEEN MARGARET.

Heavens grant that Warwick's words bewitch him

not!

May heaven grant that Warwick doesn't manage to bewitch

him with his words!

[They stand aloof.]

KING LEWIS.

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.

Now, Warwick, tell me truthfully,

is Edward your rightful king?  I would hate

to support someone who had no legal right.

WARWICK.

Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.

I would stake my reputation on it.

KING LEWIS.

But is he gracious in the people's eye?

But do the people regard him as royal?

WARWICK.

The more that Henry was unfortunate.

More than they did Henry.

LEWIS.

Then further, all dissembling set aside,

Tell me for truth the measure of his love

Unto our sister Bona.

So further, without any falsehood,

tell me truthfully how he feels

about my sister Bona.

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,

Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,

The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun,