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London. The DUKE OF YORK’S Garden. | |
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Enter YORK, SALISBURY, and WARWICK. | |
| York. Now, my good Lords of Salisbury and Warwick, | |
| Our simple supper ended, give me leave, | |
| In this close walk to satisfy myself, | 5 |
| In craving your opinion of my title, | |
| Which is infallible to England’s crown. | |
| Sal. My lord, I long to hear it at full. | |
| War. Sweet York, begin; and if thy claim be good, | |
| The Nevils are thy subjects to command. | 10 |
| York. Then thus: | |
| Edward the Third, my lords, had seven sons: | |
| The first, Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales; | |
| The second, William of Hatfield; and the third, | |
| Lionel, Duke of Clarence; next to whom | 15 |
| Was John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster; | |
| The fifth was Edmund Langley, Duke of York; | |
| The sixth was Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester; | |
| William of Windsor was the seventh and last. | |
| Edward the Black Prince died before his father, | 20 |
| And left behind him Richard, his only son, | |
| Who after Edward the Third’s death, reign’d as king; | |
| Till Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, | |
| The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt, | |
| Crown’d by the name of Henry the Fourth, | 25 |
| Seiz’d on the realm, depos’d the rightful king, | |
| Sent his poor queen to France, from whence she came, | |
| And him to Pomfret; where as all you know, | |
| Harmless Richard was murder’d traitorously. | |
| War. Father, the duke hath told the truth; | 30 |
| Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown. | |
| York. Which now they hold by force and not by right; | |
| For Richard, the first son’s heir, being dead, | |
| The issue of the next son should have reign’d. | |
| Sal. But William of Hatfield died without an heir. | 35 |
| York. The third son, Duke of Clarence, from whose line | |
| I claim the crown, had issue, Philippe a daughter, | |
| Who married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March: | |
| Edmund had issue Roger, Earl of March: | |
| Roger had issue Edmund, Anne, and Eleanor. | 40 |
| Sal. This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke, | |
| As I have read, laid claim unto the crown; | |
| And but for Owen Glendower, had been king, | |
| Who kept him in captivity till he died. | |
| But, to the rest. | 45 |
| York. His eldest sister, Anne, | |
| My mother, being heir unto the crown, | |
| Married Richard, Earl of Cambridge, who was son | |
| To Edmund Langley, Edward the Third’s fifth son. | |
| By her I claim the kingdom: she was heir | 50 |
| To Roger, Earl of March; who was the son | |
| Of Edmund Mortimer; who married Philippe, | |
| Sole daughter unto Lionel, Duke of Clarence: | |
| So, if the issue of the eldest son | |
| Succeed before the younger, I am king. | 55 |
| War. What plain proceeding is more plain than this? | |
| Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt, | |
| The fourth son; York claims it from the third. | |
| Till Lionel’s issue fails, his should not reign: | |
| It fails not yet, but flourishes in thee, | 60 |
| And in thy sons, fair slips of such a stock. | |
| Then, father Salisbury, kneel we together, | |
| And in this private plot be we the first | |
| That shall salute our rightful sovereign | |
| With honour of his birthright to the crown. | 65 |
| Both. Long live our sovereign Richard, England’s king! | |
| York. We thank you, lords! But I am not your king | |
| Till I be crown’d, and that my sword be stain’d | |
| With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster; | |
| And that’s not suddenly to be perform’d, | 70 |
| But with advice and silent secrecy. | |
| Do you as I do in these dangerous days, | |
| Wink at the Duke of Suffolk’s insolence, | |
| At Beaufort’s pride, at Somerset’s ambition, | |
| At Buckingham and all the crew of them, | 75 |
| Till they have snar’d the shepherd of the flock, | |
| That virtuous prince, the good Duke Humphrey: | |
| ’Tis that they seek; and they, in seeking that | |
| Shall find their deaths, if York can prophesy. | |
| Sal. My lord, break we off; we know your mind at full. | 80 |
| War. My heart assures me that the Earl of Warwick | |
| Shall one day make the Duke of York a king. | |
| York. And, Nevil, this I do assure myself, | |
| Richard shall live to make the Earl of Warwick | |
| The greatest man in England but the king. [Exeunt. | 85 |
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