Act 1. Scene I - Page 2

CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND, WESTMORELAND, EXETER, and the rest

KING HENRY VI
My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits,
Even in the chair of state: belike he means,
Back'd by the power of Warwick, that false peer,
To aspire unto the crown and reign as king.
Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father.
And thine, Lord Clifford; and you both have vow'd revenge
On him, his sons, his favourites and his friends.

NORTHUMBERLAND
If I be not, heavens be revenged on me!

CLIFFORD
The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel.

WESTMORELAND
What, shall we suffer this? let's pluck him down:
My heart for anger burns; I cannot brook it.

KING HENRY VI
Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmoreland.

CLIFFORD
Patience is for poltroons, such as he:
He durst not sit there, had your father lived.
My gracious lord, here in the parliament
Let us assail the family of York.

NORTHUMBERLAND
Well hast thou spoken, cousin: be it so.

KING HENRY VI
Ah, know you not the city favours them,
And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?

EXETER
But when the duke is slain, they'll quickly fly.

KING HENRY VI
Far be the thought of this from Henry's heart,
To make a shambles of the parliament-house!
Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words and threats
Shall be the war that Henry means to use.
Thou factious Duke of York, descend my throne,
and kneel for grace and mercy at my feet;
I am thy sovereign.

YORK
I am thine.

EXETER
For shame, come down: he made thee Duke of York.

YORK
'Twas my inheritance, as the earldom was.

EXETER
Thy father was a traitor to the crown.

WARWICK
Exeter, thou art a traitor to the crown
In following this usurping Henry.

CLIFFORD
Whom should he follow but his natural king?

WARWICK
True, Clifford; and that's Richard Duke of York.

KING HENRY VI
And shall I stand, and thou sit in my throne?

YORK
It must and shall be so: content thyself.

WARWICK
Be Duke of Lancaster; let him be king.

WESTMORELAND
He is both king and Duke of Lancaster;
And that the Lord of Westmoreland shall maintain.

WARWICK
And Warwick shall disprove it. You forget
That we are those which chased you from the field
And slew your fathers, and with colours spread
March'd through the city to the palace gates.

NORTHUMBERLAND
Yes, Warwick, I remember it to my grief;
And, by his soul, thou and thy house shall rue it.

WESTMORELAND
Plantagenet, of thee and these thy sons,
Thy kinsman and thy friends, I'll have more lives
Than drops of blood were in my father's veins.