1    Believe me, lords, for flying at the brook,
2    I saw not better sport these seven years' day:
3    Yet, by your leave, the wind was very high;
4    And, ten to one, old Joan had not gone out.

5    But what a point, my lord, your falcon made,
6    And what a pitch she flew above the rest!
7    To see how God in all his creatures works!
8    Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high.

9    No marvel, an it like your majesty,
10   My lord protector's hawks do tower so well;
11   They know their master loves to be aloft,
12   And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch.

13   My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind
14   That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

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

16   Ay, my lord cardinal? how think you by that?
17   Were it not good your grace could fly to heaven?

18   The treasury of everlasting joy.

19   Thy heaven is on earth; thine eyes and thoughts
20   Beat on a crown, the treasure of thy heart;
21   Pernicious protector, dangerous peer,
22   That smooth'st it so with king and commonweal!

23   What, cardinal, is your priesthood grown peremptory?
24   Tantaene animis coelestibus irae?
25   Churchmen so hot? good uncle, hide such malice;
26   With such holiness can you do it?

27   No malice, sir; no more than well becomes
28   So good a quarrel and so bad a peer.

29   As who, my lord?

30   Why, as you, my lord,
31   An't like your lordly lord-protectorship.

32   Why, Suffolk, England knows thine insolence.

33   And thy ambition, Gloucester.

34   I prithee, peace, good queen,
35   And whet not on these furious peers;
36   For blessed are the peacemakers on earth.

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

Aside to CARDINAL
39    Faith, holy uncle, would
40   'twere come to that!

Aside to GLOUCESTER
41    Marry, when thou darest.

Aside to CARDINAL
42    Make up no factious
43   numbers for the matter;
44   In thine own person answer thy abuse.

Aside to GLOUCESTER
45    Ay, where thou darest
46   not peep: an if thou darest,
47   This evening, on the east side of the grove.

48   How now, my lords!

49   Believe me, cousin Gloucester,
50   Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly,
51   We had had more sport.
Aside to GLOUCESTER
52   Come with thy two-hand sword.

53   True, uncle.

Aside to GLOUCESTER
54    Are ye advised? the
55   east side of the grove?

Aside to CARDINAL
56    Cardinal, I am with you.

57   Why, how now, uncle Gloucester!

58   Talking of hawking; nothing else, my lord.
Aside to CARDINAL
59   Now, by God's mother, priest, I'll shave your crown for this,
60   Or all my fence shall fail.

Aside to GLOUCESTER
61    Medice, teipsum--
62   Protector, see to't well, protect yourself.

63   The winds grow high; so do your stomachs, lords.
64   How irksome is this music to my heart!
65   When such strings jar, what hope of harmony?
66   I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.

67   What means this noise?
68   Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim?

69   A miracle! a miracle!

70   Come to the king and tell him what miracle.

71   Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine,
72   Within this half-hour, hath received his sight;
73   A man that ne'er saw in his life before.

74   Now, God be praised, that to believing souls
75   Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!

76   Here comes the townsmen on procession,
77   To present your highness with the man.

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

80   Stand by, my masters: bring him near the king;
81   His highness' pleasure is to talk with him.

82   Good fellow, tell us here the circumstance,
83   That we for thee may glorify the Lord.
84   What, hast thou been long blind and now restored?

85   Born blind, an't please your grace.

86   Ay, indeed, was he.

87   What woman is this?

88   His wife, an't like your worship.

89   Hadst thou been his mother, thou couldst have
90   better told.

91   Where wert thou born?

92   At Berwick in the north, an't like your grace.

93   Poor soul, God's goodness hath been great to thee:
94   Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass,
95   But still remember what the Lord hath done.

96   Tell me, good fellow, camest thou here by chance,
97   Or of devotion, to this holy shrine?

98   God knows, of pure devotion; being call'd
99   A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep,
100  By good Saint Alban; who said, 'Simpcox, come,
101  Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee.'

102  Most true, forsooth; and many time and oft
103  Myself have heard a voice to call him so.

104  What, art thou lame?

105  Ay, God Almighty help me!

106  How camest thou so?

107  A fall off of a tree.

108  A plum-tree, master.

109  How long hast thou been blind?

110  Born so, master.

111  What, and wouldst climb a tree?

112  But that in all my life, when I was a youth.

113  Too true; and bought his climbing very dear.

114  Mass, thou lovedst plums well, that wouldst
115  venture so.

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

118  A subtle knave! but yet it shall not serve.
119  Let me see thine eyes: wink now: now open them:
120  In my opinion yet thou seest not well.

121  Yes, master, clear as day, I thank God and
122  Saint Alban.

123  Say'st thou me so? What colour is this cloak of?

124  Red, master; red as blood.

125  Why, that's well said. What colour is my gown of?

126  Black, forsooth: coal-black as jet.

127  Why, then, thou know'st what colour jet is of?

128  And yet, I think, jet did he never see.

129  But cloaks and gowns, before this day, a many.

130  Never, before this day, in all his life.

131  Tell me, sirrah, what's my name?

132  Alas, master, I know not.

133  What's his name?

134  I know not.

135  Nor his?

136  No, indeed, master.

137  What's thine own name?

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

139  Then, Saunder, sit there, the lyingest knave in
140  Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind, thou
141  mightest as well have known all our names as thus to
142  name the several colours we do wear. Sight may
143  distinguish of colours, but suddenly to nominate them
144  all, it is impossible. My lords, Saint Alban here
145  hath done a miracle; and would ye not think his
146  cunning to be great, that could restore this cripple
147  to his legs again?

148  O master, that you could!

149  My masters of Saint Alban's, have you not beadles in
150  your town, and things called whips?

151  Yes, my lord, if it please your grace.

152  Then send for one presently.

153  Sirrah, go fetch the beadle hither straight.

154  Now fetch me a stool hither by and by. Now, sirrah,
155  if you mean to save yourself from whipping, leap me
156  over this stool and run away.

157  Alas, master, I am not able to stand alone:
158  You go about to torture me in vain.

159  Well, sir, we must have you find your legs. Sirrah
160  beadle, whip him till he leap over that same stool.

161  I will, my lord. Come on, sirrah; off with your
162  doublet quickly.

163  Alas, master, what shall I do? I am not able to stand.

164  O God, seest Thou this, and bearest so long?

165  It made me laugh to see the villain run.

166  Follow the knave; and take this drab away.

167  Alas, sir, we did it for pure need.

168  Let them be whipped through every market-town, till
169  they come to Berwick, from whence they came.

170  Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to-day.

171  True; made the lame to leap and fly away.

172  But you have done more miracles than I;
173  You made in a day, my lord, whole towns to fly.

174  What tidings with our cousin Buckingham?

175  Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold.
176  A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent,
177  Under the countenance and confederacy
178  Of Lady Eleanor, the protector's wife,
179  The ringleader and head of all this rout,
180  Have practised dangerously against your state,
181  Dealing with witches and with conjurers:
182  Whom we have apprehended in the fact;
183  Raising up wicked spirits from under ground,
184  Demanding of King Henry's life and death,
185  And other of your highness' privy-council;
186  As more at large your grace shall understand.

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

192  Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart:
193  Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers;
194  And, vanquish'd as I am, I yield to thee,
195  Or to the meanest groom.

196  O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,
197  Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!

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

200  Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal,
201  How I have loved my king and commonweal:
202  And, for my wife, I know not how it stands;
203  Sorry I am to hear what I have heard:
204  Noble she is, but if she have forgot
205  Honour and virtue and conversed with such
206  As, like to pitch, defile nobility,
207  I banish her my bed and company
208  And give her as a prey to law and shame,
209  That hath dishonour'd Gloucester's honest name.

210  Well, for this night we will repose us here:
211  To-morrow toward London back again,
212  To look into this business thoroughly
213  And call these foul offenders to their answers
214  And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,
215  Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.