Speeches (Lines) for Earl of Warwick
in "Henry VI, Part II"
Total: 32

1

I,1,123

Earl of Salisbury. Now, by the death of Him that died for all,
These counties were the keys of Normandy.
But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son?

Earl of Warwick. For grief that they are past recovery:
For, were there hope to conquer them again,
My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears.
Anjou and Maine! myself did win them both;
Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer:
And are the cities, that I got with wounds,
Delivered up again with peaceful words?
Mort Dieu!

2

I,1,216

Earl of Salisbury. Pride went before, ambition follows him.
While these do labour for their own preferment,
Behoves it us to labour for the realm.
I never saw but Humphrey Duke of Gloucester
Did bear him like a noble gentleman.
Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal,
More like a soldier than a man o' the church,
As stout and proud as he were lord of all,
Swear like a ruffian and demean himself
Unlike the ruler of a commonweal.
Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age,
Thy deeds, thy plainness and thy housekeeping,
Hath won the greatest favour of the commons,
Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey:
And, brother York, thy acts in Ireland,
In bringing them to civil discipline,
Thy late exploits done in the heart of France,
When thou wert regent for our sovereign,
Have made thee fear'd and honour'd of the people:
Join we together, for the public good,
In what we can, to bridle and suppress
The pride of Suffolk and the cardinal,
With Somerset's and Buckingham's ambition;
And, as we may, cherish Duke Humphrey's deeds,
While they do tend the profit of the land.

Earl of Warwick. So God help Warwick, as he loves the land,
And common profit of his country!

3

I,1,220

Earl of Salisbury. Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main.

Earl of Warwick. Unto the main! O father, Maine is lost;
That Maine which by main force Warwick did win,
And would have kept so long as breath did last!
Main chance, father, you meant; but I meant Maine,
Which I will win from France, or else be slain,

4

I,3,501

Duke/Earl of Somerset. If Somerset be unworthy of the place,
Let York be regent; I will yield to him.

Earl of Warwick. Whether your grace be worthy, yea or no,
Dispute not that: York is the worthier.

5

I,3,504

Winchester. Ambitious Warwick, let thy betters speak.

Earl of Warwick. The cardinal's not my better in the field.

6

I,3,506

Duke of Buckingham. All in this presence are thy betters, Warwick.

Earl of Warwick. Warwick may live to be the best of all.

7

I,3,572

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). I'll tell thee, Suffolk, why I am unmeet:
First, for I cannot flatter thee in pride;
Next, if I be appointed for the place,
My Lord of Somerset will keep me here,
Without discharge, money, or furniture,
Till France be won into the Dauphin's hands:
Last time, I danced attendance on his will
Till Paris was besieged, famish'd, and lost.

Earl of Warwick. That can I witness; and a fouler fact
Did never traitor in the land commit.

8

I,3,575

Earl of Suffolk. Peace, headstrong Warwick!

Earl of Warwick. Image of pride, why should I hold my peace?
[Enter HORNER, the Armourer, and his man]
PETER, guarded]

9

II,2,962

Earl of Salisbury. My lord, I long to hear it at full.

Earl of Warwick. Sweet York, begin: and if thy claim be good,
The Nevils are thy subjects to command.

10

II,2,983

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). 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
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
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,
Seized on the realm, deposed 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.

Earl of Warwick. Father, the duke hath told the truth:
Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown.

11

II,2,1009

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). 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
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 elder son
Succeed before the younger, I am king.

Earl of Warwick. 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
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.

12

II,2,1034

Earl of Salisbury. My lord, break we off; we know your mind at full.

Earl of Warwick. My heart assures me that the Earl of Warwick
Shall one day make the Duke of York a king.

13

III,2,1804

(stage directions). [Noise within. Enter WARWICK, SALISBURY, and many Commons]

Earl of Warwick. It is reported, mighty sovereign,
That good Duke Humphrey traitorously is murder'd
By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort's means.
The commons, like an angry hive of bees
That want their leader, scatter up and down
And care not who they sting in his revenge.
Myself have calm'd their spleenful mutiny,
Until they hear the order of his death.

14

III,2,1816

Henry VI. That he is dead, good Warwick, 'tis too true;
But how he died God knows, not Henry:
Enter his chamber, view his breathless corpse,
And comment then upon his sudden death.

Earl of Warwick. That shall I do, my liege. Stay, Salisbury,
With the rude multitude till I return.

15

III,2,1834

Henry VI. O Thou that judgest all things, stay my thoughts,
My thoughts, that labour to persuade my soul
Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey's life!
If my suspect be false, forgive me, God,
For judgment only doth belong to thee.
Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips
With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain
Upon his face an ocean of salt tears,
To tell my love unto his dumb deaf trunk,
And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling:
But all in vain are these mean obsequies;
And to survey his dead and earthly image,
What were it but to make my sorrow greater?
[Re-enter WARWICK and others, bearing]
GLOUCESTER'S body on a bed]

Earl of Warwick. Come hither, gracious sovereign, view this body.

16

III,2,1838

Henry VI. That is to see how deep my grave is made;
For with his soul fled all my worldly solace,
For seeing him I see my life in death.

Earl of Warwick. As surely as my soul intends to live
With that dread King that took our state upon him
To free us from his father's wrathful curse,
I do believe that violent hands were laid
Upon the life of this thrice-famed duke.

17

III,2,1845

Earl of Suffolk. A dreadful oath, sworn with a solemn tongue!
What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow?

Earl of Warwick. See how the blood is settled in his face.
Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost,
Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale and bloodless,
Being all descended to the labouring heart;
Who, in the conflict that it holds with death,
Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy;
Which with the heart there cools and ne'er returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again.
But see, his face is black and full of blood,
His eye-balls further out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man;
His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretched with struggling;
His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd
And tugg'd for life and was by strength subdued:
Look, on the sheets his hair you see, is sticking;
His well-proportion'd beard made rough and rugged,
Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodged.
It cannot be but he was murder'd here;
The least of all these signs were probable.

18

III,2,1867

Earl of Suffolk. Why, Warwick, who should do the duke to death?
Myself and Beaufort had him in protection;
And we, I hope, sir, are no murderers.

Earl of Warwick. But both of you were vow'd Duke Humphrey's foes,
And you, forsooth, had the good duke to keep:
'Tis like you would not feast him like a friend;
And 'tis well seen he found an enemy.

19

III,2,1873

Queen Margaret. Then you, belike, suspect these noblemen
As guilty of Duke Humphrey's timeless death.

Earl of Warwick. Who finds the heifer dead and bleeding fresh
And sees fast by a butcher with an axe,
But will suspect 'twas he that made the slaughter?
Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest,
But may imagine how the bird was dead,
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?
Even so suspicious is this tragedy.

20

III,2,1889

(stage directions). [Exeunt CARDINAL, SOMERSET, and others]

Earl of Warwick. What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him?

21

III,2,1893

Queen Margaret. He dares not calm his contumelious spirit
Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.

Earl of Warwick. Madam, be still; with reverence may I say;
For every word you speak in his behalf
Is slander to your royal dignity.

22

III,2,1902

Earl of Suffolk. Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanor!
If ever lady wrong'd her lord so much,
Thy mother took into her blameful bed
Some stern untutor'd churl, and noble stock
Was graft with crab-tree slip; whose fruit thou art,
And never of the Nevils' noble race.

Earl of Warwick. But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee
And I should rob the deathsman of his fee,
Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames,
And that my sovereign's presence makes me mild,
I would, false murderous coward, on thy knee
Make thee beg pardon for thy passed speech,
And say it was thy mother that thou meant'st
That thou thyself was born in bastardy;
And after all this fearful homage done,
Give thee thy hire and send thy soul to hell,
Pernicious blood-sucker of sleeping men!

23

III,2,1915

Earl of Suffolk. Thou shall be waking well I shed thy blood,
If from this presence thou darest go with me.

Earl of Warwick. Away even now, or I will drag thee hence:
Unworthy though thou art, I'll cope with thee
And do some service to Duke Humphrey's ghost.

24

III,3,2121

Henry VI. Ah, what a sign it is of evil life,
Where death's approach is seen so terrible!

Earl of Warwick. Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee.

25

III,3,2138

Henry VI. O thou eternal Mover of the heavens.
Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch!
O, beat away the busy meddling fiend
That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul.
And from his bosom purge this black despair!

Earl of Warwick. See, how the pangs of death do make him grin!

26

III,3,2144

Henry VI. Peace to his soul, if God's good pleasure be!
Lord cardinal, if thou think'st on heaven's bliss,
Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope.
He dies, and makes no sign. O God, forgive him!

Earl of Warwick. So bad a death argues a monstrous life.

27

V,1,3186

Lord Clifford. The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove true.

Earl of Warwick. You were best to go to bed and dream again,
To keep thee from the tempest of the field.

28

V,1,3192

Lord Clifford. I am resolved to bear a greater storm
Than any thou canst conjure up to-day;
And that I'll write upon thy burgonet,
Might I but know thee by thy household badge.

Earl of Warwick. Now, by my father's badge, old Nevil's crest,
The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff,
This day I'll wear aloft my burgonet,
As on a mountain top the cedar shows
That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm,
Even to affright thee with the view thereof.

29

V,2,3209

(stage directions). [Alarums to the battle. Enter WARWICK]

Earl of Warwick. Clifford of Cumberland, 'tis Warwick calls:
And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,
Now, when the angry trumpet sounds alarum
And dead men's cries do fill the empty air,
Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me:
Proud northern lord, Clifford of Cumberland,
Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms.
[Enter YORK]
How now, my noble lord? what, all afoot?

30

V,2,3223

(stage directions). [Enter CLIFFORD]

Earl of Warwick. Of one or both of us the time is come.

31

V,2,3226

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase,
For I myself must hunt this deer to death.

Earl of Warwick. Then, nobly, York; 'tis for a crown thou fight'st.
As I intend, Clifford, to thrive to-day,
It grieves my soul to leave thee unassail'd.

32

V,3,3348

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). I know our safety is to follow them;
For, as I hear, the king is fled to London,
To call a present court of parliament.
Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth.
What says Lord Warwick? shall we after them?

Earl of Warwick. After them! nay, before them, if we can.
Now, by my faith, lords, 'twas a glorious day:
Saint Alban's battle won by famous York
Shall be eternized in all age to come.
Sound drums and trumpets, and to London all:
And more such days as these to us befall!