SCENE IV. GLOUCESTER's garden. The Second part of King Henry the Sixth  Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry VI, part 2  | Act 1, Scene 4 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE IV. GLOUCESTER's garden. 

 Enter MARGARET JOURDAIN, HUME, SOUTHWELL, and BOLINGBROKE  HUME  Come, my masters; the duchess, I tell you, expects 

 performance of your promises. 

 BOLINGBROKE  Master Hume, we are therefore provided: will her 

 ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms? 

 HUME  Ay, what else? fear you not her courage. 

 BOLINGBROKE  I have heard her reported to be a woman of an 

 invincible spirit: but it shall be convenient, 

 Master Hume, that you be by her aloft, while we be 

 busy below; and so, I pray you, go, in God's name, 

 and leave us. 



 Exit HUME  Mother Jourdain, be you 

 prostrate and grovel on the earth; John Southwell, 

 read you; and let us to our work. 



 Enter the DUCHESS aloft, HUME following  DUCHESS  Well said, my masters; and welcome all. To this 

 gear the sooner the better. 

 BOLINGBROKE  Patience, good lady; wizards know their times: 

 Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, 

 The time of night when Troy was set on fire; 

 The time when screech-owls cry and ban-dogs howl, 

 And spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves, 

 That time best fits the work we have in hand. 

 Madam, sit you and fear not: whom we raise, 

 We will make fast within a hallow'd verge. 



 Here they do the ceremonies belonging, and make the  circle; BOLINGBROKE or SOUTHWELL reads, Conjuro te, & c. It thunders and lightens terribly; then the Spirit riseth  Spirit  Adsum. 

 MARGARET JOURDAIN  Asmath, 

 By the eternal God, whose name and power 

 Thou tremblest at, answer that I shall ask; 

 For, till thou speak, thou shalt not pass from hence. 

 Spirit  Ask what thou wilt. That I had said and done! 

 BOLINGBROKE  'First of the king: what shall of him become?' 



 Reading out of a paper  Spirit  The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose; 

 But him outlive, and die a violent death. 



 As the Spirit speaks, SOUTHWELL writes the answer  BOLINGBROKE  'What fates await the Duke of Suffolk?' 

 Spirit  By water shall he die, and take his end. 

 BOLINGBROKE  'What shall befall the Duke of Somerset?' 

 Spirit  Let him shun castles; 

 Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains 

 Than where castles mounted stand. 

 Have done, for more I hardly can endure. 

 BOLINGBROKE  Descend to darkness and the burning lake! 

 False fiend, avoid! 



 Thunder and lightning. Exit Spirit 

 Enter YORK and BUCKINGHAM with their Guard and break in  YORK  Lay hands upon these traitors and their trash. 

 Beldam, I think we watch'd you at an inch. 

 What, madam, are you there? the king and commonweal 

 Are deeply indebted for this piece of pains: 

 My lord protector will, I doubt it not, 

 See you well guerdon'd for these good deserts. 

 DUCHESS  Not half so bad as thine to England's king, 

 Injurious duke, that threatest where's no cause. 

 BUCKINGHAM  True, madam, none at all: what call you this? 

 Away with them! let them be clapp'd up close. 

 And kept asunder. You, madam, shall with us. 

 Stafford, take her to thee. 



 Exeunt above DUCHESS and HUME, guarded  We'll see your trinkets here all forthcoming. 

 All, away! 



 Exeunt guard with MARGARET JOURDAIN, SOUTHWELL,  & c  YORK  Lord Buckingham, methinks, you watch'd her well: 

 A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon! 

 Now, pray, my lord, let's see the devil's writ. 

 What have we here? 



 Reads  'The duke yet lives, that Henry shall depose; 

 But him outlive, and die a violent death.' 

 Why, this is just 

 'Aio te, AEacida, Romanos vincere posse.' 

 Well, to the rest: 

 'Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk? 

 By water shall he die, and take his end. 

 What shall betide the Duke of Somerset? 

 Let him shun castles; 

 Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains 

 Than where castles mounted stand.' 

 Come, come, my lords; 

 These oracles are hardly attain'd, 

 And hardly understood. 

 The king is now in progress towards Saint Alban's, 

 With him the husband of this lovely lady: 

 Thither go these news, as fast as horse can 

 carry them: 

 A sorry breakfast for my lord protector. 

 BUCKINGHAM  Your grace shall give me leave, my Lord of York, 

 To be the post, in hope of his reward. 

 YORK  At your pleasure, my good lord. Who's within 

 there, ho! 



 Enter a Servingman  Invite my Lords of Salisbury and Warwick 

 To sup with me to-morrow night. Away! 



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