SUFFOLK Be what thou wilt, thou art my...

Start: SUFFOLK

Be what thou wilt, thou art my prisoner.

(Gazes on her)

O fairest beauty, do not fear nor fly!

For I will touch thee but with reverent hands;

I kiss these fingers for eternal peace,

And lay them gently on thy tender side.

Who art thou? say, that I may honour thee.

MARGARET

Margaret my name, and daughter to a king,

The King of Naples, whosoe'er thou art.

SUFFOLK

An earl I am, and Suffolk am I call'd.

Be not offended, nature's miracle,

Thou art allotted to be ta'en by me:

So doth the swan her downy cygnets save,

Keeping them prisoner underneath her wings.

Yet, if this servile usage once offend.

Go, and be free again, as Suffolk's friend.

(She is going)

O, stay! I have no power to let her pass;

My hand would free her, but my heart says no

As plays the sun upon the glassy streams,

Twinkling another counterfeited beam,

So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes.

Fain would I woo her, yet I dare not speak:

I'll call for pen and ink, and write my mind.

Fie, de la Pole! disable not thyself;

Hast not a tongue? is she not here?

Wilt thou be daunted at a woman's sight?

Ay, beauty's princely majesty is such,

Confounds the tongue and makes the senses rough.

MARGARET

Say, Earl of Suffolk--if thy name be so--

What ransom must I pay before I pass?

For I perceive I am thy prisoner.

SUFFOLK

How canst thou tell she will deny thy suit,

Before thou make a trial of her love?

MARGARET

Why speak'st thou not? what ransom must I pay?

SUFFOLK

She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd;

She is a woman, therefore to be won.

MARGARET

Wilt thou accept of ransom? yea, or no.

SUFFOLK

Fond man, remember that thou hast a wife;

Then how can Margaret be thy paramour?

MARGARET

I were best to leave him, for he will not hear.

SUFFOLK

There all is marr'd; there lies a cooling card.

MARGARET

He talks at random; sure, the man is mad.

SUFFOLK

And yet a dispensation may be had.

MARGARET

And yet I would that you would answer me.

SUFFOLK

I'll win this Lady Margaret. For whom?

Why, for my king: tush, that's a wooden thing!

MARGARET

He talks of wood: it is some carpenter.

SUFFOLK

Yet so my fancy may be satisfied,

And peace established between these realms

But there remains a scruple in that too;

For though her father be the King of Naples,

Duke of Anjou and Maine, yet is he poor,

And our nobility will scorn the match.

MARGARET

Hear ye, captain, are you not at leisure?

SUFFOLK

It shall be so, disdain they ne'er so much.

Henry is youthful and will quickly yield.

Madam, I have a secret to reveal.

MARGARET

What though I be enthrall'd? he seems a knight,

And will not any way dishonour me.

SUFFOLK

Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say.

MARGARET

Perhaps I shall be rescued by the French;

And then I need not crave his courtesy.

SUFFOLK

Sweet madam, give me a hearing in a cause--

MARGARET

Tush, women have been captivate ere now.

SUFFOLK

Lady, wherefore talk you so?

MARGARET

I cry you mercy, 'tis but Quid for Quo.

SUFFOLK

Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose

Your bondage happy, to be made a queen?

MARGARET

To be a queen in bondage is more vile

Than is a slave in base servility;

For princes should be free.

SUFFOLK

And so shall you,

If happy England's royal king be free.

MARGARET

Why, what concerns his freedom unto me?

SUFFOLK

I'll undertake to make thee Henry's queen,

To put a golden sceptre in thy hand

And set a precious crown upon thy head,

If thou wilt condescend to be my--

MARGARET

What?

SUFFOLK

His love.

MARGARET

I am unworthy to be Henry's wife.

SUFFOLK

No, gentle madam; I unworthy am

To woo so fair a dame to be his wife,

And have no portion in the choice myself.

How say you, madam, are ye so content?

MARGARET

An if my father please, I am content.

SUFFOLK

Then call our captains and our colours forth.

And, madam, at your father's castle walls

We'll crave a parley, to confer with him.

Shakespeare, William, Henry VI Part 1, Act 5, Scene 3.