William Shakespeare: King Henry VI, Third Part

ACT I 1. SCENE I. London. The Parliament-house (continued)

KING HENRY.
And I, with grief and sorrow, to the court.

[Enter QUEEN MARGARET and the PRINCE OF WALES.]

EXETER.
Here comes the queen, whose looks bewray her anger.
I'll steal away.

KING HENRY.
Exeter, so will I.
[Going.]

QUEEN MARGARET.
Nay, go not from me; I will follow thee.

KING HENRY.
Be patient, gentle queen, and I will stay.

QUEEN MARGARET.
Who can be patient in such extremes?
Ah, wretched man! would I had died a maid,
And never seen thee, never borne thee son,
Seeing thou hast prov'd so unnatural a father!
Hath he deserv'd to lose his birthright thus?
Hadst thou but lov'd him half so well as I,
Or felt that pain which I did for him once,
Or nourish'd him as I did with my blood,
Thou wouldst have left thy dearest heart-blood there
Rather than have made that savage duke thine heir
And disinherited thine only son.

PRINCE.
Father, you cannot disinherit me.
If you be king, why should not I succeed?

KING HENRY.
Pardon me, Margaret;--pardon me, sweet son;
The Earl of Warwick and the duke enforc'd me.

QUEEN MARGARET.
Enforc'd thee! art thou king, and wilt be
forc'd?
I shame to hear thee speak. Ah, timorous wretch!
Thou hast undone thyself, thy son, and me,
And given unto the house of York such head
As thou shalt reign but by their sufferance.
To entail him and his heirs unto the crown,
What is it but to make thy sepulchre
And creep into it far before thy time?
Warwick is chancellor and the lord of Calais;