William Shakespeare: King Henry VI, Third Part

ACT III. 3. SCENE III. France. The King's Palace. (continued)

KING LEWIS.
Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm
While we bethink a means to break it off.

QUEEN MARGARET.
The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.

KING LEWIS.
The more I stay, the more I'll succour thee.

QUEEN MARGARET.
O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow!--
And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow.

[Enter WARWICK, attended.]

KING LEWIS.
What's he approacheth boldly to our presence?

QUEEN MARGARET.
Our Earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.

KING LEWIS.
Welcome, brave Warwick. What brings thee to France?

[He descends. Queen Margaret rises.]

QUEEN MARGARET.
Ay, now begins a second storm to rise,
For this is he that moves both wind and tide.

WARWICK.
From worthy Edward, king of Albion,
My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come, in kindness and unfeigned love,
First, to do greetings to thy royal person;
And then, to crave a league of amity;
And lastly, to confirm that amity
With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant
That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair sister,
To England's king in lawful marriage.

QUEEN MARGARET.
[Aside.] If that go forward, Henry's hope is
done.

WARWICK.
[To BONA.] And, gracious madam, in our king's behalf,
I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart,
Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image and thy virtue.

QUEEN MARGARET.
King Lewis,--and Lady Bona,--hear me speak
Before you answer Warwick. His demand
Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love,
But from deceit, bred by necessity;
For how can tyrants safely govern home
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
To prove him tyrant this reason may suffice,--
That Henry liveth still; but were he dead,
Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henry's son.
Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage
Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour;
For though usurpers sway the rule awhile,
Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.