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* York. Would'st have me kneel? first let me

ask of these,

*If they can brook I bow a knee to man.*Sirrah, call in my sons to be my bail;

*

*

[Exit an Attendant. * I know, ere they will have me go to ward 5, They'll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement. Q. Mar. Call hither Clifford ; bid him come amain, To say, if that the bastard boys of York * Shall be the surety for their traitor father. *York. O blood-bespotted Neapolitan, * Outcast of Naples, England's bloody scourge! 'The sons of York, thy betters in their birth, 'Shall be their father's bail: and bane to those 'That for my surety will refuse the boys.

Enter EDWARD and RICHARD PLANTAGENET, with Forces, at one side; at the other, with Forces also, Old CLIFFORD and his Son.

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See, where they come; I'll warrant they'll make it good.

* Q. Mar. And here comes Clifford, to deny their

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bail.

Clif. Health and all happiness to my lord the

king!

[Kneels.

York. I thank thee, Clifford: Say, what news

with thee?

Nay, do not fright us with an angry look:

We are thy sovereign, Clifford, kneel again;
For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.

6

Clif. This is my king, York, I do not mistake;

'But thou mistak'st me much, to think I do :

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To Bedlam with him? is the man grown mad?

5 Custody, confinement.

6 This has been thought an anachronism; but Stowe shows that it is not: Next unto the parish of St. Buttolph is a fayre

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'K. Hen. Ay, Clifford; a bedlam and ambitious

humour

Makes him oppose himself against his king.

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Clif. He is a traitor; let him to the Tower, . And chop away that factious pate of his.

Q. Mar. He is arrested, but will not obey;
His sons, he says, shall give their words for him.
York. Will you not, sons?

6

Edw. Ay, noble father, if our words will serve. Rich. And if words will not, then our weapons shall.

*

Cliff. Why, what a brood of traitors have we

here!

* York. Look in a glass, and call thy image so; *I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor.Call hither to the stake my two brave bears7, * That, with the very shaking of their chains, They may astonish these fell lurking curs;

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* Bid Salisbury, and Warwick, come to me.

Drums. Enter WARWICK and SALISBURY, with Forces.

Clif. Are these thy bears? we'll bait thy bears to death,

And manacle the bearward in their chains,

If thou dar'st bring them to the baiting-place. * Rich. Oft have I seen a hot o'erweening cur * Run back and bite, because he was withheld;

inne for receipt of travellers; then an hospitall of S. Mary of Bethlehem, founded by Simon Fitz-Mary, one of the Sheriffes of London, in the yeare 1246. He founded it to have beene a priorie of cannons with brethren and sisters, and King Edward the Thirde granted a protection, which I have seene, for the 'brethren Milicia beata Maria de Bethlem, within the citie of London, the 14th yeare of his raigne. It was an hospitall for distracted people.'-Survey of London, p. 127, 1598.

7 The Nevils, earls of Warwick, had a bear and ragged staff for their crest.

* Who, being suffer'd with the bear's fell paw8, * Hath clapp'd his tail between his legs, and cried: * And such a piece of service will you do,

* If

you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick. *Clif. Hence, heap of wrath, foul indigested lump,

* As crooked in thy manners as thy shape!

* York. Nay, we shall heat you thoroughly anon. *Clif. Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves.

*K. Hen. Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot to bow?

* Old Salisbury,-shame to thy silver hair,

* Thou mad misleader of thy brain-sick son !. * What, wilt thou on thy deathbed play the ruffian, * And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles? *O, where is faith? O, where is loyalty? * If it be banish'd from the frosty head, * Where shall it find a harbour in the earth?*Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war, * And shame thine honourable age with blood? *Why art thou old, and want'st experience? * Or wherefore dost abuse it, if thou hast it? * For shame! in duty bend thy knee to me, * That bows unto the grave with mickle age.

* Sal. My lord, I have considered with myself * The title of this most renowned duke; * And in my conscience do repute his grace * The rightful heir to England's royal seat.

*K. Hen. Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me? *Sal. I have.

8 Bear-baiting was not only a popular but a royal entertainment in the poet's time. See Stowe's account of Queen Elizabeth's amusements of this kind, or Laneham's Letter concerning the entertainments at Kenelworth Castle. Being suffer'd to approach the bear's fell paw' may be the meaning; but it is probable that suffer'd is used for made to suffer.

1

*K. Hen. Canst thou dispense with heaven for

such an oath?

*Sal. It is great sin, to swear unto a sin; * But greater sin, to keep a sinful oath. Who can be bound by any solemn vow *To do a murderous deed, to rob a man, *To force a spotless virgin's chastity, *To reave the orphan of his patrimony, *To wring the widow from her custom'd right; *And have no other reason for this wrong, * But that he was bound by a solemn oath?

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* Q. Mar. A subtle traitor needs no sophister.
'K. Hen. Call Buckingham, and bid him arm
himself.

"York. Call Buckingham, and all the friends thou
hast,

I am resolv'd for death, or dignity.

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Clif. The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove

true.

'War. You were best to go to bed, and dream again,

To keep thee from the tempest of the field.

Clif. I am resolv'd 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.
War. 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 9,
(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.

6

Clif. And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear, And tread it under foot with all contempt,

Despight the bearward that protects the bear.

9 A burgonet is a helmet; a Burgundian's steel cap or casque.

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Y. Clif. And so to arms, victorious father, To quell the rebels, and their 'complices.

Rich. Fye! charity, for shame! speak not in spite, shall you with Jesu Christ to-night.

For

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Y. Clif. Foul stigmatick 10, that's more than thou

canst tell.

• Rich. If not in heaven, you'll surely sup in hell.

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE II. Saint Albans.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter WARWICK. War. Clifford of Cumberland, 'tis Warwick calls! And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear, Now, when the angry trumpet sounds alarm, 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.

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'How now, my noble lord? what, all a-foot? York. The deadly handed Clifford slew my steed; But match to match I have encounter'd him,

And made a prey for carrion kites and crows • Even of the bonny beast he lov'd so well1.

Enter CLIFFord.

• War. Of one or both of us the time is come.

10 One on whom nature has set a mark of deformity, a stigma. It was originally and properly 'a person who had been branded with a hot iron for some crime. One notably defamed for naughtiness.' See Bullokar's Expositor, 1616; or Blount's Glossography, 1674.

1 In the old play

:

The bonniest gray, that e'er was bred in north.'

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