Strong-fixed is the house of Lancaster,
And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd12.
But now thy uncle is removing hence;

As princes do their courts, when they are cloy'd
With long continuance in a settled place.

Plan. O, uncle, 'would, some part of my young

years

Might but redeem the passage of your age

13!

Mor. Thou dost then wrong me; as the slaught❜rer

doth,

Which giveth many wounds, when one will kill.
Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good;
Only, give order for my funeral;

And so farewell: and fair be all thy hopes!
And prosperous be thy life, in peace, and war!

[Dies. Plan. And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul! In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage, And like a hermit overpass'd thy days.Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast; And what I do imagine, let that rest.—

12 Thus Milton, Paradise Lost, book iv.:-
'Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremov'd.'

13 The same thought occurs in the celebrated dialogue between Horace and Lydia. There is some resemblance to it in the following lines, supposed to be addressed by a married lady, who died very young, to her husband. Malone thinks that the inscription is in the church of Trent :

'Immatura perî; sed tu diuturnior annos
Vive meos, conjux optime, vive tuos.

Some traces of a superstitious belief that this was possible may be found in the traditions of the Rabbins; it is enlarged upon in the Alcestes of Euripides. Such offers are ridiculed by Juvenal, Sat. xii. Dion Cassius insinuates that Hadrian sacrificed his favourite Antinous with this design. Reimarius Annot. in Dion Cass. vol. ii. p. 1160; ed. Hamburg. De nostris annis, tibi Jupiter augeat annos,' said the Romans to Augustus.-See Lister's Journey to Paris, p. 221. Mr. Pye justly remarks that the offer would never be made unless known to be impossible; it is a mere hyperbolical compliment.

Keepers, convey him hence; and I myself
Will see his burial better than his life.-

[Exeunt Keepers, bearing out MORTIMER.

Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer,
Chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort 14
And, for those wrongs, those bitter injuries,
Which Somerset hath offer'd to my house,—
I doubt not, but with honour to redress:
And therefore haste I to the parliament;
Either to be restored to my blood,

Or make my ill 15 the advantage of my good.

[Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I. The same.

The Parliament House1.

Flourish. Enter KING HENRY, EXETER, GLOS-
TER, WARWICK, SOMERSET, and SUFFOLK;
the Bishop of Winchester, RICHARD PLANTA-
GENET, and Others. GLOSTER offers to put up
a Bill: Winchester snatches it, and tears it.
Win. Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines,
With written pamphlets studiously devis'd,
Humphrey of Gloster? if thou canst accuse,

14 i. e. oppressed by those whose right to the crown was not so good as his own.

15 My ill is my ill usage. This sentiment resembles another of Falstaff, in the Second Part of King Henry IV.:-'I will turn diseases to commodity.'

1 This parliament was held in 1426 at Leicester, though here represented to have been held in London. King Henry was now in the fifth year of his age. In the first parliament, which was held at London shortly after his father's death, his mother Queen Katharine brought the young king from Windsor to the metropolis, and sat on the throne with the infant in her lap.

2 i. e. articles of accusation.

Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge,
Do it without invention suddenly;

As I with sudden and extemporal speech
Purpose to answer what thou canst object.

Glo. Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience,

Or thou should'st find thou hast dishonour'd me.
Think not, although in writing I preferr'd
The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,
That therefore I have forg'd, or am not able
Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen:
No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness,
Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissensious pranks,
As very infants prattle of thy pride.

Thou art a most pernicious usurer;
Froward by nature, enemy to peace;
Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems
A man of thy profession, and degree;
And for thy treachery, What's more manifest?
In that thou laid❜st a trap to take my life,
As well at London Bridge, as at the Tower?
Beside, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted,
The king, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt
From envious malice of thy swelling heart.

Win. Gloster, I do defy thee.-Lords, vouchsafe
To give me hearing what I shall reply.
If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse,
As he will have me, How am I so poor?
Or how haps it, I seek not to advance
Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling?
And for dissension, Who preferreth peace
More than I do,-except I be provok'd?
No, my good lords, it is not that offends;
It is not that, that hath incens'd the duke:
It is, because no one should sway but he;
No one, but he, should be about the king;

And that engenders thunder in his breast,

And makes him roar these accusations forth.
But he shall know, I am as good-

Glo.

Thou bastard of my grandfather 3!

As good?

Win. Ay, lordly sir; For what are you, I pray, But one imperious in another's throne?

Glo. Am I not the protector, saucy priest?
Win. And am I not a prelate of the church?

Glo. Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps,
And useth it to patronage his theft.

Win. Unreverent Gloster!

Glo.

Thou art reverent

Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.
Win. This Rome shall remedy.

War.

Roam thither then.

Som. My lord, it were your duty to forbear. War. Ay, see the bishop be not overborne. Som. Methinks, my lord should be religious, And know the office that belongs to such.

War. Methinks, his lordship should be humbler; It fitteth not a prelate so to plead.

Som. Yes, when his holy state is touch'd so near. War. State holy, or unhallow'd, what of that? Is not his grace protector to the king?

Plan. Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue; Lest it be said, Speak, sirrah, when you should; Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords? Else would I have a fling at Winchester.

[Aside.

3 The bishop of Winchester was an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by Katharine Swynford, whom the duke afterwards married.

The jingle between roam and Rome is common to other writers. Thus Nash, in his Lenten Stuff, 1599:- Three hundred thousand people roamed to Rome for purgatorie pills,' &c. Shakspeare seems to have pronounced this word differently in Julius Cæsar; we have :

Now is it Rome indeed and room enough.'

K. Hen. Uncles of Gloster, and of Winchester, The special watchmen of our English weal; I would prevail, if prayers might prevail, To join your hearts in love and amity. O, what a scandal is it to our crown, That two such noble peers as ye, should jar! Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell, Civil dissension is a viperous worm,

That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth.[A noise within; Down with the tawny coats! What tumult's this?

War:

An uproar, I dare warrant,

Begun through malice of the bishop's men.

[A noise again; Stones! Stones!

Enter the Mayor of London, attended.

May. O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry,

Pity the city of London, pity us!

The bishop and the duke of Gloster's men,

Forbidden late to carry any weapon,
Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble-stones;
And, banding themselves in contráry parts,
Do pelt so fast at one another's pate,

That many have their giddy brains knock'd out:
Our windows are broke down in every street,
And we, for fear, compell'd to shut our shops.

Enter, skirmishing, the Retainers of GLOSTER and
WINCHESTER, with bloody pates.

K. Hen. We charge you, on allegiance to ourself, To hold your slaught'ring hands, and keep the peace. Pray, uncle Gloster, mitigate this strife.

1 Serv. Nay, if we be

Forbidden stones, we'll fall to it with our teeth. 2 Serv. Do what ye dare, we are as resolute.

VOL. VI.

G.

[Skirmish again.