Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king! Is crowned so soon, and broke his solemn oath? Till our king Henry had shook hands with death. Now in his life, against your holy oath? O, 'tis a fault too, too unpardonable! Off with the crown; and, with the crown, his head; And, whilst we breathe, take time to do him dead. Clif. That is my office, for my father's sake. Q. Mar. Nay, stay; let's hear the orisons he makes. York. She wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France, 'Whose tongue more poisons than the adder's tooth! How ill-beseeming is it, in thy sex, To triumph like an Amazonian trull, Upon their woes, whom fortune captivates! But that thy face is, visorlike, unchanging, Made impudent with use of evil deeds, I would assay, proud queen, to make thee blush. 2 Thy father bears the type of king of Naples, Of both the Sicils, and Jerusalem; Yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman. That beggars, mounted, run their horse to death. possessions. And, at length having thus scorned hym with these and diverse other the like despitefull woordes, they strooke off his heade, which (as ye have heard) they presented to the queen.” 1 Impale, encircle with a crown. 2 i. e, the crown, the emblem or symbol of royalty. But, God he knows, thy share thereof is small. As the antipodes are unto us, Or as the south to the septentrion. O, tiger's heart, wrapped in a woman's hide! And yet be seen to bear a woman's face? Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless. 'Bidd'st thou me rage? why, now thou hast thy wish: 'Wouldst have me weep? why, now thou hast thy will; • For raging wind blows up incessant showers. And, when the rage allays, the rain begins. These tears are my sweet Rutland's obsequies; And every drop cries vengeance for his death,— 'Gainst thee, fell Clifford,-and thee, false French woman. North. Beshrew me, but his passions 2 move me so, That hardly can I check my eyes from tears. York. That face of his the hungry cannibals Would not have touched, would not have stained with blood; But you are more inhuman, more inexorable,—— O, ten times more,-than tigers of Hyrcania. This cloth thou dipp'dst in blood of my sweet boy, Keep thou the napkin, and go boast of this; [He gives back the handkerchief. And, if thou tell'st the heavy story right, Upon my soul, the hearers will shed tears; 1 Government, in the language of the time, signified evenness of temper, and decency of manners. 2 Passions for griefs. Yea, even my foes will shed fast-falling tears, There, take the crown, and, with the crown, my curse; And, in thy need, such comfort come to thee, Hard-hearted Clifford, take me from the world; Q. Mar. What, weeping-ripe, my lord Northumberland ? Think but upon the wrong he did us all, And that will quickly dry thy melting tears. Clif. Here's for my oath, here's for my father's death. [Stabbing him. Q. Mar. And here's to right our gentle-hearted king. [Stabbing him. York. Open thy gate of mercy, gracious God! My soul flies through these wounds to seek out thee. [Dies. Q. Mar. Off with his head, and set it on York gates; So York may overlook the town of York.1 [Exeunt. 1 1 This gallant prince fell by his own imprudence, in consequence of leading an army of only five thousand men to engage with twenty thousand, and not waiting for the arrival of his son, the earl of March, with a large body of Welshmen. He and Cecily his wife, with his son Edmund, earl of Rutland, were originally buried in the chancel of Fotheringay church. Peacham, in his Complete Gentleman, 1627, p. 153, gives an account of the destruction of their monuments, of the disinterment, &c., and of their reinterment in the church, by command of queen Elizabeth, under a mean monument of plaster. ACT II. SCENE I. A Plain near Mortimer's Cross in Here fordshire. Drums. Enter EDWARD and RICHARD, with their Forces, marching. *Edw. I wonder how our princely father 'scaped; * Or whether he be 'scaped away, or no, *From Clifford's and Northumberland's pursuit. How fares my brother? why is he so sad? ' And watched him how he singled Clifford forth. * Or as a bear encompassed round with dogs; 1 Prize is here again used for estimation. 2 "At 2 This circumstance is mentioned both by Hall and Holinshed. which tyme the sun (as some write) appeared to the earl of March like three sunnes, and sodainely joyned altogether in one; upon whiche sight Not separated with the racking clouds,1 *Edw. 'Tis wondrous strange, the like yet never heard of. I think it cites us, brother, to the field; 2 · Each one already blazing by our meeds, *Rich. Nay, bear three daughters;-by your leave I speak it; *You love the breeder better than the male. Enter a Messenger. 'But what art thou, whose heavy looks foretell • Some dreadful story hanging on thy tongue? Mess. Ah, one that was a woful looker on, When as the noble duke of York was slain, * Your princely father, and my loving lord. Edw. O, speak no more! for I have heard too much. Rich. Say how he died, for I will hear it all. • Mess. Environed he was with many foes; * And stood against them as the hope of Troy * Against the Greeks, that would have entered Troy. * But Hercules himself must yield to odds; * And many strokes, though with a little axe, hee tooke such courage, that he fiercely setting on his enemyes put them to flight; and for this cause menne ymagined that he gave the sun in his full bryghtnesse for his badge or cognizance.-Holinshed. 1 i. e. the clouds floating before the wind like a reek or vapor. This verb, though now obsolete, was formerly in common use; and it is now provincially common to speak of the rack of the weather. 2 Meed anciently signified merit as well as reward. VOL. IV. 58 |