And harmful pity, must be laid aside. Thou, being a king, blessed with a goodly son, 'Which argued thee a most unloving father. Should lose his birthright by his father's fault; 1 Ah, what a shame were this! Look on the boy; To hold thine own, and leave thine own with him. Inferring arguments of mighty force. But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear, That things ill got had ever bad success? And happy always was it for that son, 1 Foolishly. 1 Whose father for his hoarding went to hell?1 Ah, cousin York! 'would thy best friends did know, 'How it doth grieve me that thy head is here! Q. Mar. My lord, cheer up your spirits; our foes are nigh, And this soft courage makes your followers faint. You promised knighthood to our forward son; Unsheath your sword, and dub him presently.Edward, kneel down. K. Hen. Edward Plantagenet, arise a knight; And learn this lesson,-Draw thy sword in right. Prince. My gracious father, by your kingly leave, I'll draw it as apparent to the crown, And in that quarrel use it to the death. 6 Clif. Why, that is spoken like a toward prince. Enter a Messenger. Mess. Royal commanders, be in readiness; For, with a band of thirty thousand men, Comes Warwick, backing of the duke of York; 6 Proclaims him king, and many fly to him. 2 Darraign your battle, for they are at hand. Clif. I would your highness would depart the field ; The queen hath best success when you are absent.3 Q. Mar. Ay, good my lord, and leave us to our fortune. K. Hen. Why, that's my fortune too; therefore I'll stay. 1 The king quotes two proverbs; the one-"Ill-gotten goods never prosper;" the other-"Happy the child whose father went to the devil." 2 i. e. arrange your host. Darraign is used by Chaucer, Skelton, and Spenser. 3 "Happy was the queene in her two battayls, but unfortunate was the king in all his enterprises; for where his person was present the victorie dedde ever from him to the other parte."-Hall's Chronicle. Henry VI. fol. c. Drayton has enlarged upon this superstitious belief, in his Miseries of Queen Margaret. North. Be it with resolution then to fight. Prince. My royal father, cheer these noble lords, And hearten those that fight in your defence. Unsheath your sword, good father; cry, Saint George! March. Enter EDWARD, GEORGE, RICHARD, WAR WICK, NORFOLK, MONTAGUE, and Soldiers. 6 Edw. Now, perjured Henry! wilt thou kneel for grace, • And set thy diadem upon my head * Or bide the mortal fortune of the field? Q. Mar. Go, rate thy minions, proud, insulting boy! • Becomes it thee to be thus bold in terms, Before thy sovereign, and thy lawful king? Edw. I am his king, and he should bow his knee. I was adopted heir by his consent; Since when, his oath is broke;1 for, as I hear, • To blot out me, and put his own son in. Clif. And reason too; Who should succeed the father, but the son ? 6 Rich. Are you there, butcher?-O, I cannot speak! Clif. Ay, crookback; here I stand to answer thee, Or any he the proudest of thy sort. Rich. 'Twas you that killed young Rutland, was it not? Clif. Ay, and old York, and yet not satisfied. 1 Edward's argument is founded on an article said to have been in the compact between Henry and the duke of York: "That if the king did closely or apertly studye or go about to compass or imagine the death or destruction of the sayde duke or his blood, then he to forfet the crowne, and the duke of Yorke to take it."-Hall. If this had been one of the articles of the compact, the duke having been killed at Wakefield, his eldest son would now have a title to the crown; but Malone doubts whether it ever made part of that agreement. The Poet followed Hall. Q. Mar. Why, how now, long-tongued Warwick? dare you speak? When you and I met at St. Albans last, War. Then 'twas my turn to fly, and now 'tis thine. 'North. No, nor your manhood, that durst make you stay. Rich. Northumberland, I hold thee reverently.- Upon that Clifford, that cruel child-killer. Clif. I slew thy father: call'st thou him a child? Rich. Ay, like a dastard, and a treacherous coward, As thou didst kill our tender brother Rutland: But, ere sunset, I'll make thee curse the deed. K. Hen. Have done with words, my lords, and hear me speak. Q. Mar. Defy them, then, or else hold close thy lips. K. Hen. I pr'ythee, give no limits to my tongue, I am a king, and privileged to speak. Clif. My liege, the wound that bred this meeting here, Cannot be cured by words; therefore be still. Rich. Then, executioner, unsheath thy sword. By him that made us all, I am resolved,1 • That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue. Edw. Say, Henry, shall I have my right or no? A thousand men have broke their fasts to-day, That ne'er shall dine, unless thou yield the crown. War. If thou deny, their blood upon thy head; For York in justice puts his armor on. Prince. If that be right, which Warwick says is right, There is no wrong, but every thing is right. 1 It is my firm persuasion. Rich. Whoever got thee, there thy mother stands ; For, well I wot, thou hast thy mother's tongue. Q. Mar. But thou art neither like thy sire, nor dam; But like a foul, misshapen stigmatic, Marked by the destinies to be avoided, 'As venom toads, or lizards' dreadful stings. Rich. Iron of Naples, hid with English gilt, Whose father bears the title of a king, As if a channel1 should be called the sea,) Sham'st thou not, knowing whence thou art traught, To let thy tongue detect thy base-born heart? Edw. A wisp of straw2 were worth a thousand crowns, To make this shameless callet know herself.- 6 And graced thy poor sire with his bridal day, Even then that sunshine brewed a shower for him, • That washed his father's fortunes forth of France, And heaped sedition on his crown at home. For what hath broached this tumult, but thy pride? Hadst thou been meek, our title still had slept; And we, in pity of the gentle king, Had slipped our claim until another age. 'Geo. But, when we saw our sunshine made thy spring, 1 A channel in the Poet's time signified what we now call a kennel, which word is still pronounced channel in the north. 2 A wisp of straw was often applied as a mark of opprobrium to an immodest woman, a scold, or similar offenders. A callet was a lewd woman, but a term often given to a scold. |