War. How far off is our brother Montague?

Where is the post that came from Montague? Second Mess. By this at Daintry, with a puissant troop.

Enter Sir JOHN SOMERVILLE.

War. Say, Somerville, what says my loving son?
And, by thy guess, how nigh is Clarence now?
Som. At Southam I did leave him with his forces,

And do expect him here some two hours hence.

5

ΙΟ

[Drum heard.

War. Then Clarence is at hand; I hear his drum.
Som. It is not his, my lord; here Southam lies:

The drum your honour hears marcheth from Warwick. War. Who should that be? belike, unlook'd-for friends. Som. They are at hand, and you shall quickly know.

March. Flourish.

Enter King EDWARD, GLOUCESTER,
and forces.

K. Edw. Go, trumpet, to the walls, and sound a parle.
Glou. See how the surly Warwick mans the wall.
War. O unbid spite! is sportful Edward come?

Where slept our scouts, or how are they seduced,
That we could hear no news of his repair?

K. Edw. Now, Warwick, wilt thou ope the city gates,
Speak gentle words, and humbly bend thy knee,
Call Edward king, and at his hands beg mercy?
And he shall pardon thee these outrages.

...

my ...

15

20

4, 5. How ... our . from Montague?] 4, 5. Where is our. from Montague? Q. 6. Second Mess. By... troop] 6. Post. I left him at Donsmore with his troopes Q. 7, 8. Enter War. Say ... now ?] 7, 8. War. Say Summerfield where is my 9-11. Som. At... with. forces... here some Then Clarence. drum] 9-11. Summer. At Southham force... him two houres hence. War. Then 12-15. Som. It is not quickly know] omitted Q.

...

...

...

nigh farre. hence? Q. two.. hence. War. my Lord I left him Oxford ... drum Q. 16. K. Edw. Go.

parle] omitted Q. 17-20. See how . his repair] 12-15. Enter Edward and his power. Glo. See brother, where the ... spotfull I have no newes of their repaire Q. 21-24. Now... outrages] 16, 17. Now Warwike wilt thou be sorrie for thy faults, And call Edward king and he will pardon thee Q.

25

War. Nay, rather, wilt thou draw thy forces hence,
Confess who set thee up and pluck'd thee down,
Call Warwick patron, and be penitent?
And thou shalt still remain the Duke of York.
Glou. I thought, at least, he would have said the king;
Or did he make the jest against his will?

War. Is not a dukedom, sir, a goodly gift?
Glou. Ay, by my faith, for a poor earl to give :
I'll do thee service for so good a gift.

30

War. 'Twas I that gave the kingdom to thy brother.

K. Edw. Why then 'tis mine, if but by Warwick's gift.
War. Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight:

35

And, weakling, Warwick takes his gift again;
And Henry is my king, Warwick his subject.

K. Edw. But Warwick's king is Edward's prisoner ;
And, gallant Warwick, do but answer this :
What is the body when the head is off?
Glou. Alas! that Warwick had no more forecast,
But, whiles he thought to steal the single ten,
The king was slily finger'd from the deck.

...

40

25-28. Nay hence . . . pluck'd ... York] 18-21. Naie . . . backe puld... Yorke Q. 29, 30. I thought... will] 22, 23. I had thought will Q. 31-34. Is not thy brother] 24. War. Twas Warwike gaue the kingdome to thy brother Q. 35-38. Why then... Thou art . . . And Henry subject] 25-28. Why then. I but thou art . . . Henry. subiect prisoner] omitted Q. whiles... slily. gallant tell me this, what is the Bishops Tower Q.

Q.

39. But forecast

...

33. I'll do thee service] Technical language of feudalism, used mockingly? It cannot be military here.

36. Atlas] Shakespeare has not this illustration elsewhere. Peele used it of England's ruler (Elizabeth) in Polyhymnia, 1590:

"Britannia's Atlas, star of England's
globe

That sways the massy sceptre of
her land

What is

40-46. And, gallant in the Tower] 29-35. Edw. I prithee foresight... whilst .. finelie . . . in

44. deck] pack of cards. Still in use in Ireland (especially in Galway). The earliest I have met is in Three Lords and Three Ladies of London (Hazlitt's Dodsley, vi. 422), ante 1590: "I am one more (knave) than is in the deck." Peele is very fond of cards: "since the King hath put us among the discarding cards, and as it were, turned us with deuces and treys out of the deck" (Edward I. ed. Bullen, Sc. vii. 29-31).

45

You left poor Henry at the bishop's palace,
And, ten to one, you'll meet him in the Tower.

K. Edw. 'Tis even so: yet you are Warwick still.
Glou. Come, Warwick, take the time; kneel down, kneel
down.

Nay, when? strike now, or else the iron cools.

War. I had rather chop this hand off at a blow,

And with the other fling it at thy face,

Than bear so low a sail, to strike to thee.

50

K. Edw. Sail how thou canst, have wind and tide thy friend,
This hand, fast wound about thy coal-black hair,
Shall, whiles thy head is warm and new cut off,
Write in the dust this sentence with thy blood;
Wind-changing Warwick now can change no more.”

Enter OXFORD, with drum and colours.

War. O cheerful colours! see where Oxford comes !
Oxf. Oxford, Oxford, for Lancaster !

55

[He and his forces enter the city.

Glou. The gates are open, let us enter too.
K. Edw. So other foes may set upon our backs.

60

47. 'Tis . . . still] 36. Tis even so, and yet you are olde Warwike still Q. 48-57. Come, Warwick ... change no more] omitted Q. 58-60. Enter. O cheerful. enter too] 37-40. O cheereful comes. Enter Oxford with drum and souldiers & al crie. Oxf. Oxford, Oxford, for Lancaster. Exit. Edw. The gates are open, see they enter in, Lets follow them and bid them battaile in the streetes Q. 61-65. So other. same] 41, 42. Glo. No, so some other might set upon our backs, Weele staie till all be entered, and then follow them Q.

47. you are Warwick still] Nearly Warwick's own words at the end of extract from Hall above. 49. strike iron cools] "strike while the iron is hot." It is in Heywood (ed. Sharman, p. 11), 1546. 50, 51. hand with the other fling it] See above, II. vi. 81, 82. 52. bear so low a sail] Not in Shakespeare again, but a common old expression: "he makyth them to bere babylles, and to bere a low sayle" (Skelton, Speke Parrot (1. 422), circa 1515). And in Tusser, 500 Points (Eng. Dial. Soc. p. 211), 1580: "beare lowe saile, least stocke should quaile." To go modestly, humbly, or like a craven. The converse was also used, and is in North's Plutarch, 1579 (Tudor Trans. iii. 37).

52. to strike to thee] strike sail at thy appearance, see above, III. iii. 5. To strike sail was the same as to vail

ΙΟ

bonnet, to lower the ensign or topsail in saluting. "Made the highest strike sail and vayle bonnet " (Court and Times of James I. ii. 38, Letter of Carleton, 1617).

53. wind and tide thy friend] Seems to have been a saying about Warwick; see above, III. iii. 48: "For this is he that moves both wind and tide." The expression "wind and tide" is also in Comedy of Errors, but in the applied use here it seems uncommon. It occurs in The Proverbs of John Heywood (Early Eng. Dramat. ed. Farmer, p. 36), 1546: "Let this wind overblow: a time I will spy To take wind and tide with me, and speed thereby."

54. coal-black] See "coal-black as jet (2 Henry VI. II. i. 111, note, and v. i. 69, note). Often in Peele. 61. backs] rear (of army). See 2 Henry IV. 1. iii. 79.

Stand we in good array; for they, no doubt,
Will issue out again and bid us battle:

If not, the city being but of small defence,
We'll quickly rouse the traitors in the same.
War. O, welcome, Oxford! for we want thy help.

Enter MONTAGUE, with drum and colours.

Mont. Montague, Montague, for Lancaster !

65

[He and his forces enter the city. Glou. Thou and thy brother both shall buy this treason Even with the dearest blood your bodies bear. K. Edw. The harder match'd, the greater victory: My mind presageth happy gain and conquest.

Enter SOMERSET, with drum and colours.

Som. Somerset, Somerset, for Lancaster!

70

[He and his forces enter the city. Glou. Two of thy name, both Dukes of Somerset, Have sold their lives unto the house of York; And thou shalt be the third, if this sword hold.

Enter CLARENCE, with drum and colours. War. And lo, where George of Clarence sweeps along, Of force enough to bid his brother battle;

75

66. War. O, . . . help] omitted Q. 67. Enter Montague. . .] 47. Enter Montague and souldiers. Mont. Montague. Lancaster. Exit Q. 68, 69. Glou. Thou. bear] 48, 49. Edw. Traitorous Montague, thou and thy Shall deerely abie this rebellious act Q. 70, 71. K. Edw. The harder conquest] omitted Q. 72. Enter Somerset. Som. Somerset. .] 43. Enter Summerset ... and soldiers. Sum. Summerset Lancaster. Exit. Q. 73-75. Two of if this sword hold] 44-46. Two of and my sword hold 76-80. War. And lo, . . . force. battle Come, Clarence . . .

Q.

63. bid us battle] See extract from quickly. Golding speaks of "Apollo Hall at beginning of scene. And see sweeping through the ayre (Ovid's Metamorphoses, xi. 218) in fight.

III. iii. 235.

68, 69. buy this treason with] exchange it for. Compare Locrine, 11. iv. 13: "thou shalt buy thy rashness with thy death. And rue too late thy overbold attempts." The word "abie " (i.e. pay for) in Q here, occurs twice in Midsummer Night's Dream (III. ii. 175, 335) in forms aby and abie, Qq, abide, Ff.

73. Two of thy name] "Edmund, slain at the battle of St. Alban's, 1455, and Henry, his son, beheaded after the battle of Hexham, 1463 " (Ritson). 76. sweeps along] goes along

77. Of force enough to ... battle] Phillip de Commines says (Danett's trans. p. 89, 1596): "as they stood in order of battelle, the one in face of the other, suddenly the D. of Clarence the King's brother (who was reconciled to the King as before you have heard) reuolted to the King with twelue thousand men and better, which no lesse astonied the Earle than encouraged the King, whose force was not great."

77. bid his brother battle] See note at line 63 above.

With whom an upright zeal to right prevails
More than the nature of a brother's love!
Come, Clarence, come; thou wilt, if Warwick call.
Clar. Father of Warwick, know you what this means?

80

[Taking his red rose out of his hat.

Look here, I throw my infamy at thee:

I will not ruinate my father's house,

Who gave his blood to lime the stones together,

And set up Lancaster. Why, trow'st thou, Warwick, 85

That Clarence is so harsh, so blunt, unnatural,

To bend the fatal instruments of war

Against his brother and his lawful king?

Perhaps thou wilt object my holy oath:

To keep that oath were more impiety

90

Than Jephthah's, when he sacrificed his daughter.
I am so sorry for my trespass made

That, to deserve well at my brother's hands,

95

I here proclaim myself thy mortal foe :
With resolution, wheresoe'er I meet thee,—
As I will meet thee if thou stir abroad,—

power

call] 50-55. Enter Clarence . . . souldiers. War. And loe battell. Cla. Clarence, Clarence, for Lancaster. Edw. Et tu Brute, wilt thou stab Cæsar too? A parlie sirra to George of Clarence. Sound a Parlie, and Richard and Clarence whispers together, and then Clarence takes his red Rose out of his hat, and throwes it at Warwike. War. Com, Clarence, come, call Q. 81-88. Clar. Father I throw . . . Lancaster lawful king?] 56-62. Cla. Father meanes? I throw mine . . . Lancaster, Thinkest thou That Clarence is so harsh unnaturall, To lift his sword against his brother's life Q. 89-97. Perhaps thou wilt... misleading me] omitted Q.

means

80. Et tu Brute, wilt thou stab Casar too] This line (Q) is made use of in Julius Cæsar, III. i. 77, although omitted here.

81. Taking his red rose .] Not in Ff, but inserted from Q by Theobald, and absolutely necessary. The Quarto follows Hall closely in the parley of Richard and Clarence.

83. ruinate] Only here and in Titus Andronicus in the plays. Also in Lucrece, 944; and Sonnet 10. It is in Spenser's Faerie Queene, II. xii. 7, v. x. 26. And in his Mother Hubberds Tale (Globe, 522, b). Very often in Greene. Still used provincially in Ireland.

84. to lime] to cement. The verbal use readily suggested itself from the common verb "to lime" (from birdlime).

...

87, 88. To bend Against] to direct them against. Compare Richard II. III. ii. 116, and Richard III. 1. ii. 95. Peele has

"That bends his force, puff'd up with
Amurath's aid,
Against your holds"

(Battle of Alcazar, Act 1. ii. 18 (424, a,
Dyce)).

91. Jephthah] See Judges xi. 30. Again in Hamlet. There were at least two Latin, or University plays on Jephthah considerably before this date; and two English ones later.

95, 96. meet thee meet thee] Something near Peele's way of writing:

"And haste they make to meet and meet they do,

And do the thing for which they meet in haste"