Grandam, this would have been a biting jest.

Duch. I pr'ythee, pretty York, who told thee this
York. Grandam, his nurse.

Duch. His nurse! why, she was dead ere thou wast

born.

Fork. If 'twere not she, I cannot tell who told me. Q.Eliz. A parlous boy :2 Go to, you are too shrewd. Arch. Good madam, be not angry with the child. Q.Eliz. Pitchers have ears.

Enter a Messenger.

Arch. Here comes a messenger: What news?
Mes. Such news, my lord, as grieves me to unfold.
Q.Eliz. How doth the prince?

Mes. Well, madam, and in health.

Duch. What is thy news?'

Mes. Lord Rivers, and lord Grey,

Are sent to Pomfret, with them

Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners.

Duch. Who hath committed them?

Mes. The mighty dukes, Gloster and Buckingham. Q.Eliz. For what offence?

Mes. The sum of all I can, I have disclos'd; Why, or for what, the nobles were committed, Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady.

Q.Eliz. Ah me, I see the ruin of my house!
The tiger now hath seiz'd the gentle hind;
Insulting tyranny begins to jut

Upon the innocent and awless throne : 3-
Welcome, destruction, blood, and massacre !
I see, as in a map, the end of all.

Duch. Accursed and unquiet wrangling days!
How many of you have mine eyes beheld ?
My husband lost his life to get the crown;
And often up and down my sons were tost,
For me to joy, and weep, their gain, and loss:
And being seated, and domestic broils

Clean over-blown, themselves, the conquerors,
Make war upon themselves; brother to brother,
Blood to blood, self 'gainst self:-O, preposterous
And frantic courage, end thy damned spleen;

[2] Parlous is keen, shrewd. STEEV.-Corruption of perilous, danger. ous; the reading of the old quartos. The queen evidently means to chide him. RITSON.

[3] Not producing awe, not reverenced. To jut upon is to encroach. JOA

Or let me die, to look on death no more!

Q. Eliz. Come, come, my boy, we will to sanctuary.Madam, farewel.

Duch. Stay, I will go with you.

Q.Eliz. You have no cause.

Arch. My gracious lady, go,

[To the Queen.

And thither bear your treasure and your goods.

For my part, I'll resign unto your grace
The seal I keep; and so betide to me,
As well I tender you, and all of yours!
Come, I'll conduct you to the sanctuary.

ACT III.

[Exeunt.

SCENE 1.-The same. A Street. The Trumpets sound. Enter the Prince of WALES, GLOSTER, BUCKINGHAM, Cardinal BOURCHIER, and others.

Buckingham.

WELCOME, Sweet prince, to London, to your chamber.4 Glo. Welcome, dear cousin, my thoughts' sovereign : The weary way hath made you melancholy.

Prince. No, uncle; but our crosses on the way Have made it tedious, wearisome, and heavy :

I want more uncles here to welcome me.

Glo. Sweet prince, the untainted virtue of your years Hath not yet div'd into the world's deceit :

No more can you distinguish of a man,

Than of his outward show; which, God he knows,
Seldom, or never, jumpeth with the heart.

Those uncles, which you want, were dangerous;
Your grace attended to the sugar'd words,

But look'd not on the poison of their hearts:

God keep you from them, and from such false friends! Prince. God keep me from false friends! but they

were none.

Glo. My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you.
Enter the Lord Mayor, and his Train.
May. God bless your grace with health and happy
days!

all.

Prince. I thank you, good my lord ;-and thank you [Exeunt Mayor, &c. I thought my mother, and my brother York,

[4] London was anciently called Camera regis.

POPE

Would long ere this have met us on the way:
Fie, what a slug is Hastings! that he comes not
To tell us, whether they will come, or no.
Enter HASTINGS.

Buck. And in good time, here comes the sweating lord.
Prin. Welcome, my lord: What, will our mother come?
Hast. On what occasion, God he knows, not I,
The queen your mother, and your brother York,
Have taken sanctuary: The tender prince
Would fain have come with me to meet your grace,
But by his mother was perforce withheld.

Buck. Fie! what an indirect and peevish course
Is this of hers ?-Lord cardinal, will your grace
Persuade the queen to send the duke of York
Unto his princely brother presently?

If she deny,-lord Hastings, go with him,

And from her jealous arms pluck him perforce.

Car. My lord of Buckingham, if my weak oratory

Can from his mother win the duke of York,

Anon expect him here: But if she be obdurate
To mild intreaties, God in heaven forbid

We should infringe the holy privilege

Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land,
Would I be guilty of so deep a sin.

Buck. You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord,

Too ceremonious, and traditional :5

Weigh it but with the grossness of this age, 6
You break not sanctuary in seizing him.
The benefit thereof is always granted

To those whose dealings have deserv'd the place,
And those who have the wit to claim the place :
This prince hath neither claim'd it, nor deserv'd it;
And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it :
Then, taking him from thence, that is not there,
You break no privilege nor charter there.
Oft have I heard of sanctuary men;

But sanctuary children, ne'er till now.

Car. My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind for once.Come on, lord Hastings, will you go with me? Hast. I go, my lord.

Prin. Good lords, make all the speedy haste you may. [Exeunt Cardinal and HASTINGS.

[5] Ceremonious, superstitious; traditional, adherent to old customs. WAR [6] That is, compare the act of seizing him with the gross and licentious practices of these times, it will not be considered as a violation of sanctuary, for you may give such reasons as men are now used to admit.. JOHNS

29*

VOL. V.

-Say, uncle Gloster, if our brother come,
Where shall we sojourn till our coronation?

Glo. Where it seems best unto your royal self.
If I may counsel you, some day, or two,

Your highness shall repose you at the Tower:
Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit
For your best health and recreation.

Prin. I do not like the Tower, of any place :-
Did Julius Cæsar build that place, my lord?

Glo. He did, my gracious lord, begin that place;
Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edify'd.
Prin. Is it upon record? or else reported
Successively from age to age he built it?

Buck. Upon record, my gracious lord.
Prin. But say, my lord, it were not register'd;
Methinks, the truth should live from age to age,
As 'twere retail'd to all posterity,"

Even to the general all-ending day.

Glo. So wise, so young, they say, do ne'er live long. 8

Prin. What say you, uncle ?

Glo. I say, without charácters, fame lives long. Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity, 9

I moralize two meanings in one word.

[Aside

Aside.

Prin. That Julius Cæsar was a famous man;

With what his valour did enrich his wit,
His wit set down to make his valour live:
Death makes no conquest of this conqueror ;
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.-
I'll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham.
Buck. What, my gracious lord?
Prince. An if I live until I be a man,
I'll win our ancient right in France again,
Or die a soldier, as I liv'd a king.

Glo. Short summers lightly have a forward spring.
[Aside.

[7] Retailed means handed down from one to another.-Goods retailed, are those which pass from one purchaser to another. M. MASON.

[8] Is cadit ante senem, qui sapit ante diem —a proverbial line. STEEV. -Bright, in his Treatise on Melancholy, 1586, says "I have knowne chil dren languishing of the splene obstructed and altered in temper, talke with gravitie and wisdome, surpassing those tender yeares, and their judgement carrying a marvellous imitation of the wisdom of the ancient, having after a sort attained that by disease, which other have by course of years: whereon I take it, the proverbe ariseth, that they be short of life who are of wit so pregnant." REED.

[9] See Note at the end of the play. [1] Commonly, in ordinary course.

JOHNS.

Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the Cardinal. Buck. Now, in good time,here comes the duke of York. Prin. Richard of York! how fares our loving brother? York. Well, my dread lord ;2 so must I call you now. Prince. Ay, brother; to our grief, as it is yours: Too late he died, 3 that might have kept that title, Which by his death hath lost much majesty.

Glo. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York? York. I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord, You said, that idle weeds are fast in growth: The prince my brother hath out-grown me far. Go. He hath, my lord.

York. And therefore is he idle?

Glo. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so.

York. Then is he more beholden to you, than I. Glo. He may command me, as my sovereign; But you have power in me, as in a kinsman.

York. I pray you, uncle, then, give me this dagger. Glo. My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart. Prince. A beggar, brother?

York. Of my kind uncle, that I know will give ; And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give. Glo. A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin. York. A greater gift! O, that's the sword to it? Glo. Ay, gentle cousin, were it light enough. York. O then, I see, you'll part but with light gifts; In weightier things you'll say a beggar, nay. Glo. It is too weighty for your grace to wear. York. 1 weigh it lightly, were it heavier.

Glo. What, would you have my weapon, little lord ? York. I would, that I might thank you as you call me. Glo. How?

York. Little.

Prince. My lord of York will still be cross in talk ;Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him.

York. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me: -Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me ; Because that I am little, like an ape,

He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders,5

WARE.

[2] The original of this epithet applied to kings has been much disputed. In some of our old statutes the king is called Rex metuendissimus. JOHNS. [3] i. e. too lately, the loss is too fresh in our memory. [4] i. e. I should still esteem it a trifling gift, were it heavier. WARB. [5] The reproach seems to consist in this: at country shows, it was common to set the monkey on the back of some other animal, as a bear. The dake therefore in calling himself ape, calls his uncle bear. JOHNS