SCENE IV.-Another part of the Plains.

Alarum. Enter YORK.

the field:

York. The army of the queen hath got
My uncles both are slain in rescuing me;
And all my followers to the eager foe
Turn back and fly, like ships before the wind,
Or lambs pursued by hunger-starved wolves.
My sons- -God knows what hath bechanced them;
But this I know, they have demeaned themselves
Like men born to renown by life or death.
Three times did Richard make a lane to me,
And thrice cried,—Courage, father! fight it out!
And full as oft came Edward to my side,
With purple falchion, painted to the hilt

In blood of those that had encountered him :

And when the hardiest warriors did retire,

Richard cried,-Charge! and give no foot of ground!
And cried,-A crown, or else a glorious tomb!

A sceptre, or an earthly sepulchre !

With this we charged again: but, out alas !1

2

We bodged again; as I have seen a swan
With bootless labour swim against the tide,

And spend her strength with over-matching waves.

[A short alarum.

Ah, hark! the fatal followers do pursue,
And I am faint, and cannot fly their fury:
And were I strong, I would not shun their fury:

1 Out alas!]

abhorrence.

Out thus used in exclamation is an expression of

Bodged] Bungled.

The sands are numbered that make up my life!
Here must I stay, and here my life must end.

Enter QUEEN Margaret, Clifford, NORTHUMBERland, and
Soldiers.

Come, bloody Clifford,-rough Northumberland.-
I dare your quenchless fury to more rage;
I am your butt, and I abide your shot.

North. Yield to our mercy, proud Plantagenet.
Clif. Ay, to such mercy as his ruthless arm,
With downright payment, showed unto my father.
Now Phaeton hath tumbled from his car,
And made an evening at the noontide prick.

York. My ashes, as the phoenix, may bring forth
A bird that will revenge upon you all :

And in that hope I throw mine eyes to heaven,
Scorning whate'er you can afflict me with.
Why come you not? what! multitudes, and fear?
Clif. So cowards fight when they can fly no further;
'So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons;
So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives,
Breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers.

York. O, Clifford, but bethink thee once again,
And in thy thought o'er-run my former time;
And, if thou canst for blushing, view this face,
And bite thy tongue, that slanders him with cowardice,
Whose frown hath made thee faint and fly ere this!

Clif. I will not bandy with thee word for word, But buckle with thee blows, twice two for one.

[Draws.

Q. Mar. Hold, valiant Clifford ! for a thousand causes,

I would prolong awhile the traitor's life :-
Wrath makes him deaf:-speak thou, Northumberland.
North. Hold, Clifford ! do not honour him so much,

་

To prick thy finger, though to wound his heart:
What valour were it, when a cur doth grin,
For one to thrust his hand between his teeth,
When he might spurn him with his foot away ?
It is war's prize to take all vantages;

And ten to one is no impeach of valour.

[They lay hands on YORK, who struggles. Clif. Ay, ay, so strives the woodcock with the gin. North. So doth the coney struggle in the net. [YORK is taken prisoner. York. So triumph thieves upon their conquered booty; So true men yield, with robbers so o'ermatched.

North. What would your grace have done unto him
now?

Q. Mar. Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumberland,
Come, make him stand upon this molehill here,
That raught at mountains with outstretched arms,
Yet parted but the shadow with his hand.—
What! was it you that would be England's king?
Was 't you that revelled in our parliament,
And made a preachment of your high descent?
Where are your mess of sons2 to back you now,
The wanton Edward, and the lusty George?

1 Raught] Reached; strained.

2 Your mess of sons] Your four sons. These, as presently mentioned, were Edward, George, Richard, and Edmund earl of Rutland. A mess anciently meant four persons dining together, and was often used generally of a company of four persons of the same social rank. Thus in Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3, 'You three fools lacked one fool to make up the mess;' and v. 2, 'A mess of Russians [the number was four] left us but of late.' Compare the Winter's Tale, i. 2, 'Lower messes [i.e., persons of less distinction] perchance are to this business purblind;' and iv. 3, 'Our feasts in every mess have folly.'

And where's that valiant crook-back prodigy,
Dicky, your boy, that with his grumbling voice
Was wont to cheer his dad in mutinies?

Or, with the rest, where is your darling Rutland ?
Look, York: I stained this napkin with the blood
That valiant Clifford, with his rapier's point,
Made issue from the bosom of the boy;
And if thine eyes can water for his death,
I give thee this to dry thy cheeks withal.
Alas, poor York! but that I hate thee deadly,
I should lament thy miserable state.

I prithee, grieve, to make me merry, York :

What, hath thy fiery heart so parched thine entrails,
That not a tear can fall for Rutland's death?

Why art thou patient, man? thou shouldst be mad,
And I, to make thee mad, do mock thee thus.
Stamp, rave, and fret, that I may sing and dance.
Thou wouldst be feed, I see, to make me sport:
York cannot speak, unless he wear a crown.-
A crown for York !—and, lords, bow low to him.—
Hold you his hands, whilst I do set it on.—

[Putting a paper crown on his head.

Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king!
Ay, this is he that took king Henry's chair;
And this is he was his adopted heir.—
But how is it that great Plantagenet

Is crowned so soon, and broke his solemn oath?
As I bethink me, you should not be king
Till our king Henry had shook hands with death.
And will you pale1 your head in Henry's glory,
And rob his temples of the diadem,

Now in his life, against your holy oath?

Pale] Surround; encircle. Properly impale.

O, 't is a fault too too-unpardonable !1

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: 3
But that thy face is, vizard-like, unchanging,
Made impudent with use of evil deeds,

I would assay,5 proud queen, to make thee blush:
To tell thee whence thou cam'st, of whom derived,

Were shame enough to shame thee, wert thou not shame

less.

6

Thy father bears the type of king of Naples,

Of both the Sicils, and Jerusalem;

Yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman.

Hath that poor monarch taught thee to insult?

Too too-unpardonable]

In this form of speech, so common in

our old writers, the first adverb modifies the cumulative meaning of the next two words. See the Editor's Hamlet, p. 18, note 2.

2 Do him dead] Do him to death was a more usual form of expression:

1: as in 2 K. Henry VI., iii. 2, 'Why, Warwick, who should do the duke to death?'

Captivates] Brings into captivity.

4 Use] Practice; custom.

5 Assay] Essay; try. The form assay is now used only with reference to the testing of ores and metals.

• The type] The symbol, viz. the crown, which in K. Richard III., iv. 4, is called 'The high imperial type of this earth's glory.'

" Both the Sicils] Naples and Sicily, called the kingdom of the Two Sicilies.