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'K. Edw. So other foes may set upon our backs. * 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! [He and his forces enter the city. 'Glo. 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!

[He and his forces enter the city.
Glo. 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;
* With whom an upright zeal to right prevails,
* More than the nature of a brother's love :-
*Come, Clarence, come; thou wilt, if Warwick
calls.

Clar. Father of Warwick, know you what this
means?

[Taking the red rose out of his cap. "Look here, I throw my infamy at thee: I will not ruinate my father's house, Who gave his blood to limel the stones together, And set up Lancaster. Why, trow'st thou, Warwick,

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That Clarence is so harsh, so blunt,2 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
*Than Jephtha's, when he sacrific'd his daughter.
*I am so sorry for my trespass made,
*That, to deserve well at my brother's hands,
*I here proclaim myself thy mortal foe;
*With resolution, wheresoe'er I meet thee,
*(As I will meet thee, if thou stir abroad,)

To plague thee for thy foul misleading me.
And so, proud-hearted Warwick, I defy thee,
And to my brother turn my blushing cheeks.--
Pardon me, Edward, I will make amends;
And, Richard, do not frown upon my faults,
For I will henceforth be no more unconstant.
'K. Edw. Now welcome more, and ten times
more belov'd,

Than if thou never hadst deserv'd our hate.

K. Edw. Yes, Warwick, Edward dares, and leads
the way :-

Lords, to the field; Saint George, and victory!
[March. Exeunt.

SCENE II-A field of battle near Barnet.—
Alarums, and Excursions. Enter King Ed-
ward, bringing in Warwick wounded.

*

*K. Edw. So, lie thou there: die thou, and
die our fear;

*For Warwick was a bug,4 that fear'd5 us all.-
Now, Montague, sit fast; I seek for thee,
*That Warwick's bones may keep thine company.
[Exit.

And tell me, who is victor, York, or Warwick?
War. Ah, who is nigh? come to me, friend or foe,
Why ask I that? my mangled body shows,

*

My blood, my want of strength, my sick heart
shows,

That I must yield my body to the earth,
Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge,
And, by my fall, the conquest to my foe.
Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle,
Under whose shade the ramping lion slept;
Whose top-branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading tree,
*And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful wind.
*These eyes, that now are dimm'd with death's
black veil,

*Have been as piercing as the mid-day sun,
*To search the secret treasons of the world:
The wrinkles in my brows, now fill'd with blood,
Were liken'd oft to kingly sepulchres;
For who liv'd king, but I could dig his grave?
And who durst smile, when Warwick bent his brow?
Lo, now my glory smear'd in dust and blood!
My parks, my walks, my manors that I had,
Even now forsake me; and, of all my lands,
Is nothing left me, but my body's length;
Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust?
And, live we how we can, yet die we must.
Enter Oxford and Somerset.

*Som. Ah, Warwick, Warwick! wert thou as
we are,

*We might recover all our loss again!
The queen from France hath brought a puissant

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*If thou be there, sweet brother, take my hand,
*And with thy lips keep in my soul a while!
*Thou lov'st me not; for, brother, if thou didst,
*Thy tears would wash this cold congealed blood,
*That glews my lips, and will not let me speak.
*Come quickly, Montague, or I am dead.

Som. Ah, Warwick, Montague hath breath'd
his last;

And to the latest gasp, cried out for Warwick,
And said-Commend me to my valiant brother.
And more he would have said; and more he spoke,
Which sounded like a cannon in a vault,

Glo. Welcome, good Clarence; this is brother-That might not be distinguish'd; but, at last,

like.
War. O passing traitor, perjur'd, and unjust!
K. Edw. What, Warwick, wilt thou leave the
town, and fight?

Or shall we beat the stones about thine ears?
War. Alas, I am not coop'd here for defence:
I will away towards Barnet presently,
And bid thee battle, Edward, if thou dar'st.

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I well might hear deliver'd with a groan,-
'O, farewell, Warwick!

War.
Sweet rest to his soul-
Fly, lords, and save yourselves; for Warwick bids
You all farewell, to meet again in heaven. [Dies.
Oxf. Away, away, to meet the queen's great
power!

[Exeunt, bearing off Warwick's body

(3) Eminent, egregious. (4) Bugbear.
(5) Terrified.

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SCENE III.—Another part of the field. Flou-||* That there's no hop'd-for mercy with the brothers, rish. Enter King Edward in triumph; with More than with ruthless waves, with sands, and Clarence, Gloster, and the rest. rocks.

• K. Edw. Thus far our fortune keeps an upward

course,

And we are grac'd with wreaths of victory. But, in the midst of this bright-shining day, 'I spy a black, suspicious, threat'ning cloud, 'That will encounter with our glorious sun, 'Ere he attain his easeful western bed:

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I mean, my lords, those powers, that the queen Hath rais'd in Gallia, have arriv'd our coast,

And, as we hear, march on to fight with us.

*Cla. A little gale will soon disperse that cloud, * And blow it to the source from whence it came : *Thy very beams will dry those vapours up; *For every cloud engenders not a storm.

* Glo. The queen is valu'd thirty thousand strong, ⚫ And Somerset, with Oxford, fled to her; 'If she have time to breathe, be well assur'd, Her faction will be full as strong as ours.

K. Edw. We are advertis'd by our loving friends, That they do hold their course toward Tewksbury; 'We having now the best at Barnet field,

Will thither straight, for willingness rids way; And, as we march, our strength will be augmented In every county as we go along.Strike up the drum; cry-Courage! and away. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV-Plains near Tewksbury. March. Enter Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, Somerset, Oxford, and Soldiers.

*Q. Mar. Great lords, wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss,

*But cheerly seek how to redress their harms. What though the mast be now blown over-board, The cable broke, the holding anchor lost, And half our sailors swallow'd in the flood? "Yet lives our pilot still: Is't meet, that he Should leave the helm, and, like a fearful lad, * With tearful eyes add water to the sea, *And give more strength to that which hath too

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much;

*Whiles, in his moan, the ship splits on the rock, *Which industry and courage might have sav'd? * Ah, what a shame! ah, what a fault were this! Say, Warwick was our anchor; What of that? And Montague our top-mast; What of him? Our slaughter'd friends the tackles; What of

these?

Why, is not Oxford here another anchor?

And Somerset another goodly mast?

The friends of France our shrouds and tacklings?

And, though unskilful, why not Ned and I

For once allow'd the skilful pilot's charge?
We will not from the helm, to sit and weep;

* But keep our course, though the rough wind say

-no,

*From shelves and rocks that threaten us with wreck.

*As good to chide the waves, as speak them fair. *And what is Edward, but a ruthless sea? *What Clarence, but a quicksand of deceit? *And Richard, but a ragged fatal rock? *All these the enemies to our poor bark. *Say, you can swim; alas, 'tis but a while:

Tread on the sand; why, there you quickly sink: *Bestride the rock; the tide will wash you off, * Or else you famish, that's a threefold death. *This speak I, lords, to let you understand, * In case some one of you would fly from us, (2) Unsay, deny.

(1) Know.

*Why, courage, then! what cannot be avoided, *Twere childish weakness to lament, or fear.

*Prince. Methinks, a woman of this valiant

spirit

*Should, if a coward heard her speak these words, *Infuse his breast with magnanimity,

* And make him, naked, foil a man at arms.
I speak not this, as doubting any here:
For, did I but suspect a fearful man,
He should have leave to go away betimes;
Lest, in our need, he might infect another,
And make him of like spirit to himself.
If any such be here, as God forbid !
Let him depart, before we need his help.
And warriors faint! why, 'twere perpetual shame.-
'Oxf. Women and children of so high a courage!

O, brave young prince! thy famous grandfather Doth live again in thee; Long may'st thou live, To bear his image, and renew his glories!

Som. And he, that will not fight for such a hope, Go home to bed, and, like the owl by day, If he arise, be mock'd and wonder'd at. *Q. Mar. Thanks, gentle Somerset ;-sweet Oxford, thanks.

* Prince. And take his thanks, that yet hath nothing else.

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March.

Enter, at a distance, King Edward, Clarence, Gloster, and forces.

'K. Edw. Brave followers, yonder stands the thorny wood,

Which, by the heavens' assistance, and your strength,

Must by the roots be hewn up yet ere night. *I need not add more fuel to your fire,

For, well I wot, ye blaze to burn them out: *Give signal to the fight, and to it, lords.

Q. Mar. Lords, knights, and gentlemen, what I should say,

My tears gainsay 2 for every word I speak,
Ye see,
I drink the water of mine eyes.
Therefore, no more but this :-Henry, your sove-

reign,

Is prisoner to the foe; his state usurp'd,
His realm a slaughter-house, his subjects slain,
His statutes cancell'd, and his treasure spent ;
And yonder is the wolf, that makes this spoil.
You fight in justice: then, in God's name, lords,
Be valiant, and give signal to the fight.

[Exeunt both armies. SCENE V-Another part of the same.

Alar

ums: Excursions: and afterwards a Retreat. Then enter King Edward, Clarence, Gloster, and forces; with Queen Margaret, Oxford, and Somerset, prisoners.

'K. Edw. Now, here a period of tumultuous broils. Away with Oxford to Hammes' castle3 straight:

(3) A castle in Picardy.

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For Somerset, off with his guilty head.
'Go, bear them hence; I will not hear them speak.
Oxf. For my part, I'll not trouble thee with words.
Som. Nor I, but stoop with patience to my for-*
tune. [Exeunt Oxf. and Som. guarded.
*Q. Mar. So part we sadly in this troublous world,
*To meet with joy in sweet Jerusalem.

*K. Edw. Is proclamation made,-that, who'
finds Edward,

*Shall have a high reward, and he his life?
* Glo. Itis: and, lo, where youthful Edward comes.
Enter Soldiers with Prince Edward.

*K. Edw. Bring forth the gallant, let us hear|
him speak:

*What! can so young a thorn begin to prick?
• Edward, what satisfaction canst thou make,
For bearing arms, for stirring up my subjects,
*And all the trouble thou hast turn'd me to?
Prince. Speak like a subject, proud ambitious York!
Suppose that I am now my father's mouth;
Resign thy chair, and, where I stand, kneel thou,
Whilst I propose the self-same words to thee,
Which, traitor, thou wouldst have me answer to.

:

And men ne'er spend their fury on a child.
What's worse than murderer, that I may name it?
No, no; my heart will burst, an if I speak :-
And I will speak, that so my heart may burst.—
Butchers and villains, bloody cannibals!
How sweet a plant have you untimely cropp'd!
You have no children, butchers! if you had,
The thought of them would have stirr'd up re-

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morse :

But, if you ever chance to have a child,
Look in his youth to have him so cut off,
As, deathsmen! you have rid this sweet young
prince!

K. Edw. Away with her; go, bear her hence
perforce.

Q. Mar. Nay, never bear me hence, despatch
me here;

Here sheath thy sword, I'll pardon thee my death:
What! wilt thou not?-then, Clarence, do it thou.
Clar. By heaven, I will not do thee so much ease.
Q. Mar. Good Clarence, do; sweet Clarence,
do thou do it.

Clar. Didst thou not hear me swear, I would
not do it?

Q. Mar. Ah, that thy father had been so resolv'd!
Glo. That you might still have worn the petti-'Twas sin before, but now 'tis charity.

Q. Mar. Ay, but thou usest to forswear thyself;

coat,

And ne'er have stol'n the breech from Lancaster.

Prince. Let Esop1 fable in a winter's night;
His currish riddles sort not with this place.
Glo. By heaven, brat, I'll plague you for that word.
Q.Mar. Ay, thou wast born to be a plague to men.
Glo. For God's sake, take away this captive scold.
Prince. Nay, take away this scolding crook-
back rather.

'K. Edw. Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm2

your tongue.

Clar. Untutor'd lad, thou art too malapert.
Prince. I know my duty, you are all undutiful:
Lascivious Edward,-and thou perjur'd George,—
And thou misshapen Dick,-I tell ye all,
I am your better, traitors as ye are ;-
*And thou usurp'st my father's right and mine.
K. Edw. Take that, the likeness of this railer
here.
[Stabs him.

* Glo. Sprawl'st thou? take that, to end thy
agony.
[Glo. stabs him.

*Clar. And there's for twitting me with perjury.
[Clar. stabs him.

Q. Mar. O, kill me too!
Glo. Marry, and shall.

[Offers to kill her.

K. Edw. Hold, Richard, hold, for we have done too much.

Glo. Why should she live, to fill the world with words ?3

'K. Edw. What! doth she swoon? use means

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'Q. Mar. O, Ned, sweet Ned! speak to thy
mother, boy!

'Canst thou not speak?--O traitors! murderers!-|
They, that stabb'd Cæsar, shed no blood at all,
Did not offend, nor were not worthy blame,
*If this foul decd were by, to equal it.
He was a man; this, in respect, a child;

(1) The prince calls Richard, for his crookedness, Æsop.

(2) i. e. I will compel you to be as silent as if you were deprived of speech by enchantment.

What! wilt thou not? where is that devil's butcher, Hard-favour'd Richard? Richard, where art thou? Thou art not here: Murder is thy alms-deed; Petitioners for blood thou ne'er put'st back. 'K. Edw. Away, I say; I charge ye, bear her hence.

Q. Mar. So come to you, and yours, as to this prince! [Exit, led out forcibly. K. Edw. Where's Richard gone? 'Clar. To London, all in post; and, as I guess, To make a bloody supper in the Tower.

K. Edw. He's sudden, if a thing comes in his

head.

Now march we hence: discharge the common sort
With pay and thanks, and let's away to London,
And see our gentle queen how well she fares;
By this, I hope, she hath a son for me. [Exeunt.
SCENE VI.-London. A room in the Tower,
King Henry is discovered sitting with a book in
his hand, the Lieutenant attending. Enter
Gloster.

Glo. Good day, my lord! What, at your book
so hard?

K. Hen. Ay, my good lord: My lord, I should
say rather;

'Tis sin to flatter, good was little better:
Good Gloster, and good devil, were alike,
*And both preposterous; therefore, not good lord.
*Glo. Sirrah, leave us to ourselves: we must
[Exit Lieutenant.
*K. Hen. So flies the reckless shepherd from
the wolf:

confer.

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With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush,
And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,
Have now the fatal object in my eye,

(3) Dispute, contention.

(4) She alludes to the desertion of Clarence. (5) Careless.

(6) To misdoubt is to suspect danger, to fear.

Where my poor young was lim'd, was caught and|| kill'd.

'Glo. Why, what a peevish1 fool was that of Crete,

"That taught his son the office of a fowl? 'And yet, for all his wings, the fool was drown'd. K. Hen. I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus; Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;

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The sun, that sear'd the wings of my sweet boy, Thy brother Edward; and thyself, the sea, "Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life. *Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words! My breast can better brook thy dagger's point, Than can my ears that tragic history.

* But wherefore dost thou come? is't for my life? 'Glo. Think'st thou I am an executioner? K. Hen. A persecutor, I am sure, thou art; If murdering innocents be executing,

Why, then thou art an executioner.

Glo. Thy son I kill'd for his presumption. K. Hen. Hadst thou been kill'd, when first thou didst presume,

Thou hadst not liv'd to kill a son of mine. And thus I prophesy,-that many a thousand, "Which now mistrust no parcel2 of my fear; And many an old man's sigh, and many a widow's,

And many an orphan's water-standing eye,— Men for their sons, wives for their husbands' fate, And orphans for their parents' timeless death,'Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born. The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign; 'The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time; Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempests shook down trees;

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The raven rook'd3 her on the chimney's top,
And chattering pies in dismal discords sung.
Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain,
And yet brought forth less than a mother's hope;
To wit,-an indigest deformed lump,
Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree.
Teeth hadst thou in thy head, when thou wast born,
To signify,-thou cam'st to bite the world:
And, if the rest be true which I have heard,
'Thou cam'st-

.

Glo. I'll hear no more ;-Die, prophet, in thy speech; Stabs him. For this, amongst the rest, was I ordain'd. K. Hen. Ay, and for much more slaughter af

ter this.

O God! forgive my sins, and pardon thee! [Dies. Glo. What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster Sink in the ground? I thought it would have

mounted.

See, how my sword weeps for the poor king's death!
O, may such purple tears be always shed
From those that wish the downfal of our house!-
If any spark of life be yet remaining,
Down, down to hell; and say-I sent thee thither,
[Stabs him again.
I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear.-
Indeed, 'tis true, that Henry told me of;
For I have often heard my mother say,
I came into the world with my legs forward:
Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste,

And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right?
The midwife wonder'd; and the women cried,
O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!

And so I was; which plainly signifiedThat I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog. • Then, since the heavens have shap'd my body so,

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Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it.
I have no brother, I am like no brother:
And this word-love, which grey beards call divine,
Be resident in men like one another,
And not in me; I am myself alone.-
Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light;
But I will sort a pitchy day for thee:
For I will buzz abroad such prophecies,
That Edward shall be fearful of his life;
And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death.
King Henry, and the prince his son, are gone;
Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest;
Counting myself but bad, till I be best.-
I'll throw thy body in another room,
And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom. [Exit.
SCENE VII-The same. A room in the pal-
ace. King Edward is discovered sitting on his
throne; Queen Elizabeth with the infant prince,
Clarence, Gloster, Hastings, and others, near
him.

K. Edw. Once more we sit in England's royal throne,

Re-purchas'd with the blood of enemies.
What valiant foe-men, like to autumn's corn,
Have we mow'd down, in tops of all their pride?
Three dukes of Somerset, threefold renown'd
For hardy and undoubted champions:
Two Cliffords, as the father and the son,
And two Northumberlands; two braver men
Ne'er spurr'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound:
With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and

Montague,

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That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion,
And made the forest tremble when they roar'd.
Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat,
And made our footstool of security.-
Come hither, Bess, and let me kiss my boy:
Young Ned, for thee, thine uncles, and myself,
Have in our armours watch'd the winter's night;
Went all afoot in summer's scalding heat,
That thou might'st repossess the crown in peace;
And of our labours thou shalt reap the gain.

Glo. I'll blast his harvest, if your head were laid;
For yet I am not look'd on in the world.
This shoulder was ordain'd so thick, to heave;
And heave it shall some weight, or break my
back:-

Work thou the way,-and thou shalt execute.

[Aside.

K. Edw. Clarence, and Gloster, love my lovely queen;

And kiss your princely nephew, brothers both. Clar. The duty that I owe unto your majesty, I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe.

K. Edw. Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy brother, thanks.

'Glo. And, that I love the tree from whence thou sprang'st,

Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit :say the truth, so Judas kiss'd his

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matter itself will defeat the artist. Of every author's works one will be the best, and one will be the worst. The colours are not equally pleasing, nor the attitudes equally graceful, in all the pictures of Titian or Reynolds.

Dissimilitude of style and heterogeneousness of sentiment, may sufficiently show that a work does not really belong to the reputed author. But in these plays no such marks of spuriousness are found. The diction, the versification, and the figures, are Shakspeare's. These plays, considered without regard to characters and incidents, merely as narratives in verse, are more happily conceived, and more accurately finished, than those of King John, Richard II. or the tragic scenes of King Henry IV. and V. If we take these plays from Shakspeare, to whom shall they be given? What author of that age had the same easiness of expression and fluency of numbers?

Of these three plays I think the second the best. The truth is, that they have not sufficient variety of action, for the incidents are too often of the same kind; yet many of the characters are well discriminated. King Henry, and his Queen, King Edward, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earl of Warwick, are very strongly and distinctly painted.

JOHNSON.

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