ACT VSCENE I. Fields between Dartford and BlackheathEnterYorkand his army of Irish, with drum and colours.YORK.From Ireland thus comes York to claim his rightAnd pluck the crown from feeble Henry’s head.Ring, bells, aloud; burn, bonfires, clear and bright,To entertain great England’s lawful king.Ah,sancta majestas, who would not buy thee dear?Let them obey that knows not how to rule.This hand was made to handle nought but gold.I cannot give due action to my wordsExcept a sword or sceptre balance it.A sceptre shall it have, have I a soul,On which I’ll toss the fleur-de-luce of France.EnterBuckingham.Whom have we here? Buckingham, to disturb me?The King hath sent him, sure. I must dissemble.BUCKINGHAM.York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee well.YORK.Humphrey of Buckingham, I accept thy greeting.Art thou a messenger, or come of pleasure?BUCKINGHAM.A messenger from Henry, our dread liege,To know the reason of these arms in peace;Or why thou, being a subject as I am,Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn,Should raise so great a power without his leave,Or dare to bring thy force so near the court.YORK.[Aside.] Scarce can I speak, my choler is so great.O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint,I am so angry at these abject terms;And now, like Ajax Telamonius,On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury.I am far better born than is the King,More like a king, more kingly in my thoughts.But I must make fair weather yet awhile,Till Henry be more weak and I more strong.—Buckingham, I prithee, pardon me,That I have given no answer all this while;My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.The cause why I have brought this army hitherIs to remove proud Somerset from the King,Seditious to his grace and to the state.BUCKINGHAM.That is too much presumption on thy part;But if thy arms be to no other end,The King hath yielded unto thy demand:The Duke of Somerset is in the Tower.YORK.Upon thine honour, is he prisoner?BUCKINGHAM.Upon mine honour, he is prisoner.YORK.Then, Buckingham, I do dismiss my powers.Soldiers, I thank you all; disperse yourselves;Meet me tomorrow in Saint George’s field,You shall have pay and everything you wish.[ExeuntSoldiers.]And let my sovereign, virtuous Henry,Command my eldest son, nay, all my sons,As pledges of my fealty and love,I’ll send them all as willing as I live.Lands, goods, horse, armour, anything I haveIs his to use, so Somerset may die.BUCKINGHAM.York, I commend this kind submission.We twain will go into his highness’ tent.EnterKingand Attendants.KING HENRY.Buckingham, doth York intend no harm to usThat thus he marcheth with thee arm in arm?YORK.In all submission and humilityYork doth present himself unto your highness.KING HENRY.Then what intends these forces thou dost bring?YORK.To heave the traitor Somerset from henceAnd fight against that monstrous rebel Cade,Who since I heard to be discomfited.EnterIdenwithCade’shead.IDEN.If one so rude and of so mean conditionMay pass into the presence of a king,Lo, I present your grace a traitor’s head,The head of Cade, whom I in combat slew.KING HENRY.The head of Cade! Great God, how just art Thou!O, let me view his visage, being dead,That living wrought me such exceeding trouble.Tell me, my friend, art thou the man that slew him?IDEN.I was, an ’t like your majesty.KING HENRY.How art thou called? And what is thy degree?IDEN.Alexander Iden, that’s my name;A poor esquire of Kent, that loves his King.BUCKINGHAM.So please it you, my lord, ’twere not amissHe were created knight for his good service.KING HENRY.Iden, kneel down. [He kneels.] Rise up a knight.We give thee for reward a thousand marks,And will that thou henceforth attend on us.IDEN.May Iden live to merit such a bounty,And never live but true unto his liege![Rises.]EnterQueenandSomerset.KING HENRY.See, Buckingham, Somerset comes with the Queen.Go, bid her hide him quickly from the Duke.QUEEN MARGARET.For thousand Yorks he shall not hide his head,But boldly stand and front him to his face.YORK.How now? Is Somerset at liberty?Then, York, unloose thy long-imprisoned thoughts,And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart.Shall I endure the sight of Somerset?False king, why hast thou broken faith with me,Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse?“King” did I call thee? No, thou art not king,Not fit to govern and rule multitudes,Which dar’st not, no, nor canst not rule a traitor.That head of thine doth not become a crown;Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer’s staff,And not to grace an awful princely sceptre.That gold must round engirt these brows of mine,Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles’ spear,Is able with the change to kill and cure.Here is a hand to hold a sceptre upAnd with the same to act controlling laws.Give place! By heaven, thou shalt rule no moreO’er him whom heaven created for thy ruler.SOMERSET.O monstrous traitor! I arrest thee, York,Of capital treason ’gainst the King and crown.Obey, audacious traitor, kneel for grace.YORK.Wouldst have me kneel? First let me ask of theseIf they can brook I bow a knee to man.Sirrah, call in my sons to be my bail.[ExitAttendant.]I know, ere they will have me go to ward,They’ll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement.QUEEN MARGARET.Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain,To say if that the bastard boys of YorkShall be the surety for their traitor father.[ExitBuckingham.]YORK.O blood-bespotted Neapolitan,Outcast of Naples, England’s bloody scourge!The sons of York, thy betters in their birth,Shall be their father’s bail; and bane to thoseThat for my surety will refuse the boys!EnterEdwardandRichard.See where they come; I’ll warrant they’ll make it good.Enter oldCliffordand hisSon.QUEEN MARGARET.And here comes Clifford to deny their bail.CLIFFORD.Health and all happiness to my lord the King.[Rises.]YORK.I thank thee, Clifford. Say, what news with thee?Nay, do not fright us with an angry look.We are thy sovereign, Clifford, kneel again.For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.CLIFFORD.This is my king, York, I do not mistake;But thou mistakes me much to think I do.To Bedlam with him! Is the man grown mad?KING HENRY.Ay, Clifford; a bedlam and ambitious humourMakes him oppose himself against his king.CLIFFORD.He is a traitor; let him to the Tower,And chop away that factious pate of his.QUEEN MARGARET.He is arrested, but will not obey;His sons, he says, shall give their words for him.YORK.Will you not, sons?EDWARD.Ay, noble father, if our words will serve.RICHARD.And if words will not, then our weapons shall.CLIFFORD.Why, what a brood of traitors have we here!YORK.Look in a glass, and call thy image so.I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor.Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,That with the very shaking of their chainsThey may astonish these fell-lurking curs.Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.Enter theEarls of WarwickandSalisbury.CLIFFORD.Are these thy bears? We’ll bait thy bears to deathAnd manacle the bearherd in their chains,If thou dar’st bring them to the baiting-place.RICHARD.Oft have I seen a hot o’erweening curRun back and bite because he was withheld,Who, being suffered with the bear’s fell paw,Hath clapped his tail between his legs and cried;And such a piece of service will you doIf you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick.CLIFFORD.Hence, heap of wrath, foul indigested lump,As crooked in thy manners as thy shape!YORK.Nay, we shall heat you thoroughly anon.CLIFFORD.Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves.KING HENRY.Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot to bow?Old Salisbury, shame to thy silver hair,Thou mad misleader of thy brainsick son!What, wilt thou on thy deathbed play the ruffian,And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles?O, where is faith? O, where is loyalty?If it be banished from the frosty head,Where shall it find a harbour in the earth?Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war,And shame thine honourable age with blood?Why art thou old, and want’st experience?Or wherefore dost abuse it, if thou hast it?For shame, in duty bend thy knee to meThat bows unto the grave with mickle age.SALISBURY.My lord, I have considered with myselfThe title of this most renowned duke,And in my conscience do repute his graceThe rightful heir to England’s royal seat.KING HENRY.Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me?SALISBURY.I have.KING HENRY.Canst thou dispense with heaven for such an oath?SALISBURY.It is great sin to swear unto a sin,But greater sin to keep a sinful oath.Who can be bound by any solemn vowTo do a murderous deed, to rob a man,To force a spotless virgin’s chastity,To reave the orphan of his patrimony,To wring the widow from her customed right,And have no other reason for this wrongBut that he was bound by a solemn oath?QUEEN MARGARET.A subtle traitor needs no sophister.KING HENRY.Call Buckingham, and bid him arm himself.YORK.Call Buckingham, and all the friends thou hast,I am resolved for death or dignity.CLIFFORD.The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove true.WARWICK.You were best to go to bed and dream again,To keep thee from the tempest of the field.CLIFFORD.I am resolved to bear a greater stormThan any thou canst conjure up today;And that I’ll write upon thy burgonet,Might I but know thee by thy household badge.WARWICK.Now, by my father’s badge, old Neville’s crest,The rampant bear chained to the ragged staff,This day I’ll wear aloft my burgonet,As on a mountain top the cedar showsThat keeps his leaves in spite of any storm,Even to affright thee with the view thereof.CLIFFORD.And from thy burgonet I’ll rend thy bearAnd tread it under foot with all contempt,Despite the bearherd that protects the bear.YOUNG CLIFFORD.And so to arms, victorious father,To quell the rebels and their complices.RICHARD.Fie, charity, for shame! Speak not in spite,For you shall sup with Jesu Christ tonight.YOUNG CLIFFORD.Foul stigmatic, that’s more than thou canst tell.RICHARD.If not in heaven, you’ll surely sup in hell.[Exeunt severally.]SCENE II. Saint AlbansThe sign of the Castle Inn is displayed. Alarums to the battle. EnterWarwick.WARWICK.Clifford of Cumberland, ’tis Warwick calls;An if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,Now, when the angry trumpet sounds alarumAnd dead men’s cries do fill the empty air,Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me!Proud northern lord, Clifford of Cumberland,Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms.EnterYork.How now, my noble lord? What, all afoot?YORK.The deadly-handed Clifford slew my steed,But match to match I have encountered himAnd made a prey for carrion kites and crowsEven of the bonny beast he loved so well.Enter oldClifford.WARWICK.Of one or both of us the time is come.YORK.Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase,For I myself must hunt this deer to death.WARWICK.Then, nobly, York; ’tis for a crown thou fight’st.As I intend, Clifford, to thrive today,It grieves my soul to leave thee unassailed.[Exit.]CLIFFORD.What seest thou in me, York? Why dost thou pause?YORK.With thy brave bearing should I be in love,But that thou art so fast mine enemy.CLIFFORD.Nor should thy prowess want praise and esteem,But that ’tis shown ignobly and in treason.YORK.So let it help me now against thy swordAs I in justice and true right express it!CLIFFORD.My soul and body on the action both!YORK.A dreadful lay! Address thee instantly.[They fight andCliffordfalls.]CLIFFORD.La fin couronne les oeuvres.[Dies.]YORK.Thus war hath given thee peace, for thou art still.Peace with his soul, heaven, if it be thy will![Exit.]Enter youngClifford.YOUNG CLIFFORD.Shame and confusion! All is on the rout,Fear frames disorder, and disorder woundsWhere it should guard. O war, thou son of hell,Whom angry heavens do make their minister,Throw in the frozen bosoms of our partHot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly.He that is truly dedicate to warHath no self-love; nor he that loves himselfHath not essentially but by circumstance,The name of valour. [Sees his dead father.] O, let the vile world endAnd the premised flames of the last dayKnit earth and heaven together!Now let the general trumpet blow his blast,Particularities and petty soundsTo cease! Wast thou ordained, dear father,To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieveThe silver livery of advised age,And, in thy reverence and thy chair-days, thusTo die in ruffian battle? Even at this sightMy heart is turned to stone, and while ’tis mineIt shall be stony. York not our old men spares;No more will I their babes; tears virginalShall be to me even as the dew to fire,And beauty, that the tyrant oft reclaims,Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax.Henceforth I will not have to do with pity.Meet I an infant of the house of York,Into as many gobbets will I cut itAs wild Medea young Absyrtus did.In cruelty will I seek out my fame.[He takes him up on his back.]Come, thou new ruin of old Clifford’s house;As did Aeneas old Anchises bear,So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders;But then Aeneas bare a living load,Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine.[Exit, bearing off his father.]EnterRichardandSomersetto fight.Somersetis killed.RICHARD.So, lie thou there;For underneath an alehouse’ paltry sign,The Castle in Saint Albans, SomersetHath made the wizard famous in his death.Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathful still!Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.[Exit.]Fight. Excursions. EnterKing, Queenand others.QUEEN MARGARET.Away, my lord! You are slow, for shame, away!KING HENRY.Can we outrun the heavens? Good Margaret, stay.QUEEN MARGARET.What are you made of? You’ll nor fight nor fly.Now is it manhood, wisdom, and defenceTo give the enemy way, and to secure usBy what we can, which can no more but fly.[Alarum afar off.]If you be ta’en, we then should see the bottomOf all our fortunes; but if we haply scape,As well we may, if not through your neglect,We shall to London get, where you are lovedAnd where this breach now in our fortunes madeMay readily be stopped.Enter youngClifford.YOUNG CLIFFORD.But that my heart’s on future mischief set,I would speak blasphemy ere bid you fly;But fly you must; uncurable discomfitReigns in the hearts of all our present parts.Away, for your relief! And we will liveTo see their day and them our fortune give.Away, my lord, away![Exeunt.]SCENE III. Fields near Saint AlbansAlarum. Retreat. EnterYork, Richard, Warwickand Soldiers with drum and colours.YORK.Of Salisbury, who can report of him,That winter lion, who in rage forgetsAged contusions and all brush of time,And, like a gallant in the brow of youth,Repairs him with occasion? This happy dayIs not itself, nor have we won one foot,If Salisbury be lost.RICHARD.My noble father,Three times today I holp him to his horse,Three times bestrid him; thrice I led him off,Persuaded him from any further act;But still, where danger was, still there I met him,And like rich hangings in a homely house,So was his will in his old feeble body.But, noble as he is, look where he comes.EnterSalisbury.Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought today.SALISBURY.By th’ mass, so did we all. I thank you, Richard.God knows how long it is I have to live,And it hath pleased him that three times todayYou have defended me from imminent death.Well, lords, we have not got that which we have;’Tis not enough our foes are this time fled,Being opposites of such repairing nature.YORK.I know our safety is to follow them;For, as I hear, the King is fled to LondonTo call a present court of parliament.Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth.What says Lord Warwick? Shall we after them?WARWICK.After them? Nay, before them, if we can.Now, by my hand, lords, ’twas a glorious day.Saint Albans battle won by famous YorkShall be eternized in all age to come.Sound drums and trumpets, and to London all;And more such days as these to us befall![Exeunt.]
EnterYorkand his army of Irish, with drum and colours.
YORK.From Ireland thus comes York to claim his rightAnd pluck the crown from feeble Henry’s head.Ring, bells, aloud; burn, bonfires, clear and bright,To entertain great England’s lawful king.Ah,sancta majestas, who would not buy thee dear?Let them obey that knows not how to rule.This hand was made to handle nought but gold.I cannot give due action to my wordsExcept a sword or sceptre balance it.A sceptre shall it have, have I a soul,On which I’ll toss the fleur-de-luce of France.
EnterBuckingham.
Whom have we here? Buckingham, to disturb me?The King hath sent him, sure. I must dissemble.
BUCKINGHAM.York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee well.
YORK.Humphrey of Buckingham, I accept thy greeting.Art thou a messenger, or come of pleasure?
BUCKINGHAM.A messenger from Henry, our dread liege,To know the reason of these arms in peace;Or why thou, being a subject as I am,Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn,Should raise so great a power without his leave,Or dare to bring thy force so near the court.
YORK.[Aside.] Scarce can I speak, my choler is so great.O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint,I am so angry at these abject terms;And now, like Ajax Telamonius,On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury.I am far better born than is the King,More like a king, more kingly in my thoughts.But I must make fair weather yet awhile,Till Henry be more weak and I more strong.—Buckingham, I prithee, pardon me,That I have given no answer all this while;My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.The cause why I have brought this army hitherIs to remove proud Somerset from the King,Seditious to his grace and to the state.
BUCKINGHAM.That is too much presumption on thy part;But if thy arms be to no other end,The King hath yielded unto thy demand:The Duke of Somerset is in the Tower.
YORK.Upon thine honour, is he prisoner?
BUCKINGHAM.Upon mine honour, he is prisoner.
YORK.Then, Buckingham, I do dismiss my powers.Soldiers, I thank you all; disperse yourselves;Meet me tomorrow in Saint George’s field,You shall have pay and everything you wish.
[ExeuntSoldiers.]
And let my sovereign, virtuous Henry,Command my eldest son, nay, all my sons,As pledges of my fealty and love,I’ll send them all as willing as I live.Lands, goods, horse, armour, anything I haveIs his to use, so Somerset may die.
BUCKINGHAM.York, I commend this kind submission.We twain will go into his highness’ tent.
EnterKingand Attendants.
KING HENRY.Buckingham, doth York intend no harm to usThat thus he marcheth with thee arm in arm?
YORK.In all submission and humilityYork doth present himself unto your highness.
KING HENRY.Then what intends these forces thou dost bring?
YORK.To heave the traitor Somerset from henceAnd fight against that monstrous rebel Cade,Who since I heard to be discomfited.
EnterIdenwithCade’shead.
IDEN.If one so rude and of so mean conditionMay pass into the presence of a king,Lo, I present your grace a traitor’s head,The head of Cade, whom I in combat slew.
KING HENRY.The head of Cade! Great God, how just art Thou!O, let me view his visage, being dead,That living wrought me such exceeding trouble.Tell me, my friend, art thou the man that slew him?
IDEN.I was, an ’t like your majesty.
KING HENRY.How art thou called? And what is thy degree?
IDEN.Alexander Iden, that’s my name;A poor esquire of Kent, that loves his King.
BUCKINGHAM.So please it you, my lord, ’twere not amissHe were created knight for his good service.
KING HENRY.Iden, kneel down. [He kneels.] Rise up a knight.We give thee for reward a thousand marks,And will that thou henceforth attend on us.
IDEN.May Iden live to merit such a bounty,And never live but true unto his liege!
[Rises.]
EnterQueenandSomerset.
KING HENRY.See, Buckingham, Somerset comes with the Queen.Go, bid her hide him quickly from the Duke.
QUEEN MARGARET.For thousand Yorks he shall not hide his head,But boldly stand and front him to his face.
YORK.How now? Is Somerset at liberty?Then, York, unloose thy long-imprisoned thoughts,And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart.Shall I endure the sight of Somerset?False king, why hast thou broken faith with me,Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse?“King” did I call thee? No, thou art not king,Not fit to govern and rule multitudes,Which dar’st not, no, nor canst not rule a traitor.That head of thine doth not become a crown;Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer’s staff,And not to grace an awful princely sceptre.That gold must round engirt these brows of mine,Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles’ spear,Is able with the change to kill and cure.Here is a hand to hold a sceptre upAnd with the same to act controlling laws.Give place! By heaven, thou shalt rule no moreO’er him whom heaven created for thy ruler.
SOMERSET.O monstrous traitor! I arrest thee, York,Of capital treason ’gainst the King and crown.Obey, audacious traitor, kneel for grace.
YORK.Wouldst have me kneel? First let me ask of theseIf they can brook I bow a knee to man.Sirrah, call in my sons to be my bail.
[ExitAttendant.]
I know, ere they will have me go to ward,They’ll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement.
QUEEN MARGARET.Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain,To say if that the bastard boys of YorkShall be the surety for their traitor father.
[ExitBuckingham.]
YORK.O blood-bespotted Neapolitan,Outcast of Naples, England’s bloody scourge!The sons of York, thy betters in their birth,Shall be their father’s bail; and bane to thoseThat for my surety will refuse the boys!
EnterEdwardandRichard.
See where they come; I’ll warrant they’ll make it good.
Enter oldCliffordand hisSon.
QUEEN MARGARET.And here comes Clifford to deny their bail.
CLIFFORD.Health and all happiness to my lord the King.
[Rises.]
YORK.I thank thee, Clifford. Say, what news with thee?Nay, do not fright us with an angry look.We are thy sovereign, Clifford, kneel again.For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.
CLIFFORD.This is my king, York, I do not mistake;But thou mistakes me much to think I do.To Bedlam with him! Is the man grown mad?
KING HENRY.Ay, Clifford; a bedlam and ambitious humourMakes him oppose himself against his king.
CLIFFORD.He is a traitor; let him to the Tower,And chop away that factious pate of his.
QUEEN MARGARET.He is arrested, but will not obey;His sons, he says, shall give their words for him.
YORK.Will you not, sons?
EDWARD.Ay, noble father, if our words will serve.
RICHARD.And if words will not, then our weapons shall.
CLIFFORD.Why, what a brood of traitors have we here!
YORK.Look in a glass, and call thy image so.I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor.Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,That with the very shaking of their chainsThey may astonish these fell-lurking curs.Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.
Enter theEarls of WarwickandSalisbury.
CLIFFORD.Are these thy bears? We’ll bait thy bears to deathAnd manacle the bearherd in their chains,If thou dar’st bring them to the baiting-place.
RICHARD.Oft have I seen a hot o’erweening curRun back and bite because he was withheld,Who, being suffered with the bear’s fell paw,Hath clapped his tail between his legs and cried;And such a piece of service will you doIf you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick.
CLIFFORD.Hence, heap of wrath, foul indigested lump,As crooked in thy manners as thy shape!
YORK.Nay, we shall heat you thoroughly anon.
CLIFFORD.Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves.
KING HENRY.Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot to bow?Old Salisbury, shame to thy silver hair,Thou mad misleader of thy brainsick son!What, wilt thou on thy deathbed play the ruffian,And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles?O, where is faith? O, where is loyalty?If it be banished from the frosty head,Where shall it find a harbour in the earth?Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war,And shame thine honourable age with blood?Why art thou old, and want’st experience?Or wherefore dost abuse it, if thou hast it?For shame, in duty bend thy knee to meThat bows unto the grave with mickle age.
SALISBURY.My lord, I have considered with myselfThe title of this most renowned duke,And in my conscience do repute his graceThe rightful heir to England’s royal seat.
KING HENRY.Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me?
SALISBURY.I have.
KING HENRY.Canst thou dispense with heaven for such an oath?
SALISBURY.It is great sin to swear unto a sin,But greater sin to keep a sinful oath.Who can be bound by any solemn vowTo do a murderous deed, to rob a man,To force a spotless virgin’s chastity,To reave the orphan of his patrimony,To wring the widow from her customed right,And have no other reason for this wrongBut that he was bound by a solemn oath?
QUEEN MARGARET.A subtle traitor needs no sophister.
KING HENRY.Call Buckingham, and bid him arm himself.
YORK.Call Buckingham, and all the friends thou hast,I am resolved for death or dignity.
CLIFFORD.The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove true.
WARWICK.You were best to go to bed and dream again,To keep thee from the tempest of the field.
CLIFFORD.I am resolved to bear a greater stormThan any thou canst conjure up today;And that I’ll write upon thy burgonet,Might I but know thee by thy household badge.
WARWICK.Now, by my father’s badge, old Neville’s crest,The rampant bear chained to the ragged staff,This day I’ll wear aloft my burgonet,As on a mountain top the cedar showsThat keeps his leaves in spite of any storm,Even to affright thee with the view thereof.
CLIFFORD.And from thy burgonet I’ll rend thy bearAnd tread it under foot with all contempt,Despite the bearherd that protects the bear.
YOUNG CLIFFORD.And so to arms, victorious father,To quell the rebels and their complices.
RICHARD.Fie, charity, for shame! Speak not in spite,For you shall sup with Jesu Christ tonight.
YOUNG CLIFFORD.Foul stigmatic, that’s more than thou canst tell.
RICHARD.If not in heaven, you’ll surely sup in hell.
[Exeunt severally.]
The sign of the Castle Inn is displayed. Alarums to the battle. EnterWarwick.
WARWICK.Clifford of Cumberland, ’tis Warwick calls;An if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,Now, when the angry trumpet sounds alarumAnd dead men’s cries do fill the empty air,Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me!Proud northern lord, Clifford of Cumberland,Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms.
EnterYork.
How now, my noble lord? What, all afoot?
YORK.The deadly-handed Clifford slew my steed,But match to match I have encountered himAnd made a prey for carrion kites and crowsEven of the bonny beast he loved so well.
Enter oldClifford.
WARWICK.Of one or both of us the time is come.
YORK.Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase,For I myself must hunt this deer to death.
WARWICK.Then, nobly, York; ’tis for a crown thou fight’st.As I intend, Clifford, to thrive today,It grieves my soul to leave thee unassailed.
[Exit.]
CLIFFORD.What seest thou in me, York? Why dost thou pause?
YORK.With thy brave bearing should I be in love,But that thou art so fast mine enemy.
CLIFFORD.Nor should thy prowess want praise and esteem,But that ’tis shown ignobly and in treason.
YORK.So let it help me now against thy swordAs I in justice and true right express it!
CLIFFORD.My soul and body on the action both!
YORK.A dreadful lay! Address thee instantly.
[They fight andCliffordfalls.]
CLIFFORD.La fin couronne les oeuvres.
[Dies.]
YORK.Thus war hath given thee peace, for thou art still.Peace with his soul, heaven, if it be thy will!
[Exit.]
Enter youngClifford.
YOUNG CLIFFORD.Shame and confusion! All is on the rout,Fear frames disorder, and disorder woundsWhere it should guard. O war, thou son of hell,Whom angry heavens do make their minister,Throw in the frozen bosoms of our partHot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly.He that is truly dedicate to warHath no self-love; nor he that loves himselfHath not essentially but by circumstance,The name of valour. [Sees his dead father.] O, let the vile world endAnd the premised flames of the last dayKnit earth and heaven together!Now let the general trumpet blow his blast,Particularities and petty soundsTo cease! Wast thou ordained, dear father,To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieveThe silver livery of advised age,And, in thy reverence and thy chair-days, thusTo die in ruffian battle? Even at this sightMy heart is turned to stone, and while ’tis mineIt shall be stony. York not our old men spares;No more will I their babes; tears virginalShall be to me even as the dew to fire,And beauty, that the tyrant oft reclaims,Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax.Henceforth I will not have to do with pity.Meet I an infant of the house of York,Into as many gobbets will I cut itAs wild Medea young Absyrtus did.In cruelty will I seek out my fame.
[He takes him up on his back.]
Come, thou new ruin of old Clifford’s house;As did Aeneas old Anchises bear,So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders;But then Aeneas bare a living load,Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine.
[Exit, bearing off his father.]
EnterRichardandSomersetto fight.Somersetis killed.
RICHARD.So, lie thou there;For underneath an alehouse’ paltry sign,The Castle in Saint Albans, SomersetHath made the wizard famous in his death.Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathful still!Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.
[Exit.]
Fight. Excursions. EnterKing, Queenand others.
QUEEN MARGARET.Away, my lord! You are slow, for shame, away!
KING HENRY.Can we outrun the heavens? Good Margaret, stay.
QUEEN MARGARET.What are you made of? You’ll nor fight nor fly.Now is it manhood, wisdom, and defenceTo give the enemy way, and to secure usBy what we can, which can no more but fly.
[Alarum afar off.]
If you be ta’en, we then should see the bottomOf all our fortunes; but if we haply scape,As well we may, if not through your neglect,We shall to London get, where you are lovedAnd where this breach now in our fortunes madeMay readily be stopped.
Enter youngClifford.
YOUNG CLIFFORD.But that my heart’s on future mischief set,I would speak blasphemy ere bid you fly;But fly you must; uncurable discomfitReigns in the hearts of all our present parts.Away, for your relief! And we will liveTo see their day and them our fortune give.Away, my lord, away!
[Exeunt.]
Alarum. Retreat. EnterYork, Richard, Warwickand Soldiers with drum and colours.
YORK.Of Salisbury, who can report of him,That winter lion, who in rage forgetsAged contusions and all brush of time,And, like a gallant in the brow of youth,Repairs him with occasion? This happy dayIs not itself, nor have we won one foot,If Salisbury be lost.
RICHARD.My noble father,Three times today I holp him to his horse,Three times bestrid him; thrice I led him off,Persuaded him from any further act;But still, where danger was, still there I met him,And like rich hangings in a homely house,So was his will in his old feeble body.But, noble as he is, look where he comes.
EnterSalisbury.
Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought today.
SALISBURY.By th’ mass, so did we all. I thank you, Richard.God knows how long it is I have to live,And it hath pleased him that three times todayYou have defended me from imminent death.Well, lords, we have not got that which we have;’Tis not enough our foes are this time fled,Being opposites of such repairing nature.
YORK.I know our safety is to follow them;For, as I hear, the King is fled to LondonTo call a present court of parliament.Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth.What says Lord Warwick? Shall we after them?
WARWICK.After them? Nay, before them, if we can.Now, by my hand, lords, ’twas a glorious day.Saint Albans battle won by famous YorkShall be eternized in all age to come.Sound drums and trumpets, and to London all;And more such days as these to us befall!
[Exeunt.]