K. Edo. 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. K. Edw. Yes, Warwick, Edward dares, and leads Lords, to the field; Saint George; and victory! War. O, welcome, Oxford! for we want thy SCENE II.-A field of battle_near Barnet. help. "Even with the dearest blood your bodies bear. * My mind presageth happy gain, and conquest. Enter Somerset, with drum and colours. [He and his forces enter the city. [Taking the red rose out of his cap. Look here, I throw my infamy at thee: will not ruinate my father's house, Who gave his blood to lime' the stones together, And set up Lanoister. Why, trow'st thou, Warwick, Alarums, and Excursions. Enter King Edward bringing in Warwick wounded. *K. Edw. So, lie thou there: die thou, and die our fear; 4 *For Warwick was a bug, that fear'd' us all.- And tell me, who is victor, York, or Warwick? That I must yield my body to the earth, To search the secret treasons of the world: Enter Oxford and Somerset. *Som. Ah, Warwick, Warwick! wert thou as * We might recover all our loss again! Even now we heard the news: Ah could'st thou fly! tague, That Clarence is so harsh, so blunt, unnatural, • To bend the fatal instruments of war A rainst 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. Elw. Now welcome more, and ten times' And said-Commend me to my valiant brother. more belov'd, Than if thou never hadst deserv'd our hate. 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 liath breath'd his last; And to the latest gasp, cried out for Warwick, 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! Or shall we beat the stones about thine ears? (1) i. e. To cement. 2 Stupid, insensible of paternal fondness, 'I well might hear deliver'd with a groan,- ་ War. [Exeunt, bearing of Warwick's body. (3) Eminent, egregious. (4) Bugbear. 80 Act V. 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; More than with ruthless waves, with sands, and Clarence, Gloster, and the rest. with 'K. Edw. Thus far our fortune keeps an upward course, And we are grac'd with wreaths of victory. I mean, my lords,-those powers, that the queen Clar. A little gale will soon disperse that cloud, That they do hold their course toward Tewksbury Will thither straight, for willingness rids way; Strike up the drum; cry-Courage and away. SCENE IV.-Plains near Tewksbury. March. [Exeunt. 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 *Whiles, in his moan, the ship splits on the rock, "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. * rocks. 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, * And make him, naked, foil a man at arms. Let him depart, before we need his help. Go home to bed, and, like the owl by day, And warriors fa nt! why, 'twere perpetual shame.- * Q. Mar. Thanks, gentle Somerset ;-sweet * Prince. And take his thanks, that yet hath nothing else. Enter a Messenger. 'Mess. Prepare you, lords, for Edward is at hand, 'Ready to fight; therefore be resolute. Oxf. I thought no less it is his policy, Oxf. Here pitch our battle, hence we will not 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 'Must by the roots be hewn up yet ere night. For well I wot, ye blaze to burn them out : * Give signal to the fight, and to it, lords. My tears gainsay;2 for every word I speak, 'Is prisoner to the foe; his state usurp'd, His statutes cancell'd, and his treasure spent ; [Exeunt both armies. 'K. Edw. Now, here a period of tumultuous broils. Away with Oxford to Hammes' Castle' straight = (5) A castle in Picardy. For Somerset, off with his guilty head. And men ne'er spend their fury on a child. *Q. Mar. So part we sadly in this troublous world, K. Edw. Is proclamation made,-that, who finds Edward, Shall have a high reward, and he his life? *Glo. It is: and, lo,where youthful Edward comes. Enter Soldiers with Prince Edward. K. Edw. Bring forth the gallant, let us hear *What! can so young a thorn begin to prick! Q. Mar. Ah, that thy father had been so resolv'd! And ne'er have stol'n the breech from Lancaster. Glo. By heaven, brat, I'll plague you for that word. 'K. Edw. Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm2 Gle. Clarence, excuse me to the king my brother: 'I'll hence to London on a serious matter: 'Ere ve come there, be sure to hear some news. Clar. What? what? Glo. The Tower, the Tower! [Exit. 'Q. Mar. O, Ned, sweet Ned! speak to thy 'Canst thou not speak?-O raitors! murderers!- (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. | 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 morse: But, if you ever chance to have a child, K. Edio. Away with her; go, bear her hence Q. Mar. Nay, never bear me hence, despatch me here; Here sheath thy sword, I'll pardon thee my death: Clar. Didst thou not hear me swear, I would not do it? Q. Mar. Ay, But thou usest to forswear thyself; 'Twas sin before, but now 'tis charity. What! wilt thou not? where is that devil's butcher, Q. Mar. So come to you, and yours, as to this K. Edw. He's sudden, if a thing comes in his head. Glo. Good day, my lord! What, at your book so hard? K. Hen. Ay, my good lord: My lord, I should 'Tis sin to flatter, good was little better: And both preposterous; therefore, not good lord. So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece, *And next his throat unto the butcher's knife.What scene of death hath Roscius now to act? Glo. Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; The thief doth fear each bush an officer. 'K. Hen. The bird, that hath been limed in a bush, With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush, (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 peevish' 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; The sun, that sear'd the wings of my sweet Thy brother Edward; and thyself, the sea, "Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life. I Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it. Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words! 'My breast can better brook thy dagger's point, Than can my cars 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 parcel of my fear; 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. And many an old man's sigh, and many a Have we mow'd down, in tops of all their pride? 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; The raven rook'd' her on the chimney's top, Glo. I'll hear no more ;-Die, prophet, in thy For this, amongst the rest, was I ordain'd. K. Hen. Ay, and for much more slaughter after this. O God! forgive my sins, and pardon thee! [Dies. See, how my sword weeps for the poor king's death! And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right? 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, Three dukes of Somerset, threefold renown'd That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion, Glo. I'll blast his harvest, if your head were laid, Work thou the way,-and thou shalt execute. [Aside. K. Edw. Clarence, and Gloster, love my lovely queen; And kiss vour princely nephew, brothers both. 'Glo. And, that I love the tree from whence thou sprang'st, Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit:- And hither have they sent it for her ransom. And now what rests, but that we spend the time The three parts of King Henry VI. are suspected, by Mr. Theobald, of being suppositious, and are declared, by Dr. Warburton, to be certainly not Shakspeare's. Mr. Theobald's suspicion arises from some obsolete words; but the phraseology is like the rest of our author's style, and single words, of which however I do not observe more than two, can conclude little. matter itself will defeat the artist. Of every au thor'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 Shak speare, to whom shall they be given? What au thor of that age had the same easiness of expres sion and fluency of numbers? Of these three plays I think the second the best. Dr. Warburton gives no reason, but I suppose The truth is, that they have not sufficient variety him to judge upon deeper principles and more of action, for the incidents are too often of the same comprehensive views, and to draw his opinion from kind; yet many of the characters are well disthe general effect and spirit of the composition, criminated. King Henry, and his Queen, King which he thinks inferior to the other historical plays. Edward, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earl of From mere inferiority nothing can be inferred; Warwick, are very strongly and distinctly painted. in the productions of wit there will be inequality. Sometimes judgment will err, and sometimes the VOL. II. 2 A JOHNSON. |