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<PLAY>
<TITLE>The Third Part of Henry the Sixth</TITLE>

<FM>
<P>ASCII text placed in the public domain by Moby Lexical Tools, 1992.</P>
<P>SGML markup by Jon Bosak, 1992-1994.</P>
<P>XML version by Jon Bosak, 1996-1999.</P>
<P>The XML markup in this version is Copyright &#169; 1999 Jon Bosak.
This work may freely be distributed on condition that it not be
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<PERSONAE>
<TITLE>Dramatis Personae</TITLE>

<PERSONA>KING HENRY, the Sixth.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, his son. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>KING LEWIS XI, King of France. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>DUKE OF SOMERSET</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>DUKE OF EXETER</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EARL OF OXFORD</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EARL OF WESTMORELAND</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LORD CLIFFORD</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>RICHARD PLANTAGENET, Duke of York. </PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>EDWARD, Earl of March, afterwards King Edward IV.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EDMUND, Earl of Rutland.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>GEORGE, afterwards Duke of</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Clarence. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>RICHARD afterwards Duke of</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Gloucester.</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>his sons.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>DUKE OF NORFOLK</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>MARQUESS OF MONTAGUE</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EARL OF WARWICK</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EARL OF PEMBROKE</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LORD HASTINGS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LORD STAFFORD</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>SIR JOHN MORTIMER</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SIR HUGH MORTIMER</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>uncles to the Duke of York.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>HENRY, Earl of Richmond, a youth.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LORD RIVERS, brother to Lady Grey. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SIR WILLIAM STANLEY</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SIR JOHN MONTGOMERY</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SIR JOHN SOMERVILLE</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Tutor to Rutland. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Mayor of York. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Lieutenant of the Tower. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>A Nobleman. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Two Keepers.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>A Huntsman. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>A Son that has killed his father. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>A Father that has killed his son. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>QUEEN MARGARET</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LADY GREY, afterwards Queen to Edward IV. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>BONA, sister to the French Queen.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Soldiers, Attendants, Messengers, Watchmen, &amp;c.</PERSONA>
</PERSONAE>

<SCNDESCR>SCENE  England and France.</SCNDESCR>

<PLAYSUBT>3 KING HENRY IV</PLAYSUBT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT I</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  London. The Parliament-house.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Enter YORK, EDWARD, RICHARD, NORFOLK, MONTAGUE, WARWICK, and Soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I wonder how the king escaped our hands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>While we pursued the horsemen of the north,</LINE>
<LINE>He slily stole away and left his men:</LINE>
<LINE>Whereat the great Lord of Northumberland,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose warlike ears could never brook retreat,</LINE>
<LINE>Cheer'd up the drooping army; and himself,</LINE>
<LINE>Lord Clifford and Lord Stafford, all abreast,</LINE>
<LINE>Charged our main battle's front, and breaking in</LINE>
<LINE>Were by the swords of common soldiers slain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lord Stafford's father, Duke of Buckingham,</LINE>
<LINE>Is either slain or wounded dangerously;</LINE>
<LINE>I cleft his beaver with a downright blow:</LINE>
<LINE>That this is true, father, behold his blood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And, brother, here's the Earl of Wiltshire's blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Whom I encounter'd as the battles join'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Speak thou for me and tell them what I did.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Throwing down SOMERSET's head</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Richard hath best deserved of all my sons.</LINE>
<LINE>But is your grace dead, my Lord of Somerset?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORFOLK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Such hope have all the line of John of Gaunt!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thus do I hope to shake King Henry's head.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And so do I. Victorious Prince of York,</LINE>
<LINE>Before I see thee seated in that throne</LINE>
<LINE>Which now the house of Lancaster usurps,</LINE>
<LINE>I vow by heaven these eyes shall never close.</LINE>
<LINE>This is the palace of the fearful king,</LINE>
<LINE>And this the regal seat: possess it, York;</LINE>
<LINE>For this is thine and not King Henry's heirs'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Assist me, then, sweet Warwick, and I will;</LINE>
<LINE>For hither we have broken in by force.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORFOLK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We'll all assist you; he that flies shall die.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thanks, gentle Norfolk: stay by me, my lords;</LINE>
<LINE>And, soldiers, stay and lodge by me this night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>They go up</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And when the king comes, offer no violence,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless he seek to thrust you out perforce.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The queen this day here holds her parliament,</LINE>
<LINE>But little thinks we shall be of her council:</LINE>
<LINE>By words or blows here let us win our right.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Arm'd as we are, let's stay within this house.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The bloody parliament shall this be call'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless Plantagenet, Duke of York, be king,</LINE>
<LINE>And bashful Henry deposed, whose cowardice</LINE>
<LINE>Hath made us by-words to our enemies.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then leave me not, my lords; be resolute;</LINE>
<LINE>I mean to take possession of my right.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Neither the king, nor he that loves him best,</LINE>
<LINE>The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,</LINE>
<LINE>Dares stir a wing, if Warwick shake his bells.</LINE>
<LINE>I'll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares:</LINE>
<LINE>Resolve thee, Richard; claim the English crown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING HENRY VI, CLIFFORD,
NORTHUMBERLAND, WESTMORELAND, EXETER, and the rest</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits,</LINE>
<LINE>Even in the chair of state: belike he means,</LINE>
<LINE>Back'd by the power of Warwick, that false peer,</LINE>
<LINE>To aspire unto the crown and reign as king.</LINE>
<LINE>Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father.</LINE>
<LINE>And thine, Lord Clifford; and you both have vow'd revenge</LINE>
<LINE>On him, his sons, his favourites and his friends.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If I be not, heavens be revenged on me!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, shall we suffer this? let's pluck him down:</LINE>
<LINE>My heart for anger burns; I cannot brook it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmoreland.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Patience is for poltroons, such as he:</LINE>
<LINE>He durst not sit there, had your father lived.</LINE>
<LINE>My gracious lord, here in the parliament</LINE>
<LINE>Let us assail the family of York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well hast thou spoken, cousin: be it so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, know you not the city favours them,</LINE>
<LINE>And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But when the duke is slain, they'll quickly fly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Far be the thought of this from Henry's heart,</LINE>
<LINE>To make a shambles of the parliament-house!</LINE>
<LINE>Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words and threats</LINE>
<LINE>Shall be the war that Henry means to use.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou factious Duke of York, descend my throne,</LINE>
<LINE>and kneel for grace and mercy at my feet;</LINE>
<LINE>I am thy sovereign.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am thine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For shame, come down: he made thee Duke of York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twas my inheritance, as the earldom was.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy father was a traitor to the crown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Exeter, thou art a traitor to the crown</LINE>
<LINE>In following this usurping Henry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whom should he follow but his natural king?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>True, Clifford; and that's Richard Duke of York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And shall I stand, and thou sit in my throne?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It must and shall be so: content thyself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be Duke of Lancaster; let him be king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He is both king and Duke of Lancaster;</LINE>
<LINE>And that the Lord of Westmoreland shall maintain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And Warwick shall disprove it. You forget</LINE>
<LINE>That we are those which chased you from the field</LINE>
<LINE>And slew your fathers, and with colours spread</LINE>
<LINE>March'd through the city to the palace gates.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, Warwick, I remember it to my grief;</LINE>
<LINE>And, by his soul, thou and thy house shall rue it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Plantagenet, of thee and these thy sons,</LINE>
<LINE>Thy kinsman and thy friends, I'll have more lives</LINE>
<LINE>Than drops of blood were in my father's veins.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Urge it no more; lest that, instead of words,</LINE>
<LINE>I send thee, Warwick, such a messenger</LINE>
<LINE>As shall revenge his death before I stir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Poor Clifford! how I scorn his worthless threats!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you we show our title to the crown?</LINE>
<LINE>If not, our swords shall plead it in the field.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What title hast thou, traitor, to the crown?</LINE>
<LINE>Thy father was, as thou art, Duke of York;</LINE>
<LINE>Thy grandfather, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March:</LINE>
<LINE>I am the son of Henry the Fifth,</LINE>
<LINE>Who made the Dauphin and the French to stoop</LINE>
<LINE>And seized upon their towns and provinces.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Talk not of France, sith thou hast lost it all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The lord protector lost it, and not I:</LINE>
<LINE>When I was crown'd I was but nine months old.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are old enough now, and yet, methinks, you lose.</LINE>
<LINE>Father, tear the crown from the usurper's head.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet father, do so; set it on your head.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good brother, as thou lovest and honourest arms,</LINE>
<LINE>Let's fight it out and not stand cavilling thus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sound drums and trumpets, and the king will fly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sons, peace!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, thou! and give King Henry leave to speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Plantagenet shall speak first: hear him, lords;</LINE>
<LINE>And be you silent and attentive too,</LINE>
<LINE>For he that interrupts him shall not live.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Think'st thou that I will leave my kingly throne,</LINE>
<LINE>Wherein my grandsire and my father sat?</LINE>
<LINE>No: first shall war unpeople this my realm;</LINE>
<LINE>Ay, and their colours, often borne in France,</LINE>
<LINE>And now in England to our heart's great sorrow,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall be my winding-sheet. Why faint you, lords?</LINE>
<LINE>My title's good, and better far than his.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prove it, Henry, and thou shalt be king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Henry the Fourth by conquest got the crown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twas by rebellion against his king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  I know not what to say; my title's weak.--</LINE>
<LINE>Tell me, may not a king adopt an heir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What then?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An if he may, then am I lawful king;</LINE>
<LINE>For Richard, in the view of many lords,</LINE>
<LINE>Resign'd the crown to Henry the Fourth,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose heir my father was, and I am his.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He rose against him, being his sovereign,</LINE>
<LINE>And made him to resign his crown perforce.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Suppose, my lords, he did it unconstrain'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Think you 'twere prejudicial to his crown?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No; for he could not so resign his crown</LINE>
<LINE>But that the next heir should succeed and reign.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Art thou against us, Duke of Exeter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His is the right, and therefore pardon me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why whisper you, my lords, and answer not?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My conscience tells me he is lawful king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  All will revolt from me, and turn to him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Plantagenet, for all the claim thou lay'st,</LINE>
<LINE>Think not that Henry shall be so deposed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Deposed he shall be, in despite of all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou art deceived: 'tis not thy southern power,</LINE>
<LINE>Of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, nor of Kent,</LINE>
<LINE>Which makes thee thus presumptuous and proud,</LINE>
<LINE>Can set the duke up in despite of me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>King Henry, be thy title right or wrong,</LINE>
<LINE>Lord Clifford vows to fight in thy defence:</LINE>
<LINE>May that ground gape and swallow me alive,</LINE>
<LINE>Where I shall kneel to him that slew my father!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Clifford, how thy words revive my heart!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Henry of Lancaster, resign thy crown.</LINE>
<LINE>What mutter you, or what conspire you, lords?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do right unto this princely Duke of York,</LINE>
<LINE>Or I will fill the house with armed men,</LINE>
<LINE>And over the chair of state, where now he sits,</LINE>
<LINE>Write up his title with usurping blood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>He stamps with his foot and the soldiers show
themselves</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My Lord of Warwick, hear me but one word:</LINE>
<LINE>Let me for this my life-time reign as king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Confirm the crown to me and to mine heirs,</LINE>
<LINE>And thou shalt reign in quiet while thou livest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am content: Richard Plantagenet,</LINE>
<LINE>Enjoy the kingdom after my decease.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What wrong is this unto the prince your son!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What good is this to England and himself!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Base, fearful and despairing Henry!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How hast thou injured both thyself and us!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot stay to hear these articles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor I.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, cousin, let us tell the queen these news.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell, faint-hearted and degenerate king,</LINE>
<LINE>In whose cold blood no spark of honour bides.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be thou a prey unto the house of York,</LINE>
<LINE>And die in bands for this unmanly deed!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In dreadful war mayst thou be overcome,</LINE>
<LINE>Or live in peace abandon'd and despised!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt NORTHUMBERLAND, CLIFFORD, and WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Turn this way, Henry, and regard them not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They seek revenge and therefore will not yield.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, Exeter!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why should you sigh, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not for myself, Lord Warwick, but my son,</LINE>
<LINE>Whom I unnaturally shall disinherit.</LINE>
<LINE>But be it as it may: I here entail</LINE>
<LINE>The crown to thee and to thine heirs for ever;</LINE>
<LINE>Conditionally, that here thou take an oath</LINE>
<LINE>To cease this civil war, and, whilst I live,</LINE>
<LINE>To honour me as thy king and sovereign,</LINE>
<LINE>And neither by treason nor hostility</LINE>
<LINE>To seek to put me down and reign thyself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This oath I willingly take and will perform.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Long live King Henry! Plantagenet embrace him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And long live thou and these thy forward sons!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now York and Lancaster are reconciled.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Accursed be he that seeks to make them foes!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Sennet. Here they come down</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell, my gracious lord; I'll to my castle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I'll keep London with my soldiers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORFOLK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I to Norfolk with my followers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I unto the sea from whence I came.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt YORK, EDWARD, EDMUND, GEORGE, RICHARD,
WARWICK, NORFOLK, MONTAGUE, their Soldiers, and
Attendants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I, with grief and sorrow, to the court.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter QUEEN MARGARET and PRINCE EDWARD</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here comes the queen, whose looks bewray her anger:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll steal away.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Exeter, so will I.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, go not from me; I will follow thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be patient, gentle queen, and I will stay.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who can be patient in such extremes?</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, wretched man! would I had died a maid</LINE>
<LINE>And never seen thee, never borne thee son,</LINE>
<LINE>Seeing thou hast proved so unnatural a father</LINE>
<LINE>Hath he deserved to lose his birthright thus?</LINE>
<LINE>Hadst thou but loved him half so well as I,</LINE>
<LINE>Or felt that pain which I did for him once,</LINE>
<LINE>Or nourish'd him as I did with my blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou wouldst have left thy dearest heart-blood there,</LINE>
<LINE>Rather than have that savage duke thine heir</LINE>
<LINE>And disinherited thine only son.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Father, you cannot disinherit me:</LINE>
<LINE>If you be king, why should not I succeed?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pardon me, Margaret; pardon me, sweet son:</LINE>
<LINE>The Earl of Warwick and the duke enforced me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Enforced thee! art thou king, and wilt be forced?</LINE>
<LINE>I shame to hear thee speak. Ah, timorous wretch!</LINE>
<LINE>Thou hast undone thyself, thy son and me;</LINE>
<LINE>And given unto the house of York such head</LINE>
<LINE>As thou shalt reign but by their sufferance.</LINE>
<LINE>To entail him and his heirs unto the crown,</LINE>
<LINE>What is it, but to make thy sepulchre</LINE>
<LINE>And creep into it far before thy time?</LINE>
<LINE>Warwick is chancellor and the lord of Calais;</LINE>
<LINE>Stern Falconbridge commands the narrow seas;</LINE>
<LINE>The duke is made protector of the realm;</LINE>
<LINE>And yet shalt thou be safe? such safety finds</LINE>
<LINE>The trembling lamb environed with wolves.</LINE>
<LINE>Had I been there, which am a silly woman,</LINE>
<LINE>The soldiers should have toss'd me on their pikes</LINE>
<LINE>Before I would have granted to that act.</LINE>
<LINE>But thou preferr'st thy life before thine honour:</LINE>
<LINE>And seeing thou dost, I here divorce myself</LINE>
<LINE>Both from thy table, Henry, and thy bed,</LINE>
<LINE>Until that act of parliament be repeal'd</LINE>
<LINE>Whereby my son is disinherited.</LINE>
<LINE>The northern lords that have forsworn thy colours</LINE>
<LINE>Will follow mine, if once they see them spread;</LINE>
<LINE>And spread they shall be, to thy foul disgrace</LINE>
<LINE>And utter ruin of the house of York.</LINE>
<LINE>Thus do I leave thee. Come, son, let's away;</LINE>
<LINE>Our army is ready; come, we'll after them.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stay, gentle Margaret, and hear me speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou hast spoke too much already: get thee gone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Gentle son Edward, thou wilt stay with me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, to be murder'd by his enemies.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>When I return with victory from the field</LINE>
<LINE>I'll see your grace: till then I'll follow her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, son, away; we may not linger thus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt QUEEN MARGARET and PRINCE EDWARD</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Poor queen! how love to me and to her son</LINE>
<LINE>Hath made her break out into terms of rage!</LINE>
<LINE>Revenged may she be on that hateful duke,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire,</LINE>
<LINE>Will cost my crown, and like an empty eagle</LINE>
<LINE>Tire on the flesh of me and of my son!</LINE>
<LINE>The loss of those three lords torments my heart:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll write unto them and entreat them fair.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, cousin you shall be the messenger.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I, I hope, shall reconcile them all.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  Sandal Castle.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter RICHARD, EDWARD, and MONTAGUE</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brother, though I be youngest, give me leave.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, I can better play the orator.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But I have reasons strong and forcible.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter YORK</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, how now, sons and brother! at a strife?</LINE>
<LINE>What is your quarrel? how began it first?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No quarrel, but a slight contention.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>About what?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>About that which concerns your grace and us;</LINE>
<LINE>The crown of England, father, which is yours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mine boy? not till King Henry be dead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your right depends not on his life or death.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now you are heir, therefore enjoy it now:</LINE>
<LINE>By giving the house of Lancaster leave to breathe,</LINE>
<LINE>It will outrun you, father, in the end.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I took an oath that he should quietly reign.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But for a kingdom any oath may be broken:</LINE>
<LINE>I would break a thousand oaths to reign one year.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No; God forbid your grace should be forsworn.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall be, if I claim by open war.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll prove the contrary, if you'll hear me speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou canst not, son; it is impossible.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An oath is of no moment, being not took</LINE>
<LINE>Before a true and lawful magistrate,</LINE>
<LINE>That hath authority over him that swears:</LINE>
<LINE>Henry had none, but did usurp the place;</LINE>
<LINE>Then, seeing 'twas he that made you to depose,</LINE>
<LINE>Your oath, my lord, is vain and frivolous.</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore, to arms! And, father, do but think</LINE>
<LINE>How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown;</LINE>
<LINE>Within whose circuit is Elysium</LINE>
<LINE>And all that poets feign of bliss and joy.</LINE>
<LINE>Why do we finger thus? I cannot rest</LINE>
<LINE>Until the white rose that I wear be dyed</LINE>
<LINE>Even in the lukewarm blood of Henry's heart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Richard, enough; I will be king, or die.</LINE>
<LINE>Brother, thou shalt to London presently,</LINE>
<LINE>And whet on Warwick to this enterprise.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou, Richard, shalt to the Duke of Norfolk,</LINE>
<LINE>And tell him privily of our intent.</LINE>
<LINE>You Edward, shall unto my Lord Cobham,</LINE>
<LINE>With whom the Kentishmen will willingly rise:</LINE>
<LINE>In them I trust; for they are soldiers,</LINE>
<LINE>Witty, courteous, liberal, full of spirit.</LINE>
<LINE>While you are thus employ'd, what resteth more,</LINE>
<LINE>But that I seek occasion how to rise,</LINE>
<LINE>And yet the king not privy to my drift,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor any of the house of Lancaster?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter a Messenger</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>But, stay: what news? Why comest thou in such post?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The queen with all the northern earls and lords</LINE>
<LINE>Intend here to besiege you in your castle:</LINE>
<LINE>She is hard by with twenty thousand men;</LINE>
<LINE>And therefore fortify your hold, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, with my sword. What! think'st thou that we fear them?</LINE>
<LINE>Edward and Richard, you shall stay with me;</LINE>
<LINE>My brother Montague shall post to London:</LINE>
<LINE>Let noble Warwick, Cobham, and the rest,</LINE>
<LINE>Whom we have left protectors of the king,</LINE>
<LINE>With powerful policy strengthen themselves,</LINE>
<LINE>And trust not simple Henry nor his oaths.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brother, I go; I'll win them, fear it not:</LINE>
<LINE>And thus most humbly I do take my leave.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter JOHN MORTIMER and HUGH MORTIMER</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Sir John and Sir Hugh Mortimer, mine uncles,</LINE>
<LINE>You are come to Sandal in a happy hour;</LINE>
<LINE>The army of the queen mean to besiege us.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>JOHN MORTIMER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She shall not need; we'll meet her in the field.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, with five thousand men?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, with five hundred, father, for a need:</LINE>
<LINE>A woman's general; what should we fear?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>A march afar off</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I hear their drums: let's set our men in order,</LINE>
<LINE>And issue forth and bid them battle straight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Five men to twenty! though the odds be great,</LINE>
<LINE>I doubt not, uncle, of our victory.</LINE>
<LINE>Many a battle have I won in France,</LINE>
<LINE>When as the enemy hath been ten to one:</LINE>
<LINE>Why should I not now have the like success?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  Field of battle betwixt Sandal Castle and Wakefield.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarums. Enter RUTLAND and his Tutor</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RUTLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, whither shall I fly to 'scape their hands?</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, tutor, look where bloody Clifford comes!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter CLIFFORD and Soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Chaplain, away! thy priesthood saves thy life.</LINE>
<LINE>As for the brat of this accursed duke,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose father slew my father, he shall die.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Tutor</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I, my lord, will bear him company.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Soldiers, away with him!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Tutor</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, Clifford, murder not this innocent child,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest thou be hated both of God and man!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit, dragged off by Soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! is he dead already? or is it fear</LINE>
<LINE>That makes him close his eyes? I'll open them.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RUTLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch</LINE>
<LINE>That trembles under his devouring paws;</LINE>
<LINE>And so he walks, insulting o'er his prey,</LINE>
<LINE>And so he comes, to rend his limbs asunder.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, gentle Clifford, kill me with thy sword,</LINE>
<LINE>And not with such a cruel threatening look.</LINE>
<LINE>Sweet Clifford, hear me speak before I die.</LINE>
<LINE>I am too mean a subject for thy wrath:</LINE>
<LINE>Be thou revenged on men, and let me live.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In vain thou speak'st, poor boy; my father's blood</LINE>
<LINE>Hath stopp'd the passage where thy words should enter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RUTLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then let my father's blood open it again:</LINE>
<LINE>He is a man, and, Clifford, cope with him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Had thy brethren here, their lives and thine</LINE>
<LINE>Were not revenge sufficient for me;</LINE>
<LINE>No, if I digg'd up thy forefathers' graves</LINE>
<LINE>And hung their rotten coffins up in chains,</LINE>
<LINE>It could not slake mine ire, nor ease my heart.</LINE>
<LINE>The sight of any of the house of York</LINE>
<LINE>Is as a fury to torment my soul;</LINE>
<LINE>And till I root out their accursed line</LINE>
<LINE>And leave not one alive, I live in hell.</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Lifting his hand</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RUTLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, let me pray before I take my death!</LINE>
<LINE>To thee I pray; sweet Clifford, pity me!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Such pity as my rapier's point affords.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RUTLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I never did thee harm: why wilt thou slay me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy father hath.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RUTLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But 'twas ere I was born.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou hast one son; for his sake pity me,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest in revenge thereof, sith God is just,</LINE>
<LINE>He be as miserably slain as I.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, let me live in prison all my days;</LINE>
<LINE>And when I give occasion of offence,</LINE>
<LINE>Then let me die, for now thou hast no cause.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No cause!</LINE>
<LINE>Thy father slew my father; therefore, die.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Stabs him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RUTLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Di faciant laudis summa sit ista tuae!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Dies</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Plantagenet! I come, Plantagenet!</LINE>
<LINE>And this thy son's blood cleaving to my blade</LINE>
<LINE>Shall rust upon my weapon, till thy blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Congeal'd with this, do make me wipe off both.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  Another part of the field.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Enter YORK</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The army of the queen hath got the field:</LINE>
<LINE>My uncles both are slain in rescuing me;</LINE>
<LINE>And all my followers to the eager foe</LINE>
<LINE>Turn back and fly, like ships before the wind</LINE>
<LINE>Or lambs pursued by hunger-starved wolves.</LINE>
<LINE>My sons, God knows what hath bechanced them:</LINE>
<LINE>But this I know, they have demean'd themselves</LINE>
<LINE>Like men born to renown by life or death.</LINE>
<LINE>Three times did Richard make a lane to me.</LINE>
<LINE>And thrice cried 'Courage, father! fight it out!'</LINE>
<LINE>And full as oft came Edward to my side,</LINE>
<LINE>With purple falchion, painted to the hilt</LINE>
<LINE>In blood of those that had encounter'd him:</LINE>
<LINE>And when the hardiest warriors did retire,</LINE>
<LINE>Richard cried 'Charge! and give no foot of ground!'</LINE>
<LINE>And cried 'A crown, or else a glorious tomb!</LINE>
<LINE>A sceptre, or an earthly sepulchre!'</LINE>
<LINE>With this, we charged again: but, out, alas!</LINE>
<LINE>We bodged again; as I have seen a swan</LINE>
<LINE>With bootless labour swim against the tide</LINE>
<LINE>And spend her strength with over-matching waves.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>A short alarum within</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Ah, hark! the fatal followers do pursue;</LINE>
<LINE>And I am faint and cannot fly their fury:</LINE>
<LINE>And were I strong, I would not shun their fury:</LINE>
<LINE>The sands are number'd that make up my life;</LINE>
<LINE>Here must I stay, and here my life must end.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter QUEEN MARGARET, CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND,
PRINCE EDWARD, and Soldiers</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Come, bloody Clifford, rough Northumberland,</LINE>
<LINE>I dare your quenchless fury to more rage:</LINE>
<LINE>I am your butt, and I abide your shot.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yield to our mercy, proud Plantagenet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, to such mercy as his ruthless arm,</LINE>
<LINE>With downright payment, show'd unto my father.</LINE>
<LINE>Now Phaethon hath tumbled from his car,</LINE>
<LINE>And made an evening at the noontide prick.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My ashes, as the phoenix, may bring forth</LINE>
<LINE>A bird that will revenge upon you all:</LINE>
<LINE>And in that hope I throw mine eyes to heaven,</LINE>
<LINE>Scorning whate'er you can afflict me with.</LINE>
<LINE>Why come you not? what! multitudes, and fear?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So cowards fight when they can fly no further;</LINE>
<LINE>So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons;</LINE>
<LINE>So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives,</LINE>
<LINE>Breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

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

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will not bandy with thee word for word,</LINE>
<LINE>But buckle with thee blows, twice two for one.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hold, valiant Clifford! for a thousand causes</LINE>
<LINE>I would prolong awhile the traitor's life.</LINE>
<LINE>Wrath makes him deaf: speak thou, Northumberland.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hold, Clifford! do not honour him so much</LINE>
<LINE>To prick thy finger, though to wound his heart:</LINE>
<LINE>What valour were it, when a cur doth grin,</LINE>
<LINE>For one to thrust his hand between his teeth,</LINE>
<LINE>When he might spurn him with his foot away?</LINE>
<LINE>It is war's prize to take all vantages;</LINE>
<LINE>And ten to one is no impeach of valour.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>They lay hands on YORK, who struggles</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, ay, so strives the woodcock with the gin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So doth the cony struggle in the net.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So triumph thieves upon their conquer'd booty;</LINE>
<LINE>So true men yield, with robbers so o'ermatch'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What would your grace have done unto him now?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumberland,</LINE>
<LINE>Come, make him stand upon this molehill here,</LINE>
<LINE>That raught at mountains with outstretched arms,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet parted but the shadow with his hand.</LINE>
<LINE>What! was it you that would be England's king?</LINE>
<LINE>Was't you that revell'd in our parliament,</LINE>
<LINE>And made a preachment of your high descent?</LINE>
<LINE>Where are your mess of sons to back you now?</LINE>
<LINE>The wanton Edward, and the lusty George?</LINE>
<LINE>And where's that valiant crook-back prodigy,</LINE>
<LINE>Dicky your boy, that with his grumbling voice</LINE>
<LINE>Was wont to cheer his dad in mutinies?</LINE>
<LINE>Or, with the rest, where is your darling Rutland?</LINE>
<LINE>Look, York: I stain'd this napkin with the blood</LINE>
<LINE>That valiant Clifford, with his rapier's point,</LINE>
<LINE>Made issue from the bosom of the boy;</LINE>
<LINE>And if thine eyes can water for his death,</LINE>
<LINE>I give thee this to dry thy cheeks withal.</LINE>
<LINE>Alas poor York! but that I hate thee deadly,</LINE>
<LINE>I should lament thy miserable state.</LINE>
<LINE>I prithee, grieve, to make me merry, York.</LINE>
<LINE>What, hath thy fiery heart so parch'd thine entrails</LINE>
<LINE>That not a tear can fall for Rutland's death?</LINE>
<LINE>Why art thou patient, man? thou shouldst be mad;</LINE>
<LINE>And I, to make thee mad, do mock thee thus.</LINE>
<LINE>Stamp, rave, and fret, that I may sing and dance.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou wouldst be fee'd, I see, to make me sport:</LINE>
<LINE>York cannot speak, unless he wear a crown.</LINE>
<LINE>A crown for York! and, lords, bow low to him:</LINE>
<LINE>Hold you his hands, whilst I do set it on.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Putting a paper crown on his head</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king!</LINE>
<LINE>Ay, this is he that took King Henry's chair,</LINE>
<LINE>And this is he was his adopted heir.</LINE>
<LINE>But how is it that great Plantagenet</LINE>
<LINE>Is crown'd so soon, and broke his solemn oath?</LINE>
<LINE>As I bethink me, you should not be king</LINE>
<LINE>Till our King Henry had shook hands with death.</LINE>
<LINE>And will you pale your head in Henry's glory,</LINE>
<LINE>And rob his temples of the diadem,</LINE>
<LINE>Now in his life, against your holy oath?</LINE>
<LINE>O, 'tis a fault too too unpardonable!</LINE>
<LINE>Off with the crown, and with the crown his head;</LINE>
<LINE>And, whilst we breathe, take time to do him dead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That is my office, for my father's sake.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, stay; lets hear the orisons he makes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose tongue more poisons than the adder's tooth!</LINE>
<LINE>How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex</LINE>
<LINE>To triumph, like an Amazonian trull,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon their woes whom fortune captivates!</LINE>
<LINE>But that thy face is, vizard-like, unchanging,</LINE>
<LINE>Made impudent with use of evil deeds,</LINE>
<LINE>I would assay, proud queen, to make thee blush.</LINE>
<LINE>To tell thee whence thou camest, of whom derived,</LINE>
<LINE>Were shame enough to shame thee, wert thou not shameless.</LINE>
<LINE>Thy father bears the type of King of Naples,</LINE>
<LINE>Of both the Sicils and Jerusalem,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman.</LINE>
<LINE>Hath that poor monarch taught thee to insult?</LINE>
<LINE>It needs not, nor it boots thee not, proud queen,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless the adage must be verified,</LINE>
<LINE>That beggars mounted run their horse to death.</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis beauty that doth oft make women proud;</LINE>
<LINE>But, God he knows, thy share thereof is small:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis virtue that doth make them most admired;</LINE>
<LINE>The contrary doth make thee wonder'd at:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis government that makes them seem divine;</LINE>
<LINE>The want thereof makes thee abominable:</LINE>
<LINE>Thou art as opposite to every good</LINE>
<LINE>As the Antipodes are unto us,</LINE>
<LINE>Or as the south to the septentrion.</LINE>
<LINE>O tiger's heart wrapt in a woman's hide!</LINE>
<LINE>How couldst thou drain the life-blood of the child,</LINE>
<LINE>To bid the father wipe his eyes withal,</LINE>
<LINE>And yet be seen to bear a woman's face?</LINE>
<LINE>Women are soft, mild, pitiful and flexible;</LINE>
<LINE>Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.</LINE>
<LINE>Bids't thou me rage? why, now thou hast thy wish:</LINE>
<LINE>Wouldst have me weep? why, now thou hast thy will:</LINE>
<LINE>For raging wind blows up incessant showers,</LINE>
<LINE>And when the rage allays, the rain begins.</LINE>
<LINE>These tears are my sweet Rutland's obsequies:</LINE>
<LINE>And every drop cries vengeance for his death,</LINE>
<LINE>'Gainst thee, fell Clifford, and thee, false</LINE>
<LINE>Frenchwoman.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Beshrew me, but his passion moves me so</LINE>
<LINE>That hardly can I cheque my eyes from tears.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That face of his the hungry cannibals</LINE>
<LINE>Would not have touch'd, would not have stain'd with blood:</LINE>
<LINE>But you are more inhuman, more inexorable,</LINE>
<LINE>O, ten times more, than tigers of Hyrcania.</LINE>
<LINE>See, ruthless queen, a hapless father's tears:</LINE>
<LINE>This cloth thou dip'dst in blood of my sweet boy,</LINE>
<LINE>And I with tears do wash the blood away.</LINE>
<LINE>Keep thou the napkin, and go boast of this:</LINE>
<LINE>And if thou tell'st the heavy story right,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon my soul, the hearers will shed tears;</LINE>
<LINE>Yea even my foes will shed fast-falling tears,</LINE>
<LINE>And say 'Alas, it was a piteous deed!'</LINE>
<LINE>There, take the crown, and, with the crown, my curse;</LINE>
<LINE>And in thy need such comfort come to thee</LINE>
<LINE>As now I reap at thy too cruel hand!</LINE>
<LINE>Hard-hearted Clifford, take me from the world:</LINE>
<LINE>My soul to heaven, my blood upon your heads!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Had he been slaughter-man to all my kin,</LINE>
<LINE>I should not for my life but weep with him.</LINE>
<LINE>To see how inly sorrow gripes his soul.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, weeping-ripe, my Lord Northumberland?</LINE>
<LINE>Think but upon the wrong he did us all,</LINE>
<LINE>And that will quickly dry thy melting tears.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here's for my oath, here's for my father's death.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Stabbing him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And here's to right our gentle-hearted king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Stabbing him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Open Thy gate of mercy, gracious God!</LINE>
<LINE>My soul flies through these wounds to seek out Thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Dies</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Off with his head, and set it on York gates;</LINE>
<LINE>So York may overlook the town of York.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT II</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  A plain near Mortimer's Cross in Herefordshire.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>A march. Enter EDWARD, RICHARD, and their power</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I wonder how our princely father 'scaped,</LINE>
<LINE>Or whether he be 'scaped away or no</LINE>
<LINE>From Clifford's and Northumberland's pursuit:</LINE>
<LINE>Had he been ta'en, we should have heard the news;</LINE>
<LINE>Had he been slain, we should have heard the news;</LINE>
<LINE>Or had he 'scaped, methinks we should have heard</LINE>
<LINE>The happy tidings of his good escape.</LINE>
<LINE>How fares my brother? why is he so sad?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot joy, until I be resolved</LINE>
<LINE>Where our right valiant father is become.</LINE>
<LINE>I saw him in the battle range about;</LINE>
<LINE>And watch'd him how he singled Clifford forth.</LINE>
<LINE>Methought he bore him in the thickest troop</LINE>
<LINE>As doth a lion in a herd of neat;</LINE>
<LINE>Or as a bear, encompass'd round with dogs,</LINE>
<LINE>Who having pinch'd a few and made them cry,</LINE>
<LINE>The rest stand all aloof, and bark at him.</LINE>
<LINE>So fared our father with his enemies;</LINE>
<LINE>So fled his enemies my warlike father:</LINE>
<LINE>Methinks, 'tis prize enough to be his son.</LINE>
<LINE>See how the morning opes her golden gates,</LINE>
<LINE>And takes her farewell of the glorious sun!</LINE>
<LINE>How well resembles it the prime of youth,</LINE>
<LINE>Trimm'd like a younker prancing to his love!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun;</LINE>
<LINE>Not separated with the racking clouds,</LINE>
<LINE>But sever'd in a pale clear-shining sky.</LINE>
<LINE>See, see! they join, embrace, and seem to kiss,</LINE>
<LINE>As if they vow'd some league inviolable:</LINE>
<LINE>Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun.</LINE>
<LINE>In this the heaven figures some event.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis wondrous strange, the like yet never heard of.</LINE>
<LINE>I think it cites us, brother, to the field,</LINE>
<LINE>That we, the sons of brave Plantagenet,</LINE>
<LINE>Each one already blazing by our meeds,</LINE>
<LINE>Should notwithstanding join our lights together</LINE>
<LINE>And over-shine the earth as this the world.</LINE>
<LINE>Whate'er it bodes, henceforward will I bear</LINE>
<LINE>Upon my target three fair-shining suns.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, bear three daughters: by your leave I speak it,</LINE>
<LINE>You love the breeder better than the male.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter a Messenger</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>But what art thou, whose heavy looks foretell</LINE>
<LINE>Some dreadful story hanging on thy tongue?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, one that was a woful looker-on</LINE>
<LINE>When as the noble Duke of York was slain,</LINE>
<LINE>Your princely father and my loving lord!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, speak no more, for I have heard too much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say how he died, for I will hear it all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Environed he was with many foes,</LINE>
<LINE>And stood against them, as the hope of Troy</LINE>
<LINE>Against the Greeks that would have enter'd Troy.</LINE>
<LINE>But Hercules himself must yield to odds;</LINE>
<LINE>And many strokes, though with a little axe,</LINE>
<LINE>Hew down and fell the hardest-timber'd oak.</LINE>
<LINE>By many hands your father was subdued;</LINE>
<LINE>But only slaughter'd by the ireful arm</LINE>
<LINE>Of unrelenting Clifford and the queen,</LINE>
<LINE>Who crown'd the gracious duke in high despite,</LINE>
<LINE>Laugh'd in his face; and when with grief he wept,</LINE>
<LINE>The ruthless queen gave him to dry his cheeks</LINE>
<LINE>A napkin steeped in the harmless blood</LINE>
<LINE>Of sweet young Rutland, by rough Clifford slain:</LINE>
<LINE>And after many scorns, many foul taunts,</LINE>
<LINE>They took his head, and on the gates of York</LINE>
<LINE>They set the same; and there it doth remain,</LINE>
<LINE>The saddest spectacle that e'er I view'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet Duke of York, our prop to lean upon,</LINE>
<LINE>Now thou art gone, we have no staff, no stay.</LINE>
<LINE>O Clifford, boisterous Clifford! thou hast slain</LINE>
<LINE>The flower of Europe for his chivalry;</LINE>
<LINE>And treacherously hast thou vanquish'd him,</LINE>
<LINE>For hand to hand he would have vanquish'd thee.</LINE>
<LINE>Now my soul's palace is become a prison:</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, would she break from hence, that this my body</LINE>
<LINE>Might in the ground be closed up in rest!</LINE>
<LINE>For never henceforth shall I joy again,</LINE>
<LINE>Never, O never shall I see more joy!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot weep; for all my body's moisture</LINE>
<LINE>Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart:</LINE>
<LINE>Nor can my tongue unload my heart's great burthen;</LINE>
<LINE>For selfsame wind that I should speak withal</LINE>
<LINE>Is kindling coals that fires all my breast,</LINE>
<LINE>And burns me up with flames that tears would quench.</LINE>
<LINE>To weep is to make less the depth of grief:</LINE>
<LINE>Tears then for babes; blows and revenge for me</LINE>
<LINE>Richard, I bear thy name; I'll venge thy death,</LINE>
<LINE>Or die renowned by attempting it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His name that valiant duke hath left with thee;</LINE>
<LINE>His dukedom and his chair with me is left.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird,</LINE>
<LINE>Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun:</LINE>
<LINE>For chair and dukedom, throne and kingdom say;</LINE>
<LINE>Either that is thine, or else thou wert not his.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>March. Enter WARWICK, MONTAGUE, and their army</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, fair lords! What fare? what news abroad?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Great Lord of Warwick, if we should recount</LINE>
<LINE>Our baleful news, and at each word's deliverance</LINE>
<LINE>Stab poniards in our flesh till all were told,</LINE>
<LINE>The words would add more anguish than the wounds.</LINE>
<LINE>O valiant lord, the Duke of York is slain!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Warwick, Warwick! that Plantagenet,</LINE>
<LINE>Which held three dearly as his soul's redemption,</LINE>
<LINE>Is by the stern Lord Clifford done to death.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ten days ago I drown'd these news in tears;</LINE>
<LINE>And now, to add more measure to your woes,</LINE>
<LINE>I come to tell you things sith then befall'n.</LINE>
<LINE>After the bloody fray at Wakefield fought,</LINE>
<LINE>Where your brave father breathed his latest gasp,</LINE>
<LINE>Tidings, as swiftly as the posts could run,</LINE>
<LINE>Were brought me of your loss and his depart.</LINE>
<LINE>I, then in London keeper of the king,</LINE>
<LINE>Muster'd my soldiers, gather'd flocks of friends,</LINE>
<LINE>And very well appointed, as I thought,</LINE>
<LINE>March'd toward Saint Alban's to intercept the queen,</LINE>
<LINE>Bearing the king in my behalf along;</LINE>
<LINE>For by my scouts I was advertised</LINE>
<LINE>That she was coming with a full intent</LINE>
<LINE>To dash our late decree in parliament</LINE>
<LINE>Touching King Henry's oath and your succession.</LINE>
<LINE>Short tale to make, we at Saint Alban's met</LINE>
<LINE>Our battles join'd, and both sides fiercely fought:</LINE>
<LINE>But whether 'twas the coldness of the king,</LINE>
<LINE>Who look'd full gently on his warlike queen,</LINE>
<LINE>That robb'd my soldiers of their heated spleen;</LINE>
<LINE>Or whether 'twas report of her success;</LINE>
<LINE>Or more than common fear of Clifford's rigour,</LINE>
<LINE>Who thunders to his captives blood and death,</LINE>
<LINE>I cannot judge: but to conclude with truth,</LINE>
<LINE>Their weapons like to lightning came and went;</LINE>
<LINE>Our soldiers', like the night-owl's lazy flight,</LINE>
<LINE>Or like an idle thresher with a flail,</LINE>
<LINE>Fell gently down, as if they struck their friends.</LINE>
<LINE>I cheer'd them up with justice of our cause,</LINE>
<LINE>With promise of high pay and great rewards:</LINE>
<LINE>But all in vain; they had no heart to fight,</LINE>
<LINE>And we in them no hope to win the day;</LINE>
<LINE>So that we fled; the king unto the queen;</LINE>
<LINE>Lord George your brother, Norfolk and myself,</LINE>
<LINE>In haste, post-haste, are come to join with you:</LINE>
<LINE>For in the marches here we heard you were,</LINE>
<LINE>Making another head to fight again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where is the Duke of Norfolk, gentle Warwick?</LINE>
<LINE>And when came George from Burgundy to England?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Some six miles off the duke is with the soldiers;</LINE>
<LINE>And for your brother, he was lately sent</LINE>
<LINE>From your kind aunt, Duchess of Burgundy,</LINE>
<LINE>With aid of soldiers to this needful war.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twas odds, belike, when valiant Warwick fled:</LINE>
<LINE>Oft have I heard his praises in pursuit,</LINE>
<LINE>But ne'er till now his scandal of retire.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor now my scandal, Richard, dost thou hear;</LINE>
<LINE>For thou shalt know this strong right hand of mine</LINE>
<LINE>Can pluck the diadem from faint Henry's head,</LINE>
<LINE>And wring the awful sceptre from his fist,</LINE>
<LINE>Were he as famous and as bold in war</LINE>
<LINE>As he is famed for mildness, peace, and prayer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know it well, Lord Warwick; blame me not:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis love I bear thy glories makes me speak.</LINE>
<LINE>But in this troublous time what's to be done?</LINE>
<LINE>Shall we go throw away our coats of steel,</LINE>
<LINE>And wrap our bodies in black mourning gowns,</LINE>
<LINE>Numbering our Ave-Maries with our beads?</LINE>
<LINE>Or shall we on the helmets of our foes</LINE>
<LINE>Tell our devotion with revengeful arms?</LINE>
<LINE>If for the last, say ay, and to it, lords.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, therefore Warwick came to seek you out;</LINE>
<LINE>And therefore comes my brother Montague.</LINE>
<LINE>Attend me, lords. The proud insulting queen,</LINE>
<LINE>With Clifford and the haught Northumberland,</LINE>
<LINE>And of their feather many more proud birds,</LINE>
<LINE>Have wrought the easy-melting king like wax.</LINE>
<LINE>He swore consent to your succession,</LINE>
<LINE>His oath enrolled in the parliament;</LINE>
<LINE>And now to London all the crew are gone,</LINE>
<LINE>To frustrate both his oath and what beside</LINE>
<LINE>May make against the house of Lancaster.</LINE>
<LINE>Their power, I think, is thirty thousand strong:</LINE>
<LINE>Now, if the help of Norfolk and myself,</LINE>
<LINE>With all the friends that thou, brave Earl of March,</LINE>
<LINE>Amongst the loving Welshmen canst procure,</LINE>
<LINE>Will but amount to five and twenty thousand,</LINE>
<LINE>Why, Via! to London will we march amain,</LINE>
<LINE>And once again bestride our foaming steeds,</LINE>
<LINE>And once again cry 'Charge upon our foes!'</LINE>
<LINE>But never once again turn back and fly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, now methinks I hear great Warwick speak:</LINE>
<LINE>Ne'er may he live to see a sunshine day,</LINE>
<LINE>That cries 'Retire,' if Warwick bid him stay.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lord Warwick, on thy shoulder will I lean;</LINE>
<LINE>And when thou fail'st--as God forbid the hour!--</LINE>
<LINE>Must Edward fall, which peril heaven forfend!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No longer Earl of March, but Duke of York:</LINE>
<LINE>The next degree is England's royal throne;</LINE>
<LINE>For King of England shalt thou be proclaim'd</LINE>
<LINE>In every borough as we pass along;</LINE>
<LINE>And he that throws not up his cap for joy</LINE>
<LINE>Shall for the fault make forfeit of his head.</LINE>
<LINE>King Edward, valiant Richard, Montague,</LINE>
<LINE>Stay we no longer, dreaming of renown,</LINE>
<LINE>But sound the trumpets, and about our task.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, Clifford, were thy heart as hard as steel,</LINE>
<LINE>As thou hast shown it flinty by thy deeds,</LINE>
<LINE>I come to pierce it, or to give thee mine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then strike up drums: God and Saint George for us!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Messenger</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! what news?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The Duke of Norfolk sends you word by me,</LINE>
<LINE>The queen is coming with a puissant host;</LINE>
<LINE>And craves your company for speedy counsel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why then it sorts, brave warriors, let's away.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  Before York.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING HENRY VI, QUEEN MARGARET,
PRINCE EDWARD, CLIFFORD, and NORTHUMBERLAND, with
drum and trumpets</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Welcome, my lord, to this brave town of York.</LINE>
<LINE>Yonder's the head of that arch-enemy</LINE>
<LINE>That sought to be encompass'd with your crown:</LINE>
<LINE>Doth not the object cheer your heart, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, as the rocks cheer them that fear their wreck:</LINE>
<LINE>To see this sight, it irks my very soul.</LINE>
<LINE>Withhold revenge, dear God! 'tis not my fault,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor wittingly have I infringed my vow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My gracious liege, this too much lenity</LINE>
<LINE>And harmful pity must be laid aside.</LINE>
<LINE>To whom do lions cast their gentle looks?</LINE>
<LINE>Not to the beast that would usurp their den.</LINE>
<LINE>Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick?</LINE>
<LINE>Not his that spoils her young before her face.</LINE>
<LINE>Who 'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting?</LINE>
<LINE>Not he that sets his foot upon her back.</LINE>
<LINE>The smallest worm will turn being trodden on,</LINE>
<LINE>And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.</LINE>
<LINE>Ambitious York doth level at thy crown,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou smiling while he knit his angry brows:</LINE>
<LINE>He, but a duke, would have his son a king,</LINE>
<LINE>And raise his issue, like a loving sire;</LINE>
<LINE>Thou, being a king, blest with a goodly son,</LINE>
<LINE>Didst yield consent to disinherit him,</LINE>
<LINE>Which argued thee a most unloving father.</LINE>
<LINE>Unreasonable creatures feed their young;</LINE>
<LINE>And though man's face be fearful to their eyes,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, in protection of their tender ones,</LINE>
<LINE>Who hath not seen them, even with those wings</LINE>
<LINE>Which sometime they have used with fearful flight,</LINE>
<LINE>Make war with him that climb'd unto their nest,</LINE>
<LINE>Offer their own lives in their young's defence?</LINE>
<LINE>For shame, my liege, make them your precedent!</LINE>
<LINE>Were it not pity that this goodly boy</LINE>
<LINE>Should lose his birthright by his father's fault,</LINE>
<LINE>And long hereafter say unto his child,</LINE>
<LINE>'What my great-grandfather and his grandsire got</LINE>
<LINE>My careless father fondly gave away'?</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, what a shame were this! Look on the boy;</LINE>
<LINE>And let his manly face, which promiseth</LINE>
<LINE>Successful fortune, steel thy melting heart</LINE>
<LINE>To hold thine own and leave thine own with him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Full well hath Clifford play'd the orator,</LINE>
<LINE>Inferring arguments of mighty force.</LINE>
<LINE>But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear</LINE>
<LINE>That things ill-got had ever bad success?</LINE>
<LINE>And happy always was it for that son</LINE>
<LINE>Whose father for his hoarding went to hell?</LINE>
<LINE>I'll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind;</LINE>
<LINE>And would my father had left me no more!</LINE>
<LINE>For all the rest is held at such a rate</LINE>
<LINE>As brings a thousand-fold more care to keep</LINE>
<LINE>Than in possession and jot of pleasure.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, cousin York! would thy best friends did know</LINE>
<LINE>How it doth grieve me that thy head is here!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, cheer up your spirits: our foes are nigh,</LINE>
<LINE>And this soft courage makes your followers faint.</LINE>
<LINE>You promised knighthood to our forward son:</LINE>
<LINE>Unsheathe your sword, and dub him presently.</LINE>
<LINE>Edward, kneel down.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Edward Plantagenet, arise a knight;</LINE>
<LINE>And learn this lesson, draw thy sword in right.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My gracious father, by your kingly leave,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll draw it as apparent to the crown,</LINE>
<LINE>And in that quarrel use it to the death.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, that is spoken like a toward prince.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Messenger</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Royal commanders, be in readiness:</LINE>
<LINE>For with a band of thirty thousand men</LINE>
<LINE>Comes Warwick, backing of the Duke of York;</LINE>
<LINE>And in the towns, as they do march along,</LINE>
<LINE>Proclaims him king, and many fly to him:</LINE>
<LINE>Darraign your battle, for they are at hand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would your highness would depart the field:</LINE>
<LINE>The queen hath best success when you are absent.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, good my lord, and leave us to our fortune.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, that's my fortune too; therefore I'll stay.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be it with resolution then to fight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My royal father, cheer these noble lords</LINE>
<LINE>And hearten those that fight in your defence:</LINE>
<LINE>Unsheathe your sword, good father; cry 'Saint George!'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>March. Enter EDWARD, GEORGE, RICHARD, WARWICK,
NORFOLK, MONTAGUE, and Soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, perjured Henry! wilt thou kneel for grace,</LINE>
<LINE>And set thy diadem upon my head;</LINE>
<LINE>Or bide the mortal fortune of the field?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, rate thy minions, proud insulting boy!</LINE>
<LINE>Becomes it thee to be thus bold in terms</LINE>
<LINE>Before thy sovereign and thy lawful king?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am his king, and he should bow his knee;</LINE>
<LINE>I was adopted heir by his consent:</LINE>
<LINE>Since when, his oath is broke; for, as I hear,</LINE>
<LINE>You, that are king, though he do wear the crown,</LINE>
<LINE>Have caused him, by new act of parliament,</LINE>
<LINE>To blot out me, and put his own son in.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And reason too:</LINE>
<LINE>Who should succeed the father but the son?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Are you there, butcher? O, I cannot speak!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, crook-back, here I stand to answer thee,</LINE>
<LINE>Or any he the proudest of thy sort.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twas you that kill'd young Rutland, was it not?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, and old York, and yet not satisfied.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For God's sake, lords, give signal to the fight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What say'st thou, Henry, wilt thou yield the crown?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, how now, long-tongued Warwick! dare you speak?</LINE>
<LINE>When you and I met at Saint Alban's last,</LINE>
<LINE>Your legs did better service than your hands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then 'twas my turn to fly, and now 'tis thine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You said so much before, and yet you fled.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twas not your valour, Clifford, drove me thence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, nor your manhood that durst make you stay.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Northumberland, I hold thee reverently.</LINE>
<LINE>Break off the parley; for scarce I can refrain</LINE>
<LINE>The execution of my big-swoln heart</LINE>
<LINE>Upon that Clifford, that cruel child-killer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I slew thy father, call'st thou him a child?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, like a dastard and a treacherous coward,</LINE>
<LINE>As thou didst kill our tender brother Rutland;</LINE>
<LINE>But ere sunset I'll make thee curse the deed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have done with words, my lords, and hear me speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Defy them then, or else hold close thy lips.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I prithee, give no limits to my tongue:</LINE>
<LINE>I am a king, and privileged to speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My liege, the wound that bred this meeting here</LINE>
<LINE>Cannot be cured by words; therefore be still.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, executioner, unsheathe thy sword:</LINE>
<LINE>By him that made us all, I am resolved</LINE>
<LINE>that Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say, Henry, shall I have my right, or no?</LINE>
<LINE>A thousand men have broke their fasts to-day,</LINE>
<LINE>That ne'er shall dine unless thou yield the crown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If thou deny, their blood upon thy head;</LINE>
<LINE>For York in justice puts his armour on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If that be right which Warwick says is right,</LINE>
<LINE>There is no wrong, but every thing is right.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whoever got thee, there thy mother stands;</LINE>
<LINE>For, well I wot, thou hast thy mother's tongue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But thou art neither like thy sire nor dam;</LINE>
<LINE>But like a foul mis-shapen stigmatic,</LINE>
<LINE>Mark'd by the destinies to be avoided,</LINE>
<LINE>As venom toads, or lizards' dreadful stings.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Iron of Naples hid with English gilt,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose father bears the title of a king,--</LINE>
<LINE>As if a channel should be call'd the sea,--</LINE>
<LINE>Shamest thou not, knowing whence thou art extraught,</LINE>
<LINE>To let thy tongue detect thy base-born heart?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A wisp of straw were worth a thousand crowns,</LINE>
<LINE>To make this shameless callet know herself.</LINE>
<LINE>Helen of Greece was fairer far than thou,</LINE>
<LINE>Although thy husband may be Menelaus;</LINE>
<LINE>And ne'er was Agamemnon's brother wrong'd</LINE>
<LINE>By that false woman, as this king by thee.</LINE>
<LINE>His father revell'd in the heart of France,</LINE>
<LINE>And tamed the king, and made the dauphin stoop;</LINE>
<LINE>And had he match'd according to his state,</LINE>
<LINE>He might have kept that glory to this day;</LINE>
<LINE>But when he took a beggar to his bed,</LINE>
<LINE>And graced thy poor sire with his bridal-day,</LINE>
<LINE>Even then that sunshine brew'd a shower for him,</LINE>
<LINE>That wash'd his father's fortunes forth of France,</LINE>
<LINE>And heap'd sedition on his crown at home.</LINE>
<LINE>For what hath broach'd this tumult but thy pride?</LINE>
<LINE>Hadst thou been meek, our title still had slept;</LINE>
<LINE>And we, in pity of the gentle king,</LINE>
<LINE>Had slipp'd our claim until another age.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GEORGE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But when we saw our sunshine made thy spring,</LINE>
<LINE>And that thy summer bred us no increase,</LINE>
<LINE>We set the axe to thy usurping root;</LINE>
<LINE>And though the edge hath something hit ourselves,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, know thou, since we have begun to strike,</LINE>
<LINE>We'll never leave till we have hewn thee down,</LINE>
<LINE>Or bathed thy growing with our heated bloods.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And, in this resolution, I defy thee;</LINE>
<LINE>Not willing any longer conference,</LINE>
<LINE>Since thou deniest the gentle king to speak.</LINE>
<LINE>Sound trumpets! let our bloody colours wave!</LINE>
<LINE>And either victory, or else a grave.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stay, Edward.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, wrangling woman, we'll no longer stay:</LINE>
<LINE>These words will cost ten thousand lives this day.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  A field of battle between Towton and Saxton, in Yorkshire.</TITLE>

<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Excursions. Enter WARWICK</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Forspent with toil, as runners with a race,</LINE>
<LINE>I lay me down a little while to breathe;</LINE>
<LINE>For strokes received, and many blows repaid,</LINE>
<LINE>Have robb'd my strong-knit sinews of their strength,</LINE>
<LINE>And spite of spite needs must I rest awhile.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter EDWARD, running</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Smile, gentle heaven! or strike, ungentle death!</LINE>
<LINE>For this world frowns, and Edward's sun is clouded.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, my lord! what hap? what hope of good?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter GEORGE</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GEORGE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Our hap is loss, our hope but sad despair;</LINE>
<LINE>Our ranks are broke, and ruin follows us:</LINE>
<LINE>What counsel give you? whither shall we fly?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Bootless is flight, they follow us with wings;</LINE>
<LINE>And weak we are and cannot shun pursuit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter RICHARD</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, Warwick, why hast thou withdrawn thyself?</LINE>
<LINE>Thy brother's blood the thirsty earth hath drunk,</LINE>
<LINE>Broach'd with the steely point of Clifford's lance;</LINE>
<LINE>And in the very pangs of death he cried,</LINE>
<LINE>Like to a dismal clangour heard from far,</LINE>
<LINE>'Warwick, revenge! brother, revenge my death!'</LINE>
<LINE>So, underneath the belly of their steeds,</LINE>
<LINE>That stain'd their fetlocks in his smoking blood,</LINE>
<LINE>The noble gentleman gave up the ghost.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then let the earth be drunken with our blood:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll kill my horse, because I will not fly.</LINE>
<LINE>Why stand we like soft-hearted women here,</LINE>
<LINE>Wailing our losses, whiles the foe doth rage;</LINE>
<LINE>And look upon, as if the tragedy</LINE>
<LINE>Were play'd in jest by counterfeiting actors?</LINE>
<LINE>Here on my knee I vow to God above,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll never pause again, never stand still,</LINE>
<LINE>Till either death hath closed these eyes of mine</LINE>
<LINE>Or fortune given me measure of revenge.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Warwick, I do bend my knee with thine;</LINE>
<LINE>And in this vow do chain my soul to thine!</LINE>
<LINE>And, ere my knee rise from the earth's cold face,</LINE>
<LINE>I throw my hands, mine eyes, my heart to thee,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou setter up and plucker down of kings,</LINE>
<LINE>Beseeching thee, if with they will it stands</LINE>
<LINE>That to my foes this body must be prey,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet that thy brazen gates of heaven may ope,</LINE>
<LINE>And give sweet passage to my sinful soul!</LINE>
<LINE>Now, lords, take leave until we meet again,</LINE>
<LINE>Where'er it be, in heaven or in earth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brother, give me thy hand; and, gentle Warwick,</LINE>
<LINE>Let me embrace thee in my weary arms:</LINE>
<LINE>I, that did never weep, now melt with woe</LINE>
<LINE>That winter should cut off our spring-time so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, away! Once more, sweet lords farewell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GEORGE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yet let us all together to our troops,</LINE>
<LINE>And give them leave to fly that will not stay;</LINE>
<LINE>And call them pillars that will stand to us;</LINE>
<LINE>And, if we thrive, promise them such rewards</LINE>
<LINE>As victors wear at the Olympian games:</LINE>
<LINE>This may plant courage in their quailing breasts;</LINE>
<LINE>For yet is hope of life and victory.</LINE>
<LINE>Forslow no longer, make we hence amain.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  Another part of the field.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Excursions. Enter RICHARD and CLIFFORD</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, Clifford, I have singled thee alone:</LINE>
<LINE>Suppose this arm is for the Duke of York,</LINE>
<LINE>And this for Rutland; both bound to revenge,</LINE>
<LINE>Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone:</LINE>
<LINE>This is the hand that stabb'd thy father York;</LINE>
<LINE>And this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland;</LINE>
<LINE>And here's the heart that triumphs in their death</LINE>
<LINE>And cheers these hands that slew thy sire and brother</LINE>
<LINE>To execute the like upon thyself;</LINE>
<LINE>And so, have at thee!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>They fight. WARWICK comes; CLIFFORD flies</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay Warwick, single out some other chase;</LINE>
<LINE>For I myself will hunt this wolf to death.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE V.  Another part of the field.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Enter KING HENRY VI alone</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This battle fares like to the morning's war,</LINE>
<LINE>When dying clouds contend with growing light,</LINE>
<LINE>What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails,</LINE>
<LINE>Can neither call it perfect day nor night.</LINE>
<LINE>Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea</LINE>
<LINE>Forced by the tide to combat with the wind;</LINE>
<LINE>Now sways it that way, like the selfsame sea</LINE>
<LINE>Forced to retire by fury of the wind:</LINE>
<LINE>Sometime the flood prevails, and then the wind;</LINE>
<LINE>Now one the better, then another best;</LINE>
<LINE>Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet neither conqueror nor conquered:</LINE>
<LINE>So is the equal of this fell war.</LINE>
<LINE>Here on this molehill will I sit me down.</LINE>
<LINE>To whom God will, there be the victory!</LINE>
<LINE>For Margaret my queen, and Clifford too,</LINE>
<LINE>Have chid me from the battle; swearing both</LINE>
<LINE>They prosper best of all when I am thence.</LINE>
<LINE>Would I were dead! if God's good will were so;</LINE>
<LINE>For what is in this world but grief and woe?</LINE>
<LINE>O God! methinks it were a happy life,</LINE>
<LINE>To be no better than a homely swain;</LINE>
<LINE>To sit upon a hill, as I do now,</LINE>
<LINE>To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,</LINE>
<LINE>Thereby to see the minutes how they run,</LINE>
<LINE>How many make the hour full complete;</LINE>
<LINE>How many hours bring about the day;</LINE>
<LINE>How many days will finish up the year;</LINE>
<LINE>How many years a mortal man may live.</LINE>
<LINE>When this is known, then to divide the times:</LINE>
<LINE>So many hours must I tend my flock;</LINE>
<LINE>So many hours must I take my rest;</LINE>
<LINE>So many hours must I contemplate;</LINE>
<LINE>So many hours must I sport myself;</LINE>
<LINE>So many days my ewes have been with young;</LINE>
<LINE>So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean:</LINE>
<LINE>So many years ere I shall shear the fleece:</LINE>
<LINE>So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,</LINE>
<LINE>Pass'd over to the end they were created,</LINE>
<LINE>Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, what a life were this! how sweet! how lovely!</LINE>
<LINE>Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade</LINE>
<LINE>To shepherds looking on their silly sheep,</LINE>
<LINE>Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy</LINE>
<LINE>To kings that fear their subjects' treachery?</LINE>
<LINE>O, yes, it doth; a thousand-fold it doth.</LINE>
<LINE>And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds,</LINE>
<LINE>His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle.</LINE>
<LINE>His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade,</LINE>
<LINE>All which secure and sweetly he enjoys,</LINE>
<LINE>Is far beyond a prince's delicates,</LINE>
<LINE>His viands sparkling in a golden cup,</LINE>
<LINE>His body couched in a curious bed,</LINE>
<LINE>When care, mistrust, and treason waits on him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Enter a Son that has killed his father,
dragging in the dead body</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Son</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.</LINE>
<LINE>This man, whom hand to hand I slew in fight,</LINE>
<LINE>May be possessed with some store of crowns;</LINE>
<LINE>And I, that haply take them from him now,</LINE>
<LINE>May yet ere night yield both my life and them</LINE>
<LINE>To some man else, as this dead man doth me.</LINE>
<LINE>Who's this? O God! it is my father's face,</LINE>
<LINE>Whom in this conflict I unwares have kill'd.</LINE>
<LINE>O heavy times, begetting such events!</LINE>
<LINE>From London by the king was I press'd forth;</LINE>
<LINE>My father, being the Earl of Warwick's man,</LINE>
<LINE>Came on the part of York, press'd by his master;</LINE>
<LINE>And I, who at his hands received my life, him</LINE>
<LINE>Have by my hands of life bereaved him.</LINE>
<LINE>Pardon me, God, I knew not what I did!</LINE>
<LINE>And pardon, father, for I knew not thee!</LINE>
<LINE>My tears shall wipe away these bloody marks;</LINE>
<LINE>And no more words till they have flow'd their fill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O piteous spectacle! O bloody times!</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles lions war and battle for their dens,</LINE>
<LINE>Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity.</LINE>
<LINE>Weep, wretched man, I'll aid thee tear for tear;</LINE>
<LINE>And let our hearts and eyes, like civil war,</LINE>
<LINE>Be blind with tears, and break o'ercharged with grief.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Father that has killed his son, bringing in the body</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Father</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou that so stoutly hast resisted me,</LINE>
<LINE>Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold:</LINE>
<LINE>For I have bought it with an hundred blows.</LINE>
<LINE>But let me see: is this our foeman's face?</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, no, no, no, it is mine only son!</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, boy, if any life be left in thee,</LINE>
<LINE>Throw up thine eye! see, see what showers arise,</LINE>
<LINE>Blown with the windy tempest of my heart,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon thy words, that kill mine eye and heart!</LINE>
<LINE>O, pity, God, this miserable age!</LINE>
<LINE>What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly,</LINE>
<LINE>Erroneous, mutinous and unnatural,</LINE>
<LINE>This deadly quarrel daily doth beget!</LINE>
<LINE>O boy, thy father gave thee life too soon,</LINE>
<LINE>And hath bereft thee of thy life too late!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Woe above woe! grief more than common grief!</LINE>
<LINE>O that my death would stay these ruthful deeds!</LINE>
<LINE>O pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity!</LINE>
<LINE>The red rose and the white are on his face,</LINE>
<LINE>The fatal colours of our striving houses:</LINE>
<LINE>The one his purple blood right well resembles;</LINE>
<LINE>The other his pale cheeks, methinks, presenteth:</LINE>
<LINE>Wither one rose, and let the other flourish;</LINE>
<LINE>If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Son</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How will my mother for a father's death</LINE>
<LINE>Take on with me and ne'er be satisfied!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Father</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How will my wife for slaughter of my son</LINE>
<LINE>Shed seas of tears and ne'er be satisfied!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How will the country for these woful chances</LINE>
<LINE>Misthink the king and not be satisfied!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Son</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Was ever son so rued a father's death?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Father</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Was ever father so bemoan'd his son?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Was ever king so grieved for subjects' woe?</LINE>
<LINE>Much is your sorrow; mine ten times so much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Son</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll bear thee hence, where I may weep my fill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit with the body</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Father</SPEAKER>
<LINE>These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet;</LINE>
<LINE>My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulchre,</LINE>
<LINE>For from my heart thine image ne'er shall go;</LINE>
<LINE>My sighing breast shall be thy funeral bell;</LINE>
<LINE>And so obsequious will thy father be,</LINE>
<LINE>Even for the loss of thee, having no more,</LINE>
<LINE>As Priam was for all his valiant sons.</LINE>
<LINE>I'll bear thee hence; and let them fight that will,</LINE>
<LINE>For I have murdered where I should not kill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit with the body</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care,</LINE>
<LINE>Here sits a king more woful than you are.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Alarums: excursions. Enter QUEEN MARGARET, PRINCE
EDWARD, and EXETER</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fly, father, fly! for all your friends are fled,</LINE>
<LINE>And Warwick rages like a chafed bull:</LINE>
<LINE>Away! for death doth hold us in pursuit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mount you, my lord; towards Berwick post amain:</LINE>
<LINE>Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds</LINE>
<LINE>Having the fearful flying hare in sight,</LINE>
<LINE>With fiery eyes sparkling for very wrath,</LINE>
<LINE>And bloody steel grasp'd in their ireful hands,</LINE>
<LINE>Are at our backs; and therefore hence amain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away! for vengeance comes along with them:</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, stay not to expostulate, make speed;</LINE>
<LINE>Or else come after: I'll away before.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, take me with thee, good sweet Exeter:</LINE>
<LINE>Not that I fear to stay, but love to go</LINE>
<LINE>Whither the queen intends. Forward; away!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VI.  Another part of the field.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>A loud alarum. Enter CLIFFORD, wounded</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLIFFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here burns my candle out; ay, here it dies,</LINE>
<LINE>Which, whiles it lasted, gave King Henry light.</LINE>
<LINE>O Lancaster, I fear thy overthrow</LINE>
<LINE>More than my body's parting with my soul!</LINE>
<LINE>My love and fear glued many friends to thee;</LINE>
<LINE>And, now I fall, thy tough commixture melts.</LINE>
<LINE>Impairing Henry, strengthening misproud York,</LINE>
<LINE>The common people swarm like summer flies;</LINE>
<LINE>And whither fly the gnats but to the sun?</LINE>
<LINE>And who shines now but Henry's enemies?</LINE>
<LINE>O Phoebus, hadst thou never given consent</LINE>
<LINE>That Phaethon should cheque thy fiery steeds,</LINE>
<LINE>Thy burning car never had scorch'd the earth!</LINE>
<LINE>And, Henry, hadst thou sway'd as kings should do,</LINE>
<LINE>Or as thy father and his father did,</LINE>
<LINE>Giving no ground unto the house of York,</LINE>
<LINE>They never then had sprung like summer flies;</LINE>
<LINE>I and ten thousand in this luckless realm</LINE>
<LINE>Had left no mourning widows for our death;</LINE>
<LINE>And thou this day hadst kept thy chair in peace.</LINE>
<LINE>For what doth cherish weeds but gentle air?</LINE>
<LINE>And what makes robbers bold but too much lenity?</LINE>
<LINE>Bootless are plaints, and cureless are my wounds;</LINE>
<LINE>No way to fly, nor strength to hold out flight:</LINE>
<LINE>The foe is merciless, and will not pity;</LINE>
<LINE>For at their hands I have deserved no pity.</LINE>
<LINE>The air hath got into my deadly wounds,</LINE>
<LINE>And much effuse of blood doth make me faint.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, York and Richard, Warwick and the rest;</LINE>
<LINE>I stabb'd your fathers' bosoms, split my breast.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>He faints</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Alarum and retreat. Enter EDWARD, GEORGE, RICHARD,
MONTAGUE, WARWICK, and Soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now breathe we, lords: good fortune bids us pause,</LINE>
<LINE>And smooth the frowns of war with peaceful looks.</LINE>
<LINE>Some troops pursue the bloody-minded queen,</LINE>
<LINE>That led calm Henry, though he were a king,</LINE>
<LINE>As doth a sail, fill'd with a fretting gust,</LINE>
<LINE>Command an argosy to stem the waves.</LINE>
<LINE>But think you, lords, that Clifford fled with them?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, 'tis impossible he should escape,</LINE>
<LINE>For, though before his face I speak the words</LINE>
<LINE>Your brother Richard mark'd him for the grave:</LINE>
<LINE>And wheresoe'er he is, he's surely dead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>CLIFFORD groans, and dies</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whose soul is that which takes her heavy leave?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A deadly groan, like life and death's departing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>See who it is: and, now the battle's ended,</LINE>
<LINE>If friend or foe, let him be gently used.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Revoke that doom of mercy, for 'tis Clifford;</LINE>
<LINE>Who not contented that he lopp'd the branch</LINE>
<LINE>In hewing Rutland when his leaves put forth,</LINE>
<LINE>But set his murdering knife unto the root</LINE>
<LINE>From whence that tender spray did sweetly spring,</LINE>
<LINE>I mean our princely father, Duke of York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From off the gates of York fetch down the head,</LINE>
<LINE>Your father's head, which Clifford placed there;</LINE>
<LINE>Instead whereof let this supply the room:</LINE>
<LINE>Measure for measure must be answered.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Bring forth that fatal screech-owl to our house,</LINE>
<LINE>That nothing sung but death to us and ours:</LINE>
<LINE>Now death shall stop his dismal threatening sound,</LINE>
<LINE>And his ill-boding tongue no more shall speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think his understanding is bereft.</LINE>
<LINE>Speak, Clifford, dost thou know who speaks to thee?</LINE>
<LINE>Dark cloudy death o'ershades his beams of life,</LINE>
<LINE>And he nor sees nor hears us what we say.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, would he did! and so perhaps he doth:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis but his policy to counterfeit,</LINE>
<LINE>Because he would avoid such bitter taunts</LINE>
<LINE>Which in the time of death he gave our father.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GEORGE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If so thou think'st, vex him with eager words.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Clifford, ask mercy and obtain no grace.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Clifford, repent in bootless penitence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Clifford, devise excuses for thy faults.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GEORGE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>While we devise fell tortures for thy faults.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou didst love York, and I am son to York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou pitied'st Rutland; I will pity thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GEORGE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where's Captain Margaret, to fence you now?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They mock thee, Clifford: swear as thou wast wont.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, not an oath? nay, then the world goes hard</LINE>
<LINE>When Clifford cannot spare his friends an oath.</LINE>
<LINE>I know by that he's dead; and, by my soul,</LINE>
<LINE>If this right hand would buy two hour's life,</LINE>
<LINE>That I in all despite might rail at him,</LINE>
<LINE>This hand should chop it off, and with the</LINE>
<LINE>issuing blood</LINE>
<LINE>Stifle the villain whose unstanched thirst</LINE>
<LINE>York and young Rutland could not satisfy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but he's dead: off with the traitor's head,</LINE>
<LINE>And rear it in the place your father's stands.</LINE>
<LINE>And now to London with triumphant march,</LINE>
<LINE>There to be crowned England's royal king:</LINE>
<LINE>From whence shall Warwick cut the sea to France,</LINE>
<LINE>And ask the Lady Bona for thy queen:</LINE>
<LINE>So shalt thou sinew both these lands together;</LINE>
<LINE>And, having France thy friend, thou shalt not dread</LINE>
<LINE>The scatter'd foe that hopes to rise again;</LINE>
<LINE>For though they cannot greatly sting to hurt,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet look to have them buzz to offend thine ears.</LINE>
<LINE>First will I see the coronation;</LINE>
<LINE>And then to Brittany I'll cross the sea,</LINE>
<LINE>To effect this marriage, so it please my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Even as thou wilt, sweet Warwick, let it be;</LINE>
<LINE>For in thy shoulder do I build my seat,</LINE>
<LINE>And never will I undertake the thing</LINE>
<LINE>Wherein thy counsel and consent is wanting.</LINE>
<LINE>Richard, I will create thee Duke of Gloucester,</LINE>
<LINE>And George, of Clarence: Warwick, as ourself,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall do and undo as him pleaseth best.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RICHARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me be Duke of Clarence, George of Gloucester;</LINE>
<LINE>For Gloucester's dukedom is too ominous.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tut, that's a foolish observation:</LINE>
<LINE>Richard, be Duke of Gloucester. Now to London,</LINE>
<LINE>To see these honours in possession.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT III</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  A forest in the north of England.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter two Keepers, with cross-bows in their hands</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Under this thick-grown brake we'll shroud ourselves;</LINE>
<LINE>For through this laund anon the deer will come;</LINE>
<LINE>And in this covert will we make our stand,</LINE>
<LINE>Culling the principal of all the deer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll stay above the hill, so both may shoot.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That cannot be; the noise of thy cross-bow</LINE>
<LINE>Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost.</LINE>
<LINE>Here stand we both, and aim we at the best:</LINE>
<LINE>And, for the time shall not seem tedious,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll tell thee what befell me on a day</LINE>
<LINE>In this self-place where now we mean to stand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here comes a man; let's stay till he be past.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter KING HENRY VI, disguised, with a prayerbook</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From Scotland am I stol'n, even of pure love,</LINE>
<LINE>To greet mine own land with my wishful sight.</LINE>
<LINE>No, Harry, Harry, 'tis no land of thine;</LINE>
<LINE>Thy place is fill'd, thy sceptre wrung from thee,</LINE>
<LINE>Thy balm wash'd off wherewith thou wast anointed:</LINE>
<LINE>No bending knee will call thee Caesar now,</LINE>
<LINE>No humble suitors press to speak for right,</LINE>
<LINE>No, not a man comes for redress of thee;</LINE>
<LINE>For how can I help them, and not myself?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, here's a deer whose skin's a keeper's fee:</LINE>
<LINE>This is the quondam king; let's seize upon him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me embrace thee, sour adversity,</LINE>
<LINE>For wise men say it is the wisest course.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why linger we? let us lay hands upon him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Forbear awhile; we'll hear a little more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My queen and son are gone to France for aid;</LINE>
<LINE>And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick</LINE>
<LINE>Is thither gone, to crave the French king's sister</LINE>
<LINE>To wife for Edward: if this news be true,</LINE>
<LINE>Poor queen and son, your labour is but lost;</LINE>
<LINE>For Warwick is a subtle orator,</LINE>
<LINE>And Lewis a prince soon won with moving words.</LINE>
<LINE>By this account then Margaret may win him;</LINE>
<LINE>For she's a woman to be pitied much:</LINE>
<LINE>Her sighs will make a battery in his breast;</LINE>
<LINE>Her tears will pierce into a marble heart;</LINE>
<LINE>The tiger will be mild whiles she doth mourn;</LINE>
<LINE>And Nero will be tainted with remorse,</LINE>
<LINE>To hear and see her plaints, her brinish tears.</LINE>
<LINE>Ay, but she's come to beg, Warwick to give;</LINE>
<LINE>She, on his left side, craving aid for Henry,</LINE>
<LINE>He, on his right, asking a wife for Edward.</LINE>
<LINE>She weeps, and says her Henry is deposed;</LINE>
<LINE>He smiles, and says his Edward is install'd;</LINE>
<LINE>That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more;</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles Warwick tells his title, smooths the wrong,</LINE>
<LINE>Inferreth arguments of mighty strength,</LINE>
<LINE>And in conclusion wins the king from her,</LINE>
<LINE>With promise of his sister, and what else,</LINE>
<LINE>To strengthen and support King Edward's place.</LINE>
<LINE>O Margaret, thus 'twill be; and thou, poor soul,</LINE>
<LINE>Art then forsaken, as thou went'st forlorn!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say, what art thou that talk'st of kings and queens?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>More than I seem, and less than I was born to:</LINE>
<LINE>A man at least, for less I should not be;</LINE>
<LINE>And men may talk of kings, and why not I?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but thou talk'st as if thou wert a king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, so I am, in mind; and that's enough.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But, if thou be a king, where is thy crown?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My crown is in my heart, not on my head;</LINE>
<LINE>Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor to be seen: my crown is called content:</LINE>
<LINE>A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, if you be a king crown'd with content,</LINE>
<LINE>Your crown content and you must be contented</LINE>
<LINE>To go along with us; for as we think,</LINE>
<LINE>You are the king King Edward hath deposed;</LINE>
<LINE>And we his subjects sworn in all allegiance</LINE>
<LINE>Will apprehend you as his enemy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But did you never swear, and break an oath?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, never such an oath; nor will not now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where did you dwell when I was King of England?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here in this country, where we now remain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I was anointed king at nine months old;</LINE>
<LINE>My father and my grandfather were kings,</LINE>
<LINE>And you were sworn true subjects unto me:</LINE>
<LINE>And tell me, then, have you not broke your oaths?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No;</LINE>
<LINE>For we were subjects but while you were king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, am I dead? do I not breathe a man?</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, simple men, you know not what you swear!</LINE>
<LINE>Look, as I blow this feather from my face,</LINE>
<LINE>And as the air blows it to me again,</LINE>
<LINE>Obeying with my wind when I do blow,</LINE>
<LINE>And yielding to another when it blows,</LINE>
<LINE>Commanded always by the greater gust;</LINE>
<LINE>Such is the lightness of you common men.</LINE>
<LINE>But do not break your oaths; for of that sin</LINE>
<LINE>My mild entreaty shall not make you guilty.</LINE>
<LINE>Go where you will, the king shall be commanded;</LINE>
<LINE>And be you kings, command, and I'll obey.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We are true subjects to the king, King Edward.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So would you be again to Henry,</LINE>
<LINE>If he were seated as King Edward is.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Keeper</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We charge you, in God's name, and the king's,</LINE>
<LINE>To go with us unto the officers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In God's name, lead; your king's name be obey'd:</LINE>
<LINE>And what God will, that let your king perform;</LINE>
<LINE>And what he will, I humbly yield unto.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  London. The palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, and
LADY GREY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Alban's field</LINE>
<LINE>This lady's husband, Sir Richard Grey, was slain,</LINE>
<LINE>His lands then seized on by the conqueror:</LINE>
<LINE>Her suit is now to repossess those lands;</LINE>
<LINE>Which we in justice cannot well deny,</LINE>
<LINE>Because in quarrel of the house of York</LINE>
<LINE>The worthy gentleman did lose his life.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your highness shall do well to grant her suit;</LINE>
<LINE>It were dishonour to deny it her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It were no less; but yet I'll make a pause.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  Yea, is it so?</LINE>
<LINE>I see the lady hath a thing to grant,</LINE>
<LINE>Before the king will grant her humble suit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to GLOUCESTER</STAGEDIR>  He knows the game: how true</LINE>
<LINE>he keeps the wind!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  Silence!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Widow, we will consider of your suit;</LINE>
<LINE>And come some other time to know our mind.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay:</LINE>
<LINE>May it please your highness to resolve me now;</LINE>
<LINE>And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  Ay, widow? then I'll warrant</LINE>
<LINE>you all your lands,</LINE>
<LINE>An if what pleases him shall pleasure you.</LINE>
<LINE>Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to GLOUCESTER</STAGEDIR>  I fear her not, unless she</LINE>
<LINE>chance to fall.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR> God forbid that! for he'll</LINE>
<LINE>take vantages.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How many children hast thou, widow? tell me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to GLOUCESTER</STAGEDIR>  I think he means to beg a</LINE>
<LINE>child of her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  Nay, whip me then: he'll rather</LINE>
<LINE>give her two.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Three, my most gracious lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  You shall have four, if you'll</LINE>
<LINE>be ruled by him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twere pity they should lose their father's lands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lords, give us leave: I'll try this widow's wit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  Ay, good leave have you; for</LINE>
<LINE>you will have leave,</LINE>
<LINE>Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>GLOUCESTER and CLARENCE retire</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And would you not do much to do them good?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To do them good, I would sustain some harm.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then get your husband's lands, to do them good.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Therefore I came unto your majesty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll tell you how these lands are to be got.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So shall you bind me to your highness' service.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What service wilt thou do me, if I give them?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What you command, that rests in me to do.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But you will take exceptions to my boon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then I will do what your grace commands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  He plies her hard; and much rain</LINE>
<LINE>wears the marble.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to GLOUCESTER</STAGEDIR>  As red as fire! nay, then</LINE>
<LINE>her wax must melt.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why stops my lord, shall I not hear my task?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An easy task; 'tis but to love a king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's soon perform'd, because I am a subject.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I take my leave with many thousand thanks.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  The match is made; she seals it</LINE>
<LINE>with a curtsy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense.</LINE>
<LINE>What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers;</LINE>
<LINE>That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then you mean not as I thought you did.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But now you partly may perceive my mind.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My mind will never grant what I perceive</LINE>
<LINE>Your highness aims at, if I aim aright.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower;</LINE>
<LINE>For by that loss I will not purchase them.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Herein your highness wrongs both them and me.</LINE>
<LINE>But, mighty lord, this merry inclination</LINE>
<LINE>Accords not with the sadness of my suit:</LINE>
<LINE>Please you dismiss me either with 'ay' or 'no.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, if thou wilt say 'ay' to my request;</LINE>
<LINE>No if thou dost say 'no' to my demand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  The widow likes him not, she</LINE>
<LINE>knits her brows.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to GLOUCESTER</STAGEDIR>  He is the bluntest wooer in</LINE>
<LINE>Christendom.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  Her looks do argue her replete with modesty;</LINE>
<LINE>Her words do show her wit incomparable;</LINE>
<LINE>All her perfections challenge sovereignty:</LINE>
<LINE>One way or other, she is for a king;</LINE>
<LINE>And she shall be my love, or else my queen.--</LINE>
<LINE>Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis better said than done, my gracious lord:</LINE>
<LINE>I am a subject fit to jest withal,</LINE>
<LINE>But far unfit to be a sovereign.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee</LINE>
<LINE>I speak no more than what my soul intends;</LINE>
<LINE>And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And that is more than I will yield unto:</LINE>
<LINE>I know I am too mean to be your queen,</LINE>
<LINE>And yet too good to be your concubine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You cavil, widow: I did mean, my queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY GREY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twill grieve your grace my sons should call you father.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No more than when my daughters call thee mother.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children;</LINE>
<LINE>And, by God's mother, I, being but a bachelor,</LINE>
<LINE>Have other some: why, 'tis a happy thing</LINE>
<LINE>To be the father unto many sons.</LINE>
<LINE>Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to CLARENCE</STAGEDIR>  The ghostly father now hath done</LINE>
<LINE>his shrift.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to GLOUCESTER</STAGEDIR>  When he was made a shriver,</LINE>
<LINE>'twas for shift.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You'll think it strange if I should marry her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To whom, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, Clarence, to myself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That would be ten days' wonder at the least.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's a day longer than a wonder lasts.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By so much is the wonder in extremes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you both</LINE>
<LINE>Her suit is granted for her husband's lands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Nobleman</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Nobleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken,</LINE>
<LINE>And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>See that he be convey'd unto the Tower:</LINE>
<LINE>And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,</LINE>
<LINE>To question of his apprehension.</LINE>
<LINE>Widow, go you along. Lords, use her honourably.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, Edward will use women honourably.</LINE>
<LINE>Would he were wasted, marrow, bones and all,</LINE>
<LINE>That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring,</LINE>
<LINE>To cross me from the golden time I look for!</LINE>
<LINE>And yet, between my soul's desire and me--</LINE>
<LINE>The lustful Edward's title buried--</LINE>
<LINE>Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward,</LINE>
<LINE>And all the unlook'd for issue of their bodies,</LINE>
<LINE>To take their rooms, ere I can place myself:</LINE>
<LINE>A cold premeditation for my purpose!</LINE>
<LINE>Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty;</LINE>
<LINE>Like one that stands upon a promontory,</LINE>
<LINE>And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,</LINE>
<LINE>Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,</LINE>
<LINE>And chides the sea that sunders him from thence,</LINE>
<LINE>Saying, he'll lade it dry to have his way:</LINE>
<LINE>So do I wish the crown, being so far off;</LINE>
<LINE>And so I chide the means that keeps me from it;</LINE>
<LINE>And so I say, I'll cut the causes off,</LINE>
<LINE>Flattering me with impossibilities.</LINE>
<LINE>My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless my hand and strength could equal them.</LINE>
<LINE>Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard;</LINE>
<LINE>What other pleasure can the world afford?</LINE>
<LINE>I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap,</LINE>
<LINE>And deck my body in gay ornaments,</LINE>
<LINE>And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.</LINE>
<LINE>O miserable thought! and more unlikely</LINE>
<LINE>Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!</LINE>
<LINE>Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb:</LINE>
<LINE>And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,</LINE>
<LINE>She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,</LINE>
<LINE>To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub;</LINE>
<LINE>To make an envious mountain on my back,</LINE>
<LINE>Where sits deformity to mock my body;</LINE>
<LINE>To shape my legs of an unequal size;</LINE>
<LINE>To disproportion me in every part,</LINE>
<LINE>Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp</LINE>
<LINE>That carries no impression like the dam.</LINE>
<LINE>And am I then a man to be beloved?</LINE>
<LINE>O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!</LINE>
<LINE>Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,</LINE>
<LINE>But to command, to cheque, to o'erbear such</LINE>
<LINE>As are of better person than myself,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown,</LINE>
<LINE>And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,</LINE>
<LINE>Until my mis-shaped trunk that bears this head</LINE>
<LINE>Be round impaled with a glorious crown.</LINE>
<LINE>And yet I know not how to get the crown,</LINE>
<LINE>For many lives stand between me and home:</LINE>
<LINE>And I,--like one lost in a thorny wood,</LINE>
<LINE>That rends the thorns and is rent with the thorns,</LINE>
<LINE>Seeking a way and straying from the way;</LINE>
<LINE>Not knowing how to find the open air,</LINE>
<LINE>But toiling desperately to find it out,--</LINE>
<LINE>Torment myself to catch the English crown:</LINE>
<LINE>And from that torment I will free myself,</LINE>
<LINE>Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.</LINE>
<LINE>Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,</LINE>
<LINE>And cry 'Content' to that which grieves my heart,</LINE>
<LINE>And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,</LINE>
<LINE>And frame my face to all occasions.</LINE>
<LINE>I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,</LINE>
<LINE>Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,</LINE>
<LINE>And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.</LINE>
<LINE>I can add colours to the chameleon,</LINE>
<LINE>Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,</LINE>
<LINE>And set the murderous Machiavel to school.</LINE>
<LINE>Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?</LINE>
<LINE>Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  France. KING LEWIS XI's palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING LEWIS XI, his sister BONA,
his Admiral, called BOURBON, PRINCE EDWARD, QUEEN
MARGARET, and OXFORD. KING LEWIS XI sits, and
riseth up again</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fair Queen of England, worthy Margaret,</LINE>
<LINE>Sit down with us: it ill befits thy state</LINE>
<LINE>And birth, that thou shouldst stand while Lewis doth sit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, mighty King of France: now Margaret</LINE>
<LINE>Must strike her sail and learn awhile to serve</LINE>
<LINE>Where kings command. I was, I must confess,</LINE>
<LINE>Great Albion's queen in former golden days:</LINE>
<LINE>But now mischance hath trod my title down,</LINE>
<LINE>And with dishonour laid me on the ground;</LINE>
<LINE>Where I must take like seat unto my fortune,</LINE>
<LINE>And to my humble seat conform myself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep despair?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears</LINE>
<LINE>And stops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in cares.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whate'er it be, be thou still like thyself,</LINE>
<LINE>And sit thee by our side:</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Seats her by him</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Yield not thy neck</LINE>
<LINE>To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind</LINE>
<LINE>Still ride in triumph over all mischance.</LINE>
<LINE>Be plain, Queen Margaret, and tell thy grief;</LINE>
<LINE>It shall be eased, if France can yield relief.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts</LINE>
<LINE>And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.</LINE>
<LINE>Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,</LINE>
<LINE>That Henry, sole possessor of my love,</LINE>
<LINE>Is of a king become a banish'd man,</LINE>
<LINE>And forced to live in Scotland a forlorn;</LINE>
<LINE>While proud ambitious Edward Duke of York</LINE>
<LINE>Usurps the regal title and the seat</LINE>
<LINE>Of England's true-anointed lawful king.</LINE>
<LINE>This is the cause that I, poor Margaret,</LINE>
<LINE>With this my son, Prince Edward, Henry's heir,</LINE>
<LINE>Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid;</LINE>
<LINE>And if thou fail us, all our hope is done:</LINE>
<LINE>Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help;</LINE>
<LINE>Our people and our peers are both misled,</LINE>
<LINE>Our treasures seized, our soldiers put to flight,</LINE>
<LINE>And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm,</LINE>
<LINE>While we bethink a means to break it off.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The more I stay, the more I'll succor thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, but impatience waiteth on true sorrow.</LINE>
<LINE>And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter WARWICK</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's he approacheth boldly to our presence?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Our Earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to France?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>He descends. She ariseth</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, now begins a second storm to rise;</LINE>
<LINE>For this is he that moves both wind and tide.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From worthy Edward, King of Albion,</LINE>
<LINE>My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,</LINE>
<LINE>I come, in kindness and unfeigned love,</LINE>
<LINE>First, to do greetings to thy royal person;</LINE>
<LINE>And then to crave a league of amity;</LINE>
<LINE>And lastly, to confirm that amity</LINE>
<LINE>With a nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant</LINE>
<LINE>That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair sister,</LINE>
<LINE>To England's king in lawful marriage.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>To BONA</STAGEDIR>  And, gracious madam, in our king's behalf,</LINE>
<LINE>I am commanded, with your leave and favour,</LINE>
<LINE>Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue</LINE>
<LINE>To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart;</LINE>
<LINE>Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,</LINE>
<LINE>Hath placed thy beauty's image and thy virtue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>King Lewis and Lady Bona, hear me speak,</LINE>
<LINE>Before you answer Warwick. His demand</LINE>
<LINE>Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love,</LINE>
<LINE>But from deceit bred by necessity;</LINE>
<LINE>For how can tyrants safely govern home,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?</LINE>
<LINE>To prove him tyrant this reason may suffice,</LINE>
<LINE>That Henry liveth still: but were he dead,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henry's son.</LINE>
<LINE>Look, therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage</LINE>
<LINE>Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour;</LINE>
<LINE>For though usurpers sway the rule awhile,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Injurious Margaret!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And why not queen?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Because thy father Henry did usurp;</LINE>
<LINE>And thou no more are prince than she is queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,</LINE>
<LINE>Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;</LINE>
<LINE>And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest;</LINE>
<LINE>And, after that wise prince, Henry the Fifth,</LINE>
<LINE>Who by his prowess conquered all France:</LINE>
<LINE>From these our Henry lineally descends.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth discourse,</LINE>
<LINE>You told not how Henry the Sixth hath lost</LINE>
<LINE>All that which Henry Fifth had gotten?</LINE>
<LINE>Methinks these peers of France should smile at that.</LINE>
<LINE>But for the rest, you tell a pedigree</LINE>
<LINE>Of threescore and two years; a silly time</LINE>
<LINE>To make prescription for a kingdom's worth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,</LINE>
<LINE>Whom thou obeyed'st thirty and six years,</LINE>
<LINE>And not bewray thy treason with a blush?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,</LINE>
<LINE>Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?</LINE>
<LINE>For shame! leave Henry, and call Edward king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Call him my king by whose injurious doom</LINE>
<LINE>My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere,</LINE>
<LINE>Was done to death? and more than so, my father,</LINE>
<LINE>Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years,</LINE>
<LINE>When nature brought him to the door of death?</LINE>
<LINE>No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm,</LINE>
<LINE>This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I the house of York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,</LINE>
<LINE>Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside,</LINE>
<LINE>While I use further conference with Warwick.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>They stand aloof</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Heavens grant that Warwick's words bewitch him not!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience,</LINE>
<LINE>Is Edward your true king? for I were loath</LINE>
<LINE>To link with him that were not lawful chosen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But is he gracious in the people's eye?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The more that Henry was unfortunate.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then further, all dissembling set aside,</LINE>
<LINE>Tell me for truth the measure of his love</LINE>
<LINE>Unto our sister Bona.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Such it seems</LINE>
<LINE>As may beseem a monarch like himself.</LINE>
<LINE>Myself have often heard him say and swear</LINE>
<LINE>That this his love was an eternal plant,</LINE>
<LINE>Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,</LINE>
<LINE>The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun,</LINE>
<LINE>Exempt from envy, but not from disdain,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BONA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine:</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To WARWICK</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Yet I confess that often ere this day,</LINE>
<LINE>When I have heard your king's desert recounted,</LINE>
<LINE>Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, Warwick, thus: our sister shall be Edward's;</LINE>
<LINE>And now forthwith shall articles be drawn</LINE>
<LINE>Touching the jointure that your king must make,</LINE>
<LINE>Which with her dowry shall be counterpoised.</LINE>
<LINE>Draw near, Queen Margaret, and be a witness</LINE>
<LINE>That Bona shall be wife to the English king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To Edward, but not to the English king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Deceitful Warwick! it was thy device</LINE>
<LINE>By this alliance to make void my suit:</LINE>
<LINE>Before thy coming Lewis was Henry's friend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And still is friend to him and Margaret:</LINE>
<LINE>But if your title to the crown be weak,</LINE>
<LINE>As may appear by Edward's good success,</LINE>
<LINE>Then 'tis but reason that I be released</LINE>
<LINE>From giving aid which late I promised.</LINE>
<LINE>Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand</LINE>
<LINE>That your estate requires and mine can yield.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Henry now lives in Scotland at his ease,</LINE>
<LINE>Where having nothing, nothing can he lose.</LINE>
<LINE>And as for you yourself, our quondam queen,</LINE>
<LINE>You have a father able to maintain you;</LINE>
<LINE>And better 'twere you troubled him than France.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, peace,</LINE>
<LINE>Proud setter up and puller down of kings!</LINE>
<LINE>I will not hence, till, with my talk and tears,</LINE>
<LINE>Both full of truth, I make King Lewis behold</LINE>
<LINE>Thy sly conveyance and thy lord's false love;</LINE>
<LINE>For both of you are birds of selfsame feather.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Post blows a horn within</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Warwick, this is some post to us or thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Post</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>To WARWICK</STAGEDIR>  My lord ambassador, these letters are for you,</LINE>
<LINE>Sent from your brother, Marquess Montague:</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To KING LEWIS XI</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>These from our king unto your majesty:</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To QUEEN MARGARET</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>And, madam, these for you; from whom I know not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>They all read their letters</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I like it well that our fair queen and mistress</LINE>
<LINE>Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, mark how Lewis stamps, as he were nettled:</LINE>
<LINE>I hope all's for the best.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Warwick, what are thy news? and yours, fair queen?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mine, such as fill my heart with unhoped joys.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mine, full of sorrow and heart's discontent.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What! has your king married the Lady Grey!</LINE>
<LINE>And now, to soothe your forgery and his,</LINE>
<LINE>Sends me a paper to persuade me patience?</LINE>
<LINE>Is this the alliance that he seeks with France?</LINE>
<LINE>Dare he presume to scorn us in this manner?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I told your majesty as much before:</LINE>
<LINE>This proveth Edward's love and Warwick's honesty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>King Lewis, I here protest, in sight of heaven,</LINE>
<LINE>And by the hope I have of heavenly bliss,</LINE>
<LINE>That I am clear from this misdeed of Edward's,</LINE>
<LINE>No more my king, for he dishonours me,</LINE>
<LINE>But most himself, if he could see his shame.</LINE>
<LINE>Did I forget that by the house of York</LINE>
<LINE>My father came untimely to his death?</LINE>
<LINE>Did I let pass the abuse done to my niece?</LINE>
<LINE>Did I impale him with the regal crown?</LINE>
<LINE>Did I put Henry from his native right?</LINE>
<LINE>And am I guerdon'd at the last with shame?</LINE>
<LINE>Shame on himself! for my desert is honour:</LINE>
<LINE>And to repair my honour lost for him,</LINE>
<LINE>I here renounce him and return to Henry.</LINE>
<LINE>My noble queen, let former grudges pass,</LINE>
<LINE>And henceforth I am thy true servitor:</LINE>
<LINE>I will revenge his wrong to Lady Bona,</LINE>
<LINE>And replant Henry in his former state.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Warwick, these words have turn'd my hate to love;</LINE>
<LINE>And I forgive and quite forget old faults,</LINE>
<LINE>And joy that thou becomest King Henry's friend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So much his friend, ay, his unfeigned friend,</LINE>
<LINE>That, if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us</LINE>
<LINE>With some few bands of chosen soldiers,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll undertake to land them on our coast</LINE>
<LINE>And force the tyrant from his seat by war.</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis not his new-made bride shall succor him:</LINE>
<LINE>And as for Clarence, as my letters tell me,</LINE>
<LINE>He's very likely now to fall from him,</LINE>
<LINE>For matching more for wanton lust than honour,</LINE>
<LINE>Or than for strength and safety of our country.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BONA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dear brother, how shall Bona be revenged</LINE>
<LINE>But by thy help to this distressed queen?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Renowned prince, how shall poor Henry live,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless thou rescue him from foul despair?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BONA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My quarrel and this English queen's are one.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And mine, fair lady Bona, joins with yours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And mine with hers, and thine, and Margaret's.</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore at last I firmly am resolved</LINE>
<LINE>You shall have aid.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me give humble thanks for all at once.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, England's messenger, return in post,</LINE>
<LINE>And tell false Edward, thy supposed king,</LINE>
<LINE>That Lewis of France is sending over masquers</LINE>
<LINE>To revel it with him and his new bride:</LINE>
<LINE>Thou seest what's past, go fear thy king withal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BONA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll wear the willow garland for his sake.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tell him, my mourning weeds are laid aside,</LINE>
<LINE>And I am ready to put armour on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tell him from me that he hath done me wrong,</LINE>
<LINE>And therefore I'll uncrown him ere't be long.</LINE>
<LINE>There's thy reward: be gone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit Post</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But, Warwick,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou and Oxford, with five thousand men,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall cross the seas, and bid false Edward battle;</LINE>
<LINE>And, as occasion serves, this noble queen</LINE>
<LINE>And prince shall follow with a fresh supply.</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, ere thou go, but answer me one doubt,</LINE>
<LINE>What pledge have we of thy firm loyalty?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This shall assure my constant loyalty,</LINE>
<LINE>That if our queen and this young prince agree,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll join mine eldest daughter and my joy</LINE>
<LINE>To him forthwith in holy wedlock bands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion.</LINE>
<LINE>Son Edward, she is fair and virtuous,</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore delay not, give thy hand to Warwick;</LINE>
<LINE>And, with thy hand, thy faith irrevocable,</LINE>
<LINE>That only Warwick's daughter shall be thine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, I accept her, for she well deserves it;</LINE>
<LINE>And here, to pledge my vow, I give my hand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>He gives his hand to WARWICK</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING LEWIS XI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why stay we now? These soldiers shall be levied,</LINE>
<LINE>And thou, Lord Bourbon, our high admiral,</LINE>
<LINE>Shalt waft them over with our royal fleet.</LINE>
<LINE>I long till Edward fall by war's mischance,</LINE>
<LINE>For mocking marriage with a dame of France.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all but WARWICK</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I came from Edward as ambassador,</LINE>
<LINE>But I return his sworn and mortal foe:</LINE>
<LINE>Matter of marriage was the charge he gave me,</LINE>
<LINE>But dreadful war shall answer his demand.</LINE>
<LINE>Had he none else to make a stale but me?</LINE>
<LINE>Then none but I shall turn his jest to sorrow.</LINE>
<LINE>I was the chief that raised him to the crown,</LINE>
<LINE>And I'll be chief to bring him down again:</LINE>
<LINE>Not that I pity Henry's misery,</LINE>
<LINE>But seek revenge on Edward's mockery.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT IV</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  London. The palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, SOMERSET, and MONTAGUE</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now tell me, brother Clarence, what think you</LINE>
<LINE>Of this new marriage with the Lady Grey?</LINE>
<LINE>Hath not our brother made a worthy choice?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, you know, 'tis far from hence to France;</LINE>
<LINE>How could he stay till Warwick made return?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lords, forbear this talk; here comes the king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And his well-chosen bride.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I mind to tell him plainly what I think.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV, attended; QUEEN
ELIZABETH, PEMBROKE, STAFFORD, HASTINGS, and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, brother of Clarence, how like you our choice,</LINE>
<LINE>That you stand pensive, as half malcontent?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As well as Lewis of France, or the Earl of Warwick,</LINE>
<LINE>Which are so weak of courage and in judgment</LINE>
<LINE>That they'll take no offence at our abuse.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Suppose they take offence without a cause,</LINE>
<LINE>They are but Lewis and Warwick: I am Edward,</LINE>
<LINE>Your king and Warwick's, and must have my will.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And shall have your will, because our king:</LINE>
<LINE>Yet hasty marriage seldom proveth well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, brother Richard, are you offended too?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not I:</LINE>
<LINE>No, God forbid that I should wish them sever'd</LINE>
<LINE>Whom God hath join'd together; ay, and 'twere pity</LINE>
<LINE>To sunder them that yoke so well together.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Setting your scorns and your mislike aside,</LINE>
<LINE>Tell me some reason why the Lady Grey</LINE>
<LINE>Should not become my wife and England's queen.</LINE>
<LINE>And you too, Somerset and Montague,</LINE>
<LINE>Speak freely what you think.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then this is mine opinion: that King Lewis</LINE>
<LINE>Becomes your enemy, for mocking him</LINE>
<LINE>About the marriage of the Lady Bona.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And Warwick, doing what you gave in charge,</LINE>
<LINE>Is now dishonoured by this new marriage.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What if both Lewis and Warwick be appeased</LINE>
<LINE>By such invention as I can devise?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yet, to have join'd with France in such alliance</LINE>
<LINE>Would more have strengthen'd this our commonwealth</LINE>
<LINE>'Gainst foreign storms than any home-bred marriage.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, knows not Montague that of itself</LINE>
<LINE>England is safe, if true within itself?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But the safer when 'tis back'd with France.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis better using France than trusting France:</LINE>
<LINE>Let us be back'd with God and with the seas</LINE>
<LINE>Which He hath given for fence impregnable,</LINE>
<LINE>And with their helps only defend ourselves;</LINE>
<LINE>In them and in ourselves our safety lies.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For this one speech Lord Hastings well deserves</LINE>
<LINE>To have the heir of the Lord Hungerford.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, what of that? it was my will and grant;</LINE>
<LINE>And for this once my will shall stand for law.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And yet methinks your grace hath not done well,</LINE>
<LINE>To give the heir and daughter of Lord Scales</LINE>
<LINE>Unto the brother of your loving bride;</LINE>
<LINE>She better would have fitted me or Clarence:</LINE>
<LINE>But in your bride you bury brotherhood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Or else you would not have bestow'd the heir</LINE>
<LINE>Of the Lord Bonville on your new wife's son,</LINE>
<LINE>And leave your brothers to go speed elsewhere.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, poor Clarence! is it for a wife</LINE>
<LINE>That thou art malcontent? I will provide thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In choosing for yourself, you show'd your judgment,</LINE>
<LINE>Which being shallow, you give me leave</LINE>
<LINE>To play the broker in mine own behalf;</LINE>
<LINE>And to that end I shortly mind to leave you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Leave me, or tarry, Edward will be king,</LINE>
<LINE>And not be tied unto his brother's will.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN ELIZABETH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lords, before it pleased his majesty</LINE>
<LINE>To raise my state to title of a queen,</LINE>
<LINE>Do me but right, and you must all confess</LINE>
<LINE>That I was not ignoble of descent;</LINE>
<LINE>And meaner than myself have had like fortune.</LINE>
<LINE>But as this title honours me and mine,</LINE>
<LINE>So your dislike, to whom I would be pleasing,</LINE>
<LINE>Doth cloud my joys with danger and with sorrow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My love, forbear to fawn upon their frowns:</LINE>
<LINE>What danger or what sorrow can befall thee,</LINE>
<LINE>So long as Edward is thy constant friend,</LINE>
<LINE>And their true sovereign, whom they must obey?</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, whom they shall obey, and love thee too,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless they seek for hatred at my hands;</LINE>
<LINE>Which if they do, yet will I keep thee safe,</LINE>
<LINE>And they shall feel the vengeance of my wrath.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  I hear, yet say not much, but think the more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Post</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, messenger, what letters or what news</LINE>
<LINE>From France?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My sovereign liege, no letters; and few words,</LINE>
<LINE>But such as I, without your special pardon,</LINE>
<LINE>Dare not relate.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to, we pardon thee: therefore, in brief,</LINE>
<LINE>Tell me their words as near as thou canst guess them.</LINE>
<LINE>What answer makes King Lewis unto our letters?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At my depart, these were his very words:</LINE>
<LINE>'Go tell false Edward, thy supposed king,</LINE>
<LINE>That Lewis of France is sending over masquers</LINE>
<LINE>To revel it with him and his new bride.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is Lewis so brave? belike he thinks me Henry.</LINE>
<LINE>But what said Lady Bona to my marriage?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE>These were her words, utter'd with mad disdain:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll wear the willow garland for his sake.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I blame not her, she could say little less;</LINE>
<LINE>She had the wrong. But what said Henry's queen?</LINE>
<LINE>For I have heard that she was there in place.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tell him,' quoth she, 'my mourning weeds are done,</LINE>
<LINE>And I am ready to put armour on.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Belike she minds to play the Amazon.</LINE>
<LINE>But what said Warwick to these injuries?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He, more incensed against your majesty</LINE>
<LINE>Than all the rest, discharged me with these words:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tell him from me that he hath done me wrong,</LINE>
<LINE>And therefore I'll uncrown him ere't be long.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha! durst the traitor breathe out so proud words?</LINE>
<LINE>Well I will arm me, being thus forewarn'd:</LINE>
<LINE>They shall have wars and pay for their presumption.</LINE>
<LINE>But say, is Warwick friends with Margaret?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, gracious sovereign; they are so link'd in</LINE>
<LINE>friendship</LINE>
<LINE>That young Prince Edward marries Warwick's daughter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Belike the elder; Clarence will have the younger.</LINE>
<LINE>Now, brother king, farewell, and sit you fast,</LINE>
<LINE>For I will hence to Warwick's other daughter;</LINE>
<LINE>That, though I want a kingdom, yet in marriage</LINE>
<LINE>I may not prove inferior to yourself.</LINE>
<LINE>You that love me and Warwick, follow me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit CLARENCE, and SOMERSET follows</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  Not I:</LINE>
<LINE>My thoughts aim at a further matter; I</LINE>
<LINE>Stay not for the love of Edward, but the crown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Clarence and Somerset both gone to Warwick!</LINE>
<LINE>Yet am I arm'd against the worst can happen;</LINE>
<LINE>And haste is needful in this desperate case.</LINE>
<LINE>Pembroke and Stafford, you in our behalf</LINE>
<LINE>Go levy men, and make prepare for war;</LINE>
<LINE>They are already, or quickly will be landed:</LINE>
<LINE>Myself in person will straight follow you.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt PEMBROKE and STAFFORD</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>But, ere I go, Hastings and Montague,</LINE>
<LINE>Resolve my doubt. You twain, of all the rest,</LINE>
<LINE>Are near to Warwick by blood and by alliance:</LINE>
<LINE>Tell me if you love Warwick more than me?</LINE>
<LINE>If it be so, then both depart to him;</LINE>
<LINE>I rather wish you foes than hollow friends:</LINE>
<LINE>But if you mind to hold your true obedience,</LINE>
<LINE>Give me assurance with some friendly vow,</LINE>
<LINE>That I may never have you in suspect.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So God help Montague as he proves true!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And Hastings as he favours Edward's cause!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, brother Richard, will you stand by us?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, in despite of all that shall withstand you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, so! then am I sure of victory.</LINE>
<LINE>Now therefore let us hence; and lose no hour,</LINE>
<LINE>Till we meet Warwick with his foreign power.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  A plain in Warwickshire.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter WARWICK and OXFORD, with French soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Trust me, my lord, all hitherto goes well;</LINE>
<LINE>The common people by numbers swarm to us.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter CLARENCE and SOMERSET</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>But see where Somerset and Clarence come!</LINE>
<LINE>Speak suddenly, my lords, are we all friends?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fear not that, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, gentle Clarence, welcome unto Warwick;</LINE>
<LINE>And welcome, Somerset: I hold it cowardice</LINE>
<LINE>To rest mistrustful where a noble heart</LINE>
<LINE>Hath pawn'd an open hand in sign of love;</LINE>
<LINE>Else might I think that Clarence, Edward's brother,</LINE>
<LINE>Were but a feigned friend to our proceedings:</LINE>
<LINE>But welcome, sweet Clarence; my daughter shall be thine.</LINE>
<LINE>And now what rests but, in night's coverture,</LINE>
<LINE>Thy brother being carelessly encamp'd,</LINE>
<LINE>His soldiers lurking in the towns about,</LINE>
<LINE>And but attended by a simple guard,</LINE>
<LINE>We may surprise and take him at our pleasure?</LINE>
<LINE>Our scouts have found the adventure very easy:</LINE>
<LINE>That as Ulysses and stout Diomede</LINE>
<LINE>With sleight and manhood stole to Rhesus' tents,</LINE>
<LINE>And brought from thence the Thracian fatal steeds,</LINE>
<LINE>So we, well cover'd with the night's black mantle,</LINE>
<LINE>At unawares may beat down Edward's guard</LINE>
<LINE>And seize himself; I say not, slaughter him,</LINE>
<LINE>For I intend but only to surprise him.</LINE>
<LINE>You that will follow me to this attempt,</LINE>
<LINE>Applaud the name of Henry with your leader.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>They all cry, 'Henry!'</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Why, then, let's on our way in silent sort:</LINE>
<LINE>For Warwick and his friends, God and Saint George!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  Edward's camp, near Warwick.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter three Watchmen, to guard KING EDWARD IV's tent</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come on, my masters, each man take his stand:</LINE>
<LINE>The king by this is set him down to sleep.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, will he not to bed?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, no; for he hath made a solemn vow</LINE>
<LINE>Never to lie and take his natural rest</LINE>
<LINE>Till Warwick or himself be quite suppress'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To-morrow then belike shall be the day,</LINE>
<LINE>If Warwick be so near as men report.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But say, I pray, what nobleman is that</LINE>
<LINE>That with the king here resteth in his tent?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis the Lord Hastings, the king's chiefest friend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, is it so? But why commands the king</LINE>
<LINE>That his chief followers lodge in towns about him,</LINE>
<LINE>While he himself keeps in the cold field?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis the more honour, because more dangerous.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but give me worship and quietness;</LINE>
<LINE>I like it better than a dangerous honour.</LINE>
<LINE>If Warwick knew in what estate he stands,</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis to be doubted he would waken him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Unless our halberds did shut up his passage.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, wherefore else guard we his royal tent,</LINE>
<LINE>But to defend his person from night-foes?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter WARWICK, CLARENCE, OXFORD, SOMERSET, and
French soldiers, silent all</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is his tent; and see where stand his guard.</LINE>
<LINE>Courage, my masters! honour now or never!</LINE>
<LINE>But follow me, and Edward shall be ours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who goes there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Watchman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stay, or thou diest!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>WARWICK and the rest cry all, 'Warwick! Warwick!'
and set upon the Guard, who fly, crying, 'Arm!
arm!' WARWICK and the rest following them</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>The drum playing and trumpet sounding, reenter
WARWICK, SOMERSET, and the rest, bringing KING
EDWARD IV out in his gown, sitting in a chair.
RICHARD and HASTINGS fly over the stage</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What are they that fly there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Richard and Hastings: let them go; here is The duke.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The duke! Why, Warwick, when we parted,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou call'dst me king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but the case is alter'd:</LINE>
<LINE>When you disgraced me in my embassade,</LINE>
<LINE>Then I degraded you from being king,</LINE>
<LINE>And come now to create you Duke of York.</LINE>
<LINE>Alas! how should you govern any kingdom,</LINE>
<LINE>That know not how to use ambassadors,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor how to be contented with one wife,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor how to use your brothers brotherly,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor how to study for the people's welfare,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor how to shroud yourself from enemies?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, brother of Clarence, are thou here too?</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, then I see that Edward needs must down.</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, Warwick, in despite of all mischance,</LINE>
<LINE>Of thee thyself and all thy complices,</LINE>
<LINE>Edward will always bear himself as king:</LINE>
<LINE>Though fortune's malice overthrow my state,</LINE>
<LINE>My mind exceeds the compass of her wheel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, for his mind, be Edward England's king:</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Takes off his crown</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>But Henry now shall wear the English crown,</LINE>
<LINE>And be true king indeed, thou but the shadow.</LINE>
<LINE>My Lord of Somerset, at my request,</LINE>
<LINE>See that forthwith Duke Edward be convey'd</LINE>
<LINE>Unto my brother, Archbishop of York.</LINE>
<LINE>When I have fought with Pembroke and his fellows,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll follow you, and tell what answer</LINE>
<LINE>Lewis and the Lady Bona send to him.</LINE>
<LINE>Now, for a while farewell, good Duke of York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>They lead him out forcibly</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What fates impose, that men must needs abide;</LINE>
<LINE>It boots not to resist both wind and tide.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit, guarded</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What now remains, my lords, for us to do</LINE>
<LINE>But march to London with our soldiers?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, that's the first thing that we have to do;</LINE>
<LINE>To free King Henry from imprisonment</LINE>
<LINE>And see him seated in the regal throne.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  London. The palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH and RIVERS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RIVERS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Madam, what makes you in this sudden change?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN ELIZABETH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why brother Rivers, are you yet to learn</LINE>
<LINE>What late misfortune is befall'n King Edward?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RIVERS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What! loss of some pitch'd battle against Warwick?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN ELIZABETH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, but the loss of his own royal person.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RIVERS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then is my sovereign slain?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN ELIZABETH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, almost slain, for he is taken prisoner,</LINE>
<LINE>Either betray'd by falsehood of his guard</LINE>
<LINE>Or by his foe surprised at unawares:</LINE>
<LINE>And, as I further have to understand,</LINE>
<LINE>Is new committed to the Bishop of York,</LINE>
<LINE>Fell Warwick's brother and by that our foe.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RIVERS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>These news I must confess are full of grief;</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, gracious madam, bear it as you may:</LINE>
<LINE>Warwick may lose, that now hath won the day.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN ELIZABETH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Till then fair hope must hinder life's decay.</LINE>
<LINE>And I the rather wean me from despair</LINE>
<LINE>For love of Edward's offspring in my womb:</LINE>
<LINE>This is it that makes me bridle passion</LINE>
<LINE>And bear with mildness my misfortune's cross;</LINE>
<LINE>Ay, ay, for this I draw in many a tear</LINE>
<LINE>And stop the rising of blood-sucking sighs,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest with my sighs or tears I blast or drown</LINE>
<LINE>King Edward's fruit, true heir to the English crown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RIVERS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But, madam, where is Warwick then become?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN ELIZABETH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am inform'd that he comes towards London,</LINE>
<LINE>To set the crown once more on Henry's head:</LINE>
<LINE>Guess thou the rest; King Edward's friends must down,</LINE>
<LINE>But, to prevent the tyrant's violence,--</LINE>
<LINE>For trust not him that hath once broken faith,--</LINE>
<LINE>I'll hence forthwith unto the sanctuary,</LINE>
<LINE>To save at least the heir of Edward's right:</LINE>
<LINE>There shall I rest secure from force and fraud.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, therefore, let us fly while we may fly:</LINE>
<LINE>If Warwick take us we are sure to die.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE V.  A park near Middleham Castle In Yorkshire.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter GLOUCESTER, HASTINGS, and STANLEY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, my Lord Hastings and Sir William Stanley,</LINE>
<LINE>Leave off to wonder why I drew you hither,</LINE>
<LINE>Into this chiefest thicket of the park.</LINE>
<LINE>Thus stands the case: you know our king, my brother,</LINE>
<LINE>Is prisoner to the bishop here, at whose hands</LINE>
<LINE>He hath good usage and great liberty,</LINE>
<LINE>And, often but attended with weak guard,</LINE>
<LINE>Comes hunting this way to disport himself.</LINE>
<LINE>I have advertised him by secret means</LINE>
<LINE>That if about this hour he make his way</LINE>
<LINE>Under the colour of his usual game,</LINE>
<LINE>He shall here find his friends with horse and men</LINE>
<LINE>To set him free from his captivity.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter KING EDWARD IV and a Huntsman with him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Huntsman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This way, my lord; for this way lies the game.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, this way, man: see where the huntsmen stand.</LINE>
<LINE>Now, brother of Gloucester, Lord Hastings, and the rest,</LINE>
<LINE>Stand you thus close, to steal the bishop's deer?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brother, the time and case requireth haste:</LINE>
<LINE>Your horse stands ready at the park-corner.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But whither shall we then?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To Lynn, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>And ship from thence to Flanders.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well guess'd, believe me; for that was my meaning.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stanley, I will requite thy forwardness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But wherefore stay we? 'tis no time to talk.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Huntsman, what say'st thou? wilt thou go along?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Huntsman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Better do so than tarry and be hang'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come then, away; let's ha' no more ado.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Bishop, farewell: shield thee from Warwick's frown;</LINE>
<LINE>And pray that I may repossess the crown.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VI.  London. The Tower.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING HENRY VI, CLARENCE, WARWICK,
SOMERSET, HENRY OF RICHMOND, OXFORD, MONTAGUE, and
Lieutenant of the Tower</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Master lieutenant, now that God and friends</LINE>
<LINE>Have shaken Edward from the regal seat,</LINE>
<LINE>And turn'd my captive state to liberty,</LINE>
<LINE>My fear to hope, my sorrows unto joys,</LINE>
<LINE>At our enlargement what are thy due fees?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lieutenant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Subjects may challenge nothing of their sovereigns;</LINE>
<LINE>But if an humble prayer may prevail,</LINE>
<LINE>I then crave pardon of your majesty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For what, lieutenant? for well using me?</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, be thou sure I'll well requite thy kindness,</LINE>
<LINE>For that it made my imprisonment a pleasure;</LINE>
<LINE>Ay, such a pleasure as incaged birds</LINE>
<LINE>Conceive when after many moody thoughts</LINE>
<LINE>At last by notes of household harmony</LINE>
<LINE>They quite forget their loss of liberty.</LINE>
<LINE>But, Warwick, after God, thou set'st me free,</LINE>
<LINE>And chiefly therefore I thank God and thee;</LINE>
<LINE>He was the author, thou the instrument.</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore, that I may conquer fortune's spite</LINE>
<LINE>By living low, where fortune cannot hurt me,</LINE>
<LINE>And that the people of this blessed land</LINE>
<LINE>May not be punish'd with my thwarting stars,</LINE>
<LINE>Warwick, although my head still wear the crown,</LINE>
<LINE>I here resign my government to thee,</LINE>
<LINE>For thou art fortunate in all thy deeds.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your grace hath still been famed for virtuous;</LINE>
<LINE>And now may seem as wise as virtuous,</LINE>
<LINE>By spying and avoiding fortune's malice,</LINE>
<LINE>For few men rightly temper with the stars:</LINE>
<LINE>Yet in this one thing let me blame your grace,</LINE>
<LINE>For choosing me when Clarence is in place.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, Warwick, thou art worthy of the sway,</LINE>
<LINE>To whom the heavens in thy nativity</LINE>
<LINE>Adjudged an olive branch and laurel crown,</LINE>
<LINE>As likely to be blest in peace and war;</LINE>
<LINE>And therefore I yield thee my free consent.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I choose Clarence only for protector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Warwick and Clarence give me both your hands:</LINE>
<LINE>Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts,</LINE>
<LINE>That no dissension hinder government:</LINE>
<LINE>I make you both protectors of this land,</LINE>
<LINE>While I myself will lead a private life</LINE>
<LINE>And in devotion spend my latter days,</LINE>
<LINE>To sin's rebuke and my Creator's praise.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What answers Clarence to his sovereign's will?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That he consents, if Warwick yield consent;</LINE>
<LINE>For on thy fortune I repose myself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then, though loath, yet must I be content:</LINE>
<LINE>We'll yoke together, like a double shadow</LINE>
<LINE>To Henry's body, and supply his place;</LINE>
<LINE>I mean, in bearing weight of government,</LINE>
<LINE>While he enjoys the honour and his ease.</LINE>
<LINE>And, Clarence, now then it is more than needful</LINE>
<LINE>Forthwith that Edward be pronounced a traitor,</LINE>
<LINE>And all his lands and goods be confiscate.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What else? and that succession be determined.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, therein Clarence shall not want his part.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But, with the first of all your chief affairs,</LINE>
<LINE>Let me entreat, for I command no more,</LINE>
<LINE>That Margaret your queen and my son Edward</LINE>
<LINE>Be sent for, to return from France with speed;</LINE>
<LINE>For, till I see them here, by doubtful fear</LINE>
<LINE>My joy of liberty is half eclipsed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It shall be done, my sovereign, with all speed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My Lord of Somerset, what youth is that,</LINE>
<LINE>Of whom you seem to have so tender care?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My liege, it is young Henry, earl of Richmond.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come hither, England's hope.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Lays his hand on his head</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>If secret powers</LINE>
<LINE>Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts,</LINE>
<LINE>This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss.</LINE>
<LINE>His looks are full of peaceful majesty,</LINE>
<LINE>His head by nature framed to wear a crown,</LINE>
<LINE>His hand to wield a sceptre, and himself</LINE>
<LINE>Likely in time to bless a regal throne.</LINE>
<LINE>Make much of him, my lords, for this is he</LINE>
<LINE>Must help you more than you are hurt by me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Post</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What news, my friend?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That Edward is escaped from your brother,</LINE>
<LINE>And fled, as he hears since, to Burgundy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Unsavoury news! but how made he escape?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Post</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He was convey'd by Richard Duke of Gloucester</LINE>
<LINE>And the Lord Hastings, who attended him</LINE>
<LINE>In secret ambush on the forest side</LINE>
<LINE>And from the bishop's huntsmen rescued him;</LINE>
<LINE>For hunting was his daily exercise.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My brother was too careless of his charge.</LINE>
<LINE>But let us hence, my sovereign, to provide</LINE>
<LINE>A salve for any sore that may betide.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all but SOMERSET, HENRY OF RICHMOND, and OXFORD</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I like not of this flight of Edward's;</LINE>
<LINE>For doubtless Burgundy will yield him help,</LINE>
<LINE>And we shall have more wars before 't be long.</LINE>
<LINE>As Henry's late presaging prophecy</LINE>
<LINE>Did glad my heart with hope of this young Richmond,</LINE>
<LINE>So doth my heart misgive me, in these conflicts</LINE>
<LINE>What may befall him, to his harm and ours:</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore, Lord Oxford, to prevent the worst,</LINE>
<LINE>Forthwith we'll send him hence to Brittany,</LINE>
<LINE>Till storms be past of civil enmity.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, for if Edward repossess the crown,</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis like that Richmond with the rest shall down.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It shall be so; he shall to Brittany.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, therefore, let's about it speedily.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VII.  Before York.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER,
HASTINGS, and Soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, brother Richard, Lord Hastings, and the rest,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet thus far fortune maketh us amends,</LINE>
<LINE>And says that once more I shall interchange</LINE>
<LINE>My waned state for Henry's regal crown.</LINE>
<LINE>Well have we pass'd and now repass'd the seas</LINE>
<LINE>And brought desired help from Burgundy:</LINE>
<LINE>What then remains, we being thus arrived</LINE>
<LINE>From Ravenspurgh haven before the gates of York,</LINE>
<LINE>But that we enter, as into our dukedom?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The gates made fast! Brother, I like not this;</LINE>
<LINE>For many men that stumble at the threshold</LINE>
<LINE>Are well foretold that danger lurks within.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tush, man, abodements must not now affright us:</LINE>
<LINE>By fair or foul means we must enter in,</LINE>
<LINE>For hither will our friends repair to us.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My liege, I'll knock once more to summon them.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter, on the walls, the Mayor of York, and his Brethren</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Mayor</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lords, we were forewarned of your coming,</LINE>
<LINE>And shut the gates for safety of ourselves;</LINE>
<LINE>For now we owe allegiance unto Henry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But, master mayor, if Henry be your king,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet Edward at the least is Duke of York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Mayor</SPEAKER>
<LINE>True, my good lord; I know you for no less.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, and I challenge nothing but my dukedom,</LINE>
<LINE>As being well content with that alone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  But when the fox hath once got in his nose,</LINE>
<LINE>He'll soon find means to make the body follow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, master mayor, why stand you in a doubt?</LINE>
<LINE>Open the gates; we are King Henry's friends.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Mayor</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, say you so? the gates shall then be open'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>They descend</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A wise stout captain, and soon persuaded!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The good old man would fain that all were well,</LINE>
<LINE>So 'twere not 'long of him; but being enter'd,</LINE>
<LINE>I doubt not, I, but we shall soon persuade</LINE>
<LINE>Both him and all his brothers unto reason.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter the Mayor and two Aldermen, below</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So, master mayor: these gates must not be shut</LINE>
<LINE>But in the night or in the time of war.</LINE>
<LINE>What! fear not, man, but yield me up the keys;</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Takes his keys</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>For Edward will defend the town and thee,</LINE>
<LINE>And all those friends that deign to follow me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>March. Enter MONTGOMERY, with drum and soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brother, this is Sir John Montgomery,</LINE>
<LINE>Our trusty friend, unless I be deceived.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Welcome, Sir John! But why come you in arms?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To help King Edward in his time of storm,</LINE>
<LINE>As every loyal subject ought to do.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thanks, good Montgomery; but we now forget</LINE>
<LINE>Our title to the crown and only claim</LINE>
<LINE>Our dukedom till God please to send the rest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then fare you well, for I will hence again:</LINE>
<LINE>I came to serve a king and not a duke.</LINE>
<LINE>Drummer, strike up, and let us march away.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>The drum begins to march</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, stay, Sir John, awhile, and we'll debate</LINE>
<LINE>By what safe means the crown may be recover'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What talk you of debating? in few words,</LINE>
<LINE>If you'll not here proclaim yourself our king,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll leave you to your fortune and be gone</LINE>
<LINE>To keep them back that come to succor you:</LINE>
<LINE>Why shall we fight, if you pretend no title?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, brother, wherefore stand you on nice points?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>When we grow stronger, then we'll make our claim:</LINE>
<LINE>Till then, 'tis wisdom to conceal our meaning.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away with scrupulous wit! now arms must rule.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And fearless minds climb soonest unto crowns.</LINE>
<LINE>Brother, we will proclaim you out of hand:</LINE>
<LINE>The bruit thereof will bring you many friends.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then be it as you will; for 'tis my right,</LINE>
<LINE>And Henry but usurps the diadem.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, now my sovereign speaketh like himself;</LINE>
<LINE>And now will I be Edward's champion.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sound trumpet; Edward shall be here proclaim'd:</LINE>
<LINE>Come, fellow-soldier, make thou proclamation.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Flourish</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Soldier</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Edward the Fourth, by the grace of God, king of</LINE>
<LINE>England and France, and lord of Ireland, &amp;c.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And whosoe'er gainsays King Edward's right,</LINE>
<LINE>By this I challenge him to single fight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Throws down his gauntlet</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>All</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Long live Edward the Fourth!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thanks, brave Montgomery; and thanks unto you all:</LINE>
<LINE>If fortune serve me, I'll requite this kindness.</LINE>
<LINE>Now, for this night, let's harbour here in York;</LINE>
<LINE>And when the morning sun shall raise his car</LINE>
<LINE>Above the border of this horizon,</LINE>
<LINE>We'll forward towards Warwick and his mates;</LINE>
<LINE>For well I wot that Henry is no soldier.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, froward Clarence! how evil it beseems thee</LINE>
<LINE>To flatter Henry and forsake thy brother!</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, as we may, we'll meet both thee and Warwick.</LINE>
<LINE>Come on, brave soldiers: doubt not of the day,</LINE>
<LINE>And, that once gotten, doubt not of large pay.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VIII.  London. The palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING HENRY VI, WARWICK, MONTAGUE,
CLARENCE, EXETER, and OXFORD</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What counsel, lords? Edward from Belgia,</LINE>
<LINE>With hasty Germans and blunt Hollanders,</LINE>
<LINE>Hath pass'd in safety through the narrow seas,</LINE>
<LINE>And with his troops doth march amain to London;</LINE>
<LINE>And many giddy people flock to him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let's levy men, and beat him back again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A little fire is quickly trodden out;</LINE>
<LINE>Which, being suffer'd, rivers cannot quench.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In Warwickshire I have true-hearted friends,</LINE>
<LINE>Not mutinous in peace, yet bold in war;</LINE>
<LINE>Those will I muster up: and thou, son Clarence,</LINE>
<LINE>Shalt stir up in Suffolk, Norfolk, and in Kent,</LINE>
<LINE>The knights and gentlemen to come with thee:</LINE>
<LINE>Thou, brother Montague, in Buckingham,</LINE>
<LINE>Northampton and in Leicestershire, shalt find</LINE>
<LINE>Men well inclined to hear what thou command'st:</LINE>
<LINE>And thou, brave Oxford, wondrous well beloved,</LINE>
<LINE>In Oxfordshire shalt muster up thy friends.</LINE>
<LINE>My sovereign, with the loving citizens,</LINE>
<LINE>Like to his island girt in with the ocean,</LINE>
<LINE>Or modest Dian circled with her nymphs,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall rest in London till we come to him.</LINE>
<LINE>Fair lords, take leave and stand not to reply.</LINE>
<LINE>Farewell, my sovereign.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell, my Hector, and my Troy's true hope.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In sign of truth, I kiss your highness' hand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well-minded Clarence, be thou fortunate!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Comfort, my lord; and so I take my leave.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And thus I seal my truth, and bid adieu.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet Oxford, and my loving Montague,</LINE>
<LINE>And all at once, once more a happy farewell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell, sweet lords: let's meet at Coventry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all but KING HENRY VI and EXETER</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here at the palace I will rest awhile.</LINE>
<LINE>Cousin of Exeter, what thinks your lordship?</LINE>
<LINE>Methinks the power that Edward hath in field</LINE>
<LINE>Should not be able to encounter mine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The doubt is that he will seduce the rest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's not my fear; my meed hath got me fame:</LINE>
<LINE>I have not stopp'd mine ears to their demands,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor posted off their suits with slow delays;</LINE>
<LINE>My pity hath been balm to heal their wounds,</LINE>
<LINE>My mildness hath allay'd their swelling griefs,</LINE>
<LINE>My mercy dried their water-flowing tears;</LINE>
<LINE>I have not been desirous of their wealth,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor much oppress'd them with great subsidies.</LINE>
<LINE>Nor forward of revenge, though they much err'd:</LINE>
<LINE>Then why should they love Edward more than me?</LINE>
<LINE>No, Exeter, these graces challenge grace:</LINE>
<LINE>And when the lion fawns upon the lamb,</LINE>
<LINE>The lamb will never cease to follow him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Shout within. 'A Lancaster! A Lancaster!'</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EXETER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark, hark, my lord! what shouts are these?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER, and soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Seize on the shame-faced Henry, bear him hence;</LINE>
<LINE>And once again proclaim us King of England.</LINE>
<LINE>You are the fount that makes small brooks to flow:</LINE>
<LINE>Now stops thy spring; my sea sha$l suck them dry,</LINE>
<LINE>And swell so much the higher by their ebb.</LINE>
<LINE>Hence with him to the Tower; let him not speak.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt some with KING HENRY VI</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>And, lords, towards Coventry bend we our course</LINE>
<LINE>Where peremptory Warwick now remains:</LINE>
<LINE>The sun shines hot; and, if we use delay,</LINE>
<LINE>Cold biting winter mars our hoped-for hay.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away betimes, before his forces join,</LINE>
<LINE>And take the great-grown traitor unawares:</LINE>
<LINE>Brave warriors, march amain towards Coventry.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT V</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Coventry.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter WARWICK, the Mayor of Coventry, two Messengers,
and others upon the walls</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where is the post that came from valiant Oxford?</LINE>
<LINE>How far hence is thy lord, mine honest fellow?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By this at Dunsmore, marching hitherward.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How far off is our brother Montague?</LINE>
<LINE>Where is the post that came from Montague?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By this at Daintry, with a puissant troop.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter SIR JOHN SOMERVILLE</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say, Somerville, what says my loving son?</LINE>
<LINE>And, by thy guess, how nigh is Clarence now?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At Southam I did leave him with his forces,</LINE>
<LINE>And do expect him here some two hours hence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Drum heard</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then Clarence is at hand, I hear his drum.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is not his, my lord; here Southam lies:</LINE>
<LINE>The drum your honour hears marcheth from Warwick.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who should that be? belike, unlook'd-for friends.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They are at hand, and you shall quickly know.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>March: flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER,
and soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, trumpet, to the walls, and sound a parle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>See how the surly Warwick mans the wall!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O unbid spite! is sportful Edward come?</LINE>
<LINE>Where slept our scouts, or how are they seduced,</LINE>
<LINE>That we could hear no news of his repair?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, Warwick, wilt thou ope the city gates,</LINE>
<LINE>Speak gentle words and humbly bend thy knee,</LINE>
<LINE>Call Edward king and at his hands beg mercy?</LINE>
<LINE>And he shall pardon thee these outrages.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, rather, wilt thou draw thy forces hence,</LINE>
<LINE>Confess who set thee up and pluck'd thee own,</LINE>
<LINE>Call Warwick patron and be penitent?</LINE>
<LINE>And thou shalt still remain the Duke of York.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I thought, at least, he would have said the king;</LINE>
<LINE>Or did he make the jest against his will?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is not a dukedom, sir, a goodly gift?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, by my faith, for a poor earl to give:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll do thee service for so good a gift.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twas I that gave the kingdom to thy brother.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why then 'tis mine, if but by Warwick's gift.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight:</LINE>
<LINE>And weakling, Warwick takes his gift again;</LINE>
<LINE>And Henry is my king, Warwick his subject.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But Warwick's king is Edward's prisoner:</LINE>
<LINE>And, gallant Warwick, do but answer this:</LINE>
<LINE>What is the body when the head is off?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, that Warwick had no more forecast,</LINE>
<LINE>But, whiles he thought to steal the single ten,</LINE>
<LINE>The king was slily finger'd from the deck!</LINE>
<LINE>You left poor Henry at the Bishop's palace,</LINE>
<LINE>And, ten to one, you'll meet him in the Tower.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis even so; yet you are Warwick still.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, Warwick, take the time; kneel down, kneel down:</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, when? strike now, or else the iron cools.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I had rather chop this hand off at a blow,</LINE>
<LINE>And with the other fling it at thy face,</LINE>
<LINE>Than bear so low a sail, to strike to thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sail how thou canst, have wind and tide thy friend,</LINE>
<LINE>This hand, fast wound about thy coal-black hair</LINE>
<LINE>Shall, whiles thy head is warm and new cut off,</LINE>
<LINE>Write in the dust this sentence with thy blood,</LINE>
<LINE>'Wind-changing Warwick now can change no more.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter OXFORD, with drum and colours</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O cheerful colours! see where Oxford comes!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Oxford, Oxford, for Lancaster!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>He and his forces enter the city</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The gates are open, let us enter too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So other foes may set upon our backs.</LINE>
<LINE>Stand we in good array; for they no doubt</LINE>
<LINE>Will issue out again and bid us battle:</LINE>
<LINE>If not, the city being but of small defence,</LINE>
<LINE>We'll quickly rouse the traitors in the same.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, welcome, Oxford! for we want thy help.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter MONTAGUE with drum and colours</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MONTAGUE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Montague, Montague, for Lancaster!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>He and his forces enter the city</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou and thy brother both shall buy this treason</LINE>
<LINE>Even with the dearest blood your bodies bear.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The harder match'd, the greater victory:</LINE>
<LINE>My mind presageth happy gain and conquest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter SOMERSET, with drum and colours</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Somerset, Somerset, for Lancaster!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>He and his forces enter the city</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Two of thy name, both Dukes of Somerset,</LINE>
<LINE>Have sold their lives unto the house of York;</LINE>
<LINE>And thou shalt be the third if this sword hold.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter CLARENCE, with drum and colours</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And lo, where George of Clarence sweeps along,</LINE>
<LINE>Of force enough to bid his brother battle;</LINE>
<LINE>With whom an upright zeal to right prevails</LINE>
<LINE>More than the nature of a brother's love!</LINE>
<LINE>Come, Clarence, come; thou wilt, if Warwick call.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Father of Warwick, know you what this means?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Taking his red rose out of his hat</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Look here, I throw my infamy at thee</LINE>
<LINE>I will not ruinate my father's house,</LINE>
<LINE>Who gave his blood to lime the stones together,</LINE>
<LINE>And set up Lancaster. Why, trow'st thou, Warwick,</LINE>
<LINE>That Clarence is so harsh, so blunt, unnatural,</LINE>
<LINE>To bend the fatal instruments of war</LINE>
<LINE>Against his brother and his lawful king?</LINE>
<LINE>Perhaps thou wilt object my holy oath:</LINE>
<LINE>To keep that oath were more impiety</LINE>
<LINE>Than Jephthah's, when he sacrificed his daughter.</LINE>
<LINE>I am so sorry for my trespass made</LINE>
<LINE>That, to deserve well at my brother's hands,</LINE>
<LINE>I here proclaim myself thy mortal foe,</LINE>
<LINE>With resolution, wheresoe'er I meet thee--</LINE>
<LINE>As I will meet thee, if thou stir abroad--</LINE>
<LINE>To plague thee for thy foul misleading me.</LINE>
<LINE>And so, proud-hearted Warwick, I defy thee,</LINE>
<LINE>And to my brother turn my blushing cheeks.</LINE>
<LINE>Pardon me, Edward, I will make amends:</LINE>
<LINE>And, Richard, do not frown upon my faults,</LINE>
<LINE>For I will henceforth be no more unconstant.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now welcome more, and ten times more beloved,</LINE>
<LINE>Than if thou never hadst deserved our hate.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Welcome, good Clarence; this is brotherlike.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O passing traitor, perjured and unjust!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, Warwick, wilt thou leave the town and fight?</LINE>
<LINE>Or shall we beat the stones about thine ears?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, I am not coop'd here for defence!</LINE>
<LINE>I will away towards Barnet presently,</LINE>
<LINE>And bid thee battle, Edward, if thou darest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, Warwick, Edward dares, and leads the way.</LINE>
<LINE>Lords, to the field; Saint George and victory!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt King Edward and his company. March. Warwick
and his company follow</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  A field of battle near Barnet.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarum and excursions. Enter KING EDWARD IV, bringing
forth WARWICK wounded</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So, lie thou there: die thou, and die our fear;</LINE>
<LINE>For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all.</LINE>
<LINE>Now, Montague, sit fast; I seek for thee,</LINE>
<LINE>That Warwick's bones may keep thine company.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, who is nigh? come to me, friend or foe,</LINE>
<LINE>And tell me who is victor, York or Warwick?</LINE>
<LINE>Why ask I that? my mangled body shows,</LINE>
<LINE>My blood, my want of strength, my sick heart shows.</LINE>
<LINE>That I must yield my body to the earth</LINE>
<LINE>And, by my fall, the conquest to my foe.</LINE>
<LINE>Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle,</LINE>
<LINE>Under whose shade the ramping lion slept,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose top-branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading tree</LINE>
<LINE>And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful wind.</LINE>
<LINE>These eyes, that now are dimm'd with death's black veil,</LINE>
<LINE>Have been as piercing as the mid-day sun,</LINE>
<LINE>To search the secret treasons of the world:</LINE>
<LINE>The wrinkles in my brows, now filled with blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Were liken'd oft to kingly sepulchres;</LINE>
<LINE>For who lived king, but I could dig his grave?</LINE>
<LINE>And who durst mine when Warwick bent his brow?</LINE>
<LINE>Lo, now my glory smear'd in dust and blood!</LINE>
<LINE>My parks, my walks, my manors that I had.</LINE>
<LINE>Even now forsake me, and of all my lands</LINE>
<LINE>Is nothing left me but my body's length.</LINE>
<LINE>Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust?</LINE>
<LINE>And, live we how we can, yet die we must.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter OXFORD and SOMERSET</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, Warwick, Warwick! wert thou as we are.</LINE>
<LINE>We might recover all our loss again;</LINE>
<LINE>The queen from France hath brought a puissant power:</LINE>
<LINE>Even now we heard the news: ah, could'st thou fly!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then I would not fly. Ah, Montague,</LINE>
<LINE>If thou be there, sweet brother, take my hand.</LINE>
<LINE>And with thy lips keep in my soul awhile!</LINE>
<LINE>Thou lovest me not; for, brother, if thou didst,</LINE>
<LINE>Thy tears would wash this cold congealed blood</LINE>
<LINE>That glues my lips and will not let me speak.</LINE>
<LINE>Come quickly, Montague, or I am dead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, Warwick! Montague hath breathed his last;</LINE>
<LINE>And to the latest gasp cried out for Warwick,</LINE>
<LINE>And said 'Commend me to my valiant brother.'</LINE>
<LINE>And more he would have said, and more he spoke,</LINE>
<LINE>Which sounded like a clamour in a vault,</LINE>
<LINE>That mought not be distinguished; but at last</LINE>
<LINE>I well might hear, delivered with a groan,</LINE>
<LINE>'O, farewell, Warwick!'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet rest his soul! Fly, lords, and save yourselves;</LINE>
<LINE>For Warwick bids you all farewell to meet in heaven.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Dies</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, away, to meet the queen's great power!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Here they bear away his body. Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  Another part of the field.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV in triumph; with
GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, and the rest</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thus far our fortune keeps an upward course,</LINE>
<LINE>And we are graced with wreaths of victory.</LINE>
<LINE>But, in the midst of this bright-shining day,</LINE>
<LINE>I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud,</LINE>
<LINE>That will encounter with our glorious sun,</LINE>
<LINE>Ere he attain his easeful western bed:</LINE>
<LINE>I mean, my lords, those powers that the queen</LINE>
<LINE>Hath raised in Gallia have arrived our coast</LINE>
<LINE>And, as we hear, march on to fight with us.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A little gale will soon disperse that cloud</LINE>
<LINE>And blow it to the source from whence it came:</LINE>
<LINE>The very beams will dry those vapours up,</LINE>
<LINE>For every cloud engenders not a storm.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The queen is valued thirty thousand strong,</LINE>
<LINE>And Somerset, with Oxford fled to her:</LINE>
<LINE>If she have time to breathe be well assured</LINE>
<LINE>Her faction will be full as strong as ours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We are advertised by our loving friends</LINE>
<LINE>That they do hold their course toward Tewksbury:</LINE>
<LINE>We, having now the best at Barnet field,</LINE>
<LINE>Will thither straight, for willingness rids way;</LINE>
<LINE>And, as we march, our strength will be augmented</LINE>
<LINE>In every county as we go along.</LINE>
<LINE>Strike up the drum; cry 'Courage!' and away.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  Plains near Tewksbury.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>March. Enter QUEEN MARGARET, PRINCE EDWARD,
SOMERSET, OXFORD, and soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Great lords, wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss,</LINE>
<LINE>But cheerly seek how to redress their harms.</LINE>
<LINE>What though the mast be now blown overboard,</LINE>
<LINE>The cable broke, the holding-anchor lost,</LINE>
<LINE>And half our sailors swallow'd in the flood?</LINE>
<LINE>Yet lives our pilot still. Is't meet that he</LINE>
<LINE>Should leave the helm and like a fearful lad</LINE>
<LINE>With tearful eyes add water to the sea</LINE>
<LINE>And give more strength to that which hath too much,</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles, in his moan, the ship splits on the rock,</LINE>
<LINE>Which industry and courage might have saved?</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, what a shame! ah, what a fault were this!</LINE>
<LINE>Say Warwick was our anchor; what of that?</LINE>
<LINE>And Montague our topmost; what of him?</LINE>
<LINE>Our slaughter'd friends the tackles; what of these?</LINE>
<LINE>Why, is not Oxford here another anchor?</LINE>
<LINE>And Somerset another goodly mast?</LINE>
<LINE>The friends of France our shrouds and tacklings?</LINE>
<LINE>And, though unskilful, why not Ned and I</LINE>
<LINE>For once allow'd the skilful pilot's charge?</LINE>
<LINE>We will not from the helm to sit and weep,</LINE>
<LINE>But keep our course, though the rough wind say no,</LINE>
<LINE>From shelves and rocks that threaten us with wreck.</LINE>
<LINE>As good to chide the waves as speak them fair.</LINE>
<LINE>And what is Edward but ruthless sea?</LINE>
<LINE>What Clarence but a quicksand of deceit?</LINE>
<LINE>And Richard but a ragged fatal rock?</LINE>
<LINE>All these the enemies to our poor bark.</LINE>
<LINE>Say you can swim; alas, 'tis but a while!</LINE>
<LINE>Tread on the sand; why, there you quickly sink:</LINE>
<LINE>Bestride the rock; the tide will wash you off,</LINE>
<LINE>Or else you famish; that's a threefold death.</LINE>
<LINE>This speak I, lords, to let you understand,</LINE>
<LINE>If case some one of you would fly from us,</LINE>
<LINE>That there's no hoped-for mercy with the brothers</LINE>
<LINE>More than with ruthless waves, with sands and rocks.</LINE>
<LINE>Why, courage then! what cannot be avoided</LINE>
<LINE>'Twere childish weakness to lament or fear.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Methinks a woman of this valiant spirit</LINE>
<LINE>Should, if a coward heard her speak these words,</LINE>
<LINE>Infuse his breast with magnanimity</LINE>
<LINE>And make him, naked, foil a man at arms.</LINE>
<LINE>I speak not this as doubting any here</LINE>
<LINE>For did I but suspect a fearful man</LINE>
<LINE>He should have leave to go away betimes,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest in our need he might infect another</LINE>
<LINE>And make him of like spirit to himself.</LINE>
<LINE>If any such be here--as God forbid!--</LINE>
<LINE>Let him depart before we need his help.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Women and children of so high a courage,</LINE>
<LINE>And warriors faint! why, 'twere perpetual shame.</LINE>
<LINE>O brave young prince! thy famous grandfather</LINE>
<LINE>Doth live again in thee: long mayst thou live</LINE>
<LINE>To bear his image and renew his glories!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And he that will not fight for such a hope.</LINE>
<LINE>Go home to bed, and like the owl by day,</LINE>
<LINE>If he arise, be mock'd and wonder'd at.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thanks, gentle Somerset; sweet Oxford, thanks.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And take his thanks that yet hath nothing else.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Messenger</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prepare you, lords, for Edward is at hand.</LINE>
<LINE>Ready to fight; therefore be resolute.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I thought no less: it is his policy</LINE>
<LINE>To haste thus fast, to find us unprovided.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But he's deceived; we are in readiness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This cheers my heart, to see your forwardness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here pitch our battle; hence we will not budge.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Flourish and march. Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER,
CLARENCE, and soldiers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brave followers, yonder stands the thorny wood,</LINE>
<LINE>Which, by the heavens' assistance and your strength,</LINE>
<LINE>Must by the roots be hewn up yet ere night.</LINE>
<LINE>I need not add more fuel to your fire,</LINE>
<LINE>For well I wot ye blaze to burn them out</LINE>
<LINE>Give signal to the fight, and to it, lords!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lords, knights, and gentlemen, what I should say</LINE>
<LINE>My tears gainsay; for every word I speak,</LINE>
<LINE>Ye see, I drink the water of mine eyes.</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore, no more but this: Henry, your sovereign,</LINE>
<LINE>Is prisoner to the foe; his state usurp'd,</LINE>
<LINE>His realm a slaughter-house, his subjects slain,</LINE>
<LINE>His statutes cancell'd and his treasure spent;</LINE>
<LINE>And yonder is the wolf that makes this spoil.</LINE>
<LINE>You fight in justice: then, in God's name, lords,</LINE>
<LINE>Be valiant and give signal to the fight.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Retreat. Excursions. Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE V.  Another part of the field.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE,
and soldiers; with QUEEN MARGARET, OXFORD, and
SOMERSET, prisoners</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now here a period of tumultuous broils.</LINE>
<LINE>Away with Oxford to Hames Castle straight:</LINE>
<LINE>For Somerset, off with his guilty head.</LINE>
<LINE>Go, bear them hence; I will not hear them speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>OXFORD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For my part, I'll not trouble thee with words.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SOMERSET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor I, but stoop with patience to my fortune.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt Oxford and Somerset, guarded</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So part we sadly in this troublous world,</LINE>
<LINE>To meet with joy in sweet Jerusalem.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is proclamation made, that who finds Edward</LINE>
<LINE>Shall have a high reward, and he his life?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is: and lo, where youthful Edward comes!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter soldiers, with PRINCE EDWARD</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Bring forth the gallant, let us hear him speak.</LINE>
<LINE>What! can so young a thorn begin to prick?</LINE>
<LINE>Edward, what satisfaction canst thou make</LINE>
<LINE>For bearing arms, for stirring up my subjects,</LINE>
<LINE>And all the trouble thou hast turn'd me to?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Speak like a subject, proud ambitious York!</LINE>
<LINE>Suppose that I am now my father's mouth;</LINE>
<LINE>Resign thy chair, and where I stand kneel thou,</LINE>
<LINE>Whilst I propose the selfsame words to thee,</LINE>
<LINE>Which traitor, thou wouldst have me answer to.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, that thy father had been so resolved!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That you might still have worn the petticoat,</LINE>
<LINE>And ne'er have stol'n the breech from Lancaster.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let AEsop fable in a winter's night;</LINE>
<LINE>His currish riddles sort not with this place.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By heaven, brat, I'll plague ye for that word.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, thou wast born to be a plague to men.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For God's sake, take away this captive scold.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, take away this scolding crookback rather.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm your tongue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Untutor'd lad, thou art too malapert.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE EDWARD</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know my duty; you are all undutiful:</LINE>
<LINE>Lascivious Edward, and thou perjured George,</LINE>
<LINE>And thou mis-shapen Dick, I tell ye all</LINE>
<LINE>I am your better, traitors as ye are:</LINE>
<LINE>And thou usurp'st my father's right and mine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Take that, thou likeness of this railer here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Stabs him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sprawl'st thou? take that, to end thy agony.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Stabs him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And there's for twitting me with perjury.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Stabs him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, kill me too!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, and shall.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Offers to kill her</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hold, Richard, hold; for we have done too much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why should she live, to fill the world with words?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, doth she swoon? use means for her recovery.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Clarence, excuse me to the king my brother;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll hence to London on a serious matter:</LINE>
<LINE>Ere ye come there, be sure to hear some news.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What? what?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The Tower, the Tower.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Ned, sweet Ned! speak to thy mother, boy!</LINE>
<LINE>Canst thou not speak? O traitors! murderers!</LINE>
<LINE>They that stabb'd Caesar shed no blood at all,</LINE>
<LINE>Did not offend, nor were not worthy blame,</LINE>
<LINE>If this foul deed were by to equal it:</LINE>
<LINE>He was a man; this, in respect, a child:</LINE>
<LINE>And men ne'er spend their fury on a child.</LINE>
<LINE>What's worse than murderer, that I may name it?</LINE>
<LINE>No, no, my heart will burst, and if I speak:</LINE>
<LINE>And I will speak, that so my heart may burst.</LINE>
<LINE>Butchers and villains! bloody cannibals!</LINE>
<LINE>How sweet a plant have you untimely cropp'd!</LINE>
<LINE>You have no children, butchers! if you had,</LINE>
<LINE>The thought of them would have stirr'd up remorse:</LINE>
<LINE>But if you ever chance to have a child,</LINE>
<LINE>Look in his youth to have him so cut off</LINE>
<LINE>As, deathmen, you have rid this sweet young prince!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away with her; go, bear her hence perforce.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, never bear me hence, dispatch me here,</LINE>
<LINE>Here sheathe thy sword, I'll pardon thee my death:</LINE>
<LINE>What, wilt thou not? then, Clarence, do it thou.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By heaven, I will not do thee so much ease.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good Clarence, do; sweet Clarence, do thou do it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Didst thou not hear me swear I would not do it?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but thou usest to forswear thyself:</LINE>
<LINE>'Twas sin before, but now 'tis charity.</LINE>
<LINE>What, wilt thou not? Where is that devil's butcher,</LINE>
<LINE>Hard-favour'd Richard? Richard, where art thou?</LINE>
<LINE>Thou art not here: murder is thy alms-deed;</LINE>
<LINE>Petitioners for blood thou ne'er put'st back.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, I say; I charge ye, bear her hence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN MARGARET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So come to you and yours, as to this Prince!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit, led out forcibly</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where's Richard gone?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To London, all in post; and, as I guess,</LINE>
<LINE>To make a bloody supper in the Tower.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He's sudden, if a thing comes in his head.</LINE>
<LINE>Now march we hence: discharge the common sort</LINE>
<LINE>With pay and thanks, and let's away to London</LINE>
<LINE>And see our gentle queen how well she fares:</LINE>
<LINE>By this, I hope, she hath a son for me.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VI.  London. The Tower.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter KING HENRY VI and GLOUCESTER, with the
Lieutenant, on the walls</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good day, my lord. What, at your book so hard?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, my good lord:--my lord, I should say rather;</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis sin to flatter; 'good' was little better:</LINE>
<LINE>'Good Gloucester' and 'good devil' were alike,</LINE>
<LINE>And both preposterous; therefore, not 'good lord.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sirrah, leave us to ourselves: we must confer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit Lieutenant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf;</LINE>
<LINE>So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece</LINE>
<LINE>And next his throat unto the butcher's knife.</LINE>
<LINE>What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;</LINE>
<LINE>The thief doth fear each bush an officer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The bird that hath been limed in a bush,</LINE>
<LINE>With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush;</LINE>
<LINE>And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,</LINE>
<LINE>Have now the fatal object in my eye</LINE>
<LINE>Where my poor young was limed, was caught and kill'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete,</LINE>
<LINE>That taught his son the office of a fowl!</LINE>
<LINE>An yet, for all his wings, the fool was drown'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I, Daedalus; my poor boy, Icarus;</LINE>
<LINE>Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;</LINE>
<LINE>The sun that sear'd the wings of my sweet boy</LINE>
<LINE>Thy brother Edward, and thyself the sea</LINE>
<LINE>Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words!</LINE>
<LINE>My breast can better brook thy dagger's point</LINE>
<LINE>Than can my ears that tragic history.</LINE>
<LINE>But wherefore dost thou come? is't for my life?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Think'st thou I am an executioner?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A persecutor, I am sure, thou art:</LINE>
<LINE>If murdering innocents be executing,</LINE>
<LINE>Why, then thou art an executioner.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy son I kill'd for his presumption.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hadst thou been kill'd when first thou didst presume,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou hadst not lived to kill a son of mine.</LINE>
<LINE>And thus I prophesy, that many a thousand,</LINE>
<LINE>Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear,</LINE>
<LINE>And many an old man's sigh and many a widow's,</LINE>
<LINE>And many an orphan's water-standing eye--</LINE>
<LINE>Men for their sons, wives for their husbands,</LINE>
<LINE>And orphans for their parents timeless death--</LINE>
<LINE>Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born.</LINE>
<LINE>The owl shriek'd at thy birth,--an evil sign;</LINE>
<LINE>The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time;</LINE>
<LINE>Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempest shook down trees;</LINE>
<LINE>The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top,</LINE>
<LINE>And chattering pies in dismal discords sung.</LINE>
<LINE>Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain,</LINE>
<LINE>And, yet brought forth less than a mother's hope,</LINE>
<LINE>To wit, an indigested and deformed lump,</LINE>
<LINE>Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree.</LINE>
<LINE>Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born,</LINE>
<LINE>To signify thou camest to bite the world:</LINE>
<LINE>And, if the rest be true which I have heard,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou camest--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll hear no more: die, prophet in thy speech:</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Stabs him</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>For this amongst the rest, was I ordain'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY VI</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, and for much more slaughter after this.</LINE>
<LINE>God forgive my sins, and pardon thee!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Dies</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster</LINE>
<LINE>Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted.</LINE>
<LINE>See how my sword weeps for the poor king's death!</LINE>
<LINE>O, may such purple tears be alway shed</LINE>
<LINE>From those that wish the downfall of our house!</LINE>
<LINE>If any spark of life be yet remaining,</LINE>
<LINE>Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee thither:</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Stabs him again</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear.</LINE>
<LINE>Indeed, 'tis true that Henry told me of;</LINE>
<LINE>For I have often heard my mother say</LINE>
<LINE>I came into the world with my legs forward:</LINE>
<LINE>Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste,</LINE>
<LINE>And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right?</LINE>
<LINE>The midwife wonder'd and the women cried</LINE>
<LINE>'O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!'</LINE>
<LINE>And so I was; which plainly signified</LINE>
<LINE>That I should snarl and bite and play the dog.</LINE>
<LINE>Then, since the heavens have shaped my body so,</LINE>
<LINE>Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it.</LINE>
<LINE>I have no brother, I am like no brother;</LINE>
<LINE>And this word 'love,' which graybeards call divine,</LINE>
<LINE>Be resident in men like one another</LINE>
<LINE>And not in me: I am myself alone.</LINE>
<LINE>Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light:</LINE>
<LINE>But I will sort a pitchy day for thee;</LINE>
<LINE>For I will buz abroad such prophecies</LINE>
<LINE>That Edward shall be fearful of his life,</LINE>
<LINE>And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death.</LINE>
<LINE>King Henry and the prince his son are gone:</LINE>
<LINE>Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest,</LINE>
<LINE>Counting myself but bad till I be best.</LINE>
<LINE>I'll throw thy body in another room</LINE>
<LINE>And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit, with the body</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>3 KING HENRY VI</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VII.  London. The palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV, QUEEN ELIZABETH,
CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER, HASTINGS, a Nurse with the
young Prince, and Attendants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Once more we sit in England's royal throne,</LINE>
<LINE>Re-purchased with the blood of enemies.</LINE>
<LINE>What valiant foemen, like to autumn's corn,</LINE>
<LINE>Have we mow'd down, in tops of all their pride!</LINE>
<LINE>Three Dukes of Somerset, threefold renown'd</LINE>
<LINE>For hardy and undoubted champions;</LINE>
<LINE>Two Cliffords, as the father and the son,</LINE>
<LINE>And two Northumberlands; two braver men</LINE>
<LINE>Ne'er spurr'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound;</LINE>
<LINE>With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and Montague,</LINE>
<LINE>That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion</LINE>
<LINE>And made the forest tremble when they roar'd.</LINE>
<LINE>Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat</LINE>
<LINE>And made our footstool of security.</LINE>
<LINE>Come hither, Bess, and let me kiss my boy.</LINE>
<LINE>Young Ned, for thee, thine uncles and myself</LINE>
<LINE>Have in our armours watch'd the winter's night,</LINE>
<LINE>Went all afoot in summer's scalding heat,</LINE>
<LINE>That thou mightst repossess the crown in peace;</LINE>
<LINE>And of our labours thou shalt reap the gain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  I'll blast his harvest, if your head were laid;</LINE>
<LINE>For yet I am not look'd on in the world.</LINE>
<LINE>This shoulder was ordain'd so thick to heave;</LINE>
<LINE>And heave it shall some weight, or break my back:</LINE>
<LINE>Work thou the way,--and thou shalt execute.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Clarence and Gloucester, love my lovely queen;</LINE>
<LINE>And kiss your princely nephew, brothers both.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The duty that I owe unto your majesty</LINE>
<LINE>I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>QUEEN ELIZABETH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy brother, thanks.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And, that I love the tree from whence thou sprang'st,</LINE>
<LINE>Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit.</LINE>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  To say the truth, so Judas kiss'd his master,</LINE>
<LINE>And cried 'all hail!' when as he meant all harm.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now am I seated as my soul delights,</LINE>
<LINE>Having my country's peace and brothers' loves.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What will your grace have done with Margaret?</LINE>
<LINE>Reignier, her father, to the king of France</LINE>
<LINE>Hath pawn'd the Sicils and Jerusalem,</LINE>
<LINE>And hither have they sent it for her ransom.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING EDWARD IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away with her, and waft her hence to France.</LINE>
<LINE>And now what rests but that we spend the time</LINE>
<LINE>With stately triumphs, mirthful comic shows,</LINE>
<LINE>Such as befits the pleasure of the court?</LINE>
<LINE>Sound drums and trumpets! farewell sour annoy!</LINE>
<LINE>For here, I hope, begins our lasting joy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>
</ACT>
</PLAY>
