And much effuse of blood doth make me faint. Come, York and Richard, Warwick and the rest,

30

I stabb'd your fathers' bosoms, split my breast. [He faints. Alarum and retreat. Enter Edward, George, Richard, Montague, Warwick, and Soldiers.

Edw. Now breathe we, lords: good fortune bids us pause,

And smooth the frowns of war with peaceful
looks.

Some troops pursue the bloody-minded queen,
That led calm Henry, though he were a king,
As doth a sail, fill'd with a fretting gust,
Command an argosy to stem the waves.
But think you, lords, that Clifford fled with
them?

War. No, 'tis impossible he should escape;

For, though before his face I speak the words,
Your brother Richard mark'd him for the

grave:

And whereso'er he is, he 's surely dead.

40

[Clifford groans, and dies. Edw. Whose soul is that which takes her heavy

leave?

Rich. A deadly groan, like life and death's depart

ing.

Edw. See who it is: and, now the battle 's ended,

If friend or foe, let him be gently used.

42-45. The assignment to the speakers is due to Capell, following Qq., which here are more correct than Ff.-I. G.

Rich. Revoke that doom of mercy, for 'tis Clifford; Who not contented that he lopp'd the branch In hewing Rutland when his leaves put forth, But set his murdering knife unto the root From whence that tender spray did sweetly spring,

50

I mean our princely father, Duke of York. War. From off the gates of York fetch down the

head,

Your father's head, which Clifford placed there;

Instead whereof let this supply the room:

Measure for measure must be answered.

Edw. Bring forth that fatal screech-owl to our house,

That nothing sung but death to us and ours: Now death shall stop his dismal threatening sound,

And his ill-boding tongue no more shall speak. War. I think his understanding is bereft.

60

Speak, Clifford, dost thou know who speaks to thee?

Dark cloudy death o'ershades his beams of life, And he nor sees, nor hears us what we say. Rich. O, would he did! and so perhaps he doth: "Tis but his policy to counterfeit,

Because he would avoid such bitter taunts

Which in the time of death he gave our father. Geo. If so thou think'st, vex him with eager words. Rich. Clifford, ask mercy and obtain no grace. Edw. Clifford, repent in bootless penitence. War. Clifford, devise excuses for thy faults.

70

Geo. While we devise fell tortures for thy faults. Rich. Thou didst love York, and I am son to York. Edw. Thou pitied'st Rutland; I will pity thee. Geo. Where's Captain Margaret, to fence you

now?

War. They mock thee, Clifford: swear as thou wast wont.

Rich. What, not an oath? nay, then the world goes hard,

When Clifford cannot spare his friends an oath.
I know by that he's dead; and, by my soul,
If this right hand would buy two hours' life, 80
That I in all despite might rail at him,

This hand should chop it off, and with the is-
suing blood

Stifle the villain, whose unstanched thirst

York and young Rutland could not satisfy. War. Aye, but he's dead: off with the traitor's head,

And rear it in the place your father's stands.
And now to London with triumphant march,
There to be crowned England's royal king:
From whence shall Warwick cut the sea to
France,

80. "If this right hand would buy two hours' life"; Capell (from Qq.), "would this right hand buy but an hour's life"; F. 1, “two hours'"; Ff. 2, 3, 4, "but two hours'."-I. G.

82. "This hand should"; Capell (from Qq.), “I'd.”—I. G.

86. So in the Chronicles: "After this great victorie, king Edward rode to Yorke; and first he caused the heads of his father, the earle of Salisburie, and other his freends, to be taken from the gates, and to be buried with their bodies, and there he caused the earle of Devonshire and three other to be beheaded, and set their heads in the same place."-H. N. H.

And ask the Lady Bona for thy queen:

90

So shalt thou sinew both these lands together; And, having France thy friend, thou shalt not dread

The scatter'd foe that hopes to rise again;

For though they cannot greatly sting to hurt,
Yet look to have them buzz to offend thine ears.
First will I see the coronation;

And then to Brittany I'll cross the sea,

100

To effect this marriage, so it please my lord. Edw. Even as thou wilt, sweet Warwick, let it be; For in thy shoulder do I build my seat, And never will I undertake the thing Wherein thy counsel and consent is wanting. Richard, I will create thee Duke of Gloucester, And George, of Clarence: Warwick, as ourself, Shall do and undo as him pleaseth best.

Rich. Let me be Duke of Clarence, George of Gloucester;

For Gloucester's dukedom is too ominous. War. Tut, that's a foolish observation:

Richard, be Duke of Gloucester. Now to London,

To see these honors in possession. [Exeunt. 110

100. "in thy shoulder"; so F. 1; Ff. 2, 3, 4, "on thy s."-I. G. 110. Holinshed, after Hall, winds up the story of "the good Duke Humphrey's" death with the following: "Some thinke that the name and title of Glocester hath beene unluckie to diverse, as Hugh Spenser, Thomas of Woodstoke, and this duke Humfrie; which three persons by miserable death finished their daies, and after them king Richard the third also. So that this name is taken for an unhappie stile, as the proverb speaketh of Sejans horsse, whose rider was ever unhorssed, and whose possessor was ever brought to miserie.”H. N H.

ACT THIRD

SCENE I

A forest in the north of England.

Enter two Keepers, with cross-bows in their hands. First Keep. Under this thick-grown brake we'll shroud ourselves;

For through this laund anon the deer will come;
And in this covert will we make our stand,
Culling the principal of all the deer.

Sec. Keep. I'll stay above the hill, so both may shoot.

First Keep. That cannot be; the noise of thy cross

bow

Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost.
Here stand we both, and aim we at the best:
And, for the time shall not seem tedious,
I'll tell thee what befell me on a day

10

In this self-place where now we mean to stand. "Enter two keepers"; Ff., "Enter Sinklo and Humfrey”; “as Sinklo is certainly the name of an Actor who is mentioned in the stage directions in the Taming of the Shrew (Ind. i. 86), and in Henry IV, Part II, Act v. Sc. 4, there is a great probability that Humphrey is the name of another Actor; perhaps, as Malone suggests, Humfrey Jeaffes. Neither of these is mentioned in the list of "Principal Actors" prefixed to the first Folio" (Camb. Editors).— I. G.

9. Evidently meaning.—“And, that the time may not seem tedious"; a mode of speech not uncommon in the old writers.-H. N. H.