With pay and thanks, and let's away to London,
And see our gentle Queen how well she fares;
By this, I hope, she hath a son for me.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.- London. A Room in the Tower.

King HENRY is discovered sitting with a book in his hand, the Lieutenant attending. Enter GLOSTER.

Glos. Good day, my lord. What, at your book so hard? K. Hen. Ay, my good lord:- my lord, I should say

rather;

'Tis sin to flatter; good was little better:

Good Gloster and good Devil were alike,

And both preposterous; therefore, not good lord.

Glos. Sirrah, leave us to ourselves: we must confer.

[Exit Lieutenant.

K. Hen. So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf;
So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece,
And next his throat unto the butcher's knife. -
What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?

Glos. Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;

The thief doth fear each bush an officer.

K. Hen. The bird that hath been limèd in a bush,
With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush ;
And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,1

Have now the fatal object in my eye

Where my poor young was limed, was caught, and kill'd.
Glo. Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete,

That taught his son the office of a fowl!

And yet, for all his wings, the fowl was drown'd.

1 Male is here used in an uncommon sense; for the male parent, the

father. The "sweet bird" is evidently his son, Prince Edward.

2 Peevish was continually used for silly or stupid.

K. Hen. I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus ;
Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;
The Sun, that sear'd the wings of my sweet boy,
Thy brother Edward; and thyself, the sea,
Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life.
Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words!
My breast can better brook thy dagger's point
Than can my ears that tragic history.
But wherefore dost thou come? is't for my life?
Glos. Think'st thou I am an executioner?
K. Hen. A persecutor, I am sure, thou art:
If murdering innocents be executing,

Why, then thou art an executioner.

Glos. Thy son I kill'd for his presumption.

K. Hen. Hadst thou been kill'd when first thou didst

presume,

Thou hadst not lived to kill a son of mine.
And thus I prophesy, that many a thousand,
Which now mistrust no parcel3 of my fear,-
Men for their sons, wives for their husbands' fate,
And orphans for their parents' timeless death,-
Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born.
The owl shriek'd at thy birth,- an evil sign;
The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time;

Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempest shook down trees;
The raven rook'd 4 her on the chimney's top,
And chattering pies in dismal discord sung.
Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain,
And yet brought forth less than a mother's hope,
An indigested and deformèd lump,

Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree.

3 That is, who suspect no part of what my fears presage.

4 To rook or to ruck is an old word meaning about the same as to roost; to squat down, as on a nest or place of roosting.

Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born,

To signify thou camest to bite the world:

And, if the rest be true which I have heard,

Thou camest—

Glos. I'll hear no more: die, prophet, in thy speech:

For this, amongst the rest, was I ordain'd.

[Stabs him.

K. Hen. Ay, and for much more slaughter after this. O, God forgive my sins, and pardon thee!

[Dies.

Glos. What, will th' aspiring blood of Lancaster
Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted.
See how my sword weeps for the poor King's death!
O, may such purple tears be alway shed

From those that wish the downfall of our House!
If any spark of life be yet remaining,

Down, down to Hell; and say I sent thee thither,
[Stabs him again.

I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear.—
Indeed, 'tis true that Henry told me of;
For I have often heard my mother say

I came into the world with my legs forward:
Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste,
And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right?
The midwife wonder'd; and the women cried,
O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!
And so I was; which plainly signified
That I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog.
Then, since the Heavens have shaped my body so,

Let Hell make crook'd my mind to answer it.

I have no brother, I am like no brother;

And this word love, which greybeards call divine,
Be resident in men like one another,

And not in me: I am myself alone. —

Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light:

But I will sort a pitchy day for thee;
For I will buzz abroad such prophecies,
That Edward shall be fearful of his life;
And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death.
King Henry and the Prince his son are gone:
Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest;
Counting myself but bad till I be best.—
I'll throw thy body in another room,

And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.6

[Exit with the body.

SCENE VII. The Same. A Room in the Palace.

Flourish.

King EDWARD is discovered sitting on his throne; Queen ELIZABETH, a Nurse with the infant Prince, CLARENCE, GLOSTER, HASTINGS, and others.

K. Edw. Once more we sit in England's royal throne, Re-purchased with the blood of enemies.

What valiant foemen, like to Autumn's corn,
Have we mow'd down in top of all their pride!
Three Dukes of Somerset, threefold renown'd
For hardy and redoubted champions;

5 To sort here means to select, pick out. Pitchy is dismal, dark; a day black with fate.

6 The following is Holinshed's account of Henry's death: "Here is to be remembered, that poore king Henrie the sixt, a little before deprived of his realme and imperiall crowne, was now in the Tower spoiled of his life by Richard duke of Glocester, as the constant fame ran; who, to the intent that his brother king Edward might reigne in more suretie, murthered the said king Henrie with a dagger. Howbeit, some writers of that time, favouring altogither the house of Yorke, have recorded that, after he understood what losses had chanced unto his freends, and how not onelie his sonne, but also all other his cheefe partakers were dead and despatched, he tooke it so to hart, that of pure displeasure, indignation, and melancholie, he died the three and twentith of Maie."

Two Cliffords, as the father and the son;

And two Northumberlands, — two braver men

Ne'er spurr'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound;
With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and Montague,
That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion,

And made the forest tremble when they roar'd.
Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat,
And made our footstool of security. —
Come hither, Bess, and let me kiss my boy..
Young Ned, for thee, thine uncles and myself
Have in our armours watch'd the Winter's night;
Went all afoot in Summer's scalding heat,

That thou mightst repossess the crown in peace:

And of our labours thou shalt reap the gain.

Glos. [Aside.] I'll blast his harvest, if your head were

laid;

For yet I am not look'd on in the world.

This shoulder was ordain'd so thick to heave;

And heave it shall some weight, or break my back:

Work thou the way, - and thou shalt execute.1

K. Edw. Clarence and Gloster, love my lovely Queen ; And kiss your princely nephew, brothers both.

Clar. The duty that I owe unto your Majesty

I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe.

Q. Eliz. Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy brother, thanks. Glos. And, that I love the tree from whence thou

sprang'st,

Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit.

[Aside.] To say the truth, so Judas kiss'd his Master,

And cried, All hail! whenas he meant all harm.

K. Edw. Now am I seated as my soul delights,

1 Is it to he understood that, in saying "Work thou the way," the speaker touches his head, and then looks at his hand, which he addresses, "thou shalt execute."