That, in his nonage3, council under him,
And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself,
No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well.
1 Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the Sixth
Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old.
3 Cit. Stood the state so? no, no, good friends,
God wot;

For then this land was famously enrich'd
With politick grave counsel; then the king
Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.

1 Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father and
mother.

3 Cit. Better it were they all came by his father; Or, by his father, there were none at all: For emulation now, who shall be nearest, Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not. O, full of danger is the duke of Gloster;

And the queen's sons, and brothers, haught and proud:

And were they to be rul'd, and not to rule,
This sickly land might solace as before.

1 Cit. Come, come, we fear the worst: all will be
well.

3 Cit. When clouds are seen, wise men put on
their cloaks;

When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth:
All may be well; but, if God sort it so,
'Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.

2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear: You cannot reason almost with a man

4

That looks not heavily, and full of dread.

3 We may hope well of his government under all circumstances; we may hope this of his council while he is in his nonage, and of himself in his riper years.

4 See note 14, p. 44.

3 Cit. Before the days of change, still is it so: By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see The water swell before a boist'rous storm 5. But leave it all to God. Whither away?

2 Cit. Marry, we were sent for to the justices. 3 Cit. And so was I; I'll bear you company. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

The same. A Room in the Palace.

Enter the Archbishop of York, the young DUKE of YORK, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and the DUCHESS of YORK.

Arch. Last night, I heard, they lay at Stony-
Stratford;

And at Northampton they do rest to-night1:
To-morrow, or next day, they will be here.

Duch. I long with all my heart to see the prince;
I hope, he is much grown since last I saw him.
Q. Eliz. But I hear, no; they say, my son of York
Hath almost overta'en him in his growth.

York. Ay, mother, but I would not have it so. Duch. Why, my young cousin? it is good to grow.

5 Before such great things, men's hearts of a secret instinct of nature misgive them; as the sea without wind swelleth of himself some time before a tempest.'-From More's Richard III. copied by Holinshed, III. 721.

1

I This is the reading of the folio. The quarto of 1597, reads:— "Last night I hear they lay at Northampton:

At Stony-Stratford will they be to-night.'

By neither reading can the truth of history be preserved. According to the reading of the quarto the scene would be on the day on which the king was journeying from Northampton to Stratford; and of course the messenger's account of the peers being seized, &c. which happened on the next day after the king had lain at Stratford, is inaccurate. If the folio reading be adopted,

York. Grandam, one night, as we did sit at supper, My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow

More than my brother; Ay, quoth my uncle Gloster, Small herbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace: And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast, Because sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make haste.

Duch. 'Good faith, 'good faith, the saying did not hold

In him that did object the same to thee:

He was the wretched'st thing, when he was young: So long a growing, and so leisurely,

That, if his rule were true, he should be gracious.
Arch. And so, no doubt, he is, my gracious madam.
Duch. I hope, he is; but yet let mothers doubt.
York. Now, by my troth, if I had been remem-
ber'd,

I could have given my uncle's grace a flout,
To touch his growth, nearer than he touch'd mine.
Duch. How, my young. York? I pr'ythee, let
me hear it.

York. Marry, they say, my uncle grew so fast,
That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old;
'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth.
Grandam, this would have been a biting jest.

the scene is indeed placed on the day on which the king was seized; but the archbishop is supposed to be apprized of a fact which, before the entry of the messenger, he manifestly does not know; namely, the duke of Gloster's coming to Stratford the morning after the king had lain there, taking him forcibly back to Northampton, and seizing the Lords Rivers, Grey, &c. The truth is, that the queen herself, the person most materially interested in the welfare of her son, did not hear of the king's being carried back from Stony-Stratford to Northampton till about midnight of the day on which this violence was offered to him by his uncle. See Hall, Edward V. fol. 6. Malone thinks this an unanswerable argument in favour of the reading of the quarto; while Steevens thinks it a matter of indifference, but prefers the text of the folio copy on account of the versification.

Duch. I pr'ythee, pretty York, who told thee this? York. Grandam, his nurse.

Duch. His nurse? why, she was dead ere thou wast born.

York. If 'twere not she, I cannot tell who told me. Q. Eliz. A parlous boy: Go to, you are too shrewd.

Arch. Good madam, be not angry with the child. Q. Eliz. Pitchers have ears.

How doth the prince?

What is thy news?

Q. Eliz.

Mess. Well, madam, and in health.

Duch.

Mess. Lord Rivers, and Lord Grey, are sent to

Pomfret,

With them Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners.

Duch. Who hath committed them?

Mess.

Gloster and Buckingham.

Q. Eliz.

The mighty dukes,

For what offence?

Mess. The sum of all I can, I have disclos'd; Why, or for what, the nobles were committed, Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady.

house!

Q. Eliz. Ah me, I see the ruin of my The tiger now hath seiz'd the gentle hind; Insulting tyranny begins to jut3

2 Parlous is a popular corruption of perilous; jocularly used for alarming, amazing.

3. The quarto reads to jet, which Mr. Boswell thought preferable; but the folio is right. To jut upon the throne' is to make inroads or invasions upon it. See Cooper's Dictionary, 1584, in voce incurso. Awless is not producing awe, not reverenced.

Upon the innocent and awless throne:-
Welcome, destruction, blood, and massacre!
I see, as in a map, the end of all.

Duch. Accursed and unquiet wrangling days!
How many
of you
have mine eyes beheld?
My husband lost his life to get the crown;
And often up and down my sons were tost,
For me to joy, and weep, their gain, and loss;
And being seated, and domestic broils

Clean over blown, themselves, the conquerors,
Make war upon
themselves; brother to brother,
Blood to blood, self 'gainst self:-O, preposterous
And frantick courage, end thy damned spleen;
Or let me die, to look on death no more!

Q. Eliz. Come, come, my boy, we will to sanctuary.

Madam, farewell.

Duch.

Stay, I will go with you.

Q. Eliz. You have no cause.

Arch.

My gracious lady, go. [To the Queen. And thither bear your treasure and your goods. For my part, I'll resign unto your grace The seal I keep1; And so betide to me, As well I tender you, and all of yours! Come, I'll conduct you to the sanctuary. [Exeunt.

4 Afterwards, however, this obsequious archbishop [Rotheram] to ingratiate himself with Richard III. put his majesty's badge, the Hog, upon the gate of the Public Library at Cambridge.