A bird that will revenge upon you all; And, in that hope, I throw mine eyes to heaven, Scorning whate'er you can afflict me with. Why come you not? what! multitudes, and fear? Clif. So cowards fight, when they can fly no further; 'So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons; So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives, Breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers. York. O, Clifford, but bethink thee once again, And in thy thought o'errun my former time. * And, if thou canst for blushing, view this face; And bite thy tongue that slanders him with cowardice, 'Whose frown hath made thee faint and fly ere this. Clif. I will not bandy with thee word for word; But buckle with thee blows, twice two for one. [Draws. Q. Mar. Hold, valiant Clifford! for a thousand causes, I would prolong awhile the traitor's life. And ten to one is no impeach of valor. [They lay hands on YORK, who struggles. Clif Ay, ay, so strives the woodcock with the gin. North. So doth the cony struggle in the net. [YORK is taken prisoner. York. So triumph thieves upon their conquered booty; So true men yield, with robbers so o'ermatched. North. What would your grace have done unto him now? 1 Prize here means an advantage that may be taken; unless we can imagine that it may signify licitum est, "it is prized or esteemed lawful in war," &c. Price, prise, and prize, were used indiscriminately by our ancestors. Q. Mar. Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumber land, Come make him stand upon this molehill here; 'That raught' at mountains with outstretched arms, Yet parted but the shadow with his hand.— * What! was it you that would be England's king? Was't you that revelled in our parliament, And made a preachment of your high descent? Or, with the rest, where is your darling Rutland? I pr'ythee, grieve, to make me merry, York; * Why art thou patient, man? thou shouldst be mad; A crown for York ;-and, lords, bow low to him.— Hold you his hands, whilst I do set it on. 1 Reached. [Putting a paper crown on his head.? 2 According to Hall, the paper crown was not placed on York's head till after he was dead; but Holinshed, after having copied Hall, says:"Some write that the duke was taken alive and in derision caused to stand upon a molehill, on whose heade they put a garland instead of a crown, which they had fashioned and made of segges or bulrushes, and having so crowned him with that garlande, they kneeled down afore him, as the Jews did to Christe, in scorne, saying to him, Hayle, king without rule, ha le, king without heritage, hayle, duke and prince without people or Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king! Is crowned so soon, and broke his solemn oath? Till our king Henry had shook hands with death. Now in his life, against your holy oath? O, 'tis a fault too, too unpardonable! Off with the crown; and, with the crown, his head; And, whilst we breathe, take time to do him dead. Clif. That is my office, for my father's sake. 6 Q. Mar. Nay, stay; let's hear the orisons he makes. York. She wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France, Whose tongue more poisons than the adder's tooth! How ill-beseeming is it, in thy sex, To triumph like an Amazonian trull, Upon their woes, whom fortune captivates! But that thy face is, visorlike, unchanging, Made impudent with use of evil deeds, I would assay, proud queen, to make thee blush. Thy father bears the type of king of Naples, Of both the Sicils, and Jerusalem; Yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman. That beggars, mounted, run their horse to death. possessions. And, at length having thus scorned hym with these and diverse other the like despitefull woordes, they strooke off his heade, which (as ye have heard) they presented to the queen." 1 Impale, encircle with a crown. 2 i. e. the crown, the emblem or symbol of royalty. But, God he knows, thy share thereof is small. Or as the south to the septentrion. O, tiger's heart, wrapped in a woman's hide! And yet be seen to bear a woman's face? Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless. 'Bidd'st thou me rage? why, now thou hast thy wish: Wouldst have me weep? why, now thou hast thy will; For raging wind blows up incessant showers. And, when the rage allays, the rain begins. 'Gainst thee, fell Clifford,—and thee, false French woman. North. Beshrew me, but his passions move me so, That hardly can I check my eyes from tears. York. That face of his the hungry cannibals Would not have touched, would not have stained with blood; But you are more inhuman, more inexorable,— O, ten times more,-than tigers of Hyrcania. This cloth thou dipp'dst in blood of my sweet boy, Keep thou the napkin, and go boast of this; [He gives back the handkerchief. And, if thou tell'st the heavy story right, Upon my soul, the hearers will shed tears; 1 Government, in the language of the time, signified evenness of temper, and decency of manners. 2 Passions for griefs. Yea, even my foes will shed fast-falling tears, There, take the crown, and, with the crown, my curse; And, in thy need, such comfort come to thee, Hard-hearted Clifford, take me from the world; Q. Mar. What, weeping-ripe, my lord Northumberland ? Think but upon the wrong he did us all, And that will quickly dry thy melting tears. Clif. Here's for my oath, here's for my father's death. [Stabbing him. Q. Mar. And here's to right our gentle-hearted king. [Stabbing him. York. Open thy gate of mercy, gracious God! 'My soul flies through these wounds to seek out thee. [Dies. Q. Mar. Off with his head, and set it on York gates; So York may overlook the town of York.1 [Exeunt. 1 This gallant prince fell by his own imprudence, in consequence of leading an army of only five thousand men to engage with twenty thousand, and not waiting for the arrival of his son, the earl of March, with a large body of Welshmen. He and Cecily his wife, with his son Edmund, earl of Rutland, were originally buried in the chancel of Fotheringay church. Peacham, in his Complete Gentleman, 1627, p. 153, gives an account of the destruction of their monuments, of the disinterment, &c., and of their reinterment in the church, by command of queen Elizabeth, under a mean monument of plaster. |