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* YORK. Richard hath best deserv'd of all my

sons.

What, is your grace+ dead, my lord of Somerset ?

NORF. Such hope have all the line of John of Gaunt!

RICH. Thus do I hope to shake king Henry's head.

WAR. And so do I.-Victorious prince of York, Before I see thee seated in that throne Which now the house of Lancaster usurps, I vow by heaven, these eyes shall never close. This is the palace of the fearful king,

' And this the regal seat: possess it, York; For this is thine, and not king Henry's heirs'.

YORK. Assist me then, sweet Warwick, and I will;

'For hither we have broken in by force.

Norf. We'll all assist you; he, that flies, shall die.

ing been killed by him in the Tower, not more than sixteen and eight months.

For this anachronism the author or authors of the old plays on which our poet founded these two parts of King Henry the Sixth, are answerable. MALone.

4

What, is your grace-] The folio reads-But is your grace, &c. It was evidently a mistake of the transcriber, the word in the old play being What, which suits sufficiently with York's exultation; whereas But affords no sense whatsoever. MAlone.

Though the sense and verse is complete without either But or What, I suppose we ought to read:

What, 's your grace dead, my lord of Somerset ?

I do not, however, perceive the inefficiency of-but. This conjunction is sometimes indeterminately used; and is also insultingly employed in Twelfth Night: "But, are you not mad indeed, or do you but counterfeit ?" STEEVENS.

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YORK. Thanks, gentle Norfolk.-Stay by me,

my

lords;

And, soldiers, stay, and lodge by me this night.

WAR. And, when the king comes, offer him no

violence,

Unless he seek to thrust you out by force.

[They retire. * YORK. The queen, this day, here holds her

parliament,

*But little thinks we shall be of her council: By words, or blows, here let us win our right. RICH. Arm'd as we are, let's stay within this house.

WAR. The bloody parliament shall this be call'd, Unless Plantagenet, duke of York, be king; And bashful Henry depos'd, whose cowardice Hath made us by-words to our enemies.

• YORK. Then leave me not, my lords; be resolute;

I mean to take possession of my right.

WAR. Neither the king, nor he that loves him best,

The proudest he that holds up Lancaster,

Dares stir a wing, if Warwick shake his bells. 5

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I'll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares :Resolve thee, Richard; claim the English crown. [WARWICK leads YORK to the Throne, who seats himself.

if Warwick shake his bells.] The allusion is to falconry. The hawks had sometimes little bells hung upon them, perhaps to dare the birds; that is, to fright them from rising.

JOHNSON.

Flourish. Enter King HENRY, CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND, WESTMORELAND, EXETER, and Others, with red Roses in their Hats.

K. HEN. My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits,

Even in the chair of state! belike, he means, (Back'd by the power of Warwick, that false peer,) To aspire unto the crown, and reign as king.Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father;And thine, lord Clifford; and you both have vow'd revenge

On him, his sons, his favourites, and his friends. • NORTH. If I be not, heavens, be reveng'd on

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me!

CLIF. The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel.

WEST. What, shall we suffer this? let's pluck him down:

'My heart for anger burns, I cannot brook it. K. HEN. Be patient, gentle earl of Westmoreland.

CLIF. Patience is for poltroons, and such as he;" He durst not sit there had your father liv’d. My gracious lord, here in the parliament Let us assail the family of York.

NORTH. Well hast thou spoken, cousin; be it so. K. HEN. Ah, know you not, the city favours them,

And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?

6

and such as he :] Thus the second folio. The first folio and the quartos omit-and. STEEVENS.

EXE. But, when the duke is slain, they'll quickly

fly."

K. HEN. Far be the thought of this from Henry's heart,

To make a shambles of the parliament-house!
Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words, and threats,
Shall be the war that Henry means to use.-
[They advance to the Duke.
Thou factious duke of York, descend my throne,
And kneel for grace and mercy at my feet;
I am thy sovereign.

YORK.

8

Thou art deceiv'd, I am thine. EXE. For shame, come down; he made thee duke

of York.

YORK. 'Twas my inheritance, as the earldom was.9 EXE. Thy father was a traitor to the crown. WAR. Exeter, thou art a traitor to the crown, In following this usurping Henry.

7 Exe. But, when &c.] This line is by the mistake of the compositor given to Westmoreland. The king's answer shows that it belongs to Exeter, to whom it is assigned in the old play.

MALONE.

Thou art deceiv'd,] These words, which are not in the folio, were restored from the old play. The defect of the metre in the folio, makes it probable that they were accidentally omitted. The measure is, however, still faulty. MALONE.

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-as the earldom was.] Thus the folio. The quarto 1600, and that without date, read-as the kingdom is. STEEVENS. York means, I suppose, that the dukedom of York was his inheritance from his father, as the earldom of March was his inheritance from his mother, Anne Mortimer, the wife of the Earl of Cambridge; and by naming the earldom, he covertly asserts his right to the crown; for his title to the crown was not as Duke of York, but Earl of March.

In the original play the line stands [as quoted by Mr. Steevens;] and why Shakspeare altered it, it is not easy to say; for the new line only exhibits the same meaning more obscurely. MALONE.

CLIF. Whom should he follow, but his natural

king?

WAR. True, Clifford; and that's Richard,1 duke of York.

‹ K. HEN. And shall I stand, and thou sit in my throne?

"YORK. It must and shall be so. Content thyself. WAR. Be duke of Lancaster, let him be king.

WEST. He is both king and duke of Lancaster; And that the lord of Westmoreland shall maintain. WAR. And Warwick shall disprove it. You for

get,

That we are those, which chas'd you from the field, And slew your fathers, and with colours spread March'd through the city to the palace gates.

NORTH. Yes, Warwick, I remember it to my grief;

And, by his soul, thou and thy house shall rue it.

• WEST. Plantagenet, of thee, and these thy sons, Thy kinsmen, and thy friends, I'll have more lives, Than drops of blood were in my father's veins.

CLIF. Urge it no more; lest that, instead of
words,

I send thee, Warwick, such a messenger,
As shall revenge his death, before I stir.

'WAR. Poor Clifford! how I scorn his worthless threats!

YORK. Will you, we show our title to the crown? 'If not, our swords shall plead it in the field.

1

- and that's Richard,] The word and, which was accidentally omitted in the first folio, is found in the old play. MALONE.

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