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.
Q. Mar. Hold, valiant Clifford! for a thousand causes
I would prolong awhile the traitor's life.
Wrath makes him deaf: speak thou, Northumberland.
North. Hold, Clifford! do not honour him so much

To prick thy finger, though to wound his heart.
What valour were it, when a cur doth grin,
For one to thrust his hand between his teeth,
When he might spurn him with his foot away?
It is war's prize to take all vantages,

And ten to one is no impeach of valour.

50

55

60

[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. So triumph thieves upon their conquer'd booty;
So true men yield, with robbers so o'ermatch'd.

North. What would your grace have done unto him now? 65
Q. Mar. Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumberland,
Come, make him stand upon this molehill here,

That raught at mountains with outstretched arms,

will not.

whose verie looke hath made thee
life.
prolong
prolong the traitors life a while

deaf

ere this] 36, 37. And... quake ere this Q. 49-53. Northumberland] 37-41. I death (deafe Qq 2, 3)

valour
valure

Northumberland Q. 54-60. Hold, Clifford!
vantages of valour] 42-48. Hold Clifford.
advantages in warres; Fight and take him Q.
cony net] 49, 50. I, I
triumph... with. , overmatch'd..
So triumphs... by robbers overmatcht
arms, Yet ..

48. faint] See above, 1. i. 129. 49. bandy word for word] Again in Taming of Shrew, v. ii. 172. Shakespeare is very partial to this metaphor from tennis. Compare Marlowe's Edward II. (Dyce, 185, a): "I'll bandy with the barons and the earls"; where the meaning is exchange blows but no more words.

50. buckle with thee] grapple or couple with in combat. See note to 1 Henry VI. 1. ii. 95.

53. deaf] misprinted "death," Q. 60. impeach] accusation, reproach, as in Comedy of Errors, v. 269. Elsewhere "impeachment.'

It is war's

Tis warres 61, 62. Ay, ay

cunnie with the net Q. 63-65. So would . . . unto him now?] 51-53.

will. with him? Q. 66-69.

hand] 54-57. Brave warriors That

...

...

61. woodcock gin] See Twelfth Night, II. v. 92.

67, 68. molehill mountains] An old antithesis, or proverb. Again in Shakespeare in Coriolanus. New Eng. Dict. gives an example from Foxe's Acts and Monuments, 1570. See Pecham's True Discourse (Hakluyt ed. 1811, iii. 223), 1583: "They will take upon them to make Mountains seeme Molehilles and flies elephants.' Greene, Nashe and Harvey all use it, the latter in 1573.

68. raught] reached.

Yet parted but the shadow with his hand.
What! was it you that would be England's king?
Was 't you that revell'd in our parliament,
And made a preachment of your high descent?
Where are your mess of sons to back you now?
The wanton Edward, and the lusty George?
And where's that valiant crook-back prodigy,
Dicky your boy, that with his grumbling voice
Was wont to cheer his dad in mutinies?

70

75

Or, with the rest, where is your darling Rutland?

Look! York: I stain'd this napkin with the blood
That valiant Clifford with his rapier's point
Made issue from the bosom of the boy;

80

And if thine eyes can water for his death,

I give thee this to dry thy cheeks withal.

Alas! poor York, but that I hate thee deadly,
I should lament thy miserable state.

85

I prithee grieve, to make me merry, York.

What, hath thy fiery heart so parch'd thine entrails
That not a tear can fall for Rutland's death?

Why art thou patient, man? thou should'st be mad;
And I, to make thee mad, do mock thee thus.
Stamp, rave, and fret, that I may sing and dance.
Thou would'st be fee'd, I see, to make me sport:
York cannot speak unless he wear a crown.

70. What! king?] omitted Q.

crook-back

71-77. Was 't you mutinies?] 58-64. Was it you Crookbackt. mutinies? Q. 78-85. Or, with

...

90

And where's

Or where is... stain'd . . . with the

the boy deadly state] 65-72. Or amongst . dipt... in the ... thy boy... much state? Q. 86-88. I prithee . . . Rutland's death ?] 73-76. I prethee

Yorke ? Stamp

Rutland's death? Q. 89-90. Why art thou.
Stamp... dance] 74. Stamp dance Q.
Hold you
it on] 77-80. Thou wouldst .

A crown for York! and, lords, bow low to him:
Hold you his hands whilst I do set it on.

[Puts a paper crown on his head.
Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king!
Ay, this is he that took King Henry's chair:
And this is he was his adopted heir.
But how is it that great Plantagenet

Is crown'd so soon, and broke his solemn oath?

As I bethink me, you should not be king

Till our King Henry had shook hands with death.

And will you pale your head in Henry's glory,

And rob his temples of the diadem,

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.

95. Puts...] omitted Q, Ff. 96-100. Ay, marry, sir, now king! Ay, this .. solemn oath ?] 81-85. I now . Q. IOI-108. As I bethink As I bethinke . Till our Henry . dead Q.

pale your head in

1

Clif. That is my office, for my father's sake.

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, vizard-like, unchanging,

Made impudent with use of evil deeds,

I would assay, proud queen, to make thee blush:

To tell thee whence thou cam'st, of whom derived,

115

Were shame enough to shame thee, wert thou not shame-
less.

Thy father bears the type of King of Naples,
Of both the Sicils and Jerusalem,

Yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman.
Hath that poor monarch taught thee to insult?
It needs not, nor it boots thee not, proud queen,
Unless the adage must be verified,

That beggars mounted run their horse to death.

120

125

sake Q. Mar. Nay, stay; let's makes] 94, 95. Queen. Yet stay: and lets makes Q. III-118. Shewith use... blush:] 96-103. She wolfe

their woes

his woes... by use... blush Q.

derived, Were . both the

needs not, nor

IIO. orisons] prayers. Five times in Shakespeare.

112. poisons adder's tooth] See again 2 Henry VI. 1. ii. 76, Richard II. III. ii. 20, and Richard III. 1. ii. 19.

113. ill-beseeming] undecorous. See 1 Henry VI. IV. i. 31; and later in 2 Henry IV. and Romeo and Juliet. Unhyphened in Quartos and 1 Henry VI. See note at the latter reference. See, too, Cymbeline, v. v. 409. And "wellbeseeming" in 1 Henry IV. 1. iii. 267, and in Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare affected the word "beseem," and compounds of it.

knows.

whom deriude, Twere
`wots... small Q.

114. trull] See 1 Henry VI. 11. ii. 28. 66 'Strumpet" usually, here rather a ramp or female bravoo.

115. captivates] subdues, captures. See Love's Labour's Lost, III. 126, and Venus and Adonis, 281. This verb is several times in Locrine. See Kyd, Spanish Tragedy, II. i. 131

"Thus hath he tane my body by his force,

And now by sleight would captivate my soule."

116. vizard-like] as expressionally fixed as a mask.

121. type] badge. Compare Richard III. iv. iv. 244. The crown. But perhaps used for title.

127. beggars death] A proverb found in a variety of shapes. "Set a beggar on horse backe they saie, and hee will neuer alight" (Greene, Carde of Fancie (Grosart, iv. 102), 1587), and repeated in Greene's Orpharion, a

'Tis beauty that doth oft make women proud;
But, God he knows, thy share thereof is small:
'Tis virtue that doth make them most admired;
The contrary doth make thee wonder'd at:
'Tis government that makes them seem divine;
The want thereof makes thee abominable.
Thou art as opposite to every good

As the Antipodes are unto us,

130

135

Or as the south to the Septentrion.

O tiger's heart wrapp'd in a woman's hide!

How could'st thou drain the life-blood of the child,

To bid the father wipe his eyes withal,

And yet be seen to bear a woman's face?

140

Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible;

Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.

Bidd'st thou me rage? why, now thou hast thy wish:
Would'st have me weep? why, now thou hast thy will.

130-140. 'Tis virtue that doth . . . 'Tis government . . . abominable. woman's hide! .. woman's face?] 115-125. Tis government that makes

abhominable

womans face? Q.

Tis vertue
141-149. Women are soft, mild . . . Thou rough wish:

thou

...

.

womans hide?

showers, And

cries

will. wind death, 'Gainst Frenchwoman] 126-134. Women are milde Thou indurate, sterne, rough . . . will . So thou... wish. windes blowes up a storme of teares, And... begs vengeance as it fals, On . . . French woman Q.

rehash of the former (xii. 36). The proverb is in Cyril Tourneur's Revengers Tragedy, Lord Cromwell, Jonson's Staple of News, Camden's Remaines, Motteux's Don Quixote, etc. Peacham has that old verse:

66

(Worth of a Penny, 1641 (Arber's English Garner, vi. 260)). That old verse is from Claudian.

131. The contrary doth] Compare here 1 Henry VI. v. v. 62-64. 132. government] seemly manners and discipline.

136. Septentrion] North. Not again in Shakespeare. This line is recalled in Soliman and Perseda, III. iv. 5: "From East to West, from South to Septentrion."

137. O tiger's heart...] The famous line made use of by Greene in his at

tack upon Shakespeare in the Groatsworth of Wit (Grosart, xii. 144). See Introduction. Nashe has a familiar expression: "An apes hart with a lions case (Terrors of the Night (Grosart, iii. 231), 1593), in which he probably recalled Spenser's Mother Hubberd's Tale. Malone quotes from Acolastus his Afterwitte, 1600: "O woolvish hart, wrapp'd in a woman's hide," an obvious recollection of this. See Introduction to Part II.

142. obdurate] See 2 Henry VI. iv. vii. 114, in this ed. Always so accented in Shakespeare. It does not occur in First Contention, and here the True Tragedie (Q) has "indurate." Marlowe has " Might have entreated your _obdurate breasts" in Tamburlaine, Part I. v. i. (Dyce, 31, a); and the same expression occurs in Sylvester's Du Bartas (ed. 1621, p. 37): "One single sigh from thy obdurate brest" (1591). Marlowe's use is the earliest, applied to persons, in New Eng. Dict. durate was older.