15

And so he walks, insulting o'er his prey, And so he comes to rend his limbs asunder. Ah! gentle Clifford, kill me with thy sword, And not with such a cruel threatening look. Sweet Clifford, hear me speak before I die : I am too mean a subject for thy wrath; Be thou revenged on men, and let me live. Clif. In vain thou speak'st, poor boy; my father's blood Hath stopp'd the passage where thy words should enter.

Rut. Then let my father's blood open it again:

He is a man, and, Clifford, cope with him.

20

Clif. Had I thy brethren here, their lives and thine
Were not revenge sufficient for me;

25

No, if I digg'd up thy forefathers' graves,
And hung their rotten coffins up in chains,
It could not slake mine ire, nor ease my heart.
The sight of any of the house of York
Is as a fury to torment my soul;
And till I root out their accursed line,
And leave not one alive, I live in hell.
Therefore-

30

[Lifting his hand. 35

Rut. O, let me pray before I take my death!
To thee I pray; sweet Clifford, pity me!
Clif. Such pity as my rapier's point affords.
Rut. I never did thee harm: why wilt thou slay me?
Clif. Thy father hath.

Rut.

But 'twas ere I was born.
Thou hast one son; for his sake pity me,
Lest in revenge thereof, sith God is just,
He be as miserably slain as I.

Ah, let me live in prison all my days;

14, 15. And.. turnes againe

o'er ... comes . . . asunder] 14, 15. And . . . ouer. in sunder Q. 16, 17. Ah! gentle Clifford

.

17. Oh Clifford Looke Q. open it

am too

with him Q.

...

...

40

look] 16,

18. Sweet. die] omitted Q. cope with him] 18-23. I am too 25-34. Had I ... No, if I hung their accursed alive hell. Therefore . . .] 24-32. Had I . Or should I dig ... hang that curssed ... on earth Ile... hell therefore Q. 34. [Lifting his hand] Johnson; omitted Q, Ff. 35-38. O, let me... Such harm: why wilt thou slay me?] 33-36. Oh let me I such. hurt, wherefore wilt thou kill mee? Q. 39-45. Thy father. Ah, let me cause] 37-44. Thy father... Oh, let me .. no cause Q.

And when I give occasion of offence,
Then let me die, for now thou hast no cause.
Clif. No cause!

Thy father slew my father; therefore, die.
Rut. Di faciant laudis summa sit ista tuæ!
Clif. Plantagenet! I come, Plantagenet!

And this thy son's blood cleaving to my blade
Shall rust upon my weapon, till thy blood,
Congeal'd with his, do make me wipe off both.

SCENE IV.-Another part of the field.

Alarum. Enter RICHARD, Duke of York. York. The army of the queen hath got the field: My uncles both are slain in rescuing me;

this... wipe off both] No cause his... wipe off both Q.

SCENE IV.

hunger-starved wolves] 1-4. Ah Yorke, post to thy castell, save thy life, The goale is lost thou house of Lancaster, Thrise happie chance is it for thee and thine, That heauen abridgde my daies and cals me hence Q.

...

And all my followers to the eager foe

Turn back and fly, like ships before the wind,
Or lambs pursued by hunger-starved wolves.
My sons, God knows what hath bechanced them:
But this I know, they have demean'd themselves
Like men born to renown by life or death.
Three times did Richard make a lane to me,

And thrice cried "Courage, father! fight it out!"
And full as oft came Edward to my side,
With purple falchion, painted to the hilt
In blood of those that had encounter'd him :

And when the hardiest warriors did retire,

5

IO

Richard cried "Charge! and give no foot of ground!" 15
And cried "A crown, or else a glorious tomb!

A sceptre, or an earthly sepulchre!"

With this, we charged again: but, out, alas!

...

6-8. My sons .. them: But this . . . death] 5-7. But God knowes what chance hath betide my sonnes: But this. . . death Q. 9-10. Three times it out] 8-9. Three times this daie came Richard to my sight, And cried courage Father: Victorie or death Q. 11-13. And full... side, With... those that.. him] 10-12. And twise so oft came Edward to my view, With whom he had slaughtered Q. 14-21. And when . . . waves] omitted Q.

.

9. make a lane] Compare The Troublesome Raigne of King John. "Make lanes of slaughterd bodies through thine hoast" (Shakespeare Library, Hazlitt ed. p. 246, 1591). And Sylvester, Du Bartas (p. 18, ed. 1621), First Day of First Week :

"Whose two-hand sword...

Slyces through whole Troops at once,

And heaws broad Lanes before it and behinde" (1591).

And thrice]

9, 10. Three times.. See note to 2 Henry VI. III. ii. 358 for a parallel from Spenser. Another is at Faerie Queene, 11. i. 46: "Thrise he her reard, and thrise she sunck againe." The Quarto extends the figure: "And twise so oft," a noncrescendo touch, judiciously altered.

12. purple falchion] falchion, a curved sword; "purple" is used of blood again, II. v. 99 and v. vi. 64. Also in Romeo and Juliet, Lucrece, Venus and Adonis, Richard II. and Richard III. A favourite term with Spenser (Faerie Queene, 1. ii. 17). Upton quotes from Chaucer, in Todd's Spenser. Used by Peele and Greene also, but perhaps one of Spenser's many revivals.

20

We bodged again: as I have seen a swan
With bootless labour swim against the tide,
And spend her strength with over-matching waves.
[A short alarum within.

Ah, hark! the fatal followers do pursue;
And I am faint and cannot fly their fury;
And were I strong I would not shun their fury:
The sands are number'd that make up my life;
Here must I stay, and here my life must end.

25

Enter Queen MARGARET, CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND, the young PRINCE, and Soldiers.

Come, bloody Clifford, rough Northumberland,
I dare your quenchless fury to more rage:
I am your butt, and I abide your shot.
North. Yield to our mercy, proud Plantagenet.
Clif. Ay, to such mercy as his ruthless arm

30

22-26. Ah, hark! ... Here must I . . . end] 13-15. Oh harke, I heare the drums! No waie to flie: No waie to saue my life? And heere I . . end Q. 27. Enter ..] 16. Enter the Queene, Clifford, Northumberland, and souldiers Q. 27-30. Come I rage: am n your shot... mercy .. Plantagenet] 16-19. Came . bloud, This is the But and this abides your shot mercies... Plantagenet Q. 31-34. Ay ruthless ... show'd prick] 20-23. I . . . ruthfull . . . lent

19. bodged] Johnson would read "budge," Collier suggested "botch." In support of the latter Nashe spells the tailor's word (which is hardly used without "up," or without an accusative), "botch," "bodge " in his Dedication prefixed to Greene's Menaphon (Grosart, vi. 16): "to bodge vp a blank verse with ifs and ands" (1589). But in spite of this no doubt the word should be "budge," meaning "flinch," or "give way (Schmidt), often used by Shakespeare. See Coriolanus, I. vi. 44 and 1 Henry IV. II. iv. 388.

19. as I have seen] Compare Golding's Ovid, ix. 58: "So have I seene two myghtie Bulles," etc. Spenser uses Like as," "As when" to introduce his numerous similitudes. Golding has also: "So have I seene a brooke ere this," etc., iii. 721. See "Oft have I seen (2 Henry VI. III. ii. 161).

20. bootless] One of the oldest words in -less.

...

...

pricke Q.

...

matching foes" in Tamburlaine, Part I. Compare Golding's Ovid, viii. 257: "over matching still eche quill with one of larger sort." A different sense. See also Grosart's Greene, xiii. 10, 81.

25. sands . . . life] The hour-glass is a favourite metaphor with Shakespeare. Compare Pericles, v. ii. 1; Cymbeline, III. ii. 74; Merchant of Venice, 1. i. 25; 1 Henry VI. IV. ii. 36; Henry V. Prologue.

28. quenchless] Again in Lucrece, 1554. See Introduction on adjectives with suffix -less. Spenser has "Phlegeton with quenchless flames" in Virgils Gnat (Globe ed. 511, a). Peele uses it in A Tale of Troy (557, b, Dyce, 1874). Marlowe has it also in Edward II. and in Massacre at Paris (later).

29. I am your butt] Compare Henry V. 1. ii. 186. And Sylvester's Du Bartas, Second Day of First Week :"And chiefly Phoebus, to whose arrows bright

(p.

Our Globy Grandame serues for
But and White"

28, ed. 1621) 1591.

31. ruthless]"ruthfull" in Q. Gold

With downright payment show'd unto my father.
Now Phaethon hath tumbled from his car,
And made an evening at the noontide prick.
York. My ashes, as the phoenix, may bring forth
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,

35

40

45

35-39. My ashes, as . . . revenge upon . . . throw . . . come you not? fear?] 24-28. My ashes like . . . .. revenge it on. cast... staie you Lords? feare? Q. 40-43. So cowards. further · falcon's... officers] 29-32. So cowards longer... Ravens. officers Q. 44, 45. O Clif

.

time] 33, 34. Oh Clifford, yet . . . minde...

ford, but... thought.
time. Q.
ing and Spenser (Shepheard's Calender,
August) both use "ruthful." In Rich-
ard III. iv. iii. 5, "ruthless" of the
earliest Quartos is altered to "ruthful"
of the Folios (a rarer word) by some
editors. "Ruthless" though commoner
is later. Peele uses it. "Ruthful"
occurs below (see note), II. v. 95.

46. And . . . face] omitted Q.

33. Phaethon] "Phœbus' fairest childe," as Spenser names him, who tried to drive his father's chariot, is mentioned again below, II. vi. 12; in Romeo and Juliet, III. ii. 2. Such trite classical illustrations belong to Shakespeare's early work. The tale is nowhere better told than in the second book of Golding's Ovid. The passage here is unmercifully lugged in. It is in the Quarto in the same predicament. Both are Shakespeare's work.

34. noontide prick] Compare Lucrece, 781: "Ere her arrive his weary noontide prick." See also Romeo and Juliet, II. iv. 119. "Prick" is a mark or point.

(Sylvester's Du Bartas, Fift Day of
the First Week, p. 104, 1591). The
expression has already occurred in 1
Henry VI. iv. vii. 93 (note). See also
Henry VIII. v. v. 41; and that most
strange poem The Phonix and the
Turtle. 66
Bird," meaning young bird,
chicken, formerly common, is still used
provincially.

41. So doves do peck] See below, II. ii. 18. And Antony and Cleopatra, III. xiii. 197: "In that mood the dove will peck the estridge" (goshawk). The parallels from other undoubted Shakespearian plays adduced in this scene, which is practically identical with Q, set the reader on firm ground at once. Both are by Shakespeare.

41. falcon's... talons] The reading "ravens" in Q seems almost an error. The alteration was necessary. 43. invectives] Only again in Lucrece, Arg. 24. Invectively is in As You Like It. See Harvey's Letters to Spenser, 1581.

66

45. o'errun] survey, review, run 35, 36. phanix . . . bird]:over. Instanced in New Eng. Dict. "Th' immortall Phoenix . . . out back to the year 1000. Not again in

of her ashes springs

A Worm, an Egg then, then a
bird with wings

Just like the first"