THIRD PART OF KING HENRY VI. ACT I. SCENE I. London. The Parliament-House. Drums. Some Soldiers of York's party break in. Then, Enter the Duke of YORK, EDWARD, RICHARD, NORFOLK, MONTAGUE, WARWICK, and Others, with white Roses in their Hats. WAR. I wonder, how the king escap'd our hands. north, He flily stole away, and left his men : Whereat the great lord of Northumberland, Whose warlike ears could never brook retreat, 'Cheer'd up the drooping army; and himself, 'Lord Clifford, and lord Stafford, all a-breaft, ' Charg'd our main battle's front, and, breaking in, I Third Part of King Henry VI.] This play is only divided from the former for the convenience of exhibition; for the series of action is continued without interruption, nor are any two scenes of any play more closely connected than the first scene of this play with the last of the former. JOHNSON. • Were by the swords of common soldiers slain.* EDW. Lord Stafford's father, duke of Bucking ham, • Is either flain, or wounded dangerous : [Showing his bloody Sword. MONT. And, brother, here's the earl of Wiltshire's blood, [To YORK, showing his. Whom I encounter'd as the battles join'd. 2 RICH. Speak thou for me, and tell them what I did.3 [Throwing down the Duke of SOMERSET'S Head. Were by the fwords of common foldiers flain.) See the Second Part of this Play, p. 386, n. 1. REED. This is an inadvertency in our author. The elder Clifford was flain by York, and his son lives to revenge his death. M. MASON. Dr. Percy in a note on the preceding play, has pointed out the inconsistency between this account, and the representation there, Clifford being killed on the stage by the Duke of York, the present speaker. Shakspeare was led into this inconsistency by the author of the original plays: if indeed there was but one author, for this circumstance might lead us to suspect that the first and fecond part of The Contention &c. were not written by the fame hand. However, this is not decisive; for the author, whoever he was, might have been inadvertent, as we find Shakspeare undoubtedly was. MALONE. 3 Rich. Speak thou for me, and tell them what I did.] Here, as Mr. Elderton of Salisbury has observed to me, is a gross anachronism. At the time of the first battle of Saint Albans, at which Richard is represented in the last scene of the preceding play to have fought, he was, according to that gentleman's calculation, not one year old, having (as he conceives,) been born at Fotheringay Castle, October 21, 1454. At the time to which the third scene of the first Act of this play is referred, he was, according to the same gentleman's computation, but fix years old; and in the fifth Act, in which Henry is represented as having * YORK. Richard hath best deserv'd of all my fons. What, is your grace 4 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 fee thee seated in that throne Which now the house of Lancaster ufurps, I vow by heaven, these eyes shall never close. This is the palace of the fearful king, ' And this the regal feat: 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. been killed by him in the Tower, not more than fixteen 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. • 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, YORK. Thanks, gentle Norfolk, -Stay by me, my lords ; 'And, foldiers, 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 houfe. 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 poffeffion of my right. WAR. Neither the king, nor he that loves him beft, The proudest he that holds up Lancaster, Dares ftir a wing, if Warwick shake his bells.5 'I'll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares :Resolve thee, Richard; claim the English crown. 5 [WARWICK leads YORK to the Throne, who Seats hinfelf. if Warwick Shake his bells.] The allufion is to falconry. The hawks had fometimes little bells hung upon them, perhaps to dare the birds; that is, to fright them from rifing. 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 fits, 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 flew thy father ;And thine, lord Clifford; and you both have vow'd revenge On him, his fons, his favourites, and his friends. 'NORTH. If I be not, heavens, be reveng'd on me! CLIF. The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel. WEST. What, shall we fuffer 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 ;6 NORTH. Well haft thou spoken, coufin; be it fo. them, And they have troops of foldiers at their beck? 6 and fuch as he :) Thus the second folio. The first folio and the quartos omit-and. STEEVENS. |