Must by the roots be hewn up yet ere night.
I need not add more fuel to your fire,

For well I wot ye blaze to burn them out:
Give signal to the fight, and to it, lords!

70

Q. Mar. Lords, knights and gentlemen, what I should say
My tears gainsay; for every word I speak,

Ye see, I drink the water of mine eyes.

75

Therefore, no more but this: Henry, your sovereign,
Is prisoner to the foe; his state usurp'd,
His realm a slaughter-house, his subjects slain,
His statutes cancell'd, and his treasure spent ;

And yonder is the wolf that makes this spoil.
You fight in justice: then in God's name, lords,
Be valiant, and give signal to the fight.

80

...

[Alarum. Retreat. Excursions. Exeunt.

73-76. Lords... Henry, your sovereign] 38-41. Lords gaine saie, for as you see, I drinke . eies. Then no ... Henry your King Q. 77-79. Is prisoner. spent] 41-43. is prisoner In the tower, his land and all our friendes Are quite distrest Q. 80-82. And yonder fight] 43-46. and yonder standes The Wolfe that makes all this, Then on Gods name Lords togither cry Saint George. All. Saint George for Lancaster Q.

70. add

fuel to your fire] A standard phrase. It occurs in Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, III. x. 74, 75 (Boas). Indeed it may be regarded as a quotation here from it: "That were to adde more fewell to your fire Who burnt like Ætne for Andreas losse." See also Greene (and Peele), Selimus (1. 490): My lenity adds fuel to his fire."

75. mine eyes] Capell inserted this change from Folio reading, "my eye.'

78. slaughter-house] See note in 2 Henry VI. III. i. 212. It is not in Q there, nor is it here. But at iv. iii. 5 it is in Q (Contention) used by a butcher. Kyd used it (but later) in Soliman and Perseda. It is in Arden of Feversham. Shakespeare uses it in Lucrece, King John, and Richard III.

79. His statutes cancell'd, and his

treasure spent] In his third year (Hall, p. 262) King Edward, “beyng clerely out of doubt fyrst of all, folowyng the old auncient adage which saith that the husbandman ought first to tast of the new growē frute... distributed the possessions of suche as toke parte with Kyng Henry the vi.... The lawes of the realme, in parte he reformed and in parte he newly augmented." But King Henry, in his second reign, proclaimed Edward traitor, "all his possessions were confiscate.. Moreover all thinges decreed, enacted and done by Kyng Edward were abrogated" (Polydore Vergil, p. 134, Camden Soc.). So that sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander, and Margaret had no unfair treatment.

SCENE V.-Another part of the field.

Flourish. Enter King EDWARD, CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER, and Soldiers; with Queen MARGARET, OXFORD, and SOMERSET, prisoners.

K. Edw. Now here a period of tumultuous broils.
Away with Oxford to Hames castle straight:
For Somerset, off with his guilty head.

Go, bear them hence; I will not hear them speak.
Oxf. For my part, I'll not trouble thee with words.
Som. Nor I; but stoop with patience to my fortune.

5

[Exeunt Oxford and Somerset, guarded. Q. Mar. So part we sadly in this troublous world, To meet with joy in sweet Jerusalem.

K. Edw. Is proclamation made, that who finds Edward
Shall have a high reward, and he his life?

Glou. It is and lo! where youthful Edward comes.

Enter Soldiers, with Prince EDWARD.

K. Edw. Bring forth the gallant: let us hear him speak.
What! can so young a thorn begin to prick?

ΙΟ

SCENE V. Flourish. Enter ] Ff (prisoners omitted); Alarmes to the battell, Yorke flies then the chambers be discharged. Then enter the King, Cla. Glo. & the rest, & make a great shout and crie, for Yorke for Yorke, and then the Queene is taken, & the prince, & Oxf. & Sum. and then sound and enter all againe Q. 1-4. Now here . Go. speak] 47-50. Lo here. Awaie I speake Q. words 5, 6. For • fortune] 51, 52. For words. Exit Oxford. Nor... death. Exit Sum. 7, 8. So Ferusalem omitted Q. 9-13. Is proclamation . . . to prick ?] omitted Q.

...

By that wayes side there sate in-
ternall Payne,

...

And fast beside him sat tumultuous
Strife."

2. Away with Oxford to Hames castle] John, Earl of Oxford, escaped from Barnet but did not join Margaret (v. iii. 15). Polydore Vergil says (Čamden, p. 158): "Also the king found meanes to coom by John Erle of Oxford, who not long after the discomfyture receayved at Barnet fled into Cornewall, and both tooke and kept Saint Mychaels Mount, and sent him to a castle beyond Sea caulyd Hammes (Calais), where he was kept prysoner more than xii yeres after."

I.

7, 8. So part we... .. Jerusalem] This is an extraordinarily ineffective and unsuitable remark. Is it meant to portray her complete downfall? She is more like herself below. These words are not in Q, and seem to belong to some other situation. Margaret's father was "King of Naples, Sicilia and Jerusalem" (Part II. i. i. 48), if that is any assistance. The next two speeches are also omitted in Q.

9. Is proclamation made] See below at "Take that," 1. 38.

13. so young a thorn. . . prick] An old saying: "Early sharp that will be thorn" (Nice Wanton (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ii. 161), 1560). "Young doth it prick, that will be a thorn" (Jacob and Esau, (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ii. 196, 234), 1568). Lyly, Endymion, III. i. It is in John

Edward, what satisfaction canst thou make
For bearing arms, for stirring up my subjects,
And all the trouble thou hast turn'd me to?
Prince. Speak like a subject, proud ambitious York.
Suppose that I am now my father's mouth:
Resign thy chair, and where I stand kneel thou,
Whilst I propose the self-same words to thee,
Which, traitor, thou would'st have me answer to.
Q. Mar. Ah, that thy father had been so resolv'd!
Glou. That you might still have worn the petticoat,

And ne'er have stol'n the breech from Lancaster.
Prince. Let Æsop fable in a winter's night;

His currish riddles sort not with this place.
Glou. By heaven, brat, I'll plague ye for that word.
Q. Mar. Ay, thou wast born to be a plague to men.
Glou. For God's sake, take away this captive scold.
Prince. Nay, take away this scolding crook-back rather.

15

20

25

30

make

14-16. Edward, what... me to?] 53, 54. Now Edward what for stirring up my subiects to rebellion? Q. 17-21. Speak . . . answer to] 55-59. Speak answere to Q. 22-30. Ah, that . . . crook-back rather] 60-69. Oh that... kept your Peticote.. plague ye.. Crooktbacke rather Q.

...

Heywood (Sharman's ed. p. 159), 1549: "It pricketh betimes that will be a good thorne." Montaigne says (Florio): "They say in Dauphine

'Si l'espine non picque quand nai, A peine que picque jamai (end of the first Book of Essays).

16. And . . . turn'd me to ?] Malone says here: "This line was one of Shakespeare's additions to the original play." We have almost the same words in The Tempest: "To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to" (1. ii. 64). Schmidt gives several other examples in Shakespeare ("to put to"). None so blind as Malone when he will not see.

17. proud ambitious York] See above, III. iii. 27. And see note at " proud insulting' (1. ii. 138, Part I.). Kyd often turns these or like words the other way. He has "ambitious proud" in Spanish Tragedy, and "tyrannous proud" in Cornelia. I make use of Mr. Crawford's admirable concordance here. "Proud insulting" is in Soliman and Perseda (from Shakespeare) at v. iii. 59, in Boas' arrangement.

18. father's mouth] So in Coriolanus, III. i. 271: "The noble tribunes are the people's mouths." Used as if meaning 66 representative."

23, 24. petticoat breech] See 2

...

...

...

Henry VI. 1. iii. 145 and note. "Breech
means "breeches." Nowhere else in
Shakespeare, but there also applied to
Margaret.

25. Esop] Johnson (a most unlucky commentator) says: "The prince calls Richard, for his crookedness, Æsop; and the poet, following nature, makes Richard highly incensed at the reproach." This is all astray I feel convinced. "That word" that incensed the king was "currish." Æsop is introduced on his proper merits. Several commentators (Marshall, Rolfe) accept Johnson's far-fetched conjecture. However, they can have it as a second aid. Esop is said to have been deformed. See Introduction for a parallel reference to Esop from Two Angry Women of Abingdon (ante 1589).

26. His currish riddles] Gloucester's predilection for proverbial illustration is here enforced."

26. currish] Golding has "The currish Helhounde Cerberus" (Ovid's Metamorphoses, vii. 524, 1567). Spenser uses the word in Mother Hubberds Tale (Globe, 523, b): "crueltie the signe of currish kind." Often in Greene.

30. crook-back] Twice before in this play (1. iv. 75; II. ii. 96), but only in

K. Edw. Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm your tongue.
Clar. Untutor'd lad, thou art too malapert.
Prince. I know my duty; you are all undutiful.

Lascivious Edward, and thou perjured George,
And thou misshapen Dick, I tell ye all
I am your better, traitors as ye are ;
And thou usurp'st my father's right and mine.
K. Edw. Take that, the likeness of this railer here.

Glou. Sprawl'st thou ? take that, to end thy agony.

Clar. And there's for twitting me with perjury.

35

[Stabs him.

[Stabs him.

40

[Stabs him.

as you be Q. 37. And thou here]

31-36. Peace. Peace. tame malepert mine] omitted Q. 38. Take

...

...

the likeness . .

the litnes... here Q (lightnes Q 2, thou likenesse Q 3).
perjury] omitted Q.

Sprawl'st.

this play. It has occurred already in The Contention, Act v., where, however, it is replaced by "stigmatic " in Part II. New Eng. Dict. quotes Fabyan's Chronicle, 1494.

31. charm your tongue] silence you. See Othello, v. ii. 183, and note, in this edition. See 2 Henry VI. IV. i. 64. Qq have "tame," and the change is significant.

32. Untutor'd] See " untutor'd churl" (2 Henry VI. III. ii. 213). Boorish.

32. malapert] saucy. Shakespeare uses it again in Richard III. 1. iii. 255: "you are malapert." Greene has the word a few times. Golding uses "malepertness."

38. Take that] Hall describes this murder: "After the felde ended, Kyng Edward made a Proclamation that who so euer could bring prince Edward to him alyve or dead, shoulde have an annuitie of an C.1. during his lyfe, and the Princes life to be saued. Sir Richard Croftes, a wyse and valyaunt knight, nothing mistrusting... brought furth his prisoner prince Edward. Kyng Edward . . . demaunded of him, how he durst so presumptuously enter in to his Realme with banner displayed. The prince answered sayinge, to recouer my fathers kingdome & enheritage. At which wordes Kyng Edward sayd nothyng, but with his hand thrust hym from hym (or as some say,

...

...

76. take 39, 40.

stroke hym with his gauntlet), whom
incontinent, they that stode about,
whiche were George duke of Clarence,
Rychard duke of Gloucester, Thomas
Marques Dorset, and William lord
Hastynges, sodaynly murthered & pite-
ously manquelled. His body was
homely enterred in Tewkesburye.
This was the last ciuile battayl
in kynge Edwards dayes, whiche was
gotten the iii daye of Maye
M.cccc.lxxi. And on the Monday
next ensuyng was Edmond duke of
Somerset. and xii other... be-
hedded in the market-place at Tewkes-
bury" (p. 301).

38. the likeness] So in Qq 1 and 2; and in Ff. Rowe changed to 66 thou" from Q 3. Not necessary.

39. Sprawl'st] Used only once again in a similar sense (death agony) in Titus Andronicus, v. i. 51: "First hang the child that he may see it sprawl." Compare Nashe and Marlowe, Dido (Grosart, vi. 30): "We saw Cassandra sprauling in the streetes Whom Aiax ravisht in Dianas Fane." And see Nashe's description of "a wonderful spectacle of bloud shed" in The Unfortunate Traveller (Grosart, v. 45).

40. twitting me with] See Part I. III. ii. 55 and Part II. III. i. 178 and note in Part I. Elsewhere only in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Iv. ii. 8: "She twits me with my falsehood to my friend."

[Offers to kill her.

Q. Mar. O, kill me too!
Glou. Marry, and shall.

K. Edw. Hold, Richard, hold! for we have done too much.
Glou. Why should she live, to fill the world with words?
K. Edw. What! doth she swoon? use means for her re-

covery.

Glou. Clarence, excuse me to the king my brother;

I'll hence to London on a serious matter:

Ere ye come there, be sure to hear some news.

Clar. What? what?

Glou. The Tower! the Tower!

45

[Exit. 50

Q. Mar. O Ned, sweet Ned! speak to thy mother, boy!
Canst thou not speak? O traitors! murderers !
They that stabb'd Cæsar shed no blood at all,
Did not offend, nor were not worthy blame,
If this foul deed were by to equal it:

55

He was a man; this, in respect, a child;

And men ne'er spend their fury on a child.

What's worse than murderer, that I may name it?
No, no; my heart will burst an if I speak;
And I will speak, that so my heart may burst.
Butchers and villains! bloody cannibals!

60

How sweet a plant have you untimely cropp'd:

41-45. O, kill . . . much

...

much alreadie

...

...

...

swoon? use . . . recovery] 77-82. Oh kill swound? make recouerie Q. 46-48. Clarence I'll hence ... ye come news] 83-85. Clarence I must come there, you shall heere more newes Q. 49, 50. What . . . Tower] 85, 86. About what, prethe tell me? Glo. The Tower man, the Tower, Ile root them out. Exit Gloster Q. 51-53. O Ned... They at all] 87-90. Ah Ned, speake boy? ah Thou canst not speake. Traytors, Tyrants bloudie Homicides, They at all Q. 54, 55. Did not. . . equal it] omitted Q. 56-58. He was name it] 91-93. For he was... tyrant 59-62. No, no... cropp'd] omitted Q.

42. Marry, and shall] See 2 Henry VI. 1. ii. 88, and note. Occurs in Spanish Tragedy: Shakespeare has it again in 1 Henry IV. v. ii. 34 and in Richard III. II. iv. 36. In Q here, but not in Part II.

44. fill the world with words] Compare Part I. II. ii. 43: "Whose glory fills the world with loud report." And later in the same play, at v. iv. 35. A continuity of authorship expression (like that at 1. 40) of which we have so many in these plays. In the iv. Prologue, 1. 3 of Henry V., this phrase is poetically varied: "Fills the wide vessel of the universe."