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. Clif. Had I thy brethren here, their lives and thine Is as a fury to torment my soul; 20 25 30 [Lifting his hand. 35 Rut. O, let me pray before I take my death! Rut. But 'twas ere I was born. Ah, let me live in prison all my days; 14, 15. And. o'er ... comes . asunder] 14, 15. And ouer 40 turnes againe .. in sunder Q. 16, 17. Ah! gentle Clifford . . . look] 16, 17. Oh Clifford . . . looke Q. 18. Sweet. die] omitted Q. 19-24. I ... ope it cope their accursed am too. open it... cope with him] 18-23. I am too with him Q. 25-34. Had I ... No, if I hung alive. hell. Therefore ] 24-32. Had I . Or should I dig ... hang that curssed ... .. on earth Ile... hell therefore Q. [Lifting his hand] Johnson; omitted Q, Ff. 35-38. O, let me.. harm: why wilt thou slay me ?] 33-36. Oh let me I such. fore wilt thou kill mee? Q. 39-45. Thy father. Ah, let me... no cause] 37-44. Thy father. Oh, let me... no cause Q. 35. before I take my death] See 2 Henry VI. II. iii. 88. Nowhere else in Shakespeare. And when I give occasion of offence, Thy father slew my father; therefore, die. And this thy son's blood cleaving to my blade 45 [Stabs him. [Dies. SCENE IV.-Another part of the field. 50 [Exit. (Rutland's latin [Stabs him, Dies, omitted Q, 1-5. The army 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. 47. therefore, die] Rutland's brutal murder is thus told by Hall: "While this battaile was in fightyng, a prieste called sir Robert Aspall, chappelain and schole master to the yong erle of Rutland, ii sonne to the aboue named duke of Yorke, scace of ye age of xii yeres, a faire gētlemā, and a maydenlike person, perceivyng yt flight was more sauegard conveyed therle out of ye felde but... he was by the sayd lord Clifford espied, folowed and taken. The yong gentelman dismaied, had not a word to speake, but kneled on his knees imploryng mercy, and desiryng grace, both with holding up his handes and making dolorous countinance, for his speeche was gone for feare. Saue him sayde his Chappelein, for he is a princes sonne, and peraduenture may do you good hereafter. With that worde, the Lord Clifford marked him and sayde: by Gods blode, thy father slew myne, and so wil I do the and all thy kyn, and with that woord, stacke the [strake in Grafton] erle to ye hart with his dagger, and bad his Chappeleyn bere the erles mother & brother worde what he had done, and sayde. In this acte the lord Clyfford was accompted a tyraunt, and no gentelman, for the properties of the Lyon, which is a furious and vnreasonable beast, is to be cruell to them that withstande him, and gentle to such as prostrate or humiliate them selues before him" (p. 251, ed. 1809). 48. Di... tua] "This line is in Ovid's Epistle from Phyllis to Demophoon. I find the same quotation in Nashe's Haue with you to Saffron Walden, or Gabriell Harvey's Hunt is up, etc." (Steevens, i. 596). 51, 52. thy blood, Congeal'd] See again v. ii. 37. Spenser uses the same expression: His cruell wounds with cruddy bloud congeald" (Faerie Queene, I. v. 29). The 52. Congeal'd with his] Undoubtedly the Quartos are correct here. Cambridge editors have the collation "this] his Anon. conj." Confirmation strong; but " Anon." wasn't far to seek. ... And all my followers to the eager foe 5 ΙΟ Richard cried "Charge! and give no foot of ground!" 15 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. 3. eager foe] Compare Golding's Ovid (xi. 462, 463):— "For anon the woolfe ... Fast byghting on a Bullocks 4. Thrise happie] of Q. See Introduction to Part I. upon this. See also "thrice famed," 2 Henry VI. III. ii. 157 (note); a Spenserian expression. 5. hunger starved] See note on "hungry-starved men" (1 Henry VI. I. v. 16). Not met with again in Shakespeare. Frequent with writers of this date, especially Nashe. It is in Golding's Ovid (xiv. 241-243): "And lying lyke a Lyon feerce or hunger sterued hownd Uppon them, very eagerlie he downe his greedy gut Theyr bowwells. put." New Eng. Dict. has earlier examples of the verb "to hunger starve," and the part. adj. "hunger-starven.' Not in Q. 6. bechanced] See Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. i. 61, and Merchant of Venice, 1. i. 38. 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). 9, 10. Three times . And thrice] See note to 2 Henry VI. III. ii. 358 for a parallel from Spenser. Another is at Faerie Queene, II. 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. by Peele and Greene also, but perhaps one of Spenser's many revivals. Used 20 We bodged again: as I have seen a swan Ah, hark! the fatal followers do pursue; 25 Enter Queen MARGARET, CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND, the young PRINCE, and Soldiers. Come, bloody Clifford, rough Northumberland, ... 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 . rage: I am your shot... mercy Plantagenet] 16-19. Came bloud, This is the But and this abides your shot mercies Plantagenet Q. 31-34. Ay 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. 11. 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. 111. ii. 161). 20. bootless] One of the oldest words in -less. 21. over-matching] "o'ermatched " Occurs 1 Henry VI. IV. iv. II and below in this scene, line 64; but not again in Shakespeare. Marlowe has " over ruthless pricke Q. show'd 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. I; Cymbeline, 111. 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. I. ii. 186. And Sylvester's Du Bartas, Second Day of First Week :"And chiefly Phoebus, to whose arrows bright Our Globy Grandame serues for But and White" (p. 28, ed. 1621) 1591. 31. ruthless]"ruthfull" in Q. Gold With downright payment show'd unto my father. So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons; And in thy thought o'errun my former time; 35-39. My ashes, as . . revenge upon fear?] 24-28. My ashes like. revenge it on throw cast ... 35 40 45 come you not? .. ... staie you Lords? feare? Q. 40-43. So cowards. further falcon's officers] 29-32. So cowards longer Ravens officers Q. ford, but. thought time] 33, 34. Oh Clifford, yet. time. Q. 46. And.. .face] omitted Q. ... ing and Spenser (Shepheard's Calender, August) both use "ruthful." In Richard 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. 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. bird]: 35, 36. Phonix A Worm, an Egg then, then a 44, 45. O Clifminde.. |