And takes her farewell of the glorious sun;
How well resembles it the prime of youth,
Trimm'd like a younker prancing to his love.
Edw. Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?
Rich. Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun;
Not separated with the racking clouds,
But sever'd in a pale clear-shining sky.
See, see! they join, embrace, and seem to kiss,
As if they vow'd some league inviolable :
Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun.
In this the heaven figures some event.

23, 24. How well... love] omitted Q.

26-32. Three ..

sun; Not . . . with the... clouds, But figures some event] 12-18. Three . suns, not inuiolate: Now . . . heauens doth figure some euent Q.

Warton's note to Faerie Queene picks the figure to pieces in the most approved and dry-as-dustiest way.

22. takes her farewell]" Aurora takes for a time her farewell of the sun, when she dismisses him to his diurnal course' (Johnson).

23. the prime of youth] Compare " In prime of youthly yeares (Faerie Queene, 1. ii. 35).

24. younker] Again in Henry IV. III. iii. 92. Spenser (or rather E. K.'s gloss) has the word "disdainefull younkers" in The Shepheard's Calender, Februarie (1579).

25. Dazzle mine eyes] are my eyes dazed or dimmed. Compare Golding's Ovid, v. 87: "Atys lay with dim and dazeling eyes." And Spenser, Faerie Queene, II. xi. 40:

"His wonder far exceeded reasons reach,

That he began to doubt his dazeled sight.' Peele has it twice in Arraignment of Paris. See also Locrine, I. i. This line is copied in Soliman and Perseda, II. i. 244: "Dasell mine eyes, or ist Lucinas chaine?"

25. three suns] The chroniclers place this portent before Mortimer's Cross. After the death of his father, "the Duke of Yorke called Erle of Marche . . . met with his enemies in a fayre plaine, neere to Mortimers crosse, not farre from Herford East, on Candlemasse day in the mornyng, at which tyme the Sunne (as some write) appered to the Erle of Marche like three Sunnes, and sodainely ioyned all together in

25

30

suns, each

inviolable: Now

by a... cloud, but

one, and that upon the sight thereof, he tooke such courage, that he fiercely set on his enemyes, and them shortly discomfited: for which cause, men imagined that he gaue the sunne in his full brightnesse for his Cognisance or Badge" (Grafton, i. 672). Boswell Stone says: "According to Chron. Rich. II.-Henry VI.(Camden Society), the three suns were seen about 10 A.M., on 2nd February, 1461; and the battle of Mortimer's Cross was fought on the following day." History is not adhered to in this scene: there is no room for the battle of Mortimer's Cross, and Edward was at Gloucester when he heard of his father's death. There is much confusion of events.

27. racking clouds] clouds packing and scudding before the wind. Compare Marlowe's Tamburlaine, Part II. IV. iii. (Dyce, 65, a): "draw My chariot swifter than the racking clouds." Steevens quotes from The Raigne of King Edward III. (1569) :—

"like inconstant clouds That, rack'd upon the carriage of the winds,

Edw. 'Tis wondrous strange, the like yet never heard of.
I think it cites us, brother, to the field,

That we, the sons of brave Plantagenet,
Each one already blazing by our meeds,

35

Should notwithstanding join our lights together,
And over-shine the earth, as this the world.

Whate'er it bodes, henceforward will I bear
Upon my target three fair-shining suns.

Rich. Nay, bear three daughters: by your leave I speak it,
You love the breeder better than the male.

Enter a Messenger.

But what art thou, whose heavy looks foretell
Some dreadful story hanging on thy tongue?

Mess. Ah, one that was a woeful looker-on

Whenas the noble Duke of York was slain,
Your princely father and my loving lord!

Edw. O, speak no more, for I have heard too much.
Rich. Say how he died, for I will hear it all.
Mess. Environed he was with many foes,

And stood against them, as the hope of Troy
Against the Greeks that would have enter'd Troy.
But Hercules himself must yield to odds;

33. 'Tis . . . heard of] omitted Q.

Each

34-36. I think it blazing... meeds] 18-20. Edw. I think it Alreadie, each one shining by his meed Q. 37-40. Should

40

45

50

Plantagenet, Plantagenet, will I bear

suns] 21-23. May ioine in one and over peere the world, As this the earth, and therefore hence forward Ile beare ... suns Q. 41, 42. Rich. Nay male] omitted Q. 42. Enter. .] omitted Q; Enter one blowing Ff. 44. But... tongue ?] 24 (Edw.) But what art thou? that lookest so heauilie ? Q. 45, 46. Mess. Ah, one .

slain] 25, 26. Mes. Oh one . . . slaine Q.

43,

47.

48. O, speak... have. much] 27. O speake 49. Say for. all] 28. Tell on thy tale, for despite] 29-34. When

all Q. 50-59. Environed.

...

...

...

Who crown'd.

50. Environed .] See above, 1. i. 242: "The trembling lamb environed with wolves." "Environed about" was more usual.

51. the hope of Troy] Hector, as at IV. viii. 25 below. See note at 1 Henry VI. II. iii. 19. Hector and Hercules were Shakespeare's favourite heroes. These lines are not in the Quarto.

53. Hercules. . . odds] An old Latin proverb in Aulus Gellius: "Ne Hercules quidem contra duos." Lodge quotes it in Euphues Golden Legacie

And many strokes, though with a little axe,
Hew down and fell the hardest-timber'd oak.
By many hands your father was subdu'd;
But only slaughter'd by the ireful arm
Of unrelenting Clifford and the queen,

55

Who crown'd the gracious duke in high despite ;
Laugh'd in his face; and, when with grief he wept,
The ruthless queen gave him to dry his cheeks
A napkin steeped in the harmless blood

Of sweet young Rutland, by rough Clifford slain :
And after many scorns, many foul taunts,
They took his head, and on the gates of York
They set the same; and there it doth remain,
The saddest spectacle that e'er I view'd.

60

65

...

as the noble Duke was put to flight, And then pursude by Clifford and the Queene, And manie souldiers moe, who all at once Let drive at him and forst the Duke to yield: And then they set him on a molehill there, And crownd.. despite Q. 60-63. Laugh'd. blood of slain:] 35-39. Who then with teares began to waile his fall. The ruthlesse Queene perceiving he did weepe, Gaue him a handkercher to wipe his eies, Dipt in the bloude of slaine: Q. 64-67. And after I view'd] 39-44. who weeping tooke it up, Then through his brest they thrust their bloudy swordes, Who like a lambe fell at the butcher's feete. Then on the gates of Yorke they set his head, And there it doth remaine the piteous spectacle That ere mine eies beheld Q.

...

(Hazlitt, Shakespeare's Library, p. 96), 1590. And Greene, Art of Conny Catching (Grosart, x. 60), 1591: "But might overcomes right, and therefore Ne Hercules contra duos." See also Greene's George a Greene (Dyce, 1874, p. 259). This line is in Q at v. ii. 33. See

note.

54, 55. many strokes fell the oak] An old proverb. See Lyly's Euphues (Arber, p. 91), 1579: "Soft dropps of raine perce the hardest marble, many strokes overthrow the tallest oke." And in Whitney's Emblems, To the Reader (ed. Greene, p. 13), 1586: "Manie droppes perce the stone, & with manie blowes the oke is overthrowen." It is in The Spanish Tragedy, taken from Watson. See note at III. ii. 50 below.

55. hardest timber'd] Compare "clean - timbered," Love's Labour's Lost, v. ii. 629, and see note in this edition.

57. ireful] See note to 1 Henry VI. IV. vi. 16. And its Introduction. Only in Shakespeare's early work.

58. unrelenting] See 1 Henry VI. v. iv. 59. Also in Titus Andronicus.

Sylvester has "unrelenting eys" in
Du Bartas, Seventh Day of the First
Week, p. 152, 1591. Earlier in Peele ?

59. Who crown'd] For the line in Q:
"And then they set him on a molehill
here," see below, II. v. 14: "Here, on
this molehill will I set me down." The
molehill is removed farther from 1. iv.
67.
.. York] See at 1. iv.

65. head 179, 180.

66. They set the same] A note in the Irving Shakespeare (by Mr. F. A. Marshall) points out the use of this circumlocution several times in Marlowe; in Greene's Alphonsus (twentyone times); and (earliest) in Peele's Sir Clyomon (four times). It is extremely common in Shakespeare's earliest work (see Schmidt), and was a sign of the time, not an evidence of authorship. It occurs nine times in this trilogy and Richard III. See next note for Spenser's use.

67. The saddest . that e're] A Spenserian line. See Introduction to Part I. "Piteous spectacle" of Q is a favourite expression with Spenser. He has it in Faerie Queene, 1. ix. 37; II.

Edw. Sweet Duke of York! our prop to lean upon,
Now thou art gone, we have no staff, no stay.
O Clifford, boisterous Clifford! thou hast slain
The flower of Europe for his chivalry;
And treacherously hast thou vanquish'd him,
For hand to hand he would have vanquish'd thee.
Now my soul's palace is become a prison:

70

Ah, would she break from hence, that this my body 75

68, 69. Sweet

74-78.

gone... stay] 45, 46. Sweet . . . gone there is no hope for us Q. 70-73. O Clifford ... vanquish'd thee] omitted Q. Now prison.. more joy] 47-49. Now... prison. Oh would she breake from compasse of my breast, For never shall I haue more ioie Q.

xii. 45; IV. iii. 21, etc. And in Astrophel, st. 34 (1586-7):—

"And when that piteous spectacle
they vewed

The same with bitter teares they
all bedewed."

See below, II. v. 73.

68, 69. Sweet . stay] Compare Tamburlaine, Part I. 1. i. (Dyce, 8, a) :"The hope of Persia and the very legs

Whereon our state doth lean as on

a staff." Furnival (Introduction to Facsimile) points out that these two lines are found in Marlowe's Massacre at Paris, III. iii. (Dyce, 243, b); (reading Guise for York, and the last half line slightly altered). Of the two I believe Marlowe is the later.

70. boisterous] The strong sense of "savage," appropriate here, is obsolete. Compare Hawes' Pastime of Pleasure (rept. p. 48) :—

"Vylayne courage.

That is boystrous and rude of
governance."

And Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1. viii. 10:
"His boystrous club" ("his dreadful
club" a few lines earlier).

71. The flower . chivalry] Compare Grafton, Edward the Thirde (i. 332): "Edward . . . accompted the Flower of all Chyualrye, throughout all the worlde, and also some writers name him the black prince." And in Hawes' Pastime of Pleasure, p. 116 (1509), rept. But it is more interesting to find it in Contention, IV. x., and omitted from Part II.

73. hand to hand] Occurs again 1 Henry IV. 1. iii. 99; and below, II. v. 56. In single combat. Earlier in New

Eng. Dict. It occurs in The Contention, IV. x. 50. See Spanish Tragedy, 1. iii. 63 :

"I saw him, hand to hand, In single fight with their Lord Generall."

Frequent in Berners' Froissart.

...

73, 74, 77, 78. vanquish'd him vanquish'd thee joy again more joy] Here we have some very limp iteration introduced that is not in the Quarto-showing the futility of hard and fast theories. The latter lines of this speech are much in Peele's manner. He probably considered himself, and indeed was something of an adept at pathos (see David and Bethsabe), and may have been allotted a finishing touch or two.

74. soul's palace ·· prison] Peele has this metaphor twice: Edward I. Sc. xxv. (411, a, Dyce, 1874) :

First, in this painful prison of my soul,

A world of dreadful sins holp there to fight";

and in Battle of Alcazar, Act v. (439, a)

"Whose weapons have made pas

sage for my soul

That breaks from out the prison of
my brest."

This is directly from Tamburlaine,
Part II. iv. ii. (63, b):—

"draw your sword,

Making a passage for this troubled soul

Which beats against this prison to get out."

But earlier in Lyly's Campaspe (1584), 1. ii. "the bodie is the prison of the soule... to make my bodie immortal, I put it to prison."

Might in the ground be closed up in rest!

For never henceforth shall I joy again,
Never, O never, shall I see more joy!

Rich. I cannot weep, for all my body's moisture

Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart;
Nor can my tongue unload my heart's great burthen;
For self-same wind that I should speak withal
Is kindling coals that fires all my breast,

And burns me up with flames that tears would quench.
To weep is to make less the depth of grief:
Tears then for babes; blows and revenge for me!
Richard, I bear thy name; I'll venge thy death,
Or die renowned by attempting it.

Edw. His name that valiant duke hath left with thee;
His dukedom and his chair with me is left.

Rich. Nay, if thou be that princely eagle's bird,

Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun :
For chair and dukedom, throne and kingdom say;
Either that is thine, or else thou wert not his.

body's . . . heart] 50, 51. I cannot breasts
Richard. I'll venge
renowned

80

85

90

79, 80. I cannot hart Q. 81-88. Nor can it] 52-55. I cannot ioie till this white rose be dide, Euen in the hart bloud of the house of Lancaster. Richard . . . and Ile reuenge reuenge Q. 89, 90. His .. thee; His chaire and Dukedome that remains for me Q. Either not his] 58-61. Nay, if thou..

...

76. closed up in rest] Shakespeare never uses "close up " (verb), except of the eyes, elsewhere.

...

79-87. I cannot weep venge thy death] Neatly put in Locrine, III. i. 60, 61:

"He loves not most that doth lament
the most,

But he that seeks to venge the
injury."

The two omitted lines here are found
almost repeated in Contention and
thence to 2 Henry VI. II. ii. 64-66.
See my note. More continuity evidence.
91. princely eagle] Marlowe calls it
"princely fowl.. of Jove" (Tambur-
laine, Part II. 1. i. (Dyce, 45, a)); and at
IV. iii. (66, b), "drawn with princely
eagles."

91. bird] young of any fowl. See above, 1. iv. 36, and 1 Henry IV. v. i. 60, and Titus Andronicus, II. iii. 154. Golding speaks of a nest of "eight byrdes" in Ovid's Metamorphoses, xii. 15. And in iv. 524 "bird" means child ("this harlots burd").

...

...

my selfe in seeking of left] 56, 57. His . . . thee, His 91-94. Nay, if thou. say; saie: For either not his? Q.

...

91, 92. eagle's bird gazing 'gainst the sun] A very old fancy, arising no doubt from the eagle's powerful sight. Marshall says Aristotle (lib. 20) is cited as an authority. Pliny says (xxix. 6, p. 367, Holland's trans.): "that Egle (which I said heretofore, to prove and trie her yong birds, useth to force them for to look directly upon the sunne) . . . Haliartos, i. the seaEgle or Orfray" (margin). He refers in this passage to bk. x. ch. 3. Halliwell says "Chaucer alludes to this in the Assemblie of Foules" (his quotation is insufficient). He also quotes from Spenser's Hymn of Heavenly Beauty, st. 20. An early instance (1591) is in Sylvester's Du Bartas, P. 112, The Fifth Day of the First Week:"this Damsell

...

Two tender Eaglets in a nest espies,

Which 'gainst the sun sate trying of their eyes."