*That these great lords, and Margaret our queen, * Do seek subversion of thy harmless life?

*Thou never didst them wrong, nor no man wrong, * And as the butcher takes away the calf,

* And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strays, * Bearing it to the bloody slaughter-house,

* Even so, remorseless, have they borne him hence. *And as the dam runs lowing up and down,

*

Looking the way her harmless young one went, * And can do nought but wail her darling's loss, * Even so myself bewails good Gloster's case, *With sad, unhelpful tears; and with dimmed eyes *Look after him, and cannot do him good; *So mighty are his vowed enemies.

6

'His fortunes I will weep; and, 'twixt each groan, Say-Who's a traitor, Gloster he is none.

[Exit. Q. Mar. Free lords; cold snow melts with the sun's hot beams.

Henry my lord is cold in great affairs, *Too full of foolish pity; and Gloster's show * Beguiles him, as the mournful crocodile * With sorrow snares relenting passengers; *Or as the snake, rolled in a flowering bank, *With shining, checkered slough, doth sting a child, *That, for the beauty, thinks it excellent.

* Believe me, lords, were none more wise than I,
* (And yet, herein, I judge mine own wit good,)
This Gloster should be quickly rid the world,
To rid us from the fear we have of him.
*Car. That he should die, is worthy policy;
* But yet we want a color for his death:

*

'Tis meet he be condemned by course of law. * Suff. But, in my mind, that were no policy; * The king will labor still to save his life; *The commons haply rise to save his life ;

1 Warburton thinks that by "free lords" Margaret means "you who are not bound up to such precise regards of religion as is the king; but are men of the world, and know how to live." It has been shown that free meant pure, chaste, and consequently virtuous. This may be the meaning here; unless the reader would rather believe that it means free-born, noble, which was the sense of its Saxon original.

* And yet we have but trivial argument,

* More than mistrust, that shows him worthy death. * York. So that, by this, you would not have him die. Suff. Ah, York, no man alive so fain as I.

*

*York. 'Tis York that hath more reason for his

death.1

* But, my lord cardinal, and you, my lord of Suffolk,— * Say as you think, and speak it from your souls,*Wer't not all one, an empty eagle were set

* To guard the chicken from a hungry kite,

* As place duke Humphrey for the king's protector? Q. Mar. So the poor chicken should be sure of

death.

Suff. Madam, 'tis true; and wer't not madness,

then,

To make the fox surveyor of the fold?
'Who being accused a crafty murderer,
His guilt should be but idly posted over,
Because his purpose is not executed.

No; let him die, in that he is a fox,

By nature proved an enemy to the flock,

'Before his chaps be stained with crimson blood; As Humphrey, proved by reasons, to my liege. And do not stand on quillets, how to slay him: Be it by gins, by snares, by subtlety, 'Sleeping or waking, 'tis no matter how, 'So he be dead; for that is good deceit 'Which mates 2 him first, that first intends deceit. * Q. Mar. Thrice-noble Suffolk, 'tis resolutely spoke. Suff. Not resolute, except so much were done; * For things are often spoke, and seldom meant: But, that my heart accordeth with my tongue,Seeing the deed is meritorious,

*

*

*And to preserve my sovereign from his foe,Say but the word, and I will be his priest.3

1 York had more reason for desiring Humphrey's death, because he stood between him and the crown, which he had proposed to himself in nis ambitious views.

2 i. e. confounds, overcomes.

3 That is, "I will be the attendant on his last scene; I will be the last man whom he shall see."

* Car. But I would have him dead, my lord of

Suffolk,

* Ere you can take due orders for a priest:

*Say you consent, and censure1 well the deed, *And I'll provide his executioner,

*I tender so the safety of my liege.

*Suff. Here is my hand; the deed is worthy doing. Q. Mar. And so say I.

*

*York. And I; and now we three have spoke it, * It skills not greatly 2 who impugns our doom.

Enter a Messenger.

• Mess. Great lords, from Ireland am I come amain, To signify that rebels there are up,

And put the Englishmen unto the sword:

* Send succors, lords, and stop the rage betime, *Before the wound do grow incurable;

*For, being green, there is great hope of help. *Car. A breach, that craves a quick, expedient' stop!

'What counsel give you in this weighty cause?

York. That Somerset be sent as regent thither: ''Tis meet, that lucky ruler be employed; 'Witness the fortune he hath had in France.

Som. If York, with all his far-fet policy, 'Had been the regent there instead of me, 'He never would have staid in France so long. York. No, not to lose it all, as thou hast done. I rather would have lost my life betimes, *Than bring a burden of dishonor home, * By staying there so long, till all were lost. *Show me one scar charáctered on thy skin; * Men's flesh preserved so whole, do seldom win.

* Q. Mar. Nay, then, this spark will prove a raging fire,

*If wind and fuel be brought to feed it with:

1 i. e. judge or think well of it.
3 Expeditious.

2 "It matters not greatly."

4 Far-fetched.

*No more, good York:-sweet Somerset, be still :* Thy fortune, York, hadst thou been regent there, Might happily have proved far worse than his.

*

York. What, worse than naught? nay, then a shame take all!

Som. And in the number, thee, that wishest shame! 'Car. My lord of York, try what your fortune is. • The uncivil kernes of Ireland are in arms,

And temper clay with blood of Englishmen ;
To Ireland will you lead a band of men,

• Collected choicely, from each county some,
And try your hap against the Irishmen?

* York. I will, my lord, so please his majesty. *Suff. Why, our authority is his consent; *And what we do establish, he confirms: *Then, noble York, take thou this task in hand.

York. I am content. Provide me soldiers, lords, "Whiles I take order for mine own affairs.

Suff. A charge, lord York, that I will see performed. But now return we to the false duke Humphrey. 'Car. No more of him; for I will deal with him, That, henceforth, he shall trouble us no more. And so break off; the day is almost spent:

'Lord Suffolk, you and I must talk of that event. York. My lord of Suffolk, within fourteen days, At Bristol I expect my soldiers;

For there I'll ship them all for Ireland.

Suff.. I'll see it truly done, my lord of York.

[Exeunt all but YORK.

York. Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts,

And change misdoubt to resolution.

* Be that thou hop'st to be; or what thou art
*Resign to death; it is not worth the enjoying.

* Let pale-faced fear keep with the mean-born man, *And find no harbor in a royal heart.

*Faster than spring-time showers, comes thought on thought;

*And not a thought, but thinks on dignity.

*

My brain, more busy than the laboring spider,

*

* Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies.
Well, nobles, well, 'tis politicly done,
*To send me packing with a host of men;
* I fear me, you but warm the starved snake,

* Who, cherished in your breasts, will sting your hearts. 'Twas men I lacked, and you will give them me; 'I take it kindly; yet, be well assured

You put sharp weapons in a madman's hands.
Whiles I in Ireland nourish a mighty band,
* I will stir up in England some black storm,
* Shall blow ten thousand souls to heaven, or hell;
*And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage
* Until the golden circuit on my head,

* Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams,
* Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw.
'And, for a minister of my intent,
'I have seduced a headstrong Kentishman,
John Cade of Ashford,

To make commotion, as full well he can,
Under the title of John Mortimer.

* In Ireland have I seen this stubborn Cade
Oppose himself against a troop of kernes;

*

1

* And fought so long, till that his thighs with darts
* Were almost like a sharp-quilled porcupine;
* And, in the end being rescued, I have seen him
Caper upright like a wild Morisco,2

*

6

* Shaking the bloody darts, as he his bells.

* Full often, like a shag-haired crafty kerne,
* Hath he conversed with the enemy;
* And undiscovered come to me again,
* And given me notice of their villanies.
*This devil here shall be my substitute;
* For that John Mortimer, which now is dead,
*In face, in gait, in speech, he doth resemble;

By this I shall perceive the commons' mind,

1 Kernes were Irish peasantry, who served as light-armed foot-soldiers. 2 A dancer in a morris-dance; originally, perhaps, meant to imitate a Moorish dance, and thence named. The bells sufficiently indicate that the English morris-dancer is intended. It appears from Blount's Glossography, and some of our old writers, that the dance itself was called a

morisco.