Thou art not here: murder is thy alms-deed; Petitioners for blood thou ne'er put'st back. 80 K. Edw. Away, I say; I charge ye, bear her hence. Q. Mar. So come to you and yours, as to this [Exeunt, led out forcibly. prince! K. Edw. Where 's Richard gone? head. Now march we hence: discharge the common sort With pay and thanks, and let's away to Lon don, And see our gentle queen how well she fares: 90 [Exeunt. SCENE VI London. The Tower. Enter King Henry and Gloucester, with the Lieutenant, on the walls. Glou. Good day, my lord. What, at your book so hard? K. Hen. Aye, my good lord: -my lord, I should say rather; 'Tis sin to flatter; 'good' was little better: lord.' + Glou. Sirrah, leave us to ourselves: we must confer. [Exit Lieutenant. 2 K. Hen. So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf; So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece, - Glou. Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; K. Hen. The bird that hath been limed in a bush, With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush; And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird, Have now the fatal object in my eye, Where my poor young was limed, was caught Glou. Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete, 21 K. Hen. I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus; 30 But wherefore dost thou come? is 't for my life? Glou. Thinkst thou I am an executioner? K. Hen. A persecutor, I am sure, thou art: 20. "fool"; Seymour conj. (from Qq.), “fowl.”—I. G. 21. Dædalus, who, being detained in Crete by Minos, made wings for himself and his son Icarus. Icarus' wings were "sear'd" by the sun, and he was drowned.-C. H. H. If murdering innocents be executing, Why, then thou art an executioner. Glou. Thy son I kill'd for his presumption. didst presume, Thou hadst not lived to kill a son of mine. And many an old man's sigh and many a wid- And many an orphan's water-standing eye- 40 trees; The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top, hope, To wit, an indigested and deformed lump, 50 41. "Men for their sons, wives for their husbands"; Anon. conj. (from Qq.), "Wives for their husbands, fathers for their sons"; F. 1, "sonnes, • husbands fate"; Warburton, "sons husbands' fate"; Knight, “sons” husbands," &c. I. G. 45. "aboding luckless time”; Qq., “aboding bald, "a boding tune." I. G. tune"; Theo 48. "discords"; Grant White (from Qq.), “discord.”—I. G. 51. "To wit, an indigested and deformed lump"; Capell (from Qq.), "to wit an indigest deformed lump”; Dyce (Capell conj.) omits "to wit." I. G. Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree. To signify thou camest to bite the world: Glou. I'll hear no more: die, prophet, in thy [Stabs him. speech: For this, amongst the rest, was I ordain'd. K. Hen. Aye, and for much more slaughter after this. O, God forgive my sins, and pardon thee! 60 [Dies. Glou. What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted. See how my sword weeps for the poor king's death! O, may such purple tears be always shed If any spark of life be yet remaining, I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear. And so I was; which plainly signified That I should snarl and bite and play the dog. Then, since the heavens have shaped my body SO, 80 Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it. Be resident in men like one another, Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light: But I will sort a pitchy day for thee; [Exit, with the body. 79. After this line, Theobald inserts from Qq., "I had no father, I am like no father." I. G. 93. The following is Holinshed's account of Henry's death: "Here is to be remembered, that poore king Henrie the sixt, a little before deprived of his realme and imperiall crowne, was now in the Tower spoiled of his life by Richard duke of Glocester, as the constant fame ran; who, to the intent that his brother king Edward might reigne in more suretie, murthered the said king Henrie with a dagger. Howbeit, some writers of that time, favouring altogither the house of Yorke, have recorded, that after he understood what losses had chanced unto his freends, and how not onelie his sonne, but also all other his cheefe partakers were dead and despatched, he tooke it so to hart, that of pure displeasure, indignation, and melancholie, he died the three and twentith of Maie." - H. Ν. Η. |