Even like a man new haled from the rack, Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer. And death approach not ere my tale be done. Finding his usurpation most unjust, These eyes,-like lamps whose wasting oil is During whose reign, the Percies of the north, spent, Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent : 2 Weak shoulders, overborne with burd'ning grief, And pithless arms, like to a wither'd vine That droops his sapless branches to the ground:-Yet are these feet-whose strengthless stay is numb, Unable to support this lump of clay, Swift-winged with desire to get a grave, As witting I no other comfort have. But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come? Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne: Leaving no heir begotten of his body) I was the next by birth and parentage; For by my mother I derived am From Lionel duke of Clarence, the third son From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree, 1 Keep. Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come: Being but fourth of that heroic line. We sent unto the Temple, to his chamber; And answer was return'd that he will come. But mark; as, in this haughty great attempt, They laboured to plant the rightful heir, Mor. Enough; my soul shall then be satisfied. - I lost my liberty, and they their lives. Poor gentleman! his wrong doth equal mine. Deprived of honour and inheritance: But now, the arbitrator of despairs, Just death, kind umpire of men's miseries, Enter RICHARD PLANTAGENET. 1 Keep. My lord, your loving nephew now is arm; And, in that ease, I'll tell thee my disease. And for alliance' sake, -declare the cause Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was; For I am ignorant, and cannot guess. Mor. I will; if that my fading breath permit, Edmund Mortimer, who was trusted and employed by Henry V. throughout his reign, died of the plague in his own castle at Trim, in Ireland, in 1424-5; being then only thirty-two years old. 1 The heralds that, fore-running death, proclaim its approach. 2 Exigent is here used for end. 3 Pith is used figuratively for strength. 4 That is, he who terminates or concludes misery. 5 Lately despised. 6 Disease for uneasiness, trouble, or grief. It is used in this sense by other ancient writers. 7 Nephew has sometimes the power of the Latin nepos, signifying grandchild, and is used with great laxity among our ancient English writers. It is here used in stead of cousin. 8 Haughty is high, lofty. 9 i e. thinking. This is another falsification of history. Cambridge levied no army; but was apprehended Long after this, when Henry the Fifth,- And have install'd me in the diadem: Plan. Of which, my lord, your honour is the last. Mor. True; and thou seest, that I no issue have; And that my fainting words do warrant death: Thou art my heir; the rest, I wish thee gather :10 But yet be wary in thy studious care. Plan. Thy grave admonishments prevail with me: But yet, methinks, my father's execution Was nothing less than bloody tyranny. Mor. With silence, nephew, be thou politic; Strong-fixed is the house of Lancaster, And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd.11 But now thy uncle is removing hence; As princes do their courts, when they are cloy'd With long continuance in a settled place. Plan. Ö, uncle, 'would, some part of my young years Might but redeem the passage of your age!12 Mor. Thou dost then wrong me; as the slaught'rer doth, Which giveth many wounds, when one will kill. And so farewell: and fair be all thy hopes! [Dies. Plan. And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul! In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage, And like a hermit overpass'd thy days.Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast; And what I do imagine, let that rest.Keepers, convey him hence; and I myself Will see his burial better than his life. [Exeunt Keepers, bearing out MORTIMER. Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer, at Southampton, the night before Henry sailed from that town for France, on the information of this very earl of March. 10 i. e. I acknowledge thee to be my heir; the consequences which may be collected from thence I recom mend it thee to draw. 11 Thus Milton, Paradise Lost, book iv. ;'Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremov'd." 12 The same thought occurs in the celebrated dialogue between Horace and Lydia. There is some resemblance to it in the following lines, supposed to be addressed by a married lady, who died very young, to her husband. Malone thinks that the inscription is in the church of Trent: 'Immatura peri; sed tu diuturnior annos 13 i. e. oppressed by those whose right to the crown was not so good as his own. SCENE I. The same. The Parliament House.2 Flourish. Enter KING HENRY, EXETER, GLOSTER, WARWICK, SOMERSET, and SUFFOLK; the Bishop of Winchester, RICHARD PLANTAGENET, and others. GLOSTER offers to put up a Bill: Winchester snatches it and tears it. Win. Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines, With written pamphlets studiously devis'd, Humphrey of Gloster? if thou canst accuse, Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge, Do it without invention suddenly; As I with sudden and extemporal speech Purpose to answer what thou canst object. Glo. Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience, Or thou should'st find thou hast dishonour'd me. Win. Gloster, I do defy thee.-Lords, vouchsafe Thou bastard of my grandfather!4 As good? Win. Ay, lordly sir; For what are you, I pray, But one imperious in another's throne ? Glo. Am I not the protector, saucy priest? And useth it to patronage his theft. Win. Unreverent Gloster! Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life. 1 My ill is my ill usage. This sentiment resembles another of Falstaff, in the Second Part of King Henry IV.:-'I will turn diseases to commodity.' 2 This parliament was held in 1426 at Leicester, though here represented to have been held in London. King Henry was now in the fifth year of his age. In the first parliament, which was held at London shortly after his father's death, his mother Queen Katharine brought the young king from Windsor to the metropolis, and sat on the throne with the infant in her lap. 3 i e. articles of accusation. Som. My lord, it were your duty to forbear. War. Ay, see the bishop be not overborne. Som. Methinks, my lord should be religious, And know the office that belongs to such. War. Methinks, his lordship should be humbler; It fitteth not a prelate so to plead. Som. Yes, when his holy state is touch'd so near. War. State holy, or unhallow'd, what of that? Is not his grace protector to the king? Plan. Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue; Lest it be said, Speak, sirrah, when you should; Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords? Else would I have a fling at Winchester. [Aside. K. Hen. Uncles of Gloster, and of Winchester, The special watchmen of our English weal; I would prevail, if prayers might prevail, To join your hearts in love and amity. O, what a scandal is it to our crown, That two such noble peers as ye, should jar! Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell, Civil dissension is a viperous worm, That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth.[A noise within; Down with the tawny coats! What tumult's this? War. An uproar, I dare warrant, Begun through malice of the bishop's men. [A noise again; Stones! Stones! Enter the Mayor of London, attended. May. O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry, Pity the city of London, pity us! The bishop and the duke of Gloster's men, Forbidden late to carry any weapon, Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble-stones; And, banding themselves in contrary parts, Do pelt so fast at one another's pate, That many have their giddy brains knock'd out: Our windows are broke down in every street, And we, for fear, compell'd to shut our shops. Enter, skirmishing, the Retainers of GLOSTER and WINCHESTER, with bloody pates. K. Hen. We charge you, on allegiance to our self, To hold your slaught'ring hands, and keep the peace. Pray, uncle Gloster, mitigate this strife. 1 Serv. Nay, if we be Forbidden stones, we'll fall to it with our teeth. 2 Serv. Do what ye dare, we are as resolute. [Skirmish again. Glo. You of my household, leave this peevish broil, And set this unaccustom'd fight aside. And ere that we will suffer such a prince, 1 Serv. Ay, and the very parings of our nails Shall pitch a field, when we are dead. Glo. [Skirmish again. Stay, stay, I say! And, if you love me, as you say you do, K. Hen. O, how this discord doth afflict my soul! of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by Katharine Swynford, whom the duke afterwards married. 5 The jingle between roam and Rome is common to other writers. 6 Johnson explains unaccustomed by unseemly, indecent; and in a note on Romeo and Juliet he says that he thinks he has observed it used in old books for wonder. ful, powerful, efficacious. But he could find no instances of either of these strange uses of the word when he compiled his dictionary. 7 i. e. a bookish person, a pedant, applied in contempto a scholar. Inkhornisms and inkhorn-terms were 4 The bishop of Winchester was an illegitimate son common expressions. Can you, my lord of Winchester, behold War. My lord protector, yield;-yield, Win chester; Except you mean, with obstinate repulse, War. Behold, my lord of Winchester, the duke Glo. Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand. That malice was a great and grievous sin: War. Sweet king!-the bishop hath a kindly For shame, my lord of Winchester! relent; Glo. Ay: but, I fear me, with a hollow heart. See here, my friends, and loving countrymen; Win. So help me God, as I intend it not! [Aside. K. Hen. O, loving uncle, kind duke of Gloster, How joyful am I made by this contract!Away, my masters! trouble us no more; But join in friendship, as your lords have done. 1 Serv. Content; I'll to the surgeon's. 2 Serv. And so will I. 3 Serv. And I will see what physic the tavern War. Accept this scroll, most gracious sovereign; Glo. Well urg'd, my lord of Warwick; -for, sweet prince, And if your grace mark every circumstance, At Eltham-place I told your majesty. K. Hen. And those occasions, uncle, were of force: Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is, War. Let Richard be restored to his blood; K. Hen. Stoop then, and set your knee against my foot; And, in reguerdon of that duty done, 1 A kindly gird is a kind or gentle reproof. A gird, properly, is a cutting reply, a sarcasm, or taunting speech. 2 Reguerdon is recompense, reward. It is perhaps a corruption of regardum, Latin of the middle ages. 3 Ignes suppositos cineri doloso.'-Hor. 4 i. e. so will the malignity of this discord propagate itself, and advance Plan. And so thrive Richard, as thy foes may fall! Som. Perish, base prince, ignoble duke of York! Glo. Now will it best avail your majesty, K. Hen. When Gloster says the word, King Henry goes; For friendly counsel cuts off many foes. [Exeunt all but EXETER. Exe. Ay, we may march in England, or in France, His days may finish ere that hapless time. [Exit. 1 Sold. Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city, Guard. [Within.] Qui est la? [Knocks. Puc. Paisans, pauvres gens de France: Poor market-folks, that come to sell their corn. Guard. Enter, go in; the market-bell is rung. [Opens the Gate. Puc. Now, Rouen, I'll shake thy bulwarks to the ground. [PUCELLE, &c. enter the City. Enter CHARLES, Bastard of Orleans, ALENGON Char. Saint Dennis bless this happy stratagem! Alen. By thrushing out a torch from yonder tower; Puc. Behold, this is the happy wedding torch, Bast. See, noble Charles! the beacon of our friend, 5 The duke of Exeter died shortly after the meeting of this parliament, and the earl of Warwick was appointed governor or tutor to the king in his room. 6 Rouen was anciently written and pronounced Roan. 7 Practice, in the language of the time, was treachery or insidious stratagem. Practisants are therefore con federates in treachery. $ i. e. no way like or compared to that. |