Like to a dismal clangor heard from far,'Warwick, revenge! brother, revenge my death! 'So underneath the belly of their steeds, 'That stain'd their fetlocks in his smoking blood, The noble gentleman gave up the ghoft.

WAR. Then let the earth be drunken with our
blood:

I'll kill my horse, because I will not fly.4
* Why stand we like soft-hearted women here,
* Wailing our loffes, whiles the foe doth rage;
* And look upon,5 as if the tragedy

* Were play'd in jeft by counterfeiting actors ?
'Here on my knee I vow to God above,
' I'll never pause again, never stand still,
'Till either death hath clos'd these eyes of mine,
Or fortune given me measure of revenge.

EDW. O Warwick, I do bend my knee with thine;

brother to the erle of Warwick, a valiant young gentleman, and of great audacitie." Holinshed, p. 664. In this action at Ferrybridge, which happened on the 28th of March, 1461, the day before the great battle of Towton, Lord Clifford was killed. The author of this play has blended the two actions together. MALONE.

* I'll kill my horse, &c.] So, in The Miseries of Queen Margaret, by Drayton :

"Resolv'd to win, or bid the world adieu :
"Which spoke, the earl his sprightly courser flew."

Again, in Daniel's Civil Wars, B. VIII. st. xiii.
From Hall, Henry VI. p. 102. See p. 71, n. 7.

STEEVENS.

5 And look upon,] And are mere spectators. So, in The Winter's Tale, where I idly suspected some corruption in the text:

"And look on alike." MALONE.

'And, in this vow, do chain my foul to thine. * And, ere my knee rise from the earth's cold face, * I throw my hands, mine eyes, my heart to thee, Thou fetter up and plucker down of kings! Beseeching thee, if with thy will it stands, That to my foes this body must be prey, Yet that thy brazen gates of heaven may ope, ' And give sweet passage to my finful foul!"Now, lords, take leave until we meet again, Where-e'er it be, in heaven, or on earth.

RICH. Brother, give me thy hand;-and, gentle

Warwick,

Let me embrace thee in my weary arms :'I, that did never weep, now melt with woe, * That winter should cut off our spring-time fo.

And, in this vow, do chain my foul to thine.] Thus the folio. The quarto as follows:

"And in that vow now join my foul to thee."

STEEVENS.

"Befeeching thee,) That is, beseeching the divine power. Shakspeare in new-forming this speech may seem, at the first view of it, to have made it obfcure, by placing this line immediately after-"Thou fetter up," &c.

What I have now obferved is founded on a fuppofition that the words "Thou fetter up," &c. are applied to Warwick, as they appear to be in the old play. However, our author certainly intended to deviate from it, and to apply this description to the Deity; and this is another strong confirmation of the obfervation already made relative to the variations between these pieces and the elder dramas on which they were formed. In the old play the speech runs thus:

"Lord Warwick, I do bend my knees with thine,
"And in that vow now join my foul to thee,
"Thou setter-up and puller-down of kings:-
"Vouchsafe a gentle victory to us,

"Or let us die before we lose the day !"

The last two lines are certainly here addressed to the Deity; but the preceding line, notwithstanding the anachronism, seems to be addressed to Warwick. MALONE.

WAR. Away, away! Once more, sweet lords,

farewell.

GEO. Yet let us all together to our troops, And give them leave to fly that will not stay; And call them pillars, that will stand to us; 'And, if we thrive, promise them such rewards 'As victors wear at the Olympian games : * This may plant courage in their quailing & breasts; * For yet is hope of life, and victory.

* Fore-flow no longer, make we hence amain.

I

[Exeunt.

-quailing-] i. e. finking into dejection. So, in Cym

beline:

my false spirits

Quail to remember:-" STEEVENS.

9 Fore-flow no longer,] To fore-flow is to be dilatory, to loiter.

So, in The Battle of Alcazar, 1594:

"

Why, king Sebastian, wilt thou now foreflow?" Again, in Marlowe's Edward II. 1598 :

"

Foreflow no time; sweet Lancaster, let's march." Again, in Promos and Caffandra, 1578:

"Good knight, for time do not my suit foreslow."

STEEVENS.

make we hence amain.] Instead of this and the two "Geo. Then let us hafte to cheare the fouldiers' hearts, "And call them pillers that will stand to us, "And highly promise to remunerate "Their truftie service in these dangerous warres.

preceding speeches, we have in the old play the following:

"Rich. Come, come away, and stand not to debate,
"For yet is hope of fortune good enough.
"Brothers, give me your handes, and let us part,
"And take our leaves untill we meete againe;
"Where ere it be, in heaven or in earth.

"Now I that never wept, now melt in woe,
"To see these dire mishaps continue so.

"Warwick, farewell."

"War. Away, away; once more, sweet lords, farewell." MALONE.

SCENE IV.

The fame. Another Part of the Field.

Excursions. Enter RICHARD and CLIFFORD.

RICH. Now, Clifford, I have singled thee alone : 'Suppose, this arm is for the duke of York, ' And this for Rutland; both bound to revenge, • Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall.3

CLIF. Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone : This is the hand, that stabb'd thy father York; And this the hand that flew thy brother Rutland; And here's the heart, that triumphs in their death, And cheers these hands, that flew thy fire and bro

ther,

To execute the like upon thyself;
And fo, have at thee.

2

[They fight. WARWICK.enters; CLIFFORD flies.

Now, Clifford, I have fingled thee alone: &c.] Thus the folio. The quartos thus :

"Now, Clifford, for York and young Rutland's death,
"This thirsty sword, that longs to drink thy blood,
"Shall lop thy limbs, and flice thy cursed heart,

"For to revenge the murders thou haft made."

STEEVENS.

3 Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall.] So, in the second Thebaid of Statius, v. 453:

non fi te ferreus agger

"Ambiat,-" STEEVENS.

RICH. Nay, Warwick, single out some other

chase;

• For I myself will hunt this wolf to death.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Another Part of the Field.

Alarum. Enter King HENRY.

* K. HEN. This battle fares like to the morning's war,5

* When dying clouds contend with growing light;

* Nay, Warwick, &c.] We have had two very fimilar lines in the preceding play, p. 384:

Hold, Warwick, seek thee out fome other chace;

"For I myself must hunt this deer to death."

See p. 102, n.2. MALONE.

5 This battle fares like to the morning's war, &c.] Instead of this interesting speech, the quartos exhibit only the following: "O gracious God of heaven, look down on us, "And fet fome ends to these incessant griefs ! "How like a mastless ship upon the seas, "This woeful battle doth continue still,

"Now leaning this way, now to that fide driven,
"And none doth know to whom the day will fall.
"Oh, would my death might stay these civil * jars !
"Would I had never reign'd, nor ne'er been king!
Margaret and Clifford chide me from the field,
Swearing they had best success when I was thence.

"

"Would God that I were dead, so all were well;
"Or, would my crown suffice, I were content
"To yield it them, and live a private life!"

The leading thought in both these soliloquies is borrowed from Holinshed, p. 665 :-" This deadly conflict continued ten hours in doubtful state of victorie, uncertainlie heaving and setting on both fides," &c.