Prince. Nay, take away this fcolding crook-back rather. 'K, Edw. Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm your

tongue.

Clar. Untutor'd lad, thou art too malapert.

Prince. I know my duty, you are all undutiful : Lafcivious Edward,-and thou perjur'd George,And thou mishapen Dick,-I tell ye all,

I am your better, traitors as ye are ;

"And thou ufurp'ft my father's right and mine.
K. Edw. Take that, the likeness of this railer here.

[Stabs him. "Glo. Sprawl'ft thou? take that to end thy agony.

[GLO. ftabs him.

"Clar. And there's for twitting me with perjury.

2. Mar. O, kill me too!

Glo. Marry, and thall.

[CLAR. ftabs him.

[Offers to kill her.

K. Edw. Hold, Richard, hold, for we have done too

much.

Glo. Why should the live, to fill the world with words? K. Edw. What! doth the fwoon? ufe means for her

recovery.

Glo. Clarence, excufe me to the king my brother;

I'll hence to London on a ferious matter :

Ere ye come there, be fure to hear fome news.

Clar. What? what?

Glo. The Tower, the Tower!

[Exit.

2. Mar. O, Ned, fweet Ned! fpeak to thy mother,

boy!

'Canft thou not speak?—O traitors! murderers!

They, that stabb'd Cæfar, fhed no blood at all,

Did not offend, nor were not worthy blame,
"If this foul deed were by, to equal it.
He was a man; this, in refpect, a child;

And men ne'er fpend their fury on a child.

What's worse than murderer, that I may name it? "No, no; my heart will burst, an if I speak :"And I will fpeak, that fo my heart may burft."Butchers and villains, bloody cannibals! "How sweet a plant have you untimely cropp'd! You have no children, butchers! if you had,

The thought of them would have stirr'd up remorse : But, if you ever chance to have a child,

Look in his youth to have him so cut off,

As, deathfien! you have rid this sweet young prince. K. Edw. Away with her; go, bear her hence perforce. 2. Mar. Nay, never bear me hence, dispatch me here; Here fheath thy fword, I'll pardon thee my death : What! wilt thou not then, Clarence, do it thou. Clar. By heaven, I will not do thee fo much ease.

2. Mar. Good Clarence, do; fweet Clarence, do thou do it.

Clar. Didft thou not hear me fwear, I would not do it?

2. Mar. Ay, but thou useft to forfwear thyself; 'Twas sin before, but now 'tis charity.

What wilt thou not? where is that devil's butcher, Hard-favour'd Richard? Richard, where art thou? Thou art not here: Murder is thy alms-deed; Petitioners for blood thou ne'er put'st back.

K. Edw. Away, I fay; I charge ye, bear her hence. 2. Mar. So come to you, and yours, as to this prince! [Exit, led out forcibly.

K. Edw. Where's Richard gone?

Clar. To London, all in poft; and, as I gue's,

To make a bloody fupper in the Tower.

K. Edw. He's fudden, if a thing comes in his head.
Now march we hence: difcharge the common fort

• With

• With pay and thanks, and let's away to London,
And see our gentle queen how well she fares;
By this, I hope she hath a fon for me.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

London. A Room in the Tower.

King HENRY is difcovered fitting with a book in his hand, the Lieutenant attending. Enter GLOSTER.

Glo. Good day, my lord! What, at your book so hard? K. Hen. Ay, my good lord: My lord, I should say ra

ther;

'Tis fin to flatter, good was little better :

Good Glofter, and good devil, were alike, "And both prepofterous; therefore, not good lord. "Glo. Sirrah, leave us to ourfelves: we must confer. [Exit Lieutenant. "K. Hen. So flies the reckless fhepherd from the wolf: "So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece, "And next his throat unto the butcher's knife.What scene of death hath Rofcius now to act?

Glo. Sufpicion always haunts the guilty mind; The thief doth fear each bufh an officer.

K. Hen. The bird, that hath been limed in a bush, With trembling wings mifdoubteth every bush:

And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,

Have now the fatal object in my eye,

Where my poor young was lim'd, was caught, and kill'd.

Glo. Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete,

That taught his fon the office of a fowl?

And yet, for all his wings, the fool was drown'd.

'K. Hen. I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus;

Thy

Thy father, Minos, that deny'd our course;

The fun, that fear'd the wings of my sweet boy, Thy brother Edward; and thyself, the sea, • Whose envious gulf did fwallow up his life, "Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words! · My breast can better brook thy dagger's point, Than can my ears that tragick history.— "But wherefore doft thou come? is't for my

Glo. Think'ft thou, I am an executioner? K. Hen. A perfecutor, I am fure, thou art; If murdering innocents be executing,

Why, then thou art an executioner.

Glo. Thy fon I kill'd for his prefumption.

life?

K. Hen. Hadft thou been kill'd, when first thou didst prefume,

Thou hadst not liv'd to kill a fon of mine.

And thus I prophecy,-that many a thousand,

Which now miftruft no parcel of my

fear;

• And many an old man's figh, and many a widow's, And many an orphan's water-standing eye,

• Men for their fons, wives for their husbands' fate,

And orphans for their parents' timeless death,—

• Shall rue the hour that ever thou waft born.
The owl fhriek'd at thy birth, an evil fign;

The night-crow cry'd, aboding luckless time;
Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempests shook down trees;
The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top,
And chattering pies in difmal difcords fung.
Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain,
And yet brought forth less than a mother's hope;
To wit,-an indigeft deformed lump,

Not like the fruit of fuch a goodly tree.

Teeth hadst thou in thy head, when thou waft born,
To fignify,-thou cam'ft to bite the world:

And,

And, if the reft be true which I have heard,

Thou cam'ft

Glo. I'll hear no more ;-Die, prophet, in thy fpeech;

For this, amongst the rest, was I ordain'd.

[Stabs him.

K. Hen. Ay, and for much more flaughter after this. O God! forgive my fins, and pardon thee!

[Dies.

Glo. What, will the afpiring blood of Lancaster Sink in the ground? I thought, it would have mounted. See, how my fword weeps for the poor king's death!

• O may fuch purple tears be always shed

• From those that wish the downfal of our house!

'If any fpark of life be yet remaining,

Down, down to hell; and fay-I sent thee thither,
[Stabs him again.
I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear.—
Indeed, 'tis true, that Henry told me of;
For I have often heard my mother fay,
I came into the world with my legs forward:
Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste,
And feek their ruin that ufurp'd our right?
The midwife wonder'd; and the women cry'd,
O, Jefus blefs us, he is born with teeth!

And fo I was; which plainly fignify'd—
That I fhould fnarl, and bite, and play the dog.
Then, fince the heavens have fhap'd my body fo,
Let hell make crook'd my mind, to answer it.
I have no brother, I am like no brother:

And this word-love, which greybeards call divine,
Be refident in men like one another,

And not in me; I am myfelf alone.

Clarence, beware; thou keep'ft me from the light;
But I will fort a pitchy day for thee:

For I will buz abroad such prophecies,

• That