'Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.' 'K. Hen. Stay, Humphrey duke of Gloster: ere thou go, 'Give up thy staff; Henry will to himself * Q. Mar. I see no reason, why a king of years * Should be to be protected like a child.— 'God and king Henry govern England's helm: 'Give up your staff, sir, and the king his realm. Glo. My staff?-here, noble Henry, is my staff: As willingly do I the same resign, 'As ere thy father Henry made it mine; And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it, As others would ambitiously receive it. 'Farewell, good king: when I am dead and gone, May honourable peace attend thy throne! Exit. Q. Mar. Why, now is Henry king, and Mar garet queen; * And Humphrey, duke of Gloster, scarce himself, *That bears so shrewd a main; two pulls at once,— * His lady banish'd, and a limb lopp'd off; *This staff of honour raught: 3-There let it stand, 'Where it best fits to be, in Henry's hand. * Suf. Thus droops this lofty pine, and hangs his sprays; *Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her youngest days. "York. Lords, let him go.-Please it your majesty, This is the day appointed for the combat; And ready are the appellant and defendant, 'The armourer and his man, to enter the lists, 2 Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.] That is, Sorrow would have, sorrow requires, solace, and age requires ease. 3 This staff of honour raught:] Kaught is the antient preterite of the verb reach, and is frequently used by Spenser. 'So please your highness to behold the fight. * Q. Mar. Ay, good my lord; for purposely therefore * Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried. 'K. Hen. O' God's name, see the lists and all things fit; 'Here let them end it, and God defend the right! * York. I never saw a fellow worse bested,* * Or more afraid to fight, than is the appellant, * The servant of this armourer, my lords. Enter, on one side, HORNER, and his Neighbours, drinking to him so much that he is drunk; and he enters bearing his staff with a sand-bag fastened to it; a drum before him: at the other side, PEtek, with a drum and a similar staff; accompanied by Prentices drinking to him. 1 Neigh. Here, neighbour Horner, I drink to you in a cup of sack; And fear not, neighbour, you shall do well enough. 2 Neigh. And here, neighbour, here's a cup of charneco. 3 Neigh. And here's a pot of good double beer, neighbour: drink, and fear not your man. Hor. Let it come, i'faith, and I'll pledge you all; And a fig for Peter! 1 Pren. Here, Peter, I drink to thee; and be not afraid. 5 worse bested,] In a worse plight. with a sand-bag fastened to it;] As, according to the old laws of duels, knights were to fight with the lance and sword; so those of inferior rank fought with an ebon staff or battoon, to the farther end of which was fixed a bag crammed hard with sand. Mr. Sympson, in his notes on Ben Jonson, observes, that a passage in St. Chrysostom very clearly proves the great antiquity of this practice. 6 a cup of charneco.] A common name for a sort of sweet wine, made at a village so called near Lisbon. 2 Pren. Be merry, Peter, and fear not thy master; fight for credit of the prentices. Peter. I thank you all: * drink, and pray for me, * I pray you; for, I think, I have taken my last * draught in this world.*-Here, Robin, an if I die, I give thee my apron; and, Will, thou shalt have my hammer:-and here, Tom, take all the money that I have.-O Lord, bless me, I pray God! for I am never able to deal with my master, he hath learnt so much fence already. Sal. Come, leave your drinking, and fall to blows. Sal. Peter! what more? Sal. Thump! then see thou thump thy master well. Hor. Masters, I am come hither, as it were, upon my man's instigation, to prove him a knave, and myself an honest man: * and touching the duke of * York, will take my death, I never meant him any ill, nor the king, nor the queen: *And therefore, Peter, have at thee with a downright blow, as Bevis of Southampton, fell upon Ascapart. * York. Despatch:-this knave's tongue begins to double. * Sound trumpets, alarum to the combatants. [Alarum. They fight, and PETER strikes down his Master. Hor. Hold, Peter, hold! I confess, I confess trea son. [Dies. * York. Take away his weapon:-Fellow, thank * God, and the good wine in thy master's way. 'Peter. O God! have I overcome mine enemies in this presence? O Peter, thou hast prevailed in right! K. Hen. Go, take hence that traitor from our sight; For, by his death, we do perceive his guilt:" SCENE IV. The same. A Street. Enter GLOSTER and Servants, in mourning Cloaks. * Glo. Thus, sometimes, hath the brightest day a cloud; * And after summer, evermore succeeds * Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold: Serv. Ten, my lord. Glo. Ten is the hour that was appointed me, 'To watch the coming of my punish'd duchess: • Uneath may she endure the flinty streets, 8 'To tread them with her tender-feeling feet. 7 For, by his death, we do perceive his guilt:] According to the ancient usage of the duel, the vanquished person not only lost his life but his reputation, and his death was always regarded as a certain evidence of his guilt. 8 Uneath - i. e. Scarcely, or not easily. 9 envious] i. e. malicious. Enter the Duchess of GLOSTER, in a white sheet, with papers pinn'd upon her back, her feet bare, and a taper burning in her hand; Sir John Stanley, a Sheriff, and Officers. Serv. So please your grace, we'll take her from the sheriff. Glo. No, stir not, for your lives; let her pass by. Duch. Come you, my lord, to see my open shame? Now thou dost penance too. Look, how they gaze! See, how the giddy multitude do point, And nod their heads, and throw their eyes on thee! * To see my tears, and hear my deep-fet2 groans. Ah, Humphrey, can I bear this shameful yoke? * Trow'st thou, that e'er I'll look upon the world; * Or count them happy, that enjoy the sun? * No; dark shall be my light, and night my day; * To think upon my pomp, shall be my hell. Sometime I'll say, I am duke Humphrey's wife; And he a prince, and ruler of the land: Mail'd up in shame,] Wrapped up, bundled up in disgrace; alluding to the sheet of penance. deep-fet] i. e. deep-fetched. |