CLIF. My gracious liege, this too much lenity And harmful pity, must be laid aside.

To whom do lions caft their gentle looks?
Not to the beast that would ufurp their den.
Whofe hand is that the foreft bear doth lick?
Not his, that spoils her young before her face.
Who 'fcapes the lurking ferpent's mortal fting?
Not he, that fets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on;
And doves will peck, in fafeguard of their brood.
Ambitious York did level at thy crown,

2

Thou fmiling, while he knit his angry brows:
He, but a duke, would have his fon a king,
And raife his iffue, like a loving fire;

Thou, being a king, blefs'd with a goodly fon,
Didft yield confent to difinherit him,

'Which argued thee a moft unloving father.3
Unreasonable creatures feed their young:
And though man's face be fearful to their eyes,
Yet, in protection of their tender ones,
Who hath not seen them (even with those wings
"Which fometime they have us'd with fearful flight,)
Make war with him that climb'd unto their neft,
Offering their own lives in their young's defence?
For fhame, my liege, make them your precedent!
Were it not pity that this goodly boy

Should lose his birthright by his father's fault;
And long hereafter fay unto his child,—
What my great-grandfather and grandfire got,
My careless father fondly gave away?

2

-in fafeguard-] Thus the folio. The quartos read in refcue. STEEVENS.

3

unloving father.] The quartos read unnatural father. STEEVENS.

-fondly—] i. e. foolishly. So, in King Richard II:

Ah, what a fhame were this! Look on the boy;
And let his manly face, which promiseth
Successful fortune, fteel thy melting heart,

To hold thine own, and leave thine own with him.

K. HEN. Full well hath Clifford play'd the ora

tor,

Inferring arguments of mighty force.

But, Clifford, tell me, didft thou never hear,-
That things ill got had ever bad fuccefs ?5
And happy always was it for that son,

Whofe father for his hoarding went to hell?
I'll leave my fon my virtuous deeds behind;
And 'would, my father had left me no more!
For all the reft is held at fuch a rate,

'As brings a thoufand-fold more care to keep,
Than in poffeffion any jot of pleasure."

Ah, coufin York! 'would thy best friends did know, 'How it doth grieve me that thy head is here! 'Q. MAR. My lord, cheer up your spirits; our foes are nigh,

And this foft

courage makes your followers faint. 'You promis'd knighthood to our forward son;

forrow and grief of heart

"Makes him speak fondly-." STEEVENS.

didft thou never hear,

That things ill got had ever bad fuccefs? &c.] The proverb quoted by his majefty on this occafion, feems to militate directly against his own argument, and fhows that things ill got might have good fuccefs. M. MASON.

6

Whofe father &c.] Alluding to a common proverb:
Happy the child whofe father went to the devil."

66

JOHNSON.

7 Than in poffeffion any jot of pleasure.] Thus the folio. The quarto thus:

"Than may the prefent profit countervaile."

STEEVENS.

• Unfheath your fword, and dub him presently.Edward, kneel down.

K. HEN. Edward Plantagenet, arife a knight; And learn this leffon,-Draw thy fword in right. PRINCE. My gracious father, by your kingly leave,

I'll draw it as apparent to the crown,

And in that quarrel use it to the death.

CLIF. Why, that is spoken like a toward prince.

Enter a Meffenger.

MESS. Royal commanders, be in readiness: For, with a band of thirty thousand men, Comes Warwick, backing of the duke of York; And, in the towns as they do march along, Proclaims him king, and many fly to him: Darraign9 your battle, for they are at hand. CLIF. I would, your highness would depart the field;

The

queen I hath beft fuccefs when you are abfent.

8 thirty thousand-] The quarto reads fifty thousand. STEEVENS.

Darraign] That is, Range your hoft, put your host in order. JOHNSON.

Chaucer, Skelton, and Spenfer, ufe this word.

Thus alfo, in Guy Earl of Warwick, a Tragical History 1661:

66 Darraign our battles, and begin the fight." The quartos read-Prepare your battles, &c. STEEVENS.

I would, your highness would depart the field;

The queen &c.] This fuperftitious belief, relative to the fortunes of our unhappy prince, is yet more circumstantially introduced by Drayton in The Miseries of Queen Margaret :

Q. MAR. Ay, good my lord, and leave us to our fortune.

K. HEN. Why, that's my fortune too; therefore I'll stay.

NORTH. Be it with refolution then to fight.

PRINCE. My royal father, cheer these noble lords,

And hearten those that fight in your defence: Unfheath your fword, good father; cry, Saint George!

March.

Enter EDWARD, GEORGE, RICHARD, WARWICK, NORFOLK, MONTAGUE, and Soldiers.

EDW. Now, perjur'd Henry! wilt thou kneel for grace,

And fet thy diadem upon my head;

* Or bide the mortal fortune of the field?

Q. MAR. Go, rate thy minions, proud infulting boy!

"Becomes it thee to be thus bold in terms,

< Before thy fovereign, and thy lawful king?

"Some think that Warwick had not loft the day,
"But that the king into the field he brought;
"For with the worfe that fide went ftill away

"Which had king Henry with them when they fought:

Upon his birth fo fad a curfe there lay,

"As that he never profpered in aught.

"The queen wan two, among the lofs of many,
"Her husband abfent; prefent, never any."

STEEVENS.

So, Hall: " Happy was the queene in her two battayls, but unfortunate was the king in al his enterprises; for where his perfon was prefent, the victorie fledde ever from him to the other parte." Henry VI. fol. C. MALONE.

EDW. I am his king, and he fhould bow his knee;

I was adopted heir by his confent :

Since when, his oath is broke; for, as I hear,
You that are king, though he do wear the crown,-
Have caus'd him, by new act of parliament,
'To blot out me, and put his own fou in.

• CLIF. And reafon too;

Who fhould fucceed the father, but the fon?

RICH. Are you there, butcher ?-O, I cannot speak!

'CLIF. Ay, crook-back; here I ftand, to answer thee,

*Or any he the proudeft of thy fort.

RICH. 'Twas you that kill'd young Rutland, was it not?

I am his king, and he should bow his knee;

I was adopted heir by his confent:

Since when, his oath is broke ;] Edward's argument is founded on the following article in the compact entered into by Henry and the Duke of York, which the author found in Hall's Chronicle, but which I believe made no part of that agreement: "Provided alwaye, that if the king did clofely or apertly ftudye or go about to breake or alter this agreement, or to compafs or imagine the death or destruction of the fayde duke or his bloud, then he to forfet the crowne, and the duke of Yorke to take it." If this had been one of the articles of the compact, the Duke having been killed at Wakefield, his eldest son would have now a title to the crown. MALONE.

Since when, &c.] The quartos give the remainder of this fpeech to Clarence, and read:

To blot our brother out, &c. STEEVENS.

Here is another variation of the fame kind with those which have been noticed in the preceding play, which could not have arifen from a tranfcriber or printer.-Though Shakspeare gave the whole of this fpeech to Edward by fubftituting me for brother, the fame divifion which is found in the quarto, is inadvertently retained in the folio. MALONE.