Is, to remove proud Somerset from the king,
Seditious to his grace, and to the state.

Buck. That is too much presumption on thy part:

But if thy arms be to no other end,

The king hath yielded unto thy demand;
The duke of Somerset is in the Tower.

York. Upon thine honour, is he prisoner?
Buck. Upon mine honour, he is prisoner.
York. Then, Buckingham, I do dismiss my
powers.-

Soldiers, I thank you all: disperse yourselves;
Meet me to-morrow in Saint George's field,
You shall have pay, and every thing you wish.
And let my sovereign, virtuous Henry,
Command my eldest son, nay, all

my sons,
As pledges of my fealty and love,
I'll send them all as willing as I live;

Lands, goods, horse, armour, any thing I have
Is his to use, so Somerset may die.

Buck. York, I commend this kind submission: We twain will go into his highness' tent.

Enter KING HENRY, attended.

K. Hen. Buckingham, doth York intend no harm

to us,

That thus he marcheth with thee arm in arm ?

York. In all submission and humility,

York doth present himself unto your highness.

K. Hen. Then what intend these forces thou dost bring?

York. To heave the traitor Somerset from hence; And fight against that monstrous rebel Cade,

Who since I heard to be discomfited.

Enter IDEN, with CADE's Head.

Iden. If one so rude, and of so mean condition, May pass into the presence of a king,

Lo! I present your grace a traitor's head,

The head of Cade, whom I in combat slew.

K. Hen. The head of Cade?-Great God, how just art thou!

O, let me view his visage being dead,

That living wrought me such exceeding trouble.
Tell me, my friend, art thou the man that slew him?
Iden. I was, an't like your majesty.

K. Hen. How art thou call'd? and what is thy degree?

Iden. Alexander Iden, that's my name; A poor esquire of Kent, that loves his king.

Buck. So please it you, my lord, 'twere not amiss He were created knight for his good service.

K. Hen. Iden, kneel down; [He kneels.] Rise up
a knight.

We give thee for reward a thousand marks;
And will, that thou henceforth attend on us.

Iden. May Iden live to merit such a bounty1,
And never live but true unto his liege!

K. Hen. See, Buckingham! Somerset comes with

the queen:

Go, bid her hide him quickly from the duke.

Enter QUEEN MARGARET and SOMERSET.

Q. Mar. For thousand Yorks he shall not hide his head,

Iden has before said :

"Lord, who would live turmoiled in a court,

And may enjoy such quiet walks as these," &c.

This is strictly a picture of poor human nature. He rails at enjoyments which he supposes out of his reach; but no sooner are they offered to him, but he embraces them eagerly.

But boldly stand, and front him to his face.

York. How now! Is Somerset at liberty?
Then, York, unloose thy long-imprison'd thoughts,
And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart.
Shall I endure the sight of Somerset ?-

False king! why hast thou broken faith with me,
Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse?
King did I call thee? no, thou art not king;
Not fit to govern and rule multitudes,

Which dar'st not, no, nor canst not rule a traitor.
That head of thine doth not become a crown;
Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff,
And not to grace an awful princely sceptre.
That gold must round engirt these brows of mine;
Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles' spear,
Is able with the change to kill and cure2.
Here is a hand to hold a sceptre up,
And with the same to act controlling laws.
Give place; by heaven, thou shalt rule no more
O'er him, whom heaven created for thy ruler.

Som. O monstrous traitor!—I arrest thee, York, Of capital treason 'gainst the king and crown: Obey, audacious traitor; kneel for grace.

York. Would'st have me kneel? first let me ask of these3,

If they can brook I bow a knee to man.

Sirrah, call in my sons to be my bail;

[Exit an Attendant.

"Mysus et Æmonia juvenis qua cuspide vulnus
Senserat, hac ipsa cuspide sensit opem.'

Propert. lib. ii. El. 1.

Greene, in his Orlando Furioso, 1599, has the same allusion:"Where I took hurt, there have I heal'd myself;

As those that with Achilles' launce were wounded,
Fetch'd help at self-same pointed speare."

The old copies have thee; Theobald corrected it. York alludes

to his sons, who are waiting without.

I know, ere they will have me go to ward,
They'll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement.
Q. Mar. Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain,
Το say, if that the bastard boys of York

Shall be the surety for their traitor father.
York. O blood-bespotted Neapolitan,
Outcast of Naples, England's bloody scourge !
The sons of York, thy betters in their birth,
Shall be their father's bail; and bane to those
That for my surety will refuse the boys.

Enter EDWARD and RICHARD PLANTAGENET, with
Forces, at one side; at the other, with Forces also, Old
CLIFFORD and his Son.

See, where they come; I'll warrant they'll make it good.

Q. Mar. And here comes Clifford, to deny their bail.
Clif. Health and all happiness to my lord the king!
[Kneels.
York. I thank thee, Clifford : Say, what news with

thee?

Nay, do not fright us with an angry look:
We are thy sovereign, Clifford, kneel again;
For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.

Clif. This is my king, York, I do not mistake;
But thou mistak'st me much, to think I do :
To Bedlam 5 with him! is the man grown mad?

▲ To ward, i. e. custody, confinement.

5 This has been thought an anachronism; but Stow shows that it is not: "Next unto the parish of St. Buttolph is a fayre inne for receipt of travellers; then an hospitall of S. Mary of Bethlehem, founded by Simon Fitz-Mary, one of the Sheriffes of London, in the yeare 1246. He founded it to have beene a priorie of cannons with brethren and sisters, and King Edward the Thirde granted a protection, which I have seene, for the brethren Milicia beata Maria de Bethlem, within the citie of London, the 14th yeare of his raigne. It was an hospitall for distracted people."— Survey of London, p. 127, 1598.

K. Hen. Ay, Clifford ; a bedlam and ambitious hu

mour

Makes him oppose himself against his king.
Clif. He is a traitor; let him to the Tower,
And chop away that factious pate of his.
Q. Mar. He is arrested, but will not obey;
His sons,
he says, shall give their words for him.
York. Will you not, sons?

Edw. Ay, noble father, if our words will serve.
Rich. And if words will not, then our weapons

shall.

Clif. Why, what a brood of traitors have we here
York. Look in a glass, and call thy image so;
I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor.-
Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,
That, with the very shaking of their chains,
They may astonish these fell lurking curs;
Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.

Drums. Enter WARWICK and SALISBURY, with
Forces".

Clif. Are these thy bears? we'll bait thy bears to death,

And manacle the bearward in their chains,
If thou dar'st bring them to the baiting-place.
Rich. Oft have I seen a hot o'erweening cur
Run back and bite, because he was withheld;
Who, being suffer'd with the bear's fell paw3,

6 The Nevils, Earls of Warwick, had a bear and ragged staff for their crest.

7 The stage-direction in the quarto is "Enter the Duke of York's sons, Edward the Earl of March, and crook-back Richard, at the one door, with Drum and Soldiers." Now York's eldest son could have been only thirteen years old at this time, and as there were two other sons between him and Richard, the latter could consequently not have been present.

8 Bear-baiting was not only a popular but a royal entertainment in the poet's time. See Stow's account of Queen Eliza