Although thy husband may be Menelaus; And tam'd the king, and made the Dauphin stoop; And grac'd thy poor sire with his bridal day, Had slipp'd our claim until another age. Geo. But when we saw our sunshine made thy spring, And that thy summer bred us no increase, We set the axe to thy usurping root: And though the edge hath something hit ourselves, Edw. And in this resolution I defy thee; Since thou deniedst the gentle king to speak.- Q. Mar. Stay, Edward. Edw. No, wrangling woman; we'll no longer stay: These words will cost ten thousand lives to-day. [Exeunt. SCENE III. A Field of Battle near Towton. Alarums: Excursions. Enter WARWICK. War. Forspent with toil, as runners with a race, For strokes receiv'd, and many blows repaid, Enter EDWARD, running. Edw. Smile, gentle heaven, or strike, ungentle death! For this world frowns, and Edward's sun is clouded. War. How now, my lord! what hap? what hope of good? Enter GEORGE. Geo. Our hap is loss, our hope but sad despair : Our ranks are broke, and ruin follows us. What counsel give you? whither shall we fly? Edw. Bootless is flight; they follow us with wings, And weak we are, and cannot shun pursuit. Enter RICHARD. Rich. Ah, Warwick! why hast thou withdrawn thyself? Thy brother's blood the thirsty earth hath drunk, That stain'd their fetlocks in his smoking blood, War. Then let the earth be drunken with our blood: I'll kill my horse, because I will not fly. Why stand we like soft-hearted women here, Were play'd in jest by counterfeiting actors? Edw. O Warwick! I do bend my knee with thine; And in this vow do chain my soul to thine. Rich. Brother, give me thy hand;-and, gentle 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 so. 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, For yet is hope of life, and victory. Foreslow no longer'; make we hence amain. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The Same. Another part of the Field. Excursions. Enter RICHARD and CLIFFORD3. Rich. Now, Clifford, I have singled thee alone. Clif. Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone. And so, have at thee. [They fight. WARWICK enters; CLIFFORD flies. Rich. Nay, Warwick, single out some other chase; For I myself will hunt this wolf to death*. [Exeunt. 2 FORESLOW no longer;] i. e. Delay no longer. "Foreslow" is a word which occurs in Peele's "Battle of Alcazar." Vide Peele's Works, by Dyce, 2nd edit. vol. ii. p. 132. It is also used in the same sense by Whetstone, Marlow, and other earlier writers of the time. 3 Excursions. Enter Richard and Clifford.] Although the scene was supposed to represent a field of battle, the old stage-direction in "The True Tragedy" is, Alarums, and then enter Richard at one door, and Clifford at another." The scene there thus opens : "Rich. A Clifford a Clifford ! "Clif. A Richard! a Richard! "Rich. Now Clifford, for York and young Rutland's death," &c. this wolf to death.] Two very similar lines occur in "Henry VI." part ii.; see this Vol. p. 217. "Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase; For I myself must hunt this deer to death." In “The True Tragedy" no corresponding lines are found; and the stagedirection there is, “Alarums: they fight; then enters Warwick and rescues Richard, and then exeunt omnes." SCENE V. Another Part of the Field. Alarum. Enter King HENRY. K. Hen. This battle fares like to the morning's war, Sometime, the flood prevails; and then, the wind; To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, When this is known, then to divide the times: |