Complete Plays, The (269 page)
Read Complete Plays, The Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
Queen Margaret
A subtle traitor needs no sophister.
King Henry VI
Call Buckingham, and bid him arm himself.
York
Call Buckingham, and all the friends thou hast,
I am resolved for death or dignity.
Clifford
The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove true.
Warwick
You were best to go to bed and dream again,
To keep thee from the tempest of the field.
Clifford
I am resolved to bear a greater storm
Than any thou canst conjure up to-day;
And that I’ll write upon thy burgonet,
Might I but know thee by thy household badge.
Warwick
Now, by my father’s badge, old Nevil’s crest,
The rampant bear chain’d to the ragged staff,
This day I’ll wear aloft my burgonet,
As on a mountain top the cedar shows
That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm,
Even to affright thee with the view thereof.
Clifford
And from thy burgonet I’ll rend thy bear
And tread it under foot with all contempt,
Despite the bear-ward that protects the bear.
Young Clifford
And so to arms, victorious father,
To quell the rebels and their complices.
Richard
Fie! charity, for shame! speak not in spite,
For you shall sup with Jesu Christ to-night.
Young Clifford
Foul stigmatic, that’s more than thou canst tell.
Richard
If not in heaven, you’ll surely sup in hell.
Exeunt severally
S
CENE
II. S
AINT
A
LBAN
’
S
.
Alarums to the battle. Enter Warwick
Warwick
Clifford of Cumberland, ’tis Warwick calls:
And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,
Now, when the angry trumpet sounds alarum
And dead men’s cries do fill the empty air,
Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me:
Proud northern lord, Clifford of Cumberland,
Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms.
Enter York
How now, my noble lord? what, all afoot?
York
The deadly-handed Clifford slew my steed,
But match to match I have encounter’d him
And made a prey for carrion kites and crows
Even of the bonny beast he loved so well.
Enter Clifford
Warwick
Of one or both of us the time is come.
York
Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase,
For I myself must hunt this deer to death.
Warwick
Then, nobly, York; ’tis for a crown thou fight’st.
As I intend, Clifford, to thrive to-day,
It grieves my soul to leave thee unassail’d.
Exit
Clifford
What seest thou in me, York? why dost thou pause?
York
With thy brave bearing should I be in love,
But that thou art so fast mine enemy.
Clifford
Nor should thy prowess want praise and esteem,
But that ’tis shown ignobly and in treason.
York
So let it help me now against thy sword
As I in justice and true right express it.
Clifford
My soul and body on the action both!
York
A dreadful lay! Address thee instantly.
They fight, and Clifford falls
Clifford
La fin couronne les oeuvres.
Dies
York
Thus war hath given thee peace, for thou art still.
Peace with his soul, heaven, if it be thy will!
Exit
Enter Young Clifford
Young Clifford
Shame and confusion! all is on the rout;
Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds
Where it should guard. O war, thou son of hell,
Whom angry heavens do make their minister
Throw in the frozen bosoms of our part
Hot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly.
He that is truly dedicate to war
Hath no self-love, nor he that loves himself
Hath not essentially but by circumstance
The name of valour.
Seeing his dead father
O, let the vile world end,
And the premised flames of the last day
Knit earth and heaven together!
Now let the general trumpet blow his blast,
Particularities and petty sounds
To cease! Wast thou ordain’d, dear father,
To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieve
The silver livery of advised age,
And, in thy reverence and thy chair-days, thus
To die in ruffian battle? Even at this sight
My heart is turn’d to stone: and while ’tis mine,
It shall be stony. York not our old men spares;
No more will I their babes: tears virginal
Shall be to me even as the dew to fire,
And beauty that the tyrant oft reclaims
Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax.
Henceforth I will not have to do with pity:
Meet I an infant of the house of York,
Into as many gobbets will I cut it
As wild Medea young Absyrtus did:
In cruelty will I seek out my fame.
Come, thou new ruin of old Clifford’s house:
As did Aeneas old Anchises bear,
So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders;
But then Aeneas bare a living load,
Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine.
Exit, bearing off his father
Enter Richard and Somerset to fight. Somerset is killed
Richard
So, lie thou there;
For underneath an alehouse’ paltry sign,
The Castle in Saint Alban’s, Somerset
Hath made the wizard famous in his death.
Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathful still:
Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.
Exit
Fight: excursions. Enter King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, and others
Queen Margaret
Away, my lord! you are slow; for shame, away!
King Henry VI
Can we outrun the heavens? good Margaret, stay.
Queen Margaret
What are you made of? you’ll nor fight nor fly:
Now is it manhood, wisdom and defence,
To give the enemy way, and to secure us
By what we can, which can no more but fly.
Alarum afar off
If you be ta’en, we then should see the bottom
Of all our fortunes: but if we haply scape,
As well we may, if not through your neglect,
We shall to London get, where you are loved
And where this breach now in our fortunes made
May readily be stopp’d.
Re-enter Young Clifford
Young Clifford
But that my heart’s on future mischief set,
I would speak blasphemy ere bid you fly:
But fly you must; uncurable discomfit
Reigns in the hearts of all our present parts.
Away, for your relief! and we will live
To see their day and them our fortune give:
Away, my lord, away!
Exeunt
S
CENE
III. F
IELDS
NEAR
S
T
. A
LBAN
’
S
.
Alarum. Retreat. Enter York, Richard, Warwick, and Soldiers, with drum and colours
York
Of Salisbury, who can report of him,
That winter lion, who in rage forgets
Aged contusions and all brush of time,
And, like a gallant in the brow of youth,
Repairs him with occasion? This happy day
Is not itself, nor have we won one foot,
If Salisbury be lost.
Richard
My noble father,
Three times to-day I holp him to his horse,
Three times bestrid him; thrice I led him off,
Persuaded him from any further act:
But still, where danger was, still there I met him;
And like rich hangings in a homely house,
So was his will in his old feeble body.
But, noble as he is, look where he comes.
Enter Salisbury
Salisbury
Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought to-day;
By the mass, so did we all. I thank you, Richard:
God knows how long it is I have to live;
And it hath pleased him that three times to-day
You have defended me from imminent death.
Well, lords, we have not got that which we have:
’Tis not enough our foes are this time fled,
Being opposites of such repairing nature.
York
I know our safety is to follow them;
For, as I hear, the king is fled to London,
To call a present court of parliament.
Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth.
What says Lord Warwick? shall we after them?
Warwick
After them! nay, before them, if we can.
Now, by my faith, lords, ’twas a glorious day:
Saint Alban’s battle won by famous York
Shall be eternized in all age to come.
Sound drums and trumpets, and to London all:
And more such days as these to us befall!
Exeunt
The Third Part of
King Henry the Sixth
T
ABLE
OF
C
ONTENTS
S
CENE
I. L
ONDON
. T
HE
P
ARLIAMENT
-
HOUSE
.
S
CENE
III. F
IELD
OF
BATTLE
BETWIXT
S
ANDAL
C
ASTLE
AND
W
AKEFIELD
.
S
CENE
IV. A
NOTHER
PART
OF
THE
FIELD
.
S
CENE
I. A
PLAIN
NEAR
M
ORTIMER
’
S
C
ROSS
IN
H
EREFORDSHIRE
.
S
CENE
III. A
FIELD
OF
BATTLE
BETWEEN
T
OWTON
AND
S
AXTON
,
IN
S
CENE
IV. A
NOTHER
PART
OF
THE
FIELD
.
S
CENE
V. A
NOTHER
PART
OF
THE
FIELD
.
S
CENE
VI. A
NOTHER
PART
OF
THE
FIELD
.
S
CENE
I. A
FOREST
IN
THE
NORTH
OF
E
NGLAND
.
S
CENE
III. F
RANCE
. K
ING
L
EWIS
XI’
S
PALACE
.
S
CENE
II. A
PLAIN
IN
W
ARWICKSHIRE
.
S
CENE
III. E
DWARD
’
S
CAMP
,
NEAR
W
ARWICK
.
