Can neither call it perfect day, nor night.
Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea,
Forc'd by the tide to combat with the wind;
Now sways it that way, like the self-same sea
Forc'd to retire, by fury of the wind:
Sometime, the flood prevails; and then, the wind;
Now, one the better; then, another best;
Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast,
Yet neither conqueror, nor conquered :
So is the equal poise of this fell war.
Here on this mole hill will I sit me down.
To whom God will, there be the victory!
For Margaret my Queen, and Clifford too,
Have chid me from the battle; swearing both,
They prosper best of all when I am thence.
'Would I were dead! if God's good will were so :
For what is in this world, but grief and woe?
O God! methinks, it were a happy life,9
To be no better than a homely swain ;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,
Thereby to see the minutes how they run :
How many make the hour full complete,
How many hours bring about the day,
How many days will finish up the year,
How many years a mortal man may live.
When this is known, then to divide the times :
So many hours must I tend my flock;
So many hours must I take my rest;
So many hours must I cóntemplate;
So many hours must I sport myself;
So many days my ewes have been with young;
So many weeks ere the poor fools will yean ;'
So many years ere I shall sheer the fleece :
So minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years,
Past over to the end they were created,
[8] Hence, perhaps, the vulgarism that gives such acknowledged force to the following lines in Lee's Rival Queens :
When Greeks join'd Greeks, then was the tug of war." STEEVENS. [9] This speech is mournful and soft, exquisitely suited to the character of the king, and makes a pleasing interchange, by affording, amidst the tumult and borror of the battle, an unexpected glimpse of rural innocence and pastoral tranquillity. JOHNSON. This speech strongly confirms the remark made by sir Joshua Reynolds on a passage in Macbeth, Act I. sc. vi. MALONE.
[1] Poor fool, it has already been observed, is an expression of tenderness, often used by our author. MALONE.
Would bring white hears unto a quiet grave.
Ah, what a life were this! how sweet! how lovely!
Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade
To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep,
Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy
To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery?
O, yes it doth; a thousand fold it doth.
And to conclude,-the shepherd's homely curds,
His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle,
His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade,
All which secure and sweetly he enjoys,
Is far beyond a prince's delicates,
His viands sparkling in a golden cup,
His body couched in a curious bed,
When care, mistrust, and treason wait on him.
Alarum. Enter a Son that had killed his Father, dragging in the dead body.
Son. Ill blows the wind, that profits nobody.-
This man, whom hand to hand I slew in fight,
May be possessed with some store of crowns:
And I, that haply take them from him now,
May yet ere night yield both my life and them
To some man else, as this dead man doth me.-
Who's this?-O God! it is my father's face,
Whom in this conflict I unwares have kill'd.
O heavy times, begetting such events!
From London by the king was I press'd forth;
My father, being the earl of Warwick's man,
Came on the part of York, press'd by his master;
And I, who at his hands receiv'd my life,
Have by my hands of life bereaved him.—
Pardon me, God, I knew not what I did!—
And pardon, father, for I knew not thee !—
My tears shall wipe away these bloody marks;
And no more words, till they have flow'd their fill.
K. Hen. O piteous spectacle! O bloody times!
Whilst lions war, and battle for their dens,
Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity.
Weep, wretched man, I'll aid thee tear for tear;
And let our hearts, and eyes, like civil war,
[2] These two horrible incidents are selected to show the innumerable calamities of civil war. JOHNSON -In the battle of Constantine and Maxentius, by Raphael, the second of these incidents is introduced on a similar occasion.
Be blind with tears, and break o'ercharg'd with grief.3 Enter a Father, who has killed his Son, with the Body in his arms.
Fath. Thou, that so stoutly hast resisted me,
Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold;
For I have bought it with an hundred blows.-
But let me see Is this our foeman's face?
Ah, no, no, no, it is mine only son!-
Ah, boy, if any life be left in thee,
Throw up thine eyes; see, see, what showers arise,
Blown with the windy tempest of my heart,
Upon thy wounds, that kill mine eye and heart!—
O, pity, God, this miserable age!—
What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly,
Erroneous, mutinous, and unnatural,
This deadly quarrel daily doth beget!—
O boy, thy father gave thee life too soon,'
And hath bereft thee of thy life too late!
K. Hen. Woe above woe! grief more than common grief!
O, that my death would stay these ruthful deeds!—
O pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity!—
The red rose and the white are on his face,
The fatal colours of our striving houses:
The one, his purple blood right well resembles ;
The other, his pale cheeks, methinks, present:
Wither one rose, and let the other flourish!
If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.
Son. How will my mother, for a father's death,
Take on with me, and ne'er be satisfied?
Fath. How will my wife, for slaughter of my son, Shed seas of tears, and ne'er be satisfied?
K. Hen. How will the country, for these woful chances, Mis-think the king, and not be satisfied!
Son. Was ever son, so ru'd a father's death?
Fath. Was ever father, so bemoan'd a son?
K. Hen. Was ever king, so griev'd for subjects' woe? Much is your sorrow; mine, ten times so much.
[2] The meaning is here inaccurately expressed. The king intends to say that the state of their hearts and eyes shall be like that of the kingdoms in a civil war, all shall be joined by power formed within themselves. JOHNSON
[3] I think the meaning of the line, And hath bereft thee of thy life too soon, to be this: Thy father exposed thee to danger by giving thee life too soon, and hath bereft thee of life by living himself too long. JOHNSON.
[4] To take on is a phrase still in use among the vulgar, and signifies-to persist in clamorous lamentation. STEEVENS.
[5] To mis-think is to think ill, unfavourably.
Son. I'll bear thee hence, where I may weep my fill.
[Exit with the body.
Fath. These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet;
My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulchre ;
For from my breast thine image ne'er shall go.
My sighing heart shall be thy funeral bell;
And so obsequious will thy father be,
Sad for the loss of thee, having no more,
As Priam was for all his valiant sons."
I'll bear thee hence; and let them fight that will,
For I have murder'd where I should not kill.
[Exit with the body. K. Hen. Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care, Here sits a king more woeful than you are.
Alarums: Excursions. Enter Queen MARGARET, Prince of Wales, and EXETER.
Prince. Fly, father, fly! for all
And Warwick rages like a chafed bull:
Away! for death doth hold us in pursuit.
Q. Mar. Mount you, my lord, towards Berwick post amain :
Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds,
Having the fearful flying hare in sight,
With fiery eyes, sparkling for very wrath,
And bloody steel grasp'd in their ireful hands,
Are at our backs; and therefore hence amain.
Exe. Away! for vengeance comes along with them:
Nay, stay not to expostulate, make speed;
Or else come after, I'll away before.
K. Hen. Nay, take me with thee, good sweet Exeter ; Not that I fear to stay, but love to go
Whither the queen intends. Forward; away! [Exeunt.
The same. A loud Alarum. Enter CLIFFORD, wounded. Clif. Here burns my candle out, ay, here it dies, Which, while it lasted, gave king Henry light.
O, Lancaster! I fear thy overthrow,
More than my body's parting with my soul.
My love, and fear, glew'd many friends to thee;
And, now I fall, thy tough commixtures melt.
[6] Obsequious is here careful of obsequies, or of funeral rites. JOHNSON. [7] I having but one son, will grieve as much for that one, as Priam, who had many, could grieve for many. JOHNSON.
Impairing Henry, strength'ning mis-proud York,
The common people swarm like summer flies:
And whither fly the gnats, but to the sun?
And who shines now but Henry's enemies?
O Phoebus! hadst thou never given consent?
That Phaeton should check thy fiery steeds,
Thy burning car never had scorch'd the earth:
And, Henry, hadst thou sway'd as kings should do,
Or as thy father, and his father, did,
Giving no ground unto the house of York,
They never then had sprung like summer flies;
I, and ten thousand in this luckless realm,
Had left no mourning widows for our death,
And thou this day hadst kept thy chair in peace.
For what doth cherish weeds, but gentle air?
And what makes robbers bold, but too much lenity?
Bootless are plaints, and cureless are my wounds;
No way to fly, nor strength to hold out flight :
The foe is merciless, and will not pity;
For, at their hands, I have deserv'd no pity.
The air hath got into my deadly wounds,
And much effuse of blood doth make me faint :-
Come, York, and Richard, Warwick, and the rest;
I stabb'd your father's bosoms, split my breast.
[He faints, Alarum and Retreat. Enter EDWARD, GEORGE, RICHARD, MONTAGUE, WARWICK, and Soldiers.
Edw. Now breathe we, lords; good fortune bids us
And smooth the frowns of war with peaceful looks.—
Some troops pursue the bloody-minded queen ;—
That led calm Henry, though he were a king,
As doth a sail, fill'd with a fretting gust,
Command an argosy to stem the waves.
But think you, lords, that Clifford fled with them?
War. No, 'tis impossible he should escape :
For, though before his face I speak the words,
Your brother Richard mark'd him for the grave:
And, wheresoe'er he is, he's surely dead.
[CLIFFORD groans, and dies. Edw. Whose soul is that which takes her heavy leave?
[9] The duke of York had been entrusted by Henry with the reins of govern ment both in Ireland and France: and hence perhaps was taught to aspire to the throne. MALONE.
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