Sal. It is great sin, to swear unto a sin;
But greater sin, to keep a sinful oath.
Who can be bound by any solemn vow
To do a murderous deed, to rob a man,
To force a spotless virgin's chastity,
To reave the orphan of his patrimony,

To wring the widow from her custom'd right;
And have no other reason for this wrong
But that he was bound by a solemn oath?

Q. Mar. A subtle traitor needs no sophister. K. Hen. Call Buckingham, and bid him arm himself.

York. Call Buckingham, and all the friends thou hast,

I am resolv'd for death, or dignity.

Clif. The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove

true.

War. You were best to go to bed, and dream again,

To keep thee from the tempest of the field.

Clif. I am resolv'd 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.
War. 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.

Clif. And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear,

And tread it under foot with all contempt, Despight the bearward that protects the bear.

Y. Clif. And so to arms, victorious father, To quell the rebels, and their 'complices. Rich. Fie! charity, for shame! speak not in spite,

For you shall sup with Jesu Christ to-night. Y. Clif. Foul stigmatick," that's more than thou canst tell.

Rich. If not in heaven, you'll surely sup in hell. [Exeunt severally.

SCENE II.-Saint Alban's.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter WARWICK. War. Clifford of Cumberland, 'tis Warwick calls!

And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,

a Stigmatick. This was the appellation of an offender who had been branded-upon whom a stigma had been set. Young Clifford insults Richard with the natural stigma of his deformity.

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!
Clif. My soul and body on the action both!-
York. A dreadful lay!-address thee in-
stantly.

[They fight, and CLIFFORD falls. Clif. La fin couronne les œuvres. [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.

Y. Clif. 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.-O, let the vile world end,
[Seeing his dead father.

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;
[Taking up the body.
As did Eneas old Anchises bear
So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders;
But then Æneas bare a living load,

Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine. [Exit.

Enter RICHARD PLANTAGENET and SOMERSET, fighting, and SOMERSET is killed.

Rich. 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. Alarums: Excursions. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, and others, retreating.

Q. Mar. Away, my lord! you are slow; for
shame, away!

K. Hen. Can we outrun the heavens? good
Margaret, stay.

Q. Mar. What are you made of? you'll not
fight, nor fly:

Now is it manhood, wisdom, and defence,
To give the enemy way; and to secure us

• To cease-actively-to stop. See the prediction in Act 1.

"Let him shun castles."

THE persecution of the Duke of Gloster, the banishment and death of Suffolk, the insurrection of Cade, were events that had long distracted and agitated the people, and prepared the way for the open claim of the house of York to the crown. The return of the Duke of York from Ireland, his demand for the removal of Somerset, and the subsequent dismissal of his forces upon learning that Somerset was a prisoner, are detailed by the chroniclers. The indignation of York upon finding Somerset at liberty is also related by them. The poet leaps over the subsequent committal of York as prisoner to the Tower, and his release under the terror which was produced by the approach of his son Edward towards London with a great army. The duke, previous to his release, solemnly submitted under oath to the king. The poet has preserved the unity of action by destroying the intervals between one event and the other, and bringing causes and consequences into closer union. It is scarcely necessary for us to trace the real course of events, but we trauscribe Hall's narrative of the first battle of St. Alban's :

"The king, being credibly informed of the great army coming toward him, assembled an host, intending to meet with the duke in the north part, because he had too many friends about the city of London; and for that cause, with great speed and small luck, he, being accompanied with the Dukes of Somerset and Buckingham, the Earls of Stafford, Northumberland, and Wiltshire, with the Lord Clifford and divers other barons, departed out of Westminster, the xx day of May, toward the town of S. Albans: of whose doings the Duke of York being advertised by his espials, with all his power coasted the country, and came to the same town the third day next ensuing. The king, hearing of their approaching, sent to him messengers, straitly charging and commanding him, as an obedient subject, to keep the peace, and not, as an enemy to his natural country, to murder and slay his own countrymen and proper nation. While King Henry, more desirous of peace than of war, was sending forth his orators at the one end of the town, the Earl of Warwick, with the Marchmen, entered at the other gate of the town, and fiercely set on the king's