Why grow the branches when the root is gone?
Why wither not the leaves that want their sap?
If you will live, lament; if die, be brief;
That our swift-winged souls may catch the
king's;

Or, like obedient subjects, follow him
To his new kingdom of ne'er changing night.*
Duch. Ah, so much interest have I in thy

sorrow,

As I had title in thy noble husband!
I have bewept a worthy husband's death,
And liv'd by looking on his images:

But now, two mirrors of his princely semblance
Are crack'd in pieces by malignant death;
And I for comfort have but one false glass,
That grieves me when I see my shame in him.
Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother,
And hast the comfort of thy children left;"
But death hath snatch'd my husband from mine

arms,

And pluck'd two crutches from my feeble hands,
Clarence and Edward. O, what cause have I,
(Thine being but a moiety of my moan,c)
To over-go thy woes, and drown thy cries?

Son. Ah, aunt! you wept not for our father's death;

How can we aid you with our kindred tears? Daugh. Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd;

Your widow-dolour likewise be unwept!

Q. Eliz. Give me no help in lamentation; I am not barren to bring forth complaints: e All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes, That I, being govern'd by the watery moon, May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world!

Ah, for my husband, for my dear lord Edward! Chil. Ah, for our father, for our dear lord

Clarence!

Duch. Alas, for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence!

Q. Eliz. What stay had I but Edward? and he's gone.

Chil. What stay had we but Clarence? and

he's gone.

The broken rancour of your high swoln hates,* But lately splinter'd, knit, and join'd together, Must gently be preserv'd, cherish'd, and kept: Me seemeth good, that, with some little train, Forthwith from Ludlow the young king be fet1 Hither to London, to be crown'd our king.

Riv. Why with some little train, my lord of Buckingham?

Buck. Marry, my lord, lest by a multitude, The new-heal'd wound of malice should break out;

Which would be so much the more dangerous, By how much the estate is green and yet ungovern'd:

Where every horse bears his commanding rein,

And may direct his course as please himself,
As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent,
In my opinion, ought to be prevented.

Glo. I hope the king made peace with all of

us;

And the compact is firm, and true, in me.

Riv. And so in me; and so, I think, in all : Yet, since it is but green, it should be put To no apparent likelihood of breach, Which, haply, by much company might be urg'd:

Therefore I say, with noble Buckingham, That it is meet so few should fetch the prince. Hast. And so say I. b

Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow.

SCENE III.-The same. A Street.

Enter two Citizens, meeting.

1 Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: Whither away so fast?

2 Cit. I promise you, I scarcely know myself: Hear you the news abroad? 1 Cit. Yes; that the king is dead. 2 Cit. Ill news, by 'r lady; seldom comes the better:

I fear, I fear, 't will prove a giddy world.

Enter another Citizen.

3 Cit. Neighbours, God speed! 1 Cit.

Give you good morrow, sir. 3 Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death?

2 Cit. Ay, sir, it is too true; God help, the while!

3 Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world.

1 Cit. No, no; by God's good grace his son shall reign.

3 Cit. Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child!

2 Cit. In him there is a hope of government; That in his nonage council under him, And in his full and ripen'd years himself, No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well. 1 Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the

Sixth

Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old.
3 Cit. Stood the state so? no, no, good friends,
God wot;

For then this land was famously enrich'd
With politic grave counsel; then the king
Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.

1 Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother.

3 Cit. Better it were they all came by his father;

Or, by his father, there were none at all:
For emulation who shall now be nearest,"
Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not.
O, full of danger is the duke of Gloster ;
And the queen's sons and brothers haught and
proud:

And were they to be rul'd, and not to rule,
This sickly land might solace as before.

1 Cit. Come, come, we fear the worst; all will be well.

3 Cit. When clouds are seen wise men put

on their cloaks;

We give the reading of the folio. The quartos have, "For emulation now, who shall be nearest."

When great leaves fall then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth:
All may be well; but, if God sort it so,
'Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.

2 Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear: You cannot reason almost with a man That looks not heavily and full of dread.

3 Cit. Before the days of change, still is it so: By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see The waters swell before a boist'rous storm. But leave it all to God. Whither away?

2 Cit. Marry, we were sent for to the justices. 3 Cit. And so was I; I'll bear you company. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, the young DUKE OF YORK, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and the DUCHESS OF YORK.

Arch. Last night, I heard, they lay at Stony-
Stratford:

And at Northampton they do rest to-night:
To-morrow, or next day, they will be here.
Duch. I long with all my heart to see the
prince.

I hope he is much grown since last I saw him.
Q. Eliz. But I hear, no; they say, my son of
York

Hath almost over-ta'en him in his growth.

York. Ay, mother, but I would not have it so. Duch. Why, my good cousin? it is good to

And with them sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners.
Duch. Who hath committed them?
Mess.
The mighty dukes,
Gloster and Buckingham.
Arch.
For what offence?
Mess. The sum of all I can I have disclos'd;
Why, or for what, the nobles were committed,
Is all unknown to me, my gracious lord.b

Q. Eliz. Ah me, I see the ruin of my house! The tiger now hath seiz'd the gentle hind; Insulting tyranny begins to jut

Upon the innocent and awless throne:

Report, in the folio: the quartos, unfold.

Lord, in the folio; the quartos, lady. The correction is necessary, for in all the old copies the Archbishop asks the question to which this is an answer.

Welcome, destruction, blood, and massacre!
I see, as in a map, the end of all.

Duch. Accursed and unquiet wrangling days,
How many of you have mine eyes beheld!
My husband lost his life to get the crown;
And often up and down my sons were tost,
For me to joy, and weep, their gain and loss:
And being seated, and domestic broils
Clean over-blown, themselves, the conquerors,
Make war upon themselves; brother to brother,
Blood to blood, self against self: O, preposterous
And frantic outrage," end thy damned spleen:
Or let me die, to look on death no more!

a The quarto of 1597 and the folio agree in reading outrage: some of the other old editions have courage. b Death is the reading of the quarto of 1597; the other quartos and the folio have earth.

Q. Eliz. Come, come, my boy, we will to sanctuary. Madam, farewell. Duch.

Stay, I will go with you.

Q Eliz. You have no cause.
Arch.

My gracious lady, go,
[To the QUEEN.
And thither bear your treasure and your goods.
For my part, I'll resign unto your grace
The seal I keep: And so betide to me,
As well I tender you, and all of yours!
Go," I'll conduct you to the sanctuary.

a Go, in the folio; the quartos, come.

[Exeunt.