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'7ur. Ah, Clifford! murder not this innocent

child,

'Left thou be hated both of God and man.

[Exit, forced off by Soldiers.

CLIF. How now ! is he dead already? Or, is it

fear,

That makes him close his eyes? I'll open them.
RUT. So looks the pent-up lion 3 o'er the wretch
That trembles under his devouring paws :4
And so he walks, insulting o'er his prey;
'And fo he comes to rend his limbs asunder.-
Ah, gentle Clifford, kill me with thy sword,
And not with fuch a cruel threat'ning look.
Sweet Clifford, hear me speak before I die;-
I am too mean a fubject for thy wrath,

Be thou reveng'd on men, and let me live.

2

is he dead already? Or, is it fear,

That makes him close his eyes?] This circumstance is taken from Hall: " Whilft this battail was in fighting, a prieste called Sir Robbert Aspall, chappelaine and schole-master to the yong erle of Rutlande, ii sonne to the above named duke of Yorke, scarce of the age of xii yeres, a faire gentleman, and a maydenlike person, perceyving that flight was more safe-gard than tarrying, bothe for hym and his master, secretly conveyd therle out of the felde, by the lord Cliffordes bande, toward the towne; but or he could entre into a house, he was by the fayd Lord Clifford espied, folowed, and taken, and by reson of his apparell, demaunded what he was. The yong gentleman dismayed, had not a word to speake, but kneled on his knees, imploring mercy, and defiring grace, both with holding up his handes, and making dolorous countenance, for his fpeache was gone for feare."

MALONE,

So looks the pent-up lion - That is, The lion that hath been long confined without food, and is let out to devour a man condemned.

4

JOHNSON.

- devouring paws:] Surely the epithet devouring, which might well have characterised the whole animal, is oddly bestowed on his paws. STEEVENS.

CLIF. In vain thou speak'st, poor boy; my fa

ther's blood

Hath stopp'd the passage where thy words should

enter.

Rur. Then let my father's blood open it again; He is a man, and, Clifford, cope with him.

CLIF. Had I thy brethren here, their lives, and

thine,

Were not revenge fufficient for me;
No, if I digg'd up thy forefathers' graves,
And hung their rotten coffins up in chains,
It could not flake mine ire, nor ease my heart.
The fight of any of the house of York
Is as a fury to torment my foul ;5
'And till I root out their accursed line,
'And leave not one alive, I live in hell.
Therefore

[Lifting his Hand.

Rur. O, let me pray before I take my death :To thee I pray; Sweet Clifford, pity me!

CLIF. Such pity as my rapier's point affords.

Rut. I never did thee harm; Why wilt thou

flay me?

CLIF. Thy father hath.

RUT.

But 'twas ere I was born

5 The fight of any of the house of York

Is as a fury &c.] In Romeo and Juliet the same idea is expressed in humbler language: "A dog of the house of Montague moves me." STEEVENS.

• But 'twas ere I was born.] Rutland is under a mistake. The battle of St. Albans, in which old Clifford was flain, happened in 1455; that of Wakefield in 1460. He appears to have been at this time about seventeen years old. RITSON.

The author of the original play appears to have been as incorrect in his chronology as Shakspeare. Rutland was born, I believe, in 1443; according to Hall, in 1448; and Clifford's VOL. XIV.

D

F

Thou hast one fon, for his fake pity me;
Lest, in revenge thereof, -fith 7 God is just,
He be as miferably flain as I.

Ah, let me live in prison all my days;
And when I give occafion of offence,

Then let me die, for now thou haft no cause.

CLIF. No cause ?

Thy father flew my father; therefore, die.

[CLIFFORD ftabs him.

RUT. Dii faciant, laudis fumma fit ista tuæ !

[Dies.

CLIF. Plantagenet! I come, Plantagenet! And this thy fon's blood cleaving to my blade, Shall ruft upon my weapon, till thy blood, Congeal'd with this, do make me wipe off both.

[Exit.

father was killed at the battle of St. Albans, in 1455. Confequently Rutland was then at least seven years old; more proba bly twelve. The fame observation has been made by an anonymous writer. MALONE.

1-fith-] i. e. fince. So, in The Merry Wives of Windfor: "-fith you yourself know how easy it is

is to be such an offender." STEEVENS.

* Dii faciant, &c.] This line is in Ovid's Epistle from Phillis to Demophoon. I find the same quotation in Have with you to Saffron Walden, or Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is up, &c. 1596 :

STEEVENS.

SCENE IV.

The fame.

Alarum. Enter YORK.

'YORK. The army of the queen hath got the

field:

'My uncles both are flain in rescuing me ;9 'And all my followers to the eager foe

'Turn back, and fly, like ships before the wind, 'Or lambs pursu'd by hunger-starved wolves. 'My fons God knows, what hath bechanced

them:

But this I know, they have demean'd themselves Like men born to renown, by life, or death. 'Three times did Richard make a lane to me; And thrice cried, - Courage, father! fight it out! 'And full as oft came Edward to my fide, With purple faulchion, painted to the hilt 'In blood of those that had encounter'd him: 'And when the hardiest warriors did retire, 'Richard cried,-Charge! and give no foot of

ground!

And cried,-A crown, or else a glorious tomb !
A fceptre, or an earthly Sepulchre !

With this, we charg'd again: but, out, alas!

9 My uncles both are flain in rescuing me;] These were two bastard uncles by the mother's fide, Sir John and Sir Hugh Mortimer. See Grafton's Chronicle, p. 649. PERCY.

* With purple faulchion, painted to the hilt

In blood of those - So, in King Henry V:

"With pennons painted in the blood of Harfleur."

STEEVENS.

'We bodg'd again; as I have seen a swan
' With bootless labour swim against the tide,

' And spend her strength with over-matching waves.

[A Short Alarum within.

A

'Ah, hark! the fatal followers do pursue; 'And I am faint, and cannot fly their fury: 'And, were I strong, I would not shun their fury: 'The sands are number'd, that make up my life;

'Here must I stay, and here my life must end.

Enter Queen MARGARET, CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND, and Soldiers.

Come, bloody Clifford, -rough Northumber

land,

' I dare your quenchless fury to more rage; ' I am your butt, and I abide your shot.

NORTH. Yield to our mercy, proud Plantagenet. CLIF. Ay, to fuch mercy, as his ruthless arm, With downright payment, show'd unto my father.

* We bodg'd again;] I find bodgery used by Nashe in his Apologie of Pierce Penniless, 1593, for botchery : "Do you know your own misbegotten bodgery?" To bodge might therefore mean, (as to botch does now) to do a thing imperfectly and aukwardly; and thence to fail or miscarry in an attempt. Cole, in his Latin Dictionary, 1679, renders-" To botch or bungle, opus corrumpere, difperdere."

I suspect, however, with Dr. Johnson, that we should readWe budg'd again. "To budge" Cole renders, pedem referre, to retreat: the precise sense required here. So, Coriolanus, speaking of his army who had fled from their adversaries :

"The mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat, as they did budge " From rascals worse than they." MALONE,

I believe that we bodg'd only means, we boggled, made bad or bungling work of our attempt to rally. A low unskilful tailor is often called a botcher. STEEVENS.

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