1    From Ireland thus comes York to claim his right,
2    And pluck the crown from feeble Henry's head:
3    Ring, bells, aloud; burn, bonfires, clear and bright,
4    To entertain great England's lawful king.
5    Ah! sancta majestas, who would not buy thee dear?
6    Let them obey that know not how to rule;
7    This hand was made to handle naught but gold.
8    I cannot give due action to my words,
9    Except a sword or sceptre balance it:
10   A sceptre shall it have, have I a soul,
11   On which I'll toss the flower-de-luce of France.
Enter BUCKINGHAM
12   Whom have we here? Buckingham, to disturb me?
13   The king hath sent him, sure: I must dissemble.

14   York, if thou meanest well, I greet thee well.

15   Humphrey of Buckingham, I accept thy greeting.
16   Art thou a messenger, or come of pleasure?

17   A messenger from Henry, our dread liege,
18   To know the reason of these arms in peace;
19   Or why thou, being a subject as I am,
20   Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn,
21   Should raise so great a power without his leave,
22   Or dare to bring thy force so near the court.

Aside
23    Scarce can I speak, my choler is so great:
24   O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint,
25   I am so angry at these abject terms;
26   And now, like Ajax Telamonius,
27   On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury.
28   I am far better born than is the king,
29   More like a king, more kingly in my thoughts:
30   But I must make fair weather yet a while,
31   Till Henry be more weak and I more strong,--
32   Buckingham, I prithee, pardon me,
33   That I have given no answer all this while;
34   My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.
35   The cause why I have brought this army hither
36   Is to remove proud Somerset from the king,
37   Seditious to his grace and to the state.

38   That is too much presumption on thy part:
39   But if thy arms be to no other end,
40   The king hath yielded unto thy demand:
41   The Duke of Somerset is in the Tower.

42   Upon thine honour, is he prisoner?

43   Upon mine honour, he is prisoner.

44   Then, Buckingham, I do dismiss my powers.
45   Soldiers, I thank you all; disperse yourselves;
46   Meet me to-morrow in St. George's field,
47   You shall have pay and every thing you wish.
48   And let my sovereign, virtuous Henry,
49   Command my eldest son, nay, all my sons,
50   As pledges of my fealty and love;
51   I'll send them all as willing as I live:
52   Lands, goods, horse, armour, any thing I have,
53   Is his to use, so Somerset may die.

54   York, I commend this kind submission:
55   We twain will go into his highness' tent.

56   Buckingham, doth York intend no harm to us,
57   That thus he marcheth with thee arm in arm?

58   In all submission and humility
59   York doth present himself unto your highness.

60   Then what intends these forces thou dost bring?

61   To heave the traitor Somerset from hence,
62   And fight against that monstrous rebel Cade,
63   Who since I heard to be discomfited.

64   If one so rude and of so mean condition
65   May pass into the presence of a king,
66   Lo, I present your grace a traitor's head,
67   The head of Cade, whom I in combat slew.

68   The head of Cade! Great God, how just art Thou!
69   O, let me view his visage, being dead,
70   That living wrought me such exceeding trouble.
71   Tell me, my friend, art thou the man that slew him?

72   I was, an't like your majesty.

73   How art thou call'd? and what is thy degree?

74   Alexander Iden, that's my name;
75   A poor esquire of Kent, that loves his king.

76   So please it you, my lord, 'twere not amiss
77   He were created knight for his good service.

78   Iden, kneel down.
He kneels
79   Rise up a knight.
80   We give thee for reward a thousand marks,
81   And will that thou henceforth attend on us.

82   May Iden live to merit such a bounty.
83   And never live but true unto his liege!

84   See, Buckingham, Somerset comes with the queen:
85   Go, bid her hide him quickly from the duke.

86   For thousand Yorks he shall not hide his head,
87   But boldly stand and front him to his face.

88   How now! is Somerset at liberty?
89   Then, York, unloose thy long-imprison'd thoughts,
90   And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart.
91   Shall I endure the sight of Somerset?
92   False king! why hast thou broken faith with me,
93   Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse?
94   King did I call thee? no, thou art not king,
95   Not fit to govern and rule multitudes,
96   Which darest not, no, nor canst not rule a traitor.
97   That head of thine doth not become a crown;
98   Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff,
99   And not to grace an awful princely sceptre.
100  That gold must round engirt these brows of mine,
101  Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles' spear,
102  Is able with the change to kill and cure.
103  Here is a hand to hold a sceptre up
104  And with the same to act controlling laws.
105  Give place: by heaven, thou shalt rule no more
106  O'er him whom heaven created for thy ruler.

107  O monstrous traitor! I arrest thee, York,
108  Of capital treason 'gainst the king and crown;
109  Obey, audacious traitor; kneel for grace.

110  Wouldst have me kneel? first let me ask of these,
111  If they can brook I bow a knee to man.
112  Sirrah, call in my sons to be my bail;
Exit Attendant
113  I know, ere they will have me go to ward,
114  They'll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement.

115  Call hither Clifford! bid him come amain,
116  To say if that the bastard boys of York
117  Shall be the surety for their traitor father.

118  O blood-besotted Neapolitan,
119  Outcast of Naples, England's bloody scourge!
120  The sons of York, thy betters in their birth,
121  Shall be their father's bail; and bane to those
122  That for my surety will refuse the boys!
Enter EDWARD and RICHARD
123  See where they come: I'll warrant they'll
124  make it good.

125  And here comes Clifford to deny their bail.

126  Health and all happiness to my lord the king!

127  I thank thee, Clifford: say, what news with thee?
128  Nay, do not fright us with an angry look;
129  We are thy sovereign, Clifford, kneel again;
130  For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.

131  This is my king, York, I do not mistake;
132  But thou mistakest me much to think I do:
133  To Bedlam with him! is the man grown mad?

134  Ay, Clifford; a bedlam and ambitious humour
135  Makes him oppose himself against his king.

136  He is a traitor; let him to the Tower,
137  And chop away that factious pate of his.

138  He is arrested, but will not obey;
139  His sons, he says, shall give their words for him.

140  Will you not, sons?

141  Ay, noble father, if our words will serve.

142  And if words will not, then our weapons shall.

143  Why, what a brood of traitors have we here!

144  Look in a glass, and call thy image so:
145  I am thy king, and thou a false-heart traitor.
146  Call hither to the stake my two brave bears,
147  That with the very shaking of their chains
148  They may astonish these fell-lurking curs:
149  Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.

150  Are these thy bears? we'll bait thy bears to death.
151  And manacle the bear-ward in their chains,
152  If thou darest bring them to the baiting place.

153  Oft have I seen a hot o'erweening cur
154  Run back and bite, because he was withheld;
155  Who, being suffer'd with the bear's fell paw,
156  Hath clapp'd his tail between his legs and cried:
157  And such a piece of service will you do,
158  If you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick.

159  Hence, heap of wrath, foul indigested lump,
160  As crooked in thy manners as thy shape!

161  Nay, we shall heat you thoroughly anon.

162  Take heed, lest by your heat you burn yourselves.

163  Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot to bow?
164  Old Salisbury, shame to thy silver hair,
165  Thou mad misleader of thy brain-sick son!
166  What, wilt thou on thy death-bed play the ruffian,
167  And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles?
168  O, where is faith? O, where is loyalty?
169  If it be banish'd from the frosty head,
170  Where shall it find a harbour in the earth?
171  Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war,
172  And shame thine honourable age with blood?
173  Why art thou old, and want'st experience?
174  Or wherefore dost abuse it, if thou hast it?
175  For shame! in duty bend thy knee to me
176  That bows unto the grave with mickle age.

177  My lord, I have consider'd with myself
178  The title of this most renowned duke;
179  And in my conscience do repute his grace
180  The rightful heir to England's royal seat.

181  Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me?

182  I have.

183  Canst thou dispense with heaven for such an oath?

184  It is great sin to swear unto a sin,
185  But greater sin to keep a sinful oath.
186  Who can be bound by any solemn vow
187  To do a murderous deed, to rob a man,
188  To force a spotless virgin's chastity,
189  To reave the orphan of his patrimony,
190  To wring the widow from her custom'd right,
191  And have no other reason for this wrong
192  But that he was bound by a solemn oath?

193  A subtle traitor needs no sophister.

194  Call Buckingham, and bid him arm himself.

195  Call Buckingham, and all the friends thou hast,
196  I am resolved for death or dignity.

197  The first I warrant thee, if dreams prove true.

198  You were best to go to bed and dream again,
199  To keep thee from the tempest of the field.

200  I am resolved to bear a greater storm
201  Than any thou canst conjure up to-day;
202  And that I'll write upon thy burgonet,
203  Might I but know thee by thy household badge.

204  Now, by my father's badge, old Nevil's crest,
205  The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff,
206  This day I'll wear aloft my burgonet,
207  As on a mountain top the cedar shows
208  That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm,
209  Even to affright thee with the view thereof.

210  And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear
211  And tread it under foot with all contempt,
212  Despite the bear-ward that protects the bear.

213  And so to arms, victorious father,
214  To quell the rebels and their complices.

215  Fie! charity, for shame! speak not in spite,
216  For you shall sup with Jesu Christ to-night.

217  Foul stigmatic, that's more than thou canst tell.

218  If not in heaven, you'll surely sup in hell.