Mor. Thou dost then wrong me; as that slaughterer

doth,

Which giveth many wounds, when one will kill.
Mourn not, except thou sorrow for

Only, give order for my funeral;

my good;

And so farewell: and fair be all thy hopes!
And prosperous be thy life, in peace, and war!
[Dies.
Plan. And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul!
In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage,
And like a hermit overpass'd thy days.-
Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast;
And what I do imagine, let that rest.—
Keepers, convey him hence; and I myself
Will see his burial better than his life.-

[Exeunt Keepers, bearing out MORTIMER.
Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer,
Chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort 13:
And, for those wrongs, those bitter injuries,
Which Somerset hath offer'd to my house,
I doubt not, but with honour to redress:
And therefore haste I to the parliament;
Either to be restored to my blood,

Or make my ill 14 the advantage of my good. [Exit.

Horace and Lydia. There is some resemblance to it in the following lines, supposed to be addressed by a married lady, who died very young, to her husband. Malone thinks that the inscription is in the church of Trent:

"Immatura perî; sed tu diuturnior annos
Vive meos, conjux optime, vive tuos."

Some traces of a superstitious belief that this was possible may be found in the traditions of the Rabbins; it is enlarged upon in the Alcestes of Euripides. Such offers are ridiculed by Juvenal, Sat. xii. Dion Cassius insinuates that Hadrian sacrificed his favourite Antinous with this design. See Lister's Journey to Paris, p. 221. It is a mere hyperbolical compliment.

13 Chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort, i. e. oppressed by those whose right to the crown was not so good as his own.

14 The old editions read, "Or make my will." Theobald made

ACT III.

SCENE I. The same. The Parliament House1.

Flourish. Enter KING HENRY, EXETER, GLOSTER, WARWICK, SOMERSET, and SUFFOLK; the Bishop of Winchester, RICHARD PLANTAGENET and Others. GLOSTER offers to put up a Bill: Winchester snatches it, and tears it.

Winchester.

OM'ST thou with deep premeditated lines,
With written pamphlets studiously devis'd?
Humphrey of Gloster, if thou canst accuse,

Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge,
Do it without invention suddenly;

As I with sudden and extemporal speech
Purpose to answer what thou canst object.

Glo. Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience,

Or thou should'st find thou hast dishonour'd me.
Think not, although in writing I preferr'd
The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,
That therefore I have forg'd, or am not able
Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen:
No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness,
Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissensious pranks,

the necessary correction. My ill is my ill usage. This sentiment resembles another of Falstaff, in the Second Part of King Henry IV. "I will turn diseases to commodity."

This parliament was held in 1426 at Leicester, though here represented to have been held in London. King Henry was now in the fifth year of his age. In the first parliament, which was held at London shortly after his father's death, his mother Queen Katharine brought the young king from Windsor to the metropolis, and sat on the throne with the infant in her lap.

A bill, i, e, articles of accusation,

As very infants prattle of thy pride.
Thou art a most pernicious usurer;
Froward by nature, enemy to peace;
Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems
A man of thy profession, and degree;
And for thy treachery, what's more manifest?
In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life,
As well at London Bridge, as at the Tower?
Beside, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted,
The king, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt
From envious malice of thy swelling heart.

Win. Gloster, I do defy thee. Lords, vouchsafe To give me hearing what I shall reply. If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse, As he will have me, How am I so poor ? Or how haps it, I seek not to advance Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling? And for dissension, who preferreth peace More than I do, except I be provok'd? No, my good lords, it is not that offends; It is not that, that hath incens'd the duke: It is, because no one should sway but he; No one, but he, should be about the king; And that engenders thunder in his breast, And makes him roar these accusations forth. But he shall know, I am as good

Glo.

Thou bastard of my grandfather!

As good?

Win. Ay, lordly sir; for what are you, I pray,

But one imperious in another's throne?
Glo. Am I not protector, saucy priest?
Win. And am I not a prelate of the church?
Glo. Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps,

3 The bishop of Winchester was an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Katharine Swynford, whom the Duke afterwards married.

And useth it to patronage his theft.

Win. Unreverent Gloster!

Glo.

Thou art reverent

Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.

Win. Rome shall remedy this.

War.

Roam thither then.

My lord, it were your duty to forbear.

Som. Ay, see the bishop be not overborne.
Methinks, my lord should be religious,
And know the office that belongs to such.

War. Methinks, his lordship should be humbler; It fitteth not a prelate so to plead.

Som. Yes, when his holy state is touch'd so near. War. State holy, or unhallow'd, what of that? Is not his grace protector to the king?

Plan. Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue; Lest it be said, Speak, sirrah, when you should; Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords? Else would I have a fling at Winchester.

[Aside.

K. Hen. Uncles of Gloster, and of Winchester, The special watchmen of our English weal; I would prevail, if prayers might prevail, To join your hearts in love and amity. O, what a scandal is it to our crown, That two such noble peers as ye, should jar! Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell,

Civil dissension is a viperous worm,

That

gnaws

the bowels of the commonwealth. [A noise within; Down with the tawny coats! What tumult's this?

War.

An

uproar, I dare warrant,

* The jingle between roam and Rome is common to other writers. Thus Nash, in his Lenten Stuff, 1599:-"Three hundred thousand people roamed to Rome for purgatorie pills," &c. Shakespeare seems to have pronounced this word differently in Julius Cæsar; we have:

"Now is it Rome indeed and room enough."

Begun through malice of the bishop's men.

[A noise again; Stones! Stones!

Enter the Mayor of London, attended.

May. O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry,
Pity the city of London, pity us!

The bishop and the duke of Gloster's men,
Forbidden late to carry any weapon,
Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble-stones,
And, banding themselves in contráry parts,
Do pelt so fast at one another's pate,

That many have their giddy brains knock'd out.
Our windows are broke down in every street,
And we, for fear, compell'd to shut our shops.

Enter, skirmishing, the Retainers of GLOSTER and
WINCHESTER, with bloody pates.

K. Hen. We charge you, on allegiance to ourself, To hold your slaught'ring hands, and keep the peace. Pray, uncle Gloster, mitigate this strife.

1 Serv. Nay, if we be

Forbidden stones, we'll fall to it with our teeth.

2 Serv. Do what ye dare, we are as resolute.

[Skirmish again. Glo. You of my household, leave this peevish broil, And set this unaccustom'd5 fight aside.

3 Serv. My lord, we know your grace to be a man Just and upright; and, for your royal birth, Inferior to none, but to his majesty :

And ere that we will suffer such a prince,

So kind a father of the commonweal,

• Unaccustomed was always used by our ancestors for ncw, strange, unwonted, as may be seen in the dictionaries under insolitus. This is its meaning in the passage of Romeo and Juliet :"Give him such an unaccustom'd dram,

That he shall soon keep Tibalt company."