That sought to be encompass'd with your crown: [mariner. [K. Henry.] Cheer it? Ay me! as rocks the storm-toss'd It is a sight that irks my very soul. Withhold revenge, O God! nor to my fault Clifford advances and speaks: [Clifford.] My gracious liege, this too much lenity To whom do lions cast their gentle looks? Thou smiling, while he knit his angry brow: Who hath not seen them, even with those wings, Should lose his birthright by his father's fault; Ah, what a shame were this! And let the manly promise of his face Make stern thy soul; and steel thy melting-heart, [K. Henry.] Clifford, full well you play the orator: A messenger enters, and speaks: [Messenger.] Royal commanders, be in readiness: Comes Warwick backing Edward duke of York; The king's army is instantly put in motion toward a field between Towton and Saxton. We will keep aloof from the thick of the combat, retiring to a neighbouring field, whence we may, in imagination, catch a view of the battle. To this place King Henry is come; and here you are to suppose he meditates on the scene before him: [K. Henry.] This battle fares like to the morning's war, Here on this molehill will I sit me down; To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, So minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months, and years, Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave. To shepherds looking on their silly sheep, To kings that fear their subjects' treachery? Yea, far more sweet the shepherd's homely curds, L A young soldier, who has killed his opposite in the battle, drags in the body to despoil it of treasure, and finds he has killed his father:-not far from this sight, which Henry witnesses, another meets his eye-a man advanced in life drags in a youth, and, in searching for gold, discovers that he has killed his son: the king joins in their lamentations : Woe above woe! grief more than common grief! Oh! that my death would stay these ruthful deeds! Oh, pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity! The fatal colours of our striving houses, Alas! are on their hands and in their cheeks. Here sits a king more woful still than you. At this moment, the chiefs and others of his party enter in flight, and hurry the king from the spot. They have scarcely quitted, when Edward, George, and Richard, the sons of the late duke of York, accompanied by Warwick and other noblemen of that party, come from the opposite side: Edward speaks: [Edw.] Now breathe we, lords; good fortune bids us pause. Some troops pursue the bloody-minded queen. Think you, my lords, that Clifford fled this way? [Warwick.] No, 'tis impossible he has escap'd. Your brother Richard mark'd him for the grave; [Richard.] Yes, Warwick; Clifford's dead; but, by my soul, [Warwick.] From off the gates of York let there be fetch'd So it shall please my lord. [Edward.] Even as thou wilt: For, Warwick, 'tis by thee my seat is built, Wherein thy counsel and consent are wanting. And so, my lords, with joyful hearts, to London. THE CHARACTERS OF EDWARD, GEORGE, AND RICHARD, SURVIVING SONS OF THE DUKE OF YORK, AS AMONG THE CAUSES OF THE VARIOUS FORTUNE OF THE ENGLISH CROWN, FROM THE FIRST ASSUMPTION OF IT BY EDWARD, TO THE DEATH OF HENRY VI.; INDICATED BY SCENES SUPPOSED TO OCCUR AT THE PALACE IN LONDON; ON THE WALLS OF COVENTRY; IN THE FIELD AT HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. The Edward IV. was declared king in 1461: Henry VI. died in the Tower, supposed to be murdered by Duke Richard, in 1471. The intervening facts are of a troubled and confused kind, and the immediate motives of the several actors often difficult to trace. leading facts are in the following order. After the battle of Towton, Henry and his queen fled to Scotland. She obtained succours in that kingdom, and also in France, whither she went to solicit them in person. On her return was fought the battle of Hexham, in Northumberland, which took place in May, 1464. Edward was the victor; and Margaret and her son, at that time ten years old, after experiencing the protection of some robbers in a forest, on whose generosity she had thrown herself, escaped to France. Henry, flying in a different direction, was eventually captured, and placed in the Tower. The amorous Edward, soon after this, fixed his affections on Lady Elizabeth Grey, and married her; by which he disgusted Warwick, who was at the French court, endeavouring to bring about an alliance between him and the lady Bona, sister of Lewis XI. ; and Warwick determined henceforward to take part with the Lancastrians. Insurrections in the north of England, and a number of barbarous executions, continued to keep up the spirit of civil strife; till Warwick concluded an agreement with Margaret, then at the French court, and cemented it by betrothing his second daughter, Anne, to prince Edward, who had by this time nearly entered his seventeenth year. His eldest daughter he married to George duke |