I'll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares:
Resolve thee, Richard; claim the English crown.

Flourish. Enter KING HENRY, CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND, WESTMORELAND, EXETER, and the rest

K. HEN. My lords, look where the sturdy rebel sits, 50 Even in the chair of state: belike he means,

Back'd by the power of Warwick, that false peer,
To aspire unto the crown and reign as king.
Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father,

And thine, Lord Clifford; and you both have vow'd

revenge

On him, his sons, his favourites and his friends. NORTH. If I be not, heavens be revenged on me! CLIF. The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel. WEST. What, shall we suffer this? let's pluck him down:

My heart for anger burns; I cannot brook it.

K. HEN. Be patient, gentle Earl of Westmoreland.
CLIF. Patience is for poltroons, such as he:
He durst not sit there, had your father lived.
My gracious lord, here in the parliament
Let us assail the family of York.

NORTH. Well hast thou spoken, cousin: be it so.
K. HEN. Ah, know you not the city favours them,
And they have troops of soldiers at their beck?

EXE. But when the duke is slain, they'll quickly fly.

the birds of the chase afraid to rise. Cf. Lucrece, 511: “With trembling fear, as fowl hear falcon's bells."

62 Patience] A trisyllable; "poltroons" is accented on the first syllable.

60

70

80

K. HEN. Far be the thought of this from Henry's

heart,

To make a shambles of the parliament-house!
Cousin of Exeter, frowns, words and threats
Shall be the war that Henry means to use.
Thou factious Duke of York, descend my throne,
And kneel for grace and mercy at my feet;
I am thy sovereign.

YORK.

I am thine.

EXE. For shame, come down: he made thee Duke of York.

YORK. 'T was my inheritance, as the earldom was.
EXE. Thy father was a traitor to the crown.
WAR. Exeter, thou art a traitor to the crown,

In following this usurping Henry.

CLIF. Whom should he follow but his natural king? WAR. True, Clifford; and that's Richard Duke of

York.

K. HEN. And shall I stand, and thou sit in my throne?

YORK. It must and shall be so: content thyself.
WAR. Be Duke of Lancaster; let him be king.

78–79 'T was my inheritance. . . crown] The earldom (of March) was inherited by York from his mother Anne Mortimer, daughter of Roger, Earl of March (see line 106, infra), who was great-grandson of Edward III. It was through his mother that York claimed the throne. To his dukedom of York he succeeded on the death at Agincourt in 1415 of his father's brother Edward, 2d Duke of York, son of Edmund (Langley), 1st Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III. His father Richard, Earl of Cambridge, the traitor to Henry V (see Hen. V, II, ii), never held the dukedɔm. Cf. line 105, infra.

WEST. He is both king and Duke of Lancaster; And that the Lord of Westmoreland shall maintain. WAR. And Warwick shall disprove it. You forget That we are those which chased you from the field, And slew your fathers, and with colours spread March'd through the city to the palace gates.

NORTH. Yes, Warwick, I remember it to my grief; And, by his soul, thou and thy house shall rue it.

WEST. Plantagenet, of thee and these thy sons,
Thy kinsmen and thy friends, I'll have more lives
Than drops of blood were in my father's veins.

CLIF. Urge it no more; lest that, instead of words,
I send thee, Warwick, such a messenger
As shall revenge his death before I stir.

WAR. Poor Clifford! how I scorn his worthless threats!
YORK. Will you we show our title to the crown?
If not, our swords shall plead it in the field.

100

K. HEN. What title hast thou, traitor, to the crown? Thy father was, as thou art, Duke of York;

Thy grandfather, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March:
I am the son of Henry the Fifth,

Who made the dauphin and the French to stoop,

And seized upon their towns and provinces.

WAR. Talk not of France, sith thou hast lost it all. 110 K. HEN. The lord protector lost it, and not I:

When I was crown'd I was but nine months old. RICH. You are old enough now, and yet, methinks, you lose.

Father, tear the crown from the usurper's head.

York] This is an error. See note on 78–79, supra.

EDW. Sweet father, do so; set it on your head. MONT. Good brother, as thou lovest and honourest

arms,

Let's fight it out and not stand cavilling thus.

RICH. Sound drums and trumpets, and the king will fly.

YORK. Sons, peace!

K. HEN. Peace, thou! and give King Henry leave to speak.

WAR. Plantagenet shall speak first: hear him, lords; And be you silent and attentive too,

For he that interrupts him shall not live.

K. HEN. Think'st thou that I will leave my kingly throne,

Wherein my grandsire and my father sat?
No: first shall war unpeople this my realm;
Ay, and their colours, often borne in France,
And now in England to our heart's great sorrow,
Shall be my winding-sheet. Why faint you, lords?
My title's good, and better far than his.

WAR. Prove it, Henry, and thou shalt be king.
K. HEN. Henry the Fourth by conquest got the

crown.

YORK. "T was by rebellion against his king.

K. HEN. [Aside] I know not what to say; my title's weak.

Tell me, may not a king adopt an heir?

YORK. What then?

120

130

116 brother] See note on line 14, supra, and cf. I, ii, 4, 55, and 60, infra.

K. HEN. An if he may, then am I lawful king;
For Richard, in the view of many lords,
Resign'd the crown to Henry the Fourth,
Whose heir my father was, and I am his.

YORK. He rose against him, being his sovereign,
And made him to resign his crown perforce.

WAR. Suppose, my lords, he did it unconstrain'd, Think you 't were prejudicial to his crown?

EXE. No; for he could not so resign his crown But that the next heir should succeed and reign. K. HEN. Art thou against us, Duke of Exeter ? EXE. His is the right, and therefore pardon me. YORK. Why whisper you, my lords, and answer not? EXE. My conscience tells me he is lawful king. K. HEN. [Aside] All will revolt from me, and turn to

him.

NORTH. Plantagenet, for all the claim thou lay’st,
Think not that Henry shall be so deposed.

WAR. Deposed he shall be, in despite of all.
NORTH. Thou art deceived: 't is not thy southern

power,

Of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, nor of Kent,

Which makes thee thus presumptuous and proud,
Can set the duke up in despite of me.

CLIF. King Henry, be thy title right or wrong,
Lord Clifford vows to fight in thy defence:
May that ground gape and swallow me alive,
Where I shall kneel to him that slew my father!

144 prejudicial to his crown] detrimental to the throne, injurious to the

prerogative of monarchy.

140

150

160