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A Room in Sandal Castle, near Wakefield, in Yorkshire. | |
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Enter EDWARD, RICHARD, and MONTAGUE. | |
| Rich. Brother, though I be youngest, give me leave. | |
| Edw. No, I can better play the orator. | |
| Mont. But I have reasons strong and forcible. | 5 |
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Enter YORK. | |
| York. Why, how now, sons and brother! at a strife? | |
| What is your quarrel? how began it first? | |
| Edw. No quarrel, but a slight contention. | |
| York. About what? | 10 |
| Rich. About that which concerns your Grace and us; | |
| The crown of England, father, which is yours. | |
| York. Mine, boy? not till King Henry be dead. | |
| Rich. Your right depends not on his life or death. | |
| Edw. Now you are heir, therefore enjoy it now: | 15 |
| By giving the house of Lancaster leave to breathe, | |
| It will outrun you, father, in the end. | |
| York. I took an oath that he should quietly reign. | |
| Edw. But for a kingdom any oath may be broken: | |
| I would break a thousand oaths to reign one year. | 20 |
| Rich. No; God forbid your Grace should be forsworn. | |
| York. I shall be, if I claim by open war. | |
| Rich. I’ll prove the contrary, if you’ll hear me speak. | |
| York. Thou canst not, son; it is impossible. | |
| Rich. An oath is of no moment, being not took | 25 |
| Before a true and lawful magistrate | |
| That hath authority over him that swears: | |
| Henry had none, but did usurp the place; | |
| Then, seeing ’twas he that made you to depose, | |
| Your oath, my lord, is vain and frivolous. | 30 |
| Therefore, to arms! And, father, do but think | |
| How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown, | |
| Within whose circuit is Elysium, | |
| And all that poets feign of bliss and joy. | |
| Why do we linger thus? I cannot rest | 35 |
| Until the white rose that I wear be dy’d | |
| Even in the lukewarm blood of Henry’s heart. | |
| York. Richard, enough, I will be king, or die. | |
| Brother, thou shalt to London presently, | |
| And whet on Warwick to this enterprise. | 40 |
| Thou, Richard, shalt unto the Duke of Norfolk, | |
| And tell him privily of our intent. | |
| You, Edward, shall unto my Lord Cobham, | |
| With whom the Kentishmen will willingly rise: | |
| In them I trust; for they are soldiers, | 45 |
| Witty, courteous, liberal, full of spirit. | |
| While you are thus employ’d, what resteth more, | |
| But that I seek occasion how to rise, | |
| And yet the king not privy to my drift, | |
| Nor any of the house of Lancaster? | 50 |
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Enter a Messenger. | |
| But, stay: what news? why com’st thou in such post? | |
| Mess. The queen with all the northern earls and lords | |
| Intend here to besiege you in your castle. | |
| She is hard by with twenty thousand men, | 55 |
| And therefore fortify your hold, my lord. | |
| York. Ay, with my sword. What! think’st thou that we fear them? | |
| Edward and Richard, you shall stay with me; | |
| My brother Montague shall post to London: | |
| Let noble Warwick, Cobham, and the rest, | 60 |
| Whom we have left protectors of the king, | |
| With powerful policy strengthen themselves, | |
| And trust not simple Henry nor his oaths. | |
| Mont. Brother, I go; I’ll win them, fear it not: | |
| And thus most humbly I do take my leave. [Exit. | 65 |
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Enter SIR JOHN and SIR HUGH MORTIMER. | |
| York. Sir John, and Sir Hugh Mortimer, mine uncles! | |
| You are come to Sandal in a happy hour; | |
| The army of the queen mean to besiege us. | |
| Sir John. She shall not need, we’ll meet her in the field. | 70 |
| York. What! with five thousand men? | |
| Rich. Ay, with five hundred, father, for a need: | |
| A woman’s general; what should we fear? [A march afar off. | |
| Edw. I hear their drums; let’s set our men in order, | |
| And issue forth and bid them battle straight. | 75 |
| York. Five men to twenty! though the odds be great, | |
| I doubt not, uncle, of our victory. | |
| Many a battle have I won in France, | |
| When as the enemy hath been ten to one: | |
| Why should I not now have the like success? [Alarum. Exeunt. | 80 |
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