Page:Henry VI Part 3 (1923) Yale.djvu/47

King Henry the Sixth, II. ii

King. I prithee, give no limits to my tongue:

I am a king, and privileg'd to speak.

Clif. My liege, the wound that bred this meeting here

Cannot be cur'd by words; therefore be still.

Rich. Then, executioner, unsheathe thy sword.

By him that made us all, I am resolv'd

That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue.

Edw. Say, Henry, shall I have my right or no?

A thousand men have broke their fasts to-day,

That ne'er shall dine unless thou yield the crown.

War. If thou deny, their blood upon thy head;

For York in justice puts his armour on.

Prince. If that be right which Warwick says is right,

There is no wrong, but everything is right.

Rich. Whoever got thee, there thy mother stands;

For well I wot thou hast thy mother's tongue.

Queen. But thou art neither like thy sire nor dam,

But like a foul misshapen stigmatic,

Mark'd by the destinies to be avoided,

As venom toads, or lizards' dreadful stings.

Rich. Iron of Naples hid with English gilt,—

Whose father bears the title of a king,

As if a channel should be call'd the sea,—

Sham'st thou not, knowing whence thou art extraught,

To let thy tongue detect thy base-born heart?

Edw. A wisp of straw were worth a thousand crowns,

To make this shameless callet know herself.

 119 limits: limitation

124 resolv'd: convinced

129 deny: refuse

130 in on: fights in a just cause

133 got: begot

136 stigmatic: one branded by deformity

138 venom: poisonous

139 You whose cheap Neapolitan origin is gilded by your English rank

141 channel: gutter

142 extraught: extracted

144 wisp of straw; cf. n.

145 callet: lewd woman 