_Enter_ QUEEN MARGARET, CLIFFORD, NORTHUMBERLAND, _the_ young Prince, _and_ Soldiers. Come, bloody Clifford, rough Northumberland, I dare your quenchless fury to more rage: I am your butt, and I abide your shot. _North._ Yield to our mercy, proud Plantagenet. ·cad030· _Clif._ Ay, to such mercy as his ruthless arm, With downright payment, show’d unto my father. Now Phaëthon hath tumbled from his car, And made an evening at the noontide prick. _York._ My ashes, as the phœnix, may bring forth [cad035] A bird that will revenge upon you all: And in that hope I throw mine eyes to heaven, Scorning whate’er you can afflict me with. Why come you not? what! multitudes, and fear? _Clif._ So cowards fight when they can fly no further; ·cad040· So doves do peck the falcon’s piercing talons; So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives, Breathe out invectives ’gainst the officers. _York._ O Clifford, but bethink thee once again, And in thy thought o’er-run my former time; ·cad045· And, if thou canst for blushing, view this face, And bite thy tongue, that slanders him with cowardice Whose frown hath made thee faint and fly ere this! _Clif._ I will not bandy with thee word for word, But buckle with thee blows, twice two for one. [cad050] _Q. Mar._ Hold, valiant Clifford! for a thousand causes I would prolong awhile the traitor’s life. Wrath makes him deaf: speak thou, Northumberland. _North._ Hold, Clifford! do not honour him so much To prick thy finger, though to wound his heart: ·cad055· What valour were it, when a cur doth grin, For one to thrust his hand between his teeth, When he might spurn him with his foot away? It is war’s prize to take all vantages; [cad059] And ten to one is no impeach of valour. [cad060] [_They lay hands on York, who struggles._ _Clif._ Ay, ay, so strives the woodcock with the gin. _North._ So doth the cony struggle in the net. [cad062] _York._ So triumph thieves upon their conquer’d booty; So true men yield, with robbers so o’er-match’d. [cad064] _North._ What would your grace have done unto him now? ·cad065·