Act 2. Scene IV

SCENE IV. London. The palace.

Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, young YORK, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and the DUCHESS OF YORK
ARCHBISHOP OF YORK
Last night, I hear, they lay at Northampton;
At Stony-Stratford will they be to-night:
To-morrow, or next day, they will be here.

DUCHESS OF YORK
I long with all my heart to see the prince:
I hope he is much grown since last I saw him.

QUEEN ELIZABETH
But I hear, no; they say my son of York
Hath almost overta'en him in his growth.

YORK
Ay, mother; but I would not have it so.

DUCHESS OF YORK
Why, my young cousin, it is good to grow.

YORK
Grandam, one night, as we did sit at supper,
My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow
More than my brother: 'Ay,' quoth my uncle
Gloucester,
'Small herbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace:'
And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast,
Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.

DUCHESS OF YORK
Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold
In him that did object the same to thee;
He was the wretched'st thing when he was young,
So long a-growing and so leisurely,
That, if this rule were true, he should be gracious.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK
Why, madam, so, no doubt, he is.

DUCHESS OF YORK
I hope he is; but yet let mothers doubt.

YORK
Now, by my troth, if I had been remember'd,
I could have given my uncle's grace a flout,
To touch his growth nearer than he touch'd mine.

DUCHESS OF YORK
How, my pretty York? I pray thee, let me hear it.

YORK
Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast
That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old
'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth.
Grandam, this would have been a biting jest.

DUCHESS OF YORK
I pray thee, pretty York, who told thee this?

YORK
Grandam, his nurse.

DUCHESS OF YORK
His nurse! why, she was dead ere thou wert born.

YORK
If 'twere not she, I cannot tell who told me.

QUEEN ELIZABETH
A parlous boy: go to, you are too shrewd.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK
Good madam, be not angry with the child.

QUEEN ELIZABETH
Pitchers have ears.

Enter a Messenger

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK
Here comes a messenger. What news?

Messenger
Such news, my lord, as grieves me to unfold.

QUEEN ELIZABETH
How fares the prince?

Messenger
Well, madam, and in health.

DUCHESS OF YORK
What is thy news then?

Messenger
Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret,
With them Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners.

DUCHESS OF YORK
Who hath committed them?

Messenger
The mighty dukes
Gloucester and Buckingham.