yours; 49 He should, for that, commit your godfathers. 90 You may partake of any thing we say: And thatthequeen's kindredare made gentle folks. Glou. Naught to do with Mistress Shore! I tell thee, fellow, He that doth naught with her, excepting one, Were best he do it secretly, alone. 100 Clar. I must perforce: farewell. Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard. Glou. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return, Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so Hast. Good time of day unto my gracious lord! must; But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks That were the cause of my imprisonment. Glou. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too; 130 For they that were your enemies are his, Hast. No news so bad abroad as this at home; Glou. Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed. O! he hath kept an evil diet long, Hast. He is. 140 SCENE II.-The Same. Another Street, Enter the corpse of King HENRY the Sixth, borne in an open coffin, Gentlemen bearing halberds, to guard it; and Lady ANNE as mourner. Anne. Set down, set down your honourable load, If honour may be shrouded in a hearse, Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster. Poor key-cold figure of a holy king! Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster! Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood! Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost, To hear the lamentations of poor Anne, Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son, Stabb'd by the self-same hand that made these wounds! Lo! in these windows that let forth thy life, I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes. 10 O cursed be the hand that made these holes ; 20 May fright the hopeful mother at the view; Enter GLOUCESTER. 30 Glou. Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down. Anne. What black magician conjures up this fiend, To stop devoted charitable deeds? Avaunt! thou dreadful minister of hell; 50 For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell, Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural, O God! which this blood mad'st, revenge death; his O earth which this blood drink'st, revenge his death; Either heaven with lightning strike the murderer dead, or earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick, As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood, Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered! Glou. Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. Anne. Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. Glou. But I know none, and therefore am no beast. Anne. O! wonderful, when devils tell the truth. Glou. More wonderful when angels are so angry. Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these supposed evils, to give me leave, By circumstance, but to acquit myself. Anne. Vouchsafe, diffus'd infection of a man For these known evils, but to give me leave, By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self. Glou. Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have Some patient leisure to excuse myself. Anne. Fouler than heart can think thee, then canst make No excuse current, but to hang thyself. Glou. By such despair I should accuse myself. Anne. And by despairing should'st thou stand excus'd For doing worthy vengeance on thyself, Then say they were not slain: Glou. Villains! set down the corse; or, by But dead they are, and, devilish slave, by thee. Saint Paul, Glou. I did not kill your husband. Anne. Glon. Your beauty was the cause of that effect; Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep To undertake the death of all the world, So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom. Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks. Glow. These eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck; You should not blemish it if I stood by: 130 Glou. Curse not thyself, fair creature; thou art both. Anne. I would I were, to be reveng'd on thee. Glou. It is a quarrel most unnatural, To be feveng'd on him that loveth thee. Anne. It is a quarrel just and reasonable, To be reveng'd on him that kill'd my husband. Glou. He that bereft thee, lady, of thy hu-band, Did it to help thee to a better husband. Anne. His better doth not breathe upon the earth. 140 16) Nor when thy war-like father, like a child, I never sued to friend nor enemy: My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing words; But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee, He lays his breast open: she offers at it 180 But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on." I will not be the executioner. Glou. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it. Anne. I have already. Glou. That was in thy rage: Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love: Glou. Then never man was true. 190 200 Glou. Look how this ring encompasseth thy finger, Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; Glou. That it may please you leave these sad designs To him that hath more cause to be a mourner, 210 Anne. With all my heart; and much it joys me too To see you are become so penitent. 220 'Tis more than you deserve; But since you teach me how to flatter you, Imagine I have said farewell already. Exeunt Lady ANNE, TRESSEL, and Glou. Sirs, take up the corse. 230 SCENE III.-The Same. A Room in the Palace. Enter Queen ELIZABETH, Lord RIVERS, and Lord GREY. Riv. Have patience, madam: there's no doubt his majesty Will soon recover his accustom'd health. Grey. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse: Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort, And cheer his grace with quick and merry words. Q. Eliz. If he were dead, what would betide on me? Grey. No other harm but loss of such a lord. Q. Eliz. The loss of such a lord includes all harms. Grey. The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son, To be your comforter when he is gone. Q. Eliz. Ah! he is young; and his minority Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloucester, A man that loves not me, nor none of you. Riv. Is it concluded he shall be protector? Q. Eliz. It is determin'd, not concluded yet : But so it must be if the king miscarry. Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY. Grey. Here come the Lords of Buckingham and Stanley. Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace! Stan. God make your majesty joyful as you have been! Q. Eliz. The Countess Richmond, good my To your good prayer will scarcely say amen. Having God, her conscience, and these bars I hate not you for her proud arrogance. against me, And I no friends to back my suit withal, 240 Hath she forgot already that brave prince, Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since, Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury? Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal, 251 And made her widow to a woeful bed? 260 Exit. Stan. I do beseech you, either not believe The envious slanders of her false accusers; Or, if she be accus'd on true report, Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice. Q. Eliz. Saw you the king to-day, my Lord of Stanley ? Stan. But now the Duke of Buckingham and I Are come from visiting his majesty. Q. Eliz. What likelihood of his amendment, lords? Buck. Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully. Q. Eliz. God grant him health! Did you confer with him? Buck. Ay, madam : he desires to make atonement Between the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers, And between them and my lord chamberlain ; I fear our happiness is at the highest. Eater GLOUCESTER, HASTINGS, and DORSET. Glou. They do me wrong, and I will not endure it: Who are they that complain unto the king, That I, forsooth, am stern and love them not! By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours. Because I cannot flatter and speak fair, 50 Grey. To whom in all this presence speaks your grace? Glou. To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace. The king, of his own royal disposition, Glou. I cannot tell; the world is grown so bad That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch: 71 That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble. Q. Eliz. By him that rais'd me to this careful height From that contented hap which I enjoy'd, 91 Q. Mar. And lessen'd be that small, God, I beseech him! Thy honour, state and seat is due to me. Glou. What! threat you me with telling of the king? Tell him, and spare not look! what I have said Q. Mar. Out, devil! I remember them too well: Thou kill'dst my husband Henry in the Tower, And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury. 120 Glou. Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king, I was a pack-horse in his great affairs, To royalise his blood I spilt mine own. Q. Mar. Ay, and much better blood than his, or thine. Glou. In all which time you and your husband Were factious for the house of Lancaster ; Q. Mar. A murderous villain, and so still thouart. Ay, and forswore himself, which Jesu pardon! Q. Mar. Which God revenge! Glou. Tofight on Edward's party for the crown; And for his meed, poor lord, he is mew'd up. I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's, Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine: I am too childish-foolish for this world. 141 Q. Mar. Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave the world, Thou cacodemon! there thy kingdom is. Riv. My Lord of Gloucester, in those busy days Which here you urge to prove us enemies, We follow'd then our lord, our lawful king; So should we you, if you should be our king. Glou. If I should be! I had rather be a pedlar. Far be it from my heart the thought thereof! 150 Q. Eliz. As little joy, my lord, as you suppose You should enjoy, were you this country's king, As little joy may you suppose in me That I enjoy, being the queen thereof. Advancing. Q. Mar. A little joy enjoys the queen thereof; For I am she, and altogether joyless. I can no longer hold me patient. Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out In sharing that which you have pill'd from me! Which of you trembles not that looks on me? 160 If not, that, I being queen, you bow like subjects, Yet that, by you depos'd, you quake like rebels? Ah! gentle villain, do not turn away. Glou. Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'st thou in my sight? Q. Mar. But repetition of what thou hast marr'd; That will I make before I let thee go. |