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For they, that were your enemies, are his,
And have prevail'd as much on him, as you.
Haft. More pity, that the eagle should be mew'd 1,
While kites and buzzards play at liberty.

Glo. What news abroad?

Haft. No news fo bad abroad, as this at home ;The king is fickly, weak, and melancholy, And his physicians fear him mightily.

Gle. Now, by faint Paul, that news is bad indeed.

O, he hath kept an evil diet long,

And over-much confum'd his royal perfon; 'Tis very grievous to be thought upon. What, is he in his bed?

Haft. He is.

Glo. Go you before, and I will follow you.

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[Exit Haftings.

He cannot live, I hope; and must not die,
'Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to
heaven.

I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence,
With lies well fteel'd with weighty arguments;
And, if I fail not in my deep intent,
Clarence hath not another day to live:
Which done, God take king Edward to his mercy,
And leave the world for me to bustle in!

5

Poor key-cold 3 figure of a holy king!
Pale afhes of the house of Lancaster!

Thou bloedlefs 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 flaughter'd fon,
Stabb'd by the felf-fame hand that made thefe
wounds!

Lo, in these windows, that let forth thy life,
IcI pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes :-
O, curfed be the hand, that made these holes!
Curfed the heart, that had the heart to do it!
Curfed the blood, that let this blood from hence!
More direful hap betide that hated wretch,

15 That makes us wretched by the death of thee,
Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads,
Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives!
If ever he have child, abortive be it,
Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
20 Whofe ugly and unnatural aspect

25

30

May fright the hopeful mother at the view;
And that be heir to his unhappiness !

If ever he have wife, let her be made
More miferable by the death of him,

Than I am made by my young lord, and thee !-
Come, now, toward Chertfey with your holy load,
Taken from Paul's to be interred there;

And, ftill as you are weary of the weight,

Reft you, whiles I lament king Henry's corfe.

Enter Glifter.

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Glo, Villains, fet down the corfe; or, by faint 35 I'll make a corfe of him tha: d fobeys.

Gen. My lord, ftand back, and let the coffin pafs. Glo. Unmanner'd dog! ftand thou when I com. mand:

Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,

For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter :
What though I kill'd her husband, and her father?40Or, by faint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot,

The readiest way to make the wench amends,
Is-to become her husband, and her father:
The which will I; not all so much for love,

As for another fecret close intent,

By marrying her, which I must reach unto.
But yet I run before my horse to market:
Clarence ftill breathes; Edward ftill lives, and
reigns;

When they are gone, then must I count my gains.

SCENE II.

Another Street.

And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness. Anne. What, ce you tremble? are you all afraid? Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal, And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.45 Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!

[Exit. 50

Thou had'ft but power over his mortal body,
His foul thou can't not have; therefore, be gone.
Glo. Sweet faint, for charity, be not so curst.
Anne. Foul devil, for God's fake, hence, and
trouble us not;

For thou haft made the happy earth thy hell,
Fill'd it with curfing cries, and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries :—

Enter the Corfe of Henry the Sixth, with balberds to 55 Oh, gentlemen, fee, fee! dead Henry's wounds

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1A mew was the place of confinement where a hawk was kept till he had moulted. in this instance, means funereal. 3 A key, on the account of the coldness of the metal of which it is compofed, was anciently employed to stop any flight bleeding. 4 i. e. inftance or example,

5 It is

a tradition very generally received, that the murdered body bleeds on the touch of the murderer. Mr. Tollet obferves, that this opinion feems to be derived from the ancient Swedes, or Northern nations from whom we defcend; for they practifed this method of trial in dubious cafes,

O God,

O God, which this blood mad'st, revenge his death! O earth, which this blood drink'ft, revenge his death!

[dead, Either, heaven, with lightning strike the murderer Or, earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick; As thou doft swallow up this good king's blood, Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!

Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, bleffings for curfes. Anne. Villain, thou know'ft no law of God nor man;

No beast so fierce, but knows fome touch of pity. Glo. But I know none, and therefore am no beast.

Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth! Glo. More wonderful, when angels are fo angry.Vouchfafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these fuppofed evils, to give me leave, By circumftance, but to acquit himself.

Anne. Vouchfafe, diffus'd' infection of a man, For these known evils, but to give me leave, By circumftance, to curfe thy curfed felf.

[have

Glo. Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me Some patient leifure to excufe myself.

Anne. Ill reft betide the chamber where thou
lyeft!

Glo. So will it, madam, 'till I lie with you.
Anne. I hope fo.

Glo. I know fo.-But, gentle lady Anne,-
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall fomewhat into a flower 2 method;-
Is not the caufer of the timeless deaths
Of thefe Plantagenets, Henry, and Edward,
10 As blameful as the executioner ?

[effect.
Anne. Thou waft the caufe, and moft accurs'd
Gio. Your beauty was the caufe of that effect;
Your beauty, which did haunt me in my sleep,
To undertake the death of all the world,

15 So I might live one hour in your sweet bofom. Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, Thefe nails fhould rend that beauty from my cheeks. Glo. Thefe eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck,

20 You should not blemish it, if I ftood by: As all the world is cheered by the fun, So I by that; it is my day, my life.

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35

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Glo. I was provoked by her sland'rous tongue,
That laid their guilt upon my guiltlefs fhoulders.
Anne. Thou waft provoked by thy bloody mind, 45
That never dreamt on aught but butcheries:
Didst thou not kill this king?

Gio. I grant ye.

[grant me too, Anne. Doft grant me, hedge-hog? then God Thou may'st be damned for that wicked deed! Oh, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.

Glo. The fitter for the King of heaven that hath him. [come.

Anne. He is in heaven, where thou shalt never Glo. Let him thank me, that holp to fend him thither;

For he was fitter for that place, than earth.
Anne. And thou unfit for any place, but hell.
Glo. Yes, one place elfe, if you will hear me
Anne. Some dungeon.

Gic. Your bed-chamber.

[thy life!

Anne. Black night o'er-shade thy day, and death Glo. Curfe not thyfelf, fair creature; thou art both.

Anne. I would I were, to be reveng'd on thee.
Glo. It is a quarrel most unnatural,

To be reveng`d on him that loveth thee.
Anne. It is a quarrel juft and reasonable,
To be reveng'd on him that kill'd my husband.
Glo. He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,
Did it to help thee to a better husband.

Anne. His better doth not breathe upon the earth.
Glo. He lives, that loves you better than he could.
Anne. Name him.

Glo. Plantagenet.

Anne. Why, that was he.

Glo. The felf-fame name, but one of better nature, Anne. Where is he? [fpit at me? Glo. Here: [She Spits at bim.] Why doft thou Anne. Would it were mortal poison for thy fake! Glo. Never came poison from so sweet a place. Anne. Never hung poison on a fouler toad. Out of my fight! thou dost infect mine eyes. Glo. Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine. Anne. 'Would they were bafilifks, to strike thee dead!

Glo. I would they were, that I might die at once; For now they kill me with a living death. 50Thofe eyes of thine from mine have drawn falt tears,

55

Sham'd their afpects with ftore of childish drops:
Thefe eyes, which never shed remorseful tear-
Not, when my father York and Edward wept,
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made,
When black-fac'd Clifford shook his fword at him:

Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,

Told the fad ftory of my father's death;

And twenty times made paufe, to fob, and weep,

[name it. 60 That all the ftanders-by had wet their cheeks, Like trees bedafh'd with rain: in that fad time,

* i. e. irregular, uncouth; or the phrafe may mean, Thou that art as dangerous as a peftilence, that infects the aur by its diffusion. 2 i. e. a more ferious method.

My

My manly eyes did fcorn an humble tear;
And what these forrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weep-
I never fu'd to friend, nor enemy;
[ing.
My tongue could never learn fweet foothing word;
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee, [fpeak.]
My proud heart fues, and prompts my tongue to
[She looks fcornfully at bin.
Teach not thy lip fuch fcorn; for it was made
For kiffing, lady, not for fuch contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,

Lo! here I lend thee this fharp-pointed fword ;'
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast,
And let the foul forth that adoreth thee,
I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays bis breaft open, she offers at it with his fword.
Nay, do not paufe; for I did kill king Henry ;-
But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.
Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young
Edward;-

5

ΙΟ

Grant me this boon.

Anne. With all my heart; and much it joys me too, To fee you are become fo penitent.

Treffel, and Berkley, go along with me.

Glo. Bid me farewel.

Anne. 'Tis more than you deferve:
But, fince you teach me how to flatter you,
Imagine I have faid farewel already.

[Exeunt two, with Lady Anne.
Glo. Take up the corfe, firs.
Gen. Towards Chertsey, noble lord?
Glo. No, to White-Fryars; there attend my
coming. [Exeunt the reft, with the corfe.
Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?
15 Was ever woman in this humour won?
I'll have her, but I will not keep her long.
What! I that kill'd her husband, and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremeft hate;
With curfes in her mouth, tears in her eyes,
The bleeding witness of her hatred by;

20

But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.
[She lets fall the fword.
Take up the fword again, or take up me.
Anne. Arife, diffembler; though I wish thy death, 25
I will not be thy executioner.

Glo. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.
Anne. I have already.

Glo. That was in thy rage:

Speak it again, and, even with the word,

This hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love,
Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love;
To both their deaths fhalt thou be acceffary.
Anne. I would, I knew thy heart.
Glo. 'Tis figur'd in my tongue.
Anne. I fear me, both are falfe.
Glo. Then never man was true.
Anne. Well, well, put up your fword.
Gle. Say then, my peace is made.
Anne. That fhall you know hereafter.
Gl. But fhall I live in hope?
Anne. All men, I hope, live fo.
Gla. Vouchfafe to wear this ring.

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With God, her confcience, and thefe bars against me,

And I no friends to back my fuit withal,
But the plain devil, and dissembling looks,
And yet to win her,-all the world to nothing!
Ha!

Hath fhe forgot already that brave prince,
Edward, her lord, whom I, fome three months fince,
Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury?
A fweeter and a lovelier gentleman,-

30 Fram'd in the prodigality of nature 2,
Young, valiant, wife, and, no doubt, right royal,-
The fpacious world cannot again afford:
And will fhe yet abafe her eyes on me,
That cropp'd the golden prime of this fweet prince,
35 And made her widow to a woeful bed?

On me, whofe all not equals Edward's moiety?
On me, that halt, and am mishapen thus?
My dukedom to a beggarly denier,

I do mistake my perfon all this while :
40Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myfelf to be a marvellous proper man.
I'll be at charges for a looking-glafs;
And entertain a fcore or two of taylors,
To ftudy fashions to adorn my body:
Since I am crept in favour with myself,
I will maintain it with fome little coft.
But, firft, I'll turn yon' fellow in his grave;'
And then return lamenting to my love.-
Shine out, fair fun, 'till I have bought a glass,
50 That I may fee my shadow as I país.

45

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[Exit.

Enter the Queen, Lord Rivers her brother, and Lord

Grey her fan.

Riv. Have patience, madam; there's no doubt his majefty

Will foon recover his accuftom'd health.

Grey. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worfe: 160 Therefore, for God's fake, entertain good comfort,

1 Crosby-place is now Crosby-fquare in Bishopfgate-ftreet materials to compleat a perfect man.

21.e. when nature felected all her choiceft

And

And chear his grace with quick and merry words.
Queen. If he were dead, what would betide of me?
Grey. No other harm than loss of fuch a lord.
Queen. The lofs of such a lord includes all harms.
Grey. The heavens have bless'd you with a good- 5
ly fun,

To be your comforter, when he is gone.

Queen. Ah, he is young; and his minority
Is put into the truft of Richard Gloster,
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.
Riv. Is it concluded, he shall be protector?
Queen. It is determin'd', not concluded yet :
But foit must be, if the king miscarry.

Enter Buckingham, and Stanley.

Whom God preferve better than you would wish!-
Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing while,
But you must trouble him with lewd complaints.
Queen. Brother of Glofter, you mistake the mat-
The king-of his own royal difpofition, [ter:
And not provok'd by any suitor else;
Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred,
That in your outward action fhews itself,
Against my children, brothers, and myself;
10 Makes him to fend; that thereby he may gather
The ground of your ill-will, and fo remove it.

Glo. I cannot tell:-The world is grown so bad,
That wrens may prey where eagles dare not perch:
Since every Jack became a gentleman,

Grey. Here comes the lords of Buckingham and 15 There's many a gentle perfon made a Jack.

Stanley !

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Queen. The countefs Richmond, good my lord 20
To your good prayer will scarcely fay-Amen.
Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she's your wife,
And loves not me, be you, good lord, affur'd,
I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

Queen. Come, come, we know your meaning,
brother Glofter;

You envy my advancement, and my friends!
God grant, we never may have need of you!
Gl. Meantime, God grants that we have need
of you:

Our brother is imprifon'd by your means,
Myfelf difgrac'd, and the nobility
Held in contempt; while great promotions
25 Are daily given, to enoble those

Stanley. I do befeech you, either not believe
The envious flanders of her falfe accufers;
Or, if the be accus'd on true report,
Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds
From wayward fickness, and no grounded malice.
Queen. Saw you the king to-day, my lord of 30
Stanley?

Stanley. But now the duke of Buckingham, and I,||
Are come from visiting his majesty.

Queen. What likelihood of his amendment, lords?
Buck. Madam, good hope; his grace fpeaks 35
chearfully.
[with him?

Queen. God grant him health! Did you confer
Buck. Ay, madam: he defires to make atonement
Between the duke of Glofter and your brothers,
And between them and my lord chamberlain;
And sent to warn them to his royal presence.
Queen. 'Would all were well!-But that will
never be!

I fear, our happiness is at the height.

Enter Glofter, Haffings, and Dorset.

Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure
Who are they, that complain unto the king? [it:-
That I, forfooth, am ftern, and love them not?
By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly,
That fill his ears with fuch diffentious rumours.
Because I cannot flatter, and speak fair,
Smile in men's faces, fmooth, deceive, and cog,
Duck with French nods and apish courtesy,
I must be held a rancorous enemy.
Cannot a plain man live, and think no harm,
But thus his fimple truth must be abus'd
By filken, fly, infinuating Jacks?

[grace

[noble.

That fcarce, fome two days fince, were worth a
Queen. By Him, that rais'd me to this careful
From that contented hap which I enjoy'd, [height
I never did incense his majesty
Against the duke of Clarence, but have been
An earnest advocate to plead for him.
My lord, you do me shameful injury,
Falfely to draw me in these vile suspects.

Glo. You may deny that you were not the cause
Of my lord Haftings' late imprisonment.
Riv. She may, my lord; for

[not fo?

Glo. She may, lord Rivers?-why, who knows
She may do more, fir, than denying that:
She may help you to many fair preferments;
40 And then deny her aiding hand therein,

45

And lay thofe honours on your high defert. [she,-
What may fhe not? She may-ay, marry, may
Riv. What, marry, may she?

Glo. What, marry, may the? marry with a king,
A batchelor, a handsome stripling too:

I wis, your grandam had a worfer match.
Queen. My lord of Glofter, I have too long borne
Your blunt upbraidings, and your bitter scoffs:
By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty
50 Of thofe grofs taunts I often have endur'd.
I'd rather be a country fervant-maid,
Than a great queen, with this condition-
To be fo baited, fcorn'd, and stormed at:
Small joy have I in being England's queen.
Enter Queen Margaret, bebind.

55

Grey. To whom in all this prefence speaks your
Glo. To thee, that haft nor honesty, nor grace.
When have I injur'd thee? when done thee wrong?--60
Or thee?-or thee?—or any of your faction?
A plague upon you all! His royal grace,

2. Mar. And leffen'd be that small, God, I be-
feech thee!

Thy honour, state, and feat, is due to me. [king?
Gio. What! threat you me with telling of the
Tell him, and spare not; look, what I have said
I will avouch in presence of the king:
dare adventure to be fent to the Tower.

* Determin'd fignifies the final conclufion of the will: concluded, what cannot be altered by reafon of fome act confequent on the final judgment.

2 i. e. to fummun the.n.

'Tis

'Tis time to speak, my pains 1 are quite forgot.
2. Mar. Out 2, devil! I remember them too
well:

Thou kill'dst my husband Henry in the Tower,
And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury. [king, 5
Gla. Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband
I was a pack-horse in his great affairs;
A weeder-out of his proud adverfaries,
A liberal rewarder of his friends;

To royalize 3 his blood, I spilt mine own.

2. Mar. Ay, and much better blood than his or
thine.
[Grey,

And all the pleasures you ufurp, are mine.

Glo. The curfe my noble father laid on thee,When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper,

And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes; And then, to dry them, gav'ft the duke a clout, Steep'd in the faultlefs blood of pretty Rutland ;His curfes, then from bitterness of soul Denounc'd against thee, are all fallen upon thee; 10 And God, not we, hath plagu'd thy bloody deed. Queen. So juft is God, to right the innocent. Haft. O, 'twas the fouleft deed, to flay that babe, And the most merciless, that e'er was heard of. Riv. Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported.

Glo. In all which time, you, and your husband
Were factious for the houfe of Lancaster ;-
And, Rivers, so were you :-Was not your husband 15
In Margaret's battle at Saint Alban's flain?
Let me put in your minds, if you forget,
What you have been ere now, and what you are;
Withal, what I have been, and what I am.

2. Mar. A murd'rous villain, and fo ftill thou art. 20
Glo. Poor Clarence did forfake his father War-
wick,
[don!-
Ay, and forfwore himfelf,-Which Jefu par-
2. Mar. Which God revenge!

Gla. To fight on Edward's party, for the crown; 25
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 foft and pitiful, like mine;

I am too childish-foolish for this world.

[world,

2. Mar. Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave this 30 Thou cacodomon! there thy kingdom is.

Riv. My lord of Glofter, in those busy days,
Which here you urge, to prove us enemies,
We follow'd then our lord, our fovereign king;
So fhould we you, if you should be our king.
Gl. If I fhould be?—I had rather be a pedlar:
Far be it from my heart, the thought thereof!

Queen. As little joy, my lord, as you suppose
You should enjoy, were you this country's king;
As little joy you may fuppose in me,
That I enjoy, being the queen thereof.
2.Mar. A little joy enjoys the queen thereof;
For I am she, and altogether joyless.
I can no longer hold me patient. [She advances.
Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out
In fharing that which you have pill'd + from me:
Which of you trembles not, that looks on me?
If not, that I, being queen, you bow like fubjects;
Yet that, by you depos'd, you quake like rebels ?-
Ah, gentle 5 villain, do not turn away!

[fight? 5

Gis. Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'ft thou in my 2. Mar. But repetition of what thou haft marr'd;] That will I make, before I let thee go.

Dorf. No man but prophefy'd revenge for it. Buck. Northumberland, then present, wept to [came,

fee it.

2. Mar. What! were you fnarling all, before I
Ready to catch each other by the throat,
And turn you all your hatred now on me?
Did York's dread curfe prevail fo much with heaven,
That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death,
Their kingdom's lofs, my woeful banishment,
Could all but answer for that peevish brat?
Can curfes pierce the clouds, and enter heaven?—
Why, then give way, dull clouds, to my quick
curfes !

Though not by war, by furfeit die your king",
As ours by murder, to make him a king!
Edward, thy fon, that now is prince of Wales,
For Edward, my fon, that was prince of Wales,
Die in his youth, by like untimely violence!
Thyfelf a queen, for me that was a queen,
35 Out-live thy glory, like my wretched felf!
Long may'st thou live, to wail thy children's lofs;
And fee another, as I fee thee now,

Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art ftall'd in mine!
Long die thy happy days before thy death;

40 And, after many lengthen'd hours of grief,
Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen!
Rivers, and Dorfet,-you were standers by,-
And fo waft thou, lord Haftings,-when my fon
Was ftabb'd with bloody daggers; God, I pray him,
45 That none of you may live your natural age,
But by fome unlook'd accident cut off!

Gio. Wert thou not banished, on pain of death |
2. Mar. I was; but I do find more pain in 55
banishment,

Than death can yield me here by my abode.
A hufband, and a fon, thou ow'ft to me,-
And thou, a kingdom;-all of you, allegiance:
This forrow that I have, by right is yours;

Glo. Have done thy charm, thou hateful wi[fhalt hear me.

ther'd hag.

2. Mar. And leave out thee? ftay, dog, for thou
If heaven have any grievous plague in store,
Exceeding thofe that I can with upon thee,
O, let them keep it, 'till thy fins be ripe,

And then hurl down their indignation
On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace!
The worm of conscience still be-gnaw thy foul !
Thy friends fufpect for traitors while thou liv'st,
And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends!
No fleep clofe up that deadly eye of thine,
Unless it be while fome tormenting dream
60 Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils!

1i.e. my labours. 2 Out is an interjection of abhorrence or contempt, frequent in the mouths of the common people of the North. 3 i. e. to make royal. 4 i. e. pillaged. 5 Gentle in this place Implies high-bern. An oppofition is meant between that and villain, which means at once a wicked and a kw-born wret.b.

Alluding to his luxurious life.

Thou

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