Anne. In thy foul throat thou ly'ft. Queen Margret faw

Thy murd'rous faulchion fmoaking in his blood:
The which thou once didft bend against her breast,
But that thy Brothers beat afide the point.

Glo. I was provoked by her fland'rous tongue,
That laid their guilt upon my guiltlefs fhoulders. (4)
Anne. Thou waft provoked by thy bloody mind,
That never dreamt on aught but butcheries :
Didst thou not kill this King?

Glo. I grant ye.

Anne. Doft grant me, hedge-hog? Then God grant

me too,

Thou may'st be damned for that wicked deed!
O, he was gentle, mild and virtuous.-

Glo. The fitter for the King of Heav'n, that hath

him.

Anne. He is in heav'n, where thou shalt never come. Glo. Let him thank me, that help'd 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 name it. Anne. Some dungeon.

Glo. Your bed-chamber.

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 fomething into a flower method:
Is not the caufer of the timeless deaths
Of thefe Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner ?

Anne. Thou waft the caufe, and moft accurft ef

fect. (5)

Gla.

-] The crime of my brothers.

(4) That laid their guilt He has juft charged the murder of lady Anne's husband upon Edward

(5) Thou waft the caufe, and most accurft effect,] Effect, for executioner. He afks, was not the caufer as ill as the executio

Glo. Your beauty was the caufe of that effect;
Your beauty, that did haunt me in my fleep,
To undertake the death of all the world,

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

You should not blemish it, if I ftood by ;
As all the world is cheered by the Sun,
So I by That; it is my day, my life.

Anne. Black night o'erfhade thy day, and death thy life!

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 moft 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 breath upon the earth.
Glo. He lives that loves thee 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?

Glo. Here: [She fpits at bim] Why doft thou fpit at me?

'Anne. Would it were mortal poifon for thy fake! Glo. Never came poifon from fo fweet a place. Anne. Never hung poifon on a fouler toad.

ner? She answers, Thou waft both. But, for caufer, ufing the word, caufe, this led her to the word effect, for execution, or executioner. But the Oxford Editor troubling himself with nothing of this, will make a fine oratorical period of it. Thou waft the caufe, and most accurft th' effect!

WARBURTON. I cannot but be rather of Sir T. Hanmer's opinion than Dr. Warburton's, because effect is ufed immediately in its common fenfe, in answer to this line.

eyes

-Out of my fight! thou doft infect mine eyes.
Glo. Thine eyes, fweet lady, have infected mine.
Anne. Would they were bafilisks to strike thee dead!
Glo. I would they were, that I might die at once:
For now they kill me with a living death. (6)
Thofe of thine from mine have drawn falt tears;
Sham'd their afpects with ftare of childish drops,
Thefe eyes, which never shed remorseful tear, (7)
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,.
That all the ftanders-by had wet their cheeks,
Like trees bedash'd with rain; in that fad time,
My manly eyes did fcorn an humble tear;

And what these forrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never fued to friend, nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing words;
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,

My proud heart fues, and prompts my tongue to speak.
[She looks fcornfully at him.
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 breaft,
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 his breaft open, fbe offers at it with his sword. Nay, do not paufe; for I did kill King Henry;

(6) they kill me with a living death.] In imitation of this paffage, and I fuppofe of a thousand more;

-a living death I bear,

Says Dapper wit, and funk befide bis chair.

(7) Thefe eyes which never, &c.] The twelve following beau tiful lines added after the first editions.

They were added with many more.

PORE.

But

But 'twas thy beauty that provok'd me. (8) Nay, now difpatch: 'twas I that ftabb'd ward;

But 'twas thy heavenly face that fet me on.

young Ed

[She lets fall the fword. Take up the fword again, or take up me.

Anne. Arife, diffembler; though I wish thy death, I will not be thy executioner.

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

Glo. That was in thy rage:

Speak it again, and even with thy 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.
Glo. Say then, my peace is made.
Anne. That fhalt thou know hereafter.
Glo. But fhall I live in hope?

Anne All men, I hope, live fo.

Glo. Vouchfafe to wear this ring.

[She puts on the ring

Look, how my ring encompaffeth thy finger,
Ev'n fo, thy breaft enclofeth my poor heart;
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted fuppliant may
But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,
Thou doft confirm his happiness for ever.
Anne. What is it?

Glo. That it may please you leave thefe fad defigns
To him that hath more cause to be a Mourner;
And presently repair to Crosby-place: (9)
Where, after I have folemnly interr'd

(8) But 'twas thy beauty] Shakespeare countenances the obfervation, that no woman can ever be offended with the mention of her beauty.

(9)-Crosby-place:] A houfe near Bifbopfgate-ftreet belonging to the Duke of Gloucester.

At

At Chertsey monaft'ry this noble King,
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,
I will with all expedient duty fee you.

For divers unknown reafons, I beseech you,
Grant me this boon.

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

Traffel and Barkley, 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 Anne.

Glo. Sirs, take up the coarse.

Gent. Towards Chertfey, noble Lord?

Glo. No, to White-Fryars, there attend my coming.

[Exeunt with the Coarfe.

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?

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 extreameft hate,
With curfes in her mouth, tears in her eyes,
The bleeding witnefs of her hatred by:

With God, her confcience, and these bars against me,
And I no friends to back my fuit withal,

But the plain devil and diffembling 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 Teuksbury?

A fweeter and a lovelier gentleman,

Fram'd in the prodigality of nature, (1)

Young, wife, and valiant, and, no doubt, right roy

al, (2)

The

WARBURTON.

(1) Fram'd in the prodigality of nature,] i. e. when nature was in a prodigal or lavish mood. (2) and, no doubt, right royal,] Of the degree of royalty belonging to Henry the fixth there could be no doubt, nor could Richard have mentioned it with any fuch hesitation; he

could