K. HEN. In God's name, lead; your king's name be obey'd : * And what God will, then let your king perform; * And what he will, I humbly yield unto. SCENE II. [Exeunt. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter King EDWARD, GLOSTER, CLARENCE, and Lady GREY. K. EDW. Brother of Glofter, at Saint Albans' field This lady's husband, fir John Grey,3 was flain, His lands then seiz'd on by the conqueror : 2 In God's name, lead; &c.] So the folio. Instead of this speech, the quartos have the following: "God's name be fulfill'd, your king's name be "Obey'd; and be you kings; command, and I'll obey." STEEVENS. 3-fir John Grey,] Vid. Hall, Third Year of Edward IV. folio 5. It was hitherto falsely printed Richard. POPE. Sir John Grey was flain at the second battle of St. Albans, fighting on the fide of King Henry. MALONE. • His lands then seiz'd on by the conqueror: The worthy gentleman did lose his life.] This is in every particular a falfification of history. Sir John Grey, as has been already observed, fell in the second battle of St. Albans, which GLO. Your highness shall do well, to grant her fuit; * It were dishonour, to deny it her. K. EDW. It were no less; but yet I'll make a pause. 'GLO. Yea! is it fo ?5 I fee, the lady hath a thing to grant, Before the king will grant her humble suit. CLAR. He knows the game; How true he keeps the wind? [Afide. GLO. Silence ! [Afide. K. EDW. Widow, we will confider of your fuit; was fought on Shrove-Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1460-1, fighting on the fide of king Henry; and fo far is it from being true that his lands were feized by the conqueror, (Queen Margaret,) that they were in fact seized by the very person who now speaks, after his great victory at Towton, on the 29th of March, 1461. The present scene is laid in 1464. Shakspeare in new moulding this play followed implicitly his author, (for these five lines, with only a flight variation in the third, and fifth, are found in the old play,) without giving himfelf the trouble to examine the history; but a few years afterwards, when he had occafion to write his Richard III. and was not warped by a preceding misrepresentation of another writer, he stated from the chronicles this matter truly as it was; and this is one of the numerous circumstances that prove incontestably, in my apprehenfion, that he was not the original author of this and the preceding play. In King Richard III. Act I. fc. iii. Richard addreffing himself to Queen Elizabeth, (the lady Grey of the present scene,) says: In all which time you, and your husband Grey, "Were factious for the house of Lancaster ; (And Rivers fo were you :) was not your husband "In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans flain?" He calls it Margaret's battle, because the was there victorious. MALONE. 5 Glo. Yea! is it fo? &c.] So the folio. The quartos read with the following variations: Glo. I, is the wind in that door? Clarence. I fee the lady" &c. STEEVENS. • Widow, we will confider-) This is a very lively and fpritely dialogue; the reciprocation is quicker than is common in Shakspeare. JOHNSON. And come fome other time, to know our mind. L. GREY. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay : May it please your highness to refolve me now; And what your pleasure is, shall fatisfy me. GLO. [Afide.] Ay, widow ? then I'll warrant you all your lands, An if what pleases him, shall pleasure you. Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow. * CLAR. I fear her not, unless she chance to fall. [Afide. * GLO. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages. [Afide. K. EDW. How many children haft thou, widow ? tell me. CLAR. I think, he means to beg a child of her. [Afide. GLO. Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her two. L. GREY. Three, my most gracious lord. [Afide. GLO. You shall have four, if you'll be rul'd by [Afide. him. K. Edw. "Twere pity, they should lose their fa ther's land. L. GREY. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then. K. EDW. Lords, give us leave; I'll try this wi dow's wit. GLO. Ay good leave have you; for you will have leave, -good leave have you;] So, in King John : Good leave, are words implying readiness of affent. STEEVENS. 'Till youth take leave, and leave you to the crutch. [GLOSTER and CLARENCE retire to the other fide. * K. EDW. Now tell me, madam, do you love your children? * L. GREY. Ay, full as dearly as I love myself. * K. EDW. And would you not do much, to do them good? * L. GREY. To do them good, I would sustain fome harm. * K. Edw. Then get your husband's lands, to do them good. * L. GREY. Therefore I came unto your majesty. K. EDW. I'll tell you how these lands are to be got. * L. GREY. So shall you bind me to your high ness' fervice. * K. EDW. What service wilt thou do me, if I give them? * L. GREY. What you command, that rests in me to do. * K. Eow. But you will take exceptions to my boon. * L. GREY. No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it. * K. EDW. Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to afk. * L. GREY. Why, then I will do what your grace commands. * GLO. He plies her hard; and much rain wears 8 Sonnet: the marble.8 [Afide. much rain wears the marble.] So, in Watson's 47th * CLAR. As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt. [Afide. L. GREY. Why stops my lord? shall I not hear my task ? K. EDW. An easy task; 'tis but to love a king. L. GREY. That's foon perform'd, because I am a subject. K. EDW. Why then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee. L. GREY. I take my leave with many thousand thanks. GLO. The match is made; she seals it with a curt'sy. K. Edw. But stay thee, 'tis the fruits of love I mean. * L. GREY. The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege. * K. EDW. Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense. What love, think'st thou, I sue so much to get? L.GREY. My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers; That love, which virtue begs, and virtue grants. K. EDW. No, by my troth, I did not mean such love. * L. GREY. Why, then you mean not as I thought you did. "In time the marble weares with weakest showres." See note on Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, edit. 1780, Vol. XII. p. 387. 9 STEEVENS. My love till death, &c.] The variation is here worth noting. In the old play we here find My huable fervice, such as subjects owe, "And the laws command." MALONE. |