GLOSTER'S DEFORMITY. Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb: And, for I should not deal in her soft laws She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub; To make an envious mountain on my back, Where sits deformity to mock my body; To shape my legs of an unequal size; To disproportion me in every part, Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear whelp, That carries no impression like the dam. And am I then a man to be belov'd? GLOSTER'S DISSIMULATION. Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile; And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart, And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, And frame my face to all occasions. 'I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall; ACT IV. HENRY VI. ON HIS OWN LENITY. I have not stopp'd mine ears to their demands, Nor posted off their suits with slow delays; My pity hath been balm to heal their wounds, My mildness hath allay'd their swelling griefs, My mercy dry'd their water-flowing tears: I have not been desirous of their wealth, Nor much oppress'd them with great subsidies, Nor forward of revenge, though they much err'd ACT V. DYING SPEECH OF THE EARL OF WARWICK. Ah who is nigh? come to me, friend or foe, And tell me, who is victor, York, or Warwick? Why ask I that? my mangled body shows, My blood, my want of strength, my sick heart shows, That I must yield my body to the earth, And, by my fall, the conquest to my foe. Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle, Under whose shade the ramping lion slept! Whose top-branch over-peer'd Jove's spreading tree, And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful wind. These eyes, that now are dimm'd with death's black veil, Have been as piercing as the mid-day sun, To search the secret treasons of the world: For who liv'd king, but I could dig his grave? QUEEN MARGARET'S SPEECH BEFORE THE BATTLE or Lords, knights, and gentlemen, what I should say My tears gainsay;* for every word I speak, Ye see, I drink the water of mine eyes. Therefore, no more but this:-Henry, your sovereign, Is prisoner to the foe; his state usurp'd, His realm a slaughter-house, his subjects slain, Unsay, deny, 'OMENS ON THE BIRTH OF RICHARD III. The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign Teeth hadst thou in thy head, when thou wast born, KING RICHARD III. ACT I. THE DUKE OF GLOSTER ON HIS OWN DEFORMITY. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; But I, that am not shap'd for sportive tricks, I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty, To rook, signified to squat down or lodge on any hing. † Dances. + Armed. That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them;- And hate the idle pleasures of these days. GLOSTER'S LOVE FOR LADY ANNE. Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears, Sham'd their aspects with store of childish drops: And twenty times made pause, to sob, and weep, And what these sorrows could not thence exhale, My tongue could never learn sweet soothing words; But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee, My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak. GLOSTER'S PRAISES OF HIS OWN PERSON, AFTER HIS SUCCESSFUL ADDRESSES. My dukedom to a beggarly denier,† I do mistake my person all this while : † A small French coin, Since I am crept in favour with myself, QUEEN MARGARET'S EXECRATIONS ON GLOSTER. I was born so high, HIGH BIRTH. Our aiery* buildeth in the cedar's top, But then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture With old odd ends stol'n forth of holy writ What was your dream, my lord? I me. pray you, tell Clar. Methought, that I had broken from the Tower, And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy; And, in my company, my brother Gloster; Upon the hatches; thence we look'd toward England, Upon the giddy footing of the hatches, Methought that Gloster stumbled; and in falling, Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard, * Nest. |