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 such a lord.
Queen. The lofs of fuch a lord includes all harms.
Grey. The heavens have blefs'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 trust of Richard Glofter,
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 elfe;
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!

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 false 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 prefence. Queen. 'Would all were well!-But that will never be!

I fear, our happiness is at the height.

Enter Glofter, Haftings, and Dorfet.
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,
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,
45 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 hast 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, ftate, 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 prefence 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 fummon the.n.

'Tis time to speak, my pains 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 adversaries,
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 fcorns drew'st rivers from his eyes; And then, to dry them, gav'ft the duke a clout, Steep'd in the faultless 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 just 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.

Gle. In all which time, you, and your husband
Were factious for the house of Lancaster ;-
And, Rivers, fo 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 himself,-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. 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 anfwer 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",

2. Mar. Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave this 30 As ours by murder, to make him a king!
Thou cacodcmon! there thy kingdom is.

Ris. 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 fuppofe in me,
That I enjoy, being the queen thereof.
2.Mar. A little joy enjoys the queen thereof;
For I am the, 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 villain, do not turn away!

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 flall'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 ftanders 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!

[fight? 50

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

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 confcience ftill be-gnaw thy foul!
Thy friends fufpect for traitors while thou liv'ft,
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!

Gie. 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 husband, 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;

i.e. my labours. 2 Our 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-born. An oppofition is meant between that and villain, which means at once a wicked and a low-bern wret.b. Alluding to his luxurious life.

6

Thou

5

(Hath in eternal darkness folded up.
Your aiery buildeth in our aiery's" neft:-
O God, that fee'ft it, do not suffer it;
As it was won with blood, loft be it fo!

Buck. Peace, peace, for shame, if not for charity. 2. Mar. Urge neither charity nor fhame to me; Uncharitably with me have you dealt,

And fhamefully by you my hopes are butcher'd.
My charity is outrage, life my shame,—

10 And in my fhame ftill live my forrow's rage!
Buck. Have done, have done.
[hand,

2. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I'll kiss thy
In fign of league and amity with thee:
Now fair befal thee, and thy noble house!

15 Thy garments are not spotted with our blood, Nor thou within the compafs of my curfe.

Buck. Nor no one here; for curfes never país
The lips of thofe that breathe them in the air.

2. Mar. I'll not believe but they afcend the sky,
20 And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace.
O Buckingham, beware of yonder dog;
Look, when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites,
His venom tooth will rankle to the death:
Have not to do with him, beware of him; [him;
Sin, death, and hell, have fet their marks upon
And all their minifters attend on him. [ham?

[curfe; 25

Haft. Falfe-boding woman, end thy frantick Left, to thy harm, thou move our patience.

2. Mar. Foul fhame upon you! you have all
mov'd mine.

Riv. Were you well ferv'd, you would be taught 30
your duty.
[me duty,

2. Mar. To ferve me well, you all should do
Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects:
O, ferve me well, and teach yourselves that duty.
Dorf. Difpute not with her, fhe is lunatic.

2. Mar. Peace, mafter marquis, you are mal

apert;

Your fire-new stamp of honour is fcarce current:
O, that your young nobility could judge,

Glo. What doth fhe fay, my lord of Bucking-
Buck. Nothing that I refpect, my gracious lord.
2. Mar. What, doft thou scorn me for my gen-
tle counfel?

And footh the devil that I warn thee from?
O, but remember this another day,
When he fhall fplit thy very heart with forrow;
And fay, poor Margaret was a prophetefs.-
35 Live each of you the subjects to his hate,
And he to yours, and all of you to God's! [Exit.
Buck. My hair doth stand on end to hear her curses.
Riv. And fo doth mine; I wonder, fhe's at liberty.
Glo. I cannot blame her, by God's holy mother;

What 'twere to lofe it, and be miferable! [them; 40 She hath had too much wrong, and I repent

They that ftand high, have many blafts to fhake
And, if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.
Glo. Good counsel, marry ;-learn it, learn it,

marquis.

Dorf. It touches you, my lord, as much as me. Glo. Ay, and much more: But I was born fo Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top, [high, And dallies with the wind, and fcorns the fun.

2. Mar. And turns the fun to fhade ;-alas!
alas!

Witness my fun, now in the fhade of death;
Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath]

My part thereof, that I have done to her.

Queen. I never did her any, to my knowledge. Gl. Yet you have all the vantage of her wrong. I was too hot to do fome body good,

45 That is too cold in thinking of it now.

7

Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repay'd;
He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains;
God pardon them that are the cause thereof!

8

Riv. A virtuous and a chriftian-like conclufion,
|50|To pray for them that hath done fcathe to us.
Glo. So do I ever, being well advis'd;-
For had I curs'd now, I had curs'd myself. [Afide.

The common people in Scotland have ftill an averfion to those who have any natural defect or redundancy, as thinking them mark'd out for mifchief. 2 She calls him bog, as an appellation more contemptuous than boar, as he is elsewhere termed from his entigns armorial. 3 The expreffion is ftrong and noble, and alludes to the ancient cuftom of mafters branding their profligate slaves: by which it is infinuated, that his mishapen person was the mark that nature had fet upon him to ftigmatize his ill conditions. 4 Intimating that much of his honour was torn away. 5 A spider is called bottled, because, unlike other infects, he has a middle slender, and a belly protuberant. Richard's form and venom make her liken him to a fpider. An aiery is a hawk's or an eagle's nest. 7 Mr.

Pope fays, that a frank is an old English word for a bog-ftye, and that 'tis poffible he uses this metafor to Clarence, in allufion to the crest of the family of York, which was a bear. Mr. Steevens however afferts, that a frank was not a common bog-flye, but the pen in which thofe hogs were confined of whom brawn was to be made. 8 i. e. harm, mifchief.

Enter

Clar. Methought, I had; and often did I ftrive To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood Kept in my foul, and would not let it forth

Gio. Well thought upon, I have it here about 30 To feek the empty, vast, and wand'ring air;

Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead;
For Clarence is well spoken, and, perhaps,

May move your hearts to pity, if you mark him.
I Mur. Tut, tut, my lord, we will not ftand
to prate,

Talkers are no good doers; be affur'd,

We go to use our hands, and not our tongues.

Glo. Your eyes drop mill-ftones, when fools' 40 Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick; eyes drop tears ':

[Exeunt.

Who cry'd aloud,-What fcourge for perjury
Can this dark monarchy afford falje Clarence?
And fo he vanish'd: Then came wand'ring by
A fhadow like an angel, with bright hair
45 Dabbled in blood; and he shriek'd out aloud,—
Clarence is come,falfe, flecting, perjur'd Clarence,
That flabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury ;—
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!—
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends

Brak. Why looks your grace fo heavily to-day? 50 Environ'd me, and howled in mine ears

Such hideous cries, that, with the very noife,
I trembling wak'd, and, for a season after,
Could not believe but that I was in hell;
Such terrible impreffion made my dream.
Brak. No marvel, lord, that it affrighted you;

I am afraid, methinks, to hear you tell it.
Clar. O, Brakenbury, I have done thefe
things,-

That now give evidence against my soul,—
60 For Edward's fake; and, fee, how he requites me!
O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee,

2 i. e. not an infidel. 3 i. e. invaluable.

5

1 Murd. Where's thy confcience now?

2 Murd. In the duke of Glofter's purse.

1 Murd. When he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy confcience flies out.

2 Murd. 'Tis no matter; let it go; there's few, or none, will entertain it.

1 Murd. What, if it come to thec again?

2 Murd. I'll not meddle with it, it is a dangerous thing, it makes a man a coward; a man cannot 10fteal, but it accufeth him; a man cannot fwear, but it checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it detects him: 'Tis a blushing fhame-fac'd fpirit, that mutinies in a man's bofom; it fills one full of obstacles: it made me 15 once reftore a purse of gold, that by chance I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turn'd out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man, that means to live well, endeavours to truft to himself, and live without it.

2 Murd. I would speak with Clarence, and 120 came hither on my legs.

1 Murd. O, fir, 'tis better to be brief, than teShew him our commiffion, talk no more.

Brak. I am, in this, commanded to deliver
The noble duke of Clarence to your hands:-
I will not reason what is meant hereby,
Because I will be guiltlefs of the meaning.
Here are the keys;-there fits the duke afleep:
I'll to the king; and fignify to him,
That thus I have refign'd to you my charge.

1 Murd. You may, fir, 'tis a point of wisdom :
Fare you well.
[Exit Brakenbury.

125

1 Murd. 'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, perfuading me not to kill the duke.

2 Murd. Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not: he would infinuate with thee, but to make thee figh.

1 Murd. I am strong fram'd, he cannot prevail with me.

2 Murd. Spoke like a tall2 fellow, that respects his reputation. Come, fhall we fall to work?

1 Murd. Take him over the coftard 3 with 30 the hilts of thy fword, and then throw him into the malmfey-butt, in the next room.

2 Murd. What, fhall we ftab him as he fleeps? 1 Murd. No; he'll fay, 'twas done cowardly, 35 when he wakes.

2 Murd. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgment day.

1 Murd. Why, then he'll fay, we ftabb'd him Лeeping.

140

2 Murd. The urging of that word, judgment,

hath bred a kind of remorfe in me.

1 Murd. What? art thou afraid?

2 Murd. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be damn'd for killing him, from the 45 which no warrant can defend me.

I Murd. I thought, thou had'st been refolute. 2 Murd. So I am, to let him live.

1 Murd. I'll back to the duke of Glofter, and tell him fo.

2 Murd. Nay, I pr'ythee, ftay a little: I hope, this compaffionate humour of mine will change it was wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty.

1 Murd. How doft thou feel thyself now? 2 Murd. 'Faith, fome certain dregs of confcience are yet within me.

1 Murd. Remember our reward, when the deed's done.

[fpeak! Clar. How darkly, and how deadly dost thou Your eyes do menace me: why look you pale? 50 Who fent you hither? Wherefore do you come? 2 Murd. To, to, to,Clar. To murder me? Both. Ay, ay.

55

2 Murd. Come, he dies; I had forgot the reward. 601

Clar. You fcarcely have the hearts to tell me fo, And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it. Wherein, my friends, have 1 offended you?

1 Murd. Offended us you have not, but the king. Clar. I fhall be reconcil'd to him again.

2 Murd. Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die.

1 Meaning, they often fuffer real miferies for imaginary and unreal gratifications. 2 Tall, in old English, means flout, daring, fearless, and firong. * i. e, the head, a name adopted from an apple

hap'd like a man's head.

4 is. we'll talk,

Clara