*I'll tell thee what befell me on a day, Enter KING HENRY, disguised, with a Prayer-book. To greet mine own land with my wishful sight. anointed: No bending knee will call thee Cæsar now, 1 Keep. Ay, here's a deer whose skin's a keep- This is the quondam king; let's seize upon him. *K. Hen. Let me embrace these our adversities; *For wise men say, it is the wisest course. *2 Keep. Why linger we? let us lay hands upon him. *1 Keep. Forbear awhile; we'll hear a little* more. K. Hen. My queen, and son, are gone to France And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick 'And Lewis a prince soon won with moving words. To hear, and see, her plaints, her brinish tears. That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more: To strengthen and support King Edward's place. *O Margaret, thus 'twill be; and thou, poor soul, * Art then forsaken, as thou went'st forlorn.3 2 Keep. Say, what art thou, that talk'st of kings and queens? 'K. Hen. More than I seem, and less than I was born to: 'A man at least, for less I should not be; And men may talk of kings, and why not I? 2 Keep. Ay, but thou talk'st as if thou wert a king. 'K. Hen. Why, so I am, in mind:4 and that's enough. 2 Keep. But, if thou be a king, where is thy crown? 1 Thus also in King Richard II. :- 'Not all the water in the rough rude sea Can wash the balm from an anointed king.' It is observable that this line is one of those additions to the original play which are found in the folio and not in the quarto. For we were subjects, but while you were king. man? Ah, simple men, you know not what you swear. Look, as I blow this feather from my face, *And as the air blows it to me again, *Obeying with my wind when I do blow, And yielding to another when it blows, *Commanded always by the greater gust; *Such is the lightness of you common men. *But do not break your oaths; for, of that sin * My mild entreaty shall not make you guilty. *Go where you will, the king shall be commanded; *And be you kings; command, and I'll obey. *1 Keep. We are true subjects to the king, King Edward. *K. Hen. So would you be again to Henry, *If he were seated as King Edward is. Keep. We charge you, in God's name, and is the king's, To go with us unto the officers. 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. [Exeunt. SCENE II. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter KING EDWARD, GLOSTER, CLARENCE, and LADY GREY. 'K. Edw. Brother of Gloster, at Saint Albans 'This lady's husband, Sir John Grey, was slain, It were dishonour, to deny it her. fighting on the side of King Henry; and so far is it from being true that his lands were seized by the conqueror (Queen Margaret) that they were in fact seized by King Edward after his victory at Towton, 1461. The present scene is laid in 1464. Shakspeare followed the old play in this instance; but when he afterwards had occasion 2 This line has already occurred in the former Act:-to mention this matter in writing his King Richard III Inferring arguments of mighty force.' In the old play the line occurs but once. he stated it truly as he found it in the Chronicles. In Act i. Sc. 2 of that play, Richard, addressing himself 3 The piety of Henry scarce interests us more for his to Queen Elizabeth (the Lady Grey of the present misfortunes than this his constant solicitude for the wel-scene,) says:fare of his deceitful queen.-Steevens. 4 Malone thinks that there is an allusion here to an old poem by Sir Edward Dyer, beginning-My mind to me a kingdom is. See it in Percy's Reliques, 3d edition, vol. i. p. 293. 5 This is in every particular a falsification of history. Sir John Grey fell in the second battle of St. Albans 'In all which time you and your husband Grey Were factious for the house of Lancaster ; (And, Rivers, so were you :)-was not your husband In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans slain ? Malone says that this circumstance, among numerous others, proves incontestably that Shakspeare was not the original author of this and the preceding play. I see, the lady hath a thing to grant, the wind? Glo. Silence! [dside. Aside. K. Edw. Widow, we will consider of your suit ;1 And come some other time, to know our mind. L. Grey. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay: 'May it please your highness to resolve me now; And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me. 'Glo. [Aside.] Ay, widow? then I'll warrant you all your lands, And 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. [Aside. * Glo. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages. [Aside. 'K. Edw. How many children hast thou, widow? tell me. Clar. I think, he means to beg a child of her. Glo. Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her two. [Aside. [Aside. L. Grey. Three, my most gracious lord. Glo. You shall have four, you'll be rul'd by [Aside. 'K. Edw. 'Twere pity, they should lose their father's land. him. L. Grey. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then. K. Edw. Lords, give us leave; I'll try this widow's wit. Glo. Ay, good leave2 have you; for you will have leave, "Till youth take leave, and leave you to the crutch. [GLOSTER and CLARENCE retire to the other side. *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 some 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 highness' service. *K. Edw. What service wilt thou do me, if I give them? * L. Grey. What you command, that rests in me to do. *K. Edw. 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 ask. * L. Grey. Why, then I will do what your grace commands. * Glo. He plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble. [Aside. * Clar. As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt. [Aside. 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 soon perform'd, because I am a subject. K. Edw. Why then, thy husband's lands I freely give thee. ceive *Your highness aims at, if I aim aright. K. Edw. To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee. * L. Grey. To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison. K. Edw. Why, then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands. L. Grey. Why, then mine honesty shall be my dower; For by that loss I will not purchase them. 'K. Edw. Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily. L. Grey. Herein your highness wrongs both them and me. But, mighty lord, this merry inclination K. Edw. Ay; if thou wilt say ay, to my request: end. 'Glo. The widow likes him not, she knits her brows. [Aside. [Aside. Clar. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom. 'K. Edw. [Aside.] Her looks do argue her re plete with modesty; *Her words do show her wit incomparable; All her perfections challenge sovereignty: I am a subject fit to jest withal, K. Edu. Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee, I speak no more than what my soul intends; L. Grey. And that is more than I will yield unto. K. Edw. You cavil, widow; I did mean, my Clar. When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shift. [Aside. K. Edu. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had. 2 This phrase implies readiness of assent 3 i. e. seriousness. K * Glo. The widow likes it not, for she looks very* Then, since this earth affords no joy to me, * But to command, to check, to o'erbear such *As are of better person than myself,2 sad. K. Edw. You'd think it strange if I should marry her. Clar. To whom, my lord? Why, Clarence, to myself. Glo. That would be ten days' wonder, at the least. Clar. That's a day longer than a wonder lasts. 'Glo. By so much is the wonder in extremes. * I'll make my heaven-to dream upon the crown; K. Edw. Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you* That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns; both, Her suit is granted for her husband's lands. Enter a Nobleman. Nob. My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken, Tower : i *Seeking a way, and straying from the way And go we, brothers, to the man that took him, [Exeunt KING EDWARD, LADY GREY, Glo. Ay, Edward will use women honourably. Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward, Like one that stands upon a promontory, My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much, Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp,1 And am I then a man to be belov'd? O, monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought. 1 It was an opinion which, in spite of its absurdity, prevailed long, that the bear brings forth only shapeless lumps of flesh, which she licks into the form of bears. It is now well known that the whelps of bears are produced in the same state with those of other animals. Johnson. Change shapes, with Proteus, for advantages, And set the murd'rous Machiavel to school. Can I do this, and cannot get a crown? Tut! were it further off, I'll pluck it down. [Erit SCENE III. France. A Room in the Palace. 'K. Lew. Fair queen of England, worthy Mar- doth sit. * Q. Mar. No, mighty king of France; now Mar- *Must strike her sail, and learn awhile to serve, *K. Lew. Why, say, fair queen, whence springs *Q. Mar. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears, * And stops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in *And sit thee by our side: yield not thy neck Otherwise, he observes, the trunk that bears the head is to be encircled with the crown, and not the head itself 4 The old play reads with more propriety:And set the aspiring Cataline to school.' By which the anachronism is also avoided. Machiavel is mentioned in various books of the poet's age as the 2 Richard speaks here the language of nature. Who-great exemplar of profound politicians. An amusing ever is stigmatized with deformity has a constant source instance of the odium attached to his name is to be of envy in his mind, and would counterbalance by some found in Gill's Logonomia Anglica, 1621 - Et ne semother superiority those advantages which he feels him- per Sidneios loquamur, audi epilogum fabulæ quam self to want. Bacon remarks that the deformed are docuit Boreali dialecto poeta, titulumque fuit reus Ma commonly daring; and it is almost proverbially observed chiavellus:that they are ill-natured. The truth is that the deformed, like all other mer., are displeased with inferiority, and endeavour to gain ground by good or bad means, as they are virtuous or corrupt.-Johnson. 3 i.e. encircled. Steevens would read with Hanmer :Until my head that this misshap'd trunk bears.) 'Machil iz hanged And brenned iz his buks: *Q. Mar. Those gracious words revive my droop- | * That Henry liveth still: but were he dead, *Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henry's ing thoughts, *And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak. Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,*That Henry, sole possessor of my love, *Is, of a king, become a banish'd man, *And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn; *While proud ambitious Edward, duke of York, *Usurps the regal title, and the seat * Of England's true anointed lawful king. *This is the cause, that I, poor Margaret,* With this my son, Prince Edward, Henry's heir, *Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid; 'And, if thou fail us, all our hope is done : Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help; *Our people and our peers are both misled, * Our treasure seiz'd, our soldiers put to flight, *And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight. *K. Lew. Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm, *While we bethink a means to break it off. *Q. Mar. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe. * K. Lew. The more I stay, the more I'll succour thee. * Q. Mar. O, but impatience waiteth on true [Descending from his State, Queen MARGARET rises. * Q. Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise; *For this is he that moves both wind and tide. 'War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion, My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend, I come,-in kindness, and unfeigned love,First, to do greetings to thy royal person; And, then, to crave a league of amity; And, lastly, to confirm that amity With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair sister, To England's king in lawful marriage. 'Q. Mar. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.2 War. And, gracious madam, [To BONA,] in our king's behalf, · I am commanded, with your leave and favour, Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart; Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears, Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue. Q. Mar. King Lewis,-and Lady Bona,—hear me speak, Before you answer Warwick. His demand *Springs not from Edward's well meant honest love, *But from deceit, bred by necessity; *For how can tyrants safely govern home, * Unless abroad they purchase great alliance? * To prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice,— 1 This nobleman's embassy and commission, the insult he receives by the king's hasty marriage, and his consequent resolution to avenge it, with the capture, imprisonment, and escape of the king, Shakspeare found in Hall and Holinshed; but later as well as earlier writers of better authority, incline us to discredit the whole; and to refer the rupture between the king and his political creator to other causes. Perhaps we need seek no further than that jealousy and ingratitude which is but too often experienced in to ose who are under great obligations-too great to be discharged There needs no other proof how little our common histories are to be depended on, than this fabulous story of Warwick and the Lady Bona. The king was privately married to the Lady Elizabeth Widville, in 1463, and in February, 1465, Warwick actually stood sponsor to the Princess Elizabeth, their first child. It should seem from the son. * Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and Prince. marriage, *Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour: Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain; War. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth dis But for the rest,-You tell a pedigree Oxf. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against Whom thou obey'dst thirty and six years, And not bewray thy treason with a blush? War. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right, Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree? For shame, leave Henry, and call Edward king. Orf. Call him my king, by whose injurious doom My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere, Was done to death? and more than so, my father, Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years, 'When nature brought him to the door of death?" No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm, This arm upholds the house of Lancaster. War. And I the house of York. K. Lew. Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford, Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside, While I use further conference with Warwick. *Q. Mar. Heaven grant, that Warwick's words bewitch him not! [Retiring with the Prince and Oxford. K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience, Is Edward your true king? for I were loath To link with him that were not lawful chosen. War. Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour. K. Lew. But is he gracious in the peoples' eye? War. The more, that Henry was unfortunate." K. Lew. Then further,-all dissembling set aside, Tell me for truth the measure of his love 'Unto our sister Bona. War. Such it seems, As may beseem a monarch like himself. Myself have often heard him say and swear,That this his love was an eternal plant;" Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground, The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun Annales of W. of Wyrcester, that no open rupture had taken place between the king and Warwick, up to the beginning of November, 1468; at least nothing appears to the contrary in that historian, whose work is unfortunately defective from that period. 2 There is nearly the same line in a former speech of Margaret's. It is found in its present situation alone in the old play. 3 This passage unavoidably brings to mind that admirable image of old age in Sackville's Induction to the Mirror for Magistrates: His withered fist still knocking at death's door." 4 He means that Henry was unsuccessful in war,' having lost his dominions in France, &c. 5 In the language of Shakspeare's time, by an eter nal olant was meant what we now call a perennial one. Exempt from envy,' but not from disdain, Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain. No more my king, for he dishonours me; K. Lew. Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve. Bona. Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine: Yet I confess, [To WAR.] that often ere this When I have heard your king's desert recounted, Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire. *K. Lew. Then, Warwick, thus-Our sister shall be Edward's; *And now forthwith shall articles be drawn *Touching the jointure that your king must make, *Which with her dowry shall be counterpois'd:Draw near, queen Margaret; and be a witness, That Bona shall be wife to the English king. Prince. To Edward, but not to the English king. *Q. Mar. Deceitful Warwick! it was thy device By this alliance to make void my suit; Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry's friend. *K. Lew. And still is friend to him and Margaret; * But if your title to the crown be weak,*As may appear by Edward's good success,Then 'tis but reason, that I he releas'd *From giving aid, which late I promised. *Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand. *That your estate requires, and mine can yield. War. Henry now lives in Scotland, at his ease; Where having nothing, nothing he can lose. And as for you yourself, our quondam queen,— You have a father able to maintain you ;2And better 'twere, you troubled him than France. * Q. Mar. Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, peace *Proud setter-up and puller-down of kings! *I will not hence, till with my talk and tears, *Both full of truth, I make King Lewis behold *Thy sly conveyance, and thy lord's false love; *For both of you are birds of self-same feather. [A Horn sounded within. K. Lew. Warwick, this is some post to us, or thee. Enter a Messenger. And am I guerdon'd at the last with shame? *Shame on himself! for my desert is honour. *And, to repair my honour lost for him, I here renounce him, and return to Henry: My noble queen, let former grudges pass, And henceforth I am thy true servitor; I will revenge his wrong to Lady Bona, And replant Henry in his former state. 'Q. Mar. Warwick, these words have turn'd my hate to love; And I forgive and quite forget old faults, And joy that thou becom'st King Henry's friend. War. So much his friend, ay, his unfeigned friend That, if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us With some few bands of chosen soldiers, I'll undertake to land them on our coast, And force the tyrant from his seat by war. 'Tis not his new-made bride shall succour him: *And as for Clarence,-as my letters tell me, *He's very likely now to fall from him; *For matching more for wanton lust than honour, * Or than for strength and safety of our country. *Bona. Dear brother, how shall Bona be reveng'd, *But by the help to this distressed queen? * Q. Mar. Renowned prince, how shall poor Henry live, *Unless thou rescue him from foul despair? Bona. My quarrel, and this English queen's, are one. *War. And mine, fair Lady Bona, joins with yours. *K. Lew. And mine with hers, and thine, and Margaret's. Mess. My lord ambassador, these letters are for Therefore, at last, I firmly am resolv'd, you; Sent from your brother, Marquis Montague. [To MARGARET. They all read their Letters. Orf. I like it well, that our fair queen and mistress Smiles at her news, while Warwick frowns at his. Prince. Nay, mark, how Lewis stamps as he were nettled: * I hope, all's for the best. 'K. Lew. Warwick, what are thy news? and yours, fair queen? 'Q. Mar. Mine, such as fill my heart with unhop'd joys. War. Mine, full of sorrow and heart's discontent. And now, to sooth your forgery and his, Q. Mar. I told your majesty as much before: This proveth Edward's love, and Warwick's honesty. War. King Lewis, I here protest,-in sight of heaven, And by the hope I have of heavenly bliss,- 1 Steevens thinks that envy in this place, as in many others, is put for malice or hatred. His situation places him above these, though it cannot secure him from female disdain. You shall have aid. * Q. Mar. Let me give humble thanks for all at once. K. Lew. Then England's messenger, return in post; And tell false Edward, thy supposed king,— *Thou seest what's past, go fear thy king withal. Bona. Tell him, In hope he'll prove a widower shortly, I'll wear the willow garland for his sake. Q. Mar. Tell him, My mourning weeds are laid And I am ready to put armour on. aside, War. Tell him from me, that he hath done me wrong; And therefore I'll uncrown him, ere't be long. [Exit Mess. K. Lew. But, Warwick, thou, And Oxford, with five thousand men, Shall cross the seas, and bid false Edward battle: And, as occasion serves, this noble queen *And prince shall follow with a fresh supply. Yet, ere thou go, but answer me one doubt;'What pledge have we of thy firm loyalty? 5 To sooth, in ancient language, was 'to countenance a falsehood or forged tale, to uphold one in his talke, and affirme it to be true which he speaketh. Baret. Malone blunders strangely, taking to sooth in its modern acceptation of to soften. 6 King Edward did attempt a thing once in the 2 Johnson is inclined to think this ironical. The po-earle's house, which was much against the earle's hoverty of Margaret's father being a frequent topic of reproach. 3 The queen here applies to Warwick the very words that King Edward, p. 69, addresses to the Deity. It seenis doubtful whether these words in the former instance are not in the old play addressed to Warwick also. 4 Conveyance is used for any crafty artifice. The word has already been explained. Vide King Henry VI. Part I. Act i Sc. 3 nestie (whether he would have deflowred his daughter or his niece, the certaintie was not for both their honours revealed,) for surely such a thing was attempted by King Edward.'-Holinshed, p. 669. 8 Fright. 7 Rewarded. 9 Here we are to suppose that, according to ancient custom, Warwick makes a present to the herald or messenger, who in the old play is called a Post. Sea note on King Henry V. Act iil. Sc. vii. |
