Anne. Some dungeon. Glo. Your bed-chamber. Anne. Ill rest betide the chamber where thou liest! Glo. So will it, madam, till I lie with you. Anne. I hope so. Glo. I know so.-But, gentle lady Anne,To leave this keen encounter of our wits, And fall somewhat into a slower method;Is not the causer of the timeless deaths Of these Plantagenets, Henry, and Edward, As blameful as the executioner? Anne. Thou wast the cause, and most accurs'd effect. Glo. Your beauty was the cause of that effect; Your beauty, which did haunt me in my sleep, To undertake the death of all the world, So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom. Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide, These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks. Glo. Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine. Anne. 'Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead! Glo. I would they were, that I might die a once; For now they kill me with a living death. Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears, [drops: Sham'd their aspects with store of childish These eyes, which never shed remorseful* tear, Not, when my father York and Edward wept, Nor when thy warlike father, like a child, weep, That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks, [He lays his breast open; she offers at it with Nay, do not pause; for I did kill king Henry ;— [She again offers at his breast. But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on. [She lets fall the sword. Take up the sword again, or take up me. Anne. Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy I will not be thy executioner. [death, Glo. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love; Anne. Well, well, put up your sword. [She puts on the ring. Glo. Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger, Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; *Pitiful. Wear both of them, for both of them are thine. And if thy poor devoted servant may Glo. That it may please you leave these sad designs To him that hath more cause to be a mourner, Anne. With all my heart; and much it joys To see you are become so penitent.— Anne. 'Tis more than you deserve: [Exeunt Lady ANNE, TRESSEL, and Glo. Take up the corse, Sirs. [Exeunt the rest, with the corse. 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 extremest hate; And I no friends to back my suit withal, Hath she forgot already that brave prince, since, Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury? The spacious world cannot again afford: prince, And made her widow to a woeful bed? a That I may see my shadow as I pass. [Exit. In Bishopsgate-street. A small French coin. SCENE III.-The same.-A Room in the Palace. Enter Queen ELIZABETH, Lord RIVERS, and Lord GREY. Riv. Have patience, madam; there's no doubt his majesty Will soon recover his accustom'd health. Grey. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse: [fort, Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comAnd cheer his grace with quick and merry words. Q. Eliz. If he were dead, what would betide of me? Grey. No other harm, but loss of such a lord. Q. Eliz. The loss of such a lord includes all harms. Grey. The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son, To be your comforter, when he is gone. Q. Eliz. Ah, he is young; and his minority Is put into the trust of Richard Gloster, A man that loves not me, nor none of you. Riv. Is it concluded, he shall be protector? Q. Eliz. It is determin'd, not concluded yet: But so it must be, if the king miscarry. Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY. Grey. Here come the lords of Buckingham and Stanley. Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace! Stan. God make your majesty joyful as you have been! Q. Eliz. The countess Richmond, good my lord of Stanley, To your good prayer will scarcely say-amen. Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she's your wife, And loves not me, be you, good lord, assur'd, I hate not you for her proud arrogance. Stan. I do beseech you, either not believe The envious slanders of her false accusers; Or, if she be accus'd on true report, Bear with her weakness, which, I think, pro. ceeds [lice From wayward sickness, and no grounded maQ. Eliz. Saw you the king to-day, my lord of Stanley? Stan. But now, the duke of Buckingham, Are come from visiting his majesty. [and I, Q. Eliz. What likelihood of his amendment, Between the duke of Gloster and your brothers, And between them and my lord chamberlain; And sent to warn them to his presence. Q. Eliz. Would all were well!-But that will never be ; I fear, our happiness is at the height. Enter GLOSTER, HASTINGS, and DORSET. Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure it : Who are they, that complain unto the king, * Summon. Duck with French nods and apish courtesy, Grey. To whom in all this presence speaks your grace! Glo. To thee, that hast nor honesty, nor grace. [wrong?When have I injur'd thee? when done thee Or thee?-or thee?-or any of your faction? A plague upon you all! His royal grace,Whom God preserve better than you would wish! Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing-while, But you most trouble him with lewd* complaints. Q. Eliz. Brother of Gloster, you mistake the matter: The king, of his own royal disposition, The ground of your ill-will, and so 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, Q. Eliz. Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloster; You envy my advancement, and my friends; Our brother is imprison'd by your means, That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble.+ Q. Eliz. By Him, that rais'd me to this care- From that contented hap which I enjoy'd, cause She may do more, Sir, than denying that: Riv. What, marry, may she? Glo. What, marry, may she? marry with a A bachelor, a handsome stripling too: [king, I wis, your grandam had a worser match. Q. Eliz. My lord of Gloster, I have too long borne [scoffs: Your blunt upbraidings, and your bitter By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty, Of those gross taunts I often have endur'd. I had rather be a country servant-maid, Enter Queen MARGARET, behind. Q. Mar. And lessen'd be that small, God, I beseech thee! Thy honour, state, and seat, is due to me. Tell him, and spare not: look, what I have Glo. Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king, I was a pack-horse in his great affairs; Q. Mur. Ay, and much better blood than his, or thine. Glo. 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? Glo. Poor Clarence did forsake his father Ay, and forswore himself,-Which Jesu pardon! Q. Mar. Which God revenge! Glo. To fight on Edward's party, for the crown; [up: And, for his meed, poor lord, he is mew'aş I would to God, my heart were flint like Ed ward's, Or Edward's soft and pitiful like mine; leave this world, Thou cacodæmon? there thy kingdom is. Riv. My lord of Gloster, in those busy days, Which here you urge, to prove us enemies, We follow'd then our lord, our lawful king; So should we you, if you should be our king. Glo. If I should be?-1 had rather be a pedlar ; Far be it from my heart, the thought thereof! Q. Eliz. As little joy, my lord, as you sup pose, [king; You should enjoy, were you this country's As little joy you may suppose in me, That I enjoy, being the queen thereof. Q. Mar. A little joy enjoys the queen there For I am she, and altogether joyless. of; Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out I can no longer hold me patient.- [Advancing. In sharing that which you have pill'd¶ from If not, that, I being queen, you bow like subjects; Yet that, by you depos'd, you quake like rebels? Ah, gentle villain, do not turn away! Glo. Foul wrinkled witch, what mak'st thou in my sight? Q. Mar. But repetition of what thou hast marr'd; That will I make, before I let thee go. Glo. Wert thou not banished on pain of death? Q. Mar. I was; but I do find more pain in banishment, Than death can yield me here by my abode. A husband, and a son, thou ow'st to me,And thou, a kingdom;-all of you, allegiance: This sorrow that I have, by right is yours; And all the pleasures you usurp, are mine. Glo. The curse my noble father laid on thee,[paper, When thou didst crown his warlike brows with And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes; And then, to dry them, gav'st the duke a clout, Steep'd in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland; His curses, then from bitterness of soul Denounc'd against thee, are all fall'n upon thee; And God, not we, hath plagu'd thy bloody deed. Q. Eliz. So just is God, to right the innocent. Hast. O, 'twas the foulest deed to slay that babe, And the most merciless, that e er was heard of. Riv. Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported. Dors. No man but prophesied revenge for it. Buck. Northumberland, then present, wept to see it. That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death, Their kingdom's loss, my woeful banishment, Could all but answer for that peevish brat? Can curses pierce the clouds, and enter heaven? Why, then give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses! Though not by war, by surfeit die your king, As ours by murder, to make him a king! Edward, thy son, that now is prince of Wales, For Edward, my son, that was prince of Wales, Die in his youth, by like untimely violence! Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen, Outlive thy glory, like my wretched self! Long may'st thou live, to wail thy children's And see another, as I see thee now, [loss; Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine! Long die thy happy days before thy death; And, after many lengthen'd hours of grief, Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen!-- Rivers, and Dorset,-you were standers by,And so wast thou, ford Hastings,-when my [him, son Was stabb'd with bloody daggers; God, I pray That none of you may live your natural age, But by some unlook'd accident cut off! Glo. Have done thy charm thou hateful wither'd bag. Q. Mar. And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me. If heaven have any grievous plague in store, Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou Q. Mar. Richard! Q. Mar. I call thee not. Glo. I cry thee mercy then; for I did think, That thou hadst call'd me all these bitter names. Q. Mar. Why, so I did; but look'd for no reply. O, let me make the period to my curse. Glo. "Tis done by me; and ends in-Margaret. Q. Eliz. Thus have you breath'd your curse against yourself. Q. Mar. Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune! [der, Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spiWhose deadly web ensnareth thee about? Fool, fool! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself. The day will come, that thou shalt wish for me To help thee curse this pois'nous bunch-back'd toad. Hast. False-boding woman, end thy frantic curse; Lest, to thy harm, thou move our patience. Q. Mar. Foul shame upon you! you have all mov'd mine. Rir. Were you well serv'd, you would be taught your duty. Q. Mar. To serve me well, you all should do me duty, Ljects: Teach me to be your queen, and you my subO, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty. Dor. Dispute not with her, she is lunatic. Q. Mar. Peace, master marquis, you are malapert: [rent:+ Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce cur O, that your young nobility could judge, What 'twere to lose it, and be miserable! They that stand high, have many blast to shake them; And, if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces. Glo. Good counsel, marry ;-learn it, learn it marquis. Dor. It touches you, my lord, as much as Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy Q Mar. Urge neither charity nor shame to Q. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I kiss thy hand, In sign of league and amity with thee: And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace. His venom tooth will rankle to the death: Buck. Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord. Riv. And so doth mine; I muse," why she's at liberty. Glo. I cannot blame her, by God's holy mother; She hath had too much wrong, and I repent My part thereof, that I have done to her. Q. Eliz. I never did her any, to my knowledge. Glo. Yet you have all the vantage of her I was too hot to do somebody good, [wrong. That is too cold in thinking of it now. Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repaid; He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains;God pardon them that are the cause thereof! Riv. A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion, To pray for them that hath done scaths to us. Glo. So do I ever, being well advis'd;For had I curs'd now, 1 had curs'd myself. Enter CATESBY. [Aside. Glo. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. The secret mischiefs that I set abroach, I lay unto the grievous charge of others. Clarence,-whom I, indeed, have laid in darkI do beweep to many simple gulls; [ness,Namely, to Stanley, Hastings, Buckingham; And tell them-'tis the queen and her allies, That stir the king against the duke my brother. Now they believe it; and withal whet me To be reveng'd on Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: But then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture. Tell them-that God bids us do good for evil: And thus I clothe my naked villany With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ: And seem a saint, when most I play the devil. Enter two MURDERERS. But soft, here come my executioners.How now, my hardy, stout resolved mates? Are you now going to despatch this thing? 1 Murd. We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant, me: That we may be admitted where he is. to prate, We go to use our hands, and not our tongues I like you, lads;-about your business straight; 1 Murd. We will, my noble lord. [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-The same.-A Room in the Tower. Enter CLARENCE and BRAKENBURY. Brak. Why looks your grace so heavily today? Clar. O, I have pass'd a miserable night, So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights, That, as I am a Christian faithful man, I would not spend another such a night, Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days; So full of dismal terror was the time. Brak. What was your dream, my lord? I tell me. pray you, Clar. Methought, that I had broken from the And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy; And cited up a thousand heavy times, Struck me, that thought to stay him, over-board, What dreadful noise of water in mine ears! |