1

And what God will, that 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, CLA-
RENCE, and Lady GREY.

K. Ed, Brother of Gloster, at Saint Albans' field
This lady's husband, sir John Grey, was slain,
His lands then seiz'd on by the conqueror:
Her suit is now, to repossess those lands;
Which we in justice cannot well deny,
Because in quarrel of the house of York
The worthy gentleman did lose his life.

Gio. Your highness shall do well to grant her suit;
It were dishonour to deny it her.

K. Edo. It were no less, but yet I'll make a pause.
Glo. Yea! is it so?
[Aside to Clarence.
I see, 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?

Glo. Silence!

[Aside. Aside.

K. Edu. Widow, we will consider of your suit;
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,

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.

[Aside.

Glo. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages.

[Aside.

K. Edu. How many children hast thou, widow?

tell me.

Clar. I think, he means to beg a child of her. [Aside. Glo. Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her [Aside.

two.

L. Grey. Three, my most gracious lord.
Glo. You shall have four, if you'll be rul'd by

him.

[Aside.

K. Edw. Twere pity they should lose their father

land.

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 leave 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 [Aside. Clar. As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt.

the marble.

[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.

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. Edo. 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 do not mean such love.
L. Grey. Why, then you mean not as I thought
you did.

K. Edw. But now you partly may perceive my

mind.

L. Grey. My mind will never grant what I perceive Your highness aims at, if I am aright.

K. Ede. To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee. L. Edw. 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

Accords not with the sadness of my suit;
Please you dismiss me, either with ay, or no.
K. Edw. Ay; if thou wilt say ay, to my request:
No; if thou dost say no, to my demand.

L. Grey. Then, no, my lord. My suit is at an end.
Glo. The widow likes him not, she knits her

brows.

[Aside.

Cla. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.

[Aside.

K. Edw. [Aside.] Her looks do argue her replete

with modesty;

Her words do show her wit incomparable;

All her perfections challenge sovereignty:
One way, or other, she is for a king;

And she shall be my love, or else my queen.-
Say, that king Edward take thee for his queen?
L. Grey. 'Tis better said than done, my gracious
lord:

I am a subject fit to jest withal,

But far unfit to be a sovereign.

K. Edw. Sweet widow, by my state I swear to
thee,

I speak no more than what my soul intends;
And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.

L. Grey. And that is more than I will yield unto : I know, I am too mean to be your queen; And yet too good to be your concubine.

K. Edw. You cavil, widow; I did mean, my queen. L. Grey. Twill grieve your grace, my sons should call you-father.

K. Edw. No more, than when my daughters call thee mother.

Thou art a widow, and thou hast some children;
And, by God's mother, I, being but a bachelor,
Have other some: why, tis a happy thing
To be the father unto many sons.

Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.
Glo. The ghostly father now hath done his

shrift.

[Aside.

Clar. When he was made a shriver, 'twas for

shift.

[Aside.

K. Edw. Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.

Glo. The widow likes it not, for she looks sad. K. Edw. You'd think it strange, if I should marry

her.

Clar. To whom, my lord?
K. Edw.
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.
K. Edw. Well, jest on, brothers: I can tell you
both,

Her suit is granted for her husband's lands.

Enter a Nobleman.

Nob. My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken, And brought your prisoner to your palace gate. K. Edw. See, that he be convey'd unto the Tower :

And go we, brothers, to the man, that took him, To question of his apprehension.

Widow, go you along;-Lords, use her honourable. [Exeunt King Edward, Lady Grey, Clarence, and Lord.

Glo. Ay, Edward will use women honourably. "Would he were wasted, marrow, bones, and all, That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring, To cross me from the golden time I look for! And yet, between my soul's desire, and me. (The lustful Edward's title buried,)

Is Clarence, Henry, and his son young Edward,
And all the unlook'd-for issue of their bodies,
To take their rooms, ere I can place myself:
A cold premeditation for my purpose!
Why, then I do but dream on sovereignty;
Like one, that stands upon a promontory,
And spies a far-off shore, where he would tread,
Wishing his foot were equal with his eye;
And chides the sea, that sunders him from thence,
Saying-he'll lade it dry to have his way:
So do I wish the crown, being so far off;
And so I chide the means, that keep me from it;
And so I say I'll cut the causes off,
Flattering me with impossibilities.-

My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much,
Unless my hand and strength could equal them.
Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard;
What other pleasure can the world afford?
I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap,
And deck my body in gay ornaments,

And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
O miserable thought! and more unlikely,
Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!
Why, love foreswore 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?

O, monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!
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,

I'll make my heaven-to dream upon the crown;
And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,
Until my misshap'd trunk, that bears this head,
Be round impaled with a glorious crown.
And yet I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives stand between me and home:
And I,-like one lost in a thorny wood,

That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns;
Seeking a way, and straying from the way;