+And the queen's kindred are made gentlefolks : How say you, sir? can you deny all this? Brak. With this, my lord, myself have naught to do. Glo. Naught to do with mistress Shore? I tell thee, fellow, He that doth naught with her, excepting one, Were best to do it secretly, alone. Glo. Her husband, knave:- Would'st thou betray me? Brak. I beseech your grace to pardon me; and withal, Forbear your conference with the noble duke. Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey. Glo. We are the queen's abjects', and must obey. And whatsoe'er you will employ me in, - Mean time, this deep disgrace in brotherhood, Clar. I know, it pleaseth neither of us well. Mean time, have patience. Clar. I must perforce; farewell. [Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard. Glo. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return, Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so, That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven, If heaven will take the present at our hands. But who comes here? the new-deliver❜d Hastings? +"And that the queen's," &c. 1 MALONE. the queen's abjects,] The most servile of her subjects, who must of course obey all her commands. lie for you:] i. e. be imprisoned in your stead. To lie was anciently to reside, as appears by many instances in these volumes. Enter HASTINGS. Hast. Good time of day unto my gracious lord! How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment? Glo. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too; For they, that were your enemies, are his, And have prevail'd as much on him, as you. Hast. More pity, that the eagle should be mew'd,3 While kites and buzzards prey at liberty. Glo. What news abroad? Hast. No news so bad abroad, as this at home;· The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy, And his physicians fear him mightily. Glo. Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed. O, he hath kept an evil diet long, And over-much consum'd his royal person; 'Tis very grievous to be thought upon. What, is he in his bed? Glo. Go you before, and I will follow you. [Exit. HASTINGS. He cannot live, I hope; and must not die, Till George be pack'd with posthorse up to heaven. With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments; Clarence hath not another day to live: Which done, God take king Edward to his mercy, 3 should be mew'd,] A mew was the place of confinement where a hawk was kept till he had moulted. For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter: By marrying her, which I must reach unto. Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives, and reigns; When they are gone, then must I count my gains. [Exit. SCENE II. The same. Another Street. Enter the Corpse of King HENRY the Sixth, borne in an open Coffin, Gentlemen bearing Halberds, to guard it; and Lady ANNE as Mourner. Anne. Set down, set down your honourable load, · If honour may be shrouded in a hearse, Whilst I a while obsequiously lament 5 The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.Poor key-cold figure of a holy king! Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster! Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood! Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost, To hear the lamentations of poor Anne, Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son, Stabb'd by the self-same hand that made these wounds! Lo, in these windows, that let forth thy life, funereal. 6— obsequiously lament —] Obsequious, in this instance, means key-cold-] A key, on account of the coldness of the metal of which it is composed, was anciently employed to stop any slight bleeding. The epithet is common to many old writers. I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes:- May fright the hopeful mother at the view; If ever he have wife, let her be made Than I am made by my young lord, and thee! - [The Bearers take up the Corpse, and advance. Enter GLOSTER. Glo. Stay you, that bear the corse, and set it down. Anne. What black magician conjures up this fiend, To stop devoted charitable deeds? Glo. Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul, I'll make a corse of him that disobeys. 1 Gent. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass. Glo. Unmanner'd dog! stand thou when I command: Advance thy halberd higher than my breast, Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot, And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness. [The Bearers set down the Coffin. Anne. What, do you tremble? are you all afraid? 7to his unhappiness!] i. e. disposition to mischief. Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal, Anne. Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell, Provokes this deluge most unnatural. O God, which this blood mad'st, revenge his death! Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity, 8 9 pattern of thy butcheries ;] Pattern is instance, or example. see! dead Henry's wounds Open their congeal'd mouths, and bleed afresh!] It is a tradition very generally received, that the murdered body bleeds on the touch of the murderer. This was so much believed by Sir Kenelm Digby, that he has endeavoured to explain the reason. |