But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.
Nay, now despatch; 'twas I that kill'd 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 death,
I will not be thy executioner.
GLO. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.
ANNE. I have already.
GLO.

Tush, that was in thy rage:

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. These eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck.

You should not blemish it, if I stood by:

As all the world is cheered by the sun,

So I by that; it is my day, my life.

ANNE. Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life!

GLO. Curse not thyself, fair creature; thou art both. ANNE. I would I were, to be reveng'd on thee. GLO. It is a quarrel most unnatural,

To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee.

ANNE. It is a quarrel just and reasonable,

To be reveng'd on him that slew my husband.

GLO. He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,

Did it to help thee to a better husband.

ANNE. His better doth not breathe upon the earth. GLO. He lives that loves you better than he could. ANNE. Name him.

ANNE. Where is he? GLO.

Here! [She spits at him.]
Why dost thou spit at me?

ANNE. Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake!
GLO. Never came poison from so sweet a place.
ANNE. Never hung poison on a fouler toad.
Out of my sight! thou dost infect mine eyes.
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 at once;
For now they kill me with a living death.

Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,
Sham'd their aspéct with store of childish drops:
[These eyes, which never shed remorseful tear,-
No, when my father York and Edward wept,
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made,
When black-fac'd Clifford shook his sword at him:
Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,
Told the sad story of my father's death,

And twenty times made pause, to sob, and weep,
That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks,
Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that sad time,
My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear;

And what these sorrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.]
I never sued to friend nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn sweet soothing words;
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,
My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.
[She looks scornfully at him.
Teach not thy lip such scorn; for it was made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
Lo here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword;
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast,
And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,
I lay it naked to thy deadly stroke,
And humbly beg the death upon my knee.
[Lays his breast open.
Nay, do not pause; 'twas I that kill'd your hus-
band;-
[She offers at it with his sword.

!

This hand, which for thy love did kill thy love,
Shall for thy love kill a far truer love;
To both their deaths shalt thou be accessory.

ANNE. I would I knew thy heart. GLO. 'Tis figur'd in my tongue. ANNE. I fear me both are false. GLO. Then never man was true. ANNE. Well, well, put up your sword. GLO. Say then, my peace is made. ANNE. That shall you know hereafter. GLO. But shall I live in hope? ANNE. All men, I hope, live so. GLO. Vouchsafe to wear this ring. ANNE. To take, is not to give. [Puts on the ring. GLO. Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger, Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; Wear both of them, for both of them are thine. And if thy poor devoted suppliant may But beg one favour at thy gracious hand, Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever. ANNE. What is it?

[designs GLO. That it may please you leave these sad To him that hath more cause to be a mourner,

[Exeunt LADY ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKLEY. GLO. Sirs, take up the corse. GEN. Towards Chertsey, noble lord? GLO. No, to White-friars; there attend my coming. [Exeunt the rest with the corpse.

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 killed her husband and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremest hate,
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,
The bleeding witness of her hatred by;
Having God, her conscience, and these bars against

me,

And I no thing to back my suit withal,
But the plain devil and dissembling looks,
And yet to win her,-all the world to nothing! Ha!
Hath she forgot already that brave prince,
Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since,
Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury?

A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,-
Fram'd in the prodigality of nature,

Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal,—
The spacious world cannot again afford:
And will she yet debase her eyes on me,

That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince,
And made her widow to a woeful bed?

On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety?
On me, that halt, and am unshapen thus?
My dukedom to a beggarly denier,
I do mistake my person all this while:
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man.
I'll be at charges for a looking glass;

And entertain some score or two of tailcrs,
To study fashions to adorn my body:
Since I am crept in favour with myself,
I will maintain it with a little cost.

But, first, I'll turn yon fellow in his grave;
And then return lamenting to my love.--
Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,
That I may see my shadow as I pass.

[Exit.

SCENE III.-The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter QUEEN Elizabeth, Lord RIVERS, and LORD GREY.

grace?

GLO. To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace. When have I injur'd thee? when done thee wrong?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 must trouble him with lewd complaints. Q. ELIZ. Brother of Gloster, you mistake the

matter:

The king, of his own royal disposition,
And not provok'd by any suitor else;
Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred,
Which in your outward action shows itself,
Against my children, brothers, and myself,
Makes him to send, that thereby he may gather
The ground of your ill-will, and so remove it.
GLO. I cannot tell;-the world is grown so bad,
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch;
Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There's many a gentle person made a Jack.

Q. ELIZ. Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloster;

You envy my advancement, and my friends';

Will soon recover his accustom'd health.

GREY. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse: Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort, And 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 harm. 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 unto 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.

GREY. Here come the lords of Buckingham and Stanley.

Enter 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
Staniey,

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, proceeds
From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice.
Q. ELIZ. Saw you the king to-day, my lord
Stanley?

STAN. But now, the duke of Buckingham and I
Are come from visiting his majesty.

of

Q. ELIZ. What likelihood of his amendment, lords? BUCK. Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully.

Q. ELIZ. God grant him health! did you confer with him?

BUCK. Madam, we did: he desires to make atone

GLO. Meantime, God grants that we have need of

you:

Our brother is imprison'd by your means,
Myself disgrac'd, and the nobility
Held in contempt; whilst many fair promotions
Are daily given to ennoble those
That scarce, some two days since, were worth
noble.

Q. MAR. [Aside.] A murd'rous villain, and so still thou art. [Warwick, GLO. Poor Clarence did forsake his father Ay, and forswore himself,-which Jesu pardon!— Q. MAR. [Aside.] Which God revenge! GLO. To fight on Edward's party for the crown ; 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 soft and pitiful, like mine;

I am too childish-foolish for this world.

Q. MAR. [Aside.] Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave the 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?-I had rather be a pedlar:
Far be it from my heart, the thought of it!

Q. ELIZ. As little joy, my lord, as you suppose You should enjoy, were you this country's king,As little joy may you suppose in me,

That I enjoy, being the queen thereof.

Q. MAR. [Aside.] As little joy enjoys the queen thereof;

For I am she, and altogether joyless.

Q. ELIZ. By Him that rais'd me to this careful, height

From that contented hap which I enjoy'd,
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,
Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects.

GLO. You may deny that you were not the cause
Of my lord Hastings' late imprisonment.
RIV. She may, my lord; for-

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:

RIV. What, marry, may she?

GLO. What, marry, may she? marry with a king, A bachelor, a handsome stripling too:

I wis your grandam had a worser match.

Q. ELIZ. My lord of Gloster, I have too long borne
Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs;
By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty,
With those gross taunts I often have endur'd.

I had rather be a country servant-maid,
Than a great queen, with this condition-
To be thus taunted, scorn'd, and baited at:-
Small joy have I in being England's queen.

Enter QUEEN MARGARET, behind.

His curses, then from bitterness of soul
Denounc'd against thee, are all fallen 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
[came,

it.

I beseech thee!

Thy honour, state, and seat is due to me.
GLO. What! threat you me with telling of the king?
Tell him and spare not; look, what have I said
I will avouch in presence of the king:

[I dare adventure to be sent to the Tower.]
'Tis time to speak.-my pains are quite forgot.
Q. MAR. [Aside.] Out, devil! I remember them

too well:

Thou slew'st my husband Henry in the Tower,
And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury.

GLO. Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king,

I was a pack-horse in his great affairs;
A weeder-out of his proud adversaries,
A liberal rewarder of his friends;

To royalize his blood, I spilt mine own.

Q. MAR. [Aside.] Yea, and much better blood than his or thine.

GLO. In all which time, you and your husband Grey

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!—
If not by war, by surfeit die your king,
As ours by murder, to make him a king!
Edward thy son, which now is prince of Wales,
For Edward my son, which 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 mayst thou live to wail thy children's loss;
And see another, as I see thee now,
Deck'd in thy glory, as thou 'rt 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, lord Hastings,-when my son
Was stabb'd with bloody daggers; God, I pray him,
That none of you may live his natural age,
But by some unlook'd accident cut off!

I MURD. Why, then he'll say, we stabbed him sleeping.

2 MURD. The urging of that word, judgment, hath bred a kind of remorse in me.

I MURD. What! art thou afraid?

2 MURD. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be damned for killing him, from which no warrant can defend us.

[I MURD. I thought thou had'st been resolute. 2 MURD. So I am, to let him live.]

I MURD. I'll back to the duke of Gloucester, and tell him so.

2 MURD. Nay, I pr'ythee, stay a little I hope my holy humour will change; it was wont to hold me but while one could tell twenty.

I MURD. How dost thou feel thyself now?

2 MURD. Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me.

I MURD. Remember our reward, when the deed's done.

2 MURD. Zounds, he dies; I had forgot the reward.

I MURD. Where is thy conscience now?

2 MURD. In the duke of Gloucester's purse.

I MURD. So, when he opens his purse to give

our reward, thy conscience flies out.

us

2 MURD. Let it go; there's few or none will enter

tain it.

I MURD. How if it come to thee again!

2 MURD. I'll not meddle with it, it is a dangerous thing, it makes a man a coward; a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; he cannot swear, but it checks him; he cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it detects him: 'tis a blushing shame-faced spirit, that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles: it made me once restore a purse of gold, that I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man that means to live well, endeavours to trust to himself, and live without it. I MURD. Zounds, is it even now at my elbow, persuading me not to kill the duke.

2 MURD. Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not; he would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh.

I MURD. I am strong-framed, he cannot prevail with me.

2 MURD. Spoke like a tall fellow, that respects his reputation. Come, shall we fall to work?

I MURD. Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword, and then throw him into the malmseybutt in the next room.

2 MURD. O excellent device and make a sop of him.

I MURD. Hark! he stirs. Shall I strike?

2 MURD. No, first let 's reason with him. CLAR. [Awaking.] Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine.

I MURD. You shall have wine enough, my lord,

anon.

CLAR. In God's name, what art thou?

J MURD. A man, as you are.
CLAR. But not, as I am, royal.

1 MURD. Nor you, as we are, loyal. CLAR. Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble. [own.

I MURD. My voice is now the king's, my looks mine CLAR. How darkly and how deadly dost thou speak! [Your eyes do menace me: why look you pale ?] Tell me who are you? wherefore come you hither? BOTH MURD. To, to, to,

CLAR. To murder me? BOTH MURD. Ay, ay.

CLAR. You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so, And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it. Wherein, my friends, have I offended you?

I MURD. Offended us you have not, but the king. CLAR. I shall be reconcil'd to him again.

2 MURD. Never, my lord; therefore prepare to die.
CLAR. Are you call'd forth from out a world of men,
To slay the innocent? What is my offence?
Where is the evidence that doth accuse me?
What lawful quest have given their verdict up
Unto the frowning judge? or who pronounc'd
The bitter sentence of poor Clarence' death?
Before I be convict by course of law,

To threaten me with death is most unlawful.
I charge you, as you hope to have redemption
By Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous sins,
That you depart, and lay no hands on me;
The deed you undertake is damnable.

I MURD. What we will do, we do upon command. 2 MURD. And he that hath commanded is the king. CLAR. Erroneous vassal! the great King of kings Hath in the table of his law commanded, That thou shalt do no murder; wilt thou then Sparn at his edict, and fulfil a man's? Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hand, To hurl upon their heads that break his law. 2 MURD. And that same vengeance doth he hurl on thee,

For false forswearing, and for murder too:
Thou didst receive the holy sacrament,
To fight in quarrel of the house of Lancaster.

I MURD. And, like a traitor to the name of God, Didst break that vow; and with thy treacherous blade Unripp'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son.

2 MURD. Whom thou wert sworn to cherish and defend. [to us,

I MURD. How canst thou urge God's dreadful law
When thou hast broke it in such dear degree?
CLAR. Alas! for whose sake did I that ill deed?
For Edward, for my brother, for his sake:
Why, sirs, he sends you not to murder me for this;
For in this sin he is as deep as I.

If God will be avenged for the deed,
[O, know you yet, he doth it publicly ;]
Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm;
He needs no indirect nor lawless course,
To cut off those that have offended him.

I MURD. Who made thee then a bloody minister,
When gallant-springing, brave Plantagenet,
That princely novice, was struck dead by thee?
CLAR. My brother's love, the devil, and my rage.
I MURD. Thy brother's love, our duty, and thy
. faults,

Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee.

CLAR. If you do love my brother, hate not me; I am his brother, and I love him well. If you are hir'd for meed, go back again, And I will send you to my brother Gloster; Who shall reward you better for my life, Than Edward will for tidings of my death.

2 MURD. You are deceiv'd, your brother Gloster hates you.

CLAR. O, no, he loves me, and he holds me dear: Go you to him from me. BOTH MURD. Ay, so we will. CLAR. Tell him, when that our princely father York Bless'd his three sons with his victorious arm, And charg'd us from his soul to love each other, He little thought of this divided friendship: Bid Gloster think of this, and he will weep.

I MURD. Ay, mill-stones; as he lesson'd us to

weep.

CLAR. O, do not slander him, for he is kind. I MURD. Right; as snow in harvest.-Come, you deceive yourself;

'Tis he that sends us to destroy you here.

CLAR. It cannot be; for he bewept my fortune, And hugg'd me in his arms, and swore, with sobs, That he would labour my delivery.

I MURD. Why, so he doth, when he delivers you From this earth's thraldom to the joys of heaven. 2 MURD. Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord.

CLAR. Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul,
To counsel me to make my peace with God,
And art thou yet to your own soul so blind,
That thou wilt war with God by murdering me?—
Ah, sirs, consider, they that set you on

To do this deed, will hate you for this deed.
2 MURD. What shall we do?
CLAR.

Relent, and save your souls.

I MURD. Relent! 'tis cowardly, and womanish. CLAR. Not to relent, is beastly, savage, devilish.— My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks; O, if thine eye be not a flatterer, Come thou on my side, and entreat for me. A begging prince what beggar pities not?

I MURD. Ay, thus, and thus! [Stabs him.] if this will not serve,

I'll chop thee in the malmsey-butt in the next room.
2 MURD. A bloody deed, and desperately perform'd!
How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands
Of this most grievous guilty murder done!

I MURD. Why dost not thou help me? By heavens, the duke shall know how slack thou art. 2 MURD. I would he knew that I had sav'd his brother!

Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say;

For I repent me that the duke is slain.

[Exit.

I MURD. So do not I; go, coward as thou art.Now must I hide his body in some hole, Until the duke take order for his burial: And when I have my meed, I must away; For this will out, and here I must not stay.

[Exit with the body,

You peers, continue this united league :
I every day expect an embassage
From my Redeemer to redeem me hence;
And now in peace my soul shall part to heaven,
Since I have set my friends at peace on earth.
Rivers, and Hastings, take each other's hand;
Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love.

Riv. By heaven, my soul is purg'd from grudging hate,

And with my hand I seal my true heart's love.

HAST. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like!
K. EDW. Take heed you dally not before your king,
Lest he, that is the supreme King of kings,
Confound your hidden falsehood, and award
Either of you to be the other's end.

HAST. So prosper I, as I swear perfect love!
RIV. And I, as I love Hastings with my heart!
K. Epw. Madam, yourself are not exempt in
this,-

ACT II.

SCENE I.-The same. A Room in the Palace. Nor you, son Dorset,-Buckingham, nor you ;You have been factious one against the other. Wife, love lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand; And what you do, do it unfeignedly.

Q. ELIZ. There, Hastings;-I will never more remember

Our former hatred, so thrive I, and mine!

[K. EDW. Dorset, embrace him,-Hastings, love lord marquis.]

DORS. This interchange of love, I here protest,
Upon my part shall be inviolable.
HAST. And so swear I.

[They embrace.

K. EDW. Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league

With thy embracements to my wife's allies,
And make me happy in your unity.

BUCK. Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate On you or yours, [To the QUEEN] but with all auteous love

Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me
With hate in those where I expect most love!
When I have most need to employ a friend,
And most assured that he is a friend,
Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile,

Be he unto me! this do I beg of heaven,
When I am cold in zeal, to you or yours!

[Embracing RIVERS, &c.
K. EDW. A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham,
Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.
There wanteth now our brother Gloster here,
To make the perfect period of this peace.

BUCK. And, in good time, here comes the noble duke.

Enter GLOUCester.

GLO. Good morrow to my sovereign king, and

queen:

And, princely peers, a happy time of day!

K. EDW. Happy, indeed, as we have spent the day :

Brother, we have done deeds of charity;
Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,
Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.

GLO. A blessed labour, my most sovereign liege.
Among this princely heap, if any here,
By false intelligence, or wrong surmise,
Hold me a foe; if I unwittingly, or in my rage,
Have aught committed that is hardly borne