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

marquess.

Dor. 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. [To the Queen.] Whenever Buckingham doth turn

his hate

Upon your Grace, but3 with all duteous 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 God,

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 GLOSTER.

Glos. Good morrow to my sovereign King and Queen ; And, princely peers, a happy time of day!

3 A very uncommon use of but, which is here equivalent to and not, or, better, to or not. The full sense appears to be, "Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate upon you, or rather when he doth not with all duteous love," &c. For another like instance of but, see vol. vii. page 171, note 19.

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.

Glos. A blessèd labour, my most sovereign liege.
Among this princely heap,4 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

By any in this presence, I desire

To reconcile me to his friendly peace:

'Tis death to me to be at enmity;

I hate it, and desire all good men's love.

First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
Which I will purchase with my duteous service;-
Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,

If ever any grudge were lodged between us;

Of you, Lord Rivers, — and, Lord Grey, of you,
That all without desert have frown'd on me;
Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen ; — indeed, of all.
I do not know that Englishman alive

With whom my soul is any jot at odds

More than the infant that is born to-night:

I thank my God for my humility.

Q. Eliz. A holiday shall this be kept hereafter: I would to God all strifes were well compounded. My sovereign lord, I do beseech your Highness To take our brother Clarence to your grace.

Glos. Why, madam, have I offer'd love for this, To be so flouted in this royal presence?

Who knows not that the gentle duke is dead? [They all start.

4 Heap for throng, crowd, or gathering, occurs repeatedly. So in Julius Cæsar, i. 3: And there were drawn upon a heap a hundred ghastly women,

transformed with their fear."

You do him injury to scorn his corse.

K. Edw. Who knows not he is dead! who knows he is?

Q. Eliz. All-seeing Heaven, what a world is this!
Buck. Look I so pale, Lord Dorset, as the rest?
Dor. Ay, my good lord; and no one in this presence
But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks.

K. Edw. Is Clarence dead? the order was reversed.

Glos. But he, poor man, by your first order died, And that a wingèd Mercury did bear ;

Some tardy cripple bore the countermand,

God grant that some, less noble and less loyal,
Nearer in bloody thoughts, but not in blood,
Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did,
And yet go current from suspicion !

Enter STANLEY.

Stan. A boon, my sovereign, for my service done!
K. Edw. I pr'ythee, peace; my soul is full of sorrow.
Stan. I will not rise, unless your Highness hear me.
K. Edw. Then say at once what is it thou request'st.
Stan. The forfeit,5 sovereign, of my servant's life;
Who slew to-day a riotous gentleman

Lately attendant on the Duke of Norfolk.

K. Edw. Have I a tongue to doom my brother's death, And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave?

My brother kill'd no man: his fault was thought,

And yet his punishment was bitter death.

Who sued to me for him? who, in my rage,

Kneel'd at my feet, and bade me be advised ?6
Who spoke of brotherhood? who spoke of love?

5 He means a remission of the forfeit; the servant having forfeited his life by the act of homicide.

6 Advised, again, for considerate, or cautious. See page 171, note 25.

Who told me how the poor soul did forsake
The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me?
Who told me, in the field at Tewksbury,
When Oxford had me down, he rescued me,
And said, Dear brother, live, and be a king?
Who told me, when we both lay in the field
Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me
Even in his garments, and did give himself,
All thin and naked, to the numb-cold night?
All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
Sinfully pluck'd, and not a man of you
Had so much grace to put it in my mind.
But when your carters or your waiting-vassals
Have done a drunken slaughter, and defaced
The precious image of our dear Redeemer,
You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon;
And I, unjustly too, must grant it you:

But for my brother not a man would speak,

Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself

For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all
Have been beholding7 to him in his life;
Yet none of you would once plead for his life.-
O God, I fear Thy justice will take hold

On me,

and you, and mine, and yours for this !Come, Hastings, help me to my closet. Ah,

Poor Clarence !

[Exeunt the King, the Queen, Hastings, Rivers,

DORSET, and Grey.

Glos. This is the fruit of rashness!

Mark'd you not

How that the guilty kindred of the Queen

Look'd pale when they did hear of Clarence' death?

7 Beholding where we should use beholden. Always so in Shakespeare. The word means obliged or indebted.

O, they did urge it still unto the King!

God will revenge it. But, come, let us in,

To comfort Edward with our company.

Buck. We wait upon your Grace.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.- The Same. Another Room in the Palace.

Enter the Duchess of York, with a Son and Daughter of CLARENCE.

Son. Good grandam, tell us, is our father dead?

Duch. No, boy.

Daugh. Why do you weep so oft, and beat your breast,

And cry, O Clarence, my unhappy son!

Son. Why do you look on us, and shake your head, And call us orphans, wretches, castaways,

If that our noble father be alive?

Duch. My pretty cousins, you mistake me both;

I do lament the sickness of the King,

As loth to lose him, not your father's death:

It were lost sorrow to wail one that's lost.

Son. Then, grandam, you conclude that he is dead.

The King my uncle is to blame for this:

God will revenge it; whom I will impórtune

With daily prayers all to that effect.

Daugh. And so will I.

Duch. Peace, children, peace! the King doth love you well:

1 Cicely, daughter of Ralph Neville, first Earl of Westmoreland, and widow of Richard Duke of York, who was killed at the battle of Wakefield, 1460. She survived her husband thirty-five years, living till the year 1495.

2 The Duchess is speaking to her grandchildren, cousin being then used for this relation, as well as for nephew, niece, and indeed for kindred generally. The word grandchild does not occur in Shakespeare.