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 16,
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.
I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence,
With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments;
And, if I fail not in my deep intent,
Clarence hath not another day to live:

Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy,
And leave the world for me to bustle in!

For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter 17: What though I kill'd her husband, and her father?

16 A mew was a place in which falcons were kept; and being confined therein, while moulting, was metaphorically used for any close place or places of confinement. The verb to mew was formed from the substantive. Thus in Albumazar:

Stand forth, transform'd Antonio, fully mew'd

From brown soar feathers of dull yeomanry

To the glorious bloom of gentry.'

17 Lady Anne, the betrothed widow of Edward prince of Wales. See King Henry VI. Part III.

The readiest way to make the wench amends,
Is to become her husband, and her father:
The which will I; not all so much for love,
As for another secret close intent,

By marrying her, which I must reach unto.
But yet I run before my horse to market:

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.

2

Anne. Set down, set down your honourable load,If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,Whilst I a while obsequiously1 lament The untimely fall of virtuous LancasterPoor 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!

1 Funereal. Thus in Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 2:—

To do obsequious sorrow.'

2 A key, on account of the coldness of the metal of which it is composed, was often employed to stop any slight bleeding. The epithet is common to many old writers. Thus in The Country Girl, by T. B. 1647 :—

'The key-cold figure of a man.'

Shakspeare employs it again in the Rape of Lucrece :

'And then in key-cold Lucrece' bleeding stream
He falls.'

Lo, in these windows, that let forth thy life,
I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes:-
O, cursed be the hand that made these holes!
Cursed the heart, that had the heart to do it!
Cursed the blood, that let this blood from hence!
More direful hap betide that hated wretch,
That makes us wretched by the death of thee,
Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads,
Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives!
If ever he have child, abortive be it,
Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
Whose ugly and unnatural aspéct

May fright the hopeful mother at the view;
And that be heir to his unhappiness 3 !
If ever he have wife, let her be made
More miserable by the death of him,

Than I am made by my young lord, and thee!—
Come, now, toward Chertsey with your holy load,
Taken from Paul's to be interred there;

And, still as you are weary of the weight,
Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry's corse.

[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 4.

1 Gent. My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass. Glo. Unmanner'd dog! stand thou when I command:

3 i. e. disposition to mischief. Thus in Much Ado About Nothing: Dreamed of unhappiness and waked herself with laugh ing.

'I'll make a ghost of him that lets me.' Hamlet.

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?
Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.-
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!

Thou hadst but power over his mortal body,
His soul thou canst not have; therefore, be gone.
Glo. Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst.
Anne. Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and
trouble us not;

For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell,
Fill'd it with cursing cries, and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern 5 of thy butcheries;
O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds
Open their congeal'd mouths, and bleed afresh 6!-
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells;
Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,

Provokes this delugę most unnatural.

O God, which this blood mad'st, revenge his death! O earth, which this blood drink'st, revenge his death! Either, heaven, with lightning strike the murderer dead,

Or, earth, gape open wide, and eat him quick;

5 Example.

6 This is from Holinshed. 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. The opinion seems to be derived from the ancient Swedes, or northern nations, from whom we descended; for they practised this method of trial in dubious cases. See Pitt's Atlas; Sweden, p. 20.

As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood, Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!

Glo. Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. Anne. Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man; No beast so fierce, but knows some touch of pity. Glo. But I know none, and therefore am no beast. Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth! Glo. More wonderful, when angels are so angry.Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these supposed evils, to give me leave, By circumstance, but to acquit myself.

Anne. Vouchsafe, diffus'd' infection of a man, For these known evils, but to give me leave, By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self.

Glo. Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have Some patient leisure to excuse myself.

Anne. Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make

No excuse current, but to hang thyself.

Glo. By such despair, I should accuse myself. Anne. And, by despairing, shalt thou stand excus'd;

For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,

Thou didst unworthy slaughter upon others.

Glo. Say, that I slew them not?

Anne.

Why then, they are not dead:

But dead they are, and, devilish slave, by thee.
Glo. I did not kill your

Anne.

husband.

Why, then he is alive. Glo. Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's hand. Anne. In thy foul throat thou liest; Queen Margaret saw

7 Diffus'd anciently signified dark, obscure, strange, uncouth, or confused. See notes on King Henry V. Act v. Sc. 2, p. 518; and Merry Wives of Windsor, Act iv. Sc. 4, p. 269.