• That love, which virtue begs, and virtue grants. K. Edw. No, by my troth, I did 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

ceive

per

*Your highness aims at, if I aim aright. K. Edw. To tell thee plain, I am to lie with thee. * L. Grey. 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.

Clar. He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.

[Aside.

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

plete with modesty;

Her words do show her wit incomparable :

9 the sadness-] i. e. the seriousness.

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 thy 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 day's 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 forswore 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,2 * I'll make my heaven-to dream upon the crown;

— unlick'd bear-whelp,] It was an opinion which, in spite of its absurdity, prevailed long, that the bear brings forth only shapeless lumps of animated flesh, which she licks into the form of bears. It is now well known that the whelps of the bear are produced in the same state with those of other creatures.

2 — to o'erbear such

As are of better person than myself,] Richard speaks here the language of nature. Whoever is stigmatized with deformity has a constant source of envy in his mind, and would counter-balance by some other superiority those advantages which he feels himself to want. Bacon remarks that the deformed are commonly daring; and it is almost proverbially observed that they are ill-natured. The truth is, that the deformed, like all other men, are displeased with inferiority, and endeavour to gain ground by good or bad means, as they are virtuous or corrupt. JOHNSON.

* And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,
* Until my mis-shap'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:
*Not knowing how to find the

open air, *But toiling desperately to find it out,* Torment myself to catch the English crown: *And from that torment I will free myself, * Or hew my way out with a bloody axe. Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile: And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart; * And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,

* And frame my face to all occasions.

* I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
* I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
* I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,
*Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
* And, like a Sinon, take another Troy :
I can add colours to the cameleon;

Change shapes, with Proteus, for advantages,
And set the murd'rous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut! were it further off, I'll pluck it down.

[Exit.