He is franked' up to fatting for his pains ;- Enter CATESBY. [Aside. Cates. Madam, his majesty doth call for you,And for your grace,—and you, my noble lords. Q. Eliz. Catesby, I come.-Lords, will you go with me? Riv. Madam, we will attend upon your grace. [Exeunt all but GLOSTER. Glo. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. The secret mischiefs that I set abroach, I lay unto the grievous charge of others. Namely, to Stanley, Hastings, Buckingham; With old odd ends, stolen forth of holy writ; Enter Two Murderers. But soft, here come my executioners. How now, my hardy, stout, resolved mates? 1 Murd. We are, my lord; and come to have the warrant, That we may be admitted where he is. 1 A frank is a pen or coop in which hogs and other animals were confined while fatting. To franch, or frank, was to cram, to fatten. Glo. Well thought upon; I have it here about me; [Gives the warrant. When you have done, repair to Crosby-place. 1 Murd. Tut, tut, my lord, we will not stand to prate, Talkers are no good doers; be assured, We go to use our hands, and not our tongues. Glo. Your eyes drop mill-stones, when fools' eyes drop tears.1 I like you, lads;-about your business straight. 1 Murd. We will, my noble lord. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. London. A Room in the Tower. Enter CLARENCE and BRAKENBURY. Brak. Why looks your grace so heavily to-day? Brak. What was your dream, my lord? I pray you, tell me. Clar. Methought that I had broken from the Tower, And was embarked to cross to Burgundy ;' 2 1 This appears to have been a proverbial saying. It occurs again in the tragedy of Cæsar and Pompey, 1607 :— "Men's eyes must mill-stones drop when fools shed tears." 2 Clarence was desirous to assist his sister Margaret against the French king, who invaded her jointure lands after the death of her husband, Charles duke of Burgundy, who was killed at Nancy, in January, 1476–7. Isabel, the wife of Clarence, being then dead (poisoned by the duke of Gloucester, as it has been conjectured), he wished to have married Mary, And, in my company, my brother Gloster; Upon the hatches; thence we looked toward England, And cited up a thousand heavy times, During the wars of York and Lancaster, That had befallen us. As we paced along Upon the giddy footing of the hatches, Methought that Gloster stumbled; and, in falling, O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown! All scattered in the bottom of the sea. Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes Clar. Methought I had; and often did I strive Brak. Awaked you not with this sore agony? the daughter and heir of the duke of Burgundy; but the match was opposed by Edward, who hoped to have obtained her for his brother-in-law, lord Rivers; and this circumstance has been suggested as the principal cause of the breach between Edward and Clarence. Mary of Burgundy, however, chose a husband for herself, having married, in 1477, Maximilian, son of the emperor Frederic. 1 Unvalued for invaluable. O, then began the tempest to my soul ! The first that there did greet my stranger soul, Clar. O, Brakenbury, I have done these things— That now give evidence against my soul For Edward's sake; and, see, how he requites me! Yet execute thy wrath on me alone; O, spare my guiltless wife, and my poor children.— I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me; My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep. Brak. I will, my lord; God give your grace good rest! [CLARENCE reposes himself on a chair. Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours, Makes the night morning, and the noontide night. 1 Fleeting or flitting, in old language, was used for uncertain, inconstant, fluctuating. 2 The wife of Clarence died before he was apprehended and confined in the Tower. Princes have but their titles for their glories, They often feel a world of restless cares;' Enter the Two Murderers. 1 Murd. Ho! who's here? Brak. What wouldst thou, fellow? and how cam'st thou hither? 1 Murd. I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs. Brak. What, so brief? 2 Murd. O, sir, 'tis better to be brief than tedious.— Let him see our commission; talk no more. [A paper is delivered to BRAKENBURY, who Brak. I am, in this, commanded to deliver That thus I have resigned to you my charge. 1 Murd. You may, sir; 'tis a point of wisdom. Fare you well. [Exit BRAKENBury. 2 Murd. What, shall we stab him as he sleeps ? 1 Murd. No; he'll say, 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes. 2 Murd. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgment day. 1 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. 1 Murd. What? art thou afraid? 1 They often suffer real miseries for imaginary and unreal gratifications. |