Now fair befall thee, and thy noble house! Buck. Nor no one here; for curses never pass Q. Mar. I'll not believe but they ascend the sky, And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace. O, Buckingham, beware of yonder dog; Look, when he fawns, he bites; and, when he bites, His venom tooth will rankle to the death. Have not to do with him, beware of him; Sin, death, and hell have set their marks on him ; Glo. What doth she say, my lord of Buckingham? And soothe the devil that I warn thee from? When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow; [Exit. Hast. My hair doth stand on end to hear her curses. Riv. And so doth mine; I muse, why she's at liberty. Glo. I cannot blame her, by God's holy mother; She hath had too much wrong, and I repent My part thereof, that I have done to her. Q. Eliz. I never did her any, to my knowledge. That is too cold in thinking of it now. 1 It is evident, from the conduct of Shakspeare, that the house of Tudor retained all their Lancastrian prejudices, even in the reign of queen Elizabeth. He seems to deduce the woes of the house of York from the curses which queen Margaret had ranted against them; and he could not give that weight to her curses, without supposing a right in her to utter them.— Walpole. He is franked' up to fatting for his pains ;- [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 thingsThat 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. |