LIGHT. Ay, ay: so, when I call you, bring it in.
MAT. Fear not thou that.

GUR. Here's a light to go into the dungeon.

[Exit with MATREVIS.

LIGHT. So, now must I about this gear: ne'er was

there any

So finely handled as this king shall be.

Foh, here's a place § indeed, with all my heart!

EDW. Who's there? what light is that? wherefore

com'st thou ?

LIGHT. To comfort you, and bring you joyful news. EDW. Small comfort finds poor Edward in thy looks: Villain, I know thou com'st to murder me.

LIGHT. To murder you, my most gracious lord!
Far is it from my heart to do you harm.
The queen sent me to see how you were us'd,
For she relents at this your misery:

And what eyes can refrain from shedding tears,
To see a king in this most piteous state?

EDW. Weep'st thou already? list a while to me,
And then thy heart, were it as Gurney's is,
Or as Matrevis', hewn from the Caucasus,
Yet will it melt, ere I have done my tale.
This dungeon where they keep me, is the sink
Wherein the filth of all the castle falls.
LIGHT. Oh, villains!

§ Foh, here's a place, &c.] Here undoubtedly a change of scene is supposed,-to the dungeon in which Edward is confined. The actor who personated Lightborn most probably drew a curtain, and discovered the captive king.

EDW. And there, in mire and puddle have I stood This ten days' space; and, lest that I should sleep, One plays continually upon a drum;

They give me bread and water, being a king;
So that, for want of sleep and sustenance,
My mind's distemper'd, and my body's numb'd,
And whether I have limbs or no I know not.
Oh, would my blood dropp'd out from every vein,
As doth this water from my tatter'd robes!
Tell Isabel the queen, I look'd not thus,
When for her sake I ran at tilt in France,

And there unhors'd the Duke of Cleremont.
LIGHT. Oh, speak no more, my lord! this breaks
my heart.

Lie on this bed, and rest yourself a while.

EDW. These looks of thine can harbour nought but

death;

I see my tragedy written in thy brows.

Yet stay a while; forbear thy bloody hand,
And let me see the stroke before it comes,

That even then + when I shall lose my life,
My mind
may be more steadfast on my God.
LIGHT. What means your highness to mistrust me

thus?

*Lie on this bed] From the account which the king has just given of his dungeon, we may certainly conclude that a bed was not part of its furniture. Therefore "this bed" must be the "feather-bed" which has been mentioned at p. 280, and which afterwards, p. 284, is used in murdering the king. But when is it brought upon the stage?

+ That even then] Old eds. "That and even then."

EDW. What mean'st thou to dissemble with me

thus?

LIGHT. These hands were never stain'd with inno

cent blood,

Nor shall they now be tainted with a king's.

EDW. Forgive my thought for having such a

thought.

One jewel have I left; receive thou this:

[Giving jewel. Still fear I, and I know not what's the cause,

But every joint shakes as I give it thee.
Oh, if thou harbour'st murder in thy heart,
Let this gift change thy mind, and save thy soul !
Know that I am a king: oh, at that name

I feel a hell of grief! where is my crown?
Gone, gone! and do I [still] remain alive +?

LIGHT. You're overwatch'd, my lord: lie down and rest.

EDW. But that grief keeps me waking, I should

sleep;

For not these ten days have these eye-lids‡ clos'd.
Now, as I speak, they fall; and yet with fear
Open again. Oh, wherefore sitt'st thou here?
LIGHT. If you mistrust me, I'll be gone, my
EDW. No, no; for, if thou mean'st to murder me,
Thou wilt return again; and therefore stay.

LIGHT. He sleeps.

+ alive] So 4to 1598.-Not in 4tos 1612, 1622,

eye-lids] So 4to 1622.-2tos 1598, 1612, "eies lids."

lord.

EDW. Oh, let me not die yet! oh, stay a while§ !
LIGHT. How now, my lord?

EDW. Something still buzzeth in mine ears,
And tells me, if I sleep, I never wake:

This fear is that which makes me tremble thus ; And therefore tell me, wherefore art thou come? LIGHT. To rid thee of thy life.-Matrevis, come!

Enter MATREVIS and GURney.

EDW. I am too weak and feeble to resist.

Assist me, sweet God, and receive my soul!
LIGHT. Run for the table.

EDW. Oh, spare me, or despatch me in a trice! [MATREVIS brings in a table. KING EDWARD is murdered ¶ by holding him down on the bed with the table, and stamping on it. LIGHT. So, lay the table down, and stamp on it, But not too hard, lest that you bruise his body.

MAT. I fear me that this cry will raise the town, And therefore let us take horse and away.

LIGHT. Tell me, sirs, was it not bravely done?
GUR. Excellent well: take this for thy reward.
[Stabs LIGHTBORN.

Come, let us cast the body in the moat,
And bear the king's to Mortimer our lord:
Away!

[Exeunt with the bodies.

Oh, let me not die yet! oh, stay a while!] So 4to 1622.2tos 1698, 1612, O let me not die, yet stay, O stay a while." ¶ King Edward is murdered, &c.] See note, p. 282. The "red-hot spit", mentioned at p. 280, would seem not to have been produced before the audience.

Enter the younger MORTIMER || and MATREVIS. Y. MOR. Is't done, Matrevis, and the murderer dead?

MAT. Ay, my good lord: I would it were undone!

Y. MOR. Matrevis, if thou now¶ grow'st penitent, I'll be thy ghostly father; therefore choose, Whether thou wilt be secret in this,

Or else die by the hand of Mortimer.

MAT. Gurney, my lord, is fled, and will, I fear, Betray us both; therefore let me fly. Y. MOR. Fly to the savages!

MAT. I humbly thank your honour.

[Exit.

Y. MOR. As for myself, I stand as Jove's huge

tree,

And others are but shrubs compar'd to me:

All tremble at my name, and I fear none:

Let's see who dare impeach me for his death!

Enter QUEEN ISABELLA.

ISAB. Ah, Mortimer, the king my son hath news, His father's dead, and we have murder'd him!

Y. MOR. What if he have? the king is yet a child. ISAB. Ay, but he tears his hair, and wrings his hands,

Enter the younger Mortimer, &c.] Scene, an apartment in the royal palace.

¶ now] So 4to 1598.-Not in 4tos 1612, 1622.

Isab. Ay, but] Old eds. "I, I [i. e. Ay, ay], but."