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SCENE V.

Like to a dismal clangor heard from far,-
Warunck, revenge! brother, revenge my death!
So underneath the belly of their steeds,
That stain'd their fetlocks in his smoking blood,
The noble gentleman gave up
the ghost.

War. Then let the earth be drunken with our
blood!

I'll kill my horse, because I will not fly.
*Why stand we like soft-hearted women here,
*Wailing our losses, whiles the foe doth rage;
*And look upon, as if the tragedy
*Were play'd in jest by counterfeiting actors?
Here on my knee I vow to God above,
'I'll never pause again, never stand still,

Till either death hath clos'd these eyes of mine,
'Or fortune given me measure of revenge.
Edw. O Warwick, I do bend my knee with thine;
And, in this vow, do chain my soul to thine.-
And, ere my knee rise from the earth's cold face,
*I throw my hands, mine eyes, my heart to thee,
Thou setter up and plucker down of kings!

Beseeching thee,-if with thy will it stands,
That to my foes this body must be prey,-
Yet that thy brazen gates of heaven may ope,
And give sweet passage to my sinful soul!--
Now, lords, take leave until we meet again,
Where'er it be, in heaven, or on earth.

Rich. Brother, give me thy hand; and, gentle
Warwick,

Let me embrace thee in my weary arms:-
'I, that did never weep, now melt with woe,
That winter should cut off our spring-time so.
War. Away, away! Once more sweet lords,
farewell.

Geo. Yet let us all together to our troops,
And give them leave to fly that will not stay;
And call them pillars, that will stand to us;
And, if they thrive, promise them such rewards
As victors wear at the Olympian games:
*This may plant courage in their quailing breasts;
For yet is hope of life, and victory.-
*Fore-slow no longer, make we hence amain.

[Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. Another Part of the Field. Excursions. Enter RICHARD and CLIF

FORD.

'Rich. Now, Clifford, I have singled thee alone:
Suppose, this arm is for the duke of York,
And this for Rutland; both bound to revenge,
"Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall.4
Clif. Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone:
This is the hand, that stabb'd thy father York;
And this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland;
And here's the heart that triumphs in their death,
And cheers these hands, that slew thy sire and
brother,

To execute the like upon thyself;
And so, have at thee."

[They fight. WARWICK enters; CLIF-
FORD flies.

Rich. Nay, Warwick, single out some other
chase;

For I myself will hunt this wolf to death.

[Exeunt.

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Statius, Theb. ii. v. 453.

5 Two very similar lines in the preceding play are spoken of Richard's father by Clifford's father:-'Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase; For I myself must hunt this deer to death.'

6 The leading thought in both these soliloquies is borrowed from Holinshed, p. 665. This deadly conflict! continued ten hours in doubtful state of victorie, uncertainlie heaving and setting on both sides,' &c. Steevens points out a similar comparison in Virgil, Æn. lib. x. ver. 354, which originates with Homer, Iliad xiv.

7 This speech is mournful and soft, exquisitely suited to the character of the king, and makes a pleasing inter-1

Another Part of the Field. Alarum. Enter KING HENRY.

*K. Hen. This battle fares like to the morning's war,"

When dying clouds contend with growing light;
*What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails,
* Can neither call it perfect day, nor night.
Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea,
Forc'd by the tide to combat with the wind;
Now sways it that way, like the selfsame sea
'Forc'd to retire by fury of the wind;

Sometime, the flood prevails; and then the wind;
Now, one the better; then, another best;
Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast,
Yet neither conqueror, nor conquered:
Here on this molehill will I sit me down,
So is the equal poise of this fell war.
*To whom God will, there be the victory!
'For Margaret my queen, and Clifford too,

Have chid me from the battle; swearing both,
They prosper best of all when I am thence.
''Would, I were dead! if God's good will were so:
For what is in this world, but grief and woe?
*O God! methinks, it were a happy life,"
To be no better than a homely swain;
*To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
Thereby to see the minutes how they run:
*To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,
* How many make the hour full complete,
How many hours bring about the day,
*How many days will finish up the year,
When this is known, then to divide the times:
How many years a mortal man may live.
*So many hours must I tend my flock;
*So many hours must I take my rest;
*So many hours must I contemplate;
*So many hours must I sport myself;
*So many days my ewes have been with young;
So many years ere I shall shear the fleece:
weeks ere the
many
poor fools will yean;
*So minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years,
* Pass'd over to the end they were created,
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.

* So

*

Ah, what a life were this! how sweet! how lovely! * Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade *To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep, *Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy

*

To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery? O, yes it doth; a thousand fold it doth. *And to conclude,-the shepherd's homely curds, *His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle, *His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade *All which secure and sweetly he enjoys, * Is far beyond a prince's delicates, * His viands sparkling in a golden cup, His body couched in a curious bed,

* When care, mistrust, and treason wait on him. Alarum. Enter a Son that has killed his Father, dragging in the dead Body.

Son. Ill blows the wind, that profits nobody.This man, whom hand to hand I slew in fight, change, by affording, amidst the tumult and horror of the battle, an unexpected glimpse of rural innocence and pastoral tranquillity.-Johnson. There are some verses preserved of Henry VI. which are in a strain of the same pensive moralizing character. The reader may not be displeased to have them here subjoined, that he may compare them with the congenial thoughts the poes has attributed to him:

'Kingdoms are but cares;
State is devoid of stay;
Riches are ready snares,
And hasten to decay.

Pleasure is a privy [game],
Which vice doth still provoke
Pomp unprompt; and fame a flame;
Power a smouldering smoke.

Who meaneth to remove the rock
Out of his slimy mud,

Shall mire himself, and hardly scape

The swelling of the flood.'

8 These two horrible instances are selected to show

May be possessed with some store of crowns:
And I, that haply take them from him now,
May yet ere night yield both my life and them
*To some man else, as this dead man doth me.-
Who's this?-O God! it is my father's face,
Whom in this conflict I unawares have kill'd.
O heavy time, begetting such events!
From London by the king was I press'd forth;
My father, being the earl of Warwick's man,
Came on the part of York, press'd by his master;
And I, who at his hands receiv'd my life,
Have by my hands of life bereaved him.-
Pardon me, God, I knew not what I did!-
And pardon, father, for I knew not thee!-

My tears shall wipe away these bloody marks;
*And no more words, till they have flow'd their fill.

K. Hen. O piteous spectacle! O bloody times! Whilst lions war, and battle for their dens, 'Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity. *Weep, wretched man, I'll aid thee tear for tear *And let our hearts, and eyes, like civil war, * Be blind with tears, and break o'ercharg'd with grief.1

r;

Enter a Father, who has killed his Son, with the
Body in his arms.

'Fath. Thou that so stoutly hast resisted me,
Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold;
For I have bought it with a hundred blows.-
But let me see:-is this our foeman's face?
Ah, no, no, no, it is mine only son!-
Ah, boy, if any life be left in thee,
*Throw up thine eye; see, see, what showers arise,
*Blown with the windy tempest of my heart,
*Upon thy wounds, that kill mine eye and heart!-
O, pity, God, this miserable age!-
What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly,
Erroneous, mutinous, and unnatural,
This deadly quarrel daily doth beget!-
O boy, thy father gave thee life too soon,
And hath bereft thee of thy life too late!
K. Hen. Woe above woe! grief more than
mon grief!

*My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulchre ;
*For from my heart thine image ne'er shall go.
My sighing breast shall be thy funeral bell;
*And so obsequious will thy father be,
*Sad for the loss of thee, having no more,
As Priam was for all his valiant sons.
I'll bear thee hence; and let them fight that will,
For I have murder'd where I should not kill.
[Exit, with the Body,
'K. Hen. Sad-hearted men, much overgone with

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post amain,

Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds
Having the fearful flying hare in sight,
And bloody steel grasp'd in their ireful hands,
With fiery eyes, sparkling for very wrath,
Are at our backs; and therefore, hence amain.
'Exe. Away! for vengeance comes along with
them;

Nay, stay not to expostulate, make speed;
Or else come after, I'll away before.

'K. Hen. Nay, take me with thee, good sweet
Exeter;

Not that I fear to stay, but love to go
Whither the queen intends. Forward; away!
[Exeunt.

SCENE VI. The same. A loud Alarum. Enter
CLIFFORD, wounded."

Clif. Here burns my candle out, ay, here it dies,
Which, while it lasted, gave King Henry light.
O, Lancaster! I fear thy overthrow,
com-More than my body's parting with my soul.

deeds!

O, that my death would stay these ruthful
O pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity!-
The red rose and the white are on his face,
The fatal colours of our striving houses:
*The one, his purple blood right well resembles;
*The other, his pale cheeks, methinks, present!
Wither one rose, and let the other flourish!

If you contend, a thousand lives must wither.
Son. How will my mother, for a father's death,
Take on with me, and ne'er be satisfied!
Fath. How will my wife, for slaughter of my son,
Shed seas of tears, and ne'er be satisfied!
K. Hen. How will the country, for these woful
chances,

'Misthink the king, and not be satisfied!

Son. Was ever son, so rued a father's death? Fath. Was ever father, so bemoan'd a son? 'K. Hen. Was ever king, so griev'd for subjects' woe ?

Much is your sorrow; mine, ten times so much. Son. I'll bear thee hence, where I may weep [Exit with the Body. *Fath. These arms of mine shall be thy windingsheet;

my fill.

the innumerable calamities of civil war. Raphael has introduced the second of these incidents in his picture of the battle of Constantine and Maxentius.

1 The king intends to say that the state of their hearts and eyes shall be like that of the kingdom in a civil war; all shall be destroyed by power formed within themselves.

2 Stratagems here means direful events.

My love, and fear, glew'd many friends to thee;
And, now I fall, thy tough commixtures melt.
Impairing Henry, strength'ning mis-proud York,
The common people swarm like summer flies:
And whither fly the gnats, but to the sun?
And who shines now but Henry's enemies?
O Phoebus! hadst thou never given consent
That Phaeton should check thy fiery steeds,
Thy burning car never had scorch'd the earth:
And, Henry, hadst thou sway'd as kings should do,
Or as thy father, and his father did,
Giving no ground unto the house of York,
*They never then had sprung like summer flies:
I, and ten thousand in this fuckless realm,
Had left no mourning widows for our death,
And thou this day hadst kept thy chair in peace.
For what doth cherish weeds but gentle air?

And what makes robbers bold, but too much

lenity?

Bootless are plaints, and cureless are my wounds;
The foe is merciless, and will not pity;
No way to fly, nor strength to hold out flight:
For at their hands I have deserv'd no pity.

The air hath got into my deadly wounds,
And much effuse of blood doth make me faint:-

5 Think unfavourably of

6 Obsequious is here careful of obsequies or funeral rites. See Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1.

7 In the old play the stage direction adds, with an arrow in his neck. It is thought that Beaumont and Fletcher ridiculed this, by introducing Ralph, the gro cer's prentice, in the Knight of the Burning Pestle, with 3 Of these obscure lines the following explanation by a forked arrow through his head. The circumstance is Henley is the most probable which has been offered :-related by Holinshed, p. 664: The Lord Clifford, eiHad the son been younger he would have been preclud-ther for heat or paine, putting off his gorget suddenlie, ed from the levy which brought him to the field; and with an arrow (as some saie) without a head, was strick had the father recognized him before their mortal en- en into the throte, and immediately rendered his spirit." counter, it would not have been too late to have saved 8 Hence perhaps originated the following passage in him from death. The Bard of Gray :

4 To take on is a phrase still in use in common par. jance, and signifies to persist in clamorous lamentation. |

The swarm that in thy noontide beam were born, Gone to salute the rising morn.'

Edw. Thou pitied'st Rutland, I will pity thes. Geo. Where's Captain Margaret, to fence you now?

Come, York, and Richard, Warwick, and the rest
'I stabb'd your fathers' bosoms, split my breast.
[He faints.
Alarum and Retreat. Enter EDWARD, GEORGE,
RICHARD, MONTAGUE, WARWICK, and Sol-
diers.

Edw. Now breathe we, lords; good fortune
bids us pause,

And smooth the frowns of war with peaceful
looks.'-

* Some troops pursue the bloody-minded queen ;-
That led calm Henry, though he were a king,
As doth a sail, fill'd with a fretting gust,
Command an argosy to stem the waves.
But think you, lords, that Clifford fled with them?
War. No, 'tis impossible he should escape:
For, though before his face I speak the words,
Your brother Richard mark'd him for the grave:
'And, wheresoe'er he is, he's surely dead.
[CLIFFORD groans, and dies.
Edw. Whose soul is that which takes her heavy
leave?

Rich. A deadly groan, like life and death's de-
parting.

Edw. See who it is: and now the battle's ended, If friend, or foe, let him be gently us'd.

War. They mock thee, Clifford! swear as thou

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blood

Stifle the villain, whose unstanched thirst
York and young Rutland could not satisfy.

War. Ay, but he's dead: Off with the traitor's
head,

And rear it in the place your father's stands.-
And now to London with triumphant march,
There to be crowned England's royal king.
From whence shall Warwick cut the sea to
France,

And ask the Lady Bona for thy queen:
So shalt thou sinew both these lands together;
And, having France thy friend, thou shalt not
dread

The scatter'd foe, that hopes to rise again:
Rich. Revoke that doom of mercy, for 'tis Clif-For though they cannot greatly sting to hurt,

ford;

Who not contented that he lopp'd the branch
In hewing Rutland when his leaves put forth,
But set his murdering knife unto the root

From whence that tender spray did sweetly
spring,

I mean our princely father, duke of York.
War. From off the gates of York fetch down the

head,

Your father's head, which Clifford placed there:
Instead whereof, let this supply the room;
Measure for measure must be answered.

Edw. Bring forth that fatal screechowl to our
house,

That nothing sung but death' to us and ours:
Now death shall stop his dismal threatening
sound,

And his ill-boding tongue no more shall speak.
[Attendants bring the Body forward.
War. I think his understanding is bereft :-
Speak, Clifford, dost thou know who speaks to

thee?

Dark cloudy death o'ershades his beams of life,
And he nor sees, nor hears us what we say.

Rich. O, 'would he did! and so, perhaps, he doth;
"Tis but his policy to counterfeit,

Because he would avoid such bitter taunts,
Which in the time of death he gave our father.
Geo. If so thou think'st, vex him with eager
words.4

Rich. Clifford, ask mercy, and obtain no grace.
Edw. Clifford, repent in bootless penitence.
War. Clifford, devise excuses for thy faults.
Geo. While we devise fell tortures for thy faults.
'Rich. Thou didst love York, and I am son to
York.

1 Thus in King Richard III. :—

Yet look to have them buz, to offend thine ears.
First, will I see the coronation;

And then to Britany I'll cross the sea,

To effect this marriage, so it please my lord.
Edw. Even as thou wilt, sweet Warwick, let
it be:

*For on thy shoulder do I build my seat;
* And never will I undertake the thing,
*Wherein thy counsel and consent is wanting.-
Richard, I will create thee duke of Gloster;-
'And George, of Clarence ;-Warwick, as ourself,
Shall do, and undo, as him pleaseth best.
Rich. Let me be duke of Clarence; George, of
Gloster;

For Gloster's dukedom is too ominous.
War. Tut, that's a foolish observation;
Richard, be duke of Gloster: Now to London,
To see these honours in possession.

ACT III.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I. A Chase in the North of England.
Enter Two Keepers, with Crossbows in their
Hands.

1 Keep. Under this thick-grown brake' we'}
shroud ourselves;

For through this laund" anon the deer will come;
And in this covert will we make our stand,
Culling the principal of all the deer.

* 2 Keep. I'll stay above the hill, so both may

shoot.

1 Keep. That cannot be; the noise of thy cross

bow

Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost. *Here stand we both, and aim we at the best: *And, for the time shall not seem tedious,

presented these characters, Sineklo and Humphrey. Humphrey was probably Humphrey Jeaffes, mentioned

Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front. 2 Departing for separation. To depart, in old lan-in Mr. Henslowe's manuscript; Sincklo we have before guage, is to part. Thus in the old marriage service:Till death us depart.'

3 We have this also in King Richard III :— Out on you, owls! nothing but songs of death. 4 Sour words; words of asperity. Verie eagre or Bowre: peracerous.'-Baret.

5 Alluding to the deaths of Thomas of Woodstock and Humphrey, duke of Gloster. The author of the old play, in which this line is found, had a passage of Hall's Chronicle in his thoughts, in which the unfortunate ends of those who had borne the title is recounted: he thus concludes:- So that this name of Gloucester is taken for an unhappie and unfortunate stile, as the proverb speaks of Segane's horse, whose ryder was ever unhorsed, and whose possessor was ever brought to miserie.'

6 In the folio copy, instead of two keepers, we have through negligence the names of the persons who re

mentioned, his name being prefixed to some speeches in
the Induction to The Taming of the Shrew. Hall and
Holinshed tell us that Henry VI. was no sooner entered
into England but he was known and taken of one Cant-
low, and brought to the king. It appears, however,
from records in the duchy office, that King Edward
granted a rent-charge of one hundred pound to Sir
James Harington, in recompense of his great and labo-
rious diligence about the capture and detention of the
king's great traitor, rebel, and enemy, lately called
Henry the Sixth, made by the said James and like-
wise annuities to Richard and Thomas Talbot, Es-
quires,-Talbot, and Levesey, for their services in the
same capture. Henry had been for some time har-
boured by James Maychell of Crakenthorpe, West-
moreland. See Rymer's Fœdera, xi. 548, 575.
7 Thicket.

8 A plain extended between woods, a lawn.

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K. Hen. My queen, and son, are gone to France for aid;

And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick
Is thither gone, to crave the French king's sister
To wife for Edward: If this news be true,
Poor queen, and, son, your labour is but lost;
"For Warwick is a subtle orator,

And Lewis a prince soon won with moving words. "By this account, then, Margaret may win him; For she's a woman to be pitied much: *Her sighs will make a battery in his breast; *Her tears will pierce into a marble heart;

The tiger will be mild, while she doth mourn; *And Nero will be tainted with remorse, *To hear, and see, her plaints, her brinish tears. Ay, but she's come to beg; Warwick, to give: She, on his left side, craving aid for Henry; He, on his right, asking a wife for Edward." She weeps, and says-her Henry is depos'd; He smiles, and says-his Edward is install'd; That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more: *Whiles Warwick tells his title, smooths the wrong, * Inferreth arguments of mighty strength;2 * And, in conclusion, wins the king from her, With promise of his sister, and what else, *To strengthen and support King Edward's place. *O Margaret, thus 'twill be; and thou, poor soul, * Art then forsaken, as thou went'st forlorn.3

2 Keep. Say, what art thou, that talk'st of kings and queens?

'K. Hen. More than I seem, and less than I was born to:

'A man at least, for less I should not be ; And men may talk of kings, and why not I? 2 Keep. Ay, but thou talk'st as if thou wert a king.

"K. Hen. Why, so I am, in mind: and that's enough.

2 Keep. But, if thou be a king, where is thy crown?

1 Thus also in King Richard II. :-

Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm from an anointed king."

It is observable that this line is one of those additions to the original play which are found in the folio and not in the quarto.

2 This line has already occurred in the former Act:Inferring arguments of mighty force.' In the old play the line occurs but once.

3 The piety of Henry scarce interests us more for his misfortunes than this his constant solicitude for the welfare of his deceitful queen.-Steevens.

4 Malone thinks that there is an allusion here to an old poem by Sir Edward Dyer, beginning-My mind to me a kingdom is.' See it in Percy's Reliques, 3d edition, vol. i. p. 293.

5 This is in every particular a falsification of history. Sir John Grey fell in the second battle of St. Albans

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* Ah, simple men, you know not what you swear." *Look, as I blow this feather from my face, *And as the air blows it to me again, *Obeying with my wind when I do blow,

And yielding to another when it blows, *Commanded always by the greater gust; * Such is the lightness of you common men. * But do not break your oaths; for, of that sin *My mild entreaty shall not make you guilty. *Go where you will, the king shall be commanded; * And be you kings; command, and I'll obey. *1 Keep. We are true subjects to the king, King

Edward.

*K. Hen. So would you be again to Henry, *If he were seated as King Edward is.

1 Keep. We charge you, in God's name, and in the king's,

To go with us unto the officers.

'K. Hen. In God's name, lead; your king's name be obey'd:

* And what God will, then let your king perform; * And what he will, I humbly yield unto. [Exeunt. SCENE II. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter KING EDWARD, GLOSTER, CLARENCE, and LADY GREY.

K. Edw. Brother of Gloster, at Saint Albans'
field

"This lady's husband, Sir John Grey, was slain,
His lands then seiz'd on by the conqueror:
Her suit is now, to repossess those lands;
'Which we in justice cannot well deny,
Because in quarrel of the house of York
The worthy gentleman did lose his life."

Glo. Your highness shall do well, to grant her
suit ;

* It were dishonour, to deny it her.

fighting on the side of King Henry; and so far is it from being true that his lands were seized by the conqueror (Queen Margaret) that they were in fact seized by King Edward after his victory at Towton, 1461. The present scene is laid in 1464. Shakspeare followed the old play in this instance; but when he afterwards had occasion to mention this matter in writing his King Richard III he stated it truly as he found it in the Chronicles. In Act i. Sc. 2 of that play, Richard, addressing himself to Queen Elizabeth (the Lady Grey of the present scene,) says:

In all which time you and your husband Grey Were factious for the house of Lancaster; (And, Rivers, so were you :)-was not your husband In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans slam ? Malone says that this circumstance, among numerous others, proves incontestably that Shakspeare was not the original author of this and the preceding play.

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[Aside.
[Aside.

'K. Edw. Widow, we will consider of your suit ;1
And come some other time, to know our mind.
'L. Grey. Right gracious lord, I cannot brook
delay:

May it please your highness to resolve me now;
And what your pleasure is, shall satisfy me.

Glo. [Aside.] Ay, widow? then I'll warrant you
all your lands,

And if what pleases him, shall pleasure you. 'Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow. *Clar. I fear her not, unless she chance to fall. [Aside. Glo. God forbid that! for he'll take vantages. [Aside.

'K. Edw. How many children hast thou, widow? tell me.

Clar. I think, he means to beg a child of her.

[Aside. Glo. Nay, whip me then; he'll rather give her [Aside.

two.

L. Grey. Three, my most gracious lord.
Glo. You shall have four, if you'll be rul'd by
him.
[Aside.
'K. Edw. "Twere pity, they should lose their
father's land.

L Grey. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant then.
K. Edw. Lords, give us leave; I'll try this wi-
dow's wit.

Glo. Ay, good leave? have you; for you will have leave, 'Till youth take leave, and leave you to the crutch. [GLOSTER and CLARENCE retire to the other side.

*K. Edw. Now tell me, madam, do you love
your children?

*L. Grey. Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.
*K. Edw. And would you not do much, to do
them good?

* L. Grey. To do them good, I would sustain
some harm.

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'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;

*K. Edw. Then get your husband's lands, to do* All her perfections challenge sovereignty: them good.

* L. Grey. Therefore I came unto your majesty. K. Edw. I'll tell you how these lands are to be got.

*L. Grey. So shall you bind me to your highness' service.

*K. Edw. What service wilt thou do me, if I give them?

*L. Grey. What you command, that rests in me to do.

*K. Edw. But you will take exceptions to my boon.

*L. Grey. No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.

*K. Edw. Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.

*L. Grey. Why, then I will do what your grace commands.

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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.

2 This phrase implies readiness of assent.
3 i. c. seriousness.

K

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