Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed!
O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.

Glo. The fitter for the King of heaven that hath him.
Anne. He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come.
Glo. Let him thank me that holp to send him thither
For he was fitter for that place than earth.

Anne. And thou unfit for any place but hell.

Glo. Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it.
Anne. Some dungeon.

Glo.

Your bedchamber.

Anne. Ill rest betide the chamber where thou liest !
Glo. So will it, madam, till I lie with you.
Anne. I hope so.

Glo. I know so.-But, gentle lady Anne,
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall somewhat into a slower method,
Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?

Anne. Thou wast the cause, and most accurs'd effect.
Glo. Your beauty was the cause of that effect;

Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep,

To undertake the death of all the world,

So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.
Anne. If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,

These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.

Glo. These eyes could not endure that beauty's wreck; You should not blemish it if I stood by:

As all the world is cheered by the sun,

So I by that; it is my day, my life.

Anne. Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life! Glo. Curse not thyself, fair creature; thou art both. Anne. I would I were, to be reveng'd on thee.

Glo. It is a quarrel most unnatural,

To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee.

Anne. It is a quarrel just and reasonable,

To be reveng'd on him that kill'd my husband.
Glo. He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,

Did it to help thee to a better husband.

Anne. His better does not breathe upon the earth.
Glo. He lives that loves thee better than he could.
Anne. Name him.

Glo.

Anne.

Plantagenet.

Why, that was he.

Glo. The self-same name, but one of better nature.

Anne. Where is he?

Glo. Here: [She spits at him.] Why dost thou spit at me?

Anne. 'Would it were mortal poison,' for thy sake!
Glo. Never came poison from so sweet a place.
Anne. Never hung poison on a fouler toad.
Out of my sight! thou dost infect mine eyes.
Glo. Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.
Anne. 'Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead!
Glo. I would they were, that I might die at once:
For now they kill me with a living death.

Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears;
Sham'd their aspects with store of childish drops:
These eyes, which never shed remorseful tear,
No, when my father York2 and Edward wept
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland3 made,
When black-faced Clifford shook his sword at him:
Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,
Told the sad story of my father's death,
And twenty times made pause, to sob and weep,
That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks,
Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that sad time
My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear;

And what these sorrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never sued to friend, nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word;
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,

My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.
[She looks scornfully at him.
Teach not thy lip such scorn; for it was made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.

If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
Lo! here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword;
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast,
And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,

I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays his breast open; she offers at it with his sword.

Nay, do not pause: for I did kill king Henry ;

But 'twas thy beauty that provok'd me.

Nay, now despatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward:

[She again offers at his breast.

(1) Mortal poison, i. e. deadly poison.

(2)

my father York. Richard, duke of York, for a long time the chief of the Yorkists; he was killed in the battle of Wakefield.

(3) Rutland. Edmund, earl of Rutland, son of the duke of York, and youngest brother of Richard III.

(4) thy warlike father. The earl of Warwick, called the king-maker; killed at the battle of Barnet.

But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.

[She lets fall the sword.

Take up the sword again, or take up me.

Anne. Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

Glo. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.
Anne. I have already.

Glo.

That was in thy rage:
Speak it again, and even with the word,

This hand, which for thy love did kill thy love,
Shall for thy love kill a far truer love;

To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary.
Anne. I would I knew thy heart.
Glo. 'Tis figur'd in my tongue.
Anne. I fear me, both are false.

Glo. Then never man was true.

Anne. Well, well, put up your sword.
Glo. Say, then, my peace is made.
Anne. That shalt thou know hereafter.
Glo. But shall I live in hope?
Anne. All men, I hope, live so.
Glo. Vouchsafe to wear this ring.
Anne. To take is not to give.

[She puts on the ring.

Glo. Look, how my ring encompasseth thy finger,

Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine,
And if thy poor devoted servant may

But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,

Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever.

Anne. What is it?

Glo. That it may please you leave these sad designs

To him that hath most cause to be a mourner,
And presently repair to Crosby place;1
Where, after I have solemnly interr'd,
At Chertsey monastery, this noble king,
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,
I will with all expedient2 duty see you:
For divers unknown reasons, I beseech you
Grant me this boon.

Anne. With all my heart; and much it joys me too
To see you are become so penitent.

Tressel, and Berkley, go along with me.

Glo. Bid me farewell.

(1)

· Crosby place, a house in Bishopsgate-street, formerly belonging to

he duke of Gloucester.

(2)

expedient is here used for expeditious..

Anne.

"Tis more than you deserve:

But, since you teach me how to flatter you,
Imagine I have said farewell already.

[Exeunt LADY ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKLEY. Glo. Take up the corse, sirs.

Gent.

Towards Chertsey, noble lord?

Glo. No, to White-Friars; there attend my coming.

[Exeunt the rest, with the corse.

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?
Was ever woman in this humour won?

I'll have her, but I will not keep her long.
What! I, that kill'd her husband and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremest hate;
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

The bleeding witness of her hatred by;

Having God, her conscience, and these bars against me,
And I no friends to back my suit withal,

But the plain devil, and dissembling looks,

And yet to win her,—all the world to nothing!

Ha!

Hath she forgot already that brave prince,

Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since,
Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury?
A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,

Fram'd in the prodigality of nature,

Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal,1
The spacious world cannot again afford:

And will she yet abase her eyes on me,

That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince,
And made her widow to a woeful bed?

On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety?

On me, that halt, and am misshapen thus?

My dukedom to a beggarly denier,2
I do mistake my person all this while :
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man.
I'll be at charges for a looking-glass;
And entertain a score or two of tailors
To study fashions to adorn my body :
Since I am crept in favour with myself,
I will maintain it with some little cost.
But, first, I'll turn yon' fellow in his grave;
And then return lamenting to my love.

(1)

right royal. Dr. Johnson proposes to read right loyal, i. e. true and faithful to his wife. denier. A denier is the twelfth part of a French sous or halfpenny.

(2)

Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,
That I may see my shadow as I pass.

SCENE III.-The same. A Room in the Palace.

[Exit.

Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH, LORD RIVERS, and LORD GREY.
Riv. Have patience, madam; there's no doubt his majesty
Will soon recover his accustom'd health.

Grey. In that you brook it ill it makes him worse:
Therefore, for God's sake, entertain good comfort,
And cheer his grace with quick and merry words.
Q. Eliz. If he were dead, what would betide on me?
Grey. No other harm but loss of such a lord.

Q. Eliz. The loss of such a lord includes all harms.
Grey. The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son,
To be your comforter when he is gone.

Q. Eliz. Ah, he is young; and his minority
Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloster,
A man that loves not me, nor none of you.
Riv. Is it concluded he shall be protector?
Q. Eliz. It is determin'd, not concluded yet:
But so it must be if the king miscarry.1

Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY.

Grey. Here come the lords of Buckingham and Stanley.
Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace!

Stan. God make your majesty joyful as you have been!
Q. Eliz. The countess Richmond, good my lord of Stanley,
To your good prayer will scarcely say amen.

Yet Stanley, notwithstanding she's your wife,
And loves not me, be you, good lord, assur'd
I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

Stan. I do beseech you, either not believe
The envious slanders of her false accusers;
Or, if she be accus'd on true report,

Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds
From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice.

Q. Eliz. Saw you the king to-day, my lord of Stanley?
Stan. But now, the duke of Buckingham and I

Are come from visiting his majesty.

Q. Eliz. What likelihood of his amendment, lords?
Buck. Madam, good hope; his grace speaks cheerfully.
Q. Eliz. God grant him health? did you confer with him?
Buck. Ay, madam : he desires to make atonement'

(1)

(2)

at one.

-if the king miscarry; i. e. If he do not recover.

-to make atonement; i. e. to make them friends, to make them