And wet his grave with my repentant tears- 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. Anne. 'Tis more than you deserve; But, since you teach me how to flatter you, [Exeunt LADY Anne, TRESSEL, and Glo. Sirs, take up the corse. 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 humor wooed? Was ever woman in this humor won? I'll have her, but I will not keep her long. What! I, that killed 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; With 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, Stabbed in my angry mood at Tewksbury?2 A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman 1 i. e. expeditious. 2 This fixes the exact time of the scene to August, 1471. King Edward, however, is introduced in the second act dying. That king died in April, 1483; consequently there is an interval between this and the next act of almost twelve years. Clarence, who is represented in the preceding scene as committed to the Tower before the burial of king Henry VI., was in fact not confined nor put to death till March, 1477-8, seven years afterwards. Framed in the prodigality of nature, Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal— And will she yet abase her eyes on me, That cropped the golden prime of this sweet prince, On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety? 2 [Exit. SCENE III. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH, LORD RIVERS, and LORD GREY. Riv. Have patience, madam; there's no doubt his majesty Will soon recover his accustomed health. Grey. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse; Q. Eliz. If he were dead, what would betide of me? 1 A small coin, the twelfth part of a French sous. 2 In for into. Grey. The Heavens have blessed you with a goodly son, To be your comforter when he is gone. Q. Eliz. Ah, he is young; and his minority Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY." Grey. Here come the lords of Buckingham and Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace! Stan. God make your majesty joyful as you have been! Q. Eliz. The countess Richmond,2 good my lord of To your good prayer will scarcely say-Amen. Stan. I do beseech you, either not believe Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds Stan. But now, the duke of Buckingham, and I, Are come from visiting his majesty. 1 By inadvertence, in the old copies Derby is put for Stanley. The person meant was Thomas lord Stanley, lord steward of king Edward the Fourth's household. But he was not created earl of Derby, till after the accession of king Henry VII. In the fourth and fifth acts of this play, he is every where called lord Stanley. 2 Margaret, daughter to John Beaufort, first duke of Somerset. After the death of her first husband, Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond, halfbrother to king Henry VI., by whom she had only one son, afterwards king Henry VII., she married sir Henry Stafford, uncle to Humphrey, duke of Buckingham. 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 Between the duke of Gloster and your brothers, And between them and my lord chamberlain; And sent to warn them to his royal presence. Q. Eliz. 'Would all were well!-But that will never be; I fear our happiness is at the height. Enter GLOSTER, HASTINGS, and DORSET. Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure it.— Who are they, that complain unto the king, That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not? By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly, That fill his ears with such dissensious rumors. Because I cannot flatter, and speak fair, Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog, Duck with French nods and apish courtesy, I must be held a rancorous enemy. Cannot a plain man live, and think no harm, But thus his simple truth must be abused By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks? Grey. To whom in all this presence speaks your grace? Glo. To thee, that hast nor honesty, nor grace. When have I injured thee? when done thee wrong? Or thee?—or thee?-or any of your faction? A plague upon you all! His royal grace- 1 Lewd here signifies idle, ungracious. And not provoked by any suitor else; Glo. I cannot tell ;-the world is grown so bad, That wrens may prey where eagles dare not perch: Since every Jack1 became a gentleman, There's many a gentle person made a Jack. Q. Eliz. Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloster; You envy my advancement, and my friends'; Glo. Meantime, God grants that we have need of you. Our brother is imprisoned by your means, Myself disgraced, and the nobility Held in contempt; while great promotions Are daily given, to ennoble those That scarce, some two days since, were worth a noble. Q. Eliz. By Him, that raised me to this careful height, From that contented hap which I enjoyed, I never did incense his majesty Against the duke of Clarence, but have been An earnest advocate to plead for him. My lord, you do me shameful injury, Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects. Glo. You may deny that you were not the cause Of my lord Hastings' late imprisonment. Riv. She may, my lord; for Glo. She may, lord Rivers?-why, who knows not so? She may do more, sir, than denying that. 1 This proverbial expression at once demonstrates the origin of the term Jack, so often used by Shakspeare. It means one of the very lowest class of people, among whom this name is most common and familiar. |