Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary: Jove's Mercury, and herald for a king! [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The same. Before the Palace. Enter Queen MARGARET. Q. Mar. So, now prosperity begins to mellow, And will to France; hoping, the consequence Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret! who comes here? Enter Queen ELIZABETH and the Duchess of YORK. Q. Eliz. Ah, my poor princes! ah, my tender babes! My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets! If yet your gentle souls fly in the air, And be not fix'd in doom perpetual, Hover about me with your airy wings, And hear your mother's lamentation! Q. Mar. Hover about her; say, that right for right? Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night. dire induction -] Induction is preface, introduction, first part. It is so used by Sackville in our author's time. say, that right for right-] Margaret now perhaps means to say, The right of me, an injured mother, whose son was slain at Tewksbury, has now operated as powerfully as that right which the death of Rutland gave you to divine justice, and has destroyed your children in their turn. Duch. So many miseries have craz'd my voice, That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute, Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead? Q. Mar. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet, Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. Q. Eliz. Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs, And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? When didst thou sleep3, when such a deed was done? Q. Mar. When holy Harry died, and my sweet son. Duch. Dead life, blind sight, poor mortal-living ghost, Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by life usurp❜d, Brief abstract and record of tedious days, Rest thy unrest on England's lawful earth, [Sitting down. Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood! Q. Eliz. Ah, that thou would'st as soon afford a grave, As thou canst yield a melancholy seat; Then would I hide my bones, not rest them here! [Sitting down by her. Q. Mar. If ancient sorrow be most reverent, Give mine the benefit of seniory, 4 And let my griefs frown on the upper hand. If sorrow can admit society, [Sitting down with them. Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine: I had an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him; +I had a husband, till a Richard kill'd him: Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him: Duch. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him; I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him. • When didst thou sleep, &c.] That is, When, before the present occasion, didst thou ever sleep during the commission of such an action? Q. Mar. Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard kill'd him. From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept Duch. O, Harry's wife, triumph not in my woes; Q. Mar. Bear with me, I am hungry for revenge, Thy Edward he is dead, that kill'd my Edward; Thy Clarence he is dead, that stabb'd my Edward; The adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray, her pew-fellow-] Pew-fellow seems to be companion. • Young York he is but boot,] Boot is that which is thrown in to mend a purchase. Q. Eliz. O, thou didst prophecy, the time would come, That I should wish for thee to help me curse That bottled spider, that foul bunch-back'd toad. Q. Mar. I call'd thee then, vain flourish of my fortune; I call'd thee then, poor shadow, painted queen; The flattering index of a direful pageant," Where is thy husband now? where be thy brothers? 7 The flattering index of a direful pageant,] Pageants are dumb shows, and the poet meant to allude to one of these, the index of which promised a happier conclusion. The pageants then displayed on public occasions were generally preceded by a brief account of the order in which the characters were to walk. These indexes were distributed among the spectators, that they might understand the meaning of such allegorical stuff as was usually exhibited. The index of every book was anciently placed before the beginning of it. S a garish flag, To be the aim of every dangerous shot;] Alluding to the dangerous situation of those persons to whose care the standards of armies were entrusted. STEEVENS. • Decline all this,] i. e. run through all this from first to last. For one being fear'd of all, now fearing one; Now thy proud neck bears half my burden'd yoke; Farewell, York's wife, and queen of sad mischance,— Q. Mar. Forbear to sleep the night, and fast the day; Compare dead happiness with living woe; Think that thy babes were fairer than they were, Q. Eliz. My words are dull, O, quicken them with thine'! Q. Mar. Thy woes will make them sharp, and pierce [Exit Q. MARGARET. like mine. Duch. Why should calamity be full of words? Q. Eliz. Windy attorneys to their client woes, Airy succeeders of intestate joys, Poor breathing orators of miseries! Let them have scope: though what they do impart Duch. If so, then be not tongue-ty'd: go with me, I hear his drum, -be copious in exclaims. |