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 provoked me 13.

ward;

Nay, now despatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Ed[She again offers at his breast. 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 shall you know hereafter.

13 Shakspeare countenances the observation that no woman can ever be offended with the mention of her beauty.

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 this 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 more cause to be a mourner,
And presently repair to Crosby-place 14:
Where-after I have solemnly interr'd,
At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,-
I will with all expedient 15 duty see you:
For divers unknown reasons, I beseech
Grant me this boon.

you,

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:

14 Crosby Place is now Crosby Square, in Bishopsgate Street. This magnificent house was built in 1466, by Sir John Crosby, grocer and woolman. He died in 1475. The ancient hall of this fabric is still remaining, though divided by an additional floor, and encumbered with modern galleries, having been converted into a place of worship for Antinomians, &c. The upper part of it was lately the warehouse of an eminent packer. Sir J. Crosby's tomb is in the neighbouring church of St. Helen the Great.

15 i. e. expeditious.

But, since you teach me how to flatter you,
Imagine I have said farewell already 16

[Exeunt LADY ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKLEY.

Glo. Sirs, take

Gent.

up the corse.

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;

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, Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury 17?

16 Cibber, who altered King Richard III. for the stage, was so thoroughly convinced of the improbability of this scene, that he thought it necessary to make Tressel say:

When future chronicles shall speak of this,

They will be thought romance, not history.'

The embassy under Lord Macartney to China witnessed the representation of a play in a theatre at Tien-sing with a similar incongruous plot.

17 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.

A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,-
Fram'd in the prodigality of nature,

Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal,-
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 woful bed?

On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety?
On me, that halt, and am misshapen thus?
My dukedom to a beggarly denier 18,
I do mistake my person all this while:
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man 19.
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.

yon

But, first, I'll turn fellow in 20 his grave;
And then return lamenting to my love.-
Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,
That I
may see my shadow as I pass.

[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 accustom'd health.

Grey. In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse:

18 A small coin, the twelfth part of a French sous.

19 Marvellous is here used adverbially. A proper man, in old language, was a well proportioned one.

20 In for into.

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 of 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 yet1: But so it must be, if the king miscarry.

Enter BUCKINGHAM and STANLEY 2.

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 3, good my lord of Stanley,

To your good prayer will scarcely say—amen.

1 Determin'd signifies the final conclusion of the will: concluded, what cannot be altered by reason of some act, consequent on the final judgment. See note on King Henry VI. Part 1. Act iv. Sc. 6, p. 90.

2 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.

3 Margaret, daughter to John Beaufort, first duke of Somerset. After the death of her first husband, Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond, half brother to King Henry VI. by whom she had only one son, afterwards King Henry VII. She married Sir Henry Stafford, uncle to Humphry duke of Buckingham.